My recent article, “What is Agenda 2030,” has generated many questions and comments, even some hysteria! Therefore, I feel compelled to write this follow-up story.
What is significant about this date? On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel, thus establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. Ben-Gurion became Israel’s first premier.
Between 1922 and 1948, the land was legally and officially under the rule of the British. It was officially called “Palestine.” In Hebrew it was officially called “Palestina.”
Biblically, May 14, 1948, has enormous significance today for those of us who believe in a pre-tribulation Rapture of the Church. As I stated in the Agenda 2030 article, Jesus and His disciples were sitting on the Mt. of Olives just outside Jerusalem when He was asked, “When shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” That’s recorded in Matt. 24:3.
Jesus then went on to tell them all the things that would come upon the World before He would return again. He concluded with telling them in vs. 34, “Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
In verses 32 and 33 He stated, “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” The fig tree was a common symbol for Israel in those days.
Now let us look again at the term “generation.” Psalm 90:10 tells us, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years.” A score of years is 20. Therefore, threescore years would be 60. Add 10 to that and we have 70. And “fourscore years” likewise would be 80 years. In other words, Jesus was saying that the average lifetime of a generation is 70 years, but if he has some added strength, he could live to 80. So, in summary, Jesus was saying that some of the generation of people who would be alive and on the Earth during the blooming of the Fig Tree, the re-birth of Israel, would live to see His Second Coming.
The entire discourse of Jesus’s explanation to His disciples was concerning His Second Coming. When He does return, He will come in power and glory to claim the Earth as His Kingdom, and it will mark the beginning of the millennium.
The Second Coming will follow the 7-year tribulation period, a time of such horror that if God, in His mercy, had not shortened those days, no living thing would have survived it! “And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matt. 24:22).
Those of us who hold to a pre-tribulation Rapture of the Church believe that true born-again Christians will be “raptured” before the 7-year tribulation begins. The word “rapture” is taken from the Latin word “rapio” which means “caught up” or “lifted up” in love. We Christians believe that we will be spared from that horrible 7-year period: “because they have kept the word of His patience, they will be kept from that hour of trial” (Rev. 3:10).
Applying all of this to a potential time parameter for the Rapture, we must start with the date May 14, 1948. From 1948 to 2020, we have 72 years. We must add 7 years to that in allowing for the tribulation period. That brings us up to 79 years. On the exact date of May 14, 2028, 80 years will have passed regarding “this generation” of which Jesus spoke in Matt. 24, the generation alive to see the blooming of “the fig tree” – Israel’s rebirth as a nation. In other words, the Second Coming has to occur by May 14, 2028, but the rapture HAS to occur 7 years BEFORE that! However, the Rapture could occur today, this very minute!
My dear fellow Christians, we are in over-time for the rapture. There is less than one year left before May 14, 2021!
May God Richly Bless You All,
YBIC,
Bill Cruce
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