The Beginning of the Great Tribulation
Currently, the world is bankrupt. The title deed to the planet earth has been “given” to Satan by Adam. Immediately after the church is taken to heaven, the Holy Spirit is removed from the world, and all the people left in the world are agnostics, atheists, psychics, worshipers of weird gods, Hollywood, Hindus, Muslims, etc. in other words, unbelievers in God of Israel, Yahweh.
End of the World
The world will not end because of pollution, extinction of some species, plastic bags and styrofoam cups not decomposing fast enough, or even lack of oil.
The planet Earth will continue to spin around the sun after a nuclear war, a direct hit by a large asteroid or even meteor showers,
severe storms, hail, tornadoes, famine, plagues... However, the world as we know it, will end because of sin. A time will come when God the Father will directly intervene and deal with the sickness called sin.
Love demands it. When your children are sick you take them to the doctor. God gave us His Son, Jesus, to heal us from the sickness of this world corrupted by Satan
and his fallen angels. That intervention happens during the Great Tribulation.
In order to understand the meaning behind the events of the tribulation period, we need to understand the beginning of all creation, including Lucifer, the Garden of Eden, the reason for the Flood, the city of Babylon and the tower of Babel, the pagan religions, the purpose of existence of Israel, and some key beings throughout the Bible. An entire book could be written to explain it all, as it has its origins in ancient Mesopotamia and even before the creation of humanity. Not to worry, I won’t get into all that in this blog, but let’s look at the meaning behind what John was shown in the days to come.
History In a Nutshell
God created everything, including Satan, the most anointed cherub, perfect in beauty and full of wisdom (Isaiah 14:12 and Ezekiel 28:12-18), until he rebelled against God taking 1/3 of the angels along. He wanted to be like God, he wanted to be worshiped. Satan deceived Eve and consequently Adam in the Garden of Eden. Adam gave away the deed to the planet earth when he ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, Satan became the prince of this world and has been wreaking havoc ever since. So, God will not allow this world to continue in this broken condition with Satan destroying souls, trying to take as many away from God as he can.
A quick Trip to the Ancient Past
In Genesis 3:15, after Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan, God told Satan that He (God) will put an enmity between him (Satan) and the woman, and between his seed and her Seed. Her Seed, Jesus, will bruise Satan’s head and he will bruise Eve’s Seed’s heel. Meaning, Satan was to get a blow to the head while Jesus was just going to get a small scar. Another words, the woman’s Seed meant she will give birth miraculously to the One that will save the humans and crush Satan forever. Eve thought that Man was her firstborn son Cain, but he turned out to be the first murderer, or anti-Christ. So, why is this important? Well, Satan was able to deceive Adam and Eve, the best of what humanity had to offer, and claim the title deed to the planet earth. Ever since, the earth belonged to Satan and he’s been deceiving, lying, murdering, manipulating, and tricking humans for about 6 thousand years. Why? What’s his problem?? He hates humans, because God loves us (John 3:16).
Satan rebelled against God long, long ago, long before God created humans, because he wanted to be like God and be worshiped like God. So, before then, he was able to deceive some other creatures and be worshiped by them. Those creatures were angels. Remember, he took 1/3 of the angels with him. Deceiving and manipulating humans was a piece of cake and he’s been very successful at doing it without us even realizing it. The fact is the humankind have lived in sin, in this broken condition, unable not to sin, caught up in the middle of the spiritual war between Satan and God. And in need of a Savior.
So, about 2,000 years ago Jesus was born to a virgin and we can call this a miraculous birth. So Satan executed Jesus by betraying him through Judas Iscariot thinking he’s stopping the prophecy of salvation, but what Satan didn’t realize was, he was actually fulfilling God’s plan. Remember Gen 3:15? Jesus died for all our sins, received a new glorified body, and all who believe in Him go to heaven, return with Jesus to reclaim the deed to earth and see Satan overpowered and thrown into the lake of fire (hell), and rule and reign with Him on earth. Ok, so here’s why this is so important. When we die, and we will, our souls go either to heaven, or go to hell aka lake of fire, for ETERNITY. Yeah, I get this is a little incomprehensible at this time, but think about your life and how it changes over the years. Now think about your life that never ends. And while it is your choice where you end up, you may not be aware that you will always serve someone, either God in heaven or Satan being tormented in hell.
70th Week of Daniel
Not sure yet? Let’s talk about the future, a time period that has not yet happened, prophesied by Daniel, the 70th week of Daniel.
