In 1970, Hal Lindsey published The Late Great Planet Earth. The book sold millions of copies and introduced a generation to the miraculous fulfillment of end times bible prophecies in our day and time.

Coming on the heels of World War II, the rebirth of Israel, the Six Day War, and widespread societal upheaval, many were convinced the rapture would take place before the end of the decade. But the 1970’s came and went, and Jesus did not return.

Then, in the 1980’s and 1990’s, numerous bible prophecy books with titles like “Countdown to Armageddon” and “Final Warning” sold all over the world. Again, many people were convinced Jesus would return before the end of the century. Yet Jesus didn’t come.

Then the world experienced Y2K, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the phenomenal success of the Left Behind series. Once again, it seemed as though Jesus would return at any moment. But once again, he didn’t. And then something happened. Complacency set it.

End Times Burnout

Because Jesus hadn’t come, many Christians began to openly doubt whether He ever would. Why? I believe there are at least two reasons. First, we live in a culture that demands instant gratification.

We don’t like to wait as little as two minutes for a microwave to cook a meal it took our grandparents half a day to prepare. We’re impatient, and we’re used to getting what we want when we want.

The second reason is the errant predictions of date setters. False prophets such as Harold Camping and Edgar Whisenant told the world Jesus would return on specific dates – even though Jesus said “no one knows the day or hour” (Matthew 24:36).

The media gives widespread attention to these predictions. When these days come and go, the false prophets are exposed.

This leads to ridicule of bible prophecy, and in some cases, even Christian leaders publicly dismiss bible prophecy as a playground for crackpots and the ignorant. But these critics forget false prophets made these claims, not the Bible. The Bible’s track record remains perfect. In fact, the Bible predicted this complacency long ago.

The Bible Said This Would Happen

Almost two thousand years ago, Peter issued a warning. He said in the last days people will deny the signs we see today. He said they’ll mock the idea of Jesus returning. They’ll make fun of those who believe in the Second Coming and say the exact things we hear today – things like, “I thought Jesus was coming back? What happened to His promise?

Generation after generation has said He’s coming. Yet, since the beginning of the world, everything has remained the same!” (2 Peter 3:3‐4). You’ve probably heard variations of this complaint yourself. Maybe you’ve heard it in church. But is it true? No. It’s not. Nothing could further from the truth.

Are Things The Same As They’ve Always Been?

To say the world is the same today as in years past – that we don’t live in unique times – is just not true. More than any other generation, ours has reason to expect the Second Coming. Jesus and the prophets said to look for specific signs heralding the end times.

For over 1,800 years, you couldn’t find one of the signs they said to look for. Today, in one form or another, you can find all of them. Here are just a few examples:

The Jewish People Back in the Land – God promised to bring the Jewish people back into the land of Israel before He returned (Jeremiah 23:7-8). He said He would call them from “among the nations” (Ezekiel 39:28), from “the farthest corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:12), and from “north, south, east, and west” (Psalm 107:3).

He promised to welcome them home from the lands where they were scattered (Ezekiel 20:34). When they did, He promised to return and establish His everlasting kingdom (Isaiah 11:11-12). For 1,878 years (A.D. 70 to A.D. 1948), the Jewish people lived in exile.

On May 14, 1948, they reestablished the nation of Israel, fulfilling God’s promise to bring them back into the land.

The Jewish People Back in Jerusalem – Jesus prophesied armies would surround Jerusalem, destroy the city, and enslave its citizens. In A.D. 70, the Roman legions fulfilled this prophecy.

In the days that followed, Jesus said Gentiles would control Jerusalem until “the times of the Gentiles are over.” Then, the Jewish people would once again take control of Jerusalem. When they did, Jesus promised to return (Luke 21:24-28).

In June 1967, the Jewish people retook control of Jerusalem.

The Gospel Preached Throughout the World – When the disciples asked about the end of the age and the signs of His coming, Jesus told them to look for a very specific sign. He said the Gospel will be preached throughout the entire world. Every nation will hear it. Then, the end will come (Matthew 24:14).

For centuries after the crucifixion, the Gospel mostly reached a small area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. But in the past two centuries, Christians carried the Gospel to every country on earth.

Today, missionaries live in every nation. The Bible is translated in hundreds of languages, and the message of Jesus is sent around the world by radio, TV, satellite, and the Internet. Our generation is the first one on the verge of spreading the Gospel to every last person on earth.

