In Revelation 12, we see a dramatic vision: a woman—symbolizing Israel—fleeing into the wilderness to escape Satan’s wrath during the Great Tribulation. Scripture tells us she will be protected for 1,260 days (3½ years), a period that begins when the Antichrist breaks his covenant and sets up the abomination in the temple (Matthew 24:15; Daniel 9:27).

But where will Israel flee? Many scholars and prophecy teachers believe the answer is Petra.  Yes, Petra, the place made famous to us in the “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” movie.
 
📍 Why Petra?
Though Petra is not mentioned by name in the book of Revelation, it is referred to in the Old Testament as Sela (Isaiah 16:1; 2 Kings 14:7)—both names meaning “rock".  Petra is carved into sandstone cliffs in southern Jordan, about 50 miles south of the Dead Sea. Its natural fortification, narrow entrance (the Siq), and desert location make it a strategic refuge.
🏛️ Historical and Archaeological Highlights

• Petra flourished between 9 B.C. and 40 A.D. as a trade hub.
• Its water system could deliver 12 million gallons per day—a marvel in the desert.
• Destroyed by an earthquake in 693 A.D., it now lies in ruins but remains a major tourist site.
• Only 15% of Petra has been excavated; the rest remains untouched.
• Designated one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.

📖 Biblical Clues Pointing to Petra
Several scriptures suggest that Petra may be the hiding place for Israel’s remnant:

• Daniel 11:41 – Jordan escapes the Antichrist’s control.
• Revelation 12:14 – Israel flees to a desert place prepared by God.
• Isaiah 63:1 – The Lord comes from Bozrah (Petra’s region) in judgment.
• Micah 2:12–13 – God gathers His people in Bozrah like sheep in a fold.

 
Even non-biblical factors support this theory:

• Jordan currently has a peace treaty in place with Israel.
• Petra’s geography makes it ideal for concealment and defense.

🧬 Israel and Petra: A Prophetic Connection
Petra lies in the ancient land of Edom, descendants of Esau. Israel and Edom were often in conflict (Numbers 20:18–21; 2 Samuel 8:13–14). Petra was once renamed Joktheel by King Amaziah after a victory (2 Kings 14:7). The Edomites later betrayed Israel during Babylon’s invasion (Psalm 137:7), leading to prophetic condemnation (Jeremiah 49:16–18).

Today, Petra stands uninhabited—just as Jeremiah foretold:  “‘As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown… so no one will live there; no people will dwell in it.’” (Jeremiah 49:18)

🌄 The Woman in Revelation 12
The woman “clothed with the sun” (Rev 12:1) represents Israel, as confirmed by Joseph’s dream (Genesis 37:9–11). She gives birth to a male child--Jesus, who ascends to heaven and will return to rule with a rod of iron (Psalm 2:7–9; Revelation 20:4–6).

Her flight into the wilderness is a future event, occurring halfway through the Tribulation. When the Antichrist desecrates the temple, Israel must flee—possibly to Petra—where God will supernaturally protect her for “a time, times, and half a time” (Rev 12:14).
 
🙌 God’s Protection Is Supernatural
While Petra may be the physical refuge, it is not the location alone that ensures safety. God’s hand will shield His people:
“He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121:4)
 
✝️ Final Thoughts
Though we won’t be here to witness this moment, Petra offers a fascinating glimpse into God’s prophetic plan. It reminds us that:

• God keeps His promises.
• God prepares places of refuge.
• God will protect His people—even in the darkest days.
• God is ALWAYS in control

​As we continue our Bible study on End Times prophecy, we now arrive at one of the most sobering and awe-inspiring sections of Revelation: the 21 judgments poured out during the seven-year Tribulation. These judgments are not random acts of destruction—they are purposeful, divine responses to sin, rebellion, and the rejection of Christ.

📜 The Purpose of the Tribulation
Before diving into the judgments, let’s remember why the Tribulation occurs:

• To prepare Israel for her Messiah
• To bring an end to the time of the Gentiles
• To punish mankind for sin

The Tribulation begins with the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and the Antichrist (Daniel 9:27) and ends with the Second Coming of Christ and His victory at Armageddon (Revelation 11–21).

