Eschatology 101

By Robert J Cottle

When will the Antichrist appear?

What is the Biblical timing of the Rapture?             
Who is the Beast and the False Prophet?             
What happens during the Millennial reign of Christ?
All these questions and many more are plainly answered within the pages of this book.  

Eschatology is the study of Scripture that pertains to:              
The period on earth prior to the Lord's return              
The rapture of the Church              
The Antichrist and his kingdom               
God's judgment on unsaved man              
The millennium reign of Christ               
The final destruction of Satan              
The white throne judgment. 
This book answers all these points, not based on the reasoning of man, but on what the word of God says.   What it reveals may surprise and challenge you.  Much of the book is written expository style by providing the scripture then adding  commentary.
My Holy Spirit led study of eschatology over the past thirty years has made me understand that while some Bible verses individually may appear vague or open to conjecture a clearer understanding always matures when the whole of scripture is taken into account. Within this book I have been deliberate to allow God's Word to speak for itself and not to instil personal bias.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert J Cottle
• Release date: Jul 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9780473684921

Robert J Cottle

This, Robert’s third book, draws from his experiential understanding as a scholar of the Bible for over 50 years, having been actively involved in church life from a young age. He served has a lay preacher and also a church elder. In his secular life, Robert worked in professional engineering then later in senior business management but now retired and living in Nelson, New Zealand he enjoys writing.

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Robert J Cottle

All scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved." ™

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of; Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Graphics used in this book are from Bread of Life Ministries (BOLM) and are used by permission. All rights reserved.

Unless noted otherwise all scripture quotations in this book (highlighted in italics) are from the New King James, English translation, of the Bible.

Copyright © 2023 by the Bellbird Trust

Published by: Bellbird Books,

2 Sabine Drive,

Richmond, Nelson, 7020,

New Zealand.

ISBN 978-0-473-68492-1 (Epub.)

All rights reserved. This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other – except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior express written permission of the publisher.

Special thanks:

TO: ANDREW, MARK, CRAIG, Karl, Bentley, and Hein, who all allowed me to interview them for their understanding of this subject.

A VERY SPECIAL THANKS to: David Nathan, a Jewish believer in Jesus, my friend, and brother, whose teaching inspired this book, and for his diligent efforts in expounding the theology of this book.

John 14: 1-3 tells us, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." This book explores the question: what does the Bible teach us about the return of Jesus?

Introduction

An obvious question to answer is: what is Eschatology? The best explanation I could find is from David Nathan.

Eschatology is the study of Scripture that pertains to:

›  the period on Earth prior to the Lord’s return

›  the rapture of the church

›  the Antichrist and His Kingdom

›  God’s judgment on unsaved man

›  the millennium reign of Christ

›  the final destruction of Satan

›  the white throne judgment

It is the study of the end of time.

While researching this book, I’ve discovered that there are almost as many opinions on the end times as there are saints. Many books have been written on the subject, and unfortunately, many have strayed into personal bias or non-biblical viewpoints. That said, there are a number of sound teachers of eschatology who base their understanding on the full counsel of scripture. One such teacher is David Nathan, and it is his understanding and guidance that have formed the basis of the information in this book, an understanding that is not based on the reasoning of man but on what the Word of God says. You will find that much of this book is written in an expository style, providing the scripture and then adding commentary.

I do not profess to be an expert on this subject, but I know the Holy Spirit dwells in me. I have studied eschatology for about thirty years and have found that while some Bible verses individually appear vague or open to conjecture, a clearer understanding matures when the whole of scripture is taken into account. My intention with this book is to allow the Word to speak for itself and not instill personal bias. Please read carefully and ask the Holy Spirit for understanding. Also, please do not take my word for it. I urge you to check all the Bible references personally.

Another important consideration regarding our understanding of the end times is that the majority of the specific events mentioned are not necessarily critical to our salvation. If you are not saved—redeemed by the blood of Jesus—then you will have no part in the positive events; your part will be in the wrath of God and the white throne judgment. The time is short; get to know Jesus now. However, if you are truly saved—washed by the blood of Jesus—you will certainly share in the return of Christ Jesus regardless of your fervent or otherwise held belief in the timing or fulfillment of any event. Just do not be deceived.

