This shortened article is based on an earlier posted article which is available at https://mtzionheritageministries.com/?s=Concise+sequence+of+events+of+the+end+times
The evolution Of The Mark Of the Beast
What is the reconstruction of the biblically accurate sequence of events of the end times to one who has THE MARK OF THE BEAST? It is like medicine after death. A physician who administers the most potent medicine after the death of his patient is a physician of NO value. Those of us Prewrathers who teach those who are covid vaccinated the PreWrath Rapture view are physicians of no value.
We must first of all warn our audience about the dangers of the C19 vaccines, then we can teach them the correct sequence of events of the end times after they have resolved not to ever take any of the C19 vaccines nor the RT-PCR tests. When we do the opposite, we put the cart before the horse. We go no where. We must chase away the fox first, then the hen can be warned against wandering in the bush. If we don’t chase away the fox first before warning the hen against wandering in the bush, the hen would be dead.
“Vaccine passports are digital identity schemes that can expand to include credit history & online behavior:” WEF report.
This is from the horse’s mouth. It is a Global DIGITAL IDENTITY SCHEME. It can EXPAND to include CREDIT HISTORY and ONLINE BEHAVIOR. It is not a VACCINE. It is THE MARK OF THE BEAST. It is a DOUBLE EDGED SWORD, a WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION, a GLOBAL DEPOPULATION AGENDA. The LOGO of the WEF is 666 hidden in plain sight. They are killing two birds with one stone: population reduction and global 🆔 scheme.
This people couldn’t be clearer. Every one on Earth either gets it or starves to death. Bill Gates has said everyone must get it. That is the agenda of the WEF. Klaus Schwab said: “until everyone is covid vaccinated, no one is safe.” Everyone must have a C19 vaccine digital ID that will be linked to CBDC. Microsoft has patented a cryptocurrency with bodily activities. The patent number is WO2020060606. Obviously THE MARK OF THE BEAST hidden in plain sight. The covid plandemic was cooked up by the global elites and the WEF to herd the whole of humanity into being digitally 🆔ed. According to Noah Yuval Harari, the covid pandemic is what convinced the world to accept digital 🆔. It is an ARTIFICIAL HEALTH THREAT manufactured by the global elites to get the masses of humanity to surrender their free will to be controlled by the global elites. It is medical tyranny. According to Kristalina Georgieva of Romania, the head of the IMF, there is no pandemic, it is all about Digital 🆔. How could one hear things like these from those involved in the scheme and still remain skeptical or dismiss C19 as a pandemic and the covid bioweapon and Digital 🆔 scheme as a vaccine? This medical tyranny will lead to One World Totalitarian Government. It is an ARTIFICIAL THREAT manufactured by the global elites to get the masses of humanity to surrender their free will to be controlled by the global elites.
The diagrammatic schema above prepared by the WEF says it all. Vaccination is at the centre of the NWO, Global Governance, Digital ID, Business and Economy etc. Without mRNA Vaccination, there will be no global digital ID. Remember Kristalina Georgieva of Romania 🇷🇴, the current head of the IMF said, “there is no pandemic. It’s all about digital ID.” Your Vaccination status will determine whether or not you get CBDC, Digital Currency and whether or not you use it and to what extent.
This diagrammatic schema is from the WEF. See its logo on the topmost left corner. It is not prepared by any conspiracy theorist. Take a look at the circles, the inner and outer. At the centre is vaccination which is highlighted to make it conspicuous. At the periphery one finds digital ID, CBDC, NWO etc. mRNA vaccination is at the centre of digital ID and CBDC. This is from the horse’s mouth. Kristalina Georgieva of Romania 🇷🇴, head of the IMF said there is no covid pandemic. It is all about digital ID. CBDC will be issued by the World Central Bank which is the BIS(Bank For International Settlement). It is a smack in the face of those who are rather pushing a false narrative that NIN will metamorphose into CBDC which will in turn metmorphose into The Mark Of The Beast. Now hear the bombshell: you CANNOT own a CBDC and operate it unless you are a cyborg or a humanoid or a transhuman. In other words, your DNA must be altered by prior and repeated mRNA injections and or repeated RT-PCR tests.
The WEF said there are too many people in the World. They want only 500 million people with altered DNA alive out of the estimated 7.8 billion people in the world prior to covid plandemic. The rest are excess human beings(Noah Yuval Harari), useless eaters(Dr. Lima Leboeuf, quoting Dr. Henry Kissinger). The remaining 500 million will be humanoid zombies and cyborgs who will be herded into 36 15-minute smart cities around the globe, two of which are Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria.
Since the introduction of mRNA injections, there are excess deaths in US, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand 🇳🇿, Israel 🇮🇱 etc. A tsunami of deaths is occurring amongst the vaccinated population. Kazuhiro Haraguchi, the former internal affairs minister of Japan, has become the first major politician to apologize to the unvaccinated. He said to the unvaccinated, “you are right, the vaccines are killing millions of our loved ones.”
In the US today, maternal and infant mortality rates have gone back to what they were 40 years ago. That means, all the gains of maternal and child health in the last four decades have been lost or reversed and rubbished by the introduction of mRNA injections. Mothers are dying with their babies in their wombs according to professor Peter McCullough. Young and healthy athletes who had mRNA injections are dropping dead in the field of play. There is now Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. Young covid vaxxed men and women, even children are developing and dying of cancers which were before only seen in the septagenerian, octagenarian etc. He that has ears 👂to hear, let him hear. Let no man decieve you(Matt.24:4).
Luc Montaigne, the renowned French virologist who found out AIDS was caused by HIV said if you have had first and second doses of the covid vaccine and a booster, test yourself for HIV. If positive, sue your government. Within a forthnight, he was dead. The French government said he died of natural causes, but private autopsy by family members said he was murdered. He was in his nineties though.
Prof Arne Burkhardt, the world renowned foremost pathologist carried out histological studies on the testes of 39 young men who died after covid vaccination. They all suffered from azoospermia. He concluded that if he were a young woman, he would not start a family with covid vaccinated male. Within two weeks, he was dead. The German government said he died of natural causes, but private autopsy by family members said he was murdered. He was in his nineties. Other studies have shown that the fertility rate in the mRNA vaccinated is reduced to 60%. In the subsequent generation, i.e., their offspring, it is zero.
According to Prof McCullough, nine peer reviewed studies say the mRNA vaxxed are dying of AIDS. This is due to the fact that their immune system has been destroyed by the mRNA vaccine. What the architects of the covid vaccines are not telling us is that the majority of covid vaccinated people will die in the next five years(2025 – 2030), due to compromised immunity and a host of other side effects.
According to Prof Michael Yeadon of Oxford University, they have gone ahead and re-engineered all vaccines with the mRNA base. mRNA is in all childhood vaccines, enbrel(a drug used in the treatment of autoimmune rheumatoid arthritis manufacture by Pfizer), insulin, dental anaesthetics and other injectables. They want to make it the treatment protocol for all ailments. So, DO NOT TAKE any vacvines.
According to Dr. Reiner Fuellmich who is now in prison custody in Germany for his activities since the onset of the covid plandemic, CBDC will be issued by a single central World bank. According to Dr. Peter Koenig of Switzerland, the QR Code of the covid vaxxed and PCR tested are now used as digital ID by banks in Switzerland and other Nordic countries. They are linked up with other QR Codes and are capable of storing immense and unlimited data.
CBDC will NOT be issued by NIMC. NIMC is NOT in charge of currency in Nigeria let alone in the whole world. Why are they arrogating to NIMC and Nigeria 🇳🇬 the authority neither has. Nigeria and NIMC are small fries in the scheme of things in the end times. They do only what they are told by the globalists and their institutions like the WB, IMF, UN, WHO, their financial overlords and benefactors. NIN is at the behest of the WB, so also the revision which is about to begin. If NIN will metamorphose into CBDC and The MARK OF THE BEAST, what will you say about China where the vacvine QR Code is already in use as a means of identification in 15-minute smart cities, and Klaus Schwab is already touting it as a model for the rest of the world. Their persistence in touting NIN as the mark of the beast is nothing other than cognitive disonance(Mattias Desmet). The more you look 👀, the less you see. Ojukokoro! Abracadabra!
On the inner circle of the diagrammatic schema by the WEF on the NWO, it is written: economic and business implication of vaccination. What has vaccination got to do with bussiness and economy. Everything. Because if you are not vaxxed, you are not a cyborg or humanoid. “The unvaccinated have no place in our society,” so says Mario Draghi, the former Prime minister of Italy. He that has ears 👂to hear, let him hear.
A whole book could be written on this diagrammatic schema prepared by the WEF. It summerises their plans and purposes. In this future world 🌎, the NWO, everything is dependent on VACCINATION. If you are unvaccinated, you CANNOT obtain health insurance, you cannot travel, you cannot go to school or establish or run a business or participate in any civic activities. Global governance, science and religion, finance, depend on it. Can you imagine, you CANNOT go to church unless you are modRNA vaxxed. You are not part of the society. Mario Draghi said, the unvaccinated are not part of our society. Klaus Schwab said no one is safe except everyone is vaccinated. Bill Gates was even more audacious: everyone MUST be vaccinated. Where is free will then ?Where is freedom? And whatever happened to democracy? What they are telling us is, unless you are reprogrammed into a humanoid(human 2.0), become a cyborg or transhuman, you CANNOT participate in the NWO. You say, Bro Zion, no one is talking about vaccines now. Why are you obsessed with it? They are going to bring it back, and it will be forcibly implemented. We would have to get out of the grid, vamoose into the bush in order to avoid forced vaccinations. The European Union have approved the use of self-replicating mRNA that will be passed onto the unvaccinated by transfection.
Dr. Geanina Hagima, a gynecologist from Romania who has testified in the Romanian parliament regarding the C19 crimes against humanity for which she was sanctioned by the Medical College, has presented research about The Transhumanist Agenda of the European Union through Biodigital Convergence which is in progress. Dr. Hagima has exposed nanotechnology in the C19 and other vaccines, and has done rainwater analysis displaying the building blocks of nanotechnology. She explains Biodigital Convergence: what happens when biology and digital technology merge? According to her, digital technology is opening up striking new ways to:
Change human beings – our bodies, minds, and behaviours;
Change and create other organisms;
Alter ecosystems;
Sense, store, process, and transmit information;
Manage biological innovation;
Structure and manage production and supply chains.
The European Union Transhumanist agenda is in consonance with the agenda of the WEF to change humanity. They are working in tandem. And what is Biodigital Convergence? Biodigital Convergence is the interactive combination, sometimes to the point of merging, of digital and biological technologies and systems.
Christine Lagarde, former head of the IMF, who is now head of ECB(European Central Bank Bank), says bank notes contribute immensely to Climate Change, so priming and brainwashing, railroading and hoodwinking the masses into accepting Digital Currency. With Digital Currency, the noncompliant, the unvaccinated can be locked out of the economy with a simple click of the button.
Oh! You see, the WEF and His Majesty’s Government are coöperating. The Magogites are ruling the world through the WEF and HM Government is their GRAND patron. Bear in mind that the Anglus and the Saxons are Magogites who migrated to the British Isles from Lower Saxony in Bavaria. Magog is the first son of Japheth the elder(Gen.10:2), and has the right of primogeniture which amongst other things includes leadership, priesthood and double inherititance. Global leadership shifted from Ham to Shem and then Japheth with whom it rests till the end of times.
The CBDC proposed by HM Government will be implemented worldwide through the BIS(Bank For International Settlement)and the Central Banks of nations. The WEF has told us that C19 vaccine passports are DIGITAL IDENTITY SCHEMES that can be expanded to include CREDIT HISTORY and ONLINE BEHAVIOR. And that includes your CARBON FOOTPRINT as well.
Why are they ignoring the Social Security Number(SSN) which has existed for nearly a century in Europe and US and Canada(North America) and the nascent NIN in Nigeria, and talking about expanding the C19 vaccine passport to include credit history and online behavior? C19 vaccines have killed millions and permanently injured millions more. According to Prof Roger Hodgkinson, the Canadian pathologist, covid vaccines have killed over an estimated 20 million people worldwide and injured 2.2 billion more, and some of them permanently. It dovetails perfectly into their global agenda of world depopulation and control through digital 🆔.
The Church And The Mark Of The Beast
Please, don’t get me wrong. I do not belittle the Mystical Body Of Christ, the invisible Church, the Body Of All True Believers In Christ. I love them. Am concerned about them. They are my brethren in Christ. Am part and parcel of it. From the pulpit to the pew, all in the Church aren’t true believers. And we seldom know who is who considering the fact that the weeds and the tares are growing together(Matt.13:30).
I think there is urgent need to teach the Body Of Christ, THE EVOLUTION OF The Mark Of The Beast. Believers ought to know how it will evolve in order to follow the evolution and spot the Mark and avoid it altogether at all costs. The world will not call it The Mark Of the beast. The onus of identification of The Mark Of The Beast rests with the saints of the Most High based on its description in the Holy Writ. The danger is that once the root is implanted under the skin, all that follows to the REAL McCOY is online upgrade. I didn’t invent that. The WEF said so in their report quoted above. According to Yuval Noah Harari, the next in human evolution is surveillance under the skin. It has already begun with C19. Man is now a hackable animal. Free will is over.
But when it comes to informing the saints of the evolution of the Mark Of The Beast, I find the visible Church and her leadership and teachers mostly practically useless. They are not telling us the truth. They don’t seem to know the TRUTH. So, they CANNOT teach nor tell us the truth. This is a very serious matter. Of what use is the most potent medicine after death? The best physician and the dick surgeon are powerless, masterly inactivated and incapacitated once the patient is dead. As the Igbos say, once the baby dies the maid or nanny is jobless and must be relieved of her duty. She goes home.
Let me state it clearly, no mincing of words, in bald language and with no holds barred: once one has been branded with the Mark Of The Beast, the most accurate biblical construct of PreWrath eschatology or the sequence of events of the End Times is of no consequence. They have already complied with the Mark Of The Beast. It is a matter of automatic upgrade. It is all or none law. Every good thing the governments offer is exclusively for the vaccinated. “The unvaccinated are not part of our society,” says Mario Draghi, the former Italian prime minister. It is a matter of time, these things will be made clear to everyone.
Digital 🆔 is already here with us: it is the covid vaccine and PCR test QR Code. And don’t tell me, we are all intelligent beings, we can understand. We do not need to belabour the issue. How many times did we hear the Gospel before it made sense to us, before we believed? There are very few of us who heard the gospel once and believed. We eat practically the same foods everyday in order to remain nourished and healthy. We teach our children and remind them again and again about the same things until they sink in. It is exactly the same thing when it comes to spiritual food. If we don’t review our subjects very often, we forget due to memory decay. Am alarmed at how easily I forget certain things if I don’t review them often. Therefore, I formed the habit of reviewing certain things every day. There are chapters of the Bible I read everyday without let.
The Church is under Satanic Premedication and the anaesthesia will be administered very soon. As Dr. Jaiye has said, the pastors have put their congregations under sleeping pills. That premise is correct, though I totally disagree with his inference that the NIN will evolve into the Mark Of The Beast. What happens to C19 vaccine QR Code already implanted under the skin of the vaccinated? Truth is parallel whether spoken at the shrine of Amadioha, Ogun, Sango, the Buddhist Temple, Hindu temple, the synagogue, Church etc. When we study the cultures and customs and traditions of the Middle East, we see some of the same basic principles and practices as are annunciated in the Jewish Bible among other ethnic groups though they were idol worshippers. It tells us that TRUTH is parallel. For example, The Code of Hammurabi which antedates The Mosaic Law of the Old Testament contains the same legal principles as are annunciated in the Mosaic Law. NIN is national, but the Covid vaccine digital scheme is international. It supersedes NIN.
Food As A Bargaining Chip
Food will be used as a bargaining chip. If one doesn’t have The Mark Of The Beast, one does not buy and sell.
“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.”(Rev.13:17 KJV).
Secondly, the food from the industry will be GMOs. By persistently eating GMOs, the eater is hybridized. Whether through GMOs, vaccines, other injectables, climate change, chemical sprays and chemtrails, there is a total war on humanity being waged by the globalists. The goal is to kill off 7.5 billion people, the excess human beings(Noah Yuval Harari), the useless eaters(Dr. Lima Lebow), and the remaining 500 million will be patented humanoid zombies who will man robots that farm the land for the global elites. One is either destroyed or disqualified by hybridization.
If food production is totally industrialized, the food manufacturers will control the supply. Look at what is happening in the Netherlands. The government wants to chase the farmers out of their lands in the guise of providing accommodation for new immigrants. It wants to take over food production and replace natural seeds with GMOs. In the US, the Biden Administration pays farmers to destroy their crops in order to create artificial food scarcity. So, there will be attempts to concentrate the food industry in the hands of the cronies of the antiMessiah. If one does not buy and sell, one does not eat. If one does not eat, one dies. So, food is a means of control of the masses. Bill Gates, the vaccine freak and eugenicist is the largest land owner in the US. Does that ring a bell? He is also developing AI to identify “harmful speech.” And what is harmful speech? Any speech or act that persuades someone to skip a dose of mRNA vaccine. His or her social media and bank accounts could be blocked or frozen. Such a person could be face legal charges and prosecution.
The Synthetic Messenger RNA is not science but lies. It is genetic poison. The SYNTHETIC mRNA technology is a quantum computer operating system intended to alter human genetic makeup, kill off a substantial portion of the human population, the useless eaters, the vulnerable and turn the survivors into humanoid zombies. Believers and indeed any person who fears God should have nothing to do with synthetic mRNA technology. Come not near it while you are in possession of your senses. I have been shouting it from the get go that the covid vaccines are no vaccines at all but viral gene based therapy. I had no scientific evidence then but just divine intuition and premonition. Now evidence abound.
Dr. William Bay took the Australian health regulator, APHRA to court over the mRNA injection, and worn. Dr. Mike Yeadon said about the case, “This is HUGE. There are tears of joy, not just in Australia but across the world. The criminal malfeasance from our government health bureaucracy has been destroyed in Queensland Supreme Court.” Here’s what Dr. William Bay said after the court handed down it’s decision:
“I think the vaccines are shit mate, they’re absolute shit, they are killers. They destroy people’s DNA – and i’m telling you this Australia and the world as a registered doctor.
This is coming from a registered Australian medical professional; the mRNA vaccines are poisonous. They are bad for you, they are not good for you. They are harming your children they are harming you.
Everything you’ve heard has been there to deceive you. I have been vindicated in court today. To let you know the people of Australia that you have been lied to by the medical regulator.
The medical regulator APHRA has lied to you.
Justice Bradley in Supreme Court has today declared me 100% correct …. WE HAVE WON”
Make no mistake about it. The vaccinated are infertile and fast becoming imbeciles too with 20 points drop in IQ. The PCR test apart from indirectly vaccinating the recipient also lobotomizes him or her. Chemical(biochemical and hormonal) Frontal Lobe ablation renders the C19 vaccine recipient an imbecile for life. Anatomically it is there and connected to the rest of the brain, but it is functionally useless. The depopulation agenda of the WEF is on track. They want to collapse world economy, cause inflation and food scarcity. The masses are more pliable when they are hungry. Whoever controls the food will control the people says Henry Kissinger. But they forget also that a hungry man is an angry man. And that the most unexpected can be expected from a humiliated people(French philosopher, Mark Ribald).
When will The Mark Of The Beast be revealed? At the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel no doubt. But it will be in use long before that time. I have been shouting it for the past decade now. It is here now. It is mRNA vaccine digital 🆔. He that will hear, let him hear.
Human Health And The Mark Of The Beast
Of late two young Nigerians slumped and died. This sort of thing was extremely rare before the advent of covid vaccines. And some want us to sweep it under the rug and not say a word about it. Some have called for the arrest of Professor Noah Yuval Harari. On the contrary, I do NOT think he should be arrested. Who is going to arrest him anyway? Are they not the ones who set him up? He is telling us the truth with no holds barred unlike the hypocrites in the Church – GOs, bishops, Pentecostal archbishops and pastors – who urge us to get the C19 vaccines, who say fornication is damning, a mortal sin, a sin unto death, unpardonable, but altering human DNA is a venial sin and pardonable. It is on our body they say. It does not affect our spirit and soul. They groan and moan under the weight of NIN but keep mute about the C19 vaccines which alter human DNA and have killed millions and maimed others and rendered them infertile and subhuman. Hypocrites, blind guides of the blind who strain at a gnat but swallow a camel(Matt.23:24). They will both fall into a pit. They are the ones that should be called out.
If you think the covid vaccines are over, you have another thing coming. The synthetic mRNA is being reengineered for all vaccines, autoimmune diseases and cancers, and will become the mainstay of medical treatment. Time is coming when we shall be compelled to take these vaccines or get out of the society. We shall hide in the bush to escape forced vaccinations. At that time, if you are 50 years old and above, and sick, if you ever enter the hospital, both general or private, you wouldn’t get out. You would be euthanized unless you are remarkably rich and contribute immensely to the global agenda or play what is deemed a significant and vital role in the system.
Those of us who teach eschatology from the PreWrath Rapture perspectives MUST emphasize this MOST important point or our work is USELESS. What is PreWrath eschatology to one who already has the MARK OF THE BEAST? Zoach!
Technology And The Mark Of The Beast
It is dangerous to read only the Bible. Some people boast about that. When you read George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984, do they not throw some light on the End Times Scenario? When you read only the Scroll Of Revelation, you may end up thinking the Mark Of The Beast is just like a tribal mark or a number tattooed on the hand or forehead. No, it is far more than that. It is AI. It is a quantum computer operating system that reprogrammes one into a humanoid zombie. It connects one to the Internet Of Body and things. It is alien nanotechnology. It is self-assembling nanoscale technical device injected under the skin. It is a depopulation agenda. It is transhumanism via gene therapy and bioengineering. It is human-machine interface. It is human-demon interface. It is human-demon-machine interface. Human beings will interface with machines and demons. One is reduced to a patented electronic device. One becomes hackable and programmable. One is visible on Bluetooth, has a QR Code and Mac Address and IP Address.
It alters one’s genetics. A plasmid DNA has entered into the human genome. One is demonized and externally manipulated. One loses free will, and becomes a humanoid zombie. One is monitored 24/7. One loses freedom. One can be programmed to behave in certain way, commit crimes, say certain things and even die in a particular way – say heart attack, thrombosis, degenerative brain disease, cancers, blood dyscrasias or simply drop dead etc. The commonest cause of death today is Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. Pediatricians have also found out that the covid vaccines are implicated in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Man Reduced To Numbers
They want you to become a number with a microchip under your skin so you can be a hackable animal. Human beings have been given numbers from time immemorial. I have given several examples in the past. But let me remind us of the case of the Jews as Concentration Camp inmates. They were given numbers before they were exterminated. It is a process of dehumanization. It salved the conscience of the Nazis that they were dealing with mere numbers and not persons. It is a psychological process of desensitizing the murderers of human sympathy and empathy.
When it comes to the Mark Of The Beast, you are not just given a number but a number with a microchip under your skin and much more that alters your humanity, personality, and dignity. The Mark Of The Beast is not just a mark or a number, it is alien nanotechnology and metamaterials. There are lots about it that meet the eye. There are lots about it that we do not yet know let alone understand.
Let no one deceive you(Matt.24:4; Eph.5:6; 2 Thess.2:3; 2 Tim.3:13; 1 Jon.3:7). If a subject is mentioned once in the Bible, it is not very important, but if it is repeated several times, it is VERY important.
NIN/SSN: A Precursor?
NIN does NOT change your genetic code. NIN does NOT give you blood clots. NIN does not cause menstrual irregularities and disregulation. NIN does NOT cause miscarriages or render fertile women and men infertile. NIN does NOT cause Guilliane Barre syndrome nor degenerative brain diseases. NIN does NOT cause cerebral aneurism nor blood clots in the brain. NIN has not killed any athletes nor does it cause them to keel over. NIN does NOT cause myocarditis in children and young men and women. NIN does NOT cause Sudden Adult Death Syndrome nor Multiple-organ Inflammatry Syndrome(MIS) in both children and adults. NIN has NOT caused anyone to fall down suddenly, somersault and die. NIN does NOT make you visible on Bluetooth. NIN does NOT give you a QR Code on your person. Even in the graveyard, the covid vaxxed are visible on Bluetooth and their QR Codes detectible.
I don’t know anyone who has put his NIN on a microchip(RFID), implanted it in his forearm or hand and is using it to buy and sell on the net as some in Sweden are doing with the C19 vaccines QR Codes. NIN is NOT universal, transnational nor mandatory. NIN is national. Your NIN identifies you as a Nigerian as much as the Social Security Number(SSN) identifies an American as a US citizen. In Europe and America SSN has been in use for over a hundred years. It has not metamorphosed into the Mark Of The Beast, nor will NIN. NIN is not on your person. It is external. It is time we stop leaving the substance to pursue the shadow. It is time we stop majoring in the minor.
Numbers have been used to identify people from time immemorial. In class in the primary schools we were given numbers in the class registers. When your number is called out by your teacher during roll call you answered present. When we write exams, we are given numbers. When I registered in Ife University in 1979, I was given a number 791177 which appeared on my 🆔 card. No other student will ever get that number in the history of the university. Giving people numbers is not new at all. I still remember the number I was given to write common entrance into Secondary school in 1972, OW/3245. Military personnel, soldiers and police officers are given numbers which identify them. But these are not The Mark Of The Beast.
Everyone on our WhatsApp platform has NIN. Anyone who has a phone # registered in his or her name has NIN whether he or she knows it or not. If NIN is The Mark Of The Beast, then we all have it. We might as well close this platform and go home. Registering for NIN is not the first time our biometrics like finger print and facial recognition were captured. Long before the introduction of NIN, our finger prints and facial ID were captured when we registered our phone #s, got our drivers license or international passport.
Mainstream Media
Over 1000 covid vaxxed athletes have dropped dead, the MSM have never once drawn our attention to it. If at all they say anything about it, they blame it on everything else other than the covid vaccines. There are about 32 speculations about the causes of adult sudden death syndrome including social media hatred, running too fast for athletes, and viewing television for hours, playing video games for hours or days nonstop, none of which is new. All over the world, even here in Nigeria, some who have taken the C19 vaccines have dropped dead suddenly, the MSM have never said anything about it. There is no record of adverse reactions to the covid vaccines or death at the NCDC website, whereas some have died from the COVID vaccines and others maimed. What a shame! The leading cause of death in the US and Uk is now Sudden Adult death Syndrome.
Vaccinated women have had miscarriages, the MSM have never said a word about it. Gynaecologists and Urologists who run fertility clinics have being reporting increases in female and male infertility, after the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines, the MSM have been deaf and mute about it. All over the world, statistics have reported excess deaths since the introduction of the Covid-19 vaccines, the MSM have been silent about it. Morticians, undertakers, and insurance companies have reported excess deaths, strange blood clots, following the introduction of Covid-19 vaccines, but the MSM has ignored it. It does not take an angelic visitation to see where their allegiance is. They are the stooges of the WEF and His Majesty’s Government. Thy are partners in crime with the WEF, the British Crown, the government of nations, Big Pharma and medical establishments and Health Institutions, and military industrial complex. They are complicit in the genociding of humanity.
The world is on a collision course with its Maker. Evil men will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived even in the Church(2 Tim.3:13). Deception is the other of the day.
Take Covid for instance. Scientists are lying. Governments are lying. Pastors are lying, NGOs are lying. Big Pharma are lying. Medical doctors and medical associations are lying. MSM are lying. How on Earth will the world get better when it filled with liars, cheats and their lies. In Nigeria, soldiers and policemen frame young men up and kill them if they refuse to be exhorted. Young men in Sagamu don’t want to work, but they love luxury and the good life. So, they are busy stealing from the accounts of the masses every day with the collusion of some bank workers.
The Synthetic Messenger RNA
Stefan Oelrich, the CEO of Merck in a secret meeting of Big Pharma executives(I have posted this video here several times) said the covid vaccines are gene therapy not vaccines. That if they announced them as gene therapy, 95% of the world population would not receive them. They had to call them vaccines. This is deceitful.
Psychological Brainwashing
Tell a big lie. Repeat it often, and people will start believing it. Joseph Geobells, the NAZI chief propagandist employed this psychological method which he learned from his Master, the Fuhrer himself, Adolf Hitler to deceive and to hypnotize the German populace, the most educated at that time in the whole wide world. Do you know that psychologists have found out it is easier to decieve and brainwash an intelligent and educated people than a village palm wine tapper or a stark illiterate? The German society in the 1930s and ‘40s was a prime example. They were brainwashed to hate Jews. The same is happening today. Antisemitism is on the rise in Europe and America, and we are more educated than ever. Humanity is being brainwashed, hypnotized and reprogrammed and the WEF is at the Centre of it. How many village farmers and palm wine tappers are CIA, FSB, MI5, and Mossad agents? None. They are usually educated people: professors, university dons, scientists, government officials, CEOs of Big Pharma, Big Techs etc. often times, they are recruited without their knowledge of it. When they realize it and want to opt out, they are threatened and cowered into submission or held down by mouthwatering and lucrative offers.
Psychologists have also found out, it is easier to hypnotize the masses of humanity than an individual(Professor Matthias Desmet). Find something that makes the masses afraid and neurotic, usually a health scare. Besides, there are campaigns of intimidation, calumny, gaslighting and social engineering to bully the human populace to submission. Scientists who cry foul are silenced by threats of loss of job and grants for research, aborted carreers, and even death threats. Hundreds have disappeared into thin air, vaporized, or died under mysterious circumstances which are usually labeled natural deaths or suicides.
Covid Vaccine-Induced Maladies
Now evidence abound. 25% increase in cardiac emergencies amongst vaccinated children, and young adults. Over 1000 athletes have fallen down in the field of play and died. 80% of vaccinated mothers in the first trimester of pregnancy suffer miscarriages. Stillbirths, death-in-utero, abnormal babies with black eyes – so called COVID BABIES OR PANDEMIC BABIES – who die within 2-3 weeks of birth are on the increase. Thromboembolic phenomena, blood clots so thick they cannot be dissolved by the usual fibrinolytic agents, stage 4/5 cancers appearing within weeks of vaccination, prion(neurodegenerative) diseases even in the young, blood clots in the brain, massive cerebral aneurisms(aneurisms are rare except in combat life), autoimmune diseases, HIV+ tests etc. These are unheard of in medical history.
The list is endless. Pfizer’s own documents has 9 pages of adverse reactions and effects and show that over 90,000 people died within 2 weeks of the commencement of covid vaccinations. According to Prof Roger Hodgkinson, Canada’s leading pathologist, the covid vaccines have killed 20 million people worldwide and injured 2.2 billion others. Despite these mountains of evidence, some Christians who suffer from mass psychosis and cognitive dissonance and amnesia want us to go on receiving these vaccines for another 20-30 years in order to conduct cohort studies. How many people will be left alive or remain normal by then? They themselves would even be dead and gone, and wouldn’t be available for the study. Or else turned into lobotomized humanoid zombies who will not question anything.
Please NEVER believe whatever anyone says just because he is educated, a self-acclaimed scientist like Anthony Fauci who says any attack on his person is an attack on science, a government official, a pastor, a GO, a Bishop or self-acclaimed man of God. Search out the TRUTH for yourself. Be a Berean(Act.17:11). A jingoistic cowboy pastor ceremoniously took the vaccine in sports dress, and opined, “don’t follow the conspiracy theorists. Take the vaccine.”
That the vaccine gets the Big Brother under your skin is no longer a conspiracy theory. It is now a conspiracy fact. If you think otherwise, please consult Noah Yuval Harari, the intellectual and philosophical patron of the WEF. On the day of judgment, you will stand alone to give account of yourself to God. Mr “Alagbaja” told me to do it will not be acceptable when tendered in evidence. Every man must give account of himself to God(Rom.14:12). And for the health officials who are jabbing people on the streets, the excuse that you are simply obeying orders and performing your duty as a health official or professional would not be tenable.
Anthony Fauci is no scientist but a REPTILIAN who serves his master the Devil and whose duty it is to populate Hell and render the remainder of humanity utterly useless humanoids; so also is Bill Gates. I say this before God the Father, before my Lord and Saviour Jesus The Christ and the Holy Spirit bears me witnesses with my own spirit that it is so.
Every day that passes by, more evidence are revealed. But the narcissistic, psychotic and Machiavellian sociopaths amongst believers will NEVER see it. So, we write not to warn them but as an evidence of their just recompence. And that the faithful may be strengthened in their resolve and the simple may learn and tremble before God who works wonders and mysteries His will to perform.
Prewrath Eschatology
Satan always has his antidote to every biblically accurate doctrine. Suffering and persecution are the lot of the saints, but for those who don’t want to suffer, it is the Pretrib Rapture view. God loves you so much He will NOT suffer you to meet the antiChrist. You will be secretly spirited away on the wings of the eagle out of the planet Earth before the antiChrist hangs out his shingles.
Pretrib is a FALSE doctrine. In no time, it will be obvious to everyone who holds it dear as true biblical teaching when the antiChrist brokers a 7-year peace pact between Israel and 7 of its Arab and Islamic neighbors and the saints are still much here.
Am also convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the Prewrath Rapture view is the most biblically accurate of all Rapture views. In the chronology of Rapture views, it is the latest, and yet the oldest. It is the oldest in that it was exactly what the Apostles of the Lamb and Church Fathers taught. It is the latest in that it is the last to be annunciated and given a theological LABEL. It is contradicted as it were by the other four rapture views – Pretrib, Midtrib, Posttrib, and the Partial Rapture Theory(which I consider to be utter eschatological NONSENSE).
There is a more potent satanic antidote to the biblically accurate rapture view. The first is that majority of those who teach this including the two ministries whose founders originated it, The Sign Ministries(Robert Van Kampen of blessed memory)and Zion’s Hope Inc(Marvin J. Rosenthal who passed into glory earlier this year) DO NOT teach on the EVOLUTION OF THE MARK OF THE BEAST. They are totally silent about it. They say nothing about the C19 Plandemic and it’s vaccines. If they ever mention covid in passing, it is the hardship the lockdowns and mandates engendered and brought upon humanity.
The two Prewrathers who have the bravado to say something about it, i.e., Joel Richardson and Nelson Walters dismiss it offhand as having NOTHING to do with THE MARK OF THE BEAST. They make bold to state that UNTIL the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel, and the debut of the antiChrist at the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, The Mark Of The Beast CANNOT be implemented. The Scriptures DO NOT say so. (We go by what the Scriptures say as much as by what they do NOT say). This is a very DANGEROUS PRECEDENT in that The Mark Of The Beast is SCIENTIFIC. Science by its very nature which is the investigation of knowledge is not static nor stationary but dynamic and EVOLUTIONARY. It is always being improved upon. It can and will be UPGRADED. We must also bear in mind that the official narrative about C19 and its vaccines have proven false in every case. And that lies and deceptions are the order of the day.
Digital Slavery
Prewrathers and and indeed all believers must avoid microchipping in all its forms and ramifications. We must avoid DIGITAL SLAVERY at all costs which is where the world is headed. It has already come to FULL SWING and ORBE in China as matter of governmental decree. The people of Scandinavia have already embraced it as a exciting and useful scientific development even without persuasion by those in authority. Nearly all transactions in Sweden are cashless using microchips and C19 vaccines QR Codes in RFIDs in the ARM OR HAND or BOTH which are meronyms OR SYNECDOCHES for the WHOLE PERSON.
By MANDATES, QR Codes are being surreptitiously implanted in people Worldwide in the guise of Covid vaccines and RT-PCR tests. This practice renders our PreWrath Rapture eschatology redundant if we embrace it. It is like the most potent medicine administered by the most skilled physician or dick surgeon after DEATH.
While we ravel in our knowledge and bask in the euphoria of touting the PreWrath Rapture Eschatology as being the most biblically accurate view of eschatology which it is, we MUST NOT fiddle with the covid vaccines, PCR tests, fool around with microchips and vaccine digital 🆔s. They are slippery creek banks.
PreWrath Rapture eschatology is NOT an end in itself. It is a means to an end. The END is we must NOT take THE MARK OF THE BEAST: we MUST be rapturable and indeed be raptured; and we MUST enter Heaven.
As always, the choice is the individual’s. Man is a free moral agent. We make our choice to remain free or relinquish our freedom to the Global Elites, the forerunners, precursors, FORESHADOWS and heralds of THE antiMessiah.
PCR Test
A brother suggested that those who have The Mark of the Beast on their foreheads are double amputees and I agreed with that. It sounded reasonable. Now l know that that’s not true. In a video at the airport where passengers are scanned by UV scanners, those who glow on their foreheads are not double amputees. They are those who had the RT-PCR test. The buds used to swab the nose are NOT made of cotton but graphene oxide fibers laced with Luciferase and dipped in ethylene oxide which is a known carcinogen(cancer agent). In the video which I cannot post here, UV light was shined on these swabs and they glowed, so also the vaccines in the vials.
There are swabs made of cotton, not graphene oxide fibers, not laced with the enzyme luciferase and not dipped in ethylene oxide. The original swabs for PCR test are made in China. What has helped some of us who has had the PCR test in Nigeria is that the local swabs are not made with graphene oxide fibers and are not laced with luciferase nor dipped in ethylene oxide. The same is true of some of the PCR test swabs made in India. Those who are lucky to be swabbed with these CANNOT exhibit phosphorescence under UV light. They are the ones who are quick to say we are spreading covid vaccine misinformation and disinformation. The wicked and dubious perpetrators love it that way because it further advances their cause.
Those swabbed with this kind of swab do not exhibit the glow phenomenon under UV light. These things are easily verifiable. There are UV light touches. You see them in use in the video. The buds of the swabs appear like ordinary cotton fibers to unaided eye, but when examined under the microscope, they are hollow and tubular. Under UV light scanner, they glow. When stuck into the nose during PCR test, some of these graphene oxide fibers pass through the tiny holes in the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone unto the forehead where they exhibit phosphorescence under UV light.
Dr. Carrie Madej said they are indirectly vaccinating people through the PCR test. That is exactly true. That is why some people have THE MARK OF THE BEAST on their foreheads. It is NOT because they are double amputees. The forehead is made up of the frontal bone and a thin muscle called the frontalis. It is not the proper sight for injections even in a double amputee.
From the heart, the blood flows upward to the head. That’s why the graphene oxide in the nose lodges in the forehead. The blood flows downwards from the shoulder to the fingers. That is why those who are vaccinated exhibit the phosphorescence at the sight of injection in the arm(deltoid), forearm or hand. This could be left or right hand depending on where they are injected. We know from the Scriptures that the Mark Of The Beast could be on the right or left hand or forehead.
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 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.13:15, 17-18 KJV).
“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 KJV).
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
(Revelation 20:4 KJV).
The reason why those with the Mark Of The Beast CANNOT be saved is not because they are the worst sinners, neither is it because God is unwilling to forgive them: but because they are no longer human. The question of forgiveness and repentance does not even arise. God covenanted with Adam to redeem pure humans not humanoids or transhumans. The mRNA vaxxed have altered DNA.
The authorities have their closed circuits TVs under UV light at the airport or any port of entry. The passengers are viewed as they file through. They don’t really know what is going on. Those who don’t glow are intercepted. Some of them have genuine C19 vaccine QR Code cards. They got these genuine QR Codes but are not vaccinated. They bribed their way, but they wouldn’t get far before they are discovered. They won’t be allowed entry nor departure unless they are vaccinated. They are in a dilemma.
So it is better not to travel till all Covid restrictions are removed. But the bad news is that they aren’t going to remove them. It is THE MARK OF THE BEAST. It is here to stay. It could be more or less enforced depending on whom is in power in a particular nation, state or area. In Jigawa State, Nigeria, youth corpers are mandated to take the vaccine, and some of them have left the service because of that. It is the antiChrist himself that will make it mandatory worldwide and will enforce it. Don’t wait until that day to know what it is. Tomorrow may be too little too late.
Biden announced on 18th September, 2022 the Covid pandemic is over, but unless you are a US citizen, you cannot get into the US except you are fully vaccinated. Besides, the Biden Administration has extended Covid lockdowns and measures till April 2023. Why? Even if they remove covid vaccine mandates, they have gone and re-engineered all vaccines with the mRNA technology. Whatever vaccine one gets now, one is digitally 🆔ed. Prof Michael Yeadon has been warning about it. Who has ears to hear with, let him hear. Besides, Klaus Schwab addressing the B20 summit in Bali, Indonesia said that covid vaccines from all G20 countries will be equally acceptable and that everyone must be fully vaccinated or PCR tested. Why? Is covid a threat to anyone? No. It is in pursuance of their global agenda of getting everyone on the globe digitally 🆔ed preparatory to the introduction of CBDC for the cashless system of the antiChrist: and killing off the vulnerable to reduce the world population to the barest minimum.
Dr. Christiane Northrop, a well known anticovid vaccine crusader said she and her group were transiting through an airport in the US and were asked to show their Covid vaccine passports. She told them plainly they were not vaccinated and wouldn’t get vaccinated. It is their right as citizens. But there were some in their group who said they were vaccinated and whiped out their Covid vaccine QR CODE certificates. The airport authorities told them they were not vaccinated even though their QR CODES were genuine. Indeed they had obtained genuine Covid vaccine QR CODES but they were not vaccinated. It is not everyone that says he or she is vaccinated that is vaccinated.
The Covid vaccine certificates have been bought and sold and are being bought and sold even till today. Some just received placebo – normal saline or water for injection. And others NOTHING at all. The vaccine manufacturers know what they are doing. Even in the same batch, some vials contain ordinary water for injection and some normal saline. Some vials contain various percentages of graphene oxide. They don’t want all the recipients to drop dead at once. That would be too alarming and shouting.
Those who received placebo are their advocates that the vaccines are safe. In Britain as well as in the US, there are excess deaths since the introduction of the covid vaccines and people are keeling over and athletes are dropping dead in the fields of play. People are dying in there sleep. One thing common to them all is that they are all vaccinated with the covid jabs. The world’s most renowned cardiologist, Dr. Peter McCullough has attributed this phenomenon to injury to the myocardium by the synthetic mRNA vaccines induced spike proteins and the release of cathecholamines on waking from sleep or under stress which cause arrhythmias and sudden death. It is for the same reason that people are keeling over in the streets. Some vaccinated soldiers have died in their sleep in their camps. The Pentagon has now suspended mandatory covid vaccination for US servicemen. What about those who were dismissed from the military because of their refusal to be covid vaxxed? Besides, there are other vaccines mandated for servicemen: they have all been re-engineered with the same mRNA technology in the covid vaccines. Either way, there is no escape.
Dr. Northrop suspected they had an instrument through which they are able to know who is vaccinated and who is s not. And she was right. There are UV light TV monitors, body scanners and touches. In the future, robots, humanoid or otherwise would be deployed to roam the streets to identify those who aren’t vaccinated.
Church And Humanity
Humanity is duped and the Church is fiddling. We must warn humanity. We must warn the brethren. If all one could do is tell people not to take the PCR test and the Covid vaccines, one would be a hero in Heaven. I would rather spend a few minutes to tell someone to believe in Jesus and not take the vaccine than to spend hours trying to teach him the correct sequence of events of the end times. I spent seven years teaching eschatology in this town, I wonder how much of the details my audience remember. In fact some of them are Covid vaxxed already and have had the PCR test too. In Revelation 14, the three angelic announcements – which are the everlasting Gospel – are: worship God: Babylon, the false religion of the antiChrist is fallen; and don’t take the mark of the beast(6-11). In time of emergency, you don’t have time for elaborate teachings and doctrines. Are they important? Sure. But now, time is of essence, and certain urgent and most important pieces of information must be given primacy.
A friend of mine who is an evangelist just announced to me he has just concluded a 60-day crusade, but he and his entire family are covid vaccinated. Another friend of mine, a pastor told me he and his family and entire congregation are covid vaxxed. Blind leaders of the blind. They will both fall into the pit. Another minister who preaches on Holiness held a meeting in Abuja and participants who came from abroad had to be vaxxed to come into the country. What a parody of Holiness! How can you be preaching Holiness and believers have to get The Mark Of The Beast to attend your meeting? Is that Holiness? What a travesty of Holiness. Another minister whom I respect told me to stop sending him any of my posts on the dangers of Covid vaccines. He says he is not a medical doctor, and wants to concentrate on his calling: he has so much to read. But sadly he is undecided on Covid vaccines, and some of his congregants are already Covid vaxxed with his tacit approval. Yeah, a man of God must study to show oneself approved unto God(2 Tim.2:5). But of what use is the shepherd’s study when his sheep are in Hell? What is biblical scholarship to a man whose soul is in Hell?
Another minster told me he is not a medical doctor and wants to devote his entire life to to his calling: he has so much to study and learn. Good decision no doubt. But meanwhile some of congregants have also taken the Covid vaccines and are chipped already. Has he forgotten that God’s people are destroyed due to lack of knowledge(Hos.4:6). That a priest who lacks the relevant knowledge is ineffective. That he would not be excused in Heaven regarding his ignorance about covid and its vaccines simply because he is not a medical doctor. He should read the Talmud. The rabbis discussed practically everything on Earth that is relevant to human existence. Few doctors know about covid and its vaccines.
Am so happy that the TRUTH about covid and its vaccines has got to the riverine areas and villages in Nigeria. Government mandates or not, and Gov-idiots in the guise of doctors and health care workers who dismiss the TRUTH about Covid vaccines and PCR test as misinformation by what they consider Cov-idiots like myself not withstanding. My body my choice, educated or not, having heard the truth, the choice is the individual’s. Let NO man deceive you(Matt.24:4).
Avraham Shallom.
The Millennium
The word millennium is derived from two Latin words, “mille” which means thousand, and “annum” which means year. Millennium therefore means one thousand years. In eschatology, the millennium refers to the one thousand -year reign of Christ which occurs at the end of the present age after the battle of Armageddon. The word millennium occurs only in chapter 20 of the Scroll of Revelation in the entire Bible. It is used six times in the first seven verses of Revelation 20. It refers to the literal one thousand-year reign of Christ. Although the reign of the Messiah was well known to the OT prophets, the length of that reign was not specified. Therefore its duration was not known to the OT prophets. They knew it would be for a long time; for the prophet Isaiah wrote:
“There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that has not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed”(Is.65:20).
If a man who dies at the age of one hundred years is regarded as a child, then certainly the old shall be several hundreds of years of age.
It is part of the mysteries of the kingdom of God. A biblical mystery is something that has always been part of God’s plan which was not revealed in the OT, but was revealed in the NT, and is always known by divine revelation. We can see that the millennium has all the three characteristics of a biblical mystery. It therefore qualifies, and should be referred to as a biblical mystery; for there is no way John the revelator would have known it other than by divine revelation, inasmuch as it was not revealed to any of the OT or NT prophets who were before him. It was not even revealed to any of his contemporary apostles and prophets. Though they were aware of the Reign of the Messiah, none of them other than the Apostle John the revelator specified its duration in their writings.
God created the world in six days. On the seventh day He rested, and He hallowed it(Gen.2:1-3). After the creation of man, God leased the world to Adam. The Heaven of Heavens belong to God, but the Earth has He given to the sons of men(Ps.115:16). Adam was to be God’s representative in the earthly domain of His Universal Kingdom. God is a spirit being without a physical body with which to relate to the external physical environment . So, He could not rule the world directly. He could only do so by proxy. Adam became His point man. Adam was to reign over the Earth for six days, each day corresponding to a thousand years or a millennium(2 Pet.3:8). The seventh day is the Shabbat of the Lord. Man works for six days, the seventh is the Shabbat of the Lord(Exod.20:8-11). Therefore Adam’s rule over the Earth was to last six millennia. According to Jewish calendar we are in the sixth millennium. This year beginning Tishri 1 is 5776. The Jewish calendar which is lunisolar is dated from day one of the creation of Adam. At the expiry of the sixth millennium, at the commencement of the seventh millennium, the rulership of the Earth will revert back to God who is the owner and Land Lord of the Earth.
“Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of the heavens and the earth”(Gen.14:19).
But Adam transferred the rulership of the Earth to Satan when he transgressed the commandment of the LORD “not to eat the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the Garden of Eden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”(Gen.2:16,17). Satan became the god of this Age(2 Cor.4:4). Satan’s rule over the Earth will expire at the end of the sixth millennium which is the end of God’s lease to Adam. Adam’s transaction with Satan was legal and binding inasmuch as Adam was God’s representative in the earthly realm of His Universal Kingdom. Adam had the legal right to transfer the lease to Satan inasmuch as he was God’s representative in the earthy domain of His Universal Kingdom, but not the moral right.
In the temptation Satan promised to hand over to Jesus the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them if He would bow down and worship him(Matt.4:9; Luk.4:6,7). Jesus did not question Satan’s right to the rulership of the Earth, simply because it was a legal transaction between Satan and Adam. If it were not so, the temptation would carry no weight. As a matter of fact, Jesus addressed him as the prince of this age(Jon.14:30). He is the god of this age and the prince of the power of the air(2 Cor.4:4; Eph.2:2). Satan was seeking a subordinate role for Jesus under his rulership in the Millennium. He attempted to trick Jesus into accepting the crown without the cross. If Jesus had failed, there would have been no pure human blood with which to redeem man. There would have been no kinsman redeemer or “Goel.” If Jesus had condescended, Satan would have scored the goal he failed to score when he attempted to hybridize the whole human race in Gen.6. He very well knew that Jesus was God’s representative in the earthly domain of God’s Universal Kingdom after the fall of Adam. Satan being the trickster that he is never mentioned to Jesus the duration of his reign over the Earth. It was a limited rule based on the duration of God’s lease to Adam.
Adam never had the Title Deed of the Earth. The Earth was never sold to Adam. The Earth was leased to him. What he had was the certificate of occupancy which would be withdrawn at the expiry of the lease. The Title Deed of the Earth belongs to God who is the eternal LORD of the Earth. The Title Deed of the Earth is the Seven-sealed Scroll which is kept in storage at the Throne Room of the Temple in Heaven. Adam was not qualified to break the seven seals and to open the Scroll. No man in Heaven nor on Earth was qualified to break the seals and to open or unroll the Scroll. No angel was qualified either(Rev.5:1-3). No wonder therefore that John the revelator wept sore(Rev.5:4). But the Lion from the tribe of Judah has prevailed to break the seals and to open the Scroll(Rev.5:4-14). Man could play the role of the “goel,” but he was not sinless. The holy angels who did not ally themselves to Satan in the rebellion in Eternity Past were sinless being locked in righteousness but could not play the role of the “goel” because they were not human. The “goel” must be a human being, the kinsman redeemer. Jesus, though God, is both human and sinless. So, He has prevailed. He is the kinsman redeemer, the “goel.”
At the expiry of the sixth millennium, God will recover his rulership of the Earth. Because God the Father has no physical body, He can only rule the Earth by proxy. The first Adam failed. The second man prevailed.
“The first man is of the earth earthy: the second man is the Lord from the heaven”(1 Cor.15:47).
As the last Adam, Jesus took the whole of humanity to the cross. As the second man, He created a new species of humans. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new species of human being(2 Cor.5:17). Jesus created a new species of human beings, the 42nd generation(Matt.1:17). Jesus will be the Father’s representative here. Though He is God, He is also man. He has a physical body with which to relate to the external physical environment. Of all the three persons of the Godhead, Jesus is the only one who possesses a physical body with which to relate with external physical environment. Because He is the Son Of Man He can represent God here on Earth. In the millennium, Jesus shall reign over the Earth in the behalf of the Father.
Throughout all ages, great men have assayed to establish a kingdom on Earth that would last a thousand years. Charlemagne(743-814 AD) nursed the ambitious plan of a thousand year Holy Roman Empire. Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer of Nazi Germany, referred to his empire as The Thousand-year Reich. Unfortunately it lasted for just twelve years(1933-1945). That men had toyed, romanced and grappled with the idea and notion of a thousand year kingdom on Earth is evident in history. They could not achieve it because they did not begin to fill the lofty credentials of the “Goel.” It is the prerogative of the God-Man. Jesus is the God-Man, the heavenly archetypal man.
The Millennial Reign Of Christ.
