Carl Worline (17
Oct 2021) "The Shelf Life of the
End Times"
The
Shelf Life of the End Times
Despite
how it may seem, the End Times cannot go on forever.It has a shelf
life.Jesus
told us that all of the events of the
End Times will take place within one generation (Matt
24:34).
Although
the Bible does not specifically say that the End Times
began with the
fulfillment of the prophecy of the rebirth of Israel
(Isaiah 66:7-8),
everything that has been subsequently written about it in
the Bible certainly
seems to be predicated on that assumption.
Israel
became a nation once again on May 14, 1948, when David
Ben-Gurion, the
Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and soon
to be first Prime
Minister of Israel, stood up at 3:50 PM local time in
Independence Hall in Tel
Aviv and declared as much to the nations of the world.The clock
started running once again.
The
Bible tells us that a generation is 70 years, or as much
as 80 years if we are
strong and healthy (Psalm 90:10).If the
End Times began on May 14, 1948, and we add 80 years to
that, we arrive at a
date of May 14, 2028.However, before we
subtract 7 years from that date for the Great Tribulation
(also known as the
Time of Jacobs’ Trouble) in an attempt to establish the
latest possible date
for the rapture, we need to take something else into
consideration.
A person is not 80
years old for a single
day.When a
person reaches their eightieth
birthday, they are still considered to be 80 years old for
an entire year.The
same is true in our example above when we
attempt to establish the timeframe that is within a
generation of Israel’s
rebirth.Technically,
Israel will be in
its 80th year since its rebirth until May 14,
2029, when it will
reach its 81st birthday.
Assuming
that the rapture of the Church occurs before the period of
time known as the
Time of Jacob’s Trouble (and I am absolutely certain that
this is the case),
and assuming that this period of time is 7 years long as
the Bible tells us
(Dan 9:27), then we can expect to see the rapture take
place on or before May
14, 2029.
Just
as a side note here, isn’t it interesting how Israel was
“reborn” just as the
Christian believer must be “reborn” in order to enter the
Kingdom of God.
Let
us assume for the moment that the Great Tribulation is
precisely 7 years
long.If that
is the case, then how long
of a delay can we have before the rapture takes place in
order for all of the
End Time events to still occur within the “generation’
timeframe Jesus told us
about in Psalm 90:10??
If
we back up 7 years from May 14, 2029, we arrive at May 14,
2022.
There
is a lot of evidence to suggest that the Hebrew calendar
is off by one
month.Let us
assume for the moment that
is correct.Easter
is supposed to be on
Sunday, April 17th this year.If the
calendar is, indeed, off by one month, then Easter will
really be on Sunday,
May 15, 2022.That
is the following day
after my assumption above of the latest possible date for
the rapture to occur
and still have all End Time events happen within a
Biblical generation.
I
am suggesting here that the rapture of the church could
very well happen on
Easter Sunday, May 15, 2022, because I feel that this is
the latest it could
happen and still meet the Biblical criteria mentioned
above.
Jesus
arose from the dead on Easter Sunday almost two millennia
ago and there is an
excellent possibility He will return for His bride on the
upcoming anniversary
of that day. The
timing here is supernationally
appropriate and magnificently perfect.
After
making this prediction an interesting question presents
itself.Why
would God allow the entire time frame of
the definition of a “generation” to play out before
pulling the trigger on the
rapture??I
think I know the answer to
that question and I will suggest two possible alternatives
as to why.
According
to bioethics.georgetown.edu, 178,000 people in the world
die each day.That
works out to 7,424 people every hour or
120 people every minute.
First
of all, we are currently living in the Age of Grace and we
receive salvation as
a free gift through our belief in Jesus as our Savior. I believe that the
Age of Grace will end when
the rapture takes place and a new dispensation will begin.I strongly
suspect that God is waiting until
the very last minute in order to get the very last dying
soul through the gates
of heaven before those gates slam shut and a new
dispensation (with new rules)
begins.The
Bible does not tell us this
directly, so this is pure conjecture on my part.
Secondly,
perhaps I am wrong in my above assumption about the Age of
Grace ending and a
new dispensation beginning.Instead, perhaps
God is waiting until the very last minute before the Great
Tribulation begins
so as to get the very last dying soul through the gates of
heaven before all
hell literally breaks loose here on the earth.After all, didn’t Paul tell us that we are not
meant for tribulation (1
Thessalonians 5:9)??Would
Jesus allow even a part of His bride to
be attacked and/or beaten just before coming to get her??I think not.
I
have suggested May 15, 2022, as the date of the rapture.However, there
are also other interesting
watch dates that will pop up before then.One interesting day I am also watching is October
31/November 1.October
31st is Halloween, the
most significant high holy day (to them) of the year for
those who practice
witchcraft and worship Satan; and the day each year that
we bribe children with
candy to worship the evil one as well.Did not our Lord tell us that He will return on the
day that we least
expect him to return (Matt 24:44, Luke 12:40)??Well,
Halloween is certainly the last day I
would have chosen.Additionally,
it
would seemingly be the most appropriate day for Satan to
begin his horrible
reign of terror upon the earth.Likewise,
it seems like an appropriate time for the Sudden
Destruction mentioned in the
Bible to take place (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
Just
imagine how embarrassing it would be for a Christian to
show up at heaven’s
gate dressed as a demon, or a witch, or even as the evil
one himself.Imagine
how the parents of those children
will feel when they have to look Jesus in the eye and
explain their actions.
My
past track record for predicting the day on which the
rapture will occur has
been dismally atrocious in the past.Nevertheless, the rapture will have to occur within
the next 7 months if
Jesus’ statement in Matthew 24:34 is accurate (or so it
would seem to me).At
the rate at which major worldwide End Time
events are converging upon us and the rate at which the
lengthening shadows of
those End Time events are enveloping all of mankind, the
rapture of the church must
now be truly imminent in every sense of the word.