One thing is very clear: regardless of exactly what we believe about unfolding events, Jesus is coming back, and He is taking us to be with Him. Scripture leaves no doubt about that. The return of Jesus is never to be feared by the believer. Do not fear!

The Kingdom

Ask most saints to explain God’s end-times plan, and they will likely open their Bibles to the book of Revelation and begin from there. Of course, it’s true; much of the book of Revelation does describe end-time events, but little new prophecy is revealed in the book. The book is best described as bringing together, or a summary of, the numerous other end-times prophecies scattered throughout the Bible. Some of these other Bible references are brief, but many are incredibly detailed and provide a clearer understanding of fulfillment and timing.

God dwells outside of time and is, therefore, not bound by its constraints. It is mind-boggling to us as humans, but God created time. Time’s most serious consequence is that we are all locked in the present. We can look back on the past solely through memories or recorded history. Once the moment has passed, it is etched in granite, and no amount of desire or will on our part can ever change its occurrence. The past stands as a perpetual memorial of every single instant of time. Things can be done to appease past occurrences, but to change what occurred in the past is impossible for man.

The future is equally outside our control. We may have a strong vision of the future and well-developed plans to accomplish it. We frequently succeed in implementing them, but there is never a cast-iron guarantee of success. Even our lives are fickle in terms of future events; we don’t know for certain if we’ll even be alive tomorrow. He was hit by a bus on the way to collect his lottery prize! How many times have you heard, or used, the expression: "If I only knew that was going to happen, then I would have done... Man only has control of the moment, which sadly is not much in the grand scheme of life.

A comprehensive realization of that fact can be very frustrating and, frankly, downright depressing. A natural attribute of man is a desire to control. However, the reality is that we’re just achieving life step by step, reflecting on the past, and hoping for the future. Hope is an inherent characteristic of mankind. Control is not. The desire to control was a side effect of the rebellion in the Garden of Eden. You’ll be like God was part of the lie the serpent told Eve. Hope is extremely powerful; with it, we become creative and filled with such positive emotions as happiness, joy, peace, love, courage, and empowerment. Hope opens the door to possible fulfillment and a desire to attempt and achieve. Remove hope; all you have is negativity, death, and darkness.

Clearly, hope is fundamentally vital, so what are the feeders of hope? What draws it out, and what develops it? The short answer is an expectation for the future. Whatever I’m experiencing at this very moment can, with different circumstances or environments, be better in a time yet to come. Life necessitates that we all make plans for the future and set up programs and structures to achieve them. Thankfully, God also gave us wisdom. Wisdom will help us evaluate the most productive actions to create the future we hope for. Once these actions are initiated, they must be constantly monitored and tweaked in real-time to achieve the future we desire. Regrettably, nothing in life is guaranteed, even with great wisdom, skill, hope, and enthusiasm. Hope remains our driver in the future.

God placed the essence of hope within us on the day we were created, and since hope is an expectation of the future, gaining an understanding of or about the future is paramount. As we’ve said, man in his natural state has very little control over the future outside his immediate area of influence simply because he is confined within the boundaries of time. Even the wisest man on Earth cannot with any certainty define precise future events; the best he can predict is a calculated guess. One human being may set up a certain chain of events that should determine a particular outcome, only to have another person manipulate them at a later date, allowing an alternative result.

Time is linear, like an unstoppable juggernaut traversing a continuous line. Man is an embedded player on that ever-progressing route and, therefore, unable to observe it from any other viewpoint. If he could, then the future would be clearly seen, along with all the points leading up to it. Then predicting the future could become a certainty. So, is there such a viewing platform, and who gets to see it? Yes, there is, and naturally, the creator of it, God created time when He made the heavens and the earth. God cannot be confined by something He created; He lives, moves, and exists in his normal state outside of it. Jesus entered time when He became a man and lived on this earth. After His resurrection, Jesus returned to His Father in heaven and now resides outside of time again.

Therefore, everything that God does and says is beyond any time constraint. God is the controller of His created time. The flow of time is directed by God, who appoints particular times within His unfolding purposes. God ordered the children of Israel to hold His feasts at their appointed times. Leviticus 23:4 says, These are the set feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season. God has divided time into seasons. Deuteronomy 11:14 says, That I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. God is fully in control of time; He is its director and sees the entire line of time from His throne.

