A member of our Fellowship emailed me last week and asked me to look over a study on prophecy he was putting together for a men’s Bible study. When I looked it over, not only could I think of nothing additional to offer, I asked Ron if he would allow me to share it with a wider audience. I encourage you to download or print Ron Maurno’s “Bible Prophecy 101” and keep it handy as a Bible prophecy quick reference resource. ~Jack Kinsella   There is a theological difference between Israel and the Church.  

“…worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Revelation 19:10

Prophecy: History written in advance. Bible prophecy is God’s description of future events. (25% of the Bible is prophetic)
Prophet: A man, chosen by God, inspired to speak God’s message to reveal the future to man.
Eschatology: Derived from 2 Greek words meaning last and study. It is the study of end time events.
Amillennialism: Teaching that states that there is no millennium reign (1000 years) of Christ on earth.
Premillennialism: Teaching that Christ will literally and physically be on earth for a thousand year reign.
Postmillennialism: Teaches Reconstructionism, a belief that God’s kingdom began at the first coming of Jesus, and will advance throughout history until it fills the whole earth through conversion to the Christian faith and world view.

Bible Prophecy 101 – Handy Prophecy Reference Guide

In Defense of the Faith
By Ron Maurno

 

 BIBLICAL NUMBERS:

#1: Signifies completion, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God” (Deut. 6:4)

#2: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor, for if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.” (Eccl. 4:9-10)

#3: The simplest compound unit of mathematical science. God is one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is the number of the Godhead.

#4: The number of the created world. There are 4 seasons, and 4 points on the compass north, south, east and west. There are 4 power blocs of the world in the latter day wars: Kings of the North, South, East, and the Western alliance.

#5 and #10: Scriptural significance. Man has 5 fingers on each hand and 5 toes on each foot. Man has 5 senses. The decimal system is based on tenths.

#6: The number of man; it falls short of perfection (7). Man was created on the sixth day, the divinely appointed work week is 6 days, with the 7th set aside for God. Goliath had 6 fingers and 6 toes. His spear weighed 600 shekels of iron. His height is recorded as 6 cubits and a span. Jesus was crucified on the 6th hour of the 6th day of the week. The numbers 666 represent the antichrist, the spiritually incomplete man multiplied 100 times over.

#7: Sacred number of spiritual perfection, e.g., 4 is representative of the world and 3 of the Trinity, together equals 7. Seven days make up one of the four quarters of the moon. There are but 7 notes in music. On the seventh day, God rested. The Book of Revelation is addressed to the 7 churches of Asia Minor. There are 7 stars representing the 7 angels, who represent the 7 churches. In Rev. 3:1, Jesus is identified as having the 7 spirits of God (the whole/complete Spirit of God). In Rev. 5:6, the Lamb is pictured as having 7 eyes (representing omniscience), and 7 horns (representing power), symbolizing the Lamb as all-powerful omnipotence. There are 7 seals, 7 thunders, 7 vials and 7 trumpets. (Rev. 16:6-8). (Excerpts from Omega Letter June 27, 2008)

DEFINITIONS:

DISPENSATIONALISM:

A system of theology that recognizes three basic tenets: (1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 1:10, 3:2; Col. 1:25)

1. There is a theological difference between Israel and the Church.

2. Scripture is to be interpreted by the literal method unless the text itself mentions a figurative or symbolic interpretation.

3. The underlying purpose of God in this world is His glory.

There are 7 dispensations, representing God’s interaction with man at different periods of time:
1. Innocence: Creation to the fall. (Gen. 1:27-28)
2. Conscience: Fall to the flood. (Gen. 3:1-6)
3. Human Government: Exit from the Ark to Abraham (Jews). (Gen. 9:6)
4. Promise: Abraham to the Law. (Gen. 12:1)
5. Law: Ten Commandments to Calvary (Ex. 5:6, 19:3; Acts 1)
6. Grace: (Church Age) Pentecost to the Rapture (Acts 2, Rev. 19:21)
7. Millennium Kingdom: Imprisonment of Satan to the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:1, 22:7).

COVENANT:

A divinely initiated contract which God makes with man in which God obligates Himself to the parties named in the contract. There are two types of covenants, conditional and unconditional. The following are the four unconditional covenants that God made with Israel. The first three covenants are under attack today.

