WHAT
DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR ME?
PART
6
Now
regarding the things to come. Well, we've already discussed Heaven
and Hell previously. Yet, what about the things regarding “the
end”? Things respecting judgment and the resurrection? First off,
these things are very near! For we read, “He who testifies to these
things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.'” (Revelation 22:20) Let's
take a look and see...
THE SAINTS
RESURRECTED
So,
now, let us examine these things in chronological order. First at
hand is the resurrection of the saints. For it is written, “But we
do not want you to be uniformed, brothers, about those who are
asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For
since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through
Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this
we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who
are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who
have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven
with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the
sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise
first. Then we who are alive, who are left [Christians], will be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one
another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) We also read,
“But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his
coming those who belong to Christ.” (1Cor.15:23) We
see then, that the Christians are the first to be resurrected, that
is after Christ, who is the “firstfruit.”
THE GREAT TRIBULATION
Now,
immediately after the resurrection of the saints, a time called, “The
Tribulation,” will begin and last for seven years. This period can
further be divided into two sections. The first half will be a period
of relative peace. For the false Messiah – the Antichrist will be
ruling the world. Then in the middle of this period he will break the
covenant and all-out havoc will ensue, such as the world has never
seen before! He will demand worship as if he were God. All those who
refuse to bow will lose their lives.
Just
to very briefly look at another view that is commonly held. Many
insist that the Christians will have to go through the great
tribulation. However, if you closely look at the book of Revelation,
you will notice that all mention of the church falls silent after the
first chapters regarding the seven churches. Instead, you will find
everything referring to Israel. For the church will have been taken
from the Earth to be with Jesus Christ, and now once more, God will
be dealing with the Jews. Hence the latter half of the great
tribulation is also known, biblically, as “Jacob's trouble.”
This
will be a time of great distress! We read of such things as this:
“The sea, became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing
died that was in the sea.” “The sun, and it was allowed to scorch
people with fire. They were scorched by its fierce heat.”
(Revelation 16:3,8) We also read, “I looked, and behold, there was
a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full
moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as
the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky
vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain
and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth
and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful,
and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among
the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks,
'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the
throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their
wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:12-17) This is
but a sample of the terrifying things that will transpire upon the
Earth during the seven year tribulation period when God judges the
ungodly.
As
I mentioned earlier, this period will also be a time when God again
deals with Israel. Out of this company, only a remnant will be saved.
The Bible speaks of the “144,000.” These “144,000,” will be a
witness in the Earth. Many from the nations will be saved during the
tribulation period because of their witness. So what will become of
these believers? It is written, “Then I saw thrones, and seated on
them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I
saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of
Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the
beast or its image and had not received the mark on their foreheads
or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a
thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the
thousand years were ended.” (Revelation 20:4-5) Notice that this
company is to the exclusion of all believers prior to the Tribulation
period. So then, we see another company of believers, this time from
those who were saved during the tribulation period.
THE MELLENIUM
After
the tribulation events are completed, Jesus Christ Himself will reign
upon the Earth in the midst of the Jewish nation of Israel. This
period of time will last for 1000 years. It will be a period of true
peace under the true Messiah, as opposed to the imitation peace under
the false Messiah of the Antichrist.
ARMAGEDDON
After
this 1000 year period will be the Battle of Armageddon. At this point
Satan is released from the pit and will gather the non-believers from
the nations in an attempt to overthrow Christ and the Jewish nation.
He will promptly be overthrown by Christ Himself. The ungodly of the
world will now be resurrected and cast into the Lake of Fire, where
all the unholy angels are, including Satan himself. This will be
their permanent home. From here on, God will reign forever and ever
in the new heavens and Earth wherein righteousness dwells! (See
2Peter 3:11-13)
I
know I left out a tremendous amount of details, but this simplifies
things in order to get the general gist of how the “end time”
events play out. This then, brings our six part series to a close.
Thank you for taking the time to read this six part series! See you
soon, for more informative posts!
Victor
J. Reimer
*Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV),
copyrighted © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.
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