A Chronology Of End Times Events

More and more as we get closer to the end, people want to see a time line of coming events. Questions about the order in which events will take place, the span of time between them and the likelihood of there being enough time for everything to happen in the time we have left are becoming more numerous with each passing week.

As you know the Bible doesn’t provide this level of specificity. But neither are we left to make unfounded predictions. There are a number of clues scattered throughout the New Testament that take much of the guess work out of things. With diligent study, we can put them together and make some pretty reasonable assumptions.

For example Romans 11:25 says Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in. I’ve shown several times how the phrases “full number” and “come in” point to the Rapture of the Church. In Paul’s day they were often used in a nautical context. The “full number” was the number of crew members a ship needed before it was authorized to set sail. As soon as the full number of crewmen had been contracted the ship immediately left the harbor to begin its journey.

The phrase “come in” means to arrive at the ship’s scheduled destination. It’s still in use today. People talk about how different life will be for them when their ship “comes in”.

From Romans 11:25 we get the notion that the Church has a full number, too. That’s the number of believers necessary for the rapture. Reaching that number frees us from the constraints of this world and we’ll immediately “come in” to our scheduled destination, Heaven.

Jesus told the disciples He was going to His father’s house to prepare a place for us, and then He’d come back for us to take us there (John 14:2-3). He didn’t say He’d come back here where we are to be with us here, as in the 2nd Coming. He said He’d come back to take us there to be with Him where He is. This has to be a reference to the Rapture. Once He’s done that, Israel’s time of hardening will come to an end and the time of their reconciliation will begin.

Ezekiel said that one outcome of the battle he described in chapters 38-39 is that Israel will be awakened to His presence (Ezekiel 39:22). Since Paul said Israel’s awakening will follow the rapture and Ezekiel said it will be an outcome of his battle, we can assume the rapture will likely precede Ezekiel 38.

None of Israel’s current next door neighbors are mentioned by Ezekiel, even though they’re all antagonists, but the prophecies of Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83 feature them prominently. From this we can conclude these prophecies will be fulfilled ahead of Ezekiel 38 but there’s no way to tell if they will also take place before the rapture.

A set of parallel clues can bring us to the same conclusion about the relationship between Ezekiel 38 and the rapture. In Acts 15:13-18 James said that Israel was being set aside so the Lord could take out of the Gentiles a people for himself, after which David’s fallen Tabernacle would be rebuilt. The phrase “take out” comes from a Greek word that means to take hold of something for the purpose of carrying it away. It refers to the rapture of the Church.

David’s fallen Tabernacle is the Temple which was destroyed in 70 AD and will be restored. But there won’t be any need for a Temple until Israel is back in an Old Covenant relationship with God. And this will only happen after the Battle of Ezekiel 38. Being back in an Old Covenant relationship means Daniel’s 70th Week will have begun (Daniel 9:27). That means the Age of Grace will have come to an end and the Church will be gone.

Based on these verses I believe Jesus said His 2nd Coming would take place about 70 years from the time Israel became a nation again in 1948. (As I demonstrated in “Why The Re-Birth Of Israel Is A Sign Of The End”, it doesn’t make sense to tie Matt. 24:34 to signs that happen just a few years before the 2nd coming.) Adding 70 years to 1948 brings us to the end of 2018. When Daniel’s 70th Week begins, there will only be seven years left until the 2nd coming. That means Daniel’s 70th Week will have to begin 7 years prior to 2018, in 2011.

Other clues indicate the 2nd Coming will likely happen on Rosh Hashanna, also known as the Feast of Trumpets and the Jewish New Year. Because it takes place at the time of the new moon rather than on a full moon, it’s often difficult to determine the exact time of its arrival. For this reason it was sometimes referred to in the past as the feast where no man knows the day or hour. Jesus used a form of this phrase 4 times in the span of 23 verses while referring to the time of the 2nd Coming (Matt. 24:42, 44, 50, Matt 25:13).

