Section 1: General Summary of The Tribulation Period Including Details of the First 3 1/2 Years

WHAT THIS SUMMARY SECTION INCLUDES
I have three principal goals in writing this section, first to summarize the message of Revelation in plain language, second to fill in many details about the tribulation period that are presented in other places in the Bible but not in Revelation, and third to summarize the situation in the world leading up to the events presented in Revelation. There are many details about the end times presented throughout the Bible, especially in the Old Testament. However, many times it is difficult to determine the timeframe intended for the prophecies fulfillment. A good example is Isa 61:1-3 which prophesied both Jesus’ first and second comings. The switch from one to the other is at a comma. We only know because Jesus told us that in Luke 4:17-21. There are usually clues to the timeframe but we must be diligent in looking for them and not be too dogmatic about our conclusions.
This section provides a time sequenced presentation of the end time events, starting with pre-tribulation events and going through the tribulation, the millennium and on to the new heaven and new earth of eternity. This material is intended to be used with the “End Time and Revelation Summary Charts” presented in this section. Detailed background material leading to these conclusions about end time prophecy are included in the commentary on Revelation titled “Revelation; A Detailed Chapter by Chapter Commentary.”
This interpretation of end time events encompasses my understanding of the sequence of end time judgments as presented in Revelation. There are three sets of seven judgments described in Revelation and they are called the seal, the trumpet and the bowl judgments. From very close examination it seems that the seal judgments are not judgments but a description of the means or vehicles for the other judgments. The trumpet judgments are the initial application of the means described in the seal judgments and the bowl judgments are a continuing application of these means over the remainder of the tribulation period. It also seems that there is a reapplication of at least the first four judgments, all taking place in the sixth and/or seventh judgments. There are many places in this summary and the accompanying commentaries and charts where interpretations and extrapolations have been made. These are always subject to change as new information becomes available, as new insights into the prophecies of Holy Scripture are revealed and as events unfold. My scientific and historical knowledge and background, mixed with a little common sense, aided me greatly in these interpretations. Most of all I thank the Holy Spirit for his inspiration and for giving me the passion to study the Word.
Revelation is based upon several visions and much information that are presented to John. John is told to write down what he sees and hears. Unfortunately John is seeing things that will take place over 2000 years and maybe much further into the future. He sees and hears things that are foreign to him. He must be really puzzled by much of what he sees. He must be seeing airplanes, missiles, motor vehicles, nuclear weapons being detonated, television, internet, and all sorts of other puzzling futuristic inventions. He certainly must be struggling as to how to describe what he sees. In my studies of Revelation I am attempting to use my Biblical and historical knowledge, my scientific background and common sense to place John’s descriptions into a contemporary setting. This certainly requires some level of educated speculation on my part.

SUMMARY OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD
♦ The tribulation period will be a seven year long period of wrath upon the earth which will have no equal in the history of the world. It will be so bad that without Jesus’ return at the end of the period at his Second Coming, nobody would remain alive on the earth, Matt 24:21-22. There will be several key players in the scenario that plays out in the tribulation period. One of them will be a powerful world leader who is already on the world stage when the tribulation period begins. He is Satanically inspired and will become the person who is often called the antichrist. He will not be known as the antichrist when the tribulation period begins. We find in Revelation that there will be seven separate judgments that God will inflict upon the world during the period of wrath which will usher in the “kingdom of heaven” upon the earth. This is God’s judgment and he will be in charge. In fact, we find in the first chapter of Revelation that the authors of the seven judgments on the earth were all three of those in the trinity, God the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. We then find in Chapter 5 that it is only Jesus who is found worthy to administer the judgments. He is in charge because it is he who came to earth and died to save those of mankind who would accept his sacrifice for them. These judgments lead to Jesus return to earth and to the ushering in of Jesus’ 1000 year reign on earth as King of kings.
♦ Note that in the summary of the judgments of Revelation we will assume that there are a total of seven judgments, not twenty one judgments. For a thorough discussion of the many reasons for this see the section titled The Revelation judgments, a detailed commentary.

PRE-TRIBULATION EVENTS
♦ Israel became a nation again (in 1948), fulfilling multiple Bible prophecies, Matt 24:32-34, Lk 21:29-32, Isa 52:8-10, 66:7-8, Zech 12:1-6. In the end times God will provide supernatural protection for Israel, Zech 12:1-9.