⚖️ The Three Waves of Judgments
The judgments unfold in three escalating waves: Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls—each containing seven judgments.  Throughout these judgments it is estimated that Billions of people will be killed.   In fact, the bible tells us in Zechariah 13:8 that only 1/3 of the Jewish population who enters the tribulation will be alive at the end of the tribulation.   Let’s take a look at the 21 judgments.
1. Seal Judgments (Revelation 6, 8:1)
Opened by Jesus Himself (Revelation 5), these judgments begin the unraveling of peace on earth.

• First Seal:  White Horse and Rider (Rev. 6:1-2) – The Antichrist
• Second Seal: Red Horse (Rev. 6:3-4) - WAR
• Third Seal: Black Horse (Rev. 6:5-6) - Famine
• Fourth Seal: Pale Horse (Rev. 6: 7-8) – Plague/Pestilence
• Fifth Seal: Martyred Remnant (Rev. 6:9-11)
• Sixth Seal: The Wrath of the Lamb Earthquake (Rev. 6:12-17)
• Seventh Seal: Silence and intro to Trumpets (Rev. 8:1-6) -

 
2. Trumpet Judgments (Revelation 8:7–9:21, 11:15–19)
These judgments intensify in both scope and supernatural origin.

• First Trumpet: Hail, Fire and Blood (Rev. 8:7) – 1/3 of all trees and grass destroyed
• Second Trumpet: Mountain burning with fire (Rev. 8:8-9) – Meteor/Asteroid
• Third Trumpet: Wormwood (Rev. 8:10-11)
• Fourth Trumpet: DARKNESS (Rev. 8:12-13)
• Fifth Trumpet:  First Woe – Apollyon (Rev. 9:1-11)
• Sixth Trumpet: Second Woe – Horsemen Army (Rev. 9:13-19)
• Seventh Trumpet: Third Woe – LOUD Voices/Christ’s Coronation (Rev. 11:15-19)

 
3. Bowl Judgments (Revelation 16)
These final judgments complete God’s wrath and prepare the earth for Christ’s return.

• First Bowl: Foul and Loathsome sores (Rev. 16:1-2)
• Second Bowl: Sea turns to blood (Rev. 16:3) – Kills all the remaining sea life.
• Third Bowl: Rivers turn to blood (Rev. 16:4-7)
• Fourth Bowl: The Sun Scorches Men (Rev. 16:8-9)
• Fifth Bowl: DARKNESS (Rev. 16:10-11)
• Sixth Bowl: The Euphrates Dries up (Rev. 16:12)
• Seventh Bowl: Earthquake  (Rev. 16:17-21)

 
 
👑 The Return of Christ — Victory for the Lamb
With the judgments complete, Revelation 17–18 declares the victory of Jesus Christ:
“These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings.”
                                                                                                                        -- Revelation 17:14
The Tribulation ends. Christ reigns. Evil is defeated. The Lamb is victorious!
 
🙏 Final Thoughts
For believers, this is not a message of fear—it’s a call to action and worship.  We won’t be here for these judgments, but we must live with urgency and compassion.   We must follow the acronym POW which stands for:

• PRAY — For the unsaved to come to Christ before it’s too late.
• OBEY — God’s Word while we still have time.
• WORSHIP — The Lamb who was slain and who will reign forever!

 
                                            “…Come Quickly…Lord Jesus.”
                                                                                         —Revelation 22:20

With everything going on with the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, there are a lot of people asking:
                                                               “Is this the end?”
                                                          “Is this the Tribulation?”
                                                 “Is this the time of God’s Wrath?”
The short answer is no, not yet….but what we are seeing may be a pre-cursor of events yet to come!

A pre-cursor of an event is an event which comes before and indicates its approach; a forerunner; a harbinger.    Let’s take a look at a few scripture references on this topic of pre-cursors.  Amos 3:7 tells us that “…GOD does nothing unless HE reveals HIS secret counsel to HIS servants the prophets.” (NASB)    In Matthew 24, JESUS told HIS disciples what signs to look for in advance of HIS return.   In fact, 2 Kings chapter 2 tells of the time when the prophet Elijah was taken to heaven.  In this account we see that not only was Elisha aware of the event that would occur that day, but so were the “sons of the prophets who were at Bethel”.   Clearly there have been times where GOD shows HIS people pre-cursors of events that will soon come!

