TEXT: Revelation 16:16
TITLE: SIGNS OF THE END
(We are a Terminal Generation)
1 Thessalonians 5:3 – “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.”
(TLB) – “When people are saying, ‘All is well; everything is quiet and peaceful’- then, all of a sudden, disaster will fall upon them as suddenly as a woman’s birth pains begin when her child is born. And these people will not be able to get away anywhere – there will be no place to hide.”
Time Magazine’s cover read, “Thinking the unthinkable!” The story stated that mankind is at the brink of disaster in a world bristling with nuclear weapons. Harvard professor Bernard Lown lamented that mankind is doomed, locked into a race toward Armageddon.
When Scripture tells us that a day of destruction is coming you can count on it. When it tells us that heaven and earth will pass away, you can be sure that this world as we know it will definitely end. There will be a last baby born, a last marriage performed, a last kiss, a last song, and a last hurrah.
My purpose is not to scare you but to let the Word of God sound a trumpet blast to awaken us up from our sleep. If the end is in sight, if we can see that we are headed for destruction, just think of how close the rapture must be.
God tells us when, how, & where the world as we know it will end: Armageddon.
Armageddon is the Hebrew word meaning “the mountain of Merged.” The mountain of Mageddo lies east of Mount Carmel in the northern part of Palestine.
Napoleon looked at the expanse of Armageddon and described it as the most natural battlefield on the face of the earth, for armies would be able to maneuver easily over its empty plains, On those plains, the Bible tells us, human blood will flow to the height of a horse’s bridle for two hundred miles. There the false man of peace, the Antichrist, will join with his armies to fight the Son of God for supremacy.
There are several signs, which indicate that we’re on our way there. There are signs that indicate we are on the road to destruction; that we are a terminal generation; that we are heading toward the end. Jesus is coming back soon & the end is in sight.
1. The Knowledge Explosion! The first road sign pointing toward Armageddon is found in Daniel 12:4 – “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” The literal translation of this Scripture indicates that during the end time, or the terminal generation, an explosion of knowledge will occur.
Just such an explosion has occurred in the last century. From the Garden of Eden until A.D. 1900, men walked or rode horses just as King David and Julius Caesar did. In the span of a few years, however, mankind invented the automobile, the jet plane, and the space shuttle. You can fly from New York to Paris in 3 hours today. Just think of all the knowledge involved in developing these marvels of modern technology.
Technology, has made fathomless depths of knowledge and information available to us at the press of a button. You can receive faxes in your car, take a message on your pager, and explore encyclopedias of vast knowledge small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. You can sit in the quiet of your own home and drown yourself in information from the Internet.
In the last two generations we have put men on the moon. Medical science has the ability to keep a corpse breathing for months on life support. Tiny babies weighing less than one pound can survive, and unborn babies can even undergo surgery while within the womb.
You would think with all this knowledge the world would be better off. You would think that we would be headed to world tranquility – peace. All this knowledge ought to be a good thing, but still we’re on the road to Armageddon or destruction. Our knowledge has not produced utopia (heaven on earth): instead it has created a generation of well-informed people who know more about rock stars than history. Our “enlightened” society seeks freedom and self-expression, but is actually enslaved by drugs, perversion, and occult practices.
Knowledge without God can only produce intellectual barbarians, smarter sinners. Hitler’s Nazis threw Jewish children alive into the ovens. Many of them were educated men, some had Ph.D.s, but their education was accomplished without the acknowledgment of the knowledge of God.
We are the terminal generation, “always learning but never able to come to knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7) because we seek truth apart from God. You can’t think your way to truth. The only way you will ever find eternal ultimate truth is by seeking & finding the God of the Bible.
If you reject truth, the only thing left to accept is a lie. America has rejected the truth of God’s Word.
2. Plague in the Middle East. Let’s turn and read Zechariah 14:12-15. Zechariah had a vision and didn’t know how to describe what he saw, so he called the gruesome results a plague. Many have wondered about this but with things that have happened in the past and the potential of things happening in the future it’s not hard to see how this could be a reality.
In the great influenza epidemic in 1918, people died within hours of first manifesting symptoms. Zechariah’s plague could be another virus, one we have not yet seen. Despite our great increase of knowledge, we are not equipped to handle the “new” mutated viruses that could strike swiftly and severely.
Zechariah’s plague could also be the logical result of massive radiation. A docudrama about Hiroshima presented a reenactment of the bombing that ended World War II. Flesh literally melted off the bones of the victims before the corpses could hit the ground. Zechariah could have been describing nuclear warfare.
An A-bomb can produce a temperature of 160 million degrees Fahrenheit in one millionth of a second. Under such conditions, a man’s tongue and eyes can be consumed before his corpse can hit the ground.
Saddam Hussein, another enemy of Israel, is presently trying desperately to get a nuclear bomb put together to conquer the entire Middle East because he wants to be another Nebuchadnezzar.
Things like nuclear bombs and star wars weapons systems let us know that we are a terminal generation, that we are headed for destruction. One touch of a button and the world could be destroyed.
If we can already see the destruction of the world as a possibility then how much closer we must be to the rapture of the church.
3. The Rebirth of Israel. May 15, 1948 is a very important date in prophecy. It was on that day that the United Nations announced that they would formally recognize the state of Israel.
Biblical prophecy states that Israel must experience a rebirth before the coming of her Messiah. Read Isaiah 66:8-10.