♦ Jerusalem became a part of Israel again (in 1967), also fulfilling multiple Bible prophecies, Luke 21:24, Isa 52:1-3, Zech 12:1-3. Jerusalem will be a stumbling block for the world, Zech 12:2-3. She will be on the world stage in spite of all reasonable expectations otherwise.
♦ There will be continuing wars and threats of war throughout the world. This will be nothing really new as that has always been the situation in the world, Matt 24:6-7, Mark 13:7-8, Lk 21:9-10.
♦ Things will seem relatively normal in the world as the end times approach. People will be going about doing their normal everyday activities in most places; working, playing, partying, getting married, shopping, fighting, serving, etc., Matt 24:36-42. There will be many Christians that recognize the signs and realize that it is the season for the return of Jesus but they will not be able to discern the day or the hour of his return, Matt 24:32-36. The day and hour of Jesus’ return will be sudden and without warning. There will be a drastic and instantaneous change in the world situation. Suddenly there will no longer be any born again Christians left on the earth.
♦ As the end times approach there will be a large falling away from God in the world, Matt 24:4-5, 10-11, 2 Thess 2:3, 1 Tim 4:1, 2 Tim 4:3-4. There will be a large apostate religion that gains a worldwide foothold and great acceptance. There are two current candidates. One is the all inclusive one church movement around the world that is saying that there are multiple ways to heaven, that Jesus is not the only way. Many in this movement say that he is not God. The other candidate is the quickly growing Islamic religion, which does not recognize Jesus as God. After the rapture and the emergence of the antichrist the Bible refers to this world wide religion as mystery Babylon, the great prostitute, Rev 17, 18, 19:1-3. She will be supported by the antichrist during the first half of the tribulation period.
♦ Ezek 38 is prophetic of the period leading up to the tribulation and also the tribulation judgments. Verses 7-8 say that Israel had been regathered from the nations of the world, was just recovering from a war and was living in peace. What possible scenario can bring this about? It is very unlikely that the nations surrounding Israel will ever let them live in peace unless some unusual event take place. What war is this passage in Ezek talking about? We will speculate a bit about what could happen. Again, it seems that before the tribulation Israel will be involved in a war. One possible speculative scenario for this war follows. This war may be described in Ps 83. If so this war may be with Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt. In that case, in fulfillment of Ps 83 these nations will say “Come let us destroy them as a nation, that the name Israel be remembered no more.” It seems that Israel overwhelmingly prevails in this war. As a possible consequence Syria may become a part of Israel so to speak. Israel allows them to govern themselves after some time and they install a Syrian to lead the government. This leader may or may not be a Muslim but in either case he does not follow the Islamic code. This leader is a great orator and quickly wins the confidence of other world leaders. He eventually turns out to be the antichrist. It seems that he is called the Assyrian in Isa 14:24-27 and Micah 5:5-7. He may also be called a Canaanite (someone who lives in Israel but is not a Jew) as we see in Zech 14:21. This is one possible scenario that could bring about fulfillment of Ezek 38. This ushers in the tribulation period.
♦ On the very day the 7 year tribulation begins, the rapture of the church takes place, Luke 17:26-36. Scriptures which describe the rapture include 1 Cor 15:51-53, 1 Thess 4:13-18, Matt 24:36-51, Isa 26:19-21. The judgment seat of Christ takes place at the time of the rapture, 2 Cor 5:10. At that time all believers receive rewards for the things that they did while they were on earth. The way this judgment will be conducted is described in 1 Cor 3:8-14.
♦ Before the beginning of the tribulation, plans for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem must be in place, along with the implements for worship, the priests to conduct the worship, etc. This is all already well underway.

TRIBULATION EVENTS – FIRST 3 ½ YEARS
♦ FIRST JUDGMENT – the white horse judgment
♦ As soon as the world’s born again Christians are raptured to heaven the situation on the earth will be drastically different, particularly for Israel. In spite of the fact that Israel is largely Jewish, their great supporters in the world are Christian, especially the United States and her key allies including Britain. Without the Christian influence the attitude of the world toward Israel will change drastically.
♦ At the same time that the rapture is taking place nuclear equipped missiles may already be in the air headed for Israel. Ezekiel 38-39 describes a war in the end times in which a number of nations from the north of Israel, certainly including Iran, attack her. God says in Ezek 38:16 that he is behind this and brings these nations against Israel so that he can convince the nations of the world that he is holy, that he is God. Ezek 38:8, 14 says that this will happen after Israel has been re-gathered from the nations and is back in her land (after 1948). This will be in a time during which Israel has just recovered from another war and is living in safety, Ezek 38:8, 14. The fact that this happens in a time of peace means that this war must be at the beginning and not the end of the tribulation period. The fact that Israel then goes out to plunder those nations that attacked them also precludes this war being at the end of the tribulation, Ezek 39:10.
