CONCURRENCE

“CONVERGENT CONCURRENCE” “

Tending to move toward one point or to approach each other; The simultaneous occurrence of events or circumstances”

It is a thin line Bible teachers walk when they associate current events with Bible prophecy, especially in regard to the End of Days.

Repeatedly and prematurely linking current events and prophecy can dull the senses of those waiting and watching for these events to unfold. They tend to become complacent.

Jesus warns, “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you must be ready as well; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”Matthew 24:43-44. (Also see these warnings: Matthew 24:42 – Matthew 25:46)

There is a convergent concurrence of events and prophecies as never before. Alarming events have, from time to time, caused people to wonder if the End of Days as spoken of in the Bible had arrived. But, never, have events coincided with prophetic fulfillment as we now see.

When people read the Bible about eschatology, that is the matters about the End Times and the Tribulation period (the books of Matthew chapter 24 and the book of The Revelation), most tend to read it as one would read a ‘story’ or a novel. Most assume it is written in chronological order, a sequence of events, one event beginning as the previous event is ending. THIS IS NOT CORRECT.

For example, when a Tribulation Seal is broken, an event or a series of events occur and will last for certain periods of time. Most events will continue until the “Consummation of the Age”. It is ONLY when you see the convergence of events of the first Five Tribulation Seals, that is when they are concurrent, will you know with certainty that we are at the precipice of the breaking of the Sixth Tribulation Seal which marks the beginning of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, also known as the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord. It is at this time we will see what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:29 when He said, “But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Verse 30. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. Verse 31. And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET BLAST, and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect, (see footnote [x]), from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

It will be at this time that “The four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, holding the seal of the living God; and he called out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”

The 144,000

“And I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. (Revelation 7:4)

The Multitude from the Tribulation

Revelation 7:9, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; Verse 10. and they *cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Verse 11. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, Verse 12. saying, “Amen, blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might belong to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Secondly, the book of Revelation is not written in chronological order. Description of events and timelines are repeated in various chapters and are not in a linear order. For example, Revelation chapters six and seven tell us about the breaking of the Sixth Tribulation Seal, cosmic disturbances, great earthquakes, the Rapture and the Sealing of the 144,000 thousand from the Tribes of Israel. THEN, in Revelation chapters 12, 13 and 14 we read the details and outcomes of these events.

In other words, once a Tribulation event from the first Five Seals begins, it may continue for days, weeks, months, years or decades. Then, as a second or third event occurs, events may overlap and occur simultaneously.

Revelation 1:8, says, “I Am The Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come”. This mean that ACCORDING TO BIBLICAL ESCHATOLOGY, WHAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED; AND IS NOW HAPPENING; AND IS YET TO (will continue to) HAPPEN.

It is only when the Sixth Seal is broken and the Seventieth Week of Daniel begins, do we know that the final Seven Years of Tribulation has begun.

(PS: Here is what I consider a good example by pastor Martin Sondermann of Golgotha Fellowship, Nampa, Idaho, teaching eschatology when using current events: