Approaching World Events of Revelation/Program 3

By: Dr. Jimmy DeYoung; ©2012

The imagery and visionary nature of the Bible’s final book has led to a wide variety of odd and often conflicting views of the end times. In program, Dr. DeYoung shares his lifetime of research in Bible prophecy through explaining the important sequential events unpacked in Revelation that are consistent with other parts of Scripture.

Contents

Introduction

Today on the John Ankerberg Show, the eyes of the world are fixed on the Middle East. Every day the papers of all major countries carry lead stories about Israel, Iran Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan and other Middle East nations. Further, it is evident to all that the nation of Israel is increasingly under fire both politically and militarily.

Benjamin Netanyahu: The militant Shiites in Iran are openly racing, boasting that they’re racing to develop nuclear weapons with the explicit announced goal of wiping Israel from the face of the earth.

Many believe the Middle East is about to explode and drag the world into one of the most difficult and terrifying conflicts in world history. The prophets in the Old Testament predict just such a situation will occur. 2600 years ago God revealed specific information to the prophet Ezekiel about a group of nations that would come together and attack Israel in the last days. Bible scholars refer to this attack as the Ezekiel 38 War. Do we see any evidence that the nations Ezekiel spoke about are threatening Israel today? My guest for this series is journalist and prophecy scholar, Dr. Jimmy Deyoung who has lived in Israel and covered the Middle East since 1993. Join us for this special edition of the John Ankerberg Show.

---

Ankerberg: Welcome to the program. I’m John Ankerberg, and my guest today is Dr. Jimmy DeYoung. He’s a journalist who’s just returned from Israel. We’re talking about the world events as they relate to biblical prophecy. And in this program I’m thinking of many of you in Europe, I’m thinking of many of you in Africa, those of you that are watching in the Middle East via your satellite antenna or other means. You want to know, what’s just the basic biblical teachings about what God says is going to take place in the future? What is it? Where do I find it? How does it impact where I’m at?

And Jimmy DeYoung is an expert at telling this information. God has raised him up to do this. He’s got a love for this. He’s got a love for you. And I’ve asked him; we’ve got three pillars up here, and we’re going to take these three pillars and revolve the events of prophecy to these pillars and where we’re at now. I want to start with the present moment, Jimmy, to the time of the second coming of Christ. What are the events the Bible says are going to take place between now and then?

DeYoung: John, on previous programs we’ve talked about a lot of information that helps us to understand the world scene as it is today, and that’s very important. That’s where we are today. But when you go the Scriptures, and in particular the book of Revelation, which I believe is the book that lays out the greatest scenario of the end times of all 66 books of the Bible. There are 17 Old Testament prophetic books; there’s the one major prophetic book in the New Testament, Revelation. All of these dovetail together. They give us certain portions of information about the biblical scenario, the prophetic scenario for the end times. But the book of Revelation is best on that.

Revelation chapters 1, 2, and 3 talk about where we are today. In fact, in chapters 2 and 3, the Lord gave John the Revelator messages to seven churches that were alive in Asia Minor. In fact, John pastored one of them, the church at Ephesus. And the message was to go to these churches for that period in time. But they also describe periods of church history. In chapter 4 and verse 1 the first two words are “after this,” after the church age. And then it talks about, in chapter 4 and verse 1, that John hears, as it were, a trumpet talking with him.

Now, trumpets don’t talk, I know. I have a Bach Stradivarius trumpet. I’m a trumpet player. I’ve been playing since I was 13 years of age. It never has talked to me over all of these years. And that’s an apocalyptic term; apocalyptic, from the Greek word apokalypsis, to reveal, to foretell, to make known, to prophesy.

The way you interpret an apocalyptic term—and by the way, those apocalyptic symbols can be found in Revelation, Zechariah, Ezekiel and Daniel—well, in Revelation it’s talking about a trumpet that will be used to make a noise, and the noise indicated by the Scripture is that there’s a voice that says, come up hither. You put that then together, and the principle of interpreting apocalyptic literature: find other literature that comes to the table and helps you understand and how to interpret it. It’s called deductive Bible study. You go to chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians, verses 13 to 18. And it talks about the procedure there for the rapture, Jesus shouting, the archangels shouting, the trump of God sounding, and then we’re caught up to be with Him. First Corinthians 15:51-53 talks about in the moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. So we see the two trumpet sounds there: 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15.

Now, you take those principles and the context by which we’re studying the rapture in those two passages, taken over to Revelation 4:1 is the rapture of the church.

And then the last phrase in 4:1 in Revelation is, “and I will show you the things which must happen hereafter.” So the next event is the rapture of the church. Not one prophecy has to be fulfilled before the rapture takes place.

