Revelation 12:10: “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

The defeat of Satan is met with great rejoicing – as one might imagine! The “accuser of our brethren” is cast out of Heaven and is no longer able to bring accusations to God. He can no longer act as a prosecuting attorney, attempting to get God to curse His children. Those days will be over. They are not over yet, but they will be after this battle takes place.

In verse 11 we see how the “overcomers” overcame the devil: they did it “by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony”. They had faith in Jesus and they trusted in the redemptive power of His blood for forgiveness. On top of that, they were willing to die for their faith – the passage says that “they loved not their lives unto the death”. Since they did not given in or walk away when they were persecuted, they were given righteousness and everlasting life.

Revelation 12:7: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Contrary to what many people believe, this war in Heaven did not happen in the time before mankind walked the earth. The reason we know this is because Satan still had access to Heaven in Job’s day, when he entered Heaven to stand before God and accuse him.

The great War in Heaven is something that will take place during the Tribulation. Right now Satan still has access to Heaven (which he uses to accuse the brethren, just as he once accused Job), but sometime around the midpoint of the Tribulation that will change. There will be war in Heaven, and Satan and his demonic followers will be forced out and will never be able to return. Their access will be permanently revoked.

This battle will take place in Heaven after the Rapture, which means that we will be in Heaven when it happens. However, we won’t participate in the battle. The passage says that it will take place between Michael and his angels and Satan and his demons. There will be war in Heaven and Satan will lose, and as a result him and all of his demonic forces will be cast down to the Earth.

Revelation 12:6: “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”

Now that we have the background, the passage switches back to the time of the Tribulation. It is during the Tribulation that Israel will flee into the wilderness. Do you remember when the disciples asked Jesus about His return, and He told them that when they saw the abomination of desolation set up they should run for their lives? Well, in the middle of the Tribulation the antichrist will enter into the Holy place of the Temple and will declare himself to be God. Jesus told the Jews that when that happens they should run. Here we can see that they are going to run into the wilderness, where God will protect them for 1260 days.

1260 days is the same as 42 months (42 * 30 = 1260), which is the same as 3.5 years. In other words, during the second half of the Tribulation God is going to hide Israel in the wilderness. (There is reason to believe that the Jews are going to be hidden in the area around Petra, but that is a subject for another time.)

Revelation 12:3: “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.”

The dragon, of course, is symbolic of Satan. This is very consistent throughout the Bible, and it especially makes sense in this passage. The devil has tried very hard to destroy Israel, and when Jesus was born Satan tried to kill him (using Herod, who slew all male children two years old and younger).

This passage gives us some other information: in the devil’s rebellion against God he managed to convince one third of the angels to join him. So, one third of the angels fell and two thirds did not. This means that God has twice as many angels as Satan has demons.

Revelation 12:1: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:”

This is a really interesting chapter! I think this woman represents Israel. If you’ll notice, this vision is quite similar to the one that Joseph had in Genesis 37. In Joseph’s vision the stars represented his brothers (from whom the tribes of Israel came), and the sun and moon represented his parents.

This interpretation becomes much more likely when we read the next few verses:

Revelation 12:2: “And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
…
5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”

I skipped verses 3 and 4 so that we could immediately identify who the child was. Based on verse 5 we can see that this child is Jesus, the Messiah. He is the one who will “rule all nations with a rod of iron”. He is the one that was “caught up unto God” after His resurrection and ascension. This also makes sense in the context of the passage: Jesus came out of the nation of Israel.

So it all fits together. The woman is Israel and the child is Jesus.

Revelation 11:19: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.”

When the angel sounds there are “lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail”. This is not the first earthquake that we’ve seen in Revelation and it will not be the last. There is a much, much worse one to come.

Also notice the appearance of the Ark of the Covenant. There are many people who are looking all over the world for the long-lost Ark. This verse tells us that they will never find it, and they would have been better off if they just read their Bibles instead. The Ark is not on Earth; it is in Heaven. It has served its purpose and is no longer needed. The Ark will not be in the Tribulation Temple or the Millennial Temple. It is in Heaven – safely out of the reach of mankind.

From this chapter we can see that God is reigning throughout the Tribulation. The Lord raised up the two witnesses, and no one could hurt them until their task was finished. When they were murdered the Lord resurrected them, brought them to Heaven, and sent a disaster upon the city where they were slain. The witnesses could not be killed until God allowed it, and when God allowed it He then showed His power by raising them from the dead in front of a live audience of millions (perhaps billions).

We also see that when the 7th trumpet sounded Jesus ascended to power. We see a God who is very much in charge of history – a God who sends judgments, raises the dead, and does as He pleases. He reveals Himself to be the Mighty God, who rewards those that fear Him and who judges those who do not.

The Ark of the Covenant was one of the most famous pieces of the Old Testament sacrificial system. The Ark was kept in the Holy of Holies inside the Temple – a special room that no one but the High Priest could enter. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter that room and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat, thus making atonement for the sins of the people. (The mercy seat was the top portion of the Ark – the part that had the images of angels.) The Holy of Holies did not contain any candles or artificial light; instead it was lit by the glory of God. There the High Priest would come into the presence of God Himself.

As you can see, the Ark was a very special thing – and a very holy thing. It was kept in the holiest room in the Temple and was where God manifested His glory. Because of this, God had a host of special rules regarding how it was to be handled. The consequences of breaking these rules and profaning the Ark were very high – and that is what I want to talk about.

There was a time when the nation of Israel came to see the Ark as a sort of good-luck charm. I Samuel 4:1-3 tells us that when Israel lost a battle against the Philistines, they decided to take the Ark into battle with them. They were confident that somehow the Ark would wield magical powers that would somehow make the Philistines lose. Instead of looking to God they looked to the Ark itself – and they lost badly. The Philistines captured the Ark and excitedly brought it to the temple of their god. However, this turned out to be a mistake:

I Samuel 5:2: “When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.
5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.”

Their intent was to show that their false god Dagon was superior to the Ark – but that’s not how things turned out. After the first night they found the idol of Dagon face down before the Ark. After the second night Dagon was face down again – but this time his head and hands were cut off. The God of the Ark was winning, and the false god Dagon was not faring very well.

