PASTOR FRED S END TIME MESSAGE
There have been prognosticators of the end of the world since the beginning of time. I personally have seen many calls of the end of the age that have not come to pass. For example the millennium bug was supposed to usher in the end time and start chaos. There have been many calls among religious leaders for the return of Christ at specific times in past ages. God says this, about that
Matthew 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Jesus said no one would know. Why doesn’t the world listen to Jesus. Jesus did say this and I think this is important for us.
Mark 13:28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: 29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. 30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
We are told that, at the time that this starts that that generation will not pass away before all that has been prophesied to happen will come to pass
33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
The subject that I would like to focus on today is found in
Matthew 24.3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
WE do not know the exact time and I will not attempt to give an exact time. But we are admonished to watch and be aware of the time and season.
1 Thessalonians 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
We are commanded to watch and pay attention. God gives us many clues to when this generation will be the last generation before Christ comes. I would like to look at these clues today and point out a couple of things you may or may not be aware of. First off lets look at what God says would be a clue to when Christ would return.
Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
God says at the time of the end that knowledge is increased. That is certainly true but that could have been said of the last hundred years. It also says that many will run to and fro. That also could have been fulfilled in the last hundred years with the advent of the airplane. Knowledge is also increasing at an astronomical rate and we are traveling faster and faster, but there are some other components that will give us clues to when this generation is the last generation so God’s people will know that they are the last generation before the return of Christ.
Matthew 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
This verse says that there is a time in which man might be able to annihilate all life on earth. Only since 1945 has this been a possibility.
If we look back at the verse in Daniel again it says the words were sealed up till the time of the end. That means that in the last generation they will be unsealed. In this sermon I am going to borrow from a document that Jim Rector did. I have researched this information on the web and found much of the information there, but I hate to duplicate work, so since Jim Rector has correlated the information together it was easier for me to borrow from His work. I found that some of the information was easy to corroborate and some of it I found somewhat questionable. However There was enough information that I found credible for me to think it was worth looking at and that I should present it.
It is interesting that more than any other topic people want to know about the end of the age. What people should be worried about is how to be in the kingdom of God. I think they want to know when the end of the age will come so they know how long they have to party before they have to get serious for God. Anyway I would like to talk about the year 2012. It is not significant in the mainstream religion and not many people are aware of it. What makes it so interesting to me is that this year is predicted anciently. Let me explain. After the flood the nations were formed. They were the children of Noah. One of these nations was the ancient Sumerians.
Gen. 10: 6, 8-12. And the sons of Ham; Cush, Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan...And Cush begat NIMROD: he began to be a MIGHTY ONE in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before (Heb. in place of): wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel (Babylon), and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of SHINAR (SUMER). Out of that land went forth Asshur (Heb. He went forth out of that land into Assyria), and built Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city”
These cities in the ancient land of Samaria were the seat of Nimrod’s empire. We have the record of the sumarians recorded on numerous clay tablets. The land of Samaria was a large area that included these cities. in addition to Babylon, the following major cities will be found: Eridu, Kish, Uruk, Ur, Sippar, Nippur, Adab, Umma, Lagash, Larsa, Eshnunna, Shaduppum, Isin, Jemdet Nasr, and Shuruppak. Ur, of course, is well known to believers, because it was the home of Abraham
What is so fascinating about these Samarians is that they have written a record of a twelfth planet. They called this planet Nibiru. According to the Sumerian texts, the planet Nibiru has a widely elliptical orbit of some 3,600 years in length. In other words, one year on Nibiru is equal to 3,600 earth years. The planet’s orbit is far greater than any of the nine celestial bodies that comprise our solar system. What makes this interesting is that it directly relates to events that took place in the Bible, 3600 years ago.
Two of the most critical aspects of the Sumerian creation epic are that the close proximity of Nibiru to the earth always produces an extended period of great cosmic and seismic upheaval and destruction, and, according to the calculations, the planet Nibiru made its last flyby of the earth in or around the year 1587 B.C., and thus its 3,600 year orbit will effect its return in the year that appears in the title of this article, namely 2012 A.D.