♦ Those who attack Israel will be so soundly defeated that Israel will use the weapons that they capture as fuel for seven years, Ezek 39:9-10. This seven years encompasses the entire tribulation period. Ezek 39:12-13 says that it will take seven months to bury the enemy dead.
♦ The antichrist emerges onto the world scene when he uses his great oratorical skills to broker a seven year peace treaty between Israel and her enemies to end this war, Dan 9:27. This peace treaty allows Israel to rebuild her temple in Jerusalem, next to the Dome of the Rock, Rev 11:1-2, Ezek 40:2-5, Dan 9:27. This temple is complete and in use for worship before the mid-point of the tribulation period, Rev 11:1-2.
♦ Ezek 39:21-22 says that God will display his fury and his glory in the tribulation in such a way that from that day forward much of Israel will recognize that God is their Lord, which I interpret to mean that Jesus is their Lord and God. God also says that he will defeat those who attack Israel in such a supernatural way that the nations of the earth will recognize that he is their God. This results in many Jews and gentiles becoming believers in Jesus. These new believers are called the “two witnesses” in Revelation 11:3-6. They also include the 144,000 Jews described in Rev 7:1-8. All of these are witnesses for Christ in the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation and are supernaturally protected by God during that time, Rev 7:3, 11:5-6. Remember, these are new believers since all believers had just been raptured to heaven as the tribulation began. Strangely enough, the two witnesses are said to have some control over the judgments that are applied in the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation, Rev 11:6. This reference may specifically apply to two special leaders who emerge from the new group of believers during the first half of the tribulation.
♦ The nations that attack Israel also attack Iraq at the same time. Iraq (Babylon) suffers catastrophic damage at this time. Iraq is attacked because she has become an ally of those who support Israel. While the nuclear weapons fired upon Israel are intercepted and do not reach their target, those aimed at Iraq do reach their target with dire consequences. Isa 13:1-5, 17-22, Isa 47, Jer 50-51.
♦ Israel and her allies counterattack those who attack her and Iraq, also with nuclear weapons. The resulting damage from these nuclear weapons causes the great damage all over the world described in the first judgment of the tribulation period. Ezek 38:22, 39:3-6 says that God will execute those nations that attack Israel by pouring down on them torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur. This fulfills the description of the 1st judgment given in Rev 8:7 which says that hail and fire mixed with blood was hurled down upon the earth and a third of the earth and a third of the vegetation was burned up. It also fulfills Rev 16:2 which says that ugly and painful sores broke out on the people. That would be the results of the radiation from the nuclear weapons.
♦ Nuclear weapons cause a tremendous amount of damage. The initial effects include blast, shock, high winds, heat, fire and radiation over a very large area. The radiation effects can last for many years, with the resulting health concerns. For bombs with a yield of greater than two megatons, most of the radioactive material from the explosion would reach the stratosphere, at 7-12 miles above the earth. The material would spread out in the stratosphere all around the earth with fallout continuing for up to seven years. The heavy cloud cover would also continue for several years with resulting changes in weather patterns, possibly an initial nuclear winter followed by extreme heat, drought, plagues, etc. Tremendous amounts of nitric oxide is also produced in nuclear explosions and when this is blasted up into the upper atmosphere it results in some part of the ozone layer being destroyed. The effects of that on health could be catastrophic. (see www.atomicarchive.com )

♦ SECOND JUDGMENT – the red horse judgment
♦ Astronomers around the world discover a comet or asteroid that is on a collision course with earth and will hit the earth in a short time. The nations of earth are not able to divert the space body. As it approaches, the people of earth are in unfathomable fear not knowing what the effects of the hit will be but knowing that it will be catastrophic, Luke 21:26. This may be happening at the same time that Israel and her allies are using nuclear weapons in counterattacks on those who attacked them. God sends this asteroid as a supernatural event with the intent to punish the nations of the world for their attack on Israel. This is described in Ezek 38:19-22 and is called an “earthquake in Israel.” Verse 21 says that every man’s sword will be against his brother. This is similar to the language used in Rev 6:3-4 to describe the second judgment, “It will take peace from the earth and make men slay each other.” Rev 8:8-9 tells us what causes this earthquake; an asteroid or comet hitting an ocean, likely the Indian Ocean. This initially poisons one third of the ocean, killing all of the sea creatures in that part of the ocean and destroying one third of the ships in that ocean. Ezek 38:20 says that this will cause the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth to tremble because of what God has done.
