End Times Story
Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered nor will they come to mind.
Isaiah 65:17
A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Based on the just concluded series of articles on the End Times, and with a little help from Daniel, Zechariah, Ezekiel and John thrown in, I offer my summary of the order and impact of End Times events. Call it the End Times according to Jack.
One day soon when the world least expects it, there’ll be a surprise attack against Israel. Even the Israelis will be caught unawares, carelessly thinking themselves to be at peace with their neighbors.
With out warning, a coalition of Moslem Nations armed by Russia and led by Iran, will attack Israel with overwhelming force. Had it not been for one other unexpected event this force would totally destroy its target. But long ago the God of Israel, Who neither slumbers nor sleeps, chose just this time to reveal Himself through Israel to the nations. With the considerable force at His own command He’ll intervene to decimate the Moslem armies. As He does the conflict will go nuclear and warheads will fall on the Middle East, Russia, Europe and perhaps even the USA.
As the battle comes to an end, the Israelis will identify the source of their supernaturally wrought victory and joyously petition the Lord to renew their covenant relationship with Him. Jews from all over the world will hasten to Israel as the reality of their reunion with the Lord begins to sink in. Indeed not a single Jewish person in the world will be left behind in this worldwide pilgrimage to the Promised Land. (The preceding is a summary of Ezekiel 38-39)
The Missing People and The Man Of Peace
At the same time two other astonishing things will take place. Just prior to or perhaps right at the beginning of this battle millions of Gentile Christians and Messianic Jews will suddenly disappear with out a trace, and just following it a rising leader will offer the world a plan to restore peace to the Middle East and prevent anything like the recent battle from ever happening again. It’s a good thing the church has disappeared because they would have recognized him immediately as the anti-christ.
This world leader will put an end to the hostilities and authorize the Jews to rebuild their temple so they can return to their ancient worship system. He’ll do this, not because he has any love for the Jewish people or the God they worship, but because he has plans to appropriate the Temple for his own use.
Following directions from the book of Ezekiel, the Israelis will construct their new temple in an area the Lord had him designate some 2600 years ago. It’s about 12 miles north of the present Temple mount in a place that was called Shiloh, where the tabernacle sat for 400 years. In following Ezekiel’s instructions instead of trying to share the Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock, they avoid the peace shattering problems they would have had with the recently defeated Moslem nations.
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace
Unbeknownst to most of the world’s remaining inhabitants, who think the Utopian Age has finally arrived, the authorization to build the Temple begins a seven-year count down to the 2nd Coming. Half way through the seven years the antichrist implements his nefarious plan for the Temple. Standing in the Holy Place, he declares himself to be God, Israel’s long awaited Messiah. Upon this declaration, the last restraints on God’s wrath are removed and a period known as the Great Tribulation begins. Satan is expelled from heaven to personally in-dwell the antichrist and the final war for Planet Earth begins in earnest. For 3 1/2 years warfare, persecution, and judgments from Heaven reduce the population of Earth to about 1/4 of its former number.
During this time multitudes give their hearts to the Lord and are martyred for their faith as the antichrist seeks to wipe out all opposition to his rule. If the Lord didn’t return when He promised, not a single person would be left alive. But knowing that He will return, millions of believers flee into the rocks of Petra, where they’re supernaturally protected, to await His Glorious Appearing.
The War To End All Wars
For his part the antichrist amasses huge forces for the coming battle of Armageddon, with a wary eye on a 200 million strong army from the East that’s trying to sneak in and steal the victory away from him. By some estimates as many as 400 million combatants will be gathered in and around Israel for this battle, said to be the climax of the War for Planet Earth.
But the skies open and the Lord appears in glory with all His Holy Ones to reclaim that which He’s bought and paid for with His own blood, shed on the cross. In hardly any time at all the battle is over, the enemy vanquished, and the Lord established as King of the whole Earth.
The moment the Lord’s feet touch the Mount of Olives, a great earthquake occurs. The earthquake splits the Mount of Olives in half from East to West and the old Temple Mount, located directly to the west, crumbles into the earth to disappear forever. Suddenly a gushing spring bubbles up massive amounts of clear fresh water from under the New Temple, a few miles to the North. The water emerges from under the south end of the Temple and flows southward into the ravine created by the earthquake. Soon the water becomes a mighty river, branching west to the Mediterranean and east to the Dead Sea, filling the ravine. Fruit trees, bearing a different fruit each month, and whose leaves are used for healing, line its banks. The inflow of so much fresh water causes the Dead Sea to come alive, teeming with fish. Only the southern tip, where Sodom and Gomorrah once stood, remains a salt marsh.
Judgment Day
One of the Lord’s first official acts after assuming His role as King of the Whole Earth is to gather the Tribulation Survivors from all over the world to the Kidron Valley for judgment. Separating the believers from the unbelievers, He welcomes believers into His Kingdom while consigning unbelievers to the outer darkness. These believers, still in their natural human state, are the people who will repopulate the earth during the Kingdom Age. Concluding this judgment, the Lord has Satan bound in chains for the duration of the 1000 years.
A time of absolute peace and tranquility ensues on Earth with Satan bound and all unbelievers taken away while in the skies above the New Jerusalem, home of the Church, circles the Earth in a low orbit. Its unfathomable riches and spacious accommodations allow members of the Church to dwell, in a level of luxury and comfort to be envied even by royalty, with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forever.
On Earth, Tribulation Survivors discover that the final judgments of the Great Tribulation have served to correct the ancient errors introduced into the Earth’s axis and orbit by near collisions with other planets. As a result a luscious sub-tropical climate again blesses the whole Earth. The collapsed water-vapor canopy is restored to prevent life shortening ultra violet rays from entering the atmosphere and Earth dwellers again see life spans nearly 1000 years long. Earth is once more a worldwide Garden Paradise.
Judgment Day 2… The Great White Throne
During the Kingdom Age, the offspring of Earth’s natural inhabitants will have the same opportunity to accept the pardon purchased for them at the cross as people born in the past have had. As the Kingdom Age comes to an end, those who’ve refused His pardon begin to rebel against the Lord, and upon Satan’s release are drawn into his final attempt to unseat the Lord and re-capture the planet. In moments the rebellion is squashed, the rebels destroyed, and Satan is thrown into the eternal fires to suffer forever with those who’ve sided with him. Concurrently, all the unsaved dead from the beginning of time are resurrected to stand before the Great White Throne in judgment. Their lives pass in review and as their works fail to meet even their own flawed standards, let alone God’s, they too are consigned to the eternal fires.
The Bible, being the handbook for the Age of Man, does not address Eternity except to say that there is one, where the saved will dwell in bliss in the presence of the Lord forever (life) while the unsaved suffer never-ending punishment (death). You see, everyone ever conceived exists forever. We all inhabit eternity, the only question being where we’ll spend it. There are just two destinations, life or death, and we all have to choose for ourselves. If you haven’t decided yet, there’s still time but you’d better hurry, because one day soon the final bell will ring, and remember, the default choice is death. But for those who choose life, the greatest victory in the history of mankind is just over the horizon, and if you miss out you’ll regret it forever. If you listen carefully you can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 07-11-04
Related Posts:
- The Timing Of Ezekiel’s Battle
- Timing Of The Peace Treaty
- Peace With The Palestinians
- Questioning The Placement Of Ezekiel’s Battle
- New Temple Questions
