The End of the World
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LESSON 20: THE END OF THE WORLD
Athaliah, the evil mother queen of Judah, was even more ruthless than her mother Jezebel.
After her son, king Ahaziah died, she immediately seized the throne
and murdered all her own grandsons, so that none could reclaim it from her.
With God having promised clearly that through the line of David,
He will send the coming Savior of the world ([10] II Samuel 7:16),
the massacre of this lineage was not simply the evil coup of a tyrannical queen,
but a sinister plot of Satan himself to sabotage the plan of salvation,
a disaster to the people of God.
“But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah,
took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain;
and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.
And he was with her hid in the house of YHWH six years.
And Athaliah did reign over the land.” [12] II Kings 11:2, 3.
In six years, only a few trusted people knew that this son was still alive and hidden in the Temple of God.
In six years, the high priest Jehoiada loved and taught Joash like his own son.
In six years, he prayed and planned for the right time to present to the people the heir to the throne.
And at last, the aged high priest managed to summon the trustworthy generals of Judah
and showed them the living son of David.
They decided to wait until Friday night,
when all the faithful worshipers of God would assemble at the Temple to worship God on the Sabbath,
they would proclaim the son of David to them.
With hundreds of guards stationed on every side,
Jehoiada brought out the descendant of David before the people.
At first they were stunned,
but then upon seeing the crown placed upon his head,
“they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king!” [12] II Kings 11:12.
When the wicked queen heard the trumpets and the celebrating shouts of the people,
she immediately rushed to the Temple, only to find out that her reign was over.
Right on that day, she and all her followers had been terminated,
and Joash had received the kingdom.
The Bible tells of another Son of David,
who will soon come out of the Heavenly Temple amidst the thundering trumpets,
to destroy the wicked and reclaim His kingdom.
1. Who is this legendary Son of David, the King who will soon come out from the Heavenly Temple?
Will that event in any sense be so quiet and gentle as the first time He came?
[13] I Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:
and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
[24] Jeremiah 25:31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth.
[07] I Corinthians 15:51-53 We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality.
[14] II Thessalonians 1:7-9 when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord JESUS Christ:
who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.
Him who died for us upon the cross,
who rose from the dead and ascended to heaven for our justification,
will come again to take us to Himself.
The second coming of JESUS will mark the beginning of the 1.000 years period mentioned repeatedly in [27] Revelation 20.
This event won’t just be incredibly noisy,
but the saints of all times will also be given everlasting life,
even the dead saints will be resurrected by the Lord with immortal bodies.
2. Right before that happened, what would?
[27] Revelation 16:18, 20, 21 And there were lightnings, and thunders, and voices;
and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great…
And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent.
When probation shall be closed, and the forbearance of God be ceased,
all the blasphemers that have been day by day proudly insulted Him,
despised and persecuted His children,
will then know what it is to WITHER before the terrible indignation of the Supreme God of Justice.
Before the second coming of JESUS,
when the Son of God shall have moved out from between His Father and wicked mankind,
the fearsome calamities of the 7 vials of the wrath of God in [27] Revelation 16
will be poured down upon the guilty race
that has rejected His salvation to the bitter end to cling to their sins.
Whosoever sinners shall survive these 7 terrible vials
will be destroyed by the glory of JESUS at His coming,
NONE shall be left, a true End of the world.
3. Who will go with the Lord when He shall come,
and how many people will see Him visibly?
[03] Luke 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words,
of him shall the Son of man be ashamed,
when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.
[01] Matthew 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
[27] Revelation 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.
The Bible is too plain to be misunderstood.
All those who are alive then, both the righteous and the wicked,
shall visibly see the Lord, because the glory of His second coming cannot be missed.
At His tomb, when one lone angel came,
the light from him was so dazzling
that it caused the entire troop of Roman soldiers who were guarding the tomb
to fall on the ground face-flat like dead men ([01] Matthew 28:2-4).
How overwhelming would the combined glory of ALL the angels of heaven be?
And that is not to mention the glory of JESUS and His Father.
The intensity of that light will make the light of even a nuclear explosion look like a fleeting firefly.
4. When JESUS had risen from the dead, was He a bodiless spirit,
or did He have an actual body of flesh and bones, that can be seen and touched?
