According to our study of biblical prophecies and the world situation, we truly feel that today we are in the last age. God will speed up His move in this last age. The nation of Israel has been restored, which is a fulfillment of a great prophecy in the Bible. Israel was taken captive in 606 B.C., yet after twenty-five centuries it stands again as a nation. Israel lost the land and was carried away to the nations. The Jews lost their nationality and were naturalized in different countries, becoming immigrants in the nations. It is incredible that for such a group of people their nation could be restored after twenty-five centuries.
In 1948 in Shanghai, my heart leapt when I saw the headline on the newspaper: “The Nation of Israel Restored.” I had studied this prophecy since 1925, and after twenty-three years I witnessed the fulfillment of this great prophecy in the Bible—the restoration of the nation of Israel. What a miraculous event! Jerusalem, the capital of the Jews, was trampled by the Gentiles, but the Bible says clearly that in the last days Jerusalem would be returned to Israel. In 606 B.C. King Nebuchadnezzar trampled Jerusalem and desecrated its temple. Eventually he brought the vessels of gold and silver, which were used in the worship of God, and put them in the temple of his gods. Babylon is the present Iraq, and Iran is Persia in the Bible; the present war between Iran and Iraq is a war between Persia and Babylon.
In June of 1967, nineteen years after the restoration of the nation of Israel, one day, which was the last day of the Six-Day War, Jerusalem was returned to Israel; it was retaken by the Israelis. Prior to that time Jerusalem was in Jordan’s possession. I can never forget that day. I was in the hospital for a surgery, lying on my hospital bed, but when I saw the news of Jerusalem being returned to Israel, I almost jumped out of bed. I truly wanted to sing hallelujah! Nineteen years before, in Shanghai I saw the headline “The Nation of Israel Restored” in the newspaper; nineteen years later, in a hospital bed in America, I heard the news that Jerusalem was returned. From that day on, surrounding the small nation of Israel there have been more than twenty Arab, Islamic nations whose armies exceed the total population of Israel. These nations have been watching Israel like a tiger eyeing its prey. However, they have had no way to defeat Israel. Who is doing this?
We know that the sign of the Lord’s second coming is the consummation of this age. Matthew 21:19 and 20 says that the Lord Jesus became hungry, and seeing a fig tree on the way but not finding any fruit on it, He cursed the tree so that it would no longer bear fruit, and it instantly dried up. The fig tree is a symbol of the nation of Israel. When the Lord came to the children of Israel, He could not find any fruit among them; consequently, they came under His curse. Therefore, after the Lord ascended, the nation of Israel began to suffer many hardships.
According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the Roman armies under the Roman prince Titus in A.D. 70. The Lord prophesied in Matthew 24 that the temple would by no means be left a stone upon a stone which would not be thrown down (v. 2). From that day, the Jews have not been having an easy time in the world. They lost their citizenship, wandering on the earth and being persecuted by others. The greatest atrocity occurred during the Second World War when Hitler gathered millions of Jews from within countries under German occupation and executed them in gas chambers. This caused the Jews all over the world to be united. Since they realized that even if they became German citizens, Germany would not protect them, they knew they must be united. These things are laid out before our eyes, which cause us to realize that today we are in the end times. In Matthew 24 the Lord says that when you see the branch of the fig tree becoming tender and putting forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near (v. 32). The summer is the day of the Lord’s coming, and the branch’s becoming tender and putting forth its leaves is the restoration of the nation of Israel, which will be the time of the Lord’s second coming.
In such a time the Lord must take the quick way. He must quickly gain a group of people whom He has not gained before to be His overcomers on this earth and His bride to welcome His return. These days, in a formal wedding the bridegroom always arrives first, and the bride enters a few minutes later. It is considered inappropriate for the bride to arrive earlier than the bridegroom. In the wedding in the New Testament, however, instead of the Bridegroom waiting for the bride, the bride is waiting for the Bridegroom. In the parable in Matthew 25 it is the ten virgins who take their lamps to go forth to meet the bridegroom (v. 1), but who is going forth to meet the Bridegroom today? We have yet to meet a group of Christians who are going out of the world to meet Christ, the Bridegroom. Instead, most Christians are in the world. Today the Lord wants to gain a group of people who take their lamps and go forth to meet Him, the Bridegroom. May we be that group of people.
Today even the pastors and preachers may not realize that we need to become the group of people whom the Lord desires. If you go and ask a pastor, “Is there a statement in the Bible concerning virgins going forth to meet the bridegroom?” He may answer, “Is there such a statement? I just know that we have to love our parents, we have to love others as ourselves, the husbands have to love their wives, the wives have to submit to their husbands, and we have to be humble and patient.” This is the condition of Christianity today. Therefore, regardless of what we are busy with in our daily living, we should not forget that the most important thing is to properly adorn ourselves and be prepared to go forth to meet our Bridegroom. We need to be the group of people who is preparing to meet our Bridegroom. We all need to go forth, to go out from this world, to meet our Bridegroom.
How do we prepare to meet our Bridegroom? Matthew 24 says, “But learn the parable from the fig tree: As soon as its branch has become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near” (v. 32). In the same chapter it also says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (v. 14). On the one hand, the end, the summer, is near, which is this age; but on the other hand, the gospel has yet to be preached in the whole inhabited earth. Some Christian fanatics have said, “The Lord Jesus is coming tomorrow.” According to both sides of the prophecy in the Bible, that is still not possible. Back in 1936, I was working in Tientsin. At that time there was a brother named Panton in England who was gifted in interpreting prophecies. Many who pursued the Lord read his biblical interpretations and prophecies. However, Panton made a big mistake. He displayed two pictures. One picture was that of Nero, whom Panton claimed would become Antichrist; this was also the Caesar Nero who killed Paul. The other picture was that of the Italian prime minister Mussolini, whom Panton speculated to be the coming Antichrist. I very much admire Mr. Panton’s biblical interpretations, but for some reason he made this big mistake. At that time the Antichrist could not have appeared, because spiritually the preparation of the gospel was still inadequate.
Fifty-one years afterward, which is half a century later, the gospel still has not been preached in the whole inhabited earth. The gospel has not been fully spread even in the little island of Taiwan. Whose responsibility is this? Do you believe the gospel can be fully spread in Taiwan by those who are in Christianity? Can we do it according to our old way? We practiced the old way for over thirty years. In the first ten years we were quite successful, but in the last twenty years we have been a complete failure. Therefore, we have initiated a change, changing back to the biblical way. The preaching of the gospel to the whole inhabited earth began from Jerusalem. To us, Taiwan is our “Jerusalem,” so we need to preach the gospel here in Taiwan.
Based on my observation, I have a deep feeling. Since the dawn of history there has never been a mission, an evangelical group, a Christian organization, or a great evangelist that did not want the door of the gospel to be opened to them; yet none of them has had their desire fulfilled. William Carey went to India, David Livingstone went to Africa, and Hudson Taylor went to inland China, but the gospel was not spread to the whole earth through them. However, today the whole world is opened to the Lord’s recovery. This is not an exaggeration. If we have one thousand brothers and sisters, each one can immediately be sent out, because Western Europe is opened, New Zealand is opened, Australia is opened, and even Eastern Europe, Africa, South America, and Central America are all opened up. Every letter sent to us from the major continents all over the globe has fellowshipped with us regarding the need for people to go. But where are the people? We do not have enough people even to meet the need of Taiwan, or even just Taipei, not to mention the whole earth. Where are the people?