Luke 21:28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Luke 21:32 "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place."
Matthew 24:3 "Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”"
Luke 21:7-8 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?” [8] He replied: “WATCH OUT THAT YOU ARE NOT DECEIVED. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.”
•• “Watch out that you are NOT DECEIVED.”
Luke 21:9-11 “When you hear of wars and revolutions, do NOT BE FRIGHTENED. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.” [10] Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. [11] There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.”
•• Do NOT be FRIGHTENED, Jesus said, by awesome events in the end times (or any other times).
Luke 21:12-15 But before all this, they will lay hands on you and PERSECUTE you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. [13] This will result in your being witnesses to them. [14] But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. [15] For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.
•• Don’t worry about how to respond to terrible PERSECUTION in the end times.
Luke 21:16-19 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. [17] All men will hate you because of me. [18] But not a hair of your head will perish. [19] By STANDING FIRM you will gain life.
•• The end times will be HOSTILE times:
• Expect betrayal, even by family and friends.
• Expect the hatred of “all men.”
• “They will put some of you to death ... but not a hair of your head will perish” — suggesting physical martyrdom, but eternal life.
Luke 21:25-28 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. [26] Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. [27] At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. [28] When these things BEGIN to take place, stand up and LIFT UP YOUR HEADS, because your redemption is drawing near.”
•• Earth- and heaven-shaking signs will occur. For BELIEVERS, those are NOT times of fear.
• These specific signs of the end times signal the Lord’s soon coming.
• Our proper response? Stand up, look up, rejoice, get ready! Here He comes!
Luke 21:34-36 Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. [35] For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. [36] Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.
II Timothy 3:1-5,7 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
Daniel 9:27 "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."
2 Peter 1:20 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”
Isaiah 28:10 “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:”
Revelation 17:15 “And he saith unto me, The waters which you sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”
Daniel 7:23 “Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.”
Daniel 7:24 “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”
Revelation 13:16-17 "And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name."
Daniel 12:4 "But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."
Revelation 11:3, 7-10 "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophecy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth."
Redemption Song from ne033x on Vimeo.
