Are We Ready for What Is Coming?

Good afternoon. My name is Steve Holcomb and we're going to go through some things that the Bible says is going to happen before the return of Jesus. Um, I know I've been taught, I've always heard in my whole life that Jesus can come at any moment and that we always need to be ready. But after really digging in God's word, I've been doing this for 26 years, looking through the Bible and reading and understanding um end time prophecies and the things that God has told us that would happen before the last days, before his coming. His disciples had the same question that we have today. Um they was looking at the marvelous buildings, the temple, and Jesus told him, "I tell you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that won't be thrown down."

And the disciples came to him and said, 'When will these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming in the end of the end of the world? So g Jesus goes on and tells him and lays it out and we can understand it today. He tells us, he says, "You'll see wars. You'll hear of wars, rumors of wars, famines, uh, earthquakes, in diverse places, pestilences. All these things are happening and they've been happening, you know, and that's just a, you know, um, any generation could have said that could have happened in their lifetime." And for the most part, it has except he gets to when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, stand in the holy place where he ought not.

He says, "For then shall great tribulation happen since never was before and never will be again." So what generation has seen that? Now we got to understand what that is. What is the abomination of desolation? Well, Israel had to become a nation again. That happened after 2,000 years of being dispersed into all the world. God said after the two days, he will revive them and bring them back into their land. It's in Hosea. After two days, he will revive us. And then the third day, he will live in our sight. He's going to gather them all together. And the same thing in Ezekiel. He tells them, "I'm going to gather you from all nations and bring you back into your land. not for anything that you've done, but for my holy name's sake, so that everyone will know that I am God.

Well, he did that. 1948, there was a nation born again. It was the nation of Israel. A lot of people have said that, and there's a lot of Christians are doing this now. That's an illegitimate people over there. But God has the is the one who brought these people back over there. And it like you said, it wasn't for anything that they've done because they've committed idolatry. They are not worshiping the one true God. They um God's bring them back for a final judgment. If you notice all through the Old Testament, every time the Israeli people, the Jewish people would follow God and have them as their God, he protected them and they won the wars. But as soon as they started turning away from him and serving other gods and Bible calls it go horning around after other gods, then God judged them.

Well, right now they're doing the same thing. God is bringing all the nation of the land of Israel back into their land for this final judgment before he comes back on the Mount of Olives and stand on there and they ask him who are you and they're going to say or he's going to say I'm the one you have pierced. It's at that moment they're going to ask God for forgiveness and obviously God will forgive anybody who asks for forgiveness and he's going to heal them and they will be able to continue on into the millennial reign of Christ. But in Zechariah and and all through the Old Testament, God says he's going to bring great judgment upon these people. These people perish for lack of knowledge. So we need to warn as many people as we can warn that great judgment is coming.

The um in the book of Luke it says when you see the abomination or when you see all the armies compassed around Jerusalem you know that the desolation is near. Well Israel had to be a nation again. They are. And now what are we seeing in the news right now? All these armies are compassion around Jerusalem around Israel. The Bible says when we see this then the abomination of desolation is near. Well, Jesus told us about this abomination of desolation in the gospels and he says when you see this then great tribulation since never was before will be again is fixing to happen. So can we see all of this stuff happening? Well yes. Jesus told us when you see these things happening know that it is near.

For 2,000 years, you didn't see any of this stuff until the generation that we are living in today. I hate to be a bear of bad news. I would love to tell everybody everything's going to be hunky dory. We're all going to sit around the campfire singing kumbaya. It's just not going to happen that way. God has said when they persecute you, remember they persecuted me first. So, you will have tribulation in these days, but be of good a cheer. God's overcome the world. So, and the Bible says and all through the the letters to the churches, those who endure to the end shall be saved. It's a now it's a free gift, but a lot of people's going to be falling away from the faith and turning away from Christianity, from following God.

Now, I'm not into all the denominational things and all that stuff. I truly believe if you follow Jesus Christ and you accept him as your Lord and Savior, I that's there's no denomination is going to get you to heaven. It's only by the blood bought price that God has given to each one of us. For if we all believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again, we shall be saved with him. We we we acknowledge that we are sinners and need of a savior and Jesus Christ is the only name that anybody can be saved by. It's only through Jesus that any of us will ever see God the Father. There's no back doors. There's no climbing over fences. I mean, Jesus is the door. No man cometh to the Father except through Jesus.

Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me." So, God has given us this whole book right here to show us the things that's going to happen. Now, I'm going to tell you the things that's going to happen. All written in his word. of the things that will happen before the rapture of the church. I wish the rapture of her church could happen today. I am ready to get out of here. Now, in saying that, each one of us need to realize that we're not guaranteed tomorrow. We are not guaranteed our next breath. We all need to be ready to meet our Lord and Savior at any moment. We could die tonight. We could die in our sleep. We could die in a car wreck. Just look at what happened in Nepal.

