Wallace G. Smith

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

The Coming Ride of the Four Horsemen

Of all the mysterious symbols and prophecies of the Bible, few have captured the imagination of the broader culture like the FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE. Leaping from the pages of the book of Revelation, these horsemen and their colored horses have been used as metaphors for death, destruction, and world-ending calamity for centuries.

But they aren’t meaningless symbols to be used however WE want to use them or speculate about them. Jesus Christ revealed them to His servant John in a vision depicting our VERY REAL FUTURE—a future that is galloping toward us at full speed.

You need to understand the meaning of the four horsemen before their arrival catches you and your family off guard and unprepared. Join us today as we reveal Jesus Christ’s own meaning behind the COMING FOUR HORSEMEN.

Jesus Christ Revealed Specific Signs to John

Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where we help you make sense of your world through the pages of the Bible. Today we’re going to talk about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—some of the most infamous and imagination-stirring figures to enter our culture from the pages of the Bible.

Some of you may remember how the four popular, so-called “new atheists”—Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris—were dubbed the “Four Horsemen” by many. Similarly, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple have been called the “Four Horsemen of Tech.” In the movies, you might be familiar with Clint Eastwood’s film “Pale Rider”—or even the superhero movie “X-Men: Apocalypse” and its four “mutant” horsemen.

Such uses actually OBSCURE the very important FUTURE REALITY that Jesus Christ intended the Four Horsemen to represent. It is THAT LIFE AND DEATH REALITY that we lay out for you on today’s program.

To do that, we need to lay an important foundation first.

The four horsemen come to us from chapter 6 of the prophetic book of Revelation. In this passage, the Apostle John is seeing a vision of events in heaven, including the unsealing of a scroll with seven seals. Those seven seals represent future events, and of all in heaven and earth, Revelation 5 tells us that only Jesus Christ was found to be worthy of opening those seals and revealing the contents of God’s prophetic scroll.

And this leads us to a vital element we need to uncover the identity of these horsemen: JESUS CHRIST IS THE REVELATOR. The entire purpose of the book of Revelation is not to HIDE truth, but to REVEAL IT—after all, it is called the book of “REVELATION,” not the book of CONCEALING or HIDING. In fact, it gets that name from its own words. Look at them with me in Revelation 1:1:

“The REVELATION of JESUS CHRIST, which God gave Him to SHOW HIS SERVANTS—things which must shortly take place.”

Note several things here: First, it is the Revelation of JESUS CHRIST. If we want to understand the things it says, we need to consider what HE teaches us and shows us. Also note, God gave Him this revelation to SHOW HIS SERVANTS THINGS WHICH MUST SHORTLY TAKE PLACE. Not to hide those things so that they would not be understood, but to REVEAL THEM!

Keeping in mind that Revelation represents Jesus’ own revelation about the future, let’s turn to Matthew 24. This is another place in the Bible where Jesus discusses end-time events, and there is a pattern there that will help us immensely as we tackle the identities of the four horsemen.

Here in a prophecy, given by Christ on the Mount of Olives, Jesus explains much about world conditions leading up to His second coming and the end of this age. There we see an important pattern. Let’s start in verse 4. Here, He begins to answer His disciples’ questions about His return:

“And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:4–8).

While He mentions several things in this prophecy, take note of four PARTICULAR items in Jesus’ words here that occur in this order:

1. False Religion
2. Warfare
3. Famine
and
4. Pestilence

It’s important to note that Jesus says in v. 6, “the end is not yet.” Because, to a great extent, the things He mentions here have been happening since time immemorial.

Yet, the pattern of items Jesus establishes here will prove vital to confirming the final, FUTURE events of world history, as they are repeated in a larger scale in the future four horsemen He reveals to the Apostle John—and to us.

False Religion and a Global War of Conquest

Now, as we turn to Revelation 6 and the vision of the four horsemen, we’ll find that they fit the same pattern Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24, with the difference that the four horsemen of the apocalypse represent cataclysmic, end-time extremes of these four conditions that will build, one upon the other. How cataclysmic? Revelation 6:8 says that “… power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.”

Now as we record this program in 2022, world population is projected to soon hit eight billion people, so a fourth of the earth at this time would be around TWO BILLION PEOPLE—truly a vast number!

So, what does each horseman represent? Let’s begin with the first horseman, who is revealed as the first prophetic seal is opened. We read of that in Revelation 6, beginning in verse 1:

“Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, ‘Come and see.’ And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer” (vv. 1–2).

Here is a vision of a white horse, whose rider is wearing a crown, holding a bow, and conquering.