So the Philistines decided to start moving the Ark around. Everywhere the Ark went it brought disaster:

I Samuel 5:6: “But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.
7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.
8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.
9 And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.
10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
12 And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.”

As you can see, it didn’t take long for the Philistines to begin to panic when they saw the Ark of God coming their way. Everywhere it went it brought disaster. The hand of God was against them, and those that weren’t killed were tormented. It caused the Philistines a tremendous amount of trouble – so much trouble, in fact, that after seven months the Philistines decided to send it back to the Israelites.

But the story is not yet over. When the Philistines sent it back, it arrived at Bethshemesh. However, instead of treating it with reverence, the men of that city decided it would be a great idea to open up the Ark and see what was inside it. This proved to be a bad decision:

I Samuel 6:19: “And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.”

Fifty thousand people died because they decided to open up the Ark and look inside it. They violated God’s commandments regarding how to handle the Ark, and they paid for it with their lives.

After this happened the men of Bethshemesh decided they had had quite enough of the Ark, and told the men of Kirjathjearim to come and get it. They came and got it, and it remained with them for twenty years.

Eventually King David decided to move the Ark back to where it belonged. However, instead of following the instructions God gave for moving the Ark, he decided to have it moved on an ox cart instead. The result was disaster:

2 Samuel 6:6: “And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it.
7 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.”

The Ark was supposed to be carried on poles by the priests. It was not supposed to be carried on an ox cart. When it was transported by oxen, the cart shook and the Ark became unsteady. Uzzah reached out to steady it and was struck dead on the spot. The Ark was a very holy thing, men were not allowed to touch it.

When this happened David stopped everything, and the Ark stayed at the house of Obededom for three months. David then tried to move the Ark again. This time, though, he followed God’ instructions – and everything went fine.

Today there are a number of people who are searching the globe in an attempt to find the Ark of the Covenant. If it was found it would be hailed as one of the greatest discoveries of all time – but I can say with assurance that it will never be found. The Bible tells us exactly where the Ark is currently located, and it’s not here on Earth. The Ark has been moved elsewhere:

Revelation 11:19: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.”

Where is the Ark? In Heaven. It’s not here on Earth – which means that all of those Ark-seekers are never going to find it.

Revelation 11:16: “And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”

Here we see the 24 elders again, who represents the Church. When the 7th angel sounds they give glory to God for what is about to come. Notice it says that “thou hast taken to thee thy great power”. Even though Jesus has not yet returned, He takes power at this point and uses His power to judge the nations. Even though the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom is still more than three years away, this is when Jesus seizes control of the world and begins His reign over it. The antichrist may think that he has power and may think that he is in control, but he is badly wrong. Jesus is reigning from Heaven and He cannot be stopped.

Several things are going on. First, Jesus has taken power and is reigning from Heaven. Second, Jesus is judging the world. Third, Jesus is rewarding His servants, the prophets and the saints. Fourth, Jesus is going to “destroy them which destroy the earth”. There is more judgment to come, and it begins immediately – in the very next verse.

Revelation 11:14: “The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. 15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

Now, at last, we have reached the 7th trumpet. When this trumpet sounds there is an announcement made in Heaven that “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever”. That is such an awesome verse!

There is a lot in the 7th trumpet; it will take time (about three and a half years) for all of its events to unfold. There will be terrible suffering on Earth, and millions of Christians will be brutally murdered for their faith. The power of the antichrist will grow, and he will do many terrible things. But the ending is not in doubt. When the 7th trumpet begins to sound the table is turned, and the antichrist’s seeming victory is turned into defeat. Satan forever loses his grasp on the world and it becomes the Lord’s, and Jesus will reign over it for all of eternity. He will never lose it or allow it to be destroyed. Jesus will reign triumphantly forever and ever – and we will reign with Him as well.

Egypt is one of the most puzzling aspects of end-times prophecy. The problem is that the Bible has a lot to say about Egypt, but people don’t really know how to put all of the pieces together. All of the theories that I have heard seem to ignore one or more pieces of the puzzle, and that is never a good sign. In order for a theory to be valid it must encompass all of the evidence. If a theory requires you to throw out some evidence then the theory is almost certainly wrong.

What I would like to do is take a look at the various pieces to illustrate what we do know and what we do not know. Perhaps an investigation will shed some light on the subject.
 

Ezekiel 29

In the book of Ezekiel the Lord says that He is going to judge Egypt for its sins:

Ezekiel 29:2: “Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
4 But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.
5 And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.
6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
7 When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.”

That part of the passage is pretty straightforward. In verse 3 we are told that God is against Egypt because of its pride – Pharaoh claims that the Nile belongs to him and he made it. Pride is a terrible offense to God; the Bible tells us that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). God is therefore going to humble the Egyptians by severely judging their land:

Ezekiel 29:8: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.
9 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the Lord: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.
10 Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.
11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
12 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.”

This is where it becomes obvious that this passage is part of end-times prophecy and was not fulfilled in the past. There has never been a time when Egypt has been abandoned for 40 years, but one day that will happen. Because Pharaoh said that the Nile was his and he made it, God will make the land of Egypt desolate and waste. No foot of man or beast will pass through it for 40 years. Egypt and the surrounding countries will be desolate, and the Egyptians will be scattered.

God is very clear about the exact area that will be destroyed: it is “from the tower of Syrene” to “the border of Ethiopia”. Syrene is in southern Egypt; today it is known as Aswan. There is an enormous dam there – the Aswan High Dam. The country of Ethiopia is located to the south of Egypt. Since all of Egypt will be devastated from Syrene (in southern Egypt) to Ethiopia (a country south of Egypt), it seems that only southern Egypt will be devastated. Since Cairo is in the north, it appears that it will not be included in the portion of Egypt that will be “utterly waste and desolate”. This desolation of Egypt will last for 40 years, and during that period the Egyptians will be scattered among the nations.

But this is not the end of Egypt. God has plans for them:

Ezekiel 29:13: “Yet thus saith the Lord God; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:
14 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.
15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
16 And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord God.”

After the 40 years are over God will return the Egyptians to their land, but they will be a base kingdom – “the basest of kingdoms”, in fact. They will no longer have any prominence and they will never again rule over the nations.

