By D. B. Berg
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This may come as a surprise to some, but it is not absolutely necessary that either you or I or any of us see exactly eye to eye on every technical detail of theological hairsplitting, such as minor doctrines and interpretations which are not essential to salvation, witnessing, soul winning, and world evangelism. It is only essential that we agree on salvation through Jesus, the authority of God’s Word, our obligation to witness His truth to others, to manifest His love to the world and win the lost for Christ and His service.
One thing about Bible prophecy is that when it happens, then you’ll know what it meant. Jesus said, “I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass, ye might believe.”1
So don’t go jumping to conclusions about endtime events prematurely. We can’t jump to conclusions that we know such-and-such is going to happen. It depends on the Lord and a lot of variables. We may feel like this is the direction that the Lord’s going, but only God knows what’s actually going to happen and how it’s going to happen. So let’s not be premature, and until we find out for sure, we wait and see.
Only God knows. Maybe God can’t trust us with knowing the exact details of some of the future and its times because we’d go jumping the gun and dropping bombs on people’s heads. So don’t go dogmatically predicting the future and telling people something’s going to happen when we don’t know if it is going to happen that way. Whether it happens or not may depend on people’s reactions and choices. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to a knowledge of the truth.2 But in the meantime, He has left the world and history up to man’s free will and choice within certain limitations, within the tunnel of His will. So far man has made pretty much of a mess out of it, but God is letting man go his own way.
So don’t get too locked in about the future or even about some of these events that we have suggested as possibilities for the future. Only what God has specifically predicted and we can read in black-and-white in the Word can we be absolutely sure about, such as the general events of the endtime.
Some things we can be dogmatic about, other things are variables. We know the Antichrist is going to arise; that’s specific, but where and when, He hasn’t revealed to us. We know what his reign is going to be like, and the Lord is more specific about the Tribulation and the difference between the first half and the last half of the Antichrist’s reign, and about the midpoint and the image of the beast and his insistence upon worship, and the mark of the beast and all these specific details. The later the hour becomes, the more specifics He provides in His Word for our comfort and encouragement so we’ll know specifically what’s going to happen next, in much more detail, measured in not only years but months and even days. The further we get into the story, the more specific the details become.
But right now we’re still in that hazy period that God has not made so clear. The day of grace is still here, and God is still giving man his chance to make his own choices. But once the Antichrist arises, once the pact is made, we can know the dates almost specifically.
Some things we can be dogmatic about because it’s specific in the Word of God. We know that once the Antichrist comes, he’s going to eventually erect an image or have one erected to himself and insist that everybody worship it and receive a mark. And we know exactly how long the Tribulation is going to last, almost dating the time of the Coming of the Lord. We know that Jesus is going to come and rapture us out of this world and resurrect the dead.
These are specifics from the Word that we know are going to happen. We don’t know exactly when, but from the beginning of the Antichrist reign we can come pretty close to estimating the time of the Lord’s Coming. And from the setting up of the image in the holy place, as Jesus said, “When ye shall see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place,”3 from that time on, even the days are measured to the Coming of the Lord!
These are specifics we know, and the closer we get to those periods, the more exact our knowledge will be. But right now we are in a much more hazy period where the exact timings and events, the years, months, and days are not specific yet. We are given certain pivotal points in history, certain timeline spots from which we can measure exactly, and the most exact one, of course, is when the Antichrist erects his image and commands that everybody fall down and worship him.
But you see, God has not shown us yet exactly when that period is going to begin; all we know is it’s evidently going to begin with the covenant made by the Antichrist. It says in 2 Thessalonians 2:3: “Then shall that wicked one be revealed.” Obviously from the Scripture, his true nature and his true program and plan and purpose is not going to be fully revealed until, as 2 Thessalonians 2:4 says, he sets himself up in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, and claiming to be God.
So there are certain specifics of Bible prophecy which are undeniable, incontrovertible, and unchangeable. But there are variables that are somewhat dependent upon the will and choice of man and decisions which even wicked men make, which God is still allowing them to make according to their own majesty of choice and free will. He’s still letting them make decisions in the face of His grace and His mercy and His love and this opportunity to choose to believe in Him and love Him.
We don’t know right now exactly what’s going to happen and exactly when or where it’s going to happen. But one thing we know for sure, “When ye shall see these things come to pass, then ye shall know the time is near and your redemption draweth nigh. This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.”4
So exactly when, what year, where, or how, those exact details we don’t know. God is keeping that hidden and a secret, and God Himself alone knows. So you’d better just be patient and wait and see.
In the meantime, don’t just sit there just waiting to see, but get busy and do what you’re supposed to be doing! Quit worrying about it! Quit trying to figure it out to the hour and the day and the month like some of these endtime prophecy buffs do! Some of you have gotten too interested in the details and trying to predict them and measure them and figure them and calculate them mathematically when it’s too early for that.
Wait and see what happens, because you don’t really know yet. You don’t know the exact dates of the future right now. You don’t really even know what’s going to happen tomorrow, much less a year from now. Only time will tell. Wait and see! Amen? One thing we can be sure of, eventually God is going to have His way.
God bless and keep us all busy for Him to the end, whatever each one’s end may be. Amen? Are you busy for Jesus?
Originally published October 1983. Adapted and republished January 2022.
Read by Jerry Paladino.
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