I Say Unto You All: Watch

 

How close are we be to the beginning of the Day of the Lord?

It is time to think this question through very carefully.

Christ says to ‘watch’, He says it many times, so on the basis repetition in the bible is used for emphasis, this ‘watching’ must be an important issue.

Is there a contradiction when on one hand the bible points out that there will not be the slightest indication or warning the day of the Lord is approaching and yet we are to ‘watch’ for it?
(See article: ‘I come as a thief’)

Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.   Mark 13:35

What Christ does say is that when the ‘context’ is appropriate, then the ‘end’ will come.
We need to discern the ‘context’ that Christ implies will be able to be verified.

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.   Matt 24:32

Recognising this “Launch window” the “window of opportunity”, the specific time frame in which the Day of the Lord can commence is the key and essential ingredient.

Understanding The First Event

How the Day of the Lord starts, understanding the details of the first event will give a much clearer picture of the landscape.

The first event that impacts the world is the fall of Babylon. That should be obvious from several angles, all of which are dealt with in detail on this site. Only a brief description therefore is given in the following explanation.
For full details see our articles on Babylon: Who is Babylon?   When does Babylon fall?

Babylon is the world’s foremost financial and military power at the time the Day of the Lord starts. Rev 18 clearly shows the entire world trading normally in normal everyday goods. The detail within long list of items being traded is of vital importance. (Not one ‘jot’ or ‘title’ can be moved). God is being very careful to give us the detail we need for the Word to be ‘correctly divided’. The fact that spices and ointments, wheat and sheep, jewellery and cloth are being traded around the world pinpoints the timing of the fall of Babylon to before all the end time events are underway. The very first seals are the outbreak of world war and a quarter of the world’s population dying from warfare, starvation and disease. No world trade of any sort is conducted during a world war and no wheat or sheep (meat) are being traded since the world is starving. It is precisely because there is no trade that the interdependent food distribution networks break down.
When Babylon falls there is no thought of war on anyone’s mind, all they are worried about is the economic collapse that will result from the inevitable disintegration of the world’s financial system. Since the financial collapse has not yet occurred, we can be explicit in stating no world war has broken out at this stage.

It is the fall of Babylon that precipitates the ‘end time’. With the collapse of the world’s financial system, desperation drives nations over the final brink of sanity and “peace is taken from the earth”. The beast is ushered by circumstances onto the stage, from there things go from bad to worse.
The only signal that the sudden fall is rapidly approaching is the warning from Christ that He is about to act. However, that warning itself will be misinterpreted and cause much confusion. See our article on the Gospel to the world.

 

The Identity Of Babylon Is Crucial

Since the disintegration of Babylon is effectively the trigger to the end time that is the subject we need to understand.
Who is Babylon; can we determine when it will fall? The answer is we will not know the ‘day or hour’ but the overall context, the ‘launch window’ we certainly can foresee. Particularly useful or chilling in its sobriety is a ‘sell by date’ beyond which the fall of Babylon cannot go.

As stated, this article will be brief on the background detail so if any doubts are needed to be satisfied please read the articles on Babylon.

Babylon is the world’s most powerful nation at the time of the end.
Babylon also must be a Christian nation since the condemnation from God is it ‘sinned against the Lord’. That is an expression only used in the bible against God’s own people. When they (should) know better and ignore God, then He acts.

The longest single prophecy in the bible is Jeremiah 50 and 51. Taking this and all the scriptures from the bible on the subject of Babylon leaves the only possible contender for the identity of Babylon as the United States of America. (Article: Who is Babylon)

How do we define the possible parameters of the ‘launch window’? A particular time frame will come into focus. Before that time would be too early and beyond that time is too late.

