Copyright Mike Sullivan, 2018.
This study is part of a ten-week teaching series on Isaiah given at Xenos Christian Fellowship in 2017 and 2018.
What happens after we die?
A few years ago, I was driving two high school students to a Bible study. One of them asked me if I would rather die by drowning or being caught in a fire. I said, "I'm not ready to die right now. Can I pass on both options?"
I don't know about you, but I don't sit around pondering death. I think most people are like that. We often hear, "Death is inevitable, so why think about it?" Or if you ask someone, "What happens after death?", they reply, "What matters is what happens now."
Isaiah has a different view. In the last chapters of his book, he provides a significant amount of information about the next life that informs how we should live this life.
This analogy may help. Let's say you were going to one of these two places:
To the Florida Keys for a vacation.
To the battlefield to fight a war.
Wouldn't your destination affect how you packed your bags? Flip flops don't work well for rugged terrain. And you're not allowed to bring a hand grenade into a resort hotel. Knowing where you are going obviously affects how you prepare before you get there.
Maybe you've heard "what matters in life is the journey, not the destination." Actually, knowing where you are headed helps you decide what really matters along the way. The destination gives the journey purpose which helps when the road gets difficult.
So, with this in mind, let's consider what Isaiah says about life after death.
Isaiah's description of life after death
Let's start in Isaiah 59 where Isaiah reports a sin problem among his people...
Isaiah 59:12 For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know what sinners we are. 13 We know we have rebelled and have denied the LORD. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies. 14 Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.
Notice how Isaiah includes himself among the sinners in his country. He isn't finger pointing. What he says here is true of all humans. We have a problem called sin, and God's sense of justice demands that something be done…
Isaiah 59:16 And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede; then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him.
God is astonished at the depth of his people's sin and moved to take action. To get ready, he puts on some clothing…
Isaiah 59:17 He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
Obviously, these aren't real clothes. They symbolize God's two basic responses to our sin—two responses that lead to two different destinations for humans after they die.
Response 1: God puts on his body armor of righteousness and helmet of salvation. These symbolize God's desire to provide a solution to sin and rescue us. Further down he explains that God will rescue those who acknowledge their sin and call out to him for mercy (Isaiah 59:20). Jesus made this option possible by taking our sins on himself at the cross. People who turn to Christ for mercy will be welcomed into what is popularly called "heaven" and what I'll refer to as "God's eternal kingdom."
Response 2: The "garments of vengeance" symbolize God's intent to punish those who won't turn to him. They won't enter God's eternal kingdom. Instead of being rescued, God will hold them accountable for their sin (Isaiah 59:18). The last words of Isaiah describe their fate:
Isaiah 66:24 "… their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched; and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind."
Isaiah didn't end his book on a positive note!
If you are visiting our church for the first time, I know this is a rough way to start a teaching. We are going to spend most of our time together talking about God's eternal kingdom, but I wouldn't be representing Isaiah faithfully if I didn't say a few words about the alternative destination. Commenting on hell, C.S. Lewis says,
"There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specifically, of our own Lord's words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason." – C.S. Lewis
Lewis says several things that are helpful here.
He admits his aversion to the concept of God's judgment. Most Christians feel the same way. How could a normal person not be troubled by the concept of eternal judgment? It may help to know that God himself is troubled by it. In Isaiah 28:21, he calls judgment his "strange work." The Bible repeatedly teaches that God takes no pleasure in judgment.i
Ezekiel 18:23 "Do you think that I like to see wicked people die?" says the Sovereign LORD. "Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live."
Lewis mentions that God's judgment "has the full support of Scripture." He's right. The existence of hell is repeatedly taught throughout the Bible. Jesus himself spoke about heaven and hell more than anyone. So, if Christ's followers reject the concept of hell, they may be true to their own preferences, but they are ignoring the clear teaching of Scripture.
Lewis also says hell "has the support of reason," and he's right there as well. It makes sense that a just God would hold people accountable. If he was indifferent to evil, wouldn't that be evil? And simply doing away with hell doesn't help. If hell doesn't exist and in the end everyone goes to heaven, then why on earth doesn't God just press fast-forward so we can skip all this evil and suffering now?
