The Beginning of the End
DECERNING THE END
Beginning of the End
A Problem in understanding the end time.
The problem in understanding the end time prophecy is connecting the various
events to / in the larger picture of the 7 year tribulation. The 7 year period
begins secretly /silently. Then intensifies to the half-way point, (1260 Days), at
which time a series of notable events begin. Then at 1335 days into the 7 years
tribulation an event of utmost importance occurs to the Family of God. After
that a series of final, but very necessary, events that involve all mankind and
then the Great White Throne Judgment.
One event that has gotten great attention is the establishment of the nation of
Israel in 1948. Many have perceived / interpreted that this was an important
event that set in motion a time table for the ‘end time’. Yet 70 + years into Israel’
s history and its warring neighbors continue the same. Certainly – we should
take another look at the interpretation of these events.
Another event that has drawn much attention is the ‘rapture of the Church’ as
the Lord removes His people from the midst of – or prior to tribulation. The
Lord will absolutely remove / rapture the last of the Family of God from physical
into spiritual. But the timing of that great event has definitely incited great
debate. We need to look again at that event.
PLEASE CONSIDER AND UNDERSTAND;
THE PROPHECY OF REVELATION IS FROM THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD AS HE
IS SEATED ON HIS THRONE AND SEALED WITH 7 SEALS, OPENED ONLY BY
JESUS.
That means that it was written by God – it is the complete message – it is
opened in the mind of mankind only as Jesus through His Holy Spirit opens it.
When Revelation is correctly interpreted, all other prophecies about the end
times fit within its message. The other end time prophecies enhance / magnify
the message, but Revelation is the foundation – the Word from the right hand
of God.
The ‘beginning of the End’ IS :
*** A time known only to God our creator. (Reference, Matthew 24: 36 & Acts1:
7).
*** The time when the doors of heaven are closed by command of God,
because all who are going to repent and be saved have been saved.
(Reference, Matthew 25: 1 - 13).
*** The time of the last generation of mankind to live on earth.
*** A time that no one will recognize any change or interruption in normal life.
*** A time when the Family of God will be complete and secure, as per Salvation
yet its last generation will still be physically alive on earth. (Rev. 8: 1- 6)
The ‘Beginning of the End’ is NOT:
*** The time of the return of Jesus Christ to earth.
*** The rapture or taking away of the Church / the Family of God.
*** The rule of a person called the anti-Christ whose numerical name equals
666.
THE ORDER OF THE EVENTS OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION;
*** The 7 year tribulation period begins at a time determined by God our
creator. He reserves that decision for only Himself. That fact is of utmost
importance as we should not try to outguess God. Because – we are told
clearly that, “If anyone adds to these things. God will add to him the plagues
that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the
book ----, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life ----.”
Revelation 22: 18 – 19.
The beginning of the 7 years of tribulation starts with the sounding of the 1st
‘trumpet’ in Revelation 8: 7. But the deciding factor and preparations are
explained in verses 1- 6.
In Revelation 8: 1 the prophecy of the 7th seal is opened. The message of the
7th seal is prophecy of the coming 7 year tribulation that will bring God’s
creation to its end.
The seal is opened and ‘there was silence in heaven for about half an hour’.
The ‘silence’ in heaven represents a time when there is no one repenting –
receiving salvation. Throughout history there has been the singing of angels
when someone repented – entering the family of God. So – ‘silence’ in heaven
– the angels are not singing. Thus, for a short ½ hour (maybe not literal), but, a
time when God determines that ALL who are going to repent – be saved have
made their decision. With no one else to repent and enter the family of God –
there is no reason for God’s creation to continue. Thus the beginning of the
end.
This is further understood in verse 2 as the smoke of the ‘incense’ goes up
before the throne of God. The ‘incense’ is explained to be the ‘prayers of ALL
the saints’. Thus the family of God is complete, the purpose of God’s creation
is finished and He will bring its final destruction as He has prophesied in the
remaining message of the 7th seal. (The message of the 7th seal begins in Rev.
8: 1 and continues through the end of this book of Revelation).
***** The tribulation begins only when the ‘Family of God is complete !!! And
that – known / determined ONLY by God with no pre-requisite nor clue to
mankind.
The sounding of the ‘trumpets’ begin in verse 7. The results of Trumpets 1 – 4
destroys 1/3 of earths nature. Then the results of Trumpets 5 – 7 explain the
SPIRITUAL destruction of mankind, with Trumpet #6 describing the death of 1/3
of mankind as result of war.
