A Biblical Guide to Understanding the Last Days, the Book of Revelation, Prophetic Signs and Symbols, the Coming of the Lord, and the Kingdom of God
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carl Timothy Wray
Carl Timothy Wray is a Christian author and Bible teacher whose ministry represents more than four decades of studying, teaching, and writing the Word of God. His work extends far beyond a single book or platform and reflects a lifetime devoted to biblical teaching and making those teachings accessible to readers and students.
His ministry and publishing work include:
- 40+ years devoted to studying and teaching the Word of God
- Author of 600+ books and biblical teaching works
- 15+ years teaching students through Facebook and online ministry
- More than 2 million views on his YouTube teaching channel
- 200+ books and teachings achieving #1 search positioning on Google, Bing, and Yahoo
- Founder of The Finished Work of Christ
- Founder of Zion University
- Founder of The Finished Work of Christ TV
- Creator of The Finished Work of Christ App
- An extensive multi-platform teaching ministry spanning books, television, video, web, apps, and social media
Carl Timothy Wray’s extensive library addresses major biblical themes including the Grace of God, the Finished Work of Christ, the Kingdom of God, the Book of Revelation, spiritual maturity, the sons of God, and God’s eternal purpose.
His purpose remains straightforward: to search the Scriptures, teach what he sees, and make a substantial body of biblical teaching available to those who desire to go deeper in the Word of God.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction — Understanding Prophecy From the Throne
Chapter 1 — What Is End Times Prophecy?
The Purpose of Biblical Prophecy and the Revelation of God’s Plan
Chapter 2 — Jesus Christ: The Key to Understanding Prophecy
Why Christ Must Stand at the Center of Every Prophetic Interpretation
Chapter 3 — How to Understand Prophetic Signs and Symbols
Beasts, Horns, Mountains, Seas, Stars, Cities, Numbers, and the Language of Prophecy
Chapter 4 — The Last Days: What Does the Bible Actually Mean?
Understanding the End of an Age and the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose
Chapter 5 — Daniel and the Kingdoms of Prophecy
The Beasts, the Son of Man, the Ancient of Days, and the Kingdom Given to the Saints
Chapter 6 — Jesus and the Prophecy of Matthew 24
The Temple, Jerusalem, Tribulation, the End of the Age, and the Coming of the Son of Man
Chapter 7 — Paul, Resurrection, and the Last Enemy
Transformation, Immortality, the Defeat of Death, and God All in All
Chapter 8 — The Book of Revelation and the End Times
The Lamb, the Throne, the Seals, Trumpets, Beasts, Babylon, Judgment, and Victory
Chapter 9 — The Coming of the Lord and the Kingdom of God
His Appearing, His Presence, His Government, and the Unshakable Kingdom
Chapter 10 — The End Is Victory, Not Defeat
The Triumph of Christ and the Consummation of God’s Eternal Purpose
Conclusion — How Should We Live in Light of Prophecy?
INTRODUCTION
Understanding Prophecy From the Throne
There may be no subject in Christianity surrounded by more questions, theories, disagreements, predictions, and fear than end times prophecy.
What are the last days?
What did Jesus mean by the end of the age?
What are the beasts of Daniel and Revelation?
What is the great tribulation?
What does the coming of the Lord mean?
What happens to the kingdoms of this world?
What is the ultimate purpose of God?
And perhaps the greatest question of all:
How should the people of God understand prophecy without becoming consumed by speculation and fear?
For generations, believers have attempted to interpret biblical prophecy by looking at the events happening around them. Wars begin. Governments rise and fall. Economies shake. Technology advances. Political alliances change. Earthquakes occur. Disease spreads. Nations threaten one another.
Immediately someone asks:
Is this the fulfillment of prophecy?
But there is a fundamental problem with beginning there.
If we interpret Scripture primarily through current events, then our interpretation must continually change whenever current events change.
The Word of God deserves a stronger foundation.
PROPHECY MUST BEGIN WITH SCRIPTURE
The purpose of this book is not to provide another collection of predictions about what might happen next year, next decade, or sometime in the distant future.
Neither is this book an attempt to construct another complicated prophetic timetable.
Our starting point will be much simpler:
What does the Bible actually say?
Scripture must interpret Scripture.
Before asking what a beast means in today’s political world, we should discover how Scripture uses the symbol of a beast.
Before deciding what the last days mean for us, we should examine what the biblical writers meant when they spoke of the last days.
Before defining the end of the world, we should examine the biblical language concerning the end of an age.
Before constructing a doctrine around the coming of the Lord, we should examine the language Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, and the prophets actually used.
And above everything else, before attempting to understand prophecy, we must understand the One whom prophecy ultimately reveals.
JESUS CHRIST IS THE CENTER
The opening words of the final book of the Bible establish the governing principle:
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ…”
— Revelation 1:1
Revelation begins with Jesus Christ.
That is not accidental.
The Bible does not culminate in the revelation of the Antichrist.
It does not culminate in the revelation of a beast.
It does not culminate in Babylon.
It does not culminate in war, famine, earthquakes, judgment, or destruction.
It culminates in the revelation and triumph of Jesus Christ.
If our understanding of end times prophecy causes the enemy to become larger while Christ becomes smaller, something has gone wrong with our interpretation.
If our prophecy produces greater confidence in darkness than in the victory of Christ, we need to return to the Scriptures.
Jesus Christ must remain at the center.
PROPHECY IS WRITTEN IN A LANGUAGE
One of the great difficulties readers encounter in prophetic Scripture is symbolism.
Daniel sees beasts rising from the sea.
John sees stars falling from heaven.
There are horns, mountains, waters, women, cities, dragons, horses, trumpets, seals, bowls, numbers, earthquakes, fire, thrones, crowns, and kingdoms.
The temptation is to take every symbol, open the newspaper, and attempt to locate its modern equivalent.
But prophetic language did not originate with today’s headlines.
The Bible developed its own symbolic vocabulary.
Therefore, we will allow Scripture itself to teach us that vocabulary.
When we encounter a symbol in Revelation, we will look backward through the Scriptures and ask where that symbol has appeared before.
This approach does not remove mystery from prophecy.
It gives us a biblical foundation from which mystery can be understood.
THE LAST DAYS MUST HAVE A CONTEXT
The phrase “last days” has become almost synonymous with the final years before the end of human history.
But the New Testament forces us to look more carefully.
Peter stood on the Day of Pentecost and declared:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh…”
— Acts 2:17
The writer of Hebrews declared:
“God… hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son…”
— Hebrews 1:1–2
Those statements require us to ask an important question:
The last days of what?
That question will become one of the major foundations of this book.
Something was ending.
Something else was being established.
An age was reaching its consummation while the reality revealed in Jesus Christ was coming into manifestation.
Understanding that transition changes the way we approach much of biblical prophecy.
THE END IS NOT THE DEFEAT OF GOD
Many presentations of end times prophecy leave the reader with the impression that darkness continually increases until God’s purpose appears almost overwhelmed.
But Scripture gives us another picture.
Paul writes:
“Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father…”
— 1 Corinthians 15:24
And where does Paul’s revelation of the end finally arrive?
“That God may be all in all.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:28
That is a very different picture of the end.
The end is not God losing His creation.
The end is not Christ surrendering His kingdom to darkness.
The end is the accomplishment of divine purpose.
Christ reigns.
His enemies are placed beneath His feet.
Death itself—the last enemy—is destroyed.
And the kingdom is delivered to the Father.
PROPHECY SHOULD PRODUCE HOPE
Biblical prophecy was never intended to produce a terrified church.
Jesus said:
“See that ye be not troubled.”
— Matthew 24:6
Those words should govern our spirit as we study this subject.
We will encounter judgment.
We will encounter shaking.
We will encounter beasts, kingdoms, tribulation, Babylon, and the collapse of things that cannot remain.
But we will study all of them from one governing position:
the throne of God is not shaking.
God has not lost control of His purpose.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
His kingdom cannot be overthrown.
His Word cannot fail.
His purpose cannot be defeated.
And the final word of biblical prophecy does not belong to the beast, Babylon, death, or the grave.
The final word belongs to the Lamb.
That is the journey before us.
We are going to examine end times prophecy without beginning with the evening news. We are going to begin with Scripture.
We will listen to Daniel.
We will listen to Jesus.
We will listen to Paul.
We will listen to John.
And through them all, we will search for the governing revelation that holds biblical prophecy together:
Jesus Christ, His Kingdom, His victory, and the eternal purpose of God.
That is where this study begins.
And that is where the end ultimately leads.
CHAPTER ONE
What Is End Times Prophecy?
The Purpose of Biblical Prophecy and the Revelation of God’s Plan
The words “end times prophecy” immediately produce images in the minds of many people.
Wars.
Earthquakes.
Famines.
The Antichrist.
The mark of the beast.
Armageddon.
The great tribulation.
The second coming of Christ.
The end of the world.
For many believers, end times prophecy has become almost entirely associated with frightening events expected to occur at the conclusion of human history.
But before we attempt to understand the end times, we must begin with a much more basic question:
What is biblical prophecy?
If we misunderstand the purpose of prophecy, we will almost certainly misunderstand its symbols, its warnings, its judgments, and its fulfillment.
Prophecy is not primarily God’s way of satisfying human curiosity about future events.
Prophecy is revelation.
It is God unveiling His purpose.
It reveals what God is doing, what He has determined, how His kingdom operates, and where His purpose is ultimately going.
Therefore, the proper study of end times prophecy does not begin with speculation.
It begins with God.
PROPHECY REVEALS THE PURPOSE OF GOD
The prophet Isaiah declared:
“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning…”
— Isaiah 46:9–10
Notice the language.
God declares the end from the beginning.
Why?
Because He knows the future?
Certainly.
But Isaiah reveals something greater than divine foreknowledge.
The passage continues:
“My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”
— Isaiah 46:10
That is the foundation of prophecy.
God does not merely know what is going to happen.
God has a counsel.
God has a purpose.
God has an intention.
And His counsel shall stand.
That means biblical prophecy must ultimately be understood within the sovereignty and purpose of God.
The prophetic Scriptures are not describing a universe that has escaped God’s control.
They are revealing a purpose that God intends to accomplish.
That distinction is enormous.
If prophecy is interpreted primarily through fear, the reader begins looking for everything that can go wrong.
But if prophecy is interpreted through the purpose of God, the reader begins asking:
What is God bringing to fulfillment?
That is the better question.
PROPHECY IS MORE THAN PREDICTION
We commonly think of a prophet as someone who predicts the future.
Sometimes biblical prophets certainly did speak concerning events that had not yet occurred.
But prophecy is much larger than prediction.
A prophet speaks from the mind and purpose of God.
Prophecy may reveal what has been.
It may reveal what is presently happening.
It may reveal what is coming.
But its fundamental nature is the unveiling of divine reality.
This becomes particularly important when we reach the Book of Revelation.
John does not begin by saying:
The Prediction of Future Events.
He begins:
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ…”
— Revelation 1:1
The word revelation means an unveiling, an uncovering, a disclosure.
Something hidden is being made known.
Therefore, when we study prophecy, we should not merely ask:
What is going to happen?
We should also ask:
What is God revealing?
Those are not always the same question.
A person can become fascinated with prophetic events and still completely miss the revelation contained within them.
He can identify beasts, count horns, study kingdoms, construct timelines, calculate dates, and compare world leaders while never seeing the central purpose of the prophecy.
Information is not necessarily revelation.
And prophecy was given to produce more than information.
THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY
Near the end of Revelation, John gives us one of the greatest keys to understanding prophecy:
“For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
— Revelation 19:10
There is our center.
Jesus Christ.
The spirit of prophecy is not the testimony of the beast.
It is not the testimony of Babylon.
It is not the testimony of the Antichrist.
It is not the testimony of world governments.
It is the testimony of Jesus.
Therefore, if our interpretation of prophecy spends all its strength magnifying darkness while barely revealing Christ, we should examine our interpretation again.
Jesus Christ is not a supporting character in biblical prophecy.
He is the center of it.
The prophets spoke toward Him.
The types pointed toward Him.
The shadows anticipated Him.
The promises find their fulfillment in Him.
The kingdom belongs to Him.
The throne belongs to Him.
The victory belongs to Him.
And the consummation of God’s purpose is accomplished through Him.
This does not mean that judgment, darkness, wickedness, kingdoms, and opposition are absent from prophecy.
They are clearly there.
But they are not the final revelation.
Christ is.
GOD HAD A PURPOSE BEFORE THERE WAS A PROBLEM
One of the greatest principles necessary for understanding biblical prophecy is that God’s purpose did not begin after Adam sinned.
God did not create the world, watch everything collapse, and then hurriedly develop a rescue plan.
Paul speaks of:
“The eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
— Ephesians 3:11
An eternal purpose is not an emergency plan.
It existed in the heart of God before human failure appeared in history.
Paul also writes that God:
“Hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world…”
— Ephesians 1:4
Peter speaks of Christ as:
“A lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world…”
— 1 Peter 1:19–20
This changes the perspective from which we read prophecy.
Redemption was not God’s reaction to an unforeseen catastrophe.
Christ was not Plan B.
The Lamb was known before the foundation of the world.
Therefore, when Scripture carries us toward the end, it is carrying us toward the fulfillment of something that existed in God’s heart from the beginning.
The end cannot be properly understood without the beginning.
And the beginning cannot be properly understood apart from God’s eternal purpose in Christ.
THE BEGINNING EXPLAINS THE END
Genesis and Revelation are not disconnected books.
The Bible begins with creation and ends with creation brought into divine fulfillment.
Genesis introduces the tree of life.
Revelation shows the tree of life again.
Genesis introduces the serpent.
Revelation reveals the dragon, “that old serpent.”
Genesis introduces death.
Revelation announces the destruction of death.
Genesis shows humanity driven from the garden.
Revelation reveals access to the tree of life.
Genesis begins with heaven and earth.
Revelation concludes with the language of a new heaven and a new earth.
The end answers the beginning.
That is why end times prophecy cannot be reduced to a few frightening events at the conclusion of history.
The Bible is telling one great story.
It is the revelation of God’s purpose moving from beginning to fulfillment.
PROPHECY REVEALS CHRIST IN THE MIDST OF HISTORY
Jesus Himself taught His disciples to read the Scriptures this way.
After His resurrection, He encountered two disciples traveling toward Emmaus. They were confused because they had expected Jesus to redeem Israel, yet He had been crucified.
Jesus responded by taking them into the Scriptures:
“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
— Luke 24:27
What a Bible study that must have been.
Jesus began with Moses.
Then He moved through the prophets.
And what did He reveal?
Himself.
Later He told His disciples:
“All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”
— Luke 24:44
This gives us a governing principle.
The prophetic Scriptures are not primarily a puzzle about geopolitical events.
They testify concerning Christ.
If Jesus taught His disciples to read Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms through the revelation of Himself, we should be very careful about constructing an end-times theology in which Christ becomes secondary.
PROPHECY MUST BE INTERPRETED BY SCRIPTURE
Another major problem in end-times teaching occurs when we begin with modern events and then search Scripture for something that appears to fit them.
That method can produce endless speculation.
A new technology appears.
Someone finds a prophecy to match it.
A nation goes to war.
Someone identifies it with a prophetic kingdom.
A political leader rises.
Someone declares him to be the fulfillment of a particular prophecy.
An economic system changes.
Someone connects it with the mark of the beast.
Then circumstances change, the prediction fails, and another interpretation replaces it.
This has happened repeatedly.
There is a safer way.
Begin with Scripture.
Before asking which modern nation represents a beast, ask:
How does the Bible use beasts prophetically?
Before deciding what prophetic waters represent, search the Scriptures for the meaning of waters.
Before interpreting a mountain, horn, woman, city, star, trumpet, or number through current events, discover how that imagery functions throughout the Word of God.
The Bible has its own language.
Prophecy has its own vocabulary.
And Scripture provides the foundation for understanding that vocabulary.
THE PROPHETS SAW KINGDOMS
Daniel provides one of the clearest examples.
He saw beasts rising from the sea.
If we encountered those images without biblical interpretation, our imagination could go in almost any direction.
But Daniel was given understanding concerning what he saw.
The beasts represented kingdoms.
The horns represented kings or powers.
The imagery communicated spiritual and governmental realities through prophetic symbols.
Yet Daniel’s prophecy does not ultimately terminate with the beasts.
Daniel sees:
“One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days…”
— Daniel 7:13
And what happens?
“And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom…”
— Daniel 7:14
There is the direction of prophecy.
Beasts arise.
Kingdoms appear.
Conflict occurs.
But God’s purpose does not terminate in the beast.
It terminates in dominion being given to the Son of Man.
And Daniel continues:
“The saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever…”
— Daniel 7:18
This is why we must never allow the frightening imagery of prophecy to obscure its destination.
The beast may occupy several verses.
But the kingdom belongs to God.
PROPHECY REVEALS THE SHAKING OF KINGDOMS
Throughout Scripture, prophecy frequently describes shaking.
Nations shake.
Kingdoms fall.
Heavens and earth are shaken.
Cities collapse.
Mountains move.
Stars fall.
But shaking has a divine purpose.
The writer of Hebrews explains:
“Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”
— Hebrews 12:26
Then he explains why:
“That those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”
— Hebrews 12:27
And what remains?
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved…”
— Hebrews 12:28
There is the prophetic pattern again.
Shaking serves the manifestation of the unshakable.
Therefore, when prophecy describes shaking, our first response should not necessarily be terror.
We should ask:
What is God removing, and what is God revealing that cannot be removed?
God’s kingdom cannot be shaken.
JUDGMENT IS PART OF PROPHECY
We cannot faithfully study end times prophecy without discussing judgment.
The prophets spoke extensively concerning divine judgment.
Jesus spoke of judgment.
Paul spoke of judgment.
Revelation contains powerful images of judgment.
But biblical judgment must be understood within the character and purpose of God.
God’s judgments are not evidence that He has lost control.
They demonstrate His government.
Throughout Scripture, God judges nations, systems, rulers, wickedness, idolatry, oppression, and rebellion.
Judgment exposes what cannot remain in the presence of God’s kingdom.
This is why Revelation can describe enormous judgment while simultaneously presenting the Lamb upon the throne.
The judgments do not mean the throne is failing.
They proceed because the throne governs.
THE END MUST BE DEFINED BY SCRIPTURE
Perhaps nowhere is careless interpretation more dangerous than with the word “end.”
We hear “the end,” and immediately assume we know what it means.
But Scripture uses the language of ending in different contexts.
An age can end.
A covenantal administration can reach fulfillment.
A kingdom can end.
A generation can end.
A system can be judged.
An enemy can be destroyed.
Therefore, every passage must be read in context.
Paul gives us one of the clearest biblical descriptions of “the end”:
“Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father…”
— 1 Corinthians 15:24
Notice what Paul’s end contains.
Christ reigns.
Enemies are subdued.
The kingdom is delivered to the Father.
Then Paul identifies the final enemy:
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:26
That should dramatically affect our understanding of end times prophecy.
The last enemy is not another nation.
It is not another political system.
It is not another earthly government.
The last enemy is death.
And God’s purpose moves toward its destruction.
DEATH DOES NOT GET THE FINAL WORD
Much end-times teaching has concentrated so heavily on destruction that believers sometimes forget where Paul’s revelation of the end actually leads.
He writes:
“For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:25
He must reign.
That is prophetic certainty.
Not He might reign.
Not He will reign if darkness allows Him.
Not He will reign after the enemy has almost destroyed everything.
He must reign.
And He reigns until His enemies are placed beneath His feet.
Then death itself is destroyed.
That is not defeat.
That is victory.
GOD ALL IN ALL
Paul then takes us even farther:
“And when all things shall be subdued unto him… that God may be all in all.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:28
If we want to understand the destination of biblical prophecy, we cannot ignore those words.
God all in all.
That is where Paul’s revelation of the end carries us.
Therefore, our understanding of prophecy should always be large enough to contain God’s declared purpose.
We cannot allow beasts to become larger than Christ.
We cannot allow Babylon to become larger than the Kingdom.
We cannot allow tribulation to become larger than redemption.
We cannot allow death to become larger than resurrection.
And we cannot allow Satan to become larger than the eternal purpose of God.
PROPHECY SHOULD ESTABLISH THE BELIEVER
What should happen to us when we study prophecy?
Should we become frightened?
Should we become obsessed with dates?
Should we live constantly expecting the next catastrophe?
Should every headline shake our faith?
No.
Prophecy should establish us in the sovereignty of God.
It should cause us to understand that history is not wandering aimlessly.
God has a purpose.
Christ has a kingdom.
The Lamb has overcome.
The throne is occupied.
And God’s counsel shall stand.
Jesus told His disciples:
“See that ye be not troubled.”
— Matthew 24:6
Those words are remarkably important.
Jesus discussed wars and rumors of wars, yet His instruction was:
Do not be troubled.
True prophetic understanding should produce stability rather than hysteria.
It should produce faith rather than fear.
It should produce hope rather than despair.
And above everything else, it should reveal Jesus Christ.
THE QUESTION THAT WILL GOVERN THIS BOOK
As we move deeper into end times prophecy, we will encounter difficult passages.
We will examine the last days.
We will examine Daniel.
We will examine Matthew 24.
We will examine resurrection.
We will examine Revelation.
We will encounter beasts, kingdoms, judgment, tribulation, the coming of the Lord, and the consummation of God’s purpose.
But one question will govern our journey:
What is God revealing about His purpose in Jesus Christ?
That question keeps prophecy centered.
It keeps us from becoming distracted by endless speculation.
It keeps us from building doctrine around tomorrow’s newspaper.
And it keeps the Lamb where Scripture places Him:
at the center of the revelation.
End times prophecy is not ultimately the revelation of how badly everything will go wrong.
It is the revelation of where everything is going under the sovereign purpose of God.
God declared the end from the beginning.
His counsel shall stand.
Christ must reign.
Every enemy shall be brought beneath His feet.
The last enemy, death, shall be destroyed.
And God’s purpose moves toward its appointed consummation:
that God may be all in all.
That is where we begin our study of end times prophecy.
Not with fear.
Not with speculation.
Not with the evening news.
We begin with the purpose of God.
CHAPTER TWO
Jesus Christ: The Key to Understanding Prophecy
Why Christ Must Stand at the Center of Every Prophetic Interpretation
There is one governing principle that must be established before we go any deeper into end times prophecy:
Jesus Christ is the key to understanding prophecy.
Remove Christ from the center, and prophecy quickly becomes a maze.
Beasts become the focus.
Wars become the focus.
Antichrist becomes the focus.
Tribulation becomes the focus.
Political leaders become the focus.
Nations become the focus.
Dates, timelines, charts, and predictions begin consuming our attention.
But Scripture gives us another center.
John opens the final book of the Bible with these words:
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ…”
— Revelation 1:1
That opening statement should govern everything that follows.
The Book of Revelation is not first the revelation of the beast.
It is not first the revelation of Babylon.
It is not first the revelation of judgment.
It is not even first the revelation of future events.
It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
If we lose sight of that, we can study Revelation for years and still miss its central message.
THE SCRIPTURES TESTIFY OF CHRIST
Jesus confronted religious leaders who possessed tremendous knowledge of Scripture but failed to recognize the One standing directly in front of them.
He said:
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
— John 5:39
Think about that.
They knew the Scriptures.
They studied the Scriptures.
They could discuss the law.
They could quote the prophets.
Yet Jesus said the Scriptures were testifying of Him.
The problem was not that they lacked biblical information.
The problem was that they had not seen the revelation contained within that information.
It is possible to know verses without seeing Christ.
It is possible to study prophecy without seeing Christ.
It is possible to construct an entire end-times system while the central Person of biblical prophecy remains almost hidden.
Jesus gives us the corrective:
The Scriptures testify of Me.
That must become one of our governing principles.
MOSES WROTE OF CHRIST
Jesus went even further:
“For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.”
— John 5:46
Moses wrote of Christ.
Where?
Certainly in direct prophetic statements, but also through patterns, types, shadows, sacrifices, priesthood, tabernacle, feasts, deliverance, and covenant.
Christ was concealed within the patterns until the appointed time of unveiling.
The Passover lamb pointed toward Christ.
The manna pointed toward Christ.
The rock pointed toward Christ.
The tabernacle pointed toward Christ.
The priesthood pointed toward Christ.
The sacrifices pointed toward Christ.
The entire Old Testament contains patterns that ultimately find their reality in Him.
