The Second Coming of Christ and the End Times

 

In our previous study, we looked closely at the words of Paul the Apostle in 2 Thessalonians 2 and Jesus in Matthew 24 about the end times of this age. In our study today, we want to look at what Jesus showed the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation about the same time period.

 

It will help us understand the Book of Revelation if we see the book's outline. The outline is found in chapter one: “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later (Revelation 1:19). Chapter one describes what John has seen. Chapters two through three are letters John was told to dictate and send to specific churches in Asia Minor when John had his vision (what is now). The rest of the book, chapters three through twenty-two, is about the things that will take place in the time of the last days (what will take place later). Of the chapters that concern the future, the first part is a chronological outline of the events, chapters 4-11, followed by chapters 12 through 22, going over specific incidents that occur during the end time. This chronological outline is also reflected in Jesus’ talk on the end times in Matthew 24:4-31.

 

The Scroll and the Lamb

 

In chapter four of the Book of Revelation, John the Apostle is taken to heaven and describes the throne room of God (Revelation 4:1). In chapter five, the scene is the throne room of God where all eyes focus on a scroll with seven seals. The seals need to be broken to open the scroll. John the Apostle weeps because there was not found anyone worthy to open the scroll or even to look at that written therein:

 

¹Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. ²And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" ³But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. ⁴I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. ⁵Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." ⁶Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders (Revelation 5:1-6).

 

We cannot say dogmatically what the scroll represents, but perhaps it represents God's final justice and judgments and the closing of this evil age. Whatever the scroll represents, John the Apostle is distraught until he finds out that there is One who is worthy to open the scroll. The Day of the Lord and God’s righteous judgment and the Millennium, the thousand years of Christ’s reign on earth (Revelation 20:1-3), cannot start until all seven seals of the scroll are opened.

 

Christ, through His death on the cross as an innocent substitute, has won a complete pardon for all that receive the gift of eternal life. He has purchased with His blood men and women from every tribe, language, people, and nation out of Satan’s slave market of sin. He is represented as a Lamb, an innocent substitutionary sacrifice. The picture of Christ as a lamb symbolized sacrifice to the Israelite people of John’s day. Every year they would sacrifice a lamb at Passover, reminding them of the lamb's blood upon their door that caused them to be safe from death when they were in Egypt (Exodus 12:3; 12-13; 22-23). Like a Lion, Christ is triumphant. He has overcome the enemy with His victorious death on the cross. By His sinless life and sacrificial death, the Lord Jesus is the only one found worthy to open the scroll. Let’s now read the opening of the seals of the scroll in Revelation 6:1-17:

 

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Revelation 6)

 

¹I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" ²I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. ³When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" ⁴Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword. ⁵When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" ⁷When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" ⁸I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. ⁹When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. ¹⁰They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” ¹¹Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.¹²I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, ¹³and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. ¹⁵Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ¹⁷For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Revelation 6:1-17, Emphasis mine).

 

With each of the four seals opened, we see a horseman going forth. Each rider brings with him an effect upon the earth. Even though we see the heavenly living creatures giving the orders, “Come!” I don’t believe these effects are initiated from heaven. The seals opened are not the wrath of God; we know that because the Word of God tells us in verse 12 that at the opening of the sixth seal, the cosmic signs indicate to the servants of the evil one that the judgment and wrath of God mentioned in verse 17 has finally come. Opening the seventh seal in Revelation 8:1 brings a half hour of silence before God's judgment is poured out. With the opening of the first four seals, the heavenly living creatures call forth horsemen to bring judgment on those sowing evil to now reap a whirlwind of pain. The fifth seal brings persecution (v. 9) of Christ-followers faithful to their testimony as believers and the Word of God. I do not believe that God brings about the persecution of believers—He sometimes allows it, but He is not the initiator. If the opening of the fifth seal brings an effect on earth that God does not initiate, why would we think that the first four are? I do not believe the seals to be the wrath of God, for God is not the author of persecution of His people. The saints are asking God at the opening of the fifth seal as to how long must they wait before He avenges their blood (Revelation 6:10). God’s vengeance and wrath has not started yet; it is Satan using the Antichrist to persecute the saints (Revelation 12:12). The Word of God never says that the first six seals are the wrath of God poured out. Let’s now explore what effect takes place at the opening of each seal:

 

The First Seal

 

As we work through the seals, you will notice that the effects of the seven seals of the Book of Revelation are the same as what Jesus said would happen in his talk with the twelve disciples on the Mount of Olives, known as the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24), which is an outline of the main events, with the Book of Revelation filling in more of the details. It might be helpful for you to have one finger in Matthew 24 and the other in Revelation chapter 6. When the first seal is broken, a rider goes forth on a white horse carrying a bow but no mention of arrows. He is given a crown and rides out as a conqueror bent on conquest. This is similar to what we have already said about the Antichrist from other passages. The Antichrist mimics Christ, who at His coming will also be riding on a white horse (Revelation 19:11). The symbolism of the rider being a conqueror but having no arrows reminds us that Antichrist will be a peacemaker. He will conquer through deception:

 

He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power (Daniel 8:25).

