Transcript
Two men were out walking through the woods and came across a well. Looking inside, one said, “Wow, that looks deep.” The other nodded and said, “Sure does. Toss a few pebbles in there and see how deep it is.”
They picked up a few pebbles and threw them in. They waited to hear a noise, but there was nothing. So, they decided to throw some larger rocks down to see how deep it was. They tossed them in, but again, there was no noise.
They looked at each other in amazement. One got a determined look on his face and said: “Hey, there’s a railroad tie. Help me carry it over here. When we toss it in it has to make some noise.” The two dragged the heavy tie over to the well and heaved it in. Not a sound came from the hole.
Suddenly, out of the nearby woods, a goat appeared, running like the wind. It rushed toward the two men, then right past them, running as fast as its legs would carry it. Then it leaped in the air and down into the well.
The two men were astonished with what they’d just seen. A farmer then came sauntering out of the woods. He saw the men and came over.
The farmer asked them, “Hey, you two guys seen my goat out here?” The men replied, “We sure did! Craziest thing we’ve ever seen! It came running like crazy and just jumped into this here well!”
“Oh no,” replied the farmer. “That couldn’t have been my goat. My goat was chained to a railroad tie.”
There are many things that will go wrong in the future Tribulation, many disasters and tragedies. In this episode, we will be looking at time future, and the sequence of end times events.
Revelation 6:1: “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.”
According to Daniel 9, one week, or seven years are left and assigned to Israel in God’s prophetic calendar prior to the millennial kingdom on earth. This should have happened long ago, but God interrupted His program with Israel and temporarily set Israel aside.
He then turned to the Gentiles, the nations, and ushered in a dispensation and age He had kept secret since the world began. Today, under grace, God is building a Church called the Body of Christ, giving anyone who trusts Christ as their Savior a heavenly hope.
This age closes when the Church is removed from the earth at the Rapture. God will then resume His dealings with Israel and complete the prophetic calendar and the seven years remaining in Daniel’s prophecy. This time in Scripture is called “the time of Jacob’s [or Israel’s] trouble.”
These seven years begin with the signing of a covenant, an agreement between the Anti-Christ and the nation Israel, and the years end with Christ’s return to the earth at His Second Coming to destroy the Anti-Christ at the Battle of Armageddon.
The Tribulation has three main parts, the first 3 1/2 years are called “the beginning of sorrows,” the last 3 ½ years are called “the great tribulation.” And the middle is filled with significant events.
God is never without a witness. After the Rapture, the Word of God will still be here. The Holy Spirit will be here and be active. And God’s two witnesses will suddenly appear in Jerusalem, where they will prophesy for 3 1/2 years.
These two will minister according to the great commission and preach the gospel of the kingdom, and perform signs, miracles, and wonders, which will authenticate their message and ministry.
The witnesses will bear witness to Christ that He is the true Messiah, the Son of living God, and preach that people must repent and be water baptized to be saved.
The ministry of these two witnesses will result in the conversion of the 144,000 in Israel, 12,000 men from each of the 12 tribes of Israel.
These will, in turn, be Jewish missionaries who will evangelize for Christ and will carry the kingdom gospel to the ends of the earth.
It will not be easy to be saved in the Tribulation. Satanic opposition and deception will be intense. And the horrors of that day will make it so that most will be just trying to survive. But even so, many will be saved according to Revelation chapter 7. However, those who are saved in that chapter have also died during the tribulation.
Describing the beginning of the Tribulation, the Lord said, “All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
“Beginning of sorrows” refers to the beginning of labor pains. As labor pains increase in pain and intensity, so the Tribulation gets increasingly worse as you go.
There are three primary sets of judgments that await the world in the Tribulation: seven seals, out of which flow the seven trumpets, from which come the seven vials. Each subsequent set of judgments will be more severe as the Day of the Lord proceeds.
In chapter 5 of Revelation, Christ, the Lamb, was the only One found worthy to open the book that was sealed with seven seals. This book contains all the judgments of the coming tribulation.
As the Lamb breaks the seven seals that secure the scroll, each seal reveals a new demonstration of God’s judgment on the earth in the future Tribulation.
