Intro to the End Times is a series walking through some of the key themes of the story of Jesus’ return from a historic premillennial perspective, with special focus on knowing the heart of Jesus as we partner with God through the most dramatic chapter of human history.

(Full disclosure: I love to recommend resources to help you in your journey, and when I do I use Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through my links, I may receive a small commission. But if there’s a resource you want, I encourage you to get it wherever works best for you!)

I started this series in the early days of Covid… it’s taken a while, but I am SO EXCITED to be sharing the final post! Some really exciting new things are in store on the blog!!

At this point, we are officially out of the “end times” and taking a sneak peek into the next age. Before I continue, though, I feel the need to apologize… this is a HUGE subject, so one blog post can really only be the briefest of intros. Hopefully I can at least spark some ideas and direct you toward passages to study further!

When Jesus returns to the earth, He will launch a thousand year period where He is literal, physical king on the earth, ruling over every sub-king of the whole planet from His throne in Jerusalem. We generally call this the Millennium. We get the number 1000 from a cluster of verses in Revelation 20:1-6, but the descriptions of what will happen span the entire Bible.

Birth of a New Age

The Bible describes the next age as though it’s a baby that is being birthed. Jesus referred to the “birth pains” before He comes (Mk. 13:8). He also said that the difficulty of this entire age is like a pregnancy, and it will all be forgotten in the joy of the “birth” of the next (Jn. 16:21-22). Paul said that all of creation is groaning in the “pains of childbirth” until the final resurrection (Ro. 8:22).

Think of how a baby is born. After nine months of general discomfort, a woman enters into labor, which starts gradually and then intensifies into hard labor, where pain is at its peak and just when it seems impossible– the baby is born. The woman is exhausted and in need of healing, but new life has come and joy overwhelms her.

The next age, the Millennium, is the “baby” that makes all of the pain of this age and the final tribulation (like hard labor) worthwhile. Just like the woman needs rest and healing, the earth is devastated by judgment and needs a season of intentional restoration before its glorious eternity can unfold.

Here are a few key points that characterize the Millennium:

Restoration of All Things

Acts 3:20-21 says that Jesus must stay in heaven until the time for the “restoration of all things,” as the prophets spoke. In my opinion, this is the lens through which all the other promises should be viewed. God is restoring His original good plan for the earth. It’s not a coincidence that there’s so much overlap between the descriptions of Eden and the New Jerusalem.

Revelation 21:5 says that God will make “all things new”. I love that He doesn’t say He will make “all new things,” by destroying the old and starting over, but rather, He’ll do arguably a greater miracle– He’ll make old things new. Just like He’ll transform our very bodies in the final resurrection, He’ll make the entire earth new. This process begins during the Millennium, and further transformation happens afterward.

John Eldredge has a beautiful book on this called All Things New. It’s very biblical but not academic at all (if you’ve read Eldredge you know the style) and will dramatically stir your heart and imagination to set your hope in the next age. Read my review here, or find it on Amazon.

New Jerusalem Is Near the Earth

The City of Heaven, the City of God, the New Jerusalem, will descend near the earth (Re. 21:10). It won’t fully land on earth until after the Millennium (Re. 21:2), but it will be just above the earthly Jerusalem in full view.

The city is described as a giant cube (although I’ve heard some interesting arguments for seeing it as a pyramid!), approximately 1400 miles square (Re. 21:16). This is where the resurrected saints will live, while we walk out our assignments of ruling with Jesus on the earth.

Resurrected Saints Reign on Earth

Jesus will be head of a global government, and we all will have roles of leadership under Him. The degree of authority we each receive is decided by God in direct proportion to our humility and faithfulness in this life (see my post on eternal rewards), but we will all have assigned positions ruling alongside Jesus (Da. 7:27; Lk. 19:13-19; Mt. 5:3, 5, 10, 19:28; 1 Co. 6:2-3; Re. 2:26-27, 3:21, 5:10, 20:4-6, 22:5).

A quick note: Revelation 20:4 highlights the Tribulation martyrs specifically ruling alongside Jesus. I love that it’s in God’s heart to honor these ones with a special mention, but taken alongside so many other passages such as those mentioned above, it’s clear that the privilege of ruling in Jesus’ kingdom is an honor given at some level to all the saints!

Satan Is Bound

When Jesus establishes His Kingdom on earth, Satan will be bound for 1000 years (Re. 20:2-3). Can you imagine humanity without any demonic influence? Granted, we have enough wickedness in our hearts without Satan’s help, but it’s going to be so much better to have him locked away for the entirety of the Millennium!

After the 1000 years, Satan will be released temporarily to attempt to deceive as many as he can into rebelling against God (Re. 20:7-10). This is the Battle of Jerusalem Part 2. This vindicates God’s righteousness and proves that even after an entire millennium of Jesus reigning on earth as king over a perfect society with His beauty fully on display, the heart is still deceitful and sick (Je. 17:9) and some people will still choose not to follow Him.

Earth Will be Repopulated

But wait, who is Satan even trying to deceive? Resurrected saints aren’t the only kind of humans on the earth- there will also be humans with natural bodies living semi-normal human lives (with super long lifespans like in the days before Noah, see Isa. 65:20). These are the descendants of those who weren’t saved during the tribulation but resisted the antichrist for their own reasons, and get saved when they see Jesus appear in the sky. They missed the rapture by this much, and so enter the Millennium much as we are now, with the Holy Spirit inside of them but still in a body of natural flesh.