It should come as no surprise when God tells us of something occurring in the near or distant future. He can clearly observe and control every detail of every single event from this day until the end of time. To our natural mind, that’s difficult to comprehend, but from His viewpoint, it’s actually quite unremarkable. Imagine you’re reading a nonfictional diary of someone’s entire life. You can freely flip over to page 215, to the end, or to any other page and read that day’s events. You have a complete overview of any time in that person’s life. In the same way, God has that ability even though, to us, our book has not yet been completed.

With this perspective on God, why are we surprised when things predicted in the Bible come to pass? And not just occur but are fulfilled in precise detail? Critics of God’s Word have claimed that since some of the prophecies in the Bible have been fulfilled with such accuracy, they must have been written after the fact. This is particularly enunciated in the books of Daniel and Isaiah. Awkwardly for these critics, manuscripts of both of these books available today are proven to have existed prior to the fulfillment of much of their prophecies.

Prophecies are not confined to just those two books; the Bible contains an enormous volume of the foretelling of future happenings. It accurately accounts for numerous specific events—in detail—many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Approximately 2,500 clear prophecies are found on its pages, about 2,000 of which have already been fulfilled to the letter — with absolutely zero errors. The remaining 500 or so reach into the future and will be seen unfolding as we progress into the end times and beyond.

Mathematically speaking, the probability of any one of these 2,000 prophecies having been fulfilled by chance is conservatively figured at one in ten. Since the prophecies are, for the most part, independent of one another, the odds of all these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error are less than one in 102,000 (that is, 10 with 2,000 zeros written after it)! Basically, in layman’s terms, not at all likely! Using this level of accuracy, when applied to yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies, we can be absolutely certain the named happenings will occur and not just transpire but will do so exactly as they are described.

It should be abundantly clear to anyone reading the Bible today that when God says He’s going to do something, He always does it—no exceptions.

A good place to start when considering the end of time is the book of Daniel. The revelations and details in that book are phenomenal.

Daniel was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, during the first siege of Jerusalem as a young man. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a close advisor to the king.

One night, King Nebuchadnezzar had a very vivid dream but, in the morning, couldn’t remember the details. Being supreme, he demanded that his wise men tell him his dream, then the interpretation of it. They rightly told the king that no man, only a God, could do what the king asked. In a rage, Nebuchadnezzar demanded that all his wise men, his magicians, his enchanters, and his sorcerers be slaughtered.

Daniel, being one of the wise men, immediately petitioned Arioch, the captain of the guard, to hold off the killing until the morning so he could show the interpretation to the king. Daniel spent the night in prayer with his three Jewish friends, and God revealed the dream to him in a vision.

The next morning, young Daniel boldly stood before the great king and told him the dream. Daniel 2:27–35: "The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed were these: As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes, who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.

"You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you, and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole Earth."

Daniel confidently continued and explained to the king the meaning of the dream. Daniel 2:36-45, "This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the Earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure."

Nebuchadnezzar was delighted to finally have his dream retold together with its meaning, so he promoted Daniel to be the ruler over the whole province of Babylon and showered him with gifts.

Okay, so this is an interesting account, but why is this dream a major key to understanding the end times?

From our point on the timeline, we have a massive advantage that King Nebuchadnezzar didn’t: history. We can today look back at history and know that after Nebuchadnezzar came the Medes and Persians, then Alexander the Great, followed by the Roman Empire. We know these are the kingdoms referenced, as Daniel had another dream during the reign of Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar. We’re given the interpretation of that dream in Daniel 8:20–22: "The ram which you saw, having the two horns—they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power." We know from history that Alexander’s kingdom was taken over by his four generals, and that from one of those, the fourth kingdom, the Roman Empire, was formed.

History also records that Rome was divided and became the Western Empire and the Eastern Empire. That division changed Roman life and government forever. There were now two emperors in each half, and they governed independently. The capital of the Western Empire was Rome, and the capital of the Eastern Empire was Constantinople. This divided kingdom clearly has two legs of iron. The feet of iron and clay are an extension of that, but more on that later.

By understanding who the kings are, we can also ascertain the dates when these kingdoms were around. In 31 B.C., at the Battle of Actium, Augustus won a decisive victory over his rival, Mark Antony, and his Egyptian fleet. Returning to Rome, Augustus was acclaimed as a hero. With skill, efficiency, and cleverness, he secured his position as the first Emperor of Rome. Less than 30 years before the birth of Jesus, the Roman Empire, the kingdom of iron, was born.

