Pat Robertson: 2007?

Dear friends:

Last week Pat Robertson was interviewed on a major television network program, FOX, as I recall. They were seeking his opinion on the Middle East situation.

Typically, the interviewer got around to asking if Pat thought we were in the end times. He carefully measured his words but did give some signs that indicated that we may, indeed, be at such a time.

That only whetted the interviewer’s appetite, so he pressed him further for a "date." Again, Pat measured his words very carefully but he did finally throw out a possible year -- 2007.

I have followed Pat’s pronouncements for many years and I know he has tossed out that date before, in one of his books and elsewhere. I know that it is strong in his heart. It comes mainly from the idea that a biblical generation is 40 years, combined with the prophetic significance of the Jews capturing Jerusalem in 1967; thus 1967 + 40 = 2007. The number 40 also represents testing, as in the wilderness, and at the end the Promised Land is entered.

Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened" (Matthew 2434).

What generation? The two immediately preceding verses explain "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door."

National Israel is the biblical fig tree (spiritual Israel the tree olive tree of Romans 11). In 1967, the fig tree’s leaves came out (or "putteth forth leaves," KJV), when Israel captured and acquired Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

There is a problem in that the definition of a biblical generation is controversial, but 40 is as good as anyone’s guess, and maybe better. Also, Jesus said that this generation will "not pass away," meaning that the time span may be LESS than a generation.

But assuming that the 1967, 40 and 2007 numbers are valid, it is interesting that this is compatible with the idea of some that the comparable "seven good years" of Joseph began in 1993 with the Oslo Accords, ending in 2000, with the beginning of the final "seven bad years," which will end in 2007.

It is true that an unprecedented period of prosperity began in about 1993 and may have begun to end in about 2000.

It is also true that special trouble began in 2000 with the Palestinian intifida. The Oslo Accord between Israel and the PLO was signed on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993. However, I understand it was not officially ratified until three days later in Israel on TISHRI 1, 5754 on the Jewish calendar. Many consider the Oslo agreement the "covenant with death" of Isaiah 2818.

Although the trouble began a few days earlier, it is noteworthy that in the year 2000, EXACTLY seven years after Oslo was ratified, to the very day, Saturday, September 30, 2000 (Tishri 1, 5761) CNN headlines blared "THE BATTLE FOR JERUSALEM HAS BEGUN." How prophetic! Maybe the Lord is using secular news to keep us posted as to where we are on His prophetic clock!

An article from a major newspaper on Sunday, October 1, 2000 (Tishri 2) said, "Proclaiming the start of a RELIGIOUS WAR, thousands of Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza on SATURDAY..." (emphasis supplied. Saturday was TISHRI 1.)

To the very day -- a religious war and the battle of Jerusalem proclaimed -- exactly seven years from Oslo! And we know what has happened since September 30, 2000. Since then, Iraq has moved forward developing weapons of mass destruction, Al Qaeda has raised its serpentine head, the World Trade Centers are ashes, the West is living in fear and suspicion, and experts say the use of a weapon of mass destruction here in America is not a matter of "if" but "when."

But back to Pat. He is an ardent post-tribber. His views formerly influenced mine until I began relying more on the Bible than Pat and studying it for myself. He does not see a rapture. He often hints but will not come right out and say that he sees the Second Coming in 2007.

If (and I say IF) the Second Coming will be in 2007 for the above reasons, and if the rapture is also true, we can conclude

1. We are in the final seven years.

2. The rapture could be any day.

Another interesting thing about 1993, besides Oslo, is that was the year the Lord began to shout in my spirit that His coming was very, very near. Others have testified similarly. I first began to sense that we were in the end times back in 1971 just after I was filled with the Spirit for the first time, but it was not until 1993 until Christ’s return seemed to be especially close. That is also the very year when I first discovered real angel encounters with their announcement of Christ’s return "very, very soon," and the very same year Vincent Tan had two such encounters. I do not believe all that was by accident. (Those angel encounters are documented in detail at http//www.oocities.org/bramlett2000/angels.html.)

Jim