♦ This asteroid impact will cause effects similar to those of the nuclear explosions with all sorts of debris being hurled into the upper atmosphere and spreading around the earth. This will compound the effects of the nuclear weapon explosions all over the world. There would be a huge fireball as the asteroid descended upon the earth which could toast everything for hundreds of miles. The hot material ejected from the impact could circle the earth and cause firestorms all over the earth. That would explain how one third of the earth is burned up as this impact happens while the nuclear war is in progress. The impact would also result in the production of huge amounts of nitric and nitrous acid. This would result in a deluge of acid rains for up to a year all over the world with the resulting destruction of grasses and vegetation. Again, this helps explain how one third of the vegetation and all of the grass all over the world is burned up. The debris from the impact and the smoke from the fires would compound the effects of the nuclear explosions and the world would initially become very dark and cold. This is called impact or nuclear winter and it would stop photosynthesis and disrupt the food chain. The cooling would be followed by a very large increase in temperature due to the greenhouse effect. This effect would be due to the increased carbon dioxide and water vapor in the air. The heat would get extremely uncomfortable.
♦ An asteroid hitting an ocean would result in tsunamis or megatsunamis depending on the size of the asteroid. A large asteroid could cause waves over a mile high which would still be several hundred feet high at a distance of thousands of miles. It is easy to see how one third of the sea going vessels could be destroyed and sea life shocked and killed by such a mechanism. The tsunamis would also cause huge devastation as they hit land masses. Jer 51:42 says that a great flood will sweep over Babylon (Iraq) and leave it desolate, like a desert where nobody lives. These flood waters apparently are so extensive that they spread into Israel and sweep over her, up to neck high, Isa 8:7-8. Obviously these flood waters would also sweep over much of the rest of the Mid East, certainly including the nations attacking Israel. People will recognize that it is supernatural and an act of God. (see www.astronomynotes.com )
♦ The overall effects on first world countries of a worldwide nuclear exchange and the asteroid hitting an ocean would be compounded by the fact that their citizens would no longer be self-sufficient. Without communications, power grids, transportation and commerce the basic needs of people could no longer be effectively met. Food, water, medicines, health care, etc. would no longer be readily available. Most people could not exist long without these basic needs being met. Neighbor would end up killing neighbor to live just a little longer. Anarchy would be rampant. Again, this sounds so much like the language used in Revelation and elsewhere in the Bible to describe the effects of the seven judgments on the earth.
♦ Another major effect of the asteroid hit is that it sets in motion some mechanism which takes the oxygen out of the sea water. Rev 16:2 says that the sea turns to blood like that of a dead man. The initial asteroid impact causes one third of the oceans water to lose its oxygen and this gradually spreads to the complete ocean, Rev 8:8-9. The blood of a dead man does not have oxygen in it and can no longer support life. That is the very problem with the water in the ocean; it has lost its oxygen. We are not told what the mechanism is that causes this so we must speculate. There are huge quantities of hydrates in the deep ocean at depths over 1500 feet. Hydrates are a form of ice containing methane. There also seem to be huge pockets of extremely high pressure methane at great depths. These pockets also contain oxygen poor water under huge pressure. Some mechanism such as a large earthquake or an asteroid hit in an ocean could cause a huge methane eruption with release of huge quantities of poison water. The eruption would force the poor water out in every direction causing the death of sea life and the pollution of the oceans waters. This mechanism could continue for some time and spread over a huge area. One mechanism which could aid in the spread is that the methane eruption would also result in a continuing cascade of tsunamis as the methane bubbles rushed to the top of the ocean over a period of days or weeks. There may be other mechanisms which could cause the ocean water to lose its oxygen as well. (see Mega Disasters, History Channel Jan 2008 and DISCOVER Magazine article by Jeremy Jacquot, Feb 2008)
♦ These first two judgments sound really terrible for the earth and those who live on it. However, things will get much worse. Speaking of the totality of the tribulation judgments and the later judgments in particular, Jesus says the following in Matt 24:21-22, “For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”

♦ THIRD JUDGMENT – the black horse judgment
♦ Something very strange happens in the third judgment. Satan and his evil angels have been in heaven since they were created before the creation of the universe as we know it (except for a class of particularly evil angels who were sent to the Abyss, 2 Pet 2:4, Jude 6). They have always had access to God, although it became limited after Satan’s initial fall, Ezek 28:11-19, Isa 14:9-17. Now in the third judgment Satan is kicked completely out of heaven. Satan’s evil angels are also kicked out of heaven but it is not clear whether this happens in the third, fourth or the sixth judgment. We see that there are a huge numbers of stars, often used as symbolic language for angels, seen falling to earth in the sixth judgment. It seems that some angels have the ability to take on a physical presence on earth and in fact to look like men, while others may not be able to do that; after their fall to earth they may be evil spirits looking for bodies to inhabit. They are all cast down to earth in the tribulation, either spiritually or physically, with no further access to heaven. They are extremely angry and want to take their anger out on the people of the earth, Rev 12:7-13. Now the people of earth really have something to fear.