The first seal that is broken results in ominous thunder. As thunder precedes a storm, the “thunder” here marks the beginning of the approaching storm of the Tribulation.
The Tribulation begins with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, on white, red, black, and pale horses.
When the first seal is broken, it reveals a white horse and a rider.
At Christ’s Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation, He will return on a white horse to conquer. The opening of the first seal reveals how Satan’s Antichrist will gallop onto the world’s scene at the beginning of the Tribulation. He is pictured as counterfeiting the true Christ, by riding on to the stage of the world on a white horse “to conquer.”
The Tribulation begins with a brief period of peace. The Apostle Paul described it as, “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child…” (1 Thes. 5:3).
Thus, when seal two is broken and a second horse rides, it is a red horse, the color of blood. The second seal results in wars, bloodshed, slaughter, worldwide conflict, and peace being removed from the earth.
As the Lord said in His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, “there will be wars and rumors of wars…for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.”
Seal three is broken and a black horse rides onto the scene. The rider of the black horse holds “a pair of balances,” a symbol of commerce and trade. This portrays the scarcity of food and it being carefully measured due to famine. And the scarcity of food will result in global hunger.
Seal four is broken and a pale horse rides. Pale is the color of death, and Death rides on this horse, with Hell, or Hades, following behind him.
The pale horse shows the tremendous, cumulative death toll from the dictatorship, war, famine, and starvation described by the previous three horsemen, as well as the many deaths due to the pestilences and wild beasts that come with his arrival.
In light of the current population of nearly 8 billion people, this means that close to 2 billion people will die in the early part of the Tribulation.
Seal five is broken and reveals that many believers who trust the gospel of the kingdom in the Tribulation will also die for their faith in Christ. The Lord said in Matthew 24:9 of this time, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.”
Seal six is broken and reveals natural disasters, including a great earthquake that moves mountains and islands out of place. This is also accompanied by celestial upheaval, as the sun will become black, the moon will turn red, and stars will fall to the earth.
Revelation 8:1-2: “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.”
As the seventh seal is opened, there is an eerie silence of anticipation at the judgment that God is about to unleash on the world.
The first trumpet sounds and results in a horrifying storm made up of a mixture of hail and fire like in the days of Moses, which decimates forests and causes 1/3 of the earth’s trees and all green grass to be burned.
The second trumpet results in “a great mountain burning with fire,” which sounds like an asteroid, being cast into the sea. This causes 1/3 of the sea to be turned into blood, like in the days of Moses.
The third trumpet results in “a great star from heaven” falling upon, contaminating, and rendering fatal 1/3 of the fresh water in rivers and springs.
The fourth trumpet results in God removing 1/3 of the light from the sun, moon, and stars, reducing the brightness of these celestial bodies during both day and night.
The last three trumpets introduce three great woes of judgment, one woe for each remaining trumpet blast (9:12; 11:14). While the first four trumpets will be horrendous, the last three will be even worse.
The fifth trumpet, the first woe, is a plague of monstrous locusts that mercilessly torture, but does not kill, mankind for five months. These demonic creatures will sting people and inflict the same kind of agonizing pain that comes from a scorpion sting (9:1-11).
The torment will be so great that people will desire death as a relief, and they’ll try to kill themselves but God won’t allow it. Their attempts to end their misery in suicide will be unsuccessful.
Trumpet five is sounded and results in hurt and torture. The sixth trumpet is sounded and results in death.
The sixth trumpet, the second woe, is a plague of demonic horsemen riding monstrous horses, 200 million strong. For thirteen months, these horsemen will kill and ultimately slay 1/3 of the world’s population by fire, smoke, and brimstone (9:12-19).
In 2024, the world population is approximately 8 billion. Under the fourth seal, one-fourth of the world’s population, or 2 billion people, will die (6:7-8), leaving 6 billion.
During the sixth trumpet, one-third of the world’s remaining population of 6 billion people, or 2 billion people, will die (9:18), leaving 4 billion. By the mid-part of the Tribulation, one-half of the world’s population will be dead.
The demonic locusts will torture men for “five months” (9:5,10). The demonic horsemen will ravage mankind for “an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year,” or thirteen months and 25 hours.
