And Then the End Will Come: The Completion of the Great Commission and Nine Other Clues That Jesus Is Coming Soon

Introduction

In the book of Habakkuk, Chapter 1, the Lord speaks to the prophet and says,

Look at the nations and watch—

and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days

that you would not believe,

even if you were told. (Hab. 1:5)

This prophecy was originally a warning: God was raising up the Babylonians to bring judgment and destruction on Judah—something they did not believe could happen, even though God had told them it would.

But these words are as relevant to us today as they were to those people long ago. God is doing utterly amazing—even unbelievable—things in our day, working through his people to complete Jesus’ Great Commission: go and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19). By God’s grace, the worldwide church is only a few years away from the finish line of the two-thousand-year Great Commission race. We live in the most momentous time since Jesus walked the earth.

Sadly, though, the church in the West is largely unaware of these things. Most believers don’t know that the completion of the Great Commission is at hand. Few understand that Jesus directly linked his second coming to that event, saying in Matthew 24:14, "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." What’s more, most have not been exposed to a number of other biblical prophecies that also signal Jesus’ return in the near future. As a result, we are discouraged by the chaos and decline we see around us, rather than seeing those things as necessary precursors to the wonderful things soon to come.

If it’s true that Jesus’ return is imminent, we should be joyful and excited, even in the midst of the growing craziness we see around us in the world, knowing that our blessed hope is close at hand. And we should be all the more serious about preparing ourselves for his return, because time is short. Instead, we’re a lot like the church at Sardis described in Revelation 3: asleep and unaware of the amazing things happening in our day. Jesus tells that church, If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you (Rev. 3:3).

I’ve written this book to inform you about the worldwide movement that is finishing the Great Commission; to acquaint you with other biblical clues that confirm the promise of Matthew 24:14; to encourage you to get ready for the coming Day of God; and to fill you with joy about the things God has prepared for us in the age to come—things so astounding that the Bible says no one can even imagine how fantastic they will be. I hope it will be a blessing and that it will awaken you to the amazing things that God is doing in our day.

• • •

I became interested in this subject though my involvement with Finishing the Task, an organization created by my mentor, Paul Eshleman, to mobilize the worldwide church to complete the Great Commission. Through FTT I learned that there is a real chance that our generation can complete that task. God’s Spirit is at work in a powerful way around the world today, bringing in a great harvest of new believers from places where Jesus’ name has never before been heard. Hundreds of people groups—the Bible calls them nations—are hearing the gospel for the first time every year.

My involvement with FTT led my wife, Gena, and me to begin funding indigenous missionaries to go to people groups in India, Nepal, and Nigeria who had never heard the gospel. We were privileged to hear amazing stories of the first known believers in history from among these groups. Those experiences led me to launch the Finishing Fund, a partnership of generous Christians who are giving together to finish this task. As of December 2020, the partners of the Fund have helped send the gospel to more than 450 people groups who had never heard it before. By God’s grace, our mission is to see every people group on earth engaged with the gospel by the end of 2022.

It was also through FTT that I became aware of the kingdom significance of finishing the task—that according to Matthew 24:14 its completion will open the door for Jesus’ return and the end of the age. For most of history, the Great Commission finish line—and thus his return—has been far in the future. But if we’re very close to finishing today, could it be that we are also very close to his return? I think we are.

Understanding the implications of Matthew 24:14 led me to begin seeking other biblical evidence that the return of Christ might be near. That search resulted in clues presented in this book: the regathering of the nation of Israel, the prophecies of Daniel 12 and Hosea 5 and 6, the approaching end of six thousand years of biblical history, the acceleration of travel and knowledge, the condition of the church and culture today, and others. Each of these, I believe, is a sign that we are living in the very last days. I hope you’ll read on to see if you agree.

• • •

I’ve done my best to make this book accessible to anyone who has interest in this subject: laypeople, Bible teachers, pastors, even curious skeptics. This is a book about what the Bible says regarding the second coming, so I quote a lot of Scripture in it. Some of the math gets a little dense in chapters 5 and 6, but I’ve tried to make that as simple as possible.

I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture and a literal thousand-year, or millennial, reign of Christ on the earth, and those opinions show up in this book. I understand that many believers hold different views about those events. Even if you see things differently, I think you’ll find this book worthwhile. For the most part, the clues are relevant no matter what eschatological position you take.

I am not a prophet. Despite my best efforts to understand and explain these prophecies, I’m aware that my conclusions could be wrong. Having said that, though, Isaiah 46:10 tells us we have a God who makes known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. He revealed to Daniel the precise time of Jesus’ first coming and provided abundant prophecies that unmistakably identify Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah. It makes sense to me that he would likewise provide clues about the timing of Jesus’ second coming and that he might actually have revealed it just as precisely.

Here’s the point: I believe Jesus is coming back in my expected lifetime—and probably yours as well. That means we may have the privilege of experiencing some amazing things that believers have been looking forward to for thousands of years. But it also means that the Bible’s admonitions to live holy and godly lives as [we] look forward to the day of God (2 Pet. 3:11–12) apply with special importance to us. If we are privileged to see Christ’s return, we want to be ready.

Some generation is going to experience the blessing of witnessing the return of Christ. Those believers will not suffer death but will transition directly from life in this world into eternal life—what the Bible calls the life that is truly life (1 Tim. 6:19). They will be raised up to join him and will from that point on live with him forever. Could ours be the generation privileged to experience those things? I think we could. And wouldn’t that be awesome?

