Many Bible stories validate the purpose of prophecy, but few highlight it better than the story of Judah and Babylon. For many years God warned the kingdom of Judah not to follow the ways of the neighboring kingdom of Israel. Because of their many sins and refusal to turn from their wicked ways, God had let the ten tribes of Israel be conquered by Assyria and carried away from their homeland in two massive deportations—in 733 and 722 B.C.
Nearly a century later, God allowed the righteous king Josiah to reign over Judah in a last-ditch effort to save the Jewish nation from imminent captivity (2 Chronicles 34:1, 26-28). He also sent the prophets Jeremiah, Zephaniah and Habakkuk to warn them, but after Josiah’s untimely death the people of Judah quickly returned to their sinful ways and, like Israel, they too were invaded and taken into captivity.
Not all prophecies are understandable today, but God has revealed a few end-time conditions that must be in place before Christ Jesus returns, which have only been met within the last century:
- The possibility of human annihilation
Since 1945 and the detonation of the first atomic bombs, followed by even more destructive hydrogen bombs, humanity now has the ability to destroy all human life many times over. Jesus said of the time of the end: “It will be a time of great distress; there has never been such a time from the beginning of the world until now, and will never be again. If that time of troubles were not cut short, no living thing could survive; but for the sake of God’s chosen it will be cut short” (Matthew 24:21-22).
- A Jewish nation must be in control of Jerusalem for some end-time prophecies to be fulfilled
This has only been possible since 1948, when the modern state of Israel was born. Jesus prophesied as the end time approached, the Jews would once again control Jerusalem and the “holy place.” Later Jesus said the holy place would be desecrated with the abomination of desolation, as the prophet Daniel had earlier described (Matthew 24:15-16). The prophesied conditions are now partially in place, but more must change before other prophesied events can proceed.
- A final revival of a major European geopolitical power
At the end time it is prophesied 10 “kings” or rulers will align themselves in a final world superpower Scripture calls “the beast,” led by a powerful dictator also called the Beast (Revelation 17:12-13). Indications are that this development will take place in Europe and its influence will extend to the whole world. The time setting of this prophecy is clear from the fact that these 10 rulers “will make war with the Lamb”—the returning Jesus Christ—“and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings” (verse 14).
The prophecies of the Bible will come to pass whether or not we understand them in every detail. In the meantime we should heed Jesus Christ’s warning in Matthew 24:44: “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” God provides end-time prophecies to cause a self-willed humanity to return to Him. He wants us to repent and fulfill our potential to be His children forever.