Adding the five months to the thirteen months makes 18 months, or 1 1/2 years. Thus, we learn that the previous judgments of the six seals and four trumpets will take two years.
The events under the sixth trumpet will end at the midpoint of the seven-year Tribulation. The seal and trumpet judgments take place during the first 3 1/2 years.
The bowl judgments take place in the second 3 1/2 years, which, again, our Lord called “great tribulation” (Matt. 24:21 cf. Rev. 2:22; 7:14).
This brings us to the midpoint of the Tribulation. At this point, a number of significant events take place.
First, the Anti-Christ will be assassinated, and by God’s permission, he will rise from the dead. After he does, the two witnesses in Jerusalem will be killed by the Anti-Christ, but God will raise them up again after 3 1/2 days and take them to heaven.
There will be war in heaven, as Michael and his angels will fight Satan and his demons, and Satan and his demons will be cast down out of the heavens to the earth for the remainder of the Tribulation.
The Abomination of Desolation takes place at this time. Following the assassination and resurrection of the Antichrist, the Antichrist will go into the temple, enter the holy of holies and sit on the mercy seat and declare that He is the Messiah and God.
Then, the false prophet will decree that an image should be created and fashioned to the beast’s supposed glory, and this idol will stand in the holy place in the temple.
Setting up an idol is bad, but setting an idol up in the temple is the pinnacle of blasphemy. It is an abomination to God, and it results in desolation, or desecrating the temple.
A worldwide decree is then made and given that all must worship this image or be killed.
It is also at this time that the visible mark (or image) of the beast, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name, 666, is required on people’s right hand or foreheads to be able to buy and sell (13:17). Those loyal to Anti-Christ, in their cult worship of him, will gladly take this mark.
Revelation 11:14-15: “The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”
The third woe that “cometh quickly” after the second woe means it will occur after the short delay of the significant events of the middle of the Tribulation.
The seventh trumpet (11:15), which is the third woe, is the trumpet which sounds for the beginning of the seven last plagues. Thus, the third woe entails all the dreadful bowl judgments (15:1-8) that will be poured out during the Great Tribulation (16:1-21).
They will be the most severe judgments the world has ever seen, and “in them is filled up the wrath of God,” Revelation 15:1 says.
The Lord said that if the disasters and judgments of this time were to continue, “no flesh would be saved,” or no one would survive; all would die.
The first bowl is poured out on the earth, afflicting all those who’ve taken the mark of the beast with incurable, painful, open skin sores.
The second bowl is poured out into the oceans of the world, and all the water in the world’s oceans will turn to blood, turning thick, dark, coagulated, putrid, and rotting, “as the blood of a dead man.” This results in the death of all marine life.
The third bowl is poured out on all the rivers and fountains of water, and all freshwater sources will turn to blood, leaving no pure water for drinking.
The fourth bowl is poured out on the sun, causing the sun’s heat to be intensified and people all over the world will be scorched, seared, and burned with great heat.
And the world will face this extreme heat with no fresh water to drink, and thus, there will be worldwide thirst.
The fifth bowl is poured out on the throne of the Anti-Christ and his kingdom. His throne and his kingdom will be worldwide, so the world will be struck with intense, thick darkness.
These things all remind us of the suffering of hell. Hell will be a place of intense, continual torment, where they will thirst, and be scorched with heat, and it will be a place of utter and total darkness. The Tribulation will literally be hell on the earth.
The sixth bowl is poured out on the River Euphrates to dry it up. This is done in preparation for the battle of Armageddon. It allows the kings of the east ease of passage to come to invade Israel, as God is drawing them in for this battle to destroy them.
The seventh bowl is poured out “into the air.” The completion of God’s wrath in the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments is punctuated by the most powerful earthquake in the history of the world.
The cities of the world will be flattened by the great earthquake. The earthquake will alter the earth’s topography, leveling every single mountain and causing every single island to disappear.
God will personally deal also with the capital city of the Antichrist’s empire, Babylon, at this time. She will receive a special outpouring of God’s fierce wrath and be destroyed.
And then great hail, 75-100 pound hailstones will fall on this world, causing unimaginable devastation and death.
