The Time of Jacob’s Trouble – Final

Second Coming

 

As should be understood at this point, there is the appearing of Jesus and the Second Coming, these are two separate events, one is the Rapture prior to the Seventh Week or the Tribulation, the other is His actual Second Coming (2 Tim. 4:1).  These two should not be mistaken.  The chapter His Glorious Appearing goes over the truth of this matter.

 

The battle of Armageddon began and quickly it ended.  The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is now at hand, the Savior of the world has finally come!!!

 

“And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall split in two, from the east even to the west, a very great valley. And half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”  Zechariah 14:4

 

“I saw in the night visions. And behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of the heavens. And He came to the Ancient of Days. And they brought Him near before Him.  And dominion was given to Him, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”  Daniel 7:13-14

 

“The burden of the Word of Jehovah against the land of Hadrach, and its resting place, Damascus, (when the eyes of man, and all the tribes of Israel are toward Jehovah), and Hamath also borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.  And Tyre shall build a fortress for herself, and shall pile up silver like the dust, and gold like the mud of the streets.  Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and He will strike her power in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire.  Ashkelon shall see and fear; Gaza also shall writhe in great pain; and Ekron, her expectation shall be dried up. And the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.  And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.  And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth. But the remnant, even he, shall be for our God. And he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.  And I will camp around My house because of the army, because of him who passes by and because of him who returns. And an oppressor shall not pass through them any more. For now I have seen with My eyes.  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous and having salvation, lowly, and riding on an ass, even on a colt, the foal of an ass.  And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. And the battle bow shall be cut off, and He shall speak peace to the nations. And His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.  As for you, by the blood of your covenant I have set free your prisoners from the pit, where there is no water.  Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.  For I have bent Judah for Me as a bow, filled it with Ephraim, and stirred up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you as the sword of a mighty man.  Then Jehovah will be seen over them, and His arrow shall go out as lightning; and the Lord Jehovah shall blow the shofar and shall go forth with the tempests of the south.  Jehovah of Hosts shall defend them. And they shall devour and subdue with slingstones. And they shall drink and roar, as with wine. And they shall be full like a bowl, like the corners of the altar.  And Jehovah their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people; for they are as stones of a crown, lifted up as a sign over His land.  For how great is its goodness, and how great its beauty. Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.”  Zechariah 9

 

Finally Israel will receive their Messiah, they will recognize Him and their hearts will be grieved.  The restoration will be complete and God will make everything as it was originally intended to be.

 

“And they shall look on Me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they shall be bitter over Him, like the bitterness over the firstborn.”  Zechariah 12:10b

 

“O Jehovah, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name; for You have done wonders; Your counsels of old are steadfast faithfulness.  For You have made a city into a heap; a fortified city into a ruin; a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be rebuilt.  Therefore the strong people glorify You; the city of the ruthless nations shall fear You.  For You are a refuge to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the ruthless ones is like a storm against the wall.  You shall subdue the roaring of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud. The shouting of the terrible ones shall be pruned away.  And on this mountain Jehovah of Hosts will make a feast of fatness for all the people, a feast of the dregs of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of the dregs of refined wine.  And He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering wrapped over all people, and the veil that is woven over all nations.  He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from all faces. And He will take away from all the earth the rebuke of His people. For Jehovah has spoken.  And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.  For the hand of Jehovah shall rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled under Him, even as straw is trampled in the water of a dung pit.  And He shall spread out His hands in their midst, as he who swims strokes to swim. And He will bring down their pride along with the deceit of their hands.  And the fortress of the high fort of your walls He will lay low, bring down to the ground, to the dust.”  Isaiah 25

 

Then the Millennial Reign will begin.

 

“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He comes, says Jehovah of Hosts.”  Malachi 4:1

 

Millennial Reign

 

“As I live, declares the Lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you.  And I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.  And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead with you face to face.  Just as I judged your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Lord Jehovah.  I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;  I will purge out the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me. I will bring them out of the land where they dwell, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel. And you will know that I am Jehovah.  As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord Jehovah: Go, serve every one of you his idols, even hereafter, if you will not obey me. But profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols.  For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord Jehovah, there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me; there I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your sacrifices, together with all your holy things.  I will accept you as a soothing aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the lands where you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the nations.  And you shall know that I am Jehovah, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I raised My hand and swore to give it to your fathers.  And there you shall remember your ways and all your evil deeds with which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have done.  And you shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel, declares the Lord Jehovah.”  Ezekiel 20:33-44

 

There is much that is not known, nor do we have need to know all of the details.  A lot could be said, a lot could not be said, regarding this time period.  Yet the Bible provides some insight into life after the end, into what is the new beginning after the Second Advent (coming of Christ).

