Page 139 - Satan in the Sanctuary

The End Times—A Timetable 141

Christ will claim His sheep from the earth—the dead first
(those who died believing) and then the living. Believers
will go with Him and thus avoid the following events.
Next will come the tribulation.* This is the period of
seven years prophesied by Daniel during which the Anti-
christ will occupy the Jerusalem Temple and proclaim him-
self to be God. The period will begin with his ingratiating
peace proposal for Israel. The self-deification will be after
three and one-half years. The Antichrist will reign for an-
other three and one-half years, and then the great war will
break out.
The battle of Armageddon, the next event, is the war to
end all wars. This one is so terrible that the Lord observed
that if He did not shorten those days there would not be a
single survivor. This was beyond the imagination of those
on the scene, but we of the megaton-bomb civilization do
not have to stretch our minds to picture a war that would
devastate the entire planet.
The fourth event is the triumphant return of Christ—
this time as a lion instead of a lamb. He will establish His
own Temple and proceed to reign over the earth's happiest
thousand years.
After this millennial kingdom, Satan will have a last
chance at corrupting the earth but will fail (Rev 20:7-8).
Evil will be destroyed on the earth once and for all.
Then comes the period called eternity. Eternity will re-
quire a new earth, a new heaven, and a new Jerusalem.
The changes are not within our powers of imagination, but
apparently this refurbished model of creation is one that
will endure in peace and triumph forever. It will be peopled
by those who have the eternal life given by Jesus.

* The term the tribulation is commonly applied by prophetic students
to the entire seven-year period of the Antichrist's covenant with Israel.
The Bible uses the term prophetically only once—see Matthew 24:21, 29.