THE REDEMPTION PLAY
Table of Contents

















TO ANTICHRIST SECTION INTRO
THE BRIDE SECTION INTRO
TO SIGNS OF CHRIST'S RETURN INTRO



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Clock Ticks Down
The Signs
of the End

  

    The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven.

    He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.

    And in the morning, it will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? Matt. 16.1‑3

 

    As Act 5 of "The Redemption Play" opens it is obvious that time is ticking down. A large clock - ticking, ticking, ticking - hovers over the world's stage. Eleven o`clock is past and the clock is laboring toward the twelfth hour. It doesn't take much discernment for the "audience" to see that the world is entering the final moments of God's plan, a time easily identified as the End Times.

             When Israel miraculously became a sovereign nation midway through this century it simultaneously satisfied both a prophecy and brought attention to a warning made by the Lord Jesus Himself. Jesus had told his disciples that once the fig tree (Israel) had budded then we could know that the kingdom of God was near at hand, and he continued by promising that not another generation would pass away before all things prophesied about the End Times were fulfilled. In one breath Jesus foretold that Israel would come back to life while warning that the end would soon follow its rebirth. Israel's return home stands at the cusp between the Latter Days and the End Times. the Latter Days, the time of the Gentiles, that last period of time, is all but over, giving way to the final hour. The age of mercy and grace and its darker side of competition and apostasy is history. The first half of the twentieth century and its two World Wars were a precursor to the End Times. The two World Wars fulfilled Jesus's prophecy that nation would rise against nation and as Jesus promised there has been a gradual increase in earthquakes, pestilences, and famines throughout the world ever since. These however, are simply "the beginnings of sorrows", just preliminary signs of the end and what is to befall the world. But it was not until halfway through this twentieth century since Christ, after two world conflagrations, that the outstanding and finite sign of the end exploded like fireworks in the prophetic sky when Israel, after two millennia of dispersion, returned the Promised Land to Jewish sovereign rule in 1948.

    Since the 1948 establishment of Israel there have been a myriad of crucial prophetic events around the world, but none are more crucial than the taking of Jerusalem by the Jews who made it their "Eternal Capital" in 1967. Israel and Jerusalem are inseparable, like life and breath. Israel's full revival is still in the works and will not be complete until the Temple is rebuilt, but the reestablishment of Israel as a nation with its Capital, Jerusalem is the unmistakable signal to watch for the fulfillment of all End Times prophecy.

            It is now the turn of the "audience" to be the "watcher". We benefited from the "watcher" from heaven who told us about Nebuchadnezzar and how God's majesty is the sole power on earth that raises up kings and rulers, now it is our obligation to "watch" and understand the signs of the times. In the 43 years since Israel's return, signs of the times have become more and more compressed with each passing decade. Prophetic signs have burst forth with increasing frequency and fury, so that the Church can't help but see the warning signals, and the world can't help but ask, "What is going on?".

 

Prophecy Always Tells us What

But Not Always How or Who

 

    It is absolutely imperative that we discern the signs of the times. The signs of Jesus' second coming and the end of all things prophesied are enumerated throughout Scripture. God has declared that he "will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3.7) The final end of things and their course is plotted by Daniel, John, Jeremiah, Isaiah and the other prophets of the Holy Scriptures. With the swift rise and fall of the United States, as the "Raiser of Taxes", the age-old division of Rome is finished and with it so is the age of competition and the time of the Gentile. History is past and the present and future is upon us.

    Before going any further it must be established that the study of future prophecy is different from the study of prophecy already fulfilled. We must acknowledge the restrictions that God has imposed on understanding the future. Remember the Church is taught prophecy on a need to know basis. Prophecy is not a crystal ball created at the whim of God to satisfy our idle curiosity. It is not a spiritual amusement park conjured up by God to entertain people bored with conventional religion. Remember, prophecy is a lamp unto our feet; it tells us what will happen. There are many things we are warned about. We may be warned about certain events that God has planned, or that certain spirits will prevail, or certain demands will be made, or certain spells of deception will be cast, or we may be told that people will act in a certain way, or Satan will try some particular tactic. Read and understood with the eyes and heart of faith these reports become facts waiting to happen and they serve to light our path as we negotiate our way through our complex, information filled lives.

             But many believers are not content with that. If we want to know who, and when, and where, as if we were reading from a newspaper article, we may be frustrated. God often - not always - but often, declines to tell us when, or how, or where. (At least this is the case during the End Times. God gives us a fuller chronology during the 70th Week of Daniel, known as the Tribulation.) In his wisdom he has reserved the details of timing and personalities for himself, partly because of its strategical necessity. Jesus's first coming is a prime example. People knew the Messiah would come, and there were even some details about where, when and how, which were understood later under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit, but for the most part nobody was privileged to know the details of his coming, or his ministry, or the nature of his sacrifice. All for good reason. Speaking of the Lord's crucifixion Paul the Apostle says, "...none of the princes of this world knew [of it]; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (1 Cor. 2.8)

    So, to confound unbelievers and Satan's princes, the rise of the Antichrist, the final confrontation of nations and the judgment of the earth, the end of all things in general, will hold many surprises in the way it plays out. Often we can only speculate or give educated guesses as to the Who, How and When; the What however, remains constant. What must be and what must happen we know because God has forewarned us. Just as people knew at the time of the first coming that the Messiah must come, there is no reason why we should not absolutely know that there will be a unified Roman Empire, that there will be an alliance of Gog and Magog which attacks a "safe and secure" Israel, that there will be an Antichrist, there will be a rapture of the Church, there will be martyrdom of Christians, there will be judgment on the earth and there will be a time when Jesus returns as King of Kings. Those are a few of the indisputable "Whats" of the End Times and the 70th Week of Daniel. A glance at some of the signs of the times show us that the End Time characters are rapidly assembling themselves on center stage readying for the final acts of God's Redemption Play when the mystery of redemption, started in Adam and Eve, will be fully revealed.

