I have provided below a graphic presentation of a timeline of prophetic events that you might find helpful and interesting. It's something of a mostly completed puzzle; as you read various passages of Scripture, you can begin to see how many of them are pieces that can fit into various timeframes identified within the presentation. Of course, it's possible that I have misplaced one or more pieces of the puzzle, but that is the essence of the study of prophecy. We, like the Magi who sought announcements of Christ in the heavenly bodies and in Scripture, seek to understand and occasionally find epiphanies when things fit together.
Special Note Regarding End Times Events
I should note that I have made a table of Signs of the End Times, which is available here: Absher Note Regarding Signs of the End Times. You might find these notes helpful to understanding the many various indicators of End Times events. The list is not necessarily exhaustive, but it is fairly comprehensive.
Special Note Regarding David's Tabernacle
I wanted to make a special note here about David's Tabernacle. For some reason, I have missed this interesting consideration in my study of prophecy, but I am immensely captivated by it now. The following matters brought it to my attention: (a) I stumbled on a post regarding an archeological discovery (see David's Tabernacle Possibly Found) wherein the archeologist expressed his view that a recent archeological site in the City of David might possibly be the site of David's Tabernacle; and (b) then I found a Jonathan Cahn video about the mystery of David's Tabernacle (see Cahn Re Mystery of David's Tabernacle). However, I was more interested in Jonathan Cahn's cited Scripture than I was his point (and of course his point was excellent, but I believe his video preceded the recent archeological discovery, which explains why he didn't comment on it). In the Scripture, Acts 15, the Council at Jerusalem (consisting of the gathering of the most amazing collection of believers, including Paul and Barnabas and the Apostles) was meeting, and James, who was the head of the Council, cited an Old Testament prophecy to substantiate the fact that Gentiles were being brought into the church as believers in Jesus. Here is the passage that James cited from Amos 9:11-12:
'After these things I will return,And I will rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David,And I will rebuild its ruins,And I will restore it,So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,’Says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago.
This is an amazing prophecy that, for some reason I have missed. Jesus declares that when He returns to the earth as Messiah, He will rebuild the tabernacle of David. The prophet Isaiah also prophesies that the Messiah will sit on His throne in this tabernacle. (See Isaiah 16:5) When you consider this prophecy in light of the fact that some Jewish archeologists believe that they have found the tabernacle of David, you should be amazed. The possible discovery of the tabernacle of David suggests that the return of Jesus as the Messiah is imminent. Keep in mind that the discovery of the tabernacle of David isn't required for the return of the Messiah, but its discovery is certainly a substantial precursor--one that both Christians and Orthodox Jews would find massively interesting.
The background of the tabernacle of David is interesting as well. The first act of David, after he was finally recognized as king of Israel, was to get closer to the ark of the covenant. David likely recognized the power of the ark of the covenant, and he accordingly wanted it to be closer to him. In 2 Samuel 6, we read that David acted to move the ark of the covenant from the house of Abinadab (located in a city called Kiriath-Jearim, which was near Jerusalem, which is where the ark was placed after it had been recovered from the Philistines, who had captured it during a battle against Israel--1 Samuel 7:1-2) to the City of David in Jerusalem. In verse 17, we see that the ark was set "in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it." In 1 Chronicles 13:13 and 15:1, we conclude that the location of the tabernacle of David was in the City of David. We can see the power of blessing associated with proximity to the ark of the covenant being confirmed to David when he heard that Obed-Edom, who temporarily housed the ark, was blessed during the short time that it was at his home. (See 2 Samuel 6:12) The movement of the ark to the City of David was a substantial celebratory event, which brought David great joy. 2 Samuel 6:14-15. It is noteworthy too that David wore the clothing of a priest as he danced with joy before the ark as it was being transported (1 Chronicles 15:27)--a foreshadowing of the Messiah would would be the priest king.
