Thy Kingdom Come, page 1
© 2024 by
ANTHONY T. EVANS
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is excerpted and condensed from chapters 1–15 of The Best Is Yet to Come: Bible Prophecies Through the Ages, © 2000 by Anthony T. Evans (Moody Publishers).
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Edited by Kevin Mungons
Interior design: Ragont Design
Cover design: Thinkpen Design
Cover photo of St. Peter’s Basilica courtesy of Unsplash, Chad Greiter
Author photo: Tayte Rian Gerik
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Evans, Tony, 1949- author.
Title: Thy kingdom come : exploring end times prophecy / Tony Evans.
Other titles: Best is yet to come
Description: Second edition. | Chicago : Moody Publishers, [2024] | “This book is excerpted and condensed from chapters 1-15 of The Best Is Yet to Come: Bible Prophecies Through the Ages, ©2000 by Anthony T. Evans (Moody Publishers)”–Title page verso. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: “Understanding biblical prophecy is essential to fulfilling God’s eternal plan for our lives. In part one of Thy kingdom come, Evans points to the Bible’s trustworthy accounts of fulfilled prophecy and how we can draw comfort from God’s good plan. In part two, Evans explores the end times, including prophecies of the rapture, the Antichrist, and Christ’s second coming”– Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2024010704 (print) | LCCN 2024010705 (ebook) | ISBN 9780802433138 (paperback) | ISBN 9780802471529 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Bible–Prophecies–End of the world. | End of the world–Biblical teaching. | Bible–Prophecies. | BISAC: RELIGION / Biblical Studies / Prophecy | RELIGION / Biblical Commentary / New Testament / Revelation
Classification: LCC BS649.E63 E922 2024 (print) | LCC BS649.E63 (ebook) | DDC 220.1/5–dc23/eng/20240321
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024010704
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024010705
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CONTENTS
Introduction
PART ONE: THE HISTORY OF FULFILLED PROPHECY
1. The Importance of Prophecy
2. The Key to Prophecy
3. Prophecy and Human History
4. Prophecy and the Covenants
5. Prophecy and Israel’s Timetable
6. Prophecy and the Church Age
PART TWO: THE COMING OF PROPHESIED EVENTS
7. Prophecy and the Rapture
8. Prophecy and the Antichrist
9. Prophecy and the Tribulation
10. Prophecy and the Battle of Armageddon
11. Prophecy and the King’s Return for the Millennial Reign
12. Prophecy and the Great White Throne
Appendix: The Urban Alternative
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INTRODUCTION
The global events which seem to be unfolding and developing anew each day inspire within each of us a greater understanding and awareness of biblical prophecy. Yet anyone who has attempted to teach this subject of prophecy knows it is no easy task. To seek to thread together the prophetic strands of Scripture in an orderly and relevant way is, without question, one of the most difficult things I have ever faced as a preacher and Bible scholar. It has required intense study, research, and prayer.
In the pages that follow, I humbly attempt to unveil insights on this popular and far too relevant area of prophecy. I seek to communicate the prophetic program of God in a logical and easy-to-understand way. My desire in doing so is not simply to stimulate your mind but also to influence your heart. I want to cause you to fall more deeply in love with the God who holds eternity in His hands.
Studying prophecy is like traveling in space. We’ve learned a lot about the earth by going out into space and looking back at our planet. Through scientific study we have learned about weather patterns, the location of natural resources, and other beneficial things that we might not have known about if we had stayed close to the earth.
In the same way, prophecy takes us beyond the limitations of our time-and-space-bound world and circumstances and lets us see the big picture. The result should be that we become better stewards of our time and other resources now as we live in light of eternity. It is my hope and prayer that after you have seen and understood God’s plan for the ages, you will love Him more and serve Him more fully as His kingdom disciple.
1
THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPHECY
When you go to a movie theater, the first twenty minutes will be spent viewing previews of upcoming attractions. These include the hot clips of what’s to come. At the end of each preview, you will often see the month or the year that the new show will air. Sometimes, though, you will only see “coming soon.”
