In our last blog we learned a fundamental principle of the Kingdom of God. “In Heaven above, then earth below.” The evil spiritual hierarchy over the earth, described in Ephesians 6:12, must be brought down first. It’s tantamount to the earthly rendition of cutting off the head of the snake. And we all know who that is. Satan, of course, is full of wrath, now that he’s fallen from the heavenlies a second time.
 
He attempts to wiggle his evil tail and strut his stuff for 3 1/2 years, but we know where that ends. There’s a repeat performance of Moses’ actions before Pharaoh. Daniel calls the series of plagues Operation Consume & Destroy. OK, that’s our term, but it comes from Daniel 7:26. You may know them as the trumpet and bowl judgments. Either way, the operative word here is destroy.
 
Such warfare may surprise some who think that when Christ comes a second time, the Kingdom of God is completely established on this earth. All is peaceful and blissful. You know, the lion and the lamb lie down together and we study war no more.
 
I hate to remind you of this, but that is not how judging works. Following the example of the Old Testament judges, such as the first judge, Othniel, from the tribe of Judah, reigning begins with
treading. The judges first had to deliver God’s people from the oppressors who sought to destroy Israel. Justice had to be served and their enemies defeated.
 
Paul confirms this in 1 Corinthians 15:24-26. Before the end of the ages can come, when Jesus delivers the Kingdom to the Father at the end of the 7th Day, Christ “must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” That also happens at the end of the 7th Day, after the final white throne judgment.
 
This is the Day of the Lord—the condensed version. Don’t worry, we’ll bring you the glorious as well as the gory details in the blogs to come.
 
 

Why is it so important to understand the chronos times and the kairos seasons of God’s timetable? It enables you to understand the times. Being in the know, compliments of God’s Word, establishes your mind on our coming King. It inoculates you from being deceived by the lies of the world and the false prophets. It wards off the fiery darts of fear.
 
We don’t have to be troubled. We can be at peace (John 14:27). Why? Because we are not in darkness, so that the Day of the Lord should overtake us as a thief. For we are sons and daughters of the Light and of the Day (1 Thess. 5:4-5).
 
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him (1 Thess. 5:8-10).
 
You see, we have a different appointment than that of the world. We are not taken from this earth because we cannot handle what is coming. We are taken in order to take our position as the immortal, heavenly government. That is what we see in Revelation 5 and 7—the seating of the heavenly court. The heavenly scroll, the title deed of the earth, is read aloud for it contains the details of our inheritance as joint-heirs with Christ.
 
The voice of God Almighty booms over the throng. “I will declare the decree: You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.” The Son is the firstborn from the dead, who is now joined by His Body, the rest of the firstfruits, likewise born from the dead at the rapture. The Bridegroom and the Bride united as the one new Man, (the firstborn Son) to execute judgment and righteousness on the earth by virtue of being resurrected.
 
The Father speaks again:  “Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.  You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel” Psalm 2:7-9). The angelic hosts burst into praise and worship, for they have longed to see this Day for thousands of years.
 
The throng before the throne responds. “Behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!' " In case you’re wondering, we are part of the throng—the Bride, praising our King, the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah.
 
And then suddenly, silence. It lasts for half an hour. It is a solemn moment. The time has finally come. The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascends before God. An angel takes the censer, fills it with fire from the altar, and throws it to the earth. The silence is broken. “And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake” (Rev. 8:4-5).
 
Our declarations and ruling judgments from Heaven—our two-edged sword—directs the archangel Michael to go to war against the hierarchy of evil forces in the heavenlies. Michael and the angels triumph—of course. Satan and his evil cohorts are thrown to the earth. We, the heavenly court are their replacement. The sound of the seven trumpet judgments begin to reverberate across the earth as the wrath of that Day.               

The 7th Day in God’s chronos timetable has many names in Scripture. It is called the Day of His Coming and the Day of Christ. For those who are in Christ, it is the Day of Redemption and the Day of Salvation.
 
It is also the Appointed Day of Judgment, the Day of Vengeance of our God. And that is the snare of that Day. The world, steeped in the religion of humanism where the self is god, scoffs and sneers at such end-time prophecies, dismissing them as superstitious myths. They ignore Jesus’ warning: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth (Luke 21:34-35).
 
