Table of Contents (show/hide)
What is Satan’s Little Season Theory?
Why did YASHUA say they would not taste death?
The Generation that Shall Not Pass Away
“You will not have gone through all the towns of Israel”
HE said HE is coming back “soon”
Paul’s Warning, the Parable of 10 Virgins, and Millennium
In Revelation, it says YASHUA will return and rule with His resurrected saints on earth for 1,000 years. During this time, Satan will be bound, but he will be released after the 1,000 years to deceive the nations for a “little season” (Revelation 20).
There’s a theory going around that we are living in “Satan’s Little Season” (“SLS”) right now. Proponents of this theory say YASHUA already came back around 70 AD and reigned for 1,000 years, and that evidence of His Millennial reign has been suppressed by the elites in a great conspiracy.
SLS proponents point to Scriptures like YASHUA saying “this generation shall not pass away” and say these words are proof that HE planned to return during the lifetime of the apostles.
SLS theory is 100% untrue – we are not in Satan’s Little Season, YASHUA has not yet returned, and Millennium hasn’t happened yet. But the focus of this article is not to convince SLS proponents to change their mind. What I’d like to do here is address the Scriptures they use to “prove” their point since many believers throughout the centuries have had questions on why YASHUA said certain things about His return.
Why did YASHUA tell His followers they would not “taste death”?
Matthew 16:28 records our LORD as saying:
“Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the SON OF MAN coming in His kingdom.”
Similar statements are found in Mark 9:1 and Luke 9:27.
On the surface, it sounds like YASHUA was telling His disciples they would see Him coming in their lifetime. However, the context is in the verses just before YASHUA talks about not tasting death. If you read just a few verses earlier, you’ll see HE was talking about the two types of life – the physical life we live in the body and the spiritual life in which HE gives us a chance to live forever and never die. That is, if you follow Him, you will never taste death. It was this exact teaching that caused many people to hate Him.
John records:
“The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste death.’” (John 8:52)
The fact that those who believe in Him will never die is found all over the New Testament. A few examples:
YASHUA said “Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (John 11:25)
“Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” (John 6:51)
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
With all of that in mind, here are His words about never tasting death, from Matthew 16:
“If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For THE SON OF MAN is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then HE will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see THE SON OF MAN coming in His kingdom.”
The word translated as “until” in that last line doesn’t mean that once His disciples see Him coming, they’ll then have to taste death. “Until” is the same word used for “up to.” So for those in YASHUA’s day who believed, HE was telling them they would never die, even up to the day of His coming. HE is, as HE told us, the GOD of the living, not the GOD of the dead (Matthew 22:32).
The generation that shall not pass away
As recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, YASHUA gave us a list of signs of the end of the age, and in that list, HE included events that began in the days of the apostles (persecution in the synagogues, etc.), events that have occurred over the past 2,000 years (wars, famines, earthquakes, etc.), and events that are still yet to come at the end of days (for example, the abomination of desolation).
Then HE said, speaking to the people in front of Him, “this generation shall not pass away until all these things are fulfilled.”
Many wonder which generation HE was talking about – was it Peter and John’s generation or a future generation who would live to see the end of the age?
The answer is HE was talking about the generation of children HE came to establish as sons and daughters of THE MOST HIGH. You, me, Peter, John and James are all brothers and sisters in CHRIST who share the same Father, so we are from the same generation. YASHUA’s words to our generation span 2,000 years because the generation of Father’s children is nearly 2,000 years old.
“Beloved, we are GOD’s children now.” (1 John 3:2)
“A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to THE LORD for a generation.” (Psalm 22:30)
Why did YASHUA say “you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before THE SON OF MAN comes”?
As recorded in Matthew 10:23, YASHUA said:
“When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before THE SON OF MAN comes.”
Since the Roman provinces of Judea in YASHUA’s time were rather small, some people use this verse to say HE predicted His own return within a few years, since it would only take the apostles a short time to go through all the towns.
However, in the verse just before Matthew 10:23, HE said “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Elsewhere YASHUA and the apostles identify the end for us as being the final 3.5 years of the age.
