TIME AND JUDGMENT SYNCHRONIZED
Oftentimes we consider how can we be sure that the timing of the judgment of the churches as part of the Great Tribulation (GT) which I believe started in 1988 (See Study “Spiritual Synopsis of the Parable of the Ten Virgins”) is correct. Why could not this teaching be true but somehow it is for some future period of time? Well, we are certain that there are many others with similar concerns especially because the churches and denominations all seem to be flourishing from our external vantage point. Well, what did Jesus Christ say about the flourishing religion of His day?
Mat 23: 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the
cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which
is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and
of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto
men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because
ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres
of the righteous,
30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have
been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children
of them which killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers,
how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
What also did the Lord Jesus have to say about the seven churches existing towards the end of the first century AD?
Rev 2: 12 ¶ And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write;
These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with
two edges;
13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest
fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was
my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
14 But I have a few things against thee, because
thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock
before the children of
15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against
them with the sword of my mouth.
17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;…..
Re 2: 18 ¶ And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame
of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy
patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
20
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth
herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication,
and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
21 And I gave her space to repent of her
fornication; and she repented not.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that
commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their
deeds.
23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every
one of you according to your works.
24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have
not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none
other burden.
25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my
works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter
shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches.
And consider the spiritual import of the following passages:
2
Kgs 2:19 ¶ And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant,
as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren. {barren:
Heb. causing to miscarry}
Ho
9:14 Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying
womb and dry breasts. {miscarrying: Heb. that casteth the fruit}
With this statement pointing directly to our days:
Lu
23:29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the
which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never
bare, and the paps
which never gave suck.
Can we see the true position then of the churches though they seem so pleasant on the outside?
You see, nothing has changed in 2000 years of history. The churches today are no different than the synagogues and temples of Jesus’ time. They are full of religious externalism but spiritually hollow within! At this point in time, the Bible indicates as far as we understand that they are under the judgment of God which has caused their inward spiritual rottenness (See study “Why I no longer attend church”).
But there still may be doubt about this timing, so let us see how God revealed in His Word the timing of judgment to His prophets and determine how close to the literal fulfillment of the judgment was the timing given to those prophets.
For illustrative purposes, here is an extract from a study titled “Daniel 10—Another passage indicating the GT” which was not written to address this particular point that we are considering but it will assist to demonstrate the point that God’s revealing of the time of judgment to the prophets is when the judgment is at hand although God may have foretold of the judgment through prophets arising earlier than the ones to whom He reveals the timing:
Before getting into Daniel
10, we will take a short look at the period of tribulation of
God tells us the very
start and length of the tribulation upon
2Chr 36:17 Therefore (as a result of the
sins of Judah and Jehoiakim covered in earlier verses prior to this verse)
he (God) brought
upon them the king of the Chaldees {THE START OF THE TRIBULATION –Nebuchadnezzar, the King of the
Chaldees,--in his first year Dan 1:1-7- 606 B.C. which was the 3rd year of
Jehoiakim--besieged Jerusalem and God gave Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand
and he carried away Daniel and compatriots and vessels of the temple, etc. to
Babylon, thereby depicting the very start of the desolation of abomination in
the Holy Place by Satan and was continued until Nebuchadnezzar’s 23rd
year in 583 B.C. when he carried away his final captives to make his total
captives 4600 (2300 x 2), Jer 52:30. This period of
23 years of desolations upon Judah with “2300 x 2” captives taken parallels the
first 2300 days of the Great Tribulation as described in Daniel 8:10-14 upon
the churches represented by the number two}, who slew their young men with the sword in the
house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old
man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. 18 And all the
vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of
the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these
he brought to Babylon. 19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the
wall of
As we will see from our study of Daniel 10, we will find very important time paths employing 536 B.C. as the starting point that bracket the start and end of the GT from 1988 to 2011 and also hit certain significant milestones within the 23 years of Great Tribulation! Hence, this year of 536 B.C. is a very important milestone to God and thus He marks it in His word for our benefit.
