What we call the end times centers around a seven year period of time that is frequently referred to as the tribulation. The Bible is crystal clear about the beginning of this seven year period; it starts when Antichrist signs a treaty with the state of Israel. The state of Israel is already in existence, but what about the Antichrist? As it turns out we have a great deal of information that should enable us to see the Antichrist coming.
This is a brief synopsis of what you should be looking for. We are looking for a ten nation confederacy/alliance/empire to arise out of the old Roman Empire. It will contain two different kinds of people. One group will be a military powerhouse, kind of like Germany in WWII; the other group will consist of militarily weak nations, kind of like Italy in WWII. If I had to guess the two groups are Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa and the "used to be Christian" nations of Western Europe. Don't ask me which group will be the military powerhouse; right now the Europeans are more powerful, but only because they have better technology. These two groups will not work well together and will require a great deal of diplomatic effort to maintain their relationship. Scripture indicates that this alliance will be involved in a great deal of military activity.
Once this ten nation alliance is in place, at some point, three heads of state will be removed and a fourth person will emerge and take control of the ten nations. If that person goes ahead and signs a treaty with Israel then you can pretty well take it to the bank that person is the Antichrist. (If you are wondering where all this came from, see Daniel 2 and 7. And please, keep in mind that probably 80% of Bible believing Bible teachers in North America would agree with my basic interpretation of those passages.)
How does the Rapture tie into all this? The most popular interpretation says that the rapture will come very near to the beginning of the seven year period. I personally believe that the Rapture will happen in the second half of the seven year treaty period, but doesn't affect my main point one way or the other. If the rapture happens anywhere near the beginning of the treaty period it would just about require that we would be able to see the ten nation alliance in existence before the rapture actually happens. With a pre-trib Rapture it is also possible that the we might still be here when Antichrist removes three heads of state and takes power. If the Rapture comes after the beginning of the seven years, then boys and girls, the church will definitely be here to see Antichrist take power and sign that treaty.
Now some of you may be saying, "If what you say is true, and it 80% of evangelical Bible teachers would agree with it, why don't we hear more discussion about this ten nation alliance?" The answer is not very flattering to the church. If conditions were right, you would be hearing a great deal about the ten nation alliance. Back in the 60's and 70's when the Common Market and then the European Union were coming together you heard about the ten nations all the time. People would say things like "Israel is in place and Antichrist's kingdom is being formed. The end is very near!" But then the European Union got larger than ten nations and the focus shifted away from the ten nations. Here is the thing: what I've shared with you, what I've told you to look for, isn't something that is "hot" right now. I can't write a book on this and sell a million copies. I can't make people's pulse race and have pastors waiting in line for me to come speak at their church. But even though it's not "hot," it's still pretty standard Biblical interpretation at the present time.
Waiting for a ten nation alliance isn't very exciting, but wars and natural disasters are very exciting (as long as you don't have to live through them). Jesus spoke of these signs at the beginning of Matthew 24, and whenever we get a new crop of wars or natural disasters someone writes a book and explains that the coming of Jesus is right around the corner. The only problem with this is that people have been making these claims for 2,000 years and for 2,000 years they have been wrong. This doesn't mean that Matthew 24 is wrong, it means that we need some kind of a guide that will help us to understand which wars and natural disasters Jesus is referring to so that we don't go off the deep end every time a calamity happens. And the book of Daniel gives us that key.
If you read a little farther in Matthew 24 you will find that Jesus references events from the book of Daniel! The people he was teaching were familiar with the book of Daniel. So they took the information about the wars and the natural disasters and incorporated it into what they already knew. And they knew about the ten kings. They knew about three kings being removed from power. And they knew that the man who would take over that alliance would be the Antichrist.
Let me close with this. There was a man named Irenaeus. He was the Bishop of Lyon around 180 A.D. He was originally trained by a man named Polycarp. And Polycarp was trained by (drum roll please) the Apostle John. Irenaeus lived at a time when the Roman Empire was intact. So what was he looking for as he waited for the second coming? Here is my paraphrase.
"In the last days the Roman Empire will be divided up among ten kings. The Antichrist will kill three of these kings and rule over the other seven." (From "Against Heresies," Book Five, Chapter 26.)
Why is it important that we remain clear on these issues? Once upon a time there was a man who went off to fight in a great war. One of the enemy rulers was a man named Mussolini. Mussolini was the dictator of Italy and he was bragging that he was recreating the Roman Empire. So the man going off to war had the whole thing explained to him by a preacher. Mussolini was the Antichrist and the end of the world was very, very near. That man was part of a bomber crew that was shot out of the sky on it's third mission. The man parachuted to safety and was put in a POW camp where he met a minister and became a born again Christian. That man is my father. He's in his late 80's now and we don't discuss complex subjects like Bible prophecy, but back in the day we did have a little talk about the subject. Dad understood that the man who had taught him had made some major mistakes, but he didn't confuse a man making mistakes about what the Bible says with the Bible having mistakes in it. Not everyone is that wise.
I wonder about the other guys who listened to that preacher (and there were a whole lot of preachers giving that same message back in those days). Did any of them come to the conclusion that the Bible is full of bunk when the news reached them that Mussolini had been hanged by his own people?
If we live long enough strange and maybe even terrible things will happen. They always do. And when they do people are going to be asking themselves, is this the end? And you'll be able to explain it to them and maybe, just maybe, keep an irresponsible brother (who may or may not be a famous preacher/author) from damaging precious souls with false information. A ten nation alliance; three rulers removed from power; the guy who removes them from power takes over and signs a treaty with Israel. If you are alive at that point you might want to stop making deposits in your retirement savings plan.
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