Park - 25 Signs of the End Times

Back in the 90s, I enjoyed watching a CBS television show called EarlyEdition. Set in the city of Chicago, Illinois, it followed the adventures of aman who mysteriously received a newspaper the day before it was actuallypublished and the day before those headline events took place. GaryHobson, the main character, would then use that information in order toprevent terrible events from happening.

Well, in a very real sense, God has given us an Early Edition oftomorrows news headlines. When we understand Bible prophecy, we cancatch a glimpse of what Gods next steps are for this world before they evenhappen.

Whenever God gets ready to do something on this earth, He alwaysforewarns us prior to that intervention. Historically throughout Scripture,God has sent signals that were designed to prepare His people for what Hewas about to do.

Before God sent a world-wide cataclysmic flood, He warned theworld by sending a sign -- the preparation of Noahs ark.
Before God delivered the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, Hewarned Pharaoh by sending signs in the form of nine plagues.
Before God sent the sinful Israelites into Babylonian captivity, Hesent Elijah and Elisha to perform many miracles and bring propheticmessages that were signs.
Before God the Father sent His Son to be born of a virgin inBethlehem, He put a star in the Heavens to be a sign of His coming.
Just as the first coming of Jesus was preceded with many signs, so willHis Second Coming be preceded with signs. Virtually every detail of thelife of Jesus Christ was prophesied in the Bible, and every detail of the endtimes is prophetically spoken as well.
One of the most convincing evidences that the Bible is inspired byGod is the staggering number of prophecies that have been fulfilled withpinpoint accuracy. There are roughly 300 Bible prophecies that foretoldthe first coming of Christ, and there are approximately 900 propheciesthat foretell His Second Coming. What does that tell us? I believe God issaying, Just as surely as I have sent Jesus to the world the first time, youcan be three times as sure that I will send Him the second time.
Our Bible is filled with prophecy. Did you know that one out of everythree verses in the Bible were written prophetically speaking of futureevents before they happened with 100% accuracy to date? What John theApostle foresaw nearly 2,000 years ago has more to do with this generationsimmediate future than tomorrows breaking news on CNN. The Bible tellsus that in the last days, there will be signs in the world that correspond tosigns in the Word. Jesus said, When these things begin to develop, lookup for your redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:28). Based on what weare seeing as these biblical signs are unfolding into the headlines of todaysnews media we may very well be living in the time when Jesus is going
to return.
In Matthew 24, the disciples asked Jesus, Tell us, when will these things
be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?
Jesus then gives them some signs that point to what the world will look like
just before His Second Coming. But then notice what He says in vs. 8, All
these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
Now, Ive had the privilege of being in the delivery room as all three
of our kids were brought into this world. Every mother knows what it
feels like when her baby is about to be born. The first pain is rather mild
perhaps even barely noticeable. Then there is a stronger sensation that
lets the mother know that something could be happening. The labor pains
then begin to grow and grow in intensity, as well as closer together, as the
mother moves into active labor, and soon after, the baby is born!When Jesus said that these signs will be the beginning of the birth
pains, He was letting us know that when we begin to see these signs build
in both frequency and intensity, it will enable us to discern that Jesus said,
When you start to see these signs build in frequency and intensity, it will
enable us to discern when the coming of the Lord is near. It is important
to understand that out of all 25 of these signs, there was not a single,
tangible, measurable sign that indicated that we were living in the season
of the Lords return until a hundred years ago. The first sign to appear was
the Balfour Declaration, issued by the British government in 1917, paving
the way for the Jewish people to return to their homeland. Today, there
are so many signs coming into fulfillment that we would have to be either
biblically illiterate or spiritually blind not to realize that we are living on
borrowed time.
The purpose of this book is two-fold. It is not to make you fearful but to
make you prepared. You need to be aware of the major prophetic signs in
Scripture so that you know what to look for. The second purpose is to whet
your appetite for Bible prophecy. I hope that as you read and study each
one these signs you will develop a hunger to study more.
So lets get started in examining a checklist of signs the Bible speaks of regarding end times prophetic events and how they are coming into fulfillment in todays news.

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1THE EXPLOSION OF KNOWLEDGE

In Daniel 12:4 the Bible says, "But as for you, Daniel,conceal these words and seal up the book until the endof time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge willincrease" (emphasis added).

The phrase knowledge will increase literally speaksof an explosion of knowledge that will take place in thelast days. Today, the Internet has revolutionized the waywe learn and consume information. With the click of a button we have theability to learn at a rate not known to any previous generation.

If you have ever purchased one of those Hallmark greeting cards thatplays a song when you open it, understand that according to FortuneMagazine there is more technology and computer processing power insidethat greeting card than what existed in the entire world prior to 1950.

Daniel prophesied of this exponential explosion of knowledge that isaccumulating so fast that no man, however intellectual, can master all of it.
Today, mans knowledge doubles every six years. By the time manymedical students graduate, much of their earlier training is already obsolete.The college students that are graduating today will need to be retrainedthree times before they retire.
Wired Magazine recently announced that the world generated 161 billiongigabytes of digital information last year. That would be the equivalentof 12 stacks of books that reach from the earth to the Sun 90 millionmiles away. It is startling to think that we have produced that amount ofinformation in a single year! The University of California stated that ourinformation production is 10 times greater than what it was each previousyear.
Taken in 1956, this photograph of a hard disk drivewith a whopping 5 MB of storage. In September of1956, IBM launched the 305 RAMAC, which wasthe first super computer with a hard disk drive. Itweighed over a ton and only stored a whopping 5MB of data. That should make you appreciate your32 GB memory stick a little bit more!

2INCREASE IN TRANSPORTATION

In the same verse of Daniel 12:4, God says, Sealup the book till the time of the end: