Forest Man

Lars Larsen's blog

Signs in the Bible that will herald the Second Coming of Jesus and the end of the world.

Publicerad 2022-11-10 09:51:00 i Antichrist, Catastrophes/disasters, Climate Change, Collapse of civilization, Commentaries to New Testament books, Death and life after death, Doomsday, Food, farming and famine, Judgement Day, Pollution, Satan, the demiurg and demons, Suffering and theodicy, The Bible, UFO:s and extraterrestials,

Disasters
 
1) There will be a lot of "wars and rumours of wars", initially (Matt. 24:6).
 
2) There will be a lof of famine and starvation, initially (Matt. 24:7).
 
3) There will be a lot of earthquakes, initially (Matt. 24:7).
 
4) There will be a lot of pestilences, initially (Luk. 21:11, Rev. 6:8).
 
5) There will be a lot of persecution against Christians (Matt. 24:9-10).
 
6) There will be a Great Tribulation, the biggest in the history of mankind (Dan. 12:1, Matt. 24: 21-22).
 
7) There will be a lot of commotions and uprises (Luk. 21:9).
 
8) There will be terrors and signs from heaven (Luk. 21:11).
 
9) Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luk. 21:24).
 
10) There will be anguish on the earth among nations bewildered by the roaring sea and waves. Sea levels will rise a lot, and mental illness will rise a lot (Luk. 21:25). 
 
11) Men's hearts will fail them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken (Luk. 21:26).
 
12) A fourth of mankind will die, initially (Rev. 6:8).
 
13) A third of all vegetation and all grass will burn (Rev. 8:7).
 
14) An asteroid will fall into the sea (Rev. 8:8).
 
15) A third of the sea on the earth will become polluted and die, initially (Rev. 8:8).
 
16) A third of the beings in the sea will perish, initally (Rev. 8:9).
 
17) A third of the ships will perish, initially (Rev. 8:9).
 
18) The earth will become polluted by radioactivity. "Wormwood" is the English word for Tjernobyl (Rev. 8:10-11).
 
19) There will be a lot of aerosols and particles blocking the sun, from industrial and other activity, i.e. Global Dimming (Rev. 8:12).
 
20) There will be a lot of visits by "extraterrestials", with alien abductions, i.e. demon hauntings (Rev. 9:1-11).
 
21) A third of mankind will perish by war, initially (Rev. 9:13-21).
 
22) Satan and his angels will be cast down from heaven to earth, and he will have great wrath, because he knows that he as but a short time (Rev. 12:9,12).
 
23) There will be a great apostasy in mankind and among believers, iniquity shall abound, and the love of most shall grow cold. Most people on earth will follow the Beast, i.e. Antichrist and Babylon, the fallen civilization (Matt. 24:12, Rev. 13:7-8).
 
24) There will be a lot of cancer and sickness because of high tech, because of following the Beast (Rev. 16:2).
 
25) The sea will die from pollution, and all life in the sea will perish (Rev. 16:3). 
 
26) All fresh water fountains and streams and lakes will become polluted and die (Rev. 16:4).
 
27) There will be global warming to such a degree that the sun will be too hot for humans to bear. The growing ozone holes will contribute to that (Rev. 16:8-9).
 
28) There will be a lot of power outages, the electric grid will fail, resulting in a cold and dark world in the wintertime (Rev. 16:10).
 
29) Rivers will drie up, i.e. there will be massive droughts (Rev. 16:12).
 
30) A great hail will fall out of heaven, every stone about a weight of a talent (34,2 kilogram each) (Rev. 16:21).
 
31) The earth, i.e. the environment, shall be destroyed by the ungodly, by the Beast, by Civilization (Rev. 11:18).
 
32) There will be a last great war, a Third World War if you like, a Harmageddon war (Rev. 19:19-21).
 
33) Civilization will collapse, i.e. in biblical language, "Babylon will fall" (Rev. 18).
 
34) All islands will vanish (Rev. 16:20).
 
34) A disaster like Noah's flood, but this time with fire, shall go over earth (Matt. 24: 38-39, 2. Pet. 3: 6-7).
 
36) The earth will die, will perish (Luk. 21:33, 2. Pet. 3:10, Rev. 20:11)
 
 
Other signs of the Second Coming
 
1) There will be signs in the sun, moon and in the stars (Luk. 21:25).
 
