Rapture: The Olivet Revelation, part 1

Now as Jesus 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?

Matthew 24:3, NKJV

It's the age old question.  Any time God makes a promise, people want to know "WHEN?"  We find them asking it over and over again throughout the Bible, and very seldom does God actually answer the question in a satisfactory way.

During those final days that Jesus spent on this earth with his disciples, they found themselves often in the Temple, and one day as they admired the magnificent beauty of the complex King Herod had spent nearly 50 years building, Jesus said, "You like this building?  It's all going to get torn down, so that not even one stone will be left upon another."

It was such a startling statement.  He was talking about the destruction of God's house, the demolition of their greatest national and religious symbol.  He was talking about an end to their way of life.  And they wanted to know more.  So one night four of them--Peter, Andrew, James and John came to Jesus and asked three questions:

When will this take place?

What will be the sign of your coming?

What will be the sign of the end of the age?

Apparently, the disciples knew that the history of the world can be divided into ages.  Though we don't know what criteria they used to determine the different ages and ascribe a name to them, there have been modern attempts to show that God has interacted with humanity in different ways at different times.  For instance, some say that there will be seven ages altogether--innocence, conscience, human government, patriarchal government, law, grace & the Kingdom of Christ--and that we are in currently in the sixth, the age of grace.  It is an age which the prophets did not see, and which the disciples were not counting in their reckoning.  For them, living in the age governed by Law of Moses, the next thing would be the establishment of God's Kingdom on Earth, with Jesus the Messiah reigning as king supreme and all of them reigning on thrones with him.

So they figured that all of their questions really had a single answer.  If the temple's destruction meant the end of their way of life, that must mean that it would also be the precursor to Christ's return, the establishment of their kingdom, and the end of their present age.  Now Jesus begins to mess with their theology, and he seems to answer their questions in the reverse order in which they asked them.

He addresses the end of the age first, the tri-fold witness of the gospels recording ten signs that would signal the end.

• False Christs, False Prophets, & False Religion (Mt. 24:5, 11)
• Global Conflict, both international and interpersonal (Mt. 24:6-7)
• Environmental Crisis, such as famine, disease, & earthquakes (Mt. 24:7)
• Cosmic Signs, such as solar eclipses, blood moons, planetary conjunctions & stellar events (Lk. 21:11)
• Persecution of Christians (Mt. 24:9)
• Falling away from Faith, resulting from offense caused by the gospel (Mt. 24:10)
• Increase of lawlessness (Mt. 24:12)
• Decrease of love (Mt. 24:12)
• Jerusalem besieged by its enemies (Mt. 21:20)
• World Evangelization (Mt. 24:14)

Through this part of the discourse, Jesus says things like, "the end is not yet" and "he who endures to the end shall be saved" and "then the end will come."  This last statement is made in connection to the global spread of the gospel message.  The day is coming when the final soul on the rolls of heaven will be claimed by the gospel, and when that happens, look out!  In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says, "When you see all these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your head, for your redemption draws near!

The end of the age preceding the return of Christ will be dominated by a singular event, something the prophet Daniel called "the Abomination of Desolation" which signals that a time of horror and trouble such as the world has never known.  It's called the Great Tribulation, a time period of seven years which will give rise to the ultimate false Christ, the ultimate false prophet, the ultimate false religion, and the ultimate war to end all wars.  Jesus warns those living in Israel to flee when they see the Abomination in the temple, and to not believe anyone who claims the Christ has already come, because the second coming of Christ is going to be dynamic and highly visible.

All of these signs leading to the end of the age will culminate in a final sign--perhaps a cosmic event similar to those that happened at Christ's birth--the sign of his coming.  And then Jesus will return on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, his angels sent forth to bring all those who are his to the place of his return.

In the same way that you know spring is near because the trees begin to bud and blossom, you will know that Jesus' coming is near when you see these signs being fulfilled.  And Jesus goes on to say that the generation which sees these things occur will not pass away until all the promises of God regarding the return of Christ have been fulfilled.

And the first question they asked, "When will all this happen?" is answered last:

"But of that day and hour no one knows,

not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son

but my Father only."

Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32, NKJV