The end of the world is an event that will take place for seven years. During this time, God will end the sinful era of humanity and usher in a new era ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ, as prophesied in the Book of Revelation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

Last week, while I was searching for scriptures for the sermon “Dates of the Lord’s Resurrection and the Pentecost”, Hosea 6:2 appeared in the list of my search results. I read it and ignored it because the verse did not relate to the sermon. Yet, that verse stayed in my mind with the thought that it was related to the end of the world. This week, I studied Hosea 6:1-2 and prayed so that God would help me prepare a sermon to share what I learned with the Church.

In our world today, there are many people who believe in *God’s salvation but still live in sin. These people have a passion for sins such as arrogance, fornication, and the love of money. They do not believe that the Lord can come at any time. Those who are awake and look forward to the coming of the Lord can see that the end is very near. The present, sinful state of the world is no different from Noah’s time, before the Great Flood. In fact, people have found new ways to sin, and the world is becoming more unholy. For instance, the movement to legalize same-sex marriage around the world is the last drop to overflow the cup of *God’s wrath.

Therefore, whatever I present in this sermon is crucial. I ask you, by any means, to please share this sermon with as many people as you can, especially with your relatives. Sharing this sermon may help bring many people towards salvation, even after you are raptured out of this world. As for you, please be diligent and pray so that you do not fall into any temptations and are ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Israel and the World

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

Israel is called the clock of *God because we can see the progression of *God’s plan when we look at Israel. *God has a plan for Israel as well as for the whole of mankind, which is prophesied in the Bible. Through Israel, mankind is blessed by *God (Genesis 22:18, 26:4, 28:14), and *God curses the person or country that curses Israel (Genesis 12:3). Therefore, the fate of everyone and every country is related to Israel. If we observe Israel’s current news, we will know which Biblical prophecy is going to be fulfilled, especially in these last days.

According to the Bible, the following are two important events that are going to happen before the end of the world: the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to take the Church out of the world (the rapture of the Church) and a great war in the Middle East called the battle of Psalm 83. Although both of these events will occur before the end of the world, we do not know which one will happen first. It is likely that the rapture of the Church will come first, leading to the battle of Psalm 83. If the rapture of the Church comes first, then the United States would become weak and unable to defend and protect Israel. As a result, the Muslim Arabic countries, with the consent of Russia and China, will join together to destroy Israel. However, *God will use this war to punish the Arabs, the enemies who curse the Israelites. Simultaneously, *God will fully restore Israel’s territory, according to His promise:

“On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the River Euphrates…” (Genesis 15:18).

“And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:8).

The second possibility is that the battle of Psalm 83 will take place before the rapture of the Church. We pray for this outcome instead so that many of *God’s people will awaken, repent, and be included in the following rapture. This outcome would be *God’s greatest mercy to the Church.

To further illustrate the critical role of Israel in *God’s plan, consider that Israel was re-established on May 14, 1948, a miracle and fulfillment of the prophecies in the Bible. Never in the history of mankind has a nation been completely obliterated, with its people scattered all over the world for more than 2,500 years, and then re-established in one day. Yet, the Bible prophesied this event more than 2,600 years ago, before the southern kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Babylonian Empire:

“Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” (Isaiah 66:8).

Even though Israel was re-established on May 14, 1948, the nation of Israel still had no spiritual life because Israel had not yet recognized the Lord Jesus as the promised Christ in the Bible; the Israelites are still living in sin. Israel’s re-establishment in 1948 was only the first step towards the complete resurrection of the kingdom of Israel after the end of the world. The state of Israel from May 14, 1948 to the completion of the end of the world is as prophesied in Ezekiel 37:8:

“And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.”

As I’ve mentioned in my past sermons, Israel’s re-establishment is also a sign to humanity that the end of the world is near, for *God has already begun to gather His people back to the land He promised to give to them as an everlasting possession.

I also mentioned the prophecy of Israel’s re-establishment as provided by *Christ in Matthew 24:32-42, Mark 13:28-37, and Luke 21:27-36. The Lord Jesus Christ used the parable of the fig tree that sprouted buds to signal the coming of summer, illustrating the re-establishment of Israel as a sign of the rapture, an event that will happen before *God judges the whole world in the Seven Years of the Great Tribulation.

