What…Why…When
This seminar will consist of
three segments. Each segment will focus on an
important question:
1. “What is
coming?”
2. “Why is
it coming?”
3. “When is
it coming?”
Because this presentation
will be brief, I do not have the time to prove
each point from the Bible as we proceed. So,
please consider this seminar a “bird’s
eye view.”
My objective is to encourage
you to restudy your Bible and rethink your
understanding of God’s love and His plan.
If you feel there is
substance to what you read during this seminar
please visit our website which will be given at
the end of this three segment seminar.
OK, let’s get down to
business.
“What is coming?”
What does the Bible predict?
The first thing you should
know is that apocalyptic prophecy has been
steadily unfolding over the past 2,615 years.
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26 Centuries
In other words, the
fulfillment of apocalyptic prophecy has been
ongoing for a very long time.
There are 17 apocalyptic
prophecies in the books of Daniel and Revelation
and they “stack” on top of each other
something like layers on a wedding cake.
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3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Because each prophecy is
chronological in nature, we can align the 17
prophecies in Daniel and Revelation.
The end result is that we
can identify the most recent fulfillment and we
can determine what the next prophetic will be!
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So, what is coming next?
In general terms, Bible
prophecy predicts . . . . .
The commencement of
God’s wrath is next.
God’s wrath will come
in two phases.
1. The seven
trumpets – 1,265 days
2. The seven
bowls – 70 days
The seven trumpets are seven
specific judgments from God.
These judgments are
associated with seven trumpets in the book of
Revelation because a trumpet will sound in
Heaven’s temple as each judgment falls on
Earth.
In other worlds, seven
trumpet blasts in Heaven’s temple and seven
specific judgment falling on Earth will signal
the coming end of the world.
The first four judgments
will occur over a period of approximately 64 days
and 1.75 billion people, that’s 25% of
Earth’s population will perish. (Revelation
6:8)
The destruction of 1.75
billion people within two months is unthinkable,
but God’s wrath is awesome.
The first four trumpets will
fall upon notoriously wicked places and the last
three trumpets will fall upon defiant, wicked
people.
1-4: wicked places
5-7: wicked people
During the sixth trumpet,
another 1.75 billion people will be killed.
At the end of the seven
trumpets, the population of Earth will be less
than half of what it is now.
This is sad. 50% of
Earth’s population is about to perish and
most people are totally unaware. Why?
Indifference Ignorance?
Carelessness? Unbelief?
No time to study God’s
Word?
Remember this:
Human beings are free to
believe whatever they want to believe.
We are free to deny whatever
we want to deny.
However, our beliefs and
denials have no effect on God. Zero.
Most everyone in Noah’s
day did not believe a flood was coming.
What effect did their
thinking have on God? Zero.
God has several purposes for
the seven trumpets. Here are seven:
1. They will
signal the end of life on planet Earth.
2. They will
signal the arrival of judgment day. God will test
and judge the living during the seven trumpets.
3. The seven
trumpets will signal God’s disgust with
man’s degenerate behavior.
4. The seven
trumpets will do something most unusual: They
will cause Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Pagans,
Atheists, Catholics and Protestants to consider
the reality and authority of Jesus Christ.
5. The seven
trumpets will shatter religious paradigms. As a
result, many Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Pagans,
Atheists, Catholics and Protestants will
thoughtfully consider a gospel that is contrary
to what each religious group currently believes!
6. God will use
the seven trumpets to separate “the sheep
from the goats.”
7. The seven
trumpets will reveal the love of God and the
truth about God as nothing else can do!
God has deliberately and
thoughtfully designed the seven trumpets to
accomplish these and other objectives and one
glorious result will be the salvation of millions
of people!
According to Daniel 12, the
length of the Great Tribulation will be 1,335
days.
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7
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- - - - - - Second Coming
Trumpets Bowls
1,265 + 70
= 1,335 days
The commencement of the
seven trumpets will be sudden and overwhelming.
For reasons beyond the scope
of this short study, I believe nuclear was will
soon break out.
A day will come when
tensions and hostilities between nations will
boil over and there will be a nuclear exchange.