Some may object that eternal judgment is an extreme sentence for an individual who has committed a finite amount of sins in a finite amount of time. But the time it takes to commit a crime should have nothing to do with the amount of time served. That's why a two-minute bank robbery may lead to a 20-year prison sentence. If a teenager pulls the legs off an ant, his parents may chastise him, but if he did the same thing with a baby, the state would lock him up for years! A human made in God's image is more valuable than an ant. How valuable? Unimaginably valuable in God's eyes. That is why it's up to him to set the appropriate sentence for our sins against each other.
Hell does exist, but no one is doomed to go there. God offers forgiveness freely to anyone who turns to him. Jesus said,
John 5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life."
We don't need to do a bunch of good deeds to impress Jesus and earn a spot in heaven. That's not the criteria for getting in. Instead, if you simply personally entrust yourself to Christ to save you, he will.
So, God's eternal kingdom or hell—all of humanity will spend eternity in one of these two destinations. This is an awesome reality, and it's up to us to decide what we want for our future.
What will God's eternal kingdom be like?
A few weeks ago, we devoted an entire teaching to judgment. Today, we will focus on God's eternal kingdom. At the end of history, the Bible teaches that Jesus will set up his kingdom and rule from Jerusalem forever.
Isaiah has been leaving breadcrumbs describing God's eternal kingdom throughout this book. What will it be like? The first thing we can say is it will have…
Two phases
In Revelation 20-22, the apostle John describes God's eternal kingdom. To do this, he quotes Isaiah more than 30 times. From Revelation it is very clear that this final period of history has two phases: first Jesus reigns from Jerusalem on earth for 1000 years [show on timeline]. Then the New Jerusalem descends from heaven to earth and God's kingdom continues on forever [show on timeline].ii
If you read Isaiah, he hints that the kingdom has two phases,iii but tends to merge them both into one. Maybe this analogy will help explain what's going on: There is a stretch of the Appalachian Trail [slide] that passes over Mount Collins and Clingmans Dome, two peaks in the Smoky Mountains. If you stand on the trail facing southwest and look at Mount Collins, you can also see Clingmans Dome [slide] behind it. From this perspective they almost look like a single peak. But if you view the trail from a different angle [slide] you can easily see they are different peaks on a single ridgeline with a good distance between them.
In a similar way, Isaiah is standing in the trail, if you will, and sees this final kingdom as one. But John is looking from a different angle and understands that there are actually two phases to God's kingdom.
Most of the Isaiah passages we are about to read describe the first phase of the kingdom, but many aspects of this first phase carry over to the eternal state, so what Isaiah writes can give us a fuller understanding of what heaven will be like.
The new heaven and new earth
Both Isaiah and John use the term "new heaven and new earth" to describe God's eternal kingdom.iv
From this title, we can make a couple important observations:
A new EARTH.
For some reason, when people think about the afterlife, the "new earth" part is often forgotten! People envision living in the clouds, with God, forever, bored out of their minds with absolutely nothing to do but sing hymns. But John says heaven is on earth. Heaven will be a physical universe that you can explore. If you like nature, if you like to hike, if you've always wanted to travel, you will like heaven.
We won't live in the clouds. According to Revelation we'll be in something like a city filled with people, conversation, music, art, architecture—everything good that makes a city vibrant.
A NEW heaven and a NEW earth.
In the book of Revelation, John says…
Revelation 21:1 "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…"
At first it sounds like God will hit the reset button and we'll be living in a brand-new universe. But the Greek word for "new" (kaine) used twice in this verse means new in quality or fresh,v rather than something that is recent or new in time (Greek: neos).
In other words, instead of wiping out the existing universe and starting over from scratch, the new heaven and new earth will be a renewed heaven and renewed earth. A good analogy is the way Paul uses "new" in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new (Greek: kaine) creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
When God made you a new creature, you didn't cease to exist. But you did become something qualitatively different. Instead of being under God's judgment, he adopted you as his son or daughter and gave you the Holy Spirit. In a similar way, instead of utterly wiping away our universe, God will transform it and make it new.vi
"The picture is of a universe transformed, perfected, purged of everything that is evil and exalts itself against God. It is 'new,' not in the sense of being a new creation, but of being new in character..." – J. Oswald Sanders, Heaven: Better By Far (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1993), pp. 133-134.
So what? Well, we often think of life in God's eternal kingdom as ethereal, unfamiliar, mystical. But if it is a renewed heaven and earth, it won't be completely unfamiliar.