Now, we will continue with the main study:
In Daniel 10, we read and comment as we go along:
1 ¶ In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia (The end of the
tribulation on Judah of 70 years in 536 B.C. see page
26 of The Biblical Calendar) a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar;
and the thing was true, but the time
appointed was long (it was a long time to the GT
that this 70 years was typifying—the actual time being from 536 B.C. to 1988
A.D. or 2,523 actual years to the start of the GT and
2,546 actual years to the end of the GT in 2011!): and he understood the thing, and had understanding
of the vision. {long: Heb. great} /
END OF EXTRACT
So we see that it is
crystal clear that the year (of 536 BC) that Daniel understood the thing and had
understanding of the vision for the 70 year tribulation of his time (which
commenced in 606 BC) was at the very end of
Also, we can
consider the revealing of the mystery of the eternal spiritual church as the
body of Christ. This precious truth was revealed by God to His prophets (the
apostles) around the very time that the external churches were to be formed:
Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my
sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of
Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the
church:
25 Whereof I
am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me
for you, to fulfil the word of God; {to fulfil…:
or, fully to preach the word}
26 Even the
mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made
manifest to his saints:
27 To whom
God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: {in: or, among}
28 Whom we preach, warning every
man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man
perfect in Christ Jesus:
29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
PLEASE look
carefully at the yellow highlights and you will see that the mystery of the
eternal spiritual church was hidden for ages but was being revealed at the time
its observable shadow, the external churches, were to be orchestrated
throughout the world by the apostles.
Next, let us look at
the judgment of
Jude
1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha,
and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to
fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. {strange: Gr. other}
In the
historical account we are first told that God made Abraham aware of the timing
of the destruction of
Ge 18: 1 ¶ And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains
of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of
the day;
2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him:
and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed
himself toward the ground, …..
16
¶ And the men rose up from thence, and looked
toward
17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty
nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19
For I know him, that he will command his
children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD,
to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he
hath spoken of him.
20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of
21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether
according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward
Also, Lot was told
of
Ge 19: 1 ¶ And there came two angels to
2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your
servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up
early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we
will abide in the street all night……
12
¶ And the men said unto
13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great
before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
The very next morning
Ge 19: 23 The sun was risen upon the earth when
24
¶ Then the LORD rained upon
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the
inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
So once more we see
in this account dealing with the judgment of
Additionally, let us
take a look at the greatest judgment that has befallen this universe since its
creation—that of the flood in Noah’s time. From earlier Noah studies "Are
you a hired laborer?" "Noah's
70 year tribulation", it was shown that Noah was not told about the
"TIMING" of the flood 120 years before it occurred (as many believe
today) but rather God revealed the timing to him only a mere seven days before
it started! As stated this is more fully developed in the studies mentioned but
below is a short recounting for the purposes of this example fulfilling the
scope of this study. Firstly, we read:
Ge 6:3 ¶ And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always
strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an
hundred and twenty years.
Here, God was speaking to Himself (much like
He did in Genesis 1 before Adam was created—“3 ¶ And God said, Let there be light: and there
was light…. 6 ¶ And God said, Let there
be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from
the waters.”) in
His eternal heavenly counsel and NOT to Noah (as some presume incorrectly) who
was upon the earth and was 480 years old and not yet saved. We can know of a
surety that the 120 years refer to the length of time mankind had in this world
before God would destroy it by the flood and not to the general lifespan of an
individual person as some theologians have insisted. This fact is ably
demonstrated for us when we look at the ages the men lived after the flood;
they all greatly exceeded 120 years:
Ge 11:11
And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters…
13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and
daughters….
15 And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and
daughters….
17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and
daughters….
19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and
daughters….
21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and
daughters….
23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters….
The 120 years in Genesis 6:3 therefore can
ONLY be referring to the amount of years left to the flood!
With the progression of time mankind
perverted their ways even further and we read:
Ge 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually. {every…: or, the whole imagination: the Hebrew word signifieth
not only the imagination, but also the purposes and desires} {continually: Heb. every day}
Please note that all men were wicked and their imaginations
(purposes and desires) were evil every moment of every day. God did not provide
an exception from this behavior for Noah.
Next, we are told that God intends to keep the promise He
made to Himself earlier by counseling with Himself once more and again no
exceptions are made:
Ge 6:6 ¶ And it repented the LORD that he had made man
on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said {unto himself, in
His eternal counsel of the Godhead}, I will
destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast,
and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth
me that I have made them. {both…: Heb. from man unto beast}
But finally, we do find an exception to this universal
judgment:
Ge 6:8 But Noah found <04672> (8804) grace <02580> in the eyes of the LORD.
