The Antichrist, the Splendor of the Church, Christ’s Return, and the Establishment of His Kingdom
What is going to happen right before the Lord returns? According to Daniel 7, a fourth beast that is different from all the others will rise. This terrifying beast with iron teeth and bronze nails will devour, crush and stamp its feet on everything.
This beast will have 10 horns (kings) and out of those 10 horns, a little horn (king) will arise. This little horn is the Antichrist. That horn that has eyes and a mouth speaking arrogantly will be greater than the others. He is going to make war with the HOLY ONES and defeat them. He will speak words against the Most High and try to exhaust the HOLY ONES of the Most High. He will attempt to alter the seasons and the law; and the HOLY ONES will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time (Daniel 7:19-22). This time, times and a half time are the three and half years of the Great Tribulation.
With flattery, the Antichrist will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him. During this time we will experience the fullness of evil, but we will also experience the fullness of Christ. Daniel 11:32-34 says that those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. And some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made spotless until the time of the end. Also according to Daniel 12:3, there will be a group of wise ones who will shine like the brightness of the heavens. There will be a remnant of the church during the Great Tribulation who will lead many to righteousness and will shine bright like the stars forever and ever.
It is exactly at the time the tribulation begins that a remnant of the church will be given great supernatural power and authority. Needless to say that it is only when we come to the end of our human strength that we can experience the fullness of God's power. At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over Israel, will rise up to defeat Satan and his angels. Satan and his angels will lose all spiritual authority in the heavens, and the authority to accuse the conscience of believers, however they will gain authority in the natural. As Michael hurl Satan and his angels down to earth there will be a time of distress, the likes of which will not have occurred from the beginning of nations until that time (Daniel 12:1-2). According to Revelation 12, the great dragon and his angels will be hurled down to the earth to persecute Israel (the woman) and the church (those who keep Chist’s commands) however, it is exactly at that time that the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah will come over the church (Rev. 12:9-10). It is when the accuser of our brothers and sisters is hurled down to earth to hurt God's people, that the great spiritual unveiling (Apocalypse) for the church and the Jewish people will occur. This will be the time when the church becomes victorious by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, as she experiences a fierce love for God and gets set free from all fears that have paralyzed her to live in freedom. Then she will be ready not to cling to life when facing death (Rev. 12:11). The church will surrender all to the Lord, including her own life for the sake of the Jesus because she will grasp a greater understanding of the power of the resurrection, and the safety of the promise of the eternal life found in Christ. The church will experience the fullness of Christ and the fullness of the fellowship of his sufferings as she corporately experiences the physical cross.
This will be the time when the eyes of our spirit will be fully open to understand the revelation of the eternal gospel of Christ and we will reach perfect unity and maturity as the bride of Christ. Jesus' prayer in John 17:20-23 will be answered, as Jew and gentile become one new man in Christ, and that is when the world will know that Jesus has been the one sent by the Father. We will be given eye salve to see. We will no longer be lukewarm, spiritually wretched, and poor; but we will become victorious and aware of the riches we have in Christ (Rev. 3:15-18). The Lord will be like a refiner’s fire, like the soapmaker’s lye. God will sit, testing and purifying the silver; he will purify his priests, refining them like gold and silver, so that they can bring offerings to him uprightly (Malachi 3:2-3). All of this will occur so the bride of Christ can become ready for the wedding supper of the Lamb, dressed in fine linen, bright and clean (Rev. 19: 8).
During the tribulation the church will be refined and tested, until the Ancient One comes and, judgment is given in favor of the holy ones, and the time will come for the holy ones to take over the kingdom away from Satan and the Antichrist (Daniel 7:22). When the court goes into session, the Antichrist will be stripped of his rulership, which will be consumed and completely destroyed (Rev. 20:1-3). This will mark the end of the rulership of Satan and will mark the begging of the rulership of the Messiah over all the nations. Satan will no longer be the prince of the world, but Jesus will be the king and every knew will bow to him.
At that time Israel and everyone whose name is found written in the book will be delivered. And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2). On that day the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Those who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Death will be swallowed forever as we are given glorified bodies that will never die again. Those who were beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God during the tribulation will come to life as well and will be given authority to reign with Christ for a thousand years (Rev 20:4), together with all those who were victorious in Christ. The kingdom, the rulership and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. They will rule the nations as priests and kings together with Christ for a thousand years (Daniel 7 :26-27, Rev. 5:10, Rev. 2:26).
On that day the Lord will also go out and fight against the nations who came against Jerusalem as he fights on a day of battle. His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south (Zachariah 14:3-4). In those days and at that time when he restores the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, he will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There he will put them on trial for what they did to his inheritance, his people Israel because they scattered Israel among the nation and divided up the land of Israel (Joel 3:1-2).
On the day Jesus sits on his glorious throne in Jerusalem, Israel will become head of the nations. Living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter. The Lord will be king over the whole earth. There will be one Lord, and his name the only name and he will make Jerusalem secured (Zachariah 14:6-9).
The Lord Jesus will come and will live among Israel. During his millennial reign the nations will be joined with the Lord and will become his people. He will live among the people of Israel as he makes them his ministering priests, and they will know that the Lord Almighty has sent him. The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again make Jerusalem his choice (Zachariah 2:10-12). Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the LORD Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain (Zachariah 8:3).
During the millennial reign the LORD's physical holy temple will be established again as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. He will teach people his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. God’s law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore (Isaiah 2:2-3). Jesus will establish peace on earth and true justice for all and he will fill God’s temple with his glory.
Upon Christ’s return God will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and he will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and king Jesus will be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. They will not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions, but God will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned and will cleanse them. They shall be God’s people, and He will be their God. King Jesus his servant will be king over them, and they all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in God’s judgments and observe his statutes, and do them. Israel will dwell in the land that God has given to Jacob and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and King Jesus will be their prince forever. God, I will ]make a covenant of peace with Israel, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; he will establish them and multiply them, and he will set his temple in their midst forevermore His tabernacle also shall be with them. The nations also will know that the Lord sanctifies Israel, when his sanctuary is in their midst (Ezekiel 37:21-28).
Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain (Zachariah 14:16-19).
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all God’s holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:6-9).
Knowing all of this, let us be sober-minded. Let us watch and pray. Our savior is coming quickly, and his reward is with him, to give to everyone according to his work. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the Tree of Life, and may enter through the gates into the city. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty, he will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and He will be their God and they will be his children.