The purpose
of Jesus' miracles in Matthew chapters 4 to 12 was to focus Israel's attention
on his Messiahship – his claim to being the promised Redeemer and King of
Israel.
In Matthew
12:22 the demon possessed man was both blind and dumb, therefore contact
with the demon could not be made through physical means. This particular type of miracle was believed
by the Jews to be one that only Messiah could affect. It is obvious the people thought so for in vs.23
we read, “…the
people were amazed, and said, Is
not this the son of David?”
Yet the
Jewish leadership rejected this confirmation, and needing to justify their
rejection accused Jesus of performing this miracle by the power of Beelzebub
the prince of devils. (Jesus pointed out
that this could not be the case because no kingdom divided against itself can
stand.)
According to
Matthew 12:31-39 this was the unpardonable sin - Israel rejected the
Messiahship of Jesus on the grounds he was demon possessed (The people proved
they were accomplices to this, for they were unwilling to make a stand and
accept the evidence before them, but blindly followed their leaders). From this point on the only sign they would
be given would be the sign of Jonah, i.e. the resurrection, seen in the
resurrections of Lazarus and of Jesus, and still to come, the two witnesses of
Revelation 11:11-12.
This
unpardonable sin was the point of no return; there would be no revoking of
God's judgement. Such a sin occurred 3
times in Israel’s history:
1. Numbers chapters 13-14, i.e. the withdrawal
of the offer of the Promised Land (the people were still redeemed but would die
outside the land.)
2. 2 Kings Chapter 23; 2 Chronicles Chapter 34 -
ending in the Babylonian captivity, which judgement even Josiah’s reforms could
not cancel. (For Josiah’s sake the
captivity did not occur until after his death.)
3. And here, Matthew Chapter 12.
These were
all national sins where the leadership at the time rejected truth and were willingly
followed by the nation.
On the basis
of this national sin the offer of the Kingdom of Heaven to this generation was
withdrawn and the offer of eternal life through faith in Christ took its place;
an offer made to all individuals, both Jew and Gentile.
The Kingdom
of Heaven will again be made available to the nation when it acknowledges this
national sin, and this will happen at the end of the age – after the age
of the Church. The precondition for
Israel entering the Kingdom will be the national confession of the national
sin.
After this
sin, Jesus spoke to the Jewish people only in parables so that they might not
believe, but gave the meaning to those who did believe in him.
The return of Israel’s
Messiah to the earth will not happen until a prerequisite is met.
1. I will
go [and] return to my place, till they
acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they
will seek me early (Hosea 5:15). ‘Return
to my place’ is an O.T. reference to the ascension of Christ.
2. O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which
are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even
as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you
desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall
not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed [is] he that cometh in
the name of the Lord (Matthew 23:37-39).
Then “…I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon
me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth
for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in
bitterness for [his] firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10).
The Jewish people have
suffered horrific times throughout the Christian era with most of them being
instigated by Christendom or its political allies, which in their religious
bigotry have reflected the thinking of Satan rather than the mind of
Christ. This bigotry has caused Jewish
people to reject everything to do with the name Christ, and therefore they have
not heard Christ’s voice. True and
Biblical Christians should have a love for the Jewish people since the Saviour
came from the seed of David, and our salvation and our Christian walk has its
roots in the Jewish faith.
Last century, because of
general unbelief and ignorance of the mind of Christ (the Bible), Christendom
remained silent as Hitler rose to power spouting his anti Jewish cant, and
during his reign the Jewish people suffered the loss of one out of every three
in the Nazi holocaust; yet still they did not call upon their Messiah.
Like the Scribes and
Pharisees of old Christendom also has committed the unpardonable sin of
rejecting the truth, and in the process distorted God’s word so that they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an
image made like to corruptible man (Romans 1:23). In so doing they
have rejected the Saviour and put in his stead their own works. Christendom has lost its savour and if “salt have lost his savour, wherewith
shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and
to be trodden under foot of men” (Matthew 5:13; c.f. Revelation 3:16).
As Christian influence has waned (as Christendom has
become apostate) so satanic religion has begun to wax great in the world yet
God will have the victory and Israel will turn back to him in faith and
repentance.