One item of significance that I note about the particular site that has been discovered is that it contains what appears to be an Ebenezer stone. In 1 Samuel 7:12, we see the account of Samuel the prophet selecting a stone and setting it up as a monument of remembrance of the fact that the ark of the covenant had been recovered from the Philistines, and Israel defeated the Philistine army when they attacked Israel after hearing about their recovery of the ark. Samuel named the stone Ebenezer, saying, "So far the Lord has helped us.” The Bible doesn't say that David also took the Ebenezer stone and placed it in the tabernacle as well, but the significance of that stone was clearly of immense importance to David: (a) David defeated Goliath, who was a giant Philistine warrior, and essentially represented the entire Philistine army, (b) Samuel was the prophet who anointed David to be king of Israel, and (c) David would have appreciated the idea that the stone represented the fact that the Lord had helped them to this point. In this regard, it is also noteworthy that immediately after Nathan informed David that David could not build a temple for God (but that God would allow David's son Solomon to build the temple), the Bible indicates that "[t]hen King David came in and sat before the Lord, and said, 'Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far?'" (1 Chronicles 17:16) When it says that King David came "in," I believe that David had come into the tabernacle to get closer to God when he prayed. Moreover, when David said "You have brought me this far," I believe this is an indication that David was actually looking at the Ebenezer stone when he said that--the stone that commemorated the help of the Lord thus far. I'm sure there are other indications in Scripture as well, but these are significant considerations.
I note that at least one person has indicated a belief that this archeological find is likely to be the tabernacle or temple of Melchizedek, who was the king priest of Salem (now known as Jerusalem) (see Genesis 14:17-20). However, we are not told in the Bible that Melchizedek had a tabernacle. It wouldn't surprise me, though, to someday learn that, if Melchizedek build a temple or tabernacle, David's tabernacle happened to be situated in the very same place.
All of these considerations should cause us to pay special attention to the idea that the tabernacle of David may have been discovered.
Special Notes Regarding the Rapture
Interestingly, for a variety of reasons many people question the plausibility of the concept of the rapture--a special gathering of believers prior to the period of the Great Tribulation. I appreciate the thoughts, and I am sure that many might venture to express their bases for contesting the existence of such an event in response to my presentation. However, I encourage you to give thought to the following considerations--which argue very much in favor of the event:
1. Different Standards for Salvation. When addressing the end times, Scripture seems to present a standard for salvation (i.e., from eternal condemnation or separation from God along with the attendant forgiveness of sin and inheritance of eternal life with God and constituting a member of the "elect") that is different from the standard that we clearly enjoy now. We know that right now our Gospel is constituted very simply in the words of Jesus as set forth in John 3:16 that "whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." The fact that we need only believe in Jesus for our salvation is immensely clear in Scripture, and the number of passages to support it are too numerous to list in this post (but you can see the list here: Blog Entry Regarding Salvation).
However, for those living in the final days before "that day" (i.e., the Second Coming of Christ event), the requirements for salvation seem to shift. In this regard, note initially that the letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 offer benefits of salvation only to those who "overcome." In I John 5:5, we see how we, the believers constituting the church--the elect of today--"overcome": "Who is the one who overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" In the tribulation time, however, it seems that the Gospel includes the concept of "enduring" as described by Jesus to His disciples in discussing the last days in Matthew 24:13-14: "the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." (See also Mark 13:13 and Matthew 10:22.) In Matthew 24, Jesus is specifically answering his disciples' question regarding what signs indicate "the end of the age" (i.e., the period before Jesus' reign on earth). Jesus responds indicating that first there are birth pains (vs. 4-8), immediately followed by tribulation and severe persecution of the Church--persecution that is so severe, many believers will be tempted to deny their faith (vs. 9-12); in that unique time, the standard for salvation changes--endurance to the end (i.e., death or surviving to the time of Jesus' kingship without denying Him or accepting the mark of the world government--i.e., "the beast") is required for salvation. To deny Jesus or to accept "the mark" at that time is to fail to attain salvation. Interestingly, too, Paul even describes the standard as applying to the elect today (or perhaps he is re-stating the Gospel of the end times) in 2 Timothy 2:12: "If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He will also deny us."