The Millennium will begin 75 days after the close of the 70th week of Daniel, 45 days after Christ physically repossesses the Earth at the end of the Battle of Armageddon. At the start of the Millennium, Satan shall be evicted from the Earth’s premises, and incarcerated in the bottomless pit throughout the entire length of one thousand year reign of Christ”(Rev.20:1-3). According to the prophet Daniel, after God recovers His rule over the Earth from Satan, The LORD GOD Almighty will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed:
“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 another people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever”(Dan.2:44 ).
God Almighty shall reclaim His rule over the Earth at the blowing of the seventh trumpet. The antiChrist and his Eighth And Final Beast Empire, the kings of the East, North and South and their kingdoms shall still be in existence at that time. They shall be annihilated four weeks later at the battle of Armageddon.
Prior to the breaking of the seals, God the Father hands over the Tittle Deed of the Earth to the Son who then proceeds to break the seals. This is very significant. Adam never had the Tittle Deed of the Earth. Therefore Adam was never the sovereign ruler of the Earth. As we have pointed out, Jesus is given the Tittle Deed of the Earth. In other words, He shall be sovereign over the Earth. The Father shall give Him full authority to rule the Earth. Nevertheless He shall be subject to the Father in order that the Father may be all in all.
“For He has put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all”(1 Cor.15:27,28).
Although Jesus will be the absolute and sovereign ruler of the Earth in the Millennium, He shall still be subject to the Father who is the sovereign Lord of the universe.
David: The King Of Israel
This is a controversial subject. Would it be David, the king of Israel who would be resurrected to rule over the nation of Israel in the Millennium? Or would it be David’s Greater Son, our Lord and savior Jesus the Christ? We will probably never be that sure until we enter the Millennium.
On both sides of the top of elevated Mount Zion on which sits the Millennial Temple will be areas designated for the residence of David, King of Israel. The prophet Jeremiah wrote:
“But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I shall raise up unto them”(Jer.30:9).
Whether this is a direct reference to David who shall be raised up to rule over Israel in the Millennium, or David’s Greater Son, Jesus, is not readily resolved. The prophet Ezekiel added his voice:
“And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall have one shepherd: and they shall walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes , and do them”(Ezekiel.37:24).
The nation of Israel shall no longer be divided. They shall have one shepherd and one God, and David will be prince over them. There will be no more false gods, and idolatry shall be wiped off from the Earth. “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens”(Jer.10:11).
“And I will set up one shepherd over them, and shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it”(Ezek.24:23,24 ).
Robert Van Kampen, one of my fathers in eschatology is of the opinion that whereas Christ rules over the whole earth, David shall rule over Israel. Christ shall rule over the whole Earth from His Throne Room in the rebuilt Third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. This will be the Fourth and the Millennial Temple sitting atop the summit of the renovated, expansive and elevated Mount Zion. On either side of the holy area, to the east and to the west, will be areas designated for the prince, from where David will rule over Israel. Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel shall be renovated and so also the whole land of Israel.
“Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the place shall remain after the manner thereof”(Jer.30:18).
The twelve Apostles of the Lamb shall be rulers over the twelve tribes of Israel.
“Ye are they which have continued with Me in my temptations. And I appoint unto a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel”(Luk.22:28-30).
“And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son Of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel”(Matt.19:28).
Other Kings And Kingdoms
During the Millennium, there will still be nations. These nations will be administered by their own rulers. The resurrected saints shall have oversight over these nations. The resurrected saints shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years”(Rev.20:6).
The saints who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast neither his image, who refused to be beast-marked either on their foreheads or in their hands shall also be resurrected, and shall reign with Christ for a thousand years in the Millennium.
“And saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years”(Rev.20:4).
These other nations shall have their own governmental structure and organization under the overall rulership of Christ. During the Millennium, God’s glory shall illuminate not only Israel and her Holy City Jerusalem, but also all the other nations of the world and their cities.
“And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.”
Solomon, the wise, rich and opulent king of Israel is usually not spoken of as a prophet, but in Psalm 72, he prophesied about the universal reign of the Messiah over the nations and kings of the Earth.
“He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”
“They that dwell in the wilderness(the Arab and Asian nations) shall bow before Him: and His enemies shall lick the dust. The Kings of Tarshish and of the isles(European and Asian nations) shall bring presents: the Kings of Sheba and Seba(African nations) shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him”(Ps.72:8-11).
During the Millennium, all the nations of the Earth will not only serve and glorify God, they shall also serve and honor Israel. They shall not afflict the Jewish people any more as they do in the present age.
“Thus saith the LORD GOD, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: and thou shall know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me”(Is.49:22,23).
The final ingathering of the Jews from the diaspora at the end of the Battle of Armageddon shall be effected by the Gentile survivors of the Day Of The LORD. As they congregate to Jerusalem for the Sheep And Goat Judgment, they shall bring the Jews who survive the wrath of God in the diaspora. The Jews who survive the Day Of The LORD in diaspora shall be witnesses of these Gentiles in the Sheep and Goat judgment of the Gentile nations, either to justify or condemn them: inasmuch as these Gentiles will be judged on the bases of their treatment of the Jews during the Great Tribulation at the hands of the antiChrist. The believers then in their eternal immortal resurrection bodies shall be their witnesses as well.
These nations are the Gentile survivors of the wrath of God.
“The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick dust like the serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear before Him”(Mic.7:16,17).
They shall come out of their fortresses, the rocks and mountains where they were hiding during the wrath of God(Rev.12:14-17). They shall come trebling, and in fear and dread of our LORD. They shall assemble in Jerusalem for the Sheep and Goat Judgment.
“when the Son Of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He separate them one from another, as the shepherd divideth his sheep from the goat”(Matt.25:31,32).
The sheep shall be justified. They shall enter the millennium and repopulate the Earth alongside their Jewish counterparts. The goats shall be liquidated and consigned to Hell.
During the Millennium, the Jew shall be revered unlike in the present age when they are denigrated, maligned, and persecuted.
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you”( Zechariah.8:20-23).
This should not be a surprise; for Jesus shall rule the world from His Throne Room in the Fourth And Millennial Temple on Mount Zion. People shall come from all over the world to see God in Jerusalem. In those days, it shall be fashionable to befriend a Jew in order to facilitate access. This is not bribery but seeking divine favour.
Events In The First Day Of The Millennium
There are about five specific events that occur on the first day of the Millennium. These events are recorded sequentially in Revelation 20 & 21, with the exception of Rev.20:7-15, which is parenthetic and records the The White Throne Judgment which occurs at the end of the Millennium. The parenthesis of Rev.20:7-15 is a detailed explanation of the second death which occurs at the end of the Millennium at The White Throne Judgment. The second death is the Lake Of Fire.
“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire”(Rev.20:14,15).
The Sheep and Goat Judgment which also occurs on the first day of the Millennium is not recorded in the Scroll of Revelation, but is recorded in Matt.25:31-46.
(1) Satan Chained
God gave Adam a limited control over the earthly domain of His Universal kingdom. This limited but powerful control over the Earth was usurped by Satan when Adam fell through transgression. So, Satan became the god of this age. The consequence of the fall was the corruption of the whole human race and the entire creation. Jesus came to reverse the consequences of the fall. The redemption of man and the whole creation occurs in stages. At His first advent Jesus dealt with spiritual death brought about by sin. At His second advent, He will wrest physical control of the starry heavens and the Earth from Satan. He will reclaim God’s rule over the Earth. He will receive absolute, divine and sovereign control over the Earth. Therefore Satan and his demonic hordes shall be evicted from the Dark Void and the starry heavens and from the Earth’s premises.
Precisely at the midpoint of the 70th seven, Satan and his hordes of fallen evil angels were evicted from their abode in the dark void and the starry heavens. “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”(Rev12:7-9).
At Armageddon, Satan’s forces under the command of the antiMessiah shall be totally annihilated. The antiChrist and the false prophet shall be cast into the lake of fire, but Satan and his fallen evil angels shall still be roaming the Earth until incarcerated in the shaft of the abyss. To eliminate his influence in the lives of the citizens of the Millennial Kingdom Of God, Satan and his evil demonic hordes must be evicted from the Earth’s premises and incarcerated in the bottomless pit.
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal of upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years shall be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season”(Rev.20:1-3).
Christ would have none of Satan’s influence on the citizens of his millennial kingdom. Therefore he must be bound and incarcerated. Although it is not mentioned that his demons were bound, it is obvious that they too were bound with him, lest they negatively influence the citizens of the millennial kingdom of the Messiah. Because he will be bound for a thousand years, he will, of necessity be bound on the first day of the Millennium.
(2) The Sheep And Goat Judgment
With the antiChrist’s army and the armies of the others kings and kingdoms of the Earth destroyed at Armageddon, and anyone with the mark of the beast executed, all that will be left would be the ones who do not have the mark of the beast. Before any of these can enter the Millennium to repopulate the Earth, they must pass through the Sheep and Goat Judgment to determine their eligibility to enter into the millennial reign of the Messiah.
“When The Son Of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come Ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered , and ye gave me Me meat: I was thirsty and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in: Naked, and ye clothed Me: I was sick and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, Ye have done it unto Me. Then shall He say unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in: naked, and ye clothed Me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not. Then shall they answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matt.25:31-46).
Jesus shall personally conduct this judgment from His Throne in the Throne Room of the newly built Fourth And Millennial Temple at the center of the Holy Area at the summit of renovated and elevated Mount Zion. It shall occur when He comes in His glory with His holy angels, just as we have pointed out after the Battle Of Armageddon(Rev.19:11-21). All nations, that is, those who survived the wrath of God and the final battle of Armageddon, shall be gathered unto Him in Jerusalem. All survivors of the day of His Wrath who were not immediately executed as a result of being beast-marked shall appear before Him in Jerusalem. None of the Gentiles who appear at the Sheep And Goat Judgment shall have the mark of the beast. Any survivors of the wrath of God who bears the mark of the beast shall be immediately executed. If any man has the mark of the Beast, the wrath of God abides on him.
All His angels will be with Him. It therefore follows these survivors shall be miraculously gathered to Jerusalem, considering the devastation caused by the final wrath of God. It shall take 45 days to gather all surviving Gentiles to the land of Israel for this judgment. It is within this 45-day period, the Restoration Period of the Kingdom, that the Earth will be renovated.
Jews who survive the wrath of God would not be required to appear at this judgment, having accepted Him as their Messiah when they see His nail-pierced hands(Zech.12:10-14), shortly before the sounding of the seventh trumpet when the mystery of God is finished at the completion of the spiritual kingdom of God. Of course, Jews who survive the day of His Wrath, who are beast-marked, shall be executed instantly like all others. But the plain truth is that no one with the mark of the beast will survive the wrath of God; for the wrath of God abides on any one who is beast-marked(Rev.14:9,10). The Greek word translated nations in KJV is “ethnos” which could also be rendered heathen, peoples, or Gentiles. The Hebrew equivalent is “Goyim” which is used by Jews to refer to non-Jewish peoples. It is not a reference to independent political states. It refers to individuals of all ethnic groups other than the Jew. So the sheep and goat judgment is the judgment of individuals of all ethnic groups other than the Jew who survive the day of His wrath, rather than independent nation states. No Jew will appear or be judged at the Sheep And Goat Judgment.
God’s wrath would have destroyed anyone who has the mark of the beast(Zeph.1:17). “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 ascended 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”(Rev.14:9-11).
When the first avenging angel poured his bowl into the Earth, it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men who had the mark of the beast, and upon them who worshipped his image(Rev.16:2). Most probably therefore, no one with the mark of the beast shall survive the Day Of His Wrath which ends with the seventh and final bowl judgment at Armageddon. However if any man who is beast-marked is left alive after the Battle of Armageddon, the one shall be instantly executed; for no man with the mark of the beast shall appear at the sheep and goat judgment much less enter the Millennium.
Besides, those who appear at the Sheep And Goat Judgment do not seem to know why they are being judged. This is not what one would expect of those who have denied Christ and were beast-marked. It is therefore obvious that it will be Gentiles who rejected the mark of the beast, who neither acknowledged the antiChrist as God, nor Christ as Messiah, who somehow survived the wrath of Satan during the Great Tribulation, and God’s wrath during the day of the Lord, who will be required to make their way to Jerusalem during the 45-day restoration period to appear at the Sheep And Goat Judgment of the Gentile survivors of the wrath of God in the Day of The lord.
The basis of this judgment will be the Gentiles treatment of Jews and Christians in hiding during the great tribulation by the antiChrist.
“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me”(Matt.25:40).
Their treatment of these Jews and Christians would be considered as their treatment of Christ Himself.
“Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as Ye did it not to one of the least of these, Ye did it not to me”(Matt.25:45).
The witnesses at this trial will be surviving Jews who have just been regathered from the diaspora, and perhaps resurrected saints who will reign with Christ in the Millennium. The reason why I include Christians among His brethren is because the Dragon shall make war with the remnant of the offspring of the woman who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ(Rev.12:17). Just as Jewish remnants in their mortal bodies gathered to the land of Israel from the diaspora at the end of the Battle of Armageddon shall be present to witness the Sheep And Goat Judgment, so also shall the resurrected saints in their new glorified eternal immortal resurrection bodies be present to witness; for they shall be priests of God and reign as kings with Christ for a thousand years.
“Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears. Let all nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, it is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen; that Ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am He: before me there is no God formed, neither shall there be after me”(Is.43:8-10).
The Jewish witnesses will not be objects of Christ’s judgment. When the nations are gathered, the Gentiles will be permitted to present their witnesses from amongst the Jewish survivors in order that they may be justified. The surviving Jews from amongst the Gentiles are God’s witnesses that He is just in His acquittal or as the case may be His condemnation of the Gentiles. The resurrected saints shall also be witnesses that He is just in His acquittal or else condemnation of the Gentiles as the case may be. Those who have harmed Jews and Christians or otherwise refused them assistance in their time of distress shall be condemned whether or not they are beast-marked.
“Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, Ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” ( Matt.25:41). Those who befriended Jews and assisted them, the righteous Gentiles shall be spared, and go into eternal life, but those who did not shall go into everlasting punishment(Matt.25:46).
It is not enough not to take the mark of the beast. It is not enough not to harm Jews and believers. Indifference towards persecuted Jews and Christians merits one the status of a goat. Christ shall say to them,
“inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteousness into life eternal”(Matt.25:45,46).
The cynical ones who believe that the fact that they are not beast-marked merits salvation shall be condemned. On the other hand, those who are not beast-marked, who lay no claim to salvation shall be justified. Although these gave drink to His thirsty brethren, fed the hungry, clothed those who were naked, visited the prisoners, invited the strangers and destitute amongst them into their homes, they did not believe it was sufficient to earn them salvation, nor did hey believe they were doing it to Jesus. They expressed wonder as to when they did all these. Salvation is by grace alone through faith, and that also the gift of God. These righteous Gentiles were also elected before the foundation of the world(Eph.1:4,5;2:8,9).
(3) The Beheaded Martyrs Resurrect
The time of resurrection of the beheaded martyrs is a controversial issue amongst biblical scholars. Were they raised from the dead at the time of the rapture of the saints, or were they raised, and given a new eternal immortal resurrection body on the first day of the Millennium? One thing is very clear, this group of martyrs may include some of those under the altar at the breaking of the fifth seal who were given a new eternal immortal resurrection body at the Rapture.
“And when He had broken 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 aloud 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 to 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).
The fifth seal martyrs were told to wait until their fellow brethren who were to be killed were also martyred. There is a complement of believers to be martyred during the Great Tribulation by the antiChrist. When that number is complete, God amputates the Great Tribulation with cosmic disturbances associated with the breaking of the sixth seal. At the Rapture of the church when the Shekinah appeared in the heavens, shortly before the breaking of the seventh seal, these martyrs were also raptured and received new eternal immortal resurrection bodies. If the beheaded saints were part of the fifth seal martyrs, why were they left out until the first day of the Millennium?
“And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the word of God, which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image , neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years”(Rev.20:4).
As we have pointed out earlier, when they came to life, and received their new eternal immortal resurrection bodies, earlier at the Rapture of the church or on the first day of the Millennium is a debated issue in some theological circles. Malvin J. Rosenthal and Robert Van Kampen are of the opinion that these particular souls, beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God, must be given their new eternal immortal resurrection bodies on the first day of the Millennium. The Greek verb translated ‘lived’ in the KJV or ‘came to life’ in the NASV is “ezesan.” It is in the aorist active tense. Dr. Robert Gundry, the noted Greek scholar, in a private communication with Robert Van Kampen, commented:
“The parallelism of the aorist verb in this passage, for sitting, giving, living and reigning, indicate actions that take place at the same time. Naturally it is the context which determines the time referred to by these verbs, clearly at the beginning of the Millennium, because the passage in question ends with ” and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years, ” thus defining exactly when the action takes place.”
They conclude therefore that the beheaded martyrs were raised from the dead on the first day of the Millennium rather than at the Rapture of the church. When they rose from the dead, at the Rapture or on the first day of the Millennium is not vital to our teaching on the end times. However, there seem not to be any reason their resurrection from the dead delayed until the first of the Millennium as commented by Dr. Alan E. Kurschner.
The First Resurrection
The first resurrection refers to the general resurrection of believers and saints of all ages unto life. As we have borne the image of the earthy, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly(1 Cor.15:49). It is accomplished in phases.
(1) The first phase occurred when Christ who is the firstfruits of them that slept rose from the dead.
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept”(1 Cor.15:20).
When Christ rose from the dead, the OT saints and believers also rose with Him.
“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the city, and appeared unto many”(Matt.27:52,53).
Did these dear saints re-enter their graves to await the resurrection at the Rapture? I doubt very much.
(1) The first phase occurred when Christ who is the firstfruits of them that slept rose from the dead.
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept”(1 Cor.15:20).
When Christ rose from the dead, the OT saints and believers also rose with Him.
“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the city, and appeared unto many”(Matt.27:52,53).
Did these dear saints re-enter their graves to await the resurrection at the rapture? I doubt very much.
(2) The second phase is the resurrection of the dead in Christ which occurs at the Rapture.
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God; neither corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality”(1 Cor.15:50-53).
We shall be raptured to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with Him.
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them that are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rose first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words”(1 Thess.4:14-18).
(3) The third phase will be the resurrection of the beheaded martyrs on the first day of the Millennium?
“And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they live and reigned with Christ a thousand years”
(4) The fourth phase of the first resurrection is the resurrection of the saints who lived in the Millennium. Although it is not explicitly mentioned in the Scriptures, it is logically reasonable that those who entered the Millennium in this mortal body, and repopulated the Earth will some day exchange it with a new glorified eternal immortal resurrection body; inasmuch as flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption(1 Cor.15:50).
I personally believe that the millennial saints would be amongst the ones whose names are found in the scroll of life at the White Throne Judgment, and therefore would be justified. There are some biblical scholars who believe and teach that all those who appear at the White Throne Judgment will be condemned. Why are there the scroll of life and the scroll of works? If those whose names were not found in the scroll of life were condemned, it therefore follows that those whose names were found in the scroll of life would be justified.
If the millennial saints are not justified at the White Throne Judgment, where then are they justified? The essence of the scroll of works is to show everyone who appears at the White Throne Judgment that by works no man shall be justified. By works every man shall be condemned, because by works of the law shall no man be justified; for by the law of works is the knowledge of sin( cp Rom.3:20). All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God(Gal.2:16,17; 3:11,24; 5:5:4; Rom.3:23). And again the wages of sin death, but the gift of God is eternal life through our Lord Jesus the Christ(Rom.6:23)
The resurrection of Christ who is the firstfruits of them that slept, the resurrection of the dead in Christ, the resurrection of the beheaded martyrs, and the resurrection of the millennial saints are all part and parcel of the first resurrection which is the resurrection unto life. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years”(Rev.20:6).
The Second Resurrection: The Second Death
The second resurrection is the resurrection unto condemnation. It is the resurrection of judgment(Jon.5:29). It is the second death. It occurs at the White Throne Judgment.
“Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death”(Rev.20:14).
This is in contrast to the first resurrection which is the resurrection unto life. The firstfruits of the second resurrection, the resurrection unto condemnation, will be the antiChrist and the false prophet, who shall be taken captive at the Battle of Armageddon and cast alive into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone(Rev.19:20).
The Identity Of The Beheaded Martyrs
Robert Van Kampen of blessed memory was of the opinion, though not adamantly that the beheaded martyrs of Rev.20:4, are the same as the fifth seal Martyrs under the altar. I personally do not share this view. I do have some strictures with his view. First, the fifth seal martyrs were told to wait until their fellow brethren to be killed were fulfilled. Then and only then would God avenge their death. There is a complement of believers to be martyred during the Great Tribulation by the antiMessiah. When this is number of saints to be martyred is complete, God interrupts the Great Tribulation with cosmic disturbances. And then the church shall be taken away from the scene of persecution, raptured as it were. Second, what will be the reason for leaving those beheaded martyrs behind when their fellow saints are raptured? Thirdly, it is not mentioned that the fifth seal martyrs were all beheaded. All we were told is that they were slain for the word of God and the testimony which they upheld. The way and manner in which they were martyred was not revealed. Fourthly, it is highly probable that the beheaded saints were amongst them, but is evident that not all those who were killed for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus had their heads cut off. Rev.20:4 stated unequivocally that these martyrs had their heads cut off. It therefore follows that they are a special group of saints whose testimony were particularly provocative and insulting to the antiChrist and his evil empire.
However, I do share the view with Robert Van Kampen that these martyrs who had their head cut off were Jewish believers who would bear witness of Christ in the Holy Land during the Great Tribulation. These Jewish believers do not only refuse the mark of the beast but will go about brazenly, from one city to another in the land of Israel, right under the noses of the antiChrist and the false prophet, proclaiming the gospel and persuading their fellow countrymen not to be chipped with the mark of the beast. Their behavior would be considered subversive to the government of the antiChrist. It is likely that the antiChrist would not see them as religious buffoons who are to be ignored but rather as treasonous felons. The antiChrist will view them as political rivals and anti-governmental subversives. Hence, the execution by decapitation. The Greek word is “cephalizomai” which means to cut off the head, or decapitation. This is to show the gravity of their offense, and to serve as a deterrent to other would-be subversives. They are indeed anti-governmental and subversive; for they represent the rival government of the Messiah.
We know that they would not have gone all over the cities of Israel before the Son Of Man comes(Matt.10:23). In other words their job would only be complete when the Messiah annihilates the antiChrist and his armies at Armageddon, and retakes physical possession of the earth. Therefore their number is probably not complete until the end of Armageddon. Hence, their resurrection on the first day of the Millennium 45 days after the Battle of Armageddon. So, some of them who were amongst the fifth seal martyrs would have have to wait till the first day of the Millennium to receive their new eternal immortal resurrection bodies, rather than at the Rapture of the church. Without the faithful witness of these martyrs, the remnant of Israel who would follow the Messiah into the Millennium would have died in unbelief. Because of their special witness, they shall be raised to life to reign with Christ for a thousand years. They have led many to Christ at the expense of their own lives. They shall shine like the stars for ever(Dan.12:3). Are Jewish believers the only ones who will be beheaded during the Great Tribulation? Or is it only in the land of Israel that Christians will be beheaded during the Great Tribulation? The answer is emphatically no. The fifth seal martyrs are from nations and tongues. It is certain that some of them were beheaded for the word word of God and the testimony which they upheld. In that case therfore, it is certain that some of them were among the beheaded saints mentioned Rev.20:4.
(4) The New Heaven And New Earth
Before the Millennium begins, the present heavens and Earth have to be cleansed from the defilement of sin. The wars, the famines, the pestilences and earthquakes, the Great Tribulation by the antiChrist, the cosmic disturbances asssociated with the breaking of the sixth seal, the seventh seal and its attendant trumpet and bowl judgments and the final Battle of Armageddon will cause a lot of devastation on the Earth and its environs and the atmospheric and starry heavens. Therefore the Earth and its environs, the atmospheric and starry heavens shall be renovated to make the Earth habitable again before the millennial reign of Christ begins. As touching this, the prophet Isaiah wrote:
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come mind. But be ye glad and rejoice in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy”(Is.65:17,18).
The destruction of the present heaven and Earth shall be a limited destruction not total annihilation. Apostle Peter in mockery of the scientific uniformintarians who deny that God ever intervened in human affairs in the past nor shall intervene in the future called attention to the Noahic flood.
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willing are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heaven were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the present heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”(2 Pet3:3-13).
As the world of Noah perished in the waters of the deluge and had to be renovated, even so shall the present heavens and Earth perish in the fires of the Day Of His Wrath, and shall be renovated to make it habitable again. It is also comparable to the kind of devastation that occurred in Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain, Zeboim and Adama when they were destroyed with fire, brimstone and sulfur from heaven. Except for the Jewish and Gentile remnants protected by God, the entire Earth shall be filled with death and destruction. The destruction caused by the Day Of The LORD, shall be a limited one, not total annihilation. So the new heavens and new earth shall not be entirely new but refurbished heavens and Earth. The Greek word translated new here is not “naos” but “kainos,” which refers to something old but renewed or refurbished. So this is not creation “ex nihilo,” creation out of nothing, which is a primary creative act. It is not a direct or primary creative act. It is an indirect or secondary creative act, that is, creation out of what is already in existence. It does not refer to something entirely new, which has not exited before, but rather the renewal of something that has existed before.
The renovation of the heavens and the earth shall begin on the first day of the 45-day Restoration Period of the kingdom and completed by the first day of the Millennium. It is not difficult to imagine how Jesus will renovate the heavens and the Earth. The survivors of the wrath of God, and the Sheep and Goat Judgment shall still be in their mortal bodies. They shall repopulate the Earth.
The eternal fires shall burn in Edom throughout the Millennium as a momorial of His indignation towards antisemism.
“Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at the plague thereof. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD , no man shall abide there, neither shall the son of man dwell in it”(Jer. 49:17,18).
It will take seven months to bury the dead at Armageddon, and seven years to dispose of the wreckages of war.
“Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this the day whereof I have spoken. And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand staves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of the graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD. And they shall severe out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. The passengers that pass through the land, when they seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog. And the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land”(Ezek.39: 8-16).
There will be a restoration of the edenic relationship between heaven and Earth. It will be new heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness(3 Pet.3:13). The evil consequences of the fall of Adam shall be removed. There will be no more erratic weather patterns, no excessive monsoon rains, no hurricanes and tropical storms. There will be no more swelling of the oceans, no more flooding. There shall be no more oceans in the first place. There shall be seas or perhaps big rivers. Animals will be restored to their pristine edenic state. There will be no more carnivores. All animals will be herbivorous. The lion will eat straw like the ox. A toddler shall put its finger in the den of the cockatrice. There shall be no hurt and destruction in the Holy Mount of the Lord. There shall be no more poisonous serpents. All animals will be tamed by the glory of God that fills the Earth as the waters cover the sea.
“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and the spirit of counsel and mighty, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears: But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reigns. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and the little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea”(Is.11:1-9).
We see here that all creatures shall revert to their pristine pre-fall estate. The rule of the jungle will no more apply. It shall be no more be dog-eat-dog society, the survival of the fittest. All creatures will be tamed. Men will no more be mugged by wild beasts; for there shall be no wide beasts at all. All animals whether domestic or wild(living in the forest) shall be tame. There shall be no more poisonous snakes. All snakes shall lose their venom. There shall be no more snake bites let alone envenomation. The rattle snake, the spitting cobra, the constrictor boa and the anaconda, the grizzly bear, the lion, the tiger and the leopard, the rhinoceros, the chimpanzee, the gorillas, the buffalo, and all other animals and creatures shall be at peace with one another and with man.
There shall be no poisonous lizards and insects. There shall be no more blood sucking insects. All mosquitos shall feed on fruit juice. All insects shall feed on fruit juice and vegetations. The vampire bat shall no more suck blood either of animals or of humans.
There shall be no more poisonous sea snakes. All fishes shall be at peace with one another. The shark shall become herbivorous, so also the whale, and all other sea creatures. They shall not hurt no devour in My holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
The deserts of the Earth shall be reclaimed. The whole Earth will be of one weather, subtropical. There shall be no more torrential downpours. The Earth shall be wetted by the dew of the heavens every morning and evening. The Canadian and Siberian permafrost shall be reclaimed. So also the Arctic and Antarctic oceans. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans shall varnish freeing huge expanse of land for farming and human habitation. In this age scientists tell us that one-fourth of the ice-free surface of the earth can support a population of 40 billion people. Food does not go round because of human greed. In the Millennium the curse on the Earth shall be lifted. The Earth shall yield her increase. There shall be no more drought and no more famines and dearth. There shall be no pestilences, no earthquakes, no tsunamis, and no volcanic eruptions. Mountains shall no more spew hot ash and larva. There will be plenty to eat and drink. The Earth shall yield her increase. Human greed and corruption shall be things of the past. There shall be no more hoarding of commodities. Food preservation will be at the optimum level. Wastage of food, if any, shall be minimized. There shall be equitable distribution of wealth. Everyone will produce maximally and take what one needs. There shall be no competition let alone cut-throat competition.
There shall be no more insect vectors of diseases. There shall be no more parasites. All bacteria, viruses, rickettsia and chlamidia shall be non-pathogenic. The river of life from under the Throne Room of the Lord shall water the Earth, bringing healing to the land. It will always be planting season and harvest time. There will be natural drip irrigation from the river of life from the Throne of the Messiah in the Fourth And Millennial Temple on the renovated and elevated Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and the dew of heaven shall wet the earth morning and evening. The tree that shall grow by the banks of the river of life shall yield twelve manner of fruits for the nourishment of the body. The leaves of the tree shall be for the healing of the nations and for the maintenance of health. Citizens of the millennial kingdom shall live out their lifetime. Those who die at the age of one hundred shall be regarded as infants. They shall be no more infants of days. But the sinner being an hundred years old shall be cursed(Is.65:20).
This shall be the time the whole creation had waited and travailed for.
“For we reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are save by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it( Rom.8:19).
The whole creation alongside the redeemed of the Lord groan and travail together until the present time, waiting for the redemption of our body, when we shall receive our glorified eternal and immortal bodies, when we shall be free from the frailties and restrictions of our mortal bodies, into the glorious Liberty of the sons of God. The whole creation itself shall be freed from the bondage of corruption into the glorious Liberty of the sons of God.
It is the time of regeneration.
“And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son Of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel”(Matt.19:28).
We see here that the twelve apostles of the Lamb shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel in the Millennium.
It is the time of restoration of all things.
“And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heavens must receive nail the time of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began”(Acts 3:21).
Jesus must remain in heaven until the time of restitution of all things when God Almighty shall regain control of the Earth; then shall He sit upon the throne of His father David, and rule over Israel and the whole Earth.
Nations will not learn war any more; for there shall be no more wars.
“And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plow shares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more”(Is.2:4)
Hebrew shall be the universal language in the Millennium. This will ease travels and communications. Because there will be good infrastructure, it will be extremely easy to move around. Though there will be national boundaries, border crossing will be facilitated by one international language and the good intentions of the citizens of the millennial kingdom.
The Lord shall rule the Earth with a rod of iron. No murderer will be kept alive at the expense of law abiding citizens of the millennial kingdom.
The nations shall congregate to Israel to worship the Lord in His Temple on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
“And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He teach us of His ways, and we shall walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem”(Is.2:3).
No Idols And No Idolatry
There shall be no more arguments as to which is the true God; for Satan and his hordes of fallen evil angels shall be evicted from the Earth’s premises and bound in the shaft of the abyss for a thousand years: thusly eliminating their corrupting influence on the citizens of Christ’s millennial kingdom. There shall be no more idols to worship.
“The idols shall be abolished from the earth. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heaven”(Ps.96:5).
“Their idols are silver and gold”(Ps.115:4).
“The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands”(Ps.135:15).
“The gods that have no made the heaven and the earth, even they shall perish from under the earth, and from under these heavens”(Jer.10:11).
“And the idols He shall utterly abolish”(Is.2:18).
All the idols would have been done away with during the Day Of His wrath.
“And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake terribly the earth. In that day, a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they have made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?”(Is.2:19-22).
Men shall no more practice witchcraft. There shall be no more observers of times nor necromancers nor star gazers. There shall be no more secret societies nor false religions. With Satan and his fallen evil angels bound in the bottomless pit, the antiChrist and the false prophet cast into the Lake of fire and brimstone, and all the idols and graven images destroyed during the Day Of His Wrath, there shall be no more sacrilege. This shall be the state of affairs throughout the Millennium until Satan is paroled at the end of the Millennium, when he shall deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth.
“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea”(Rev.20:7,8).
With the curse on humanity greatly reduced, Satan and his fallen evil angels incarcerated in the shaft of the abyss, the antiMessiah and the false prophet cast into the Lake of fire and brimstone, and the idols utterly abolished from the Earth, God, man, and His angels shall have unbounded fellowship and communion. It will be heaven on Earth. The heavens and the Earth shall be in holy union and embrace.
The New And Heavenly Jerusalem
There are some biblical scholars, especially of the pretribulation persuasion that teach that the new and heavenly Jerusalem shall appear at the end of the Mellennium as part of the New Heaven And New Earth. How long this new heavens and earth will last is not specified. Beyond this, according to them is the eternal state. But a careful examination of the Scriptures will reveal that the new heavens and new Earth is synonymous with the millennial reign of Christ. And the new and heavenly Jerusalem and the conjoint Fourth And Millennial temple on the renovated and elevated Mount Zion is the focal point of the millennial reign of Christ. After the Millennium and the subsequent White Throne Judgment is the Eternal State. Whatever the eternities future would look like, we are not told. The secret things are for God; but the things which are revealed are for us and our children, to the end we may keeps the words of the instruction(Deut.29:29). Therefore we shall be content with what is revealed, and not venture to thinker and speculate with divine secrets of the future.
Jesus promised His disciples that after the Rapture, He will never again be separated from them.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again , and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also”(Jon.14:1-3).
After the Rapture we shall never be separated from Christ again.
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them that are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout , with the voice of the archange, and with the trump of God: and the dead inChrist shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words”(1 Thess.4:13-18).
As we can see, it is explicitly clear that the church will never again be separated from Christ after the Rapture. And in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established(1 Cor.13:1; Numb.35:30). This is indeed so because after the Rapture of the church, after the end of the 70th of Daniel, during the 30-day reclamation period, while the forces of God are pounding the antiChrist and his evil kingdom here on Earth, the Bema Seat Judgment of the believers at which the saints are rewarded and bejeweled and the Marriage Of The Lamb to His decorated bride will take place in Heaven. The bride who now becomes the wife, will never again be separated from her husband. The new Jerusalem which is now in construction in Heaven will descend from Heaven to rest on summit of the renovated and elevated mount Zion. At the summit of mount Zion is The Fourth And Millennial Temple described by the prophet Ezekiel(Ezek. 40-43), built by Christ Himself during the 45-day restoration period of the kingdom. The new and heavenly Jerusalem shall be the residence of the resurrected saints, the wife of Christ and the OT saints and the angels of God during the Millennial Reign Of Christ.
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son”( Rev.21:2-7).
Here the new and heavenly Jerusalem is referred to as a bride adorned for her husband. This is a metaphor. It is no more the bride of Christ as the house of the newly wed is the wife of the man. The house of the newly married man is the bride to extent that the wife dwells in that house. When he is home, he sees the wife who welcomes him. She is the center of attraction and the joy of the husband, and vice versa. The just decorated church at the bema seat judgment, newly wed at the marriage of the Lamb now abides with Him in the new and heavenly Jerusalem descended from God out of Heaven. It is the tabernacle of God amongst men. It is hollow at the base and merges with the Throne Room of The Fourth And Millennial Temple at the summit of Mount Zion. This city has no temple, God and Christ are the temple of it(Rev.21:22). In reality the city does not need another temple. It is conjoint and contiguous at the base with The Fourth And Millennial Temple on the renovated and elevated Mount Zion, probably the highest point on Earth in the Millennium. The Fourth And Millennial Temple projects upwards in the center of the city.
The inhabitants of this city shall not need the light of the sun, moon, and stars to get by. The dwellers of this city are God, His angels and the resurrected saints of both the OT and NT. God and his angels have no physical bodies. Jesus and the resurrected saints have glorified eternal immortal resurrection bodies. Neither God and his angels nor Christ and the resurrected saints require the physical light of the sun , moon and stars. They have the life of God, “Zoe eioneis,” in themselves. The life of God in them is the light. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men”(Jon.1:4). The Lamb is the light thereof(Rev.21:23). The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not(Jon.1:4,5). The light source of the believer is in his spirit. It is the new life in Christ. In this age, it is eclipsed by the mortal body. But in the regeneration, it shall be unhindered, unhamperd, and unimpeded by the new and glorified eternal immortal resurrection body. The resurrected body is both transparent and translucent. In the resurrection there are no secrets. Everyone sees through everyone and knows what the other person is thinking. Thoughts are loud and transparent. There shall be no natural nights in this city. Therefore, It shall be always 12 noon.
In that city, there shall be no death, no ache, no pain, no sorrow, therefore there shall be no crying. The former things of pain, sickness, disease, death are passed away. These are the consequences of sin. When sin is eliminated, so are its consequences. The nations of them that serve Him shall walk in the light of it: and the Kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it(Rev.21:23). These are not earthly kings in their mortal bodies. The risen and glorified saints shall reign with Christ. They are the kings and priests of Christ. They shall be given rulership over nations, peoples, and tongues. They are the ones who shall bring the glories of the nations of the earth in the Millennium into the new and heavenly Jerusalem.
Men in their mortal bodies cannot approach this city. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incoruuption(1 Cor.15:50). The mortal body cannot tolerate the light of this city. It shall literally melt away. Anyone who ministers in the anointing of the Holy Spirit knows that it wears out the physical body. There is a level of the anointing that this mortal body of ours cannot tolerate.
“There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s scroll of life”(Rev.21:27).
The unglorified saints living in their mortal bodies here on Earth in the Millennium cannot approach this city. They have not experienced consummative sanctification or glorification. There are still intrinsic imperfections and impurities in these souls in their mortal bodies. Therefore they cannot approach this city. They can worship in the temple in some designated areas but they cannot enter into the new and heavenly Jerusalem.
In contrast to the Earth in the Millennium, though minimized, because Christ shall rule the Earth with a rod of iron(Ps.2:9; Rev.12:5; 19:5), there will be pain, ache, sorrow and death. It will be so, because those who enter the Millenium and repopulate the Earth, do so in their mortal bodies. They shall still be subject to sin. They still have to come to the saving knowledge of Christ every man on his own. Some will not accept Christ as their personal Saviour. Because they sin, they shall die young. Those who die at the age of 100 years shall be regarded as babies. “There shall be no more thence and infant of days, nor an old man that hath not fulfilled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be acursed”(Is.65: 20). There shall still be sin in the Millennium amongst those living in the mortal body. But it shall be reduced to the barest minimum due to the presence Christ, the saints, and the holy angels, and the absence of Satan and his fallen evil angels. Christ shall rule the Earth with a rod of iron. There shall be immediate and swift punishment of sin. There shall be no delayed punishments for sin.
“And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bear twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: the leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him: And they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever”(Rev.22:1-5).
As we have pointed out, the new and heavenly Jerusalem which descends from God out of heaven shall be contiguous with The Fourth Temple at the summit of the renovated and elevated Mount Zion. The renovated and earthly Jerusalem shall be the capital city of the world. The temple is the center of attraction in the Millennium. It is the seat of Christ’s Government, the headquarters of His Administration. Men from all over the world shall flock to it to pray and to see God in the flesh. In this temple, the heavens and Earth are in holy union and embrace. In the temple, God, man, the resurrected as well as those in their mortal bodies, and the angels of God are in holy communion. It is the focal point of the Millennium. It is the merging of the spheres. In it, the living in their mortal bodies and the dead and resurrected in their glorified eternal immortal resurrection bodies are in holy communion and embrace.
The Throne Room of Christ’s Government shall be in the temple. From that Throne Room, the river of life shall flow in two directions. Upwards to the heavenly Jerusalem. Downwards to the earthly Jerusalem and the rest of the world. The river that flows downwards to the earthy Jerusalem and the rest of the world is described in Ezekiel 47. This river shall water the land of Israel and the rest of the world. It shall be teaming with fishes. It will heal the land and make it fruitful. It will make the desert blossom like the rose. It shall flow into the sea(Ezek.47:8). The seas of the world which have been polluted by human activities and the judgment of God in the day of His wrath shall be healed, and purified by the waters of this river of life. There are some that teach that there shall be no seas in the Millennium because the seas and the fresh water lakes were destroyed by the wrath of God. “And there were no more sea”(Rev. 21:1). But it is obvious from Ezek.47:8 that the downward flowing river shall end up in the sea. The prophet Zechariah spoke of living waters that shall flow out of Jerusalem:
“And it shall be that in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be”(Zech.14:8). The prophet Joel predicted that a stream shall flow out of the house of the Lord: ” And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim”(Joel 3:18).
The trees shall also bear fruits for food. The leaves thereof shall be for the healing of the nations(Ezek.47:12). The Hebrew word translated medicine here means bruises and minor ailments. That is quite understandable because sin itself and its evil effects on the human body shall be drastically minimized. We shall elaborate on this in our study of the earthly Jerusalem in the Millennium.
Here we are more interested in the river that flows upwards to the new and heavenly Jerusalem. It flows in its Broadway. On either side of the river, and in the midst of it, shall be a tree that bears twelve manner of fruits. These fruits shall be food for the dwellers of the new and heavenly Jerusalem. The leaves shall be for the healing of the nations of them that are saved. Now, do the inhabitants of this city ever get sick? No. Why do they need healing? They do not need healing. They need the leaves of this tree for the maintenance of health. Angels eat food. Manna is the food of the angels(Ps.78:24,25). When Jesus rose from the dead, He ate broiled fish(Luk.24:42). Resurrected saints also eat food. Food is for maintenance of the body. The leaves of this tree aid in the maintenance of health.
The Dimensions Of The City
“And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof and the wall thereof. And the city lieth four-square, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the heights of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel”(Rev.21:15-17).
One of the seven avenging angels with the seven last plagues who talked with John the revelator has a golden reed to measure the city, the wall and the gates. That one of the seven avenging angels was called to measure the city probably indicates that this is not an event that occurs at the end of the Mellennium, that is one thousand years after the wrath of God, but rather prior to it, at the beginning of the Mellennium. The city has the shape of a cube. The length, the breadth and the height of it are equal, about twelve thousand furlongs. A furlong is about one-eighth of a mile. This is about 1500 miles or 2500 km. A reed is a measuring instrument used in the ancient Near East. It is about ten and one-half feet long, about 10 meters. He measured the wall thereof, it was about 144 cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. A cubit is the length of an average man from the tip of the middle finger to the tip of the elbow. 144 cubits is equal to 216 ft, or 72 yards, about 66 meters. This is the thickness of the wall. It is thicker than the wall of Jericho and Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. It is virtually impregnable. The wall of the city was made of glass, and the city itself of pure gold like clear glass. Do we suppose that these are earthly materials? No. This city is built of heavenly materials.
A full description of the new and heavenly Jerusalem is given in our comments on the Scroll of Revelation. In that comment, the other aspects of the city like the gates of the city, the foundations of the city, the substance of the foundations, the substance of the gates and the lights of the city are described in fine details.
The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb
The timing of this event in the millennial reign of Christ is not specified in Scripture, we know it shall take place in the early stages of the Millennium. The marriage of the Lamb to His bride has taken place in Heaven during the 30-day reclamation period after the Bema Seat Judgment of the saints at which they are bejeweled. The bride is now rewarded and decorated with crowns of gold studded with precious stones, jewelries, and gems. The Earth has been restored during the 45-day restoration period. The Earth and the heavens have been cleared of demons. Satan is bound in the Bottomless Pit for a thousand years. The fallen evil angels are sent to Hell or imprisoned with Satan in the abyss. The antiChrist and the false prophet have been cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.
The new and heavenly Jerusalem has descended from God out of heaven. It is merged at its base with the fourth and millennial temple built by Christ on the renovated and elevated Mount Zion. The 144,000 Jews hidden in Azel during the final wrath of God are now reunited with Jesus, the Messiah of Israel and all mankind(Zech.14:5). All Israel is now saved(Rom.11:26). The Gentiles who survived the Great Tribulation, the wrath of God, and were justified in the Sheep and goat judgement have repopulated the Earth. The new heavens and new Earth have been created. The earthly and millennial Jerusalem have been renovated, and has become the eternal capital of the Earth. Jesus, the Messiah of Israel and of all mankind has been coronated King of kings, and Lord of lords. He sits on the throne of His father David, and reigns king for ever from the throne of God and of Christ in the Throne Room on The Fourth And Millennial Temple on Mount Zion. All is now set for the marriage supper of the Lamb. The bride is united with her husband in the new and heavenly Jerusalem.
The marriage supper of the Lamb is the reception that follows the wedding or marriage of the Lamb that has taken place in Heaven earlier. On that day, Christ will drink anew the fruit of the vine with His disciples in His Father’s Kingdom. “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s Kingdom”(Matt.26:29). It is interesting that here Christ refers to the millennial kingdom as My Father’s Kingdom. Although He is sovereign over the Earth, He is subject to the Father who is all in all(1 Cor.15:27,28).
This will be the most glamorous wedding of all ages, with all the pomp and pageantry of the heavens and Heaven of heavens. God Almighty will make a feast of wines on the lees for all nations.
“And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the LORD GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it”(Is.25:6-8).
Food and drink shall be in excess of everyone’s fill. The bride shall be resplendent in glory, and the scene stupendous. The only thing that shall be compared to it will be the marriage of the Lamb that took place earlier in Heaven.
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come , and His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called to the marriage super of the Lamb. And He saith unto me , These are the true sayings of God”(Rev.19:7-9).
The heavens, the galaxies will display their stupendous glories in magnificent splendor. It will be a lavish banquet unlike anything seen before. Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb(Rev.19:9). The bride will be adorned for her husband, gorgeously appareled(Rev.21:2). Christ Himself shall be so glorious in appearance that the light of His countenance shall illuminate the whole universe. The marriage supper of the Lamb shall be part of the celebration of God’s victory over the kingdom of darkness, on the same footing as The Marriage Of The Lamb , and The Bema Seat Judgment of the saints.
The Bride
There are some biblical scholars who believe and teach that the bride will consists of the saints of all ages. I do not share that view for the simple fact that John the baptizer refers to himself as the friend of the bridegroom. He that has the bride is the bridegroom. Jesus is the bridegroom, that is not debatable.
“He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly , and speaketh of the earth: He that cometh from above is above all”(Jon.3:29-31).
John’s own testimony about himself is that he is a friend of the bridegroom. He stands by the bridegroom and hears His voice. This therefore my joy is fulfilled. He cannot be Christ friend standing by Him at the wedding and the subsequent reception, the marriage supper, and be part of the bride at the same time. My conclusion therefore is that John is Christ’s bestman.
Christ’s own testimony about John the baptizer is that:
“Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater that he”(Matt.11:11).
Of all those born of women, there hath not arisen any greater than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. The questions are who are those born of women, and who are the least in the Kingdom of heaven. My understanding is that Christ was referring to the OT saints, and the NT saints. Of all the OT saints there was none greater than John the Baptist, but the least among the NT saints, the church, the bride of Christ, the least is greater then he. My conclusion therefore is that the OT saints are not part of the bride of Christ, inasmuch as John the baptizer who is the greatest of them all is less than the least of the NT saints, is not part of the bride but his friend or bestman at the wedding in heaven and the marriage supper, the reception on Mount Zion in the new and earthly Jerusalem.
The Attendees
At every wedding and the subsequent reception, there are invited guests. At the marriage super of the Lamb there will also be invited guests. The Father and the Holy Spirit though invisible to those in their mortal bodies will be the hosts of the wedding. The OT saints will be the there. John the baptizer will be Christ’s bestman. Some of the greats among the OT saints like fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, David etc will be seated at the table. The angels of God will be there. Some of them, like the archangels Michael and Gabriel will be seated at the table. A good number of the angels will wait on the guests, inasmuch as they are ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation(Heb.2:14) Those in there mortal bodies who repopulate the Earth in the Millennium will be there. The 144,000 of the children of Israel who follow the Lamb wherever He goes will be there. They will most probably be part of Heaven’s security details. The Jews who survived the Great Tribulation and the wrath of God in the Day Of the Lord shall be there.
How do we know that the marriage supper of the Lamb shall take place on Earth? Because there was found there one who did not have a wedding garment( Matt.22:11-14). This is probably one of the survivors of the sheep and goat judgment. This cannot happen in Heaven. This cannot happen in heaven because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit in corruption(1 Cor.15:50).
Summary
“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom as of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever”(Rev.11:15).
The celebration of the marriage supper of the Lamb marks the completion of the defeat of Satan and his fallen evil angels. Satan, the supreme personality of evil, the corrupter of the Earth and all mankind has been defeated, evicted from the Earth’s premises and incarcerated in the shaft of the abyss. The antiMessiah and The False Prophet have been cast into the Lake Of Fire And Brimstone.
“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.”(Rev.19:20 KJV).
All those who gave allegiance to Satan by capitulating to the authority of the antiMessiah have been destroyed. God Almighty has reclaimed His rule of the the Earth usurped by Satan. Christ has regained physical possession of the Earth at Armageddon. He has received the Kingdom from the Father, and crowned King of kings, and Lord of lords. He has re-established the Kingdom Of God on Earth over which He, Christ would rule for ever.
“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth “(Rev19:6).
The Jewish survivors of the Great Tribulation and the Day Of The LORD have come to the saving knowledge of Christ. The Gentile survivors of the Great Tribulation, the wrath of God, and the Sheep And Goat Judgment have been brought to the saving knowledge of Christ. They have entered into the Millennium to repopulate the earth alongside the remnants of Israel. All nations, kindreds, peoples and tongues are represented. The church has been raptured, The Bema Seat Judgment at which the saints of all ages are rewarded and bejeweled have been held. The decorated bride of Christ is married to Him. The heavens and the Earth have been cleansed from the defilement of sin. The new heavens and Earth have been created.
“Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come to mind”(Is.65:17).
The whole Earth is restored and renovated. The new and earthly Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel and of the whole Earth has been rebuilt. The fourth and millennial Temple have been built on the summit of Mount Zion, the highest point on the new Earth. The new and heavenly Jerusalem, the abode of the bride of Christ, all resurrected saints and the angels of God has come down from God out of heaven to merge with the the millennial temple at its base on Mount Zion. Christ is reunited with His bride never to part again.
“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away”(Rev.21:3,4).
From the Throne Room of God and of Christ, livings waters flow downwards towards Jerusalem and the rest of the earth, bring healing to the Earth and the seas. The waters team with fish, and there are lots of fishing activities. The tree by the banks of the river yields fruits which are food, and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations of them who dwell on earth in their mortal bodies of bruises and minor ailments.
From the Throne Room also the river flows upwards as it were to the boardway of the new and heavenly Jerusalem. The tree which grows by the banks of the river and in the midst of it yields twelve manner of fruits. The fruits are food for the dwellers of the new and heavenly Jerusalem, some of whom are angels, and others resurrected saints in their glorified eternal immortal resurrection bodies. The leaves of the tree also are for the sustenance of health.
From the Throne Room, Christ shall rule over the Earth with rod of iron. David or his greater son is king over Israel. The twelve apostles judge Israel. The saints reign with Christ over the nations of the Earth, and are priests of Christ, and of God. The glories and wealth of the nations are brought into the new and heavenly Jerusalem in which there is no night. It is always day. Man, angel, and God are in holy communion, union, and embrace. The heaven and Earth are in holy embrace. From year to year, all nations come to worship God in Jerusalem and to observe the yearly feast of tabernacles(Sukkot). Jerusalem and its Holy Temple are the focal point in the Millennium. The Jews are revered all over he world, and there is no more antisemism(Zech.8:23).
With this, the Earth has been restored more or less to its pristine state before the fall of Adam.
Avraham Shallom.
…. As It Was In The Days Of Noah,…
“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son Of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the Ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son Of Man is revealed.”(Luk.17:26-30).