Ten of thousands will die.
Immediately, world leaders
will spring into action, doing everything
possible to restore “peace and safety.”
The Bible says:
“For when they shall
say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with
child; and they shall not escape. But ye,
brethren, are not in darkness, that this day
should overtake you as a thief.” (KJV, 1
Thessalonians 5:3,4)
What is Paul talking about?
A causal Bible student will
not appreciate Paul’s words, but they are
loaded with meaning.
Look again:
“When people are saying
“Peace and Safety: sudden destruction will
come upon them – as labor pains on a
pregnant woman.”
When a pregnant woman is
near delivery, labor pains can begin suddenly
– at any time.
Parallel:
World conditions are
deteriorating to the point that nuclear war can
suddenly occur – at any time.
To understand Paul’s
prediction a little explanation is in order.
The Jews believed that
sudden destruction was a sign from God. It was
proof of God’s wrath.
Sudden destruction was not
considered a natural event.
Examples:
The rain suddenly began to
fall in Noah’s day.
“…. the springs of
the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of
the heavens were opened.” (Genesis
7:11)
Fire suddenly fell from
Heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah and burned them up.
(Genesis 19:23,24)
Sudden calamity came upon
Job. He lost his sheep, camels, servants and ten
children on the same day! (Job
1:13-22)
Jericho suddenly fell to the
ground. (Joshua 6:20)
The Earth suddenly opened up
and swallowed Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
(Numbers 26: 9,10)
God’s wrath comes
suddenly.
God warned Israel of sudden
destruction:
“Disaster will come
upon you … a catastrophe you cannot foresee
will suddenly come upon you.” (Isaiah
47:11)
But wait! There’s
more.
God promised sudden
destruction if Israel violated His covenant:
Leviticus 26:14 “’But
if you will not listen to me and carry out all
these commands…
Leviticus 26:16 then
I will do this to you: I will bring upon you
sudden terror…”
The point here is that Paul
uses the phrase, “sudden destruction”
in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 to indicate “the
wrath of God.”
Paul predicted a day would
come when the world will cry out for “peace
and safety.”
And while the world is dong
everything possible to restore peace and safety,
sudden destruction (God’s wrath) will break
out.
The Bible says the appointed
time of the end will be a time of wrath.
Daniel 8:19 “He
[the angel] said [to Daniel]: “I am going to
tell you what will happen later in the time of
wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed
time of the end.”
God’s wrath will be
completed during the seven bowls:
Revelation 15:1 “I
saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign:
seven angels with the seven last
plagues—last, because with them God’s
wrath is completed.”
God’s wrath begins with
the seven trumpets.
God’s wrath is
completed with the seven bowls.
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Trumpets - - - - - - Bowls - -
Jesus Christ’s Second Coming
1,265 days
70 days 1,335 days
of the Great Tribulation
Begins
Completed
When God’s wrath
begins, there will be a global upheaval and a
staggering amount of death and destruction.
The whole world will tremble
with fear.
In Numbers 14, God’s
wrath broke out and He killed 14,700.
In Isaiah 37:36, God’s
wrath broke out and He killed 185,000 soldiers.
In Genesis 7, God’s
wrath broke out and He killed 99.9% of the world
– all but Noah and seven other people!
I know it sounds strange at
this point to say that God is love, but God Is
love.
In the next segment I will
show you why God’s love and His wrath are
not in conflict with each other!
For now, we’re dealing
with the question of “what is coming.”
In a sentence, God’s
wrath is coming.
How will it happen?
God will arrest the whole
world with a sudden display of four supernatural
signs:
1. Peals of
deafening thunder that have no known source.
2. Rumblings
[voices will be heard out of the Earth], again,
no known source.
3. Flashes of
lightning [Earth will be engulfed in a huge
electrical storm. The heavens will be lighted up
with dazzling fire and brilliant glory.]
4. Then, a
global earthquake will rip the whole world apart.
This earthquake will destroy
key bridges, thousands of highway overpasses and
hydroelectric dams.
This will pull electrical
grids apart; it will break up highways, runways
and railroad tracks – all over the world!