To find grace in God’s eyes is indicative of
becoming saved and obtaining eternal life:
Ge 19:19
Behold now, thy servant (i.e., Lot) hath found <04672> (8804) grace <02580> in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to
the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
Ex
33:12 And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou
sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou
wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also
found <04672> (8804) grace <02580> in my sight.
Jer 31:2
Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the
sword found <04672> (8804) grace <02580> in the wilderness; even
1Pe
1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
Tit
2:11 For the grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, {hath…: or, to all men, hath appeared}
Eph
2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ, (by grace ye are
saved;) {by…: or, by whose grace}
Eph
2:8 For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God:
After Noah’s salvation we read:
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and
perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. {perfect:
or, upright}
10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 ¶ The earth also was corrupt
before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh
had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 ¶ And God said unto Noah, The end of
all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through
them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. {with
the earth: or, from the earth}
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt
thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and
without with pitch.
PLEASE note that it
was in only verse 13 that God eventually told Noah about His impending judgment
not in verse 3 (as some purport)! We must let the Bible speak for itself and
not seek to change it. Here it is very clear that Noah was now saved, He had
his three sons and now God was speaking directly with him.
But even in verse
13, God still did not give Noah the timing of the flood! He was only told that
there would be a flood and at the time of telling Noah, Noah sons were already
grown and married:
Ge 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of
waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of
life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth
shall die.
18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife,
and thy sons’ wives with thee.
So, when did God
eventually give Noah the TIME of the flood?
Ge 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days
and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy
from off the face of the earth.
Only and only a mere
seven days before the flood came!
So once more this
recapping of the flood account shows that God reveals timing of judgments and
significant events in His program for this world right when it is necessary to
do so at their literal occurrence:
Ec 8:5 Whoso keepeth
the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise
man‘s heart
discerneth
both time and judgment. {shall…: Heb. shall know}
Am 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
There may be other
examples that could be used but these covered above do clearly illustrate that
God maintains synchronization of revealing time when there is judgment
occurring. He started this pattern with the first judgment of the flood when He
revealed the time to Noah. He continued reinforcing the pattern with
Now, the GT starting in 1988 and the belief that the end of the
world is in 2011 can be wrong if the Biblical Calendar itself has fundamental
errors because it is not inspired as the rest of the Bible, it is the work of
fallible man and even if it is proven to be correct the conclusions made from
the various theological positions and extrapolation of time through the
centuries since the cross in 33 AD can in combination be also flawed. However,
we must conclude that if the calendar is correct and that God has revealed it
in this time then there is a supreme purpose in His mind and that could very
well be:
2Pe
3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of
this one thing, that one day is
with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
And, this verse is
stated right in the very context of comparing the two great universal
judgments--the flood of Noah and the fiery judgment at the end of the world.
And when we go back to the timing given to Noah (only when the time of the
flood was at hand) and which flood was a temporary shadow pointing to the fiery
judgment, the eternal substance, we find:
Ge 7:4 For
yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty
nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the
face of the earth. {destroy:
Heb. blot out}
Something else to
note is that a study of all the time references used in the flood account, this
time reference given above was the only one that gave time as a future duration
to the start of judgment. All the other time references in the flood account
were in the setting of that which had already occurred and are a mere statement
of how long the duration of the event described lasted. Here are some examples:
Ge 7:12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
Ge 7:17
And the flood was forty days upon
the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up
above the earth.
Ge 7:24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an
hundred and fifty days.
So the only time reference that is projecting forward is
the one mentioned and we see its very fulfillment recorded even as projected:
Ge 7:10
And it
came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon
the earth. {after…:
or, on the seventh day}
So here we have
reassurance that if we apply the only verse in the flood account that deals
with time projected and then utilize the very one thing that all “beloved”,
living on earth close to the time of the fiery judgment, should know we can
have reasonable assurance that the fiery judgment will occur exactly 7 days or
7000 years (a day is a thousand years) from the time that it was revealed to
Noah in the year 4990 BC and hence we arrive at 2011 AD as the very likely
occurrence of the fiery judgment at the end of the world.
