Why Future Events? Part 8
by Dr. Renald Showers

How will God accomplish the first future thing that he must do in order to fulfill His purpose for history before the history of this earth comes to an end? How will He crush His enemy, Satan, and remove him and his entire kingdom from the earth? The Scriptures reveal that He will do it through the combination of the seven year Tribulation Period (70th week of Daniel 9:27) and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth after the Tribulation. This article will begin to focus attention on this combination.

The Tribulation.

Jesus Christ will play the key role in the crushing of Satan. His work of redemption through His death on the cross in His First Coming gives Him the authority to do this future work as mankind’s Kinsman-Redeemer. The Scriptures declare the following concerning Christ: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews 2:14), and "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).

Seven years before His Second Coming to earth Christ will take the sealed scroll (the deed of purchase for mankind’s forfeited inheritance of tenant possession of the earth) from God’s hand in Heaven. He will begin to open the scroll by breaking its seven seals one at a time. He thereby will unleash three series of divine judgments upon planet earth: First, seven seal judgments (Revelation 6-7); second, seven trumpet judgments (Revelation 8-11), and, third, seven vial or bowl judgments (Revelation 12-18). These judgments will involve an outpouring of God’s wrath upon Satan’s domain. They will wreak havoc on large areas of the earth and great masses of humanity. Just as a modern-day armed force inflicts a heavy, prolonged bombardment on an enemy’s domain before it invades, so Christ will inflict this heavy, seven year bombardment on Satan’s earthly domain in preparation for His invasion of it at His Second Coming.

In conjunction with this, the Apostle John recorded something dramatic that will transpire when the seventh trumpet judgment will be administered. The seventh trumpet will be the last of the second series of divine judgments. The seven seal and first six trumpet judgments will have already transpired before it. The seventh trumpet will consist of the entire third series of judgments (the seven vials or bowls). This is significant, because, when the seventh trumpet is administered, it will unleash the last series of judgments that will complete the bombardment of Satan’s domain and culminate with the Second Coming of Christ, the complete end of Satan’s rule, and the establishment of God’s future theocratic kingdom on earth.

Because of this significance of the seventh trumpet, when God’s creatures in Heaven will see it unleashed, they will be so excited in anticipation of the dramatic change that this will trigger for the world that they will burst forth with the following cry of victory: "The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever" (Revelation 11:15). The verb translated "is become" is a proleptic aorist (Robert Thomas, Revelation 8-22, p. 106). This means that, although God’s theocratic kingdom rule over the world system will not be established until after this last series of judgments has run its course, it will be so certain to happen that God’s heavenly creatures can regard it as already accomplished.

The Second Coming.

After Christ’s Tribulation bombardment of Satan’s earthly domain has ended, He will invade that domain by coming out of Heaven to the earth with His holy angels in His glorious Second Coming (Matthew 24:29-30; 25:31). He will come initially to complete the work of crushing Satan by ridding the earth of him and his entire kingdom. Thus, He will come in righteousness to "judge and make war" (Revelation 19:11).

As a result of having broken all seven seals during the Tribulation, Christ will have the scroll deed open by the time of His Second Coming. At that time He will read the contents of the scroll publicly as the legal evidence that He is the true Kinsman-Redeemer of mankind’s forfeited inheritance and, therefore, has the right to evict Satan and his kingdom and to take tenant possession of the earth (Psalm 2:7-9; Revelation 5:4-5).

After presenting this evidence Christ will fully exercise that right. His work of evicting Satan and his kingdom from the earth will involve three phases. First, He will rid the earth of the political and military aspects of Satan’s world system. When the sixth vial judgment will be poured out upon the earth, Satan, the Antichrist (Satan’s ultimate political world ruler) and the False Prophet (the religious leader who will lead the world in the worship of the Antichrist) (Revelation 13) will send demons throughout the world to prompt the political rulers of all Gentile nations to gather together with their armed forces to one location (Revelation 16:12-16). Zechariah 12-14 indicates that the land of Israel will be that location and that these rulers and armed forces will come against Jerusalem and will begin to destroy it. Since the sixth vial judgment will be the next to the last judgment of the Tribulation, this indicates that these rulers and armed forces will not begin to gather to Israel until near the end of that seven year period.

Why will Satan want the combined might of the rulers and armed forces of the entire Gentile world gathered together in the land of Israel at the city of Jerusalem by the end of the Tribulation? For two reasons. First, as a result of Christ’s bombardment of his earthly domain throughout the Tribulation and his confinement to the earth for the second half of that seven year period, Satan will recognize that his time is growing short before Christ will finish His judgment of him (Revelation 12). Zechariah 14:3-4 reveals that, when Christ will come in His Second Coming, He will descend first to the Mount of Olives in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem. In light of this, Satan will want the combined might of the rulers and armed forces of the Gentile world gathered in the very vicinity to which Christ will come in order to help him try to prevent Christ from returning to earth. He knows that, if Christ gets back to earth, his rule will be finished on this planet. Thus, Revelation 19:11, 19-20 indicates that, when Christ will come out of Heaven, the Antichrist, the False Prophet, the political rulers and armed forces of the entire Gentile world will be gathered together to make war against Christ and His heavenly army (see Psalm 2).