Thank you to everyone who voted in the poll and to everyone who left comments. Your feedback is appreciated. The poll results were what I expected. The vast majority of people reading this blog believe the end times will begin within the next five years. A relatively large portion of people believe the end times could begin within the next year or less.
In the coming days I will go over several indicators we can look at to determine whether we are already living in or are approaching the end times. Today I will give you an overview of indicators relating to Israel that we need to look at.
Defining the End Times
A reader rightly commented that people’s definition of what the end times are is subjective and varies. I define the end times as a time period when major prophetic events described in the Book of Revelation and other prophetic passages in the Bible are being fulfilled (frequently). The end times begins with the start of the 70th Week of Daniel[1] and continues through the establishment of the Millennium Kingdom. The seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls spoken about in the Book of Revelation are events that take place during the end times (not in the past).
Antichrist Makes a Treaty with Israel
The 70th Week of Daniel and end times will begin with Antichrist making a seven-year treaty with Israel.
- Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
The nature of the treaty is described in Isaiah 28:15. The covenant that Antichrist will make with Israel is a protective treaty (that is aptly referred to as the “covenant with death”).
- Isa 28:14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
- Isa 28:15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
In order for the end times to begin, we must see Israel ratify a major agreement that will result in them receiving long-term protection. At this moment, it does not appear that Israel is going to reach any sort of agreement anytime soon since world leaders are becoming increasingly hostile towards Israel, including the President of the United States.
- Benjamin Creme claims that only Maitreya (the leader of the Ascended Masters, a group of beings described in Ephesians 6:12 as the "spiritual wickedness in high places") will be capable of bringing peace to the Mideast. I have a report that summarizes the details that Creme and Theosophical (New Age) sources suggest will be part of a Mideast peace agreement at the following link.
There is a strong indication in end time-related verses that the 70th Week of Daniel will end on a Yom Kippur, which is holiest Jewish holiday falling on Tishri 10 of the Jewish calendar or sometime between September and October in our calendar.[2] The 70th Week of Daniel is prophesized to last seven prophetic years or 2520 days (Daniel 12:7, 7:25, Revelation 12:6, 14, and 11:2-3).[3]. If you subtract seven prophetic years from September or October of any given year, you will get a start date for the 70th Week of Daniel sometime in the fall. Therefore, any treaty that Israel will make with Antichrist would not be announced or go into effect until fall of the year the treaty is made.
A Jewish Migration to Israel
A prerequisite before the Antichrist can reveal his true identity to the world is for virtually every Jew in the world to be living in the land of Israel. In Deuteronomy 30:1-5, the Lord promised to eventually gather Jews living abroad during the Diaspora (the nearly 1900 year period where Jews did not have a Jewish state in the land of Israel) to live in the land of Israel.
- Deu 30:1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
- Deu 30:2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
- Deu 30:3 That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
- Deu 30:4 If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
- Deu 30:5 And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
The return of Jews to the land of Israel began in the early 20th century, but did not happen in mass until the recreation of the state of Israel in 1948.
The next part of the prophecy calls for the Jews living in a restored Israel to undergo a period of transformation where they will be judged or purged during the end times.
- Deu 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
The following verses are similar to Deuteronomy 30:6
- Eze 34:16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
- Eze 36:24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
- Eze 36:25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
- Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
The purge will begin immediately after the Antichrist reveals his true identity to the world (Matthew 24:15-21) halfway into the 70th Week of Daniel (Daniel 9:27). Ezekiel 38 is a chapter about the Antichrist betraying Israel just prior to the moment he reveals his true identity by attacking unsuspecting Jews living in Israel (these Jews are unsuspecting because they feel secure with the treaty in place). The chapter mentions that the invasion will occur at a time when the West Bank (the biblical “mountains of Israel”) will be home to many Jews who were gathered around the world.
- Eze 38:8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
- Eze 38:9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.
The West Bank is currently home to a predominantly Palestinian population. Therefore, a massive influx of Jews currently living overseas is necessary to make the West Bank full of Jewish inhabitants in time for the Antichrist’s invasion of Israel. Furthermore, the end of verse 38:8 indicates that virtually all Jews will be living in Israel at that time as “all of them” are “brought forth out of the nations” living safely.[4] Therefore, we should expect that Jews currently overseas will eventually immigrate to Israel and that many of these Jews will end up living in the West Bank.
A 2008 study released by the Jewish Agency for Israel revealed that the world’s Jewish population is fairly concentrated in a few geographic areas. While more Jews live outside of Israel (5.55 million Jews live in Israel while 7.75 million Jews outside of Israel), over 95% of the world’s Jews live in just ten countries.[5] The following table displays the Top 10 countries with the highest Jewish population.
You can see from table that the Jewish population in the United States is nearly the same size as the Jewish population that lives in Israel. Since the Jewish population is so concentrated in the United States something must happen in the United States to cause these Jews to leave. The Bible is unclear what that catalyst will be, but it is clear that eventually the Jews scattered around the world will leave to live in Israel.
I suspect that most of the Jewish immigration to Israel is going to happen before the start of the end times. It is hard to imagine the migration beginning after the ratification of a treaty between Israel and the Antichrist because we would be talking about the relocation of millions of people around the world to a single-location in a short period of time. The challenge for Israel would not only be to process all the incoming people, but to also find enough housing to sustain a major influx of people. I do not believe this massive migration of people could realistically be handled in three and half years or less.
Third Temple?
Some people argue that we need to see the construction of a temple in Jerusalem before the end times begins. Although I suspect we could see the construction of a temple in Jerusalem before the end times, I do not believe we must see the construction of a temple in Jerusalem before the end times begins. The construction of the temple can be completed before Antichrist breaks the treaty even if it begins after the start of the 70th Week of Daniel since there will be 3.5 years between the ratification of the treaty and the breaking of the treaty to build it.
Summary on the Indicators Relating to Israel
The indicators relating to Israel that we need to watch for do not indicate that the end times have begun yet. Given the need for Jews around the world to migrate to Israel and the need for Israel to strike a protective treaty, I do not see how the end times can start at any moment. Nevertheless, there are other indicators that need to be considered to gauge how close we are to the end times. In Part 2, I will present an overview of a group of signs that Christ specifically said we need to look out for.
[1] Some argue that the 70th Week of Daniel was already fulfilled. However, this could not be the case because the goal of the 70th Week of Daniel is to bring everlasting righteousness. We do not have everlasting righteousness on Earth yet so we have not yet seen the 70th Week.
[2] The purpose of the 70 Weeks of Daniel is to atone for the sins of Jerusalem and the Jewish people (Dan 9:24). Since Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement on the Jewish calendar it is fitting that the final atonement of sins is completed on the Day of Atonement. For more access this link...
[3] The length of a prophetic year differs from the length of year on our calendar. A prophetic year is 360 days in length. For more about the 70th Week of Daniel and the length of prophetic weeks and years access this link
[4] At first glance, it is a bit confusing about what “it bringing forth out of the nations” refers to. However, linguistic experts looking at the Hebrew conclude that “bringing forth out of the nations” is referring to the Jewish people rather than the mountains of Israel. (Delitzsch, F. and Carl F. Keil. Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Trans. Jamie Martin Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983).
[5] Wagner, Matthew. “World Jewish Population Grows by 70,000”. 25 Sept. 2008. Last Accessed 20 Dec. 2009. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017393551&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
