Time Is Running Out
“What’s going to happen next?” That’s one of the questions I get asked on a regular basis, especially when people find out I love to study, write and speak about the end times.
Jimmy Evans | IOM Contributing Author
The Bible doesn’t offer precise, day-to-day details of a timeline—for instance, it doesn’t tell us when the Russian invasion of Ukraine will end or specifically when the Antichrist will come to power.
But it does give us a broad timeline of the five major events of the end times, starting with the Rapture of the Church. These events are clearly described in Scripture, and I believe we will see this timeline come into focus very soon.
Here is God’s agenda for the future:
1. The Rapture and Resurrection of the Dead in Christ
This two-part move of God is the next major prophetic event that will happen in our world. In fact, the evidence is clear to me that it could happen at any moment, including potentially while you are reading these words! All the signs point to the return of Christ in the very near future.
The Rapture will be accompanied by the Resurrection of the righteous dead—those who have passed away in relationship to Jesus. Scripture speaks of the Rapture and Resurrection as separate events, but they will happen so closely together that I am including them as a single point in the timeline.
God will raise the righteous dead first, and a split second later, Jesus will gather living believers into His presence. Paul describes this in 1 Thessalonians:
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.—1 Thessalonians 4:15–18
All of us—those who are living and our dead brothers and sisters in Christ—will have a grand reunion together with the Lord in the air. This event will set the rest of the timeline into motion.
2. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb and Glorious Return of Jesus
After raising the dead in Christ and gathering living believers in the Rapture, Jesus will marry His raptured and resurrected believers as His glorious bride. This will be celebrated with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
This heavenly celebration will last for seven years, correlating to the period of the Tribulation on earth. This will be the worst time on earth in human history but a time of rejoicing for us in heaven.
The apostle John writes about the end of the Marriage Supper in the Book of Revelation:
And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.—Revelation 19:6-8
Later in that passage, John describes Jesus judging and making war on the earth accompanied by “the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen” (Revelation 19:14). That’s His Bride, riding along with Him after the Marriage Supper of the Lamb comes to a close. This is a different kind of return. The Rapture will be a private event between Jesus and His Church, but this will be public. Every eye will see Him. There will be no doubt that He has returned. It will be dramatic and worldwide.
The world will have been marching against Jerusalem at the end of the Tribulation, but then Jesus will ride in—with His armies at His side—at the battle of Armageddon. He will cast the false prophet and the Antichrist into hell, and we will be there to see it happen.
3. The Millennial Rule
After the glorious return of Jesus, the apostle John had a vision of what would happen next, detailed in Revelation 20:1-10. He says the Antichrist and false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire, and Satan (“the dragon, that serpent of old”) will be locked in chains and sealed in the bottomless pit. Neither Satan’s power nor his words will be able to escape.
Meanwhile, believing martyrs who were killed during the Tribulation will become part of the family of believers who will rule with Christ, reigning with Jesus as kings for a thousand years. We will reign with Him, too. John refers to us as “the saints” or “priests of God.”
No one will become saved after this point, because the Age of Grace, which we are living in now, will be over.
Believers, along with Jesus, will then help impose the will of God on the earth. Jesus will be King and we will be His regents over all the survivors of the Tribulation. He will give us total authority—and we will need it, because the unbelievers left on earth still won’t submit to Jesus, nor will they recognize our authority. They will want to kill us!