Last Revised May 2008, Posted August 10, 2010

What will be the Sign of Your Coming?

Now as Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”  

Almost two thousand years ago Jesus’ disciples asked him the question of what would be the sign of the end of the age.  Jesus gave them the answer called the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew 24.  It was a lengthy answer filled with specific information.  However, the signs he gave are often portrayed as somewhat ambiguous events that are undateable and therefore give us no certainty of the time in which we live.  Bible prophecy then becomes unclear and irrelevant and people then become complacent about the events that will soon engulf them.  Life goes on and things seem to remain the same.

However, the apostle Paul said that the time of the end should not be a surprise to those who follow Jesus and study God’s Word.  

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.  (1 Thessalonians 5:4)

Being caught off guard then is not what God has intended for us because he has always given times concerning his judgments.  A few good examples are the Flood of Noah, the servanthood in Egypt, the wandering in the wilderness, the Babylonian Captivity, and even the time in which Jesus would be crucified.  God has always let his people know, if they were willing to listen, when the time would come.  So the disciples asked Jesus and he gave them a sign as to when the end of the age would begin.

The first sign given concerning the end of the age was world war.  Jesus spoke of wars and rumors of wars, but then there would be world war--nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom.  This shift in scope started with World War I and therefore it must be the sign of the end of the age.   From our standpoint this seems like a long time ago to be a relevant sign, but it simply shows that we are now many years closer to the return of Christ than in 1914.  

The question then is how long is this time of birth pains or warning period of the end of the age?  When we begin to think of all that has occurred in the world since 1914, we begin to see that it was the beginning of our present modern age—an age of international strife that has only grown more complex with the catalyst of anti-Semitism to ignite the whole mess.  It is out of this time that we have seen world wars and the return of the Jews to Israel.  In the end it will all come together just as Jesus had said.


The First Sign—the Time of World War
World War I - 1914

The significance of World War I, therefore, cannot be ignored, dismissed, or under estimated.  World War I was declared on the Jewish calendar day of the 9th of Av (August 1, 1914).  The Germans and Russians declared war on each other, starting the plurality of nations rising against each other.  They joined Austria-Hungary who declared war on Serbia on July the 28th. Now it was a plurality of nations—and the list would grow.

The 9th of Av is the anniversary day in which Solomon and Herod’s temples were both destroyed by the Babylonians and Romans respectively in 587 BC and AD 70.  It is the most sorrowful day on the Jewish calendar and many other events have occurred on this day.   This day first came to be a time of mourning when the twelve spies returned from their forty-day mission of spying out the land of Canaan for Israel and Moses.  Ten of the twelve put fear into the hearts of Israel and Israel rebelled because they lacked confidence in God.   However, there is another “coincidence” to 1914.

The time of the 9th of Av in 1914 is 2,520 years from the time in which King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Kingdom of Judah in the spring of 606 BC.  Why is it 2,520 years?  The first way to arrive at this number is to examine Daniel chapters 2 and 4.  For seven years or 2,520 days (7 times 360) , God made Nebuchadnezzar insane possibly to represent the length of time the Gentile kings would rule over Israel and trample her.  It is interesting that out of World War I came the way for Jews to return to Israel.  The year of 1914 then is a landmark year that started the beginning of the end, the sign that Jesus gave.  But that was only the beginning of the signs—the contractions of the labor process had begun.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.  (Matthew 24:7-8)

World War I was therefore the start point of the signs of the end.  The war would come to its zenith in 1917 with the entry of most nations of the world into the war.  The United States did not enter until that year.  From this time of 1914 the world had entered a new era.


Hanukkah in Jerusalem – 1917

On Hanukkah of 1917 something happened that should have caught a lot of peoples’ attention.  Jerusalem was handed over by the Turks to the British without a shot being fired.  This was accomplished by dropping pamphlets from the sky with General Allenby’s name on them.  His name being similar to Allah’s and a prophecy in the Koran led to the easy surrender.  On December 11, 1917, General Allenby walked into the City of Jerusalem after the victory, opening the way for a Jewish homeland.  It was Kislev the 26th and on the eve that begins the day of gift giving, and how appropriate that was.