What will it take to turn
Israel from unbelief to faith? First of
all they must be given the untarnished truth, and then they must believe and
act upon it. In a day to come God will
raise up 144,000 Jewish evangelists as a world wide witness to his name
(Revelation 7:4), and will refine Israel “as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried”
through
fires far worse than the Nazi years.
(Zechariah 13:8-9). “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land,
saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall
be left therein. And I will bring the
third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and
will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear
them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.”
Hosea 5:15 in the words
of Messiah writes: “I will go and return to my place, until they
acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction
they will seek me earnestly”.
From the prophecies
scattered throughout scripture there emerges a picture of this terrible time of
trial, and it is very clear that that time is nigh, even at the doors
(Mark 13:29).
However, it will come only after the true Church has been
resurrected, that great body of redeemed souls from throughout the centuries,
who ‘in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump’ will be raised
incorruptible and immortal, and caught away together ‘to meet the Lord in
the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord’ (1Corinthians 15:52 –
Thessalonians 4:14-18). This moment has
been termed the ‘rapture’.
There is a deal of
scepticism, even in Christendom about the resurrection, yet the whole of the
Christian faith hinges on the resurrection of Christ; and if God was able to
raise Christ from the dead why should he have difficulty raising those who
believe in him? To be sceptical
regarding the resurrection of the Church is to be sceptical regarding Christ’s
resurrection and if we do not believe Christ was raised we are in danger of
being unsaved (Romans 10:9; c.f. 1Corinthians 15:16-17).
When the Church is
raised, and only then, the day will come when the man of sin is
revealed, the son of perdition; the one who exalts himself above God, making himself
out to be God, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and
signs and lying wonders, and whom the Lord will consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming at his return to
the earth (2Thessalonians 2:3-9; Revelation 19:11-20).
This man will reign for seven
years, a time known in the Scriptures as The Tribulation - then will the end
come. These seven years are Daniel’s
seventieth week.
The pre-tribulation resurrection of the Church:
Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians some months after
his first letter in which he spoke of the catching away of the saints
(1Thessalonians 4:13-17, see also 1 Corinthians 15:51,52): He wrote his second
letter to warn the brethren that they be not soon shaken in mind, or
troubled, regarding any false reports, including letters alleged to be from
him, of the ‘ that the day of Christ is at hand; for he says,
it will not be “except there come a falling away first, and that man of
sin be revealed, the son of perdition”.
Is the day of Christ the same as the day of the Lord?
The day
of the Lord is always depicted as a day or time of extreme judgement
and destruction.
Why Christians were concerned
is not immediately obvious; surely the coming of our Lord must be an event to
be looked for. However, if they had been
told that the believer’s ‘meeting the Lord in the air’ was to be prior
to his return to the earth in judgment, then there would be cause for concern;
there would be a fear of having ‘missed out’, and to those who know they are
‘born again’ this would cause dismay to the point of devastation. It seems obvious that this was their reaction
to such reports - that this was their fear.
Paul tells them not to fear because the day of the Lord judgements would
not occur until certain things happened.
He continues: “…he who now letteth (or
restrains) will continue to restrain, until he (the restrainer) be
taken out of the way”; then and only 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” (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8).
Who is this one that
restrains?
He who restrains, katecho to hold
down (fast) is one who has the power to restrain wickedness. It
cannot be a man, for all are subject to the old nature and unless we abide in
the Son of God by being filled with the Spirit we can do nothing, let alone
restrain evil (cf. John 15:4-5; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 5:9). It cannot be an angel for such restraint would
require omnipresence, and it cannot be God’s Son for he is at present,
representing us before the throne of heaven.
It can only be the Spirit of God, the one whom the Son sent to be a
comforter for us (John 14:16-17) and the one whose ministry is to convince the
world of sin, of righteousness and of judgement to come (John 16:8). We see in Genesis 6:3 where the
Spirit does not always strive with mankind.