As we look over this chapter it becomes obvious that its fulfillment is still in the future. Egypt is not the basest of kingdoms; it is still a powerful nation (despite the massive turmoil that has been sweeping the country). The details of this passage have not yet been fulfilled.

The question is, when will this happen? At what point will Egypt be devastated and then abandoned for 40 years? Will this happen before, during, or after the Tribulation? That brings us to our next piece of end-times prophecy.
 

Psalm 83

In Psalms 83 we are told of a coalition of nations that is threatening Israel’s very existence. These nations have come together in order to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. Interestingly, Israel has never been simultaneously threatened by all of these nations. This psalm is a prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled – but many people believe that it will be fulfilled in the near future.

Some people have suggested that Egypt is a part of this prophecy by claiming that the reference to the Hagarenes in Psalm 83:6 is a reference to Egypt. Others have disputed this and argued that Hagarenes are just Ishmaelites (Arabs). But take a look at the passage itself:

Psalm 83:6: “The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;”

As you can see, the Ishmaelites are already explicitly mentioned in the passage. The Hagarenes, then, must be something different. Genesis tells us that Hagar was an Egyptian:

Genesis 16:1: “Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.”

Since the Ishmaelites are already listed as their own people, the reference to “the Hagarenes” must be referring to the people of Hagar. Since Hagar was an Egyptian, “the Hagarenes” must mean “the Egyptians”. Since Psalm 83 appears to describe the nations that immediately surround Israel, and since Egypt is one of those nations, that interpretation makes a lot of sense. Psalms 83 describes an upcoming conflict where Israel’s immediate neighbors band together in an attempt to utterly destroy Israel. It does appear that Egypt is included in that group.

Since I have already analyzed Psalm 83 in other papers, I will not repeat that analysis here. It is enough to say that Psalm 83 records a time when Egypt will ally with other nations in order to threaten Israel.

Now, Ezekiel 29 records a time when southern Egypt will be devastated and abandoned for 40 years. It is entirely possible (and perhaps even likely) that Egypt is devastated as a result of trying to destroy Israel in the Psalm 83 conflict, but that is just a guess. Psalm 83 does not say that Egypt is destroyed as a result of joining this coalition, and Ezekiel 29 does not mention the coalition either. At this point it is just speculation.

But the Bible has more to say about Egypt – a lot more, actually. That brings us to our next passage:
 

Isaiah 19

This entire chapter is focused on Egypt and has some pretty amazing things to say. However, working these pieces into the overall picture is not simple.

The first part of this chapter has been quoted quite a lot recently:

Isaiah 19:1: “The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.”

Verse 2 certainly describes Egypt as of 2013! There has been a tremendous amount of civil unrest – and that unrest is still ongoing. However, this is not the first time that Egypt has experienced internal turmoil. It is very dangerous to say “Well, the Bible is speaking of civil unrest, and Egypt is experiencing civil unrest, so that must be the fulfillment of that prophecy.” In order to be a genuine fulfillment the prophecy must be fulfilled in its entirety. It is not enough to just fulfill one verse of a longer passage. It will take time to determine if the current trends in Egypt will line up with everything else the passage has to say – and it has a lot to say.

The passage continues:

Isaiah 19:3: “And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts.”

Here we see that after the civil war, the Egyptians will turn to idols and witchcraft. God will given them over to a “cruel lord”, and a “fierce king” will rule over them. But things will only get worse for Egypt:

Isaiah 19:5: “And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.
8 The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.”

The land of Egypt depends upon the Nile, but the waters will fail and the river will be dried up. This, of course, will devastate the farmers (who sow things “by the brooks”) and the fishers. It will be an ecological disaster. The country will be turned over to fools and will be devastated:

Isaiah 19:11: “Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
12 Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
14 The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.”

The country will be full of fear – and they will be terrified of Israel:

Isaiah 19:16: “In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath determined against it.”

So far all of this fits in more-or-less with our theories about the future of Egypt. This passage could be saying that Egypt’s civil war will eventually lead to a dictatorship. The Nile will dry up and things will get bad. It’s possible that if Egypt attacks Israel, Israel may do something that will devastate southern Egypt and cause that part of the country to be abandoned for 40 years. Perhaps that is why Israel became a terror unto Egypt. Their attack could have caused the Nile to dry up.

But let’s continue on with the rest of the passage:

Isaiah 19:18: “In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.
19 In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.
20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
21 And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it.
22 And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.”

Now things aren’t quite so simple, are they? How on earth does all this fit into our picture?

First of all, I know that some people have claimed that the Great Pyramid is the “altar to the Lord”. That is utter nonsense. The Great Pyramid is not an altar. This passage is not talking about that.

But that aside, notice the overall message here. Egypt will cry out to the Lord, and God will send “a great one” to deliver them. The Egyptians will know the Lord and will return to Him, and He will heal them. There will be five cities in Egypt who will speak “the language of Canaan” and who will swear to the Lord.

Those are some remarkable events! But when are they going to happen? How do these pieces fit together?

But the passage isn’t over yet. There are three more verses in this chapter:

Isaiah 19:23: “In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
25 Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.”

So how do we fit that in? Is this something that happens during the Millennium? How much of this chapter will be fulfilled before the millennium, and how much of it will be fulfilled afterward? It’s a complex problem. The more pieces we find, the more complicated the situation becomes.

But there are even more pieces to consider. We’re not done yet!
 

Daniel 11

In this chapter Daniel has some things to say about the coming Antichrist. He paints a very chilling picture of a very evil man:

Daniel 11:36: “And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.”

The passage goes on to talk about the countries that the Antichrist is going to conquer – and Egypt is included in that list:

Daniel 11:40: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”

Notice that when the Antichrist rises to power and begins his world conquest, one of the countries that he conquers is Egypt. In fact, we are told that he will have power over “all the precious things of Egypt”. That means that at the time that all of this happens, Egypt is still a country, Egypt is still inhabited, and Egypt still has precious things.

But there is one more piece that we need to consider.
 

Joel 3

In the book of Joel we are told something very interesting about Egypt:

Joel 3:16: “The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
17 So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.”

When the Millennial Kingdom begins, God will dwell in Zion – and Egypt will be a desolation. That is a very important point, but how does it fit in with the rest of the pieces? How do we fit all of this information together?
 

The Puzzle Pieces

Let’s put together a list of everything that we know.

Psalm 83:6 tells us that Egypt will join a coalition of other nations that are allied against Israel. These nations – all of whom appear to be Israel’s immediate neighbors – will join forces in order to utterly annihilate Israel. However, the passage does not tell us how things turn out. We don’t know what happens to Egypt as a result of joining this coalition.

Ezekiel 29 tells us that because Egypt claimed that the Nile belonged to them and they made it, God will destroy southern Egypt (from what is currently Aswan, in southern Egypt, to the border of Ethiopia) to such an extent that no man or beast will even set foot in it for 40 years. The Egyptians will be scattered among the nations. At the end of that time God will bring them back and make them the least of all kingdoms. They will never again rule over the nations.

Isaiah 19 tells us that there will be a civil war in Egypt, and a fierce king will arise and rule over them. The Nile will be dried up and the Egyptians will be terrified of Israel. Five cities will speak the language of Canaan, and there will be an altar to the Lord. The Egyptians will cry out because they are being oppressed, and when the Lord sends a great one to deliver them they will worship God and serve Him. There will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and God will call Egypt “his people”.

Daniel 11 tells us that the Antichrist will conquer Egypt and take away its precious things.

Joel 3 tells us that when the Millennial Kingdom begins, Egypt will be a desolation because of their violence against the Jews and because they shed innocent blood.

So how do we fit these pieces together? Typically people connect Psalm 83 with Ezekiel 29 and then call it a day. However, there is more to it than that. We need a theory that can cover all of the available facts – and that is where things get tricky.

First of all, the evidence is pretty strong that the Psalm 83 war will take place before the Ezekiel 38 Gog-Magog war, and that both of these will occur before the Tribulation begins. (Since I have already discussed this in detail elsewhere I will not repeat it here.) Egypt seems to be a part of the Psalm 83 conflict. Since Egypt is a part of Psalm 83 but is not a part of Ezekiel 38, it seems safe to assume that as a result of Psalm 83, Egypt becomes neutralized in some way and ceases to be Israel’s enemy. When Israel is attacked by Gog-Magog, Egypt does not participate. Her status has changed.

So perhaps as a result of Psalm 83, Egypt does become devastated and Ezekiel 29 is fulfilled. However, the devastation of Egypt only applies to the southern part of Egypt. Only the south of Egypt is abandoned for 40 years – not the entire country. Cairo is in northern Egypt, and the bulk of Egypt’s population lives in the north, not the south. Even after this prophecy is fulfilled, Egypt will still exist as a country.

We need to remember that Egypt is an oil-producing country. Egypt has oil fields that are not located in the south, and these oil fields will most likely survive. These oil fields could certainly be treasures that the Antichrist would want to seize. Those could be the precious things that the Antichrist wants to take.

In fact, the Antichrist could be the one who fiercely oppresses the Egyptians and who causes them to cry out to God! The “great one” that God sends to deliver them could be Jesus Christ Himself at His Second Coming. The conversion of the cities, the construction of the altar, the conversion of the Egyptians, and the building of the highway could all happen during the Millennium.

We are told in Joel 3 that Egypt will be a desolation, but that could be a reference to Ezekiel 29. It is possible that southern Egypt continues to be desolate into the Millennium itself and is only healed later. The regathering of Egyptians into that territory could happen in the Millennium.

This does have an important consequence, however. If southern Egypt is abandoned for 40 years as a result of the Psalm 83 conflict, and if it is still desolate when the Millennium begins (which is what Joel 3 seems to suggest), then that means that the Millennium must begin no more than 40 years after Psalm 83 takes place. After the Psalm 83 conflict occurs and southern Egypt is devastated, a countdown begins.

I realize it is possible that southern Egypt will be devastated, then healed, and then devastated again, but that doesn’t seem to match what Ezekiel 29 says. That passage says that God will bring one terrible event to devastate Egypt, and after that He will heal them and that will be the end of it. It speaks of one massive devastation, not two.

One of the fascinating things about end-times prophecy is that as its fulfillment draws closer it becomes much easier to understand how everything fits together. We can see events start to take shape. At this point in history we are still in the early stages of end-times events. Psalm 83 is still quite some time away; as of 2013 we are missing a number of key players, and the other nations are in too much turmoil to be ready to join any kind of united coalition. But we can see that things are starting to line up.

Egypt is hard to understand because there are so many passages that talk about that nation’s future, but as time goes on the passages will become clearer. God has great plans for that nation – plans to break them, and plans to heal them. One day God will look at Egypt and call the Egyptians “his people”. That day may be far away, but it is coming.

The Old Testament sacrificial system is not very well known today. People simply don’t study it – and because they don’t study it they miss out on a number of astonishing truths.

One of the most amazing parts of the sacrificial system was something called the Urim and the Thummim. These mysterious items were used to communicate directly with God. The priests in the Old Testament used them to ask God questions – and receive direct and specific answers. It was very similar to writing letters to God and then actually receiving a letter in response. There is nothing like it today, but it existed throughout the Old Testament and was used on many occasions.

The Bible tells us almost nothing about what the Urim and Thummum was or how they worked. This is all that we know:

Exodus 28:30: “And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron’s heart, when he goeth in before the Lord: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually.”

We know that they were in the breastplate – and that’s it. We don’t know how they worked, or what they looked like, or how the priest used them, or how God spoke through them. What we do know is that God did give very specific answers. For example, God told the people were Saul was hiding:

1 Samuel 10:22: “Therefore they enquired of the Lord further, if the man should yet come thither. And the Lord answered, Behold he hath hid himself among the stuff.”

The Lord also gave David a host of very specific instructions:

1 Samuel 23:2: “Therefore David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah.”

1 Samuel 30:8: “And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.”

2 Samuel 2:1: “And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.”

2 Samuel 5:23: “And when David enquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.
24 And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.”

