Friday, August 20, 2010

Conclusion to the book of Daniel : The End Times

We shall end our study of Daniel by going through the Biblical ending of the
Prophetic time line. I have taken this from various sources on the net including the work done by Beth Moore in her study of the end times.

Also read this together with the article I have sent to you via email , which is on the sequence of end time events in more detail.

There are many theories out there that outline the end times and like I have said before, we should be careful what we read and always bear in mind that it is all human interpretation and people interpret these things differently. Be equally wary of writings identifying present world leaders as the Anti Christ and linking current world events to the end times.

Read reputable books by reputable scholars, talk to your pastor and more than anything else, read the bible, for God alone can be taken at his word. Be guided by the Holy Spirit.

Below is the order of events according to the Premillennialist theory:

Ascension of Christ----------church age------rapture------tribulation------Christ’s 2nd coming (believers with him)--------millennium (renewed earth)-----resurrection of unbelievers and final judgment------new heaven and earth-------eternal state.

Premillennialists take the thousand years as referring to Christ’s physical kingdom set up on earth after his return. . Ammillennialists on the other hand, believe that the end times encompass the time from Christ's ascension to the Last day, and maintain that the mention of the "thousand years" in the Book of Revelation is meant to be taken metaphorically (i.e., not literally, or 'spiritually'), a view which continues to cause divisions within Christianity.

Premillennialists believe that “the present church age will continue until, as it nears the end, a time of great tribulation and suffering comes on the earth. Many premillennialists believe this time of great tribulation and suffering coincides with the three and a half year period in Daniel. However premills divide into 2 very different models of understanding the future.

Historic Premills expect the church to go through the tribulation period. After that time of tribulation at the end of the church age, Christ will return to earth to establish a millennial kingdom. When he comes back, believers who have died will be raised from the dead, their bodies will be reunited with their spirits, and these believers will reign with Christ on earth for one thousand years.

Dispensational premillenialism is the view that the people of Israel are a people of God distinct from the church. The tribulation period and particularly the millennium, fulfills Gods promises in dealing with the nation of Israel.

The rapture of the church happens either before the 7-year tribulation period or at the three and a half mid point. The second half of the 7-year period will be far worse than the first. At the rapture the church is taken to heaven leaving the judgments and promises of God to fall on the unrepentant humanity and national Israel tying up with Daniel 7.

During the 7-year period many of the things that were predicted to precede Christ’s return will be fulfilled. The great ingathering of the fullness of the Jewish people will occur, as they trust Christ as their Messiah. In the midst of great suffering there will also be much effective evangelism, especially carried out by the new Jewish Christians.

At the end of the tribulation Christ will then come back with his saints to reign on the earth for one thousand years. Scholars believe the millennium will begin with an entirely saved population. Those people, however, will have children who will also have children. A thousand years leaves ample time for many generations. Christ will not force them to believe any more than he has forced us to believe. Christ will rule over all nations “with an iron scepter” see Rev 19:15) so none will openly rebel. An undisclosed segment of the population however will refuse to allow Him to reign over their hearts. They will stand as proof that all mans rebellion and waywardness cannot be blamed on the enemy alone. He will be bound and yet numbers will be too proud to give Jesus their hearts.

Read Rev 20: 7-10 - As we can see one final war will take place at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ.

Satan will be loosed for a short season at the end of the millennium and be allowed one last stand. His deceptions will resonate with the minds of proud men who want to believe him, and they foolishly gather with him against the Kings.

The finale of mans sin will be much like the beginning. Rebellious humanity will want to believe the supreme lie of Satan who proposes, “ Why worship God when you can be your own God?”

How shocked they’ll be to waken to the lie. In reality man never could be a God. Those who chose themselves unknowingly made Satan their God.

Bottom line, in the end, is that the things of independent men will turn out to be the things of Satan. Fire will devour the rebellious (see vs. 9) and judgment will fall on the devil, “ fo lo his doom is sure”. Satan will not get away with one single scheme he waged against you.


The 2 forms of premillenialism agree about the events at the end of the thousand years. Satan will be loosed from the bottomless pit and will join forces with many unbelievers who have submitted outwardly to Christ’s reign but have inwardly been seething in rebellion against him. Satan will gather these rebellious people for battle against Christ, but they will be decisively defeated. Christ will then raise from the dead all the unbelievers who have died throughout history, and they will stand before him for final judgment. After the final judgment has occurred believers will enter into the eternal state.

From the book of Revelations and other prophecies it appears that resurrections for different groups of people take place at different times, as do their subsequent judgments. Keep in mind that everyone will appear before God’s throne, believers and unbelievers alike, but not at the same time and certainly not with the same results.

Here are some of the basics of these judgments:

Christians will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive reward or loss of reward based on our deeds (see 2Cor.5: 10; 1Cor. 3:10-15). Each person’s work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each mans work. (1 Cor 3:13). Loss of reward will primarily reflect things such as overlooked opportunities and impure motives. It is believed, though that we will have a momentary awareness of any loss of reward at our judgment as Paul assures us that, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1)

Scholars do not believe though that our most sinful moments will be publicly exposed when we are judged.

Unbelieving Jews who are alive at the end of the tribulation will be judged after the second coming of Christ (see Matt25: 1-30). Believing Jews will enter the kingdom as the redeemed to join others who will reign with Christ under His supreme authority. Unbelieving gentiles will be judged as well and enter the kingdom among the redeemed.

Read 20: 11-15 - Some scholars believe this resurrection and impeding judgment at the great white throne is reserved only for the lost. “ From the scriptures it seems that all the righteous dead have been raised, including Old Testament saints, the dead of the great Tribulation and the church saints, the body of Christ. Thus it may be assumed that verses 11-15 refer to the judgment of the wicked dead, who according to verse 5 would not be resurrected until after the thousand years and will have no part in what is called the first resurrection. If this interpretation is accurate, the judgment rendered in this harrowing courtroom involves how these will spend eternity as well as where. The judgment rendered at the great white throne involves punishment. Verse 12 contains an important piece of information. This verse quite possibly infers degrees of punishment. Though “hell” will be a place of inescapable and terrible misery, it will not be uniform. The punishment of some will be much worse than others. God’s punishments always fit the crime.

Other scholars interpret this judgment as involving both the lost and the saved. “ These are part of the ‘rest of the dead’ who were resurrected at the close of the thousand year period (vs5)…Reference to the book of life as part of the final testimony suggests a general judgment of the entire human race (excluding martyrs who had already entered into their reward.)

Whatever the case, we can rely on the words of Romans 2:2 “ Now we know that gods Judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.” God is just; we can rest assured that all timing and all punishment will be appropriate.

Read 1 Cor 15:24 -26 - Behold the glorious summation in verse 24. At this point, Gods kingdom will have come and Christ will have done his Fathers will on earth as it is in Heaven. He will have reigned victoriously for a thousand years over the earth he created according to their plan. At the fullness of time, Christ will hand over the kingdom with only perfect people remaining to his Father. It will merge with the eternal kingdom and all creations purpose will be accomplished. Christ will then face and destroy His ultimate enemy. (See 1 Cor 15:26).

Read Rev 21: 1-6 - these verses describe the final event on the kingdom calendar. The clock will tick its final tock and God will usher in the eternal state.

Scriptures final chapter begins with the words.” Then the angel showed me the river of water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God. (Rev 22:1)

Rev 22:4 pictures man finally looking at God.

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Salvation is found in no one else,
For there is no other name under heaven
Given to men by which we must be saved
(Acts 4:12)

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