The End of the Church Age...and After

    This world has existed now for 13,000 years. As we shall clearly see in this study, we, by God's divine providence, have come very near to the end of the world's existence. Because we are so near the end, many truths of the Bible, which God had sealed, are now being revealed. This is particularly true of those things that are an integral part of the end-time revelation. We might recall that God prophesied in Daniel 12:9:

And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

    Thus, we can expect that many passages of the Bible, which heretofore, have been somewhat mysterious, can now be understood.

    For example, in Acts 1:7, the disciples ask Jesus if the time has come for Him to restore the kingdom to Israel. We can speculate that they had the same notion that appeared to be popular in that day amongst the Jews. That is, they expected that when the Messiah would come, He would reign as a king in Jerusalem and free them from Roman rule (see John 6:15).


    We have been taught by the Bible that the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. It will only be completed when all of the elect have become saved. We see this implied in Jesus' answer to them in Acts 1:7, 8

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

    Effectively, Jesus is telling the disciples that it is not for them to know the details of God's program to evangelize the world. Their task was to get busy proclaiming the Gospel to the world, and of course this would include all believers who followed them to witness to the whole world the commands of the Gospel to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

    However, as Jesus answered them, He made a very mysterious statement. "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons." Jesus, in this statement, is telling us that the proclamation of God's salvation plan is in some mysterious way divided into times and seasons. Again in I Thessalonians 5:1, we read of times and seasons. I Thessalonians 5:1, 2 records:

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

    What can this mean? We, of course, must find our answer in the Bible. One helpful clue we find that helps us to understand this statement is James 5:7:

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

    The ultimate husbandman in view here is God Himself. In James 5:7, God is emphasizing that there is an early rain and a latter rain. In Deuteronomy 32:2, God explains that rain is a picture of the Gospel coming from heaven. There we read:

My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

    Thus, we can know, based on James 5:7, that there are at least two seasons that identify with the bringing of the Gospel to the world.

Three Distinct Seasons of Rain

    As we continue to examine the Bible carefully seeking information concerning the early and latter rain we find a beautiful outline of God's plan for His entire worldwide program of sending forth the Gospel. It is set forth in Joel 2:23 and further developed in other places in the Bible. Joel 2:23 declares:

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

    The Hebrew word translated "moderately" is more accurately translated "righteously." Secondly, the verb "hath given" should be more properly translated "gives." Thirdly, the final phrase "the latter rain in the first month" is more accurately translated "after the first." Thus, the verse should read:

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he gives you the former rain "righteously" and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain after the first.

    In this verse we read about three rains. The first is described as former or early. Following this first early rain there is additional rain that is divided into early and latter rain. Both the second early rain and the latter rain are rain that comes after the first early righteous rain.

    Thus far, we have learned that there are three seasons: an early righteous rain of bringing the Gospel, an early rain after this first rain, and a latter rain after the first. The purpose of spiritual rain is to bring forth a spiritual harvest. This is indicated by Joel 2:24-26, which declares:

And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

In Leviticus 23:10, 11 the Bible indicates:

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits [Hebrew "reshith"] of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

    These verses speak of a time of harvest when the firstfruits are brought to the priest and waved before the Lord. These firstfruits are distinguished from the firstfruits that would be brought in after 50 days at Pentecost by calling them by the Hebrew word reshith . Later, we will learn that the firstfruits that were brought in at Pentecost were called by the Hebrew word bikkur. The time this (reshith, firstfruits) harvest was to take place was when Israel first came into the land of Canaan. It was a harvest that they did not plant. It was produce that was already there when they came into the land of Canaan. In Joshua 4:19 we read that Israel crossed the Jordan River into the land of Canaan on the tenth day of the first month and kept the Passover Feast four days later on the fourteenth day of the month (Joshua 5:10). It would have been at that time, therefore, that this first harvest took place. This harvest was also called "the first [reshith] of the firstfruits [bikkur]" (Exodus 23:19) That is, it was a harvest of firstfruits that anticipated the Pentecostal harvest of firstfruits (bikkur) that came 50 days later. Leviticus 23:15-17 speaks of this Pentecostal harvest:

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

    These verses are speaking of Pentecost, which came 50 days after the Passover. Pentecost is also spoken as the feast of harvest, the firstfruits (bikkur) of thy labors (Exodus 23:16). Please note the Hebrew word firstfruits concerning the Pentecostal harvest is a different word from the Hebrew word "firstfruits" used in Leviticus 23:10, 11, which describes the earliest harvest that was identified with the Passover.

    A third harvest is also spoken of and it is called the feast of ingathering,

which was at the end of the year. (Exodus 23:16) This feast was also called the feast of tabernacles and was observed at the time of the final harvest. This harvest was never described as firstfruits. The Bible simply describes it as a feast of ingathering at the end of the year.

