Revelation, Joel, Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel ,Gospel

The most fascinating prophetic books of all time areprobably in your home right now!Revelation, Joel, Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel and the GospelsUpdated April 25, 2005When hearing about Revelation, some folks groan, "Oh, that tired oldbook!? That tired ole book has intrigued people for centuriessearching for an accurate interpretation. Never has such a booktweaked so many brains! It is written in Revelation 1:3 that aspecial blessing is placed on those who read and hear this book. Hey,who can turn down seeing the future and getting blessed in theprocess??Once we get past the barrier that it can't be understood by theaverage person, it becomes a challenge to know what is in store. Godnever meant for us to be kept in the dark. He always warns of comingevents. Revelation comes from Latin "revelatio" meaning "anunveiling" and from Greek "apokalyptsis" meaning "the removing of aveil". It is the unveiling of a mystery rather "apocrypha"indicating "hidden". So why is it so hard?Think about it from John's perspective. God instructs John to writedown everything he sees and hears, but how is John to explainconcepts for which he has no words? For a person who either uses hisfeet or a horse or donkey to get around, the idea of nuclear wars,pole shifts and supernatural events would be difficult to convey. Itwould be like trying to describe the fragrance of lilacs to one whohas no sense of smell or explain their delicate lavender coloring toa sightless person. Sometimes finding a point of reference is prettytough. Combine the language barriers with both the exhilarating, andat the same time, devastating "history" John sees, any of us would beoverwhelmed and stupefied! It is the best of times because of theultimate conclusion, but like death, the getting there is generallynot pleasant.In order to understand Revelation, it must be read in conjunctionwith Daniel for Daniel gives the key timing of events and underscoreswhat John saw. Daniel, read alone, leaves out much detail inRevelation so they work hand in hand. Besides the books alreadymentioned, Joel and Thessalonians also help fill in the blanks. Thereare a few others as well, but the main information regardingTribulation and events leading up to it, is mostly found in thesebooks.There is a lot of talk these days that our world is totally screwedup. People fret that their kids are unmanageable and families aredisintegrating. Natural disasters have reached unprecedented highsand people kill just to see what it feels like. New and previouslycontrolled diseases are emerging and there is the ever-present threatof wars. Sound familiar?All these events and more were predicted approximately 1900 years agoas the sign posts when the Messiah would return and set the world torights. If you would like to read these sign posts yourself, clickthe Sign Post (left) for a peek at "today".Lots of people have studied scripture and assembled to the best oftheir ability, a time line that depicts prophetic events. Becausesome words are ambiguous, it is impossible for anyone to saydefinitively, "By George, I've got it!" It might be wiser to say, "ByGeorge, we think we've got it!!" One of the best examples is Rapture.Nowhere in the Bible will you find this word, but the precedent andconcept is there. For these reasons, people can say they stronglyfeel this event will happen, but there is no concrete proof. Tofurther confuse the issue, scriptural cases can be made for pre-Tribulation rapture, mid-Trib rapture, pre-Wrath rapture and norapture at all. So how does one decide the issue?It is determined through study of The Word as a whole, prayer andinterpretation to the best of people's ability, but this by its verynature gets people into trouble. The Bible's prophecy is neverfallible, only the interpreters.For this reason, Stan and I have indicated several possible placeswhere Rapture could occur, but until it happens, we have to remainopen on this. The same is true for when the 144,000 are sealed. Ifone looks in Revelation where it occurs, it is written down betweenthe 6th and 7th Seal. However, scripture also says these Israelitesare to be sealed "before the Earth is hurt". Since Seal 6 tells of amighty earthquake, a pole shift where every mountain and island aremoved AND meteors, comets or asteroids falling like "unripe figs",this also fits the description of hurting Earth. If so, then thesealing of the 144,000 belongs before the 6th Seal.The balance of the chart is a little more straightforward. Wherethere are other areas in question, we've included scripture andreasoning to support the positions on the chart. Two other areaswhere Trib charts can disagree are what is the midpoint ofTribulation and whether or not the Seal, Trumpet and Bowl judgmentsrun one set after the other (linearly) or are overlaid (all 3 sets ofjudgments running simultaneously). One indication we feel they do notrun simultaneously is Revelation 15:1 which refers to theVial/Bowl/Plague judgments as the "seven LAST judgments".After much study, our understanding is the Bowl judgments take theentire 42 months of the Great Tribulation period . It is during thistime the Two Witnesses preach unceasingly for 3-1/2 years which isalso the time of Antichrist's greatest strength. During the 3-1/2years of the Witnesses, no rain falls at all which contributes to thevast 1700 mile (2300 km) Euphrates River drying up. Logically, theevents depicted in the Bowl judgments are so catastrophic man willneed time between events to recover or as Matthew 24:22 and Mark13:20 states, none would survive. 'And except those days should beshortened, there should no flesh be saved".A NOTE TO UNBELIEVERS: Many folks wonder WHY God would be so mean topunish man with such unimaginable horrors. Tribulation has twopurposes. It is1. To shake the uncommitted and the disbelieving out of theirlethargy to sign on with Him,2. To punishment those who have deliberately chosen Antichrist astheir leader. They won't be hard to miss; they'll be sporting themark of the beast.Who could blame God? He's done everything for us including sendingHis son to set us all straight. As thanks He is murdered. ProbablyTHE most amazing aspect of this entire drama we have seen unfold over6000 years is the denial that Christ is the Messiah! Not only did mandeny His divinity, they hung this innocent on a cross and thentortured Him during the nine hours it took to die. Even after Hisresurrection people still rejected Him as the Son of God. With allthe other prophecies in the Bible that have come to pass, how canpeople doubt its validity? The prophecies of the Bible are the onlyprophecies that are never wrong.It's not difficult to see why God would be more than a little angryat us. Who would people rather have as their god? Money, football,work, drugs, take your pick, but few pick Him. We give thanks andacknowledge His gifts when it's convenient; and pray when we're in ajam. God is ranked near the bottom in men's hearts - when He'sremembered at all. To ice the cake, many will choose the Antichristover God. No wonder God is angry.The Bible states quite clearly who will be the victor in all this andit won't be the scalawag commonly depicted with a tail and pitchfork.So why do people still side with Antichrist? Because they willbelieve the lie, the Great Deception. Antichrist still thinks he canwin, but he's smokin' his own dope and trying to take as many downwith him as he can. Surely if he were as smart as indicated, he wouldhave picked up a Bible and read of his own prophesied demise. It'sone of those things that makes you go "hmmmm!"