The next 16 chapters in Revelation, chapters 4-19, we see what’s going to happen during that seven year tribulation. We know it’s seven years, because, in chapter 11, two witnesses will preach for 42 months. That is a period of three and one half years. It actually says 1,260 days: same thing—three and one half years. And then, in chapter 12 and verse 6, it says God has prepared a place for the Jewish people—that would be Petra there in southern Jordan—to protect the Jewish people for the last three and one half years, or 1,260 days. That gives you a seven year period of time; followed by, chapter 19 verse 11, when Jesus mounts a white horse, we get on white horses, and we literally come back to the Mount of Olives—Zechariah 14:4—stepping down there in Jerusalem. And that sets the stage for the nations of the world, gathered in Jerusalem, to rush up to the Jezreel Valley, prepare their strategy for the battle of Armageddon.

Now, I’ve jumped over that in the big picture. Let’s go back into those seven years of tribulation. The first thing that’s going to happen there is found in the first one of 21 judgments that are going to unfold. There are three sets of seven judgments each. In the 6th chapter you have the seven, or six of the seven sealed judgments, chapter 8, verse 1, the last sealed judgment. And out of those sealed judgments comes the seven trumpet judgments, and that would be chapters 8, 9 and 11. And then the last seven judgments, the vial judgments, chapter 16.

The first of the 21 judgments would be a man on a white horse, chapter 6, verses 1 and 2. He comes with a crown on his head. He comes with a bow in his hand; no arrows. He comes forth on a white horse to conquer. Now, the fact that he has a bow, that’s not an offensive weapon unless you have arrows. You can take a bow, it might be five feet long; you can keep away people five feet from you. But you have to have the arrows in the bow. He’s being depicted as the peacemaker. And that’s what happens, Daniel 9:27, this Antichrist comes, confirms a peace, the peace agreements are already on the table. They’ve never been normalized. They’re ready, waiting for somebody to confirm them, to make them work. Antichrist does that.

The second judgment is a man on a red horse. That would be chapter 6, verses 3 and 4. He comes forth conquering, with a sword. He takes peace from the earth. Now, you take peace away from the earth, you have war. That’s what we’ve been talking about. Jesus, in Matthew 24:6-7, he said you’ll hear of “wars and rumors of wars. Be not dismayed, for the end is not yet. Nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, people against people.” They’re going to come to a position of fighting each other, for the last one standing to take power over the earth. That’s the second judgment, these wars.

Now, we talked about, in earlier programs, the Gog/Magog war in Ezekiel 38, Daniel 11, Psalm 83. That’s this war that we’re talking about. And that happens early on in the first six months of the tribulation period.

By the midway point of the tribulation, there has to be a temple standing on the temple mount in Jerusalem. And that is necessitated by the fact that the abomination of desolation, Jesus referred to Daniel—Daniel wrote about the abomination of desolation—he said that there indeed would be a cutting off of the sacrificial system at the midway point of the tribulation.

But let me back up just a moment. After the Antichrist confirms this peace agreement, he goes to Rome, Italy. In the first three and one half years of the tribulation period, he puts in place a false religion, an ecclesiastical Babylon, some people call it. Well, you know, in order for that to happen, this coalition of nations has to be defeated. Why? Because the Islamic world has to be wiped out. They are wiped out in the first six months of the tribulation. They will not coexist with any religiosity; they’re an exclusive religiosity. They have to be out of the way.

But after three and one half years, the Antichrist wants to rid the world of this false religion, because he does not want anybody in the world to worship anybody but himself. So he comes to power with the revived Roman Empire, which destroys this false church. It says in chapter 17, verse 17, the Lord puts in the hearts of world leaders to do that. They wipe out this. The temple is there. The Antichrist comes into Jerusalem from Rome, walks into the holy of holies, claims to be God. That’s the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, confirmed by Jesus Christ, Matthew 24:15, talked about by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:4, and then confirmed by John the Revelator over there in chapter 11 in verses 1 and 2.

After that, we see this economic power headquartered in Babylon, everybody having to take a mark on the forehead or the back of the hand to be able to buy or sell. That culminates with the Lord destroying Babylon. And that’s the last thing to happen on this earth before Jesus Christ steps back on the earth there in Jerusalem.

Ankerberg: Alright, let’s take a breath, let Jimmy catch his breath. We’re going to take a break. When we come back we’re going to talk about this war of Armageddon. What precipitates that, and how Jesus Christ handles that. What about Israel? What’s going on in Israel during all this time? Stick with us. We’ll be right back.