Just prior to this moment of time, the Balfour Declaration had been made in November of 1917 to pave the way for a Jewish homeland.  Twenty years earlier in 1897, the Zionist movement had begun in a desire to go back to Israel.  The spark behind the Balfour Declaration was a scientist who was Jewish and a Zionist.  Chaim Weizmann, a chemist and director of Admiralty Labs, synthesized acetone, which was needed at the munitions plant.  His process helped Britain in World War I and he therefore made many political contacts. In their appreciation, Britain wanted to grant the scientist’s desire for a Jewish homeland.  Chaim Weizmann would later become the first Israeli president in 1949.

With Jerusalem being handed over in such a way on Hanukkah, it cannot be a coincidence, but another sign pointing to the final blessed status of Jerusalem some years later.


The Rise of Hitler & Anti-Semitism - 1933

However, after 1917 the usual problems occurred like we have seen today with a Jewish homeland—namely that the neighboring Moslems are anti-Jew and also the failure of diplomats.  The end result was that immigration was not as easy as it should have been for what would be needed.  It was needed because in January of 1933 the rise of Hitler began when he became Chancellor of Germany, and he became Dictator only two months later.  With a rapid pace he tried to restore the former glory of Germany at the expense of everyone else--especially the Jews.  The pivotal date of 1933 happened to land exactly on Passover day.  It was on April 11, 1933 that the laws were passed for the restoration to the Germans and the defining of who a Jew was.  The rest is of course history, but it is a history lesson that the world is quickly forgetting or has already forgotten. Many even deny it ever occurred, but yet embrace its methodology.

Though not the Antichrist in any shape or form, Hitler was a wicked man and he bought into the big lie--the hatred of God’s people.  Through his evil the world would erupt yet again into world war.  It is said World War II was simply an extension of World War I.  That is very interesting because this time of 1933 is also 2,520 years from a significant moment in Jewish history like 1914 was.

That moment of history was 587 BC--the time that Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed by the Babylonians.   As was previously mentioned, this occurred on the 9th of Av in 587 BC.   The rise of Hitler and World War I are therefore linked to the conquering of the Southern Kingdom of Israel (Judah) by king Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians.  It is a parallel of connections to similar events that brought judgment to the Jews.


The Babylonian Connection-- 606 & 587 BC

It actually all began prior to King Saul’s coronation as king of Israel in 1096 BC.  God had told Israel that they were to have no king like the other nations.  The reason was that kings put heavy tax burdens on their subjects since they would build large palaces and try to imitate the neighboring countries’ expensive policies.  Strangely enough God was right and He would end up invoking Leviticus 25 and 26 with respect to the Sabbath year.

I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.  Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.  As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—for the time it did not rest on your Sabbaths when you dwelt in it. (Leviticus 26:33-35)

Once Israel had a king they did not observe the Sabbath until it was too late.  After 490 years it was enough and God would make sure that the land of Israel would rest again.  The year of 606 BC is 490 years after the coronation of Saul in 1096 BC and now God would require seventy years of rest.

To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.  (2 Chronicles 36:21)

The seventy years would be two-pronged.  In 606 BC the first exile would begin with the “cream of the crop” going to Babylon.  This first exile included Daniel, who would later reveal some of the most significant prophecies concerning the times of the Gentiles and its effect on the Jews.  He was part of the seventy year Babylonian captivity.  Nineteen years later king Nebuchadnezzar would march to Jerusalem and destroy it in 587 BC.   This would begin the seventy years of desolations for Jerusalem.  For seventy years it would lie in ruin.

But why would there be two periods of seventy? The first seventy years were to serve Nebuchadnezzar, but if the Jews did not serve him, then their holy city would be destroyed.  