If you are afraid of heaven, you shouldn't be. Something about heaven will feel like home. I can say this with certainty because the apostle Paul says we are already citizens of heaven.vii It's our home country. That's why instead of feeling displaced and disoriented, when you take your first step in the new heaven and new earth, you'll know it's exactly where you belong.
Nothing bad and more of what's good
If you could sum up everything Isaiah says about God's eternal kingdom in a single slogan, it would be something like, "nothing bad and more of what's good."
There are things about this life that are truly enjoyable: simple things like a good cup of coffee or a bed of spring flowers; technology like laser pointers and space telescopes. We enjoy music, art, architecture, good friendships, parties, sports. And when some people consider heaven, they worry all these great things will be lost. But that's not true. According to Isaiah…
What is bad/evil will be absent in heaven.
What is good will be retained and enhanced.
Let's look at Isaiah's description of God's kingdom in Isaiah 65. As we do, you'll notice bad things are absent, good things are retained, and new, good things are introduced.
Isaiah 65:17 "Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. 18 Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more.
Isaiah starts by saying that pain and sorrow will be absent. Instead there will be rejoicing and gladness. I don't think he's saying we'll have absolutely no memory of painful experiences from our past life. He's saying that negative experiences in our past will be overshadowed by the joy and delight of being with God.
Last year I went on a very long bike ride with a friend. We rode from Delaware (just north of Columbus) to Sandusky (on Lake Erie). It was rainy, windy, and in the mid-forties the entire time. As the miles rolled by, I coped with my misery by telling myself, when I get to the hotel, I'm taking a long, hot shower. And when we finally arrived, that's exactly what I did. As sore as my muscles were from riding, that shower felt even better! Heaven will have a similar effect on us. The presence of what is much better will outweigh bad experiences in our past.
Isaiah continues…
Isaiah 65:21 In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
Here are a few good things present in this life that will be retained and enhanced in the next: building, planting, and harvesting.viii There will be productive work to do, and you will have a place you can call home, a place Jesus said he would prepare for you (John 14:2). Your home will be part of the great wealth you inherit in heaven as God's sons and daughters (1 Peter 1:4). God is generous, so he'll probably stock your house with a few surprises!
Isaiah 65:22 Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses and confiscate their vineyards. For my people will live as long as trees,ix and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains. 23 They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the LORD, and their children, too, will be blessed.
On earth today, work is toilsome. It's difficult. We often watch as our efforts are undone. Not in heaven. Work will exist, but it will be rewarding and enjoyable. Why? Because the great enemies of productive work will be vanquished!
"Invaders" will not take our houses. Warfare, the great destroyer of what we build, will be a thing of the past. Have you ever seen photographs of the destruction in London and Dresden caused during WWII? It's incredible—houses, businesses, churches, block after block, sometimes for miles—all destroyed. What a waste! What a tragedy! Scenes like these will never be repeated in the new heavens and new earth.
We also won't have to worry about our work being undone by misfortunes like natural disasters, economic downturns or illness. In God's eternal kingdom, productivity will be enhanced and our work will endure. Working in vain will be a thing of the past.
Here is one of the best things about this life that will be amplified in the next life…
Isaiah 65:24 I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
We already have an open line of communication with God. But in God's eternal kingdom, it will even be better. Have you ever talked to couples who have been married 50 years? They interrupt each other and complete each other's sentences because they know each other so well. In heaven, God will have that kind of close familiarity with us and vice versa.
Finally, God says…
Isaiah 65:25 "The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. But the snakes will eat dust. In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
When I saw a lion on my first trip to the zoo, I wanted to pet one. My parents knew better and explained that wild animals are unpredictable and dangerous. In God's kingdom, it will be different. The curse on nature caused by sin will be lifted. The tension we feel with nature today will be gone, but the beauty and diversity we love will be fully present and amplified.
"…we've never seen nature unchained and undiminished. We've only seen it cursed and decaying. If the 'wrong side' of Heaven can be so beautiful, what will the 'right side' look like?" – Randy Alcorn, Touchpoints: Heaven.
So, as these passages all indicate, in the new Heaven and new Earth, God will remove what is bad and retain and amplify what is good.
Filled with people from every culture.
This is a second truth about heaven that Isaiah emphasizes.
In the Ancient Near East, most cultures had an us-against-the-world perspective: "God is our god and he is only concerned about us."
