What Saith the Scripture?
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Tribulation Timeline: When Shall These Things Be? (Part 1)
"And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples
came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall
be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?"
(Matthew 24:3).
by Tom Stewart
1-7-98
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The Seventieth Week of Daniel Outlines the Events That Are About to Unfold
1. The LORD Jesus Christ mentioned the Seventieth Week of
Daniel in His discourse on the Mount of Olives. "When ye therefore shall see
the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy
place, (whoso readeth, let him understand)" (Matthew 24:15). This represents
the New Testament connection to the Old Testament prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27.
2. Daniel's prophecy concerns the nation of Israel -- reborn as a modern nation on May 14, 1948 after it's demise at
the hands of the Romans in 70 AD -- and an event Jesus called "the abomination
of desolation", that demands the restoration of Temple
worship on Jerusalem's Temple Mount.
b. The beginning of the prophecy is the command to restore and build Jerusalem by Artaxerxes in 445 BC (probably Nisan 1, which Sir Robert Anderson calculates to be March 14 in his book, The Coming Prince -- http://WhatSaithTheScripture.com/Voice/The.Coming.Prince.html --) as recounted in Nehemiah 2:1-8. "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times" (Daniel 9:25).
c. The "Messiah" that is "cut off, but not for himself" refers to Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross for all mankind, who was rejected by Israel, and is now being rejected by much of what is called the Christian Church. "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself." "And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary" refers to the Rome's destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD. "And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined" (Daniel 9:26). The abomination of desolation will begin in the middle and continue to the end of Daniel's Seventieth Week.
d. The Antichrist will have a career of one prophetic week of seven years. Each prophetic year stands for 360 days. His career lasts 2,520 days. The week begins when he confirms a covenant "with many for one week" -- the political foundation of Satan's New World Order, where he claims to be Christ. This displaces the historical Jesus as only another and lesser Christ. In the middle of the week -- 3 1/2 years or 1,260 days into the Tribulation Week -- is Antichrist's time to demand the worship of himself as none other than Almighty God -- a blasphemous lie! "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate" (Daniel 9:27).
First and Second "Come Up Hither"
1. The First "Come Up Hither" is the event before the Tribulation Week begins where the LORD Jesus Christ removes His watching saints, as well as (in the opinion of this writer) all the innocents (those who are not yet moral agents -- such as young children or infants).
b. Enoch walked with God home to Heaven. "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Genesis 5:24).
c. Enoch did not see death because his walk of faith pleased God. "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God" (Hebrews 11:5).
d. How much before the Tribulation Week begins that the First "Come Up Hither" takes place is open to conjecture. This writer believes that some type of gap must exist between the First "Come Up Hither" and Antichrist's "covenant with many" (Daniel 9:27) at the beginning of the Tribulation Week, because the removal of the watching believers along with the innocents will be probably attributed to alien abduction.
e. The number of watching believers missing may only be marginal, but the multitudes of babies missing from every part of this planet will have a unifying effect upon everyone when they understand: 'it is us versus them.' The concept of good aliens versus bad aliens would be introduced by the already complicit leaders of the governments of the world. Bad aliens are the type the entire world unites to fight in an "Independence Day" movie scenario. Good aliens are the type of New Age ascended masters -- of whom Maitreya, the Antichrist, would be the highest, and Jesus would be a lesser -- that are here to save us from the bad aliens as well as ourselves.
f. Satan is merely using Jehovah God's program of watchcare over His children, as an excuse and catalyst to bring about his rule and worship. Our God allows this deception to occur when He removes the restraining influence of His Spirit, Who abides in the saints. "And now ye know What withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only He who now letteth will let, until He be taken out of the way" (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7). Or, to paraphrase it: And you know Who [God] restrains him [the Antichrist] now, so that in his [Antichrist's] time he [Antichrist] may be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He [God] who now restrains [through the Holy Spirit's indwelling presence making us preserving salt in the earth] will do so until He [the Holy Spirit] is taken out of the way.
2. The Second "Come Up Hither" is the event that this writer calls the Rapture. "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the Word of the LORD, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the LORD shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. For the LORD Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD. Wherefore comfort one another with these Words" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
b. The Jews identify Rosh HaShanah with the Last Trump. Rosh HaShanah occurs nine days prior to the Day of Atonement -- also known as Yom Kippur (Tishri 10). "For the LORD Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first" (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
c. The resurrection of all of the righteous dead will take place at this time. Wherever you find the Resurrection, you will find the Rapture. The Rapture is separated from the Resurrection by "the twinkling of an eye." "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:52).
d. The Rapture follows the resurrection of the two
witnesses, Moses and Elijah, slain by Antichrist 11
1/2 days before the end of the Tribulation Week. In the streets
of Jerusalem, their bodies will lay for 3 1/2
days before they are commanded by our God to "Come Up
Hither." "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast
that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome
them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our LORD was crucified. And
after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they
stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard
a great voice from Heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up
to Heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them" (Revelation 11:7-8, and 11-12).
e. A great earthquake occurs during the same hour following the resurrection of the
two witnesses. "And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth
part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and
the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of Heaven" (Revelation
11:13). Possibly a similar earthquake will follow the First
"Come Up Hither" as well. An earthquake punctuated Jerusalem when the LORD
Jesus died on the cross. "And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain
from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent" (Matthew
27:51).
f. Notice that the Seventh and Last Trumpet judgment sounds only three verses after Moses and Elijah have been resurrected. Again, wherever you find the Resurrection, you will find the Rapture. "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in Heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our LORD, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 11:15).
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