An Extended Timetable

Biblically there is nothing that could possibly indicate that this world continues on to space travel. Andrew Marr, a well-known BBC TV host has stated ‘there are those amongst us today who will live to be a thousand years old’. He is referring to stem cell technology.
Genetic engineering and a whole host of scientific endeavours that are being conceived are completely absent from scripture.
Yet all these and far more in this fast paced world will occur over the next two hundred years if time were to allow it.
Nothing in the bible indicates human endeavour will go that distance before Christ intervenes.

The Shorter Time scale

This must be where we place our focus since the longer term is not an option.
By a process of elimination we can have a good indication of which nations are still in existence or are accounted for when Christ returns. The nations that make up the beast power are still there when Christ returns. He defeats them and places the beast and false prophet in the lake of fire. (Babylon in contrast is defeated by ‘nations from the North’ and defeated by the kings of the earth not Christ). Asia is still in the picture since the two hundred million troops come from that direction and engage the beast power in a war that kills another ‘one third of man’. Before that the beast defeats the entire Middle East when he sets himself up in Jerusalem and commits the ‘abomination of desolation’.
Yet before even that, Babylon the world’s superpower suddenly falls. It as said must be a Christian nation. If it were not America, then some other nation (also Christian) would need to rise up and become the new leading world empire. Time will not allow for that. It takes hundreds of years for nations to develop to the level of being a superpower.
The beast power not only has the beast it includes the false prophet also. This religious leader must also be from a ‘Christian’ background. This is a simple deduction since no true sincere Christian; a ‘saint’ could be deceived (‘if that were possible’) by anyone other than from within the Christian circle. No Muslim or other religion would pose a creditable risk.
The beast power is Europe with a separate currency allowing it to survive when the dollar crashes.

Watch Ye Therefore…

Now we can fill in our parameters. While the Christian superpower nation is still in the position of being the world’s superpower but before it is superseded as the world’s superpower, the ‘end’ must come.

Even a superficial ‘watch’ can pick up the detail from here on. How long will it be before:

• The dollar is sidelined in favour of a new international instrument of finance?
• The USA is overtaken as the foremost (consumer) nation.

Whatever the answer to the above the plain fact is BEFORE any of those situations arise God will make the first move.
When Babylon is dealt the blow ‘like a millstone into the sea’ no provision had yet been made for an alternative currency. World trade without the dollar (prevailing currency) is doomed according to all the traders. Rev 18:11, 19.
When Babylon falls China and/or the rest of the world has not yet reached a position of independent self-sufficiency. They are all still in the position of depending on the USA to keep the wheels of commerce turning. When that wheel stops turning the resulting disturbance will cause ‘peace to be taken from the earth’. Rev 6:4

The Bottom Line

The dollar is already being floated artificially. It should not logically be in the position it is. Only for the fact that no other nation can afford it to collapse is it still being resuscitated and all the complex mechanisms and creative thinking used to keep it afloat tolerated.
It is possible to keep the charade going for some time. That is God’s decision. The longer the situation does continue, the deeper the debt, the harder the fall.

 

Once Babylon falls the world will very rapidly disintegrate. The beast needs a ready-made vehicle to step into for his instant and unopposed rise. The formation of the office for ‘President of the EU’ should have been one of the items we ‘watched’. That has now been created.

We are now in a position where nothing else needs to be completed before the Day of the Lord can begin. Do not forget, Christ states fifteen times there will be nothing to alert beforehand that it is about to commence. That is the position, the time frame we are now in.

 

I cannot stress how important it is to realise that the day of the Lord is now potentially on the doorstep.
How long can the American financial system hold together? Nations have already signalled their intention to find an alternative currency in the next few years regardless of the ability of America to stay afloat in the meantime.
Whichever way you look at it the time is very short.
Regardless of which comes first, an orderly retreat from the dollar or another more serious financial collapse; the Day of the Lord starts beforehand.

 

The first event of the ‘end time’, the warning message that Christ is poised to regain personal control of the world (Rev 14:6) will remove all doubts as to what is happening.
‘Watching’ for that moment with a full understanding of all it implies fulfills the instruction:
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.  Matt 24:44

Christ is about to return.