Helps in understanding Bible prophecy:
Jesus said, "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me" (Luke 24:44).NOTE: If a prophecy has not been fulfilled, it is yet future.
"Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things."
NOTE: The calling (taking) out of the Gentiles began in Luke 4:16-21:
"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."
NOTE: The taking out of the Gentiles for His name began in Luke 4:21, fulfilling the prophecy of Isa. 61:1-2, and shall last until Rev. 11:2:
"For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be ... 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: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. " HOW LONG WILL JESUS REIGN ON EARTH? "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. " (Rev. 20:4-5) WHY WILL CHRIST REIGN ON EARTH 1,000 YEARS? "For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. " (I Cor. 15:25-26) NOTE: There will be death during the 1,000-year reign of Christ. "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. " (Isa. 65:20) NOTE: When Christ reigns on earth, there will be no burials of anyone under 100 years old. No children will die. Some say that this Scripture refers to the "new earth", but Jesus said there will be no death on the new earth, Luke 20:35-36: "But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more..."
"But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months."NOTE: 42 months divided by 12 = 3 1/2 years (the last half of the tribulation). Some believe that the tribulation occurred in A.D. 70 when Titus overran Jerusalem. Is this correct according to the Scriptures? No! The events following the tribulation are described in Matt. 24:27-30:
NOTE: This did not happen in A.D. 70, so this prophecy will be fulfilled in the future.
WHERE WILL JESUS RETURN TO EARTH?
Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives, Acts 1:9-12:
"...while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey." Jesus will return to the Mount of Olives, Zech. 14:4:
"And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south."