    

Signs of the End

    Israel returns home - Until it happened, very, very few people in the Church believed that Israel would actually return to the Promised Land. Bible scholars and theologians alike thought the prophecies concerning Israel's return were spiritual rather than literal. But the Fig Tree has budded, proving that the time of the end is at hand. When Jerusalem became the Capital of Israel in 1967 it confirmed the promise that Israel would once again become a state in the End Times and it also put the Temple site (which must be rebuilt by the Jews) in the hands of an Israeli government for the first time since A.D. 70.

    

    Budding of the other trees ‑ Jesus said to watch for the budding of the Fig Tree and all the trees, and that when the trees had budded all things would be fulfilled before that generation passed away. The Fig Tree budded in 1948 and blossomed in 1967, and during that time the other trees have budded, too.  All of the ancient Middle East countries: Egypt, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia budded when they were recreated by the British and French mandates of the Post World War I era and they went into full bloom with the decline of colonial power after World War II. The riches of oil and the strategic value of states bordering the oil nations have boosted hitherto powerless nations into places of prominence and influence. The ancient "trees", cut to the stump, have grown into proud oaks. From history's forgotten pages these nations have moved to form the alliances prophesied of in Daniel 11. These Middle East countries, that just a few decades ago were laughing stocks in the world of power politics, now have the potential to blackmail and coerce the mightiest Superpower.

             As Jesus said, "When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand."  

 

  Coming down of Berlin Wall ‑ The tearing down of the Berlin Wall - the prophetic symbol of Rome's division - is a major sign that the world on the brink of seeing the Beast whole and healthy, ready to fill Daniel's 2,500 year old vision of the Antichrist. The scheduled unification of Europe in 1992 into the European Community is a miracle of miracles. Though this unbelievable happening is being largely ignored by the media, it should not be taken lightly. No one over the age of thirty-five would have thought it possible for Europe to forget its two thousand years of bitterness and competition, to forget two World Wars, that devastated its people and its entire way of life, and come together in agreement, but it is happening. Most people are still skeptical about it. Many say it will never happen in spite of the arrangements. But it will happen! Why? Because prophecy has declared that a union of ten kings, out of Rome, will whip the Empire together before handing it over to the Antichrist. Out of the rubble of the Berlin Wall, and through the cheering crowds who hail the coming unity, rises up the Beast, unseen, unheard, undetected for now. Soon the "audience" will be able to discern his shape. Soon his roar will be heard. Soon his might will be felt.

    

    Daniel being understood ‑ And we must not forget a fulfillment of prophecy which literally sits under our nose. The Book of Daniel is truly wonderful. It maps out the course of history, the end times, exposes the Antichrist spirit, prophecies the salvation of Israel and reassures the Church that God is in complete control. But it is wonderful also simply because it exists. Daniel is the only Book of the Bible that is, in itself, a sign of the End Times. Daniel was told to seal up his prophecies until the time of the end when many would run to and fro and knowledge would be increased.

 

  For the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.

   Many shall be purified and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. (Dan. 12.9-10)

 

             The prophecies were so sealed, in fact, that Daniel did not even understand them himself, though he was given the interpretations and faithfully recorded them. But the Church at the end will be able to understand their implications and impact, and so our understanding of Daniel, the ability to make sense out of it, is itself a sign of the end.

    

    Travel and Knowledge increased ‑ Daniel's code for understanding his prophecies of the end, when many should run to and fro and knowledge would be increased, is here. Since World War II we live in a global village. Air, boat, train and automobile travel have made it possible for Mankind to run to and fro with the greatest of ease. Television, radio, computers, satellites, have created an information glut over the last 30 years so that to say knowledge has increased is an understatement. Ten year‑old kids have seen more, heard more and experienced more than scholars and travellers ever dreamed of seeing just a lifetime ago.

    

    Babylon judged ‑ Babylon (Iraq) being judged in accordance with Jeremiah 50 is a great, great sign of the end. The coalition of countries and their miraculous defeat of this ancient power (told of by Jeremiah at the time of Nebuchadnezzar) was a marvel to watch unfold, and gives the Church courage while waiting for the rapture.

    

    World Wars ‑ Jesus said that nation would rise against nation and that wars and rumors of wars would be the beginnings of sorrows. The World Wars certainly fill the bill.

    

    The outpouring of Holy Spirit ‑ First it came in dribs and drabs in small revivals around the world, but in 1967, and for the next fifteen years, the words of the prophet Joel, that the latter day rain of the Holy Ghost would come to restore things lost for the Church, came to pass. The Church has been lifted out of ignorance and those who have listened to the Holy Ghost have been lifted to heavenly places in Christ. The outpouring of the Holy Ghost is the Church's personal sign of the end.

 

    Others:

    

  Earthquakes and False Messiahs

            The occult and increase in lying spirits

            Poor government

            Rebellious children and selfishness

            Humanism and Ecumenism

            Etc. Etc.

 

> ACT 5; SCENE 2: Israel - Fig Tree Buds