This rider corresponds to the first element in our list of items Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24: a (Global) False Religion.

Of course, corrupt, false religion has been with mankind virtually from the beginning, after the devil deceived Adam and Eve to take the forbidden fruit. When the Apostle John warned first-century Christians of a coming final Antichrist, in 1 John 2:18, he also noted that many antichrists were ALREADY in the world, in HIS OWN TIME. Satan has been counterfeiting Christianity since the very beginning.

Yet in the days still ahead, this final incarnation of the devil’s “counterfeit” Christianity will turn far more aggressive and militant, described in Revelation 6 as going out to “conquer.” Not simply willing to “win hearts and minds,” it will seek to forcibly convert the whole world.

Some confuse this first horseman on a white horse with Jesus Christ, claiming it represents the TRUE religion conquering the world. Are they right?

Consider the description of Jesus in Revelation 19, beginning in verse 11:

“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (vv. 11–16).

That THIS rider in Revelation 19 is Jesus Christ should be obvious! And a white horse, crowns, a weapon, conquering. Surely this rider is the same as the first horseman, right?

Wrong! The devil is a creature of subtlety, and it is in the subtleties that we see the difference. When you read closely, you notice that they both ride a white horse, but Christ brings a sword, the word of God, while the first horseman uses a bow. Also, the first horseman is described as wearing a crown, but Christ is described as wearing MANY crowns—not just a King, but the KING of KINGS.

The first horseman represents a militant, dangerous counterfeit Christianity aggressively spreading across the earth and conquering new adherents in a way the world has never seen before—led by the one the Apostle John called “the Antichrist,” who is the culmination of the many antichrists who have preceded him.

His religion is already present in the earth, but in the final years leading up to Christ’s return, it will wield unheard of influence and power.

So then, who is the NEXT horseman—the second horseman? He’s described next, in Revelation 6, beginning in verse 3:

“When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword” (vv. 3–4).

Again, this matches the pattern Christ mentioned in Matthew 24, and this horseman refers to warfare. But this end-time horseman’s ride indicates an extreme level of warfare unlike anything humanity has known before. Note that the horseman is given a “great sword,” and he is granted to remove peace from the entire earth.

This corresponds well with the description of the great Beast of Revelation, found in Revelation 13. In verse 4, we read of the people of the world worshipping him and, by design, the devil who empowers him:

“So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?’”

The scale of warfare that is coming in the end times, represented by this dangerous second horseman, is almost unimaginable. Even for a world that has seen two world wars climaxing in two mushroom clouds, past conflicts will pale in comparison to the global warfare to come.

It is not without cause that Jesus says in Matthew 24:22 of the days ahead that “… unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”

Through chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, the potential for mankind to end all life on the planet has steadily grown. The coming of the second horseman heralds the time when that potential becomes a chilling reality.

Surging Scarcity and Pestilence Follows Destructive Conflicts

The first and second horsemen of the apocalypse will unleash terrifying forces on planet earth, but the tale of their soon-coming ride does not end there. After the second horseman, the third and fourth horsemen follow shortly after. Let’s continue reading in Revelation 6:

“When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come and see.’ So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine’” (vv. 5–6).

Again fitting the sequence Jesus revealed in Matthew 24, the next horseman depicts great famine—an utter lack of the necessities of life.

As recently experienced in Madagascar and Ethiopia, mankind has faced famine on and off for millennia. But this third horseman represents a level of famine and scarcity on a scale that humanity has never before experienced—and by peoples and nations who have never known it.

Revelation 6 says that the third horseman, holding a pair of scales in his hand, announces that a quart of wheat costs a denarius, which in the first century was a FULL DAY’S WAGES—an ENTIRE DAY’S WORK spent for the purchase of a bit of grain. What we have pictured here is the scourge of famine sweeping the whole world, when even the most basic of foodstuffs—grain and barley—are rare and precious.

Some in the affluent West have recently experienced a small, small taste of what it is like for the shelves to be briefly empty and the staples of life to be too expensive or hard to find.

What will the same nations do as the third horseman arrives, bringing permanently empty shelves, empty fields, and empty stomachs?

Of course, famines and lack often follow warfare, and the circumstances brought by the fourth horseman often follow famine. We read of him in verses 7–8:

“When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him….”

Once again, we find the pattern matches the sequence Jesus Christ, the revelator, GAVE us in Matthew 24, There, the Lord listed “pestilence” after “famine,” and the sickly, pale color of this horse suits Jesus’ words precisely as does the rider’s name, “Death,” and the fact that he is followed by “Hades,” or the grave.

