HOW CAN WE ESTABLISH THE RELATIVE & SPECIFIC TIMES OF KEY EVENTS SURROUNDING & DURING THE END TIME TRIBULATION PERIOD?

  • INTRODUCTION

     The specific and even the relative timeline for key events taking place surrounding and during the end time tribulation period can be very confusing. I have been studying and pondering this for many years. This paper documents the results of the many hours that I have spent turning these things over and over in my mind. I believe that the Sprit has been slowly leading me to these conclusions.

     As we approach this confusing topic we will seek the answers to several interesting questions including:

    What are the key end time tribulation events?

    For which events can we establish specific times?

    For which events can we only establish relative times?

     As shown and concluded in several studies on this site, we will assume that there are effectively 7 judgments in Revelation.

    IS THERE ANY PART OF THE END TIME TRIBULATION TIMELINE THAT IS EASY TO ESTABLISH AND CLEARLY NOT CONTROVERSIAL?

     Yes there is. The fact that the tribulation period will last for exactly seven 360 day years and be divided into two equal three and one half year or 1260 day periods is easy to establish. In fact God clearly wanted this to be non-controversial and wants us to understand it because he told us this in nearly ten different places and in four separate units of time; in years, in months, in days and in Jewish time. The Jewish expression of time for 3 ½ years would be as a time, times and half a time. In ancient Jewish time keeping a time was 1 year, times was 2 years and half a time was ½ year. We have developed a chart in which we have attempted to present the timeframes of the end time tribulation period events. A few of these are relatively easy to establish but most of them require an extensive amount of study and thought.

    WHAT ARE THE KEY END TIME TRIBULATION EVENTS?

     Let us start by compiling a list of several key events surrounding and during the end time tribulation period which are presented in the Bible, often in multiple places but primarily in Revelation. We have compiled them in the table on the following page.

    FOR WHICH TRIBULATION EVENTS CAN WE ESTABLISH SPECIFIC TIMES?

    We can clearly establish the judgments which happen at the very beginning, very middle or very end of the seven year period. From there if we can associate other events with things that happen at one of these three points we can then associate that event with one of these times. There are six of the judgments that we can clearly associate with these three points. In the table on the following page we have attempted to determine the events for which we can identify specific timeframes and those for which we can only determine relative timeframes. We suggest that you go there next, study, the conclusions and check some of the references. After that we will show how we associated the third, fourth and fifth judgments with the mid-point of the tribulation.

SPECIFIC AND RELATIVE TIMEFRAMES FOR KEY END TIME TRIBULATION EVENTS

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  • REV 12 HAS THE KEYS TO HELP US UNDERSTAND THE MID-TRIB TIMELINE AND LOCATE THE TIMEFRAME OF THE JUDGMENTS WITHIN THE TRIBULATION

    We will examine the things we know about what happens at or near mid-tribulation and use them to develop a timeline of the judgments within the 7 year tribulation period.