Many of the ancients were aware, for instance, that the earth is round (the Bible itself speaks of this truth over 2,000 years before the time of Christopher Columbus,
Isaiah 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
They also understood that the solar system is heliocentric (Sun-centered), rather than geocentric (earth-centered) And, as incredible as it may seem, even the most antiquated of the old cultures, the Sumerians themselves, knew that there were not only multiple planets in the solar system, but also that there were precisely 12 such astral bodies in the group. Now if the number 12 sounds ridiculous, we should take note that the Sumerians counted both the sun and the moon in their figures.
At this time there are only nine planets that are recognized by science. This, of course, begs the question, Is there actually an additional planet in our solar system beyond the nine with which we are all familiar? And the answer, believe it or not, may well be YES!!
In the early 1980 s, articles attesting to the new finding appeared in major newspapers, including both the New York Times and the Washington Post. The Post story, in fact, began in the following manner:
“AT SOLAR SYSTEM’S EDGE GIANT OBJECT IS A MYSTERY - A heavenly body possibly as large as the giant planet Jupiter and possibly so close to Earth that it would be a part of this solar system has been found in the direction of the constellation Orion by an orbiting telescope called the IRAS. So mysterious is the object that astronomers do not know if it is a planet, a giant comet, a protostar that never got hot enough to become a star, a distant galaxy so young that it is still in the process of forming its first stars, or a galaxy so shrouded in dust that none of the light cast by its stars ever gets through.”
I have went on the web and much of what is there is false. However there is enough credible evidence that suggest that NASA and others are aware that some anomaly is out there.
With that in mind and if the Samarians are correct about it’s orbit, then the date 2012 is significant. Next lets look at the ancient Mayans.
Because the Mayan calendar is based so carefully upon the unchanging movements of the heavenly bodies, it became the most accurate the world has ever known, including those extant today. The Mayan secular calendar records 3-dimensional time based on a 360-day cycle (18 x 20) known as the Long Count. The Long Count consists of 13 baktuns of 144,000 days each (5,200 cycles of 360 days), totaling 5,125 solar years. Interestingly, this specific period of time is precisely 1/5 of a Great Cycle, which, consists of 25,625 years (often rounded off to simply 26,000). The time period of the precession of the equinoxes, therefore, was divided by the ancients in to five equal parts, each one 5,125 years in length. They were known simply as ages.
When the Mayan calendar was discovered, archeologists were shocked at what they saw, because the final date on their calendar was December 21, 2012 A.D.!! At this near future point, the Earth will have returned to its starting point in the completion of a Great Cycle. The Mayans referred to this time as the death of the fifth Sun, or the end of the fifth division of the precessional cycle.
Most of the ancient cultures, including the Mayan and Aztec, held a firm belief that a great catastrophe transpired at or near the end of each Earth age. In fact, the Greek word aion, so familiar to most Bible students, is actually defined as the time period between the catastrophes. Simple mathematics tells us that the current age in which we live, and which the Mayan calendar clearly predicts will conclude in the year 2012 A.D., began some 5,125 years ago. That starting date would then be 3114 B.C., or certainly within the 3100 B.C. era
According to numerous archeologists and other related scientists today, the date 3114 B. C., give or take a few years, is the very time when construction of most of the great stone circles or rings in the British Isles and parts of Europe commenced, including the world-famous Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain, Castlerigg in Cumbria, the Stennes Stones in the Orkney Islands, Newgrange in Ireland, the great circles at Silbury Hill, and those at Marlborough Downs, along with the monuments at Avebury. Experts to this very day are at a loss to fully explain the sudden appearance of these strange megalithic structures, representing a dramatic break with any known earlier form of architecture.
The ancient people have several different names for this strange planet. The ancient Sumerians called it Nibiru, the Babylonians by the name of Marduk. In the Hebrew Scriptures, it is referred to as Merodach. Today, our sophisticated astronomers have given it the simple, yet somewhat eerie sci-fi title of Planet X. However it is known, it is real, it has been around for a long, long time, and it is coming back again!
You will recall that, according to the Sumerians, Akkadians, and early Babylonians, the planet Nibiru moved in a very elliptical 3,600 year orbit around our Sun, taking it well outside the solar system for much of its journey. It is scheduled to return in the year 2012 A.D., meaning that its last close fly-by of the Earth occurred in the era of 1587 B.C. What happened at that time in history.