    These three harvests were so important that God declared in Deuteronomy 16:16:

Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

    The feast of unleavened bread began with the Passover when "the first [reshith] of the first fruits [bikkur]" were brought "into the house of the Lord thy God."

    We must remember harvest is a consequence of rain. We can see the beautiful parallel that exists between the rain of Joel 2:23 and these three harvests.

Christ, the First Harvest Coming from the Early Righteous Rain

    First there will be the early rain called the righteous rain in Joel 2:23. This first early righteous rain must be identified with the Gospel as God ministered it in national Israel, beginning with Abraham and ending with Christ being announced as the Lamb of God. The harvest that resulted from this first early righteous rain was the Lord Jesus Himself. When John the Baptist announced "behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world" he was announcing that the Passover Lamb had come. The first of the first fruits had arrived.

    The announcement that Jesus the Passover Lamb was here effectively declared that the first early righteous rain had done its work. It had brought the Lord Jesus into the world as the Passover Lamb. He was the harvest that must come before the early and latter rain that would follow could come. It is Jesus who is the first fruits that we read about in I Corinthians 15:23:

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

    He was typified by the reshith firstfruits of the Old Testament. He is also the firstfruits that we read about in Romans 8:23:

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

    Thus, the Passover was identified with this first early righteous rain because Christ is our Passover. He, therefore, is the first of the firstfruits.

The Church Age -- The Pentecostal Harvest Coming from the Early Rain

    This early harvest when the first (reshith) of the firstfruits, Christ Himself, has been brought in is followed by the second harvest. It too, is called a harvest of firstfruits (bikkur). But as we learned in the Old Testament, a different Hebrew word was used for the first of the firstfruits that identified with Christ as the Passover from the firstfruits identified with the Pentecost.

    This second harvest, in which the firstfruits identified with the Pentecost is brought in, is pointing to the entire New Testament church age. It began with the Pentecost in A.D. 33 when about 3,000 individuals became saved in one afternoon. It was a product of the early rain that came after the first early righteous rain that had brought Christ as the Passover Lamb. This Pentecostal rain of the Gospel in the entire world continued for more than 1900 years. It produced churches and congregations all over the world as external evidence of the existence of the kingdom of God. All of those who became saved as these churches preached the Gospel were the firstfruits. Fact is, in James 1:18 the believers are called firstfruits. There, God declares:

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

    James 1:18 speaks of the believers as a kind of firstfruits. There were two kinds of firstfruits, the first of the firstfruits and the Pentecostal firstfruits. The church age was not the first (reshith) of the firstfruits (bikkur). The churches were the Pentecostal firstfruits (bikkur).

    In Revelation 14 God speaks of the 144,000, which we will learn later in our study identify with all those who have been saved during the church age. There too, in verse 4, they are called the firstfruits. Revelation 14:4 declares:

These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

    This latter rain identifies beautifully with the harvest of ingathering, which is brought in at the end of the year. In Exodus 23:14-16, we read:

Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

    These verses speak of the feast of ingathering in the end of the year. The phrase "first fruits" is never used in connection with this feast or harvest of ingathering because this feast celebrates the final completion of the harvest. It, therefore, must identify with the final gathering in of the believers. The final gathering in or harvesting of the believers must identify with the latter rain. Later we will learn that this latter rain identifies with the great multitude, which no man can number that becomes saved during the great tribulation period (Revelation 7:9-14).

    We thus have now learned there are three seasons which God has in view of Acts 1:7.

    As we view the three rains set forth in Joel 2:23, we discover a very interesting and significant truth. Between each of the seasons of rain there is a brief time of intense spiritual famine. It is not a famine of the failure of the true Word of God being preached. It is a famine of hearing the Word of God.


The Famine of Elijah's Day

This spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God was typified by a physical famine in Elijah's day. We might recall that in I Kings 17:1 we read:

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

    This famine occurred in Israel when the wicked man Ahab who was married to the exceedingly wicked Jezebel was reigning over Israel. According to James 5:17, 18, we learn that this famine continued for three years and six months. There we read:

Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

    According to Deuteronomy 11:13-17, the withholding of rain so that there is spiritual famine is a result of great wickedness. We read:

And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and

that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

    In the situation that existed in Elijah's day, the famine of rain ended after Elijah called down fire from heaven, which consumed the bullock on the altar and the altar itself. Following this event and the killing of the 450 prophets of Baal, the famine came to an end as a great rain began to fall.

    This dramatic event occurred on Mount Carmel when Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal to call down fire from heaven. Fire from heaven is a picture of God bringing judgment. The 450 prophets of Baal, who were emissaries of Satan, could not bring judgment; only God could do that. The bullock was a picture of Christ who came under the judgment of God for our sins. This event was actually a representation of what would happen when Christ went to the cross. Christ represented by the bullock and the altar came under the wrath of God because He had been laden with all the sins of those He came to save. The 450 prophets of Baal were killed by Elijah (I Kings 18:40), typifying the fact that Satan was vanquished by the death and resurrection of Christ. It was at the cross that judgment came on Satan. The three and a half years of famine, which preceded this dramatic even on Mount Carmel, typifies the three and a half years during which Jesus preached. Later, we will examine this Mount Carmel event in greater detail.