According to scripture, the Tribulation will be a time of unprecedented terror which will come upon the inhabitants of the earth.   It will be a seven-year period of time occurring right before the return of Christ to the earth and after the rapture of the church.  (At least for those of us who interpret scripture as a Pre-Tribulation Rapture.)  The seven-year tribulation period will actually begin with the signing of a covenant between the nation of Israel and the Antichrist.   You may have also heard the Tribulation referred to as “Daniel’s 70th week” or “the time of Jacob’s trouble”.   Whatever words you use to refer to it, the Tribulation is a period of time nobody would want to be on the earth to see, since this period will be a time of the outpouring of God’s Wrath upon the earth through a series of 21 specific judgements.

The book of Revelation, Chapter 6 verses 1 through 8, tells us about the first of these judgements and is sometimes referred to as “the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.   Let’s take a look: 

Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.” And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.
When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”
When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Each of these four horses is used to describe a specific judgement which will come upon the inhabitants of the earth during the tribulation. 

The first Horse is the White Horse which represents a world leader who will come to power and be at the forefront throughout much of the Tribulation Period.  Most bible scholars believe that this Ruler on the White Horse refers to the Antichrist.  The description here which speaks of the Antichrist having a bow and a crown is important because it does not refer to him having arrows with his bow.   This implies that the rider on the White Horse will take control through means of diplomacy rather than war.   It is interesting to note that until very recently, one person taking on leadership for the whole world would have been inconceivable.   However, look at what has happened this year with the Global Pandemic and how the entire world was essentially shut down by the edict of a few leaders who used the “well-being”, “health” and “safety” of the people as the rationale to shut everything down and force people into their homes.

The second Horse is the Red Horse and this horse represents war or violence.   Could it be that there are some who will rebel after the “rider on the White Horse” comes to power and those same people are made to “come under control” through the use of violence?   Jesus spoke of “wars and rumors of wars” (Matt 24:6) as a sign of HIS return.   Have you noticed the increase in violence that we have seen throughout the first 20 years of this century?   There is no doubt that we are heading to this time where the Red Horse of Violence will be used to bring people into alignment.

The third Horse is the Black Horse and is a symbol of famine.   Consider the behavior we saw during the early part of the Global Pandemic this spring with people hoarding things like toilet paper and disinfectant.  A behavior that led to shelves at supermarkets being empty for several weeks sending some into panic.   This hoarding behavior quickly became even worse with people buying up more meat than they could eat which coupled with sickness of individuals at meat packing plants led to limits on the amount of meat people could buy.   This scarcity also served to drive up the price of meat over the last few months.  In fact, on May 12 2020, CNBC reported that US grocery costs jump the most in 46 years, led by rising prices for meat and eggs.  Meanwhile, we are also seeing one of the worst Locust outbreaks around the world, the full impact of which is yet to be seen.   The famine referred to in the book of Revelation during the Tribulation will be much worse than anything we have yet seen, however, suddenly, we can see how it can happen.

The fourth Horse it the Pale Horse and it represents Death most likely as a result of war, famine and PESTILENCE.   The definition of a PESTILENCE is a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating.    Up until 2020 it was pretty hard to imagine how something like a contagious disease could impact the whole world.   Now after living with COVID-19 throughout the last few months and seeing over 6.7 Million people infected and almost 400 thousand deaths worldwide, it no longer takes a stretch of the imagination to see how a pestilence can cripple the entire world.
 
The good news today is that we are starting to see clear signs of recovery from the global pandemic.   The even better news is that no, we are not yet in the tribulation.   This gives us the best news, which is that we can get right with the LORD today to ensure we are with HIM, enjoying the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, while the earth is facing the Tribulation.   Do not delay your decision any longer…the time of HIS return is VERY CLOSE!