When God set His hand to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, He accomplished it in a way that left no doubt whatsoever that it was by His mighty hand that this thing was done. What I am saying is that the difficulties which befell Egypt during that ancient, but critical time, were experienced, observed, heard, recorded, or otherwise known by an amazing array of witnesses across the face of the Earth. Indeed, Dr. Velikovsky ably demonstrates in his Worlds in Collision! that the unprecedented events preceding, accompanying, and following the Exodus were felt not only in Egypt and Canaan, but all around the entire world! What transpired to bring about the incredible upheavals of that era was an outside force that affected the whole planet. This is why the Eternal utilized the close fly-by of an actual heavenly object to the Earth. This would have been the sort of thing, the magnitude of which could easily be responsible for a worldwide catastrophe of this caliber!
We can see what happened in the past, What is to happen in the future?
Matt. 24:29-30. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the Earth mourn”
Jesus said these things would happen. They are heavenly signs. There are a couple of things that tie this date 2012 to the Bible that are fascinating.
We read in the book of Daniel, chapter 8, of a vision received by the prophet concerning a ram and a male goat. We are told that the ram was representative of the Medo-Persian empire, and the goat that of Greece. The record continues, making reference to Alexander the Great and the four generals who divided the kingdom after his death, and speaks particularly of one who would arrive on the scene and cast down the sanctuary and take away the daily sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem. This could well have been fulfilled anciently by Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
Now we come to the critical portion of this prophecy, where we read in Daniel 8,
Dan. 8:12-14, 26 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spoke, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed...And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut you up the vision; for it shall be for many days”
This passage is often referred to simply as the 2300 Days Prophecy, since that particular figure plays the major role in the story. Like a number of Bible predictions, this one may well have a dual or multiple fulfillment, that is to say, an earlier historical meaning, as well as a more specific end-time application. When this is the case, the day-for-a-year principle (Ezek. 4:6; Num. 14:34) is usually intended to be utilized with at least one of the fulfillments.
If we take the Daniel 8 prophecy from its beginning and apply the 2300 days in the form of 2300 years, we should arrive at the correct timing for the accomplishment of the prediction. This is a direct reference to the clash between the Persian forces under the leadership of king Darius III and the armies of Alexander the Great of Macedon. This signal military encounter is known in history as the Battle of the Granicus River, and it was fought in May of 334 B.C. This gives us our starting point for calculating the prophecy.
If we therefore add 2,300 to the date of 334 B.C., adding one year to the total since there is no actual year “0", we arrive at the precise point in time of 1967 A.D.
Please recall that this prophecy has everything to do with the Temple in Jerusalem, or at least with the area where the Temple should be. This area is generally known simply as the Temple Mount. From God’s perspective, when the 2,300 days are fulfilled, the sanctuary is considered to have been cleansed. Therefore, we should be looking for a very significant event occurring in Israel, more particularly in the city of Jerusalem, and even more specifically with regard to the Temple Mount itself and the year 1967 A.D.
I am certain that not a single person here has any doubt as to what historical event meets the preceding criteria. We all know precisely what transpired in 1967, With respect to the prophecy we are discussing, the territory that most concerns us is the Temple Mount itself, which heretofore had been in Arab hands, and which was taken over by Israel at the conclusion of the Six-Day War, thus completing precisely 2,300 years from the Battle of the Granicus River in 334 B.C., the starting point of the Daniel 8 vision. The year 1967 stands out as one of the most specific demonstrable dates in fulfilled Bible prophecy!
Now that we have established a Scriptural connection to the year 1967, we need to consult the book of Daniel, where we are given three sets of numbers that have presented Bible students with difficult problems over the years. Those figures are 1260 days, 1290 days, and 1335 days. Every possible explanation has, it seems, been given for these enigmatic numbers. The answers truly run the gamut! It is quite likely that you have heard a number of these possible prophetic scenarios.
Although I am certainly not going to claim that what I am about to propose is the absolute, definitive answer to the numerical problems presented in the book of Daniel, I do believe that the following information is at least worthy of consideration. In Daniel 12, we read these words:
Dan. 12:6-7, 11-12 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen...when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him that lives forever that it shall be for a TIME, TIMES, AND HALF A TIME; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished...And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY DAYS. Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE DAYS”
The phrase time, times, and half a time, is simply a somewhat cryptic way of saying a year, two years, and half a year, or a total of 3 ½ years, also expressed in several other places as 42 months and/or 1260 days. The other two numbers, 1290 and 1335 occur only once in Scripture and only in this particular verse.