This earthquake will topple
skyscrapers and bring the whole world to a
screeching halt.
Infrastructures such as
communication, banking, manufacturing, shipping
and food supplies will be broken.
I am talking about the onset
of sudden destruction from God when people are
crying out for peace and safety.
Where you are is where you
will stay.
Travel and transportation
will be severely limited.
A few days after the global
earthquake, the first trumpet will sound and a
corresponding judgment will fall.
The first four trumpets will
occur in rapid succession – over a period of
about 64 days.
Life for everyone on Earth
will dramatically change once the seven trumpets
begin.
Thousands of cities will be
suddenly destroyed.
Twenty-five percent of the
world’s population will die during the first
four trumpets.
God’s judgments will
impose great tribulation on the whole world and
– no one will escape.
The first trumpet-judgment
will be a fiery hailstorm of burning meteors that
will suddenly fall from Heaven.
Thousands of notoriously
wicked cities will be burned up. A third of the
land, a third of the trees and all of the green
grass will be burned up! (Revelation
8:2-7)
Millions of people will be
burned alive.
God will burn up the notably
wicked places on Earth – in the same way and
for reasons that He burned up the ancient cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah!
Genesis 19:24 “Then
the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and
Gomorrah – from the Lord out of the heavens.
Genesis 19:25 Thus
he overthrew those cities and the entire plain,
including all those living in the cities –
and also the vegetation in the land.”
Peter wrote, “….
He [God] condemned the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and he made
them an example of what is going to happen to the
ungodly.”
(2 Peter 2:6)
A couple weeks later, the
second trumpet-judgment will fall.
There will be an asteroid
impact on an ocean.
It will suddenly impact
Earth at 75,000 mph.
A huge tsunami, perhaps a
mile high will radiate outward 360 degrees. This
wall of water will destroy thousands of coastal
cities around that ocean. Millions of people will
drown.
(Just like the tsunami that
hit the island of Sumatra in December 26, 2004.)
Consider this: God will use
fire and water to destroy notably wicked places.
“…. On the earth,
nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the
roaring and tossing of the sea.”
(Luke 21:25)
Hundreds of millions of
godless and wicked people will suddenly be gone.
Once the survivors behold
how God targeted notably wicked places, the Bible
predicts there will be a knee-jerk response.
I don’t have the time
to discuss man’s response to God’s
wrath right now, but I will say that all of the
religions of the world will quickly unite in a
solemn effort to appease God’s wrath so that
He will stop the destruction.
This union is called Babylon
in the book of Revelation.
And Babylon will attempt to
appease God’s wrath by forcing everyone to
worship God.
This explains how the topic
of worship will become a huge controversy during
the Great Tribulation.
A third trumpet will sound
in Heaven – and a third judgment will fall
on Earth.
Revelation 8:10 says,
“a great star, blazing like a torch”
fell upon the Earth.
A wicked continent will be
partially destroyed by this impact.
This asteroid impact will
release the energy of millions of atomic bombs.
The resulting shock wave will destroy cities and
homes and even worse, it will compromise the
geologic strata for thousands of miles.
Underground aquifers will
become contaminated with human waste and toxic
garbage that is buried underground.
Wells and springs will flow
with poisoned water and millions of thirsty
people will drink the poisonous water and die.
The fourth trumpet judgment
will be a period of dense darkness.
The Pacific “ring of
fire” could easily carry the soot and debris
from volcano eruptions around the world and this
could darken the Sun, moon and stars for 90% of
the world’s populations.
Without sunshine, crops will
wither and die. Global winter and famine will
follow.
Survival will become
questionable for everyone.
At this point in time,
everyone will be terrified of God and facing
great tribulation.
Everyone will be searching
for a way to appease God’s wrath so that His
judgments will end.
There’s so much more to
this story, but I don’t have time to tell
it. (Be sure to visit our website.)
However, there is one more
thing about the Great Tribulation that you must
consider.
About two and a half years
after the Great Tribulation begins, God will
release the devil from the spirit realm where he
is presently confined.