Increased Travel and Knowledge – Six hundred years before Jesus, an angel gave Daniel a special message. He said “travel and knowledge” will increase in the end times (Daniel 12:4). For centuries of human history, dramatic gains in travel and knowledge did NOT take place.

Yet the last two hundred years have seen explosions in the speed and frequency of travel as well as the amount and availability of knowledge. For example, up until around two hundred years ago, a man could travel no faster than a horse could carry him.

Today, we can travel faster than the speed of sound. Many consider the Library of Alexandria to be the greatest collection of written knowledge in the ancient world. While we don’t know for sure how much knowledge was housed there, some estimates say it was as many 500,000 papyrus scrolls. Two thousand years ago, this was the height of human knowledge.

Today, you probably have a bigger library in your pocket. Your smartphone can download almost any book that’s ever been written in a matter of seconds. Our generation is experiencing an exponential increase in travel and knowledge.

Israel Surrounded by Enemies – According to the Bible, enemies will surround Israel in the end times. Those enemies will say “Come, let us wipe away the nation of Israel. Let’s destroy the memory of its existence” (Psalm 83:4) and “Let us take for ourselves these pasturelands of God” (Psalm 83:12).

Ezekiel said Israel’s neighbors will say “God has given their land to us” (Ezekiel 11:14‐17), and “Israel and Judah are ours. We will take possession of them. What do we care if their God is there?” (Ezekiel 35:10).

Ever since the rebirth of Israel in 1948, the daily headlines have included these exact sentiments. Israel’s Muslim neighbors claim the land of Israel for themselves, and they have no regard for the God of Israel.

Israel’s Exceedingly Great Army – Ezekiel said, in the last days, Israel will field “an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:10). Zechariah said Israel will be like a fire among sheaves of grain, burning up the neighboring nations (Zechariah 12:6) and even the weakest Israeli soldier will be like David (Zechariah 12:8).

Since 1948, Israel has fought no less than four conventional wars against its neighbors. Despite being outnumbered more than 50 to 1, Israel has achieved overwhelming victory every time.

Rise of the Gog of Magog Alliance – The Bible says a military alliance that includes Russia, Iran, Turkey, and a number of Muslim nations will attack Israel “in the latter days” (Ezekiel 38:8) when God brings His people home from among the enemy nations (Ezekiel 39:27). Today, we see those exact nations coming together. The alliance they form today is an alliance that has never existed in world history.

Rise of a United Europe – The Bible says a revived Roman Empire will come to power in the end times (Daniel 2, Daniel 7, Revelation 17). According to Daniel, it will be a ten nation alliance of weak and strong nations.

Some parts will be as strong as iron, while other parts will be as weak as clay (Daniel 2:42). We see the initial stages of this alliance in the European Union – the legal and culture inheritor of the Roman Empire’s legacy. The EU today is a coalition of both weak and strong nations. A volatile alliance, it struggles to stay together.

The Rise of Global Government – The Bible says a single government will rule the world politically (Revelation 13:7), religiously (Revelation 13:8), and economically (Revelation 13:16‐17) in the last days. It will rule over “all people, tribes, and languages” on the face of the earth (Revelation 13:7).

Its authority will be so complete no one will be able to buy or sell anything without its permission (Revelation 13:16‐17). For centuries, a true global government was impossible. Today, world leaders openly discuss it, and the technology exists to implement and rule such a government.

Alone, each of these signs indicate the end times are near. Together, they prove ours is the end times generation. Jesus Himself said to look for these signs. He said when you see them, you can know His return is near (Matthew 24:33).

In fact, He said the generation that sees these signs will not pass away before He returns (Matthew 24:34). This convergence of signs is the #1 reason to believe our generation is on the verge of witnessing the Second Coming. See our special DVD on the convergence of signs in the promotion below:

But instead of getting excited and ramping up our efforts to spread the Gospel, the Christian church is mostly silent on the issue. A large part of the church is complacent, and the Bible warned about this as well.

It’s Time to Stay Awake

The night before the crucifixion, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. He went to be alone and pray. But before He did, Jesus asked the apostles to stay up and pray with Him. He warned them not to fall asleep. Nevertheless, they did. They were finally awakened when soldiers arrived to arrest Jesus.

In a similar way, Jesus warned us not to be caught sleeping when He returns (Mark 13:36). To illustrate, He told a story of ten bridesmaids. Of the ten bridesmaids, five were foolish and five were wise. The five foolish bridesmaids didn’t take enough oil for their lamps when they went to wait for the bridegroom.

