Description
The Book of Revelation
“The Timeline of the End of Times”
By Ed Young
April 17, 2016
The book of Revelation is mysterious. Perhaps no more confusing topic in it exists that the end times. People ask questions like: What will the end look like? What will happen? Are we in the midst of that end now?
In this message, Pastor Ed Young breaks down the biblical timeline of the end times. As we discover where things will fall and what will occur, however, we discover God’s truth that those who are Christ followers have a sense of hope, purpose, and direction today.
Transcript
The book of Revelation is a very compelling yet confusing book. If someone says, oh I understand Revelation, you’re talking to someone who doesn’t. Because it’s mysterious, it’s factual, yet it’s very allegorical, very symbolic, and it’s hard to know exactly what’s going to take place. That’s why I’ve been doing sort of a panoramic photograph of the book.
I love the panoramic feature on my phone, yet it’s sad to say I rarely use it and it’s difficult when you scroll through pictures to actually appreciate a panoramic view. But I still like saying, oh yeah, I’ve got the panoramic feature on my phone. And most people do. When it comes to the book of Revelation it’s critical that those of us who are believers, and I know we have others who are not believers, but it’s critical for those of us who are believers to understand the fact. I’ve been talking about this a lot, we win, that’s huge. The book of Revelation talks about that. And #2, that we will get blessed when we study the book of Revelation. It doesn’t say when we understand it. The Bible says when we study it, when we read it.
As I alluded to in one of the sessions, I took theology in seminary from a gentleman by the name of Dr. L. Russ Bush. And Dr. Bush talked about the theology, the beauty of children’s books. He used children’s books because children’s books usually end “and they lived happily ever after.” They usually end with that sort of ending. And Dr. Bush said we’re made for that ending. We’re made, every one is made, to live happily ever after.
You know those batteries, Eveready? I love those things. I like that name. Eveready. Are you ready for everlasting life? All of us are gonna live, the Bible says, every single person will exist either in one of two places. Either we’ll live together forever with Jesus or we’ll live apart from Jesus. With Jesus is a place called Heaven, apart from Jesus is a place called Hell.
Invariably people always say, well I have problems with God. How can a good God hurl man to Hell? God doesn’t hurl or slam-dunk anyone to Hell. We make that choice. As we’ve learned through the book of Revelation, Hell was not designed for man. Hell was designed for the devil and the demons. So if someone goes to Hell, sadly because our church is so massive and we have so many people watching, so many people involved, I’m sure some of you will end up going to Hell, but you’ll go against God’s agenda. But because of the fact that we have a choice, God says to you and he says to me at the end of the life, at the end of our existence, Hey, you know what? You wanted to keep distance from me on planet Earth and you did that. You did a good job. You will have that in eternity, Hell. So Hell is real. Hell is real.
People ask me sometimes, do you believe in Hell? Hell, yes, I believe in Hell. Because Hell is a real place. Do I know exactly what Hell is gonna be like? No, but it’s away from the presence of God. I heard someone say one time Hell is a place where you can do anything and everything you’ve always wanted to do … alone. The Bible calls it a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, that’s utter remorse, that’s forever. Talk about eveready, forever you’re just… RRRR! You had an opportunity to give your life to Christ but you blew it! You let intellect get in the way. You let philosophy get in the way. You let your own sovereignty and you missed it.
It’s like you’re playing golf and you’re on the 18th and you know if you make this putt you’re going to win a couple of hundred dollars because you and your golfing buddies gamble a little bit on the golf course. And you push it to the right, you go, aaaahhhahhhaa! Like that. Or maybe you’re fishing, which is a Biblical sport, and you set the hook on a big bass and he jumps out of the water and you’re like, oh it’s a personal best! It’s a 13-pounder! And he shakes the buckethead and the worm just dribbles out of his mouth. Mmmmmm! You know? Or you go, I’m gonna invest in that, so you put some money in that. Oh, it’s slam dunk! And your friends go, I’m telling you, you’ll make a lot of money. And the stock goes… <down sound effect> that’s gnashing of teeth. That’s gnashing of teeth. But this is a forever feeling of gnashing of teeth, of weeping.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that God has set eternity in our hearts. Have you ever wondered why we like all these movies? And of course we like movies that have a good ending and they lived happily ever after. We like books that have a good ending. How many times have you (I’ve done this), I’ve been watching a movie, it’s so intense, I will sometimes fast forward and watch the end and go, whooo! Or if I’m reading a book I’ll do the same thing. Whoa! You know, you like that. But when something does not have a good ending it’s like, mmm! It just kind of sets me off. So God wants all of us to live happily ever after and ever after is a long, long time.
