When is Jesus coming back? That’s a question Christians have asked for almost two thousand years now. Some say we can’t know anything at all about the timing of His return. They quote scripture saying, “No one knows the day or hour of my return except for the Father” (Matthew 24:26). But at least they believe Jesus will return.

The rest of the world is a different story. They would have us believe He’snever coming back. They literally fulfill Scripture by claiming, “What happened to the promise of Jesus to come back? Since the days of our ancestors, everything remains the same as it was since the world  was first created!” (2 Peter 3:3-4).

Yet, despite these claims, we can be sure of two things:

1) Jesus is coming back, and

2) We can know the general timeframe of His return.

The Bible is clear about the certainty of Christ’s return, and the Scriptures are filled with statements from Jesus and the prophets regarding the timing of His return. But for this article, I’d like to focus on a single specific statement made by Jesus. Once you study it, you should have no doubt that He’s coming – and coming soon.

Jerusalem As a Sign

Not only is Jesus coming soon, but we have every reason to believe He will return in the expected lifetime of most of the people reading this article. How can I be so sure? Because Jesus said so.

When the disciples asked Jesus to tell them the signs of His coming and the end of the age (Matthew 24), He described a number of signs to look for. One of those signs involved Jerusalem. Jesus told the disciples Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies, destroyed, and its citizens either killed or carried off as slaves into all the nations of the world. Then, Jerusalem would be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles come to an end (Luke 21:20-24).

Did this happen? Yes.

Approximately thirty years later, the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem. They put down a Jewish revolt, slaughtered thousands, destroyed the Temple, and carried the Jewish people to the farthest corners of the world to serve as slaves. And from the year A.D. 70 onward, Gentiles (non-Jewish people) controlled the city of Jerusalem. These events fulfilled the words of Jesus.

Gentile control of Jerusalem started with the destruction of the Temple and continued for centuries thereafter. Here’s a historical breakdown of who controlled Jerusalem and when:

Roman Empire (70-325)

Byzantine Empire (325-637)

The Caliphates (637-1099)

The Crusaders (1099-1187)

The Mamluks (1187-1516)

Ottoman Empire (1516-1917)

British Empire (1917-1948)

Israel/Jordan (1948-1967)

In June 1967, a military build-up in Egypt prompted Israel to launch a surprise invasion. What took place in the days that followed is known as the Six Day War. The result? Jewish possession of Jerusalem for the first time since A.D. 70. And Jewish control continues to this day.

Did you catch that? For more than four decades, the Jewish people have controlled Jerusalem. And this is one of the primary signs Jesus said would precede His return. In fact, Jesus said once this happens, look up because His return is near (Luke 21:28). He didn’t say, “Look up and then one hundred years will pass” or “A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, so I may come a thousand years later.” No. He said, “Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are over, and then I will return.”

So what should you conclude from this? One thing for sure—Jesus is coming!

No One Knows

“But wait!” you might say. “How can this be? Doesn’t Jesus say no one can know the time of His coming?” Yes. It’s true no one knows the day or the hour of His coming except for the Father (Matthew 24:26). Jesus also says He “will come like a thief in the night” (Matthew 24:33) and “at an hour when least expected” (Matthew 24:34). But none of these statements imply we can’t know the general timeframe of His return, and why would Jesus tell us to look for certain signs if no one can know when He’s coming?

The answer is clear. He wouldn’t. We can know the general “season” of Christ’s return. In fact, He commands us to watch for it (Mark 13:33-37). Jesus says those who watch won’t be caught off guard (Matthew 24:45-46), and Paul says we won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief because we are children of the light and the day (1 Thessalonians 5:1-8). How is that possible if we can’t know the general timeframe of His return?

The Signs of the Times

Remember, Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day because they failed to recognize the signs of His coming. He said, “You know how to look at the sky and predict the weather, but  you don’t know how to recognize the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:1-3). Has Jesus changed His expectations? No. He expects our generation to recognize the signs of His coming too.

So what are those signs? Fortunately, Jesus told us point blank what they are. The loss and repossession of Jerusalem by the Jewish people (Luke 21:20-24) is just one of those signs. If this is the only sign Jesus told us to look for, it would be more than enough to conclude His coming is very near. Yet, it’s only one of many signs Jesus and the prophets told us to look for.

Jesus said the gospel will be preached to the ends of the earth (Matthew 24:14). Do we see that happening today? Isaiah said the Jewish people will be re-gathered in Israel (Isaiah 11:11-12). Are they? Daniel said travel and knowledge will increase (Daniel 12:4). Have they?

Today, these signs are either fulfilled or in the process of being fulfilled, and the Bible contains many other signs of His coming. The convergence of all these signs is further evidence that Satan’s days on earth are numbered. So rejoice. Jesus is coming soon!

