Part 2 of 12 / Old Testament Foundations Of The End Times

The Biblical Foundations

Introduction: Prophecy Begins In The OT

When we think of the End Times, many immediately picture the book of Revelation or Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. Yet the roots of eschatology stretch deep into the Old Testament. God revealed His plan for the future through prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Joel long before Christ came.

Understanding these Old Testament promises lays the foundation for the New Testament teachings about the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the coming of the Kingdom. The prophets show us that history is not random - it is a carefully written story unfolding according to God's magnificent and prophetic design.

The Scriptural Foundation Stones

"At that time your people - everyone whose name is found written in the book - will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt."

- Daniel 12:1-2

"Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead."

- Isaiah 26:19

"I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and i have done it, declares the LORD."

- Ezekiel 37:14

1. Resurrection & Eternal Life

   
   

Long before Paul wrote of the Rapture, Daniel, Isaiah, and Job spoke of a future resurrection.

"And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt." - Daniel 12:2

• This verse foretells both the resurrection of the righteous and unrighteous.

"Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits."

- Isaiah 26:19

• This verse describes a resurrection unto joy and victory.

"Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God, whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself, and whom my eyes will see, and not another. My heart faints within me!"

- Job 19:25-27

• This verse shows of Job having personal hope of a resurrection and seeing Christ one day.

This lays the groundwork for the New Testament promise of believers being raised and transformed at Christ's coming.

2. The Day Of The Lord

The prophets repeatedly describe a future time of judgment and deliverance called "the Day of the Lord."

"Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the Lord is coming; Indeed, it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; there has never been anything like it, nor will there be again after it to the years of many generations." - Joel 2:1-2

• This verse describes it as a day of darkness, wrath, and cosmic upheaval.

"Woe to you who are longing for the day of the Lord , For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light." - Amos 5:18

• This verse warns that it will not be light for the wicked but judgment.

"The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah: I will completely remove all things, from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. I will remove human and animal life; I will remove the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and the ruins along with the wicked; and I will eliminate mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. So I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. and I will eliminate the remnant of Baal from this place, and the names of the idolatrous priests along with the other priests. And those who bow down on the housetops to the heavenly lights, and those who bow down and swear to the Lord, but also swear by Milcom, and those who have turned back from following the Lord,

And those who have not sought the Lord nor inquired of Him. Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near, because the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated His guests. Then it will come about on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice that I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all who clothe themselves with foreign garments. And on that day I will punish all who leap on the temple threshold, who fill the house of their lord with violence and deceit. And on that day,” declares the Lord, there will be the sound of a cry from the Fish Gate, wailing from the Second Quarter, and a loud crash from the hills. Wail, you inhabitants of the Mortar, because all the people of Canaan will be destroyed; all who weigh out silver will be eliminated. And it will come about at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, 'the Lord will not do good nor harm!’ Their wealth will become plunder, and their houses desolate; yes, they will build houses but not inhabit them,

and plant vineyards but not drink their wine.” The great day of the Lord is near, near and coming very quickly; listen, the day of the Lord! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. That day is a day of anger, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and the high corner towers. I will bring distress on mankind so that they will walk like those who are blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s anger; and all the earth will be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, for He will make a complete end, indeed a horrifying one, of all the inhabitants of the earth." - Zephaniah 1

• This verse paints a vivid picture of God's wrath poured out onto unrepentant nations.

The "Day of the Lord" theme is carried directly into the New Testament (1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10), showing a consistency in God's timeline.

"For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord is coming just like a thief in the night."

- 1 Thessalonians 5:2

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be discovered."

- 2 Peter 3:10

3. Israel's Restoration

The Old Testament prophets emphasize that Israel will play a central role in the End Times.

Ezekiel 37, the Valley of Dry Bones, it is showing Israel's regathering from the nations, which we have witnessed beginning in modern history from 1948 to today.

Zechariah Chapters 12-14 shows us Israel's national repentance and recognition of the Messiah.

"This is what the Lord says, He who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of armies is His name: if this fixed order departs from Me,” declares the Lord , "Then the descendants of Israel also will cease to be a nation before Me forever." This is what the Lord says: “If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also reject all the descendants of Israel for everything that they have done,” declares the Lord."

- Jeremiah 31:35-37

Jeremiah 31:35-37 affirms that Israel will NEVER be cast away. Why? Because God's covenant with them is everlasting.

