Church of God, New World Ministries

Where Will You Be In The Next Few Years?

World –renowned scientists are frightened by the prospect that man will blast himself out of existence in the next few years, unless a force outside of man’s control intervenes. You need to know what’s coming for your own protection!

Scientists now admit the world is madly racing on to the catastrophic climax of 6,000 years of misguided human civilization. How will it end? Where will you be in the next few years?

Frightened scientists know what is about to erupt – but most of them do not dare to reveal what they know. It is time we awakened to these frightening events taking shape – your future – your very life is at stake. Where you will be in the next few years is already being determined, but we don’t seem to realize it. It is time we recognized that civilization doesn’t have much time left unless a supernatural God in Heaven intervenes on earth to stop mad men from destroying all life on earth in their crazed dreams for world conquest.

There is a reason why this world is in chaos, with nations leaping like wild animals at each other’s throats. But almost no one seems to understand. It is time we looked to the source of all knowledge and found out the plan being worked out here below. It is time we looked to the Revelation of God to man, the Bible.

God revealed thousands of years ago His plan. But man has refused to believe it. He wants to go his own way in defiance of God. How God is working out that plan and how he will intervene in world affairs is the message of Biblical Prophecy. Bible prophecy reveals God’s warning to us today of what lies immediately ahead, reveals the cause of world troubles, why the human family has been allowed to endure all this misery and suffering.

The cause to chaotic world conditions is made plain in Jesus’ startling prophecy about the “times of the Gentiles.”

  Let’s notice Jesus’ prophecy of the “Time of the Gentiles” in Luke 21:24. When speaking of the Jews, Jesus told his disciples that “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.”

This prophecy is not speaking of a period of peace, but of war. It is a message for our day – a time when the Gentiles are conquering and destroying, when they are ruling themselves contrary to the way of God who is Creator and Ruler.

Remember that one of the keys to understanding this prophecy and all prophecy is duality. There is always a forerunner which is a type of another final great fulfillment. Jesus was speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem which climaxed in A.D. 70.Those Roman legions were a type of terrible world war soon to surge through our own western world. Palestine and Jerusalem will again be trodden down by Gentile armies “until the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

Exactly what did Jesus mean by the “times of the Gentiles”? When did they begin? How long will they last? When do they end?

It is common assumption that the times of the Gentiles are a period of blessing on the nations. It is argued that since God took away the blessing of being great and dominant nations from Israel and Judah and since the Gentiles for centuries have been dominant nations, that human rule is a blessing bestowed upon the Gentiles. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Then again, many claim that the times of the Gentiles are synonymous with the times of Judah’s punishment, that the Gentile times have already ended, some say in 1914, others say in 1917 or 1936. But all these supposed dates for the ending of the times of the Gentiles are mere guesses!

The truth is that almost no one really knows what the times of the Gentiles are. And yet without an understanding of the meaning of this prophetic period, you cannot grasp the real significance of present day world-shaking events or understand what’s going to happen in the next several years. Let’s not assume, let’s study the Bible itself to see what these times really are.

Israel was promised great national blessings, including national greatness if they would obey God. But God also promised that if they obstinately refused to obey Him, if they refused to follow His laws and let Him rule their lives, then He would punish them for a period called seven times (Lev. 26).

The Bible itself defines this period of seven times for us. If you turn to Revelation the 12th chapter, and compare verses 6, and 14 you will see that the word “time” in prophecy simply means a year, hence seven “times” would be “seven years” or 2520 days. Now let’s notice another key. In Numbers 14:34, God said Israel would bear their iniquities in the wilderness after the number of days they searched the land of Canaan, forty days, each day for a year.

Following this principle, seven times or 2520 prophetic days would equal 2520 literal years! This period of seven times or 2520 years punishment did come upon Israel because they went their own ways and would not submit to the rule of God. Israel went into captivity after a three-year siege from 721-718 B.C. and did not become a great people again until their times of punishment ceased in A.D. 1800 to 1803. At that time the descendants of the ancient House of Israel – American and Britain and the democratic peoples of the world –began to rise to such wealth and power as the world has never enjoyed before – all because of the promises made to Abraham.

Also Palestine, after the punishment against the House of Judah, that began about 604 B.C., was brought back from the Gentile Turks in 1917 – exactly 2520 years later, when it came under the control of Great Britain, and finally the Jews.

The seven times of Israel’s punishment was a period of great privation and suffering, of slavery and war because they would not submit their wills and their ways to God, because they would not allow Him to rule their lives by His perfect law, which could have brought them peace and prosperity and dominion.

Now that we understand the seven times punishment on Israel, let’s understand the meaning of the times of the Gentiles.