Paul writes:
“For Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.”
— 1 Corinthians 5:7
And concerning Israel in the wilderness:
“For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”
— 1 Corinthians 10:4
Paul looked backward into Israel’s history and saw Christ.
That teaches us something about prophetic interpretation.
The natural event can contain a spiritual reality.
The visible thing can point toward an invisible truth.
The historical pattern can testify concerning Christ.
THE SHADOW AND THE SUBSTANCE
Paul gives us another powerful principle in Colossians.
Speaking concerning religious ordinances, feast days, new moons, and sabbaths, he says:
“Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
— Colossians 2:17
A shadow is real, but it is not the substance.
The shadow tells us that something greater is present.
Under the old covenant there were many shadows.
There was a natural temple.
There was a natural priesthood.
There were natural sacrifices.
There was natural incense.
There was a natural altar.
There was natural Jerusalem.
There were natural feast days.
But when Christ came, the substance began to be unveiled.
This principle becomes extremely important when studying prophecy because prophetic Scripture often takes language that originated in the Old Testament and uses it to communicate greater spiritual realities.
If we remain only with the shadow, we may miss the substance.
Christ is the substance.
JESUS OPENED THE SCRIPTURES
After His resurrection, Jesus met two disciples traveling on the road to Emmaus.
They were discouraged.
They had believed Jesus was the One who would redeem Israel, but He had been crucified.
Their understanding of God’s purpose had collapsed because the events they witnessed did not fit the interpretation they had expected.
Then Jesus began teaching them.
Luke writes:
“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
— Luke 24:27
Jesus did not merely give them another prediction.
He changed the way they understood the Scriptures.
He began with Moses.
He moved through the prophets.
And He revealed the things concerning Himself.
Later they said:
“Did not our heart burn within us… while he opened to us the scriptures?”
— Luke 24:32
That is revelation.
The Scriptures had existed before that journey.
Those disciples had undoubtedly heard many of them before.
But now the Scriptures were opened.
What changed?
They began seeing Christ within them.
THEN OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING
Jesus later appeared to the disciples and said:
“These are the words which I spake unto you… that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”
— Luke 24:44
Then comes one of the most important statements concerning biblical understanding:
“Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.”
— Luke 24:45
They already possessed Scripture.
What they needed was opened understanding.
This distinction is essential.
There is a difference between reading Scripture and understanding what Scripture is revealing.
There is a difference between natural information and spiritual revelation.
And when Jesus opened their understanding, He showed them that Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms were all moving toward Him.
This principle must accompany us into end times prophecy.
THE BOOK IS ABOUT THE LAMB
When we enter Revelation, the imagery can become overwhelming.
There are seven seals.
Seven trumpets.
Seven bowls.
There are beasts.
Horns.
Dragons.
Women.
Cities.
Earthquakes.
Stars falling.
Waters becoming blood.
Babylon falling.
Armies gathering.
Judgments proceeding.
But standing in the middle of all this imagery is a figure we must never lose sight of:
the Lamb.
John sees a sealed book in the hand of the One sitting upon the throne.
A question goes forth:
“Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?”
— Revelation 5:2
John weeps because no man is found worthy.
Then one of the elders tells him:
“Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed…”
— Revelation 5:5
John turns expecting to see a Lion.
But he sees:
“A Lamb as it had been slain…”
— Revelation 5:6
There is the mystery of divine victory.
The Lion conquers as the Lamb.
The One who opens the book is the One who was slain.
The cross is not a temporary interruption in God’s prophetic plan.
The cross is central to the victory of God.
THE LAMB HAS PREVAILED
This completely changes the atmosphere of Revelation.
Before the seals begin opening, before the trumpets sound, before the beasts arise in John’s vision, Scripture establishes something first:
The Lamb has prevailed.
That means everything that follows must be interpreted from the standpoint of His victory.
We are not waiting until the final chapter to discover whether Jesus wins.
His victory is established before the prophetic drama unfolds.
This is one of the greatest mistakes we can make in end-times interpretation.
If we read prophecy as though God and Satan are locked in an uncertain struggle and we must wait until the end to discover who wins, we have already missed the throne.
The Lamb has prevailed.
The throne is occupied.
The book is in God’s hand.
History is not out of control.
READ PROPHECY FROM THE THRONE
John receives a remarkable invitation in Revelation 4:
“Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”
— Revelation 4:1
Immediately John says:
“And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.”
— Revelation 4:2
Before John sees many of the great prophetic events of Revelation, he sees the throne.
That order matters.
First the throne.
Then the events.
First divine government.
Then the shaking.
First the One sitting upon the throne.
Then the prophetic drama.
That is the proper position from which to interpret prophecy.
We do not begin on earth looking upward in panic.
We begin from the revelation of the throne and look outward from divine government.
The throne interprets the shaking.
The throne interprets the beast.
The throne interprets Babylon.
The throne interprets judgment.
The throne tells us that none of these things exist outside the boundaries of God’s sovereign purpose.
PROPHECY FROM THE EARTH PRODUCES FEAR
When prophecy is interpreted entirely from an earthly viewpoint, every new event can become terrifying.
A government changes.
Fear.
A war begins.
Fear.
A disease spreads.
Fear.
Technology advances.
Fear.
The economy shakes.
Fear.
Another leader rises.
Fear.
Every event appears capable of destroying God’s purpose.
But John did not receive Revelation from that position.
He was called higher.
He saw the throne.
That does not mean the events occurring upon the earth are insignificant.
It means they must be interpreted from the correct spiritual position.
There is a tremendous difference between looking at the throne from the shaking and looking at the shaking from the throne.
CHRIST IS ALREADY ENTHRONED
Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost concerning the resurrection and exaltation of Christ.
He declared:
“Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted…”
— Acts 2:33
Then he quoted Psalm 110:
“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.”
— Acts 2:34–35
Christ’s kingship is not merely a distant possibility.
The New Testament announces His exaltation.
Paul says God:
“Raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.”
— Ephesians 1:20
And where is that position?
“Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion…”
— Ephesians 1:21
That is where Christ is positioned.
Far above.
Not beneath the powers.
Not struggling to become Lord.
Not waiting for Satan’s permission to reign.
Far above all principality and power.
End-times prophecy must be interpreted in light of the exalted Christ.
HE MUST REIGN
Paul gives us one of the strongest statements in all of Scripture:
“For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:25
Again, notice the certainty.
He must reign.
Prophecy is not moving toward the possibility of Christ’s victory.
It is moving toward the manifestation and consummation of His victory.
Every enemy comes beneath His feet.
And Paul identifies the final enemy:
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:26
That gives us an enormous prophetic compass.
Whatever interpretation we develop concerning the end, it must ultimately move toward the destruction of death.
Death does not conquer Christ.
Christ conquers death.
The grave does not swallow the purpose of God.
Resurrection swallows mortality in victory.
THE CROSS CHANGED EVERYTHING
Any interpretation of prophecy that minimizes the cross will eventually become distorted.
At Calvary, something far greater occurred than the physical death of Jesus.
Paul writes:
“And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
— Colossians 2:15
Jesus declared before the cross:
“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”
— John 12:31
Then He said:
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
— John 12:32
The cross belongs in our eschatology.
The resurrection belongs in our eschatology.
The ascension belongs in our eschatology.
The enthronement of Christ belongs in our eschatology.
We cannot jump from Daniel directly into modern world events while treating the death, resurrection, and exaltation of Christ as though they were merely preliminary material.
They are central events in the fulfillment of God’s prophetic purpose.
IT IS FINISHED
From the cross Jesus declared:
“It is finished.”
— John 19:30
Those words do not mean that every aspect of God’s purpose had already reached its full manifestation in history.
Paul still speaks of enemies being subdued.
He still speaks of resurrection.
He still speaks of death being destroyed.
But the legal and redemptive foundation of victory had been accomplished.
The Lamb had been slain.
Sin had been dealt with.
The price had been paid.
The decisive work of redemption had been accomplished.
Therefore, everything that unfolds afterward must be understood from the standpoint of finished redemption moving toward full manifestation.
We do not interpret prophecy as though Calvary never happened.
We interpret prophecy because Calvary happened.
THE LEGAL AND THE VITAL
Here we encounter an important distinction.
There is what Christ has accomplished legally and redemptively, and there is the progressive manifestation of that victory vitally and experientially.
Scripture can declare a victory accomplished while also describing that victory being worked out in creation.
Christ has conquered.
Yet Paul says He must reign until every enemy is beneath His feet.
The decisive victory is accomplished.
The manifestation continues.
This helps us understand prophetic language that sometimes sounds completed and elsewhere appears to be unfolding.
God can declare the end from the beginning because His counsel is certain.
What He has established in Christ cannot fail.
The manifestation catches up with the accomplished purpose.
BABYLON CAN BE FALLEN BEFORE MEN SEE IT FALL
Revelation provides a powerful example.
An angel cries:
“Babylon is fallen, is fallen…”
— Revelation 18:2
Prophetic declaration often announces divine reality before every visible consequence has appeared.
From God’s standpoint, judgment has been determined.
The sentence has gone forth.
The thing is finished in divine counsel.
Yet its visible manifestation may continue unfolding.
This distinction between the legal declaration and the vital manifestation helps us read prophetic Scripture without forcing every statement into a flat chronological sequence.
God speaks from the throne.
And the throne can declare a thing finished because nothing can overturn His counsel.
CHRIST IS THE INTERPRETER OF HISTORY
The great question is therefore not:
What is Satan doing?
The greater question is:
What is Christ accomplishing?
Not:
How powerful is the beast?
But:
What does the beast reveal by contrast concerning the government of the Lamb?
Not:
How great is Babylon?
But:
Why must Babylon fall before the kingdom that cannot be shaken?
Not merely:
What is ending?
But:
What is God bringing forth?
Christ gives prophecy its direction.
Without Him, we see disconnected catastrophes.
With Him, we begin seeing the movement of divine purpose.
THE REVELATION IS OF A PERSON
Christianity itself is not ultimately the revelation of a system.
It is the revelation of a Person.
Jesus said:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life…”
— John 14:6
Truth is embodied in Christ.
Life is embodied in Christ.
The way is Christ.
Therefore, the ultimate answer to prophecy is not possessing the perfect chart.
It is seeing the Lord.
John did not begin Revelation by seeing a timeline.
He saw Jesus Christ.
He saw Him walking among the lampstands.
He saw His eyes as a flame of fire.
He heard His voice as the sound of many waters.
He fell at His feet.
And Jesus said:
“Fear not; I am the first and the last.”
— Revelation 1:17
There again is the answer to prophetic fear:
Fear not.
Why?
Because Christ is the First and the Last.
HE HOLDS THE KEYS
Jesus continues:
“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore… and have the keys of hell and of death.”
— Revelation 1:18
Who holds the keys?
Jesus Christ.
Death does not hold the keys.
Hell does not hold the keys.
The beast does not hold the keys.
Babylon does not hold the keys.
Christ holds them.
That declaration appears at the beginning of Revelation for a reason.
Before John carries us through the prophetic visions, Jesus establishes His authority over the very enemies that frighten humanity most:
death and the grave.
THE FIRST AND THE LAST
If Christ is the First and the Last, then He stands at both ends of God’s purpose.
He is not merely present somewhere in the middle.
Paul says:
“For by him were all things created…”
— Colossians 1:16
And then:
“All things were created by him, and for him.”
— Colossians 1:16
By Him.
For Him.
That gives us both origin and destination.
Creation came through Christ and moves toward God’s purpose in Christ.
Paul continues:
“And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
— Colossians 1:17
Therefore, when we study the end, we are not studying something disconnected from Christ.
We are studying the consummation of a purpose centered in Him from before the foundation of the world.
THE KEY TO END TIMES PROPHECY
We are now ready to establish the principle that will govern the rest of this book:
Never interpret prophecy in a way that removes Jesus Christ from the center.
Study the beasts.
But see the Lamb.
Study the kingdoms.
But see the throne.
Study the shaking.
But see the kingdom that cannot be shaken.
Study judgment.
But see the righteous government of God.
Study death.
But see resurrection.
Study the end.
But see the eternal purpose.
Study Revelation.
But remember its opening declaration:
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”
The deeper we travel into biblical prophecy, the greater Christ should become.
Not smaller.
Greater.
Our confidence should increase.
Our fear should decrease.
Our understanding of God’s purpose should expand.
And the throne should become more real than the shaking occurring beneath it.
That is the position from which we will continue.
We are not reading prophecy merely from earth toward heaven.
We are learning to read prophecy from the throne.
And from the throne, one truth governs everything:
The Lamb has prevailed.
CHAPTER THREE
How to Understand Prophetic Signs and Symbols
Beasts, Horns, Mountains, Seas, Stars, Cities, Numbers, and the Language of Prophecy
One of the greatest mistakes we can make when studying end times prophecy is assuming that prophetic language should always be interpreted in exactly the same way as ordinary historical language.
Prophecy speaks in signs.
It speaks in symbols.
It speaks through pictures, patterns, types, numbers, creatures, colors, places, and dramatic visions.
Daniel sees beasts rising from the sea.
John sees a dragon standing before a woman.
Stars fall from heaven.
Mountains move.
Horns speak.
A woman sits upon many waters.
A city is called a harlot.
Another city descends from God as a bride.
A Lamb stands as though He has been slain.
None of this language is accidental.
And none of it gives us permission to make the symbols mean whatever we want them to mean.
The Bible has its own prophetic vocabulary.
Therefore, if we want to understand prophetic symbols, we must learn to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture.
REVELATION WAS “SIGNIFIED”
The opening verse of Revelation gives us an important clue concerning the way the book communicates.
John writes:
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.”
— Revelation 1:1
Notice the word:
Signified.
The revelation was communicated through signs.
John was not merely handed a list of events written in ordinary chronological language.
He was shown visions.
He saw images.
He saw symbolic creatures.
He saw heavenly scenes.
He saw earthly scenes.
He saw numbers, colors, objects, cities, women, beasts, angels, trumpets, seals, bowls, mountains, waters, and stars.
Therefore, Revelation announces from its opening verse that we are entering the language of signification.
This should immediately make us careful.
A sign points beyond itself.
The sign is not necessarily the reality.
It represents or communicates the reality.
A LAMB IS NOT MERELY A LAMB
Consider the most obvious example.
John sees:
“A Lamb as it had been slain…”
— Revelation 5:6
Do we interpret that literally?
Do we believe that the central figure in Revelation is a four-legged animal standing physically before God’s throne?
Of course not.
Why?
Because Scripture identifies the Lamb.
John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching and declared:
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
— John 1:29
The symbol is a lamb.
The reality is Jesus Christ.
Once we understand that principle, we realize something important:
We already interpret Revelation symbolically whenever Scripture requires us to.
The question is not whether Revelation contains symbols.
The question is:
How do we determine what those symbols mean?
And the safest answer is:
Let the Bible teach us its own language.
SCRIPTURE INTERPRETS THE SYMBOL
Daniel provides one of the clearest examples.
Daniel sees four great beasts coming up from the sea.
If we had only the vision and no interpretation, people could invent hundreds of explanations.
But Daniel is given an interpretation:
“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.”
— Daniel 7:17
Later the interpretation becomes even clearer:
“The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth…”
— Daniel 7:23
There we have a biblical definition.
Beasts can represent kingdoms and governmental powers.
That does not mean every occurrence of an animal anywhere in Scripture automatically means a kingdom.
Context still governs interpretation.
But it gives us prophetic vocabulary.
Therefore, when John later sees beasts in Revelation, we should not begin with today’s newspaper.
We should begin with Daniel.
Revelation did not invent the language of beasts.
The prophetic Scriptures had already established it.
THE BEAST IS A STATE OF GOVERNMENT
There is another principle hidden within this imagery.
A beast operates according to its nature.
It does not possess the understanding of a man.
It moves according to appetite, instinct, domination, and earthly nature.
Daniel’s imagery therefore communicates more than the name of a political kingdom.
It reveals the nature of government apart from the divine mind.
Nebuchadnezzar provides a remarkable example.
This great king became lifted up in pride. His understanding departed from him, and he was driven from men.
Daniel records:
“And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts…”
— Daniel 5:21
Notice that.
His heart became like the beasts.
The beast therefore speaks not merely of an external empire but of a nature and state of government operating beneath divine understanding.
This becomes important when we later encounter the beast in Revelation.
We must not rush immediately to identify one modern politician.
We should first understand the biblical nature of beastly government.
WHAT DOES THE SEA REPRESENT?
Daniel sees the beasts rising from the sea.
John also sees:
“A beast rise up out of the sea…”
— Revelation 13:1
What is the sea?
Again, we search Scripture.
Isaiah says:
“The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”
— Isaiah 57:20
Revelation itself gives us another important interpretation concerning waters:
“The waters which thou sawest… are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”
— Revelation 17:15
Now the picture begins to develop.
The sea can speak prophetically of restless humanity, nations, peoples, and multitudes.
Therefore, a beast rising from the sea presents a far richer picture than some strange creature literally climbing out of an ocean.
It speaks of governmental power arising from the turbulent realm of humanity.
Scripture is interpreting the symbol.
THREE REALMS: SEA, EARTH, AND HEAVEN
Throughout prophetic Scripture we encounter three important realms:
Sea.
Earth.
Heaven.
These can describe natural creation, but in prophetic language they can also communicate states, orders, and realms.
The sea is unstable.
It moves continually.
It is tossed by winds.
It has no fixed foundation.
The earth is more established.
It has form and stability.
Heaven represents the governmental and spiritual realm above the earthly.
This helps us understand why prophetic Scripture can speak of events occurring in heaven that are not necessarily descriptions of astronomical events in the natural sky.
Heaven can represent government, authority, spiritual position, and rule.
We must allow context to determine the application.
STARS CAN SPEAK OF RULERS AND HEAVENLY POSITION
Revelation contains dramatic language concerning stars.
John sees stars falling from heaven.
If we automatically interpret every prophetic star as a literal astronomical body, enormous problems immediately arise.
A single natural star could consume the earth.
Yet prophetic Scripture had already used stars symbolically long before John wrote Revelation.
Joseph dreamed:
“The sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.”
— Genesis 37:9
Joseph’s father immediately understood that the imagery represented people.
He answered:
“Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?”
— Genesis 37:10
The sun, moon, and stars were symbolic.
They represented persons and positions of authority within Joseph’s world.
Therefore, when prophetic Scripture speaks of stars falling, we should at least consider whether it is describing the fall of powers, rulers, authorities, or those occupying elevated positions.
Again:
Scripture teaches us the language.
SUN, MOON, AND STARS
This becomes particularly important when reading passages such as Matthew 24:
“The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven…”
— Matthew 24:29
Many readers immediately assume Jesus is describing the literal collapse of the physical universe.
But Jesus was speaking in prophetic language that His Jewish hearers already possessed in their Scriptures.
Isaiah used similar language concerning judgment upon Babylon:
“For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened…”
— Isaiah 13:10
The prophets used cosmic imagery to describe enormous governmental, national, and covenantal shaking.
Therefore, when Jesus uses that vocabulary, we should first hear Him through the prophetic Scriptures rather than through modern science-fiction imagery.
That does not weaken His prophecy.
It helps place His language in its biblical world.
WHAT DOES A HORN REPRESENT?
Prophecy repeatedly speaks of horns.
Daniel sees beasts with horns.
Revelation contains horns.
What are they?
Daniel again provides interpretation:
“And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise…”
— Daniel 7:24
A horn represents strength, authority, or governmental power.
This imagery appears throughout Scripture.
The Psalmist says:
“But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn…”
— Psalm 92:10
The horn speaks of strength being raised up.
Therefore, when Revelation presents horns upon beasts, the imagery concerns power and authority.
We do not need to invent the meaning.
The Bible has already established it.
MOUNTAINS CAN REPRESENT KINGDOMS
Mountains also appear repeatedly in prophecy.
Daniel sees a stone strike the great image representing earthly kingdoms.
Then:
“The stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”
— Daniel 2:35
Daniel interprets the mountain:
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed…”
— Daniel 2:44
The mountain represents the kingdom of God.
Isaiah likewise declares:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains…”
— Isaiah 2:2
Mountains can therefore speak prophetically of kingdoms, governments, or elevated powers.
This gives additional meaning to prophetic language concerning mountains being moved, cast down, or established above other mountains.
ZION IS MORE THAN GEOGRAPHY
One mountain becomes especially important throughout Scripture:
Mount Zion.
Naturally, Zion has a geographical and historical setting.
But the New Testament takes Zion beyond mere geography.
Hebrews declares to believers:
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…”
— Hebrews 12:22
Notice the tense.
Ye are come.
Zion is presented as a spiritual reality connected with heavenly Jerusalem and the government of God.
Then Revelation shows:
“A Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand…”
— Revelation 14:1
Again the Lamb is central.
Zion becomes the governmental position of the Lamb and those standing with Him.
The symbol is rooted in Old Testament history but expanded into New Testament spiritual reality.
TWO CITIES
Cities also carry enormous prophetic significance.
Two cities dominate much of biblical symbolism:
Babylon and Jerusalem.
These are historical cities.
But Revelation uses both in ways that reach beyond ordinary geography.
Babylon becomes:
“MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT…”
— Revelation 17:5
Jerusalem appears as:
“The holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven…”
— Revelation 21:2
One city represents confusion, mixture, corruption, domination, and an order destined to fall.
The other represents divine order, covenant, union, glory, and the dwelling of God.
Prophecy therefore presents more than two locations on a map.
It presents two orders.
Two systems.
Two governmental realities.
Two states of being.
TWO WOMEN
Revelation also presents two dramatically different women.
One is the harlot associated with Babylon.
The other is the bride associated with New Jerusalem.
The harlot rides the beast.
The bride is joined to the Lamb.
One receives her strength from beastly government.
The other receives her identity through union with Christ.
One represents mixture and corruption.
The other represents purity and covenantal union.
Again, the symbolism is communicating spiritual reality.
A woman in prophetic language can represent a people, city, covenantal order, or corporate body.
This imagery appears long before Revelation.
The prophets repeatedly spoke of Jerusalem and Israel in the language of a woman, wife, or daughter.
John inherits that prophetic vocabulary.
THE DRAGON AND THE SERPENT
Revelation 12 presents:
“A great red dragon…”
— Revelation 12:3
Later Scripture identifies him:
“That old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan…”
— Revelation 12:9
Notice how Revelation interprets itself.
The dragon is connected directly with the serpent.
And where did the serpent first appear?
Genesis.
The Bible carries symbols from beginning to end.
Genesis introduces the serpent and the seed.
Revelation brings the conflict to prophetic maturity.
This is why we cannot properly understand Revelation if we read only Revelation.
We need Genesis.
We need Exodus.
We need the Psalms.
We need Isaiah.
We need Ezekiel.
We need Daniel.
We need the words of Jesus.
Revelation is filled with the vocabulary of the entire Bible.
NUMBERS SPEAK
Numbers also play an important role in prophetic language.
Seven appears repeatedly.
Seven churches.
Seven seals.
Seven trumpets.
Seven bowls.
Seven spirits.
Seven lamps.
Seven horns.
Seven eyes.
The repetition itself tells us that the number carries significance.
Throughout Scripture, seven is frequently associated with completion, fullness, and divine order.
Creation is presented in a seven-day pattern.
The seventh day completes the cycle.
Therefore, when Revelation repeatedly uses seven, we should not treat the number as incidental.
It communicates fullness and completeness within the prophetic structure.
TWELVE AND GOVERNMENTAL ORDER
Twelve also appears throughout Scripture.
Twelve tribes of Israel.
Twelve apostles.
Twelve gates.
Twelve foundations.
The New Jerusalem contains repeated multiples of twelve.
Twelve therefore becomes associated with governmental and covenantal order.
This does not mean every appearance of twelve must be turned into an elaborate hidden code.
That creates another kind of error.
Biblical symbolism should illuminate Scripture, not turn Scripture into numerological speculation.
The pattern must arise naturally from the biblical text.
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
Perhaps no prophetic number has generated more speculation than:
666.
John writes:
“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man…”
— Revelation 13:18
Notice John’s own emphasis:
It is the number of a man.
Before assigning the number to barcodes, computer chips, banking systems, or whatever technology happens to dominate a particular generation, we should begin with John’s words.
The number is connected with man and beastly government.
The number six falls short of seven.
Repeated three times, it presents man’s order intensified but still falling short of divine fullness.