Daniel 2:44 tells us: "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever ‘In the days of these kings’ refers to the kings of the legs of iron that later became feet of iron and clay, culminating in ten toes.

In short, during the time of the Roman Empire, God set up a Kingdom far superior to all those mighty kingdoms, and His Kingdom will last forever. Now this is the whole point: Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God. Jesus brought the concept of the Kingdom of God to this earth. It began on Earth when Jesus came, and in accordance with the prophecy, it is going to strike the feet—the kingdom of iron and clay - —and bring all the kingdoms of this Earth to an end. The end times are all about the Kingdom and the King of that Kingdom.

The Jewish people understood this, and when Jesus arrived on the scene, they were all looking for the great Messiah who would lead Israel in the defeat of her enemies and establish His kingdom over the whole earth.

This is confirmed in scripture, firstly in Luke 17:20-21, "Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you. These rulers of the Jews were looking for a physical kingdom, but Jesus makes it clear that He was the Kingdom, and He was within you," among you, in your midst. It was there, alright, but not what they believed.

His disciples also asked Jesus after His death, just before His ascension into heaven, in Acts 1:6–8, "They asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has put under His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. In other words, No, first me and my work will have to be preached throughout the whole earth, then the end will come. Matthew 24:14, says, And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

Jesus came at the exact time as prophesied and began the work of the Kingdom on this earth. He made a way so that all who would accept Him as Lord would enter His Kingdom. That is the period in which we live. The door is open to all who will accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and enter the Kingdom. The Bible is very clear that this time of grace will end, and only those who have made Jesus their Lord will be part of His Kingdom.

This point about the Kingdom is fundamental to our understanding of end-time events. It’s all about the Kingdom of God being established on this earth.

Jesus, when speaking with Nicodemus in John 3:3, said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." This is a very important point to acknowledge at this juncture. Unless you are born again, you will never see this Kingdom that Jesus began on Earth after He was born here about two thousand years ago. This book is about the events that are about to take place on this earth that will usher in God’s Kingdom on this earth. As we progress through this book, it will become clear that the time for the return of Jesus as King is very near.

We can debate all we like about that Kingdom and the events surrounding it, but the simple truth is, according to John 3:3, "unless you have been born again, you will never see that kingdom. If that is you, please fall on your knees right now and cry out to Jesus. He will definitely hear you, regardless of who you are, where you are, or what you have done in your life. If you genuinely call out to Jesus from a state of a complete acknowledgment of a life devoid of Him, telling Him you repent (turn away from) your sinful, independent state without Him and ask Him to become Lord of your life, then you will be saved. Doing that from the depths of your heart will allow Jesus to become the Lord, the King, and the boss of your life. Just like Colossians 1:13 tells us, He will have delivered you from the dominion of darkness and transferred you into the kingdom of His beloved Son."

Only if you have done that wholeheartedly before you reach the end of your life here will you ever see the Kingdom of God. He has so much good in mind for the subjects of His kingdom. God the Father calls us sons and joint heirs with Christ in this kingdom, and we will rule and reign with Him forever and ever! Glory to God!

The interesting thing is that once we have been born-again, we will see the Kingdom of God because we will be in a relationship with the King of that Kingdom. Many Christians believe that we become born-again, and that is the pinnacle of our walk with God on this earth. We simply need to fill out our time on this earth by doing good until we die and go to heaven. However, Jesus says in John 3:3 that once we’re born-again, we see the Kingdom. Jesus is our Lord and King of the Kingdom. From that moment on, we begin serving King Jesus, helping him build His Kingdom by bringing others into it in whatever way and by whatever means He directs. Jesus is in full control; He is the head of His church, which is His body. Currently, that body, the church, is here on Earth carrying out the commands of its head –, Jesus.

