Rethinking the Apocalypse

The very next prophetic event described in the Bible to unfold, a Great Conflagration,  will be the killing of one third of mankind, instigated by forces once bound at the Great River Euphrates [read: Persia/Islam].  It will come by the fire, the smoke and the brimstone.  This sounds very much like nuclear warfare on a grand scale.  What happens thereafter has been the topic of many eschatologists; and is clarified herein juxtaposed with the prophecy fulfilled since the First Zionist Convention of 1897 ^[1] .  As seen from the vision of John of Patmos, we are living in the era of the Sixth Trumpet.  Israel will survive this conflagration, to experience the final battle for Jerusalem after the gathering at Har-Megiddo; during the Day of the Lord years later.

            Stated in the endnote, the eschatological period began with the rise of humanism during the decades preceding the Great War (a.k.a. World War I).  Indeed there had been elements of humanism throughout the history since the flood, where human government was ordained; but the profound exposition of that philosophy began in earnest during the period stated.  It is humanism going forth conquering, no killing, we see in that rider on the first horse in the opening of the first seal revealed to us in the vision by John of Patmos.  A rider with a bow, but no arrow, going forth conquering; not killing.  And as previously stated, it was the philosophy of humanism that had it roots in the movement to that Great War.  It was the philosophy of humanism that fostered liberal theology at the turn into the 20^th century.  In turn, fundamentalism, dispensationalism, liberalism and other debates followed well in to the 20s, and in some instances continue to this day.  That rider, and his three other companions (war, famine, pestilence) continue their ride.

 

            Humanism now has a new dimension with profound impact as we near the end of the eschatological period, the consummation of the age.  Mankind in faced with the tensions posed to all of us by Islam.  A world wide Caliphate is their goal, and now is being earnestly sought by radical Islam.  But radical Islam is an oxymoron.  There is really little difference between radical Islam and Islam itself.  Islam is a false religion that is an abomination before the Lord.  The philosophers of humanism do not see that distinction, while they separate the two suggested groups.  They delude the threat. As such, the terrorism from Islam will never be defeated by man due to this blindness now engrained in the human psyche.   The Revelation tells us clearly, this humanism and now this worldwide terror will never cease until the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, Y’shua Ha Messiah.

 

            A proof to this thesis is simple.  How do you describe the difference between Islam and radical Islam?  On what basis?  Anything other than the truth that there is no difference, I submit, humanism has become part of your thinking. 

 

Christ told us there will be abominations that causeth desolation.  That is plural, not singular.  That is, many abominations that causes desolations.  He reflects on perhaps the first major abomination of Antiochus Epiphanes before His time on earth; yet he tells us there remains several.  Islam is one such abomination, a twisting of God’s truth that has and continues to cause desolations.  We see the desolations almost daily at the hand of Islam.  They will not be defeated by man as man sees Islam as acceptable and radical Islam as the abomination.  Yet, there is no real difference.  This delusion will continue until the truth comes when Israel calls upon the name of the Lord; then and only then the desolation will cease, and humanism as well.  We remain in the era of the Laodicean Church, that milieu of lukewarmness for the Lord.  And we are in the era of the Sixth Trumpet to be sure.  Prophecy tells us there will not be another Nineveh revival.

From this viewpoint which all eschatological events up to the sixth trumpet have come to pass, and from the application of epochal periods found in Scriptures, we derive a sequence of later eschatological events.

After the great conflagration, we shall see a period of great apostasy; where God will send two witnesses for correction and reproof, yet sadly evil will overshadow their efforts.   Here we will see the Great Tribulation where the two witnesses challenge the audacity of the Antichrist.   Very little else found in scriptures describe the events of there troubled time, yet alot is told of before and after the period.   Enoch and Elijah death and resurrection will bring us to the Great Harvest followed by Day of the Lord — a period of judgment and accountability; all follow in perfect order.   The curse foretold by the Prophet Malachi is about to be seen.

