CHRIST IMMINENT RETURN -COUNTDOWN TO RAPTURE

"Now as He 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?"(Matt 24:3)

The imminent return of the Lord was very certain that even His disciple knew this well.The only uncertainty was the exact TIMING of His return.That is why they ask the Lord Jesus what will be the "sign"of His coming and of the end time be.Jesus said "But of the day and hour no one knows,not even the angels of heaven but My Father only"(Matt 24:36).Therefore His imminent return to"snatch away"the saints from passing through the seven years tribulation period will be exactly like what He said "...I will come upon you as a thief,and you will not know what hour I will come upon you"(Rev 3:3b).The apostle Peter even emphasized this significant day when he wrote "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night..."(2Peter3:10).Any common thief who plan to steal won't tell the victim at what hour or day that he would come.Figuratively,this "DAY"of His coming is that"thief"that will invade the time capsule of humanities with a full element of surprise events.Therefore we are warn by the Lord to be on guard and be watchful.

God the Father must have good reason for such element of surprise as to what hour Jesus would come down from heaven to rapture His saints.For example,Jesus said "I tell you,in the night there will be two men in one bed:one will be taken and the other will be left.Two women will be grinding together:the one will be taken and other will be left.Two men will be in the field:the one will be taken and the other left" (Luke 17:34-36).The countdown of His coming and prophetic time of the rapture is ticking fast but we will not know at what hour Jesus will come for His Church.

However,the Lord did reveal to us the many signs that precede His coming.He said"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 its is near at the doors!" (Matt24:32).We need to open our eyes to "see"and to know the seasons of time in order to read the signs of His coming.What are the major signs of His second coming?By now we know that the second coming of the Lord happened once but in two phase.We know that the phase II of His second coming i.e.the glorious public appearance of the Lord will occur sometime after the seven years tribulation period has passed.I will touch this phase 2 glorious appearance teaching on my next posting.This posting will touch mainly on the phase 1 of Christ's imminent coming(the coming of the Lord in the air to meet His Church-I Thes 4:17).I want us to see,observe,study and learn the signs and why I believe that we are living on a borrowed time of His imminent return!

SPIRITUAL SIGNS

Let get back to what Jesus said in Matthew 24.We will be able to see a certain spiritual signs such as:

1. the appearance of many false Christ and their cult teachings.

'And Jesus answered and said to them:"Take heed that no one deceives you.For many will come in My name,saying,'I am the Christ,'and will deceive many"(verse 5).-This is the work of deceiving spirit who come to divert the faith of many unbelievers and even Christian who are not Spirit filled and ignorant of God's word.This is the spirit of the antichrist who demand to be worships by his/her followers.Even the apostle John wrote "Little children,it is the last hour:and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming,even now many antichrist have come,by which we know that it is the last hour.They went out from us,but they were not of us..."(I John 2:19) .John further wrote :""..and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God.And this is the spirit of the Antichrist...."(I John 4:3)

What suprises me much is that some of these false Christ were formerly followers or even ministers(NOTE:"They went out from us") of Jesus but then they were deceived by the devil and came out to start a new cult religion that reject the Lordship and the gift of saving grace in Jesus Christ.They may even preach the gospel of Jesus BUT not the Jesus of the bible.These are the work of false apostles,transforming as apostle of Christ(2 Cor 11:13-14).Jesus also mentioned about the appearance of many false prophets and deceive many people to follow their teachings or religion(Matt 24:11).Mormon church,Jehovah witness,Church of christian science,Yahweh extreme worshipers,Sun Yung Moon(The Moonies) under the pretext of his "Unification Church"are some example of such Christian cults.

2.Sign of Church apostasy

"Let no one deceive you by any means;for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first...."(I Tess 2:3).Many bible schools and seminaries have been invaded by a strange philosophies which undermined the authority of the bible and many church denominations today are having a form of godliness but denying the power of the Holy Spirit.

3.Satanic teachings flourish(satanism)

I Tim 4:1 "Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter time some will depart from the faith,giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons"-Astrology,numerology,Feng shui,crystal gazing,New age movement and transcendental meditation have been spreading fast via mass media,books and Television programs.

