in the last days perilous times shall come
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. “ 2 Timothy 3:1-5
We’re told by Timothy how people will be toward one another in the last days, and its not dissimilar to where we find ourselves today, yet many of these characteristics are borne out of a collective culture that has individual freedoms remaining and if not being outright affluent, then at least having some amount of disposable time and interests which seemingly is in contrast to a world on the edge of destruction as were shown in Revelation Chapter 6 and later,
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24:12
How then, do we also arrive at the following destruction at the end:
“The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” Isaiah 24:5-6
The Earth is cursed with a curse at the end, and it is specifically as a result of the breaking of the Laws and Ordinances relating to the land and its restitution by God under those laws with the physical return of both “thy people,” Israel and “thy holy city” Jerusalem in the generation that follows its restoration at the time of the end,
The nations of the world divide his land as we’re told in the books of Joel and Zephaniah, restored the second time as we’re told in Isaiah 11,
“And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Matthew 24:2
“And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.” Leviticus 26:31
It should be noted, this was a private conversation Jesus had with his disciples, it was not part of his message to Israel at that time, and comes after telling them the Temple and Israel would be desolate with not one stone left standing, fulfilling the law of Moses just as he warned them in Leviticus 26,
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” Matthew 24:32-44
Israel is the fig tree,
And from the words of Jesus, a certain day is coming that is “as the days of Noah” and “as it was in the days of Lot” where it was a blue sky day, there was some appearance of normalcy in the world and in one day it all changed, compare:
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:28-32
His bodily return to the Earth, to the mount of Olives, where every eye will see him, is not the same day being referred to above, this is another time, a separate event and the world is much different and darker having just gone through the great tribulation where if those days were not cut short, “no flesh would be saved alive,”
This day instead coincides or happens immediately in advance of the “son of perdition” being revealed, for which we’re told in the book of Revelation he receives power for 42 months, 1260 days,
“Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; “ 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. ” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12
From the revealing of both “the son of man” and “the son of perdition,” there is a set time still remaining to be accomplished for how long he must receive power and then its as its written in Zechariah:
“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” Zechariah 14:4
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:27-31