Mt Zion Heritage Ministries

The Eighth And Final Beast Empire Of Satan

The Eighth And Final Beast Empire of Satan is the last empire Satan will use to persecute Israel, the Jewish people and Christians the world over before God Almighty defeats Satan, and the antiMessiah and their armies at Armageddon, and retakes physical possession of the Earth, and evicts Satan and his fallen evil angels out of the Earth’s premises. The identity and composition of this last evil empire of Satan is revealed to us in the Scriptures. It is the feet and ten toes of the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream consisting partly of iron and partly of clay. “His legs of Iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay”(Dan.2:33). “And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, for as much as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, Even as iron is not mixed with clay”(Dan.2:33,40-43).

We see from here that the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan which is the fifth in the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 7, shall consist of ten toes made partly of iron and partly of clay. The fourth empire in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream consisted wholly of iron. We have previously identified this Empire as the Roman Empire. The two legs represented the two divisions of the Roman Empire; the Western Roman Empire headquartered in Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire headquartered in Constantinople. The iron, the ancestry of the Roman Empire is present in the 8th and Final Beast Empire. This ancestry we have identified to be Japhetic through Magog, Meshech and Tuval. This three nation coalition constitutes the power base of the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan. The remaining seven nations, the clayey part shall be identified by Ezekiel and the scroll of revelation.

“And after this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and break in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.”(Dan.7:7,8).

In the vision of Daniel, the fourth nondescript beast, which signal the Roman Empire is the head on which stands the ten horns. It therefore follows the foundation of the 8th and Final Beast Empire is Roman in origin. The ten horns grew out of the fourth beast. The ten horns are the ten kings of the ten nation confederation, the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan. The ten horns of the fourth beast of Daniel’s vision are synonymous with the ten toes of the statue or image of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. We have already identified three of these as of Japhetic descent through Magog, Meshech and Tuval. As we have pointed out earlier, the remaining seven horns or toes are identified by Ezekiel and John the revelator in the scroll of Revelation.

But we see here that there is another little horn that arises after the ten horns and roots out three of the ten previous horns. This little horn has eyes like the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great things. This little horn is the antiChrist. He shall overthrow the three kings of the three most powerful nations in the ten nation confederation. These three nations shall be the three most powerful nation in the world with the most sophisticated armies and up-to-date with the latest in military technology. To be very candid, the antiMessiah shall replace those three kings with his own puppets. There will aways be ten kings. The Beast-antiChrist is the overall ruler of the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan or the Emperor of the Empire.

What are these great things he shall be speaking about? He shall blaspheme the Most High God and the heaven-dwellers. He shall change the laws, times and seasons and shall wear out the saints of the Most High(Dan.7:25). Daniel reporting the interpretation of his vision by the angel said: “thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth upon the Earth, which shall be diverse from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall arise after them: and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hands until a time and times and the dividing of times.”(Dan.7:23-25). We see here that the little horn is indeed the same Man Of Sin. The time, times and dividing of time is the same three and one-half years, 42 months or 1,260 days allotted to the antiMessiah which corresponds with the second half of the 70th week of Daniel.

The Table Of Nations.

Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet are the survivors of the deluge. They and their descendants repopulated the Earth in the postdeluvian period. Therefore they are the ancestors of the peoples of the Earth today. Japhet the elder had seven sons. They are Gomer, Magog, Medai, Javan, tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. Gomer begat Togarmah. Shem begat Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. And Cush begat Nimrod(Gen.10:1-32).

Postdiluvian Forced Migration Of Nations.

After the flood God commanded Noah, his sons and their descendants to disperse all over the Earth. But after 500 years, these men had not migrated, but rather in defiance to God built a tower that reached up to the heavens. This tower was not for the worship of God but for star gazing(astrology) and the consultation of evil angels. “And they said to one another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said. Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole Earth”(Gen.11:3,4). God Almight confounded their language. Because they could no longer communicate one with another, they were scattered abroad upon the face of the Earth. Those who spoke one language, moved together and settled in one location. Thus came into being the various peoples of the Earth and their languages.

Iron Mixed With Clay.

We have shown that the iron originates in the Roman ancestry. It is this same iron depicted in the legs of iron of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue that extends into the toes where the iron is mixed with clay. It is the same iron that represents the strength and leadership of the ten-nation confederation with its iron roots extending back to the Roman Empire. It is the iron grip of Rome that propels the leadership of the 8th and final Beast Empire. The iron differs from the clay in that clay does not mix with iron. These are peoples of differing religions and worldviews who come together for the purpose of accomplishing divine purpose. God has put it in their heart to give their strength and power to the beast until God’s will is fulfilled(Rev.17:13,17). There is homogeneity in the iron, but the clay is a composite of diverse minerals that may bond together but do not mix with one another. These peoples bond together in the seed of men, but will not mix with the iron; even as iron does not combine with pottery: the clay ancestry maintains its own separate distinctiveness.

The iron consists of people of Japhetic descent, and judeo-christian in worldview and outlook. The clay consists of various peoples, the majority of whom are Semitic, others Hamitic, and some even Japhetic. The only one thing uniting these peoples groups is the Islamic religion. Ten ancestral peoples groups, some with Roman Empire connections, others without, will combine with each other for the final campaign against the chosen nation of Israel and the elect of God. These nations will maintain the differing ancestral identities under the absolute iron grip of the leadership that traces its origin to Ancient Rome. So, it is evident that it will be from the iron represented in the legs of iron in Nebuchadnezzar’s statue that the strength and the leadership of the 8th and final beast Empire will arise. The Roman Empire was driven by Japhetic ancestry, so also all the other beast empire nations during the 70 sevens of Daniel, including the 7th beast Empire that reigned during the interlude between the 69th and the 70th seven of Daniel. So, iron represents the Japhetic ancestry or lineage, whilst clay the other peoples groups, the weaker nations that are allied to Rome. Therefore the 8th and final beast empire will be partly strong, made partly of iron, and partly brittle, made of clay.

Tracing the Roman Ancestry.

In order to understand who the iron nations will be, we must start with the iron legs of Nebuchadnezzar’s image. At the time the Scroll of Revelation was written, Rome was the reigning Empire. From where did the Roman people originate? The Roman Empire came into existence in the 1st century BC. At that time, the descendants of Kittim, the son of Javan and grandson of Japhet, dominated what is now the Italian peninsula.

Rome was founded as a city state. It later became a nation, and lastly an empire. It was not the descendants of Kittim that dominated the Roman ancestry. Rome became a republic near the end of the 1st century BC. It expanded into an empire, the largest at that time, at the beginning of the 1st century BC. According to Cyril Robinson, it was the inhabitants of the city-state who were considered Romans, not the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula.

In immemorial days volcanoes were both numerous and active along this western coast of Italy; and its plains were for this reason left almost untenanted by the primitive inhabitants(the Kittim) of the peninsula. Of these(people with a) rudimentary culture, very little is known. In historic times their descendants were still to be found in the Ligurian mountains above Genoa and in moorlands of Apulia and Calabria in the southeast. Elsewhere, however, at a very early date they were either absorbed or evicted by invaders(the Roman ancestry) coming from beyond the Alps(who are) the true Italian race. The original home of this verile people appears to have been on the Danube basin or even further north. They were, in fact, a branch of the great Indo-European stock, tribes of which in the process of migration found their way into many lands. From the language they spoke was derived not merely the Italian tongue, but Greek, German, Anglo-Saxon.

The Alps is located partially on the northern boundary of modern Italy, as well as in Austraia and Switzerland. North of the Alps lies the Danude River, in the southern region of modern day Germany. The inhabitants of the Danube River basin, and the region north and south of it are entirely of Germanic ancestry. According to Robinson, the ancestry of the inhabitants of Rome are rightly traceable to the Indo-European nomadic tribes who come from the area in Central Europe which we recognize as Germanic. These peoples are Japhetic in their lineage.

Walter Wallbank and Alastair Taylor also wrote about the early settlers of The Italian peninsula and the founders of Rome:

The Greeks and Romans were offshoots of a common Indo-European stock(Japhetic), and settlement of the Greek and Italian peninsulas followed stages that were broadly parallel. Between 2,000 and 1,000 B.C., when Indo-European peoples invaded the Aegean world, a western wing of this nomadic migration filtered into the Italian Peninsula, which was then inhabited by indigenous Neolithic tribes….One group(of these nomadic Indo-European peoples), the Latins, settled in the lower valley of the Tiber River, a region which became known as the plain of Latium.

…….Modern scholars believe that early in the eighth century B.C. the occupants of the small settlements on the hills in the Tiber valley united and established a common meeting place, the Forum, around which the city of Rome grew up.

It is well established that these tribes of nomadic Indo-European peoples, whom historians refer as Aryans, were of Japhetic descent. These peoples moved westward from the area of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. They moved on to what became the German-speaking people of Europe, and from there down to the Italian peninsula. What this means is that Rome was founded by northern Japhetic tribes who came down from the areas of Europe north of the Alps and the Danube basin. They travelled from the west coast of the Italian peninsula to the plain of Latium, where the city of Rome was founded. The Germanic areas of Europe and the former Soviet Union north of the Alps are settled by nomadic tribes of Japhetic descent. It is therefore probable that the founders of Rome were descendants of Magog, Meshech, and Tuval, although Magog seems most likely, inasmuch as it was the Magogites who settled in Central Europe from where originated the migration into the Italian peninsula. Although their lineage cannot be traced to any particular son of Japhet, it is certain that people of Japhetic extractions will be part of this 8th and final beast Empire, the iron nations in the toes of iron and clay. After a careful study of the migration of the sons of Japhet after God confounded the languages of the sons of Noah at the Tower Of Babel, the logical candidates for the tribes which moved north from the city of Babylon, over the Caucasus Mountains and west over the region north of the Black Sea into the Danube Valley will be the descendants of Magog, Meshech, and Tuval. It is likely that Magog is the ancestral line, though a combination of the three is possible. It is neither crucial not germane to our study to identify which one of these ancestral lines founded Rome, inasmuch as they are all Aryan descendants of Japhet.

There is a continuity in the Roman Empire represented by the legs of Iron in Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream, and the later ten-nation coalition described as iron mixed with clay. The same continuity also exists in the Aryan-Japhethic ancestry of the Roman Empire and the 8th and final ten-nation confederation, especially the three power base nations whose heads the antiChrist will overthrow. The crucial issue is not so much the location of specific geographic nations as is the ancestry of those nation that compose the 8th and final ten-nation beast empire.

The Identification Of The Three Nation Coalition.

“I considered the horns, and , behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things”(Dan.7:8). “And the ten horns out of the kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three”(Dan.7:24). We can see that the little horn of verse 8 is the same as another king of verse 24. This little horn has eyes like the eyes of a man. Eyes signal intelligence. This king has intellectual prowess. And he has a mouth speaking great things against God and those who dwell in the heavens. He will overthrow three rulers from those ten nations. The little horn is a depiction of the antiChrist. The identification of these three nations is critical and germane to our study. Since Israel is now back in her own land as an independent nation, and are in possession of her Holy City Jerusalem, the unification of those three nations is the only prophetic event that must occur before the signing of the seven-year peace treaty between the many from within Israel and the antiMessiah which marks the terminus-a-quo(starting point) of the 70th seven of Daniel.

“And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief Prince of Meshech and Tuval, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief of Meshech and Tuval:”(Ezek.38:1-3). As we have pointed earlier, Gog is the tittle of the ruler of the land of Magog. The ruler of the land of Magog is also the political as well as the spiritual head of Meshech and Tuval. The Hebrew word translated Chief Prince in the KJV is Rosh. In Hebrew Rosh literally means head. But some translations render it as a people which some biblical scholars have associated with Rus which is Russia. But Rosh is not listed in the table of nations on Gen.10. There is no descendant of Noah called by that name, unlike Meshech and Tuval. Some Jewish Talmudic scholars do not take Rosh to be a people, but a title of leadership which is why it does not appear in the table of nations. The Hebrew word Rosh is often rendered head or chief. For example, Num.31:26(heads); 1 Chron.5:7(chief); Neh.6:70,71(heads). Gog is the national leader of Magog. He is also the international leader of Meshech and Tuval, thereby making him the leader of the three-nation coalition. Ezekiel tells us that the antiChrist will come from the line of Magog and will rule over these three nations, Magog, Meshech, and Tuval.

The overthrow of the three rulers of these nations by a man of Magogites descent will be a breaking news when it occurs. This event will identify the three nations when it occurs and also the antiChrist. This ruler who overthrows three kings will probably replace them with his own puppets. The 8th and final Beast Empire will comprise ten nations and ten kings. The antiMessiah will be the overall ruler or emperor of the empire. This is the only remaining major prophetic even that will occur before the antChrist signs the seven-year peace agreement with the many from within Israel, before the 70th seven of Daniel can commence.

Israel will make a seven-year peace agreement with the leader of the three-nation coalition for the sake of national security. “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”(Dan.9:27). Understanding the Japhetic ancestry and extraction of these three power base nations will give the best clue as to why Israel will be anxious to be their ally rather than their enemy.

The Identity Of Magog.

According to Josephus, the great Jewish historian of the 1st century AD, the Magogites are Scythians who moved eastward and westward from the region north of the Black Sea. To this agrees the Jerusalem Talmud, Yerushalmi Megillah 3:9, which identifies Magog as Goths, a group of nomadic tribes who destroyed the Scythians, and made their homes in the Scythian territory. The Talmud further comments: considering that the Goths were a Germanic people, the identification of Magog’s descendants as the Goths is in accord with Targun Yonasan to Genesis 10:2. According to Encylopedia Britannic, the Gothic language was the most certain base of the language spoken by the eastern Germanic tribes, the Visigoths in Europe. It is beyond doubt therefore that the Germanic line as we know it today is descended from Magog. It is certain therefore that Gog, antiChrist, will descend from the Germanic line of Magog, which has a direct link to the ancestry of Rome. Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler claimed the title Third Reich. Nazi Germany claimed to be a direct extension and heir to the rule of Rome as expressed over the centuries in the Holy Roman Empire(The First Reich), and the empire of Kaiser Bismarck, The second Reich.

The First Reich: The Holy Roman Empire

The Second Reich: The Empire Of Kaiser Bismarck

The Third Reich: Hitler’s Nazi Germany

The Fourth Reich: The 8th Final Beast Empire Of The antiChrist

The identity of the Magogites is clear, but their exact geographical location and boundary is not that clear. Obviously the large majority of Magogites are concentrated in the present day Germany. But large numbers are also found in Eastern and Western Europe. For example, the Austrians are Germanic, and speak the German language. Hitler annexed Austria to Germany in 1938. The Austrians were responsible for the murder of 2 million Jews during the Holocaust. Even within the former Soviet Union, there are large concentrations of people of Germanic extraction. In the past an appeal has been made by these people to have a country of their own in the former Soviet Union, in the Volga River region, south and east of Moscow. There are Germanic people in the Sudetenland in the Cezch Republic, and Silesia in Poland. It is possible that these peoples, could emerge from the former Soviet Union or present Russian Federation, inasmuch as the other two tribes, Meshech and Tubal are found within these boundaries.

The Identity Of Rosh.

