Time Line of Final Events

1) YOU ARE HERE (We’re in the year 2006 AD)

2) EARTH’S LAST CRISIS – Luke 21:35; Rev. 3:10. No one knows when it will come, yet it will hit at an unexpected time, like September 11. This crisis could stem from many causes – economic, natural (such as a huge earthquake, etc.), or possibly, a terrorist attack.

3) THE MARK OF THE BEAST IS ENFORCED BY LAW – Rev. 13:16,17 The “mark of the beast” will be enforced by governments around the world as a supposed “solution” to a global, desperate crisis. The majority of Earth’s inhabitants will not realize this is “the mark,” for they will be deceived. Rev. 19:20. The terms “beast” and “mark” are code words in the book of Revelation that God’s people alone will understand. They will know who the “beast” is, and what his “mark” is, while the rest of the world has no clue.

4) THE THREE ANGELS MESSAGES ARE HEARD WORLDWIDE – Rev. 14:6-12 Before anyone receives “the mark,” God will send a special, final message to warn and enlighten a world filled with people He loves and earnestly wants to save. This special message is the message of “The Three Angels.” These angels represent human beings who understand and communicate this exact message with “a loud voice” to “every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (Rev. 14:6,7). The message is given before the return of Jesus Christ (Rev. 14:14-16).

5) THE FINAL CHOICE – THE SEAL OR THE MARK? – Rev. 7:1-3; 13:16-14:1. During Earth’s last crisis, every living human being will make a final choice – choosing the side of Jesus Christ and the truth (receiving the “seal of God”) or the side of Satan and the “beast” (receiving his “mark”). Humanity will be divided into two great, final classes.

6) THE CLOSING OF HEAVEN’S DOOR OF SALVATION – Rev. 22:11 After everyone has had a chance to make an enlightened, intelligent decision, then the “door of mercy” will close forever, just like the door closed to Noah’s ark before the flood (see Genesis 7:16). Every human being will either be “righteous” and “holy,” or “filthy” and “unjust” (Rev. 22:11). There will be no more changing sides.

7) THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES FALL – Rev. 16; 14:9-12 The seven last plagues are God’s final judgments upon a world that has rejected His love, the cross of Jesus Christ, the worship of the Creator and full authority of the Ten Commandments (14:7, 12). These plagues fall only upon those who have chosen “the beast” and received its “mark” (Rev. 16:1,2). This time period is also called the “time of trouble” (Daniel 12:1). During this awesome period, God’s people will be fully protected, just like the Israelites were during the falling of the ten plagues in Egypt (see Exodus 7-12; Psalm 91). At the end of this period, God’s faithful ones will be “delivered” (Daniel 12:1).

8) THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON – Rev. 16:14-16 This is the final “battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Jesus Christ returns as “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:11-16) to defeat the global forces of Satan, sin and Babylon (Rev. 16:19) and to deliver His blood-bought, obedient people.

9) THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST – Mat. 24:30,31; 1 Thess. 4:16,17 Jesus Christ will return visibly, “with power and great glory,” with “a great sound of a trumpet,” accompanied by billions of shiny, holy angels. He will resurrect “the dead in Christ” (this is the First Resurrection) and “catch up” His living saints into the air. “Sudden destruction” falls upon the lost who have survived the seven plagues (1 Thess. 4:16-5:3).

10) 1000 YEARS, THE SECOND RESURRECTION, THE FINAL JUDGMENT, THE LAKE OF FIRE AND THE NEW EARTH – Rev. 20:1-15; 21:1 After the return of Jesus Christ comes the 1000 years (Rev. 20). At the end of this period comes the second resurrection of “the rest of the dead” who did not participate in the first resurrection (see Rev. 20:5a; 12,13), the final judgment, “the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14,15) and then the creation of a new heaven and earth (Rev. 21:1). In God’s New Earth, there will be “no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,

for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write: for these words are true and faithful (Rev. 21:4,5). Sin will be gone, and God’s love will reign forever!