Of course, in our own day, COVID-19 has turned many to thinking of just how great the scope of worldwide disease and pestilence could be.

Yet the testimony of prophecy—and therefore of Jesus Christ, since the testimony of Jesus IS the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10)—is very clear: Relative to the pestilence and disease TO COME, COVID-19 is barely a warning shot across the world’s bow. The coming of the fourth horseman heralds the coming of diseases the likes of which no doctor, health organization, or world government is prepared to tackle.

Let’s consider these four horsemen in perspective. In the most common estimates, COVID-19 has killed millions. Some believe the bubonic plague killed 25 million in the Middle Ages. The greatest famine in history, China’s “Great Leap Forward” famine, killed 20 to 40 million people from 1959 to 1961. And World Wars I & II, by some estimates, killed 70 to 80 million people.

These numbers are horrifying. Yet, we must remind ourselves that Revelation 8:6 says that the coming four horsemen—false religion, warfare, famine, and pestilence—will be given power over ONE-FOURTH of HUMANITY. Right now, around 2 BILLION PEOPLE. That’s “BILLION” with a “B.”

The conflicts, famines, and diseases of the past and the present hardly compare to the ride of the horsemen to come.

That, my friends, is a grim picture, I know. Yet Jesus Christ reveals this knowledge for a REASON, and it isn’t to depress us or throw us into despair! What can you and your family DO about the times to come? Is there ANYTHING ANYONE can do?

Hope for the Future—Jesus Christ Will End Their Ride

My friends, I know the ride of the four horsemen sounds terrifying, and clearly Jesus Christ meant it to be so. But God has not left us without hope. Because there are MORE THAN FOUR HORSEMEN mentioned in the book of Revelation!

We read about the FIFTH HORSEMAN earlier in Revelation 19. JESUS CHRIST will return on a white horse. And He won’t be alone! He will be accompanied by His newly resurrected and glorified saints riding white horses of their own, and together they will vanquish the enemies of God and initiate the reign of the Kingdom of God here on earth!

We’ve seen the small tastes of the coming four horsemen that God has allowed the world to experience. The recent pandemic gave us a small taste of global disease, we’re beginning to see food prices skyrocket due to inflation and other causes. Warfare fills our news feeds—the war in Ukraine being only a recent example. And if we have eyes to see and ears to hear, the world’s counterfeit Christianity can be seen and heard for what it is as it is preached from behind the lecterns and on the stages of the most popular denominations and churches in the world.

Those circumstances should move us to act NOW, BEFORE the Four Horsemen are unleashed upon the world to bring apostasy, carnage, starvation, and pestilence in full measure.

NOW, RIGHT NOW, is the time to come under the protection of the FIFTH Horseman, that we may find ourselves riding one day alongside Him to heal the world.

For those who submit their lives to His rule today, He offers protection from what is to come tomorrow. For such individuals, the precursors to the Four Horsemen’s rides that we see on our news feeds—the daily reminders of what they will bring—do not have to be signs of despair. Quite the contrary, they can be signs of hope. Jesus Himself tells us so, just as He told His disciples 2,000 years ago. To those who commit their lives in obedience to Him today and who endure to that time in faithfulness, He says in Luke 21:36, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

May all of us be praying for the ride of that FIFTH Horseman, Jesus Christ, who is coming soon to usher in the Kingdom of God, forever! And may we seek His face TODAY—His way of life, His Work, and His desires—that we may one day accompany Him on white horses of our own, to help Him put the horses of the other Four Horsemen out to pasture for good.

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[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

“Welcome to the Millennium!”

Life After Christ Returns

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is the loudly declared hope of many people all over the world!

Yet how many think of what the world will be like after His return? In fact, how many even understand that there will BE a world here on earth after His return?

Yet, the Bible gives many astonishing details concerning just what that future world under Jesus Christ will be like!

And in today’s world of sin, concern, and despair, understanding what tomorrow’s world will bring is a beautiful source of hope, confidence, and inspiration. Join us here on Tomorrow’s World as we open the Bible to look into tomorrow’s world—a time when Christ will be able to finally say, “Welcome to the Millennium!” Stay tuned!

The Saints Will Rule With Christ for 1,000 Years

Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where we help you make sense of your world through the pages of the Bible.

The name of our program and our magazine is “Tomorrow’s World” because Jesus Christ has commissioned us to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and His promise to bring a NEW world under His rulership—doing away with the sins and corruptions of today’s world and replacing them with the glorious, hope-filled wonders of tomorrow’s world.