The Famine of Jesus' Day

    Significantly, we will learn later in our study that during the time Jesus preached, hardly anyone became saved. There was a grievous spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God. Later, we will learn that the period of time from the announcing of Jesus as the Lamb of God until He was crucified was three years and six months. Thus, it was a spiritual famine that was parallel to the physical famine of Elijah's day.

    We have learned that the early righteous rain continued until Jesus was announced as the Passover Lamb. We also learned that a few weeks after the cross the spiritual famine dramatically ended as the spiritual rain began to fall as indicated by about 3,000 individuals becoming saved at Pentecost. Indeed, the prophecy of Deuteronomy 11 was fulfilled. The spiritual apostasy that existed at the time Jesus came resulted in a period of an intense famine of hearing the Word of God. This was followed by the early rain season that identifies with the church age. This early rain Pentecostal

church age season would continue for over 1900 years until the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

The Famine Beginning with the Great Tribulation

    The beginning of the Great Tribulation signaled another time of spiritual famine. This time of spiritual famine is also identified with a time of three and a half years. But whereas the physical famine of Elijah's day and the spiritual famine of Jesus' day was a literal three and a half years, the spiritual famine that began at the beginning of the Great Tribulation was symbolically three and a half years. We might remember this time continues for 42 months as indicated by the language of Revelation 11:2:

But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. . . .

And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

    Later we will learn that three and a half days may be understood as three and half years because the Bible in a number of places used a day for a year. In all likelihood, it is the literal period 2300 evening mornings spoken of in Daniel 8.

    This time of spiritual famine is followed by the latter rain which completes the Great Tribulation time and which is immediately followed by the time of the return of Christ at the end of the world.

    In Acts 1:7, Jesus spoke of times and seasons in connection with His Gospel program. We are now beginning to understand these times and seasons.

    1. "Season of righteous early rain" Old Testament period beginning with Abraham and ending with the announcement of Jesus as the lamb of God.

    2. Time of spiritual famine - three and a half years during Jesus' ministry.

    3. Season of early rain - Church age which continues more than 1950 years beginning with the resurrection in A.D. 33 and ending at the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

    4. Time of spiritual famine - First part (half hour) of Great Tribulation (three and a half days or 42 months)

    5. Season of latter rain - Last part of Great Tribulation when a great multitude, which no man can number, is being saved.

    6. Time of judgment, at end of world when Christ returns.

    As we continue our study we will discover that the Bible approaches the question of God's three season divine economy from the vantage point of a vineyard which God planted. We will examine this truth as we continue our study.

One Vineyard - Two Caretakers

    The principle that God has divided His program of evangelizing the world into seasons and times is demonstrated and taught in many ways in the Bible. In this study we will become acquainted with a number of these. Presently, we will examine God's use of the figure of a vineyard in illustrating the division of God's Gospel program into seasons.

    We find in the Bible numerous references to a vineyard. However, two parables featuring a vineyard stand out. One is related in Matthew 21 and the other in Isaiah 5. We will examine these two parables looking at their similarities and their differences. We will learn that the vineyard described in Matthew 21 is speaking about the kingdom of God as it was externally represented by the nation of Israel. It came to an end as God's special people after they crucified the Lord Jesus. Likewise, we will learn that Isaiah 5 is using the same vineyard as that of Matthew 21. But in Isaiah 5 it is speaking about the kingdom of God as it was represented by the local congregations throughout the church age. The church age became dramatically in evidence on the day of Pentecost when about 3,000 were saved (Acts 2).

    That a vineyard represents people is clearly seen by verses such as the following.

    Not only do these verses identify the vineyard with people, but it is representing a special people who are to be identified with Christ Himself.

    Fact is, we will learn that both Matthew 21 and Isaiah 5 are speaking of the same vineyard but of its existence in two different periods of time. Both vineyards are established and owned by Christ.

    Both have caretakers or husbandmen who are given responsibility to bring forth a harvest. They must answer to the owner of the vineyard.

And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.

. . . and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

    But there is a dramatic difference in the reaction of the owner of the vineyard (God Himself) to the failures of the caretakers of the vineyard. In Matthew 21 the vineyard is not harmed or damaged by God. It is simply given to another group of husbandmen. Matthew 21:41 records:

They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

    On the other hand, the vineyard of Isaiah 5 is utterly and ruthlessly destroyed by its owner (God Himself). Isaiah 5:5, 6 declares:

And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

    This is the language of total and complete destruction. It means that God is forever finished with this vineyard. But why did God deal so ruthlessly with this vineyard?

