Articles by: Kenneth J. Ester
End Times
This world is falling off the deep end and if you don't see it, you have to truly be blind. The level of hatred is becoming unbelievable. The more I look at the way people are becoming, or pay attention to world events, the more certain I become. We are on the doorstep of entering the End Times of Bible Prophecy.
Isaiah 11:11 (NASB)
11 Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover with His hand the second time the remnant of His people who will remain, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
The Lord would gather them a second time. The first time was after Assyria ran them out of Israel. Then in 70 AD the Romans wiped out Jerusalem and chased the Jews out of Israel. For 1,878 years the Jewish people lived scattered across the globe before once again they were given back their Promised Land. In 1948 they returned to Israel.
That is twice God gathered them home after being scattered in other nations, and the Bible does not say there will be a third time. They had only been back in Israel for around a decade when three Arab nations united to attack them. The Arab army had twice the men and twice the artillery and they boasted of how short of a war it would be. The war only lasted 6 days before they were defeated and Israel had tripled the size of its borders.
The Bible actually foretold them being scattered abroad a second time and returning home a second time. Something no other nation has even done once before. How can we deny that the Bible speaks the truth?
The question is, why did God choose then to bring the Jews back to Israel? After letting them live scattered across the globe for nearly 2,000 years, why did the Lord gather them again in 1948? The answer to that is because it is imperative that the Jews be in Israel and established before the End Times begins. Too many critical End Time prophecies call for the Jews to be in Israel for the End Times. Many believe that prophecy says that the generation that witnesses the return to Israel will not pass away before the Lord returns.
So if the End Times are about to begin, what should we expect to happen? What does God's Word say will take place? This is my interpretation of what will happen. There are many interpretations out there, but this is the only one I have come up with that seems to fit together smoothly and actually make sense as well.
The Rapture
The Lord will come in the clouds and catch us up to Him and take us back to heaven. When this event happens, on earth there will be many who will have known all about the rapture, but never truly believed in Jesus in their heart. These will now recognize the rapture as absolute proof that God is real, the Bible is truth and Jesus truly is Lord. Within days, the churches will begin to fill again. These new Christians who turn to Jesus after the rapture will be the Tribulation Saints. They will go out preaching and convincing others that the rapture has happened and the numbers of these saints will continue to grow.
The Rapture
The Real Rapture
A War in Heaven
The devil who is currently in heaven, accusing us before God day and night, will suddenly have nothing more to say about us. What could he say with us now standing in heaven? God will have no reason to hear another word from the devil and He will have His angels cast Satan and his minions out of heaven and they will be thrown down to earth. They will now be barred from returning and the devil will be furious over this.
A War in Heaven
NOTE: Many believe the war in heaven happened when Satan rebelled and therefore he was kicked out of heaven before he deceived Adam and Eve. To see why scripture clearly shows this is not the full truth, please read this...
The Fall of Satan
The Seven Seals
The devil's angels will wreak havoc and push some leaders to war. This war will quickly turn into World War 3 and then will eventually escalate into an all out nuclear war.
In the mean time, the devil will choose a particular man whom he will help rise to power. This man will start out in a coalition that unites the military power of ten nations. He will remove three of the leaders as he takes full control over that power. This will reveal him to the Christians undeniably as the antichrist.
With the world reeling over the effects of a World War, this leader's army will become the most powerful in the world. Many will see him as the clear victor, and so they will sign a treaty with him. Handing over their support to him and giving him control of their armies. Many believe he will sign a peace treaty with many, but I believe he will sign a covenant with many nations to join with him as he looks to gain full control of the world.
At one point, the war will escalate into a full out nuclear war and I believe it will be this leader who will put an end to it, calling for peace in the world. Threatening to destroy any nation that betrays that peace. This action will win him a great amount of love from the people of the world.
During these days, as the antichrist is rising to power, there will be a fairly new religion that will also be rising to power. The One World Religion (OWR) that is based on the platform of Coexistance. Currently as I write this, the One World Religion is preparing to open its headquarters on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, in 2022. Some of the biggest names behind this are the Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb of al-Azhar, and Pope Francis.
This OWR will take the stance that all religions are just different paths to the same God. With the Pope throwing His support into this, and many of the Catholic followers believing the Pope is the emissary of the Lord on earth, they will follow him into this false religion. However, all true Christians will take a stance that the Bible is clear that Jesus is the only way to the Father and they will refuse to join it. As the world backs the OWR more and more, they will see Christians as hateful and dangerous and begin to persecute them. Christians will become more and more hated. At one point, the leader of the OWR will throw his support in with the antichrist, claiming him to be the messiah. He will even perform amazing feats in the presence of the antichrist to deceive the world into following the antichrist.
