 
The Threshing Floor

By

Eddy Lewis

SMASHWORDS EDITION

*******

Published by

Eddy Lewis

The Threshing Floor

Copyright 2014 Eddy Lewis

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Table of Contents

Cover Photo Theme - Matthew 16:2–3

Introduction

Chapter 1 - The Body of Christ

Chapter 2 - The Bride of Christ

Chapter 3 - Marriage of the Lamb

Chapter 4 - The Appearing and Return of the Lord

Chapter 5 - Identifying the Servants of God

Chapter 6 - Tears of the Saints

Chapter 7 - The Commissioning of the Servants of God

Chapter 8 - In the Third Day

Chapter 9 - Daniel's Seventy Weeks

Chapter 10 - Identifying the Seventh Beast

Chapter 11 - Mystery Babylon and the Ten Kings

Chapter 12 - World War Three and the Battles of the Nations

Chapter 13 - Stand Fast in the Faith

Chapter 14 - A Command Given, an Escape Offered

##  Introduction

It has never been my heart's desire to write a book and especially one on the topic of prophecy. However as a result of a short, heartfelt prayer some years ago, I felt the Lord prodding me to start seeking answers to that prayer and writing what I found. In that prayer I asked that the Lord would make end-time events understandable to His saints who are seeking insight into what will take place at the end of this age. Secondly I asked that His people would know and understand what would be required of them to faithfully stand for the Lord during the end time. This book is directed towards those who have already made a profession of faith in the atoning blood of Christ.

At first when I felt the Lord asking me to go and write a book I felt totally inadequate for such a task. Through a number of events in my life the Lord finally persuaded me to start this daunting task. This passage found in 1 Corinthians 1:26–29 helped me to understand how it could be that God could use me for a task such as this.

26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

A second truth that I came to understand is that the Lord is faithful to equip those that He calls for a specific task so as to benefit the rest of the saints of Christ as revealed in Ephesians 4:11-12 _:_ 11 _"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,_ 12 _for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."_

There are several principles that I have closely followed on this journey of faith as I have searched the Scriptures for the answers to my prayer in the writing of this book. The first key for finding a clearer understanding to the mysteries of scripture is found in James 1:5: _"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him."_ I have only found greater insight when I have searched through the Scriptures, prayed for understanding and then patiently waited for my Lord's answers to various questions. The second key to gaining greater insight into God's word is to be obedient to what I have already understood. The third principle in asking for greater understanding is not only for my own benefit, but also in order that my brothers and sisters in Christ will be ministered to by what has been revealed to me.

I will say up front that I do not have all of the answers to the deep subjects in Scripture, for we all know in part and see in part. Each of us is given a measure of understanding as it pleases the Lord (1 Corinthians 13:9). You must rely on the Spirit of the Lord to reveal His word to you as you personally meet God on your search of His perfect will for you. Therefore, be careful to test all that I have written in this book with all of Scripture.

The things written in this book reveal my faith journey as I have followed the instructions of 1 Thessalonians 5:21: _"Test all things; hold fast what is good."_ This is sometimes a painful discipline to follow as it will at times require one to cast aside those long-held false beliefs that we were comfortable with.

There was a time when I blindly adopted the teaching of three well known theologians without a second thought. You may have heard their names, Fat, Dumb and Happy. Their names really describe how I was attempting to ignore the inaccuracy of my own theological understanding for my own comfort. What I discovered was I had adopted beliefs of others that sounded logical without testing those teachings against all of scripture. As a result I had a set of beliefs that often clashed with each other and were biblically unsound. One of the goals for writing this book is to challenge you, the reader, to test your views and beliefs against the truth of Scripture. This process will cause us to step out of our comfort zone and rely on our Lord for answers. There will be times when we must sacrifice long held beliefs in order to hear and understand the word of God. This process is scary and uncomfortable, however it is greatly rewarding.

Often times the topic of prophecy is not brought up in order to avoid contentions over a perceived nonessential topic. However, we are repeatedly warned in scripture to watch and be ready for our Lord's return. With this in mind, I have attempted to answer in what manner we are to watch and be ready for our Lord's return at all times. With greater understanding comes the responsibility of warning others of our Lord's soon return for their own good.

I would like to share some promises from Scripture that tell us that we will be given great insight into our Lord's return if we will but ask. Our Lord will not leave us uninformed or unequipped for this task of being His watchmen that He has called us to.

When we as Christians walk in obedience to Christ's instructions we are then given great promises by our Lord. One of those key promises with conditions for that promise is found in John 15:14–15: _"You are My friends if you do whatever I command you._ 15 _No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."_

When Jesus was here in the flesh walking on this earth He made known everything He would do in the future concerning His kingdom and how we are to follow Him. After He returned to heaven He sent us the Holy Spirit with a great promise to us in John 16:12–15 for understanding all things to come:

12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."

We are called into an ongoing relationship with our Lord where we continually seek, ask and knock in order to understand our Lord's perfect will for our lives. This instruction is given to us in Luke 11:9–10. 9 _"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you._ 10 _For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."_

The tense in which the Greek words are used here are to keep asking, keep seeking and keep knocking. We are to be in an ongoing relationship with our Lord where we meet Him on an intimate level as we seek to understand the instructions of His Word. The Greek word used here for _knock_ is that of a polite knocking as on a friend's door. Jesus instructs us to be persistent with our requests to God as recorded in Luke 11:5–8 and 18:1–5. In Proverbs chapter 2 we are told to seek wisdom, understanding and discernment as we would search for silver and hidden treasure. I would advise you to seek deeper insight and answers to your questions from our Lord. God is always faithful to answer our prayers in His own perfect timing. We must wait patiently while remaining in fellowship with our Lord to be able to hear His answers to our questions.

Next we must be clean and separated from sin in our walk with God. We must be single minded in our obedience to God in order to draw close to him as James 4:8 instructs: " _Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."_

My challenge to you as well as myself is to be active and not passive in our search to understand what is to come in the days ahead. When we know the Scriptures we will be able to quickly identify the signs of the end times as they approach.

There are three rules I follow when interpreting hard-to-understand imagery found throughout Scripture. The first rule I follow is that of set precedent. The ways in which prophecies of the past have been fulfilled indicate how prophecies of the future will be fulfilled. Secondly I follow clear principles taught in Scripture. That is to say, the clear teachings of Scripture cannot be contradicted by our interpretation of biblical imagery. The third rule is to always see the events of prophetic imagery as a fulfillment of past promises in God's Word. For example, the imagery of events taking place in the book of Revelation is a fulfillment of promises given in that book and other books of the Bible by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. When I see a description of a hard-to-understand event taking place in Scripture, I go back through the Bible looking for a past promise from God that is fulfilled in that event.

It is with this understanding in mind that I challenge you, the reader, to read this book. It is my prayer that God will use this book in part to help bring understanding to His chosen saints so that they will be equipped to endure the days of trial ahead. The following passage in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 would be my prayer for you as we journey through these turbulent times _:_ _"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ._

The theme of this book is reflective of its title. We are approaching the time of harvest when the Lord will return and separate the wheat from the chaff, the true believers from the hypocrites and nonbelievers. We are given the command to watch! I invite you to come along for a very challenging journey of discovery through the Scriptures.

## Chapter 1

The Body of Christ

What is in a name? In biblical times, the one who received the name had his very nature defined by the one who gave the name. This was the case when our Lord called his Church the Body of Christ in New Testament Scripture. In the Old Testament, the "woman" represents the Israelite tribes and their relationship to God revealed throughout Scripture. For example, Isaiah 54:6 says, _"'For the Lord has called you,_ _l_ _ike a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,_ _l_ _ike a youthful wife when you were refused,'_ _says your God."_

Simply put, a name gives us an image to help in our understanding of who someone is in relation to the one who gave the name. This is called imagery. The Bible is filled with imagery. We, as the reader, must be careful to connect the proper image to the correct name. Failing to do so will result in a great deal of confusion when it comes to understanding the message of the Scriptures.

There are, however, a number of occasions where God gives someone a new name. Here are several examples recorded for us in Scripture: in Genesis 17:5, Abram is changed to Abraham; in Genesis 17:15, Sarai is changed to Sarah; and also in Genesis 32:28, Jacob is changed to Israel. It is important to note that a promise or blessing from God always accompanied the name change. With this in mind, let us take a closer look at the name, imagery, and promises to Christ's Church, called the Body.

Let us start by defining from Scripture, who it is that makes up the Body of Christ, and how we relate to Christ and to one another.

Ephesians 1:22–23 says: And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

This passage clearly identifies the Church as being the Body of Christ. This was a new concept including the Gentiles who had not been revealed before the time of Christ.

Ephesians 3:3–6: 3 How that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.

Paul continues to explain in Ephesians chapter 4:11–16, how we are to function as individuals with our spiritual gifts within the Body. This is how we are to relate to and work with one another. We are further reminded that Christ is the head of his Body of believers which shows that we, as members of His Body, are to follow His commands.

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ-16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11–16)

The next passage found in Ephesians 5:23–32 uses a metaphor to describe the believers' relationship to their Savior, Jesus Christ. This passage can be a bit misleading depending on which translation is used. This is because there is a poor choice of words used in various translations. Read and compare where references are made to the Church and the Body. In the KJV, the word used to refer to the Body of Christ is " **it**." In newer Bible translations, they use " **she** " or " **her** " instead of " _it_ " as a pronoun in reference to the Church and the Body. This Greek pronoun can correctly be translated as any of the above depending on the context of the passage. However, if we fail to correctly understand the proper context, then the word " **she** " may cause us to think that this passage gives strong evidence for the Bride of Christ being the current day Church when in fact the translation reflects a theological bias. The **New King James Version** states:

23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

New American Standard Bible

23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.

24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;

29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,

30 because we are members of His body.

31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.

32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

The Greek word used here is "autos" with a _Strong's Concordance_ reference number 846. This word is used as a pronoun that reflects the nature of the noun. For instance in verse 29, this word is translated the same in both versions as "it" in reference to the man's body. In all other verses where this word is used, it refers back to the Church or the Body in verse 23. Had Paul understood the pre tribulation Church to be the Bride of Christ, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he would have surely called the Church the "bride" instead of the "body" in verse 23. The fact is that Paul never refers in name to the pre tribulation Church as the Bride of Christ.

However, if we read a translation that refers to the Body of Christ as "her," we are likely to believe that this is how it was originally written in the Greek. As a result, our understanding of who the Bride of Christ is will be distorted by a faulty translation. With the wrong people attached to the name of the Bride of Christ comes a wrong placement in the prophetic timetable. Remember, we are placing the prophetic puzzle pieces together in their correct places. We can force a piece into the wrong place which will distort the whole picture. When we have a distorted picture we will never come to an accurate understanding of prophecy. As a word of caution, never trust any Bible translation, but always go to the original Greek or Hebrew to build a strong foundation for our theology.

We must understand the context of these verses. Paul is revealing our relationship to our savior Jesus. Our relationship to Jesus in no way changes our name. In fact all true believers, whether in the Body or the Bride of Christ, should have the same infilling relationship with Jesus under the New Covenant. Both the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ are made up of Jewish and Gentile believers.

This still leaves us with the question, will we as the Body of Christ undergo a name change at the return of Jesus and our resurrection? After all, that is when we will receive the ultimate promise that our Lord has given us. That promise is that we will be transformed by the redemption of our bodies as revealed in these passages:

Romans 8:23: Not only they, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

2 Corinthians 5:2–4: For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

1 Corinthians 15:42–44: So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:47–50, 53: The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.... 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

We, as the Body of Christ, have been given a great promise, one that we cannot fully comprehend. When God gave us these promises, He did not give us a new name beyond calling us His Body of Christ. So, will He change our name when He gives us a new body? Yes, but perhaps not in the way most might think. To find the answer, turn to the promises given to the seven churches in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3.

Revelation 2:17: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.

Revelation 3:12: He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

These verses indicate that we will receive a new name. In fact, we will receive more than one name. The first will identify us as individuals and will only be known by God, who gives the name, and the one who receives it. The second name will be commonly shared by all resurrected saints. We, as resurrected saints, will receive the name of God and His city along with the new name of Christ (Revelation 14:1 & 22:4).

All the promises that God has given us are within the New Covenant which we enter into when we receive Christ as our Savior. When we stop and think about it, we have been given a complete promise as heirs of God. We, as resurrected saints, are given the promise of ruling with Christ during his earthly reign and beyond into the new earth (Revelation 20:4). We lack nothing, as we are joint heirs with Jesus as sons of God.

This brings up an interesting question. For argument sake, if we were to be the Bride of Christ, then what would be God's new promise in a future marriage covenant? What more do we need that we don't already have in the New Covenant? Are there still unfulfilled promises in Scripture to us that still need to be fulfilled in a marriage covenant? The short answer is NO! The truth is that we as the Body have everything in the promises of the New Covenant. We lack nothing as His Body. We are joint heirs with Christ, inheriting all things. Read the following passage and understand the greatness of this promise. Let the term of fellow heirs with Christ sink into our understanding. This is a weighty promise. All that the Father has promised to Christ will be ours too!

Romans 8:15–17: For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (NASB)

As the Body of Christ, we will only receive this promise when we are resurrected in our new incorruptible and glorified bodies. In the next chapter we will see who the bride of Christ is and the promises our Lord has given to her.

## Chapter 2

The Bride of Christ

Let me start by sharing one of my deepest concerns. If we fail to have a proper understanding of who the Bride of Christ is, we will fail to come to a clear understanding of end-time prophecy. I know this is a strong statement, so let me give an explanation. To have a proper understanding of prophecy we must understand who the promises are given to in order to have a correct time placement within future events. Our understanding of the Bride of Christ is truly foundational for our correct understanding of all prophecy, whether it be the parables of Christ or the writings of Old Testament prophets.

We have all heard the saying, "If you say something enough times then it must be true," or at least accepted as true. The more a statement is parroted by those teachers we respect, the less we tend to question and test those statements.

As an example, we have all heard it said that the Church is the Bride of Christ. This sounds reasonable doesn't it? But is it?

I would challenge us to carefully look at the promises of God in light of who we are in Christ and what we have already received under the New Covenant. Let's start by reading Revelation 19:6–8.

6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

The first question I would ask, is when does this wedding take place? In answering this question we will establish a time-event marker for this event in relation with other end-time events. If done accurately we will then be able to compare other Scriptures with the same time-event markers to give us a more detailed understanding of all that will take place at one place in future history.

Let's look at preceding and following verses to set a proper timetable.

Revelation 19:2 says: "For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her".

Verses 11–15 continue:

11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

These verses (from 2–15) show the wedding taking place immediately before our Lord's return to earth when he sets up his kingdom. This kingdom age is known as the Day of the Lord which will last for 1,000 years as shown in Revelation 20:4. This is the same point in time when our Lord will physically return to earth as predicted in the following verses, Acts 1:9–11, Zechariah 14:3–5, and Matthew 25:31–32.

Now that we have established when the wedding will take place, we can more accurately identify other Scriptures that foretell of this event. As a rule, when we find an event being fulfilled in Scripture, we will find an earlier promise given to his people by God. Some will say that earlier promises given to Israel are nullified because of their disobedience. I will address this later.

For now let us turn to the Old Testament book of Hosea 2:14–23, where we will see an amazingly clear promise from God to the Jewish people:

14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her. 15 I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. 16 And it shall be, in that day," Says the LORD, "That you will call Me 'My Husband,' And no longer call Me 'My Master,' 17 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more. 18 In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely. 19 I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In loving kindness and mercy; 20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD. 21 It shall come to pass in that day That I will answer," says the LORD; "I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth. 22 The earth shall answer With grain, With new wine, And with oil; They shall answer Jezreel. 23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!'"

Hosea 2:14 has a great deal of meaning to it. Let me first point out a parallel passage in Revelation chapter 12:6, 13–14, revealing the same time event when God will take this woman into the wilderness: This woman in Hosea and in Revelation is the wife of God, also referred to as the Bride of Christ.

6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

In the Revelation passage we are given details as to how long the woman will go into the wilderness. This will be the last half of the seven-year time of tribulation also known as Daniels seventieth week.

Turning back to Hosea 2:14 we find a very important message revealed. God will speak directly to his chosen people during this time. This fits perfectly with what is revealed in the Revelation passage for that same time. It is worth noting that God will speak to her in great detail as he has done in the past when he first brought her into the Land. When speaking to the Jewish people he will give specific numbers of days to foretell events. When speaking of events to come he will go into great detail in his instructions.

God will also number the Jewish saints as he did in the Old Testament. A good example is found in Revelation Chapter 7, where the Gentiles are without number (v. 9); however, the tribes of Israel are numbered (vv. 4–8). This is key in understanding the book of Revelation. In the Book of Revelation we see great details of earthly and heavenly events that will come to pass when God speaks to his people during the last 1,260 days.

Hosea 2:15 speaks of the valley of Achor which is translated as "the valley of trouble" near Jericho. This is where Achan and his family were judged as recorded in Joshua 7:24–26. However, for the woman in Hosea, there is a door of hope. This hope is that God's judgment won't last forever. We find the details of the severity of God's judgment against his people in Zechariah 13:8–9:

8 "And it shall come to pass in all the land," Says the LORD, "That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: 9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, 'This is My people'; And each one will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"

This Zechariah passage shows how the Bride is made ready for the wedding as revealed in Revelation 19:7–8. This is a time of great trial which is referred to by Jeremiah 30:7 as Jacob's trouble.

Just so we don't miss the identity of these people, Hosea 2:15 says that she will sing as in the days of her youth when she came up from the land of Egypt. This is Israel of old being restored back to God as his chosen people.

Hosea 2:18 tells of a covenant that God will make between the animals and men during that future time. This same revelation is echoed in Isaiah 11:6–9 which depicts how life will be during the millennial reign of Christ:

6 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea."

It is during the future time that God will establish the new covenant in the hearts of His people. As a result, no one will have to tell others who the Lord is for all will know him as described in Jeremiah 31:31–34. This passage reveals a second offering of the New Covenant to the people of Jewish descent in the time of the millennium. It is during that time that His chosen people will dwell with Christ as friends of the Bride. These are the people who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:9. In contrast today we are the Body of Christ in His absence from earth. We who are the Body of Christ carry on the work of telling others of Christ, whereas in the millennium the friends of the Bride will cease from their work and live in rest.

31 "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah- 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

The following passages in Jeremiah 3:20 and Isaiah 54:6 show how God viewed Israel after they broke their first covenant recorded in Deuteronomy 9:8-21. Jeremiah 3:20 says, _"'Surely,_ _as_ _a wife treacherously departs from her husband, So have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,' says the LORD"_.

Isaiah 54:6 adds, "'For the LORD has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused,' says your God"

Hosea chapter two is showing the foretold restoration of Israel back to God. So also the Apostle Paul spoke of this future restoration in Romans, Chapters 10 and 11. In these two chapters Paul explains that Israel has fallen away from God because of unbelief. That unbelief is revealed in their rejection of Christ because they thought that they were justified in keeping the works of the letter of the Law, which was not possible. The Gentiles were figuratively grafted into the tree of promise where the Jews had been cut out. This left everyone asking if God had permanently rejected his people who are Israel. Paul clearly answers this question in these key verses in Romans 11:1–2 and 25–27 which read as follows:

11 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 12) God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.

25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

"The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins."

Notice that the message of Paul in Romans supports what we find in the book of Hosea. His people are restored and the wicked are judged by the Lord as revealed in Hosea 2:18 and Isaiah 11:4: _"Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth"_ (Hosea 2:18). " _He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked"_ (Isaiah 11:4)

These passages share the same time event as the following passage found in Revelation 19:2 & 15:

2 For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.... 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Hosea 2:19–20 finish by promising that she will be married to God forever in righteousness, justice, loving kindness, mercy and faithfulness. This same promise is given to the wife of Christ in Isaiah chapter 54 and Jeremiah 3:14–18.

So we can say with great certainty that the Bride of Christ will in part be the tribes of Judah and Israel gathered back from around the world after a time of great tribulation. The Bride of Christ will also be made up of Gentile believers as indicated in Revelation 12:17 where there will be other children of the woman who is driven into the wilderness. 17 _) And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ_. It is impossible to say how many Gentile believers there will be in comparison to Jewish believers as the Scriptures are silent in that area.

In the next chapter I will address the wedding of the Lamb to His Bride as revealed throughout the Book of Revelation. It will be important to keep in mind that we are trying to understand the message behind the imagery found throughout Scripture, but especially in the book of Revelation. The imagery of whom we will be as resurrected saints in Christ will change in some ways from how we are currently depicted. For example in 1 John 1:4 it says that when Christ appears we will be like Him. This does not mean we will become gods, but instead we will take on Christ's perfect nature along with His identity to a certain extent. This is a concept that is beyond our full comprehension in our current mortal state. However we must keep this thought in mind when we are viewing the imagery of Christ after His Body, the Church, has been resurrected. There will be times where Christ and His resurrected Body are blended together in the imagery of Scripture. I will be careful to point out those examples as we go through the next chapter.

## Chapter 3

Marriage of the Lamb

I will start this chapter by showing a promise made by our Lord concerning joining two bands of sheep together into one flock and its fulfillment along with the principle that it sets. Understanding this principle will help us to understand the marriage of the Lamb to the Bride at the end of this age. This is what we read in John 10:16 where it records Jesus speaking about two separate flocks of sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Jesus was speaking to His disciples who were all descendants of Israel who Jesus refers to as _this fold_. The other sheep are the Gentiles who will be reconciled to God through the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross.

The fulfillment of Jesus' words is made clear for us in the writing of Paul to the Ephesians in chapter 2 verses 11–19:

11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh-who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands- 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

The precedent set here in this passage shows us the principle of joining together by the promises of God two separate groups of people who were previously divided. Prior to the time of Christ, God's promises were directed to the tribes of Israel with great detail concerning their inheritance through their Messiah who would come. However God's promise to the Gentiles of being blessed through Abraham was not as clear. No one knew how the promise of blessing to the Gentiles would be carried out. However Jesus makes His message clear in that both Israel and the Gentile believers will inherit the same promise when He says he will join the two flocks together into one flock.

With all of this in mind I would suggest that the marriage of the Lamb to His Bride is in fact the joining together of two flocks of sheep, the Body of Christ to the Bride of Christ. These two groups of resurrected saints though separate in time and identity inherit the same promise of ruling together with Christ. As for time, the Body of Christ spans two thousand years and is comprised mostly of Gentiles. In contrast the Bride of Christ comes out of a small space of time of less than seven years. The Bride's identity is made up primarily of Israel. As such these two groups of resurrected saints will be joined together in much the same manner as Israel and the Gentiles were at the beginning of the Church age.

I am suggesting that the Body of Christ will be resurrected or raptured just prior to the time of the tribulation saints who are the Bride of Christ. When the Bride of Christ is resurrected close to the end of the seven years they will be joined to the Body of Christ to reign with Christ for the thousand years as promised in Revelation 20:4. I believe that I can make a compelling case for this view in part through the way the book of Revelation reveals both the Body and the Bride of Christ. In the book of Revelation I will give a general timeline of the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ and when they interact with those around them. I will identify the timeline for the main characters being depicted in the book of Revelation without going into great detail on each character. I will go into greater detail in later chapters when the need arises.

It is worth noting that the writing of Paul deals primarily with the Body of Christ throughout this age, stopping where the Body of Christ is taken out of this world by the rapture. Paul never identified the current day Church as the Bride of Christ. However John has a definite end time view in all of his writing. Within his end time view John reveals the completion of the Body of Christ who were God's ambassadors for two thousand years. John then shifts his focus to God's new ambassadors who will represent Him during the final hour of trial that will test the whole world. John identifies these saints with the name of the Bride of Christ which is only used in his writing in the New Testament. John uses this name and its imagery in order to create an image that was the same as the one used in the Old Testament. The Old Testament imagery of the bride of God was well understood to represent the return of Israel back to God from their backslidden condition. What was a mystery to the Old Testament saints was that Gentile believers would inherit the same promise as the Jew. As such Paul reveals and explains that mystery through the imagery of the Body of Christ in his New Testament writing. We must be careful to link John's writing concerning the final tribulation martyrs to that of the Old Testament prophets and not to the writing of Paul and the Body of Christ.

I view the layout of the book of Revelation to be much like a stage play with a set number of characters who take the stage to play their part. A key principle we must understand and follow is found in chapter 1:19 where our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ instructs John to write of past, present and future events. We will see this pattern repeated over and over throughout this book of Revelation. Each time a central character takes the center stage there is a reset in time back to when that character first enters the world stage of history. I will be careful to point out the entrance of each new character and the timeframe that they operate in with reference to those around them. It is helpful to be able to group all scriptures together that speak to the same time and event. If we fail to do this it will appear as though there are multiple wars and judgments when in fact we are given multiple views of the same event. It may be helpful for you the reader to write down the parallel scriptures that I list together in order to see how I have them grouped together.

The central theme throughout the book of Revelation is that all judgment has been given over to the Lord Jesus Christ by His Father. The following statement in John 5:22–23 finds its fulfillment in the book of Revelation: 22 _For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,_ 23 _that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him._

I will point out that the judgment throughout the Book of Revelation is a function of the Holy Trinity. We can see the three persons of the Godhead revealed in judgment in the following two passages from the Bible. The first is found in Isaiah 11:2–4:

2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The Spirit of counsel and might,

The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord,

And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,

Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;

4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,

And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,

And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

It is here that we see Jesus being filled with the Spirit of the Lord by which He will judge not by outward appearance but what is inside the heart of man. The next passage is found in Revelation 19:15: " _Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."_

The imagery in this passage reveals Christ judging the world by the word of God that He has spoken. Furthermore it is Christ who treads the winepress of the fierceness of God. I would suggest that the judgment of the Father is through the Son just as all things were created by the Father through the Son in the power of the Spirit.

In Revelation 1:18 Jesus reveals that He has the keys of death and Hades which are the destination of all who will be judged and condemned at the judgment seat of Christ. I will cover this important topic in greater detail at a later time. It is at the judgment seat of Christ that the resurrected saints will receive their rewards. We are shown that the judgment of Christ starts with His own people first as has been promised in 1 Peter 4:17: " _For the time_ _has come_ _for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if_ _it begins_ _with us first, what will_ _be_ _the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?"_

A detail of the first judgment which occurs at the time of the resurrection when Israel goes through the great time of trial is best revealed in Daniel 12:1–2:

1 "At that time Michael shall stand up,

The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people

And there shall be a time of trouble,

Such as never was since there was a nation,

Even to that time.

