The Iminent End of the World as we Know it.

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Aug 25, 2016 at 05:04

Hi, Tovey.

I had to look up "antithetical", just to be sure I sort of understood what you said, in,

"It just seems antithetical to hear conservative Jewish thinking dismiss Lamentations..."'

Are you saying it's queer, that Jews don't base their thinking on what the Bible says? Isn't the Bible chockablock with stories about Jews going way off base, both as individuals and as a people? Isn't history full of instances of Jews doing the darndest things (viz Noam Chomsky, George Soros and Karl Marx)? I've already commented here, that some of Israel's worst enemies are Jews. As a friend of mine once said,

"Jews are humans too, only more so."

Moving on... You said,

"Zephaniah tells us in chapters two and three that nations are being brought to the Middle East for their day(s) of reckoning; and the guano of the birds of prey that will feast on the remains should be the message coming out of Syria as the dead lay in the tens of hundreds, even thousands. But who is considering that? From all appearances, not too many are; thus the confrontation appears set to reach the ultimate conclusion as you have observed and the Word of the LORD has promised."

First, I'd better check Zephaniah...

Zeph. 1
[1] The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
[2] I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
[3] I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.

Now I need to check when that was written:

"The book's superscription attributes its authorship to "Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah" (641–609 BCE)"

-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Zephaniah

That makes him a "Pre-Exilic" prophet, so I'm not surprized I know so little about him. Whenever I see warnings of coming doom and destruction by pre-Exilic types, such as Jonah and Isaiah, I ascribe that to being about the exile of the Jews to Assyria and Babylon in the 6th century BC. They may have a more universal meaning; but they usually can't unambiguously be said to refer to our time. You and I have gone over this once or twice before.

I DO, however, pay close attention to post-Exilic prophecies, such as Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Matthew and Revelation. Taken together, not only do they speak in detail about things happening today; but they also seem to reveal a time-frame.

I could go into detail, but suffice to say that I calculate Messiah's ETA (expected time of arrival) at around early in 2028. I have worked out a plausible scenario of how this will unfold; and to the possible dismay of many readers, I don't envision either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump (much less, Barack Obama) as being the "Antichrist" or "beast". I expect that person to be the winner of the 2020 election, and a Millennial (a fitting description of someone who will usher in the Messianic Millennium).

Maybe that should sink in a minute. 2020 will be only four years from now. My daughter and her family are planning to move back to the US from China, that year or the next. Am I to look forward, to my grandchildren to get here just in time to live in the "Seat of the Beast"? This isn't theoretical. This isn't "antithetical Jews". This isn't TV evangelists, or pulp pop prophecy. This is my grandchildren! Now, with their Grandpa and Grandma.

According to my sketched-out timetable, the 3½ year period of intense persecution will begin in the summer of 2024. That's when the Bad Guy will "cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease". That's only eight years from now. I hope to still be alive, along with my wife; and my then-teenage grandchildren will be starting to look around for prospective mates. As Jesus said,

Matthew 24:
[37] But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
[38] For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
[39] And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

This will not be a "Left Behind" scenario of strangely disappearing Christians. This will be business as usual, all during the 3½ years that Christians are being intensely persecuted. Marriage announcements. Sales at Walmart. The latest fads, that everyone must have. Right up to the day of BOOM! when Zechariah tells us a nuclear war ill break out; and when, as Daniel 12 might be saying, a month and a half later, Messiah will come back with the risen dead. Early 2028: twelve years from now. Not in the sweet bye and bye.

I'm trying to take that in. I think for the vast majority of people, the prospect is to utterly shocking, they can't even countenance it: They block it out of their minds, refuse to believe it, CAN'T believe it. As Isaiah said,

Isaiah 53
[1] Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

FYI, I expect that the Turkish-Iranian-Sudanese-Libyan attack on Israel could happen next summer. Their 7-year period of burning captured fuel, then, will end in 2024 -- just in time for the Beast to run roughshod over the righteous. Then comes Zech.14 and the end, in v. early 2028. This is not really the "future": It's practically right now... a lot to consider.

Shalom shalom :-)

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