1Thessalonians – End Times pt.2
Calvary
Chapel Bible College
October
13, 2021
Homework
Let’s share our memory verse – one at a time.
(1 Thessalonians
4:17 NKJV) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus
we shall always be with the Lord.
Did you come up with any nuggets to share as you’ve been chewing on this
verse this week?
How could this verse be used by you?
Introduction
We are going to
take one more week of a detour on our trip through
Thessalonians.
We continue to lay the groundwork regarding the End Times.
Last week we started talking about His Second Coming.
We talked about this present “Church Age”, the Rapture, the coming war for
Israel, and the beginning of the Tribulation period.
Today we’ll start with a little more about things happening in the
Tribulation period and move forward.
The End Times Part 2
Antichrist
Also known as the “beast” of Revelation.
His background
(Da 11:37
NKJV)
He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor
regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.
Several thoughts:
Regard neither the God of his fathers – We think this means he will
be Jewish, but not a practicing Jew.
Keep in mind, the Jews will look initially to him as their Messiah.
The leaders of Iran belong to an extremist Islamic cult that is looking for
the return of a Muslim Messiah known as the 12th Imam. This “12th Imam”, if he is a real
person, is probably not the antichrist because he is most likely not Jewish.
…nor the desire of women – this phrase is hard to translate. Some think this means that the antichrist
might be gay.
Others think that because the Messiah is the “desire of women” (Jewish
women used to pray that they would be the one to give birth to the Messiah), that
he has no regard for the Messiah.
Just a couple of possibilities.
His miraculous life
(Re 13:3 NKJV)
And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly
wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.
Zechariah wrote,
(Zec 11:17b
NKJV)
…A sword shall be against his arm And against his
right eye; His arm shall completely wither, And his
right eye shall be totally blinded.”
It has been suggested that he will have some sort of attempt on his life,
and recover, sort of like a resurrection. Or … it could be referring to his
nation having gone through a collapse and it recovers. (The “beast” of Rev. 13 can
be a double reference to his nation)
His kingdom
(Da 9:26b NKJV)..And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy
the city and the sanctuary…
The antichrist is the “prince” whose people would destroy Jerusalem after
the Messiah had been cut off. Jerusalem
was destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans.
The Antichrist will be a political ruler and will rule over some form of a
revived Roman Empire.
Daniel 2
& 7 also contain prophecies linking the antichrist to a revived Roman
Empire.
Both prophecies, written hundreds of years before Rome was a world power,
contain predictions of the Roman Empire in both an ancient form and a form that
would be around in our time.
It’s this “latter day” Roman empire that will be the basis of power for the
antichrist.
John records that he “rises from the sea”
(Re 13:1)
Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising
up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his
horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.
This is possibly being a reference about the Mediterranean Sea, that his
kingdom will be situated on or near the Mediterranean.
His sidekick
(Re 13:13–15
NKJV)
—13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven
on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the
earth— by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast,
telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was
wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the
image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as
many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
We refer to this person as the “false prophet”.
What’s the “image”? A robot? CGI? A
“Deep Fake”? A clone? Who knows?
His “mark”
(Re 13:16–18
NKJV)
—16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to
receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one
may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the
number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate
the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
Most people are familiar with the “666” number.
A common suggestion is that it is some sort of numerical code that is
equivalent to the name of the antichrist.
Over the years I’ve seen overzealous preachers connect this to credit
cards, barcode scanners, and RFID implants.
I remember in the late 70’s being afraid of getting an ATM card. I got over it.
Today I’ve heard some who say it’s the vaccines.
The important thing is to understand what it is connected to.
(Re 14:11
NKJV)
And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest
day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the
mark of his name.”
Whatever this mark turns out to be, it will be connected to the worship of
the antichrist. For the moment I
wouldn’t be afraid of having a bank account or an ATM card as
long as you have not pledged your worship to a man.
I wouldn’t worry about having a vaccine shot for this reason – you may have
other reasons, but don’t make the “mark” one of them. Yes, it may be setting us up, but there’s a
whole lot of other things that do that as well.
Who is the antichrist?
People are always trying to pin this label on whoever they don’t like. I’ve seen it pinned on everyone from popes to
presidents.