And at that time your people shall be delivered,

Every one who is found written in the book.

2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,

Some to everlasting life,

Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Notice in verse two it says many who sleep in the dust or are dead will arise. It does not say all. As such this is a partial resurrection of all who have ever lived. Of those who are raised some will be raised to everlasting life and some to everlasting contempt. We are shown the destination of those who encounter the wrath of Christ that He warns about in Matthew 10:28 where He says _"_ _And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."_ The word used here for _hell_ is Gehenna which Jesus often warned of. This was a garbage pit in the valley of Hinnom outside of Jerusalem. Isaiah 66:23–24 gives us a glimpse of what that future place will look like during the millennium.

23 "And it shall come to pass

That from one New Moon to another,

And from one Sabbath to another,

All flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the Lord.

24 "And they shall go forth and look

Upon the corpses of the men

Who have transgressed against Me.

For their worm does not die,

And their fire is not quenched.

They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."

Those who are described as being the contemptible ones are visibly seen as an abhorrence to all who see them. I will write about this topic in greater detail at a later time in another book, if it is the Lord's will.

Returning back to the time of the early church we see our Lord's judgment exercised throughout the seven churches in that region. Those churches are representative of all of the churches throughout the Church age. The judgments of Christ towards those who are called by His name follow the same standard of God's judgments throughout the Old Testament time. There is always instruction given through His word. When those instructions are not followed then the Lord will give a warning followed by a time to give opportunity for repentance. If no repentance occurs and those who are rebelling against God's instructions choose to ignore His warnings, then His judgment will take place. This message of warning was sent to five of the seven churches and has been repeated over and over throughout the Church age. Our Lord walks through our midst examining our walk, encouraging those who are suffering, warning and offering repentance to those who are in sin and judging the willfully rebellious. The following verses in 1 Corinthians 11:31–32 reveals the proper judgment process and the reason for God's chastening in a believer's life. 31 _"For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged._ 32 _But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world."_

The timeframe for the first six chapters of the Book of Revelation are as follows. Chapter one is written in the past as what John had seen. Chapters two and three are in the present tense which reveals Christ ruling His Church body. In chapters four through six we see what will take place immediately after the Church body is taken out of this world.

The opening verse of chapter four indicates through the example of John that the Church Body of Christ is asked to come up to heaven through the open door. This open door is a depiction of our salvation and entrance into heaven through Christ. In verse four we see twenty-four thrones placed around the throne of God. Those who are seated on those thrones are the elders from the Church age. This heavenly scene of the elders seated upon their thrones is a fulfillment of the promise of Christ to His disciples in Matthew 19:28 and Luke 22:29–30 _._ 28 _"So Jesus said to them,_ _"Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."_ Remember Jesus is giving this promise to his disciples who represent Israel. 29 _"_ _And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me,_ 30 _that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."_ It is reasonable that the same promise is extended to the Gentiles. The details given to the Gentile believers concerning the number of thrones that they will sit upon is unspoken. However the Gentile believers are promised the same position of ruling with Christ but without any details. For example, in First Corinthians 6:2–3 Paul reveals this truth to the Corinthians who were mostly Gentiles. 2 _"_ _Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?_ 3 _Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?"_

I felt the need to make this point very clear so that when you see the twenty-four elders or their thrones mentioned in Revelation you will understand we are seeing the resurrected Body of Christ.

Continuing on in chapter 4 we see angels and resurrected men worshiping God who is seated upon His throne. There is a sea of crystal glass that surrounds the throne of God where the resurrected Body of Christ is worshiping God. This same setting is described in chapter 15:2 where we see the resurrected tribulation martyrs also known as the Bride of Christ standing before the throne of God.

In chapter 5 we are shown a little book that represents the title deed to the earth. The only one found worthy to open the seals of that book is Christ as He was the perfect Lamb of God. In His obedience to His Father He paid the price and won the right to judge and rule over the world. It is at that point in time that the final transfer of judgment is passed from God the Father to His Son Jesus Christ. As such Jesus is shown to be worthy of all worship and praise from those whom He created. The same honor of worship that is given to the Father is also given to Christ. As such Christ alone is worthy to judge the world and be seated as Lord of Lords.

Chapter 6 gives the general outline of the final seven-year tribulation where Christ will take the title deed to the world. Each seal that Christ breaks reveals the transfer of power over to Himself. The first seal starts with a peace treaty that consolidates the power to the world leader of that time. It is shortly after this that the Body of Christ is taken up to heaven. The second through the fourth seals all reveal the first war that will take place. The fifth seal introduces us to the martyr saints who make a plea for God to avenge their blood on those who dwell upon the earth. It is important to note for future reference that their plea is made immediately after the first war starts. The sixth seal reveals the final war which is the battle of Armageddon at the end of the seven years. The ungodly will try in vain to hide from God who sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

As we enter into chapter 7 we are introduced to four angels who have the responsibility of holding back or releasing God's judgment upon the earth. These four angels could very well be the same four living creatures we see around the throne of God in chapters four and five. In 4:7 there is a description given of the appearance of each one of the creatures. Notice that the third creature had the face of a man while the rest had the appearance of a lion, a calf and an eagle. These four angels have the greatest authority and carry out the responsibility of applying the judgments of God. There are another seven angels who take these judgments from the four angels and mete them out in specific areas that each of the seven is in charge of. It is important to understand that the judgments meted out through the angels give detail to how the judgments of the Lamb in chapter 6 are implemented.

With these principles in mind we will return to 7:1–3 and see that God's judgment will not start until His servants are sealed on their foreheads. The sealing of God's servants in chapter 7 is the fulfillment of the promise given to the faithful church of Philadelphia in 3:12. The faithful Christians will be kept from that hour of trial that will come upon the whole earth. The tribes of Israel and the multitude of Gentiles in chapter 7 are the resurrected Body of Christ who will be judged and receive their rewards before the unbelieving world is judged.

The timeline for the start of chapter 7 begins where we see the first seal being broken in 6:2. That is where the false peace treaty is put in place and all power is given to the kingdom of the beast. The sealing of the church saints share the same placement in time as what is revealed in the heavenly scene in chapter 4. Both scriptures reveal the same event with the same resurrected saints.

Continuing on into chapters 8 and 9, we are shown the trumpet judgments which are poured out on the world. This is the first judgment of God in the form of war that will strike the world. This war in chapters 8 and 9 give some detail to the third through the fifth horsemen in the seal judgments revealed in chapter 6. The seal and trumpet judgments do overlap each other at the beginning with the trumpet judgments continuing up to the final battle of Armageddon. It is through the four horsemen that one fourth of the earth will be killed by the first war and the resulting famine. In chapter 9:15 we are told that the army from the East that numbers two hundred million will kill one third of mankind in the future final battle. It is important to note that in 9:13–21 the sixth trumpet sounds. This sixth trumpet judgment is only the introduction to the final great battle of Armageddon. This is where the vindication for the saints of the Body of Christ seems to stop. The completion of God's final judgment through the Battle of Armageddon is revealed in the pouring out of the seventh bowl of wrath in 17:17–21 where God avenges the blood of the tribulation martyrs who are the Bride of Christ.

In the chapter titled "The Tears of the Saints," I go into greater detail explaining the promises in Scripture that God fulfills when He avenges the blood of the martyred saints. These martyred saints are revealed just prior to the bowl judgments in Revelation 15 as those who overcame the beast and his mark. Remember that both the trumpet and bowl judgments are immediately preceded by the description of two different groups of resurrected saints. The trumpet judgments are meant to vindicate the body of Christ while the bowl judgments vindicate the Bride of Christ. Be careful not to mix the two together or the meaning behind the imagery of the trumpet and bowl judgments will become confusing and impossible to understand.

Returning back to the first war revealed in chapters 8 and 9 we see God's wrath being poured out to vindicate His servants who are the Body of Christ. We find the promise and reason for God's retribution and who it is directed towards given to us in 2 Thessalonians 1:3–10:

3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, 4 so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, 5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

This retribution will be carried out by God on behalf of both the Body and the Bride of Christ.

Skipping ahead to Revelation chapters 11 through 12 we see the main character shift to those whom I view as the Bride of Christ. This group of saints is depicted in two different ways. The first way in chapter 11 is in the form of the two witnesses which represent those of Israel and their Gentile counterparts who turn to God after His Church the Body of Christ is caught up to heaven. The second depiction found in chapter 12 is in the form of the woman and her offspring. The woman is the Bride of Christ who we saw as the wife of God in Hosea. Her children are the Gentile believers who will give their lives as a testimony to Christ. As such they will be resurrected along with their fellow servants who are the martyrs of Israel. The timeframe that these two chapters play out is from the midpoint to the end of the seven-year tribulation. These saints are God's final witnesses to take center stage before Christ's thousand-year reign.

There is another important event that takes place at the midpoint of the final seven-year tribulation and that is Satan and his demons are cast out of heaven. This is recorded in Revelation 12:7–17. Prior to this event Satan has had access to the Father in heaven where he is able to accuse us just as he did with Job. As such he is only able to test those he accused to the limits set by God. This is why we are told in Ephesians 6:12 that our struggle is against spiritual forces in heavenly places. However when he is cast down to earth he will have no restraints and will try to destroy all that he can in the short time he has left.

When we enter into chapter 13 there is a time shift of more than eighty years prior to the time the body of Christ is caught up to heaven. Verses 1– 10 take us back in time to give a history of the rise and fall and rising up again of the final beast kingdom. The last half of chapter 13 reveals another world-ruling kingdom which is depicted in chapter 19:20 as the false prophet. In chapter 13 we are shown how these two world kingdoms interact with each other as their world-ruling power shifts back and forth between them. Both of these kingdoms are in existence and exercise power to the end of the seven years when they will meet their final destruction. It is only a matter of understanding basic past history from our current time to know the identities of these nations. I will identify them in chapters 10 and 11 of this book.

Continuing on we will see all of the events recorded in chapters 14–16 are set sequentially. It is important to keep in mind that when comparing the timing of the trumpet judgments with the bowls of wrath, the duration of both judgments are the same. These two judgments mostly overlap each other. The only difference in the two is the trumpet judgments start out a short time sooner than the bowl judgments and end a short time sooner than the bowl judgments. With this in mind it is much easier to understand how these two judgment events are recorded in the timeframe of the book of Revelation.

Revelation 14:1–5 opens with the one hundred and forty-four thousand resurrected saints from the twelve tribes of Israel. These saints are part of the resurrected Body of Christ that we first saw in chapter 7. Notice that they sing a new song but, unlike the rest of those with a new song, the words of the song for the one hundred and forty-four thousand are not revealed to us. This fact would indicate that they hold a very special position and function in relation to our Lord. These resurrected Israelite tribes are part of the Body of Christ who were resurrected prior to the first worldwide war at the midpoint of the final seven-year tribulation. Here in Revelation 14:6–20 we are once again shown the first war but this time through the perspective of the angels and the part they play in releasing God's judgment. This same war was first revealed in Revelation 6:3–8 and 8:7–12. One reason this war is revealed several times throughout Revelation is in order to set a reference point for the Body and Bride of Christ and the roles that they will play. It helps the reader to have a better timeframe reference for when the wars take place. Another reason is to give the reader greater detail as to what will take place during these two wars.

When we enter into Revelation 15:2 we see those tribulation saints who are victorious over the beast and his world system. Notice that they sing a new song with their words revealed just as the twenty-four elders did in 5:8–10. These saints are the final resurrected Bride of Christ that we first saw as martyrs in 6:9–11. It is important to understand the timing for the request of those who had been killed in chapter 6. They were asking God to avenge their blood on those who had killed them. When we return to Revelation 15:5–8 and 16:1–11, we see God's immediate response to the martyrs' request for retribution. The bowls of wrath start out immediately after the opening of the first war in the form of bad side effects from a large nuclear war that affects one third of this planet. Verses 12–21 all give detail to the final war called the Battle of Armageddon. These verses give greater detail to the sixth seal that was broken by our Lord in chapter 6. Notice verse 15 gives a warning to be ready for the Lord's return which will be unannounced as a thief. The placement of this warning is very important. It is set after the deception that will gather all nations to the final war and just before that war takes place. This fits perfectly with what is revealed about the resurrection of God's two witnesses in Revelation 11:11–13. God's two witnesses are resurrected immediately before the final battle of Armageddon starts. Both of the passages in Revelation chapters 11 and 16 reveal different aspects of the same resurrection of the tribulation saints before the final war.

In the next two chapters in Revelation 17 and 18, we are shown the destruction of Mystery Babylon. There are a couple time shifts as we will be reading through these chapters that make this passage a challenge to understand. Another difficulty is trying to understand exactly who Babylon represents during the end time tribulation. If we are to understand who Babylon is depicting, it is important to understand that John uses different names for the same empire in order to reveal different aspects of that empire. For instance in Revelation chapter 13 John identifies the two world empires who take turns ruling as the beast from the sea and the other as another beast from the earth. That second beast who is depicted as a lamb is described as performing great signs so as to be able to deceive all of the nations. However in 19:20 John identifies these same two empires as the beast along with the false prophet who performed great signs in the presence of the beast. With this in mind I would suggest that Babylon is another depiction of that second beast who rises up out of the earth in Revelation 13:11–18. In chapter 13 we are given a history of the rise to power of this second beast and his eventual role of enforcer of the first beast's mark. However when we enter into chapter 17 and start looking at the description of Babylon, there is no past history given for Babylon. The reason for this is there is no need to give Babylon's history in chapter 17 as it has already been given in chapter 13. What is revealed in chapter 17 is the nature of Babylon in how it interacts with the world around them and the way in which God will judge that empire. I will go into greater detail on these topics in later chapters.

One thing I need to point out is the warning for God's people to leave Babylon in order not to fall under God's judgment of that empire. Even though this warning to escape comes in the middle of the foretelling of Babylon's judgment, we need to understand this warning will come before any judgment starts. The precedent that is set throughout Scripture reveals that God will always warn His people to escape in advance of His judgments. It should be noted that the judgment of Babylon is a double measure which would indicate that Babylon will receive God's judgments through both the trumpet and bowl judgments.

In Revelation 18:20–19:6, the saints in heaven are rejoicing over the fact that God has judged the great empire that had killed them. Continuing on in 19:11–21, we are once again reminded that it is our Lord who is the one waging war against this rebellious world. Not only does He strike Babylon down, but He will judge and make war against all nations. It is our Lord who alone is worthy to avenge the blood of the martyrs against those who took His saints' lives in rebellion against God's laws. Beyond judging the guilty there is another purpose for our Lord's judgment that is well stated in Micah 4:2–4:

2 Many nations shall come and say,

"Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

To the house of the God of Jacob;

He will teach us His ways,

And we shall walk in His paths."

For out of Zion the law shall go forth,

And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3 He shall judge between many peoples,

And rebuke strong nations afar off;

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

Neither shall they learn war anymore.

4 But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,

And no one shall make them afraid;

For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

This is a common theme that we see throughout the prophetic writings of the Bible where it says the nations will live at peace with each other as a result of the final Great War. God's word also predicts as a result of that final war His chosen people of Judah and Israel will learn to follow Him as their only God.

Returning back to 19:7–9, we are shown the time of the marriage of the Lamb to His Bride. As I have stated before, these tribulation saints who are the Bride of Christ are already in Christ when they trust and obey Christ. There is no further need to be joined to Christ in some further manner just as there was no need for the Body of Christ to be married to Christ who is already the head of that Body of believers. However figuratively speaking there is a need to join the Body and Bride of Christ together as they will both share the same promise and inheritance. Both flocks of saints will be priests to God and Christ and will reign with Christ for a thousand years as revealed in 20:4–6:

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Understand that the first sentence reveals the already resurrected body of Christ who are sitting in judgment. The second sentence reveals the bride of Christ as martyrs who are resurrected at that same point in time.

In the next chapter of this book I will go through the final sequence of events that mark Christ's return as revealed in Revelation 19 along with parallel passages from the rest of the Bible.

## Chapter 4

The Appearing and Return of the Lord

There seems to be some confusion amongst Christians today when it comes to the topic of the timing of Christ's return and exactly what He will do when He does return. In this chapter I will attempt to bring some clarity to this topic as well as set a timeframe for when Christ will sit in judgment over this world, set up His thousand-year reign and establish His eternal kingdom. The proper placement of these events in a timeline is important for our correct understanding of prophecy. Scriptures dealing with prophecy show us mountaintop events down through history without showing us the great spans of time in the valleys between those mountaintop events. It is helpful for us to look at past precedent set by fulfilled prophetic writings in order to understand the correct placement of future events. When this is achieved then we will be able to properly identify those who are portrayed through imagery in the prophetic writings of Scripture. Imagery that is not understood in its proper context will become confusing to us, resulting in a distorted theology.

I will start by pointing out that Christ will judge both the living and the dead at two times separated by one thousand years. In 2 Timothy 4:1, Paul reveals this truth in these words _:_ "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom." We must start by defining several events that will take place at the time when we see the term of "His appearing" used in Scripture. Those events are the resurrection and reward of the martyred saints and the judgment of those who rebel against God. The first example is in the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 24:29–31, where He promises to resurrect the tribulation saints at His appearing.

29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Keep in mind that in this passage of scripture Jesus is giving the promise that He will send His angels out with the sound of a trumpet to gather His chosen saints at the time of His appearing. The time of His appearing is immediately after the tribulation of those days. The elect that are gathered immediately after the trials of those days are the tribulation martyr saints. The rapture and the gathering of the body of Christ will have already taken place prior to the last three and one half years which will try all who dwell on the earth.

Understand that there is the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ which are the saints of Christ during this age. Both groups of saints are given the same promise of inheriting the Kingdom and ruling with Christ. The faithful Body of Christ is promised in Revelation 3:10 to be kept from (not through) the hour of testing that will test the whole world. The Bride of Christ will come to saving faith after the Body of Christ is caught up to be with Christ. As such the Bride of Christ will be the final witnesses of God for this age. As the true and faithful witnesses during the final hour of trial, many of them will become martyrs for their living faith in Christ. The above passage in Matthew reveals when these saints will be resurrected at the end of the tribulation so that they can inherit the promise of the Kingdom along with the already-resurrected Body of Christ. I would suggest reading 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 in relation to the resurrection of the Body of Christ and 1 Corinthians 15:51–58 with the final trumpet for the Bride of Christ. Both groups of saints are resurrected for the same two reasons. The first reason is to escape the coming wrath of God's judgment that will be poured out upon this earth in two major worldwide wars. The second reason is to be resurrected to their promised inheritance of the kingdom where only the resurrected with an incorruptible body can inherit the kingdom of God as is revealed in 1 Corinthians 15:35–50.

I understand that the idea of two separate resurrections at the end of this age may be a new concept to many who read this book. However I would challenge you the reader to hear this idea and test it against Scripture as I make a case for this view throughout the rest of this book.

Notice in both passages the promise of being caught up to Christ is also extended to those faithful saints who are still alive at His return. Also note the differences between the two passages that indicate two different events separated by a short interval of time known as the hour of trial. How long is the hour of trial or tribulation that John makes reference to?

To answer that question it would be wise to ask and correctly answer who the days of tribulation are referring to and how many days of tribulation there will be. This time of tribulation is in reference to the tribulation saints who will be gathered from all directions. The number of days of tribulation that the saints will endure is repeated in a number of Scriptures. For instance, in Daniel 7:25 the amount of time the saints are given into the hands of the beast is indicated to be 3 and 1/2 times, which are to be understood as 3 and 1/2 years. Revelation 13:5–7 says the beast will be given authority for forty-two months when he will make war with the saints. In Revelation 11:2 where John is instructed to measure the temple, he is told not to measure the outer court as it will be given to the Gentiles for 42 months. In the following verse we are told that God's two witnesses will prophesy for 1,260 days. All of these blocks of time share the same duration even though they are measured in different ways. Notice that in Matthew 24:29 Jesus says immediately after those days are finished the sun and moon will be darkened and the heavens will be shaken and then they will see the appearing of the Son of Man.

Three things will happen on that day when the heavens go dark and Christ appears. First the angels who rebelled will be punished on that day when the heavens are shaken. Secondly the saints will be resurrected with the details given in 1 Corinthians 15:50–58 where it says that the saints will be resurrected at the last trumpet. 1 Corinthians 15 is one of the few places that Paul's writing is directed to the martyred tribulation saints as indicated by the unique reference to the last trumpet. This resurrection is the same event that is described in Revelation 11:11–12 where the two witnesses will come back to life and stand up on their feet before all of those who had killed them. That event will leave everyone who is alive on earth in great fear for it is at that moment all will hear God's voice saying to the resurrected martyrs to come up to heaven. Immediately the martyred saints will stand before the judgment seat of Christ where they are given their rewards in heaven.

It is at this same time that the little-understood judgment of the unfaithful servants also identified as hypocrites will take place before the throne of Christ. I will go into much greater details on this hard-to-understand topic in the last chapters of this book.

This leads to the final event where our Lord will judge the wicked who are upon the earth in the same hour that the saints are removed. Our Lord's appearing is linked with His judging the ungodly in Matthew 24:27–28, that says 27 " _For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be._ 28 _For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together."_ Verse 27 describes the appearing of Christ while verse 28 describes the judgment of the wicked by Christ. The carcass that is referred to in verse 28 is that of those who will be killed by Christ at His appearing. There is a parallel description given in Revelation 19:11–21 for the opposing armies being killed, resulting in their flesh being eaten by the birds. Take special note of verses 17–18 and 21.

11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, 18 that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great."

19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.

There is one more Scripture that I have found helpful in laying out the sequence of events that will take place at the appearing and judgment of our Lord, which is found in Isaiah 24:19–23:

19 The earth is violently broken,

The earth is split open,

The earth is shaken exceedingly.

20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard,

And shall totter like a hut;

Its transgression shall be heavy upon it,

And it will fall, and not rise again.

21 It shall come to pass in that day

That the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones,

And on the earth the kings of the earth.

22 They will be gathered together,

As prisoners are gathered in the pit,

And will be shut up in the prison;

After many days they will be punished.

23 Then the moon will be disgraced

And the sun ashamed;

For the Lord of hosts will reign

On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem

And before His elders, gloriously.

Verse 21 indicates that the Lord will punish the rebellious angels at the time the earth is shaken violently. It is interesting to recognize that from this point on in time the rebellious angels are never mentioned again in Scripture as having any interaction with man. There is no indication that the daemons will accompany Satan when he is loosed for a short time at the end of the thousand years. Details are not given in verse 21 as for the type of punishment the angels will receive, however we do know that Satan will be thrown into the bottomless pit at that same time as recorded in Revelation 20:1–3:

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

Notice that in Isaiah 24:21–22 it says the kings of the earth will be gathered into the pit or dungeon and will be punished after many days. I understand that time and method of gathering is described to us in Revelation 19:17–21:

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, 18 that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great."

19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.

The description above takes place after the appearing of Christ takes place where the witnesses of God are resurrected and caught up to the Lord. Those who have died or fallen asleep in the Lord before His appearing will be judged at his appearing. The kings, captains and mighty men who die after Christ's appearing will be put in the pit or prison to await their judgment which is described in Revelation 20:11–15 where the rest of the dead are resurrected to stand before the great white throne at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ.

11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

This final judgment takes place after Satan has been loosed for a short time as revealed in Revelation 20:7–10. That final judgment is what the last part of 2 Timothy 4:1 refers to as the kingdom judgment where Satan and all who are not found written in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire.

Before the final judgment at the end of the thousand years there is the establishment of the millennial reign of Christ. There will be a short number of days after the appearing and judgment seat of Christ when He will return to rule from the temple in Jerusalem. That short interval in time is revealed in Daniel chapter 12 which I write about in a chapter I call "Daniel's Seventy Weeks." However there is something very important that will take place during those days between Christ's appearing and His actual return to rule from the temple in Jerusalem that I need to point out. That is, there will be a time for His people to repent of their sins with mourning and return to their forgotten God. There is no clearer passage revealing this truth than the one found in Zechariah 12:9–14:

9 "It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. 11 In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.

Verse 9 starts with the promise that the Lord will destroy all of the nations who came against Jerusalem. Men will be filled with terror when they see those whom they have killed being resurrected before their very own eyes, for then they will know that the Lord will also fulfill His promise to judge them for coming against Jerusalem and His chosen people. The rest of mankind's only hope is to fall before God with great mourning, seeking His mercy. It is only after those days of judgment are fulfilled that Jesus will then return to rule from Jerusalem.

In Acts 1:9–11 there is a promise given for the way in which Jesus will return to this earth:

9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

When we read this passage along with Ezekiel chapter 43, we will gain a better sense of how Christ will return and rule for a thousand years. In Ezekiel 43:1–9 we see the form that our Lord will return in and how He will interact with His people:

Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. 2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. 3 It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw-like the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4 And the glory of the Lord came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east. 5 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

6 Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me. 7 And He said to me, "Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings on their high places. 8 When they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall between them and Me, they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger. 9 Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

What we are not told in this passage is if Israel will need to rebuild the temple after the judgment at Christ's appearing. We know that there will be a temple of one form or another in use before the final 3.5-year tribulation starts, since there has to be a place where the daily sacrifice is stopped and the abomination of desolation takes place. However we are not told if that temple will survive those days of tribulation. In the next three verses we are given detailed instructions as to the dimensions and construction of the temple. This is how it reads:

10 "Son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. 11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its ordinances, all its forms and all its laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances, and perform them. 12 This is the law of the temple: The whole area surrounding the mountaintop is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

It is possible that these instructions will have been followed in building the temple before the final tribulation started. The following chapters of Ezekiel deal with the implementation of the laws of God and the allotment of the land to the tribes of Israel.

The main point we must understand is that Christ will sit in judgment at two different times separated by one thousand years. The first judgment is at His appearing when He establishes His thousand-year rule from Jerusalem. His second judgment takes place when His eternal kingdom is set up at the end of the thousand years. Understanding this concept will greatly help in understanding the last chapters of this book, dealing with what will take place at the judgment seat of Christ.

## Chapter 5

Identifying the Servants of God

We are told in John 1:1–3 that the Word was God and the Word was with God in the beginning. All things that were created were created through the Word of God. John 1:14–18 says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we know Him as Jesus. As we study through Scripture it becomes clear that everything that has been or that will be created, is created by God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son with the power of the Spirit. Not only did he create the physical world but God has determined when we would live and where we would live inside of the framework of time. Let me show you a couple passages of Scripture that help make this truth known.