In Daniel 9:24 the angel Gabriel tells Daniel that his people, the Jews, will be freed by king Cyrus of Persia from the Babylonian capture, Jerusalem will be restored, the Temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem,
and the Messiah will come.
It will take 69 weeks or 483 years (1 week = 7 years Gen 29, so 69 weeks x 7 years), 7 weeks or 49 years to rebuild and restore Jerusalem plus 62 weeks or 434 years before the Messiah comes.
And so it was. From the time the Jews returned to Israel, it took them 49 years to rebuild the Temple plus 434 years before Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem on April 6, 32 AD,
and was cut off, or crucified, just a few days later.
Then in Dan 12 the angel Michael told Daniel what will happen in the future, specifically during the 70th week. The last week (69 weeks already passed) is not yet completed as it is the time of
the Great Tribulation (7 years). During that time the anti-Christ will charm the whole world, but after the 3.5 years (Dan 12:7) he will go into the Temple in Jerusalem,
stop all the daily sacrifices (remember the Jews are still living by the Old Testament) and declare himself god. The bible calls it the abomination of desolation.
After the second 3.5 years (1,335 days) Jesus, the true Messiah will come back with His saints (2nd coming), all those believers who were raptured, save His people Israel (12:1),
and judge those who died (Dan 12: 2) before Jesus was crucified.
It’s All About the Jews
I’m sure you heard this phrase “Jews are God’s chosen people”. How so? It goes back to the time of the tower of Babel when God confused people’s language and scattered them all over the earth (Gen 11:7).
By that time most of humanity was worshiping pagan gods, so God gave them up to their gods (Rom 1:24-25) and appointed angels to watch over each nation, 70 in total.
But God chose for Himself one nation (Exo 33:16, Lev 20:26), represented by a single person Abraham, to watch and guide. Abraham was a descendant of Sham (Noah’s son) from whom God promised to make
a great nation (Gen 12:2), Israel. Why would God do that? He chose the most stubborn, difficult, but righteous people to be the witnesses to the entire world that He is God. Read on.
Then God commanded Abraham to move from Ur to Canaan, a land with clearly defined boundaries (Gen 15:18) that He promised to give Abraham and his descendants. This is currently the state of Israel, although much smaller than originally intended by God. So, Abraham had a son Isaac, and Isaac had a son Jacob, whose name was changed later to Israel. Therefore, we say “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” to identify the one, true God.
It is worth to mention that no other people or language remained as one national group as did Israel for thousands of years. They were scattered all over the earth. They can be found everywhere. Yet, the historical events prove they were brought back to their “promised land” and after nearly 2000 years became a nation again.
Why is this important? God would not let them be destroyed in spite of the anti-Semitic slander and discrimination to show He is all powerful God and provide the evidence that He in fact exists.
God would bring them back to their land prior to the Messiah’s second coming and so He did in 1948 when Israel became a nation again.
So, why are the Jews hated and killed as no other ethnic group on earth? To thwart the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus' second coming, all Jewish population would need to be utterly destroyed, a scheme that Satan has been trying to execute ever since God’s promise in Genesis 3:15. Another words, if no Jew exists, Jesus has no reason to come back, Satan continues to reign on earth for eternity or eventually earth gets destroyed like Rahab and there is no redemption for humans.
The Dragon
I think it is common knowledge the dragon is no one else than Satan himself. Ok, but why and how was this “avatar” attributed to Satan? Well, we know from Ezekiel 28:12 he was created the most beautiful cherub. His body was a musical instrument. He was the leader of worship in heaven. His name was Light Bearing, Shining Star, or as we know him by, Lucifer. Cherubim are type of angels. They are also celestial beings, with wings, four faces, hooves, and look somewhat like fiery serpents. They hang out in the throne room in heaven, right next to God.
When Lucifer rebelled, God took away all his beauty, the precious stones, the shining, and the ability to protect God’s throne room. Stripped of his celestial light, he became a disembodied spirit, left without covering. He still has an ability to create music, to transform himself into any creature he wants including an angel of light, and travel to heaven and in between the dimensions or veils, if you prefer, but with great limitations.
In Rev 12, Satan appears as a fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns wearing seven crowns. Why red dragon? Red as in bloody and murderous. It’s no secret to Satan, as he knows the scriptures very well, he will spend eternity in the bottomless pit and he wants to take everyone he possibly can with him.
He roams the earth looking for a human he can transfer his power and authority to. That man is the anti-Christ, the beast.