There is one thing to clarify, which we’ll expand more on later in this book. There is a false doctrine out there called dominionism or ‘Kingdom Now’ theology. It’s most popular among Charismatic and Pentecostal groups and focuses on taking dominion of the earth by way of spiritual battle. Kingdom Now adherents believe that long ago, Satan stole the keys of spiritual dominion when he deceived Adam and Eve. Then, when Christ gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter in Matthew 16:19, it was a sign that dominion had been returned to man. Now it is our job to take back what is rightfully ours — that is, to claim dominion over the earth and spiritually subdue it for Christ. Proponents of Kingdom Now theology believe that the capturing of this dominion includes having Christians in political office, plus a return of spiritual power manifested by signs, miracles, and healing. Kingdom Now theology is taught in the book ‘When Heaven Invades Earth’ by Bill Johnson of Bethel Church. A great read but not one based on a sound Biblical foundation. Remember the Devil is the master of deception.

While many well-meaning Christians are attracted to these philosophies, Christian dominionism and its offshoots are unbiblical. Although these systems of thought are nominally based on biblical principles, both Christian Reconstructionism and Kingdom Now theology veer away from the heart and message of the gospel. It is understandable that Christians, troubled by abortion and the general moral chaos of a relativistic society, want to take control of the culture and steer it back towards sanity. But holding on to Dominionism is not a biblically viable option.

In a way, the disciples in Luke 19:11 were of a kingdom now mindset. Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the Kingdom of God would appear ‘immediately.’ They thought that Jesus was going to immediately usher in the Kingdom and wipe out Roman rule. But that wasn’t what Jesus was about then, and it isn’t what He is about now. We belong to a heavenly Kingdom that is not of this world. Jesus speaking to the Pharisees in John 8:23 says, "And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world."

Daniel, when explaining Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, said that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it would break into pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The kingdoms of this earth are not going to be taken over by the saints and handed to Jesus on His return as dominionism teaches. The kingdoms of this earth will be broken into pieces and ground to powder. Why waste time trying to change them? Also, it mentions that the stone is cut out without hands – the work of God, not man.

To recap, then, the time we’re currently in is a period of grace when the gospel (the good news) of the Kingdom is preached and made available to all men, women, and children. This period is coming to an end, and when it does, Jesus will return to this earth to rule and reign in His Kingdom, and all His saints (those who accepted Him as Lord of their lives) will reign with Him.

The misconception of many believers is that the end times are solely about the church. A glorious time when the saints are taken up to heaven and stand before their Lord and Saviour. While those events are, of course, factual, they are not the purpose of the end times.

For the past two thousand years, God has been yearning for all mankind to repent, submit to Jesus, and become a part of His Kingdom. This period is the time of grace. However, all times on earth have an end point. Once the time of grace ends, the time of the rule of Jesus on this earth begins. Revelation 12:5 tells us, speaking about Jesus, "She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron." That doesn’t sound like grace.

The way to view this end of time period is through the transformation of Jesus, our great high priest, seated at the right hand of God, into Jesus the exalted King, coming to take up His Kingdom, His inheritance. The actual title of the book of Revelation leaves very little doubt about this. Revelation 1:1–2, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw."

The book is named ‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ'. The revelation of Jesus the Messiah. At this point in history, we know that the Messiah (the Christ) already came to Earth, died, and rose again. The scripture is clear in that the Messiah has two distinct characteristics: a suffering Messiah, as described in Isiah 53, and a kingly Messiah, as described to Mary in Luke 1:31–32, "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His Kingdom there will be no end."

Many Rabbis have taught in error that there will be two Messiahs, one a suffering one and the other a king. However, Scripture is clear that these are not two but one person. Jesus Christ (Christ means Messiah) came and suffered, died, and rose again. Now, just as sure as his first appearance, Jesus is about to return as a King and take up the throne of David.

This is what the end times are all about. Please take this thought with you as we venture through what the Bible says about events that are scheduled to unfold as Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, physically takes up His Kingdom on this earth. These are real events and things that are soon to literally take place as our King is revealed. It’s not about any other person or even the church, although the church is clearly very involved in these end-of-time events. The principal person of these events is Jesus, our King.

Theological Viewpoints.

As I mentioned earlier , it seems there are almost as many opinions about end-time events as there are Christians. Unfortunately, many Christians view scripture, particularly end-time related prophecy, through an intellectual mindset. Every Christian, if they’re truly born-again, has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. It is imperative that when reading God’s Word that we do so through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

In John 14:26, we’re told, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." If you’re like a lot of Christians and have difficulty understanding end-time events and Revelation in particular, then that verse in John gives us the answer. He, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things. The Holy Spirit is the key to understanding biblical truth correctly. Please ask the help of the Spirit of God to teach you as