1. ABRAHAMIC COVENANT: Unconditional or Patriarchal. This is the foundation of all future covenants. (Gen. 12:1-3, 13:14-18, 15:1-21, 17:1-22)

-To make Abraham a great nation, multiply his seed, and make him the father of many nations.
– To bless Abraham and make him great.
– To make Abraham a blessing to all the families of the earth.
– To bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him.
– To give Abraham and his seed all the land he could see, with specified definite boundaries.
– To give a sign of covenant (circumcision)
NOTE: This covenant is under attack from anti-Semitism.

2. LAND (PALESTINIAN) COVENANT: Unconditional, promising the seed of Abraham eternal possession of the land (Deut. 30:1-10)

– Israel will be dispersed among the nations.
– Israel will repent and return to the land.
– Israel will be re-gathered from the dispersion to the land that their fathers possessed.
-To prosper them above their fathers.
-To restore them spiritually to love the Lord.
– To put all their curses upon their enemies.
NOTE: This covenant is under attack today in the Middle East.

3. DAVIDIC COVENANT: Unconditional, God reaffirms the Abrahamic covenant with David and adding that the blessings (Messiah) would be attached to his lineage (2 Sam. 7:1-16, 23:1-5; Ps. 89:34-37)

– To make David’s name great.
– To provide a permanent, undisturbed home for Israel.
– To establish an eternal kingdom for David and his lineage.
NOTE: Luke 1: 30-34 gives the promise to Mary that “The Lord will give Him the throne of His father David forever.” InPsalm 132:11, God made a promise to David that, “Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne”. “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, ON EARTH as it is in Heaven” (Matt. 6: 9-13).This covenant will be fulfilled by the Millennial reign of Christ on earth. It is under attack by Amillennial and Postmillennial Christian teaching. (Emphasis mine).

4. NEW (EVERLASTING) COVENANT: Unconditional, it replaced the conditional MOSAIC Covenant which promised that God would make Israel His special possession and make them a holy people. The people failed to obey God and the New Covenant provided spiritual restoration. In the New Covenant God promised:

-To put the law in their hearts and minds.
– To be their God and make them His people.
-To establish an eternal Kingdom with God and His people.
NOTE: This is the covenant from which the name, New Testament, is derived.

THE 70 WEEKS OF DANIEL (Daniel 9:24-27) *Note:  See our section this is crucial  Daniel’s 70 Weeks

Expanded teaching on The First 69 Weeks  & The 70th Week.

24Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Dan. 9:24-27)

The 70 weeks are divided into 3 sections:

The 1st section (7 weeks or 49 years) is the time from the edict of Xerxes of Persia (444 BC) to the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
The 2nd section (62 weeks or 434 years) is from the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the death of Christ.
The 3rd section (1 week or 7 years) is suspended from the death (cut off) of the Messiah until the antichrist confirms a 7 year peace treaty in the Middle East. The treaty marks the start of the tribulation period.

Jewish Calendar (360 days/ year)

Gregorian Calendar (365 days/ year)

(7 x 7)+(62 x 7) = 483 years

444 BC to 33 AD = 476 years

483 years

476 years

X    360 days =

X    365 days =

173,880 days

173,740 days

+    116 days in leap years

+      24 days = (March 5 – March 30)

173,880 days

Bible Timeline

Church Age/Age of Grace: The 2000 year period that begins at Pentecost and ends at the Rapture of the church.

Rapture: Also called the Day of Christ. Rapture is an English word meaning snatched up or caught up. It is the catching away of the true believers of Jesus Christ. The Rapture is the literal, visible and bodily return of Jesus Christ in the heavenlies. (1Thess. 4:13-18, 5: 9)

Tribulation/ Day of the Lord/Daniel’s 70th week: A 7 year period of the current age, with Israel as the main focal point. It begins with an enforced peace treaty with Israel. It becomes the “Great Tribulation” at the mid-way point (42 months), when Satan enters a man’s body. Also called the “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble”.

Antichrist: Before Christ comes to set up His Kingdom of peace, Satan will enter a man’s body and present his counterfeit, the antichrist, as the Messiah. Other names include: Little Horn (Dan. 7:8), King of fierce countenance (Dan. 8:23), The Prince that shall come (Dan. 9:26), the man of sin, the son of perdition and the wicked one (2 Thess. 2:8), the Beast of the sea (Rev. 13:1). The antichrist enforces a seven year peace treaty that amazes the world.

