by Jim Fletcher

I often talk with people who are intensely interested in how various famous Bible prophecy passages will play out. Of course, I’m talking about folks who actually believe in the validity of Bible prophecy.

Ezekiel  38,39 — the famous “Gog and Magog” scenario — is one of the most popular of these passages. The speculation is endless, and revolves around the timing. We are all interested in the timing, and I believe this is for one overriding reason.

We’re sick of this world.

Economic uncertainty, illness, brutal and increasingly disintegrating family relationships, wars…these are but a few of the challenges humans are facing as never before. Frankly, whether a person is a believer or not, it seems many of us today are virtually fantasizing about the end of the world. We want an “out” from the pain.

Now, for the record, I do believe we are in the season that the Bible describes at the “last days.” Primarily, I believe it because of the miracle of the modern rebirth of Israel.

And that is my point with this conversation. It’s the big things we should hang our hats on, not the things yet to be. Sometimes we get so bogged-down in the details of prophecy — which army is this, when will the antichrist appear, who is “Gog” — that we fail to see the startling supernatural quality to Scripture.

This inhibits our ability to engage skeptics and seekers in conversation about the Bible. In this generation, so far removed from regular Bible teaching, the minutiae of Bible prophecy falls on deaf ears. People don’t understand biblical concepts anymore, or terms that were commonly understood decades ago.

That’s why a society that is biblically illiterate has a vague understanding of apocalyptic scenarios, but they aren’t aware of true biblical history, past and future. In this present environment, Hollywood films that use three percent Bible and 97 percent fiction are all the rage. I’m thinking of films like End of Days, in which a convoluted plot mixes in just a bit of last-days reality.

When people ask me the timing of Gog and Magog, I give the only answer I can give: I don’t know.

No one does.

Instead, I give a few bits of really amazing stuff: Israel’s declaration of independence, read May 14, 1948, at four o’clock in the afternoon. This calls to mind Isaiah 66:8.

I believe that emphasizing the return of the Jews to their ancestral land, in our lifetime, is the greatest apologetics approach we can take today. That goes for evangelism within and without the church, because the American church itself needs evangelizing. There are scores of unbelievers in our congregations, and this tragedy is no respecter of denominations.

But when you simply point out a few passages of Scripture that speak to Israel’s return, then further disclose that millions of Jews live in their sovereign state again…you don’t need secret Bible codes and hidden meanings and “secret” messages from the Bible.

It’s out there in the open.

Just over the weekend, a person emailed and asked me when I thought the Rapture would occur.

I don’t know.

What I do know is that God is in total control, and is working His plan, known fully only to Him. I like that. It gives me a sense of security. And when I can think on those “big picture” things, and read my Bible, I can leave the details to Someone else.

jim@prophecymatters.com