If we consider as years all of these figures which are stated by Daniel in terms of days, we are looking at some rather long periods of time. If we view the years as being continuous, then that time frame becomes even longer.
Going back into history, we find that the most authoritative sources agree that Nebuchadnezzar’s final campaign against the nation of Judah occurred in 584 B.C., two years after the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem. It was during this time that the Temple was completely sacked by the invading Chaldeans, and the booty transmitted to Babylon.
If we utilize this specific date, 584 B.C. as the starting point for our calculations, and add 1260 years to our beginning figure, we arrive at the year 677 A.D. I am sure the first question anyone might have with regard to this date is what possible significance could such an obscure year have concerning Bible prophecy for the end-time?
A closer look, however, may give us reason to pause and reconsider this date. Why? Because, believe it or not, it has a great deal of importance with respect to Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the so-called abomination of desolation. Remember that Daniel 12:11 associates the 1,290 days/years with the abomination that makes desolate.
In 660 A.D., the Umayyad Caliphate gained the ascendency under the leadership of Caliph Mu’awiya I. The capital was then moved to Damascus, Syria. Mecca and Medina were considered the two holiest sites in all of Islam, and this remains so to this day, but a third was added during the reign of Mu’awiya I, and that, of course, was Jerusalem.
This was only enhanced by the legend from the Koran that Muhammad was taken at night by the angel Gabriel from Medina to Jerusalem, from whence he arose into heaven. The exact site of his supposed ascension is called Haram al Sharif, and it is located on the Temple Mount, presumably the very rock upon which the Romans had placed the statue of Jupiter Olympus, and where the two earlier Temples of the Jews had stood.
In 677 A.D., the first plans for what would become the Dome of the Rock were completed, and a small model was constructed on the Temple Mount, presumably at the very locale of the ancient Holy of holies in the inner sanctum of the Temple. The actual building was completed some 10-12 years later.
I could not find confirmation of this anywhere. I do not know where Jim Got his information from. I’m sure that he would not use this date if there wasn’t credible historical evidence. To continue,
The erection of this shrine was a horrific insult to God, who claimed Jerusalem for Himself and His people. The Temple Mount had been the most sacred place in the history of Israel from at least the time of King David. Now, it had been desecrated by the followers of Muhammad.
This event transpired precisely 1,260 years from the final Babylonian defeat of Judea in 584 B.C., but how long would the Almighty permit the Islamic forces to control the Temple Mount? Remember that there are two more prophetic numbers given to Daniel and recorded in chapter 12 of his writing. Note once again what is said:
“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the ABOMINATION THAT MAKES DESOLATE set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days” (Dan. 12:11).
Please do not get confused over the fact that I am referring to the Dome of the Rock as the abomination of desolation. As I stated earlier, it is a form of or one of the fulfillments of the abomination. We certainly are aware that there have been others, such as the desecrations unleashed by Antiochus Epiphanes, and later by the Romans under Titus.
Taking our current date of study, namely 677 A.D., as the starting point to count the 1290 days, again utilizing a day-for-a-year principle, we would simply add the two numbers together, and arrive once again at that most significant date of 1967 A.D, the precise year that Israel regained control of the Temple Mount as a part of their overwhelming victory in the Six-Day War!! How remarkable that two separate Bible prophecies with completely different symbols and figures, but yet concerning the same event are able to be correctly calculated and come out to the exact same year - 1967 A.D.!
Now that we have established the significance of this particular year, what does it mean? After all, at this point in time, we are well beyond 1967, so how can any of this have importance for us today? Of course, you are probably well ahead of me by now, because there is a third number in Daniel 12 with which we have not yet dealt. It is in verse 12, and reads as follows:
“Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.”
Notice that there are 45 days or years between the previous figure of 1290 and the one in verse 12, which is 1,335. Daniel is told that those who wait until the 1,335th year arrives will be blessed. The wording of this passage makes it clear that we are not to add 1,335 more days or years to the 1,290 figure, but that we simply continue to count from 1,290 until we reach 1,335. Doing the arithmetic is pretty simple at this stage. The 1,290th year is 1967 A.D. Adding 45 to that number brings us to, of all possible time periods, the year 2012 A.D.!!!
There are Bible prophecies that tell us that only in this day and time can we know when the end of the age will occur. Is this the end of the age? I do not know but I think there is enough credible evidence to be aware of it. We have an admonishment from God about this time.
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
