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Chapter
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Getting Saved is More Important Than Knowing the Future It is more important that you Trust (Believe) in Jesus, so that you can be Saved from God’s wrath than it is to know what might happen in the future. Those who are Saved receive God’s Gift of Eternal Life. They are the only people that can have Real Meaning in Life. If you have not yet done so, I encourage you to read chapter 6, “How to Have Real Meaning in Life,” which is the most important chapter in this document. If you only have time to read a portion of a chapter, please read the summary of the most important issue of this document that is found in the last section of chapter 6 with the heading, “Summary of How to Have Real Meaning in Life.” This chapter discusses some highlights from the time Jesus walked on the Earth to eternity future as shown in diagram 3, “Some Highlights (Including Some Theories) of Eternity Past to Eternity Future – Jesus, the Son of God,” at the end of this book. Please refer to this diagram as you continue in this section. Jesus' Life on Earth As mentioned in chapter 5, "The Final Solution to the Sin Issue," God sent Jesus to be born as a human being (so somehow Jesus was God and man at the same time) (Matthew 1:18-25, Hebrews 2:9-18) on the Earth. From God the Father's point of view, only a person who had never sinned could pay the penalty of the sins of every person in the world. Since Jesus walked on the Earth without ever committing any sin, He was the only person that could pay the penalty for the sins of the world. Near the end of Jesus' life on the Earth, He obediently took the sins of the world on Himself. The consequence of taking the sins of the world was death. He was killed on a cross and put in a tomb. Jesus died about 30 AD (Encyclopaedia Britannica (2007) 16:542). Three days later -- by the power of God the Father and the Holy Spirit -- Jesus rose from the dead! This was the resurrection of Jesus! Jesus' death and resurrection are probably the most important events in history, because the penalty for all of our sins was completely paid for and Jesus is alive and ruling with God the Father in heaven. The way was provided for our sins to be washed away! We can now be Saved from God's wrath and receive God's Gift of Eternal Life (refer to the first section in this chapter on where to find more information). Some of Jesus' Prophecies While Jesus was living on the Earth, He prophesied what would happen at the end of the world (Matthew 24:3-31). Prophecies are declarations about what will happen in the future. In Matthew 24:15, Jesus mentions an event (Daniel 9:27) that was prophesied by the prophet Daniel. In fact, chapters 7 to 12 of the Book of Daniel are mostly prophecies concerning the events of the same period of time Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24. In Matthew 24:21, Jesus said that there will be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be [green emphases are mine]. This time of great tribulation is often simply referred to as the Tribulation. Many believe the Tribulation lasts, figuratively, for half a week (Daniel 9:27). They believe the prophetic meaning of the word week in this verse is not 7 days but 7 years. Some believe the Tribulation will be half of seven years, which is 3-1/2 years, because of the phrase in the midst of the week in the same verse. During this time, there will be horrible famines, plagues, earthquakes in different places (v. 7) and other awful things. One of the most important things that will happen is that the gospel will be preached in all the world (v. 14). The gospel is the good news (good message) that those who Trust (Believe) in Jesus will not receive God’s wrath and will be able to fellowship with God! This message is explained in chapter 6 of this document. Jesus Will Come to Earth the Second Time Before, during or after the period of great tribulation, Jesus (the Son of man) will come to the Earth, which will be His second time. He will come in great glory (v. 30). This event is many times called The Second Coming of Jesus. This event is sometimes called the Rapture, although some believe the Rapture is a different event. Please note that this phrase and this word are not found in the Bible (King James Version), but many find them useful when discussing Jesus’ return. According to Matthew 24:29-31, Jesus will come to the Earth in the clouds with power and great glory to gather people (those who have died and who are still alive) that Trust (Believe) in Him (Mark 13:27). These, who are living on the Earth, will be instantaneously changed into incorruptible bodies and meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58). He will gather Christians so they can inherit the kingdom that God the Father has prepared for them (Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 11:15). There are three popular beliefs concerning Jesus coming the second time. One belief is that Jesus will come before the time of tribulation mentioned in the Book of Revelation (the time of tribulation starting from Revelation 6). This belief is sometimes referred as Pre-Tribulation or Pre-Trib. Another belief says that Jesus will come during the time of tribulation mentioned in the Book of Revelation. This belief is sometimes referred to as Mid-Tribulation or Mid-Trib. Still another belief says that Jesus will come after the time of tribulation mentioned in the Book of Revelation. This belief is sometimes referred to as Post-Tribulation or Post-Trib. The Second Coming of Jesus will occur at