Truths from the Year 3000
by Paul K.
Greetings in the most excellent Name that is above every other name (Philippians 2:9)!
I was thinking about the year 3000. Sometime after 3000, a being of unspeakable evil will come forth from a centuries-old imprisonment, being let loose to wreak havoc among the peoples of Earth. This terrible entity will not act violently himself to slay, but will more craftily incite the sons and daughters of men to wanton evil, rebellion and warfare. A fearsome multitude will follow him, screaming for blood!
Some plot for the latest horror movie or book? Some demented dream of slasher movie fans? No! Rather, solid biblical truth.
“When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.” (Revelation 20:7-8)
Students of Bible prophecy understand that the future (most likely the near future, if current world events are any indicator of our times) holds a 7-year Tribulation period and a 1,000-year Millennial period. While Satan runs rampant during the 7-year period, he is seized and locked up for the duration of the 1,000-year period.
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.” (Revelation 20:1-3)
As already noted, he gets to let go after being locked up for 1,000 years, and gathers from among humanity an immense army. What happens next? Let’s look at Scripture.
“And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:9-10)
This passage reveals much. First, it reveals that this is the devil’s last stand. After his release, he gathers a vast army of humanity to make war against God’s people (“the camp of the saints”) and against Jesus Himself reigning in Jerusalem (“and the beloved city”). Scripture does not record that a single saint’s life is lost, or that a single blow by the maddened, enraged and rebellious army is struck. The unholy army moves into position and they are suddenly and summarily slain by fire coming down out of heaven.
What a scene! In the Old Testament, men came to seize Elijah the Tishbite, God’s prophet:
“Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he said to him, ‘O man of God, the king says, “Come down.”‘ Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, ‘If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.’ Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.” (2 Kings 1:9-10)
A second attempt was made in verses 11-12, with the same results. Finally, a third captain of fifty came up, and begged for his life (verses 13-15), which was granted him.
We see this miracle again during the Tribulation period as the Two Witnesses, doing the miracles and bearing the testimony of Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, are also supernaturally protected in like manner.
“And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.” (Revelation 11:5)
Now, at the end of the Millennium, somewhere after the year 3000, a vast multitude, whose number “is like the sand of the seashore” (Revelation 20:8b), is likewise slain. An awesome, terrible sight that must be a veritable deluge of fire killing each and every one of those rebels, no matter that their number “is like the sand of the seashore.”
So, even as we saw that this “last hurrah” of Satan ends with his eternal consignment to the lake of fire, there is another truth to be gleaned from this event somewhere after the year 3000. What is this truth we can glean? How about proof that the Rapture is Pre-Trib?
Set your sanctified imagination to work. Sometime here, in our day, there will be a 7-year Tribulation period beginning, falling upon all who live on the earth. Move ahead to the end of those 7 years to where the prophesied return of Jesus Christ happens. The skies open, and Jesus Christ returns!
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.” (Revelation 19:11)
In verses 12-21, Jesus destroys the rebel enemies Satan gathered at Armageddon. Now, there are many views of when the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:17) will occur in relation to this 7-year Tribulation period. Some believe it will occur after the 7 years; hence, this view is called the Post (i.e., after)-Trib Rapture. According to this view, Christ’s Church will have to endure through the entire 7-year Tribulation period, and only at its finale, as Jesus parts the skies in His second coming, will the Rapture occur.
Then there is a more recent view that emerged in the 1990s called the Pre-Wrath Rapture. According to this view, Christians will be enduring through the first half of the Trib period, and then sometime after the middle but before the end of the Trib, the Rapture will occur. The name is derived from its proponents’ view that the wrath of God does not begin until sometime after the middle of the 7-year Trib period.
Next we have the Mid-Trib Rapture. Its proponents believe that since the Scriptures seem to pivotally divide the Trib period into two equal halves of 3½ years each (which, in fact, it does), then this middle point has significance, and therefore this is when the Rapture occurs.
Finally, there is the Pre-Trib Rapture. This view teaches that Christians will not endure any of the 7-year Trib period. Hence, it is called Pre-(i.e., before)-Trib Rapture.
