Intro. To End-Times

Part II

How many here today has read the novel Futility by Morgan Robertson? The book tells the story of a magnificent ocean liner named the Titan that strikes an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York and sinks in the middle of the ocean. Right now, you are probably thinking, This sure sounds like the real story of the Titanic. Yet Roberson's novel differs from the actual event in several way. The ship in Futility was 800 feet long, while the real Titanic was 882 feet long. The Titan was able to displace 66,000 tons of water, while the Titanic was able to displace 70,000 tons of water. Yet, both ships were triple-screw ocean liners that could travel up to 25 knots per hour and transport 3,000 passengers.

Now, you might be thinking, why would Morgan Robertson bother to write a novel that so closely approximated the real-life event. And why go to the trouble of varying some of the facts ever so slightly, including the name of the ship? The reason is quite simple. The Titanic sank on April 14, 1912. The novel Futility was published in 1898.

It is amazing to think that a book written 14 years earlier could so accurately forecast a historical event like the Titanic. But it is even more fascinating to realize that the Bible is able to foretell with laser-like accuracy events that will occur hundreds and even thousands of years after it was written. One can hardly turn a page of Scripture without finding some reference to a future event.

We are living on the verge of some tremendous events on this planet. Very few people today doubt that History is moving towards some sort of crisis or catastrophe, if present trends continue. Many secular scientists, and statesmen, and military experts believe that the world is heading for a global cataclysm - if not in the immediate future - certainly before this generation passes. The only variable between these so-called experts is the question of "WHEN."

Dr. George Wald (Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Harvard University), made this statement 6-8 years ago.

"I think human life is threatened as never before in the history of this planet. Not just by one peril, but by many perils that are all working together and coming to a head at about the same time. And that times lies very close to the year 2000. I am one of those scientists who finds it hard to see how the human race is to bring itself much past ….the next 10 years."

How many of you have ever heard of the "Doomsday Clock"?

It is found on the cover of every issue of the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" magazine. The actual physical clock is a 1½-foot-square wooden mock-up at the University of Chicago where the offices of this magazine reside. The idea was that midnight represented an outbreak of nuclear war. The clock then depicts how many minutes prior to midnight, to indicate how close these scientist believe we are to all-out nuclear war. It was created in 1947, shortly after the use of Atomic bombs on Japan, to gage how close the world is to a nuclear war.

At its inception, it was set at 7 min. before midnight. It has only been changed 16 times since 1947. The closest it ever came was 2 minutes before midnight, when the Soviet Union exploded its first hydrogen bomb in 1953. It was moved as far away as 17 minutes in 1991, after the United States and Russia signed the START treaty, which mandated steep rollbacks in strategic weapons. In 1998, the clock was moved from 14 minute till midnight to 9 minutes before, and a result of both Pakistan and India each testing a series of nuclear devices. It has stood still for over 3 years. After the terrorists attacks on September 11, 2001, they are considering moving the clock again.

There have been many - probably thousands - who have tried to predict the end of the world as we know it. --- both from a religious and non-religious point of view.

According to Carl Sagan, a well-known scientists, if the nations were to use even a fraction of their nuclear capacity, "….there is little question that our global civilization would be destroyed……and there seems to be a real possibility of the extinction of the human species."

On the religious side, Nearly 20 years ago, I was given a copy of a pamphlet called: "87 Reasons why Jesus Christ will come in 1987" Since it didn't happen as the writer depicted, he wrote another, called: "88 reason why Jesus is really coming in 1988." You would have thought he would have learned his lesson. World history has never been kind to those who claim to know the future.

But amidst the wreckage of failed forecasts stands one notable exception. The Bible !! More than 25% of the Bible, when written, predicted events before they occurred. And God's batting average is very impressive. He has never been wrong.

Through the centuries history has proven the absolute accuracy of God's predictions of the future. Since God knows the end from the beginning - and since He is in control of the universe, only He can accurately foretell future events.

Consider these facts from a U.S. New & World Report poll in 1997.

• 66% of Americans, including a third of those who admit they never attend church, say they believe Jesus Christ will return to earth someday.

  That is a 5% percentage increase from 61% in 1994.

• Nearly six in 10 Americans believe that the world will end or be destroyed, and a third of those think it will happen within the next few years or decades.
• 44% believe the world will face the apocalypse with true believers being whisked away to heaven.
• 49% believe there will be an Antichrist.

However, while the majority of people believe in the second coming of Christ, the apocalypse, the Antichrist, and the end of the world, Bible prophecy remains a mystery to them. It remains a confusing, bewildering morass of differing views, strange symbols and bizarre visions. They are unable to put some relevance to it for themselves. For them, making sense of Bible prophecy is akin to trying to unscramble a scrambled egg. It can't be done, some say.

