Awesome Truths and Amazing Facts
Richard Vaughn

Today: How soon will Jesus come? Part 1
1,972 years ago Jesus ascended into heaven having left his followers with a promise, “I will come again…” John 14:3 
Is Jesus really coming soon? Christians have been saying so for over 170 years, but life goes on as usual, with wars, famine, poverty, violence, deadly diseases, and space travel taking the headlines of our daily news. No headline has yet reported the sighting of Jesus Christ with hosts of angels on the horizon. Are Christians chasing an elusive dream? Are the millions of people around the world who call Christianity the opiate of the masses really right? How can we know when His promised coming will happen?
In Matthew 26:64 Jesus testified under oath He would come back to this earth again. In Matthew 24:3 the disciples asked Jesus, “…what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” 
There are many signs that have been given both by Jesus and many of the authors of the Old and New Testament. We will now examine a number of them that have been fulfilled and those that are being fulfilled.
1. The destruction of Jerusalem - Matthew 24:2,16 This prophecy was fulfilled 39 years after the cross when the Roman warrior Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
2. A great persecution or tribulation - Matthew 24:21 This prophecy was fulfilled during the period of the dark ages that lasted more than 1,200 years. The apostate church put to death more than 50 million Christians that were slain for their pure faith.
3. Signs in the sun, moon and stars - Matthew 24:29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” Fulfilled May 19, 1780 when a supernatural darkness lasted from morning into the night after which the moon appeared as red as blood. Then November 13, 1833 the great star shower that set the sky ablaze with falling stars that lasted over four hours. Many thought it was the end of the world.
4. Wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes. Matthew 24:6 “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” There are many reported and unreported wars, famines plague the earth as many of its occupants go to bed hungry, pestilences seem to come with increased variety and frequency as do catastrophic earthquakes. 
5. Capital-Labor troubles – James 5:4,8 For fulfillment, check the news reports.
6. Unrest, fear and upheaval. Luke 21:25,26 “…upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” 
7. Much travel and an increase of knowledge – Daniel 12:4 “…the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” We are in the information age where 80% of the world’s total knowledge has been brought forth in the last decade.
8. Scoffers and religious skeptics who turn from Bible truth – 2 Peter 3:3; 2 Tim. 4:3,4 There are many scoffers today, even in the religious world. Many religious leaders are denying the plain Bible teachings of Creation, the Flood, the divinity of Christ, the second coming of Jesus and many other vital Bible truths. Psychiatry and the traditions of pseudo-intellectuals have replaced the Bible in many religious circles. 
9. Moral degeneracy, craze for pleasure and a decline of spirituality – 2 Timothy 3:1-5 “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous (lovers of money), boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers (unforgiving), false accusers (slanderers), incontinent (without self-control), fierce (brutal), despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady (head strong), high-minded (haughty or conceited), lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof (playing church): from such turn away.” 
America is in the midst of a tremendous crisis as divorce affects one marriage in two and suicides have become a popular solution to problems. The Bible points to the strong possibility that this immoral generation and its fulfillment of God’s Word may be the last.
Next Week: How soon will Jesus come? Part 2