Now, what has the deaths of the rebels (after the release of Satan from his 1,000-year imprisonment) to do with knowing when the Rapture will happen in relation to the 7-year Trib period? I’m glad you asked.
There are some other points that need to be expressed to bring clarity to the answer. First, when the Rapture occurs, the dead in Christ are resurrected into glorious immortal bodies like Jesus’s own body after He resurrected. Then the living are resurrected also. (1 Corinthians 15:51)
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.” (Philippians 3:20-21)
An important thing to note about a resurrected body, in addition to being immortal, is that marriage and conceiving/bearing children is a thing of the past, and does not occur anymore to a resurrected person.
In Matthew 22, the Sadducees, who did not believe in a resurrection (Matthew 22:23), tried to trap Jesus by posing a hypothetical situation where 7 brothers, each in turn as the predecessor died, married the same woman. They thought they had Jesus because of the idea, “In the resurrection, therefore whose wife of the seven will she be? For they had all married her.” (Matthew 22:28)
Jesus revealed a truth about the resurrection in response.
“For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Matthew 22:30)
This truth means that resurrected people no longer are married and therefore no longer have children. This will have bearing on determining when the Rapture occurs, as we shall see shortly.
The second point that needs to be expressed is the chronological order of certain events within the 7-year Tribulation period. The Trib period begins with the breaking of the first Seal in Revelation 6:1-2.
At the middle point (“a time, times and half a time” = 3½ years = ½ “week” = 42 months = 1,260 days), the Antichrist will commit the “abomination of desolation,” a hateful sacrilegious act of blasphemy. (See Daniel 7:25; Revelation 12:6,14; Revelation 13:5 for the time references above.)
“And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate...” (Daniel 9:27a)
“Therefore when you see the Abomination of Desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place...” (Matthew 24:15a)
“...and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God...” (2 Thessalonians 2:3b-4)
What happens, chronologically, when the Antichrist commits the Abomination of Desolation, is a judgment on those who have believed his lie of blasphemy. In short, God seals them in their unbelief.
“that is, the one whose coming [i.e., the Antichrist’s] is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)
We then read in the following verse that God seals their doom:
“For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” ( 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)
From the above, we may come to the right conclusion that if a person who is going through the Tribulation period does not believe the gospel by the time of the middle point when the Antichrist commits the Abomination of Desolation, then because that person “did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved” and “did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness,” God will seal them in their unbelief by sending “upon them a deluding influence...in order that they all may be judged.”
In other words, no one gets saved after the middle of the Tribulation period. If you have resisted the outpouring of the gospel during the first 3½ years of the Trib period (through the 144,000 in Revelation 7 and the Two Witnesses in Revelation 11), then you are sealed in unbelief and are doomed to damnation.
The above was mentioned to a dear Christian sister many years ago. Her reaction was shock and indignation. She told me, “My God is a God of love—He would never do that!” However, sentimentality is not a proper gauge of truth, sadly.
We already have a precedent for God sealing someone in their unbelief—Pharaoh. At first, Pharaoh hardened his own heart, then God hardened it for him.
Pharoah hardening his heart: Genesis 7:13; 8:15, 8:32; 9:34.
God hardening Pharaoh’s heart: Genesis 9:12; 10:27.
We also see that God gives up on men and women, to give them over to their sins in Romans:
“Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.” (Romans 1:24)
“For this reason God gave them over...” (Romans 1:26)
“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind...” (Romans 1:28)
Why would He do that? The answer is revealed in that same chapter.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” (Romans 1:18)
Now when you speak of the 7-year Tribulation period, that verse in Romans 1:18 is even more applicable. The whole world has rejected God as they worship the Antichrist (i.e., the beast), and through him, worship the devil, Satan, the dragon.