  • First we know from Dan 9:24-27 and Matt 24:15-16 that the antichrist goes into the temple in Jerusalem and declares himself to be God at exact mid-tribulation.
  • We know from Rev 12:6 and Zech 14:2 that when this happens about ½ of the Israelites go into hiding in the wilderness for 3 ½ years where God would protect them.
  • Rev 12:7 says that after Israel went into hiding that war broke out in heaven between Michael and God’s angels fighting against Satan and his angels. Rev 12:8-9 says that Satan lost and he and his angels were thrown out of heaven and down to earth,
  • Rev 12:13-14 says that when Satan was thrown to earth he went off to pursue and attempt to destroy the people of Israel. Verse 14 says that Israel would be protected from Satan for 3 ½ years which says that Satan could have pursued her for 3 ½ years. Thus Satan was thrown out of heaven at exact mid-tribulation.
  • Rev 12:14 also says that Israel was carried to her place in the desert on the wings of a great eagle. A great eagle announces the start of the three woe judgments, the 5th – 7th trumpet judgments in Rev 8:13. These eagles are likely the same eagle and the timeframe seems to be the same. This would place the start of the 5th trumpet judgment at exact mid-tribulation
  • In the 3rd trumpet judgment of Rev 8:9-10 we see a great star falling to earth and turning 1/3 of the waters bitter. We see in Rev 1:20 that Jesus called angels “stars.” This star was Satan and we see the star called a “he” in Rev 9:1-3. We are told that the star was given the key to the Abyss and that he released the evil angels being held there upon the earth. They would be on earth supporting Satan for 5 months, Rev 9:5, 10. The 6th trumpet judgment seems to start right after the 5 months end. Since we saw above that Satan was thrown out of heaven at exactly mid-tribulation and he was thrown out of heaven in the 3rd trumpet judgment that means that the 3rd trumpet judgment was still ongoing at mid tribulation when Satan fell to earth.
  • In the 4th trumpet judgment of Rev 8:12 we see 1/3 of the stars turning dark. This likely reflects the 1/3 of the angels who fell to earth with Satan. Waters often refer to spirits so the 1/3 of the waters turning bitter when Satan fell to earth may again be referring to the 1/3 of the heavenly angels who were thrown to earth. As above this places the 4th trumpet judgment as still ongoing at mid-tribulation when Satan and his angels fell to earth.
  • We see in Rev 12:15-16 that soon after Satan was thrown to earth he went off to try to destroy Israel in the place where she was hiding. We saw above in the 5th trumpet judgment of Rev 9:1-12 that Satan was allowed to release the evil angels being held in the Abyss upon the earth for 5 month. Satan must have used these angels to administer the mark of the beast for the 5 months they were on earth. They had stingers to torture non believers into taking the mark. They could not harm believers so they must have simply gathered them together and placed them in concentration type camps. This would have been a worldwide venture which may have taken 5 months. Satan then took them with him to go and try to destroy the Israelites who were in hiding in the wilderness. We see in Rev 12:15-16 that Satan spewed a torrent of water at Israel; water often stands for spirits in the Bible. This would have been the evil angels from the Abyss. Rev 12:15-16 says that God opened up the earth and it swallowed the torrent of water. This likely means that God simply sent the angels from the Abyss back to the Abyss, which is figuratively said to be under the earth. Rev 12:17 says that Satan was enraged at this and went back to make war on the people of earth who had become believers in Jesus.
  • How could Satan make war on the people who had become believers in Jesus as a result of the witness of the two witnesses during the first half of the tribulation? How could Satan make war on people of every language, tribe, nation and people group of earth, a group so large that it was uncountable as described in Rev 7:9? He could only make war on them if he had already rounded them up as a part of the administering of the mark of the beast. This had to take place. In the discussion of the mark of the beast in Rev 13, God is telling his people in verse 10 that they will be taken captive and killed with the sword. He tells them to accept this whole scene with patient endurance and faith.
  • Thus we see that Satan went back to Israel to make war on the converts of the two witnesses 5 months after mid-tribulation. We see this being described in Rev 11:7 where we see the antichrist, possessed by Satan, killing the two witnesses, likely including their converts. In Rev 11:12 we see that God brought them back to life and raptured them to heaven. This was well over five months after mid-tribulation and was immediately followed by the great earthquake of the 6th seal judgment of Rev 6:12. This seal judgment coincides with the 6th trumpet judgment of Rev 9:13-21. This judgment is so severe that 1/3 of the people of earth are killed.
  • Thus we see that we can confidently locate the timeframe of all of the 7 judgments within the 7 year tribulation period except for the 2nd judgment. We understand that the seal judgments are not judgments but describe God’s plan for what will transpire during the judgments. The trumpet judgments are the initial effects of the judgments and the bowl judgments seem to be applied in two ways. They describe the continuing effects of the trumpet judgments after the initial catastrophic effect and then are reapplied in quick order at the end of the tribulation period just before the 2nd Coming of Jesus.

