War AFTER the Rapture!
This is an update to my third prophecy update: Spirits and Spoil. You will probably be a bit lost without that post, so I've linked it below. He's coming so soon!
Prophecy Update #3: Spirits and Spoil
(09/04/18)
The more I learn about prophecy and how it connects to the times in which we live, my presuppositions about scripture are challenged by new information (or by old information I didn't put together until later on). In this case, my understanding has been changed pretty dramatically regarding the timing and overall function of the Gog-Magog War.
Over the last few months, it's become increasingly apparent to me that the war of Gog and Magog is right around the corner. Although we can't know everything happening behind the scenes politically, what we do know is that what we see happening on the world stage matches scripture and sets up this prophetic event perfectly. We've been a breath away from seeing it happen for some time now.
As the Feast of Trumpets has drawn closer and closer, I've considered one possibility more and more: that Christians will not see this war. As it stands today, I'm convinced that Gog-Magog will not happen until after the rapture of the church. There are several reasons for this.
Reason #1: The "Thief in the Night"
Jesus told us that His return would come like a "thief in the night." I posted about that phrase being connected to the captain of the temple guard in Jesus' day in a separate prophecy post, which is linked below.
The idea behind the "thief" reference is that Jesus is coming secretly, but only to those who are NOT watching. People who are paying attention to prophecy coming to pass and the signs of the end of the age coming together, converging, and increasing in intensity will not be surprised at His coming, but people who pay no attention will be caught completely off guard. We know that this secret appearance of Jesus is talking about the rapture, because it stands in stark contrast to other passages describing His dramatic and obvious Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 2 Thessalonians 2:8, Jude 1:14-15, Revelation 1:7).
For the rapture, there will be no grand announcement, no attention grabbing spectacle, no obvious warning immediately preceding it. Up to this point, I had assumed that the Gog-Magog War would happen and be followed by a quiet period that would allow many people to spiritually fall asleep, but, with the subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit after the war, this quiet period makes less and less sense the more I think about it.
Reason #2: God's wrath is poured out during the war
This is the most convincing reason for me. I'm not sure why I glossed over it before. The Bible teaches that God's wrath will never fall on Christians; the reason being that His wrath is reserved for sin (which believers don't have, being washed in the blood of Christ):
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ... ~1 Thessalonians 5:9
Jesus, speaking about the Tribulation period, the time when God pours out His wrath on a Christ-rejecting sinful world, said this:
"For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” ~Luke 21:35-36
The problem with Ezekiel's war taking place before the rapture is that God Himself sends fire on Magog (Russia) and the coastlands:
"I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Lord." ~Ezekiel 39:6
We live in a fallen world where people die in natural disasters all the time, but this destruction doesn't have a natural root cause - God takes credit for it! This is His wrath on display, from which believers are exempt. Assuming that there are Christians living in Russia and the coastlands, they either have to be protected somehow or taken out before this happens. I suspect that the latter option is going to happen.
Not only that, but Ezekiel 38:18-20 records a great earthquake, so violent that everyone on earth will feel it. This quake is sent expressly in God's "jealousy and blazing wrath."
Reason #3: The Lord is recognized as the God of Israel
The Lord is recognized as the God of Israel and has effectively returned to them. This hasn't happened since the gentile church began with the apostle Paul's conversion in Acts 9:15 (see also Romans 11:7, 11). God never utterly rejected Israel, but is growing His church until He catches her away to be with Him. Only after the church is gone does the Lord begin to dramatically intervene on behalf of Israel again. Thus, the rapture must happen before the war of Gog and Magog can come to pass.