Such a dramatic shift in the ultimate question of life regarding how a person finds salvation seems to make sense only in the context of a dramatic shift in the identity of those who constitute the elect at that time. Consider how amazing it is that we in the church today have accepted Jesus by faith alone. We read or hear Scripture regarding belief in Jesus for salvation, and we accept it on the evidence of very little--"the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Conversely, those who do not accept Jesus by faith alone, following the sudden departure of all who constitute the church in a "rapture" event--having been shocked by the event and the presentation of this new massive amount of physical evidence (the death or departure from the earth of millions of Christians) to support facts that they (and we) didn't have before, should not be given the same standard for salvation, because it's no longer a matter of faith alone; it would be based on the new, additional, massive physical evidence of the sudden death or absence of millions of people from the earth--added to the attesting Scripture. Thus, it would be appropriate for this group of "left behind" people, who can at that time readily recognize that they missed the boat, to have a standard that is unique from us who have accepted Jesus on faith alone; their standard takes a lot less faith, but it is replaced with a new standard of salvation as described by Jesus in Matthew 24--requiring endurance--to the end.
A slow morphing of the standard of salvation from one of faith to one of endurance "to the end" simply does not make sense; otherwise people even today would be wondering if they had to add to their faith the additional requirements of enduring "to the end," because, after all, how could we know if we had yet transitioned to the period of enduring?
Thus, a strong explanation for this massive shift in the standard for salvation could be a cataclysmic event involving the church--a rapture gathering of the group of the elect as it exists at that time.
2. Scriptures Suggesting Different Waves of Arrivals of the Elect into Heaven. In this regard, I note that, while there are likely numerous other passages affirming this concept, certainly Amos 7:1 addresses the concept of "waves" of gatherings; Amos 7 strikes me as prophetic because of its references to "locusts" (a connection to the pre-Armageddon invasion of Israel--Revelation 9:7); it specifically notes the "King's mowing" (the gathering of the Church) followed by the sprouting of the spring crop (that the swarm of locust would then start to devour), which would be harvested later--a parallel remarkably similar to what could be described as the rapture of the Church followed by the persecution of the new church followed by a final gathering of the remaining elect.
3. Believers Destined to Avoid Wrath. In addition, as Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul also explains in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and Romans 5:9 that Jesus rescues us from the wrath to come. A gathering of the church would certainly rescue believers from the wrath that is presented in the time of tribulation. Granted, Paul's statements could be another way of saying that believers avoid the final judgment that awaits those who have rejected God, but the use of the word "wrath" instead of the word "judgment" is interesting when you consider that there are bowls of "wrath" (Revelation 16) in the time of the tribulation prior to the Second Coming of Christ. If God did not destine us for "wrath," then why would believers in Christ face the bowls of God's wrath as described in Revelation 16? Certainly, if such believers were to experience that wrath, they would have been destined for it. But if the church as it is constituted today, which secures salvation through belief in Jesus is removed prior to the bowls of wrath, then we would not be destined for it. If others of the elect, facing the salvation standard of endurance as described in Matthew 24, were obliged to experience with the world the bowls of wrath, then that is their destiny, and it would not offend the statements made by Paul in Thessalonians, because that group of the elect failed earlier to gain salvation through the standard of faith in Jesus Christ.
4. More Than One Gathering. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 speaks about our being gathered with the dead in Christ in the clouds and meeting the Lord in the air, so there clearly is a "gathering" of believers from earth; the question is whether this gathering is different from the gathering that occurs just before Christ comes to set up His kingdom on earth, as described in Revelation 18:4 and Matthew 24:30-31. The gathering is also discussed in 2 Thessalonians 2 as occurring immediately after the man of lawlessness is revealed. However, the gathering in Revelation 18:4 is not only after the man of lawlessness is revealed, but it is also after the fall of Babylon and also the Bowls of Wrath described in Revelation 16. Thus, it appears that there is very likely to be more than 1 gathering. There is no basis to conclude that God would gather His elect only 1 time, and the Scriptural timeline better supports the concept of more than 1 gathering. In fact, it makes sense that there would be a separate gathering for each group of the elect as having been saved through their respective salvation standards as described above.
5. Marriage Supper of the Lamb Appears to Precede a Gathering. In this regard, too, it is notable that in Revelation, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-10) actually precedes Christ's return to earth. If the Marriage Supper of the Lamb occurs before the return of Christ to earth, then who exactly is being gathered at the return of Christ as described in Matthew 24:30-31? How could it be the church--that just experienced the Marriage Supper of the Lamb? Surely, they wouldn't leave the Marriage Supper of the Lamb to go back to earth to be gathered from the four winds. Interestingly though, according to Revelation 20:4, when Christ returns to earth to reign, He is in fact joined in the reigning by people who were martyred during the time of tribulation; perhaps because they missed the gathering, they get this special privilege.