Whom does this great apostasy apply too?  We need here some basics.  There are currently three categories of mankind:  Jews, Gentiles and Christians.    The later can never be apostate because no one can take from Him that that belongs.    Notice in Revelation (cf. 9:20-21) a most remarkable break in human history.    The description of those who survive the great conflagration, that killing of one third of mankind by the fire, the smoke and the brimstone, cannot include Christians.    At this point in history, they have either been killed or raptured from the planet.  Therefore, the great apostasy, a move away from what one once believed, that is, Torah observance, must be none other than those among non-Messianic Jews.   Unbelieving Gentile do not fit the category.  It is God’s desire to bring back Israel to His fold.    That is the purpose of the consummation of the age, the eschatological period.    Aside from the fact our Lord Jesus Christ triumphs over evil, the eschatology is all about Israel; not the Church by any stretch of the imagination.

Are we seeing the last generation of the Christian era?   Yes.   Revelation 9:20-21 affirems a pre-tribulation raputre.   Not as modern dispensationalists whould have developed, as this ministry see the tribulation period much different from the spin coming from modern seminaries.   We remain in the period of the birth pangs foretold by Christ Jesus.   They will continue past our departure well into the era of the two witnesses.   So what of these two witnesses?   Whom are they to witness too?   Israel and those of Revelation 9:20-21.   (Please review endnotes below.)

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Malachi 4:5-6

That curse is not the judgment of the Lord, but a conditional period where suffering at the hand of evil is allowed; where we are left to our own vices. It is a period that follows the rejection of the witness message.  It is that time, times and half of time we often call the Great Tribulation.  The ministry of the two will run for 1260 days, ending with their death at the hand of Beliar.   Beliar will then reign for 1332 days according to the Testament of Hezekiah, yet determined also by summation of Biblical events found in the book of Daniel and the Revelation of John.   During the reign of Beliar, the first four days shall see the bodies of the two witnesses lay in the streets.   1260 days immediately following shall see the time of the Beast.   Sixty-eight days following the Beast, will encompass the Day of the Lord, where at its end, Beliar will be cast down to the pit; ending his 1332 day epoch.   However, 42 days after the death of the two we shall see the 1290 days of desolations (ref. Dan 12:11).   The first 1222 days of this desolation period are precisely the later half, remaining half, of Daniel’s 70^th week; where Israel is to finish their transgressions.   The first half of this 70^th week began with the baptism of Jesus and ran unto the day of Pentecost.   From the Gospel accounts, that was 1335 days (cf. Daniel 12:12).    A resumption of the 70^th week implies a regathering of Israel beforehand as foretold by the prophet Ezekiel.    The later 1082 days of this later half week will be the Great Tribulation.

That curse Malachi foretold will come.   The preponderance of Scriptures indicate all alive at the time will experience the Great Tribulation ^[2] , yet we are assured that the Saints will be kept during that hour of trial (ref. Rev. 3:10).   The Parousia, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ including the catching up of Saints will come pre-wrath.   It is to occur only when Israel calls upon the name of the Messiah—Y’shua.   The wrath of God occurs only during the Day of the Lord, which follows the Great Tribulation.   Therefore, this harvest of Saints, where no one will know the day or the hour, will occur during the Great Tribulation; perhaps in its later days.   Pre-trib, mid-trib, and post-trib theories are all nonsense and cannot be defended from scriptures as, inter alia, a seven year tribulation period is an out of context interpretation of Daniel 9:27.

The 1082 days of the Great Tribulation plus the 68 days for the Day of the Lord sum to the 1150 days for the 2300 morning and evening sacrifices foretold by the prophet Daniel [vs. 8:14].   All Biblical epochs sum to perfect account, in Divine and perfect order.

Noteworthy is the fact that the events of the Great Tribulation are not found in the Apocalypse of John.  Rather, they are depicted in the prophecies of [Daniel], the [Olivet Discourse], and the Didache.  The Revelation gives us account only of the Christian era, the birth pangs before the tribulation of those days, and the judgments and castings thereafter; the later to occur during the Day of the Lord.

Now here is a problem that cannot be ignored.  Many Christians believe today in the classic dispensational concept of a pre-tribulation rapture. It is a late theory born out of the 19th century, espoused by many fundamentalist and evangelical Christian leaders.  It gives false hope of a rescue before the tribulation of those days, the days forewarned by Christ in His Olivet Discourse.  The theory has no merit.  In fact, it is damnable.  For when many believers in Christ see themselves living in the tribulation of those days, they will ask "where is the promise of His coming."  That question is prophesized (ref. 2 Pet. 3:4).  If they are not well prepared, well grounded in faith, keeping their candles trimmed, they will loose the hope so promised.  The preparatory warning from the discourse is given for this time; and we all should take heed—let the reader understand.  In the economy of Words in the Bible, every one has meaning and purpose.  These Words that attest to the tribulation of those days cannot be ignored, nor dismissed by some false rescue.

