Luke 21:8
And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.
Luke 21:9
But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
Luke 21:10
Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
Luke 21:11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Has there ever been a time, between when our Lord said these things until now when these things have not been true? These things have been part of world history for the last two thousand years.
In Matthew the Lord calls them "birthpangs"; for a comparison with that, look at what St. Paul says in Romans about the groaning and subjugation of creation.
The things we see play out in the world--wars, conflicts, natural disasters; all of this evil, both human-caused and natural suffering, are the reality of our living in a broken, fallen, sin-soaked world. Creation itself is suffering, as though the world is experiencing the pains of childbirth. Now the thing about childbirth is that those pains precede something good.
Out of the pain of this present and fallen age is going to come the the good new world, the Age to Come, when God makes all things new. New heavens and new earth.
So when we see these things happen we do not fret, we do not say, "The end is nigh!" we remember that we live in a broken world, and we remember God's promises. For Christ who came and suffered, who was crucified, dead and buried, has risen from the grave; and what God has done for Christ He shall do for all who belong to Him. God's response to suffering and death is resurrection; so even creation itself longs for, looks forward to, the resurrection of the dead (Romans 8:19).
Luke 21:20
And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
And, again, looking at the context, this is what happened in 70 AD when the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem.
(That is further pointed out to be the end time desolation Daniel spoke of elsewhere - But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains
Here we see the time when they will need to flee, which is in the tribulation.
I don't know why you believe this has anything to do with an "end time desolation". That isn't what the text says.
Jesus points to the desecration of the Temple spoken of by Daniel (a reference to what happened under the tyrannical rule of Antiochus IV of the Seleucid kingdom) and speaks of a desecration of the Temple yet to come. That desecration happened during the Jewish-Roman War, which culminated in the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple.
There's nothing "end times" about this.
23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people
This further pinpoints the time as that time of wrath in the end.
No, it simply points out the terrible things that are going to happen--things that already happened. It's why the Christians of Judea fled when they saw what was happening, they fled into the wilderness to hide from the conflict and destruction.
This, in fact, left a great deal of animosity toward Jewish Christians from non-Christian Jews who saw this as betrayal; for the Christians (though Jews) did not join their fellow Jews in the conflict, and instead hid away.
After the destruction of the Temple we see an addition to the traditional synagogue benedictions, a benediction against heretics. Prior to this, while Jewish Christians were at times targeted by local Jewish leaders, and at times driven out of the synagogue; the separation of Church and Synagogue was effectively complete after what happened in 70 AD. While Roman oppression had begun prior to the destruction of the Temple, in the form of the Neronian persecutions, prior to the destruction of the Temple much of the conflict the early Church experienced was religious conflict from religious leaders and unruly mobs. After the destruction of the Temple the chief antagonizing force for the Church was the Roman state. Beginning with Domitian (as witnessed to by St. John in the Revelation), but really getting a start with Trajan, reaching a climax under Diocletian.
It explains this is when He returns and the time for Gentiles is passed there
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled
It also pinpoint this as the time the stars fall and etc in the end
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh
These things being what was said from verse 8
There is no possibility these things happened already
The talk of celestial bodies being shaken is a motif we see in Scripture that looks a lot like "pay attention" language. I want to draw your attention to the book of the Prophet Joel,
"
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out My Spirit.
And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls." - Joel 2:28-32
I'm confident that you know already when and where this prophecy was fulfilled, because I'm confident you already know what happened on Pentecost as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.
St. Peter, delivering his sermon to the gathered Jewish pilgrims witnessing the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, clearly testifies by the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit Himself, "this is what was uttered by the Prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16).
Yet notice, no where does the Acts record literal signs in the heavens, or the sun turning dark, or the moon to blood. But nevertheless Peter, by the divine inspiration and speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit Himself, declares these things fulfilled.
What this language does is tell us to pay attention; it's less about a literal sun being darkened or moon turning to blood and instead "This is important, pay attention, God is going to do something huge"--and that's exactly what happened on Pentecost.
Now take this lesson, and now read the apocalyptic language Jesus uses in the Olivet Discourse.
Men lying with men and women doing the same and people dressing as the other sex etc etc are not something invented by or restricted to the US, sorry (Oh, and human sacrifices)
Eze 39:2 and I will turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel.
No nation involved? Ha
No. Cite the passage?
"
The king also sent messengers with a decree to Jerusalem and all the towns of Judea, ordering the people to follow customs that were foreign to the country. He ordered them not to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, or wine offerings in the Temple, and commanded them to treat Sabbaths and festivals as ordinary work days. They were even ordered to defile the Temple and the holy things in it. They were commanded to build pagan altars, temples, and shrines, and to sacrifice pigs and other unclean animals there. They were forbidden to circumcise their sons and were required to make themselves ritually unclean in every way they could, so that they would forget the Law which the Lord had given through Moses and would disobey all its commands. The penalty for disobeying the king's decree was death.
The king not only issued the same decree throughout his whole empire, but he also appointed officials to supervise the people and commanded each town in Judea to offer pagan sacrifices. Many of the Jews were ready to forsake the Law and to obey these officials. They defiled the land with their evil, and their conduct forced all true Israelites to hide wherever they could.
On the fifteenth day of the month of Kislev in the year 145, King Antiochus set up the Abomination of Desolation on the altar of the Temple, and pagan altars were built in the towns throughout Judea. Pagan sacrifices were offered in front of houses and in the streets. Any books of the Law which were found were torn up and burned, and anyone who was caught with a copy of the sacred books or who obeyed the Law was put to death by order of the king. Month after month these wicked people used their power against the Israelites caught in the towns.
On the twenty-fifth of the month, these same evil people offered sacrifices on the pagan altar erected on top of the altar in the Temple. Mothers who had allowed their babies to be circumcised were put to death in accordance with the king's decree. Their babies were hung around their necks, and their families and those who had circumcised them were put to death. But many people in Israel firmly resisted the king's decree and refused to eat food that was ritually unclean. They preferred to die rather than break the holy covenant and eat unclean food—and many did die. In his anger God made Israel suffer terribly." - 1 Maccabees 1:44-64
The end time will have to fit into the events of the bible since that is what the prophesies are about!
Given all the warnings we have in Scripture about not doing this--not believing people when they claim the end is near, or who predict when the Lord will return--I take the position that this kind of prophecy bingo is simply not how we should be reading Scripture at all. It is, at best, a distraction, and at worst spiritually dangerous error that leads us away from Christ.
The Lord will return. This is enough for us.
There is a time spoken about when it all comes to a head and is most intense actually
To put it simply and frankly, I do not believe in an "end times". At least not as popularly conceived. There will be a Last Day, there will be an end. When Christ returns in glory. But I simply don't believe in looking for signs and current events to create elaborate scenarios about what will happen. I just don't view that as good Eschatology, good biblical exegesis, or part of what being a faithful servant means. That's the kind of thing that I believe Jesus warns against when He talks about the unfaithful servant, or the foolish virgins who failed to bring enough lamp oil.
-CryptoLutheran
www.bbc.com