In the Olivet discourse, we see the most extensive and exhaustive teaching on the End Times The Lord Jesus The Christ gave to His disciples prior to His death, burial, resurrection, ascension into Heaven and session at the right hand of the Majesty in the Heaven. The Olivet Discourse was triggered off by the question His disciples asked Him concerning the End Times as they sat on the Mount Of Olives overlooking the Temple on the Temple Mount. He had previously communicated to them the fact that the second Temple then standing on the Temple Mount, built by returning exiles, and gorgeously and extensively refurbished by Herod the Great would be destroyed to the extent that one stone would not be left on top of another that would not be thrown down(Matt.24:2). That particular aspect of His prophetic message is now history. The second Temple was destroyed by the Roman general Titus in 70 AD as also prophesied by the prophet Daniel(Dan.9:26). It was this previous communication that generated the question:
“Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the age?”
As we have pointed out severally in our previous articles, the Greek word “eion” translated world in the KJV is better translated age. It is not referent to the physical world but the moving world. In Judaism, there is the concept of two ages, the present age, “olam haze,” and the age to come, “olam haba.” Both ages occur within the context of the physical world, the planet Earth, but at different times in its history. The present age is coming to a consummate end, and a new age, the “olam haba,” the age to come will be inaugurated. The end of this age will merge into the beginning of another age, the age to come. The Greek word for the end of the world(age), “sunteleia” is better translated “end of the ages,” because the two ends of the ages, the end of the present age, and the beginning of the age to come are merging together. The end of this age moves into the beginning of the age to come.
After our Lord Jesus The Christ enumerated certain events that would occur before the sign of His coming and the End Of The Ages, He compared the prevailing atmosphere in the world prior to that day to the prevailing atmosphere in the days of Noe and Lot. It therefore follows that we shall gain insight into the prevailing conditions on Earth in the End Times through the examination of the prevailing conditions on Earth in the days of Noe, and the prevailing conditions in the days of Lot in the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, Zeboim and Adama. The fifth of the five cities of the plain, Zoar was spared destruction as an act of divine mercy towards Lot and his family, the nephew of Abraham the Hebrew, the friend of God.
The Lord gave two examples, because in the mouth of two or more witnesses every word shall be established(2 Cor.13:1; 1 Tim.5:19; Heb.10:28). In the last days God shall give power unto His two witnesses to testify of these things(Rev.11:3). The specific events the Lord enumerated will occur within the context of the 70th seven of Daniel beginning with the appearance of the Man Of Sin, who will sign the covenant of Apostasy with the many from within Israel, or the covenant with death as the prophet Isaiah called it(Is.28:18). Although these prevailing atmosphere shall be heightened, intensified, and epitomized in the days of the antiMessiah, in the context of the 70th seven, leading to the Day Of the Lord, the End Of The Ages, Armaggedon and the establishment of the New Millennium, they shall begin to take shape and be recognizable in the gap of time, the indeterminate period between the 69th and the 70th sevens prior to the emergence of the antiChrist at the commencement of the 70th seven of Daniel. We live in this indeterminate period which is fast approaching its terminus-ad-quem which is the commencement of the 70th week of Daniel. When we critically examine the days of Noe, and the days of Lot in the period of his sourgeoning in the cities of the plain, certain facts will begin to emerge. We shall examine these facts in the light of the prevailing conditions on Earth in our day, in order to determine how close we are to the emergence of the Man Of Sin, the terminus-a-quo or the commencement of the 70th seven of Daniel.
In the days of Noe and of Lot, men were eating and drinking, buying and selling, and marrying and being given in marriage. At the surface, these are ordinary, normal human activities that are common to all ages of human history. Every man who has lived on this planet called Earth, has eaten and drunken water and or wine. Likewise every man has bought or sold at one time or the other. But why did the Lord single out the days of Noe and the days of Lot in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Were there some elements of these common human activities in those days that rendered them unusual and unique, and marked them out? Were there some things uncanny about these common, ordinary human activities in the days of Noe and Lot? We shall see by looking at how people lived in those days and what they did.
(1) The Nephilim Are Here Again.
In the days of Noah, men began to multiply upon the Earth, and daughters were born to them. “That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose”(Gen.6:2).
The Hebrew word “elohim” which is translated God in the KJV is the plural of “el.” It simply means gods. It is generic. It is applied to God Almighty, the God of Israel(Gen.1:1), the idols of the nations(2 kin.17:29), to angels(Heb.2:9) and important human personalities(Exod.22:28). Prior to the Satanic revolt, all angels were called sons of God. But after the Satanic rebellion, the angels who sided with Satan, the fallen evil angels, became known as the sons of gods. The sons of God in Gen.6:2, should read sons of gods, because they are fallen evil angels. Angels are spirit beings without physical bodies. But they have the ability to take on a form comparable to the human body and become visible and palpable.
These evil angels, the sons of gods, took on human bodies, and cohabited with human females. These fallen evil angels were fascinated by human females and sex. The offspring of these mixed marriages between human females and evil angels were called “nephilim.” “Nephilim” is a derivative of the Hebrew cognate verb “naphal” which means “to fall.” The sons of gods are fallen angels. The product of their inappropriate and unnatural union and unholy cohabitation with human females are “humanoids.” They were giants. They were “hybrid humans” or “transhumans.” They were men of renown. They were mighty men. They were evil men. Men of formidable stature and physique and superhuman intelligence. They were superlatively wicked and evil, above measure. Because of their presence, evil was increased on Earth in those days. So, the nephilim were characterized by superhuman intelligence, superhuman physical powers and abilities, and extraordinary cruelty and wickedness.
God ordained a distinction between men and angels, as He did between male and female humans, but Satan wants to obliterate those distinctions. Satan was not just a rascal up to some mischief just for the fun of it. It was a calculated attempt by Satan to subvert God’s plan for the redemption of mankind by hybridizing the whole human race in order to prevent the birth of the Messiah from a pure human female.
“and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”(Gen.3:15 KJV).
God preserved Noah and his family from the contamination of the Satanic hybridization programme. The sentence in Hebrew rendered “Noah was righteous in his generation”, is better translated “Noah was pure in his descendants”(Gen. 2:9: Ronald E. Showers). In order words Noah and his ancestors and descendants were not affected by the Satanic hybridization exercise. The rest of humanity in the days of Noah were hybridized.
This is exactly the same thing that Satan and his acolytes are doing today with the gene based(mRNA and rDNA) covid vaccines. A pilot programme is going on in Ghana to test the efficacy of synthetic mRNA based malaria vaccines. Africans are the Guinea pigs of this new experiment. They will certainly bring it to Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation to kill people and render the survivors infertile humanoids. They are testing synthetic mRNA based vaccines on humans for the treatment of cancers and autoimmune disorders. Apart from genetically hybridizing humans, these vaccines contain alien nanotechnology that turns humans into cyborgs and patented electronic devices visible by Bluetooth, GPS and QR code scanner.
Hybrid humans could not be redeemed. Little wonder therefore that Noah preached for 120 years that God was going to destroy the world that then was with water without the benefit of winning a single convert. Rather they mocked him while he builded the Ark: that it had not rained before and was not going to ever rain. After a hundred and twenty years of fruitless preaching amongst the atedeluvian earth-dwellers, the same day Noah entered the Ark, it began to rain. The rest of humanity were wiped out by God in the deluge. God demonstrated to us that hybrid humans could never be saved. You can preach for eternity but they will never believe and will never be saved because they are beyond penitence. They could be religious, but they would never be saved. Why? Because they are not humans. The question of repentance and forgiveness do not even arise. God covenant with Adam to save pure humans not humanoids.
God never covenanted with Adam to redeem humanoids, but pure humans made in His image and likeness. Not righteous men: for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God(Rom.3:23). Redemption is after its kind. Jesus did not take on Him the nature of angels, but became the seed of Abraham, a pure human, in order that He might be a merciful and a faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God in order to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
“For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.”(Hebrews 2:16-18 KJV).
Brethren, have you ever asked yourself why Noah preached for 120 years, and had no converts except for immediate members of his family? The answer to this question is found in Gen.6:9: “Noah was a just man and righteous in his generation.”
The KJV is not accurate here. The phrase “righteous in his generation is better rendered “pure in his descendants.” They were the only ones whose ancestry were not hybridized. Noah and his family were the only pure humans. The rest of humanity were hybridized. They could not be redeemed. Salvation is after its kind. Jesus is the kinsman redeemer, the “goel.” God convenanted with Adam to redeem man made in the image and likeness of God(Gen.3:15). For the sam reason, Jesus took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham, in order that he may be made like unto His brethren.
Don’t let anyone deceive you by saying changing your DNA does not affect your spirit but only your body. It is our spirit that will go to Heaven, not our body. And that our genes are mutating all the time. Yes, our genes are mutating every now and then, but that’s not enough to change us from pure humans to some other hybrid creature. It is not the same as a human-mouse chimera. Hybrid humans are not pure humans. They are chimeras. They CANNOT be saved or redeemed. Redemption is after its kind. That’s exactly the reason why those who lived in Noah’s day could not be saved. There are hybrid humans amongst us today. There are humanoids amongst us nowadays. There are cyborgs amongst us nowadays. They are all tranhumans. They will never be saved. It is not a matter of body and spirit alone. They are completely of a different species. It is not a matter of innocence either; they are a different species altogether. The covenant of redemption is between Adam, a pure human and his descendants and God, not human chimeras.
Remember that as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the day when the Son Of Man is revealed. There will be attempts to hybridize humanity. Satan’s plan has always been the same: destroy or disqualify. The easiest way to hybridize humanity is by vaccination with gene based vaccines like synthetic mRNA and rDNA, and chemical injections. These gene based vaccines contain alien nanotechnology and metamaterials that turn the recipients into not only hybrids but cyborgs who are connectable to quantum computers. As we see men and women hybridized by gene based vaccines, we know we are in the days like those of Noah, and fast approaching the commencement of the 70th week of Daniel. There are men and women who are happy to be cyborgs, who see themselves as supermen and superwomen(superhumans), Homo sapiens sapiens and human 2.0, the new Species. With nanobots in the brain, connected to neocortices in the cloud, one could become a Beethoven or Mozart or an Albert Einstein, so says Klaus Schwab of the WEF, and Raymond Kursweil also.
The evil angels who took part in this satanic assault on humanity and their humanoid offspring were imprisoned by God in the abyss, under darkness, waiting for the judgment of the great day of the Lord(2 Pet.2:4; Jud.1:6; Rev.9:1-12). Satan’s counterstrategy is very simple, disqualify and or destroy the whole human race, and thereby defeat God’s plan to reclaim rulership and physical possession of the Earth(Gen.3:15). If there are no pure humans, who is Jesus fighting for? There would be no pure humans to repopulate the Earth after Armageddon over whom Jesus would reign in the Millennium. Thusly GOD would be defeated and Jesus “killed.”
In this day and age, the “nephilim” are here again. Not everyone we see on the planet Earth today is a pure human. There are humanized demons and demonized humans. Scientists of satanic persuasion are busy in the laboratory trying to produce humans with superhuman abilities. Through genetic engineering, they hope to produce human beings with the characteristics of some extinct and extant animals and plants. Through computer and bioengineering, they want to programme these abilities into men by introducing plant and animal genes into the human genome. Men can also be turned into zombies through social engineering by health scare, lockdowns, social and physical distancing and other forms of social rehabilitations. In his novel, “1984,” George Orwell demonstrated how the Big Brother through stringent policies and draconian measures socially engineered the public to his will and to fit into his mold.
Without overcoming Sin, they want to overcome Death. They want to bypass Sin, and overcome sickness and disease and death. Without dealing with the issue of Sin, they want to evercome sickness, disease and death. Aubrey De Gray, the British biologist with a formidable beard, has a seven-point plan to overcome death. Raymond Kurzweil, an American Jewish scientist, the author of “Singularity Is Near,” and the director of technology at Google, wants to recall his father to life, and programme his own soul to live as a software in a computer for ever. There is a Singularity University where they are pursuing these goals.
Noah Yuval Harari, a professor of history and philosophy at Hebrew University Of Jerusalem, the intellectual patron of of the WEF, said: “The next in human evolution is to get under your skin. Man is now a hackable animal. Free will is over. Future generations will look back and say, it all began in 2019 with Covid-19.” Why did he say that and what did he mean by that? The Covid-19 vaccines have introduced a Global System Of Digital Identity.
This would have been laughable were it not that these men are so serious and determined to achieve their aims and objectives. This is not unlike the Tower of Babel. With unity of purpose, fallen man has the divine and inert ability to accomplish anything it sets its heart on. The reason why God confounded human language was to stop man from building a tower that would reach up to Heaven. Man in his fallen state and sinful body wanted to enter Heaven in defiance to God. If God did not stop man, he would have accomplished that purpose even in his fallen state. Today, fallen man wants to bypass repentance, regeneration, and sanctification and live for ever in a sinful body. Never for once think it impossible for man to accomplish his purpose. If men conceive and imagine it, it is achievable. Left alone by God, it would be a matter of time, perhaps several generations before man breaks through to his humanistic utopia. It was for this reason that God chased fallen Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, and stationed Cherubim with flaming sword to Guard the tree of life, lest they eat of it and live for ever in a sinful body.
“And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life(Gen.3:22-24).
While a piece of metal placed on water sinks, man has built ocean going vessels that weigh thousands of tons with both crew and cargo. Man overcame gravity to put aeroplanes on air that carry tons of cargo and crew. Man broke through gravity and overcame weightlessness to put man on the Moon. Man has sent unmanned aerial vehicles to Mars. Within 25 to 50 years of the modern world, human presence on Mars and other planets would be a reality. Elon Musk is obsessed with giving man a bolthole, an interplanetary escape route to mars in the event of a catastrophe that would end human life on the planet Earth. It would be foolhardy for anyone to think that fallen man cannot accomplish any goal he sets for himself. It will be utter foolishness for anyone to think that fallen humanity cannot overcome sickness, disease and death, and live for ever in a sinful body. If unstopered by God, they could accomplish their goal and do immeasurable damage to the human soul. It would be a horrible tragedy for humanity if fallen, sinful man is trapped in a sinful body for eternity. But as in the days of Noah, just before man accomplishes his purpose to live for ever in sin in this wretched body of ours, God will intervene to save humanity from satanic machinations and destruction.
The intertainment industry in the US alone runs into billions of dollars annually. This is ridiculous, considering the fact that millions of children around the world and refugees go to bed on an empty stomach. All kinds of games have been devised by man to amuse himself, to derive joy and happiness which only God can give. Our celebrities in sports, film industry, music, media and the arts earn billions annually while poverty rages on. But these men and women celebrate nothing other than their sexualities. In Nigeria, our musicians sing of nothing other than sex and nakedness, and are smiling to the banks. Why is there so much obscenity in music and contemporary arts, and yet the society patronize them? It is because of humanistic thinking that has pervaded every area of our society and the associated moral decay.
Hybrid humans, with or without The Mark Of The Beast are unacceptable to God. Therefore they cannot be allowed by Christ to enter the Millennium and repopulate the Earth. No hybrid human will enter Heaven or taste the Millennial Reign Of Christ. In other words, none of this people can be saved. They are doomed for time and eternity. Sometimes, we do not know who they are. Because the wheat and the tares are growing together, they are most times indistinguishable from the lot. I warn all believers everywhere to be careful who they marry, both clergy and lay, lest one’s offspring and spouse be disqualified from entry into heaven, lest they be betrayed by their own spouses and children. I warn believers to be careful who they make their confidant lest they be betrayed by their supposedly bosom friends and confidants.
Every true believer in Christ is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The essence of His presence in our lives is primarily, amongst other things, to guide us into the divine will in every aspect of our lives. As believers in Christ, we should be able to make the right choices in life. At whatever instance we come to a fork in the road, the Holy Spirit indwelling our spirit, will point us in the right direction: “this is the way, walk ye in it.” Should we choose the wrong direction, the inward witness will indicate we have made the wrong choice. Therefore, we should jettison it. This is not an article on the leading of the Holy Spirit, but because of the primacy of the leading of the Holy Spirit and the seriousness of the social and spiritual realities and implications of the presence of the nephilim amongst men, even in the church, both in the pulpit and pew, I have to digress to give this warning.
Besides, there are occult groups and secret societies like the illuminati, the freemasons, the black nobility, etc, who claim superiority to other humans, both by descent and some secret esoteric knowledge which they claim to possess. Some of them claim to know Jesus and dine with him, but their works are evil. Their machinations are to subdue and subjugate other humans by all means.
Note
“And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play”(Exod.32:6).
Of late, some of our brethren have come up with the notion that there were pure humans in Noah’s day who perished in the deluge simply because they did not believe in the warnings of God given by Prophet Noah. Although this notion was possible because unbelief is a serious offense, it was indeed far fetched simply because the righteous judgment of God would mean that pure humans and innocent children be spared divine retribution. But that was not the case.
The other possible scenario would be that there were some pure humans of the age of accountability who did not believe or heed the warnings of prophet Noah, but were not married and therefore had no children. So, they perished in the deluge. Those of them who were married, married humanoids and their offspring were humanoids and therefore not eligible to redemption. These are possible scenarios by which we could account for the death of everyone else except the members of Noah’s immediate family.
If there were some pure humans in Noah’s day who perished in the deluge simply because they did not believe in the warnings of God through prophet Noah that God was going to destroy the word that then was, some of them would have been married with children. Those children would have been pure humans and innocent too, especially the infants and neonates. Why didn’t God spare those innocent children and infants and neonates? It would have been unjust of God to condemn the innocent children, infants and neonates with the wicked and unrighteous.
The implication of this statement is there were no pure humans who begat innocent children, infants and neonates who were eligible to divine mercy on grounds of innocence inasmuch as such children, infants and neonates would have been spared destruction in the deluge on grounds of innocence. The conclusion is that all adults up to and above the age of accountability were hybridized and their offspring humanoids and therefore ineligible to divine mercy on grounds of innocence. So, Noah and members of his immediate family were the only pure humans.
The words “generation,” “genealogy,” “genetic” etc are cognates and derivatives of the word “gene.” “Perfect” in Gen.6:9 was not about moral perfection. It did not mean that Noah had no sins.
“For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.”(Eccl.7:20; cp 2 Chron.6:36 KJV).
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”(Rom.3:23 KJV).
The fact that Noah was perfect did not relate to morals but rather biological purity. Noah was pure in his descendants and progeny. In other words, his ancestors were pure humans not human chimeras. Noah and his ancestors and descendants were pure in their genetic constitution as humankind. They were pure human species. Simply put, they were not hybrids nor humanoids nor transhumans.
Also the word “corrupt” in Gen.6 was not about morals but genetic corruption and biological impurity. Animals were also involved thusly necessitating their destruction in the deluge as well.
(2) Indifference To, Acceptance, And Legalization Of Sexual Immoralities.
In the days of Noah, men were marrying and being given in marriage, likewise in the days of Lot. Was this the common ordinary heterosexual marriage between a man and a woman which God ordained in His infinite wisdom(Gen.1:27,28, 2:24)? Absolutely not. Were it the normal heterosexual marriages, there would been nothing special about it. Although, the Scriptures did not specifically mention homosexual and gay marriages in the days of Noah, we can see that it was practised by the “nephilim.”
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.“(Gen.6:5).
The hybrid humans were atheists and humanists. They did not believe in God. They did not believe in God’s moral absolutes. They did not believe in moral obligations towards their fellow man. They did not treat humanely those who were physically challenged or disabled, or socially underprivileged, or mentally challenged or handicapped. Theirs was a dog eat dog society, the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest. The society gave vent to all forms of sexual perversions. Incest, homosexualism and lesbianism, pedophilia, adultery, wife swapping, rape, bestiality and gay marriages were socially accepted. The disabled, the underprivileged and the mentally challenged were sexually exploited and abused. They were also physically abused.
The English word “sodomy” and its cognate “sodomite” are derivatives of the word “Sodom,” one of the major cities of the plain where Lot dwelt. In Sodom, homosexualism was practised. It was socially acceptable and accepted. Young boys and girls were sodomised by these evil and wicked men. The men of Sodom assaulted the house of Lot in order that they may know the visitors. The Hebrew word “yada,” translated know in the KJV means to know intimately in a sexual manner. It means to have carnal knowledge. There was no law and order in the city any more. No one came to the aid and rescue of Lot and his visitors. The rulers of the city acquiesced in these things. It was a state of anomy.
Sodomy is synonymous with homosexualism. Under the law of Moses, it carried the death penalty(Lev.18:22,29). Under the new covenant we are not mandated by Heaven to kill the sex perverts. But they should and are encouraged to repent of their evil ways. The days of ignorance God had overlooked. But now He commands all men everywhere to repent(Acts 17:30). There is a just recompense of reward for these errors from God for those who engage in these acts and have pleasure in those that do them(Rom.1:27).
In the days prior to the Day Of The Son Of Man, these social evils and wickedness and abominations shall resurface and be accepted generally and legalized. America is now the 20th nation to legalize gay marriages. In Europe and North America, LGTBQ+s are now well accepted. One may be sued for discriminating against them. Obama, the American President travelled thousands of miles from America, to tell the government and people of Kenya, to throw away their age old social, moral and religious values, and legalize homosexualism, lesbianism and gay marriages. In South Africa, a man may no longer claim damages in the case of adultery. In Germany, some groups are advocating for the legalization of incest, at least, amongst siblings. In the near future in some societies, men and women may get wedded to their cows, horses, dogs, pigs or any of their pet animals. There are animal brothels in Europe where men and women practise bestiality. Pressure will be put on pastors by the powers that be to conduct these marriages. Believers who object to these things may be blackballed out of business, financially blackmailed, and rendered bankrupt by litigations and boycott and sanctions, sued, tried and found guilty of discrimination and hate speech, and imprisoned, physically assaulted and killed. Some churches and denominations may comply with these changes. Ministers amongst them who repudiate established church authority will be defrocked, excommunicated and ostracized. These groups, advocates of Gay rights are intolerant of and violent towards opposition. Liberal wokism is on the rise. The conservative left is gaslighted and cancelled. The right is politically correct.
In some universities in the US, christian fellowships which object to accommodating gays as members or leaders are deregistered. There is organized assault on established christianity. It will not be long before churches and christian ministries shall be deregistered and their properties confiscated and impounded because of failure to comply with government directives, laws, edicts even decrees to wed homos and lesbians, men and women and their pet animals. In those days, organized christendom will be no more. Megachurches will cease to exist, and small underground cells and secret rotational fellowship units will come into existence. In those days one can only fellowship with those one trusts. Despite that, there will be betrayals and treacheries. When these abominations become rampant, we should look up; for the Day Of The Son Of Man, the day of our redemption draws near.
“Let no one deceive you: It is because of these things that the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience”(Eph.5:6).
(3) Indifference To, Acceptance Of, And Legalization Of Organized Criminality. I
”And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He made man on the Earth, and grieved Him at His heart”(Gen.6:5,6).
In the days of Noah, evil and wickedness were increased on Earth. Men were so wicked and cruel. The imagination of man’s heart was continually evil. Organized criminality was so rampant that the society and human government were indifferent to it, powerless to do anything about it, or were part of it. Likewise in the days of Lot, there was no law enforcement because either there were no legislature and judiciary or like in every corrupt society, they were part and parcel of organized criminality. If you could not beat them, you joined them. In order to survive, one either acquiesced in these things or doled out huge amounts of money regularly to pay for one’s protection.
We could see an example of this in Israel in the days of the judges, at a time when there was no king in Israel, and every man did what was right in his own eyes(Judg.21:25). The levite from Mount Ephraim had gone to retrieve his concubine who had returned to her father’s house in Bethlehem of Judah due to her infidelity to her husband. She played the harlot. As they journeyed, they came by nightfall to Gibeah of Benjamin. Although they were Israelites, there was not a single native of that city that was willing to take them in. Probably, they were aware the hoodlums in the city would demand they bring them out in the night in order that they may know them. It was only a stranger, a sourgeoner from the tribe of Ephraim that was willing to receive them into his house. At night, they were assaulted by the sons of belial in that city. They demanded to know the man. They wanted to know the levite sexually. These hoodlums were not interested in the wife of the levite, but the levite himself. What a perversion, In the end they were made to do with the wife of the levite whom they sexually abused and assaulted all night till the the small hours of the morning and she died.
The levite divided the dead body of his wife into twelve parts and sent them by the hand of messengers to the twelve tribes of Israel. That was a solidarity call for Israel to come together to demand justice. When Israel demanded that the hoodlums be delivered to face justice, did the elders of Benjamin comply? Their refusal to hand over the hoodlums was indicative of their acquiescence in evil and a measure of the depth of moral decay, depravity and turpitude in the city. The elders of the city and the civil authorities had no sense of moral justice any more. Their refusal to hand over the criminals to be punished, to face the music, led to a bitter war that lead to the death of thousands of Israelites from the other tribes and nearly wiped out the tribe of Benjamin from among the tribes of Israel(Judg.19,20,21). That sort of thing happened because there was lawlessness. There was lawlessness because of favoritism, corruption and bribery and the powers that be were unwilling to administer justice. There was lawlessness because there was no fear of God before their eyes. Where there is favouritism, justice is weakened and so dies.
It was exactly so in the days of Noah and Lot. When the angels of God visited the city of Sodom, there was no single native of the city willing to take them in. Only Lot the stranger received them. The sons of belial in the city assaulted the house of Lot at night and demanded to have them that came to Lot’s house, in order that they might know them. Did the city officials come to their rescue? Absolutely not. It was so because they were part of the system. A city that could permit such wickedness have acquiesced in evil.
As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be in the day when the Son Of Man shall be revealed. In the day before the Son of Man comes, sexual perversions of all sorts will be socially acceptable and legalized. In the street where I live, an eight-year old girl is being sexually assaulted by her father, and nothing has been done about it simply because the government in Nigeria has no plans to protect children from sexual assault. There is a strip club in this town, and some of my neighbors have attended and boasted to me about it. Nudism and all forms of sexual immoralities are becoming socially acceptable, and will sometime in the future be legalized. I have witnessed group sex by a group of university students by the poolside in this city. These social evils were unthinkable in African society a short while ago. Those who kick against these social pervasions will be the ones ridiculed, ostracized, sued and jailed, and blackballed out of business, physically assaulted and lynched.
(4) Commercialism And Consumerism
Likewise also in the days of Lot;….. They bought, they sold,……
As we pointed out earlier, buying and selling are ordinary normal human activities. We all buy and sell at one time or the other. But there is something uncanny about the buying and selling going on in the days of Lot. It was not the ordinary normal human activity of buying and selling that we all engage in at one time or the other. If it were ordinary, there would have been nothing special about it that warrants comparing it to the buying and selling that will go in the days when the Son Of Man is revealed.
In heaven, there is no buying and selling at all. There is no trade by barter either. Every man produces maximally and takes what he needs. Buying and selling is of satanic origin. It was introduced after the fall as part of the Satanic system of government. Satan is the god of this age(2 Cor.4:4). Buying and selling are associated with idolatry. From time immemorial, markets are almost always located next to the shrine of gods. Amongst the Igbos of southeastern Nigeria, for instance, the four market days are named after deities. Every market is associated with a deity and is almost always located next to the shrine of the deity. The four market days, Eke, Orie, Afor, Nkwo are associated with deities. Every market in Igboland bears one of these four names. In ancient times, these markets were established by sacrificing human blood to the deities involved. The markets were usually administered by the priests of the deities to whom they were associated or dedicated. Things may have changed of late in some places, but in ancient times, this was how markets were established and operated in Igboland.
Beyond this, even in modern days, there is a lot of idolatry involved in buying and selling. Lots of people who buy and sell as a means of livelihood are involved in idol worship, fetishism and occultism. There are businessmen and women who will not step out of their houses unless they have done some rituals and incantations. Some others will not open their shops nor talk to nor sell to any customers unless they done some rituals and incantations. Lots of big time businessmen are involved in occultism, idolatry, and are members of secret societies. In Nnewi, where I lived for thirteen years in seclusion, there are very few rich men who do not belong to one secret society or the other, even prominent members of Pentecostal Churches. To this day some sacrifice to idols in order to prosper in their businesses. Some even practise ritual killings and human sacrifice in order to attract customers.
Even in the so called civilized countries, the cutthroat competitions that rival corporations engage in is amazing. They are all missed up with one another in litigations. They always spying on one another, trying to subvert one another etc. Some of the things that the rich engage in, some poor fellows would rather remain poor than get involved in such things. It is the same old humanistic principles of self-enrichment that govern these corporations. The age old biblical moral values are not part of their company policies. Besides, they are so caught up with buying and selling that they have no time for God. Some of them have no time for their families. Sometimes, marriages have broken up and families destroyed because spouses have no time for each other and their families while buying and selling.
The worst aspect of this buying and selling is the consumerism that has been infused into it. The western societies and Japan are already taken up by consumerism. Of later, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and other prosperous countries of South East Asia have caught the same bug. And I dare say, that the same bug is fast infecting Africa. Every model of car has a new make each year, so also are smartphones and other items. Almost every piece of electronics has a new version each year. Some people are so caught up with these things that they can do almost anything to get the latest version of cars, electronics and smartphones etc. In New York City, a young man was gunned down just because his assailant wanted his new iphone. He took nothing else from his victim, though he had money in his pocket.
If a believer is not careful, he or she could be consumed with consumerism and commercialism like the rest of the world. Some have gone into debts in order to keep up with the latest version of cars, etc. We as believers should not allow ourselves to be squeezed into the mold of the world. This is obviously the aim of the Evil One, to squeeze us into the mold of the world, to keep us consumed with worldliness to the detriment of our souls.
(5) Intertainment.
They did eat, they drank,…
Eating and drinking are ordinary normal human activities. We all eat and drink. If we do not eat and drink, we die. It is that simple. But the eating and drinking that was going on in the days of Noe and Lot went beyond the ordinary eating and drinking we all engage in on a daily basis in order to sustain life. It is comparable to the kind of eating and drinking the Israelite engaged in during the apostasy in the Sinai. It is written,
This kind of eating and drinking and partying are associated with and eventuate in sex orgies. The Canaanites practised this kind of orgies which involved heavy drinking, eating and sexual escapades as a kind of worship to their gods. The Israelites were lured into this kind of sacred prostitution when they were joined to the Midianites at Baalpeor, ate the sacrifice of their gods and engaged in sexual immoralities with Midianitish women, for which reason twenty-three thousand of them fell in one day.
“Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them did, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.”(1 Cor.10:8).
Yearly, on Valentine’s day, men and women overeat, get drunk, do drugs, and participate in sex orgies. On that day, many young women and men lose their virginities and are possessed by Bacchus, and initiated and inducted into the Hall Of Fame Of Sexual Immoralities. Towards the approaches of the 70th seven, this kind of eating and drinking will be more rampant. For whatever reasons, birthdays, marriages, marriage anniversaries, end-of-year parties, etc, men and women will overeat, get drunk, do drugs, and engage in sex orgies. It is on occasions like this that many girls and young women are raped. There was a young beautiful woman involved in athletics. All the male athletes approached her for friendship, but she refused. One day she got drunk and was raped by eleven of them.
“Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.”(1 Cor.15:32c KJV).
Debauchery and surfeiting will be rampant in the last days. Epicureanism will become the philosophy and guiding principle of the lives of the majority especially the frivolous youths.
(6) Season Of Anomy
Because these evils destroy the moral fabrics of the family and society, a society that permits them becomes normless. A society becomes normless because it has no moral values and laws. Moral laws are based on moral values which in turn are based on what is right or wrong. And God is the standard for morality. If there are no moral laws, it is because there are no moral values. And if there are no moral values, it is because God has been legislated out of the family and society. It is not possible for a society to believe in moral justice without belief in the existence of God. Human life has worth and value to the extent to which God is seen as the creator of man in His image and likeness. Atheism teaches that there is no God. If there is no God, man is not created. If man is not created, he evolved. If he evolved, he is still evolving. If man is still evolving, he is an animal. If man is an animal, what is wrong with abortion, euthanasia, and canibalism?
If man is still evolving, there are no moral absolutes, and no moral standards. Everything is in a process of evolution. If God is the standard for morality, and there is no God, then there is no standard for morality. Everything is quicksand. There is no such thing as right or wrong, good or bad. It is only a matter of likes and dislikes, efficiency and inefficiency. You do your own thing, and I do my own thing. You cannot tell me what to do and I cannot tell you what to do. You respect my wishes and values and I respect yours. This is the kind of reasoning that produces normlessness, anarchy and utter chaos.
Evolutionists are atheists, and atheists are evolutionists. Evolutionists and atheists are normless and therefore amoral. Moral relativism will always lead to amorality. A society that legalizes homosexualism and lesbianism and Gay marriages, incest, adultery, bestiality and other social evils has destroyed it’s moral fabrics, and is headed towards anarchy. So it was in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah before God intervened to arrest the onslaught on morals. And so shall it be in the day before the Son Of Man is revealed. Where there is no king with divine mandate, lawlessness reigns supreme.
“In those days, there was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was good in his own eyes.”(Judg.21:25).
So it was in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah before God intervened to arrest the onslaught on morals. And shall it be in the day before the Son Of Man is revealed.
(7) The Age Of Humanity.
When God is legislated out of the family, home and society, man reigns supreme. The rule of man is the rule of Satan; for Satan is the god of this age and the Prince of the power of the air(2 Cor.4;4; eph.2:2). The New Age Movement teaches that man is God. They also believe that man is evolving. They have evolved a doctrine to explain away the Rapture when it occurs. They teach that man will evolve to a new and higher order of humans. Some will fail to evolve, the christians and their ilk. These will be whisked away by aliens from outer space simply because they failed to evolve. They so teach, being ignorant of the Scriptures and the power of God. In the day when the Rapture shall take place, the beginning of the Day Of The Son Of Man, there will not be any man on Earth who will not come to the sudden realization of the existence of God. On that Day, all the kindred of the Earth shall wail because of Him(Rev.1:7). In that day, the evolutionist, the atheists, the idolaters and the new agers, shall throw away their idols of gold, and of silver and bronze and wood which they had made for themselves to worship to the bats and the moles; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the top of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His Majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the Earth. They shall invite the mountains and rocks, to fall upon them, and hide them 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(Is.2:20,21; Rev.6:16,17).
They teach that they will fail to evolve because they do not believe and know that they are God. This lie is being touted by the new agers. It is not new. It is the same old lie that Satan told Eve in the Garden Of Eden,
“in the day ye shall eat of this fruit, ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil”(Gen.3:5).
As in the days of Noah and Lot, men became law and God unto themselves, and oppressed and killed one another, so shall it be in the days when the Son Of Man is revealed. God shall send a strong delusion that they should believe the Lie that man is God(2 Thess.2:11). God will not send this delusion upon men, but will permit this delusion to come upon men, because they legislated Him out out of His world and humanity which He created to glorify Himself. Nature abhors a vacuum. Man is a temple being. Man is a created being. Man is not God. If God does not reign supreme in the spirit and heart of man, something else has to take His place. This would be Satan and his fallen evil angels. Man without God is possessed of Satan and his fallen evil angels. Man is a temple being. There is no man in his normal senses that will claim divinity. It is irrational, deceived, deluded, disillusioned, disoriented, dislocated and possessed man that will ascribe divinity to himself.
There is a slogan afloat today in the high places of the Earth, to make this century, the 21st century, the century of humanity. What does this mean? They want to remove all references to God and His vestiges from the planet Earth in this century. But God will not let man prevail.
“Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight(Ps.9:19).
As in the days of Noah on the whole planet Earth, and as in the days of Lot in the cities of the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah, Zeboim and Adama, shortly before man prevails, God shall swoop in from His glories in the heavens unto the planet Earth to rescue the righteous and destroy the wicked humanists.
(8) No Supernatural Intervention In Human Affairs.
Because of wide spread evolutionary thinking, the people of Noah’s did not believe in God. If there is no God, then there is no supernatural being who could intervene in human affairs. So, man is not accountable to any divine being. It therefore means that there is no supernatural or divine being to whom man is accountable.
Noah spent 120 years building the Ark. As a prophet, he warned the people of his day of a coming deluge. Prior to this time, it had never rained. Every evening, dew came from heaven and wetted the ground. The whole Earth was of one weather, subtropical. The Ark could not have been built by Noah and his three sons alone. He probably hired men to help him build the Ark. They received wages to help him build the Ark but did not enter into the Ark. They must have mocked him while he built the Ark, and spoke of a coming deluge. They must have thought that old age was taking its toll on him, though he was not the oldest man alive in his day. Methuselah was still alive then, and died shortly before the deluge. Had they not believed in evolution, had they believed in God, they would have believed in divine intervention: they would have believed the teachings of Noah, and taken his warning seriously.
In the days of Noah, Evolution created the general intellectual and philosophical climate that dominated their thinking. This is also the intellectual and philosophical climate that will characterize the last days.
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the Earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water perished: but the heavens and the Earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”(2 Pet.3:3-7).
In this passage of the Scriptures, Apostle Peter gives an apt description of the theory called Scientific Uniformitarianism. Scientific Uniformitarianism teaches that all physical laws and principles- as well as psychological and sociological laws and principles after the appearance of mankind- have operated in essentially the same way throughout time. This theory is the driving force behind modern evolutionism which is taught in all leading educational institutions worldwide. Although this is a modern scientific theory, we have shown that it is not new. It was exactly what people felt and taught in the days of Noah and Lot. It is Satan’s lie concerning the origin of mankind, in order to hoodwink them into thinking that there is no God to whom they will be held accountable.
Apostle Paul warns us:
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:… “(Rom.1:18-20).
Ungodliness is wrong thoughts towards God whilst unrighteousness is wrong acts towards God. Men naturally think wrong thoughts towards God before they engage in wrong acts towards Him. God will punish men for both, because the knowledge of God is a self-evident fact in the life of every man. God has revealed Himself in nature, man inclusive. His eternal power and Godness are evident in general revelation.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day uttered speech, and night into night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the Earth, and their words to the end of the World. In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”(Ps.19:1-6).
There is a basic intrinsic awareness in every man of the existence of God. Beyond this basic knowledge is the general revelation of God evident in nature. It is a denial of one’s own consciousness, self-deception of the utmost sort to deny the existence of God, because His eternal power and Godness are self-evident within man and revealed in His creation around us. Evolution is a scientific farce, a sham. There is no substitute for God’s direct creative acts(creation ex nihilo), creation out of nothing, and His indirect creative acts(creation out of what is already in existence). Evolution is an ersatz, inferior satanic substitute for God’s direct creative acts, the one area in which all men are without excuse. Human beings can and are being deceived in this area, Satan having successfully negated the one area in which God holds man accountable. This satanic negation may salve men’s conscience that they are not accountable, it changes nothing in the eyes of God, inasmuch as they are without excuse.
Scientific Uniformitarianism obviously leaves no room for divine intervention in the affairs men. But this assumption is based on ignorance of the fact the heavens and the Earth were made by the Word of God.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”(Gen.1:1 KJV).
”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.“(Jon.1:1-5).
It was by this Word that the world of Noah’s day was destroyed by water, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimstone. It is also by this same Word that the present heavens and Earth are reserved unto fire awaiting the judgment of the great day of the Lord. That God had intervened in the past to judge mankind is contrary to the thinking of humanistic evolutionists and scientific Uniformitarians. They consider the notion of a worldwide flood mythical and legendary. Although the geological formation of the present age are attributable to the noahic flood, humanistic evolutionists in denial of literal creation and divine intervention in human history attribute it to the billions of years of evolution.
Unfortunately there are some christian scientists who share this evolutionist view, and rationalize away the fourth commandment.
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days thou shall labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days God made heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.“(Exod.20:8-11).
Because God created the World in literal six days, He rested the seventh day and hallowed. As we haven seen in 2 Pet.3:3-7, time is coming when men will no longer think seriously of the Christ’s Second Advent as cataclysmic, universal intervention by God in the course of human affairs. The reason adduced for this sceptical attitude is blind adherence to scientific uniformitarianism – a theory which maintains that all natural laws and processes have never yet been interrupted(or newer or higher laws introduced) so as to bring a total destruction of human civilization through the direct intervention of God. They maintain that since there is no God and therefore no divine intervention in the past, there is no cause for fear that there shall be any in the future. In answer to the sceptics, Apostle Peter alluded to two events in the past which are not explainable on the basis of scientific uniformitarianism. The first is the creation of the heavens and the Earth by the Word of God, and the second is the destruction of that world by a worldwide flood. The world(cosmos) that then was being overflowed with water perished(apoleto). The Greek word rendered perished in kJV is “apoleto.” It means limited destruction not total annihilation. The second event, the worldwide flood serves as the basis for the comparison of the second coming of Christ and the final destruction of the cosmos to the limited destruction(apoleto) of the world of Noah’s day.
(9) Racism.
The idea of inferior and superior races has its origin in evolution. Evolution, especially of the Darwinian and Lamarckian varieties, has been used as the scientific basis of racism. Much of Hitler’s philosophy was based on Darwin’s origin of species. All the 19th century evolutionists like Darwin and Huxley were unrepentant proponents of Aryan supremacy. Adolf Hitler’s Nazism was the most vicious of the racist philosophies based on evolutionism. The background was founded on the teachings of Ernst Haeckel, Darwin’s contemporary propagandist in Germany, who probably was the most influential evolutionist in continental Europe.
According to historian, Daniel Gasman, Ernst Haeckel and his fellow social Darwinists set about to demonstrate the aristocratic and non-democratic character of the laws of nature. Up to his death in 1919, Haeckel contributed to the special variety of German thought which served as a seed for National Socialism. He became one of Germany’s main ideologue for racism, nationalism, and imperialism. Hitler used Haeckel’s so called scientific evolution as the basis for his own racist philosophy. Hitler stressed and singled out the idea of biological evolution as the most powerful weapon against traditional religion. He repeatedly condemned Christianity for its opposition to the teachings of evolution. Hitler believed that evolution was the hallmark of modern science and culture, and defended its veracity as tenaciously as Haeckel. Just as Richard Wagner was the musical patron of the Nazis, Stewart Chamberlain was also their philosophical patron. He ardently supported Hitler’s biological evolution.
As we approach the 70th seven of Daniel, evolution will be the dominant scientific thought in the World. It will be used to justify racism, thus pitting the Kingdom of Satan against the observant Jews and the christians, when the antiMessiah makes his debut at the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah, unveils himself as a dead man come back to life, and demands worship of all mortals. As Hitler used evolutionary thinking to justify his ruthless antisemitism, so will the antiChrist use his atheistic philosophy to justify his goal of wiping out Jews and Christians, and anyone else who refuses to take the mark of the beast, or worship his image. He will probably not permit blacks to live whether or not they agree to take his mark.
(10) the Deification Of Man
The prevailing philosophy of life on Earth today is humanistic evolution. Humanistic evolution teaches that there is no God, who created man, to whom man has to one day give account. This philosophy of life leads to utter chaos. If there is no God who created man in His image and likeness, to whom man shall one day be held accountable, then man evolved, and is still evolving. Besides, he is God unto himself, and therefore unaccountable and not responsible to anyone else but himself. But it is written that every man shall give account of himself to God(Rom.14:12). If there is no God, there is really no basis for law and order and human government is unsustainable. Law and government without God’s moral laws and principles is tyranny and totalitarianism.
As we have pointed out earlier, this is the same old lie that Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden, that man is God. In almost every sphere of life, humanistic evolution reigns supreme: in our educational institutions, in the corridors of power, in commerce and industry, in entertainment, in the scientific world, most unfortunately in the citadel of religion itself. The world is ripe for the antiChtrist’s harvest, or better still Satan’s harvest. The antiMessiah shall be the ultimate humanist. Towards the approaches of the 70th seven of Daniel, there shall appear on the world’s political stage, a superman, a consummate politician, charming, mesmerizing, a man with a superhuman intellect and memory, dissolving doubts, resolving supposedly insurmountable political issues, like the Palestinian question etc. It is this man that the mass of humanity will deify in the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. This shall be the ultimate Abomination Of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet(Dan.9:26; Matt.24:15).
As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son Of Man. Men defied themselves. Every man was God unto oneself and was accountable to no one. Every man did what was good and right in his sight. But just before Satan achieved his aim of destroying humanity in general, God intervened and saved Noah and his family in the Ark, and wiped out the rest of humanity in the deluge. As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the day when the Son Of Man is revealed. On the same day God rained fire and brimstone on the wicked dwellers of Sodom and Gomorrah, God rescued Lot and his family. In like manner also, on the same day the Saints are raptured, God will begin to pour out His wrath on the living wicked earth-dwellers and worshippers of the antiMessiah.
Avraham Shallom.
Prophet Events Prior To The 70th Week Of Daniel
Prior to the commencement of the 70th seven of Daniel, there are certain prophetic events which must be fulfilled. These events are prophetic markers that warn believers of the nearness of the end of the prophetic gap of time between the 69th and the 70th sevens of Daniel(indeterminate intermediate period), the so called the timeless period, the Church Age, the Gentile interlude or the Mysterion, and the beginning of the 70th seven itself. In this article, we shall examine these prophetic events in the light of our times in order to determine the closeness of the commencement of the 70th seven of Daniel.
(1) The Return Of Jews To The Land Of Israel In Unbelief.
For the 70th week of Daniel to be fulfillled, Jews must be back in Eretz Yisrael, the land which God gave them and their forebears. “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and the Holy City of Jerusalem”(Dan. 9:24). Sixty-nine weeks are now history. We live in the prophetic gap of time between the 69th and the 70th sevens. The Scriptures also promise the regathering of the Jews to the land of Israel in unbelief prior to the commencement of the 70th seven.
”And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whether the Lord thy God had driven thee,…… And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecute thee. And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as He rejoiced over thy fathers:”(Deut.30:1, 5-8).
The sequence of events as foretold in this passage of is of utmost importance. First, verse 1 speaks of blessings and curses which would come upon the Jews in Eretz Yisrael as they obey or flout the commandments of the Lord, and their global dispersion, the diaspora as a consequence of their disobedience. Secondly, in verse 5, their physical restoration to the land of Israel is promised. Thirdly, their spiritual restoration is promised in verse 6. Fourthly, in verse 7, the defeat of their enemies by the God of Israel is promised. Fifthly, a future is referred to, when all Israel shall obey the commandments of the Lord their God. And lastly, a future time of prosperity that will come to the land and people of Israel, a consequence of their obedience to the commandments of God. This future time is of course synonymous with the Millennial Reign of their Messiah, Jesus the Christ our Lord.
This sequence of events is reflected in the prophet Ezekiel’s prophecy of the restoration of Israel:
”For I will take you from amongst the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, and I will cleanse you. And a new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.”(Ezek.36:24-26).
It is clear from this passage that Israel will return to the land in unbelief. A lot of human efforts go into this regathering, but clearly the hand of the Lord is behind it. The modern State of Israel was established in the spirit of self-reliance, strategy and industry and alliances of the Jewish people. After its return to the land, Israel will need cleansing from sin and purification of heart. Again this will be by the handiwork of the Lord. After the Holocaust of the Second World War, Israel returned to the land in sinfulness and unbelief, as dry bones(Ezek.37:11). Some of the early pioneers were atheists. Some even practised Buddhism. Although Israel has experienced successes in military, economy, Science and technology, and indeed every area of human endeavors, and has contributed immensely, out of proportion to the paucity of her number, to the betterment of the human condition, this is by no means near the promised prosperity in the Millennium. Whereas the present successes of Israel are seen in the spirit of self-reliance, their increases in the Millennium will be clearly seen as the handiwork of God.
(2) The Re-establishment Of The State Of Israel.
Following the destruction of the Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in 70 AD, Jews were scattered all over the world, the so called diaspora. After the Bar Kochba Revolt(132-135 AD), Jerusalem was ploughed with yokes of oxen, rebuilt, renamed Aelia Capitolina, by Roman Emperor Hadrian and Jews were barred from it under the pain of death. For nearly two millennia, the land of Israel lay desolate. The hope of recreating a Jewish state in Palestine was like a nebulous dream. Although there was never a time when there were no Jews in the land of Israel, even in Jerusalem, they were no longer in control of the land. They were in the minority.
Several powerful kingdoms ruled over the land. There was The First Arab Period, The Umayad, The Crusaders, The Second Arab Period, The Mamalukes, the Abbasids etc. For four hundred years, the land of Israel was ruled by the Ottoman Turks(1517-1917 AD), until defeated by the British general Edmund Allenby in 1917 during the First World War.
During the Enlightenment, Jews in Europe were assimilated into the European nations in which they lived. The Enlightenment worked better in western European nations like Germany, Austria, France. Theodor Herzl, the Austrian Jew reputed to be the father of the modern state of Israel was an assimilated Jew. What roused his passion for a Jewish homeland in Palestine was the Dreyfus Affair in France. Theodore Herzl was a journalist covering the Dreyfus Affair in France for an Austrian newspaper. Captain Alfred Dreyfus was an officer in the French Army who was falsely accused of espionage. Dreyfus was a Jew. During the trial, Herzl saw the antisemitism to which Jews were subjected in Europe, and decided that the best thing for the Jews was to seek an independent homeland of their own. At a stage, Britain offered Uganda to the Zionists which was soundly rejected.
The movement to establish a national home for Jewish people is called Zionism. The first Zionist Congress was held in Berzl, Switzerland, in 1897. It was organized by Theodor Herzl and his bosom friend, a psychiatrist, Max Naudor. Their efforts created a reawakening amongst Jews especially in Eastern Europe and Russia to return to their ancestral homeland. Before the first Zionist Congress, Theodor Herzl published a pamphlet, “The Jewish State.” After the First Zionists Congress, he wrote: ” Today I have established the Jewish state. In five years, perhaps fifty,…..” That was prophetic. In exactly fifty year, in 1947, the UN voted in favour of partition of British Mandate Palestine between its Jewish and Arab residents. At the end of the Bristish Mandate, on 14th May, 1948, Israel became independent under the leadership of David Ben Gurion. Unfortunately, Theodor Herzl never lived to see the creation of the Jewish State, for he died at the age of 44 in 1904. At the creation of the Jewish State, his bones were reinterned in Jerusalem on Mount Herzl.
After the First World War, the British government through its foreign secretary Lord Balfour, favoured the Establishment of Jewish homeland in Palestine with the famous Balfour Declaration, in recognition of the role of Chaim Weizmann and other Jews in support of the British war effort during the First World War. Dr Chaim Weizmann was a Jewish chemist, a professor of chemistry at Manchester University who provided the British with synthetic acetone from corn for the manufacture of cordite gunpowder. Dr Chaim Weizmann later became the president of the Zionist Congress and the first president of the state of Israel.
Prior to 1948, one of the barriers to the emergence of the antiMessiah was the absence of a Jewish State. Today a unified Israel, not a divided Kingdom(Ezek.37:15-28), stands tall in the comity of nations. It has sterling contributions to humanity. The Israelis built the first cell phone, and the Intel mother board used in computers all over the world. Little Israel has the highest start-up per capita in the world. Israeli dairy farmers produce one of the most proteinacious milk in the world, second only to Holland. Israel is a leading power in solar energy. An Israeli Jew Simcha Blass and his son, Yeshayahu, invented the plastic emitter in drip irrigation which enables farming in the Negev desert, and has been adopted by many third world countries. Jews were involved in the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bombs dropped at two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki that lead to the end of the Second World War. An exhaustive enumeration of the contribution of Jews and Israel to humanity is beyond the scope of this article. Suffice it to say we are blessed to have Israel as an independent State in our day and age.
(3) The Jewish Regain Of Control Of Jerusalem.
The events of the 70th seven of Daniel are centred on the land of Israel and her Holy City, Jerusalem. The 70-week prophecy of Daniel concerned Israel and her Holy City, Jerusalem.
”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 the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy”(Dan.9:24).
The starting point of the 70 sevens of Daniel was the promulgation and issuance of the decree of Arterxerxes Longimanus to restore and rebuild the Jewish Holy City Jerusalem(Nehemiah. 2:5). According to Sir Robert Anderson, this decree was issued in 445 BC.
”Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandments to restore and rebuilt Jerusalem unto the Messiah The Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times”(Dan.9:25).
The First Advent of the Messiah was in relation to the land of Israel and the Holy City of Jerusalem. Several significant events in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus The Christ, took place in and around Jerusalem: His birth and annunciation took place in Bethlehem close by. He was presented to God in the Temple in Jerusalem as The Lord commanded Moses(Luke. 2:23,24). He attended the Jewish feasts of Passover and Hanukkah in the Temple in Jerusalem (Jon. 2:13, 7:2). In Jerusalem, twice, both at the beginning and end of His ministry, He chased away those who were buying and selling in the Temple. He overturned the tables of the money changers and those who sold doves(Jon.2:14,15).
At the pool of Bethesda, in Jerusalem, He healed the paralytic(Jon.5:1-16). At the pool of Siloam, He restored sight to the man that was born blind(Jon.9: 1-41). At the outer court of the Temple, He dialogued with Nicodemus(Jon.3:1-21). His passion and agony in the Garden Of Gethsemane, arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial and resurrection, ascension took place in and around Jerusalem(Matt.26-28; Mk.14-16; Luk.22-24; Jon.18-24). In the Temple, He gave The Temple Mount Discourse to His disciples(Matt.23,23). On the Mount Of Olives, He gave the Olivet Discourse(Matt.24-25; Mk.13; Luk.21). He ascended to Heaven from the Mount of Olives overlooking the Temple Mount in Jerusalem(Acts 1:9), and the angels of God promised He would come back in like manner as His disciples saw Him go into heaven(Acts 1:10,11; cp, Zach.14:1-4). In the light of these Scriptures, repossessing the city of Jerusalem by the Jewish people is strategic to and a very important prophetic marker of the approaches of the End Times.
Following the destruction of the Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus in 70 AD, Jews were scattered all over the Globe, the so called Diaspora. After the Bar Kochba rebellion in 136 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem, renamed it Aelia Capitolina, barred Jews from entry into the city under the pain of death. Although there had not been any time when there were no Jewish presence in Jerusalem, Jews were not in the majority and in control of the city of Jerusalem for nearly two millennia. At the end of the British Mandate over Palestine, Jews lost control of Jerusalem to Jordan, at the end of the War Of Independence. It was not until after the Six-day War in 1967 that the State of Israel gained full control of Jerusalem, and declared it its eternal capital to the consternation and confusion of the Palestinians and Arabs, and the nations of the world. The US under the presidency of Donald J. Trump has relocated its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv after recognizing it as the eternal capital of Israel, the first nation so to do in modern times, since Israel regained its independence in 1948.
As we have pointed out earlier, because the 70-weeks prophecy of Daniel deals with the people of Israel, and thy Holy City, the prophecy of the 70th week could not be fulfilled until the Jewish people take control of the land of Israel, at least in part, and regain control of the Holy City of Jerusalem. It is obvious from the Scriptures that Israel will not regain full control of the whole land God promised their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the extent of the land reigned over by King David and Solomon, his son and successor: for God will punish the nations for parting His land which He gave to the children of Israel by a covenant of salt(Joel 3:2). The Jews are now in control of the land of Israel, at least, in part; in full control of her Holy City Jerusalem. This barrier was removed in 1967, paving the way for the Second Advent of our Lord, Jesus The Christ.
(4) The Rebuilding Of The Third Temple.
In the history of Israel, every period of the kingdom is associated with a temple in Jerusalem. The period of the kingdom from the institution of the monarchy to the carrying away into captivity in Babylon is referred to as the First Temple Period or simply the First Temple(1080-586 BC). This period of the kingdom is associated with the temple built by King Solomon. This temple was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon in 586 BC.
After 70 years in exile in Babylon, the Jews were freed by the decree of Cyrus the Persian in 538 BC, according to the words of Jeremiah the prophet(Ezra 1:1-4; Jer.25:12, 29:10). Thus began the Second Temple Period or simply the Second Temple(538 BC-70 AD). By 515 BC, the returning exiles had completed the Second Temple. This temple, located on the same site as the first was extensively and lavishly refurbished by Herod the Great. It was this temple that was in existence during the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus The Christ. This temple was destroyed by the Roman general Titus in 70 AD as prophesied by the prophet Daniel and reiterated by our Lord Jesus The Christ in His Olivet discourse, thus ending the second Temple Period(Dan. 9:27; Matt.24:1,2).
As we have pointed out earlier, each period of the kingdom corresponds to a temple. The modern state of Israel was established in 1948 following the end of the British Mandate over Palestine. Up to now, there is no Temple. Despite the absence of any Temple, the Jews refer to this period of the kingdom as Third Temple Period or simply the Third Temple(1948-end of the 70th week of Daniel, which corresponds with the death of the two witnesses of Rev.11). During the Yom Kippur War, when Israel was almost annihilated by her Arab and Islamic neighbors, the then Defense Minister of Israel, the legendary one-eyed general, Moshe Dayan said, “The Third Temple is over.” Up to now as at that time, there was no Temple. Yet this period of the kingdom without a king is referred to as the Third Temple.
”For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king ; and shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days”(Hos.6:4,5).
Today Israel is an independent state in the comity of nations, but it is without a king. There is no high priest with an ephod and teraphim, no umim and no thumim, and no sacrifice because there is no Temple. During the Day Of The Lord, the children of Israel shall return to the LORD their God, and David’s greater Son, our Lord Jesus the Christ shall be king over them, and the High Priest of God. He shall be a priest upon the throne( Zach.6:13).
The major events of the 70th week of Daniel are centred in and around the Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.
”Let no one deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of Sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or worshipped: so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing that he is God”(2 These.2:3,4).
In order for the antiMessiah to make his debut at the Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, where he unveils his identity as dead man come back to life, and displays himself as God, demanding worship of all mortals in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel, a temple must exist on the Temple Mount. Up to now, the Temple Mount is occupied by the Muslim Dome of the Rock, the Golden Dome and the Al-aqsa Mosque.
Prior to the 70th seven or even within the first three and one half years of the 70th seven, the third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem must be erected. This is probably one of the feats of politics the antiChrist will perform that will endear him to the Jewish people. However, it is most likely that after the covenant of Apostasy is made with the antiMessiah that the Jews will be permitted to rebuild their Temple, though we must remind ourselves, that the rebuilding of the temple is not mentioned as one of the major events in the first three and one-half years of the 70th seven of Daniel. The scriptures are not precise when the third Temple shall be rebuilt, but there ain’t too many options. It is either prior to the 70th seven of Daniel, or in the first three and one-half years; for a temple must of necessity be standing, and animal sacrifice and meal offering resumed prior to the midpoint of the 70th seven when the Man of Sin is revealed, and the sacrifice and oblation caused to cease.
The Temple Mount, is the most expensive piece of property on Earth today. As a matter of fact, it is not up for sale or grabs. Jews, Muslims, christians and the international community are interested in it. There is a lot of controversy surrounding this piece of real estate. When Israel wrestled control of Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, the then defense minister of Israel, Moshe Dayan returned the key to the Temple Mount to the Muslim Waqf as gesture of good will. What a costly mistake. Unfortunately Jews are not even allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. Those who move their lips there are arrested.
The real issue however is the location of Holy Of Holies of the temple. Studies by Asher Kaufman indicate that it is not under the Dome Of The Rock, but a little further northwest of the mosque, under the Dome of the Tablets, a location directly west of the Eastern or Golden Gate. It therefore means the Jews could rebuild their Temple on the site of Solomons Temple while the Dome of the Rock is still standing. If that is the case, the Muslim Dome of the Rock is in the outer court. This may be what is meant by the angel’s instruction to John the revelator, not to measure the outer court of the temple.
”And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for is given unto the Gentiles: and the Holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months “(Rev. 11:1,2).
Forty and two months is three and one-half years which is the length of the second half of the 70th week of Daniel, the time allotted to the antiChrist to reign and the two witnesses to minister. The ministry of the two witnesses is concurrent, co-incident, and simultaneous with the reign of the antiMessiah.
“And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.”(Rev.11:3-4 KJV).
“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”(Rev.13:5-6 KJV.
In the light of this understanding, it may be possible for the Jews to rebuild their Temple at the shortest notice without tampering with Muslim Dome Of The Rock. All the materials for the rebuilding of the temple have been procured and prefabricated. Over $100 million dollars have been raised for the rebuilding of the temple. Priests of the family of Aaron and levites have been identified by DNA tests, trained, and are rehearsing and doing test runs, on the wings, waiting to resume Temple worship and animal sacrifice, grain offering and the pouring of libations(drink offering) at a moment’s notice. Vigorous search is being made for the red heifer. Several have been identified but disqualified by a few strands of black or white hair. Recently a pure red heifer was found. Crowd funding is being used to raise money for the cloning of red heifers. When this is successful, there will be no lack of red heifers. The Golden Altar Of Incense has been reconstructed, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish counsel of 70 elders has been reconstituted, and a Cohen Gadol appointed.
It is possible that an entire Temple may not be built, but only a tabernacle-like structure that could be erected quickly to provide a place for worship and animal sacrifice, not unlike the temporary structure called the tabernacle which Moses erected in the wilderness. Greek scholars tell us that the Greek word used to describe the temple the antiChtist will desecrate at the midpoint of the 70th seven permits such a view. At any rate, a place of sacrifice is not necessarily a precursor to the 70th seven of Daniel, and in reality may not be built until shortly before the midpoint of the 70th seven of Daniel. The Scriptures did not tell us when the sacrifice and the oblation will begin, but that they will be terminated at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel.
There is also the question of the Ark Of Covenant. The Ark Of Covenant must also be found and returned to the Holy Of Holies of the Rebuilt Third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah, Jerusalem; another supposedly or seemingly insurmountable odd. Where is it? Must it be restored to the Holy Of Holies in order to restore Temple worship and resume animal sacrifice? There are a number of speculations as to its location: an underground vault at the Temple Mount, spirited away to Ethiopia before the Babylonian invasion, France etc. Will a new one be constructed? Yes, a new Ark can be constructed. But what about its original contents like the two tablets of the Ten Commandments written with the finger of God, the pot of Manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded which are irreplaceable if lost?
(5) The Establishment Of The Three-Nation Coalition.
”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 brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of 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).
We can see here that there are ten horns. Horns signify power and authority. In Rev.13:1, the ten horns have ten crowns. The crowns signify that they are sitting or reigning kings. The little horn which is diverse from the ten was not one of the original ten. The tittle horn has eyes which signify intelligence. It has a mouth and spoke great things. So this little horn is human after all. It spoke boastful words and blasphemed the God of Heaven and the Heaven-dwellers. This little horn is the antiMessiah. The little horn is one of the appellatives of the antiChrist.
The little horn was so powerful that it overthrew three of the original ten horns. Since these horns are sitting kings, contemporaneous, it therefore means that the antiMessiah shall overthrow three of the original kings and replace them with his own puppets. Obviously these three original kings were not in agreement with his plans and purposes, hence their dethronment. Remember that this little horn does not directly rule any one of these three nations, but rather is the overall head of the ten nation confederation. This agrees with words of the Scriptures in Ezek.38:2; for Gog, of the land of Magog, is the head of Meshech and Tuval. As we have pointed out earlier on in our previous article on the Eighth And Final Beast Empire Of Satan, these two peoples groups who constitute Magog, Meshech and Tuval, the Germans and the Russians do not naturally agree. So, it will take a powerful and ruthless leader like the antiChrist to unite them.
With the exception of Russia itself, nearly all the eastern European countries which were part of the former Soviet Union are now part of the EU. Europe and North America are one already. Add to that Russia, one has a very formidable military alliance.
”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”(Rev.17:12,13).
These ten kings are contemporaneous with the antiChtist. They have unity of mind and purpose. They give their power and strength unto the beast who is the same as the little horn. We see why three of the original ten horns were overthrown. They did not have unity of mind and purpose with antiChtist. So they were replaced with pliable puppets. We can see that the overthrow of these three Kings or leaders of Magog, Meshech and Tuval, by a very powerful politician from Magog which is Germany, and their replacement with malleable puppets from the same, will be one of the major pre-70th week events. It will be a major event that will make headlines, a breaking news.
We must also remember that people of Germanic extraction are found not only in Germany, but also in Austria, in the Silesia region of Poland, in the Sudetenland in the Czech Republic, and in Russia, south and west of Moscow. The Franks too are of Germanic descent, so also are the Anglus and the Saxons whose ancestors came from Lower Saxony in Bavaria, Germany. So, this great leader of Germanic extraction could emerge from any one of these areas. Adolf Hitler was originally from Austria, and became a German citizen. So the antiMessiah could come from any one of these areas. In identifying the antiChrist, what matters is not necessarily geography but ancestry. It is this extremely powerful and ungodly military leader, the antiChtist incognito, the worst Jews-hater of all times, that will sign a seven-year peace agreement with Israel that will mark the commencement of the 70th seven of Daniel. This will be a major event that will make headlines. So we believers in Jesus the Messiah, must be watchful, even as we are faithful and prayerful, in order that we may observe these significant End Time Events when they occur, in order that they may not come upon us unawares.
Summary
The first three events(1-3) have been accomplished. What remains are the last two events(4,5), rebuilding of the Third Temple and the establishment of the three nation coalition. These two events can happen literally overnight. We must be watchful so that we can notice when these two events happen. Once the three nation coalition is established, the 7-year peace agreement between Israel and her Arab and Islamic neighbors to be brokered by the antiChrist can take place at any moment(Dan.9:27). And once the covenant is brokered, the 70th week of Daniel has begun.
Avraham Shallom.
Revelation Chapter 13: The Beast And The False Prophet
This chapter deals with two evil and wicked personalities and their activities in the end times. These two personalities are human: for they possess physical bodies, and are therefore able to function in this physical world. However, they are not alone: behind them is a third personality, Satan, the god of this age. These three persons constitute the satanic trinity. We have pointed out earlier that Satan mimicks God: for he said, I will be like the Most High…(is.14:14). So, whatever God does, he tries very hard to copy. But unlike the Divine Trinity, there is no equality involved here: Satan is the supreme leader; the two other personalities, the First and Second Beasts are only his subalterns and minions. In the Divine Trinity, the three persons of the Godhead, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are of the same substance and coequal but choose to submit to one another. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus The Christ said, My Father is greater than I. And again I and My Father are one. This a mytery: the Father is greater than the Son, yet they are one in substance and coequal. In the satanic Trinity, Satan is the supreme leader. I shall not proceed further with this comparison. This is just to give us an idea of the copycat that is Satan.
The First Beast:Verse 1-10
(1) “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”
John the revelator stands on the sand of the sea, and sees a beast rise up out of the sea. Although the sea signifies the mass of people, it could also stand for the underworld of the dead. In that case, this may be an indication the first beast comes out of the underworld of the dead, a different mass of people so to say.
Dr. Marvin J. Rosenthal believes the sea here refers to the Gentiles. In that case the antiChrist will be a Gentile. This assumption cannot be biblically substantiated. As matter of fact, it contradicts the Scripture. For the antiChrist to be acceptable to the Jews as the Messiah of Israel, he must have Jewish blood. One of the appellatives of the antiChrist is “Another.” Based on Christ’s statement in John 5:43, am inclined to believe that the antiChrist will be of Jewish ancestry
“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 KJV).
A Gentile CANNOT be the Messiah of Israel. The antiChrist will claim to be the true Messiah of Israel. For the Jews to accept him as the Messiah, he must have Jewish ancestry. The Jews cannot accept a Gentile as their Messiah. So, it is doubtful whether the antiMessiah is a Gentile. Considering other factors, he may probably be a mongrel Jew. In that case, one cannot categorically state that he will be a Gentile.
“The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; according to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”(Deut.18:15-19 KJV).
But the antiChrist is an imposter. Therefore he shall be a Samaritan. A Samaritan is a mongrel Jew, a Jew of mixed blood. He is also Gog of the land of Magog(Ezek.38:2,3). Therefore he will be a Jew of mixed blood. That should not be difficult to understand inasmuch as Jews are scattered all over the world. The Jews accused Jesus of being a Samaritan and having a demon. By that they meant He was a pseudomessiah, the antiChrist. But Jesus was not a Samaritan neither did He have a demon.
“Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”(John 8:48-51 KJV).
The revelator is among the living. But he sees a beast come out of the underworld of the dead. Like his father and mentor, who had taught him in the underworld, the dragon in the previous chapter, he bears seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and in addition to that, upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
In Middle Eastern culture, kings are synonymous with their kingdoms. The context sometimes distinguishes between the two. At other time the phenomenon of double reference may be implied which obviously is the case in this context. Therefore, the Eighth And Final Beast Empire is a composite Beast Empire with all the characteristics of the seven previous Beast Empires. We have enumerated these seven Beast Empires in the previous chapter. Inspite of having all the characteristics of the seven previous Beast Empires, this Eighth And Final Beast Empire consists of ten horns. We have earlier stated that horns symbolize powers. Therefore, the Eighth And Final Beast Empire consists of ten nations or better still ten peoples groups.
That these horns have crowns indicate their rulers are sitting kings, contemporaneous. We shall enumerate these nations or peoples groups later on. One thing is obvious, all these horns owe allegiance to The Beast who is the overall head and absolute ruler, or more appropriately the Emperor of this beast Empire. The Beast-King or better still Beast-antiChrist, like the Beast-Nation over which he reigns is a composite personality with characteristics of the most prominent of the emperors of the seven Beast Nations. These emperors were the worst and impacted Israel negatively. On his head, are the names of blasphemy: this phrase indicates that unlike Israel, a theocracy, which these nations have persecuted throughout history, these nation were idolatrous.
As nations, they never believed in the God of Israel and they never worshipped Him, but rather were blasphemous of Him and persecuted His people whom He had chosen. They were Gentile Nations and had no allegiance to The God of Israel. However, that did not mean that there were no individuals amongst them that knew the God of Israel. These nations were the exact opposite of Israel. Their gods were idols, their temples were dedicated to idols, their priests were priests of idols. They were satanists, they blasphemed the God of Heaven: hence the names of blasphemy.
(2) “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.”
This composite and nondescript beast is like a leopard, the Greek Empire and the worst of its kings, Antiochus IV Epiphanes or Antiochus theo Epiphanes, Antiochus god made manifest, who persecuted the Jews, and is a prefigure of the antiChrist. The feet were like those of a bear, the Medopersian Empire and the worst of its kings who persecuted Jews in exile. And his mouth as the mouth of a lion: the Babylonian Empire and its worst king, Nebuchadnezzar II who took Israel into exile in Babylon. We see here that three of the ten nations that constitute the Eighth And Final Beast Empire are mentioned: Greece, Medopersia and Babylon. The nondescript beast itself and its own kingdom are one, i.e., Rome. The others are named in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, viz: Magog, Meshech, Tuval [Rome], Cush (Ethiopia in The KJV, but more appropriately Sudan), Phut(Put or Libya), Gomer and Togarmah(Turkey, Azerbaijan). In Ezekiel 38:1-6, the Beast himself is referred to as Gog who is the head of Magog from whom came the ancestors and founders of Rome. We shall delve more into this when we study the beast empires.
And the dragon gave him his power, and his seat and great authority. After his expulsion from Heaven Satan indwells the Beast-antiChrist. He empowers him: he gives him his power, his seat and great authority. This exchange with Satan and the resultant transformation occur precisely in the middle of the 70th seven of Daniel’s 70 Seven prophecy. At this point, the Beast suffers from a sever mental disorder called Political Megalomania. He has a psychiatric problem, but he does not know it. Indeed, he is more than a psychiatric case, it is political ‘Galomania. He becomes a dictator, a political demagogue. He proclaims himself to be God and demands worship of all mortals. And the Great Tribulation begins. This event coincides with the 4th seal of Rev.6:7-8.
(3) “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.”
In verse 3 one of the seven heads of the Beast was wounded or slain to death. This means that the man died. But his deadly wound was healed, which means he came back to life. And all the world wondered after the beast. We can imagine what it would look like for the world to understand that this world leader is a dead man come back to life. This man lived in time past and ruled over one of the seven previous Beast Empires. He was slain to death with a military weapon in battle. Now he is revived to rule over the Eighth And Final Beast Empire. It is not only that this man is a dead man come back to life, his kingdom also is revived. We have pointed out earlier that this man would remain incognito and unrecognized as a dead man come back to life until the middle of the 70th seven of Daniel when he is unveiled, when he makes his debut at the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Who would be willing to oppose such a man? I wonder! Only believers, Jews and a few nonconformist nuts. Nevertheless, believers will not be able to kill him. Only our King Jesus, the true Messiah shall be able to kill him.
(4) “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”
In verse 4, the effect of this realization on the world is that the mass of humanity will follow him out of fear. They go after him straightaway as an ox to the correction of the stocks. They worshipped the Dragon who gave power to the Beast: and they worshipped the Beast, saying, who is like unto the Beast? Who is able to make war with him? We have established that Satan rules by proxy. When the Beast is worshipped, Satan is worshipped also. So these Beast-marked worshippers of the Dragon-Beast are satanists. Jesus said, he who receives me received Him who sent me(Matt.10:40). When we worship Jesus, we worship God the Father also . Similarly those who worship the antiChrist worship his master the Devil. Why do the world worship the Dragon and the Beast? Because they cannot make war with the Beast. Why is it that they cannot make war with him? Because they don’t have what it takes. To resist the Beast-antiChrist one must have The Father, Son and The Holy Spirit. It requires strength beyond oneself. He is a dead man come back to life. He is too powerful for the world to handle. He is a man alright, but not an ordinary man. He is humanoid.
(5) “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”
In verse 5 a mouth is given him to speak great things and blasphemies against God. This man shall seek to change times and seasons and utter blasphemous words against the God of Heaven. Dan.11:36-39 gives us further insight into the carrier of the infamous and notorious Beast-antiChrist. We shall delve more into this when we look in depth at this man in our study of eschatology. Whatever this man does, he will not exceed his allotted time of forty and two months or three and one half years.
(6) “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”
Verse 6 tells us that this man’s blasphemy is against The God of Heaven and His abode or tabernacle and those who dwell in Heaven. He knows who God is and His angels. He had lived in Heaven before. He is a fallen angel who was booted out of Heaven alongside his Master, Satan when they revolted against God in Eternity Past.
(7) “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.”
Verse 7 tells us that power was given him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. This is the great tribulation which begins precisely at the breaking of the 4th seal of the scroll of Revalation 6:8. The breaking of the fourth seal occurs precisely at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel. The Great Tribulation will be amputated by the cosmic disturbance of Rev 6:12. Except those days were shortened, there shall no flesh be saved(Matt.24:22). But for the elect sake those days shall be shortened. What is shortened is the great tribulation not the forty and two months allotted to the Beast-antiChrist to reign and two witnesses to prophesy. Power was also given him over all kindred and tongues(languages, peoples) and nations. He shall have worldwide influence.
(8) “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.”
Verse 8 tells us those who shall worship this man are those whose names are written in the scroll of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. These were not saved by the blood of the lamb. Here we see that Jesus was chosen by God to die in atonement for the sin of humanity before the foundation of the world.
(9) “If any man have an ear, let him hear.”
Verse 9 tells us to pay attention to what is written. The words are particularly reassuring and comforting here in verse 10.
(10) “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.”
The KJV translation is not particularly helpful here. A better translation would be: “if any man is destined to go into captivity, into captivity he goes: and if any man is destined to be killed with sword, with the sword, he shall be killed. Here is the patience and faith of the saints.” These are like the fifth seal martyrs under the altar(Rev.6:9-11).
“Wait until your brethren who should be killed like you were killed should be fulfilled.”
The patience and faith of the saints lies in the fact that those who should be killed would be killed and those who are to go into captivity, into captivity they go. So there is no need for us to be overly fearful; for what will happen will happen according to the will, plan, and purpose of God. If we take the sense of the KJV translation here, what it means is that eventually God will turn the table on the antiChrist and his followers. He and his followers shall be taken captive and killed at Armageddon. The statement, “he that killeth with sword shall be killed with the sword, and he that leadeth captivity shall go into captivity,” is a Hebrew idiom that means, “moral decay demands divine judgment.” Overripe fruit is in a state of decay: it cannot be eaten, it must be discarded.
The Second Beast or The False Prophet: Verse 11-18
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.”
Here in verse 11 the revelator saw another beast, but unlike the first Beast, the second Beast came out of the Earth, another part of the underworld of the dead. Inasmuch as the Earth was formed from the sea, it is probable that the second Beast’s emergence from the Earth implies a subordinate role of the second Beast to the beast first. [Marvin J. Rosenthal believes land here may refer to Israel, which if true means the false prophet may be a Jew]. This is indeed the case as the second Beast has only two horns though he spoke as a dragon. Though he has two horns, he bears no crown. Therefore, though he has some form of authority which stems from the horns, his is not a sitting and reigning king in the class of the first Beast or in the the class of any of the ten horns of the First Beast. In other words he does not rule over any nation. He is not a reigning king. That he spoke as dragon implies he is not the dragon but that his power derives from and is subordinate to the dragon who is the actual and invisible ruler or the god of this age.
As we have pointed out earlier, the Dragon is the head of the satanic Trinity, but because he is invisible, he reigns by proxy through his minions, the First and Second Beasts, the Beast-antiChrist and the False Prophet. He has horns like a lamb. Remember Jesus is the Lamb Of God who taketh away the sin of the world(John 1:29). We have earlier established Satan is a copycat. He has his own lamb in the person of the Second Beast who will establish a false religion which will lead the world to the worship of a false god, Satan. So the Second Beast is a religious leader. Jesus the True Lamb of The One True God established The True Religion through His Apostles, based on His finished works on the Cross of Calvary, but the Second Beast will establish a false religion that will mislead the world to the worship of a False god, Satan.
(12) “And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”
In verse 12, the Second Beast receives all the power and annoiting of the First Beast, his superior, for the sole purpose of misleading the living wicked earth-dwellers to worship the First Beast who is a dead man come back to life. In verse 3, The Dragon, Satan emptied himself into the First Beast, giving him his power, his seat and great authority for the sole purpose of his being his earthly representative; in the same vein, the First Beast reproduces himself in the Second Beast in order that he may represent him where he could not be. Neither Satan nor his subordinates are omnipresent. Omnipresence is the prerogative of the three persons of the Godhead. However, there is a phenomenon called “demonic expansion” which Satan and his minions could use to give the false appearance and impression of being in different places at the same time. This is not the same as omnipresence. Therefore the Second Beast, the False Prophet is his enforcer. Just as Jesus the good Shepherd has an army of under shepherds, the False Prophet has an army of false prophets under his command to carry out the programme of the Beast-antiChrist.
True Christianity is the worship of the one True God, but in Satanism, there are many gods. Satan is the author of idolatry, polytheism and pantheism: they worshipped the Dragon who gave power to the Beast, and they worshipped the Beast(Rev.13:4). In this one world religion to be established by the False Prophet, there will be many false christs(Matt.24:5) and many false prophets(Matt.24:11). But all these shall be subordinate to the ultimate antiChrist and the ultimate false prophet who in turn are subordinate to Satan, The Dragon. Satan is not bothered by the confusion created by the multiplicity of religions. He is the author of it all and it serves his purpose. Men can believe they or anything else is God. They can worship anyone or anything but the one true God, Satan is satisfied. When anyone or anything other than the one true God of Israel is worshiped, Satan is worshipped and glorified. Idolatry is falsehood. It is lies. And Satan is the author and father of lies(Jon.8:44).
(13,14) “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”
Apart from the fact that the First Beast is a dead man come back to life, the inhabitants of the Earth have also to grapple with the fact that the Second Beast performs miracles and signs and wonders which do not appear fake, but genuine. “He maketh Fire come down from heaven in the sight of men.”(13). By means of these outstanding miracles, he is able to hoodwink the living wicked earth-dwellers into making an image to the First Beast who had a wound by the sword and did live. It is a given that anyone with outstanding powers to perform miracles will win and attract followers, considering the fact that the mass of humanity are gullible.
The images of the First Beast were made of wood, stone, bronze, silver and gold, every man according to what he could afford. These images in the likeness of the Beast were to be worshipped. Rev.9: 20 says they worshipped demons and idols. How did they do that. Through these images. Though these images were made of inanimate materials like wood, stone, bronze, silver and gold which neither can see, hear, talk nor walk, they were indwelt by demons. In my own part of the world, initiated images, masks and idols that can be harmful to or even kill the uninitiate are not new at all. There was a brother known to me who was studying Fine Arts at the University at the time of this incident. He travelled to particular city in the south of Nigeria with his wife. On their way back, they bought a mask. Unbeknownst to them, the mask was initiated. Every night he was severely weeped until a minister identified the mask as the source of the oppression. As soon as it was removed, the oppression ceased. Masks, images and idols though inanimate can be indwelt by demons.
By worshipping the demons in the statues of the beast, they worship the Dragon. The demons indwelling the images are subordinates of Satan. The false prophets hoodwinked the wicked earth-dwellers to commit mass idolatry. Individuals will have demonized images of the beast, made of these materials we have enumerated to keep in their homes as evidence of their allegiance to the Beast-antiChrist. When God shall begin to pour out His wrath on the living wicked earth-dwellers, adorers and worshippers of the Dragon-Beast, they shall throw always these idols or images of the beast to the moles and to bats to seek non-existent refuge in the caves and rocks of the mountains.
“And the idols He shall utterly abolish.”
“And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they have made. Each for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the top of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth”(Is.2:18-21).
“Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens”(Jer.10:11).
(15,16) “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 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:”
Besides the little images of the Beast that people have in their homes, cars, and offices, there are enlivened images of the beast in public places for passers-by to worship. The enforcer is the one who enlivens the statues of the Beast. He gives them power both to speak and to cause as many passers-by who refuse to bow to these images of the Beast should be killed. This is not unlike the days of the Roman Empire, when Emperor worship was practised. Citizens were required to offer a pinch of insence to the statue of Caesar at the city square as sign of allegiance. Those who refused were arrested, prosecuted, and blackballed out of business.
Before these images can do their work effectively, the enforcer will cause everyone, rich or poor, small or great, free and slave, to receive a mark on their forehead or right arm. These marks will enable these these publically displayed enlivened images of the beast to identify those who do not have the mark of the beast and to cause them to be killed. What are these enlivened images of the Beast? They are probably robocops equipped with AI and NFC to identify those who have not the mark of the beast. Artificial Intelligence has empowered our generation to send unmanned aerial vehicles to Outer Space, use drones to gather intelligence and in targeted killings. There are authomated driverless cars and robots which perform countless chores in industries and homes.
I had dialogues with two of my brethren in the Lord, friends and protégés, in private telephone conversations, on computer programmes and AI. What both of them said are quite interesting and enlightening. I posed each of them this question in private dialogue. How could a combination of numbers 0-9 produce intelligence? Austine Agbasi, a reverend gentleman and a businessman said “computer programmes are demonic incantations.” Kola Arimoro who happens to be an IT specialist, said “in AI, there is what is called fuzzy logic, and they give nod to the supernatural by such terms as daemons and wizards.” My conclusion is that there are more to computers and AI than meet the unaided eye. Elon Musk says “by AI we are summoning the demon.” What does he mean by that? With AI, the world is inviting the antiChrist.
The other question we should ask ourselves is what is the mark of the beast? There was a time when it would be too wide a guess to answer this question, but not today. In animal husbandry when a pig farrowed, the piglets are chipped to identify them and monitor their growth and age. The chip as a seal is a sign of ownership, authenticity, identity, security and for protection. The reason why the antiChrist wants his mark on everyone is to say I own everyone, I protect everyone and everyone owes allegiance to me. Jesus, you have no subjects or followers here, so get out. That would not be because there are believers who will not take the mark of the beast and unbelievers who also will reject it for ideological reasons. India have a national ID programme. Nigeria of all nations in the world have launched electronic ID called NIN which would be used to withdraw money from the bank. Sweden have begun to implant microchips on its citizens. The first woman to be chipped boasted, “I am the first swede to be chipped.”
(7) “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.”
In verse 17, it is written: “that no man might buy or sell save him that have the mark of the beast or the number of his name.” The world is progressively moving towards a cashless society. In Sweden over 95% of transactions are cashless. Most bank transfers are cashless. The world would one day, in no distant a future go cashless. Why would the antiChrist horde food? The breaking of the first three seals of Rev.6 will lead to war, famine, pestilence and earthquakes. These factors can cause severe economic crisis and lead to severe dearth and extreme scarcity of food, goods and services. There probably would be agricultural and economic boom prior to the 70th seven of Daniel’s 70 sevens prophecy. With the advancement in modern technology, genetically modified food(GMO), new species with increased yield, improvement in livestock farming, the world may one day have plenty for everyone to eat.
Scientists have found out that one-fourth of the ice free surface of the Earth can support a population of 40 billion people. The antiChrist being the smart Alec that he is would stockpile food in the days of plenty which he would use as a bagaining chip in time of scarcity. Not unlike in the days of Joseph in Egypt: seven years of plenty was followed by seven years of famine and scarcity. If one does not have the mark of the beast or the numbers of his name, one cannot buy or sell because every transaction is electronic. We can imagine what it would be like for those who have not adequately prepared for this situation. What one purchases online is delivered at one’s door by robots and drones. All transactions will be monitored electronically.
(18) “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.”
We simply call this number 666, but in actuality it is a computer bar code consisting of 18 digits. This number on a microchip alongside other biometric data specific to the individual shall be implanted on the forehead or right or left arm. Whatever is the case, whether the antiChrist is here or not, believers should not accept any form of biometric implants into any part of their body for whatever reason. It is not by force. Satan is not dumb. He knows if it is forcefully implanted, it would not count. But it can be done by coercion. We must not be hoodwinked into accepting the mark. If anyone takes the mark, the one is doomed for eternity; for the wrath of God abides on the one for ever.
“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 ).
Amen. If anyone takes the mark of the Beast, the one shall be banished to Hell. If anyone takes the mark of the Beast, the one is doomed for eternity. If anyone is branded with mark of allegiance to the Beast, the one has sinned beyond repentance. If anyone takes the mark of the Beast, the fate of the one is sealed for eternity. He is unrapturable and ungovernable by God.
Avraham Shallom.
The Olivet Discourse
Matt.24,25; Mark 13; Luk.21
Introduction
The Olivet discourse is the teaching that our Lord Jesus gave to His disciples while sitting on the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley overlooking the Temple Mount. It is recorded in Matt.24,25; Mark 13 and Luk.21. Of all these three passages of the Scriptures, Matt.24-25 account is the most sequential. We shall use the record in Matthew as the baseline. We shall bring in relevant sections of Mark and Luke to corroborate the teachings in Matthew. The Olivet discourse is prophetic in its entirety, and presents a clear picture of the end time scenario. We shall also compare it to the sixth chapter of the Book Of Revelation which it amazingly parallels to a fairly good extent.
The Mount of Olives is so named because there are olive gardens on the mount in the time of Jesus as it is today. It is located on the east of the Temple Mount, directly opposite the Eastern Gate of the Temple Mount, across the Kidron valley below. On the lower slope of the mount, and in the valley is the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. From the Mount of Olives, one can see the bottleneck tomb of Absolom, the rebellious son of David. It is a mausoleum; he was not buried there (2 Kin.18:17,18).
The Eastern Gate to the Temple Mount today is permanently locked, and there some are Arab and Muslim graves in front of the gate. Today the Jordanian Muslim Waqf administers the Temple Mount, though the State of Israel has sovereignty over the Temple Mount. When the Jews regained control of Jerusalem from the Jordanians after victory in the Six Day War of 1967, Moshe Dayan, the then Defense Minister of Israel handed over the keys to the Temple Mount to the Muslim Waqf as a gesture of goodwill and reconciliation. The Muslim Arabs believe that the Jewish Messiah will enter the Temple Mount through the Eastern Gate (Zech.14:4). They also believe that as long as it is under lock and key, and there are graves in front of it, the Jewish Messiah will not come, because a Jew is defiled by stepping on or passing over a grave(Luk.11:44). This is one of the reasons why the Muslim Arabs find it extremely difficult to give up the Temple Mount apart from the fact that Mohammed is erroneously believed to have ascended to Heaven from the Temple on a white stallion.
In Jesus’ day, the Temple Mount was occupied by the Second Temple built by the returning exiles from Babylon in 515 BC. It was extensively and lavishly refurbished by Herod the Great. The second Temple was destroyed by the Roman general Titus in 70 AD. Today the Temple Mount is occupied by the Mosque of Omar (the Golden Dome), built by the Ayyubid Sultan Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din in 1193 AD, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, built by the Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir in 1035 AD. The wailing Wall, the kotel in Hebrew which means diameter is the western retaining wall of the Temple built by King Solomon. In the plaza in front of it, Jews and Christians gather to pray.
The background
It was the spring of 32 AD. Jesus was with his disciples in the temple. He taught the Jews and His disciples a whole lot of things in the temple. Those are the Temple Mount Discourse. Those are beyond the scope of our discussion in this article. As He was exiting the temple with His disciples, one of them pointed out to Him the beautiful stones of the temple. This was the second temple built by the returning exiles and extensively and lavishly refurbished by Herod the Great. As one ascends up to Jerusalem, the white limestones of the temple sparkle in the sun. They were beautiful indeed and a wonderful sight to behold. No wonder His disciples were enthralled and enamored by this amazing and breathtaking sight. The temple was adorned and decorated with beautiful stones and gifts(Luk.21:1).
“And Jesus went out and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings of the temple”(Matt.24:1).
And as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples saith unto Him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here”(Mark 13:1).
And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, He said,”(Luk.21:5).
While the disciples were enthralled with the beautiful stones, decorations, and embellishments of the temple, Jesus was engrossed in taught concerning the future of the temple, the Holy City, Jerusalem, and the Jewish people. They have rejected Him, their true Messiah. They rejected Him because they did not know Him. It was for the same reason that the people of the world rejected Him. It is for the same reason of spiritual blindness that both Jews and Gentiles reject Him today. The evil one, the god of this age has blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them (2 Cor.4:4).
“In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them(Matt.13:14,15).
In contrast, amazingly though, they shall receive the false Messiah who shall come in his own name, whilst rejecting the true Messiah who came in the name of the Father.
“But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye received Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye shall receive”(Jon.5:42,43).
Unknowingly though the scornful leadership of Israel shall receive the antiChrist who shall come in his own name. They shall sign a 7-year peace agreement with him(Dan.9:27). This is the covenant of apostasy and the agreement with Sheol or Hell(Is.28:15-19).
The people of the world did not know Him. His own people did not know Him either. Therefore they rejected Him. But as many as received Him, He gave power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. These are not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
“He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”(Jon.1:10-13).
Jesus reacted to their observations of the beauty and exquisite decorations of the temple by calling their attention to their observations.
“See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down”(Matt.24:2).
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down”(Mark 13:2).
“As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down”(Luk.21:6).
The phrases “see ye not all these things”, “Seest thou these great buildings,” and “as for these things which ye behold” are used to call attention to what is to be said about what is seen. What followed is of utmost importance. It is to be underlined and underscored and noted. Not one stone of the great buildings of the temple shall be left one upon another that shall not be thrown down in the day of visitation. And so it was that in 70 AD, the Roman general Titus destroyed the temple, burned it down to the ground. The city of Jerusalem itself was destroyed after a long siege. Thousands of Jews lost their lives in the siege, about a million were taken captive to Rome, sold into slavery, and the rest dispersed across the globe. Believers in the land of Israel who took the warning of the Lord seriously escaped to Pella in Edom before the siege of Jerusalem. The last Jewish holdout in the Jewish revolt of 66-74 AD was the fortress of Masada which fell to the Roman legion in 74 AD after about a thousand occupants committed suicide.
Related to the prophecy of Jesus concerning the destruction of the temple is the prophecy of Daniel that stated unequivocally that the Messiah was to come before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.
“And after three score and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy both the city and the sanctuary, and the end therefore shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determine”(Dan.9:26).
After the 69th week, in the interlude between the 69th and the 70th week, the Messiah was to be crucified for the salvation of others. Thereafter shall the city of Jerusalem, and the sanctuary, that is the temple will be destroyed by the people of the prince that shall come. The prince himself is the antiMessiah, and his people, the Roman army commanded by General Titus. Jesus the Messiah was crucified on the execution stake in 32 AD, after the completion of the 69th week of Daniel, and the temple was destroyed in 70 AD.
Jesus, the Messiah Himself also prophesied about the destruction of the temple. Every word was fulfilled to the letter. Any Messiah that shows up for the first time after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD is a false Messiah. Orthodox Jews shy away from Daniel 9 as they also do with Isaiah 53. It is astounding how blindsided they are to these Scriptures. The veil of Moses is still over their faces in the reading of the OT Scriptures. But when they shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be removed(2 Cor.3:14-16). Herein is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah as touching their spiritual blindness, deafness, and lack of understanding as we have stated above(Is.6:9,10). We must also remind ourselves that the spiritual blindness of Israel is partial; it shall expire at the fullness of the Gentiles. Thereafter all Israel shall be saved(Rom.11:25, 26).
The fulfillment of these prophecies underscore the fact that no word of God shall go unfulfilled.
“For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven”(Ps.119:89). “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away(Matt.5:18).
“Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it”(2 Thess.5:24).
“For my thoughts are not your thought, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts then your thoughts. As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that cometh out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it”(Is.54: 8-11).
“The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it shall surely come, it will not tarry”(Hab.2:3).
” God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”(Num.23:19).
“And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for He is not a man, that He should repent”(1 Sam.15:29).
“Let all men be liars, God remaineth true”(Rom.3:4). “And in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established”(2 Cor.13:1).
“And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world”(Matt.24:3).
“And as He sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter, James and John and Andrew asked Him privately, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?(Mark.13:3,4).
“And they asked Him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?”(Luk.21:7).
The Question Of The Disciples
After the Temple Mount Discourse, as Jesus was exiting the precincts of the temple, His disciples called His attention to the beauty and decorations of the temple. Jesus told them in no uncertain terms that the temple was going to be totally destroyed as also prophesied by Daniel. Jesus passed through the Eastern or Golden Gate of the Temple, walked across the Kidron valley and ascended to the summit of the Mount of Olives, and sat down overlooking the Temple Mount and Temple. Some of His disciples came to Him privately to enquire further concerning His comment about the destruction of the temple. Matthew told us simply His disciples came to Him privately. Mark named them as the Apostles of the Inner Circle, Peter, James, John, in addition to Andrew. Luke told us some of His disciples came to Him. From these we infer and conclude that not all the twelve Apostles were present. Probably some were still walking around the temple precincts admiring the ornamented stones of the temple. We gather from the foregoing that this was a private discussion between The Master, and some of His Apostle, the Apostles of the Inner Circle in addition to Andrew.
Their question to Jesus went beyond the comment made by Jesus concerning the destruction of the temple. They wanted to know when these things shall be, that is, when the temple was going to be destroyed. They also wanted to know “what shall be the sign of His coming, and of the End of the Ages.” This part of the question may be a carryover from the Temple Mount Discourse. The question in Mark was a little bit more pointed: “Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?”
There are two important Greek words used here which we need to understand. The first is “semeion” which is commonly translated sign. It is singular. There is only one sign of His coming and of the End Of The Ages. The other word is the Greek word “sunteleia” which is translated as the End Of The World in KJV. It is a compound word. We must understand that there are three Greek words rendered world in the English translations of the Bible. The first is “cosmos” which refers to the physical planet Earth or the inhabitants therein.
“For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten son that who so ever believeth in Him shall not perish but have the live of the Age to come”(Jon.3:16).
What God so loved is not the physical world, the planet Earth, “ge”but the inhabitants of the Earth. It is from this word that the English words cosmic and cosmetic and their cognates are derived. It also refers to the embellishments of the world, the garishness of the world, it’s organization, the cosmeticus etc. The second Greek word is “oikoumene” which refers to the inhabited world. It is derived from the Greek word “oikos” which means house.
“For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”(Rev.16:14 KJV).
The third word is “eion” which refers to the moving world, and is better translated age. Jesus promised to be with us till the end of the ages.
“teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”(Matt.28:20 KJV).
In Jadaism, there are two ages. The present age(olam haze) and the age to come(olam haba). The life of the age to come “zoe eioneis” is what is translated as eternal life in the KJV in Jon.3:16 quoted above. It is better translated as the life of the age to come. For if the unbeliever would not live for ever, why would he be punished for ever. This is a very important concept, because the point of transition from the present age to the age to come is the eschatological End Of The Ages. There is only one sign of Christ’s second coming and of the End Of The Ages, inasmuch as His coming occurs at the point of transition from the present age, literally in Hebrew, this age(olam haze) to the age to come(olam haba). This sign is given in the sun, moon, and stars(Matt.24:29).
The Response of Jesus
Jesus did not answer their question directly. A complex question requires a complex answer. The question was a complex one but not complicated. The answer also was a complex one but not complicated. In His answer Jesus did not refer to the destruction of the temple any more. He had told them the temple was going to be destroyed plain and simple. He did not tell them when it was going to be destroyed. There are questions that only time will answer. This was one of them. Jesus did not bother to tell them the time of the destruction of the temple because they were going to witness it. The temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Some of the twelve Apostles were still alive at that time.
I have had a similar experience with Jesus. There was a time I was with our Lord Jesus in the company of other brethren. He was leaning on a tree in a garden, and we gathered around Him. I got up very close and asked Him a question. It was a question all of us were interested in. He did not answer my question directly. He simply looked at me, and I was no longer at ease in His presence. Quite frankly, I was a little bit ashamed, because He was somewhat taken aback by my question. His look meant, “and you of all people.” When I woke up, for it was in a night vision, I wondered why Jesus did not answer my question directly, but His look made me a little bit ashamed, like I should have known the answer. I also wondered why all the other brethren did not insist He answer the question since we were all interested in it. I did not know whether the others felt the same shame that I did.
After some time, I understood that it was a question that time would answer. There is really no benefit in getting the answer to such question ahead of time. No matter how much we study, there is no substitute for sagacity, the wisdom we acquire as we grow up, as we gain experiences in this life. There are things Jesus wants us to learn through experience rather than by divine revelation. We may have a revelation and never experience it in this life. The word of God, and the wisdom of God that control us are those we have experienced. The saints with experience are more trusted that those who do not. Are there any of us who do not look back and realize we would have handled certain situations in the past differently were they to reoccur in the present? I do not mean that we should depend on our experience, but rather our experiences make us more dependent on God, because, in the end, whatever He says comes to past.
A Note Of Warning
The first thing that Jesus said to them was to sound a note of warning:
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many”(Matt.24:4).
“And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed that no man deceive you: For many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many(Mark 13:5,6).
“And He said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them”(Luk.21:8).
When Jesus said, “take heed that no man deceive you,” it is because there is a tendency for men to be deceived. Right now the spirit of deception is on the rampage in the world. It will continue to increase in order to establish the rule of the antiChrist in the not so distant a future. Deception will become the order of the day, more blatant, crazy, stupid and glorified. Our brother Apostle Paul writing to his son in the Lord Timothy said:
“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived”(2 Tim.3:13).
When Jesus said, “Let no man deceive YOU!,” He meant: no individual – father, mother, sister, brother, uncle, cousin, nephew, niece, wife, husband, friend or foe, no group of men, professional or expert or amateur, no human organisation or institution, religious, social, medical, political etc: and no human government. They are all serving “the god of this world”(2 cor.4:4) and “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of dis obedience”(Eph.2:2). They are his mouth pieces and social media handles to deceive humanity into accepting the Beast and his dystopian rule and reign of terror.
If the Rapture has already taken place, and the saints are no longer here, who is the antiChrist antagonizing? If the saints have been taken away to Heaven, why is there a preponderance of false christs. Who are they trying to deceive? If the Rapture has already taken place, and some who are left behind now affirm their faith in Christ, this sort of believers would be difficult to deceive. They know the true Christ has already taken his own. Any person who poses as Christ after the Rapture would be false. Besides the Churh Age closes with the Rapture. Anyone who believes in Jesus after the Rapture is certainly not part of His Bride. It may be possible for some to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour after the Rapture, but they will certainly not be part of the Church.
There would be very little chance of these saints being deceived. It is a matter of live and death. The true Christ is already gone with his saints and they know it. They would rather die than have the false christ. This would be the worst case scenario if the Pretribulation Rapture Position were true. I have searched the Scriptures hundreds of times over to see if there is any hint of this kind of scenario. There is none. Pretribulation Rapturism is a theological concoction, a fabrication to anesthetize the saints to the dangers of the Great Tribulation in order that the antiChrist may make a mince meal of them. Its origin is in the Dark Void, the Satanic Centre of demonic programming. What baffles me is that the best and most brilliant minds in biblical scholarship are touting a biblically unsupported doctrine with no scriptural justification whatsoever.
But we know that these false christs, and false prophets shall perform many signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect(Matt.24:24). Who are the very elect here? Are Jews only the very elect in this dispensation? Are the elect not both Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus?
Give none offense neither to the Jews, nor the Gentiles, nor the church of God(1 Cor.10:32).
Are the church not the very elect, a called out people, of both Jews and Gentiles? If what Jesus meant here was that after the Rapture, some saints shall be left behind to face the ire of the antiChrist, He was indeed a very poor communicator. But that cannot be allowed to stand because we can see that in all of the Scriptures, Jesus stated His position unequivocally. He said what He meant, and meant what He said.
Anyone who claims to be a believer in Jesus the Messiah, and is left behind after the Rapture has taken place is not a believer at all. He is a false believer, and shall face the wrath of God(Jon.3:36). In the right sense of the word, no one will be born again after the Rapture has taken place. The Church Age has closed. What follows the Rapture is the wrath of God. No false christs or prophets shall have the bravado to go about to deceive any or seek the allegiance of men after the wrath of God has begun. Neither the antiChrist nor any other personality on Earth shall be able to deceive any after the Rapture has taken place. All men shall know at that time that Christ has rescued His own, and is about to punish them for their evils. Anyone who is branded with the Mark Of The Beast after the Rapture of the Church does not do so in ignorance. He does so in the full knowledge that the Messiah has come and taken His own. The Rapture shall be no secret affair(Matt.24:29-31).
Besides, were the disciples not representative of the Church? If Jesus warned them not to be deceived, did it not by way of extrapolation apply to us today who are His body? It is ridiculous for anyone to say that what Jesus spoke to the disciples applied only to Jews in the 70th week of Daniel. Am yet to see Jews who break bread and drink the wine of the Holy Communion other than those who believe in Jesus, neither is the Olivet Discourse part of the Jewish daily reading of the Scriptures in the synagogues. We should stop this nonsense of relegating the Olivet Discourse and the whole gospel of Matthew to the Jewish waste Paper Basket.
(1) The Emergence Of False Christs
After sounding a note of warning, the first thing that Jesus said would happen will be the emergence of false christs.
“Many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and shall deceive many.”(Matt.24:5).
There will be a preponderance of false christs who shall deceive many with their exotic signs and wonders which shall be very difficult to refute. The only way out is to be warned ahead of time as we are now.
Biblical scholars have identified a parallel between the Olivet Discourse and the seals of Revelation 6. The emergence of false christs in the Olivet Discourse parallels the emergence of a rider upon a white horse with an empty bow(a bow without arrows in it), who went about conquering and to conquer. This is the first seal.
“And I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, and one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer”(Rev.6:1,2).
On the religious scene, there are many false christs. On the political scene, there is only one ultimate antiChrist, the absolute ruler of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire of Satan who signs a seven year peace agreement with Israel. There are many antichrists yet there is only one ultimate antiChrist.
“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antiChrist shall shall come, even now there are many antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us”(1 Jon.2:18,19).
By the nature of the terminology, these false christs are coming out of Christendom. If they come out of Islam, Buddhism or Confucianism etc, then they are false mohammed, false buddha, and false confucius etc. Which Christian is going to listen to a Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist who claims to be Christ. Everyone would know he is false. But if the believers are here, and they are coming out of Christendom, then there is a greater chance they might deceive some professing Christians. That is why they are able to deceive anyone. If the Church have already been taken away to Heaven, everyone would know they are false christs. It would be extremely difficult for them to deceive anyone.