Computer projections tell us that in 2018 Rosh Hashanna will occur on Sept. 9-10. But it takes a confirmed visual sighting to make it official and Matt. 24:29 says the moon will not give its light following the end of the Great Tribulation, so no one will know the day or hour of His return until they see Him coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. (Matt. 24:30)

That’s as much of a hint as to timing the Bibles gives us. But remember Psalm 83, Isaiah 17 and Ezekiel 38 are all called battles, not wars. If Israel acted without restraint Psalm 83 would likely require only a week or so to fulfill. Isaiah 17 involves only the firing of a missile or the dropping of a bomb. The Rapture of the Church will happen in the twinkling of an eye. God could annihilate the forces of Ezekiel 38 in an afternoon. My point is, this is not too much for Him to accomplish in the time that’s left.

The way the Middle East keeps heating up it’s possible the fulfillment of Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17 could happen very soon. When the Gaza Blockade issue threatened to ignite into a full blown confrontation recently, I thought we were seeing its beginning. But sad to say it’s not if these two prophecies will be fulfilled but when. And from Scripture you can’t tell if they’ll happen before or after the Rapture. They could all happen at once.

But after they do, the Battle of Ezekiel 38 will follow, Israel’s awakening being necessary for Daniel’s 70th Week to begin. This will bring the anti-Christ to the forefront to confirm the treaty that allows for a Temple to be built. In the middle of the 70th Week he’ll claim to be God, kicking off the Great Tribulation, after which the Lord will return to establish His Kingdom.

Over the past few weeks we’ve taken a fresh look at Psalm 83, Isaiah 17, and Ezekiel 38-39. We’ve also shown why the re-birth of Israel has to be the premier sign of the End of the Age. Hopefully, this perspective on how all these prophecies are related will provide the overview we need to understand how very close we are to the End of the Age. Even angels have longed to look into these things (1 Peter 1:12) but you and I are blessed to experience them firsthand.

One can see that truth in Scripture as, for example, that there was a time when God intended for mankind to be able to eat freely from the Tree of Life, but Adam’s sin resulted in a change: no more Garden of Eden and no more Tree of Life. The rules changed.

What rules changed? The things that happened are exactly the same as the things that God intended. Note that God told Adam that he could eat freely of any of the trees in the garden except one. He did not mention the tree of life and it seems Adam did not recognize the need to eat of it.

Matt 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Sin committed in the heart. This verse suggests that the condition of Adam and Eve may not have changed when they ate the fruit, it was merely manifested by disobedience. They were naked before and they were naked afterward and God would not tell them to eat of the tree of life, ever. They needed to take it freely.

Gal 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

If God would have told Adam to eat of the tree of life, it would have been a law that could have given life, but God did not intend righteousness to be by the law.

I believe that birth, death and resurrection are part of God’s original plan. If you look closely, you can see the Bible opens with the analogy in Genesis 1. Creation followed by destruction in verse two, followed by a new creation beginning in verse three.

Seven

What rules changed?

All the rules that existed in paradise. The rules were now death, pain in childbearing, hard work in order to survive, banishment from paradise, among others. These new rules did not exist before Adam and Eve's rebellion. The rules definitely changed.

The things that happened are exactly the same as the things that God intended.

Note that God told Adam that he could eat freely of any of the trees in the garden except one.

Exactly, and man made the choice to disobey God and eat of the tree that was forbidden and that choice brought us to where we are now.

Sin committed in the heart. This verse suggests that the condition of Adam and Eve may not have changed when they ate the fruit, it was merely manifested by disobedience.

Um, that verse was written several thousand years after the fall. There is nothing in Scripture to suggest that Adam and Eve had a sin nature before their rebellion against God.

If God would have told Adam to eat of the tree of life, it would have been a law that could have given life, but God did not intend righteousness to be by the law.

If God did not intend righteousness to be by the law, He never would have given the law. The law exists for the purpose of showing man that we can never measure up to God's standards of righteousness on our own. Of course God intended for righteousness to be by the law. That's why Jesus Christ said that He is the fulfillment of the law.

I believe that birth, death and resurrection are part of God’s original plan. If you look closely, you can see the Bible opens with the analogy in Genesis 1. Creation followed by destruction in verse two, followed by a new creation beginning in verse three.

No, I don't believe that death and resurrection were part of God's original plan. Although He knew that Adam and Eve would do what they did, and had a plan to redeem man, He never intended for man to rebel against Him and bring on himself the horrible consequences of sin.

If God intended for man to suffer the curse that was not put on the earth until after the fall, He would not have created paradise - He would never have given man a choice.

And I don't see Genesis 3 as a "new creation". Genesis 3 details the events that caused the fall.