Living in the “End Times” or the Time of the End
Living on this earth——-as the earth is now———– will come to an end.
Revelation 21:1 John is writing: “ And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”
The new heaven and earth will be different than this one.
It will have the “glory of God” in it.
It will have light as clear as crystal.
It will have a high wall around it made of jasper.
The city will be of pure gold—–clear like glass.
The foundations will have all kinds of precious stones.
There will be 12 gates—–3 on each side. Each gate will be one big pearl.
There will be 12 angels at each gate.
The names of the tribes on Israel will be written on the gates. The names of the disciples will be written on the foundation.
The street of the city is of pure gold—-clear like glass.
There was no sun or moon for the glory of God was the light.
There will be nothing evil in it.
The only ones to be in the city will be those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
A river will flow out of the city. It will be clear as crystal.
In the street and on each side of the river is the tree of life.
It has 12 different kinds of fruit. And it leaves are for healing for the nations.
The throne of God shall be in it. And the throne of the Lamb.
His servants shall serve him.
His name will be written in their foreheads.
There will be no night.
They shall reign forever.
Revelation 22:6 The angel said to John “These sayings are true.” “The Lord sent his angel to show his servants the things that which must be done soon.”
“Behold I come quickly: Blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”
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The first chapters of Revelation——-chapters 1-20——- tell of things that will happen to this earth that we live on now.
They will be the last things that will happen on this earth.
As people of this earth——we are always curious as to what will happen on earth—–or what will happen to us.
The thing that will happen to “us” who believe in Jesus and have our sins forgiven——will be different from those who have not believed in Jesus and do not obey him.
For those of us who believe and obey we do not need to worry about or even think about those things that happen on earth at the very end.
We will not be here. We will be “caught up” in the clouds with Jesus and go with him into heaven. We will stay with Jesus then from that time on. Wherever Jesus goes, we will be with him.
However, we may see hard times especially for Christians before this happens.
The last 3 and one-half of the tribulation has often been called the “wrath of God”. I feel quite sure we will not have to go through this time.
Since no one knows just when the “rapture” will happen. So we may see some bad things before the rapture happens.
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If we never fully understand all that will happen here on earth or how it will happen it will not matter to us. It will matter only for those here on earth.
The Bible prophecies are written mostly for the people of Israel/ Jewish people.
They are for other people, too. But they are mostly for the people of Israel.
Most of the Jewish people never believed in Jesus when he came the first time as a baby. And he grew up died on a cross came alive again went back into heaven.
Most of the Jewish people never believed “that man” was the Messiah.
God had promised a Messiah would come some day to save them from their enemies.
The Jewish people were looking for a strong king. To kill their enemies and he would rule as their king and they would have peace.
God promised Adam that someday God would send a child through the woman
That would bruise/crush Satan’s/ serpent’s head. This child was Jesus. Born of a woman. God was the father. This child crushed the head of the serpent/Satan when he died on the cross then came alive again.
Jesus died in the place of every person. Jesus broke the power of sin over us. Jesus came alive again. Jesus broke the power of death over us.
Jesus did not come the first time to be a king and ruler. He came the first time to crush the power of sin and death that Satan made over us.
Jesus will come again. The next time he will be a ruler/King. He will rule the world.
The Jewish people did not believe who Jesus was the first time. They did not believe that Jesus was come from God to be their Messiah. They are still waiting for their Messiah to come.
God made a promise to Abraham that he would bless Abraham will a family that would become a large nation. And God would be their God.
God has never let go of the people of Israel. Even when in old days the people turned away from God and worshipped idols. God was patient with them.
God let other nations come in and fight them. God let other nations come in and take over their land. God let the Jewish people be carried away into other lands.
Then after a time, God would help the people of Israel. He would help them fight their enemies. He gave them their land back to them. He brought the people back into their own land again.
The last time the Jewish people were taken from their land they were all over in many nations. But God promised them that he would bring them back into their own land again.
He promised that he would make them a nation again. God said and you will not worship idols any more—-you will be over worshipping idols.
In 1948, the nation of Israel was made. Jewish people from around the world have been coming into Israel every day. Thousands, and thousands have returned to Israel.
And they do not worship idols any more. They finally got “cured” of idols.
But the sad thing is they do not worship God in heaven much either. Some do.
Most of them do not have much faith in God.
But God made a promise to Abraham long, long ago. God will keep his promise to the people of Abraham.
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Before the people of Israel will believe in the real Messiah/ Jesus they will see a “false” Messiah come.
This man will say he is the Messiah.
This false Messiah will do miracles and amazing things. The Bible tells us that he will be able to do these things because of Satan’s power in him.
He will be very smart, and clever. Many, many people will believe that he is the Messiah.
At first he will be a wonderful leader. He will have such good ideas and talk about peace that people will trust him.
He will be able to get the nations around Israel who hate Israel and want to destroy them he will get them to agree to peace.
No one else has been able to get those nations to agree to peace.
The Jews will be allowed to build a temple on the temple mount. The have not had a temple since the Romans destroyed it in 70AD. They will be able to have their sacrifices and worship as they did long ago.
The Jewish people will think this man is their friend. People will be amazed at how this man get things done. They will think he is a very special leader.
They will be willing to believe him. They will be willing trust him and follow this wonderful leader.
Because he is a “false” Messiah, he will do things like the real Messiah/Christ to confuse people and to deceive/fool people.
Satan has power to do amazing things, too. The Bible warns people not to be fooled.
The Bible says that “one of these heads” was wounded unto death, but the wound was healed. The people were amazed.
Is this “head” a read head of the man, the anti-Christ? Or does it mean one of the “heads” meaning (one of the kingdoms/countries) and it is brought down to death, but comes back? We do not know for sure.
