The End Times: A Biblical Study of God's Appointed Time
by Tim Webb
OWNING A BIBLE IS LIKE OWNING A CRYSTAL BALL.
I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.-John 14:29
For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.-Revelation 19:10
Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.-First Peter 1:20-21
“The more we study prophecy, the more we can see things in our world that others cannot, like a physician who knows immediately how to treat a wound.”-Imad ShehadehJordan Evangelical Theological Seminary
“What a time to take the news of the day in one hand and the Bible in the other and watch the unfolding of the great drama of the ages come together.”-Billy Graham
“If all of the prophecy of Jesus’ first coming played out down to the very letter then we can expect all of the prophecy of his second coming to do the same.”-Tim Webb
DEDICATIONIn some ways, I’ve been studying the End Times ever since I was a kid growing up in Clay City, Kentucky in the 1970s and 1980s. My Dad and our minister at the Clay City Christian Church, Joe Hager, used to sit in our living room on Sunday afternoons after church and discuss the Book of Revelation and all of its mysteries. That’s the thing about kids, you think they aren’t listening or paying attention, when they really are. I owe my Dad and Joe a great deal of thanks for leaving behind some great books on the subject and for planting the seed.
I don’t claim to be a scholar, I’m just a guy who likes to geek-out on the Bible and loves to study the process in which God will culminate his plan of salvation, by bringing an end to sin once and for all.
I dedicate this book to Dad and Joe, and to a young lady named Lily Dobbins. Lily had been in my Sunday school class for several years, and one day her mother came to me and said that Lily had several questions about the End Times, and asked if I would explain it to her. Like Clark Kent ripping off his shirt and tie, I told her that I was up to the challenge! So I set out on the task of breaking down and explaining a very complicated subject to an eighth grader. As it turned out, I never got the opportunity to teach Lily, but God definitely had a plan because I have shared my understanding of the End Times with so many other people since then.
-Tim WebbOctober 24, 2024
WHAT IS ESCHATOLOGY?Whether you knew it or not, the fact that you’re reading this means that you’re now an eschatologist. Eschatology is simply the study of the End Times.
WHAT DO I BELIEVE?As someone who studies the End Times, I am a futurist, a premillennialist, and a dispensationalist, who believes in a pre-wrath rapture.
As a futurist, I believe that prophecy about the End Times and the second coming of Jesus Christ are still going to happen in the future, that they have not already been played out at certain points in history. As a premillennialist, I believe that the second coming of Christ will happen at the Battle of Armageddon, just before he begins his 1000-year millennial reign, and that the 1000-year reign of Christ described in Revelation Chapter 20 is to be taken at face value. As a dispensationalist, I believe that God has not written Israel off for denying the Messiah, and that both Christians and Jews are still part of God’s family and God’s plan, as the Apostle Paul explains in Romans Chapter 11. Finally, I believe in a pre-wrath rapture, which means I believe the rapture will happen sometime after the midpoint of the final seven years, but before the wrath of God destroys the earth and the ungodly. That means that any Christian alive at that time will have to endure persecution from the Antichrist.
THE PIECES PARTS OF THE END TIMESThese are the pieces/parts of the End Times, which means we’ll break it down and study it part by part, similar to a puzzle, and then put it together one piece at a time.1. The Church2. The Nation of Israel3. The Temple4. The Muslims5. Long Range Prophecy6. The Rapture7. Satan, The Antichrist, & The False Prophet8. The Book of Revelation & The Tribulation9. The Battle of Armageddon10. The Millennial Reign of Christ11. The New Jerusalem12. Israel Today13. Spiritual Prepping
JESUS WINSJust a reminder…the things that we’re getting ready to study can be scary, but always remember, that in the end, Jesus wins! Billy Graham once said, “The stark reality is that the battle is joined – the enemy is destructively at work. It is God verses Satan; Heaven verses hell; truth verses error; the word of God verses the word of men. But because of the victory Jesus Christ has already achieved, we know the outcome – the King of kings will establish his triumphant reign.”
THE FALL OF MANBefore you can have an ending you first need a beginning. Which leads to the question…how did we get here? If you pick up the Bible and read the first two chapters in Genesis and then flip to the last two chapters in Revelation, you would come away saying this is a very happy book!
In the first two chapters of Genesis, we read all about the creation and how good it was.We hear things like…-God created the universe.-He literally spoke much of the earth into existence.-He created man out of the dust of the earth and created woman out of man.-Most importantly, he made mankind out of his own image.-Then God planted a beautiful garden for man to live in, and man was designed to live forever, coexisting with God.
And then in the last two chapters of Revelation we read how great it will all be in the end.We hear things like…-How there will be a new heaven and a new earth.-There will be a new Jerusalem that will come down out of heaven.-The Bible tells us that in the end, God’s dwelling place will be back among his people.-There won’t be a need for the sun and moon anymore because God will be our light. -He will wipe ever tear from our eyes and there will be no more pain and suffering.
Unfortunately, it’s all the stuff in the middle of the Bible, those other 1,185 chapters that muddies the water! If the beginning and the end are so good, then how did we mess it all up? The answer to that question lies in Genesis Chapter 3, in what’s known as the fall of mankind. Here, we see that Satan entered the garden as a serpent and he tempted Adam and Eve to sin against God, and they fell for it. There were two trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told them that they were free to eat from any tree in the garden, but that they were not to eat from the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. To break it down into kindergarten terms, they were like all of us. They were human, and they made a bad choice.
An important thing to keep in mind is that Satan didn’t physically force them to do anything. He didn’t put Eve in a headlock and force her to eat the fruit. He merely tempted her by saying, “Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden? The woman said to the serpent, We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die. You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”
A few verses later at Genesis 3:15, 17-19, God literally has a come-to-Jesus talk with Satan and Adam and Eve. God said… “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” In other words, God was telling Adam and Eve that the party was over! ARE WE IN THE END TIMES NOW?Now that we know how we got here, people love to ask the question, “Are we in the End Times now?” I have heard that so many times, especially since the covid pandemic hit in 2020. There are two ways to look at this question. From an over-arching point-of-view the absolute answer is yes! The End Times have been here since the very moment that Jesus ascended back to heaven. He told us he would return. He just didn’t tell us when. It’s because of Jesus’ imminent return that we’ve been in the End Times for 2000 years. It’s not a matter of WILL he return. The real question is WHEN will he return?
The second way to look at this question is from an immediate point-of-view, which looks at where we are in the world today, and to be honest, there are still several big things that have to happen for us to truly be at the finish line. While things in the world are bad, we still have to put them in perspective with the rest of history because the things we’re experiencing now are nothing new. There has always been disease, natural disasters, famine, war, and death. Think about if there had been social media when the city of Pompeii was wiped out by a volcano in 79 A.D.? Or what if there had been cable news and YouTube during the black plague of the 1300s when millions of Europeans died, or when 20 million people died during World War I, and another 50 million people died with the 1918 Spanish Flu?
Although Covid was devastating, it doesn’t begin to compare to some of the other sufferings in history. We tend to be so focused on our own current condition that it becomes easy to proclaim that we’re in the End Times. It’s easy for us to think that the year 2020 was the worst year ever, and it may have been the worst year in our lifetime, but actually, historians will tell you that the year 536 A.D. was the worst year ever because of cataclysmic events caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland that affected the entire planet for over a year.
My point is this…to truly study the End Times and all of the prophecy associated with it, we have to look at it from a big-picture point-of-view. You can’t judge it based solely on the events going on around you at the time. While the depravity of the world seems to be escalating at a rapid pace, we are getting close, but we’re not there yet. There are still some big prophecies that have to be fulfilled first.
WHY ARE WE STILL HERE?So, we’ve answered the question of, “Are we in the End Times?” Which now brings up the next question, “Why are we still here? And why is it taking so long?” I don’t think that people down through the ages thought we would still be here 2000 years later. But here we are. The answer to this question is that God still has work to do. And we still have work to do on God’s behalf. God has a purpose and when that purpose is fulfilled, that’s when the end will come.
So, what is that purpose? The answer is The Great Commission. The last thing Jesus told his disciples before leaving this earth is what’s known as The Great Commission. You can find it at the very end of the gospels of Matthew and Mark. He literally commissioned the disciples standing in front of him at the time, as well as every disciple since then, to take the gospel to the entire world…every tribe, every nation, every tongue. Just a few days earlier, Jesus gave his disciples an important clue about the timing of the end in Matthew 24:14 when he said, “The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
If you were standing on a street corner predicting the end of the world two hundred years ago in the year 1825, a red flag would have been that the gospel had a long way to go before all the nations had heard it. But today, we’re pretty close to reaching that reality. Because of technology, missionaries and Bible translators have been able to take the gospel to most people groups across the planet.
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THE LAST DAYSIf we’re knocking on the door of the End Times and the finish line appears to be close then what does the Bible say about the last days? The Bible actually gives us several clues about what the End Times will be like. I’m going to present four sets of verses. As you read them, try to set aside your political views and your personal biases. Simply picture in your mind what the world is like right now, and then listen to these words that were written 2000 years ago about what the world would be like in the future. Soak in these words from a big-picture, Biblical point-of-view as you listen, and see if any of this sounds familiar.
First Timothy 4:1, In the later times people will fall away from the faith. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”
Second Timothy 3:1-5, The last days will be terrible times. “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
Second Timothy 4:3, People will leave sound doctrine.“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
Second Peter 3:3-4, 8-9, In the last days scoffers will come.“Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created. But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent.” This last verse in particular is so important to understanding the End Times because we tend to compare our clock to God’s clock, but the two aren’t the same. They’re not even close. God has eternity behind him and eternity in front of him. Our 24-hour clock or 365-day calendar is nothing compared to eternity which is infinite.
People love to ask the question, why isn’t God fixing this? Why does God allow bad things to happen? There’s two answers to that question. First, God allows Satan to rule this world, and that’s something that most people have trouble wrapping their brains around. But the Bible clearly tells us that fact multiple times (John 12:31, 14:30; Ephesians 6:12). And as long as Satan is ruling this world, trust me, bad things are going to happen!
Secondly, God gives us free will to either accept him or reject him. He wants us to accept him because we want to, not because we have to. There’s a quote from the book which was also a movie called The Shack that sums this thought up perfectly. “Love that is forced is no love at all.” God gave Adam and Eve a simple command, not to eat from The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. Then, when Satan entered the Garden and tempted them, they made their choice, the same as you and I have the opportunity to make choices every day. When sin entered the world pain and suffering came with it. Free will is the reason that evil exists to begin with.
And I want to make something clear. Satan is not equal to God. Satan was an angel who, like Adam and Eve, made his own bad choices and went rouge because of his pride. He was then kicked out of heaven and took a third of the angels with him because he too thought he could be like God (Isaiah 14:12-17, Ezekiel 28:11-19, Luke 10:18). Ultimately, God created Satan along with all of the other angels, and everything else in the universe. Anything that Satan does is only because God allows him to. God has given Satan a long leash over this world, but it’s only temporary. The Bible tells us that in the end, Satan will burn in a lake of fire forever. And Jesus will be the one who puts him there. While the Book of Revelation can be scary, it is the most hopeful book ever written!
Don’t think for a second that God doesn’t have a plan or that he isn’t going to fix it. His plan to fix it is what the End Times is all about. God is the architect and he is the one who designed the blueprints of the End Times. The Bible repeatedly describes the End Times as sovereign God’s appointed time. Anything that happens leading up to and during the End Times will be because God wants it to happen that way (Daniel 7:14, 22, 25-26; 8:19, 24, 9:27; 11:35-36; 12:7; Habakkuk 2:2-3; Matthew 8:29; 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7, 11, Revelation 13:5-7, 17:17).
The thing that most people have trouble wrapping their heads around is why is it taking so long. We have to accept that it may not take place in our lifetime. We have to accept that there is suffering in this world. We have to accept that God’s timeline is different than ours. But we also have to remember that our lifetime here on earth is nothing compared to eternity in paradise (James 4:14). Then and there, everything will be perfect again, just like it was originally in the Garden of Eden! We will live in a perfect world where there will be no more pain or suffering, and it will last forever.
THE CHURCHAs you look at the children of God, it’s like he has two kids, the Jews and the Christians. I like to think of it as two brothers who don’t always agree and don’t always get along, but they still have the same father. I like to use the parable of the prodigal son as a way to analyze these two children. In this parable you have a father with two sons. Both sons make mistakes and don’t always like each other, but at the end of the day, the father is elated when both sons are back in the family, because he loves both of them.
As we study the End Times, we will often refer to the Christians as the church. I’m not talking about a church building. I’m talking about a collective group of people. Any believer in Christ from the Day of Pentecost in Acts Chapter 2 to the present time is known as the church (Acts 2:1-4, 42-47). The reason we use the Day of Pentecost as the beginning of the church is because that’s when God gave us the Holy Spirit. It literally descended upon the disciples in Jerusalem like tongues of fire.
As believers in Christ, we are the church. The Bible tells us that we are the bride of Christ, and he is our bridegroom (Revelation 19:7-9, Ephesians 5:25-28). The Apostle Paul called the church a mystery because it was a mystery at that time. The Jews didn’t see the church coming and didn’t understand it (Colossians 1:25-27, Ephesians 3:3-6). So, what do I mean by a mystery?
Even at the time of Jesus, there was a very exclusive relationship between God and the Jews. For the first 1,500 years God separated the Jews from the rest of the world. He did that to set them apart and use them as an example for the rest of the world to see. Jews weren’t even allowed to eat with Gentiles. A Gentile is anyone who is not a Jew. Even though God told them at different points in the Bible that the whole world would be saved through them, they didn’t really understand what he was talking about. Think of it like being an only child, to then wake up one day and have a house full of stepbrothers and stepsisters moving in with you. That’s what the Jews must have felt like when God opened the gospel to the Gentiles.
When God offered his plan of salvation up to the rest of the world and the Gentiles were eligible to receive it, this period in time became known as the church age. You can read all about this in the Book of Acts and see how the Apostle Paul was chosen by God to deliver this message to the Gentile world.
UNFORESEEN PROPHECY OF THE CHURCH AGE I mentioned earlier that the Apostle Paul called the church a mystery. This was because no one saw it coming, including the prophets. With hindsight being twenty-twenty and with us having the New Testament to follow, it’s always been obvious to us that Jesus will come to earth twice. But it was different for the Jews. Them and the prophets saw the coming of the Messiah as one event, not two. When we read Isaiah 9:6, which is a popular verse at Christmas, we see that only a comma separates the two comings of Jesus. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.”
THE NATION OF ISRAELNow it’s time to talk about the nation of Israel and how they fit into the Biblical narrative. The nation of Israel was literally created by God when he told Abraham that he would make a great nation out of him. God created Israel from the ground up to be his own nation and his own race of people, that he would use as an example for the rest of the world. They would be his chosen people. He called Abraham somewhere around the year 2070 BC. That date may not be exact but it’s in the ballpark. Abraham and his wife Sarah had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. And Jacob had twelves sons who were known as the twelve tribes of Israel. Before long, the Israelites numbered over two million people. This group of people can be referred to as the Hebrews, the Israelites, or as they are known today, as the Jews.
The thing that we have to remember in a discussion about the Jews is that they are still God’s chosen people. And while God has had some tense moments with them over the past 4,000 years, he hasn’t forgotten about them, and scripture tells us that he has not turned his back on them. Scripture also tells us in Romans 11: 28-29 says, “Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” At different times throughout history, he has dealt the Jews some pretty harsh punishment. He has taken them out of the land that he gave them, not once, but twice! And he has also allowed their temple to be destroyed twice. But in true God-like-fashion he always brings them back. He always keeps a remnant. He may get mad and put them in time out, but he never completely turns his back on them.
THE DIASPORAAbout 40 years after the death of Christ, the Romans destroyed the second temple in the year 70 A.D. and kicked the Jews out of Israel and dispersed them all over the known the world. These details aren’t in the Bible, but they were preserved in the writings of a Jewish Roman General named Flavius Josephus. He was the Jew’s greatest historian, and you can still read his works today. This disbursement of the Jews was known as the diaspora (pronounced die-ass-pora). It took 1,878 years for the Jews to get their nation and their promised land back after the Holocaust in 1948. It took the Holocaust to put Israel back on the world map. If you look at the Jews today, it’s a miracle that they still exist. They have been persecuted and scattered among the nations many times, but yet they continue to exist. This is proof that they truly are God’s chosen people because there is no other logical reason for them to still exist. And not only do they still exist, they exist as a major world power. Their total worldwide population is approximately 15 million, which is roughly the population of Pennsylvania. There are about 6.2 million Jews living in Israel, 5.7 million Jews living in the United States, and about 3 million Jews living worldwide. They continue to be persecuted to this day. For example, according to the FBI crime statistics, the number one hate crime in New York City in 2023 was against Jews.
GOD AND THE JEWSLet’s take a look at what the Bible says about God’s promises to the nation of Israel. A conversation about the Jews has to start with what’s known as the Abrahamic Covenant, which was when God chose Abraham to build a nation. Genesis 12:1-3: “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. ‘I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’”
In a literal sense Jesus is God’s only son, but in a figurative sense, the Bible says that the Jews were God’s first-born child. Exodus 4:22: “Then say to Pharaoh, This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son.”
Ultimately, we know that the Jews are God’s chosen people.Deuteronomy 14:2: “for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.”
Deuteronomy 7:6-8: “The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath, he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
God set Israel apart to be an example to the rest of the world.Isaiah 49:6: “I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
The New Testament presented a paradox with the Old Testament, between what was the old covenant verses Christ and the new covenant. But the Apostle Paul tells us multiple times through multiple books that the Jews & Christians are both part of God’s family.Ephesians 3:6: “This mystery is that through the Gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 11:25-29: “I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so, all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, ‘The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.’ Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” THE TEMPLE MOUNTNow that we have a better understanding of the nation of Israel, let’s talk about the Jewish temple. What is the temple? I like to think of the temple as God’s first church house. Technically, there have been three temples because the first one was the tabernacle that was a mobile tent that Moses and the Israelites built in the desert. But in eschatological terms there have only been two permanent structured temples, and we refer to them as the first temple and the second temple.
The first temple was built by King Solomon in 959 B.C., and it stood for 373 years before the Babylonians destroyed it in the year 586 B.C. God punished the Israelites by allowing King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to exile the Israelites for 70 years. That was the first diaspora. After the exile was over they were allowed to return home, and they built what is known as the second temple in 516 B.C. It stood for 586 years until it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. The second temple was the temple that Jesus would have known and is the one that we read about in the gospels. The Temple Mount is the area in Jerusalem where the Jewish temple used to set but is now occupied by a structure known as the Dome of the Rock that belongs to the Muslims. So currently, we have a situation where both the Jews and the Muslims claim the Temple Mount to be a most holy spot. For the Jews, it’s their number one holy spot and for the Muslims it’s their third holiest site. And we’re talking about an area that’s only a total of 37 acres.
Because of its importance, ownership of the Temple Mount has been hotly contested for nearly 1,400 years. It is literally the most fought-over piece of real estate in the world. Today the Temple Mount is under the control of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, which is a trust that was established in the year 1187 to manage the Islamic structures in Jerusalem.
So why is the Temple Mount so important to the End Times? The answer to that is, a third temple has to exist during the End Times because the Antichrist, who will be Satan’s right-hand man during the End Times, and who we will study later, can’t do the things that the Bible says he’s going to do without the temple. There has to be a temple! PROOF TEXT SCRIPTURE AND OTHER RESOURCES ON THE TEMPLE-Daniel 9:27: At the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation.-Matthew 24:15, “Standing in the holy place.”-Second Thessalonians 2:4: He will set himself up in God’s temple.-Revelation 11:1-2, God tells John to “Measure the Temple.”-The Tabernacle…God’s mobile tent church, Exodus 25–31 and 35–40-Solomon’s Temple…959-586 BC, First Kings chapters 5-9-Second Temple…516 BC-70 AD, the books of Ezra & Nehemiah-The Roman Empire destroyed the second temple in 70 AD, The Complete Works of Josephus.
ABRAHAM: THE FATHER OF THREE FAITHS, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, & ISLAMLet’s talk about Islam and its relationship with Judaism and Christianity. This is a big deal because so much of the End Times picture wraps around this. Regardless of how you feel about Muslims and the Islamic religion, the Muslims, through Abraham’s illegitimate son Ishmael and Abraham’s grandson Esau, are part of God’s plan. People may try to deny it, but there are too many scriptural references that prove it. God promised twice in the book of Genesis that he would make a nation out of Ishmael, just like he made a nation out of Abraham and Issac. All three religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, root back to Abraham. Islam traces back to Ishmael, and Judaism and Christianity trace back to Abraham through his second son Isaac.
Isaac then had two twin sons, Esau and Jacob. The plan of salvation continued from Isaac on through Jacob, and then through Jacob’s twelve sons, who are known as the twelve tribes of Israel. Esau and Jacob fell out with each other and Esau left Isaac’s house and married Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath. And yes, when you do the math on that he married his first cousin, which was very acceptable in the early parts of the Biblical story. The conflict between Jews and Muslims can be traced directly back to Genesis 21:9, when Abraham’s wife Sarah told Abraham that Ishmael and his slave mother Hagar had to leave. The two groups have literally been at odds ever since then. But, whenever Abraham died in Genesis Chapter 25, both Ishmael and Isaac came together to bury their father.
PROOF TEXT SCRIPTURE ON ISHMAEL AND ESAUGenesis 16, Birth of IshmaelGenesis 16:12, He will be a wild donkey of a manGenesis 21:8-20, Hagar and Ishmael are sent awayGenesis 21:13, I will make him into a nationGenesis 25:19-34, Jacob & Esau Genesis 25:23, Two nations are in your wombGenesis 25:32-34, Esau gives away his birthrightGenesis 27, Jacob steals Esau’s blessingGenesis 28:1-9, Esau marries Ishmael’s daughter Genesis 33:1-16, Jacob & Esau are reunitedGenesis 36, Esau’s descendantsObadiah 8, Esau’s mountainsMalachi 1:1-5, I loved Jacob, but Esau I have hatedHebrews 12:16, Esau was godless
BIRTH OF ISLAMNow that we’ve had a brief history lesson on the beginnings of Judaism and Islam, let’s look at Islam’s impact on the Temple Mount and the city of Jerusalem since the diaspora of 70 A.D. The Jews were dispersed in the year 70 A.D., and then 400 years later the Roman Empire collapsed in the year 476 A.D. That created a vacuum in Jerusalem that was eventually filled by an up-and-coming religion called Islam. In the year 610 A.D., a man named Muhammad received a revelation from the Angel Gabriel in the town of Mecca in what would be modern-day Saudi Arabia. Three years after receiving his first revelation from God, Muhammad started preaching publicly, proclaiming that "God is One," and that complete submission, or Islam, to God is the right way of life. Muhammad also claimed that he was a prophet and a messenger of God. Shortly after Muhammad’s death, the Muslims took control of Jerusalem and Israel in the year 634 A.D. The land of Israel eventually became known as Palestine. So, whether I use the term Israel or Palestine, just know it’s all the same piece of land. The name varies depending on who controls it at any given point in history.
