The Book of Signs: 31 Undeniable Prophecies of the Apocalypse

by David Jeremiah

The turmoil over Israel’s right to its land will not cease till the end, for the land provision of the Abrahamic covenant is at the core of the hatred of Middle Eastern nations for Israel today. But ignoring God’s care and protection of Israel is extremely dangerous.

The Bible tells us that His choice of Israel had nothing to do with merit. It was not because Israel was more numerous than other people in the world; it was the least (Deut. 7:7). It was not because Israel was more sensitive to God than other nations; Israel did not know Him (Isa. 45:4). It was not because Israel was more righteous than other nations; God called them a rebellious, stiff-necked people (Deut. 9:6–7). Then why did God choose the Jews? The answer: because it was His sovereign purpose to do so.

Daniel was soon standing before Nebuchadnezzar, who asked him if he could reveal the meaning of his dream. Daniel explained that he could not, but he had connections with Someone who could: “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these” (vv. 27–28).

Dr. Hoyt is right; what do we have to worry about? Our trust has never been in governments, civilizations, or cultures. These institutions will be swept away by the winds of history. They are helpful while they are here, but they have never been worthy of our trust. We have always put our trust in the One who stands above institutions, above history, and even above time itself—the One by whose power and permission these things exist, and who knows their times and the ends of their days. Only He is worthy of our ultimate allegiance.

The most vital step we can take toward overcoming materialism in our lives is turning the way we think about money on its head. When we remember that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17), we realize that nothing good is really ours to start with. It’s God’s, and He bestows it on us as a gift to be used to glorify Him. When we start thinking of money as just one of the countless good gifts from our Father who loves us, we can rest in the knowledge that He knows what we need, He promises to provide, and His storehouses are unending. Think of it this way: you make a pie chart to see where your money’s going. In this paradigm, the amount you have to work with is fixed, and each expenditure in every category takes away from the whole until you’ve used up the entire circle. It’s a closed system. There’s nothing for you outside that circle. But God is infinite. He doesn’t work in pie charts. He works in rivers. Rivers of blessings. And He never runs out.

know that some of you are thinking, Do we really have to deal with all this? Why can’t we just focus on the grace of God and get away from all this sin stuff? But before we ignore sin and bask in the grace of God, we need to hear these words from theologian Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.: To speak of grace without sin is . . . to trivialize the cross of Jesus Christ, to skate past all the struggling by good people down the ages to forgive, accept, and rehabilitate sinners, including themselves, and therefore to cheapen the grace of God that always comes to us with blood on it. What had we thought the ripping and the writhing on Golgotha were all about? To speak of grace without looking squarely at these realities, without painfully honest acknowledgment of our own sin and its effects, is to shrink grace to a mere embellishment of the music of creation, to shrink it down to a mere grace note. In short, for the Christian church (even in its recently popular seeker services) to ignore, euphemize, or otherwise mute the lethal reality of sin is to cut the nerve of the gospel. For the sober truth is that without full disclosure on sin, the gospel of grace becomes impertinent, unnecessary, and finally uninteresting.18

Objective readers who have read both the Bible and the Qu’ran are immediately able to tell the difference between the quality and comprehensibility of the two books. Historian Edward Gibbon is an example of such a reader. Gibbon could hardly be accused of being a Christian, yet he described the Qu’ran as “an incoherent rhapsody of fable, and precept, and declamation, which sometimes crawls in the dust, and sometimes is lost in the clouds.”23

What’s more, as the end of the present age approaches, we can be sure that satanic activity will increase: “The Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1).

Although it feels like there’s plenty of blame to go around, who do you think is truly responsible for the increased division and polarization in our country today? In our world? And what about our churches, where petty arguments and bullheadedness often lead to division and splits, which are a terrible witness to those watching from the outside? The answer to each of these questions is Satan, the ultimate divider. Paul said to the Romans, “Watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive” (Rom. 16:17–18 ESV).

Here’s what this means for us today: truth is what fits us for the life of a Christian. Truth holds everything together and makes us ready. At the center of our lives, we place “the truth [that] is in Jesus” (4:21). Why is truth to be our primary concern? Because the weapons of Satan’s major attacks against believers are falsehood and deception. He is the great deceiver! This is how the Bible describes the Devil: “When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).

Of all the implements of warfare included in Paul’s description of the Roman soldier, this is the only piece that is given a plainly specified purpose. Paul tells us that the purpose of the shield of faith is to protect us from “all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

The helmet first became a metaphor for salvation in Isaiah 59:17, where it referred to the salvation Christ would bring to humanity. In Ephesians 6:17, Paul picked up this metaphor when he said to Christians, “And take the helmet of salvation.” In Ephesians, Paul was writing to believers—people who’d already received salvation. So the purpose of the spiritual helmet was not to impart salvation but to protect the believer’s assurance of it. This assurance gives believers courage to fight their spiritual battles against mankind’s great deceiver. This idea is reinforced in 1 Thessalonians 5:8, where Paul called the helmet “the hope of salvation.” Just as a physical helmet protects a soldier’s brain, the spiritual helmet protects your mind from the assaults of Satan’s lies, corrupt philosophies, and confusion of thought—the weapons he uses to undermine your commitment and conviction of security in Christ.