That message does include warnings concerning the world today and concerning what Christ says must take place between now and then. But it also includes many details about tomorrow’s world and the joys that await mankind when that world arrives.

Today we are going to discuss a relative handful of those details, and we pray they will fill you with hope for the future and a yearning desire to be a LIVING PART of that world to come—and possibly a desire to be a part of proclaiming that message today.

Now at the beginning of the biblical book of Acts, the inspired author, Luke, tells us of the last moment Jesus’ disciples saw Him on earth, after He had spent 40 days after His resurrection teaching them about the coming Kingdom of God.

It says that He then rose out of their sight and disappeared into the clouds, at which point two angels told them that He would be returning to this earth from heaven in the exact same fashion.

And since then, the Church He founded and those who have believed His message of the Kingdom of God have longed to see that day! But what will happen after He returns? After the Second Coming of Jesus Christ… what happens next?

As we will see shortly, the Bible describes the time following Jesus’ return as a 1,000-year period in which the world is transformed. Because it lasts for 1,000 years, we often call this period “The Millennium.” And while many may wonder about the details of that time, God’s word, in fact, provides copius details!

Prophecies and descriptions about people and life during that time that are all there waiting to be read by those who have eyes to see and a heart to believe.

On the rest of today’s program, we are going to discuss seven facts about life in the Millennium. And it’s our hope that this small preview will help you to imagine yourself there—and stir your desire to be a part of helping Jesus Christ build that world.

The first fact we’ll discuss about the Millennium is that the world will be ruled by [1] A DIVINE WORLD GOVERNMENT.

While few associate Jesus Christ with literal world government in the future, in reality Jesus’ Gospel is very much about government!

Let’s turn to Isaiah 9:6. Now while this passage is familiar to many, how many truly take it seriously?

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this (vv. 6–7).

Jesus Christ is KING OF KINGS, and He is coming back to literally rule the world! The Bible describes the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of His saints at the end of this age in Revelation 11:15,

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

And this is crucial: He will not rule alone! Revelation chapter 20 speaks of those who have struggled to overcome sin in this age who will rule alongside Jesus Christ in that age! In verse 4, the Apostle John says that in his vision of that time He saw thrones and that those who followed Christ in this age, now resurrected and transformed, were given judgment and authority. Verse 6 says,

Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Now note: There’s that mention of a thousand years. And note, too, this is NOT a metaphor! When asked directly by Peter what he and the rest of the twelve disciples would receive for leaving everything behind and following Him, Jesus Christ told him directly:

Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28).

As many places in the Bible teach, in tomorrow’s world those who have followed Christ today will have, under Christ, power and authority over the nations as kings and priests with Him.

Jesus explains that those who have loved Him and obeyed Him in this life will be resurrected as full Children of God in power and majesty, just as He is right now! Those who OVERCOME with Christ in THIS age will RULE with Christ in THAT age—as glorified SONS OF THE ALMIGHTY, helping to transform this world with God’s laws of love, mercy, and righteousness!

With Satan Bound for a Thousand Years, God’s Law Will Be Taught in the Millennium

Yet a key task awaits Jesus Christ before His rulership of the world begins in earnest. Before the NEW ruler of this world can begin His transforming work, the OLD ruler of the world must be dealt with!

In today’s free offer, The World Ahead: What Will It Be Like?, author and evangelist Roderick C. Meredith explains:

“However, during this present age, Satan the devil is ‘broadcasting’ wrong attitudes and he influences people to take wrong actions continually. The Apostle Paul reminded the Christians of Ephesus that they had ‘once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience’ (Ephesians 2:2). So, Satan the devil is busy. He ‘works’ continually—turning mankind away from God and God’s true ways. He is the source of much of the suffering and evil—the wars, rapes, tortures, and various other abominations—occurring in today’s world” (p. 13).

How can tomorrow’s world become all God would have it to be while the great deceiver and corrupter of mankind, the Devil, is allowed to continue operating on the minds and hearts of mankind? It can’t!

This leads us to the second fact about life in the Millennium. Immediately after His return, Christ will oversee [2] THE BANISHMENT OF SATAN THE DEVIL.

In vision, the Apostle John saw this glorious event take place immediately upon Jesus’ return. He recorded what he saw in Revelation 20, beginning in verse 1.

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished” (vv. 1–3).

Yes, the great deceiver of mankind, the serpent of old whom the Bible calls “the ruler or god of this world” will be removed for 1,000 years, unable to influence humanity in his ways of competition, envy, strife, hatred, lust, and brutality.