He may indeed be a political leader in power today. But frankly I’m not
sure anyone is going to know the identity of the antichrist because we will
most likely be in heaven due to the Rapture when he is revealed. (2Th. 2:7)
We don’t look for the antichrist, we are looking for Jesus Christ.
Trib Believers
There will be people alive in the Tribulation that believe in Jesus.
The Two Witnesses (Rev. 11:3-6)
John (Rev. 11:3-6)
mentions the “Two Witnesses” who will have a ministry for 3 ½ years, we believe
the first half of the Tribulation.
(Re 11:3–6
NKJV)
—3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one
thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two
olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. 5 And
if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their
enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. 6
These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their
prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike
the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.
They can destroy their enemies with fire.
They can command the weather, stop the rain from falling, and turn water
into blood.
I think these might be Moses and Elijah (look at what they
have the ability to do)
The 144,000 (Rev. 7)
They are called the “servants of our God”.
They will have a special protection by God for a time during the
Tribulation.
They are Jewish (not JW’s), 12,000 from each of the tribes (remember how
God was going to be using the Jews during the Tribulation)
They are all celebate,
men who have never had sex (Rev.
14:4), and live lives of purity.
Some have suggested they will be 144,000 Jewish Greg
Lauries evangelizing the world.
By the middle of the Tribulation, they are no
longer on earth, but in heaven (Rev.
14).
Martyred maybe?
Martyrs (Rev. 20:4)
There will be others who will come to believe in Jesus, but they will not
have an easy time following Jesus. Many
will face death by being beheaded.
Midway in Trib.
There is a very important time marker during the seven
year Tribulation.
When this event occurs, you can mark off 1290 days until Jesus returns. (Dan. 12:11)
This midway point is known as …
The Abomination of Desolation
(keyword)
The prophet Daniel was the first to speak of it.
(Da 9:27 NKJV)
Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of
the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and
offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”
The idea is that something incredibly horrible and “abominable” will happen
which will bring “desolation”. It will
result in God turning His back on something.
We know a little of what this is like because it has already happened once
in history, when Antiochus Epiphanes had a pig sacrificed to Zeus in the Temple
in Jerusalem in the year 167 BC.
But that’s not the event we’re looking at.
Jesus warned of it.
(Mt 24:15 NKJV)
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel
the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand)
…then Jesus tells the Jews to flee into the wilderness.
Keep in mind, Jesus spoke of this
200 years AFTER the time of Antiochus.
Prophecy experts make a difference between the overall Tribulation period,
and the last half, which they call the “Great Tribulation”, because things go
from bad to really, really, really bad.
Paul explains it a bit further and connects it to the antichrist…
(2 Th 2:4 NKJV)
…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is
worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he
is God.
The antichrist will enter into the Temple in
Jerusalem and declare that he is “god”.
This is the “abominable” act that results in God turning His back on the
restored Jewish Temple.
Judgments
One of the driving reasons behind the Tribulation is the judgment of God on
a planet that is in rebellion against Him.
Some people cringe at the thought of God’s judgment, and they say that this
must mean that God is not very nice.
The truth is we all long for things to be made “right”. We all want evil to be dealt with.
Terrible things will be happening on the earth like seas turning to blood,
stars falling from heaven, and sores breaking out on people. Horrible things like:
(Re 16:8–9
NLT)
—8 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, causing it to scorch
everyone with its fire.9 Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they
cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not
repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory.
But in the end, the folks with the best seat watching these events (the
angels) will declare:
(Re 16:7 NKJV)
…“Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are
Your judgments.”
Does the Tribulation sound bad? Are
you interested in learning how to survive the Tribulation? I found something that might be helpful:
Top ways surviving shark attacks:
3. Swim with fatter people.
Try to surround yourself with more appetizing companions. If you know them
well, you might even try to switch their suntan lotion with A-1 Steak Sauce.
This will definitely improve your odds.
2. Listen for the music.
In the event that you are foolish enough to go
swimming in the ocean, listen carefully for the music, as demonstrated in the
marvelous documentary film Jaws. All shark attacks are preceded by the "daah-da, daah-da" chords,
which will gradually become more rapid as the shark gets closer. This is due to
the Doppler Effect.