The Seven Seals!
The Seven Trumpets
The first four Trumpets will mostly take place in the first half of the tribulation. Where the first four Seals were the antichrist and the World War, the first four Trumpets are the escalation of that war into an all out nuclear war. Then the last three Trumpets, which overlap the midpoint of the tribulation, will be new events that are as bad if not worse than the first four together.
The Seven Trumpets
The Midpoint of the Tribulation
The signing of the treaty between the antichrist and many other nations joining him, will be the beginning to what is commonly known as the Seven Years of Tribulation. These will be the worst seven years this world has ever witnessed. The first half will be filled with the agonies of the world dealing with the effects of a nuclear war. The famine and disease will be immense. Before the midpoint of the Tribulation, the death toll will be one quarter of the world's population. Somewhere around 2 billion people. This death toll will be connected to the Seven Seals already mentioned.
At the midpoint of the tribulation, the antichrist will likely suffer a head injury that will be so terrible he will appear to be dead. With the devil possessing his body, he will seem to come back to life and the world will be amazed by this. His popularity will only grow over this amazing event.
He will then walk into the newly built Holy Temple in Jerusalem and commit the abominations of desolation. I believe he will reenact the same abomination from Antiochus IV in which he will slaughter a pig on their altar, desecrating it and making it useless. Then he will take a seat in the temple and claim to be God.
Claiming to be God is not a small boast, so he will back it up with proof to the people. He will go out of the temple and find the Two Witnesses, whom the people believe to be invincible, and he will kill them. When the people witness him killing these two men they hate so much, they will truly begin to worship him as God.
The Midpoint of the Tribulation
The Great Tribulation!
The second half of the tribulation, what Jesus refers to as the "Great Tribulation" will be unlike anything imagined. However bad I make it sound, it will be many times worse.
The Trumpets that started in the first half of the tribulation will carry over, the last three being as bad if not worse than the first four together.
After the trumpets are completed, God decides the time of salvation has come to an end. Those who would believe have believed and those who will not, will continue to not believe. The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath are poured out on the world. Where the Trumpets were to turn the most stubborn to Him, the Bowls of Wrath are just that, God's Wrath! They will not begin his anger, but they will finish it. These events are to punish those who have rejected Him to such an extent.
The Seven Bowls
The Second Coming!
When the full seven years of tribulation are complete, and the Seven Bowls have been poured, the greatest event ever witnessed will begin. The Sun and Moon will grow dark. Lightning will flash across the sky, lighting it up. Then every eye will look up and see Jesus descending with His armies following Him.
There will be great armies that will assemble in the valley of Armageddon and when Jesus comes to the valley, He will destroy them all with nothing more than words. The angels will take the antichrist and the false prophet and cast them into the Lake of Fire. The devil will be bound and tossed into an abyss where he will be imprisoned for a thousand years.
Second Coming
Goats and Sheep
During His descent from heaven, the angels will be dispersed to gather His elect. Every Tribulation Saint who has not died and did not take the mark of the beast or worship his image, will be gathered and taken to Armageddon. After Jesus has done away with the great armies, He will then have all of the unbelievers left in the world gathered to him. The saints will be placed on His right hand side and the unbelievers will be placed on His left. To the believers He will welcome them into His kingdom here on Earth. Then he will kill all the unbelievers and their souls will be cast into the Lake of Fire. THis is the first of two judgments that cast people into the Lake of Fire.
Goats and Sheep
Millennial Kingdom
The Lord will set up a great kingdom on Earth where there will be peace for a thousand years. The Tribulation Saints who survived the Tribulation will keep their bodies of flesh and repopulate the land. He will give His bride (the church), thrones where they will be given positions of judgment. The Tribulation Saints who were killed will come to life and join them.
For 1,000 years there will be peace. People will live longer lives and even animals will not kill each other. Then when that thousand years is up, the devil will be let loose for a short time. He will deceive the people once again and turn them against the Holy City. As his great army fills the plains, God will destroy them all with fire from heaven.
Millennial Kingdom
Judgment Day
We will all be taken back to heaven at this time. Every unbeliever in Hades will now be brought back, and they will have books opened. These books will be filled with every good and bad thing they had ever done and they will be judged by these deeds. This judgment will not be to decide if they go to heaven or hell, for they are already condemned for not believing. This judgement will be to decide the level of their suffering and they will then be cast into the Lake of Fire.
Judgment Day
The New Earth
Finally, this Earth will pass away and God will give us a new Earth. An earth that will be hundreds of times larger than this one. Possibly thousands times larger. Upon the new Earth, He will place a new Jerusalem which will be the capital city of the world. We will spread out across this new earth and form new nations and live new lives in glorified bodies.