Regarding the fig tree parable, we can understand the following:

1. The re-planting of the fig tree into the land of Canaan signifies the re-establishment of Israel on Friday, May 14, 1948.

2. On Wednesday, June 7, 1967, Israel completely took control of Jerusalem. This event is signified by the fig tree when it begins to sprout, preparing for its flowers and fruit.

3. The generation that was born on June 7, 1967 will not pass before *God executes His seven-year judgment on the world and completely restores Israel. The seven-year period is called the “seven years of tribulation”, or the end of the world, and it was prophesied in the Book of Revelation.

4. According to Psalm 90:10, a generation is about 70 or 80 years. So, the end of the world will have to happen sometime before 2030, or, if longer, sometime before 2040, and it will last for seven years.

5. Since we are living in 2017, the end of the world could begin 13 or 23 years from the present, at most.

6. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ can return to rapture the Church at any time. Once the Church is raptured, the end of the world will begin.

However, based on the prophecy in Hosea 6:1-2, it is very likely that the end of the world will begin less than three years from the day I preach this sermon (April 22, 2017). Thus, the time of Christ’s return and the rapture of the Church will also be less than three years in the future!

Hosea’s Prophecy

Let’s think about the meaning of Hosea 6:1-2:

“Come, and let us return unto the LORD; for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.”

According to the Scripture, with confirmation from the history of the world, due to the sins of the Israelites, the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE, scattering the Israelites all over the world. In 606 BC, the southern kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Babylonian Empire, and its people were enslaved in Babylon.

In 536 BCE, after 70 years of slavery to the Babylonian Empire, the Israelites of the southern kingdom, by *God’s will, were freed by Cyrus, the king of Persia (present-day Iran), to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of God. The liberation of the Israelites was the beginning of the 70 weeks *God planned for them, also known as Daniel’s 70 weeks since *God revealed it to Daniel. Each of the 70 weeks consists of seven years. The 70 weeks totally consist of 490 years for *God to work with Israel.

In the year 457 BCE, Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, issued a decree for Ezra to reestablish a government in Jerusalem. This administration survived for 49 years, from 457 BCE to 408 BCE, the equivalent of seven weeks out of Daniel’s 70 weeks. Jerusalem was ruled by the authorities of Persia, Greece, and Rome from 408 BCE to 27 CE, the equivalent to 62 weeks of Daniel’s 70 weeks. Taking into consideration that there is no year 0, these periods totally equal 483 years and make up 69 weeks out of Daniel’s 70 weeks.

The year 27 ended Daniel’s 69th week, and it was also the year when *God temporarily forsook Israel. They had rejected Jesus Christ and demanded the Roman government to crucify Him on the cross. Consequently, *God turned to save the Gentiles, including the Gentiles into His Church through the missionary journeys of Barnabas and Paul.

Once the Church is raptured from the world by the Lord Jesus Christ, *God will continue with the last of the 70 weeks with the remaining Israelites. During that final week, that is, during the seven-year period known as the end of the world, *God will judge both Israel and the whole world as prophesied in the Book of Revelation. At the end of those seven years, the Israelites will be spiritually revived by *God. Paul’s prophecy in the Book of Romans clearly states:

“For I, brethren, would not have you be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits: that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written: There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is My covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins.” (Romans 11:25-27).

“The fullness of the Gentiles” refers to the time when the Gentiles are brought into the Church sufficiently in number, according to the will of *God. We do not know how many that is, but when the number of Gentiles is filled in the Church, the Church will be raptured and *God will begin to judge the whole world, including the hardhearted Israelites. Exempted from the punishment that the hardhearted Israelites will face, the Israelites who truly fear *God will be guided by Him to the wilderness for shelter and to be revealed that Christ is their Messiah. Following the seven-year judgment, the Lord Jesus Christ will descend on the earth, completely redeeming Israel both in physical and spiritual senses.

The period of the Church, which began in the spring of the year 27, will last about 2,000 years. Those 2,000 years will be like two days to *God since a thousand years is like one day to Him:

“For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90:4).

