Last Days On Earth: Are we in them? See for yourself

By Randy Nelson

What on God’s Green Earth is About to Happen?

Are we living in the last days? How can we know? And if so, what does that mean, and what’s next?

If you have asked yourself those questions, you are not alone. To many of us, this is a scary time to be alive. It seems that every newscast raises more questions about whe

• Language: English
• Publisher: Worldwide Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9783961426812

Randy Nelson

Randy Nelson was born and raised in Saskatchewan and moved to the BC coast for a job as a fishery officer without ever having seen a salmon. He has since become the most decorated fishery officer in the history of the province, having received multiple awards, such as the international Pogue-Elms Award and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, in his thirty-five year career. Randy is an accomplished athlete, having raced in over two hundred competitions including ten marathons. He used that running ability to literally run down and catch hundreds of poachers. He has also curled over four thousand games and played in numerous national championships including the Brier, Seniors, Masters and Canadian Police Nationals. Randy is also the author of Poachers, Polluters and Politics (Harbour Publishing, 2014). He lives in Kamloops, BC.

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Endorsements

Randy Nelson was my Bible teacher for the Book of Revelation and then many more Bible studies until he left to be a missionary in Romania.  We enjoyed the way he would make God's Word come alive to us. He is a remarkably knowledgeable teacher and friend.

Mary Fox

long time student and now Bible study leader

In this book, Randy Nelson provides unique insight and excellent interpretation of Scripture as related to the last days in a well-organized manner. With context foremost in mind, he answers many of the questions people are asking about the end-times and our place in it. I’m glad to add my endorsement to it.

Norm Probst

long time student and now Bible study leader

Randy Nelson taught me how to study the Bible for myself causing my relationship with the Lord to grow beyond measure.  He showed me principles like:  scripture must be studied in context, interrogating the text to understand what it is saying, using Scripture to interpret Scripture.  He showed me from the Word itself what God has revealed about the last days.

Carol Bryan

long time student and now Bible study leader

Dedication

To you the reader – may this volume lead you to the Living God, either to find a relationship with Him or deepen the one you have.

Thanks

To Mary Matthews, Vicki Lee (Lea) Nelson, Carol Bryan and Mary Fox for reading and helping edit the manuscript.  To my daughters, Neely and Jenna who helped me choose cover art. To my long-time Bible Study students who diligently studied the Bible with me; we learned and grew together. They encouraged me to write this book.

I want to give deep and sincere thanks to Worldwide Publishing Group and especially to Eddie Smith who has helped me many times in the writing and publishing of this book.

But, most of all, to my dear wife of 34 years, my soul-mate and partner for life, Tamara, who encouraged me many times to keep going with this project and who co-labored diligently with me to edit and prepare this manuscript for publication. Her advice and assistance are priceless.

Introduction

I gave my heart to Christ as an oceanography student at the University of Washington in April 1971, and shortly after, there was a prophecy conference for students.  I read Hal Lindsey’s book The Late Great Planet Earth (published in 1970 by Zondervan) so I was eager to attend.  Prophecy was my new-found passion, and this conference was a delight for me.  That book and the conference made assumptions and drew conclusions which 45 more years of Bible study have shown to be premature.  Much has happened since those days, and we have the advantage of more information.

Over 20 years ago, I began to teach Revelation using the Precept Upon Precept Series of 4 study books entitled Revelation supplied by Precept Ministries International.  It took two years to finish (4 semesters), and by the end, we had these conclusions.

We had a very clear understanding of the book of Revelation and the additional texts.

Our faith grew because we could clearly see that regarding our future, God has this.

Our fear of the future was reduced because we studied the Word of God.  Fear and faith cannot coexist simultaneously in our minds.

But, as I taught, I wondered how the 7 years of Revelation would begin.  God loves natural processes and this momentous time would not start without a natural beginning. 

In 2008, I heard Joel Rosenberg discuss his study of Ezekiel 38 and 39 and was excited about finding a natural process which could fit into the End Times materials.  I sent emails to my Revelation students and invited them to a class where I discussed these additional texts depicting how the 7 years might begin.

In 2010, my wife and I moved to Lugoj, Romania to serve as missionaries.  While there I read material by Bill Salus about the Psalm 83 war.  Again, this seemed like a natural addition to End Times materials.  Questions like How could the Ezekiel 38 war begin were being answered.  I taught Revelation with this additional material to Romanian congregations who were eager to understand more about End Times.

In late 2015 my wife and I returned to the USA to be with our daughter who had been diagnosed with cancer.  My responsibilities were mostly limited to family needs, so I had time to reflect on my years as a Bible teacher.

So, in 2017, I come with this book.  I am adding to the collection of End Times books written over the centuries. Interpretations of Biblical End Times passages have an immense variety.  Older ones, lacking the events of the past 100 years, seem to wrestle with making sense of the texts, trying to fit the text into their knowledge.  For many, even today, Revelation and End Times are bewildering or fearful subjects for study, to be avoided.  I found this to be the case when I started, but as I integrated the texts via inductive study, the topic became clearer.  So, I wrote this book, wanting to share how and what I teach regarding End Times.  This will solidify my own thinking and make it available to others as they desire.  I am a firm believer in "study the Bible for yourself."  To help you read this book as a story, I will give my thoughts, but after, I will provide scripture references so that you, the reader, can make your own discoveries from the texts.  I found in all my classes that the students wanted help in stitching the material together.

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In studying the End Times, you quickly find that the material naturally falls into three broad categories; much like human anatomy.

The critical part of the study is the spine, just like in our body.  For End Times, the spine is the book of Daniel.  Daniel was a holy man who was blessed by God with many visions and prophecies, and his writings are critical to correctly understanding the End Times.

The next part is all the rest of the bones which make up the skeleton.  They form the body's appearance and stature.  These bones are the actual book of Revelation.  Add those chapters to the texts from Daniel, and you have a full skeleton and the shape of the End Times.

The final part is the muscles and organs which is added to the bones to make a fully functioning body with an appealing appearance.  The muscles and organs are added layer by layer from many books of the Bible to form a fully visible body of material integrated and connected in a logical way.

So, our study will take these broad avenues of discovery.  I will also make frequent use of timelines to see better when an event occurs and how it integrates with other events. 

Be aware that many things of God are a mystery and we will find it true in this study.  Do not be afraid to say, I do not know.  However, waiting and listening may bring you the answer.  Though I have taught End Times repeatedly, each time I do, God shows me new insights and additions to integrate into the body of material even further.  This is happening now as I write.

Many authors approach only one topic or time period in the End Times.  I want to write a chronological story for all of the End Times which will show a sequence of events in order of their possible occurrence.  As I wrote the story, I quickly realized that I had too much material for a single book, so it became a series of 3 books.  They are organized this way:

Book 1:  Current day up to the fulfilling of the Times of the Gentiles.  This is a foundation book. It is important to have a solid understanding of the basics before moving into later events.

Book 2:  The Rapture to Revelation 15, preparing for the Bowls of Wrath.

Book 3:  The Bowls of Wrath, the 2nd Coming of Christ, the Millennium and into Eternity.

Because the applicable texts are spread out throughout the Bible, we will sometimes have to look ahead to find a reference.  I lament this spoiler of discovery method, but I don’t see any other way.  As a flow of study, I will follow this plan for the series:

Study Revelation 1 as an introduction and an overview and then study Daniel as the spine (in Book 1).

Study the events which could lead up to the 7-year Tribulation (in Book 2).  Texts for these events are found in many places in the Bible.

Study Revelation chapters 6 through 22 and associated texts where they are applicable (in Books 2 and 3).

I will organize a chapter this way:

I will write my thoughts about the chapter topic.

At the end of the chapter, if you would like to "See for Yourself," I will give you:

What to review before beginning your study.

A list of verses to consult.  You can organize your time however you like.

A list of questions to consider as you study, although your own questions may arise.

As you read these books, give yourself a break before rushing ahead with the next chapter or even the next paragraphs.  Take some time and ponder the topic and let it sink into you like a soft rain on dry ground.  I know that sometimes my students thought the amount of material to absorb was enormous. 

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There are several topics which need to be discussed before we begin our actual study.

BIBLE SELECTION:    Which Bible you use has a great bearing on your understanding of the message given by God.  To better study the End Times, you need to choose a Bible which is as close to the original Hebrew and Greek as possible.  In English Bibles, this would be the King James Bible (it is somewhat out of date now, many original language texts have been found for newer translations) (KJV), the New American Standard (NASB) or the English Standard Version (ESV).    Other Bibles are good for many purposes, but they are paraphrased for better readability, not for close study.

TIME:  Frequently we will encounter lengths of time in the text.  We need to understand how the Jews and early writers measured time.  Generally, they used 30 day months and 360 day years.  Clearly, as the years marched on, the calendar date of the seasons would shift and finally become so far off that they adjusted their calendars by adding an extra month or two to compensate for the difference and realign their month-season assignments.  But, they retained their 30-day months.  So, when we see 1260 days, or 42 months or "time, times (times in the original language is really two) and half a time," we can know that the writers really mean 3 ½ years.  This is important because we will see time references in many of our texts and we need to realize that we can connect events with these time references.  The fact that they are equivalent comes from examining the various texts and seeing how they describe similar events. Thus, we see many representations of time are similar.

INTERROGATE THE TEXT:  Using the 5Ws and an H, Who, What, When, Why, Where and How, is encouraged as well as any research tools you have.  After you read my thoughts, make sure you understand what is happening in a section before you go on to the next.  Write down questions you have as they may be answered in later study.

TEXT INTERPRETATION:  We will interpret the text literally as much as we can unless the grammar indicates otherwise.  God means what He says, and the Biblical writers were inspired by God to write what they saw, heard or experienced.  We need to learn from their words.

Know that the Bible often gives overviews and then expanded details.  Creation is a good example.  Genesis 1:1 is the broad overview.  The rest of chapter 1 is then details of how it was done.  Chapter 2 finishes the days of creation and then gives details of how man was created, which was the part of Creation that God was most interested in because man was made in His image.  We will see this writing style several times in our study.

There are some creatures or other things or events in Revelation which we will not interpret.  Many commentators of End Times feel a need to interpret everything they find.  My goal is to interpret only those texts which are important to the message of Revelation and the End Times. We must realize that John and the other Biblical writers are trying to write down what they hear or see.  But, in Revelation, the scenes that John sees are beyond what he knows about and so he wrestles with describing something so new to him.  We need to identify the things that need interpreting and things that don't.  An example of the things which do not need interpreting are the four living creatures found in Revelation 4.  They are very interesting creatures and are found elsewhere in the Bible, but it is not necessary to interpret what they are to make sense of the message of the End Times.  We will only note their existence, what they do, and what marvelous creatures they are but then we will move on.

Also, know that over the 2000 years since Revelation was written, many interpretations have been put forward as truth by the writers.  I am no exception.  I believe that my interpretation is a good one.  Other interpretations may radically differ from what is in this book. I have read some.  I choose to calmly disagree with these writers and let God show forth His Truth and Plan.

The most important context in interpretation to regard is time.  I have read writers who comment on current events or an End Times passage but do not include it in the time context of other passages.  Examples include:

In the 1940s, Mussolini was thought to be the Anti-Christ because he was a leader in Rome.  Though he was a leader and participated in a world war, time has shown this to be an incorrect interpretation.

Some have thought that the Catholic Church could be part of the evil End Times leadership, even the Pope being characterized as the Anti-Christ.  So far, this has not been the case.

Scriptural time context is important too.  Some link the army of 200 million found in Revelation 9:16 and the blood from the winepress coming out up to the horses’ bridles from Revelation 14:20. Without regarding the time context, these verses link conveniently.  Blood from 200 million men would be a lot, maybe as tall as a horse’s bridle.  But, in time context, the army of 200 million happens during the 6th Trumpet and the wine press of God occurs in the 7th Bowl.  These are separated by perhaps 4 years out of 7 in Daniel’s 70th Week.  To ignore this time separation results in poor passage linkage or interpretation.

STUDY METHOD:  We will study the texts inductively.  This is very important.  Please set aside all the study you have previously done and any materials which you have heard, and read and study the texts as if they were new to you.  Please do not come to the texts with an agenda or a previous interpretation.  If you do, your observations and interpretations will be clouded.  Let the text speak for itself and tell us what it wants us to know.  These are God's Words, and we need to listen and not presume.

The inductive method involves four parts.

Prayer

We are studying God’s Word.

Ask Him into your study to reveal what He wants you to learn.

Observation

Most of your time will be spent in this part.  It is reading the text and noting all the facts that you find.  You are inducing the text to tell you what it is saying. 

It is like doing a picture puzzle and looking for the border pieces first, then looking for the inside pieces.

Interpretation

After you have observed the text, then spend some time on interpretation. 

Interpretation is deciding what the text means by what you have observed and correlating this text with others.

There is a general interpretation for all of humanity and then specific interpretation for you personally.

Application

Application takes the Truth that you have found and applies it to your life.  The power of God is seen in a changed life. 

If there is no application made, then what you studied did you little good other than giving you knowledge without wisdom.

Please do not consult other commentaries as you study.  I want you to be alone with the Bible and let it speak to you.  Commentaries are man's interpretation of the Biblical texts.  Although this book is my commentary, I hope that it will be viewed as a good one as your studies progress.  In the end, you need to rest in God’s Word, as I do, and find a good interpretation of it.

I will make extensive use of timelines, graphical representations of timed events, and outlines of facts.  Organization of the materials is very important to be able to compare texts and to find a correlation between them.  A text will supply some information, but correlating it with other texts adds more, and we need it all.  Writing the facts slows your study and lets you think while you are studying.  This is very important.  Slow is better. 

TEXT CORRELATION:  I will frequently use texts which sound similar to connect passages and add facts and timing to these events.  I do not require that the words be identical, but rather, the intent of the words be similar.  This will be used to link passages and thus to link facts within the passages.

The story awaits, and I am excited to share it with you.

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Chapter 1: Revelation 1

The Unveiling of who Jesus Christ really is

Revelation Chapter 1 is an overview of the whole book and an introduction to the material coming.  John, the apostle, is the traditional writer of Revelation.  If you don’t know about John, you can read about him in the appendix of Biblical Writers.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,

Rev 1:2  who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

How do you ask questions of the text using the 5Ws and an H? [1] Use the above verses as an example. Formulate a question and then answer it from the text, using the words of the text.

WHAT is the book of Revelation?  It is a message that God gave to Jesus to show His bond-servants.

WHO is the ultimate recipient of the message?  His bond-servants.

WHAT is a bond-servant? Traditionally, a bond-servant is a servant or slave who voluntarily places himself in service to his master for his whole life.

HOW did it get to them?  The Father gave it to the Son who gave it to His angel, then to John and then to the bond-servants.

WHEN will it happen?  It must soon take place; the time is near.

WHAT did John write about?  He testified to