---

Ankerberg: Alright, we’re back. We’re talking with journalist Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, and we’re talking about the major events of the biblical prophecy. Between now and the second coming of Jesus Christ, what’s going to take place, according to the Bible? And let’s turn the coin a little bit and look at these same events through the eyes of a Jewish person. So, if you’re in Israel, where you’ve just come from, and you’ve spent so many years with the Jewish people. If you are looking at these events, what’s going to take place between now and the second coming for those in Israel?

DeYoung: Well, again, going back to what starts the clock ticking on that seven year tribulation period, would be the confirmation of that peace treaty. Israel has been desiring peace. All they want is to co-exist. They’re not trying to rid the Middle East of Islamic peoples, or the different nations of the world. They want to co-exist on that piece of real estate that God has given them. And I would say 90 percent of every Jew living in Israel believes this is a God-given piece of real estate. So they just want to be there; they want to live among their friends there in Israel and their neighbors in these different countries. So they’re looking for peace.

They’re realizing it’s not going to happen. They see this nation, this coalition of nations forming to try to come against them. When the Antichrist, who is supposedly the Messiah in their eyes appears, and he confirms a peace agreement, they say, well, we’re here; we’re now into that period of time the Bible tells us about. Our Messiah has come.

In fact, what’s interesting, these nations that will align themselves Israel come at that time; it’ll be a very short-lived peace, a pseudo-peace. It will be in place. They will be dwelling safely in the land, according to Ezekiel 38:8 and 11. They will lay down their defenses. It says there in verse 11 of Ezekiel 38, they will be living in “unwalled villages,” a military term. But Ezekiel, that’s the only way he knew how to explain the defense system that would be in place to protect the Jewish people. So they think peace is there.

As we get to the midway point, according to Revelation 12:7-17, there’s going to be a battle in the heavenlies. The Antichrist will be already on the scene on earth. At the midway point, the false prophet, the second member of the Satanic trinity, comes to power. And, by the way, both the Antichrist and the false prophet are males who live on the earth today. They’re physical human beings. They will be energized, chapter 13 of Revelation, by Satan. Their seat of authority, their power, will be given to them by Satan. At the midway point, after they have their temple in place, they see that the sacrificial system is stopped and this Antichrist sets up an image of himself there in the temple, in the holy of holies.

Now he’s going to leave the area, and he’s going to go to Babylon. He’s going to set up the one world economic political governmental system. That’s when he puts in place everybody taking an identification mark, the mark of the beast on the forehead or the back of the hand, in order to be able to buy or sell. But the Jews are watching this all unfold as they move into the last three and one half years. Chapter 12, verse 17, verses 13 and 17 actually, say that the Antichrist, Satan, and the false prophet and all the evil angels who have been released from the heavenlies, will do everything they can to wipe out the Jewish people.

And the reason for that, Satan knows: you rid the world of Jews, God is incapable of keeping his promises. He gave them the Abrahamic covenant. They’ll be a nation. He gave them a land covenant. They’ll have a piece of real estate ten times what they have today. He gave them the Davidic covenant. They’ll have a temple in Jerusalem with their Messiah ruling and reigning from that temple. And he gave them the new covenant. Christians don’t have the new covenant; it was given, Jeremiah 31:31, to the Jewish people. And that’s when they become his people, he becomes their God. But because of that, Satan is going to intensify his attacks on the Jewish people.

Jeremiah the prophet, in chapter 30 and verse 7, said this will be the time of Jacob’s trouble. In Daniel 12:1 God’s dispatching, out of the heavenlies, Michael, the archangel, who is the protecting archangel for the Jewish people. He’s to come back to the earth to protect the Jewish people. Everything intensifies on the Jews, focusing on them, endeavoring to wipe them off the face of the earth.

Meanwhile, half of the earth’s population is going to be dead. All of the oceans of the world will turn to blood. Every fish in the ocean will die. The streams, the lakes, the ponds, they will be bitter. Nobody can drink from them. This will be a terrible time of judgment. It’s all focused on Satan trying to destroy the Jewish people.

At the end of that time, headquartered there in Iraq, which is modern day,… modern day Iraq is biblical Babylon. That’s going to be the location where the Antichrist will set up his economic power center. And these Jewish people will be starving to death because, they may take the mark, but they don’t want to take the mark. And many of them will come to know Christ as their true Messiah and have to suffer through that time. During that time, it intensifies across the world for everybody to take the mark, to be able to stay alive, to sustain life.

God is then going to dispatch the Lord to come down and wipe out Babylon. Jeremiah 50 and 51 says Babylon has to be destroyed because they messed with God’s house. You don’t mess with God’s house. In fact, it talks about, in chapter 18, in one hour, verses 10, 17 and 19, in one hour Babylon is going to be destroyed. The scenario’s laid out there in the book of Revelation chapter 16, verses 17 and following, where the great city Babylon, will be destroyed. That’s the last thing to happen before Jesus Christ steps back on the earth, Zechariah 14:4.