There some biblical scholars who maintain that Rosh is a people rather than a title, from which Russia is derived(cf. Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976). Mountains of books have been written by the proponents of this view about the Gog and Magog war in which Russia will invade Israel. According to the advocates of this view, this is the only major prophetic event that will occur before the 70th seven of Daniel, the last seven years of the present Earth’s history. But it more likely that Russia is derived from Rus, which has its origin in the 8th or 9th century AD. It is believed to be Scandinavian in derivation. We will probably never know whether Rus is derived from the Hebrew Rosh. All interpreters who identify Rosh as a peoples group, always trace its lineage to Russia, perhaps because of the similarity in pronunciation, and partly because of its association with Meshech and Tubal in Ezekiel 38. Robert van Kampen has suggested that if Magog only describes the ancestry of Gog, and not a reference to one of the three-nation coalition, then Rosh must be considered a specific ancestral group, and should not be translated ” Chief Prince” as rendered by the KJV. But it is clear from the table of nations that Rosh is not a peoples group by the virtue of its conspicuous absence. Therefore the KJV rendition is the correct one.

The Identity Of Meshech And Tubal.

Certain Jewish sources indicate that by the 8th century AD, the descendants of Meshech and Tubal were located in the western portion of the former Soviet Union. Meshech represents Moscovy, a region in the vicinity of modern day Moscow; and Tubal known in the Assyrian monuments as Tibareni, a region in and around the modern Russian city of Tobolsk, which is about a thousand miles(1,600 km) east of Moscow.

The Roman Connection.

Ezekiel 38:1-3 identified the three-nation coalition which had connection with the ancient Roman Empire, as depicted by the legs of iron from which the feet and toes of iron are partially derived. The Japhetic lineage that will dominate their empire will derive wholly or partly from its Roman ancestry as depicted by the iron in the feet and toes of iron and clay. There are some biblical scholars who believe that the antiChrist will come from Italy based on Dan.9:26. It was the Roman General Titus who destroyed the Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in 70 AD. But it must be noted that the patrician families that founded Rome as city-state in the plain of Latium were Aryan-Japhetic not the native Italians. As we have established earlier, the most likely candidates for the founders of Rome were Magogites, largely because the founders of the city-state of Rome came from the Danube basin, and secondarily because the Danube basin is the area in Central Europe where the Magogites were the primary settlers. We conclude therefore that the Magogites were the founders of the city-state of Rome out of which grew the Roman Empire. It is no coincidence that the German title kaiser is a derivative of the Latin Caesar, as is also the Russian Czar and Iranian Sha.

The Roman Empire dominated the Japhetic world of its time. The two legs of iron represented the western division headquartered in Rome, and the eastern division, also known as Byzantium headquartered in Constantinople. It is reasonably safe to assume that the iron in the toes of iron and clay is, at least, partially Germanic. The iron may be representative of the rugged, nomadic, Japhethic peoples that will be the driving force of the 8th and final Beast Empire; or it may be a broader representation of the Japhetic lineage in the 8th and final Beast Empire of Satan. Our conclusion therefore is that the three heads of the three-nation coalition that the antiChrist will overthrow, will be comprised of the three strong, nomadic peoples of Japhetic descent from the remote north, whose ancestry is traceable to the same people who founded and ruled the Roman Empire. The people are zealously antisemitic. These nations have maintained a consistent pattern followed by all the empires that have dominated Israel during the 70 sevens of Daniel, including the prophetic gap between the 69th and the 70th seven. All of these empires have been led by antisemitic leaders of Aryan-Japhetic descent.

The Identification Of The Seven Secondary Nations.

“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. For God had put it in their hearts to fulfill Hie will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the word of God shall be fulfilled”(Rev.17:12,13,17). The scarlet coloured beast with seven heads and ten horns, on which the woman sitteth is the the Beast-antiChrist(Rev.17:3). The seven heads are the seven beast empires of Satan which he has used to persecute Israel throughout history. “The seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman sitteth”(Rev.17:9b). The seven mountains are synonymous with the seven heads. “The beast that was and is not, even he is the 8th, and of the seven, and goeth into perdition”(Rev.17:11). The head of the 8th beast empire is one of the seven rulers of the seven previous beast empires of Satan. This man who had lived before and ruled over one of the seven prevous beast empires of Satan is the eighth head, to whom the ten horns of the 8th Beast Empire shall submit an give allegiance. He is a dead man come back to live. “The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, who have not yet even received a kingdom as yet, but shall receive authority as kings one hour with the beast.”(Rev.17:12). These ten horns representing ten kings are contemporaneous with the beast that was and is not, and yet is. These have one purpose, and shall give their authority and power to the beast. For God had put it in their hearts, to execute His will, by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom, power and authority to the beast that was and is not, until the word of God is fulfilled. By surrendering their nations and giving their allegiance to the Beast-antiChrist, these kings are unwittingly fulfilling God’s purpose whilst at the same time, sealing their own doom. We have already established that anyone who gives allegiance to the antiMessiah by being branded or chipped in his name, that is, being Beast-marked shall be executed when Christ reclaims physical possession of the Earth at the final battle of Armageddon.

We have also proven that the three dominant nations that shall comprise the 8th and Final Beast Empire shall include the same Aryan-Japhethic lines that dominated the Roman Empire. The identity of the seven secondary nations can be determined in additional passages given us in the books of Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation.

The Identification Of Three Seconary Nations By Daniel and John.

The image of the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar and the Scroll of Revelation tell us the identity of three of the seven secondary nations of the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan. “And thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried then away, and no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole Earth. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall never be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the Dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”(Dan.2:31-31,44,45).

We can see from this passage that although, by the time the 8th and Final Beast Empire was set up, four of the five beast empires depicted in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, were historically passé, their life was present in the feet and toes of the statue; for when the stone cut out of the mountain without hand, which is Christ, hit the image at its feet by defeating the Eighth And Final Beast Empire at the Battle Of Armageddon, the whole statue crumbled. So three of the seven secondary nation of the 8th and final beast Empire were Babylon, the head of gold, Medopersia, the arms and breast of silver, and Syrian Greek, the loins of and thighs of bronze. Remember that the Medes, who are the Kurdish people of today will be the first to attack Babylon, the great harlot city before it will be finally destroyed by the ten kings of the 8th and Final Beast Empire.

“Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.”( Isa.13:17-22). It is not likely the Medes will be part of the 8th and final beast empire. The prophet Ezekiel did not mention them in his list of the nations that comprise the 8th and final beast empire(Ezek.38:5,6).

Usually Media is mentioned in tandem with Persia; for they were the primal architects of the Medopersian Empire. But we see that they are omitted in this passage in Ezekiel. But obviously they would be allied with the antiChrist, otherwise they would not have the audacity to attack the commercial capital of the 8th and Final Beast Empire. As we haven seen, Babylon, Persia, Syrian Greek(Javan), shall be incorporated into the 8th and Final Beast Empire alongside the Aryan-Japhetic nations of Magog, Meshech, and Tuval, the three power base coalition. These empires were the third, fourth and fifth best empires. The first and second, Egypt and Assyria, were not mentioned in the statue of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar II because the period covered concerned the time then present, that is, from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II to the End Of The Ages, the so called the times of the Gentiles. Although seemingly invincible, this multinational empire partly comprising the three power base coalition, Babylon, Persia and Greek Syria shall be annihilated by Christ when His final wrath is poured out upon the nation that know not God at Armageddon.

In Daniel 7, the beasts of Daniel’s vision, the winged lion was Babylon, the four-headed, four-winged leopard was Greece in its four divisions after the death of Alexander the Great; and the nondescript beast represented Rome and the ten horns the 8th and Final Beast Empire. The little horn, before whom three of the original ten horns were rooted out was the antiMessiah, the undisputed and absolute ruler of the Eighth and Final Beast Empire of Satan(Dan.7:1-8). “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool: his throne was like fiery flame, and His wheels like burning fire… I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time(Dan.7:9-11). We can see here that in the days of the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan, the Council of heaven shall sit, and the little horn shall be arrested and cast into the Burning Flame. The rest of the kings had their dominions taken away from them, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. Another translation reads, ” but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.” This may mean that they were not immediately cast into the lake of fire as the antiMessiah and the false prophet were, but imprisoned in Hell or the shaft of the abyss where the kings of the Earth were during the Millennium, from which they shall be finally cast into the Lake of fire and brimstone(Isa.14:9). Biblical scholars have differing views as to what is meant by an extension of life was granted them for a season and time or an appointed period of time. A fuller examination of this statement and the various views held by different scholars is beyond the scope of this work.

These nations were also identified by John the revelator in the Scroll of Revelation. “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the Dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” The leopard here stands for The Greek-Syrian Empire as in Daniel 7 which we have just examined. The bear stands for Medopersia, and the lion for Babylon. So the descendants of these kingdoms, shall align themselves with the antiChrist to form the 8th and Final Beast Empire as confirmed by John the revelator. The beast that rose out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns is the antiMessiah who received authority from the Dragon, Satan(Rev.13:1,3).

In summary, we can see the 8th and Final Beast Empire will comprise the descendants of the Babylonian Empire which is modern day Iraq, the descendants of Medopersian Empire which is largely modern day Iran. The Medes who are the Kurdish people of today, are found in eastern Syria, western Iraq, northern Iran and southern Turkey. There pockets of them in Armenia and Georgia. The Medes, through the PKK, the Kurdish Workers Party are fighting for independent Kurdistan. The 8th and Final Beast Empire also comprises the Greek-Syrian Empire which existed in the general vicinity of Syria after the Greek Empire ruled over by Alexander the Great broke up into four divisions; and also the original three-nation coalition, the three power base nation of Aryan-Japhetic ancestry that drove The Roman Empire. Like their ancestors, the descendants of these four beast empires will align themselves with Satan in the formation of the 8th and Final Beast Empire which Christ shall annihilate at Armageddon.

The Identification Of The Four Secondary Nations By Ezekiel.

“Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee”(Ezek. 38:5,6). Here the prophet Ezekiel reveals to us the identity of the four secondary nations alongside the three power base coalition. They include Persia. We can see that the Medes are omitted here. Nevertheless, they shall be the first to attack Babylon before the ten kings destroy it. It is obvious they will be allied to antiMessiah. The Hebrew word translated Ethiopia is Cush. In the table of nations in Genesis 10, Cush is a grandson of Noah through Ham. Today in modern Israel, Cush simply means black. When I visited Israel, I was hosted by my beloved brother Meno Kalisher and his wife Anat. one evening, I went for a stroll in the street, Eliezer Kashani street in East Talpiot, Jerusalem, where my host resided then. I came across some little Israeli boys and girls in the street. They called out Cushi. That means black. In biblical times, Cush referred to the black people inhabiting the general area we call Sudan today. It is written, Tirhakah came out of the land of Ethiopia(2 King.19:9; Isa.37:9). There is no king of the area we call Ethiopia today called Tirhakah. Tirhakah probably reigned over the general area called Sudan today. In Acts 8:27, a eunuch in charge of the treasury of Queen Candace was mentioned. She was described as the Queen of Ethiopia. Queen Candice never ruled over the land we call Ethiopia today. She was Queen Candace of Mero, an ancient kingdom in the general area we call Sudan in modern day. So, it is not proper for us to include modern day Ethiopia which was formerly called Abyssinia as part of the ten nation coalition. Since independence, the modern state of Ethiopia has always had a fairly good relations with Israel, except during the communist era in that nation.

Put(Phut) corresponds to modern day Libya. Gomer, a son of Japhet is believed to have settled in modern Ukraine. Beth-Togamah, the house of Togarmah was a grandson of Japhet is believed to correspond to present Armenia, eastern portion of Turkey, and a small portion of northwestern Iraq. We probably will not be able to fully identify who these peoples are until after the formation of the ten nation confederation. In summary, we can see that The prophet Ezekiel identified the four secondary nations of the ten nation confederation called the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan. They are Libya, Sudan, [Gomer and Togarmah]{Turkey}.

Seven Significant Facts About The Ten Nations Of The 8Th And Final Beast Empire Of Satan.

When examined in the light of the Scriptures, certain significant facts emerge regarding the consortium of nations that form the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan.

(1) Japhetic ancestry.

One thing that is obvious about this composite of nations is Japhetic dominance. Of paramount importance is the fact that all the seven sons and one grandson of Japhet are represented in the consortium of nations that constitute the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan. Whether the iron in the feet and toes of iron and clay represent the nomadic lines of Magog, Meshech and Tuval that was the driving force behind the Roman Empire, or all the Aryan-Japhetic lines that will dominate the Final Beast Empire may be difficulty to determine until the empire is fully established.

(2) Religion.

Another significant fact is that most of the Japhetic nations that will be represented in the composition of the 8th and Final Beast Empire will be Christian, Roman Catholic, or orthodox in their religious faith. The Semitic and Hamitic nations are Islamic in their religious faith. Perhaps this partly accounts for the immiscibility of the iron and the clay.

(3) Politics.

Most of the Aryan-Japhetic nation that comprise the 8th and final Beast Empire of Satan are democratic in their political worldview. On the other hand, the Semitic and Hamitic nations are either autocratic monarchies or autocratic secularists. They are absolutist in their worldview.

(4) All Three Sons Of Noah Are Represented.

All the three sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japhet are represented in the composition of the consortium of nations that form the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan. Libya and Sudan are of Hamitic extractions. Babylon is Semitic and the rest are Japhetic.

(5) Antisemitism.

Although both Jews and Arabs are Semitic peoples, descendants of Shem. However antisemitism is a term used exclusively to define hatred of Jewish people. Virulent Antisemitism is a common denominator in these nations. This is the main reason why they will join with the antiChrist, a dead man come back to life, who will lead the last empire Satan will use to persecute Israel and the Jewish people as well as Christians. When Satan is cast down to the Earth in the middle of the 70th seven, he shall be enraged, and shall go to make war with the woman, and the remnant of her seed that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ(Rev.12:17).

(6) Persecution Of Israel Within The 70 Sevens Of Daniel.

It is of note that all the Beast Empire nations that Satan had used to persecute Israel during the entire 69 sevens of Daniel, are of Japhetic ancestry. The same holds true for Nazi Germany, the seventh Beast Empire that Satan used to persecute Israel in Diaspora, when it had no access to the Promised Land of Israel and her Holy City Jerusalem. It therefore follows that the 8th and Final Beast Empire will be no exception, inasmuch as it will be dominated by the Aryan-Japhetic lines of Magog, Meshech and Tuval, the three power base coalition representative of the iron in the feet of iron and ten toes of iron and clay in the image of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. This 8th and Final Beast Empire will persecute Israel, the Jewish people, and Christians during the second half of the 70th seven of Daniel, the last seven years of the times of the Gentiles.

(7) Exemption Of Egypt And Assyria.

Of the seven heads of the Dragon-Beast, two are exempted from the composition of the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan. These are Egypt and Assyria, the two earliest empires of history that persecuted Israel. The reason adduced for this exemption that there will be a remnant of the children of Israel given refuge by God in the land of Ham, and in Assyria(Is.27:12,13). Therefore descendants of these two beast empires shall not be part of the consortium of ten nations that will persecute Israel in the last days.

(8) Geographical Locations.

(a) The Aryan-Japhetic nations, Magog, Meshech, and Tuval are located in the north of Israel. These nations are in Central and Eastern Europe, and perhaps, parts of Asia. God promised Israel through the prophet Joel that He will deliver Israel from an evil coalition from the north. “Then will the LORD be jealous for His land, and pity His people. But I will remove far from you the northern army, and I will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the East Sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill favour shall come up, because he had done great things.”(Joel 2:18,20). In the same vein, the prophet Ezekiel spoke of this coalition from the north of Israel: “And thou shall come from thy place in the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army.”(Ezek. 38:15).

(b) The remaining seven secondary nations firm a complete circle around the small nation of Israel. In comparison to these nations, Israel is like a little island in the midst of a great sea. “Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.”(Joel 3:11,12). These nations that sorround Israel shall come against her in the second half of the 70th seven. Under the command of the antiMessiah and the armies of his three power base nations already in the land of Israel because of the covenant of apostasy and Jerusalem Campaign shall seek to wipe out Israel, towards the end of the Great Tribulation, shortly before God interrupts the Great Tribulation with cosmic and celestial disturbances. “In that day, God shall make the governors of Judah like an Hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.”(Zech.12:6). God shall devour these sorrounding nations when they invade Israel in the Jehoshaphat Campaign.