So let’s dive in. Because he is coming back. And it’s going to be soon!

Part One

Unveiling the Promise

1

He Is Coming Back

One thing is certain: Jesus is coming back. The message of this book is that he’s coming soon. But even if I’m wrong about that, we can be confident that one day he will return.

How can we be sure? Because from beginning to end, the Bible promises that Jesus will return to rule over the earth forever from the throne of his ancestor David.

There are hundreds of passages in the Old and New Testaments that prophesy the return of Christ. Herbert Lockyear, in his book All the Messianic Prophecies of the Bible, says that the second coming is mentioned 318 times in the New Testament.¹ And Alfred Edersheim’s classic book The Life and Time of Jesus the Messiah documents 456 Old Testament passages that were considered messianic prophecies by Jewish scholars prior to the coming of Christ²—some related to the first coming, some to the second, and some to both.

I often remind my Sunday school classmates that God’s promises—and after all, what are prophecies but promises?—are the most real thing we know. If God has promised something, it will certainly occur. There is more chance of the chair I’m sitting on dissolving into thin air and dumping me on the floor than there is of even one of God’s promises not coming true.

The Bible says that God’s very great and precious promises are rooted in his own glory and goodness (2 Pet. 1:3–4). Glory means that he is so great, so powerful, so fully in control that nothing and no one can deter him from doing what he wants to do. As he says in Isaiah 46:10, My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Goodness means that God’s character is so flawless that he would never lie or deceive us, telling us that he will do something and then reneging on the promise. As we read in Numbers 23:19, God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak, and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

So if the Bible is true, there is no doubt: Jesus is coming back.

Prophecies of the First Coming

Before we consider the prophecies about the second coming, let’s take a minute to reflect on the amazing way God predicted the Messiah’s first coming. The Old Testament contains hundreds of prophecies about Jesus’ first coming, such as:

He would be born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14).

He would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2).

He would live in Egypt during his childhood (Hosea 11:1).

He would be David’s descendant (Jer. 23:5–6).

He would be a Galilean (Isa. 9:1–2).

Daniel 9 includes the famous prophecy of the seventy weeks, including the claim that from the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens’ (Dan. 9:25). When we consider this mysterious prophecy in chapter 5, we’ll see that it predicted precisely the year of the first coming of the Messiah.

The Jewish rabbis of Jesus’ day had concluded that there were three miracles that only the Messiah would be able to perform: cleansing a Jewish leper, casting out a demon that made its victim mute, and giving sight to a man born blind. While these are not strictly biblical prophecies, Jesus nevertheless explicitly fulfilled each of them; you can read the stories in Luke 5, Matthew 12, and John 9. These miracles established Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah beyond a shadow of a doubt. Amazingly, it was in direct response to these proofs that the Jewish leaders turned away and hardened their hearts toward him.

The Old Testament contains numerous prophecies concerning just the events surrounding Jesus’ death. For example:

He would be betrayed by a close friend for thirty pieces of silver (Ps. 41:9, Zech. 11:12).

His bones would not be broken (Num. 9:12).

His clothing would be divided by casting lots (Ps. 22:18).

He would be crucified among criminals outside the city (Isa. 53:12; Lev. 16:27).

He would be buried in a rich man’s tomb (Isa. 53:9).

Finally, the Old Testament repeatedly predicts that the Messiah would be raised from the dead. Isaiah 53:11 says, After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

These are only a handful of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the first coming of the Messiah—but they should be more than enough. The chances of all of these predictions being fulfilled in the life of one person is infinitesimally small—so miniscule that there can be no doubt that Jesus of Nazareth, in whose life they were perfectly fulfilled, is the promised Messiah.

But for our purposes the importance of these prophecies of Jesus’ first coming is to give us confidence that the many prophecies of his second coming will also be fulfilled. Let’s take a look at some of those.

What Did Jesus Say?

Jesus himself explicitly promised that he would return, when he told his disciples,

"My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1–3)

It really couldn’t be clearer than that, could it? Jesus said, "I will come back."

In Matthew 16:27, Jesus says, "For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. Son of Man is one of Jesus’ favorite titles for himself, so when he says, the Son of Man is going to come, he’s speaking of his own return. And again, notice the absolute certainty of Jesus’ language: the Son of Man is going to come."

In Matthew 24, Jesus urges his followers to be on the alert for his return: "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. . . . So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him" (Matt. 24:42, 44). We usually read this passage as a caution about predicting when Jesus will return, but notice that it also confirms that he will come back: Jesus says, "your Lord is coming and the Son of man is coming."

At the end of Matthew 24 and in Mathew 25, Jesus used parables to describe the need to be prepared and productive while we wait for his return. Then in 25:31 he says, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. Not If the Son of Man comes"—when he comes. When he comes, he will sit on his throne and judge the entire earth.

Finally, the last words of Jesus recorded in Scripture, in Revelation 22:20, are, "Yes, I am coming soon." In fact, Jesus repeats these words three times, and the words come and coming appear seven times in that one chapter. He clearly wants us to be confident that he is coming back!

The Old Testament

As we’ve seen, the Old Testament includes many prophecies of the Messiah’s first coming. But it contains even more prophecies about his return.

Some Old Testament passages predict the return of Christ unambiguously. Daniel 7 describes Daniel’s vision of

one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion