When God “Goes Abraham” on You

Posted on March 8, 2017 by russellmckinney

I hope we can all agree that it’s never a good thing to miss God’s will. The fact is, though, that some trips outside God’s will result in a figurative slap on the wrist, while others result in a figurative flogging. Under the category of flogging, let’s consider a couple of stories from the life of Abraham.

Not long after Abraham arrived in Canaan with his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, a famine struck the land (Genesis 12:10). Since God wanted him to stay in Canaan and trust Him to take care of them, the famine equated to a testing of Abraham’s faith and obedience. But Abraham loaded up his camp and stepped out of God’s will by bolting south to abundant Egypt.

And what happened down in Egypt? There, Abraham lied about the beautiful Sarah being his wife, claiming instead that she was his sister (Genesis 12:11-13), and that lie allowed the Pharaoh to purchase Sarah for his harem (Genesis 12:14-16). However, once she was in Pharaoh’s house, God struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues (Genesis 12:16). It was then that the lie was exposed, which prompted Pharaoh to call for Abraham and throw the whole family out of Egypt (Genesis 12:18-20).

While I understand that Abraham got what he deserved, my point is that lots of people take trips out of God’s will every day, and their rebellion doesn’t result in great plagues or them being kicked out of countries. I mean, seriously, God could have prevented all those consequences in Abraham’s life by simply not allowing Abraham to go to Egypt, not allowing him to get into a situation where he felt compelled to lie about Sarah, or not allowing Sarah to end up in Pharaoh’s house. But God lowered the boom on Abraham by letting the entire situation get about as bad as it could get. Sure, Abraham failed the test about staying in Canaan when times got tough, but God didn’t have to make that particular test count for 50% of the term’s grade.

In a related story that took place a decade later, Abraham and Sarah grew impatient waiting on God to give them a son. That delay prompted Sarah to employ the custom of the day by asking Abraham to sleep with her handmaiden, Hagar (Genesis 16:1-3). The idea was that Abraham could father a child through Hagar, and that child would be considered Sarah’s. Even though such a plan was perfectly legitimate in the ancient world, it was not God’s will. Instead, God wanted Abraham and Sarah to continue waiting upon Him to give them a son. (By the way, Hagar wasn’t with Abraham, Sarah, and Lot when they first arrived in Canaan. Where do you think Abraham acquired her as a servant? You got it: Egypt (Genesis 12:16,20).

So, what happened when Abraham had sexual relations with Hagar? She got pregnant, which caused her and Sarah to despise each other and Sarah to deal harshly with her (Genesis 16:4-6). This, in turn, caused the pregnant Hagar to flee from the camp. With some help from the Lord, she eventually returned (Genesis 16:7-16), but the dysfunctional tone in the camp was set for the years that would follow. Finally, a couple of years after Sarah had given birth to Isaac 14 years later, the whole situation reached a boiling point and Hagar and the now teenage Ishmael had to leave the camp for good (Genesis 21:1-21).

Here again, my point is that God could have prevented all those consequences in Abraham’s life by simply not allowing Hagar to get pregnant. All He had to do was close up her womb (at least temporarily) the way He did so many other women in the Bible: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Samson’s mother, Hannah, and Elizabeth. For that matter, how many people down through the centuries have had sex that didn’t produce a pregnancy? But the way the story about Abraham and Hagar reads, she got pregnant very quickly, perhaps even as a result of their first sexual encounter.

In conclusion, the moral of this post is simple: That sin that you are toying around with these days (and you know which one it is) might very well result in a flogging for you rather than a slap on the wrist. Believe me, whenever you purposely choose to step outside God’s will and embrace sin, you start playing a dangerous, high-stakes game of Russian Roulette. And don’t count on God to show you mercy and grace by not allowing your sin to mess up your life too much. You just never know when He will decide to “go Abraham” on you and let you experience the full, far-reaching consequences of your bad choice.

Posted in Backsliding, Choices, Disobedience, God's Chastening, God's Judgment, God's Will, Rebellion, Repentance, Sin, Temptation, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Oak Grove Baptist Church

Posted on March 6, 2017 by russellmckinney

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been the pastor of Oak Grove Baptist Church in Nebo, NC for a month now. I was elected on February 5, 2017, and preached my fourth sermon as pastor there yesterday. I preached for them a couple of times before I was elected.

Oak Grove marks a return for me to the denomination in which I was raised and served in for the first 15 years of my life as a pastor: the Southern Baptist Convention. For 8+ years I enjoyed being the pastor of Disciples Road Church, a non-denominational church I started at the Lord’s bidding. But slipping back into the S.B.C. has been an easy transition for me, like slipping back into a comfortable pair of shoes. Like I said, the S.B.C. and I go way back.

The church is located on the “5-mile loop” that runs around Lake James. It was organized in the 1850s and has long been a spiritual lighthouse in that community. It has a parsonage, but my family is going to continue to live in our house in Spruce Pine for the next couple of years as Royce finishes up high school at Mitchell High School. He’s a sophomore there, has friends, makes good grades, plays on the baseball team, and is happy with his life. A happy sixteen-year-old is priceless, right? Who wants to rock that boat?

So, rather than yank Royce out of all that and drop him into a new school, we’re going to commute back and forth to church for a while. It’s about a 40-45 minute drive. If you know much about Mitchell county, you know that a lot of people drive such a distance every day to work.

For now, Tonya is continuing her teaching career at Bowman Middle School in Bakersville. There’s no need to change that either. As for Ryan, he’s in his sophomore year at Johnson University in Knoxville and hardly ever comes home on the weekends anyway because of his baseball schedule. He hasn’t been home for a weekend since he returned to campus following Christmas break. He says, though, that he is coming in this weekend. We’ll see.

In terms of the blog, the prophecy series got a good deal longer – both in number of posts and length of posts –  than I planned, but that’s what it took to do the subject matter justice. The good news is that the completed series is now on the site for any and all to read at their own leisure and pace. Also, I picked up some new followers through the series. For that I’m very thankful.

Well, that’s about it for today. I just wanted to let folks know what’s going on with me and my family these days. Any prayers that anyone feels led to pray for us are appreciated. Needless to say, if you live in the Nebo area and are looking for a church, please give us a visit at Oak Grove Baptist. And for those of you who regularly read this blog, stick with me as I enter into this latest season of my life and ministry, and we’ll all find out together what the Lord has in mind for me to write from one week to the next. Thanks.

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The New Heaven, The New Earth, & The New Jerusalem

Posted on March 4, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #26)

This post brings our series on Bible prophecy to a close. The events we will cover this time are downright stupefying, but they won’t be happening anytime soon. If the Rapture happened today, they wouldn’t take place for 1,007 years. That’s the seven years of the tribulation period plus the thousand years of Christ’s millennial reign. We should also keep in mind that at this point in the prophetic timeline only the “saved” are involved. The “lost” made their last appearance at The Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) in the previous post as they were cast resurrected body and soul into Gehenna (the lake of fire). Satan and the other fallen angels were cast in there as well. So now let’s find out what becomes of the “saved.”

In Revelation 21:1, John says, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea” (N.K.J.V.). Wow!!! If there is a more shocking verse in all the Bible, I don’t know what it is. A new heaven? A new earth? The first heaven passed away? The first earth passed away? And no more sea? You talk about saying a lot in a short space!

Let me begin by talking about the new heaven. At the risk of stating the obvious, you can’t have a “new” heaven without first having an “old” one. And it’s this “old” heaven that is in play right now. Christian, if you died today, your soul would go to the heaven that is receiving souls right now. This is the heaven where God the Father is currently sitting upon His throne (2 Chronicles 19:18) and Jesus is currently seated at His right hand (Hebrews 1:3).

The Bible’s lengthiest description of this current heaven is found in Revelation 4:1-11, but we catch other glimpses of it in: Isaiah 6:1-3; Acts 7:55-56; Hebrews 8:1-2; 9:24-28; Revelation 8:1-5; 11:15-19; 14:17-18; 15:1-8; 16:1; and 19:1-10. By gleaning bits and pieces of information from all of these passages we learn the following things about this heaven:

  • The focal point of the place is the throne upon which God sits. (Isaiah 6:1; Revelation 4:2-3)
  • God’s throne has an emerald rainbow around it. (Revelation 4:3)
  • There is a sea of glass, like crystal, before God’s throne. (Revelation 4:6)
  • Angelic beings stand around God’s throne and unceasingly worship Him. (Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4:6-8; 19:4)
  • There is a golden altar that sits before God’s throne. (Revelation 8:3; 14:18)
  • There is a heavenly sanctuary (tabernacle/temple). (Hebrews 8:1-2; Revelation 11:19; 14:17; 15:5-6; 16:1)
  • There is a “holy of holies” (the “most holy place”) room inside the heavenly sanctuary. (Hebrews 9:11-12; 9:24-28)
  • Inside the heavenly “holy of holies” room there is a heavenly Ark of the Covenant. (Revelation 11:19)

I’m mentioning all of this because I want you to better understand what the current heaven is really like. The best way to envision it is to think of it as the “real deal” version of Israel’s Old Testament temple. That temple – and the tabernacle that served the same purpose before it – was meant to serve as an earthly model of heaven’s sanctuary. That’s why God told Moses to build everything about the tabernacle “according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain (Sinai)” (Exodus 26:40). The earthly tabernacle, and later on the temple, served as “the copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Hebrews 8:5).

But John tells us that this heaven is destined to pass away, and that a new heaven is destined to be ushered in. Not only that, but the earth that exists now – even the high-grade version of it that will be on display in Christ’s millennial reign – is destined to give way to a new earth. This statement from John is so astounding that we might try to explain it away if it wasn’t for all the other passages that speak of the same event. Consider the following (all from the N.K.J.V.):

  • Psalm 102:25-26 says of God: “Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will be changed.”
  • In Isaiah 65:17, the prophet Isaiah prophesies of this event by speaking for God: “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.”
  • In Isaiah 66:22, Isaiah speaks for God again in talking about: “…the new heavens and the new earth which I will make…”
  • Jesus mentions the event when He says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33).
  • Jesus also says, “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18).

We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t read these passages and not wonder, “How will all this happen?” Fortunately, the Bible gives us the answer. In 2 Peter 3:7, 10-13, we read:

But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men…..But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (N.K.J.V.)

If you know the story of Noah’s ark, you know that God promised to never again destroy the earth by way of water (Genesis 9:8-17). However, He didn’t make any promises about fire, did He? And did you catch the fact that whereas John speaks of a new “heaven” (singular), both Isaiah and Peter speak of new “heavens” (plural)? What’s the difference? That’s a good question.

The word “heavens” covers everything that isn’t “earth.” Paul called the heaven that exists now “the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2). By implication, this means that earth’s immediate atmosphere (our blue sky) is “the first heaven” and the blackness of space is “the second heaven.” According to Isaiah and Peter, all three of these “heavens” will pass away with a great noise, and all the elements that comprise them will melt with fervent heat. We can’t even fathom the incalculable power it will take to create such a level of heat. As the song says, “Our God is an AWESOME God.”

But it won’t just be the heavens that will get incinerated; it will also be the earth. Peter says, “…both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” I am not anti-environmentalism, but we should always keep a balanced perspective on that subject. Frankly, some people are more interested in saving this planet than God is. After all, He’s the one who will eventually cause the earth and everything in it to be set ablaze for the purpose of watching it all dissolve in the immeasurable heat. We often hear worries about mankind blowing up the earth via nuclear weapons. Well, I can assure you that despite whatever weapons of warfare mankind ever detonates, it will not cause this old earth to pass away. God is the one who will ultimately do that.

The fact is, though, that there is a debate as to precisely what the terms “pass away” and “new” mean. Basically, there are two possible interpretations. I’ll present both of them, and you can consider the arguments for yourself. Then I’ll offer my opinion on the subject with the understanding that my opinion might be wrong.

Option #1 is that “pass away” describes the total annihilation of the current heaven and earth, and “new” describes freshly created entities that will be completely different replacements. This interpretation is granted credence by the Isaiah 65:17 verse that I cited earlier. That verse quotes God as saying, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.” The Hebrew word translated there as “create” is bara, and it specifically describes creating something out of nothing as opposed to forming something from existing materials or merely refashioning an existing thing. For example, Genesis 1:1 uses bara in saying: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Furthermore, the Isaiah 65:17 verse says of the current heavens and earth: “the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.” That certainly can be taken to mean that they become disappeared things of the forgotten past. Lastly, 2 Peter 3:11 uses the word “dissolved” to describe what is going to happen to the current heaven and earth. All this makes for a pretty compelling case that “pass away” refers to the total annihilation of the current heaven and earth, and that “new” refers to completely different replacements.

Option #2 is that “pass away” refers to the current heaven and earth remaining but being made “new” by being purified from the taint of sin by the fiery cleansing. This interpretation is granted credence by 2 Corinthians 5:17, which uses the same Greek wording for “new” and “passed away” in saying: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (N.K.J.V.).

You see, when a person is made “new” in this way, the person doesn’t get replaced by a completely different individual. For this reason, some excellent students of the Bible interpret the new heaven and the new earth to be the current ones purified by fire. For example, Kenneth Wuest, in his The New Testament: An Expanded Translation, even translates Revelation 21:1 as: “And I saw a heaven new in quality and an earth new in quality, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away.”

As more possible evidence that “pass away” might simply mean the current heaven and earth will be made “new,” I’ll mention 2 Peter 3:5-7. Those verses speak of how the world of Noah’s day “perished” in the great flood and use that event as proof that God is able to cause a similar fate in regards to the current heaven and earth. Obviously, though, when Noah’s world “perished” it wasn’t obliterated.

As for me, when I first started preaching prophecy years ago, I favored the interpretation of “pass away” as referring to total obliteration and “new” referring to completely different entities. Over the years, though, I have changed my mind and switched to the second interpretation. But it wasn’t the Old Testament Hebrew or the New Testament Greek that caused me to change my mind. It was, instead, an Old Testament promise that God made to Abraham. In Genesis 13:14-15, we read the following about Abraham and the land of Canaan:

And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are – northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

To me, that word “forever” cannot be overstated. As I see it, you can’t have a piece of earthly property “forever” if there is a day coming when the earth upon which that property stands will be completely annihilated and replaced with a different model. That’s why I believe the new heaven and the new earth will be the current heaven and the current earth purified through fire. Israel’s land of Canaan will still be in its place upon this new earth, but it will be cleansed by fire just like the rest of the earth and the heavens.

Another piece of evidence to support this interpretation is the fact that God never actually does away with anything or anyone. For example, when He resurrects a body, He doesn’t replace that body with a completely different model. Instead, He resurrects that exact same body and deals with it.

Of course, a good question to ask here is, “But why would the heaven that exists now need to be purged, cleansed, and made new through fire? It hasn’t been tainted by sin, has it?” Actually, it has. Remember that the fall of Satan and the other rebellious angels actually started in heaven. Therefore, not only did their fall taint all of creation, it even tainted heaven itself to some degree. Even now, if you could be transported to heaven and talk to God, He could show you the exact places in heaven where the angelic coup attempt played out so long ago.

But why does John say of this new earth, “And there was no more sea”? No explanation is given, but some commentators point out that oceans divide land masses and, thus, divide people. Therefore, if the oceans are eliminated, so are the divisions. Imagine an earth that is one big unified land mass upon which everybody lives in perfect harmony. The new earth will be such a place.

On the other hand, the elimination of the sea in the new earth might also have something to do with practical matters of biology and science. Along these lines, Henry M. Morris, in his book The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End Times, suggests an interesting possibility. He writes:

There will, in fact, be no need for a sea on the new earth. The present sea is needed…as a basic reservoir for the maintenance of the hydrologic cycle and the water-based ecology and physiology of the animal and human inhabitants of the earth. In the new earth, however, there will be no animals at all, and presumably all the men and women who live there will have glorified bodies with no more need of water. Their resurrected bodies will be composed, like that of the Lord Jesus, of flesh and bone (Luke 24:39; Philippians 3:21) but apparently with no need of blood (1 Corinthians 15:50) to serve as a cleanser and restorer of the body’s flesh as at present. This, in turn, eliminates the major need for water on the earth (blood is about 90 percent water, and present-day human flesh about 65 percent water).

Chuck Smith, in his commentary What the World Is Coming To, also touches upon the biological and scientific implications of “no more sea.” He writes:

The purpose of the sea and its salts is to collect and neutralize the pollutants so that the earth is habitable for man. Where there are no pollutants, as in the new earth, seas are not necessary. And if you happen to love sailing, God will have something much better for you!

And so it is with all this foundational information in mind that we now come to the last primary subject of the book of The Revelation. That subject is the holy city called New Jerusalem, and its description covers virtually all of chapter 21 and a good deal of chapter 22. John kicks off the description by saying, “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2).

Unfortunately, there is a ton of confusion – even among Christians – concerning this holy city of New Jerusalem. Contrary to popular belief, this city is NOT the heaven that exists now. I don’t mean to offend anyone or hurt any feelings, but there hasn’t been a single saved soul yet who has passed through the “pearly gates” to walk the “streets of gold.” Just as Gehenna (the final, eternal abode of the “lost”) is currently unoccupied and won’t come into play until much later on God’s schedule of prophecy, the same holds true for the city of New Jerusalem (the final, eternal abode of the “saved”).

As you might guess, it would take an entire series to do a thorough job of explaining all the specifics and minute details of the city of New Jerusalem. While that’s a series that would be worth doing, it’s not one that I feel led to launch into right now. So, let me just give you the basics about this city that will be the eternal abode of all of history’s “saved” people. Those basics are as follows:

  1. John describes the city as “coming down out of heaven” (Revelation 21:2) and “descending down out of heaven” (Revelation 21:10). The ongoing tense of this description – as opposed to him saying the city “came down out of heaven” – leads some to believe that the city will be a satellite city that will continually orbit the new earth without ever actually touching down upon it. Others, however, including myself, believe the city will come down and rest upon the new earth.
  2. The city has a wall made of jasper that encircles it (Revelation 21:12,18).
  3. This wall is 144 cubits high (Revelation 21:17), which equates to 216 feet high. This would be a high wall for a typical city, but the New Jerusalem is so massive and so tall that the wall is really just decorative. After all, it’s not like the city will need any defense system.
  4. The wall has 12 foundations to it (Revelation 21:14), and these foundations are adorned with 12 kinds of precious jewels, evidently one jewel per foundation (Revelation 21:19-20).
  5. The names of the 12 apostles are written upon these foundations, evidently one name per foundation (Revelation 21:14).
  6. Built into the wall are 12 gates (Revelation 21:12) that are never shut (Revelation 21:25). There are three gates on the eastern side, three gates on the northern side, three gates on the southern side, and three gates on the western side (Revelation 21:13).
  7. Each gate is made from one giant pearl, one pearl per gate (Revelation 21:21). These are the famous “pearly gates” people talk about.
  8. The names of the 12 tribes of Israel are written upon the gates, evidently one name per gate (Revelation 21:12).
  9. An angel is stationed at each gate (Revelation 12:12).
  10. The city itself (behind the walls) is laid out as a square (Revelation 21:16).
  11. The city’s length, breadth, and height are equal, each one being 12,000 furlongs (Revelation 21:16). This gives the city the overall shape of a either a cube or a pyramid. The description could be taken either way. Some very fine prophecy experts (Clarence Larkin, Harry Ironside, etc.) have taught that the city will be shaped like a pyramid. Other equally fine experts go with the cube interpretation. While I can appreciate both sides of the debate, I tend to favor the cube interpretation. This shape reminds us of the “holy of holies” room inside the earthly temple. That room was also shaped like a cube: 20 cubits square (2 Chronicles 3:8).
  12. Since a furlong is equal to 582 feet, 12,000 furlongs adds up to 1,342 miles. Students of prophecy usually round this number up to 1,500 miles and say the city will run approximately 1,500 miles in all directions (including upward). It will be staggering in its sheer size and scope. If we do all the math, it adds up to over 3 billion cubic miles. If this city was placed down upon the United States, it would reach from Maine to Florida (running north to south) and from the Atlantic seaboard to 600 miles past the Mississippi River (running east to west). In other words, its perimeter would cover more than half of the United States. And keep in mind that the city is as tall as it is long or wide! Obviously, the city will provide plenty of room for all of history’s saved.
  13. The city has a street (singular) that is pure gold. This gold is so pure that it has the appearance of transparent glass (Revelation 21:21).
  14. In the middle of the street stands the tree of life, which bears 12 different kinds of fruit (Revelation 22:2).
  15. The city has a river that emanates from the throne of God and carries the water of life out to the city (Revelation 22:1, 21:6).
  16. The entire city has the glory of God about it (Revelation 21:11), and this glory illuminates it so that it has no need for a sun or a moon (Revelation 21:23; 22:5).
  17. The city’s light is as clear as crystal (Revelation 21:11,24).
  18. There is no night in the city (Revelation 21:25; 22:5).
  19. There is no temple in the city because God the Father and God the Son (Jesus, the Lamb) dwell there with their people (Revelation 21:3, 22).
  20. Certain things and certain types of people will not be in the city. These include: tears, death, sorrow, crying, pain, the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars (Revelation 21:4-8).

Now, as I reach the conclusion of not only this post but also this series, I want to point you to Jesus Christ’s last words as they are found in the Bible. The verse is Revelation 22:20, and the quote from Jesus is this: “Surely I am coming quickly.” That word “quickly” means that the Rapture could happen at any moment. This is a promise from Jesus, and Jesus always keeps His promises.

So, tell me, do these standing words from Jesus thrill you or frighten you? If they frighten you, you need to ask yourself why. Even more than that, you need to make the necessary changes to get you to a place where the promise of Christ’s coming thrills you.

The issue is two-fold. First, have you placed your belief in Christ as your personal Savior? And, second, are you living each day in full submission to His lordship? As long as your life comes up short in either one or both of those departments, you’ll never be able to get very excited about Jesus coming. You’ll never be able to be like ole’ John, the writer of The Revelation. He answered Christ’s quote, “Surely I am coming quickly” by responding, “Even so, COME, Lord Jesus!” Friend, that’s the kind of expectancy and enthusiasm we need, because, again, Jesus could come with the Rapture at any moment, and when that happens it will set God’s chronological time line of prophetic events into motion. I, for one, am ready for all of it to happen. The question is: Are you?

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology" | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Great White Throne Judgment

Posted on February 28, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #25)

The Bible describes an afterlife abode that is called Sheol in the Old Testament Hebrew and Hades in the New Testament Greek. Beginning with the Old Testament era and running up to Christ’s resurrection and ascension, Sheol/Hades was the place where all souls went at death. The souls of the saved went to the paradise side of the place, while the souls of the lost went to the torment side of it.

By the way, you need to understand that every human being IS a soul. Each of us IS is a soul who dwells for a time inside a body, and that body possesses a spirit that serves as the spark of physical life (1 Thessalonians 5:23). At death, the body goes to the grave, the spirit returns to God (Luke 23:46, Ecclesiastes 12:6-7), and the soul goes into an afterlife abode. As I said, for approximately 4,000 years of mankind’s history the one and only option for an afterlife abode was Sheol/Hades.

As shocking as it might sound, the Bible teaches that Sheol/Hades is located somewhere deep within the heart of planet earth. The Old Testament consistently speaks of the site’s location as “down.” For example, in 1 Samuel 28:3-25, God allows the soul of Samuel to actually be brought up from Sheol/Hades to deliver a message of doom to King Saul. Samuel asks Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Furthermore, Job 17:16 talks about going “down to the gates of Sheol.” As for the place having literal gates, Jesus said, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

The Bible’s best passage on Sheol/Hades is Luke 16:19-31, a passage in which Jesus tells the story of two men who died. One was a lost rich man whose soul ended up in the torment side of Hades (translated as “hell” in the King James translation). The other man was a saved beggar named Lazarus whose soul ended up in the paradise side of Hades, where he was comforted by the soul of the Old Testament patriarch Abraham. The passage teaches that the torment side of Sheol/Hades is a place of unending flame, torment, and regret. This is the “hell” the world associates with the word.

The fact is, though, that something profound happened to Sheol/Hades following Christ’s resurrection and ascension. What was it? All indications are that Jesus emptied the souls from the paradise side of the place and took them up into heaven with Him.

The passage on this monumental event is Ephesians 4:7-10, which uses an Old Testament verse – Psalm 68:18 – to say that Jesus’ ascension involved Him leading “captives.” The illustration is a military one that reminds us how warrior-rulers, upon returning from their victorious battles, displayed their captives of war via processional parades.

So, what does this illustration mean in relation to Jesus returning to heaven after His life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension? It means that He came home with “captives” in tow. And who else could those “captives” have been but the saved souls from the paradise side of Sheol/Hades? You see, those souls couldn’t officially enter into God’s heaven until after Jesus had shed His blood in time and history. The blood of all the Old-Testament-style animal sacrifices was enough to keep the wrath of God off those souls by temporarily atoning for (covering) their sins (Leviticus 4:35, 5:10), but only the blood of Jesus could eternally take away (cleanse) those sins (John 1:29, Hebrews 7:25-27, 10:4-17).

Summing up the situation, the paradise side of Sheol/Hades has been closed for business ever since Christ’s ascension, and it will never receive another soul. From Christ’s ascension going forward, whenever a saved person has died, that person’s soul has gone straight up to heaven to be with the Lord. As the apostle Paul said in his day, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). He also said that he had a desire to, “…depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:23).    

You say, “Alright, Russell, I think I understand what you’re saying, but what does it have to do with Bible prophecy?” I’m glad you asked. We have now come to a place in our series where we need to talk about The Great White Throne Judgment. What do you think happens at this judgment? I’ll tell you: The torment side of Sheol/Hades gets emptied of all its souls. Unfortunately for those souls, though, they won’t get promoted to heaven. Instead, they will get demoted to an even worse “hell” called “the lake of fire.”

John’s prophetic account of The Great White Throne Judgment is found in Revelation 20:11-15. He begins by saying, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it…” (Revelation 20:11). There is no doubt that the Judge sitting upon this white throne is Jesus. He Himself once said, “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son…For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:22,26-27).

But if the Judge sitting upon this white throne is Jesus, why does John paint such a terrifying picture of Him by saying, “…from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them” (Revelation 20:11)? First, he does it to show that the Jesus who sits upon this white throne isn’t the compassionate, merciful, forgiving Jesus that typically gets depicted. This is Judge Jesus, not Savior Jesus. Second, he does it as a way of leading into what is going to happen immediately following the conclusion of the judgment session (Revelation 21:1). (We’ll cover that in the next post.)

John then says of the Great White Throne Judgment, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works” (Revelation 20:12-13).

Wow!!! I hope you understand that what you just read is one of the most monumental texts in all the Bible. What we have here is nothing less than the billions of souls from the entire span of human history – from Cain to the last lost unbeliever from Christ’s millennial reign – being called forth from the torment side of Sheol/Hades to stand resurrected body and soul before Jesus Christ for an eternal judgment and sentencing. John says, “Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them” (Revelation 20:13). By that, he means that Death delivered up the body and Hades delivered up the soul. The stakes simply don’t get any higher than that!

John tells us that books will be opened at The Great White Throne Judgment. What will these books contain? They will contain all the works and deeds of all the people who will stand before Jesus at this judgment. Perhaps each individual will have his or her own individualized book. You say, “Hey, that’s a nice thought.” No, it is anything but nice. These books will be nothing less than eternally damning sentences of condemnation for these people. Remember that passages such as Ephesians 2:8-9 teach that no one can earn salvation by way of works, even works that are supposedly “good.” Needless to say, then, it can’t be a favorable thing for anyone to be judged “according to their works, by the things written in the books.”

Another book that will be at The Great White Throne Judgment is “the Book of Life” (Revelation 20:12,15). This book literally contains the names of each saved individual from the entirety of human history. It is spoken of in other passages: Daniel 12:1, Philippians 4:3, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 13:8, Revelation 17:8, and Revelation 21:27. In two of these instances (Revelation 13:8 and 21:27) it is called “the Lamb’s Book of Life.” What makes this book all the more amazing is the fact God wrote all the names in it “from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 17:8). It was God’s foreknowledge that made this possible as He was able to look down through the eons of human history and see beforehand each individual who would voluntarily exhibit saving belief (Psalm 139:4, Isaiah 46:10, Romans 8:29, Ephesians 1:4, and 1 Peter 1:2).

As I try to imagine just exactly how The Great White Throne Judgment will play out, I envision the lost unbeliever standing before Jesus and being confronted with the record of his/her life. This record will prove conclusively that the individual is a sinner who is worthy of eternal condemnation. At that point, the only hope for the person to be reprieved will be for his/her name to be written in the Book of Life. That book will then be consulted to show that the person’s name is not in there. The eternal sentencing will then be carried out as John says, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

The unique thing about The Great White Throne Judgment is that it will encompass not only each lost soul from history but also the earthly body the soul once inhabited. Just as the souls will be called forth from the torment side of Sheol/Hades, the bodily remains will be called forth from wherever they rest upon the earth. In order for God to get the bodies to The Great White Throne Judgment, He will have to resurrect each of them. This resurrection will not include glorification, but it will be enough to reunite the body with the soul that once inhabited it.

You’ll note that John makes special mention of the sea giving up the dead bodies that are in it. Certainly that includes the bodies of all the lost people who have gone down with ships at sea, been washed away by tsunamis, or been drowned in the ocean in some other way. It also includes the bodies of the millions of lost people who were wiped out by the flood of Noah. Thinking about all the bodies that lie at the bottom of oceans around the world makes you want to avoid the seas altogether!

Of course, all this throws the door wide open for some perplexing questions. What if a shark or some other sea creature ate the bodily remains? And what if that creature itself was then eaten by another one? And what if that second creature was eaten by a third creature? Etc., etc. etc.

If you think about it, these types of questions can be asked concerning any bodily resurrection, whether it be the resurrections of the bodies of Christians at the Rapture or the resurrections of the bodies of Old Testament believers and tribulation-period martyrs at Christ’s Second Coming. Depending upon how outlandish the questioner wants to get, the questions can easily make their way into the realm of the bizarre. For example, someone might ask, “What if a person loses a finger in a boating accident, an appendix on the operating table, a tooth at the dentist, and is an organ donor in death? How could God possibly bring such a body back together for any type of resurrection?”

Well, the fact is that even science admits by way of The Law of Conservation of Matter that matter, once created, cannot be destroyed in an isolated system. This means that the matter of a human body can never be annihilated out of existence. That matter will always be somewhere within the confines of creation. Obviously, the matter can change forms, such as becoming tiny particles of dust or whatever. But what it can’t ever do is waste away or fade away into true nothingness.

This means that God, when He is ready, will be perfectly able to gather up all the matter from any human body and resurrect that body (either unto glorification or not). And that’s exactly what will happen at the Rapture, Christ’s Second Coming, and The Great White Throne Judgment. Trust me, by the time God is finished resurrecting bodies, there won’t be even one body left to be accounted for and resurrected. Even Jezebel, Israel’s most wicked queen, who had the entirety of her body eaten by dogs except for her skull, feet, and palms (2 Kings 9:30-32) will have her body resurrected to stand before Jesus at The Great White Throne Judgment.

In John 5:28-29, Jesus says, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” The prophet Daniel teaches this same thing when he says of Christ’s Second Coming, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). These passages clearly show that there are two categories of resurrection: a resurrection unto life and a resurrection unto condemnation.

The confusion sets in when we try to envision one general “resurrection day.” What we must understand is that God completes His resurrecting by way of a seven-fold plan. The first six stages of the plan come under the heading “the resurrection of life,” and the final stage comes under the heading “the resurrection of condemnation.” The plan plays out as follows:

  1. The resurrection of Jesus made Jesus “the firstfruits” of those who have died (1 Corinthians 15:20).
  2. There was a token resurrection of some of the bodies of believers in the area of Jerusalem immediately following Christ’s resurrection. This strange event is described in Matthew 27:50-53, and God did it as further evidence that Jesus really was God in the flesh, the Savior/Messiah. These believers arose in bodily form, went into Jerusalem, and appeared to many. The majority opinion among commentators is that these believers arose in glorified bodies just like Jesus’ body and ascended to glory soon afterward, never again having to return to the grave the way Lazarus and the other temporary resurrections of the New Testament did.
  3. At the Rapture, the bodies of all deceased Christians will be resurrected and glorified (1 Corinthians 15:50-58, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
  4. The “Two Witnesses” who will be killed by the Antichrist in the tribulation period will have their bodies resurrected and presumably glorified after lying dead in the streets of Jerusalem for three-and-a-half days (Revelation 11:1-12).
  5. At Christ’s Second Coming, the bodies of the Old Testament believers and the tribulation-period believers/martyrs will be resurrected and glorified (Daniel 12:1-3, Job 19:25-27, Revelation 20:4).
  6. Over the years of Christ’s millennial reign, the tribulation-period survivors/believers who will go into the kingdom age in their earthly bodies will systematically die off one by one. Even though there is no specific passage that comes right out and says it, the only logical conclusion is that these believers will have their bodies resurrected and glorified at the moment of death in the kingdom age. This will also hold true for all the believers among their offspring.
  7. At The Great White Throne Judgment, the bodies of all of history’s lost people will be resurrected. The difference in this resurrection and the previous six will be that this resurrection will not include glorification (Revelation 20:11-15).

So, as a result of The Great White Throne Judgment, Death (the lost person’s deceased body) and Hades (the lost person’s soul) will both be cast into “the lake of fire.” This will put Death and Hades out of business (Revelation 20:14). Not only will the torment side of Sheol/Hades be emptied out, there will be no more physical death, either. The only “death” will be what John calls “the second death,” which will amount to being cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14).

In my previous post (post #24), I explained that “the lake of fire” equates to that place the Greek language calls Gehenna. Gehenna is actually the Greek representative of the Hebrew’s Ge-Hinnom, which means “valley of Hinnom.” This was a deep, narrow valley that was located just south of Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, there were times when the Jews sacrificed their children to the false god Molech at this site. Later on, the site became what we might think of as Jerusalem’s city dump. The bodies of criminals, the carcasses of animals, and all sorts of trash and filth ended up in this valley for burning. The constant burning and smoldering of the refuse caused a continual smoke to rise up from the valley. Jesus, ever the master illustrator, chose the site as a symbolic representation of the eternal judgment the lost person will experience.

Jesus described Gehenna as a place where “their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-48, in each instance the word “hell” translates Gehenna). The phrase “where their worm dies not” refers back to the illustration of the valley of Hinnom as Jerusalem’s city dump. Anyone who took their trash out to that site could see worms feasting on the waste, especially the corpses and carcasses. These worms lived at the site without being incinerated by the flames and heat. The teaching is that history’s lost will endure eternal heat, suffering, and torment in Gehenna without ever ceasing to exist.

The Greek word for “lake” that is used in the term “the lake of fire” is the common Greek word for a lake. It is the same word that is used in reference to the lake of Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee). There is some debate on this, but I tend to believe that Gehenna is a literal lake of fire somewhere rather than just a symbolic word-picture used to describe eternal judgment. Needless to say, if my interpretation is correct, it must be a colossally sized lake.

But is Gehenna, like Sheol/Hades, somehow a part of planet earth? I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not sure about that answer, but I tend to think that Gehenna is not in any way associated with the earth. Even though the original Greek doesn’t use the actual word Gehenna in Matthew 25:41, Jesus is surely talking about the place when He speaks of “the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” In my way of thinking, any place that was especially prepared to be the eternal abode of the devil and the other fallen angels wouldn’t necessarily be a part of the earth.

We learned in a previous post (post #21) that the first occupants of Gehenna will be the Antichrist and the False Prophet (Revelation 19:20). 1,000 years later Satan and the other fallen angels will join them there (Revelation 20:7-10). Shortly afterward all of history’s lost people will be transferred from the hell that exists now (the torment side of Sheol/Hades) to the everlasting fire of Gehenna to spend eternity there.

It’s no wonder that Jesus strongly warned His listeners about Gehenna. He said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell (Gehanna). And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell (Gehenna)” (Matthew 5:29-30). He also said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him (God) who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna)” Matthew 10:28. In each of these references we learn again that, unlike Sheol/Hades, Gehenna takes in the soul AND the body.

And so, it is this eternal lake of fire – this Gehenna – that will serve as the eternal abode for Satan, the other fallen angels, the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and every lost person from every era of human history. Speaking frankly, there are no words that can even begin to do justice to the horrors of this place. The information the Bible does give us about it is so troubling and disconcerting that many readers are repulsed by it and seek to explain it away. You’ll have to admit that I haven’t done that with this post. Speaking as a preacher, if I can use the Bible’s description of Gehenna to scare the living daylights out of you and help you to believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, that is a blog post well worth writing. Here’s hoping that I’ve done that for any reader out there who doesn’t yet know Christ as Savior.

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Satan’s Final Rebellion

Posted on February 26, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #24)

It is surprising that The Revelation doesn’t have much to say about Christ’s millennial reign. The whole time period is covered in just six verses (Revelation 20:1-6). In order to get the full description of those 1,000 years, we have to dig our way through multiple passages from the Old Testament prophets. And that’s what we did last time.

So, now we move past Christ’s millennial reign and into the area of post-millennium events. John starts off his record of those events with a bang. He says, “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from prison” (Revelation 20:7). As we learned in a previous post (post #22), Satan and the other fallen angels will be imprisoned in the bottomless pit (the site known in the New Testament’s original Greek as Tartarus) for the duration of the millennial reign. As soon as those 1,000 years are ended, though, Satan will be set free. John doesn’t specifically mention the other fallen angels being set free, but it is safe to assume they will be. After all, he doesn’t mention them being initially imprisoned either (Revelation 20:1).

And what does Satan do upon the moment of his release? Is he a changed devil? Has a thousand years in the hole given him an attitude adjustment? Is he now ready to finally submit to the God who created him? Nope, not a chance. John says that he “will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20:8). The devil, if he is anything, is incorrigible. So much for bottomless-pit rehabilitation.

Okay, now let’s identify the players in this new battle. Who are “the nations which are in the four corners of the earth”? These nations consist of the worldwide descendants of those tribulation-period survivors/believers who went into the millennial reign in their earthly bodies. In my last post, I explained that at Christ’s Second Coming He will welcome those believers into His kingdom age and heal their bodies completely. These people will then proceed to live long lives (centuries) in the kingdom age, build houses, plant crops, and prolifically produce offspring. How many offspring? John says the number of world citizens at the end of the millennial reign will be “as the sand of the sea.”

But there is a problem with these descendants who are alive on the earth at the end of the millennial reign: They are lost! How is that possible? Remember that the tribulation-period survivors/believers will carry mankind’s inborn, Adamic nature of sin into the kingdom age and pass it down to their descendants. Those descendants will in turn pass it down to their descendants, who will in turn pass it down to their descendants, etc., etc. My guess is that the first generation will, in vast majority, accept King Jesus as their Savior and Lord. With each passing generation, however, the number will dwindle until finally, in the end, Jesus will be ruling over a planet of rebels. The fact that Jesus will still be reigning over the earth will prevent these rebels from displaying their rebellion outwardly but they will certainly be lost, unbelieving rebels inwardly. Consequently, as soon as Satan is released from the bottomless pit and starts raising an army to march against Jesus, he will find willing volunteers from all around the globe.

Now let’s turn our attention to identifying the “Gog” and “Magog” John mentions in verse 8. In post #7 from this series, I referenced Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 in regards to a coalition army that will come against Israel sometime in the tribulation period and be devastatingly defeated by God. This army will be led by “Gog,” who will come from the land of “Magog” (Ezekiel 38:2). “Gog” is described as “the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” (Ezekiel 38:3). Since “Gog” will come from a place that is “far north” (Ezekiel 38:14-15, 39:1-2) of Israel, most commentators figure him to be a future leader of that land we call Russia. Under this reasonable interpretation, the land of “Magog” is Russia.

Well, all that makes good sense, but what does any of it have to do with the army that Satan will amass to march against Jesus at the end of the millennial reign? My answer is that God’s written word reverts back to the names “Gog” and ‘Magog” in naming this army as a way of symbolically showing that this army will march toward Israel with the same ferocity with which Gog marched out of Magog over a thousand years earlier. In other words, this army will head toward Israel with the same wild-eyed zeal, gusto, and determination to destroy Israel. I’m not even sure they will have weapons. If they do have them, they will have made them outside Christ’s will in the millennial reign.

If nothing else, this passage should teach us that man’s spiritual problem isn’t his environment. Despite having been born into an idyllic world reigned over by Jesus, and having lived their entire lives in that world, these people will stubbornly refuse to yield to His lordship and will embrace the first alternative (Satan) as soon as he becomes available. Really, though, this shouldn’t come as such a shock to us. Remember that Adam and Eve fell into sin from the perfect environment of the garden of Eden. Like I said, man’s spiritual problem isn’t his environment. I’m not saying that a person’s environment can’t be a factor in his/her spiritual condition, but what it can never be is the bedrock root of the person’s sin. That problem runs far deeper than one’s surroundings.

And so, what will become of this great army that follows Satan as he marches toward Jerusalem for yet another showdown with Jesus? Would you believe they last only one verse? Revelation 20:9 says: “They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.”

In the end, Satan’s final rebellion won’t amount to much, will it? All of his human soldiers will be instantly “devoured” by fire thrown down from God the Father in heaven. I take the word “devoured” there to mean “incinerated.” Their bodies will be turned to ashes and their souls will be banished to hell.

The “beloved city” mentioned in the verse is obviously Jerusalem. But who exactly are “the saints”? If nothing else, the New Testament teaches in passage after passage that each Christian is a “saint” (even though we surely don’t always act saintly). I feel confident in saying, though, that the “saints” of Revelation 20:9 are all the believers from the entire scope of human history beginning with Adam and ending with the last believer from the kingdom age. Evidently, by the time of this last battle on earth, all of history’s believers will be enjoying the blessing of an eternal, glorified body and no new converts will be joining the ranks of the saved.

As for what becomes of Satan, Revelation 20:10 says: “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast (the Antichrist) and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” This “lake of fire and brimstone” is commonly known as “the lake of fire” or “the eternal lake of fire.” It equates to that place that is called Gehenna in twelve instances in the New Testament’s original Greek.

In each of the twelve usages, the old King James translation translates Gehenna as “hell.” This has caused great confusion because the K.J.V. also translates the Greek words Tartarus and Hades as “hell” even though Tartarus, Hades, and Gehenna are completely different places. Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4) is a place exclusively reserved for the incarceration of fallen angels. It’s the “bottomless pit” where Satan and the other fallen angels will spend the thousand years of Christ’s millennial reign. Hades (Luke 16:23, Acts 2:27-31, Revelation 6:8, etc.) is the “hell” that is open for business now, the place our minds envision as hell. When a lost person dies today, his/her soul goes there. Gehenna (Matthew 5:22-30, Mark 9:43-45, Luke 12:5, etc.) is the “lake of fire” that will one day officially replace Hades as eternity’s hell. (I’ll say more about that in the next post.)

Currently Gehenna has no occupants. Its first occupants will be the Antichrist and the False Prophet as they are cast in there alive (body and soul) immediately following the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:20). You see, one of the major differences between Gehenna and Hades is that whereas Hades only receives souls (with the bodies going to graves), Gehenna receives the bodies as well.

Nevertheless, the places are similar in that each of them features flame, suffering, and torment. You’ll notice that Revelation 20:10 says of the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and Satan in the lake of fire: “And they will be tormented tormented day and night forever and ever.” These words stand in stark contrast to the idea that eternal punishment will not be “eternal” after all, but will instead amount to instant and total obliteration in the fires of God’s judgment. Never doubt that damnation means the perpetual, unceasing torment and suffering of the individual for all eternity.

Gehenna then will be the final stop for the unholy trinity of Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. That leaves only the eternal abodes of history’s lost and saved for us to cover in this series. And we’ll get half of that done in the next post. So, until then, keep looking for the Rapture of the church – that split second when Jesus will step into earth’s sky and snatch away the body of each and every Christian. That is the next event on God’s schedule of prophecy, and it really could happen at any moment.

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What Will Life Be Like in Christ’s Millennial Reign?

Posted on February 24, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #23)

The phrase “thousand years” occurs six times in Revelation 20:1-7. We call these thousand years Christ’s Millennial Reign. The word “millennium” comes from two Latin words: mille (“thousand”) and annum (“year”). Therefore, Jesus’ thousand-year reign upon the earth is His Millennial Reign. Another name for it is “the kingdom age.” When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed by Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” He knew the ultimate fulfillment of that prayer will be His millennial reign.

In a previous post (post #4), I explained that the seven-year tribulation period is God finishing up some unfinished business He has with Israel. That period is the final seven years of 490 years of Israel’s history that God prophesied through Daniel long ago (Daniel 9:20-27). Well, in the same way, Christ’s millennial reign is God finishing up even more unfinished business with Israel. Through scores of Old Testament prophecies, He has promised Israel a glorious kingdom age. This age will see the Jews completely restored to their land of Canaan and living in peace and prosperity under the reign of their Messiah.

For the record, this is why many of the Jews wouldn’t accept Jesus as their Messiah when He came the first time. In their eyes, His claims to be their promised Messiah rang hollow because He didn’t create the changes the Messiah was supposed to create. He didn’t lead the Jews in a military overthrow of Rome. He didn’t heal the land and make it abundant like the garden of Eden. He didn’t establish a throne. He didn’t wear a crown. He didn’t make Jerusalem the most important city on earth.

Of course what they didn’t understand was that Jesus would come twice. His first coming dealt with spiritual matters, and His second coming will deal with material matters. His first coming was about servitude, and His second coming will be about sovereignty. His first coming took Him to a tree, and His second coming will take Him to a throne.

The prophecies that offer us glimpses of the coming kingdom age are numerous and scattered throughout the pages of the Old Testament. J. Vernon McGee wrote: “In Scripture there is more prophecy concerning the Millennium than of any other period. The kingdom was the theme of the Old Testament prophets.” I won’t even try to offer an exhaustive list of the Old Testament prophecies in which God promises Israel a kingdom age, but here are a few: Isaiah 4:3-6, Isaiah 11:11-16, Ezekiel 36:22-38, Ezekiel 37:15-28, Daniel 2:31-45, Daniel 7:13-14, Daniel 7:27, Micah 5:2-4, and Zechariah 2:10-13.

But what will life in Christ’s millennial reign actually be like? Well, that’s a big subject, one upon which entire books have been written. However, for the purposes of this post, I’ll attempt a descriptive overview. Ready? Here we go.

1. Jesus will reign as King of the world from Jerusalem.

When the angel Gabriel appeared to the virgin Mary and informed her that she would conceive a son, Gabriel said of the son, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:30-33). Gabriel’s word of prophecy will be fulfilled in the kingdom age as Jesus rules over the world from His Davidic throne in Jerusalem. As Isaiah 24:23 says: “For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem.” Other relevant passages are: 2 Samuel 7:16, Psalm 2:1-12, Psalm 72:1-20, Psalm 89:20-37, Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 11:1-16, Isaiah 16:5, Isaiah 42:1-4, Jeremiah 23:1-8, Jeremiah 33:19-21, Micah 4:6-7, Micah 5:2-5, Zechariah 2:1-5, Zechariah 2:10-11, Zechariah 8:3, Zechariah 14:9, Zephaniah 3:14-17, and Revelation 19:16.

2. David will reign as a prince/vice-regent to Jesus.

Like the bodies of all the believers from the Old Testament era, David’s body will be resurrected, glorified, and reunited with his soul at Christ’s Second Coming (see post #22). David will then serve as what we might think of as a “second-in-command” (especially concerning the Jews) under Jesus during the millennial reign. In reference to this time, God says in Jeremiah 30:9, “But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.” Other relevant passages are: Ezekiel 34:23-24, Ezekiel 37:24, and Hosea 3:5.

3. Christ’s 12 apostles will sit on thrones with Him and serve as judges over the 12 tribes of Israel.

In the kingdom age, the city of Jerusalem will be enlarged and raised up topographically from its surrounding land (Zechariah 14:10). The city will also be surrounded by walls, within which will be 12 gates (Ezekiel 48:30-35). Furthermore, each of the 12 tribes of Israel will have an allotted section of Canaan (the land of Israel). The borders of these sections are meticulously recorded in Ezekiel 48:1-29. Jesus Himself promised His chosen 12 apostles that they will serve as judges over the 12 tribes of Israel during His reign (Matthew 19:28 and Luke 22:29-30).

The only question is, Who will take Judas Iscariot’s place among the 12? We know that Matthias was the man chosen to take Judas’ place as a member of the group (Acts 1:15-26), but we also know that Paul became the most famous apostle of them all (with the possible exception of Peter). So, will the 12th apostle in the kingdom age be Matthias or Paul? Most commentators dodge the question altogether, and I can’t say that I blame them. I myself kind of pull for it to be Matthias simply because he gets forgotten by history while Paul writes half the New Testament and becomes the leading spiritual authority on virtually all matters.

4. Christians will reign with Jesus.

In Revelation 5:9-10, we read a quote that comes from twenty-four elders that John sees in heaven. These twenty-four elders represent the entirety of the church in heaven following the Rapture. And what do these elders say to Jesus? They say, “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and WE SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH.” Other relevant passages are: Daniel 7:18, Daniel 7:27, Matthew 5:5, 1 Corinthians 6:2, 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 2:26-27, Revelation 3:21, and Revelation 20:4-6.

5. Christians will be given varying degrees of responsibility based upon their level of service rendered in life.

In Luke 19:11-27, Jesus tells an interesting parable. It begins with a certain nobleman going into a far country to receive a kingdom. Before he leaves on the trip, he gathers together ten of his servants and gives each one a mina, along with the command, “Do business till I return.” (A mina was an amount of money that was equivalent to three months salary.) When the nobleman returns, he finds that one of the servants has taken his one mina and through good business turned it into ten minas. The nobleman says, “Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.” Another servant’s profit of five minas is rewarded with him being given authority over five cities. But one servant does nothing to invest his mina. Instead of investing it, he places it in a handkerchief for safekeeping. So, upon the nobleman’s return, the nobleman has the one mina taken from that servant and given to the servant who has ten minas. If we are right to apply this “kingdom” parable to delegated responsibilities in the kingdom age, it means that Christians who render the most fruitful service in life will be awarded the greater responsibilities in the millennial reign. Other relevant passages are: Matthew 13:12, Matthew 25:29, Mark 4:25, and Luke 8:18.

6. There will be worldwide peace.

Isaiah 2:4 says of the millennial reign: “He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” A plowshare is the cutting blade of a plow. A pruning hook is a long-handled instrument with a curved blade that is used for pruning plants. The teaching is that warfare and military pursuits will be replaced by agricultural efforts. Another relevant passage is Micah 4:1-3.

7. The earth itself will be restored to a pristine condition.

After Adam’s sin in the garden of Eden, God told him, “Cursed is the ground for your sake…” (Genesis 3:17). God’s curse ruined the pristine natural conditions that existed before Adam’s sin. Romans 8:18-22 elaborates on this idea by saying that creation was “subjected to futility” and now exists under “the bondage of corruption.” It “groans and labors” like a woman who is ready to give birth. This explains why the earth is filled with such things as weeds, briars, and deserts. But Christ’s millennial reign will feature in large part a worldwide return to nature’s once idyllic conditions. For example, the “desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose” and “waters shall burst forth in the wilderness” (Isaiah 35:1-10). Other relevant passages are: Isaiah 32:14-15, Ezekiel 34:26-27, Zechariah 8:11-12, Joel 3:18, and Amos 9:13.

8. All the earth’s fierce creatures will become tame and docile.

Isaiah 11:6-8 says that in the millennial reign: the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the kid goat, the calf will lie down with the young lion, the cow and the bear will graze together, the lion will eat straw like the ox, and deadly snakes will not strike. In other words, all the carnivorous beasts and dangerous creatures will stop their killing and their flesh eating. Other relevant passages are: Isaiah 65:25, Ezekiel 34:25-28, and Hosea 2:18.

9. Life will return to simpler times.

In a previous post (post #11), I said that I agree with those who believe that Revelation 9:16-19 is the apostle John’s description of modern warfare. However, even assuming that my take on that passage is correct (and it might not be), it is undeniable that many of the descriptions of life in the tribulation period involve far less sophisticated weapons of war. First, the Russian invasion of Israel that is recorded in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 (see post #7) speaks of horses, horsemen, bucklers, shields, swords, bows, and arrows (Ezekiel 38:4, 39:3,9,10). Second, the description of the commercial items that are being bought and sold in the city of “Mystery Babylon” (Rome I believe, see post #19) in the last half of the tribulation period features horses and chariots. Third, the description of the warfare that is raging in the city of Jerusalem at Christ’s Second Coming mentions the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and cattle of the foreign armies (Zechariah 14:15). Fourth, the description of the battle of Armageddon speaks of literal horses being used in the battle (Revelation 19:18). We know the horses are literal because the birds of the air eat their flesh after the battle.

So, what are we to make of all this? Frankly, I don’t know, and I’ve never read or heard anyone else who does. My best guess is that somewhere along the line in the tribulation period or possibly even before it our computerized, mechanized, modern technology will take a serious hit. For years now we’ve heard reports of weapons being invented that can be aimed toward manufactured devices and render them immobile or inoperative. Perhaps such weapons will factor into the equation. Maybe the events of the seal judgments or the trumpet judgments will take out the worldwide electrical grid. Maybe some kind of terrorist act will take down the world’s computers with a computer virus. Maybe the intensified sun of the fourth bowl judgment will fry all our satellites up there orbiting around. Maybe the rivers being turned to “blood” as a part of the fourth trumpet judgment and the third bowl judgment will decimate the world’s hydroelectric power systems. Or maybe that great earthquake of the seventh bowl judgment – the quake that causes the cities of the world to fall – will play a key role in reverting society back to the middle ages. I’m just throwing out some random ideas here. All I know is that if we take certain prophetic passages literally, the world of the future sounds more like the world of the past.

I’m mentioning this now because the Bible’s descriptions of Christ’s millennial reign consistently teach that life on earth in those days will be a return to simpler times. Isaiah 61:5 speaks of flocks, plowmen, and vinedressers. Isaiah 65:21 speaks of vineyards. Jeremiah 31:12 speaks of wheat, new wine, oil, flocks, and herds. Joel 2:18-24 speaks of grain, new wine, oil, open pastures, fruit-bearing trees, fig trees, vines, and threshing floors. Amos 9:13-14 speaks of plowing, sowing seed, reaping, making gardens, planting vineyards, treading upon grapes, and drinking wine from them. Micah 4:4 and Zechariah 3:10 both speak of grapevines and fig trees. Zechariah 2:4 speaks of livestock. Zechariah 8:12 speaks of seed, vines, and grounds giving their increase. Again, I can’t say for sure exactly what happens in this world’s future that reverts everything back to simpler times (even regarding warfare), but that is precisely what the Bible foretells in passage after passage.

#10. Jesus will provide physical healing for the tribulation-period survivors who go into the millennial reign in their earthly bodies.

Earth’s inhabitants during the 1,000 years of the kingdom age will be a mixed assortment of believers existing in eternal, glorified bodies and believers existing in normal, earthly bodies. Concerning the believers (Jewish and Gentile) who live through the tribulation period and go into the millennial reign in their earthly bodies, Jesus will heal them of all their physical infirmities at the beginning of the 1,000 years. Isaiah 35:5:-6 says of that time: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing…” Jesus will heal those people of their diseases, infirmities, and sicknesses as easily as He healed people during His first coming.

11. The tribulation-period survivors will live to extended ages.

Some factor or combination of factors about the kingdom age will allow people in their normal bodies to live to incredible ages. Perhaps it will be the fact that Jesus heals those bodies completely at the start of the 1,000 years. Perhaps it will be the fact that the earth will no longer be under God’s curse. Perhaps it will be the return to the rural, agriculture-based society and diet. Perhaps it will be all of these factors working in unison.

At any rate, however it happens, Isaiah 65:20 teaches that if someone dies at the age of 100 it will be as if that person died as a child. Likewise, Zechariah 8:4 says that Jerusalem in the kingdom age will feature old men and old women who are of “great age.” I’m not ready to say that the average lifespan in the millennial reign will match the ages described in the pre-flood world of the early chapters of Genesis, but they will definitely be much, much longer than the lifespans to which we are accustomed today.

Please understand, though, that any tribulation-period believer who goes into the kingdom age in an earthly body will eventually die, even if it takes several centuries to do so. We must keep in mind that the tribulation-period survivors will still have the inborn, Adamic nature of sin coursing through them. This means that there will inevitably be a certain amount of sin in the millennial reign (I’ll say more about that in the next post), and sin ultimately leads to physical death for the sinner (Romans 5:12). So there will be deaths in the millennial reign as well. From all indications, however, the sinner’s body will be resurrected and glorified at the moment of the death, and the person will then become a member of the kingdom age’s other group of citizens: the ones who exist in eternal, glorified bodies.

12. The tribulation-period survivors will rebuild old ruins, build new houses, and rebuild cities.

The events of the tribulation period will lay waste to the houses, structures, towns, and cities of the world. The planet will be dotted here, there, and everywhere by ruins and rubble. It isn’t so surprising then that Isaiah 61:4 says of the millennial reign: “And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations of many generations.” Likewise, Isaiah 65:21-22 says: “They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat…And my elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” And then there is Amos 9:14, where God says, “I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them…”

All this means that there will be much building work done in the kingdom age. Most of us would assume that 1,000 years of “heaven on earth” wouldn’t involve any physical labor, but we would assume wrong. Going all the way back to Adam and Eve tending the garden of Eden, God’s plan for the human race has always included a balanced, healthy, productive dose of work.

13. The tribulation-period survivors will bear offspring in the kingdom age.

If men and women go into the kingdom age in their earthly bodies, have those bodies completely healed at the outset, and live lives of extended ages, the natural result will be lots of offspring. Isaiah 65:23 says that kingdom couples will not “bring forth children for trouble.” Likewise, Isaiah 11:8 speaks of nursing children and weaned children. Finally, Zechariah 8:5 says: “The streets of the city (Jerusalem) shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.” You see, the kingdom age will feature a population explosion.

It should be noted, though, that these children will be born sinners. As I said earlier, tribulation-period survivors will enter the kingdom age with sin still coursing through their bodies. Unfortunately, a sin-tainted father and a sin-tainted mother can only produce a sin-tainted child. Jesus will fix most things about life on earth for His millennial reign, but He won’t fix that basic genetic problem.

14. Jerusalem will be the spiritual capital of the earth.

Don’t get the idea that in the millennial reign everyone will live in or around Jerusalem. The fact is that kingdom-age citizens will populate the globe. No matter where they live, though, they will think of Jerusalem as the spiritual capital of the earth. Considering that Jesus will be reigning from His throne there, it only makes sense that the city will hold a unique place of prominence.

What the earth’s inhabitants will do is make periodic trips to Jerusalem. Isaiah 2:2-3 says of Jerusalem: “…And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

Similarly, Isaiah 60:1-18 goes into great detail about the wealth the Gentiles will bring into Jerusalem during the kingdom age. The passage describes multitudes of camels bringing gold and incense and covering the land (v.6). It also says of the city: “the sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you” (v.10). Furthermore, the city’s gates will be “open continually” that people may bring “the wealth of the Gentiles” to the city (v.11). Jesus spoke of all this when He said, “And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). Other relevant passages on this subject are: Isaiah 11:9-10, Isaiah 62:1-12, Jeremiah 31:31-40, Joel 2:32, Micah 4:1-13, Zechariah 2:1-13, and Zechariah 8:1-23.

In particular, the kingdom-age Gentiles from around the world will make trips to Jerusalem to observe certain ceremonies and feasts. These are described in Ezekiel 45:18-25. First, on the first day of the first month of the Jewish calendar, there will be a New Year’s ceremony that will be especially instituted for the kingdom age. This ceremony will feature the sacrificing of a young bull and will last for seven days (verses 18-20). Second, the traditional Jewish Feast of Passover will be held on the fourteenth day of that month (verse 21). Third, Passover will be followed by the seven days of the traditional Jewish Feast of Unleavened Bread (verses 21-24). Fourth, the traditional seven-day Jewish Feast of Tabernacles will observed in the fall of the year (verse 25).

In specific regards to the Feast of Tabernacles in the millennial reign, Zechariah 14:16-17 says: “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no more rain.”

This passage might prompt us to ask, “But how will there even be a possibility of some Gentiles refusing to make the trip to Jerusalem for the required observance of the Feast of Tabernacles?” The answer involves the offspring of those tribulation-period believers. As the centuries of Christ’s thousand-year reign roll on, more and more of those offspring and their offspring will refuse to accept Earth’s King, Jesus, as their Savior and Lord. This rebellion will systematically grow like a cancer until it reaches full bloom at the close of the 1,000 years. That is when it will climax in a full-fledged coup attempt aimed at dethroning Jesus. (I’ll say more about that in the next post.)

15. There will be a millennial temple in Jerusalem where Jewish priests will offer up sacrifices from Jews and Gentiles.

Earlier I mentioned the ceremonies and feasts that will be held annually in the kingdom age. Just as in the days of the Mosaic Law, these ceremonies and feasts will involve priests offering up prescribed sacrifices. But in order for these priests to ideally offer up sacrifices, there must be a temple with an altar. That problem is addressed in Ezekiel chapters 40 through 48 as the prophet describes in the most precise detail imaginable the temple that scholars refer to as “the millennial temple.” John MacArthur, the prominent pastor and author, has said of these chapters, “…this section provides explicit details concerning Christ’s millennial reign which follows, giving more details about the 1,000 year kingdom than all other OT prophecies put together. It is the ‘holy of holies’ among millennial forecasts.”

This temple will NOT be the rebuilt temple of the tribulation period. Evidently that temple will be destroyed by either the great earthquake of the seventh bowl judgment (Revelation 16:17-21) or the warfare that is raging in Jerusalem at the time of Christ’s Second Coming (Zechariah 14:1-15). Whereas that tribulation-period temple will be built to suit the will of humans, the millennial temple will be built to suit the will of God. Other relevant passages on the subject of the millennial temple and the worship services that will take place there are: Isaiah 60:7, Isaiah 66:18-24, Jeremiah 33:14-18, Haggai 2:6-9, and Zechariah 1:16-17.

As you might guess, an entire series could be devoted to the subject of the millennial temple itself. I have no plans, however, to pursue that series at this time. Instead, I’ll just close this post by using a quote that provides a summed-up description of the temple. This quote comes from John Walvoord, who was nothing short of a legend when it came to teachers of prophecy. In his book Major Bible Prophecies: 37 Crucial Prophecies that Affect You Today, Walvoord wrote the following concerning the millennial temple:

The temple to be built in the Millennium will be much larger than any historic temple of Israel, being a square 875 feet (500 cubits) in width and length. Like previous temples, it will face east and will have an outer wall on the other three sides. The temple will have thirty rooms built on three levels. Except for the western wall, the other three sides will have a large outer court that will surround the temple itself with gates in each of the three walls….In connection with the temple, Ezekiel predicted that there will be a great river flowing from the temple to the south, having sufficient volume so that one will not be able to wade across (47:3-6). The river banks will be covered with trees (verses 7-9), and the river will have fish and other living creatures in it. Fresh water will apparently replace the salty Dead Sea, and the river will continue to flow to the south of Israel until it reaches the Gulf of Arabah.

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The Establishing of the Kingdom Age

Posted on February 21, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #22)

People tend to think of Christ’s Second Coming as the end of something (It is the end of the tribulation period. It is the end of a dispensation. It is the end of human history as we know it.) And, of course, all these things are certainly true. However, I think it is better to think of Christ’s Second Coming as the beginning of something. It is the beginning of Christ’s thousand-year reign upon the earth, the kingdom age. But before the clock can start ticking on those 1,000 years there are some major foundational matters to which Jesus must attend. This post is all about those foundational matters.

#1: Satan and the other fallen angels will be imprisoned in the bottomless pit for the 1,000 years.

In Revelation 20:1-3, immediately following Christ’s victory at the battle of Armageddon, John gives us the record of how a certain angel comes down from heaven. This angel carries two items: a great chain and the key to the bottomless pit. The angel proceeds to lay hold of Satan, bind him with the chain, and cast him into the bottomless pit, where he will remain for the 1,000 years of Christ’s reign upon the earth. You just can’t have a kingdom age if you’ve got a devil still running around loose.

We aren’t given the name of the angel that binds Satan and imprisons him. From everything we know from scripture, the archangel Michael is the only angel that is powerful enough to handle Satan in a one-on-one confrontation (Daniel 10:10-21, Jude verse 9). Perhaps, then, the angel will be Michael. At any rate, whichever angel it is, the angel will have no trouble chaining Satan and imprisoning him.

As we think back over the course of history since Adam and Eve’s sin in Eden, we realize that there has never been even one day – let alone 1,000 years – when Satan was rendered totally inactive. We can’t even imagine living in a world in which he isn’t out there “going to and fro upon the earth” (Job 1:7, Job  2:2) “seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The kingdom age will be such a time.

Someone might ask, “But what about the rest of the fallen angels? Will they be allowed to run amuck in the kingdom age?” No, they won’t. Even though John only mentions Satan being imprisoned in the bottomless pit, the prophet Isaiah fills in the rest of the story. Isaiah chapter 24 deals with end-times events and the day when the Lord will reign in Jerusalem. Verses 21 and 22 of that chapter say:

It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth. They will be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; and after many days they will be punished. (N.K.J.V.)

The term “the host of exalted ones” is a reference to angels. Other translations render it “the host of heaven.” It is similar to the term “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” from Ephesians 6:12, which is a definite description of fallen angels. This explains why the New Living Translation uses the term “fallen angels” rather than “the host of exalted ones” in the passage.

By the way, Satan and his fellow fallen angels know that this time of their thousand-year imprisonment in the bottomless pit is coming. The proof text on this is a story found in three of the gospels: Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, and Luke 8:26-30. The story tells of a ministry trip that Jesus took to the country of the Gergesenes (Gadarenes). This was a small town located on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus and the chosen 12 had barely gotten out of their boat and walked ashore when they were met by two exceedingly fierce, demon-possessed men who lived among the tombs of the local cemetery. As the two men attempted to keep Jesus and the apostles from passing by, the demons inside the men spoke directly to Jesus. And what did they say? They asked Him, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have you come to torment us before THE TIME?” Obviously, “the time” they had in mind will be their 1,000 years of imprisonment in the bottomless pit.

As for this pit, it is the same one that is described in Revelation 9:1-12. In a previous post (post #11), I explained that this pit (this “abyss,” this “deep”) is the place the Greek language calls Tartarus. It is a place that God uses exclusively for the imprisonment of fallen angels. No human being – alive or dead, saved or lost – ever has anything to do with this site. Remember that the Antichrist and the False Prophet will be cast alive into the eternal lake of fire following the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:20). That’s a different place altogether from this bottomless pit. It’s Satan and his fellow fallen angels who go into Tartarus, and they will remain in there for the duration of Christ’s thousand-year reign upon the earth. Whereas Satan was given a key in order to unlock the bottomless pit in Revelation 9:1, the unnamed angel of Revelation 20:1 is given a key (perhaps the same one) to lock it.

#2: The bodies of certain groups of believers will be resurrected and glorified.

In Revelation 20:4, John says of the martyred believers from the tribulation period, “Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.” Keep in mind now that this is immediately following Christ’s Second Coming, the battle of Armageddon, and the imprisoning of Satan in the bottomless pit. At that moment in the grand scheme of events, John describes these martyrs as “souls,” which indicates that their bodies hadn’t been resurrected and glorified yet.

But then John says of these souls, “And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4-6). Wow, what just happened? I’ll tell you: Those martyred souls from the tribulation period had their bodies resurrected and glorified to match the type of body that every Christian received at the Rapture.

So, if you are keeping score, this leaves only one group of believers without resurrected, glorified bodies. And who is that group? It’s the believers from the Old Testament, pre-church age. Old Testament believers such as Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Daniel, and Jeremiah are in that group. New Testament, pre-church believers such as John the Baptist are as well. And when will all these believers have their bodies resurrected and glorified to be reunited with the souls that once inhabited them? It will take place at Christ’s Second Coming, probably at the same moment when the tribulation-period martyrs have their bodies resurrected and glorified.

The Revelation doesn’t describe the resurrections of these bodies, but Daniel 12:1-3 does. Those verses speak of a time in Israel’s history when “there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” This is a reference to the tribulation period. The verses also say, “And at that time your (Daniel’s) people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” This is a reference to the bodies of the Old Testament believers being resurrected at Christ’s Second Coming. Furthermore, since the bodies of Jesus and Christians experienced glorification upon resurrection, it is logical to conclude that the same will hold true for the bodies of all saved believers from any era. (As for the part about some of the bodies being awakened “to shame and everlasting contempt,” I’ll cover that in a later post.)

#3: The world’s population who lived through the tribulation period will be separated into the camps of “saved” and “lost.”

John doesn’t mention this separating in The Revelation, but Jesus certainly does in His Olivet Discourse (Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Mark chapter 13, Luke chapter 21). In Matthew 24:30-31, He says, “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

Jesus then elaborates on this angelic separating by explaining in Matthew 24:36-44 that some people will be “taken” while others will be “left.” This passage is often mistaken as a reference to the Rapture, but it’s undoubtedly a reference to the angelic dividing just before the beginning of Christ’s thousand-year reign. Let me explain.

Jesus says the time of this separating will be “as the days of Noah” (Matthew 24:36). Okay, let’s think about that for a second. Concerning the flood of Noah, was it better to be left upon the earth or removed from it? It was better to be left upon it. Only eight people (Noah, his wife, their three sons, and the three daughter-in-laws) were left upon the earth (albeit in an ark) so that they could repopulate the human race after the flood. The rest of the world’s inhabitants were removed from the earth by way of dying as a result of the great flood.

In similar fashion, when Christ’s angels go into all the world following the tribulation period, the “elect” (the tribulation-period believers who lived all the way through the seven years) will be allowed to remain upon the earth and be welcomed into the kingdom age. These believers will go into the kingdom age in their normal, earthly bodies (I’ll say more about that in the next post.) On the other hand, the tribulation-period lost unbelievers will be put to death and have their souls banished to hell. In that sense, they will be removed from the earth just as the damned were removed from the earth by way of the great flood.

You say, “Oh, I don’t know about that, Russell. I just don’t believe that Jesus would be cruel enough to actually kill unbelievers to remove them from the earth before the kingdom age begins. The Jesus I know isn’t that ghoulish.” Well, I’m not saying that Jesus will enjoy doing all this killing, but there’s no mistaking the fact that He will do it.

Actually, this shouldn’t surprise us in light of what we learned in the previous post in this series. If you recall, we learned that Christ’s Second Coming will feature a whole lot of killing right from the start. For one thing, He will send out a plague that will gruesomely eat the flesh of the soldiers who are fighting against Jerusalem on that day (Zechariah 14:12-15). For another, He will speak the word (“out of His mouth goes a sharp sword”) and in so doing put to death all the soldiers at the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:11-21).

And these aren’t the only passages that foretell that Jesus will literally kill unbelievers at His Second Coming. Here are five more:

  • Isaiah 11:4: “He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.”
  • Isaiah 66:15-16: “For behold, the Lord will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword the Lord will judge all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many.”
  • Isaiah 66:24: “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me…”
  • Luke 19:27: “But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.”
  • 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9: “…the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

I would also point out that Jesus words in Matthew 24:45-51 plainly teach the slaying of the tribulation period’s lost before the beginning of the thousand-year reign. In those verses, Jesus tells a parable that contrasts a faithful servant with an evil servant. At the end of the parable, the faithful servant is made a ruler, but the evil servant is cut to pieces and sent to a place where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” Clearly, this is a reference to the person being put to death and having his/her soul sent to hell.

Furthermore, in Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus gives us the parable of the wheat and the tares. In that parable, the wheat represents the saved who live all the way through the tribulation period, and the tares represent the lost who live all the way through it. In Matthew 13:36-43, Jesus explains the parable. He says, “Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Later on in that same chapter, in Matthew 13:47-50, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a dragnet that is cast into the sea and gathers up all kinds of stuff. When the net is full, the fishermen bring it to the shore and begin the process of separating the usable things from the unusable ones. Jesus says, “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:49-50). Notice that in all of these passages it’s Christ’s angels who separate the tribulation-period survivors into the categories of “saved” and “lost.”.

Now, once we rightly understand the events associated with Christ’s Second Coming, then we can understand that Matthew chapter 25 simply provides us with further description of the events of the last half of chapter 24. For example, in Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus uses the stages of a typical Jewish wedding of the time to illustrate that many Jews will be excluded from the kingdom age. He then follows that illustration with Matthew 25:14-30 and Matthew 25:31-46, two passages that illustrate that many Gentiles will be excluded from the kingdom age.

I’ve always found the Matthew 25:31-46 passage to be especially striking. That passage has Jesus sitting on a throne as all the tribulation-period survivors from all the nations of the world stand before Him. Presumably, this scene will take place after Christ’s angels have completed their work of separation. As a shepherd separates sheep from goats, Jesus will separate the tribulation-period survivors into the categories of “sheep” and “goats.” The sheep will be welcomed into the kingdom age while the goats will “go away into everlasting punishment.” This is the time of judgment that is spoken of in Joel 3:2, where God says, “I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations…” No one knows for sure exactly where this Valley of Jehoshaphat is, but one possibility is that it will be the valley that is created as a result of Jesus touching down upon the Mount of Olives and causing the mountain to split (Zechariah 14:4-5).

Interestingly, according to Christ’s words in the Matthew 25:31-46 passage, the evidence of salvation in the tribulation period will be a believer’s willingness to help others who are in need of food, drink, or clothing. Even though many tribulation-period believers will be beheaded as martyrs (Revelation 20:4), others will escape martyrdom and be forced to live in hiding. These people will refuse to bow down before the image of the Antichrist or take his “mark of the beast” (Revelation 13:11-18). Unfortunately, them not having that mark will disqualify them from being able to buy or sell. This will force them to rely upon each other for the simple necessities of life (food, drink, clothing).

I personally believe the fellowship of believers during those days will revert back to the earliest days of the church when believers “had all things in common” and “divided them among all, as anyone had need” (Acts 2:44-45). In this way, acts of charity and kindness in the tribulation period will become nothing less than evidences of salvation. After all, the lost people of the tribulation period will be so far gone spiritually that they certainly won’t concern themselves with the welfare of anybody else. So, if any charitable acts get done, it will have to be saved believers who do them. As Jesus says, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren (tribulation-period believers), you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40).

And with that I’ll put a period on this particular post. Now that we have covered the foundational matters of Jesus setting up His thousand-year reign, we can move into a description of what life will be like on earth during those years. That description will be the subject of the next post. Hang in there with me. The series is really headed down the home stretch now.

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The Battle of Armageddon/The Second Coming of Christ

Posted on February 18, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #21)

It is impossible to rightly understand Bible prophecy without understanding the differences between the Rapture and Christ’s Second Coming. Here are the basics:

  • The Rapture takes place before the tribulation period. The Second Coming takes place at the close of the tribulation period.
  • At the Rapture, Jesus comes only to earth’s sky. At the Second Coming, He literally walks this earth again.
  • At the Rapture, Jesus comes for the church (Christians) and snatches them up to be with Him. At the Second Coming, He comes with the church (Christians) and they walk the earth again.
  • The Rapture will take place so fast (in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye) that the people of the world will not see it. At the Second Coming, every eye will see Jesus descending to the earth.
  • At the Rapture, the bodies of Christians from the church age – beginning with the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4 and ending with the moment of the Rapture – will all become glorified bodies suitable for eternity. At the Second Coming, the list of believers who receive glorified bodies is as follows: the believers from the Old Testament era, the believers from the New Testament era leading up to Acts chapter 2’s day of Pentecost, and the martyred Christians from the tribulation period.
  • At the Rapture, Jesus comes to deliver Christians from the tribulation period. At the Second Coming, He comes to deliver tribulation-period believers from further persecution, and He also comes to deliver judgment upon the lost people alive on earth at that time.
  • Scripturally speaking, nothing has to take place before the Rapture can occur. Scripturally speaking, the events of the tribulation period have to take place before the Second Coming can occur.

Now, the Jesus that John sees in Revelation 19:11-16 is not the peaceful, tolerant, “long haired hippie type” prophet with which the world is so comfortable. Sure, He is called “Faithful” and “True,” two symbolic titles that seem harmlessly generic enough. He is also called “The Word of God,” another title that can conjure up pleasant thoughts. But in order to be completely “Faithful” you have to be faithful in dealing with wickedness. Likewise, in order to be thoroughly “True” you have to be merciless in dealing with falsehoods and lies. And as for the title “The Word of God,” what most people don’t realize is that God’s messages aren’t always sunshine, rainbows, and pretty flowers.

So, with all this said, let me introduce you to the Jesus of the Second Coming. This Jesus is the one who walks this earth again at the end of the tribulation period. He is the Warrior King. He wears (either symbolically or literally) many crowns, with crowns being a mark of sovereignty rather than servanthood. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood. Upon that robe and upon His thigh a name is written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. He leads heaven’s armies (Christians), and all of His soldiers are clothed in fine linen and riding white horses. His eyes are like a flame of fire. He has a sword that goes out of His mouth and strikes the nations. He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. In righteousness, He judges and makes war. He even has a hint of mystery about Him as He bears a name that no one knows except Him.

When we study Bible prophecy it’s easy to fixate upon Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. It’s easy to get bogged down trying to figure out whether John is talking about literal Babylon or some other city. It’s easy to run wild with the interpretation of “666.” But what Bible prophecy is really all about is JESUS! History is HIS-story. The primary issue isn’t: Will this world ever come to Jesus? The primary issue is: JESUS IS COMING TO THIS WORLD! And when He comes, “business as usual” will be no more.

Here is the order of events for Christ’s Second Coming:

  1. Jesus will descend from the clouds, with His bride (the church, the armies of heaven) following Him. The descent will begin suddenly, like lightning flashing from the east to the west (Matthew 24:27), but it will play out slowly enough for every eye to see Him (Revelation 1:7). This is the moment that Enoch prophesied about when he said: “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Jude, verses 14-15).
  2. The first place Jesus’ feet will touch down upon will be the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem. This is the site from which He ascended after His resurrection (Acts 1:9-12). There is a prophecy in Zechariah 14:4 that says: “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.” Because of this prophecy, the Mount of Olives is the location of the most ancient cemetery in Jerusalem. The cemetery contains approximately 70,000 tombs. Jews want to be buried there so that when the Messiah comes their bodies will be first in line to be resurrected.
  3. According to the Zechariah prophecy, the moment that Jesus’ feet touch down upon the Mount of Olives, the mountain will split in two. Half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half will move toward the south. This will create a large valley that runs east to west. Prophecy teacher Hal Lindsey has pointed out that there is a geological faultline in the area of the Mount of Olives and this faultline runs in exactly the direction the prophecy indicates.
  4. From the Mount of Olives, Jesus will make His way first to Jerusalem. There He will help the besieged Jews defeat the foreign armies that are looting and pillaging the city.
  5. Once the battle for Jerusalem is won, Jesus will make His way north to the valley that is located at Mount Megiddo. This sprawling valley will be the site of the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16).
  6. When Jesus arrives at the battle of Armageddon, He will slay all the soldiers gathered there by merely speaking the word. This is the symbolic meaning of the sharp sword that goes out from His mouth (Revelation 19:15,21).
  7. The carnage and death toll from Jesus’ victory at Armageddon will be staggering. In its aftermath, multiplied thousands of carnivorous, flesh-eating birds will commence eating the flesh of not only all the dead soldiers but also their horses (Revelation 19:17-18,21). These birds will have been supernaturally gathered there beforehand for this express purpose (Revelation 19:17). The gorging is described as “the supper of the great God” (Revelation 19:17). Jesus had this scene in mind when He said, “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together” (Matthew 24:27-28).
  8. Whereas the rest of the participants in the battle of Armageddon will be slain by Jesus and their souls banished to hell, the Antichrist and the False Prophet will be captured alive. They will then be cast body and soul into that place known as “the eternal lake of fire” (Revelation 19:20). This lake of fire is an even greater version of hell than the hell that exists now. The Antichrist and the False Prophet are given the dubious distinction of becoming history’s first occupants in this “lake of fire burning with brimstone.” (I’ll have more to say about this lake of fire in a later post.) The Antichrist being captured alive and cast into the lake of fire will be the fulfillment of 2 Thessalonians 2:8: “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”

Okay, now let’s back up and fill in some gaps. In the lead-up to the battle of Armageddon and Christ’s Second Coming, three demons (unclean spirits) will go out into all the world and convince the world’s rulers to send their armies to Mount Megiddo (Revelation 16:13-14). These demons will be granted the ability to perform signs that will convince the rulers to do as the demons request. It’s impossible to say exactly how these demons will operate (for example, will they be visible or invisible?), but they will certainly be effective at their job.

And will America’s army be at the battle of Armageddon? All I can tell you is that if America is still around at that time, and if it still has an army, that army will be there. Prophecy experts have often noted that America isn’t specifically mentioned in Bible prophecy. This leads some to speculate that the nation is going to somehow be destroyed (perhaps by nuclear war) sometime before the battle of Armageddon. However, the truth is that it isn’t just America that goes unmentioned in Bible prophecy. All of North America, South America, Australia, Antarctica, and a large portion of Africa do as well. For the most part, prophecy focuses on the nations of the Middle East, the Far East, and Europe.

If countries such as America, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, etc. are indeed covered in prophecy, they are found in verses that use the word “all” in relation to world events. For example, Revelation 13:3 says of the Antichrist: “And all the world marveled and followed the beast.” Similarly, Revelation 13:16 says of the False Prophet: “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads.”

Along the same lines, there are some prophetic verses that use the term “the whole world.” These are: Revelation 3:10 (used to describe the geographic extent of the tribulation period), Revelation 12:9 (used to describe the extent of Satan’s deception), and Revelation 16:14 (used to describe how many kings will send their armies to the battle of Armageddon). As I said, based upon Revelation 16:14, if America still has an army in the closing days of the tribulation period, those soldiers will be at the battle of Armageddon.

Actually, the battle (singular) of Armageddon will be the final, climatic battle in what many commentators and students of prophecy call “the war of Armageddon” or “the campaign of Armageddon.” To understand this, we need to again consult the prophecies of Zechariah. Concerning the end of the tribulation period, Zechariah 12:2-3 talks about “all the surrounding peoples” laying “siege against Judah and Jerusalem” and being “gathered against” Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:9 then speaks of “all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” And in Zechariah 14:2, God says, “I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city (N.I.V.).”

Do you remember that I said that Jesus’ touchdown atop the Mount of Olives will cause the mountain to split into two and will create a great valley? Well, according to Zechariah 14:5, the fleeing inhabitants of Jerusalem will escape the city by way of that new valley. They’ll need the escape route because the city will be filled with foreign soldiers who are seeking to kill and plunder.

The Bible isn’t crystal clear on which armies will be allies during the campaign of Armageddon and which ones will be enemies. One of the most well known passages on the subject is Daniel 11:40-45, even though admittedly there isn’t 100% agreement on the interpretation of the prophecies found there. I’m in the camp of those who believe the passage describes certain armies moving against the Antichrist and his army during the last half of the tribulation period.

Under this interpretation, both “the king of the South” and “the king of the North” are said to come against the Antichrist. The king of the South is usually identified as the tribulation-period ruler of Egypt. He will lead a North African coalition force that will also feature soldiers from Libya and Ethiopia (or Nubia as some translations render it). As for the king of the North, his correct identification depends upon whether or not Russia’s army will have been laid waste by God in the opening days of the tribulation period. I believe it will have been (see post #7). If this is a correct assessment, the king of the North in the last half of the tribulation period will have to be from Poland, the Ukraine, or some other small country north of Israel but south of Russia. If the assessment is incorrect, the king of the North will surely be the ruler of Russia.

Whoever the exact players will be, if the interpretation is correct, the Antichrist and his soldiers will meet these armies in the holy land, defeat them, and gain control over their nations (Daniel 11:41-43). But he won’t have much time to bask in his victory because “news from the north and the east shall trouble him” (Daniel 11:44). It’s hard to say what the troubling news from the north will be, but the news from the east will most likely involve the kings from the east and their army of 200 million that is mentioned in Revelation 9:16-19 (see post #11). This army will be an alliance army of soldiers from nations such as China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and perhaps Indonesia and India. I feel confident in saying that the news from the east will be that the kings from the east are marching their colossal army toward the dried up river bed of the Euphrates and thus taking dead aim at the holy land (Revelation 16:12).

This news will enrage the Antichrist, and he will “go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many” (Daniel 11: 44). Why will this news enrage him so? My educated guess is that at this point he will realize that his grip over the world’s population has seriously waned. His inability to counteract the devastating worldwide effects of the bowl judgments (Revelation 16:1-21) will have dealt a serious blow to his reputation as “messiah” and “god.” Consequently, certain world leaders will have lost their awe and fear of him and will have begun to see his empire as vulnerable and ripe for the taking. This accounts for the armies that many believe will come against him in the closing months of the last half of the tribulation period. In the end, he will set up a command center in Israel somewhere between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea (Daniel 11:45). This will ensure that his army – the European army of the revived Roman empire – will remain in the holy land until the battle of Armageddon.

While the Antichrist awaits the arrival of the army of the kings of the east in the holy land, it seems that he will take out his anger and frustration upon the helpless Jews who are living in Israel. Presumably, he will find allies in some of the armies from around the world that are arriving to play their ill-fated roles at Armageddon. You might recall that in Revelation 14:20 we read that there will come a time when blood will flow outside Jerusalem for 1,600 furlongs (approximately 200 miles) up to the height of a horse’s bridle (approximately 4 feet). It is interesting that 200 miles is the approximate length of Israel from the north to the south. This seems to indicate that during the final days leading up to the battle of Armageddon, foreign soldiers will be found up and down all of Israel. In the end, they will all die there, which will account for the incredible amount of shed blood.

Getting back to Zechariah’s prophecies concerning the city of Jerusalem, he says the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, the women raped, and half the city’s inhabitants will flee the city in an attempt to save themselves (Zechariah 14:1-2). It would be helpful if Zechariah was more precise as to exactly which army or armies will besiege Jerusalem at this time. I have to think that the Antichrist’s European army will be in on the siege. Furthermore, as I said, there will probably also be some armies from other nations that are still aligned with the Antichrist. I suppose it’s possible that the army of the kings of the east will have a share in the ransacking of Jerusalem as well, but my theory is that these kings will want to fight the Antichrist rather than fight alongside him. As I understand the situation, the great army from the east will be in Israel to go to war with the Antichrist’s army. But I could be wrong. It’s just about impossible to nail down every last particular of every last prophetic passage.

What I do know for sure is that sometime in the midst of all the fighting in and around Jerusalem, Jesus will return, touch down upon the Mount of Olives, and immediately commence to fighting for Israel. Jesus interjecting Himself into the battle for Jerusalem will create what James Montgomery Boice calls “the greatest victory the nation of Israel has achieved – greater than its conquests in the day of King David, greater than the deliverance of the Maccabees, greater than the conquests of the Six Day War or any other.” It’s Zechariah’s prophecies that offer us the most details about this victory:

  • The Lord will strike the horses of the enemy soldiers, causing those horses to become blind and confused and their riders to go mad (Zechariah 12:4).
  • The Lord will empower the Jews of Judah (the city of Jerusalem and its surrounding area) to defeat the foreign soldiers on the right hand and on the left hand (Zechariah 12:6) and to defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:8). He will do this by making even the most feeble of them as strong as a young David (Zechariah 12:8).
  • Not only will the Lord empower the Jews of Jerusalem to fight against all the foreign invaders, He Himself will fight against those soldiers (Zechariah 14:3).
  • The Lord will send out a plague to strike the soldiers who are fighting against Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:12). Whatever this plague will be exactly, it will cause flesh to dissolve, eyes to dissolve in their sockets, and tongues to dissolve in their mouths. It sounds just like some type of nuclear weaponry except that it’s Jesus, not a nuclear weapon, that causes it. This plague will also inflict the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and cattle that are in the encampments of the foreign armies (Zechariah 14:12).
  • This horrific plague will cause a great panic among all the enemy soldiers and they will turn on each other and start fighting each other (Zechariah 14:13).
  • When the fighting over Jerusalem is all said and done, the remaining Jewish citizens will enjoy the plunder and spoils of war left behind by all the foreign soldiers (Zechariah 14:14).

Perhaps the most compelling prophecy concerning this time is found in Zechariah 12:10. There, the Lord says of the Jews after that battle: “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

What does this prophecy mean? It means that a remnant of the Jews in Jerusalem at the time of Christ’s Second Coming will embrace Him as Messiah and Savior. They will mourn over their past treatment of Him the way a parent would mourn over the loss of a firstborn child. How large will this remnant be? According to Zechariah 13:8-9, the number will be one-third of them.

These are the Jews spoken of in Romans 11:26, which says: “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’” They are also the ones spoken of in Isaiah 4:3-4, which says: “And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy – everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning…”

So, putting everything together, these Jews will experience not only physical deliverance but also spiritual salvation at Christ’s Second Coming. Their story goes as follows:

  • They will live all the way through the tribulation period.
  • They won’t take the mark of the beast (for their individual reasons).
  • They will survive the besieging of Jerusalem by the foreign armies.
  • They will accept Jesus as their Messiah and Savior in the wake of the help He gives them in defeating the foreign soldiers at His Second Coming.
  • They will mourn over their refusal to accept Jesus before that time.
  • They will enter into Jesus’ thousand-year reign upon the earth in their earthly bodies.

Getting back to Jesus, what will He do after He has rescued Jerusalem as His first order of business following His return? He will then make His way north to the valley of Mount Megiddo for another victorious battle. There, what is left of the armies of the world will make their final stand. I tend to believe that these armies will be spiritually clueless enough to think they are there to fight each other. Satan, however, will know the real reason he has sent out three of his most convincing demons to gather them there. That reason will be his attempt to prevent Jesus from establishing His thousand-year reign.

Of course, we’ve already talked about the outcome of that battle. It will be a complete and total rout for Jesus. This, then, is how the current road of human history – the road the human race has been traveling for thousands of years and continues to travel today – will come to an end. In the next post from this series, we’ll start talking about what replaces this road. So stay tuned because you won’t want to miss that. I promise you, it’s awesome stuff, stuff that doesn’t get preached nearly enough.

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Preparing for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb

Posted on February 16, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #20)

Revelation chapter 19 begins with the words: “After these things…” This places the events of the chapter not long after the destruction of the city of “Mystery Babylon” (Rome, see post #18 and post #19). In the opening ten verses of the chapter, we learn that heaven is beyond excited concerning what is about to happen. A lot of praising and worshiping is going on (Revelation 19:1-6) and there is a great expectancy. So, what is about to happen? Two things. First, after an entire human history’s worth of waiting, Jesus is about to begin His thousand-year reign upon the earth (Revelation 19:6). Second, the marriage supper of the Lamb is about to take place (Revelation 19:9).

In a later post, I’ll talk about Jesus reigning upon the earth. Trust me, that’s a subject that most Christians haven’t adequately studied, which is a real shame because it’s such a blessed subject for them. For this post, though, I want to explain the marriage supper of the Lamb. To do this, I need to walk us through the five stages of the classic Jewish wedding/marriage from the time of Christ. As we are going to learn, anytime such a wedding/marriage took place it was nothing less than an allegorical picture of prophetic events.

Stage 1: The betrothal

The betrothal was a legally binding agreement that established a marriage covenant. It was much more serious than our modern-day engagements. A betrothal was so official that it took a divorce to get an individual out of one (Matthew 1:18-19).

To initiate the betrothal, the prospective groom traveled from his home (typically his father’s house) to the home of the prospective bride. There, he paid the price required by the bride’s father. Once this price was paid, the marriage covenant was established and the couple were regarded as husband and wife. From that moment on, the bride was set apart (sanctified) for her bridegroom. As a symbol of the new covenant that had been established, the groom and the bride drank from a cup of wine as a betrothal benediction was pronounced.

In terms of Jesus and His bride (Christians from the church age), Jesus left His Father’s house (heaven) and traveled to His prospective bride’s home (earth). There, He paid the price (the shedding of His blood in dying on the cross) to purchase her (1 Corinthians 6:20, 1 Peter 1:18-19). In the life of the individual Christian, the Christian enters into the betrothal period and the marriage covenant at the moment of salvation. From that moment on, he or she is set apart (sanctified) for Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2, 6:11, Ephesians 5:25-27, Hebrews 10:10, 13:12). As for the cup of wine to celebrate the new covenant, Jesus had that in mind at His last supper when He passed the communion cup to the apostles and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25-26).

Stage 2: The groom preparing a place for the couple to live as husband and wife

Once the betrothal was complete and the couple had entered into the marriage covenant, the groom left his bride at her house and returned to his father’s house for an unspecified period of time. This period of time typically lasted for approximately twelve months. During these months, the groom prepared the accommodations in which he and his bride would live in his father’s house. The bride would spend the months preparing herself for not only her wedding but also her life as a wife.

In terms of Jesus and the church, this second stage is the stage He had in mind when He said to His disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1-2, N.I.V.). This second stage is the one in which Christians have been living for some 2,000 years since the resurrection and ascension of Christ. We are currently separated from our groom, and we are to spend the time preparing ourselves to spend eternity with him.

Stage 3: The groom returning to fetch his bride

It was the groom’s father who determined the timing of the fetching. Once the father deemed the unspecified amount of time completed, the groom, along with the male members of his wedding entourage, met at night and conducted a torch-light procession through the village, town, or city to the home of the bride. During the unspecified time the groom was away from the bride, she was to spend her days and nights in constant expectancy of this wedding procession showing up to fetch her at any moment. Not only were she and the female members of her wedding entourage expected to keep oil in their lamps, they were to keep extra oil in separate vessels to eliminate any possibility of the lamps extinguishing. But the bride and her entourage had no way of knowing the exact night or hour when the groom and his entourage would arrive. If it was late at night, they would even be asleep. Because of this, the groom’s arrival was preceded with the shout, “Behold, the bridegroom is coming: go out to meet him!”

Once the bride and her entourage were assembled with the groom and his entourage, the whole procession made its way back through the village, town, or city to the home of the groom and the dwelling place he had prepared in his father’s house. When they arrived at the home the wedding guests would already be there. Everyone would then go inside, the door would be shut, and the wedding would officially take place. In Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus uses this third stage of the wedding/marriage process as an illustration of how the Jews who will not believe in Him as Savior during the tribulation period will not be allowed to enter into His kingdom on earth and therein attend the marriage supper of the Lamb.

In terms of Jesus and the church, we should think of this third stage as being the Rapture. That is the moment when Jesus will return to fetch His bride and take her to her prepared place in His father’s house (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:51-55). Since 1 Thessalonians 4:16 tells us “the voice of an archangel” will somehow be a part of the Rapture, perhaps other angels will be involved as well and these angels will serve as Christ’s wedding entourage. The Rapture will feature some type of shout too (1 Thessalonians 4:16), and this shout – whatever it will be precisely – will serve the purpose of the Jewish cry, “Behold, the bridegroom is coming: go out to meet Him.”

Furthermore, when we Christians arrive at the father’s house (heaven), we’ll find that the wedding guests are already there. These will be the souls of all the believers who died before the church age began. John the Baptist, who called himself “the friend of the bridegroom” (John 3:29), will be one of these guests. Right now, we Christians know that Jesus has paid the purchase price for us, know that we are betrothed to Him, know that He has gone to heaven to prepare a place for us, and know that He could return for us at any time. What we don’t know is the exact moment of the Rapture. This is why we must always be ready to “go out to meet Him.”

Stage 4: The consummation of the marriage

Shortly after their arrival at the father’s house, the bride and groom were escorted by the members of their wedding parties to the bridal chamber. This was the room in which the couple entered into physical union for the first time and thereby consummated the marriage. Prior to entering this room, the bride wore a veil to keep her face covered. Once the couple was inside the room they remained there “hidden” for seven days while everyone outside enjoyed a week-long feast. When the seven days were ended, the bride and groom emerged from their “hiding,” with the bride’s veil now removed so that everyone could see her face.

In terms of Jesus and the church, what we might think of as the consummation of our marriage to Him will take place in heaven following the Rapture. Just as the Jewish groom and bride remained hidden from others for seven days following their marriage, Jesus and His bride will remain hidden in heaven for the seven years of the tribulation period. These seven years will be a special time of intimacy between Jesus and the church. There’s no need to get weird and think that this intimacy will somehow be sexual. Intimacy at its purest and deepest level isn’t sexual.

Stage 5: The groom and the bride joining their guests at the feast

When the groom and the bride came out of their week-long “hiding,” they joined their guests at the feast (“marriage supper”). At this point, the bride’s face was no longer veiled and everyone could see exactly who she was. The feast would then go on for an extended time as the groom and bride enjoyed the celebration feast of their marriage.

In terms of Jesus and the church, once the seven years of the tribulation have reached their conclusion, He and His bride will come out of their “hiding” in the bridal chamber of heaven by returning to the earth. The “wedding guests” (the saved souls from the era before the church age) will be a part of this return as well, and each of these souls will be reunited with the body it inhabited in life. That body will be resurrected and glorified as a part of Christ’s Second Coming (Job 19:25-27, Daniel 12:1-3). Also, whereas Christians sometimes go unrecognized in life, at Christ’s Second Coming everyone will be able to see exactly who each member of the bride of Christ is.

Following Christ’s quick establishing of His thousand-year kingdom upon the earth, He and His bride will enjoy the marriage supper of the Lamb in the kingdom age. This explains why The Revelation doesn’t mention “the marriage supper of the Lamb” until just prior to Christ’s Second Coming (Revelation 19:9). There’s no need to mention it until Christ and His bride are ready to come out of their “hiding.” Many commentators believe that the marriage supper of the Lamb will, in some form or another, last for the entirety of Christ’s thousand-year reign upon the earth.

Now, in closing, let me answer a question that arises from this highly detailed analogy of prophecy. That question is: “Does the fact that, typically, the Jewish bridegroom came to get his bride at night mean that the Rapture will take place at night?” The answer is, no. The Bible uses the concept of darkness to typify sin, evil, and wickedness, and any situation that isn’t of God is understood to be void of His illuminating light. Therefore, we are perfectly right to say that our world today is in many ways always in darkness, regardless of whether or not it is daytime or nighttime. Besides, the relationship that our planet has with the sun ensures that there is never a time when it is daylight or nighttime simultaneously around the world.

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology" | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Mystery Babylon (Part 2)

Posted on February 14, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #19)

The fall of “Mystery Babylon” in The Revelation is important enough for two entire chapters of the 22-chapter book to be devoted to it. That right there should tell us just how near and dear the subject is to God’s heart. In my previous post, I explained that the title “Mystery Babylon” refers not just to the city of Rome but also to the system of religion and commerce that emanates out of that city. And what is that system of religion and commerce? The Roman Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Church will continue to thrive and prosper both numerically and commercially well into the tribulation period. That’s sad because it means that the majority of Roman Catholics aren’t saved and will miss the Rapture. I do believe there are some genuinely born-again Catholics, and I also believe that Catholicism does some good in the world – e.g., hospitals, orphanages, and conservative stances on issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and gay marriage. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that Catholicism as a whole is a false, works-based religion that dooms most of its adherents to eternal separation from God. I don’t type this with a smile on my face. It’s just the truth.

In Revelation 17:1-2, the Roman Catholic Church is symbolically portrayed as “the great harlot who sits on many waters.” In Revelation 17:3-4, the city of Rome itself is symbolically portrayed as “a woman sitting on a scarlet beast.” The “scarlet beast” refers to the Antichrist, which means that when the Antichrist steps to the stage of world power at the beginning of the tribulation period, the city of Rome will be quick to align itself with him and embrace him. Jerusalem wouldn’t accept its Messiah (Jesus), but Rome will accept its false messiah.

By implication, the Roman Catholic Church, which again is the religious and commercial system that flows out of the city of Rome, will become an ally of the Antichrist. We can just imagine the Antichrist, in his early role as a peacemaker and shrewd politician, making the requisite trip to the Vatican to honor the Pope even as the Pope tries to formulate a plan to use this new political star to the advantage of Catholicism. This kind of thing has been going on between the Popes and Europe’s political leaders for centuries. And so, an alliance will be struck between the Antichrist and the Roman Catholic Church, and that alliance will be honored by both sides during the first half of the tribulation period.

Everything will change, though, at the midway point of the period when the Antichrist becomes demon-possessed (see post #14). Once he has set himself up as a megalomaniacal, godlike figure, he will have no further use for the Roman Catholic Church. That is when the ten kings who rule under him in the revived Roman empire of the tribulation period will mount a vicious attack on “the great harlot.” Revelation 17:16 says those kings (“horns”) will “hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.” Whatever all this means specifically, it will be the end for the religious system that began when the Roman emperor Constantine made the fateful decision to merge true Christianity with the mother/child false religion that began way back in ancient Babel (see post #18).

This brings us, then, to Revelation 18:1-24 and the account of the destruction of the actual city of Rome. John begins the chapter by saying, “After these things…” These words inform us that the destruction of Rome will not occur simultaneously with the end of the Roman Catholic Church. There won’t be a great deal of time between the two events, but there will be some as the city of Rome will roll on for a while without its most historically prominent feature: the Roman Catholic Church.

It won’t be too long, though, before the city will be hit unexpectedly with a great cataclysm. John says the city’s “plagues will come in one day” (Revelation 18:8), even in “one hour“(Revelation 18:10,17,19). People will “see the smoke of her burning” and will “stand at a distance for fear of her torment” (Revelation 18:9-10). The city will be “thrown down” (Revelation 18:21), and in the aftermath it will become “a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!” (Revelation 18:2). We’re talking about a destruction so thorough that in its wake only demons will want to remain in the city. By the way, if demons (foul spirits) remain in the city of Rome even after its destruction, doesn’t that mean that they are abiding there comfortably before the destruction? Yes, it does. Of course, I’m sure that most cities have demons that dwell in them.

Obviously, it’s hard to read about all this and not wonder what kind of cataclysm could produce such devastation. One possibility is a military strike that bombs Rome into oblivion. You see, the Antichrist will surely have made some enemies by this time in the tribulation period. The events of the seven bowl judgments will have people worldwide in a bad mood, and he, for all his big talk and arrogance, will come up short in the “god” department by having no answers for those judgments. Prophecy experts are far from agreement as to the correct interpretation of the military movements described in Daniel 11:40-45, but it is possible that some of those movements speak of military forces coming against the Antichrist and his forces in the closing days of the tribulation period. If this is a correct interpretation perhaps some enemy army will drop a bomb on Rome to lay waste to the capital city of the Antichrist’s revived Roman empire.

A second possibility (and the one that I tend to favor) is that Rome will get taken down by the seventh bowl judgment (Revelation 16:17-21). Remember that this judgment will feature an earthquake the likes of which the planet has never seen. John says the earthquake will cause every island to flee away and the mountains to not be found (Revelation 16:20). Regardless of whether or not that description is hyperbole, we’re talking about an earthquake that will redefine what an earthquake can be. John also says it will cause the cities of the nations to fall (Revelation 16:19). It only makes sense that Rome will be one of those cities. Just to finish out the report on the earthquake, the quake will be followed by huge hailstones, each one weighing one hundred pounds or so, that will fall from the sky (Revelation 16:21). These hailstones will help finish off whatever is left of the world’s cities.

On the subject of an earthquake destroying Rome, news broke in November of 2016 that a long dormant volcano that lies underneath Rome’s suburbs in the Colli Albani Volcanic District appears to be slowly reawakening. An international team of researchers published their findings that the ground in that region is rising at a rate of 2 millimeters per year, steam vents are emerging, and underground chambers located several kilometers below the towns of Ariccia, Castel Gandolfo, and Albano are filling up with magma. Satellite imagery and seismographic readings also indicate the volcano is waking up.

While it’s true that the research team was quick to point out that it might be another 1,000 years or longer before the volcano explodes, that’s not taking into account the earthquake of the seventh bowl judgment. Did you know that the massive eruption of Washington state’s Mount St. Helens in 1980 was triggered by a seismic event? So, could it be that the earthquake of the seventh bowl judgment will set geographic and seismic forces into motion that will cause the Colli Albani volcano to erupt? I’m not saying this is what’s going to happen. I’m simply offering it as an example of how the destruction of Rome really could take place in one hour. The same thing occurred in Italy once before in 79 AD when the city of Pompeii was buried under 13 to 20 feet of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Whatever form Rome’s sudden annihilation takes, the destruction will be made even more world impacting by the fact that, apparently, the city will become the world’s leading center of commerce in the tribulation period. Consider the following:

  • Revelation 18:3 tells us that at the time of the cataclysm: “the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.”
  • Revelation 18:9 speaks of: “The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her”
  • Revelation 18:11 says: “And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore.”
  • Revelation 18:12-13 itemizes the commodities, goods, and merchandise that will move through Rome in the tribulation period: gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, silk, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, marble, cinnamon, incense, fragrant oil, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, and the bodies and souls of men (a reference to a slave trade). (By the way, Revelation 19:17-18 indicates that horses and presumably chariots will be used during the battle of Armageddon. I’ll say more about that when we get to our study of that battle.)
  • Revelation 18:19 says: “all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth!”

This matter of the ships of the sea and their close economic ties to “Mystery Babylon” is an important one because it helps us identify the city. In Revelation 18:17-18, John talks about how the shipmasters, sailors, and sea traders will stand at a distance and see the smoke rising up from the burning city. These ships will be sitting in the port of “Mystery Babylon” in the immediate aftermath of the judgment. Furthermore, considering the lengthy list of commodities, goods, and merchandise that John says will be coming in and out of the city, these ships will be large, international freighters capable of carrying tons of cargo. Such ships require not just a port but a deep-water one or else they’ll run aground.

The plain truth is that the location of the ruins of ancient Babylon has no such port. Babylon was located on the Euphrates river. As a matter of fact, the Euphrates ran right through the heart of the city. To get to any kind of sea, a ship would have had to sail down the Euphrates some 400 miles, into what we now call the Persian Gulf, and out into the Arabian Sea. In reverse fashion, any sea ships coming into Babylon would have had to make the journey up the Euphrates. Even if we concede that smaller vessels could have made this trip up and down the Euphrates, the massive cargo ships we have today simply couldn’t because the water isn’t deep enough in places.

Those who cling to the idea that “Mystery Babylon” will be ancient Babylon rebuilt argue that the rebuilt Babylon will have a specially engineered waterway that links the Euphrates river to the sea. But the problem with this theory is that the entire Euphrates river will get dried up by bowl judgment #6 (Revelation 16:12). This fact in and of itself completely rules out a rebuilt city at the site of ancient Babylon as the “Mystery Babylon” of the tribulation period.

At this point, perhaps you are asking, “But the city of Rome isn’t really a port city, either, is it?” Good question. It isn’t in the classical sense of being located directly on the shores of a sea, but it is only fifteen miles inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea. Fifteen miles looking straight inland from the sea is easily close enough for seafarers to see the smoke involved with the level of cataclysmic destruction that John describes in Revelation chapter 18.

Another potential explanation for the city of Rome being described as a port city in the tribulation period involves the Roman sites of Ostia and Portus. Ostia was located in Rome’s suburbs at the mouth of the Tiber River directly bordering the Tyrrneian Sea. The site is much closer to the city than fifteen miles. In ancient times, Ostia served as Rome’s great harbor. When Ostia could no longer handle the volume of commerce that Rome required the Romans devoted twenty years to carving out the coastline of the Claudian Basin and thus building the artificial harbor of Portus, which is located twenty miles southwest of Rome. As a matter of fact, Portus has been called one of Rome’s greatest engineering achievements. The sites of Ostia and Portus are currently little more than archaeological digs, and the buildup of silt over the centuries now has each site located approximately two miles from the coastline of the Tyrrenian Sea. It’s possible, though, that in the tribulation period, or perhaps even before the Rapture, either Ostia or Portus will be rebuilt as a harbor for the city of Rome.

Now, as long as I am on this whole subject, let me mention that more and more students of prophecy are now asserting that “Mystery Babylon” will somehow involve America. Some believe that America itself is “Mystery Babylon” while others identify the specific city as New York City. Certainly, it is undeniable that New York City can be understood to fit not only the description of a deep-water port but also the description of the world’s leading city for commerce. Furthermore, New York City is the site of the United Nations. So, then, is New York City “Mystery Babylon”? My answer is, no. As I see it, the problems with this interpretation are easy to spot, and I’ll offer them as a way of closing this post.

First, “the bodies and souls of men” are bought and sold in “Mystery Babylon.” As I said earlier, this seems to be a pretty clear reference to a slave trade. And given America’s sordid history with slavery, it’s hard to fathom any set of circumstances, even in the tribulation period, that would take New York City into that despicable market. Some attempt to make the argument that America already has an illegal, underground, slave trade that operates under the term “human trafficking.” Well, tragically, America does have a “human trafficking” problem. There’s certainly no denying that. But it’s a stretch to say that America’s “human trafficking” fits John’s description of the buying and selling of “the bodies and souls of men” when all the other items on John’s list of commodities, goods, and merchandise that will be bought and sold in “Mystery Babylon” are perfectly legal and above board. (Ivory might be the lone exception to that rule.)

Second, in Revelation 18:24 John says of “Mystery Babylon”: “And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.” While I’ll admit that America doesn’t always live up to its reputation as a place of religious freedom and tolerance, the blood of prophets and saints is relatively safe within her borders in comparison to other parts of the world. New York City, in particular, takes great pride in its diversity and tolerance in every realm, including the realm of religion.

Third, the Antichrist will arise from a revived Roman empire (see post #6 and post #14) and the city of “Mystery Babylon” will figuratively sit upon him (Revelation 17:3). This makes perfect sense if we interpret “Mystery Babylon” as Rome. After all, just as Rome was the capital city of the original Roman empire, it will most likely be the capital city of the Antichrist’s revived Roman empire. In contrast, to make New York City the city that sits upon the Antichrist is to completely ignore the Antichrist’s association with Rome. Therefore, New York City simply can’t be the new “Rome.”

Fourth, the symbolism of Revelation 17:3 depicts the Antichrist with seven heads. In Revelation 17:9-10 an angel explains to John that these seven heads have a dual meaning. They represent not only seven historical rulers of the Roman empire but also “seven mountains on which the woman (“that great city” Revelation 17:18) sits. Rome, of course, is legendary as being the city that sits on seven hills, but New York City has no link whatsoever to seven mountains or seven hills. This leaves those who believe that New York City is “Mystery Babylon” to attempt to make the case that the “seven mountains” actually refer to the seven continents of the world and that America is the worldwide superpower that, in a sense, sits over those continents. In my opinion, though, that take on the whole matter throws far too wide a loop to be correct.

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