Then the Antichrist, with the kings of the earth and their armies will overrun Israel and they will gather to make war against Jesus Christ.
The heavens will open, and Christ will return at His Second Coming on a white horse, coming to judge and make war. He will destroy this large confederation with the “sharp sword” that goes out of His mouth, or with the power of His Word. And the beast and the false prophet will be cast alive into the lake of fire.
Daniel 12:11-12: “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.”
In this prophecy, Daniel was told that from the taking away of the daily sacrifice by the Antichrist, and the abomination of desolation, or the idol that is set up in the temple in the middle of the Tribulation, there would be 1290 days.
According to the prophetic timetable, in Revelation 12:6, the last 3 ½ years are 1260 days. So Daniel’s prophecy adds an additional 30 days.
Then in verse 12, the angel tells Daniel that it would be 1335 days from the middle of the Tribulation, 75 days more than the 1260, meaning there would be an additional 45 days on top of the 30 days.
In this passage, Israel is given an exact day for the establishment of the Messiah’s earthly kingdom. What this means is that a grand total of 75 days after the battle of Armageddon, the kingdom will be established on the earth.
And a number of prophetic events take place during the 75 days. One event is the binding and confining of Satan and his demons in the center of the earth for 1000 years.
All those in rebellion against the King of Israel will be removed before He sets up His worldwide kingdom, including the foremost rebel, the devil and his angels. Christ will reign for 1000 years without any opposition from these supernatural enemies.
The first resurrection of prophecy will also take place at this time, as the Lord will raise all the prophetic believers who died prior to the dispensation of grace, and all those who died after the Rapture of the Church, during the Tribulation.
Revelation 20:6 says of these saints, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”
The regathering of Israel will take place during the 75 days as well. Israelites will be scattered all over the world during the Tribulation, and those who survive that time will be brought back to the Promised Land for the kingdom.
The Lord said of this regathering, that after His Second coming, “He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
The judgment of Israel will take place prior to the kingdom. The government will be organized and the saints will be rewarded and given positions of authority in His kingdom.
This, along with the Judgment of the nations, or the judgment of the sheep and the goats, will also take place in these 75 days. These nations will be judged for how they treated Israel during the Tribulation. If they helped Israel, they will be permitted entrance into the kingdom. If they refused to help Israel, they will be cast into everlasting fire.
Then the kingdom will be established, and Christ will rule and reign as King over all the earth in peace and righteousness for 1000 years.
Those who survive the Tribulation will be permitted entrance into the kingdom in their natural bodies. These survivors will have children in the kingdom, and their children will have children, and so on for 1000 years. All these people born during the kingdom will have to believe “the gospel of the kingdom,” trusting that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
But many will not believe in the King, rejecting Him even though they will live in a perfect environment of peace and abundance provided by Him.
At the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be loosed from the bottomless pit. He will deceive all these non-believers and will gather them for battle in an attempt to overthrow the King. They will come up to Jerusalem at the Battle of Gog and Magog.
But the battle ends quickly, as fire will rain down from God out of heaven and devour them all.
All unbelievers will be dead at this point. Christ will then raise all the unbelieving for the Great White Throne judgment. They will be fitted with bodies that are able to endure everlasting torment in the fires of hell.
Only those who do not have their names in the book of life appear at the Great White Throne. This judgment determines the degree of their punishment, and they will be cast into the Lake of Fire, to be forever separated from God.
At this time, the heavens and the earth will be refurbished by fire. Peter describes it this way, “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10).
Following this, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. And the eternal state will be ushered in.
The new Jerusalem, the great and glorious city of God, will descend from God’s heaven to the new earth. Believing Israel will rule and reign in Christ in this city forever and ever.
Believing Gentiles from the prophetic program will rule and reign in Christ over the rest of the new earth.
And all the prophetic saints together will reign in Christ on earth forever and ever. But God has a plan, not only for the earth through Israel; He also has a plan for the heavens through the Body of Christ.
And we, the members of the Body of Christ, will be in heaven in the eternal state. Our hope and calling is to rule and reign in Christ in the heavenlies forever and ever.
We are promised in Ephesians 2 that God “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (2:6-7).
And all of this in time future and the eternal state, is to the honor and praise of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”