 

The most intense struggle that exists in the Middle East and affects world politics is the conflict between the Jews and Palestinians. At the crux of that struggle is the issue of ownership of Jerusalem. The Jewish people say Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish nation, whereas the Palestinians want its eastern half (The pre-1967 border). The 23-acre Temple Mount, where the Jewish temple once stood, has the mosque of Omar and the Dome of the Rock, managed by a Muslim trust where Jews and Christians are not allowed to pray or even take their Bibles up there with them.

 

In Matthew 24, the disciples asked Jesus, “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” The first thing Jesus answered was:

 

"Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many (Matthew 24:4-5).

 

How has the world seen this phenomenon already? What names can you recall of people claiming to be a “messiah” or “anointed one”?

 

The first thing that Jesus spoke concerning signs of His coming is that of deception at work in the world. How true of our day with the deceptive media! Leading up to and into the 70^th week of Daniel, the world will see some people claiming that they are the Christ, the anointed one. The final manifestation of this will be that the Antichrist will come using lies and deceit and will claim that he is the Christ, the one that the world has been waiting for to bring peace and salvation! He will overcome nations and come to a throne over a ten-nation confederacy or 10 regions of the earth. Jesus said to the Jewish people,

 

“I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him (John 5:43).

 

If the above passage refers to Antichrist, it is entirely possible that the nation of Israel will buy into the Antichrist’s lies and that he will be the guarantor of a peace covenant that will see the Temple rebuilt on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Antichrist will be believed in and received as their savior until he proclaims himself as God and sets himself up as God in the Temple itself in the middle point of the seven-year period (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Daniel 9:27). It’s interesting to think that Islam is also expecting a great prophet to arrive. They call him the 12^th Imam or the Mahdi. I believe that the Antichrist will not be a Muslim; if he were, the Jewish people would never accept him as their Messiah.

 

The Second Seal

 

The breaking of the second seal brings a second horse, ⁴Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given the power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other (Revelation 6:4). This Scripture is talking about war. After taking power, this man of peace, the Antichrist, will bring about a series of conflicts. Flip back to the book of Matthew and read Jesus’ teaching His disciples on the Mount of Olives:

 

⁶You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom (Matthew 24:6-7).

 

This mention of wars may be what we read about in our second study (The Rise of the Antichrist) when we discussed the Antichrist gaining leadership control of a 10-nation or power bloc confederacy. We saw three nations or leaders brought into subjugation by him (Daniel 7:24). It is likely that there is more than one war that takes place, for we read of wars, plural, and rumors of wars. It may also be when we learn of a nation situated to the far north of Israel that will launch an attack on Israel. Most commentators believe this nation to be Russia, allied with Persia (Iran), Libya, and Turkey, as well as other countries (Ezekiel 38:1-15, and 39:2. (Chapters 38-39 of Ezekiel are yet to be fulfilled). This attack happens after a re-gathering of Jewish people from all nations back to the land of Israel (Ezekiel 38:7-9), an event happening in our day. We can see how the scene is set in our day for events that the Scriptures tell us are yet to come. Let’s flip back to the Book of Revelation and look at the opening of the third seal:

 

The Third Seal

 

⁵When the Lamb opened the third seal; I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" (Revelation 6:5-6).

 

What causes the price of food to go sky high? It could be a result of the wars at the beginning of the seven years, the 70^th Week of Daniel. This lack of food could be caused by nuclear weapon fallout over fields and destroying crops. It could also be the consequences of globalist control of food and manipulating prices to control countries by using short food supplies to force people to take the Mark of the Beast. Whatever the cause, a day's wages will be enough to buy a small family's food for the day. The pair of scales represents food being weighed and rationed. Barley was usually fed to animals and is low in nutrients, hence the lower price. In the Olivet discourse, too, Matthew records Jesus saying that famines will follow the wars. He also adds that the time will be marked by earthquakes as well:

 

There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are the beginning of birth pains (Matthew 24:7-8).

 

When talking about wars in Matthew 24:6, Jesus said, “Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” He was letting us know that we are only in the beginning stages of what will happen. He calls these preceding years the beginning of birth pains, likening these seven years to the birth of a baby (v. 8). As we approach the coming of Christ, the world is in the throes of hard labor. As in the birth of a baby, the destructive events are typical of hard labor being more painful and each labor pain closer together.

 

The Fourth Seal

 

With the opening of the fourth seal, four different things will cause the death of a quarter of the earth's population, currently at 7.9 Billion people (September 2022), estimated to be 8 Billion in 2024. The four things happening at the opening of the fourth seal are sword, famine, pestilence or plague, and the wild beasts of the earth accompanied by persecution.

