Question: We hear much of the proposed League of Nations. Do you think we (Christians) shall be here to see it formed? Or, shall we be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before its formation?
Answer: We do not know when we may be caught up to meet the Lord in the air; it might be today. It is the first scriptural event we are to expect. His promise is, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” He will not fail to keep His word. When the proper moment of the Father’s will arrives, He will not tarry any longer.
The League of Nations now about to be formed, add current events that have taken place or are taking place now, may in a way foreshadow or look like a fulfillment of prophecy, but what is prophesied is yet to come, We must keep distinctly before us that the league of nations headed by the Beast of Revelatioin 13:1 and 17th chapter cannot be formed till the church is with Christ in glory. When the Lamb (Rev. 5) takes the book out of the hand of the One in the midst of the throne, the glorified saints are there on the twenty-four thrones. It is after that the Lamb breaks the seals, and prophecy begins to be fulfilled. We do not see the Beast yet, nor the woman that sits on it, but we see how rapidly developments take place.
Let us earnestly keep before our souls the coming of our Lord for us. Very soon we may see Him, and then, when we are with Him, we shall be like Him.
Question: Is the present return of the Jews to the land of Palestine the fulfillment of Isaiah 54? J. W.
Answer: Isaiah 54 looks on to Israel’s full restoration as a nation to the Lord, and His delight in her (see vs. 3-10) and His future care over her. It is all a beautiful picture of the love of Jehovah, and His forgiving grace, and that in righteousness to the nation of Israel.
When the Lord Jesus was rejected by the Jews and crucified, God raised Him from the dead and crowned Him with glory and honor, and sent His Holy Spirit down into this world to gather out of it those who are to compose the bride of Christ. And ever since the Holy Spirit came down here, all who believe the gospel of God’s salvation are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and so are members of the body of Christ. God’s last act toward the Jews was to send His armies to destroy the temple and city of Jerusalem, and to scatter the Jews among all nations. (Matt. 22:7; Luke 21:24). The Jews are not the Lord’s people now. Salvation is not national now, but individuals of both Jew and Gentile are now being gathered out.
During the period when the church is being gathered, there are no prophecies concerning Israel and Palestine to be fulfilled. What the Lord gave His disciples to expect personally is that He is coming to receive them to Himself, and this they were to wait for. Not one line or word of prophecy did He put in to take place first. He is coming for His people, and 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 describes how it is to take place. And at their conversion it is said, they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven.” Chapter 1. They were not to be shaken from this hope by any reports as if the apostles had taught otherwise. And he beseeches them to keep in mind the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him. (2 Thess. 2:1).
The wars and rumors of wars, the pestilences, the famines and the earthquakes that are happening during this time of the church’s sojourn on earth, are not the fulfillment of prophecy. “He is faithful that hath promised.” “He that shall come will come and will not tarry.” (Heb. 10:23, 37).
The only signs that we have to indicate the nearness of the coming of Christ is the state of the professing church on earth. (2 Tim., 2 Peter, Jude., Rev. 2 and 3rd chaps). And there we find much to tell us He will soon call us home, just as we find it in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18. All who are the Lord’s, both dead and living, will be taken to heaven at that time.
After that, the Jews will be gathered back to Palestine (Isa. 18), but as unbelievers in Jesus. Some will be converted, but many will remain in unbelief. The Lamb in Revelation 5 will take the book and begin to break the seven seals. Then will be the days of “the beginning of sorrows,” and it will deepen down to “the great tribulation,” as in Mattew 24. Then the Scripture—wars and rumors of wars, the pestilences, the famines and the earthquakes will begin to take place, and the desperate battle talked of as “Armageddon” will take place; till the Lord will come in flaming fire to judge the living wicked, and to deliver the Jews, and to begin to set up His Kingdom, which will cover a thousand years. The wicked dead will stand before Him at the end of that time, to receive their doom. Further questions will be welcomed.
“In the Lord’s Service.”