End Coming on December 21st 2012?

I thought you might be interested in reading the article entitled, “The REVELATION Revelation”, which can be found at http://www.stargatezero.com (click on “The Revelation Revelation” in the Articles menu on the left). The author purports to have found “confirmation” of the December 21, 2012 end date encoded in the Bible.

Kent

While December 21st is the solstice and perhaps the end of the Mayan calendar as that site claims, it is completely insignificant on the Biblical calendar which I believe is the only reliable source of prophecy today. The Bible does not even mention equinoxes and solstices on its calendar, let alone prophecy about any significant events on these days. Those days were only important to the sun-worshipping pagan religions. In contrast, the Biblical calendar is reckoned by the moon and agriculture, ignoring the sun except for starting the day (at sunset).

More importantly, December is nowhere near any one of the prophetic Spring or Fall Holy Days of Leviticus 23 on which significant prophetic events in Revelation will happen. There are no December or winter holy days on that prophetic calendar.

For example, if that site is expecting the “End of the Age” that Jesus spoke of on that date, that would be the Battle of Armageddon and the “Day of the LORD.” The clues in Revelation 19 about that event point to it happening on Yom Kippur (Revelation 19 = Leviticus 16 where the scapegoat banished = Satan banished), which is nine days after the Feast of Trumpets, or the day when the “Last Trump” Paul referred to is sounded and the resurrection and rapture occur. These days are both in Tishrei (seventh moon) which falls in either from about mid-September through about mid-October every year…never in December. Therefore, I would not pay any attention to any claims for the End of the Age coming in December of any year as they are at odds with the prophetic framework laid out in Leviticus and Revelation.

However, 2012 may indeed be a significant year for the start of things leading up to the end of the age. See my timeline research for more on this.

Is the Rapture before Wormwood?

Mary asked:

Revelation chapter 7 talks about the four angels holding back the winds of the earth and sealing the 144,00 children of all the tribes of Israel. Right after that it speaks about the great multitude in heaven which appears to be the rapture. So during the 7th Seal and third trumpet, the star Wormwood is hurled into earth. Are you saying that christians will still be here on earth when Wormwood hurles into earth, and that the rapture will not have taken place?

Yes, I’m saying that the rapture comes after Wormwood, otherwise the firstfruit saints would not need sealing protection as the first half of Revelation 7 depicts nor would the Woman of Revelation 12 be brought to a place of safety for 3½ years at the start of the Tribulation. Wormwood is here from the 6th seal through 4th trumpet but the rapture comes at the last or 7th trumpet at the same time as the dead in Christ are raised according to Paul (1The 4:16, 1Cor 15:52). Revelation 20:4-5 says explicitly that the first resurrection of the dead includes people who overcame the mark of the beast and his image which of course means the resurrection and rapture cannot occur at the start or tribulation. Finally, Jesus in the Olivet Discourse agreed that after the Tribulation his angels would come with a trumpet to gather all his elect (Mt 24:29-31). “The elect” is used elsewhere in the NT to refer to the church (1Pet 1:1; 2Jn 1:1; Tit 1:1).

Myself I doubt that Revelation 7 is depicting saints in heaven after the rapture. We already have an explicit depiction of that in Revelation 15 (the sea of fire and glass). Instead I think Revelation 7 is showing all God’s children from all nations and races (rather than primarily Israel as the first phase of his plan works with) living with him constantly after the new heaven and new Earth as Revelation 21 and Isaiah 65 predict. This would explain why they are always with the Lamb in the Temple rather than ruling on Earth with him (and remember none of us are ever going to be omnipresent like God). However, even if Revelation 7 were depicting saints immediately after the first rapture, it gives no timing information as to when the rapture itself is.

America Falls Before or After Wormwood?

Lou asked

Does the turmoil and destruction caused by a planet x [wormwood] come before or after the ‘demise’ of America (babylon) thru war? It would appear that the destruction of 1/3 of the world by this planet would utterly disable most of the wolds technologies (fuel, food, and electrical energy production/distribution, etc) .. making it nearly impossible for nations to wage war against one another. Not to mention that much of the worlds harbors and ships would lay in destruction also.

We can know for sure from Revelation 14’s three angel’s messages that the fall of America the Babylon occurs right before the rise of the Beast at the 5th trumpet that places the mark on everyone. This is because the 2nd angel message announcing the fall of Babylon comes before the 3rd angel message warning not to take the mark (which is introduced at the start of the Great Tribulation).

Further, America’s fall must be after the 4th trumpet which is the final effect of Planet X/Wormwood because the first angel’s message warning people to repent happens right before Planet X/Wormwood passes at the 6th seal. Because Planet X happens so fast in the 6th seal through 4th trumpet, it’s doubtful that an enemy attack would happen before the 4th trumpet hits. So I place the fall of America between the 4th trumpet and 5th trumpet for this reason. It makes a lot of sense as you say with infrastructure out that America’s military relies on more than any other country for its advantage that this would be when Russia and her communist allies would strike.

If you doubt any nation will have the ability to wage war after Wormwood, then just note that the 6th trumpet speaks of a war between the Beast (essentially the revived Roman Empire with England/the lion at the helm – Dan 7:4 ) and enemies from the north and east (Dan 11:44 – China and Russia) will start a war with him. Also there is the final war of Armageddon after this making a total of at least three clear wars prophesied after Planet X. (A fourth would be the pretrib, pre-wormwood Arab-Israel war coming first).

Rapture Series Coming

I am writing a series of articles this month to teach enough of the Bible so you can understand the timing of the rapture. The Bible gives enough clues to make this goal possible, and to even be sure that you are right in your understanding. The trick is to learning how to accept the plain sense mean of the prophecies rather than replace them with symbolic interpretations that ignore the plain sense. Once you do that you can begin to fit all the pieces together like you would a big jigsaw puzzle.

To get started you first need to believe that there is a rapture and that we can and in fact should know the timing of it (a couple of things that are not granted these days).

Read these articles to address these doubts. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you don’t miss the announcement of the new articles as they are completed.

You can find the homepage to the series here: Rapture Year Timline Series