Introduction: Setting the Stage

We are living in extremely exciting days. It's as if we were backstage at a play feeling the drama and excitement just before the curtain rises for the final act. The director is positioning all the players and seeing that the props are in order before he signals for the curtain to rise. This analogy is apt, for before our very eyes God is positioning nations and current events. The world is ready for the curtain to be lifted for the final act.

God is orchestrating the final events prior to the return of Jesus Christ. Have you ever stood dominoes on end in a long row? When you tip the first domino the whole line goes down in sequence. God is aligning world situations much as we would line up dominoes. He is getting ready to tip the first event which will trigger a series of events ultimately climaxing in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in power and great glory

Before we begin to look at world events in light of Bible prophecy, let me emphasize one point. I have no intention of telling you the day that the Lord is coming for His Church. I don't know that day. Nobody knows the day or hour (Matthew 24:36), but the Bible does say, "Of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night ... but ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief" (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2,4).

God wants and expects us to be thoroughly aware of the times in which we live. To this end, he gave us many signs to help us recognize the time of His promised return.