So, is the Bible that difficult to understand as it related to the end-times? It is my opinion that while it is not like reading a novel, it is not something beyond our understanding and grasp, if we are willing to study a little.

The bible is a prophetic book. Thousands of years before they existed, in many cases,……the destinies of individuals and nations were charted with precision and history bears out the accuracy of those predictions. The prophecies of the Bible are being fulfilled right up to the present time and we are reading about events related to them in our newspapers today.

This is not really surprising when one considers the amazing miracle that we call the Bible. It is the most remarkable Book ever compiled. The bible is actually a divine library of 66 books, some of considerable size - others no larger than a small tract. These books were written by more than 40 authors, over a period of more than 1,600 years most of whom did not know the other authors. The writers wrote in various lands, from Italy in the west to Mesopotamia and possibly Persia in the east.

These writers were a heterogeneous array of people, not only separated from each others by hundreds of years and hundreds of miles but belonging to the most diverse walks of life. They came from all walks of life and wrote at different times, on three continents - Asia, Africa and Europe, and in three languages - Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.

In their ranks we have……Kings, Herdsmen, Soldiers, Legislators, Fishermen, Statesmen, Priests, Prophets, a tent-making Rabbi, and a gentile physician. And yet, for all of that, there is an amazing unity that binds the whole together. Nowhere in the whole realm of literature is there such a book, showing such diversity, and yet, there is still a central theme running from cover to cover.

With this book we call the Bible, it is truly easy to see the signature of God all over it. While these many authors wrote about hundreds of different and often controversial subjects you can see one underlying theme from Genesis in the Old Testament to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. That theme is the coming of the Savior to pay the price of sin, and His return to bring a climax to this world's history.

I believe the Bible has clear and understandable answers with regard to the end-times. Christians are probing biblical prophecy for clues to where we are in God's program and what great events may be shortly coming to pass. It truly would be foolish for a Christian to disregard Bible prophecy.

Consider for a moment these statistics:

The coming Messiah as King (in what Christian call the 2nd Coming) is mentioned 1,845 times in the Bible. In the Old Testament the coming of the Messiah is the dominant theme of 17 of its 39 books. In the New Testament it is discussed in several New Testament books as the dominant subject of the books. There are 318 references to Christ's second coming in the New Testament. This subject is given prominence and discussed in 24 of the 27 books of the New Testament. This amounts to a prophetic reference being found in 7 our of every 10 chapters in the N.T.

What's more, the very first prophecy ever uttered by man in the Bible deals with the second coming of Christ. It was by Enoch, and is recorded in Jude 14.

The very last prophecy in the Bible is also about the 2nd coming of Christ. It is found in Revelation 22:20.

Given this preponderance of prophecy in the Word of God, it is incredible that any believer would avoid it. Furthermore, given God's attention to this subject, why would anyone want to avoid it.

If we can talk about the first coming of Christ as good news, should we not talk about His second coming as great news? The very fact that the Bible contains predictive prophecies makes it a unique book. No book of any other major world religion can make such a claim. And history has consistently taken the stand as a reliable and authentic witness to the accuracy of Bible prophecies.

Isaiah shows us why God considers prophecy to be very important. He tells us how prophecy demonstrates the uniqueness of God and how, because of already fulfilled prophecy, there is none like Him. Let's look at three Passages in the Book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 46:9-10 NIV
9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Isaiah 42:9 NIV
9 See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."

Isaiah 48:5 NIV

5 Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, `My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.'

The Scriptures we just read tell us that God is unique in that He alone knows the end from the beginning. He says, in effect: "You have seen things come to pass as I had told you beforehand. This proves that I am God." Then He goes on to tell us that, because former things have come to pass as He had said, then we should also believe Him when He tells us things about the future which are yet to come to pass. We can trust biblical prophecies which are yet unfulfilled because of God's past track record. In my opinion, already fulfilled prophecy is quite possibly the greatest internal evidence of the divine inspiration of the Bible. You just don't see these kinds of prediction in the writings of other major world religions.

Last week we began an overview of End Time Prophecy. I want to briefly review what was covered last week, and continue the overview.

*** THE RAPTURE TO THE SECOND COMING ***

1 Thess. 4:16-17 tells us…….
The Lord will descend……from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God. The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.

WHAT IS THIS EVENT MOST OFTEN CALLED?

It is called the Rapture.

ONCE WE HAVE MET CHRIST IN THE AIR, WHERE DO WE GO?

We all go to heaven with Him We go to the place He has been preparing for us.

ONCE THE CHURCH HAS BEEN TAKEN TO HEAVEN, WHAT HAPPENS ON EARTH?