The argument that the Spirit
being omnipresent cannot be ‘taken out of the way’ can be offset by such
passages as John 7:39 where we see a special dispensation of the Spirit: -
“But this spake he of the
Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was
not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”
And Acts 1:8 where the Holy Spirit is seen as coming upon men: -
“But you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
The resurrection or ‘rapture’ of the Church must occur simultaneously
with the taking of the Spirit out of the way, for God has said that
while we live, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”. Also, the Spirit of truth who dwells with us
and is in us, is God’s pledge until the redemption of our bodies (the purchased
possession) and is the one by whom we are sealed (Hebrews 13:5-6; John 14:17;
2Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14).
For God to be true to these promises, the indwelling of believers by the
Holy Spirit must continue until the redemption of their bodies at their
resurrection, at the ‘catching away of the saints’; from which moment on, they
will ever be with the Lord.
It is clear that the Church
will be removed prior to the coming of the man of sin; that Wicked
one.
“For the mystery of iniquity
doth already work: only he (the Holy Spirit) who now restrains will restrain,
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:”
The
Tribulation or Daniel’s 70th week:
(Hopefully all the events of this seven year period, from
throughout scripture, may sometime be placed in good and acceptable order
(probably after the event), but although that would be a good thing it is not
within this writer’s ability or the purpose of this article. The purpose is to put forward a realistic
scenario, allowing the student of Scripture to imagine the scene and see in it
a political/historical connection, not just a series of semi-detached
supernatural events.)
The purpose for the
Tribulation is manifold; it is a time of mass evangelism (Severe stress is
oftentimes the only way God can gain the attention of people); it will bring to
a head the great conflict between good and evil – between God and the devil; it
will prove the hardness – the rejection of truth so engrained in the human
heart; it will purge evil from the world
and cleanse it for the reign of Christ, and it will be the means of bringing
Israel back to their God – the cause of them confessing their
iniquity and saying “blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”.
Daniel 9:26-27 reveals the start of this seven year
period. It does not begin at the rapture (the catching away of the Christian
church (1Thessalonians 4:17), it begins when he, the ‘prince’ of the
people that destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, confirms a covenant with many ‘for
one week’. This is Daniel’s 70th
week and is of seven years duration.
The ‘many’ are
Jews. This is seen in the context of the
entire passage in its relation to the sanctuary (Temple) and the city
(Jerusalem), and in the fact that this ‘prince’ destroys the covenant by
causing the sacrifices and prayers to cease. The tone of this passage is wholly
Jewish. It is in the midst of the week
(after 3½ years) that the ‘breaking of the covenant’ occurs, leading into a
time of desolation - another 3½ year period.
Although the covenant is made with ‘the many’, not all Israelites will
agree with it, however ‘the many’ will include the leadership, and those who
would rather follow than think.
(This principal of
preferring to follow than to think has been the downfall of the Church today. “For there are certain men
crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the
only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4).
Such men have infiltrated the leadership of Christianity and with their
pernicious doctrines have twisted God’s truth into the Devil’s lie, and
the unthinking multitudes have followed them into the ditch (Matthew 15:14;
Luke 6:39)).
The rapture of the
Church must occur before this ‘prince’, this ‘man of sin’ or ‘anti Christ’ is
revealed (2Thessalonians 2:3-7) and so there may be some time between the
rapture and the ratifying of this covenant.
One reason for the belief that this time is near is that Israel is back
in the land and a recognised government.
Israel is now a recognised government and able to sign such a covenant,
whereas up to 1948 that was not possible.
(There is a commonly held belief that the generation which saw the
rebirth of Israel will also see the coming of Christ. If there is any truth in that belief then we must
indeed be close, for in Psalm 90:10 the lifetime of man is given as three score
years and ten (70years), or eighty if he does well, which allows another nine
to nineteen years from the date of writing.)
An exciting thought even if it turns out not to be an accurate
chronology.
The book of The Revelation
chapters 6-19 cover these seven years. Revelation
Chapter 7 speaks of the sealing of the 144,000 servants of God out of every
tribe of Israel and it is obvious that these Jewish men are taken from the four
corners of the world (vss.1-3); this is an ideal situation for world wide
evangelism. These are Jewish men from
every nation and language and yet they are of one culture and belief -
Judaist/Christian; they have come to believe that Jesus Christ is their Messiah
(Revelation 14:4). Someone has described them as 144,000 Saul’s of Tarsus
coming to know Christ all at the same time.