 

“And in the days of these kings, the God of Heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and bring all these kingdoms to an end, and it shall stand forever.”  Daniel 2:44

 

Clearly Jesus will be ruling and the world will be a different place.  The curse will be gone and this will have effects even on the way that animals behave, for even a child will be able to stick his hand in a snake den, with no repercussions.

 

“And a Branch shall go out from the trunk of Jesse, and a Shoot shall grow out of his roots.  And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.  And He shall savor the fear of Jehovah. And He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears.  But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and shall decide with equity for the meek of the earth. And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.  And righteousness shall be the waistband of His loins, and faithfulness the waistband of His heart.  The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  And the nursing child shall play near the hole of the adder, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the viper’s den.  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.  And in that day there shall be the Root of Jesse, standing as a banner for the people; to Him the nations shall resort; and His resting place shall be glorious.  And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall again set His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people who remain, from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.  And He shall lift up a banner for the nations, and shall gather the outcasts of Israel and gather together the scattered ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth.  And the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not distress Ephraim.  But they shall swoop down upon the shoulders of the Philistines to the west; they shall plunder the children of the east together; they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.  And Jehovah shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; and with His scorching wind He shall shake His fist over the River, and shall strike it into seven streams, and make men tread it dry-shod.  And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people, those left as survivors from Assyria; as it was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.”  Isaiah 11

 

Israel will be regathered and the restoration of Israel will become complete.

 

“And say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, there where they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.”  Ezekiel 37:21-22

 

“After many days you will be visited. In the last final years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many peoples on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.”  Ezekiel 38:8

 

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drip with new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the ravines of Judah shall flow with waters. And a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, and it shall water the valley of Shittim.”  Joel 3:18

 

“Behold, the days are coming, declares Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who drags along seed. And the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it.  And I will bring back the captives of My people Israel. And they shall build the waste cities, and live in them. And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them. They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.  And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be pulled up out of their land which I have given to them, says Jehovah your God.”  Amos 9:13-15

 

“The Word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,  Thus speaks Jehovah the God of Israel, saying, Write all the Words that I have spoken to you in a book.  For, lo, the days are coming, says Jehovah, that I will bring back the captives of My people Israel and Judah, says Jehovah. And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave their fathers, and they shall possess it.  And these are the Words that Jehovah spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.  For thus says Jehovah, We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.  Ask now, and see whether a man ever gives birth? Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labor, and all faces are turned pale?  Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, says Jehovah of Hosts, that I will break his yoke from your neck and will burst your bonds. And strangers shall no longer enslave him, but they shall serve Jehovah their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.  Therefore, do not fear, O My servant Jacob, says Jehovah. Do not be dismayed, O Israel. For lo, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return, and shall be at rest, and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid.  For I am with you, says Jehovah, to save you. Though I make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you; but I will correct you in justice, and will not acquit nor leave you unpunished.”  Jeremiah 30:1-11

 

There will be splendor with the glory of God.

 

“The wilderness and the desert shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.  It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of Jehovah and the majesty of our God.”  Isaiah 35:1-2

 

So what will life be like during the Millennial Reign?  There will be healing, Israel will be Saved, given a new heart (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26), Christ will rule.    There will be a River of Life where there will be healing leafs for the nations.  This is an interesting time period, one which is remarkable different than the world we live in now.  One where Christ is ruling, where things are set in order, as they should be.

 

