The End Times and the book of Revelations is something that I got really interested about back in High School. When I was a senior, one of my friends let me borrow a copy of the popular book called Left Behind which was a novel that followed an interpretation about how the world was going to end according to the Bible. It is such a huge topic and one that can be very, very confusing and one that has been debated for a very long time. This afternoon, I want to try to give you guys the best overview I can of what the Bible teaches about the End Times.
To do this, I want to walk us through the big pieces of the End Times that are resented in scripture and talk about the different interpretations about them.
Let’s start with the rapture. Who can tell me what the rapture is? The rapture is the time where everyone who has a relationship with Christ will be brought up into the sky to be with Jesus.
• Matthew 24:40-41 “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”
• 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.”
• Revelation 3:10 “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.”
There are a few different opinions about this. There are some people who believe that the rapture will happen at the begging of the seven year period known as Tribulation, which we’ll talk about in a minute. There are some who believe it will happen after half of the Tribulation, 3 ½ years, and then there are some who think it will happen at the end of the Tribulation. The passage from Revelation seems to support the rapture being at the beginning of the seven years and the passage from Thessalonians tends to support the rapture being at the end. Bottom line: no one really knows for sure.
The next big thing that you may hear about is Tribulation, as we just mentioned. The Tribulation is a seven year period that marks the final years of the world as we know it that was predicted as early as Daniel 9:27 “The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven (years), but after half this time (3 ½ years), he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.” Some people believe that this is an exact seven years that will happen and other believe that the End Times are already going on and that the seven was simply to denote the Tribulation has a set beginning and end. Either way, there are a number of things that will happen during this period.
1. The anti-Christ will come to power - This will be a person who is a great leader, who lots of people respect and admire, and who will bring a temporary peace to the world (key word: temporary). Often times, the anti-Christ gets personified in people like Adolf Hitler or Osama Bin Laden but in reality, the anti-Christ will at first be someone like Gandhi or Mother Teresa. They will do amazing things. After 3 ½ years of this though, that person will go back on everything they said, desecrate (or vandalize) the temple and declare persecution on all who refused to worship – mainly those with a relationship with Jesus.
2. The Seals, Trumpets and Bowls – These are a number of things that Gods set in motion for the specific purpose of trying to get people’s attention and prove to them that He is God. They are similar to the plagues in Egypt as God tried to get Pharaoh’s attention. These things are not about God’s judgment and Him punishing people, it is about his love and wanting people to turn to him. Here is a brief list of what will happen from Revelation 6, 8-9, 11:15-19, 16
• Seal #1 – Rev. 6:2 The best interpretation for this is false prophets, in other words, people who would go out and teach lies about Jesus.
• Seal #2 – Rev. 6:3-4 Warfare and bloodshed
• Seal #3 – Rev. 6:5-6 Famine
• Seal #4 – Rev. 6:7-8 ¼ of the worlds population will die from famine, sword, and sickness
• Seal #5 – Rev. 6:9-11 The martyrs cry out to God asking for justice and the end to come
• Seal #6 – Rev. 6:12-14 Great earthquake - sun becomes dark, moon becomes red as blood, stars of the sky fall to earth
• Seal #7 – Rev. 8:1-5 Silence in heaven for an hour and seven angels given trumpets
• Trumpet #1 – Rev. 8:7 Hail and fire fell to the earth, 1/3 of the sea was set on fire, 1/3 of the trees were burned, 1/3 of the grass was burned
• Trumpet #2 – Rev. 8:8-9 Mountain of fire was thrown into the sea. 1/3 of sea became blood, 1/3 of all living in sea died, 1/3 of ships destroyed
• Trumpet #3 – Rev. 8:10-11 Star falls on 1/3 of rivers and springs. Made a 1/3 of all drinking water bitter and killed those who drank it
• Trumpet #4 Rev. 8:12 1/3 of the sun, moon and stars become dark. 1/3 of the day and 1/3 of the night are completely black
• Trumpet #5 Rev. 9:1-12 Locusts with stingers like scorpions sting those who don’t know Christ. They will suffer in pain for five months but will not die.
• Trumpet #6 Rev. 9:13-21 Huge army is released – they have heads like lions, wore armor on their horse like bodies, fire came from their mouths, and they had tails with snake heads. 1/3 of all the people on the earth were killed.
