THE KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING THE END TIMES

There are three books in the Bible that provide us with an outline of what will happen following the Rapture of the Church.  Before I address them, I want to be very clear that the Church must be removed from the earth prior to the Tribulation beginning.  First, the Tribulation is described as being the "wrath of God" (Zeph. 1:15, 18; 1 Th. 1:9-10; Rev. 6:16-17; etc.), and Paul wrote of the Church, "...God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Th. 5:9).  Secondly, the Tribulation is Daniel's Seventieth Week (Dan. 9:24-27), or the "Time of Jacob's Trouble (Jer. 30:7), and the Church did not exist during the first "sixty-nine weeks" (Dan. 9:24-27).  Thirdly, the "types" of Noah and Lot both teach that God lifts those who are His, up above the destruction He intends to bring upon the earth below (Gen. 7:17; 19:30).  Other key passages also refer to the Pre-Tribulation Rapture (Jn. 14:1-3; 1 Th. 4:13-18).

The first of the three books is Daniel.  In Daniel 9:24-27 (cp. Neh. 2:5-8), we find that from the time of the decree of Artaxerxes to restore Jerusalem and the Temple (445 B.C.), until the time of the Crucifixion of Christ, would be "sixty-nine weeks" or 483 years.  The "seventieth week, "the Tribulation," remains to be fulfilled.  The Church Age, a mystery hidden from Israel (Eph. 3:9; 5:32; Col. 1:26-27; etc.), is a parenthetical period that has lasted nearly 2000 years, so far!

The second book which describes the Tribulation, the Book of Matthew, gives us more detail of the events.  In what has been called the "Olivet Discourse," Jesus expounds with more detail, a brief outline if you will, of the Tribulation (Mt. 24:3-29).  Notice that the sudden change found in verse fifteen, coincides with Daniel 9:27, where the Antichrist suddenly breaks his agreement with Israel.

Of course, the third book, the Book of Revelation, lays out the events from the time of the Apostle John, until the coming of the "New Heaven and New Earth" and Eternity!  The book is divided into three parts, as described in Revelation 1:19 - "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter."  Chapter One describes the Glorified Christ, Whom John had seen during the Lord's earthly ministry (Mt. 17:1-8).  Chapters Two and Three describe the Church Age, as represented by the seven churches which existed during John's life.  Chapters Four and Five picture John "raptured" and his description of heaven.  Chapters Six through Eleven speak of the first half of the Tribulation, a period of exactly three and a half years (Dan. 7:25; 12:7; Rev. 12:14), forty-two months (Rev. 11:2; 13:5), or twelve hundred sixty days (Rev. 11:3; 12:6).  Chapters Twelve and Thirteen describe, in more detail, what was first presented in Daniel (9:27) and Matthew (24:15).  Chapters Fourteen through Eighteen present the "Great Tribulation" (Mt. 24:21).  Chapters Nineteen and Twenty give us a picture of Christ's Second Coming and His Millennial Kingdom.  The rest of Revelation introduces us to the New Heaven and New Earth, and beginning of Eternity.

The Word says God does not wish His children to be ignorant;

He has provided us with comforting words that "He's got this!"