The Biblical Perspective—Setting the Stage
To ascertain how end time events fit into biblical prophecy, we must first establish some basic premises. Who, what, where, when, why and how?
Who are the key players in end time biblical scenarios?
YHVH Elohim the Father and Yeshua the Messiah his Son.
Satan the Devil, the Adversary who is the god of this world.
Humans (three categories): the redeemed, the unredeemed, the human instruments Satan is using to achieve his goals of global domination.
What is going on from a biblical perspective on earth?
It is not great mystery that there is a cosmic struggle between the forces of good and evil that has been going on since the beginning of time. The Bible clearly lays out that this struggle is between YHVH Elohim and Satan the adversary.
Man is at the center of this cosmic and on-going struggle. It began at the Garden of Eden when Satan the serpent deceived the first humans into joining him in his rebellion against the Elohim the Creator and is Word.
Elohim wants man on his side, and Satan wants him on his side. Elohim created man to be potential sons and daughters in his eternal, heavenly kingdom. On the other hand, Satan wants to use men as his instruments to thwart Elohim’s plan and, instead, to populate his kingdom with man who either hate Elohim or are ambivalent.
Where is this struggle occurring?
Geographically, the earth is the stage, the setting for this drama that is occurring between Elohim and his forces and Satan and his forces. Spiritually, this battle is taking place in the hearts and minds of each person.
When?
The Bible reveals that this struggle has been going on since man’s initial creation in Genesis chapter three and will continue until the second coming of Yeshua at the end of this present era. The Bible also reveals that Satan knows what is ultimate fate is, that his time is short, before King Yeshua comes to depose, displace, seize and then lock him away forever. Thus, Satan will intensify his efforts to gain and maintain control of the world before this occurs.
Why?
Satan is a prideful rebel who hates Elohim and everything associated with him. In his pride and hubris, Satan actually thinks he can pull his coup to unseat King Yeshua from his throne and from fulfilling his ultimate purpose to establish his kingdom on this earth, and he has convinced his human minions of this as well.
How?
Satan has bribed his chief followers into following him by promising them money, power, luxury, pleasure along with prominent positions in his global government, which the Bible refers to as Babylon the Great, and which Satan’s humans stooges refer to as the novus ordo seclorum or the new world order. The problem is that Satan always over-promises and under-delivers. He is a deceiver and a liar from the beginning, but because men have rejected Elohim and his Truth, they have become blind fools existing in the spiritual darkness of their own pride and rebellion. Thus they are unable to recognize their own blindness and the fact that they are being deceived and that it all ends in destruction and death for them, which the Bible reveals is the wages of sin.
Now that we know who, what, where, when, why and how, who does the Bible reveal are Satan’s chief human instruments?
First, the spirit of antichrist, which as existed from the beginning must go out and deceive humans into following Satan. Chief among the deceived are several key players in Satan’s kingdom that the Bible refers to as the Antichrist, the Man of Sin, the false prophet as well as metaphorical characters such as the beast and the great whore.
Therefore, as a roaring, angry lion, Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy all those who would stand in his way for world domination. For him, the ends justify the means; that is to say, he will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals: war, famine, disease, lies and deceit, economic chaos and woes to name a few. It is the chief goal of these Satan-inspired players to destroy anyone (Jews or Christians) or anything (the Christian church, the nation of Israel and biblical truth, morality and values) remotely associated with the Bible and ultimately Yeshua the Messiah.
How to Ascertain What Is Going On
How can we know what will happen in the end times before the coming of Yeshua?
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