We check in at a Hilton Hotel or a Ramada Inn, expecting to spend the night in sleep before we wake up in the morning refreshed and raring to go. That is exactly the thought Paul expressed in words such as koimao and koimeterion. When Christians die, it’s as if they are slumbering peacefully in a place of rest, ready to be awakened at the return of the Lord. The words have great import, for they convey the Christian concept of death not as a tragic finality, but as a temporary sleep.

First, our new bodies will be indestructible. First Corinthians 15:42 says, “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.” Throughout the history of time as we know it, there has only been one body not subject to corruption—the body of the Lord Jesus. Psalm 16:10 says prophetically of Him, “You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” Jesus was buried, but on the third day He came out of the grave. His body incurred no corruption.

One day all the pains and aches and deficiencies of our earthly bodies will fall away, replaced by an indestructible and indescribable body modeled after that of Jesus. This is why I’m so passionate about trying to take people to heaven with me. I don’t want anyone to miss what God has planned for His children.

Perhaps that’s harder for a successful businessman to understand than anyone else because his own energy, drive, and vision have helped him achieve success. But when it comes to heaven, those rules are thrown out. Heaven is not something that you earn. It is a gift. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). The way to get to heaven is to humble yourself as a little child and acknowledge you cannot do enough good things to get to heaven; you can never make it to heaven on your own. You cannot buy a glorified supernatural body. The Lord wants to give it to you for free, by grace and through faith.

Almighty God is inviting you to the banquet, but you need to reserve your place. You must respond to His RSVP. If you’re reading these words and aren’t sure your reservation is secure, I urge you to pray about it right now. Confess your sins. Acknowledge Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Do it now. Turn your life over to His control and accept His free offer of the gift of eternal life. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

What does the fire represent for those who are building their lives? I believe it is the fire of Christ’s omniscient gaze (Rev. 1:14). That fire will burn up all work that has not been done for Him in a spirit of faithfulness, unity, and love for Christ, His church, and for others. “Fire” is a well-known biblical image of testing and refining (Prov. 27:21; Isa. 47:14; Zech. 13:9), and it is the same image Paul uses to describe the effects of Christ’s evaluation of our works at His judgment seat.

The Crown of Life is given in recognition of enduring and triumphing over temptations and trials, even to the point of martyrdom. Motivated by our love for Christ, we persevere and never quit until He takes us home. The New Testament Christians lived in days of intense persecution, and almost every New Testament book was written to believers who lived in danger of martyrdom. The apostles counseled them to persevere so they could inherit the Crown of Life. When we think of persecution, we often think of the Roman Empire and the brutal assaults on Christians by emperors like Nero who were determined to eradicate the church. But the most intense period of persecution in the history of the church is occurring around the world today. In 2017, the organization Open Doors, which monitors global persecution, released a report highlighting the top fifty nations where Christians face the most severe persecution. The bottom line: 100 percent of Christians in 21 countries around the world experience persecution for their faith in Christ, and more than 215 million Christians face “high levels” of persecution. “Nearly one in every 12 Christians today lives in an area or culture in which Christianity is illegal, forbidden or punished.”4

What happens when some element of Sunday’s worship service isn’t exactly to your preference? I want to tell you humbly and sincerely that if we focus more on the Object of our worship, we’ll be less agitated by the style of worship.

In a similar way, there are many people who don’t understand the judgment of God. Nor the righteous anger of God. Such people rightly believe that God is love, but they can’t comprehend how a loving God could punish people for their sin—how a loving God could be filled with both wrath and compassion at the same time.

These prophecies serve as warnings, alerting us to traumatic events coming in the future that we can either prepare for or avoid by following God’s directives and depending on His providence. Noah escaped the doom of the prophesied Flood by building the ark (Gen. 6:13–22). Pharaoh in Egypt avoided the disaster that the prophesied seven-year famine could have brought on his nation by appointing Joseph to accumulate massive stores of food during the preceding years of plenty (Gen. 41). The citizens of the pagan city of Nineveh avoided its prophesied destruction by heeding Jonah’s warning and repenting of their evil (Jonah 3).

I urge you today to take the step Joe took—take it while the Tribulation is still just an approaching shadow and not the dooming finality of God’s wrath. God’s grace is available to rescue you from that wrath, so there is no need to despair. But there is a sense of urgency to His offer. Act now, and you need have no concern about being caught in the Tribulation.

Religion has always been a powerful force in influencing humanity. Therefore, Satan will use religion as one of his most effective tools to bring the world under the control of the Antichrist. The False Prophet will be Satan’s agent in turning the world’s worship toward the Antichrist.

Many will see the power of the False Prophet as a sign of his authenticity. But biblical scholar Craig Keener warns against accepting miracles alone as validation of an authentic prophet of God: “Signs by themselves can be positive or negative; what enables us to discern true prophets from false ones is . . . to evaluate them by their moral character. The point is that we know them by their message and their fruit, not by their gifts (Deut. 13:1–5; Matt. 7:15–23).”4

The United States saw a brief, benign example of similar economic control during World War II. Many products were scarce due to the massive manufacturing resources funneled into the war effort. Government-issued cards or food stamps were required to purchase rationed goods such as sugar, tires, and other rare staples. That brief practice foreshadows in a mild way the conditions that will dominate the Tribulation period. Store customers will be required to present their hands or foreheads to be scanned before purchases are approved.

