Sorry for the long post; but I have studied a lot of end times..
In 1948 Israel became a nation. Is this the fulfillment of
Matthew 24:32, which speaks of the fig tree blossoming. When Israel became a nation -- May 14, 1948?? That's when the fig tree blossomed! How do I know that Israel is the fig tree? The law of first mention. When anything is mentioned the first time in Scripture, it becomes that through out God's Word. For instance,
Joel 1:7 tells us that when the enemy armies were invading Israel, He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree [Israel). Then, of course,
Hosea 9:10 says,
I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree. Here, again, God is speaking to Jews. Thus, the fig tree is Israel.
Israel will be born in one day. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him (
Zechariah 12:9,10).
Zechariah 13:1 says, In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. That day was May 14th 1948.
A highway has just been built from the Far East to the Middle East.
The oriental armies are going to march across that highway on their trek down to the Middle East (see
Revelation 16:12; Daniel 11:44).
Also notice the ten toes (
Daniel 2) and ten horns of the beast (
Daniel 7) represent the ten nations that will unite together at the endtime to form the revived Roman Empire. These ten nations must be nations that were part of the original Roman Empire.
It all started with Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg (1948); then Italy, France, West Germany (1957); next, England, Ireland, and Denmark (1973). And finally, Greece (1981) was added to make ten nations. But the problem is that Denmark and Ireland do not belong, because they were not a part of the original Roman Empire. So there must be others coming in. That's why we presently see it as twelve nations, counting Portugal and Spain, because two are going out.
We could get into all the ramifications, but the point is, when there are exactly ten nations that were all part of the original Roman Empire, that is when Christ will return. When there are ten -- the final ten, after all the changes have been made -- then shall the God of heaven set up His kingdom. It shall never be destroyed. That's when He comes as KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (
Revelation 19:16).