It is significant that as the Holy Spirit goes up, this conflict follows, and Satan is cast out and down. Is it the Holy Spirit's return there that precipitates this conflict, and defeat for Satan? It would seem not improbable. So the moral situation on the earth is intensified doubly. The blessed Holy Spirit, with all His power of restraint over evil, is withdrawn. The evil spirit, with all his power of intensifying evil, is cast down in person to the earth. These are the two unseen events marking the advance move of the end time. There will be nothing on earth _at the moment_ to indicate that these tremendous events have happened. There is no suggestion of how much time is involved. Time is a matter of earth's calculation. Quite possibly _we_ would speak of these events as occurring in a very brief time, perhaps an instant of our reckoning. These are the two events unseen on the earth. At the same time there will begin _two events seen taking place on earth_. The first is the coming to the front of a man, a terrible leader of the forces of unrighteousness. Paul speaks of him as "the Lawless One." John's name for him is "the Antichrist." He becomes the human representative or incarnation of Satan. As Satan is cast down out of the heavens this leader comes to the front on earth. He seems to have official position at the head of some great coalition of nations, with a wide area of authority. He seems to be some former notable leader known in history, who died, but is now brought back to life again by Satan's supernatural power. As he forges to the front there follows on earth a horrible time of war, famine, pestilence, death, and persecution. He arbitrarily breaks the agreement with the Jews under which they have re-established their nation, and begins a terrible persecution of them. He sets up in the temple a blasphemous image, and requires that all people shall worship it. This strikes not only at the Jew, but at the Christian as well. At one stroke of genius he compels absolutely universal attention to his command by forbidding the doing of any business except by those willing to worship the image. Those refusing the worship are killed. He will have an assistant doing wonderful miracles by Satanic power to deceive and persuade the people. During this time there is a loosing out on the earth of countless hordes of unseen demons to torment men. All this continues for three and a half years. The time is stated in three different ways to make quite clear just how long is meant. This is the first of the two seen events. It centres at Jerusalem and seems to reach out practically to all the earth.