Can you IMAGINE what will become possible on earth over the course of the next 1,000 years, with Jesus Christ, Himself, reigning and ruling in the affairs of men from Jerusalem, with His glorified brothers and sisters aiding Him in the Family of God, ruling the Kingdom of God, and with the influence of Satan the devil completely removed from this world? For those who have lived through the Great Tribulation and the calamities at the end of this age on into this glorious time—what sorts of things will they see? What sort of world will be created around them?

We begin to see the possibilities when we consider the next fact about life in the Millennium. With Satan banished, the world will see [3] GOD’S LAWS AND WAY OF LIFE TAUGHT TO ALL HUMANITY for 1,000 years.

That teaching will begin in Jerusalem. We see this in many places in Scripture, including here in Isaiah 2 and verse 3:

Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

With the clouds of the devil’s deceptions gone, and seeing the fruit of the way of life God offers, people will HUNGER for the laws and principles of righteousness that Jesus Christ and his glorified saints will be ready to teach!

Look at this moving description in Zechariah chapter 8, and imagine this being said in TODAY’S world, in which so many seem so antagonistic against the nation of Israel:

Thus says the LORD of hosts: “In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’” (v. 23).

In today’s world? Not going to happen. But in tomorrow’s world during the Millennium? Every nation in the world will want the true, biblical laws of God.

And the glorified saints, themselves, will have a role in teaching those laws.

Chapter 30 of Isaiah gives us an intriguing peak into that world, where true Christians—now glorified like their Savior and empowered—help serve those in the Millennium seeking to live God’s ways. Beginning in verse 20:

And though the LORD gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left (vv. 20–21).

The servants of Christ will be working with people, teaching them—helping them understand God’s way and live it every day. As a result, Isaiah 11 and verse 9 says, “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”

And where the law of God goes, and hearts are willing to keep it, beautiful things follow.

Is World Peace Possible? Jesus Christ Will Show the Way

With these NEW foundations in place in the Millennium, what sort of world will Christ build?

In TODAY’S world, the terrors and brutality of war have left many lame, crippled, and broken, and the degeneration of our bodies in this sinful world and our ignorance of God’s laws of health has brought illness, disease, and calamity to the human race. But Christ and His Glorified Family will bring an end to such suffering!

For instance, in the Millennium, there will finally be [4] GLOBAL PEACE FOR ALL NATIONS.

The great statue at the United Nations of a man beating his sword into a plowshare as described in Isaiah 2:4 will no longer be a symbol of man’s impotence at achieving real peace, because the King of Kings will make it so! Let’s read that passage, but let’s begin with what we read earlier in verse 3:

Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

This world will no longer ultimately be run by impotent, inept, and corrupt governments, incapable of producing the peace they preach—but it will be run by the Ever-Living One, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, who will enforce His laws in this world in a way no human can and with a wisdom no human has! And more than bringing an end to war, He shall teach peace! Our nations and peoples war because they do not know the way of peace—yet Luke 1:79 proclaims that Christ will give light to those who sit in darkness and will guide our feet into the way of peace!

In addition, the Millennium will see [5] AN END TO SICKNESS AND DISEASE.

Turn a few chapters over to the beautiful verses of Isaiah 35. We read there of this time to come,

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing (Isaiah 35:5–6).

Imagine a world with no more blindness, no more disease—no more suffering! Not only will divine and miraculous healing be available to the sick, but the very Designer of life and health will teach the LAWS of life and health to a world finally open to learning those laws.

But Scripture says that Jesus Christ will do more than heal people… He will heal the land and teach the peoples of the earth how to farm the land and care for the earth as only the Creator of that earth could know!

As a result, the Millennium will see [6] A RESTORED AND BEAUTIFUL PLANET for all to enjoy.

We read of the healing of the land in Isaiah 35, which we read from earlier:

The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose… For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water… (vv. 1, 6–7).

In such a restored and vibrant land, crops will be abundant, [and] food will be overflowing!

Amos 9:13 describes this wonderful aspect of that time in beautiful terms:

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.”

In a world where there is true peace, no more disease, and a restored and beautiful planet, want for food and lack of necessities shall become a thing of the past.

Over 1,000 years, they will become increasingly distant memories of a world long gone—replaced by new memories of a world the way God wants it to be… a world ruled and cared for by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

And After the Millennium…?