Lucifer and his angels will
be permitted to exit the spirit realm and
physically appear before the people of Earth.
According to Revelation 9:3,
Lucifer and his angels will come down out of the
sky – imitating the Second Coming!
Lucifer will masquerade as
Almighty God.
Lucifer and 200 million
demonic angels will perform amazing miracles,
deceiving if possible, the very elect!
Lucifer is the dreaded
Antichrist.
Lucifer is not a human being
although he will physically appear as a glorious
man.
Lucifer is a fallen angel
who once lived in Heaven.
Lucifer and his angels will
eventually take control of Earth and for a short
time, the devil will rule over the world as King
of kings and Lord of lords.
The devil will abolish all
the religions of the world and set up a new
theocracy – a global church-state.
All who refuse to join his
new religion and live under his authority will be
killed.
What will Muslims, Jews,
Catholics, Hindus, Atheists, and Protestants do
when forced to convert?
Those who resist the
devil’s authority will be killed.
In fact, the Bible says that
the devil and his forces will kill 1/3 of
mankind. (Revelation 9:15)
God will test and judge
mankind to see who will stand up for what is
right and true and who will not.
Testing … This is how
faith in God is determined.
I know this is frightening.
But, Jesus said:
Matthew 28:20 “…
And surely I am with you always, to the very end
of the age.”
Revelation 3:10 “….
I will also keep you from [during] the hour of
trial that is going to come upon the whole world
to test those who live on the Earth.
Faith in God means doing
what is right in God’s sight and leaving the
results with Him!
Now, you know why salvation
comes through faith!
Luke 18:8 “….
When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on
the earth?”
May God help us to learn how
to live by faith!
Galatians 3:11 “…
Because, the righteous will live by faith.”
In our next segment, we will
examine the question:
“Why is it
coming?” Why is the wrath of God coming?
We don’t hear much
today about God’s wrath because many people
refuse to hear things that is frightening.
They say, “Don’t
tell me. I’ll just deal with it when I
have to deal with it.”
Much darkness has been
heaped upon the topic of God’s wrath.
And I would agree that it is
better to hear nothing than to hear a distortion
of God’s character.
The Bible speaks the truth.
God Is love and God HAS wrath. These components
within God’s character are not in conflict.
God is changeless.
Malachi 3:6 “I
the Lord do not change…”
God has several dimensions
in His character. I think of God’s
character as though it were a pie, divided into
seven slices.
All of the slices are in
perfect harmony with each other. When properly
aligned and synthesized together, we discover how
the principles of love operate.
Divine love is a set of high
and holy principles that God upholds and sustains
by His mighty power.
The Bible says clearly that
God is love. (1 John 4:8, 16)
This means that God’s
character and actions are in perfect compliance
with eternal principles of love!
If you want to know what
love rally is, study God – for God is love
in action!
Here are seven slices of
God’s character:
1. Righteous
2. Patient
3. Forgiving
4. Merciful
5. Just
/ Fair / Equitable
6. Wrath
/ Protection
7. Changeless
Consider this: If any
one of these elements in God’s character is
excluded or improperly magnified, God is not
accurately represented.
This is a big problem today.
Millions of people have been
led into worshiping a caricature of God that
denies or ignores all that God really is.
For example, I am often
asked how a God of love could demand that Israel
kill every man, woman and child when overtaking
the tribes of Canaan.
1 Samuel 15:1 “Samuel
said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord
sent to anoint you king over his people Israel;
so listen now to the message from the Lord.
1 Samuel 15:2 This is
what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will
punish the Amelekites for what they did to Israel
when they waylaid them as they came up from
Egypt.
1 Samuel 15:3 Now go,
attack the Amelekites and totally destroy
everything that belongs to them. Do not spare
them; put to death men and women, children and
infants, cattle and sheep, camels and
donkeys.’
To the surface reader, this
seems horrible!
What kind of God demands the
death of children and infants?
Even more, why would God
tell King Saul to destroy the Amalekites for
something that was done to Israel 400 years
earlier!
These are good questions
because there’s more to God’s ways than
people imagine!
