10-28-21 Three Simple Metrics to Gauge Our Times

Three Simple Metrics to Gauge Our Times :: By Todd Hampson Published on: October 6, 2021 by RRadmin7 Category:General Articles Various industries use key metrics to gauge the overall health and trajectory of trends that impact their health and stability. Financial analysts check the various alphabet indexes. Farmers keep an eye on the short- and long-term weather forecasts. Movie production companies, TV networks, and streaming services perform constant data analysis related to audiences’ felt needs and entertainment preferences. You get the picture. Name the industry, and it is guaranteed there are a handful of key metrics they keep an eye on to forecast the future and make decisions. Christianity is not an industry (or at least it shouldn’t be), but as believers, there are a handful of key metrics to keep our eyes on in order to understand where we are (generally speaking) on God’s timetable. Before I get to those metrics, I want to argue the case that God does indeed have a plan—including a specific timeline that only He knows. I dare not date-set (Matthew 24:36), but God has. Here’s the proof. In Acts chapter 1—wedged in between the question from the apostles about Jesus if he was about to restore the kingdom to Israel and just before the familiar verse where Jesus gave his followers what is known as the great commission (1:8)—Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority (Acts 1:7).” Did you catch that? By logic, Jesus implied that the Father has times (plural) and dates (plural) set—including the day Israel’s kingdom would be restored (and by extension other specific end-time dates). The word used for times is chronos, from which we get the word chronological. It has to do with sovereignly managed sequences. The word used for dates is kairos, or appointed times. It has to do with specific opportune times when things have come to a head (kairos comes from the word kara or head). Think of chronos as the sequential time a stalk of wheat needs to grow. Think of kairos as the moment the wheat stalk sprouts its head and is ready for picking. God is sovereignly involved in both, but God-ordained chronos events always ultimately lead to God-ordained kairos events—when things have reached their designated end. If you think about it, that makes total sense. God is (among other attributes) omniscient—all-knowing. He is also outside of time, for He created it. In any case, God the Father knows ALL of the key dates (rapture, return, start of the kingdom age, etc.), but we do not. We walk by faith as we wait. But notice also that Jesus didn’t dissuade them from asking such questions about the timing of eschatological events. We find the same phenomena when the disciples asked Jesus about end-time events in what is known as the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21), where Jesus provided his second-longest recorded teaching—and it was all about the signs and details of the end in response to the disciple’s questions! For the apostles, they were not to worry about either, because in the very next verse (1:8) they hear Jesus’s last words before he left the earth that they would be his witnesses to the world—beginning where they were (in Jerusalem) and then ultimately to the ends of the earth. (By the way, Acts 1:8 also serves as the outline for the book of Acts—beginning in Jerusalem and ending in Rome.) This “witnessing” would take time. We call that the church age. But following the church age will be the kingdom age. The chronos of the church age would have a logical kairos end before the kingdom age can begin. We seem to be nearing the kairos moments related to the end of the church age. Now back to those metrics. There are a handful of key factors we can keep an eye on to gauge where we are on God’s timetable. We can’t know the day or hour, but Scripture tells us we can know the season (Matthew 16:3, Luke 12:56, Hebrews 10:25). This list of metrics is by no means exhaustive but is meant to provide an easy-to-follow, clear, and compelling list that can show us how close we must be. If you have never studied eschatology but are—perhaps for the first time—realizing that there is something different about the times in which we live, then this post is for you! Here are 3 simple, clear, compelling metrics to evaluate for yourself to see if you think we are rapidly heading for the kairos moment of the church age as things seem to be coming to a head. ISRAEL Every Old Testament prophet except for Jonah predicted that Israel would become a nation again in the end times after a long period of time when the Jewish people were scattered all over the world with no homeland. This is exactly what happened on May 14, 1948. That was a kairos moment—an appointed date. In fact, one Old Testament prophet said that Israel would be “born in a day (Isaiah 66:8).” The prophecies that foretold Israel would be reborn all describe this super-sign event in the context of the end-times. Joel 3:1-2 even provides time clues, letting us know that when Israel would become a nation again, that would be in the same general time frame that all end-time events would take place. Joel 3:1-2 “In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.” There are scores of specific details the Bible prophesied about Israel and the Jewish people both chronologically and in terms of special specific appointed moments that were prophesied in Scripture. If you have never taken the time to study this aspect of the Bible, I highly recommend it. Your faith will be strengthened, and your eyes will be opened like never before. GLOBALISM (vs. National Sovereignty) When most people hear the term globalism, they usually just think of the modern interconnectivity of global trade, commerce, travel, and culture. But what I’m referring to here is the widespread, specific, and intentional efforts of the world’s most powerful influencers (international bankers, political leaders, and global-scale business leaders) to bring about a one-world government. Please fact-check me on this. Do not take my word for it. Dig into the founding documents, websites, articles, and