I mean, you got thousands of people going on their daily lives and then this mountain uh this mountain caved in and a big rush of water come and destroyed the whole town. I mean, at any moment, we don't know when our last breath is. We always need to be ready to meet our Lord and Savior at any moment. But as far as is concerning the rapture of the church, it will happen. And Bible says in a In Matthew 24, he explains the whole timeline. And then after that, he says, "Now learn, learn the parable of the fig tree. When you see its branches yet tender and put forth leaves, you know summer's near. Likewise, when you see all these things happening, know it's near. Even at the door, I tell you, this generation, the generation of sin, all this stuff will not pass away till all these things be fulfilled.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." We are the generation that's seeing all of this stuff happening at this time. The technology is here right now to make every person receive a mark in their hand or in their forehead or they will not be able to buy or sell. We know that Satan when he is cast to the earth and takes over the antichrist body that he will make it mandatory that every person will receive that mark. He's going to say, "You know what? I'm your Messiah. Y'all are going to bow down and worship me. Me. There is nobody going to buy or sell or do anything unless you take the mark in your hand or in your forehead and you bow down and worship the system. What we what a lot of people don't understand is Satan is the god of this world.

This whole worldly system, all of it is controlled and run by Satan. Jesus Christ when he came to the earth the first time and they was going to crucify him he said my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom was of this world you wouldn't be doing this I can send legion my father would send legions of angels to protect me but God come for a purpose to die on a cross for the penalty that we owe he took it upon himself so that we don't have to go through that God said he is longsuffering not willing that any should perish but all come to repentance. So, we need to understand the signs of the times that we're living in. When Jesus walked to earth the first time, he went to the religious leaders and he grabbed a scroll.

He said, "These scrolls, these this book speaks of me and you do not believe." He said, "You can discern the sky. You can tell the weather." I'm paraphrasing. You're like, "But you cannot discern the signs of the times." And called them a wicked generation. Now we have probably four times the amount of prophecy about the second coming than they did about the first coming. And they call them Jesus called them a wicked generation. We are commanded to know when Jesus comes back. He says he says now learn the parable of the fig tree. When you see it branches yet tender put forth leaves you know summer's near. So he's telling us when we see these things know it's near even out the north. He also says he's coming as a thief in the night, but you Christians are not in darkness that this day will overtake you as a thief.

So I was thinking there's like, well, which is it? He's coming as a thief or is he not coming as a thief? So all through this book right here, it gives us bits and pieces through the whole Bible of telling us when Jesus going to return. Now, one of the things he says, he talks about him coming as a thief. Behold, you know, he'll come as a thief in an eye when they say peace and safety. Then sudden destruction comes upon them. Well, when do they say peace and safety? In the middle of a seven-year covenant signed with many. They're going to they're going, this is what's going to happen. People want to know about prophecy. I've heard so many preachers said nothing has to happen before the return of Jesus.

Well, I'm going to tell you the things that will happen according to God's word before the rapture of the church. And when you start seeing this stuff, then you will know. You're not going to be caught in darkness. You're not going to be wondering if you missed the rapture or any of that stuff because it's written in his word. We're going to see. And this is what we're seeing right now. This war that's going on over in Israel and Iran, United States, all this stuff, it's going to continue escalating. And they're talking about nuclear war right now. It it's going to happen. One out of every third person on this earth is fixing to die. There's going to this war is going to be so bad. One out of every three people is going to die.

So everybody right now that is not giving their life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is playing Russian roulette with your life right now because none we don't know who one out of three people's going to stay alive is. So, but God's warned us that this will happen. And we must always be ready. We need we need to give our life to Christ. You know, the Bible talks about in the book of Jude, some saving through fear and some through compassion. Well, I want to be compassionate, but yet be truthful enough to let you know God's judgment is coming. You know, he talks about it's going to be like it was in the days of Noah. People were eating, they were drinking, they were giving a marriage. They was just going on life like nothing happened.

Noah taught the whole time that he was building the ark. Estimate around 120 years, teaching God's judgment is coming. God's judgment is coming. God's judgment was coming. They did not believe until the rain started. Well, it was too late. Once that door was shut on the ark, nobody was getting in and nobody was getting out cuz God shut the door. And when God shut the door, they ain't nobody opening it. So it was finished. Everybody that was around that boat, well, everybody on the everybody in the world besides Noah and his family, there was eight people saved. It was taken up into the ark and the God shut the door and then brought judgment upon the rest of the earth. The same thing with Sodom and Gomorrah.

