The return of Judah and Benjamin to their native land has placed us in prophetic times. Isa. 17;18. Their return is without belief in God's Word and will end in desperate sorrow. Isa. 17:9-11.
At any time we expect the Lord Jesus Christ to come to rapture the believers to heaven to be with Himself. 1 Thess. 4:15-18. This event will be the first part of the first resurrection of the saints, including both those who are living and those who have died in faith since the day of Eden. 1 Cor. 15.
The Spirit of God would first have our hearts fixed on the chief Subject, the Man-child, Christ, Who will rule all nations in His time, and the raptured saints will be with Him. He will be the public Center of all glory. Rev. 12:5.
The Lord Jesus, the Son of man, will be seated in heaven on His throne of judgment according to His title as Creator and Redeemer. Rev. 4:11. Rev. 5:7-10.
The beginning of Jacob's (Judah's) troubles or trials and sorrows, at the rapture of the church, will include many events such as conquests, earthquakes, civil wars, famine, pestilence, and death. Money will be worthless and thrown to the bats; primitive farming will replace modern. Isa. 7:21-25.
The prince of the Roman people (or leader of the western peoples) will make a seven-year covenant to protect Judah but will break it in the midst of the seven years, leaving her open to enemy attack. Dan. 9:27.
War in heaven among the angels will cause Satan to be cast down out of heaven to earth, precipitating great tribulation. The "hour of temptation" in western Europe and the great tribulation for Judah will take place generally at the same time. Rev. 3:10. Knowing that his time is short, Satan will bring in false prophets with their signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, the elect. Rev. 12:7-9. Matt. 24:24.
During this period there will be untold suffering under forced idolatry, apostasy which will wither civilization and make public and private life unbearable, parents and children betraying each other, shattering the home. Mark 13:12. Commerce will be greatly affected and will result in unstable business. Rev. 8:9.
The gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all nations of the earth. Matt. 24:14.
Among the Jews, love toward God will wax cold, but the true remnant who believe the gospel of the kingdom will endure. Matt. 24:13. All twelve tribes will have been sealed before the time of tribulation begins. Isa. 7:1-12.
The rich men who will have heaped treasure to themselves will experience the consequences in the great tribulation, but the down-trodden saints will be comforted by the hope of the Lord's coming in His kingdom. James 5:1-6. Rev. 9:4.
The woman, or Catholicism, will take an imperial place, controlling the Roman Empire, a unity of western nations, forcing idolatry upon the masses of Roman subjects. Rev. 8:8,9. In this way she will be "riding the beast." Rev. 17:3,7.
A Lamb will be seen on Mt. Zion gathering the remnant of Judah together for the coming kingdom. The one hundred and forty-four thousand, a symbolic number, will be preserved through judgment and meanwhile learn the songs of heaven from the heavenly saints. Rev. 14:1-5.
The everlasting gospel will be preached, calling to men to remember their Creator, to fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment will have come. Rev. 14:6,7.
The Roman Empire will be headed by the beast, the emperor. Ten powers, called the ten horns, will receive power one hour with the beast and, having become kings, they will give their power and strength to the beast. Together they shall hate the whore, will make her desolate and naked, shall eat her flesh, and later burn her with fire. These events show that this woman who had been riding the beast, controlling him, will have become nauseous to the ten horns who will proceed to throw her off. Rev. 17:16,3-6.
Although Satan's purposes of deception will be allowed to mature, the woman finally will be judged by God through the means of the ten kings. Rev. 19:2.
(The story of Ahab and Jezebel in figure illustrates the connection of the beast and the woman.)
1 Kings 21.
After the rise of the first beast, described above, in his diabolic character (the personal beast), there will arise in Jerusalem where Jewish and Gentile apostasy will be centered a second beast called the man of sin or Antichrist. The worship of Antichrist, forced upon all, will bring untold anguish upon the consciences of the Jews, not on circumstances, but on the minds and hearts. This will be the first woe. Rev. 9:1-11.
The second woe will fall on the beast, as an innumerable company of warriors on horses will cross the Euphrates from the east to kill and to spread false doctrine-atheistic, Moslem, etc.- in eastern Europe. Rev. 9:12-21.
Babylon, the great city, earlier connected with the woman and degenerate Christendom, will fall into the lowest degradation and become the dwelling-place of demons, the active agents of Antichrist, to completely deceive and apostatize the nations, for the beast and Antichrist will work hand in hand. Rev. 18:2.
(Heaven will be filled with joy, never known before, at the marriage of the Lamb. Rev. 19:7,8.) "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Rom. 10:9.
Men will be forced by Antichrist to worship the beast. As a result they will receive his "mark" which will bring servitude on all the earth. Rev. 13:16-18.
The Roman Empire (See Dan. 7.), with unequaled fury and cruelty, will subject the whole earth to tyranny. Dan. 7:7,8. This dreadful and terrible beast, strong exceedingly, will devour and break in pieces the prophetic earth, and he will stamp the rest (those outside the prophetic earth) with his feet. Dan. 7:7.