So the question that the book of Revelation answers, and we’ve done this song The Revelation Song. And in Revelation Song it talks about what is and what is and what is to come. Well, that’s straight from the book of Revelation and that outlines the book of Revelation. Chapter 1, chapter 2 and 3, and chapter 4 and following. So what is to come is chapter 4 and following. So I want to give you what most scholars, most people that have walked with God for a long time, I want to give you a basic timeline for the end of time. God has set eternity in our hearts, this is what, generally speaking, panoramic, you know shot of what it’s going to look like. This is not definitive. I mean there are some subtleties that some people would debate but again, I’m hitting the high points that people would go, all right, yeah. That’s in the book of Revelation. Here’s how it plays out. Remember, though, Revelation is like a forest. It can mess you up, there’s so many trees. Don’t get so caught up in looking at the trees – Oh, there’s a Sequoia tree. Oh, there’s a pine tree, there’s a dogwood. Don’t get so focused in on the trees that you miss the forest. That’s what people do. That’s how they get jacked up when they study Revelation. Remember Revelation is about the end. It’s supposed to be mysterious, yet there are a lot of applications. Let’s talk about some of the things, and you’ll notice this on your outline.
The first thing I’m going to talk to you about is the rapture of the church. The rapture of the church. Now the Scripture talks about this. Let me jump over a little bit to another book, 1 Thessalonians 4, another book that deals with eschatology, the study of last things, verses 16 and 18. It says, “For the Lord himself will come down from Heaven with a loud command.” It’s gonna be loud. Not quiet, a loud command. “With the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, <trumpet sound effect> and the dead in Christ will rise first.” Why will the dead in Christ rise first? They need a six-foot head start. “After that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds.” Where you see the word clouds there, write the word glory. Any time the Bible uses the word clouds, referring to Jesus, it’s talking about glory. “… in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (it’s gonna be crazy, isn’t it?) we will be with him forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”
This is not a doggie downer study. Revelation isn’t like, oh no! All this mayhem and madness, no! It should be an encouragement. It should be like, whoa! And it’s not just about informing you, I want God, and he’s gonna do it and he’s doing it now, to conform you into the image of Christ. When will the rapture take place? In other words, the twinkling of an eye, the Bible says. And that was measured by some scientist or some physicist or whatever, it’s 1/1,000 of a second. Boom! We’re outta here. The instantaneous snatching away of those of us in Christ. So those of us who are believers, one day, boom! We’re outta here, jack. Conversations will end in mid-sentence. There will be big triple-7s flying, the pilot will look over at the copilot and all he will see is a seat. A mother will walk into the nursery to pick up the newborn, the newborn will be gone. A board room will be half full. People will go from here to there, from here to there.
And what’s gonna be funny is to see everyone on planet Earth try to explain what’s happened. It will be absolutely hilarious! All of the blogs and all of the posts and all of the Snapchats and all of the talking heads <babbling sounds> but they will not understand the rapture of the church. Then you have the 7-year tribulation. Three and a half years of peace, three and a half years of craziness. The antichrist will emerge. And people will say, well, maybe it’s one of the presidents. No, no disrespect. They’re not smart enough, good looking enough, or articulate enough to be the antichrist. I don’t believe that. But someone’s going to rise up, one world government, one world currency. We’ll have the mark of the beast, some sort of a chip. Already I have chips in my animals and you can track them and it’s scary how we’re tracked by everybody from the IRS to the NSA to whoever, whatever. It’s nuts. So we’re right there. All that’s going to be taking place.
Then at the end of seven years, Jesus will come back with all of us, and when he comes back with all of us you’ve got the giant war. You’ve got Armageddon. It will happen in the valley of Megiddo, and I’ve been right there. I’ve seen it. Napoleon called this battle site the most natural battle site in the world. Blood will run three feet deep. It’s gonna be just absolutely epic. It’s going to be mayhem, crazy.
And then, of course, you have the 1,000-year reign, new Heaven and new Earth, then Satan is finally thrown into the fire. We all say Hell, yes. He’s going to Hell. That’s where he belongs and that is the name of that. So that’s a basic timeline.
You’ve got people, different theologians, a lot of bright people. Some are pre-millenialists, others are post-millenialists, others are pan-millenialists, it all will pan out in the end. Other are pre-trib, post-trib, amillenialists. Don’t worry about it! The good news is we win. The good news is He’s coming back, and I believe that we will be out of here before all this happens. But you can imagine, you remove God, you remove the church from the world, oh yeah. Utter and complete mayhem.
So what will happen? Basically here’s what’s gonna happen. Things that have been out of place will be back in place. All of us have a certain place for things. Even though some of us are a messy, there’s a book called Are You A Messy? And some people are messy, and that’s OK. But you know, even if you’re a messy things still, I mean you still want to have a certain place for things. Even messies have places for things, even though they’re messy.
Some people are obsessive compulsive and they like everything, you know, all the shirts and shoes and everything in order. But we know that certain things, right, have their place in life. I believe again that desire was given to us by God. So when this happens things will be back in place. The church will be back where it should be, the bride of Christ, right? The devil will be where he should be, boom, in Hell. And Jesus will be on the throne, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That’s something that we need to see.