  • The discussion below presents additional details of some of the events that we have been describing.

  • AMPLIFICATION OF HOW WE CAN ASSOCIATE THE FIFTH JUDGMENT WITH THE MID-POINT OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD

    Before we attempt to answer this question we should review a few things that we have discovered about the tribulation judgments in general.  The like numbered judgments have so many common characteristics that we have concluded that they are administered almost like a single judgment.  It is as though each like numbered judgment is a single judgment but with three separate functional components as follows:

  • The seal judgments reveal either the agent (means) for judgment or some key characteristic of the judgment; they are not the judgments themselves. They are essentially God’s plan for how he will execute the judgments.
  • The trumpet judgments are either the initial application of the means of judgment described in the particular seal judgment or they reflect the seal judgment in some way.
  • The bowl judgments have two separate applications; they reflect the continuing effects of the initial application of the trumpet judgments over time and also reflect a second application of the means for the trumpet judgments, all applied in a very quick sequence during the seventh trumpet judgment at the Second Coming of Jesus. The 7th seal, trumpet and bowl are all executed together at the 2nd Coming of Jesus at the very end of the tribulation period. As an example of how this might work let’s consider the following. The seal judgment might be described as the dropping of an atomic bomb. The trumpet judgment would be the destruction that occurs when the atomic bomb explodes. There would be tremendous blast damage, huge winds would be generated, huge amounts of debris would be hurled into the upper atmosphere where it would encircle the world, radioactive material would be dispersed over a large area, etc. The bowl judgment would reflect the continuing effects of the initial explosion of the atomic bomb over time. This would include the radioactive and acidic materials which would take up to seven years to filter out of the atmosphere down to earth and would then affect drinking water, food and health, etc. in various ways. Other atomic bombs might be a part of the final judgment as the reapplication of the trumpet/bowl judgment. It is also abundantly clear that the seal and trumpet judgments stretch all of the way across the seven year tribulation period. We will show this as follows:
  • We will first show that the first seal/trumpet judgment occurs at the very beginning of the tribulation period. All that the first seal judgment implies is that that there is war and that the ruler who will come, the antichrist, suddenly bursts onto the stage and the people of earth are introduced to him. We know from Daniel 9:24-27 that his first act is to negotiate a peace treaty with Israel. The first trumpet judgment in Rev 8:7 seems to be describing nuclear weapons falling onto earth with great worldwide destruction, specifically involving fire. Since this is certainly describing a large scale war, this would be the war for which the antichrist negotiates a seven year peace treaty. There do not seem to be other wars until the mid-point of the tribulation. Thus we see the first seal and first trumpet judgments occurring at the very start of the tribulation period. We can also conclude this from a close reading of Luke 17:22-37.
  • We will next show that the seventh seal, trumpet and bowl judgments all occur at the very end of the tribulation period. All the seventh seal judgment tells us is that there is silence in heaven for about half an hour. This is clearly right before the seventh trumpet judgment and the Second Coming. This is a prophetic fulfillment of the high priest’s ritual at the Day of Atonement. He goes into the Holy of Holies to offer the final sacrifice for the sins of all of the Jewish people and emerges about half an hour later to announce, “It is finished.” This is a fulfillment of the seventh bowl judgment prophecy of Rev 16:17 where a loud voice comes from the throne in heaven saying, “It is finished.” This shows the seventh seal and bowl judgments taking place at the very end of the tribulation. How about the seventh trumpet judgment of Rev 11:15? Here we see the kingdom of the world (Satan) has just become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Messiah, and that he will reign for ever and ever. This is clearly at the Second Coming. So we see very clearly that all three are at the very end of the tribulation.
  • We will next show that the fifth trumpet judgment, also called the first woe judgment, seems to start right at the middle of the tribulation. After we have done this we can then conclude that the judgments do indeed stretch all the way across the seven year tribulation period. The key to associating the fifth judgment to the exact middle of the 7 year tribulation period is to associate events in the judgments with the events which occur at the exact middle of the tribulation. The events which occur at the exact middle of the tribulation include:
