A lot of speculation has taken place over the centuries about what the future holds. Every religion has its own eschatology involving some kind of future state or paradise. And today, with atheistic humanism on the rise, more and more people are coming to believe that nothing has been predicted by supernatural prophecy, that the future is fluid and holds any of a myriad possibilities. This has led to the rise of speculative fiction covering everything from interstellar empires to the total annihilation of humanity in nuclear war.

Among Christians, if you ask ten people what the future holds, you will probably get ten different answers. Sure, the basics will be the same—Christ will return and we will all go to be with Him—but beyond that, you can find just about any speculative idea that you can imagine. Is this good? Is this bad? The truth is that I don't really know. The only thing that I have come to be fairly sure of is that it is largely useless.

There are some things that are clearly listed in Scripture. And there are many other things that are also mentioned, but in symbolic or other picture form. Beasts. Seals. Trumpets. A woman surrounded by astronomical objects. What does it all mean?

When Christ came the first time, nobody knew exactly how He was going to fulfill all the prophecies about Him. It was only after He did that people looked back and said, "Oh, that fulfilled such-and-such prophecy." Prophecy, in general, is like that. There are very few clear prophecies that people can say ahead of time will be fulfilled in some particular way. I believe it is the same way with the prophecies regarding His second coming. We have been told what will happen, but in language that does not allow us to figure out details. However, when things do happen, I believe that God expects us to recognize them and say "Aha!".

What we Know for Certain

After listening to so many end-times teachers give conflicting "accounts" of what is coming, I was tempted to decide that we really can't know anything. But that isn't true. Although we may not know a lot of details, there are a number of basic facts that we can be certain of. Here is a partial list:

• Jesus Christ will someday return in bodily form.
• Those who are saved through faith in Christ will spend eternity with Him.
• Those who are not saved through faith in Christ will suffer eternal punishment.
• In the final years before Christ returns, the world will undergo a series of unprecedented, cataclysmic events that will kill the vast majority of people in the world.
• A powerful, probably charismatic leader will arise during those final years who will epitomize everything that the Bible calls evil. He is referred to in Scripture as "the beast", the "man of sin", the "Antichrist", and by a few other titles.

What we Really Don't Know

This is merely a partial list of the things we don't know. They are so myriad that it would take up whole pages to list them all. For the most part, they involve details, i.e. exactly how things such as the aforementioned list of what we are certain about, will be fulfilled.

• Exactly when Christ will return.
• Who the Antichrist is and where he will come from.
• What events are represented by signs such as the seals, trumpets and bowls of Revelation.

Where I Believe we are

For most of my life as a Christian I have wondered just what point in the prophetic calendar we were at. For most of that time, I figured that it was all still in the future, that we really had no way of knowing. Recently, however, I have begun to rethink that position.

The scroll in the hand of the One on the Throne in Revelation can probably be thought of as an edict in the hand of the King. This is consistent with the culture of the time of the writing of the book. When Christ called John to "come up", he was told that he would be shown what was to come. I suspect that the scroll is probably an overview of history from that time until the end, when Christ returns to set up His kingdom and everything if fulfilled. It was sealed with seven seals to break it up into historical periods.

Many scholars have tried to identify the riders on the various horses that came forth in response to opening the first four seals. The rider on the white horse has been variously thought to be Christ, or the antichrist, or some other historical figure. The problem with this is that the third and fourth horsemen do not resemble any individual figures at all. Therefore, a more likely understanding is that all of the horsemen represent events or periods in history, rather than any individual persons.

The First Horseman

The first rider was dressed in white and on a white horse, and he went forth to conquer. He did not carry a sword, but merely a bow. At least one commentator has pointed out that this generally represented a conquest based on ideas or ideology. I used to believe that this first horseman represented the church age, or rather, the period in history in which the Gospel literally "went out and conquered" and became the dominant force in Europe and her colonies. Recently, however, I have begun to doubt that that is correct. For one, the Church Age had already begun at the time of the Revelation, and the scroll was supposed to represent "things to come". Also, the other seals and their respective portions of the scroll represent events or sociopolitical and cultural changes which are strongly negative, especially toward believers.

And so I began to ask myself, what major historical event came upon the scene, went out to conquer with an ideological bent, has political overtones (the crown represents political power), and either has to do with—or pretends to have to do with—a messianic figure such as Christ (the white rider)? The obvious answer is the coming of Islam. More than thirteen hundred years ago, Mohammad and his followers burst upon the scene and went forth to conquer. It is both a religious and political system. And it claims to be the final revelation of God to man, superseding both the Old and New Testaments—and looks forward to the coming of a messianic figure, the Mahdi, or thirteenth imam.

If this is indeed the correct interpretation of the first horseman, then those who identify the rider on the white horse as the antichrist may be closer to the truth than they realize, especially if the Islamic Mahdi does turn out to be the antichrist of the Bible.

The Second Horseman

A few hundred years ago, philosophers such as Hegel, Sartre, Marx, and others laid the foundations for what later became modern humanist existentialism. These in turn led to political systems such as communism, socialism, naziism, fascism and other similar totalitarian schemes. These systems are characterized by anti-Christian philosophies, devaluation of human life, exaltation of the state, etc. In the twentieth century alone, more than a hundred million people were murdered by followers of these political systems such as Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler, and so forth. In more "civilized" countries such as the United States, although constitutional protections have so far prevented the formation of a police state complete with concentration camps and purges, the devaluation of human life has led to an explosion in the murder rate, rampant abortion, and similar violence. War, terrorism, and revolution have become common.