The ten horns are 10 nations from which the anti-Christ (the beast) will emerge. For a while it looked like the European Union may fit the bill. The seven heads are seven hills on which a city is located, implying the anti-Christ’s headquarters. The place is the city of Rome, always was. The seven diadems, or crowns, are 7 nations that emerge from the 10 nations, so 3 are somehow united into a single nation, a clever move by the anti-Christ.
Up until this point, Satan has access to heaven and the third of the angels that rebelled with him. However, Michael the Archangel and his angels have a war in heaven and Satan with his fallen minions get thrown out of heaven for good. So now he’s very angry, ready to annihilate Israel, because he knows he doesn’t have much time. If Israel did not exist, there wouldn’t be a reason for Jesus to return. However, Israel is protected by God. First, there are 144,000 Israelites that receive a mark of God so they cannot be harmed. Second, Israel has a hiding place and will be safe in the old city of Petra for 3.5 years (Zach 13:9), the second half of the tribulation period.
How do we know that the dragon is actually Satan?
- 1. it clearly says so (Rev 12:9)
- 2. no one else rebelled against God and convinced 1/3 of the angels to go with him
The Woman and the Dragon
The woman in Rev 12 is the people, Israel. The twelve stars are the 12 sons of Jacob that became the 12 tribes of Israel. She (Israel) gave birth to a man child, who was to rule all nations. When the child was born, Herod, the ruler of Judea who, as we know from history, ordered the murder all male children up to 2 years old in Bethlehem in an attempt to destroy the prophesied messiah or the King of Jews. Clearly, Satan was behind it. The same child was caught up to God and His throne. It clearly describes Jesus, who was born a Jew, died on the cross, and was resurrected and went to heaven. During 2nd half of the tribulation period, the woman or Israel will be forced to hide from the anti-Christ for 1,260 days or 3.5 years, after the event Jesus called the “abomination of desolation”, when the anti-Christ goes into the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem and declares himself god. At this moment the Jewish people will realize this is not the Messiah and will have to hide from now the very powerful and established world leader. And God has a perfect place waiting for them – the ancient city of Petra.
Future Events
The tribulation starts right after the church is raptured and will last for seven years. That time was prophesied by Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the apostle John. The Revelation chapters 6 through 19 describe what the world will look like during that time. When you look at the book of Revelation literally, it appears extremely scary: a red dragon with seven heads the size of a Godzilla coming out of the sea, locusts with long hair, big teeth, and scorpion-like tails, a beast with horns, a woman riding the beast, earthquakes, hailstone and fire coming down, mountain-size objects falling with smoke filling the atmosphere, bloody moon, full sun eclipses, strange objects in the skies, and a 200 million army marching down to Israel, to the valley of Megiddo (Armageddon) for the final battle. All this is very symbolic and can be explained easily. Read on…
World Politics
The political condition in the middle east, specifically the conflict between Palestinians and Israelites is no news to anyone. It’s been ongoing since Israel became a state again in 1948. World War II forced the Jews to return to their homeland, the promised land, after they have been scattered around the world for nearly two thousand years, but their homeland was occupied by an Arabic people, creating a huge conflict.
At the beginning of the Great Tribulation, a world leader will come on the scene who will create a seven-year peace treaty in the Middle East, specifically between the Palestinians and the Jews living in Israel. He will find a solution to allow the Jews to rebuild their temple on the Temple Mount, same location as the Islamic Mosque, the Dome of the Rock. The Israelites will come to believe that this man is the messiah they have been waiting for. The entire world will trust him and follow him and embrace his ideas to create a single-world government. He is the man arriving on the “White Horse”. He is the antichrist.
The Beast
In Rev 13 John has a vision of a beast rising out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns. The beast is the antichrist. The sea, in biblical typology refers to gentile nations, so he will not be a Jew. Seven heads are seven mountains on which a woman sits – that’s Rome, always has been. Ten horns and ten crowns are ten nations. So, this translates to a political leader of ten confederated nations, headquartered in Rome, a revived Roman Empire, today we know it as the European Union. This handsome, smart, charismatic man, will work his way into a position of power and authority, maybe a leader of the EU. He will be uniting the world into a single government for forty-two months (3.5 years). It will appear as he has all the answers and the world is a better place because of his rule. People will marvel and worship him. Uh oh! remember whose goal and desire has been to be worshiped?? Yep, Satan! He receives super-human powers, knowledge, and authority from the Dragon (Satan). We will talk more about the dragon in Part 2.