Of late some like Walid Shoebet and Joel Richardson have come out with the theory of a Islamic antiChrist. Walid has argued that because the people of the Prince that shall come who destroyed the City Jerusalem and the sanctuary, the Second Temple, was the Roman Tenth Legion(Legion X fretensis) which was composed mainly of Turks and Arabs who came from the region of Turkey, the antiChrist will come out of Turkey. Every Empire recruited soldiers from conquered nations after they are absorbed and assimilated and can be trusted not to rebel or mutiny. The fact the Roman Tenth Legion commanded by the Roman General Titus was composed mainly of Turkmen and Arabs from the region of Turkey does not mean that the antiChrist shall come from Turkey.
Some biblical scholars differentiate The Coming Prince in verse 26 of Daniel 9 from the He in verse 27. The Prince they identify as the Roman General Titus and the He of verse 27 as the antiChrist who is yet to emerge. More accurately, it may be the phenomenon of double reference is implied here. Otherwise, it would be grammatically senseless to refer to the antiChrist as he in verse 27 if he had not previously been referred to as the Coming Prince in verse 26. I personally think that the antiChrist is the Coming Prince of verse 26 as well as the he of verse 27. It therefore means that the antiChrist shall come out of Rome. Indeed the antiChrist is a Japhethite from Magog(Ezek.38:2,3). Therefore the antiChrist is a magogite.
The scenario painted by the passage in 1 John quoted above makes nonsense of that assumption. It is really not worth arguing about. If a Muslim becomes the antiChrist, he must have converted to Christianity first, still he has to be a magogite. Considering the fact the antiChrist will claim to be God(2 Thess.24), other Muslims will most probably kill when he declares himself God. World Jewry and Israel will not accept a Jew who is a Muslim as the Messiah of Israel. He could be a secular Jew and nonobservant but certainly not a Muslim.
The ultimate antiChrist will sign a 7-year peace agreement with the many from within Israel.
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week”(Dan.9:27a).
This is subtle peace diplomacy. The antiChrist tries to conquer the whole world by deception, through treaties and agreements and covenants. It is not only with Israel. He does so with other nations to bring them into his political ambit. This is the same as the emergence of false christs on the religious scene who try to lure many into deception. This peace agreement with the many from within Israel marks the starting point(terminus-a-quo) of the 70th week of Daniel. With it, the 70th week of Daniel, the last seven of Daniel’s 70 sevens, the last seven years of this present age will be inaugurated.
The 70th week has begun, and there are false christs and false prophets. But where is the wrath of God? If the 70th week begins with the wrath of God, then God is responsible for the emergence of a preponderance of false christs and false prophets. Do you see the enormity of starting the wrath of God at the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel? This is what Pretribulationists tell us, that the wrath of God begins with the inauguration of the 70th week of Daniel. And that because God has not appointed us to wrath(1 Thess.1:10;5:9), the Church must be raptured before the 70th begins. But the wrath of God does not begin until way into the second half of the 70th week, after the Great Tribulation is cut short by the cosmic disturbances, after the Church is raptured and the 7th seal broken.
(2) Wars And Rumours Of Wars
As we have pointed out, the Lord did not just tell them the sign of His coming and of the End Of The Ages. He led through a series of events, in sequential order that will culminate in the sign of His Coming and of the End Of The Ages, in order that they might not be deceived by anyone who claims to be the Christ before these events come to pass, or during the process of fulfillment of these events. The second in the series of events, are wars, and rumours of wars.
“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(End Of The Ages) is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom”(Matt.24:6,7a).
“And when ye hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for these things must needs be; but the end(End Of The Ages) is not yet. For nation must rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom”(Mark 13:7,8a).
“But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end(End Of The Ages) is not by and by. Then said He unto them, nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom”(Luk.21:9,10).
We see here that all the three synoptic gospels are unanimous in their testimony that the second event in the series leading to the End Of The Ages, and the sign of His coming are wars and rumours of wars. Nations shall rise against nations, and kingdoms against kingdoms. Since the Olivet Discourse parallels Rev.6, the second seal must correspond with wars and commotions. We can see that this is indeed the case.
“And when He had broken the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another, and there was given him a great sword”(Rev.6:3,4).
We can see here that at the breaking of the second seal, a rider upon a red horse emerges. This signals war. He was given a great sword. Power was given him to take away peace from the earth, and that they should slay one another. This is in perfect agreement with the sequence of events in the Olivet Discourse. The antiChrist who is the supreme personality amongst men that drives these movements has changed tactics from subtle peace diplomacy to war, because deception could only lead him so far. There will be nations that will not be warn over by deception and subtle peace diplomacy and peace overtures. He must go to war with these nations to force them to submit to his authority.
The nations of the world shall be on edge one against another. For flimsy reasons, and sometimes for no reasons at all, kings shall go to war one against another. This shall be so, for peace has departed from the earth. Some will be motivated by greed and spoils of war, others by age old grievances and animosities. It would be somewhat ridiculous if Jesus, in the course of addressing His disciples, who are representatives of His body, the Church, tells them, be not terrified, if the Church would not be here during these events. He tells them, the end is not yet. The End here is referent to the End Of The Ages, the starting point of the wrath of God. It is at this point, before the wrath of God is poured out on the wicked inhabitants of the earth that the Rapture occurs, because the Church is exempt from the wrath of God(1 Thess.1:10; 5:9). Jesus said, “I am with you unto the end of the ages”(Matt.28:20).
(3) Famines, Pestilences And Earthquakes
“And there shall be famines, Pestilences, and earthquakes. All these are the beginning of sorrows”(Matt.24:7b, 8).
“And there shall be earthquakes in diverse places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginning of sorrows”(Mk.13: 8b ).
“And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences”(Luk.21:11a).
Once again, the three synoptic gospels are unanimous as touching the third event in the series. The third is a cluster of events. There shall be famines, Pestilences, and earthquakes. These are natural consequences of war. In continuation of our comparison of the Olivet Discourse with Rev.6, we see that the third seal, the pale horse and rider parallels the third event in the Olivet Discourse.
“And when He had broken the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine”(Rev.6:5,6).
At the breaking of the third seal, a black horse and rider emerges. It is famine. Wars would naturally lead to famine. As cities and nations are destroyed, so are businesses. The populace are in motion. As refugees flock from one area to another, whatever is left is eaten up even as by locusts. The insanitary conditions of war would lead to epidemics, and pandemics of communicable diseases. These would take their toll on human population and lifestocks.
Wars can worsen climate change, create erratic weather patterns, leading to tsunamis, swelling of the oceans, excessive monsoon rain, cyclones, flooding, landslides, extreme temperatures, and extreme dearth. The famine will be so severe that a man’s daily wage can scarcely put food on the table for his family. A pair of balances represents the dire situations that some would face on earth at that time. Weighed food is a condition of severe famine Lev.25:26; Ezek4:16,17). A balance scale would be used to weigh food in severe famine. The Greek word translated penny is “denarius.” In the Roman Empire, it was a man’s daily wage. It would not be sufficient for the daily needs of the family.
With the current level of development in military technology, any world war would devastate the earth. It could result in earth tremors, earthquakes, and tsunamis. It would be utter delusion for anyone to think that some day the world powers would dump their nuclear, chemical, and biological arsenals into the oceans and go to sleep. Some pacifists would urge us to believe that. Unilateral disarmament is very dangerous, because some notorious war mongers and warlords could take advantage of it. Let us not deceive ourselves that there will be no nuclear exchanges. Even with the employment of weapons of mass destruction, they will not be able to wipe out man from the Earth. Some day the nations of the world will be embroiled in horrific war. But the end is not yet: these are the beginning of sorrows.
The 70th week of Daniel is divided into two equal halves of three and one-half years each. The three events enumerated here bring closure to the first three and one-half years. The first three and one-half years is dubbed the beginning of sorrows or the beginning of birth pangs. The imagery is that of a woman in labour. The first half is the beginning of labour pains. The second half is the real labour pains that leads to the delivery of the baby. It is the real travail of woman in labour(Rev.12:2). The Olivet does not deal with events in the heavens. So, the other events that occur in heaven at the midpoint of the 70th week like war in the heavenlies, and the eviction of Satan and wicked spirits from the starry heaven and the Dark Void are not mentioned. We have come to the end of the first half of the 70th week of Daniel, the beginning of birth pangs. Logically what follows is the real labour pains or the travail which is the Great Tribulation. Let us go back to the Olivet Discourse to see that it is so.
(4) The Great Tribulation
Matt.24:9-14 is a panoramic view of the Great Tribulation. It presents an overview of the Great Tribulation without specific details. Once we understand this, it becomes clear that the Great Tribulation begins in verse 9, though the Great Tribulation is not mentioned till one gets to verse 15. Verse 15 begins the periscope on the Great Tribulation. Once this observation is made, it becomes clear too that the Parallelism between the Olivet Discourse and Revelation 6 is maintained; for the Great Tribulation follows the famines, Pestilences, and earthquakes which bring closure to the first half of the 70th week, the beginning birth pangs.
(a) Panoramic View Of The Great Tribulation(Matt.24:9-14)
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake”(Matt.24:9).
“But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to the councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them”(Mak.13:9).
“And fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake(Luk.21:11b, 12).
Luk.21:11b is very interesting.
“And fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.”
These are cosmic disturbances. But verse 12 makes it clear that cosmic disturbances shall be preceded by the Great Tribulation.
“But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake”(Luk.21:12).
This also is in perfect harmony with Rev.6 where the Great Tribulation, the fourth and fifth seals(Rev.6:7-11) precede cosmic disturbances, the sixth seal(Rev.6:12-14). It is pertinent to remind ourselves here that the fifth seal is concurrent, coincident and simultaneous with the fourth seal. It is a heavenly scene. It does not advance the chronology of the end times. It is a heavenly reflection of the killings going on here on Earth under the fourth seal, the Great Tribulation. The souls of the martyred saints are arriving in Heaven at the same time they are killed on Earth. There is no distance in the realm of the spirit. The Olivet Discourse does not include this piece of information. That heavenly scene is only recorded in Rev.6:9-11 in the whole of the Scriptures. The fourth and fifth seals are chronologically concurrent; therefore the fifth seal is not recorded in the Olivet Discourse. The reason is that in the Olivet Discourse Christ was dealing strictly with the sequence of events on Earth, whereas in the Scroll of Revelation, the earthly as well as the heavenly scenes are revealed and exposed. The fifth seal promises the wrath of God. The fifth seal differs from the other seals in that it is a heavenly scene, concurrent, coincident, and simultaneous with the forth seal, and recapitulative and does not advance the chronology of the seals. On the other hand, all the other seals are consecutive and progressive.
The Great Tribulation has begun. Although the Great Tribulation shall be worldwide, its epicenter shall be Jerusalem. The antiChrist has relocated his headquarters to Jerusalem in the middle of the 70th week(Dan.11:45). He has made his debut at the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, and unveiled himself as dead man come back to life. He has declared himself God, and demanded all men bow and worship him(2 Thess.2:3,4,8). Satan and his hordes of fallen evil angels has been cast down to the earth having been evicted from the dark void and starry heavens(Rev.12:7-10). Satan has great wrath(Rev.12:12). He has possessed the antiChrist, and given him his seat, power, and great authority(Rev.13:2).
All institutions must comply with the orders of the antiChrist or be destroyed. Some will comply, others will not. But the majority of them will. It does appear that at the beginning of the Great Tribulation all nations will acquiesce in the decree of the antiMessiah. So, believers shall be hated of all nations for my name’s same(Mk.13:13). Therefore Jews and believers in the Messiah who fail to comply shall be afflicted, persecuted, hounded, hunted down tormented and killed. They shall be brought before rulers and kings. These are the subordinates of the antiChrist, his acolytes and cronies. Some Churches and synagogues will be turned into tribunal where they will be tried and justified if they recant or condemned if they fail to capitulate to the authority of the antiChrist. Many shall be offended, and shall hate and betray one another(Matt.24:10; Mak.13:12). Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many Matt.24:11).
If the Rapture has taken place, anyone on Earth who claims to be a prophet apart from the two witnesses will most probably be false. Here again the enormity of the pretribulation Rapture view is glaringly exposed. Why is it that the vast majority of people on Earth at this time cannot distinguish the true prophets from the false prophets. If the Rapture has taken place before the 70th week, the true prophets of Christ also would have been raptured. Thereafter anyone claiming to be a prophet, other than the two witnesses whose ministry lasts the entire length of the second half of the 70th week(Rev.11:1-14), Christ, or has knowledge of His whereabouts would be false. Everyone already knows the Rapture has taken place, and the saints are gone; it is no secret phenomenon. Even some pretribulationists acknowledge that. The disappearance of millions or perhaps billions of believers from the Earth in a twinkling of an eye shall be no secret at all.
Because iniquity shall abound due to the preponderance of evil angels cast down to the Earth from the dark void and starry heavens at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel who have demonized and possessed many earth-dwellers, the love of many shall wax cold(Matt.24:12). He that endures unto the end shall be saved(Matt24:13). The end here is the eschatological End Of The Ages, the point of transition between the Present Age(literally This Age) and the Age To Come; at which point the Son Of Man appears in the heavens and raptures the Church after he has cut short the Great Tribulation with cosmic disturbances. At this perilous time, some believers shall take it upon themselves to go about preaching the gospel of the kingdom to their own detriment, as a witness to all nations. Then shall the end(of the ages) come(Matt.24:14). Verse 9-14 of Matt.24 is a panorama of the Great Tribulation. It presents an overview of the Great Tribulation without going into specifics. On the other hand verses 15-28 is a periscope on the Great Tribulation; it presents a detailed view of the Great Tribulation.
(b) Periscopic View Of The Great Tribulation(Matt.24:9-28)
Having painted a broad picture of the Great Tribulation, Jesus now goes into great details to give us a picture of the nitty-gritty aspect of it – the specifics.
“when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whosoever readers let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of the house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes”(Matt.24:15-18, cp. Mk.13:14-16).
Here our Lord Jesus tells us that the Great Tribulation shall be sparked by the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet(Dan.9:27). What is the abomination of desolation or the abomination that maketh desolate? It is the importation of the image of the antiChrist into the Holy Of Holies of the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. It is the extreme point of abomination. It is the height of sacrilege, the zenith of affront on the God of Israel. It is not only that an image of the antiMessiah is brought into the Holy Of Holies of the Third Temple, the antiChrist and his acolytes, unconverted and uncircumcised Gentiles, without covenantal relationship to the God of Israel will violate the sacredness of the Holy Mount by threading on the precincts of the Temple. This event occurs at the same time that the antiChrist makes his debut at the temple, precisely at the midpoint of the 70th seven of Daniel. It is at the same time that he relocates his headquarters from somewhere in Europe to Jerusalem(Dan.11:45). At the same time, he surrounds Jerusalem with his armies ready to kill anyone who opposes him or refuses to cooperate with him or fails to take his mark of allegiance.
“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are Judaea in flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not those that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled”(Luk.24:20-23).
Although the antiChrist shall station a protection force in Jerusalem from the time he signs a seven-year peace agreement with Israel, he shall massively surround Jerusalem with his armies and those of his ten nation confederation at the midpoint of the 70th week. This is the Jerusalem Campaign.
At the same time, the antiMessiah sits in the Temple of God displaying himself as God(2 Thess.2:1-4). Our brother Paul reminded the Thessalonians that when he was with them, he told them these things, that unless the restrainer is taken out of the way, the antiMessiah shall not manifest. The removal of the restrainer occurs precisely at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel, after Satan and his hordes of fallen demons are cast down to the Earth from the Starry heavens and the Dark Void by Michael the archangel of God in charge of war, and the angles of God under his command(Rev.12:7- 12). It is at this time that Satan filled with Great wrath persecutes the woman that brought forth the man child(Rev.12:13). Because the woman was given a hiding place in the wilderness, the dragon goes to make war with the remnant of her seed that keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus the Messiah(Rev.12:14-17). The woman is the 144,000 and perhaps some other Jews that make it to the Judaean and Edomite wilderness and the rose red city of Petra in modern day Jordan which is biblical(OT) Sela. In the NT, it was called Pella. The remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God are observant Jews, whilst those who have the testimony of Jesus are the professing Christians.
We can see that although the influence of and persecution by the antiChrist shall be worldwide; for power was given him over all kindreds, tongues and nations(Rev.13:7b), it shall be worst in the land of Israel, and in her holy city Jerusalem because the antiChrist shall make Jerusalem the capital of his evil empire. Jerusalem is the city of The Great King(Matt.5:35). He imitates Christ. Since Christ shall reign over the whole world from Jerusalem in the Millennium, the antiMessiah also tries to do the same. That should not surprise us inasmuch as he claims to be the Christ. He is a silly copycat. That is precisely the reason why on the close up on the Great Tribulation, most of the warning was given directly in relation to Jews who dwell in Jerusalem. But we must not lose sight of the fact that these apply to Jews and Christians all over the world and anyone else who will not cooperate with the decree of the antiMessiah to brand all inhabitants of the Earth as citizens of his evil empire.
(1) Nursing Mothers
“Woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days”(Matt.24:19, cp. Mk.13:17; Luk.21:23).
In reality, it is going to be very difficult for nursing mothers in those days. In times of war, famine, and pestilences, nursing mothers, children, and the elderly suffer the most. They have less resistance to sicknesses and diseases. They are not strong enough to move fast. They are very vulnerable. They cannot easily forage for food. During the Nigerian Civil War, more women, children, and the elderly in Biafra died from the ravages of war-malnutrition, and sickness and disease- than soldiers from the enemy fire at the war front.
Christian couples who understand the end times should avoid pregnancy and childbearing from the moment the antiMessiah signs a 7-year peace treaty with Israel. We have only three and one-half years from that time to prepare hideouts or safe havens. Christian couples should not burden themselves with childbearing from thence forward.
(2) Great Distress And Wrath
Luke the evangelist linked this warning directly with the Great Distress.
“But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! For there shall be Great Distress in the land, and wrath upon this people”(Luk.21:23).
The phrase Great Distress is the same as that translated Great Tribulation in Matt. 24:21. So this warning is in relation to the Great Tribulation which begins at the middle of the 70th week of Daniel. He also said that there shall be wrath upon this people. The phrase this people refers to observant Jews and Christians, the remnants of the seed of the woman who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. This wrath is it from God or Satan? The Scripture does not leave us in doubt. Scripture must be compared with scripture, and scripture must interpret scripture.
“Woe to the inhabitants 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(Rev.12:12b).
Comparing scripture with scripture, and letting scripture interpret scripture, we see that this wrath is of Satan, and is directed towards the inhabitants of the Earth and of the islands of the seas, but more so towards the children of Israel and believers in the Messiah.
“And when the dragon saw that he was cast down to the Earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth the man child”(Rev.12:13).
The woman is Israel(Rev.12:1-2), and the man child is Jesus (Rev.12:5). The dragon is Satan, the supreme personality of evil, the archenemy of God and His children (Rev.12:3,4 ). The woman was given two wings of a great eagle to fly to a safe haven in the wilderness(Rev.12:14). And when the dragon attempted to drown her with a flood, God opened up the earth which swallowed the waters(Rev.12:15,16). The dragon was left to vent his wrath on the remnant of the seed of the woman who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus The Christ(Rev.12:17). Undoubtedly, the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God are the observant Jews, and the ones who have the testimony of Jesus Christ are the Christians. These are the two major groups of people that will refuse the mark of the Beast.
“And they shall fall, by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”(Luk.21:24).
Jews, Christians, and all nonconformists in the land of Israel shall fall by the edge of the sword because of their refusal to be branded citizens of the kingdom of the antiMessiah. They shall be led away captive into all nations. The leaders of the ten nation confederation shall be delighted to have Jewish and Christian captives. Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Technically the times of the Gentiles ends at the end of the 70th of Daniel. But the Gentiles nations and their kings themselves are not totally vanquished until 30 days later at the end of the battle of Armageddon(Rev.19: 11-21).
We can see from here the enormity of attributing the Great Tribulation to the wrath of God, claiming it began with the inauguration of the 70th week of Daniel. That will make God responsible for the emergence of the false christs, wars, commotions, threats and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes, and the killing of his own children by the antiChrist as well as the emergence of false prophets who shall attempt to deceive His very elect, all these in an attempt to keep the church out of the Great Tribulation by the antiChrist.
(3) In The Winter
“But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter”(Matt.24:20a, cp. Mk.13:18).
It is good for us to pray now that our flight shall not be in the winter as Jesus has commanded us. But if the signing of the peace treaty takes place in summer, we can be pretty sure our flight shall be in the winter. It shall be precisely three and one-half years later. If it takes place in the winter, there shall be increase in death toll due to exposure to the elements. Once again, nursing mothers, children, and the elderly are the most vulnerable.
(4) On The Sabbath Day
“But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day”(Matt.24:20).
The observance of the sabbath in Israel amongst Orthodox Jews is near madness. The Israeli El Al Plane cannot take off or land from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. To turn on the light bulb is to break the sabbath. To ascend the elevator is break the sabbath. To drive a car is to break the sabbath. The sabbath day journey is little more than half a mile. The Orthodox Jew will walk so far and no more. If the abomination of desolation shall occur on the sabbath day, the Orthodox Jew shall travel no longer than a sabbath day journey, 2,000 cubits, about 800m. But Christ’s warning is to flee from Jerusalem as far as possible. Were the flight to occur on a sabbath day, with Jerusalem surrounded by the armies of the antiChrist, there shall be a horrific carnage amongst observant Jews who shall not be able to flee far from Jerusalem in order not to break the sabbath. But the Christians and people of other faiths amongst the inhabitants of Jerusalem have no such scruples; they shall be able to flee as far as possible.
(5) The Severity Of The Great Tribulation
“For then shall be Great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be”(Matt.24:21).
“For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not since from the beginning of the creation unto this time, neither shall be”(Mk.13:19).
The Greek word “thlipsis” translated tribulation in Matt.24:21 is the same translated affliction in Mk.13:19. This same word is sometimes translated trouble or distress. The Great Tribulation shall be very severe, more so in and around Jerusalem where it shall turn into a great carnage if it falls on the sabbath day in the winter. It is the time of Jacob’s trouble(Jer.30:7). There has not been anything like it in the history of humanity upon the Earth, neither shall there be any like it afterwards. The Holocaust shall pale in comparison. This time it shall not be in Eastern and Western Europe only but also in the land of Israel itself, and everywhere else on the planet Earth.
The Orthodox Jew accuses us of theological antisemitism because we warn ahead of time that evil of this scale and magnitude shall occur in the land of Israel under the reign of the antiMessiah. But the Scriptures are unequivocal in warning of a coming Great Tribulation which shall be worst in the land of Israel than anywhere else in the world simply because the Israeli Jews shall be lulled into complacency having signed a peace agreement with the son of destruction(Dan.9:27; 2 Thess.2:3).
The land of Israel shall enjoy relative peace for the first three and one-half years of the 70th week of Daniel being protected by the most powerful and sophisticated armies in military history stationed in Israel by the antiMessiah while he attempts to bring the rest of the world on their knees to himself. Suddenly, without warning, at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel, Israel shall be overwhelmed and overpowered by her supposed protector and benefactor to bow to the image of the Beast or die.
The prophet Isaiah referred to Israel’s peace agreement with the antiMessiah as “covenant with Death,” “agreement with Hell”(Sheol).
“Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men that rule this people which is Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with Death, and with Hell are we in agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made Lies our refuge, and under Falsehood have we hid ourselves;”(Is.28:14,15).
The prophet Isaiah refers to the leaders of Israel at that time as scornful men that rule this people in Jerusalem. Like Neville Chamberlain who thought the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler was going to bring peace to Europe, the leaders of Israel will think their agreement with the antiMessiah shall bring Israel much needed peace and security, not knowing it shall not be worth the piece of paper on which it shall be written. Like Hitler had no intentions of keeping the Munich agreement, the antiChrist shall have no intentions of honoring the terms of the peace covenant with Israel; it shall be like the Treaty Of Huddaybiyyah(629) which Mohammed had no intentions of keeping but only to hoodwink the Quraish tribe into complacency until an opportune time.
The prophet Isaiah continued:
“And your covenant with Death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Hell shall not stand; When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report”(Is.28: 18,19).
Another translation says: “when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, ye shall become its trampling place” and “It shall be so terrifying to understand the report. The antiMessiah shall be very thorough in his persecution of Israel. In both the Jerusalem campaign(Luk.21:20) and the Jehoshaphat campaign(Joel 3:1, 2), his armies shall throughly search the city with candles in order to ferret out those who do not take the Mark Of The Beast, to coerce them into submission or death on refusal. It shall be so terrifying for those who do not take the Mark Of The Beast.
They shall be subjected to all kinds of indignities; captivity, rape, public flogging and scourging in synagogues and churches, and prosecution in public tribunals, confiscation of wealth and impounding of property, demolition of homes, torture and humiliation, and death. Some of those who refuse the mark of the Beast shall be fed alive to wild beast, frayed alive, buried alive, and others enmolated at the stake.
“But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to the councils: and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them”(Mk.13:9).
Believers who refuse to be branded with the Mark Of Allegiance to the antiChrist shall be brought before kings and rulers to be tried for insubordination and subversion. It shall turn out for a testimony against their adversaries.
“But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that shall ye speak: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost”(Mk.13:11; Luk.12:11,12).
It is quite comforting to know that we shall not lack words to defend ourselves. We shall have no earthly counsels. The Holy Ghost shall give us counsel; He shall speak through us in defense of the faith.
In Matt.10 before Jesus sent out His disciples on evangelistic mission throughout all the land of Israel, He addressed them. He instructed them on what to do, and how they are to conduct themselves( vv.1-15 ). Scholars of Biblical prophecy are agreed that Jesus looked beyond the immediate period to the 70th week of Daniel. Verses 16-42 parallel Christ’s instruction to His disciples in the Olivet Discourse concerning the Great Tribulation. In spite of the severity and the horrors of the Great Tribulation, some Jewish believers anointed of God shall go about persuading their Jewish countrymen as well as others in the land of Israel to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and saviour, and not to consent to be branded with the Mark of loyalty to the antiMessiah.
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be therefore as wise as serpent and as harmless as doves”(v.16).
This will be a very dangerous mission that will cause most of them their lives. Therefore they must be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. They must beware of men who will no doubt deliver them up to the councils and tribunals hurridly set up to try nonconformists and antigovernmental subversives. Some synagogues and churches shall be forcibly taken over by the security apparatus of the antiMessiah. Others shall willing acquiesce in the decree and wishes of the antiMessiah.
These evangelists in the land of Isreal and elsewhere in the world shall be publically humiliated in order to deter others from opposing the antiMessiah. They shall be scourged in synagogues and churches as public examples. They shall be brought before governors and kings for the sake of the name of the Lord. It shall be for a testimony against these Jewish agents of the antiMessiah and the Gentiles(18). The same counsel that was given to the disciples in the Olivet Discourse was also given them in this pre-mission address.
“But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given you in the same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you”(19,20).
Their answers when questioned at the tribunals shall not be premeditated. It is be at the spur of the moment, inspired by the Holy Spirit.
“But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding”(Job 32:8).
Because the antiMessiah shall encourage and legalize all kinds of evil, the social fabric of the family and society shall be destroyed. The Judeo-Christian mores on which our society is built shall be rubbished. He shall legalize abortion, gay marriages, homosexualism, lesbianism, LGBTQ+, incest, bestiality, adultery, idolatry, pedophelia, rape, occultism and witchcraft etc. These evils destroy the social fabric of the family which is the backbone of every society.
Therefore, “Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death”(Mk13:12).
“And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death”(Matt.10:21).
“Think not that I am come to send peace on Earth: I came not to send peace but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law a against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household”(Matt.10: 34-36, cf. Luk.12:49-53).
What will motivate a father to deliver his son to be executed by the powers that be, and the daughter the mother and vice versa? Just to ingratiate himself to them? It shall be like in the communist era at the height of the Cold War. Members of the same family shall be informants against one another to the state security apparatus. “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”
The Great Tribulation shall be worldwide, therefore,
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved”(Mk.13:13:).
“And ye shall be hated of all nations for my names’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved”(v.22).
The end is the eschatological End Of The Ages, the point of transition between the present age and the age to come, at which point God Almighty intervenes in human affairs to pour out His wrath upon the living wicked earth-dwellers who worship the Beast and his image, and take over the rulership of the Earth. Verse 23 is very interesting in that it clearly indicates that this teaching of Christ went beyond the evangelistic mission on which He sent His disciples while He was here on Earth to the time of His Second Advent.
“But when they persecute in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son Of Man be come”(23).
These Jewish believers who shall be commissioned by Jesus to proclaim the message of the gospel to their kinsmen shall not have gone over all the cities of Israel before Jesus shall appear to take His own. It underscores the severity of the Great Tribulation. The State of Israel today is a very small place, about the size of the State of New Jersey in the US. And these men cannot cover all of it in their evangelistic efforts before the Son Of Man appears in the heavens. It shows how difficult and dangerous it shall be to preach at that time. No one would do it except the one were mandated by God; for the price thereof is death.
Jesus reminded them that a disciple is not above his master nor a servant above his lord. It is enough that a disciple be as his master, and a servant as his lord. If they have called the Master of the House, Jesus, Beelzebub(Master Of the Flies), what shall they call them of his own household?(v.25). Their expectations should be reasonable. If the world had rejected Jesus and called Him names, they should not expect the world to receive them with open arms. If they called Jesus Beelzebub, we should not expect their accolades. Believers, especially those who have the audacity to go about persuading others to refuse being branded shall receive all kinds of labels: demons, vermin, roaches, vandals, rebels, terrorists, murderers, criminals, subhumans, cheats, liars, subversives, hoodlums etc. For example, the unvaccinated are terrorists, they are killing people says Joe Biden. It will be if you are not branded with the Mark of allegiance to the Beast, you are killing people, you are a terrorist and a murderer. You will hounded and hunted down and killed like a wild and ferocious animal.
Jesus admonished them not to be afraid of man who only has power to destroy the body. After that, there is nothing more he can do. The person to fear is God who after He has destroyed the body has power to cast the spirit and the soul into Hell for eternity.
“Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; hid that shall not be known. What I tell in darkness, that speak ye in light: what you hear in the ear, that speak ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell“(vv. 26-28; Luk12:2-5 KJV, emphasis added).
There is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed. We are to declare boldly the counsel of the Lord. The good news of the salvation in Jesus Christ is to be declared openly to the people of the world. This gospel of the kingdom must be preached to the whole world, then, shall the end come. Men may kill our bodies for speaking the truth, they cannot kill our spirits and our souls. Our spirits and souls are beyond the reach of man. There is only one who has the power to do that. He is God.
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them cannot fall on the ground without your Father. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows”(vv.29,39; Luk.12:6-10 ).
We are of more value than many sparrows. The very hairs of our head are counted. As far advanced as medicine is, no man has painstakingly counted the number of hairs on man’s head. But God knows them all. And not one of them can fall to the ground without His permission. He is able to take care of us. He is able to keep His own. Nothing can come upon us except that which has passed through the security of His love. He knows the number of hairs on our heads. If none of them can fall to the ground without His knowledge, then nothing can come upon us without His knowledge. If God takes care of the sparrows, what about us His chosen ones? If God cares about the world, what about us His sons and daughters in the faith? We must know therefore that if He has not ordained us to be killed or taken into captivity, none of these shall fall upon us. This is the faith, patience, and comfort of the saints ( Rev.13:10 ). But we do not know who is ordained to captivity or to be killed with the sword and who is not. This secret belongs to God(Deut.29:29).
We cannot deny Jesus. We must confess Him boldly either way, life or death. Quite frankly, death is inevitable. If we refuse the Mark of the Beast, the antiChrist shall kill us. But that’s all he can do, kill us and destroy our bodies. He cannot send us, our spirits and souls to eternity in the Lake of fire and brimstone. If we receive his Mark, Jesus will not only kill us physically, He will also send our spirits and souls to eternal Hell Fire. In Jesus, there is a probability that we may not be killed physically; for Jesus will not permit the antiChrist to kill all believers. One generation of believers shall be raptured. They shall be transfigured to receive a glorified eternal immortal resurrection body without passage through the intermediate process of death. That’s why He will cut short the Great Tribulation.
In the antiChrist physical death is inevitable, so also is eternity in Hell Fire. Therefore reason would that we should choose Jesus. In reality, in Christ there is no death. Physical death is the gateway to glory. Death is the servant that opens the door that ushers us into eternal glory. Outside of Christ, there is no life, and physical death is the gateway to eternity in Hell Fire. That is why Jesus said:
“He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”
We must not only choose Him, we must boldly confess Him before men.
“Whosoever therefore that shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven”(vv.32,33; Luk.12:8,9,10).
“It is a faithful saying: for if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him: If we deny Him, He will also deny us: If we believe not, ye He abideth the faithful: He cannot deny Himself”(2 Tim.2:11-13).
The teaching therefore that because Jesus loves us, He cannot permit us to suffer; or that because He died for us, He cannot demand us to die for Him is false. “It is appointed us not only to believe in Christ but to suffer for His sake”(Phil.1:29).
We must not love anything else more than Him. In comparison to our love for Him, it should be as though we hate our family members. Sometimes the wishes of our family and loved ones for us run foul and counter to the will of Christ for us. We must jettison theirs and choose Christ’s. If out of love or fear of offending them we choose theirs over and above that of Jesus, we are not worthy of Him.
“He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and He that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me”(vv.37,38).
Whatever His will, plan and purpose for our lives portend, we should accept it with serenity of soul and equanimity of heart, and mind, knowing that His will for us is the best; it is thought of good, not of evil, to give us a future and a hope(Jer.29:11). It pays to obey God. The losers are the disobedient. The winners are the obedient.
“He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth He that sent Me. He that receiveth a prophet in the of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward”(vv.40-42).
As these men and women go about preaching the gospel of the kingdom, anyone who receives them has received Jesus. Anyone who gives them a cup of water has given it to Jesus. Anyone who shows them mercy or kindness has shown it to Jesus. Anyone who visits them in prison or cares for them when they are ill has done so to Jesus. Those who receive them are not necessarily believers themselves. Some of them may be but others are not. Those who are believers shall be raptured. But those who are not believers, who have not the Mark Of The Beast shall not be raptured.
Those of them who survive after the Armageddon Campaign shall be gathered in the land of Israel to be justified in the Sheep And Goat Judgment. Their treatment of the brethren of the Lord, those of the household of Israel who shall go about persuading their countrymen not to take the Mark Of The Beast, some of whom shall lay down their lives; and the believers who shall go about proclaiming the Good News Of The Kingdom Of God, some of whom also shall pay with their lives, shall be the criterion for either condemnation or justification at the Sheep And Goat Judgment. The Goats, those who do not have the Mark Of The Beast, who showed no mercy or kindness to these preachers and the persecuted Jews, shall be condemned and executed.
The Sheep, those who do not have the Mark Of The Beast, who survive Armageddon, who showed kindness and mercy to these preachers, and the brethren of the Lord, shall be justified to enter the Millennium to repopulate the Earth. The Sheep And Goat Judgment shall take place in the early part of the Millennium, or perhaps earlier during the 45-day Restoration Period of the Kingdom when all Gentile survivors of the wrath of God which culminates in the battle of Armageddon shall be gathered to the land of Israel, to separate the Sheep from the Goat. The Sheep shall be justified to enter the Millennium and repopulate the Earth. The Goat shall be condemned, executed, and their eternal souls incarcerated in Hell for eternity. He that has ears to hear with.
(6) Amputation Of The Great Tribulation
“And except those days should be shortened, there shall no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened”(Matt24:22).
“And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh shall be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom He had chosen, He had shortened those days”(Mk.13:20).
It shall be extremely difficult if not totally impossible for any believer in Christ to survive the Great Tribulation without being branded citizen of the The Beast’s evil empire if the Great Tribulation were allowed to run its full course of three and one-half years allotted to the antiChrist to reign. Without the Mark Of The Beast, no one can buy or sell. The antiMessiah shall stockpile food, medicine and other supplies, and use them as bargaining chips. The society shall be cashless. Purchases will be done online. There will be electronic monitoring of all transactions. Modern computer and telecommunication technologies have made that possible. Communications will be strictly monitored. Those without the Mark Of The Beast cannot access their accounts and deposits in banks. Their wealth shall be confiscated and their property impounded. They shall be left with nothing to take care of themselves, families, and loved ones.
Google has mapped out the whole world including ocean floors. Where can one hide? Without a safe haven prepared ahead of time, it will be practically impossible to get food and shelter. What about those with health conditions that need frequent medical care and check up? What about the physically challenged and disabled, the mentally ill, the geriatric, nursing mothers and children? It shall be absolutely horrendous.
The antiChrist’s allotted time to reign is a short period of three and one-half years, but it is a long time not to be resupplied; it is a long time to be without medical care, especially for those with health challenges. If God allows the Great Tribulation to run its full course of three and one-half years, no believing flesh, Jew or Gentile shall survive the Great Tribulation, more so in the land of Israel, especially in its holy city, Jerusalem. But God has promised in His word that a segment of believers shall be raptured alive without passing through the intermediate process of death.
“We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed”(1 Cor.15:51b; cf. Matt.16:28, Luk.9:27).
It therefore follows that one generation of believers shall receive glorified eternal immortal resurrection bodies without experiencing physical death. Therefore the Great Tribulation shall be amputated to enable some surviving believers to be raptured alive.
The Greek word translated cut short in the KJV is “ekolobotheisan” derived from “koloboo.” It is a term used in orthopedic surgery. It means to amputate. Just like the orthopedic surgeon will amputate a diseased part of a limb to save the life of the patient, so will God amputate or cut short the Great Tribulation in order to save alive some who have not been branded with the Mark of allegiance to the antiMessiah. Those who do not have the Mark of the Beast are composed of both believers and unbelievers. The believers amongst them will be raptured, but the unbelievers will not be raptured.
The Gentile unbelievers who do not have the Mark of the Beast, who survive the battle of Armageddon will be gathered to Jerusalem for the Sheep and Goat Judgment. Those of them who survive this judgment, the Sheep, shall repopulate the Earth in the Millennium. The Jews who do not have the mark of the Beast who survive the Great Tribulation shall be saved when Jesus appears physically on mount Zion to reclaim God’s rule over the Earth usurped by Satan when Adam fell from grace, shortly before the blowing of the 7th trumpet, precisely on day 3 of the 30-day Reclamation Period Of The Kinhdom.
(7) Preponderance Of False christs And False Prophets
“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not”(Matt.24:23-26).
“And if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, Lo, He is there; believe him not: For false christs and false prophets shall arise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold I have foretold you all things”(Mk.13:21-23).
The enforcer, the second beast, also called the false prophet, the head of the One World Religion instituted to worship the First Beast, the antiChrist, shall raise an army of false christs and false prophets to deceive, if it were possible the very elect. The False prophet himself shall perform notable miracles, signs and wonders. He shall cause the image of the Beast to Speak. He shall make fire come down from heaven in the sight of men like Elijah did. His sole aim would be to hoodwink the inhabitants of the Earth including and especially believers to receive the Mark Of The Beast(Rev.13:11-18).
The minions of the second beast, the false christs and prophets, shall perform outstanding and notable miracles which shall be very difficult to refute. Some shall claim to be Christ, others shall claim to know His hidden location, in the secret chambers or in the deserts, and shall back up their testimony with powerful miracles and exotic signs and wonders, which shall not lend themselves easily to refutation, their sole aim also being to deceive the very elect, to lure them out of hiding, and to coerce them to recant and submit to branding with the mark of the Beast or be killed on refusal to be branded.
One question that comes to mind is if the true believers have been raptured some years previously, as pretribulationists urge us to believe, why this overwhelming impersonations of Christ? Why the preponderance of false prophets whose sole aim is to deceive the very elect? Who are the elect? Jews only? Are the elect not Jews and Gentiles who profess faith in the Messiah Jesus?
“Give none offence neither to the Jew, nor to the Gentile, nor to the Church of God”(1 Cor.10:32 ).
The word of God classifies humanity into three groups, the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God. Are the Church not called out people from amongst both Jews and Gentiles? Are the elect Jews only? Since the Rapture shall not be a secret phenomenon even as some pretribulationists have noted; for millions of peoples from all colours and races, nations and languages shall disappear from the Earth at the Rapture: why would anyone be deceived by these false christs and false prophets postrapture? Why would there be so many false christs and prophets postrapture? Who are they trying to deceive after the saints have been taken away? Those left behind after the Rapture are already deceived having rejected Christ by rejecting the good news of the kingdom of God. My submission is that if the Rapture has taken place before the Great Tribulation, all the unbelievers left behind who have not taken the Mark of the Beast know of a surety that anyone claiming to be Christ or a prophet of the God of Israel will definitely be false.
The Coming Of The Son Of Man
“For as the Lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son Of Man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there shall the eagles be gathered together”(Matt.24:27,28).
In the Olivet Discourse Jesus warns us that His coming shall be no secret at all as the false christs and prophets would have us believer. He shall neither hide in the secret chambers nor in the deserts. It shall be like lightning that shineth from the east to the west. It shall be visible in the whole heavens. Why? Because it shall be preceded and heralded by the cosmic disturbances which shall frozen the Earth and darken the heavens. It is the appearance of the coming of the Son Of Man that shall dispel the darkness and defrost the Earth.
“Behold, He cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him: and all the kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen”(Rev.1:7).
Every eye shall see, even those who crucified Him on the execution stake, the Romans; and the Jews who denied and betrayed Him. His coming to rapture the Church and to punish the living wicked earth-dwellers shall be no secret at all, being preceded by cosmic and celestial disturbances. And the living wicked earth-dwellers shall wail because of Him. Why? Because they suddenly realize He is coming to punish them for their evils. He shall pour out His wrath upon them, and who shall be able to stand in the Day Of His Wrath?
“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).
The living wicked earth-dwellers shall realize that the wrath of Lamb is about to be poured out on them, and who shall be able to stand? The answer is no one. The wrath of the Lamb is different from the wrath of Satan. What has been going before, the Great Tribulation is not God’s wrath but Satan’s which is directed against the children of God. After the cosmic disturbances which God shall use to cut short the Great Tribulation, He shall rapture the Church, and pour out His wrath on the living wicked earth-dwellers who worship the Beast and his image. So, the wrath of God is directed against the children of the wicked one.
The Cosmic Disturbances
“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 heaven shall be shaken”(Matt.24:29).
“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers in heaven shall be shaken”(Mk.13:24,25).
“And there shall be signs in the sun, 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”(Luk.21:25,26).
The cosmic disturbances shall make it virtually impossible for the Great Tribulation to go on. The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light. The stars shall disintegrate and their fragments shall impinge upon the Earth causing wild fires. The whole Universe shall be darkened and the Earth frozen. There will be power failure. Communications shall be severely hampered. Folks will be trapped in their houses unable to get out due to heavy snowfall and thunderstorms. Roads shall be blocked by snow and fallen trees. Cars and houses shall be buried by snowfall and earthquakes. Every one shall be concerned with personal safety. It will be extremely difficult for anyone to go about looking for those who are not branded. How can anyone go about trying to enforce some laws in a situation that poses so grave a danger to oneself?
The Sign Of The Son Of Man: The Shekinah In The Heavens
“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”(Matt.24:30).
“And then shall they see the Son Of Man coming in the clouds with great power and great glory”(Mk.13:26).
“And then shall they see the Son Of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory”(Luk.21:27).
It is at this juncture that Christ answers the question of his disciples, what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the ages? There is only one sign of His coming, and of the End Of The Ages. That sign is in the heavens. It is the Shekinah in the heavens. It is the appearance of the Son Of Man in the heavens. It is His appearance in the heavens that brightens the universe darkened by the cosmic disturbances. It defrosts the Earth frozen by the cosmic and celestial disturbances. It is not a secret sign. He is coming with great power and great glory. Every eye shall see Him. He is coming with an entourage of angels.
“For then shall He dispatch His angels with the sound of a trumpet to gather His elect from one of the heavens to the other”(Matt.24:31).
Then all the tribes of the Earth shall mourn because they know He is coming not only to take away His own, but to pour out His wrath upon them, to reward them for their lies, fornication, adultery, murders, idolatry, theft and witchcraft of which they were not repentant(Rev.9:20,21). The evangelist Luke gives us additional information here which makes it very clear and interesting.
“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh”(Luk.21:28).
Jesus told His disciples, “when these things begin to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads.” What does it mean to look, and lift up your heads? It means look towards heaven, and be happy, and joyful. Why? Because your redemption draweth nigh. Because your salvation, your rescue is near. Your redemption is at hand. It is about to begin. It is overhanging about to occur. This verse in Luke destroys the doctrine of imminence which states that no prophesied event shall take place before the Rapture. That the Rapture shall be signless; in other words, the Rapture can occur at any moment. The Scriptures makes it clear here that the Rapture cannot occur until the sign given in the sun, moon, and stars, until the appearance of the Son Of Man in the heavens. And this sign itself cannot occur until the Universe has been darkened and frozen by the cosmic disturbances. It is the Shekinah, the appearance of the Son Of Man in the heavens, the sign of His coming, the Lightning that shineth from the one part under heaven to the other(Luk.17:24), from the east to the west, that shall dispel the darkness and defrost the Earth. This is the sign of His coming, and of the Ends Of The Ages. It is at this juncture in the eschatological timeline that the Church is raptured, and the End Of The Ages inaugurated. At this juncture, the seventh seal is broken, and the wrath of God is poured out on the living wicked earth-dwellers.
In the Olivet Discourse Jesus addressed His disciples. Did they experience these things in their life time? Apart from the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD which some of them witnessed, they did not see any of these other things. Theologians across the broad spectrum of eschatological views are agreed that we have not yet entered the 70th seven of Daniel. The second person plural pronoun ye indicates that this was meant for their ears. But they did not witness them. It therefore means that Jesus was also looking beyond them to the church and Israel in the latter days. Were they the representatives of the church? Sure. Did they also represent Israel? Sure. If they did not represent Israel, Jesus would not have cut the New Covenant with them in the upper on Mount Zion on the day of Passover(Matt.26:28; Mk.14:24; Luk.22:20). The New Covenant was promised to Israel not the Church(Jer.31:31-34; Ezek.11:19). The Church did not exist at that time. You cannot cut a covenant with one who does not exist. The Church is the product of the New Covenant which God cut with Israel not its precursor. The New Covenant which God promised the house of Israel was instituted with these men, not with the Sanhedrin, not with the Hight Priest of Israel at that time, nor the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, nor the politicians, the Herodians.
If they did not represent the Church, they would not have been filled with the Holy Spirit at the inception of the Church on the day of Pentecost(Acts 2:1-13). So, they were representative of the Church. They were also representative of Israel. We cannot choose one and throw away the other. To say because they represented Israel, and therefore the Olivet Discourse has nothing to do with the Church is false. It is theological gimmickry which cannot be allowed to stand. We cannot relegate the Olivet Discourse and the Gospel of Saint Matthew to the Jewish wastepaper basket. It is intellectual dishonesty. It is theological skullduggery.
Israel as well as the Church shall enter into the 70th week of Daniel to experience the horrors of the Great Tribulation. The Church shall be raptured before the wrath of God is poured out on the living wicked earth-dwellers. The faithful remnants of Israel, the 144,000, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel shall be given protection from the wrath of God by being branded by the angels of God with the seal of the Almighty, prior to the inauguration of the Day Of The LORD at the breaking of the seventh seal(Rev.7:1-8; 8:1-6). The rest of Israel shall be purged, purified, and cleansed by the trumpet judgments. Israel however shall be exempt from the bowl judgments which shall be directed against the antiChrist and his minions. Unbranded Gentiles also shall not be specifically target in the bowl judgment. Any damage to them will be a collateral one.
The Rapture Of The Of Church
“And He shall send His angels with great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other”(Matt.24:31).
With Christ’s appearance in the heavens, the trumpet shall sound with the voice of the archangel, the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we who are alive and remain shall be changed.
“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”(1 Thess.4:15-18 KJV).
With the object of Satan’s wrath removed, the Great Tribulation comes to a close. We can see that the sequence of events in the Olivet Discourse parallels that in Rev.6, 7 & 8. The Revelation account gives more details like the fifth seal(martyrs under the altar), which promises wrath on the living wicked, the sealing of the 144,000, and the great multitude which no one could number(the raptured saints arriving in heavens). These details deal with heavenly events which the Olivet Discourse does not cover, Christ gave only earthly details in the Olivet Discourse in relation to the question of the disciples which concerns earthly events. After the Great Tribulation is the cosmic disturbances which interrupt it.
The cosmic disturbances which portend wrath, serve notice to the living wicked earth-dwellers that God is about to punish them for their evils(Rev.6:12-17). Between the cosmic disturbances and the breaking of the 7th seal is an interlude which protects from the wrath of God. Before God pours out His wrath upon the living wicked earth-dwellers, He seals the 144,000 from the household of Israel for protection from the wrath of God. He raptures the Church because we are not appointed unto His wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus the Christ(1 Thess.1:10; 5:9).
“Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left”(Matt.24:40,41).
The Greek word translated taken here is “paralambano” which means “take alongside with,” “take to oneself.” This is obviously a reference to the Rapture not Armageddon and the subsequent Millennium as some pretribulationists would urge us to believe. Here the parallelism ends. The rest of the Olivet Discourse is admonitions to the disciples to be wise, faithful, fruitful, prepared, and watchful, and the final Sheep And Goat Judgment which is found only in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew in all of the Scriptures.
The Lesson Of The Fig Tree: Sign Of Approximation
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away”(Matt.24:32-35).
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: So ye in like manner, when ye see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away”(Mk.13:28-31).
“And He spoke to them a parable: Behold the fig tree and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away”(Luk.21:29-33).
There are some that urge us to believe that the fig tree symbolizes Israel. And Israel became independent again in 1948 after nearly two thousand years in exile. When the fig tree begins to bud, we know that summer is near. When Israel begins to thrive as an independent nation, then the Rapture can take place at any moment. The fig tree may well be the symbol of Israel. For several centuries, there were believers who wondered aloud how end time prophecies were going to be fulfilled when there were no independent nation of Israel , and no temple. Admittedly, end time prophecies centered around the nation of Isreal and her Holy City, Jerusalem(Dan.9:24). Therefore the resuscitation of Israel as an independent state in her ancient homeland in Eretz Yisrael was a supernatural fulfillment of prophecy, and a practical step in the right direction, as would be the rebuilding of the temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, any time it takes place.
Was the major thrust of the parable of the fig tree the symbolism of Israel? That would be very doubtful; for that would mean that all the trees symbolize Israel as does the fig tree: for Christ called attention to not only the fig tree but also to all the trees, inasmuch as it is not only the fig tree that begins to bud in the Spring: “Behold the fig tree, and all the trees.” The symbolism here is a reference to a natural seasonal observation. In temperate countries, in Autumn which American call Fall, all the trees are denuded of their leaves, and they remain bare of leaves throughout Winter. In the Spring, as the temperatures begin to rise, and the weather becomes warmer, and rain falls the trees begin to bud. The people are cheerful again and will say, “Summer will soon be hear.” I have heard Americans say this in the Spring. This is the exact analogy that Christ made in this parable. Just as people “will see and know” in the Spring when the trees begin to bud, that Summer will soon be here: in like manner, believers, who are in expectation of the coming of the Messiah, shall see and know, when these events outlined in the Olivet Discourse begin to unfold that the coming of the Lord draweth near, that the Kingdom Of God is nigh at hand.
These events are, the emergence of false christs, wars, commotions, and rumours of war, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, the Jerusalem Campaign, the Great Tribulation by the antiChrist, the Jehoshaphat Campaign, and the cosmic disturbances. When ye shall see these things come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads: for your redemption draweth nigh. Jesus went on to say: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” He also underscored in the strongest terms that “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Here is the clincher. It is now sixty some odd years since Israel gained independence. Although a generation is reckoned differently in various dispensations, it is now more or less generally reckoned as forty years. Considering the inviolability and infallibility of the word of God, we cannot but conclude that the fig tree in this parable does not refer primarily to the re-establishment of the state of Israel, but a general reference to natural seasonal observation. If it were not so, the words of Jesus would be of none effect. This cannot be allowed to stand.