  • The antichrist goes into the temple in Jerusalem and declares that he is God.
  • The antichrist declares war on Israel.
  • The antichrist assumes control of Israel for the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation
  • Gentiles assume control of Israel for the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation (which proves that the antichrist is a gentile and not a Jew).
  • The two witnesses complete their 1260 days of work on earth.
  • About half of the Jews go into hiding, apparently in Jordon (referred to as the desert).
  • Satan and his angels are all thrown down to earth from heaven.
  • There are events described in Revelation chapters 6, 7, 11, 12 and 14 that all seem to take place at the same time. In fact they all seem to be a part of the same death, resurrection and rapture event. This may help us in setting our mid-tribulation timeline. These events are said to take place in (1) the fifth seal judgment, (2) the fifth trumpet judgment, (3) the first woe judgment, (4) soon after Satan was thrown out of heaven and down to earth, (5) soon after the two witnesses had finished their work on earth (at mid-trib) and finally (6) just before a great earthquake (end of 5th, start of 6th judgment). These events include:
  • The dragon, Satan, went off to make war on those who became believers in Jesus immediately after his failed attempt to destroy Israel as she was hiding in the desert, Rev 12:17.
  • The beast was given power to make war on and conquer the saints of God after he was released from the Abyss, Rev 13:7. These are those who would not worship the beast and take the mark of the beast, Rev 13:8.
  • The beast from the Abyss attacked and killed the two witnesses for Jesus some time after mid-tribulation when they had completed their witnessing for Jesus on earth, Rev 11:7.
  • The 144,000 Jewish servants of God and believers in Jesus who had been sealed at the very beginning of the tribulation were killed and raptured to heaven in some unspecified fashion; they are shown in heaven standing with Jesus later in the tribulation, Rev 7:3-4, 14:1-5.
  • Those called the two witnesses, the believers in Jesus from all over the world and the saints are each parts of the same group of people. Those making war on them, attacking them and killing them are called the beast and the dragon. They are the antichrist and Satan. They are really “one” as the antichrist was apparently indwelt by Satan and was then only an image of his real self. Satan’s possible method for doing this is described later in this paper. This war or attack results in the death, resurrection and rapture described in Rev 11:7-12, 6:9-11, 7:8-17 and 14:1-5.
  • Those raptured to heaven are a group that is variously described as (1) the two witnesses, Rev 11, (2) the souls in white robes under the throne in heaven who had been killed because of their witnessing for Jesus on earth, Rev 6, (3) a great multitude that no one could count wearing white robes who had come out of the great tribulation, Rev 7, and (4) the 144.000 who had been redeemed out of the earth as firstfruits of the harvest, Rev 14. The common thread among these four groups of people is that they had all become believers in Jesus, they had all been killed in the great tribulation and they had all been resurrected and raptured to heaven.
  • There is another enlightening aspect of the fifth trumpet judgment described in Rev 9. Satan is allowed to release the evil angels who were being held in the Abyss. They had a curious assignment. They were to torture and torment all of the unbelievers on earth, but were not to harm believers in Jesus. What could this have been about? This occurs in the fifth judgment and is after the mid-tribulation when the antichrist proclaimed himself to be God and demanded to be worshipped. This is the time when the mark of the beast would be enforced. It is therefore likely that the purpose for torturing non-believers was to force them to take the mark of the beast. Since they could not harm believers it is likely that they imprisoned them, likely in Israel, within easy reach of the beast. Rev 9:5,10 tells that this went on for five months. Since all believers were to be killed later they had to be identified in some manner. It was this enforcement of the mark of the beast that allowed them to be identified. They must have been collected together in some place for the beast to be able to kill them all at the same time. We were told that they are an uncountable number of people from all over the world so they must have been collected together in some manner. This scenario just described makes the most sense in light of the context. In the discussion of the mark of the beast in Rev 13, verse 10 tells us that the believers will be placed into captivity and killed with the sword. God then tells them to accept it with patient endurance and faith. Rev 20:4 then confirms that they will be beheaded with the sword.
  • All of these clues lead us to the conclusion that the death, resurrection and rapture event took place five or so months after mid-tribulation. This places the fifth judgment as starting sometime before or right at mid-tribulation. Whew!!

