“The Order Of Prophetic Events” – ‘Part #2’

“The Tribulation”

The Tribulation or ‘The Time of Jacob’s Trouble’ Jer. 30:7, when the Antichrist will be revealed, II Thess. 2:1-8, is the most excruciating period of suffering ever known to mankind, Matt. 24:4-30 & Rev. 4-19. The event that will begin this time period is the signing of a covenant between Israel, Egypt, Syria and the Antichrist for Jerusalem. Isa. 28:14-18; 33:1-8; Dan. 9:24-27; 11:22-32;  Zech 12:3. Isaiah 28:14-18 refers to this as a covenant with ‘Death and Hell’ twice and God warns them that it will be annulled and they will be trampled down by it. The first half of the seven year covenant will be relatively peaceful while the last half will be utter chaos and destruction.  Satan will be unrestrained and establish his unholy trinity and assume the place of God the Father. The Beast, Satan’s right hand man, who is mentioned in Rev. 13, will occupy the position of God the Son and make a peace pact with Israel that he will break later. He will promise unity, peace and prosperity to Israel and the world to get them to follow him. Peace, Shalom! Oh, how the Jewish people desire peace, Isa. 26:3, “Shalom, Shalom,…” He will also place on his followers a mark of identification without which they will be unable to buy or sell anything. With today’s computer technology we are there, just a button away. The ‘False Prophet,’ the Beast’s right hand man, will take the position of the Holy Spirit and act as a deceiver, and unite the world together under one unified religious, governmental system, and everything is ready today.

“The Second Coming Of Christ”

The ‘Second Coming of Christ “WITH” His Church,’ is the crowning event of ‘Biblical Prophecy’ when Christ returns in power and great glory. Rev. 19:11-16, “And I saw heaven opened and, behold a white horse and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written that no man knew, but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and His name is called, The Word of God. And the armies that were in heaven followed Him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (That’s Us!) And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron and He treads the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” This will end the time of the ‘Great Tribulation’ or as it is called in Jer. 30:7, “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble.” However, first the ‘Battle of Armageddon’ will be fought, and the Antichrist will be overthrown and Christ will defeat ‘ALL’ the great armies of the earth, Rev. 19:17-19. (Read) Including the “Kings (plural) of the East, with a 200 million man army. Rev. 9:16 & 16:16; 200 thousand, thousand. China boasts a 200 million man army today, and you will find China in Isa. 49:12, Sinim, look it up in Websters dictionary. This battle will be fought in the valley of Megiddo and Christ and His army will destroy them with the sword of His mouth, Rev. 19:19. Ar-Mageddon means the ‘Mountain of Megiddo‘ and is located on the north side of the plains of Jezreel. At the conclusion of Armageddon, Christ will return to judge the earth, Matt. 24:29-31. (Read) This ends the Tribulation but there is still a lot to happen yet!

“The Sheep & Goat Judgement”

This is, ‘The Judgement of The Living‘ to decide who enters the Millennial Kingdom to repopulate the earth. The place is the ‘Valley of Jehosaphat‘ or ‘The Kidron Valley.’ The Judge is none other than, Jesus Christ Himself! The sheep are believing Gentiles who made it through the Tribulation alive and are allowed to enter the Kingdom. The goats are unbelieving Gentiles who made it through the Tribulation alive but are cast ‘ALIVE’ into Hell with Satan. The basis of this judgement is the treatment of Christ’s brethren, the Israelite’s. Matt. 25:31-46 (Read – Oh, how this passage is butchered today! Read C.I. Scofield’s note) The ‘Olivet Discourse’ is in Matthew chapter 24 & 25.

