FAQ

Not all of God’s judgements are bad. This is a good one. It is the a judgement for God’s children only, where no punishment will be delivered, but rewards for good stewardship will be given.

We cannot earn our salvation – that was done on the cross by Christ. But we are responsible for what we do with our salvation. How we spend our lives here does make a difference to our eternity. Our works does not earn us salvation, but it will be tested. This is a scary thought. But remember that God knows you inside out. If you turned to Christ late in life, or only realized what leading a life in gratitude to Christ really means later on, don’t despair. The Bible says that some who were first will be last. And some who were last, first.

Instead, take caution to not revert to a works-for-salvation type of mentality. God owes us nothing. No matter how many good works we do. Focus on your relationship with Him and allow His Spirit to guide you every day. Trust that He is good, but take care not to be complacent. Again, your salvation is not at stake, but knowing that God does expect us to live lives that glorify Him and will ask an account of this, does make you think a bit differently about what you value in life.

Daniel was given a prophecy by the angel Gabriel, pertaining specifically to Israel and Jerusalem. In total it consists of a 490 year period (each prophetic day equating to a year) with an interval between the 69’th and 70’th prophetic weeks.

All events predicted for the first 69 prophetic weeks have been fulfilled with astounding accuracy and I would highly recommend further study in this area. A good starting point are the resources listed below.

We currently find ourselves in the interval. The Bible does not say how long this interval will be. During this time, the church came into existence as God extended His grace to gentiles who were willing to accept Christ as the Messiah, while His own people, the Jewish nation, would not. At a time only God knows (sometimes referred to as the “fullness of the Gentiles”), God will rapture His church. We don’t know how much time will pass between the rapture and the beginning of the Tribulation, but once the Tribulation begins it will start off the 70’th week of this prophecy, i.e. the final 7 years before Christ returns.

Understanding this prophecy is important, as it indicates clearly that God has not written off Israel at all. He is not done with the Jews. They remain His chosen people. The church did not replace Israel and the promises God made to Israel were not transferred to the church. Once the church is with God, He will return His attention to Israel. They will ultimately return to God and realize the huge mistake they made by not accepting Christ as their Messiah. But this will be a very difficult journey for them as it will take them suffering greatly through the Tribulation before they, as a nation, recognize the Truth. As the church of Christ we need to pray that as many Jewish people as possible would turn to Christ before it is too late. All who suffer through the Tribulation will experience hardship, but none more so than Israel.

The Tribulation will be a 7 year period during which the antichrist and his false prophet will be revealed. He will be an extremely intelligent, powerful and deceptive world leader. Under his leadership, the world will unify to the extent that the Jewish people will be allowed to build their Temple in Jerusalem. It’s not until 3.5 years later that the antichrist will reveal his true intentions and force the world to serve him as god.

Both the antichrist and his spiritual leader (false prophet) will be empowered by Satan himself. Instruction will be given for an image of the antichrist to be created. Anyone who refuses to worship his image will be killed. A system will also be put in place that requires people to take the mark of the antichrist (commonly known as the mark of the beast) on their foreheads or right hands. Without this mark, it won’t be possible to buy or sell.

This last 3.5 years are also known as the time of Jacob’s troubles or the Great Tribulation. When the antichrist declares himself god, Israel will reject him. As Israel are God’s chosen people, Satan hates them especially. And the most extreme and horrific persecution in Israel’s history will follow, until Israel as a nation accept that Jesus was their Messiah and pray for Him to return. Jesus will then come back to save Israel at the battle of Armageddon.

One cannot begin to imagine what a horrific time this will be. Apart from the antichrist slaughtering Christians and Jews, this is also the time during which God punishes the earth for refusing to accept His Son and continuing in their wicked ways. This time of punishment was not meant for God’s Church. Make sure that you’re not there when it happens. The choice is yours.

Known by many names (most commonly the devil), Satan was originally called Lucifer. He was of a class of angels called the Cherubim (not to be confused with the small fat babies with wings known in every day life as a Cherub. This had its origin in the Renaissance and has nothing to do with real angels).

Also called the “anointed Cherub that covereth” (Ezekiel 28:14), Lucifer was a guardian angel directly in God’s presence. He is extremely powerful, intelligent and beautiful and nothing at all like the red horned little pitch-fork creature we’ve come to know in fairy tales. We don’t know how pride and jealousy came to be – the Bible does not say. But we do know that Satan’s sin was pride. He grew prideful in his beauty and splendor and wanted to be like God. He therefore started a rebellion against God. A third of the angels followed him in rebellion. God cast them, along with Satan, out of their positions in Heaven and since then it has been their goal to corrupt mankind and stop God’s plans for the salvation of our species.

Satan made multiple attempts to destroy the line of David once God made it known that this would be the line from which the Messiah would come. But we know that was a complete failure as Jesus fulfilled His mission of dying for our sins and rising from the dead.

