The Prophetic Scenario
There are two great components for success, and they must be done together. First, you must have a plan, and second, you must carry out that plan. Failure comes when you do not plan or you do not execute the plan. You can also fail if your plan was flawed.
The God we serve plans and then does what He has planned. He has a good plan. God has planned the end of the ages and the establishment of His Kingdom when He returns. God will be successful because He has planned it and He will carry out His plan. God is not impulsive; He does not change His mind or switch plans. God has a Plan A for the world and mankind. He does not have a Plan B or C.
In the past, men have made an incredible mistake in thinking that things happen by fate or happenstance. Some Christians believe in the doctrine of Imminency, the idea that God can pick any moment to make His sudden return. This has been driven by a misunderstanding of what Yeshua said about His return – no man knows the day or the hour. First, that statement is a Hebrew idiom about the Feast of Trumpets. Because it comes at the first day of the month of Tishrei, you must calculate and observe the New Moon. Depending on where you are standing on the Earth and when the evening comes in your location to observe the New Moon, it is said, “No man knows the day or the hour.” Yeshua’s reference to “only His Father knows” is simple respect for God’s plan. You do not tell God how to execute His plan (a very haughty statement indeed). The humble believer says, “Only the Lord knows.” I know that Yeshua knows His Father’s plan. The Father and He are One.
But let us focus on what we can know about His return. Would you like to know and understand God’s plan for the end of the ages and His Kingdom?
If your faith is important to you and you would like to be encouraged, to know and understand your future with the Lord, let us proceed.
Next, do you want to discover that you are part of the prophesied last generation that will see God’s plan carried out? I ask this because some people do NOT want the Lord to return in their lifetime. Many people are afraid of the Biblical future with a Great Tribulation, God’s judgments on the Earth, the Antichrist, etc. They only want to escape.
Some Christian brethren do not believe God would make them or their families go through a time of great distress for the world (the Great Tribulation). They say this while watching the nightly news of others all over the world living through terrible things. What about those other people? Does not God love them too?
I believe in the God of Israel, and He has proven that He knows how to save and deliver His people from tyrants, natural phenomena, and those who would oppress us. He also knows we need food and water, along with protection.
For purposes of this article, let us say that your faith is important, you want the Lord to return, and you want to be with the Lord in His Kingdom.
The first thing we need to know about God’s plan is how to recognize the last generation, the generation that will see God’s plan unfold. Are we the last generation, the generation prophesied to see the coming of the Lord?
If we are not, if we are one of the many generations leading to the end of the ages, then we will press on with our lives, walking before the Lord. The subject of the end times and the Lord’s coming is a wonderful hope, but we do not need to focus on His return. Instead, we should focus on walking before the Lord upright, obeying, and teaching others. This was the same focus given to the Apostles after the resurrection, called “the Great Commission.”
However, if we are the last generation, then we need to remember the Lord’s instruction about being awake and waiting for the Master to return. The Lord has warned us to not ignore His coming nor disregard the signs of His coming. He compares His return to a Master going on a long journey. Some of the servants are not faithful and act as though the Master will not return soon, while others are watching for the signs of his return and waiting faithfully at the door for the Master’s return.
Let us answer this fundamental question: Are we the last generation? Are we the people who do not pass away until all is completed? Yeshua defined the last generation this way.
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
Matthew 24:34
That last generation is going to see a lot of change in the world, and it is a mixed bag of terrible things and wonderful things. The final wonder will be our presence with the Lord in our new bodies in a new world.
I believe there is more than sufficient evidence to conclude that we are now living in the world of the last generation. Allow me to share some of those reasons. After World War II, we had a generation called the Baby Boomers. They were much larger in numbers than any previous generation in the world. They are the generation that has seen the world change in travel and technology.
God told Daniel that the last generation would: 1) have many people 2) travel, and 3) they would see knowledge increase (Daniel 12:4). The world has eight billion inhabitants; we travel to every part of the world and beyond; and we are living in the Knowledge Age.
The Baby Boomers have been joined by the Millennials, the generation born near the turn of the century. Still others have been born, called Generation X, and now we have youngsters called Generation Z. Regardless of which one you are in, we are all here together at the present time.
The present generations, at this time, match the characterizations of the last generation to live on the earth before the Messiah returns, as described by the Apostles Jude and Paul with the Messiah.
But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah to eternal life.
Jude 1:17–21
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2 Timothy 3:1–7
For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Matthew 24:37–39
Now, let us draw a line in the sand and say we are the last generation.
God’s plan for the last generation is extensive. To identify all its elements and put them in sequence, requires us to pull together a host of prophecies. This is a process of events, not a single event. There are overarching prophecies that describe God’s great end-time work called Restoration. The three great works of God are Creation, Redemption, and Restoration. Just as God shared His work of Creation in the book of Genesis, He also shared His plan of bringing forth the Messiah to do the work of Redemption, and He has given us His plan for Restoration.
There are prophecies that are about the world, and there are prophecies about Israel in particular. The prophecies about the believers living in the end time are in the prophecies about Israel. How do you, as an end-time believer, fit into the prophecies? The answer is to understand what God will do with Israel.