It is therefore a sign of approximation that Summer is near. Likewise these events signal the nearness of the time of His coming. The budding of figs and all the trees in the Spring does not tell us the Day and the Hour that Summer will begin, but the general time period. So, also these events do not tell us the Day and the Hour of our Lord’s Second Advent, but the general time period.
“But that Day and the Hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only”(Matt.24:36).
The words in Mark are even more wonderful:
“But of that Day and that Hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only”(Mk.13:32).
What Jesus says neither He nor the angels in heaven know, but the Father only, let us not think we can access this knowledge by flights of Higher Mathematics. No height of spirituality will grant us access to this divine secret. Jesus did not say that we the saints cannot know the time of His coming, that is the general time period of His coming, but the Day and the Hour. The Day and the Hour of His coming constitute a divine secret.
“And the secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law”(Deut.29:29).
We know that Jesus is God, and knoweth all things. But as the Son , He has ceded certain decisions to the Father. It is only the Father who will decide on which Day and in what Hour He will come.
As It Was In The Days Of Noah
For the believers who are watching, the coming of the Lord cannot happen on us unawares. We can learn a lesson of the fig tree. When we see the events of the 70th week begin to unfold, we know of a surety that the coming of the Lord draweth near. But as for the people of the world, it will come upon them unawares, like the flood upon the inhabitants of the antediluvian world, the people of Noah’s day. It will come like a thief in the night(1 Thess.5:2). We are not children of darkness, neither are we in darkness that that day should come upon us unawares(1 Thess.5:4). We are children of light, we are children of the day; we are not of night nor of darkness(1 Thess.5:5). We must not sleep. We must not slumber. We must watch and be sober. They that sleep sleep in the night; and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. Because we are of the day, not of darkness, nor of night, we must put on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ(1 Thess.5:5-10).
“For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son Of Man be”(Matt.24:38,39).
“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son Of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all”(Luk.17:26-28).
This was exactly the state of affairs in the days of Noah. Noah preached about the coming of the deluge for 120 years, and worn no converts other than members of his immediate household. They received wages in assisting him to build the Ark, but did not enter into it. They were overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness. They were intoxicated with drugs and alcohol, homosexualism, lesbianism, bestialism, gay marriages, and eroticism of all sorts. Selfishness and greed led to the vilest forms of violence and brutality. Like ISIS in Syria and Iraq, greed and selfishness are clothed with the veneer of religion. For flimsy excuses, they murdered one another.
As it was in the days of Noah when the nephelim were here, there is every attempt to corrupt humanity through gay marriages and all forms of sexual perversion, incorporation of animal and plant genes into the human genome, human-machine-demon interface, and drug intoxication which leads to demonization. Details of the prevailing conditions in the days of Noah before the deluge are beyond the scope of this commentary. Interested students should consult my articles: “Conditions Prior To The 70th week of Daniel” and “As It Was In The Days Of Noah” posted on our website: mtzionheritage.wordpress.com
Why will it come upon them unawares? Because they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. This is not the ordinary eating and drinking we all do on a daily basis. Luk.21:34,35 explains what was going on in the days of Noah.
“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, so that Day come upon you unawares.”
The people of the world have no hope. They are humanists and atheists. They do not believe in the existence of God let alone worship Him. They do not believe that their spirits and souls are eternal. They do not believe in life in the afterlife. They are not expecting the coming of the Lord. In the midst of the troubles on Earth at that time, their attitude shall be one of “let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die”(1 Cor.15:32). Men shall give vent to the vilest expression of moral turpitude. Drukenness, excessive eating and drinking and banqueting, and the most ludicrous acts of sexual immoralities and depravity, nudism and eroticism. It is also possible that some believers may slide into this state of moral decay, and the cares of this life “and so that day come upon you unawares.” The cares of this life may not be sinful. They may be legitimate. But we must not allow them to overwhelm us. We must not suffer ourselves to be overburdened with them.
The Lord also compared the prevailing condition on Earth at that time to that of the days of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain, Zeboim, and Adamah.
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be when the Son Of Man is revealed”(Luk.17:28-30).
The state of affairs on Earth in the days of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah was the same as in the days of Noah the world over. It was a state of total moral depravity. Men did not believe in God neither did they believe in His moral absolutes and standards. Every man was a law unto himself. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. It was a state of total anomie: a state of normlessness. But there is one important point we must take note of here.
“But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.”
The Lord was calling the attention of His disciples to the fact that the very same day the saints are taken away in the Rapture, the wrath of God will begin to be poured out on the living wicked earth-dwellers. In the selfsame day Noah and his family entered the Ark, the flood came and destroyed those left outside the Ark(Gen.7:13). The Rapture of the Church, and the beginning of outpouring of the wrath of God occur the same day at the coming of the Lord. And the coming of the Lord occurs after the tribulation of those days, after the cosmic disturbances, when the Shekinah, the sign of His coming appears in the heavens(Matt.24:29-31). This is the same sequence of events we find in Revelation 6, 7 & 8. After the sealing of the 144,000 in Rev.7:1-8, the Church is raptured(Rev.7:9-17) – the multitude which no man could number – and then the outpouring of the wrath of God begins in Rev.8.
It is therefore 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.
“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. 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 when He arises to shake terribly the Earth(Is.2:8-18).
Be Prepared And Be Watchful
“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son Of Man cometh”(Matt.24:42-44).
In the light of the above scenario, the believer therefore must be prepared and be watchful. The coming of the Lord shall be like a thief in the night. The thief can come at any watch in the night. Therefore the good man of the house must not slumber nor sleep lest his house be broken into. The night begins with the cosmic disturbances that darken the heaven and frozen the Earth. From that point in the eschatological timeline, the coming of the Lord becomes imminent. Imminence here means that the generation of believers that enter into the 70th week of Daniel to experience the horrors of the Great Tribulation shall be the generation of believers that shall witness in the flesh the Coming of the Lord after the Great Tribulation and the cosmic disturbances that deluge the heavens.
“There be some of you standing here who shall not see death before the Son Of Man comes”(Matt.16:28; Mk.9:1). This is the preview of the Kingdom. It was fulfilled on the mountain of transfiguration(Matt.17:2;Mak.9:2). Jesus was also looking forward to the time of the rapture when a generation of believers in this mortal body of ours shall be translated and given a glorified eternal immortal resurrection bodies to meet the Lord in the air(1 Thess.4:17; 1 Cor.15:50-54).
At other times before, we should be expectant. To be expectant means that any generation of believers can enter into the 70th week of Daniel to experience the horrors of the great tribulation and be raptured prior to the beginning of the wrath of God. Because we do not know the day and the hour of His Coming, we must be prepared and be ready, and watchful. Anyone who has kept watch at any time knows it is not particularly easy on the flesh, more so at the beginning. The body would rather take its rest and go to sleep, and not to stay up late into the night and pray. One must be determined to keep awake knowing it shall be over after a while. Not only that, the consequences of slumber are incalculable. If thieves enter into a strongman’s house at night and find him asleep, his life is in their hands. His survival would be at the mercy of his enemies. Who would like to be in such a state. We must not be found sleeping on our watch. We must not be founding sleeping on our duty post. We must gird our loins and be strong and steadfast.
Be Wise And Faithful
“Who then is a faithful and wise servant servant whom his Lord hath made ruler over His household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when HE cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That He shall make him ruler over all His goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth His coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for Him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”(Matt.24:45-52).
“Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom His Lord shall make ruler over His household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that He shall make him ruler over all that He hath. But if that servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth His coming: and shall begin to beat the menservants and the maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for Him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and shall cut him in sunder, and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more”(Luk.12:42-48).
In this parable, the lord referred to is the Lord Jesus the Christ. The servants are the saints, particularly the church leadership. The unfaithful servants are the hypocrites. The blessed are the faithful and wise servants. The suddenness of His appearance is in relation to the unwise and unfaithful servant. The wise and faithful servant knows the general time period of His coming being instructed out of the word. He is faithful. He is watching and waiting. He knows the times and the epochs. However, he does not know the day and the hour. Therefore he remains watchful. So, the time of the Lord’s coming cannot happen upon him unawares. When the Lord comes, He finds him watching and waiting at his duty post.
But the unwise servant, the unfaithful and hypocritical servant is not watching and waiting. He has slipped into debauchery and raucous living. He is inebriated. He thinks the Lord is not coming again. He is beating up those under his care. He fleeces them. He manhandles them. He scatters them(Jer.23:1-4). Here the Lord addressed the Apostles themselves who would become the leaders of His house, and by way of extrapolation the leadership of the Church in the end times. The ministers of the gospel are the servants of Christ. They are to take care of the body of Christ and give them their meat in due season. A minister of the gospel should study to show himself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth(2 Tim.2:15). Ministers of the gospel should burn the midnight oil to search the Scriptures in order that they may feed the flock of Christ not with stale bread but fresh one. Those who minister to the body of Christ must seek fresh anointing in order that they may maintain the glow in the spirit, and minister to the body with fresh anointing. “I shall be anointed with fresh oil”(Ps.92:10).
They must not indulge in excessive drinking: in contrast, they must be always filled with the Spirit(Eph.5:18). They must eat in due season, for strength and not for drunkenness(Eccl.10:17). They must not be slothful in their commitment to the things of God. They must be fervent or aglow in the Spirit serving the Lord(Rom.12:11). When Jesus appeared to some of His disciples by the Sea of Galilee after His resurrection, He said unto Peter, “feed my lambs,” “feed my sheep”(Jon.21:15-17). Paul addressing the Ephesians elders said:
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His blood”(Acts 20:27).
The ministers of the gospel are to feed the flocked of God whom the Lord Jesus has purchased with His blood. They should not shun to declare to the saints all the counsel of God. They should teach them publicly and from house to house(Acts 20:20). They should keep back nothing that is profitable to the body of Christ. Our brother Paul is a good and perfect example in this regard. Despite the temptations that befell him by the lying in wait of the Jewish infidels, with humility of mind and many tears he served the Lord. It is required of a steward that he be found faithful(1 Cor.4:2). The leadership of the Church must be held accountable for the spiritual wellbeing of the congregants. If the word of God has been rightly divided to them, they will apply it properly. The word of God must be rightly interpreted to the congregation. At no time should the pastors give the congregation just what they want. This is the spirit and principle of commercialism and consumerism. Give the people what they want, and make your money. Tell them what they want to hear, they will keep coming.
The leadership of the Church should not be concerned primarily with how much they are making. Monetary gains should not be the primary object of the ministry. There are too many vanities in this world. A lot of the things we care about in the Church are heavenly irrelevant. The fantastic buildings we put up do not weigh any thing in the scale of the heavens. They serve nothing but human ego. The pastors must know they are accountable to God. They must not fleece the sheep(Jer.23:1). They must not do things that will cause the sheep to scatter. They must not drive them away nor overdrive them lest they miscarry(Gen.33:13). The shepherds must not cause the sheep to go astray(Jer.50:6). There is no merit in putting up magnificent church buildings when some members of the local assembly are destitute. It is not right for the church to have billions in her account while some members of the body are naked and go to bed on empty stomach. We must realize that the antiChrist will one day confiscate the finances of the Church. He will one day impound all Church properties. The leaders of the church should not be preoccupied with putting magnificent structural edifices while poverty and destitution wreak havoc in the lives of some members of the body.
Those that are well off in the body should cater to the needs of the less privileged. The abundance of the one should supply the want of the other, in order that there may be equality in the body; that those who have not should be as they they have, and vice versa(2 Cor.8:14). This is not to encourage laziness and idleness in the body. Those who do not work should not eat(2 Thess.3:10). But if any man provide not for own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel(1 Tim.5:8). We should work with our hands(1 Thess.4:11). And God has promised to bless the work of our hands. The Scriptures make it clear we should work, except for those who are in the fivefold ministry.
Those who are the fivefold ministry are already fully occupied. They cannot leave the word of God to serve tables, but rather must devote themselves to the ministry of the word of God and prayers(Acts 6:2,4). Unless they so desire as did our brother Paul, they should not be burdened with secular engagements. There should be no thieves amongst us(Eph.4:28). There should be no busybodies who meddle with the private affairs of others(2 Thess.3:11). They should work and eat their own bread(2 Thess.3:12). Whatever is the case, we should not be weary in well doing(2 Thess.3:13). There should not be any who goes about fleecing others in the name of charity. There should be no borrowers amongst us; those who borrow and do not pay. The wicked borroweth and payeth not, but the righteous is merciful and giveth(Ps.37:21,26, 112:5).
At no point should the minister consent to the people to lead them astray. When Moses was held up on the mountain, the children of Israel approached Aaron saying, “as for this man Moses, we do not know what is become of him. Make us gods”(Exod.32:1). Aaron consented unto them, and there came out the golden calf. They substituted the God of Israel with a graven image(Exod.32:2-4). They made a proclamation; they called for a celebration. They offered sacrifices to the graven image. They ate, they drank, and they rose up to play(Exod.32:5,6). Idolatry will always lead to debauchery if unchecked. Idolatry is associated with debauchery and sacred prostittution. Excessive eating and drinking as many people do on Valentines’ Day will always end in sexual orgies. Bacchus is the god of wine and banqueting. Excessive wining and dining will result in gratification of the flesh.
Unfortunately some of these things are slipping into the Church through the back door; birthdays, burial ceremonies, naming ceremonies, house dedications, lavish wedding receptions etc. I have attended a couple of these in which some young men gorged themselves with food and got drunk. The consequences of idolatry in the Sinai plagued Israel for many years. Although these people were under the cloud, passed through the sea: and were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and the sea; and did eat the same spiritual meat, and did drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ; with many of them God was not pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
“Now these things were our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them also committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye as some of them also mumured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinkers he standeth take heed lest he fall”(1 Cor.10:6-12).
Although the admonition here primarily concerns the leadership, every member of the body of Christ is involved. We are all vulnerable. None of us is exempt. At no point should we begin surfeiting and drinking, or begin to bully those under our care. After a bout of alcoholic bing, a man will look at a beautiful maiden, and his heart will utter perverse things.
“Thine eyes shall behold a strange woman, and thine heart shall utter perverse things”(Prov.23:33).
This sort of spiritual carelessness is likely to set in after we have prospered in the works of our hands, and have gotten wealth and riches. We may begin to entertain the thought in our hearts that the coming of the Lord is no where in sight. We have worked hard. We have labored. We have gotten wealth and riches, and the good things of this world. We can begin to reason like the rich fool. We have ample goods laid down for many years. Let us eat, drink, and be merry(Luk.12:19). At that point we have slipped into scientific uniformitarianism.
“Where is the promise of His Coming?” What does it matter whether the Lord delays His Coming or not. Ours it is to be watchful and faithful. Whatever time He comes, we must give account of ourselves to Him. So, we must be faithful and watchful.
“For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation”(2 Pet.3:4).
A man in this state cannot be as the men of Issachar who have understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do at each point in time(1 Chron.12:32). A man like this cannot understand the times and the seasons or epochs. We must be like the Philadelphians who keep the word of His patience. If we keep His instructions concerning perseverance, He will keep us from the our of temptation which shall come upon all world, to try them that dwell upon the earth(Rev.3.10).
When we have gotten wealth and riches we are likely to begin to throw our weight about, and to oppress those of our brethren who are not blessed as we are with the perishables things of this world. The true test of faithfulness is not in penury but in wealth, riches and honor. The love of money is the root of all evils(1 Tim.6:10). Wealth provides countless opportunities to do good and also to do evil. The right choices may become harder to make when we have a lot of wealth and influence.
“But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition”(1 Tim.6:9).
The only way to counter this is to abide in the word, be aglow in the spirit, be prayerful and be freshly anointed always. We must not lose sight of the fact that what God rewards is faithfulness not office. At His return, if He finds us so doing as He has commanded us, He will put us in charge of all that He has(Matt.24:47). What a great reward indeed that will be. Well, if at His Coming He finds any of us unfaithful, He appoints him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth(Matt.23:51). The servant who sinned in ignorance shall be punished sparingly, but the servant who sinned in the full knowledge of the command of his Master shall be severely punished. Because to whom men commit much, of him will much be required(Luk.10:47,48).
The Parable Of The Ten Virgins: Be Wise, Prepared And Watchful
1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were wise and five were foolish. 3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4 But the wise took took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go out to meet Him. 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 11 Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying, Lord open to us. 12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day when the Son Of Man cometh”(Matt.25:1-13).
A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. In a parable all the components do not need to be interpreted individually. What is must important is the central teaching of the parable. In the Ancient Near East, a parable is usually given in the course of teaching as an illustration of the central message of the subject matter under discussion. The parable of the ten virgins was given by our Lord to emphasize the importance of His teaching in the Olivet Discourse. This parable was quite understandable to the disciples being based solely on Jewish marriage custom and practice. The number ten is significant because it forms a quorum. Today in some Jewish communities, it takes a minimum of eight to form a quorum. In Hebrew numerology and Gematria, ten is the number of wholeness. It stands also for perfection, divinity and the Trinity, being the sum sum of 7 and 3. When Boaz married Ruth, there were ten witnesses(Ruth 4:2). In ancient Israel, girls were given away in marriage as virgins. Therefore a bride is almost always a virgin. After the payment of the dowry, the virgin is said to be betrothed.
Usually the bridegroom returns to his father’s house to build a house for his bride. It takes about a year or thereabouts. In the interim, the bride gets ready to receive the bridegroom at any time he shows up. The bridegroom usually shows up at night in the company of other young men and maidens and family members and friends. As they approach the residence of the bride’s family, a loud noise is made to announce his arrival. The bride ever ready in the company of other virgins and maidens with lamps and fanfare rushes out of her father’s house to meet the bridegroom who thereafter takes her to his father’s house after a lavish reception.
The imagery here is that of Christ and his betrothed, the church. Evidently, the bridegroom is our Lord Jesus Christ(Ps. 45:1-17; Song.1:1-8:14). Christ has paid the bridal dowry. He has purchased us with His own blood( Luk.22:19,20; Acts 20:28; Eph.1:14; 1 Pet.1:19). He has returned to His Father’s House in Heaven to prepare a place for the church, his betrothed(Hos.2:19).
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And wither I go ye know, and the way ye know”(Jon.14:1-4).
When the Heavenly Jerusalem where Christ shall dwell with His bride is ready( Rev. 21,22), He shall come again to receive His own(1 Thess.4:15-18; 1 Cor.15:50-52). The new covenant is faithful and inviolate. It is an unconditional covenant. It’s fulfillment is inevitable being contingent upon Christ’s singular and superlative love for man.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believe that in Him should not perish but have life of the age to come”(Jon.3:16).
Believers are now betrothed to Christ. The solemnization is reserved for the Great Day, when the bride, the lamb’s wife shall have made herself completely ready(Rev.19:7,9). The bridegroom is not only a king, He is the King of kings. The virgins therefore must be maids of honor, virgins without number(Song.6:8). Meanwhile, the the Church is to make herself ready to meet the bridegroom whenever He shows up(v.10). There must be no blemish in her(Eph.5:27). But the Church is a mixed multititude. Not all professors of Christ are true believers(Matt.13:47-50). There were ten virgins; five were wise and five foolish(v.2 ). They all had lamps, and their lamps were burning. The wise virgins had enough oil reserve to last them through the night of waiting, but the foolish virgins did not have enough oil in their vessels(vv.3,4). Th wise virgins were prepared, but the foolish were unprepared. The wise were ready but the foolish were not. The bride must make herself ready(Rev.17:7,9). Believers are also representated as companions of Christ(Ps.45:14), children(Is.54:1; Jon.21:5), and ornaments(Is.49:18).
The 144,000 who follow the Lamb wherever He goes are referred to as virgins(Rev.14:4). But they are not part of His bride, the Church. The imagery of virginity denotes purity and devotion. We are to be presented to Christ as pure virgins(Cor.11:2). There should be no idols in our lives. Our devotion must be complete and unquestionable. Believers must build themselves up in the faith.
As new born babes, we may be carried on the shoulders of older brethren for a while. As new born babes, we are to ingest the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby(1 Pet.2:2,3). But a time cometh when every man must stand on his feet. We cannot beg others for strength and grace. Christ is the primary source. We all draw life and strength and grace from Him. The life, strength and grace we draw from Him are only sufficient for each one of us alone. We cannot, and must not share them with others.
There are those who receive Christ with joy, but over the years have not built enough strength and grace through the ingestion of the word to last them through the hours of darkness. Like Aaron’s rod we must spend a full night in the darkness. Thereafter we shall bud, bloom blossoms and yield almonds(Num.17:8,9).
As virgins, believers are to attend unto the Lord without distractions(1 Cor. 7:35). We must do Him honor. We must be to Him a name and a praise when He comes to be glorified in the saints. If we serve Him, we must follow Him(Jon.12:26). We must love Him with passion in our hearts. We must love as He loves us. “we love Him, because He first loved us”(1 Jon.4:19). His love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us(Rom.5:5). If we love Him, we must keep His words. His Father will love us, and they will make their abode with us(Jon.14:23).
Our office is to meet the bridegroom. This we must perform as a joyful duty. It must be our happiness. We must uphold His name, and tell it forth. We must tell forth the praise of the exalted Jesus. We must be expectant of His coming. We must not only believe in His second Advent, we must love and long for His appearing. To get ready for the bridegroom, our whole life must be consumed with His second coming. It must be the pivot of our conversation in a dark and dying world. It is the climax of our faith in Him. It is the point of convergence of our whole life in Him. We must not give it second place. It is the constant reference point of our whole life on Earth. All our activities must tend towards it. It must be the reference point of our lifestyle, conversation, conduct and value system.
We believers in the Messiah must have oil in our vessels. Our duties and profession must have the freshness of the Spirit. “I shall be anointed with fresh oil”(Ps.92:10). “As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, by the glory of the Father shall we walk in newness of life(Rom.6:4). We must be led by the Spirit, empowered and guided by the Spirit. Our light must not go out at all throughout the night of our profession. We are children of light. We are children of the day. We are not of night nor of darkness(1 Thess.5:5). We must not be drunken like children of night and darkness. We must neither sleep nor slumber as do sons of night and darkness. We must shine as light in the midst of the darkness of this world. Our lights must shine forth(Phil.2:15).
We as virgins expecting the arrival of the bridegroom must be wise. Wisdom is profitable to direct(Eccl.10:10). Wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excelleth darkness(Eccl.2:13). True believers are the wise virgins, and the false brethren are the foolish virgins, the hypocrites. True Christianity is true wisdom. Sin is folly, more so the sin of hypocrisy. They are the greatest fools who are wise in their own estimation, worst sinners who feign themselves holy and just. He that winneth soul is wise(Prov.11:30). Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body(1 Cor.6:13). Our bodies are the members of Christ. We cannot take the members of Christ and make them members of an harlot. He that is joined unto the harlot is one body. He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in us, who we have of God, and we are not our own. We are bought with a price: therefore we must glorify God in our bodies and our spirits which are God’s(1 Cor.6:14-20).
In the parable of the builder, the foolish virgins are represented as the foolish builder that built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof(Matt.7:27). Whosoever heareth the admonitions of the Lord and doeth them, shall be like the wise man that built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, the flood came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock. Our foundation must be laid deep upon the rock which is Christ. Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid. And that foundation is Christ(1 Cor.3:10,11). They drank of that rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ(1 Cor.10:4). Our hearts must be established with the truth of the word of God, and not with food which has not profited those that are preoccupied with it. Faith is the word of God that controls us. We must be rooted in the word of God. The image of Christ must be recreated in us.
We must be rooted in His disposition. We must have that stock of sound knowledge that issues in settled resolutions that keep us afloat in the sea of trials of the present. We must not act on external inducements without the benefit of concrete foundations in the word of God. We must have the benefit of sound judgement. We must have prospect of and make provision for what is to come. We must not only take our lamps for the present show, we must also have enough oil in our vessel for after use. We must not act at all to please men, but to be approved of Christ before whom we will stand in judgment to give account of our lives.
We must not sacrifice the spiritual and the eternal on the altar of the temporal. Our eyes must be focused on things not seen as yet, rather than those things which are seen; for those things which are seen are temporal, but those things which are not seen are eternal(2 Cor.4:18). We must lay a good foundation for the time to come(1 Tim.6:19). We must guard our hearts with all diligence; for out it are the issues of life(Prov.4:23). We must stand on and be guided by good principles within our hearts. Our hearts are the vessels out of which flows the oil of life to keep us burning. A good man out the the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth spirit(Matt.12:34).
Our tongue is the indicator of the heart. It is a reflection of the heart. The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord(Prov.16:1). Our actions spring from the motivations of our hearts. Therefore our hearts must be renovated with the word of God. It must be recreated in the image of Christ. We must be transfigured into His image even as we bask in His glory in His presence.
“We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of of the Lord”(2 Cor.3:18).
Our light must shine before men in good works. To eviscerate its temporality, it must be rooted in deep and fixed active principle in the heart of faith in Christ, and love towards God and man. Our eyes must be transfixed on what is before us. We must look right on, and our eyelids straight before us(Prov.4:25). We must prepare for the long haul; for the bridegroom might tarry long. The siege might be long. And time might begin to drag. We must be partakers of His fullness, and grace for grace(Jon.1:16). He is the great and good Olive tree(Zech.4:2,3,12). Verse 5 is very interesting: “while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.”
Since the Ascension, there has not been any generation of believers who did not believe that Christ would come again in their lifetime. Since the Ascension, His appearance is more likely now than ever before, inasmuch as Israel has regained her independence and control of her Holy and Royal City, Jerusalem. The red heifer(para aduma) has been found and is being cloned. Any moment from now, the Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah could be reassembled from prefabricated materials, the three power base coalition formed, and the seven year peace agreement signed between Israel and the Man Of Sin.
But He has tarried in our eyes. There is always good reason for Him to tarry. The vision is for an appointed time(Hab.2:3). There are intermediate counsels and purposes to be accomplished. The elect from the foundation of the world must be called in, God’s longsuffering must be manifested, and the faith and patience of the saints must be tested. The harvest must be ripened.
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord like a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”(2 Pet.3:8,9).
God’s reckoning of time is vastly different from that of man. He may tarry past our time but not the due time appointed of the Father(Matt.24:36). The prophesies regarding His First Advent also took thousands of years in fulfillment. He was thought long by those who waited for the consolation of Israel. But there were those like Simeon and Anna who patiently waited for and witnessed the consolation of Israel(Luk.2:25-38). So also shall it be in regard to His Second Advent.
“Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, we shall be changed”(1 Cor.15:51).
Forbearance is no acquittance. The vision is for a appointed time, at the end it shall speak and not lie. The year of our redemption is fixed in the heart of the Father. For the unwise, it shall be at the midnight hour when they looked not for Him, when they are most disposed to take their rest. At the midnight hour the firstborn of Egypt were destroyed and Israel delivered(Exod.12:29). Many times death comes when it is least expected.
To the rich fool God said, “tonight thy soul is required of thee; and all the things you have gathered whose will they be?”(Luk.12:20).
And while He tarried, they all slumbered and slept. The foolish as well as the wise virgins slumbered and slept. Slumbering and sleeping is not really always as result of lack of wisdom and fixed good principles of the heart. It springs from the weariness of the flesh to which are all vulnerable. But the difference was in their preparations. The wise had prepared for the exigencies of the time, but the foolish virgins did not. At midnight when the cry was made, the wise virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. They had extra oil for their lamps, but not enough for them and their foolish companions. The lamps of the hearts of the wise virgins were burning while they bodies slumbered and slept. We cannot and should not judge the state of the heart from external appearance. God does not look at the outward appearance. He looks at the heart; for out of the heart are the issues of life(Prov.4:23).
At the garden of Gethsemane, the disciples could not watch with the Lord one hour; they slumbered and slept(Matt.26:40-46; Mk.14:37-41; Luk.22:46). How hard would it be then to remain awake for an age or a lifetime. The time of His coming is embedded in the sovereignty of God. It is in the power and authority of Almighty Father. Our duty it is to go forth and meet Him whenever He comes. In death, we are to go out of our body to meet Him. In the daily affairs of life, we are to go out and meet Him in our affections and duty. At the end of the ages, He cometh with the observation of all. His coming shall not be in secret. He shall not come to the desert or the secret chamber. A cry shall be made. The Shekinah shall appear in the heavens and the trump of God shall be sounded by the archangel. Every eye shall see Him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen(Rev.1:7).
When the Lord tarries, He tarries for the wise to repent. When He cometh, He cometh for the redemption of the wise also. When He cometh, may we be found in peace(2 Pet.3:14), may we be found so doing ( Matt24:46 ), and may we not be found naked(2 Cor.5:3); and may we not shrink from before Him at His coming(1 Jon.2:28). We must not because of delay intermit our care or abate our zeal. Our works must be perfect before Him. We must not leave our first love(Rev.2:4). We have begun in the Spirit, we must not end up in the flesh. It is hypocrisy that breaks out in open apostasy(2 Pet.2:20). We must not be found apostates.
The profession withers, the credit of it is lost, and hope fails. The candle of the wicked shall be put out in obscure darkness(Job 21:17). Those who kindle fire, and compass themselves about with sparks: and walk in the light of their fire, in the sparks which they have kindled, shall lie down in sorrow(Is.50:11). The gains of hypocrisy shall not stand as exhibits in the day of judgment. If we do not live the life of the righteous, we cannot have the benefit of it in the day of judgment. There is no occasion for vouchers on the last Day.
The sovereign Lord of the Universe, the judge of all mankind knows the true character of every man. There is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed or made manifest. Every secret must be exposed. Whatever is spoken in the secret chamber shall be proclaimed upon the housetop(Matt.10:27; Luk.12:3). If grace sanctifies us now, it will save us on the last day. Can we buy oil when the market is over? Can they obtain grace on the last day who made no use of it in their lifetime? Those that are saved shall have grace of their own obtained from the Lord of life. Granted, we derive benefit from the companion of the saints: corporate faith and prayer may redound to our advantage. However our personal sanctification is indispensably necessary to our individual salvation.
Profession of faith without salvation is utter hypocrisy. My righteous one by his faith shall live(Hab.2:4; Rom.1:17). Those that have most grace, have none to spare. Salvation is not transferable. The best of us have need to borrow from Christ, but have none to loan our neighbours. The wise virgins had oil enough for themselves. It would be utterly unwise to share theirs with their foolish neighbours. There is no work of supererogation or the imputation of righteousness by one saint upon another. The advice of the best of saints to their neighbours is ” go to them that sell and buy for yourselves lest there be not enough for you and I.” While they went to buy, the bridegroom came(v 10).
They cannot have grace on the last day who made no use of it previously. “Those that were ready entered, and the door was shut”. If we were not ready on the last day, we cannot be made ready afterwards. Now that the bridegroom is taken away, we must fast(Matt.9:15); for when He cometh, it shall be an everlasting feast. The bridegroom will escort the bride to his home(Jon.17:24), and shall rejoice over her(Is.62:5). “They that were ready went with Him to the marriage”. This is eternal glorification or consummative sanctification. To go in with Christ to the marriage is to be in His immediate presence. Such is the most intimate of fellowship and communion we can have with Him. It is an eternal state of rest, joy, and abundance of everything. Those who enter heaven have made themselves ready for Him. “And the doors were shut.” It was fitting to shut the doors to keep out the hypocrites. It was fitting to shut the doors in order to guarantee the security of the redeemed who have become pillars in the house of God, in order that they may go no more out(Rev.3:13).
When Adam was put out of paradise, God set cherubim on the east of the Garden of Eden with flaming swords to guard the tree of life(Gen.4:23). When the wise virgins went in with the bridegroom to the marriage, the fate of the foolish virgins were unalterably fixed. They were shut out for eternity. When Noah went into the Ark with his family, and God shut them in, the fate of the outsiders were unalterably fixed; they perished in the deluge. When Esau disposed his birthright, he lost it for ever, though afterwards he sought it carefully with tears, he found no place of repentance(Heb.12:16,17).
There is no repentance after the rapture for anyone who shall be part of the bride of Christ. They may have the audacity go to the gate of Heaven and demand entrance, they shall not be admitted. The vain confidence of the hypocrites may carry them far in their expectation of Heaven’s bliss, their self-conceit and hypocrisy shall deny them admittance. They are lifted up to heaven in a fond conceit of their own goodness, but they like Lucifer shall be thrust down to Sheol(Is.14:15). We are to call upon the Lord while He may found, seek Him while He may be near(Is.55:6,7). When the summer is past, and the harvest ended, we can no longer be saved(Jer.8:20). And the harvest is the end of the ages, and the reapers are the angels(Matt.13:39b).
After the Rapture, the Marriage Of The Lamb to His bride shall take place in Heaven after the Bema Seat Judgment of the works of the saints when they are crowned every man according to his works. The marriage of the Lamb shall be one of the two events that shall take place in heaven during the 30-day Reclamation Period. No one will be born again in the true sense of the phrase as we are today after the Rapture. The Rapture marks the close of the church age. But pretribulationism teaches that some hypocrites in the Church, and some people of the world shall be born again after the Rapture and go through the Great Tribulation. But we see here that when the Master has come and the door is shut, there shall be no more admittance. Pretribulationism therefore is a theological fabrication without biblical basis. The concept that some people shall be saved, and become part of the Church after the Rapture is a theological concoction without biblical justification. It is intended to hoodwink the saints into spiritual slumber and somnolence, that the day of the Lord may come upon them unawares. It is Hell’s soporific hemlock. It is intended to put our lamps out, and to give us no oil in our vessels for after use. It is utter foolishness for anyone to think that if one is not raptured, one can still become a believer afterwards and make Heaven, become part of the church and attend the marriage of the Lamb.
“Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not”(vv.11,12 ).
Verily I know you not is equivalent to God swearing in His wrath that they shall not enter into His rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world(Ps.95:11; Heb.3:11,18). It is utter foolishness for any one to think that the hypocrites who call Jesus Lord, Lord, but do not His will shall be given a second chance after the Rapture of the Church to enter Heaven contrary to the scriptures.
“Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in That Day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out demons, and in thy name have done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity”(Matt.8:21-23).
We see here that no one left behind can be rescued afterwards. It is theological gimmickry to teach otherwise. “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the some man cometh”(v.13). Just as Jesus has taught His disciples in the Olivet Discourse(Matt.24:50), He illustrated in the parable of the ten virgins that no one knows the day and the hour of His coming. Though we can know the general time period as illustrated by the parable of the fig tree, we cannot know the day and the hour of His coming. Hence, the need to be prepared. We can see that the main thrust of the parable of the ten virgins is preparedness.
The Parable Of The Ten Talents: Be Fruitful
14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. 15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. 16 Then he that has receive the five talents went and traded with the same, and made other five talents. 17 And likewise he that received two, he gained other two. 18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. 20 And so he that had five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou delivered unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. 21 His lord said unto him, Well done , thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make the ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. 23 His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make the ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I know that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed: 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the earth: lo, thou hast that is thine. 26 His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knowest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed: 27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received my own with usury. 28 Take therefore the talent from that, and give unto him which hath ten talents. 29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. 30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.(Matt.14-30).
11 And as they heard these things, He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.12 He said therefore, A certain noble man went onto a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them occupy till I come14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him , saying, we will not have this man rule over us.15 And it came to pass, that he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man gained by trading.16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound has gained ten pounds.17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities18 And the second came came, saying, Lord thy pound hath gained five pounds. 19 And he said likewise to him Be thou also over five cities.20 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: 21 For I feared thee because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down and reapest that thou didn’t not sow.22 And he said unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knowest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: 23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming, I might have required my own with usury? 24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.25 ( And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. )26 For I say unto you, unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.(Luk.19:11-27).
Our Lord Jesus being the good teacher that He is always illustrates His teaching with parables. In the Mid East at that time a parable is a good way to emphasize the central truth of a message. In this parable our Lord Jesus is the noble man who travelled to a far country to receive for himself a kingdom. Obviously, this parable is about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the centerpiece of the Olivet Discourse. In the parallel passage in Luke quoted above, Jesus is said to have spoken the parable to correct the notion of some in his audience that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
He was also approaching Jerusalem where He delivered the Olivet Discourse, where He would be crucified. The restoration of the kingdom to Israel was the expectation of the Jews, especially their leadership, because they desperately wanted deliverance from Roman domination and oppression. This same expectation was also uppermost in the minds of His disciples. After His resurrection, His disciples demanded of Him, “will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?”(Acts 1:6b). The expectation of immediate deliverance from Roman domination was predominantly responsible for the rejection of Jesus as the Messiah of Israel by the Jewish leadership. They were expecting a conquering Messiah, Messiah Ben David. Though He is the conquering Messiah, He came first as the suffering Messiah, Messiah Ben Jeseph.
In the Lukan account also, His citizens sent an embassage against Him, demanding that He not rule over them.
“He was in the world, the world was made by Him, but the world knew Him not. He came unto His own: His own received Him not”(Jon.1:10,11).
“The first man is of the earth earth: the second man is the Lord from heaven”(1 Cor.15:47).
Adam, the first man failed as God’s representative in the earthly realm of His Universal kingdom. In the temptation in the Garden of Eden, Adam disobeyed God: he ate the forbidden fruit. He failed. He was disqualified. On the other hand, in the temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness, Jesus did not give in to the Devil. He obeyed the Father. He succeeded where Adam failed. Adam was in the Garden of Eden where there was abundance of everything and he failed: Jesus was in the wilderness where there scarcity of everything, and he succeed. So, He is qualified to receive the title deed of the Earth. But the majority of the inhabitants of the Earth, motivated by His archenemy, Satan, do not want Him to reign over them. Therefore they sent an embassage against Him that He should not reign over them.
Satan makes his representation in the court of Heaven inasmuch as he is the accuser of the brethren. Not only that, His own people, the Jews do not want Him to reign over them. Right up to the present, the majority of the Jewish people do not accept Jesus as their Messiah. Therefore when He comes the second time, having received the kingdom from the Father, and having defeated and evicted Satan and his minions from the Earth’s premises, He shall execute those who refuse to have Him rule over them(Luk.19:27).
Oh no! The kingdom of God will not immediately appear; the citizens of the kingdom must be tested, their faithfulness and fruitfulness proven. In the Lukan narrative, there were ten servants, and they were given a talent apiece. The Greek word translated pound here is “mina,” the equivalent of about $15-20 in today’s worth. In the area of faith God starts all of us equally.
“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith”(Rom.12:3).
In this context, every man here refers to believers, not to every person in the world; for all men have not faith. Paul prayed that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith(2 Thess.3:2). But every believer has the measure of faith. It therefore behoves us to individually grow our faith. We are to trade with our faith to make it grow. There are some believers that think that because some other believers have so great faith(Matt.8:10; Luk.7:9), God has given them that measure of so great a faith to begin with. No, He did not give them that measure of GREAT FAITH to begin with. He gave to everyone of us the same measure of faith to begin with. We see here that God starts everyone of us equally with the same measure of faith. He gives all of us a level playing field. It is the responsibility of individual believers to develop their faith to the level of so great a faith like the centurion(Matt.8:5-13). We are to exercise our faith muscle to make it grow. If we fail to do that we will be weak in faith; our faith muscles will be flabby. Our father Abraham was not weak in faith, but strong, so he gave glory to God even when the promise was not yet fulfilled(Rom.4:19,20).
In the account in Matthew, the servants were given different amounts of talents. One was given five, another two, and yet another one talent. With regards to natural abilities, we are variously endowed. Every man has his proper gift of God: one after this manner, and another after that(1 Cor.7:7). So, there is no point complaining about and envying those who have more natural abilities than we have, or in whose lives and ministries more number of gifts of the Spirit are in manifestation. As touching spiritual gifts, believers are also variously endowed.
“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestations of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal…..”(1 Cor.12:4-14). There are some who think our natural abilities are not divine endowments. I beg to differ. God knows the end from the beginning. We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. God knew we would be born again. He knew we would one day harness our natural abilities and put them to work in His service. There is not a single one of us who has not more natural endowments and spiritual gifts than he needs. Sometimes, it is not a matter of what we can do, but what He wants us to do: for in and of ourselves we can do a lot of things.
Whoever does anything just because he can, will soon get into trouble. We do things not just because we can, but because they are profitable in the kingdom, and He has commanded us. Our natural abilities as well as our spiritual gifts are to be harnessed, recruited, and channeled towards the accomplishment of His plans and purposes for our lives. In other words, we are to trade with these gifts and talents, and bear fruits unto His glory. It is obvious we are all differently endowed and gifted. Some have more natural abilities and more number of spiritual gifts than others. Whatever the number of gifts we have, what matters is how fruitful we are in trading with those gifts. God is not unjust to require us to render account of a gift which He did not bestow on us, or a talent with which we are not endowed. To whom much is given, to him will much be required(Luk.12:48).
We are all required to bear fruits based on our endowments and spiritual gifts. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. Every branch in Him that bears fruits, He prunes it that it may bear more fruit(Jon.15:1,2). In order to be fruitful, we must abide in Him. The extent to which we abide in Him, to that extent we are fruitful. No branch has life of its own. Every branch takes its life from the root of the tree.
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing”(Jon.15:5).
“He called unto Him His servants, and delivered unto them His goods”(v.14).
The imagery here is that of a merchant. He is about to embark on a journey. He delivers unto his servants his goods. They are to trade with them and make gains. This implies we are in a state of work and business, as much as we are in a state of expectancy; for there is indeed a day of reckoning. One was given five talents, another two, and yet another one. There is great fairness here; every man was given according to his several abilities. God does not require of us more than we are able. His demands on us are fair and just. His commission upon our lives are proportionate to our several abilities. They are in accordance with our natural endowments as well as the gifts of the Spirits which in His sovereign will He has bestowed upon us.
It is therefore necessary that we habitually prepare for His coming, and work hard, and be diligent in whatever He has committed into our hands. We must be diligent in our present work and service to Him. We are to do this for His glory primarily, and for the good of our souls, and the good of others, especially those who are of the household of faith.
“Do good to all men, especially those who are of the household of faith”(Gal.6:10).
From whatever angle we view this parable, whether from the angle of cosmopolitics as in the Lukan account or solely business as in the Matthan account, the Master is Jesus, who is the sovereign Lord of the Earth. He is the absolute owner of the Earth. He is the proprietor of all persons and things on Earth, as well as in the heavens, and more so the Church, on whose members He has bestowed gifts, into whose hands He has committed His goods. His servants are not the rabble of the world. They are Christians. They are those who have expressed faith in Him. They are His own servants, born in His house, bought with His blood. They are to be devoted to His praise, and employed in His work.
It is likely that ministers of the gospel are intended, but every believer has natural endowments. Every believers has gifts of the Spirit whether he knows it or not. There is no excuse to be idle. No believer in the eyes of God is jobless. There is not cogent or tenable reason to be slothful.
“Of His fullness have we all received, and grace for grace(Jon.1:16).
We received from Him in order to work for Him. The reason for the privileges we have in Him is that we may do His business. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. We are stewards of the manifold graces of God, and of the mysteries of Christ. He ascended into heaven: He led captivity captive, and obtained gifts unto men. He committed unto us His truth, promises, and His powers. These are His great depositum, the “parakatatheke”(1 Tim6:20; 2 Tim.1:14).
At His ascension, He left His goods with His Church. He said unto them occupy till I come(Luk.19:13b). Be in charge. Trade with my goods and make gain. We are not all of the same mold. We are cut out for different things. After He has given commandments to His Apostles, He retired into heaven. He shall come again to reign, and we shall render account to Him: for every one of us shall give account of himself to God(Rom.14:12).
In this parable in the Olivet Discourse, two of the three servants were diligent, faithful and fruitful, and there were only three of them. In the Lukan account also two of three were diligent, faithful and fruitful, though there were ten of them. There may have been others in between; for the seed that fell on good ground yielded fruits, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some an hundredfold(Matt.13:23). God’s expectation of us is an hundredfold increase, and these two servants met that expectation. If we are diligent and faithful and put to use the talents bestowed on us for the purpose for which they are intended, accomplishing in totality God’s will and purpose for our lives, we would have made an hundredfold increase.
We believers in the Messiah are spiritual tradesmen. We are to be totally committed. We are to take pains to learn our trade, and be diligent to follow it up by making it our business. We are to lay out our plans for its advancement. All the affairs of our life should bend towards the attainment of our spiritual goals. We must remember that the stocks are not our own but our Master’s. And we shall render account thereof on the day of reckoning. Therefore all the endowments of mind, our reasoning, wit, education and learning must be made subservient to the will of the Master. Our estate, interest, credit and power and influence must be improved and directed towards the honor of Our Master. Our opportunities in life, the ordinances of the Scriptures, and our religious observances, our spiritual gifts and graces must be exercised in such a way as to trade with our talents.
We are to double our efforts in order to double our stock. He that had five talents, gained five other talents. He that had two talents gained two other talents. The hand of the diligent maketh rich(Prov.10:4). There is a great deal to be gained by industry. The returns are in proportion to the talents received. From him to whom He gave five, He expects a gain of other five. He that sows plentifully must also reap plentifully. Those to whom He commits greater talents and gifts take greater pains because they have a larger stock to manage. From those to whom He gave two talents He expects an increase of two talents.
The larger the endowments and spiritual gifts, the greater the expectations. We should not compare ourselves to others. If we measure ourselves to one another, we are not wise(2 Cor.10:12). Because we are variously endowed and gifted, our productivities vary also. What is most important is that we must double our stock. What is much in one’s hand may be too little in the other’s.
The performance of the third servant was very dismal. He buried his talent in the earth(v.18). In the Lukan account, he laid it up in a napkin(Luk.19:20). This is the same as burying it in the earth. The napkin is actually a shroud, a burial cloth which signals death. He did not misspend or misemploy it. He did not embezzle or squander it as did the prodigal son(Luk.150:13); he buried it for fear of its being stolen. He had no intentions of trading with it in order to increase it. Treasure heaped together does no good to any body(Eccl.6:1,2; Jam.5:3).
“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but tendereth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered. He that withholdeth the corn, the people shall curse him, but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it”(Prov.11:24-26).
Spiritual gifts and talents must be put to the use for which they were intended. In the Olivet Discourse, the unprofitable servant is he that has only one talent. In the account by Dr. Luke, every one of the ten had one talent apiece. It is also likely that there are those with more than one talent who bury them. If the servant with one talent was unprofitable and received a summary sentence, how much more those with multiple talents who are unprofitable. How much more will they be counted offenders that have many talents and bury them.
Those who trample underfoot the greatest advantage will receive the severest punishment.The unprofitable servant accused his Lord of being an hard man, reaping where he did not sow, and gathering where he had not strewed(v.24; Luk.19:21). Well! If he knew all these about his master, why did he accept the talent in the first place? Having accepted it, why did he not put it into the bank so that it would have yielded interest(vv.26,27; Luk.19:23)? Of course his accusations of his master were false. The problem of this servant was aggravation of sloth. The slothful man will always find excuses.
“There is a lion without; I shall be slain in the street”(Prov.22:13, 26:13). The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold, therefore shall he beg in harvest and have nothing(Prov.24:4). The slothful man is a great waster. “He that is slothful is brother to him that is a great waster”(Prov.18:9). If one neglects one talent, how then could one be productive with many talents. The issue was not the paucity of talent but the slothfulness of the unprofitable servant.
The slothful is wise in his own conceit. He approached his master with a plea. I have not increased your goods like others, but I have not made it less. Here is that that is thine.
“The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason”(Prov.26:16).
He had confidence in the validity of his plea, but it was ruled as vain and frivolous. He meant to convince his master that he was not a spendthrift of his estate. Obviously he was not, but he did not increase either.
We are stewards of the manifold grace of God. No matter the delay we must stand before Him to render account on the day of reckoning. If we have done well, Christ will commend us, well done, thou good and faithful servant. If we own and honor God in this age, He will own and honor us in the age to come. If we with patient continuance in well doing seek His glory, honor, and peace, we shall have praise of Him on the day of reckoning(Rom.2:10). There are masters who will not praise their servants no matter how well they have done. Christ is not one of them; He is the exact opposite. Christ will commend His servants that do well whether their praise be of men or not. We should not be concerned with praise of men but of God. We should not seek the honor that cometh from men but from God. It is not whom men commends but whom God commends. Those who honor Christ in this life, He will honor. He has a crown(2 Tim.4:8), a throne(Rev.3:21), and a kingdom(v.34) for His faithful servants.
The faithful servants shall be made rulers over many things and enter into the joy of their Lord(vv.21, 23). Like Lazarus, there are beggars here on Earth, in this age, who shall be rulers here on Earth, in the age to come, in the Millennium. God’s servants are princes. The faithful shall have dominion. There are few things in which the saints are serviceable to God, but there many things wherein they shall be glorified with God. The charge we receive from God, and the work we do for Him in this world are little compared to the joy that shall be set before us.
“The sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us”(Rom.8:18). “For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal”(2 Cor.4:17,18).
Our tears shall be wiped away. All the springs of comfort shall be opened to us. All the fountains of joy shall be unstopped for us. Jesus shall be the fountain and Centre of our joy. The joy of the Lord shall be ours for ever. The Lord himself shall be our exceeding joy. We shall be heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. We shall own everything with Him equally in eternity. The glories and treasures of heaven shall be ours as they are His. We shall have access to the interminable and inexhaustible, limitless, unlimited, and illimitable treasury and treasures of heaven.
The servant with ten pounds was given authority over ten cities, and the servant with five talent over five cities(Luk.19:17, 19). We shall reign as kings with Christ over the Earth in the Millennium(Rev.5:10, 20:4). The unprofitable servant was dispossessed of the one talent. It was given to him that had ten. Besides, he was cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is wickedness to use this just punishment of the unprofitable servant to justify dispossession of the poor of whatever little goods they may have in this age. He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want(Prov.22:16).
The Sheep And Goat Judgment
31 When the Son Of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: 32 And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:33 And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.34 Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come , ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison , and ye came to me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? Or thirsty and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger , and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.41 Then shall He say unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels:42 For I was hungry, and ye gave Me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink: 43 I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in: naked, and ye clothed Me not: , sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not.44 And then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me.46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
With the antiChrist’s army and the armies of the others kings and kingdoms of the earth destroyed at Armageddon, and anyone with the mark of the beast executed, all that will be left of the nations would be the ones who do not have the mark of the beast. Before any of these can enter the Millennium to repopulate the earth, they must pass through the Sheep and Goat Judgment to determine their eligibility to enter into the millennial reign of the Messiah. Jesus shall personally conduct this judgment from His Throne in the Throne Room of the newly built Millennial Temple at the center of the holy area at the summit of renovated and elevated Mount Zion. It shall occur when He comes in His glory with His holy angels, just as we have pointed out after the Battle Of Armageddon(Rev.19:11-21).
All nations shall be gathered unto Him in Jerusalem. All survivors of the day of His Wrath who were not immediately executed as a result of not being beast-marked shall appear before Him in Jerusalem. None of the Gentiles who appear at the sheep and goat judgment shall have the mark of the beast. Any survivors of the wrath of God who bears the mark of the beast shall be immediately executed. All His angels will be with Him. It therefore follows these survivors shall be miraculously gathered to Jerusalem, considering the devastation caused by the final wrath of God.
It shall take 45 days to gather all surviving Gentiles to the land of Israel for this judgment. It is within this 45-day period, the Restoration Period, that the Earth will be renovated. Jews who survive the wrath of God would not be required to appear at this judgment, having accepted Him as their Messiah when they see His nail-pierced hands(Zech.12:10-14), shortly before the sounding of the seventh trumpet when the mystery of God is finished at the completion of the spiritual kingdom of God. Of course, Jews who survive the day of His Wrath, who are beast-marked, shall be executed instantly like all others. But the plain truth is that no one with the mark of the beast will survive the wrath of God; for the wrath of God abides on any one who is beast-marked(Rev.14:9,10).