Reason #4: It's possible for the Feast of Trumpets and the seasons of the war's aftermath to match up
Scripture reveals the seasons in which the aftermath of the war takes place, as Isaiah speaks of Cush (modern day Sudan, which is one of the countries that joins Gog to take the spoils of Israel) and how its army will be destroyed:
They shall all of them be left to the birds of prey of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth. And the birds of prey will summer on them, and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them. ~Isaiah 18:6
This tells us that summer, fall, and winter are the three seasons during which the massive fallen army will remain on the mountains of Israel. Now, if the war truly happens after the rapture, the Feast of Trumpets will need to be celebrated during the summer, and not technically in the fall (even though it's a fall feast). Trumpets can only begin at the sighting of the first sliver of moonlight. This year (2018), the crescent moon appears (exactly when it's sighted remains to be seen) on September 9th, in the summer, but next year the crescent moon doesn't appear until September 30th, seven days after the start of fall 2019!
Am I saying that I know the rapture will happen this year? No, I will never say that. I'm not an all-knowing time traveler, but anyone who believes that Magog happens after the rapture, as well as that the Feast of Trumpets is the festival that coincides with the rapture, has to conclude that the probabilities of the rapture happening this year are very high. The next time the Feast of Trumpets comes in the summer will be in 2020.
I would be more hesitant to believe Gog-Magog happens after the rapture if Trumpets did not come during the Summer any time soon (as the war appears to be set up to happen at any time now), but - because it does occur in the Summer - it fits with the rapidly rising tensions in the Middle East like a glove. Again, only God knows what will happen this year for sure.
Reason #5: The time gap between Trumpets and Atonement is a perfect transition
I always wondered about what will be happening between the Feast of Trumpets (the rapture) and the Day of Atonement ten days later. As we explored in my second prophecy update, Trumpets (the Jewish new year) is moved up to Atonement in the year of the Jubilee. This will happen at the very end of the age, when Jesus physically comes down to the earth. That means that the Tribulation officially starts on Atonement, because Atonement to Atonement seven times brings us to the end of the Tribulation seven years later. This leaves us with a transition period, a gap between Trumpets and Atonement, that is neither the Church Age or the Tribulation period. The events of Gog-Magog can occupy this space and, more than that, set up The seal judgements of Revelation seamlessly.
Reason #6: Antichrist's confirmed covenant
makes more sense
The first seal broken in the Book of Revelation brings the Antichrist onto the world stage. He confirms (or makes stronger/more grand) a previously established covenant (or deal of some kind), and this starts the Tribulation:
He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. ~Daniel 9:27
Eventually, halfway through the seven year Tribulation period, the Antichrist will show his true colors and kill anyone who doesn't worship him, especially the people of Israel. For someone who hates Israel so much it seems strange that he would make a deal with them at all, let alone offer a better deal than a previous one. However, if the confirmed deal comes as a response to Israel's increased status and influence in the world (having most of their enemies destroyed in a single day), this makes a lot more sense. Kill 'em with kindness...
Reason #7: A new potential function for the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit
It never occurred to me before, but the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh could be to make up the body of Tribulation saints (post-rapture believers in Jesus). This makes the transition period make more sense as well, because the Lord will send a strong delusion on those who reject Jesus:
The coming of the lawless one (Antichrist) is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. ~2 Timothy 2:9-12
For those who reject Him, God essentially says, "Okay, I'll let you go. I'll let you have your choice." As 2 Timothy says, the delusion that God sends has everything to do with people believing the Antichrist's blasphemous lies. The transition period provides a window of time for the Tribulation saints to believe on Christ. Perhaps at the end of it, on Atonement ten days later (the start of the Tribulation), those who are in Christ are shut in, while those who have chosen to walk away are shut out.
In conclusion, the rapture is incredibly close. Jesus gave us many signs to watch for that would signal His coming, but we're seeing much more than most scholars expected we would. Many believed that the Gog-Magog war, and anything leading up to it, would be confined completely to the Tribulation period. But we've seen it coming together for a long time now.
Make no mistake, we are literally seeing the beginning of the Tribulation fall into place. We're going to be with our bridegroom soon! Get your hearts ready and keep your lamps burning! Be watchful and in prayer.
I can't know how short, but our time is VERY short.
The fig tree generation (including the 7 year Tribulation) which will not pass away is 77 this year, and 79 in 2020.
Have you allowed Jesus to save you? Are you ready?
He's right at the door.
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