The disciples came to Jesus and asked him for the signs of the end of the age. “Tell us,” they said, “when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3).
Jesus responded by saying, “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near – at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matthew 24:32-34).
In Bible prophecy Israel is often pictured as a fig tree. Jesus says, “As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out.” His meaning is very clear: when Israel is a young tree, reborn and growing, putting forth leaves, it should be obvious to all that the end times are at hand.
4. The Jews Will Return Home. From A.D. 70, when the Romans attacked Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and set into motion a series of events which resulted in the Diaspora, the Jewish people have been scattered throughout the Mediterranean Basin, and from there throughout the entire world. They were not in control of their own destiny, nor did they dwell in a homeland of their own until May 15, 1948.
Jeremiah declared that the Jews must return to Israel before Messiah comes: Read Jeremiah 23:7, 8.
The Jews from the north country (Russia) have returned to Israel by the tens of thousands, as have Jewish people from around the globe.
5. Jerusalem No Longer Under Gentile Rule. Biblical prophecy states that Jerusalem will not be under Gentile rule in the terminal generation, a situation which had existed from A.D. 70 until the
Six-Day War of 1967. Jesus Christ predicted that Jerusalem would be “trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfill” (Luke 21:24). David the psalmist predicted that the Lord would rebuild Zion and appear in his glory there (see Psalm 102:16).
6. International Instant Communication. Read Revelation 11:3, 7-10. The two witnesses, who many theologians believe to be Elijah and Enoch, will appear on the earth during the Tribulation. They wear the traditional clothing of mourning, and their mission will be to call men to repentance.
Prophecy states that the whole world will, at the same time, be able to see the two witnesses in the streets of Jerusalem.
Television, international satellites, the Internet, and wireless communication are all available. In this generation we can see any major news story happening anywhere on the globe within seconds of the event. Virtually the entire world has access to the same information as an event happens.
This was not possible in 1900!
This was not possible in 1960!
It is possible today…because this could be the terminal generation. The entire population living during the Tribulation will see the two witnesses slain in the streets of Jerusalem, the Antichrist, and will see the coming Messiah.
7. Days of Deception. In Matthew 24 Jesus warned, “Take heed that no one deceives you” (v. 4). Bible prophecy declares that deception will be epidemic on the earth in the terminal generation: “Everyone will deceive his neighbor, and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity” (Jeremiah 9:5).
Deception is going to be the cardinal indicator of the terminal generation, and though deception has always been with us, the coming Antichrist along with the “false prophet” will elevate deception to an art form.
The world will be ready for him, eager and willing to believe anything.
8. Famines and Pestilence. America has the ability to feed the world, yet we pay farmers not to grow certain crops lest they glut the market and drive prices down. And every night on television we see footage of starving children with bloated bellies, bulging eyes, and bare ribs. There are many hungry children even in the U.S.
The Bible predicted that we would know famine. Jesus said that in the latter days “there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:7, 8).
Another translation calls these signs “the beginning of birth pains” (NIV). Famine, pestilences, and earthquakes are the pains experienced at the birth of the terminal generation. When a woman begins to feel her first sharp pains, she knows the end of her pregnancy is near. The event she’s been waiting and praying for is finally upon her.
Ethiopia was hit with famine in 1994. By June, at least 5,000 people had died as a result of dwindling food supplies due to drought, cattle disease, and the inability of the government to transport food from regions producing agricultural surpluses to areas of shortage.
According to Joshua Lederberg, from Rockefeller University, many experts were absolutely confident in the 1960’s that medical science had solved forever the problem of infectious diseases. But today, say the medical experts, disease is on the march and the human race is not now ready to defend itself against what is really “an unending siege by pestilence.”
A few years ago we discovered AIDS, the Ebola virus, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. None of these will be conquered easily. AIDS alone is a medical black hole that has touched the life of practically every American, and after more than a decade of intense research, still everyone who gets it dies.
According to the most recent mortality study conducted by the U.S. Centers for disease control and Prevention, AIDS is now the leading cause of death for 25 to 44 year olds and was ranked as the 8th leading cause of death overall for Americans in 1992.
AIDS, Ebola, and killer viruses are a trumpet blast from the throne of God to the spiritually deaf…YOU ARE THE TERMINAL GENERATION!
9. Earthquakes. Historians of the 15th century recorded 115 earthquakes in various places. 253 earthquakes were recorded in the 16th century. There were 378 recorded in the 17th century, 640 in the 18th, & 2,119 in the 19th. The number of earthquakes recorded has risen from 2,588 in 1983 to 4,048 in 1992.
The natural disaster that claimed the most lives in 1994 was an earthquake that struck southwestern Colombia near the border with Ecuador, killing more than 1,000 people. The quake measured 6.4 on the Richter scale & caused mudslides that buried entire villages.
The constant trembling of the earth is God’s voice speaking through nature, reminding us that we are the terminal generation.
10. As In The Days of Noah. Read Matthew 24:36-39. What characteristics marked the “days of Noah? Genesis tells us that man’s wickedness on the earth was very great and that “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).
If you open your morning paper at breakfast tomorrow, you’re likely to lose your appetite. Murders, rapes, kidnapping, assault, child abuse, spouse abuse – these are common headlines for even small town newspapers. Men are thinking evil all the time. Just as the floodwaters caught them unaware, so the end of the earth will catch these deceived sleepers. The Messiah will come, the thread of history will snap, and those who were unprepared will be caught up in the Tribulation, which is to follow.