    Why did God destroy the vineyard of Isaiah 5 and not the vineyard of Matthew 21? We must remember the purpose of the vineyard is to produce fruit. The vineyard of Isaiah 5, instead of producing good fruit, produces wild grapes. The Hebrew word translated in this passage as wild grapes is a word that is translated elsewhere as stink (See Isaiah 34:3 and Joel 2:20.) Therefore, the vineyard produced a stench, something altogether evil. It, therefore, was completely destroyed by its owner.

    On the other hand, in Matthew 21 God made no comment concerning a failed fruit production. He only refers to the treatment the husbandmen gave to the owner of the vineyard. We read in Matthew 21:37-39:

But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

    Because of their terrible conduct in finally killing the owner's son, the vineyard is taken from then and given to other husbandmen.

    Spiritually, we can immediately see that these husbandmen who killed the owner's son can only refer to the nation of Israel who wanted Jesus to be crucified. Even though they were used of God, they as a nation did not want the Gospel.

    Remember John 1:11 declares:

He [Jesus] came unto his own, and his own received him not.

     The Jews to whom Jesus was speaking in Matthew 21 understood very clearly that Jesus was speaking about them. Matthew 21:45 states:

And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.

    But why did God not destroy the vineyard of Matthew 21. The answer should be clear. The vineyard that was the nation of Israel which represented the kingdom of God during the Old Testament did produce the good fruits that God had intended would come from it. Those fruits were Christ Himself and the Gospel that flows from Him. It was necessary that the Jews kill the owner of the vineyard. Had Jesus Christ not been killed there would be no salvation, no Gospel, no Savior, and therefore, no fruits from the vineyard.

    The fruit of the vineyard was Christ Himself together with the Gospel. By bringing forth its intended harvest of Christ and the Gospel, the vineyard had served its purpose. Therefore, once Christ was killed, the vineyard which represented the kingdom of God was transferred from the Jewish nation to the New Testament church age. The temple, the synagogues, the Old Testament ceremonial laws, the high priest, and the other priests all ceased to function in any sense as representing the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was transferred to the church age with its pastors, elders, deacons, and the New Testament ceremonial laws of water baptism and the Lord's Supper. The New Testament churches were now appointed to be the caretakers of the kingdom of God. They also were given the mandate to bring the Gospel to the whole world.

    Thus, the vineyard of Isaiah 5 is the very same vineyard as that of Matthew 21. The difference is that the caretakers of the vineyard had dramatically shifted from the nation of Israel with its temple and the synagogues to the New Testament church age.

    Unfortunately, the new caretakers of the vineyard already from their beginning began to bring forth some fruit that was not good fruit but instead that which would be a stink in God's nostrils. Even though the church age was still in its infancy, God warned the church in Ephesus He would remove their candlestick if they did not return to their first love (Revelation 2:5). And for example, the church in Sardis had already become a dead church with only a few believers within it (Revelation 3:5).

    We may safely equate the stinking fruit of the church age with the high places of Old Testament Israel. We will learn in this study that these high places of the Old Testament were the worship of heathen gods alongside the worship of Jehovah God. We will learn in this study that the holding and teaching of false doctrines that are not faithful to the Bible are the spiritual high places of the church age. These have been evident in churches throughout the church age but have been accelerated in our day as we will discover in this study.

    These high places, teachings from the mind of men rather from God, are not good fruit from the vineyard. They, to use the language of Isaiah 5, are a stench. It is indeed remarkable that for more than 1950 years, God put up with this stinking fruit. It is a testimony to the patience and mercy of God that He allowed this situation to exist for so long a period of time.

    However, there is an end to God's patience. Isaiah 5:5, 6 describes the end of the vineyard. God Himself destroys it. As we are hearing and will continue to learn in this study God uses Satan himself to assist in the destruction of all of the churches that are in existence at the end of the church age.

No Longer an Earthly Organization

    Significantly, at the end of the church age, God does not assign the care taking of the vineyard to another corporate external representation of the kingdom of God. There is a major shift in God's divine economy from the use of institutions like old Testament Israel or the churches and congregations of the New Testament. True, the kingdom of God continues to flourish but it is no longer under the care or responsibility of an earthly organization. This is indeed a major change in God's method of evangelizing the world. After destroying the vineyard of Isaiah 5, God does not plant another vineyard. God no longer uses an organized body of believers under the supervision of God-ordained priests, or pastors, or elders, or deacons. During the season of the latter rain that follows the destruction of the vineyard described in Isaiah 5, the task of sending the Gospel into the world is assigned to individual believers. God, utilizing individual believers, is finishing the task of evangelizing the world.