As you can see, these responses went far beyond a simple “yes” or “no”. The response could also be very short or quite lengthy. However, God did not always respond. There was a time when King Saul inquired of the Lord, but God refused to answer him:

1 Samuel 28:6: “And when Saul enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.”

As you can see, the Urim were quite amazing. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a system like this today, where you could essentially send God text messages and receive a written, specific response back? It is certainly appealing – but there is a reason why God retired the Urim and the Thummim. The truth is that we don’t need it anymore because God has given us something better. In place of the Urim, God has given us His Word, which is able to equip us to perform all good works:

2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

In the Old Testament the Scriptures had not yet been completed, so God allowed mankind to ask Him questions through the Urim and Thummum. In our time, however, the Bible is complete. Its contents are enough to make us perfect, and to thoroughly furnish us to do all good works. This means that there are no good works that the Bible does not equip us for. In other words, there are no situations where we need guidance that is not found in the Bible! It contains everything that we need to perform all good works. We no longer need the direct revelation from God that the Urim provided. In fact, God no longer provides any such direct revelation. Instead He has given us His Word and has pointed us to it. That is where we must turn our attention.

Revelation 11:3: “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.”

1260 days = 42 months * 30 days, which is the same as 3.5 years.

Revelation 11:4: “These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.”

This is referring to Zechariah’s vision of the olive trees and the lampstand (see Zechariah 4:11-13). I have written more about this vision here.

Revelation 11:5: “And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.”

During the Tribulation the 144,000 witnesses will be at work, preaching the gospel. While the 1440,000 are preaching the gospel, these two witnesses will also be at work.

These witnesses will have great power. No one will be able to hurt them. They will be able to do awesome things at their own discretion: they can cause plagues, turn water to blood, cause famines, and breathe fire to consume any who would hurt them. They will cause such havoc that the whole world will rejoice when they are murdered. These are the Lord’s two witnesses.

No one knows who these witnesses are; the Bible does not name them. Most people think that they are Moses and Elijah. If the two witnesses are the Law and the Prophets, then Moses would represent the law and Elijah would represent the prophets. Another factor in their favor is the odd business about their deaths. Elijah never died; he was taken up to Heaven in a chariot of fire. As far as Moses goes, no one knows where he died – but Jude tells us that Michael and the devil got into a fight over Moses’ body.

We already know that Elijah will be around during this time period; Malachi 4:5-6 speaks of this. If he is one of the two witnesses, then Moses seems like a logical choice for the second. It is also worth nothing that the two people who appeared with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration were Moses and Elijah. Both of these people have already “come back” once (Peter, James, and John did see them on that mountain!); they may well come back again.

If their ministry lasts for 3.5 years and they are killed during the middle of the 7-year Tribulation, then their ministry would start when the Tribulation starts. Since the Rapture will occur before the Tribulation starts, that means their ministry will begin after the Church is gone. We will not be around to see this. (Considering everything that happens during the Tribulation, though, I think that is a good thing.)

Revelation 11:7: “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

For 3.5 years these two witnesses will preach the gospel to the lost world. They will have such tremendous power that no one can doubt their veracity. They will preach the truth and they will be unstoppable. However, when their testimony is ended the beast will murder them. When that happens the world will rejoice that God’s witnesses – who spent years showing them the way of salvation – have been killed:

Revelation 11:8: “And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.”

The world will be so excited that they are dead that they will celebrate. In fact, they will even give gifts to one another! It will be like Christmastime. The world won’t even allow them to be buried: instead they will let their bodies lie in the streets while their enemies gloat over them.

Verse 9 says that people all over the world will see their bodies for three and a half days. This indicates that a global communications network will exist that will allow everyone to see the same event at the same time. When John wrote these words such a thing was unthinkable, and for centuries people mocked the Bible and said that this was proof the Bible was not true. Today we take our global communications networks for granted. It’s easy to flip on the TV and see live footage from Jerusalem. The technology now exists for this very event to happen. It is not at all hard to imagine people from all over the world watching this event and seeing the live footage.

“where also our Lord was crucified” sounds like Jerusalem to me. My guess is that these two witnesses will minister in Jerusalem, and that is where the beast will kill them.

Revelation 11:11: “And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.”

The world will be horrified when, in the midst of their rejoicing, the murdered corpses are raised back to life and the two witnesses live again. At that point God will audibly call for them to ascend into Heaven, and they will. Their enemies will be given a stinging rebuke; this is even more evidence that God Himself called these witnesses and they spoke for Him. The world’s laughter will be turned into horror in the blink of an eye.

Revelation 11:13: “And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.”

After the two witnesses ascend into Heaven, a great earthquake will strike Jerusalem that will destroy a tenth of the city and kill 7000 people. “the remnant” would probably be the believing Jews, who realize what is going on and give glory to God for what has happened.

Revelation 11:2: “But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

There are a few important things going on here. First of all, this says that Jerusalem will be “tread under foot” for 42 months, or 3.5 years. What this means is that the Gentiles (led by the Antichrist) will oppress Israel during the Tribulation.

The reason this is important is because the Bible says that the Gentiles will continue to divide Jerusalem until the time of the Gentiles is over. Some have speculated that since the Jews regained Jerusalem in 1967, that marked the end of the time of the Gentiles. However, we see in Revelation that even during the Tribulation the Gentiles will still oppress Jerusalem. This means that the time of the Gentiles has not ended, and it will not end until the Lord returns and defeats the Gentile armies that have sacked Jerusalem.

During the Tribulation the city of Jerusalem will be occupied for 3.5 years. (Jerusalem is “the holy city”). We also see that when this happens the third Temple will exist. Since it doesn’t exist right now, that means it will be built between now and then.

Today we’re going to take a brief look at what happens after you die. The Bible has quite a lot to say about this – far more than we can possibly cover in a single lesson. However, this should be enough to get you started and to answer the more common questions.
 

Point One: There Is No Such Thing As Soul Sleep

Some people believe that when you die your soul “falls asleep” and you just stay in the grave until the time of the resurrection. This common belief is incorrect. After you die your soul immediately goes either to Heaven or to Hell.

This can be seen in a couple different places. For example, in the famous story that Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus, we find this information:

Luke 16:22: “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”

Notice that as soon as the beggar died he was immediately carried away into a place of comfort and peace, and as soon as the rich man died he found himself in Hell. Nowhere does this passage state “And when the begger died, his soul slept until the resurrection, at which point he came back to life.” That simply is not the case. This story was told by Jesus Himself, who certainly knew the truth – and that is what He told us.