The original prophecy to which Jesus had reference is found in the 4th chapter of Daniel. Jesus understood that this prophetic vision of the great tree had reference to the times of the Gentiles as well as to Nebuchadnezzar’s literal punishment.

Notice Daniel 4:17.This striking vision was not only to teach Nebuchadnezzar that God rules, but it is also “to the intent that the LIVING may know that the most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the basest of men.”

So the Bible itself interprets this prophecy to have reference not only to the king of Babylon in that day, but also to teach the living – you, me, and all of the nations today, that God is Supreme Ruler.

Now notice verses 20 and 22 of Daniel 4. The great tree represented the king. And what was to happen to him? “Let his heart be changed from man’s and let a beast’s heart be given him, and let seven times pass over him” (v. 16).

The king was to lose his understanding, to be cursed with insanity, he was to act and think like a wild ravenous beast, until he learned that the Creator rules over the affairs of men, till he leaned that the only way to peace and security is through submission to the rule and laws of God instead of yielding to lust and human pride.

The world and its leaders have not yet learned this needed lesson. The nations today still devour one another in war like wild beasts as they struggle to gain world conquest.

Most of the misunderstanding about this important prophecy results from not realizing that the seven times or years that passed over King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon were an example of the seven prophetic times of punishment upon the Gentile-Babylon system. Turn to Daniel 2:38-39 where this is clearly explained.

The king saw a great image composed of different metals and clay. The head of this image represented the kingdom of Babylon. Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar, “Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom.”

The division of the great image represented various kingdoms of the Babylonish system down to our day. Yet Daniel designated the first kingdom by its supreme dictatorial king Nebuchadnezzar. The King, then, represented the kingdom of Babylon, because he had absolute power. Also by comparing Daniel 7:17, 23, you will see that king and kingdom are used synonymously. This prophecy is a living message for all time, down to the 21st century.

One of the punishments on the king was that his heart should be changed “from man’s and let a wild animal’s heart be given him.”  What does this punishment mean?

God was dealing with the Gentiles in Daniel’s day. The Gentile king Nebuchadnezzar had been sinning, living contrary to God’s law. He had been taking his people on the road to world conquest and the enslavement of other nations and peoples. He had been traveling the way of war, not of peace.

God had sent His warning. Babylon did not heed. So God punished the nation seven years (569 to 562 B.C.) by cursing king Nebuchadnezzar with madness, till he acted and thought like a beast of the forest! No punishment like that had ever come on any king before! No nation had ever been so cursed!

After these seven years Nebuchadnezzar’s mind returned to sanity. He now repented, admitted that his way was wrong, and actually wrote a great public document admitting before all nations what had happened to him and to his people!

After those seven years of punishment, the kingdom of Babylon was given the heart of a man. The leaders began to think in ways of peace instead of war. Notice Daniel 7:4. The kingdom of Chaldean (or Babylon) – here symbolized by a ferocious lion stood “upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heat was given it.”

Notice the parallel. King Nebuchadnezzar, because of his sins, was punished seven literal years. At the end of the time of punishment he regained his sanity and began for the first time in his life to repent and to give up the ways of war for the way of peace. He was given the heart of a man, began to reason as a man and to see things clearly for the first time in his life. Now he saw himself as he really was, nothing but a rapacious wild animal. He saw his world conquest as bestial slaughter.

But just as the king had a change of heart so did the Chaldean kingdom. It too stood on its feet like a man! Seven years of punishment were over. The kingdom ceased to attack, conquer and destroy other nations. But – though Nebuchadnezzar personally repented, the nation did not continue to recognize God or His way. It gave itself up to licentiousness. The people and their leaders continued to live in sin. At the end of seventy years of Chaldean world rule God intervened. He sent a terrible punishment upon Babylon and its king Belshazzar, which has cursed the Gentile nations to this day!

The Bible and ancient secular historians tell the frightful story of the fall of Babylon. They reveal a vivid picture of the terrible slaughter that the Medes and Persians under Cyrus imposed on Babylon in the night of the feast during which Belshazzar the King was slain (Daniel 5:24-30).

The facts, exactly in order as they occurred are preserved in the writings of Xenophon:   

Xenophon, the Greek historian who wrote the Cyropaedia in the 4th century before Christ, says that “when Cyrus reached Babylon” around 539 B.C. he dug channels for the dispersal of the water in the river Euphrates which ran under the gates of Babylon. Then he and the Medo-Persian army secretly entered the river bed, climbed stealthily through the gates along the river and rushed to the palace “when he heard that there was a festival in Babylon, in which all the Babylonians drank and reveled the whole night.”  Upon reaching the Palace where Belshazzar had seen the handwriting on the wall, they “burst in, and, pursuing those who fled, and dealing blows amongst them, came up to the king, and found him in a standing posture with his sword drawn. (They) mastered him.” So Belshazzar the King of Babylon was killed that night exactly as Daniel said.