The point is – that the tribulation begins silently / unexpectedly, then starts
suddenly with ‘earthquake’ etc., then the destruction of the ‘Trumpets’ that
increase in intensity and destruction. The 2 witnesses (chapter 11) are killed at
1260 days, then resurrected at 1263 ½ and immediately the 7th ‘trumpet’ is
sounded. This gives to us the first understanding of the timing of events that
are important in understanding the 7 year tribulation.
Understanding the 7 year end time tribulation etc. requires knowledge,
interpretation, discernment, a meshing together of scriptures, as well as a great
measure of common sense – AND FIRST --- all that -- with an intervention and
guidance of the HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD our creator.
***** Although heralded to the ends of the earth and millions of books written,
the establishment of the nation of Israel in 1948 has only a little to do with the
timing of God’s timetable of the ‘end time’.
***Certainly God promised Abram / Abraham that from him a nation would arise
as God’s chosen people and that through his descendants the whole world
would be blessed.
SOME THINGS TO HELP UNDERSTAND ISRAEL’S ROLE AT THE END OF
TIME;;
God made a great and eternal covenant with Abram at the great river
Euphrates.
God promised to keep His covenant with Abram and his descendants so long
as they were obedient / faithful to God their creator. If / when they became
unfaithful the covenant would be voided to the unfaithful, but renewed to the
repentant / the faithful.
Many descendants of Abraham did become unfaithful – breaking God’s
covenant.
Through the Old Testament Prophets God sent many warnings to His people.
During the era of the Judges the Children of Israel on several occasions --
became unfaithful – experienced troubles, discipline from God – came back to
God, repented and was restored.
Israel, the 10 northern tribes became unfaithful, refused to repent and was
destroyed by Assyria, never to be restored.
To Judah God sent warnings / prophecy that if they did not come back to Him
that Babylon would destroy them as a nation, taking them captive to Babylon
for 70 years.
They repented at the time of Josiah, but the next generation returned to
unfaithfulness and they were destroyed and many carried captive to Babylon.
God had promised through Jeremiah to restore them after 70 years of captivity
and He did so.
For the following 400 + years Israel remained a nation, although ruled by the
Greeks and then the Romans, until Jesus Christ came, was crucified and
resurrected and the message of the Bible was mostly complete.
Then having rejected God’s plan through Jesus Christ / disobedient to God’s
covenant, Israel as a nation was destroyed again by the Romans.
In 1948 through many miraculous events and a great and driving desire in the
descendants of Abraham the Jewish nation of Israel was again established.
So – in light of the above overview of Israel’s history – the question;
Does the establishment of Israel in 1948 have an influence on God’s time table
for the end of His creation????
To answer the above question please consult the Holy Spirit and wait for His
answer. !!!
After weeks of prayer – reading – considering the overall of God’s relationship
with Abraham and his descendants – applying some common sense and
considering how I have experienced
God’s working relationship in my life, I come to the following statements.
God made an eternal covenant / agreement with Abraham that would be
inherited by each generation of His faithful descendants. (Example – Jacob,
not Esau). Every generation until present day has those who are faithful and
those who are not. In Isaiah 44: 1 it speaks of ‘Jacob’ His called and ‘Israel’ His
chosen. (Meaning – Jacob the natural man and Israel the spiritual man. This
dividing of the descendants of Abraham is seen in many OT scriptures). Thus,
the two, the faithful and the unfaithful, (Jacob & Israel) have lived together as
the nation of Israel in every generation.
God is very – very patient, longsuffering, forgiving, kind and eternally loving as
He relates to mankind. If He were not all of that to me, I would have been
destroyed long ago. He has been very longsuffering with the descendants of
Abraham.
God has made steadfast boundaries by which He does not always strive with
disobedient / unfaithful mankind. God will exert discipline, by measure, to
teach His people who so often backslide. He strives with them and holds out
hands of forgiveness all day long in hope that they will return to Him, but
declares the death penalty to those for whom there is no hope.
God is the Judge. He will judge with justice according to His love for His
creation, who are faithful, but with severity to those who have rejected Him.
SOOOO!!
God, by covenant, established a nation that is today called Israel.
God related to them as a parent – teaching them as a baby, through childhood,
adolescence, etc.
Throughout history God disciplined them as needed, then restored them as
they returned to Him.
(Sometimes – God restored them before they returned -- in the hope that Israel
in seeing / experiencing God’s miracles and loving kindness would return to
Him.) (Writers observation).