“The Millennial Kingdom”

The ‘Millennial Kingdom’ or the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth, also known as, ‘The Kingdom Age.’ You will find this time span in Rev. 20:2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Satan is bound for 1,000 years and righteousness, peace and prosperity finally does abound. Isa. 11:1-9; Dan. 2:44; Rev. 20:1-6; Those believers who were put to death during the Tribulation will join those who have already appeared before the ‘Bema Seat’ and reign with Christ over the world as judges, governors, mayors, etc. Christ will reign over all the earth directing a perfect judicial system and will be King of kings and Lord of lords. During this time the curse will be removed from the earth and the animal kingdom will be friendly and the desert will bloom as a rose. The knowledge of the Lord will permeate the whole earth and the heart of man.  In spite of all this man’s heart still will not change. During this time we will be observing all of the ‘Feasts of Jehovah’ Zech. 14:16-19, Tabernacles; Ezek. 45:21-25, Passover, etc. In fact there will be Temple worship and animal sacrifices in the Millennium, Ezekiel 46.

“The Loosing Of Satan”

Satan will deceive the nations for one final short lived revolt. He will lead to destruction those unbelievers, who were born to believers during the Millennium, but chose not to follow Christ. The last rebellion is a supreme demonstration of the sinfulness of man, even in a perfect environment, with Satan bound, man will still rebel. Satan will meet his ultimate eternal doom, with the Beast, and the False Prophet in the ‘Lake of Fire.’ Rev. 20:7-10. In Ezek. 38 & 39 you have Gog the prince and Magog the land  and the battle of Magog which I believe happens before the Rapture or just before the Tribulation for many reasons too numerous to discuss here. Many good men will differ on this point. However, later you have in Rev. 20:8, the Land of Gog and the land of Magog, two nations at the final battle showing the rebellion during the Millennium. So this confuses some with the timing of the battle of Magog.

“Great White Throne”

The ‘Great White Throne Judgement’ is the final judgement of all unbelievers, living as well as dead and even the earth will be destroyed. 2 Pet. 3:10-13; Zech. 14:12-13. The scene is one of unspeakable tragedy and is the greatest object lesson that salvation is by faith in Christ alone. The Books are opened, the ‘Book of Life’ and the ‘Book of Works.’ The ‘Book of Life’ condemns them and the ‘Book of Works’ shows them that they could not have done it on their own anyway. Also the ‘Book of Works’ seems to indicate degrees of punishment in Hell. Even ‘Death & Hell’ will be cast into the ‘Eternal Lake of Fire’ this is the ‘Second Death.’ Rev. 20:11-15. Then you have a “New heaven and a New Earth” and even a “New Jerusalem.” An eternity of bliss and joy for all who have trusted Christ as Savior and Lord, both Jew and Gentile. Rev. 21:1-22:5. No more tears, death, sorrow, crying, pain, or even night. These will all cease to exist. This is the ultimate destiny for all true believers. Till we meet again, we will see you, “…Between The Lines…” 

Jesus said in Rev. 22:20, (Nai Erxomai Taxu) “Yea, I Am Coming Quickly!”  John responded, (Nai Erxou Kurie Iasou) “Yea, Come Lord Jesus!”

The last thing Jesus said to His Church in the Bible was, “That He was coming quickly!” Are you ready? Are You? Are you packed up, prayed up and ready to be picked up? Then you better get ready, because the Archangel is wetting his lips as I type and if you have been watching the news lately, there may not be time to go out and get fresh batteries!

“The Order Of Prophetic Events” – ‘Part #2’  5/27/13

“The Order Of Prophetic Events” – ‘Part #1’

‘Age of The Law’