  • FURTHER AMPLIFICATION OF EVENTS IN THE TRIBULATION THAT HELP US IDENTIFY AND UNDERSTAND THE TIMELINE OF THE JUDGMENTS

    There will be some amount of redundancy in this section with the previous section, but we have included it anyway to help place our additional amplifications in proper context.  Also as I learned long ago, repetition aids in learning and more importantly in remembering what we have learned.

  • The fact that the last three judgments, the fifth through seventh trumpet judgments, are given an even more ominous name, the three woe judgments, likely means that they occur in what is often referred to as the “great” tribulation, the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation. Israel is the primary object of God’s wrath and its main purpose is to force Israel to finally recognize that Jesus is their Messiah, their God. It is in the last 3 ½ years, the great tribulation, that Satan and the antichrist declare war on Israel and set out to completely destroy her.
  • At the middle of the tribulation Israel had been living in peace for 3 ½ years and the antichrist and his gentile followers suddenly declare war on Israel.
  • The fact that the antichrist reveals himself to the world in mid-tribulation lets the false prophet begin his campaign to get all of the people of the world to accept the mark of the beast, which means that they will accept him as their god. This campaign to get the people of earth to accept the mark of the beast could not have happened in the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation since the antichrist had not yet fully revealed himself.
  • The death, resurrection and rapture of the two witnesses could not have taken place until after the mid-point of the tribulation since they were given 1260 days to do their work.
  • There is a war in heaven between Michael and the angels of God against Satan and his angels described in Rev 12:7-12. Satan and his angels are defeated and thrown down to the earth. They are no longer in heaven and will never again be there. We do not know if some or all of the evil angels have bodies that can function in a physical world or if they must rely on possessing the bodies of humans to do their work on earth.
  • Satan is clearly thrown down to earth in the third trumpet judgment, Rev 8:10-11. He is described as a blazing star that that fell from the sky. We also see that a third of the waters turn bitter as a result of Satan falling to earth. This may be a symbolic reference to Satan’s angels who fall with him. Rev 12:4 tells us that when Satan originally fell from grace that one third of the angels in heaven fell with him.
  • Also in the fourth trumpet judgment in Rev 8:12, we again see a description of what may symbolically represent the fall of Satan’s angels to earth.
  • The eagle in the fourth trumpet judgment of Rev 8:13 who says that the three woes are about to begin (the 5th through 7th trumpet judgments) and the eagle in Rev 12:14 which carries Israel to safety in the desert are surely the same eagle. Both of these events were the fourth, beginning of the fifth trumpet judgments. We know that Israel goes into hiding in the desert as soon as the antichrist declares that he is God from Matt 24:15-16.
  • In the fifth trumpet judgment in Rev 9:1-3 this same star is given the key to the Abyss so that he can release the evil angels being imprisoned there by God. This star is clearly an angel and it corresponds with the fall of Satan recorded in Rev 12. Angels are sometimes referred to as stars in the Bible; Rev 1:20 is a good example of this. In fact Rev 9:2 begins with the phrase, “When he opened the Abyss.” This tells us very plainly that the object falling from the sky was not a “star,” it was a “he.”
  • Going back to Rev 12:13 we see that soon after Satan was hurled to earth he went off to pursue the people of Israel who had gone into hiding in the desert. This could not occur until after the mid-point of the tribulation since Israel did not go into hiding in the desert until after the mid-point of the tribulation when the antichrist went into the temple, declared himself to be God and declared war on Israel.