Hebrews 11:3 tells us: "By faith we understand that the ages were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of the things which are visible." In Acts 17:26, we know "He has made from one blood every nation of man to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation." It is clear from these passages that God through Christ has predestined history by framing when and where man will live. God does reveal through his written word various timeframes that are past, present and future. We understand how God has placed various groups of people throughout history and we can see what their God-assigned tasks were. When we recognize this principle we will then understand future history much better.

A great example of God's framework of time is given by Jesus where he is teaching through parables. In the two following parables, Jesus is giving us a history lesson concerning his servants and how they are placed down through history. I will first start by identifying those who are in these two parables. After we have identified His servants in the parables, we will look for Scriptures where God proclaims, instructs and sends out his servants. The first scripture we will look at is found in Matthew 21:33–43:

33 Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, "They will respect my son." 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance." 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?"

41 They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.

42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:

'The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the LORD's doing,

And it is marvelous in our eyes'?

43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it."

In this parable Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and gives them a history lesson to show them who they are. From this lesson we can gain great insight into the framework God has set for his people throughout past, present and future history. A proper understanding of God's framework of time is essential to understanding prophecy. After reading this parable, we must first ask, who are the slaves, the vine growers, the son and the land owner. The land owner is easily identified as God the Father. The slaves are sent out in two distinct times with the same task of receiving the crop only to be rejected and killed. These two groups that God sent out were representative of His servants under the Law and the Prophets. I say this because Jesus always referred to these two groups as those who brought His message to the people. Both of these groups in the Old Testament prophesied of their Messiah who would deliver His people. Their message was finished when John arrived and announced that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah as revealed in Matthew 11:13: " _For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John."_

These two servant groups though separated by time shared the same prophetic message that foretold of the coming of Christ as their Messiah. They also called for the people to repent from their wickedness and to keep the commandments of the Lord. However the people and their religious leaders rejected the message brought to them as revealed in the parable that Jesus spoke.

Jesus is very clear in His indictment of how the Jews killed the prophets and stoned those who were sent to them as recorded in Matthew 23:27–37. The words of Christ in Matthew 23 reinforce the message of His parables in the previous two chapters.

27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, "If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." 31 Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous bloodshed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

That same indictment is given by Stephen to the Jews just before he was stoned to death after being brought before the Jewish Council. Read Acts 7:51–53:

51 You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.

That same pattern from Israel's past history is recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:15–16:

15 And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.

Turning back to the parable of the landowner, it is easy to see that the two groups of slaves sent out are God's servants with the message of the Law of Moses and the Prophets who called for repentance and foretold of the Messiah to come. The vine growers were the Jewish leaders who rejected God's messengers and killed those sent out by God. The son in the story is obviously Jesus who is going to be killed by the religious leaders that He was speaking to. Jesus goes on to foretell of the kingdom being taken from the Jews and given to another people who will produce fruit. As we all know these people that He refers to are the Body of Christ, the Church, who are made up primarily of Gentiles.

From the parable of the landowner Jesus then moves directly into the parable of the marriage feast recorded in Matthew 22:1–14. In reality this is a continuation of the first parable as Christ gives an overview of the history of His servants. Many commentaries have totally missed the message and the timeframe of the message that Jesus gave in this second parable. Most commentators think that this parable speaks to the same Old Testament time as the first parable of the landowner. Somehow they must think that Jesus did not explain His message well enough in the first parable so He gives them another parable in order that they might understand. However that is not the case here. Look back at Matthew 21:43 where Jesus explains to the Jewish leaders in simple-to-understand language that the kingdom is taken from them. _"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it."_ This statement was crystal clear to his audience who were the Jewish religious leaders as indicated in verse 45 _. "When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them"_ (NASB). So how are we to understand this second part of the parable found in Matthew 22:1–14? Who is his message intended for and what is that message? Let's start by reading this parable of the marriage feast in Matthew 22:1–14.

1 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: 2 "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding."' 5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.' 10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 For many are called, but few are chosen."

Let me start by pointing out that he is speaking to the same audience of the religious leaders and His disciples. I would suggest that Jesus speaks this parable in a linear fashion picking up in time where the first parable stopped. The first parable stops with the kingdom message being given to the Body of Christ made up primarily of Gentile believers along with a remnant of true Jewish believers. The king is God the Father with His Son being the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. The first set of slaves are sent out with the mission to invite all to the wedding. This first set of servants is the Church also known as the Body of Christ. I will address the transition event between the first and second set of servants in a later chapter. The second set of servants that are sent out with the invitation to come to the wedding are the two witnesses also known as the Bride of Christ found in Revelation chapter 11.

There is an important principle that I need to point out here before we go any further. When we see events such as the resurrection of the two witnesses in Revelation 11:3–12, we must ask what God-given promise recorded in Scripture does this event fulfill? If we fail to correctly answer this question, we may misidentify who the two witnesses are. A commonly held view on the identity of the two witnesses is that of two individuals. However one would be hard pressed to find any promise from God to two individuals that would be fulfilled in the above passage. In Malachi 4:5 the promise is given that Elijah will come with a message of reconciliation _before_ the great and dreadful day of the Lord. There is no mention that he will be here _during_ that time, and in fact his coming may have been fulfilled in John the Baptist as indicated in Luke 1:13–17. As for the second individual, some speculate that it could be Moses. There is no indication that this would be the case from Scripture as there is no promise given to Moses by God concerning him and the end of the age. However, we do see promises given to the tribulation martyrs that would be fulfilled in what we see taking place with God's two witnesses being resurrected after their time of witnessing for the Lord.

This is what we do know-the tribulation saints will be martyred during those final 3-½ years. We also know that those saints, as all saints who have gone before them, will be God's faithful witnesses until death as described in Revelation 6:9–11. Though the saints will be put to death throughout those final years, their witness will not die until the saint's power is totally shattered at the end of those days as revealed in Daniel 12:7. It is at that point that their greatest witness will take place when all will see their promised resurrection take place as recorded in Revelation 11:7–12. The promise of that yet future resurrection from God to the tribulation saints is found in the following verses, Revelation 6:9-11 and 20:4. We must recognize that it is imagery used through the two witnesses to depict the witness ministry of Jewish and Gentile believers during those final 3-½ years. John continues to give us more details of these two end-time witnesses through the imagery of the woman and her offspring in Revelation 12. John uses multiple images throughout his writings to reveal details about these two witnesses as well as the final world empires that we would otherwise miss. When we view multiple images that John gives along with Daniel's and other Old Testament writers who are inspired by God, we end up with a very detailed picture of end-time events. In the following verses we will see in greater detail how the saint's witness is opposed by the final world system.

Returning to Revelation chapter 11, we are shown that day when the message of God will be extended to the world only to be rejected with the witnesses being killed. This is the same message found in Daniel 7:25 which reveals the three-and-a-half-year duration of time after which the witnesses will be killed: _"He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time."_ The parallel passage that refers to this same time is found in Revelation 13:5–7 that reads as follows:

5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

In Revelation chapter 12 these same two witnesses are revealed as the Woman and her offspring. The woman with the twelve stars represents Israel. Her children who have the testimony of Christ and keep his commandments are Gentile followers. Chapter 12 reveals the past, present and future role that the woman will fulfill in God's plan. It is in verse 5 where we are shown the male child who is the Body of Christ being caught up to God just before the woman runs into the wilderness for three and a half years. Chapter 12 also shows how Satan will attempt to destroy her and her offspring and how Satan will ultimately be cast out of Heaven. When Satan originally rebelled against God he lost his position that he held as one of God's created angels. However Satan did not lose his access to God in Heaven where he is able to accuse the saints. This idea is made clear in Paul's writing in Ephesians 6:12 that states, _"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against_ _principalities_ _, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."_ It is only at the end of this age that he and his angels will be banished to earth for the last 3-½ years.

Matthew 22:7 reveals the final world war that God will use to destroy the wicked of this world. After that final war which will take place at the end of the seven-year tribulation, God will send out a third set of servants who will invite everyone to the wedding feast. That set of servants will be those who live during the thousand-year reign of Christ. Verse 11 reveals the King entering into the wedding hall which depicts the final judgment at the great white throne at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ.

We see those who are gathered from the highways and streets in Matthew 22:9–10. Those who are found faithful are the blessed friends of the Bride of Christ spoken of in Revelation 19:9. They are the ones who survive the great tribulation and live and multiply in numbers during the thousand-year reign of Christ. The fourth and final set of servants who go out and gather everyone into the wedding hall are the angels of God.

When we view the parables of Matthew 21 and 22 as God revealing when His witnesses will live and the message that each group will have, then we will begin to understand God's framework of time. With this understanding in mind we will have a better view of future prophetic events to come as laid out in the Bible.

## Chapter 6

Tears of the Saints

In this chapter I would like to examine some of the reasons that God would allow such a cataclysmic worldwide war to happen at the end of this age. Much of what I am about to point out is simply a review of some of the past Scriptures that deal with why this end time war will take place. However I feel that it is worth our time to review some Scripture in order to better understand God's viewpoint concerning His judgment through war.

I would first point out that our God is a loving and patient God who gives the rebellious sinners every opportunity to turn from their sins and follow the instructions of God. This is an often-repeated message in both the Old and New Testaments. I will give a couple examples starting with 2 Peter 3:9: " _The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."_ This desire of our Lord for the wicked to turn from their sins and live is most clearly revealed in Ezekiel chapters 18 and 33. It is in these two chapters that we see God pleading with His people to abide in the instructions of God and for the rebellious to turn back to God. This message is probably best summed up in Ezekiel 33:11: " _Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord_ God _, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'"_ Even though this message was directed towards Israel of old, it is a universal principle extended to all of mankind everywhere throughout time. This is why we as New Testament believers are given the following mandate in 1 Timothy 2:1–4:

"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

In all of these passages we see that the heart of our Great God and Savior is for all men to turn to the Lord and be saved from the judgment of their sins.

However there is a point in time when our Lord will turn against the rebels of this world in fiery judgment. The question we should be asking is, "What will be the turning point from God's patient mercy towards sinners to the place where He will judge sinners?" As I have pointed out in Psalms chapter 2, the nations of the world will declare that they will throw off all of the restraints that the laws of God have placed upon them. I must ask, "What will be the process that the world will use to try to accomplish their goal of escaping God's restraints?" I would suggest the process they will use will be the same as what ancient Israel used when they did not want to hear the commands of God. Israel's method was simply to kill the messengers who were the prophets of God in order to silence the restraining message of God. So it would seem that this same method will be carried out again, however this time it will be worldwide throughout all nations.

When Jesus was asked by His disciples in Matthew 24 as to what the signs would be at the end of this age, He said one of the signs would be the persecution of His saints. That persecution will come in the form of believers being hated by all nations. Those Christians who refuse to deny Christ and His word will be delivered to stand before the authorities where they will be imprisoned, mistreated and killed. In light of this fact, it would be wise for us to remember the promises for those who are persecuted that are found in 2 Thessalonians 1:4–10.

4 So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, 5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

This passage gives clear indication that the final judgment will be done in order to repay those who refused to repent of their wicked deeds, which include the persecution of the saints of God. Understand that our just, righteous and holy God did not give this passage of Scripture as though He needed to justify His actions of judgment. This passage of Scripture is given as a promise from God that He will vindicate the saints who are martyred for their enduring faith in Christ. This punishment that is spoken of in verse 9 will be poured out on all of those who rebel against the commands of Christ and persecute His saints. That punishment against the unbelievers and those who do not obey God will come in the form of two major wars that we have previously studied in the book of Revelation. I feel it would be helpful to add to our understanding by looking at an Old Testament writing concerning a time of justice that will take place when our Lord appears at the end of this age. We find the promise of God's justice and the process He uses for vindicating His saints through the writing of David in Psalm 56:1–11:

Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up;

Fighting all day he oppresses me.

2 My enemies would hound me all day,

For there are many who fight against me, O Most High.

3 Whenever I am afraid,

I will trust in You.

4 In God (I will praise His word),

In God I have put my trust;

I will not fear.

What can flesh do to me?

5 All day they twist my words;

All their thoughts are against me for evil.

6 They gather together,

They hide, they mark my steps,

When they lie in wait for my life.

7 Shall they escape by iniquity?

In anger cast down the peoples, O God!

8 You number my wanderings;

Put my tears into Your bottle;

Are they not in Your book?

9 When I cry out to You,

Then my enemies will turn back;

This I know, because God is for me.

10 In God (I will praise His word),

In the Lord (I will praise His word),

11 In God I have put my trust;

I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

It is in these words of David that we see him calling out for and trusting in the sure justice of God to set things right at a future point in time when all will stand before God to give an account of their lives. I want you to take special note of verse 8 where he says "Put my tears in Your bottle; are they not in Your book?" This statement gives us a glimpse of God's accounting method where He records all injustice committed against His people which cause them to cry out for justice. This whole idea of God recording our life actions is given a little more detail in Malachi 3:16–18:

16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,

And the Lord listened and heard them;

So a book of remembrance was written before Him

For those who fear the Lord

And who meditate on His name.

17 "They shall be Mine," says the Lord of hosts,

"On the day that I make them My jewels.

And I will spare them

As a man spares his own son who serves him."

18 Then you shall again discern

Between the righteous and the wicked,

Between one who serves God

And one who does not serve Him.

The general message of these two passages is that our Lord does care for His people and carefully records all of the wrongs done to them by those who oppress them. The imagery used in Psalms is that of God collecting His saints' tears in a bottle as a way of preserving their prayers for the time of judgment when they will be used against those who have caused them great harm.

It is with this imagery in mind that we will go to the Book of Revelation 5:8 where we will see the content of the bottles of tears as revealed in Psalms held in the hands of the twenty-four elders. _8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints._ If we are to understand the imagery here, we must keep our eyes on the contents of the bottle, bowls and the censer as we ponder all of these passages. These three different implements hold and dispense the tearful prayers for justice from the saints as recorded in the Old and New Testaments. As we see in 5:8 the elders are in possession of those seven bowls holding the saints' prayers. With this in mind the next time we will see the incense and the prayers of the saints is in Revelation 8:3–5:3

Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

What we witness in this passage is a portion of the incense and prayers of the saints being given to another angel who will pour them upon the altar of God as a sacrifice from the saints. In return, the censer will be filled with the fire from the altar of God, which is then cast to earth as God's judgment against the rebels upon the earth. Notice that the bowls are not mentioned here as they still hold the remaining portion of God's judgment that will be poured out later when He vindicates the tribulation saints.

It is important at this point to identify which saints God is vindicating in the Revelation 8:3–5 passage. As I have pointed out before in earlier chapters in this book, these saints are comprised of the Body of Christ. We need to properly identify the saints who are revealed in chapter 7 just prior to the trumpet judgments in order to know their identity. The saints in who are the body of Christ will come out of great tribulation. The tribulation is great in the sense of its duration of two thousand years. In John 16:33 Jesus warned his followers that they would have tribulation in this life, and so we have. However those trials and tribulation will greatly intensify at the end of this age.

With this in mind it is important to see that the promise for a future vindication on behalf of the all saints is promised in the 2 Thessalonians 1:4–10 passage. Though this passage is written to the Body of Christ, its promises are not exclusively directed to the Body of Christ but also to the tribulation saints also known as the Bride of Christ who are living at the end of this age and are also persecuted. All saints will be tested to be proven worthy of the kingdom of God. All saints will enter into a time of rest before they are vindicated. This process is the same for all of those who are found in Christ.

The accountability process created by God is found in the imagery of a measuring cup. Each individual all the way up to each nation is given their own measuring cup. As such all will be judged by God in the same measure as we have judged others as is made clear in Matthew 7:2. _For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you._ The same principal applies to forgiveness fore we will be forgiven by God with the same measure that we have forgiven others. It is with this principal in mind that God will judge the world empire of Mystery Babylon who has killed the saints of God. The word of God has made it very clear that our Lord will repay her with a double measure as recorded in Revelation 18:6. _Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her._ One measure will be paid back to her on behalf of the martyrs from the Body of Christ. The other measure will be paid back on behalf of the martyred tribulation saints. Each measure will be in the form of a great war that will ultimately destroy Mystery Babylon.

Returning back to the book of Revelation we see the final appearance of the bowls which contain the saint's prayers along with incense. The final account is found in the description of the bowls of wrath in verses 15:7–8 and 16:1 _._

7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. 8 The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth."

Notice the similarity of this description in chapter 15 to that found in the introduction of the trumpet judgments in chapter 8. The setting for both accounts is in the temple of God in heaven. In both cases the smoke from the incense rises before the throne of God. The details vary somewhat in the description between the trumpet and bowl judgments; however, both describe the various aspects of the judgment process in the temple of God. God's glory and power are displayed through His righteous judgment in response to the saints' plea for justice on their behalf. Notice in chapter 8 that much incense was given to the angel. There is no detail given as to where the incense came from that was given to the angel, however it is reasonable to understand that it came from a portion of incense that was contained in the bowls. The imagery of the bowls in verse 16:1 with all of their contents being emptied indicates that God's wrath is fully poured out in that final act of judgment to vindicate His saints. It is only at that time the bowls will be completely emptied and the wrath of God will be finished for those who are living upon the earth at that time.

Once again we need to correctly identify these saints in chapter 15 that are being vindicated. As I have pointed out in an earlier chapter, we can easily identify these saints by what is recorded 15:2. These are the full and completed number of martyr saints. We first saw the beginning numbers of these martyrs in chapter 6:9–11 where they are told to wait until the rest of the martyrs would join them. I would point out that verse 10 is a very unique verse as it is the only verse I find in the book of Revelation that records the saints directly asking God a question. Their question is simple and to the point: _"How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"_ Notice the way the question is stated that the martyrs already know that God will avenge their blood. Their question was not if God would avenge their blood, but they are asking when would God avenge their blood. This is an important distinction to make in light of the promise found in the 2 Thessalonians 1 passage that I referred to earlier. Let's review verses 6–7 to see what the Lord promised there _:_ 6 _"Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you,_ 7 _and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels."_

Notice that the question from the martyrs to God in Revelation 6 reveals that they are confused as to when God would vindicate their blood. What would cause them to be unsure about the timing of their vindication in light of the promise found in the Thessalonians passage that says the Lord Jesus will repay when he is revealed from heaven with his angels? I would suggest that from the vantage point of these martyrs in heaven, they have seen that the Lord has already resurrected the Body of Christ and has begun to pour out His vengeance on those who had afflicted His Body of saints. Remember the 4 seal judgments immediately precede the martyr saints with their request. In those first four seals there is a great number of mankind being killed by a great sword of war and its resulting famine. As I have stated before, those early seal judgments are the same judgments as the trumpet judgments that are poured out on behalf of the saints in the Body of Christ. So in essence what the tribulation saints are asking is, "What about us Lord, we have suffered wrong also. We know your promises to vindicate us, but we don't understand when that vindication will come. We see the Body of Christ resurrected from their rest; when will we be resurrected from our rest?" Our Lord's answer is so gracious in that He says they must rest a little longer until their fellow servants join them. When their numbers are complete at the end of the 1,260 days, then their formal request will be brought before the throne of God in the form of incense and prayers that will be contained in the bowls. Those bowls will be poured out in the form of the final wrath of God upon the earth. I would point out that the judgment from the bowls seems to be retroactive back to the time that these martyr saints first inquired as to when God would act on their behalf. How can it be that God's judgment starts before the bowl judgment scene begins? After all it would seem the bowl judgment scene in heaven immediately follows the resurrection of the tribulation saints in Revelation 15:1–4. Perhaps those in heaven are outside of the timeframe of those on earth. If not, then we know that God also exists outside of His created timeframe, for all things are possible with Him. Notice that the first six bowls of judgment are the side effects or the aftermath of the first war. The introduction of the first war in the form of fire is found in the first three trumpet judgments in Revelation 8:7–10. The seventh bowl finishes the wrath of God when the battle of Armageddon takes place on behalf of the tribulation martyrs.

It is interesting to note the record of the martyr saints' request for understanding when they would be vindicated is mirrored by the instructions and promise given to the tribulation saints who are living upon the earth during the reign of the beast. Those instructions and promise are found in Revelation 14:9–13:

9 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'"

"Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them."

Read and understand the context of this promise in verse 13. There is a warning to the saints not to worship or take the mark of the beast. We know that the beast will rule for the final 3-½ years, so this warning is for that full amount of time. These saints who face the real threat of martyrdom are given the assurance that should they die in the Lord, their works will follow them to their resurrection and reward where they will receive white robes. Furthermore, they are given the same promise of going into a time of rest just as their fellow martyrs are promised in heaven under the altar of God. I would suggest that these saints needed the same assurance and clarification as their fellow martyrs because they know that the Body of Christ has been raptured out of this world. This will leave the tribulation saints wondering about their own future and the timing of the promises of God's vindication for them and their own resurrection. These are fair questions that the saints bring up, resulting in our Lord giving them a clear promise that they too will be resurrected at the end to reign with Christ for a thousand years. That promise is made very clear in Revelation 20:4:

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

I have primarily addressed the judgment of the living in the verses above. However there will also come a time when the dead will be held accountable for their evil and sinful deeds against the righteous man. That accountability process is clearly seen in the account of the second and final judgment revealed in Revelation 20:11–15:

11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Take special notice that the dead are judged by what has been recorded in the books concerning their works or actions. This passage is the fulfillment of what we read earlier in Malachi 3:16–18. This is also the fulfillment of the cry for justice from David that was written in Psalms 56:1–11. We must take seriously the warning that was given to the hypocrites in Romans 2:3–6 who know the commands of Christ but refuse to obey His word:

3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who "will render to each one according to his deeds."

## Chapter 7

The Commissioning of the Servants of God

Now that we have identified who the servants of God are, we should be able to see God instructing them in scripture as He sends them out. There are five groups of servants that are sent out beginning with the Law of Moses and ending with all his chosen people of all the tribes of Israel during Christ's millennial reign.

There are three steps in God's process of being His chosen servants. The first step is in God's choosing of who will be His servants. This is revealed in recorded scripture as a declaration by God that a certain identifiable group of people will be His servant witnesses. The second step is always a time of preparation where His future servants are trained and equipped for the task. The third step is a clear commissioning of those witnesses by God. Without exception you will find this pattern repeated every time God sends out His witnesses. In the preceding chapters I have shown you in part how God chose and declared His servants. In this chapter I will finish showing you His choosing and commissioning the Old Testament saints, church saints, tribulation saints and the saints of the millennium.

As a reminder, our primary focus is on the two parables told by Jesus in Matthew 21:33–46 and 22:1–14. We will start where God calls the people of Israel to come before Moses and agree to the conditions that God lays out in Exodus 19:5 that would lead to the promises in verse 6. In this passage we see God's declaration of who these people will be as his witnesses.

5 "'...Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."

The rest of chapter 19 instructs the people as to how God will only meet with Moses and tells the people not to touch the mountain that he is meeting Moses on. Chapters 20 through 31 deal with the giving of the laws and ordinances from God to the children of Israel.

In Exodus chapter 32 we read the sad account of Israel becoming impatient while waiting for Moses to return from the mountain. As a result, they rebel against God's instructions and make the golden calf so that they can worship it as they had learned to do in Egypt. As a result of this rebellion, Moses breaks the two tablets that God had written his commandments on. This action of Moses recorded in verse 19 nullifies the covenant between the people and God. Had Moses not done so, there would have been a much more severe judgment from God brought upon the people at that point in time.

As we continue to read through chapter 33, we are shown that there is judgment brought upon the people for their actions which results in the people repenting of their sin. In chapter 34 Moses goes back up on the mountain for forty days and nights receiving God's instructions again. Once again, God sets the same standard of obedience to his word in order to receive God's promises. Let's look at the verses from chapter 19 and compare them with those found in chapter 34 concerning God's requirements and his promises to the children of Israel. Particularly note the difference in the promised relationship between God and Israel in these two sets of scripture. We read previously in Exodus 19:5–6 the following account:

5 "'...Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."

Next we read the renewing of the covenant in Exodus 34:10–11:

10 And He said: "Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. 11 Observe what I command you this day."

I would suggest that had the people waited for Moses for fifty days the first time he went upon the mountain, there would have been a filling of the people with the Holy Spirit as there was for the church on the day of Pentecost. Just as God wrote on the tablets, He would surely have written His laws on their hearts. As a result of their failure, they lost the promise of becoming a kingdom of priests as had been conditionally promised in Exodus 19:6.

However, even though they failed, we still see God commissioning the people in 34:10–11 to be His special representatives and witnesses in the world. However once again, these people failed to believe the promises that God gave them in verse 11: " _Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite."_

Even though they were God's chosen people, they were continually plagued by unbelief on their own part. For instance they believed the bad report of their spies that they sent into the Promised Land as recorded in Numbers chapter 13. The consequence of their unbelief is recorded in the following passages found in Numbers 14:29–30 and 1 Corinthians 10:5:

29 The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. 30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.

5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

After God had judged those who did not believe Him, He took the next generation into the Promised Land. After God gave them the victories over their enemies in the Promised Land, He had the people come before Joshua and, once again, He gave conditions and promises to the people. It was only at this point that God commissioned them to go and be His witnesses. This group had an extended time of training as a result of their unbelief. That time of training took forty years while wandering through the wilderness. The tribes of Israel return back to their inherited promised land after God commissioned them in Joshua 24:14–28 to go and serve Him as their only God:

14 "Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

16 So the people answered and said: "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; 17 for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 18 And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God."

19 But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.

20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good."

21 And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the LORD!"

22 So Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD for yourselves, to serve Him."

And they said, "We are witnesses!"

23 "Now therefore," he said, "put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel."

24 And the people said to Joshua, "The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!"

25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

26 Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God." 28 So Joshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance.

The Apostle Paul gives more detail to Israel's commissioning and how it fits in with their history leading up to the time of Christ as recorded by Luke in the book of Acts 13:18–24:

18 Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness.

19 And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment.

20 "After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. 21 And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.' 23 From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior-Jesus- 24 after John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

Samuel was the link between the judges and the establishment of the kings, with the prophets appearing during the captivity of Israel and Judah. The commissioning of the prophets was done on an individual basis under the umbrella of God's earlier commissioning of the nation of Israel. A good example of God's commissioning of one of His prophets is found in Jeremiah 1:4–10:

4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

Before you were born I sanctified you;

I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

6 Then said I:

"Ah, Lord GOD!

Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth."

7 But the LORD said to me:

"Do not say, 'I am a youth,'

For you shall go to all to whom I send you,

And whatever I command you, you shall speak.

8 Do not be afraid of their faces,

For I am with you to deliver you," says the LORD.

9 Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me:

"Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,

To root out and to pull down,

To destroy and to throw down,

To build and to plant."

From all of the accounts we read of the prophets' lives, it is apparent that their message was not well received by the people of Judah and Israel. Read the footnotes on the introduction page of a good study Bible, and you will find that many of the prophets were killed by those to whom they were sent to speak. This is exactly the charge that Jesus brought in Matthew 23:31. This is the same charge that Steven brought in Acts 7:51–53. This, of course, is the same message that Jesus is teaching in the parable of the landowner in Matthew 21:36.

Another obvious witness that we might overlook is Jesus who was a witness for His Father. All who appear in these two parables are the witnesses of God including His Son. In Matthew 3:17 we see where God the Father gives the declaration of who Jesus is with these words, _"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."_ Later on in John 12:49 Jesus clearly defines that He only speaks what His Father has commanded Him to speak. _"_ _For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak._ " This message is once again proclaimed in the opening verses of Hebrews where it says _"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,_ 2 _in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world."_ As with the other witnesses of God, so we see a time of preparation and a time of victory through testing for Jesus before He started His testimony on His Father's behalf.

The third group of servants that are represented in the parable of the wedding feast recorded in Matthew 22:3 is the Church. Our Lord's declaration for who the Church would be to Him as His witnesses is found in this following passage in Matthew 16:13–20:

Peter's Confession of Christ

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." 15 He *said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

This passage shows Jesus declaring that His witnesses from this point forward would be called His Church. Prior to this time He was openly offering Himself to the Jews as their long-awaited Messiah, the Son of God. However they refused to recognize Him as the Son of the living God. As a result Jesus withdraws His offer to the Jews and now turns to the Gentiles. From this time on Jesus instructs His disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Christ. It was only after His death and resurrection that Christ then commissions His followers to go and make disciples of all nations, in Matthew 28:18–20:

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

However, before the Apostles were commissioned, they were instructed to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to be given to them, in Acts 1:4–5. In Acts 1:8 we find the early church being instructed to go to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth _:_ _But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."_ All through the book of Acts we see how the early Church implemented God's commissioning for them to be His witnesses in the world.

Had the children of Israel been obedient to God's commands, they would have had the same relationship with God as the Church now has. They were given this same promise in Exodus 19:5–6 that was conditional on their obedience to God. As it is, Israel has been set aside for a time because of unbelief.

When the body of Christ is taken out of this world, there will be a fourth group of servants whom God will send out with the same message as the Church who preceded them. It might be best at this point to take a detour and address what happens to the Church, as the transition to the tribulation saints takes place. Let's turn to Revelation 12:1–6:

1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Let's first identify the three characters in this passage. The woman is Israel who we have previously identified as going into the wilderness for three-and-a-half years. Her male child is the Body of Christ, which is the Church who is being borne down through the Church age. This child will rule the nations with a rod of iron as is promised to those believers who overcome and keep the works of Christ. This promise is given in Revelation 2:25–27:

25 But hold fast what you have till I come. 26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations- 27 'He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels'- as I also have received from My Father.

Remember, we will be like Christ when we meet Him. As joint heirs we will rule with Him as He rules. Being changed into His image, we will be equipped to do all things as He does under His leadership. We will go where He goes and follow Him wherever He goes. This is a hard concept to grasp as we are in this fallen body with all of its corruption and limitations. The promise to become like Christ when we see Christ is found in 1 John 3:2: _"Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."_

As we will study in greater depth later, Satan, who is the red dragon, will be intensely persecuting the Church with the intent of its total destruction at the end of the Church age. Notice that as soon as the child is born, he is caught up to God and the woman flees into the wilderness.

Some have misidentified the child as being Jesus. Their analogy of this imagery representing Jesus when he was an infant falls apart almost before it can even start. Yes it is true, Jesus will rule the nations with a rod of iron. However, as I have already pointed out, so will we as His Body. Where their analogy really falls apart is where the child is caught up to God immediately after he is born. Some theologians try to equate this with Jesus being taken to Egypt as an infant to escape the persecution of Herod. To equate Egypt to heaven is a real stretch that is not logical. The next problem I have with their view is, we didn't see Israel run into the wilderness after the baby Jesus escaped into Egypt. In fact, that didn't even happen even after Jesus defeated Satan on the cross and then returned to the Father in heaven. Israel didn't escape anywhere in 70 AD when Jerusalem was invaded and burned as some would have expected.

Notice that as soon as this child is caught up to God, that the dragon turns his destructive rage against the woman to try and destroy her. When he is unsuccessful there, he then turns his rage against her offspring who keep the commandments of God. As I pointed out earlier, these are Gentile followers of Christ who are the second part of the two witnesses for the final 3-½ years. Revelation 12:13–17 shows the story of how this will all unfold in future history.

However, at this point, let's look at where God commissions these tribulation saints after the Church is removed. It would be wise for us to see the full context in which this commissioning takes place in the New Testament. This will be a hard concept for some to follow; however, I feel I must present this view as a viable possibility.

There are seven New Testament books of James through Jude that I want to take a close look at. Some theologians have rightly noted that these books have an apocalyptic message in them. However some statements in these Scriptures have been attacked by critics as not having come to pass in a timely manner and therefore they view these Scriptures to be false. There are three scriptures that I have in mind, which are James 5:8, 1 Peter 4:7 and 1 John 2:18. All three passages speak of the immediate return of Christ. The critics' mistake is that they see these seven books as only being written to one audience at the beginning of the Church age. Let me further clarify my viewpoint and respond to the critics by saying this. These seven books have three audiences. The first audience is comprised of those who were living at the time that they were written by the apostles. The second audience is all of the saints down through the Church age. The third audience is the saints who live at the end of the age and who will need clear instructions for the troublesome times that they will be required to endure. To assign these books to only one group of saints at only one place in history is to limit the power of the living Word of God. All I am doing is taking a closer look at these seven books through the lens of end time events. In no way do I intend to diminish the power and value that these scriptures have had to the current and past audiences.

I would suggest that these seven books which are divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit are in fact to be understood as primarily speaking to events that will take place at the end of this age. Therefore their tone is apocalyptic in nature with words warning of the immediate return of the Lord. I will make the case that each of these seven books parallel the final seven-year tribulation. I was first introduced to this general idea by the teaching of J. R. Church and Gary Stearman through their teaching program called "Prophecy in the News."

It is within these seven books that we will see the transition from the Gentile Body of Christ over to the tribulation saints who are also identified as the two witnesses or the Bride of Christ in the book of Revelation. It is also in these books that we will find God's declaration of who the tribulation saints are as His witnesses. Furthermore we will see a time of equipping these saints for the task of being His witnesses followed by the commissioning of these saints as recorded at the proper timeline within these seven books. I will only point out some of the more obvious points that coincide with the timeline of events that are well known from other passages of Scripture throughout the Bible.

The book of James has a message directed towards the time when the Body of Christ will be completed and caught up to God. James 5:7–9 reveals the imminent return of Christ at that time:

7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!

I would also call your attention to the last two verses in the book of James and note the similarities to the message found in the last verses of Jude. This is what James 5:19–20 says as the Body of Christ prepares to exit this world _._ 19 _"Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,_ 20 _let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins."_

Now read Jude 22–23 where similar instructions are given to the tribulation witnesses who are finishing their time of witnessing and are about to be caught up to the Lord at the last trumpet. 22 _"And on some have compassion, making a distinction;_ 23 _but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh."_ Both of these passages show a time just before each set of servants are removed from this earth just before the judgment of God falls. Understand there will be two times of judgment from God, one at the beginning of the final 3-½ years and the final judgment at the end of those years.

Returning to the transition from the time of the Body of Christ and its exiting this world as revealed in James, we now turn to the commissioning of the tribulation witnesses in 1 Peter. These Christians are all young in the faith as indicated in 1 Peter 2:1–5:

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Notice they are seen as newborn babes in Christ that are in the process of being built up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. When we read verses 9–10, we see God make a declaration of who the tribulation witnesses are that echoes the declaration given to Israel of old through Moses at Mount Sinai.

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

This declaration reveals the grafting in again of Israel into their native olive tree that Paul spoke of in Romans 11:23–25:

23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

The rest of 1 Peter through the middle part of First John is a time of equipping the tribulation saints for their ministry for the final 3-½ years. At the midpoint of these seven books we find the nature of the Antichrist is being revealed in 1 John 2:18: 18 _"Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour."_ Notice John identifies that point in time as the final hour that these saints are entering into. That is the final hour when God will test all who are on the face of the earth as revealed in Revelation 3:10: 10 _"_ _Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth."_ This promise was given to the faithful Body of Christ which will have been caught up to be with God at that point in time. The term of one hour is also used to reveal the amount of time that the ten kings will rule with the beast kingdom which is recorded in Revelation 17:12.

The commissioning of the tribulation saints as they enter into the final 3-½ years is found in 2 John 1:1–6:

1 The Elder, To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, 2 because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. 4 I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. 5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. 6 This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

I must point out that the elect lady and her children in 2 John are the same woman and children that is revealed in Revelation 12:13, 16–17. This should come as no surprise as John is the same human author of both books where he is using the same imagery that is unique to his writing:

13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.

16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Second John through Jude are all short in length with the expectancy of meeting the Lord face to face soon. The overall tone of the last three books changes to reflect the imminent return of Christ. Furthermore they don't give much detailed instruction, but instead rely on past Scriptures that promise that God will speak to them as He promised in Hosea 2:14–16:

14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

Will bring her into the wilderness,

And speak comfort to her.

15I will give her her vineyards from there,

And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;

She shall sing there,

As in the days of her youth,

As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

16 "And it shall be, in that day,"

Says the Lord,

"That you will call Me 'My Husband,'

And no longer call Me 'My Master,'

This brings us to the promise and declaration given to the fifth group of servants, recorded in Isaiah chapter 43. This takes place at the beginning of the millennial reign of Christ. Isaiah 43:4–9 records the gathering of Israel out of all the nations where they were driven and also reveals the gathering of all nations before the Lord.

4 Since you were precious in My sight,

You have been honored,

And I have loved you;

Therefore I will give men for you,

And people for your life.

5 Fear not, for I am with you;

I will bring your descendants from the east,

And gather you from the west;

6 I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'

And to the south, 'Do not keep them back!'

Bring My sons from afar,

And My daughters from the ends of the earth -

7 Everyone who is called by My name,

Whom I have created for My glory;

I have formed him, yes, I have made him."

8 Bring out the blind people who have eyes,

And the deaf who have ears.

9 Let all the nations be gathered together,

And let the people be assembled.

Who among them can declare this,

And show us former things?

Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;

Or let them hear and say, "It is truth."

The truth of Christ being installed as Lord during the thousand-year reign is clearly laid out in Psalm 2. That whole chapter shows how all of the nations will rebel against God and how He will strike them down. It is at that point that Jesus will rule the nations with a rod of iron from His holy mountain of Zion:

Why do the nations rage,

And the people plot a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,

3 "Let us break Their bonds in pieces

And cast away Their cords from us."

4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The Lord shall hold them in derision.

5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,

And distress them in His deep displeasure:

6 "Yet I have set My King

On My holy hill of Zion."

7 "I will declare the decree:

The Lord has said to Me,

'You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.

8 Ask of Me, and I will give You

The nations for Your inheritance,

And the ends of the earth for Your possession.

9 You shall break them with a rod of iron;

You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.'"

10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings;

Be instructed, you judges of the earth.

11 Serve the Lord with fear,

And rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,

And you perish in the way,

When His wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

As Christ establishes His kingdom, He then commissions His chosen people to be His witnesses in Isaiah 43:10–15:

10 "You are My witnesses," says the LORD,

" And My servant whom I have chosen,

That you may know and believe Me,

And understand that I am He.

Before Me there was no God formed,

Nor shall there be after Me.

11 I, even I, am the LORD,

And besides Me there is no savior.

12 I have declared and saved,

I have proclaimed,

And there was no foreign god among you;

Therefore you are My witnesses,"

Says the LORD, "that I am God.

13 Indeed before the day was, I am He;

And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;

I work, and who will reverse it?"

14 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer,

The Holy One of Israel:

"For your sake I will send to Babylon,

And bring them all down as fugitives-

The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships

15 I am the LORD, your Holy One,

The Creator of Israel, your King."

His chosen people will witness by their actions during Christ's millennial reign. There will be no need for them to teach anyone who the Lord is, for all will know, as Jeremiah 31:34 reveals. The millennial reign of Christ will be in the seventh millennium, also known as the seventh day, and as such will be a time of rest for His servants:

34 "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," says the LORD. "For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

It has been my hope and prayer that you will now understand whom God has called, how God has then equipped those He has called and commissioned as His servant witnesses. I pray that you would recognize your calling given by God and be faithful to do as He instructs.

With this foundational understanding of who the servants of God are and when they will serve in history, we can now move into defining the timeframe of wars and the rise and fall of world empires _._

## Chapter 8

The Third Day

From our vantage point in history we are able to look back through the passage of time and have a clearer understanding of how our Lord has framed the ages. With a general view of the timetable of recorded Bible history, we should be able to get some idea of how long the Church age will last and when the Millennial Kingdom will be set up. From the limited vantage point that Christ's disciples had, they expected Jesus to set up His earthly kingdom as He was getting ready to return to heaven. At that point they did not understand the length of the Church age that was to come as evidenced by their question in Acts 1:6–7: _"Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?'_ 7 _And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.'"_

From the words that Jesus gave the disciples it would seem that there is no way to understand the seasons or ages that the Lord has framed. In fact from His response it would seem that there is no reason to watch for that time or to even ask for understanding. However Jesus gives us a great promise in the following verses in John 15:14–16 and 16:13.

14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

When we take these promises and conditions together, we know that to be called a friend of Jesus requires us to walk in obedience to his commands. If we do that and part of our spiritual gift involves our warning others of the judgment to come, then God will reveal what is to come through the revelation of His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. This requires spiritual growth where we abide in Christ and do all that He instructs us to do. We are to be in a continual close fellowship with our Lord and Savior. It is in that close walk with Him that we are to continually seek, knock and ask so that we will receive in order that we can serve others.

We see the process of spiritual growth that was demonstrated by our Lord that we need to imitate in order to gain understanding and maturity in Christ. We are told in Scripture that while in His humanity upon this earth Jesus learned and grew in understanding as He spent time alone with His Father in prayer. This is what Luke 2:52 has to say about our Lord's growth in His humanity. _"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men."_

In the limits of His humanity, Jesus did not know the day or the hour of His own return as He clearly states in Mark 13:32. _"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."_ So we might ask, if Jesus didn't know the time of His return, then how are we ever to hope to recognize the time of His return? The first point I would make is that knowing the time of Christ's return was not relevant to those living at the time of Jesus. However, for those living at the end of the age who are commanded to watch, it is relevant to know and recognize the general time of Christ's return. We will find insight through the process in the message found in Mark 13:33 if we will patiently ask our Father for understanding just as Jesus did. " _Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is."_ When He says we don't know when the time is, He means we have not been plainly told of that exact time. We are told of the general time in the same way that Christ spoke to the people in parables. This was the same style of message that Jesus told His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane the night He was betrayed. That night Jesus instructed His disciples to watch and pray that they would not enter into temptation or trial. Their failure to heed His instructions should be a lesson that we take seriously. That night Jesus was seeking information directly from His Father through the Spirit in the Garden of Gethsemane. We are instructed to do the same in order to be imitators of Christ as Scripture instructs. In light of these passages it would be wise for us to remember Paul's instructions and promises to the end time church found in 1 Thessalonians 5:1–5:

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

Notice that in spite of the fact that Christ's return will be unannounced and will come as a total surprise to the world, there is a promise for understanding to the watching believers. There is a qualification for those believers who will see, and that is they must walk in the light. The definition for those who walk in the light is given in 1 John 2:9–11 for those who obey Christ's new commandment to love one another as He loved us:

9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

The promise for those who obey Christ's command is that they will have eyes to see and recognize the time of Christ's return and be ready. Our prayer needs to be that we would know what signs we are to watch for while being on guard to not become distracted from abiding in Christ by the cares of life. There are many signs that we are instructed through Scripture to be watching for, as I have addressed and will address throughout this book.

There are two reasons for us to watch as God has commanded us to do. The first is obviously to be ready at His return. However if this was the only reason He would simply have commanded us to be ready. There is a second reason for us to watch that is often overlooked. When we watch, knowing what to look for, we are then instructed to warn others when we see signs of our Lord's imminent return that will be followed by His judgment.

We must also understand that the warning to watch was given to the church of Sardis in Revelation 3:3. "3 _Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you."_ These church members as professing Christians were given the warning to wake up, repent of their sin and watch. If they failed to do so then Christ promised to return without warning and surprise that church of hypocrites as a thief. This should be a sobering thought for us to ponder, knowing that the professing Christians would be taken by surprise exactly the same as unbelievers. Both hypocrites and unbelievers will not recognize the time of the Lord's return.

Let's step back and ask, "Does the Bible give us the big picture of a general time when Jesus will return in God's framework of time?" I believe it does. There would seem to be a number of clues that are given to indicate the general time of Christ's return. The first passage I would point to is found in Hosea 6:1–3:

1 Come, and let us return to the LORD;

For He has torn, but He will heal us;

He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

2 After two days He will revive us;

On the third day He will raise us up,

That we may live in His sight.

3 Let us know,

Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.

His going forth is established as the morning;

He will come to us like the rain,

Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

This passage is directed to Israel for a future time when they will turn back to the Lord when He returns to establish His thousand-year reign. Israel will have been torn and stricken, which means they will have been chastened by the Lord. As a result of their correction, God will heal their nation after two days. This message of restoration is a reoccurring theme throughout the books of the Old Testament prophets. Now we need to ask and define the length of time that is indicated in the image of these days that are mentioned in Hosea. The first clue to this answer is found in 2 Peter 3:8. " _But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day_ _is_ _as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."_ The truth of this passage that Peter writes is based upon Psalms 90:4 and 12–13, which we should adopt as our prayer for understanding:

4 For a thousand years in Your sight

Are like yesterday when it is past,

And like a watch in the night.

12 So teach us to number our days,

That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Return, O Lord!

How long?

And have compassion on Your servants.

Some might say that the Hosea passage is foretelling Christ's resurrection on the third day. I think it is the other way around. The resurrection of Christ on the third day has its own message through imagery that points to when Jesus will establish His earthly reign. These three passages of Scripture indicate that Christ will establish His thousand-year reign at the beginning of the third day, technically known as the third thousand-year period of time from His first advent. Most of Bible prophecy is looking forward to two major events on God's calendar. The first is when Christ appears to establish His thousand-year reign followed by the second, His eternal kingdom from the New Jerusalem at the end of the thousand years.

There is also an interesting depiction for these future events given in the imagery of when God met Moses at the giving of the Ten Commandments. A portion of that story is found in Exodus 19:10–11, which parallels what will take place at the beginning and the end of the third thousand-year time period called the Day of the Lord.

10 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. 11 And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people."

This Exodus passage foreshadows the future event when the resurrected saints will be dressed in white robes which represent the righteous acts of the saints in Christ. That message is reinforced in Revelation 3:18 where Jesus counsels us to buy from him white garments so that we will be clothed at the resurrection. We are also given a picture of the saints in heaven in Revelation 7:9 where they are all wearing white robes after their resurrection. Both of these passages agree with and are supported by the parable of the marriage feast that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 22:7–14:

7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

8 Then he said to his servants, "The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding." 10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, "Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?" And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, "Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."

Many things will take place during God's third day, which are revealed in this Matthew passage. Take special note of verse 7 as it sets the timetable for the verses to follow. Pay close attention to verse 7 where it says the king was furious and sent out his armies to destroy those murderers and burn their cities. This is spoken in reference to those who were called but found unworthy, resulting in them being judged during the last half of the 7-year tribulation. Take special note of verse 8 where He says the wedding is ready but those who were invited were not worthy. We must understand this statement in light of what is spoken in Revelation 19:7–9:

7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

9 Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God."

Understand that in verses 7–8, the marriage of the Lamb has come or has taken place at the beginning of the thousand years, but immediately after the judgment of those who were invited but found unworthy. When He says in verse 9, "Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper," He is referring to those who will be called throughout the remainder of the thousand-year reign of Christ. These are the invited guests that are revealed to us in Matthew 22:9–10. The wedding hall is filled with the guests of the Bride and Groom at the end of the thousand years. It is the duty of God's servants who are living during the thousand years to invite all they can find, both good and bad, to the wedding feast so as to fill the wedding hall. All of this imagery in these passages surrounds the Jewish wedding feast where the guests will join the Bride and Groom in festivities after the seventh day.

The wedding hall that is filled is the place where all nations will be brought before God to be judged at the end of the 7 thousandth year. To keep this in the proper perspective at our current point in time, we are approaching the 6 thousandth year of recorded Bible history. Remember that there will be two times of judgment as 2 Timothy 4:1 foretells. The first judgment is at the appearing of Christ. The final judgment will be at the time of the establishment of the Eternal Kingdom at the end of the millennial reign of Christ. The first judgment is at the bema seat of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:10 and the final judgment is at the great white throne, Revelation 20:11–15.

Returning back to Exodus 19:11, we can see this passage is laying out some clear principles for the future. When God instructs Moses to sanctify the people for two days, this points to when Christ will sanctify or set apart His chosen saints for two thousand years. The washing of the clothes represents being washed by the blood of Christ and renewed by the Holy Spirit. This is the same imagery used in the parable of the wedding feast and the wearing of the wedding garments in Matthew 22:1–14. That event will happen at the end of the third day when the king will come in and inspect the wedding guests.

There is much more imagery surrounding the term **the third day** found throughout Scripture. Take for example in John 2:1–2 where the first recorded miracle is performed by Jesus. _"On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding."_ It would be easy to overlook the opening statement that it was on the third day that this wedding was taking place. This wedding that Jesus attends foreshadows the timing of the parable of the marriage feast that is given for the Son by the King in the passage of Matthew 22 that we looked at earlier.

So when did the thousand-year days first start to be counted? I would suggest it was from around the time of Christ's resurrection. In what year was that? I don't know. There are good historians that don't agree on what year Jesus was crucified. It doesn't really matter for our purpose, for we only need a general understanding of the time of His return. We are not looking for Him to spare us from the persecution to come as some would have us believe. However we are looking for our Lord to remove those surviving faithful saints from God's wrath through war that will be poured out on the whole world. In the meantime, we are to be looking for the signs that the Word of God has instructed us to watch for. When we see those predicted signs that point to our Lord's return, then pay great attention, and, as always, be ready and warn others. After all, that is what Hebrews 10:24–25 instructs: "24 _And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,_ 25 _not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."_

We also need to keep in mind some very important signs and their timing in relation to the end of this age that Paul reveals in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–4:

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

There are a number of signs that we are given in this passage. The first sign will be the falling away of those who profess Christ as their Lord and Savior. The process of their falling away as a result of persecution is revealed by the words of Jesus in Matthew 13:20–21: " _But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;_ 21 _yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles."_ The evidence of close friends and relatives falling away because of severe persecution is once again given by our Lord in Luke 21:12–17:

12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake. 13 But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. 14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 And you will be hated by all for My name's sake.

Understand those who fall away are the fearful who out of desperation try to save their own lives by betraying their fellow Christians. Instead of trying to save their own lives, they should have been careful to follow the example of those who will overcome our accuser, who will tempt us to deny Christ. That example is found in Revelation 12:10–11:

10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."

Those who fall away know the Word of God and profess to follow the instructions of the words of the Lord, when in fact they will be revealed to be hypocrites. There is a dire warning we must all take to heart so as not to be included with those who disobey the Word of God found in 2 Thessalonians 1:6–8:

6 Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So who are these who turn away from following the instructions of Christ and specifically what is their sin? One of the clearest places in Scripture that gives answers to this question is found in the book of Zechariah. It is in the fourteen chapters of that prophetic book that we see the whole story told of how the millennial reign of Christ will be established through the judgment of the Lord. In chapter 5:1–4 we see who will be removed from this earth and the reason for their removal.

Then I turned and raised my eyes, and saw there a flying scroll.

2 And he said to me, "What do you see?"

So I answered, "I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits."

3 Then he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth: 'Every thief shall be expelled,' according to this side of the scroll; and, 'Every perjurer shall be expelled,' according to that side of it."

4 "I will send out the curse," says the Lord of hosts;

"It shall enter the house of the thief

And the house of the one who swears falsely by My name.

It shall remain in the midst of his house

And consume it, with its timber and stones."

The description gets more specific in chapter 7:8–12. Pay close attention to the wording that describes our relationship to one another in 9 and 10:

8 Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 "Thus says the Lord of hosts:

'Execute true justice,

Show mercy and compassion

Everyone to his brother.

10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless,

The alien or the poor.

Let none of you plan evil in his heart

Against his brother.'

11 "But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. 12 Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. 13 Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen," says the Lord of hosts. 14 "But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate."

Notice that this verse refers to how we are to show mercy and compassion to our brother, and we are not to plan evil in our heart towards our brother. Even though there was a partial fulfillment of this passage in the time of Zechariah, it will have a greater fulfillment at the end of the Church age. How so? Understand when Zechariah uses the term _brother_ he is using a New Testament term which describes the relationship that we have with each other in Christ. If Zechariah had used Old Testament terminology, he would have said _neighbor_ instead of _brother_ to reflect the command to love ones neighbor as one's self. Instead he uses the word _brother_ which is in reference to the new command that Jesus gave us in John 13:34–35. " _A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another._ 35 _By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."_ Remember in 1 John 2:8–11 he defines _one another_ to mean _our brother_.

This is the only place that I find this wording and terminology of _brother_ used in the Old Testament. Chapters five, the first half of six and all of seven of Zechariah describe the reasons for the judgment to come and who that judgment is brought against. Chapter eight speaks of the establishment of the Messiah and the re-gathering of His scattered people back into the Promised Land. It is here in 8:16–17 that we see the relationship term change back to _neighbor_ to reflect their connection to each other during the Millennium:

16 These are the things you shall do:

Speak each man the truth to his neighbor;

Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace;

17 Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor;

And do not love a false oath.