There has been quite a bit of news this week, related to an increased acceptance of cryptocurrency.   One of the primary drivers of this phenomenon has been the economic situation in Greece.   Fortune magazine published an article entitled: “Bitcoin: Greece’s new Euro workaround?”, which  highlights the fact that Greece’s Bitcoin use has grown 500% in the last four weeks!   With banking restrictions and limits on the amount of currency that can be withdrawn in Greece, it appears that individuals are flocking to digital currency in an attempt to minimize the impact on their daily lives.  The Fortune article further states that, “You buy a bitcoin now because you think sometime in the future you’ll have your banks shut and your currency reintroduced,” he adds. “Gold was the old hedge against this sort of thing. Bitcoin is the new one.”   Apparently other European countries are also buying Bitcoins in speculation that it is being used as a “Euro workaround”.  Although this is an interesting phenomenon, there are two other items that occurred this week which make this even more “prophetically significant”.

On Wednesday, July 8, Yahoo! Finance published an article stating that Citigroup, has developed their own digital currency dubbed - Citicoin.    Citigroup is the third largest bank in the US (behind Chase and Bank of America) based on Asset size.   With this announcement, Citi helped to validate the trend towards digital currencies and confirmed that this is not just a “passing fad”.   In addition to this admission by Citigroup, it is interesting to note that Yahoo! Finance published this article on Wednesday, July 8 – the same day that New York Stock Exchange was shut down for 3½ hours due to a “computer glitch”.    Interesting, huh?

The technology that supports both the Bitcoin and Citicoin is called “Blockchain distributed ledger technologies”.   Without getting too technical, essentially “Blockchain” is a decentralized, secure, transparent method  for processing and verifying peer-to-peer transactions.   Many experts believe that this “Blockchain” technology has far reaching potential uses beyond digital currency including: electronic voting, patent tracking and taxes.    Beyond the technology itself, this is all very interesting as it was first released in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, a name which is believed to be an alias for an individual or a group of developers.   Although there have been numerous suggestions, the true identify of Nakamoto has not yet been confirmed.   Furthermore, this unregulated digital currency is a “borderless currency” which means it sets the stage for the first truly global currency.

The Bible tells of an event, which will occur during the early part of the 7-year tribulation, that is directly related to a full global financial collapse.  In Revelation, chapter 6 we read a description of the “Seal Judgments”.   The first four verses talk about the first two seals: a white horse signifying the introduction of the antichrist and a red horse signifying a global war.   In verses five and six, we are told about a black horse:

“When HE broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.   And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

Most commentators believe this third horse represents famine.   However, I believe that the “pair of scales”  described in verse five, implies that this is also about control over the financial system to purchase critical goods -  such as food.  (Additionally, verses seven and eight describe the fourth judgment which specifically calls out famine as a component of the judgment.)    The details in verse six essentially sets the cost of “a day’s worth of food” at a cost of “a day’s wages”.   Today there is a lot of variation on what actually defines “a day’s worth of food” and even more variation on what is described as “a day’s wages”.   This verse seems to imply that during this early point of the tribulation, this will be a more standardized definition of both the quantity of food (rations) as well as the related cost.    

Currently, there are more than 160 active global currencies in existence.   Even though the two primary currencies today are the US dollar and the Euro, it would be incredibly difficult for an individual to control all of them in such a way that there would be a common global price for a specific item such as a quart of wheat or three quarts of barley.   Just think how much easier it would be to control the cost for these and other items with a single, global currency.

A few chapters later, in Revelation chapter 13, John describes another layer of control over the financial system.  Revelation 13: 16 & 17 state:

“And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the name of the beast or the number of his name. “

The mark described in this verse will be some type of identifier which will enable commerce.   It is important to note that individuals will need to accept this as a form of worship of the beast.    Although this mark will allow the bearers to buy and sell critical items, it will also have severe consequences in that bearers will be putting the beast in the place of the ONE TRUE GOD in their lives.   In recent years the technology to enable this type of control with either a digital tattoo or a digital implant has been created, however, the type of currency still presented a bit of dilemma.    Clearly a single, global, “uncontrolled”, digital currency would facilitate this as well!

The US Dollar, along with many other currencies throughout history, was at one time backed by gold.   Historically, gold has been the “go to” in times of economic uncertainty.  That is no longer the case as we are now seeing by these news events.   Clearly a digital cryptocurrency facilitates much of what is to come during the tribulation.   Get all excited friends; the return of Christ is closer now than it ever has been before!        

God Bless!