God's Grand Finale

Without a doubt, the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the focal point of human history. Yet there is a coming Grand Finale of things, that all of human history is pointing to. This isn’t the world that God created. God will judge this one and bring in a New Heaven and a New Earth. God will redo His planet Earth to what it was like when He created it, with Adam and Eve. There will be no more tears and no more sorrow.  At that time we, as Christians, will be in our eternal state, in the presence of God and His Son Jesus. We cannot comprehend that, but we are promised it. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.

The real you is not the body that you inhabit, it's your soul and spirit and that's the you that will live forever. In eternity, God will unite to Himself, those whose sins are forgiven, through the blood of His Son. This is our glorious hope. For the saved, the final judgement of the unsaved world, is nothing to be frightened about. God tells us these future things to comfort us and give us hope.   Titus 2:13 …looking forward for the "blessed hope," and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. On the other hand this whole subject should terrify those who reject God's free gift of salvation, by grace through faith in Jesus. We have hope because God is going to make everything new.

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 

5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega--the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.

What a glorious time it will be! In fact there may be more going on then we know, Romans 8:21 says All of creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

Before that there is a future time of the Judgement and Justice of God. At that time, Satan will be allowed to use his world leader, that we call the Antichrist, to control the world for a period of seven years. Let’s examine that coming time of judgment upon the Earth. It is spoken about in almost every book of the Old Testament and much of the New. Revelation, the last book of the Bible, just gives us some of the details. The unsaved world, and even some major Christian denominations, are like little boys whistling in the dark, trying to pretend that things will go on as they always have. There are those who say, "They have been saying that this would happen for two thousand years." This is a one time event. Some even scoff and mock at God's promises, because He has been so patient for the judgement. Or maybe they don't believe that God is powerful enough to tell the future.

2 Peter 3:3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” 5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command. The Second Coming of Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords cannot happen until the events that proceeded it, i.e. the justice and judgment of God.

Jesus quotes Daniel 12 when He says in Matthew 24:15 “The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about--the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place.” (Reader, pay attention!) 16 “Then those in Judea (Israel) must flee to the hills. 19 How terrible it will be…21 For there will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again.

Daniel 12:1 “At that time Michael, the archangel who stands guard over your nation (Israel) will arise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people (Jews) whose name is written in the book will be rescued (to slip away, to escape, or to be delivered).

The entire 24th chapter of the book of Isaiah describes the coming judgement, also in Isaiah 13.

Isaiah 24:1 Look! The LORD is about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland. He devastates the surface of the earth and scatters the people. 3 The earth will be completely emptied and looted. The LORD has spoken! 5 The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted God’s instructions, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse consumes the earth. Its people must pay the price for their sin. They are destroyed by fire, and only a few are left alive. 18 …Destruction falls like rain from the heavens; the foundations of the earth shake. 19 The earth has broken up. It has utterly collapsed; it is violently shaken. 20 The earth staggers like a drunk. It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy. 21 In that day the LORD will punish the gods in the heavens (That's the fallen Angels) and the proud rulers of the nations on earth. 23 Then the glory of the moon will wane, and the brightness of the sun will fade, for the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will rule on Mount Zion. He will rule in great glory in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 13:9 For see, the day of the LORD is coming-- the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger. The land will be made desolate, and all the sinners destroyed with it. 11 “I, the LORD, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty. 12 I will make people scarcer than gold-- more rare than the fine gold of Ophir. 13 For I will shake the heavens. The earth will move from its place when the LORD of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath in the day of his fierce anger.”

The apostle Peter is clear that that this must happen before God can usher in his promised glorious heavenly Kingdom. He tells us to "look forward" to the end of things, when God will make things new.

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. 11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. 13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. Like all of the authors of the New Testament Peter believed that this would happen in his life time, 1 Peter 4:7 The end of the world is coming soon.

OK, we get the point. God has stood back long enough letting this world deteriorate and revel in their sin. There will come a time of judgement that's called The Day of the Lord. The God and Christ rejecting world, will be judged and it will not be pretty! About that, I think we can all agree. Now let’s get to some other aspects of this. Jesus did a major teaching about this time of future judgment in Matthew chapter 24. After describing a whole bunch of it, He says in 24:35 “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.” Jesus is promising us that all His words are true and will be fulfilled.