 

⁷When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" ⁸I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth (Revelation 6:7-8).

 

The color of the fourth seal pale horse is significant, as the Greek word used is the same as where we get the chlorophyll; it describes the pale, ashen-green pallor characteristic of a decomposing corpse. Its rider is named Death, and permission is given ("They were given power," v. 8) for a fourth of the earth's population to be killed by sword, famine, plague, and wild beasts. Let's think about each mentioned. First, the passage states that some are killed by the sword (v.  8). We should not take that literally; the sword speaks of violent means.

 

 

To be killed by sword sounds like persecution, with people being hunted and killed. The famine that started at the third seal is also continuing, and plague adds to the death of a quarter of the population. What could the epidemic be? Is this Ebola? What would happen if a pestilence or plague broke out? Martial law would be declared in an attempt to contain the spread. Trucks would not be able to get into affected areas, further causing the famine to worsen. How can we explain wild beasts? How many wild beasts are left on planet earth even at present? The Greek word is thēriόn, and although it is mainly used for animals, it could also indicate people who have let their inner beast nature dominate their lives to such a degree that they are like wild beasts. When people dominated by selfish greed or hunger find themselves backed into a corner, they often act in a predatory way, out of a beast-like need, when they find it difficult to feed their families. Consider the two Scriptures below that speak of men behaving like beasts:

 

I am in the midst of lions; I lie among ravenous beasts— men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords (Psalm 57:4).

 

But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts, they too will perish (2 Peter 2:12).

 

Jesus also talked about what happens on earth at this time of the fourth seal. Turn with me again to Matthew’s gospel:

 

⁹"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹²Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³but he who stands firm to the end will be saved (sōtērίa translated saved here can also mean delivered). ¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:9-14).

 

Jesus told us that in the last days, wickedness will increase (v. 12) and that the love of many will grow cold. What is the correlation between these two things, what’s causing it, and how do you see this coldness creeping into our culture today?

 

Jesus spoke of a time when all nations would hate Christians because of Him (v. 9). I believe this persecution of the saints will result in a mighty outpouring of the Spirit, bringing about a great harvest of people saved as the gospel is preached in power. The Lord spoke of this powerful move of the Spirit throughout the world in verse 14. We can see this time as terrifying, but I believe it will be a time when many will turn to Christ when they hear of His miraculous work among the Church, healing and protecting His people in many ways. Expect God to work wonders among you. The enemy will not have everything his way. There will be a time when followers of Christ will see the enemy's deception at work. The Church of that day will be powerful and entirely reliant on the Spirit. They will do exploits by the power of the Spirit of God:

 

And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits (Daniel 11:32 KJV).

 

With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him (Daniel 11:32 NIV).

 

Men betraying each other (v.10) sounds like inwardly depraved individuals giving full vent to the beast side of their nature, persecuting anyone who will not go along with Antichrist's mark and his rule and reign. The Lord delivers His people out of that time of great persecution by snatching His people up and out of it (v.13).

 

The Fifth Seal

 

⁹When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and the testimony they had maintained. ¹⁰They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" ¹¹Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed (Revelation 6:9-11).

 

What happens at the opening of the fifth seal goes along with the Great Tribulation or distress in Matthew 24, where believers in Christ are slain because they stand for the Word of God and their testimony. During the fifth seal the saints are crying out for vengeance against Antichrist and his forces—these five seals have not been the wrath of God going on—it has been the wrath of Satan against God’s elect because they do not conform to Satan’s desire to be worshiped!

 

In Revelation 12, we see Satan being cast down to the earth by Michael and his angels (12:6) and a war erupting against the elect of God, the saints:

 

“Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury (“having great wrath” KJV) because he knows that his time is short…Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 12:12, 17). 

 

This war is what we talked about in the second study when we looked at Daniel’s prophecy concerning the Antichrist that he would be "waging war against the saints and defeating them (Daniel 7:21). The wrath of God has not yet started; this is the wrath of Satan against God’s people. The pouring out of the wrath of God doesn't happen until the seventh seal is opened.

 

The Sixth Seal

 

¹²I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, ¹³and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place (Revelation 6:12-14).

 

Cosmic signs begin at the sixth seal, as Jesus said in Matthew and Mark's gospel. Notice that all those who have rejected the gospel also start to look for underground caves to hide in—why? Who is it they are hiding from?

 

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ¹⁷For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Revelation 6:15-17).

 

The enemies of God are acknowledging that here at the sixth seal, the wrath of God, the Day of the Lord, is now beginning. It didn't start years previously, as pre-tribulation teachers would have you believe. God’s Word says it begins at this point, right after the rapture of the saints, mentioned next in chapter 7 of the Book of Revelation. I always wondered how the stars in the sky could fall to the earth, but then I came across Isaiah's prophecy, which I believe ties in with what is happening at this point. Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Spirit, said:

 

¹⁹The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. ²⁰The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls—never to rise again. ²¹In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. ²²They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. ²³The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously (Isaiah 24:19-23).