But I don’t know, as I look around the world today I see so much and so many things that point to the rapture of the church. I really do. I think about, like, drug usage. Drug arrests are up like over 400% since 1970. Drugs! You think about sexual promiscuity, 20 million new cases of sexually-transmitted diseases are reported each and every year. Out-of-wedlock births, deaths from SU… deaths from SUVs! Hahahaha! That’s probably true, too! Deaths from STDs. It’s unbelievable, it really, really is. Then you think about the political climate. I mean, who are you gonna vote for? Some of us are like, would I rather get shot or stabbed? You know? So a theft (thank you) occurs every 14.6 seconds. Increased violence, you have all these people running around, all these people from ISIS and Al Qaeda and doing this and that and they’re all about murder, all about this, and yet the Muslim leaders will not even come up and denounce them? I mean, evil is rampant in our world today. And our own leaders, they just kind of let it happen. They just let it go. So the end times, I believe, are definitely approaching. As we look we see the stage is set for a charismatic world leader. The stage is set for a one-world religion, one currency. The stage is set for the mark of the beast.
So here are some things, because of this, that I need to apply and take home from this. So I’ve got the rapture, I mean rapture? OK, what does that mean to me? I’ve got the tribulation. OK, what does that mean to me? I’ve got the second coming of Jesus. I’ve got the 1000 years, and then I’ve got the final judgment. Well what does that mean to me? Well, several things. It should lead to hope. We want hope in this world.
We have hope in Christ. Because we have our eternities secure we have hope in Christ, and the Bible tells you and me that even those of us who are Christ-followers will be judged. Now I’m not talking about Heaven or Hell. If you’re a believer you’re going to Heaven, but the Bible does say we will be held accountable regarding what we did with the opportunities, with the avenues, with the abilities that God has given us. So there will be tears in Heaven. When we are judged everything in our lives will be laid bare. It’s like they will be on these giant screens. Every thought, every act of anger, every moment of greed, materialist, envy, lust, everything will be right there in front of the brilliant blaze of God’s glory.
So that should motivate you and me to go, wow! I mean, we’re not perfect, but wow! What am I doing with my talent? What am I doing with my resources? What am I doing with my ability? God will look at some and go, you had such a leadership gift but you squandered it! Man, I gave you so many opportunities to make money yet you spent it on yourself and this and that. And here Fellowship was doing this and growing and building and you didn’t step up? What? What? Here, your neighbor was lost and on their way to Hell and I put you with them. I had your paths intersect. What did you do with it? Yes, it should cause an urgency, right? It should cause us to do that. And then to also realize this when we think about this timeline, those without Jesus will go to Hell.
Now the Bible says that every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. What does that mean? Well, the last scene that those who are away from God will have before they go to Hell is that of Jesus on his throne, but then it’ll be too late. No deal making, no second chance, no wheeling and dealing, no my bad, no “well, I got all my philosophical questions answered,” “Oh, I believed my biology teacher at A&M or the University of Miami”… too late! It’s too late. That’s why urgency.
But Christians, we should be the most positive, energetic, hopeful people around. So this should lead to hope.
#2 – It should help us see the temporal versus the eternal. Obviously matter matters. We’re here and we’re in and around this temporal place. And yes, one day there’s going to be a new Heaven and a new Earth and all that, yet we should have one eye on the temporal and the other eye on the eternal.
It’s like I said the other day. Did you guys see the National Championship? Unbelievable! One of the best games I’ve ever seen in my life! The guy that scored and the guy that passed the pass to the guy that scored, they did a brilliant job of clock management. All the way down to the end, the time was melting off. He flipped the pass over to the guy, the guy shot it and when the ball was in the air, literally when it went through the net, game was over. Perfect time management! Clock management. That is what we have to have. The clock is ticking. The time is melting. Don’t so concentrate on the clock that you forget to play. Still take your shot, still do your stuff. So we need to think about that. We need to think about, OK, when I face God, and I’m talking to believers now, when he judges me… and I love how people say, “Don’t judge me, man!” We can’t judge anyone. We’re not God. People say that because they don’t like their stuff being confronted, their sin being pointed out. It has nothing to do with judgment, they’re just convicted. Don’t judge me.
So we need to think about the judgment seat of God, how we have this time of accountability, this time before God, so we need to do the best with what God has given us. And look at what God has given us, amazing, amazing. So the temporal versus the eternal. Everybody is gonna live forever, that’s why we want to take as many people possible with us to Heaven, at Fellowship Church.
#3 – I want to challenge you in this series should make me challenged, this timeline should make everyone really have the energy to pray for others. We should pray for believers, and also we should pray for those people who don’t know Christ personally. Pray those high risk prayers. In our prayer journals we should have names all the time of people that we see who don’t know the Lord. When God puts someone on your heart, pray for them. When you see someone, pray for them. And as you pray for them, situations, opportunities will happen. And we pray because, I mean, the clock is melting down.
And the last thing that I want to suggest is that I pray that this changes your life and mine and changes the course of Fellowship Church. It should be about change. Information is great but this is about transformation. We do all of this because everybody is living in eternity. We do all of this because Heaven is real and Hell is real. That’s why we do what we do. And that’s why we have such an urgency. Jesus is coming back! Things that are out of place will be put back in place. We’ll live forever and ever, but remember. What you’re doing now affects your forever.
[Ed leads in closing prayer.]