If you look at the core basic beliefs of both Judaism and Islam, they have two big things in common. They both believe in one god and one god only, and complete obedience to God. The Jews call God Yahweh, and the Muslims call him Allah. A deal-breaker for both religions is that they both see it as blasphemy to call Jesus the son of God. With both religions, in their purest form, there is little to no grace. There’s no Holy Spirit. And there’s very little forgiveness. Both of them are still living by the law of God, and they both have different, but yet, similar versions of what that law looks like. I recommend to all of you who have an interest in the End Times to study the basics of Islam. And I can recommend a few books for you if you’re interested, with the main one being a book by Nabeel Qureshi titled Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.
THE DOME OF THE ROCKThe Dome of the Rock is one of the most recognizable and beautiful pieces of architecture in the world with its beautiful gold dome. It sets over a rock, thus the name Dome of the Rock. The rock itself is known as the Foundation Rock to the Jews, and that rock would probably fit inside any McDonalds Restaurant in the world. It’s located at the pinnacle of Mount Moriah.
According to the Bible, Mount Moriah in Jerusalem is where God sent Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22. Muslims believe it was there that Abraham was going to sacrifice Ishmael. King David purchased the rock several hundred years later and the area around it and built an altar to God, (Second Samuel 24:18-25, First Chronicles 21:18-30, Second Chronicles 3:1-2). Although we don’t know the exact location for certain, many believe that the two temples were eventually built over that altar on the Foundation Rock. The reason it’s called the Foundation Rock is because some fundamental Jews will argue that because of the systematic use of that rock, that God created Adam out of the dust of that rock at the beginning of creation, but there’s no Biblical proof of that, although it is a legitimate argument when you follow the consistent verses inconsistent rule of the Bible. According to Islam, that rock is the very spot from which Muhammad ascended to heaven in the year 620 AD. For the most part, the Muslims maintained control over Jerusalem for several hundred years. Eventually, Great Britain gained control of Palestine during World War I, which placed the holy land in the hands of a Christian nation in 1917. After World War II and the Holocaust, Israel was put back on the world map as a nation in 1948. Notice how God used both world wars to fulfill his plan. But here’s an interesting caveat, Israel got its country back in 1948, but still to this day, they do not control the Temple Mount. The Muslims still control the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock. END TIMES PROPHECYProphecy is what drives the End Times and is how we even know that the End Times will happen. In short, prophecy is a predication about the future. Prophecy is information about the future that is delivered by a human but has been given to that human by God. Prophecy is divinely inspired information from God.
Long-range prophecy is prophecy that takes place beyond the lifetime of those who heard the original prophecy. This type of prophecy is very detailed, down to the very letter. For example, the Old Testament gives us exact details about the life of Jesus hundreds of years before he was born, such as, that he would be born to a virgin in Bethlehem, that they would cast lots for his cloths when he was crucified, that he would be spit upon, that he would be buried in a rich man’s tomb, that he would carry his own wood, and that he would be betrayed by one of his own disciples and the Jews. Some of the prophet Isaiah’s scriptures were written as if he was standing at the foot of the cross taking notes as the crucifixion happened. But in reality, the Book of Isaiah was written 700 years before Christ was born.
It only makes sense that if all of the prophecy concerning the first coming of Jesus Christ came true and played out down to the very letter, then we can know with assurance that the prophecy concerning his second coming will also come true.
Given the fact that so many other detailed prophecies have already come true in the Bible, there is no doubt that the End Times will play out exactly the way the Bible says it will. We have no logical reason to doubt these prophecies. It would be inconsistent to think otherwise. Fulfilled prophecies are evidence of the Bible’s reliability. The Bible is unique among all other books ever written, because it accurately foretells specific events, in detail, many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur.
In total, there are approximately 2,500 prophecies that appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2,000 of which have already been fulfilled, down to the very letter with no errors. While the number of exact prophecies may vary, depending on the Bible scholar, a conservative number is, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies during his earthly ministry, down to the exact detail.
The statistical probability of that many prophecies being fulfilled is one in 10 to the 17th power, which is one hundred thousand trillion. That would be the equivalent of covering the entire state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep. Then blindfold a person and tell them to wade out into the money and pick up the one silver dollar that has a red dot on it. That’s the likelihood of all the prophecies in the Old Testament regarding Christ coming true by way of coincidence.
DANIEL’S SEVENTY WEEKSI’m now ready to talk about a piece of prophecy that can be hard to understand. I want to explain it as best I can, but if you have trouble digesting this information don’t worry about it. All you really need to know is that when the End Times start it will last for seven years.
There is a term in Daniel 9:20-27 known as the Seventy Weeks, or some translations call it the Seventy Sevens. Just to be consistent, I’m going to refer to it as Daniel’s Seventy Weeks. It is one of the most significant pieces of prophecy in the entire Bible, and this one piece of prophecy sets the timeline of how and when the End Times will play out. God gave this piece of long-range predictive prophecy to the prophet Daniel around the year 535 B.C. Daniel’s Seventy Weeks should be understood as seventy sets of seven years, or in other words, seventy times seven is a period of 490 years. In Biblical prophecy, a week is considered seven years.
In Daniel’s Seventy Weeks, we see that God started a prophetic clock of 490 years. God started this clock with the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonians had destroyed it and took the Jews into exile. We learn about this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Then God stopped the clock at year number 483 when Jesus was crucified. The clock ran between the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and when Jesus was crucified. But that only adds up to 483 years. Think of it like God hitting the snooze button. Which means, if it’s a 490-year clock, and we’ve already used 483 years of it, we still have seven years to go. And that final seven years will start whenever God decides to restart the clock.
So why did God do this? First, and foremost, it shows that God does indeed have a plan, and that he has had a plan all along. Not only does he have a plan, but it’s also a detailed plan with an exact timeline. The second big question is, why did God stop the clock when Jesus was crucified? The Answer is us, the church. God had to give the church age time to play itself out, and we’re still in the church age.
God’s plan is two-fold. It will allow him to put an end to sin, and it allowed him to bring us Gentiles into the family and offer the plan of salvation to all of mankind, not just the Jews. Remember, the Jews started out with an exclusive relationship with God, and God used them as an example for the whole world to see, so that ultimately we could all be saved. And also remember, God’s clock is slower than ours. Peter tells us that to the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.
So, as we dive into the guts of the End Times, it will all hinge on those final seven years. The first half of the seven years will be known as the tribulation and the second half will be known as the great tribulation. Out of simplicity, if I say the word tribulation I’m referring to all of the final seven years.
THE RAPTURE What is the rapture? The rapture is simply God removing the church from the earth. The word rapture is not found in the Bible, but its Greek meaning is “caught up,” or “taken away.” It’s not a matter of IF the rapture will happen. The real question is WHEN will the rapture happen. Let’s read what the Bible has to say about the rapture and how it describes the rapture.
The most prominent verse in the Bible about the rapture was written by the Apostle Paul to the people of Thessalonica in Greece, because the Thessalonians were new to the Jesus movement and they had suffered a lot of persecution, and they were concerned that their loved ones who had already died might miss out on the rapture and the coming of the Lord.
First Thessalonians 4:13-18, 5:1-3“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever.”
Other prominent verses in the Bible talk about Jesus coming back to Earth to retrieve his people include...
First Corinthians 15:50-52“I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
Matthew 24: 29-31“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” WHY IS THERE SUCH DEBATE OVER THE RAPTURE?The timing of the rapture is hands down the most controversial element when studying the End Times. The debate over the rapture is simply this…some scholars believe that the rapture will happen on the front end of the seven-year tribulation and that is known as a pre-tribulational theory. Other scholars believe it will happen at the end of the tribulation and that is known as post-tribulational theory. The mid-tribulational theory says it will happen exactly at the midpoint. And then other scholars believe that the rapture will happen somewhere after the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation, but before the wrath of God begins, and this is known as a pre-wrath theory.
Regardless of when it happens, you can expect about one quarter of the Earth’s population to disappear from the planet in the blink of an eye. Jesus described the rapture like this in Matthew 24:40-41, “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”
Of the different views, I believe that scripture overwhelming supports a pre-wrath rapture, which means it will happen somewhere after the midpoint, which is three and a half years, but before God unleashes his wrath and destroys the Earth toward the end of the tribulation. With the pre-wrath theory, the saints who are alive during the tribulation will have to endure the persecution of the Antichrist for a short period of time but will not have to suffer through the wrath of God. SATANBefore we go any further I want to take a step sideways and do a sidebar on the three people who will dominate the storyline of the tribulation. They are Satan, The Antichrist, and the False Prophet.
When it comes to Satan there is no one book in the Bible that’s dedicated to him. But at the same time, theoretically, every page of the Bible is about him. If it weren’t for Satan, there would be no need for a Bible, nor a plan of salvation. Satan has several names in the Bible that include, the Accuser, the Ancient Serpent, The Devil, Guardian Cherub, Morning Star, Lucifer, and he is known in Revelation as the Dragon. This explains one of the problems in understanding the End Times, in that God chose to call him a dragon, but the book of Revelation clearly tells us that the dragon is Satan. It’s funny to look back at now, but when I was a kid listening to Dad and Joe talk about Revelation, I thought the End Times was a bunch of dragons and beasts fighting each other.
The books of Job, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Revelation tell us the most about Satan. Satan was a great angel who went rouge because of his pride. He wanted to be like God! Satan and one third of the angels were kicked out of heaven and thrown down to Earth. Jesus told his disciples in Luke 10:18 that he saw Satan “fall like lightning from heaven.” This all happened before the Garden of Eden, while the Earth was still dark & formless. You can place the fall of Satan from heaven in Genesis Chapter 1, between verses 1 and 2.
Isaiah 14:13-18“How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?”
Ezekiel 28:12-19“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx, and jasper, lapis, lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So, I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So, I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. By your many sins and dishonest trade, you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So, I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’”
In Revelation Chapter 12, we learn how Satan and one third of the angels were kicked out of Heaven and hurled to the earth. Later on in the chapter, it tells us about a great war that will break out in the future between Satan and his angels and the angels of God, who will be led by the archangel Michael. There is some confusion about if this battle took place when he was kicked out the original time, which was before the Garden of Eden, or if this battle is to still take place in the future. When you read this passage closely in Chapter 12, you see that this battle takes place in the future and that it happens during the tribulation.
The most important thing to remember about Satan is that he rules this world. Multiple scriptures in the Bible tells us that. Once Adam and Eve made their ill-fated choice in the garden, God basically turned the keys over to Satan…but with limitations. The Book of Job in the Old Testament gives us more details on Satan’s relationship with God. In it we see that Satan still has access to God and heaven, and that God gives Satan a certain amount of latitude, but it’s always on God’s terms. Always remember that God is still in control over Satan, even though he keeps him on a long leash. Satan can only do what God allows him to do. The Bible tells us that Satan is nothing more than an angel gone bad. He is not God! He cannot force us to do anything, but he is extremely crafty and shrewd at tempting us, and he will do anything to disrupt God’s plan of salvation. It’s just a matter of whether we fall for his temptation or not.
*Please see Appendix A for a complete list of all relevant scriptures about Satan.
THE ANTICHRIST The best way to think of the Antichrist is that he will be Satan’s quarterback, point guard, and starting pitcher, all rolled into one during the tribulation. The Antichrist is known in the Bible as The Beast, the Man of Lawlessness, and The Ruler. He is the End Times false messiah who will achieve world domination so that he can attempt to destroy Israel and all followers of Jesus Christ.
He is known symbolically in the Bible as The Beast, but in reality, he will be a singular human male who will display an extreme amount of arrogance and pride as he receives great power from Satan. And while he will receive power from Satan, it’s important to remember that God is the ultimate architect of the End Times, as he wraps up the final details of his plan of salvation with the second coming of his son Jesus Christ.
The final seven years of the End Times will be known as the tribulation and will begin when the Antichrist comes to power. Prophecy from the Book of Daniel indicates that the Antichrist will rise to power from a series of wars and from a ten-nation coalition, after which, he will establish his headquarters in Jerusalem.
He will then create a covenant with many. Scholars have long assumed that he will create peace with this covenant, but nowhere in the Bible does it say that he will create peace.
It’s believed that this covenant will allow the nation of Israel to rebuild its temple and reestablish the sacrificing of animals that God instituted in the Book of Leviticus. While no one is certain how or when the nation of Israel will rebuild its temple, one thing is certain…there has to be a temple in Jerusalem for the Antichrist to do the things that he is going to do.
During the first three and a half years of the tribulation, the Antichrist will more-than-likely be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, seen as a warrior, a hero, and a liberator to many, including the Jews. He will not be a man of peace. He will indeed be a man of war.
Unfortunately, many of the Jews will see him as the prophesied messiah because he will subdue their enemies, which is the one thing that Jesus did not do during his first coming.
Then, at exactly halfway through the final seven years, which is known as the midpoint, the Antichrist will put an end to Israel’s sacrificial system and will set himself up inside the temple, proclaiming to be God.
When this event happens that’s when the Antichrist will be revealed, and we as Christians will have no problem knowing who he is.
Those final three and a half years of the tribulation will be known as the great tribulation. The first part of the great tribulation will be highlighted by persecution from the Antichrist, and finally, the last part will be dominated by the wrath of God.
The saints who are alive during the great tribulation will have to endure persecution from the Antichrist. This will be consistent with the persecution that the church has suffered for centuries. While we will have to endure persecution from the Antichrist, we will not suffer through God's wrath. Persecution from the Antichrist will be a walk in the park compared to the wrath of God.
The Church will eventually be removed from the Earth in an event known as the rapture, which will happen sometime after the Antichrist is revealed at the midpoint, but before the wrath of God begins. This is known in theology as a pre-wrath theory.
In Second Thessalonians 2:3-4, the Apostle Paul says the day of the Lord will not come until the Man of Lawlessness is revealed. Daniel and Jesus both described this event as the “Abomination that causes desolation.” The Bible says this will take place at the midpoint, which is three and a half years, or 42 months into the final seven years.
The Antichrist will also work hand-in-hand with a second beast, known as the False Prophet. At the midpoint of the tribulation, the Antichrist will suffer a fatal wound and die, but the False Prophet will bring him back to life, imitating the resurrection of Jesus.
The Antichrist will be part of a grotesque parody with Satan and the False Prophet, who, together, will mimic the holy trinity.
Coming back to life will secure the power that it takes for the Antichrist to rule the world. He will achieve world domination and will establish a one-world government. His coming back to life will convince people even more that he is the true messiah, but in reality he will be a false messiah because he will not completely fulfill all of the End Times prophecy.
Together, the Antichrist and the False Prophet will dominate the world, with the False Prophet forcing everyone to have a mark on their right hand or forehead in order to buy or sell anything. The mark will be the number 666 and will be known as the mark of the beast. The Bible says that the False Prophet is who will enforce the mark of the beast on behalf of the Antichrist. The False Prophet will also cause all of those who do not worship the Antichrist to be killed.In turn, God will ultimately punish anyone who takes the mark of the beast with eternal damnation, which will create a situation where Christians who are alive at that point in history will have to make a firm decision not to sell their soul for food or other merchandise such as fuel, and to not worship the Antichrist.
As saints, we won’t be tricked into taking the mark of the beast because the Antichrist and the False Prophet will make it very obvious what it is. The mark of the beast will be a very overt, dictatorial process conducted by the False Prophet on behalf of the Antichrist when it happens. It won’t be a secret or a trick.
From God’s standpoint, his true followers that are still alive at that time will have to choose him over Satan, making it a decision of the heart, not a technicality.While there is much speculation on how the mark of the beast will be implemented, all that the Bible actually tells us is that it will be global, and that it will be on the right hand or forehead. The mark could be something as simple as a tattoo or as complex as a biochip. Finally, at the end of the great tribulation, the False Prophet, the Antichrist, and all of his followers will be quickly defeated by Jesus at the Battle of Armageddon. After which, the Antichrist and the False Prophet will be thrown into a lake of fire for the rest of eternity. In the end, Jesus wins!
Throughout history, people have speculated about the identity of the Antichrist with a few catholic popes, Hitler, and various U.S. presidents being among them. Former speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi has been a popular candidate in modern times, but the Bible clearly states that the Antichrist will be a man not a woman, and not a political system.
It is likely that most people who are alive when the Antichrist is revealed will be very surprised at his identity. The Antichrist may or may not be alive today. Martin Luther, who was the father of the Protestant Reformation in 1517, was convinced that Pope Leo of his time was the Antichrist.
During the 1940’s, many believed Adolph Hitler was the Antichrist. But neither Hitler nor Pope Leo came close to meeting the criteria that the Bible uses to describe the Antichrist. Just because someone is evil that doesn’t make them the Antichrist.
Others who have lived in the past few hundred years have been equally sure as to the identity of the Antichrist. So far, they have all been incorrect. We should put speculations and wishful thinking driven by hatred behind us and focus on what the Bible actually says about the antichrist. When the Antichrist is revealed every Christian in the world will know it with certainty.
It’s fine to speculate because that’s what makes studying the End Times so much fun, but always let your litmus test come from scripture, not pop culture. Keep in mind the required criteria that the Bible says about the Antichrist:1. He will be a human man, not a woman, nor a political system.2. He will be extremely arrogant and boastful and will rise to power through a series of wars and will then establish his headquarters in Jerusalem.3. He will then create a covenant with many and will later take away Israel’s sacrificial system at the temple.4. He will be revealed to the world when he is resurrected from the dead by the False Prophet and then sets himself up in the Jewish temple and proclaims to be God.5. He and the False Prophet will then require worship and institute the mark of the beast to buy and sell anything.
*Please see Appendix B for a complete list of all relevant scriptures about the Antichrist.
THE FALSE PROPHET After the Antichrist has established himself in the tribulation, a second beast, known as the False Prophet, will emerge, and will also be a singular human male. You can think of the False Prophet as a hype-man for the Antichrist. Revelation says he will look like a lamb but will speak like a dragon. He will be able to perform great miracles and signs. If you have ever heard the phrase “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” that can be used to describe the False Prophet. The False Prophet will serve a spokesperson and an enforcer for the Antichrist. He will likely be an influential leader who will have the power and money to coerce and deceive many people.
Revelation 13:12-14 says, “It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.” Revelation 13:14-18 goes on to say, “The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.” This tells us that the Antichrist will be fatally wounded and that the False Prophet will heal him. The Antichrist will escape death just like Christ, which will cause a lot of people including many of the Jews to see him as the Messiah. To put it simply…the world will be duped by these two men, no different than Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan thousands of year ago. GROTESQUE PARODYSatan will create a grotesque parody that will fool many people. If it were an organizational chart it would look something like this. God & Satan Jesus & the Antichrist The Holy Spirit & The False Prophet The Church & Babylon the Great
THE BOOK OF REVELATIONIt’s now time to begin studying the tribulation and the Book of Revelation. Let’s go over a little background before we start. The Book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John around the year 95 AD, near the end of his life, while he was exiled by the Roman Government to the Island of Patmos which is in present-day Greece. He had been exiled for spreading the gospel, (Revelation 1:9). It says that John was in the Spirit when he saw Jesus standing behind him. God gave this revelation to Jesus, and Jesus gave it John for John to then give to us. The word revelation comes from the Greek word apocalypse, which means revealing or unveiling. The entire book of Revelation is about the unveiling of Jesus Christ to the world at the time of his second coming. We associate the word apocalypse with the end of the world, when actually it simply means to unveil and reveal. Fortunately for us, the Book of Revelation is one of the most encouraging books in the Bible, because in it we see our savior vindicated before the world. Revelation is really a very simple book. It boils down to this (spoiler alert), Jesus wins in the end!
So, what is the tribulation? The tribulation will be that last seven years that we learned about in Daniel’s Seventy Weeks when God brings an end to sin by systematically destroying the earth and punishing all non-believers. The last seven years will be divided into two sections. The first three and a half years probably won’t be much worse than the chaotic world that we live in now, but the last three and a half years will be horrible, as the Antichrist goes to war against the children of God, and God goes to war against the nonbelieving and the ungodly. Technically speaking, the first three and a half years are known as the tribulation, and the last three and a half years, when all the bad stuff happens, will be known as the great tribulation.
I want to remind everyone that this is not a study on the book of Revelation, but rather it’s a study on the End Times, which is why we have already read so much scripture from several other books in the Bible, such as Daniel and the two Thessalonians. But as we study the tribulation, most of that topic is found in Revelation. We’re not going to cover every detail of Revelation, but we’ll cover most of it.
One of the most important things to understand about the Book of Revelation is that Jesus reveals himself to the Apostle John and tells him in chapter 1:19 to write “what you have seen, the things that are now and the things that will take place later.” So, John is being commissioned by Jesus to write about the past, the present, and the future. Some people downplay Revelation by saying it’s already happened over different periods of history, or that it's simply an allegory or even a Biblical fairy tale. Verse 19 tells us that these things are still going to take place in the future, because Revelation is an entire book dedicated to long range predictive prophecy concerning the future. As we study it, we look at it from a futurist point-of-view.
It tells us the story of how God will finish his discipline of Israel and finalize his judgment on the unbelieving world. Also, don’t lose sight of the fact that God is a supernatural God, who does supernatural things. This is not about science. This is about faith!
A GLIMPSE AT HEAVENThe first three chapters of Revelation are specifically about the church. Jesus tells John to write seven letters to seven churches in what would now be modern-day Turkey. These weren’t symbolic churches; they were real churches. One of the churches was John’s church at Ephesus. As we move on into chapters 4 and 5 we get a very detailed account of what heaven and God look like. As we read and hear about all of the imagery in Revelation, we have to remember that John is using human words to articulate something that’s divine and something he’s never seen before on Earth. Also, you have to think that here on earth we only have four known dimensions, up and down, left and right, backwards and forwards, and the dimension of time. In heaven there will be many more dimensions. People who have gone through near death experiences have returned and said there are so many more dimensions in heaven. Even our seven-color color spectrum is based on light from a mediocre sun. In heaven, our light will come from God. Can you imagine how many more colors we will see? So, think about John visiting heaven in the first century. His words can’t match or adequately describe what he’s seeing in heaven. John used his limited vocabulary and earthly senses to describe something that's indescribable, like the majesty of God.
Revelation 4:3-6 reads a lot like a science fiction book. “At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also, in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.”