The heavens shall be shaken, as never before. Hear Jesus’ prophecy:  “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:25-27).
 
It is not the end of the world. It is the end of the world as they have known it. For it is the appointed time for the Wrath of that Day. “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: ‘Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion’ ” (Psalm 2:1-6).
 
The Wrath of that Day is short-lived. It unfolds across the first 3½ years of the last 1,000-year Day in God’s great Week. It is the last half of Daniel’s 70th Week, completing that prophecy. God’s wrath and vengeance against evil is primarily directed at the counterfeit kingdom of the Antichrist who has come against Israel.
 
The wrath comes in the form of the 7 trumpets and 7 bowls described in Revelation. As with the other mini-visions in the book, the two accounts provide different views of the same event. Sadly, despite seeing the surety of God’s judgment, Revelation says over and over that the lawless people did not repent. For all intents and purposes, this all-encompassing war against God’s people and His kingdom could be called World War III.
 
I hope you know Who wins. Spoiler alert: the Antichrist’s career is short-lived.

It is a momentous moment when Jesus comes again and stands on Mt. Zion. The angels and Old Testament prophets longed to see that Day. As believers, it is our hope of glory, our 3rd Day resurrection.  We stand before the throne of God in Heaven wearing incorruptible bodies radiating with glory. We take our position as the heavenly government, ruling with Christ as one new Man.
 
For the remnant of Jews, that moment triggers their 3rd Day revival. It is the fulfillment of Hosea’s prophecy. “Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two Days He will revive us; on the third Day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth.”
 
For a time—the first two Days of the last Days—the natural branch of Israel was cut off and the wild branch was grafted in. God opened up the plan of redemption to the Gentiles and poured out His Spirit, empowering those in Christ to be His witnesses to all the earth. It is the time of the early rain outpouring.
 
At that momentous moment, after seeing Heaven open up and Jesus gathering His Body to take us back to Father’s House as promised, the Jewish remnant finally see. They finally recognize Jesus as the Messiah and receive salvation. True to form, the Spirit is poured out on our newly redeemed brothers and sisters so that they can now be His witnesses on the earth, as we fulfill our heavenly calling to rule with our Lord from above. It is the time of their latter rain outpouring.
 
Zechariah described the action of that Day centuries before. “They shall be like mighty men, who tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle. They shall fight because the Lord is with them, and the riders on horses shall be put to shame. “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back, because I have mercy on them. They shall be as though I had not cast them aside; for I am the Lord their God, and I will hear them.”
 
Like King David’s mighty men, the Jewish believers do great exploits during the 3½ years of the war over Jerusalem. Spoiler alert: they prevail. For God’s purposes always come to pass. Ezekiel described the action of that Day this way: “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.  So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord God. “This is the Day of which I have spoken.”

It is the waning days of the 6th Day in God’s prophetic great Week. For believers who understand the times and the seasons, they are earnestly expecting to see their Lord coming in the clouds. Israel is strangely at ease, rejoicing in a sense of peace and safety. In the land of Magog to the north, known as Turkey, a charismatic leader is gathering a coalition of armies to shatter the peace.
 
The prophet Ezekiel recorded the event centuries before. “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it? Then you [the Antichrist and his armies] will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land” (Ezek. 38:14-16).
 
The prophet Zechariah recorded the destructiveness that would come in the sudden invasion: “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zech. 14:1-2).
 
Paul recorded it this way: “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord [the 7th Day] so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5:1-3).
 
Then, just as suddenly, the lights go out. Completely out. All over the world. All at once. The earth is plunged into total darkness. The invasion is halted. It is the final, sixth sign of this age.
 
And once again, suddenly, the veil that keeps mankind from seeing into Heaven is pulled back. All the people see Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of God Almighty. The Son of Man stands in the power of His authority over all things. The Lord descends to earth and physically stands on the Mt. of Olives where He was crucified. His presence causes an earthquake that splits the mountain, making a way of escape for the Jewish believers. The remnant in Israel finally recognizes Jesus as the Messiah.
 