    For the first 9500 years of the history of the world, God did not utilize any divine institutions like Israel or the local congregations to represent the kingdom of God in the world. The largest institution that existed was the family. But then for about 3500 years God used an earthly institution to corporately represent the kingdom of God. From the time Israel came out of Egypt in 1447 B.C. until Pentecost of A.D. 33, it was the nation of Israel. Then at Pentecost in A.D. 33, God shifted the representation of the kingdom of God to another God-ordained institution which were the local churches that have existed throughout the church age.

    During the time of God's use of the nation of Israel God developed a legal entity with priests and a temple and synagogues. During the time of God's usage of the church age He developed a divine God ordained entity which was the local church. It, too, by God's commands had church overseers such as elders and deacons and pastors and teachers.

    However, with the end of the church age the vineyard was totally destroyed. Never again would God use an earthly institution to externally represent the kingdom of God. During the final season, during which time the final harvest of believers would be brought in, God would only use individual believers.

Assembling Together of Ourselves

    This agrees with the statement of Hebrews 10:25 where God commands that as Judgment Day approaches, we are not to neglect the assembling of ourselves together. The word "ourselves" surprises us. During the church age, we would expect to see the word "church" or "congregation" rather than the word "ourselves." However, during the latter rain, God does not use an earthly organization such as He had used national Israel or as He used the local congregations throughout the church age. He uses individual believers.

    It is true that believers can come together in an organization such as Family Radio to facilitate the sending forth of the Gospel into the world. But Family Radio has no membership. It does not have any spiritual rule over those who support it. It has no Biblical standing as a God-ordained organization. Because we know that it is God who works in the believer to will and to do of His good pleasure, we know that only God can raise up an organization like Family Radio. We must give God all the glory for whatever successes it may have as it sends the Gospel into all the world. But it must be simply looked at as a convenient vehicle by which individual believers can be used of God to accomplish the task of evangelizing

the world during the season of the latter rain. By bringing together the resources of a number of believers, radio stations, and other means can be owned and operated to assist with the task of evangelization. This can be done on a scale that would be impossible for a single believer to do.

    The truth that during the later rain season the Gospel mandate is strictly carried out by individual believers therefore agrees with the statement of Hebrews 10:25 where God commands that as Judgment Day approaches we are not to neglect the assembling of ourselves together. However during the latter rain season God does not use an earthly organization such as national Israel which He used during the Old Testament or such as the local churches which He used throughout the church age. The vineyard which God had planted and which externally represents the Kingdom of God which was first under the care of national Israel and then under the care of the churches had ceased to exist.

More than One Season

    It should be noted that in Matthew 21:41 the Bible records:

They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

    The fact that the word "seasons" is plural tells us that God is anticipating more than one season which would come after the vineyard was taken from the nation of Israel. We have already learned that the first season that would follow was the church age season during which the harvest of the Pentecostal firstfruits was brought in. After that season was finished the true believers, who are typified by the two witnesses of Revelation 11, are driven out and/or are commanded to come out of the churches. To use the language of Revelation 11, they are killed.

    The two witnesses of Revelation 11:11 had been killed. By the language of John 16:2 we can understand that to be killed is equivalent to being driven out of the churches. John 16:2 records:

They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

    However, there is one more season. It is the season of the latter rain during which the final harvest is brought in. This final season which brings

    forth fruit is typified by the two witnesses as they stand on their feet as the Holy Spirit comes upon them. Revelation 11:11 records:

And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

    This is parallel language to that which we find in Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 2, Ezekiel is commanded to bring God's Word to Israel. We read in Ezekiel 2:1, 2, and 4:

And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. . . . For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.

    It is parallel language to that which documents God's command to Saul of Tarsus who became the Apostle Paul. We read in Acts 26:16:

But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

    Thus, we can be sure that when the two witnesses are commanded to stand on their feet as the Spirit has entered into them refers to the true believers who have been driven our of the churches. However, they still are to be used by God to bring the Gospel.

Fear of God Comes upon those who Spiritually Hear the Gospel

    Revelation 11:11 also indicates great fear came upon them that beheld them. This must be speaking of those who became saved. They are the ones who truly fear God because they have become saved. They are the ones to see that the two witnesses are bringing the Gospel.

    Thus, we know that these two witnesses represent the true believers who are driven out of the churches or in obedience to God's command come

out of the churches. As individuals without membership in an earthly spiritual organization like ancient Israel or a local congregation, without titles such as priest, pastor, elder, or deacon, they send out the Gospel into the world during the final season of the latter rain. Of course, each one who becomes saved during the latter rain season also becomes an ambassador of Christ to assist in sending forth the Gospel during the latter rain season.

    Thus, we have learned that God planted a vineyard and placed it under the care of Old Testament Israel. Their era ended when the harvest which consisted of, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, together with the Gospel was produced. Following this God took the vineyard, the external corporate representation of the kingdom of God away from national Israel. The era of the temple in Jerusalem, the synagogues and the ceremonial law activities of the Old Testament came to an end.