 

What a terrible sight and feeling that will be! Matthew writes in accord with the Book of Revelation when Christ also talked about cosmic signs in the sky, saying that after the distress (thlipsis) of those days and the appearance of the cosmic signs, He would send forth his angels and gather together His elect:

 

²⁹Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. ³⁰At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. ³¹And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other (Matthew 24:29-31).

 

After several cosmic signs at the opening of the sixth seal, in accordance with Jesus' instructions to His disciples on the Mount of Olives, the angels are sent to gather together the elect (everyone that is born again of God), and they are all seen in heaven before the throne. Verses 1-8 of Revelation 7 tell us of the specific sealing of 144,000 people from all the tribes of Israel. God is letting us know that those caught up in the rapture are composed of Jews and Gentiles. We are told explicitly of 144,000 Jewish people sealed as part of the Church. I presume this to mean that they have responded to the call of God and included in the Elect of God, the Church, the called-out ones. I do not know if this is a literal or a symbolic number. I think God is reminding us that He has not forgotten the Jewish people who inherited the promises and the Word of God and that He will fulfill all He has spoken to them. God will bring a remnant of Jewish people through the fire of the Antichrist's persecution to be included in His body, the Bride of Christ. Nowhere do the Scriptures say that these 144,000 Jews were evangelists sent over the world to evangelize—I can't conceive of Antichrist letting 144,000 people travel across borders to reach this great multitude. None of these people will have the Mark of the Beast upon them to enable them to travel.

 

At the throne of God, we see people from every tribe from all over the world, including the twelve tribes of Israel. As we read the below passage, I would like you to make a mental note of those seen before and around the throne:

 

⁹After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." ¹¹All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹²saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" (Revelation 7:9-12).

 

Let's explore the thought that the rapture did occur before the seven-year period started. We would then have to come to the conclusion that those believers coming to Christ during the seven-year period were allowed to go into the Church, even though Scripture says there is no second chance after the door of salvation is shut (Matthew 25:10 and Luke 13:24). If there were two sets of believers, one raptured before the seven-year period and those saved during it, why don’t we then see the pre-tribulation believers welcoming those arriving in heaven after having gone through the Great Tribulation? We read of the angels, the elders, the four living creatures standing around the throne, and God Himself with them, but no sign of any pre-tribulation believers in the welcome party (Revelation 7:9-14).

 

Instead, we see those who have gone through the Great Tribulation (Distress, NIV) getting the opportunity to serve God day and night in His temple, and that God will spread his tent over them (a picture of marriage, Ruth 3:9), and wipe away their tears (Revelation 7:13-17).

 

¹³Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?" ¹⁴I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. ¹⁶Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. ¹⁷For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:13-17).

 

 

In the diagram above, I had to put the arrow symbolizing the rapture somewhere, but no man knows the day or the hour that He will come for His saints. We don't know at what point the rapture will be in the second half of the seven years during the Great Tribulation. Jew and Gentile born-again believers will all appear at the same time before the throne. We are made spotless due to entering into the blood covenant that Jesus instituted at the cross at Calvary. We are without blame before God, and He will wipe away our tears (Revelation 21:4).

 

The Lord will sustain us and give us His grace for whatever is ahead for the people of God. A story by Corrie Ten Boom comes to mind to illustrate this point. When World War 2 broke out, Corrie was a Dutch woman whose father owned a watch shop in Haarlem, Holland. This family of firm believers in Christ began providing "hiding places" for persecuted Jews. She lived through many trials and persecution when her family went to a concentration camp because of the help they offered to the Jews. At one point, Corrie was afraid and did not think she could handle what was ahead. Her father asked her, "Corrie, when you and I go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?” She replied, “Why, just before we get on the train.” "Exactly," he replied. “And our wise Father in heaven knows when we will need things. When the time comes that you need strength, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need, just in time. God will give you what you need when you need it.” We are not to be fearful concerning the things that we have read. God has given us the prophetic Scriptures because He wants to reveal these things to us so that when we see them, we will also remember how glorious the end is. We know who wins! Even so, come Lord Jesus!

 

Prayer: Father, I thank you that you have chosen me and called me your child. Whatever trials I may go through, please give me your enabling power and grace so that I may glorify you with every decision I make. Please mold and shape my character to be all that you want me to be. Amen.

 

To view more studies in the Second Coming of Christ series, click the following link:   

 

https://www.groupbiblestudy.com/eng-end-times  

 

Keith Thomas

 

Email address: keiththomas@groupbiblestudy.com

 

The web address for more Bible studies: www.groupbiblestudy.com