Jesus is coming soon! You’ve seen it at the bottom of my columns, maybe other places, and this is something many are discussing. However, as recorded in the Bible in II Peter 3:3-4, some people will scoff, as though saying, “I’ve been hearing that all my life, and it still hasn’t happened!”
God’s “chosen people” were taught that the Creator would send a Saviour, called The Anointed One, or Messiah, to the world. Many generations had waited, prayed, and believed for thousands of years. Then, a Baby was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, in Judea. He lived a perfectly sinless life, was believed on by some, rejected by many, and murdered after demonically-inspired people yelled continuously, “Crucify Him!” These were some of the same ones who, the week before, had cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” meaning Messiah, King of the Jews.
But then, having been in the grave three days, He rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples for forty days, teaching and reminding them of the “promise of the Father”—that the Holy Spirit would be given—after which He ascended into the sky on clouds. The angels asked His disciples, “Why stand ye here gazing into heaven? This same Jesus…shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11) For 2000 years, believers have been waiting for His Second Coming.
Since then, in 70 A.D. the prophecy from the lips of Jesus concerning the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem was fulfilled. Older prophecies recorded in the Old Testament, concerning God bringing His people back into their land in the last days, have been also fulfilled. Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948. Some have searched out and studied other prophecies recorded in the Bible, revealing those having been fulfilled in modern times, most concerning Israel and the surrounding nations. The rest of us now see things happening that we have never even dreamed of happening before, as our world seems to be turning topsy-turvy. Many people are saying, “We are definitely in the last days!”
I am writing this because there is an idea that has been put “out there” by an author who has studied Bible prophecy and history diligently for years, an idea that has captured my attention like few things have. Jesus said, “Watch and pray,” and we need to do that, rather than just say, “We can’t know when Jesus is coming. It may not happen for another thousand years.” I’m just sharing with you for your own investigation. I saw a video of a Janie Duvall interviewing Dr. Christian Widener about his studies in last-days prophecy. Then, from Amazon, I bought his book, Witnessing the End, Daniel’s Seventy Seven and the Final Decree Everyone Missed, as well as a smaller book by James T. Harman, Daniel’s Prophecies Unsealed, The Final Countdown, pointing out the main points in Widener’s much longer book. Harman’s publisher stated, “While their suppositions [Widener and Harman] could turn out to be a false alarm, we would rather face the disdain of man rather than the displeasure of the Lord.” The publisher’s note went on to quote Revelation 3:3, where Jesus rebuked the Church of Sardis, “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” The strong implication here, as well as in many other scriptures, is that we should be seeking to know the times and season in which the Lord will return!
A primary prophecy passage is from the Book of Daniel, chapter 9. (By the way, Daniel was told that the things he was being shown would be “closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” Again, the implication is that, if we are in the end times, we can seek to discover what is meant by the writings in the Book of Daniel.) A major part of this scripture is Daniel 9:25, which states, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” Many searched and found the year of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity, adding up years indicated by the word “weeks,” to come to the time of Christ’s first coming.
To make a long story short, Dr. Widener feels he was led by the Holy Spirit to research, coming to understand that Jerusalem had had to be rebuilt after the Romans’ destruction in 70 A.D. After years of searching, he found published information and an actual metal plaque in Jerusalem revealing the information that Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was the ruler who, in 1537 had decreed and rebuilt the city of Jerusalem. Using the above information, which I cannot adequately explain, the 483 years plus 1537 years come to the year 2020! Dr. Widener, and others, believe we are in the middle of the last seven years.
My point is not to say that all of this is correct. My heartfelt purpose is to prompt believers to do as Jesus said, “Watch and pray,” and to seek to “know what hour I will come upon thee.” On top of all the startling ideas Dr. Widener proposes, is the information concerning the April 8 eclipse of the sun. In Genesis 1:14, 15, the Creator proclaimed, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years…to give light upon the earth…” You might have noticed that the very first reason for the sun, moon, and stars is “for signs!” Check out sites on YouTube where people show their discoveries of past, present, and future events having to do with these signs, such as eclipses.
You can probably detect that I do not know anything firsthand—I am just trying to pique your interest in these subjects. I have been convinced that there really is something amazing about the fact that the eclipses of the sun, which are said to be signs concerning the Gentile nations, such as America, and the eclipses of the moon, which are relevant to Israel, really are signs pointing to future events, perhaps even warnings.
If these things are truly pertinent and reliable facts—even if they are not--we need to be praying, as Jesus directed, Watch ye therefore and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.”(Luke 21:36) We need to seek to be ready to stand before the One who took our sins on the cross, who conquered death, hell, and the grave for our sake. If you have not met Him as Lord and Saviour, please seek to know Him in that way today!
Live for Jesus! He’s coming soon!
You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail.com
