#834

The Super Sign: Israel Reborn and the End Times

Signs, Signs, Everywhere A Sign

If that title sounds familiar then you must have grown up in my generation since it was popular song in 1971. The chorus went like this:

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, Blockin' out the scenery, Breakin' my mind. Do this, don't do that

Can't you read the sign?

Now that I’ve got that song in your head for the rest of the day, I probably should move on to why I brought it up. You see, the gist of the song by Canadian group, Five Man Electrical Band was all the various billboards obscuring the scenery as the songwriter drove back to Los Angeles from Canada. According to an article it highlighted four main complaints:

The song's narrator describes four instances of encountering signs that anger or concern him, as follows:

  • A notice that "long-haired freaky people need not apply" for a job opening. He stuffs his hair into his hat in order to get an interview, then contemptuously reveals it once he has been offered the job.
  • A sign outside a house warning that trespassers will be shot on sight. He climbs onto the perimeter fence and berates the owners for keeping people out and fencing in the land's natural beauty.
  • Being told to leave a restaurant because he does not meet its dress code or have a membership card, both of which are displayed on a sign.
  • A sign inviting people to worship at a church. When an offering is taken up at the end of the service, he makes a sign telling God that he is doing well, as he has no money to contribute.

Interestingly, the song did have a Christian element to it which as a new believer I liked. But I have another reason for bringing up the song.

The End Of The Age

And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matt 24:3, NASB)

Jesus just teased the disciples who were caught bragging on the beauty of the Temple that it would be completely destroyed. They were surprised and probably just a tad disappointed that the gem of their Jewish religion would no longer be around. To them it was the key to having their sins covered and pleasing God. Privately, up on the Mount of Olives they asked Jesus when all of this would happen and they also went further and wanted to know the signs of His second coming which they knew as the end of the age. According to an article from Bible Hub this time is described Old Testament this way:

The idea of an "end" or a climactic point in history is present in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament. The prophets often spoke of a "Day of the Lord," a time when God would intervene decisively in human affairs to judge the wicked and vindicate the righteous (e.g., Joel 2:31, Isaiah 13:6-9). This eschatological expectation laid the groundwork for the New Testament understanding of the End of the Ages.

In the following verses in Matthew 24 Jesus detailed a myriad of signs that anyone living at the time would understand that they were living at that specific time. He was describing the Tribulation which I don’t believe Christians will go through, but leading up to that terrible seven-year period would be what Jesus called birth pangs that would grow in intensity up until the real time:

But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. (Matt 24:8, NASB1995)

For us now, all the things alluded to will be seen in ever increasing frequencies until the full blown Tribulation. But there will be doubters.

We’ve Always Seen These Signs

There will be those right before the Tribulation and the second coming of Jesus that will mock those of us who see the signs all around us by noting we’ve always had wars and rumors of war, famines, pestilences, earthquakes. They will point to the two world wars as evidence that things are no different now than in any previous times in history. Why would now be any different? The Apostle Peter described these scoffers this way:

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water… (2 Peter 3:3-5, KJV)

And they do have a point to some degree. But while all generations have seen the signs mentioned to a point, there is one sign that sets all other generations apart and that is Israel becoming a nation again. It isn’t mentioned as specifically as we’d like in the Olivet Discourses, but it’s there as an article by Jack Kelley tells us:

First of all, you don’t need the Lesson of the Fig Tree to place Israel in Matt. 24. If you read the passage carefully, you’ll see that Jesus gave three crystal clear signs that there would be a generation of Old Covenant believing Jews in Israel before the Great Tribulation begins, and they are the ones He was addressing.

The first clue is the Abomination of Desolation, something that hasn’t happened since Jesus gave the warning. It will be seen standing in the Holy Place. (Matt.24:15) That’s the Jewish Temple, a building that can only be present when Israel occupies the Promised Land.