Whatever
way these men come to believe, it is evident they know and preach the
truth. Verses 9-14 reveals an
innumerable number of people who understood and accepted the gospel they
proclaim. This is the fulfilment of
Matthew 24:14; “And this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then
shall the end come.”
The
major reason for the tribulation in regards to Israel however, is to break the
will of God’s people - to ‘scatter the power of the holy people’ (Daniel
12:7). Daniel chapter 12 refers to ‘a
time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation’ (vs.1), a time
span of only 3½ years - ‘a time, times, and an half’. These 3½ years are the latter half of the 7
years of Daniel’s seventieth week. The
length of this period of intense suffering is given again in vs.11, ‘a
thousand two hundred and ninety days’ - 3½ years. There is a short span of
days after these 1290 days, which if the people wait patiently through it, they
will be blessed (presumably in seeing their Lord and the setting up of the
Kingdom).
Ezekiel
20:34-38. This 3½ years is the time the Lord has set aside for the re-gathering
and purging of his people, and he will remove from them ‘the rebels, and
them that transgress against me’ and ‘they shall not enter into the land
of Israel’, but the remainder ‘shall know that I [am] the LORD’ and
enter into the land and all it’s blessing - ‘into the bond of the (new) covenant’ (vs.37).
In Israel today, as in
yesteryear, many religious leaders are also political leaders, and in Isaiah
28:13-19 the LORD condemns the leaders who make this covenant with Anti Christ and tells them that although they have made a covenant with this prince
(the LORD calls it ‘a covenant with death’), it will be violated
and an ‘overflowing scourge’ shall sweep through Israel, and the
leadership will be trodden down by it.
This is the intense persecution against the Jewish people instigated by
the anti Christ when they reject his claim of being God and reject his image in
the Temple - the abomination of desolations of Matthew 24.
Jesus spoke of this event
in Matthew 24:15-22. “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place …then let those in Judea flee into
the mountains...”
Don’t go from the rooftop into
the house for belongings; those who are burdened by a babe in arms and if
winter rains were to slow one down, the danger will be extreme. This persecution will have the speed and
ferocity of the Nazi blitzkrieg and haste is vital.
In this same warning the apostle (Matthew 24:15), was impelled by the Holy Spirit to add the parenthesis (whoso readeth, let
him understand) and this comment contains a strong message. The word for understand means to exercise
the mind and is a forceful encouragement for readers to get to know what
the abomination of desolation was all about, and directs them to the
book of Daniel to find out.
(Daniel Chap 11)
Daniel’s words were prophetic and referred first of all to the exploits of
Antiochus Epiphanies and particularly to his desecration of the Temple in BC
167 (see below). This parenthesis by the
Holy Spirit shows there is something of real significance in those ancient
events. So much Old Testament prophecy
had a short and a long term application, and if the advice of the Holy Spirit
is taken and that prophecy transposed into the time the Lord Jesus speaks of,
then not only Daniel 11:31 but also vss.32-45 can be safely looked at as long
term prophecy yet to be fulfilled in another leader likened to the Antiochus
Epiphanies of history.
Matthew Henry has
written of those times thus:
“He (Antiochus
Epiphanies) carried on his malicious designs against the Jews by the assistance
of some perfidious apostate Jews. He kept up intelligence with those that
forsook the holy covenant (Daniel 11:30), some of the Jews that were false
to their religion, and introduced the customs of the heathen, with whom they
made a covenant. See the fulfilling of this, 1 Macc. 1:11-15, where it is
expressly said, concerning those renegade Jews, that they made themselves uncircumcised
and forsook the holy covenant. We
read (2 Macc. 4:9) of Jason, the brother of Onias the high priest, who by the
appointment of Antiochus set up a school at Jerusalem, for the training up
of youth in the fashions of the heathen; and (2 Macc. 4:23, etc.) of
Menelaus, who fell in with the interests of Antiochus, and was the man that
helped him into Jerusalem, now in his last return from Egypt. We read much in
the book of the Maccabees of the mischief done to the Jews by these treacherous
men of their own nation, Jason and Menelaus, and their party. These upon all
occasions he made use of. “Such as do wickedly against the covenant,
such as throw up their religion, and comply with the heathen, he shall corrupt
with flatteries, to harden them in their apostasy, and to make use of them
as decoys to draw in others,” (Daniel 11:32). Note: It is not strange if those
who do not live up to their religion, but in their conversations do wickedly
against the covenant, are easily corrupted by flatteries to quit their
religion. Those that make shipwreck of a good conscience will soon make
shipwreck of the faith.”
