1,900 years of impossible
In 70 AD, Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple. The Jewish people were scattered across the world.
For the next 1,900 years, several prophecies about the end of the age simply could not come true. There was no nation of Israel. Jerusalem was ruled by others. No weapon on earth could wipe out all life.
Then, in the space of 22 years, all of that changed.
In 1945, weapons that could end all life
Jesus, describing the end:
"And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened."
Matthew 24:22
No flesh saved. For most of history, no army could come close. Swords and cannons kill thousands, not everyone.
On 6 August 1945, an atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima. The nuclear age had begun. Within a generation, the world's arsenals held enough to destroy all life on earth.
In 1948, a nation born in a day
Ezekiel saw a valley full of dry bones, and God told him what they were:
"Son of man: All these bones are the house of Israel: they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are cut off."
Ezechiel 37:11
Then the promise:
"Behold, I will take of the children of Israel from the midst of the nations whither they are gone: and I will gather them on every side, and will bring them to their own land."
Ezechiel 37:21
And Isaiah asked a question no one had ever seen answered:
"Who hath ever heard such a thing? and who hath seen the like to this? shall the earth bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be brought forth at once, because Sion hath been in labour, and hath brought forth her children?"
Isaias 66:8
On 14 May 1948, Israel declared independence. A nation that had been gone for 1,900 years came back in a single day, in its own land, speaking its own ancient language.
In 1967, Jerusalem returned
Jesus said what would happen to Jerusalem, and for how long:
"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captives into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles till the times of the nations be fulfilled."
Luke 21:24
The sword, and captivity among all nations: that was 70 AD. Then Jerusalem passed from ruler to ruler. Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, the British, then Jordan.
"Till." There was an end date. On 7 June 1967, during the Six Day War, Jerusalem's Old City came under Jewish control for the first time in 1,900 years.
Still waiting for the Temple
One condition is still open. Paul says that before the end, the man of sin will appear:
"Who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God."
2 Thessalonians 2:4
He sits in the temple of God. That needs a Temple. As of 2026, there is none. The Dome of the Rock stands on the Temple Mount, where the Temple once stood.
Why this is a big deal
For nineteen centuries, these prophecies could not be fulfilled. Then three of them were, inside a single lifetime: 1945, 1948, 1967.
Jesus told his followers to watch for the signs. These are the signs, and they have been coming true in front of our eyes.