I begin by wishing you a Merry Christmas since it is only a few days away. I hope it will be a time of joy for you. Although I have posted this article just days before Christmas Day you are going to see very quickly that this is not a Christmas message, but rather, it is a teaching about a prophesied period that is quickly approaching. So, I hope you will keep reading. This article is focused on an epoch during the Tribulation Period. Contrary to what some Christians believe: it is ready to commence.
Some will be tempted to stop reading right here because the Tribulation Period frightens them—they fear it. Some will be tempted to stop reading right here because they have no interest in what will happen during the Tribulation Period—they have no interest in Bible prophecy. Some will stop reading because they do not believe the Tribulation Period will happen for many more years to come—not in their lifetime. The two previous groups are steadfast in their views because enjoying this world and gaining all it has to offer has blinded them to what has been prophesied. Worldly prosperity and seeing their dreams come true are more important to them than the will of God the Father. These two groups are willingly unfamiliar with Bible prophecy and purposely take no notice of the global government already established and enforcing its policies in every country in the Western world. Because of a lack of interest and unbelief, they fail to see that this global government will become the prophesied Antichrist government that has been foretold in the Scriptures. The mandates the global government will implement within the very near future – I am saying within this decade, the 2020s – are exactly the policies of the Antichrist government predicted in the book of Revelation. Christians should be the first people on earth to know and have an awareness that a shift in the earthly realm is taking place. The shift is demonic not a godly shift, as some Christians are falsely prophesying. Satan and the fallen angels know that the church is about to be raptured off the earth so they are getting ready to go full speed ahead in usurping power to deceive the inhabitants of the earth like never before. Some contend that God is bigger than the evil ones. He is! But what is prophesied and written in the Holy Scriptures cannot be changed. God is not unaware of the shift in the earthly realm, he is letting it happen. This shift has to happen so that his plans for the church and the nation of Israel will happen at the appropriate hours. He is letting Satan and the fallen angels prepare for their temporary kingdom on this earth, being accomplished during the Tribulation Period so that he can pour out his wrath and judge them in the end.
I pray that if you have made it this far in this article the Holy Spirit will guide you and help you to continue reading. The young boy Timothy from the story “A Christmas Carol” has said: “God bless us, everyone.”[1] Therefore, I ask God that he would bless everyone who reads this article. Do you receive that? I am sure you know that the only information we have about what will happen after today is gained through the study of Bible prophecy. So, please put your fear, your doubts, and your lack of interest aside and study to gain some insight and knowledge about what has been prophesied to happen during the Tribulation Period by the Lord Jesus Christ, and recorded for us by the apostle John and the prophets. For those that fear the Tribulation Period, I want to inform you that if you are raptured with the body of Christ on the day the church’s salvation is completed (1 Thess. 4:16-17) then you will not even be on the earth when this seven-year period transpires. These seven years are referred to as the time of God’s wrath, and there is Scripture revealing that the church is raptured into heaven before the time of God’s wrath begins. The Scripture reveals that the time of God’s wrath is for the disobedient (Eph. 5:6, 3-5; Col. 3:5-10), so if a believer-in-Christ is faithful to the Lord and obeys the words of Jesus Christ during the church-age before the rapture occurs, they will not enter the time of temptation that is coming (Rev. 3:10).
Some translations refer to this period as the “hour of trial.”[2] I have written many times, that the hour of trial is the time of Jacob’s trouble or Israel’s distress (Jer. 30:7ab; Zeph. 1:14-18). It was prophesied to Daniel by the angel Gabriel that this period is referred to as Israel’s seventieth week, so that is an appropriate title for these seven years—the Seventieth Week of Israel (Dan. 9:24, 27). It will be a period unlike any other time in history or any time after that (Matt. 24:21). The primary purpose of Israel’s seventieth week is to bring the Jewish nation to repentance and then salvation (Jer. 30:7c, 10-11; Hos. 6:1-2; Zech. 12:10; Rom. 11:25-27). Therefore, I encourage the believer-in-Christ to praise the Lord because it is written that he will deliver us from the wrath of God that is soon to come (1 Thess. 1:10). Our God has not assigned us a place in the time of his wrath but rather has selected a day that will commence before the Tribulation Period to complete his salvation in the body of Christ (1 Thess. 5:9). The body of Christ will be in heaven clothed in heavenly bodies when the Tribulation Period is taking place on the earth, enjoying the start of our marriage to the bridegroom (Rev. 19:6-10; Matt. 8:11-12; 25:1-13; Lk. 13:28-29). When it is time for Jesus to complete the wrath of God, he descends from heaven to the earth to finish off the people responsible for all the chaos on the earth, and the church is with him during this attack (Rev. 19:11-21).