  • As Satan was on his way to kill the Jews who were in hiding in the desert and was about to overtake them, Rev 12:15, he sent a torrent of evil spirits after the Jews to destroy them. These were likely the evil angels that Satan had just released from the Abyss in the fifth trumpet judgment. However God intervened and opened up a hole in the earth, likely the shaft leading back to the Abyss, Rev 9:1, and they were swallowed up. These angels from the Abyss had only been given five months to do their work, Rev 9:5, 10, and so this likely took place about 5 months or so after Satan had been kicked out of heaven. Again from Rev 12:13 Satan seemed to pursue Israel soon after he was hurled to earth. After Satan saw that God would not allow him to destroy the Jews in hiding he became enraged and went off to make war against all of the humans on earth who had become believers in Jesus during the first half of the tribulation, after the initial rapture of believers, Rev 12:17. This would correspond to the time that he returned to Israel to kill all of those who had been collected by the evil angels from the Abyss as they scoured the earth, interviewing people to see who would accept the mark of the beast. They had power to torture those who were not believers to convince them to take the mark of the beast. They were not allowed to torture believers so they likely took them back to Israel and placed them in a concentration camp. These would have been people from all of the nations of the earth who had responded to the evangelization of the two witnesses and the 144,000. They would have refused to take the mark of the beast. In the discussion of the implementation of the mark of the beast in Rev 14:9-12 we read the following concerning those who refused to take the mark of the beast, “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.” Rev 13:10 says something quite similar to this. After patiently enduring for several months they were finally all killed, Rev 20:4, and then raptured along with the two witnesses, Rev 11:11-12. Those showing up in heaven as a result of the fifth trumpet judgment rapture were said to be a huge multitude that nobody could count from every nation, tribe, people and language, Rev 7:9. Again Rev 7:14 indicates that they had been killed in the great tribulation. This very clearly places the mid-tribulation rapture in the fifth judgment.
  • In the fifth seal judgment in Rev 6:9 there is a rapture described. Those raptured are clearly those who were killed because they refused to take the mark of the beast. Again this places the fifth seal in the second half of the tribulation. Those raptured in the fifth seal of Rev 6:9-11 were said to be killed in the tribulation just as those seen in heaven in Rev 7:9-17 were said to be killed in the great tribulation. This clearly places the events of Rev 7 in the fifth seal judgment. In Rev 14:1-4 we see the 144,000 standing with Jesus in heaven. We are told that they had been redeemed from the earth as firstfruits, which means that they had been killed, then resurrected and raptured to heaven in a soul harvest. They were likely a part of the rapture of the fifth judgment. Then in Rev 11:3-12 we see a description of the two witnesses and are told that they had been witnessing for Jesus during the complete first half of the tribulation. They were then allowed to be killed. After 3 ½ days they were resurrected and raptured to heaven. Rev 11:13 tells us that immediately after the rapture there was a huge earthquake. This was likely the great earthquake of Rev 6:12 which begins the sixth seal judgment. We are then told in Rev 11:14 that the second woe, the sixth trumpet judgment (and therefore the sixth seal judgment) has passed and the third woe is about to begin. That likely places the rapture of the two witnesses at the very end of the fifth judgment just before the great earthquake of the sixth judgment. This is consistent with the rapture of Rev 11. Since all four of the raptures that are described as taking place in the mid-tribulation period are likely the same resurrection and rapture, that likely places the fifth judgment right after the middle of the tribulation period. The number of clues pointing to both the sixth seal and sixth trumpet judgments taking place right after mid tribulation are overwhelming.
  • Thus we see multiple witnesses of the fifth judgment occurring right after mid-tribulation.

