One of the major misconceptions concerning the end-times is that when Christ comes again, we go up and meet Him in the air, and then come right back down as if we’re riding a Ferris wheel. This violates our Lord’s promise in John 14:1-3. “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” You see, both the Bride and God’s people have places prepared for them.
        The misconception comes from Revelation 5:10 that says we have been kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. The Greek word for on here is epi. As with our English prepositions that show placement or position, the word can be translated in many ways, including over, upon, towards, beside, and above. Which word is to be used is determined by the context.
      The problem is that the translators were not consistent in how they translated the word, just as they were not consistent in whether or not they capitalized the word Day when referring to God’s prophetic plan of redemption. This often confuses the situation at hand. For example, this same word (epi) is translated as “over” in Rev. 17:18.
       End-Time Lesson: It may seem like we’re being picky about a minor grammatical issue. But this is not a minor issue. The place of all authority and power is the 3rd Heaven. It is from there that the immortal government reigns over the earth. During the great Week, the Father’s house is the 3rd Heaven. That’s why Jesus takes us back to Heaven to His Father’s house.
       There are other, more significant proofs that we are ruling over the earth. For one thing, we just saw that after Christ defeats the Antichrist’s armies that the nations still rebel against having to worship Christ at the Feast. And this is after the Father has placed His godly government in Jerusalem, under our delegated authority. A just government, in itself, does not automatically change the hearts of the people. Only by accepting Jesus as one’s Savior is the spirit of a person regenerated. This is why we must continue to focus on preaching the gospel rather than trying to reform nations.
        Second, human beings will still continue to be born during the millennial reign. They will still have the fallen nature. They will still need to receive Jesus as their Savior, which is why the Jewish saints take over our earthly ministry of preaching the Gospel and making disciples. The latter rain outpouring of the Spirit as a result of their 3rd Day revival likewise empowers them to become His witnesses on the earth.
         Third, unholy people cannot withstand being in the presence of the Holy One, let alone Christ in all His glory, and the innumerable company of 144 thousands as His Bride in our glorified perfection. This is why Jesus had to lay aside the glory of Heaven when He came the first time.
         There is one more reason we must consider, but to do so, we have to return to the rest of Satan’s story.  As we saw earlier, Satan is released from the Pit at the end of the Day of the Lord. Because God is just, He must allow all those people who were born during the last 1,000 years to decide once and for all whom they will love and serve. It’s the age-old choice from Genesis: the Tree of Life or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil—the blessings or curses, the life or death of Deuteronomy; the Way, the Truth, and the Life through Jesus or the deceptions and darkness of the father of Lies, Satan.
          Revelation 20:7-9 tells us the rest of Satan’s story. “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city [Jerusalem]. And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them. The Devil, who deceived them, was cast into the Lake of Fire and brimstone where the Beast [the Antichrist] and the False Prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
          Satan is able to raise up one last rebellion, one last ditch effort to rule the world, at the end of the millennial reign. Do we really think that is possible if our Lord and His Church are on the earth in glorified bodies?
         Despite the fact that God has shown the world that He and He alone is the Most High God, those with evil hearts still dare to defy Him. Needless to say, the rebellion doesn’t get far. God’s final vengeance comes swiftly. It all goes down in flames! And Satan is cast into the Lake of Fire, which is eternal damnation. Then comes the final judgment. Stay tuned.

      The nature of Old Testament prophecies as they are recorded in our Bible is that it may not be obvious immediately as to when the prophecy shall take place. In some cases, a prophecy may have a present application in that time, yet also speak of a future event. It is for this reason that some scholars do not think Ezekiel 38 and 39 describe the end-time battle for Jerusalem with the Antichrist. This is why making the Spirit-inspired connections is so crucial. Ezekiel 39:5-8 is one such example.
       “ ‘You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,’ says the Lord God. ‘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.’ ”
         In other words, this is Operation Consume & Destroy that unfolds over the first 31/2 years of the Day of the Lord. You may recall that this corresponds to the last half of Daniel’s 70th week, when the prophecy resumes after Israel’s two-Day timeout due to their rejection of the Messiah, now that they have made their “Blessed is He” confession of faith. This is when they are grafted back into the Vine. Remember too, that Jesus linked our resurrection at the last Day to the Day of the Lord.
       End-Time Lesson: The prophet Zechariah records this same scene from earth’s perspective. “Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the Day of battle. And in that Day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Then you shall fell through My mountain valley” (Zech. 14:3-5).
         As you can see, the shaking of the heavens and earth, as well as the trumpet/bowl judgments, change the typography of the world, particularly the Middle East and Jerusalem in particular. Ezekiel adds, “ ‘Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years. They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,’ says the Lord God” (Ezek. 39:9-10).
       God’s righteous judgments have come, not only against the Beast, but also the apostate Jews. Now that His people have finally accepted Jesus as the Son of God, the Father declares, “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them” ’(Ezek.39:21-24).
        Zechariah picks up the rest of the story. “The people shall dwell in it; and no long shall there be utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited” (Zech. 14:11). This is when the kingdom shall be restored to the Davidic line as promised and Jerusalem is made the praise of the earth. Israel becomes the natural head of the nations under the delegated authority of the heavenly government.
        The prophet explains that “everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zech. 14:16-19).
         By the way, the fact that nations still rebel tells you that all is not perfect during the millennial reign. Stay tuned!