Another example can be found at the crucifixion. One of the two thieves condemned Christ, but the other one defended Him. Jesus had something very important to tell the thief who repented and believed:

Luke 23:39: “And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

Jesus Himself told the believing thief that he would be with Christ in paradise that very day. Jesus did not say “Well, one day I will come back and resurrect everyone, and you’ll be with me then.” Jesus was clear and direct.

The point is that when we die, we immediately go to either Heaven or to Hell.
 

Point Two: Hell

There is a tremendous amount of misunderstanding when it comes to the subject of Hell. Despite the fact that the Bible has a lot to say about it, people don’t seem to understand it very well, and much of what they do know is wrong.

First of all, the only way to avoid going to Hell – the only way – is to repent of your sins and put your faith and trust in Jesus. The reason we know this is because that is what Jesus Himself told us:

Mark 1:14: “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

What is the gospel? That all men are sinners who are guilty before God, and that our sins have earned us the eternal wrath of God in Hell. That in order to pay for our sins, Jesus came to Earth and died in our place, paying for our sins with His own blood. He took our place, suffered on our behalf, and rose from the dead. His death is the only thing that can pay for our sins. Those who repent of their sins and believe on Him will be forgiven, but those who do not believe will be damned:

John 3:36: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

Those who believe will have everlasting life, and those who do not believe will not have life, but will face the wrath of God. That is the choice.

Now, we have already seen that those who do not believe and who die go immediately to Hell. The Bible has a lot to say about Hell, and no one spoke more about Hell than Jesus did. He was a true fire-and-brimstone preacher. He spoke far more about Hell than He did about Heaven, and He often spoke of Hell in very graphic terms. For example:

Matthew 13:41: “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Mark 9:43: “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Jesus spoke of the fires of Hell in Matthew 5:22, 7:19, 13:40-42, 18:8-9, 25:41, and Mark 9:43-49. Jesus spoke of Heaven very briefly in Luke 23:43 and in John 14:2. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (found in Luke 16:19-31), the parable mostly focuses on the torment of the rich man as he suffered in the flame (Luke 16:24). Jesus overwhelmingly spoke more about Hell than Heaven, and what He had to say was graphic. He did not mince words.

Some people today teach that there is no such place as Hell. Others say that God saves everyone and that no one goes to Hell. Still others say that Hell is just separation from God. All of those viewpoints are wrong. Jesus said that Hell is real and that many people will go there:

Matthew 7:13: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

Jesus was clear that many go on to destruction and few people find the way that leads to eternal life. Jesus was plain that Hell is a real place with real fire, and many people will be sent there. In Hell they will suffer terribly. They will be desperate for a single drop of water, but it will be forever denied to them:

Luke 16:22: “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.”

The rich man was tormented in the fire, and no help was possible. He was desperate for a single drop of water, but it would never come. There was no way anyone could come and rescue him, and there was no way he could possibly escape. He was trapped there.

As you can see, he was conscious. He knew who he was and what he had done in his life. His identity had not been lost. Also, he has a body – he speaks of cooling his tongue. Christ said that Hell was a place where people gnashed their teeth (Matthew 13:42), which they can only do if they have teeth in the first place. So, even though people in Hell are dead, they still have bodies. Those in Hell are tormented day and night, with no hope of things ever getting better. It is a horrible, horrible fate. Those who are there have no hope, for no hope is possible. There is no way out.

That being said, it is not true that people will spend eternity in Hell. You see, one day Hell itself will be emptied, and all those who are in it will stand before God and be judged:

Revelation 20:12: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

As you can see, Hell itself was emptied for this judgment. However, after the judgment was over, people were not cast back into Hell. Instead they were put into another place – the Lake of Fire. That is the true final place of torment for all those who do not believe in Jesus. They will be tormented for all of eternity in the Lake of Fire, with no hope of rescue or comfort.

The reason Jesus spoke of this so often was to warn people of the great danger that they were in. The lost desperately need to understand what will happen to them if they do not repent. They are in more danger than they can possibly imagine.

Perhaps the most famous sermon on Hell is the one from Jonathan Edwards entitled “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God”. This is how he put it:

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you were suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up. . .

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment. . .

Now God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain . . .

The lost must be made to understand that they are the enemies of God. As Jonathan Edwards pointed out, the only thing keeping them out of Hell this very moment is the grace of God – the very same God who they despise and who they daily anger with their sins and their unbelief. Their lives and their sins are an abomination to God, and yet His mercy is the only reason they are not already in Hell. The lost are in terrible, terrible danger, and they have no idea how close they are to total disaster. They are not facing separation from God; they are facing something infinitely worse than that.

People today shy away from teaching and preaching about Hell, but Jesus never did. He warned people about what was coming so that they might run from it in horror and find salvation. When we hide Hell from people we are not doing them any favors.

One of the things I do have to point out is that Satan is not in charge of Hell. People have this idea that Hell is run by Satan and his demons, and they spend time grabbing souls, dragging them down to Hell, and tormenting them with pitchforks. That entire picture is utterly false.

First of all, Satan is not in Hell. He actually spends his time roaming around the Earth:

Job 1:7: “And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

Notice that Satan did not say “Oh, I’ve been in Hell tormenting all the new arrivals.” You see, Hell is not a fun playground for demons. The truth is actually the opposite: Hell was instead created to torment them:

Matthew 25:41: “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”

Hell was created as a place to torment the devil and his angels. The demons are very aware of their fate and they are terrified of it. When Jesus walked the Earth the demons had a question to ask him:

Matthew 8:28: “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?”

The demons are not looking forward to spending Eternity tormenting all the lost souls that they have managed to deceive. No, their future is quite different: they are going to spend eternity being tormented in the place of eternal fire that God has prepared. They are not going to be Hell’s management, but Hell’s occupants. They will be tormented along with everyone else.

The Bible actually tells us when that will take place. The devil’s hour of judgment will come at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ:

Revelation 20:7: “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Just as one day Hell will be emptied and its occupants will be cast into the Lake of Fire, so one day Satan will be cast there as well. After Jesus has ruled on Earth for a thousand years, Satan will be set free. He will gather an army and attempt to attack Jerusalem, but he will fail. God will take him and cast him into the Lake of Fire, where he will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. He and his servants will find no rest from their torment for all of eternity.