Studying prophecy can be a lot like previews of upcoming attractions. We aren’t given the whole show, but we do get glimpses into the highlights. Sometimes prophecy gives an exact date, like in the case of Daniel’s dream interpretation, but most of the time it just says, “Coming soon.” One thing that is always consistent is that prophecy involves the study of the future. It lifts our thoughts from the midst of the ticking clock of time and allows us to peek into the future.
Tomorrow is as real to God as today or yesterday because God is an eternal Being. God is not bound by time like we are. In fact, time designations have no meaning to Him. That’s why God identified Himself to Moses as the great “I AM” (Ex. 3:14). He is forever in the present tense, the now.
But because the eternal God has chosen to unfurl His plan for creation in time, prophecy—the study of future things—is very important.
Most of us have a natural desire to know the future, to try to find out what tomorrow will bring. That’s why so many people turn to psychics or horoscopes. The people who sell you supposed knowledge of the future are preying on people’s desire to put together the jigsaw puzzle of life, whether it’s the collective history of a nation or an individual life. People want to know how things are going to unfold.
I don’t know about anyone else, but if I want to know something about what the future holds, I want to get my information from a reliable source. I don’t want to stake my life on what some horoscope might say.
The main problem with these so-called psychic “prophets” of the future is that they are false prophets. They are feeding people lies because they don’t truly know about the future, either on an individual or cosmic level. They are guessing. Even worse, sometimes they are demonically inspired. Bible prophecy is not designed to satisfy our curiosity about tomorrow or the next day, nor is it designed to fill our heads with information so we can get together and debate the details of God’s plan. Gaining information has its place in the study of prophecy. It’s important that we understand as fully as we can what God is saying to us. But at the heart of God’s purpose for prophecy is changing our hearts and affecting the way we live our lives.
As we start our study of the wonderful and complex revelation of God concerning prophecy, I want to help you see how important prophecy is. The last chapter of the Bible says:
I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. (Rev. 22:18–19)
Prophecy is very serious business with God. Mess with His prophetic Word, and it will mess you up as well. God’s prophetic message is so important that He announced a curse on anyone who tampers with it.
Let me say right up front that I know everybody does not agree on every interpretation of God’s prophetic program. There are various views within the Christian community about exactly when Jesus will come back and the shape His kingdom will take. But these varieties of interpretations, if they remain within the sphere of orthodoxy, do not have to hamper us from gaining a broad understanding of what God has in store for His people.
So let’s get started on this fascinating, awe-inspiring subject by considering the importance of prophecy. In this chapter, I want to answer the questions:
What makes this study significant to your life right now, where you are? and,
Why should you and I be vitally concerned about God’s prophetic agenda?
PROPHECY HELPS AUTHENTICATE THE BIBLE
People often ask how we Christians can claim that the Bible is true as opposed to any other holy book. What makes the Bible distinct from other writings that claim to be from God?
The Bible’s Prophetic Accuracy
There are many answers to that question, but one thing that sets the Bible apart is its prophetic accuracy. A large portion of biblical prophecy has already been fulfilled with flawless exactness. Events that one author wrote about were fulfilled precisely hundreds of years later.
One of the classic examples is the prophecy of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem by the prophet Micah more than seven hundred years before the event (Mic. 5:2; cf. Matt. 2:1–6). If Bethlehem had been a major metropolis in Israel, someone could argue it was a good guess. But Micah pinpointed an obscure village because he spoke the mind of God. The fulfillment of prophecies like this helps to validate the truth of the Bible.
Of course, Micah’s prophecy is just one of several hundred biblical prophecies that were fulfilled in Christ’s first coming alone. This validation of the Bible by prophecy is a strong argument to believe the many prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled.