“At that time, says Jehovah, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.  Thus says Jehovah, The people who were survivors of the sword have found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I go to give him rest.  Jehovah has appeared to me from afar, saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.  Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel. You shall again put on your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.  You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common food.  For there shall be a day that the watchmen on Mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise and let us go up to Zion unto Jehovah our God!  For thus says Jehovah, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations. Cry out, give praise and say, O Jehovah, save Your people, the remnant of Israel!  Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the recesses of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; a great company shall return there.  They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way; they shall not stumble in it, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.  Hear the Word of Jehovah, O nations, and declare it on distant shores; and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.  For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of the one stronger than him.  Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of Jehovah, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and the herd. And their souls shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not languish any more at all.  Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow.  And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says Jehovah.  Thus says Jehovah: A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not.  Thus says Jehovah: Refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says Jehovah. And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.  And there is hope for your future, says Jehovah, that your children shall come back to their own territory.  I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, saying, You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; draw me back, and I shall return. For You are Jehovah my God. Surely after I was turned back, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth.  Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a delightful child? For as often as I spoke against him, I call to mind and remember him still. Therefore My heart is stirred for him; I will have mercy and compassion upon him, says Jehovah.  Set up signposts, make landmarks for yourself. Set your heart toward the highway, the way you went. Turn back, O virgin of Israel, turn back to these cities of yours.  How long will you vacillate, O backsliding daughter? For Jehovah has created a new thing in the earth; a woman shall contain a man.  Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, They shall speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall bring back their captives, saying, Jehovah bless you, O habitation of justice and mountain of holiness.  And farmers, and those going forth with flocks, shall dwell together in Judah and in all its cities.  For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have satisfied every sorrowful soul.  After this I awoke and looked around; and my sleep was sweet to me.  Behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beasts.  And it shall come to pass that, as I have watched over them to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says Jehovah.  In those days they shall not say any more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are dull.  But every man shall die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be dull.  Behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Jehovah.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says Jehovah, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  And they shall no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.  Thus says Jehovah, who gives the sun for a light by day and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea when its waves roar (Jehovah of Hosts is His name); if those ordinances depart from My presence, says Jehovah, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.  Thus says Jehovah, If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be searched out, then I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Jehovah.  Behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, that the city shall be built to Jehovah from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.  And the measuring line shall come out to the hill Gareb, and shall go around to Goath.  And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to Jehovah. It shall not be plucked up nor thrown down any more forever.”  Jeremiah 31

 

“Then he brought me back to the entrance of the house; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the front of the house faces east; and the water was flowing from under the right side of the house, south of the altar.  He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around the outside to the outer gate that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side.  And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to the ankles.  Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to the knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to the waist.  Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water was too deep; water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed.  And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen this? And he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river.  When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other.  Then he said to me: This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the wilderness, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed.  And it shall be that every living thing that swarms, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river shall come.  It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many.  But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt.  And along the banks of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.  Thus says the Lord Jehovah: These are the borders by which you shall divide the land as an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions.  And you shall inherit it equally with one another; for I raised My hand and swore to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance.  And this shall be the border of the land on the north: from the Great Sea, by the road to Hethlon, as one goes to Zedad,  Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim (which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath), to Hazar Hatticon (which is on the border of Hauran).  Thus the boundary shall be from the Sea to Hazar Enan, the border of Damascus; and as for the north, northward, it is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.  And on the east side you shall mark out the border from between Hauran and Damascus, and between Gilead and the land of Israel, along the Jordan, and to the Eastern Sea. This is the east side.  And the south side, toward the south, shall be from Tamar to the waters of Meribah by Kadesh, along the brook to the Great Sea. This is the south side, toward the South.  And the west side shall be the Great Sea, from the southern boundary until one comes to a point opposite Hamath. This is the west side.  Thus you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.  And it shall be that you will divide it by lot as an inheritance for yourselves, and for the strangers who sojourn among you and who bear children among you. They shall be to you as native-born among the children of Israel; they shall have an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.  And it shall be that in whatever tribe the stranger sojourns, there you shall give him his inheritance, declares the Lord Jehovah.”  Ezekiel 47

 

“But it shall be in the latter days, that the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established on the top of the mountains; and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it.  And many nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For the Law shall go forth out of Zion, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.  And He shall judge between many peoples, and will decide for strong nations afar off. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more.  But they shall each one sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and there shall be no cause for trembling. For the mouth of Jehovah of Hosts has spoken.  For all the peoples walk, each one in the name of his god; but we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God forever and ever.  In that day I will gather the lame, declares Jehovah, and I will gather the banished, and the ones I have afflicted.  And I will establish the lame in a place as a remnant, and her who was cast off into a strong nation. And Jehovah shall reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever.  And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, it shall come to you. And the rule of the chief ones shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.  Now why do you cry aloud with an outcry? Is there no king among you? Has your adviser perished? For pangs have seized you like one in travail.  Writhe in pain and bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like one giving birth. For now you shall go out from the city, and you shall live in the field. And you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be delivered. There Jehovah shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies.  Now also many nations are gathered against you, saying, Let her be defiled, and let our eyes look upon Zion.  But they do not know the purposes of Jehovah, nor do they understand His counsel. For He will gather them like the sheaves to the threshing floor.  Rise up and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hooves bronze, and you shall crush many peoples. And I will consecrate their gain to Jehovah, and their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.”  Micah 4