4.Global prosecution to the saints of God

Matthew 24:9"They they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you,an you will be hated by all nations fro My name's sake"

5.Worldwide spreading of the Gospel

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations,and then the end will come"(Matt 24:14)-Not only the mass evangelism campaign such as crusades,open field meeting,mega churches outreach but also Satelite -TV and the internet have become the main contributor to the efectiveness in spreading the gospel of of Jesus Christ. Only the Holy Spirit will know the time when every ear will hear about Jesus the Messiah and it won't be long.

SIGNS OF NATURE

"For since the creation of the world,His invisible attributes are clearly seen,being understood by the things that are made,even His eternal power and God-head,so that they are without excuse"(Roman 1:20)

Jesus told us to watch the sign such as earthquakes,famines,pestilence and great signs from heaven (Matt 24:7,Luke 21:11)-These are the signs i.e."the beginning of sorrows"Matt 24:8.The word "Sorrow"in the greek translation means"Odinon"which also means the "beginning of pangs"as in the "birth pangs"situation.Therefore,these natural disasters will increase in frequency and intensity as the time get closer to Christ's imminent return.There will be more intense earthquakes and more frequent one to occur.

On Tuesday,January 2010,the country Haiti was rocked by the the worst devastation earth quakes in nearly 200 years.The massive quake has flattened the capital of Port-Au-prince . Schools,hospitals,cathedrals ,main prison and even the president's palace have been levelled.It was estimated that over 200,000 lives were lost and even increasing up to 500,000.,Just a week earlier ,Solomons island were rocked with series of quakes at magnitude of -6.2.This is not a coincidence disaster as Jesus already predicted that natural disaster such as earthquakes will occur as one of the sign that He is coming soon

SIGN IN THE COLLAPSE OF MORAL SOCIETY

Jesus said :"And because lawlessness will abound,the love of many will grow cold"Matt 24:13,Matt 24:10

"For as the days of Noah,were,so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.For as in the days before the flood,they were eating,drinking,marrying and giving in marriage,until the day Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away,so also will the coming of the Son of Man be"Matt 24:37-39.These prophecies are being full filed today before our very eyes as we watch society rejecting its christian value/heritage.We are today seeing a loose and immoral society.Immoral and violent movies and are easily accessible via the Internet or TV as a new social normal trend .

ISRAEL-THE CENTRAL SIGN

Jesus Said :"Now learn this parable from the fig tree:when its branch has already become tender and put forth leaves,you know that summer is near.So you also,when you see all these things,know that it is near at the doors!"Matt 24:32

Figuratively,the nation of Israel is this fig tree.In May 14, 1948 the re-establishment of Israel occured.This is another prophetic fulfilment of how the Jewish people will be re-gathered from the "four corners of the earth"(Isaiah 11:10-12)Another significant sign of Israel is that we are told to watch for the end time when Israel will reoccupy Jerusalem(Luke 21:24),Israel become a military power (Zechariah 12:6)and world politic are beginning to focus on Israel (Zechariah 12:3).Isn't it a miracle ?After more that 1800 years since the Jews was dispersed(A.D.70),Israel the "the branch "finally put forth its leaves in 1948 and become the legitimate Independence country and miraculously their mother tongue the Hebrew language was again revived as the fulfilment of Zephaniah's prophecies (Zephaniah 3:9).If we would migrate to another country and stayed there just for over one generation,we would have immersed into that country's culture and perhaps even our children won't be speaking our native language anymore.

There is no doubt that much of these signs are being fulfilled before our eyes and many more prophecies are begining to be unfold as the time of His coming draw near.Jesus said :"Assuredly.I say to you,this generation will by no means pass away till all these things place"(Matt 24:34)

The fig tree has blossomed.We have seen these prophetic signs being fullfil before our very eyes.We are that generation and that Jesus is at the gate of heaven,ready to come down to call us home.The countdown to rapture has begun.The trumpet of God is ready to be blown and the Holy Spirit is ready to arise within us with His anointing power to bring us up to meet the Lord in the air. Jesus said "Now when these things begin to happen,look up and lift up your heads,because your redemption draws near"Luke 21:27

He who has an ear,let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Maranatha!Come Lord Jesus!