“And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says the Lord, with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.” (Jeremiah 27:8)

“But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” (Jeremiah 38:18)

This two-pronged judgment of Israel is therefore connected in parallel to the signs of World Wars I and II by 2,520 years.  The first prong was more of a warning, but it was the second prong that brought the ruin in both cases for the Jewish people.  The destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC and the Nazi persecution starting in 1933 are indeed moments of Jewish history to be considered seriously.
God though is a loving God and ended each of the seventy-year periods associated with Babylon.  Babylon would be destroyed and the next Gentile kingdom of the Medes and Persians would assist the Jews to return to the Land of Israel.   But the return would be a far cry from the way things were before.  The rebuilt temple was inferior to Solomon’s and the Jews mostly stayed in the countries they had been exiled to by the Babylonians.  As Daniel revealed it would still be the time of the Gentile kingdoms until the Kingdom Age of the Messiah—the stone cut without human hands.

This is why Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel’s visions are so important for understanding the rise and fall of kingdoms until the time Jesus comes to establish his kingdom.  On the diagram in the back of the book, The Times of the Gentiles, there is the listing of the following kingdoms.  First there was Babylon, which according to God began in 606 BC since it was the end of Israel and the beginning of the time Jerusalem would be trampled by the Gentiles.  The other empires were the Medes and Persians, then the Greeks, then the Romans, then a divided Rome, then the pieces of Rome that would war with each other, and then the still future empire of Rome that divides the world into ten kingdoms.  So this will be the stage for the Antichrist—the final gentile ruler to trample Jerusalem.
Understanding this sets the stage for the next two timelines that come from the end of the seventy years.  The sign from these timelines was again one mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24.  Of course it should not be surprising to find out that Jesus knew what he was talking about.


The Second Sign - The Regathering of Israel
The Parable of the Fig Tree

In Matthew 24, after Jesus gave the sign that world war would begin the birthing process of the end of the age, he speaks of the events of the Tribulation and the Abomination of Desolation mentioned in Daniel chapter 9.  He then concludes it with the sign of His coming at the end of the Tribulation.  However, he then gives another sign that precedes the coming events of the Tribulation.  It is the parable of the fig tree.

“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 very doors.  Assuredly, I say unto you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”  (Matthew 24:32-35)

There are many debates as to what the fig tree represents.  Most would identify the symbolism with the nation of Israel.  Other views have included the teaching of God’s Word (Torah) by the Jews or that it simply represents the events Jesus spoke about.  Maybe the best solution is to look at Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree in Jerusalem just prior to this discourse on the Mount of Olives.
On the day of the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), Jesus cursed a fig tree since it had no fruit for him, but it was merely out of season.  The best account is given in Mark 11:12-21 to see the chronology.  The fig tree is cursed on the very day Jesus was presented to Israel as the unblemished lamb on the 10th of Nisan AD 32.  However, he was rejected and wept over Jerusalem that day because Israel missed the time and was now blinded.   So the fig tree was cursed in like manner as a symbolism of what was happening that day.  There was nothing wrong with the fig tree in itself since it was simply out of season.  What was lacking was the fruit of Israel.

So Jesus’ parable, it seems, speaks of Israel coming back to the land first, but the fruit of it will not come until the time of the summer harvest.  The generation upon which the Tribulation is coming will then see Israel reestablished as a nation before the Tribulation.  It only makes sense to set the stage.  This then is the second set of signs.


Israel is Reborn - 1948

The Jews obtained an official homeland on May 14, 1948 with the creation of the State of Israel.  Out of the ashes of World War II came the Jews as depicted in the book of Ezekiel chapters 36 and 37. Much like the withered fig tree, the dried up bones of Israel came together to form an army after all hope had been lost after Israel’s dispersion into the nations.  No other nation destroyed like Israel had ever come back from the graveyard of nations, but they did.

