World War III is
Coming!
As I was preparing for
the topic of the seven trumpets,
several prophetic elements
“snapped together” in a way
that I had not seen before. This new
discovery leads me to conclude that
World War III is on the horizon and a
nuclear exchange is likely. To help
you appreciate how this conclusion
comes from Scripture, a little
background information is presented.
Notice Paul’s
words: “Now brothers, about
times and dates we do not need to
write to you, for you know very well
that the day of the Lord
will come like a thief in the night.
While people are saying, “Peace
and safety,’ destruction will
come on them suddenly [e.g.,
destructive judgments from God], as
labor pains on a pregnant woman, and
they will not escape. But you,
brothers, are not in darkness so that
this day should surprise you like a
thief.” (1 Thessalonians 5:
1-4, underline and insertion mine) As
you know, many Christians believe in
a pre-tribulation rapture. They
believe the phrase, “the day of
the Lord,” refers to a specific
moment in the future when Jesus will
rapture the church. They use
Paul’s word in 1 Thessalonians 5
to prove that the rapture will occur
without warning, “Like a thief
in the night.” They believe that
Jesus will quietly and secretly come
to Earth. He will snatch up righteous
people and disappear with them. Then,
God’s wrath will fall on wicked
people who are ‘left
behind.” The problem with this
conclusion is that the Bible mentions
“the day of the Lord”
eighteen times. In all these cases,
the phrase ‘the day of the
Lord” indicates a span of
time. In fact,
apocalyptic prophecy indicates
‘the day of the Lord”
contains fourteen predetermined
events which will require 1,335 days
to complete.
Compare Isaiah’s
words with those of Paul: “Wail,
for the day of the Lord
is near; it will come like
destruction from the Almighty.
Because of this, all hands will go
limp, every man’s heart will
melt. Terror will seize them, pain
and anguish will grip them; they will
writhe like a woman in
labor. They
will look aghast at each other, their
faces aflame. See, the day
of the Lord is coming
– a cruel day, with wrath and
fierce anger – to make the land
desolate and destroy the sinners
within it. The stars of heaven and
their constellations will not show
their light. The rising sun will be
darkened and the moon will not give
its light. I will punish the world
for its evil, the wicked for their
sins. I will put an end to the
arrogance of the haughty and will
humble the pride of the
ruthless.” (Isaiah 13: 6-11,
underline mine) If you are acquainted
with the experience of the saints
during the seven trumpets of
Revelation, you will also notice a
parallel between the words of Isaiah
and the prophet John. (Revelation
13:7; 13:10; 14:12; 17:6)
Second Coming Will Not
Come As a Surprise
Here is another
problem with the pre-tribulation
rapture concept. Many people believe
that the Second Coming will catch the
human race by surprise, but the book
of Revelation indicates otherwise.
For example, the wicked kings of
Earth will know and anticipate the
date of Jesus’ appearing. They
will be united and prepared to make
war on Jesus as He approaches Earth
in clouds of glory. This final war is
called Armageddon. Armageddon will
not be a war between nations; it will
be a war between an angry God and His
enemies, namely, Lucifer, the
Antichrist, and all who follow him.
Everyone who has the mark of the
beast will unite with Lucifer for the
express purpose to physically destroy
Jesus as He approaches Earth. The
Bible speaks clearly about the timing
of Armageddon. Preparation for
Armageddon occurs during the sixth
bowl and the war itself occurs during
the seventh bowl. Interestingly, Paul
indicates “the day of the
Lord” will come as a surprise to
many people, but John indicates the
“Second Coming” will not.
(See Revelation 17: 13,14; 16:
12-21.)
God is so good. He put
the date of Christ’s return in
the book of Daniel, and then He
sealed up the book of Daniel until
‘the appointed time of the
end.” Once the censer in
Revelation 8:5 is cast down and the
Great Tribulation begins, the date of
the Second Coming will no longer be a
secret for those who love God and
want to understand His Word. The date
of the Second Coming can be
calculated. “Blessed is the
one who waits for and reaches the end
of the 1,335 days.” (Daniel
12:12) Because they know the date of
our Lord’s appearing, the saints
will e encouraged as they languish
and suffer through the 1,335 days of
the Great Tribulation.