Abomination of Desolation: Antichrist will take control of Jewish worship midway through the tribulation, declaring himself to be God (2Thess. 2:4). He demands worship from the Jews, in their own temple.

False Prophet: Religious leader who ascends to world popularity via his close alignment with the antichrist. He is the leader of the one world church in Rev. 13:11. He will work amazing miracles and lead people into idolatry by worshiping the image of the beast.

Second Coming/Millennium: Literal and bodily reign of Christ on earth.

 

FOUR BIBLICAL POWER BLOCS IN THE LATTER DAYS

KING OF THE NORTH (GOG-MAGOG ALLIANCE):Russia, Iran and the Arab-Islamic alliance. (Ezek. 38-39)

KINGS OF THE SOUTH: Egypt, Africa and Islamic North Africa (Dan. 11:40)

KINGS OF THE EAST: China and Southeast Asia (Rev. 16:12)

REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE/ WESTERN ALLIANCE/ BEAST ARMY OF ANTICHRIST: (Dan. 7:7). If the European Union becomes combined with the Mediterranean union, the two together will have the same exact land boundaries as the ancient Holy Roman Empire. The Benelux Treaty, signed in 1948 (the same year as the re-birth of Israel) began the unification of Europe. The Bible says that the revived Roman Empire will be led by the antichrist. (Rev. 17:12)

TWO EVENTS LEADING TO THE TRIBULATION

PROPHECY, THE BURDEN OF DAMASCUS (Is. 17:1,14) 1: “A message concerning Damascus. Observe! Damascus is about to be undone as a city.”
14: “At evening tide, lo, terror! Before morning they are gone. Such is the fate of those who pillage us and the lot of those who plunder us.”

FACT: Damascus, the capital of Syria, is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, population approximately 1.6 million. Syria is the state sponsor of the terror group Hezbollah.

PROPHECY, Psalm 83 (1000 BC) “God, do not be silent, be not quiet, be not still. See how Your enemies are astir, how Your foes rear their heads. With cunning they conspire against Your people; they plot against those You cherish. Come they say “LET US DESTROY THEM AS A NATION”, that the name of Israel be remembered no more. With one mind they plot together, they form an alliance against You, the tents of Edom (modern day Palestinians, descendants of Esau) and the Ishmaelite ( descendants of Ishmael, Yemen) of Moab (modern day Jordan), Ammon (nomadic tribesman, northwest Arabia, east of the Dead Sea) and Amalek (Son of Esau, area of Iran), Philistia (Gaza) with the inhabitants of Tyre (Lebanon). Even Assyria (Syria) has joined them to lend strength to the descendants of Lot (northern Jordan).” (Emphasis mine)

THE WAR OF GOG AND MAGOG

PROPHECY Ezek 38:1-4 (575 BC)

“The word of the Lord came to me: Son of Man set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: Prophecy against him and say: This is what the sovereign Lord says, I am against you, oh Gog, chief prince of Mesech and Tubal. I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaw, and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horseman fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields and all of them brandishing their swords.”

FACT: Gog is thought by most Christian scholars to be a title of a strong leader. Magog, is the son of Japheth who was a son of Noah. Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, identified the offspring of Magog as the Scythians who were known as brutal horse-riding nomads that resided in the area of modern day southern Russia. Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. There is unanimity among dispensational scholars that these countries are also found in Russia and the former Soviet republics.

PROPHECY Ezek. 38:5-6 “Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, also Gomer with all his troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all his troops-the many nations with you.”

FACT: Persia is modern day Iran.
Cush is the area of Sudan, Ethiopia and possibly Eritrea.
Put is the area of Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia.
Gomer, the eldest son of Japheth (Noah), is modern day Turkey.
Beth Togarmah is Turkey, Armenia, and the Turkish-speaking people of Asia Minor and central Asia.
“Many nations with you’, possibly additional Islamic allies.

THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON

“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over”. (Dan. 11:40)

This is the closing battle of the second three and one-half years of the tribulation. It begins with Russia/Iran’s invasion of Israel (Gog-Magog/ King of the North), after the peace contract with Israel is broken (Ezek. 38:15-16). As the war escalates, new participants include: antichrist (Western Alliance), Kings of the South and Kings of the East.