The Bible talks about this group as “those who are left,” “survivors,” or “the remnant”. The passages mostly focus on Israel (Isa. 4:2-3, 10:20-22, 11:11, 11:16, 28:5, 37:31-32; Je. 23:3, 31:2; Ez. 7:16, 20:38-42; Da. 12:1; Jo. 2:32; Mi. 4:7-8; Zp. 2:9, 3:13), but also mentions Gentile survivors of the tribulation (Isa. 49:6, Ez. 36:36, Zc. 14:16). We talked about this in an earlier post when we looked at how all Israel will be saved.

Israel’s Promises Fulfilled

In this context, Israel can finally enter a golden era that they have never before experienced. They will flourish in safety and won’t even need walls to guard their cities (Zc. 2:4). They will all worship the Lord without idolatry (Eze. 43:7). Every promise God has ever made, every prophecy every Orthodox Jew holds dear in anticipation of the Messianic Age– these will all be fulfilled in the Millennium. (See my post on God’s promises to Israel.)

I used to get so confused when I read passages like Isaiah 60. The headline in my Bible is “The Future Glory of Israel.” I thought, “I don’t know Bible history that well, but I’m pretty sure this never happened, right? Was it a potential future that God wanted to give but never happened? Or is this just symbolic of the church?” No. This is real, it’s for Israel, and it will happen when Jesus returns.

Jerusalem Will Be the Praise of the Earth

This is such a deep and tender part of God’s heart. Jerusalem is the apple of His eye (Zc. 2:8) and the city of the great king (Ps. 48:2, Mt. 5:35). When Jesus comes, He will set up the capital of His global government in Jerusalem and personally dwell there forever (Eze. 43:7, Je. 3:17). All the nations will come to Jerusalem to honor Jesus and learn from Him (Isa. 2:2-3). Jerusalem will be the praise of the earth (Isa. 62:7, Je. 33:9).

Right now, Jerusalem is not the praise of the whole earth. It’s currently a small city in a small nation that somehow has become the greatest point of war and controversy on the planet. But when Jesus returns and plants His glory there, it will become the place that people everywhere speak of with reverence and awe. From His throne in His city of Jerusalem, God’s glory will cover the whole earth as the waters cover the seas (Ha. 2:14).

Epilogue: After the Millennium

I’m not going to spend an entire post on what happens after the 1000 years, but I will hit a few quick events that are described in Revelation 20-21:

• Satan is released to deceive the nations.
• Battle of Jerusalem Part 2 occurs, and Jesus destroys them with fire.
• All of the wicked dead from throughout history are raised and judged.
• All of the Millennium natural-body saints are given resurrected bodies.
• The New Jerusalem descends all the way to earth.
• The Father Himself dwells on earth forever (WHAT??!!)

Consider this: if the Millennium is like a baby that is born, a baby doesn’t stay a baby forever. In time, it matures into adulthood. Ephesians 2:7 says there are “ages” to come. Isaiah 9:7 says “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.” His kingdom will keep continually expanding forever! The Millennium is just where it starts to get good. We have an eternity of glory and mystery ahead of us! God will never run out of ideas to keep making it better and better forever.

If you’ll indulge me in a quotation of my favorite non-Bible passage, C. S. Lewis captures this ever-increasing glory perfectly on the very last page of The Chronicles of Narnia:

“All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
(The Last Battle, C. S. Lewis)

More Resources

If you’re interested in further study resources on this topic, I recommend these from Brad Stroup. For more recommended resources, I have a list of books, films, podcasts, etc prepared for you!

• Audio “Life in the Millennial Kingdom” (8 part series or 3 part series)
• PDF “Concordance of End Time Themes and Topics” (here)
• PDF “100 FAQ on the End Times” (here)

Intro to the End Times is a series walking through some of the key themes of the story of Jesus’ return from a historic premillennial perspective, with special focus on knowing the heart of Jesus as we partner with God through the most dramatic chapter of human history.

(Full disclosure: I love to recommend resources to help you in your journey, and when I do I use Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through my links, I may receive a small commission. But if there’s a resource you want, I encourage you to get it wherever works best for you!)

We’ve almost made it to the end of our series! In the last post, we looked at a play-by-play what Jesus does as soon as He appears in the sky. In the next post, we’re going to try to hit as many details as I can about the Millennium, the thousand-year era that kicks off Jesus’ eternal reign. Before we move on to that, though, I really want to take a pause and zoom in on what happens to the church in that specific timeframe of Jesus’ return.

Resurrection

This is definitely one of my favorite things to talk and think about. (A few years ago, I wrote a longer post on our future resurrection that I’m going to link to but also borrow heavily from here.) One of our most helpful passages is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep… For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-16)

When Jesus returns, He will bring with Him an army of resurrected saints (we talked about this in my last post). This is everyone who has ever had saving faith in God from throughout history, from Old Testament saints like Abraham to my grandma.

Make no mistake- these aren’t just ethereal spirits, but actual living bodies– resurrected, incorruptible, eternal bodies. These bodies will be in many ways like Jesus’ own resurrected body (Co. 3:4, Ro. 6:5, 1Co. 15:49, Ph. 3:20-21, 1Jn. 3:2).