Peace and Safety
Paul’s comment
about “peace and safety” in
1 Thessalonians 5 is connected to the
end of the world because he is
specifically talking about “the
day of the Lord.” During the
past century, Earth has experienced
two world wars. During those times of
war, people the world over were
crying out for “peace and
safety.” However, neither WWI
nor WWII was interrupted by sudden
destruction from God. With another world
war on the horizon, we must wait
to see if this is the moment in
history when God will suddenly step
into the affairs of man with His
destructive powers. The current
situation in Iraq is a prophetic
sample of things to come for the
whole world. Iraq hopelessly
languishes because there is no peace
and safety. Even the world’s
most powerful military can do little
to impose peace and safety in this
unstable environment. Paul’s
comments in 1 Thessalonians 5
indicate a time is coming when the whole
world will reach a hopeless state
of violence and unrest, like Iraq is
today. People will be saying
“peace and safety” because
there is none. When the world reaches
this point, God will rise up and take
matters into His own hands.
The time period
designated ‘the day of the
Lord” will begin with the
casting down of the censer in
Revelation 8:2-6. This is the event
that will catch most people on earth
by surprise. Jesus said, “As
it was in the days of Noah, so it
will be at the coming of the Son of
Man. For in the days before the
flood, people were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage, up to the day Noah entered
the ark; and they knew nothing
about what would happen until the
flood came and took them all away.
That is how it will be at the coming
of the Son of Man…. So you also
must be ready, because the Son of Man
will come at an hour you do not
expect him.” (Matthew
24:37-39,44) The antediluvians were
aware of the coming flood. Noah had
warned them for 120 years and the
construction of the ark was well
known and widely ridiculed
(“Noah’s folly”).
Therefore, Jesus’ words must
mean that the antediluvians did not
know how or when their mercy
would end. This is an ominous
parallel for our day. On the tenth
day of the second month, Noah and his
family quietly entered the ark, and
then an angel closed the great door,
the doorway to salvation, and the
antediluvians did not even notice.
They were unaware that mercy had
ended. However, the antediluvians did
notice that rain began to fall on the
seventeenth day of the month and this
is how end time events will be.
Corporate intercession will end in
Heaven’s temple and most of the
people on Earth will not understand
the seriousness of this event;
however, the whole world will be
shaken by the horrific judgments that
follow.
Discovery
Apocalyptic prophecy
consists of an intricate matrix that
is based on the Jubilee Calendar. I
assume you are acquainted with the
Jubilee Calendar and the seven
trumpets. I believe the seven angels
who stand before God in Revelation
8:2 were given the seven trumpets in
the Spring of 1994 – at the end
of 70 Jubilee cycles. Corporately
speaking, God’s patience with
our degenerate world ended on that
date. At that time, four angels with
four trumpets came to Earth, fully
prepared and empowered to harm this
planet with God’s judgments, but
Jesus stopped them with a command.
(Revelation 7:1-3) He told them to
wait until the 144,000 are sealed.
Thus far, this delay has been holding
12 years.
Why did an all knowing
God create this delay in the first
place and why did He inform us about
it? These are critical questions
because God is very deliberate and
purposeful in everything He does. In
short, God wants the final generation
to know that even though His wrath is
overdue, He is waiting for something
that is more important than releasing
His wrath. With God, timing is
everything. He is waiting for
“the perfect time” to start
the 1,335 days of the Great
Tribulation. Jesus will appear on
Earth the second time just as He did
the first – at the perfect time.
Paul wrote, “But when the
time had fully come, God sent his
Son, born of a woman, born under law,
to redeem those under law, that we
might receive the full rights of
sons.” (Galatians 4: 4,5)
For reasons beyond the scope of this
article, it appears that Jesus will
gather up the redeemed on Earth on a
Sunday, the very first day of the
seventh millennium. (See Exodus 12:41
for a beautiful parallel on
deliverance. Israel was freed from
Earthy bondage at the appointed time
– to the very day.)
Apocalyptic Order
Consider the sequence
of events in this section from
Revelation 8: “And I saw the
seven angels who stand before God,
and to them were given seven
trumpets. Another angel, who had a
golden censer, came and stood at the
alter. He was given much incense to
offer, with the prayers of all the
saints, on the golden altar before
the throne. The smoke of the incense,
together with the prayers of the
saints, went up before God from the
angel’s hand. Then the angel
took the censer, filled it with fire
from the alter, and hurled it to the
earth; and there came peals of
thunder, rumblings, flashes of
lightening and an earthquake.” (Revelation
8: 2-5)
Now, please consider
four points:
1.
Assume the seven angels were given
the seven trumpets in 1994.
2.
After 1994, an angel came to the
Altar of Incense to offer up much
incense, together with the prayers of
all the saints. This service
happens before the censer is
cast down in verse 5. What are all of
the saints on Earth praying for or
praying about after 1994?
