When Will the Lord Return?

From: Francis Harper


When Will the Lord Return?

Aesop’s fable #210 is an account of a shepherd boy who repeatedly tricks nearby villagers
into thinking wolves are attacking his flock. When a wolf actually does appear and the boy again
calls for help, the villagers believe that it is another false alarm and the sheep are eaten by the wolf.
I recall a certain man predicting the Lord Jesus would return in 1988. He even wrote a
pamphlet listing 88 reasons why the Lord would return during that year. Needless to say, he had
given a false alarm. Others have issued similar alarms. These false alarms cause skepticism. And
the words of Peter are fulfilled: “. . . in the last days there shall come scoffers, walking after their own lusts. Denying the Lord Jesus Christ, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? . . .” (2 Peter 3:3-4).
We must be cautious when we speak about the timing of the Lord’s coming. For “of that day and hour no one knoweth; no, not the angels of God in heaven, but my Father only” (Matthew 24:43 IV; 24:36 KJV). Although none will know the day and hour of the Lord’s return, Jesus said; “Now learn a parable of the fig tree [symbol of Israel]: when its branches are yet tender, and it begins to put forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh at hand. So likewise mine elect, when they shall
see all these things, they shall know that he is near, even at the doors” (Matthew 24:42 IV; 24:33 KJV). Throughout the Scriptures God has used Israel as his prophetic time clock.
Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948. On June 7, 1967, Israel regained control of Jerusalem which had been under Gentile occupation for 1,897 years! Finally, in December, 2017,
President Trump announced the United States Embassy was being moved to Jerusalem, thus
recognizing the Holy City as the capital of Israel. Surely all these things indicate that the coming of Jesus is at the doors.
Jesus said “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles
be fulfilled” (Luke 21:23 IV; 21:24 KJV). Then he added: “Verily I say unto you, . . . this
generation, when the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, shall not pass away til all be fulfilled” (Luke 21:32). The Gentile domination of Jerusalem ended on June 7, 1967. We have been living within the final generation for more than fifty years.
Jesus was asked, “What is the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?” Among the
signs he gave of his return, he said, “. . . and except those days should be shortened, there should none of their flesh be saved. But for the elect’s sake . . . those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:19-20 IV; 24: 22 KJV). After August 6-9, 1945, when the atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, we knew the extinction of man had suddenly become possible.
Now, 73 years later, it has been stated that Israel is targeted for complete annihilation. The Lord will intervene if necessary.
The Lord said, “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness
unto all nations and then shall the end come, or the destruction of the wicked” (Matthew 24:32 IV; 24:14 KJV). The gospel is being preached even in the uttermost parts of the earth today. In areas such as China where preaching of the gospel is forbidden, the Scriptures are available and are being secretly read on I Pads!
The prophet Daniel was informed by an angel that our day; at the time of the end, “many
shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase” (Daniel 12:4). Who could have imagined at the
beginning of the 20 th Century that on July 20, 1969, a man would walk on the moon and safely
return?
We are living at the time of the end. “Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as you
think not, the Son of Man cometh” (Matthew 24:51 IV; 24:44 KJV).