ANSWERS: 2
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I presume that you mean New Testament ones, as the OT ones have been largely fulfilled by the coming of Jesus. This is a hard one to answer. Many christians have gotten the concept of Bible prophecy horribly wrong. Some prophecies have been fulfilled alread eg the destruction of the Temple as predicted in Matthew 24. Signs of the End of the Age 1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 Do you see all these things? he asked. I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down. 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. Tell us, they said, when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? 4 Jesus answered: Watch out that no-one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth-pains. 9 Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15 So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation', spoken of through the prophet Daniel— let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no-one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no-one in the field go back to get his cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now— and never to be equalled again. 22 If those days had not been cut short, no-one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect— if that were possible. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time. 26 So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. 29 Immediately after the distress of those days 'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' 30At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. 32 Now learn this lesson from the fig-tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. ============ So accurate was this prophecy that the Christians of Jerusalem did, in fact, leave Jerusalem and go to the mountains. That is one of the reasons Christianity survived the fall of Jerusalem. However, it is clear that, within this prophecy is also a second level, the prophecy of the end of the age and the second coming of Christ. Part of our difficulty in separating the immediate prophecy and the more distant one is that we see through human eyes: This happens, then that happens a long time after. If we consider that, for God, 1000 years is like the blinking of an eye (as if says in the OT), then we see the difference. For us, 2000 years, 3000 years is a long time, but for God, they are both in the same moment. So, in effect, the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the age, are, to God,in the same moment. Therefore, we can see that the prophecies of false Christs and false prophets are as much a part of the age of the apostles as they are of our age. They saw people claiming to be christ, and so do we (eg Jim Jones, Moses David etc) The same with the wars and rumours of wars and the earthquakes in different places. These are signs THAT the second coming is coming, not of when it will come, (although there is a thought that such things will increase before the imminent arrival of Jesus.) Let us turn to the prophecies in Revelation. Here, too there have been a lot of well-meaning but mistaken interpretations. The Book of Revelation, looked at in context, was clearly (it is stated) a comfort for contemporary Christians suffering under the tyrrany of the Emperor Domitian. Therefore, in context, you must primarily see it as a book written in code for those people to read and be comforted that they are not dying in vain and that, despite it looking grim, the people of God will triumph and the Lord will return to judge evil. The codes include naming Jesus only as the Son of Man, the Lamb etc, Rome as Babylon etc. Even the numbers are symbolic, seven of God (the perfect number), six as the enemy of God (one who tries to be seven but cannot). It is also possible that the same message is being repeated over and over again in the various sets of revelations (7 scrolls, seven plagues) and that they are not to be seen as consecutive. That being the case, although primarily for the people of AD 96 when it was written, it also applies to us in the same way as Matthew 24 does. We see the same evil ruling the earth today, men striving to be gods and standing against Christ (Lenin, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, Emperor Chin, Genghis Khan) and we see the true people of God suffering under this oppression.The message is the same for us as for the first century Christians: hold on, be faithful. Christ will triumph and bring in the Day of Judgement. As for specific prophecies, I have been a Christian for over 30 years now and have see all the interpretations from the Chick Tracts to Bankcard to the Pope. Most of these have fallen by the wayside (Bankcard is gone...) The message is much more general: evil will appear to triumph but it will not. Hold on and be faithful. The sufferings of today (whether physical, or things like wars and natural disasters) are signs that Christ WILL return and usher in an age where these things will be gone forever. 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. 5 He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new! Then he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. 6 He said to me: It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. Revelation 21
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Frankly, I am not convinced we're there. The Seven Seals have been seen since the end of Charlemagne's line. My grandfather will argue with me all day long; he's a big John Hagee fan. X( Sorry for the boring answer.
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