SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Truth in the Time of the Signs

Second Half of The Tribulation

The second half (three and a half years) of The Tribulation includes the Bowl Judgements and will conclude the judgement of God upon humanity.  The period ends with one final battle in Jerusalem when Jesus defeats the armies of the Antichrist.

Revelation 16: 1 – Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

Revelation 16: 2 – The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshipped its image.

There will be a penalty for receiving the ‘Mark of the Beast’ on your forehead or right hand, pledging allegiance to Antichrist.  More importantly once you have the ‘Mark’ you can no longer be saved by faith in Jesus and your eternal fate in the Lake of Fire (Hell) is sealed.

Revelation 14: 9 – 12 – A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.  And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever.  There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

Revelation 16: 3 – The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.

Revelation 16: 4 – The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.

Revelation 16: 8 – 9 – The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire.  They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.

Revelation 16: 10 – 11 – The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast (Antichrist), and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.

Revelation 16: 12 – The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.

Armageddon

This is a series of events beginning with the sixth Bowl Judgement and concluding with Jesus on The Mount of Olives.

First Stage

The final effort to destroy Israel and the Jewish people begins with Antichrist’s armies being gathered in the valley of Megiddo (Armageddon).

Revelation 16: 12 – 16 – The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.  Then I saw three impure spirits that looked  like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon (Satan), out of the mouth of the beast (Antichrist) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.  They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty… Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

Second Stage

The rebuilt city of Babylon will be destroyed by Christian armed forces.  See separate section ‘The City of Babylon to be Rebuilt’ which gives details of this destruction noting that the complete destruction of the city as described in Scripture has never occurred so must be future and so the city must be rebuilt.

Third Stage

Antichrist’s forces attack and take Jerusalem.

Zechariah 14: 1- 2 -A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.  I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.  Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.

Fourth Stage

The Jews who fled Israel as soon as the image of the Antichrist was erected in the temple in Jerusalem will head for a place in ‘the mountains’ and ‘in the wilderness’ where they will be protected for the second half of The Tribulation.

Matthew 24: 15 – So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea (Israel) flee to the mountains.

Revelation 12: 14 – 17  The woman (Israel) was given the two wings of a great eagle (be protected by God), so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, (the second half of the tribulation) out of the serpent’s (Satan’s) reach.

The location is called Bozrah in Scripture, which means ‘Sheepfold’, however there is no definitive place for it identified in Scripture, although Dr Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum suggests it could be either Buseira or Petra, both in present day southern Jordan.

Micah 2: 12 – “I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.  I will bring them together like sheep in a pen (Bozrah in some translations), like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people.

Wherever the Jews who fled Israel congregate, the armies of Antichrist now move to destroy them.

Jeremiah 49: 13 – 14 – I swear by myself,” declares the Lord, “that Bozrah will become a ruin and a curse, an object of horror and reproach; and all its towns will be in ruins forever.”  I have heard a message from the Lord; an envoy was sent to the nations to say, “Assemble yourselves to attack it! Rise up for battle!”

Fifth Stage

Israel will finally recognise Jesus as The Messiah, confess their sins and earnestly ask Him to return to save them.

Zechariah 12: 10 – 14 – They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.  On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

Psalm 79: 1 – 9 -O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.  They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.  They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.  We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.  How long, Lord?  Will you be angry forever?  How long will your jealousy burn like fire?  Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.  Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.  Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake.

Zechariah 13: 9 – They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

2 Chronicles 7 – 14 – if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Sixth Stage

Israel having repented of her sins (their rejection of God the Father,and for killing Jesus, The Messiah) and asked Jesus to return to save them, He now returns to rescue and reclaim the Jews and establish His one-thousand-year reign on Earth.

Isaiah 34: 1 – 7 – Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! …The Lord is angry with all nations; his wrath is on all their armies.  He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter.  Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will stink; the mountains will be soaked with their blood… For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

Habakkuk 3: 13 – God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. (an area near Bozrah) His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden… He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble… You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows… Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear.  In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations.  You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one.

The passage confirms that the slaughter of the nations will be in Bozrah, the reason for this is that the Jews are gathered there for the second half of The Tribulation, out of reach of the Antichrist, but now in his attempt to rid the Earth of the Jews he comes for them with the full force of his gathered armies.

Jesus Himself leads the Jews out of Bozrah fighting and defeating Antichrists armies.

Micah 2: 12 – 13 – I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.  I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, (Bozrah in some translations) like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people.  The One (Jesus) who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out.  Their King will pass through before them, the Lord at their head.

Revelation 19: 11 – 21 – I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True (Jesus). With justice he judges and wages war.  His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.  He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.  He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.  The armies of heaven (angels and those who were part of The Rapture) were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.  Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron sceptre.”  He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in mid-air, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.” Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet… The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.                                  

Seventh Stage

The battle will continue from Bozrah back to Jerusalem.

Joel 3: 1 – 13 – In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.  They cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine to drink… Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war!  Rouse the  warriors!  Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.  “Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side… -so great is their wickedness!”

Zechariah 14: 12 – 14 – This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem:  Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.  On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic.  They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another.  Judah too will fight at Jerusalem.

Eighth Stage

Jesus will then ascend The Mount of Olives in victory which will be marked by a violent earthquake and a hailstorm.

Zechariah 14: 4 – 9 – On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.  You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel.  You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.  On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness.  It will be a unique day — a day known only to the Lord — with no distinction between day and night.  When evening comes, there will be light.  On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter. The Lord will be king over the whole earth.  On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

Revelation 16: 17 – 21 – The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!”  Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed.  God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.  From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people.  And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.

The Tribulation is now over.

What does that mean for you?– Good News

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