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"The lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming."
2 Thessalonians 2:8
The triumphant return of Christ Jesus mark the eschatological finality and resounding victory in the closing chapter of human history. Everybody is curious about the future. As the clock of history winds down, we sense that the end is approaching nearer. We all want to know what lies ahead. Eschatology is the theological term for the study of the `end times'. It comes from the Greek word eschatos, meaning `last' or `last things'. This article covers the prophetic eschatological developments in the final days of humanity.
There is a prophetic plumbline in the marvellous book of Isaiah. The pivotal scripture that distinguished the future trends of events: "They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily" (Isaiah 2:19).
In the coming days, there will be two simultaneous waves of God's manifestations on the earth: the terror of the Lord and the splendour of His glory. The world will be gripped by the fear of tumultuous happenings while the church will be enraptured by the glory of His presence. The coming economic earthquake will usher in the epoch of the rise of the Antichrist. The emergence of the rule of the Antichrist precedes the period of the great tribulation. However, his temporal dictatorship will only last a short-seven year period. Subsequently, his fatal downfall is sealed at the Battle of Armageddon as foretold in Scripture (Daniel 7:26). The great tribulation refers to that eschatological period of God's wrath. Wrath is mentioned 13 times in the Revelation. It is a time of future global retribution, called in Revelation 3:10 the `hour of trial', and in 6:16 `the wrath of the Lamb'. It is an awesome period of the dealings and the judgements of God upon the nations. The fiery punishments and sufferings experienced in this tribulation is somewhat similar to the ten plagues that afflicted Egypt in Moses' days (Exodus typology)
| Past |
Exodus |
Future |
Revelation |
| Bloody Nile |
7:17 |
2nd & 3rd vial |
16:3-4 |
| Unclean frogs |
8:2 |
6th vial |
16:13 |
| Parasitic lice |
8:16 |
6th trumpet |
9:19 |
| Unclean flies |
8:21, 29 |
1st seal |
6:1-2 |
| Deadly pestilence |
9:3 |
4th seal |
6:7-8 |
| Painful boils |
9:9 |
1st vial |
16:2 |
| Stony hail |
9:23 |
7th vial |
16:21 |
| Locust multitude |
10:13 |
5th trumpet |
9:3-5 |
| Strange darkness |
10:22 |
6th seal |
6:12-13 |
| Death plague |
12:12 |
2nd seal |
6:3-4 |
The Exodus episode highlighted the foretaste of end-times judgement over the nations. The Book of Revelation narrates the finality of all judgements. These similar trend of judgement only differs in intensity, scope and the degree of the devastating result. The other parallels of the scenarios of these two books are equally amazing.
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Past |
Future |
| i |
Egypt of exodus |
The present world |
| ii |
Israelites of old |
The Body of Christ |
| iii |
Moses and Aaron |
The 2 witnesses |
| iv |
Pharaoh |
The antichrist |
| v |
Goshen |
Sealing of 144,000 |
| vi |
Passover |
The Blood of Jesus |
| vii |
Into the cloud (24:18) |
Rapture |
If these hypothetical observations are proper, then the liberation of Israel from the cruel bondage of Egypt was through the application of the Passover lamb. Thus the blood of Jesus in these last days is God's triumph card for man's deliverance and every devil automatically bow to it! The unquestionable dominion of the efficacy of the blood is our refuge and stronghold against which all the fiery arrows of the enemy can't penetrate this invincible shield. The active participation of the Holy communion is the sure answer to the woes and the worldwide plagues of the dangerous epoch of the coming days of humanity.
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