An Argument

 

A question asked by a recent caller to a national talk show was, “do you think there will be another holocaust such as seen in WWII?”  The answer to this question, from the apocalyptic vision of John of Patmos is, definitely yes.  For believers in the inviolate Word of God, there is no question about it.  And from the viewpoint that all apocalyptic birth pang events up to the sixth trumpet, including the establishment of the modern State of Israel, the very next prophetic event yet to unfold is the killing of one third of mankind by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone—instigated by forces once bound at the great river Euphrates.  The questions now remains will this Great Conflagration begin as or occur as part of the Gog of Magog War described by the Prophet Ezekiel?

 

In effort to resolve this question, we must first identify the possibilities when this Gog of Magog war may transpire.  Some have suggested it is history past.  That must be reject as Israel was the object of the war, and did not exist since the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, and of course there was no evidence of such a war beforehand.  As we are no living in the era of the Sixth Trumpet, and such a conflict has not yet transpired, we can safely conclude that the God of Magog war is an event yet future.  The remaining possibilities are as follows.  One possibility is the God of Magog war can indeed be part of the Great conflagration.  Perhaps it could take place after the Great Conflagration during the time of the Great Apostasy or during the ministry of the two witnesses, Enoch and Elijah.  Or perhaps it could be a war during the Great Tribulation, instigated of driven by the Son of Perdition.  Perhaps it could be the final battle for Jerusalem following the gathering at Har-Megiddo.  Or perhaps, it could be some millennial era war when God is released for a time.  Those are the possibilities.

 

I would reject the later possibility, a millennial war, because of the sequence of the prophecy found in the Book of Ezekiel.  In that book, this God of Magog war follows the reestablishment of Israel and precedes all the millennial prophecies found in the Book.

 

A look at the prophecy of the God of Magog war in its proper, Israel is the target of such incursion.  And Israel survives the action.  There is no indication that Jerusalem is destroyed.  In fact, Israel, including Jerusalem, is saved by the grace and ordination of God.  Therefore, any of the possible occurrences, from the Great Conflagration to the final battle for Jerusalem during the Day of the Lord remain possible candidates for such action.  There is no indication in Scriptures of a combative war to occur during the era following the Great Conflagration, such as the time of the Great Apostasy that is a result of that conflagration, or during the period of the two witnesses.  To suggest such would be reading more into the prophecy which is forbidden [ref. Rev 22:18].  Therefore two possibilities remain.  The God of Magog war is to be included as part of the Great Conflagration, or the final battle for Jerusalem.  Since Israel survives the God of Magog War, the opportunity to fight another day such as during the final battle for Jerusalem is affirmed.

 

We can possibly reject the final battle for Jerusalem as a possibility as we understand it is opposing forces from the entire planet who gather at Har-Megiddo (Armageddon) to move upon Jerusalem.  And it is Christ Himself who wins that Day in that final battle.   The Magog alliance is a limited coalition, with players specifically identified by the Prophet Ezekiel.  While this is not absolute proof, it remains highly suggestive that the God of Magog war is indeed part and partial of the Great Conflagration rather than the final battle for Jerusalem.   This precept makes sense on another stratum.    As we can see from the geographic description in Scriptures [3], the members of the Magog alliance are all Islamic.   I t is Islamic forces that were once bound at the great river Euphrates at the re-birth of Israel.   It remains now that these forces are the instigators of what will become the killing of one third of mankind, by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone.   Israel is the initial or principle target, yet they will survive.

What began with the First Zionist Convention is a series of unprecedented global events.  All these things will occur in “this generation” (ref. Mark 13:30).   If one considers a generation to be the expected 120 years (ref. Gen 6:3), we are approaching its end.  With similar consideration, we approach the 7,000^th anniversary of ordained human government which began at the rainbow Covenant, when Noah came from the ark.   The significance is ponderable.    The last generation of the Christian era may indeed be at hand.

Now is the time to ante up; to be ready.  For evil so terrible during the Great Tribulation, after Enoch and Elijah are gone, may prevent you from seeking Him.  Or worse yet, you may be dead in the next few moments and opportunity lost.

Jim Wylder

Eschatologist

Summer 2007