3.
For thousands of years, the saints of
God have been petitioning God for
various things. So, the varied
petitions and prayers of saints have
been ascending for a long time. The
problem is that the prayers in
Revelation 8:3,4 have to occur after
1994. Furthermore, the language in
Revelation 8:3-5 suggests that all
the saints on Earth are praying for
the same thing at the same
time. What on Earth would cause all
of God’s children to pray for
the same thing at the same time?
4.
The use of incense at the Altar of
Incense dates back to the wilderness
tabernacle. Special incense was
offered each evening and morning on
the Altar of Incense to predispose
God to be generous and favorable
toward “stinky” (highly
offensive) sinners. The service at
the Altar of Incense teaches us that
a holy and pure God could only dwell
among offensive sinners if there was
continual intercession rising from
the altar. This fragrance used in the
Old Testament masked man’s
“stinky” condition before
God, just like the righteousness of
Jesus masks our sinful condition in
the New Testament. The use of the
fragrance of incense illustrates the
wonderful doctrine of justification.
In bible times, people with serious
concerns would gather around the
temple during the evening and morning
services to have their earnest
prayers ascend with the incense
– hoping and trusting the Lord
would be favorable moved to grant
their petition. Thus, the use of
incense in Heaven’s temple,
together with the prayers of all the
saints, indicates the saints are
imploring God to do something. What
is it?
Now that these things
have been asked, consider how the
mystery could be resolved:
Summary Answer
Suppose a great war
breaks out somewhere in the world
(Middle East?) and this war escalates
until an initial nuclear strike. At
each nuclear exchange occurs, allies
will be forced to take sides.
Suddenly, the whole world is drawn
into World War III. Two atomic bombs
were used in WWII, but a nuclear
exchange has never occurred. Because
nuclear bombs are so devastating and
ruinous, every nation suddenly finds
itself wondering if its enemy will
annihilate another city with the push
of a button. At this extreme moment
in Earth’s history, man will be
powerless to stop the carnage. All of
God’s saints on Earth will be
praying for the same thing at the
same time, namely, peace and
safety. The saints will petition the
Almighty to quickly step into the
affairs of mankind or mankind will
self-destruct. Of course, the
world’s religious and political
leaders will be loudly calling for
peace and safety, too, but what can
they do? The United Nations is
impotent.
If this World War III
scenario were to unfold, we can be
sure the Almighty will understand the
dire situation on Earth. Suppose He
calls an angel before His throne and
this angel does something that has
never been done before in
Heaven’s temple. He is given
much incense and the smoke together
with the prayers of the saints ascend
before the Lord. The Lord hears the
cries of His children to do something
quickly and He approves their
request. The angel at the Altar of
Incense is told to throw down the
censer because intercession on behalf
of Earth has just ended. The timing
is perfect. The seven trumpets begin.
These seven judgments are the
sudden destruction that comes from
God while people on Earth are
desperately calling for peace and
safety. In the middle of what
could be several nuclear exchanges,
God himself steps into the affairs of
mankind with destructive power that
exceeds all atomic bombs combined.
Overpowered by God’s arsenal of
destructive judgments, angry nations
forget about the war. Suddenly, a
world in conflict discovers that
man’s greatest concern
isn’t man – it is our
Creator. God’s servants, the
144,000, selected and empowered by
the Holy Spirit for this grand
occasion, proclaim in unison the
world over: “Fear God and
give him glory for the hour of His
judgment has come, and worship Him
who made the heavens, the earth, the
sea and the fountains of
waters…” (Revelation
14:7)
In this study, three
things really stand out to me. First,
the verses in Revelation 8:3,4 make
sense just as they read within the
context of a nuclear world war. If a
nuclear exchange were to occur, all
of God’s people would be praying
for the same thing at the same time.
Second, it seems clear that God
responds to the prayers of the saints
by casting down the censer. If this
is not the case, where in
Revelation’s story is any answer
given to their petition? Even more,
what is the point of having
Revelation 8: 3,4 inserted into the
story of the seven trumpets? These
two verses have puzzled me for many
years. Last, I am impressed with the
timing of several pieces within this
scenario: Man releases atomic power
on his enemy and God releases His
wrath on man – all of this
occurs a mere 1,335 days before the
seventh millennium begins! Wow. With
God, timing is everything!
You know, the closer
we get to the commencement of the
Great Tribulation, the easier it
becomes to understand
Revelation’s story. I’m
excited!