At the same moment, Jesus issues the command to the dead in Christ who have come with Him, “Arise.” The earth miraculously gives up the dust of their bodies and they are glorified, receiving new immortal bodies. Then He declares, “Shine.” Those who are His and still alive at His coming are instantly changed in a twinkling of an eye. They, too, are glorified, receiving new immortal bodies. Christ the Head and the Body of Christ is now totally united, completed, and perfected as one New Man.
 
Together with Him, we reenact His ascension, as He takes us back to Father’s House in the third Heaven. We are formally seated as the immortal, heavenly court. For we have overcome death through resurrection at the rapture, just as Christ overcame death.
 
It is just as Jesus told us in His revelation: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Rev. 3:21). “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—he shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father” (Rev. 2:26-27).

How do you know for sure that you will be raptured? Do you have the full assurance of your destiny in Christ, your heavenly calling? Here’s what God’s Word tells us.
 
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:3-5).
 
Part of your salvation in Christ is regeneration. It’s where your spirit is made new, when you are born again. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph. 1:13). The Holy Spirit seals your new spirit so that it is incorruptible.
 
The Apostle Paul explains it this way: For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (2 Cor. 1:22).
 
Another part of our salvation is forgiveness of all our sins for all time. “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Heb. 10:12-14). This doesn’t mean we don’t sin. Being sanctified is the ongoing process of learning to walk according to God’s ways instead of the sinful ways of the world (our old flesh). No believer is perfect—yet!
 
This is why Paul also cautions us, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the Day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). If you have truly asked God into your heart and accepted Jesus as your Savior, then you are sealed for that Day of redemption—the dawning of the Day of the Lord when believers are raptured and fully redeemed and perfected.
 
The seal of the Spirit reminds us that we are not of this world, even though we exist in it. Yet it grieves Him when we ignore His leading and walk according to our flesh instead of our spirit. We are meant to lead fruitful lives in Christ. But that fruitful life is a daily choice. Thankfully, because of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, our wrong choices do not remove the seal of the Spirit.
 
That is the significance of the sealing. It is our guarantee, our down payment of the hope of our calling to be conformed fully to Christ when He gathers us and takes us to our prepared place in Father’s House in Heaven. That is when our true destiny shall be revealed in the last time—the last Day of God’s prophetic week (the 7th Day). When we recognize this sealing, our hearts need not be troubled in the meantime.

Our Father God expects believers to understand the times and seasons of His plan of redemption because it is found in His Word. Acts 17 says we should be in the know. Verse 29 tells us we shouldn’t be duped by the vain plotting of the earthly kings/leaders. “Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.”  That includes the physical idols of materialism, occult religions, and the ideological idols of humanism.
 
Verse 30 continues: “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent...” With the first coming of Christ, mankind no longer has an excuse for their fallen ways. Salvation is available freely to all who will believe. Verse 31 gives us the urgency of that command. “…because He has appointed a Day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.”  That pivotal Day is the Day of the Lord, the Last Day in God’s great prophetic week.
 
Which brings us to our title question. Since God is the Almighty One, why does it take 7,000 years to end the cosmic conflict with Satan? And for that matter, why does it take 3½ years and 7 trumpet and bowl judgments to crush Satan and the Beast?
 
We know that the great Week follows the divine pattern established in the 7 literal days of creation. Why did it take God 7 days? I mean, He is God after all. He could have done it in a nanosecond. Since God is all-knowing, He knew how long it would take mankind to reach the fullness of their evil ways. Along the way, He provided a road map in the Bible detailing God’s ways. That road map foreshadowed Christ’s redeeming work on the cross and the power of resurrection.
 
The answers have to do with His nature. He is perfectly loving and He is perfectly just. I know, that doesn’t jive with the so-called progressive Christianity or the woke secular culture. But that is because they have rejected absolute truth, including what is just and what is loving. Everything is based on fleeting feelings and what feels “right” at the moment (relativism).  
 