(9) Disintegration Of The Soviet Union.

Meshech, Tubal, Gomer and Togarmah were in the former Soviet Union. There were prophecies that the Soviet Union would collapse, not only to free the Jews in the evil Empire, but also in order to bring about the future formation of the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan. The writer was a witness at the meeting where these prophecies were given by a brother known to the writer. These prophecies have been fulfilled. The Soviet Union is no more, and the majority of soviet Jewry have been allowed to emigrate. However, we await the future formation of the 8th and Final Beast Empire of Satan, as we approach the commencement of the 70th seven of Daniel, the last seven years of the present Age.

Summary

As in Daniel’s day, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea after which four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from the other(Dan.7:2,3); today, the sea of humanity is roiling, at the end of which shall emerge these ten peoples groups that shall constitute the 8th and Final Beast Empire. To summarize, we shall lists these ten peoples groups with their possible modern names. As we pointed out earlier, the descendants of the three sons of Noah are represented in the ten nation confederation. They are as follows: Magog(Germany, they include all peoples of Germanic descent, the Franks, the Anglus and the Saxons from Lower Saxony in Bavaria, from which came the English people); Meshech(Muscovy, Russia); Tuval(Tobolsk, Russia); Javan(Greece), both in Greece proper and Greek Syria, there are troubles right now; Gomer(Ukraine, Turkey); Togarmah(Turkey, Armenia); all these are of Japhetic ancestry; Arpachshad(Babylon, Iraq), Tiras(Persia, Iran); Babylon and Persia are of Semitic descent; Cush(Sudan); Put(Phut, Libya). Cush and Put are of Hamitic extraction. Remember that the Medes of old who were part of the Medopersian Empire(Medai-Tiras), are not listed in the ten nation confederation of the 8th and Final Beast Empire. They are the Kurdish people of today. They are in the troubled region of the World. Right now, they are combating ISIS. Though not included in the ten nation confederation, they shall be most probably allied to it.

Some people wonder what shall become of America, the greatest nation in the history of humanity so far. America as it is today is a composite of the descends of all the three sons of Noah just as the 8th and Final Beast Empire would be, but the founders of the nation are Europeans of mainly Germanic ancestry; the Spaniards, the English, the French, the Italians, the Germans and Nordic people. So America is part of Europe. In both World Wars, America fought on the side of the allies. Today, America is the leading nation in NATO. We therefore conclude that America shall be either part of the ten nation confederation of the 8th and Final Beast Empire, or be allied to it. They shall be part of the iron, that is, those with Roman roots, and judeochristian values, as well as the clay, those with Islamic values.

Avraham Shallom.

The Seven Beast Empires Of Satan

There are seven empires Satan has used to persecute Israel throughout its history. These empires are called beasts empires because primarily they are depicted as beasts in both Daniel 7 and Revelation 17, and secondly because of their satanically inspired obsession to destroy Israel and the Jewish people throughout history. The term beast is used, especially in the scroll of Revelation to describe the beast empires of Satan, and the leader of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire, the aniChrist. Sometimes, it is the context that reveals which usage is in view. Occasionally, the phenomenon of double reference may apply. In Revelation 17, the revelator John gives us an overview of these beast empires.

“So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast”(Rev.17:3,9-12).

Introduction Of The Eighth Beast Empires Of Satan.

The passage cited above is critical to our understanding of the cosmopolitics and geopolitics of the world. The scarlet beast mentioned here with seven heads and ten horns is Satan. Satan is the ruler of this age. The seven heads are representative of the seven beast empires and their leaders he has used throughout history to persecute the Jewish people and Israel. The Eight Beast Empire is represented by the ten horns. The Eighth And Final Beast Empire will be ruled by one of the seven heads of the seven previous beast empires.

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast”(Rev.13:3).

“And the beast thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is”(Rev.17:8).

So the leader of the eighth head is a dead man who has ruled over one of the seven previous beast empires come back to life to rule over the 8th head. The first seven heads are representative of seven different kings in the past. These kings refer to kingdoms Or beast empires that satan has used in the past to persecute Israel and the Jewish people throughout history. At the time John the revelator wrote the Scroll of Revelation(ca. 90-96 AD), five of the beast empires were history. The sixth was then in existence. And the seventh was yet to come. The existence would be brief. Following the seventh, would be the Eighth and final beast empire. The Eighth And Final Beast Empire would be the one in existence during the last seven years of the present age, the 70th seven of Daniel. The Eighth and final beast empire is still future. It will consist of ten kings who shall receive power and authority with the beast at the same time. In other words, the ten kings shall be contemporaneous with the beast, the antiChrist.

The Five Beast Empires Of Daniel’s Dream(Dan.2).

In Daniel 2, the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream of which he neither remembered the dream nor the interpretation therefore. His wisemen were called to tell him both the dream and the interpretation thereof. They could not. Eventually Daniel was called in, and he told the dream and the interpretation thereof to the King Nebuchadnezzar. The dream consisted of an image or statue, the head of which was of gold, and the arms and breast of silver, the belly and thighs of bronze, it’s legs of iron, and its feet and ten toes partly of iron and partly of clay. The king watched until a stone cut out without hands hit the statue at its feet and it crumbled and vanished. But the stone that struck it became a great mountain and filled the whole Earth(Dan.2:1-35).

Daniel interpreted the dream as follows: King Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom represented the head of gold. After him shall arise another kingdom inferior to him. This kingdom is represented by the arms and breast of silver. After this is another yet inferior kingdom represented by bronze. The fourth kingdom which shall be as strong as iron is represented by the legs of iron. This kingdom shall be very strong and shall break, shatter and crush the other kingdoms in pieces. The fifth kingdom, represented by the two feet and ten toes, shall be partly of iron and partly of clay. It will be a divided kingdom. But it will have in it the toughness of iron, and the brittleness of clay. And in the days of those kings, the two feet and ten toes, the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break and consume all these other kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, five beast empires were identified. The fifth is diverse from the rest in that it comprises peoples with two different ideologies. This empire consisted of ten nations which were partly strong and partly weak. These beast empires covered the period from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar(605-562 BC) to the time of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire that shall dominate the world during the 70th seven of Daniel.

The Five Beast Empires Of Daniel’s Vision.

**The Beast Empires Of Daniel’s Vision**

In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a night vision. Belshazzar was a vice-regent. The actual ruler of the kingdom was his father, Nabonidus, who was in self-imposed exile in the Arabian city of Tema for health reasons.

“Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld until the wings were plucked, and it was lifted from the earth, and made to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. And hehold another beast, a second like a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast has four heads; and dominion was given it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and break in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. And I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things”(Dan.7:2-8).

There is correlation between the beast empires in the vision of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The lion corresponds to the head of gold, the bear to the breast and arms of silver, the leopard to torso of bronze, the strong beast to the iron legs, and the strong beast with ten horns to the feet and ten toes of iron and clay. God revealed to Daniel that these kingdoms will oppress Israel with increasing intensity. The worst of them will be the Eighth And Final Beast Empire of Satan, consisting of ten toes or ten horns, which shall seek to destroy Israel during the 70th seven of Daniel. In the days of these ten kings shall God Almighty step up a another kingdom of a different kind, which shall not be left to other people, but shall crush and put an end to all these other kingdoms.

“And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another kingdom shall arise after them: and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey. Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for Daniel, my cogitation much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart”(Dan.7:24-28).

The antiChrist and the ten kings under him shall attempt to annihilate the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. But at the end, the judgment shall sit, and his kingdom and dominion shall be taken away from him and given to the saints of the Most High who shall reign for ever and ever.

The Identity Of The First Six Beast Empires.

We shall now deal with the identity of these beast empires of Satan that were revealed in Daniel 2 & 7.

(1) Egypt.

The first of these beast empires in history was Egypt. The origin of this empire is Hamitic through Mizraim. Mizraim was the son of Ham, one of the three sons Noah(Gen.10:6). When God cut a covenant with Abraham, He informed him that his descendants shall be strangers in a land that was not theirs for four generations, but afterwards shall they come forth with great substance. Through Joseph, Israel came to dwell in the land of Ham. But a time came, when there arose a king who did not know Joseph. Because the children of Israel were multiplied, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt was afraid the Israelites might join their enemies in time of war. Therefore, he ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill the Hebrew babies at birth. Because the decree ordering the Hebrew midwives to commit infanticide was unsuccessful, Pharaoh ordered all male Hebrew infants drowned in the Nile River(Exod.1:15-22; Acts 7:19,20). It was at this time that Moses was born. By a miraculous turn of events pharaoh’s daughter adopted him. Moses was brought up in the palace of pharaoh and was learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in word and indeed. It was this Moses that the Lord used to lead Israel out of bondage in Egypt and to forge Israel into a nation in the wilderness. He received the sacred Torah for Israel on Mount Sinai from God which set Israel apart as a theocratic kingdom. After the overthrow of pharaoh and his army in the Sea of Reeds, Egypt declined in power and glory, and never recovered.

(2) Assyria.

The foundation of the capital city of Assyria is Hamitic.

“Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a might hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of the land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city of Rehovoth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.”

Although Nimrod did not build Nineveh, the city which later became the capital of the Assyrian empire, one of his descendants did. The foundation of the empire however is Semitic through Asshur, one of the sons Shem(Gen.10:22). The national god of Assyria was named after their grandfather Asshur. It was a god of war and arrogant brutality. The Assyrians were known for their cruel treatment of war captives. It was the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser V who led the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity in 722 BC. He settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes(2 Kin.17:6). He brought men and women from Cutah and Zepharvaim and settled them in the cities of the Northern kingdom of Israel. These intermarried with the poor peasants amongst the Israelites left in the land and gave rise to the Samaritans. The Samaritan therefore is a mongrel Jew, that is, a Jew of mixed blood. There are lots of variations in the Jewish and Samaritan Pentateuchs. Senacherib, the king of Assyria besieged Jerusalem in 701 BC, but withdrew after the angel of the Lord slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night. Twenty years later, 681 BC, he was slain by his two sons Adramelech and Sharezer, while he worshipped in the house of Nisroch his god who fled to the land of Armenia, and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead(Isa.37:36-38). Assyria declined in power, and was defeated by the rising Neobabylonian empire at the battle of Babylon in 626 BC, and finally, twelve years later at the battle of Nineveh in 612 BC, and never recovered.

(3) Babylon.

Like Assyria, the foundation of the city of Babylon was Hamitic through Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. It was this Nimrod who instituted false human government and false religion, the mother-child worship vestiges of which is evident amongst all peoples of the Earth. It was that Nimrod who in defiance to God builded Babel. Following the confusion of languages at Babel(Babylon), the various descendants of Noah bore the vestiges of the religion founded by Nimrod to the various parts of the Earth as they migrated. Although the foundation of the city is Hamitic, the rulers of the Babylonian empire were Semitic. It was the language and literature of the Chaldeans that dominated the empire(Dan.1:4). The founder of the Neobabylonian empire was Nabopolassar. Abram the Hebrew was from Ur of the Chaldeans, a city about 160 km southeast of Babylon(Gen.11:31). Nebuchadnezzar IIwas his foremost general. He married the Daughter of Nabopolassar, Nitocrix. Nebuchadnezzar became king of Babylon after the death of his father-in-law, Nabopolassar. Nebuchadnezzar defeated Egypt at the battle of Carcemish in 605 BC. Nebuchadnezzar II invaded the land of Israel in three waves in 606 BC, 596 BC, finally in 586 destroyed the Solomonic temple. Israel was in exile in Babylon for 70 years according to the words of he prophet Jeremiah, unto the defeat of Babylon by Medopersia in 539 BC at the battle of Babylon. Babylon is the head of gold of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

(4) Medopersia

The Medopersian Empire was founded by the Medes and the Persians, both of whom are the sons of Japhet, Medai and Tiras. The sons of Japhet; Gomer, and Magog, and Medai, and Javan, and Tuval, and Meshech, and Tiras(Gen.10:2). The Medes were the ones who founded the empire around 550 BC. They were later joined by the Persians. Once the Persians joined the empire, they became dominant and the empire expanded under their leadership. It was Cyrus the Persian who made a decree freeing Jews from exile in Babylon in 538 BC after 70 years of exile, according to the words of Jeremy the prophet(Jer.25:12, 29:10), after the Medopersian empire overpowered the city state of Babylon in 539 BC. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of God by the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet might be fulfilled,……(Ezr.1:1-11).

It was a Median general Darius who whose army conquered Babylon. It was during the reign of Xerxes, in 474 BC, the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther that Hamman, the son of Hammendatha, the Agagite attempted to wipe out the Jews in the whole realm of the Medopersian Empire, 120 provinces that stretched from Africa to India. The attempt gave us the book of Esther and the Jewish feast of Purim. The modern Persian name of Khumeini is derived from the ancient name of Haman. It was during the reign of the Persian king Artaxerxes Longimanus that the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem was given in 445 BC, marking the terminus-a-quo of the 70 seven of Daniel(Neh.2:5; Dan.9:24). Medopersia was the arms and breast of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Dan2:39), and the bear tilted on one side, with the three pronged ribs in its mouths in Daniel’s vision(Dan.7:5).

(5) The Greek Empire.

**The Four Divisions Of The Greek Empire**

The Greek empire expanded rapidly under the military leadership of Alexander the Great, the son of Philip II of Macedon. Within a space of ten years, The Greek Empire extended from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. Alexander was born in 356 BC, in Pella, Macedon. His mother’s name was Olympias of Epirus. It is known that Olympias believed she was impregnated by a snake. So, Alexander is believed to be the son of a god. Alexander became the king of Macedon after the assassination of his father, Philip II of Macedon in 336 BC at the young age of 20. Alexander is known for his prowess in battle. He had unusual intelligence for military conquest. He is believed to have possessed a third eye which signal supernatural intelligence. Alexander overran the Medopersian Empire in 330 BC, was crowned king of Persia the same year after a series of battles at Arbela, Issus and Gaugemela between 333-330 BC. He invaded India in 326 BC. The battle with king Porus of India ended in a stalemate at the Indus River. Alexander withdrew after his soldiers mutinied. He died in Babylon at the young age of 32 in 323 BC.

After his death, his kingdom was divided amongst four of his generals called the diadochi. This is the four-headed four-wing leopard of Daniel’s vision(Dan.7:6). The ptolemies ruled Egypt, the Seleucid in Syria, Lysimachus ruled Greece and Asia Minor, and Cassander, Macedonia proper. Incidentally Alexander never oppressed the Jews. When he entered Jerusalem, the High Priest met him in full sacerdotal regalia. He gave the Jews a wide latitude of freedom. The problem began with Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the fourth Seleucid king who wanted to hellinize the Jews. Antiochus came to power in 175 BC, and almost immediately began to persecute the Jews(Dan.8:23-25; I Macc. 1-6). He plundered the temple treasury. Antiochus was a prefigure of the Antimessiah. His life and career paralleled that of the antiMessiah. After a failed invasion of Egypt where he was humiliated by a legate of the Roman senate, he stopped in Jerusalem, defiled the Jewish altar of holocaust by sacrificing a pig, an unclean animal on it. He brought a statue of the Olympian Zeus in the Holy of Holies of the temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. He demanded all peoples under his domain be one, by worshipping one god, the Olympian Zeus, the image of which was the burst of Antiochus himself, practise one culture and one custom. He demanded the Jews abandon the law of Moses. He built a gymnasium in Jerusalem where men exercised naked, disguising their circumcision. Jewish mothers who had their sons circumcised, had those children hung on their necks.