So far, we’ve seen that the Millennium will feature A DIVINE WORLD GOVERNMENT, and it will begin with THE BANISHMENT OF SATAN THE DEVIL. During that time, GOD’S LAWS AND WAY OF LIFE WILL BE TAUGHT TO ALL HUMANITY. This will help bring GLOBAL PEACE FOR ALL NATIONS—as well as bringing AN END TO SICKNESS AND DISEASE and A RESTORED AND BEAUTIFIED PLANET.

And finally, Jesus Christ will bring THE RESTORATION OF BIBLICAL WORSHIP.

After all, the new leader of the world will not be merely a president, or prime minister—or even merely a human king. He will be the living Creator, and He will restore true faith in God and true, biblical worship practices to the whole earth. For instance, Isaiah 66:23 speaks of the Millennium and says that “‘from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me,’ says the LORD.”

Similarly, Zechariah 14 and verse 16 clearly says “it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.”

Yes, mankind will no longer wander in ignorance, inventing his own religions and worship practices. In the Millennium the entire world will finally be turned to worship the true God of the Bible, and His glorious Son who will be reigning in Jerusalem!

Of course, the Millennium is not the end of God’s plan! There is more—much more—beyond the Millennium… And the Bible discusses details about that time, as well, from the Millennium, on into eternity!

But that discussion will have to be for another time, since our time is just about up.

But before we go, let me say that you don’t have to wait until the Millennium arrives to begin living according to the principles that will make it everything it is.

You can live according to those principles right now… and begin tasting tomorrow’s world today.

Tomorrow’s World has representatives all across the globe, ready to help you as you begin to act on the things you are learning on this program.

In fact, all over the world, members of the Living Church of God, the sponsor of this telecast, meet together on the seventh-day Sabbath every week to learn about the word of God together, to worship, to edify, encourage, and support each other, to fellowship with others of like mind, and to point one another to this remarkable world to come.

If there is anything that Tomorrow’s World or the Living Church of God can do to help you begin living the principles, laws, and way of life of the coming Millennium in your life today, we stand ready to help.

So, until next time, take care.

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[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Prophetic Man of Mystery—Or Catastrophe?

The Book of Revelation warns us that a man is coming who will inspire the entire world to embrace a false and deceptive version of Christianity. Aided by supernatural signs and wonders, he will help usher in an era of death, destruction, and devastation the likes of which the world has never seen.

The false, deceptive system he represents is already in place—enjoyed by the deceived faithful every week. And that system is destined to grow in power and influence until it impacts the lives of every human being on the globe.

Who is this man? What does the Bible reveal about him and what should we do with that knowledge? Join us today on Tomorrow’s World as we uncover the great False Prophet of Revelation.

A False Christ With Deceptive Signs and Wonders

Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where we help you make sense of your world through the pages of the Bible! It’s good to have you here.

Your Bible describes certain individuals who are prophesied to arrive on the world scene in the days just ahead of us and who will have a devastating impact on life as we know it, for literally every human being on the globe.

These individuals and their actions WILL impact you and your family, and me and my family—no living, breathing soul on earth will be able to avoid their power and influence. Frankly, they will wield the most destructive powers earth has ever seen unleashed by mankind, and they will be servants of Satan the Devil.

One of those individuals is called, in the book of Revelation, the “False Prophet.” This individual will deceive billions—and the religious system he supports is already in place today. On today’s edition of Tomorrow’s World, we’ll examine what the Bible has to tell us about the False Prophet of Revelation and how we might recognize both him and the false Christianity he will promote.

The name “False Prophet” first appears in the book of Revelation in chapter 16, and Revelation 19 tells us that the False Prophet will be tossed, along with the infamous Beast of Revelation, into the lake of fire at the return of Jesus Christ.

But the False Prophet is introduced to us in chapter 13 of Revelation. In the first portion of that chapter, we read of the Beast of Revelation—used to refer to both an individual and the political entity he controls, a world-ruling, end-time, Satan-inspired political entity that will possess astonishing economic and military power. On our program, we often refer to this entity as the “Beast power,” and verse 4 of Revelation 13 says, “they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?’”

We will read more about this Beast today, since his role in the end times is intimately entwined with the False Prophet’s. However, Revelation 13 then speaks of a SECOND beast. We read about this separate person, symbolized by a second beast, beginning in verse 11:

“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.”

THIS beast is the partner of the Beast of Revelation mentioned just before, and is called elsewhere the False Prophet! And this description given in verse 11 is crucial to understanding his nature! Notice, he LOOKS like a lamb, Jesus Christ, but SPEAKS like the dragon, Satan the Devil! If one LISTENS CAREFULLY to his teachings and doctrines, one can discern that they are the teachings not of Christ, but of the Devil.