Turning one’s attention then to the book of Ezekiel chapter 4, there is an odd command of God for Ezekiel to lay siege against a model of Jerusalem.  It was to be a sign to Jerusalem of its coming judgment by the Babylonians in 587 BC.  Ezekiel then goes on to record:

Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it.  According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity.  For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.  And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year. (Ezekiel 4:4-6)

Ezekiel, therefore, is to lie on one side for 390 days and the other side for 40 days--each day to represent a year. When Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 BC it would put the division of Israel at its 390th year and put the prophetic office of Jeremiah to Judah at forty years. Jeremiah 25 provides the chronology for Jeremiah, which demonstrates that he had forty years to warn Judah. With Saul being crowned king in 1096 BC and knowing the first three kings reigned 120 years, the division of the Kingdom of Israel came at 976 BC making the summer of 587 BC the 390th year. These numbers of Ezekiel help identify the time of the Destruction of Jerusalem.

However, the context does not specify this exact correlation though it works mathematically. One problem is that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed earlier in 721 BC, which would come to 255 years—not the full 390 years. Instead there may be a greater purpose to these years and that is why some have looked to a prophetic application following the destruction of Jerusalem—that is to start counting the 430 years from the time of judgment. Since 70 of the 430 years were fulfilled by the Babylonian Captivity and the Desolations of Jerusalem, this left 360 years remaining in the balance after each period.  It seems that God then multiplied their remaining 360 years by seven according to the book of Leviticus.

And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will yet punish you seven times for your sins. (Leviticus 26:23-24)

 
This then would equal 2,520 years (7 times 360), which is similar to those that led up to 1914 and 1933.  The amazing thing is that their 70-year captivity  that transpired in 537 BC until the time of May 14, 1948 is 2,520 years.  The time then of God walking contrary to Israel had come to a close with the establishment of Israel as a nation once again. Therefore, Israel’s return occurred twice with a separation of 2,520 years.  

The fig tree was springing to life, just as Jesus foretold.  Amazingly it occurred 2,520 years after they had returned from Babylon.  This then is a similar time span from Babylon to the time of the birth pains just like the first signs of World Wars I and II. However, the sign of Ezekiel is tied directly to the Destruction and Desolations of Jerusalem that ran from 587 BC to 518 BC. This then points to the most significant event for Israel in the 20th Century.


Jerusalem in Israeli Hands - 1967

The next major event was the Six-Day-War of June 7, 1967, where against all odds—Israel defeated her enemies who vastly outnumbered her.  The Islamic enemies of Israel had tried to destroy them, but Israel only obtained more land and still possesses these lands as of today—the lands taken from their aggressors.  It is on this very day that Israel gained full control of Jerusalem. The Old City and the Temple Mount were now in Jewish hands.

However, a few days after June 7th, Moshe Dayan relinquished control of the Temple Mount to the Wakf.   He was scared in a way much like the twelve spies of long ago.  The report of the spies to Moses led to Israel’s rebellion and they were then condemned to forty years in the wilderness to die.  This was to kill all who were twenty or older to make way for a generation that would go in and seize the land.  Joshua and Caleb were the only exceptions.  There is more to be learned on this later.

This day of June 7, 1967 comes at 2,520 360-day years or 907,200 days after rebuilding began on the second temple in 518 BC.  This time of 518 BC marked the end of the 70 years of the desolations of Jerusalem, which began in 587 BC.   Another interesting point is that 1967 occurred 50 years after Jerusalem was handed to the British to supposedly give it to the Jews in 1917 (fifty years is the length of one Jubilee).  In 1967 the opportunity was there again, but Israel was not ready. Most importantly, Jerusalem was regained twice and again there is the separation of 2,520 years as derived from Ezekiel chapter 4. June 7, 1967 was another date of a sign with precise timing. However, all of these signs have been minimized by most as to their importance for the coming time.

This sign of Jerusalem then completed the second timeline, which speaks of return and restoration.  Like the return under Cyrus in 537 BC, the return in 1948 was incomplete and one of unbelief.  Like 518 BC and the rebuilding of the temple, so was 1967 and the gaining of Jerusalem—there was much left to be desired.  It looked like a great thing, but the full manifestation of it was yet to come.  These events were signs of things to come as Jesus had said on the Mount of Olives (please see the chart—Parallels of Judgment and Restoration).