  • FURTHER PARTITIONING OF EVENTS TAKING PLACE IN THE FIRST AND SECOND HALF OF THE TRIBULATION, WITH ADDITIONAL DETAILS

    FIRST HALF OF THE TRIBULATION

  • The judgments are broken into 2 segments in Revelation. The first segment is the 4 judgments of the four horsemen. These judgments are largely controlled by spiritual forces in heaven, both good and evil, influencing people of earth and also causing great natural disasters from heaven. These four riders are as follows:
  • The rider on the white horse, the conqueror who took over the nations of earth,
  • The rider on the red horse, the swordsman who took peace from the earth,
  • The rider on the black horse, the economist who brought great inflation, and
  • The rider on the pale horse, the angel of death who killed ¼ of the people of earth using sword, famine, plague and disease.
  • The general rapture, the 1st rapture, takes place at the very beginning of the 7 year tribulation period
  • The antichrist negotiates a peace treaty with Israel at the very beginning of the 7 year tribulation period.
  • The antichrist breaks the peace treaty in the exact middle of the 7 year period when he goes into the temple in Jerusalem and declares himself to be god and demands to be worshipped as such by all people of earth.
  • The two witnesses, likely two very powerful leaders, with at least 144,000 supporting evangelists, go all over the earth witnessing for Jesus and winning millions of converts during the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation period.
  • As we know, especially from Paul’s writings in Ephesians and other places, there is a constant war taking place in heaven between the forces of God and the forces of Satan. He calls this spiritual warfare. In the tribulation period this warfare in heaven reaches a crescendo, apparently never before reached. Satan knows he is near his end and he leaves no dirty trick in his bag.
  • In the 1st half of the tribulation period the war is primarily being waged in heaven between God’s angels and Satan’s angels. Both sides are influencing those on earth who follow them to do their biding. Satan has two principal cohorts on earth, the antichrist and the false prophet. In the first half of the tribulation they are humans under the control or direction of Satan. As the war in heaven heats up, the archangel Michael and God’s angels turn up the heat and succeed in defeating Satan and his angels. Right at the mid-point of the tribulation period Satan is thrown completely out of heaven and down to earth. At that time he takes over the body of the false prophet and from that time forward in the tribulation period, Satan and the False Prophet may essentially be one and the same, Rev 13:11. The false prophet has two heads or horns, the dragon and the false prophet himself. He speaks like the dragon, Satan. Right after the mid-point of the tribulation period the antichrist receives a serious head wound and may be either killed or seriously impaired, Gen 3:14-15, Zech 11:15-17, Rev 13:12, 14. In either case Satan and the false prophet set up a holographic image of him that they can speak through and completely control, Rev 13:12, 15. From that time forward in the tribulation, Satan, the false prophet and the antichrist are really one. They are all Satan, Rev 16:13-14. Thus we see that the 5th and 6th judgments on earth, the 1st and 2nd woe judgments, are primarily controlled by spiritual beings on earth; the 5th judgment by the evil angels from the Abyss who have been released on the earth for 5 months, and the angels of Satan in the 6th judgment; those thrown out of heaven and down to earth at mid-trib in the 4th trumpet judgment. These satanic angels likely make up the 200 million man army from the east. Anytime spiritual beings come from heaven to earth they come from the east in the Bible.
  • The first four judgments involve damage to earth and the people of earth from physical means. These physical means are primarily due to natural disasters precipitated by forces in heaven, directed by God and administered by his angels. They also involve physical forces directed by angels in heaven, some Satanic and some Godly, but administered by humans on earth. An example would be use of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