Here’s the story:
Lineage: Abraham,
Isaac, Esau, Eliphaz, and Amalek.
Amalek became a powerful
warlord in his day and his offspring followed in
his ways.
For 300 years, the
Amalekites terrorized Canaan. They became a
ruthless tribe of roaming bandits.
Soon after the Exodus, while
Israel was in the wilderness, the Amalekites
ambushed Israel in an effort to steal anything of
value.
Israel did nothing to
provoke this battle. Israel was in the desert,
living in a “no man’s land.”
But, the Amalekites were
predators. They were too lazy to earn a living
through toil and labor. It was much easier to
steal the food and possessions of others.
They were “pirates on
camels,” a gang of outlaws.
The Lord gave Israel victory
over the Amalekites, but the Lord was grieved
with the ongoing degenerate behavior of the
Amalekites.
After the battle with Israel
was over…
Exodus 17:14 Then
the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on
a scroll as something to be remembered and make
sure Joshua hears it, because I will completely
blot out the memory of Amalek from under
heaven.”
About 400 years after the
Amalekites attacked Israel in the desert, the
Lord commanded King Saul to rise up and destroy
the Amalekites and everything they owned.
Why?
For the same reason that the
Lord destroyed the world and everything in it
– men, women, children, infants and animals
– in Noah’s day.
Genesis 6:5 The
Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the
earth had become, and that every inclination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the
time.
Genesis 6:6 The
Lord was grieved that he had made man on the
earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
Genesis 6:7 So
the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I
have created, from the face of the earth—men
and animals, and creatures that move along the
ground, and birds of the air—for I am
grieved that I have made them.”
Noah’s flood was NOT a
freak accident of nature.
Noah’s flood was NOT a
natural event.
Noah’s flood was an
expression of God’s love.
(Remember, “wrath”
is one of the seven elements in God’s
character of love.)
Why did the Lord destroy the
world in Noah’s day?
Why did the Lord command
King Saul to wipe out the Amalekites?
Answer: When the
people become so degenerate and so wicked in
god’s sight that newborn children will not
have a chance to live a decent and upright life,
a God of love destroys everything so that adults
cannot damage or harm their offspring any longer.
God’s wrath protects
the oncoming generation.
Mercy and justice are not in
conflict with each other.
In fact, divine love
contains a perfect balance of mercy and justice.
These properties coexist
within human beings because we are created in
God’s image.
(Genesis 1:27)
Every well-trained child
knows that a loving parent can exercise wrath!
In fact, nothing causes a
loving parent’s wrath to break out faster
than seeing his child mistreated or abused.
If you saw a child suffer
physical abuse or sexual abuse or psychological
abuse, what would be your response?
If it were in your power,
would you use your wrath to “protect”
children from predators?
Of course!
If destroying a world full
of predators was the only way to stop their
abuse, would you destroy the predators or would
you allow them to destroy ten of thousands of
children?
So it was in Noah’s
day. God’s love for the oncoming generation
moved Him to stop the predators.
God’s mercy and wrath
are not in conflict.
Nothing arouses God’s
wrath like rampant injustice and predatory
violence and He has the power and will to do
something about it.
God was patient with the
antediluvians. He waited 120 years.
God was patient with the
Amalekites. He waited 700 years.
God was patient with Israel.
He waited 1,470 years.
In each of these cases,
divine patience did not bring about any change
for the better.
Each succeeding generation
only became worse than the previous.
Nothing offends the
righteousness of God more than the downward
spiral of wicked people.
This is why God’s wrath
breaks out from time to time. He tears down
nations and civilizations to protect oncoming
generations.
When God sees wicked parents
and a wicked society ruining the oncoming
generation – robbing innocent children of
the values and morals needed for a healthy and
happy life, God is moved by His love for oncoming
children to destroy everything contaminated by
sin – including children and infants.
At first, you may think: How
horrible!!!
But consider this: Even
though children and infants perish when
God’s wrath breaks out, this is not a
problem because all children and infants will be
given eternal life.
God does not hold children
accountable for their sins.
James 4:17 “Anyone,
then, who knows the good he ought to do and
doesn’t do it, sins.”