some point during the events prophesied in the Book of Revelation. Some of these events will be described later in this chapter. Currently, I believe that the Book of Revelation teaches that Jesus will return at the end of the Tribulation -- the Post-Tribulation belief. A good book on the Post-Tribulation belief is Of the Last Days: Listen, I Tell You a Mystery (Second Edition) (2003) by Richard H. Perry. He also has a good book about the last days including the Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib and Post-Trib viewpoints. Israel Became a Nation in 1948 The prophet Jeremiah prophesied that the Jews will dwell in their own land (Jeremiah 23:1-8). Some people believe this important event in history occurred when Israel became a nation in 1948. Many Christians believe that the fig tree mentioned in verses 32 to 34 of Matthew 24 is referring to the Nation of Israel (Jeremiah 24). If this is the case, the verses seem to say that when Israel becomes a nation that many people that were alive in that year will still be alive at the end of the world as we know it. At that moment in time, Christians will meet Jesus in the clouds when He comes to the Earth the second time. (I'm not sure what happens to those that don't meet Jesus in the clouds -- their ultimate end may not be good.) The year 1948 was probably a very important year because some of the people that were alive in that year will probably be alive when the world, as we know it, comes to an end. If people alive in 1948 can live no longer than 130 years, then it may mean the world, as we know it, will end sometime between 2009 AD and 2078 AD (= 1948 + 130 years). The Book of Revelation Many of the things that will happen in the last years of the Earth, as we know it, are foretold in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. According to Wikipedia.org (Wikipedia contributors, "Book of Revelation," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation (accessed May 22, 2009)), the Book of Revelation was written around 68 AD, 69 AD, 95 AD or 96 AD. I believe that the prophecies in the Book of Revelation may have already started or will start to come to pass in a matter of a few years. When you read the Book of Revelation, please be aware that some things are not literal. For example, when Revelation 1:16 mentions seven stars, it doesn’t mean stars that can be seen in the night sky. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, according to Revelation 1:20. Basically, this interpretation is only for the Book of Revelation. Since not everything stated in the Book of Revelation is literal, it can be very difficult to determine what should be taken literally and what should not. Proper understanding of the Book of Revelation requires careful study and insight from God. According to the Book of Revelation, people whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life may go through difficult times, but if they continue to follow God, they will eventually live with God and no longer have sorrow or pain. The people whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will receive God’s wrath because they don’t repent of (turn away from) their sins -- and they want to continue to do the things that the Bible says not to. Eventually, these people will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. (Revelation 9:13-21; 20:15) Order of Events in the Book of Revelation Some people believe that the events in the Book of Revelation are basically in chronological order, but others -- including myself -- do not. Below is the order that I think (with a Post-Tribulation viewpoint) the events will unfold. Some of the information is partially based on Richard H. Perry’s book Of the Last Days: Listen, I Tell You a Mystery (Second Edition) and Jason Dulle’s article "Themes in Revelation” ( www.apostolic.net/biblicalstudies/revelationthemes.htm (accessed September 25,2008)). |
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First 3-1/2 years of the Great Tribulation: Revelation 4; 5; 6:1-6 and 8:2-11. Second 3-1/2 years of the Great Tribulation: Revelation 6:7-17; 8:12-13; 9; 11:1-10; 12:6-17; 13; 17 and 18. |
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Let’s discuss more events foretold.
Other Events that the Book of Revelation States Will Occur Below are some events that the Book of Revelation foretells. When you see these things happening, realize that the Bible is not fiction, but it is the greatest book of truth. God uses the Bible to tell us what life is all about, how to live life and what will happen in the future. So it is best to do what the Bible teaches -- Trust (Believe) in Jesus to be Saved as explained in chapter 6, "How to Have Real Meaning in Life."A Third of Many Things Will Be Destroyed Revelation 8:7-12 seems to indicate that the things listed below will somehow be destroyed or polluted before the Second Coming of Jesus. |
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One third of the trees of the Earth will be burned. One third of the grass of the Earth will be burned. One third of the seas of the Earth will be turned to blood (or probably polluted somehow). One third of sea creatures of the Earth will die. One third of the ships of the Earth will be destroyed. One third of the rivers and springs of the Earth will be polluted. One third of the water on the Earth will be polluted. One third of the moon and stars will be darken. One third of the day will be dark. |
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When you see these things, know that God is starting to very harshly punish those who are not turning away from their sins.