The kings officers sent to enforce the apostasy at the Jewish village of Modein were killed by Mattatias and his sons. Thus began the Maccabean revolt that resulted in the rededication of the temple in 164 BC and the Jewish feast of Hanukkah.

The Greek empire of Syria was the bronze of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream(Dan.2:39). The Greek empire was Japhetic through Javan(Gen.10:2).

(6) The Roman Empire.

The sixth empire according to chronological order is Rome. It is obviously of Japhetic descent. It is the fourth according to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the vision of Daniel(Dan.2:33; 7:7,23). Like iron Rome was very strong militarily. The two legs of iron speak to the two divisions of the empire which began during the reign of Constantine. The Eastern Roman Empire with capital in Constantinople, and the Western Roman Empire with capital in Rome. The patrician families that founded Rome as a republic in the plain of Latium were Japhethites from the lines of Magog, Meshech and Tuval. These were the nomadic Caucasians. But the Magogites were dominant in pushing out the frontiers of history. They also dominated Rome.

The Roman Empire covered more territory than any of the other previous five beast empires. It was also more ruthless and brutal in its persecution of Jews. Although Nero was not particularly antisemitic, for he hated all nonromans, he was the first Roman Emperor to severely persecute Jews. Claudius had earlier barred Jews from Rome(Acts 17:2). Nero declared Christianity illicit region( Religio illicito) in 64 AD. He committed suicide in 68AD. During the Jewish revolt of 66-74 AD in Palestine, the Roman general Vespasian was despatched to squelch the revolt. He landed at Sephorris on the Mediterranean in 67 AD., and began the invasion of Palestine, but was called back to Rome to assume the status of the Emperor following the demise of Nero. His son Titus continued the invasion. According Daniel 9:26, the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. It was the Roman general Titus who destroyed the second Jewish temple built by the returning exiles from Babylon on Mount Moriah and refurbished by Herod the Great in 70 AD. Over a million Jews were killed during the siege of Jerusalem. In the fortress of Massada, the last holdout of the Jews, almost a thousand men, women and children committed suicide as did also those at Gamla in the Galilee earlier on. Thousands were killed and crucified daily outside the wall of Jerusalem. Millions more were sold into slavery. Thus began the diaspora, the dispersion of the Jews around the globe. Although nominally, the diaspora ended when Israel regained her independence on 14th May, 1948, there are as many Jews still in diaspora as are in Israel today. The diaspora shall be officially terminated after the final ingathering of the Jews in the early part of the millennial reign of Christ. During the Bar Kochba revolt between 132-135 AD, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, Jerusalem was ploughed with yokes of oxen after the defeat of the Jews. It was rebuilt and renamed Aelia Capitolina, and Jews were barred from it under the pain of death. Palestine was under Roman domination in days of Jesus. Rebellion was a frequent occurrence. Judas, the Galilean and Theudas led rebellions against Rome(Acts 5:36,37). The chief captain Lysias mistook Paul for that Egyptian who made an uproar and led thousands into the wilderness(Acts 19:38). There were some whom Pilate mingled their blood with the sacrifice(Luk.13:1). It is this sixth empire that was in existence at the time of John the revelator(Rev.17:10). It is during this same period that the Messiah was cut off in AD 33(Dan.9:26).

(7) Nazi Germany: The Mysterious Seventh Beast Empire.

The seventh beast was not revealed in the statue of the dream Nebuchadnezzar nor amongst the beasts of Daniel’s vision. It was hidden. The seventh beast empire ought to appear after the legs of iron but before the ten toes of iron and clay(Dan.2:40,41; Rev.17:11). It was only revealed to John the revelator in Rev.17:10-12. “And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.” A biblical mystery is something that has always been part God’s plan, which was not revealed in the OT, but revealed in the NT, and is always known by divine revelation. The reason why it was not revealed to Daniel was that Israel had the option of accepting Jesus as their Messiah. Had they accepted Him, the Roman Empire which was in existence at that time would have morphed into the ten nation confederation, the final beast empire. But because they rejected Him, Israel had to go into exile. Israel was exiled in 70 AD. The diaspora was a consequence of the national sin of rejection of their Messiah(Deu.28:65-68). God knew exactly the choices Israel would make, and therefore made provision for the gap of time between the 69th and the 70th seven within which Israel would not exist as a nation and the seventh beast empire would come up. Nazi Germany persecuted Israel in exile during the gap of time between the 69th and the 70th seven of Daniel. It existed for a short period of 12 years(1933-1945). And it was vicious and brutal in its persecution of the Jews. Within this short period of time, 6 million Jews, including 2 million children whose lives were snuffed out in the embryo, were annihilated in the gas chambers and crematoria scattered all over Europe. It was the darkest hour so far in human history. Although the holocaust was the consequence of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah, the perpetrators were not thereby justified. The seventh beast empire has the following characteristics: it will come after the sixth beast empire, Rome; it would persecute Israel in diaspora; it would last for a very short time; it would be hideous and brutal in its persecution of Israel; it would become extinct before Israel regains it independence; must have existed between 70 AD and 1948 AD. Only one nation in history fits these criteria. Adolf Hitler, the founder and the absolute ruler of Nazi Germany was a consummate Jew hater, the ultimate antisemite. Adolf Hitler did not consider Jews as subhuman. He said that they are a bit more removed from animals than we are. Therefore his hatred of Jews arose out of inferiority complex. Hitler being the ultimate antiChrist was ambitious to establish a thousand year Reich, and to exterminate all Jews worldwide. Like the rulers of all the other beast empires that persecution the Jews throughout the 70 sevens or 490 years, the times of the Gentiles, Hitler is a Japhetite from the ancestral line of Magog. Originally from Austria, he became a German citizen. Austrians and Germans are the same people and speak the same German language. They are the leaders of Europe.

Avraham Shallom.

Reconciled

There is a lot of confusion about the 144,000. There are some that teach that the 144,000 in Rev.7:1-8 are different from the ones in Rev.14:1-5. The Jehovah Witnesses teach that they are the same which is biblically accurate, but then turn around and teach they are the only ones who will go to Heaven while the rest of us are unqualified or disqualified and will inherit the Earth only. Some of those who teach they are one and the same from the household of Israel go on to say they are evangelists who will powerfully preach the gospel after the Church is gone in the Rapture and will win billions of souls who will then be all martyred during the Great Tribulation in other to enter Heaven, the so called “left behind” or “tribulation saints.” They regard the innumerable multitude in Rev.7:9-17 as the products of their efforts all of whom are martyred. How 144,000 Jews in the land of Israel will win innumerable multitude from all tribes, nations, and tongues all over the whole world to Christ in a short period of less than seven years, and the antiChrist and his acolytes will martyr all of them within the same period, they proffer no solution and the Scriptures are silent. Some of those who teach they are different groups go on to allegorize the ones in Rev.14:1-5 to be faithful saints like those in the Church Of Philadelphia(Rev.3:7-13) who will be raptured before the 70th week of Daniel or the Great Tribulation begins.

Two factors account for this confusion and multiplicity of interpretations. First is the lack of understanding concerning God’s plan of redemption and the distinction between Israel and the Church. There are three groups of peoples on Earth, the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church Of God. “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:”(1 Cor.10:32‬). The other factor is lack of understanding concerning the chronology of events of the end times. For one to properly understand and interpret biblical prophecy, one must of necesssity understand the chronology of events of the end times, the time and timing, and the sequence of events of the end times. The best and most biblically accurate sequence of events and chronology of the end times I know are the ones given by Marvin J. Rosenthal and Robert Van Kampen in their seminal works on eschatology, “The Pre-wrath Rapture Of The Church” and “The Sign” respectively. Alan E. kurschner follows the same sequence of events in his book, “AntiChrist Before The Day Of The Lord,” as does Paul Dogan in his narration of End Time Events. They are appear in the featured graphics in this article. I encourage everyone who is interested and seeks to understand eschatology to study and master the featured graphics.

If we follow the sequence of events of the end times, we see that the 144,000 in Rev.7:1-8 are sealed in the interlude between the end of the sixth seal in Rev.6:12-17 and the breaking of the seventh seal in Rev.8:1. Afterwards the Church is raptured in Rev.7:9-17. The innumerable multitude which no man could number are the raptured saints appearing in Heaven. The Church Age which began with the enactment of the new covenant and the inception of the Church at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in 32 AD ends with the Rapture in the interlude between the end of the sixth seal and the breaking of the seventh seal way into the second half of the 70th week of Daniel. The breaking of the sixth seal is associated with the cosmic and celestial disturbances, the darkening of the Sun, Moon, and Stars which is the sign of the End Of The Ages(Rev.6:12-14).

The Church is about to be taken away, apart from the two witnesses whose ministry are restricted to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, God would have no Witnesses on Earth after the Rapture of the saints. The ministry of the two witnesses will end on the last day of the 70th week of Daniel. They will minister for 42 months which is the length of the second half of the 70th week of Daniel which corresponds with the time allotted to the antiChrist to reign(Rev.11:2; 13:5). They are killed on that day or early on the first Day Of The 30-day Reclamation Period Of The Kingdom(Rev.11:7-10). They are not raised from the dead until the fourth day of the 30-day Reclamation Period Of The Kingdom(Rev.11.11-14). Without the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel, there will be an interval of three and one-half days when God will have no witnesses on Earth. That would grant Satan the victory he desires and craves. But that will not be allowed to happen. Do you see how close Satan comes to victory and how slim the chance of God winning? This is to show God is the Sovereign Lord Of The Universe. He cannot lose. He must win.

When we look at the 144,000 in Rev.14:1-5, they appear with Christ on the earthly Mount Zion. What those who do not understand God’s plan of redemption and the chronology of events of the end times do not know is that they are the same Jews who were sealed in the Edomite and Judaean wildernesses before the Rapture of the Church. Christ appeared to them there and matched with them on foot to the summit of Mount Zion in Jerusalem from day 1 to day 3 of the 30-day Reclamation Of The Kingdom(Mic.2:12,13). Jesus came from the heavenly Mount Zion(Isa.59:20) to the earthly Mount Zion for the spiritual salvation of the remnants of Israel(Rom.11:26). Here all Israel that survived the 70th week up to this point without the mark of allegiance to the antiChrist are saved(Zech.12:10-14). Prior to this point the 144,000 from the household of Israel are the ones that are saved. When they arrive on the earthly Mount Zion, the redeemed(raptured) saints in Heaven are singing the song of redemption from the temple of God on the heavenly Mount Zion. No other group of people on Earth could understand it but the 144,000 on Mount Zion. Why? Because they are the only ones on Earth at this time who are washed in the blood of the Lamb, sealed with seal of God which is God’s name written on their foreheads. They are the only ones on Earth who are redeemed.

When we look at the 144,000, they are suddenly introduced in Rev.7, shortly before the Rapture of the Church and the beginning of the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord. How they survived from the beginning of the 70th week to the end of the sixth seal, we are not told. They went through the first three and one-half years of the 70th week, the emergence of false Christ, wars and rumours of wars, commotions and threats of wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes, and the Great Tribulation without caving in to the antiChrist(Matt.24:5-29; Rev.6:1-17). And they are not Christians, though they believe in the Messiah of Israel. They do not believe He is Jesus Of The Christians. How could they be preaching the gospel at this difficult time when they do not believe in Jesus? Just as in the present, there are many Jews who believe in the Messiah, but they do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Do orthodox Jews who believe in the Messiah preach about Jesus of Nazareth whom they regard as a curse? They most probably survived by hiding with other Jews in the Edomite and Judaean wildernesses when the antiChrist made his debut at the Rebuilt Third Jewish Temple On Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, the Temple Mount(Rev.12:13-17) and began his reign of terror(2 Thess.2:3-8). They are called God’s servants(Rev.7:3). Why were they sealed? Because they belong to God.

Though they belong to God, they are not yet saved until they have accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour when He appears to them in the Edomite wilderness which is several years after their sealing. This occurs after the Church is raptured. So, they are not part of the Church. They belong to the household of Israel. If they were born again before the Rapture, they would have been part of the body of Christ, and would have been raptured with the rest of the body of Christ at the sounding of the trumpet with the voice of the archangel(Matt.24:29-31; 1 Thess.4:14-18, 1 Cor.15:50,51). This is the reason why they are called firstfruits in Rev.14:4 because they are the first to be redeemed from the Earth after the Rapture. They belong to a new dispensation, the Millennium. They are the firstfruits of them that will enter the Millennium. They are in their “unglorified” natural physical and mortal bodies. The others are the Jews who survived the first six trumpet judgments who are reconciled to God On day 3 of the 30-day Reclamation Period Of The Kingdom, and the Gentile survivors of the Sheep and Goat judgments that occurs during the 45-day Restoration Period Of The Kingdom(Hos.6:1-3).

When God’s wrath is about to begin, they were given this mark. It is to protect them from the wrath of God. Seals are for protection, identity, authenticity, security, and ownership. At the sounding of the fifth trumpet(Rev.9:1-12), the demonic locusts from the bottomless pit were instructed to afflict anyone without the seal of God. These would include those who have the mark of the beast and those who do not have the mark of the beast, both Jews and Gentiles who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. The Jews who have survived without the mark of the Beast right up to the darkening of the Sun, Moon, and Stars thought redemption has come to them, not knowing they are not exempt from the trumpet judgments.

“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”‭‭(1 Thess.5:3‬).

The prophet Amos chided them.

“Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?”(Amos‬ ‭5:18-20‬).

They think they are exempt from all the wrath of God. They desire the day of the Lord when under siege by the forces of the antiMessiah, not knowing that the day of the Lord is darkness and not light. Their passage through the first six trumpet judgments is to purify, purge and cleanse them from sin. They must get to the point where they accept Jesus as the Messiah of Israel. No one will be saved without being washed by the blood of the Lamb whoever he may be. This will happen when they see that their Messiah has nail pierced hands(Zech.12:10-14).

The Jews and Gentiles who do not have the mark of the Beast are not exempt from the first six trumpet judgments. The Jews who do not have the mark Of the beast are exempt from the Bowl judgments because they are reconciled to God before the outpouring of the Bowl judgments. The Bowl judgments target those with the mark of the beast only. The Gentiles who do not have the mark Of the beast are not specifically targeted, but they are not offered protection either and may suffer collateral damages. The 144,000 and the Jews who survived the trumpet judgments and are reconciled to the God of Israel on Day 3 of the 30-day Reclamation Period Of the Kingdom are hidden in Azal before the outpouring of the final wrath of God in the Bowl judgments(Zech.14:5). They as well as the 144,000 are in their mortal bodies. They must be protected from the final seven Bowl judgments which are the most severe(Rev.16-19).

Do we begin to see how odd it is to label the 144,000 in Rev.14:1-5 faithful and uncompromising Christians who will not go through the Great Tribulation? Do you begin to see how odd it is to say they are not Jews and are different from the ones in Rev.7:1-8? By the time they appeared on Mount Zion with Christ in Rev.14:1-5, there is not a single Christian on Earth. The Rapture had occurred several years previously. And do you begin to see why they are called firstfruits? If they were members of the church, they would not merit the label and status of firstfruits simply because they would not be the first to believe in Christ in the Church age. They are the first to believe in Christ in the Millennium. And God’s order of salvation is the Jew first and also the Gentile. Salvation is of the Jews(Jon.4:22). God’s order of judgment is also the Jew first and also the Gentile. “Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.”(Romans‬ ‭2:9-11‬). The Gentiles who will enter the Millennium would be the sheep of the Sheep and Goat Judgment Of The Gentile survivors of the wrath of God(Matt.25:32-45).