1 Corinthians 15 is a goldmine of information about the future resurrection and our resurrected bodies. It describes our future bodies as imperishable, and says that they will be glorious and powerful, while our natural bodies now are dishonorable and weak by comparison.

“So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)

In his next letter, Paul says that our current natural body is like a tent, and we are groaning with longing to put on our future, immortal body, which is like a house by comparison. He even says that compared to having that future body, being without it is like being naked.

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-4)

This is our future! Your life in your current body is just a passing mist (Ja. 4:14), but you’re going to be in your epic, resurrected, eternal body FOREVER.

Rapture

Even if you’ve never studied the end times, certainly you’ve heard of the rapture. A lot of people imagine it to be like the Left Behind novels portrayed: at any moment, without warning, all believers evaporate out of their clothes and disappear into heaven, leaving the world confused in their wake. No hate to Left Behind (God used that series so much in my life in my teen years!), but that picture couldn’t be further from the truth.

First, did you know that the word “rapture” isn’t even in scripture? It comes from the Latin word “rapturo” which is a translation of “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17: “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” It’s fine for us to use the word “rapture,” but let’s make sure we’re getting our understanding of this event from the Bible!

Second, the event we call the rapture is absolutely tied to Jesus’ coming in the sky with the sound of the seventh trumpet and dark clouds with a rain/hail/fire storm. It is NOT silent and mystifying; it will be dramatic and unmistakable (more on all that in my last post).

Third, it very clearly happens AFTER the resurrection! I’m going to share the 1 Thessalonians 4 passage again so we can see these details in context:

“For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

We can see the order laid out here: resurrection, then rapture. Boom, boom. They’re obviously very closely tied together, but there’s no way that the rapture can happen until after the resurrection happens. (Sorry, Tim LaHaye.)

If you’re one of the saints on earth who survived the tribulation and are alive on earth when Jesus comes, that’s when you get your resurrected body, right after the saints who are being raised!

“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)

Rewards

At the time Jesus comes and gives us our resurrected bodies, He also rewards us for our faithfulness to Him in this life. Your salvation is free, but additional rewards are earned– and the pay scale is ridiculous! God sees and records every tiny deed and thought that glorifies Him, and He will reward us lavishly according to our deeds. This is incredibly exciting, but it should also strike the fear of the Lord into us, because while we have opportunity to be great in the kingdom of God, we also might end up least if we’re not careful (Mt. 5:19)! Some in the next age will realize how much they wasted their lives when they see how many rewards they missed out on.

There is a direct, tangible correlation between the quality of our eternal experience and our degree of faithfulness to Jesus in this life. 

“For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” (Matthew 16:27)

“For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:11-15)

In our lives, we have the opportunity to “build” on the foundation by our works. These works might be valuable like gold, silver, and precious stones, or they might be worthless like wood, hay, and straw. God sees the motives of our heart, and He can accurately judge what was done for His glory or for our own flesh. On that Day, God will judge our works by fire, which doesn’t mean punish us or burn us up, but He will evaluate our lives and test our works to reveal what was worthy of reward.

Scripture describes several different kinds of rewards, one of which is the degree of glory on our resurrected bodies. Paul says that our resurrected bodies won’t all be identical. Just like the sun, moon, and stars are all different from each other, our bodies will reflect the glory of God in different ways– some more, and some less (1Co. 15:37-42, read more in this post). Others will be able to see on our bodies the testimony of our faithfulness to God in this life.

Another kind of reward is the degree of authority we will have. All of the saints will rule alongside Jesus, but that can mean many things (Da. 7:27, Lk. 19:13-19, Mt. 5:3-10, Re. 2:26-27, 3:21, 5:10). In our own earthly government, there are many positions, from president to governor to senator to local city councilor. The higher positions are not only more honored, but get closer proximity to the president. When I aspire to a higher position of authority in the next age, I’m mostly not thinking about the personal honor I want. I’m mostly thinking about being closer to Jesus.

There are also various other rewards described in scripture- crowns, stones, positions, etc, which leads me to imagine that God is very creative and very specific in the types of rewards He can bestow. No doubt we’ll be surprised and delighted at the magnificence and variety He has created!

One other quick point– let’s not let false humility creep in, like we’re more holy if we don’t care about rewards. God is the one who put these promises in the Bible. He wants us to be motivated by them! Remember that Jesus told us to store up treasures in heaven (Mt. 6:20), and Paul described seeking for the honor and glory of eternal rewards as the opposite of self-seeking.

“He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.” (Romans 2:6-8)

Blessed Hope

In studying these passages, the most frequent application we find is the exhortation to hope (Ac. 24:15, Ro. 8:23-24, Co. 1:5, 1Th. 13-18). I love Paul’s phrase to Timothy, that Jesus’ return and all it entails is our “blessed hope” (Ti. 2:13).

“…He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)

The resurrection of Jesus is the key to our future resurrection–not that we get to exist forever in some disembodied spiritual plane, but we will be physically raised from physical death and given immortal, glorious, resurrected bodies, in the image of Jesus’ own resurrected body, as different from our current bodies as a palace is from a tent or an oak tree is from an acorn. This is the future “salvation” the Bible refers to. Our spirits have already been saved by the blood of Jesus, but our bodies themselves will one day be fully saved from every effect of sin and death.