2) Many false prophets will arise, and lead many astray (Matt. 24:11).
 
3) Many false Messiahses will arise, and perform great signs and wonders (Matt. 24:24).
 
4) At last, a last, great Antichrist will arise, and perform many signs and wonders (1. Tess. 2:3-10).
 
5) The Gospel about Jesus will be preached to all nations (Matt. 24:14).
 
6) Israel will get back the Holy Land before Jesus returns (Jer. 31:18-40, Ezek. 20:41-44).
 
7) Knowledge will be great in the end times. Think of internet (Dan. 12:4).
 
8) When the power of the holy people has been throughly crushed, the end will come (Dan. 12:7).
 
* * * 
 
So, this was the main points that I found in the Bible about the issue. There are certainly more of them. Now, how many of these signs have been fulfilled? How many that are left to be fulfilled, are realistic, plausible to happen? I guess a lot of them are. 
 
But these 44 points were mostly negative. Now I want to end with something positive and uplifting, and I will chose to comment one of my favourite Bible verses. It is Luk. 21:28. Jesus has just ended his apocalyptic talk in Luke about the End Times and the signs thereof, and he begins to finish the talk with these lovely words:
 
"When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Interlinear English-Greek text is below on the bottom of this text)
 
 
My commentary: Do we really believe these words from Jesus? I mean, when we lose loved ones unto death, when we lose all our money in stocks and bonds, when our nearest forest burns up, when we lose our homes because we cannot pay our bills and become homeless? Then this guy from Nazareth comes and says "When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
 
We are commanded to lift up our heads in the very beginning of the Apocalypse ("...begin to take place..."), or the Great Tribulation. Seven years of tribulation, if it takes so long, is it anything compared to eternal joy in heaven? We probably die soon ourselves, when the Apocalypse arrives. Is death so terrible then? Jesus says here that we should look forward to it, we who believe. If I got to know that I had only seven years left, life would seem very holy to me, also if I suffered. And I would count every day and make the best out of it I can. A thing becomes precious if you have very little of it, so also with life. Appreciate your life, because the end is drawing near. And don't be so afraid of losing your comfortable life, it is not so horrible to be poor and homeless. I was homeless and penniless for many years in the forest, and I really enjoyed it. I had almost nothing. My heart is still there, in that poor life. If you love poverty and asceticism, it stops being terrible. This is the secret of happiness. Not to require so much, to love simplicity. Soon you will become accustomed to poverty.  
 
 And here are some other commentaries to the verse: 
 
 
(28) Look up.—The Greek word, literally, bend up, or turn up, meets us here and in Luke 13:11, and nowhere else in the New Testament, except in the doubtful passage of John 8:7John 8:10.

Redemption.—The word, familiar as it is to us, is, in the special form here used, another of those characteristic of St. Paul’s phraseology (Romans 3:24Romans 8:231Corinthians 1:30Ephesians 1:7et al.). It occurs also in Hebrews 9:15Hebrews 11:35. In its primary meaning here it points to the complete deliverance of the disciples from Jewish persecutions in Palestine that followed on the destruction of Jerusalem. The Church of Christ was then delivered from what had been its most formidable danger.

 

 
21:5-28 With much curiosity those about Christ ask as to the time when the great desolation should be. He answers with clearness and fulness, as far as was necessary to teach them their duty; for all knowledge is desirable as far as it is in order to practice. Though spiritual judgements are the most common in gospel times, yet God makes use of temporal judgments also. Christ tells them what hard things they should suffer for his name's sake, and encourages them to bear up under their trials, and to go on in their work, notwithstanding the opposition they would meet with. God will stand by you, and own you, and assist you. This was remarkably fulfilled after the pouring out of the Spirit, by whom Christ gave his disciples wisdom and utterance. Though we may be losers for Christ, we shall not, we cannot be losers by him, in the end. It is our duty and interest at all times, especially in perilous, trying times, to secure the safety of our own souls. It is by Christian patience we keep possession of our own souls, and keep out all those impressions which would put us out of temper. We may view the prophecy before us much as those Old Testament prophecies, which, together with their great object, embrace, or glance at some nearer object of importance to the church. Having given an idea of the times for about thirty-eight years next to come, Christ shows what all those things would end in, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the utter dispersion of the Jewish nation; which would be a type and figure of Christ's second coming. The scattered Jews around us preach the truth of Christianity; and prove, that though heaven and earth shall pass away, the words of Jesus shall not pass away. They also remind us to pray for those times when neither the real, nor the spiritual Jerusalem, shall any longer be trodden down by the Gentiles, and when both Jews and Gentiles shall be turned to the Lord. When Christ came to destroy the Jews, he came to redeem the Christians that were persecuted and oppressed by them; and then had the churches rest. When he comes to judge the world, he will redeem all that are his from their troubles. So fully did the Divine judgements come upon the Jews, that their city is set as an example before us, to show that sins will not pass unpunished; and that the terrors of the Lord, and his threatenings against impenitent sinners, will all come to pass, even as his word was true, and his wrath great upon Jerusalem.
 