For all these are things that I hate,'

Says the Lord."

We need to recognize the grace given position we have in Christ as His body and bride together as the church. We will dwell in the house of the Lord called the New Jerusalem. Perhaps the friends of the groom will inherit the new earth and will be the ones who will come and visit as is indicated in Luke 13:28-29 and Revelation 21:24. That part is still shrouded in mystery; however I do know we as Christ's church bear great responsibility along with great promises of blessing. In order to inherit the promises we must walk in the light through our obedience to the commands of Christ in the strengthening of the Holy Spirit.

The second sign in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 is that the man of sin will be revealed just prior to the start of the Day of the Lord. That event is where the man of sin will be exposed for who he is, which will take place when he breaks the 7-year peace treaty spoken of by Daniel the prophet. Understand that all of the brokers of the peace treaty will be saying "peace and safety" at the end of the second day, immediately preceding the worldwide destruction that will usher in the third day, also known as the Day of the Lord.

If it is correct to understand and interpret that a day is a thousand years in the Hosea 6 passage, then we should be able to recognize the approach of prophesied events taking shape upon the world stage. It will become evident in the near future how we are to number our days as all our understanding will be tested by time. As we go into the next chapter, you will see that it is imperative that we understand and recognize how close we are to the time of Christ's return.

## Chapter 9

Daniel's Seventy Weeks

The book of Daniel is one of my favorite books of the Bible for a couple reasons. My first reason is that Daniel's book has some amazing prophecies that have already been fulfilled which sets precedent for how future prophecies will be fulfilled. The second reason is the way in which Daniel explains the meaning of the imagery that he uses in his God-inspired writing. This is extremely helpful for our interpreting the writings of John in New Testament prophecy as he adopts much of the same style and imagery that Daniel used. This will be a very important foundation to stand on as we go into future chapters in this book.

The portion of Daniel that I want to take a close look at has to do with the 70 weeks of time that have been given as a decree by God to the Jews and their city of Jerusalem. Specifically, I want to closely examine six things that God will do in the process to restore this fallen creation. This portion of Scripture helps to reaffirm the message throughout the Bible that God will still do a future work through the Jewish people. The passage of Scripture I want to focus on is found in Daniel 9:24–27, with the six actions of God listed in verse 24:

24 "Seventy weeks are determined

For your people and for your holy city,

To finish the transgression,

To make an end of sins,

To make reconciliation for iniquity,

To bring in everlasting righteousness,

To seal up vision and prophecy,

And to anoint the Most Holy.

25 "Know therefore and understand,

That from the going forth of the command

To restore and build Jerusalem

Until Messiah the Prince,

There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;

The street shall be built again, and the wall,

Even in troublesome times.

26 "And after the sixty-two weeks

Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;

And the people of the prince who is to come

Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

The end of it shall be with a flood,

And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;

But in the middle of the week

He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.

And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,

Even until the consummation, which is determined,

Is poured out on the desolate."

There are two things we must first understand that deal with the duration and placement of time that Daniel is talking about. The first is easy enough to understand as Daniel uses the term of 70 weeks with each week consisting of 7 years, resulting in a total of 490 years. Those years started in 445 BC when Artaxerxes gave the command to Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem starting with its walls. That event where the decree was given by the Persian King is recorded in Nehemiah 2:1–10. The rebuilding of Jerusalem under adverse conditions that is foretold in Daniel 9:25 was an accurate prediction of the attacks that would be brought against Nehemiah and his fellow workers as they rebuilt the walls around ancient Jerusalem. The first 7 weeks of 7 years equals 49 years which would probably mark the end of Nehemiah's days. Add 62 weeks to the first 7 weeks and there is a total of 69 weeks equaling 483 years from the command to rebuild Jerusalem until the arrival of the Messiah who was to ride into Jerusalem on a colt of a donkey. This account is recorded in Matthew 21:1–11.

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."

4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

(The prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 [below] is fulfilled in the record of Matthew 21:5.

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your King is coming to you;

He is just and having salvation,

Lowly and riding on a donkey,

A colt, the foal of a donkey.")

5 "Tell the daughter of Zion,

'Behold, your King is coming to you,

Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,

A colt, the foal of a donkey.'"

6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

"Hosanna to the Son of David!

'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'

Hosanna in the highest!"

10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"

11 So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

Daniel 9:26 accurately predicted the point in time that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem and be cut off and die for others. This prophecy in Daniel along with other Biblical prophecies of the Messiah's first advent has been fulfilled in every detail.

In Daniel 9:24 we see the list of six things that God will accomplish while working through the Jewish people. I would suggest that these six workings of God which are accomplished through the redemptive work of Christ will only be completed when His eternal Kingdom is established after the thousand-year reign of Christ. Even now we can recognize that those six workings of God are in process and are far from being completely fulfilled. Though I will not go into great detail on each of the six workings of God, I will look at a couple clear examples of those workings of God that are still in process. The first is "to make an end of sins." It is obvious that sin will continue as long as fallen man is upon this earth. There will be a final rebellion of sinful men at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ as is foretold in Revelation 20:7–10. Obviously that working of God that brings an end to all sin will only be completed in the future. The second example is "to seal up vision and prophecy." This statement surely did not apply only to Daniel's prophecies, but to all God-inspired prophecies. The way this phrase is worded it would indicate that the sealing up of vision and prophecies is the fulfilling and completion of all God-inspired prophecies. I will point out the obvious with this thought. The apostles of Christ prophesy of many far-future events that will take place to a point just beyond the end of the millennial reign of Christ. Those prophecies must run their course in conjunction with the Jewish people and their city of Jerusalem.

Some have suggested that the 70 weeks were completed with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. One glaring problem with that view is the destruction of Jerusalem took place 30 some years beyond what would have been the 490-year block of time that started in 445 BC. Even with the widely accepted splitting off of the final 7 years, there is no clear starting and ending of that final week around the events of 70 AD. Secondly, they seem to overlook the fact that those six workings of God were not completed by the time of 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed.

I do believe that the intentional reading of only a portion of Isaiah 61:2 by Jesus in the temple supports the idea that there will be a splitting off of the final years of judgment. That event is recorded in Luke 4:16-22.

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"

What is so significant about what our Lord read from Isaiah 61:1-2A is where He stopped reading and why He stopped reading in mid sentence. The rest of that sentence in Isaiah 61:2 reads as follows: _"And the day of vengeance of our God."_

Jesus knew that the last part of that sentence was for a time at the end of this age when the fires of judgment would be kindled as He states in Luke 12:49. _"I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!_ However Jesus knew that the time of judgment was still to come in the far future and was separate from His entering into Jerusalem. Jesus set president for how we are to understand how those days will be split apart for a later time.

Therefore I would suggest that God is still going to do a work through the Jewish people in the future within the 490-year block of time. I understand that block of time to be split into 3 parts as I will explain. To gain a better understanding, we need to read Daniel 9:27 where he gives detail to the 70th week. That 70th week is separated from the previous 69 weeks. Those 69 weeks which equals 483 years is the first years split from the 490 year total. That will leave the final 7 year week that will also be split a later time. The majority of that final week of 7 years will take place at the end of the age when Jesus will appear at the first judgment. This fact is established in Matthew 24:3 where Christ's disciples ask two important questions: 3 _"Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?'"_

Their first question was a result of a statement that Jesus made concerning the destruction of the temple buildings. Yes it is true that the destruction of the temple took place in 70 AD. However that does not remove the reality that there will be a second destruction of a yet future temple at the end of the church age. However I am most interested in their second question that asks what would be the sign of the Lord's return at the end of the age. It is the answer Jesus gives in Matthew 24:15–22 that ties the 70th week foretold in Daniel to the end of the age when Jesus will return.

15 "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.

Notice that Jesus ties the abomination of desolation to the end of the age when there will be a time of trouble so severe that if those days were not cut short there would be no flesh saved. That abomination will take place in some sort of temple or tabernacle at the midpoint of the seven year tribulation. Jesus says there will be a time of unprecedented tribulation that will never be equaled again in the future. Those who say the judgment from God took place in 70 AD fail to see the extreme severity of judgment that God will pour out upon this earth. I would suggest they reconsider and apply a literal interpretation of Isaiah 24:1–6, 19–20 in light of man's current ability to destroy all flesh from this earth with the weapons of modern warfare.

Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste,

Distorts its surface

And scatters abroad its inhabitants.

2 And it shall be:

As with the people, so with the priest;

As with the servant, so with his master;

As with the maid, so with her mistress;

As with the buyer, so with the seller;

As with the lender, so with the borrower;

As with the creditor, so with the debtor.

3 The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered,

For the Lord has spoken this word.

4 The earth mourns and fades away,

The world languishes and fades away;

The haughty people of the earth languish.

5 The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,

Because they have transgressed the laws,

Changed the ordinance,

Broken the everlasting covenant.

6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth,

And those who dwell in it are desolate.

Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned,

And few men are left.

19 The earth is violently broken,

The earth is split open,

The earth is shaken exceedingly.

20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard,

And shall totter like a hut;

Its transgression shall be heavy upon it,

And it will fall, and not rise again.

Add to Isaiah's dire warnings the descriptions given in Luke 21:25 and Revelation 6:14 and 16:20 and we will gain a greater understanding of the severity of the judgment to come.

25 And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;

14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

20 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

It is with all of this in mind that Jesus says those days of judgment will be cut short in order that all flesh will not be destroyed. When He says all flesh I understand that to mean every living creature upon the face of the Earth. The Earth will be close to falling into a dead orbit when it is kicked off of its axis.

When Jesus says that He will cut those days short for the elect's sake, He is speaking in reference to those who will live during the final millennium. Those who will be spared will be as the three Hebrew children who went through the fire for not bowing down in worship to king (Nebuchadnezzar). I would point out a passage in Isaiah 43:1–3A that gives a sure promise of delivering the descendants of Jacob through the fire to come just as He has delivered them from Egypt through the waters of the sea.

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,

And He who formed you, O Israel:

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by your name;

You are Mine.

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.

When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,

Nor shall the flame scorch you.

3 For I am the Lord your God,

The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Returning back to the promise of Jesus in Matthew 24:22, I must ask what exactly does Jesus mean with this statement "those days will be cut short or shortened"? I would suggest that He is referring to the individual and literal 1,335 days of judgment that make up the last half of the final week in Daniel. It is in the closing verses of Daniel 12:10–13 that we are given the final clue as to how those last days will be cut off or shortened.

10 Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.

11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.

13 "But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days."

When we compare the number of days listed in Daniel to those 1,260 days that are listed in Revelation in reference to the time that God's witnesses will speak, we might think there is a discrepancy. I don't think we can understand Daniel's statement about those 1,290 and 1,335 days without the words of Jesus to His disciples. By this I mean that Daniel makes a declaration concerning the number of days without any explanation. I suspect that is why that these curious words are written in Daniel 12:9 _._ _And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end."_ If we try to interpret the number of days in Daniel without understanding the days listed in Revelation along with the statement by Jesus concerning those days of judgment being cut short, then we will be left confused. Furthermore we must never lose sight of the workings of God that can only be completed within the days listed in the book of Daniel.

It is my understanding that from the time of the abomination of desolation is set up in the temple until the battle of Armageddon starts will be 1,260 days. I would suggest that the 30-day difference between the 1,260 in Revelation and 1,290 in Daniel is the amount of days of judgment through the battle of Armageddon that will take place after God's tribulation witnesses are removed from the earth. The 1,335 days are the total days contained in the last half of Daniel's 70th week. The last half of that final week starts with the abomination of desolation when the man of sin is revealed. From the time that the man of sin sets up the abomination of desolation until the Lord cuts the days of judgment short will be 1,290 days. There will still be 45 days left to complete the 70th week that will be cut off in order that the elect will be spared. The splitting off of the last 45 days will result in the third and final block of time separated off of the 490 years. Those 45 days will run their course at the end of the thousand years when God will pour out His final judgment on this earth in the form of Fire. It will only be when those final 45 days run their course that the six workings of God will all be brought to completion. We are given a description of that final event in a couple passages. The first I will sight is located in 2 Peter 3:10–13.

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

In verse 12 where it says "the elements will melt with fervent heat" we need to understand the term for (elements) does not only refer to the physical elements but also to God-instituted systems such as death and Hades. This whole transformation process is described in Revelation 20:14–15 and 21:1–3.

14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

As I have stated before, it is only at that point in time, when God's eternal Kingdom is set up, that all six workings of God will have been completed. Those six works are finished as God works through His chosen people. God will finish his work within the 490-year block of time that will have been divided into three portions. The first portion to be divided off of the 490 years will be 483 years. The second portion which is left is the final 7 years. The final 7 years will have the last 45 days cut off, resulting in the third portion of time.

The last 3-½ years are meted out as individual days of judgment that will take place at God's chosen time. We are given great detail in the book of Revelation for all that will take place within 1,260 of those days. We would be wise to remember the promises of Daniel 9:24 and understand when those six workings of God will be finished. When we do this then we will gain a better understanding on how the end of the age is framed.

24 Seventy weeks are determined

For your people and for your holy city,

To finish the transgression,

To make an end of sins,

To make reconciliation for iniquity,

To bring in everlasting righteousness,

To seal up vision and prophecy,

And to anoint the Most Holy.

## Chapter 10

Identifying the Seventh Beast

There are many interpretations for who the beast will be and what his number 666 will represent. It has become a sideshow which has turned into entertainment for unbelievers who see the beast figure as a mystical and imaginary figure. However for the Christian it should be viewed as a real figure who will take his place on the world stage in the near future. If there is one thing we should now see after reading the past chapters is that time is short until the beast takes center stage.

With this in mind, we as Christians should be asking this question, who is the beast and what will be his mark? We don't want to come across as being some sort of conspiratorial fanatic using this as a scare tactic. However as the watchmen of God, we do want to take the warnings of Scripture seriously so as to be able to factually warn others. Often I will hear a Christian ask some prophecy expert how can we to know what the mark will be in order not to accidently receive it. Most often the pat answer that is given is "You will know when the time comes." When I hear an answer like that, it saddens me to know many will be deceived at that time simply because they didn't know what to look for. It will be much easier to make a stand against taking the mark if we know what it will be before it arrives. By knowing prior to the arrival of the mark we will be able to count the cost of standing in the will of Christ and therefore be more prepared to pay the price of obeying the Word of God.

I would advise those of you who are wondering who the beast is to ask God to give you the wisdom needed to understand and recognize the arrival of that system in the chaotic times to come. Asking for wisdom and understanding as to the identity of the beast and antichrist is a legitimate request for us to ask. Our Lord will give us the understanding that is needed in order that we may stand firm in the days of trial to come.

It is not my intent to sensationalize the topic of identifying the beast and antichrist kingdoms to come at the end of the age. I take seriously the task of identifying nations as the beast and antichrist kingdoms in light of the evidence of Scripture along with history. I do not want to make a false accusation from my limited perspective; however I will not hold back the evidence because of fear of offending some. It is with deep concern and a heavy heart that I write this chapter.

In this chapter I will be drawing from Scripture found primarily in Daniel and Revelation. Let me start by pointing out that Daniel is writing about world empires which are depicted in two ways. The first example is found in Daniel 2:36–45 where the statue from the dream of Nebuchadnezzar is revealed:

36 "This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all-you are this head of gold. 39 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. 41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold-the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure."

The statue is made up of five parts starting with the empire in power at the time of Daniel. They are Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, Rome and the final beast empire that will be destroyed at our Lord's appearing. In chapter 7:1–28 these same world empires are represented by various animals with much more detail being given to the end time beast kingdom and its makeup. In this depiction the final beast kingdom is made up of ten horns with a smaller horn coming up to prominence. The final beast kingdom descends from the fourth beast which represents the Roman Empire. What is so good about this passage of scripture is that in verses 15–27 Daniel gives us the meaning of the imagery of the four beasts which has the horns representing the final world kingdom.

15 "I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 16 I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: 17 'Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth. 18 But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.'

19 "Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; 20 and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.

21 "I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.

23 "Thus he said:

'The fourth beast shall be

A fourth kingdom on earth,

Which shall be different from all other kingdoms,

And shall devour the whole earth,

Trample it and break it in pieces.

24 The ten horns are ten kings

Who shall arise from this kingdom.

And another shall rise after them;

He shall be different from the first ones,

And shall subdue three kings.

25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,

Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,

And shall intend to change times and law.

Then the saints shall be given into his hand

For a time and times and half a time.

26 'But the court shall be seated,

And they shall take away his dominion,

To consume and destroy it forever.

27 Then the kingdom and dominion,

And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,

Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.

His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.'"

Daniel goes into great detail as to how the last kingdom will rise to power as its leader will have total domination over the saints for the final 3-½ years. Before the final beast gains total dominion over the saints there will be a time when the beast will change laws and persecute the saints of God. Remember these are all the same world empires that were revealed to us through Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter 2.

The book of Revelation builds on the imagery of Daniel using a seven-headed beast to depict the world empires. Whereas Daniel starts with that current empire of Babylon and looks forward to the end of time, John looks back beyond Babylon to the first empire of Egypt. This is how John reveals those seven empires in Revelation 17:10. "There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time." The following list is the seven world empires as seen from John's perspective. They are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, and Greece representing five empires that had risen and fallen up to John's time. Rome was in power at the time John was writing Revelation. Here is the term John used to describe the world empire of Rome that was in power during his time "one is." John then goes on to give us more detail of the seventh empire that will last a short time in comparison to the other empires. Verse 11 of Revelation 17 reads as a riddle when it reveals the final empire in these terms. The beast that was, _and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition._ When read in conjunction with Revelation 13:3 which tells of one of the heads being mortally wounded with a sword which is the imagery of war, then we can see that final kingdom is struck down in war. After that 7th empire is struck down in war it will be healed to rise again as the 8th. This must be attributed to this final kingdom. Why? For this one reason, that none of the previous six kingdoms have a history of falling and rising again.

It is at this point that most interpretations run off of the tracks of logic. So often the interpretation given for the 7th head is that exclusively of a man. Perhaps the primary reason for coming to that conclusion is because of John's reference in Revelation to the beast in the third person as "he." However we must keep in mind that Daniel refers to the various beast empires in the third person as well, but it was without reference to their king. We must remember that the first 6 world empires were all depicted as various beasts. As such it is reasonable and prudent to understand that the seventh beast will also be a world empire. To view this seventh head as a man and not an empire or kingdom would cause us to break scriptural precedent. There are instances where the leaders of the beast and antichrist empires are spoken of as individuals, so we must be careful to read with great discernment. Most often when the leaders of those nations are spoken of in Scripture it is in conjunction with the power of their world empire.

This is a good place to stop and ask a question. What do the first six empires have in common with each other? The common denominator of the first six empires will also be common with the final eighth empire that is resurrected from the seventh empire. There are a couple of common factors that all of these empires share. The first common factor is that God is working through His Jewish people at the time of these world empires. The second common denominator is that during the time of the first six empires Jerusalem was occupied by those world empires. I would anticipate that the land of Israel will be occupied by a peace-keeping force under the control of the final world empire. That peace-keeping force will be there to try and enforce the seven-year peace treaty that will be put in place between Israel and the many nations in that region. In Daniel 9:27 it says that in the middle of the seven years, the sacrifice and grain offering will be stopped when the abomination of desolation takes place. In order for the man of sin to stop the sacrifice in Israel, the beast kingdom must have a military presence to accomplish such a task. The start of the final three-and-a-half-year rule of the eighth kingdom will be brought into play when its leader, the man of sin, speaks blasphemies against God as revealed in Revelation 13:5. "And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months." The title "the man of sin" is used by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 to describe this same end-time event that will usher in the Day of the Lord. "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son _of perdition,_ 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

The seventh head is only given as history by John in Revelation so that we will be able to recognize the eighth empire when it has been resurrected back into existence. This becomes all the more clear when looking back at what is labeled as another beast that comes up out of the earth in Revelation 13:11–18. Why is it called another? Because it lacks that common denominator that the seven heads share with each other. From the fall of the Roman Empire until the final world empire, there are other empires that are not included in these seven empires. All other empires that are outside of the seven empires do not share a common link that these seven empires have with each other, and as such are referred to as another beast. As a side note, I do not see the first manifestation of the seventh empire as having a presence in Jerusalem. However that seventh empire did persecute the Jews more than any other nation in modern history. I would expect that in its resurrected form as the eighth beast, it or its proxy enforcer nation will have a military presence in Israel.

There is something else we must understand before moving on. Where the description of the seventh head is wounded by a sword, it is best to understand what the imagery of the sword represents. Throughout the Old Testament a sword represents war. I would suggest reading a couple examples in Micah 4:3, Leviticus 26:33 and Numbers 21:24. These are but a few of the many examples for a sword depicting war. When putting all the clues together, we can see an empire destroyed by war with the winning empire exercising all of the power that the previous empire had. That is what Revelation 13:11–12 is telling us. "Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, _and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed."_ The seventh head was struck down and replaced by another empire (not of the seven), which exercised all of the world empire power that the seventh empire had.

From our vantage point we can look back over the not too distant past and see how the above Scripture has been fulfilled in part and is being fulfilled before our eyes. I would suggest that what we saw in Germany as a World Empire seizing total power only to be stopped by the USA along with its ally England was the fulfillment of the rise and fall of the seventh head. That alone would not be enough evidence to make a case that this is who Revelation is pointing to. However the evidence continues to increase.

Germany was split into two pieces only to be brought back together with the encouragement of the USA in the early 1980s. Currently we are witnessing a trend where Germany is becoming the economic driving force of the European Union. Under the Lisbon treaty unifying the EU, there it states Germany is the only country with veto power. As some of the EU states have faced bankruptcy or bailout, they have chosen to be bailed out by the EU. However the one dictating the financial rules is Germany. With every bailout Germany ends up taking more control of other indebted nations' sovereignty. A good example of this is what we saw take place in the bailout of Cyprus where its banks were forced to tax or confiscate up to 40% of its depositors' funds in order to receive bailout funds. This event in Cyprus is a good example for what is described in Proverbs 22:7 which is being lived out by various bankrupt nations. _"The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower_ _is_ _servant to the lender."_

So what has America's part been in this process? The US is continuing to go into debt to the point that we are now the largest debtor nation in the world. The US enjoys the position of having their dollar as the world reserve currency. We have become as a drug addict with our drug being that of money. The rest of the world is our enabler who is propping up the value of the dollar when there is little real value backing the dollar. However there is coming a time when the world reserve currency will no longer be the US dollar. There are already nations who have abandoned the once-strong US dollar for other more stable currencies. In recent days there has been word of a block of nations who are coming together to make a new financial alliance called the BRICS. The nations involved are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. These nations are seeking to create a stable currency exchange system amongst themselves where they will not have to rely on the unstable US dollar. Of these nations, the Chinese economy has by some estimates become the largest economy of the world, surpassing that of the USA. China and Japan have all but stopped buying US treasury bills leaving the US Federal Reserve to create 61% its own money out of nothing in the year 2011. As a result at some point, the dollar could inflate to the place of being worthless. This is being done in part by the US government so as to be able to pay down the huge national debt with more dollars that are worthless. Unfortunately, this will come at the expense of the American people who will see their savings and investments lose most of their value. The nations of the world are entering into a time of financial chaos where they will look for stability in a new financial system. The time is fast approaching when the US dollar will be no more. The world's nations will desperately grasp at various banking systems for stability, but to no avail.

So what will happen when this occurs? There is a process that has been put in place to take care of such problems as this. In fact this plan was brought into place as a result of the September 2008 collapse by some of the largest banks, insurance companies and corporations. As a result, when the G-20 summit was held in November of 2008, the world's most powerful economic nations including the USA all signed over their sovereign rights to regulate their own economies. This newly formed international body was formed with the intent of preventing another economic collapse as seen in the United States of America. This new entity is called the Financial Stability Board and is located in the EU. This board along with the many EU financial institutions is becoming more and more controlled by Germany and its allies such as France and Italy. The G-20 nations are dominated by the European Union members that set policy for all the members. The once great financial powerhouse of the United States has been reduced to one vote just as smaller nations such as Venezuela.

Even though this new global financial system is in its infancy, there is a mechanism being put in place to enforce its laws and regulations. On December 16 of 2009 the US president signed an amendment to executive order # 12425 giving Interpol more policing powers within the US borders. This is how the original executive order has been amended as presented on the Whitehouse website.

For Immediate Release

December 17, 2009

Executive Order -- Amending Executive Order 12425

EXECUTIVE ORDER

AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 12425 DESIGNATING INTERPOL

AS A PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ENTITLED TO

ENJOY CERTAIN PRIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, AND IMMUNITIES

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words "except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act" and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.

BARACK OBAMA

THE WHITE HOUSE,

December 16, 2009.

Exactly what does this mean in layman's terms? The following editorial from the _Washington Examiner_ explains many of the concerns that this amendment has brought up.

Obama gives Interpol free hand in U.S.

By: Examiner Editorial 12/30/09 4:00 AM

No presidential statement or White House press briefing was held on it. In fact, all that can be found about it on the official White House Web site is the Dec. 17 announcement and one-paragraph text of President Obama's Executive Order 12425, with this innocuous headline: "Amending Executive Order 12425 Designating Interpol as a public international organization entitled to enjoy certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities." In fact, this new directive from Obama may be the most destructive blow ever struck against American constitutional civil liberties. No wonder the White House said as little as possible about it.

There are multiple reasons why this Obama decision is so deeply disturbing. First, the Obama order reverses a 1983 Reagan administration decision in order to grant Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, two key privileges. First, Obama has granted Interpol the ability to operate within the territorial limits of the United States without being subject to the same constitutional restraints that apply to all domestic law enforcement agencies such as the FBI. Second, Obama has exempted Interpol's domestic facilities-including its office within the U.S. Department of Justice-from search and seizure by U.S. authorities and from disclosure of archived documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by U.S. citizens. Think very carefully about what you just read: Obama has given an international law enforcement organization that is accountable to no other national authority the ability to operate as it pleases within our own borders, and he has freed it from the most basic measure of official transparency and accountability, the FOIA.

The Examiner has asked for but not yet received from the White House press office an explanation of why the president signed this executive order and who among his advisers was involved in the process leading to his doing so. Unless the White House can provide credible reasons to think otherwise, it seems clear that Executive Order 12425's consequences could be far-reaching and disastrous. To cite only the most obvious example, giving Interpol free rein to act within this country could subject U.S. military, diplomatic, and intelligence personnel to the prospect of being taken into custody and hauled before the International Criminal Court as "war criminals."

