Where in the Bible are the prophecies?

I didn’t realize until quite recently that nearly one third of the Bible contains prophecies!

Of course, a lot of them are about Christ’s first coming, when He came as the Savior, and a very large bunch are about the Millennium and the new heavens and new earth (both of which are after the last hour). But this still leaves a significant collection of prophecies about The Day itself – and, more specifically for our study, the last hour before The Day.

So where do we find these?

Well, there are two types of events in prophecy that I’ve been looking for:

1. What the world will look like when the last hour strikes and The Day begins.
2. Things that haven’t happened yet, but need to happen before the last hour strikes.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The first type of prophetic event will have already happened and some have calculable dates. But the second type is what happens near the end of what we call “the church age” (what we’re living in now, between Christ’s ascension in the first century and the Rapture – basically, the period of time while the church is on earth) and none of these have dates can be calculated (including the rapture; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

But we can guess that the last hour is nearly over based on which prophetic events have occurred and which ones look close to happening.

This is why studying prophecy is so exciting! When they’re being fulfilled, we can guess that the rapture must be close!

So, here are the passages to check out if you want to take a crack at piecing together God’s timeline for yourself. (Which I would strongly encourage, because if I can take stab at it, who am no Bible scholar, then you can – I mean, God wouldn’t have given any of it to us if we couldn’t understand it!) Please realize that these lists are not comprehensive. For instance, the books of the minor prophets are riddled with descriptions of “last hour” events, so I’ll include more of those when I go into each list separately and more in-depth in future posts.

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What things will look like before The Day – things that have already happened to set the stage:

Israel:

• Sixty-nine of the seventy weeks will have been fulfilled, and the Messiah will have been cut off. (Daniel 9:24-26)
• Israel will come back to life in terms of being a country with a land and language, the people having returned from exile. (Ezekiel 36-37)
• The people of Israel will return to the land of Israel. (Isaiah 43:5-6, 44:24-27, 66:7-9)
• Israel will be temporarily blinded after rejecting God’s salvation in Christ, and He is preached to the Gentiles. (Romans 11:25)

“The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.” ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will increase their men like a flock. Like a flock offered as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem on its feast days, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ {Ezekiel 36:34-38}

The world:

• Three world empires will have fallen for good (Assyrian, Persian, Greek), and one (Rome) has temporarily fallen, which will rise again but with less strength. (Daniel 2:31-43)
• Evil and catastrophes will increase. (Matthew 24:5-12)
• It will be a time of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24b)
• People will be suppressing the truth, denying God, and worshiping the creation rather than the Creator. (Romans 1:18-25, 28)
• They will not have a love of the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2:10b)
• Ungodly behavior and thinking will increase. (2 Timothy 3:1-7, 13)

“…they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” {2 Thessalonians 2:10b}

The church:

• The Gospel of salvation by faith will be preached to the Gentiles after being preached to the Jews. (Acts 13:44-48) (also about Israel)
• The Jews will reject Christ, and the Gospel will be preached to the Gentiles. (Romans 9:25-26, 10:14-20)
• Those in Christ will be waiting for Christ’s appearing. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-10)
• The church will exist in the last days. (1 Peter 4:7)
• There will be an increase of false prophets. (Matthew 24:11)
• Many antichrists will come, denying that Jesus is the Christ. (1 John 2:18, 22-26)
• Mockers will come, causing divisions. (Jude 17-19)
• Those in Christ will be reading the prophecy and keeping it. (Revelation 1:3, 22:7)

 ^“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” … So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.” But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.” But Isaiah is very bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.” ” {Romans 10:15-20}

Things that need to happen before the last hour strikes (which haven’t happened yet):

• The Restrainer must be removed (2 Thessalonians 2:3-7)
• The falling away in the church (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3a)
• The mystery of lawlessness is nearly finished rising (2 Thessalonians 2:7)

“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed…” {2 Thessalonians 2:1-7}

• The aggressors in the first war of Gog and Magog will be getting into position (Ezekiel 38:1-12)
• The plans for Israel’s third temple will be coming together (Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3b-4; Daniel 9:27)
• Israel will be strong and prosperous (Ezekiel 36:8-11, 38:11-14)
• The Gospel will have been preached in all the world, and then the rapture will come! (Matthew 24:14)

The last point may be the most important for us all to understand, because it directly affects everyone – everyone can hear the Gospel and everyone has a chance to accept it. The reason the last hour hasn’t struck is because God is not willing that any should perish and He “desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth”!

The prophecies about what the world will look like, and the events that need to happen before the last hour, either have happened or the stage is being set for them to happen. So don’t wait! We’re in the last hour, and now is the time to believe what God says, to be reconciled to Him and have eternal life through Christ as your Savior.

Look at the clock! Why would you wait?

Paul was sure Christ was appearing at any moment to bring His church to heaven – and that was 2,000 years ago, before Rome had fallen, before Israel had been dispersed through the world and then brought back to the land as a nation, before Israel was prosperous and green – and now it’s after all of these things have happened. The end is near, and the stage is nearly set for God’s judgment. But He’s waiting. His appointed time has not yet come because He’s not done saving souls.

Trusting in Christ to forgive your sin and give you His perfect record so you can have eternal life – His death and resurrection – is the only way to have an unshakable hope of life and escape from that judgment.

As I mentioned before, I’ll be tackling these lists of prophecies on their own and more in depth in upcoming posts because there are some exciting specifics to look at! Specifics in the prophecies that correlate to specific historic and current events.

So, until next time (unless the rapture comes first), keep your eye on the clock!