Whatever additional historical applications may be considered, the spiritual principle remains powerful:
Man apart from God’s fullness cannot become seven.
Human government cannot perfect itself into the kingdom of God.
The beast cannot become the Lamb.
THE MARK IS ABOUT IDENTITY AND GOVERNMENT
Revelation speaks of the mark of the beast upon the forehead and hand.
Again, many interpretations begin immediately with technology.
But before we reach for modern inventions, we should search Scripture for the language of the forehead and hand.
Under the law, Israel was told concerning God’s commandments:
“And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.”
— Deuteronomy 6:8
The hand speaks of works and activity.
The forehead speaks of mind, identity, allegiance, and governing thought.
Revelation also speaks of God’s servants being sealed in their foreheads.
Therefore, the fundamental prophetic contrast is deeper than technology.
The question is:
Whose nature, government, mind, and works are being expressed?
The beast marks his order.
God seals His people.
Prophecy is dealing with identity and government.
SYMBOLS REVEAL STATES OF BEING
This brings us to one of the deepest principles of prophetic interpretation.
Prophecy is not merely revealing external events.
It often reveals states of being.
Babylon is not merely somewhere people can travel geographically.
Babylon represents an order from which God’s people are called to come out.
The beast is not merely something to identify externally.
Beast nature represents government operating outside divine understanding.
Zion is not merely a mountain one can visit naturally.
Zion represents a governmental position in God.
Heaven is not merely distance above the clouds.
It can describe spiritual position and governmental authority.
The sea is not merely salt water.
It can represent the restless masses of humanity.
Once we begin understanding these states, prophecy becomes personally relevant.
The question stops being only:
Where is the beast?
And becomes:
What nature governs me?
The question stops being only:
Where is Babylon?
And becomes:
Has Babylon’s mixture been removed from my thinking?
The question stops being:
Where is Zion?
And becomes:
Am I learning to stand with the Lamb in His government?
Now prophecy begins working inside us.
THE NATURAL MIND AND THE SPIRITUAL MIND
Paul gives us an essential principle:
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God…”
— 1 Corinthians 2:14
Why?
“Because they are spiritually discerned.”
— 1 Corinthians 2:14
This does not give us permission to invent meanings that Scripture does not support.
Spiritual revelation is not imagination.
The Spirit who inspired Scripture does not contradict Scripture.
But it does tell us that spiritual truth requires spiritual understanding.
A person can read the symbol naturally and never see the reality it represents.
John saw a Lamb.
Revelation sees Christ.
John saw a woman clothed with the sun.
Revelation communicates something greater than an astronomical event.
John saw beasts.
The prophetic language speaks of governmental nature and power.
The natural eye sees the image.
The Spirit opens the meaning.
SYMBOLIC DOES NOT MEAN UNREAL
This point must be emphasized.
When we say prophetic language is symbolic, we are not saying it is imaginary.
A symbol can communicate something more real than the visible picture.
Jesus is not literally a four-legged lamb.
But He is truly the Lamb of God.
The kingdom is not literally a mountain made of rock filling the planet.
But God’s kingdom is real.
Babylon in Revelation carries symbolic meaning, but the spiritual order represented by Babylon is real.
The beast is symbolic, but beastly government is real.
New Jerusalem is presented through magnificent symbolic imagery, but the reality of God’s dwelling and covenantal people is real.
Symbolism does not weaken truth.
It unveils truth.
DO NOT FORCE EVERY DETAIL
There is also danger on the opposite side.
Once people discover biblical symbolism, they can begin trying to make every tiny detail carry a secret meaning.
That can become as speculative as newspaper prophecy.
We need restraint.
Where Scripture clearly establishes a symbolic pattern, use it.
Where context supports the meaning, follow it.
Where the prophets provide interpretation, receive it.
But where Scripture remains silent, we should remain humble.
Not every sentence contains a hidden code.
Not every number contains a secret calculation.
Not every color requires an elaborate doctrine.
Prophetic interpretation must remain anchored to the Word.
THE BIBLE IS ONE PROPHETIC LANGUAGE
The great advantage we possess is that Revelation does not stand alone.
The Bible has been building its vocabulary from Genesis onward.
The serpent begins in Genesis.
The Lamb develops through Passover and sacrifice.
Babylon begins in the early biblical story and develops through the prophets.
Zion develops through David, the Psalms, the prophets, Hebrews, and Revelation.
Beasts appear in Daniel.
Cosmic shaking fills the prophets.
The bride develops throughout covenantal Scripture.
The tree of life begins in Genesis and appears again in Revelation.
The river begins in Eden, flows through prophetic imagery, and appears again in the final chapters of Revelation.
The Bible interprets its own ending through its beginning.
LEARN THE LANGUAGE BEFORE INTERPRETING THE VISION
Imagine attempting to read a book written in a foreign language while refusing to learn the meaning of its words.
That is what happens when we approach prophetic Scripture without learning biblical symbolism.
We see “beast” and immediately think modern dictator.
We see “sea” and think Atlantic Ocean.
We see “star” and think astronomical object.
We see “mountain” and think geology.
We see “Babylon” and look for a modern nation.
We see “mark” and immediately search for technology.
But Scripture has already been speaking this language for centuries before John receives his vision.
The responsible interpreter asks first:
Where has God used this language before?
That single question can eliminate enormous amounts of speculation.
FROM THE SYMBOL TO CHRIST
And finally, every symbol must remain subordinate to the central revelation.
The purpose is not to become experts on beasts.
It is to see the Lamb.
The purpose is not to become fascinated with Babylon.
It is to understand why Babylon must fall before the government of God.
The purpose is not merely to identify darkness.
It is to see the triumph of light.
The purpose is not to count horns endlessly.
It is to recognize that all authority ultimately bows before Jesus Christ.
The purpose is not to remain standing in the troubled sea.
It is to ascend in understanding to the throne.
Prophetic symbols are servants.
They serve the revelation.
And the revelation is centered in Jesus Christ and the purpose of God.
As we move into the next chapter, we are ready to confront one of the most important phrases in all of end-times teaching:
“The last days.”
We have heard that phrase all our lives.
We have been told what it means.
But now we are going to do something more important.
We are going to ask:
What does the Bible actually mean when it says “the last days”?
And once again, we will not begin with today’s headlines.
We will begin with Scripture.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Last Days: What Does the Bible Actually Mean?
Understanding the End of an Age and the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose
Few phrases in Scripture have produced more speculation than “the last days.”
When many believers hear those words, their minds immediately move toward the final years of human history.
Wars.
Earthquakes.
Famines.
Political upheaval.
Economic instability.
Violence.
Disease.
Technology.
International conflict.
A new headline appears, and almost immediately someone asks:
Are we living in the last days?
But before we attempt to answer that question from current events, we need to ask something far more important:
What did the biblical writers mean when they used the phrase “the last days”?
That question must come first.
If Scripture itself used the expression in ways that do not fit our modern assumptions, then our assumptions need to change.
We do not have the authority to force the Bible into our prophetic system.
Our prophetic system must submit to the Bible.
LET THE BIBLE DEFINE THE LAST DAYS
The safest place to begin is with the New Testament itself.
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter stood before the multitude in Jerusalem after the Holy Spirit had been poured out.
The people were amazed at what they were witnessing.
Peter explained the event by quoting the prophet Joel:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh…”
— Acts 2:17
Notice what Peter was doing.
He did not say:
Joel was speaking about something that will begin thousands of years from now.
Peter connected Joel’s prophecy with what was happening in his own generation.
The Spirit was being poured out.
Peter identified the event with the language:
“In the last days.”
That immediately tells us that the biblical phrase cannot simply mean “the last few years of planet Earth.”
Something called the last days was already underway in the apostolic period.
“THESE LAST DAYS”
The writer of Hebrews gives us another unmistakable statement:
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son…”
— Hebrews 1:1–2
Notice the phrase carefully:
“These last days.”
The writer did not say:
In some future last days God will speak by His Son.
He said God had spoken unto us in these last days.
Christ’s coming therefore stood within something Scripture called the last days.
That raises the question we must answer:
The last days of what?
THE LAST DAYS OF AN ORDER
One of the problems in modern end-times teaching is that we frequently hear the word “last” and assume it must mean the last days of the entire physical creation.
But Scripture often speaks in terms of ages, covenants, administrations, and orders.
Something can reach its last days without the entire universe ceasing to exist.
A covenant can reach fulfillment.
An age can come to completion.
A priesthood can give way to a greater priesthood.
A temple order can be replaced by a greater temple reality.
A shadow can disappear when the substance arrives.
The coming of Jesus Christ brought one of the greatest transitions in biblical history.
The old covenant order was reaching its consummation.
The reality to which its shadows pointed had arrived.
CHRIST CAME AT THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGES
The writer of Hebrews says concerning Christ:
“But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
— Hebrews 9:26
Again, the King James translation uses the word world, but the underlying thought concerns the consummation of the ages.
Christ appeared at a decisive turning point in God’s purpose.
His cross was not merely one event among many.
His coming marked the fulfillment toward which an entire covenantal order had been pointing.
Sacrifices had pointed toward Him.
Priesthood had pointed toward Him.
The tabernacle had pointed toward Him.
The temple had pointed toward Him.
The feast days had pointed toward Him.
The law had contained shadows.
Then the substance arrived.
Christ came.
THE SHADOW WAS GIVING WAY TO THE SUBSTANCE
Paul writes concerning religious ordinances:
“Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
— Colossians 2:17
A shadow exists because a substance is present.
But once the substance is revealed, the shadow can no longer be treated as the ultimate reality.
This is crucial to understanding the last days.
The old covenant system contained shadows.
Christ is the substance.
Therefore, the last days involved the closing of one order and the unveiling of another.
This is why the New Testament writers could speak of themselves as living in the last days.
They stood at the end of an age.
They were witnessing a covenantal transition of enormous significance.
THE OLD COVENANT WAS READY TO VANISH AWAY
Hebrews speaks plainly:
“In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old.”
— Hebrews 8:13
Then the writer continues:
“Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.”
— Hebrews 8:13
That is extraordinary language.
Something was old.
Something was decaying.
Something was ready to vanish.
The writer was living during the transition.
The new covenant had been established through Christ.
Yet the visible structures connected to the older order still remained for a time.
The temple still stood.
The priesthood still functioned.
Sacrifices still continued.
But prophetically and covenantally, the old order had been judged obsolete.
Its days were numbered.
THE LEGAL AND THE VITAL
This gives us another example of the distinction between legal accomplishment and vital manifestation.
The new covenant had been established in Christ.
The old covenant had been declared obsolete.
Legally, the transition had occurred.
Yet visibly, many elements of the old order continued for a period.
This helps us understand how Scripture can declare something finished while its outward manifestation is still unfolding.
The legal reality had changed.
The vital manifestation was catching up.
This principle appears repeatedly in prophecy.
God speaks from the standpoint of His accomplished purpose.
Then history manifests what heaven has declared.
JESUS ANNOUNCED THE END OF AN AGE
This brings us directly to Matthew 24.
Jesus had just confronted the religious leadership of Jerusalem.
Matthew 23 contains some of the strongest judgment language Jesus ever spoke.
He declared:
“Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”
— Matthew 23:38
Then Jesus departed from the temple.
His disciples pointed out the magnificent temple buildings.
Jesus answered:
“There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
— Matthew 24:2
That statement shocked the disciples.
The temple stood at the center of their religious world.
It represented covenant, worship, sacrifice, priesthood, identity, and national history.
If the temple was going down, something enormous was ending.
WHAT DID THE DISCIPLES ASK?
The disciples came privately to Jesus and asked:
“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
— Matthew 24:3
The word translated “world” in the King James Version is aiōn.
It means age.
That matters.
The disciples were asking about the end of an age.
They had just heard Jesus announce the destruction of the temple.
Their question arose from that announcement.
Therefore, before we take Matthew 24 and move every verse thousands of years into the future, we should first honor the context in which Jesus spoke.
THE END OF THE AGE WAS CONNECTED TO THE TEMPLE
The natural temple represented an entire order.
But Jesus had already introduced a greater temple.
When challenged concerning His authority, He said:
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
— John 2:19
His hearers thought He was speaking about the natural building.
But John explains:
“But he spake of the temple of his body.”
— John 2:21
There were now two temple realities standing before them.
One was made with hands.
The other was the body of Christ.
One belonged to the shadow.
The other contained the substance.
One could be destroyed by armies.
The other would be raised from the dead.
The transition between those two realities belongs to the prophetic meaning of the last days.
THE TRUE TEMPLE HAD ARRIVED
The New Testament continues developing this revelation.
Paul tells believers:
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
— 1 Corinthians 3:16
Peter says believers are:
“As lively stones, are built up a spiritual house…”
— 1 Peter 2:5
The temple of God was no longer confined to one physical structure in Jerusalem.
God was building a spiritual house.
The old order was passing.
The new creation reality in Christ was emerging.
That is last-days language.
THE TRUE PRIESTHOOD HAD ARRIVED
The same transition occurred with priesthood.
Under the old covenant, priesthood was connected to Levi and Aaron.
But Hebrews presents Jesus as a greater High Priest.
He belongs to another order:
“Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”
— Hebrews 7:17
Then Peter speaks to believers:
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood…”
— 1 Peter 2:9
Again we see movement.
Natural priesthood gives way to a greater priesthood in Christ.
The shadow gives way to substance.
The temporary gives way to the enduring.
THE TRUE SACRIFICE HAD ARRIVED
The sacrifices also reached their fulfillment.
Hebrews declares:
“But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.”
— Hebrews 10:12
Why did He sit down?
Because the sacrifice was complete.
The old covenant priests stood continually because their work was never finished.
Christ offered one sacrifice.
Then He sat down.
That is fulfillment.
Therefore, the last days were not simply about destruction.
They were about completion.
Something better had arrived.
THE TRUE COVENANT HAD ARRIVED
Jesus lifted the cup and declared:
“This cup is the new testament in my blood…”
— Luke 22:20
The new covenant was not waiting for the twenty-first century.
It was established through the blood of Christ.
The apostles were ministers of it.
Paul writes:
“Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament…”
— 2 Corinthians 3:6
The covenantal world was changing.
This explains why the language of “the last days” appears so naturally in the apostolic period.
They were living during the transition from shadow to substance.
THE LAST DAYS WERE DAYS OF FULFILLMENT
Peter also says:
“But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.”
— Acts 3:18
Fulfillment is one of the great words of the New Testament.
Jesus repeatedly says things occurred:
“That it might be fulfilled.”
The prophets were not merely speaking about an endless future.
Much of what they had declared was reaching fulfillment in Christ and the new covenant.
Therefore, the last days were days of prophetic culmination.
The promises were gathering into Christ.
The shadows were meeting their substance.
The age was reaching its appointed end.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN GOD HAS NO FUTURE PURPOSE
At this point, some readers may misunderstand.
If the apostles were living in the last days, does that mean every prophetic promise was completely exhausted in the first century?
No.
Scripture continues to speak of resurrection.
Transformation.
The defeat of death.
The fullness of the kingdom.
The manifestation of the sons of God.
Creation delivered from corruption.
The consummation of God’s purpose.
The fact that one age was ending does not mean divine purpose stopped.
It means God’s purpose moved into a greater stage.
We should not trade one extreme for another.
The error of pushing everything into our future should not be replaced by the error of claiming there is nothing remaining.
God’s purpose continues.
But it continues from the accomplished work of Christ, not as though Christ has not yet established anything.
THE LAST DAYS AND THE PRESENT AGE
Paul speaks about:
“This present evil world…”
— Galatians 1:4
Again, the language concerns an age.
Scripture recognizes ages.
It recognizes transitions.
It recognizes the passing of one order and the manifestation of another.
Paul writes:
“Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
— Romans 12:2
The believer lives in the midst of this tension.
We live physically within the present world order while belonging spiritually to another kingdom.
Our citizenship is heavenly.
Our life is hidden with Christ.
We have received the Spirit.
We taste the powers of the age to come.
The kingdom is already real, yet its fullness continues to manifest.
THE POWERS OF THE AGE TO COME
Hebrews speaks of believers who have:
“Tasted… the powers of the world to come.”
— Hebrews 6:5
Again, the underlying thought is the coming age.
That means believers can experience something of another age while still living within the present one.
This is enormously important.
The kingdom does not begin only after everything natural disappears.
The kingdom breaks into the present through Christ.
Jesus announced:
“The kingdom of God is at hand.”
— Mark 1:15
Then He demonstrated its power.
He healed.
He delivered.
He forgave.
He proclaimed good news.
The coming age had broken into history through the King.
WE LIVE BETWEEN ACCOMPLISHMENT AND MANIFESTATION
This creates a prophetic tension throughout the New Testament.
Christ has conquered death through resurrection.
Yet believers still await the full manifestation of immortality.
Christ has been exalted above every principality and power.
Yet Paul says He must reign until all enemies are placed beneath His feet.
The kingdom has come.
Yet we pray:
“Thy kingdom come.”
— Matthew 6:10
We have received life.
Yet we still groan for the redemption of the body.
There is accomplishment.
There is manifestation.
There is the legal.
There is the vital.
There is the finished work.
There is the unfolding expression of that finished work in creation.
Understanding this prevents us from forcing every prophecy into either “completely past” or “completely future.”
God’s purpose is larger than those simplistic categories.
“THIS GENERATION SHALL NOT PASS”
Jesus makes a statement in Matthew 24 that must be taken seriously:
“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
— Matthew 24:34
Those words establish an important time marker.
Jesus was speaking to His disciples.
He spoke of this generation.
We should not casually turn that phrase into a generation thousands of years removed from His original hearers simply because it does not fit our inherited system.
The historical setting matters.
Jesus had announced judgment upon Jerusalem.
He had announced the destruction of the temple.
And He connected those events with the generation listening to Him.
History confirms that Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by Roman forces in A.D. 70.
That event stands as one of the great covenantal judgments of biblical history.
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
Jesus said:
“Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled…”
— Matthew 24:6
Modern prophecy teaching often takes the existence of wars as proof that the end must be immediately upon us.
But Jesus said something very different:
“For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”
— Matthew 24:6
And His command was:
“See that ye be not troubled.”
That is remarkable.
Jesus warned His disciples not to interpret every disturbance as a reason for panic.
Yet fear has become one of the primary products of modern prophecy culture.
Every war becomes proof.
Every earthquake becomes proof.
Every technological development becomes proof.
Every international agreement becomes proof.
Then the prediction changes when the headlines change.
Jesus gave us a more stable foundation:
Do not be troubled.
PROPHECY IS NOT THE EVENING NEWS
The church has repeatedly suffered from interpreting Scripture through current events.
A generation experiences a major war and assumes it must be the final war.
A dictator rises and becomes the Antichrist.
That dictator dies.
Another candidate appears.
A new form of identification is developed.
It becomes the mark of the beast.
Technology changes.
The interpretation changes again.
This method places the newspaper above Scripture.
The Bible becomes something we continually bend around today’s headlines.
But biblical prophecy deserves better.
We begin with Scripture.
We establish the biblical meaning.
Then we examine history and experience in light of the Word.
The newspaper does not interpret the Bible.
The Bible interprets the world.
THE END OF ONE WORLD CAN BE THE BEGINNING OF ANOTHER
Peter speaks of:
“New heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
— 2 Peter 3:13
Revelation also presents:
“A new heaven and a new earth…”
— Revelation 21:1
Prophetic language repeatedly presents the removal of one order and the establishment of another.
This is the pattern of God.
Death gives way to life.
Old creation gives way to new creation.
The first man gives way to the second Man.
The old covenant gives way to the new covenant.
Shadow gives way to substance.
Babylon falls.
New Jerusalem descends.
Beast government is judged.
The government of the Lamb prevails.
The end is therefore never merely about what God removes.
It is about what God establishes.
THE FIRST ADAM AND THE LAST ADAM
Paul presents perhaps the greatest transition of all:
“The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:45
Here are two men.
Two orders.
Two humanities.
Two states of being.
The first man is of the earth.
The second Man is the Lord from heaven.
The prophetic movement of Scripture is ultimately larger than Israel versus Rome, east versus west, or one political system versus another.
The great transition is:
Adam to Christ.
Death to life.
Corruption to incorruption.
Mortality to immortality.
Earthly image to heavenly image.
This is why Paul’s teaching on resurrection belongs at the center of true eschatology.
THE LAST ENEMY DEFINES THE REAL END
Paul says:
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:26
If we want to understand the biblical end, we must not lose that statement.
The final enemy is not Russia.
It is not China.
It is not America.
It is not Europe.
It is not a religious institution.
It is not an economic system.
It is not technology.
The last enemy is death.
Therefore, any end-times theology that gives enormous attention to political enemies while barely speaking of the destruction of death has lost the scale of Paul’s revelation.
The biblical end moves toward resurrection.
It moves toward immortality.
It moves toward victory over death.
THE END IS CHRIST’S VICTORY
Paul writes:
“Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father…”
— 1 Corinthians 15:24
Then:
“For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:25
And finally:
“That God may be all in all.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:28
There is Paul’s end-times prophecy.
Christ reigns.
Enemies are subdued.
Death is destroyed.
The kingdom is delivered to the Father.
God becomes all in all.
That is not a picture of divine defeat.
It is the consummation of divine purpose.
LAST DAYS SHOULD NOT PRODUCE LAST-DAYS FEAR
If our understanding of the last days produces continual terror, we should ask whether we are reading Scripture through Christ or through fear.
The apostles believed they were living in the last days.
Yet they did not respond by hiding from society.
They preached.
They taught.
They planted churches.
They healed the sick.
They carried the gospel into nations.
They endured persecution.
They expected the kingdom of God to advance.
Peter did not stand on Pentecost and say:
These are the last days, therefore everyone panic.
He announced the outpouring of the Spirit.
The last days were associated with God pouring out His Spirit.
That is a very different atmosphere.
THE LAST DAYS AND THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT
Joel’s prophecy declares:
“I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh…”
— Joel 2:28
Peter identifies this with the last days.
What therefore marks the last days?
Not merely darkness.
Outpouring.
Not merely judgment.
Spirit.
Not merely collapse.
Prophetic utterance.
Sons and daughters prophesy.
Servants and handmaidens receive the Spirit.
The prophetic picture is larger than catastrophe.
God is doing something among His people.
GOD’S PURPOSE MOVES FORWARD
That is the message we must recover.
The last days are not evidence that God’s plan is collapsing.
They reveal transition within God’s plan.
Old things pass.
Greater realities emerge.
Systems shake.
The kingdom remains.
Shadows disappear.
Christ is revealed.
Death works.
Resurrection answers.
The first Adam dies.
The last Adam gives life.
The last days are therefore understood properly only when they are placed inside the eternal purpose of God.
THE QUESTION IS NOT ONLY “WHEN?”
Modern prophecy discussion tends to ask:
When?
When will this happen?
When will that happen?
When is the end?
When does the tribulation begin?
When does Christ come?
Chronology has its place.
But Jesus and the apostles force us to ask deeper questions:
What is ending?
What is being fulfilled?
What is passing away?
What is being established?
What has Christ accomplished?
What remains to be manifested?
Those questions produce understanding instead of speculation.
FROM ONE AGE INTO ANOTHER
The coming of Christ represents the great invasion of one age into another.
He brought life into death.
Light into darkness.
Spirit into flesh.
Reality into shadow.
The kingdom into the kingdoms of men.
The new creation into the old creation.
That movement continues until the purpose of God reaches its fullness.
Therefore, biblical eschatology is not primarily an obsession with how everything ends.
It is the revelation of what God’s end looks like.
And God’s end is Christ.
THE LAST DAYS MUST BE READ FROM THE THRONE
If we read the last days from the earth, we see disorder.
If we read them from the throne, we see transition.
From earth, kingdoms appear to be shaking uncontrollably.
From the throne, things that can be shaken are being removed.
From earth, darkness appears to be winning.
From the throne, the Lamb has prevailed.
From earth, death seems final.
From the throne, death is the last enemy destined for destruction.
This is why our position matters.
The last days cannot be understood merely by standing inside history and reacting to every headline.
We must see God’s purpose from the throne.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE ACTUALLY MEAN?
So when Scripture speaks of the last days, we must resist the temptation to force every occurrence into one definition.
Context matters.
But the New Testament clearly establishes several truths.
The apostles already understood themselves to be living in the last days.
The coming of Christ marked the consummation of an age.
The old covenant order was passing away.
The new covenant had been established.
The shadows were giving way to the substance.
The natural temple was giving way to the true temple in Christ and His people.
The old priesthood was giving way to the greater priesthood.
Repeated sacrifices were giving way to the one finished sacrifice of Christ.
And God’s purpose was moving forward toward the complete manifestation of Christ’s victory.
That is far larger than merely asking whether today’s headlines prove the world is about to end.
DO NOT BE TROUBLED
We return to the words of Jesus:
“See that ye be not troubled.”
— Matthew 24:6
That is where this chapter should leave us.
Not indifferent.
Not careless.
Not asleep.
But untroubled.
We watch.
We discern.
We search Scripture.
We understand the times.
But we do not allow fear to interpret prophecy for us.
God’s counsel shall stand.
The Lamb has prevailed.
The kingdom cannot be shaken.
Christ must reign.
The last enemy shall be destroyed.
And God’s purpose moves toward its appointed conclusion:
God all in all.
The last days therefore are not primarily a message that everything is falling apart.
They are part of the revelation that God is bringing His purpose to fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
The believer does not stand in history asking fearfully:
“What is going to happen to us?”
The believer learns to stand in Christ and ask:
“What is God bringing forth?”
That is how we understand the last days.
Not from fear.
Not from tradition.
Not from speculation.
Not from the evening news.
From Scripture, from Christ, and from the throne.
CHAPTER FIVE
Daniel and the Kingdoms of Prophecy
The Beasts, the Son of Man, the Ancient of Days, and the Kingdom Given to the Saints
If there is one Old Testament book that forms a foundation for understanding end times prophecy, it is Daniel.
The Book of Revelation draws heavily from Daniel’s language.
Beasts.
Horns.
Kingdoms.
The Ancient of Days.
The Son of Man.
Judgment.
Saints.
Dominion.
A kingdom that cannot be destroyed.
Daniel gives us prophetic vocabulary that Revelation later expands.
But if we read Daniel only as a codebook for identifying modern nations, we will miss the larger revelation.
Daniel is not ultimately about the triumph of beasts.
It is about the triumph of the kingdom of God.
The beasts rise.
The kingdoms rage.
Powers contend.
But the vision keeps moving.
It moves toward the Ancient of Days.
It moves toward the Son of Man.
It moves toward judgment.
It moves toward dominion.
And finally, it moves toward this:
The saints possess the kingdom.
That is the direction of Daniel’s prophecy.
DANIEL SAW HISTORY FROM THE THRONE
Daniel lived under earthly empires.
He knew what powerful kingdoms looked like.
He had been taken captive into Babylon.
He had served under kings.
He had watched governments rise and change.
Yet Daniel was given something greater than political information.
He was given a heavenly perspective.
That matters.
Prophecy does not simply tell us what governments are doing.
It reveals what heaven says about government.
A kingdom may appear glorious from the earth.
But from the throne, God may describe it as a beast.
That contrast is important.
Man looks at splendor.
God looks at nature.
Man looks at military power.
God looks at whether the government reflects His mind.
Man looks at permanence.
God sees what can be shaken.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S IMAGE
Daniel 2 gives us one of the great prophetic visions of Scripture.
King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a massive image.
Daniel described it:
“This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.”
— Daniel 2:31
The image had:
A head of gold.
Breast and arms of silver.
Belly and thighs of brass.
Legs of iron.
Feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
The image represented a succession of kingdoms.
But Daniel did not stop with the kingdoms of men.
He saw something else.
A stone was cut out without hands.
That stone struck the image.
The image collapsed.
Then:
“The stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”
— Daniel 2:35
There is the movement of prophecy again.
Human kingdoms appear magnificent.
But they do not get the final word.
THE STONE BECOMES A MOUNTAIN
Daniel interpreted the stone and the mountain:
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed…”
— Daniel 2:44
Notice what God establishes:
A kingdom.
And what kind of kingdom?
“It shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”
— Daniel 2:44
That is the heart of Daniel’s prophecy.
The final emphasis is not the glory of Babylon.
It is not Persia.
It is not Greece.
It is not Rome.
It is the kingdom of God.
The stone becomes a mountain.
The mountain fills the earth.
Human government gives way to divine government.
That is prophetic direction.
THE STONE CUT WITHOUT HANDS
The phrase “without hands” is significant.
The kingdom does not originate in human effort.
It is not produced by political organization.
It is not created by military power.
It is not voted into existence.
It comes from God.
Scripture repeatedly uses the language of things made without hands to distinguish divine reality from human construction.
Jesus spoke of a temple not made with hands.
Paul spoke of a circumcision made without hands.
The heavenly realities of God are not produced by flesh.
The kingdom comes from above.
That is why the stone can destroy the image.
It belongs to another order.
DANIEL 7: THE SAME KINGDOMS, A DIFFERENT VIEW
Daniel 2 shows kingdoms as a glorious image from man’s perspective.
Daniel 7 shows kingdoms as beasts from a heavenly perspective.
That difference is powerful.
Daniel says:
“Four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.”
— Daniel 7:3
Then the interpretation is given:
“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.”
— Daniel 7:17
And later:
“The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth…”
— Daniel 7:23
The symbolism is interpreted for us.
Beasts represent kingdoms and governmental powers.
The same kinds of powers that looked like precious metals in Daniel 2 appear as beasts in Daniel 7.
Earth admires the image.
Heaven exposes the nature.
THE BEASTLY NATURE OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT
Why would God describe kingdoms as beasts?
Because a beast operates beneath the mind of man.
It is governed by instinct, appetite, strength, survival, and domination.
Daniel’s own account of Nebuchadnezzar gives us a remarkable example.
Because of pride, Nebuchadnezzar’s understanding departed from him.
Daniel later said:
“His heart was made like the beasts…”
— Daniel 5:21
The king remained physically a man.
But his heart became beastlike.
That tells us something important.
Beast prophecy concerns more than political labels.
It speaks of government operating outside the divine mind.
Whenever rule is driven by pride, domination, appetite, violence, self-exaltation, and flesh, beast nature is present.
The outward form may look impressive.
The inner nature is another matter.
THE BEASTS COME FROM THE SEA
Daniel sees the beasts rise from the sea.
As we learned in the previous chapter, prophetic waters can represent peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.
The beast arises from the restless realm of humanity.
That is fitting.
Human government apart from God rises out of human instability.
One kingdom replaces another.
One power overthrows another.
One ruler dominates another.
The sea keeps moving.
The kingdoms keep changing.
But above the sea is the throne.
And Daniel’s vision is moving upward.
THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Daniel says:
“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit…”
— Daniel 7:9
Now the entire atmosphere changes.
The beasts have been raging.
But suddenly Daniel sees the throne.
The Ancient of Days sits.
That means government.
That means judgment.
That means authority.
The beasts are not the highest power in the vision.
The throne is.
This is one of the great lessons of prophecy.
Whenever beasts appear large, keep reading until you see the throne.
Whenever kingdoms rage, keep reading until you see divine government.
Whenever earthly power seems overwhelming, remember:
The Ancient of Days sits.
THE COURT OF HEAVEN
Daniel continues:
“The judgment was set, and the books were opened.”
— Daniel 7:10
Earthly empires may believe they answer to no one.
But Daniel sees another court.
A higher court.
The beast is judged.
The kingdoms of men are evaluated from heaven’s throne.
This should transform the way believers see political power.
No earthly government is ultimate.
No king is ultimate.
No empire is ultimate.
No political system sits above divine government.
The throne remains above them all.
THE SON OF MAN COMES TO THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Then Daniel sees one of the most important visions in all of Scripture:
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days…”
— Daniel 7:13
This passage has often been treated only as a picture of Christ coming from heaven to earth.
But look carefully at the direction in Daniel’s vision.
The Son of Man comes to the Ancient of Days.
He approaches the throne.
And then:
“There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom…”
— Daniel 7:14
This is enthronement language.
The Son of Man receives kingdom authority.
This becomes enormously important when we come to the New Testament.
JESUS CALLED HIMSELF THE SON OF MAN
Jesus repeatedly used the title:
Son of Man.
That was not accidental.
He was identifying Himself with Daniel’s vision.
At His trial, Jesus declared:
“Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
— Matthew 26:64
His hearers understood the claim.
Jesus was invoking Daniel 7.
The One standing before them in humiliation was claiming the authority of the enthroned Son of Man.
That is why they reacted so violently.
Jesus was not merely claiming to be a religious teacher.
He was identifying Himself with the One who receives everlasting dominion.
THE CLOUDS SPEAK OF DIVINE GLORY
Cloud imagery throughout Scripture is frequently connected with the presence and glory of God.
God descended in a cloud.
The glory cloud filled the tabernacle.
The cloud guided Israel.
The prophets used cloud language for divine coming and judgment.
Therefore, when Daniel sees the Son of Man with the clouds of heaven, we should hear the language of divine glory and authority.
Jesus receives dominion from the Ancient of Days.
This is not the beast receiving authority.
This is the Son of Man.
HIS DOMINION SHALL NOT PASS AWAY
Daniel continues:
“His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
— Daniel 7:14
Compare that with the beasts.
They arise.
They dominate.
They disappear.
Another replaces them.
But the kingdom of the Son of Man is different.
It does not pass away.
It cannot be destroyed.
That is the contrast Daniel is showing us.
Temporary kingdoms.
Everlasting kingdom.
Beast government.
Son of Man government.
Government from below.
Government from above.
The prophecy is moving toward the establishment of the superior kingdom.
THE SAINTS POSSESS THE KINGDOM
Now Daniel gives us something even greater.
He says:
“But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever…”
— Daniel 7:18
The kingdom is given to the Son of Man.
But the saints also possess the kingdom.
This is not contradiction.
It is union.
The people of God participate in the government of the Son.
Daniel repeats it:
“Judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.”
— Daniel 7:22
And again:
“The kingdom and dominion… shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High…”
— Daniel 7:27
Three times Daniel emphasizes the saints and the kingdom.
That means it matters.
THE KINGDOM IS NOT ONLY SOMETHING CHRIST HAS
Christ reigns.
But His reign produces a people who reign with Him.
Revelation echoes Daniel:
“And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”
— Revelation 5:10
Again, the Lamb is not merely defeating enemies for His own private victory.
He is producing a royal priesthood.
A kingdom people.
A governmental people.
A people who share His nature and His rule.
This moves end-times prophecy beyond spectatorship.
The saints are not merely standing at a distance waiting to see what happens.
They are part of God’s kingdom purpose.
THE KINGDOM IS WITHIN AND AMONG GOD’S PEOPLE
Jesus announced:
“The kingdom of God is within you.”
— Luke 17:21
The kingdom therefore cannot be understood only as an external political system.
The government of God begins in the heart.
Christ governs His people.
His nature replaces beast nature.
His mind replaces carnal reasoning.
His Spirit replaces fleshly rule.
Then that government is expressed through a people.
This is how divine government moves from inward reality toward outward manifestation.
THE GREAT WAR IS A WAR OF GOVERNMENT
When we read Daniel, we see competing governments.
Beast government.
Kingdom government.
The real issue is:
Who rules?
Does flesh rule?
Does pride rule?
Does fear rule?
Does appetite rule?
Does human wisdom rule?
Or does Christ rule?
That question applies to nations, but it also applies personally.
We can become fascinated with identifying external beasts while allowing beast nature to remain unchallenged within our own thinking.
Prophecy must come closer than that.
The kingdom must work in us.
THE LITTLE HORN
Daniel describes a little horn that rises among the horns.
It speaks:
“Great words against the most High…”
— Daniel 7:25
It opposes the saints.
It seeks to change times and laws.
Much prophetic speculation has revolved around the identity of this power.
Historical questions are legitimate.
But the spiritual principle is also clear.
Beast government always resists divine government.
It speaks against the Most High.
It wars against the saints.
It seeks to establish its own order.
Yet Daniel does not end there.
Again:
Keep reading.
THE JUDGMENT SHALL SIT
Daniel says:
“But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion…”
— Daniel 7:26
The horn does not win.
The beast does not win.
The saints are not permanently defeated.
The judgment sits.
Dominion is removed from beastly power.
And then:
“The kingdom and dominion… shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High…”
— Daniel 7:27
There is the destination.
The prophecy passes through conflict.
But it lands in kingdom.
That is why we must not stop reading in the middle of the battle.
PROPHECY OFTEN LOOKS WORST BEFORE THE THRONE APPEARS
Daniel’s visions can be frightening.
Strange beasts.
Terrible powers.
Horns speaking great things.
War against the saints.
But Daniel keeps being brought back to the throne.
The Ancient of Days sits.
Judgment is rendered.
The Son of Man receives dominion.
The saints possess the kingdom.
That pattern is essential.
The prophetic vision may reveal the full strength of opposition, but it does so in the context of a greater government.
Darkness may be described vividly.
That does not mean darkness is sovereign.
THE IMAGE OF MAN AND THE IMAGE OF GOD
Nebuchadnezzar’s image in Daniel 2 also contains a deeper contrast.
Human government builds an image.
But God’s eternal purpose is producing the image of His Son.
Paul writes:
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…”
— Romans 8:29
There are two images.
One is the image of human dominion.
The other is the image of Christ.
One will fall.
The other will fill creation.
That is kingdom prophecy.
THE FIRST MAN AND THE SECOND MAN
This again connects Daniel with Paul’s revelation.
Paul writes:
“The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:47
The beast arises from below.
The Son of Man comes from above.
The first man is earthy.
The second Man is heavenly.
This is not accidental.
The great prophetic conflict can be traced back to two men and two natures.
Adam.
Christ.
Earthly.
Heavenly.
Beastly.
Divine.
The end times are ultimately tied to which image governs creation.
THE STONE DESTROYS THE IMAGE
Daniel says the stone struck the image at its feet.
Then:
“The iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together…”
— Daniel 2:35
Human government appears divided into ages and kingdoms.
But from the standpoint of the kingdom, it is one great image of human dominion.
The stone destroys the whole thing.
Not because God is fascinated with destruction.
But because divine government cannot ultimately share the throne with beast government.
There must be one kingdom.
THE KINGDOM FILLS THE WHOLE EARTH
Then comes one of the greatest statements in Daniel:
“The stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”
— Daniel 2:35
The kingdom expands.
It fills.
It grows.
Jesus later used similar kingdom imagery.
The kingdom is like a mustard seed that begins small and grows.
It is like leaven working through the whole lump.
The kingdom has an expanding nature.
The end is not beast government filling everything.
The prophetic end is the mountain of God filling the earth.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD FILLS THE EARTH
Habakkuk gives a similar promise:
“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”
— Habakkuk 2:14
Isaiah declares:
“The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”
— Isaiah 11:9
These passages should stand beside Daniel in our understanding of prophecy.
God’s purpose is expansive.
His kingdom is not shrinking toward extinction.
The knowledge of His glory fills the earth.
THE SAINTS ARE NOT CALLED TO BE AFRAID OF THE BEASTS
Daniel was troubled by what he saw.
The visions affected him deeply.
But the interpretation did not leave him without hope.
The saints possess the kingdom.
That should govern our response.
We do not deny the reality of beast systems.
We do not pretend there is no opposition.
We do not ignore judgment.
But we refuse to give the beast the final word.
The kingdom belongs to the Son of Man.
And through union with Him, it belongs to the saints.
FROM DANIEL TO REVELATION
When John later sees beasts in Revelation, Daniel should be standing behind our interpretation.
When John sees horns, Daniel helps define them.
When John sees the throne, Daniel prepares us.
When John sees clouds, Daniel gives us language.
When John sees saints overcoming beastly power, Daniel has already shown us the direction.
When Revelation announces:
“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ…”
— Revelation 11:15
We hear Daniel again.
The mountain is filling the earth.
The Son of Man has received dominion.
The kingdom is moving toward full manifestation.
DANIEL IS A BOOK OF KINGDOM, NOT FEAR
This is where we should land.
Daniel contains frightening imagery.
But its governing message is not fear.
It is kingdom.
Earthly kingdoms rise.
Earthly kingdoms fall.
Beasts appear.
Beasts are judged.
The Ancient of Days sits.
The Son of Man receives dominion.
The saints possess the kingdom.
The mountain fills the earth.
The kingdom stands forever.
That is Daniel’s prophetic direction.
THE THRONE INTERPRETS THE BEAST
Whenever you study Daniel, remember this principle:
Never let the beast interpret the throne. Let the throne interpret the beast.
If we begin with the beast, fear becomes large.
If we begin with the throne, the beast is placed in its proper position.
Temporary.
Limited.
Judged.
Unable to stop God’s purpose.
The Ancient of Days sits.
The Son of Man reigns.
The saints inherit.
The kingdom stands.
That is the message Daniel gives to end-times prophecy.
The question is not whether the beasts will rage.
They will.
The question is not whether kingdoms will shake.
They will.
The question is:
What remains when the shaking is finished?
Daniel answers:
The kingdom of God.
And what happens to that kingdom?
It becomes a mountain.
And the mountain:
fills the whole earth.
CHAPTER SIX
Jesus and the Prophecy of Matthew 24
The Temple, Jerusalem, Tribulation, the End of the Age, and the Coming of the Son of Man
Few chapters in the Bible have been used more often in discussions about end times prophecy than Matthew 24.
Wars.
Famines.
Earthquakes.
False prophets.
Tribulation.
The darkening of the sun and moon.
Stars falling from heaven.
The coming of the Son of Man.
For generations, these words have been lifted from the chapter and projected almost entirely into the distant future.
But before we place Jesus’ prophecy into our generation, we must first hear the question His disciples were actually asking Him.
Context matters.
Jesus did not speak Matthew 24 in a vacuum.
The chapter grows directly out of what happened immediately before it.
And if we ignore that setting, we can make Jesus answer questions His disciples never asked.
JESUS HAD JUST PRONOUNCED JUDGMENT UPON JERUSALEM
Matthew 23 contains some of the strongest words Jesus ever spoke to the religious leaders of His generation.
He exposed hypocrisy.
He pronounced woes upon the scribes and Pharisees.
He spoke of prophets being killed.
He spoke of judgment coming upon that generation.
Then He cried over Jerusalem:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee…”
— Matthew 23:37
Jesus was not speaking abstractly.
He was addressing Jerusalem.
He was speaking to the covenantal center of Israel’s religious world.
Then He declared:
“Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”
— Matthew 23:38
Those words form the doorway into Matthew 24.
The temple had been called God’s house.
But Jesus now said:
“Your house.”
Something had changed.
Judgment had been pronounced.
JESUS DEPARTED FROM THE TEMPLE
Matthew 24 begins:
“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple…”
— Matthew 24:1
That physical departure carried enormous prophetic meaning.
The glory was leaving an order.
Jesus had stood in the temple.
He had taught there.
He had confronted the religious system there.
He had announced judgment.
Now He walked out.
His disciples then pointed out the buildings of the temple.
They were magnificent.
The temple complex was one of the great architectural achievements of the ancient world.
To the disciples, its destruction may have seemed almost impossible.
But Jesus answered:
“See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
— Matthew 24:2
That statement produced the question that follows.
THE QUESTION WAS ABOUT THE TEMPLE
The disciples came to Jesus privately on the Mount of Olives and asked:
“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
— Matthew 24:3
The first phrase cannot be ignored:
“When shall these things be?”
What things?
The things Jesus had just said.
The destruction of the temple.
The judgment upon Jerusalem.
The desolation of their house.
The disciples were not randomly asking Jesus for a twenty-first-century prophecy seminar.
Their question arose directly from what He had just announced.
That context must govern the chapter.
THE END OF THE WORLD OR THE END OF THE AGE?
The King James Version says:
“The end of the world.”
But the Greek word is aiōn.
The better sense is:
the end of the age.
That distinction is critical.
Jesus was not necessarily describing the destruction of the physical planet.
The disciples were asking about the consummation of an age.
An entire covenantal order was reaching its end.
Temple.
Priesthood.
Sacrifice.
Ceremonial system.
Jerusalem as the center of covenantal worship.
The shadow was giving way to the substance.
Christ had come.
The age was changing.
DO NOT BEGIN WITH MODERN HEADLINES
The most common mistake with Matthew 24 is to begin with current events.
A war breaks out.
Someone quotes Matthew 24.
An earthquake occurs.
Someone declares prophecy fulfilled.
A famine happens.
A disease spreads.
A political conflict grows.
Immediately:
“Jesus said this would happen in the last days.”
But Jesus’ disciples were sitting directly in front of Him, looking toward a temple He had just said would be destroyed.
Before applying the passage to anything else, we must understand what it meant to them.
That is responsible interpretation.
“TAKE HEED THAT NO MAN DECEIVE YOU”
Jesus begins:
“Take heed that no man deceive you.”
— Matthew 24:4
Notice His first concern.
Not earthquakes.
Not armies.
Not famines.
Deception.
Jesus knew confusion would surround the events He was describing.
He continued:
“For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”
— Matthew 24:5
False messianic claims were a serious issue in the period surrounding Jerusalem’s destruction.
Political and religious unrest produced people claiming divine authority and promising deliverance.
Jesus told His disciples beforehand:
Do not be deceived.
That warning remains spiritually relevant in every generation.
But it had an immediate historical setting.
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
Then Jesus said:
“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars…”
— Matthew 24:6
This verse is often treated as though Jesus said wars are proof that the final end has arrived.
But keep reading:
“See that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”
— Matthew 24:6
Jesus almost says the opposite of what fear-driven prophecy teaching often says.
A war occurs.
Modern interpretation says:
“The end must be here.”
Jesus said:
“The end is not yet.”
And His command was:
“See that ye be not troubled.”
That should shape the spirit in which we study prophecy.
PROPHECY SHOULD NOT CREATE PANIC
Jesus knew His disciples would live through tremendous upheaval.
Yet He did not prepare them through fear.
He prepared them through understanding.
There is a difference.
Fear reacts.
Understanding discerns.
Fear runs after every rumor.
Understanding remains established.
Fear magnifies the shaking.
Faith remembers the throne.
Jesus was not creating frightened prophecy watchers.
He was preparing witnesses.
NATION AGAINST NATION
Jesus continued:
“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…”
— Matthew 24:7
Wars and political upheaval were familiar throughout the Roman world.
But the language also carries the atmosphere of prophetic judgment.
The Old Testament prophets often described the shaking of kingdoms in similar terms.
Jesus’ point was not:
“Whenever nations fight, start setting dates.”
His point was that major upheaval would accompany the transition He was describing.
FAMINES, PESTILENCES, AND EARTHQUAKES
Jesus also spoke of:
“Famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”
— Matthew 24:7
Again, these things have occurred throughout history.
If their mere existence proves that the final end is immediately at hand, nearly every generation could have made the same claim.
Jesus adds:
“All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
— Matthew 24:8
The word translated sorrows carries the idea of birth pains.
Something was being brought through transition.
An old order was dying.
A new order was being manifested.
The language of birth is important.
Prophecy is not only about destruction.
Something is being brought forth.
THEY WOULD BE DELIVERED UP
Jesus then spoke directly to His disciples:
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you…”
— Matthew 24:9
Notice the pronoun:
You.
Jesus was not merely speaking to an invisible audience thousands of years later.
He was preparing the men sitting before Him.
The Book of Acts records exactly this kind of persecution.
The apostles were beaten.
Imprisoned.
Threatened.
Scattered.
Some were killed.
The early church did not need to speculate about whether Jesus meant them.
They lived through the persecution.
THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM
Then Jesus declares:
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
— Matthew 24:14
This verse is often projected completely into our future.
But once again, the New Testament gives us important context.
Paul later wrote:
“The gospel… which was preached to every creature which is under heaven.”
— Colossians 1:23
He also spoke of the gospel going forth throughout the world.
The apostolic gospel spread rapidly through the Roman world before Jerusalem’s destruction.
That does not mean gospel proclamation stopped.
The kingdom continues advancing.
But it does show that New Testament writers could use universal language in ways connected with their known world.
THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION
Jesus then referred to Daniel:
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet…”
— Matthew 24:15
Again:
“When ye shall see.”
Jesus was giving His disciples a warning.
Luke’s parallel account helps clarify the historical application:
“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.”
— Luke 21:20
That is enormously important.
Luke connects the approaching desolation with Jerusalem surrounded by armies.
Jesus was preparing His followers to recognize the coming judgment.
THEN FLEE
Jesus said:
“Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.”
— Matthew 24:16
Notice how geographically specific this is.