Bible talks about in the days of Lot when Lot left the city, the day that Lot left, fire and brimstone destroyed that city. It's going to be the same thing. The day that the church is raptured up, Satan comes to the earth and dwells the Antichrist's body and it's going to be literally hell on earth for that last three and a half years. And then God's judgment comes in the book of Revelation in chapter 16 upon the very first judgment comes upon all of those who have received the mark of the beast or who worship him his image or his name. That's going to be the very first judgment. All of the whole book of Revelation is not a book of judgment. God says it's a it's a book of prophecies. A matter of fact, chapter one, it said, "Blessed are those who read and hear the prophecies of this book."

So we're we're to understand but a lot of people said all the book of revelation you can't understand it it's too too many symbols too. You can understand it the and god has given us now you can't understand it just by reading itself. You got to understand what the book of Daniel is saying um Isaiah the gospels I mean all of it together paints a perfect picture of when Jesus Christ is coming back. the rapture of the church, uh the battle of Armageddon, Israel returning back to the land, the Jewish third temple. All of this is laid out perfectly in God's word. Now, Adam and Eve was created 6,000 years ago. We know this because of the genealogies of the Bible. They said, we know 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ was crucified and arose from the dead and ascended into heaven.

So, if you look at the genealogies before that, all the way to Adam and Eve, it was 4,000 years. We're 2,000 years past that. So, it's six 6,000 years now. We're at the end of 6,000 years where there's going to be a 7,000 year, which will be the millennial reign of Christ. And then after that, he's going to make a new heaven and a new earth. Sin and hell and everything's going to be done away with and dealt with and gone. So, what we're going to see before the rapture church, we're going to see a war that kills the third part of mankind. We're going to see a covenant signed with the many, with all the Jewish nations and the Arab nations over there. There it's there's going to be a covenant signed with the many for seven years.

That first part of that three and a half years is going to look like peace on the earth. Jesus says, "I'm coming back in a time when you think not." Well, right now we think he's coming because of all the chaos that's going on in the world. But you can you imagine where there's three and a half years. There's no more bombs. There's no there's no more fighting for a while. I mean, everything looks peaceful. The Jews are rebuilding their their temple. There's going to be animal sacrifices because the Jews, the the Israeli people as a whole do not believe that Jesus Christ was the ultimate savior. They think he was a heretic. They actually think he's burning in hell right now. Um you this comes right out of right straight out of their mouth.

Um so we're going we're going to see the rebuilding of the third temple. We're going to see all the animal sacrifices resumed and then there'll be peace for that first three and a half years. So once we see a a seven-year covenant signed with a mini, we know that three and a half years into that is when the the rapture of the church is going to happen. Now a lot of people said say, you know, they use all this pre-millennial, you know, pre- rapture, pre-trib, whatever all that stuff is. I am 100% pre-great rapture because Jesus said we don't have to go through Satan's wrath. Well, Satan don't take over the earth. Literally cast out of heaven into the earth until the abomination of desolation. And then it the Bible goes on crystal clear tells us that Satan only has time, times, and a dividing of times to do what he's got to do. 1260 days, 42 months.

So, if we know he's bound up in chains at the battle of Armageddon and you back up 42 months, that's in the middle of a 7-year covenant signed with a many. Well, Jesus himself said when you see that covenant or that uh abomination of desolation, that's when the great tribulation happens. So, that great tribulation is that last part of that three and a half years of that seven-year covenant. I know it's could be a lot of confusing stuff going on, but I just got to warn people there's great there's there's some there's a lot of things that's fixing to happen on the earth. We're going to be persecuted. A lot of a lot of Christians are going to be persecuted. A lot of people's going to be killed.

A lot of people's going to die. Um I just pray that you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Um we're going to get it. I want to get go through the book of Revelation with everybody. I'll make videos on it. I'll start obviously with chapter one. We'll go through the whole book. Um but Jesus, we're living in a generation that Jesus is going to return in. We're the generation of seeing the technology for every person to be microchipped and to be controlled and not be able to buy or sell unless you have the mark of the beast. We're the only generation that can see what's happening in Israel in the book of Revelation. We'll get through that too. And it talks about the two witnesses. So the whole world saw their saw them and it saw their dead bodies laying in the street for three and a half days and the whole world saw and gave gifts one to another.

Well, until this generation, the whole world couldn't see any any of this stuff. We are the generation that can see everything. AI that's another subject. AI is getting unstoppable. Um, there's a lot going to happen with that here in the next few years. Um, there's just a lot of things happening. I just wanted to give y'all just a short quick video. I know it was a little long, but I love you enough to warn everybody about the things that's fixed to happen. Um, we got to be ready. We got to get ready and we cannot waver. We got to stand strong in the o in in the opposition. Um, Satan's going to do everything he can to shut us up. Um, we just need to be strong in the Lord and know that he is in control.

He didn't leave us in the dark. He told us all these things that was going to happen in his word. All we have to do is pick up his word and read it and understand it. Ask him for wisdom and guidance and he will show it to you. Um, can't wait to get started on this uh, Revelation series. I love you guys. Pray for you and hope you have a wonderful, blessed day.