But please note: That doesn’t mean that those teachings are OBVIOUSLY evil! Satan is the master of deception, and the old King James Version of the Bible says of Satan in Genesis 3:1, “the serpent was MORE SUBTIL than any beast of the field….”

His twists of true, biblical doctrine are subtle, hard to discern, and convincing.

In addition to describing his teachings, Revelation 13 continues:

“He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast…” (vv. 12–14).

It might surprise some of our viewers that such supernatural signs and wonders could be worked by a False Prophet. Aren’t such works only possible by God’s power? The Bible says NO, that is not the case!

In fact, a miracle-working precursor to the False Prophet in the first century was Simon the Sorcerer, often called Simon Magus. He is described in the book of Acts in chapter 8:9–11:

“But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, ‘This man is the great power of God.’ And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.”

Simon Magus was a sorcerer, and not a man of God at all, though the people thought he was so. His power to work signs and wonders came not from God, but from the devil.

The False Prophet will follow in Simon’s footsteps! And the wonders he will work will grab the attention of the entire world in the days just ahead of us!

The False Prophet Allied With a Frightening World Power

In fact, verse 12 of Revelation 13 says that the False Prophet “causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the FIRST beast”—that is, the Beast of Revelation. Verse 15 says that he will cause all who are unwilling to worship that Beast “to be killed,” and verses 16 through 18 talk of how the False Prophet, the second beast of Revelation 13, will cause all people to obey the first Beast, symbolically taking his mark on their right hand or forehead. This is tied, in verse 18, to the mysterious number 666.

It is the Beast of Revelation—a political entity and its leader, wielding unfathomable economic, political, and military power—that provides the muscle. But we see here that it is the False Prophet who is USING this Beast for his own purposes, as well, in an unholy union of church and state power.

We see this relationship DRAMATICALLY pictured in Revelation 17:3–6.

There, the Apostle John is told in vision by an angel that he will show the apostle the religious system controlling affairs in the end times:

“So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.”

This monstrous beast corresponds to the end-time economic and military powerhouse Beast of Revelation we’ve already discussed. But riding that beast and influencing it is a GREAT HARLOT, drinking in abominations and drunk on the blood of persecuted true followers of Jesus Christ—much like the bloody Inquisitions of ages past, but far surpassing them.

In the Bible, God uses women to symbolize religious systems and prostitution to symbolize corruptions of the true faith with pagan religious practices. Ancient Israel did this with the faith God had given them, and this end-time false Christianity does this with the faith of the Bible—MIXING it with sinful, pagan practices God does not approve, endorse, or command.

This harlot pictures the deceptive religious system headed by the False Prophet, and we see it influencing the Beast and benefiting from its power.

The union of these two powers and their institutions will be a tempestuous one, yet they will NEED each other. Chapter 2 of the book of Daniel describes the kingdom of the Beast of Revelation as being like a mixture of iron and clay, noting that the peoples of this entity do not mix well together. This political entity will need the religious influence of the False Prophet to keep the people bound together.

And the False Prophet uses the Beast for his OWN purposes, as well! Several prophecies of the Bible explain how this deceptive end-time religious leader desires to suppress the true understanding of God, His commandments, and His laws, and to persecute the true Church of God. As Daniel 7:25 says of this individual,

“He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.”

This time, times, and half-a-time—or three-and-a-half years—represents the period of the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord to come upon the earth, during which many true Christians will be martyred at the command of this false religious leader, and he will use the raw military power and political resources of the Beast to accomplish his diabolical purposes! (And notice the False Prophet’s desire to “change times and law”—we’ll come back to that later.)

Ultimately, the selfish dance of these two devil-inspired despots does not end well. Prophecy says that as their plans begin to fall apart during the events accompanying Christ’s return, the Beast will ultimately turn on the harlot who rides it and devour her, as we see in Revelation 17:16:

“And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.”

In the next portion of our program, I want to explain how the religious system of this False Prophet is in place TODAY, RIGHT NOW, and already has multiple millions in its sway.

The True Spirit of Antichrist—Against the Laws of God

Many think the False Prophet will rise on the scene and create something that is completely NEW, but the Bible says otherwise. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 that “the mystery of lawlessness is ALREADY AT WORK….”

“Lawlessness” is important, because we saw earlier in Daniel that the False Prophet and the faith he presents seeks to “change times and law.”

