What is the End of the Age? The end of a 6000-year biblical timeline before Messiah literally comes to the earth and establishes his kingdom and his 1000-year rule from Jerusalem. (Revelation 20:6)

There are 3 sections to the illustration above: 1) The "Birth Pains", 2) The 7 Years of the "End Times", and 3) The "Coming of the Messiah."  Below is the data that explains them.

The “Birth Pains”

Zionism and the Return of the Jewish People After the Great Diaspora – (First, know that ever since the biblical Exodus in the 15th century BCE and Joshua led Israel into the promised land, historical records show that Jewish people have continually lived in the land up to 1948 and the present day)

The Jewish Hasmonean Dynasty (descendants of the Maccabee family who defeated the Greek King Antiochus IV following his "abomination of desolation" [the Hanukkah story] ) ruled Israel as an independent nation after the fall of the Seleucid kingdom in 129 BCE until 63 BCE when Israel came under Roman rule.[1]

The Jews revolted against Roman rule in 66 CE, and in 70 CE the Roman army sieged Jerusalem destroying the city and the Temple, killing or enslaving the population, and forced the remaining Jews into exile.

The Great Diaspora in the illustration above refers to the time of this Jewish exile in the 1st century CE until the time when the Jewish people began waves of migration back to their land in the late 19th century and early/mid 20th century CE. They were exiled from their land for over 1800 years. Something like this has never happened to any other people group in the history of humanity.

The Great Diaspora and the Jewish people’s return to Israel is prophesied clearly three times in the Old Testament.

1. One is in the Torah in Deuteronomy 30:1-6 where Moses predicts the nation will not follow God's commandments, they will then suffer the curses of their disobedience (war and exile), and eventually God will bring them back into their land from their exile. This prophecy was written 3500 years ago.

Very important! As you read the passage above note that after Moses prophesies the diaspora and Israel’s return, in verse 6 he immediately connects those events to another event saying, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart...” What is that?! 

It’s language of the New Covenant - the same, precise terminology God uses elsewhere in the Bible to describe the New Covenant in Yeshua. With the return of the Messiah, God will pour out his Spirit into the entire nation of Israel on Yom Kippur at the conclusion of end times events and bring the nation into the New Covenant in the Messiah. Thus we can say that Israel’s return after the Great Diaspora is connected in a relatively short time frame to the coming of the Messiah at the end of the age. Let’s continue to other verses which confirm this.

2. The second is in Jeremiah chapters 30 – 31. Here we see the Lord declaring he will bring back his people from captivity (exile) to possess their land again. God also speaks of the “time of Jacob’s trouble.” This is understood in Christianity and Judaism alike as a reference to the end times. 

As is the nature with prophetic scripture sometimes, these two chapters flow back and forth, often seamlessly, as they describe two similar events: 1) the Jewish people returning after the Great Diaspora and being established in their land in 1948, and 2) the Jewish people being liberated from captivity by the Antichrist's armies and returning to Israel after the return of the Messiah at the conclusion of the end times. This prophecy was written 2600 years ago.

3. The third instance in Scripture connecting Israel’s return after the Great Diaspora to the end times and coming of Messiah is found in Isaiah chapters 60 – 66. Isaiah's prophecy is noteworthy because he specifically predicts the rebirth of the modern-day nation of Israel that occurred May 14, 1948. 

These six chapters flow as Jeremiah's prophecy does with the verses weaving back and forth in their description of end times events, the Messiah’s return, and the restoration of Israel that will follow. 

But in Isaiah 66:7-8, after prophesying continuously, Isaiah sees a vision he doesn’t understand: “Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. 8 Who has ever heard of such  a thing? Who has ever seen such a thing? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.”

Now let me insert the explanation of the parts of his prophecy (parenthetical explanations mine): “Before she (Israel) goes into labor (the end times), she gives birth (the 1948 rebirth of the nation of Israel); before the pains (end times) come upon her (Israel), she (Israel) delivers a son (the newborn nation of Israel in 1948). 8 Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such a thing? Can a country be born in a day (May 14, 1948) or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor (end times) than she (Israel) gives birth to her children (the new nation in 1948).”

And again we see, like Jeremiah’s prophecy, but here with more clarity, Isaiah connecting the Jewish people’s return to their land with the 1948 rebirth of Israel to the end times and the coming of the Messiah. This prophecy was written 2700 hundred years ago.

In conclusion of this section, bear in mind that the Bible gives no clear beginning or ending for the time of the "Birth Pains." (I use this language because it's how the Bible describes this time) Likewise, a woman experiences labor before she gives birth, but there's no clear indication of exactly when they will start or end. You just have an idea of about when they will start; and you can't say when they will end but you know the ending concludes with a birth.

In a similar manner, this is how the Bible describes the end of the age. The "birth," like a woman giving birth, is the painful travail which the world, Israel, and the Church will go through as the supernatural kingdom of God is literally given birth in our natural world. 

“The End Times”

Daniel 9:24-27 is a lengthy study. I’ll spare you the details. But the angel Gabriel gives cryptic explanations of several events to Daniel which, when compared to historical events, reveal specific time frames related to the end times and the return of the Messiah. From that we can determine that there is a defined period of 7 years the Bible gives us as a time frame of the end times.

Verse 27 appears to show a significant covenant which is commonly understood to be a 7-year covenant of peace between the Antichrist and Israel. As the verse continues, he breaks the covenant and sets up his “abomination of desolation” (AOD) in the Jewish Temple. We may be correct in our understanding here, but we do not know when this covenant will come into reality.

Daniel recorded this prophecy in the 5th century BCE - three hundred years before it was initially fulfilled by Antiochus IV in 168 BCE (the Hanukkah story). 

Jesus told us in Matthew 24:15-21 it would be fulfilled again, which will be the end times final-fulfillment of the prophecy. This is what the Hanukkah story is foreshadowing. As we saw in Day 4 of this series, the end times occurrence of the AOD is attested to by many other verses throughout the Bible.

“Coming of the Messiah”

At the conclusion of end times events, the Messiah will come and set up his kingdom in Jerusalem and rule the earth for 1000 years, along with his people (Jews and Christians) who will also rule over the nations.

The topic of the end times, the coming of the Messiah, and the restoration of Israel has more references and chapters of the Bible explaining it than any other topic in the Bible.    Let that sink in.