The second clue is that the people he’s telling to flee are in Judea, the name by which the Biblical land of Israel was known during the time of the Lord’s visitation. (Matt. 24:16)

And the third clue is for them to pray their flight won’t take place on a Sabbath. (Matt. 24:20) Only observant Jews would be worried about this because they can only walk 1000 paces on the Sabbath, not nearly far enough to even get out of town, let alone into the mountains.

Other Scriptures

Kelley goes on to note that the regathering of Jews to form the nation of Israel again is found all throughout the Old Testament:

Some people ask how Israel’s re-birth could be the sign that starts the clock running on the end times when there’s no mention of it in Matt. 24. It’s true, in the Olivet Discourse the Lord never came right out and said Israel would cease to exist and then be re-born 2,000 years later. But there are clear prophecies of just such a thing in the Old Testament. For example Moses warned the people at least twice of the terrible things that would happen if they rejected the Lord. In Deut. 4:25-27 he said their disobedience would cause the Lord to scatter them among the nations. Then in Deut 4:30 He said that in the latter days during a time of tribulation they would return to the Lord and obey Him again.

And other verses in Deuteronomy point to this scattering and then return:

And starting in Deut. 28:15 Moses listed the disasters that would come upon them, culminating in verses 63 and 64 when he said they would be up rooted from the land and scattered among the nations, from one end of the Earth to the other. And once again, he said, even if they had been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, the Lord would bring them back (Deut. 30:4), and if they agreed to obey His covenant again He would make them prosperous, and then He would circumcise their hearts (see Romans 2:28-29), put their enemies to flight, and delight in them again. Deut 30:1-10 is a clear summary of End Times events. They’ll be brought back into the land, their enemies will be cursed and their covenant will be restored (Ezekiel 38-39), their hearts will be circumcised (Zechariah 12:10), and their prosperity will be restored (Isaiah 65:17-25). This sequence of events is coming to pass today, just as Moses said it would.

He tells us that there has to be a nation of Israel in place in that last generation if only because the Antichrist needs to desecrate a Temple where Jews perform sacrifices:

So as far back as the wilderness wanderings, the Lord had foretold of Israel’s scattering and subsequent regathering in the latter days. Because of their disobedience they would be driven from the land. After an extended period of time He would bring them back. Their return would be a sign to all the world that the End of the Age is upon us. We saw above that in the context of the Olivet Discourse Israel is already in the land and back in their (old) covenant relationship with God. That’s why Jesus didn’t mention the re-birth of the nation among the signs He gave. The first specific end times sign He mentioned is the Abomination of Desolation, something that will happen about 3.5 years before He returns.

And Israel became a nation again on May 14th of 1948, something that no generation saw until ours. The dry bones did indeed come back to life.

Don’t Be A Scoffer

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water… (2 Peter 3:5, KJV)

As Peter told us, there will be those who will mock those of us that believe in the Rapture of the Church that will be followed by the Tribulation and then the Second Coming of Jesus. And he used a phrase that stands out because it points to people who not only mock our prophetic beliefs but do so knowing all about it. He called these folks “willfully ignorant” which, according to one AI search means this:

Being willfully ignorant means intentionally avoiding information or knowledge about something, often to escape the responsibility or consequences that come with that knowledge. This behavior allows individuals to act in ways that may be selfish or unethical without facing the discomfort of their actions' implications.

In context, it simply points to people who, when faced with facts they know will point to the Bible being correct, they do everything they can to dismiss it including intentionally putting their fingers in their ears so they can’t hear it. You get the idea. Sadly, there are Christians who do the same thing. I’ve provided Bible verses to support that Israel becoming a nation again is the super sign of this generation being the one that will see the events detailed in the various Olivet Discourses and yet, people will mock it and even intentionally ignore it. My advice to you is not to be one of those people. Occam’s Razor is a good way to approach prophecy. This concept is summarized like this:

Occam's razor is more commonly described as 'the simplest answer is most often correct.

In Bible prophecy, this is also good advice. When Israel became a nation again in 1948, the end times clock started and it’s ticking to this day. It’s just that simple. And it also means we need to work feverishly to fulfill the Great Commission because the events listed in Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Mark 13 are coming sooner than we may think.