God is no respecter of persons. As he punished Israel and Judah for seven prophetic “times” – 2520 years – so would be the punishment of the Gentiles! God began to punish the nation by cursing their king for seven literal years. The king repented, but the nation did not. For that sin, God continued the punishment on the Gentiles, beginning with the fall of Babylon, for 2520 years. Their rulers have ever since had the minds of wild animals, seeking to attack, conquest, and destroy other nations! That time of punishment is about up! But in the meantime the Gentile rulers with the minds of wild beasts have come into possession of nuclear bombs, biological and chemical weapons with which they plan to wipe out all humanity! God must intervene before it is too late.

King Nebuchadnezzar-- because of his continued stubborn refusal to submit to the rule of God – the only way that would have brought him peace of mind and satisfaction was punished seven years by having his mind changed to that of a wild animal, until he learned that God ruled. He was dethroned and lived among the wild beasts.

In like manner, the Chaldean Empire, typified by its king, was defeated and its dominion was taken away. Just as Nebuchadnezzar continued to live like a wild beast, so the Babylonish system has continued with leaders having the minds of wild beasts. The Persians, Greeks, Romans – Europeans, even to the day of Hitler and Mussolini have all been cursed with leaders who think and act like wild animals, leaders who glory in war and conquest.

Not one of the beasts, which followed the Chaldean Empire as described in Daniel 7, was given a man’s heart. They all were like ferocious wild animals, conquering, pillaging, and destroying one another by intrigue, alliances and war. But this is not all. Consider!

Nebuchadnezzar was forced to live among the wild beasts, just as the successor nations of the Babylonish system have had to fight and struggle constantly against other Gentile nations who are also cursed with their same mind, the same desire to conquer and rule the world. This is why the Babylonish system under Hitler and Mussolini struggled against Russia. And that is why Russia today is plotting to rule the world by intrigue and stealth and lying and deception. The leaders of the Communist world think and act like cunning wild beasts.

The ancient Chaldean Empire would not submit to God’s rule and ways but wanted to rule its own way, the greatest curse that could happened on any nation. As a punishment God has allowed even to this day the Gentile nations to rule themselves until they learn that only His ways are right and that He rules in the kingdoms of men.

Self-rule is a dire punishment! Just as Nebuchadnezzar finally regained his right mind and acknowledged God’s authority, so the Gentile nations when their punishment is over, will soon come up to the Kingdom of God and ask to learn of His ways (Mich. 4:1-3) so that they also may become begotten and finally born into His Kingdom as members of the ruling Family of God.

Notice how present day events are explained by this prophecy. All nations have been made drunk with the false teachings of the Babylonish system that has gripped this world for thousands of years until this world has become too confused and divided that people don’t know which way to turn (Rev. 18:3).

Russia and China are seeking to conquer and rule the world. Millions in Asia are turning to communism as their last desperate hope. In our own land more people than ever before are becoming more confused – they don’t know which is the true Church in this Babylon of religious sects, denominations and divisions.

This terrible predicament that confronts the nations today, as well as what is soon going to happen, is made clear in this prophecy of the times of the Gentiles.

The seven times of the Gentiles is a curse upon them just as the seven times of Israel’s punishment were a curse. This curse upon the Gentiles did not begin with the fall of Judah, but years later. It was after the fall of Judah that God first began to deal with the Chaldean Empire.

Yes, these times are very close to completion, very close to the second coming of Jesus Christ to rule the nations and to teach them the ways of peace. But many catastrophic world events are going to happen between now and the time that this frightful punishment upon the Gentiles nations is finished!

These terrifying world-shaking events will take place in the years just ahead, in your life time possibly, this very last generation that is destined to live in two worlds. Even world scientists say so!

Remember what Jesus said in Luke 21:24? That Jerusalem would be trodden down of the Gentiles until the very completion of the times of the Gentiles!

Since Zechariah 14:1-3 shows that Jesus Christ will return in order to deliver Jerusalem from the Gentiles, it is plain that the Second Coming of Christ will occur not later than when the time of punishment of the Gentiles Babylonish  system are fulfilled! (Isa. 27:13; I Cor. 15:52). Then God will send His Son to rule the world.

As Christ said, of the second coming, “but of that day and hour, knows no man!” But today’s world-occurrences warn us that even now, it is very near! Yes, it’s much later than you think!

 
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