Avraham Shallom.

The Precursor To The Rapture

At His first Advent, a star announced His birth to the Magi, the wise men from the East.

“Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”(Matt.2:9-11).

At His second Advent, the Sun, Moon, and Stars will announce His Coming(Parousia) to the whole Universe.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”(Matthew 24:29-30 KJV).

“And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”(Revelation 6:12-17 KJV).

Therefore, the darkening of the Sun, Moon, and Stars is a precursor to the Second Advent. There is not a single verse of the Scriptures that speaks to His coming seceretly or silently or suddenly to rapture the Church.

Then, when these things begin to happen, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.

“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”(Luke 21:25-28 KJV).

There shall be signs in the Sun, Moon, and Stars. The nations of the Earth shall be in distress, with perplexity. Men and nations shall be confused and confounded, and their future uncertain. All the statesmen and the academics of the world put together will not be able to profer solutions to the chaos and confusion in the world. Men will go to war not knowing what they are fighting about. The seas will be roiling and waves will be roaring. There shall be tsunamis, earthquakes, tropical storms and hurricanes etc. The hearts of men who are in ignorance of the times and seasons(epochs) shall fail being seized with fears, anxieties and worries over the goings-on on Earth.

On the contrary, when these things begin to happen, believers who have survived up to this time shall begin to rejoice. They will lift up their heads because their redemption draws near. They are about to be rescued, evacuated from the scene of persecution, destruction and devastation. Opi ike g’egbu. Then, the sign of the appearance of the Son Of Man, the Shekinah, shall be seen in the heavens. Then shall He dispatch His angels with the sound of the trumpet to gather His elect(ekklektos), from one end of the heaven to the other. Behold, am with you always unto the End Of The Ages(Matt.28:18). He that endures to the end(of the ages) shall be saved(rescued)[Matt.1022].

I challenge every pretrib to show me the verse of the scripture in the Olivet Discourse in Matt.24, Mk.13, And Luk.21 that speaks of the rapture before the darkening of the Sun, Moon, and Stars. It does not exist.

Avraham Shallom.

My Objections To A Brother Whose View On The Rapture Is Pretribulational(7)

(n) Incapacitaion Of The antiChrist.

It is biblically unjustified for anyone to teach that after the rapture, the antiChrist will arise to persecute those left behind. Shortly before the rapture, the antiChrist will be paralyzed, masterly inactivated by the cosmic and celestial disturbances and the appearance of the Shekinah in the heavens. The only two things he will be permitted to do will be to kill the two witnesses at the expiry of their ministry at the end of the 70th week and to gather his armies for destruction 30 days later at the battle of Armageddon.

“And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly”(Rev.11:7-14). “And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”(Rev.16:16).”

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”(Rev.19:17-21).

Up until now, the restrainer is the one that hinders the antiChrist from manifesting. And the restrainer is archangel Michael according Dan.12: 1,2. “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”(2 Thess.2:7-12).

After the removal of the restrainer, the antiChrist will manifest and persecute the saints during the Great Tribulation. But as soon as the Lord appears in the heavens, he is masterły incapacitated. What follows is the Day Of The Lord. The antiChrist cannot persecute the saints in the Day Of The Lord because they are no longer here, and again he is incapacitated by the terrestrial and celestial disturbances. In that Day, only the Lord is exalted. In that Day the haughtiness of men and the loftiness man shall be bowed down. In that Day, men shall throw away their idols, the demonized images of the Beast which they have made for themselves to worship in their homes, offices and cars, being instructed by the enforcer, the second Beast, also called the false prophet(Rev.13:14), to the moles and the bats to hide in the rocks and mountains from the glory of the Lord and his majesty when He arises to shake terribly the Earth(Is.2:8-18).

(o) The antiChrist Cannot Persecute The Believers After The Rapture

The reason why the antiChrist cannot persecuted the saints after the rapture is two fold. Firstly, there are no saints to persecute. The believers have been raptured, taken to heaven. Anyone in the Church who is unbranded with the Mark Of The Beast and left behind after the rapture is not a true believer in Jesus Christ in the real sense of it. The one has been a false believer all along. The 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel are sealed for protection and hidden in the modern day red rose city of Petra which is biblical Sela, a very difficult terrain to access. In New Testament times, it was called Pella. It is in the Edomite wilderness which is in modern day Jordan(Rev.7:1-8). Even during the outpouring of the bowls, the newly saved remnant of Israel are hidden in Azel(Zech.14:5). No one knows the location of Azel. It is an undisclosed location being unmentioned in biblical times either in the land of Israel or anywhere else in biblical history and geography.

Secondly, the antiChrist will be masterly inactivated by the cosmic and celestial disturbances(Rev.6:12-14; Matt.24:29-30), and by the brightness of Christ’s Coming(2 Thess.2:8). The only two groups of people left on Earth unprotected at that time will be branded followers of the antiChrist, both Jews and Gentiles, who will be the majority, and unbranded Jews and Gentiles, the minority. We come to this understanding through the process of elimination. Remember that during the first part of the wrath of God, the trumpet judgments(Rev.8,9), all the inhabitants of the Earth are targeted including the surviving unbranded remnants of Israel. This is to purify them. Only one-third of the Jewish population which enter the 70th week of Daniel will survive(Zech.13:8). Every Jew who survived the 70th week unbranded will be automatically saved(Rom.11:26) because Israel have been purged, purified, and cleansed by the Great Tribulation, the Time of Jacob’s trouble(Jer.30:7), and her sin atoned for. Because by the end of the 70th week, her transgression is finished, her sin ended, and reconciliation made for her iniquity(Dan.9:24). And then they will look upon Him whom they pierced and mournful Him as one mourneth for his only son when they see that their Messiah has nail pierced hands.

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.”(Zech.12:10-14).

The only ones exempted from the trumpet judgments are the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel(Rev.7:1-8). The branded followers of the antiChrist will be the object of God’s wrath in the bowls, being specifically targeted(Rev.16,17,18,19). The unbranded Gentile unbelievers will not be specifically targeted in the bowl judgments. Any hurt they incur will be collateral damage. By the way, it is the unbranded Gentiles who survive the wrath of God that will appear at the sheep and goat judgment(Matt.35:31-46). The sheep will be justified to repopulate the Earth in the Millennium alongside the saved remnant of Israel(Rom.11:25 26). The goats will be executed and banished to Hell. We can see the enormity of the teaching that some believers will be left behind after the rapture to face the antiChrist. There are no two Great Tribulations, but one which occurs beginning from the midpoint of the 70th week before the rapture of the Church. After the rapture is the wrath of God which is contained in the seventh seal. The breaking of the seventh seal which occurs on the same day the Church is raptured opens into the wrath of God consisting of the 7 trumpets and 7 bowls.

(p) Pretrib Rapture: Harvest before Maturation

In the parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus is the Master who showed the good seed. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son Of Man;”(Matt.13:37). The good seed are the children of the kingdom. “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom;”(38a). The tares are the children of the wicked one. “But the tares are the children of the wicked one;”(38b). The wicked one is the Devil. “the enemy that showed them is the Devil;”(39a). Because in the early stages of growth, the tares look like the real wheat, it will be virtually impossible for the angelic reapers to separate the tares from the wheat. “But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.”(29). Therefore they must be allowed to grow together until maturation when the tares are clearly distinguishable from the real wheat. “ Let them grow together until the harvest:”(30a). When they are ripe, the farmer harvests the tares first, bundles them into heaps at the edges of the farm to be burned later after the harvest of the real wheat. “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”(41,42). Jesus makes it clear the harvest is the end of the ages, and the reapers are the angels. “the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.”(39b). As we have shown, the end of the ages occurs after the Great Tribulation and the terrestrial and celestial disturbances which interrupt the Great Tribulation. The wheat and the tares come to maturation during the Great Tribulation when the tares are marked for destruction with the mark of the Beast during the day of the Lord. Without the Great Tribulation, the angelic reapers cannot distinguish the tares from the wheat. The tares will be burned in the day of the Lord which occurs at the end of the ages. “The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”(39-42).

This is the message of the third angel: “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”(Rev.14:9-12).

There is no separation before the Great Tribulation. As a matter of fact, the purpose of the Great Tribulation is to separate the wheat from the tares in order to enable the angelic reapers to conduct the harvest of the real wheat. When the marking of the tares is complete during the Great Tribulation, and the full complement of the saints to be martyred is reached, God cuts short the Great Tribulation with the sign given in the Sun, Moon, and Stars. Then the Shekinah Glory appears in the heavens as Jesus descends to the sky from the Heaven with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. The angelic reapers can now do their job of reaping the real wheat, the true believers who not only believe in Jesus but have not the mark of the Beast. This is the Prewrath Rapture Of The Church. Thereafter, the wrath of God begins in the Day Of The Lord at The End Of The Ages which corresponds with the breaking of the seventh seal. This same sequence of events occurs in Rev.14. The third angel announces the wrath of God on those with the mark of the Beast. This is followed by the final harvest in two stages. First the real wheat are harvested into the barn(Rev.14:14-16). This is followed by the second harvest which is the wrath of God on the unrighteous wicked(Rev.14:17-20). It ends in a bloodbath at Armageddon. The height of blood reaches up to the horse bridle, about 1.5 meters, and covers a distance of about 188 kilometers. The Armageddon Campaign begins in the vicinity of Jerusalem with the remnants of the armies of the nations surrounding Israel who are part of the Eight Beast Empire involved in the Jehoshaphat Campaign which occurs shortly before the amputation of the Great Tribulation, and ends in a final bloodbath involving the armies of all the nations of the Earth on Mount Megiddo in the valley of Esdraelon approximately 188 km north of Israel.

The Pretrib Rapture Position teaches harvest before maturation which Jesus says is impossible in both the parables of the ten virgins and the wheat and the tares. The Prewrath Rapture Of The Church is in consonance with the clear unforced interpretation of the parable of the Ten Virgins And The Wheat And The Tares. Jesus interpreted these parables Himself. We have added nothing to His interpretations of the parables. We have simply analyzed His interpretations and applied it to the eschatological timeline. The result is obvious to any honest exegete of the word of God. For further clarification see my article on the parable of the wheat and the tares, https://mtzionheritageministries.com/2019/09/01/the-parable-of-the-wheat-and-the-tares/.

Avraham Shallom.

My Objections To A Brother Whose View On The Rapture Is Pretribulational(6)

(k) The 144,000: Are They Evangelists?

The 144,000 are Jews, 12,000 chosen from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Scripture is clearly explicit on that. They are suddenly introduced in Rev.7 in the interlude between the sixth and the seventh seals prior to the outpouring of the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord which begins in Rev.8:1. They are called the servants of God(3). They are sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads(3). In Rev.14:1, we are told the seal is the name of God written on their foreheads. We are not told what that name is. It may be the Hebrew Tetragrammaton YHWH. That is the name of the God of the Hebrews revealed to Moses, “the I AM WHAT I AM hath sent me unto you.”(Exod.3:14). It was inscribed on the mitre worn by the High Priest, indicating he belonged to the and was the servant of Yahweh of Israel, and represented Him amongst His people of Israel and vice verse. They are sealed prior to the rapture of the saints(Rev.7:9-17). They passed through the Great Tribulation just as did the raptured saints. Rather than being raptured after the amputation of the Great Tribulation with terrestrial and celestial disturbances, they were sealed for protection from the wrath of God. They would pass through the wrath of God but with divine protection unlike their fellow Israelites who would pass through the first six trumpet judgments without divine protection in order to purge, purify, and cleanse them from the defilement of sin. Why? They rejected the mark of the Beast, but are not born again like the saints who are raptured. In other words, they were not washed by the blood of the Lamb. No man will enter heaven without purification by the blood of the Lamb. And no man will be purified with the blood of Jesus by the Holy Spirit without acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Saviour(Rom.10:8-13). They will finally accept Jesus as their Messiah when He rescues them from Petra in the Edomite wilderness. They will see that their Messiah has nail-pierced hands(Zech.12:10).

These Jews believe in the Messiah of Israel. They do not believe that He is Jesus. They also rejected the claim of the antiChrist to be the Messiah of Israel(Jon.5:43). So, they were not Beast-marked. How they survived the Great Tribulation is a wonder inasmuch as they were sealed after the Great Tribulation. They survived by hiding I presume. The Scriptures do not say they were evangelists. What they did during the first three and one-half years and the Great Tribulation, the Scriptures are silent. It is therefore presumptuous and preposterous to assume they were evangelists. In all probability, they were observant Jews. How then could they be preaching the message of salvation in Christ Jesus if they do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah? If at all they preached to anyone, the content of their message would not be the apostolic kerugma. They could have warned their fellow Jews and anyone else not to believe in the antiChrist as the Messiah and to reject his mark even under the pain of death. There are some unbelieving Gentiles, free thinkers and nonconformists that will do the same. They could also have warned that the wrath of God would come on anyone who gave allegiance to the Beast by accepting his mark. They could have urged their fellow countrymen and women, and anyone else within their immediate audience to only worship Yahweh of Judah, the Lord God of Israel. That the false humanistic religion of the antiChrist, spearheaded by the false prophet, and epitomized in Babylon would be committed to the flames together with their adherents(Rev.14:6-11). The true believers in Jesus Christ will also be saying the same thing but with a caveat that Jesus is the only true Messiah of Israel. “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and have the faith of Jesus Christ.”(Rev.14:12).

They are the only ones offered protection from the first six trumpet judgments. The unbelieving Jews who do not have the mark of the Beast shall go through the first six trumpet judgments unprotected, so also the unbelieving Gentiles who do not have the mark of the Beast. The 144,000 are called virgins, a very strange term indeed to describe men. Obviously they are celibates. The Scripture also says they are not defiled with women. This may mean either that they never had sexual intercourse with women, or and also they never participated in the mass idolatry characteristic of the worship of the Beast-antiChrist and the Dragon(Rev.13:4,14:9). Religionists like these are usually reclusive. They lived like hermits like the Qumran community. They followed the Lamb wherever He went. They are His human entourage in all His earthly journeys from the moment Christ rescued them from the Edomite wilderness(Amos 3:15). They matched with Him on foot from Petra in the Edomite wilderness to the summit of Mount Zion in Jerusalem joined along the way by the remnant of Israel from the Judaean wilderness, Jerusalem and its environs, and the survivors from the remote areas of Assyria and Egypt(Mic.2:13; Rev.14:1). We must also bear in mind that Jesus is never alone. God the Father is always with Him. He is also always surrounded by an innumerable company of angels(Heb.12:22-24). But they are invisible to the unaided human eye. So, the 144,000 are the ones with Him that men would see. They would not see the Father, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the innumerable company of angels.

Whilst with Christ on the earthly Mount Zion, the redeemed of humanity in heaven, on the heavenly Mount Zion sing a song. The song is heard on Earth, but no one on Earth could learn that song but the 144,000. Why? Because it is the song of the redeemed; they are redeemed also. If they were not redeemed, they could not be sealed. They were sealed because they were reconciled to God shortly before the rapture of the saints. On the same earthly Mount Zion, the Jewish remnants who survived the first six trumpet judgments were reconciled to God to finish the mystery of God and to complete His spiritual kingdom(Zech.12:10-13). This was before the sounding of the seventh trumpet. “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”(Rev.10:7).