 
Your redemption draweth nigh - See the notes at Matthew 24:33. This is expressed in Luke 21:31 thus: "the kingdom of God is nigh at hand" - that is, from that time God will signally build up his kingdom. It shall be fully established when the Jewish policy shall come to an end; when the temple shall be destroyed, and the Jews scattered abroad. Then the power of the Jews shall be at an end; they shall no longer be able to persecute you, and you shall be completely delivered from all these trials and calamities in Judea.
 
 
 
28. redemption—from the oppression of ecclesiastical despotism and legal bondage by the total subversion of the Jewish state and the firm establishment of the evangelical kingdom (Lu 21:31). But the words are of far wider and more precious import. Matthew (Mt 24:30) says, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven," evidently something distinct from Himself, mentioned immediately after. What this was intended to mean, interpreters are not agreed. But as before Christ came to destroy Jerusalem, some appalling portents were seen in the air, so before His personal appearing it is likely that something analogous will be witnessed, though of what nature it is vain to conjecture.
 
 
 
See Poole on "Luke 21:27"


 
And when these things begin to come to pass,.... When the first of these signs appears, or any one of them:

then look up and lift up your heads; be cheerful and pleasant; do not hang down your heads as bulrushes, but erect them, and put on a cheerful countenance, and look upwards, from whence your help comes; and look out wistfully and intently, for your salvation and deliverance:

for your redemption draweth nigh; not the redemption of their souls from sin, Satan, the law, the world, death, and hell; for that was to be obtained, and was obtained, before any of these signs took place; nor the redemption of their bodies at the last day, in the resurrection, called the day of redemption; for this respects something that was to be, in the present age and generation; see Luke 21:32 but the deliverance of the apostles and other Christians, from the persecutions of the Jews, which were very violent, and held till these times, and then they were freed from them: or by redemption is meant, the Redeemer, the son of man, who shall now come in power and glory, to destroy the Jews, and deliver his people; and so the Ethiopic version renders it, "for he draws nigh who shall save you".

 

 
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
28. Hope for the Faithful.

28
look up] The ‘earnest expectation’ (apokaradokia—‘watching with outstretched neck’) of the creature, Romans 8:19Romans 8:23. This verb anakuptein only occurs in Luke 13:11. Comp. Matthew 24:31.


 
Luke 21:28Ἀρχομένωνwhen these things are beginning) Comp. the expression, “the beginning,” in Matthew 24:8. For this reason refer these things to Luke 21:8-10et seqq.: and in this passage He is treating of the preparation for nearer events; but (δὲ) in Luke 21:34-35, He is treating of the preparation for the last events of all.—ἀνακύψατε καὶ ἐπάρατεlook up, and lift up your heads) in order that as soon as possible ye may perceive the event answering to your expectation, and may with joy embrace it (welcome it). Comp. ch. Luke 24:5 [Not as the disciples after the resurrection, who, with “faces bowed down to the earth,” “sought the living among the dead”]; Job 10:15 [If I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head]. In the LXX. Version ἀνακύψαι is used to express, “to lift up the head;” also ἆραι κεφαλὴνJdg 8:28.—ἀπολύτρωσιςdeliverance [redemption) from many miseries, Luke 21:12Luke 21:16-17. Deliverance from the miseries which befell the Jews. [So long, to wit, as the shadows of the Levitical law, along with the City and Temple, were standing, the kingdom of GOD, or the free exercise of the Christian religion, did not as yet enjoy unrestricted scope. This is compared to the loveliness of the summerLuke 21:30-31 : but old things must first be taken away,—V. g.]