While there is symbolism used in various prophecies, things like dragons, beasts, and horsemen, etc., all of it portrays literal beings or events, in much the same way as Jesus is spoken of as both a lion and a lamb, but we know in reality Jesus was a human being. This type of Biblical writing is known as apocalyptic literature. This type of imagery isn’t new and John certainly isn’t the first person in the Bible to get a glimpse of heaven. We read about heaven in the Book of Job, as well as Isaiah and Ezekiel, who both go to heaven in a vision, along with the Apostle Paul. But no one gets to see God or go to heaven in real time, it’s always in the spirit or in a vision. In Exodus Chapter 33:20, Moses asked to see God, and God said, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
ALL THE BAD STUFFIn the Book of Daniel, we read about Daniel receiving several pieces of prophecy, such as the Seventy Weeks from the Angel Gabriel. Part of this was revealed to Daniel on a scroll, and in Daniel Chapter 12 Daniel is instructed to seal up that scroll until the End Times. Daniel 12:4 says, “But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end.” As we transition into the Book of Revelation and as John describes God in heaven, we read in Revelation 5:9, that God is holding the same scroll that Daniel had sealed up. It is a scroll with seven seals. This is the same set of seals that Jesus will open in the End Times that will then unleash both the Antichrist and the wrath of God. And only Christ will be worthy to open these seals. If you have ever heard the song lyrics, “worthy is the lamb,” this is where it comes from. It’s interesting that God told Daniel to seal it up and keep it a secret, but then he revealed all of it to John 660 years later, once the church age had begun.
When we get to chapter 6, this is when all the fun begins. Chapter 6 begins with Jesus opening the seven seals that are on the scroll. As this unfolds the seven seals then lead to seven trumpets, which lead to seven bowls. The seals are preconditions, or things that must happen before the scroll can be opened. It’s easy to think about the seven seals, trumpets, and bowls as being symbolic, but again, we are serving a supernatural God. I believe they are real…at least by heavenly standards. Jesus will literally open seven real seals that are on a real scroll. Seven angels will then sound seven real trumpets, and finally, seven angels will pour God’s wrath out on the earth from seven real bowls.
THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSELet’s start by talking about the seals. Beginning in Revelation Chapter 6, Jesus opens the first four seals and unleashes what’s known as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They’re a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse. There have been many explanations about who these four horsemen are, but nobody knows for sure.
Most all scholars agree that the white horse is the Antichrist. “I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.”
I believe it’s best to take the remaining three horsemen at face value, which is what the Bible tells us, and that all three will be a result of persecution from the Antichrist. The red horse will wage war. “Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.”
The black horse will usher in famine. “I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’”
The last horse was a pale horse. “I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.”I think the best way to understand the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is that the first one is the Antichrist, and the other three, war, famine, and death will be a result of his actions.
THE FIFTH SEALJesus goes on to open the fifth seal in Revelation 6:9-11. “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.” This tells us that a lot of Christians are going to die during the tribulation at the hand of the Antichrist because of their faith.
THE PRE-WRATH RAPTUREWe have come to a major crossroads in our study on the End Times. Before we talk about the sixth seal, and before we can go any further, I’m now ready to explain what’s known as the pre-wrath rapture. A pre-wrath rapture means that the rapture will happen sometime after the three-and-a-half-year midpoint, but before the wrath of God begins.
The first five seals, which are the four horsemen and the martyred saints from the tribulation, are a result of the Antichrist and his persecution. Everything else, beginning with the sixth and seventh seals, will then usher in the wrath of God with the seven trumpets and seven bowls. Please remember that there is an important distinction between the events of the Antichrist’s persecution and the events of God’s wrath. The Antichrist’s great tribulation will be directed at the church and Israel, while the Lord’s wrath will be directed against the ungodly. Trust me, persecution from the Antichrist will look like a walk in the park compared to the wrath of God!
When you study the End Times, you have to incorporate all that the Bible has to say about it. The End Times are so much more than just the Book of Revelation. There are six pieces of foundational scripture that fully support a pre-wrath rapture, and they are Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24, first and second Thessalonians, and finally Revelation chapters 6 and 7. The main way to look at that is if someone tells you something to be true, and they can prove it with six different sources, that tells you that it’s likely to be true.
Unfortunately, a pre-wrath rapture means that the saints who are alive during the End Times will have to endure persecution from the Antichrist, but will be raptured from the earth before God ends everything by systematically destroying the earth and pouring out his wrath and final judgement on the ungodly.
WHY ALL THE CONTROVERSY?Why is there so much controversy surrounding the rapture? It’s because the timing of the rapture changes everything. It has been a popular belief in modern times that the church will be raptured out before the tribulation begins and before the Antichrist arrives, and this is known as the pre-tribulational theory. Growing up in church, I remember preachers saying that you didn’t have to worry about surviving the tribulation because as Christians we won’t be here when it happens. The pre-tribulational theory has only been taught since the early 1800s. So, this view of the rapture is actually relatively new. There is very little scripture to support a pre-tribulational rapture. In a lot of ways, I think this theory was developed out of wishful thinking because nobody wants to think about suffering through the Antichrist and the great tribulation.
Paul clearly states in Second Thessalonians 2:3-4 that the rapture won’t happen until the Antichrist has been revealed, and the Bible makes it clear in Daniel 9:27 that the Antichrist will not be revealed until the midpoint of the final seven years. Even most conservative End Times scholars agree that the Antichrist will be revealed at the midpoint when he sets himself up inside the Jewish Temple. In my opinion, those two pieces of scripture alone totally debunks the theory of pre-tribulationalism.
Pre-tribulationalism hinges on the fact that the rapture is imminent, meaning it can happen at any point in time. That still remains true with a pre-wrath rapture, but it’s narrowed down to a much shorter window of time, after the midpoint. As Paul tells us in First Thessalonians 5:1-9, the burden behind the imminence of Jesus’ return is placed on the back of the ungodly, not the children of God, because as Christians, we believe and know about the imminent return of Jesus. We know it’s coming, and it’s not a surprise to us. We live our lives right not because we’re afraid of when Jesus when will return, but rather, we live our lives right because we know that Jesus loves us and will reward us with eternal life. That’s why the rapture and the day of the Lord will be a great thing for us but will be an absolutely horrific event for the nonbelievers of the world.
THE OLIVET DISCOURSE AND THE BOOK OF REVELATIONMuch of the proof for a pre-wrath rapture comes from what is nicknamed the Olivet Discourse, which is Matthew 24. Here, Jesus explained to his disciples how the End Times would play out. The Olivet Discourse also lines up perfectly with Revelation chapters 6 and 7. These two sets of scripture serve as a blueprint for the End Times timeline. I know this can all sound confusing, but I want to show how multiple books of the Bible line up to tell the same End Times story.
MATTHEW 24 PARALLELS REVELATION 6-7 Verses 4-5 The Antichrist/False Messiahs First Seal, 6:1-2Verses 6-7 Wars Second Seal, 6:3-4Verse 7 Famine Third Seal, 6:5-6Verses 9, 21-22 Martyrdom (Great Tribulation) Fourth Seal, 6:7-8Verses 9, 21-22 Martyrdom (Great Tribulation) Fifth Seal, 6:9-11Verse 29 Celestial Disturbances Sixth Seal, 6:12-17Verses 30-31 Raptured Saints Interlude, 7:9-17Verses 14, 30, 36-41 Day of the Lord’s Wrath Seventh Seal, Trumpets & Bowls
In Matthew 24, Jesus described in great detail how the Antichrist will rise up, deceive many, and persecute the children of God during the great tribulation. In verses 4-14 he says, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Jesus goes on to say in verses 15-22 that the End Times will not be easy for the children of God. “So, when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”
One thing to keep in mind about the birthing pains, is that they will take place during the first three and a half years, while the Antichrist is rising to power. That’s why Jesus said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” So, as we see things happening in our world, likepandemics, and Russia invading Ukraine, etc., these things are going to happen, but not only is it not the End Times, it’s still not even the beginning of the birthing pains.
CELESTIAL DISTURBANCESThen Jesus describes a celestial event that will take place immediately following the time of the Antichrist where the sun and moon will be darkened, stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Matthew 24:29 says, “Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” Passages in Isaiah 13:9-10; Joel 2:31, Acts 2:16-21, and Revelation 6:12-17, describe the same exact celestial disturbances, that happen immediately after the distress caused by the Antichrist but before the day of the Lord begins. The importance of these celestial events is that it proves that certain things must happen before the day of the Lord can begin.
Then in Matthew 24:30, Jesus describes the rapture when he says, “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
The celestial disturbances and the rapture found in Matthew 24:29-31 line up perfectly with the same events in Revelation 6:12-17, 7:9-17 (see chart above) which say, “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?’
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: ‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!’
Then one of the elders asked me, ‘These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?’ I answered, Sir, you know. And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
What John is describing in Revelation 7:9-17, is the rapture as seen from Heaven’s point-of-view. This part of Revelation is known as the interlude, because it falls between the sixth and seventh seals. Pre-tribulationists have always said that this multitude of saints under the altar are what’s known as the “tribulational saints,” who are nonbelievers who will come to believe Jesus and will be killed for the faith during the great tribulation. But there is no scripture to support this, they’re only speculating to support their view. When you line up The Olivet Discourse, Daniel, the two Thessalonians, and Revelation, it becomes obvious that the rapture will happen after the midpoint but before the wrath of God begins, and what is being described here is the rapture.
SUFFERING AND PERSECUTION It only makes sense that Christians will be persecuted in the End Times because we have been persecuted for the last 2,000 years. Persecution and suffering simply comes with the turf in being a Christian. You have to remember that Christians were used as human torches in Rome during Emperor Nero’s reign and were also fed to the lions as sport. All of Jesus’ apostles were martyred except John, and he was put in exile. Even in modern times, Christians are imprisoned and killed for their belief in Christ. Churches in China, for example, still continue to operate underground out of fear of persecution.
Jesus warned us in advance about the End Times persecution that his followers would have to endure. In Matthew 24:9 he says, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.” In John 15:18-19 he told his disciples, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
Some scholars suggest that the purpose for the church to suffer greatly just before Christ’s second coming will be for purging and purifying, separating out those who claim to have faith from those who actually possess true faith. When faced with starvation will a saint sell their soul for a loaf of bread? Christians who are unfortunate enough to be alive during the great tribulation will be forced to choose God over Satan. There will be no riding the fence. There will be no ambiguity. It will be clear as night and day.
But know and understand that Satan will be happy to take your soul under any condition, such as trickery and deception, just like he fooled Adam and Eve thousands of years ago. God, on the other hand, will require you to make a concrete decision. It will have to be a decision of the heart. God or Satan. The final three and a half years will be Satan’s greatest hour. Satan isn’t stupid. He’s very shrewd, crafty, and clever. He reads the same Bible that we do. He knows that he is a short-timer and that he can’t change that fact. But misery loves company, and he will work as hard as he can to take as many souls as possible with him to eternal burning in the lake of fire! TWO TYPES OF PEOPLEI recently mentioned the term tribulational saints. To some degree, the pre-tribbers are correct. There will be a great number of people who will come to believe during the great tribulation, and it’s safe to call them tribulational saints. Although a lot of bad things are going to happen during the tribulation, a lot of good things are also going to happen, meaning a lot of people will turn and return to God. At the present time we see a sharp rise in people losing their faith. We see people turning away from God, bringing to life the words that Peter and Paul used 2000 years ago to describe how mankind would act in the last days. But when the proverbial crap hits the fan, things will quickly change. There will be two types of nonbelievers that will emerge from the great tribulation. Those who say, “Oh Shit! Grandma was right. Jesus is real!!! How did I miss this when it was right in front of me?” And then there will be those who will continue to curse God, hate God, and blame God for what’s happening. There will be no mediocre responses to this. Things will be too extreme to be in the middle, people will have to go one way or the other.
THE WRATH OF GODSomething to keep in mind as we read about the wrath of God here on the earth, is that God will eventually pull his Holy Spirit away. Paul tells us in Second Thessalonians 2:5-8, “Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”
There are several things to look at in this set of verses. The first “he” that is mentioned is the Antichrist. The second “he” that is mentioned is the Holy Spirit. But the most important thing about this proof text is that it reminds us that God is the architect of the End Times, and that it will all play out exactly when, why, where, and how, God wants it to. None of the End Times will begin until God is ready to reveal the Antichrist.
Think about how screwed up the world is right now and that’s with the Holy Spirit in place protecting us. I can only imagine how bad it will be once the spirit of God is completely removed from this world. Most End Times scholars agree that the second “he” in Paul’s passage is the Holy Spirit. Another possibility that it could be is the archangel Michael. But I feel like it’s the Holy Spirit.
In Revelation Chapter 8, the seventh seal opens up and brings in the seven trumpets. Basically, the seventh seal opens up round two. The seven trumpets bring a great deal of destruction on the earth. Before I read this very descriptive passage, I want you to remember and think about what I said earlier… persecution from the Antichrist will look like a walk in the park compared to the wrath of God! Revelation 8:7-12 reads, “The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.” Wow! At this point, God’s patience with mankind is over, and he means business. In the interest of time, we’re not going to discuss all of the remaining trumpets and destruction associated with each one. But I encourage each of you to read it for yourselves. I would recommend that when you read the book of Revelation that you read it with a modern translation that’s easy to understand, such as the New International Version (NIV), the New Living Translation (NLT), or The Message (MSG). The best Bible translation is one that you will read, and most importantly, the one that you can understand. I would also recommend if you want to study the End Times further that you read the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament. There is a definite correlation between God’s punishment of Egypt and his protection of Israel, and God’s punishment of an unbelieving world and his protection of Israel during the End Times.
Unfortunately, as God continues to systematically destroy the earth with natural disasters and plagues, people’s hearts will continue to harden toward God, just like Pharaoh’s heart hardened in the Book of Exodus. Revelation 9:20 says, “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.” It goes on to say in Chapter 16:10-11, “The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.”
THE TWO WITNESSESWe’re now going to jump forward to Chapter 11, which is a description of two individuals who will help accomplish God’s work during the tribulation. This shows us how merciful God is because even at the eleventh hour is he still leaving the ninety-nine to go find the one. God will send back to Earth two of the greatest prophets ever to evangelize. If it were a baseball game it would be the equivalent of him sending back Cy Young and Babe Ruth!
From the description that we get, these two people are more-than-likely from heaven and will display supernatural abilities. Verse 3 says, “I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days.” Nowhere does the Bible identify these two witnesses by name, so we can only speculate, but we have some good evidence for our speculation. And I’m okay to speculate as long as it’s consistent with the Bible. The two witnesses will have miraculous powers to accompany their message, and no one will be able to hurt them.
However, Chapter 11 tells us that at the end of their ministry they will be killed by the Antichrist. It says the wicked world will rejoice, as every people, tribe, language, and nation, will gaze on their bodies and refuse to bury them, as the bodies of the fallen prophets lie in the streets of Jerusalem. Three and a half days later, however, God will breathe life back into the two witnesses, and they will be resurrected, and, in full view of their enemies, will ascend to heaven. Modern technology and social media will make it possible for everyone on the planet to see this happen.
So, who are the two witnesses? Moses and Elijah are the most likely candidates due to the specific miracles that John says that they will perform. The witnesses will have the power to turn water into blood, which duplicates one of the plagues that Moses performed against Egypt. And the witnesses will have the power to stop it from raining, which corresponds to a miracle that Elijah’s performed. Also giving strength to this view is the fact that Moses and Elijah both appeared with Jesus in a spiritual-form at the transfiguration, (Matthew 17:3–4). Further, Jewish tradition expects Moses and Elijah to return, based on the prophecy of Elijah’s coming in the Book of Malachi 4:5-6, and God’s promise to raise up a prophet like Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy: 18:15, 18.
THE WOMAN & THE DRAGON One of the keys to understanding the Book of Revelation is to know the difference between what’s symbolism and what’s meant to be understood as real. Chapter 12 is a sidebar in the story. The timeline stops moving forward in order that we can gain some insight from the past. If Chapter 12 were a movie or TV show, we would call it a time-hop or the back-story. It helps give us the reader perspective on what’s going on. That’s exactly what Revelation Chapter 12 is, it’s a time-hop. It gives us a quick glimpse into the history of Satan, Israel and Christ.
Revelation 12:1-5 reads, “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.”
We learn a lot about both Israel and Satan in Chapter 12. Symbolically, the woman is Israel, and the dragon is Satan. We know that the woman is Israel because it says she had a crown of twelve stars on her head and gave birth to a son who will rule the nations. Some say this is mother Mary. And, while yes, Mary did give birth to Jesus, we know that the crown of twelve stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel, and we know that symbolically Israel gave birth to Jesus through the root of Jesse.
As for the references about the dragon being Satan, the Bible gives it to us in plain language. Revelation 12:9 says, “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” Unlike the story of the Hobbit or one my favorite childhood movies, Pete’s Dragon, this is not about a real dragon. It’s symbolism and the dragon is Satan. When we combine this with other chapters in the Bible we learn that Satan was an angel gone rouge. It’s important to always remember that Satan is simply a bad angel. He is not God! He is nowhere close to being God. He can only do what God allows him to do. Chapter 12 starts out in the past with verses 1 through 5, but then, in verses 6 through 17 it jumps to the final three and a half years of the End Times, which is still to come in the future.
“The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancientserpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.’
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.”
THE HARLOT, BABYLON THE GREATChapters 17, 18, and most of 19, is another example of where Revelation uses a sidebar to illustrate part of the narrative. It talks about a prostitute who is known as Babylon the Great. Much like how Chapter 12 used symbolism to describe Israel as a woman and Satan as a Dragon, here, Babylon the Great is described as a prostitute who symbolizes the evil world system that will be controlled by the Antichrist during the great tribulation. Babylon the Great is symbolic of spiritual adultery and an ungodly end-times religious system. It is the evil and corrupt equivalent of the church.
The word Babylon is a byword for corruption and evil. Within these three chapters, Babylon the Great also represents a literal city. Part of this story is symbolic, but at the same time, part of it is talking about a literal city, and End Times scholars love to debate about which city this could actually be. Some believe it's Rome and others believe it could be New York City.
In the Bible, the city of Babylon is mentioned over 350 times, second only to Jerusalem. Babylon was a physical city that used to exist in the Old Testament. Today, its archeological remains are about 50 miles south of Baghdad in Iraq. It was there in Genesis that the Tower of Babel was built as humans tried to reach heaven. Later on, it was the capitol of the Babylonian empire that took Israel into exile and destroyed the first temple. Symbolically, the city of Babylon is to Satan like Jerusalem is to God. You could make a modern reference by comparing Las Vegas or Hollywood to Babylon. Babylon stands for everything that is anti-God.
The Bible will use words to symbolically describe other cities as unholy. For example, in the book of First Peter, Peter refers to Rome as Babylon. In Revelation 11:8-9, which is talking about the death of God’s two witnesses during the great tribulation, it says that “their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where the Lord was crucified.” Here, God is using a byword to describe his beloved city of Jerusalem because of how wicked it will be during the reign of the Antichrist. Although Jerusalem is God’s holy city, it has also been a city filled with apostasy, and a city that God has referred to several times in the Bible as a harlot. There are many examples in the Bible of the Israelites turning their backs on God and committing unheard-of atrocities with other gods. While Jerusalem may be God’s holy city, it has also been a very unholy city at different points in history, (Matthew 5:11-12, Hebrews 11:36-37).
It can be difficult to determine what is symbolism verses what is literal in chapters 17, 18, and 19, but just like in Chapter 12, if you read close enough, the chapter itself will give you the answers. While there is much debate over what city John was describing as Babylon the Great, to me, it’s obvious that the city is Jerusalem.
Revelation 18:24 reads, “In her was found the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people.” Jerusalem is the city where God’s prophets were killed, (Luke 13:33-35).
Revelation 17:15-18 reads, “Then the angel said to me, ‘The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” The great city in the Bible is Jerusalem, which will be the End Times headquarters of the Antichrist.
THE TRIBULATION COMES TO AN ENDIn Chapter 16 of Revelation, we see that God finally brings the great tribulation to a close. Listen to these words and be glad that you’re a believer. God will use a series of seals that will lead to trumpets, and finally, the trumpets will lead to bowls. It’s now the end, and time for the bowls. Revelation 16:2-11, 17 paints a very sobering picture of how the wrath of God finally ends, “The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, It is done!” That last verse is very similar to what Jesus said in John 19:29-30, right as he died on the cross. “A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDONThe Battle of Armageddon will be the event that brings the great tribulation to a close. This is the event that brings Jesus back for his second coming. If his first coming happened quietly in a manger at Bethlehem, which is located in central Israel, his second coming will be with a bang and will happen at the Battle of Armageddon, which will take place in Northern Israel on the plain of Megiddo, about sixty miles north of Jerusalem. In reality, there will be about 70 miles that separates the distance between his first and second comings. The word “Armageddon” comes from the Hebrew word Har-Magedone, which means Mount Megiddo. It has become synonymous with the future battle in which Jesus will intervene and destroy the armies of the Antichrist. There will be a multitude of people engaged in the Battle of Armageddon, as all the nations gather together to fight against Israel and Jesus. We first read about Armageddon in Revelation 16:12-21, as the angels pour out the remains of God’s wrath in the sixth and seventh bowls. We get the final details of the battle in Chapter 19:11-21, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small. Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.” The very word Armageddon can be scary because of what it represents. But in reality, this battle between good and evil, between Jesus and the Antichrist really is no battle at all. Always remember…Satan is just an angel gone bad. If our God has the power to speak the universe into existence, then defeating Satan and his armies will be simple. It’ll be like an old-school Mike Tyson fight…it’ll be over before it ever begins. If Christ brought salvation with him during his first coming, he will bring justice with him at his second coming. THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRISTImmediately after Jesus defeats the Antichrist and the False Prophet at the Battle of Armageddon, we then move into Chapter 20 which tells about the millennial kingdom of Jesus, and the defeat of Satan. The millennial kingdom is the name given to the one-thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ here on the earth. The Bible tells us that when Christ returns to earth during his second coming, he will establish himself as king in Jerusalem, sitting on what’s known as the throne of David. This will be a literal, physical return of Christ to establish his kingdom on earth and it will last for one thousand years. This one-thousand-year period of time will serve as a bridge between life here and now, and life in eternity. Chapter 20 has two things going on at once, the establishment of Jesus’ millennial kingdom and the defeat of Satan. Let’s first talk about the defeat and judgement of Satan and then we’ll talk more about the millennial kingdom.
Revelation 20:1-3“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.”
Revelation 20:7-10“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
It says that after God releases Satan from the abyss that Satan will go right back to his old tricks, and he will gather an army to defeat Jesus. Why in the world, after all the things that Satan has done to disrupt God’s plan of salvation, would God give Satan all these extra chances? So, let’s recount the chances. Satan’s pride caused him to rebel and God kicked him out of Heaven… strike one! Then God kicked him out of the Garden of Eden along with Adam and Eve after he caused the fall of man…strike two! After the Battle of Armageddon one of God’s angels will seize Satan, bind him with a great chain, and throw him into an abyss for one thousand years…strike Three.
