Evidence that Demands a Verdict

Evidence that Demands a Verdict

Jonathan Brentner

My copy of Josh McDowell’s Evidence that Demands a Verdict, first published in 1972, still resides on my bookshelf. It has been a reliable source of information ever since my college days.

Just as the proof of Jesus’ resurrection and the Bible’s integrity leads us to an inescapable conclusion, so the evidence that we live in the last days demonstrates the nearness of the Lord’s intervention in the world. The signs unmistakably confirm the close proximity of the seven-year Tribulation and thus to the even sooner Rapture of the Church.

Similar to what Josh McDowell wrote in his book, when I place the weight of today’s signs, the evidence that we live in the last days, on a scale, they tip the balance overwhelmingly in favor of this being the last moments before we meet the Lord in the air.

Please allow me to take you through the mountain of evidence that allows for no other verdict than the one that says we live in the season of Jesus’ appearing.

The Soon Arrival of Daniel’s Seventieth Week

Israel’s miraculous reemergence as a nation in 1948 sets this era apart from all others since AD 70. In the early 1900s, many Christians mocked Bible teachers who predicted the future existence of the Jewish nation, but in 1948, it happened precisely in the ways God said it would happen (see Isaiah 66:8). Furthermore, Scripture predicted that most of the Jewish people in the revived Israeli state would reject Jesus as their Messiah until just before His return to the earth (Zechariah 12:10-13:1), which is exactly what we see today.

But there’s even more verification of Israel’s prophetic role in the last days.

Long ago, the prophet Daniel also wrote that a future “prince” would make a seven-year peace covenant with “the many,” which of course includes Israel (Daniel 9:27). In my article, The Biblical Necessity of the Seven-Year Tribulation, I demonstrate that Daniel’s seventieth week has never occurred in history, which means that according to Daniel 9:24, God’s purposes for the Jewish people and Jerusalem remain incomplete.

What does that have to do with today? Many of the world’s nations will meet at the UN during June 2-5, 2025, with the intent of imposing a two-state solution upon Israel via a seven or ten-year peace accord. The plan is to formally ratify this covenant when the UN meets in session during September 2025. The world’s obsession with Jerusalem, along with its plans to divide the Land, are precisely what the Lord said we would see in the last days (Zechariah 12:1-3; Joel 3:1-3).

How is it possible to ignore the world’s determination to divide the Land when it precisely mirrors what the Bible says will happen just before Jesus returns to the earth? The world’s mad rush to fulfill the words of Daniel 9:27 via a seven-year peace covenant alone tells us we live in the last days of human history before the seven-year Tribulation begins.

But there’s so much more!!

The Riders of the Apocalypse

I often think that it takes more faith to ignore the myriad of signs pointing to the approaching Tribulation than it does to recognize them for what they are. This is particularly true when it comes to what John wrote about the riders of the apocalypse in Revelation 6:1-8. Every time I write about our nearness to the fulfillment of these verses, I assume we can’t get much closer without them galloping across planet Earth. However, I’m frequently proven wrong as even more signs appear.

Consider the following brief listing of the evidence for the nearness of these conditions to occur:

1. Rider one, antichrist, rises to power while promoting peace. Klaus Schwab at the World Economic Forum (WEF) demonstrates how it’s possible to exert total control over many nations without firing a single shot or possessing an army.
2. Rider two spreads war across the planet. It’s rare that a day goes by when we don’t hear warnings of WWIII or of a devastating nuclear exchange with Russia, China, or North Korea. We hear such threats fill almost every day.
3. Rider three brings economic devastation. The collapse of the American economy under the massive government debt load should’ve happened several years ago. When it does, the entire world will experience conditions described in Revelation 6:5-6.
4. Preparations for the fourth rider, death, are well underway. Conditions are ripe for deaths of one-fourth of the world’s population via the means listed in Revelation 6:8.

I could write many paragraphs supporting the nearness of each one of these riders starting their trek across the earth and have done so in the past. The denial of the proof regarding the approaching Tribulation either stems from unbelief in the words of Scripture or an unhealthy obsession with the aspirations of this life. I wrote about those who ignore the many threats to our future well-being in Don’t Look Outside the Window.

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