interviews of people in (and/or connected to) these organizations and initiatives, and you will see that it is an established fact that they are trying (more now than ever) to bring about a one-world global government. It is important to note that this is not a left vs. right issue. Prominent people from both sides of the aisle are globalists. The World Economic Forum The Great Reset The United Nations The 2030 Agenda The Council on Foreign Relations The Trilateral Commission The Council of the Americas The Americas Society The Forum of the Americas The Institute for International Economics This is just the tip of the iceberg. Those are what you might call open globalist groups and initiatives. There are many smaller entities that coordinate to assist the organizations and initiatives listed above. So, what does this have to do with eschatology? Well, the Bible teaches that after the rapture, the chaos will quickly lead to a one-world government (see Daniel chapters 2 and 7; Revelation chapters 13, 17), which will install a single leader whom we commonly refer to as the antichrist. Don’t let the familiarity of those terms and passages breed contempt or form caricatured notions in your mind. Look around you as you research the various globalist initiatives. In order for a one-world government to almost immediately form after the rapture—it is necessary that the plans and framework for such a thing must already be in place. And they are—along with all of the technology necessary to pull it off. These facts are out in the open for all who are willing to take a look. This explains why great lengths are currently being taken to weaken America’s national sovereignty. Our country is quickly becoming a shell of its former self. This fact is sad but true—and it lines up with Scripture, as you see further below. Thankfully, our true citizenship is in Heaven. We can draw comfort from that even as our heart breaks as we watch our once strong country weaken at an unprecedented rate. THE EZEKIEL 38 WAR I’ll make this section as brief as I can, but if you have never studied it or heard about it before, you’ll need to take some time to process the details. Ezekiel 38 and 39 contain the most detailed account of any end-time battle. I have written about it extensively in books and articles (see here, here, and here), so I’ll keep it brief and high-level for the purposes of this article. Ezekiel 38 and 39 detail an end-time battle that will take place after the people of Israel are back in their homeland, having been scattered and mistreated all over the world for a long period of time. Check. That part of the prophecy is fulfilled. After returning to their homeland and recovering from war (i.e., WWII, Israel’s War of Independence, The Six-Day War of 1967, the Yom Kippur War, etc.) and becoming militarily strong and financially secure (check/fulfilled), a group of nations that do not border Israel will be led by Russia, Iran, and Turkey to attack Israel specifically from her north—but Syria will not be one of them. All of the nations listed are Islamic nations who currently want to destroy Israel—except for Russia, which will be there leading the pack to take something valuable from Israel (oil, gas, natural resources, technology, et al). Russia will serve as a guard for the others, but the main partnership will be with Russia, Iran, and Turkey. This partnership is currently in place, and Syria is merely a puppet state being run by those 3 nations. On the opposite side of the equation, nobody will come to Israel’s rescue (but God…and He will show up in a major way). Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, England, and “her young lions” (possibly America) will merely protest the invasion but will not come to Israel’s aid in any meaningful way. If this attack were to occur today—this is exactly what would take place. The stage for this end-time confrontation is almost fully set. I believe it will be a power grab in the aftermath of the rapture. Even the recent horrific abandonment of the people (and billions of dollars of US military equipment) of Afghanistan further set the stage for Ezekiel 38. The Convergence of Events Those are 3 metrics we can keep an eye on with relative simplicity to see how close we are to the events of the tribulation—and keep in mind that the rapture will occur prior to the tribulation period. This unprecedented convergence of events (and there are dozens more) HAS NEVER BEFORE OCCURRED IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. That should get our attention. Before I close, I’d like you to read one more section of Scripture carefully and slowly and see if it does not describe our day exactly. These are specifically stated as end-time attributes. They have always been true in pockets and in seasons, but in our day, these conditions are global and worsening—at the very same time everything else is converging. In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, we read, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power.” Now For Some Good News Lastly, some good news. God’s appointed times are in His hands—and so is your life. You are here at this time on purpose and for a reason. We need not fear. I’ve been told that the Bible says 365 times not to fear—one for each day of the year, plus an extra one in case you need a spare! We can rest assured that God will act at the very time we are ready and his perfect timing has arrived. If you do not know Christ, now is the time to receive him as your savior. Don’t wait. The massive convergence of specifically prophesied end-time events is upon us. Turn to Christ today. If there is a tug at your heart right now, do not ignore it. The one metric you should watch the most is your relationship with Christ. If you are a believer, draw closer to him in these trying times, and he will sustain you. If you are not yet a believer, please do not let another moment go by without calling on the name of Christ for salvation. He already paid the cost for our sins. We can’t earn it; we must simply accept it. “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). Todd Hampson | toddhampson.com