 
Verses 28-36. - Practical teaching arising the foregoing prophecy respecting the Jerusalem and the "last things." Verse 28. - And when these things begin to come to pan, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. There is no doubt that the first reference in this verse is to the earlier part of the prophecy - the fate of the city and the ruin of the Jewish power. "Your redemption" would then signify "your deliverance from the constant and bitter hostility of the Jewish authority." After A.D. and the fall of Jerusalem, the growth of Christianity was far more rapid than it had been the first thirty or forty years of its It had no longer to cope with the skilfully ordered, relentless opposition of its deadly Jewish foe. Yet between the lines a yet deeper meaning is discernible. In all times the earnest Christian is on the watch for the signs of the advent of his Lord, and the restless watch serves to keep hope alive, for the watcher knows that that advent will be the sure herald of his redemption from all the weariness and painfulness of this life. Luke 21:28
 

 
Look up

See on Luke 13:11. Graphic, as implying being previously bowed down with sorrow.

Redemption (ἀπολύτρωσις)

See on lettest depart, Luke 2:29.

 
 
* * * 
 
Greek
 
When
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

these things
τούτων (toutōn)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Genitive Neuter Plural
Strong's 3778: This; he, she, it.

begin
ἀρχομένων (archomenōn)
Verb - Present Participle Middle - Genitive Neuter Plural
Strong's 756: To begin. Middle voice of archo; to commence.

to happen,
γίνεσθαι (ginesthai)
Verb - Present Infinitive Middle or Passive
Strong's 1096: A prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be, i.e. to become, used with great latitude.

stand up
ἀνακύψατε (anakypsate)
Verb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 352: To raise myself, look up, be elated. From ana and kupto; to unbend, i.e. Rise; figuratively, be elated.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

lift up
ἐπάρατε (eparate)
Verb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 1869: To raise, lift up. From epi and airo; to raise up.

your
ὑμῶν (hymōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

heads,
κεφαλὰς (kephalas)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 2776: From the primary kapto; the head, literally or figuratively.

because
διότι (dioti)
Conjunction
Strong's 1360: On this account, because, for. From dia and hoti; on the very account that, or inasmuch as.

your
ὑμῶν (hymōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

redemption
ἀπολύτρωσις (apolytrōsis)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 629: From a compound of apo and lutron; ransom in full, i.e. riddance, or Christian salvation.

is drawing near.”
ἐγγίζει (engizei)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1448: Trans: I bring near; intrans: I come near, approach. From eggus; to make near, i.e. approach.


 
 

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Lars Larsen

Born 1984 in Finland. Norwegian, lives in Stockholm, Sweden. Poet, ecotheologian and ecophilosopher (though not an academic such in both cases, although he studied theology for almost three years at Åbo Academy University), is also called "The monk" ("munken", he is monk in a self-founded monastery order, "Den Heliga Naturens Orden", "The Order of the Holy Nature"), he calls himself "Forest Man Snailson" (Skogsmannen Snigelson) because of certain strong ties to Nature and the animals, founded among other things through many years of homelessness living in tent, cot, cave and several huts in the Flaten Nature Reserve, the Nacka Reserve and "Kaknästornsskogen" outside of Stockholm. He debuted as a poet in 2007 with "Över floden mig" ("Across the river of me"), published by himself, he has also published an ecotheological work, "Djurisk teologi. Paradisets återkomst" (Animalistic theology. The return of paradise") on Titel förlag 2010. He has published the poem collection "Naturens återkomst" (The return of Nature) on Fri Press förlag 2018 together with Titti Spaltro, his ex-girlfriend. Lars's professions are two, cleaner and painter (buildings). Before he was homeless, but right now he lives in Attendo Herrgårdsvägen, a psychiatric group home for mental patients in Danderyd, Stockholm. His adress is: Herrgårdsvägen 25, 18239 Danderyd, Sverige. One can reach him in the comments section on this blog. His texts on this blog are without copyright, belonging to "Public Domain". He is the author of the texts, if no one is mentioned.

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