If life is a journey and if we are sojourners and pilgrims in this world, it is important to realize that life is not going to be the same as in the past. We are moving and progressing according to God’s biblical calendar. Yes, some periods are long and apparently uneventful in the natural world. But, God, who is gracious, is at work giving every opportunity to everyone to look to Him and repent. But, that window of opportunity is closing soon.
We are currently nearing the end of the Church Age and the next event on the horizon is the Rapture of the Church and the 2nd Coming. These next three events are coming up shortly in quick succession.
- The Rapture of the Church (1st Thess. 4:17; 1st Cor 15:51-53)
- The Great Tribulation (Rev 6-19)
- The Second Coming of Christ (Mat 25:31)
The Church Age
We are presently in the Church Age. This period started on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples (followers) of Jesus, who were gathered as one in that upper room in Jerusalem. They were the Church, (from the Greek word Ecclesia or called out ones).
By the way, it is wrong to refer to a building as church. The Church is the group of believers who were (and are) called and have responded to the call of God by faith. They are they who trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, who are washed by the blood of Jesus Christ and who follow Him.
This Church I am referring to is not (I repeat, it is not) the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, the Iglesia ni Kristo, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists or any other local church.
I am referring to the Universal Church of God, believers redeemed, purchased by the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28).
The disciples were commanded in the Great Commission, which was given by the Lord Jesus Himself, to make disciples of all nations, thereby spreading His word, teaching a certain manner of living. So, anyone who has come to faith in the Lord Jesus, at the present time is a product of this work of the Church and the Holy Spirit.
The Church Age is a time of grace to draw people to the gospel and advance the kingdom of God. The Church is and has been the ground and pillar of truth, shining its light upon this dark world. While not all nations embrace it, the world aspires and is influenced by the light of the Church bringing about justice and peace through the Judeo-Christian moral doctrine and principle of law it teaches.
The Church Age, after 2,000 years is about to end and the next two events will happen shortly.
The Rapture
In the heavenly plan, the Lord Jesus, coming from heaven, fetches His Bride, the Church, meets her in the air and brings her to heaven. This is called the rapture of the Church. In the rapture, note that the Lord does not land on earth but stays in the air, gets His bride from the earth supernaturally to meet Him in the clouds and returns to heaven with her. In John 14:3, Jesus said,
“I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am you will be also.”
First Thessalonians 4:14-18 explains this mystery:
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God.
And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
Notice that the dead in Christ, also called those who sleep in Jesus, will rise first. These are those who died trusting in the shed blood of Jesus Christ for their salvation. This means their decayed bodies will be changed, resurrected, or made new and reunited with their soul and spirit and brought back, miraculously to life in a glorified body.
Afterwards, they will be taken up (transported) at the meeting place in the air where the Lord is waiting. This first group will then be followed by the believers who are still alive at this time. While alive, their mortal bodies will also be changed into immortal, glorified bodies and be caught up to the Lord, joining the first group. Then, the Lord will bring both as one up into heaven. This all happens instantly, miraculously, in the twinkling of an eye.
The timing of the rapture is hotly debated by 3 groups of believers whose positions differ as to when it will occur – at the beginning of the 7 years of the Great Tribulation, in the middle of it or at the end. We have taken the position that the rapture will be at the beginning of it. Never-the-less, the rapture of the Church is a major milestone which ends the Church Age.
The timing of the rapture has been a snare for many. Jesus said that only the Father knows the day or the hour but to us believers, we should know the season and the timing of it. One of the keys to knowing the times for it is to understand its purpose. See God’s purpose for the rapture here.
The Great Tribulation
After the Church is removed, the world will spiral into deep moral decay, punctuated by wars, rumors of war, violence, plagues and famine. We already see a lot of these things even while the Church is still here. The Covid-19 pandemic, the draught in many places in the world and impending worldwide shortage of wheat as a result of the war of Russia with Ukraine are all telltale signs of coming food shortage of unequal proportions. I do not know if you agree, but the phrase,
“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matt 24:12) seems to me becoming so evident and felt. There are repeated mass shootings, thievery, road rage and political gridlock everywhere. These are all evidences of the love of many growing cold.