Two Billion People May Die Implanted Microchips Another thing that could accomplish all of the above things is the implanting of a microchip (a small computer chip) inside the hands of everyone in the world. Each person could have a microchip that would have a unique internationally-approved code. This microchip would wirelessly communicate to the appropriate equipment and computers, which could be in any country in the world. [Technically speaking, each code could be some kind of a real-time authentication process (using hardware and/or software) with encryption or whatever is necessary.]If people want to enter a country, all they need to do is to be close enough to the appropriate electronic equipment (which would be located at border crossings between countries) for their microchip to communicate with it. The equipment would then process whatever is necessary to grant or deny entry into the country. This would provide the means to more easily keep track of undesirable people like terrorists and criminals. In a system that uses implanted microchips, processes similar to those previously mentioned (concerning the scanning of people’s hands) could be used. The implanted microchip could be used another way. Instead of getting information on a person from various computers around the world, the information concerning that person could be in the microchip and updated wirelessly. Information in each person’s implanted microchip could be their name, date of birth, address, phone numbers, the level of authorization for all types of activities (such as business and so on), financial status (including the amount of money in the person’s bank account(s)), medical history, employment history and religion. Each organization that would communicate with the microchip would, ideally, be able to access only information that the person allows. Implanted microchips for humans are already available. (One way to find what is currently available, is to search major search engines on the Web using the keywords microchip and human.) Vein-Scan One possible way to uniquely identify a person is by scanning the vascular pattern in a person’s hand. This biometric technology sometimes is referred to as vein-scan or hand vascular pattern identification. An IR (infra-red) camera acquires an image of the vascular pattern in the person’s hand and puts it in a database. The next time the person interfaces with equipment that uses this technology, the newly acquired imaged is compared to the image in the database for verification. Ink with RFID Functionality A more likely type of universal personal identification will be a tattoo using high dielectric ink (chipless) with RFID functionality. RFID stands for radio-frequency identification. This technology is made by Somark Innovations ( www.somarkinnovations.com ). More information can be found on their webpage http://somarkinnovations.com/technology/ . Click on the link “Click to read SOMARK Platform Technology Capabilities Paper,” to view the document, “Platform Technology Capabilities” ( http://dev.somarkinnovations.com/wp-content/somark-platform-technology-capabilities-r21.pdf (accessed October 11, 2008)). One of their US patents is the "Microwave readable dielectric barcode" (patent 7,205,774), which was filed in 2005. The patent may be found by using the search tool at the United States Patent and Trademark Office webpage ( http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html ) and entering 7205774. Other information on their RFID ink can be found in the article, "Invisible RFID Ink Safe For Cattle And People, Company Says," by K. C. Jones ( ww.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=196802844 (accessed October 13, 2008)). They are currently testing it on cattle (refer to "Field Demo Brings Company Closer to Launch" (2008) http://somarkinnovations.com/2008/01/field-demo-brings-company-closer-to-launch/#more-8 (accessed October 13, 2008)). It will be used on cattle so that livestock can be tracked, which will help if there are scares like the mad-cow disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)). The RFID ink is put into one-time-use capsules. The ink is injected with an array of micro-needles into an animal’s skin so that the animal has a tattoo but it is not visible. At that point, a RFID scanner can determine the unique identification (ID). Some of the features of this system are 1) the RFID scanner can “read” the ink up to 4 feet away; 2) the scanner doesn’t need to be in the line of sight; 3) the ink can be invisible; and 4) the scanner can “read” the ink through the animal’s hair. It is said that it is safe for people and animals. Other target markets for ink with RFID functionality include dogs and cats, prime cuts of meat, and military personnel (should be especially helpful in identifying friend or foe in the battlefield). Mark in the Hand or Forehead Over 1900 years ago, the Book of Revelation foretold of a situation that could be like one of those mentioned above. The Bible says that the second beast (mentioned earlier) will require people that want to buy or sell anything (including food) to have a mark, the name of the beast or the number of the beast (666) (Revelation 13:16,18). The mark, often referred as the mark of the beast, will be put on (or in) the right hand (back or front) or on (or in) the forehead. The mark could be something stamped or tattooed on the hand or forehead with the name of the beast or the number of the beast (666) using non-removable ink that would be visible or invisible (can only be seen under a special light or by a certain type of equipment). In the past, I’ve always thought that if there was a mark on the back of the hand, that the ink used would be invisible. Actually, the ink may be always visible. For many, as I have read before, it may be a mark of pride -- pride in participating in some kind of a great system or organization. Whether it is a mark of pride