That is, the fundamentals of this counterfeit Christianity that would seek to eliminate and replace the laws of God were ALREADY PRESENT IN PAUL’S DAY, fighting against the true faith and attempting to displace it. The presence of this hijacked version of Christianity, worming its way into the congregations of true followers of Christ, is part of what motivated Jude, one of the brothers of Jesus, to write to his fellow Christians,

“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (vv. 3–4).

It is not a coincidence that the Apostle John wrote of the coming ANTICHRIST and his religion in similar terms!

Look in 1 John 2. We see there that John also wrote in the first century to say that this lawless, false Christianity was already being put in place back in his day!

“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour” (v. 18).

That’s right! Even in John’s day, shortly after the very foundation of the true Church, another FALSE version of Christianity was ALSO being founded! And here, we see John naming those who come in its name, including the False Prophet to come, by a word many have heard before: “antichrist”! The prefix “anti” can imply “against,” “in opposition to,” or “in place of,” and the False Prophet will be the climactic, end-time antichrist and the leader of the religion that well deserves the label “antichrist”—a religion that, from the beginning of TRUE Christianity in the first century, has been working to replace it with a lawless counterfeit!

In fact, in 1 John 4:3, the Apostle says that the counterfeit spirit of antichrist was already in the world IN HIS TIME.

And we must remember, this counterfeit WILL LOOK CHRISTIAN IN APPEARANCE! Revelation 13 says that the False Prophet APPEARS TO BE LIKE THE LAMB! The Apostle Paul spoke of those teaching such deceptive forgeries of the true faith when he warned those in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 11,

“For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” (v. 4).

And many HAVE put up with it for centuries. The writings of Paul, John, and others make it clear that this false, deceptive system that began in their day would continue throughout time into our OWN day—and that it would be, by far, the dominant version of “Christianity” at the end!

While the False Prophet of Revelation, the final head of this religious institution, will perform amazing signs and wonders before Christ’s return, these verses make plain that the religious teachings He will spread and enforce are being taught TODAY in the guise of Christianity! Those teachings will lay the foundation of ultimate deceit in the days just ahead, and without God’s protection, those who resist them will be mercilessly martyred—and they are being taught in pulpits and religious services all across the world RIGHT NOW by those claiming the name of Jesus Christ!

But how would you know the difference? How would you recognize such a servant of the spirit of antichrist, spreading the counterfeit faith that will one day support the False Prophet of Revelation?

The True Church Keeps the Commandments of God

The False Prophet of Revelation will be one of the most powerful men to have ever lived. Yet, as we saw at the beginning, his end will be to be cast by God into the Lake of Fire and be destroyed as an enemy of Jesus Christ. But before then, he will contribute to more devastation and death than the world has ever seen before.

We’ve seen that he speaks the teachings of the devil—yet that he will appear very Christ-like, and his false, Christian religion very much like what one might expect of a “good” Christian faith.

This is the Devil’s M.O., as the Apostle Paul warned in 2 Corinthians 11. Speaking of those who preach this alternate version of Jesus Christ, who looks so believable and so close to the “real thing,” Paul says,

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” (vv. 13–15).

So, if these false ministers of Christianity are at work today, how can you identify them for what they are?

We’ve seen, for instance, that the religious system of this False Prophet, at work in his day and ours, is called by Paul the “mystery of lawlessness.” It’s not a religion that teaches against the laws of man—like speed limits or tax laws—but against the laws of GOD. And we’ve seen that the False Prophet’s religion represents “chang[ing] times and laws.”

Ask yourself, how many “Christian” churches teach obedience to the Ten Commandments—ALL ten, including the fourth about the seventh-day Sabbath—versus only some of the Commandments, or no need for obedience at all? And how many “Christian” churches teach the times and holy days given in the Bible, such as Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Trumpets, versus times and holidays with pagan origins and traditions hidden behind a veneer of “Christian” reinterpretation?

And recall that Revelation 17 not only describes the False Prophet’s religious system as a harlot or prostitute, corrupting true worship with heathen falsehoods, but also says in verse 5 that she is the “MOTHER OF HARLOTS”? What religious organization in the world not only claims the authority to change the laws and commandments of God, substituting its own ecclesiastical laws and ordinances, but has ALSO spawned countless DAUGHTER HARLOTS, each with their own differences, yet each still carrying with them corrupted ideas and heathen influences?

When you find this so-called “Christian” religion in the world, you have found the great harlot or one of her daughters! And you have found the counterfeit Christianity that the False Prophet will use to spread deception around the globe, persecuting those who are described in Revelation 12:17 as those “who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

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