But they are not part of the Church, the bride of Christ. They are the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb(Rev.14:4). This term firstfruits is also used of the initial disciples of Jesus or the first to receive Jesus in a city in any evangelistic mission, and of those who were the first to be filled with the Holy Spirit ; and of Christ as the first to rise from the dead(Rom.8:23, 16:5; Jam.1:18; 1 Cor.15:20,23, 16:15). This designation clearly indicates they belong to a new dispensation; the New Millennium. They are not part of the Church. They will not be translated. They will not receive glorified eternal immortal resurrection bodies like the saints in the Millennium. They will live here on Earth in their mortal bodies, still prone to sin, sickness and disease and physical death. They will be the firstfruits of those that will repopulate the Earth in the New Millennium alongside the redeemed Jews and Gentiles that survive the wrath of God(cp. Matt.25:31-46). Whether they will marry like some others in the Millennium, or remain celibates throughout the Millennium, the scriptures are silent.

After the rapture of the saints, apart from the two witnesses whose ministry would last throughout the entire length of the second half of the 70th week, the God of Israel would have no witnesses on Earth. God will not leave Himself without witnesses. It is like the handing over of a baton in relay race. They will represent the God of Israel on Earth while the believers are in heaven, in the interim between the rapture and Armageddon. If the 144,000 were not reconciled to the God, the God of Israel would have not witnesses on Earth after the demise of the two witnesses on the last day of the 70th week. There is a 3-day interval between the death of the two witnesses and the salvation of the remnant of Israel on day 3 of the 30-day Reclamation Period. If at any time there are no witnesses of the God of Israel on Earth, Satan has prevailed. But this must not be allowed to happen. That is why the 144,000 are so important. They are God’s sole witnesses on Earth in this 3-day interval between the death of the two witnesses and the conciliation of the remnant of Israel on day-3 of the 30-day Reclamation Period.

(l) Will There Be A Worldwide Christian Revival In The 70th Week?

Pretribs teach that the rapture will occur prior to the commencement of the 70th week of Daniel. To account for the huge number of believers that will be here during the Great Tribulation, they propound an unbiblically supported theory that there will be a worldwide revival during the 70th week that will make other revivals this Earth has ever witnessed pale in comparison. That there would be more massive conversions to the Faith than at any other time in the annals of Church history and evangelism. They also hold the unbiblical view that these so called “Tribulation Saints” shall gain heaven by being martyred, all of them, by the antiChrist and his acolytes(Rev.6: 9-11, 7:9-17, 20:4). This phenomenal success in missions and evangelism will occur when all the good pastors, teachers, and Christians have been taken to heaven prior to the beginning of the 70th week. Incredulous!

Who will conduct these revival meetings that will see innumerable multitude come to the Faith in so short a period of time, at a time when there is a preponderance of false christs, false prophets, and false teachers, all vying for the believers attention and faith, and Christianity is proscribed, and there is no formal worship; the so called “Tribulation Saints” are in hiding and have little or no food to eat, and are being hounded and ferreted out to be killed by the antiChrist and his gang?

In the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, the prophets of Baal failed to conjure fire from heaven to consume their sacrifice(1 King.18:20-40). But the false prophet and his gang will excel where the prophets of Baal failed. They will command fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men, and make the image of the Beast to speak, and to cause as many as would not worship the image of the Beast to be killed(Rev.13:15). Elijah ordered the massacre of the prophets of Baal after their failure to conjure fire from heaven. During the 70th week, the reverse will be the case. The servants of God shall be massacred by the prophets of Baal. Satan will get his revenge: like Shylock, he will demand a pound of flesh. The coming of the antiChrist is with signs and wonders. “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”(2 Thess.2:7-10).

The antiChrist will be empowered by Satan to perform outstanding miracles, signs and wonders which will be very difficult to refute in order to authenticate his claim to be the Messiah just as Jesus did. But it will all be false, intended only to deceive if it were possible the very elect. Certainly, there will be revival in the 70th week of Daniel, but it will be satanic in nature with all manner of signs and lying wonders, to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.”(Matt.24:24-25). Why would Jesus warn His disciples if they would not be here? There will be role reversal here. The antiChrist and his gang will perform outstanding and notable miracles, signs, and wonders, but the saints will not. On Mount Carmel, the God of Israel was present but Baal was absent. This time around the opposite will happen. It would be as through the God of Israel were absent and Baal present. Why? Because it is the hour of darkness.

These miracles, signs and wonders will be intended to lure the believers out of hiding in order to coax and coerce them to receive the mark of the Beast or to be killed outright or taken captive ant tortured on refusal to accept the mark of allegiance to the Beast. The antiChrist will make war with the saints and overcome them(Rev.13:7). So, in all probability, the number of the saints will depreciate and dwindle very rapidly due to mass executions of believers who refuse to bow to the image of the Beast during this period of the reign of terror by the antiChrist. That the world marveled at the Beast does indicates that the so called evangelists of the Faith do not command their attention(Rev.17:8). Rather than a revival of Christianity, there will be a mass exodus of false believers to worship the Beast. There will be mass conversion to Baalism. This will be the apostasy or falling away from the faith spoken of by our brother, Apostle Paul, one of the two signs that will precede His coming and our gathering together unto Him or the rapture(2 Thess2:3,4). When the antiChrist signs the 7-year peace treaty with Israel, these ignorant believers will conclude the rapture has taken place, that they have been left behind: and that the next thing will be a worldwide revival of sort of the Christian faith, the rapture having taken place secretly and silently as it were. But what do they get? A huge number of false christs, false prophets, and false teachers performing outstanding and notables miracles to authenticate their claims. They will tell them, “The Messiah has come: we know where He is: in the secret chambers and in the deserts.”(Matt.24:23-28). If the rapture had taken place earlier prior to the commencement of the 70th week, why would the so called Tribulation Saints be deceived by the false prophets and teachers, that the Messiah has come, and is in the secret chambers or in the desert? Is this how His Second coming at Armageddon will be? Thusly the unsuspecting believers are lured into a trap where they are either coaxed or coerced, and hoodwinked into receiving the mark of allegiance to the Beast or be taken into captivity and tortured or be killed outright on refusal to accept the mark of allegiance to the anitMessiah.

This is the Apostasy which will take place after the unveiling of the Man Of Sin in the rebuilt Third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem at the midpoint of the 70th week(2 Thess.2:3,4). But the Pretribs have cancelled it out saying that “apostasia” means physical departure, thus denoting rapture. What a theological legerdemain! There is not a single instance in koine Greek where apostasia was used to denote physical departure. That usage was only apparent almost 500 years later. When we read Shakespeare or Geoffrey Chaucer, we do not interpret them based on the present meaning of the words. We seek to understand them based on the meaning and usages of the words in their times.

The Scriptures do not tell us there would be worldwide revival at this time. Obviously, the two witnesses will perform outstanding miracles, and command fire from heaven to consume those who would hurt them(Rev.11:5,6). Their ministry covers the second half of the 70th week, but is essentially restricted to the land of Israel, especially the Holy City, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Will their ministry be duplicated in other parts of the world? There is no biblical evidence there are any others like them in other parts of the world. Admittedly, some faithful and uncompromising believers will damn the consequences and go about persuading others not to take the make of the Beast, but they will pay with their heads. Cephalizomai; they will be decapitated(Rev.20:4). Assuming the pretrib rapture view is correct, believers who miss the rapture, who have been taught there will be a worldwide revival during the 70th week will be easy prey to the antiMessiah, the false prophet, and their army of charlatans and mountebanks. The Pretrib doctrine is designed by its originators to sell the saints short to the antiChrist, to render them unprepared to face the horrors of the Great Tribulation. Unfortunately sincere believers and biblical scholars and theologians are ignorantly proclaiming it.

(m) The 70th Week: The Period Of God’s Judgment

Dr Thomas Ice believes and teaches that the 70th week is a period of God’s Judgment, and I concur. Who decides when the 70th week begins? God. Who has the seven-sealed Scroll, the Title Deed Of The Earth, and breaks the seven seals that determine the unfolding of the end time events? Jesus the Son Of God. Who announce and supervise the breaking of the seals? The cherubim, the angels of God. Who casts down Satan to the Earth from the heavenlies? Archangel Michael, the warrior angel of God. Who removes the restrainer in order that Satan’s wrath may be executed(Dan.12:1)? God. Satan can do nothing without permission from God. He could not tempt Job without divine permission(Job 1:6-12, 2:1-6). He could not tempt Peter to sift him as wheat until Christ permitted him(Luk.22:31,32). The 70th week is indeed a period of God’s Judgment. But God is not responsible for the activities of wicked men. God permits evil, but does not sanction it. God does not approve of man’s inhumanity to man. God used Assyria, “the rod of my anger” to judge the Northern Kingdom of Israel(Isa.10:5). Assyria was an evil nation notorious for its cruel treatment of war captives. The prophet Habakkuk was perplexed that God could use Babylon, a nation more wicked than the Southern Kingdon of Judah to punish Judah(Hab.1:6-13). God’s ways are past finding(Rom.11:33). The people of the world have to be tested and fail in an ultimate sense before they can face the wrath of God. In like manner also, even the saints must be tested and pass ultimately in order to be counted worthy to escape the wrath of God. There is an on-going Judgment Of God. When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the unrighteous wicked. “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.”(1 Corinthians 11:31-32).

The first four seals of the Scroll Of Revelation are a test for saints and sinners alike to determine eligibility for exemption from the wrath of God. But Dr. Thomas Ice has equated the Judgment of God which is a much broader term, more encompassing, with the wrath of God which is more narrower, and involves the outpouring of His indignation on the unrighteous and impenitent wicked at the End Of The Ages. I demure. If we judge ourselves we will not be judged. When a believer is judged of God, the ultimate goal is exemption from condemnation with the wicked. When God judges us, and He does, is He pouring out His wrath upon us because we are irreversibly and irredeemably impenitent? No. His judgment is corrective. But His Final eschatological Wrath is damnation. When a juvenile breaks the law, he is sent to the penitentiary, unlike an adult who commits a capital offense receives capital punishment. There is no correction in a death sentence except as a warning and deterrent to would-be offenders. The aim is to protect the living and damn the murderer. The final eschatological wrath of God, the bowl judgments are not corrective at all. Their targets are the Beast marked wicked earth-dwellers who are unwilling to repent even in the face of God’s severe punishment for their evils(Rev.9:20,21, 16:9,11). Their goal is first physical destruction, and finally eternal damnation of the unrighteous wicked in the Lake Of Fire And Sulphur.

Abraham Shallom.

My Objections To A Brother Whose View On The Rapture Is Pretribulational(5)

(h) The Timing Of The Removal Of The Restainer

The restrainer has been variously identified by pretribs as the Holy Spirit who hitch-hikes with the Church when she is raptured pretribulationally, the Church herself, and human government which of course is functional throughout the 70th week, and cannot be removed until destroyed by Christ at Armageddon(Rev.19:17-21). How ridiculous? The fact the Church(ekklesia) is feminine and the restrainer masculine rules out the church. Dan.12:1 identifies the restrainer as archangel Michael who stands for the people of God. His identity has been known amongst Jewish scholars in antiquity. The identity of the restrainer is not germane to the validation or invalidation of any rapture view. The issue here is the timing of his removal. The pretribs do not make bones of this issue because it undermines their teaching that he hitch-hikes with the Church when she is raptured pretribulationally. The Scriptures make it clear that until the restrainer is taken out of the way, there shall be no Great Tribulation. Archangel Michael is the restrainer of evil on the Earth. He is the angel that stands for the people of God. He wrestled with Satan over the body of Moses(Jude 9). The angel that was sent by God to deliver the answer to Daniel’s prayer was withstood by the Prince of Persia until archangel Michael gave him relief(Dan.10:13). At the midpoint of the 70th week, he shall wrestle down Satan and his fallen evil angels from the Dark Void and Starry Heavens to the Earth, after which he shall “amad” or stand still. He will not restrain Satan any more.

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.”(Rev.12:7-9, 12-13).

Then evil shall run riot on Earth. Satan shall possess the antiChrist, invest Him with his power and authority. “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”(Rev.13:2). He will declare himself God, demand worship of all mortals, and kill anyone who refuses to give him allegiance. Thus will begin the Great Tribulation.

“And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”(2 Thess.2:6-12).

The revelation of the antiChrist occurs after the removal of the restrainer. Up to now, the restrainer keeps evil at bay until removed at the midpoint of the 70th week, then shall evil run riot on Earth. There is a confluence of factors here. First, Satan and his immediate subordinates, the principalities, powers, and wicked spirits in the heavenlies shall be cast down to the Earth. Second, the restraining influence of Michael the archangel of God in charge of war shall be removed. Third, Satan angered by denial of his right and place of abode in the heavenlies shall have great wrath knowing that it would be a short time before he is cast into the abyss. From the midpoint of the 70th week, one can calculate the exact day Satan Shall be cast into the abyss. It will be three and one-half years plus 30 days which is the end of Armageddon, that is 1, 290 days. All these events occur at the midpoint of the 70th week. The cumulative effect is synergistic, resulting in the escalation of all forms of evil on Earth.

(i) The Tribulation Saints

The phrase “tribulation saints” is coined by pretribs to describe believers who according to them missed the first round up, and have to make it by the skin of their teeth. First, this teaching is contradicted by the parable of the Ten Virgins which teaches that there is no secondary entry once the bridegroom has entered and the door shut. Second, pretribs teach that all those who missed the first round up are weak believers who have to make it by paying with their lives. This is as it were, salvation by works through martyrdom which flies in the face of salvation by grace through faith(Eph.2:8). Thus they teach that the innumerable multitude in Rev.7:9-17, including the fifth seal martyrs are tribulation saints martyred by the antiChrist and his security apparatus. That they will be raised to reign with Christ for a thousand years in the Millennium. But not all the innumerable multitude in Rev.7:9-17 are martyrs. The angel described them as those who came out of the Great Tribulation. There is no evidence they were all martyrs. Some were martyred and others certainly not martyred.

In contrast, the fifth seal martyrs were all killed for the word of God and the testimony they upheld. On the other hand all the saints that were raised and reigned with Christ in Rev.20:4 were beheaded. There is no biblical justification to assume that all the Fifth Seal martyrs were beheaded. Some may have been beheaded, and others may not. The beheaded saints were those who were a torn in the flesh of the antiChrist. They not only refused the mark of the Beast, but went about persuading others not to take the the mark of the Beast. This infuriated the antiChrist who ordered their execution by beheading to serve as a deterrent to others.

We contend that the innumerable multitude in Rev.7:9-17 are the saints, both living and dead, raptured at the interlude between the end of the sixth seal and the breaking of the seventh seal, and that the fifth seal martyrs are part of this group as well as those beheaded for the word of God and the witness of Jesus(Rev.20:4). We contend that the fifth seal is the concurrent with the fourth, and does not advance the chronology of events in the 70th week. There is no distance in the realm of the spirit. The disembodied spirits and souls of these saints arrive in heaven as soon as they are killed, and are quartered under the golden altar of incense till the complement of believers to be killed during the Great Tribulation is reached, thereafter, the killing of the saints shall be terminated with the breaking of the sixth seal. They are subsequently raptured and are part of the innumerable multitude in Rev.7:9-17. On the other hand, the beheaded saints are raised to reign with Christ for a thousand years on the first day of the Millennium. This view expounded by Robert Gundry is shared by Marvin J. Rosenthal. However, Alan E. kurschner demurs, advocating that they were raptured prewrath together with all the saints at the appearance of the Shekinah in the Heaavens. And I concur. There is really no biblical justification for their resurrection to be deferred till the first day of the Millennium.