Satan is not to be trifled with. We are not to fear him, because the Bible says that He that is in us, is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). But he is still an extremely powerful and smart being. Even Michael the archangel did not directly rebuke Satan. He said that God would rebuke him.

But it is a mistake to view Satan as a rival of Christ. That places him on the same level. And Satan, powerful as he may be, is still a created being. Christ is God.

We know that, in spite of losing his place of honour in Heaven, Satan still had access to the heavenly realm. This is confirmed in Job 2, where Satan appeared before God. But, according to Revelation 12:7-12, there will come a time when he no longer has any access to Heaven and, knowing his time is short, will focus all his attention on destroying Israel and any Christians he can find.

The abomination of desolation will be an idol or image of the antichrist, which, during the Tribulation, will be placed in the Holy of Holies of the Temple that will be built in Jerusalem.

This was stated by Daniel (Daniel 9:27) as part of his 70 week prophecy and was confirmed by Jesus (Matthew 24:15).

The Bible is full of Patterns and Types, which help us to better understand certain texts or events. The abomination of desolation is one such pattern. In Daniel 11:31 Daniel predicted another instance where an ‘abomination of desolation’ featured. This prophecy already came to pass when Antiochus Epiphanes, a Syrian ruler, sacrificed a pig on the Temple altar and placed an idol of a Greek god in the Holy of Holies. It is therefore clear that the prophecy in Daniel 9, which pertains to the ‘last week’ of Daniel’s 70 week prophecy, i.e. during the Tribulation.

Armageddon (Hill of Megiddo in Hebrew) refers to the gathering place of the world’s armies in their final battle against Israel.

This battle will conclude with Christ’s return, as He Himself will save Israel. This is known as the second coming of Christ and will usher in the new Millennium Kingdom.

At the end of the Tribulation, all people that survive the tribulation will be judged by Christ. This is referred to as the sheep and goat judgement.

Those who trusted in Christ (the sheep), will enter the Millennium kingdom. The rest (the goats) will be condemned and their ultimate destiny will be hell.

The bottomless pit, also called the Abyss (Abyssos) is a prison where the worst demons and fallen angels are kept imprisoned.

It is not the same as hell. But ultimately those creatures imprisoned here, will be cast into hell as well. This will also be the temporary holding place where Satan will be bound for 1000 years, during the Millennial Kingdom.

After Christ returns, he’ll declare victory over His enemies, place Satan in captivity (the bottomless pit) and take His place as the just King and ruler over earth. He’ll reign from Jerusalem and with this, all prophecy regarding Israel that have not yet come into fruition, will be fulfilled.

Not only will Christ restore Israel and bring justice and peace to the earth, He will also heal the earth from the damage done by the curse that twisted our planet into something it was never meant to be. When God created our planet, there were no plagues or pestilence. There were no weeds, droughts or floods. Animals didn’t kill each other either – everything existed in perfect harmony and one being didn’t have to suffer or die to sustain another. God will restore the earth to what it had been. How amazing is that! And God, along with His saints, will reign over the earth for 1000 years.

Note that, in spite of the damage done by the curse being rolled back, people will still be able to sin. Sin will still be with us during this wonderful time. People who follow the rule of Jesus will be able to live the entire 1000 years. The Bible states that someone dying at 100 would be considered an infant. Death will come to those who defy God.

At the end of this 1000 years, God will release Satan for a short time. This is the sad thing about the human ‘condition’. In spite of having perfect health, prosperity and justice under the rule of Christ, many nations will still follow the devil and try to fight God. Once again this attempt to overthrow God will fail. This will end with the White Throne judgement during which God will rid the universe of all sin once and for all. After this, the new Heaven and earth will be created.

Once Christ rules as King on earth, the earth will be restored from the curse that came to be when man first sinned (see Genesis 3).

There will be no pest or weeds. Even the animals will return to their original state and predators will become herbivores. There won’t be disease either. Earth will be very close to a paradise, but sin will still exist.

This is the Final judgement of God. It will happen at the end of the Millennium Kingdom, after Satan is let loose for a short time and his final attempt at a revolt against God fails yet again.

Satan and all his followers will be cast into hell at this point, to suffer torment alongside the antichrist and his false prophet, for all eternity. God will remake the Heaven and Earth and an new era will dawn, free from any sin.

Hell is a place of eternal damnation, torment and separation from God.

Hell was not created for human beings. It was created as a place of punishment for Satan and the angels that rebelled against God. God created us in His image and He does not want a singe human soul to be lost. But He gave us free will. And if we choose to rebel against God and reject Christ, we choose hell. There is no third option – each of us will either find ourselves with God or in hell.

After the Millennium Kingdom and White Throne judgement, God will destroy the heaven and earth with fire. And He’ll create a new Heaven and earth.

All humans who did not accept Christ as their Lord and Savior will be cast into hell, alongside the angels who rebelled against God and all demonic forces. There will be no escape. Thus there will be a complete and utter end to sin.

God will live with the believers, His children through Christ, on this new earth. And a new era free from any sin or curse will begin.