or not, another issue is if there is a requirement that the ink be visible, then those who don’t have the mark can be easily spotted. Although, a person could hide the fact that they don’t have the mark by covering their hand with a glove, bandage or something, but having those things may become objects of suspicion. The J. Strong’s concordance-dictionary indicates that the word mark in verses about the mark of the beast in the Book of Revelation is the Greek word charagma (5480). In part, it states that mark is a scratch or etching. So the mark of the beast seems to be something stamped or tattooed instead of being an implanted microchip. The mark of the beast could be an ink tattoo with RFID functionality. The mark could be a coded unique ID using straight lines like barcodes. The mark of the beast could be a visible design having a unique ID camouflaged in the design. So the mark of the beast could be ink with RFID functionality tattooed with an awesome visible design having a camouflaged unique ID on the hand or forehead of each person in the world. Different kinds of identification systems, which will probably have a lot of data on many people, will become more and more common and will be accepted to a large degree because it will probably make life so much safer and easier or because they will have to be used for society to operate. Whoever controls the personal data in these identification systems will have more and more control of the people using their systems. Eventually, a government or a group of governments or a powerful organization that rules the whole world will probably have access to enough personal data on most of the people in the world to control all of them. Spiritual Strength Required The Bible also says that anyone that worships the beast and his idol and that takes the mark will drink the wine of the wrath of God, will be tormented with fire and brimstone, the smoke of their torment will ascend up forever and will have no rest day or night (Revelation 14:9-11)[green emphases are mine].Anyone who doesn’t worship the beast’s idol and doesn’t take the mark of the beast will be killed by those who worship the idol. God will protect those who are walking close to Him, although He may allow some (for reasons only He may know) to be killed who refuse the mark of the beast and refuse to worship the beast and his idol. More Destruction Revelation 14:13 to 16:11 state more destruction that will occur on the Earth. The Second Coming of Jesus may occur at This Point The Second Coming of Jesus may occur (Revelation 7; 8:1; 10; 11:11-19; 14:12-16) before the battle at Armageddon that is described next. Armageddon According to Revelation 16:12-21 and 19:1-21, the first beast and the second beast (maybe the false prophet) (Revelation 20:10) and those who do not obey God will fight against Jesus (Word of God) and His armies. This battle will take place in Armageddon (Revelation 16:16), which is near Meggido in Israel. It seems that after Jesus and His armies win the battle, Jesus throws the first and second beasts and many of those who followed them into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20). Christians Reign on the Earth for a Thousand Years Next, an angel throws Satan into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. At this point, I think there will be a group of Christians (Revelation 19:15), who will rule with Jesus with a rod of iron over whoever is living on the Earth (Revelation 20:1-6). After the thousand years, Satan will be loosed for a period of time. Satan will then gather those that are not Christians and surround the city that the Christians are in. Satan, his angels and his people will want to kill the Christians, but God will send down fire from heaven and kill all His enemies. God will then throw Satan into the Lake of Fire. (Revelation 20:5-10) Great White Throne Judgment According to Revelation 20:11 to 22:21, everyone who has not been judged yet will be judged by God in what is sometimes referred to as the Great White Throne Judgment. Those who do not have their names written In the Lamb's Book of Life will be thrown into the Lake of Fire where they will be in torment forever. Next, God will destroy heaven and Earth, but He will create a new heaven, new earth and a huge, new Jerusalem. People that have their names written In the Lamb's Book of Life will live with God in the new Jerusalem forever. There will no longer be death, sorrow or pain. They will forever be with and worship the Lord God Almighty, Who is worthy of all worship. Trust (Believe) in Jesus to be Saved If You Haven't Yet Done So What the Bible says, including what the Book of Revelation says, will come to pass. Just be sure you choose to be on God’s side because the eternal consequences of not being on His side are horrible. If your name is already in the Lamb's Book of Life, continue to pursue the God of the Holy Bible. Do what God wants you to do so that you will be able to be with Him (Matthew 7:21-23). Our desire should be to want to please God because He Loves Us So Much! If you haven't done so, you should choose to Trust (Believe) in Jesus. In other words, put Your confidence of your whole life in Jesus, in what He said and what the Bible teaches. Jesus was the ONLY acceptable sacrifice that could pay the penalty for our sins. When You put Your confidence in Jesus, You will be Saved from God's wrath, have Your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life and receive God's Gift of Eternal Life. Trusting in Jesus is the only way that You can have Real Meaning in Your Life. Information on how to Trust in Jesus to be Saved is found in chapter 6, "How to Have Real Meaning in Life." God Bless You! |
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-- End of Chapter 8 --
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Meaning in Life in the Framework of Eternity |
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