Eschatology

I believe in God’s “blessed hope,” including the personal, pre-millennial appearance of Jesus Christ, in the clouds.  This will happen just prior to the Pre-Wrath Rapture, which most likely will take place on a Rosh haShanah = Feast of Trumpets (the exact day and hour of which is yet unknown).  This (primary) Rapture event will take place well into the second half of the 70th Week, I believe about a year prior to Jesus’ second advent back to earth on a Yom Kippur = Day of Atonement (see The Seventh Year and day of vengeance).

I also acknowledge the possibility of a partial Mid-tribulation Rapture of “firstfruits” believers, at the beginning of the final 3½ years, in fulfillment of Matthew 25:6,7,10.  In addition, I feel that there may be a relatively small Post-Tribulation Rapture, on the final day of the 70th Week, in partial fulfillment of Revelation 14:14-16.  That is, I believe that there may be secondary Rapture events, although I firmly reject the notion of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture.

In 2006, Israel engaged in a seven-year agreement or accord with several other nations.  In fact, Israel was the first non-European nation to sign on to the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), which was in effect from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2013: seven years.  The European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument with Israel shows one of the documents in this agreement.

Had this been the prophesied seven-year agreement of Daniel 9:27, then several anticipated prophetic events should have taken place in 2010—that is, in the middle year of the seven-year period from 2007 through 2013.  Yet, none of those events took place.

However, another seven-year agreement went into effect after that.  The European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) appeared to confirm, renew and strengthen the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), and Israel continued to be a member.

Furthermore, like the ENP, the ENI also was scheduled to transpire for a period of seven years: January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2020.  My commentary End of the Age: 2020? described why it appeared that the ENI might have been the prophesied seven-year agreement of Daniel 9:27 that confirmed the ENP covenant.  Yet, none of the anticipated prophetic events took place in 2017—the middle year of the seven-year period from 2014 through 2020.  Therefore, neither the ENP nor the ENI was the prophesied seven-year agreement.

God exists from “everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 90:2), and His thoughts and ways are incomprehensibly higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8,9).  He reserves the right to have a hidden agenda, which often will be revealed to us on a delayed time frame.  Once He reveals it, it often is not even obvious at first or for some unspecified time because people, from their own limited perspective, tend to remain focused on whatever they were expecting to happen.

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There is a difference in God’s calendar vs. man’s calendar.  Our annual Gregorian calendar runs consistently from January 1 to December 31.  However, God uses lights in the sky, particularly the sun and the moon, as “signs to mark seasons and days and years” (Genesis 1:14).  The amazing sign in the sky: September 23, 2017 phenomenon, occurring the day after the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh haShanah), appears to have been a virtual manifestation of Israel and a reminder of God’s confirming a covenant with that nation.  As such, on God’s time frame, this distinctive sign in the sky seemed to have indicated that the final “week” of 7 years of this age, as indicated in Daniel 9:27a, the 70th Week, had begun.

However, that sign in the sky happened to occur on a Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of Repentance and Return, during the 40-day season of Teshuvah.  Therefore, it is quite possible that God, in His great mercy, alloted a handful of years of time for widespread repentance and return to the one true God and to the Savior of Israel and the world, Jesus.  Unfortunately, widespread repentance and return did not take place; so the final 7 years of this age, the 70th Week, may have begun in the Fall of 2019 or possibly 2020.  If so, the end of the age could be in the Fall of 2026 or possibly 2027.  Many more details can be found in this lengthy commentary: End of the Age: 2024 – 2027?

Jesus’ physical return to earth, at the end of the 70th Week or final 7 years of this age, will be followed by a literal span of 1,000 years, known as the Millennium.  During that lengthy period of time, Jesus will sit on His throne in Jerusalem as King over the whole earth (Jeremiah 3:17; Zechariah 14:9).  He will rule over the nations with “an iron scepter” (Psalm 2:9; Revelation 19:15b), which will be “a scepter of justice” (Psalm 45:6).  There will be peace, prosperity, and excellent standards of living for all nations who acknowledge Israel as God’s chosen nation and Jesus as King over all the earth.

I believe that following the Millennium, this present, tainted, imperfect creation (universe, heavens, and earth) will perish and will be discarded like a worn-out garment (Psalm 102:25,26; Hebrews 1:10-12).  It will be replaced by a brand new, perfect, pristine heaven and earth (Revelation 21:1,5), which God will create at that time, and then the eternal realm will ensue.  It will be His second and greatest Creation (see the second greater than the first and old and new Creations).  Then all true believers, constituting the “Bride” of Christ, will dwell within the New Jerusalem (21:2,9,10).

I believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, and in the everlasting blessedness of the saved.  I feel that, most likely, the unsaved will be lost forever.  However, “forever” may end with the cessation of time, as we know it.  Time, as it is perceived by us, had a beginning (2 Timothy 1:9b; Titus 1:2); and, presumably, it will have an end.  The “end of time” may be coincident with the ultimate annihilation of this universe, at the conclusion of the Millennium.

After that, God will bring a brand new, pristine, incorruptible Creation into existence, after having ceased from the act of creating for many epochs of time.  That is, during the seventh “day” in which we now are living, God has been resting from creating anything new out of nothing—in essence, observing a lengthy Sabbath.  The new Creation will remain for eternity, in another realm of time and space that we, in our present forms, are unable to comprehend or understand fully.

In that realm, there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4), nor will anyone who is evil or sinful be there (21:8, 21:27).  It will be a place that is infinitely more magnificent and glorious than we, presently, can conceive or imagine.  Best of all, the glory of God will give that everlasting Kingdom its light; and Yeshua/Jesus, the Lamb, will be its lamp (21:23), eternally.