The second horseman of the apocalypse is described as riding on a red horse and carrying a large sword. He will take peace from the Earth and make men slay one another. I have come to believe that the rise of humanist philosophies and their effect on societies around the world are very probably the result of the second horseman coming onto the scene. His earliest appearance may have been as far back as the bloody French Revolution and the Reign of Terror that followed. But I am convinced that he has been riding roughshod over the human race at least ever since the Russian Revolution of the last century.

And today, we see how these philosophies have literally taken over the world. Even America, the "last bastion of freedom", has succumbed, choosing leaders who embrace anti-Christian socialism and humanism. (For my views on the subject, see The Bible and Politics.) Every part of our society has been infected to at least some degree: education, media, government, big business—and sadly, even the Church.

Interestingly, the other major sociopolitical player on the international scene these days is Islam. Could it be a coincidence that the two biggest influences in world culture are the two that appear to have been prophesied in Scripture? Makes you wonder what's next…

The Third Horseman

The third horseman carries a set of scales and announces outrageous prices for basic necessities, and then tells everyone not to damage the luxury items. This has most often been associated with famine, but if you examine it carefully you will realize that it is not describing a lack of food, but rather, availability at a high cost. A better explanation is that this represents a time of economic hardship, and possibily a time of strong class divisions between the rich and the poor, given the instructions not to damage the oil and wine (luxury items in the culture in which Revelation was written).

I am sure that everyone who reads this is fully aware of the economic conditions that not only plague our country, but the entire world. The cost of everything is rising. It is becoming more and more difficult every day to simply make a living. The middle class—once the bulwark of Western prosperity—is threatened with extinction. If things continue they way that they are going, before too many more years we will have a society consisting of the privileged few who can afford the luxuries that even many middle-class people take for granted these days, and everyone else, who will be struggling merely to survive. Sound familiar?

How did we get here? Largely through uncontrolled spending and debt. Governments started it when they abandoned the gold standard and fiscal responsibility and began running budget deficits. Later, it spread to individuals through credit cards and other means which allowed people to spend money that they did not have. And today, this massive debt—both public and private—is threatening to bring the whole house of cards tumbling down. We may not have yet reached the point described in the third seal of Revelation, but I have come to the conclusion that the third horseman—which very likely represents the coming of massive fiscal irresponsibility—has been running roughshod over the world for many years now, and we are very soon to see the full consequences.

The Fourth Horseman?

The fourth horseman of Revelation represents death on a massive scale—up to a quarter of the population of the Earth—from various causes. War. Famine. Disease. Wild animals. At this point in history, we can thankfully say that this has not yet happened. But who knows what is on the horizon? Increasing unrest and riots in the Middle East and elsewhere may simply mean business as usual—or they could be the initial signs of something far worse. We may speculate, but only God knows.

And beyond that, it only gets worse. Revelation describes a time commonly known as the "Great Tribulation", which will make all of the disasters, tyrannies and social upheavals of the past look like paradise in comparison. Should we fear? Those who follow Jesus Christ can look beyond those days to something better. "Look up, for your redemption draws near." Let believers take heart with those words. However, for unbelievers… "When they say, 'Peace and safety,' sudden destruction will come upon them, and they will not escape." I strongly, seriously encourage you to read the page on The Bible and Salvation. Your very soul is at stake.

A Happy Ending

As I stated in the previous section, there is a happy ending for those who follow Christ. In spite of all the suffering and horror to come, in spite of what will for all practical appearances look like a total and decisive victory for the forces of evil, in the end, God will prevail. Although there are numerous interpretations of exactly what His eternal kingdom will be like, Biblical theologians agree that it will come. Some things are clearly stated. There will be no more sorrow, no more sickness, no more death (of people, that is), and all our tears will be wiped away. Note that it doesn't say that there will be no more tears. The passage in Revelation describing all this comes right after the passage describing the Great White Throne Judgment, where unbelievers are cast into the Lake of Fire. I believe that if I am taken straight into the joys of Heaven right after seeing people that I've known and loved being thrown into Hell for eternity, I will have quite a few tears that will need to be wiped away.

Maybe you're wondering why all the judgments and tribulation are necessary. Why won't Jesus simply come back and set up His kingdom with out all that muss and fuss? There is more than one answer, and I suspect that they are all correct. First, if He returned right now, a huge number of people on Earth would simply reject Him outright. With all the emphasis on science and the popularity of science fiction, it is very possible that they would believe Him to be an alien invader, and would fight. It may simply be that the world has to be humbled to the point where they will recognize the Lord when He comes. Second, mankind has done much to anger God over the millennia, and He has been holding back His wrath on the human race for the sake of the believers, as well as to give us a chance to spread the word about Jesus to every group of people in the world. Once that task is done—and another indication that we may very well be in the Last Days is the fact that for the first time in history, we are within sight of reaching that goal—there will be no more reason to hold back. Many believers will die, but we will know that we will be resurrected someday, and that someday will be soon. Death holds no fear for true believers.

So if you are a believer, look up, for your redemption is drawing near. If you are not, then please think about it. Don't just "blow it off" as idiot mythology without at least checking out the claims of Jesus Christ. If you are wrong, you will be in for a very unpleasant surprise.

Whereas believers will inherit Paradise.