If you notice here, God sends an angel to deal with Satan. He doesn’t even bother to do it himself. Why? Like I have said many times, Satan is simply a rogue angel, and all it takes to defeat him is another one of God’s angels. And even though the Bible doesn’t tell us specifically, I feel certain that God will give the pleasure of Satan’s capture to the archangel Michael. I’m fine to speculate that because it’s consistent with the rest of the Bible. Michael is mentioned more than once in the Bible as God’s chosen angel who deals with Satan. Finally, after being bound in a bottomless pit for one thousand years, God releases Satan one last time, and he once again deceives mankind enough to gather an army to fight against Jesus. It’s amazing how mankind can’t seem to resist Satan’s temptation. Even after having Jesus and total peace on this earth for one thousand years, people will still fall for Satan and his lies, by falling for Satan’s biggest pick up line… “You will be like God”…strike Four. And with that God throws Satan into the burning lake of sulfer forever.
The reason that God continues to give Satan so many chances is because God is a merciful God. And even though he has always known the outcome, God gives all of us multiple chances to make the right decision, including Satan. If God will give Satan this many chances, what does that say about us? God truly is a forgiving, merciful, just, and loving God. We’re reminded in Romans 5:8 that God loved us even when we were sinners. But ultimately, we can’t blame God if we don’t make it to heaven because at the end of the day, the decision to accept him is ours. God doesn’t send anyone to hell, he simply honors their wishes. THE NEW HEAVEN & NEW EARTHAfter the millennial kingdom is over God will restore things back to the way they were in the beginning in the Garden of Eden, when things were perfect and when mankind coexisted with God. If you remember back in the beginning paragraphs of this paper, I said if you look at the first two chapters of the Bible and then flip to the end and read the last two chapters of the Bible, it would all be a perfect story. I read a few excerpts from those last two chapters. Let’s now take a deeper look at Revelation, chapters 21 and 22. Revelation 21:1-7“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, Look, I am making everything new! And he also said, It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.” Revelation 21:10-14Reading on down… “and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”
HMMM…we’ve always been taught that we will go up to heaven, but actually heaven will be coming down to us!
Revelation 21:21-27“The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass. I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
WHAT DID JOHN REALLY SEE?As we wrap up our study on the End Times, let’s think about some of the really interesting things we’ve read about in the Book of Revelation. We know that some of it was most definitely meant to be written and understood as symbolism. We know its symbolism because the Bible tells us it is. Things like the dragon, the beast, and the woman. The Bible says that the dragon is Satan, the beast is the Antichrist, and the woman is the nation of Israel. We see earlier in the Bible that Jesus is referred to as both a lion and a lamb, but we know in reality that he was a real person.
But what about some of this other strange stuff in Revelation? In Chapter 9 we read about locust that come up from the smoke and descend upon the earth. They had the power to sting like scorpions. The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had teeth like the teeth of a lion. They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle.
We have to remember that John was looking into the future from the year 95 A.D. and the written word was his medium. He wasn’t able to show us a YouTube video of what he saw. He could only use certain words to describe what he was seeing. What if what he was seeing was from the 21st Century? For example, how would John be able to describe a fighter jet like an F22 Raptor?
In Chapter 9, we get this description… “And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths. Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.” Could John have been describing a military tank?
No one will know for sure until it all happens, but the point of this is to not just simply chalk the Book of Revelation up to symbolism. It’s an ancient book that was written about modern occurrences. It wasn’t written for people in John’s time. It wasn’t even written for people a hundred years ago. But I believe wholeheartedly that it was written for us in our time. Reading it from that point of view makes it a little easier to understand.
ISRAEL TODAYIn the early morning hours of October 7, 2023, the Palestinian militant group known as Hamas launched a large scale surprise attack against Israel. Who is Hamas and how did things escalate to this point, and why is all of this Biblical?
Let’s start from the beginning and take a Biblical look at the events leading up to October 7th. The Bible tells us that God promised and gave the land of Israel to Abraham and the Jews in what is known as the Abrahamic Covenants that are found in the Book of Genesis. Throughout the Biblical narrative, the Jews lived in the land that God gave them, either under their own sovereignty or under the rule of other nations.
Roughly forty years after Jesus was crucified, the second Jewish temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in the year 70 A.D., and the Jews were scattered all over the world. God then went silent with the Jews for 1,878 years. Most Christian scholars feel this was God’s way of punishing Israel for not only killing the Messiah, but more importantly, for the Jews denying their Messiah!
THE HOLOCAUST Finally, after World War II and the Holocaust, the Jews got to return to their promised land. This happened on May 14, 1948, and it fulfilled the prophecy in Ezekiel 37:21-22 that was written 2,500 years earlier, saying that “I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will bring them home to their own land from the places where they have been scattered. I will unify them into one nation on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule them all; no longer will they be divided into two nations or into two kingdoms.” This is such a powerful piece of prophecy because it was written so long ago and then played out down to the very letter during the 20th Century, during my parent’s lifetime.
The Holocaust and World War II created the right situation for putting Israel back on the world map, because of three things. One, it created world sentiment for the Jews. Two, it increased Jewish immigration to Palestine after the war ended. Three, the allies were able to garner financial support from the West German government.
All of this was done under the authority of the United Nations with help from Great Britain, who had colonized the land of Palestine during World War I. While some middle eastern countries were able to gain their independence from European colonization after World War I, Palestine remained under British rule, and was never a formal country. Just for note…when the Jews own the land it’s called Israel. When the Muslims own the land, it’s called Palestine. Israel and Palestine are two different names for the same piece of land.
THE 1948-1949 ARAB-ISRAELI WARIn a nutshell, the United Nations divided the land of Palestine between the Jews and the Palestinians. When Great Britain pulled out and Israel declared its independence in May 1948, war broke out immediately between Israel and the Palestinian people, with the neighboring Arab countries of Jordan, Syria, and Egypt coming to the aid of the Palestinians. Israel held strong and out of the 1948-1949 War they gained more territory than what was originally allotted to them by the United Nations, by taking about 60 percent of the land that was given to the Palestinians. Most importantly, Israel took control of West Jerusalem, while Jordan controlled and annexed East Jerusalem, which is where the Temple Mount is located. Jerusalem was divided during the first 20 years of Israel’s existence. The division of Jerusalem was similar to how Berlin was divided into east and west during the cold war.
THE 1967 SIX-DAY WARBetween June 5-10, 1967, Israel was attacked simultaneously by Egypt, Syria, & Jordan. To put it simply, it only lasted six days because the Israeli military was supreme. The Israeli army and air force took Jordan and Syria out of the fight in a couple of days, and by the sixth day they had easily defeated Egypt. Out of the Six-Day War, Israel seized new land from all three countries, including all of Jerusalem. But they stopped at the Temple Mount. Why would they stop at the Temple Mount? This was the golden prize that they had waited on and longed for, for thousands of years! Taking back the Temple Mount would have allowed them to rebuild their temple. Why would they not take it back when they had military supremacy? The main reason is they knew if they attacked the Temple Mount that is also home to the Muslim’s Dome of the Rock, that no Jew in the world would be safe. And that it would’ve potentially started World War III.
Also, the answer is in the Bible. Ezekiel 44:1-3 to be exact. The Israelis had to make a historic decision during The Six Day War, on whether or not to take the Temple Mount from the Arab/Muslim armies. The military was prepared to blow open the Eastern Gate, which had been closed with brick-and-mortar hundreds of years earlier by the Muslims, but their own Jewish rabbis stood in front of the tanks and reminded them of what God said in Ezekiel 44:1-3, that the Eastern Gate was to remain shut until the Messiah enters through it.
1967 TO NOWFor the most part, that’s where we stand today. Israel still controls the land that they occupied in 1967, with the big prize being what’s known as the West Bank. It’s the prized possession because that’s where Jerusalem is located. It’s called the West Bank because it’s eastern border is on the West Bank of the Jordan River. After acquiring so much land in 1967, Israel has continued fighting on and off with its Arab/Muslim neighbors. The fighting is over Israel’s divine right to own the land, while the misplaced Palestinians and their Muslim brothers understandably deny Israel’s right to exist in land that was taken from them.
The Palestinian people have been considered refugees living within their own land ever since 1948. I use the word land rather than country because Palestine has never been a formal country. Much like the Jews during Biblical times, the Palestinians have always been a people group who have been governed by an occupying kingdom, such as the Ottoman Empire, or countries like Great Britain, and now Israel. As Jews and Christians, we see all of this from a Biblical point-of view, but the Palestinians, the Muslims, the Arabs, and many other countries in the international community don’t see it that way. Although the Palestinians are not part of a formal country, they have shown a great deal of organization over the years with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and they have two well-funded, well-armed militant groups with Hamas, who operates out of Gaza in southern Israel, and Hezbollah, who operates out of Lebanon, just north of Israel.
After the Holocaust, any Jew in the world can gain open citizenship in Israel. There are approximately 15 million Jews in the world, which is roughly the population of Pennsylvania. Geographically, Israel is about the size of New Jersey. With an open immigration policy and a small amount of land, Israel is constantly looking for places to build housing. It becomes very controversial when they build settlements in the pieces of land that they occupied after the Six Day War, places like the West Bank. When you see Israel fighting with the Palestinians it is over the existence of Israel in the land of Palestine, and the land they occupied after the Six-Day War in 1967.
When you look at all of this from a big-picture, Biblical point-of-view, understand that the Jews and the Muslims have been fighting ever since Genesis 21:9, when Ishmael mocked Isaac. Regardless of how we as Christians feel about Muslims, the Muslims, for better or worse, have always been a part of God’s plan. This is also a great example of how God can synchronize his will with mankind’s free will. Hitler made a decision to take over Europe and to exterminate six million Jews. Even in our darkest hours and amid our worst decision-making as human beings, God can still work within that to fulfill his purpose. As a result of Hitler and two world wars, God put Israel back on the world map.
THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL AND ITS NEIGHBORSIn the aftermath of the October 7th raid, Israel has effectively neutralized Hamas by destroying much of Gaza, and killing several thousand Palestinians. They then turned their attention to Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, and effectively neutralized them after several air strikes. And then on September 17, 2024, Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, pulled off one of the greatest spy missions in history. An operation that was ten years in the making, allowed Israel to covertly place explosives in Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie talkies, and then detonate them simultaneously, killing and wounding several thousand.
And while Hamas and Hezbollah are Palestinian terrorist organizations, Israel’s biggest threat comes from the country of Iran, which backs Hezbollah with money and weapons. Since October 7th, both countries have traded sucker punches in the form of air strikes, but have restrained themselves from the temptation of acts that would lead to all-out war.
Then, on December 8, 2024, the Bashar al-Assad regime fell in Syria, allowing Israel to take out several of Syria’s weapons stockpiles and the Syrian Navy. Israel then extended the buffer zone between the two counties by occupying more land beyond the Golan Heights in southwestern Syria. In many ways, we are witnessing a modern-day version of the Book of Joshua play out on our news feeds.
Whenever God decides to start his clock on the final seven years of the End Times, we know that Israel will be at the epicenter. Events in the Middle East are certainly worth watching, but more importantly, we need to understand how and why this happened. There are too many End Times red flags not to, as God aligns his chest pieces. While all of this is alarming, it’s still not the beginning of the End Times, as some may think. People tend to twist current events to fit what the Bible says about the End Times, and that doesn’t always work. There are still several big pieces of prophecy that need to align with the Antichrist before this could even remotely resemble the beginning of the End Times. See my article on Understanding the Antichrist under Appendix B for more information on that.
The big thing to watch for is the Temple Mount, which still isn’t being mentioned much. It’s the one thing that more-than-likely caused all of this to happen, because Israel raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount on April 4, 2023, and arrested several Muslims who were worshipping. Hamas said their attack on October 7, 2023 was retaliation for that. Israel has been more aggressive with their actions on the Temple Mount in the last several months. The big red flag of all big red flags will be if Israel uses this as an opportunity to take back the Temple Mount and rebuild the third temple.
In the meantime, here are a few things to remember to help calm the nerves. Always remember that God is sovereign. As bad as it may seem, God is the architect of the End Times, and things will play out exactly the way that Biblical prophecy says they will, and this is from God and we have to trust him.
SPIRITUAL PREPPINGIt’s easy to think that God has forgotten about us, but as the old saying goes, God may be slow but he’s never late. The Apostle Peter tells us in Second Peter 3:8, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
To truly study the End Times and all of the prophecy associated with it, we have to look at it from a big-picture point-of-view. You can’t judge it based solely on the events going on around you at the time. While the depravity of the world seems to be escalating at a rapid pace, and we are getting closer to those “birthing pains” that Jesus spoke about, but we’re not there yet. There are still some big prophecies that have to happen first. Scripture clearly states that the following events must happen before the End Times can begin in earnest.
1. The Jews must rebuild their temple in Jerusalem (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15-16, Thessalonians 2:3-4). One of the ways that the temple can be rebuilt without tearing down the Dome of the Rock would be a sharing agreement on the Temple Mount between the Muslims and the Jews, with the temple sitting next to the Dome of the Rock. 2. The Antichrist still has to be revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). 3. The Antichrist will have to exist for three and a half years before there will be a mark of the beast. The mark of the beast is something that will happen after the midpoint of the final seven years (Daniel 9:27, Revelation 13:11-18).
One of the controversies surrounding the Covid 19 vaccine stemmed from the belief that it contained the mark of the beast. And while it is possible that the Antichrist and the False Prophet could use an injection of some kind to administer the mark, scripture clearly says a person will receive the mark on their right hand or on their forehead, (Revelation 13:16). And while the Antichrist may very well be alive right now, he certainly hasn’t been revealed yet, and that is a requirement. Which means according to scripture, the Covid 19 vaccine cannot be the mark of the beast because the mark of the beast will be a very overt, dictatorial process conducted by the Antichrist when it happens. It won’t be a secret or a trick.
To keep it in perspective, there are many tools in our society that might aid the Antichrist in administering the mark of the beast. Everything from a biochip inserted into a person’s hand to a simple tattoo will work. Just because certain tools exist that does not make them the mark of the beast. An example of a tool that can be perceived as doing both good and bad is the printing press. The same printing press that can print a Bible can also print a pornographic magazine, but that doesn’t make the printing press a bad thing. It’s simply a tool. It’s the human motive behind the tool that makes it good or bad.
It's also important to remember that most of humanity will never see the rapture or the great tribulation. There will only be a small percentage of Christians alive when these two things happen. Pop culture loves to talk about the mark of the beast, but you never hear anyone talk about the seal of God or being protected by the Holy Spirit. As a Christian, I know that God will protect my soul because I believe in him, which means Satan cannot touch my soul. I have been baptized and saved in God, and I worship and praise him daily. And God has had me cradled in his bosom since before I was ever born. He may choose to protect my earthly body if I live through the great tribulation. Or he may not. I’m fine either way, because my time here on Earth has been short ever since I arrived here at 3:34 p.m. on January 31, 1970. My true home is in eternity with God in heaven, not here on this earth.
Suffering is not only part of our human experience, but it’s also part of our spiritual experience as Christians. Jesus was the most innocent man in history, but yet, he suffered a very cruel and painful death on our behalf. Suffering reminds us that we truly are aliens in this world, because eternity with God is where we belong. In the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Paul echoed the same sentiment when he wrote about suffering in Romans 5:3. Paul writes, “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
THE SEAL OF GODIt’s not all complete gloom and doom. When I think about the End Times, I think about all of the times that God has protected me, even when I didn’t realize that he was protecting me. Plus, the scripture from First Thessalonians tells us that not all believers will be killed during the great tribulation. Paul told us that there will be a great number of people raptured from the earth, which means not all Christians will die during that time.
There is also biblical proof that God might choose to protect us. In the book of Exodus when God was punishing Pharaoh and Egypt with terrible plagues, he protected the Israelites from most of those plagues, although they were living alongside the Egyptians. Listen to these words from Exodus 8:22, “But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the LORD, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people.”
In Revelation 12:13-14 John uses apocalyptic writing to describe how God will protect Israel from Satan during the great tribulation. John writes, “When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.”
Here are more comforting words from God about sealing his own people, the same as the Antichrist will seal his followers with the mark of the beast. Revelation 7:3 says, “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” In Revelation 9:4 he also says, “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” While these two particular proof texts come after the rapture is mentioned in the book of Revelation and is for a special group of Jews known as the 144,000, it shows in plain language that God can protect whomever he chooses to protect.
Other scriptures that show God sealing his children include Second Timothy 2:19. There Paul says, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his, and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’” Ephesians 4:30 also echoes this. There Paul writes, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
The bottom line is this. If I’m alive when it all goes down and God chooses to protect me from the Antichrist, I’ll gladly accept his protection. If he doesn’t, I’ll gladly martyr my soul and step into eternity. This earth is temporary one way or another and anything I do here is temporary. Planet Earth is not where it’s at! God designed all of this. He decided before the beginning of time how it would play out because he is in control, and he is sovereign. I know as long as I am a believer, that I’ll be okay. If I live to see the End Times it will be difficult, but ultimately, suffering through three and a half years of the great tribulation can never compare to spending eternity with God in heaven. Selling your soul for a loaf of bread simply isn’t worth it! Jesus said it best in Matthew 16:26, when he said, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
There are a lot of things about the End Times that are part of God’s plan and that we will never have control over. The world is like the Titanic. It’s a sinking ship! The Bible clearly says that this world is ruled by Satan and that we as believers don’t belong to this world. We belong with God. Our Job as Christians is not to save the Titanic. It’s impossible to save a world that is already doomed! Instead, our job is to fulfill The Great Commission and get as many people as possible off of the Titanic and into the lifeboat of God.
If the End Times is Satan’s greatest hour, it will also be the greatest hour for The Great Commission. Remember there will be two types of people during the End Times. Those who curse God, and those who figure out that grandma was right and run to God. As Christians, if we live through the great tribulation, there will be much work to do, and God will expect more from us than to simply survive it in the fetal position. He will expect us to be just like the Apostle Paul, suffer as we will, and try to save as many as possible! There will be droves of nonbelievers looking for answers. And those answers will be found in our Bibles. We just have to be willing and ready to share the good news that we already know.
When things get scary all we have to do is trust God and remind ourselves that he is sovereign. And never forget this one simple fact, that in the end…Jesus wins!
APPENDIX A*The following is all of the major scripture concerning Satan. The translation is from the New International Version. Genesis 3:1-15…God allows Satan to enter the Garden of Eden and the fall of man ensues: The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” 2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” 4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” 6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. 8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” 11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” 14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
First Chronicles 21:1…Satan rose up against Israel and David sinned:“Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” Job 1:6-12, 2:1-6…God gives Satan a long leash:6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” 4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 6 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.” Isaiah 14:12-17…In a message to the king of Babylon, God describes Satan:“How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” 15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. 16 Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, 17 the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?”
Ezekiel 28:11-19… In a message to the king of Tyre, God describes Satan: The word of the LORD came to me: 12 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. 14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. 17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. 18 By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. 19 All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’” Luke 4:1-13…The temptation of Christ:Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” 9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Luke 10:18…Jesus saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning:He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Luke 22:31-32…Satan asks God to sift Peter:“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” John 8:42-44…Characteristics of Satan:Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 10:10…Satan is a thief bent on destruction:The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. John 12:31…Satan is the ruler of this world:Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. John 14:30…Satan is the ruler of this world:I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me; prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me. John 13:27…Satan enters Judas:As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” Second Corinthians 4:4…Satan is the god of this age:The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Second Corinthians 11:14…Satan and his demons are fakes:No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. Ephesians 2:1-2…Satan has dominion over the unseen world:As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. Ephesians 6:12…Our struggle isn’t against flesh & blood, but against the spiritual forces of the dark world & heavenly realms: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. First Peter 5:8…Satan prowls around like a roaring lion:Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. First John 5:19…The whole world is under the control of Satan:We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. Jude 9…Satan disputes the body of Moses with archangel Michael:But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you! Revelation 12:1-6…The Woman & The Dragon:A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. Revelation 12:7-12…The war in heaven with Archangel Michael:Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” Revelation 13:1-4 The Dragon and the Beast:The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” Revelation 20…The thousand years in the abyss:And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. 4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. 7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. APPENDIX B*The following is all of the major scripture concerning the Antichrist and the False Prophet The translation is from the New International Version. Daniel 7:1-8, 11-12, 15-27…Daniel sees the Antichrist & the distant future in a dream:“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream. 2 Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. 3 Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. 4 “The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it. 5 “And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’ 6 “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. 7 “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. 8 “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully. “Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. 12 (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority but were allowed to live for a period of time.) 15 “I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. 16 I approached one of those standing there and asked him the meaning of all this. “So, he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: 17 ‘The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth. 18 But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.’ 19 “Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws—the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. 20 I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell—the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. 21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. 23The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. 24 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time. 26 “‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’” Daniel 8:23-27…The Antichrist will destroy many & stand against Jesus: “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. 24 He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people. 25 He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power. 26 “The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.” 27 I, Daniel, was worn out. I lay exhausted for several days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding. Daniel 9:27…A warrior who will try to be like God:“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him” Daniel 11:36-45…The Antichrist will exalt himself:36 “The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. 37 He will show no regard for the gods of his ancestors or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. 38 Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses; a god unknown to his ancestors he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price. 40 “At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. 41 He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. 42 He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. 43 He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Cushites in submission. 44 But reports from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many. 45 He will pitch his royal tents between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.
Matthew 24:15-21...Jesus tells his disciples that the Great Tribulation will begin when the Antichrist sets up the abomination that causes desolation in the temple:“So, when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.” Second Thessalonians 2:1-12…The Apostle Paul says the day of the Lord will not come until the rebellion occurs and the Man of Lawlessness is revealed: “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” Revelation 6:2…The Antichrist is believed to be the first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: “I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.”
Revelation 13:2…Satan sets the Antichrist up with a great deal of power: “The beast I saw resembled a leopard but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.”
Revelation 13:3-4…He will be a man of swagger: One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
Revelation 13:5-8…The Antichrist will be very powerful man: “The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.”
Revelation 13:11-15…The False Prophet will serve as The Antichrist’s right hand, muscle man:Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
Revelation 13:16-18…The Mark of the Beast: “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.”