    God then transferred the vineyard, the corporate external representation of the kingdom of God, to another body. That body was the New Testament churches that expanded into all the world.

    However, finally because of the stench, the evil, the high places, the wrong doctrines that constantly were a weakness throughout the church age, God destroyed His vineyard. That is, He has brought judgment upon all of the churches throughout the world. We will learn much more about this sad fact as we continue this study.

    However, it was not a part of God's divine economy to replace the institution of the church age with another visible external institution representing the kingdom of God. Once the vineyard God had planted was completely destroyed, we do not read anywhere in the Bible that God would plant another a vineyard.

    Instead, He completes the evangelization of the world utilizing individual believers without the help of a God-ordained external body. This, we are learning, is God's methodology of completing His work of bringing in the full number of the elect. God speaks of this final harvest of believers as the season of the latter rain.

    Significantly, the opening verses of Revelation 20 also relate to the subject of the latter rain. We shall now examine these verses.

The Little Season

    The opening verses of Revelation 20 have intrigued and fascinated believers throughout the time of the church age. Now that we are very near the end of time, God is opening up the understanding of true believers so that we can understand what God is teaching in these verses.

    When we look carefully at the first seven verses, we will find that God makes reference to the church age as the time when Satan is bound. And He makes reference to the latter rain by calling it a little season. No, the terms church age and latter rain are not found in these verses. However, when we carefully examine these verses we will find that these terms are definitely in view.

    In these verses, three times we find the phrase "a thousand years" being used with the information that it is a period of time that has a fulfilment or comes to an end. On the other hand, the term a thousand years is used twice with no indication that it has an end. Let us study these verses to see why this is so and at the same time discover the church age and the latter rain hidden within these verses.

    Revelation 20 opens with the verses 1 to 3, which declare:

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

    Immediately we must ask, when was Satan cast into, or when will Satan be cast into, a bottomless pit so that he could not deceive the nations for a thousand years?

    We can know that the Greek word abussos which is translated "bottomless pit" in Revelation 20, and as "deep" in Luke 8:31 and Romans 10:7, is a reference to hell. Romans 10:7 declares:

Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

    In this verse the word "deep" (Greek abussos), is equated with Christ's death. We know that Christ's death means He suffered the penalty of eternal damnation (hell) on behalf of those He came to save. Therefore, we can know that Satan was cast into hell.

    But is there other information in the Bible that refers to a past or future time when Satan would be cast into hell? Let us search the Bible.

    Fact is, there are no references that can be found in the Bible concerning a future time when Satan will be cast into hell and following this be loosed

from hell. But there are two passages that clearly show that already before the Bible was completed, Satan had been cast into hell. The first of these is found in II Peter 2:4, where God declares:

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

    This verse is in the past tense, as are the next two verses of II Peter 2, which speak of the historic judgment of God by the flood of Noah's day and the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed in Abraham's day.

    The second verse is Jude 1:6 wherein God reports:

And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

    This judgment is also in the past tense. It, too, is in the setting of two other historic judgments. The first is recorded in Jude verse 5 and speaks of God's judgment on Israel when they died in the wilderness rather than entering into the land of Canaan. The second is Jude verse 7 which again records the historic judgment that came on Sodom and Gomorrah.

    These verses of II Peter 2 and Jude are recording judgments that were already accomplished at the time Peter and Jude were writing. Even as the judgments on Sodom and Gomorrah and on the world in Noah's day were past history at the time this was being written, so, too, it appears that the judgment on the angels was past history at the time this was written. Therefore, we suspect that the judgment on the angels must have somehow occurred when Jesus went to the cross. But how can that be. Don't we read in I Peter 5:8 that the devil goes about as a roaring lion. And doesn't Ephesians 6 speak of our adversary, the devil?

    The answer to these questions can be known if we understand what hell is. We must learn what hell is by searching the Bible. In Ephesians 4:8, 9 we read:

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

    The phrase "lower parts of the earth," like the phrase "heart of the earth" of Matthew 12:40, surely refers to hell. Thus, Ephesians 4:8, 9 can only mean that Christ went into hell (that is, He experienced the wrath of God), to deliver those who were in hell (those who were under the wrath of God). No one today can be in a literal place called hell. This is true because no one has yet been tried at the judgment throne of God. At the time the unsaved are judged at the judgment throne of God, hell will be a literal place because this universe will have become new heavens and new earth. The new heavens and new earth will be a wonderful place where no one can be under the wrath of God. Therefore, we can understand that the first three verses of Revelations 20 are teaching that at the time of the cross, Satan was put under the wrath of God (the bottomless pit which is a synonym for hell). This was also the time that he was cast out of heaven. During the Old Testament, he had access into heaven as we read in the first chapter of Job. But Revelation 12 records his expulsion from heaven. There we read that he was defeated by the blood of the Lamb. We read in Revelation 12:9 and 11:

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. . . . And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

    Returning to Revelation 20:1-3, we read that Satan was cast into the bottomless pit (hell) so that he could no longer deceive the nations.