[03] Luke 24:36-39 And as they thus spake,
JESUS himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:
handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
If JESUS came back to life in spirit form, like a ghost of some sort,
and His body was still lying there in the tomb,
many would have been able to say that He did not actually come back to life.
But He came back with His visible body:
the only religious leader in the history of mankind who managed to defeat death
and left behind an empty grave with over 500 witnesses
resolutely asserted even in the face of torture, imprisonment and death,
that they have seen Him ALIVE AGAIN with their own eyes
after He was so obviously murdered upon the cross and buried in the tomb.
5. In the next coming advent, will JESUS come back in an invisible spirit form,
or in the bodily form that can be seen and touched?
[05] Acts 1:9-11 And when he had spoken these things,
while they beheld, he was taken up;
and a cloud received him out of their sight.
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up,
behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said,
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven,
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Many interpreters of Scripture have been advocating the idea
that Christ had come or will come invisibly in spirit form,
but that is plainly contrary to the Bible.
He will personally come in flesh and bone,
just like when He parted from the disciples on the mount of Olive,
and then “every eye shall see Him”.
6. What would happen to the dead saints that would be resurrected,
and the living saints who will be alive at the Lord’s coming?
Where will they be and what will they do?
[04] John 14:2, 3 In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.
[13] I Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air:
and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
[27] Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them,
and judgment was given unto them…
and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
[07] I Corinthians 6:2,3 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?…
Know ye not that we shall judge angels?
The saints of God will be translated to JESUS in the air,
and they will be brought to His Father’s house in heaven
to rule there with Him for a thousand years.
Throughout this one thousand years, the saints will participate in the judgment.
They will not be determining who will be saved and who will be lost,
because the Lord had already finished that work before He shall come,
when His reward shall be with Him ([27] Revelation 22:11, 12),
to give salvation or damnation to all the righteous and the wicked accordingly.
Thus this one thousand year judgment is to serve other purposes.
First off, if you get to heaven and find out your favorite pastor isn’t there
– while some notorious criminals are –
you probably would need an explanation.
The angels will bring us to the archive to clear things up.
Once this period of judgment is over,
all will be convinced of the love and justice of God towards each case.
All will admit: “true and righteous are His judgments” ([27] Revelation 19:2).
Secondly, this judgment is also to mete out the punishment of the wicked,
to determine the degree of agony, and the duration of burning
that each of them will have to be punished in the lake of fire, which is Hell.
{Ellen G. White, Early Writings, 52.2}
‘After the saints are changed to immortality and caught up together with Jesus,
after they receive their harps, their robes, and their crowns, and enter the city,
Jesus and the saints sit in judgment.
The books are opened—the book of life and the book of death.
The book of life contains the good deeds of the saints;
and the book of death contains the evil deeds of the wicked.
These books are compared with the statute book, the Bible,
and according to that men are judged.
The saints, in unison with Jesus, pass their judgment upon the wicked dead.
“Behold ye,” said the angel, “the saints, in unison with Jesus, sit in judgment,
and mete out to the wicked according to the deeds done in the body,
and that which they must receive at the execution of the judgment is set off against their names.”
This, I saw, was the work of the saints with Jesus through the one thousand years in the Holy City.’
*Note: JESUS will NOT land on the ground in His second coming.
He will not be walking upon it as many falsely supposed.
This second advent is simply to pick up the saints,
and will be an appearance just in the sky.
It will be marked with an event that cannot be counterfeited by Satan:
the mass resurrection of the dead saints.
Because JESUS is the one holding the key to the grave and has the power of resurrection ([27] Revelation 1:18).
7. So before the world ends, all those who proclaim themselves to be our Christ
while walking upon the ground – with or without miracles – are…?
[01] Matthew 24:24, 26 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,
and shall shew great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect…
Wherefore if they shall say unto you,
Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth:
behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
[08] II Corinthians 11:14, 15 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.
Very clearly, our Lord JESUS Christ had personally warned us that they would all be imposters.
When He shall appear again, He will not touch the ground, but stay airborne.
This is a most critical point, because it is more than likely that Satan himself will impersonate JESUS
and counterfeit His second coming by appearing as a glorious being
that would look very much like how we imagine JESUS to look like.
The only difference is, Satan will be walking around upon the earth to deceive people,
and while managed to perform some miracles,
withdrawing his diseases from various victims and making it appear like they were healed,
he would not be able to resurrect anyone.
