March 17, 2022
Many people today seem to somehow sense that we are living on borrowed time. After all, only since the last century has humankind had to live with the knowledge that it could annihilate itself and our planet! Psychologists tell us that uncertainty and the fear of the unknown is the worst fear of all. But believe it or not, you can know what the future holds, you can know what’s going to happen!
How can mortal man possibly cross the bounds of time and look into the future? By knowing God and His wonderful Word—the Bible. The past, present, and future are all known to God, and He has revealed the mysteries of what is to come to His prophets in the Bible.
Newspapers tell what already happened, so they’re not really news papers; they’re history papers. The Bible not only tells us about yesterday, it also tells us about the future. It is full of hundreds of detailed prophecies describing specific people, places, times, and events thousands of years before they came into being. Many of these prophecies are about the final period of world history, the last final days of man’s kingdoms on earth, a period which is referred to in the Bible as the “time of the end.”1
When Jesus’ disciples wanted to know the future and asked Him, “What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the world?”, He replied with not only one sign, but with numerous signs. The Bible gives us many “signs of the times,” including: the gospel being preached in all the world for a witness to all nations,2 with “many running to and fro, wandering from sea to sea, as knowledge is greatly increased.”3 A great “falling away” from the Lord as “evil men and seducers grow worse and worse, deceiving many.”4 “The love of many growing cold,”5 resulting in “distress of nations upon the earth and men’s hearts failing them for fear.”6
One of the most important and final signs of the very end of this age predicted in the Bible is the rise of a totally godless world government led by the dictator known as the Antichrist.7 In desperation, the world will turn to this political superman, hoping that he will be able to solve their pressing problems, heal their economic ills, unite their politics, end their religious squabbles, and defuse their nuclear time bomb.
He will come on the scene with a seven-year agreement or covenant which will bring a measure of world peace by reconciling the world’s major religions.8 During the first half of the Antichrist’s seven-year reign, people are going to think that he is wonderful, as he will have brokered some peace and seemingly solved the Middle East crisis.9 But suddenly, halfway through his reign, he will break the covenant and will forbid and abolish all traditional religious worship, declaring that he himself is God and demanding that the world worship him.10
At this time, he will place an idol, an image of some kind, at the rebuilt Jewish temple—an “abomination of desolation”11 which will somehow even cause those who refuse to worship him to be killed.12 Jesus Himself said that when you see this idol, this abomination of desolation, standing in the temple, you will know that the last three and a half years of man’s rule on earth, a time of “great tribulation,” has begun.13
During this last three-and-a-half-year period, the Antichrist government will set up a global credit system, and all members of this system will be required to receive a credit number in their hands or foreheads. No one will be able to buy or sell without this number, referred to in the Bible as the “mark of the beast.”14 But God’s children and many others will refuse to worship him or receive his mark.
In spite of the Antichrist and his forces’ suppression and persecution of God’s children, the Lord is going to protect and keep them, provide places of refuge for them, and empower them to be witnesses for Jesus till the very end. God’s Word says that during this time, “The people who know their God will be strong and do exploits, and they that understand among the people will instruct many.”15 People are going to be more desperate than ever, and those who know God’s Word are going to be a great encouragement to people throughout the earth who are going to seek for answers. Millions of God’s children will keep going for God till the very end of the world, witnessing for Jesus till He comes!
At the end of that last three and a half years, just when the Antichrist thinks he has the world in his grasp, suddenly like a bolt from the blue, Jesus will return to rescue His children out of this world. Just after that darkest night in world history will come the brightest dawn. The Antichrist’s forces will be shocked as they see the Lord coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory to rescue His people. “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.”16
When Jesus comes, a great miracle takes place—the Rapture, when all of God’s saved children will have a glorious resurrection! The graves of the saints will burst open and Christians who have already died and gone on to be with Jesus will receive new resurrection bodies. And the millions of Christians who are still alive on earth, having survived the Antichrist’s reign of terror, will be instantly transformed, as they also receive their new bodies—just like Jesus’ body after He was resurrected.17 And they’ll all fly up to meet the Lord in the air, rising in immortal victory.18 For Jesus has come back to rescue His bride, His church, and to whisk her away to unite with Him in the great marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven.19
After the Lord rescues and raptures His children from the earth, God’s angels are going to pour out His judgments and wrath upon the Antichrist and his forces. The Antichrist forces will gather together at a plain in Israel called Armageddon to try to fight back. But Jesus Himself, along with His heavenly forces, will return to earth again to utterly defeat and destroy the Antichrist and his evil forces during what is called the Battle of Armageddon.20
Then Jesus and all of God’s saved children will take over the world and set up God’s kingdom on earth and restore the earth to the beauty of the Garden of Eden. This amazing period, known as the Millennium, will last for 1,000 years.21 God will be supreme and Jesus will reign from shore to shore.22 The devil will be bound and cast as a prisoner into the bottomless pit for this thousand-year period.23 Only then will all wars finally cease and the world will at last be governed with true justice, liberty, and peace for all.24
Everyone will see God’s glorious kingdom and there won’t be any unbelievers then. But sad to say, there will still be some who will choose to rebel against God and His rule. Therefore, as a final division of sheep from goats at the end of the Millennium, Satan is going to be released from his prison for a “little season.”25 Those who choose to follow Satan will engage in open rebellion against the Lord and His government, resulting in the Battle of Gog and Magog in which God sends down fire out of heaven to destroy those who rebelled. The entire surface of the planet is going to be burned up and then re-created into a beautiful new earth with no more seas and a pristine pollution-free atmosphere.26
After this climactic battle, the unsaved of all ages will be raised to stand before God Himself in the final judgment in which “the books are opened,” and each one will be judged according to their works and assigned their places in the hereafter.27 The wicked will be sent to hell or purgatory for punishment and purging, while the rest who tried to be good but had not heard the gospel will be found in the book of life and given a chance to receive Jesus and enjoy the marvelous new earth.28
God’s heavenly city will then descend from above to the beautiful, re-created earth, and God Himself will dwell with us right here on earth!29 His heavenly city will be the great eternal home for all of God’s saved children.
And that’s the way our story of the future ends. It’s a very happy ending, because it doesn’t really end—it’s eternal and forever. “And they live happily ever after!”
You can prepare for the future today by receiving Jesus. He says, “Behold, I stand at the door (of your heart) and knock; If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him.”30 You can receive Jesus today by praying the following prayer:
Dear Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God and that You died for me. Please forgive me for all my sins and come into my heart. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Help me to love and follow You and to share Your love with others. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.
Originally published in 1985. Adapted and republished March 2022.
Read by Reuben Ruchevsky.
1 Daniel 12:4.
2 Matthew 24:14.
3 Daniel 12:4; Amos 8:12.
4 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Timothy 3:13.
5 Matthew 24:12.
6 Luke 21:25–26.
7 Daniel 8:23–25.
8 Daniel 9:27.
9 Revelation 13:3–4.
10 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4.
11 Matthew 24:15.
12 Revelation 13:15–17.
13 Matthew 24:21.
14 Revelation 13:15–18.
15 Daniel 11:32–33.
16 Revelation 1:7.
17 1 Corinthians 15:51–52.
18 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
19 Revelation 19:7–10.
20 Revelation 19:11–21.
21 Revelation 20:4.
22 Isaiah 11:9.
23 Revelation 20:1–3.
24 Isaiah 2:4.
25 Revelation 20:3, 7.
26 Revelation 20:8–9, 21:1–2.
27 Revelation 20:11–13.
28 Revelation 20:15.
29 Revelation 21:1–4.
30 Revelation 3:20.
Copyright © 2024 The Family International