We need an overall picture of things to come so when we look at detailed prophetic events we will know exactly where to plug them in. So I am going to try and paint you a picture with words and hope you can see it. If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, then this one ought to be worth 37 anyway. 🙂 The first thing we see is, ‘Creation.’ In 1658, Archbishop James Ussher’s work was published in Welsh, and now we have it in English. He calculated from the ‘Biblical Genealogies’ that Creation occurred around 4,004 BC. Rabbi Yose ben Halafta in 120 AD, 1,500 years before Ussher also calculated Creation occurred around 3,761 BC, a difference of 243 years. (see Ussher’s appendix G for an explanation, or my blog where it is posted). Halafta basically compressed the Persian Empire into 30 years so Daniel 9:24-27 would point to Simon Bar Kokhba in 135 AD as the Messiah, according to Rabbi Akkiba, this is verified in the Encyclopedia Judaica.  Halafta used a lunar calendar and Ussher used a solar calendar, today the Jewish people use a solar/lunar calendar. The ancient Rabbis believed there would be 2,000 years without the law, 2,000 years with the law, 2,000 years with the Messiah and then the Kingdom. Isn’t that part of the Lord’s prayer, which we are to pray, “Thy kingdom come!” The Jewish calendar says it is ‘5772,’ if you add the 243 year error it would be 6015, like our 4004 BC plus 2012 AD equals, ‘6016’ and they too would be expecting their kingdom and praying, “Thy kingdom come!” You have about 2,000 years from creation to Abraham, then about another 2,000 years from Abraham to Christ, and about another 2,000 years from Christ till today, for a total of 6,000 years, waiting for the 7th thousand years or the kingdom of God or the millennium. You can read this in the “Encyclopedia Judaica” vol. 14, pg. 1091, art. “Seder Olam Rabbah” or in “The Annals of The World” by James Ussher, pg. 931-934, appendix ‘G’ – “Seder Olam Rabbah”. Now as we look at the order of prophetic events we will begin with the present and identify the ‘Ten Major Prophetic Events’ that will lead us right into eternity.

“The Age of Grace”

The first thing we see after the cross is the ‘Age of Grace’ or the ‘Church Age.’ We are to be making preparation right now for Christ’s return. In Luke 19:13 He said to His disciples, “Occupy till I come.” In other words, be busy, be pragmatic, stay occupied with the Masters work! Later we will see the ‘Signs of The Times’ which will indicate the, “Imminence of His Eminence!” The Greek word for ‘Church’ (ek-klay-see-ah) comes from two words, the preposition (ek) out of, from, or away from and (kal-eh-o) to call. To call out, or ‘The Called Out Ones.’ Before Yeshua/Jesus left this earth, He promised Peter he would personally build His church. An organism that would not be threatened by Satan or the evil forces of hell, Matt. 16:16-18; v.18 says, “And I say unto thee, Thou art Peter (petros – a stone, a rock, pebble) and upon this rock (petra – a cliff, ledge, huge rock, boulder) I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (over power it).” That promise began on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2 and will continue until we hear the trumpet in I Thess. 4:16. For almost 2,000 years, Christ has been calling out from the world those who have turned their hearts to Him; Jew and Gentile; Male and Female; Bond and Free; Adult and Child. We are living in the end of that era right now. I know you are ready to meet Jesus but are you prepared for His return? There is a big difference between those two things, being ready and being prepared! This is not a game of ‘Hide and Seek.’ He said, “Occupy (prag-ma) till I come!” To busy oneself, or one who gets the job done. There is a big difference between idealists and realists; dreamers and reapers. As one of my dear friends used to say, “I’m packed up, prayed up and ready to be picked up.” If He were to come tonight would He find you ready, packed, and your lamp full or do you need to go buy some oil?

“The Rapture or Harpadzo”

The next event on God’s schedule is the ‘Rapture of Harpadzo‘ the ‘Great Snatch.’ I Thess. 4:17, “Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort/exhort one another with these words.” Kenneth Wuest said, “This Greek word, (harpadzo – caught up) has various meanings, to seize, snatch away, carry off, it is used proverbially to rescue from the danger of destruction.” The second coming of Christ will be in two stages; First, He will come ‘FOR’ His church in the clouds. I Thess. 4:13-18 gives us the event and I Cor. 15:51-53 gives us the two categories of the event: First the corruptible, the dead in Christ who must put on incorruption; second the mortal, the living in Christ who must put on immortality. Then later he will come ‘WITH’ His church from heaven, riding on a white horse, Rev. 19:11-16 to set up His kingdom and rule for 1,000 years. I Thess. 4:16-17 says, “The dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Christ is the ‘Firstfruits among many brethren.’ How did He go? How do you think the rest of His harvest will go? I Cor. 15:20-23. Everything is ready and waiting, just one more soul to be saved to complete the bride and that angel will blow that trumpet! What a motive for soul winning, how would you like to be the one to lead that last soul to Christ when that trumpet blows and we are out of here!!!! I don’t think He will leave His Bride here one extra second, do you? After the ‘Rapture’ two things will happen simultaneously. The ‘Bema Seat’ in heaven for believers and the ‘Great Tribulation’ on earth for unbelievers.