By 300 A.D the early Church had started allegorizing the Bible. I don’t believe that changing what is clearly registered in God’s Bible is now or then, pleasing to our Lord. Anyone using that as their foundation has big problems. Some might even say that we can disregard prophecy and the coming judgment because it is symbolic or that all of prophecy was completed in 70 A.D. But these things will actually come to pass, in God‘s timing. This Day of the Lord is obviously a time to judge sinners and this God rejecting world, but it’s more than that.

This is very important but easily overlooked. Jesus made a requirement for His return. Remember, He told us that all His words will all come true. Jesus pins His return, the Second Coming, on a statement that he made before he was crucified. Before entering Jerusalem, called the Triumphant Entry, he said. Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 39 For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD!’” The promised requirement for the Second Coming of Christ is that the Jewish people will recognize that Jesus is their Messiah and repent and turn to Him. It is also stated that way  in Hosea 5:14 I will be like a lion to Israel, like a strong young lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces! I will carry them off, and no one will be left to rescue them. 15 Then I will return to my place until they admit their guilt and turn to me. For as soon as trouble comes, they will earnestly search for me.”

Throughout the Old Testament, God was calling His chosen people Israel, the Jews, to stop sinning, repent and come to Him. Like the verses above say, Jesus pins His return upon the Jewish people turning to Him, and recognizing that He is “the One who they pierced." They will do that, then Jesus can return as King of Kings.

Zechariah 12:8 On that day the LORD will defend the people of Jerusalem… the angel of the LORD who goes before them! 9 For on that day I will begin to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me “whom they have pierced” (that's Jesus) and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for Him as for a firstborn son who has died.

Israel is the major theme in the Old Testament. It cannot be allegorized away by saying that the Church is the new Israel and has replaced Israel. Jesus’s words will come true, the Jews will repent and be received back to God, to fulfill God’s Word. It says that in the New Testament also, and it couldn’t be any clearer than it is in Romans chapter 11.

Romans 11:1 I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not!… 2 No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. 23 And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree.

25 I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. 26 And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, “The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. 27 And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.” 28 Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29 For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.

Earlier, I said that most of end times teaching was throughout the Bible and it is just summed up in Revelation, let’s check that out. The most important prophecy, the foundation for the structure of the end times is in the book of Daniel. It’s called the "70 weeks of Daniel" prophecy. It tells the purpose for the time of judgement and it contains the clearest explanation, that this period will last for seven years. It starts here with the context to the prophecy.

Daniel 9:20 I went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people (the Jews, Israel) pleading with the LORD my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain. 21 As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He explained to me, “Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. 23 The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God. Listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision.

Now we come to "70 weeks of Daniel" prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27.  Let's talk about it before we look at the verses. It says in verse 24  that there will be for a period of 70 weeks. A week here is a group of 7, like a dozen is 12. So we are talking about is a period of 70×7 years or weeks of years which equal 490 years. After 69 weeks or 483 years, the Messiah will come and be killed. That happened on April 6 32 A.D. as calculated by this prophecy. Yes, it can be calculated. Don’t let anybody tell you that it doesn’t compute. In the 200s AD, Church father, Julius Africanus wrote a book on how to calculate this. You can do it yourself as others have done, if done properly. I think maybe that is why Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, “Oh that you would’ve recognized the time of your visitation" because they could have calculated His coming.

Daniel 9:24 “A period of seventy sets of seven (years) has been decreed for your people (Jews) and your holy city (Jerusalem) to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

Note: the structure for this end time prophecy is for the Jewish people to put an END to sin, to fulfill prophecy and bring in everlasting righteousness, for them and ALL of Mankind, obviously this hasn’t happened yet.

25 Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler--the Anointed One--comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times.

26 “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One (Jesus) will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.

Now, here comes Daniel 9:27 below, which gives us a seven year period. Then halfway through it, a 3 1/2 year period of horror. It begins with the event called the “Abomination of Desolation.” It was what Jesus spoke about in Matt. 24 saying, “The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about--the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place.” (Reader, pay attention!) Jesus tells us to look to the prophet Daniel, and pay attention. The Bible is clear about this 3 1/2 year period in which the Antichrist will have total rule. Half way into the 7 years he enters a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, stops the sacrifices, and declares himself to be God. Paul says the same thing in 2 Thes. 2:4. Jesus said, "If you live in Israel at that time, run to the hills." It is that event, the Abomination of Desolation, that begins the Antichrist's 3 1/2 year rule of terror, Paul and and Jesus talked about. It is also in Daniel and Revelation. Here is one of the most important prophecy verses in the Bible:

Daniel 9:27 The ruler (Antichrist) will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven (seven years), but after half this time (3 1/2 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 (The Abomination of Desolation), until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.”