As you can see, they are not running Hell; instead they are being tormented. They are suffering along with everyone else. One day Satan’s power will be utterly broken. The book of Isaiah speaks of this time:

Isaiah 14:9: “Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. . .
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.”

Notice what happens when Satan finally is cast down to Hell! He is not greeted as some sort of “Official CEO of Hell”. Instead people look at him in amazement that his power is finally broken and he has become as weak as the rest of the tormented dead. He is not reigning over Hell; instead he is described as a carcass trodden under foot that is covered by worms. He is not reigning; he is suffering along with everyone else. The one who made the world to tremble and who destroyed cities is now become nothing.
 

Point Three: Heaven

As we saw earlier, when a saved person dies they immediately go to Heaven. Jesus told the thief on the cross that he would be with Christ in Paradise that very day. Just as the lost immediately go to Hell, so the saved immediately go to Heaven.

However, there is more to the story. One day the Lord will return and raise the dead:

I Thessalonians 4:16: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

This event is known as the Rapture. At this point in history the Lord will return, raise the dead, and catch the living saints up to meet Him in the air. He will then take them all with Him back to Heaven. Much later, at the end of the Tribulation, He will return to Earth with them. The book of Jude talks about this:

Jude 1:14: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

At the end of the Tribulation the Lord will return to Earth with His saints and put an end to the reign of the Antichrist. He will then establish His kingdom on Earth and will reign over the world for a thousand years – and we will reign with Him. After that time there will be a final judgment, where all of the wicked will be cast into the Lake of Fire, and where death itself will be done away with.

After all of these things God will create a new heaven and a new earth:

Revelation 21:1: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

As you can see, God will create a new heaven and earth (for the first one passed away). God will then live there with us, and we will live with him. What this means is that after the final judgment, God and man will no longer live together in Heaven. Instead God and man will relocate to a new heaven and earth, and will live there together for all of eternity.

What this means is that it is an error to say that the righteous spend eternity living together with God in Heaven. That is actually not the case. The righteous are only in Heaven until the end of the Tribulation. At that point they will come back to Earth with the Lord and will reign over the world with Christ during His Millennial Kingdom. After Judgment Day, the saints will continue to live on the new Earth that God will create – and God will live with them as well. In other words, the final home for the righteous will be Earth. Not this Earth, but a new one that is coming. The righteous will spend all of eternity not living in Heaven, but living on Earth.

That, though, is still quite a ways off. For the time being the righteous live in Heaven, so let’s talk about that for a bit.
 

People In Heaven Have Bodies

The reason we know this is because of what the rich man said:

Luke 16:24: “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”

The rich man (who was being tormented in Hell) wanted Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and then come help him. This means that Lazarus must have had fingers – and if he had fingers it is reasonable to assume that those fingers were attached to a body.
 

People In Heaven Remember Their Former Lives

The reason we know this is because of what Abraham told the rich man:

Luke 16:25: “But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.”

In this story, all of the characters are already dead. Abraham is dead. The rich man is dead. Lazarus is dead. However, Abraham knows the story of the rich man. The rich man remembers his life, the beggar’s life, and even his unsaved family members. Even though he is dead, he has not forgotten anything. He still remembers. Even though they are dead, their identities as people have not been lost. Abraham actually brought up the lives they had led. It was still relevant and it still mattered.

Not only did they remember their former selves and their former lives, but they also remembered their families. This idea that we forget everything once we get to Heaven is not Biblical. Our past does not magically go away.
 

People In Heaven Remember Their Friends

This is a point that Jesus brought up in the parable of the unrighteous steward. Since there is not a lot of time I’m not going to go over the entire parable, but I do want to mention the conclusion that Jesus made:

Luke 16:9: “And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.”

What Jesus is saying is this: use your resources in this life to make friends and help people, so that in the next life they will receive you into their eternal homes. Jesus is pointing out that in Heaven people remember who helped them. Those people may not be able to return the favor in this life, but in Heaven it will be quite different. In Heaven they will remember all the great things that you did for them, and they will welcome you into their home. They will be grateful. What you did will matter, and it will affect your Heavenly relationship with them.

So, then, you will obviously not forget all of your friends when you get to Heaven. You will remember your past, and you will remember those who came to your aid. Your friends will still be your friends.
 

There Is Time In Heaven

Many people have the idea that time does not pass in Heaven. However, that is not the case. Revelation is pretty clear about that:

Revelation 8:1: “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.”

The only way there could be a half hour of silence in Heaven is if time passed in Heaven. I realize there are hymns that say that one day “time shall be no more”, but that claim is false. There will never come a day when time itself will stop. There will always be time.
 

People In Heaven Know What Is Happening On Earth

Many people believe that once you reach Heaven you no longer have any idea what is happening back on Earth. However, that is not the case. Christ told us that there is rejoicing in Heaven when a sinner repents:

Luke 15:7: “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”

The only way that is possible is if the people in Heaven know when a sinner repents. If they had no idea what was going on then they wouldn’t know that a sinner repented, and if they didn’t know then they couldn’t rejoice.

But there is a far more definitive way we can know that people in Heaven are aware of what is going on. All through the book of Revelation, God pours out terrible judgments on the Earth – and the people of Heaven watch the entire thing. They are aware of everything that is going on, and they watch as billions of people die. They even comment on it:

Revelation 11:15: “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”

Let’s back up and establish a bit of context. Revelation 11 is the chapter that explains the ministry of the two witnesses. Before the elders make their comment, the two witnesses finished their ministry, were killed, and were resurrected three days later. That is when the seventh angel sounded.

The 24 elders represent the Church. As you can see, the Church is very aware of what God is doing on Earth. In fact, they are actually praising God for what He is doing and they are commenting on it. They are watching God as He acts on Earth. They know exactly what is going on and they are even providing commentary.

The idea that the saints in Heaven are ignorant is false. God is not keeping them in the dark. He does not hide what He is doing. Instead He reveals it to them, and His saints praise Him for His actions.