Revelation 14:9-12…Don’t sell your soul for a loaf of bread:“A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.” Revelation 15:1-4…Those who withhold from worshipping the Beast will be rewarded by God:I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. 4 Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” Revelation 16:2…God will punish those who worship the Antichrist:“The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.” Revelation 16:10-11…God pours his wrath out on the Antichrist: “The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.” Revelation 17:1-18…The Antichrist and Babylon The Great: One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.” 3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 The name written on her forehead was a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES, AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. 7 Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast, which you saw once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come. 9 “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10 They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. 11 The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. 12 “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. 13 They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.” 15 Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. 16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. 18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” Revelation 19:19-21…The Antichrist is defeated by Jesus in the end:“Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.” *The Apostle John talked about the term antichrist in both specific terms and general terms in his three epistles. This gives us a good definition of what an antichrist is. 1 John 2:18, 2218 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 1 John 4:33 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 2 John 1:77 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.-Revelation 19:10
Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.-First Peter 1:20-21
“The more we study prophecy, the more we can see things in our world that others cannot, like a physician who knows immediately how to treat a wound.”-Imad ShehadehJordan Evangelical Theological Seminary
“What a time to take the news of the day in one hand and the Bible in the other and watch the unfolding of the great drama of the ages come together.”-Billy Graham
“If all of the prophecy of Jesus’ first coming played out down to the very letter then we can expect all of the prophecy of his second coming to do the same.”-Tim Webb
DEDICATIONIn some ways, I’ve been studying the End Times ever since I was a kid growing up in Clay City, Kentucky in the 1970s and 1980s. My Dad and our minister at the Clay City Christian Church, Joe Hager, used to sit in our living room on Sunday afternoons after church and discuss the Book of Revelation and all of its mysteries. That’s the thing about kids, you think they aren’t listening or paying attention, when they really are. I owe my Dad and Joe a great deal of thanks for leaving behind some great books on the subject and for planting the seed.
I don’t claim to be a scholar, I’m just a guy who likes to geek-out on the Bible and loves to study the process in which God will culminate his plan of salvation, by bringing an end to sin once and for all.
I dedicate this book to Dad and Joe, and to a young lady named Lily Dobbins. Lily had been in my Sunday school class for several years, and one day her mother came to me and said that Lily had several questions about the End Times, and asked if I would explain it to her. Like Clark Kent ripping off his shirt and tie, I told her that I was up to the challenge! So I set out on the task of breaking down and explaining a very complicated subject to an eighth grader. As it turned out, I never got the opportunity to teach Lily, but God definitely had a plan because I have shared my understanding of the End Times with so many other people since then.
-Tim WebbOctober 24, 2024
WHAT IS ESCHATOLOGY?Whether you knew it or not, the fact that you’re reading this means that you’re now an eschatologist. Eschatology is simply the study of the End Times.
WHAT DO I BELIEVE?As someone who studies the End Times, I am a futurist, a premillennialist, and a dispensationalist, who believes in a pre-wrath rapture.
As a futurist, I believe that prophecy about the End Times and the second coming of Jesus Christ are still going to happen in the future, that they have not already been played out at certain points in history. As a premillennialist, I believe that the second coming of Christ will happen at the Battle of Armageddon, just before he begins his 1000-year millennial reign, and that the 1000-year reign of Christ described in Revelation Chapter 20 is to be taken at face value. As a dispensationalist, I believe that God has not written Israel off for denying the Messiah, and that both Christians and Jews are still part of God’s family and God’s plan, as the Apostle Paul explains in Romans Chapter 11. Finally, I believe in a pre-wrath rapture, which means I believe the rapture will happen sometime after the midpoint of the final seven years, but before the wrath of God destroys the earth and the ungodly. That means that any Christian alive at that time will have to endure persecution from the Antichrist.
THE PIECES PARTS OF THE END TIMESThese are the pieces/parts of the End Times, which means we’ll break it down and study it part by part, similar to a puzzle, and then put it together one piece at a time.1. The Church2. The Nation of Israel3. The Temple4. The Muslims5. Long Range Prophecy6. The Rapture7. Satan, The Antichrist, & The False Prophet8. The Book of Revelation & The Tribulation9. The Battle of Armageddon10. The Millennial Reign of Christ11. The New Jerusalem12. Israel Today13. Spiritual Prepping
JESUS WINSJust a reminder…the things that we’re getting ready to study can be scary, but always remember, that in the end, Jesus wins! Billy Graham once said, “The stark reality is that the battle is joined – the enemy is destructively at work. It is God verses Satan; Heaven verses hell; truth verses error; the word of God verses the word of men. But because of the victory Jesus Christ has already achieved, we know the outcome – the King of kings will establish his triumphant reign.”
THE FALL OF MANBefore you can have an ending you first need a beginning. Which leads to the question…how did we get here? If you pick up the Bible and read the first two chapters in Genesis and then flip to the last two chapters in Revelation, you would come away saying this is a very happy book!
In the first two chapters of Genesis, we read all about the creation and how good it was.We hear things like…-God created the universe.-He literally spoke much of the earth into existence.-He created man out of the dust of the earth and created woman out of man.-Most importantly, he made mankind out of his own image.-Then God planted a beautiful garden for man to live in, and man was designed to live forever, coexisting with God.
And then in the last two chapters of Revelation we read how great it will all be in the end.We hear things like…-How there will be a new heaven and a new earth.-There will be a new Jerusalem that will come down out of heaven.-The Bible tells us that in the end, God’s dwelling place will be back among his people.-There won’t be a need for the sun and moon anymore because God will be our light. -He will wipe ever tear from our eyes and there will be no more pain and suffering.
Unfortunately, it’s all the stuff in the middle of the Bible, those other 1,185 chapters that muddies the water! If the beginning and the end are so good, then how did we mess it all up? The answer to that question lies in Genesis Chapter 3, in what’s known as the fall of mankind. Here, we see that Satan entered the garden as a serpent and he tempted Adam and Eve to sin against God, and they fell for it. There were two trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told them that they were free to eat from any tree in the garden, but that they were not to eat from the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. To break it down into kindergarten terms, they were like all of us. They were human, and they made a bad choice.
An important thing to keep in mind is that Satan didn’t physically force them to do anything. He didn’t put Eve in a headlock and force her to eat the fruit. He merely tempted her by saying, “Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden? The woman said to the serpent, We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die. You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”
A few verses later at Genesis 3:15, 17-19, God literally has a come-to-Jesus talk with Satan and Adam and Eve. God said… “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” In other words, God was telling Adam and Eve that the party was over! ARE WE IN THE END TIMES NOW?Now that we know how we got here, people love to ask the question, “Are we in the End Times now?” I have heard that so many times, especially since the covid pandemic hit in 2020. There are two ways to look at this question. From an over-arching point-of-view the absolute answer is yes! The End Times have been here since the very moment that Jesus ascended back to heaven. He told us he would return. He just didn’t tell us when. It’s because of Jesus’ imminent return that we’ve been in the End Times for 2000 years. It’s not a matter of WILL he return. The real question is WHEN will he return?
The second way to look at this question is from an immediate point-of-view, which looks at where we are in the world today, and to be honest, there are still several big things that have to happen for us to truly be at the finish line. While things in the world are bad, we still have to put them in perspective with the rest of history because the things we’re experiencing now are nothing new. There has always been disease, natural disasters, famine, war, and death. Think about if there had been social media when the city of Pompeii was wiped out by a volcano in 79 A.D.? Or what if there had been cable news and YouTube during the black plague of the 1300s when millions of Europeans died, or when 20 million people died during World War I, and another 50 million people died with the 1918 Spanish Flu?
Although Covid was devastating, it doesn’t begin to compare to some of the other sufferings in history. We tend to be so focused on our own current condition that it becomes easy to proclaim that we’re in the End Times. It’s easy for us to think that the year 2020 was the worst year ever, and it may have been the worst year in our lifetime, but actually, historians will tell you that the year 536 A.D. was the worst year ever because of cataclysmic events caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland that affected the entire planet for over a year.
My point is this…to truly study the End Times and all of the prophecy associated with it, we have to look at it from a big-picture point-of-view. You can’t judge it based solely on the events going on around you at the time. While the depravity of the world seems to be escalating at a rapid pace, we are getting close, but we’re not there yet. There are still some big prophecies that have to be fulfilled first.
WHY ARE WE STILL HERE?So, we’ve answered the question of, “Are we in the End Times?” Which now brings up the next question, “Why are we still here? And why is it taking so long?” I don’t think that people down through the ages thought we would still be here 2000 years later. But here we are. The answer to this question is that God still has work to do. And we still have work to do on God’s behalf. God has a purpose and when that purpose is fulfilled, that’s when the end will come.
So, what is that purpose? The answer is The Great Commission. The last thing Jesus told his disciples before leaving this earth is what’s known as The Great Commission. You can find it at the very end of the gospels of Matthew and Mark. He literally commissioned the disciples standing in front of him at the time, as well as every disciple since then, to take the gospel to the entire world…every tribe, every nation, every tongue. Just a few days earlier, Jesus gave his disciples an important clue about the timing of the end in Matthew 24:14 when he said, “The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
If you were standing on a street corner predicting the end of the world two hundred years ago in the year 1825, a red flag would have been that the gospel had a long way to go before all the nations had heard it. But today, we’re pretty close to reaching that reality. Because of technology, missionaries and Bible translators have been able to take the gospel to most people groups across the planet.
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THE LAST DAYSIf we’re knocking on the door of the End Times and the finish line appears to be close then what does the Bible say about the last days? The Bible actually gives us several clues about what the End Times will be like. I’m going to present four sets of verses. As you read them, try to set aside your political views and your personal biases. Simply picture in your mind what the world is like right now, and then listen to these words that were written 2000 years ago about what the world would be like in the future. Soak in these words from a big-picture, Biblical point-of-view as you listen, and see if any of this sounds familiar.
First Timothy 4:1, In the later times people will fall away from the faith. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”
Second Timothy 3:1-5, The last days will be terrible times. “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
Second Timothy 4:3, People will leave sound doctrine.“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
Second Peter 3:3-4, 8-9, In the last days scoffers will come.“Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created. But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent.” This last verse in particular is so important to understanding the End Times because we tend to compare our clock to God’s clock, but the two aren’t the same. They’re not even close. God has eternity behind him and eternity in front of him. Our 24-hour clock or 365-day calendar is nothing compared to eternity which is infinite.
People love to ask the question, why isn’t God fixing this? Why does God allow bad things to happen? There’s two answers to that question. First, God allows Satan to rule this world, and that’s something that most people have trouble wrapping their brains around. But the Bible clearly tells us that fact multiple times (John 12:31, 14:30; Ephesians 6:12). And as long as Satan is ruling this world, trust me, bad things are going to happen!
Secondly, God gives us free will to either accept him or reject him. He wants us to accept him because we want to, not because we have to. There’s a quote from the book which was also a movie called The Shack that sums this thought up perfectly. “Love that is forced is no love at all.” God gave Adam and Eve a simple command, not to eat from The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. Then, when Satan entered the Garden and tempted them, they made their choice, the same as you and I have the opportunity to make choices every day. When sin entered the world pain and suffering came with it. Free will is the reason that evil exists to begin with.
And I want to make something clear. Satan is not equal to God. Satan was an angel who, like Adam and Eve, made his own bad choices and went rouge because of his pride. He was then kicked out of heaven and took a third of the angels with him because he too thought he could be like God (Isaiah 14:12-17, Ezekiel 28:11-19, Luke 10:18). Ultimately, God created Satan along with all of the other angels, and everything else in the universe. Anything that Satan does is only because God allows him to. God has given Satan a long leash over this world, but it’s only temporary. The Bible tells us that in the end, Satan will burn in a lake of fire forever. And Jesus will be the one who puts him there. While the Book of Revelation can be scary, it is the most hopeful book ever written!
Don’t think for a second that God doesn’t have a plan or that he isn’t going to fix it. His plan to fix it is what the End Times is all about. God is the architect and he is the one who designed the blueprints of the End Times. The Bible repeatedly describes the End Times as sovereign God’s appointed time. Anything that happens leading up to and during the End Times will be because God wants it to happen that way (Daniel 7:14, 22, 25-26; 8:19, 24, 9:27; 11:35-36; 12:7; Habakkuk 2:2-3; Matthew 8:29; 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7, 11, Revelation 13:5-7, 17:17).
The thing that most people have trouble wrapping their heads around is why is it taking so long. We have to accept that it may not take place in our lifetime. We have to accept that there is suffering in this world. We have to accept that God’s timeline is different than ours. But we also have to remember that our lifetime here on earth is nothing compared to eternity in paradise (James 4:14). Then and there, everything will be perfect again, just like it was originally in the Garden of Eden! We will live in a perfect world where there will be no more pain or suffering, and it will last forever.
THE CHURCHAs you look at the children of God, it’s like he has two kids, the Jews and the Christians. I like to think of it as two brothers who don’t always agree and don’t always get along, but they still have the same father. I like to use the parable of the prodigal son as a way to analyze these two children. In this parable you have a father with two sons. Both sons make mistakes and don’t always like each other, but at the end of the day, the father is elated when both sons are back in the family, because he loves both of them.
As we study the End Times, we will often refer to the Christians as the church. I’m not talking about a church building. I’m talking about a collective group of people. Any believer in Christ from the Day of Pentecost in Acts Chapter 2 to the present time is known as the church (Acts 2:1-4, 42-47). The reason we use the Day of Pentecost as the beginning of the church is because that’s when God gave us the Holy Spirit. It literally descended upon the disciples in Jerusalem like tongues of fire.
As believers in Christ, we are the church. The Bible tells us that we are the bride of Christ, and he is our bridegroom (Revelation 19:7-9, Ephesians 5:25-28). The Apostle Paul called the church a mystery because it was a mystery at that time. The Jews didn’t see the church coming and didn’t understand it (Colossians 1:25-27, Ephesians 3:3-6). So, what do I mean by a mystery?
Even at the time of Jesus, there was a very exclusive relationship between God and the Jews. For the first 1,500 years God separated the Jews from the rest of the world. He did that to set them apart and use them as an example for the rest of the world to see. Jews weren’t even allowed to eat with Gentiles. A Gentile is anyone who is not a Jew. Even though God told them at different points in the Bible that the whole world would be saved through them, they didn’t really understand what he was talking about. Think of it like being an only child, to then wake up one day and have a house full of stepbrothers and stepsisters moving in with you. That’s what the Jews must have felt like when God opened the gospel to the Gentiles.
When God offered his plan of salvation up to the rest of the world and the Gentiles were eligible to receive it, this period in time became known as the church age. You can read all about this in the Book of Acts and see how the Apostle Paul was chosen by God to deliver this message to the Gentile world.
UNFORESEEN PROPHECY OF THE CHURCH AGE I mentioned earlier that the Apostle Paul called the church a mystery. This was because no one saw it coming, including the prophets. With hindsight being twenty-twenty and with us having the New Testament to follow, it’s always been obvious to us that Jesus will come to earth twice. But it was different for the Jews. Them and the prophets saw the coming of the Messiah as one event, not two. When we read Isaiah 9:6, which is a popular verse at Christmas, we see that only a comma separates the two comings of Jesus. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.”
THE NATION OF ISRAELNow it’s time to talk about the nation of Israel and how they fit into the Biblical narrative. The nation of Israel was literally created by God when he told Abraham that he would make a great nation out of him. God created Israel from the ground up to be his own nation and his own race of people, that he would use as an example for the rest of the world. They would be his chosen people. He called Abraham somewhere around the year 2070 BC. That date may not be exact but it’s in the ballpark. Abraham and his wife Sarah had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. And Jacob had twelves sons who were known as the twelve tribes of Israel. Before long, the Israelites numbered over two million people. This group of people can be referred to as the Hebrews, the Israelites, or as they are known today, as the Jews.
The thing that we have to remember in a discussion about the Jews is that they are still God’s chosen people. And while God has had some tense moments with them over the past 4,000 years, he hasn’t forgotten about them, and scripture tells us that he has not turned his back on them. Scripture also tells us in Romans 11: 28-29 says, “Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” At different times throughout history, he has dealt the Jews some pretty harsh punishment. He has taken them out of the land that he gave them, not once, but twice! And he has also allowed their temple to be destroyed twice. But in true God-like-fashion he always brings them back. He always keeps a remnant. He may get mad and put them in time out, but he never completely turns his back on them.
THE DIASPORAAbout 40 years after the death of Christ, the Romans destroyed the second temple in the year 70 A.D. and kicked the Jews out of Israel and dispersed them all over the known the world. These details aren’t in the Bible, but they were preserved in the writings of a Jewish Roman General named Flavius Josephus. He was the Jew’s greatest historian, and you can still read his works today. This disbursement of the Jews was known as the diaspora (pronounced die-ass-pora). It took 1,878 years for the Jews to get their nation and their promised land back after the Holocaust in 1948. It took the Holocaust to put Israel back on the world map. If you look at the Jews today, it’s a miracle that they still exist. They have been persecuted and scattered among the nations many times, but yet they continue to exist. This is proof that they truly are God’s chosen people because there is no other logical reason for them to still exist. And not only do they still exist, they exist as a major world power. Their total worldwide population is approximately 15 million, which is roughly the population of Pennsylvania. There are about 6.2 million Jews living in Israel, 5.7 million Jews living in the United States, and about 3 million Jews living worldwide. They continue to be persecuted to this day. For example, according to the FBI crime statistics, the number one hate crime in New York City in 2023 was against Jews.
GOD AND THE JEWSLet’s take a look at what the Bible says about God’s promises to the nation of Israel. A conversation about the Jews has to start with what’s known as the Abrahamic Covenant, which was when God chose Abraham to build a nation. Genesis 12:1-3: “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. ‘I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’”
In a literal sense Jesus is God’s only son, but in a figurative sense, the Bible says that the Jews were God’s first-born child. Exodus 4:22: “Then say to Pharaoh, This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son.”
Ultimately, we know that the Jews are God’s chosen people.Deuteronomy 14:2: “for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.”
Deuteronomy 7:6-8: “The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath, he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
God set Israel apart to be an example to the rest of the world.Isaiah 49:6: “I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
The New Testament presented a paradox with the Old Testament, between what was the old covenant verses Christ and the new covenant. But the Apostle Paul tells us multiple times through multiple books that the Jews & Christians are both part of God’s family.Ephesians 3:6: “This mystery is that through the Gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 11:25-29: “I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so, all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, ‘The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.’ Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” THE TEMPLE MOUNTNow that we have a better understanding of the nation of Israel, let’s talk about the Jewish temple. What is the temple? I like to think of the temple as God’s first church house. Technically, there have been three temples because the first one was the tabernacle that was a mobile tent that Moses and the Israelites built in the desert. But in eschatological terms there have only been two permanent structured temples, and we refer to them as the first temple and the second temple.
The first temple was built by King Solomon in 959 B.C., and it stood for 373 years before the Babylonians destroyed it in the year 586 B.C. God punished the Israelites by allowing King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to exile the Israelites for 70 years. That was the first diaspora. After the exile was over they were allowed to return home, and they built what is known as the second temple in 516 B.C. It stood for 586 years until it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. The second temple was the temple that Jesus would have known and is the one that we read about in the gospels. The Temple Mount is the area in Jerusalem where the Jewish temple used to set but is now occupied by a structure known as the Dome of the Rock that belongs to the Muslims. So currently, we have a situation where both the Jews and the Muslims claim the Temple Mount to be a most holy spot. For the Jews, it’s their number one holy spot and for the Muslims it’s their third holiest site. And we’re talking about an area that’s only a total of 37 acres.
Because of its importance, ownership of the Temple Mount has been hotly contested for nearly 1,400 years. It is literally the most fought-over piece of real estate in the world. Today the Temple Mount is under the control of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, which is a trust that was established in the year 1187 to manage the Islamic structures in Jerusalem.
So why is the Temple Mount so important to the End Times? The answer to that is, a third temple has to exist during the End Times because the Antichrist, who will be Satan’s right-hand man during the End Times, and who we will study later, can’t do the things that the Bible says he’s going to do without the temple. There has to be a temple! PROOF TEXT SCRIPTURE AND OTHER RESOURCES ON THE TEMPLE-Daniel 9:27: At the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation.-Matthew 24:15, “Standing in the holy place.”-Second Thessalonians 2:4: He will set himself up in God’s temple.-Revelation 11:1-2, God tells John to “Measure the Temple.”-The Tabernacle…God’s mobile tent church, Exodus 25–31 and 35–40-Solomon’s Temple…959-586 BC, First Kings chapters 5-9-Second Temple…516 BC-70 AD, the books of Ezra & Nehemiah-The Roman Empire destroyed the second temple in 70 AD, The Complete Works of Josephus.
ABRAHAM: THE FATHER OF THREE FAITHS, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, & ISLAMLet’s talk about Islam and its relationship with Judaism and Christianity. This is a big deal because so much of the End Times picture wraps around this. Regardless of how you feel about Muslims and the Islamic religion, the Muslims, through Abraham’s illegitimate son Ishmael and Abraham’s grandson Esau, are part of God’s plan. People may try to deny it, but there are too many scriptural references that prove it. God promised twice in the book of Genesis that he would make a nation out of Ishmael, just like he made a nation out of Abraham and Issac. All three religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, root back to Abraham. Islam traces back to Ishmael, and Judaism and Christianity trace back to Abraham through his second son Isaac.
Isaac then had two twin sons, Esau and Jacob. The plan of salvation continued from Isaac on through Jacob, and then through Jacob’s twelve sons, who are known as the twelve tribes of Israel. Esau and Jacob fell out with each other and Esau left Isaac’s house and married Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath. And yes, when you do the math on that he married his first cousin, which was very acceptable in the early parts of the Biblical story. The conflict between Jews and Muslims can be traced directly back to Genesis 21:9, when Abraham’s wife Sarah told Abraham that Ishmael and his slave mother Hagar had to leave. The two groups have literally been at odds ever since then. But, whenever Abraham died in Genesis Chapter 25, both Ishmael and Isaac came together to bury their father.
PROOF TEXT SCRIPTURE ON ISHMAEL AND ESAUGenesis 16, Birth of IshmaelGenesis 16:12, He will be a wild donkey of a manGenesis 21:8-20, Hagar and Ishmael are sent awayGenesis 21:13, I will make him into a nationGenesis 25:19-34, Jacob & Esau Genesis 25:23, Two nations are in your wombGenesis 25:32-34, Esau gives away his birthrightGenesis 27, Jacob steals Esau’s blessingGenesis 28:1-9, Esau marries Ishmael’s daughter Genesis 33:1-16, Jacob & Esau are reunitedGenesis 36, Esau’s descendantsObadiah 8, Esau’s mountainsMalachi 1:1-5, I loved Jacob, but Esau I have hatedHebrews 12:16, Esau was godless
BIRTH OF ISLAMNow that we’ve had a brief history lesson on the beginnings of Judaism and Islam, let’s look at Islam’s impact on the Temple Mount and the city of Jerusalem since the diaspora of 70 A.D. The Jews were dispersed in the year 70 A.D., and then 400 years later the Roman Empire collapsed in the year 476 A.D. That created a vacuum in Jerusalem that was eventually filled by an up-and-coming religion called Islam. In the year 610 A.D., a man named Muhammad received a revelation from the Angel Gabriel in the town of Mecca in what would be modern-day Saudi Arabia. Three years after receiving his first revelation from God, Muhammad started preaching publicly, proclaiming that "God is One," and that complete submission, or Islam, to God is the right way of life. Muhammad also claimed that he was a prophet and a messenger of God. Shortly after Muhammad’s death, the Muslims took control of Jerusalem and Israel in the year 634 A.D. The land of Israel eventually became known as Palestine. So, whether I use the term Israel or Palestine, just know it’s all the same piece of land. The name varies depending on who controls it at any given point in history.