But the God of Israel was different. Look at who participates in his eternal kingdom:
Isaiah 2:2 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.
Isaiah 25:6 The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine.
If you've ever thought, I'm from the wrong country, I have the wrong background, I could never belong in God's kingdom, God disagrees! His eternal kingdom will include all kinds of people from every corner of the earth. Look that this amazing statement…
Isaiah 19:23 In that day Egypt and Assyria will be connected by a highway. The Egyptians and Assyrians will move freely between their lands, and they will both worship God.
Even Israel's arch enemies, the Assyrians and Egyptians, will be welcome in God's kingdom!! This is an amazing vision and it has several important implications.
Implication 1: In heaven we will enjoy all the rich diversity of human culture.
John describes an afterlife enriched by cultural diversity:
Revelation 21:23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory… 26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city.
John and Isaiah both say that in the eternal state, there will be different nations/cultural groups,x each with their own leaders, coming and going. So instead of a monolithic line of people dressed in white milling around aimlessly, God's kingdom will be more like the opening ceremony in the Olympics! Imagine the best of the world's cultures, cleansed of sin, present in God's eternal kingdom. Each culture will flourish and be even more fascinating than they are now. Can you imagine how cool this will be?
Implication 2: This should be our vision and our desire for heaven.
God's vision of heaven is filled with people from all over the planet, from every tribe. Do you long for the same thing? Is your vision as expansive as God's?
Over the course of history, Christian groups have repeatedly demonstrated a tendency to turn inward.
When Chuck Smith began serving as pastor at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, he didn't want hippies in his church. He was a straight-laced preacher from a conservative background and wasn't comfortable with how hippies dressed or acted. Fortunately, Smith's wife grasped the scope of God's vision and persuaded her husband to let the Hippies walk in barefoot wearing jeans. Calvary Chapel went on to become the epicenter of the Jesus Movement which reached thousands of youth around the United States. Thank God the Smiths made room in their church for people unlike themselves!
It's human nature to want to associate with your own tribe, with your own clique, with similar people, but God doesn't operate that way. He wants to fill heaven with people from all over the world. That is his heart's desire. And it's a reminder that if our church is healthy, we will be eager to reach everyone, not just people like us. Are you willing to enter a new neighborhood, cross an ocean, learn a language, do anything it takes to share the gospel with anyone, regardless of how different from you they are? God help us if we lose sight of this vision and turn inward!
Implication 3: We have an opportunity to bring God joy.
What gift to do you give to someone who has everything? What gift can a lowly human give to an almighty God to express our gratitude? We can bring people to him! Speaking of believers in God, Isaiah says,
Isaiah 66:20 "…they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the LORD, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the LORD, "just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD."xi
In the Old Testament, the Jews would bring clean vessels full of grain as a thank offering to God. But in this scene, God's followers have declared his glory among the nations, and now, by whatever means available—by horse, by wagon, by chariot—they are bringing people who want to follow God to Jerusalem to meet their Lord. Isaiah says they are bringing them as a thank offering, as a way of expressing their gratitude to the God who saved them.
How cool would it be to be used by God to bring people to him, to be with them in all their diverse creativity, and to know this also brings great joy to a God you love?
Conclusion
Don't be misled.
Look at the contrast between people's common view of heaven and what the Bible actually says about it:
What we think: Heaven is on some otherworldly plane where we live in disembodied souls. There is nothing familiar. We leave our favorite things behind. Life is static. There is nothing to do but float on a cloud and strum a harp and nothing to think about.
What the Bible says: We will live on a new earth in resurrected bodies. It is a renewed earth and therefore familiar. It'll feel like home. Good things we loved will be present and amplified. And it will be dynamic—we'll worship God, rule the world with him, engage in productive work, and enjoy each other.
God has put eternity in our hearts,xii and we have a built-in longing for what the Bible describes.xiii But our view of heaven is often very different. Why is that? God's enemy, Satan, spreads misinformation about heaven because he doesn't want anyone to go there.
"Some of Satan's favorite lies are about heaven." – Randy Alcorn, Touchpoints: Heaven, p. xvi.
He doesn't want people to know what it is really like because he knows if we did, we would want to go!
I'm staying near Joshua Tree National Park next week. Here's the extended weather forecast—sunny and warm, every day. If I know the weather was going to be terrible (in the 40's for weeks on end) I wouldn't be looking forward to my trip!