The Great Tribulation, also referred to as the “Seventieth Week of Daniel”, is a period of seven years when the wrath of God is unleashed upon a Christ rejecting world, Jews and Gentiles. After the time of grace with God’s offer of forgiveness on the table during the Church Age, the time has come to judge those who refuse His offer of salvation.
The Lord is not willing that any should perish, so He gave a very detailed account of what will take place, so the people are warned and change their ways. To ignore His warning or to make light of these warnings is foolish. Read Rev 6-19 and Matt 24:15-22; Matt 24:36-44. The Lord described the great tribulation as not having any equal since the beginning of the world nor ever shall be.
That means the suffering brought about is greater than the flood of Noah’s time or the plagues of Egypt or the destruction of Sodom or the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar or by the Roman legion in 70 AD. It is a time punctuated by natural and cataclysmic disasters such as earthquakes, hail storm, plagues, famine, war, evil.
Look at how a few of many accounts in Revelation 6:18,20,21 is described:
“And there were noises and thundering and lightnings and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth…Then every island fled away and the mountains were not found. And a great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.”
You can read more commentaries about it at https://www.gotquestions.org/Great-Tribulation.html
Consider these conclusive take aways. The Great Tribulation is:
- A time of supernatural miracles, signs and wonders
- A time of God giving us what we humans call as last chance to repent
- A time of identifying who are God’s enemies and their end
- A time of martyrdom for those who will repent and believe during this time
- A time of revealing the evil and those behind it and their end
- A time of revealing the Alpha & Omega, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the King of Kings
It is an event to be avoided at all cost and the best way to avoid it is by accepting God’s offer of forgiveness now while there is still time. If you do, you will be a partaker of the rapture and escape the Great Tribulation.
The Second Coming
Among the troubles that will happen towards the last part of the Great Tribulation is the war that Gog and Magog will wage upon Israel. This is prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39. The army of Gog and his allies, being a superior force, will come from the north to attack Israel.
Their intention is to take booty, conquer and sub-due. Israel will defend itself but fail and there will be a great slaughter. But, before Israel is totally defeated, the Lord will come from heaven in the flesh to rescue Israel and fight the army of Gog. The result is the total annihilation of Gog and his army on the mountains of Israel and the carcass of the dead will be for a feast to the birds of prey.
In the aftermath of battle, we see these verses in Isaiah 63:2-4
“Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?” Jesus replies, “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My fury; their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come.”
As you can see, the Lord Jesus comes not as a lamb as in His first coming but as a lion, with power and great glory, as the Lord of God’s army. He will come with His saints and will rule and reign on the earth with them.
The Millennium
After the defeat of Gog and his army, the reign of Christ on the earth will begin. He will set up His kingdom and reign over the earth with a rod of iron. He will seat at His throne in Jerusalem and with the saints, reign and rule in righteousness. His reign on earth will be for a thousand years but is the start of His eternal reign as a King. (Matt 24:29-30; Zech. 14:4-9.)
In my understanding of the ages, man’s existence on earth is for a week of a thousand years or 7,000 years. For 6,000 years, God gave man every opportunity to rule the world and make it right.
But, from Adam, to Noah, Israel (Jacob), Moses, David, Solomon, the Babylonians (Nebuchadnezzar), the Medo-Persians (Cyrus), the Greeks (Alexander, the Great), the Roman emperors, the religious rulers of Jesus’ time and the modern leaders of our time, no one has ruled in a way that the needs of man are met, justice is served, poverty, sickness and suffering alleviated, evil is punished, righteousness is fostered and God is glorified.
Instead, there is injustice all over, greed reigned supreme, corruption, bribery and all sorts of evil is perpetuated, trafficking even the soul of men and the kings of the earth leading their people astray. (Rev 18:9-19). Moreover, the leaders practiced spiritual fornication and ruled without God or even opposed to the authority of God. It all computes to what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 17:9 –
The (man’s) heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know (control) it?
The lesson that can be learned from this is, by himself, man, in his fallen nature, cannot reign and rule righteously. We are not there yet, but, the prophesy about the Millennium is, what mere men cannot do, Jesus, as king can do – Rule in righteousness, address all the needs of the governed and give God glory, all at the same time. That is what we call success.
Here is a flavor of that rule:
His delight is in the fear of the LORD. And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; But, with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist. (Isaiah 11:3-5)
That is what we long for in our leaders that sadly we never had.