All children and infants
will be saved because (a) God is more merciful
and (b) Jesus paid the price for all sinners,
including those who are too young or incompetent
to be held accountable for their actions.
(Good News: Jesus also paid
the price for those of us who have sinned and are
accountable for our sins – if we are willing
to repent and reform.)
God’s wrath is not
evil, in fact, when God exercises His wrath; He
accomplishes good things that could not be
accomplished otherwise.
The world became a better
place for children after Noah’s flood.
The land of Canaan became a
better place to live after the Amalekites were
destroyed.
Look at the good that God
has brought to all mankind through the death of
Jesus!
Through His death, we were
reconciled to God!
God always brings good
things out of His wrath because He is a God of
love!
History proves that sin is a
slippery slope.
Over time, each generation
becomes increasing bold and shameless in their
wicked ways.
Money and sexual immorality
leads to violence.
And violence only breeds
suffering and greater violence.
When law and order break
down, there is no quality of life.
Man’s descent into
chaos arouses God’s wrath because the
oncoming generation will be ruined or destroyed
by the ways of their parents and society in
general.
When God’s wrath breaks
out, yes, there is much death, but out of this
death, God brings about a new beginning. He
cauterizes the malignancy of sin for the benefit
of oncoming generations!
The world today is like the
world in Noah’s day.
Matthew 24:37 “As
it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the
coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:38 For
in the days before the Flood, people were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up
to the day Noah entered the ark;
Matthew 24:39 and
they knew nothing about what would [suddenly]
happen until the flood came and took them all
away…
The coming wrath of God will
be horrible, it will come suddenly, but there is
nothing to fear if we abide in Christ.
God has something to say to
the human race and He will get our attention so
that everyone can hear, but many will not heed.
During the Great
Tribulation, God’s servants, the 144,000,
will proclaim a gospel that is contrary to what
mankind has thought about God.
The gospel of Jesus Christ
will separate the people of Earth into two
groups.
The wicked will hate it and
the honest in heart will embrace it.
So, What is coming? The
wrath of God. Why is it coming? Because a
majority of people on Earth has become hopelessly
wicked.
Remember, when extended
mercy has no redemptive effect, God’s
patience ends and His wrath breaks out.
It’s the only was a God
of love can stop endless cycles of violence and
degenerate behavior.
OK, now we know what is
coming. And now that we know why God’s wrath
is coming.
We will consider “When
is it coming?” in the next segment.
Thus far, we have considered
what is coming and why God’s wrath will
breakout.
In this segment, we will
examine the question: “When is God’s
wrath coming?”
To my knowledge, God has not
given a specific date for the commencement of the
seven trumpets.
If this is true, no one
knows or can know the day or the hour that the
seven trumpets will begin.
Does this mean that we are
left in the dark?
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1
Thessalonians 5:4, “But you, brothers, are
not in darkness so that this day should surprise
you like a thief.”
OK, this is puzzling.
What does Paul mean?
What light has God shed on
the timing of this coming wrath?
Here’s one clue:
KJV 1 Thessalonians 5:3,
“For when they say, Peace and safety; then
sudden destruction [God’s wrath] cometh upon
them, as travail upon a woman with child; and
they shall not escape.”
OK, Paul knew that
God’s wrath would begin when the world is
seeking peace and safety.
Paul also knew that
God’s wrath is coming upon the world:
Colossians 3:5 “Put
to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your
earthly nature: sexual immorality,
impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is
idolatry.
Colossians 3:6 Because
of these, the wrath of God is coming.”
Has God provided any other
clues on the timing of the seven trumpets?
Please consider four things:
First: God did
not declare a date for the birth of Christ in the
Old Testament.
But, the wise men assembled
all of the clues that God had given them and they
figured out a window of time for Christ’s
birth.
When they saw the star, they
recognized the sign for what it was.
The wise men did not chase
shooting star.
No! They were
waiting and watching for a divine sign and when
they saw the unusual star in the east, they
connected the dots.