A few weeks ago, I was reading one of my favorite blogs when I stumbled upon a news item that stopped me dead in my tracks. In case you missed it, the head of PIMCO (the largest bond fund in the world) essentially said the European Union (EU) cannot survive unless it becomes “the United States of Europe.”

Here are the exact words of PIMCO managing director Andrew Bosomworth as quoted in the UK Telegraph (emphasis mine):

“The lesson from history is that the status quo we have now is not a tenable structure. There’s no historical precedent that this sort of structure, which is centralised monetary policy, decentralised fiscal policy, can last over multiple decades. You need to reach some sort of political agreement about how to share fiscal resources around the zone. We’re a long, long, long way from designing that and getting the political backing for it,” he said.

“Will we get the United States of Europe? It’s not impossible, but Europe could also spend many decades in a hybrid form of a political and fiscal federation. While there might not be one government, one passport and one army, we could be moving closer towards that – but not yet.”

Mr. Bosomworth makes a great point. In its current form, the EU can’t last much longer. Each member state has a different fiscal policy with different work laws, business regulations, welfare benefits, etc. Yet they all share the same currency, and no individual state is capable of adjusting that currency to account for those differences. This creates a perpetual imbalance that pushes the weaker states into a constant state of economic depression.

To correct the problem, one of two things must happen:

1) A complete break-up of the European Union, or

2) Further unification – meaning the establishment of a United States of Europe featuring a single, unified fiscal and monetary policy.

“Okay,” you might think. “So what? Why did this article stop you dead in your tracks?”

This is why… Mr. Bosomworth describes a situation outlined in the Bible more than 2,500 years ago. In ancient Babylon, the prophet Daniel interpreted one of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams. This dream involved a succession of empires ruling over Israel. According to Daniel, the statue’s iron and clay feet and toes represent ten nations that will attempt to strengthen themselves through an alliance or “intermarriage” (Daniel 2:43). In other words, they’ll try to form a union, but their attempt at unity will be far less than a smashing success. It will be frail and feeble, like an attempt to mix iron and clay.

Has this ever happened before? Never. At least not until now. But this is exactly what we see in the EU today. The EU’s monetary policy, coupled with a wide variety of uncoordinated fiscal policies, creates an unstable mixture similar to iron and clay.

Now, am I saying the European Union is the kingdom in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream? No. At least not at this moment. However, it has an uncanny resemblance, and we have every reason to believe the EU will spawn the Antichrist’s world empire.

First, the European Union contains the world’s 4th, 5th, and 6th largest economies (Germany, France, and the United Kingdom), but it also contains the world’s 102nd, 121st, and 136th largest economies (Estonia, Iceland, and Malta). The European Union is literally a loosely connected confederation of nation states – some strong and some weak. And this is precisely the type of arrangement the Bible says will exist in the time just prior to Christ’s return (Daniel 2:38-45).

Second, Daniel said the final world empire will emerge from the previous empire (Rome). Years after he interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Daniel had a vision of four beasts representing the same empires (Daniel 7:1-28). He describes the fourth beast as a world empire established by ten kingdoms, but we know from his vision that Rome is this fourth beast. So like Israel before it, we should expect the re-emergence of the Roman Empire. In the Book of Revelation, John also says this (Revelation 17:9-10). Today, many of the racial and cultural descendants of the Roman Empire live in the 28 nations that comprise the EU, and almost every member state was a territory of the ancient Roman Empire.

Third, Daniel said the kingdom and the people of the Antichrist are the same as those who would destroy the Temple after the Messiah appears (Daniel 9:26). The Romans destroyed the Temple in A.D. 70, almost four decades after the crucifixion of Jesus. And the EU includes Italy, home to Rome and the people who destroyed the Temple.

So, given all this information, why do I say the EU isn’t necessarily the kingdom foreseen in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (at least as of right now)? Because the Bible says that ten kings will rule the revived Roman Empire. And right now, the EU is not ruled by ten kings. That said, the framework exists for the emergence of a revived Roman Empire – an empire in the exact form Daniel foretold for the last days.

How many generations over the past 2,600 years can make that same claim? Only one: Our generation.

Conclusion

In the 19th Century, many students of  Bible prophecy predicted the re-emergence of Israel as a nation state. Why? Because the Bible foretold it. Those people were mocked and ridiculed. The world considered the idea absurd. Yet it happened.

Likewise, many of those same Bible prophecy students predicted the rise of a confederation of nations in Western Europe, and we’ve seen such a confederation slowly come together since World War II. Today, the stage is set for a ten nation alliance of weak and strong European nations to emerge as a world power. The EU is a forerunner of that alliance. It has a common currency and common diplomatic interests. And right now, it’s trending toward even greater political unity. According to the Bible, this is exactly what we should expect to see in the days and years leading up to the Second Coming. So what conclusion should you draw? Only one…

Jesus is coming!