davidbowerkingwood

 The Visible and the Invisible

It is important to recognize that the spiritual war is being fought in both the visible and strictly spiritual realms at the same time. I suspect that if mortal human beings should catch a glimpse of the battles at the spiritual level we would probably faint dead away.

One example of the war at the spiritual level is given in Daniel 10:12-13, “¹² Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. ¹³ But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.”

The prince of the kingdom of Persia must be a very powerful demon to delay a messenger from God for 21 days; what is of particular interest to me is very likely it is this same demon that is influencing affairs in Persia today which is called Iran. While all of this is still going on, God’s clock is counting down toward the final events in the spiritual war.

The Church is Removed from the Earth

A time is coming, it is inevitable, when the true Church will be called home; the final chapter of the Church on earth will have fully played out. This is most specifically not a reference to organized religion as religion will, for at least a short time, prosper under the new regime.

The removal of the Church will have devastating consequences for the earth; not only the disappearance of millions of people from all over the world, but the removal of the restraining ministry of God, the Holy Spirit. For those who love sin, this will be sin on steroids! This is described in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12:

“2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 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. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

He who now restrains is the Holy Spirit and He will be taken out of the way at the Rapture of the Church.

The Tribulation

Although the Rapture of the Church is not the catalyst that starts the Tribulation, it is likely the Tribulation will start within a few years of the Rapture. The second half of the Tribulation will get very bad as God’s judgments rain down on an angry and rebellious world. The Lord points out in Matthew 24:21-22, ” ²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.²² And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”

Unlike the Genesis flood where only 8 were saved, at the end of the Tribulation there will be thousands of believers who will have survived to begin life again during the Millennial reign of Christ.

The Millennium

Although there will be something of a cease fire in the spiritual war it is not really over yet. For the moment, sin will have been dealt a devastating blow, but it is not finally disposed of. The Millennial reign of Christ will start with only believers who have survived the Tribulation; the Church who returned with Christ at the Second Advent; the Old Testament saints and the angels of God.

Unbelievers who survive the Tribulation will be cast into the Lake of Fire along with the beast and the false prophet to await the arrival of those who are condemned to go there at the Great White Throne judgment. ⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, Matthew 25:41

In a way this will be a second chance at perfect environment on earth with only one flaw, the presence of the fallen sin nature in the mortal believers who survived the Tribulation and those who will be born to them during these 1,000 years. The descendants of those believers who survived the Tribulation will still be born with the fallen nature inherited from Adam. It seems that perfect environment is still not the answer to man’s sin problem, it didn’t work in the Garden of Eden and it’s not going to work during the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ either.

Over the years, as children are born, some of those children receive Christ as Savior but others do not. The Bible reveals that Satan, who had been confined, would be freed to exert his influence on mankind at the end of the Millennium with predictable results as described in Revelation 20:7-10, “⁷ Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸ and 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. ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

The Great White Throne Judgment

By this time, the earth and the entire universe that we have always known will have been destroyed by fire. The great white throne judgment will finally bring the spiritual war to an end. This fearful event is described in Revelation 20:14-15, ” ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. ¹⁵ And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” The spiritual war is now over.

The New Heaven and the New Earth

Finally, the creation that God wanted for us all along is fully realized; a place of unimaginable beauty and great joy. “³ And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

⁵ Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” Revelation 21:3-5

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!