This is it, no one can allegorize or spiritualize this. There is one week of seven years, called the "70th week of Daniel", to be fulfilled. Don't forget Verse 24, This is for the Jewish people and Jerusalem, for the completion of sin and bringing in of righteousness. Obviously, that hasn’t happened yet, but it will after the Second Coming. It also concerns Jerusalem, don’t overlook that. God loves Jerusalem. I can’t tell you how many scholars miss this point. God will bring back a remnant, that is a group of Jews that come to believe in Jesus as their Messiah. By this God will be able to fulfill the promises that He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God always has a remnant. At the end of this famous seven year time, there will be a small group of Jews that God can shower His promises and blessings on, in the coming Age. This last seven years, the 70th Week of Daniel, is the time of judgment, chaos and destruction called the Great Tribulation. Here we get a world leader called the Antichrist, a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, and halfway through the seven years, the event that Jesus said, after which, will be the worst time in the human history, including the flood of Noah. What Jesus says WILL come true!

Jeremiah 30:7 calls it the time of “Jacob‘s trouble." A time of refining for the Jews in witch 2/3 of the Jews will be killed, Zech. 13:8-9, and 1/3 God says, "I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. they will call on My name and I will answer them." That is why the 7 year Tribulation is called of the time of "Jacob’s trouble" it's about the Jews, NOT the Church. Jer. 30:7 Alas! For that day [is] great, So that none [is] like it; And it [is] the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it. That's how  Paul can say, "that all Israel will be saved," in Rom. 11:26. He’s talking about the remnant that is purified after the Antichrist attempts to slaughter them, in the last 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation. It is the time for the purifying and refining a “remnant” of the Jewish people, bringing them to Christ as their Messiah.

Revelation 12:6 And the woman (Israel, the Jews) fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place to care for her for 1,260 days (that’s 3 1/2 years). 9 This great dragon--the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world--was thrown down to the earth with all his angels. 13 When the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman (Israel), who had given birth to the male child (Jesus).   That is clearly the remnant of Jews that has repented and became believers in Christ. There will be many other non-Jews who get saved they are called the "Tribulation Saints." Those are the people come to salvation in the last 7 years. The dragon, Satan, will persecute them also.

We as Christians are not appointed to wrath! We will never be judged for our sins, they were paid for on the Cross, by our precious Lord and Savior. God will use the last 7 years to judge the unbelieving world and to bring back the Jews, His promised people, to Him. In the book of Revelation after chapter 3, the seven letters to the seven Churches, the Church is not mentioned again. The Church is displayed to be  Kings and Priests, in Revelation 1:6, then in 5:9 the Elders of chapters 4 and 5 are declared to be Kings and Priests, the redeemed (by the blood of the Lamb). The Elders are the Church and are in the Throne Room, with the Lamb. The Church, the Bride of Christ, is not mentioned in the Judgement of the world which starts in chapter six. Don’t miss this point, it is "the Lamb who was slain" that opens the seals of judgment, the first of those is in Revelation 6:1. As I watched the Lamb broke the seals, that's Jesus. He's my Savior not my Judge. This time is called “the wrath of the Lamb” in Rev. 6:16 and that verse is at the beginning of the 7 years. A time that Jesus said would be, "the whose time in human history."

Thank God that we as believers are the "Children of God." Jesus said, Rev. 3:10 "I also will keep you (the Church) "from" the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth." Note: If you keep someone FROM a train wreck you don't keep them through it. The Church will be called to Heaven as the Bride for our Groom, Jesus. It will happen before the time of testing for the Jewish people. Also that terrible time, is for the people that Revelation refers to as "the earth dwellers."

