168    The Bible and the Future of the World 

tablets of stone, but His only Son Jesus Christ. And Jesus came to us, not 

carried in an ark, but through the Virgin Mary, His most holy Mother. 

Passages in God's Holy Infallible Scripture which tell us about the Ark of 

the Covenant are telling us about the Virgin Mary by the use of this 

symbolism. 

    A detailed description of the sufferings of the seventh trumpet is given in 

chapters 15 19. Recall that the sufferings of the seventh seal were divided 

and ordered into seven trumpets. Now, again, the sufferings of the seventh 

trumpet are divided and ordered into seven bowls (Rev 16:1). These 

punishments complete the seventh seal, and are the last before the time of 

great holiness, the Millennium. 

    Before the sufferings of the seventh trumpet, the Church must suffer Her 

Passion and Crucifixion, during the reign of Antichrist. The sufferings of the 

seventh trumpet occur  after the end of Antichrist's reign, in the late  A.D. 

2430's, about the year 2438. Then, not too long after these sufferings have 

ended, the Millennium of peace and holiness begins. 

The Church's Great Suffering (Revelation, chapters 12 13) 

    These next passages go back to describe the time of desolation and 

suffering leading up to and including the 1260 days of the two prophets. 

These events occur in the 25th century  A.D. This time of about 3  years 

occurs in the last half of Antichrist's reign over the world. This time is called 

the Crucifixion of the Church. 

    The Antichrist, as the king of the North (Europe) defeats the Christian 

king of South (Israel, Middle East, northern Africa) in A.D.2430. Then, he 

defeats two more kings. The Antichrist rules over nearly the whole world 

from A.D. 2431 to some time in A.D. 2437. The last half of those seven 

years is the time of the Church's greatest suffering and the time of the two 

prophets. 

The Woman Clothed with the Sun (Rev 12:1 2) 

     And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, 

with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she 

was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for 

delivery.  (Rev 12:1 2). 

    The woman clothed with the sun is the Virgin Mary, who represents the 

Church. But it is the Church, not the Virgin Mary, who is crying out in the 

anguish of giving birth. The fullness of Christ's kingdom on earth is about to 

be born. In other words, the building of the Church on earth nears 

completion. The establishment of the kingdom of God on earth is the