Satan Can No Longer Deceive the Nations

    What does it mean that the devil could no longer deceive the nations? We have learned that during the time Jesus preached the Gospel, very few people became saved. At the same time Satan was very active. Is there a connection between few people being saved and a very active Satan. The passage of Luke 8:11,12: helps us. There we read:

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

    From these verses we learn that the prime method that Satan uses to assault Christ is to stop the growth of the kingdom of God. The devil is a liar

and the father of lies. Mankind is fair game for his wiles as God declares in Romans 3:4, "let God be true, but every man a liar."

    But something wonderful happened seven weeks after Christ went to the cross. On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached one sermon and about 3,000 individuals became saved. In one day, 3,000 came out from under the tyranny and deception of Satan. Satan had been bound so that he could not deceive the nations any longer. And ever since, throughout the church age, all over the world people have been coming into the kingdom of God.

    Thus, we can be sure that the binding of Satan had to have happened at the time of the cross. No wonder then that we see the parallel between, on the one hand, the language of II Peter 2:4 and Jude 6, and on the other hand, the language of Revelation 20:1-3.

    However, that means that the words "a thousand years" must be understood metaphorically rather than literally. In this study we will learn that Satan was loosed at the beginning of the Great Tribulation. And that was almost 2000 years after the cross.

     Thus, in this context the term "thousand years" must be understood spiritually as saying the "completeness of time." The completeness of time for the church age began with the binding of Satan at the time of the cross and continued for over 1950 years.

Satan Is Loosed

    This period of time ended with Satan being loosed. The loosing of Satan coincided with the beginning of the Great Tribulation. True, while Satan was bound he was able to intimidate, to threaten, to kill believers. Throughout this period he had been able to go about as a roaring lion. But he could not stop the forward advance of the kingdom of God. Even though he killed Christians, he was not the winner. Verse 4 of Revelation 20 declares:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

    Those who were martyred simply changed residency. As disembodied souls, they reigned with Christ a thousand years. Please note the language

carefully. "I saw the souls of them that were beheaded." It does not say "I saw the souls who had been beheaded." It says I saw the souls of them that were beheaded. This is parallel language to a statement like, "I saw the hand of the man who had been killed." I am seeing only the hand of the man that was killed. Likewise, when Christians leave their bodies, in their soul existence they go to live and reign with Christ in heaven. II Corinthians 5:8 declares:

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

    Thus, God in Revelation 20 is showing us a vision in which we see the believers reigning with Christ after they had been killed.

    We have learned that the term "a thousand years" in this context signifies the completeness of time. Earlier we noted that three times in Revelation 20 the thousand years have a beginning and an end. Therefore, the phrase a thousand years must identify with the period that began with the binding of Satan when Christ went to the cross and ended with the loosing of Satan at the beginning of the Great Tribulation. Thus, it must encompass the same period of time as that of the New Testament church age. However, the vision of the souls of the disembodied martyrs shows them reigning a thousand years with no ending or completion in view. That can readily be understood if we keep in mind that true believers at the time they became saved were given eternal life. Thus, they begin to reign with Christ the moment they are saved (Ephesians 2:5) and will continue to reign with Him forever more. In their case, the thousand years cannot have an end because it goes on eternally.

The Rest of the Dead

    That brings us to verse 5 of Revelation 20, where we read:

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

    Who are the rest of the dead who lived not again until the thousand years are finished. Since the finishing of the thousand years identifies with the loosing of Satan, which identifies with the beginning of the Great Tribulation, we can know that these dead come to life at the end of the church age after the beginning of the Great Tribulation. The term "lived not again" implies that they had previously lived. Could this refer to the unsaved who had previously

lived on earth and who will be resurrected to stand for judgment on the last day? The problem with this conclusion is that it does not fit very well into the context (the rest of these verses are speaking of those who are saved). Secondly, ordinarily when the Bible speaks of life or living it is speaking of eternal life or salvation. The unbelievers who are resurrected on the last day are not resurrected to eternal life. They are resurrected so they can experience eternal damnation which the Bible calls the second death. Indeed, verse 5 of Revelation 20 reminds us of the truth we read in I Corinthians 15:22. There God declares:

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

    In Adam, each and every human has become dead in his sins. Spiritually, before we are saved we are dead. But in Christ there is a time when the elect of God do become spiritually alive. They become alive again because before Adam sinned, they were alive. When Adam sinned, they became dead. Since we all came from Adam, in a sense, we were in the loins of Adam when he was on earth.

    Returning of Revelation 20:5 we now can understand that after Satan has been loosed, that is, after the thousand years are finished, the rest of those who had died in Adam and were to be made alive in Christ would become alive again. That is, they would become saved during the time of the Great Tribulation.

