116    The Bible and the Future of the World 

submerged. Ireland will be flooded from coast to coast. This occurs near the 

beginning of the reign of Antichrist, (about the year A.D. 2430). 

     Then the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for the L

ORD

of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his elders he 

will manifest his glory.  (Isaiah 24:23). 

    The sun and the moon will change their appearance. They will give less 

light and be seen as a different color, as is clear from other passages. Jesus 

Himself said,   `Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will 

be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from 

heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken....'   (Mt 24:29). 

    In the book of Revelation, Holy Scripture tells us,  and the sun became 

black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky 

fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a 

gale....  (Rev 6:12 13). This time of darkness in nature refers to the end  of 

the Forty Years. Both the end of the Forty Years and the time of Antichrist's 

reign will see a darkening of the sun and the moon. The darkness in nature 

will be a reflection of the sinfulness of humanity. These things have been 

foretold in Holy Scripture for thousands of years, because God wants to give 

an understanding of His plan to the people of every age. 

Job's Suffering 

     There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man 

was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil. 

There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.  (Job 1:1 2). 

    Although Job is described as blameless and upright, great suffering comes 

upon him. His animals are all either stolen or destroyed, his servants are 

killed, and all ten of his children die as well (Job 1:13 19). Then Job himself 

is afflicted with  loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of 

his head.  (Job 2:7). 

    Job is the Church. Why did Job suffer? So that Job's life could be a 

prophetic image of Christ's Church. Job's life was a living prophecy of the 

future of the Church. The Church must suffer, even as Christ suffered. 

    Job had a wife, seven sons, and three daughters. Job's family had 12 

members, like the 12 parts of the Church. The Church is  now broken and 

divided into many parts. Soon the Protestant Churches will unite with the 

Catholic Church to form one, holy Church, with seven parts (in the early 

2020's). Much further into the future, the Church will have 12 parts, like the 

twelve tribes of Israel. Since Job's family had 12 members before he 

suffered, the Church will have 12 parts before the Church's great suffering 

occurs in the 25th century A.D.