You are a descendent of Abraham by adoption, and you are part of the “commonwealth of Israel.” There are no Gentile Church believers sitting on the sidelines watching God deal with Israel in the last days. Paul, in Romans 9:11, defined the Remnant and how the Gentile believers have been “grafted in” to the tree of Israel. He refers to what Christians commonly call the church, “the commonwealth of Israel.”
Let us now lay out the progression of the end-time prophecies in a linear fashion. The reality is they are highly integrated, but sharing in this format forces me to be linear. It is all about what happens with Israel and the people who believe in the God of Israel and in Yeshua of Nazareth, the King of Israel.
I call this progression the “Prophetic Scenario.” The Prophetic Scenario is what happens before the Great Tribulation, what happens during the Great Tribulation, and what happens following the days of the Great Tribulation.
The Days before the Great Tribulation
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
Matthew 24:7–8
The Days of the Great Tribulation
Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ... For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.
Matthew 24:15, 21
The Days after the Great Tribulation
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
Matthew 24:29–31
With those three periods in mind, here is a quick rundown of the Prophetic Scenario.
In 1948, the Nation of Israel was proclaimed and recognized as a nation.
The War of Independence concluded in July 1949.
Israel today continues to be the “firepot” surrounded by dry sheaves. The IDF prevails against their neighboring enemies.
The Hebrew Roots and Messianic Movements of Jews turning to Yeshua and Christians turning to the teaching of Moses began in the 60’s and 70’s of the last century.
The land of Israel, the city of Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount have become the focus of all nations in the Middle East Peace Accords (the Peace and Security Agreement). This has been annulled by God Himself.
Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place.
Isaiah 28:18
The stage is set for a regional war prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39. This will be a missile war, with troops invading from the north into the Samarian mountains of Israel. Israel’s existence will hang in the balance.
God manifests Himself in a dramatic victory of Israel’s enemies. (This will be significant enough for all the nations of the world to acknowledge God was involved.)
God will declare to His People all over the world that their exile from the land is now over.
On the temple mount, religious leaders in Israel will set a cornerstone for the court of Israel, and an altar will be constructed to begin the “daily sacrifice of the morning and evening lambs.”
The altar will be dedicated for seven days, and the daily sacrifice will begin on the eighth day.
Great protests will arise concerning the altar and sacrifices on the temple mount, demanding it be stopped.
In the winter time frame, the daily sacrifice will be stopped. The Great Tribulation begins on this day.
Approximately one month later, an image of the antimessiah will be erected to the south of the altar, with a false prophet proclaiming him as the Savior of the World.
Two believers of God will arrive on the temple mount near the altar and begin to prophesy to the world concerning God’s coming judgments. Efforts to remove them will not be successful.
In springtime, Passover will occur, and it will be declared that Elijah is in the world. On the Feast of Unleavened Bread after the Passover, the Greater Exodus will begin. Believers will leave their homes and join in camps together in the country (wilderness) of their own countries.
The 144,000 will be sealed and be scattered wherever the camps of believers are.
The antimessiah will come to power.
The false prophet will promote the taking of the “mark” to be able to buy and sell.
World War will break out (nuclear weapons, cyberwarfare, and other weapons will be deployed).
The world will lack food and medical care. Governments will break down, and anarchy will prevail. Government control will be directed at major cities.
Massive forest fires will decimate trees on multiple continents. Sources of freshwater in rivers and lakes will be poisoned.
Economic collapse will stop the movement of all goods and services in all nations.
The oceans will be destroyed, and the fishing industry will be destroyed with it.
In the third year, an asteroid will strike the earth in a deep impact scenario, setting off earthquakes and volcanoes. The atmosphere will be darkened for five months.
Demons formerly trapped in the Earth will be released and terrorize mankind for the same five months.
1290 days after the altar is shut down, the Great Tribulation ends.
The two witnesses will be killed and lie dead in public view for three days. The world will rejoice.
The two witnesses will then be resurrected, followed by the sign of the Messiah’s return in the heavens.
The clouds of darkness will split apart and begin to form as giant storm clouds.
The end-time believers in the camps will see the sign of the Lord’s return and begin to rejoice.
The remaining nations of the world will assemble to fight the Messiah when He returns.
The Archangel will cry out, the Last Trumpet will sound, and the resurrection will occur. Those still alive on the earth (the Tribulations Saints and the 144,000) will be translated to immortality and join all the other resurrected saints.
The Day of the Lord occurs. All of God’s enemies will be destroyed on the earth. The saints watch from the clouds as God moves like lightning. This will take about 30 minutes. (Revelation 8:1–5)
The saints return to the surface of the earth and assemble in Jerusalem.
The Messiah returns to the Mount of Olives and enters through the Golden Gate into the temple mount. The 144,000 greet Him.
The Messiah and the saints observe the Feast of Tabernacles together in Jerusalem. The first year of the Millennial Kingdom begins.
The first five items have already happened. We are watching intently for items 6 to 11 to happen in the next few months and years. From item 12 to item 26 is the Great Tribulation. Items 27 to the end are the days after the tribulation and the Lord’s return. Not everything that will happen is covered here, but this is a fair summary of the end-time scenario.
So here you are, having finished reading this article. God has put together quite a plan. He is long-suffering, wanting all to be saved, but He is also just. Amid all this, I believe He wants every reader to prepare themselves to see His return.
What is your plan? Are you planning for His return? Go to the next Feast of Tabernacles and learn how to plan for His coming.
Shalom,