Even so, this last act will be so convincing that the majority of mankind will be deceived.
In the picture: “christ” Ahn Sahng-hong (1918-1985),
heralded as Christ yet walked on land and died in 1985 by a heart attack,
couldn’t come back to life, still dead inside a grave until today, for verification.
My advice for dealing with the cults of these imposters
is to waste not your valuable time listening to them diverting you away to all their lalaland teachings
(like this Ahn Sahng-hong cult really loves to preach about keeping the Passover),
but just focus on exposing the true identity of their leaders,
and the entire system of doctrines they hold
– among which might be some truths mixing in for the purpose of deceiving people –
will come crumbling down.
8. How will the wicked respond at the second coming of the Lord?
What will that terrible glory do to them?
[27] Revelation 6:15-17 And the kings of the earth, and the great men,
and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men,
and every bondman, and every free man,
hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
and said to the mountains and rocks,
Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb:
For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
[14] II Thessalonians 1:7-9 the Lord JESUS shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord JESUS Christ:
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.
[27] Revelation 20:1, 2 And I saw an angel come down from heaven,
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent,
which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.
NONE of the wicked living at the second coming of the Lord
shall be able to stand before His blazing glory,
but they will all be destroyed by it when He shall come to pick up His saints.
This planet therefore shall have no one left living upon it,
and it will get to enjoy a complete sabbath of 1.000 years.
The “bottomless pit” in [27] Revelation 20:1 that Satan will be imprisoned in is also often misunderstood.
It was translated from the Greek word “abusos”, or “abyss” in English.
In the Old Testament, a similar term was used to describe the Earth in its state of lifelessness before the Creation.
“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the DEEP.” [01] Genesis 1:2.
The word “abusos” later on continues to be used in [03] Luke 8:31
to describe the state where demons have no living thing to enter in.
Thus the “abyss” that Satan will be imprisoned in,
simply means this very earth
when it is reverted back to its lifeless and desolated state during the 1.000 years period.
Nothing special about it.
9. What will happen at the end of the 1.000 years period?
[38] Zechariah 14:4, 5 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives…
and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west,
and there shall be a very great valley;
and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north,
and half of it toward the south…
and YHWH my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
[27] Revelation 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
After the 1.000 years period, the city of New Jerusalem, with the saints inside,
shall land on the place that is now the mount of Olive.
The Lord will descend upon the very mount
from which He had departed the earth and returned to Heaven,
and His feet will cleave that entire mountain asunder,
and send the two halves towards the north and the sound,
flatten the entire plain for the city to land on.
10. What would happen next, causing Satan to be released from his imprisonment?
[04] John 5: 28, 29 all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth;
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life;
and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
[27] Revelation 20:5, 7-9 But the rest of the dead lived not again
until the thousand years were finished…
And when the thousand years are expired,
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
And shall go out to deceive the nations
which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog,
to gather them together to battle:
the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
And they went up on the breadth of the earth,
and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city.
After the one thousand years period,
with the New Jerusalem landing upon the earth,
the second resurrection would also take place: all the wicked will be raised.
When they have temporarily come back to life,
Satan will once again have people to deceive and manipulate.
He will flatter the lost with the prospect of seizing this golden city for themselves,
and they will gather their forces to march against the city.
The whole universe will get to see with their own eyes,
even after being raised again,
these people would still persist in their way of wickedness to the bitter end,
and they would not leave God with any other choice.
11. Before this persistent rebellion and wickedness of the lost, what would God do?
[27] Revelation 20:11, 12 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it…
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
[06] Romans 14:11 As I live, saith the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.
God will appear in the sky above the city,
and His appearance will cause all the wicked to be frozen in terror.
The march against the city will immediately be halted,
and the final phase of judgment shall commence.
The books are opened, and the life of each person with all its most secret sins passes before their eyes.
All will be made plain for both the righteous and the wicked to see ([03] Luke 12:2, 3).
Before these clear evidences, down to every detail,
all those who do evil will be brought to their knees before God
to confess that He was not only just and righteous in judging them,
but has done everything He could to save them.
But they have persistently rejected Him again and again
to live a selfish life of sins and lust.
After this confession, all controversy over sins will come to an end throughout the entire universe,
and it will then be time for sinners to face their final verdict.