They undertook a long and
difficult journey to see and worship baby Jesus
and notice the evidence of their faith when they
stood before King Herod:
Matthew 2:2 “Where
is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We
saw his star in the east and have come to worship
him.”
Summarizing Point #1: Even
though God may not declare the date of a
prophetic event, God does provide clues that are
understood on or about the time of fulfillment.
When the clues are properly
assembled a “window of time” is
discovered and “expectation” begins.
A.D. 27
Luke 3:1 In the fifteenth
year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when
Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea…
Luke 3:15 The people were
waiting expectantly and were all wondering in
their hearts if John might be the Christ.
“But you, brothers, are
not in darkness so that this day should surprise
you like a thief.”
The second point we need to
consider is that Daniel 8:19 says “the
appointed time of the end” is a time of
wrath.
Where does the Bible
describe the outpouring of God’s wrath
during the time of the end?
The book of Revelation
describes fourteen judgments – 7 trumpets
and 7 bowls.
And Revelation 15:1 says
that the seven bowls are called the seven last
plagues because with them, God’s wrath is
completed!
The seven trumpets are the
seven first plagues and the seven bowls are the
seven last plagues.
- - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 trumpets
7 bowls
Summarizing Point #2: Bible
prophecy predicts the time of the end will be a
time of wrath and God’s wrath will be
completed during the 7th bowl.
Third, the Bible declares
that God is love. The Bible also declares that
God is changeless. Therefore, His destruction of
the Earth in Noah’s day has to be an
expression of love.
From age to age, God has
used His wrath to cauterize the malignant growth
of sin so that oncoming generations can be set
free from the degenerate, corrupting and violent
behaviors of the current generation.
The Amalekites were
destroyed because God loved oncoming generations
who would inherit the land of Canaan.
The world was destroyed in
Noah’s day because God loved oncoming
generations who would inhabit the Earth.
Summarizing Point #3: When
people become hopelessly degenerate and violent,
God’s love for oncoming generations move Him
to destroy those who destroy others.
The fourth issue we need to
consider is that with God, timing is everything.
God knows no haste or delay.
He is the Master of time and
timing.
I could give you many
examples from the Bible, but I don’t have
the time. Here are four:
1. The flood
came on time.
2. Israel was
delivered out of Egypt on time.
3. The ministry
of Jesus began on time.
4. The death of
Jesus occurred right on time.
Look at this: God has set a
date for the sixth trumpet down to the very hour!
Revelation 9:13 The
sixth angel sounded his trumpet…
Revelation 9:15 And
the four angels who had been kept ready for this
very hour and day and month and year were
released to kill a third of mankind.”
We see that God has the
power to predetermine the timing of events.
The date for the sixth
trumpet has been scheduled for thousands of
years, down to the very hour/ day/ month/ and
year.
Summarizing Point #4. God is
the Master of time and timing. He sets dates and
carries out His decrees. He has set a date for
the sixth trumpet and it will happen on time.
Look at this:
God has put 18 prophetic
time periods in Daniel and Revelation.
Why?
They serve as clues!
When properly assembled, all
18 prophetic time periods will fit together like
a jigsaw puzzle.
When properly aligned, they
produce information that is otherwise unknown.
The 18 prophetic time
periods reveal the timing of God’s plans
– they narrow down the commencement of the
seven trumpets to a small window of time.
Again, I do not know the
date for the sixth trumpet, and I do not know the
date for the commencement of the seven trumpets.
I do not know when nuclear
was will break out.
But, there are clues
suggesting the end of the world could happen
before 2017!
Before we look at these
clues, consider three things that point to the
end of life on Earth, as we presently know it
– even if the end of the world does not
occur before 2017.
Three issues threaten the
survival of mankind:
1. Nuclear
proliferation will lead to nuclear war
2. Population of
7 billion is straining Earth’s resources
– One billion people hungry
3. Global
epidemic of decadence, terrorism, dishonesty,
violence and sexual immorality
Look at Paul’s words to
Timothy:
2 Timothy 3:1 “But
mark this: There will be terrible times in the
last days.