Heaven is something to look forward to, and informed by what the Bible teaches, we should daydream about it, imagine what it will be like, and look forward to it!
You can have eternal life right now.
We live in a world where people live and die all the time. But Jesus says you can experience eternal life right now.
John 17:3 This is eternal life [notice the present tense], that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
To know Christ is to have eternal life. You don't have to wait for it. You can have it now. That's because when you personally entrust yourself to Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live in you and you have God's eternal life inside you.
Let me leave you with this question that Jesus asked Martha:
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"
I hope so, because if you do, you will never have to fear death. Instead, you can look forward to an amazing future!
i Ezekiel 18:23, 32; 33:11; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9.
ii Isaiah 9:7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity…
See also Isaiah 11:3, 4; 51:4.
iii Sometimes Isaiah says people living in the new heavens and new earth are mortal (e.g. Isaiah 65:20). But in other places, it sounds like they will live forever (e.g. Isaiah 66:22).
iv See Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; Revelation 21:1.
v Kaine is "something new in nature, different from the usual, impressive, better than the old, superior in value or attraction." – Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley and Gerhard Friedrich, Eds. Volume 3: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964), p. 447.
vi Scripture teaches that God will repair and redeem our broken physical world.
Romans 8:20-21 "The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God."
But what about 2 Peter 3:10 which says, "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 burned up." That reads like the earth will be totally destroyed, but "burned up" can also be translated "laid bare" or "discovered" and could refer to a refining fire consuming all remnants of impurity. Notice it's not just the earth, but the earth and its works—probably the wicked deeds of sinful mankind—that will be burned up. "Even 2 Peter 3:10, which speaks of the elements dissolving and the earth and the works on it being burned up, may not be speaking of the earth as a planet but rather the surface things on the earth (that is, much of the ground and the things on the ground)." – Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1993), p. 1161.
What about Peter's comment that "the heavens will pass away" which echo Jesus' words, "heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away" (Matthew 5:17)? Jesus mentions the heavens passing away as a hypothetical outcome, not as a certain future event. We have also already seen how "passing away" (2 Corinthians 5:17) can involve renewal instead of destruction and replacement.
Lastly, what should we make of John saying, "earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them" (Revelation 20:11)? This verse immediately follows the final destruction of Satan and precedes the Great White Throne judgment. Perhaps John is saying at this point in history, there will be nowhere for any remnants of evil to hide.
A strength of the renewal perspective is that it is consistent with God's expressed commitment to his original creation:
Psalm 148:3-6 "Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all stars of light! 4 Praise Him, highest heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens! 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created. 6 He has also established them forever and ever; he has made a decree which will not pass away."
Taking all this into consideration, I believe the best view is that the old order will not totally disappear, but be purified and refined. We will live in a new (renewed) heaven and earth, but there will be continuity with the old.
viii I don't think this only applies to the Millennial Kingdom.
Matthew 19:28 Jesus replied, "I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.
ix If you read Isaiah 65 carefully, it sounds like he is describing a mortal existence where people grow old and die, and he is. Why is that? Because, like I said earlier, Isaiah is mushing both phases of God's eternal kingdom together. During the first 1000 years (a.k.a. the Millennial Kingdom), people will be mortal. They will live much longer than they do today, but they will still die. In the eternal state, people will live forever:
Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.
x In Revelation 7:9, 10 John sees a huge crowd of people who have been forgiven of their sins standing before God's throne. He says they are from "every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues."
xi It is difficult to determine when these events occur. Here is my view: After the Great Tribulation when Jesus returns, he will destroy all who have rebelled against him. But some people will survive, including 144,000 Jews mentioned in Revelation 7. Along with them, there will be other people who came to Christ and followed him faithfully through the Great Tribulation. In addition to these, there will be individuals all over the earth who have survived the Great Tribulation and who are accepted by God but who don't know who Jesus is. At some point they called out for mercy to a great God knowing they are sinful, even though they had never heard the name of Jesus. These people, like the 144,000 and the believing survivors of the Great Tribulation will enter the Millennial Kingdom. But God's people who know his name will still need to go out to them to announce what Jesus has done. Then they can come joyously to Jerusalem to meet their Lord.
Another option is that this occurs right before the end of the Great Tribulation.