      As Daniel explained, Operation Consume and Destroy brings us to the bottom of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue that foretold the times of the Gentile oppressors—to the feet made of clay and iron that do not mix. The oppressive times of the Gentiles shall end. The dream and its interpretation are sure. Nothing can change it or stop it, no matter how prideful or powerful the counterfeit one-world order becomes.
      We hinted in an earlier blog that the end of the 3½-year war for Jerusalem doesn’t come as most people think it does. You see, it doesn’t end with a single conflict called the Battle of Armageddon. That is a misinterpretation that comes from several mistranslations, including the reference in Rev. 16:16. This is why scholars cannot agree on the location, let alone, if it actually exists. Instead, Scripture calls the sudden destruction of Operation Consume & Destroy as the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty (Rev. 16:14).
     We know this may rattle some of your preconceived ideas. However, we have to let Scripture interpret Scripture. And when there are multiple man-made interpretations of a passage with no agreement, we have to be honest with ourselves and God’s Word. Nowhere in Scripture is there a direct, specific reference to a 7-year tribulation. But there are at least 8 specific references to a 3½-year war.
      The Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty is fought from above, from the position of heavenly authority (Eph. 1:21). By the end of Christ’s 7th Day reign, Christ’s exalted position shall be completely fulfilled. “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth” (Phil. 2:9-10).   
      End-Time Message: Revelation goes on to describe the mop-up operation after the Stone has crushed the Antichrist’s forces. “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, ‘Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great’ ” (Rev. 19:17-18). Gruesome, for sure, but effective.
      As for the Beast and the False Prophet, they are captured and thrown into the Lake of Fire (eternal damnation). As for the power behind the Beast, John tells us his fate. “Then I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit [a compartment in Hades/Hell] and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years [the rest of Christ’s millennial reign]; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while” (Rev. 20:1-3). More on this to come.
        Thus, Operation Consume & Destroy is complete. Now let’s take a moment to see what this same scene looks like from below, from earth’s perspective. This 31/2-year war is prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39. God speaks directly to Gog of Magog (the Antichrist). “Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured” (Ezek. 39:3-4).
       Earlier, the prophet Ezekiel described the earthquake that split the Mount of Olives at Christ’s return at the rapture (Ezek. 38:18-22). This allows Israel to flee to the place God has prepared for them. Since they finally recognize Jesus as the Messiah, the latter rain outpouring empowers them to become mighty men in battle. Of course, it helps that God is fighting on their side now, compliments of the heavenly army above! Verse 23 sums up the purpose of the war for Jerusalem. “Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” 

     Operation Consume and Destroy brings us to the bottom of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue that foretold the times of the Gentile oppressors—to the feet made of clay and iron that do not mix. The ten toes correspond to the ten horns or leaders that comprise the Antichrist’s coalition of armies. Once the heavenly lights come back on, they’re ready to finish the invasion and take over Jerusalem. Apparently, they haven’t read the rest of the prophecy in Daniel 2.
     “And in the days of these kings the God of Heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the Stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” (Daniel 2:44-45).
       End-Time Lesson: Hopefully by now you recognize that the kings the God of Heaven sets up is us—Christ and His Bride seated as the one new Man who judges the earth as the immortal government. The Stone that crushes the Antichrist’s armies is not hewn by human hands but by God Almighty. It is comprised of living stones built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone upon which they are fashioned. It has become a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:19-22). We are seated in the 3rd Heaven, before the throne of God, the place of all power and authority. Our ruling declarations release the snare of that Day—the seven trumpet and bowl judgments against evil.
       Revelation 19:11-16 shows us what this looks like in the spiritual realm. When the heavens are opened or revealed to John, he sees white horses. Horses represent warfare in this instance, righteous judgment. The heavenly army is led by Him who is called Faithful and True. It is the appointed time when He judges and makes war. His name is called the Word of God—Jesus Christ our Lord (John 1:1). His weapon of choice is a sharp sword (Rev. 1:16). 
        As for the nature of this weapon, it was foretold in Psalm 149:6-9. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment—this honor have all His saints [the Bride]. Praise the Lord! It’s also described in Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
        As Paul pointed out in Ephesians 6:12, we do not wrestle with flesh and blood. If you read carefully, you will see that the passage never says that this heavenly army descends to the earth. We don’t need to fight light mere mortals, for we have been fully perfected through resurrection. The passage is merely using figurative language to describe this spiritual warfare.
        Do we really think that Christ comes to the earth on a literal horse with a literal sword in His mouth, such that He swings His head back and forth to destroy the earthly armies? Plus, we also know that the so-called four horsemen of the Apocalypse have been releasing the forces of the tribulation for nearly 2,000 years. Has anyone seen those horses riding around in our visible atmosphere or on the earth? Of course not. The language merely represents what John saw in the Spirit.
        The two-edged sword simply describes our agreement with what God has already spoken over the earth. The passage goes on to tell us that once these ruling declarations strike down the oppressors, we rule over the people of the earth from above with a rod of iron (strength). It’s the treading down of the enemy with the winepress of His fierce wrath. For He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.