Readers have often asked me how we’ll know whether we’re in the end times. Would you like to know what to look for, specifically in the seven years of tribulation prophesied in the Bible? Let’s take a look-see.
The Revelation to John foretells three cycles of judgment, each cycle having seven parts. The first cycle begins with the Lamb of God opening seven seals of a scroll in heaven. The second cycle follows with the blowing of seven trumpets each bringing its own judgment. And, the third cycle describes seven angels pouring out seven bowls of God’s wrath from heaven onto the earth.
The first step in discipling a child is getting the child’s attention. In the first two cycles of judgments, God is trying to get our attention. For example, after the blowing of the sixth trumpet John writes, “And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.” Those surviving the plagues of the first and second cycles will not repent or change their minds about God. Of all creatures, we are the most stubborn!
The first seven judgments when the seals are broken include four horsemen, believers being martyred, severe physical disturbances, and breaking the seventh seal initiates the seven trumpets cycle.
The first horseman in chapter 6 is riding a white horse, carrying a bow but no arrows, and wearing a crown. He goes into the world conquering. The second horseman is riding a red horse, and taking peace from the earth with a great sword making men slay one another. The third horseman rides a black horse and carries scales to measure the lack of wheat, barley, oil and wine indicating famine. The fourth horseman is named Death and has authority to destroy. Together the horsemen will kill a fourth of the world’s population.
Needless to say these are huge judgments. No doubt when these judgments are administered media will blame climate change as well as true believers who will testify these signs are judgments from God. Breaking the fifth seal reveals believers who have been martyred for telling the truth crying out to God. Breaking the sixth seal initiates a great earthquake, the sun goes dark, the moon becomes like blood, and the stars of the sky fall to earth.
So, here’s the deal. When it’s time God will get our attention in very big and loud ways. The judgments will be worldwide phenomena. Nevertheless the masses and media will blame everything except God for the disasters. After all, they believe God is not real, and even if He were real He wouldn’t do things like this. They have to blame something else.
Recent news suggests aliens may be planning an invasion, or AI will conquer its inventors and destroy earth, or mad scientists will create the ultimate concoction of bio and nuclear weapons of war. No one knows when the tribulation is coming, but God will get our attention when it’s time.
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Daniel L. Gardner is a columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.
