Matthew
24 21For then there will be great distress, unequaled
from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be
equaled again.
The End Times - After The
Rapture
Where the Rapture
has no signs leading to it's occurring, the Second Coming of Christ
does. It is known as the Seven Mystery Years or the Tribulation. The
Tribulation is a seven year period that begins with the rise to power of
the Antichrist. He will broker a seven year peace treaty / agreement /accord
(Watch for this in the news - You'll SEE!) between Israel
and the world. The signing of this peace treaty is the beginning of the
Tribulation. The book of Revelation is dedicated to these years and
describes in great detail the signs that will occur that lead up to
Christ's return. These signs are in the form of judgments passed by God
upon man. You will note that the judgments get progressively worse as
time goes on.
These two witnesses will become
arch-enemies of the Antichrist and will prophesy for 1260 days (the
first half of the Tribulation). The two witnesses will be untouchable,
no harm will come to them until the end of the given time. These two
along with the 144,000 sealed witnesses of God Revelation
7:1-17 will bring countless masses to God during the Tribulation.
During the first 1260 days of the witness's ministry they will be able
to cause all rain to cease falling and have the power over water
enabling them to turn it to blood.
The False Prophet on the other hand will
complete the unholy trinity of evil (Satan, the Antichrist, and the
Prophet....which to say is the antithesis of the Holy Trinity, the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit or Word of God). The False Prophet
will be the leader of the Antichrist's one world religion and will have
been given the power to perform some signs to win over the people (he
will call fire down from the Heavens..
The Seal Judgments - The seal
judgments represents the judgments put forth by God during the
first quarter (or 21 months) of the Tribulation.
The first horseman indicates
a man of authority (the horse and the crown) who will
conquer the world with diplomacy by offering peace 1
Thessalonians 5:1-3 (symbolized by the bow with no
arrows). This ruler is the AntiChrist 1
John 4:3 or the "man of sin" 2
Thessalonians 2:3.
The black horse symbolizes
world famine. A "penny" represents a days wage.
The "oil and wine" symbolize the foods of the rich
which will be unscathed. This shows that this famine will
affect only the poor in the world.
When the fourth seal is
broken death will come to one fourth of the population of
the earth due to the ravages of war, famine and an apparent
rampage of wild animals against the people of the earth.
The Souls under the Alter
symbolizes those who were martyred and beheaded for their
faith at the beginning of the Tribulation. They will not
recieve their resurrected bodies until Christ returns at the
end of the Tribulation Revelation
20:4-5
The sixth seal represents the
wrath of God pouring out on the world. It will prove to be
the worst earthquake in the history of the Earth. At this
point even the lost will now know these judgments are from
the Christ they rejected.
Between the opening of the
sixth and seventh seals we see the divine protection of the
earth by God while his angels seal 144,000 witnesses. God
will select 12,000 Jews from each of the 12 tribes of Israel
to be his special servants thought the remainder of the
Tribulation. These witnesses who are spread throughout the
world will spread the Gospel and convert more people to
Christ than have been saved in the last 2000 years. Their
persecution by the Antichrist will be great but they've
received the gift of eternal life which can only be given by
accepting Jesus as your savior.
I believe that those
Christians living during this time and afterwards who commit
to Jesus will also be sealed by God so they may recognize
one another. It's a direct counter to the mark of those who
receive the Antichrist and reject Jesus.
When the seventh seal is
broken there will be a silence in heaven for a half and
hour. Possibly this is similar to a moment of silence before
temple worship. Otherwise the breaking of the seventh seal
symbolizes the end of the seal judgments and ushers in the
trumpet judgments.
The Trumpet Judgments - The
seal judgments represents the judgments put forth by God during the
second quarter (or 21 months) of the Tribulation.
Whether literal or
symbolically speaking for some nuclear devestation, one
third of the earth's vegetation will be burnt up by a rain
of hail and fire mixed with blood.
Again, whether literal or
symbolic, "something" like a great mountain will
be thrown into the sea and destroy one third of all sea
life. Whether it is a meteor or asteroid or again some
nuclear weapon based devastation the outcome is clear.
