.............................................................................................................................................................
Dr. David Reagan
The Bible
reveals that there will be a flurry of angelic activity in the end times.
Tribulation
The Four
Living Creatures before the throne of God are the ones who will execute the
first series of judgments that will mark the beginning of the Tribulation.
It is in
response to their commands that the Four Horsemen go forth with the Seal
Judgments that result in the death of one-fourth of humanity (Revelation 6:1-8).
Simultaneously,
it is angels who will seal 144,000 Jews so that they will be supernaturally
protected from all the judgments (Revelation
7:2-3).
When the
second series of judgments begin — the Trumpet Judgments — it will be angels
once again who serve as the instruments of God’s wrath, resulting in the deaths
of one-third of those still left alive (Revelation
8 and 9).
In the
middle of the Tribulation, Satan will try one last time to take the throne of
God, resulting in a war in the heavens between Satan and his demonic angels and
Michael and his holy angels.
Satan
will be defeated, and he and his angels will be cast down to earth. His access
to Heaven will be cut off permanently (Revelation
12:7-12).
In the
second half of the Tribulation we are told that God will give Mankind one last
opportunity to repent before He pours out His final wrath.
He does
this in a most unusual way. He sends forth three angels with very specific
tasks.
The first angel, the one I like to refer to as “the Gospel Angel,” is given
the responsibility to proclaim the “eternal gospel” to “every
nation and tribe and tongue and people” (Revelation
14:6).
This will
be the only time in history that God has allowed an angel to preach the Gospel.
It will constitute the fulfillment of a prophecy made by Jesus when He
said: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world
for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come” (Matthew 24:14).
The
second angel will follow the first as he circumnavigates the earth. His task
will be to proclaim the impending destruction of the kingdom of the
Antichrist (Revelation
14:8).
The third
angel will follow along behind the first two. His role will be to issue a
warning that anyone who worships the Antichrist and receives his mark will
suffer God’s wrath and torment in Hell (Revelation
14:9-11).
These
three proclamations will be followed by the final outpouring of God’s wrath,
called the Bowl Judgments (Revelation 16).
Angels
are also the ones who will destroy the capital city of the Antichrist in one
hour on one day (Revelation 18).
The
destruction of the Antichrist and his kingdom will bring to a close the
terrible period of the Tribulation and will result in all the heavenly host
breaking forth in celebration shouting, “Hallelujah!” (Revelation 19:1-7).
Shortly
thereafter, this same host of angels will return to earth with Jesus at His
Second Coming (Matthew
24:30-31).
They will
gather the elect (those saved during the Tribulation who are still alive) from
the four corners of the earth (Matthew
24:31).
Eternal
State
The only
information we are given about angels in the Eternal State is that the fallen
angels, together with Satan, will be tormented in Hell forever (Matthew 25:41 and Revelation
20:10).
No
information is supplied regarding the godly angels.
I would
assume that the holy angels would continue to serve God eternally and that they
would also continue to minister to the Redeemed.
I yearn
to hear their stories about their interventions in my life. I look forward to
their fellowship, and most of all, I look forward to hearing them sing!
Dr.
David Reagan serves as the Founder and
Director of Lamb & Lion Ministries.
He is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher whose sermons have been
distributed worldwide and has led 45 pilgrimages to Israel. Dr. Reagan is the
host of the television program Christ in Prophecy.
No comments:
Post a Comment