◄ What Does Revelation 17:14 Mean? ►

Jesus told us that in this world we will suffer tribulation at the hand of our enemies and through the wiles of satanic forces in high places. They will seek to destroy and discourage us, but we are saved by grace through faith in Christ and are not appointed to wrath.

As Church-age believers, we will not have the wrath of God poured out on us during that fast-approaching time of Jacob's Trouble: that seven-year Tribulation period when the Lord pours out His wrath on a God-hating, Christ-rejecting, satanically inspired, sinful world.

But that coming time of Great Tribulation is fast approaching and we are seeing evidence of its imminence throughout our earth. The satanically established religious and economic system which continues to persecute the true Church of God, and which has flourished down through centuries of time, will finally dominate the world in the coming 70th week of Daniel. Presently, the world stage is being set for that final global battle, when the great whore of Babylon will be destroyed and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. 

Verse 12 explains that the ten horns are the ten kings who give their authority and power into the hands of the Beast: that satanically inspired ruler who will emerge as the man of sin, the Antichrist. Together, they will make war on the Lamb. But this sacrificial Lamb of God Who was slain from the foundation of the world, is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the King of kings, Lord of lords, the Alpha and the Omega, the great I AM.

Although we know the identity of the Lamb: our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the identity of the 'man of sin' will remain unidentified until the Church is removed from the earth, at the end of this dispensation of grace. At the present moment, evil is being restrained through Christ's ministers of reconciliation: the Church. But the day is coming when God will remove His Church from the world and once again will begin to work through His people Israel, some of whom will recognise Christ as Messiah and who will once more preach the message of John the Baptist worldwide: "REPENT, for the Kingdom of heaven is nigh."

And after the world has heard this message of repentance and salvation, amidst all the tumult they are going through during the 7 year Tribulation, the Lord Jesus will come from heaven, accompanied by the Church, to destroy this satanic one-world system. This will happen at the battle of Armageddon at the end of the 7 year Tribulation

Enoch prophesised of this event when he said: Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones. It is the Church-age saints who are clothed in linen, white and clean, who follow the Lord Jesus on white horses. We read: "Out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treads the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."

No matter what man tries to do to scupper the plans and purposes of God, there is no created thing in heaven above, the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth, either visible or invisible, that can separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus; and nothing can halt God's purposes from being finally and fully fulfilled. Praise His holy name.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Thank You that I am one of His called and chosen ones, simply by trusting in Him for salvation. When I read of Satan and the armies of the world, trying to make war with the Lamb, I realise just how futile their efforts are and how easily Jesus overcomes them. Thank You that I am Yours, Creator of the world, Redeemer of the world. Thank You that You love me with a powerful, everlasting love. In Jesus' name, AMEN.