13. The bowls of wrath on the day of the Lord
(Rev. 16-20:1-10)
13.1 In general
When the spiritual protection over mankind which the Bride has provided is removed, and the Devil and his angels are cast down to the earth, an actual visible hell on earth will break out.
The Antichrist, who up until then has been called "the man of lawlessness", will then become entirely possessed by the Devil, and will thereafter be called "the lawless one." Through the counter-revival's spiritual outpouring of demons, the Devil will possess people so that they themselves carry out most of the judgments.
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In this way, those who have chosen the Antichrist will now reap for themselves the consequences of their choice.
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The Antichrist's world dominion is built upon the complete control of:
- the political power
- the economic power, and
- the religious world. (More on this in section 7 of the midi-text on the various world empires of history.)
13.2 The judgment of the religious world
- After the Bride is removed, the Devil's wrath turns first against the false Christian harlot church. During the last persecution, she had helped the beast's regime by acting as informant against the Bride. Now, the wrath of the beast turns against her so that he makes the harlot desolate and burns her up with fire. (Rev. 17:16-18; 18:1-5)
- In addition, the Antichrist begins to direct his wrath against even the Jews. The Jews who have not previously immigrated to Israel are forced to flee there after the rapture of the Bride. The Bible maintains that not a single one will be left outside. (Micah 5:3; Ezek. 39:28)
- Afterwards, the Antichrist declares war against the state of Israel and defeats it as a nation. Only one third of the Israel population survives. (Zach. 13:8-9)
- This remnant of Israel will go through an extremely difficult time, which the Bible refers to as the final phase of "Jacob's trouble." They will conceivably find hiding places for themselves in areas of the wilderness. (Isaiah 16; 26:20-21; Hos. 2:14-21; Zach. 12:10-14) Through their distress, their eyes will finally be opened so that they realize the mistake they and their forefathers made. They have not only rejected God's Son, Jesus Christ, as their Messiah, but they have also worshiped the Antichrist, the Devil's representative as their Messiah.
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Now for the first time, they are ready as a nation to confess their sin, pray for forgiveness, and mourn deeply over Jesus.
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13.3 The final battle at Armageddon
Once the Antichrist attacks even Egypt, his kingdom begins to fall apart. (Dan. 11:44) People from all over the world will be gathered for a final battle at Armageddon. Since this area (the plain of Jezreel near the Mount of Megiddo) cannot contain hundreds of millions of soldiers, I see the name as symbolic for the comprehensive final battle of the end times, which probably encompasses most of the world.
Those who do not die of conventional weapons and nuclear weapons will fall victim to earthquakes, pestilence, and other sicknesses.
To keep all mankind from annihilating themselves, Christ will descend from heaven to earth and put a stop to the killing.
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When Christ comes back together with his saints, he will be seen by the whole world as he sets foot on the Mount of Olives, just like the disciples saw him ascend up to heaven.
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This time, he will perhaps be seen via worldwide television,and modern mobil telephones. Then, if not before, everyone will realize the truth, that they deceived themselves by rejecting Christ and honoring the Antichrist instead.
Therefore, all the wicked will be gripped by such fear that they will hide themselves in holes in the ground (and probably in fallout shelters) while they long to die. Their prayers will quickly be answered, for the earth will be hit by the worst earthquake in the history of the world, causing mountains and cities to collapse. (This is the last earthquake of the 6th seal.)
Thereafter, the market economy will also collapse. Its underlying sin has been that it has made profit into a god. As a result, short-sighted profit motives have governed unchecked, instead of long-term goals and righteous investments.
Only a few will survive:
- Of the Jews, at most a third survive. When these see Jesus, a spirit of prayer and grace is poured out over them, so that they all become saved at once. With this, they become the first nation in the history of the world of which every inhabitant is born again. Many peoples will follow their example during the Millennium.
- However, mankind will in many places appear to be decimated almost to extinction. "A man will be as rare as gold, and mankind as rare as fine gold." (Isaiah 13:12; 24:5-6)
The evil trinity is put out of action.
First, the Antichrist beast is captured, along with the false prophet. They are then both cast into hell's lake of fire forever. Finally, the Devil is captured. He will be kept in the depth of the abyss until the millennium is finished. Then he will be released one last time, so that for a short while he can expose the people who contented themselves with pseudo-Christianity during the millennium. ( (Illustrations 4.5, 4.7, 4.8, Rev. 20:1 - 22:20)