All the prophetic events we see in the Scripture that will take place during the time of Tribulation are for the believer to pray about. Not to pray that these prophetic events will change, because they have already been prophesied by God and are written in the Holy Scriptures, they will happen as prophesied, but we must pray for the people that will be cast into this darkness, the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Lk. 13:28). The place where the unbelievers and hypocrites go a short time after the church is raptured (Lk. 12:46; Matt. 24:51). This place of darkness where there will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth is allusive to the Tribulation Period. Of course, we pray for people during the church age to wake up and stop rejecting the call of the Holy Spirit today, and to receive Jesus Christ as Lord. We pray for people to turn from darkness and live in the light of God today while there is still time. We pray for miracles and healing to occur in this period. We pray in this day and age that men will repent so they can escape the time of God’s wrath. But we should also pray for the people who will sadly enter into the Tribulation Period, that they repent and turn to God during those horrible seven years. Since they refuse to repent and turn to God this side of the rapture of the body of Christ the Tribulation Period is their last opportunity to escape the white throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). There will be millions that will repent and turn to God during the Tribulation Period (Rev. 6:9-11; 7:9-17), and maybe your prayers today will be the reason for their long overdue repentance then. We must also make it a priority to pray for the unbelieving Jews that will enter their seventieth-week period. Because the Scriptures say that two-thirds of the Jews will perish during their seventieth week and one-third will live to see their Messiah come out of heaven to redeem them on the last day of that time (Zech. 13:8-9). It is pleasing to God for the believer-in-Christ to pray for the Jew now, that they accept Jesus as their Messiah before the church is raptured, but we must also pray for those that will not be delivered from blindness until after the rapture of the church so that they can endure the hour of trial until the end of it—Gentile believers should make it a practice to pray for the unbelieving Jew that they receive Jesus as Messiah, and the Jewish believers should make it a practice to pray that the unbelieving Gentile receives Jesus as their Lord before the rapture occurs. This way both believing Jews and believing Gentiles work together as a unified body in God’s house to see it be completely built.
Many things will happen during the time of Jacob’s trouble but the epoch I am to focus on is when the apostle John sees in a vision three special angels who appear to declare warning (Rev. 14:6-13). The first will fly in midair preaching an αἰώνιος (aiónos) eternal gospel to the inhabitants on the earth (Rev. 14:6-7)—this eternal gospel is not one of grace but of judgment if not heeded according to G. K. Beale[3] (I see where there is great latitude for the possibility of repentance in this angel’s message, so in my opinion, it is not only a warning of judgment but a message of grace also). These people will reject the truth before the rapture of the church and the Tribulation Period starts, but the prayers of faithful Christians before the rapture will be partly responsible for some of them obeying this angel’s preaching during that period. The other people who will be partly responsible for some of these people obeying the angel’s message will be the 144,000 Jews who will have the seal of God put on their foreheads sometime during Israel’s seventieth week (Rev. 7:3-8)—before the mark of the Antichrist is introduced.
This seal of God that will be put on the foreheads of the 144,000 is similar to the seal of God on the human spirit of the body of Christ (Eph. 1:13), except this seal of God on their foreheads may be visible (Rev. 9:4) where the seal of God on the believer is hidden by the body of flesh, we were born in. Just as the seal of God on the human spirit of the body of Christ is a sign that reveals we willingly belong to the Lord, God Almighty, and a deposit guaranteeing we may receive glorified bodies (2 Cor.1:21-22), the seal of ownership and a guarantee of a glorified body is also indicated by the seal put on the foreheads of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. Before the angel flies in midair preaching an eternal gospel the 144,000 will be raptured into heaven (14:1-3)—this is when they too will receive glorified bodies. I do not know if their glorified body will be the same glorified body the church will receive at the rapture of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 15:50-53), but I am sure that when they get raptured during Israel’s seventieth week period their earthly bodies will be transformed from human flesh to a heavenly substance that will allow them to dwell in the eternal realm with Jesus forever.
I said above that the 144,000 will be partly responsible for the repentance of some of the people by the preaching of the angel flying in midair, but they will also be partly responsible for the repentance of the people that will be martyred before the mark of the Antichrist is introduced (Rev. 7:9-10, 13-17; 6:9-11)—the other group comes to repentance after the mark of the Antichrist is introduced (Rev. 13:11, 14). By the order the latter group's story is situated in the Scripture, right after the 144,000 will be sealed (Rev. 7:3-8), is an indication that these people will repent and turn their life to God through the ministry of the 144,000 either for the first time or back to God after not living faithful lives to Jesus Christ during the final generation of the church-age; the time leading up to the rapture of the church. Before the rapture of the church occurs, the latter group desires the world and the things of the world much more than doing the will of God the Father (1 Jn. 2:15-17). It looks like they get a second opportunity under the preaching ministry of the 144,000 to repent of their lackluster desire to do the Father’s will and obey the words of Jesus Christ. These Jewish men who are descendants from each tribe of Israel, will not defile themselves with women but will keep themselves pure all the days of their lives (Rev. 14:4-5).
