It seems like I have been interested in Bible prophecy for a hundred years! Literally, I cannot remember when I wasn’t trying to line up the words of the prophets to current events. I know the passion grew strongly for me when I was in high school, and it never really diminished

The big question when looking at Bible prophecy is this: WHEN are we? The Bible gives a lot of clues as to the way the world will be when Jesus returns to earth. What is stunning to me … and has been since I can remember … is that the timeframe discussed in the Bible couldn’t have happened before the current generation. Here are just a few things that were predicted:

• Israel will become a nation again.
• Against all odds and without historical precedent a dead language (Hebrew) will become a living language.
• Tensions in the Middle East will brew between the newly founded Israel and a group of nations listed in the Bible, all of whom trace to Israel’s current Islamic neighbors.
• There will be a simultaneous acceleration in the knowledge and the ability to travel. Think about it, a mere hundred years ago, people traveled pretty much as they always had. A hundred years ago, the total knowledge of mankind doubled every century. Now our total knowledge doubles every year!
• The book of Revelation has very vivid descriptions of nuclear war and its potential to destroy the earth. It sounded like fantasy to all of the generations prior to World War II, but it is part of our current world order.
• The book of Revelation describes specific events in Israel being witnessed by the entire world. This, too, was regarded as some sort of fantasy until the modern world of satellite video transmission.
• The Bible describes a time when people will only be able to transact business with a coded number. Prior to 1960, we didn’t even have credit cards. Now more business is transacted with “numbers” than with currency.

I’ve spent my life watching these predicted signs falling into place. Then to my amazement, I learned that other cultures also had prophecies and traditions that point to this general timeframe for the emergence of great upheaval. Hopi Indians and the Mayans pegged this general time as the close of the current age. Islam is looking now for the Mahdi to come. The re-born Israel is looking for Messiah. Trans-humanists point to the coming singularity (within 30 years) when consciousness will be transferrable to machines. New Agers look to a New World Order that will usher in global transformation. Governments all over the world are building deep underground bases for their elite to ride out some impending danger, the likes of which they have not shared with the rest of us.

What’s going on? How could the ancient prophets have foreseen these events? How did we happen to live in a time so filled with prophetic fulfillment? What happens next? In a nutshell: WHEN are we?

The This Generation Series explores these questions.