Now I hope you can see why I said that this prophecy called the “70 weeks of Daniel,” Daniel 9:24-27, teaches that the final seven years, haven't been fulfilled yet. There is a gap after the first 69 weeks of 483 years, and at the end of which Jesus was killed, and the one week of 7 years left. That is time of Jacobs trouble and is called "The 70th of the week of Daniel.” Those 7 years contain the structure and the promise of the end of things. They are required to see Christ's Second Coming and the New Heavens and New Earth. Daniel 9:24-27 predicted the death of Jesus in 32 A.D. to the day. It also gives us the overview for the 7 year Tribulation period.

It can’t be overlooked that Jesus considered that the Church is His Bride. The Church, meaning all Christians, not an organization. The symbology of the Jewish wedding is taught by Jesus and can be seen in John 14. 14:1 Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. Also in Matthew 24 when Jesus says, “no one knows the day or the hour (of his return), not the Son, but the Father only.”

Every man, woman and child knew these very words as part of their everyday life, because it concerned probably the major event of their lives, the Jewish wedding. John 14:1-3 contains common expressions in their society. In the Jewish wedding ritual the groom would go to the brides father’s house and pay a dowry for the engagement, Jesus paid with his blood. Then he would, go to his father’s house and build an addition for him and his future bride. About one year later the father would tell him to go get his bride, usually in the middle of the night. Only the father knew when that would be. The groom would go to the brides house and she would meet him outside her house. Then they would go to the father‘s house to have the wedding ceremony.

By saying that, Jesus wanted to comfort the disciples on the night that He was arrested. He basically told them you’re My Bride. I’m going to heaven, My Father‘s house, and I will come back and bring you there with Me. 

After that, there will be an event called “the wedding supper of the Lamb,” the Church will be completed as the Bride of Christ. Revelation 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. 8 She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people.

Many in the Body of Christ don't see that there is a role and a time for the Church. It starts at the birth of the Church, at Pentecost. It ends, 1 Thes. 4:17, when it is taken away, or "caught up," to "meet the Lord in the air" to be the promised Bride of Christ. That's in "the air," outside the Bride's house on Earth. At that event Jesus does not come to the Earth. There is also a role for Israel, as promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It's a Kingdom for them, ruled by Jesus, the Messiah. You know, the lion will lie down with lamb stuff, that Jesus will rule with a rod of iron. At that time we as Christians will be in our eternal state. Maybe this is where Jesus said, for rewards, some will get many cities to rule, and some fewer. We are shown this Kingdom in the last half of Isaiah chapter 65, verses16-25. It tells of the humans that populate the Earth, in the future Kingdom. They will live as long as trees 65:22. These are those, Jews and others, who become believers during the Tribulation, and live through it. They are the ones who make it to the end and then to the "sheep and goat judgement" in Matthew 25. 

If you don’t see this clear distinction between the Church and Israel, you can not interpret God’s word correctly. If someone overlooks that, they will be tempted to add to it or subtract from God's Word, by spiritualizing it, to make it fit their view. That’s not a good thing. God tells us that in His Bible's last chapter.

Revelation 22:10 Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near.       16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star.” 18 And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. 19 And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book. 20 He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! 21 May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people. The End of the Bible

That is the end of the entire Bible. Those are the last verses. The "last words" of someone are something that they want to stress. It maybe about their life or warnings, last words are important. Here Jesus Himself, is telling us He is coming soon, and He wants us to pay attention to the book of Revelation. Not to disregard it or make it something that it isn’t by adding to it or subtracting from it. The penalty is significant!

In Luke 24 after His Resurrection, Jesus met two disciples on the road to Emmaus that were downcast after the crucifixion. Jesus scolded them for not applying the prophecies, to understand that He fulfilled the qualifications for the Messiah. Is this an example for us today? Are we going to be held accountable for including what God tells us will happen in the future, as a part of our Christian hope?

Luke 24:25 Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. 26 Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” 27 Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. NLT

God is telling us the future before it happens, to comfort us. As Christians if we miss that point we miss the whole thing. The justice of God must be served on the unbelieving world, and the Jewish people must repent so that God can fulfill His promises. Prophecy is our hope not our doom. Peter and the first century Church was "looking forward" for it as their "blessed hope." What a comfort Isaiah 53 was to the first century Church, and it is for us today. The prophecies of the First Coming were completed exactly as God said. That is because God stands outside of time, knowing the end from the beginning. The prophecies of the end of things, including the Return of Christ, at the end of the Tribulation, will be fulfilled exactly. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Alan Clark

May 2024