When the heavenly hosts witnessed Lucifer’s Fall, they had no concept of sin. They didn’t know it’s devastating consequences. It didn’t take long, though. By Genesis 6 we find that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (vs. 5). The Old Testament testifies to the wayward nature of even God’s own people due to their fallen nature. It was a vicious cycle of complacency, compromise with the ungodly nations around them, experiencing the consequences of their own choices, being delivered by God, only to become complacent again.
 
With Christ’s first coming, salvation was made possible. Through the testimony of Christ’s Body, the Church, His loving desire is that every person comes to see the true Light of the world. Yet He will not violate their will. He knows that it will take the full 2,000 years of the Church Age for humanity to see the full impact of rejecting God and choosing Satan’s evil ways instead.
 
For those who have eyes to see, this has become so clear over the last couple of years. Still, many cling stubbornly to their hardened hearts and deceived minds. Amazingly, Revelation 9:20 tells us that even after the initial plagues of Operation Consume and Destroy during the 3½-year war, “the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands.” The bottom line is this: God is both patient and merciful. He has determined the beginning from the end.     

Psalm 2 begins with a simple question. “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?” We now know from our list of characters that Satan, the Dragon, is the ultimate answer. He’s the fallen spiritual force behind the raging nations. “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us’ ” (Ps. 2:2-3). This is the battle cry of the Beast: we shall do it our way!
 
The beastly standard has been raised throughout the centuries, as pictured in Nebuchadnezzar’s statue in Daniel 2. As we’ve seen, the goal is not just the ultimate control of this earthly realm, but also control of the unseen spiritual realm. Building on a foundation of oppression and annihilation throughout the ages, the cosmic conflict is coming to a head in our not so distant future.
 
As that appointed time draws near, God is shining a bright light on our horizon so that we can not only acknowledge the chronos timing, but we can also spot the kairos signs in our “news” headlines. A false trinity is set to bring forth the original plan of the Fallen Angel with a financial, religious, and political system to replace man’s relationship with God.
 
The final Beast carries the same evil desire to devour Israel as its predecessors. Its leader shall speak pompous, prideful words, intending to change the times and laws. Revelation 17:9-11 identifies the final beastly kingdom. “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman [the Harlot] sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.” 
 
To decipher this cryptic clue, we go to the Scriptures. The five kingdoms or empires that have fallen, and have come and gone are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. The one “kingdom that is” refers to the Roman Empire that was still in power in John’s time (when he penned the book of Revelation).  The other, the 7th, had not yet come in John’s time. He prophesied that when it did come, it would continue for a short time only.
 
We know from Nebuchadnezzar’s statue that the Roman Empire split into two parts when Alexander the Great died. The capital of the western part remained in Rome (the 6th kingdom). The capital of the eastern part became Constantinople. That 7th kingdom became the Islamic Ottoman Empire that eventually gained power over much of the Middle East. [Remember the Crusades?]
 
Oh, by the way, the Ottoman Empire only continued for a relatively short time. In our time the city is called Istanbul, the capital of Turkey, which lies directly north of Israel on a globe. In Jesus’ time, the area was known as Asia Minor. In ancient times, it was where the offspring of Noah’s son, Japheth, settled, including Gog of Magog, Gomer, Tubal, and Meshech.
 
Incidentally, these are the same names listed in Ezekiel 38 and 39 as the nations that come against Israel at the start of the Day of the Lord (the 7th Day and Last Day in God’s prophetic timetable.) Now you know the identity of the 8th kingdom that is ruled by what Daniel 7 describes as the “little horn,” the Antichrist. Since our clue tells us he was of the seventh kingdom, we know he is of Turkish descent.

The two major characters in the Final Saga, Christ and the Antichrist, are polar opposites. Christ brings life and God’s perfect love; the Antichrist brings bondage and self-serving evil. Just as Christ the King has His bridal queen, the Antichrist has his counterfeit queen. But unlike the faithful Bride, this counterfeit queen is a harlot. In fact, she is called the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth.
 
We get a glimpse of her in Revelation 18, compliments of one of the 7 angels carrying the 7 bowl judgments. She is riding the Beast. Both are scarlet, reminding us that they are bloodthirsty. The harlot is adorned in purple, as if she is royalty. She wears gold, precious stones, and pearls, as a bride adorned for her bridegroom. At first she appears beautiful, but then we see what is in her hand: a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.
 