2 Timothy 3:2 People
will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy,
2 Timothy 3:3 without
love, unforgiving, slanderous, without
self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
2 Timothy 3:4 treacherous,
rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God-
2 Timothy 3:5 having a
form of godliness but denying its power. Have
nothing to do with them.”
Does this describe the world
you live in?
Do you think these kinds of
people could bring on nuclear war?
Do you think these kinds of
people will use predatory violence in order to
survive?
Do you think these kinds of
people will arouse the wrath of God?
Yes! Yes! Yes!
The point here is that
mankind has become decadent and as a result,
Earth is sliding into chaos.
The current economic crisis
in the world was caused by greed and dishonesty
and the nations of Earth will not recover.
There is no way for the
United States to repay its national debt and our
situation is dire, but not as dire as other
nations bankrupt nations.
The sword of
“payday” hangs over the nations by a
thread.
Every person acquainted with
research knows that digging the truth out of
God’s hand is hard work.
Thomas Edison spent four
years working on the light bulb.
He was interviewed one day
by a young reporter who asked the inventor if he
felt like a failure.
Edison replied, “Young
man, why would I fell like a failure? And why
would I ever give up? I now know definitively
over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will
not work. Success is almost in my grasp.”
And shortly after that,
Edison invented the light bulb. It took more than
10,000 tries, but he didn’t quit!
I have used Edison’s
story to help you understand that my
understanding of God’s clues remains a work
in progress.
So, here are three clues
showing why I believe the Lord will come prior to
2017:
1. Book of
Daniel unsealed
2. Bible history
/ Prophecy
3. The Great
/ Grand Week
1. Book of
Daniel unsealed. Chart of 17
prophecies.
Daniel 12:9 He
replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the
words are closed up and sealed until the time of
the end.
I believe the book of Daniel
has been unsealed. In other words, the keys
that govern the interpretation of prophecy have
been discovered.
2. Bible history
/ Prophecy 7,000 years
When all the genealogical
records and all the historical events recorded in
the Bible are combined with the 18 prophetic time
periods defined in Daniel and revelation, it
appears to me the end of the Friday Millennium
could occur on or before 2017.
For a number of reasons
beyond our study today, August 24, 2011 may be
“a date of interest” for the nuclear
war and the commencement of the seven trumpets,
but I am not sure.
(If August 24, 2011 proves
significant, the end of the world would occur
1,335 days later on April 18, 2015.)
3. God’s
Great Clocks
Finally, there is perfect
harmony between the Great Week and the Grand
Week.
Truth is proven true by the
harmony that comes from the sum of all its parts.
The Bible tells us what is
coming in considerable detail.
The Bible tells us why
God’s wrath is coming. It tells us why a God
of love has to do what He doesn’t want to
do.
We can see the world is on a
collision course. Nuclear proliferation is a
clear and present danger.
The population of the world
is a far greater problem than global warming.
One billion people are
starving already.
There is global epidemic of
lawless and immoral behavior.
The H1N1 virus is nothing
compared to the evil virus of greed, dishonesty
and sexual immorality that has overtaken the
hearts of millions of people.
Finally, the prophetic time
periods indicate that the commencement of the
Great Tribulation is very near.
I am watching and waiting. I
am filled with anticipation that the end of all
things is near and I hope you are, too!
I hope you read these
segments a couple of times and pray about the
things you have read.
I hope you will search the
Scriptures with renewed interest.
I hope you will visit our
website: www.wake-up.org
May the Lord help us to wake
up and be ready for His appearing.
Remember this. It’s
not the day of the Second Coming that will catch
the world by surprise; rather, it is the
commencement of God’s wrath.
The commencement of the
Great Tribulation will happen suddenly with
people are crying out for peace and safety. Many
will be caught with overwhelming surprise.
Matthew 24:37 As
it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the
coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:38 For
in the days before the flood, people were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up
to the day Noah entered the ark;
Matthew 24:39 and
they knew nothing about what would happen until
[the rain fell] the flood came and took them all
away. That is how it will be at the coming of the
Son of Man.
If my understandings of
God’s clues are valid, we don’t have to
wait much longer!
Come, Lord Jesus!
Larry Wilson
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