• Trumpet #7 Rev. 11:15-19 This announces the coming of the King – Jesus
• Bowl #1 Rev. 16:2 Sores broke out on everyone who followed the anti-Christ.
• Bowl #2 Rev. 16:3 Sea became completely blood, all sea creatures died
• Bowl #3 Rev. 16:4 Rivers and springs turn to blood
• Bowl #4 Rev. 16:8-9 Sun becomes so hot it burns everyone by its heat
• Bowl #5 Rev. 16:10-11 Earth became total darkness
• Bowl #6 Rev. 16:12-16 Armies of the world and of the spirit world are gathered for the final battle against Jesus and His followers
• Bowl #7 Rev. 16:17-21 Greatest earthquake the world has ever seen, islands disappear, mountains are leveled, hail weighing 75 pounds falls from the sky
3. Here are a couple of other big things that happen during the Tribulation:
a. Taking a step back for a second, one thing that happens in the middle of the tribulation years are the Two Witnesses. These are two men, some assume it is going to be Moses and Elijah who preach in Jerusalem for the first 3 ½ years. They will be killed by the anti-Christ after the 3 ½ years but God will raise them from the dead in front of everyone and then call them up to Heaven.
b. The Mark of the Beast is when the anti-Christ will demand that everyone mark their forehead or wrist with a mark signifying their allegiance to him. Some believe this to be the numbers 666.
c. The 144,000 Sealed by God represents 12,000 people from each tribe of Israel being marked and protected by God. The number of 144,000 understood not as a literal number by some but a representation of all believers. 12 x 12 x 1,000 = 144,000 symbolize completeness in God.
This leads us to Armageddon. This is the final battle between the anti-Christ, Satan and the world vs. Jesus and His followers. Rev. 19:11-21. Basic summary – Jesus comes, kicks butt, kills everyone and the anti-Christ and his prophet are thrown into hell.
At the completion of Armageddon it leads us into The Thousand Years. During this time, Satan will be bound in chains and Jesus will reign on the earth. There will still be death and sin but the Church will have control of all matters, spiritual and secular. Those who were martyred by the anti-Christ rose from the dead at this point and reigned with Christ.
After the thousand years are up, Satan tries again. Satan is released and he compiles one last army to try and attack God. Fire comes down from heaven and consumes the army and Satan is thrown into Hell for good.
The Final Judgment follows this last battle and everyone is raised from the dead and judged accordingly by the Book of Life which has the names of those who trusted in Jesus.
The New Heavens and the New Earth are then made and replace the old ones. Eternity begins as God lives with His people in the Holy city of Jerusalem. Death, suffering, crying, pain are all gone forever!
Well, there are the nuts and bolts of Revelations and the End Times. There is a lot that will be going on and again, a lot of different interpretations. It is a very interesting topic and one that I am more than willing to talk about more with guys if you want.
To end our time together I want to look at one more passage that I think makes some very important points for us to remember about the second coming of Christ. Despite everything that will happen and the mystery and confusion that surrounds it, I think these things remain constant no matter what. Let’s open our Bibles to Matthew 25:1-13.
***Read Matthew 25:1-13***
In this passage Jesus is talking to His disciples and telling them about some of the things that we just talked about. They have a ton of questions and are probably confused a little bit, so Jesus throws in this story I think to help bring a little understanding to their conversation.
The first thing to think about is that the return of Jesus will happen! Revelation is very clear that there will be an end and at that time, Jesus wins! Because of this it is important to make sure you are prepared. Five of the Bridesmaids in this story were ready and knew Christ; five of them were not.
The second thing to think about is no one knows exactly when the end is going to happen. As we started out I mentioned there are three different views about the rapture and I think its fun to discuss and debate. When all is said and done though, we need to be living everyday as if it is the day Jesus will come back. Jesus said, “No one knows the day or the hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.” Thus Jesus words at the end of this parable, “So you, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or the hour of my return.”
The third thing to think about is that every person is responsible for their own relationship with God. A personal relationship with Jesus is the only way to Heaven and to God. You can not get to heaven through your parents faith, a friends faith, a grandparents faith or anyone else’s. To spend eternity with Jesus you have to have your own personal relationship with Jesus. Thus it is important that you draw close to Him and get to know Him more and more – which is what we will be talking about at youth group over the next month. But it is also important that you are sharing the message and story of Jesus with your friends. Jesus could come tomorrow and He is only taking those who know Him.