12. What is that verdict?
[27] Revelation 20:9 fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
[27] Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire.
[27] Revelation 20:10 The devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.
[06] Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life through JESUS Christ our Lord.
Fire will come down upon the wicked, creating a giant lake of fire, which is the biblical Hell.
Contrary to what many suppose, Hell will be right on the face of the earth,
and its fire will burn the lost to ashes ([39] Malachi 4:3),
not leaving them to wallow in pain forever.
Everyone has but two choices: eternal life, or eternal death.
The God of Love had never sanctioned the existence of an eternal torture chamber,
where creatures made in His image will keep on screaming in utter agony from one million years to the next.
That is only a heresy made up by the Roman Catholic Church in the Dark Ages,
to terrorize and manipulate monarchs and people to submit themselves to this Anti-Christ power.
This blatantly unbiblical doctrine,
sadly, is still passed on to many protestant churches nowadays,
casting a smear upon the name of the Lord.
Another point worth noticing about Hell, is that it will not be run by Satan.
The devil himself, and all the evil angels that followed him (now called demons),
will be punished in that fire, and be reduced to ashes also ([26] Ezekiel 28:18).
There will be no resurrection from the destruction of this fire, which is the second death.
13. After the fire goes out, and all sins are cleansed from the universe,
what will the Lord do for His people?
[23] Isaiah 65:17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth:
and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
[22] II Peter 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
[27] Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.
[27] Revelation 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them.
God will recreate this planet anew, where evil will never rise again ([34] Nahum 1:9).
The garden of Eden that Adam and Eve lost because of sins will be restored back to its former glory.
Peace, joy, love, and all perfect happiness shall be given to the people of God forever!
The story of the Creator who was separated from His children,
and then embraced on a journey to save and bring them back,
will eventually reach its happy ending.
Genesis: God be with His children in Eden.
Revelation: God be with His children in Eden.
14. To sum up the entire lesson, what do we have?
Events at the beginning of the 1.000 years:
1) Lord JESUS comes to pick up His saints,
and the righteous dead are resurrected.
2) The living wicked are all destroyed by the glory of the Lord’s coming,
and by the seven last plagues before it.
3) The living righteous are transformed,
and caught up into the air to meet the Lord in the sky.
4) The Lord will then bring all the righteous to Heaven.
Events during the 1.000 years:
1) The saints in Heaven participate in judging the wicked.
2) Satan and his evil angels are forced to remain upon the earth, in darkness and ruin.
3) There is no human being left alive upon the earth.
Events at the close of the 1.000 years:
1) Lord JESUS comes with His saints to the earth,
and the New Jerusalem will land upon the mount of Olive.
2) The wicked of all times are resurrected,
and Satan will persuade them to lay siege at the holy city.
3) The wicked are judged and punished by hellfire, which will devour them.
4) God recreates the planet anew from the ashes of the earth that has just been cleansed by fire.
15. Bible scholars have studied the genealogies recording the years in the Bible and figured out:
approximately 6.000 years have passed since the fall of men,
and the Lord started to sow His gospel seeds upon the earth.
“One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” [22] II Peter 3:8.
The 1.000 years Sabbath vacation for this planet is at the door,
and it will happen sooner than any apocalyptic scenario that mankind is worrying about, that they estimated to be imminent.
The time for repentance is running out.
{Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, 518.1}
“The great controversy between Christ and Satan,
that has been carried forward for nearly six thousand years,
is soon to close.”
It is the clear will of the Lord that you would not be numbered
among those who shall be lying dead upon the face of this planet,
because He had risked His own life, purchased for you by the price of His own blood
the ticket to everlasting life and unending happiness.
Will you just take His offer?
Appendix
I. Chronicle of the age of the earth: When will this planet be 6000 years old?
A) From Adam until Isaac was born:
+ 130 years old, Adam begat Seth ([01] Genesis 5:3).
+ 105 years old, Seth begat Enos ([01] Genesis 5:6).
+ 90 years old, Enos begat Cainan ([01] Genesis 5:9).
+ 70 years old, Cainan begat Mahalaleel ([01] Genesis 5:12).
+ 65 years old, Mahalaleel begat Jared ([01] Genesis 5:15).
+ 162 years old, Jared begat Enoch ([01] Genesis 5:18).