1. Don’t swim in the ocean.
Ninety-nine percent of all shark attacks take place in exceptionally large
bodies of water also known as oceans. The way to determine if you are currently
in an ocean is to taste the water, which should be salty.
Truthfully, the best way to survive the Tribulation is to not swim in
it. Be ready for the Rapture. Open your heart to Jesus.
Armageddon
The Tribulation ends with the mother of all battles, Armageddon, described
in Rev. 16:12-16:
(Re 16:16
NKJV)
And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.
Armageddon means “mountain of Megiddo”.
Megiddo is located in northern Israel.
There is a large archaeological site at Megiddo because it was built on a
trade route and had it’s own
source of water. There are something like 25 different cities built on top of each
other.
Megiddo overlooks the Jezreel Valley (pan video), with Mount Carmel
forming the western border of the valley.
You can get a great view of the valley from Mount Carmel.
What’s interesting is the large Israeli air base located right there.
The armies of the world will be gathered not to fight with each other, but
to fight Jesus Christ as He returns.
(Re 19:19
NKJV)
And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the
horse and against His army.
Isn’t that interesting? They are
expecting Jesus to return.
The Return
It is at the battle of Armageddon that Jesus Christ returns.
(Re 19:11–16 NKJV)
—11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him
was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12
His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a
name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe
dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in
heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.
15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the
nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads
the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His
robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Jesus is the King of Kings. I
believe we might be part of the armies of heaven.
When He returns, the antichrist and false prophet are tossed into the lake
of fire (Rev. 19:19-21).
The other kings and armies, and possibly all remaining unbelievers are put
to death.
The Millennium
The word simply means “thousand”. In
2000 we entered a new “Millennium”, but there’s another “Millennium” that we
are looking for, the one after Jesus comes back.
The Millennium is the 1,000 year kingdom that
Jesus will set up when He returns.
Satan will be bound in a bottomless pit for 1,000 years. And …
(Re 20:4 NKJV)
And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.
Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus
and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had
not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and
reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Some of our favorite passages in the Old Testament are speaking of this
coming kingdom.
(Is 11:6 NKJV)
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the
young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little
child shall lead them.
During this time, the earth is redeemed from “the curse” of Adam’s
sin. There will be no more devil around
to deceive people
There will be several types of individuals who will populate the world at
this time.
There will be those of us who believe now, were raptured, and who return
with Jesus along with the rest of the saints.
So will all those who have died before us and have their resurrected
bodies. We will all live and reign with Jesus during these 1,000 years in our
new, glorified bodies that never die.
There will be some people who came to believe in Jesus during the
Tribulation, who somehow survived without being martyred, and who enter into the kingdom in the old-fashioned natural bodies.
This group of people in their old-fashioned bodies will be repopulating the
earth during a time when people will live ridiculously long lives.
The Rebellion
(Re 20:7–10
NKJV)
—7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his
prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners
of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is
as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and
surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from
God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are.
And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
John records in Rev. 20 that after the 1,000 years are over, that Satan
will be loosed for a short season (Rev. 20:7-10) in order to
deceive the nations.
And there will be many who follow Satan.
The people in their old-fashioned bodies will have known nothing about the
choice of choosing to serve God or Satan because Satan hasn’t been around.
These folks will serve God, but not because they necessarily want to, but
because they have to.
For these folks, there will be a time to make a choice.
God wants to make sure that when eternity starts, that everyone who is with
Him in heaven is someone who chooses to be there.
The Great White Throne
(Re 20:11–12
NKJV)
—11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I
saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And
another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged
according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
(Re 20:15
NKJV)
And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of
fire.
This is the final judgment where everyone in history who has rejected Jesus
Christ will be raised from the dead and face God. They will be judged. They will be cast into the lake of fire.
Those who have trusted in Jesus Christ will not be judged. He died to pay the price of our
judgment. Jesus said,
(Jn 3:18 NKJV)
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God.
Eternity
(Re 21:1–4
NKJV)
—1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2
Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice
from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will
dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them
and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there
shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain,
for the former things have passed away.”