Recommended Resource

For more on why the rapture cannot biblically happen any minute (ie, before the tribulation), I recommend Not Afraid of the Antichrist: Why We Don’t Believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture by Dr. Michael Brown and Craig Keener. Such a helpful study on what the Bible actually says on this subject!

Intro to the End Times is a series walking through some of the key themes of the story of Jesus’ return from a historic premillennial perspective, with special focus on knowing the heart of Jesus as we partner with God through the most dramatic chapter of human history.

(Full disclosure: I love to recommend resources to help you in your journey, and when I do I use Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through my links, I may receive a small commission. But if there’s a resource you want, I encourage you to get it wherever works best for you!)

In an earlier post, we looked at the figure of the Antichrist. The good news is that his time is limited and Jesus is coming as a warrior to overthrow the antichrist and establish His kingdom.

However, this event isn’t just a moment; it’s a whole process. Jesus isn’t going to snap His fingers like Thanos and change everything everywhere in an instant. He’s going to take His time in an enormous, glorious procession traveling toward Jerusalem for the final confrontation.

Seventh Trumpet

Let’s take a quick review of the judgments in Revelation. (If you want a more in-depth look, check out the end times timeline and book of Revelation outline.)

• Seven seals – rise of antichrist, world war, famine, death, martyrdom, revival.
• Seven trumpets – lots of fire, smoke, hail, blood, darkness, and demons.
• Seven bowls – if you thought the trumpets were bad… here’s even more fire, blood, demons, etc. Full and final wrath.

The seventh trumpet, just before the bowls, is the high point of the story, when Jesus returns, gathers the saints, and begins to establish His rulership on earth.

“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever…. We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.’ (Revelation 11:15-18)

Wait…. this doesn’t say anything specific about Jesus appearing. So how do we know that He comes at the seventh trumpet?

There are some key words in this passage we need to not miss: “has become the kingdom” and “begun to reign.” There’s a clear transition that happens here, when Jesus’ rulership is no longer only a spiritual reign from heaven but a physical reign over the kingdoms of the earth.

Earlier, after the sixth trumpet, the next event is foreshadowed with this statement:

“And the angel… swore… that there would be no more delay, but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” (Revelation 10:5-7)

There is something climactic about the seventh trumpet in a way that nothing else is. It’s the fulfillment of God’s most ancient desire to dwell on earth with mankind, just like He did in the garden of Eden.

This trumpet is also referenced throughout the rest of the Bible in the Old and New Testaments. (Ps. 47:5; Isa. 18:3, 27:13; Zc. 9:14; Mt. 24:31; 1Co. 15:50-52; 1 Th. 4:16-17; Re. 10:7, 11:15-17) This is when Jesus descends from heaven, gathers His people (the resurrection and rapture), and gives us our new bodies. To be honest, I didn’t know the trumpet was referenced in the Old Testament until I was researching this blog, but there they are!

Appearing in the Sky

So at the seventh trumpet, after seven years of tribulation, Jesus appears in the sky on the clouds. However, these are absolutely not pretty, fluffy, white clouds with gentle sunbeams. These are STORM CLOUDS, with dramatic lightning, thunder, hail, and fire, plus an earthquake for good measure. And let’s not forget the sound of the angel’s trumpet and the shout of God!

• Clouds (Ps. 18:12, 97:2, 104:3; Da. 7:13; Ez. 30:3, 34:12; Mt. 24:30, 26:64; Mk. 13:26; Ac. 1:9-11; 1Th. 4:17; Re. 1:7)
• Lightning and thunder (Ps. 18:13-14, 97:4; Da. 10:6, Lk. 17:24, Re. 11:19)
• Hailstones (Ps. 18:12-13, Zc. 9:14, Re. 11:19)
• Fire (Ps. 18:8, 18:12-13, 97:3; Isa. 64:2, 66:15; Na. 1:6; Jo. 2:3; 2Th. 1:8)
• Earthquake (Ps 18:7; Isa. 64:1; Na. 1:5; Jo. 2:10, 3:16; Re. 11:19)
• Mountains falling/melting (Ha. 3:6, Mi. 1:4, Na. 1:5)
• Storm (Je. 23:19, 25:32, 30:23; Na. 1:3)
• Darkness (Ps. 18:9-11, 97:2; Jo 2:2)
• Shout (Ps. 18:13, 47:5; 1Th. 4:16)

This whole event will be VERY visible. Jesus’ coming is not a secret that might easily be missed. It will be the most dramatic, loud, visible thing that has ever happened in human history. Revelation 1:7 says that “every eye will see Him,” and also that “all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him”. This mourning will be either in despair and fury as they realize their doom, or, for those who haven’t committed their souls to the antichrist, repentance.

When Jesus comes, He is riding a white horse and is accompanied by an army (Re. 19:11, 14). This army includes ALL the angels and ALL the saints (Mk. 8:38; Lk. 9:26; 1Th. 3:13, 4:16-17; 2Th. 1:7-10). The saints include all those who have died and their souls in heaven are now receiving their resurrected bodies, plus saints who are alive at the seventh trumpet who meet Jesus in the air and also receive their resurrected bodies.

