Narration by author:
In 2020 and beyond, one of the emphases of the Spirit will be eschatological events, because God wants His betrothed, the genuine Church He is building, to understand that Jesus’ return is imminent — HE IS COMING BACK SOON! Eschatology is the knowledge and study of end-times.
The Book of Revelation coupled with the Book of Daniel hold the keys to unlocking the mysteries of the end-times. The Spirit-inspired words with which the Book of Revelation begins explicitly reveals the reason God revealed it to His Son, who revealed it via an angel to the Apostle John, who was commanded to convey it to the Church: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show to His bondservants the things which must shortly take place….” Eschatology consists of “the things which must shortly (soon) take place….” Revelation means the unveiling or uncovering of that which has been heretofore concealed, or a “mystery.” God instructed John to memorialize these things in a book in order that the events of the endtimes be revealed in an understandable fashion to the Body of Christ, particularly believers “upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Cor. 10:11); i.e., believers actually living in the end-times.
The Book of Revelation is comprised of THREE divisions:
1) What John was shown (SAW) in the Revelation of Christ [Chapter 1];
2) the things that ARE (i.e., present: the current matters relating to the seven churches of Asia Minor over which John was the overseer, which also was a type of the entire church age) [Chapters 2,3];
3) the things that SHALL BE (future) or shall occur following the church age [Chapters 4-22].
The third and final division (Chapters 4-22) consists of ELEVEN future occurrences that can be described thusly:
1) The Rapture (the appearance of Christ in the clouds in the air to catch-up the Bride of Christ, the church);
2) the revelation of Christ seated upon His Throne of Sovereignty in Heaven;
3) the revelation and rise of the antichrist;
4) the seven-year tribulation
5) the 21 judgments of God upon the unbelieving/unsaved world;
6) the Battle of Armageddon;
7) the Return of Christ to establish His Kingdom upon earth (a.k.a., the Second Coming);
8) the utter defeat and destruction of the antichrist and all God’s enemies on the earth;
9) the binding of the devil for a thousand years;
10) the Great White Throne Judgment and final disposition of the devil, his fallen angels, and unsaved humans;
11) the future Eternity; i.e., The New Heaven and Earth.
There is no plausible reason to believe that the God of Order did not show John these events and tell him to write them down in anything but chronological order.
There are no references in Scripture indicating the timing any of these occurrence will occur, but rather, Jesus declared it is not for humans “to know the times and epochs which the father has fixed by His own authority” (Acts 1:7) and that not even the Son (Jesus) Himself knows the timing of the occurrences revealed in the Revelation, including the “trigger-event” in terms of timing–The Rapture–and Jesus stated categorically,”But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Mat. 24:36), and we should, “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming” (Mat. 24:42)! Moreover, the Apostle Paul said “that the day of the Lord (which is not the Rapture, but the day of the Lord’s judgments upon the unsaved) will come just like a thief in the night” (1 Thes. 5:2).
The only event mentioned in the Revelation that has time associated with it is The Seven Year Tribulation that will occur over a literal seven-year period, which coincides with the third or final time period of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks (Dan. 9:24-27), which delineates 70 “sevens” or 490 years of God’s dealing with Israel, the first two periods consisting of 483 years collectively that concluded with Christ’s crucifixion, pausing God’s prophetic time clock, which starts ticking again at the commencement of the Seven Year Tribulation. From the Cross to the Rapture God has not been dealing with the Jewish people as a nation, or as a whole, but the same way He deals with non-Jewish people: as “whosoevers will,” meaning as individuals, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, Jesus, shall be saved (Acts 2:21, Rom. 10:13)!
Why does God want us to know about these end-times occurrences revealed to believers in His Word? Paul revealed the answer: “Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thes. 4:18). For the true believer, the understanding of these future events is comforting!
Dr. Steven Lambert was ordained in 1977 and holds several earned graduate/post-graduate degrees. Over more than four decades in ministry, he has served as a pastor, radio/TV host, adjunct-professor, Board Certified Doctoral Diplomate Christian Therapist/Counselor, and a speaker/commentator on a range of social, political, and theological issues, particularly as a recognized authority on the matter of ecclesiastical authoritarian abuse. He is the founder/Overseer of Ephesians Four Network (ephesiansfour.net) and its subsidiary, Ephesians Four Network of Deliverance Counselors (efndc.ephesiansfour.net). Dr. Lambert authored several books (catalog at realtruthpublications.com), many published articles, and is the founder/editor of Spirit Life Magazine (spiritlifemag.com). His bio, extensive blog, and scheduling information are available on his ministry website at: http://www.slm.org. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
Thanks for reading this article! If you enjoy the spiritually enriching articles on Spirit Life Magazine, please sign up to receive new articles via email immediately when they are posted simply by entering your email address in the "Articles Via Email" widget located on this page toward the top of the right-sidebar. Just below that widget is another widget—"Newsletter Sign-up"—you can use to subscribe to our newsletter we send out periodically to inform you of all our new articles and occasionally other information as well. Please know that we do not bombard your inbox with emails, and we hate SPAM just as much as you do, thus we will never sell/share your contact info with anyone else—rest assured it's safe with us! We hope you will subscribe to both lists because it's by far the easiest, fastest, and surest way to notify you of new posts. Thank you!
Spirit Life Magazine does not necessarily agree with the totality of the opinions, beliefs or philosophies of the authors of articles posted on the website, nor does the posting of articles represent an endorsement of authors other than our own authors/editors. Spirit Life Magazine is a publication of Real Truth Publications.
If you enjoyed this or any of the articles on Spirit Life Magazine, please click on the PayPal® Donate Button below to make a donation to help us with the costs of maintaining this online magazine. A PayPal® account is not required to use the PayPal® gateway, you can pay with debit/credit card or an e-Check from your bank. It's fast and secure! Thank you!
We depend on the gracious and generous donations of our readers. Won't you help? No amount too small or large! Donations to SLM Inc are tax-deductible. 