When they left to buy more oil, the bridegroom came and they missed out on the marriage feast. Jesus warned us not to be like the foolish bridesmaids. He said, “You, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return” (Matthew 25:1-13).

In another parable, Jesus once again commanded us to watch: “You, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know when the master of the household will return. It could be evening, midnight, dawn, or daybreak. Don’t let the master find you sleeping when he arrives without warning” (Mark 13:35-37).

Personally, I’ve written about the nearness of the Second Coming for over 13 years. Obviously Jesus didn’t return in those 13 years, but none of the reasons to expect His return have gone away. In fact, the opposite is true. The reasons to expect Jesus to return at any moment have markedly increased.

Yet to great amazement, many Christians seem more complacent and ignorant of the signs than ever. Why? I don’t know. But I’ll continue to sound the alarm, and you should too. The Bible says if we recognize the signs and don’t tell others about them, we’re no different than a watchman who sees an invading army and doesn’t sound the alarm. If we fail in our role as watchmen, God says He will hold us accountable for all those who perish (Ezekiel 33:1-6).

All the signs Jesus and the prophets said to look for are present right now. For almost 2,000 years, no Christian could say that. Our generation is an eyewitness to signs previous Christians could only dream about.

If the signs are telling us the Tribulation and the Second Coming are near, then it means the rapture is even closer. Don’t fall asleep, and don’t let anyone around you fall asleep. It’s never been more important to stay awake. Jesus is coming!

Britt Gillette is author of the free ebook Coming to Jesus as well as the books Signs of the Second Coming and Racing Toward Armageddon. 

Copyright © 2019 Britt Gillette End Times Bible Prophecy–All rights reserved.

In His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24-25, the next group of people that Jesus talks about, that will be impacted by His coming are the servants who were given talents. The parable relates to how the master divided the money among his servants according to each of their abilities.

For the kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own personal ability; and immediately he went on a journey.

Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his Lord’s money (Matthew 25:14-19).

One man received five talents, another two, and a third received one. No one received more or less than he could handle and each was free to invest or not to invest. There was no compulsion from the giver of the talents. God does not give to any believer either more or less than he is able to use effectively.

The servant who got five talents went at once and invested the five talents and got five more, the one with two got two, and each of these were commended of having done a good job: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord (Mathew 25: 19-21).

The Lord also assessed the faithfulness of the servants mentioned in Matt. 25:14-30, not by their net gain but their percentage increase. The servant who gained five talents was not considered more faithful than the servant who had gained two talents although he gained more talents.

It is on their faithfulness, as expressed in the percentage increase achieved, that their judgment is based. Whether one man originally received five talents and another one two, this was not the basis on which their faithfulness is assessed. Rather, each of these servants was considered equally faithful because each had achieved the same increase.

God Did Not Call Us to Win

If you choose to become a person who is deeply committed to a cause, the world won’t understand you; you will be alone. Noah built the ark and voyaged alone except for his family. He preached 120 years and never had a convert, and yet he did not get discouraged.

Don Wildmon, the founder of the American Family Association (AFA) stood boldly against the increasing immorality in our society for years, until his resignation in 2010. The sad thing is that he often reported that some of his main critics came from within Christianity and many of them were pastors!

He said the typical letter he got from pastors read something like this: Don, you are wasting your time. Evil has greatly multiplied since you began speaking out about it. You need to face up to the fact that you are losing the battle. Don responded by saying:

God did not call me to win. He called me to stand. We will not win until Jesus returns.

The third servant according to Jesus dug a hole and buried his talent in the ground. He forgot that all he had belonged to the Lord, he was just a steward. In this parable of the talents the third servant hid the one talent he had received and later brought it back to his master in exactly the same way or condition in which he had received it. For doing this he did not receive any reward and worse still he was totally rejected and cast out from his master’s presence.

It was Charles Finney who wrote,

The Church is filled with hypocrites because people were never made to see that they must make an entire consecration of everything to Christ. All their time, all their talents, and all their influence must be given or they will never get to heaven. Many think they can be Christians, yet dream through life using all their time and property for themselves.

The lesson from this third servant is that laziness is wickedness. “You wicked, lazy servant….. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:26-30).

There are some things that the Lord hates and one of them is irresponsibly squandering our God-given abilities. Jesus not only called the third servant lazy and wicked, but He condemned the man to eternal damnation. He also took the servant’s one talent and gave it to the one who had the ten. So if at all you don’t use your talent, you will lose it, but if we risk and use it, we will get more.