This is important: the saints aren’t just swept up into heaven to watch the rest of the action from the bleachers. No, we’re with Jesus, riding right behind Him, joining Him in what He’s doing, the warrior king and His warrior bride. He has a horse, so we have horses (Re. 19:11, 14). He has a sword, so we have swords (Ps. 45:3, Re. 19:15, Ps. 149:6). We are actively participating in His glorious battle for His kingdom.

Marching Through the Land

When Jesus finally touches down to the earth, He’s not done! Thus begins a whole epic procession of Jesus and His angel/resurrected saint army making their way towards Jerusalem. It’s likely that His touch-down point will be Mt. Sinai (Ps. 68:17, Ju. 1:14-15) before traveling through Edom (modern day Jordan) towards Jerusalem (Isa. 34:5-9, 63:1). Along the way, He is releasing the plagues of the bowl judgments and setting captives free, mostly Jews who have been held in prison camps by the antichrist (Isa. 42:7, 22, 49:8-12, 24-25, 61:1-3; Ps. 68:6, 79:11, 102:20, 146:7-8).

Does that sound familiar? A lot of the details of this process are very much paralleled to how God delivered Israel in the exodus from Egypt. Jesus is the greater Moses, and He’s going to do it all over again! Right now, the story of the exodus is the biggest historical/spiritual marking point for the people of Israel, but that’s going to change. During the Millennium, Israel will reference back to Jesus’ deliverance of them from the nations as a bigger miracle and marking point than the exodus itself (Mi. 7:15, Je. 23:7-8).

I have three favorite passages in Scripture that describe this scene. Look at how these details parallel to each other and paint a dramatic picture of the warrior king Jesus leading a heavenly army against the wicked nations:

“Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty! In your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let your right hand teach you awesome deeds! Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; the peoples fall under you.” (Psalm 45:3-5)

“Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? ‘It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.’ Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? ‘I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come.'” (Isaiah 63:1-4)

“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” (Revelation 19:11-15)

If you skimmed those verses, you need to scroll back up and read them for real. This may well be the most dramatic picture of Jesus in Scripture. Not only is He burning with resurrected glory, but He is riding on a heavenly war horse, His eyeballs are burning fire, He has a sword somehow coming out of His mouth, and HIS ROBE IS SPATTERED WITH BLOOD. Whose blood? Some people say it’s His own blood, because He is the slain lamb. However, this phrase in Revelation 19 is a direct reference to Isaiah 63, in which His clothes are soaked through with the blood of His enemies. Because He’s been killing them. With a sword.

This is the Jesus in your Bible. He is love, but sometimes love comes with a sword, to spill blood “for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness.” (Ps. 45:4) This is His beauty and glory. May we love Him for all of who He is.

Battle of Jerusalem

Finally, Jesus arrived at Jerusalem. A lot of things happen, but first, my favorite: the leaders of the city finally, FINALLY recognize who He is.

“Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.” (Zechariah 2:8-11)

“Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!” (Psalm 24:7-8)

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Matthew 23:37-37)

This is the time that “all Israel will be saved” (Ro. 11:26, see also Ez. 36, Je. 32), when they see and recognize their own Messiah coming for them. Every single Jewish person alive who has not already taken the mark of the beast will be saved, and will be the foundation of the restored Israel on the earth. This is Israel’s future– Jesus will regather them from all the nations where they’ve been scattered in exile and captivity, and He will inaugurate the most glorious era of national prosperity and righteousness that they could ever imagine (see my post about God’s promises to Israel).

Rewind for a moment… as Jesus has been busy marking through the land with fire etc. releasing judgment and freeing captives, the antichrist has also been busy. He’s been assembling the nations in Israel to prepare for battle against Jesus (Re. 16:12-16). I imagine that his message to them is, “Who is this usurper in the sky? What right does He have to try to take over this planet? This is our world! Let’s show Him the power of mankind united!”

The antichrist’s army is staged at Armageddon (Re. 16:16), which we often hear used as a general term for “the end of the world” but is an actual geographic location in Northern Israel. There is a city called Megiddo with a nearby small hill (Mount Megiddo) and a broad open area (the plain of Megiddo) where many historical battles have taken place. This area is also known as the Jezreel Valley, and is the “valley of decision” that Joel 3:14 refers to.

When the antichrist’s army meets Jesus at Jerusalem, Jesus does something incredible: He stands on the Mount of Olives (a hill just to the east of the city) and actually splits it in two, creating an escape path for the Jews in the city to flee through (Zec. 14:4-5). Then Jesus and His army fight the final battle of the ages against the army of the antichrist, and all the prophecies about Him “treading the winepress” find their final fulfillment. It’s a quick but bloody battle, and all of the casualties are on one side.

“And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia [180 miles].” (Revelation 14:20)

“And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.” (Revelation 19:19-21)

Finally, the antichrist and his right hand man the false prophet are defeated and thrown into the lake of fire, and the rest of the rest of their army is killed and their bodies cover the ground. God has a rather disgusting cleanup plan– He summons a swarm of birds to eat their flesh. (It doesn’t say just carrion birds… I think this is parakeets and robins and hummingbirds right in there with vultures and crows.)

At this point, the judgments are complete and Jesus can get to work establishing His kingdom on earth! There will be a lot of new governmental infrastructure to set up, not to mention a LOT of cleanup and restoration from the devastation of the last seven years. In a future post, we’ll cover what this kingdom on earth looks like.