Sound good? This is where we’re headed.
This is our final destination.
When we get there, we will realize that all this pain and suffering we’ve
endured will be worth it.
(2 Co 4:16–18
NLT)
—16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are
being renewed every day.17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last
very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will
last forever!18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix
our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be
gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
When it comes to the subject of prophecy, it’s important to realize that
God doesn’t just talk about the future to make our heads spin or to impress us.
Prophecy ALWAYS has a goal in mind.
Every prophecy in the Bible has a lesson to be learned or a challenge to
make.
Concern for the Lukewarm
In the book of Revelation, Jesus writes seven letters to seven churches.
I think you can make case concerning the letters that Jesus writes as being
a prophetic picture of church history.
Though there is a sense in which there has always been seven different
kinds of churches at any point in history, there is also a sense in which the
overall flow of church history follows the pattern of the seven churches.
If this is true, then the church of Laodicea, the seventh church, is the
church that will dominate the time just prior to the Rapture.
(Re 3:14–18 NKJV)
—14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning
of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor
hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
We all like cold milk. Some folks
like to drink hot/warm milk. Not too many like to drink lukewarm, sour, room
temperature milk.
Jesus warns the Laodiceans that they have become lukewarm in their faith.
17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need
of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and
naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may
be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your
nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you
may see.
Jesus gives advice for the church to acquire three things.
Lesson
1) Refined gold
The Laodiceans were proud of their wealth, but Jesus wanted them to be
wealthy in a different way, the wealth of faith that comes from the fire.
Fire represents the difficulties of life.
Peter talks about faith in this way:
(1 Pe 1:6–7
NKJV)
—6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you
have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith,
being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by
fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus
Christ,
It’s not the number of toys you own that makes you wealthy in God’s
sight. God is looking for people with a
solid, tested faith.
This is the person who learns to trust God while they are
going through great difficulty. They
learn to keep going.
https://youtu.be/k6C8SX0mWP0?t=16
Now we aren’t fighting for “what’s good in the world”, but
we are fighting for “what’s good in eternity”.
Faith refined by the fire. Faith is only refined by us
learning to endure, learning to keep going even when it is hard. We keep going because we are holding on to
our future hope.
(Jas 1:2–4 NLT)
—2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an
opportunity for great joy.3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your
endurance has a chance to grow.4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is
fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
Lesson
2)
White garments
White garments are a symbol in the Bible of a pure life (Rev. 19:8).
The Laodiceans were living shameful lives, “naked” lives, and they needed
to “cover up” and perhaps put on something a little more appropriate. I’m not just talking about clothes,
I’m talking about the way we live our lives.
God is concerned that we are learning to clothe our lives with good
deeds. He wants us to be serving Him.
Lesson
3) Eye salve
(This is a keyword for the test)
They had become blind to the things of God.
They needed to once more see what God was doing, what God was like, and
where God was leading.
Elisha was a wanted man. He was
getting in trouble with the king of Syria because he kept telling the king of
Israel where the Syrians would attack next.
The king of Syria responded by sending an army to capture Elisha.
(2 Ki 6:15–17
NLT)
—15 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went
outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what
will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. 16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha
told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!”17 Then Elisha
prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes
and let him see!” The Lord opened
the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around
Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.
Are your eyes open to the things of God?
Can you see what God is doing?
Ask God to open your eyes.
Be a servant of God who sees what God is doing.
Let’s be ready for the coming of Jesus.
Pericope Project
No pericopes today … or next week…
Homework
Read both 1&2Thessalonians in CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Memorize 1Thess. 5:9
(1
Thessalonians 5:9 ESV) For God has not destined us for
wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Be ready to recite it in class next week.
Memorize it early so you can chew on it during the week.
Go to our class’s “test” section
Share a prayer request
Take the Quick Quiz for you.
Keywords
The Midway point in the Tribulation is known as
a.
The Abomination of Desolation
b.
Almost There
c.
The Rebellion
What was one of the prescriptions for overcoming “lukewarm-ness”?
a.
Eye salve
b.
Go to a better church
c.
Get re-baptized
Was there something from today’s lesson that you can apply to your life
TODAY?
What was the second “keyword”?