Judaea.
Mountains.
Housetops.
Fields.
Sabbath travel.
This is not vague global language.
It is deeply rooted in first-century Judea.
If Jesus were merely describing the physical destruction of the entire planet, fleeing from Judea into nearby mountains would solve nothing.
The warning makes sense in the context of Jerusalem’s coming destruction.
GREAT TRIBULATION
Jesus said:
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time…”
— Matthew 24:21
The destruction of Jerusalem was horrific.
The siege produced famine, violence, death, and suffering on an unimaginable scale.
The covenantal significance was equally great.
The city.
The temple.
The priesthood.
The sacrifices.
The old order.
All were caught in the judgment.
This was not simply another military defeat.
It represented the visible collapse of an age whose substance had already been fulfilled in Christ.
THE TEMPLE COULD FALL BECAUSE THE TRUE TEMPLE HAD COME
This point must remain central.
God was not destroying His purpose.
He was removing a shadow whose substance had arrived.
Jesus was the true temple.
His body was raised.
And through union with Him, a corporate temple was being built.
Paul said:
“Ye are the temple of God…”
— 1 Corinthians 3:16
Peter spoke of believers as:
“Lively stones… built up a spiritual house.”
— 1 Peter 2:5
Therefore, the destruction of the old temple was not the destruction of God’s dwelling.
The greater temple had already appeared.
FALSE CHRISTS AND FALSE PROPHETS
Jesus warned:
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets…”
— Matthew 24:24
Times of upheaval produce deception.
People become desperate for deliverance.
Fear makes people vulnerable.
That was true in the first century.
It remains true today.
This is why Jesus continually directs His disciples toward discernment rather than sensationalism.
He says:
“Behold, I have told you before.”
— Matthew 24:25
Prophecy prepares God’s people so they are not controlled by surprise.
“BEHOLD, HE IS IN THE DESERT”
Jesus warned His disciples not to chase reports:
“Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth…”
— Matthew 24:26
That sounds remarkably contemporary.
Religious excitement can always produce claims:
“Christ is here.”
“The answer is over there.”
“This man has the secret.”
“This event proves everything.”
Jesus said:
Do not run after rumors.
The coming of the Son of Man would not depend upon secret human claims.
LIGHTNING FROM EAST TO WEST
Jesus said:
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
— Matthew 24:27
This is prophetic language of visibility, suddenness, and divine manifestation.
The coming of the Son of Man cannot be reduced merely to people claiming:
“He is over here.”
Divine manifestation carries its own witness.
SUN, MOON, AND STARS
Then Jesus 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…”
— Matthew 24:29
If we have not learned the prophetic vocabulary of Scripture, we may assume Jesus is describing the literal destruction of the solar system.
But the Old Testament prophets had already used this language.
Isaiah said concerning Babylon:
“For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light…”
— Isaiah 13:10
Ezekiel used similar cosmic language in judgment upon Egypt.
Joel used sun, moon, and heavenly imagery.
The prophets used cosmic shaking to describe the collapse of rulers, governments, nations, and covenantal orders.
Jesus was speaking their language.
HEAVENLY LIGHTS REPRESENT GOVERNMENTAL ORDER
Sun, moon, and stars govern natural creation.
The sun rules the day.
The moon rules the night.
Stars occupy the heavens.
Therefore, prophetically, cosmic disturbance can speak of governmental and authoritative shaking.
Lights go dark.
Stars fall.
Powers lose their positions.
An order collapses.
This language is perfectly suited to the destruction of a covenantal world centered in Jerusalem and its temple.
The heavens of that order were being shaken.
THE SIGN OF THE SON OF MAN
Jesus continued:
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven…”
— Matthew 24:30
The important question is:
Where is the Son of Man?
In heaven.
Daniel 7 has already prepared us.
The Son of Man comes to the Ancient of Days.
He receives dominion.
He receives glory.
He receives a kingdom.
Jesus’ language therefore carries the revelation of His enthronement and heavenly authority.
The destruction of Jerusalem would become a public demonstration that the rejected Son of Man had been vindicated and enthroned.
The stone the builders rejected had become the head of the corner.
COMING IN THE CLOUDS
Jesus said:
“They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
— Matthew 24:30
Again, Daniel stands behind the language.
Clouds throughout Scripture frequently accompany divine manifestation and judgment.
God came upon Egypt in prophetic cloud imagery.
The Lord rode upon a swift cloud.
The cloud represented divine presence.
Therefore, coming in clouds does not have to mean merely physical transportation through the atmosphere.
It is royal, prophetic, governmental language.
THE COMING OF THE LORD IS LARGER THAN ONE EVENT
Scripture uses the language of divine coming in multiple contexts.
God comes in judgment.
God comes in deliverance.
God comes in manifestation.
God comes in glory.
Christ comes to His people.
Christ comes in governmental authority.
There remains the blessed hope of resurrection and full manifestation.
We should therefore be careful about forcing every biblical reference to “coming” into one identical event.
Context determines meaning.
Matthew 24 must first be understood within its own context.
THE GATHERING OF THE ELECT
Jesus speaks of angels gathering His elect:
“And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect…”
— Matthew 24:31
Trumpet language throughout Scripture signals proclamation, assembly, warning, and divine action.
The gospel itself becomes a gathering voice.
Christ gathers a people out of every direction.
While one covenantal order is collapsing, another people are being gathered around the Son.
The true center is no longer the temple in Jerusalem.
The true center is Christ.
THE FIG TREE
Jesus then says:
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree…”
— Matthew 24:32
When its branch becomes tender and leaves appear, summer is near.
The lesson is simple:
Recognize the season by the signs Jesus gave.
Then He says:
“So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”
— Matthew 24:33
Again:
“Ye.”
The disciples were expected to recognize the approaching fulfillment.
“THIS GENERATION SHALL NOT PASS”
Then comes the statement that must govern every serious interpretation of Matthew 24:
“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
— Matthew 24:34
That is difficult only if we have already decided the entire chapter must refer exclusively to events thousands of years later.
Jesus said:
This generation.
The most natural reading is the generation to whom He was speaking.
A generation was going to witness the fulfillment of the judgment He had announced.
And within roughly forty years, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed.
WE SHOULD NOT MOVE THE TIME MARKER
Some have attempted to make “this generation” mean:
A future race.
A future generation seeing modern Israel.
A symbolic group.
But we should be very careful about changing ordinary language simply because it challenges our system.
Earlier in Matthew, Jesus used the phrase “this generation” concerning the people of His own day.
There is no compelling contextual reason to suddenly redefine it in Matthew 24:34.
Jesus gave His disciples a real time marker.
HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY
Jesus then says:
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
— Matthew 24:35
This statement certainly carries ultimate significance.
But within prophetic language, heaven and earth can also describe established orders of government and covenantal creation.
Isaiah spoke of God planting heavens and laying foundations of earth in connection with His covenant people.
Peter speaks of new heavens and a new earth.
Revelation does the same.
The biblical story repeatedly uses creation language for covenantal order and new creation.
Whatever fullness remains in the ultimate purpose of God, Jesus is emphasizing one certainty:
His Word remains when everything else shakes.
NO MAN KNOWS THE DAY OR HOUR
Jesus continues:
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man…”
— Matthew 24:36
This verse should destroy date-setting.
Yet Christian history is filled with people calculating dates Jesus explicitly refused to give.
Whenever prophecy produces more confidence in our calendar than in Christ, something has gone wrong.
Jesus calls His people to readiness.
Not calculation.
Watchfulness.
Not speculation.
Faithfulness.
Not panic.
AS THE DAYS OF NOAH
Jesus compares the coming judgment to Noah’s day.
People were eating.
Drinking.
Marrying.
Living ordinary life.
Then judgment came suddenly.
The issue is not that ordinary life is sinful.
The issue is unpreparedness.
People lived without recognizing the seriousness of the hour.
Jesus was warning His disciples to remain awake spiritually.
ONE TAKEN AND ONE LEFT
Jesus speaks of one being taken and another left.
This passage has often been automatically interpreted as a secret removal of believers.
But the immediate comparison is Noah.
In Noah’s account, who was taken away?
Jesus says:
“The flood came, and took them all away.”
— Matthew 24:39
Those taken in the immediate illustration were taken in judgment.
That should at least make us cautious about assuming “taken” automatically means rescued.
Context matters.
WATCH THEREFORE
Jesus says:
“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”
— Matthew 24:42
Watching is a state of spiritual readiness.
It does not mean staring continuously at geopolitical headlines.
The biblical watchman is spiritually awake.
He understands.
He discerns.
He remains faithful.
He does not allow the hour to catch him sleeping.
THE FAITHFUL SERVANT
Matthew 24 ends not with a prophecy chart but with a servant.
Jesus asks:
“Who then is a faithful and wise servant…”
— Matthew 24:45
That tells us the practical purpose of prophecy.
Prophecy should produce faithful servants.
Not merely informed spectators.
Not frightened believers.
Not people endlessly arguing timelines.
Faithful servants.
Wise servants.
People doing what the Master assigned them to do.
MATTHEW 24 IS ABOUT TRANSITION
When the chapter is read in context, a clear picture begins to emerge.
Jesus announced judgment upon Jerusalem.
He announced the destruction of the temple.
His disciples asked when those things would occur.
They asked about the end of the age.
Jesus warned them of deception.
Wars.
Persecution.
False prophets.
Jerusalem surrounded by armies.
Tribulation.
Covenantal shaking.
The coming of the Son of Man in governmental vindication.
And then He said:
“This generation shall not pass.”
The chapter is deeply connected to the end of an age.
BUT GOD’S PURPOSE DID NOT END IN A.D. 70
This must also be said clearly.
The destruction of Jerusalem did not exhaust God’s eternal purpose.
Christ still reigns.
The gospel continues.
The kingdom continues expanding.
The saints continue growing into maturity.
Creation still groans.
Resurrection remains central.
Mortality must put on immortality.
Death must be destroyed.
God’s purpose moves toward fullness.
Understanding the first-century fulfillment of much of Matthew 24 does not eliminate future hope.
It clears away confusion so we can see that hope more accurately.
JESUS WAS NOT TEACHING FEAR
The spirit of the chapter is captured in one statement:
“See that ye be not troubled.”
— Matthew 24:6
Jesus knew upheaval was coming.
He knew Jerusalem would fall.
He knew His disciples would suffer persecution.
Yet He told them:
Do not be troubled.
Why?
Because the destruction of the temple was not the destruction of God’s kingdom.
The collapse of Jerusalem’s old covenantal order was not the collapse of God’s purpose.
The true Temple stood before them.
The true High Priest had come.
The true Lamb would be sacrificed.
The new covenant would be established.
The Spirit would be poured out.
The kingdom would continue.
THE SHAKING REMOVES WHAT CANNOT REMAIN
Hebrews gives us the governing principle:
“Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”
— Hebrews 12:26
Why?
“That those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”
— Hebrews 12:27
Then:
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved…”
— Hebrews 12:28
That is Matthew 24 from the throne.
The temple could shake.
Jerusalem could shake.
The old covenant order could shake.
Political powers could shake.
Earth and heaven could shake.
But one thing remains:
The kingdom that cannot be moved.
READ MATTHEW 24 FROM THE THRONE
If we read Matthew 24 only from the earth, we see catastrophe.
If we read it from the throne, we see transition and government.
The old order is judged.
The Son of Man is vindicated.
Christ receives dominion.
The kingdom continues.
A spiritual house replaces the natural shadow.
A royal priesthood replaces the old priestly order.
One sacrifice replaces endless sacrifices.
The new covenant stands.
That is not the story of God’s defeat.
That is the story of fulfillment.
THE EVENING NEWS DOES NOT INTERPRET JESUS
Matthew 24 does have principles that remain relevant in every generation.
Do not be deceived.
Do not be troubled.
Do not chase false Christs.
Remain faithful.
Watch.
Discern.
Understand the kingdom.
But we must stop allowing every modern crisis to become the controlling interpreter of Jesus’ words.
The evening news changes every day.
Jesus’ words do not.
Prophecy must be anchored in Scripture.
THE SON OF MAN REIGNS
The disciples were about to watch their world change.
The temple they admired would fall.
Jerusalem would suffer judgment.
The religious order they had known from childhood would disappear.
But Jesus was preparing them to see something greater.
The Son of Man would not be defeated.
He would be exalted.
The stone rejected by the builders would become the chief cornerstone.
The Lamb would prevail.
The gospel would go forth.
The Spirit would be poured out.
The kingdom would stand.
That is why Jesus could tell them:
“See that ye be not troubled.”
The prophecy of Matthew 24 is not ultimately an invitation to fear the collapse of man’s world.
It is an invitation to recognize the government of Christ in the midst of shaking.
And when everything that can be shaken has been shaken, one reality remains:
The unshakable kingdom of God.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Paul, Resurrection, and the Last Enemy
Transformation, Immortality, the Defeat of Death, and God All in All
If we want to understand biblical end times prophecy, we cannot allow our attention to remain centered only on wars, beasts, kingdoms, tribulation, or the collapse of earthly systems.
Paul takes us somewhere deeper.
He takes us to resurrection.
He takes us to immortality.
He takes us to the destruction of death.
He takes us to the reign of Christ.
And finally, he takes us to the great consummation:
“That God may be all in all.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:28
That is one of the clearest biblical pictures of the end.
And it is radically different from the fear-driven picture many believers have inherited.
Paul’s end is not centered in the victory of darkness.
It is centered in the victory of Christ over every enemy, including death itself.
THE RESURRECTION IS NOT A SIDE SUBJECT
Paul makes the resurrection central to the gospel.
He writes:
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:3–4
The resurrection is not optional doctrine.
It is not a minor theological detail.
It is the declaration that death has been invaded by life.
The grave has been breached.
A Man has come out of death never to die again.
Jesus Christ did not merely survive.
He conquered death.
That changes everything about eschatology.
IF CHRIST BE NOT RISEN
Paul says:
“And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:14
That is how serious the resurrection is.
If there is no resurrection, the gospel collapses.
If Christ remains in the grave, death wins.
If death wins, prophecy ends in defeat.
But Paul announces the opposite:
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:20
There is the prophetic key:
Firstfruits.
Christ’s resurrection is not merely an isolated miracle.
It is the beginning of a harvest.
FIRSTFRUITS MEANS MORE IS COMING
Under the old covenant, firstfruits represented the beginning of harvest.
The first portion testified that the greater harvest was coming.
Paul deliberately uses that language concerning Christ.
Christ is the firstfruits.
Therefore, His resurrection points beyond Himself.
The life manifested in Him is destined for a people.
The victory manifested in Him is destined to spread.
The firstfruits guarantee the harvest.
That is kingdom prophecy.
BY MAN CAME DEATH
Paul goes back to Adam:
“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:21
Here again are the two men.
Adam.
Christ.
The first man.
The second Man.
One introduces death.
The other introduces resurrection.
This is one of the great governing patterns of Scripture.
The prophetic conflict is not ultimately between America and another nation.
It is not ultimately east against west.
It is not even primarily believer against unbeliever.
At the deepest level, Scripture presents two heads:
Adam and Christ.
Death and life.
Corruption and incorruption.
Earthly and heavenly.
IN ADAM AND IN CHRIST
Paul continues:
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:22
Paul is dealing with two corporate orders.
Adam represents the old humanity.
Christ represents the new humanity.
Adam is the head of death.
Christ is the head of life.
This means biblical eschatology must be larger than escaping difficult events.
It must deal with the replacement of one order of humanity by another.
The first Adam cannot inherit the fullness of God’s kingdom.
The second Man brings a new order.
EVERY MAN IN HIS OWN ORDER
Paul writes:
“But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:23
Again, resurrection has order.
First Christ.
Then those who belong to Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus is the pattern and guarantee.
His victory is not private.
It is reproductive.
He becomes the firstborn among many brethren.
The Seed produces a harvest.
THEN COMETH THE END
Now Paul gives us one of the most important end-times statements in Scripture:
“Then cometh the end…”
— 1 Corinthians 15:24
If we are serious about end times prophecy, we must ask Paul:
What happens at the end?
His answer is remarkable.
“When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father…”
— 1 Corinthians 15:24
The end is connected with kingdom fulfillment.
Not chaos.
Not uncertainty.
Not God’s plan failing.
Kingdom.
HE PUTS DOWN ALL OPPOSING RULE
Paul continues:
“When he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:24
This immediately connects Paul’s teaching with Daniel.
Daniel saw beasts.
Kingdoms.
Horns.
Governments.
But the Son of Man receives everlasting dominion.
Paul presents the same great movement.
Competing rule gives way to Christ’s rule.
Earthly and spiritual authorities cannot permanently resist the kingdom of God.
Christ’s government is moving toward total victory.
HE MUST REIGN
Then Paul writes:
“For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:25
There may be no more important sentence in biblical eschatology than this:
He must reign.
Not:
He might reign.
Not:
He will try to reign.
Not:
He will reign only after darkness nearly destroys God’s purpose.
He must reign.
That is divine certainty.
Christ’s reign continues until His enemies are under His feet.
The end is therefore not Christ barely surviving.
It is Christ subduing.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR AN ENEMY TO BE UNDER HIS FEET?
In biblical language, enemies beneath the feet represent defeated opposition.
The psalmist declared:
“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
— Psalm 110:1
The New Testament repeatedly applies this language to Christ.
He sits.
He reigns.
His enemies become a footstool.
This is governmental language.
It means opposition loses the right to rule.
Anything resisting the purpose of God must ultimately lose its dominion.
THE LAST ENEMY
Then Paul identifies the final enemy:
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:26
Stop there.
Let those words settle.
The last enemy is not another nation.
The last enemy is not another political leader.
The last enemy is not another economic system.
The last enemy is not another religious institution.
The last enemy is death.
That changes the entire landscape of end times prophecy.
If death is the last enemy, then resurrection must belong at the center of the end.
DEATH IS AN ENEMY, NOT A FRIEND
Religion sometimes speaks about death as though it were God’s final answer.
It is not.
Paul calls death an enemy.
An enemy is something opposed to God’s purpose.
The biblical end therefore cannot be complete while death still reigns.
The reign of Christ moves toward death’s destruction.
That is the scale of the gospel.
CHRIST HAS ALREADY BROKEN DEATH’S CLAIM
Paul writes elsewhere concerning Christ:
“Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
— 2 Timothy 1:10
Notice the language:
Abolished death.
Again we encounter legal accomplishment and vital manifestation.
Christ has already conquered death in resurrection.
Death could not hold Him.
Its legal claim was broken.
Yet Paul still says the last enemy shall be destroyed.
The victory is accomplished in Christ.
The manifestation moves toward fullness in creation.
DEATH HAS BEEN DEFEATED IN THE HEAD
Think of Christ as the Head of a new creation.
What happened in the Head?
Death was defeated.
What must happen in the body?
The victory of the Head must be manifested in the members.
That is why Paul speaks of resurrection, transformation, and immortality.
The Head has already entered incorruptible life.
The body is moving toward the same victory.
THE FIRST MAN IS OF THE EARTH
Paul later returns to the two men:
“The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:47
The first man carries the image of the earthy.
The second Man carries the image of heaven.
Then Paul says:
“And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:49
There is the prophetic transformation.
Not merely change in politics.
Not merely change in world systems.
A change of image.
From Adam to Christ.
From earthly to heavenly.
From corruption to incorruption.
FLESH AND BLOOD CANNOT INHERIT
Paul writes:
“Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:50
This does not mean God’s kingdom has nothing to do with creation.
It means the corruptible Adamic order cannot inherit divine fullness in its present state.
Something must change.
And Paul immediately reveals what that change is.
BEHOLD, I SHOW YOU A MYSTERY
Paul says:
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:51
There is one of the great mysteries of the gospel.
We shall be changed.
Eschatology is therefore about transformation.
The kingdom does not merely relocate people.
It changes them.
The purpose of God reaches into mortality itself.
IN A MOMENT
Paul continues:
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump…”
— 1 Corinthians 15:52
Then:
“The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:52
This is not a minor appendage to prophecy.
This is the defeat of corruption.
The end times are moving toward incorruptibility.
The end times are moving toward resurrection.
The end times are moving toward a people no longer governed by death.
THIS CORRUPTIBLE MUST PUT ON INCORRUPTION
Paul says:
“For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:53
Notice the word:
Must.
Just as Christ must reign, mortality must put on immortality.
God’s purpose is not uncertain.
Corruption is not the final state.
Mortality is not the final state.
The gospel carries us toward incorruption and immortality.
That is the hope of the New Testament.
MORTALITY MUST BE CLOTHED WITH LIFE
Paul speaks similarly in 2 Corinthians:
“Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:4
Look at the language:
Mortality swallowed up of life.
Not life swallowed by death.
Mortality swallowed by life.
That is the direction of divine purpose.
The greater consumes the lesser.
Life conquers death.
DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY
Paul continues in 1 Corinthians:
“Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:54
There is the biblical end.
Death swallowed.
Victory standing.
Then Paul speaks directly to death:
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
— 1 Corinthians 15:55
Paul is taunting the defeated enemy.
Death had ruled humanity from Adam.
But Christ entered death.
And Christ came out.
Now the question goes forth:
Where is your victory, death?
THE GRAVE LOSES ITS BOAST
The grave has swallowed generation after generation.
Kings.
Prophets.
Priests.
Poor men.
Rich men.
Strong men.
Weak men.
Every human empire has lived under the shadow of death.
But resurrection changes the story.
The grave swallowed Christ.
Then the grave had to release Him.
The One who came out holds the keys.
Revelation declares:
“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore… and have the keys of hell and of death.”
— Revelation 1:18
The keys changed hands.
THE KEYS BELONG TO CHRIST
This is why we cannot interpret end times prophecy as though death still holds ultimate authority.
Christ holds the keys.
The grave cannot veto His purpose.
Death cannot overturn resurrection.
The firstborn from the dead has already crossed the territory.
He knows the way through.
He is the way through.
RESURRECTION IS KINGDOM POWER
Resurrection is not merely something God does after history ends.
Resurrection is kingdom power.
Paul says Christ was:
“Declared to be the Son of God with power… by the resurrection from the dead.”
— Romans 1:4
The resurrection vindicates the Son.
It demonstrates a power greater than death.
Therefore, the kingdom of God is ultimately a kingdom of indestructible life.
PENTECOST WAS AN EARNEST
The Holy Spirit was poured out as the firstfruits and earnest of greater fullness.
Paul writes of:
“The earnest of the Spirit.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:5
An earnest is a down payment.
A guarantee.
The Spirit we have received is not evidence that God’s work is complete in manifestation.
It is evidence that more is coming.
We have tasted life.
But God’s purpose moves toward mortality being swallowed by life.
THE SPIRIT THAT RAISED JESUS
Paul writes:
“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you…”
— Romans 8:11
Then:
“He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
— Romans 8:11
Notice where the Spirit is going.
Not merely emotional blessing.
Not merely gifts.
Not merely inspiration.
The Spirit that raised Jesus is connected with quickening mortal bodies.
That is resurrection power.
CREATION IS GROANING
Romans 8 expands the picture beyond individual believers.
Paul writes:
“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”
— Romans 8:19
Creation is waiting.
For what?
Not for the church to disappear.
For:
the manifestation of the sons of God.
Paul continues:
“Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
— Romans 8:21
That is enormous.
Creation is not merely abandoned.
Creation is delivered.
DELIVERED FROM CORRUPTION
The problem is corruption.
The answer is liberty.
Paul says creation groans and travails in pain.
Again, the imagery is birth.
Something is coming forth.
This is not merely collapse.
It is travail toward manifestation.
The sons of God come into expression.
Creation moves toward liberty.
Corruption loses its dominion.
WE GROAN WITHIN OURSELVES
Paul says:
“Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
— Romans 8:23
The gospel is not satisfied with saving the invisible part of man while surrendering the body permanently to death.
Paul says:
The redemption of our body.
That belongs in end times prophecy.
Any eschatology that talks endlessly about geopolitical signs but barely mentions the redemption of the body is missing Paul’s emphasis.
THE BODY MATTERS TO GOD
God created humanity embodied.
Christ came in a body.
Christ died in a body.
Christ rose in a body.
Paul’s hope includes the body.
This is why resurrection is superior to mere escape.
Redemption reaches all the way into mortality.
The body is not abandoned to the enemy forever.
It is redeemed.
THE MANCHILD AND MATURITY
Revelation 12 presents a woman in travail and a manchild brought forth.