The Greek word translated nations in KJV is “ethnos” which could also be rendered heathen, peoples, or Gentiles. The Hebrew equivalent is “Goyim” which is used by Jews to refer to non-Jewish peoples. It is not a reference to independent political states. It refers to individuals of all ethnic groups other than the Jew. So the sheep and goat judgment is the judgment of individuals of all ethnic groups other than the Jew who survives the day of His wrath, rather than independent nation states. No Jew will be judged at the sheep and goat judgment. God’s wrath would have destroyed anyone who has the mark of the beast(Zeph.1:17).
“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 ascended 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”(Rev.14:9-11).
When the first avenging angel poured his bowl into the earth, it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men who had the mark of the beast, and upon them who worshipped his image(Rev.16:2). Most probably therefore, no one with the mark of the beast shall survive the Day Of His Wrath which ends with the seventh and final bowl judgment at Armageddon. However if any man who is beast-marked is left alive after the Battle of Armageddon, the one shall be instantly executed; for no man with the mark of the beast shall appear at the sheep and goat judgment much less enter the Millennium.
Besides, those who appear at the sheep and goat judgment do not seem to know why they are being judged. This is not what one would expect of those who have denied Christ and were beast-marked. It is therefore obvious that it will be Gentiles who rejected the mark of the beast, who acknowledged the antiChrist as God, nor Christ as Messiah, who somehow survived the wrath of Satan during the Great Tribulation, and God’s wrath during the day of the Lord, who will be required to make their way to Jerusalem during the 45-day Restoration Period to appear at the sheep and goat judgment. The basis of this judgment will be the Gentiles treatment of Jews and Christians in hiding during the great tribulation by the antiChrist.
“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the lest of these my brethren, you have done it unto me”(Matt.25:40).
Their treatment of these Jews and Christians would be considered as their treatment of Christ Himself. “Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as Ye did it not to one of the least of these, Ye did it not to me”(Matt.25:45).
The witnesses at this trial will be surviving Jews who have just been regathered from the Diaspora, and perhaps resurrected saints who will reign with Christ in the Millennium. The reason why I include Christians among His brethren is because the Dragon shall make war with the remnant of the offspring of the woman who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ(Rev.12:17). Just as Jewish remnants in their mortal bodies gathered to the land of Israel from the Diaspora at the end of the Battle of Armageddon shall be present to witness the sheep and goat judgment, so also shall the resurrected saints in their new glorified eternal immortal resurrection bodies be present to witness; for they shall reign with Christ for a thousand years.
“Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears. Let all nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, it is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen; that Ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am He: before me there is no God formed, neither shall there be after me”(Is.43:8-10).
The Jewish witnesses will not be objects of Christ’s judgment. When the nations are gathered, the Gentiles will be permitted to present their witnesses from amongst the Jewish survivors in order that they may be justified. The surviving Jews from amongst the Gentiles are God’s witnesses that He is just in His acquittal or as the case may be His condemnation of the Gentiles. The resurrected saints shall also be witnesses that He is just in His acquittal or else condemnation of the Gentiles as the case may be. Those who have harmed Jews and Christians or otherwise refused them assistance in their time of distress shall be condemned whether or not they are beast-marked.
“Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, Ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels”(Matt.25:41).
Those who befriended Jews and assisted them, the righteous Gentiles shall be spared, and go into eternal life, but those who did not shall go into everlasting punishment(Matt.25:46). It is not enough not to take the mark of the beast. It is not enough not to harm believers. Indifference towards persecuted Jews and Christians merits one the status of a goat. Christ shall say to them,
“inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteousness into life eternal”(Matt.25:45,46).
The cynical ones who believe that the fact that they are not beast-marked merits salvation shall be condemned. On the other hand, those who are not beast-marked, who lay no claim to salvation shall be justified. Although these gave drink to His thirsty brethren, fed the hungry, clothed those who were naked, visited the prisoners, invited the strangers and destitute amongst them into their homes, they did not believe it was sufficient to earn them salvation, nor did they believe they were doing it to Jesus. They expressed wonder as to when they did all these. Salvation is by grace alone through faith, and that also the gift of God. These righteous Gentiles were also elected before the foundation of the world(Eph.1:4,5;2:8,9).
Avraham Shallom.◦
Some Wrong Notions About The End Times
“And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain. And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”(Daniel 11:36-45).
The KJV translation did well in capitalizing the first letter of the word God in this passage. In the other occurrences of the word God in this passage, the first letter should not have been captitalized, for it it does not refer to the God of Israel. The Hebrew word el(singular; plural: elohim) is generic, and could refer to the Yahweh of Judah, the God of Israel, the idols of the nations as well as important human personalities(Gen.1:1; Exod.20:3, 22:28). The antiChrist who is spoken of here will be indwelt and empowered by Satan.
“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).
Therefore, the antiChrist will be a Satanist. The god he will honor is Satan whom he will secretly worship. The antiChrist will be possessed, indwelt and taken over by Satan from the midpoint of the 70th week when he is cast down to the Earth by archangel Michael(Rev.12:7-9). It will be eschatologically jingoistic for any biblical scholar to infer from this passage that the antiChrist will be a Jew who will not worship the Elohim of his fathers, the God of Israel.
The Edomites
That verses 36-40 speak of the career of the antiChrist, biblical scholars are agreed. From verse 40, The king of the South and the king of the North, fade up with his oppressive rule begin to attack him. But he is too powerful for them and unstoppable. My question is if the antiChrist were the king of the North as some teach, how come he is attacked by the king of the North? The king of the North mentioned in this verse, who is he? The cardinal points referred to here are relative to the land of Israel. The north of Israel is vast area stretching from Europe to Asia. Any army invading the land of Israel from this vast area could have been described by the prophet as coming from the north of Israel. He would not have gone into details using such precise terms of location like northwest, northeast, etc., as we do today. In verse 41, we see the antiChrist invading the Holy Land described by the prophet as the glorious land. He spares Edom, Moab, and Ammon. These ancient kingdoms correspond to modern day Jordan. They are most probably allied to him. Some suggest they are neutral, but that is unlikely because, they shall be severely punished by Christ in the Day Of The Lord for their cruelty towards the sons of Jacob.
“For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity; Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.”(Obadiah 1:10-15).
The Edomites are descendants of Esau(Gen.25:30, 33:16, 36:6-9), Jacob’s twin brother(Gen.25:19-34). The Moabites and Ammonites are the descendants of Lot(Gen.13:1-13,19:30-38), Abraham’s nephew(Gen.11:27, 12:4) through inadvertent incestuous relations with his two daughters in the third degree of inebriation. So, these peoples are related to the Jews by blood. The other side spoken of here is the east bank of the Jordan River. During the Babylonian invasion of Judah in 586 BC, the Edomites, the Moabites and the Ammomites were allies of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. There shall be a reapeat performance in the last days during the invasion of the land of Israel by the antiMessiah during the Jerusalem and the Jehoshaphat Campaigns, and the Battle of Armageddon. How do we know that? Because it is written:
“For the Day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen, as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own heads.”
Though there was a partial fulfillment of this prophecy in the days of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, it shall be fully fulfilled during the reign of the antiChrist in the latter days or better still at the end of time. Jordan has sovereignty over the Temple Mount. During the Yom Kippur in 1967, Israel regained the Temple Mount from Jordan, and gave control to the Muslim Waqf as gesture of goodwill. The Jews shall rebuild their Temple on the Temple Mount after regaining sovereignty over the Temple Mount after the peace agreement with the antiChrist is ratified. The Jordanians shall be part of the invading armies of the antiChrist. They shall participate in the violation of the precincts of the Holy Temple, and the spoilation of its treasures. They will mount roadblocks, apprehend the sons of Jacob who escape the invading armies of the antiChrist, kill some, and hand over the escapees of judah to the armies of the antiMessiah. God will plead with them to accommodate the escapees of Judah because the extortioner and the oppressor who is the antiChrist is at hand, but they would not. At the start of the Great Tribulation, the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel, and other Jews, both observant and unobservant, and Christians who refuse the mark of allegiance to the Beast, shall seek refuge in the red rose city of Petra in the Edomite wilderness which is in modern day Jordan as also did Christians during the Jewish Revolt under Roman domination(66-74 AD).
“For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.”(Isaiah 16:2-4).
Here the antiChrist is referred to as the spoiler, the extortioner and the oppressor. How else would he finance his vast armies of ten nation confederation other than by looting the treasuries and treasures of conquered nations. In his invasion of Israel, he shall be assisted by the Jordanians which is the reason they shall be spared invasion by him. But the God of Israel will punish them for their cruelty towards their brethren, the Jews. During the Day Of The Lord’s wrath, the Edomites shall be as wondering birds cast out of their nest at the fords of Arnon because of their refusal to show kindness to the sons of Jacob. A memorial fire shall burn in Edom, a symbol of their utter destruction throughout the Millennium. It shall not be rebuilt nor inhabited after Armageddon. The prophet Obadiah said that their dealings will return upon their own head. And the prophet Ezekiel said:
“Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, and say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shall know that I am the LORD. Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end:….”(Ezek.35:1-15).
When does the iniquity of the children of Israel have an end? During the 70th week of Daniel.
“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.”(Dan.9:24).
The end of the 70th week will bring the iniquity of Israel to an end. Mount Seir refers to the region south of the inheritance of Judah which was inhabited by the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. There are those who teach that the Edomites have been wiped out and no longer exist. If they do not exist anymore how are they accused of cruelty to the sons of Jacob by God at the time that their iniquity has an end which is during the 70th week of Daniel? So we conclude that the Edomites of old are the Jordanians of today.
The Lord further declared through the prophet Isaiah: “…..And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of curse to judgment…. It is the Day Of The Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompensed for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall be waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever…….”(Is.34:4,5,8-10).
This prophecy has not been fulfilled in antiquity. It shall be fulfilled in the Day Of The Lord’s Vengeance which is during the Day Of His Wrath. Idumea is the Greek version of Edom. There has not been any time in history when the land of Edom was turned into pitch, not when they were sacked by the Nabatean Arabs nor conquered by the Hasmonean king John Hyrcanus(135 BC).
The prophet Jeremiah added his voice to the horror that shall be Edom:
“For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. Also Edom shall be a desolation: everyone that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. And as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbouring cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall son of man dwell in it”(Jer.49:13,17,18).
There is no record in antiquity of the punishment of Edom like that of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone or sulphur. We have seen that the prophets are unequivocal in prophesying about the destruction of Edom. Bozrah was the capital city of Edom in ancient times. God will make Edom an eternal example for the nations of the world to see. Because of his hatred and violence toward his brother Jacob, he shall be covered with shame. The land shall be made a burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day. Its smoke shall go up for ever and ever. When the nations of the world shall be assembled in the Millennium, no noble man from Edom shall be found(Is.34:12). The land of Edom shall be the habitation of wild beasts of the deserts and the islands. All the carnivorous birds of the air shall lodge in the ruins of Edom. The scavengers shall find habitations in the ruins of Edom. The land of Edom shall be overgrown with thorns, nestles and brambles, and it shall become the habitation of dragons and a court for owls(Is.34:13-15).
Egypt
Because Egypt is not allied to the antiChrist, the antiChrist shall invade Egypt and loot her archeological, artworks, and other treasures. He shall be supported by the Libyans and the Cushites(Sudanese). These two African nations are Islamic and are part of his ten nation coalition of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire as also shown by the prophet Ezekiel(Ezek.38:5).
“Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:”(Ezek.38:5).
Ezek.38:6 tells us that Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. “Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.”(Ezek.38:6). From the table of nations in Gen.10, we can see that Gomer is one of the sons of Japheth as also Magog(Germanic peoples), Madai(Medes, Kurds), Javan(Greece), Meshech and Tuval(White Russia), Tiras(Persia, Iran). Togarmah is the son of Gomer, and therefore the grandson of Japheth the elder. Togarmah is of the house of Gomer, and they are located north of Israel which is Turkey and perhaps Azerbaijan. If a nation north of Israel is allied to the antiChrist, does this prove that the antiChrist is from Turkey and therefore the king of the North? In Dan.11:44, the antiChrist is infuriated by invasions from the East and the North.
Turkey shall be invaded by a coalition of nations from the North because of its alliance to the antiChrist. Therefore, with great fury, the antiChrist shall utterly destroy them and take many captive. There shall be no army that shall match the ferocity of Magog, Meshech, and Tuval. They are the most sophisticated, with the latest in military technology. They are the power base of the antiChrist. At the commencement of his military and leadership career, he shall overthrow the three rulers of these three peoples and appoint puppets in their steads. This coup d’etat may be military or else political gerrymandering in which they are voted out of government by the majority. There will always be ten kings. The antiChrist is the eleventh horn(the little horn) and the overall leader or the Emperor of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire(The Fourth Reich).
“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. And the ten horns out of this 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 kings.”(Dan.7:8, 24).
Biblical scholars are agreed that the antiChrist is the little horn which has eyes which signal intelligence and a mouth speaking blasphemy against the God of Heaven. Far more than Alexander the Great of Macedon, and Napoleon of France, he is shall be a military genius. By the use of the word subdue, it is likely these three kings shall be forced out of power. Dan.11:45 speaks of the antiChrist relocating his headquarters from the land of Magog to Jerusalem, the glorious Holy Mountain between the two seas, the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River which empties into the Lake of Asphaltes which is the Dead Sea. This transfer occurs at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel when he makes his debut at the Rebuilt Third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. This is the abomination of desolation of Dan.9:27, and the revelation of the Man Of Sin spoken by Apostle Paul in 2 Thess.2:3,4. Three and one-half years later he shall meet his Waterloo at Armageddon(Rev.19:20,21).
In this passage of Daniel 11 under investigation, we have seen the king of the South, the king of the North, and the kings of the East, but there is no mention of the king of the West. Whatever happened to the king of the West? Does it mean that the whole of Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand will not be involved in this Final conflict? Will NATO disintegrate before this time? Will America and Western Europe vanish from the Earth before the 70th week of Daniel? I leave the reader to answer these questions.
The Kings of The East
As touching the invasion from the East, the Scroll of Revelation gives us more insight.
“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.”(Rev.16:12).
At the outpouring of the sixth bowl judgment, the waters of the Euphrates River that empty into the Persian Gulf will be desiccated making way for the kings of the East. What does this tell us? Unlike the other regions of the world, the East shall not be united. Therefore there shall be more than one king. This is not difficult to understand because the major powers in this region of the world have major ideological, ethnic, and religious differences. India is Hindu in religion and democratic in government. China on the other hand is Confusian and Buddhist in religion and communist in government. Pakistan is Islamic in religion and practices pseudodemocracy. If we include Japan, we see that it is Shintoistic and Toistic in religion and democratic in government. Besides, they are ethnically diverse. The Chinese are Hamitic in the ancestry. The Indians and Pakistanis are Indo-European and Japhethic in ancestry. These are the reasons why there is no unity amongst the kings and peoples of the East. They are rival kings and kingdoms with different and divergent religious and ideological bases. They are suspicious of one another. Right now there is a face off between India and China. There is a lot of controversy over the ownership of islands in the South China Sea between China and its neighbors.
The King Of The West
Now as touching the West, all the nations have judeochristian base, and practice one form of democracy or the other. As at now, they are moving away from judeochristian base to postchristian due to their philosophy of humanistic evolution. The antiChrist will be a secular humanist. And the ultimate form of democracy however, is dictatorship. And the antiChrist will be the ultimate dictator. Ultimate dictatorship has been mirrored by Antiochus Theos Epiphanes of Greek Syria in the late second century BC(178-164), and Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany(The Third Reich) in the first half of the 20th century AD(1933-1945), both of whom were of western descent. Adolf Hitler was a Magogite(Germanic), whilst Antiochus IV Epiphanes was of Javan(Greek). Both of these two world rulers were ardent persecutors of the sons of Jacob. So far, Adolf Hitler, of cursed memory, has the worst record. The antiChrist however, shall be the superlative and ultimate antisemite, and the worst persecutor of the sons of Jacob.
“And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”(Rev.13:4).
Magog(Germanic peoples of Europe) are found in Germany, Austria, sudetenland in the Czech Repubilic, Silesia region of Poland, and south and west of Moscow in the Russian Federation. The Anglus and the Saxons who populated England in antiquity came from Lower Saxony in Bavaria, Germany. The original Franks are also Germanic in their ancestry. French and English have their roots in the German language. They are part of the Germanic group of Indo-European languages. All the royal families of Europe originate from the Austragoths or the Visigoths and are linked to one another by marriages. In identifying the sons of Noah after the deluge, what is most important is ethnicity and ancestry not geography. Magog was dominant amongst his brethren and became the natural leader of Meshech and Tuval, who were forefront in pushing out the frontiers of history. They were nomadic. The title Caesar borne by the Roman emperors is the same as the German Kaiser, the White Russian Czar who ruled from Saint Petersburg, and the Iranian Shah. These are different versions of the same title.
During the scramble for Africa, the Igbos, an ethnic group southeast of Nigeria gave the British a tough time. The British recruited soldiers from the Yorubas, an ethnic group in the southwest of Nigeria, and from the Hausas, an ethnic group from the North of Nigeria to fight and defeat the Igbos. Shall we say that the Yorubas and the Hausas defeated the Igbos? Were the Igbos at war with the Yorubas and the Hausas? Who commanded these Hausa and Yoruba soldiers? White British Army officers. The Igbos were defeated, and colonized by the British. Did the Yorubas and the Hausas rule over the Igbos during the colonial era? No. Who did? The British, period.
The Muslim nations that shall be allied to the antiChrist shall worship the Dragon as well as the Beast. They shall be idolaters and Satanists as they have always been though they name America as they Great Satan, and Israel the small Satan. Those who claim the antiChrist will be a Mid East Muslim either from Ottoman Empire which modern day Turkey or from Assyria must show us which emperor of one of these two empires he would be who ruled for short time, and was killed with a military weapon in battle, was an ardent persecutor of the sons of Jacob, and will be recognizable at his debut when he unveils himself at the Rebuilt Third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, as a dead man come back to life, at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel. If on the other hand, Nazi Germany(The Third Reich) is the seventh Beast Empire, not the Ottoman Empire, then there is no doubt who its sole leader who reigned for a short space was; Adolf Hitler fits the bill. Admiral Carl Doenitz merely surrendered to the Allies. He shall be recognizable with his characteristic black and formidable mustache when he unveils himself at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. There is a mystery surrounding his death, though he shot himself with a pistol at the Chancellery in Berlin while the Russians were closing in on him. Adolf Hitler is the most recognizable face on television worldwide, and he is not about to give up his position.
Magog, Meshech, and Tuval invaded the plain of Latium where the city of Rome was founded. The patrician families that founded Rome were of Magog, Meshech, and Tuval, mainly Magog. Some of the Roman Caesars had Germanicum attached to their names. Anyone who plays down the centrality of Magog in the history and migrations of Europeans has denied the obvious. An ethnic group that led the whole world into two world wars are not pushovers. We must not regard the political indolence of Germany at the moment to mean impotence. They are technologically advanced as any other western nation, and antisemitism is on the rise amongst its youths. With heavy immigration from the Arab and Islamic nations in the Middle East, who can tell what it will turn into in the future!
One more word on Egypt. The king of the South is not Egypt as some affirm though south of Israel. It is clearly stated by the prophet Daniel that the antiChrist shall invade and conquer Egypt and loot her treasures. Egypt will be impoverished, powerless, and politically and militarily esmasculated and impotent. This shall be because Egypt shall be isolated, not part of the Arab league. They shall be neither part of the ten nation confederation of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire(The Fourth Reich) nor allied to it, nor part of the coalition of nations of Africa south of the Sahara. The king of the South that shall attack the antiChrist at the end of time shall most probably be the leader of Africa south of the Sahara. In the end of time, there shall be alliances and coalitions as nations and their rulers see that the antiChrist poses existential threat to them. We should not suppose that the south in the End Times is referent to Egypt only as though God did not know that there would be other inhabitants of the continent of Africa beyond Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. We have shown from the Scriptures in Daniel 11:36-40 that the antiChrist is not the king of the North as some teachers of biblical prophecy affirm, because the antiChrist is different from the king of the North and was attacked by the king of the North in the time of the end. The king of the North is not Turkey either because Turkey is part of the ten nation confederation of the Eighth Beast Empire of which the antiChrist is the emperor. The other errors we have to refute are the teaching that the antiChrist will be a Muslim from Turkey and that Turkey is the Eighth And Final Beast Empire. From Rev.17, we understand that the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth.
“And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 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.”(Revelation 17:9-11).
The seven heads are synonymous with the seven mountains. Mountains signify kingdoms. There are seven kings. And kings are synonymous with their kingdoms in the Mideast. It is obvious that the seven mountains mentioned here do not refer to the seven hills on which Rome was founded because these seven hills were not seven kingdoms with seven kings. Actually there were nine hills on which Rome was founded on the Tiber River. These hills are Aventine, caelian, Capitoline, Equiline, Palatine, Quirimal, Veminal, Janiculum, and Pincian. These hills were not kingdoms neither had they heads nor kings. Besides, none of them were world class Empires that negatively impacted Israel. So, the seven mountains do not refer to the seven hills on which Rome was founded, but rather the seven Beast Empires of Satan.
The Ottoman Empire
At the time of writing of the Scroll of Revelation by Apostle John, the apocalyptist, about 96 AD, five kingdoms were history. These were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medopersia, and Greece(Javan). The one in existence at that time was Rome(Magog, Meshech, and Tuval), the sixth Beast Empire. The one to come which would last for a short time, the seventh Beast Empire was not identified by John. This has led to wild speculations about the identity of this Empire, the Seventh Beast Empire. But this Empire would have certain characteristics by which it could be identified when it appeared on the world stage. Like all the previous six, it would persecute Israel. It is one of the seven heads. Did the Ottoman Empire single out the Jews for persecution as did Rome(Nero, Caligula, Hadrian), Greece(Antiochus Theos Epiphanes) and genocide and annihilation as did Nazi Germany, the Third Reich? No. Current wall of the Old City of Jerusalem was built by the Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificent. He did not bar Jews from living or owing property in the city unlike the Roman Emperor Hadrian who after the Bar Kochba Revolt(132-135), ploughed Jerusalem with yokes of oxen, rebuilt it and renamed it Aelia Capitolina, and barred Jews from the city under the pain of death(136). There was no genocide of the Jews during the 400 years that the Ottomans reigned over Palestine(1517-1917). Jews lived in the whole Middle East throughout this period. The people singled out for persecution under the Ottoman Empire were Christians, especially Christian Armenia. As a matter of fact, the Ottoman Empire took over Palestine after defeating the Mamluks in 1517. Between 1914 and 1922, the Ottoman Empire liquidated and vaporized 1.5 million Armenians. Their honorable women and ladies were publicly crucified on Crosses stark naked. On the other hand, there is no record that the Jews were singled out for genocide. Did the Ottoman Empire last for a short time? No. It lasted 623 years.
Rome And Byzantium
The two divisions of the Roman Empire, the Western and Easter Roman Empire, the two legs of iron of the statue of king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream were Rome and Byzantium.
“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 brake 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 threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch 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, forasmuch 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.2:33-35, 40-43).
The capital of the Eastern Roman Empire was Byzantium which was renamed Constantinople in honor of Emperor Constantine. The Eastern Roman Empire is also referred to as Byzantium and the period as Byzantine Period. Constantinople is modern day Istanbul in Turkey. The Western Roman Empire with capital in Rome was sacked by the Barbarians who were ethnic Germans from the North, the Visigoths, in 410 AD, and by the Vandals in 455 AD. The Roman Empire in the west formally ended with the deposition of Emperor Romulus Augustulus by Odoacer, a German warlord in 476 AD. Separate rule in the west ended with the death of Julius Nepos in 480 AD. The Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium continued for another 1,000 years until it was overrun by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD. The Ottoman Turks, though Indo-European people come from a different stock. Whilst the founders of Rome were Magog, Meshech, and Tuval, mainly Magog, the Ottoman Turks were from Gomer, and Togarmah. They were all of Japhethic extractions. The Ottoman Turks ruled the whole Mid East and Palestine for a period of 400 years from 1517 and became the dominant power in the Mediterranean world until defeated by the British General Allenby in 1917 during the First World War. So, the Ottoman Empire lasted for 623 years, a period that can hardly be described as a short space. Remember that the seventh head which is the seventh Beast Empire and its ruler shall last for a short space. Therefore the seventh Beast Empire shall have only one ruler who would rule for a short period of time. This is the only logical conclusion.
Does the Ottoman Empire fit the bill? No. Walid Shoebet and Joel Richardson have argued that because the Roman Tenth Legion, Legion X Frentensis led by the Roman general Titus was composed mainly of Turkmen and Arabs, it was not Titus who destroyed the Second Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem in 70 AD. That when the fire started, Titus gave orders that the fire should be extinguished but the Turkmen and the Arabs who constituted the bulk of the rank and file of his army reneged. (They aught to have been court-marshaled or summarily dismissed from the Roman Army). That may well be true though.
However, it does not change the fact that it was the Roman general Titus who destroyed the second Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem in 70 AD. If these soldiers were not Roman citizens, then they were machineries. Every Empire recruited soldiers from conquered people. Those soldiers whatever their ethnicity were maintained by the power that be under whose auspices they fought. This argument is a very weak attempt at best to convince us that the Turks destroyed the Second Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah, and therefore the antiChrist who will take over the Third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel will be a Muslim from Turkey, the so called Mideast Beast. That is to say that the empire and the head will be revived. This argument begs the question. At that time neither Islam nor the Ottoman Empire was in existence. Even if they did exist at that time, The Second Temple was not destroyed in the name of Islam or the Ottoman Empire. Secondly neither the Turks nor the Arabs descended from Magog, Meshech and Tuval, and therefore could not be the iron in the image of the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. The onus for the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple on Moriah in Jerusalem rests with the leadership of the Roman army not the rank and file of the Roman army. The people of the The Coming Prince(The antiChrist) is undoubtedly the Roman Army which destroyed the Second Jewish Temple on Mount Moraiah in Jerusalem in 70 AD.
During the First World War, France recruited soldiers from the Francophone African countries as also did Great Britain from the Anglophone African countries. After the war, France stationed some of these black soldiers from Senegal in Africa in the Ruhr, the heavily industrialized region of Germany as a form of humiliation to Germany in order to extract reparations and war endemnity. Shall we therefore say that Africa defeated Germany during the Second World War? Was Africa ever at war with Germany? This kind of argument is very misleading, and therefore untenable. Did the Turks and the Arabs rule over the land of Israel after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD? The answer is a resounding no.
The Sixth Beast Empire, the Seventh Beast Empire, and the Eighth Beast Empire have their roots in the iron legs of the image of king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The iron we have identified as Magog, Meshech, and Tuval. But the Ottoman Turks and modern day Turkey are from Gomer and Togarmah. Besides the Ottoman Empire did not persecute Israel in exile, neither had it only one ruler nor was it of short duration. The only Empire in history that meets these criteria or qualifications is Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany(The Third Reich). The Germans are Magogites. The Third Reich of Adolf Hitler lasted for a very short time of 12 years(1933-1945). So far as history records, Nazi Germany has been the worst persecutor of the sons of Jacob. During the reign of terror by the Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler, six millions Jews perished in the gas chambers and crematoria all over Eastern and parts of Western Europe, amongst whom were 2 millions Jewish children whose lives were snuffed out in the embryo. One factor that is common amongst the Seven Beast Empires of Satan is their hatred and persecution of the sons of Jacob.
Neither Joel Richardson nor Walid Shoebet has emphasized this glaring fact in their identification of the Seventh Beast Empire as the Ottoman Empire. Why? Because it is conspicuously absent. If we say that the Ottoman Empire is the seventh Beast Empire of Satan, what shall we say of Hitler’s Nazi Germany? If the Empire that killed more Jews than any other in history is not one of the seven Beast Empires of Satan, which other Empire has the qualification? It baffles me that these scholars are silent about the role of Nazi Germany, the Fourth Reich, as a Beast Empire of Satan. Is this theological antisemitism or historical revisionism by deliberate omission?
If the Seventh Beast Empire is Magogite, the Eighth Beast Empire which is the revived Seventh Beast Empire must also be Magogite. Kings are synonymous with their kingdoms. If the revived kingdom is Magogite, the revived king also must be Magogite. So the antiChrist, the revived head of the revived Seventh Beast Empire must be Magogite. This logic is borne out by the fact that the prophet Ezekiel identified the antiChrist as Gog of the land of Magog, the head or natural ruler of Meshech, and Tuval(Ezek.38:1,2). In Ezek.38,39, he leads the armies of his ten nation confederation(8 were listed) against Christ at Armageddon. Ezek.38,39 which some scholars isolate as the Gog and Magog war, which according to them, especially the pretribulationists, shall be the final war before the Rapture, is nothing other than the war of Armageddon as Joel Richardson has also expounded. After this war is the rebuilding of the Fourth And Millennial Temple by Christ Himself(Ezek.40-43) on the new elevated and renovated Mount Zion during the 45-day Restoration Period of the kingdom(Dan.12:11,12).
Let me make it clear here that although the Jews have drawn a plan of the Third Temple based on Ezek.40-43, procured materials and raised over $100 millions for the rebuilding of the Third Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, they shall not be able to erect a temple of this magnitude in this age. The Third Temple shall be a much smaller structure hastily set up and will last for a brief period of time. Ezek.40-48 is a description of Jerusalem and the land of Israel in the Millennium. Therefore the temple described by prophet Ezekiel in Ezek.40-43 is the Fourth and Millennial Temple built by Christ Himself in the 45-day Restoration Period of the kingdom prior to the commencement of His Millennial Reign or Rulership Of The Kingdom.
The pretribbers say that the Rapture is imminent and can occur at any moment without any prophesied event preceding it, yet they tell us the Gog and Magog war in which Russia and its allies shall invade Israel is the last prophetic event that shall unfold before the Rapture can take place. Is the Gog and Magog war not a prophesied event? They say no prophesied event will precede the Rapture, yet they hold prophecy conferences every week all over North America. What are they prophesying about if no prophetic event will occur before the Rapture? I wonder! If the Ottoman Empire were of Magogite origin, what then is the origin of the Roman Empire? So, the antiChrist cannot come from Turkey.
The antiChrist is an atheist, and so cannot be a Muslim in practice(Dan.11:36-39, 2 Thess.2:4). Some biblical scholars have strictures with that. Muslims are not atheists. The only god that the antiChrist would recognize is the barrel of the gun. He shall be a Chairman Mao; “power belongs to the barrel of the gun.” He shall worship the god of forces, the god of munition. His career begins with overthrow(Dan.7:8,20), and metamorphoses into subtle peace diplomacy and war(Matt.24:5-7;Rev.6:1-4).
He is an ungodly military leader. His demise will occur at the battle of Armageddon. The antiMessiah will be a powerful and extremely ungodly military leader. He will lead his vast armies in the Jerusalem campaign in which he relocates his headquarters from Europe to Jerusalem.
“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, let him that readeth understand.”(Matt.24:15). “He shall plant the tabernacle of palace between the seas in the glorious Holy Mountain.”(Dan.11:45).
He shall lead his armies in the Jehoshaphat campaign(Joel 3:1,2,9,12-16, Zechariah.14:2). He shall lead his armies at Armageddon(Ezek. 38:4,8,9; Dan.11:38). He will conquer Egypt. He shall go forth conquering and to conquer(Rev.6:2). Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all(Dan.11:37). So the antiMessiah shall be a warrior and a powerful military leader, but an ungodly one for that matter(Ezek.4:8,9; Dan.11:38).
There are really no true atheists. Atheism is a misnomer. Atheism is a religion. Their god is “no-god” which is falsehood, the origin of which is Satanic. So, Satan is the god of all atheists. All atheists are idolaters. All atheists are satanists. Atheism is idolatry. All atheists are pagans. To that extent and in that sense, the antiChrist will be a pagan. Quite frankly he is a secular humanist in public, but secretly he worships Satan who indwells and empowers him, and whom he represents(Rev.13:2), and practices witchcraft as also did Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler would say publically there is no God, yet he was a member of a witches and wizards coven. See “The Sword Of Longinus.” The antiChrist shall be the consummate superman which is the end product of secular humanism and evolution.
The Land Of Shinar
Another error that needs be refuted is that the land of Shinar is Mecca in Arabia. The land of Shinar is Babylon which is in modern day Iraq.
“And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”(Gen.10:10).
If the Tower of Babel, the ancient Ziggurats are in Babylon, and Babylon is in the land of Shinar, how can Mecca be the land of Shinar.
“Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof. Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.”(Zech.5:1-11).
The ephah is a holy measure. A woman in a holy measure is an abomination. The woman in the ephah is Semiramis or Anat, the wife of Nimrod and mother of Tammuz or Osiris. The ephah was taken to its base in the land of Shinar where mother-child worship introduced by Nimrod began. It was Nimrod who founded Babel. It was from Babylon in the land of Shinar that it spread to all other parts of the world after the confusion of languages at Babel. Mother-child worship did not begin in Mecca in Arabia. So, Mecca in Arabia cannot be the land of Shinar. That Islam is the symbol of mother-child worship is true, so also every other false religion. That Mecca is Babylon the Great, the Great Whore of Rev.17,18 is not true, though the spirit of Babylon, the spirit of mother-child worship controls Mecca as it does also Rome and did Pergamos, and the center of every other false religion other than true Christianity. So Rev.17 & 18 are not about Mecca. Neither is it about Jerusalem, for that would mean that the Medes and ten kings of the Eighth Beast Empire shall destroy the headquarters of the antiChrist and the capital city of the His empire.
“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. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”(Rev.17:12-18).
Jerusalem has never been the headquarters of any religion that reigned over the kings of the Earth. Will the ten kings of the Eighth Beast Empire burn down the capital city of the antiChrist to whom they are allied? The antiChrist shall be in control of Jerusalem until defeated by Christ at the final battle of Armageddon. It is about ancient Babylon which has been rebuilt by Saddam Hussein in modern day Iraq. It shall be the religious and commercial center of the Eighth Beast Empire(The Fourth Reich). With regards to the end time scenario, Saudi Arabia and Mecca are insignificant, irrelevant, and inconsequential. There is no prominence give to Saudi Arabia and Mecca in the End Times. Biblical eschatology is silent about them. It is not proper therefore for us to twist Scriptures to include and give them prominence.
These ministers who hold this opinion are former Muslims or Christian ministers who minister to Muslims. They have seen how deeply seated is the Islamic ideology of world domination. They cannot see Islam playing second fiddle. Is it therefore difficult for God to alter the status quo? We should not interpret biblical prophecy in the light of current affairs, rather current affairs should be viewed through the prism of biblical prophecy. There are many books written on biblical prophecy which became bestsellers in their times. They were based on the geopolitics of their times. They were sensational. They sold millions of copies and their authors made their money. When we pick them up today, what do we see? They are not worth the paper on which they were written. Books on biblical prophecy should have value and normative authority till the end of time. Some books on biblical prophecy which are advocating that the antiChrist is the king of the North, and will be the Mideast Beast, and a Muslim from Turkey or an Assyrian will become irrelevant in the coming decades with changes in the geopolitics of the world. Pleasantly surprising though, the geopolitics of the future will lead to the realignment of nations in such a way as to conform to biblical prophecy as announciated by the statue of the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in Dan.2 and the four beasts of Dan.7.
That the ten horns of the nondescript Beast are the ten kings of Arabia is also false. Saudi Arabia is not part of the ten nation confederation of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire(The Fourth Reich). The Bible tells us who they are.
“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).
According to Dan.7, the lion is Babylon, the leopard is Greece, the bear Medopersia, and the nondescript Beast is Rome.
“The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, like to 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 a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to 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 brake 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.”(Dan.7:4-7).
The fourth Beast, the composite nondescript ferocious Beast with ten horns is representative of the Sixth Beast Empire(Rome), the Seventh Beast Empire(Nazi Germany), and the Eighth Beast Empire. That was why the fourth Beast could not be represented by a single animal. It was composite and nondescript. The Seventh and the Eighth Beast Empires are subsumed in the Sixth Beast Empire(Roman Empire). They emerged out of the Roman iron root. They are of the same ancestry as Rome. There are some that teach that the Seventh Beast Empire is not represented in Dan.7. However, that assumption is not true. Obviously the ten horns are a representation of the composition of the Eighth Beast Empire. But why is the Fourth Beast a nondescript composite Beast? It is because it composed of more than one Beast. It is a hybrid Beast. There is a reason for whatever God does. All the other Beast Empires were represented by a single clearly identifiable animal, but when it came to Rome, it was represented as a monster of a creature. These three beasts have a common ancestry. This is the only logical conclusion. Even if the Ottoman Empire were of Roman ancestry, which obviously it was not, it would still not qualify as the Seventh Beast Empire because it did not single out the Jews for genocide, neither did it last for a short period of time. The ten horns are the ten kings of Magog, Meshech, and Tuval(nondescript beast; Rome), Javan(Leopard; Greece or Greek Syria), Arphaschard(winged Lion; Babylon or Iraq), Persia(bear; Iran or Tiras). The other four, Put(Libya), Cush(Sudan), Gomer and Togarmer(Turkey) were not represented by beasts simply because they were not Beast Empires[Ezek.38:1-6; Rev.13:2].
The four heads of the leopard are the four divisions of the Greek Empire after the demise of Alexander the Great of Macedon in 323 BC. We can see that neither modern Turkey nor the Ottoman Empire is one of the seven Beast Empires of Satan. After the demise of Alexander the Great of Macedon, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the seventh ruler of one of the four divisions of the Greek Empire was a persecutor of the sons of Jacob. Alexander himself never persecuted the sons of Jacob. Am inclined to believe that Javan refers to Greek Syria(Seleucid dynasty) of which Antiochus IV Epiphanes was the head, who was also a prefigure of the antiChrist, neither Egypt nor Greece nor Macedonia proper.
Turkey will be part of the ten nation confederation of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire(The Fourth Reich) but not the head neither one of the power base nations of Magog, Meshech, and Tuval. During the Second World War, Turkey was allied to Nazi Germany. Turkey is part of the clay of the ten toes of the image of king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The leadership of the ten nation confederation, the Eighth And Final Beast Empire of Satan is in the iron root, not the clay. The nondescript composite ferocious Beast had iron teeth. The life of the Beast is in the iron teeth with which it tears the prey. The iron is the power base of the Beast. The antiChrist must come from the iron base. The life of the Beast is not in the secondary horns. The antiChrist cannot come from the clay. Therefore, the antiChrist cannot come from Turkey nor any of the other six secondary nations. Clay is a mixture of all kinds of substances held together by water. So also the clay in the ten toes of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is an admixture of all the sons of Noah after the deluge. All the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth are represented. Those of Hamitic extraction are Put(Libya) and Cush(Sudan). Those of Semitic extraction are Arphaschard(Babylon), and perhaps Greek Syria(mixed). Those of Japhethic extraction are Gomer, Togarmer(Turkey), and Iran(Persia or Tiras). Gomer, Togarmer, and Tiras(Persia) are Indo-European peoples. The only thing that holds these peoples together is the Islamic religion. Joel Richardson has asked the question, if the antiChrist is not a Muslim how is he able to gain the allegiance of Muslims? And I ask why did Saudi Arabia and Kuwait permit Christian US soldiers to enter into their lands and defend them against Saddam Hussein, a Muslim ruler of a Muslim nation? It is a marriage of convenience. It is survival of the fittest. In politics there are no permanent friends, but permanent interests. The Muslims want world domination. They want to establish a global caliphate that will rule the world. The west also want world domination. It is a marriage of convenience. Therefore, they will mingle themselves in the seed of men, but will not cleave to one another.
“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, forasmuch 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.”(Daniel 2:41-43).
The Medes
The Medes who were the original founders of the Medopersian Empire will not be part of the ten nation confederation of the Eighth Beast Empire of the antiChrist though they were the architects of the Medopersian Empire. The Kurds of today were the Medes of old. They are descendants of Madai, one of the sons of Japheth(Gen.10:2). Together with the Persians of old, they formed the Medopersian Empire that took over from the neoBabylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar II. Their general, Darius the Mede commanded the Medopersian army that conquered Babylon in 539 BC(Dan.5:31). The Iranians of today are the descendants of the Persians of old. The Persians descended from Tiras, one of the sons of Japheth(Gen.10: 2). Both the Kurds and the Persians are of Japhethic extraction. They are not Arabs. They are Indo-European peoples. The Medes of old started the Medopersians Empire about 550 BC before they were joined by the Persians. Once the Persians joined, they dominated the Empire. One of their most popular king was Cyrus, the Persian whose decree in 538 BC ended the Babylonian captivity after 70 years according to the prophecy of Jeremiah of Anathot(Jer.38:20; Dan.9:2).
Medopersia is the Fourth of the seven Beast Empires Satan used to persecute Israel in exile. On the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Dan.2, it is represented by the breasts and arms of silver, and the tilted bear in Daniel’s vision in Dan.7. The Medes are found majorly in four nations in the Mideast. They are in Southern Turkey, northeastern Syria, northwestern Iraq, and southeastern Iran. There are pockets of them in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. They are agitating for independent kurdistan. In Turkey, they are represented by the PKK, Kurdish Workers Party which has been labeled a terrorist organisation by the Turkish government. The PKK have been fighting for autonomy and independence from Turkey for over 30 years. In Iraq, they enjoy a measure of autonomy. In both Syria and Iraq ISIS enslaved their women and killed their men as did Saddam Hussein who killed their women and children with poison gas in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their military wing in Iraq, the Pershmager is at war with IS as also in Syria under the umbrella of the YPG. In both the Pershmager and the YPG, Kurdish women fight alongside their men in the war against ISIS. In Syria, their chief city is Korbani which has been devastated by the war with ISIS. An independent Kurdish state will be historically significant. This lies in the fact that the Kurds(Medes) will not be part of the ten nation confederation of the Eighth and Final Beast Empire of Satan over which the antiChrist will rule( Ezek.38:5,6; Rev.13:2, 17:12). But these other nations of which they are a part at the moment, Iran, Iraq, Syria(Greek Syria under the Seleucid dynasty) and Turkey will be. So, the Kurds must gain their independence from these nations in order not to be part of the Eighth Beast Empire of the antiChrist.
Secondly, during the seventh bowl judgment of the Harlot City, the Medes will be the first to attack Babylon(Isa.13:17-19) before it will be finally destroyed by the ten kings of the Eighth Beast Empire under the antiChrist(Rev.17:16,17). The Medes will therefore be allied to the antiChrist. They will be probably permitted by the antiChrist before they can attack the commercial headquarters of his empire. This time, the antiChrist wants to get rid of the Harlot City after it has served her purpose. God will put it in the hearts of the ten kings to get rid of her though they do not think so. The ten kings will be motivated by greed. The Harlot City has garnered her wealth from their subjects after ingratiating herself to the antiChrist by mesmerizing and hypnotising citizens of these nations to worship the Dragon-Beast and his image. The Medes on the other hand will be motivated by vengeance. They will not regard silver and gold. Their eyes will not pity women and children. This will be the cumulative effect of decades of persecution by the Babylonians(Iraqis).
There are also those who claim the antiChrist is the Assyrian. The descendants of the ancient Assyria are found in modern day Iraq. They are few in number and are mainly Christians. They are a persecuted minority in Iraq. They are Semitic people. So if the Assyrians are part of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire, they are part of the clay not the iron. The leadership of the Eighth Beast Empire is from the Iron which is of Roman ancestry(Magog, Meshech, and Tuval). So, the antiChrist cannot be an Assyrian unless of course in a metaphorical sense(Isa.14:25). The Assyrians were known for their cruel treatment of war captives. They acquired notoriety for cruelty and wickedness. It is exegetically unacceptable to twist Scriptures already fulfilled in antiquity to justify our preconceived notions. Assyria was used by God to punish Israel(Isa.10:5). That was in the past. Assyria will never rise up as an Empire or people to dominate the world neither would Babylon nor Egypt nor Greece nor the Medes and the Persians no matter how hard they try. Geopolitical revival is the exclusive preserve of the Roman Iron, the nondescript composite Beast. Saddam Hussein’s efforts to revive the glories of the neoBabylonian Empire under king Nebuchadnezzar II was doomed to failure from the beginning. According to Dan Hayden, Babylon is the Empire that was. So also the efforts of Iranian leadership to rise to the former glories of the Persian Empire by regaining world domination. There is a movement of power amongst the sons of Noah after the flood from Ham to Japheth with which it rests till the end of time. Ham -> Shem -> Japheth
Ham was the first of the sons of Japhet to establish an empire in history though he was the last born of Noah. That was the Egyptian Empire. From Ham, power moved to the Semitic peoples. Shem was the second son of Noah. They established two empires that impacted Israel negatively, Assyria and Babylon. Although the foundation of the city of Babylon was Hamitic; for Nimrod, a grandson of Ham through Cush was the founder of Babylon, the Sumerians and the Akkadians built the ancient Babylonian Empire. The neoBabylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar was founded by the Chaldeans.
“And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”(Gen.10:6-10).
From the Semitic peoples, power moved to the Japhetic peoples. Japheth was the eldest son of Noah. He had the right of primogeniture which included leadership, priesthood and double inheritance. For unrevealed reason the priesthood went to Shem, but Japheth retained the leadership. Ham was to play a subordinate role because he viewed the nakedness of his father, Noah, in a state of inebriation. Both Ham and Japheth dwell in the spiritual tent of Shem. Salvation is of the Jews(John 4:22). This is the theology of the second;
“He taketh away the first that He may establish the second.”(Heb.10:9). “And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.”
The Hamites introduced idolatry to humanity through Nimrod, the grandson of Noah through Cush. Not all Cushites migrated from Babylon at the confusion of languages at Babel. Some scholars identify the founder of the Assyrian Empire, Sargon the Great with Nimrod the hunter of the souls of men. Nimrod is believed to be a descendant of the Giants who survived the deluge.
“And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.”(Genesis 9:25-27).
The tent spoken of here is spiritual tent, the origin of which is divine and rests in the hands of the sons of Jacob, a Semitic people.
“And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.”(Genesis 9:18-27).
The first of the Japhetites to build an empire were the Medes and the Persian(Medopersia). The Medes(Medai) and the Persians(Tiras) are Indo-European peoples. They descended from Japheth the elder. Next to them were the Greek(Javan). Finally we have the descendants of Magog, Meshech, and Tuval(Rome). Power will remain not only with the sons of Japheth, but with Magog till the end of time. If we do not have this understanding, we shall be beating about the bush by speculating about the ancestry of the Eighth Beast Empire and the antiChrist. This is all revealed in the image of king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Dan.2, and the beasts of Daniel’s dream in Dan.7. The iron and the nondescript composite ferocious beast(Rome) prevailed till the end of time. The clay was brought in to assist the Iron. The ten horns developed on the nondescript composite and ferocious beast. And the clay is composed of all the descendants of the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. But the iron in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream which is Rome(Magog, Meshech, and Tuval) will dominate the world till the
End Of The Ages.
If the antiChrist is a Muslim from either Ottoman Empire or Assyria, which kings of these two empires would he be? One outstanding characteristics of the antiChrist is that he will be a man who has ruled one of the seven previous Beast Empires, was killed with a military weapon in battle, descended into the abyss, and shall ascend from the abyss to rule over the Eighth And Final Beast Empire. He shall be recognizable when he unveils himself at his debut at the Rebuilt Third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel.
“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 that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.”(Rev.17:11). “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”(2 Thess. 2:3-4).
The fact that the antiChrist is a dead man who had ruled one of the seven previous Beast Empires in the past and is come back to life to rule over The Eighth Beast Empire(The Fourth Reich) shall be the most singular fact that shall grant him overwhelmingly influence over the lives of the living wicked earth-dwellers. Even the kings of the other kingdoms of the Earth in existence at that time shall fear him. Therefore he shall have worldwide influence.
“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. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 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.”(Rev.13:3-8).
They shall worship the Dragon who gave authority to the Beast, and they shall worship the Beast, saying who is able to make war with him?
Who is like unto him is an expression of wonder because he is a dead man come back to life. He shall be invincible in battle against these other kings. No human king will be able to defeat the antiChrist in battle. The only person that shall defeat him is Christ at the final battle of Armageddon. The antiChrist is not a human spirit. He is a fallen evil angel. He ascends out of the bottomless pit and shall go into perdition.
“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.”( Rev.11:7).
Why is it that he ascends out of the bottomless pit? It is because he has been there. He had lived before and was killed with a military weapon in battle. This is not something future. It has already happened. He ruled over the Seventh Beast Empire. He was sent there because he is not a human spirit. Human spirits are sent to Hell or Heaven not the abyss. The abyss is the abode of fallen evil angels who did not keep their first estate but in defiance to God’s command to keep men and angels separate, cohabited with human females(Gen.6). They are reserved in chains under darkness waiting for the judgment of the Great Day(Jude 6).
Besides, there is another huddle; they must show us that he has iron root(Roman ancestry) and is Gog, of the land of Magog, the head or natural ruler of Meshech, and Tuval(Ezek.38:1,2). Impossible! The antiChrist who is the little horn shall arise out of the nondescript Beast which is Rome. Did the Ottoman Empire come out of Rome? They merely defeated the Easthern Roman Empire or Byzantium.
“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;”(Dan.7:17-21).
We have to go back to Dan.2 in order to understand that the power base is in the iron and not the clay. The nails were of brass(bronze) which is suggestive of Greece. Javan(Greece) is one of the ten horns of the Eighth Beast Empire. Turkey is one of the seven secondary nations of the Eighth Beast Empire. The Ottoman Empire does not feature at all. It is not one of the Beast Empires. The Ottoman Empire did not have iron root neither did it come out of Rome. The Ottoman Empire did not single out the Jews for persecution and extermination as did Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany.
Origin Of Mother-Child Worship
That the dispersion of mother-child worship began from Babylon is true, and that the sacred black stone in the Ka’aba in Mecca which Muslim pilgrims kiss is the image of the secrets of Semiramis is also true. That Islam is a monotheistic religion is false. Islam is polytheistic. There are 360 gods in the Arabian pantheon worshipped at the Ka’aba in Mecca by the Quraish tribe. Anat or Semiramis was made the patron deity by prophet Mohammed. She is a female goddess. That she is worshipped as a male deity Allah which is an acrostic from “Al ila” which means the god, is an occultic inversion. Allah is not a personal name but a title. The crescent Moon which is the symbol of Islam is female in Mideast Mythology, and the Sun male. Osiris is the son of Semiramis or Anat. The sons of the gods, their male offspring are the stars(Rev.12:1). The crescent Moon is Semiramis and the lone star is Osiris, who is both husband and son of Semiramis. An abomination. The sun is one of the smallest stars. The lone star doubles as the sun and the star. In other words, Nimrod, the husband of Semiramis is subsumed in the son, Thammuz who is also the husband of Semiramis, Nimrod come back to life. Most Muslim Imams practise witchcraft. They have charms and talisman for every imaginable desire and lust of fallen and deprave humanity. However, that the Ottoman Empire was the Seventh Beast Empire, and that Turkey will be the Eighth Beast Empire , and that the antiChrist will be a Mideast Muslim from Turkey, and the king of the North are false.
Avraham Shallom.
This article is dedicated to my friend and brother-in-the-Lord Dr. Olubukunola Jeminusi, a Public Health specialist. We were colleagues in the medical school in Ife. Recently, at one of our seminars on end times in Sagamu, he played a video that prompted me to write this article to set forth right certain contentious issues of and wrong notions about the end times.
The Apostasy And The Man Of Sin.
To understand and gain insight into Paul’s instruction to the Thessalonians concerning the Rapture and the Day Of The Lord, one must first understand the background surrounding Paul’s epistles to the Thessalonians. Paul’s stay in Thessalonica was very brief due to persecution instigated by some Jewish elements in the city who were disgruntled with Paul’s teachings on the kingship of our Lord Jesus the Christ. They were able to gain the support of the Greeks and the city officials by capitalizing on this aspect of Paul’s message. They accused Jason, Paul’s host, and certain other brethren they laid hands on to the city officials, of receiving Paul and Silas, men that have turned the world upside down, and taught that there was another king other than Ceasar, one Jesus. The city officials took security of Jason, and those other brethren. Whatever happened to them afterwards, the Scriptures are silent about. Paul and Silas were spirited out of the city by the brethren.