Antichrist will move all his military might with the other Kings to do battle with Christ at His return to the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4, Rev. 16:14)

Christ will come. The battle of Armageddon climaxes the campaign as the Lord and His armies appear from Heaven. The enemy armies will be destroyed (Joel 3: 2, 9-14, Ps. 2: 2-3). Christ returns, riding a white horse. His eyes are as a flame of fire and His robe dipped in blood. Written on the robe is ‘King of Kings’ and ‘Lord of Lords’. He will smite the nations, and the antichrist and the False Prophet will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

It will be the bloodiest battle in history (Ps. 2:2, Zech. 14:3). The destruction resulting will be that the blood of the armies will reach to the horses’ bridles for two hundred miles and it will require mankind 7 months to bury the dead ( Rev. 14:20,Ezek. 39:12). (Excerpts from J Dwight Pentecost: Campaign of Armageddon)

MAJOR EVENTS OF UNFULFILLED PROPHECY

– Damascus is destroyed in one night (Is. 17:1, 14)
– A coalition of nations marches on Israel (Ps. 83)
– Israel is attacked (Isaiah 17:4) the war ends and Israel becomes an exceedingly great army (Ezek. 37:10, 35:14;Obad. 1:18)
– Israel dwells securely; the wall of separation comes down (Ezek. 38:11)
– Rapture of the church (1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 5: 51-58), Marriage Supper Of the Lamb and the Bema Seat Judgment of the raptured church. (Rev. 19:6-10; 1 Thess 2:19 -20)
– Revival of the Roman Empire, 10 nation confederacy formed. (Dan. 7:7, 24; Rev. 13:1, 17:3)
– Rise of Antichrist: (Dan. 7:8; Rev. 13:1-8)
-7 year peace treaty with Israel: consummated 7 years before the second coming of Christ (Dan. 9:27; Rev. 11-16) the third Jewish Temple is built (Dan. 9:27)
– Russia/Iran (King of the north) launches a surprise attack on Israel, before the second coming of Christ (Ezek. 38-39).
– Peace treaty with Israel is broken. Antichrist enters the Holy of Holies and declares himself to be God (Abomination of desolation (Dan 7: 23; 2 Thess. 2: 4)
– Antichrist sets up world government, world economic system and world church (Dan 7:23; Rev 13: 5-8, 15-17, 17:16-17)
– Many Christians and Jews are martyred who refuse the mark of the beast, (no one may buy or sell without the mark (Rev. 7: 9-17, 13-15,)
– Catastrophic divine judgments represented by 7 seals, 7 bowls and 7 judgments poured out on the earth (Rev. 6-18)
– Babylon is destroyed: Former headquarters of antichrist prior to moving his headquarters to Israel during the battle of Armageddon. (Rev. 18; Dan. 11:20-21)
– Battle of Armageddon begins: A continuation of Ezekiel 38-39 that began before the mid-way point of the Tribulation (3 ½ years) and concludes with Christ and His armies at the hill of Megiddo. (Dan. 11:40-45; Rev. 9:13-21, 16:12-16)
– Second coming of Jesus Christ (Matt. 24:27-31; Rev. 19:11-21)
– Satan bound for 1000 years (Rev. 20:1-3)
– Resurrection of Tribulation saints and Old Testament saints (Dan. 12: 2)
– Millennium Kingdom begins (Rev. 20:5-6)
– Final rebellion at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20: 5-6)
– Great White Throne judgment: judgment of sinners (Rev. 20: 11-15)
– Eternity begins, new heaven, new earth, New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-2)
Additional excerpts from: “Every Prophecy of the Bible”, John F. Walvrood. Covenants: interview Bill Salus Chuck Misler 2/10/10). Psalm 83: Bill Salus blogspot 2009. Dispensations: Grant Jeffrey’s TV program 3/2/10.

About the author:
Ron Maurno was born in New York and grew up in Miami where he attended high school and college. Having read Hal Lindsey’s “The Late Great Planet Earth” in the 1970’s, Ron had hoped to someday spend enough time to better understand how God’s prophecies fit into current world events. In addition to studying Bible prophecy, Ron enjoys spending time with his wife, four sons and their children, his two Tennessee Walking horses, two dogs, and one barn cat.

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