New Earth
Isaiah 11:11 (NASB)
11 Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover with His hand the second time the remnant of His people who will remain, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
The Lord would gather them a second time. The first time was after Assyria ran them out of Israel. Then in 70 AD the Romans wiped out Jerusalem and chased the Jews out of Israel. For 1,878 years the Jewish people lived scattered across the globe before once again they were given back their Promised Land. In 1948 they returned to Israel.
That is twice God gathered them home after being scattered in other nations, and the Bible does not say there will be a third time. They had only been back in Israel for around a decade when three Arab nations united to attack them. The Arab army had twice the men and twice the artillery and they boasted of how short of a war it would be. The war only lasted 6 days before they were defeated and Israel had tripled the size of its borders.
The Bible actually foretold them being scattered abroad a second time and returning home a second time. Something no other nation has even done once before. How can we deny that the Bible speaks the truth?
The question is, why did God choose then to bring the Jews back to Israel? After letting them live scattered across the globe for nearly 2,000 years, why did the Lord gather them again in 1948? The answer to that is because it is imperative that the Jews be in Israel and established before the End Times begins. Too many critical End Time prophecies call for the Jews to be in Israel for the End Times. Many believe that prophecy says that the generation that witnesses the return to Israel will not pass away before the Lord returns.
So if the End Times are about to begin, what should we expect to happen? What does God's Word say will take place? This is my interpretation of what will happen. There are many interpretations out there, but this is the only one I have come up with that seems to fit together smoothly and actually make sense as well.
The Rapture
The Lord will come in the clouds and catch us up to Him and take us back to heaven. When this event happens, on earth there will be many who will have known all about the rapture, but never truly believed in Jesus in their heart. These will now recognize the rapture as absolute proof that God is real, the Bible is truth and Jesus truly is Lord. Within days, the churches will begin to fill again. These new Christians who turn to Jesus after the rapture will be the Tribulation Saints. They will go out preaching and convincing others that the rapture has happened and the numbers of these saints will continue to grow.
The Rapture
The Real Rapture
A War in Heaven
The devil who is currently in heaven, accusing us before God day and night, will suddenly have nothing more to say about us. What could he say with us now standing in heaven? God will have no reason to hear another word from the devil and He will have His angels cast Satan and his minions out of heaven and they will be thrown down to earth. They will now be barred from returning and the devil will be furious over this.
A War in Heaven
NOTE: Many believe the war in heaven happened when Satan rebelled and therefore he was kicked out of heaven before he deceived Adam and Eve. To see why scripture clearly shows this is not the full truth, please read this...
The Fall of Satan
The Seven Seals
The devil's angels will wreak havoc and push some leaders to war. This war will quickly turn into World War 3 and then will eventually escalate into an all out nuclear war.
In the mean time, the devil will choose a particular man whom he will help rise to power. This man will start out in a coalition that unites the military power of ten nations. He will remove three of the leaders as he takes full control over that power. This will reveal him to the Christians undeniably as the antichrist.
With the world reeling over the effects of a World War, this leader's army will become the most powerful in the world. Many will see him as the clear victor, and so they will sign a treaty with him. Handing over their support to him and giving him control of their armies. Many believe he will sign a peace treaty with many, but I believe he will sign a covenant with many nations to join with him as he looks to gain full control of the world.
At one point, the war will escalate into a full out nuclear war and I believe it will be this leader who will put an end to it, calling for peace in the world. Threatening to destroy any nation that betrays that peace. This action will win him a great amount of love from the people of the world.
During these days, as the antichrist is rising to power, there will be a fairly new religion that will also be rising to power. The One World Religion (OWR) that is based on the platform of Coexistance. Currently as I write this, the One World Religion is preparing to open its headquarters on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, in 2022. Some of the biggest names behind this are the Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb of al-Azhar, and Pope Francis.
This OWR will take the stance that all religions are just different paths to the same God. With the Pope throwing His support into this, and many of the Catholic followers believing the Pope is the emissary of the Lord on earth, they will follow him into this false religion. However, all true Christians will take a stance that the Bible is clear that Jesus is the only way to the Father and they will refuse to join it. As the world backs the OWR more and more, they will see Christians as hateful and dangerous and begin to persecute them. Christians will become more and more hated. At one point, the leader of the OWR will throw his support in with the antichrist, claiming him to be the messiah. He will even perform amazing feats in the presence of the antichrist to deceive the world into following the antichrist.
The Seven Seals!