God’s purpose in establishing Israel was that they would become a ‘holy
priesthood’, who would deliver God’s Word (the Bible) to all mankind – and
through whom Jesus Christ would be born -- and to proclaim / give witness to
mankind.
God went to great lengths -- to teach – to discipline – to forgive / restore His
chosen people. Again and again He worked and strove with them in order to –
GIVE WITNESS TO ALL PEOPLES THAT ALL PEOPLES MAY HAVE
OPPORTUNITY TO KNOW HIM AS LORD. He chose those who believed to be
(Holy Priesthood) a witness to all mankind.
DID GOD RESTORE ISRAEL IN 1948 IN ORDER TO SET A TIME TABLE FOR
THE END ???
MORE PROBABLE – As before -- GOD RESTORED ISRAEL TO GIVE WITNESS
TO ALL NATIONS;
***THAT HE IS GOD AND THERE IS NO OTHER GOD.
***OF HIS FAITHFULNESS AND LOVINGKINDNESS.
***TO OFFER REPENTANCE FROM SIN AND SALVATION TO ALL MANKIND.
***AND TO SHOW BOTH HIS LOVE AND JUSTICE TO ALL MANKIND.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN !!!
**That the Jews, after the rapture of the Church, will recognize that they were
mistaken about Jesus Christ – repent and become 144,000 evangelists during
the millennium!!
Remember – the millennium is the 1st resurrection thus spiritual. Rev. 20: 4 –6.
**That does not mean that God will force His Gospel upon the citizens of Israel
who are, by large majority, atheists and reject Jesus Christ – God’s only
plan / way for the salvation of mankind!!
Remember that Jesus told the Pharisees that their father was the devil.
**This does not mean that the Jews will have a second chance after the doors
of Heaven are closed.. Many teachers teach this – it is a very dangerous
teaching for the descendants of Abraham, yet some believe thus.
Please refer to Matthew 25: 1 – 13.
Also check ‘The Rapture – The Resurrection’ at in this website.
THERE WILL BE A FINAL GATHERING OF ISRAEL !!
**In Christ Jesus there is no difference between Jew and Greek. (Galatians 3:
28 & Romans 10: 12).
** ‘All Israel’ includes Jews and Gentiles who are obedient to their Creator.
(Romans 11).
In Revelation 7: 4 – 8 is listed the ‘children of Israel’ (Old Testament) and then
verse 9 speaks of a multitude without number from ‘all nations’. (New
Testament era). Within ‘all nations’ would be included descendants of
Abraham / the Jews of the New Testament era, who were saved by ‘washing
their robes --- in the blood of the Lamb’ as did persons from all other nations of
mankind. Thus, Rev. 7 enumerates ‘all Israel’ – all the Family of God at the end
time, although this completed Family of God will not be together until 1335 days
into the 7 year tribulation period.
The whole Family of God is prophesied / seen as complete in chapter 7, just
prior to the tribulation beginning in chapter 8. But in real time the last
generation will still be alive physically, yet there will be no one being saved,
thus the family of God is complete when the doors of heaven are closed. The
last generation of the Family of God will not be raptured out until Rev. 14: 14 –
16, – at 1335 days into the tribulation. (Daniel 12: 12). Thus, a few of the Family
of God will experience a little more than ½ of the Tribulation.
At 1260 days the 2 witnesses will be killed, at 1290 days the image that causes
desolation will be operational and at 1335 days the last true believers will be
raptured to heaven, saved from physical death at the hands of the beast. Thus
the ‘Family of God’ (all Israel --- world-wide) has once again been defeated and
removed from their God given land. They are raptured – changed from
physical bodies to spiritual bodies ‘in the twinkling of an eye’, and the bodies
of the dead in Christ will at the same time arise from earth and sea and with
them meet the Lord in the air.
THUS – the rebellious (rebellious mankind, the beast, the false prophet and the
fallen angels with satan as their leader) will take control of the earth that God
had created for and given to His people – His faithful believers, Israel, from all
nations.
Then 965 days later, at 2300 days into the tribulation, Jesus with the armies of
heaven riding on white horses, ‘clothed in fine linen, white and clean’
(resurrected bodies) come for the battle of Armageddon.
All the enemies of God and God’s people are destroyed -- for 7 months the land
is cleansed, and then the whole Family of God – all Israel is restored / returned /
brought back, by acts of God to the land that the Lord had given them / created
for them. (Refer to Ezekiel 39: 11ff).