As National Review Online's Andy McCarthy put it, the White House must answer these questions: Why should we elevate an international police force above American law? Why would we immunize an international police force from the limitations that constrain the FBI and other American law-enforcement agencies? Why is it suddenly necessary to have, within the Justice Department, a repository for stashing government files that will be beyond the scrutiny of Congress, American law enforcement, the media, and the American people?

Read more at the Washington Examiner:

 http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/obama-gives-interpol-free-hand-us#ixzz1F7XWExTk

As I have stated before, we can see trends in the power shift of the current world empires. The enabling of Interpol to gather worldwide spy capabilities is getting ready to take a giant leap forward when the time is right.

I don't think this is a far stretch to see how this is setting the stage for a World Government that will have total control over both great and small. This control will be economic in nature just as the Bible has predicted in Revelation 13:16–18.

16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.

Steps are being taken in our own nation to address a worldwide financial crash and the chaos that it will create within our own borders. For instance on March 16 of 2012, President Obama signed an executive order that is called the National Defense Recourse Preparedness Act. This order builds on the 1950 defense production act and affectively replaces all other executive orders dealing with martial law. This NDRP Act can be implemented indefinitely in times of national emergency or in peacetime at the president's own discretion. There are seventeen presidentially appointed cabinet positions that make up the council that is in charge of implementing and enforcing the president's policies. The various agencies will make recommendations to the president and will put together an annual report to Congress. These agencies will have direct control over all private, commercial and governmental agencies. Over the past years there has been a shift in powers to the regulating agencies and away from the elected representatives. Though this would be a sweeping power shift in how our government was originally structured if and when the Act is implemented, it would in reality complete the plans of the world elites for this nation. No longer would the citizens of this nation be represented by elected officials who are now somewhat accountable to the citizens. This is the link to the white house website where this lengthy executive order is recorded.

 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness

On June 6 of 2012, President Obama signed executive order 13618 which grants Homeland Security extended emergency powers over all radio, telephone, cell phone and internet communications in times of national emergency. These increased powers replace former executive orders put in place by Ronald Regan in 1984 and George W. Bush in 2003. These extended powers not only give preference to government communications in times of emergency, which is legitimate, but also grants power to stop all private communication.

Also worth noting on December 31 of 2011, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2012 which was bill HR 1540. As a side note, this bill had bipartisan support of both houses of Congress. Under section 1031 of this bill, we find that the military is granted the authority to indefinitely detain without due process of trial citizens and non-citizens who are inside or outside of the borders of the US. The military is only able to do so under direct orders from the executive branch of the government which will determine who the enemy combatants are that need to be detained.

It seems that executive orders are signed into place only to be replaced by newer and more restrictive orders. Since the orders of the past have not been put into action, the increased powers granted under the new orders have not been met with much public resistance. However under the right circumstances, there could be a major transfer of political power to a select few who would have total control over the US government and its citizens. All that we are seeing so far should serve as warning signs for what lies ahead for this nation as well as the rest of the world.

In light of what we see taking place with the structure of the world governments, we need to take a step back and ask who does the Revelation 13:16–18 passage refer to when speaking of the mark of the beast? Who does it refer to when it says "He"? To better understand the answer to these questions, read verse 11 and we will see a couple things that will help identify this second beast: " _Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon."_

When he speaks as a dragon this indicates that he is inspired directly by Satan. What do the two horns represent? John seems to be following the pattern set by the ram with two horns in Daniel 8:20: " _The ram which you saw, having the two horns-_ _they are_ _the kings of Media and Persia."_

Wherever Daniel saw an animal with two horns it represents two nations who will rule the world together at the same time. The world's ruling power of the Medes and Persians ruled the world together as a unified world empire. I would suggest that the beast rising up out of the earth will be two nations which follow the pattern set by the Medes and Persians. The lamb had an outward appearance of being two Christian nations; however, at the end its speech will betray its true identity as a follower of Satan. I suggest that this lamb represents the American Empire that has descended from the British Empire. The intertwined financial system of these two nations has dominated the world power structure for many decades. The USA rose to be the dominating world power by the end of World War Two and has ruled over the nations in the presence of fallen Germany to this transitional point in time.

What part will the US play in this final end-time world empire? When I read Revelation 13:11–18 it appears that the US has the role of the enforcing nation.

11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.

The US will cause everyone to take the mark of the German beast empire that is raised to world power with its currency becoming the world reserve currency. One could read this passage and conclude that the American empire is the passive cause of the new currency through their economic negligence that will make everyone take the mark. That may be true in part. It was through their negligence that the US financial system will collapse causing all to turn to a new economic system. However this passage seems to show the second beast, the USA, taking an active role of enforcing everyone to take the mark. I believe that Daniel 11:37–39 reveals the god of the beast empire as being a foreign god of fortress whom his fathers did not know.

He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. 38 But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. 39 Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.

How could this be? As stated above, the US may well look to Germany as their financial savior to get them out of their economic mess. At some point there will be a struggle between the nations of the world over who will control the world economy. Something of value the US could offer to the German empire is its great military capacity in the areas of nuclear weaponry and new weapons technology. Add to that the powerful surveillance system that the NSA and other government agencies have created and we see a total enforcement system is already in place. That is what Revelation 13:13 alludes to when describing how this second beast causes fire to come down from the sky. With our current military missile technology, that is an accurate description given. Only time will tell what role the US will play in the wars in the end time.

One important question we must ask is, "Why is God so opposed to people taking the mark of the beast system?" Under a system that is taking total worldwide control of both great and small, there will be absolute control of every aspect of human life. The government will forcibly replace any and all need for the God of the Bible. As such that government will make its own laws according to its own morality and will not tolerate anyone who resists its laws because of a Biblical value violation of their conscience. All personal freedoms that we have known will be eliminated for the so-called good of the collective. Those who cling to the past beliefs in a personal God who holds each individual accountable for their actions will be eliminated for the good of the government collective. As such the salvation message of the Bible will be rejected by the all-powerful government as an antiquated belief system that has caused harm. As a result all will be forced to adopt the conscience of the beast system. Right and wrong will be determined by those few who are in power with no regard for the instructions of God's Word. The mark of the beast system will be a way of showing who has pledged their allegiance and has submitted to the authority of the new world government system.

The next question we need to ask is, "What will the mark of the beast consist of?" What we do know is it is tied to being able to buy and sell. This mark or system will control all commerce. As with any system, it takes time to develop and put in place. I would suggest that it will be a form of the current bar code that is now in common use today with some variations and more high-tech applications as technology advances.

As a general observation, this mark of the beast will be in force to some degree prior to the first war that will take place soon after the man of sin stops the daily sacrifice in the temple. When the first war takes place, there will be many dire consequences as a result of that war such as famine and pestilence. These will be judgments from God on those who have received the mark as stated in Revelation 16:2: _"So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image."_

We should view the application and limitations of this system that uses a barcode to economically control all of the people of that time. When it will be instituted it will be done with high-speed electronic technology that will have the ability to track everyone. There is a weakness with this type of technology as it has to rely on the vulnerable electric grid to work properly. When this first war takes place, it will be with nuclear weaponry. The Electro Magnetic Pulse that is produced by a strategically placed high-altitude nuclear explosion can and will destroy the electrical grid. Revelation 16:10 describes this exact scenario that will be a result of the first war: _"Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain."_

Now darkness by itself doesn't cause pain, however hunger does! What do I mean by this statement? When the lights go out, leaving the kingdom of the beast in darkness, this means there is no electricity. No electricity will result in there being no fuel which in turn will stop all transportation. With no transportation there will be no food, which will cause famine. As a result famine is what will cause people to gnaw their tongues with the pain of hunger. This is the same message that we see in the warning found in Revelation 6:8: _"So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth."_

This will be a time of Great War and turmoil throughout the world. The beast kingdom will have gone to war against the Muslim nations. It would seem that going to a major war has been the pattern of the past when there is great economic collapse, and this time will be no different. The system used to control and keep tabs on all people will have crashed along with the electrical system. This broken system will take some time to rebuild. The question at that time will be how to easily identify those who are loyal to the beast kingdom. This will surely require a physical mark on the hand or forehead to identify those who are loyal to their cause. Anyone who won't take the mark because they know that God has forbidden them from doing so will be automatically seen as the enemy of the state. As an enemy of the state they will be killed for treason. That is what Revelation 20:4 reveals when it describes those who are beheaded for their witness of Christ.

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

We should be careful not to read too much into the method of how these saints were killed. Some have said that this description of beheading points to the Muslim practice of execution. However we must remember there was no way to describe dying as a result of going before a firing squad. This is the same as in Revelation 6:8 where war is once again described as being killed by the sword, when in reality it will be with bombs and bullets. However we do not know what form a future American government who kills the saints may take on. Anything is possible, even a Muslim form of government with Shari law where beheading is common.

In any case I would anticipate the Mark of the Beast to be incrementally brought into force. Even now we see laws being implemented that do not allow anyone to opt out for violation of conscience. At first the penalty for not taking the mark will mean that you can't buy or sell. Do not be surprised if this system is implemented as a Trojan horse through an unrelated law such as immigration reform legislation that will require everyone to have a national ID card in order to be in the workforce. It is rumored that such a system would require one of the following methods for positive identification. The requirement would be fingerprints, a retinal scan or a scan of the vein pattern on the back of the hand that will be tied to the existing social security card system. Will this just be a forerunner to the mark of the beast or is it just more control by an all-powerful surveillance state? If one should refuse this new system because of violation of their conscience, it will be more than a little inconvenient. How will one be able to sustain one's own life under such conditions? This same type of thing happened to the church of Smyrna when they refused to participate in emperor worship. They were labeled as being unpatriotic and disloyal to the government. As such they could not buy or sell and became outcast in that society. It would be wise on our part to read what our Lord had to say to these dear persecuted saints in Revelation 2:8–11. We too may have to live out our faith to the point of laying down our life in order to obey our Lord's instructions to us.

8 "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write,

'These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life: 9 "I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

11 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death."

I think we get an accurate view of what the economic and social conditions will be like entering into the beginning of the final seven years when we read James 5:1–6:

1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. 4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

These will be tough times for those who stand for the Lord. Many will be imprisoned and die for their faith. The economic conditions described in verse 4 show the workers are being defrauded of their just wages for the work they have done. This type of defrauding is done through excessive regulation, taxation and eventually confiscation. With the prospect of such testing times, God gives us clear instructions in James 7–12, where we see how we are to conduct ourselves towards those who are persecuting us and also how we are to relate to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! 10 My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord-that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. 12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No," lest you fall into judgment.

Make no mistake about it, this will be a time when the mature followers of Christ are tested and separated from those who only give lip service to Christ. We are given clear instructions in Luke 21:11–19 concerning what we are to expect and how we are to conduct ourselves under extreme persecution:

11 And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake. 13 But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. 14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head shall be lost. 19 By your patience possess your souls.

Everything about these verses says that our Lord is standing at the door with His return being immediate. These verses point to the seven-year peace treaty that will have been brokered by the beast kingdom. I strongly doubt that anyone will be able to say much about this as a fulfillment of prophecy at that time. Our religious freedom of expression will most likely have been totally lost by that time. Only those Christians who have been watching will know what is taking place and will encourage one another with hushed voices. Now is the time to get our spiritual houses in order if we haven't already done so. Through the remainder of chapter 5, James gives us instructions for providing for our physical needs as well as spiritual needs. During this time I doubt that true followers of Christ will have any access to medical providers. As a result we are told to go to the elders of the church to seek healing prayers. This will be a time of great testing and strong faith resulting in great miracles. Even now but especially when these things start to happen then we must put our fear of our Lord before a fear of what man can do to us, Matthew 10:28: " _And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."_

It is my prayer that with the passage of time I will be proven wrong in these warnings and that the USA and Germany will both turn back to God.

## Chapter 11

Mystery Babylon and the Ten Kings

To better understand the identity of Babylon and the Ten Kings that rule for a short time in the Beast or Antichrist kingdom, I will be using most of the same passages of Scripture that were used to identify the final Beast Kingdom.

The Ten Kings are depicted as ten toes in Daniel 2:41–44 and as ten horns in Daniel 7:23–24. From these two passages we find that these nations are descendants from the fourth beast of Daniel, which is Rome. Remember that Rome is the sixth beast from John's perspective and the fourth from Daniel's viewpoint. Daniel doesn't look back at past empires as John does but only looks forward in time. Daniel depicts these final ten nations as being partly strong like iron and partly weak as a clay pot. As such, he describes them as not mixing with one another even though they will be brought together to rule with the Beast Kingdom for a short time.

It is important to note the differences between the descriptions of the final Beast Kingdom given by Daniel and John. This may be due to the fact that John didn't see a need to repeat all of what Daniel had already revealed. For example, in Daniel chapter 7, the final Beast Kingdom is shown uprooting or subduing three of the Ten Kings as he rises to power. This isn't revealed in John's writings. Daniel doesn't give a past history of the rise and fall and then the final rise of the Beast Kingdom as John does in Revelation. Instead Daniel just shows us the final rise to power of the seventh empire. When we properly understand this principle, then these two prophets complement each other giving us a fully detailed description of this final kingdom.

When Daniel was asked to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image that was made up of five different parts, his interpretation reveals the Lord destroying the final world empire. This account is recorded in the second chapter of Daniel. Notice what Daniel 2:34 has to say in regards to which part of the image was struck by the great stone of God. " _You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces."_ Both Daniel and John focus on the final overthrow of the Gentile kingdoms and the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom.

In Revelation 17:12, John makes it very clear that these Ten Kings will rule with the Beast Kingdom for a short period of time stated as "for one hour." That final hour is the forty-two months that the final Beast Kingdom will rule which is referenced to by John in Revelation 13:5–7. This short timeframe which equals 1,260 days is also defined as the last hour in John's other writing found in 1 John 2:18: _"Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour."_

In this passage, John makes reference to the man, Antichrist, who is revealed at the abomination of desolation. This event is recorded in Daniel 9:27 and referenced by Jesus in Matthew 24:15. Paul also speaks of this time in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, by referring to this individual as "the man of sin." " _Let no one deceive you by any means; for_ _that Day will not come_ _unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition."_

Something that both Daniel and John reveal is that the man of sin will speak blasphemy at the beginning of the last 1,260 days and overcome the saints for that same time period. This same revelation is given in Daniel 7:8, 20, 21 and 25 which should be read along with the Revelation 13:5–7 passage. I have cited the above passages to show that the Ten Kings will rule for the same time period that the man of sin will rule over the Beast Kingdom. It is possible that these ten nations are set up prior to the revelation of the man of sin; however, it is not clearly revealed that way. In any case, John's reference to the final hour in Revelation 17:12–13 shows that the Ten Kings will rule with the Beast Kingdom for the final 1,260 days of the seven-year tribulation. This period of time will end with these Ten Kings turning against the Harlot nation and destroying her with fire. There will be a short number of days of destruction after the 1,260 days have run their course where God will judge those who are in rebellion.

From what I see taking place with the European Union, it seems likely that there will be a set number of ten nations that will represent the European Union. There has already been talk of implementing a smaller number of EU states in order to speed up the decision-making process over its current twenty-seven member nations. Prior to the final ten nations being placed into positions of power, there will be an uprooting of three EU nations. It will be interesting to see which three nations will be subdued by Germany and what process that will take. Will it need to be a military intervention to restore order to the chaos created by financial collapse? Or perhaps it will only be financial in nature to bring these other governments into compliance with the German rules. As I write this there is a forced selling off of Cyprus gold in order to gain a German-backed bailout of their financial system. If all of the EU states consolidated their gold to back a single currency, it would be the largest gold reserve in the world. Perhaps if Germany successfully continues with a hostile-style takeover of their neighbors' gold reserves, the remaining EU nations may well respond by saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" Only time will reveal what Scripture has foretold. When these things come to pass they will be very recognizable to those who are watching.

In Revelation, John has a great deal to say about the second Beast, the False Prophet, and Mystery Babylon. Daniel did not see anything concerning this second Beast, Mystery Babylon, or the interaction between the Ten Kings and Mystery Babylon.

Something that is unique to the writing of John is how he applies names and images to various empires and world leaders. The names and images he uses are not the same as what Daniel used to describe the same empire or individual. For instance in Daniel 7:8 the one who is speaking pompous words is revealed by the image of a little horn that rises up. In Revelation 13:1–7 John uses the image of a seven-headed dragon with one of the heads speaking blasphemies against God. The only way to know that this is the same world leader being described by both Daniel and John is by the fact that both descriptions of his blasphemous speech are the same. John has a second unique trait where he will use a new name in reference to a nation or leader that he previously revealed through imagery. A good example is found in Revelation 13:11–18 where the second world leader is described as another beast that looks like a lamb, while in 19:20 he is identified as the false prophet. This can be very confusing to the reader who fails to pay close attention to the description behind the name or the image being used. As a rule, remember that the name or image utilized is used in order to reveal a distinct trait about that empire or its leader. Therefore a single empire or world leader may be referred to by multiple names and images.

As a result of the many names and images used in prophetic passages of Scripture, I have found it difficult to identify who Mystery Babylon is. Over the years I have been exposed to a number of ideas for who John is writing about in reference to Mystery Babylon. I will list several possibilities and then give you my best understanding of which it is that John speaks of.

Some have suggested that it is the Catholic Church who is depicted as the woman riding on the beast. The problem I have with this view, is why do the Ten Kings hate her if it is the Catholic Church? While it is true that she does kill the saints of Christ, we know that these nations would not care as they are among those who are throwing off God's laws as revealed in Psalms 2:1–3. While it is true that she is being carried by the nations, the description of her commercial side does not fully describe the Catholic Church.

I need to clarify the view of many who see there being a spiritual Babylon and a commercial Babylon. The spiritual being the apostate Church and the commercial being a city, perhaps Rome. However, when I see her riding on the Beast, she is not divided, so I can't accept the view of her being two separate entities. She is further described as bringing great wealth to the trader merchants and the nations, which does not adequately describe the Church of Rome. I do not deny that the Catholic Church will have a part to play in the end-time government; however, it is not this part as described of Mystery Babylon.

Another view is that she represents the Muslim nations with all of their nations and languages. They are hard to get along with as they try to impose their oppressive religion and laws on the rest of the world, which would explain why the Ten Kings hate her. Even the description given to Ishmael and his descendants in Genesis 16:11–12 describe the contentious interaction between the Muslim nations and the Gentile nations of the world. This would surely qualify as reason enough for the Ten Kings to "burn her with fire" as described in Revelation and elsewhere. However, there is one glaring problem with this possibility. It is in the description of what she has contributed to the traders of the world as described in Revelation chapter 18. There is a long list of things that she has traded with the world that does not fit with the Muslim nations. They have become rich off of the kings by selling primarily one commodity, "OIL." In return, they have bought a great deal of weapons. The traders of the world have not gained wealth by trading all of the items listed in verse 18. Another problem I have with attributing this to the oil-producing nations is that she lives in luxury. While this is true of the leaders of the oil-producing nations, it does not accurately depict the general population of those nations who live in poverty. There is another aspect of how she will come to a sudden destructive end. As we will study in a following chapter, these Muslim nations are divided into two groups. The northern group will be mostly destroyed in the first war of Gog and Magog, while some of the southern group of nations will go into captivity under the Beast Kingdom, with some escaping. That does not fit with the Revelation 18:8 description of how Mystery Babylon will be totally destroyed in a short period of time.

I need to bring up another possibility that some biblical teachers hold, and that is that this woman riding on the beast is Israel. They would suggest that she is the counterfeit of the true woman who is seen running into the wilderness. One of the main reasons for identifying her as Israel is where the harlot is identified as having killed the prophets, saints and martyrs. While it is true that the Jews and Israel have a long track record of killing the prophets of old and the early church saints, I find a problem with what is not seen by Daniel. And that is that Daniel does not see this woman at all. This indicates that the Harlot of Revelation was not in existence before this final Beast Kingdom. A second reason I strongly doubt that it is the nation of Israel is for the simple fact that they haven't made the merchants of the world rich by their goods. A third reason is the fact that Babylon will not be inhabited again after God's judgment at the end of the age. This prophecy when applied to Israel would be in total conflict with the promises of God to His chosen people and their being called back to their ancient homeland. I don't discount the possibility that some of the Jewish descendants won't have a part to play with the Harlot; however it is not the Nation of Israel.

One more possibility I should mention is that some anticipate the reestablishment of Old Babylon in Iraq to its former glory days to where it would fit this description given by John. The problem with that view is, that nation is not trending that way and, in fact, it appears that it will be controlled in large part by Iranian interests. It is my view that Iraq will become so marginalized in their own identity by the Islamic influence that they will go along with Iran and all of the nations of the north who will come against Israel in Ezekiel 38. Much would have to change within that country to fulfill the description of Mystery Babylon without enough time left for that to happen. It should be noted that there is precedent found in 1 Peter 5:13 for using the name of Babylon to describe another city such as Rome. John ascribes the name of Sodom and Egypt to Jerusalem where the two witnesses will be killed and resurrected in Revelation 11:8. When trying to understand who Babylon is, we would be wise to look at all of the possibilities to see which one most closely fits John's description.

Last of all I must mention the possibility of this Mystery Babylon being the United Nations with its headquarters being located in the large city of New York. They certainty are a corrupt parasite that is primarily carried by the United States. Herein lays a problem as the Harlot is carried by the European Union and its leader nation as described in Revelation. Once again, they fail to fit the complete description given of the Harlot. The UN has not contributed to the wealth of the merchant traders of the world. For all of the corruption they possess, it is more of a reflection of the fallen world that comprises the UN and not something originating solely within that organization which is then used to corrupt the rest of the world. However the Harlot is revealed as the originator of the corruption that she shares and corrupts the nations with. I would expect that the UN, along with NATO, will be tools used by the Beast Kingdom and False Prophet to give the appearance of doing the will of the world with military interventions. We can already see this trend developing where the US has militarily intervened into Libya, using the cover of NATO. With this trend the US has followed the lead of France and England to do Europe's bidding. While all of this has been taking place, Germany has done an about-face by pulling all of their military out of that area of conflict. This may well be the start of a new policy of how the USA and European powers will intervene in conflicts around the globe.

Now that I have told you who the Harlot is not, let me try to make a clear and logical case for who her true identity is. Turn back to Revelation chapter 13 and read it all with these questions in mind. How many Beast Kingdoms are there, what is their relationship to each other, and is there a description in that chapter for how they come to an end?

As we have already seen, there are two world empires represented in that chapter. The first beast that rises out of the sea is struck down only to be healed and rise up again. The second beast that comes up out of the earth rules for a time in the place of the first beast but in the end causes everyone to take the mark of the first beast in order to buy or sell. Remember, he does this by the deception of his power so that he is the deceiver of all in the presence of the first beast. This second beast will kill anyone who does not conform to this system by giving their allegiance to the first beast. Don't miss this most important fact. The second beast is the enforcer nation who kills the saints who refuse to take the mark and worship the image of the first beast as recorded in Revelation 13:14–15. This is the very same thing that Daniel is saying in chapter 11:38–39 in regards to their relationship to each other:

38 But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. 39 Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.

The god of the final Beast Kingdom is the war machine of a foreign nation that the beast will honor or pay for with gold, silver, precious stones and pleasant things. This matches the same list describing the wealth of the Harlot in Revelation 17:4. This passage further reveals that the resurrected Beast Kingdom will use this foreign military superpower to act against the strongest fortresses of the world's nations. Further, he will cause this enforcer nation to rule over many and divide the land for gain. What does it mean where it says to "divide the land for gain"? A commonly held view is that this refers to dividing the land of Israel in the peace treaty. Even though that will happen, it seems that, when read in context with the full meaning of this passage, it is speaking of world conquest between these two nations. One nation is an economic superpower, and the other is a military superpower, who together conquers and shares the spoils of war. This Daniel passage is only fully understandable when laid alongside the revelations of John.

As for answering the question, does Revelation 13 describe their end? No, it does not. Revelation chapter 13 only introduces us to these two world powers and gives us a history of their rise to power and their relationship to each other as they rule over the world. To find the account of their final fall we must turn to Revelation 19:19–20, which reads as follows:

19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

As stated earlier, John uses different names for an individual empire in order to reveal a different trait or role for the same empire. By doing this, we are given greater detail of the prophetic picture he is creating.

In Revelation 19:19–20, John is viewing the judgment of these two final world empires from the vantage point of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. Let me point out that these two who are captured alive are world empires and their systems of government. These systems are destroyed at the appearing of Christ to set up His thousand-year reign. There are no individuals thrown into the lake of fire until all are raised from the dead to stand before the great white throne of God at the end of the thousand years as recorded in Revelation 20:10–15. Notice in Revelation 20:14, that Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire at the end of the thousand years. These were God-instituted penal systems to deal with sin and rebellion. When sin and its penalty are completed, then these institutions will be destroyed in the lake of fire and will never be used again. This same principle will be applied to the two world empires that have their governing systems cut short or destroyed. Their destruction is also described in Daniel 7:11–12, 21–22, 25–27. The individual leaders and their armies of people are killed by the sword of war as described in Revelation 19:21: " _And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh."_

As a side note, it would be well worth your time to read Jeremiah chapters 50–51, and Isaiah chapter 13 where they describe the judgment and fall of Babylon. I will not write out all of those verses here as they are quite lengthy, but I will point out some key verses. Most of the descriptions in these passages can only be fulfilled in the final Mystery Babylon. We need to understand the time-event marker found in Jeremiah 50:3–5 and 19–20. In these verses, it speaks of the children of Israel along with Judah returning to the Lord to establish an everlasting covenant when their sins will be no more. This can only be the foretold end-time regathering that we have discussed in earlier chapters. In Jeremiah 50:23 and 51:24–25, we are given a description of the fall of Babylon: " _How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!_ _How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!"_

24 "And I will repay Babylon

And all the inhabitants of Chaldea

For all the evil they have done

In Zion in your sight," says the Lord.

25 "Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,

Who destroys all the earth," says the Lord.

"And I will stretch out My hand against you,

Roll you down from the rocks,

And make you a burnt mountain."

