Jesus Coming in September?
From: LA Marzulli
By: Pastor Mark Conn
Every few years it seems as though there are new end-of-the world apocalyptic predictions. As the targeted dates draw near, promoters of those dates write large books about their predictions that repeatedly sell tens of thousands of copies to a curious and often frightened public. When the date subsequently passes by without anything happening, the promoters simply ignore the wrong forecast like some kind of eschatological weatherman and move on to the next “forecast.”
History is littered with failed prophecies and predictions of the end of the world and the return of Christ. As I travel, I’m invariably asked about some of these predictions as well as what I think about current international circumstances. There is an increasing awareness that world events are beginning to resemble the end-of-the-age environment Jesus described in Matthew 24.
Recently, however, many of the questions have begun to revolve around a specific time frame. It would seem that secular groups as well as a growing number of scholars and eschatologists are finding agreement that there may be a supernatural coalescence of events occurring on or around September 23, 2015.
The idea of September, 2015 as a potential prophetically significant date isn’t particularly new. In 2008, Mark Biltz, pastor of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Washington, discovered and began to teach about a “tetrad” (group of four) of “blood moons” falling on Jewish feast days and ending in September.
As we get closer to September, the intensity and frequency of dire predictions seems to be increasing. The fact is that there are a number of potentially world-changing events – both of the natural and the man-made variety – that surround or fall specifically on September 23, 2015.
What are we to make of these events? Could this coming September be the “beginning of the end?” Could September 23 be the date of Jesus’ return? Let’s list a few of the events that will be taking place on and around this date, and then see if we can determine the manner in which Christians should respond.
• September 23, 2015 is Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). According to Leviticus 25:9, the Day of Atonement is announced by a loud trumpet blast, which signifies the beginning of a new seven-year period of time. In the Mosaic Law, every seventh year is a Shemitah, or Sabbath, year in which the land will rest, among other things. Every seventh Shemitah (49 years) is the end of a cycle, followed by a Jubilee year. This September marks not only the ending of a shemitah cycle but begins a Jubilee year.
• According to Jonathan Cahn, author of The Harbinger and The Mystery of the Shemitah, many of the biggest U.S. stock market corrections have landed precisely on the same day on the Jewish calendar – Elul 29. The last one, September 29, 2008, saw the largest single-day point drop in the history of the Dow Jones index. Precisely seven years earlier, on September 17, 2001, the stock market recorded what was, at the time, the largest single-day loss following the attacks on the World Trade Center. It’s been seven years since the historic loss in 2008. Elul 29 this year is September 13, 2015. Coincidentally, September 13 is Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets.
• Sir Isaac Newton predicted in his book Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John that Jesus would return 49 years after Jerusalem began to be rebuilt. The old city of Jerusalem wasn’t in Jewish possession until June 7, 1967. Exactly 49 prophetic years (360-day-years) from that date is September 23, 2015.
• On May 13, 2014, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stated “We have 500 days – not a day more – to avert a climate disaster.” Exactly five hundred days from that speech date is September 23, 2015.
• The “International Day of Peace” is September 21, 2015.
• Fall Equinox this year is September 23.
• Pope Francis will visit the White House on September 23, 2015, followed by an unprecedented address to a joint session of Congress on September 24.
• The final “blood moon” will be on Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) which this year is September 28, 2015. This lunar eclipse will occur during a “super moon,” or when the moon is closest to the earth, and will be visible from Jerusalem.
• According to Evangelist Dan Goodwin, the upcoming Jubilee year will be the seventieth, and final, Jubilee, based on the amount of time from Moses to today.3 Looking at all these different events occurring on or near
September 23, one can see how many people are beginning to ask if something significant could take place this fall. Dr. Kevin Clarkson, pastor of First Baptist Church of Moore, OK, and host of Prophecy in the News, says it like this:
“Putting it all together, we have an incredible convergence of events beyond manipulation by man. A cycle of four blood moons over two consecutive years … each total lunar eclipse falling upon a Jewish holy day … with total solar eclipses between the blood moons … landing in the Jewish seventh year of debt release … leading past 2015-2016 into the next Jubilee Year (when God sets captives free, restores property, and proclaims liberty in the land). Is the Lord shouting at those with ears to hear and eyes to see?”