Matthew records:
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world… and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand)…”
Mark records:
“he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand)…”
The abomination of desolation is the end – let the reader understand. And as Daniel wrote, from the time the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination set up, there are only 1290 days left.
Looking at Matthew 10:23 in context, we see that YASHUA is telling His disciples, starting with the apostles, and continuing with us today, that we will never run out of people to preach to, so we must endure to the end – keep going on the mission to preach the good news to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Even up to the time HE returns, we still will have not gone through all the towns of Israel because Israel is not just in Judea – they are to this day scattered throughout all the nations of the world.
Why did YASHUA say HE would come back “quickly”?
There are several verses in the Bible that quote YASHUA as saying HE is coming quickly and soon.
But even before YASHUA’s ministry on earth, the Day of THE LORD was described as being near and coming quickly.
Zephaniah 1:14 quotes YHVH as saying: “The great day of THE LORD is near, near and hastening fast.”
The Hebrew word for near is the same as the one used for next door neighbor, so it literally means near.
Isaiah 13:6 says “Wail, for the day of THE LORD is near.”
Isaiah 56:1 quotes YHVH as saying “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon My salvation will come, and My righteousness be revealed.”
His Salvation that was to come and His righteousness that was to be revealed is YASHUA, yet when Isaiah wrote “soon,” it was hundreds of years before YASHUA came to minister on earth.
All of these Scriptures set the precedent for YASHUA saying HE is coming soon and we can see by these verses that this is just the way Father’s Holy Spirit talks. If you have questions on why HE talks this way, you’re in good company. Just as people today question the New Testament mentions of soon, the people in Peter’s day questioned the Old Testament mentions of soon. Addressing this, Peter wrote:
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that ‘with THE LORD one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.’ THE LORD is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of THE LORD will come like a thief…” (2 Peter 3:8-10)
Interestingly, people who adhere to SLS theory say that YASHUA’s use of the word soon has to be interpreted as within a few years or decades, yet they don’t apply the same logic to the use of the words little season in Revelation. Little season in Greek is mikron chronon. Mikron is from the same root word as our English word “micro.” This same word is used to mean minutes or hours in Matthew 26:73, and less than one day in John 14:19. Yet SLS proponents say Satan’s micro season has been ongoing for the past 250 years!
An old theory Paul warned about
People saying the resurrection has already come was a problem even back in Paul’s day. Such teachings he said, were spreading like gangrene. We see the same thing today with SLS and other theories that claim everything in the Bible has already been fulfilled.
Here’s Paul’s counsel to Timothy on the subject:
“Avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But GOD’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “THE LORD knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the Name of THE LORD depart from iniquity.” 2 Timothy 2:16-19
For those who have had your faith upset as Paul says by some of these teachings, here are a few more words to ease your mind.
YASHUA’s Parable of the 10 Virgins lets us know that the Bridegroom (YASHUA) would tarry and that even His servants who had oil in their lamps (The Holy Spirit) would fall asleep (pass away in the flesh). Yet HE told us through this parable, don’t worry, you’ll still get into the Wedding.
Also, those who say Millennium happened already often point to grandiose architecture as proof that earth once had a golden age under the rule of MESSIAH, but the reign of CHRIST that we’re waiting for is about much more than just good architecture. Father promised we would inherit the earth and that this inheritance will last forever – it won’t come and go and eventually be hidden from history.
“But the meek will inherit the land and delight in abundant prosperity.” (Psalm 37:11)
“THE LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their inheritance will last forever.” (Psalm 37:18)
Besides the inheritance, HE also promised us, among other things, righteous judgment throughout the land under His rule, a reversal of the curses of Eden as HE blesses the work of our hands, the regathering of the 12 tribes of Israel to the Land, and the Apostles raised up as judges over the tribes.
All of these things are yet to come, and when they come, they will not be taken away from Father’s children, not even for a mikron.
Shalom to all of Father’s children and shalom unto Jerusalem.
More info:
Article: We Are the Generation Who Shall Not Pass Away
Video: How the 70 Generations Prophecy in Enoch aligns with Luke’s Genealogy of MESSIAH
Video: Israel’s Future Regathering
