I often think about the prophetic timeline as I consider current events and my eagerness for Jesus to come and take His bride, the church, home to the Father before the start of His wrath as declared in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, an event commonly known as the rapture.
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)
Following is the prophetic timeline as I see its flow from the pages of God’s word.
The bullet points begin after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
- Jesus received the scroll that sets into motion events following His resurrection that will result in Satan’s destruction and the fulfillment of God’s covenants with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and the church. This is depicted in Revelation 5.
- Jesus begins to open the scroll, and the birth pains He identified in the Olivet Discourse begin. Compare Matthew 24:1-8 with Revelation 6:1-8.
We know that God reckons time differently in heaven—“a day is as a thousand years.” 2Peter 3:8. In consideration of that fact, Jesus could have begun opening the seals at any time after receiving the scroll. The fact that we can now identify these birth pains as occurring tells me that these first four seals have already been opened.
- Believers of the church age will be martyred for their belief in Jesus as Savior as He declared in Matthew 24:9. “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” Note that this is not identified as a birth pain sign. This corresponds to the opening of the 5th seal (Revelation 6:9-11). It does, however, point to the fact that the first four seals have already been opened. Maybe the death of Stephen (Acts 7) marks the opening of this seal.
- The opening of the sixth seal marks the beginning of “the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:16-17). The Lamb is Jesus, God in flesh. This tells me that the rapture has occurred before this seal is opened. How far in advance? We aren’t told. I believe, however, that the intervening time is not long since the LORD continually leaves a witness to His truth and the gospel on earth, and the next thing we see in Revelation is the sealing of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses (Revelation 7:1-8).
- In Revelation 7:9-17 John describes a multitude of of believers around God’s throne worshiping and praising the LORD. They include people from every “nation, kindred, people and tongues” (v9). I believe this is a picture of the raptured body of believers. Note that point is made that Jesus is in their midst. Those who posit that the rapture is depicted at the beginning of Revelation 4 need to explain why Jesus is not to be found at that point. Jesus clearly declared: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:3)
Some point out that the multitude described in Revelation 7 are described as coming out of “the” great tribulation, but the text actually says “great tribulation.” This refers to a time of great “affliction, anguish, persecution, trouble” (all from the Greek). I believe that applies to Christians of all ages, but it will be particularly descriptive of the time before the rapture occurs. Believers worldwide are being confronted more and more with mocking, persecution, moral depravity, the lack of reason and lawlessness. I’m not just talking about America—I’m talking worldwide. I’m reminded of Peter’s description of Lot.
“And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:”
(2 Peter 2:7-9)
Personally, I believe that God’s wrath and the 70th week of Daniel (commonly called the tribulation) are events with different purposes that run basically concurrent with one another. God can use common events to accomplish dual purposes. The wrath of God is a time when God is exacting vengeance on His enemies.
“God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.”
(Nahum 1:2)
The 70th week of Daniel is a time in which God is working with the Jews to draw out a body of believers among them through whom He will fulfill the covenants made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David.
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” (Daniel 9:24)
In that regard, I believe the wrath of God and the 70th week of Daniel do not begin at the same time.
Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians states that God’s wrath (“the day of Christ,” the Lamb) will not begin until after the man of sin is revealed.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed….” (2Thessalonians 2:3)
This tells me that the Antichrist will be revealed before the opening of the sixth seal.
Paul also tells us that Antichrist cannot be revealed until “he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (2:7). Paul goes on to tell us that the Antichrist will come “after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders….” (2:9). In other words, Antichrist, the man of sin, will be an agent of Satan. The Greek for the word “letteth” in verse 7 means “to hold down…retain…withhold.” The power that is withholding the emergence of the Antichrist has to be a power greater than Satan’s. I am convinced this power is a reference to the Holy Spirit that indwells the body of believers. To take “him” out of the way requires that the body of believers be removed from the scene. I believe this necessitates that the rapture occur before Antichrist is revealed.
This tells me that the rapture and the revelation of Antichrist occur before the opening of the sixth seal.
One other bit of pertinent information is to define what first identifies the Antichrist. I believe it is the signing of the 7-year covenant of peace that he negotiates with Israel as described in Daniel 9:27: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week….” The context in Daniel 9 is a description of events that are determined upon “thy people,” Daniel’s people, the people of Israel. Verse 27 goes on to declare that the Antichrist will break his covenant in the middle of the 70th week and “cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease.” Again, this affirms that the 7-year covenant is with the people of Israel. Note that it also implies that the covenant allows for the practice of offering temple sacrifices, implying also the existence of a temple.
This timeline takes us to the middle of the 70th week of Daniel, when Antichrist breaks his covenant.
There are a couple of other events on the prophetic horizon that need addressed—the attack of the armies of Gog on Israel and the destruction of Damascus. Frankly, the current war in Israel against Hamas, also involving Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen (all as proxies of Iran I believe) has thrown a wrench in my thinking. It could be expected that the destruction of Damascus occurs as part of the current war scenario. The attack of Gog, however, is supposed to occur when the people of Israel are dwelling securely or carelessly confident when the attack occurs—which was the situation when this war with Hamas started.
“After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.” (Ezekiel 38:8)
“safely” = confident…careless
I always thought the war with Gog and his armies would occur before the beginning of the 70th week; now I’m questioning that line of thinking. Only time will tell.
This is just a summary of my current understanding of the prophetic timeline according to scripture. As always, I'm open to God giving me better understanding. Much more detail is available on my website: momsbiblejournal.com