When you “zoom out” and take a look at the last several years, it seems as though there are inexplicable events that point to a near-term tipping point being reached.
• There are mass animal die-offs happening all over the globe
• The world’s economy is in a mess
• Weather is increasingly unpredictable and extreme
• Drought and water shortages are reaching crisis level
• Food prices are increasing dramatically
• Traditional morality is being replaced by things once viewed as abhorrent
• Persecution and martyrdom of Christians is increasing while most ignore it
Then there are other things that seem to defy any kind of scientific explanation.
• Earthquakes are happening in areas where earthquakes simply don’t occur, while the intensity and frequency of earthquakes is on the dramatic rise.11
• The sun is experiencing a nearly unprecedented quiet season that’s perplexing scientists.
• Weird sounds have been heard throughout the world for the last seven years. They are bizarre, haunting sounds which sometimes sound like a trumpet, while some have said it sounds like an ancient shofar being blown. Other times these sounds remind the listeners of choral music. The sounds have been recorded in rural areas, coastal areas, and in major cities, but no one knows what’s causing them.
What does it all mean?
Is something building toward a dramatic, world-shattering climax in September? Well, let’s take a step back for a moment. Firstly, Jesus can return at any time. Today. Tomorrow. Next week. Or September 23. September 23 is just as viable of a candidate for the return of Christ as any other day. We don’t know when Christ is returning.
Secondly, just because we don’t know precisely when Christ is coming, Scripture indicates those who are watching will have an idea when it’s getting close.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-4
“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and
safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”
When Jesus came to earth the first time, there were signs. Jesus chastised the Pharisees and the Sadducees for not looking for and being aware of the signs that indicated His first arrival.
Matthew 16:1-3
“The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”
Like His first appearance, there will be signs indicating both the rapture of the Church and His second coming are getting close. In Matthew 24, Jesus details some of the things that would precede His Second Coming, which I believe takes place seven years after the rapture of the Church:
1. Great deception
2. Wars and rumors of wars
3. Famines
4. Pestilence
5. Earthquakes
All these things are happening right now, but honestly they’ve been occurring nearly nonstop for millennia, and being of such a seemingly general nature these events could apply to nearly any time in history. Is there anything else that would more clearly define the time period before His return? Something that is different than other times?
Yes, it would appear so. Jesus continued in His discourse in Matthew 24 and shared two specific things with the disciples that would outline a more specific time for His return.
1. Israel becoming a nation again (the budding of the “Fig Tree”)
2. A time like the “Days of Noah.”
Israel became a nation again in 1948, and it doesn’t take too much investigation to quickly discern that the days we are in seem to parallel the days of Noah very closely.
Does that mean Jesus is coming back in September?
Is it time to sell the house, move to Montana, and start having rapture practice?
Here’s the bottom line.
The time before the rapture of the Church will be a time of increasing instability and growing evil – a time much like today. That’s one (among several) of the reasons I believe the time is very short. We need to take precautions and lay a few provisions aside to prepare for bad times in the days and months to come. Given all the indicators, it would appear that there may be some very bumpy roads ahead. Even if the return of Christ is many years in the future, the global environment would provide a reason to be wise and prepare for some times of hardship.
At the same time, there are many things which seem to be lining up and pointing to this fall being a significant period of time. But nothing might happen. The world might continue its downward spiral and September will come and go with nothing significant or extraordinary occurring.
God isn’t bound by our timetable or by events which we might interpret to mean that “time is up.” The events that seem to be “lining up” and the increase of evil throughout the world don’t set a date. They do, however, set the stage. We don’t know when Christ is coming, but we can observe the times and know when things are set and His return is close.
Jesus gave a parable about His return in Luke 19. In verse 13 of that chapter, He tells His servants “Occupy till I come.”
We need to be physically and spiritually prepared for what lies ahead. We need to be aware of the times in which we live and the signs that are appearing around us. We need to be mindful that the time until His return may be growing exceedingly short. But until He comes, our job is to carry on His business.