♦ In fact, in the third judgment there are three major events which seem to occur, (1) the fresh waters all over the world lose their oxygen, become bitter, poisonous and kill people who drink it, (2) Satan is thrown out of heaven and down to earth, and (3) the earth becomes racked with famine, lack of safe liquids to drink and extremely high inflation. We will discuss each of the three.
♦ Initially one third of the fresh waters become poisonous and this gradually increases until all of the waters of the earth become poisonous, Rev 8:11, 16:4. This may be a consequence of the nuclear weapon detonations and the asteroid hitting the ocean. We saw above that both of these events will throw an immense amount of debris into the upper atmosphere where it will encircle the earth. As this material falls to earth it may gradually poison all of the fresh waters of the earth. Another possible mechanism for this is described below.
♦ Satan’s fall to earth in the third judgment is first described in Rev 8:10 and we get some clarification in Rev 9:1. Satan seems to be given credit for the poisoning of the earth’s fresh water. We are told in Rev 9:1-11 about Satan being given the key to the Abyss, a spiritual jail described as being inside of the earth where particularly evil angels are being held, 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6. Jesus controls this key, Rev 1:18, so it is apparently Jesus who gives this key to Satan and allows him to release these angels for a short period of time. Satan may use these angels to poison the fresh waters of earth in some manner. Rev 12:7-9 gives us much more insight into Satan’s fall to earth. We are told that there was war in heaven between Satan and his evil angels against the archangel Michael and God’s angels. Michael and his angels prevailed and threw Satan and his evil angels down to earth. Rev 12:12 clearly tells us the time frame of this when it says, “woe to the earth and the people of earth because Satan has been thrown down to you! He is furious because he knows that his time is short.” It is only about 4-5 years from the time that he is thrown down to earth in the third judgment until he is bound in chains and thrown into Hades at the Second Coming of Jesus. Thus his time really is short. We also know that the time of Satan’s fall is in the tribulation from Dan 12:1 which tells us that Michael will arise in the great tribulation. He arises in Rev 12:7-9 as we saw above, when he throws Satan down to earth.
♦ As we described above, all of the effects of the first two judgments are resulting in gradually increasing problems with maintaining communications, power grids, transportation, and commerce. The basic needs of people can no longer be effectively met. Food, water, medicines, health care, etc. are no longer readily available. The earth is gradually becoming more and more racked with famine, lack of safe liquids to drink and extremely high inflation. The cost to obtain even the basics of life is becoming extremely expensive and in many cases they will be impossible to obtain
♦ Since the debris from the first two judgments will largely travel in an east-west direction in the upper atmosphere that means that certain parts of the earth will not be affected nearly as much as others. The least affected areas are likely to be the northern most and southern most countries, including Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, the northern half of Russia and Canada, the south eastern part of Australia, Southwestern Africa and most of South America. These nations will still be affected by the loss of commerce and to a lesser extent by the changes in weather patterns. The weather will certainly get much hotter as the whole earth warms up, etc. These nations will not suffer nearly as much from those direct effects caused by the heavy cloud cover. For example they will not have nearly as much debris falling directly upon them.

♦ FOURTH JUDGMENT – the pale horse judgment
♦ By the fourth judgment the sky has become very blackened by the cloud cover. The sun, moon and stars are not visible over one third of the earth as they have been darkened by a cloud cover, apparently caused by the combination of the nuclear war and the asteroid hitting an ocean, Rev 8:12, Isa 5:30, 13:10, Ezek 32:7-8, Joel 2:1-2, Amos 8:9.
♦ The climate has changed and there is now very excessive heat on the earth, Rev 16:8-9. People are seared by the intense heat and curse God. We see a great drought, vegetation and grass withering and a great famine, Rev 6:8, Ezek 6:11-14, 14:21. One fourth of the people on earth die from the heat, starvation, lack of safe liquids to drink, plagues, pandemics, murders and possibly wars.