This verse indicates that God will destroy Babylon who was the enforcing hammer of the whole world. Just as this prophecy was fulfilled in part with ancient Babylon so it will find its ultimate fulfillment in the end-time Babylon who has ruled over all of the earth. This destruction will come from the nation in the North as described in 50:41–42.

41 "Behold, a people shall come from the north,

And a great nation and many kings

Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.

42 They shall hold the bow and the lance;

They are cruel and shall not show mercy.

Their voice shall roar like the sea;

They shall ride on horses,

Set in array, like a man for the battle,

Against you, O daughter of Babylon."

That nation of the North is revealed in great detail in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. Most theologians agree that current-day Russia along with its allies fit well with Ezekiel's description.

Another clue to the identity of the people of Babylon is described in Jeremiah 50:37 as a mixed people.

37 A sword is against their horses,

Against their chariots,

And against all the mixed peoples who are in her midst;

And they will become like women.

A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.

Those who survive will return to their own lands as foretold in Jeremiah 50:16 and 51:9.

16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,

And him who handles the sickle at harvest time.

For fear of the oppressing sword

Everyone shall turn to his own people,

And everyone shall flee to his own land.

9 We would have healed Babylon,

But she is not healed.

Forsake her, and let us go everyone to his own country;

For her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies.

The location of Babylon is described in Jeremiah 51:13 as "dwelling by many waters" which could very well describe where the USA is located. With some 90% of the US population living in coastal cities, the warning in Jeremiah 51:42 predicts its destruction by the waves coming up over it: _"The sea has come up over Babylon; She is covered with the multitude of its waves."_ This fits with the words of Jesus in Luke 21:25 and of John in Revelation 16:18–20 describing the greatest earthquake the world has known with the sea waves roaring. The final judgment will also consist of being burned with fire in Jeremiah 51:36–37 and 58 which will leave it a dry wasteland that will never be inhabited again.

36 Therefore thus says the Lord:

"Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance for you.

I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.

37 Babylon shall become a heap,

A dwelling place for jackals,

An astonishment and a hissing,

Without an inhabitant.

58 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

"The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken,

And her high gates shall be burned with fire;

The people will labor in vain,

And the nations, because of the fire;

And they shall be weary."

I have to wonder if when the earth is shaken and split open and burned with fire, if there will be a greater judgment than just war. Will the mighty Yellowstone erupt with such devastating force as to leave all of the surrounding land uninhabitable? I wonder!

I would suggest that you should study these two chapters carefully. Read and know that these two chapters should be understood in a literal way. The people of that time should read and understand that they are to flee from that land in order to escape the Lord's wrath; Jeremiah 51:6 and 45–47.

6 Flee from the midst of Babylon,

And every one save his life!

Do not be cut off in her iniquity,

For this is the time of the Lord's vengeance;

He shall recompense her.

45 My people, go out of the midst of her!

And let everyone deliver himself from the fierce anger of the Lord.

46 And lest your heart faint,

And you fear for the rumor that will be heard in the land

(A rumor will come one year,

And after that, in another year

A rumor will come,

And violence in the land,

Ruler against ruler),

47 Therefore behold, the days are coming

That I will bring judgment on the carved images of Babylon;

Her whole land shall be ashamed,

And all her slain shall fall in her midst.

This is the same command echoed in Revelation 18:4: " _And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.'"_

The same description of Babylon's end is given in Revelation 18:21 and Jeremiah 51:63–64 where she is depicted as a stone cast into the sea never to rise again.

21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore."

63 "Now it shall be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall tie a stone to it and throw it out into the Euphrates. 64 Then you shall say, 'Thus Babylon shall sink and not rise from the catastrophe that I will bring upon her. And they shall be weary.'" Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

The judgment of ancient Babylon was a foreshadowing of a yet future judgment of Mystery Babylon. The fact that a portion of the prophecies of Jeremiah concerning Babylon will be an end-time event is made all the more clear by the yet future prophecies of John in the book of Revelation.

It is clear to see that the Harlot is the enforcer nation who is a foreign nation in relationship to the final Beast Kingdom that has all of the financial control of the world. The Harlot can be further identified by what she does to the saints of Christ in the following passages of Revelation 17:6, 18:20 and 24.

6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

20 "Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her!"

24 "And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth."

Her works of killing the saints is the trademark of that enforcer nation who kills anyone who refuses to take the mark of the Beast Kingdom. The way in which the enforcer nation kills the saints is revealed in Revelation 20:4 which read as follows:

"Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Notice that the saints are beheaded as a way of describing some form of corporal punishment. If this description is to be taken literally then this could be describing an Islamic form of government that would rule over the enforcer nation at the end. It is concerning to see who has become the allies to the USA in the Middle East as of late. If this comes to pass, this fact alone would give ample reason for the ten European kings to hate and attack Mystery Babylon if for no other reason than for self-preservation.

So why does John reveal this nation as a Harlot adorned with jewelry riding on the Beast? John is revealing the attitude and character of that end-time empire. The very nature and values that make up that society are exposed in John's writings of Mystery Babylon.

In another way John has shifted his vantage point to that of the Ten Kings and how they would view the enforcer nation. That enforcer nation is living in extravagance at their cost. They have to carry her while she is making them serve the Beast Nation by submitting to his economic system. As a result, these ten kings will have a part in destroying her at the final battle, thus fulfilling God's second and final judgment against her. Remember that the false prophet, which is another descriptive name of the Harlot nation, is captured alive at the end of the 1,260 days with the Beast. When it says "captured," this also means to destroy, judge or cut short.

We see the first wave of God's judgment from the perspective of the angels who pour out the bowls of wrath in Revelation chapter 16. Remember that God said that he would repay her double. The first payment of God's judgment is poured out in Revelation chapter 8. The second payment is made at the final battle of Armageddon as revealed in Revelation 16:5–6:

5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, "Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; 6 for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it."

The rest of the description is from the perspective of God who is revealing her total moral depravity by which she has corrupted the rest of the world. It could be well said that she instigates the rebellion of the nations against God that is recorded in Psalms 2:1–3.

1 Why do the nations rage,

And the people plot a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,

3 "Let us break Their bonds in pieces

And cast away Their cords from us."

This is one of the hardest realizations that I have had to come to, much less to write about. When I point to the USA as being that enforcer nation, I do so with great sadness. I did not come to this conclusion quickly. I have pondered the identity of Mystery Babylon for many years while asking God for a true understanding of her identity. After carefully looking at all of her characteristics as described by John and Daniel, and while comparing them to what the US is becoming, I am convinced that the USA and the Harlot are one and the same. I will list the similarities and let you decide for yourself.

Revelation 17:15 describes Mystery Babylon as being made up of many nationalities: " _Then he said to me, 'The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.'"_ This describes who we are as a nation which has been called the melting pot of the world. Genesis 11:9 reveals ancient Babel being split apart by God through the process of dividing the people by different languages. The final Babylon is just the opposite where all of the languages of the world are gathered back together. The American nation attracts all the different nations and languages because of our wealth created from our former God-blessed freedom. We are Babel brought back together.

The USA has been the wealthiest nation in the recorded history of mankind. This was due to God's blessings poured out on our nation for our former obedience to him. The USA has to some degree raised the living standards of the rest of the world by our technology and with our trade with the nations. Much of the world sees the riches of this nation and desires the wealth and lifestyle that this nation offers. This has all occurred while the US dollar has been the world's reserve currency. Technology and wealth are not bad; however the love of wealth has replaced the love of God. The advance of technology has replaced the knowledge of God. We, as a society, have become self-reliant with no perceived need for God. As a result of our lost relationship with God, we have become morally corrupt. This corruption has been exported around the world through the media of television, movies, music and now the Internet. This once morally great nation has a modern form of idolatry with our idols being the latest and greatest gadget that promises fulfillment and happiness. And yet we are a starving nation in relation to a just, holy and loving God.

Some will point out that the Harlot has killed the saints and say that the USA is not guilty of doing such a thing. To this I would say that we are quickly approaching a time when this will likely take place in this country. Looking at where the values are trending in this country, leaves me concerned that this nation has little time left. Our nation has taken God and the moral teachings of biblical Christianity out of the schools, legal system and culture for some time now. As a result, we are seeing an angry and violent new generation that is now starting to take control of society. A good description of the moral fabric that makes up our current society is found in 2 Timothy 3:1–5:

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Sadly this passage of Scripture is an accurate description of the downward spiral of our current societal values. This is what we, as a society and nation have been sharing with the rest of the world. The American influence on the rest of the world is best described by the term of becoming "westernized."

I will point to one trend in the area of coveting that if not stopped will destroy this nation as we know it. It is starting to show itself in class warfare by supposedly taking from the rich and giving to the poor. The reality is that the ruling government class will tax and regulate all citizens into a lower slave class. This is a trend that most democracies eventually reach when the majority takes the wealth of the minority by their vote and by the institution of their laws. When I say majority it is in reference to those who do not contribute in a way to support themselves. The minority are those who work and contribute to the economic system. The trend in this country has gone from a republic to a democracy that will most likely turn into an authoritarian dictatorship at some point. Just before it reaches a dictatorship, there is usually a total disregard or breakdown of established laws. In the midst of chaos the citizens of the nation will settle for any form of government that promises to restore some form of order. When the rule of law is disregarded, then chaos will grow to the point where everyone will do what seems right in their own eyes. This is when a great transformation will take place. The small ruling minority will enslave all to serve those who rule with corruption. Amos 5:10–13 exposes the fraudulent and corrupt actions of an unjust and godless system of government:

10 They hate the one who rebukes in the gate,

And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.

11 Therefore, because you tread down the poor

And take grain taxes from him,

Though you have built houses of hewn stone,

Yet you shall not dwell in them;

You have planted pleasant vineyards,

But you shall not drink wine from them.

12 For I know your manifold transgressions

And your mighty sins:

Afflicting the just and taking bribes;

Diverting the poor from justice at the gate.

13 Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time,

For it is an evil time.

The following passage in James 5:1–6 reveals how the end-time governing system will defraud the laborers and kill those who are upright and just.

1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. 4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

This is nothing new and has happened many times down through the history of man. However the corruption of the end-time government will be greatly magnified as it will be the very nature of the all powerful world government. We find an account in Daniel 11:21–24 of a time when Antiochus Epiphanes came to power that could very well foreshadow the trend that is taking place in this country concerning the redistribution of wealth.

21 And in his place shall arise a vile person, to whom they will not give the honor of royalty; but he shall come in peaceably, and seize the kingdom by intrigue. 22 With the force of a flood they shall be swept away from before him and be broken, and also the prince of the covenant. 23 And after the league is made with him he shall act deceitfully, for he shall come up and become strong with a small number of people. 24 He shall enter peaceably, even into the richest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers: he shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches; and he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but only for a time.

Nations that go this route usually are taken over by other nations who will invade the morally corrupt and weakened nation. However, some of the rules change when we are talking about a nuclear superpower under the control of a select few with their own agenda. This is all uncharted territory where nations have the power to destroy the world through their military actions. This is truer now that USA is reducing its nuclear arsenal as other nations of the world are increasing their nuclear weapons. There will come a point when the power of the nations will become balanced and as a result war will be more likely to determine which nation will rule the world. Instead of a single nation being the battleground for nuclear war the whole world will become the battleground for the final Great War.

Is there hope for this nation that once knew and honored God? There is if this nation will hear the instructions of God who pleads for this American nation to return to Him. There is a message in 2 Chronicles 7:14 that promises healing of their land if they meet the conditions set by the Lord. " _If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."_ The principle of the message in this passage was originally written to Israel; however, it is as true today as it was then. There are numerous passages throughout the Old Testament that record God warning Israel to turn from their wicked ways. Sadly Israel would refuse to heed His warnings. As a result there were always severe consequences where the people were judged by plagues and the sword, and taken captive into foreign lands. Only then would the remnant repent and seek the face of God. A good example of this whole process is recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:14–20:

14 Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the Lord which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

15 And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.

17 Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the weak; He gave them all into his hand. 18 And all the articles from the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his leaders, all these he took to Babylon. 19 Then they burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions. 20 And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia.

Again the same message was sent out through the prophet Jeremiah to a rebellious people who would not hear. Let us hear and heed these words in Jeremiah 44:1–11 before it is too late:

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, 3 because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers. 4 However I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, "Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!" 5 But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. 6 So My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.'

7 "Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to remain, 8 in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not been humbled, to this day, nor have they feared; they have not walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and your fathers.'

11 "Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for cutting off all Judah.'"

I wonder-will history repeat itself when it comes to the future of America or will this nation hear and return to the commands of Christ before it is too late?

## Chapter 12

World War III and the Battles of the Nations

Now that we have identified the nations who will rule the world at the end of the age, it is time to establish when the final wars will be fought and who will be involved in those battles. I will use Daniel 11:40–45 to set a timeframe for the final war as well as to identify the nations who are involved. Daniel is a good overall reference as it reveals a number of nations and the parts they will play in the final hour of trial. Daniel sets the framework that all other prophecies fit into. I will refer back to this key passage of Scripture as I examine other passages found throughout the bible that give greater detail to what Daniel records. I will refer to Ezekiel 38 and 39 as it reveals a narrow view of the king of the North along with his allies as he invades Israel. We must be careful to understand that the Ezekiel passages look at the king of the north and its allies without looking at the rest of the nations involved in the final wars. Isaiah 19:1–15 and Psalms 83:1–18 speak about the King of the South and what will happen to him after the first invasion into Israel at the battle of Gog and Magog. Zechariah 12 and 14 give details to the invasion of the nations into Israel. Various passages in Revelation deal with graphic details of the wars that will take place and the aftermath of those wars.

I will start with Daniel 11:40–45 as it sets the overall framework for the sequence of invasions by the nations who come against Israel and the occupying beast kingdom:

40 "At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. 41 He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. 44 But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. 45 And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.

I urge you to review verses 36–39 to understand who it is that will be attacked by the king of the South and the North. As I understand Scripture, this is the final beast kingdom of Germany who is ruling the world through his proxy foreign military power of the USA, also known as the false prophet. Remember it is these two world empire leaders who are destroyed by Christ at the end of the age as predicted in Revelation 19:17–21. The USA is the foreign god of fortress who the German beast ancestors did not know. The final beast empire will know this god of fortress in a new alliance that was never joined together before. It is this new god of fortress that the German beast empire will honor with gold, silver and other precious things.

It is worth noting this king is located in Jerusalem when the nations come against Jerusalem as Matthew 24:15–16 and Luke 21:20–21 reveal.

15 "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."

20 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her."

These two passages give details to Daniel 9:27 that foretells of the seven-year peace treaty.

As a reminder we need to read Daniel 9:27 so we have a proper understanding for the context of the two passages above.

27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;

But in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.

Take special note of the man of sin and leader of the final beast empire. He does not invade Israel to stop the sacrifice. I would suggest that his forces were already there to enforce the peace treaty that he had brokered between Israel and the many other nations. A likely scenario will be when Israel reinstitutes the daily sacrifice in the temple; the Muslim nations will be enraged and will prepare to attack. In a last-ditch attempt to avert war, the Antichrist will put a stop of the daily sacrifice which will ultimately fail.

Compare the descriptions of the previously cited Matthew and Luke passages. Matthew says to flee from Jerusalem when they see the abomination of desolation while Luke says to flee when they see the armies surrounding Jerusalem. Both of these events happen at the same time.

Zechariah 14:1–3 shows us what will take place immediately after the abomination of desolation takes place:

1 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,

And your spoil will be divided in your midst.

2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;

The city shall be taken,

The houses rifled,

And the women ravished

Half of the city shall go into captivity,

But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

3 Then the LORD will go forth

And fight against those nations,

As He fights in the day of battle.

Notice that only half of the city falls to the invading forces. The only explanation I find for this is that half of the city will have previously been given to the Palestinians as their capital city. I anticipate that this splitting of Jerusalem will take place as part of the seven-year peace treaty; however it could take place prior to that treaty. The dividing of the land will have been done in the name of peace; however peace will fail as the Muslim intent is and has been to destroy Israel from the face of the earth. When the city is taken captive, those who dwell there will be killed and left unburied. This is foretold in the following passages in Jeremiah 14:16, 16:4 and Revelation 11:7–10. At this same time the Antichrist's peace forces will be overrun by the invading nations.

The first thing to take place after these nations invade and capture Israel will be to determine who will be in control over the Muslim confederacy. These nations will be primarily divided into two groups, the Shia and the Sunnis. These two factions have been mortal enemies that have only recently come together with a common cause of destroying Israel and her allies. Once they have captured Israel then they will start fighting amongst themselves as indicated in Ezekiel 38:21 and Isaiah 19:2:

21 "I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains," says the Lord GOD. "Every man's sword will be against his brother."

2 "I will set Egyptians against Egyptians;

Everyone will fight against his brother,

And everyone against his neighbor,

City against city, kingdom against kingdom.

This is already a trend that is taking place in Egypt with their civil war with multiple factions fighting with each other. I must point out that the king of the North comes against the Antichrist kingdom two times. The first time he attacks with his allies of Persia and their surrounding neighbors along with the king of the South which is Egypt and its allies. Egypt is taken captive by the Antichrist kingdom as indicated in Isaiah 19:4 and Daniel 11:42.

4 "And the Egyptians I will give

Into the hand of a cruel master,

And a fierce king will rule over them,"

Says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.

42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

The Northern king regroups and returns the second time with the kings of the East, which is China and its allies. Ezekiel is silent concerning the kings of the East's involvement in the final battle of Armageddon. I suspect the reason for this is there won't be a tight alliance between the kings of the North and the East as there was with the North and its Muslim allies. There are two passages that speak directly to this topic of the kings of the East coming against the Antichrist kingdom at the battle of Armageddon. They are Daniel 11:44 and Revelation 16:12.

44 But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many.

12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.

There have been many books written pertaining to the identity of the king of the North. They make the point that the king of the North is Russia along with its allies of Iran, Turkey, Syria and other nations in that region. Many of these books show the lineage of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal as being present-day Russia. I believe this is an accurate and true assessment. However let me point out the obvious. In Daniel 11:40 it says that the king of the North comes against him with many ships. Russia currently has many warships and will surely use them in this opening battle. Russia may also help to arm its allies with warships of their own. In Revelation 8:8–9 a third of the ships are destroyed with what is described as a burning mountain being cast into the sea. I would suggest that this description is that of a nuclear war between the superpowers of the nations. Notice that when the king of the North returns the second time with the King of the East, there is no mention of there being any ships involved. Perhaps all of the world's warships are destroyed in the opening battle of Gog and Magog. As for what happens to the other nations in the Northern confederacy, we get a clue in Isaiah 17:1–2 and 12–14:

1 The burden against Damascus.

"Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city,

And it will be a ruinous heap.

2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken;

They will be for flocks

Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid."

12 Woe to the multitude of many people

Who make a noise like the roar of the seas,

And to the rushing of nations

That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters;

But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,

And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind,

Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

14 Then behold, at eventide, trouble!

And before the morning, he is no more.

This is the portion of those who plunder us,

And the lot of those who rob us.

Both of these passages indicate that there will be a sudden and cataclysmic end to the nations who come against Israel. Some have correctly pointed out that Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city in the Middle East. Therefore this prophecy must point to a yet future event when it will cease from being an inhabited city. This may be one of the first nuclear strikes that Israel will make in a desperate attempt to turn back the invading armies. Or perhaps this will be one of many cities that the Antichrist kingdom will destroy with fire called down from the sky in an attempt to defend his position in the Middle East. Take careful note of Daniel 11:40 where an account is given showing the Antichrist kingdom entering into and overthrowing other nations. Then in verse 41 we are told that he enters into the Glorious Land which is Israel and overthrows many nations. These nations are obviously those nations who invaded and captured Israel.

40 "At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. 41 He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon.

With this in mind we can now start to understand the timeframe of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. There has been much confusion as to when the battles revealed in Ezekiel take place. There are two verses in Ezekiel 38 that span time from the opening battle of Gog and Magog to the final battle of Armageddon 3-½ years later. The first war is described in 38:8–9:

8 After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. 9 You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you."

Notice that those living in Israel at that time dwell in safety, which indicates that it will have been some time since their land has been invaded and occupied by other nations. Contrast verses 8 and 9 with the description of the final battle of Armageddon in verses 18 through 20.

At the time of the final battle of Armageddon there will be the great worldwide earthquake where all the mountains will be cast down. Immediately preceding that final battle all will see the slain witnesses of God resurrected. Men will be filled with fear as a result of seeing this event take place as is shown in Revelation 6:14–17 and 16:17–21.

14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!" 18 And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. 19 Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. 20 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.

It is with these Revelation passages describing the final battle in mind that we read the following verses in Ezekiel 38:18–20 describing the same event:

18 "And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel," says the Lord God, "that My fury will show in My face. 19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: 'Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, 20 so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.'"

Much of our confusion as to when the wars described in Ezekiel will take place is a result of not properly understanding what is described in Ezekiel 39:9. It is in this verse that it says the Israelites will burn the weaponry of the invading armies for seven years. Some have understood that this event will take place before the final seven-year tribulation. I would suggest that this seven-year period of time when the weapons will be burned will be immediately after the seven-year tribulation. This seven-year burning of the weapons will take place after the final battle of Armageddon and in the beginning of the thousand-year reign of Christ.

For those who hold the view that the burning of weapons will take place prior to Daniel's seventieth week, there is one more major problem. That problem is revealed in the following verses which show what will be accomplished for the glory of God from the wars in Ezekiel 38:16, 23 and 39:7:

16 You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes."

23 Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD."'

7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

As a result of Ezekiel's predicted wars, the nations of the world will come to know who God is and glorify Him. Furthermore, God's people of Israel will hold His name in reverence and will be called His people. This is a commonly held theme that is repeated throughout the writings of the Prophets. They all describe a worldwide turning back to God that will take place as a result of the final wars at the end of the age known as the hour of trial. Recognize that if the nations and Israel turned back to God as a result of the wars described in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and those wars were before the seven-year tribulation, then there would be no need for the final seven-year tribulation. Therefore I would suggest that the wars of Ezekiel and the prophets are one and the same only revealed from different and limited viewpoints.

As stated above, the result of the final battle of Armageddon will be that the nations will come to know God and will no longer make war as stated in Isaiah 2:4:

He shall judge between the nations,

And rebuke many people;

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

Neither shall they learn war anymore

Ezekiel looks exclusively at the Northern kingdom and its part in the invasion of Israel while Isaiah 19:1–15 deals exclusively with Egypt. This way of viewing these invading nations of the North and the South in no way suggests that they can't both be invading Israel at the same time. To say otherwise violates the clear framework set by Daniel. It is worth noting the process that Egypt will go through as they will ultimately turn to God. Their turning to God is a result of being captives during the hour of trial as described in Isaiah 19:20–21:

20 And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them. 21 Then the LORD will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. 22 And the LORD will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the LORD, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.

23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians.

24 In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria-a blessing in the midst of the land, 25 whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, "Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance."

With all of this in mind we can see the stage is being set in the Middle East with all of the unrest and turmoil. The nations are becoming more militant in their actions against Israel. Even now the Western nations are pressuring Israel to give land up in exchange for peace.

I would suggest the only way this will be sold to Israel is for the West to guaranty their peace by having a military peace force in place to protect Israel. When that peace treaty is put into place, then the leading nations will say "peace and safety" has come, as stated in 1 Thessalonians 5:3: _"For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape."_

In the following verses we will see how and where the final beast kingdom will be destroyed. In Daniel 11:45 we are given a glimpse of where the Antichrist military will come to its end while occupying Israel. _"And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him."_

The rebellious men who do not give glory to God when they see the martyrs resurrected will try and hide themselves from God and the wrath of the Lamb. The reason for their fear is shown to us in 2 Thessalonians 2:8: _"And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming."_

Zechariah 14:12–15 reveals how Christ will judge this final military power that makes its final stand in the land of Israel:

12 And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:

Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet,

Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets,

And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.

13 It shall come to pass in that day

That a great panic from the LORD will be among them.

Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor,

And raise his hand against his neighbor's hand;

14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem.

And the wealth of all the surrounding nations

Shall be gathered together:

Gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance.

15 Such also shall be the plague

On the horse and the mule,

On the camel and the donkey,

And on all the cattle that will be in those camps.

So shall this plague be.

There is a good reason that Christ will judge His enemies in this precise way. Remember that the god of the Antichrist kingdom is the god of military fortress. Their god of fortress has military weapons that destroy by the above-described method. Some have rightly pointed out that the Zechariah passage describes thermonuclear warfare. When Jesus walked the earth the first time He always confronted the people's false gods in a like manner. For instance when He calmed the sea, He was showing that He alone is Lord and not the false gods that they worshiped as ruling over the weather. So when Christ returns He will show that He is Lord of lords and God of gods by openly demonstrating His power over their military god of fortress. They will literally be dissolved where they stand by the very sight of Christ at His final return.

Before all of these things take place in the last days that we are living in, there will be turmoil in the nations of the Middle East. We see unrest amongst the people of those nations resulting in the overthrow of their leaders. The world superpowers are at odds with each other as they are allied with and support opposite factions in those nations of the Middle East. In general Christians in those nations are the target of great persecution to the point of death with no rescue or defense from the superpowers that traditionally defend freedom. We are left wondering if the world leaders have gone mad when we see who they are aligned with and the course of action that they are taking. In a real sense they are blind and this trend will only grow worse. I want to draw your attention to a passage in Zechariah 12:2–4 that reveals the blindness of the world leaders when they are all drawn into the final world conflict.

2 "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. 4 In that day," says the Lord, "I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

As a solution to the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, the nations will try and get rid of the Jewish nation and their ancient city of Jerusalem. The destruction of Jerusalem and the Jews has always been Satan's plan. If Satan could reach that goal then there would be no people of promise for the Messiah to rule over. Moreover the city of promise would not be in existence, resulting in there being no Temple for Christ to rule from. This is the root cause for the confusion that we are seeing in that region of the world. If it were left to man to fight alone against Satan and his schemes, the battle would be lost. However we are told over and over throughout Scripture that the Lord will go and fight against the nations and Satan at the end. The Lord will prevail and all will bow their knee before the Lord in the end.

In the meantime we must not be troubled by wars and rumors of wars as though we are about to be immediately drawn into a worldwide nuclear conflict. Before that takes place there must be the seven-year peace treaty implemented by the world superpowers. There will also be increasing conflict that will lead to all the nations being willing to sign on to such a peace treaty. And finally remember that God is in control, Who has His Spirit restraining war from prematurely taking place. Live with peace in your heart and rest in the promises of the Lord.