If you look at the core basic beliefs of both Judaism and Islam, they have two big things in common. They both believe in one god and one god only, and complete obedience to God. The Jews call God Yahweh, and the Muslims call him Allah. A deal-breaker for both religions is that they both see it as blasphemy to call Jesus the son of God. With both religions, in their purest form, there is little to no grace. There’s no Holy Spirit. And there’s very little forgiveness. Both of them are still living by the law of God, and they both have different, but yet, similar versions of what that law looks like. I recommend to all of you who have an interest in the End Times to study the basics of Islam. And I can recommend a few books for you if you’re interested, with the main one being a book by Nabeel Qureshi titled Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.
THE DOME OF THE ROCKThe Dome of the Rock is one of the most recognizable and beautiful pieces of architecture in the world with its beautiful gold dome. It sets over a rock, thus the name Dome of the Rock. The rock itself is known as the Foundation Rock to the Jews, and that rock would probably fit inside any McDonalds Restaurant in the world. It’s located at the pinnacle of Mount Moriah.
According to the Bible, Mount Moriah in Jerusalem is where God sent Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22. Muslims believe it was there that Abraham was going to sacrifice Ishmael. King David purchased the rock several hundred years later and the area around it and built an altar to God, (Second Samuel 24:18-25, First Chronicles 21:18-30, Second Chronicles 3:1-2). Although we don’t know the exact location for certain, many believe that the two temples were eventually built over that altar on the Foundation Rock. The reason it’s called the Foundation Rock is because some fundamental Jews will argue that because of the systematic use of that rock, that God created Adam out of the dust of that rock at the beginning of creation, but there’s no Biblical proof of that, although it is a legitimate argument when you follow the consistent verses inconsistent rule of the Bible. According to Islam, that rock is the very spot from which Muhammad ascended to heaven in the year 620 AD. For the most part, the Muslims maintained control over Jerusalem for several hundred years. Eventually, Great Britain gained control of Palestine during World War I, which placed the holy land in the hands of a Christian nation in 1917. After World War II and the Holocaust, Israel was put back on the world map as a nation in 1948. Notice how God used both world wars to fulfill his plan. But here’s an interesting caveat, Israel got its country back in 1948, but still to this day, they do not control the Temple Mount. The Muslims still control the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock. END TIMES PROPHECYProphecy is what drives the End Times and is how we even know that the End Times will happen. In short, prophecy is a predication about the future. Prophecy is information about the future that is delivered by a human but has been given to that human by God. Prophecy is divinely inspired information from God.
Long-range prophecy is prophecy that takes place beyond the lifetime of those who heard the original prophecy. This type of prophecy is very detailed, down to the very letter. For example, the Old Testament gives us exact details about the life of Jesus hundreds of years before he was born, such as, that he would be born to a virgin in Bethlehem, that they would cast lots for his cloths when he was crucified, that he would be spit upon, that he would be buried in a rich man’s tomb, that he would carry his own wood, and that he would be betrayed by one of his own disciples and the Jews. Some of the prophet Isaiah’s scriptures were written as if he was standing at the foot of the cross taking notes as the crucifixion happened. But in reality, the Book of Isaiah was written 700 years before Christ was born.
It only makes sense that if all of the prophecy concerning the first coming of Jesus Christ came true and played out down to the very letter, then we can know with assurance that the prophecy concerning his second coming will also come true.
Given the fact that so many other detailed prophecies have already come true in the Bible, there is no doubt that the End Times will play out exactly the way the Bible says it will. We have no logical reason to doubt these prophecies. It would be inconsistent to think otherwise. Fulfilled prophecies are evidence of the Bible’s reliability. The Bible is unique among all other books ever written, because it accurately foretells specific events, in detail, many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur.
In total, there are approximately 2,500 prophecies that appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2,000 of which have already been fulfilled, down to the very letter with no errors. While the number of exact prophecies may vary, depending on the Bible scholar, a conservative number is, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies during his earthly ministry, down to the exact detail.
The statistical probability of that many prophecies being fulfilled is one in 10 to the 17th power, which is one hundred thousand trillion. That would be the equivalent of covering the entire state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep. Then blindfold a person and tell them to wade out into the money and pick up the one silver dollar that has a red dot on it. That’s the likelihood of all the prophecies in the Old Testament regarding Christ coming true by way of coincidence.
DANIEL’S SEVENTY WEEKSI’m now ready to talk about a piece of prophecy that can be hard to understand. I want to explain it as best I can, but if you have trouble digesting this information don’t worry about it. All you really need to know is that when the End Times start it will last for seven years.
There is a term in Daniel 9:20-27 known as the Seventy Weeks, or some translations call it the Seventy Sevens. Just to be consistent, I’m going to refer to it as Daniel’s Seventy Weeks. It is one of the most significant pieces of prophecy in the entire Bible, and this one piece of prophecy sets the timeline of how and when the End Times will play out. God gave this piece of long-range predictive prophecy to the prophet Daniel around the year 535 B.C. Daniel’s Seventy Weeks should be understood as seventy sets of seven years, or in other words, seventy times seven is a period of 490 years. In Biblical prophecy, a week is considered seven years.
In Daniel’s Seventy Weeks, we see that God started a prophetic clock of 490 years. God started this clock with the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonians had destroyed it and took the Jews into exile. We learn about this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Then God stopped the clock at year number 483 when Jesus was crucified. The clock ran between the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and when Jesus was crucified. But that only adds up to 483 years. Think of it like God hitting the snooze button. Which means, if it’s a 490-year clock, and we’ve already used 483 years of it, we still have seven years to go. And that final seven years will start whenever God decides to restart the clock.
So why did God do this? First, and foremost, it shows that God does indeed have a plan, and that he has had a plan all along. Not only does he have a plan, but it’s also a detailed plan with an exact timeline. The second big question is, why did God stop the clock when Jesus was crucified? The Answer is us, the church. God had to give the church age time to play itself out, and we’re still in the church age.
God’s plan is two-fold. It will allow him to put an end to sin, and it allowed him to bring us Gentiles into the family and offer the plan of salvation to all of mankind, not just the Jews. Remember, the Jews started out with an exclusive relationship with God, and God used them as an example for the whole world to see, so that ultimately we could all be saved. And also remember, God’s clock is slower than ours. Peter tells us that to the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.
So, as we dive into the guts of the End Times, it will all hinge on those final seven years. The first half of the seven years will be known as the tribulation and the second half will be known as the great tribulation. Out of simplicity, if I say the word tribulation I’m referring to all of the final seven years.
THE RAPTURE What is the rapture? The rapture is simply God removing the church from the earth. The word rapture is not found in the Bible, but its Greek meaning is “caught up,” or “taken away.” It’s not a matter of IF the rapture will happen. The real question is WHEN will the rapture happen. Let’s read what the Bible has to say about the rapture and how it describes the rapture.
The most prominent verse in the Bible about the rapture was written by the Apostle Paul to the people of Thessalonica in Greece, because the Thessalonians were new to the Jesus movement and they had suffered a lot of persecution, and they were concerned that their loved ones who had already died might miss out on the rapture and the coming of the Lord.
First Thessalonians 4:13-18, 5:1-3“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever.”
Other prominent verses in the Bible talk about Jesus coming back to Earth to retrieve his people include...
First Corinthians 15:50-52“I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
Matthew 24: 29-31“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” WHY IS THERE SUCH DEBATE OVER THE RAPTURE?The timing of the rapture is hands down the most controversial element when studying the End Times. The debate over the rapture is simply this…some scholars believe that the rapture will happen on the front end of the seven-year tribulation and that is known as a pre-tribulational theory. Other scholars believe it will happen at the end of the tribulation and that is known as post-tribulational theory. The mid-tribulational theory says it will happen exactly at the midpoint. And then other scholars believe that the rapture will happen somewhere after the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation, but before the wrath of God begins, and this is known as a pre-wrath theory.
Regardless of when it happens, you can expect about one quarter of the Earth’s population to disappear from the planet in the blink of an eye. Jesus described the rapture like this in Matthew 24:40-41, “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”
Of the different views, I believe that scripture overwhelming supports a pre-wrath rapture, which means it will happen somewhere after the midpoint, which is three and a half years, but before God unleashes his wrath and destroys the Earth toward the end of the tribulation. With the pre-wrath theory, the saints who are alive during the tribulation will have to endure the persecution of the Antichrist for a short period of time but will not have to suffer through the wrath of God. SATANBefore we go any further I want to take a step sideways and do a sidebar on the three people who will dominate the storyline of the tribulation. They are Satan, The Antichrist, and the False Prophet.
When it comes to Satan there is no one book in the Bible that’s dedicated to him. But at the same time, theoretically, every page of the Bible is about him. If it weren’t for Satan, there would be no need for a Bible, nor a plan of salvation. Satan has several names in the Bible that include, the Accuser, the Ancient Serpent, The Devil, Guardian Cherub, Morning Star, Lucifer, and he is known in Revelation as the Dragon. This explains one of the problems in understanding the End Times, in that God chose to call him a dragon, but the book of Revelation clearly tells us that the dragon is Satan. It’s funny to look back at now, but when I was a kid listening to Dad and Joe talk about Revelation, I thought the End Times was a bunch of dragons and beasts fighting each other.
The books of Job, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Revelation tell us the most about Satan. Satan was a great angel who went rouge because of his pride. He wanted to be like God! Satan and one third of the angels were kicked out of heaven and thrown down to Earth. Jesus told his disciples in Luke 10:18 that he saw Satan “fall like lightning from heaven.” This all happened before the Garden of Eden, while the Earth was still dark & formless. You can place the fall of Satan from heaven in Genesis Chapter 1, between verses 1 and 2.
Isaiah 14:13-18“How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?”
Ezekiel 28:12-19“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx, and jasper, lapis, lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So, I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So, I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. By your many sins and dishonest trade, you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So, I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’”
In Revelation Chapter 12, we learn how Satan and one third of the angels were kicked out of Heaven and hurled to the earth. Later on in the chapter, it tells us about a great war that will break out in the future between Satan and his angels and the angels of God, who will be led by the archangel Michael. There is some confusion about if this battle took place when he was kicked out the original time, which was before the Garden of Eden, or if this battle is to still take place in the future. When you read this passage closely in Chapter 12, you see that this battle takes place in the future and that it happens during the tribulation.
The most important thing to remember about Satan is that he rules this world. Multiple scriptures in the Bible tells us that. Once Adam and Eve made their ill-fated choice in the garden, God basically turned the keys over to Satan…but with limitations. The Book of Job in the Old Testament gives us more details on Satan’s relationship with God. In it we see that Satan still has access to God and heaven, and that God gives Satan a certain amount of latitude, but it’s always on God’s terms. Always remember that God is still in control over Satan, even though he keeps him on a long leash. Satan can only do what God allows him to do. The Bible tells us that Satan is nothing more than an angel gone bad. He is not God! He cannot force us to do anything, but he is extremely crafty and shrewd at tempting us, and he will do anything to disrupt God’s plan of salvation. It’s just a matter of whether we fall for his temptation or not.
*Please see Appendix A for a complete list of all relevant scriptures about Satan.
THE ANTICHRIST The best way to think of the Antichrist is that he will be Satan’s quarterback, point guard, and starting pitcher, all rolled into one during the tribulation. The Antichrist is known in the Bible as The Beast, the Man of Lawlessness, and The Ruler. He is the End Times false messiah who will achieve world domination so that he can attempt to destroy Israel and all followers of Jesus Christ.
He is known symbolically in the Bible as The Beast, but in reality, he will be a singular human male who will display an extreme amount of arrogance and pride as he receives great power from Satan. And while he will receive power from Satan, it’s important to remember that God is the ultimate architect of the End Times, as he wraps up the final details of his plan of salvation with the second coming of his son Jesus Christ.
The final seven years of the End Times will be known as the tribulation and will begin when the Antichrist comes to power. Prophecy from the Book of Daniel indicates that the Antichrist will rise to power from a series of wars and from a ten-nation coalition, after which, he will establish his headquarters in Jerusalem.
He will then create a covenant with many. Scholars have long assumed that he will create peace with this covenant, but nowhere in the Bible does it say that he will create peace.
It’s believed that this covenant will allow the nation of Israel to rebuild its temple and reestablish the sacrificing of animals that God instituted in the Book of Leviticus. While no one is certain how or when the nation of Israel will rebuild its temple, one thing is certain…there has to be a temple in Jerusalem for the Antichrist to do the things that he is going to do.
During the first three and a half years of the tribulation, the Antichrist will more-than-likely be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, seen as a warrior, a hero, and a liberator to many, including the Jews. He will not be a man of peace. He will indeed be a man of war.
Unfortunately, many of the Jews will see him as the prophesied messiah because he will subdue their enemies, which is the one thing that Jesus did not do during his first coming.
Then, at exactly halfway through the final seven years, which is known as the midpoint, the Antichrist will put an end to Israel’s sacrificial system and will set himself up inside the temple, proclaiming to be God.
When this event happens that’s when the Antichrist will be revealed, and we as Christians will have no problem knowing who he is.
Those final three and a half years of the tribulation will be known as the great tribulation. The first part of the great tribulation will be highlighted by persecution from the Antichrist, and finally, the last part will be dominated by the wrath of God.
The saints who are alive during the great tribulation will have to endure persecution from the Antichrist. This will be consistent with the persecution that the church has suffered for centuries. While we will have to endure persecution from the Antichrist, we will not suffer through God's wrath. Persecution from the Antichrist will be a walk in the park compared to the wrath of God.
The Church will eventually be removed from the Earth in an event known as the rapture, which will happen sometime after the Antichrist is revealed at the midpoint, but before the wrath of God begins. This is known in theology as a pre-wrath theory.
In Second Thessalonians 2:3-4, the Apostle Paul says the day of the Lord will not come until the Man of Lawlessness is revealed. Daniel and Jesus both described this event as the “Abomination that causes desolation.” The Bible says this will take place at the midpoint, which is three and a half years, or 42 months into the final seven years.
The Antichrist will also work hand-in-hand with a second beast, known as the False Prophet. At the midpoint of the tribulation, the Antichrist will suffer a fatal wound and die, but the False Prophet will bring him back to life, imitating the resurrection of Jesus.
The Antichrist will be part of a grotesque parody with Satan and the False Prophet, who, together, will mimic the holy trinity.
Coming back to life will secure the power that it takes for the Antichrist to rule the world. He will achieve world domination and will establish a one-world government. His coming back to life will convince people even more that he is the true messiah, but in reality he will be a false messiah because he will not completely fulfill all of the End Times prophecy.
Together, the Antichrist and the False Prophet will dominate the world, with the False Prophet forcing everyone to have a mark on their right hand or forehead in order to buy or sell anything. The mark will be the number 666 and will be known as the mark of the beast. The Bible says that the False Prophet is who will enforce the mark of the beast on behalf of the Antichrist. The False Prophet will also cause all of those who do not worship the Antichrist to be killed.In turn, God will ultimately punish anyone who takes the mark of the beast with eternal damnation, which will create a situation where Christians who are alive at that point in history will have to make a firm decision not to sell their soul for food or other merchandise such as fuel, and to not worship the Antichrist.
As saints, we won’t be tricked into taking the mark of the beast because the Antichrist and the False Prophet will make it very obvious what it is. The mark of the beast will be a very overt, dictatorial process conducted by the False Prophet on behalf of the Antichrist when it happens. It won’t be a secret or a trick.
From God’s standpoint, his true followers that are still alive at that time will have to choose him over Satan, making it a decision of the heart, not a technicality.While there is much speculation on how the mark of the beast will be implemented, all that the Bible actually tells us is that it will be global, and that it will be on the right hand or forehead. The mark could be something as simple as a tattoo or as complex as a biochip. Finally, at the end of the great tribulation, the False Prophet, the Antichrist, and all of his followers will be quickly defeated by Jesus at the Battle of Armageddon. After which, the Antichrist and the False Prophet will be thrown into a lake of fire for the rest of eternity. In the end, Jesus wins!
Throughout history, people have speculated about the identity of the Antichrist with a few catholic popes, Hitler, and various U.S. presidents being among them. Former speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi has been a popular candidate in modern times, but the Bible clearly states that the Antichrist will be a man not a woman, and not a political system.
It is likely that most people who are alive when the Antichrist is revealed will be very surprised at his identity. The Antichrist may or may not be alive today. Martin Luther, who was the father of the Protestant Reformation in 1517, was convinced that Pope Leo of his time was the Antichrist.
During the 1940’s, many believed Adolph Hitler was the Antichrist. But neither Hitler nor Pope Leo came close to meeting the criteria that the Bible uses to describe the Antichrist. Just because someone is evil that doesn’t make them the Antichrist.
Others who have lived in the past few hundred years have been equally sure as to the identity of the Antichrist. So far, they have all been incorrect. We should put speculations and wishful thinking driven by hatred behind us and focus on what the Bible actually says about the antichrist. When the Antichrist is revealed every Christian in the world will know it with certainty.
It’s fine to speculate because that’s what makes studying the End Times so much fun, but always let your litmus test come from scripture, not pop culture. Keep in mind the required criteria that the Bible says about the Antichrist:1. He will be a human man, not a woman, nor a political system.2. He will be extremely arrogant and boastful and will rise to power through a series of wars and will then establish his headquarters in Jerusalem.3. He will then create a covenant with many and will later take away Israel’s sacrificial system at the temple.4. He will be revealed to the world when he is resurrected from the dead by the False Prophet and then sets himself up in the Jewish temple and proclaims to be God.5. He and the False Prophet will then require worship and institute the mark of the beast to buy and sell anything.
*Please see Appendix B for a complete list of all relevant scriptures about the Antichrist.
THE FALSE PROPHET After the Antichrist has established himself in the tribulation, a second beast, known as the False Prophet, will emerge, and will also be a singular human male. You can think of the False Prophet as a hype-man for the Antichrist. Revelation says he will look like a lamb but will speak like a dragon. He will be able to perform great miracles and signs. If you have ever heard the phrase “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” that can be used to describe the False Prophet. The False Prophet will serve a spokesperson and an enforcer for the Antichrist. He will likely be an influential leader who will have the power and money to coerce and deceive many people.
Revelation 13:12-14 says, “It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.” Revelation 13:14-18 goes on to say, “The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.” This tells us that the Antichrist will be fatally wounded and that the False Prophet will heal him. The Antichrist will escape death just like Christ, which will cause a lot of people including many of the Jews to see him as the Messiah. To put it simply…the world will be duped by these two men, no different than Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan thousands of year ago. GROTESQUE PARODYSatan will create a grotesque parody that will fool many people. If it were an organizational chart it would look something like this. God & Satan Jesus & the Antichrist The Holy Spirit & The False Prophet The Church & Babylon the Great
THE BOOK OF REVELATIONIt’s now time to begin studying the tribulation and the Book of Revelation. Let’s go over a little background before we start. The Book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John around the year 95 AD, near the end of his life, while he was exiled by the Roman Government to the Island of Patmos which is in present-day Greece. He had been exiled for spreading the gospel, (Revelation 1:9). It says that John was in the Spirit when he saw Jesus standing behind him. God gave this revelation to Jesus, and Jesus gave it John for John to then give to us. The word revelation comes from the Greek word apocalypse, which means revealing or unveiling. The entire book of Revelation is about the unveiling of Jesus Christ to the world at the time of his second coming. We associate the word apocalypse with the end of the world, when actually it simply means to unveil and reveal. Fortunately for us, the Book of Revelation is one of the most encouraging books in the Bible, because in it we see our savior vindicated before the world. Revelation is really a very simple book. It boils down to this (spoiler alert), Jesus wins in the end!
So, what is the tribulation? The tribulation will be that last seven years that we learned about in Daniel’s Seventy Weeks when God brings an end to sin by systematically destroying the earth and punishing all non-believers. The last seven years will be divided into two sections. The first three and a half years probably won’t be much worse than the chaotic world that we live in now, but the last three and a half years will be horrible, as the Antichrist goes to war against the children of God, and God goes to war against the nonbelieving and the ungodly. Technically speaking, the first three and a half years are known as the tribulation, and the last three and a half years, when all the bad stuff happens, will be known as the great tribulation.
I want to remind everyone that this is not a study on the book of Revelation, but rather it’s a study on the End Times, which is why we have already read so much scripture from several other books in the Bible, such as Daniel and the two Thessalonians. But as we study the tribulation, most of that topic is found in Revelation. We’re not going to cover every detail of Revelation, but we’ll cover most of it.
One of the most important things to understand about the Book of Revelation is that Jesus reveals himself to the Apostle John and tells him in chapter 1:19 to write “what you have seen, the things that are now and the things that will take place later.” So, John is being commissioned by Jesus to write about the past, the present, and the future. Some people downplay Revelation by saying it’s already happened over different periods of history, or that it's simply an allegory or even a Biblical fairy tale. Verse 19 tells us that these things are still going to take place in the future, because Revelation is an entire book dedicated to long range predictive prophecy concerning the future. As we study it, we look at it from a futurist point-of-view.
It tells us the story of how God will finish his discipline of Israel and finalize his judgment on the unbelieving world. Also, don’t lose sight of the fact that God is a supernatural God, who does supernatural things. This is not about science. This is about faith!
A GLIMPSE AT HEAVENThe first three chapters of Revelation are specifically about the church. Jesus tells John to write seven letters to seven churches in what would now be modern-day Turkey. These weren’t symbolic churches; they were real churches. One of the churches was John’s church at Ephesus. As we move on into chapters 4 and 5 we get a very detailed account of what heaven and God look like. As we read and hear about all of the imagery in Revelation, we have to remember that John is using human words to articulate something that’s divine and something he’s never seen before on Earth. Also, you have to think that here on earth we only have four known dimensions, up and down, left and right, backwards and forwards, and the dimension of time. In heaven there will be many more dimensions. People who have gone through near death experiences have returned and said there are so many more dimensions in heaven. Even our seven-color color spectrum is based on light from a mediocre sun. In heaven, our light will come from God. Can you imagine how many more colors we will see? So, think about John visiting heaven in the first century. His words can’t match or adequately describe what he’s seeing in heaven. John used his limited vocabulary and earthly senses to describe something that's indescribable, like the majesty of God.
Revelation 4:3-6 reads a lot like a science fiction book. “At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also, in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.”
