How Soon Will The End Time Qiyamah Begin?

So 65 conflicts involving at least one state were recorded worldwide last year, a new high since 1946. Last year was the third deadliest since the end of the Cold War, with around 245,000 deaths directly related to fighting or political violence.

Fourteen years ago (May 2, 2012) a Reuters Poll reported that “nearly 15 percent of people worldwide believe the world will end during their lifetime. “Whether they think it will come to an end through the hands of God, or a natural disaster or a political event, whatever the reason, one in seven thinks the end of the world is coming,” said Keren Gottfried, research manager at Ipsos Global Public Affairs which conducted the poll for Reuters. Among Evangelical Christians three out of four felt we are living in the End Times of Gog and Magog; Ya’juj and Ma’juj.

According to the both the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an, since the days of Adam and Eve, many chosen humans in the distant past have heard the One God speaking to them. These people are titled as Prophets or Messengers in the Abrahamic religions. And the Hebrew Scriptures, the Greek New Testament, and the Arabic Qur’an all agree that in the distant future, in the Era of the End of Days-Judgement Day; there will be a few chosen humans who will express, by words and deeds, God’s glory to all humanity. These future Messengers usually have a special name or title like: Messiah son of Joseph, Messiah son of David, and Elijah in Judaism, Jesus’ second coming in Christianity, or the Mahdi in Islam.

Prophet Muhammad warned of a group of extremists who would emerge, during the Qiyamah Judgement Day, claiming to be more religious than all others but causing great harm to the Muslim Ummah: “They will recite the Quran but it will not go beyond their throats. They will pass through Islam as an arrow passes through its target.” (Sahih Bukhari 5057)

As a Reform Rabbi and Messianic Age scholar, I say that the world is not going to end in this century; but the world is going to be positively transformed according to predictions made by the Prophets of Israel, as explained by past and present rabbinic sages.

Human society has changed more rapidly, violently and fundamentally in the last century of the second millennium than ever before in history. Doctors saved the lives of millions. Dictators sacrificed the lives of millions. Populations are exploding in Africa and birthrates are declining in North America and in Europe. Technology produces both worldwide prosperity and pollution at the same time. And the climate grows hotter and hotter world wide.

Knowing all this, should we look upon the first century of the third millennium with optimistic hope or with fatalistic trepidation? Is the world and our society heading towards a wonder-filled new age, or toward a doomsday? Or are both occurring almost concurrently because breakdown is always a prelude to breakthrough?

I believe that there will not be a startling worldwide increase in the number and impact of enlightened masters. Nor will earthquakes, floods and other plagues occur in much greater intensity or numbers. But the way people react to varying kinds of predictions is usually influenced by the long tradition of trying to foresee the eventual goal of human history. This tradition started with the Prophets of Israel about 3,000 years ago.

This Biblical vision of a Messianic Age uses the insights of the Prophets to provide guidance in understanding the social, economic, scientific and cultural upheavals that will sweep society as we approach the prophets visionary goal. Often it is the dramatic dangers of the pre-Messianic upheavals and massive tribulation that are emphasized but I focus on the positive signs developing throughout the world that accord with the Messianic vision of the Biblical Prophets.

In most religious traditions, redemption is defined in terms of individual enlightenment or personal salvation. However, the Prophets of Israel conceived redemption as a transformation of human society that would occur through the catalyst of the transformation of the Jewish community. This transformation, which will take place in this world at some future time, is called the Messianic Age.

The transition to the Messianic Age is called the birth pangs of the Messiah. The birth of a redeemed Messianic world may be the result of an easy or difficult labor. If everyone would simply live according to the moral teachings of his or her religious tradition, our own religious inspiration would enable us ourselves bring about the Messianic Age.

But, if we will not do it voluntarily, it will come through social and political upheavals, worldwide conflicts and generation gaps. The Messiah (Madhi in Islamic tradition), refers to an agent of God who helps bring about this transformation. The Jewish tradition teaches that this agent of God (with several forerunners and many disciples) will be a human being with great leadership qualities similar to Prophets Moses or Mohammed.

The arrival of the Messianic Age is what’s really important, not the personality of the agents who bring it about, since they are simply the instruments of God, who ultimately is the real Redeemer. The Messianic Age is usually seen as the solution to all of humanity’s basic problems. This may be true in the long run; but the vast changes the transition to the Messianic Age entails, will provide challenges to society for many generations to come.

Even when the events are rapid and dramatic, people rarely connect them to their Messianic significance for very long. The amazing 1991 covert rescue of 14,325 Ethiopian Jews in an airlift lasting less than 48 hours stirred and inspired people for a few weeks. Subsequently, the difficult problems the newcomers faced (similar to those of the 900,000 recent Soviet immigrants) occupied the Jewish media. Now both have long been taken for granted. The miracle has become routine.

But if you had told the Jews of Ethiopia a generations ago that they would someday all fly to Israel in a giant silver bird, they could only conceive of this as a Messianic miracle. If you had told Soviet Jews a generation ago that the Communist regime would collapse, the Soviet Empire disintegrate, and hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews would emigrate to Israel, they would have conceived it only as a Messianic dream.