Later on after about 3 and one half years this person will begin to show his true nature.
Things will change. He will set himself up as a god to be worshipped. He will require/make everyone take his “mark” . His “mark” will be needed to buy and sell.
If they do not take his “mark” they will not be able to buy food or anything at all.
If they do not take the “mark” he will know. He will probably kill anyone who will not take the “mark”. But if they can not buy food or anything, they will die anyway.
There will be a few countries that will not follow him. But most of the countries will follow him and he will rule over all of them.
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The Bible warns about this “false” Messiah or Anti-Christ The Bible warns the people of Israel especially.
God sends two prophets/preachers to preach to the Jewish people. They preach for 3 and one half years.
God also chooses 144,000 young Jewish men to preach to the people.
God warns them——do not believe this “false” Messiah. Do not follow him. Do not worship him. Do not take his “mark“.
God warns them about taking his “mark” . God says If you take his “Mark” you will be damned forever.
The reason: Satan will give this man his power. So worshipping this man or taking his “mark” —-will show you belong to him, it will be like worshipping Satan and agreeing to belong to Satan.
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This “false” Messiah or Anti-Christ will be against Israel.
He made peace with them and helped the other nations around Israel make peace, too.
He has helped them get their temple. He has been their friend.
But after 3 and one half years, when he has gained much power over all the nations he will begin to show his true “self”.
He will break his “peace” agreement with Israel.
He will set up an image in the Jewish temple. He will want them to worship him.
Then they will see him as his true self.
He will no more be their friend. He will gather all the nations around Israel to come against them to destroy them.
The nations around Israel have been wanting to destroy Israel for thousands of years. They will be happy to join together to get rid of Israel.
And so they gather together in a valley in north Israel. All of them, many, many armies together. Too many for Israel to fight. Israel will lose.
Just as things look like Israel will be no more Help comes! The real Messiah comes in the clouds he destroys all those armies. Israel is saved!
Then the Jewish people see who Jesus really is. For the first time, they receive him as their Messiah and God.
Jesus, the real Messiah, takes the “false” Messiah and his helper and throws them in the Lake of Fire (hell).
Jesus takes Satan and he is bound/ tied-up for 1,000 years and put in a pit.
Then for 1000 years, Jesus is the King over all the earth. We who believe will be with him.
Then after 1000 years Satan is let free for a short time. He stirs up the people and nations again to have a battle. Jesus stops him with fire from heaven and the armies are burned up. Satan is taken and thrown into the Lake of Fire with the “false” Messiah and his helper. Revelation 20:8-9
Then all the people living and those who have died will stand before God to be judged for their sin.
We will not be judged for our sins because our sins have been forgiven. We are already with Jesus.
But all those who have not believed in Jesus nor have asked Him for forgiveness nor have obeyed him will stand before God to be judged.
Since they have never had their sins forgiven—–they will pay the punishment for their sin which is death. The will go into the lake of fire.
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Then there will be a new heaven and new earth. And we who believe will be with Jesus still and we will be in the new heaven and earth forever.
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Who will the “false” Messiah be? Who will this Anti-Christ be?
No one knows! Everyone is guessing!
For many, many years Bible teachers have been saying that this person will come from the lands where the Old Roman Empire was. They said that those countries will come into power in a big way again. And this person will come from one of those countries.
In recent years, some Bible teachers have other ideas. They think that the “false” Messiah will come from the Middle East area where all the Arab nations are.
These are the nations who for thousands of years have hated the Jewish people.
These nations are almost all Muslim. The Muslims believe in a Messiah who will come. They believe their Messiah will show himself soon.
Islam is growing in power. There are millions of Muslins in many nations of Europe, Russia, India, Indonesia, even in the US. Plus all the Muslims in the Middle East.
Will Islam be the 7th kingdom that Daniel says will come to power in the last days?
The “false” Messiah’s kingdom is the 8th kingdom and it comes out of the 7th kingdom.
Will the “false” Messiah come from Europe or will he come from the Middle East
like Iraq?
To us as Christian believers it will not matter we won’t be here. But it will matter to those who are left here on earth. God warns them be careful do not be fooled.
We do not know for sure when the “rapture” will be. As Christians, we may go through some very bad hard times. Governments are changing. More and more we see people speaking against Christians. We do not know what all may happen before the rapture happens.
God will help us to stay true to him. He will help us through hard times if they come.
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There will be people who will come to believe in Jesus and will accept him as their savior during the end times when bad things happen on earth and the “false” Messiah is ruling.
If they choose to believe in Jesus, they will die. The “false” Messiah will kill them.
But they will live with Jesus forever.
It will not be easy for someone to believe in Jesus during the end times. Life will be very hard. Terrible things will be happening. There will be sickness, no food, earthquakes, storms, stars falling, part of the sun will be dark, many, many terrible things will be happening.
And if you choose Jesus, you will be killed.
That is the way it is in many of the Muslim countries today. If you choose to believe in Jesus you will be killed.
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The best thing you can do is to be ready to go up in the clouds with Jesus when he comes in the clouds. We call this the “rapture”. It means being “caught up” in the clouds when Jesus comes in the clouds.
We read about it in I Thessalonians 3:13-18 and I Corinthians 15:51-58.
One of these days before the “false” Messiah the “rapture” will happen. Jesus will come in the clouds and take up all the Christians.
The Christians who have already died their bodies will come up first, (their spirits are already in the presence of Jesus)
then all the Christians who are still living will be caught up. Our bodies will be changed, we will be given new everlasting bodies.
We will be with Jesus from then on.
In heaven, God will look at all the things we did for him. He will give rewards as to what we did for him.
But we will not be asked about our sin because Jesus has washed our sins away.