The Pretrib notion that all the so called “Tribulation Saints” have to be killed in order to make heaven is absurd and unbiblical. It sounds like salvation by works. The Scriptures make it clear that the Great Tribulation will be cut short in order to preserve some saints alive for translation at the rapture. If the Great Tribulation were to be permitted to run its full course to the end of the three and one-half years allotted to the antiChrist to reign, no believing flesh or anyone without the mark of the beast shall survive the Great Tribulation. But there are survivors of the Great Tribulation. Apart from the living saints who are translated at the rapture at the appearance of the Shekinah in the heavens, there are the 144,000 who are sealed for protection, and the surviving remnants of Israel who go through the first six trumpets and are reconciled to God on the third day of the 30-day Reclamation Period. Besides, those Gentile survivors of the Great Tribulation, who appeared at the Sheep And Goat Judgment do not have the mark of the Beast(Matt.25:31-46). If they had, they would have been killed at Armageddon or else executed instanta whenever apprehended. The essence of the amputation of the Great Tribulation, in addition to preserving some saints alive for translation at the rapture is to save some Gentiles alive in order that they may repopulate the Earth in the Millennium alongside their Jewish counterparts who survived both the Great Tribulation and the first six trumpet judgments of the wrath of God. To teach therefore that every true believer is murdered during the Great Tribulation, thus obtaining salvation by martyrdom, or that all Gentiles without the mark of the Beast were wiped out during the wrath of God, leaving the surviving Jewish remnants to repopulate the Earth in the Millennium, has no biblical merit, and therefore indefensible.

(j) The Mark Of The Beast

The mark of the Beast is the number of the Beast. It is the number of his name. It is the number of a man. It is described by John the revelator as 666. “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”(Rev.13:16-18). It is described in conjunction with the carrier of the enforcer of the Beast, the false prophet. It is a computer chip with an 18-digit bar code with other biometric data specific to the individual which shall be implanted in the right or left hand or forehead as a mark of allegiance to the antiChrist, the First Beast(Rev.13:16,14:9, 20:4). It shall be implemented worldwide because power shall be given to the antiChrist over all peoples, tongues, and nations. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”(Rev.13:7). Anyone without this mark shall not be able to buy or sell or engage in other transactions under the reign of the antiChrist.

Biometric implants have been used in animal husbandry for decades. Cattles are branded to identify and indicate ownership, track growth, and determine age, etc. They are now being used in humans. Branding has been in practice for hundreds of years. Slaves have been branded even in ancient times. Branding indicates ownership, authenticity, protection, security, preservation. Over 50,000 people have been chipped worldwide with RFID. Good things can be put to bad use. Those in government have the responsibility to protect the citizenry. RFID can be used to identify criminals and felons, track the whereabouts of felons and sex offenders such as pedophiles, and those with dementia and mental illness. It will make cashlessnes possible which has a number of uses. Therefore it is most probable this practice shall have been accepted worldwide before the emergence of the antiChrist. The antiChrist will legalize it and also make it compulsory. It shall be strictly enforced. Satan is not dumb. No one will be chipped by force. He knows it will not count. But people can be coerced into accepting the mark of the Beast. Those who do not have this mark shall be denied food stamps. Those who have it will have plenty to eat and drink. The antiMessiah shall put chicken in their pots. Those who take the mark of the Beast shall have fiat money credited to and lodged in their accounts.

Besides, those who do not have this mark shall be ferreted out, coerced to take the mark or be killed on refusal to coöperate. There will be robotic images of the Beast, equipped with artificial Intelligence(AI) and Near Field Communication(NFC) to identify those who do not have the mark of the Beast, coerce them to accept it, or be killed on refusal of the mark of the beast. The Scripture makes it clear that anyone who takes the mark of the Beast is doomed for eternity; “the wrath of God abides on him.” This is the message of the third angel made at the midpoint of the 70th week at the commencement of the Great Tribulation.

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”(Rev.14:9-12).

Apart from teaching for nearly two centuries that the rapture will take place before the commencement of the 70th week, thus making believers unprepared and vulnerable to face the horrors of the Great Tribulation, some pretrib teachers like Brannon Howse, Jimmy De Young, and John MacArthur have of late been propagating the teaching that it is possible to take the mark of the Beast, and repent later on. This teaching flies in the face of the Scripture that clearly indicates that anyone who takes the mark of the Beast is doomed for eternity because the wrath of God abideth on him for ever. This development is very dangerous, and must be denounced with utmost vehemence. It is to make believers utterly vulnerable. The Pretrib teaching that the Church will be raptured before the commencement of the 70th week makes believers unprepared for the horrors of the Great Tribulation, but the teaching that believers can take the mark of the Beast and repent afterwards makes them think they can eat their cake hot and have it all the time. It makes believers think they can be part of the antiChrist system of government, enjoy the benefits, and afterwards stroll into the kingdom of God. This is unthinkable and must be refuted because it is a very big lie. It is true that God will forgive them if they repent. It is also true they are unwilling to repent. They have sinned beyond repentance. It is therefore very dangerous to tinker with the notion that anyone who takes the mark of the Beast will repent later on.

Avraham Shallom.

My Objections To A Brother Whose View On The Rapture Is Pretribulational(4)

(e) The Great Tribulation

Pretribs designate the second half of the 70th week the Great Tribulation. This designation flies in the face of Scriptures. The Scriptures make it clear that the Great Tribulation does not last the whole length of the second half of the 70th week which is the three and one-half years allotted to the antiChrist to reign because the Great Tribulation is cut short by the cosmic and celestial disturbances associated with the breaking of sixth seal. “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”(Matt.24:22). At the breaking of the sixth seal, the Sun, Moon, and Stars are darkened, thusly throwing the Earth and the starry Heavens into utter darkness and cold which make it impossible for the antiChrist and his acolytes to continue their killing spree. “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”(Rev.6:12-14). This heavenly phenomenon frightens the unrighteous wicked out of their pants. They take to the rocks and the mountains to seek non-existent refuge. The dark and frozen Earth, the massive worldwide earthquakes, with meteorites, comets, and asteroids flying across the sky to the Earth make it impossible for the antiMessiah and his acolytes to continue their persecution of the saints. “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”(Rev.6:15-17). This is how the Great Tribulation is amputated.

The essence of the amputation of The Great Tribulation is to save some saints alive for rapture because some saints of the last generation that shall enter the 70th week of Daniel to experience the horrors of the Great Tribulation shall be raptured alive(translated) without passage through the intermediate process of death. If the Great Tribulation is not cut short, no believing flesh will be saved alive. With the technology available to the antiMessiah, if the Great Tribulation is permitted to go on, he will be able to ferret out all believers on Earth, coerce them to recant and take the mark of allegiance to him or be killed on refusal to recant. The Great Tribulation must be distinguished from the Day Of The Lord which also begins in the second half of the 70th week at the breaking of the seventh seal. The Great Tribulation is not the same as the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord. The wrath of God consists of the seven trumpets and seven bowls. The seventh trumpet opens into the seven bowls just as the seventh seal opens into the seven trumpets. The first six trumpets occur within the second half of the 70th week of Daniel abutting on the end of the 70th week with the death of the two witnesses. Therefore, the Great Tribulation must be distinguished from the eschatological Day Of The Lord. Pretribs do not make any distinction between the Great Tribulation and the eschatological Day Of The Lord, just as much as they do not make any distinction between the wrath of God and the wrath of Satan(Rev.6:17; 12:12).

(f) The Seals, Trumpets, And Bowls

The occurrence of the seals, trumpets, and bowls are consecutive and progressive. They are not simultaneous or coincident, except for the fourth and fifth seals. The fifth seal being a heavenly event is superimposed on the fourth. It does not advance the chronology of the end time narrative. The fifth seal is a heavenly reflection of the killings going on Earth under the fourth seal. There are no overlaps between the seals, trumpets, and bowls. There is an interlude between the end of sixth seal and the breaking of the seventh to enable certain events to transpire. The length of this interlude is not specified. These events are the appearance of the Shekinah Glory in the heavens which dispels the darkness and frigidity precipitated by the breaking of the sixth seal, the sealing of the 144,000, and the rapture of the dead saints and the translation of the living saints. The same day the saints are raptured, the seventh seal is broken, and the wrath of God begins. This interlude is represented by the Rev.7. Rev.6.17 is the end of the cosmic disturbances associated with the breaking of the sixth seal. Rev.8:1 marks the breaking of the seventh seal which inaugurates the day of the Lord in Rev.8 & 9.

There is also an interlude between the end of the sixth trumpet(Rev.9:21) and the sounding of the seventh(Rev.10:7). Unlike the length of the interlude between the sixth and the seventh seals which is not specified, the length of this interlude is about seven days. This is the first seven days of the 30-day Reclamation period if the kingdom which follows the end of the second three and one-half years of the 70th week of Daniel. “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.”(Dan.12:11). This interlude enables certain events to occur between the end of the sixth trumpet and the sounding of the seventh. Within this interlude of seven days, the two witnesses are killed on the first day and raised on the fourth(Rev.11:1-13), and the surviving remnants of Israel are reconciled to the God of Israel on the third day. “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.”(Hosea 6:1-3). Shortly before the blowing of the seventh trumpet, the mystery of God is finished, and His spiritual kingdom is completed as the surviving remnants of Israel are brought in. On the fifth day, God Almighty reclaims His rule over the Earth at the sounding of the seventh. “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”(Rev.10:7).

From Mount Zion, Jesus hops over to the Mount of Olives with his retinue of 144,000 and the surviving remnant of Israel, in fulfillment of the promise made to His disciples after His resurrection from the dead. “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.”(Acts 1:9-12).

When Jesus stands on the Mount of Olives, it splits into two halves from the East to the West. One half shall move up North, and the other half shall move down South, creating a roadway that shall reaches unto Azal. “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”(Zech.14:1-4).

On the sixth day, the surviving Jewish remnants which includes the 144,000 are sent into protective custody in Azel. “And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”(Zech.14:5). On the seventh day, the final seven bowl judgments begin to be poured out by the seven avenging angelic reapers on the unrighteous wicked who bear the mark of the Beast(Rev.16:1).

Anyone who has read the works of the pretribs would quickly notice, they make no distinction between the wrath of Satan and the wrath of God. The seals, trumpets, and bowls are treated as concurrent and simultaneous. But there is a distinction between the wrath of God and the wrath of Satan. The wrath of Satan contained in the first four seals precede the wrath of God which is contained in the seventh seal. The first five seals have nothing to do with the wrath of God. Until the breaking of the sixth seal associated with the cosmic and celestial disturbances which interrupt the Great Tribulation, the wrath of God is not in view. The wrath of God begins with the breaking of the seventh seal.

(g) The Day Of The Lord

The pretribs conflate the day of the Lord with the whole length of the end time beginning from the commencement of the 70th week and including the Millennium. This is absurd. How could the Day Of The Lord possibly include the Millennium when it is clearly stated in the Scripture that the Day Of The Lord is darkness, not light. “Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?”(Amos 5:18-20). Here the prophet Amos upbraided the Jews who rejected the Mark of the Beast, who believe in the Messiah of Israel, but do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah of Israel, who are in expectation of the Day Of The Lord as a day of deliverance for the whole house of Israel, who are ignorant of the fact that the remnant of Israel who survive the Great Tribulation without the mark of the Beast must be purged, purified, cleansed, and broken in spirit by going through the first six trumpet judgments in order to accept Jesus as their Messiah who has nail pierced hands.

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.”(Zech.12:10-14).

After they accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour, they shall be taken into protective custody in Azel while the remaining wrath of God in the seven bowls is meted out on the Beast marked unrighteous wicked. “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”(Zech.14:3-5). The national repentance of Israel will precede the coming of the Lord with the raptured saints at Armageddon.

We have unequivocally proven from the Scriptures that the day of the Lord is synonymous with the day of His wrath, and that it does not start at the commencement of the 70th week of Daniel, neither does it encompass the whole length of the second half of the 70th week. We have also shown that the wrath of God must be distinguished from the wrath of Satan, and that the Great Tribulation which is the Great Wrath Of Satan does not cover the whole length of the second half of the 70th week of Daniel which is three and one-half years in duration. Both the Great Tribulation and the day of the Lord occur within the second half of the 70th week of Daniel with the latter extending to the end of the 30-day Reclamation Period. The major part of the second half of the 70th week of Daniel is taken over by the wrath of God. For example, the fifth trumpet alone lasts as long as five months(Rev.9:10). The sixth trumpet may even be longer. We have also shown that the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord is contained in the seventh seal which is broken the very same day the saints are raptured. It opens into the seven trumpets. The seventh trumpet opens into the seven bowls. The first six trumpets occur within the remaining part of the second half of the 70th week which ends with the death of the two witnesses whose ministry runs concurrent with the time period allotted to the reign of the antiChrist which is the whole length of the second half of the 70th week. The period of the reign of the antiChrist is not the same as the Great Tribulation, although the Great Tribulation occurs within it. Although the antiChrist is incapacitated by the terrestrial and celestial disturbances associated with the breaking of the sixth seal, he does not totally lose power and authority and the seat of his government which is the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem until defeated at Armageddon.

The day of the Lord which begins with the breaking of the seventh seal during the second half of the 70th week ends at Armageddon 30 days after the expiration of the 70th week of Daniel. The extra 45 days that follows the battle of Armageddon is solely for the renovation of the Earth damaged by the wicked reign of the antiChrist and the fires of the wrath of God on the unrighteous wicked, the final ingathering of the Jewish exiles in Diaspora, and the Sheep And Goat Judgment of the Gentiles survivors of the Day Of The Lord Wrath(Matt.25:31-46), preparatory to The Millennial reign of Christ and the resurrected saints in their glorified eternal immortal resurrection bodies.

Avraham Shallom.

My Objections To A Brother Whose View On The Rapture Is Pretribulational(3)

The 70th Week Of Daniel

This is the last seven years of the 70 weeks or 490 years appointed by God for Israel to finish the transgression, make an end of sin, make reconciliation for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”(Daniel 9:24). The starting point of this seven year period is the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and the leader of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire of Satan, the leader of the most powerful empire in the history of man on Earth. “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”(Daniel 9:27).

This leader of a powerful confederacy of ten nations will enforce a false peace agreement between Israel and her Arab and Islamic neighbours who are part of the ten nation confederation. These nations are Put(Libya), Cush(Sudan), Arphaxad or Babylon(Iraq), Tiras(Persia or Iran), Javan(Seleucia, Greek Syria), Gomer(Turkey), and Togarmah(Turkey). These are the seven secondary nations of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire. This leader will pose as the Saviour of Israel from her surrounding enemy(Arab and Islamic) nations who would want her driven into the Mediterranean Sea. Jesus told the Jewish leaders, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.”(John 5:43). It is most probable that many from within Israel, especially the scornful leaders(Isa.28:14-19) of the nation will see this great and powerful emperor of a consortium of ten nations as the Messiah of Israel. This period is divided into two equal halves of 1, 260 days, 42 months or three and one-half years.

(a) The Tribulation Period

Pretribs call the whole of this 7-year period the Tribulation Period. Obviously it will be a time of trouble. But does that warrant it being designated the Tribulation Period? We must bear in mind that this period relates to Israel. It is the last 7-year period appointed for her to finish the transgression, make an end of sin, make reconciliation for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. For the first three and one-half years, Israel enjoys relative peace under the protection of this powerful leader of ten nation confederation. He will probably station a protection force in Israel and her Holy City, Jerusalem, as did the United States in South Korea and Japan, and Russia in East Germany, Poland, etc., after the Second World War. Although this leader is the antiChrist, he is as yet veiled. Apart from the saints who understand the end times, and some members of his inner circle who know his mission, the large majority of the inhabitants of the Earth, including the leadership of Israel will see him as the answer to humanity’s myriads of problems. He will enjoy worldwide acceptance. Designating the 70th week of Daniel the Tribulation Period builds an a priori case for the Pretrib Rapture Position. There are no Scriptures that give warrant to this designation. It is better to refer to it as simply the 70th week of Daniel.

