davidbowerkingwood

Over the last ten years, much has happened which can help explain the total absence of the United States from Biblical end-times prophecies. The moral and spiritual decline, observable to all, has been painful to watch as a harbinger of things to come.

The Christian must seek reassurance in the clear declarations of the Bible; God is working all things after the counsel of his own will!

“¹¹ In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” Ephesians 1:11

I often reflect on the Bible’s choice of words, not some things, not even most things, but all things! We, as a very small part of God’s creation, must look to our creator in total faith, not doubting nor wondering, not even trying to understand, just trusting! It is times like this that Proverbs 3:5-6 comes to my mind:

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

The unexpected and challenging has happened to all of us; I can testify there have been times of testing when those verses served as an anchor for my Christian faith; one of my pet weaknesses has been a desire to understand.

The number of things going on in the world today that I don’t understand seem to be growing exponentially! I’m truly thankful the Lord does not require that I try to understand them!

In conversations with both believers and unbelievers there seems to be a universal question; where is all this leading, what’s going to happen next? This may be a question on whether or not a particular individual will still have a job by the end of the year or perhaps when will it start raining again, or one of the many aspects of the national or world situation.

There seem to be so many areas that are filled with uncertainty that one need not look too far to find another line of thought that ends with a question mark; I suspect many such areas will come to your mind as you consider this.

For the Christian, the question of what the Bible says about all of this should be a prime factor in finding an answer. God knew from eternity past exactly what condition the world would be in today and He provided guidance for His children in the Bible.

Living in the End Times

The signs are very clear to me that we are living in the Biblical end-times described in Scripture. Things are rapidly falling into place in accordance with the descriptions given in the Bible of the world situation as it would be as the time of the end approaches.

We see with what precision the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled all of the prophecies concerning His First Advent so it is reasonable to believe that the prophecies surrounding His Second Advent will be fulfilled with equal precision.

There is nothing prophetically left to be fulfilled before the Rapture of the church so I am convinced the Rapture could take place any second.  What I would like to do here is to comment on the remaining unfulfilled prophecies that are prophetically planned for the end of the world.

We are living in the 7th Church Era called Laodicea; this is the era of the lukewarm church that the Lord would spew out of His mouth, the era where the Lord is standing outside the door to the church and knocking to see if He will be let in. My son has referred to this church age as “the church of the expectoration.”

It is from this lukewarm era, the true church, comprised of all born-again believers, will be removed at the Rapture.

The remaining unfulfilled prophetic occurrences include: 1. the Rapture of the true church; 2. the battle of Psalm 83 which I believe includes the destruction of Damascus mentioned in Isaiah 17; 3. the battle of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 37 – 39; 4. the signing of the covenant agreement between Israel and the Antichrist which signals the beginning of the Tribulation; 5. the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ; 6. the Millennial kingdom; 7. the destruction of heaven and earth and the Great White Throne judgment; 8. the creation of the new heaven and earth and the beginning of the eternal state.

The relative timing on events 1, 2, and 3 are not specified in Scripture but I’m convinced they will all take place before event 4, the signing of the covenant which signals the beginning of the Tribulation.

Although the Bible does not specify the timing, I think it entirely possible there could be as many as twelve years between the Rapture and the signing of the covenant agreement.

In Part 2 I will cover the first three events, their order, and their impact on the world situation.