Part I ~ Lesson 5 of 6 – The Secret of Understanding Revelation

The Sequence of Endtime Events

Equipping God's Saints (Believers of Christ) through the prophecies of the End Times …

Matthew Chapter 24 is the most famous prophecy chapter in the Bible. It is called the Olivet Discourse. Jesus had been with His disciples. They were just outside of Jerusalem looking at the gorgeous view. His disciples had said, “Lord, look at the beautiful buildings and the Temple.”

(The Temple Mount is the center of Jewish life. It is where the first and second Temples stood. It is where they are hoping to very soon build the third Temple. 4,000 years ago, God had said, “This is where I am going to put my Name.”)

Jesus said, “It's all coming down. Not one stone will be left on another.”

It shocked the desciples. They said, “Lord, when will these things be? What shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the world?”

Jesus spent the rest of Matthew 24 waltzing them through the events that would lead up to the wrath of God, the Battle of Armageddon and the end of this present age. When Jesus explained all this to them, it is what brings us to Matthew 24:29 where it says:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.”

A lot of times people don't expect to see this terminology over in the gospels. We usually reserve all these apocalyptic things for the Book of Revelation or the Book of Daniel. Here we see that Jesus Christ, Himself, taught about these things. He even uses the same phraseology that is used in the Book of Revelation.

Reviewing the elements in Matthew 24:29, we see:

• Sun is darkened
• Moon shall not give her light
• Stars shall fall from heaven
• Powers of heavens shall be shaken

The elements in Matthew 24:29 are all common with the 6^th Seal, 7^th Trumpet and 7^th Vial.

We have seen Lightnings, Great Voices and Thunderings. What are these? Think about it. They are great powers in the heavens, shaking.

You will notice this passage says, “Immediately after the tribulation.” We now see that the Battle of Armageddon will take place immediately after the Great Tribulation. This is the wrath of God.

Before we go further, I'd like to define the Great Tribulation. Many people think it is 7 years. This is a critical issue … it's NOT 7 years. In scripture, you will see that it is only 3 ½ years.

Daniel 7:25 says the “little horn”, which is the Antichrist, will make war against the saints for time, times, and the dividing of time.

Time = 1 year

Times = 2 years

Dividing of Time = ½ year

Total = 3 ½ years

How do we know this time frame is correct? Revelation 13:5 says that, concerning the Antichrist, power was given unto the beast to continue 42 months, which is 3 ½ years.

Then we go to Revelation Chapter 12. We have the dragon making war against the woman, which is Israel, for 1,260 days, which is 3 ½ years.

All references we have to the Great Tribulation states that it is 3 ½ years. How does this equate with what we have always been taught that it is 7 years?

There is a 7 year period called Daniel's 70^th Week. The first half of that period is the Antichrist rising into power by peace and diplomacy. The Great Tribulation begins at the half-way point. Jesus agreed with this in Matthew 24:15 where Jesus said:

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:”

He continues with the warning and then in Matthew 24:21 He says:

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

You can prove from Daniel 9:27 that the abomination of desolation happens in the middle of the 7 years. This Great Tribulation starts 3 ½ years after the abomination of desolation. This is a very important point, because if you don't understand this when going through the Book of Revelation, it can be very confusing.

Later in our studies, we will discuss the Great Tribulation in depth along with the wrath of Satan.

The final passage we want to discuss in our comparison is Ezekiel 38:18-22. In Ezekiel 38 we read about the battle between Jesus Christ and Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. If you look it up in an unabridged dictionary, you will see that Meshech is the root word for Moscow. This is a prophecy that Moscow and her allies will invade Israel. This is the description of what part Russia will play in the endtimes.

Some people have disputed whether Ezekiel 38 describes the Battle of Armageddon or not. You will find out that this is the same time as the 6^th Seal, 7^th Trumpet, 7^th Vial and Matthew 24 and that Ezekiel 38 fits right in there. We will be able to chart it on our comparison chart and show that this is the Battle of Armageddon. Ezekiel 38:18-22 says:

“And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.

For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.

And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, and overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.”

Another description of this tells us that the Mount of Olives is going to split in two. Half of it will go to the north and half of it will go to the south when Jesus comes down. This will happen at the Battle of Armageddon. The Bible tells us that 7,000 people in the city of Jerusalem, alone, will die in this earthquake. It also tells us that the city of Rome will be absolutely obliterated as a result to this earthquake.

Reviewing the elements in Ezekiel 38:18-22, we see:

• An earthquake
• Mountains thrown down, walls fall
• God's wrath
• Great hailstones

Going off on a different tangent for just a moment …

The Bible says in Zechariah 14:1-2 that all nations will come against Jerusalem to battle. This is not an army you want to be a part of. This is not a time to be signing up to be a member of the world army, whether it be under the banner of NATO or the UN or an American Force. If you are an American who is in the armed services, you don't want to end up coming into a world community force against Israel.

It has been very difficult up until the last 15 years to see how all nations will come against Jerusalem to battle. If this were literally true and 188 nations on this earth all come against Jerusalem, this would cause a massive traffic jam. But now we are seeing how this can happen.

Everything in our world today is being enforced by the will of the world community. Whether it is Kosovo, East Timor, Haiti, Bosnia, etc ... we are solving the problems of the world. Let's just send the world community forces representing the UN, which represents the nations of the world.

It's like when we went against Saddam Hussein in 1991. That force was dominated by the USA, but there were 28 contributing nations there.

This battle against Jerusalem will be a massive UN force that will be dominated by Russia with other contributing nations, such as Ethiopia, Libya, Iran and Turkey, which are all specifically named in Ezekiel 38. We are politically coming to a place where all nations can be represented at the Battle of Armageddon.

Next we will chart the elements found in our comparisons of the 6^th Seal, 7^th Trumpet, 7^th Vial, Matthew 24:29, and Ezekiel 38:18-22.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, of whom I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.