Read More

This is only the very, very tippy-top of the iceberg, but just for fun, here are a few passages to read and freak out over.

• Psalm 18, 45, 97
• Revelation 16, 19
• Habakkuk 3
• Isaiah 63

Also, for this blog I was very grateful for Brad Stroup’s study resources, especially his documents Concordance of End Time Themes & Topics and 100 FAQs on the End Times. More resources from Brad Stroup are here.

Intro to the End Times is a series walking through some of the key themes of the story of Jesus’ return from a historic premillennial perspective, with special focus on knowing the heart of Jesus as we partner with God through the most dramatic chapter of human history.

(Full disclosure: I love to recommend resources to help you in your journey, and when I do I use Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through my links, I may receive a small commission. But if there’s a resource you want, I encourage you to get it wherever works best for you!)

In an earlier post, we looked at a list of “good guys and bad guys” in the end time drama. Of course, the most prominent bad guy is known as the antichrist. Scripture gives him many descriptors that tell us many things about him:

• His Nature
  Beast (Da. 7:7, 11-12, 19-25), antichrist (1Jn. 2:22), man doomed to destruction (2Th. 2:3).
• His Origin
  Little horn (Da. 7:8), king of Assyria (Isa. 10:12), Assyrian (Isa. 14:25, 10:5)
• His Sinfulness
  Master of intrigue (Da. 8:23), man of lawlessness (2Th. 2:3), traitor (Isa. 33:1), destroyer (Isa. 16:4, 33:1; Je. 4:7; Je. 51:1, 56), oppressor (Ps. 72:4; Isa. 14:4, 16:4, 51:13).
• His Leadership
  Cruel master (Isa. 19:4), fierce king (Isa. 19:4), aggressor (Isa. 16:4), stern-faced king (Da. 8:23), commander (Je. 51:27)
• His Position in God’s Plan
  The Lord’s chosen ally (Isa. 48:14), chosen one (Je. 50:44), rod of God’s anger (Isa. 10:5)

The antichrist’s ultimate objective is to be worshiped as God. He’s not content to just make people fall into sin or reject Jesus. He wants to go all the way and actually be directly worshiped. Of course, really this is Satan’s objective working through the antichrist. Everything he does is to achieve this goal.

Rise of the Beast

Daniel 7 describes the antichrist as a “little horn” that arises in the middle of a ten kingdom confederation, overthrows three of the kingdoms, and proceeds to do all kinds of terrible things. Because of this “little horn” imagery, I like to remind people that any prominent figure who is currently globally known is probably not the antichrist. (Whichever US president you have most disliked over the past few years is not the antichrist.) I believe he will rise to prominence rather suddenly and seemingly appear out of nowhere on the world stage.

As we discussed in the last post, the antichrist publicly supports the Harlot Babylon to position himself in power, but as soon as he gets the chance he turns on the Harlot and destroys her to establish his own empire. This serves him perfectly, because the Babylon system has seduced the world into a kind of drunken stupor, inundated with every kind of sin to the full, so that they easily decide to follow him. The Babylon system has also included infrastructure uniting government, economics, etc, making them all the easier for the antichrist to take over and absorb into his new kingdom.

Abomination of Desolation

Daniel 9:27 says that the antichrist will make a “strong covenant with many for one week,” which makes most sense as a peace treaty in the middle east that is supposed to last for seven years (ie, one “week”). This treaty likely allows Israel to rebuild their temple and resume the traditional sacrifices– but the antichrist breaks the treaty in the middle and “put[s] an end to sacrifice and offering”. This is the event that Daniel and the New Testament call the “abomination of desolation,” in which the antichrist sets up his own throne in the temple and announces that he is God and must be worshiped. This is the most clear and dramatic sign of the times that Jesus and the apostles told us to watch for. If you somehow missed everything else up to this point, you’d BETTER not miss this!

“And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
(Daniel 9:27)

“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)”
(Matthew 24:15, see also Mark 13:14, Luke 21:20)

“…the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)

Empire and Resistance

The antichrist is bent on fully subjugating the nations of the earth to his rule. The first seal shows him riding on a white horse, coming “conquering and to conquer” (Re. 6:2). After his violent overthrow and annexing of the Harlot Babylon system, he will be mostly successful in ruling the earth.

“There shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it to pieces.”
(Daniel 7:23)

“And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it”
(Revelation 13:7-8)

Although the antichrist gets closer to full rulership over the earth than anyone in history, there are still pockets of resistance. Daniel says that war will continue until the very end and also describes some kings who fight against him (Da. 9:26, 11:40-44). Plus, although by the end the antichrist will be in control of every nation on a governmental level, there will also be a certain amount of grassroots resistance!

Of course, believers will be resisting, although our priority won’t be on overcoming him with violence but with faithfulness to Jesus through persecution (Re. 12:11, 2Co. 10:4, Ep. 6:12). There will also be a number of Jews who don’t want to worship Jesus but also sure don’t want to worship that guy. It’s fair to expect that there will also be a small number of unsaved Gentiles who don’t want to follow the antichrist for their own reasons. These are all being preserved by the grace of God, even in their lost state, for the moment Jesus appears and they realize the truth and give themselves to Him (Isa. 4:3, 10:20-22; Jo. 2:32).