Without attempting to force every detail into one narrow interpretation, the pattern is unmistakable:
Birth.
Maturity.
Government.
The manchild is caught up unto God and to His throne.
That is governmental position.
Paul likewise speaks of creation travailing for manifestation.
These prophetic patterns point toward something greater than a church merely waiting for rescue.
They point toward maturity and manifestation in Christ.
BABES AND SONS
Paul distinguishes between spiritual infancy and maturity.
He speaks of babes in Christ.
He also speaks of sons led by the Spirit.
God’s eternal purpose is not merely to produce converts.
It is to produce a mature people conformed to the image of His Son.
Romans declares:
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…”
— Romans 8:29
That is the destination.
The image of Christ.
THE END IS ABOUT FULLNESS
Paul’s language repeatedly moves toward fullness.
The fullness of Christ.
A perfect man.
The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
All things gathered in Christ.
All enemies under His feet.
Death destroyed.
God all in all.
That is a far richer vision of the end than merely predicting which nation will invade another nation.
The end is about God completing what He purposed in Christ.
THE KINGDOM IS DELIVERED TO THE FATHER
Return to 1 Corinthians 15:
“Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father…”
— 1 Corinthians 15:24
Christ’s reign has a purpose.
He brings everything into divine order.
He subdues opposition.
He destroys death.
Then the kingdom is presented to the Father.
This is not Christ losing authority.
It is the consummation of His mediatorial work.
The purpose reaches fulfillment.
THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL
Paul concludes:
“That God may be all in all.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:28
These words deserve far more attention in end-times teaching.
What is God’s destination?
All in all.
The entire movement of the kingdom points toward the supremacy of God.
No competing throne.
No final enemy.
No death boasting.
No corruption ruling.
God all in all.
That is the scale of redemption.
THE END IS NOT GOD LOSING
We need to remove a deeply embedded picture from our minds.
The end is not God watching His creation become progressively more possessed by darkness until He finally destroys the entire project.
Paul presents something greater.
Christ reigns.
Enemies are subdued.
Death is destroyed.
Mortality is clothed with immortality.
Creation is delivered from corruption.
The sons of God are manifested.
The kingdom is delivered to the Father.
God becomes all in all.
That sounds like victory.
TRUE ESCHATOLOGY PRODUCES HOPE
Paul ends his great resurrection chapter with practical instruction:
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord…”
— 1 Corinthians 15:58
Notice what resurrection teaching produces.
Steadfastness.
Immovability.
Work.
Not panic.
Not escapism.
Not endless speculation.
The resurrection gives believers a reason to labor because:
“Ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:58
Victory gives meaning to faithfulness.
RESURRECTION INTERPRETS THE END
This is where Paul must correct much modern prophecy thinking.
If we want to understand the end, begin with the resurrection.
Christ rose.
Christ reigns.
Christ must reign until every enemy is under His feet.
The final enemy is death.
Death will be destroyed.
Mortality will put on immortality.
Creation will be delivered from corruption.
And God’s purpose will reach its appointed consummation.
That is biblical eschatology.
THE LAST ENEMY DOES NOT SURVIVE THE END
The phrase last enemy tells us something final.
If death is the last enemy, then after death is destroyed there is no enemy left beyond it waiting to overturn God’s victory.
Death does not survive the end.
The grave does not survive the end.
Corruption does not survive the end.
The kingdom does.
Life does.
Christ does.
The purpose of God does.
FROM THE FIRST ADAM TO THE LAST ADAM
The Bible begins with a man through whom death enters.
It moves toward a Man through whom life triumphs.
The first Adam receives breath.
The last Adam becomes a life-giving Spirit.
The first man is earthy.
The second Man is heavenly.
We bear the image of the first.
God’s purpose is that we bear the image of the second.
That is the prophetic journey.
THE REAL END-TIMES QUESTION
Perhaps the greatest question of end times prophecy is not:
When will the next war begin?
It is:
When will death lose its final claim?
Not:
Which political leader fulfills which headline?
But:
How completely will Christ manifest His victory?
Paul answers:
Completely enough that every enemy comes beneath His feet.
Completely enough that death is destroyed.
Completely enough that mortality is swallowed by life.
Completely enough that creation is delivered.
Completely enough that God is all in all.
THE END FROM THE THRONE
From the earth, we see graves.
From the throne, we see resurrection.
From the earth, we see mortality.
From the throne, we see immortality.
From the earth, we see creation groaning.
From the throne, we see creation awaiting manifestation.
From the earth, death appears unbeatable.
From the throne, death is already marked as:
the last enemy to be destroyed.
That is why end times prophecy must be read from the throne.
The throne knows where history is going.
The Lamb has already passed through death.
The firstfruits have already risen.
And the harvest must follow.
CHRIST MUST REIGN
So we end where Paul places the emphasis:
“For he must reign…”
— 1 Corinthians 15:25
That is the foundation.
He must reign until every enemy is under His feet.
And when we ask which enemy stands last, Paul answers:
Death.
Then death falls.
Then victory stands.
Then the kingdom is delivered to the Father.
Then God’s purpose reaches its consummation:
God all in all.
That is not the defeat of God’s creation.
That is the triumph of the eternal purpose.
And that is why the Christian’s end-times hope is not ultimately fear of what is coming.
It is confidence in Who is reigning.
Jesus Christ must reign.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Book of Revelation and the End Times
The Lamb, the Throne, the Seals, Trumpets, Beasts, Babylon, Judgment, and Victory
No discussion of end times prophecy can avoid the Book of Revelation.
For many believers, Revelation is the book that produces the most curiosity and the most confusion.
It contains some of the most powerful imagery in all of Scripture.
A throne.
A Lamb.
Seven seals.
Seven trumpets.
Seven bowls.
A dragon.
Two beasts.
A woman clothed with the sun.
Babylon.
Mount Zion.
A new heaven.
A new earth.
A holy city.
A river of life.
A tree of life.
And throughout the book, one question continually rises:
What does all of this mean?
The temptation is to begin by trying to identify every symbol with a modern event.
But Revelation itself tells us where to begin.
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ…”
— Revelation 1:1
That must govern everything.
The book is first and foremost the unveiling of Jesus Christ.
If we forget that, the symbols become disconnected pieces of a puzzle.
If we remember it, the whole book begins to move in one direction.
Toward the Lamb.
Toward the throne.
Toward judgment.
Toward kingdom.
Toward victory.
REVELATION BEGINS WITH CHRIST, NOT THE BEAST
John opens with Jesus.
He sees Him walking among the lampstands.
He hears His voice.
He falls at His feet.
And Jesus says:
“Fear not; I am the first and the last.”
— Revelation 1:17
Then:
“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore… and have the keys of hell and of death.”
— Revelation 1:18
Before the beast appears, Christ is revealed.
Before Babylon falls, Christ is revealed.
Before judgment is poured out, Christ is revealed.
Before the seals open, Christ is revealed.
That order matters.
Revelation does not begin with the crisis.
It begins with the Lord of the crisis.
THE THRONE INTERPRETS THE BOOK
John is later called upward:
“Come up hither…”
— Revelation 4:1
Immediately:
“And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.”
— Revelation 4:2
This is one of the great governing scenes of the entire book.
Before John sees the deeper judgments and shakings, he sees the throne.
The throne tells us one thing clearly:
God is governing.
The events of Revelation are not random.
They are not evidence that God has lost control.
They unfold beneath divine government.
That is why Revelation should be read from the throne rather than from fear.
THE SEA OF GLASS
Before the throne is:
“A sea of glass like unto crystal…”
— Revelation 4:6
Earlier we saw how the sea can symbolize the restless mass of humanity.
But before the throne, the sea is no longer restless.
It is glass.
It is still.
That picture communicates divine government over turbulence.
What is chaotic below is calm before the throne.
That is the perspective Revelation gives us.
The earth may shake.
The throne does not.
THE BOOK SEALED WITH SEVEN SEALS
Revelation 5 presents a book in the right hand of the One sitting on the throne.
It is sealed with seven seals.
A mighty angel asks:
“Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?”
— Revelation 5:2
John weeps because no one is found worthy.
Then one of the elders says:
“Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda… hath prevailed to open the book…”
— Revelation 5:5
John turns to see the Lion.
But he sees:
“A Lamb as it had been slain…”
— Revelation 5:6
There is the central mystery of Revelation.
The Lion conquers as the Lamb.
Victory comes through sacrifice.
Power is revealed through redemption.
The One worthy to open history is the One who gave Himself.
THE LAMB HAS PREVAILED
This must be established before the seals begin to open.
The Lamb has already prevailed.
Therefore, the opening of the seals does not determine whether Christ will win.
The victory is already established.
Everything that follows unfolds from that victory.
This is crucial.
If we read Revelation as though the outcome is still uncertain, we misunderstand the book.
The Lamb has prevailed.
The question is not whether He wins.
The question is how His victory is manifested through judgment, shaking, and kingdom.
THE SEALS REVEAL WHAT IS HIDDEN
The seals represent the opening of what was concealed.
As the Lamb opens them, realities are unveiled.
The first four seals bring forth the four horsemen.
White.
Red.
Black.
Pale.
These horses have been the subject of endless speculation.
But before assigning them to modern nations or technologies, we must remember the prophetic nature of the book.
Horses throughout Scripture often represent strength, movement, conquest, and warfare.
The horsemen present powers moving through the earth.
The point is larger than one newspaper event.
The prophetic picture is revealing the forces at work beneath history.
THE WHITE HORSE
The first horse is white.
Its rider has a bow and a crown.
He goes forth conquering.
Some have interpreted this rider as Christ.
Others have interpreted it as counterfeit conquest.
The text itself requires careful interpretation.
But one principle is clear:
Conquest is moving.
The question is not merely which historical figure fits the horse.
The larger prophetic issue is the movement of governmental power.
THE RED HORSE
The red horse is associated with peace being taken from the earth.
War.
Violence.
Bloodshed.
This is not difficult to recognize.
Human history has been filled with red-horse activity.
Kingdoms rise through violence.
Nations destroy nations.
People kill one another.
The red horse reveals the nature of a world governed beneath the peace of God.
THE BLACK HORSE
The black horse carries balances.
Its imagery is connected with scarcity, economic pressure, and measured provision.
Again, the prophetic picture reaches beyond one isolated famine.
It speaks of the instability of human systems.
Economic order can become another form of domination.
Food can become scarce.
Resources can become controlled.
The kingdoms of men repeatedly reveal their inability to produce lasting justice and provision.
THE PALE HORSE
The pale horse carries the name Death.
Hell follows.
This horse reveals the destination of the Adamic order.
Death.
Human government apart from Christ ultimately cannot overcome death.
It may build empires.
It may produce technology.
It may increase wealth.
But the first Adam still ends in the grave.
That is why the gospel announces a greater horseman, a greater King, and a greater life.
The prophetic problem is not merely war.
The final enemy is death.
THE FIFTH SEAL AND THE CRY FOR JUDGMENT
Under the fifth seal, John sees souls beneath the altar crying:
“How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood…”
— Revelation 6:10
Revelation does not avoid the subject of judgment.
The blood of the righteous cries out.
Injustice matters to God.
Violence matters.
Persecution matters.
Babylon does not operate forever without accountability.
The throne judges.
THE SIXTH SEAL AND COSMIC SHAKING
The sixth seal contains dramatic language.
Earthquake.
Sun darkened.
Moon like blood.
Stars falling.
Heaven departing.
Mountains and islands moved.
As we have already learned, this is the language of prophetic shaking.
It should not automatically be interpreted as the literal collapse of the entire physical universe.
The prophets used cosmic imagery to describe governmental collapse and judgment.
The heavens of an order can shake.
The stars of an order can fall.
The mountains of power can move.
The prophetic message is that what appears permanent to man can be shaken by God.
WHO SHALL BE ABLE TO STAND?
Revelation 6 ends with the question:
“For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
— Revelation 6:17
That question is answered in the next chapter.
God has a sealed people.
Judgment does not mean God has no people.
It means He distinguishes what belongs to Him from what belongs to the beastly order.
THE SEAL OF GOD
Revelation 7 presents servants of God sealed in their foreheads.
Later Revelation contrasts that seal with the mark of the beast.
This is a conflict of identity and government.
Whose mind governs?
Whose nature is expressed?
Whose authority is received?
The forehead speaks of identity, understanding, allegiance, and governing thought.
The hand speaks of works.
The mark and the seal therefore represent two opposing governmental orders.
Beast mind.
Christ mind.
Beast works.
Kingdom works.
THE TRUMPETS ANNOUNCE DIVINE ACTION
Trumpets appear throughout Scripture.
They call assemblies.
They announce war.
They proclaim feasts.
They signal movement.
They warn.
They declare.
The trumpets of Revelation are therefore not random sound effects.
They announce divine action.
As the trumpets sound, judgment reaches deeper into earthly and heavenly orders.
Things are exposed.
Powers are struck.
Systems are shaken.
The kingdom is moving.
THE SEVENTH TRUMPET
The seventh trumpet brings us to one of the greatest declarations in Revelation:
“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ…”
— Revelation 11:15
There is the direction of the book.
Not:
The beast gets everything.
Not:
Babylon rules forever.
Not:
Darkness wins.
But:
The kingdoms become the Lord’s.
Daniel’s mountain is filling the earth.
The Son of Man has received dominion.
The kingdom cannot be destroyed.
Revelation and Daniel are speaking one language.
THE WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN
Revelation 12 presents:
“A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet…”
— Revelation 12:1
She is crowned with twelve stars.
She is in travail.
She brings forth a manchild.
This is rich prophetic imagery.
The woman is positioned in heavenly light.
She stands above the moon.
She carries governmental order.
And she travails.
Something is being born.
Again, prophecy is not merely about destruction.
It is about bringing forth.
THE MANCHILD
The manchild is:
“To rule all nations with a rod of iron…”
— Revelation 12:5
This language comes from Psalm 2 and is associated with Messianic government.
The child is caught up unto God and to His throne.
That is governmental position.
Whatever fullness we attach to the symbol, one principle is unmistakable:
Birth is connected to government.
A mature expression is being brought forth.
The throne is involved.
The kingdom is advancing.
THE DRAGON
The dragon stands before the woman.
Revelation identifies him as:
“That old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan…”
— Revelation 12:9
The phrase “old serpent” takes us back to Genesis.
The conflict of Revelation began much earlier.
Serpent.
Woman.
Seed.
The Bible is one story.
The dragon is simply serpent nature brought into prophetic fullness.
WAR IN HEAVEN
Revelation 12 says:
“There was war in heaven…”
— Revelation 12:7
This does not have to mean fighter aircraft in the physical sky.
Heaven is a governmental and spiritual realm.
The war concerns authority.
Who occupies the heavenly position?
Whose government stands?
The dragon is cast down.
The accuser loses his place.
The kingdom is announced.
THEY OVERCAME HIM
Revelation says:
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony…”
— Revelation 12:11
Notice how victory comes.
The blood of the Lamb.
The word of testimony.
Not human military power.
Not political machinery.
Redemptive victory.
Witness.
The Lamb again stands at the center.
THE BEAST FROM THE SEA
Revelation 13 presents a beast rising from the sea.
Daniel has already taught us how to read beast language.
The beast represents government operating beneath the divine mind.
The sea represents restless humanity.
The beast receives authority.
It blasphemes.
It wars against the saints.
It demands allegiance.
This is beast government in prophetic maturity.
THE BEAST FROM THE EARTH
Another beast rises from the earth.
It appears lamb-like.
But it speaks as a dragon.
That is a powerful picture of counterfeit religion.
Appearance and voice do not agree.
It looks like a lamb.
It speaks like the dragon.
This is why discernment matters.
Not everything appearing religious carries the spirit of Christ.
A lamb appearance can conceal dragon speech.
THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST
The second beast causes an image to be made.
This brings Daniel 2 back into view.
Nebuchadnezzar built an image.
Human government always wants to reproduce itself.
It creates systems that require conformity.
The beast not only rules.
It demands that its image be honored.
But God’s purpose is producing another image:
the image of His Son.
The great conflict is therefore a conflict of images.
Beast image.
Christ image.
THE MARK OF THE BEAST
Revelation says the beast places a mark in the forehead or hand.
Again, we should resist beginning with technology.
The mark is fundamentally about government, allegiance, thought, identity, and works.
The beast marks those who participate in its order.
God seals those who belong to Him.
The question is deeper than whether a person possesses a particular device.
The prophetic question is:
What nature is governing the mind and the works?
666 AND THE NUMBER OF MAN
John says:
“It is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”
— Revelation 13:18
Six is connected with man.
Man was created on the sixth day.
Seven represents completion.
Six falls short.
Repeated three times, 666 presents man in fullness of self-rule yet still falling short of divine completion.
Human government cannot become the kingdom of God by perfecting itself.
Man cannot become seven by multiplying six.
The beast cannot produce divine fullness.
Only Christ can.
MOUNT ZION
Immediately after the beast imagery, Revelation shifts:
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion…”
— Revelation 14:1
There is the contrast.
Beast.
Then Lamb.
Mark.
Then Father’s name.
Earthly government.
Then Zion government.
The Lamb stands upon Zion.
And a people stand with Him.
They are not hiding from the beast.
They occupy another governmental position.
BABYLON
Revelation later introduces Babylon in full prophetic form.
Babylon is called:
“MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT…”
— Revelation 17:5
Babylon is more than an ancient city.
It represents a religious, economic, political, and spiritual order built on confusion, mixture, domination, and self-exaltation.
Its roots go back to Babel.
Man said:
“Let us build us a city and a tower…”
— Genesis 11:4
The spirit of Babylon is human government attempting to build its own way to heaven.
It is man’s city.
Man’s name.
Man’s glory.
Man’s order.
BABYLON RIDES THE BEAST
The woman Babylon sits upon the beast.
That picture is profound.
False religious order and beast government cooperate.
Religion uses political power.
Political power uses religion.
The harlot rides the beast.
One sustains the other.
This pattern has appeared repeatedly in history.
Whenever religion joins itself to fleshly government for power, Babylonian mixture appears.
COME OUT OF HER
Revelation declares:
“Come out of her, my people…”
— Revelation 18:4
Notice:
God’s people can be in Babylon.
Therefore Babylon cannot be interpreted only as an external enemy nation.
If God’s people are told to come out, Babylon must also represent a spiritual order from which believers can be delivered.
Coming out is more than geographical relocation.
It is leaving mixture.
Leaving confusion.
Leaving human domination.
Leaving systems contrary to the nature of Christ.
BABYLON IS FALLEN
An angel announces:
“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…”
— Revelation 18:2
This is another example of prophetic declaration.
God can announce a thing fallen because judgment has already been determined in His counsel.
The visible system may continue operating for a time.
But from the throne, the sentence has gone forth.
Babylon cannot stand forever.
WHY BABYLON MUST FALL
Babylon represents everything that cannot remain in the kingdom of God.
Confusion must fall.
Mixture must fall.
Religious merchandise must fall.
Human glory must fall.
Domination must fall.
The city of man must give way to the city of God.
This is not destruction for destruction’s sake.
It is judgment unto divine order.
THE BRIDE APPEARS AFTER BABYLON FALLS
Once Babylon is judged, Revelation turns toward another woman.
The bride.
John says:
“Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
— Revelation 21:9
Then he sees:
“That great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.”
— Revelation 21:10
There are the two women.
Babylon.
Jerusalem.
Harlot.
Bride.
Beast alliance.
Lamb union.
Confusion.
Divine order.
The prophetic story moves from Babylon to Jerusalem.
NEW JERUSALEM IS A PEOPLE
New Jerusalem is described as a bride.
That immediately tells us the city cannot be understood only as architecture.
A city does not marry the Lamb.
A people do.
The city represents a corporate people in union with Christ.
The imagery communicates government, dwelling, covenant, glory, purity, and divine order.
God is building a city whose builder and maker is God.
NO TEMPLE THEREIN
John says:
“And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”
— Revelation 21:22
What a conclusion to the temple story.
The Bible begins with external sacred places.
It moves through tabernacle and temple.
Then Christ comes as the true temple.
Finally, in New Jerusalem:
God and the Lamb are the temple.
The shadow has completely disappeared into the substance.
NO NEED OF SUN OR MOON
John says the city has no need of the sun or moon:
“For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”
— Revelation 21:23
Again, prophetic imagery reaches fulfillment in Christ.
No lesser light is needed where the Lamb gives light.
Divine glory governs the city.
This is not darkness increasing.
This is glory filling.
THE NATIONS WALK IN THE LIGHT
Then Revelation says:
“And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it…”
— Revelation 21:24
The city is not hidden from the nations.
It gives light to them.
The glory of God becomes a light in which nations walk.
This connects with Isaiah’s vision of nations coming to Zion’s light.
Again, Revelation gathers the prophets together.
THE RIVER OF LIFE
Revelation ends with:
“A pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
— Revelation 22:1
Notice where life comes from:
The throne.
Government and life are united.
God’s government produces life.
The river flows out.
This is not a stagnant kingdom.
Life proceeds from the throne into creation.
THE TREE OF LIFE RETURNS
Beside the river stands:
“The tree of life…”
— Revelation 22:2
The tree lost in Genesis appears again.
But now it stands in a completed prophetic picture.
Its leaves are:
“For the healing of the nations.”
— Revelation 22:2
What began in Genesis is brought toward fulfillment in Revelation.
The story ends where it began, but on a greater level.
NO MORE CURSE
Revelation says:
“And there shall be no more curse…”
— Revelation 22:3
This is the reversal of Genesis.
Curse gives way to blessing.
Death gives way to life.
Serpent government gives way to Lamb government.
Exile gives way to dwelling.
The prophetic end answers the beginning.
THEY SHALL SEE HIS FACE
John says:
“And they shall see his face…”
— Revelation 22:4
That is the end of revelation.
Not merely knowing about God.
Seeing His face.
Intimacy.
Union.
Glory.
Everything in prophecy moves toward unveiled relationship.
THEY SHALL REIGN
Then:
“And they shall reign for ever and ever.”
— Revelation 22:5
Daniel said the saints would possess the kingdom.
Revelation ends with the same truth.
The servants of God reign.
The kingdom does not terminate in spectatorship.
It produces a governmental people in union with the Lamb.
REVELATION IS A BOOK OF VICTORY
If someone reads Revelation and comes away believing the central message is that Satan almost wins, that reader has missed the ending.
Look at the movement:
The Lamb prevails.
The seals open.
The trumpets sound.
The kingdom is proclaimed.
The dragon is cast down.
The saints overcome.
The beast is judged.
Babylon falls.
The bride appears.
The holy city descends.
The river flows.
The tree of life stands.
The curse is removed.
The servants see His face.
And they reign.
That is victory.
JUDGMENT SERVES THE KINGDOM
Revelation contains severe judgment because divine government confronts everything opposed to life.
Judgment is not the opposite of God’s kingdom.
It is part of the process by which false government is removed.
Babylon must fall because Jerusalem is coming.
Beast government must be judged because Lamb government is prevailing.
Death must be defeated because life is God’s purpose.
Judgment clears the way for divine order.
DO NOT STOP AT THE BEAST
This may be the greatest practical key to reading Revelation.
If you see the beast, keep reading.
If you see Babylon, keep reading.
If you see tribulation, keep reading.
If you see judgment, keep reading.
If you see blood, keep reading.
If you see shaking, keep reading.
Because Revelation does not stop there.
It keeps moving until the throne and the Lamb are all that remain as the governing center.
Never build your doctrine from the middle of the battle while ignoring the end of the vision.
REVELATION FROM THE THRONE
From the earth, Revelation looks frightening.
From the throne, it looks different.
From earth:
Beasts rise.
From the throne:
They are judged.
From earth:
Babylon appears powerful.
From the throne:
Babylon is already fallen.
From earth:
Death seems final.
From the throne:
The Lamb holds the keys.
From earth:
The nations rage.
From the throne:
The kingdoms become the Lord’s.
From earth:
Creation groans.
From the throne:
A river of life flows.
That is the difference perspective makes.
THE BOOK ENDS WITH THE LAMB
The final pages of Scripture do not celebrate the beast.
They do not celebrate Babylon.
They do not celebrate death.
They reveal:
The throne of God and of the Lamb.
The Lamb who was slain reigns.
The One who died lives forevermore.
The One who held the keys at the beginning still governs at the end.
And the river of life proceeds from His throne.
