12 FOUNDATION STONES—CLASS 7B SIGNS OF THE TIMES BIBLE PROPHECY, PART 2.3 ------------------------------------------ Section 2: What's Ahead, In a Nutshell! ------------------------------------------ > Chronology of the future We've learned in this class what will happen before Jesus returns. Now we'll take a little time to quickly look at what will happen after His return. This is a very brief overview, but for the moment this is all we have time for. You can read more about this in the Discovering Truth—Bible Basics book, pages 259–268, chapter on "The Endtime." We'll also learn more about it in later classes. ------------------------------------------ * Jesus Returns! ------------------------------------------ Jesus returns in the clouds (Matthew 24:27–30; 1 Thessalonians 4:16) ------------------------------------------ * The Resurrection and the Rapture ------------------------------------------ The dead resurrected; the living raptured All of God's saved children will have a glorious and beautiful and wonderful resurrection. The Christians who have already died and gone to be with Jesus will arise from their graves and receive new resurrection bodies. The millions of Christians who are still alive on Earth, having survived the Antichrist reign, will be instantly changed, transformed, as they also receive their new eternal bodies. (1 Thessalonians 4:14–17; 1 Corinthians 15:51–52) ------------------------------------------ * Rewards ------------------------------------------ The Marriage Supper of the Lamb There will be a great feast and a great ceremony, and Jesus will pass out the gifts, the presents, the rewards to all of those who loved and served Him. (Revelation 19:6–8) ------------------------------------------ * The judgment seat of Christ ------------------------------------------ Christians will be rewarded for their works. (Romans 14:10–12; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 22:12) ------------------------------------------ * The Wrath of God upon Earth ------------------------------------------ The Lord's punishments on those who rejected Him and worshipped the Antichrist (Isaiah 13:9–11; 26:21; Revelation 14:9–10) ------------------------------------------ * The Battle of Armageddon ------------------------------------------ The wicked will gather together at Armageddon (the plains of Meggido) in Israel to try to fight the nations who are resisting the Antichrist's regime. When it looks like the antichrist is close to victory, Jesus Himself, along with His resurrected, glorified, Heavenly forces, will return to Earth again out of Heaven on majestic white horses to utterly defeat and destroy the Antichrist and his forces in the supernatural, catastrophic Battle of Armageddon. Some believe the war will last forty-five days. The battle will wipe out the very worst of the antichrist forces, leaving only those from both sides who are going to remain alive and survive through the Millennium, over whom God's children are going to rule and reign. (Revelation 16:16; 18:19–20; Jude 14,15) ------------------------------------------ * The Antichrist and his False Prophet will be cast into the Lake of Fire ------------------------------------------ (Revelation 19:20) ------------------------------------------ * The Millennium ------------------------------------------ One thousand years of peace Then we, the saints of God, along with our King Jesus Christ, will take over the world and set up the Kingdom of God on earth and restore it to the beauty of the Garden of Eden again. This amazing period will last for one thousand years, and therefore is known as the Millennium! During this time people will choose to follow and receive Jesus, or choose to rebel. (Daniel 2:44, 7:27; Revelation 20:4–6, 2:26–27, 5:10) ------------------------------------------ * The Devil bound ------------------------------------------ The Devil will be bound and cast as a prisoner into the Bottomless Pit for this thousand-year period. (Revelation 20:1–3) ------------------------------------------ * The Battle of Gog and Magog ------------------------------------------ The final test As a final test and sifting, at the end of the Millennium Satan is going to be released from his prison in the heart of the earth for "a little season," just long enough to deceive the remaining unconverted wicked over whom we have been ruling. (Revelation 20:7) ------------------------------------------ * The last battle ------------------------------------------ These rebels will again follow the Devil, in open rebellion against the Lord and His government, resulting in the catastrophic Battle of Gog and Magog in which God is so fed up with them that He just sends down fire out of Heaven to devour the wicked completely! In fact, He will cause such a horrible fire to come down that it will completely wipe out the entire surface of the earth and the atmospheric heavens shall be rolled back like a scroll. (Psalm 2:1–5; Revelation 20:8–9; 2 Peter 3:10–13) ------------------------------------------ * The Devil is cast into hell ------------------------------------------ (Revelation 20:10) ------------------------------------------ * Great White Throne Judgment ------------------------------------------ The unsaved dead of all ages raised. The books are opened. After this climactic Battle of Gog and Magog, all the unsaved of all ages will be raised to stand before God Himself in the final Judgment in which "the books are opened" and they will all be given their final sentences according to their works and will be assigned to their places in the hereafter. (Revelation 20:11–15; Luke 12:47–48) ------------------------------------------ * New Heaven and New Earth ------------------------------------------ The Heavenly City comes down to earth. God's great Heavenly City will then descend from above to the beautiful, recreated, Garden-of-Eden-like New Earth, and God Himself will dwell with us right here on Earth. (Revelation 21:1–3, 22:2) * Only the saved live in the city; unsaved nations outside. (Revelation 21:24,27, 22:2; Hebrews 11:13–16) * Eternal life and happiness forever (Revelation 21:4–7, 22:3) ------------------------------------------ Conclusion ------------------------------------------ > God's love for the lost We've heard some rather dismal descriptions of the world today as well as predictions of what is yet to come. It is important to understand that although the Lord predicted these things would happen, they're not happening the way He would want things to happen if He were running the world. (It's a bit like reading a summary of the plot of a film before you watch it. Although you know what's going to happen, you're not the one who has determined the course of events.) The Lord doesn't like what is happening, but He has allowed mankind to have the majesty of choice—the collective choices of mankind that have brought things to the terrible state they are in now, and will yet bring humanity even closer to disaster. The Lord would much prefer if people would choose to follow His loving ways. The world would not be in the mess it is now if people had chosen to live according to the principles of love.—But even now, despite all the horrible things that are happening, Jesus promises to forgive, help, love and comfort all those who come to Him. 2 Peter 3:9—The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. We'll discuss more about these subjects in later classes. > Our role in the Endtime You don't need to fear the coming tribulation if you love the Lord! Don't worry about that 3½ years of Great Tribulation! God can be a much greater Enemy to the forces of the Antichrist than they could ever be to us! 1John 4:4—You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. God's Word says that during this time: Daniel 11:32b—The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. The people who know Jesus are going to be strong! The worse things get, the more God's Spirit is going to be poured out from On High to help us withstand the dark evil forces that will be warring against us! The Lord has promised power for the hour, and to be with us: Deuteronomy 33:25b—As your days, so shall your strength be. Matthew 28:20b—Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. In the world's darkest hour of greatest iniquity, even then we're going to supernaturally, miraculously witness and shine brighter than we have ever shone before! Romans 5:20b—Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, We are going to have an important role in this time period. Our job will be to stand up as God's witnesses and to explain to them what's happening and to lead and to encourage and to feed God's people till the very End! Daniel 11:33a—And those of the people who understand shall instruct many. People are going to be more desperate than ever during those dark days, and you who are faithful witnesses and know God's Word are going to win a lot of souls in that day!—Because a lot of people are going to need salvation and be more open and ready to receive the answers the Lord wants to give them than they are now. So even during the Tribulation, we're going to continue our work for Jesus! (end)