This angel flying through midair will appear after the False Prophet orders the deceived inhabitants of the earth to build an image of the Antichrist. This image of the Antichrist will receive some kind of demonic life by the power of the False Prophet, which will allow this demonic image to speak and kill anyone who does not worship it (Rev. 13:15). The angel will appear in midair and preach the message of repentance after the False Prophet issues a government mandate that will force people to receive the mark of the Antichrist (Rev. 13:16-17). He will warn the people on the earth in a loud voice that they must repent: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water” (Rev. 14:7, ESV).
Then, a second angel appears after the first one declaring: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion [or wrath] of her sexual immorality” (Rev. 14:8, ESV). Babylon the Great refers to the global government during Israel’s seventieth-week period. The political/economic/social networks (Rev. 18:1-24) along with the religious institution (Rev. 17:1-6) will be ruled by the Antichrist and the ten kings. The political/economic/social nexus is already at work behind the scenes in society today, but after the church is raptured, this global system will have total control of the Western world. The global religious institution already has a foothold in some of the churches and other world religions but will be completely established just after the church of God is raptured. Allegiance to Babylon the Great will be mandated during the seventieth week of Israel. During that period Babylon the Great will kill anyone who chooses to follow Jesus – both Jews and Gentiles – rather than follow their evil institutions (Rev. 13:7, 15; 17:6). This second angel will declare judgment upon the global system sometime after the mark of the Antichrist is introduced. The reason why so many will follow the global structure is because the world will be drunk on the wine of the wrath of the global system. They will idolize this system because of the riches they will gain by complying with its rulers’ mandates (Rev. 13:16-17)—their compliance with the global government will be an immoral and ungodly relationship. Those who drink of Babylon the Great’s fornication will be the ones who harm those who turn to Jesus during this period. Babylon the Great will force the unbelievers to comply with its rules and regulations, or the people will not be able to prosper during the Antichrist’s reign—this is what is meant by making the nations drink its intoxicating wine. Think of the years 2020-2021, when almost all the Western world leaders forced their citizens to comply with authoritarian mandates or the people could not partake in society. How many were arrested or lost their income because they did not comply? During the Tribulation Period, Babylon the Great’s mandates will be even more harsh than what was experienced in 2020-2021. The Antichrist’s system will show no mercy to anyone who does not comply with its rules and regulations. When the second angel appears to the world and declares that Babylon has fallen, he is prophesying that it has already happened even though at that point it has not—he is indicating that Babylon the Great’s time is short.
After the first and second angels appear, then comes a third angel. He will warn the people, ἐν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ (en foní megáli) in a loud voice (Rev. 14:9a). He will warn them that if anyone receives the mark of the Antichrist or worships him or his image they will suffer God’s, θυμός (thymós) wrath (Rev. 14:9b-10a). This angel appears and gives the warning after the mark of the Antichrist is introduced but before this mandate takes effect. His warning will come after the False Prophet erects and supernaturally gives life to the image of the beast but before the mandate that everyone must worship the image of the Antichrist goes into effect. The power the False Prophet will use to deceive the world into building the image and forcing the mark will be Satanic (Rev. 13:13-14). The reason this angel comes before the people begin to worship the image and receive the mark is that God is not wanting to send these people to the place where they will be tormented with burning sulfur (Rev. 14:10b; 20:10). So before the edict comes into effect by the False Prophet for the inhabitants of the earth to worship the image of the Antichrist and to receive his mark, God sends this angel to warn the people, especially the Jews and Gentiles who will choose to follow Jesus during these seven years. The Scripture also says that the angel will warn the inhabitants of the earth to not worship the Antichrist himself. This tells me that the mandatory order to worship the one-world ruler will not come into effect until after the angel gives the warning not to do it. Common sense tells us that God would not send this angel to warn the people to not do these things or they would suffer his wrath and be cast into the abyss – the place of burning sulfur where they will be tormented forever – if they were already doing it. He would not issue a warning after the fact. God always warns people, especially those who choose to follow Jesus, before they engage in behavior that will condemn them to the eternal fire. Therefore, this third angel will warn not only the unbelieving but also the saints so that they will not give in to the pressure of death by the Antichrist’s global government.
The messages that will be delivered by the three special angels are to give those who enter into the seventieth week of Israel the strength and patience to endure the tyranny of the Antichrist’s global government. The warning to not worship the Antichrist or his image and to refuse his mark are to help guide the believing saints during the Tribulation Period to remain faithful to Jesus (Rev. 14:12). A voice from heaven speaks to John after the third angel’s message and tells him to write this following word: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them” (Rev. 14:13b, ESV)! This preceding promise from the voice from heaven is a reason why the body of Christ should also add to its prayer list the people – both Gentiles and the nation of Israel – that will not be caught up in the eternal realm the day the rapture of the church occurs. Our prayers will be the power the Spirit of God will release to these Tribulation Saints so that they may not succumb to the Antichrist and the False Prophet so that they can remain faithful to Yeshua.
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