“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing: that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (II Peter 3:8).

According to Hosea 6:1-2, during those 2,000 years, or two days in *God’s eyes, Israel will be considered dead. After those 2,000 years, *God will raise up the Israelites. By the third millennium, *God will rebuild them and they will live before Him.

We emphasize the following:

We do not give the date of the coming of the Lord for His Church. We only compare the Word of God with the events of the world to speculate that the time of Christ’s return for His Church and the commencement of the end of the world is imminent. The event may happen at the time we present below.

IF… the Passover of the year 27 was the time of Israel’s spiritual death for denying and killing Christ and if a thousand years are as one day in the Lord’s eyes, then the two days mentioned in Hosea 6:2 are the 2,000 year period from the Passover of the year 27 to the Passover of the year 2027, and the third day mentioned in Hosea 6:2 is the 1,000 years of peace that follows the end of the world. After the end of the world, Israel will be resurrected physically and spiritually to be ruled by King David in the Millennial Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ:

“And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David. He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken it.” (Ezekiel 34:23-24).

“And David My servant shall be King over them, and they all shall have one Shepherd. They shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children and their children’s children for ever. And My servant David shall be their Prince for ever.” (Ezekiel 37:24-25).

If the year 2027 is the end of the two day period of Israel’s spiritual death and if it is the time that *God resurrects them spiritually, then the year 2027 also marks the completion of the end of the world, which leads to the Millennium. Thus, the year 2020 will be the inaugural year of the Seven Years of the Great Tribulation.

We already know that the Lord Jesus Christ will take the Church out of the world before the end of the world, according to His promise:

“Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.” (Revelation 3:10).

Therefore, if the previous assumptions are correct, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the rapture of the Church can happen between the time that I preach this sermon (April 22, 2017) and the Passover in 2020. The Passover in 2020 is on Wednesday, April 8. In other words, this period of time is less than three years!

Here is the main question for each of *God’s people:

If the Lord Jesus Christ returns suddenly between the time you read or listen to this sermon and the Passover of 2020, are you ready to go with Him?

We, the people of *God, are privileged to witness the historic moment right before *God’s most anticipated event in His plan. However, are we ready for that day? *God has made us whole and blameless, but do we stay in that perfect holiness by being humble? For many people, their biggest surprise in life is when they are facing their own death. For true followers of the Lord, our biggest surprise would be the moment we realize we are being raptured!

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, even as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love…” (Ephesians 1:3-4).

“…Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27).

“For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing, that ye may be blameless and unoffending, the sons of *God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life, that I may rejoice in the Day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.” (Philippians 2:13-16).

“And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, even now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight, if ye continue grounded and settled in the faith, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature under heaven…” (Colossians 1:21-23).

“And the very *God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray *God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you; He also will do it. ” (I Thessalonians 5:23-24).

As we can see from the scriptures above, if someone says it is impossible to live a holy and blameless life, they say that *God is lying! The Word of God confirms us that we can be holy.

*God has done all that He can to save and continually sanctify us. The rest is up to us. We need to truly repent and fully believe in the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ and wholeheartedly live by the Word of God. The choice belongs to each person, and the time to choose will soon be over!

To those who do not yet believe in the salvation of *God that comes from the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ:

Dear friends,

Please read the Bible. When you compare the prophecy of the Bible to what is happening in the world around you, especially after the rapture of the Church, you will know that you only have one last chance to repent and believe in the salvation of *God.

We hope that you will choose to believe in *God’s salvation even in the face of severe persecution by a global government against the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, you will perish in hell for eternity. All of the religions in the world are Satan’s deception; do not believe in any religion. Just read, believe, and follow the Bible, which is the Word of God.

May the love, grace, and fellowship of God be with you to help you endure in faith and to enter eternal life in the Kingdom of *God. A-men!

Pastor Timothy Christian Huynh and Priscilla Christian Huynh
Edited by Grace Christian Huynh
04/22/2017

Link to download pdf file of this article:
https://od.lk/f/MV8xNTQ5NTE1Mjhf