At the end of the first 3.5 years of the Great Tribulation, there is an assassination on his life and he is wounded (Rev 13:3), with a loss of his right eye and the right arm and dies (Zach 11). There's a belief that he ascends to hell, goes into perdition, and comes back as Satan incarnate. A chimera with super-human strength, intelligence, and immortality. Part human, part celestial. He comes back to life and the entire world marvels and worships him. Why? Doesn’t everyone desire immortality?? At this point he rules all world’s nations.
While the nation Israel believes he is their messiah, he goes into the Holy of Hollies in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem and declares himself god. This wakes up the nation Israel. What happens after that is war, famine, sickness, and death.
So, who is this antichrist?
A quick trip to the past
The Roman Empire came to be in control of the Mediterranean region since 230 B.C. and Israel since 63 B.C. During the time of the Apostle Paul’s ministry, after Jesus was crucified, the emperor in Rome was Caesar Nero. He was the 6th emperor who was the worst ruler and most evil human being. Roman historians claim he was responsible for setting Rome on fire. Later declared the blame on Christians, which allowed him to start persecuting Christians. He had them arrested, crucified, and killed by wild animals in the Colosseum, burned them alive after dipping them in wax to use as candles in his gardens, and other painful deaths. Died in prison by either suicide or homicide. Many historians claim that Nero was the first anti-Christ. Anyway, the five Caesars before him (Rev 17:10) were executed in one way or another. The 7th was to come and rule as a roman emperor for a short time (during that era). And the 8th has not yet come (in the future), but already lived as one of the seven and when he comes will ascend from hell (Rev 17:8). So, one of the seven roman emperors is returning to earth as the anti-Christ. Probably won’t be wearing a toga and playing a fiddle though. He is identified with a number 666. Out of the seven Caesars, Nero’s name translated into Hebrew is 666.
So, the anti-Christ is the incarnate evil spirit of Nero. Underneath a benevolent exterior is a perverted, brutal killer – a beast.
The Second Beast
The 2nd beast is a person with same powers as the 1st beast, a religious leader, in a position to unite all world’s religions. He’ll seem gentle, warm, and humble, and perform miracles in sight of people. However, you’ll know him, because he is a false prophet. Hopefully, you won’t be here, but just in case…
So, while the anti-Christ is being very popular, probably on every major TV network show, speaking convincingly and blaspheming our loving Heavenly Father, this 2nd beast is supporting the 1st beast by doing some heavy damage to the people. I wonder… state and church unified politically. Rome and Vatican?
He is enforcing the rule of the anti-Christ, influencing all kinds of permanent, irrevocable damage. In the short period of just a few years, he:
- • causes all world's religions to unite
- • causes all the world to worship the antichrist
- • convinces people to create an image to the antichrist in Jerusalem
- • gives breath to the image (so it speaks and kills)
- • causes people to worship the image
- • causes the image to kill those who refuse to worship the image
- • makes people receive the mark of the beast
The Image
The 2nd beast, the false prophet, exercises the authority of the antichrist and tells people to make an image to this popular leader. He has the power to give breath to the image and somehow cause people to worship it. We do not really know what this image looks like, but somehow it is able to speak and kill those who do not worship it. Perhaps, the image is created using advanced technology, a virtual reality hologram, maybe some advanced software on your smart phone or some other personal device, A.I. bot, maybe.
The fact that it has the ability to speak and know those that refuse to worship it any time anywhere is something a little beyond my imagination. The Bible talks very little about it, so I won’t speculate.
The Mark of the Beast
The second beast, the religious honcho, causes people to receive a mark. There have been many ideas and speculations of what the mark could be. We know from Rev 13:16 it is placed on the right hand or the forehead. Whether you are rich or poor, a celebrity or sanitation worker, you can’t buy or sell without it. Basically, when you go to the grocery store, you no longer swipe your debit card, but your right hand. It has a number of a man, 666. Remember Nero?
So, what is this mark?
It’s been speculated that it will be a computer chip, small enough to be placed in your brain or a hand, that can’t be visible to the naked eye. We all know tiny chips have been developed for dogs and cats that carry an identification number of the pet in case the animal is lost or stolen, which makes it easier to recover your loved pet. Similarly, children are being microchipped for tracking and kidnapping prevention. The military chips have been in use since 1980’s for id and secret clearance level purposes. It was first placed on the access card, now implanted in the soldier, whether voluntarily or not, I don’t know. The smallest chip the size of .000003 centimeters or 3 nanometers is being manufactured by Samsung. Wait!! What?! An invisible chip??!!
