Almost all I've ever known ~ or, should I say, experienced ~ is a surreal world of American culture, which I have consciously observed and in no small measure participated in, during the course of slightly more than a half-century. Were it not for the revelation of Scripture, I suppose that long ago I might have concluded, similarly as many others have in fact concluded, that humanity (including myself) is a meaningless, purposeless species of animal life.
Yet the stalker I just mentioned keeps pointing a knowing finger toward something seemingly right in front of me; all the while insisting that such and such future is not only real but that it is also now imminent. "How can that be?" I ask myself, again, and again; though I am certain that it must, somehow, be.
My own understanding of Bible prophecy, coupled with my studied view of the world, leads me to believe that within the next handful or so of years, humanity shall first be plunged suddenly into a very brief time (perhaps, less than a decade in duration) of the grossest spiritual darkness and of the greatest suffering that mankind has ever experienced or ever shall experience. During the course of those few years, the human race shall approach very near unto annihilation; yet, a comparatively small remnant of human beings shall survive. Then, almost just as suddenly ~ and within (toward the end of) that same time frame, a radically different world order (including the physical environment) shall ensue, being then supernaturally ushered in by the bodily appearing of Jesus Christ together with his heavenly entourage.
In the process of that brief transitional period just described, and which is very soon to come, the consciousness, of those who shall survive that cataclysmic epoch, evidently must undergo what I can only characterize as an extreme transformation. I want you to follow me as I momentarily attempt to describe their (largely shared) experiences. (At least a cursory familiarity with Bible prophecy should be very helpful to your ability to grasp my meaning.)
Imagine, if you will, a forty-something-year-old woman who has lived all of her life in a remote rural village in China's interior. She has already known much of the suffering that pertains to human existence in this present, fallen world. But she has never seen anything like those calamities and judgments which shall befall the world during the coming Tribulation. Notwithstanding that she may neither be much affected by the coming global wars; nor, by the system involving the "mark of the beast" (which, for practical reasons, must be limited in its reach to developed nations which comprise the 'global economy'); yet, she doubtless must then (during the Tribulation) be witness to a number of divine judgments unlike anything she has ever before then seen or even heard of, i.e.: a hailstorm of bolides and meteorites which shall destroy one-third of earth's trees together with "all green grass;" a mountain-sized meteorite which shall impact somewhere in the oceans, killing a third of all marine life and destroying a third of all ships (massive tsunamis); all of which shall then be followed by a drastic reduction of atmospheric light (resembling what is called a "nuclear winter") (see, Rev. 8:7-12). Nevertheless, those events signal but the beginning of that time of Tribulation; whereas, worse things still must follow.
How may she at all survive those several years of the coming Tribulation? Only God knows. But the Bible plainly teaches that some (besides those 144,000 Jews which shall be especially "sealed" and protected during that Tribulation,) shall indeed survive. But even that is not the end of her future experiences.
At some time during the latter part of the Tribulation, but prior to the visible "Second Coming of Christ," there shall then appear on earth supernatural beings from Heaven (including the then-glorified saints of God) to engage and to do battle with those demonic beings belonging to Satan's kingdom of darkness. That cosmic conflict between the hosts of heaven and the hosts of hell shall be a once-in-eternity battle that shall never again be repeated. Can it be supposed that such a supernatural battle shall be fought on and near the environs of Earth and, yet, our imaginary Chinese woman may not in some remarkable ways be affected by those events?
Still, that shall not be the sum of her experiences. For, then that peasant woman shall see something in the heavens above, which the Bible merely alludes to as being the "sign of the
Son of man in heaven" (Matthew 24:30): announcing the visible Second Coming of Christ.
The world's human population shall then have been reduced to a bare remnant of survivors; which, according to Scripture, shall nevertheless still comprise a multiplicity of nations. Where after Christ's Second Coming, those nations ~ of natural (mortal) human beings ~ will then be called to stand before Christ in judgment, to determine their fitness for entering his Millennial Kingdom. Some, though evidently not all, who survive will be permitted by Christ to enter, alive, into that Kingdom.
Then shall our imaginary female subject (now in her early 50's), begin to live in a world dramatically different than anything she could ever herself have imagined. The world's climate ~ which for years now has been suffering "birth pangs" associated with the consummation of this present Age ~ shall then be serene, like it was perhaps in the Garden of Eden. Moreover, human life expectancy shall then be very greatly lengthened; indicating something far more significant than mere climate change. Whether or not the world's inhabitants may then be capable to perceive the bodily presence of glorified saints and/or the holy angels, I do not know; though I suppose they likely shall be visible. Nevertheless, Christ himself shall be visible, being then bodily present. The coming Millennial Kingdom Age shall be a time and a world wherein peace and righteousness shall be the rule and not the exception.
Now, can you possibly imagine the transformation that must occur in our imaginary Chinese woman's consciousness?
Yet, it is that very transformation of human consciousness, I say, which must be essential not only to God's purposes in the Millennial Kingdom Age. But, after that thousand-year epoch shall reach its terminus, many of those (same?) people ~ if not, perhaps, our Chinese lady ~ at least many of those mortals who shall live on earth during the Millennial Kingdom Age, shall then be permitted and enabled by God to go on living in the Eternal Kingdom.
It is that soon coming, radical, transformation of human consciousness, which my own consciousness keeps prodding me to investigate. In light of which inquiries, I do believe, I myself am being transformed. For, not only do the prophecies of Scripture appear entirely believable to me but, furthermore, I perceive that those events must be altogether different from our ordinary experiences so as to produce such changes in human consciousness that are necessary in order to the fulfillment of God's eternal purposes in Creation.
The soon coming Tribulation entails a far wider scope of purpose than the judgment of the world, merely. The Bible declares, in Revelation 10:7, that "in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound [at a time during the Tribulation], the mystery of God should be finished." But the plan and purposes of God shall never be finished.
That "mystery" is a mystery, indeed ~ especially, where it concerns the purposes and plan of God involving the (natural, unregenerate) human race. For, if all that God has purposed in the Creation is the calling out and redemption of the Body of Christ (all saved persons), then: Why will God continue to have dealings with earth-dwelling humans ~ that is to say, with unregenerate persons ~ after the Rapture of the Church?
Apart from such considerations as I have above alluded to (and many others which I have not even suggested), I do not know how else that Bible prophecy can at all be rightly understood. Which suggests, to me, that there probably are not many who do understand such things; because they are wholly preoccupied with the things of this present world.
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