Another illustration
to be considered is that immediately after Noah’s flood and upon coming out of
the ark, we read the following:
Ge 9:1
And God
blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful <06509> (8798), and multiply <07235> (8798), and replenish <04390> (8798) the earth <0776>.
This was the very
same injunction given to Adam at the beginning in the Garden of Eden:
Ge 1:28
And God
blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful <06509> (8798), and multiply <07235> (8798), and replenish <04390> (8798) the earth <0776>, and subdue it….
And, is a very strong indication that God was seeing the
world after the flood as having a new beginning somewhat similar to the first beginning
and seeing both worlds as separate:
2Pet
3: 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that
by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the
water and in the water: {standing: Gr.
consisting}
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly men.
So if God created
the first world and rested from His work of creation (a shadow and portrait of
His work of salvation) in seven days and sanctified it:
Ge 2: 1 ¶ Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he
rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in
it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. {created…: Heb. created to make}
We can expect that
He will likewise have finished His work in this world of ours in seven days and
knowing that for Him a day is a thousand years we get from 4990 BC (the end of
the world and starting of the new) to 2011 AD as seven thousand years!
Now, let us utilize an approximation methodology and prove
2011 AD another way. We read :
Mat 24: 32 ¶
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his
branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves,
ye know that summer is nigh:
33 So
likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. {it: or, he}
34 Verily I
say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be
fulfilled.
The fig tree that is in leaf we all know is a prophecy to
1948 when
Ho
9:10 I found
Jer 24:5
Thus saith the LORD, the God of
Also, summer being nigh is indicating that the end of the
church age in 1988 starting the Great Tribulation (that Christ had just been
discussing earlier in Matthew 24) during which the churches are under judgment
by God is close at hand leading into the end time judgment:
Amo 8:1 ¶ Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto
me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
2 And he
said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of
3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings
in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be
many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
{shall be howlings: Heb.
shall howl} {with…: Heb. be silent}
Then the final clue in Matt 24:34 is “This generation shall not pass, till all these things
be fulfilled” indicating that the generation of natural Jews alive in
1948 will not all physically die before all the things (including the GT and translation of the saints on the last day) that
Christ was describing in Matthew 24 come to pass. Now, the question is how long
is a generation or life span? We get our answer below:
Psa 90:10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten;
and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is
their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut
off, and we fly away. {The days…: Heb. As for the days of our years, in them
are seventy years}
So a generation (or lifespan) is at a minimum 70 years and
a maximum 80 years. A babe born a natural Jew in 1948 just before Israel became
a nation once more would from Psalm 90 verse 10 be expected to live on average until
at least 2018 or at a maximum of 2028. Now does 1988 as the start of the GT and end of the church age qualify? And what about 2011
as the end of the GT and end of time after the end of
the GT, does it also qualify? Yes, both dates qualify
as they fall within the parameter of a generation from 1948! So, once more, we
see that this approximation period dovetails with the more numerical analyses that
land squarely on 2011.
So the big questions
are:
Your answers to
these questions will determine what you think about the timing of the Great
Tribulation from 1988 to 2011 and the possible end of the world in 2011.
It is strongly
believed that the understanding of these matters comes from a thorough
understanding of the Biblical Calendar and that the Biblical Calendar is the
very key that God is now using (since He completed His Bible) to unlock His
timing associated with critical events in His program for today’s world. A
study of His unfolding of history through His calendar will assure even the
most obstinate and die-hard atheist that surely God exists and that the Bible
is real.
ADDENDUM:
A fair question is
raised that if Noah only received the timing of the flood 7 days ahead of its
beginning and if Abraham and Lot only obtained the timing of the judgment of
Sodom just a day before it fell and Daniel understanding the time of the 70
year of judgment upon Judah in the very last year of that judgment, then why
would God give such a long advance warning for the GT
possibly ending in 2011 with the end of the world also probably occurring in
2011. Well, we have to bear in mind that in 1988 no one knew that the GT had started. It was not until the early 1990’s that this
timing became widely evident (See Study “Spiritual
Synopsis of the Parable of the Ten Virgins”) and even at that the
prevailing view was that the GT was only 2300 days
and not 23 years as we now understand it today. Also, it could be that God gave
Noah, Abraham,
The End
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