“they worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast [i.e., the Antichrist]; and they worshipped the beast...” (Revelation 13:4a)
Corroboration of a cut-off point beyond which no gets saved, but rather receives wrath, is found in Revelation. A small but necessary explanation regarding things taught in Revelation is needed to make this clear. Certainly, there is a timeline of events progressing throughout the 7 years of the Tribulation period. The 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets and 7 Bowls (i.e., 7-7-7 countdown) follow one another in time and succession up to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ at the end of the 7 years as revealed in chapter 19. However, there are in Revelation passages where that 7-7-7 countdown is interrupted; in other words, the sequential time of events are put on hold, so to speak, so that other topics can be addressed. Those “pauses” are called by some scholars “parenthetical” passages, and the events they reveal are almost always about things occurring at some other time than the time of wherever the 7-7-7 countdown is paused.
The parenthetical passages are: Revelation 7; 11:1-14; 12; 13; 14; 17; 18.
It is in Revelation 14 that we go to find our corroboration for a cut-off to the offer of salvation. Revelation 14 offers several small scenes. Verses 1-5 speak of the 144,000 sons of Israel first seen in chapter 7, standing on Mount Zion with Jesus. If Revelation 14 were in sync, time-wise, with the flow of the 7-7-7 countdown, this event would be occurring somewhere after the middle of the Tribulation’s 7 years. Yet, we know that Jesus doesn’t come back to Earth until Revelation 19:11-21. (See also Zechariah 14:1-4.) Hence, this scene is parenthetical, not a part of the 7-7-7 countdown. Moreover, Revelation 14:8 doesn’t happen in the flow of time until Revelation 16:19, so it, too, is parenthetical.
Now, we go to Revelation 14:14-20, which describes the cut-off point followed by only wrath that I have described.
“Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.” (Revelation 14:14-16)
The imagery is of Jesus completing the harvest of souls. Fields and harvest are used in Scripture to speak of God’s efforts to save souls. (See Mark 4:3-23; Luke 4:35-38; 1 Corinthians 3:6-9.) Revelation 14:14-16 describes the completion of that harvest, “the earth was reaped.” This is past tense, meaning, the deed is done and over with, finished. In human farming, once the harvest is finished, there’s no more. It’s over. While this passage in Revelation 14 doesn’t say WHEN it will happen (in the context of the 7-year Tribulation), it nevertheless does tell us THAT it will happen. This passage demonstrates there is a cut-off point in the Tribulation when the harvest of saved human souls is reaped, and after which there is no more harvest.
Let’s continue with the passage.
“Then another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.” (Revelation 14:17)
First, we see Jesus completing the harvest of souls unto salvation with a sickle. Now, we see another sickle. However, as we are about to see, this sickle is not for salvation, but judgment.
“Then another angel, the one who has the power over fire, came out of from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, ‘Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.’ So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.” (Revelation 14:17-20)
From this we see that once the harvest is done, there is no more salvation, only terrible wrath. While Revelation 14 demonstrates that there is a cut-off point after which no one gets saved, and also that only wrath follows that cut-off point, it is 2 Thessalonians 2 that shows WHEN the cut-off point occurs—at the Abomination of Desolation at the middle of the Tribulation’s 7 years. (cf Daniel 9:27)
As further corroboration of a mid-Trib cut-off point for the gospel, let us consider another parenthetical passage, Revelation 11:1-13. In Revelation 10:8-11, John is told to take and eat a book, so he does, finding it sweet to the mouth but bitter in the stomach. He is told he must prophesy again. This command is a signpost to let us know that John is taking up a new line of thought of prophecy. If he were only continuing the 7-7-7 countdown, the text would have said, “continue.” Instead, he is directed with “again.”
So, Revelation 11 backs up in time to the beginning of the Trib period. We are told that a new temple is to be built (Revelation 11:1-2) where people will worship God. As we all know, today as of the time of the writing of this message, there is no temple. Nevertheless, a new temple is necessary before the Antichrist can enter the temple of God, disrupt temple sacrifices, and commit the Abomination of Desolation. (Daniel 9:27; 2 Thessalonians 2:4)
Following the revelation of a new temple, we are then told of Two Witnesses (Revelation 11:3-4; Zechariah 4:12-14). Their ministry is for a specific—and limited—time period.