Some people have this idea that the saints in Heaven must be ignorant because they couldn’t possibly be happy if they knew what was going on. This is another way of saying that joy is only possible if God keeps us in the dark and doesn’t reveal the truth to us – which is a ridiculous statement. God knows everything that is going on. Is He unhappy? Do you really believe that the only way to achieve happiness is through ignorance? That is not the picture that Revelation gives us! In Heaven we will see what God is doing on Earth and we will praise Him for it. We will actually have a much better understanding of events because we will see things from God’s perspective. Seeing things the way God sees them is not going to bring despair and hopelessness.
 

The Martyrs In Heaven Cry Out For Vengeance

In the book of Revelation we see the souls of a group of people who were murdered for their faith in Christ. These souls (which are in Heaven) are doing something that would surprise many people:

Revelation 6:9: “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

Tell me: are these souls resting in peace? No, they’re not. Are they happy and at rest? No, not really. These souls remembered that they were murdered and they are asking God for vengeance. They want God to avenge their blood. They want Him to punish those who dwell on the Earth. They are most certainly not resting in peace.

Now, doesn’t the Bible say that God will wipe away every tear, and there will be no more pain? Yes it does – but that promise is given at the very end of Revelation. God is going to do that, but it will take place after the Millennial Kingdom, after the final judgment, and after God creates a new Heaven and Earth. That verse is not talking about the here and now, and it is not talking about life in Heaven. It is talking about something God will do a very long time from now. This is why it is so important to keep verses in context: otherwise you will come to the wrong conclusion.

The point is that people in Heaven still long for justice. They care about what happened to them. They want God to avenge them – and God is going to do exactly that, in time.
 

What Is Heaven Like?

Heaven is not a vague place where people float around on clouds and are bored for all of eternity. The Bible describes Heaven as being a city:

Hebrews 11:16: “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”

This heavenly city has a name – it’s called the New Jerusalem. The Bible tells us that it is a massive city that is 1500 miles wide and 1500 miles long (making it vastly larger than any earthly city). This city has streets of gold, and angels guard its twelve gates. It is a fantastic place that is literally lit by the glory of God. The Bible tells us that it has streams, and trees, and fruit, and buildings, and houses, and people. You can read about it in Revelation 21 and 22. It is truly an amazing place.

One thing we know about this city is that it is a better city. Nothing evil is allowed to enter it:

Revelation 21:27: “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

No one is going to get mugged in this city. Nothing evil will happen in it. No one inside this city will ever get sick, or grow old, or die. It will be a perfect place, ruled by God Himself and filled with the righteous. The Tree of Life will be in this city, and those who live there will be able to freely eat of its fruit and live forever. It will be a glorious thing.

Will we have jobs in this city? Yes we will. God has an eternal assignment for us:

Revelation 22:3: “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.”

We will continue to serve God throughout all of eternity. In fact, verse 5 says that we will reign forever and ever. We will not just reign during the Millennial Kingdom; we will reign for all of eternity. In the beginning God told Adam to have dominion over the Earth – and we will continue to reign over His creation for all the endless ages to come. In those endless ages there will be no sorrow, or pain, or crying, or death, or sin, or evil; instead there will be joy and peace.

As you can see, the stakes are pretty high. On the one side is an eternity of torment in the Lake of Fire. On the other side is an eternity of joy in a literal city of gold. Those are your only two choices, and those are the only possible outcomes. Those who repent and believe will find forgiveness and joy. No matter what sorrows they face in this life or no matter what hardships they encounter, their future is guaranteed. However, those who refuse to repent and who do not believe will find damnation and endless torture. They may lead great lives now, and they may think that everything is going well, but in the end their sin will find them out. After they die they will find it impossible to escape the wrath of God.

I urge you to repent and believe while there is still time, and while it is not too late. The day is rapidly coming when you will die, and once that day comes it will be too late to change your mind. At that point your fate will be sealed. Flee from the wrath of God! Run to the Savior and find forgiveness and grace. He will forgive all those who seek mercy – and will destroy all those who refuse Him. The consequences will last forever.

No discussion of Biblical oddities would be complete without talking about Enoch. He is probably the most famous oddity of all! A great many people are familiar with the story of the man who never died. We find him mentioned in the first book of the Bible:

Genesis 5:23: “And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”

Enoch lived to be 365 years old, and then God simply took him. Enoch never died. Instead the Lord translated him so that he would not have to see death. The book of Hebrews tells us that God did that because Enoch’s faith pleased God:

Hebrews 11:5: “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”

By faith Enoch pleased God and walked with God, and one day God took him and he was gone. Enoch’s faith literally saved him from death.

But that is not all there is to know about Enoch. The book of Jude tells us that Enoch was a prophet who spoke of the Second Coming:

Jude 1:14: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

As far as can be seen in the Biblical record, Enoch is the very first prophet. Thousands of years before the first coming of Christ, Enoch spoke of then Second Coming. He foresaw the day when the Lord would return to Earth with His Church, executing judgment on the ungodly. (This is discussed in greater detail in Revelation 19:11-21.)

But there is more. Enoch named his son “Methuselah” – the man who is famous for living longer than anyone else mentioned in the Bible (a staggering 969 years). What many people don’t know is that his name has great meaning. It literally means “when he dies, it will come”. The year Methuselah died, the Flood came and destroyed the world.

That brings us to our last fascinating fact about Enoch. Because Enoch lived by faith and pleased God, Enoch never saw death; instead he was raptured. In fact, God removed him from the world before the Flood came and destroyed it. Thanks to his faith in God, Enoch did not have to live through the time of judgment; instead he was spared it.

Enoch, then, can be seen as a symbol of the Church. Just as Enoch pleased God by living by faith, so the Church pleases God by living by faith. Just as Enoch was raptured so he did not have to see death, so one day Jesus will return and rapture the Church, and those who are alive when He comes will never see death. Just as Enoch was taken before God poured out His judgment upon the world, so the Church will be taken before God pours out His judgment upon the world. It is an astonishing parallel.

Yes, it is true that Enoch was taken centuries before the Flood happened – but people lived for so long back then that the Flood occurred within a single generation of his departure. After all, the Flood came the year that his son died.

There is no way to know when the Rapture will occur. All we know is that it is imminent; it can happen at any time – but we know that it will come. Enoch was taken before God poured out His wrath upon a wicked world – and we will be taken as well.