6. Rapture in the Context of the Dichotomy of the Church vs. Israel. It also makes sense in the scheme of the Daniel 9 prophecy of the 70 weeks that the first 69 weeks (or periods of 7 years) were only for the nation of Israel (the Jews) and Jerusalem, and the final 70th week (or period of 7 years) is also only for the nation of Israel (the Jews) and Jerusalem. The interruption of the period from the 69th week to the 70th week could appropriately represent the intervening age of the church (that started at the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ--recall that Jesus told believers at that time that He was going to prepare a place and that He would later receive us--the church--unto Himself), where Gentiles (and of course many Jews) are saved by placing their faith in Christ. It would be appropriate to close this church age prior to the start of the 70th week (or final period of 7 years--the start of which is marked by a very substantial covenant being made with Israel perhaps coupled with the revelation of the antichrist), by removing the church entirely from the equation. If the church were gathered to Christ in Paradise in preparation for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and to be with Christ, then the final 7 year period could begin--with a renewed focus on the nation of Israel and Jerusalem, and the opportunity for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone during that final 7 year period would no longer be sufficient; during the final 7 year period, the elect--who will be substantially Jews (note the many references to locations around Israel interlaced in the discussion of the tribulation period as described in Revelation--e.g., Matthew 10:23, Matthew 24:15-16)--will have to endure to the end. In essence, according to Revelation 14:9-11 (and related passages), they have to reject the mark of the beast (the government power at that time, which is controlled by Satan's emissary; the acceptance of the mark of the beast will likely come with a public declaration of the rejection of Jesus Christ as well as the acceptance of the beast and its government as god), which will not only mean that they cannot engage in commerce (i.e. buy food and means of transportation and communication), but it will also mean that they will be put to death--most likely by beheading (Daniel 7:25 and 8:22).
7. Other Sheep. This is a small point, but something to consider (and my attempt to reconcile a curious passage of Scripture)--that the people who endure to the end during the period of the tribulation may well be the "other sheep that are not of this fold" as Jesus noted in John 10--i.e., they are not of the "fold" of the church age. Jesus laid down his life for His sheep, but those who rejected Jesus (and are awakened to this reality when the millions of people constituting the church are removed from the earth) have to give up their own lives as well (or otherwise survive to the end) as a consequence of their lack of faith during the church age.
8. The Mysterious Taking of Some People. A rapture event also syncs with the mysterious taking of some people and not others as Jesus recounts in Matthew 24:40-41: "At that time there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left." (See also Luke 17:35.) Although, in fairness, this mysterious taking is probably more closely related to the gathering that occurs immediately prior to the Second Coming of Christ, because Jesus in this context is discussing His coming when this taking occurs.
9. Various Scriptures. See 1 Thes. 4:16-17, Matt. 24:40-42, 1 Cor. 15:51-52, and the hints at Rev. 4:1-2 (John's being taken by the sound of a trumpet and the voice of God saying "come up here" and he is immediately "in the spirit" and present in heaven) (see also Rev. 11:12), and Amos 7:1-2 (2 crops--the first is the "king's crop"--i.e., believers; the second is called the "spring crop" that is taken up during a time of tribulation and locusts--i.e., those who are martyred during the tribulation).
10. Absence of the Church in the Tribulation Events of Revelation. Note that the Church is discussed in Revelation 1-3 and then in Revelation 22 (at the closing of the letter and not as part of the vision), but it is not discussed between these chapters--wherein John details the vision involving the tribulation events. One explanation is that John's being caught up to heaven in Revelation 4:1 is a picture of the Church leaving before the unfolding of the tribulation scene on earth.
11. No Great Tribulation Warnings in Epistles. Note, too, that there are no warnings to believers about the Great Tribulation in the epistles. Jesus provides a warning, but His warning is to Jews, because He mentions the Sabbath and He discusses Daniel's prophecy regarding the temple, and He answers a question in the context of the temple--all Jewish matters. This focus parallels the prophecy of Daniel 9 in that it is directed to the Jews and Jerusalem, and refers to the temple.
With all these considerations in mind, I offer the following graphic presentation as a basis for study, consideration and discussion:
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