In case you’re wondering, an abomination is something extremely horrible, shameful, and distasteful. Her indictment? Revelation 18:9 says the kings of the earth committed fornication with her and lived luxuriously because of their connection to her. She has corrupted all that was designed for good.
 
She also goes by another name: Mystery Babylon the Great. That name gives us a clue as to her nature. She arises from the foundation of the City and Tower of Babel, the prideful rebellion of humanity that sought to reach Heaven on their own merit and in their own way (Genesis 11). God destroyed their futile attempt and scattered the people, fulfilling His original mandate to mankind to be fruitful and multiply across the world.
 
She personifies the false religion of Nimrod, who worshipped Baal the sun god. She is first pictured as Asherah, the moon goddess. Her worship rituals included sexual immorality, prostitution, divination, and fortune telling. Hence, the cup of abominations and evil filthiness.
 
Revelation tells us that she sits on the waters, the people, multitudes, nations, and tongues (people groups) of the earth. In her is found the blood of prophets, saints, and all who were slain on the earth (through wars, abortion, and euthanasia). Her merchants are the great men of the earth, for by her sorcery all the nations were deceived. You see, the Harlot is the real source of oppression in the world through a corrupt financial brotherhood steeped in the occult.
 
Like Christ’s Bride, she is also described as a city. Her city is a shipping hub, where all the ships become wealthy through her economic exchange. Her merchandise is peddled across the world. She is a city full of music and entertainment. And she holds up a false light to the tired, the poor, and those longing for prosperity.
 
She rides the Beast, seeking to control it for her own greed. She rides atop it, believing she alone holds the “true woke” knowledge to rule the earth. In short, she is the driving occult force behind the counterfeit one-world order. However, it is not a true and faithful union between the Beast and the Harlot. Eventually, the Beast comes to hate the Harlot.
 
SPOILER ALERT: “Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. For in one hour your judgment has come” (Rev. 8, 10).

When the prophet Daniel was able to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream concerning the statue of the Gentile kingdoms, Daniel blessed God and made an astounding chronos declaration. “He [God the Creator] changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding” (Daniel 2:21).
 
Later Daniel would offer a parallel declaration about the Antichrist. “He [Antichrist] shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints [the newly revived Jews who have finally accepted Jesus as the Messiah] shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time” (Daniel 7:25).
 
By the way, the time period given in the passage equals 3½ years, which allows us to mark the time when the Antichrist makes this prideful remark and what he intends to do about it.
 
The phrase “pompous words against the Most High” should remind us of someone else. Yes, Lucifer, the fallen angel we know as Satan and the Dragon. Revelation 13:2 confirms that the Dragon gives his power, his throne, and great authority to the Beast. The Beast is the human embodiment of the counterfeit evil kingdom that seeks to control the earth and the heavens.
 
The Antichrist is exactly what he sounds like: he is against Christ, which means he is also against God, the Holy Spirit, and God’s kingdom. The Apostle John identifies the Antichrist this way: “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world” (1 John 4:2-3).
 
Throughout history, the spiritual power behind the Antichrist (Satan/Dragon) has been turning people against God, and particularly against Christ. Likewise, that beastly spirit has manifested in evil kingdoms and leaders, such as Hitler, who sought to destroy the Jews. We see this same spirit at work in ungodly governments and economic institutions today. The final leader of this Beast shall be THE Antichrist. We’ll learn the identity of his beastly kingdom shortly.
 
So now we know the cosmic crime that brings the war to a final climax: the intention to change the times and seasons. Only God the Creator has that privilege. And we have the cosmic indictment against Satan for usurping mankind’s original mandate to keep and govern this earth.
 
And we have two more major characters in the Final Saga. (1) The Antichrist or Beast is the counterfeit of Christ. Only the true King, Jesus Christ, inherits the earth and the nations. (2) Israel, God’s chosen people, who have been promised to be the head of the nations, and not the tail. In the next few blogs we’ll identify two more characters, the true Bride and the counterfeit bride.