The Timeline of Prophetic Events

So I decided to wash my clothes the other day because my wife was gone at a women's event and she usually washes the clothes.

And I'm willing to but she does a much better job and besides if I fold something she'll refold it anyway but a big pile of laundry had grown and I thought I'll wash the clothes myself. So I got the clothes, got them over to the washing machine, opened up the cupboard and I'm looking at all these weird soaps she's been using lately. Very organic things made with kale and wood shavings.

I don't know and I thought I don't even know how much to put in. Frankly I don't even know where to put it and I remembered isn't there something called a Tide Pod, a little thing you can throw in. So I went down to the market, I bought some Tide Pods. The problem is I couldn't get them open because there was a TikTok challenge a while ago. The Tide Pod challenge where crazy teenagers were ingesting Tide Pods.

A very bad idea by the way. So they have so secured the packaging you can't even get the crazy thing out. I finally just took a knife, cut it open, threw the Tide Pod in, set everything up, walked away feeling pretty good about myself. And I came back about 45 minutes later and everything was nice and dry. The problem was I didn't throw them in the washer, I threw them in the dryer because the Tide Pod was intact. So I had to put them in the washer and get it right.

I finally did get them washed. But you know Bible prophecy can be that way a little bit to us like confusing, how does this work, what goes where. We hear terms like Armageddon, Antichrist, the mark of the beast, the battle of Armageddon, the rapture, the second coming, the millennium.

What does it all mean? Let me give you a quick fly over of what I believe is the chronology of end times events. In my estimation the next event is the rapture of the church. First Thessalonians 4 says the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel. The dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remaining shall be caught up together with them in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

The words caught up are from the root word harpazo which is translated rapturous in Latin and you get your English word rapture from it. So after the rapture happens a mysterious charismatic man emerges on the scene that the Bible calls the beast and the Antichrist. The Antichrist inaugurates a seven year tribulation period.

Here's a graph so you can kind of get an idea of how things fit together. So the rapture, then the Antichrist, then the tribulation. The tribulation period begins peacefully. The Antichrist deceives people because he brings global peace temporarily.

In fact the Bible says through peace he will deceive many. Then this all culminates in the battle of Armageddon fought at the end of the tribulation period and then comes the second coming of Jesus Christ. Let me distinguish between the rapture and the second coming. The rapture is at the beginning.

The second coming is at the end. In the rapture he comes for his church. In the second coming he returns with his church. In the rapture he appears as a thief in the night. In the second coming every eye will see him. In the rapture he comes before judgment.

In the second coming he returns with judgment. Then comes the millennium. The thousand year reign of Christ.

The word millennium means one thousand. And finally the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven to earth. So here's the deal. The next event is the rapture. It can happen at any moment. You must be ready because he is returning again. So look up. Your redemption is drawing near.