Shortly after the rapture of the Church, there will be the beginning of a period of turmoil such as this world has never seen.

WHAT IS THIS PERIOD KNOWN AS??

The Tribulation.

IF THE "DEAD IN CHRIST" HAVE BEEN RESURRECTED AT THE RAPTURE, WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE UNGODLY DEAD?

WHEN ARE THEY RESURRECTED?

Those who have died without knowing Christ as their personal savior, are not resurrected for another 1,000 years. (Rev 20:4-6)

IF CHRIST HAS MET US IN THE AIR AND TAKEN US WITH HIM TO HEAVEN, WHEN DOES HE EVER ACTUALLY COME TO THE EARTH?

It is after this tribulation time when Christ come back to earth. (Matthew 24:29-30)

Not everyone sees him at the Rapture. But here, all eyes will witness his return.

HOW LONG AFTER THE RAPTURE DOES CHRIST'S COMING TO EARTH OCCUR?

It will be 7 years. I know this will be a point of possible dispute, and we will have plenty of time to discuss the myriad of views in a later lesson.

DURING THE 7 YEARS THAT WE ARE IN HEAVEN WITH CHRIST, WHAT EVENTS TAKES PLACE THERE?

Two things occur in heaven while we are there with Christ.

1. The Judgment Seat of Christ.

The Judgment Seat of Christ is not an event where all the bad you have ever done is revealed. This is a judgment where believers are rewarded for faithfulness..

2. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

This is a wedding feast. On earth, these could go on for days, according to Jewish customs. This is a feast to celebrate the marriage of the Lamb, who is Jesus Christ, and the bride, which is the Church.

IS CHRIST ALONE WHEN HE COMES BACK TO EARTH?

No!! All the saints that were caught up to meet Christ in the air, at the Rapture will accompany Him back to earth. They are the Bride of Christ. Also, this group probably includes Old Testament saints and Tribulation saints that have died. Jude 14 says, Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,…

Revelation 19:14 NKJV
14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.

Earlier, when we read Revelation 19:6-9, we learned who these are that are clothed in fine linen, clean and white. They are the Bride of Christ, who is celebrating the marriage to the groom, Christ, at the wedding feast.

AT THE TIME CHRIST COMES TO EARTH WITH HIS SAINTS, WHAT IS TAKING PLACE ON EARTH AT THAT VERY MOMENT?

The Battle of Armageddon will be at its height.

Revelation 16:16 NKJV
16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

WHAT DOES CHRIST DO IMMEDIATELY UPON ARRIVING ON EARTH?

Four things are mentioned, three of which take place if fairly short order. The fourth takes a little time to complete. The first three things that happen quickly are:

1. He destroys the armies of the Antichrist.

Revelation 19:19 NKJV
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.

The beast is the Antichrist. He is often referred to in this manner in the book of Revelation. And he is making war against the one sitting on the horse, and against his army. According to verse 11, earlier in the chapter, we know that the person sitting on the horse is Christ. And his army are the saints, clothed in white - his bride - which accompany him back to earth.

Revelation 19:21 NKJV, tells us the action Christ takes.
21 And the rest [that's all the armies of the Antichrist] 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.

So one thing that happens upon Christ's arrival to earth, is the destruction of the armies of the Antichrist. The second thing is……

2. The Antichrist and his right-hand man, the False Prophet, are cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 19:20 NKJV
20 Then the beast (that's the Antichrist) 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.

Here we have the second thing that occurs when Christ arrives. The Antichrist and the False Prophet will be cast alive into the Lake of Fire. Later, we will study these two people in much greater detail. And we will look at who makes up the armies of the Antichrist.

Now for the third thing Christ does in short order.

3. Satan is put in chains and cast into the bottomless pit

Revelation 20:1-3 NKJV
1 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.

So, the 3rd thing that happens is, an angel, having a chain, binds Satan and throws him into the bottomless pit.

The fourth thing that takes place after Christ returns to earth is the setting up of His (Christ's) kingdom here on earth for 1,000 years. We find that in the next verse.

Revelation 20:4 NKJV
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.

WHAT WILL LIFE BE LIKE DURING THE 1000 YEAR REIGN OF CHRIST?

1. Justice & Equity (Isaiah 11:4, Jer. 23:5)

2. The saints will reign with him (Rev. 20:4)

3. Peace

4. Long life

5. Restoration of Creation

WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END OF THE 1000 YEARS?

1. Satan is loosed from the bottomless pit for a short time. (Rev. 20:7)

2. Satan is cast into the Lake of Fire (vs. 10).

3. The White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15)

4. The ungodly are cast into the Lake of Fire. (vs. 15)

5. We see the New Heaven and the New Earth. (Rev. 21:1)

6. We see the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2).

Let's briefly look at each of these.