  • SECOND HALF OF THE TRIBULATION

  • The second segment is the 3 woe judgments which are also largely controlled by spiritual forces but with quite a different twist. God’s angels are controlling things from heaven while Satan’s angels are controlling things from earth. Satan’s angels being on earth really causes woe, woe, woe for the people of earth. We might look at this as follows:
  • The 1st woe is largely controlled by Satan, who has been thrown out of heaven and down to earth and by his evil angels from the Abyss who are on earth for 5 months. Satan’s heavenly angels seem to be thrown to earth in the 4th judgment.
  • Satan and his angels on earth largely control the 2nd woe judgment. They gather all the nations of earth to Israel to attempt to completely destroy her. God’s angels in heaven send a huge earthquake to earth. The armies are gathered at Armageddon for the final battle. These armies seem to include Satan’s angels and God’s angels.
  • Jesus returns to earth with his bride and his angels in the 3rd woe. He clearly controls and dominates the 3rd woe judgment. The moment he touches earth the greatest natural disaster in the history of the world occurs. Jesus speaks the word and Satan and his angels are immediately sent to the Abyss for 1000 years.
  • In great contrast to the first half of the tribulation, the second half of the tribulation is primarily administered by spiritual forces now upon the earth. In the 5th and 6th judgments, the 1st and 2nd woes, they are primarily administered by Satan’s angels, either those from the Abyss or those thrown out of heaven in the 4th trumpet judgment. Satan is having his way on earth in the 2nd half of the tribulation, except for interruptions from heaven when necessary; for example when God resurrects and raptures the two witnesses or when he opens up the hole in the ground leading back to the Abyss and sends the evil angels from there back to the Abyss. This is at the end of the 5th judgment.
  • In the 6th judgment God’s angels again send huge natural disasters upon the earth. Otherwise Satan’s angels are having free reign and amass their forces, both human and spiritual/angelic, to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. That ushers in the 2nd Coming in which Jesus returns to earth with his bride and also with all of his angels to keep Satan and his forces from accomplishing their objective. The great battle would then be between the spiritual forces on God and the spiritual forces of Satan, this time on the earth. We know the outcome. Jesus intervenes and sends Satan and all of his angels to the Abyss for the next 1000 years. He then conducts a judgment of all of the humans left on earth, likely well less than ½ of those who had been left on earth at the beginning of the tribulation period. This judgment is called the sheep/goat judgment. Jesus sends all of those who had been following Satan to Hades for 1000 years, awaiting their final judgment at the end of the millennium. Those who had become believers were left on earth to begin the millennium.
  • There is a 2nd rapture in the 5th seal judgment, the 5th trumpet judgment also called the 1st woe judgment, sometime after the mid-point of the 7 year tribulation period. This rapture likely included the two witnesses and all of their converts to Jesus.
  • The 2nd Coming takes place in the 7th judgment, at the very end of the 7 year tribulation period.
  • The 3 woe judgments, the 5th through 7th judgments are all in the last 3 ½ years of the 7 year tribulation period.

  • FINAL ARGUMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS

    We are attaching a table titled  “The interrelated judgments and the effects of the two witnesses on them.”  This table gives a short summary of each of the 7 seal, trumpet and bowl judgments.  A close examination shows that there is an obvious relationship between the like numbered judgments in each category.  Surprisingly enough, I also found that there seems to be a clear causative effect between the supernatural powers given to the two witnesses and the results of the judgments during the first half of the tribulation when the two witnesses are doing their work on earth. Some of my conclusions from examination of this table are shown at the bottom of the table. 
               My conclusions after conducting this study and several others like it over an eight year period have not changed.

Proof Thru Prophecy

REASONABLE CONCLUSIONS AFTER STUDYING THE ABOVE INCLUDE:

  1. The 2 witnesses may be responsible for most first half judgments.  They are on earth witnessing for 3 ½  years and are protected by God during that time.  People blame them for the great calamity that is hitting earth.  They widely celebrate their death.
  2. The 2nd half of the tribulation begins with the 5th judgment.  That is when Satan begins his reign on earth through  the antichrist.
  3. The like numbered judgments are so similar it is almost a certainty that they are basically the same judgment, with the seal being God’s plan, the trumpet being the initial application of the planned judgments and the bowl being both the continuation of the effects of the trumpet judgments over time and also representing a large scale reapplication of the first 6 judgments all at the 2nd coming.  It is obvious that the 7th judgment is the exact same for all three.  A close study of the Battle of Jericho confirms this.
  4. There is obviously a huge rapture of the tribulation dead 5 months past mid tribulation.  This is not the rapture of the church; that rapture is on the 1st day of the tribulation, Luke 17:22-37.  I cannot interpret that passage in any other way that makes sense.
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