IN THE END GOD WILL FULFIL THE COVENANT / THE PROMISES HE MADE
TO ABRAHAM LONG AGO. Those promises will be fulfilled to Abraham and the
blood descendants of Abraham who have been faithful to their God and
Creator. (This will LITERALLY fulfil God's promise to Abraham as given in
Genesis 12 & ff). And also to the spiritual descendants from all nations, who
have believed and been faithful as Abraham was.
Israel’s history as of 21st century ;
**Created as a physical nation by the hand of God.
**Physically destroyed twice (By Babylon, then Rome).
**Restored twice as a physical nation by the hand of God.
Israel’s future in the end time ;
Physical Israel will be divided between those (believers) who have the seal of
God and those who are not sealed (unbelievers). (Seal 6 & Revelation 7). (As it
has always been).
The blood descendants of Abraham -- ‘Israel’ who are sealed by God are a part
of the larger Family of God who are from all nations.
The last generation of the Family of God will be defeated by the enemies of
God. The two Witnesses will be killed at 1260 days in Rev. 11. 75 days later the
remaining ones will be raptured in Rev. 14. As result of great persecution they
will be delivered from the beast etc. by an act of God, the ‘rapture’.
Then all Israel, at 2300 days, will be with / ride with Jesus to the battle of
Armageddon.
After Armageddon, the earth will be restored from the destruction of war. The
Family of God, all Israel, will be restored -- returned to the land -- the earth that
our God had created and given to us. For 1,000 years we will reign with Christ
in our own land and no one will oppose or oppress us.
After the 1,000 years we will be attacked again by our enemies, but our God will
not permit us to be defeated nor destroyed again. (Please refer to 'Final Battle
in this website) but will immediately cast satan into the ‘lake of fire’. The
rebellious spirits (there has been no physical human beings since Armageddon)
will then receive their resurrected bodies from the earth to stand before the
Great White Throne for the judgment of all mankind.
The Family of God / all Israel will be at the judgment. Their names will be found
written in the ‘Book of Life’ and they will be welcomed into their eternal home in
Heaven.
Mankind who have rebelled against their Creator will be found guilty by the
evidence written in the ‘books’, then immediately be cast into the lake of fire.
Israel will have served God’s purpose as they have shown – exemplified –
illustrated God’s love and justice for His creation.
Those who were faithful – HIS LOVE AND LONG SUFFERING ----
And those who were unfaithful – HIS JUSTICE.
‘HIS LOVE --- because God was sooo patient and longsuffering and diligent to
bring / return mankind to Himself.
‘HIS JUSTICE --- because God declared ‘guilty’ even those with whom He had
worked with sooo long and diligently, yet they rejected Him – He cast even
those (blood descendants of Abraham) into the lake of fire.
At the conclusion of the Great White Throne Judgment ----
We will see and understand that justice has been carried out.
All mankind owes a debt of gratitude to Abraham and his descendants:
For they bore the burden of witness (good and bad) throughout the ages so
that we have the Word of God and Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
THE END OF THE WORLD ---- The TIME LINE FOR
7 YEARS OF DESTRUCTION FOR GOD’S CREATION !!
***The end begins silently as the doors of Heaven are closed by God.
***Very soon a great earthquake strikes the earth with great storms.
***The sounding of ‘TRUMPETS’ initiate progressive destruction of creation.
***At 1260 days into tribulation the last of God’s Witnesses are killed.
***At 1263 ½ days the Witnesses are resurrected and taken to heaven.
***At 1290 days all mankind are forced to worship the image of the beast.
***At 1335 days the last generation of the Family of God are ‘raptured’ to
Haven and ---- simultaneously the spirits of all of the Family of God receive their
resurrected bodies from the earth and are joined with Jesus Christ in Heaven.
***At 2300 days Jesus Christ with the ‘Armies of Heaven’ ascend upon the earth
for the ‘Battle of Armageddon’ leaving no human alive physically.
***During the last 7 months of the 7 year tribulation the earth is renewed /
restored to a condition similar to the Garden of Eden. Thus the end of
tribulation – the end of physical as known to mankind.
God has reshaped the earth as seen in Revelation 16: 17 – 21.
The Family of God, resurrected mankind will cleanse the earth from the
destruction of war as seen in Ezekiel 39: 12 – 16.
***Thus, the earth is restored, prepared, returned to the complete Family of God
– ‘All Israel’ from whom it was taken by the rebellious part of creation. Then the
Family of God will reign with Jesus Christ for 1,000 years – the ‘Millennium’ –
restored as in the Garden of Eden.
After the 1,000 years comes the ‘final battle’ and then the ‘Great White Throne
Judgment’.