“And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” (Revelation 11:3)
It says, “my witnesses.” Who is meant by “my”? I believe it is Jesus, for He told His disciples before He ascended:
“but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Now, these Two Witnesses testify to Jesus, sharing the gospel. They are the voice of the Law and the Prophets testifying to the gospel of Jesus Christ, for their miracles are those of Moses, the Law, and Elijah, the Prophets (Revelation 11:6). They are supernaturally protected from harm by their enemies, and they strike the unbelievers of the earth with plagues. (Revelation 11:5-8) Their witness goes out to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and all the earth. Their ministry only lasts for half the 7-year Tribulation period, which is divided into two halves of 1,260 days each. But, in which half do the Two Witnesses minister? It’s not the latter half, for they are slain and lay in the streets of Jerusalem for 3½ days (Revelation 11:7-8). If their ministry were in the second half, they would be slain on the same day as the Second Coming, and would lay in Jerusalem’s streets for 3½ days past the end of the Trib period. Moreover, the nations rejoice over their deaths, watching their dead bodies for those 3½ days (Revelation 11:9-10). That people would do this for 3½ days past the end of the Trib, when Christ has already returned and smote the armies of the world at the battle of Armageddon and judged the nations (Matthew 25:31-46), is inconceivable.
Therefore, the time of the ministry of the Two Witnesses is in the first half. This means that they start their ministry on Day 1 of the Tribulation period, and that they finish their last day, Day 1,260, on the same day as when Antichrist commits the Abomination of Desolation (Daniel 9:27). My understanding is that when the Antichrist does this sacrilege, he sees the Two Witnesses, and kills them because he wants to be worshipped as God, and will not tolerate any dissenting voice.
“Who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:4)
Now, a question arises in connection with the length of the time given to them to minister. Why is it only 1,260 days? Why not the whole 7-years of the Tribulation period? Many Christians believe that people are saved throughout the entire 7-year Tribulation period, so why is the Two Witnesses’s ministry only for half that time? We have already seen that they are supernaturally protected so no one can harm them:
“And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.” (Revelation 11:5)
Antichrist is empowered by Satan (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10), but the Two Witnesses are protected by God. Satan’s man, no matter how empowered, is no match for God, for “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4b). Satan’s power could not defend the Antichrist from being slain by that fire from the mouth of the Two Witnesses.
The only thing that makes sense for the Antichrist to be able to kill them is because God allows him to do it. But if, as many Christians believe, the gospel is shared and people get saved throughout the entire 7-year Trib, why allow the ministers to be killed when the job is half done?
This makes no sense unless we realize that Revelation 14:14-20 teaches us that there is a cut-off point for the gospel, and that cut-off point is when the Antichrist commits the Abomination of Desolation. It is then at that point in time, at the middle of the 7 years, when God allows His Two Witnesses to be slain, and then that He seals men in their unbelief. (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)
God doesn’t allow the Two Witnesses to die when the job is half done, because at that point, it is ALL done. The earth is reaped, the harvest gathered in, the offer of salvation withdrawn, and the inhabitants of the earth get only vengeance once the Antichrist commits the Abomination of Desolation at the middle of the Tribulation.
Now, returning to our year 3000 situation described earlier, let’s tie it all together to show why the Rapture MUST be Pre-Trib.
Let’s start by examining the human race in the year 3000.
The 7-year Trib has come and gone by that time (the Rapture having happened also). The Millennium has also come and gone, for the final release of Satan and the rebellious army he gathers happens after the 1,000 years (Revelation 20:7).
At this point in the history of mankind, there are four categories of human existence:
#1 Saved and immortal (i.e., resurrected).
#2 Saved and mortal (i.e., still living, not seen death).
#3 Lost and dead (i.e., died in their sins).
#4 Lost and mortal (i.e., still living also).
By process of elimination, let’s examine who the people are that join Satan in this one last, frightening rebellion, where their number “is like the sand of the seashore.” (Revelation 20:8b)
They are not Choice #1
People in the rebellion are mortal, meaning they are living, but can die. In point of fact, they do die, being slain by fire out of heaven. Moreover, the people of Choice #1 are resurrected. They would NEVER follow Satan, because they have been resurrected, and as Scripture says, “and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17b) As we have already seen, the rebellious army follows Satan (Revelation 20:7-9)
They are not Choice #2spanspanspanspan