The Divine Origin of Prophecy
In 2 Peter 1:20–21, the apostle wrote, “Know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” The accuracy of the Bible’s predictions should not surprise us, because this was not human writers doing guesswork. Prophetic Scripture is accurate in all of its details because God moved the authors to record what was said.
Someone who was good with numbers and probabilities figured out that it would require 100 billion earths populated with 8 billion people each to come up with one person who could achieve 100 prophecies accurately without any errors in sequence. In other words, it would be impossible. But the Bible contains hundreds of prophecies that have already come true. That’s because it’s not based on chance, but on the eternal knowledge of God.
PROPHECY REVEALS GOD’S CHARACTER
The second reason prophecy is important is that it reveals to us the character of God. When you understand God’s program, you get to know more about Him.
In Isaiah 46, the prophet made a powerful statement about God’s character and knowledge as it relates to His prophetic program:
Remember this, and be assured;
Recall it to mind, you transgressors.
Remember the former things long past,
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; …
I have planned it, surely I will do it. (vv. 8–10, 11c)
Whatever God plans, He accomplishes. No part of His will can ever be outwitted or thwarted by the mind of man. God was not caught off guard by human sin, because His plan for this universe was drawn up and nailed down in eternity past. But this raises a question for a lot of people. If God planned everything and nothing can change His plan, why should we do anything? Why not just sit back and take it easy, because what’s going to happen is going to happen anyway?
The answer is that God’s sovereignty does not relieve us of our human responsibility. We are still obligated to live righteously, because God is holy and just and cannot tolerate sin. And God will use our obedience to help accomplish His plan.
I realize there is plenty of mystery here because God’s knowledge of the future includes not only everything that actually happens, but everything that could potentially happen. God knows all possibilities in any circumstance, but He chooses what will happen according to His will and purpose.
The word surprise is not in God’s vocabulary. He never says, “Oops, I missed that one.” All possibilities are taken into consideration. God’s plan takes in “the end from the beginning.” There are no surprises in heaven—absolutely none!
Prophecy not only reveals the character of God in terms of His perfect knowledge and power, but also in terms of His purpose to bring Himself glory and bless His people. Paul said of his trials, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). The apostle knew that the suffering God was allowing in his life would work out to God’s greater glory and his greater reward. Paul could say this because he believed Christ’s message about a future hope that was laid up for Paul, and “not only to [him], but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8).
A knowledge of prophecy gives you confidence to trust God for what’s ahead. If God knows tomorrow already because He has been there and taken care of it, then you can go to sleep tonight confident that He is in control.
Prophecy enhances our understanding of the character of God and leads us to worship Him. Over and over again in his letters, Paul became so overwhelmed with God’s character that he couldn’t help but worship when he considered God’s powerful plan.
PROPHECY PROMOTES HOLINESS
A third reason for studying prophecy is that it is designed to promote holy living. The more conscious we are of Christ’s return, and of the fact that we could be standing face-to-face with Him at any moment, the more this knowledge will affect us. But if we forget that Jesus is coming back, we will start living like He’s not coming back. John gave a classic statement of prophecy’s purifying purpose. “We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2–3).
A Prize to Be Won
Let’s look at this issue in more detail since it is so crucial. Paul said, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). Paul was determined to remain faithful to Christ because there was a heavenly prize to be won when Christ returned.
God’s prophetic program included a reward for Paul, one that was worth all of his commitment on earth. And he urged all believers to adopt the same attitude (v. 15). There’s a lot we will do if there’s a big enough prize at the end of the process. Paul went on to explain his perspective: “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (vv. 20–21).
Paul said, “I’m really a citizen of heaven. I just have a temporary address here on earth.” Because Paul had such a high consciousness of eternity, he pressed on in history.
You can keep going, no matter what, when you know heaven is real. You can keep going if you understand that when your human body begins to decay on earth, you have just begun to live forever.
A Hope to Be Realized
John said our hope of Christ’s return should purify us. Paul agreed, writing in Titus 2:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. (vv. 11–13)