While there is symbolism used in various prophecies, things like dragons, beasts, and horsemen, etc., all of it portrays literal beings or events, in much the same way as Jesus is spoken of as both a lion and a lamb, but we know in reality Jesus was a human being. This type of Biblical writing is known as apocalyptic literature. This type of imagery isn’t new and John certainly isn’t the first person in the Bible to get a glimpse of heaven. We read about heaven in the Book of Job, as well as Isaiah and Ezekiel, who both go to heaven in a vision, along with the Apostle Paul. But no one gets to see God or go to heaven in real time, it’s always in the spirit or in a vision. In Exodus Chapter 33:20, Moses asked to see God, and God said, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
ALL THE BAD STUFFIn the Book of Daniel, we read about Daniel receiving several pieces of prophecy, such as the Seventy Weeks from the Angel Gabriel. Part of this was revealed to Daniel on a scroll, and in Daniel Chapter 12 Daniel is instructed to seal up that scroll until the End Times. Daniel 12:4 says, “But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end.” As we transition into the Book of Revelation and as John describes God in heaven, we read in Revelation 5:9, that God is holding the same scroll that Daniel had sealed up. It is a scroll with seven seals. This is the same set of seals that Jesus will open in the End Times that will then unleash both the Antichrist and the wrath of God. And only Christ will be worthy to open these seals. If you have ever heard the song lyrics, “worthy is the lamb,” this is where it comes from. It’s interesting that God told Daniel to seal it up and keep it a secret, but then he revealed all of it to John 660 years later, once the church age had begun.
When we get to chapter 6, this is when all the fun begins. Chapter 6 begins with Jesus opening the seven seals that are on the scroll. As this unfolds the seven seals then lead to seven trumpets, which lead to seven bowls. The seals are preconditions, or things that must happen before the scroll can be opened. It’s easy to think about the seven seals, trumpets, and bowls as being symbolic, but again, we are serving a supernatural God. I believe they are real…at least by heavenly standards. Jesus will literally open seven real seals that are on a real scroll. Seven angels will then sound seven real trumpets, and finally, seven angels will pour God’s wrath out on the earth from seven real bowls.
THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSELet’s start by talking about the seals. Beginning in Revelation Chapter 6, Jesus opens the first four seals and unleashes what’s known as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They’re a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse. There have been many explanations about who these four horsemen are, but nobody knows for sure.
Most all scholars agree that the white horse is the Antichrist. “I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.”
I believe it’s best to take the remaining three horsemen at face value, which is what the Bible tells us, and that all three will be a result of persecution from the Antichrist. The red horse will wage war. “Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.”
The black horse will usher in famine. “I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’”
The last horse was a pale horse. “I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.”I think the best way to understand the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is that the first one is the Antichrist, and the other three, war, famine, and death will be a result of his actions.
THE FIFTH SEALJesus goes on to open the fifth seal in Revelation 6:9-11. “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.” This tells us that a lot of Christians are going to die during the tribulation at the hand of the Antichrist because of their faith.
THE PRE-WRATH RAPTUREWe have come to a major crossroads in our study on the End Times. Before we talk about the sixth seal, and before we can go any further, I’m now ready to explain what’s known as the pre-wrath rapture. A pre-wrath rapture means that the rapture will happen sometime after the three-and-a-half-year midpoint, but before the wrath of God begins.
The first five seals, which are the four horsemen and the martyred saints from the tribulation, are a result of the Antichrist and his persecution. Everything else, beginning with the sixth and seventh seals, will then usher in the wrath of God with the seven trumpets and seven bowls. Please remember that there is an important distinction between the events of the Antichrist’s persecution and the events of God’s wrath. The Antichrist’s great tribulation will be directed at the church and Israel, while the Lord’s wrath will be directed against the ungodly. Trust me, persecution from the Antichrist will look like a walk in the park compared to the wrath of God!
When you study the End Times, you have to incorporate all that the Bible has to say about it. The End Times are so much more than just the Book of Revelation. There are six pieces of foundational scripture that fully support a pre-wrath rapture, and they are Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24, first and second Thessalonians, and finally Revelation chapters 6 and 7. The main way to look at that is if someone tells you something to be true, and they can prove it with six different sources, that tells you that it’s likely to be true.
Unfortunately, a pre-wrath rapture means that the saints who are alive during the End Times will have to endure persecution from the Antichrist, but will be raptured from the earth before God ends everything by systematically destroying the earth and pouring out his wrath and final judgement on the ungodly.
WHY ALL THE CONTROVERSY?Why is there so much controversy surrounding the rapture? It’s because the timing of the rapture changes everything. It has been a popular belief in modern times that the church will be raptured out before the tribulation begins and before the Antichrist arrives, and this is known as the pre-tribulational theory. Growing up in church, I remember preachers saying that you didn’t have to worry about surviving the tribulation because as Christians we won’t be here when it happens. The pre-tribulational theory has only been taught since the early 1800s. So, this view of the rapture is actually relatively new. There is very little scripture to support a pre-tribulational rapture. In a lot of ways, I think this theory was developed out of wishful thinking because nobody wants to think about suffering through the Antichrist and the great tribulation.
Paul clearly states in Second Thessalonians 2:3-4 that the rapture won’t happen until the Antichrist has been revealed, and the Bible makes it clear in Daniel 9:27 that the Antichrist will not be revealed until the midpoint of the final seven years. Even most conservative End Times scholars agree that the Antichrist will be revealed at the midpoint when he sets himself up inside the Jewish Temple. In my opinion, those two pieces of scripture alone totally debunks the theory of pre-tribulationalism.
Pre-tribulationalism hinges on the fact that the rapture is imminent, meaning it can happen at any point in time. That still remains true with a pre-wrath rapture, but it’s narrowed down to a much shorter window of time, after the midpoint. As Paul tells us in First Thessalonians 5:1-9, the burden behind the imminence of Jesus’ return is placed on the back of the ungodly, not the children of God, because as Christians, we believe and know about the imminent return of Jesus. We know it’s coming, and it’s not a surprise to us. We live our lives right not because we’re afraid of when Jesus when will return, but rather, we live our lives right because we know that Jesus loves us and will reward us with eternal life. That’s why the rapture and the day of the Lord will be a great thing for us but will be an absolutely horrific event for the nonbelievers of the world.
THE OLIVET DISCOURSE AND THE BOOK OF REVELATIONMuch of the proof for a pre-wrath rapture comes from what is nicknamed the Olivet Discourse, which is Matthew 24. Here, Jesus explained to his disciples how the End Times would play out. The Olivet Discourse also lines up perfectly with Revelation chapters 6 and 7. These two sets of scripture serve as a blueprint for the End Times timeline. I know this can all sound confusing, but I want to show how multiple books of the Bible line up to tell the same End Times story.
MATTHEW 24 PARALLELS REVELATION 6-7 Verses 4-5 The Antichrist/False Messiahs First Seal, 6:1-2Verses 6-7 Wars Second Seal, 6:3-4Verse 7 Famine Third Seal, 6:5-6Verses 9, 21-22 Martyrdom (Great Tribulation) Fourth Seal, 6:7-8Verses 9, 21-22 Martyrdom (Great Tribulation) Fifth Seal, 6:9-11Verse 29 Celestial Disturbances Sixth Seal, 6:12-17Verses 30-31 Raptured Saints Interlude, 7:9-17Verses 14, 30, 36-41 Day of the Lord’s Wrath Seventh Seal, Trumpets & Bowls
In Matthew 24, Jesus described in great detail how the Antichrist will rise up, deceive many, and persecute the children of God during the great tribulation. In verses 4-14 he says, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Jesus goes on to say in verses 15-22 that the End Times will not be easy for the children of God. “So, when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”
One thing to keep in mind about the birthing pains, is that they will take place during the first three and a half years, while the Antichrist is rising to power. That’s why Jesus said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” So, as we see things happening in our world, likepandemics, and Russia invading Ukraine, etc., these things are going to happen, but not only is it not the End Times, it’s still not even the beginning of the birthing pains.
CELESTIAL DISTURBANCESThen Jesus describes a celestial event that will take place immediately following the time of the Antichrist where the sun and moon will be darkened, stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Matthew 24:29 says, “Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” Passages in Isaiah 13:9-10; Joel 2:31, Acts 2:16-21, and Revelation 6:12-17, describe the same exact celestial disturbances, that happen immediately after the distress caused by the Antichrist but before the day of the Lord begins. The importance of these celestial events is that it proves that certain things must happen before the day of the Lord can begin.
Then in Matthew 24:30, Jesus describes the rapture when he says, “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
The celestial disturbances and the rapture found in Matthew 24:29-31 line up perfectly with the same events in Revelation 6:12-17, 7:9-17 (see chart above) which say, “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?’
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: ‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!’
Then one of the elders asked me, ‘These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?’ I answered, Sir, you know. And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
What John is describing in Revelation 7:9-17, is the rapture as seen from Heaven’s point-of-view. This part of Revelation is known as the interlude, because it falls between the sixth and seventh seals. Pre-tribulationists have always said that this multitude of saints under the altar are what’s known as the “tribulational saints,” who are nonbelievers who will come to believe Jesus and will be killed for the faith during the great tribulation. But there is no scripture to support this, they’re only speculating to support their view. When you line up The Olivet Discourse, Daniel, the two Thessalonians, and Revelation, it becomes obvious that the rapture will happen after the midpoint but before the wrath of God begins, and what is being described here is the rapture.
SUFFERING AND PERSECUTION It only makes sense that Christians will be persecuted in the End Times because we have been persecuted for the last 2,000 years. Persecution and suffering simply comes with the turf in being a Christian. You have to remember that Christians were used as human torches in Rome during Emperor Nero’s reign and were also fed to the lions as sport. All of Jesus’ apostles were martyred except John, and he was put in exile. Even in modern times, Christians are imprisoned and killed for their belief in Christ. Churches in China, for example, still continue to operate underground out of fear of persecution.
Jesus warned us in advance about the End Times persecution that his followers would have to endure. In Matthew 24:9 he says, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.” In John 15:18-19 he told his disciples, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
Some scholars suggest that the purpose for the church to suffer greatly just before Christ’s second coming will be for purging and purifying, separating out those who claim to have faith from those who actually possess true faith. When faced with starvation will a saint sell their soul for a loaf of bread? Christians who are unfortunate enough to be alive during the great tribulation will be forced to choose God over Satan. There will be no riding the fence. There will be no ambiguity. It will be clear as night and day.
But know and understand that Satan will be happy to take your soul under any condition, such as trickery and deception, just like he fooled Adam and Eve thousands of years ago. God, on the other hand, will require you to make a concrete decision. It will have to be a decision of the heart. God or Satan. The final three and a half years will be Satan’s greatest hour. Satan isn’t stupid. He’s very shrewd, crafty, and clever. He reads the same Bible that we do. He knows that he is a short-timer and that he can’t change that fact. But misery loves company, and he will work as hard as he can to take as many souls as possible with him to eternal burning in the lake of fire! TWO TYPES OF PEOPLEI recently mentioned the term tribulational saints. To some degree, the pre-tribbers are correct. There will be a great number of people who will come to believe during the great tribulation, and it’s safe to call them tribulational saints. Although a lot of bad things are going to happen during the tribulation, a lot of good things are also going to happen, meaning a lot of people will turn and return to God. At the present time we see a sharp rise in people losing their faith. We see people turning away from God, bringing to life the words that Peter and Paul used 2000 years ago to describe how mankind would act in the last days. But when the proverbial crap hits the fan, things will quickly change. There will be two types of nonbelievers that will emerge from the great tribulation. Those who say, “Oh Shit! Grandma was right. Jesus is real!!! How did I miss this when it was right in front of me?” And then there will be those who will continue to curse God, hate God, and blame God for what’s happening. There will be no mediocre responses to this. Things will be too extreme to be in the middle, people will have to go one way or the other.
THE WRATH OF GODSomething to keep in mind as we read about the wrath of God here on the earth, is that God will eventually pull his Holy Spirit away. Paul tells us in Second Thessalonians 2:5-8, “Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”
There are several things to look at in this set of verses. The first “he” that is mentioned is the Antichrist. The second “he” that is mentioned is the Holy Spirit. But the most important thing about this proof text is that it reminds us that God is the architect of the End Times, and that it will all play out exactly when, why, where, and how, God wants it to. None of the End Times will begin until God is ready to reveal the Antichrist.
Think about how screwed up the world is right now and that’s with the Holy Spirit in place protecting us. I can only imagine how bad it will be once the spirit of God is completely removed from this world. Most End Times scholars agree that the second “he” in Paul’s passage is the Holy Spirit. Another possibility that it could be is the archangel Michael. But I feel like it’s the Holy Spirit.
In Revelation Chapter 8, the seventh seal opens up and brings in the seven trumpets. Basically, the seventh seal opens up round two. The seven trumpets bring a great deal of destruction on the earth. Before I read this very descriptive passage, I want you to remember and think about what I said earlier… persecution from the Antichrist will look like a walk in the park compared to the wrath of God! Revelation 8:7-12 reads, “The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.” Wow! At this point, God’s patience with mankind is over, and he means business. In the interest of time, we’re not going to discuss all of the remaining trumpets and destruction associated with each one. But I encourage each of you to read it for yourselves. I would recommend that when you read the book of Revelation that you read it with a modern translation that’s easy to understand, such as the New International Version (NIV), the New Living Translation (NLT), or The Message (MSG). The best Bible translation is one that you will read, and most importantly, the one that you can understand. I would also recommend if you want to study the End Times further that you read the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament. There is a definite correlation between God’s punishment of Egypt and his protection of Israel, and God’s punishment of an unbelieving world and his protection of Israel during the End Times.
Unfortunately, as God continues to systematically destroy the earth with natural disasters and plagues, people’s hearts will continue to harden toward God, just like Pharaoh’s heart hardened in the Book of Exodus. Revelation 9:20 says, “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.” It goes on to say in Chapter 16:10-11, “The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.”
THE TWO WITNESSESWe’re now going to jump forward to Chapter 11, which is a description of two individuals who will help accomplish God’s work during the tribulation. This shows us how merciful God is because even at the eleventh hour is he still leaving the ninety-nine to go find the one. God will send back to Earth two of the greatest prophets ever to evangelize. If it were a baseball game it would be the equivalent of him sending back Cy Young and Babe Ruth!
From the description that we get, these two people are more-than-likely from heaven and will display supernatural abilities. Verse 3 says, “I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days.” Nowhere does the Bible identify these two witnesses by name, so we can only speculate, but we have some good evidence for our speculation. And I’m okay to speculate as long as it’s consistent with the Bible. The two witnesses will have miraculous powers to accompany their message, and no one will be able to hurt them.
However, Chapter 11 tells us that at the end of their ministry they will be killed by the Antichrist. It says the wicked world will rejoice, as every people, tribe, language, and nation, will gaze on their bodies and refuse to bury them, as the bodies of the fallen prophets lie in the streets of Jerusalem. Three and a half days later, however, God will breathe life back into the two witnesses, and they will be resurrected, and, in full view of their enemies, will ascend to heaven. Modern technology and social media will make it possible for everyone on the planet to see this happen.
So, who are the two witnesses? Moses and Elijah are the most likely candidates due to the specific miracles that John says that they will perform. The witnesses will have the power to turn water into blood, which duplicates one of the plagues that Moses performed against Egypt. And the witnesses will have the power to stop it from raining, which corresponds to a miracle that Elijah’s performed. Also giving strength to this view is the fact that Moses and Elijah both appeared with Jesus in a spiritual-form at the transfiguration, (Matthew 17:3–4). Further, Jewish tradition expects Moses and Elijah to return, based on the prophecy of Elijah’s coming in the Book of Malachi 4:5-6, and God’s promise to raise up a prophet like Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy: 18:15, 18.
THE WOMAN & THE DRAGON One of the keys to understanding the Book of Revelation is to know the difference between what’s symbolism and what’s meant to be understood as real. Chapter 12 is a sidebar in the story. The timeline stops moving forward in order that we can gain some insight from the past. If Chapter 12 were a movie or TV show, we would call it a time-hop or the back-story. It helps give us the reader perspective on what’s going on. That’s exactly what Revelation Chapter 12 is, it’s a time-hop. It gives us a quick glimpse into the history of Satan, Israel and Christ.
Revelation 12:1-5 reads, “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.”
We learn a lot about both Israel and Satan in Chapter 12. Symbolically, the woman is Israel, and the dragon is Satan. We know that the woman is Israel because it says she had a crown of twelve stars on her head and gave birth to a son who will rule the nations. Some say this is mother Mary. And, while yes, Mary did give birth to Jesus, we know that the crown of twelve stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel, and we know that symbolically Israel gave birth to Jesus through the root of Jesse.
As for the references about the dragon being Satan, the Bible gives it to us in plain language. Revelation 12:9 says, “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” Unlike the story of the Hobbit or one my favorite childhood movies, Pete’s Dragon, this is not about a real dragon. It’s symbolism and the dragon is Satan. When we combine this with other chapters in the Bible we learn that Satan was an angel gone rouge. It’s important to always remember that Satan is simply a bad angel. He is not God! He is nowhere close to being God. He can only do what God allows him to do. Chapter 12 starts out in the past with verses 1 through 5, but then, in verses 6 through 17 it jumps to the final three and a half years of the End Times, which is still to come in the future.
“The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancientserpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.’
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.”
THE HARLOT, BABYLON THE GREATChapters 17, 18, and most of 19, is another example of where Revelation uses a sidebar to illustrate part of the narrative. It talks about a prostitute who is known as Babylon the Great. Much like how Chapter 12 used symbolism to describe Israel as a woman and Satan as a Dragon, here, Babylon the Great is described as a prostitute who symbolizes the evil world system that will be controlled by the Antichrist during the great tribulation. Babylon the Great is symbolic of spiritual adultery and an ungodly end-times religious system. It is the evil and corrupt equivalent of the church.
The word Babylon is a byword for corruption and evil. Within these three chapters, Babylon the Great also represents a literal city. Part of this story is symbolic, but at the same time, part of it is talking about a literal city, and End Times scholars love to debate about which city this could actually be. Some believe it's Rome and others believe it could be New York City.
In the Bible, the city of Babylon is mentioned over 350 times, second only to Jerusalem. Babylon was a physical city that used to exist in the Old Testament. Today, its archeological remains are about 50 miles south of Baghdad in Iraq. It was there in Genesis that the Tower of Babel was built as humans tried to reach heaven. Later on, it was the capitol of the Babylonian empire that took Israel into exile and destroyed the first temple. Symbolically, the city of Babylon is to Satan like Jerusalem is to God. You could make a modern reference by comparing Las Vegas or Hollywood to Babylon. Babylon stands for everything that is anti-God.
The Bible will use words to symbolically describe other cities as unholy. For example, in the book of First Peter, Peter refers to Rome as Babylon. In Revelation 11:8-9, which is talking about the death of God’s two witnesses during the great tribulation, it says that “their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where the Lord was crucified.” Here, God is using a byword to describe his beloved city of Jerusalem because of how wicked it will be during the reign of the Antichrist. Although Jerusalem is God’s holy city, it has also been a city filled with apostasy, and a city that God has referred to several times in the Bible as a harlot. There are many examples in the Bible of the Israelites turning their backs on God and committing unheard-of atrocities with other gods. While Jerusalem may be God’s holy city, it has also been a very unholy city at different points in history, (Matthew 5:11-12, Hebrews 11:36-37).
It can be difficult to determine what is symbolism verses what is literal in chapters 17, 18, and 19, but just like in Chapter 12, if you read close enough, the chapter itself will give you the answers. While there is much debate over what city John was describing as Babylon the Great, to me, it’s obvious that the city is Jerusalem.
Revelation 18:24 reads, “In her was found the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people.” Jerusalem is the city where God’s prophets were killed, (Luke 13:33-35).
Revelation 17:15-18 reads, “Then the angel said to me, ‘The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” The great city in the Bible is Jerusalem, which will be the End Times headquarters of the Antichrist.
THE TRIBULATION COMES TO AN ENDIn Chapter 16 of Revelation, we see that God finally brings the great tribulation to a close. Listen to these words and be glad that you’re a believer. God will use a series of seals that will lead to trumpets, and finally, the trumpets will lead to bowls. It’s now the end, and time for the bowls. Revelation 16:2-11, 17 paints a very sobering picture of how the wrath of God finally ends, “The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, It is done!” That last verse is very similar to what Jesus said in John 19:29-30, right as he died on the cross. “A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDONThe Battle of Armageddon will be the event that brings the great tribulation to a close. This is the event that brings Jesus back for his second coming. If his first coming happened quietly in a manger at Bethlehem, which is located in central Israel, his second coming will be with a bang and will happen at the Battle of Armageddon, which will take place in Northern Israel on the plain of Megiddo, about sixty miles north of Jerusalem. In reality, there will be about 70 miles that separates the distance between his first and second comings. The word “Armageddon” comes from the Hebrew word Har-Magedone, which means Mount Megiddo. It has become synonymous with the future battle in which Jesus will intervene and destroy the armies of the Antichrist. There will be a multitude of people engaged in the Battle of Armageddon, as all the nations gather together to fight against Israel and Jesus. We first read about Armageddon in Revelation 16:12-21, as the angels pour out the remains of God’s wrath in the sixth and seventh bowls. We get the final details of the battle in Chapter 19:11-21, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small. Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.” The very word Armageddon can be scary because of what it represents. But in reality, this battle between good and evil, between Jesus and the Antichrist really is no battle at all. Always remember…Satan is just an angel gone bad. If our God has the power to speak the universe into existence, then defeating Satan and his armies will be simple. It’ll be like an old-school Mike Tyson fight…it’ll be over before it ever begins. If Christ brought salvation with him during his first coming, he will bring justice with him at his second coming. THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRISTImmediately after Jesus defeats the Antichrist and the False Prophet at the Battle of Armageddon, we then move into Chapter 20 which tells about the millennial kingdom of Jesus, and the defeat of Satan. The millennial kingdom is the name given to the one-thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ here on the earth. The Bible tells us that when Christ returns to earth during his second coming, he will establish himself as king in Jerusalem, sitting on what’s known as the throne of David. This will be a literal, physical return of Christ to establish his kingdom on earth and it will last for one thousand years. This one-thousand-year period of time will serve as a bridge between life here and now, and life in eternity. Chapter 20 has two things going on at once, the establishment of Jesus’ millennial kingdom and the defeat of Satan. Let’s first talk about the defeat and judgement of Satan and then we’ll talk more about the millennial kingdom.
Revelation 20:1-3“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.”
Revelation 20:7-10“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
It says that after God releases Satan from the abyss that Satan will go right back to his old tricks, and he will gather an army to defeat Jesus. Why in the world, after all the things that Satan has done to disrupt God’s plan of salvation, would God give Satan all these extra chances? So, let’s recount the chances. Satan’s pride caused him to rebel and God kicked him out of Heaven… strike one! Then God kicked him out of the Garden of Eden along with Adam and Eve after he caused the fall of man…strike two! After the Battle of Armageddon one of God’s angels will seize Satan, bind him with a great chain, and throw him into an abyss for one thousand years…strike Three.
