“Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” – Jesus Christ, as recorded in Mark 13:35-37.
Jesus tells us all to watch for His return. We do not know when He will come; we only know that He will.
He does give us signs and many people know what they are – earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars, and so on. Often when these events occur, Christians are reminded of the Lord’s imminent return.
Stage one of Jesus’ return, the rapture, is most likely the next event on God’s prophetic calendar. For those that don’t know what the rapture is, the most vivid Biblical description of the event is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. Long story short, Jesus appears in the sky and calls home all those who truly believe in Him. Those that have died believing in Jesus before this event will be resurrected, and those still alive will be taken by God to be with Him. They will suddenly vanish.
As mentioned earlier many people know the signs of Jesus’ return and in particular the earthquakes and the wars and rumors of wars thing. One thing I like to watch, however, is the shaping of unfulfilled prophecy. If something is to happen after the rapture and we can see that event taking shape now, then the time for the rapture must be at hand.
When America went off to fight the first Gulf War people kept asking me if we were about to have Armeggedon. Obviously, we did not, and the truth is, Armeggedon will not come until at least seven years after the rapture.
However, the Bible does speak of two other battles that will occur before Armeggedon takes place. Psalm 83, Amos 1-2, and the book of Obadiah contain the events of the first of these battles. Ezekiel 38-39 describes the second. The Psalm 83 battle takes place around the time of the rapture (most likely shortly after) and the Ezekiel battle happens during the seven years between the rapture and Armeggedon.
Jesus told us to watch, and there have been several events in the news the last few weeks showing the alliances needed for Ezekiel’s battle are beginning to form. Ezekiel’s battle describes an invasion of Israel by a coalition of nations, Russia (Magog), Iran (Persia), Turkey (Togmarah), The Ukraine (Gomer), Ethiopia, and Libya. The three largest armies in this Biblical invading party have been involved heavily with each other recently.
Press reports from Russia and the Middle East are telling us Russia gave warning to Turkish President Erdogan moments before the failed coup on his country. Shortly after the coup attempt, Erdogan visited Russia and announced, “The Moscow-Ankara friendship axis will be restored.” Hey, regardless of what you thought of someone before when they save your life there is an instant elevation of respect.
Since Erdogan’s Russia visit, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, accused NATO of regarding Turkey and Russian as “second class countries.”
Also, on Aug. 23 the American Military Newspaper, “Stars and Stripes” reported that Turkey is open to Russian basing bombers at the airfield at Incirlik.
As far as Russian and Iran are concerned, only two weeks ago, Russia used the Nojeh airbase in Iran to stage airstrikes in Syria. This was the first time Iran has allowed a foreign power to use its land to launch an offensive strike against another nation.
As we can see Russian is drawing closer ties with Turkey and Iran, but that is not all; Turkey and Iran are sitting a little closer on the couch as well. In a joint press conference Aug. 12, the Foreign Ministers of Iran and Turkey agreed to boost trade relations and pledged greater cooperation in working with the situation in Syria.
There are Biblical prophecies that will happen after the rapture, and we are witnessing the puzzle pieces of those events taking their place into the puzzle. If these developments are taking shape; how much closer is the rapture?
“And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” – Jesus Christ.