Satan is loosed from the Bottomless Pit

Revelation 20:7 NIV
7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison

WHAT ARE WE TOLD THAT SATAN DOES?

Revelation 20:8 NIV
8 and [Satan] will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth - Gog and Magog - to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.

How many times in your life have you (and I) questioned why God allowed some things to happen? You could probably ask that question again here. Doesn't it seem strange that once Satan was bound and gagged, God would allow him to come back and stir up trouble again? We will address this question in greater detail later, but let me give two observations from this series of events. Satan's release will reveal two things.

1. It reveals that Satan never changes.

He continues his evil deception. He goes all over the earth to convince people to make war against Christ.

HOW SUCCESSFUL IS SATAN IN CONVINCING PEOPLE? He is very successful. The last phrase of the Passage we just reads: In number they are like the sand on the seashore. Even though these people have lived most or all of their lives under the peace and equity of the reign of Jesus Christ, people will still be deceived by Satan. So the first thing revealed after Satan's release is that Satan never changes. He is still a deceiver and is out to kill and destroy.

2. The second thing that is revealed is that man still has a sinful nature.

Because people are sinful by nature, people will be easy targets for Satan's enticements. When Satan is released for a time, he will gather some of his old cohorts - Gog and Magog, the nations that hated Israel, and march one more time on Jerusalem, where Jesus is. And, even though people have lived under ideal conditions of Christ's kingdom, human hearts do not change. The Scripture is correct when it describes the human heart as "desperately wicked."

DOES THIS BATTLE LAST VERY LONG? Not very long.

Revelation 20:9 NIV
9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

The battle doesn't last long. Fire comes out of heaven and zaps them.

IS THAT THE END OF SATAN? ÒÒIF NOT, WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM NEXT?

Verse 10 says Satan is now cast into the Lake of Fire?

UP TO THIS MOMENT, WHO ARE THE ONLY INHABITANTS OF THE LAKE OF FIRE?

Remember what we read in Revelation 19:20. It tells us that the Antichrist (Beast) and the False Prophet were cast alive into the Lake of Fire. The third person is Satan himself.

Revelation 20:10 NAS
10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also;

Notice what happens to people who are cast into the Lake of Fire. The verse we just read says "where the beast and the false prophet are," indicating they are still alive. They were cast alive into the Lake of Fire (19:20) and they are still alive after 1,000 years. I point that out to show that people who are cast into the Lake of Fire are not just burned up, and then cease to exist. Like the antichrist and the false prophet, they will continue to exist in a state of torment. And it won't end after a thousand years either. The last phrase of the verse we just read says, "they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

WHAT TAKES PLACE NEXT? The Great White Throne judgment.

Revelation 20:11-13 NAS
11 And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

Earlier in this 20th chapter of Revelation, we read about the 1st resurrection. The event described here is the second resurrection. This is when the unsaved dead from Adam until the end of the Millennium are raised, and their tormented souls are reunited with their bodies.

AGAIN, WHO IS JUDGED AT THE "WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT?" Only the ungodly.

WHAT IS THE FINAL DESTINATION OF EVERYONE AT THIS JUDGMENT?

Revelation 20:15 NAS
15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

WHAT IS THE NEXT THING JOHN WRITES ABOUT IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION?

Revelation 21:1 NIV
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

There are a number of other Scriptures, both in the Old and New Testaments, that address these changes mentioned here. I won't say much about the new heaven and new earth at this time, but it will be addressed in a later lesson. The physical makeup of the new earth will be drastically different. 75% of the earth we now live on is covered by seas. In the new earth, there will be no seas.

WHAT IS THE NEXT THING JOHN SEES? He gets a vision of the New Jerusalem.

Revelation 21:2 NKJV
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.

It appears that verses one and two represent two separate visions which John had. In verse one, John says "he saw." It goes on, in verse two, "Then I…....saw". The word "then" at the beginning of verse 2 indicates a sequence.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE DETAILS WE KNOW ABOUT THIS CITY?

o It is 12,000 furlongs square (that's approximately 1,500 miles square.) (21:16)

o It has 12 gates (21:12)

o It has a wall (21:14)

o It has 12 foundations, each being a precious stone (21:19)

o No temple is there (21:22)

o No night (vs 23)

o No sun or moon (vs. 25)

o Rivers flow out from the throne (22:1)

o It contains the tree of life (22:2)

o Streets of pure gold (21:21)

This is the place where we will live forever. This is what Jesus has been preparing for his bride and those that followed God. We will not be sitting on clouds strumming our harps. This will be a place of great activity. It will be pure "joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8)

Last Updated: Wednesday September 07 2011
©2001 John's Notes