## Chapter 13

Stand Fast in the Faith

The passage in 1 Corinthians 16:13–14 gives the marching orders to the saints of this age: _"Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done with love."_

This is a great passage of Scripture that will guide us through the dark days ahead. There is a second passage that defines how we are to conduct ourselves in the spirit of love as ambassadors of Christ. That passage is found in the words of Jesus to His disciples in Matthew 10:16: _"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."_ These two passages of Scripture represent how we are to conduct ourselves in the face of fierce opposition from those who reject Christ. We are to be brave and strong in our stand where we proclaim the truth of the words of Christ. I will give some Scriptures that contain words of encouragement a bit later in this chapter. But first I want to stress the importance of standing fast in the faith. We must stand fast in the faith in order to obtain the conditional promises that our Lord has given to us. Those conditional promises are best summed up in Colossians 1:21–23. Recognize the statement, "if we continue in the faith," is given as a condition for receiving the promise.

21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight- 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

How are we to conduct ourselves under the approaching repressive world empire that will rise to power at the end of days? We know that this great nation was built upon Godly principles and it was dedicated to God at its founding. Valiant men fought and died for our freedoms that many have for too long taken for granted. Do we dishonor those who gave their lives for this freedom if we are not willing to sacrifice in the exact same way as they did? I don't know if that is the case for the time that we are living in. This is a time that we must use much God-given discernment and not act rashly. Remember there is a time for everything as Ecclesiastes 3:1–11 reveals:

1To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:

2 A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;

3 A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away;

7 A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;

8 A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.

9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

I believe the great founders of this nation would give the following advice: First, know what it is that you are fighting for. Secondly, know who are your allies, who will be fighting alongside of you. Thirdly, know who you are fighting against, and finally know what weapons you are to fight the battles with.

This nation's founding fathers were fighting for the freedom to serve and worship God away from the tyrannical rule of an all-powerful king. The people that they were fighting for in this new nation all shared the same values as the founding fathers. As a result of their God-honoring dedication, the Lord greatly blessed this nation as no other has ever been blessed.

Now compare the values of the newly founded nation to what it has become today. The culture today is seeking freedom from God where they can worship pleasure without restraint. The majority in our culture is trading self-restraint and responsibility for governmental restraints and full governmental care. The cycle our nation is going through from its founding until now is found in one short verse in Proverbs 14:34 _: "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach (or disgrace) to any people."_ Our nation has fallen into deep moral sin which is only growing worse as time passes. The end result will be bondage for its people.

I will pose this question to the patriots of this nation. Even if the country had a shift in power to where those with Godly morals were in control, would that in and of itself change the values of the populace? Or would the majority still hate God and seek freedom from His laws? I know that you are fighting to restore our former moral values that once made this nation great. However will control of the government alone be enough to bring about repentance of a nation who is a slave of sin? What will you have won if you gain complete control of this nation whose majority would still have a heart that is in rebellion against God? Would you be fighting against the will of the Lord if He has chosen to take this nation into a time of trial in order that some will turn to Him? Remember that the prodigal son would have never returned had he not encountered hard times. We must understand the battle plan of the One that we are taking commands from. It would be wise to remember these words spoken to Judah in 2 Chronicles 20:15 when they were facing impossible odds against the great multitude of their enemies _: "And he said, 'Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: "Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude,_ for the battle is not yours, _but God's."_ '" The Lord is our only ally of great value if we are fighting under the same battle plan that He has made.

This brings up these two questions: who are you fighting against and what weapons will you use? Are those who are in opposition to the laws of God our enemies that need to be destroyed by any means? Or are they our mission field that God has sent us to with His saving Word? We could resist those in authority as the zealots did in the time of Christ when they fought against the cruel and corrupt Roman rule. However Jesus did not join their cause. In fact Jesus rebuked Peter for cutting off the ear of Malchus the servant of the high priest. The rebuke from our Lord in Matthew 26:52 was this: _"Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."_ We need to ask, "What will our actions and reactions to those who are opposed to God look like?" Will we respond with violence as Peter did and receive a rebuke from the Lord, or will we respond with the testimony of the true gospel in the spirit of love? As Christians, what should be our expectations for how God will deal with this nation that has turned away from the Lord?

The answer to these questions is found in the way in which God dealt with His chosen people of the past who turned their back on God. Judah and Israel forgot their God and fell into the sin of rebellion against the laws of God. As a result God sent them into the captivity of a cruel enemy so that they would turn away from their false gods and call on His name again. Is our nation somehow better than theirs was so that we will not experience the same thing? As we have already seen, living under the grace of God does not remove our responsibility and consequences for how we live; and the same is true for us as a nation.

Simply put, our enemy is Satan and his demonic forces. As such our warfare is in the spiritual realm with the physical realm being the visible battlefield. Listen to the words in 2 Corinthians 10:3–6:

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Our weapon is to be the Word of the Lord which will judge the world. Therefore it would be in our interest to know it well and to be able to handle it as a skilled swordsman.

So as the Lord's ambassadors who have been given the task of reconciling the lost back to God, how are we to handle the Word of the Lord? First of all we are instructed to speak the truth in love. It would be good to be reminded what love is as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8 so that we will be able to live this God-given love out when under persecution:

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

I find it impossible to kill or hate those who are enemies towards God when I am operating in the love of God. Remember our Lord values the lost of the world so much that He died on the cross in order to give them a valid offer of reconciliation back to God the Father just as He has done for us. I must be careful to be filled with the truth of God's Word that I am to speak during times of questioning by others as 1 Peter 3:15 instructs _: "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."_ This is a serious task that we have been given; so be careful to be prepared with the Word of God for all who ask.

Next we need to understand that we will suffer persecution when we stand firm for the truth as the previous two verses in 1 Peter indicate. 13 "And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled."

We are given further instructions for what to expect at the end of the age just before our Lord's return in Luke 21:12–19:

12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake. 13 But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. 14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head shall be lost. 19 By your patience possess your souls.

When we prepare and are filled with the truth of God's Word, and we, being falsely accused, are brought before the authorities, then the Spirit will give us the words to speak at that time that no one can resist. We are to use that time of trial as an opportunity for our testimony for Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is there that we are to refute the false arguments of Satan by those who are his captives. We are not to fear those men, for they cannot harm our soul.

It is encouraging to know that we are not the first to experience such persecution as many who have gone before have suffered the same trials. The saints from the past have set a good example for us to follow as they were given the same instructions as we have been given. Here are a number of scriptures from the Old Testament that will give us encouragement starting with Deuteronomy 31:6 _: "Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."_

Proverbs 3:25 _: "Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes."_

Psalms 27:14, 31:24 and 56:11:

14 Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!

24 Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the LORD.

11 In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Jeremiah 1:8: "'Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,' says the LORD."

We need to look back at the heroes of the faith and the examples that they set for us. Understand these examples that were recorded for our encouragement had different approaches for the victory. Some won the victory through battle while others won the victory through persecution and death. Be discerning for there is a time for all things while under the direction of God. Seek and ask the Lord for discernment for what to do during future times of trial. Read and be encouraged by the examples of the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11:32–40:

32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again.

Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented- 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

We must endure through times of trial just as they did in order that we will obtain the better resurrection while possessing our souls with patience. I am praying for a spiritual awakening to take place in this nation. All things are possible with God who is gracious and merciful to us. It is not my wish to endure severe trials in our future. However if they do come, do not despair of your hope that is in Christ. Hold tightly to what you have that no one will steal your inheritance. We must choose our actions and reactions carefully before that time of trial comes if it should come in our lifetime.

In the meantime we must endure a world gone mad in their unrighteous conduct. We will be greatly grieved by all that we see taking place while at the same time feeling helpless to change anything. Understand we are not alone as there are brothers and sisters in Christ who are feeling the same pain. There are those who have gone before us who were vexed by the rampant sin around them. In 2 Peter 2:4–9 we find these encouraging words of promise:

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)-9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.

Recognize that it is God's responsibility to deliver the godly out of adversity. We are also instructed in Hebrews 10:24–25 to encourage one another as we see that day approaching. Seek out other mature Christians who will help each other to stand in these times of trial. 24 "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

I would like to make some final statements in summary of the past chapters in this book. Our eternal security is limited to the free and unconditional gift of salvation directed exclusively to our spirit. The conditional promises of our inheritance in the kingdom of God are directed exclusively towards our soul and body. When we meet those conditional promises then we will be mature in Christ, resulting in our being complete in every part, spirit, soul and body.

Avoid presumptuous sin by quickly repenting of all sin in a spirit of humility. Know that your sin will be forgiven to the same measure that you forgive others. Be reconciled to one another when differences arise. Ephesians 5:21 puts it this way: _"Submitting to one another in the fear of God (Christ)."_ Seek to love your brothers and sisters in Christ as Jesus has loved us with a servant attitude, considering others' needs before our own. Colossians 3:12–17 sums up how we are to conduct ourselves towards one another in such a way that the world will know us because of our love for one another:

12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

All of these attributes tie in well with how we are to be alert and watch for the return of our Lord. When we walk in obedience to the Lord we will love His appearing and will seek to be found worthy of escaping the judgment of the Lord. Everyone who has this hope in Christ purifies himself through Christ. Matthew 24:36–44 tells us to watch and be ready for our Lord's return:

36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

There are three questions that arise:

1. How are we to watch in such a way as to be able to see?

2. What sign are we to watch for so that when the time comes we will recognize it?

3. How are we to be ready?

To find these answers read 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11 and let Scripture define and explain Scripture:

1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you .2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

1. How are we to watch in such a way as to be able to see? The answer to this is that we are to be sons of the light. 1 John 2:8–11 defines what is required to be a son of the light so that we can see and not be blinded by the darkness and fail to recognize the arrival of the Day of the Lord?

8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. 9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

2. What are we to watch for so that when it arrives we don't miss it? This answer is in 1 Thessalonians 5:3. "For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape." This peace that all of the world leaders will be proclaiming is the seven-year peace treaty that is spoken of in Daniel 9:27. Be careful not to become sidetracked with trying to know the exact day of our Lord's return, but instead live in the here and now serving one another in the Love of Christ.

3. How are we to be ready for the Lord's return? Once again we find the answer in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 and 11: 8 "But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing."

I would summarize the answers to the last two questions with a short and easy-to-remember list. I would also recommend doing a personal study on what each of these actions look like when applied to our Christian walk:

A. Be sober so you can watch.

B. Put on the breastplate of faith and love.

C. Put on the helmet of the hope of salvation.

D. Comfort and encourage each other.

E. Edify and build one another up in the Lord.

Verse 8 is referring to the taking up of the whole armor of God so that we can stand against the attacks of Satan and his forces. Ephesians 6:13–18 should be studied and familiar to all of the saints if we want to be ready for our Lord's return:

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

Be of good courage and fight the good fight in the strength of our Lord.

## Chapter 14

A Command Given, an Escape Offered

This chapter is primarily directed to the tribulation saints who will have to endure the persecution of the beast and antichrist kingdom. As I transition into this chapter I will give a final warning to all who read this, to understand these two short passages of scripture found in Zephaniah 2:1–3 and Luke 21:36:

1Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation,

2 Before the decree is issued, Or the day passes like chaff, Before the LORD's fierce anger comes upon you, Before the day of the LORD's anger comes upon you!

3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the LORD's anger.

36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

Both of these passages speak of the faithful and mature believers being spared and delivered from the hour of trial that will test the whole world by the Lord's judgment. That promise is repeated to the faithful church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:10 _:_ _"_ _Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth."_ That great promise must be understood in light of the two previous verses quoted above. We must not live with an escapist mentality that says as a Christian we will not suffer persecution. In all likelihood Christians will suffer great persecution and many will die for their faith before the Lord takes the remaining faithful out of the way of God's wrath that will be poured out upon this world.

I say all of this to set the stage for understanding who will be left as God's witnesses for the final hour of trial. There will be some new converts who have not heard the message of salvation before the catching away of the faithful Church. These new converts will be witnesses for the Lord during that final hour. However I am convinced that there will be many more who will have held one form or another of the Christian faith without any real dedication to the Lord. Furthermore it will be those people who will recognize what has taken place when the catching away of the Body of Christ takes place. As a result these will turn to Christ with repentant hearts and a deep dedication to Jesus as their Lord.

As I have stated before, the books of James through Jude parallel the final seven years commonly known as the tribulation when the seven-year peace treaty will be put in place. I was first introduced to this idea when watching _Prophecy in the News_ some years ago. I found the idea to be interesting with some merit to it; however, they proposed a different arrangement of events within the seven-year timeline.

I feel that I need to once again clarify some of the reasons for viewing these seven books as outlining the final seven-year tribulation. These books are arranged in the true Old Testament form of a menorah. A good description of the menorah is found in Zechariah chapter 4. The seven books are arranged with Hebrews on one end and Revelation on the other end. These two books, one on either side, stand in the same position as the two olive trees who give witness to the seven lamps. I believe God has placed these seven books so as to give special instruction to those saints at the end of the age. Understand that I am looking at these final books through the lens of prophecy and in no way want to diminish the importance of the message that these books have to offer the Body of Christ down through the Church age. However when we see these books as speaking to those at the end of the age, then we can better understand how they can say the return of Christ is imminent. When the Holy Spirit moved the apostles to give the warning of Christ's soon return, it is in reality God giving instructions to the saints at the end of the age. The inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes from outside of the restraints of time.

There has been a tendency by some who are enemies of the Gospel to say that the apostles had the false assumption that Jesus would return soon. As such those enemies of the Gospel have falsely accused the apostles of having written false predictions. It is true that the mindset of the disciples prior to the day of Pentecost was for the immediate return of Christ. However after the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost they wrote without error. We must remember the clear promise found in 2 Timothy 3:16: _"All Scripture_ _is_ _given by inspiration of God, and_ _is_ _profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."_ Understand and trust where it says "ALL SCRIPTURE." The writers of Scripture did not write under the influence of their own personal bias but only as the Spirit led them. It is with this understanding that I read these final seven books with the emphasis being on God's instruction to the saints at the end of the age. In studying these books I would roughly equate a book for each year paralleling the events that will take place during that time.

The book of James addresses the final year of the Body of Christ where it instructs how to be ready for the eminent return of the Lord while enduring trials of persecution. First Peter through Jude all have their message directed towards the tribulation saints. As with previous introductions of God's witnesses down through history, we know that there is a declaration made by God that identifies them as His witnesses. Following God's declaration there is a time of preparation and equipping of those witnesses with the message of the Lord. That is followed by sending those saints out into the mission field of the world. We will find each of these steps being sequentially followed for this final set of witnesses in First Peter through Jude.

The time of preparation for the tribulation witnesses will take place between the departure of the Body of Christ and the start of the battle of Gog and Magog. Not only will this be a time of spiritual growth, but it will be a time of evangelism through witnessing where new believers will come to Christ. There will be martyrs from this two-year time span who will lay down their lives for the truth of the gospel.

If each of these remaining six books represent approximately a year in length, then the book of First John would mark the midpoint of the seven years and the beginning of the first war in Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 8. This would indicate that there will be somewhere around two years of preparation time before the tribulation saints are sent out. It is then that we are given a glimpse of what will be taking place behind the scenes in heaven as well as what will be taking place within Mystery Babylon upon the earth. It is during this time that those who turn to God are given a command to leave Mystery Babylon. There are two passages in Scripture with the same warning given to God's people living in Mystery Babylon. The first passage that I will cite is in Revelation 18:4–8:

4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. 7 In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, 'I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.' 8 Therefore her plagues will come in one day-death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her."

The second passage is found in Jeremiah 51:45–47 and 58:

45 "My people, go out of the midst of her! And let everyone deliver himself from the fierce anger of the LORD.

46 And lest your heart faint, And you fear for the rumor that will be heard in the land (A rumor will come one year, And after that, in another year A rumor will come, And violence in the land, Ruler against ruler),

47 Therefore behold, the days are coming That I will bring judgment on the carved images of Babylon; Her whole land shall be ashamed, And all her slain shall fall in her midst."

58 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, And her high gates shall be burned with fire; The people will labor in vain, And the nations, because of the fire; And they shall be weary."

The judgment by God upon ancient Babylon was a foreshadowing of the yet future judgment on end-time Mystery Babylon during the hour that will test the whole world. We are told there will be a rumor for two years of the impending judgment to come against end-time Babylon. It is obvious that the rumor will cease when the destruction does come. But what event will start the rumor in the first place? I would suggest it will be the catching away of the Body of Christ. Those who are left behind and understand what has taken place will sound the alarm of God's impending judgment to come. It is at that point in time that the warning given by God to flee from Babylon just as Lot fled Sodom and Gomorrah will be understood by His people. For this warning to be effective, God's people will know who Mystery Babylon is and they will be given enough time to heed the Lord's warning to escape. I must stress that this warning will come after the catching away of the Body of Christ and during the first half of the seven-year peace treaty. If you find yourself living during that time, don't dismiss this warning.

During this two-year interval, the Lord is restraining the wars of judgment that will fall upon this earth. We are shown this restraint being enforced by the angels of the Lord in Revelation 7:1–3 and 8:1:

1 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.

1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

In 8:1 before the trumpet judgments start, John reveals a time of silence that will take place in heaven. That time of silence is when the restraining force of God through His angels is holding back the destruction of war. The duration of the time of restraining is for about half an hour. I would suggest that half an hour is to be understood in comparison to the length of time that will take place in the final hour of trial that will try the whole earth. When John refers to the hour of trial throughout his writings, it is in reference to the final 3-½ years of warfare that will try the whole world. Half an hour is equal to half of 3-½ years. There are 1,260 days spoken of in the last 3-½ years. When the 1,260 days are divided in two so as to equal half an hour, we find there will be about 630 earth days or 1-¾ years of silence in heaven. When John says "about half an hour," I don't know if the term he used meant more or less than half an hour. In either case it does not matter, because the people of God will know that it is time to escape the devastating judgment that will fall upon Babylon. For those living in that time of Mystery Babylon, refer to chapter 9 and count the days backwards.

Now that we have seen the time of preparation, I want to take a closer look at what is revealed in the final six books of First Peter through Jude. Much of this will be review from what was shown in chapter seven in this book. It is worth reviewing 1 Peter 1:3–9 and 22–23:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith-the salvation of your souls.

22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.

In this first chapter, Peter gives the good news, where we are to place all of our hope in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. It is in that hope that the saints are to endure all persecution which will reveal the sincerity of the saints' faith. The result of that living faith which endures all things will be the salvation of our souls. Our souls are purified through the process of obeying the truth through the Holy Spirit that is poured out through Christ. Peter condenses the message of instruction to these new witnesses, which is the same gospel that was given to the Body of Christ throughout the New Testament.

First Peter 2:1–3 identifies these witnesses as new believers by this statement: " _Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,_ 2 as newborn babes _, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,_ 3 _if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious."_ He continues on in verses 4–8 to reveal that they are part of the kingdom of God with the imagery of these new believers being living stones in a spiritual house. That house is the New Jerusalem where these final witnesses will share the promise of ruling with Christ along with the Body of Christ.

Peter continues in verses 9–10 by giving a declaration of who these believers are in God's sight:

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

By this declaration the descendants from the Israel of old are being grafted back into the promises of God that were given to the children of Israel in Exodus 19:5–6 and Deuteronomy 7:6:

5 "'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."

6 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth."

Notice the similarity of the wording between the two declarations given at opposite ends of history. The first declaration was given through Moses to ancient Israel and the second declaration is given here through Peter to the tribulation saints. God's focus will shift back to Israel and Judah as His end-time witnesses. There will be Gentile converts as well who will make up those end-time witnesses as identified as the children of the woman who flees into the wilderness. The rest of the books of First and Second Peter are rich with instructions given to the saints for their good conduct so that they can live out the perfect will of the Lord. First John opens with how Christians are to have assurance that we are indeed walking in the light of Christ and not in the self-deceiving darkness of this world. The message of First John is that of encouragement to the saints who have to endure intense persecution while at the same time witnessing the devastating judgment upon the rebels of this world. The world will be learning what it is to fear the Lord at that point in history.

This time of the world's judgment starts at the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation. At the midpoint of these seven books we find this announcement made in 1 John 2:18: _"_ _Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour."_ When John says it is the last hour, he is referring to the hour of trial that will be 3-½ years in length. That hour will start with war and end with war.

Much of the rest of 1 John deals with the deception of those who have the spirit of antichrist. When Satan and his demons are cast to earth they will come with great power and deception. Understand your adversary who is Satan and how he will draw men after himself to their destruction. In 2 Corinthians 11:14 and Ephesians 2:2 and 6:12, he is described as follows:

14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Who knows the exact deception that he will use and what counterfeit salvation he will offer to a desperate world in a time of war and devastation. Understand he is called the prince of the power of the air. His deception will be strong and he will entice many to take what he offers to extend their life. However we do know how to tell who is following Satan by what is written in 1 John 3:7–11:

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

It would be wise on my part to take a small detour and explain what is meant in the statement, " _Whoever has been born of God_ _does not_ _sin, for His seed remains in him; and he_ _cannot_ _sin."_ The Greek word used for _does_ or _does not_ is _poieo_ which has a wide variety of meanings attached to it. I counted 22 different ways in which this word is used in various passages. There are three words that I think best reflect the meaning behind this word. They would be used this way. Whoever had been born of God does not abide in, continue in or exercise sin. The reason I would interpret it this way is the word with a broad meaning must yield or be understood by a passage or word with a narrow and clearly defined meaning. We will find this example when we read two other passages from 1 John that shed more light on how to understand this sentence. Read these two passages from 1 John 1:8–10, 5:18 and I will explain:

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

When we read these three passages together, they reveal the process of God's seed or His Word remaining in us so that in God's eyes we cannot sin. That process is the God-provided way for us to receive forgiveness of sin. We have responsibility in this process of forgiveness as is reflected in the words "keeps himself" in 5:18. The Greek word for _keep_ is " _tereo"_ which means "to watch or to guard from loss or injury." We do this when we go to Jesus for the forgiveness of any sin that has contaminated our feet as we walk through this life. We are responsible to forgive others which is revealed figuratively when we wash others' feet, in order to be forgiven and have our feet washed by our Lord Jesus. The whole idea of having a conditional forgiveness is explained through the words of Jesus in Luke 6:37–38:

37 "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

When we follow this process by not allowing sin to remain in our life then we will be seen as innocent and blameless by our Lord. However, this whole process of abiding in Christ through forgiveness can be interrupted when we become defiled through developing a heart of unforgiveness as is clearly revealed in Hebrews 12:14–16:

14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.

Our Lord has provided the process of forgiveness as the way of escape from the judgment to come, yet under free will the choice is ours to make. Understand that when we are saved and walk and abide in Christ, we are not immune to getting our feet dirty as we walk through this contaminated world. However we must have clean feet in order to enter into the presence of our Father. The imagery of clean feet is that of a life that is free from sins contamination through the continual atoning blood of Christ. Therefore be diligent to examine yourself and repent from sin before you share in the Lord's Supper.

Now let us return back to the topic of how to identify who the false prophets are in 1 John 4:1–3. He follows this admonition with a promise of God's supremacy in verse 4 and deliverance by the process of forgiveness in 5:18:

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

Remember, the original Greek word for " _keeps himself"_ has the idea of watching over and being on guard against loss. This will be a time of intense spiritual warfare where the followers of God will need words of encouragement to stay on course. They must hold tightly to their reward so that no one will take it away.

As we move into 2 John 1:1, we see the identity of the witnesses of God revealed as the elect lady and her children: _"The Elder,_ _To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth."_ This is the same woman with offspring whom Satan is trying to destroy in Revelation chapter 12. It is in 2 John 1:5–6 that we see the sending out of these saints with instructions to live out what they have already been taught:

5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. 6 This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

This is the same command what was presented in 1 John 3:23 and 4:21:

23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

These instructions are foundational to all of our faith that we have received from the words of Christ that He taught to His disciples. This is the perfect will of God that must be obeyed and lived out during all times which include times of great trial.

2 John 4 reveals that there are some Gentile Christians who will be walking in obedience to the commands of God at the midpoint of the tribulation: " _I rejoiced greatly that I have found_ _some_ _of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father."_ We don't know for sure who these children are who were referred to when these words were first penned. However it is my understanding that the woman refers to the reestablished Israel with her children being Gentile converts who follow Christ.

Once again the warning against false teachers is brought up in the book of Jude which mirrors the warnings found in 2 Peter 2. The false teachers and their message will continue until the end of those days of trial. As each set of God's witnesses are about to finish their task, they are given the same set of instructions regarding those who stray from the faith.

The final message to the Body of Christ is recorded in James 5:19–20 with these words of instruction: _"Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,_ 20 _let him know that_ he who turns a sinner from the error _of his way_ will save a soul from death _and cover a multitude of sins."_

The final words in Jude 22–23 to the tribulation witnesses are similar to the instructions given in James: _"And on some have compassion, making a distinction;_ 23 _but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh."_

Though both the James and Jude passages are given as instructions to all Christians, the significance of where these statements are strategically placed in the timeline of Scripture must not be overlooked. Both of these statements are placed at the end of a ministry of a specific set of witnesses. The first is placed at the end of the witness of the Body of Christ. The second closing statement is at the close of the witness of the Bride of Christ.

It would be wise for all to hear and understand the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 which will be fulfilled during this time in history

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty man.

14 For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

For us, to fear God is only one side of the coin. On the other side are the promises with conditions of God's love for us when we love others as He has loved us. Return and dwell on the words of 1 John 4:11–18:

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

We have no good excuse for living in fear, for to live in fear means we are allowing the sin of disobedience to rule in our life. We will never know how to fully love God until we learn to have the proper fear of God. We will never have the capacity to love others with a sincere love until we are filled with the love of God. We have the promise of an eternal inheritance waiting for us if we abide in the love of Christ.

Be careful to follow the instructions given to all of the saints for gaining a fruitful life in 2 Peter 1:2–8:

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I will close this book with this Scripture in Luke 3:16–17 which sums up the message of this book by showing the importance of watching:

16 John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."

The day of our Lord's appearing and judgment is drawing close. Are you watching in such a way that you will recognize the signs of His return? Are you living in such a way that you are ready to meet our Lord at any moment? "Watch and be ready" is a timely message sent to all, whether you are living before or during the final hour of trial when you read this message.