That is the Book of Revelation.
Not the revelation of darkness.
Not the revelation of fear.
Not the revelation of destruction.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
And when the symbols are understood from that center, the entire book begins to speak one great message:
The Lamb has prevailed, the kingdom is advancing, Babylon must fall, death must lose, and God’s purpose shall stand.
CHAPTER NINE
The Coming of the Lord and the Kingdom of God
His Appearing, His Presence, His Government, and the Unshakable Kingdom
Few subjects in end times prophecy have created more expectation, confusion, fear, and argument than the coming of the Lord.
For many believers, the phrase immediately creates one picture.
Jesus appears in the sky.
History stops.
The world ends.
The righteous are rescued.
The wicked are judged.
That expectation has become so deeply rooted that many readers assume every biblical reference to the Lord “coming” must describe the same event in the same way.
But Scripture uses the language of divine coming in more than one setting.
God comes in judgment.
God comes in deliverance.
God comes in manifestation.
God comes in glory.
Christ comes to His people.
Christ comes in governmental authority.
And there remains the great hope of resurrection, transformation, and full manifestation.
Therefore, if we want to understand the coming of the Lord, we must do what we have done throughout this book:
Begin with Scripture, not assumption.
THE LORD HAS ALWAYS BEEN A GOD WHO COMES
The language of divine coming did not begin in the New Testament.
The Old Testament repeatedly speaks of God coming.
Isaiah said:
“Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt…”
— Isaiah 19:1
Did God physically ride through the atmosphere on a cloud?
The language is prophetic.
God was coming in judgment.
His presence was being manifested through historical events.
That teaches us something important.
When Scripture says the Lord “comes,” context must determine the nature of that coming.
The word itself does not settle every detail.
COMING IN JUDGMENT
Throughout the prophets, God is described as coming against nations and cities.
He comes against pride.
He comes against oppression.
He comes against rebellion.
He comes against false government.
His coming means divine intervention.
It means that heaven is no longer allowing an order to continue unchallenged.
This is why prophetic language concerning the Lord’s coming often includes:
Clouds.
Fire.
Darkness.
Shaking.
Trumpets.
Judgment.
These images announce divine government entering a situation.
COMING IN DELIVERANCE
But the Lord also comes to deliver.
Israel cried out under bondage.
God came down.
He revealed Himself to Moses.
He brought His people out.
Divine coming can therefore be terrifying to one order and glorious to another.
The same coming that judges Pharaoh delivers Israel.
The same light that exposes darkness gives sight to those who receive it.
The same kingdom that removes false government establishes righteous government.
This principle remains throughout Scripture.
THE COMING OF CHRIST CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM HIS KINGDOM
Jesus did not proclaim merely that He would one day return.
He proclaimed:
“The kingdom of God is at hand.”
— Mark 1:15
The King had come.
Where the King is revealed, the kingdom is present.
Jesus healed the sick.
Cast out devils.
Forgave sins.
Opened blind eyes.
Raised the dead.
And He explained:
“If I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.”
— Luke 11:20
That is kingdom manifestation.
The kingdom was not merely waiting somewhere in the distant future.
It had broken into history through Christ.
THE KINGDOM CAME IN CHRIST
Jesus Himself is the embodiment of divine government.
He did not merely talk about the kingdom.
He carried it.
He demonstrated it.
He manifested it.
Where Jesus ruled, death was challenged.
Disease was challenged.
Demons were challenged.
Sin was forgiven.
Religious bondage was exposed.
The kingdom came through the King.
That tells us that the coming of Christ and the coming of the kingdom are deeply connected.
THE KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD
Jesus told Pilate:
“My kingdom is not of this world…”
— John 18:36
This does not mean His kingdom has nothing to do with the earth.
It means His kingdom does not originate from the world’s order.
It does not come from human politics.
It does not arise from military conquest.
It does not depend upon the beast.
Its source is heavenly.
The stone is cut without hands.
The kingdom comes from God.
THE KINGDOM IS WITHIN YOU
Jesus also said:
“The kingdom of God is within you.”
— Luke 17:21
That statement must be taken seriously.
The kingdom is not merely external government.
It is the reign of God working inwardly.
Christ rules the heart.
Christ rules the mind.
Christ rules desire.
Christ rules identity.
Christ rules the life.
The outward manifestation of the kingdom begins with inward government.
THE KINGDOM IS ALSO AMONG YOU
The phrase can also carry the sense:
The kingdom is among you.
That is equally powerful.
Jesus was standing among them.
The King was present.
Therefore the kingdom was present.
This teaches us that the kingdom is not merely a location.
The kingdom is the active rule of God in and through Christ.
THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN
Jesus repeatedly spoke of the coming of the Son of Man.
As we saw in Daniel, the Son of Man comes to the Ancient of Days and receives dominion.
Therefore, the language of the coming Son of Man carries more than geographical movement.
It carries enthronement, authority, vindication, and kingdom government.
Jesus used that language concerning Himself.
He was identifying Himself with Daniel’s promised ruler.
CHRIST WAS VINDICATED
Jesus was rejected.
Condemned.
Crucified.
Buried.
From the earth, it appeared that His enemies had defeated Him.
But resurrection reversed the verdict.
Ascension exalted Him.
Pentecost announced His enthronement.
Peter declared:
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus… both Lord and Christ.”
— Acts 2:36
That is kingdom proclamation.
The rejected One had been enthroned.
The stone rejected by the builders had become the head of the corner.
THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD
Paul says God:
“Raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.”
— Ephesians 1:20
And where is that position?
“Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion…”
— Ephesians 1:21
This is already true of Christ.
He is not waiting to become Lord.
He is Lord.
He is not waiting to receive all authority.
Jesus declared:
“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”
— Matthew 28:18
That is present governmental reality.
THE KINGDOM IS ALREADY AND NOT YET FULLY MANIFESTED
Here again we encounter the tension between accomplishment and manifestation.
Christ has been enthroned.
Yet every enemy is not yet visibly beneath His feet.
The kingdom has come.
Yet we pray:
“Thy kingdom come.”
— Matthew 6:10
Christ has conquered death.
Yet death remains the last enemy to be destroyed.
We have received the Spirit.
Yet we await the redemption of the body.
This is not contradiction.
It is the movement from accomplished victory toward manifested fullness.
THE PAROUSIA
One of the important New Testament words translated coming is parousia.
The word carries the idea of presence, arrival, or royal appearing.
It was used in the ancient world for the arrival and presence of important rulers.
This gives richness to the New Testament language.
The coming of Christ is not merely transportation.
It is the manifestation of royal presence.
The King appears.
The King is revealed.
His government becomes manifest.
PRESENCE MATTERS MORE THAN DISTANCE
Much end-times teaching has focused almost entirely on physical distance.
Where is Jesus?
How far away?
When does He move from one place to another?
But the deeper biblical issue is:
How fully is His presence manifested?
A king can be legally reigning before every region of his kingdom fully submits.
Christ is enthroned.
His presence and government continue to be manifested until every enemy is subdued.
This is the movement of kingdom.
CHRIST COMES TO HIS PEOPLE
Jesus told His disciples:
“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
— John 14:18
Then He spoke of the Father and Himself making their abode with the believer.
This is divine coming.
Christ comes by the Spirit.
His presence is manifested within His people.
Therefore, not every reference to Christ coming can automatically mean one final historical event.
Scripture recognizes multiple dimensions of divine coming.
CHRIST COMES IN JUDGMENT
Revelation repeatedly contains language of Christ coming in relation to churches.
To Ephesus:
“I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick…”
— Revelation 2:5
To Pergamos:
“Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly…”
— Revelation 2:16
These warnings show Christ “coming” in disciplinary judgment toward specific churches.
Again, context determines meaning.
CHRIST COMES IN MANIFESTATION
There is also the larger hope of His appearing.
John writes:
“When he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
— 1 John 3:2
This appearing is connected with transformation.
Seeing Him and becoming like Him belong together.
That means the coming of the Lord is not merely about where Christ appears.
It is about what His appearing produces in His people.
WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM
John’s statement is staggering:
“We shall be like him…”
— 1 John 3:2
The goal is conformity to Christ.
The appearing produces manifestation of His image.
This connects directly with Paul’s teaching:
“Predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…”
— Romans 8:29
End times prophecy therefore reaches into maturity.
God’s purpose is not merely for Christ to appear beside a people.
It is for Christ to be revealed in a people.
CHRIST IN YOU
Paul speaks of:
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
— Colossians 1:27
There is the mystery.
Christ in you.
Glory coming forth.
The kingdom moves from external expectation toward internal reality and outward manifestation.
Christ is not merely coming toward His people.
His life is already within them by the Spirit.
The hope of glory is already planted inside.
WHEN CHRIST WHO IS OUR LIFE SHALL APPEAR
Paul writes:
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
— Colossians 3:4
Notice the union.
Christ appears.
His people appear with Him.
The coming is connected with corporate manifestation.
The Head is revealed.
The body is revealed with the Head.
This is much greater than spectators watching an event.
It is participation in glory.
THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS OF GOD
Romans 8 says creation waits for:
“The manifestation of the sons of God.”
— Romans 8:19
That is kingdom language.
Creation is not waiting merely for religious people to leave the earth.
Creation is waiting for something to be revealed.
Sons.
Mature expression.
Christ manifested in a people.
This belongs within the larger picture of the Lord’s appearing.
THE THRONE IS A STATE OF GOVERNMENT
Revelation repeatedly brings God’s people into relation with the throne.
The overcomer is promised:
“To sit with me in my throne…”
— Revelation 3:21
The manchild is caught up:
“Unto God, and to his throne.”
— Revelation 12:5
The Lamb stands upon Zion with a people.
These pictures speak of governmental participation.
The throne is not merely furniture in heaven.
It represents rule.
Authority.
Government.
The reign of God.
THE COMING OF THE LORD PRODUCES GOVERNMENT
Therefore, whenever Christ is truly manifested, His government is manifested.
His appearing cannot produce more beast nature.
It produces Lamb nature.
His kingdom does not produce domination.
It produces righteousness.
Peace.
Life.
Truth.
Divine order.
That is how we discern the nature of true kingdom manifestation.
THY KINGDOM COME
Jesus taught His disciples to pray:
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
— Matthew 6:10
Notice the connection.
Kingdom.
Will.
Earth.
Heaven.
The prayer is not merely:
Get us out of the earth.
The prayer is:
Let what governs heaven govern earth.
Let divine will become manifest.
Let heavenly order invade earthly disorder.
That is kingdom purpose.
AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
This phrase should transform our understanding of prophecy.
What is God’s goal?
Earth reflecting heaven’s government.
Not heaven surrendering to earth.
Not the throne conforming to the beast.
Earth coming under heavenly order.
That is why the kingdom comes.
That is why Christ reigns.
That is why opposing governments must fall.
THE KINGDOM CANNOT BE SHAKEN
Hebrews declares:
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved…”
— Hebrews 12:28
Everything else can shake.
Economies.
Governments.
Institutions.
Religious systems.
Nations.
Cultures.
Human orders.
But the kingdom cannot be moved.
Therefore, when prophecy describes shaking, the believer should not panic.
The shaking reveals what is permanent.
GOD SHAKES TO REVEAL WHAT REMAINS
Hebrews explains that shaking occurs:
“That those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”
— Hebrews 12:27
This gives judgment a kingdom purpose.
God removes what cannot remain.
Not because He delights in chaos.
But because His kingdom is establishing divine order.
The shaking serves the unshakable.
BABYLON SHAKES
Babylon represents an order that cannot remain.
Therefore:
Babylon falls.
The beast represents government that cannot remain.
Therefore:
The beast is judged.
Death cannot remain.
Therefore:
Death is destroyed.
The kingdom remains.
The Lamb remains.
Life remains.
That is the prophetic pattern.
THE KINGDOMS BECOME HIS
Revelation announces:
“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ…”
— Revelation 11:15
That declaration connects Daniel and Revelation.
Daniel saw the stone become a mountain.
Revelation announces the kingdoms becoming the Lord’s.
The movement is toward divine government.
Christ is not surrendering the earth to the beast.
The kingdoms are brought beneath His rule.
EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW
Paul writes:
“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…”
— Philippians 2:10
And:
“That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…”
— Philippians 2:11
That is kingdom language.
Lordship becomes universally acknowledged.
The One humbled unto death is exalted above every name.
The cross leads to enthronement.
The Lamb becomes Lord.
THE KINGDOM IS RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, AND JOY
Paul writes:
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
— Romans 14:17
That protects us from political misunderstanding.
The kingdom is not merely another version of human government.
Its nature is spiritual.
Righteousness.
Peace.
Joy.
Holy Spirit.
Where Christ rules, His nature appears.
THE KINGDOM IS POWER
Paul also says:
“For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.”
— 1 Corinthians 4:20
The kingdom is not merely doctrine.
It is divine reality.
Life conquers death.
Truth conquers deception.
Grace conquers condemnation.
Spirit conquers flesh.
Light conquers darkness.
Christ’s rule has power.
THE KINGDOM GROWS
Jesus compared the kingdom to a mustard seed.
It begins small.
Then grows.
He compared it to leaven.
It works until the whole lump is affected.
Those are not pictures of retreat.
They are pictures of expansion.
The kingdom has reproductive power.
It moves.
It increases.
It fills.
DANIEL’S MOUNTAIN FILLS THE EARTH
Daniel saw the stone become:
“A great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”
— Daniel 2:35
That image should remain in our minds.
The kingdom begins from God.
It strikes human government.
It becomes a mountain.
Then it fills.
This is prophetic expansion.
THE EARTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH HIS GLORY
Habakkuk says:
“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”
— Habakkuk 2:14
Isaiah gives the same vision.
The prophetic destination is not an earth finally emptied of divine witness.
It is an earth filled with the knowledge of God’s glory.
That is the direction of kingdom.
THE COMING OF THE LORD AND RESURRECTION
The coming of Christ also remains inseparable from resurrection.
Paul writes:
“The dead in Christ shall rise…”
— 1 Thessalonians 4:16
And 1 Corinthians 15 ties the coming of Christ to those who are His being made alive.
Therefore, whatever dimensions of coming Scripture reveals, the great hope of resurrection must remain.
Mortality must put on immortality.
Corruption must put on incorruption.
The last enemy must fall.
DO NOT REDUCE THE COMING TO ESCAPE
This is important.
If our entire understanding of the coming of the Lord is reduced to:
How do I get out before things become difficult?
we have missed much of the kingdom.
The New Testament emphasis is also:
How does Christ become manifested?
How are His people transformed?
How is creation delivered?
How does death lose?
How does the kingdom fill?
How is divine government established?
The coming of the Lord is greater than escape.
It is manifestation.
WATCHFULNESS IS STILL NECESSARY
None of this eliminates watchfulness.
Jesus repeatedly told His disciples to watch.
Paul told believers to remain sober.
Peter called believers to holiness.
But biblical watchfulness is not panic.
It is spiritual readiness.
It is living under Christ’s government now.
The best preparation for His appearing is not obsession with dates.
It is faithfulness to the King.
THE KINGDOM MUST FIRST GOVERN US
We can speak endlessly about Christ ruling nations while refusing His rule in our own lives.
That is hypocrisy.
The kingdom begins near.
Does Christ govern my mind?
My words?
My motives?
My relationships?
My money?
My choices?
My ministry?
My reactions?
Before we demand kingdom government in Washington, Jerusalem, London, Moscow, or Beijing, we should ask whether the King governs us.
THE KINGDOM IS NOT MEAT AND DRINK
This is why Paul directs us back to nature.
Righteousness.
Peace.
Joy.
The Spirit.
The kingdom is not merely identifying which political structure is closest to biblical ideals.
It is the manifestation of God’s own nature through a people.
The kingdom comes through transformed humanity.
SONS EXPRESS THE FATHER’S GOVERNMENT
Jesus perfectly expressed the Father.
He said:
“He that hath seen me hath seen the Father…”
— John 14:9
That is sonship.
A son expresses the Father’s nature.
God’s purpose in producing sons is therefore governmental.
The Father becomes visible through the Son.
Christ becomes visible through His body.
This is manifestation.
CHRIST FORMED IN YOU
Paul told the Galatians:
“I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.”
— Galatians 4:19
There is travail again.
Birth.
Formation.
Manifestation.
Christ formed in a people.
This belongs to kingdom theology.
The kingdom advances as Christ is formed within humanity and expressed outwardly.
THE REAL ISSUE IS WHO GOVERNS
This brings the chapter to its central question.
The issue of the kingdom is government.
Who governs?
The beast?
Babylon?
The flesh?
Fear?
Religion?
The first Adam?
Or Christ?
The coming of the Lord brings divine government into manifestation.
The King comes.
And where the King is truly revealed, false government must yield.
FROM THE THRONE
From earth, it can appear that human kingdoms dominate history.
From the throne, they are temporary.
From earth, the beast appears powerful.
From the throne, its judgment is determined.
From earth, Babylon looks wealthy.
From the throne, Babylon is fallen.
From earth, death looks permanent.
From the throne, death is the last enemy destined for destruction.
From earth, the kingdom may appear small.
From the throne, it is the mountain destined to fill the earth.
That is kingdom perspective.
THE LORD IS NOT COMING TO LOSE
Whatever dimensions we understand concerning the coming of the Lord, one thing is certain:
He is not coming to lose.
He comes as King.
He comes as Lord.
He comes as the One possessing all authority.
He comes as the resurrected Christ.
He comes as the Lamb who has prevailed.
His appearing is connected with victory.
His presence is connected with government.
His kingdom is connected with life.
THE UNCONTESTED KINGDOM
The prophetic story does not end with two equal kingdoms eternally struggling against one another.
Daniel does not see the stone and the image sharing the earth forever.
The stone destroys the image.
Then the mountain fills the earth.
Paul does not see Christ and death eternally sharing dominion.
Death is destroyed.
Revelation does not end with Babylon and Jerusalem existing as equal cities.
Babylon falls.
New Jerusalem remains.
There is movement toward one uncontested government.
The kingdom of God.
THE KING DELIVERS THE KINGDOM TO THE FATHER
Paul brings us again to the end:
“Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father…”
— 1 Corinthians 15:24
Christ reigns.
Opposing authority is subdued.
Death is destroyed.
The kingdom reaches its appointed purpose.
Then:
“That God may be all in all.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:28
There is the destination of kingdom.
God all in all.
THE COMING OF THE LORD IS GOOD NEWS
The coming of the Lord should not be bad news to those who love His appearing.
It is good news.
The King is revealed.
The kingdom stands.
The saints are transformed.
Death loses.
Creation moves toward liberty.
Divine government prevails.
The glory of God fills.
That should produce hope.
OUR RESPONSE
How should we respond to the coming of the Lord?
Not by living frightened of tomorrow.
Not by abandoning our calling.
Not by spending every day trying to calculate dates.
But by living under His government today.
Seek first the kingdom.
Walk in righteousness.
Live by faith.
Grow into maturity.
Let Christ be formed within.
Remain watchful.
Remain faithful.
Carry the gospel.
Manifest the nature of the King.
THY KINGDOM COME
So we return to the prayer Jesus gave us:
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
— Matthew 6:10
That prayer contains the heart of this chapter.
The coming of Christ.
The coming of divine government.
The manifestation of heavenly order.
The earth coming into agreement with the throne.
And that movement continues until every enemy is beneath His feet.
The last enemy is destroyed.
The kingdom is delivered to the Father.
And God is all in all.
That is the coming of the Lord from the throne.
Not merely movement through the sky.
The manifestation of the King, the triumph of His government, and the establishment of the kingdom that cannot be shaken.
CHAPTER TEN
The End Is Victory, Not Defeat
The Triumph of Christ and the Consummation of God’s Eternal Purpose
We have reached the final chapter of this study, and now everything must come together.
Daniel.
Matthew 24.
The last days.
The kingdom.
The coming of the Lord.
The Book of Revelation.
Resurrection.
The destruction of death.
The throne.
The Lamb.
Babylon.
The saints.
The new creation.
All of these streams must eventually flow into one great question:
Where is God taking all of this?
If end times prophecy is truly the revelation of God’s purpose, then we should be able to identify the direction of that purpose.
And when Scripture is allowed to speak for itself, one conclusion becomes impossible to avoid:
The end is victory, not defeat.
The end is not Satan standing triumphant over a ruined creation.
The end is not death swallowing everything God made.
The end is not Babylon becoming permanent.
The end is not the beast possessing the earth forever.
The end is not darkness outlasting light.
The end is not the failure of the gospel.
The end is not Christ losing.
The end is the consummation of what God purposed from before the foundation of the world.
And that purpose is centered in Jesus Christ.
GOD DECLARED THE END FROM THE BEGINNING
Isaiah gives us one of the clearest statements in Scripture:
“Declaring the end from the beginning…”
— Isaiah 46:10
Then:
“My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”
— Isaiah 46:10
That means the end is not uncertain.
God did not begin creation hoping things might work out.
He did not set history in motion without knowing its destination.
He did not send Christ into the world as an emergency response to a plan that had failed.
God had counsel.
God had purpose.
And His counsel shall stand.
Therefore, the end must agree with the beginning.
And the beginning was divine purpose.
GOD’S PURPOSE WAS IN CHRIST BEFORE THE FOUNDATION
Paul calls it:
“The eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
— Ephesians 3:11
That phrase should govern all eschatology.
Eternal purpose.
Before Adam fell, Christ was central.
Before death entered, Christ was central.
Before Babylon existed, Christ was central.
Before the beast appeared in prophecy, Christ was central.
Before the first human government arose, Christ was central.
Therefore, nothing that appeared later could destroy what existed first in God’s eternal counsel.
CHRIST WAS NOT PLAN B
Peter writes that Christ was:
“Foreordained before the foundation of the world…”
— 1 Peter 1:20
Redemption was in God before human failure appeared in time.
That means the cross is not evidence that the original plan collapsed.
The cross reveals how deeply God’s purpose was already rooted in Christ.
The Lamb was not an afterthought.
The Lamb belonged to the counsel of God from the beginning.
THE END MUST REVEAL THE PURPOSE
If prophecy reveals God’s purpose, then the final outcome must reveal what God intended all along.
That means we should not interpret the end primarily through temporary opposition.
The serpent appears.
But the serpent is not the purpose.
Babylon appears.
But Babylon is not the purpose.
The beast appears.
But the beast is not the purpose.
Death appears.
But death is not the purpose.
Christ is the purpose.
The kingdom is the purpose.
Life is the purpose.
The image of God is the purpose.
The glory of God filling creation is the purpose.
THE FIRST ADAM IS NOT THE FINAL MAN
Paul writes:
“The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:45
That single verse contains the direction of human history.
The first Adam is not the final word.
The last Adam is.
The first man introduces mortality.
The last Adam introduces life.
The first man bears the image of the earthy.
The second Man bears the image of heaven.
The end therefore belongs to the second Man.
THE IMAGE OF CHRIST IS THE DESTINATION
Paul says:
“Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…”
— Romans 8:29
God’s purpose is not merely to rescue people from judgment.
It is to conform them to Christ.
The destination is image.
Nature.
Maturity.
Sonship.
The new creation does not merely survive.
It becomes conformed to the Son.
THE KINGDOM CANNOT FAIL
Daniel saw earthly kingdoms rise.
He also saw them fall.
But then he saw something entirely different:
“The God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed…”
— Daniel 2:44
Never destroyed.
That is prophetic certainty.
Governments change.
Empires collapse.
Civilizations pass.
But God’s kingdom is of another order.
It cannot be destroyed.
Therefore, biblical prophecy cannot end with the kingdom of God failing.
THE STONE BECOMES A MOUNTAIN
Daniel saw:
“The stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”
— Daniel 2:35
That image should remain before us.
The kingdom does not shrink.
It fills.
The stone does not remain small.
It becomes a mountain.
And the mountain fills the earth.
That is the prophetic direction.
THE SON OF MAN RECEIVES DOMINION
Daniel also saw:
“One like the Son of man…”
— Daniel 7:13
And:
“There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom…”
— Daniel 7:14
The Son of Man does not receive temporary authority.
His dominion is everlasting.
His kingdom cannot be destroyed.
Again, the end belongs to Christ.
THE SAINTS POSSESS THE KINGDOM
Daniel says:
“The saints of the most High shall take the kingdom…”
— Daniel 7:18
This means divine victory is not merely something Christ possesses privately.
His people participate.
The kingdom produces a people who share His government.