If you notice here, God sends an angel to deal with Satan. He doesn’t even bother to do it himself. Why? Like I have said many times, Satan is simply a rogue angel, and all it takes to defeat him is another one of God’s angels. And even though the Bible doesn’t tell us specifically, I feel certain that God will give the pleasure of Satan’s capture to the archangel Michael. I’m fine to speculate that because it’s consistent with the rest of the Bible. Michael is mentioned more than once in the Bible as God’s chosen angel who deals with Satan. Finally, after being bound in a bottomless pit for one thousand years, God releases Satan one last time, and he once again deceives mankind enough to gather an army to fight against Jesus. It’s amazing how mankind can’t seem to resist Satan’s temptation. Even after having Jesus and total peace on this earth for one thousand years, people will still fall for Satan and his lies, by falling for Satan’s biggest pick up line… “You will be like God”…strike Four. And with that God throws Satan into the burning lake of sulfer forever.
The reason that God continues to give Satan so many chances is because God is a merciful God. And even though he has always known the outcome, God gives all of us multiple chances to make the right decision, including Satan. If God will give Satan this many chances, what does that say about us? God truly is a forgiving, merciful, just, and loving God. We’re reminded in Romans 5:8 that God loved us even when we were sinners. But ultimately, we can’t blame God if we don’t make it to heaven because at the end of the day, the decision to accept him is ours. God doesn’t send anyone to hell, he simply honors their wishes. THE NEW HEAVEN & NEW EARTHAfter the millennial kingdom is over God will restore things back to the way they were in the beginning in the Garden of Eden, when things were perfect and when mankind coexisted with God. If you remember back in the beginning paragraphs of this paper, I said if you look at the first two chapters of the Bible and then flip to the end and read the last two chapters of the Bible, it would all be a perfect story. I read a few excerpts from those last two chapters. Let’s now take a deeper look at Revelation, chapters 21 and 22. Revelation 21:1-7“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, Look, I am making everything new! And he also said, It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.” Revelation 21:10-14Reading on down… “and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”
HMMM…we’ve always been taught that we will go up to heaven, but actually heaven will be coming down to us!
Revelation 21:21-27“The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass. I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
WHAT DID JOHN REALLY SEE?As we wrap up our study on the End Times, let’s think about some of the really interesting things we’ve read about in the Book of Revelation. We know that some of it was most definitely meant to be written and understood as symbolism. We know its symbolism because the Bible tells us it is. Things like the dragon, the beast, and the woman. The Bible says that the dragon is Satan, the beast is the Antichrist, and the woman is the nation of Israel. We see earlier in the Bible that Jesus is referred to as both a lion and a lamb, but we know in reality that he was a real person.
But what about some of this other strange stuff in Revelation? In Chapter 9 we read about locust that come up from the smoke and descend upon the earth. They had the power to sting like scorpions. The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had teeth like the teeth of a lion. They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle.
We have to remember that John was looking into the future from the year 95 A.D. and the written word was his medium. He wasn’t able to show us a YouTube video of what he saw. He could only use certain words to describe what he was seeing. What if what he was seeing was from the 21st Century? For example, how would John be able to describe a fighter jet like an F22 Raptor?
In Chapter 9, we get this description… “And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths. Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.” Could John have been describing a military tank?
No one will know for sure until it all happens, but the point of this is to not just simply chalk the Book of Revelation up to symbolism. It’s an ancient book that was written about modern occurrences. It wasn’t written for people in John’s time. It wasn’t even written for people a hundred years ago. But I believe wholeheartedly that it was written for us in our time. Reading it from that point of view makes it a little easier to understand.
ISRAEL TODAYIn the early morning hours of October 7, 2023, the Palestinian militant group known as Hamas launched a large scale surprise attack against Israel. Who is Hamas and how did things escalate to this point, and why is all of this Biblical?
Let’s start from the beginning and take a Biblical look at the events leading up to October 7th. The Bible tells us that God promised and gave the land of Israel to Abraham and the Jews in what is known as the Abrahamic Covenants that are found in the Book of Genesis. Throughout the Biblical narrative, the Jews lived in the land that God gave them, either under their own sovereignty or under the rule of other nations.
Roughly forty years after Jesus was crucified, the second Jewish temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in the year 70 A.D., and the Jews were scattered all over the world. God then went silent with the Jews for 1,878 years. Most Christian scholars feel this was God’s way of punishing Israel for not only killing the Messiah, but more importantly, for the Jews denying their Messiah!
THE HOLOCAUST Finally, after World War II and the Holocaust, the Jews got to return to their promised land. This happened on May 14, 1948, and it fulfilled the prophecy in Ezekiel 37:21-22 that was written 2,500 years earlier, saying that “I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will bring them home to their own land from the places where they have been scattered. I will unify them into one nation on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule them all; no longer will they be divided into two nations or into two kingdoms.” This is such a powerful piece of prophecy because it was written so long ago and then played out down to the very letter during the 20th Century, during my parent’s lifetime.
The Holocaust and World War II created the right situation for putting Israel back on the world map, because of three things. One, it created world sentiment for the Jews. Two, it increased Jewish immigration to Palestine after the war ended. Three, the allies were able to garner financial support from the West German government.
All of this was done under the authority of the United Nations with help from Great Britain, who had colonized the land of Palestine during World War I. While some middle eastern countries were able to gain their independence from European colonization after World War I, Palestine remained under British rule, and was never a formal country. Just for note…when the Jews own the land it’s called Israel. When the Muslims own the land, it’s called Palestine. Israel and Palestine are two different names for the same piece of land.
THE 1948-1949 ARAB-ISRAELI WARIn a nutshell, the United Nations divided the land of Palestine between the Jews and the Palestinians. When Great Britain pulled out and Israel declared its independence in May 1948, war broke out immediately between Israel and the Palestinian people, with the neighboring Arab countries of Jordan, Syria, and Egypt coming to the aid of the Palestinians. Israel held strong and out of the 1948-1949 War they gained more territory than what was originally allotted to them by the United Nations, by taking about 60 percent of the land that was given to the Palestinians. Most importantly, Israel took control of West Jerusalem, while Jordan controlled and annexed East Jerusalem, which is where the Temple Mount is located. Jerusalem was divided during the first 20 years of Israel’s existence. The division of Jerusalem was similar to how Berlin was divided into east and west during the cold war.
THE 1967 SIX-DAY WARBetween June 5-10, 1967, Israel was attacked simultaneously by Egypt, Syria, & Jordan. To put it simply, it only lasted six days because the Israeli military was supreme. The Israeli army and air force took Jordan and Syria out of the fight in a couple of days, and by the sixth day they had easily defeated Egypt. Out of the Six-Day War, Israel seized new land from all three countries, including all of Jerusalem. But they stopped at the Temple Mount. Why would they stop at the Temple Mount? This was the golden prize that they had waited on and longed for, for thousands of years! Taking back the Temple Mount would have allowed them to rebuild their temple. Why would they not take it back when they had military supremacy? The main reason is they knew if they attacked the Temple Mount that is also home to the Muslim’s Dome of the Rock, that no Jew in the world would be safe. And that it would’ve potentially started World War III.
Also, the answer is in the Bible. Ezekiel 44:1-3 to be exact. The Israelis had to make a historic decision during The Six Day War, on whether or not to take the Temple Mount from the Arab/Muslim armies. The military was prepared to blow open the Eastern Gate, which had been closed with brick-and-mortar hundreds of years earlier by the Muslims, but their own Jewish rabbis stood in front of the tanks and reminded them of what God said in Ezekiel 44:1-3, that the Eastern Gate was to remain shut until the Messiah enters through it.
1967 TO NOWFor the most part, that’s where we stand today. Israel still controls the land that they occupied in 1967, with the big prize being what’s known as the West Bank. It’s the prized possession because that’s where Jerusalem is located. It’s called the West Bank because it’s eastern border is on the West Bank of the Jordan River. After acquiring so much land in 1967, Israel has continued fighting on and off with its Arab/Muslim neighbors. The fighting is over Israel’s divine right to own the land, while the misplaced Palestinians and their Muslim brothers understandably deny Israel’s right to exist in land that was taken from them.
The Palestinian people have been considered refugees living within their own land ever since 1948. I use the word land rather than country because Palestine has never been a formal country. Much like the Jews during Biblical times, the Palestinians have always been a people group who have been governed by an occupying kingdom, such as the Ottoman Empire, or countries like Great Britain, and now Israel. As Jews and Christians, we see all of this from a Biblical point-of view, but the Palestinians, the Muslims, the Arabs, and many other countries in the international community don’t see it that way. Although the Palestinians are not part of a formal country, they have shown a great deal of organization over the years with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and they have two well-funded, well-armed militant groups with Hamas, who operates out of Gaza in southern Israel, and Hezbollah, who operates out of Lebanon, just north of Israel.
After the Holocaust, any Jew in the world can gain open citizenship in Israel. There are approximately 15 million Jews in the world, which is roughly the population of Pennsylvania. Geographically, Israel is about the size of New Jersey. With an open immigration policy and a small amount of land, Israel is constantly looking for places to build housing. It becomes very controversial when they build settlements in the pieces of land that they occupied after the Six Day War, places like the West Bank. When you see Israel fighting with the Palestinians it is over the existence of Israel in the land of Palestine, and the land they occupied after the Six-Day War in 1967.
When you look at all of this from a big-picture, Biblical point-of-view, understand that the Jews and the Muslims have been fighting ever since Genesis 21:9, when Ishmael mocked Isaac. Regardless of how we as Christians feel about Muslims, the Muslims, for better or worse, have always been a part of God’s plan. This is also a great example of how God can synchronize his will with mankind’s free will. Hitler made a decision to take over Europe and to exterminate six million Jews. Even in our darkest hours and amid our worst decision-making as human beings, God can still work within that to fulfill his purpose. As a result of Hitler and two world wars, God put Israel back on the world map.
THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL AND ITS NEIGHBORSIn the aftermath of the October 7th raid, Israel has effectively neutralized Hamas by destroying much of Gaza, and killing several thousand Palestinians. They then turned their attention to Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, and effectively neutralized them after several air strikes. And then on September 17, 2024, Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, pulled off one of the greatest spy missions in history. An operation that was ten years in the making, allowed Israel to covertly place explosives in Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie talkies, and then detonate them simultaneously, killing and wounding several thousand.
And while Hamas and Hezbollah are Palestinian terrorist organizations, Israel’s biggest threat comes from the country of Iran, which backs Hezbollah with money and weapons. Since October 7th, both countries have traded sucker punches in the form of air strikes, but have restrained themselves from the temptation of acts that would lead to all-out war.
Then, on December 8, 2024, the Bashar al-Assad regime fell in Syria, allowing Israel to take out several of Syria’s weapons stockpiles and the Syrian Navy. Israel then extended the buffer zone between the two counties by occupying more land beyond the Golan Heights in southwestern Syria. In many ways, we are witnessing a modern-day version of the Book of Joshua play out on our news feeds.
Whenever God decides to start his clock on the final seven years of the End Times, we know that Israel will be at the epicenter. Events in the Middle East are certainly worth watching, but more importantly, we need to understand how and why this happened. There are too many End Times red flags not to, as God aligns his chest pieces. While all of this is alarming, it’s still not the beginning of the End Times, as some may think. People tend to twist current events to fit what the Bible says about the End Times, and that doesn’t always work. There are still several big pieces of prophecy that need to align with the Antichrist before this could even remotely resemble the beginning of the End Times. See my article on Understanding the Antichrist under Appendix B for more information on that.
The big thing to watch for is the Temple Mount, which still isn’t being mentioned much. It’s the one thing that more-than-likely caused all of this to happen, because Israel raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount on April 4, 2023, and arrested several Muslims who were worshipping. Hamas said their attack on October 7, 2023 was retaliation for that. Israel has been more aggressive with their actions on the Temple Mount in the last several months. The big red flag of all big red flags will be if Israel uses this as an opportunity to take back the Temple Mount and rebuild the third temple.
In the meantime, here are a few things to remember to help calm the nerves. Always remember that God is sovereign. As bad as it may seem, God is the architect of the End Times, and things will play out exactly the way that Biblical prophecy says they will, and this is from God and we have to trust him.
SPIRITUAL PREPPINGIt’s easy to think that God has forgotten about us, but as the old saying goes, God may be slow but he’s never late. The Apostle Peter tells us in Second Peter 3:8, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
To truly study the End Times and all of the prophecy associated with it, we have to look at it from a big-picture point-of-view. You can’t judge it based solely on the events going on around you at the time. While the depravity of the world seems to be escalating at a rapid pace, and we are getting closer to those “birthing pains” that Jesus spoke about, but we’re not there yet. There are still some big prophecies that have to happen first. Scripture clearly states that the following events must happen before the End Times can begin in earnest.
1. The Jews must rebuild their temple in Jerusalem (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15-16, Thessalonians 2:3-4). One of the ways that the temple can be rebuilt without tearing down the Dome of the Rock would be a sharing agreement on the Temple Mount between the Muslims and the Jews, with the temple sitting next to the Dome of the Rock. 2. The Antichrist still has to be revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). 3. The Antichrist will have to exist for three and a half years before there will be a mark of the beast. The mark of the beast is something that will happen after the midpoint of the final seven years (Daniel 9:27, Revelation 13:11-18).
One of the controversies surrounding the Covid 19 vaccine stemmed from the belief that it contained the mark of the beast. And while it is possible that the Antichrist and the False Prophet could use an injection of some kind to administer the mark, scripture clearly says a person will receive the mark on their right hand or on their forehead, (Revelation 13:16). And while the Antichrist may very well be alive right now, he certainly hasn’t been revealed yet, and that is a requirement. Which means according to scripture, the Covid 19 vaccine cannot be the mark of the beast because the mark of the beast will be a very overt, dictatorial process conducted by the Antichrist when it happens. It won’t be a secret or a trick.
To keep it in perspective, there are many tools in our society that might aid the Antichrist in administering the mark of the beast. Everything from a biochip inserted into a person’s hand to a simple tattoo will work. Just because certain tools exist that does not make them the mark of the beast. An example of a tool that can be perceived as doing both good and bad is the printing press. The same printing press that can print a Bible can also print a pornographic magazine, but that doesn’t make the printing press a bad thing. It’s simply a tool. It’s the human motive behind the tool that makes it good or bad.
It's also important to remember that most of humanity will never see the rapture or the great tribulation. There will only be a small percentage of Christians alive when these two things happen. Pop culture loves to talk about the mark of the beast, but you never hear anyone talk about the seal of God or being protected by the Holy Spirit. As a Christian, I know that God will protect my soul because I believe in him, which means Satan cannot touch my soul. I have been baptized and saved in God, and I worship and praise him daily. And God has had me cradled in his bosom since before I was ever born. He may choose to protect my earthly body if I live through the great tribulation. Or he may not. I’m fine either way, because my time here on Earth has been short ever since I arrived here at 3:34 p.m. on January 31, 1970. My true home is in eternity with God in heaven, not here on this earth.
Suffering is not only part of our human experience, but it’s also part of our spiritual experience as Christians. Jesus was the most innocent man in history, but yet, he suffered a very cruel and painful death on our behalf. Suffering reminds us that we truly are aliens in this world, because eternity with God is where we belong. In the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Paul echoed the same sentiment when he wrote about suffering in Romans 5:3. Paul writes, “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
THE SEAL OF GODIt’s not all complete gloom and doom. When I think about the End Times, I think about all of the times that God has protected me, even when I didn’t realize that he was protecting me. Plus, the scripture from First Thessalonians tells us that not all believers will be killed during the great tribulation. Paul told us that there will be a great number of people raptured from the earth, which means not all Christians will die during that time.
There is also biblical proof that God might choose to protect us. In the book of Exodus when God was punishing Pharaoh and Egypt with terrible plagues, he protected the Israelites from most of those plagues, although they were living alongside the Egyptians. Listen to these words from Exodus 8:22, “But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the LORD, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people.”
In Revelation 12:13-14 John uses apocalyptic writing to describe how God will protect Israel from Satan during the great tribulation. John writes, “When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.”
Here are more comforting words from God about sealing his own people, the same as the Antichrist will seal his followers with the mark of the beast. Revelation 7:3 says, “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” In Revelation 9:4 he also says, “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” While these two particular proof texts come after the rapture is mentioned in the book of Revelation and is for a special group of Jews known as the 144,000, it shows in plain language that God can protect whomever he chooses to protect.
Other scriptures that show God sealing his children include Second Timothy 2:19. There Paul says, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his, and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’” Ephesians 4:30 also echoes this. There Paul writes, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
The bottom line is this. If I’m alive when it all goes down and God chooses to protect me from the Antichrist, I’ll gladly accept his protection. If he doesn’t, I’ll gladly martyr my soul and step into eternity. This earth is temporary one way or another and anything I do here is temporary. Planet Earth is not where it’s at! God designed all of this. He decided before the beginning of time how it would play out because he is in control, and he is sovereign. I know as long as I am a believer, that I’ll be okay. If I live to see the End Times it will be difficult, but ultimately, suffering through three and a half years of the great tribulation can never compare to spending eternity with God in heaven. Selling your soul for a loaf of bread simply isn’t worth it! Jesus said it best in Matthew 16:26, when he said, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
There are a lot of things about the End Times that are part of God’s plan and that we will never have control over. The world is like the Titanic. It’s a sinking ship! The Bible clearly says that this world is ruled by Satan and that we as believers don’t belong to this world. We belong with God. Our Job as Christians is not to save the Titanic. It’s impossible to save a world that is already doomed! Instead, our job is to fulfill The Great Commission and get as many people as possible off of the Titanic and into the lifeboat of God.
If the End Times is Satan’s greatest hour, it will also be the greatest hour for The Great Commission. Remember there will be two types of people during the End Times. Those who curse God, and those who figure out that grandma was right and run to God. As Christians, if we live through the great tribulation, there will be much work to do, and God will expect more from us than to simply survive it in the fetal position. He will expect us to be just like the Apostle Paul, suffer as we will, and try to save as many as possible! There will be droves of nonbelievers looking for answers. And those answers will be found in our Bibles. We just have to be willing and ready to share the good news that we already know.
When things get scary all we have to do is trust God and remind ourselves that he is sovereign. And never forget this one simple fact, that in the end…Jesus wins!
APPENDIX A*The following is all of the major scripture concerning Satan. The translation is from the New International Version. Genesis 3:1-15…God allows Satan to enter the Garden of Eden and the fall of man ensues: The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” 2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” 4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” 6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. 8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” 11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” 14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
First Chronicles 21:1…Satan rose up against Israel and David sinned:“Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” Job 1:6-12, 2:1-6…God gives Satan a long leash:6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” 4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 6 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.” Isaiah 14:12-17…In a message to the king of Babylon, God describes Satan:“How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” 15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. 16 Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, 17 the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?”
Ezekiel 28:11-19… In a message to the king of Tyre, God describes Satan: The word of the LORD came to me: 12 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. 14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. 17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. 18 By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. 19 All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’” Luke 4:1-13…The temptation of Christ:Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” 9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Luke 10:18…Jesus saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning:He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Luke 22:31-32…Satan asks God to sift Peter:“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” John 8:42-44…Characteristics of Satan:Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 10:10…Satan is a thief bent on destruction:The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. John 12:31…Satan is the ruler of this world:Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. John 14:30…Satan is the ruler of this world:I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me; prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me. John 13:27…Satan enters Judas:As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” Second Corinthians 4:4…Satan is the god of this age:The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Second Corinthians 11:14…Satan and his demons are fakes:No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. Ephesians 2:1-2…Satan has dominion over the unseen world:As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. Ephesians 6:12…Our struggle isn’t against flesh & blood, but against the spiritual forces of the dark world & heavenly realms: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. First Peter 5:8…Satan prowls around like a roaring lion:Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. First John 5:19…The whole world is under the control of Satan:We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. Jude 9…Satan disputes the body of Moses with archangel Michael:But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you! Revelation 12:1-6…The Woman & The Dragon:A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. Revelation 12:7-12…The war in heaven with Archangel Michael:Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” Revelation 13:1-4 The Dragon and the Beast:The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” Revelation 20…The thousand years in the abyss:And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. 4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. 7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. APPENDIX B*The following is all of the major scripture concerning the Antichrist and the False Prophet The translation is from the New International Version. Daniel 7:1-8, 11-12, 15-27…Daniel sees the Antichrist & the distant future in a dream:“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream. 2 Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. 3 Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. 4 “The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it. 5 “And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’ 6 “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. 7 “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. 8 “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully. “Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. 12 (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority but were allowed to live for a period of time.) 15 “I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. 16 I approached one of those standing there and asked him the meaning of all this. “So, he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: 17 ‘The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth. 18 But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.’ 19 “Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws—the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. 20 I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell—the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. 21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. 23The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. 24 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time. 26 “‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’” Daniel 8:23-27…The Antichrist will destroy many & stand against Jesus: “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. 24 He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people. 25 He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power. 26 “The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.” 27 I, Daniel, was worn out. I lay exhausted for several days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding. Daniel 9:27…A warrior who will try to be like God:“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him” Daniel 11:36-45…The Antichrist will exalt himself:36 “The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. 37 He will show no regard for the gods of his ancestors or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. 38 Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses; a god unknown to his ancestors he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price. 40 “At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. 41 He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. 42 He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. 43 He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Cushites in submission. 44 But reports from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many. 45 He will pitch his royal tents between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.
Matthew 24:15-21...Jesus tells his disciples that the Great Tribulation will begin when the Antichrist sets up the abomination that causes desolation in the temple:“So, when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.” Second Thessalonians 2:1-12…The Apostle Paul says the day of the Lord will not come until the rebellion occurs and the Man of Lawlessness is revealed: “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” Revelation 6:2…The Antichrist is believed to be the first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: “I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.”
Revelation 13:2…Satan sets the Antichrist up with a great deal of power: “The beast I saw resembled a leopard but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.”
Revelation 13:3-4…He will be a man of swagger: One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
Revelation 13:5-8…The Antichrist will be very powerful man: “The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.”
Revelation 13:11-15…The False Prophet will serve as The Antichrist’s right hand, muscle man:Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
Revelation 13:16-18…The Mark of the Beast: “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.”
Revelation 14:9-12…Don’t sell your soul for a loaf of bread:“A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.” Revelation 15:1-4…Those who withhold from worshipping the Beast will be rewarded by God:I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. 4 Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” Revelation 16:2…God will punish those who worship the Antichrist:“The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.” Revelation 16:10-11…God pours his wrath out on the Antichrist: “The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.” Revelation 17:1-18…The Antichrist and Babylon The Great: One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.” 3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 The name written on her forehead was a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES, AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. 7 Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast, which you saw once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come. 9 “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10 They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. 11 The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. 12 “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. 13 They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.” 15 Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. 16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. 18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” Revelation 19:19-21…The Antichrist is defeated by Jesus in the end:“Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.” *The Apostle John talked about the term antichrist in both specific terms and general terms in his three epistles. This gives us a good definition of what an antichrist is. 1 John 2:18, 2218 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 1 John 4:33 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 2 John 1:77 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.