Prison Camps

One particularly terrifying aspect of what the antichrist will do echoes what Hitler did in Europe in the 1930s and 40s. Many verses refer to those that the antichrist puts into captivity, particularly Jews. The antichrist hates the Jews with all the fury of Satan himself who knows that they are God’s covenant people, and like Hitler, he will have specific, horrific plans to torment them. (I already posted about God’s promises to Israel and what happens to Israel during the end times.)

“though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder.”
(Daniel 11:33)

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near… They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations”
(Luke 21:20, 24)

“If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes.”
(Revelation 13:10)

This sets up the most beautiful context for the Gentile church to demonstrate sacrificial love for the Jews, like Corrie Ten Boom hiding Jews from the Nazis and ultimately going into a concentration camp. Of course, this will be the most dramatic in the Middle East, as Jews flee Israel into the surrounding Arabic nations… where Arabic believers will risk their lives to protect them. These Arabic believers (and believers of many backgrounds) will carry sacrificial love like Corrie Ten Boom, and also supernatural power like their own Jewish prophets. That is going to blow Jews’ minds and provoke them to jealousy like nothing else possibly could!

When Jesus comes, He will be the greater Moses doing the Exodus all over again, releasing plagues and setting captives free (Isa. 61:1-2, Mi. 7:15)! As He reenacts the most central event of Jewish history, this will confirm to the Jews who He is, and with the witness of the church fresh in their minds, all Israel will be saved.

We’ll go into more detail in the next post about what exactly Jesus does when He arrives, but for now, let’s just look at what Paul says about the antichrist’s destruction:

“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:8)

Amen and amen.

Further Resources

In writing this, I referred a lot to this end times concordance from The Prayer Room. It lists a ton of verses for every end time topic you can think of.

I also recommend Joel Richardson’s book The Islamic Antichrist for a very compelling case that the antichrist is actually Muslim and is their coming messiah figure prophesied in the Koran. It’s available as a free ebook.

Intro to the End Times is a series walking through some of the key themes of the story of Jesus’ return from a historic premillennial perspective, with special focus on knowing the heart of Jesus as we partner with God through the most dramatic chapter of human history.

(Full disclosure: I love to recommend resources to help you in your journey, and when I do I use Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through my links, I may receive a small commission. But if there’s a resource you want, I encourage you to get it wherever works best for you!)

The subject of the end-time Harlot Babylon is HUGE in Scripture. The longest Old Testament prophecy (Je. 50-51) and the longest New Testament prophecy (Re. 17-18) are both about Babylon. It’s also called a mystery. Although we have a ton of biblical information, there are still many aspects that are veiled. No doubt many of these details will become more clear as we see them unfold!

Like we did with the timeline of end-time events, I think the simplest way to lay out what we know about the Harlot Babylon is some Q&A.

What is the Harlot Babylon?

The entity we call the Harlot Babylon is described in many places in the Bible, but we get her name most clearly from Revelation 17:

“Then one of the seven angels… said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.’ …I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: ‘Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.’ And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints…”
(Revelation 17:1-6)

This brief introduction tells us several key things, which the rest of chapters 17 and 18 develop:

• She is luring people worldwide into sin (“prostitute”, “dwellers on earth have become drunk”, “cup full of abominations”)
• She is global (“many waters”, “dwellers on earth”, “kings of the earth”)
• She is connected to government (“kings of the earth”)
• She is connected to the antichrist (“sitting on a scarlet beast”)
• She is economically prosperous (“gold and jewels”)
• She is complex and difficult to understand (“mystery”)
• She is the absolute height of wickedness (“mother of prostitutes”)
• She is martyring the Church (“drunk with the blood of the saints”)

The Harlot Babylon is a prosperous, global system of wickedness with anchors in every area of society that seduces the earth into the fullness of sin.

We also see that she is described as Babylon, the ancient enemy of Israel whose roots go all the way back to the tower of Babel (Ge. 11:1-9). Just as the geographic region of Jerusalem has been dear to God’s heart since long before it was recognized as His city (Ge. 14:18), so Babylon has an ancient history of rebellion against God. God has always known its end time destiny.

Why is she called a harlot?

Throughout the Bible, “prostitute/whore/harlot” (in various translations) is used to symbolize idolatry, because Israel is supposed to be married to God. The primary meaning of the term “harlot” here is that she is drawing people away from God, but that will also involve a lot of literal sexual immorality. In fact, in the ancient world the two often went hand in hand, as people would go to pagan temples to have sex with prostitutes as a form of worship. Spirituality and sexuality are closely intertwined.

The Harlot Babylon is the ultimate contrast to Jesus’ bride, the church, who is identified with the New Jerusalem (Re. 21:2, 9-10). The end time storyline is really a tale of two cities– Babylon and New Jerusalem, the harlot and the bride, each with both literal and symbolic dimensions.

So is it a city, system, or culture?

All of the above! The Harlot Babylon is based in the literal, rebuilt city of Babylon as its capitol. It’s also a worldwide system of government, commerce, etc. It’s also a culture of wickedness where a the fullness of sin is not only tolerated but celebrated. And let’s not forget that in the middle of all of this is a demonic religion, probably with elements of many major religions that is able to unite the earth together.