The question then must be answered if it is indeed legitimate to base any conclusions from these signs.  These signs were given by Jesus to anticipate the final hour, but it is frequently said that we cannot determine that hour.  On one hand it seems that Jesus said no one knows the day, but on the other hand we are told to watch and be prepared.  What is the answer?



Footnotes -

in conversion from formats, number placement has been lost for the time.

That World War I is the sign of the end of the age is presented very well in Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s book, Footsteps of the Messiah, on pages 61 to 64.  The term of “nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom” is understood by the Jewish Rabbis as being a total conflagration of the area. When Jesus speaks his context is of the entire world, so the conflagration is a worldwide war—the first being World War I.  This term is used in Isaiah 19 and 2 Chronicles 15.

On this date Spain expelled the Jews in 1492 and England expelled the Jews in 1290. Also Simeon Bar Cochba’s army was destroyed in AD 135 and the Roman Army salted Jerusalem in AD 71.  The first event was when the twelve spies returned with their report of giants in the land in 1491 BC and Israel lost her faith and was sentenced to forty years in the wilderness to kill off that generation.

Numbers 13-14. They then served out forty years for forty days.

Christians of 1878 did this, but converted the 365-day years into 360-day years (2,520 times 360 divided by 365.2422 equals approximately 2,484 years.  AD 1878 plus 606 BC equals 2,484 years), but Jesus did not return.  The Jehovah’s Witnesses dropped the conversion and came up with 1914, but again no Jesus.  Jesus though could not come back until there was first a world war and it was only this that occurred in 1914.

587 BC plus AD 1933 equals 2,520 years.  To also clarify an issue here one should notice that no year “0” (there was never a year AD 0, or 0 BC) would place 1914 and 1933 at 2,519 completed years and into the 2,520th year.  All of the 2,520 calendar year timelines point to the 2,520th year.  The fact that these first two cycles use a 365.2422-day cycle instead of a converted 360-day cycle (as will be seen) suggests that God has deliberately set up separate timepieces to synchronize events.  

 Those familiar with Hebrew chiastic structure will also notice an A, B, B, A structure. 606 BC was in the spring, 587 BC on the 9th of Av, 1914 on the 9th of Av, and 1933 in the spring—Passover.

2 Chronicles 36:23.

Daniel 2:34.

Luke 19:41-44. Calculated out from the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus to rebuild Jerusalem on March 14, 445 BC, Daniel’s 69th Week (69 x 7 = 483 years at 360 days per year) ended precisely on this day of Nisan 10 or April 6, AD 32.  The Day count is demonstrated on the chart of the Times of Jesus Christ. Jesus in this passage of Luke seems to be holding Israel accountable for this on this very day of his Triumphal Entry.

There are many passages in the Old Testament referring to fig trees and vines.  Hosea 9:10, Joel 1:7.  Some say the vine typifies Israel and others say it is also the fig tree.   It seems that both are used and it is not an issue of one or the other.  The pomegranate is also found alongside the vine and fig tree passages sometimes, as well as other trees.  See Luke 19:29.

The captivity was seventy 360-day years, which equals 25,200 days.  This converted to 365.2422-day years is 68.995 years, which is about two days shy of 69 solar years.  This is why the captivity went from 606 to 537 BC.

To be consistent then with the fact that the seventy years were converted, we must convert them here.  2,520 360-day years would be 907,200 days.  Converted to 365.2422 day years would be 2483 years and 303 days. 537 BC plus 1948 equals 2484 years (remember: no year “0”).  If this new sentence started on July 16, 537 BC it would end 907,200 days later on May 14, 1948.

Moshe thought this would keep peace between Jews and Arabs. He believed that neither the rabbis nor the Orthodox wanted to go there anyway. Some feared they might desecrate a holy place. Others didn't see the need for a temple since they had spiritualized the temple away by saying the spiritual principle of obedience to the Torah is more relevant than the institution of the Temple.  

The desolations were seventy 360-day years, which equals 25,200 days.  This converted to 365.2422-day years is 68.995 years, which is about two days shy of 69 solar years.  This is why the desolations went from 587 to 518 BC.