    Now we can understand why Revelation 20:3 states:

. . . till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

    Outside of the churches, a great multitude is being saved. But within the churches, Satan is reigning because he has been loosed to be used of God to deceive those within the churches.

    Thus, the little season must coincide with the season of the latter rain. It is the season when the great multitude which no man can number are being saved (Revelation 1:9-14).

    This is why Revelation 20, verse 5, speaks of the first resurrection, and then in verse 6 describes the characteristics of those who have become saved. The first resurrection is experienced at the moment of salvation when we receive our brand new eternal soul. This implies a second resurrection for the believers. That will be on the last day when we receive our eternal resurrected spiritual bodies.

    Thus, we have learned that Revelation 20:1-7 can be clearly understood when we realize that God is speaking of the church age as the time when Satan had been bound. Further, He is speaking of the season of the latter rain as a little season during which Satan has been loosed and the rest of those who are to become saved (the great multitude which no man can number), do become saved.

    Before we leave Revelation 20 we must ask the question: How can it be that at the time of the cross, Satan was bound and cast into hell and then later on, he is set free, and as we will learn later in this study, he is set free to rule in the churches? Fact is, we read in Revelation 9:1-3:

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

    In this passage, the star who came from heaven to open the bottomless pit can only be Christ. We read in Revelation 1:18:

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

    Furthermore, we read in Revelation 13:3 concerning Satan as he was typified by a dragon with seven heads and ten horns:

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

    We know, of course, when sentence is passed, the guilty have been judged, nothing can change that sentence. By Christ's victory over death, as Jesus suffered death for the elect, Satan was given a death blow. He was sentenced to hell forever more. Significantly, when we read of the great white throne, where Jesus sits to judge the unsaved, we do not read of Satan being judged. This is because he was judged and effectively sentenced to hell forever more by Christ's victory over death at the time of the cross. Therefore, we read in Revelation 20:10-12 of this sequence of events:

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

    The beast and the false prophets are pictures of Satan as he ruled in the churches during the Great Tribulation.

    Thus, while on the one hand, Satan remains in hell (that is, remains under the eternal wrath of God), in another sense, he is temporarily loosed from hell because God still has some work for him before the world comes to an end. That work is to rule in the churches during the Great Tribulation. He is allowed to rule there as a judgment of God upon these churches.

The Souls under the Altar

    We have learned that the words "little season" as we find them recorded in Revelation 20 identify with the season of the latter rain during which the final harvest is brought in. This term is also used in Revelation 6 in connection with the opening of the fifth seal. There the Bible declares in Revelation 6:9-11:

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

    Now we are able to have a clearer understanding of these verses.

    It can be shown that the earlier verses of Revelation 6 are detailing the sending forth of the Gospel during the church age. The rider on the white horse going forth to conquer can only be a picture of Christ sending forth the

Gospel throughout the church age. The rider on the red horse who wishes to take peace from the earth can only refer to Satan as he goes about as a roaring lion. By persecution and physical killing, he attempts to frustrate God's gospel plan.

    The rider on the black horse is a warning to the churches that if they do not remain faithful, God will begin to take the Gospel away from them. It is paralleling the language of Leviticus 26:23-26:

And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

    The rider on the pale horse is a final warning to the churches that judgment will come upon them. It parallels the language of Leviticus 26:27-30:

And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

    Thus, these first four riders are declaring God's intentions for and warnings to the churches during the church age.

1.	The Gospel will be victorious.

2.	Satan will attempt to restrain it.
3.	If the church is not faithful, the true Gospel will be severely curtailed.
4.	Finally, the churches will be destroyed.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

    The slain in these verses must refer to the believers throughout the church age in the sense of Romans 8:36, where we read:

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

    This identifies with Satan going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8), and with the language of Matthew 10:28, which declares:

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

    The desire of these souls of Revelation 6:10 is that God's perfect justice will be done. They are under the altar. This is a figure of speech we can understand to mean they have been covered by the blood of Jesus. Therefore, justice has already been accomplished on their behalf because Christ is their Savior. But what about the unsaved who continue in rebellion against Christ. Justice will not be done until they stand before the judgement throne of God on the last day. But that last day cannot come until God's plan of evangelizing the world has bee completed. There is still a little season which we have learned is the season of the latter rain when believers will be killed. They will be killed in the same sense as the believers throughout the church age were killed.

    Only when the little season, the season of the latter rain, has ended will God bring forth His perfect justice. Then all of the unsaved will stand for trial at God's great white throne. They will be found guilty and cast into eternal damnation.

     Thus, we have learned that the words "little season" are used as a synonym for the final harvest season which is also called the latter rain. Both in Revelation 6 and in Revelation 20, God speaks of this little season.

    We will now continue our study as we look again at the early rain season of the Old Testament as it brought forth the harvest of Christ and the Gospel.