“The Bema Seat” 

The ‘Bema Seat’ is where believers will receive their rewards in heaven, II Cor. 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgement seat (bema) of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.” Rom. 14:10, “But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgement seat (bema) of Christ.” Two things are going to be judged at this judgement; Your faithfulness in the realm of your gifts and abilities. In other words, what you did with what you were given, idealists are in trouble here; Second, your motives, ‘Why you did, what you did, with what you were given,’ realists could be in trouble here, because your motives will be judged. Rom. 14:10-12; I Cor. 3:11-15; I Cor. 4:1-5; II Cor. 5:10. This judgement is purely motivational and does not deal with salvation only with our rewards. This will happen in heaven for believers, raised at the rapture. Our life and conduct on earth will be evaluated in light of our obedience and rewards will be given to us (or not) by the Lord.

Here are the first four brush strokes of our snap-shot of these prophetic events we will be dealing with in greater detail. I hope you’re getting the picture of what we want to focus on. Make sure you take time to look up the verses and study these portions of Scripture and read, “…Between The Lines…”

“The Order of Prophetic Events” – Part #1 – 5/8/13

“The Blessed Hope” – ‘Titus 2:11-15’

The pivotal point of all ‘Biblical Prophecy’ is the “Blessed Hope” of every believer, our Lord’s glorious return. Christ ascended to the right hand of God where He is preparing a place for you and me right now, Heb. 1:3, “Who, being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” He sat down, signifying that His work was finished and ours had just begun; Luke 19:13, “Occupy till I come.” (put your capital to work, do business, get busy). The ‘Great Commission’ was not the great suggestion, or the great idea, or proposition 28:18. You don’t vote on it, or discuss it or hold committee meetings on it, you either obey it or disobey it. He is the visible manifestation of the invisible God. He told Thomas, “If you have seen Me, you have see the Father.” John 14:9. He told the Jewish leaders in the Temple, “I and my Father are one.” John 10:30, and took up stones to kill Him, because He made Himself equal to God.

He will remain at the right hand of His Father, “until the times of the restitution of all things.” Acts 3:19-21, “Repent, therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord: And He shall send Jesus Christ, who before was preached unto you, Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all the prophets since the world began.” This is referring to the restoration of a true theocracy and the perfect state as it was before the fall of Adam. The prophets are speaking of Israel in the land, all of it, and the establishment of the Israeli Covenant, Deut. 30:3; and a theocracy under David’s Son, the Messiah, 2 Sam. 7:16.

Christ’s second coming will initiate a series of events culminating in the ultimate, eternal, unchallenged rule of God over His creation. We need to look briefly at the Lord’s return negatively and positively to clear up some misunderstandings. First let me say what it is not and this may sound silly to some but I need to clear the air. The second coming is not the death of all believers. It also does not mean He descends every time a believer dies to get him or her. “To be absent from the body (soma) is to be present with the Lord (kurios).” 2 Cor. 5:8. The word absent (ek-demeo – means out of, to depart, to Emigrate) and the word present (en-demeo – means into, among, to Immigrate) and the Greek word (demos) is people. Phil. 1:23, “to depart and to be with Christ,” in the Greek, is one and the same thing. It also does not refer to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Acts 2. The Son and the Holy Spirit are two distinct persons of the Godhead. It does not mean the conversion of mankind when they are saved. This is a miracle of the new birth but it is not the return of the Savior. These may seem silly but many people confuse these for the ‘Second Coming’ of Christ.