This quote from Peter Herder’s book Babylon sums it up well: “Imagine a single city possessing the economic power of New York, the political power of Washington DC, the cultural influence of Hollywood, and the religious influence of Jerusalem.” (Babylon, page 29)

Is the Harlot Babylon super tolerant, then? Or is she persecuting the church?

The Harlot is SUPER tolerant of sin! Not so much of righteousness. If the church is refusing to dance to the Harlot’s tune, the Harlot will absolutely persecute her. Remember, Revelation 17:6 says she is “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” There absolutely will be many martyrs as we stand up for truth and refuse to bow to Babylon’s system.

So Babylon is comfortable for everyone but the church?

Um, no. Remember all that wealth and luxury the Harlot has? That didn’t come without corruption and exploitation. Revelation 18:11-13 lists the merchandise that has made her wealthy, and concludes with this chilling phrase: “and slaves, that is, human souls.”

I often think of the Harlot Babylon like the Capitol in The Hunger Games. On the surface, it’s bright, shiny, flamboyant, wealthy, and excessive– but it’s built on a dark web of oppression, slavery, and murder.

How is the antichrist involved?

The Harlot and the antichrist have an interesting relationship. One the one hand, the Harlot comes first, gradually building over decades before the rise of the antichrist and in full strength during the first three and a half years of the tribulation. On the other hand, she is riding on the beast (Re. 17:3), which means that he’s supporting her in some way and she’s relying on him to carry her. However, later on the antichrist is the one to overthrow the Harlot Babylon system to install his own governmental system (Re. 17:16). It’s likely that the antichrist is a rising political star within the Harlot Babylon system, loudly singing her praises, while secretly planning to overthrow her for his own benefit.

From a spiritual perspective, the Harlot Babylon is what unites the world and dulls its discernment to make them ready to receive the antichrist. Satan uses the Harlot to hand the world to the antichrist on a silver platter. By the time the antichrist sets up the abomination of desolation in the temple and demands worship (Mt. 24:15, 2Th. 2:3-4), the world is already so far under the sway of darkness that it’s easy to accept. Plus, there’s already united global infrastructure in place.

How will God judge the Harlot?

When the antichrist overthrows Babylon, that’s actually God using the antichrist to judge the Harlot for her wickedness–and then He later thoroughly judges the antichrist too. Wait, what? God uses evil to judge evil, and then judges that evil for being evil? Yep, that’s totally a thing in scripture (Je. 25:8-14).

Revelation 18 describes the earth in shock and mourning over the sudden and dramatic fall of Babylon. Overnight she will be struck with fire and plagues that completely shatter her prosperity and power. This is God’s judgment against her.

Is the Harlot Babylon happening now?

In my opinion, here in 2022, we’re currently in the “birth pains” phase of the story (Mt. 24:4-8). We’re beginning to see escalating crisis and wickedness, and we may speculate over what developments might evolve into that system, but we’re not in full-blown Harlot Babylon mode yet. But that is the next step on the end-time agenda, so stay tuned!

How should the church be preparing?

When the disciples asked Jesus about the signs of His coming, the first thing He said was “See that no one leads you astray.” (Mt. 24:4) Deception will be the church’s primary enemy. A few verses later, Jesus also warned, “Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” (Mt. 24:12) Sin and deception lead to once-fiery love growing cold. In my opinion, this is the scariest part of the entire end time drama.

There will be a great falling away (Mt. 24:10-12, 24; 1Ti 4:1; 2Th. 2:3) and we cannot suppose we are automatically immune to it. I’m speaking for myself– there is no guarantee that I will be faithful to Jesus through the Harlot Babylon if I don’t keep actively pursuing Him.

There are four primary challenges for the end-time church that will lead many down this path:

• Fear (because of the crises)
• Offense (at God and others)
• Lust (to dull fear and indulge the flesh, not only sexually)
• Deception (away from God’s Word)

So what’s the remedy? Luckily, the Holy Spirit has abundant grace to help us stay steady if we keep leaning into Him. The way we do that is simple– not easy, but simple: fiery first commandment love for Jesus.

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
(Mark 12:30)

Keep abiding in Him.

Keep a vibrant and consistent prayer life.

Keep close to the fellowship of believers.

Keep studying and praying the Word.

Keep check on anything that would draw you away from Him.

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy…”
(Jude 24)

He’s able to keep you. We don’t have to be afraid that we will accidentally lose our salvation, but we also “have need of endurance” (He. 10:36). Let’s keep pressing into Him and keep “first love” (Re. 2:4) alive so that we can be part of the victorious bride that triumphs over Babylon!

Further Resources

For further study, I recommend the book I mentioned earlier, Babylon: The Resurgence of History’s Most Infamous City by Peter Herder with Benji Nolot.

For a slightly different take on the Harlot Babylon with some really interesting insights, check out Joel Richardson’s book Mystery Babylon: Unlocking the Bibles’ Greatest Prophetic Mystery, which is also offered as a free ebook.

For solid teaching resources on the Harlot Babylon, you can find a long series and a short series at tprdfw.com.

Finally, I really love the way Babylon is portrayed in the film Ballads of the Revelation by Frontier Alliance International. You can watch it free online, and here’s their delightful foot-stopping ode to the fall of Babylon (the lyrics of which I currently have as a poster on my wall):