This restoration sets the stage of Christ's Millennial Reign from Jerusalem in Zechariah 14:9-11.

"And the Lord will be King over all the earth; on that day the L ord will be the only one, and His name the only one. All the land will change into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will live in security." - Zechariah 14:9-11

4. The Coming Kingdom

Daniel saw visions of great world empires that would rise and fall, but also saw of God's eternal Kingdom which will reign forever in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ's 1,000 Year Reign and beyond.

Daniel's Vision

"You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the honor; and wherever the sons of mankind live, or the animals of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has handed them over to you and has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold. And after you another kingdom will arise inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; just as iron smashes and crushes everything, so, like iron that crushes, it will smash and crush all these things. And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have within it some of the toughness of iron, since you saw the iron mixed with common clay. And just as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong, and part of it will be fragile. In that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in their descendants; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not combine with pottery. And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever." - Daniel 2:37-44

Ezekiel 37, the Valley of Dry Bones, it is showing Israel's regathering from the nations, which we have witnessed beginning in modern history from 1948 to today.

Zechariah Chapters 12-14 shows us Israel's national repentance and recognition of the Messiah.

"And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever." - Daniel 2:44

"And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come and let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, so that He may teach us about His ways, and that we may walk in His paths.” For from Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift a sword against nation, and never again will they train for war. Instead, each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, because the mouth of the Lord of armies has spoken." - Micah 4:1-4

"Now it will come about that In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord , to the house of the God of Jacob; so that He may teach us about His ways, and that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go out from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will mediate for many peoples; and they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not lift up a sword against nation, and never again will they learn war." - Isaiah 2:2-4

The Micah and Isaiah scriptures are describing a time in the future where nations will come to Jerusalem from all far lands and desire to learn God's ways and because of this, peace will reign on the earth. This is describing during the time of the 1,000 year reign of Christ.

The anticipation for the Millennial Kingdom spoken of in Revelation 20, it connects the Old Testament Prophecy described above and shows it will be fulfilled in the New Testament during the 1,000 year reign of Christ.

Timeline Connection: Old Testament To New Testament

• Resurrection Promises - fulfilled at the Rapture and the Final Judgment.

• Day Of The Lord Warnings - echoed by Jesus and Paul of the coming Tribulation.

• Israel's Restoration - foundational to God's end-time plans.

• Coming Kingdom - points to Christ's Millennial Reign on the Earth.

The Old Testament gives the main blueprints and the New Testament gives us the entire picture.

Living In The Light Of Prophecy

Studying Biblical Prophecy is not about obtaining knowledge, it is about obtaining Faith with given wisdom from the Holy Spirit and Spiritual Discernment. God fulfilled prophecy in the past with 100% accuracy (Messianic prophecies, Israel's scattering and return). This gives us as believers full confidence in Faith that He will also fulfill all of the future prophetic promises.

For Believers Today

• The Resurrection - Death is not the end, but the beginning of eternity in Heaven or Hell.

• The Day of the Lord - it reminds us to share our Faith in the Gospel URGENTLY!

• Israel's Restoration - God will always keep His Covenants.

• The Coming Kingdom - it reminds us to Pray, "Lord, Your Kingdom Come."

Summary

The Old Testament shows us that the foundation is laid within it for eschatology through themes of resurrection, the Day of the Lord, Israel's Restoration, and the soon coming Kingdom of Christ. These prophetic prophecies point to the New Testament which shows us the Rapture of the Church in Christ's Return. This all proves that God's faithfulness in and through prophecy, assures us, the believers in Christ, of His promises for the future.

Reflection & Discussion

1. How does Daniel's vision of resurrection strengthen your hope in eternal life?

2. Why do you think God repeatedly gave warnings about "the Day of the Lord"?

3. What does Israel's restoration teach us about God's faithfulness to His Word?

Prayer For This Week

Lord, we thank You that Your Word is true, consistent, infallible, and consistent from beginning to end. As You spoke through the prophets, You revealed glimpses of the glorious future You have planned. Help us to live in hope of the resurrection, with urgency to reach the lost, and with faith in Your promises. Teach us to trust in Your unchanging Word, for You are the God who declares the End from the Beginning. May we consistently look for Your soon coming of Your Son Jesus Christ. In Your Name, Jesus, Amen.

Until Next Week ~ Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!