+ 65 years old, Enoch begat Methuselah ([01] Genesis 5:21).
+ 187 years old, Methuselah begat Lamech ([01] Genesis 5:25).
+ 182 years old, Lamech begat Noah ([01] Genesis 5:28-29).
+ 502 years old, Noah begat Shem ([01] Genesis 5:32, 11:10).
+ 100 years old, Shem begat Arphaxad ([01] Genesis 11:10).
+ 35 years old, Arphaxad begat Salah ([01] Genesis 11:12).
+ 30 years old, Salah begat Eber ([01] Genesis 11:14).
+ 34 years old, Eber begat Peleg ([01] Genesis 11:16).
+ 30 years old, Peleg begat Reu ([01] Genesis 11:18).
+ 32 years old, Reu begat Serug ([01] Genesis 11:20).
+ 30 years old, Serug begat Nahor ([01] Genesis 11:22).
+ 29 years old, Nahor begat Terah ([01] Genesis 11:24).
+ 70 years old, Terah begat Abram/Abraham ([01] Genesis 11:26).
+ 100 years old, Abraham begat Isaac ([01] Genesis 21:5).
Total: 2048 years.
B) From the birth of Isaac until the first temple started to be built:
+ 430 years from the birth of Isaac to the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt ([01] Genesis 15:13, [02] Exodus 12:40, 41, [05] Acts 7:6).
+ 480 years from the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to the first temple started to be built ([11] Kings 6:1).
Total: 910 years.
C) From the first temple started to be built until Jerusalem and that temple were destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in 586 BC:
+ 40-4=36 years remain of the rule of Solomon since he began building the temple ([11] I Kings 11:42).
+ 17 years Rehoboam ruled ([11] I Kings 14:21).
+ 3 years Abijam ruled ([11] I Kings 15:1, 2).
+ 41 years Asa ruled ([11] I Kings 15:9, 10).
+ 30 years Jehoshaphat and his son Jehoram ruled. Jehoshaphat ruled 25 years ([11] I Kings 22:41, 42) and Jehoram ruled 8 years [12] II Kings 8:16, 17), but because Jehoram had ascended to the throne early to co-rule with his father, in the 5th year of Joram king of Israel the northern kingdom, while Joram had ascended to his throne in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat ([12] II Kings 3:1), it therefore means Jehoshaphat only ruled 22 years before his son started to co-rule with him.
+ 1 years Ahaziah ruled [12] II Kings 8:26).
+ 6 years Athaliah mother of Ahaziah ruled ([12] II Kings 11:3).
+ 40 years Jehoash ruled ([12] II Kings 12:1).
+ 29 years Amaziah ruled ([12] II Kings 14:1, 2).
+ 52 years Azariah ruled ([12] II Kings 15:1, 2).
+ 16 years Jotham ruled ([12] II Kings 15:32, 33).
+ 16 years Ahaz ruled ([12] II Kings 16:1, 2).
+ 29 years Hezekiah ruled ([12] II Kings 18:1, 2).
+ 55 years Manasseh ruled ([12] II Kings 21:1).
+ 2 years Amon ruled ([12] II Kings 21:19).
+ 31 years Josiah ruled ([12] II Kings 22:1).
+ 3 months Jehoahaz ruled ([12] II Kings 23:31), counted as 0 year.
+ 11 years Jehoiakim ruled ([12] II Kings 23:36).
+ 3 months Jehoiachin ruled ([12] II Kings 24:8), counted as 0 year.
+ 11 years Zedekiah ruled ([12] II Kings 24:18), until he was captured in the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, which is 586 BC, and then both the city and the temple were destroyed right afterwards ([12] II Kings 25).
Total: 426 years.
D) The year the earth will be 6000 years old:
Total time from Adam to 586 BC: 2048 + 910 + 426 = 3384 years.
Number of years remaining since 586 BC until the earth will be 6000 years old: 6000 – 3384 = 2616 years.
6000 years since Adam was created will be the year:
586 BC + 2616 years = 2031 (-586 + 2616 + 1 year because there is no year 0, 1 BC is immediately followed by 1 AD).
It is unclear exactly what year will the Lord Jesus return, whether it will be 2031, or within a few years of that mark. But mankind obviously has very little time left.