 

As stated early on in this chapter, this is not a commentary on the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, but speaking of events that will occur during the Seventh Week and the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7).  Much more could be said on the Millennial Reign, the new heavens and a new earth, the Millennial Temple, etc.  However, the purpose of this chapter was to simply cover what is usually deemed the Tribulation. 

 

However, I will end with one more tidbit of thought, a mystery, one that I do not fully understand, but I have had thoughts on this for years, wondering and pondering.

 

“Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be set loose out of his prison  and will go out to lead astray the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.  And they went up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.  And the devil, who led them astray, was cast into the Lake of Fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”  Revelation 20:7-10

 

It is possible that the first chapter of Nahum speaks of this time period, where Satan is briefly let loose and once again deceives the nations.

 

“The burden against Nineveh: The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.  The Mighty God is jealous, and Jehovah avenges, Jehovah avenges and is a possessor of wrath. Jehovah takes vengeance against His foes, and He maintains wrath against His enemies.  Jehovah is slow to anger, and great of power, and He does not by any means acquit the guilty. Jehovah has His way in the tempest and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.  He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.  The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt; and the earth is lifted up before Him, even the world and all who dwell in it.  Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken down because of Him.  Jehovah is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.  But with an overrunning flood He will make a complete end of its place, and darkness shall pursue His enemies.  What are you plotting against Jehovah? He will make a complete end of it; affliction shall not rise up a second time.  For as thorns are woven together, and as their drunkards are drunken, they shall be devoured like fully dried straw.  One who devises evil against Jehovah has come forth from you, one counseling worthlessness.  Thus says Jehovah, Though they are secure and so numerous, yet they will be cut off and pass away. And though I have afflicted you, I will not afflict you any more.  And now I will break off his yoke from you and will tear away your bonds.  And Jehovah has given command concerning you. Not one of your name shall be sown any more; I will cut off the carved image and the molten image out of the house of your gods; I will appoint your grave, for you are of no account. 5 Behold, on the mountains the feet of Him bearing good tidings, proclaiming, Peace! O Judah, keep your feasts; fulfill your vows; for the wicked will no more pass through you; he is completely cut off.”  Nahum 1

 

While some might be quick to wonder why God would allow Satan out of his prison, they may question why he wasn’t cast into the Lake of Fire where the beast and the False Prophet are, yet my question has always been different.

 

I’ve talked to people over the years and know of others who patiently preach the Gospel, looking for ears to hear and eyes to see, for those who are lost to repent and be converted.  Yet here, the world will have known what had happened, here you can go to Jerusalem, here you know, without a doubt, that God exists.  The world would have absolutely no excuse.

 

Would there be an argument about evolution during the Millennial Reign of Christ?  How?  Would not it be obvious that the things of God are to be taken seriously, that Salvation is a necessity for each an every individual?  So what amazes me is how even with Christ seated at the throne, even with the Millennium Temple in plain view, the world can still harden their heart and be deceived by the deceiver. 

 

Jesus is quite clear about this time period and whether you are reading this prior or during the time of Jacob’s trouble, know that Salvation is readily available to anyone who desires it.  This is not a joke, this is your eternity.  Do you want to be cast into the Lake of Fire for all eternity with Satan and all of the wicked people who refused to repent throughout history?  Or would you rather be with Christ who died on the Cross for your sins?  What will you choose?

 

“And he said to me, Do not seal the Words of the Prophecy of this Book, for the time is at hand.  He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.  And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to what his work shall be.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last.  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.  But outside are dogs and sorcerers and prostitutes and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and produces a lie.  I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify these things to you, to the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.  And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him who hears say, Come. And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take of the Water of Life freely.  For I testify to everyone who hears the Words of the Prophecy of this Book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add upon him the plagues that are written in this Book; and if anyone takes away from the Words of the Book of this Prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this Book.  He who testifies to these things says, Surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”  Revelation 22:10-20

 

“And I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow with them.”  Revelation 14:13

 

Amen!