In our own generation therefore we have seen the dramatic fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “I will bring your offspring from the (Middle) East and gather you from the (European) West. To the North (Russia) I will say ‘give them up’ and to the South (Ethiopia) ‘do not hold them’. Bring my sons from far away, my daughters from the end of the earth.” (43:5-6) Isn’t it amazing how people adjust to living in a radically new world and forget the past. Indeed, the Prophet Isaiah himself said, “Behold, I create a new Heaven and a new Earth, and former things shall not be remembered.” (65:17)

Where does the Messiah/Madhi fit in with all of this? He will have lots to do when he arrives. Many Orthodox Jews would not commit themselves to any individual as a Messiah unless he successfully rebuilds the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophecy of Zachariah: “He shall build the Temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, he shall sit on the throne and rule, there shall be a priest before the throne, and peaceful counsel will exist between both of them.” (6:13)

However while half a million people visited the Western Wall over the week of Passover in 2025 only 6,315 went further up to the Temple Mount.” said Kikar HaShabbat, an ultra-Orthodox news site showing that few Jews yearn to visit the ruins of the Temple Mount.

Now that 45% of the Jewish people have returned to the Land of Israel, and resurrected a Jewish State, one might think that rebuilding a temple on the site where Solomon originally built one almost 3,000 years ago, would be relatively simple; but a Muslim Shrine, the Dome of the Rock, presently occupies the original Temple site. Often erroneously called the Mosque of Omar, it is not a mosque and it was not built by Omar.

It was built in 691 by Abd-Al-Malik and it is regarded by Muslims as the third holiest site in the world. No attempt to replace the Dome of the Rock has been the Israeli government’s position. There is, however, vacant land on the Temple Mount, and a virtual (non-physical) Jewish house of worship could be built 600 feet north of the Al-Aksa Mosque and near the Dome of the Rock provided the Palestinian Muslims would cooperate. Most observers agree that anyone who could arrange such Jewish-Muslim cooperation would really be the Messiah/Madhi Ruler of Peace (Isaiah 9:5) Christian support for such a cooperative venture would also be very important.

Indeed, such Jewish/Christian/Muslim cooperation would not be possible without great spiritual leadership in all three communities. Thus, each community should consider its own leadership to be essential Messianic aids as was foretold: “Saviors [plural] will ascend mount Zion to judge mount Esau; And the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.” (Obadiah 1:21)

All of this would fulfill Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives; nation shall not take up sword against nation, they shall never again teach war.” (Isaiah 2:4) And non-Jews were already welcomed already in Prophet Solomon dedication of the Temple. as Prophet Zechariah states: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” (Zechariah 8:23)

Over the centuries oppressed Christian and Jewish communities have gained strength by looking forward for a Messianic leader. The Talmud relates the following story: Rabbi Joshua ben Levi meets Elijah—the herald of the Messiah—standing by the entrance of the great mystic Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai’s tomb (Sanhedrin 98a) and Rabbi Joshua asked [Elijah]: “Have I a portion in the world to come?” He replied, “If this Master (God) desires it.” … He then asks him, “When will the Messiah come?” — “Go and ask him himself,” was his reply. — “Where is he sitting?” — “By the gates of Rome.” — “And by what sign may I recognize him? Elijah answered: “He is sitting among the poor folk suffering from all kinds of skin ailments. All of them untie [their bandages] all at once, and (then) re-bandage them whereas he [the Messiah] unties and re-bandages each one separately [before treating the next], thinking, ‘Should I be wanted, [as the Messiah] I must not be delayed [by having to bandage a number of sores]’.”

Thus, if each of the three Abrahamic religions truly follows the best of its own religious teachings the Messiah will surely have arrived, and God’s Kingdom will be established. The Qur’an refers to Prophet Abraham as a community or a nation: “Abraham was a nation/community [Ummah]; dutiful to God, a monotheist [hanif], not one of the polytheists.” (16:120) If Prophet Abraham is an Ummah then fighting between the descendants of Prophets Ishmael and Isaac is a civil war and should always be avoided.

If all Arabs and Jews can live up to the ideal that ‘the descendants of Abraham’s sons should never make war against each other’ is the will of God; we will help fulfill the 2700 year old vision of Prophet Isaiah: “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing upon the heart. The LORD of Hosts will bless them saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”(Isaiah 19:23-5)

Also Prophet Isaiah declares:( 2:2–4) 2 “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth Torah and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between (all) nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

So the End-times should be beginning now! There will be no peace until both Palestinians and Israelis declare the chant ‘From the river to the sea’ becomes an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, and not death, destruction, or hate. We can make it truly aspirational by making it focus on both peoples first, and the land second. “From river to sea Palestinians and Israelis should be freed of hatred and suffering by ‘two peaceful states for two peaceful peoples sharing the land peacefully.’”