First condition: Man's ability to annihilate human life
The first of these certain prophecies deals with a specific condition described by Christ that would be present only as the end time drew near. He said to His disciples: "It will be a time of great distress; there has never been such a time from the beginning of the world until now, and will never be again. If that time of troubles were not cut short, no living thing could survive; but for the sake of God's chosen it will be cut short"(Matthew:24:21-22, New English Bible).
Jesus warned that a time would come when mankind would see its destructive capacity grow so awesome that all human life could be annihilated. This is what makes the time of "great distress" so terrifying, unequaled in human history.
Mankind has been fighting wars since the dawn of history. But man never had the ability—with rocks and clubs, bows and arrows, cannons or automatic weapons—to literally exterminate every human being on earth.
This changed in 1945 with the detonation of the first atomic bombs, followed by the development of far more destructive hydrogen bombs. With thousands of nuclear weapons at its disposal, as well as thousands of tons of chemical and biological weapons, humanity has the ability to destroy all human life from the planet many times over.
This situation never existed in history until the latter half of the 20th century. Mankind has never been a great caretaker of the earth, yet never before have we had the capacity to destroy all human life. But Christ said that collectively, if left unchecked, we would do exactly that. And this is one of the reasons He must intervene—to save mankind from self-annihilation!
Second condition: The Jewish nation reborn
The second condition that must exist before Christ's return concerns the existence of the modern nation-state of Israel in control of Jerusalem for a time.
The survival of the religion and culture of the ancient Jewish people, who witnessed the rise and decline of such great civilizations as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome, goes against the odds.
The fact that they were never assimilated into the nations where they were scattered is unprecedented. A historian of the 19th century, Heinrich Graetz, noted that "a nation which has witnessed the rise and decay of the most ancient empires, and which still continues to hold its place in the present day, deserves the closest attention."
The French emperor Napoleon is reported to have been passing near a synagogue when he heard weeping inside. When he asked, "What is this crying?," he was told the Jewish people were weeping over the destruction of their temple. Impressed, Napoleon said, "A people that longs so much for its city and its temple are bound to restore them one day!"
That prediction has partially come to pass. Now the Jews—descendants of the ancient kingdom of Judah—again are in possession of Jerusalem, and their "weeping" takes place on the western side of the Temple Mount, at the retaining wall for the vast platform Herod the Great constructed to support the rebuilt temple. There, at the Western Wall, many Jews still cry and bemoan the loss of their temple and pray for its restoration. Thus the place is also sometimes aptly called the Wailing Wall.
Christ described conditions under which, as the end time approached, Jews would again control Jerusalem and the "holy place." Later He said the holy place would be desecrated. He stated, "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" (Matthew:24:15-16). The abomination of desolation, described in Daniel 8-12, deals with the defiling of the holy place in Jerusalem.
Before 1948 this seemed impossible. The Jews had been scattered for close to 2,000 years, and the Arabs had controlled the Holy Land for centuries. Jews did not have the military power, unity or backing of most of the world to come to their ancient homeland. Many books were written about the overwhelming odds against Zionism, the attempt to establish a Jewish homeland. Yet a Zionist state was established.
Once the fledgling nation of modern Israel was founded in 1948, it appeared that its inhabitants would never control Jerusalem, and the populous Arab nations surrounding her pledged they would never allow it. Yet in the Six-Day War of 1967, the state of Israel took possession of all of Jerusalem. But the Israelis allowed control of the Temple Mount, the platform on which the temple had stood, to remain in the hands of Arab Muslims.
Since Arab Muslims control the Temple Mount, or the "holy place" that Christ referred to in His prophecy, there is still a part of the prophecy that has not been fulfilled. Since 1989 organized efforts have continued to prepare for the building of a new temple. From 1990 on, certain Israeli Jews have tried to place the first stone of a new temple on the Temple Mount, to no avail. Police and Muslim authorities have prohibited their entry onto the Mount, yet the resolve is there.
That is how matters stand. Christ's prophecy has been partially accomplished, with Israel in control of Jerusalem, but with other parts of His prophecy waiting to be fulfilled.
To be cont'd.
God bless you all.
