Riding The Blue Bus

The blue bus is callin' us
Driver, where you takin' us
“The End” ---The Doors

She kicked me in the shin under the table to get my attention. We were seated next to each other in the thrice-weekly staff meeting and thankfully, the meeting was drawing to a close. However, still enough fodder was available involving sales and forecasts, production and supply, to keep the meeting going for at least a little while longer – but she wanted my opinion. I could tell by her eyes it was something that she had wrestled with as far as a way to broach the subject, so keeping an eye on the moderator I swiveled quietly in my chair to give her my ear.

Her whispered words revolved around dead birds, sinkholes, strange weather phenomena, and earthquakes. She wanted to know if they were indeed a signs of the end, and of course she was referring to apocalyptic events. She mentioned her church and her family, and I caught a faint whiff of apprehension in her mannerism as she recounted the evening news from the night before. “What do you think, Shannon?”

I whispered back, “I think if you keep talking to me, the boss is gonna hear and we are going to be in big trouble for not paying attention to the meeting.” She smiled, kicked me in the leg yet again, and I agreed to discuss it all with her after the meeting.

I get a lot of that these days. And I do not have all of the answers. I’ve read my Bible and studied the books of Daniel and Revelation for many years. I can almost quote verbatim Jesus’ Olivet Discourse in Matthew chapter 24. But the exact sequence of events that will foretell the end of time escapes me. I can build castles in the air with the best of them, but in the end that is all that I can provide on the subject –speculation. Like everyone else, I am much akin to the disciples when they came to Jesus and asked, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

I guess as humans we look ahead at the beginning of a new year, and we ponder over what awaits us on the horizon of the months and days to come. For me it’s Science Fair projects in January, a reminder that Valentine’s Day falls in February and I better not forget it, then Easter followed by a long gap of Spring sandwiched before the Memorial Day weekend. What will I do this summer for a recharging vacation? How about my birthday in October? Will Chip be home this year for Thanksgiving? Is a yearly bonus from my employer in the cards for Christmas?

Time counts and keeps counting. But it never signs a contract with any of us.

I look at things analytically because I am an engineer. In that regard, I look at it from the opposite angle of what someone normally would. I believe we are in the last generation, to me it’s a given. The news reports are rife with morals gone askew, violence in the world, cataclysmic weather patterns, and political intrigue. But on the flip side (the engineering side) is there anything that could possibly change my mind or thoughts of the current age we live in as being in fact the last age as prophesied by the Bible?

There’s the question that must be answered; what would it take to change my mind? The only answer for me would be if Israel ceased to exist as a nation. If they were conquered or dissimilated by a peace treaty in some way to where there was no longer an Israeli state in the Middle East, I’d change my view hands-down. Bible prophecy swings full circle around Israel as they are G_d's chosen people and have been since Abraham's time.

When His disciples came to Him and asked Jesus the question I mentioned earlier, He spoke at length about it. He mentioned all of the things I see happening in the world today as I watch the evening news. But then again, most of those things have always been happening in some form or another since Jesus’ time. However, He goes on to emphatically mention the budding of the fig tree. In fact, it is so important that all three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke were inspired to record what He said.

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.”

Following those passages recorded in each gospel, Jesus adds: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” It has been long accepted by much better scholars than I that Jesus was referring to Israel when He mentions the fig tree. In fact, G_d calls Israel His fig tree in Joel chapter 1. For this reason alone I regard the re-birth of Israel in 1948 as the beginning of the last generation. Pundits tried to add forty years to 1948 and came up with a date of 1988 for the end of time. Later they changed it to 2007, since Israel re-conquered Jerusalem in 1967, but to no avail. The world didn’t end during either year. The problem was in the math – let me go all engineer on you here…

A generation is from birth to death. The Bible says (in the verses I used last week in my blog from Psalms) that we live from 70 to 80 years, on average.

1948 + 70 = 2018 and 1948 + 80 = 2028.

Works with my calculator every time. Note that this will be the end according to Jesus. But before the end comes there will be seven years of tribulation –Jesus referred to them as the days of vengeance.

2018 – 7 = 2011 and 2028 – 7 = 2021.

In a roundabout way, there is a very sure sign that the tribulation could begin anywhere from this year (2011) until 2021. A ten-year span, if you will, of a time when we don’t want to be caught napping as Christians. Notice I didn’t set a date, or even a year, and that is important to me for you to understand. Because Jesus added: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” There are a lot of days and hours within that ten-year span.

Anyway, that is my take if you are asking. Something to ponder for all of us, and in any case, I feel secure in the knowledge that time is running out on this present world we’re busy sharing. Again, it can’t be stressed within this blog enough because it is ominous; Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” It’s time not to get ready, but to be ready.

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