Some of these microchips are more sophisticated than others. A simple GPS seems fairly harmless and voluntary, a size of a grain of rice. However, what if you were offered a chip that comes with incentives and benefits such as medicinal treatment for cancer, blindness, depression, weight loss, infertility… or better yet, reverse aging, making you look younger, live longer, healthier life…no more plastic surgeries, expensive skincare products, supplements, gym memberships. How easy would it be to convert these tiny devices to DNA altering code unbeknownst to you? The idea is biological manipulation of our DNA through genetic engineering to upgrade a person to super-human ability, a false promise to entice us to willingly take the mark. Far-fetched? Google CRISPR – a genome editing technology. What’s interesting about having it placed on the forehead is, as we recently discovered, is the area of “God module” in the brain - Frontal lobes. The God module is said to allow a person experience the presence of God, a spiritual entity. What if the tiny chip has capabilities to damage the “God module” so you no longer have the ability to decide for yourself whether you believe in God, or not??!!
No Longer Voluntary
In the second half of the Great Tribulation, the world leader, the antichrist, will demand that every person in the world have this mark. Those that refuse to accept the mark will be put in prison and beheaded. The most important aspect is, once you agree to receive it, there is no way of return. Those who accept the mark are condemned forever and spend eternity in hell, the lake of fire with the fallen angels, the demons, other unbelievers, and the god of this world, Satan.
So, what if I am alone and scared?
You’re not alone. Powerful and majestic angels fly across the sky to preach the gospel and encourage the believers to be patient and keep your faith until the end. Yes, they are visible and they are warning constantly not to take the mark or you will be tormented forever in hell.
It is an extremely difficult time, but God will see you through it. Remember, Jesus said He will never forsake you. Did you know that we have angels assigned to us to protect us? The Bible says that God will not give you anything you cannot handle, so stay encouraged. Pray. Or better yet, give your life to Jesus now, before the rapture, before the tribulation.
Here’s what you can do:
- 1. Walk in purity
- 2. Have the Lord on your mind
- 3. Have authority in your voice
- 4. Have a worship song on your lips
So, what if I am a believer, but I am forced to take the mark? They tie me up, put me under, and insert this mark while I snooze?
In order to be linked genetically to the antichrist and be condemn for eternity, a person must want the change and accept the mark willingly as a worship to the beast. Revelation 14:9 states clearly, if you worship the beast and his image, and receive the mark, there is no longer hope for salvation, no point of return. If you’re injected by force, you are not taking the mark, you are not submitting and welcoming, in complete dependence to this authority figure. I believe that God built a safety into us, so if you don’t want it, it will have no affect on you. Your body will reject it. If you find yourself on Earth during the time of the Great Tribulation, keep your eyes on the person of Jesus.
The Naked Truth
Every human has a soul. We know innately that there is something after this life, otherwise what would be the point?! Party hardy for tomorrow we die??!! This life is nothing but a glimpse. And then what??!! Our souls will go somewhere and that somewhere is either heaven or hell. Hell was not created for mankind, but for Satan and the fallen angels. However, if we refuse to live the life God has offered us, He has no choice but to send us somewhere other than heaven.
Our good, merciful, patient Father has to deal with sin and wants a relationship with those who want a relationship with Him. God is love and love demands a choice. No one is being forced to love God and believe that Jesus is the Son of God. It is your own choosing.
God the Father has been so patient for thousands of years, waiting for us to repent, but the time is coming when we are all going to be sorted out. The division is simple:
- 1. Believers - live in righteousness on earth then go to heaven and live happily for eternity
- 2. Unbelievers - live in sin on earth then go to hell and live in torment for eternity
Ok, so how do I make sure I don’t end up in hell? Jesus said, that every man must be born again (John 3:3). In John 14:6 Jesus says He is the only way. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God and He died for your sins, because He’s madly in love with you.
We are so blessed knowing God’s plan for the future. The book of Revelation is my favorite. I find real comfort in knowing that Jesus is in control and everything will be made right, not just for the world, but for me personally, and for you as well.
If your heart is stirred by the grace of God and you want to accept Jesus as Your Savior now, in the privacy of your heart, say you believe He is the Son of God and ask Jesus to save you.
Let’s continue in Part 2 of the Great Tribulation.