The Seven Trumpets
The first four Trumpets will mostly take place in the first half of the tribulation. Where the first four Seals were the antichrist and the World War, the first four Trumpets are the escalation of that war into an all out nuclear war. Then the last three Trumpets, which overlap the midpoint of the tribulation, will be new events that are as bad if not worse than the first four together.
The Seven Trumpets
The Midpoint of the Tribulation
The signing of the treaty between the antichrist and many other nations joining him, will be the beginning to what is commonly known as the Seven Years of Tribulation. These will be the worst seven years this world has ever witnessed. The first half will be filled with the agonies of the world dealing with the effects of a nuclear war. The famine and disease will be immense. Before the midpoint of the Tribulation, the death toll will be one quarter of the world's population. Somewhere around 2 billion people. This death toll will be connected to the Seven Seals already mentioned.
At the midpoint of the tribulation, the antichrist will likely suffer a head injury that will be so terrible he will appear to be dead. With the devil possessing his body, he will seem to come back to life and the world will be amazed by this. His popularity will only grow over this amazing event.
He will then walk into the newly built Holy Temple in Jerusalem and commit the abominations of desolation. I believe he will reenact the same abomination from Antiochus IV in which he will slaughter a pig on their altar, desecrating it and making it useless. Then he will take a seat in the temple and claim to be God.
Claiming to be God is not a small boast, so he will back it up with proof to the people. He will go out of the temple and find the Two Witnesses, whom the people believe to be invincible, and he will kill them. When the people witness him killing these two men they hate so much, they will truly begin to worship him as God.
The Midpoint of the Tribulation
The Great Tribulation!
The second half of the tribulation, what Jesus refers to as the "Great Tribulation" will be unlike anything imagined. However bad I make it sound, it will be many times worse.
The Trumpets that started in the first half of the tribulation will carry over, the last three being as bad if not worse than the first four together.
After the trumpets are completed, God decides the time of salvation has come to an end. Those who would believe have believed and those who will not, will continue to not believe. The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath are poured out on the world. Where the Trumpets were to turn the most stubborn to Him, the Bowls of Wrath are just that, God's Wrath! They will not begin his anger, but they will finish it. These events are to punish those who have rejected Him to such an extent.
The Seven Bowls
The Second Coming!
When the full seven years of tribulation are complete, and the Seven Bowls have been poured, the greatest event ever witnessed will begin. The Sun and Moon will grow dark. Lightning will flash across the sky, lighting it up. Then every eye will look up and see Jesus descending with His armies following Him.
There will be great armies that will assemble in the valley of Armageddon and when Jesus comes to the valley, He will destroy them all with nothing more than words. The angels will take the antichrist and the false prophet and cast them into the Lake of Fire. The devil will be bound and tossed into an abyss where he will be imprisoned for a thousand years.
Second Coming
Goats and Sheep
During His descent from heaven, the angels will be dispersed to gather His elect. Every Tribulation Saint who has not died and did not take the mark of the beast or worship his image, will be gathered and taken to Armageddon. After Jesus has done away with the great armies, He will then have all of the unbelievers left in the world gathered to him. The saints will be placed on His right hand side and the unbelievers will be placed on His left. To the believers He will welcome them into His kingdom here on Earth. Then he will kill all the unbelievers and their souls will be cast into the Lake of Fire. THis is the first of two judgments that cast people into the Lake of Fire.
Goats and Sheep
Millennial Kingdom
The Lord will set up a great kingdom on Earth where there will be peace for a thousand years. The Tribulation Saints who survived the Tribulation will keep their bodies of flesh and repopulate the land. He will give His bride (the church), thrones where they will be given positions of judgment. The Tribulation Saints who were killed will come to life and join them.
For 1,000 years there will be peace. People will live longer lives and even animals will not kill each other. Then when that thousand years is up, the devil will be let loose for a short time. He will deceive the people once again and turn them against the Holy City. As his great army fills the plains, God will destroy them all with fire from heaven.
Millennial Kingdom
Judgment Day
We will all be taken back to heaven at this time. Every unbeliever in Hades will now be brought back, and they will have books opened. These books will be filled with every good and bad thing they had ever done and they will be judged by these deeds. This judgment will not be to decide if they go to heaven or hell, for they are already condemned for not believing. This judgement will be to decide the level of their suffering and they will then be cast into the Lake of Fire.
Judgment Day
The New Earth
Finally, this Earth will pass away and God will give us a new Earth. An earth that will be hundreds of times larger than this one. Possibly thousands times larger. Upon the new Earth, He will place a new Jerusalem which will be the capital city of the world. We will spread out across this new earth and form new nations and live new lives in glorified bodies.
New Earth