It will be said at that time, "Who can make war with the beast?" Rev. 13:4.
Contemporaneously, God will employ the Assyrian as His rod of judgment to pass through the land of Judah and conquer Egypt, an old enemy. The Assyrian allies will sack Jerusalem. Dan. 11:40-45.
In Jerusalem and vicinity one-half will be taken in judgment and one-half left for the kingdom. Zech. 14:1-3. In all of the land two-thirds will be slain and one-third spared. Zech. 13:8,9.
The last martyrs, true to the Lord and refusing the mark of the beast, will be slain, which will call for the seven last plagues, then the second or last part of the first resurrection will close the door to heaven forever. Rev. 20:4. Rev. 15:1,2.
When heaven is complete with all of the guests present, the marriage supper of the Lamb will take place. Rev. 19:9.
Peace in heaven will be secured, Heb. 12:22,23 before Christ comes to set things right and bring peace upon earth. Luke 19:38.
The ships of Chittim (western navy) shall afflict Assyria and Persia. Num. 24:24.
The kingdom of the beast will fall into disarray, as Satan will be bound, bringing in the day of the Lord. Rev. 20:1,2.
The beast and Antichrist will be destroyed at Armageddon and will be cast alive into the lake of fire. Rev. 19:20.
At Armageddon the four monarchies of Dan. 7 will all fall together. Those monarchies which have held Israel captive for many years will be ended at the destruction of the Roman Empire, and the believing remnant of Judah will be delivered. Dan. 2:35,45. Joel 2:18,19.
Destruction will reach out to Europe and her colonies, and they will perish with the sword, leaving none alive so much as to bury the dead. Jer. 25:29-33.
The Lord's feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives. Zech. 14:4. The two tribes' repentance for their departure from Jehovah and His setting up of the kingdom in Judah will herald a new day for Israel. Zech. 12:7.
The ten lost tribes shall return, weeping, to their own native land of Israel. Jer. 50:4.
A siege by heathen tribes against Israel will continue for forty-five days, during which time Israel will learn to trust the Lord completely as the One Who will preserve them from harm. Zech. 12:2. Isa. 27:2,3.
Gog (Russia, the great Assyrian) and all his hosts will march toward Jehoshaphat (the valley of judgment) where the winepress of the day of God Almighty will crush them. It is there on the mountains of Israel that Gog's hosts will be slain and buried. Gog will be cast into the lake of fire. Rev. 16:14. Ezek. 38. Isa. 30:31-33.
This will be the humbling of all the nations, and every eye shall see Jehovah when He comes out of heaven with all of His saints to settle the controversy of Zion. Isa. 34:8. Ezek. 38.
The winepress signifies judgment reaching two hundred miles from Megiddo to Edom, the last battlefield of the great day of God Almighty. Rev. 14:19,20.
The Lord will separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep are those from all the nations who cared for the Lord's servants. Matt. 25:33.
After complete deliverance, Israel, every family apart, will mourn over their sins and disobedience as a nation. This will be national repentance. Ezek. 20:43. Zech. 12:12-14.
The Son of man will take His throne of glory upon the earth to reign in righteousness in Zion which He loved. Jer. 23:5. "But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it." Psa. 94:15. Psa. 99.
The millennial day will bring a new order in the division of the tribes of Israel as they settle in their own land. Ezek. 40-48.
Sacrifices will be restored, not in view of salvation but looking back to gaze upon the mighty redemption which saved Israel from eternal woe. Ezek. 40-48.
Satan will be loosed and will lead men to attack the beloved city Jerusalem. Fire from heaven will destroy the rebels who will have partaken of millennial blessing. Rev. 20:7-10.
Satan will meet his doom in the lake of fire. Rev. 20:10.
The great white throne, the final tribunal, will close God's ways upon earth. All who will be left in their graves, rejecters of God's testimony of sacrifice, down through the ages, will be resurrected for judgment, to be cast into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:11-15.
Those who will have been spared, still living upon the earth at the time of the judgment by fire on the rebels, will be placed upon a new earth. The first heaven and earth will burn with a rushing noise. 2 Peter 3:10. Rev. 21:1. N.T.
"Alas, proud earth!
What sorrow lies before thee!
None like it in the shadowy past!
The deepest throes that ever tore thee,
E'en though the briefest and the last.
"I see the fair moon veil her luster,
I see the sackcloth o'er the sun,
The shrouding of each starry cluster,
The sevenfold woe of earth begun.
"I see the shadow of its sunset,
And wrapped in these the avenger's form;
I see the Armageddon onset,
But I shall be above the storm.
"I hear the mourning and the sighing,
I see the hot tear's heavy fall,
The thousand agonies of dying,
But I shall be beyond them all."
H. Bonar