II. The “Secret Rapture” heresy
This is the doctrine that taught the saints will be taken to Heaven in secrecy and quietness,
with 8 main points that are widely spread and embraced by many
without double-checking with the plain testimonies of the Bible.
The only safe conduct to approach this kind of issue
is to “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” ([05] Acts 17:11).
This doctrine’s 8 main points are:
1) The saints will be taken to Heaven in secrecy.
2) That would happen without any visible event in the sky.
3) The wicked will continue to live afterward.
4) God will take away the righteous from the earth
to protect them from the fierce persecution in the last days.
5) This coming advent of Christ will consist of two parts:
(1) the saints are taken away in secrecy,
and (2) the actual coming of Christ in glory.
6) These two phases will be 7 years apart.
7) The saints will be taken away before the Anti-Christ shows up,
who will then bring about the fierce persecution in the last days.
8) The wicked at this point will have a second chance
to repent and surrender to Christ, which will last 7 years.
Pointing out all the flaws of each of these 8 points in detail would take too much space,
but it is possible to give a brief summary.
The 1st and 2nd points have been analyzed in this lesson,
but they will be repeated to be stressed.
1) The translation of the saints to heaven will not happen in quietness, but will be extremely noisy.
The Bible says “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:
and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air.” [13] I Thessalonians 4:16, 17.
A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth.” [24] Jeremiah 25:31.
There is nothing “quiet” about this event!
Christ will come with noises resounding the entire world.
So don’t worry, if you’re alive when He comes, you WILL hear Him.
2) The event will also be seen by all.
All the angels will come with JESUS ([01] Matthew 25:31).
Just one angel appeared when the Lord rose from the dead,
and the light of that one angel was blazing enough
to cause all the Roman guards at the tomb to fall to the ground like dead men ([01] Matthew 28:2-4).
Now combine the glory of all the angels of heaven!
And in addition to that, there will also be the glory of JESUS and His Father ([01] Matthew 25:31, 16:27).
The intensity of the light will be so overpowering,
Lord JESUS said “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west;
so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” [01] Matthew 24:27.
Quiet? Secret? In fact, the Bible has forever sealed the issue with the plain declaration:
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.” [27] Revelation 1:7.
Rest assured, if you’re alive when the Lord comes, you WILL see Him come!
3) The wicked will be annihilated – zero survivors – when the Lord comes
([23] Isaiah 11:4; [39] Malachi 4:1; [14] II Thessalonians 2:8).
4) God will not take the righteous away from the final wave of persecution,
but will use it to forge them, and protect them through it ([19] Psalm 91:5-12).
5) JESUS will not come in two phases, one in secret and one visible to all.
There is only one second coming, and it will be seen by the entire world.
There is no Bible verse to support this two-phase theory.
6) Those who teach this false doctrine believe that there will be a period of 7 years inserted between the two phases.
This does not have any biblical support either.
See lesson “Cleansing the Sanctuary” and Appendix I “the 7 years of tribulation heresy” at the end of the lesson.
7) The Anti-Christ does not wait until 3 and a half years after the saints have been “quietly” translated away to appear.
He has already been around for many centuries ([23] I John 4:3),
and right now is already doing his wicked work.
Review lesson “The First Beast” to know who the Anti-Christ is.
8) This is an extremely dangerous mindset that will deceive countless people into perdition.
Many who believe this unbiblical theory basically say to themselves:
I can wait until the Lord takes away His saints in secrecy to surrender to Him,
and keep enjoying sins from now until then.
Eventually, that “secret” event never comes,
and when JESUS comes, these people are still in the state of rebellion,
and have to receive sudden destruction pouring down their heads.
Take note: that sudden destruction has always been the fate of those dumb enough to think they can outwit God Almighty,
leaving behind many valuable lessons.
Let us not take those lessons lightly, but contemplate and learn from them.
In the next lesson, we shall delve into the 70 weeks prophecy in [27] Daniel 9:24-27
which outlined the timing of the first coming of the Messiah
and see how it was fulfilled to the letter,
and also the 2300 days prophecy in [27] Daniel 8:14
– the longest prophetic period in Bible prophecy –
which led to the Second Great Awakening in 1844
that marked the beginning of our era: the final phrase of earth’s history,
right before the Second Coming of Christ, the end of the world.
And we shall see how we have an urgent message to bear to all the earth, after clicking “next”.