This is why Revelation speaks of kings and priests.
This is why the overcomer is associated with the throne.
This is why the manchild is caught up to the throne.
This is why the Lamb stands on Zion with a people.
The kingdom is corporate.
BABYLON MUST FALL
Revelation says:
“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…”
— Revelation 18:2
Why must Babylon fall?
Because confusion cannot remain forever.
Mixture cannot remain forever.
Human glory cannot remain forever.
Religious merchandise cannot remain forever.
False government cannot remain forever.
Everything built on self-exaltation must yield to Christ.
Babylon’s fall is therefore part of victory.
THE BEAST DOES NOT SURVIVE THE END
The beast appears powerful.
It demands worship.
It wars against the saints.
It exercises authority.
But it is not eternal.
Beast government is judged.
Why?
Because only one government can remain uncontested.
The government of the Lamb.
The beast is temporary.
The Lamb is eternal.
THE DRAGON IS CAST DOWN
Revelation 12 declares:
“The great dragon was cast out…”
— Revelation 12:9
Again, prophetic conflict has a direction.
The accuser loses position.
The saints overcome.
The kingdom is proclaimed.
The serpent does not continue forever occupying the heavenly realm.
There is displacement.
Government changes.
THE SAINTS OVERCOME
Revelation says:
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony…”
— Revelation 12:11
Notice the word:
Overcame.
The saints are not described merely as survivors.
They overcome.
And they overcome through the Lamb.
The victory of Christ becomes operative through a people.
THE KINGDOMS BECOME THE LORD’S
Revelation declares:
“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ…”
— Revelation 11:15
That is one of the clearest prophetic statements of kingdom victory.
The kingdoms do not remain independent forever.
They become His.
The prophecy moves toward one government.
EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW
Paul writes:
“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…”
— Philippians 2:10
And:
“Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…”
— Philippians 2:11
The One who humbled Himself is exalted.
The cross leads to Lordship.
The Lamb is revealed as King.
Divine government receives universal acknowledgment.
HE MUST REIGN
Paul’s statement must again become central:
“For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:25
This is the prophetic certainty behind the entire chapter.
He must reign.
Not until some enemies are subdued.
Not until most enemies are subdued.
Until all enemies are under His feet.
That word all matters.
THE LAST ENEMY IS DEATH
Then Paul says:
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:26
The final enemy is not merely controlled.
It is destroyed.
That means death cannot remain permanently alongside God’s kingdom.
There is no eternal truce between Christ and death.
One must lose.
Paul tells us which one.
Death.
DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP
Paul declares:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:54
The language is absolute.
Victory swallows death.
Life consumes mortality.
The grave loses its boast.
That is the final direction of the gospel.
THE GRAVE DOES NOT WIN
The grave has held generation after generation.
But it could not hold Jesus.
And because He rose as firstfruits, the grave cannot keep the harvest forever.
Christ’s resurrection is the guarantee that death’s dominion has been broken.
The grave does not possess the final word.
The risen Christ does.
MORTALITY MUST PUT ON IMMORTALITY
Paul says:
“This mortal must put on immortality.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:53
Again:
Must.
There is necessity in divine purpose.
Mortality is not God’s final intention.
Immortality is.
Corruption is not final.
Incorruption is.
Death is not final.
Life is.
CREATION MUST BE DELIVERED FROM CORRUPTION
Romans 8 expands the victory beyond individual resurrection.
Paul says:
“The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption…”
— Romans 8:21
That is extraordinary.
Creation is not abandoned.
Creation is delivered.
The bondage is corruption.
The answer is liberty.
The glorious liberty of the children of God.
CREATION GROANS FOR MANIFESTATION
Paul says:
“The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”
— Romans 8:19
Creation is waiting for manifestation.
Not disappearance.
Manifestation.
That tells us the purpose of God is reproductive.
The Son becomes expressed through sons.
The firstborn becomes manifested in a corporate body.
Creation sees the nature of Christ coming forth.
THE SONS OF GOD ARE PART OF THE END
True eschatology therefore cannot remain entirely external.
It must include maturity.
It must include sonship.
It must include Christ formed in a people.
It must include the image of the Son.
It must include manifestation.
Otherwise, we reduce prophecy to events happening around us while ignoring what God is producing within His people.
THE MANCHILD SPEAKS OF GOVERNMENT
Revelation 12 presents a manchild destined:
“To rule all nations with a rod of iron…”
— Revelation 12:5
The child is caught up to God and to His throne.
This is governmental language.
Birth leads to throne.
Maturity leads to government.
The kingdom is producing a people able to express the nature and authority of Christ.
THE THRONE IS THE DESTINATION OF MATURITY
A babe cannot govern.
Government requires maturity.
The purpose of God therefore involves growing His people beyond spiritual infancy.
Paul speaks of coming:
“Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”
— Ephesians 4:13
There is the destination.
Fullness.
Maturity.
Christ expressed corporately.
THE CHURCH CANNOT REMAIN A BABY FOREVER
God’s purpose is not eternal infancy.
It is sonship.
The church cannot forever live only on elementary truth.
Hebrews calls believers onward unto perfection.
Paul calls believers toward maturity.
The kingdom requires a mature expression.
This is part of the end-time purpose of God.
THE END OF MIXTURE
Babylon represents mixture.
Law mixed with grace.
Human government mixed with divine government.
Flesh mixed with Spirit.
Self-glory mixed with worship.
The end of Babylon means the end of mixture.
God is bringing His people into clarity.
One source.
One life.
One government.
Christ.
THE NEW JERUSALEM IS THE OPPOSITE OF BABYLON
Babylon falls.
Then New Jerusalem appears.
One is the harlot.
The other is the bride.
One rides the beast.
The other is joined to the Lamb.
One is confusion.
The other is divine order.
One glorifies man.
The other carries the glory of God.
The prophetic movement is obvious.
God does not end with Babylon.
He ends with the bride.
GOD DWELLS WITH MAN
Revelation declares:
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them…”
— Revelation 21:3
There is the great purpose of God.
Dwelling.
Union.
Presence.
The end is not God eternally separating Himself from creation.
The prophetic picture is God dwelling with man.
This echoes the purpose running through the entire Bible.
THE TABERNACLE WAS ALWAYS ABOUT DWELLING
God told Moses:
“Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.”
— Exodus 25:8
The tabernacle was about dwelling.
The temple was about dwelling.
Christ came as Emmanuel:
God with us.
The Spirit came to dwell within believers.
Revelation culminates with:
The tabernacle of God is with men.
The story is consistent.
God’s purpose is dwelling.
NO MORE CURSE
Revelation says:
“And there shall be no more curse…”
— Revelation 22:3
Genesis introduced the curse.
Revelation removes it.
That tells us the end answers the beginning.
The story has direction.
What entered through the fall does not get the final word.
THE TREE OF LIFE RETURNS
Genesis introduces the tree of life.
Revelation brings it back into full view.
Its fruit is present.
Its leaves are for the healing of the nations.
Life stands at the center of the completed city.
The serpent appeared in Genesis.
The tree of life appears again in Revelation.
Which one survives the end?
Life.
THE RIVER OF LIFE FLOWS FROM THE THRONE
Revelation says:
“A pure river of water of life… proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
— Revelation 22:1
The throne produces life.
That is one of the most beautiful pictures of divine government in Scripture.
God’s government does not produce death as its ultimate fruit.
It produces life.
The river flows from the throne.
Government and life are one.
THE NATIONS ARE HEALED
The leaves of the tree are:
“For the healing of the nations.”
— Revelation 22:2
Again, look at the destination.
Healing.
The nations do not appear merely as targets of divine rage.
The final picture contains healing.
That does not erase judgment.
It reveals the purpose beyond judgment.
Judgment removes what destroys.
Life heals what remains.
THEY SHALL SEE HIS FACE
Revelation says:
“They shall see his face…”
— Revelation 22:4
This may be the deepest victory of all.
The goal is not merely governmental order.
It is relationship.
Face-to-face knowledge.
Union.
The veil removed.
God known.
The entire biblical story moves toward unveiled communion.
HIS NAME SHALL BE IN THEIR FOREHEADS
The beast places a mark.
God places His name.
Again, identity is the issue.
The end reveals a people fully marked by divine nature and government.
The beast’s image gives way to Christ’s image.
The beast’s mark gives way to the Father’s name.
That is victory within humanity.
THEY SHALL REIGN
Revelation says:
“And they shall reign for ever and ever.”
— Revelation 22:5
Daniel saw it.
The saints possess the kingdom.
Revelation confirms it.
The servants of God reign.
God’s purpose produces a mature governmental people in union with the Lamb.
GOD ALL IN ALL
Now we return one final time to Paul:
“That God may be all in all.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:28
This may be the grandest statement of consummation anywhere in Scripture.
God all in all.
Not beast all in all.
Not Babylon all in all.
Not death all in all.
Not corruption all in all.
Not Satan all in all.
God all in all.
That is the end toward which Paul points.
THE GOSPEL MUST BE BIG ENOUGH FOR GOD’S END
Our gospel should be large enough to contain the end God declares.
If our gospel can forgive sins but cannot defeat death, it is too small.
If our gospel can save souls but has nothing to say about creation’s liberation, it is too small.
If our gospel makes Satan larger at the end than Christ, it is too small.
If our gospel leaves Babylon standing forever, it is too small.
The gospel must be as large as the victory of Christ.
THE CROSS WAS NOT A PARTIAL VICTORY
Jesus did not say:
I have begun something that may eventually work.
He said:
“It is finished.”
— John 19:30
The redemptive work was accomplished.
Now the manifestation of that victory moves through history.
What was finished legally must be manifested vitally.
What was accomplished in the Head must be expressed through the body.
What was won at the cross must ultimately appear in creation.
THE LAMB HAS ALREADY PREVAILED
Revelation establishes this before the judgments unfold:
“The Lion of the tribe of Juda… hath prevailed…”
— Revelation 5:5
And John sees the Lamb.
The decisive victory is already settled.
The end does not determine whether the Lamb wins.
The end reveals the fullness of the victory He already possesses.
END TIMES PROPHECY IS GOOD NEWS
This is why end times prophecy should ultimately produce hope.
Yes, there is judgment.
Yes, there is shaking.
Yes, Babylon falls.
Yes, beasts are judged.
Yes, false government loses its place.
But those are not the destination.
The destination is kingdom.
Life.
Resurrection.
Glory.
Healing.
Dwelling.
Union.
Christ.
THE END IS NOT ESCAPE FROM GOD’S PURPOSE
The believer’s hope is not merely:
How quickly can I get away from everything?
The greater question is:
How fully will God’s purpose be manifested?
How completely will Christ reign?
How completely will death be defeated?
How completely will the image of Christ be formed?
How completely will creation be delivered?
How fully will God dwell with man?
That is the scale of the end.
THE KINGDOM IS NOT RETREATING
The kingdom may appear small at times.
But small beginnings do not determine final outcomes.
The mustard seed grows.
The leaven works.
The stone becomes a mountain.
The mountain fills the earth.
The kingdoms become His.
The knowledge of His glory fills the earth.
The kingdom is not retreating toward extinction.
It is moving toward manifestation.
THE EVENING NEWS DOES NOT GET THE FINAL WORD
Wars do not get the final word.
Politics does not get the final word.
Economies do not get the final word.
Technology does not get the final word.
Empires do not get the final word.
The grave does not get the final word.
God does.
And His Word declares:
Christ must reign.
Death must fall.
The kingdom must stand.
The Lamb must prevail.
God’s counsel must be accomplished.
PROPHECY FROM THE THRONE
From earth, the story looks uncertain.
From the throne, the end has already been declared.
From earth, beasts appear large.
From the throne, they are temporary.
From earth, Babylon appears wealthy.
From the throne, Babylon is fallen.
From earth, the grave appears permanent.
From the throne, the keys belong to Christ.
From earth, creation groans.
From the throne, liberation is coming.
From earth, mortality appears normal.
From the throne, immortality is the appointed inheritance.
That is why we read prophecy from the throne.
CHRIST IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END
Jesus says:
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end…”
— Revelation 22:13
He stands at both ends.
He is the origin.
He is the destination.
He is not merely part of the prophetic story.
He is the One around whom the story exists.
Therefore, the end cannot be understood without Him.
THE END IS CHRIST
The end is not primarily a date.
The end is not primarily an event chart.
The end is not primarily a catastrophe.
The end is the consummation of God’s purpose in Christ.
Everything is gathered toward Him.
Everything opposed to Him loses dominion.
Everything belonging to Him comes into manifestation.
THE FINAL VISION
So let us gather the whole book into one final prophetic vision.
The last days reveal transition.
Daniel reveals the kingdom.
Matthew 24 reveals the shaking of an age.
Paul reveals resurrection.
Revelation reveals the Lamb.
Babylon falls.
The beast is judged.
The dragon is cast down.
The saints overcome.
The bride appears.
The holy city descends.
The river of life flows.
The tree of life stands.
The nations receive healing.
The curse disappears.
Death is destroyed.
The saints reign.
And God is all in all.
That is the biblical end.
THE END IS VICTORY, NOT DEFEAT
This is where we stand.
Not in denial of darkness.
Not blind to judgment.
Not ignorant of opposition.
But above all of it, we see the throne.
We see the Lamb.
And once we have seen the throne, everything else must be interpreted beneath it.
God’s eternal purpose cannot fail.
Christ’s finished work cannot fail.
The kingdom cannot fail.
Resurrection cannot fail.
The Lamb cannot fail.
And therefore, the end cannot ultimately be defeat.
The end is victory.
Christ reigns.
Every enemy falls.
Death is destroyed.
Life prevails.
The kingdom stands.
And the purpose of God reaches its appointed fullness:
God all in all.
CONCLUSION
How Should We Live in Light of Prophecy?
We have spent this book looking at end times prophecy from a different position than the one many believers have been taught to use.
We did not begin with fear.
We did not begin with the latest war.
We did not begin with political speculation.
We did not begin with technology.
We did not begin with theories about which modern leader might fit which prophetic symbol.
We began with Scripture.
And again and again, Scripture brought us back to the same center:
Jesus Christ.
The Lamb.
The throne.
The kingdom.
The resurrection.
The defeat of death.
The eternal purpose of God.
That should change the way we live.
If prophecy is truly the revelation of God’s purpose, then the proper response to prophecy is not panic.
It is faithfulness.
DO NOT BE TROUBLED
Jesus said:
“See that ye be not troubled.”
— Matthew 24:6
Those words belong in the heart of every believer who studies end times prophecy.
There will be shaking.
There will be conflict.
There will be confusion.
There will be false voices.
There will be kingdoms rising and falling.
But Jesus did not tell His disciples to become controlled by fear.
He told them:
Do not be troubled.
That does not mean we ignore what is happening around us.
It means what happens around us does not become greater than the One who reigns within us.
WATCH, BUT DO NOT PANIC
Jesus told His disciples to watch.
Watchfulness is important.
But biblical watchfulness is not nervous obsession.
It is spiritual alertness.
A watchful believer is awake to God.
Awake to truth.
Awake to deception.
Awake to the condition of his own heart.
Awake to the movement of the Spirit.
Awake to the purpose of the kingdom.
That is very different from spending every day searching headlines for another reason to be afraid.
DO NOT BUILD YOUR FAITH ON HEADLINES
Headlines change.
The throne does not.
Governments change.
The kingdom does not.
Markets rise and fall.
The kingdom does not.
Wars begin and end.
The kingdom does not.
If our faith is built on current events, our faith will constantly be shaken.
If our faith is built on Christ, we can remain established while everything else moves.
LIVE FROM THE THRONE
This has been one of the great themes of this book.
Do not read prophecy only from the earth.
Read it from the throne.
From the earth, the beast looks large.
From the throne, the beast is temporary.
From the earth, Babylon looks powerful.
From the throne, Babylon is fallen.
From the earth, death looks final.
From the throne, death is the last enemy to be destroyed.
From the earth, the kingdom can look small.
From the throne, the stone becomes a mountain and fills the earth.
Perspective changes everything.
REMEMBER WHO HOLDS THE KEYS
Jesus said:
“I have the keys of hell and of death.”
— Revelation 1:18
The keys are not in the hands of the enemy.
They are not in the hands of governments.
They are not in the hands of death.
They belong to Christ.
That means our hope is not based on circumstances becoming easy.
Our hope is based on who governs.
LET PROPHECY PRODUCE MATURITY
Prophecy should not merely make us informed.
It should make us mature.
If we can explain the beasts but cannot love our brother, something is wrong.
If we can debate the timing of the end but still live governed by fear, something is wrong.
If we know every symbol in Revelation but remain spiritually immature, we have missed the purpose.
The goal is not merely to understand prophecy.
The goal is to become a people able to stand in the government of Christ.
LET CHRIST BE FORMED IN YOU
Paul said:
“I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.”
— Galatians 4:19
That is where prophecy must finally become personal.
Christ formed in us.
His mind.
His nature.
His love.
His wisdom.
His government.
His life.
It is easy to look outward for prophetic fulfillment.
It is more demanding to ask:
What is God bringing forth in me?
COME OUT OF BABYLON
Revelation says:
“Come out of her, my people…”
— Revelation 18:4
That is still a powerful word.
Come out of confusion.
Come out of mixture.
Come out of religious fear.
Come out of human domination.
Come out of systems that magnify man and diminish Christ.
Come out of anything that teaches you to trust the beast more than the Lamb.
Babylon may be judged corporately, but coming out must also become personal.
STAND WITH THE LAMB
Revelation shows:
“A Lamb stood on the mount Sion…”
— Revelation 14:1
And a people stand with Him.
That is our call.
Stand with the Lamb.
Stand in His nature.
Stand in His government.
Stand in His victory.
Stand in His finished work.
Stand in the kingdom that cannot be shaken.
SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM
Jesus said:
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness…”
— Matthew 6:33
That should govern the life of every believer who studies end times prophecy.
Seek the kingdom.
Not fear.
Not speculation.
Not sensationalism.
Not arguments.
The kingdom.
Let God’s rule become first.
Let His righteousness become first.
Let His purpose become first.
LIVE AS A WITNESS
The purpose of prophecy is not to make us spectators.
The apostles did not respond to the last days by withdrawing from the world.
They preached.
They taught.
They served.
They suffered.
They witnessed.
They carried the gospel outward.
They knew something powerful was happening in God’s purpose, and that understanding made them active.
We should respond the same way.
PREACH THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM
Jesus declared:
“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached…”
— Matthew 24:14
The message is still kingdom.
The church does not exist merely to warn people that the world is ending.
We exist to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord.
The Lamb has prevailed.
The kingdom has come.
Grace has appeared.
Death has been challenged.
Resurrection has begun.
The gospel is good news.
DO NOT MAKE THE BEAST YOUR MESSAGE
The world does not need another church obsessed with the beast.
It needs a people who reveal the Lamb.
The beast can only show us what fallen government looks like.
The Lamb shows us God.
Therefore, let Christ become greater in our preaching than the enemy.
Let grace become greater than condemnation.
Let resurrection become greater than death.
Let kingdom become greater than chaos.
LET HOPE GOVERN YOUR SPIRIT
Biblical prophecy should produce hope.
Paul spoke of:
“Looking for that blessed hope…”
— Titus 2:13
Hope does not deny present difficulty.
Hope sees beyond it.
Hope knows the throne stands.
Hope knows Christ reigns.
Hope knows death will not win.
Hope knows the counsel of God shall stand.
That kind of hope produces endurance.
BE STEADFAST
After Paul’s great resurrection teaching, he says:
“Be ye stedfast, unmoveable…”
— 1 Corinthians 15:58
That is one of the most practical conclusions to end times prophecy anywhere in Scripture.
Steadfast.
Unmoveable.
Always abounding in the work of the Lord.
Why?
Because resurrection means your labor is not in vain.
Victory makes faithfulness meaningful.
KEEP WORKING
If Christ must reign, keep working.
If the kingdom cannot be shaken, keep working.
If death will be destroyed, keep working.
If creation is moving toward liberty, keep working.
If the Lamb has prevailed, keep working.
End times prophecy is not an excuse to stop building.
It is a reason to build with confidence.
GROW UP INTO CHRIST
God’s purpose is not merely to produce people waiting for something to happen.
It is to produce mature sons.
Paul speaks of coming:
“Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”
— Ephesians 4:13
That is our direction.
Maturity.
Fullness.
Christ expressed.
We should be more mature because we studied prophecy, not more frightened.
LOVE PEOPLE
Prophecy without love becomes noise.
We may understand mysteries.
We may speak prophetically.
We may know Scripture.
But without love, Paul says we are nothing.
The nature of the Lamb is love.
Therefore, the deeper our revelation becomes, the deeper our love should become.
WALK IN GRACE
The kingdom does not advance through condemnation.
It advances through Christ.
The same grace that saved us must govern how we treat others.
We preach truth.
We confront error.
We refuse mixture.
But we do not abandon grace.
The Lamb who reigns is the Lamb who was slain.
DO NOT SET DATES
Jesus said:
“Of that day and hour knoweth no man…”
— Matthew 24:36
That should be enough.
We do not need to know a date to be faithful.
We do not need a countdown clock to walk in the Spirit.
We do not need prediction after prediction.
We need Christ.
BE READY BY BEING FAITHFUL
The best preparation for the future is faithfulness in the present.
Love God.
Love people.
Study the Word.
Walk in the Spirit.
Serve.
Teach.
Give.
Forgive.
Grow.
Remain watchful.
Do the work God has placed before you.
That is readiness.
REMEMBER THE END
When fear tries to control you, remember the end.
Babylon falls.
The beast is judged.
The saints overcome.
The Lamb stands.
The kingdom remains.
Death is destroyed.
The river of life flows.
The tree of life stands.
The nations are healed.
The servants see His face.
God is all in all.
That is where the story is going.
THE LAST WORD BELONGS TO LIFE
Death has spoken loudly throughout human history.
Graves are everywhere.
Loss is real.
Pain is real.
But death does not get the last word.
Jesus does.
He said:
“I am the resurrection, and the life.”
— John 11:25
The last word belongs to life.
THE LAST WORD BELONGS TO THE KINGDOM
Human kingdoms have risen and fallen for thousands of years.
But Daniel saw a kingdom that cannot be destroyed.
Hebrews calls it a kingdom that cannot be moved.
Revelation sees the kingdoms becoming the Lord’s.
The last word belongs to the kingdom.
THE LAST WORD BELONGS TO THE LAMB
Revelation begins with Jesus Christ.
It moves through judgment.
It moves through battle.
It moves through shaking.
But when the book comes to its final vision, the throne still belongs to God and the Lamb.
The Lamb remains.
That is the final prophetic certainty.
LIVE LIKE THE LAMB HAS PREVAILED
That may be the best way to summarize this entire book.
Live like the Lamb has prevailed.
Pray like the Lamb has prevailed.
Teach like the Lamb has prevailed.
Work like the Lamb has prevailed.
Stand like the Lamb has prevailed.
Love like the Lamb has prevailed.
Face trouble like the Lamb has prevailed.
Face death itself knowing the Lamb has prevailed.
Because He has.
THE END IS NOT FEAR
End times prophecy does not belong to fear.
It belongs to faith.
It belongs to hope.
It belongs to the kingdom.
It belongs to resurrection.
It belongs to Jesus Christ.
So when someone asks:
“What do you believe about the end times?”
Perhaps the best answer is not a chart.
Perhaps it is this:
I believe Jesus Christ must reign.
I believe every enemy must come under His feet.
I believe death is the last enemy and death will be destroyed.
I believe God’s kingdom cannot be shaken.
I believe the Lamb has prevailed.
I believe God’s counsel shall stand.
And I believe the end of God’s purpose is not defeat.
It is victory.
FROM THE THRONE
We began this study determined not to interpret prophecy from the evening news.
We end in the same place.
The throne.
The Lamb.
The kingdom.
The purpose of God.
Whatever tomorrow’s headlines say, the throne will still be occupied.
Whatever kingdoms shake, Christ will still be Lord.
Whatever darkness appears, the Lamb will still have prevailed.
Whatever death says, resurrection will still be God’s answer.
Therefore:
Do not be troubled.
Stand.
Watch.
Grow.
Serve.
Love.
Preach.
Believe.
And keep your eyes upon Jesus Christ.
Because when all the shaking is finished, one truth will remain:
The Lamb has prevailed, the kingdom stands, death loses, and God shall be all in all.