Just prior to that, though, all the armies of the world gather in Jerusalem. We refer to it as the battle of Armageddon. I like the term better the “campaign” of Armageddon, because all the armies of the world, all the leaders of the world, send their soldiers to Jerusalem. Zechariah 14:2 says all these nations of the world gather. How does it happen? When you go back to Revelation 16:13-16, Satan, Antichrist and false prophet will use signs, wonders and miracles to gather all the armies of the world into Jerusalem. Now, friends, we have a proliferation of signs, wonders and miracles today. That’s simply a precursor to what’s going to happen.

They gather at Jerusalem. Jesus Christ steps down on the Mount of Olives, and it splits, opening up for them to make their way to the Valley of the Mountains. They go up there. That’s the Jezreel Valley, the Valley of the Mountains. They go up there; Christ rebuilds the city of Jerusalem. He rebuilds the temple mount. He builds a temple on top of the temple mount. He goes up to the Jezreel Valley. There the battle of Armageddon takes place. And it’s not a battle: It’s really Jesus saying die and they die. He then walks 176 miles through a pool of blood as high as the horses bridle, a valley of blood. And it’s 176 miles from Megiddo, by the way, to Petra. He gathers in the Jews that have been protected there, brings them back into Jerusalem. Comes up by way of the mountain to the east, which is the Mount of Olives, crosses the Kidron Valley, goes in the Eastern Gate, walks up into the temple, sits down in the holy of holies, and he begins his rule and reign for 1,000 year period of time. That’s how that last three and one half years unfolds, and in the particular for the Jewish people.

Ankerberg: For those people that do not know Christ, let’s say that you’re in Europe and you’ve been going to a church that really has not talked about the deity of Jesus Christ; or you’ve grown up in a Muslim society that’s talked about, Jesus has just only been a prophet, but he’s certainly not deity; and you wonder, how do I come into a relationship with Jesus? What is that Jesus wants me to do? What does Jesus want people to know about him and to do with him before all of this takes place?

DeYoung: John, I have to believe that the programs we’ve done prior to this one, and looking at current events in light of biblical prophecy, should have gotten the attention to the Europeans, the Chinese, everybody across the world watching these telecasts. The fact is, everything we’ve been talking about in this prophetic scenario laid out in God’s Word is at the point of fulfillment. I mean, you can’t deny it. Never in history has it been just like this. So, indeed, if Jesus Christ, who gave this revelation to John the apostle—that’s according to chapter 1, verse 1 of Revelation—then he says over there in verse 18, I am he that was alive and dead and I now stand before you alive. I would suggest people ought to look at, why did he make that statement? He was talking about alive and dead and now alive.

Well, the rest of the Bible deals with that when it talks about the Messiah coming, who would gave his life, be the ultimate sacrifice, to give us eternal life. Jesus Christ, he was the one that accomplished that; was crucified on a cross. He became sin for those who had sinned. He who had no sin, but he became sin to wash away their sin. Buried, resurrected—proving he was the one qualified to do it—and now he says, come unto me; I’ll give you eternal life.

If we can see the prophetic scenario unfolding, just about to be fulfilled, what about the claims of Christ wanting to be the Savior to all of those who need a Savior? That was you and me, John, at one day. It’s to everybody watching this telecast. They need today to make that decision to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Ankerberg: Yes, if Jesus Christ has the knowledge to give us all this information, he’s deity. If he has the power to control all of this, he’s deity. If He has the power for all of that, He has the power to forgive your sins and my sins. And you need to put your trust in him. It’s not works that we do, it’s belief in him, and in his power, and that he’s willing to do it freely for you because he loves you. And if you, if you don’t know anything else, just turn to Jesus; cry out to him, ask him to reveal himself to you, to come into your life to forgive you of your sins, to make you a Christian. Tell him you want to follow him, but you need his strength to do that. Jesus Christ will make himself real to you. He’ll come into your life. He’ll make you a Christian. And, folks, I hope that you’ll do that. That’s the point of what we’re doing here on the John Ankerberg Show. We are trying to tell you what God has said, and then you’re responsible for taking that information and then deciding, are you going to respond to it? Are you going to invite Christ into your life, or are you going to ignore him and turn away? I hope that you’ll turn to him.

Jimmy, thank you for giving us all of this great information. Thank you, and we’re glad you’re back from the Middle East safe and sound, and we look forward to doing some other programs with you in the future.

Contents