Gifts and Talents

What are these gifts and talents that the Lord is talking about? In order to discover these gifts we have to briefly go back to the Bible and look at the book of Romans, 1 Corinthians and the book of Ephesians. In the book of Romans the Bible says:

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness (Romans 12:6-8).

In the Bible we are told to pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy, because he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men ….he who prophesies also edifies the church (1 Corinthians 14:1-5).

Throughout the Bible prophesying is to strengthen, exhort, edify, comfort and encourage. Prophets give courage, confidence, hope, reassurance, inspiration, support and they promote. Prophecy is forth telling, speaking it out. The prophets are seers; they get prophetic dreams and visions.

The Bible says we are to use the prophecy in proportion to our faith. Then there is a gift of service—servers are faithful and loyal, they have a natural desire to see things done. The gift of teaching is passing on wisdom, knowledge, and experience that you’ve gained to those who are unlearned.

The gift of encouragement is to motivate others to be whatever God has called them to be. The gift of giving or contributing to the needs of others includes people who are generous and trustworthy. The gift of leadership involves good organizational and management skills.

The gift of mercy involves showing kindness and compassion to people who are hurting. You will lay down your life for others to see they are restored and redeemed.

We should Abound in the Work of the Lord

When the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the rapture, he concluded with an important admonition:

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord, knowing and becoming continually aware that your labour is not futile it is never wasted or to no purpose” (1 Corinthians 15:58 AMP).

Jesus says, “the servants were to put his money to work until their master returned.” In other words His disciples are to continue in faithful and wise service even though He might be gone a long time (see Matthew 24:45).

And most importantly we will not be like that wicked lazy servant who buried his talent rather than use it for someone else’s benefit, especially his master whom he regarded as hard to expect making a profit out of him. This man who has one talent convinces himself that there is nothing much he can accomplish.

Unfortunately he was rejected and cast into outer darkness where he can meditate on his wasted opportunities with weeping and gnashing of teeth. In the parable of the minas recorded in Luke 19, Jesus also makes it clear that we are to do business stay until He returns.

In this parable ten servants are mentioned and they all received the same amount: one mina each, but only three are described in detail. Of the three servants whose cases are described, the first gained five minas, the second gained five minas, and the third just like in parable of talents, hid and kept laid up in the handkerchief. He eventually brought it back in the same condition in which he had received it.

These servants all possessed equal ability, since all of them received the same amount committed to them. However, they were not equally faithful. The first made ten additional minas. The second made five more minas. Both of these servants were rewarded with authority over ten and five cities respectively. Their rewards were in exact proportion to the increase each one had achieved.

The rewards for serving Christ faithfully in this present age will consist in positions of authority and responsibility in the Kingdom of God. For those who love Christ and are compelled to serve Him faithfully and with the right motive in this age, this privilege will be extended throughout eternity.

The Motivation is Love

Love for Jesus Christ should be our motive and everything is ultimately measured by motivation.  The whole question of serving Christ springs from knowing and loving Him intimately.

As one missionary said, “The need can get you there, but only the love of Christ can keep you there.”If we serve Christ with any motivation other than Christ’s love, we will get disillusioned. The love of Christ is a higher, nobler motivation for service than the potential reward of faithfulness.

In his famous chapters on love in I Corinthians, Paul says we are to be inspired by God’s love for and in us in utilizing the spiritual gifts.  Chapter 12 is about spiritual gifts by themselves; chapter 13 is about spiritual gifts without love; and chapter 14 is about the true, excellent way: spiritual gifts with love.

Thus, the more we love Christ, the more love we will show to others for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us (see Romans 5:5).

Therefore, we should not be drawn to do any kind of work or service in the hopes of wealth or fame, but rather out of love and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul again explains, it’s the love of Christ that compels us:

For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that if One died for all, then all died; And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

“If you major on knowing God,” A.W.Tozer once wrote, and cultivate a sense of His presence in your daily life, and do what Brother Lawrence advises, “Practicing the presence of God” daily and seek to know the Holy Scriptures, you will go a long way in serving your generation for God. No man (or woman) has any right to die until he/she has served God in his/her generation.

The Psalmist declares:

Yes, even when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, but keep me alive until I have declared Your mighty strength to this generation, and Your might and power to all that are to come (Psalm 71:18 AMP).

Indeed, what we do in life echoes in eternity.