The Bible speaks mainly concerning God’s economy. In His economy God has two elect peoples: Israel in the Old Testament and the believers in the New Testament. For the fulfillment of His eternal purpose, God desires to gain these two elect peoples. He first chose Israel to be His beloved elect, and around Israel are the Gentile nations. Israel and the Gentiles, the nations, are both related to God, because they were both created by God. God determined the borders of the nations and placed the children of Israel in the midst of the Gentiles (Deut. 32:8) so that He could spread His gospel from among the Israelites to gain those among the Gentiles whom He chose to be His people. Furthermore, in the coming kingdom the restored nations will be led by the saved Israelites to serve God (Zech. 8:20-23; Isa. 2:2-3).
God also has an enemy, Satan, who causes much damage. Satan came into man’s flesh by tempting him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He has also used some of the nations—created but not chosen by God—to frustrate God’s eternal purpose. Satan will continue to oppose God until the end of the age of grace, that is, the conclusion of the great tribulation, when he will stir up Antichrist and his followers to fight with Christ and His faithful followers (Rev. 17:14; 19:11-21; 16:12-16). When Antichrist is defeated, Satan will be bound and cast into the abyss (20:1-3). Then Christ will establish the millennial kingdom on the earth to restore all things (11:15; 20:4-6; Acts 3:21; Matt. 19:28). After one thousand years Satan will be released from the abyss to deceive the nations, which are in the four corners of the earth. The deceived nations will surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire will come down out of heaven and will devour them. The devil, who deceived them, will be cast into the lake of fire, thus eternally clearing up the rebellion of Satan (Rev. 20:8-10). Then the old heaven and old earth will pass away through fire and be renewed to become the new heaven and new earth (2 Pet. 3:10-13; Rev. 21:1), into which the New Jerusalem will come (v. 2) to be the ultimate consummation of God’s economy unto eternity.
In the previous volume we saw the prophecies in the Bible concerning Christ, the church, and the believers. In this volume we will consider the prophecies concerning Israel (God’s elect), the Gentile nations, Satan, Antichrist and his followers, the last week, the great tribulation, the millennium, the new heaven and new earth, and the New Jerusalem. We will begin by looking at Enoch’s prophecy and Noah’s prophecies concerning his three sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—in Genesis. Enoch prophesied that God would judge that ungodly generation. Noah’s prophecies are the earliest in the Bible concerning mankind and the nations. His prophecies have also had a far-reaching effect on God’s elect, Israel and the church, and on the development of the world situation.