See the Mid-ages Musings Series here
See the Human History Ages Series here
Attentive readers who saw the reference, in Part 2, to 400 years of inter-testamental silence from Heaven, might have wondered, ‘Was there any equivalent silence in Heaven (a) before the flood, and (b) before Christ’s crucifixion?’ The likely answer to both questions is YeS, as is inferred in:
(a) The ~100 years it took Noah to build the ark, and the lack of any reference from Moses (whom The Lord inspired to write the Torah), about any further word from The Lord-to-Noah, between Genesis 6:21 and 7:1; and
(b) Possibly Jesus’ repeated prayers in The Garden of Gethsemane, plus His, ‘Why have you forsaken Me?’, outcries to Father God as He hung on the cross.
In the ramp-up to the first 2 age-transitioning global judgments (Part 2), we see a very clear pattern that could plausibly apply in the ramp-up to the remaining 4 age-transitioning global judgments, i.e., from the 3rd-to-4th, 4th-to-5th, 5th-to-6th, and 6th-to-7th (eternal) ages of human history. Here’s the pattern I intuit:
1. Humanity’s ‘cup of iniquity overspilling its rim’,
2. Righteousness on Earth figuratively ‘hanging by a thread’,
3. Age-relevant precursors (pre-conditions) reaching their fullness, and
4. Silence from Heaven, dreaded or welcomed.
Let’s explore how this pattern could plausibly apply during the predicted next 4 transitions.
3rd-to-4th Ages (current age, to tribulation age)
1. Humanity’s ‘cup of iniquity overspilling its rim’
Anyone who is breathing will easily conclude, since the 1960s, across the world, we have figuratively ‘stepped up our game’ on this precondition! Since then, as global population dramatically increased, lawlessness has EXPLODED against ALL of God’s moral laws, and also against mankind’s civil laws. This is evident ‘from the international-to the-community and household levels’, worldwide! Though the word, ‘sin’, is hardly heard these days, it remains uppermost on The Lord’s Mind, and He’s keeping good records of folks' un-repented sinfulness. Yet people the world over seem to think it's quite OK that ignoring and flaunting His laws, has absolutely no correlation with them ignoring and flaunting man-made laws! How foolish is that?! Moreover, nowadays, the so-called 'law' (those responsible for enforcing the laws), have themselves increasingly BECOME LAWLESS!
2. Righteousness on Earth figuratively ‘hanging by a thread’
Today, righteousness as a ‘counterweight or demonstration effect to wickedness’, has pretty much evaporated. Sadly, Paul’s warnings against, and predictions of Christian backsliding and apostasy (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 1 Timothy 4:1-2, and elsewhere - see the Complete Jewish Bible version), EXPLODED in full force after the Covid 19 pandemic, especially across Europe and North America. So have Jesus’ cautions about lukewarmness among believers. (Revelation 3:14-22) These are fueled, in part, by growing ‘right-wing, Christian nationalism’, a clear, demonic deception about what The Lord called His saints to be(come) and to do, vis-à-vis the rising tide of sinfulness across the world. In pursuing this errant political agenda, professing Christians have effectively ‘loss their salty, demonstrative witness for Christ’, and have become a significant part of the problem they profess to be against! satan must be rejoicing in his significant win! (For more on this, see: Christianesque (Poem), and Christians in the Apocalypse (poem).)
3. Age-relevant precursors (pre-conditions) reaching their fullness
Lawlessness, lukewarmness among other (non-apostate) Christians, increasing wars and rumors of more, increasing global political polarization, selfish greed, homosexuality, disrespect for authority in the face of corrupt authority structures, rampant climate change, increasing proclivities for strongman national governments, etc., these are but a few of the global judgment precursors that are rapidly reaching their fullness. I wonder how the last two items might factor in the predicted rise of the anti-Christ.
(What would you add to this list?)
4. Silence from Heaven, dreaded or welcomed
I asked The Lord, ‘In the din of all the above and more such developments, who on Earth could discern silence from Heaven?!’ This is His answer I perceived:
No one, initially. All who could perceive My silence, will have been raptured to be with Me until our return for My Millennial Reign. The world will be struggling to deal with the massive after-effects of their sudden disappearances. After the initial shocks dissipate, some folks will discern My silence...
This signals a likely brief period of silence from Heaven might begin for a while with the resurrection and rapture of all 3rd age saints, until the unveiling of the promised 144,000 Jewish tribulation age witnesses, perhaps some time during the last half (42 months) of the 7-year tribulation age, referred to as the great tribulation and the apocalypse.
If so, silence will likely be broken by the time of Revelation 7, which depicts the anointing and sealing, in Heaven, of these Jewish witnesses, and subsequently, the massive crowd of new believers from the great tribulation, presumably representing the ‘fruits’ of those preaching witnesses.* What’s unclear is the timing of the 2 angels, depicted in Revelation 14:6-13, who will preach warnings about the great tribulation judgments, and the mark of the beast - the predicted anti-Christ man. Keep in mind, The Book of Revelation might not necessarily be laid out in a strict, time-linear manner, just like most other prophetic Bible books are clearly not.
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* Many of these converts will likely be former Christians who became unacceptably lukewarm or flat-out apostate during the end of the 3rd age. (See: Audacious Christians (Series)). They might also include people who were fake Christians (CINOs), and people from false religions, people who might have 'just enough’ Bible insights and spirituality to recognize what the rapture and the presence of the anti-Christ mean, namely that …The Bible is TRUE, so its awesome ages conclusion predictions …must also be true!!!
See Part 4,
this 4-point pattern applied to the
4th-to-5th ages transition
(tribulation age, to Millennial Reign age)
