End Times

There are several versions of the End Times being circulated.

The most common is the End Times that has yet to come. Every major event that comes around stirs the rhetoric of the End times coming upon us. Recent events that prepared people for the end times; The war in the Middle East, Y2K, and now with Russia’s war with Ukraine. And there is no doubt the End time topic came during past World wars and many other events from the past. Ronald Wilson Reagan was believed to be the Anti-Christ with six letters in each name; seen as ‘666.’

The Orthodox Jewish faith believes it will bring about the rebuilding of the Third temple with a new Priesthood established. They have the new Priestly garments and those from the tribe of Levi ready to serve. The third and least familiar, or popular, is the End time referring to the end of the first covenant era.

The third is that the biblical end times happened in 70 AD as prophesied through the bible. Not many are aware of those events because it’s taught in few churches. You can Google ’70 AD’ and get well educated on one of the most significant events in biblical history. The ‘Book of Josephus’ is available online and describes the events in detail. Here is a link to a free download. [PDF] [EPUB] Complete Works of Josephus Download (oceanofpdf.com). 

There are several passages in the New Testament referring to the End Times that catch the attention of many new readers. The End Times is spoken of and prophesied throughout the Scriptures in the Old Testament, all pointing to a fulfillment in the New Covenant. Scripture either validates scripture or invalidates a poor teaching. Many End Time teachings take some of those passages that make a good sounding argument, but they fail to take into account passages that essentially invalidates those teachings.

So many people follow a teaching that motivates their itching ears. Their lack of understanding of the bible makes them vulnerable to inaccurate teachings. They are convinced that the Apocalypse will come with the New World Order, that will bring about the Rapture. Neither the New world order, or the Rapture are biblical words or teachings. The Apocalypse is used as a term for the end times but is actually a Greek word for ‘Revelation’ as in the ‘Revelation of Jesus Christ’ (Rev 1:1).

The Question of the day! Which one is supported accurately by scripture, and what scriptures discredit the others. Understand the End times means being aware of the ‘mysteries of the scriptures’ the Shadows before the reality, the natural before the spiritual. If not, you will misunderstand the End times. And you have to use the whole bible in context. You can’t ignore pertinent passages that discredit a theory. 

Scripture that invalidates a third Temple; Orthodox Jews are expecting to build a third temple in Jerusalem. Yet Jesus tells us that with the new covenant, there will be no need for a temple.

John 4:21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father

neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. NIV

2 Cor 6:16 For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them

and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." NIV

The next kingdom will be a spiritual Messianic kingdom. This came at Pentecost. There is no biblical mandate for a future physical temple.

Gal 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.

24 These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. NIV

Scripture that invalidates a future End Times

Matthew 24 describes the end times in detail, fulfilling Daniels prophecy of the Seventy sevens. (Dan 9)

Jesus said his disciples would witness the ‘end time’ event.

That means that the End time event has taken place in the lifetime of his Disciples.

Matt 24:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" …14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Mat 24:2 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. NIV

Gen 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 22 "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." NIV

Isa 46:9 Remember the former things, those of long ago;

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.

10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.

I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.

What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do. NIV

70 AD is the biblical End time event prophesied throughout the scriptures.

The bible is a tale of two covenants. To understand the end times, you must understand the mystery of the scriptures. The shadow before the reality; The natural before the spiritual. The End Times refers to the end to the first covenant of the works of the flesh, ushering in the New Covenant of Faith.

God brought his people out of darkness and made a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai. He dwelt among them as they traveled through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Israel turned away from God, intermarried with the Pagan nations and worshiped their Idols. His Prophets called them to repent and return to the Lord. Because of their rebellion God rejected the people of Israel and sent the people of Judah to Babylon as punishment. The Priesthood and the Temple were corrupt.

The day of the Lord

Isa 13:6Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

Joel 2:1 Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand —

Gods Judgement

Ezek 7:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. 3 The end is now upon you and I will unleash my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. 4 I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I will surely repay you for your conduct and the detestable practices among you.

Daniels prophecy points to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.

Dan 9:24 "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

25 "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."  NIV

Matt 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;

I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. NIV

Read all of Matthew 24. Jesus foretells the events leading to 70 AD fulfilling Daniel’s prophecy. The day of the Lord was at hand. Judgement has come. God was bringing an end to the covenant of sacrifice and offerings. The Gospel was sent to the nations. The abomination that causes desolation is Gods Messiah nailed to the cross. All of Jesus disciples were persecuted for their faith. Many would be forced to deny their faith or perish by Rome. He did not disclose the date.

Matt 24:1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

4 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

15 "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel — let the reader understand…

25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky  (the cross), and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

36 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.  NIV

The End time is referenced from the beginning.

The flood is referring to 70 AD. The story of Noah is symbolic of the prophecy of Daniel, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the end of the covenant of the flesh. ‘Noah’ is the Hebrew word for ‘Rest’ as in Sabbath Rest. The Sabbath was the shadow of the new covenant of faith.

Noah: OT:5146 Noach (no'-akh); rest;

Gen 5:29 He named him Noah and said, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil

of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed." NIV

Gen 6:5 The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth — men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. NIV

After the destruction of Jerusalem, God said he will never again destroy all living creatures.

Gen 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 22 "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." NIV

Gen 9:11Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." NIV

As the flood destroyed sinful man in the days of Noah, Jerusalem and the temple were burned to the ground in 70 AD. The disciples of Jesus would witness everything Jesus told them ahead of time. From his death and resurrection to the persecution of the church, to the destruction of the temple and Israel. They would remember his words as they watched the end of the age as they knew it.

2 Peter 3:7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. NIV

Israel’s Rebellion is important to understand the day of the Lord. Bringing an end to the first covenant and establishing a new covenant of faith.

2 Kings 17:13 The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: "Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets."

14 But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, "Do not do as they do," and they did the things the Lord had forbidden them to do.

16 They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. 17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

18 So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, 19 and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced. 20 Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence. NIV

2 Kings 23:24 Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. 25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did — with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

26 Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger. 27 So the Lord said, "I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, 'There shall my Name be.'" NIV

Israel’s Rebellion is important to understand the day of the Lord. Bringing an end to the first covenant and establishing a new covenant of faith.

2 Kings 21:10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets: 11 "Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. 12 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their foes, 15 because they have done evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of Egypt until this day."

2 Kings 23:24 Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. 25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did — with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

26 Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger. 27 So the Lord said, "I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, 'There shall my Name be.'" 

Revelations is parallel with the Prophecies.

Rev 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it

and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. NIV

Rev 21:1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Heb 9:26 But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. NIV

John 12:32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."

33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. NIV

Joel’s prophecy fulfilled. The giving of the Holy Spirit is given in the last days.

Acts 2:16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. NIV

Acts 3:24 "Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days.

Heb 1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. NIV

James 5:7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. 9 Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! NIV

Acts 12:1 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. NIV