The four Gospels contain eighty-nine chapters, which reveal the heart and power of Jesus during His first coming on earth. But there are more than one hundred and fifty chapters in the Bible which are focused – at least 51% – on Jesus’ second coming.
Yet, most Christians have no clue about the End-times because they haven’t studied or thought about it much — if at all. This seems ridiculous, especially when you consider there is only one book of the Bible which promises readers a blessing just for reading it: the Book of Revelation. This book details the apocalyptic revelation given to the Apostle John for the End-times.
What’s the problem?
The problem is that the Book of Revelation contains – according to Chuck Missler – four hundred and four chapters with over eight hundred references to the Old Testament. That’s almost two references per chapter.
These Old Testament references require us to read and have an understanding of the Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi and other books.
And we need to have insight into the meanings of the many Jewish idioms used throughout the New Testament. For instance:
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Mark 13:32)
If we read the above verse with our Gentile minds, we assume that no one knows ahead of time when Jesus will return for His bride. But the Apostle Paul commended the Thessalonians for having an understanding of the times and seasons. They understood because they were sons of light and not of darkness. They knew the idiom referred to the Feast of Trumpets which occurs on the first or second day of Tishrei, which is during our months of either September or October.
You see, the Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah is celebrated on the first day of Tishrei in Israel, but is celebrated as a two-day feast on the first and second days of Tishrei by Jews outside of Israel. The reasoning behind the two-day celebration is that this is a holy day and they want to make sure that there is a new moon.
Thus, these Jews do not know the exact day or hour, but they know it’s in the Fall and what feast will be celebrated at the time.
So, if we want to have an understanding of the End-times, we’re going to have to be like little children and learn about our Hebrew roots. We must remember that we Gentiles are grafted into a Jewish olive tree…and not the other way around.
Wait a second! What does this have to do with a possible civil war in America?
(Continued in Part 8…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)
Larry Who 