Wormwood in Greek is
apsinthos (a bitter, often poisonous, herb or drug). It may
be the result of another meteor or asteroid strike that
causes one third of the earth's fresh waters to become
bitter (poisonous).
Here we see that the earth
will become one third more dark. A literal darkening of the
sun, moon and stars. The cause...it may be something in the
line of a nuclear winter. Or if the text is taken literally,
God dims those sources of light which he put forth in the
beginning Genesis
1:1 The effects of this are disastrous as it will affect
growth of plants and therefore production of food.
The Fifth Trumpet - The
Locusts of Apollyon Attack Revelation
9:1-11
Out of a pit will arise
creatures like a combination of beasts. Their sting will
drive those struck mad with pain to the point the person
struck will wish to die, but will be unable to. Of note,
these creatures are forbidden to strike those with the seal
of God on their forehead. Again, this may be a literal event
with actual creatures under the leadership of Apollyon (the
"destroyer") or a figurative description for the
tormenting of human inhabitants of earth by demons.
This judgment discusses the
four angels bound at the Euphrates (most likely fallen
angels or demons that God had bound to prevent from harming
mankind) and upon releasing them how they unleash a 200
million strong army of demons that kill mankind with their
"plagues". The creatures will kill with the power
from their heads (fire, brimstone and smoke) or with a bite
from their tail (which is of a serpant). Again, it seems
that those who have received the seal of God will go
unharmed by this judgment as they can only be killed by the
Antichrist and his bad guys.
At the completion of their
testimony the beast that ascends out of the pit will make
war with them, overcome them and kill them. The beast
(Antichrist and the people) will leave their bodies in the
street for three and a half days. At the close of those
three and a half days God will resurrect them and they will
ascend to heaven in a cloud. At the same time a great
earthquake will destroy a tenth of Jerusalem and kill 7000
Upon the sounding of this judgment, the elders in heaven rejoice and worship God for
they know the time of God's judgment of all things and His
rectifying the world is only three and one half years away.
The Mid Tribulation Occurances -
There are several things that occur during the mid time of the
tribulation. After the death of the witnesses the Antichrist will be
killed with a wound to the head, 3 days later he will rise again
(this time though he will be indwelt by Satan). Another significant
event would be the desecration of the Temple (This would imply that
the temple first needs to be rebuilt being as much that the Dome of
the Rock current stands in it's place). The Antichrist will
blaspheme God and defile his Temple. Also the remnant of Israel
(those Jewish believers remaining in Israel) will flee to the
wilderness for 1260 days and be under the protection of God Revelation
12. The dragon (Satan) will send a flood after the woman, but
the earth will swallow up the flood.
The Bowl (Vial) Judgments -
The bowl judgments represents the pouring out of the wrath of God
during the second half (or 42 months) of the Tribulation.
All who worship the image of
the beast and took his mark will be infected by sores most
likely similar to those received by the Egyptians in Exodus
9:8-12
When this judgment is
complete the seas will be completely polluted and kill all
creatures in the sea.
The Third Bowl - The
Rivers and Springs turn to Blood Revelation
16:4-7
Similar to the Second Bowl Judgment, the rivers and springs will turn to blood in
response to the bloodlust by the Antichrist and his
followers towards Christians.
When this judgment is poured
forth the heat and power of the sun will increase and cause
men to be burned. Instead of repenting as is God's desire,
they will curse Him instead.
When this judgment is
executed the Euphrates River will dry up. The Euphrates was
the western boundary of the Roman empire. At this point is
clears the path for the Kings of the East (China etc) to
march on Israel. Also, three demons are sent forth to
convince the leaders of the lands to march on Israel. This
sets the stage for what is known as the Battle of Armageddon.
Ezekiel
39:17-22 / Revelation
16:13-26
The final and most severe judgment
is the Seventh Bowl Judgment. An earthquake so
severe that it literally levels the planet, moving islands
and flattening mountains. It is so severe that John
describes it in detail in the next two chapters of
Revelation. Revelation
17-18
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