This massive conversion of Jews raises a question. If the Rapture removes all believers from the earth at the beginning of the Tribulation period, who will be available to teach Christ to these Jews? One answer is that God will send to the earth two witnesses who will proclaim Christ and confirm their message with spectacular miracles. God will then “seal” 144,000 of these Israelis to evangelize their people during the Tribulation (Rev. 7:4).

They will denounce the lie that man is innately good and improvable. They will warn of more terrible judgments to come if the people do not turn from their gross depravity.

None of these miracles will be performed out of anger or vindictiveness. Their primary purpose will be to shake people out of their delusion that all is well, convict them of their sinfulness, and awaken their need to repent. One effect of both the preaching and the miracles of the witnesses may be that the turmoil they arouse will delay the completion of the Antichrist’s quest for world dominion.

Yes, Satan has been judged, but the sentence has not yet been enforced. We see examples of delay between sentence and execution in our nation’s courts. In most capital cases, execution is carried out years after sentencing. Satan has been defeated and judged, but God has chosen to delay execution until the time is right. The still-free Satan continues to inflict heinous evil on us, but we believers need not despair. We can engage the battle and enforce Christ’s victory over Satan through prayer. Daniel is our example. His three-week prayer was instrumental in defeating the satanic prince of Persia. Victories on earth and in heaven are dependent on each other, just as in World War II the ground troops invading Normandy were dependent on air power to soften their invasion sites. As we combat evil on earth, our angelic fellow warriors battle evil in the invisible spiritual dimension. Churches and godly homes are battle stations from which prayers emanate in a vast communication network that connects both fronts. As prayer warriors, we often turn the tide of human events. Someone has said, “It’s not the mayors that make the world go ’round; it’s the prayers.”

Even when these men are writhing and screaming with the excruciating pain God inflicts upon them, they will continue to curse Him to His face. They will be so far gone, so given over to evil, that in their prideful defiance they will refuse to repent, even in the grip of fatal judgment.

Ian preached about the “not quite empty tomb,” observing that Christ’s empty grave clothes still bore His shape, but the napkin, which had been wrapped around His head, was placed away from the other grave clothes, folded. To Ian’s congregation, that minor detail held great meaning and promise. In Albania, when a person finishes a meal and prepares to leave the table, he crumples up his napkin to indicate that he is finished. But if he leaves his napkin folded, it is a sign that he plans to come back.

But here is the main thing. All this is simply the prelude to heaven. This is the overture of eternity. Whenever you go to an elaborate musical, the orchestra begins with an overture that has little strains and snippets of all the different songs in the program. Listening to the music gives you inklings of what is to come. The Millennium is an overture of heaven. It gives a limited, advanced snapshot of what heaven will be like. The millennial earth will simply be a precursor of the new earth—not as perfect, wonderful, or spectacular as the eternal earth, but a preview of some of its coming features.

In an age which asserts that everyone has a right to live by his own choices without consequence, the doctrine of hell is highly unpopular and often rejected, even among many Christians.

The actual Greek word chosen by Peter in this text conveys the idea of being uncovered or laid open for exposure. It isn’t a matter of utter destruction but of stripping everything away and getting back down to the original elements. The great universal conflagration that Peter describes will be a purification of the cosmos, a burning away of everything associated with sin, death, the curse, and the temporal. Peter didn’t use a word that meant annihilation but one having to do with renovation.

Now, think about this parallel. Was the world of Noah’s day destroyed? Well, it was cleansed. It was purified by the waters of the Flood. The judgment of God fell over the earth, and the very topography of the globe changed dramatically as the waters fell, rose, and dissipated. But the essential elements making up the earth were not annihilated. God did not obliterate the earth’s core and erase all of creation from existence, returning everything to emptiness. He renovated it.

The body that rose again was the same that had died on the cross; but in that wondrous flash of resurrection power, it was glorified, transformed, and fitted for eternity. The same is true with our own bodies. Our bodies may decay to dust, but God knows where every molecule has landed; and somehow in His omnipotent energy, the physical bodies we have now will be resurrected and instantly glorified and equipped for eternal life. Yes, we will have new bodies—not new in terms of time but in terms of quality or in their essence.

The chief characteristic of this city is its holiness. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary says, “A holy city will be one in which no lie will be uttered in one hundred million years, no evil word will ever be spoken, no shady business deal will ever even be discussed, no unclean picture will ever be seen, no corruption of life will ever be manifest. It will be holy because everyone in it will be holy.”4

In a similar way, by reading this book and gaining a deeper understanding of God’s Word, you may have become aware that you are heading in the wrong direction along the road of life. You have missed the exits and opportunities God has called you to take through the gentle prompting of His Holy Spirit, and you are cruising along your own path—a path that ultimately leads to destruction.