♦ The ozone layer has been partially destroyed and in areas where the sun does shine it may cause severe health problems. All of the horrors of this half of the tribulation period are being administered by angelic agents on Jesus’ behalf. This judgment brings an end to the first half of the tribulation period.
♦ Bio-terrorism may also be a part of the fourth judgment. Rev 6:8 tells us that the wild beasts of the earth will be partly responsible for the terrible things happening in this judgment. This may be a reference to viruses or other microbiological agents. It could be a reference to naturally occurring pandemics or it could be a warning about bio-terrorist attacks on the people of the world.

MID-TRIBULATION EVENTS
♦ The temple has now been rebuilt in Jerusalem and is in use by the Jews, Rev 11:1-2, Ezek 40:2-5, Dan 9:27. The Dome of the Rock is still there and is in what had at one time been the outer court of the temple. The antichrist now goes into the temple and declares himself to be God, thus defiling the temple, Dan 9:27, 7:25, Matt 24:25, 2 Thess 2:3-4, Rev 13:5-6. He breaks the seven year peace treaty with Israel and sets out to destroy her, Dan 7:25, 9:27-28, 2 Thess 2:4, Rev 12:13-17. When the antichrist goes into the temple and declares himself to be God, and then declares war on Israel, many of the Jews head for the hill country, some to the hills of Israel (Matt 24:15-20, Zech 14:2) and others to Bozrah (Petra) in Jordan, Isa 33:16, 34:6, Jer 49:22, Rev 12:13-14. God provides special protection for the Jews while they are in Bozrah. This may be the same protection that is provided to all believers in Jesus. Demons or evil spirits cannot inhabit the body of a believer since the Holy Spirit is already there. Zech 14:2 seems to indicate that half of Israel goes into exile and the other half remains in the country.
♦ In the midst of all of the catastrophe, terror, death and judgment taking place on earth, two new leaders are emerging; we call these two new leaders the antichrist and the false prophet. Both are puppets of Satan, Rev 16:13. The antichrist receives his authority and great power directly from Satan, Rev 13:2. At the beginning of the tribulation he seems to be the leader of a very minor power in the Middle East (the little horn of Dan 7:8). However, he is a great, boastful and intimidating orator (Dan 7:7-8, 11, 20), a skilled negotiator (Dan 9:27) and very deceptive (2 Thess 2:10-11). He uses his skills to very quickly overtake three other countries and soon many other nations throw in with him. The world is in horrible shape and he seems to have all of the answers to the world’s problems. As he is unifying his great power near the middle of the tribulation period he is assassinated. This is apparently right after he has gone into the temple in Jerusalem and declares that he is the real God of the universe and demands that he be worshipped. He receives a fatal head would (Rev 13:3), and wounds to the arm and right eye (Zech 11:17). Since he is now dead, his henchman the False Prophet temporarily assumes his political power and acts in his behalf, Rev 13:12, 14. The false prophet is a powerful political leader of a two nation empire, the most powerful military empire on earth, Rev 13:11, 13. He apparently tells the world that the antichrist has only been wounded and is recovering. He sets up some sort of electronic false image of the antichrist to deceive the world into believing that he is still alive, Rev 13:14. During this time he imposes the mark of the beast on the people of the world, Rev 13:15-17. Meanwhile one of the evil angels from the Abyss assumes the image of the antichrist and for the remainder of the second three and one half years of the tribulation the antichrist is no longer a human, but an evil angel who looks like a human, Rev 13:15, 17:8. He has the image of the antichrist. The one we call the antichrist now has all of the power of Satan with which to deceive the world, Rev 13:2.
♦ In his new image, the antichrist hates mystery Babylon, the great prostitute. The antichrist supported this world wide religion during the first half of the tribulation while he was consolidating his power and trying to get everyone to accept his political agenda. After the changes that take place in the mid-tribulation timeframe with the antichrist, he now sees this world wide religion as more of a hindrance to his program than as an aid. This hate continues to grow during the second half of the tribulation period.
♦ From one fourth to one third of all of the people on earth have died in the terrible judgments of the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation period. That is likely over two billion people. Imagine the problem in just burying the dead bodies. Imagine the terrible sanitation problems. But this is only the beginning because what is now coming over the next 3 ½ years is worse than anything that has ever occurred in the history of the world, including the great flood of Genesis, Matt 24:21-22. The next three judgments are called the “woe” judgments.