The False Prophet: It is almost certain that a future
religious/political Jewish leader will be the second beast of Revelation
13:11-15. There is good evidence for
this belief. This beast’s ministry is to
establish the Man of Sin as the supreme ruler and worthy of worship, even by the
Jews. With the significance of Daniel’s
prophecies on the life and times of Antiochus Epiphanies having an end-time
fulfilment, this man will be the anti-type of those Jewish leaders who attempted
to introduce Hellenistic culture into the Temple worship in BC 167.
Other pointers to the Jewishness of the False Prophet: This second beast comes to the fore in Jerusalem
where we first see him and his ministry, a ministry in keeping with those
apostate Jews of old, i.e. the establishment of the ‘abomination that makes
desolate’. He comes out of the earth,
which can be a reference to Israel; he has two horns, two sources of power
which would be religious and political power, and he is described as a lamb,
which has great religious significance to the Jewish mind, and he has some
degree of Temple authority, seen in his introduction of the worship of man, the
worship of Anti Christ. All this makes
it fairly obvious that he is Jewish.
Great tribulation: Isaiah 28:21 speaks of God rising up (for action)
and being wroth, and performing his strange
work, his strange act. It is
described in vs.22 as a consumption that is coming upon the whole earth,
a time of extreme pressure and destruction that is designed to purge evil from
Israel and also from the earth. It is
considered strange because it is so far removed from God’s norm of defending
Israel. In this instance he will be seen
as fighting against them, although it could also be seen as a final act of love,
in trying to turn a rebellious people back to himself.
In Jeremiah 30:4-7 the
LORD warns Israel regarding this time, describing it as being ‘great
travail’. He calls it the time of
Jacob’s trouble but promises that Israel will be saved out of it. This does not mean every Jew, but a believing
remnant of the nation. It is in the
remnant that the nation of Israel will be saved to enter into the Kingdom of
Heaven - the millennial reign of Christ.
In Matthew 24:22 the
Lord again promises the nation that although this period will be a time of the
world’s greatest tribulation ever, yet for the elect's sake (the remnant),
those days shall be shortened. It is estimated
that during the reign of this anti-Christ, 65 - 75% of the world’s population
will perish through mass murder, warfare, and by natural and supernatural
calamities.
In Revelation 12:1-6, in
the figure of a woman, we see Israel fleeing into the wilderness. This flight is preceded by a quick overview
of Satan’s enmity toward Israel. The
woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve
stars is a direct reference to Genesis 37:9-10 and a picture of Israel. The pregnancy refers to Israel as being the
nation from which Christ came, and verses 3-4 tell of Satan’s concerted effort
to destroy Christ as an infant. The
whole scene is a thumbnail sketch of the centuries, with vs.5 encompassing the
life, ministry, resurrection and ascension of Christ.
God had told Satan that
although he will bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, he (the seed) would
bruise Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15) and Satan must either destroy Christ, which
he failed to do, or keep Israel from fulfilling the prerequisite for
Christ/Messiah’s return; they must call for him in repentance and faith (see
Zechariah 12:10; Matthew 23:39). If
Satan can keep Israel from calling upon the name of the Lord, Christ/Messiah
will not return and Satan will go on to slaughter them all and will have won
the day. But we can rejoice for we have
read THE BOOK and know the end of His-story.
Joel Chapter 2 is a
prophecy of this terrible time but it ends with the words “And it shall come
to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be
delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD
hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call” (Joel 2:32).
