The Destruction of the Nations, Part 4

Selected Scriptures

Tonight's facet of study regarding the subject of prophecy and the destruction of the nations takes us to the alignment and war of the nations.  And that perhaps would be a title that we might chose if we were going to entitle the message the alignment and war of the nations. 

You know, it's amazing the last few days the whole attention of the world is focused upon the Mideast.  Some exciting things have begun to happen with some very direct relationship to God's plan for the world.  Israel is at war with the Arabs.  Egypt and Syria are battling on two fronts, and I understand Jordan is now in the battle.  Russia, which for a little while seemed to be rather passive, has become active and in just the last couple of days has really unleashed a certain form of involvement by sending material to supply the forces of the Arabs and ships and airplanes as well carrying tremendous amount of arms to arm the Arabs. 

Brezhnev quoted in the L.A. Times about three or four days ago, said this.  "All our sympathies are on the side of the victims of aggression, the Arabs."  Now that's an interesting thing that the Arabs are fighting Israel, but that's nothing new.  But what makes it prophetically exciting is the involvement of other major powers in what's going on.  Particularly the involvement of the nation Russia.

To see a battle going on the Middle East isn't anything new, but to see all of the formations that have been so familiar to us over the last say, 15 to 20 years, has exciting prophetic significance.

What we're really seeing today is a preview of Armageddon, at least in its initial phases.  Now let me hasten to say this.  All of the wars that make up all of the battles that make up the great battle of Armageddon complex will take place during the tribulation.  The tribulation is a time after the church is removed the world.  So what we are seeing now is not part of that final battle, but it certainly shows that the nations are lining up in the right configuration for that final battle.

Now just to remind you of God's plan a little bit, I'll give you a little insight into what we've been talking about.  We're living in a period known as the church age.  The church age ends with the rapture, New Testament saints, as the arrow indicates, are taken out of the world.  Immediately, a period begins on the earth known as the period of the tribulation, the last three and a half years are called the great tribulation.

That period closes with a final conflagration known as Armageddon.  At the end of Armageddon, Christ himself returns with those of us who went up there in the rapture.  We come back with Him and He sets up His kingdom.  Now we have been studying the various facets of this period known as the tribulation.  We found, first of all, that the church age is going to end with the rapture.  And we studied carefully about the catching away of the church.

Then we found out that after the raptured church leaves, then God begins to deal in judgment with those left on earth and that really involves two groups, Jews and Gentiles. And for the Jews, the time of tribulation involves two things, punishment and salvation.  God chastises them for sin and God redeems them as a nation.

Then it involves also the Gentile peoples who are left here who did not go with the church for they were not believing in Christ.  During this period of time, there is going to be a tremendous God appointed destruction that's going to come upon the nations of the world.  Now it is true that there will be a believing remnant from the nations, right?  Revelation 7, so many they can't be counted.  But the residue of all men will fall under terrible destruction.  And that seven year period will end with a horrible worldwide battle call the battle of Armageddon, because that's one of the areas where it will be fought.  And that battle is ended in the coming of Jesus Christ.

Now we then have discussed all of these various features.  In fact, we discussed at least for three weeks in a row why believe the church does not go through the tribulation.  Why we believe we're going to leave.  Now the question is this, we know when man's day is going to end as we know it.  It's going to end at the end of the tribulation.  We know that.

The question we want to answer tonight is how it's going to end.  How it's going to end.  We know it will