(b) The Time Of Jacob’s Trouble

Another error the pretribs commit which is like the first is the designation of the whole of the 70th Week as the time of Jacob’s trouble. “And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”(Jere.30:4-7). Although not all pretribs share this view(Dr. Ronald E. Showers), the large majority do. Like the previous one mentioned above it builds an a priori case for the Pretrib Rapture Position. If the whole of the 70th week is the time of Jacob’s trouble, then the Church is exempt from it. After all, God is dealing with Israel and not the Church.

But the whole of the 70th week cannot be the time of Jacob’s trouble because Israel enjoys relative peace during the first three and one-half years of the 70th week under the protection of the antiChrist prior to his unveiling at the midpoint of the 70th week. There are some Pretribs that concede that Israel enjoys relative peace during the first half of the 70th week, but go on to designate the whole of the 70th week as the time of Jacob’s trouble(Meno Kalisher).

The antiChrist will enforce this false peace agreement for the first half of the 70th week. He will ensure that none of the surrounding hostile Arab and Islamic nations attack Israel during the first half of the 70th week. This is to give Israel a false sense of security. He will deal with Israel himself. Until the midpoint of the 70th week when he abrogates the False Covenant of peace, he does not attack Israel. It is precisely in the middle of the 70th week when the antiChrist breaks his Covenant with Israel, and surrounds Jerusalem with his armies in what is called the Jerusalem Campaign by Robert Van Campen of blessed memory that every Jewish Israeli will put his hands on his loins, and face turned into paleness as a result of fear. “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.”(Luke 21:20). How can these hostile Arab and Islamic nations get their armies to surround Jerusalem when Israel has nuclear weapons? It can only be through subtle peace diplomacy brokered by the antiMessiah. If the antiMessiah happens to be or claims to be of Jewish descent, the added sense of “umbuntu” will make it easier for her to be subverted by the initial benevolence of the antiMessiah. However, there is no clear biblical evidence to warrant such assumption. At the same time he surrounds Jerusalem with his armies, he also desecrates the temple, and abrogates the daily animal, drink, and grain offerings began at the ratification of the false peace agreement. This is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet(Dan.9:27, Matt.24:15). Therefore the time of Jacob’s trouble begins at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel. It does not include the first half of the 70th week of Daniel.

(c) The Time Of God’s Wrath: The Day Of The Lord

It is obvious from the Scriptures that the Church is exempt from the wrath of God: for God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus the Christ(1 Thess.1:10, 5:9). If it can be established or proven from the Scriptures that the wrath of God begins at the commencement of the 70th week, hurrah, game over, the Church cannot go through any part of the 70th week. But are there any Scriptures that teach explicitly or implicitly that the wrath of God begins at the beginning of the 70th week? Pretribs teach that the whole of the 70th week is the period of God’s wrath, thusly building an a priori case for Pretrib Rapture Position inasmuch as the Church is exempt from the wrath of God. But the Scriptures are unequivocal in teaching that the day of the Lord is preceded by cosmic and celestial disturbances, and that the wrath of God occurs in the day of the Lord.

The prophet Joel announced that the day of the Lord shall be heralded by the darkening of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and the appearance of the blood Moon.

“The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.”(Joel 3:15). If the wrath of God begins at the commencement of the 70th week, then the 70th week must be preceded by the darkening of the Sun, Moon, and Stars. This singular truth destroys the Pretrib doctrine of imminence.

“And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.”(Joel 2:30-31).

The prophet Isaiah spoke of the same. “Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.”(Isaiah 24:23).

John the revelator told us that this event occurs at the breaking of the sixth seal, after the breaking of the fourth and fifth seals which signal the Great Tribulation and the martyrdom of the saints. The Great Tribulation begins at the midpoint of the 70th week. The sixth seal therefore is broken way into the second half of the 70th week. “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”(Rev.6:12-14). It is obvious therefore that the wrath of God which occurs in the day of the Lord begins in the second half of the 70th week.

The cosmic and celestial disturbances shall send men scurrying for non-existent refuge under the rocks and mountains in fear of the wrath of God which is about to begin. “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”(Rev.6:15-17).

In the Olivet Discourse, our Lord Jesus told His disciples that the darkening of the Sun, Moon, and Stars shall be preceded by the tribulation of those days. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:”(Matt.24:29). The tribulation of those days is the Great Tribulation spoken of earlier in verse 21.

In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established. “This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”(2 Cor.13:1). We have established from the Scriptures that the day of the Lord is preceded by cosmic and celestial disturbances, and that this phenomenon is preceded by the Great Tribulation which begins at the middle of the 70th week. It is evident therefore that the wrath of God does not begin at the commencement of the 70th week but rather begins way into the second half of the 70th week after the Great Tribulation which begins at the midpoint of the 70th week, after the cosmic and celestial disturbances which amputate the Great Tribulation.

(d) The Tribulation

Pretribs generally label the first three and one-half years of the 70th week of Daniel the Tribulation. Is this designation biblically accurate? Admittedly, the first three and one-half years of the 70th week of Daniel is a period of trouble. Apart from the emergence of false christs, false prophets, and false teachers, and of course the ultimate false christ, the antiChrist, there are wars, commotions, rumors, and threats of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places. These are troubles no doubt, but is there any biblical warrant to label it the Tribulation? Believers are not specifically targeted for genocide. The troubles are such as arise from human conflict and attempt by the antiChrist to gain world domination. In the Olivet Discourse our Lord Jesus calls this period the beginning of birth pains. “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”(Mat.24:5-8).

It is better therefore to stick to the biblical label or simply call it the first three and one-half years. If we designate it the Tribulation, is it in relation to Israel or the Church? During this period the antiChrist protects Israel. So Israel enjoys relative peace, tranquility, and prosperity during this period. And because the notorious world leader has not yet declared himself God, nor has demanded worship by all mortals, the saints are not specifically targeted for genocide because of their refusal to worship the Beast and to give him allegiance by bearing his mark. Who is persecuting who? Nations are at war with one another, jockeying for power and prominence, and there is realignment of nations. On top of that are famines, pestilences, and natural disasters like earthquakes which are the natural consequences of war. There is utter chaos. The rules of engagement enshrined in the Geneva convention will be rubbished. The WHO and international NGOs like Medicine Sans Frontier, the Red Cross and Red Crescent will not be able to function. The essence of the second horse and rider is to take away peace from the Earth in order that men shall kill one another(Rev.6:3,4). This is not particularly against Christians and the Jews. But that is not to say it will be easy for the believers and Jews. Not at all. But this is the narrow window of opportunity for both Jews and Christians who understand the end times to abandon the cities and towns, move into villages, forests, and wildernesses to prepare safe havens, store away food, medicine, and other supplies. It will be extremely difficult to do these things once the Great Tribulation has begone, and the Christians and Jews, and any other persons who refuse to give allegiance to the antiChrist are targeted for genocide.

Avraham Shallom.

My Objections To A Brother Whose View On The Rapture Is Pretribulational(2)

The Fifth Seal: Martyrs Under The Altar

“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”(Rev.6:9-11).

Biblical scholars have long recognized the parallelism between the Olivet Discourse in Matt.24, and Rev.6. But when we examine the Olivet Prophecy in Matt.24, we observe that there is no segment of it parallel to the Fifth Seal(Rev.6:9-11). The reason is simply because the Fifth Seal is in its entirety a heavenly scene. Christ is the author of both the Olivet Discourse and the Scroll Of Revelation. In the Olivet Discourse, Christ tells us what is going on here on Earth during the 70th Week of Daniel. In the Scroll Of Revelation, He gives more light by showing us what is going on Earth as well as in heaven. He wants us to know that He is in sovereign control of the events both on Earth as well as in heaven. This does not mean however, that He is responsible for the activities of wicked men. God permits evil, but does not approve of it, neither does He perpetrate it.

The first four seals of Rev.6 are sequential, consecutive and progressive. But the Fifth Seal is concurrent, coincident, and simultaneous with the fourth seal. The Fifth Seal does not advance the chronology of events here on Earth in the 70th week of Daniel. It occurs in heaven during the fourth seal. In consonance with the parallelism of the Olivet Discourse and Rev.6, the fourth seal is the Great Tribulation. During the Great Tribulaion, believers are being hounded, ferreted out and killed, and some taken captive. Our Lord Jesus told us in the Olivet Discourse believers shall be led captive into all nations(Luk.21:24). The Scroll Of Revelation tells us that those who will be taken captive were so destined. So also those who are to be killed. “He that is destined to go into captivity, into captivity he goes; and the he that is destined to be killed with the sword, with the sword the one shall be killed.”(Rev.13:10). The Great Tribulation shall be worldwide but the epicenter shall be the Land of Israel and its holy and capital city, Jerusalem.

During the Great Tribulation, the fourth seal, believers are being killed, and their disembodied spirits and souls are arriving in heaven. There is no distance in the realm of the spirit. As soon as these believers are killed, their disembodied spirits and souls arrive in heaven and are quartered under the golden altar of incense in the Holy Place in the Temple Of God in Heaven. This is the fifth seal. Remember that the Tabernacle in the wilderness was patterned after the Temple of God in Heaven. God reminded Moses: “see that thou do everything according to the pattern shown thee on the Holy Mount.”(Exod.29:9,40; Heb.8:5b). No Israelite who is not of the High priestly family of Aaron has access into the Holy Place, not even the Levites. In like manner, no Israelite who is not the High Priest, and of the family of Aaron has access into the Holy Of Holies, and that once a year, only on the Day Of Atonement, and after he has offered sacrifices for himself and the errors of the people of Israel(Heb.9:6,7). Any violations of these ordinances attracted the death penalty.

That the Fifth Seal martyrs merited to be quartered under the Golden Altar Of Incense in the Holy Place Of The Temple in Heaven indicates that they were priests. And Christ has made us kings and priests. “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”(Rev.1:4-6). If the fifth seal martyrs were Jews who did not believe in Jesus, they would not have access to the Holy Place. They are believers both Jews and Gentiles who share a common faith in the finished and soteriological works of Christ on the Cross Of Calvary.

The Fifth Seal martyrs asked God how long it would be before He avenges their death on their murderers. If the wrath of God has already begun in the Day Of The Lord from the commencement of the 70th week as pretribs teach, would it not have been proper for God to tell them:

“Can’t you see, I have already begun to punish those wicked murderers: the antiChrist has emerged on the World Stage, he has formed a coalition of ten nations. He has also tried to win the rest of the nations of the world to his side through subtle peace diplomacy. That has failed, and he has now resorted to war. There are wars and commotions, rumors and threats of wars. Nations have risen up against nations and kingdom against kingdom, and as a result, there are famines, pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. My servant Michael has cast down my enemy Satan to the Earth. He is now angry with the inhabitants of the Earth, knowing that he has but a short time. He has possessed the antiChrist who has moved his headquarters to Jerusalem. He has desecrated my Temple, and is demanding that men worship him in place of Me. He is killing my saints who refuse to worship him, and that is how your souls come to be under the golden altar in my temple in heaven?”(Rev.6,12,13).

Ridiculous you would say, and you are right. How can the antiChrist come to power in the Day Of The Lord and complish all these things including the martyrdom of the Fifth Seal martyrs at a time when God alone is to be exalted, in the day no man shall be exalted and the haughtiness of men brought low, in the Day when the idols shall be abolished, and the gods that had not made the heavens and the Earth perish from under the Earth and under these heavens?(Isa.2:18-22; Jere.10:11).

If the wrath of God had already begun, they did not need to wait: in fact, there would have been no need for their question how long. God admonished them to wait until their fellow saints to be martyred had been accomplished. There is a certain number of saints to be martyred. It is a secret number known only to God. The secret things belong to God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and our children(Deut.29:29). Those to be martyred were so destined, and those to be taken captive were also so destined. This is the patience and faith of the saints(Rev.13:10). It is a display of ignorance to denigrate and cast aspersions on the Fifth Seal martyrs, and to make them the butt of a joke of being made the “bottom” of the altar. The Scripture did not say they were made the “bottom” of the altar, but that they were kept under the altar pending the completion of the number of the saints to be martyred during the Great Tribulation that was going on at that time.

If the Great Tribulation were allowed to run throughout the whole length of the three and one-half years allotted to the antiChrist, no believer will be left alive to be raptured. But because some believers must be raptured alive, God will cut short the Great Tribulation(Matt.24:22). Also no Jew or Gentile who did not take the Mark of the Beast will survive the second half of the 70th week. But some Jews will survive and be reconciled to God on the 3rd day of the 30-day Reclamation Period when the Mystery Of God is finished and His spiritual kingdom complete(Rev.10:7). And some Gentiles will survive the second half of the 70th week to appear at the Sheep And Goat Judgment(Matt.25:31-46). The Sheep will be justified to enter the Millennium in their mortal bodies to repopulate the Earth alongside their Jewish counterpart. The goats shall be executed and their souls banished to Hell.

God will cut short the Great Tribulation with cosmic and celestial disturbances(Matt.24:29-31). This is the sixth seal which will send all the wicked scurrying for non-existent cover and protection under the rocks and mountains in fear of the wrath of the Lamb before which no man shall be able to stand, abruptly bringing the Great Tribulation to a halt(Rev.6:12-17). The Fifth Seal martyrs were executed for the word of God and the testimony which they held. They should be admired and congratulated not denigrated and disparaged.

We must distinguish the wrath of God from the wrath of Satan(Rev.6:16; 12:12). The wrath of Satan comes first and is directed against the saints of the Most High. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”(Rev.13:7-10).

The wrath of God comes last and is directed against the wicked Earth-dwellers who worship the antiChrist and the Great Dragon and have murdered the saints of the Most High during the Great Tribulation. This is the theology of the second. Carnal things first before spiritual things. “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”(1 Cor.15:46-49). The saints must be tested first to purify them before the sinners shall be subjected to the wrath of God.

“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:”(Eph.5:3-8).

Apart from the sins listed in the above quoted segment of the Scriptures, the other reason anyone would be subject to God’s wrath is to take the mark of allegiance to the antiChrist. “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”(Rev.14:9-12).

God will recompense tribulation(the wrath of God) to those who have troubled us the saints during the Great Tribulation by the antiChrist(2 Thess.1:6). It takes time for sin to pile up to heaven. God cannot punish the wicked until their cup of iniquity is full. Until they have killed the saints in a rage that reaches up to heaven, God cannot begin to punish them for their evils. The wrath of God does not begin until after the breaking of the sixth seal.

The first four seals have nothing to do with the wrath of God, but have everything to do with the wrath of Satan; in fact, the Great Tribulation is the Great wrath of Satan which does not begin until Satan is cast down to the Earth at the midpoint of the 70th week and possesses the antiChrist ceding his power and authority unto him to act on his behalf, and the Restrainer is removed. As Christ is God’s representative on Earth to administer His wrath against the wicked Earth-dwellers and worshippers and adorers of the Dragon-Beast, so also is the antiChrist Satan’s representative on Earth to administer his wrath against the saints of the Most High, the Jews and Gentiles, who reject his Mark of allegiance.

The Fifth Seal martyrs were not feeble saints who missed the first roundup, for the Rapture has not yet occurred. The Scriptures make it clear in both the Olivet Discourse and the Scroll Of Revelation that the Rapture occurs after the Tribulation of those days, after the breaking of the sixth seal with the attendant cosmic and celestial disturbances, shortly before the breaking of the seventh seal. The same day the Shekinah Glory(the appearance of the Son Of Man) appears in the heavens, the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel are sealed for protection, and the saints raptured to take them away from the scene of the Great Tribulation and the wrath of God which is about to begin at the breaking of the seventh seal(Matt.24:29-31; Mk.13:24-27; Rev.7:1-17).

Avraham Shallom.