Chuck Missler: The Order of Events

In this segment, Chuck Missler discusses the order of prophetic events. This teaching is taken from the End Times Scenario briefing pack, published by Koinonia House.

The Order of Events

The order of events: the 70th week. We’ve talked about this before. Obviously, the Harpazo (rapture) occurs sometime prior to that, though we don’t know exactly how long before. We’ve already covered much of this—Great Tribulation and so on. Armageddon is what it ends with, but that gets interrupted by the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

At that point, Satan is bound. His cohorts—the first and second beast of Revelation 13—are thrown into Gehenna, not Hades. Gehenna. Satan, however, is bound for a thousand years during the Millennium.

Now, in Daniel 12 there are the 1,290 days and the 1,335 days. Everyone asks what they stand for. We’re not sure. There’s a lot of conjecture, but nothing I’ve found to be persuasive.

We then have the Sheep and Goat Judgment and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

At the end of the Millennium, Satan is released, and he succeeds in getting the world to rebel against God once again—then he is finally put down.

I remember once being on a speaking platform with Albert Rosales. We got into a discussion in the green room, and he asked me an interesting question: “What is the most evil of all the dispensations?” If you’ve studied the classical seven dispensations, you’d probably expect to answer differently. But he argued that the Millennium is the most evil.

I was surprised—because we tend to think of the Millennium as a utopian period. But his point was this: during the Millennium there is no shortage of anything. All needs are met. There is no shortage of the Word of God. Justice is good. Christ rules. And yet, at the end of a perfect administration, humanity rebels again—this time with no excuse. That was his perspective, and it gave me something to think about.

In any case, the Millennium becomes a final test of humanity. At the very end, Satan is released and leads a final rebellion. Revelation 20 describes it as another Gog and Magog event. Many people confuse this with the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38.

There are different views here. Some see it as part of Armageddon, but I hold a different view. What many overlook is that “Gog and Magog” becomes an idiom. How can Magog survive a thousand years? Because Gog is not just a person—it’s a demon title.

You don’t see this in the English translations of the Tanakh, but if you read Amos 7:1 in the Septuagint, you discover that Gog is the king of the locusts. And those locusts are not literal insects but demon locusts, as indicated in Proverbs 30:27. We didn’t cover that in the book, but it’s worth tracking down.

So, Gog is a demon title—that’s how he can appear again a thousand years later. I believe there are two Gog and Magog events: the first one prior to Armageddon, and then a second at the end of the Millennium. That’s my view; other scholars hold different opinions.

The big climax, of course, is the Great White Throne Judgment—the judgment of the unsaved dead. That’s a major event. Don’t confuse it with the other judgments, which are different in scope and timing.

After that comes the new heavens and the new earth. Let me underscore this: it’s not just you and I who are redeemed. Heaven itself is made new—one where Satan has never been. Cosmically, there is much more going on than we can imagine.

This present universe will burn. And now, some physicists—like David Bohm and experiments in Europe with particle accelerators—are giving credence to the idea that the universe is some kind of super-hologram. If that’s true, it helps explain the Bible, because in a hologram, distances are synthetic. Billions of light-years would be synthetic.

We know that this physical universe is a kind of digital simulation. That sheds light on both Genesis 1 and Revelation 21–22. When Revelation says that all the stars will fall from heaven, modern astronomy says that’s impossible—some stars are bigger than our entire solar system. But if it’s a hologram, then that statement takes on a different significance.

So: a new heaven, a new earth, and then the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven. That’s the panorama Revelation 21–22 lay out for us.

Now, that leaves us with another topic: what goes on during the 70th week in heaven? We’ve talked about what happens on earth—tribulation, the temple being rebuilt, and so on. But what about in heaven?

What is the first thing that happens to you and me after the rapture? Let’s assume it happens tomorrow morning. What happens in the days that follow—not on earth, but in heaven?

The answer: the first event is the Judgment Seat of Christ, according to 2 Corinthians 5:10. We’re all going to face a final exam.

Now, to relieve the suspense: everyone present at the Judgment Seat of Christ is saved. Their salvation was resolved 2,000 years ago at the cross. Salvation is not the issue. Fruit-bearing is the issue. Works confuse people, but fruit-bearing is the biblical term. Our fruit will be assessed. Some will be rewarded, and some will not. Inheritances can be lost.

The other key event is the Marriage of the Lamb.

Now, there are three judgments we must distinguish:

1. The Judgment Seat of Christ (Bema Seat) – 2 Corinthians 5:10. This is for rewards, crowns, and assignments.
2. The Sheep and Goat Judgment – Matthew 25. Here there are three groups: the sheep, the goats, and “My brethren.” Jesus judges the nations based on how they treated His brethren (the Jews) during the Tribulation. Those who helped, even unknowingly, are the sheep and are rewarded. Those who did not are condemned.
3. The Great White Throne Judgment – Revelation 20. This is at the end of the Millennium, and it concerns the unsaved dead.

Don’t confuse these judgments—they are distinct.

Some scholars also debate whether the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ are synonymous. I personally believe they are not, though this is controversial. We’ll address this more in detail later.

But for now, the key is this: after the rapture, the believer’s first experience in heaven is the Judgment Seat of Christ—followed by rewards, the Marriage of the Lamb, and ultimately, participation in God’s eternal plan in the new heavens and new earth.