The Background Of Paul’s Letters To The Thessalonians.
The ancient city of Thessalonica was ideally situated on the Ignatian Way, on the western side of Chalcidic Peninsula. It was the chief seaport of ancient Macedonia, and an important commercial centre and a military base. Today, the city is called Thessaloniki which is in Greece. Paul’s witness there was very brief. Following persecution in Philippi, Paul and Silas travelled the Ignatian Way to Thessalonica(Acts 16:39-17:1). There Paul taught in the synagogue for three sabbaths. Some Jews who were antagonistic to the gospel stirred up the Thessalonians against the brethren, accusing them of treason, probably because Paul proclaimed Jesus as King. The house of Jason, Paul’s host was assaulted in order to bring Paul and Silas to the city officials. When they did not find them, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the city officials who took security of them. The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away to Berea(Acts 17:5-10).
The believers in Thessalonica came under great persecution as a result of this uproar. Paul desired to return to Thessalonica to ground them in the Faith, but was hindered by Satan(1 Thess.2:17,18). Subsequently, Paul despatched Timotheus to complete the work which he started(1 Thess.3:1,2).
Paul wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians between 50 and 51 AD., after Timothy returned to him in Corinth(Acts 18:5). The message Timotheus brought to Paul from Thessalonica was mixed: there were good news as well as bad news. The good news was that the Thessalonians were zealous and steadfast in propagating the gospel(1 Thess.3:6). The bad news was that there were ethical problems as well as some eschatological misconceptions(1 Thess.3:4-7; 4:13 ). They were worried that believers who were dead would miss Christ at His second coming. Paul assured them that those who died in Christ would be the first to rise from the dead to meet the Lord in the air together with those who are alive and remain(1 Thess.4:13-18).
Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians was written about 51-52 AD, and was sent from Corinth after the first letter. It contains together with his first letter, the fullest treatment of the second coming and the Rapture of the Church not found anywhere else in the Scriptures. The Rapture was an issue of great importance to the Thessalonians. Some members of the congregation had no clear understanding concerning the Day Of The Lord, and the timing of the Rapture(1 Thess.5:1-11; 4:13-1 ). With increased persecution, they felt that the Day Of The Lord had already come, and they had missed Christ’s return.
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand(1 Thess.2:1,2).
Within the Thessalonian church were false teachers who were communicating erroneous doctrines. These false teachings were communicated in three ways: by spirit, that is some prophetic utterance, by word, that is through instructions by these false teachers; and by letter as from us, that is forged documents attributed to Apostle Paul and or some of his associates in the ministry. The core of this erroneous teaching was contained in the statement that the day of the Lord is at hand.
Paul’s Teachings To The Thessalonians.
In order to correct that error, Paul wrote them saying,
“let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there be a falling away first, and that man of Sin be revealed, the son of perdition”(2 Thess.2:3).
Clearly, unmistakably and in nondebatable terms, Paul identified two events that must proceed the Day of the Lord. These two events are presented in sequential order by Paul. They are the Apostasy And The revelation of the Man of Sin, the Son Of Perdition. The Pretribulation Rapture Position teaches that the translation of the church and the coming of the Lord must precede the fulfilment of Daniel’s prophecy of a final seven year period before the second coming of the Lord. Some even allow as much as seven years between the translation of the saints and the start of the 70th seven of Daniel. If the translation of the saints occurs before the start of the 70th seven of Daniel, the Apostasy and the revelation of the Man Of Sin must also occur before the start of the 70th seven of Daniel of Daniel, inasmuch as these events precede the Rapture.
The appearance of the Man Of Sin marks the starting point of the 70th seven of Daniel, and his revelation in the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah occurs three and one-half years later, precisely at the midpoint of the 70th seven of Daniel. And both of these events precede that day, that is, The Day of The Lord. The Rapture and the Day Of The Lord, occur on the same day. On the same day the church is raptured, the Day of The Lord begins. The Lord Jesus taught that on the very same day Noah entered the ark, God’s judgment fell on the predeluvian earth-dwellers. The very same day Noah and his family were delivered, judgment fell on the wicked and unregenerate world of his day. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son Of Man be(Luk.17:26,27). This implies that the deliverance of the righteous shall be immediately followed by the judgment of the wicked in God’s Day Of The Lord wrath.
The clear teaching of the Scriptures is that no extended period of time separates the Rapture and God’s day of the Lord judgment of the living wicked earth-dwellers. Both the teachings of Apostle Paul and the Lord Jesus the Christ, invalidate the doctrine of imminency which teaches that no prophesied events must occur before the Rapture of the church, and the proposition that the Day of the Lord starts at the beginning of the 70th seven of Daniel. From the teaching of Paul in 2 Thessalonian 2, we draw the following conclusions:
1) The Apostasy And The revelation of the Man Of Sin, occur within the 70th seven of Daniel, not outside and before it;
2) The Day Of The Lord occurs after the Apostasy and the revelation of the Man of Sin;
3) The Rapture of the Church immediately precedes the Day Of The Lord; and therefore,
4) The Rapture CANNOT occur before the 70th week of Daniel, and so CANNOT be pretribulational.
The Apostasy
The phrase falling away in 2 Thess.2:3, is a transliteration of the Greek word “apostasia,” which means defection, revolt, and rebellion. It is from this Greek word that the English word apostasy and it’s cognate apostate are derived. It signals the falling away or total abandonment of a course or someone. It occurs twice in the whole of the scriptures. Therefore how it is used is of utmost importance.
Christianity began as a sect within Judaism. The early believers worshipped in the temple on a daily basis. They believed in Jesus but continued to adhere to the old covenant and to keep the law of Moses(Acts 21:20). They believed in Jesus but within OT Judaism. They did not understand that Jesus had instituted a new covenant. Dr Luke used the word to describe what the Jewish elders of the early church in Jerusalem said to Paul: And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs(Acts 21:21). Forsake in the above verse of Scripture is a translation of the Greek word “apostasia.” It means to fall away or to utterly abandon. In this case, Paul was accused by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, not the Jewish leaders of the early church in Jerusalem, of teaching Jews among the Gentiles not to circumcise their male infants and to abandon the Mosaic law. Circumcision was the seal of covenantal relationship between God and the Jewish people. Paul was being repudiated for supposedly teaching the Jews in foreign lands to abandon Circumcision and the Jewish customs.
The other use of the word “apostasia” is by Paul in 2 Thess.2:3 which we quoted earlier. He used the word exactly the same way as Dr. Luke. He was speaking of Jews, who during the 70th week of Daniel, will totally abandon the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the Jewish messianic hope, in favour of a false religion instituted by the False Prophet, and the antiMessiah, a False Messiah, the antiChrist(2 Thess.2:2-12 ). This view is in marked contrast to the view held by pretribulation rapturists, who believe that Paul was talking about believers who in this day and age will apostasize, deny and abandon their faith in Jesus the Christ before the Rapture of the church and the beginning of the 70th seven of Daniel. There is scarcity of scriptural evidence to substantiate this position. They appeal to 1 Tim.4:1,2, to substantiate their position.
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons;”
The word apostasia with the definite article “the” is not used here as in 1 Tim.4. The Greek word translated depart from is “aphistemi” which means to put away(divorce), remove, seduce, make disloyal, to withdraw, to remove oneself, retire or cease from something. The word apostasy as used in 2 Thess.2, has the definite article, “the.” It is speaking of a definite, identifiable and specific event, not some nebulous apostasy at the end of this age. The men and women Paul was speaking about in 1 Tim.4:1,2, were lured away from the faith through false doctrines, not apostasy enacted by governmental decree and enforced by agents of government whereby one either complies or be killed if discovered, nor dies of starvation due to economic boycott and inability to procure food and other supplies in hiding. These men and women were false teachers who though believe the gospel, espoused erroneous doctrines. They could more appropriately be identified as heretics rather than apostates. These two terms are not synonymous. If a true believer apostasizes in the age, that is totally abandons or falls away from faith in Christ, the doctrine of eternal security becomes suspect.
The Identification Of The Apostasy And The Time Of Its Occurrence.
The future ascendancy of the antiMessiah is prefigured by the emergence of the Greco-Syrian leader Antiochus Epiphanes. The career of this infamous leader is revealed in three passages of the Word of God(Dan.8:9-25; 11:21-35; Zach.9:13-17). He is clearly and indisputably set in the Scripture as the foreshadow of the antiMessiah. The First Century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus is a major source on the life of Antiochus Epiphanies, so also the apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees, which conservative scholars have long recognised as possessing significant historical worth, and is primarily given over to a consideration of the insidious career of this infamous man. The plan of Antiochus was to defeat surrounding nations through military conquest, and then assimilate them into his kingdom through the adoption of the Hellenistic culture. He wanted conquered nations to speak Greek language, wear Greek clothing, adopt Greek philosophy of life and worship Greek gods. In that way he could quickly and effectively assimilate them into the Greek empire.
This plan accomplished, conquered people would pay tribute to him, serve in his army, and become effective buffers between his empire and his enemy nations. His troops could be withdrawn from successfully assimilated nations to serve somewhere else. Antiochus had earlier invaded Egypt, then ruled by the Ptolemies. In 168 BC, he returned to consolidate his victory. On this occasion he was met by a legate of the Roman Senate, who drew a circle around him, and demanded that he either decides to withdraw or accepts war with Rome before he exits the circle. Antiochus was not ready for war with the emerging Roman Empire. Humiliated, he chose to withdraw. On his way back to Syria, he marched his troops through the land of Israel. Antiochus sought to Hellinize the Jewish people, to turn them from the Law of Moses, from the practice of circumcision as a sign of covenantal relationship with Yahweh, the God of Israel, and from the observance of their religious customs. This was exactly the same thing that Apostle Paul was accused of doing by the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem(Acts 21:21). This is what is historically described as Apostasy. He wanted Israel to be a buffer zone between him territory and Egypt.
Antiochus succeeded to a large extent in Hellenizing the Jewish people. A large segment of the non-religious and nonobservant Jews capitulated to his authority and demands, and entered into a covenant with him. The goings-on in those days were graphically recorded in the book of 1 Meccabees. In those days lawless men came forth from Israel, and misled many, saying,
“let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles round about us, for since we separated from them many evils have come upon us.”
This proposal pleased them, and some of the people eagerly went to the king. So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentile custom, and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the Holy covenant. They joined themselves with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil(1 Macc.1:11-14). This falling away or total abandonment of the God of Israel by many from within Israel is specifically called the Apostasy. So it was that the king’s officials who were enforcing the Apostasy came to Modein to make them offer sacrifice(1 Macc. 2:15). This sacrifice was the offering of a pig to the Greek Olympian Zeus, a heathen deity, an Abomination of great magnitude for observant Jews. Under the Mosaic Law, the pig was an unclean animal, and therefore strictly forbidden both for human consumption, and the offering of sacrifice to the God of Israel(Lev. 11:2,7; Deut. 13:3,8). Some Jews rebelled against this abominable and evil demand, while others capitulated. The ancient chronicler continues the saga of Antiochus and the Jewish people: Then the king wrote to his whole Kingdom that all should be one people, and that each should give up his customs. All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath.
And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary and the priests, to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals, and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, so that they should forget the law and change all ordinances (1 Macc.1:41-49). This is an accurate and perfect description of Apostasy, the total abandonment of Jehovah for a heathen deity. This covenant which many of the Jewish people made with Antiochus prefigures the covenant that many from within Israel will make with the antiChrist at the beginning of the 70th seven of Daniel. The prophet Daniel wrote: “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 the abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate”( Dan. 9:27).
The defilement of the Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, his treatment of the Jews, and their abandonment of the God of Israel for a heathen deity is one of the most conspicuous events in Jewish history. It is the same Apostasy by the Jewish people, at the same place, in the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, to embrace a heathen deity, and a false Messiah, the antiChrist that will signal the last seven years of the history of the present Age.
Parallels Between Antiochus And The Antichrist.
There are some Parallels between historically fulfilled events under Antiochus and prophetic events awaiting fulfillment under The Antichrist. Marvin J. Rosenthal has outlined nine of these Parallels. We shall examine these amazingly similar Parallels.
(1) Covenant.
Both Antiochus and the Antimessiah make a Covenant to protect Israel. In those days lawless men came forth from Israel, and misled many, saying,
“Let us go and make a Covenant with the Gentiles round about us, for since we separated from them many evils have come upon us. He authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles”(1 Macc.1:11,12).
Concerning the Antichrist, it is written, “And he shall confirm the Covenant with many for one week”(Dan.9:27a).
(2) Many Within Israel
In both instances, the Covenant is cut with the many within the nation of Israel. Not all Jews acceded to these Covenants. There is no unanimous support in both cases. Concerning Antiochus, it is written:
“In those days lawless men came forth from Israel, and misled many.” And also, “Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion.” And again, “Many of the people, every one who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land”(1 Macc.1:11,43, 52). Of the antiChrist, it’s written, “he shall confirm the Covenant with many”(Dan. 9:27a). This is the only occasion in the Bible where a Covenant is said to be made with the many. This clearly shows that the Covenant was not unanimously supported.
(3) Apostasize.
In both instances, Jews who enter into Covenant are said to apostasize. As touching Antiochus it is written,
“Then the king’s officers who were enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to make them offer sacrifice”(1 Macc.2:15).
Concerning the antiChrist Paul wrote, “Let no man deceive by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come the falling away first, and that Man Of Sin be revealed, the Son Of Perdition”(2 Thess.2:3).
The word translated falling away is apostasy, and the Man of Sin is the antiChrist.
(4) Broken Covenants In The Temple.
Both Antiochus and the antiChrist break the covenants they made with the many from within Israel. “After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned,…. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils”(1 Macc.1:20,21).
The Bible describes the same event concerning Antiochus, “And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate”(Dan. 11:31).
As touching the antiChrist, it is written,
“in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease”(Dan.9:27b).
That means he will break the covenant in the middle of the 70th seven of Daniel(cp. Matt. 24:15). Both men, Antiochus and The antiChrist break the covenant at the same place, in the temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.
(5) Introduction Of Heathen Deity In The Temple.
Both Antiochus and the antiMessiah break the covenant by introducing heathen deity in the Holy Of Holies of the Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Of Antiochus, it is written,
“He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary”(1 Macc.1:20,21).
It is on record in the annals of history, that he set up an image or statue of his patron deity, Zeus Olympus in the Holy Of Holies of the Second Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah. The image of his Chief deity was in the likeness of a man(humanism), the burst of Antiochus himself. Apostle Paul wrote of the antiChrist,
“who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God”(2 Thess..2:4, cf. Matt. 24:15, Rev.13:15).
Precisely in the middle of the 70th seven of Daniel, the antiChrist shall set up a statue or image of himself in the rebuilt Third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah, demanding worship of all mortals, especially the Jews in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem.
(6) Jewish Opposition.
In both instances, some Jews oppose the introduction of a false religion, as a consequence of which many of these Jews perish. Of this courageous and small band of brave men, it is recorded,
“But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the Holy covenant; and they did die”(1 Macc.1:62,62). Speaking of that future day when the antiMessiah shall demand that Jews bow to his image, and many will refuse, the Lord Jesus said,
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake”(Matt. 24:9).
( 7) Flight To The Mountains.
In both instances observant Jews who oppose the Apostasy flew to the mountains to escape persecution.
“Then Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me! And he and his sons fled to the hill and left all that they had in the city. Then many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to dwell there”(1 Macc.2:27-29).
In the Gospel of Matthew, in the context of the Great tribulation, it is written of the righteous remnant in Israel,
“Let him who is on the house top not come down to take anything out of his house; Neither let him who is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto those who are with child, and those who nurse children in those days! But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day”(Matt. 24:16-20).
It will be really very difficult for observant Jews if this event occurs on the sabbath day in the winter. In every war, children, pregnant and nursing mothers and the elderly suffer the most.
(8) Increased Death Toll On The Sabbath.
In both instances, many observant Jews die because they would not violate the Sabbath. What transpired in the days of Antiochus graphically portrays what will take place in the days of the antiMessiah. It will be very traumatic.
“Then many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to dwell there, they, their sons, their wives, and their cattle, because evil pressed heavily upon them. And it was reported to the king’s officers, and the troops in Jerusalem, the city of David, that men who had rejected the king’s command had gone down to the hiding places in the wilderness. Many pursued them and overtook them; they encamped opposite them and prepared for battle against them on the Sabbath day. And they said to them, Enough of this! Come out and do the king’s commands, and ye shall live. But they said, we will not come out, nor will we do what the king’s commands and profane the Sabbath day. Then the enemy hastened to attack them. But they did not answer them or hurl a stone at them or block up their hiding places, for they said, let us die in our innocence; heaven and earth testify that you are killing us unjustly“(1 Macc.2:29-37).
With regards to that future day, the Lord commanded us,
“Pray that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day”( Matt. 24:20 ).
Commitment to the Sabbath day by observant Jews is excessively fanatical. If one pushes an elevator bottom, drives a car, enters a restaurant, or checks into an hotel, one has broken the Sabbath. The Israeli airline El AL can neither take off nor land on the Sabbath day. A Sabbath day journey is two thousand cubits, a little more than half a mile. With the Sabbath laws fully instituted in Israel, observant Jews can neither fight nor flee on the Sabbath. In this regard, the admonition by the Lord, “Pray that your flight be not in winter neither on the Sabbath day” takes on added significance, inasmuch as the Lord’s warning relates to getting away from Jerusalem as far as possible, and as quickly as possible.
(9) Increased Death Toll For Womens And Children.
On both occasions, many women and children perish. Antiochus attempted to stamp out Judaism and the worship of Jehovah. He proscribed circumcision, the sign of covenantal relationship between God and the Jews. Those who did not comply died. Of that event, the chronicler wrote,
“According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers’ necks”(1 Macc.1:60,6 ).
Little wonder therefore that our Lord Jesus spoke of those days in this fashion:
“And woe unto them that are with child, and to those who nurse in those days!”(Matt. 24:19).
Those observant Jewish mothers who would circumcise their sons would be slain alongside with them. This is reminiscent of Pharaoh’s infanticide decree(Exod.1:15,16); Herod’s command to kill all male children in the region of Bethlehem, up to and under two years of age(Matt.2:16); and Adolf Hitler’s systematic murder of two million Jewish children during the Holocaust.
The Career Of The antiMessiah And The Plight Of The Jews.
The career of the antiMessiah and the plight of the Jews in the 70th seven of Daniel are clearly and with divine design kaleidoscoped and previewed in the account of Antiochus Epiphanes and his barbaric treatment of the sons of Jacob. At the start of the 70th seven of Daniel, the apostasizing Jews will sign a seven-year peace treaty with the antiChrist and the sorrounding nations.
Interestingly, the seven secondary nation of the ten-nation confederation completely encircle Israel. The Israelis love life and peace. They very much want to live, but their neighbors, the Hamas, the Hizbollah, the IS, the Iranians etc., are war mongers. They hate life, and love death; they very much want to die. Today, the Israeli soldiers are Jewish fighters of superior quality, but not war mongers. Israel will very much welcome any peace agreement that will offer it a vista of respite from war with its neighbors. This is exactly what the antiChrist will do. The government of Israel at that time would believe that the peace agreement with the antiMessiah will offer Israel protection from surrounding nations. This will indeed be so for the first three and one-half years of the 70th seven of Daniel. The antiChrist being the political guru that he is would accomplish this supposedly insurmountable political obstacle to peace in the Middle East. This was exactly also the same thing that the Jews thought when they made a covenant with Antiochus Epiphanes. They had good intentions. Good intentions do not always justify actions taken. The actions themselves must be viewed in the light of their own merits.
In reality, the peace covenant with the antiChrist, will be a covenant with death in disguise. It will be Israel’s greatest apostasy. Not only will it not bring peace and safety, but it will bring the nation of Israel and the Jewish people to the brink and threshold of extinction and annihilation. Except those days be shortened, no flesh shall be saved(Matt. 24:22). This statement of the Scripture is not speaking of universal annihilation. In the context of Matt.24:15-26, the topic is the Abomination That Make Desolate; the location is Israel, it’s capital City Jerusalem, and her Temple Mount; the occasion is the time of Jacob’s trouble, time of distress spoken of by Daniel the prophet, the Tribulation the Great(Jer.30:7; Dan.12:1; Matt.24:21); the participants are primarily Jews and believers in the land of Israel. That does not however mean that the Great Tribulation shall be localized or circumscribed to Israel: for whatever happens in Israel sends ripples to the whole World. Essentially, it is the Jews and the christians, and any other person who repudiates the authority of the antiMessiah in the land of Israel, the seat of the antiChrist’s Administration, that will perish if the Great Tribulation is not amputated.
The Covenant With Death.
The prophet Isaiah sarcastically wrote of that covenant that Israel will make with the antiChrist:
“Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Hell(Sheol) are we in agreement, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have hid ourselves”(Is. 28:15).
Do these Jews see the antiChrist as lie and falsehood? No. But that is exactly who and what he is, lie and falsehood. Therefore a covenant with the antiChrist is a covenant with lie and falsehood. The prophet continued to speak of the covenant of apostasy with sarcasm:
“And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trampled down by it”(Is.28:18).
The phrase the overflowing scourge, is a reference to the Great Tribulation, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, which they shall not escape. Remember their aim is to seek protection by antiMessiah from the surrounding hostile Gentile nations. But they shall be hoodwinked into entering into the Belly Of The Tiger. Because the Covenant Of Apostasy is a Covenant Of Deception, the prophet Isaiah sarcastically spoke of the Jews entering into an agreement with Death and Hell. The antiMessiah is the agent of Death and Hell(Sheol).
This covenant Of Apostasy is also spoken of in the imagery of spiritual infidelity and sexual unfaithfulness. Israel is the wife of Jehovah God. But the church is the bride of the Christ, espoused to Him, but not yet married. In this Covenant Of Apostasy, Israel’s ultimate day of unfaithfulness, Israel will reject the True Messiah, and embrace the false Messiah.
“Behind the doors also and the doorposts hast thou set up thy remembrances; for thou hast uncovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovest their bed where thou sawest it. And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even to Hell”(Is. 57:8,9).
All the passages referred to above speak of the covenant Israel make with the antiMessiah as Covenant With Death or Debasement To Hell or “Sheol” which is the Hebrew word for the common grave, Hell, and the underworld of the dead.
The Covenant With Death And The Revelation Of The Man Of Sin.
The apostasy Apostle Paul referred to in 2 Thess.2:2-4, will involve Israel, not the Church. It is Israel that will make peace agreement with the antiMessiah. The Church will sign no peace agreement with the antiMessiah. The Apostasy will commence when many from within the nation of Israel sign a covenant of peace with the antiChrist at the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel. Unbeknownst to them, this covenant will be an agreement with Hell or “Sheol,” a covenant with death. The Apostasy will constitute a total abandonment or falling away of the nation of Israel and the Jewish people, from renewed covenantal relationship with the God of their forefathers and the promised Messiah. Through this covenant, the Jews will embrace a counterfeit religion– humanism– and a counterfeit messiah– the antiMessiah – who offers a counterfeit solution to the Middle East peace dilemma. The antiChrist has no intentions of keeping this peace agreement. For three and one-half years, while the rest of the world is engulfed in wars, commotion and rumours of wars, famines, earthquakes and pestilences, Israel enjoys a relative peace even with her Arab and Islamic neighbors, courtesy of the antiChrist. But precisely in the midst of the week, and without warning, the antiMessiah breaks that peace agreement with the many from within Israel.
Having previously entered the Middle East on the pretext of protecting Israel, he defeats Egypt, Syria and other nations. But Moab Ammon and Edom will escape out of his hands probably because they are allied to him or perhaps neutral as some have suggested. In the midst of the week also he relocates his headquarters to Jerusalem.
“He shall plant the tabernacle of palace between the seas in the glorious Holy Mountain”(Dan. 11:42-45).
The two seas are the Mediterranean and the Dead Seas, and the glorious Holy Mountain is no doubt, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is geographically the centre of the Earth. It is also the gateway to the three major continents. It is therefore geographically suitable as the headquarters of the government of the antiChrist in order to embark on his ambition to conquer the whole world and establish a one-thousand-year reign. Little wonder then, he transfers his headquarters to Jerusalem.
It will be only then, in the middle of the week, with Jerusalem surrounded by his troops, having amassed the most sophisticated military and most powerful army in the annals of military history, he will now set up his image in the rebuilt Jewish Temple, The Third Temple, on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, declares himself God, and demands worship of all and sundry. It will be also be at this point that he removes the veil, revealing himself as a dead man come back to life. It will be at this point that his real character and identity will be made known to the Jews. Then they will realize, they had previously, three and one-half years earlier, made a covenant with Death, and an agreement with “Sheol.” Some biblical commentators, especially of the pretribulation persuasion, focusing on Paul’s statement to the Thessalonians “and that Man Of Sin be revealed, the Son Of Perdition”(2 Thess.2:3), have placed that event at the signing of the peace treaty(Dan.9:27) and, therefore at the beginning of the 70th seven of Daniel. In doing so, they have missed the whole point of Paul’s argument.
There are two facts of utmost importance in Paul’s argument. First, the Apostasy must occur. The Apostasy must be understood as the total abandonment by many of the Jewish people, from within Israel, of the covenantal relationship between them and the God of their forefathers. This begins at the beginning of the 70th seven, when the peace agreement is signed with the antiMessiah, although the consequences are not acutely felt until the middle of the 70th week when the antiMessia makes his debut at the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.
Second, at the midpoint of the 70th week, the Man Of Sin is revealed. Paul makes that clear in a most conspicuous way. Having stated that the Man Of Sin is revealed, he did not connect it to the signing of the 7-year peace agreement, but to the occasion of the setting up of the image of the antiMessiah in the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Apostle Paul described the revelation of the Man Of Sin as follows:
“who opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God”(2 Thess.2:4).
The event paul was speaking about here cannot be devorced from the time of the unveiling of the antiMessiah. Paul was not speaking about the time the antiMessiah made a covenant with the many from within Israel, when he appeared on the scene; that was clearly three and one-half years earlier. That was not the issue. He was speaking about the time when the antiChrist will be recognized by the leaders of Israel- who made that covenant with him three and one-half years earlier- for who he truly is. The recognition of the antiMessiah for who he truly is will occur at the mid-point of the 70th week of Daniel, when his image is erected in the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem(Dan.9:27; Matt.24:15). It will be then, and only then, that the Jewish leadership will realize they had made a covenant with Death, and with Sheol are they in agreement. When they realize this, the shock will be indescribable, it will be the worst of nightmares, only it will be real. It will be the worst of horror stories, only it will have substance. No wonder it is called the Great Tribulation(Matt. 24:21), the time of Jacob’s trouble(Jer.30:7), and the time of trouble or distress(Dan.12:1).
The Identity Of The antiMessiah.
There are reasons why the leadership of Israel and the Jewish people will not recognize the antiMessiah until his debut in the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. The antiChrist is a man who lived before, and ruled one of the seven beast empires of Satan which impacted Israel directly and negatively by persecuting Jews.
“Here is the mind which hath 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 petdition(Rev.17:9, 10).
The seven mountains are the seven Beast Empires. The seven kings are the responsible heads of these empires that persecuted the Jewish people. The beast empires are: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medopersia, Greece Rome and Nazi Germany. The antiMessiah was killed with a military weapon in battle. He will come back to life to rule over the Eighth and Final Beast Empire of Satan. The antiChtist will be a man whose soul ascends from the shaft of the abyss.
“And I saw one of his heads as though it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast”(Rev. 13:3).
One of the heads of the beast was “wounded to death.” A literal translation would read, “as having been slain to death.” This is exactly the same word that was used of the Lamb in Rev.5:6, where it was translated “as it had been slain.” If Christ actually died, it also means this head of the Beast also died in actuality. But his deadly wound was healed which meant restoration to life. In Rev.11:7, the beast ascends out of the abyss, which coincides with his restoration to life.
“The beast that 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 were 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 KJV).
What this means is the beast actually died and descended into the abyss, ascended out of the abyss, and is restored to life. He is a dead man come back to life, therefore the world understandably wonders after him. But human spirits do not descend into the abyss at death. The abyss is the abode of evil angels who did not keep their first estate, but left their own habitations, to cohabit with the daughters of men(Jude 6).
After the destruction of their physical bodies in the deluge, their spirits were imprisoned in the abyss under darkness, waiting for the judgment of the great day. The antiMessiah must have ascended out of the abyss to rule over one of the seven beast empires of Satan. When his physical body was wounded to death, in other words when he died, his spirit descended back into the abyss. Therefore, he shall arise out of the abyss to rule over the Eighth And Final Beast Empire Of Satan. The implication of the above analysis is enormous. Apart from being an evil and fallen angelic spirit, he will also be empowered directly by Satan(Rev.13:2). No wonder he has superhuman abilities, and very charming. He will be a very extraordinary person, resolving supposedly impossible political dilemmas, uniting supposedly mutually incompatible peoples.
The antiMessiah with his fascinating personality, and unusual abilities to dissolve dilemmas, will literally mesmerize the leaders of Israel and the Jewish people to enter into a covenant with him. With his extraordinary and other worldly diplomatic skills he will secure the rights of the Jewish people to rebuild their temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. As a military genius, he would amass the most sophisticated and strongest army in the annals of military history. Initially he will be easy to get along with, appears sincere, charming and mesmerizing everyone he comes in contact with.
The only ones who would know the true nature of the antiChrist from the beginning of his political career are his closest aides, his co-conspirators, and some of the children of God, believers and some observant Jews who have learned about him from what is revealed of him in the Scriptures. The rest of the world he will lead as lambs to the slaughter.
The Worship Of The antiMessiah: The worship Of Satan.
As we have seen, the antiChrist will be the worst of men, arising out of the abyss, empowered by Satan who gives him his seat, power and great authority(Rev.13:2). Therefore by bowing to the antiChrist, men and women will invariably be worshipping Satan, the Supreme personality of evil, the archenemy of God and His children.
“And they worshipped the Dragon which gave power to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast, and saying: who is able to make war with him?”(Rev. 13:4).
The antiMessiah will make a covenant of peace with Israel for seven years. His former identity under which he ruled one of the seven previous beast empires will be hidden. It will become clear to the Jews and the rest of the world at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel when he makes his debut at the rebuilt Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. At this point, the veil over his identity will be unmasked, and his true nature and identity as a dead man come back to life from the abyss who had ruled over one of the seven previous beast empires will be made known.
At this point, he will hide himself no more. It will not pay him to hide himself any more; in fact, it profits him to wholly reveal who he is. The Apostasy will begin at the beginning of the 70th seven of Daniel. Indeed it marks the terminus-a-quo of the 70th seven of Daniel. In the middle of the week, the antiMessiah will be revealed to the Jewish people, and the rest of humanity. This will trigger a period of persecution so great and severe that unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved. What is amputated is not the three and one-half years allotted to the antiChrist but The Great Tribulation by the antiChrist. No flesh here, in context, would mean Jews and Christians in the land of Israel, the centre of activity of the antiMessiah. But it also includes anyone else anywhere in the world who repudiates the authority of the antiChrist.
The point at issue which Apostle Paul makes undeniably clear in his second epistle to the Thessalonians is that the Apostasy And The revelation of the Man Of Sin to Israel occur inside the 70th week of Daniel, not before it begins as our brethren of the pretribulation persuasion would have us believe. That a remnant of godly believers, and observant Jews would recognize the antiChrist is certainly true, and consistent with the teachings of the Lord(Matt. 24:4-28, 33), and the Apostle Paul(1 Thess.5:4-6). But what Paul was trying to make clear, is that the leaders of Israel and the Jewish people, and the majority of Israelis, and the Jewish people, the “am ha aretz,” the people of the land, will not recognize the antiMessiah until the Abomination Of Desolation occurs in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel.
According to Apostle Paul, the Rapture of the Church and the Day Of The Lord occur after these events ( 2Thess.2:3,4 ). It therefore follows that the Day Of The Lord CANNOT commence at the start of the 70th seven of Daniel, and the Rapture which occurs on the very same day before the Day Of The Lord begins, CANNOT be pretribulational. Amen.
Avraham Shallom.
The Two Most Important Events That Must Occur Before The Rapture Can Take Place And The Wrath Of God Begins
Because the Thessalonians had been taught by some within the local Assembly that they have missed the Rapture, and were then in the Day Of The Lord, Apostle Paul penned this letter to them in order to correct this erroneous doctrine. He made a plea based on the coming of the Lord, and our gattering together unto Him. These two event, the coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto Him occur at the same time(Rapture).
“For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son Of Man be in His day”(Luk.17:24).
When the Shekinah, the visible presence of the Lord appears in the heavens, we the saints shall be gathered unto Him. In Matthew, it is referred to as the appearance of the sign of the Son Of Man in the heavens.
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son Of Man in the 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”(Matt.24:30).
This event, the appearance of the Shekinah in the heavens is preceeded by the Great Tribulation.
“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 heaven shall be shaken”(Matt.24:29).
For the Thessalonians to be in the Day Of Lord, they must have past through the Great Tribulation, witnessed the Cosmic and celestial disturbances, and the appearance of the Sign of the Son Of Man in the heavens, and the gathering together of the elect by the angels of God to meet the Lord in the air. These are no secret phenomena. These are worldwide events that shall be witnessed by all and sundry.
“Behold, He cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen”(Rev.1:7).
We can see that Revelation corroborates Matthew that all the Earth shall mourn when they see the Son Of Man appear in the heavens. This should not surprise us because our Lord Jesus is the author of both the Olivet Discourse and the Scroll Of Revelation. In the Olivet Discourse, the letters are in red, indicating that Jesus the Christ is the speaker. In the Scroll of Revelation, it is written:
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it unto His servant John: who bear record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and all things that he saw”(Rev.1:1,2).
Therefore Jesus Himself is the author of the Scroll of Revelation, and John was His amanuensis. It is after the appearance of the sign of the Son Of Man in the heavens that He shall dispatch His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from one end of heaven to the other.
“and He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His Elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other”(Matt.24:31).
These are unmistakable worldwide events that shall be witnessed by all and sundry. How then shall any intelligent person, in his normal senses, teach that the Rapture can occur at any moment, and that no prophesied event must precede the Rapture? A very Big Lie. Why is it that the Earth mourn when they see the sign of the Son Of Man in the heavens? Because they know His wrath is about to be poured out on them(Rev.6:12-17).
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that day of Christ is at hand.”(2 Thess.2:2).
Our brother Apostle Paul founded the church in Thessalonica(ca. 50-52 AD). His stay there was rather brief due to persecution from the civil authorities. But before Paul left he had taught them the rudiments of the second coming of Christ; he never had time to ground them fully in the basics and fundamentals of biblical eschatology. Thereafter, some within the church began to expound erroneous doctrine that the day of the Lord has already come and that the Thessalonians have missed the Rapture, and would never see their deceased loved ones in the Lord any more. This erroneous doctrine was propagated in three ways: (1) by prophetic utterance(by spirit); (2) by teaching(by word); and (3) by a letter(a written document) purportedly to have been written by Apostle Paul and or his associates in the ministry(by letter as from us, 2 Thess.2:2).
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there be a falling away first, and the Man of Sin be revealed, the Son Of Perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God”(2 Thess.2:3,4).
The word translated sin here is lawlessness. The antiChrist is the man of lawlessness. He shall change the times and seasons. He shall change the Judeochristian Mores which have guided the Western nations for over a thousands years. Paul wrote to correct this erroneous doctrine, that the Thessalonians should not be shaken in mind nor be troubled. He started by warning them that they should not be deceived because that day shall not come until two things happen:
(1) The Apostasy
the apostasy, a falling away from the faith, a rebellion, a total abandonment of the faith by some within the church, and some Jews who shall abandon covenantal relationship with the God of Israel in favour of a false man made God, the antiChrist, and
(2) The Unveiling Of The Man Of Sin
The antiChrist, the man of sin must be revealed(2 Thess.2:3). It is the revelation of the Man Of Sin, the antiChrist that leads to the apostasy, when he deifies himself and demands worship of all mortals(2 Thess.2:4). The apostasy occurs when the antiChrist demands worship of all mortals, and persecutes those who refuse to worship him. The Great Tribulation precipitates the apostasy, when there is a mass exodus of believers who are ungrounded in God’s instruction concerning perseverance to worship the Beast-antiChrist(Rev.3:10). These have been fed on bread and butter Christianity, and that they will never go through the Great Tribulation. They have been taught by some pretribbers that seven years before the antiChrist shows up on the world stage, they are already in Heaven. Imagine how unprepared they will be to face the antiChrist. This event takes place precisely in the middle of the 70th Seven of Daniel.
There was a minister of the gospel who refused to sit at our seminar, claiming he is a preacher of righteousness. That all we need to do is to live right, we shall be raptured whenever the rapture occurs. No amount of righteous living will deliver anyone from the horrors of the Great Tribulation if the one has not mastered the sequence of events of the End Times, and has prepared accordingly. It shall be a horrible disaster for this period to come upon us unawares, like a thief in the night. We are children of the light, and of the Day. We are not of Night nor of Darkness, therefore that event should not come upon us unawares(1 Thess.5:5).
“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 over spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate”(Dan.9:27).
The 70th seven of Daniel, the last seven years of the 490 years allotted to the Gentiles to persecute Israel, [“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy Holy City, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy”(Dan.9:24)], shall begin when the Man Of Sin, the antiMessiah signs a seven year peace treaty with the many from within Israel. It is not the whole nation of Israel that will be in agreement with the covenant made with the antiChrist. There shall be some, even in government that shall be opposed to it. Nevertheless, the scornful rulers of Israel at that time shall go ahead and sign the covenant. This is the reason why it is referred to by the prophet Daniel as the covenant with the many. The many however are from within Israel.
The prophet Isaiah refers to it as “covenant with death” and “agreement with Sheol”(Hell or Hades). He also referred to it as “taking refuge in Lies” and “hiding under Falsehood.” The prophet Isaiah chided the rulers of Israel at that time, saying,
“Wherefore hear the word of The LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, we have a covenant with Death, and with Hell are we at agreement: when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made Lies our refuge, and under Falsehood have we hid ourselves.”(Is.28:14,15).
Is it not a curse to trust in man and a blessing to trust in the Lord?
“Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”(Jer.17:5-8).
Because at that time, more than ever, Israel’s security shall be precarious, and the whole nation in grave existential danger due to hostility from its Arab and Islamic neighbours, and nations of the world, Israel shall seek protection from the most powerful ruler of the world at that time, the Emperor of the Eighth and Final Beast Empire of Satan. Israel is surrounded by hostile Arab and Islamic nations which shall be allied to the antiChrist. Instead of trusting in the Lord, they shall look up to man.
“Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?”(Isa.2:22).
In context, “man” is the antiChrist though applicable to anybody. Our Lord Jesus told the Jewish people who rejected Him who came in the name of the Father, but will accept another that will come in his own name:
“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).
They shall seek refuge and protection from the most powerful ruler of the world, not knowing they shall be seeking refuge in “Lies,” and hiding themselves under “Falsehood.” Their covenant with the antiChrist shall be covenant with “Death,” and their agreement with him, an agreement with “Hell.” Here the antiChrist is referred to as “Death”, “Hell”, “Lies” and “Falsehood.” Because of existential threat Israel shall run into the open arms of the antiMessiah, the worst Jew hater of all times. They will take refuge in lies and hide under falsehood because the antiChrist shall be both “lie” and “falsehood.”
Following this agreement, the antiChrist shall station a protection force in Jerusalem, and all over the land of Israel. This he shall do under the guise of providing protection for Israel from its enemies. But his intention all along shall be to destroy the nation later on altogether after he has gained their confidence. They shall be “caught off guard.” For the first three and one-half years of the 70th week of Daniel, he shall offer protection to Israel. During this period, none of the sourounding nations shall invade Israel. Those of them who attempt shall incur his wrath. Remember that at this time, the antiChrist has the most sophisticated armies in the world equipped with the latest in military technology at his beck and call. This offer of protection by the antiChrist accounts for the relative peace that Israel enjoys during the first half of the 70th seven of Daniel.
There shall be wars and rumors of wars, and the antiMessiah shall go forth conquering and to conquer. The Wars shall lead to famines, pestilences and earthquakes, but Israel shall be relatively quiet during the convulsions of the first three and one-half years of the 70th week of Daniel(Rev.6:1-6; Matt.24:4-8; Mk.13:5-8; Luk.21: 8,9). Precisely, at the midpoint of the 70th week, and without warning, Jerusalem shall be surrounded with the armies of the antiChrist as he relocates his headquarters to the rebuilt Third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, Israel. This move by the antiChrist should not surprise us. Because the antiMessiah, the Man of lawlessness is a copycat. Christ shall reign from His Throne Room in The Holy Of Holies of the Fourth and Millennial Temple on the renovated Mount Zion in Jerusalem, Israel. The word antiChrist means the one who is against and in place of Christ. He is opposed, and exalts himself above all that is called God or worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, displaying himself that he is God(2 Thess.2:4).
In verse 4, Paul asked them, don’t you remember that when I was yet with you I told you these things?
“And your covenant with Death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be vexation only to understand the report”(Is.28:18,19).
Their covenant with Death shall be abrogated, and their agreement with Hell abolished. Therefore the antiChrist shall not keep his part of the covenant.
“And he shall plant the tabernacle of his palace between the seas in the glorious Holy Mountain; yet he shall come to His end, and none shall help him”(Dan.11:45).
In his bid to rule the World in place of God, He shall come to His demise. He shall meet his Waterloo. Precisely in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel, he shall transfer his headquarters to Jerusalem, from its previous location in the land of Magog or perhaps from Babylon if he had already relocated their from the land of Magog earlier on as some biblical scholars suggest. Following the transfer of his headquarters to Jerusalem, Israel, the antiChrist shall massively surrounding Jerusalem with his armies. This is the Jerusalem Campaign. These are the armies of his three power base nations of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire, the armies of the nations of Magog, Meshech, and Tuval.
“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are Judea flee to the mountains: and them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them who are in the countries enter thereinto.”(Luk.21:20,21).
The surrounding of Jerusalem with armies coincides with the abomination of desolation when the antiChrist transfers his headquarters to Jerusalem.
“when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the Holy Place,(whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains”(Matt.24:15,16).
“But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains”(Mk.13:14).
The surrounding of Jerusalem with armies, and the abomination of desolation occur at the same time, at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel, when the antiChrist relocates his headquarters to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. On arrival on the Temple Mount, he and his acolytes will violate the sacred precincts of the rebuilt Third Temple on Mount Moriah by threading on it. He will enter into the Holy Of Holies of the Temple forbidden to the Gentiles. He shall desecrate its sacred altars. Like His prefigure, the seventh Greek ruler of the Seleucid dynasty Antiochus Theos Epiphanes, he shall offer forbidden unclean animals on the rebuilt Jewish Altar Of Holocaust. He shall import a statue of himself into the Holy Of Holies of the rebuilt Third Temple. This is the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not. He shall deify himself. He shall demand to be worshipped by all mortals. He shall demand that all give allegiance to him by being branded with the mark of the Beast. This mark of allegiance is the number of man. It is 666(Rev.13:18).
It is an 18 digit computer bar code, much like our BVN of today with other biometric data specific to the individual. Before this time, there shall be a harmonisation of all biometric data worldwide. However, it shall be implanted on the forehead or right hand or left to avoid theft or loss, and for ease of verification by the enlivened images of the Beast stationed at strategic locations throughout the world. The enlivened images of the Beast have near field communication(NFC) readers that enables them to identify and distinguish those who are Beast branded from those who are not. Those who are chipped can buy and sell. Those who are not chipped could die of starvation unless they have earlier procured food, medicine, and other supplies ahead of time. Besides, they will be hounded, hunted down and coerced to be branded, or killed on refusal to be branded. It cannot be done by force. No one will be held down my force to be chipped. It will not count. Every person shall be given chance to accept to be branded, or killed on refusal to be branded. Forced branding is unacceptable, but people can be coerced to accept to be branded. Anyone who willing accepts and is branded is doomed for eternity. If any man accepts the mark of the Beast, the wrath of God abideth on him.
“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 shall worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”(Rev.14:10,11).
The Scriptures do not tell us when the Temple shall be rebuilt. All we are told is that a temple shall be standing at the Temple Mount by the midpoint of the 70th week for the antiChrist to desecrate it(Dan.9:27), and for the revelator John to measure it and those that worship therein, and to leave the outer court to the Gentiles to thread underfoot forty and two months(Rev.11:1-2). Any discussions as to the time of the building of the temple, or whether a full temple shall be built or a tabernacle-like structure erected, are in the realm of speculations.This end time scenario has not yet played out. So the Thessalonians had not yet missed it; for none of these events has occurred. Therefore prophesied events must occur before the day of Christ. Once again, the pretribulational doctrine of imminence is turned on its head.
Imminence is the cardinal pillar of pretribulational rapturism. It states contrary to Christ’s teaching in the Olivet Discourse and Apostle Paul’s teaching in 2 Thess.2, that no prophesied event must occur before the Rapture takes place. In other words, the Rapture can occur at any moment. Their doctrine of Imminence allows them to position the Rapture before the 70th week in the eschatological timeline. They also start the day Of Lord at the commencement of the 70th week of Daniel. We can see that That Day does not come until two vital events of the 70th week, the revelation of the antiChrist, and the attendant apostasy, the total abandonment of faith in the God of Israel by those with covenantal relationship with the God of Israel as a result of sever persecution by the antiMessiah occur.
They make no distinction between the wrath of Satan(Rev.12:12) which is directed towards the saints of the Most High, and the faithful remnant of Israel, and culminates in The Great Tribulation, and the wrath of God(Rev.6:17) which is directed towards the worshippers and adorers of the Dragon and the Beast-antiChrist, and culminates in The Armageddon Campaign.
What is offensive to me is ignorant people who arrogate to themselves a monopoly of understanding and interpretation of the word of God, and arrogantly, insolently and over-zealously urge us to believe the Rapture will take place before the Great Tribulation contrary to Paul’s teaching in his Second letter to the Thessalonians, and our Lord Jesus’ teaching in the Olivet Discourse(Matt.24, Mark 13, Luk.21), and the scroll of Revelation(Rev.6,7). The Church is never in danger of being “Left Behind” but of being “Caught Off Guard.” Satan’s method of deception is to tell A Big Lie, repeat it so often, and people will start believing it. Adolf Hitler used this same method to hoodwink the Germans, the most educated society in Europe and the whole World before the Second World War into believing that the Jews were suitable for nothing but the Gas Chambers and crematoria. Highly educated Germans were members of the Nazi Party. We can see that this method of repeated a Big Lie has worked before on civilised humanity. Satan is using his tested and proven method on the Church. Tell the Big Lie that the Church will not go through the Great Tribulation. Repeat it so often, and they will believe it. Tell them that God loves them so much that He does not want them to suffer. Tell them that the Blessed Hope of The Glorious Appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus The Christ(Tit.2:13) shall be no longer blessed and glorious if the Church were to go through the horrors of the Great Tribulation. This is palatable because men naturally do not want to suffer. I myself writing do not want to suffer, but that does not change anything. It is not what we want, but what is in His plan.
How else can the Church be purified other than by fire. If anyone thinks that the Church is raptureable in her present state, he is deluded. We know the origin of this doctrine. It was purppotated to have come from a charismatic visionary teenager, Margaret MacDonald of the Plymouth Brethren in 1828. But this is false. The pamphlet by MacDonald stated clearly that the saints will go through the Great Tribulation, and that the antiChrist will be responsible for the Great Tribulation, and that God would use the Great Tribulation to purify the saints before Rapture. Besides, J. N. Darby was teaching that the Church would be raptured before the antiChrist shows up before the publication of the pamphlet by Margaret MacDonal in 1830. By the early 1900 it crossed the Atlantic to US, was popularised by C. I. Scofield in his popular reference Bible, The Scofield Reference Bible. From America, it crossed the Atlantic again to Africa. A lot of our pentecostalism and evangelicalism in Nigeria and the rest of Africa South of the Sahara is made in America with the teaching that God wants you to be prosperous and happy all the time. Could that be true when Jesus told His disciples,
“In the World ye shall have Tribulation; be of good cheer for I have overcome the World”(Jon.16:33 ).
“It is given unto us in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in His name, but to suffer for His sake”(Phil.1:29).
“No chastening for the moment seemeth to be joyous but greavious, nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby”(Heb.12:11).
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord deliverers him from them all”(Ps.34:19).
“If we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him”(2 Tim.2:12a).
Our brother Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles wrote to the Thessalonians,
“Remember that when I was with you, I told you that ye shall suffer Tribulation, and it came to pass”(1 Thess.3:4).
We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom( Acts 14:22 ). In the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established(2 Cor.11:2). Christianity without Tribulation is fake. Satan has recruited the best minds in Christendom to propagate this evil doctrine. They will harass you with their knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. They will lay emphases on obscure passages, and grey areas of the Scriptures while giving wild interpretions to or outrightly denying the obvious in their bid to befuddle the kinds of the simple.
It was not the original position of the Church. The historic churches do not preach it. Neither the Roman Catholics, nor the Anglicans believe in it. Those of them who do, learned it from the fundamentalist evangelicals and Pentecostals and Charismatics. Neither the Church Fathers nor the Didache taught Rapture before the Great Tribulation. It stretches credulity that an intelligent person who is not deluded by the machinations of the Evil One can read 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and Matthew chapter 24, and come away with the impression that the Church will not go through the Great Tribulation. What is the need to warn about deception, to be watchful, prayerful, to be faithful and prepared if there is no danger to the Church?
Please brethren, pick up your Bible, a good concordance, pen and paper, and study this topic prayerfully for yourself, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I recommend it because a brother and personal friend of mine who was a pretribulationist like I was did after he was challenged by another brother and friend, and found no biblical evidence for the pretribulational view of the Rapture, but rather found overwhelming biblical evidence for the Prewrath Rapture Position, i.e., that the antiChrist will manifest first, and perpetrate the Great Tribulation against the saints of God, the observant Jew, and other nonconformists and free thinkers before the Rapture occurs and the wrath of God is poured out on the remaining living wicked earth-dwellers who worship and adore the Dragon and the Beast by taking their mark of allegiance.
I came to this knowledge by studying the works of Marvin J. Rosenthal in his book, “The Prewrath Rapture Of The Church,” and his publications in his ministry’s bimonthly magazine, “Zion’s Fire,” and those of Robert van Kampen in his books, especially, The Sign. Their interpretations of the Scriptures were simple and accurate, based on face value hemanuetics. If you cannot do as my friend Dr Jeminusi has done, or as I have done, please find someone who knows to guide you. The first step to the acquisition of knowledge is recognition of one’s ignorance. Then one must throw away pride and arrogance, humble oneself, and sit at the feet of those who know. If Paul had not sat at the feet of Gamaliel, he would not have become a doctor of the Torah. If he had not submitted himself to Jesus when he met Him on the Road To Damascus, he would not have received such wonderful and insightful Revelation of the New Life In Christ. His question when he met Jesus was, “what would thou have me to do Lord?” We shall never be led astray if we ask the right people the right questions. Dr. Jeminusi has a power point presentation on his findings. He will be happy to forward it you if you request for it.
There was a minister known to me personally who zealously proclaimed the Church will not go through the Tribulation, and the Rapture will take place in his life time. Now he is gone, and the Rapture has not yet taken place. If anything, the antiChrist is gearing up to take over the World. The technology is down, the world is about to go cashless, the Big brother can monitor everyone. One World government, one World Religion, and one world currency. Israel is now an independent State. The Jews have remained control of Jerusalem. The Sanhedrin has been reconstituted, and the Cohen Gadol(the High Priest) appointed. The red heifer has also been found. Any moment from now, temple worship and animal sacrifice will be reintroduced. If you are expecting to be raptured before the antiChrist hangs out His shingles, you will be “caught Off Guard.” Be prepared(Matt.25:1-13) , be watchful(matt.24:36-44), be prayerful(Luk.18:1-8), and be faithful(Matt.24:45-51), and be fruitful(Matt.25:14-30).
Avraham Shallom.
Mt Zion Heritage Ministries 