Series: “The Great War” (post #5, last one)

This post will finish up the series “The Great War.” The Great War between Satan and God produces at least four results. Result #1 is soldiers are enlisted for the war. Result #2 is the war produces casualties on both sides. Result #3 is the war produces injuries on both sides. And what is the fourth result? It is this: In the end, God will be declared the victor in the war.

Bible prophecy is a big, rich, complex subject. It plays itself out over vast eons of time, and it is always working toward the grand finale of The Great War. With this in mind, here is the sequence of events that will culminate in God being declared the eternal victor:

1. Jesus returns to earth’s sky for the Rapture and snatches away the bodies of all Christians. (1 Corinthians 15:50-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
2. The earth experiences a seven-year period of tribulation which includes: the rise to world power of The Antichrist and his propaganda minister The False Prophet, numerous wars between human armies, famine, the death of multiplied millions, and great cataclysmic events. (Revelation chapters 6 through 18)
3. Jesus formally returns to the earth to walk it again and establish His 1,000 year kingdom upon it. (Revelation 19:1-16; 20:1-6)
4. Upon His return, Jesus wins the Battle of Armageddon (the battle that brings the tribulation period to a close). He merely speaks the word and all of the soldiers involved in the fighting are slain. These casualties become more evidence of the second result of The Great War. (Revelation 19:17-19)
5. The Antichrist and The False Prophet become the first occupants of a place known as “the eternal lake of fire.” This hellish site is even worse than the hell that exists now. (Revelation 19:20-21)
6. Satan and all the other fallen angels are imprisoned in a place called “the bottomless pit” for the duration of Christ’s 1,000 year reign. (Revelation 20:1-3; Isaiah 24:21-22)
7. Jesus sends His angels out to separate the world’s inhabitants who lived to see the end of the tribulation period. The inhabitants are separated into two categories: saved (the sheep) and lost (the goats). The saved will be those who believed in Jesus as Savior during the tribulation period. The lost will be those who didn’t. The saved are welcomed into Christ’s 1,000 year reign on earth. The lost are slain and their souls banished to the hell that exists now. (Matthew 25:31-46)
8. After Jesus has ruled over the earth for 1,000 years, Satan and the other fallen angels will be released from their imprisonment in “the bottomless pit.” (Revelation 20:7)
9. Satan will immediately compass the world and gather a new army consisting of millions of humans. This will be his final attempt to overthrow Jesus. The humans who will follow him will be the offspring of those saved believers who entered into Christ’s 1000 year reign in their earthly bodies. These “kingdom kids” will grow up in a world that has Jesus has its King, but as soon as another alternative (Satan) is presented they will align themselves with Satan. (Revelation 20:8)
10. Satan and his new army will march to Jerusalem, where Jesus sits upon the throne. But it is then that God the Father will cast fire down from heaven and that fire will devour Satan’s human soldiers. (Revelation 20:9)
11. Following this final defeat, Satan and all the other fallen angels will join The Antichrist and The False Prophet eternally in “the eternal lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:10; Matthew 25:41)
12. The souls of all of history’s lost people (beginning with Cain and running all the way through every single one of those “kingdom kids”) will be called forth from the hell that exists now. Each soul will be eternally reunited with the body it once inhabited. These bodies will all be resurrected in a mass resurrection that Jesus described as “the resurrection of condemnation.” Each lost person will stand body and soul before Jesus for a time of judgment and then be cast body and soul into “the eternal lake of fire” to join Satan, the other fallen angels, The Antichrist, and The False Prophet there eternally. (Revelation 20:11-15; John 5:25-30)
13. At this point. The Great War will finally be 100% concluded as each angel and each human will be properly stationed once and for all in their eternal categories.
14. The heaven and earth that exist now will pass away by fire. God will then create a new heaven and a new earth to stand in their places. There is considerable debate as to whether this new heaven and new earth will be completely new versions or merely the old heaven and the old earth purged and renewed by fire. At any rate, there will be some kind of a new heaven and a new earth. (Revelation 21:1-8; 2 Peter 3:10-13)
15. Following the emergence of the new heaven and the new earth, the eternal city of New Jerusalem will begin accepting occupants. These occupants will be the saved from all of history. This is the city in which they will spend the rest of eternity. (Revelation 21:9-27; 22:1-5)

Now, in conclusion, let me leave you with a thought. The average Christian’s goal in life is to make life as easy and as comfortable as possible. We want the money, the possessions, the friends, the family, etc. that come with “the good life.” But what God would say to each of us is, “There is a great war going on and I need blows struck at the enemy.”

You see, Christian, God hasn’t left you here to do your own thing. He’s left you here to do your part in the fighting. You have assignments that only you can carry out and missions that only you can accomplish.

And so I ask you, “How much soldiering are you doing these days?” If it isn’t much, then I trust that this series will serve as your call to arms as you take your place in this worldwide battlefield that we call life. Am I asking you to enlist in God’s army? No, you’re already enlisted! I’m simply asking you to start acting like a soldier by striking some real blows at the enemy. Oh and by the way, when you do, be sure to duck. Remember, the enemy tends to strike back. That’s how war works.