EXPLAINING HUMAN DESTINIES IN BIBLE PROPHECY (CHARTED)

Part III: Explaining Human Destinies Affected By Christ’s Second Coming

 

I.               Introduction

A.    After our initial, single lesson on “Human Destinies In Bible Prophecy (Charted),” feedback from class members revealed the need for a five-part follow-up lesson series to explain key details of that initial lesson.

B.    Thus, we are teaching a follow-up series, using the chart of our initial lesson for clarity and detailing key subjects of that chart, and this third lesson in the series handles destinies affected by Christ’s Second Coming:

II.            Explaining Human Destinies Affected By Christ’s Second Coming.

A.    At the end of the Tribulation Period, Christ will return to earth in His Second Coming and fight the armies of the world that are gathered against Him.  Christ will destroy these armies by speaking a word (Rev. 19:11-16, 21), and the Antichrist and the False Prophet will be cast alive into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20).

B.    Unbelievers who die at Armageddon will go to Hell (Hades) and believers who were deceived by demons to join Antichrist at Armageddon (implied in Revelation 16:14-16) will still go to heaven and be resurrected for Christ’s Kingdom because they are believers.  However, they will suffer loss of reward (Revelation 22:12).

C.    The Church that was raptured before the start of the Tribulation Period will return with Christ at His Second Coming, and it will rule with Christ on earth in His Kingdom (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 5:8-10).

D.    However, vast changes must occur on earth between the Tribulation Period’s great evils and destructions and Christ’s righteous, blessed Kingdom to follow.  To give time for such changes to occur, Daniel 12:11-13 tells of a 75-day interlude between the end of the Tribulation at Christ’s return and the start of His Kingdom:

1.      The statement in Daniel 12:11a KJV on the taking away of the daily temple sacrifice and the abomination that makes desolate refers to “the mid-point of the Tribulation” when “Antichrist will abolish the Jewish sacrifices (9:27; Matt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:4)” (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Daniel 12:11).

2.      Daniel 12:11b then adds that from this time when Antichrist defiles the temple, there will be 1290 days.

3.      However, 1290 days is an unusual number of days: the Tribulation lasts seven Hebrew years of 360 days a year, so from the mid-point of the Tribulation to its end when Christ returns is 3½ Hebrew years, or 1260 days, so the 1290-day point is 30 days AFTER the END of the Tribulation and Christ’s return!

4.      In addition, Daniel 12:12 claims that he who comes to the 1335 days after Antichrist defiles the temple in the mid-point of the Tribulation will be blessed, meaning that believers in natural bodies who survive the Tribulation will enter the Kingdom 75 days AFTER the END of the Tribulation and Christ’s return!

5.      Thus, we believe that there are 30 + 45 days, or a total interlude of 75 days between the end of the Tribulation and Christ’s return and the start of His Kingdom for key events that effect human destinies:

                         a.  The first 30 days of the 75-day interlude involve God’s judgments that occur after Christ’s return (Ibid.):

                                       i.           God’s angels will gather believing survivors of the Tribulation to enter the Kingdom, Matt. 24:31.

                                     ii.           The angels will also take unbelievers from the earth to hell (Matt. 24:40-41; Matt. 13:47-50).

                                   iii.           Matthew 25:31-46 predicts God’s judgment of the nations, based on their treatment of Hebrews.

                                   iv.           God will also judge the Hebrew people themselves, rewarding believing Hebrews with entrance into the Kingdom and sending unbelieving Hebrews to Hell (Ezekiel 20:33-38; Matthew 8:11-12).

                                     v.           [Note: We are not told the order of these judgments, only that they will occur!]

                         b.  The next 45 days of the 75-day interlude entail God’s renewing the earth that will have been devastated by the Tribulation Period in order to prepare it for Christ’s Kingdom (Ibid., ftn. to Daniel 12:12):

                                       i.           Zephaniah 1:2-3 and Isaiah 24:1 predict how God in the Tribulation Period will have laid waste the surface of the earth, sweeping away men and animals, birds and fish, leaving only heaps of rubble!

                                     ii.           Thus, believing survivors of the Tribulation may need livelihood provisions in view of the world’s ruined state, so as God miraculously fed Israel in the wilderness, He may do so for these believers!

                                   iii.           In the Kingdom, plowmen will overtake reapers, implying a year-round growing season, mountains will drip with sweet wine from lush vineyards on them and many will cultivate gardens (Amos 9:13-14), so great changes are due to the climate, soil and water supply to prepare for the Kingdom.

 

Lesson: When Christ returns to set up His righteous Kingdom of blessing in contrast to the evil and devastation of the Tribulation, great judgments and changes on the earth must occur, requiring a 75-day period of adjustment.

 

Application: (1) Since Christ will judge all of the world’s rights and wrongs when He returns, may we focus on living righteously today.  (2) May we expectantly hope for Christ’s Kingdom of righteousness and blessing.