Right now I am staring at a picture in my Facebook news feed of Masai women in Tanzania in their traditional clothing and ornaments. It is the picture graphic of a short article by Cody Archer of Revive Israel on how it is not the many signs of the end times that matter, but rather it is the existing CONDITIONS that are the key to the days just before Yeshua returns.
What conditions? These two: 1. A significant Remnant of His believers in Jerusalem and 2. the Good News having reached every people group on the planet.
I am struck by this because last night I listened to the US President laying out how they planned to proceed in Afghanistan and Pakistan. What he was emphasizing in his speech about the military strategy that would guide what the US does next is that he intends to measure success by the conditions that exist, not by arbitrary timing restraints.
Now people are more pleased by arbitrary timing deadlines. They like to know that on such-and-such a date thus-and-so is going to happen. That is true in the political realm and it is equally true in the spiritual realm. That is why in terms of last days prophecies we have seen sooooooo many date setters.
They based their dates on the signs of the times that they determined proved we had to be on the doorstep of the second coming. Many of their arguments are compelling cases but can I tell you that a compelling case can be made using scripture for just about anything and many cases of totally erroneous theories or doctrines have been made over the history of the Bible.
Timing can be interpreted but conditions cannot.
When the US pulled out of Iraq based on timing rather than on conditions, the mission there was sacrificed to please the people. It gave us the rise of ISIS and we have paid dearly for not remaining in place until the favorable CONDITIONS existed.
Many of you may be thinking right now, There she goes again being more political than spiritual.
You may not think much about it but truth is, Yeshua is the Commander of the Armies of Heaven. We are in a battle for the souls on the earth, and do not think that He has some arbitrary time frame guiding His command of what happens next. No: He is in the battle until the favorable conditions exist.
There is not going to be a 'pull out' of His troops on the earth until the two conditions He is looking for exist. Those conditions are Matthew 23:37-39 and Matthew 24:14 - a significant number of believers in Jerusalem are welcoming Him to return as KING and all of the people groups of the earth have had the opportunity to receive Him as LORD.
All the other signs of the times are "not yet".
As Matthew 24:6 reveals: And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.