The ‘Second Coming’ of Jesus Christ is the visible, imminent, personal appearance of Christ for His Bride, ‘The Church,’ in the air. Those three words are very important, ‘visible, imminent and personal.’ It is a visible return, they will see Him descend in the clouds, Acts 1:9-11; The two men who stood by Him in white apparel when He ascended up into heaven said, “This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven.” Zech. 12:10; 13:6; 14:4, bear this out. One of the five V’s of Fundamentalism is ‘The Visible Second Coming’ the other four are, “The Victorious Resurrection, Verbal Inspiration, The Virgin Birth, and Vicarious Atonement.” It is an ‘imminent return,’ and the word imminent means, “hanging threateningly over one’s head by a thread.” In other words, it can happen at any second, “in the twinkling of an eye,” I Cor. 15:52, that’s 1/10,000 of a second, or you might say, in a split second! Or you could say ‘His Eminence is Imminent.’ And it is going to be a personal return, Acts 1:11, “The same Jesus who was taken up, shall come again in like manner…” Zech. 14:4, “And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in its midst toward the east and toward the west and there shall be a great valley;”

We were told by Him to watch, to be vigilant, to stay alert and to be ready! To occupy, be pragmatic until He does come. In other words, stay busy in the work of the Master and do it, the work that is! Bible prophecy should encourage us to be more zealous in the work of the Lord. To know more about the future, should increase our zeal to serve better in the present. The study of prophecy should lead to ‘Holiness.’ If it doesn’t, stop and and get on your knees and ask yourself why? We need to pray the prayer of the Apostle John in Rev. 22:20 after our Lord’s final words; “Surely I come quickly.” – “Even so come Lord Jesus!” Or in the Greek, “Yea, come Lord Jesus!”

This should be the ‘Blessed Hope’ of every believer, Jewish or Gentile, Titus 2:11-15, “Looking for that ‘Blessed Hope…’ (pros-dech-omai) Looking for expectantly to receive, to look for, wait for, yearn for, long for.  Like a large check or refund that has been sent in the mail. You look out the window every day for the mail man, some times walking to the box and looking up the road waiting for delivery, that’s our word here. The preposition (Pros) that is attached to it is an intensified form of (Pro) which whenever you add any preposition to a word in Greek it already intensifies the meaning. So, we end up with an intensified preposition to intensify a verb, to show us how intensified our expectation should be of the ‘Glorious Appearing of Jesus Christ!’ Question, just how intense and excited are you about His ‘Second Coming’? Do you ever go outside and look up and say, “Today would be a good day Lord!” Do you ever pray, “Even so come Lord Jesus!” And really, really mean it?

God the Father was pretty intense about the ‘Second Coming’ because it is a major doctrine of the Holy Scriptures. One out of every 30 verses in the Bible refers to the ‘Second Coming.’ In fact every time the ‘First Coming’ is referred to, the ‘Second Coming’ is mentioned eight times. There are over 318 verses in the Newer Testament alone on Christ’s return. The ‘Second Coming’ does three things for the believer. 1 – It gives them ‘Hope’ because Christ said He is coming back for His Church in John 14:1-6, and He cannot lie, because He is God. 2 – It gives every believer an ‘Incentive’ to live a pure, holy, righteous life. Titus 2:11-15; I John 3:3; Because He is going to appear at any instant, “And every person who has this hope in them, purifies himself, even as He is pure.” So this hope helps us to live for Christ. 3 – It gives them great ‘Comfort’ knowing His coming is imminent, at any second. I Thess. 4:13-18. “Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.” However, you must embrace His “First Coming” before you can anticipate His “Second Coming.” If not His “Second Coming” will not bring you hope, incentive and comfort, but despair, discouragement and distress along with Hell’s fire and God’s judgement! “Even So Come Lord Jesus!”  So until next time, we will see you, “…Between The Lines…”

“The Blessed Hope” – ‘Titus 2:11-15’ – 4/18/13