The woman (believing
Israel) flees into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God that
they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days – the 3½
years of ‘great’ tribulation, or Jacob’s trouble. She is given the means to escape into this
wilderness (she is given the wings of a great eagle, c.f. Exodus 19:4; Psalm
103:5; Isaiah 40:31).
This wilderness refers
to Bozrah where the Lord says he will assemble and protect Jacob (Micah 2:12),
and from where he, the King, shall break forth and go before them (Micah 2:13).
There will be a great number of people
at Bozrah for it is written, “they shall make great
noise by reason of [the
multitude of]
men” (Micah 2:12).
On his return to deliver
Israel and starting from this wilderness, Messiah sweeps all his enemies before
him as he returns to the mount of Olives to deliver Jerusalem at his second
coming (ref. Isaiah 34:6, Isaiah 63:1; Zechariah 14:4).
Revelation 12:7-17 gives
further reasons for the devil’s hatred of all things Godly. It is at this point, half way through the
seven years that the devil and his angels are cast out of heaven - they no
longer have access there (vs.8). And
now; “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is
come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a
short time”. Satan now knows his end
is near and it is from this moment that he sets in motion his pogrom of
exterminating the Jews (vss.13-17). It
is at this point that the abomination of desolation is set up in the Temple,
and at this point we see the flight of the believing remnant into the
wilderness.
In the
first half of the tribulation the political structure of the world looks likely
to be a ten kingdom confederation as per the ten toes of the beast (Daniel
2:42) and the ten horns (Daniel 7:24 and Revelation 13:1). There are many autonomous nations in the
world today (2010), but it is highly probable the world (or possibly the
democracies of the world) will be divided into ten regions, for even now we can
see the foundations of this being laid and its fulfillment attempted.
The
religious structure of the world will change; something we can also see
happening today. As Christendom becomes
more apostate and we hear increasingly of a united world religion, it is easy
to understand how this will end in what Revelation 17:5 calls “MYSTERY - BABYLON THE GREAT - THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH”.
In the
political scene, after the true Church has been taken out from “the hour of
temptation that is to come upon the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10), the Anti
Christ will come to the fore and in a short time, conquer three of the ten
regions and will be given allegiance by the others. This will prove to be an uneasy
alliance. It is debated whether the religious system rides to power
on the back of the political beast or whether the politicians gain power
through religion. It is more probable that the second option is the case.
It is the belief of some very sound Bible teachers, that
the headquarters of this political/religious system will be transferred to the
site of the ancient city of Babylon on the Euphrates River in present day Iraq.
If this is the case we could see more movement in that direction in our day
(the restoration of the ancient city was started by Saddam Hussein).
In support of this belief we have in Zechariah 5:5-11 a
vision by the prophet, which refers to the relocation of a woman, whose
designation is ‘Wickedness’ to a permanent base in the land of Shinar, i.e.
Babylonia (I believe we can equate this woman with the MOTHER OF HARLOTS
above). The fact that Babylon is the
original site of anti God religion would have a certain attraction to the anti
Biblical religions of today (including many in Christendom), and would be more
acceptable to all the participating kingdoms as a central and neutral
point for a new world order.
In Revelation 17:12-18, the kings/rulers of the ten
political regions give their allegiance to Anti Christ and because of their
contempt for religion will turn and destroy the religious system. Revelation 17:16 says the kings “hate the
whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn
her with fire”. The cause of this
hatred may be the religious objections to absolute power being given to Anti
Christ; on the other hand destruction of the religious system may be the only
means for that power to be had. It would
certainly remove the major opposition to his image being set up in the Temple
in a renewal of ‘Emperor’ worship. Such
a system of worship would combine both the political and religious systems
under a single authority.
Religion and politics are fundamentally antagonistic and
when these two systems compete for power the one who holds the allegiance of
the military, and the resolve to annihilate the other will win out: In this future
instance it is the political head. Satan
cannot allow two centers of power and to bring people’s allegiance directly to
himself he destroys religion and concentrates all his power into this one man
(remember the word’s of Christ Jesus regarding a divided kingdom not being able
to stand). Religion in the second half
of the tribulation will be the enforced worship of this man who claims to be
God, a man whose image will be in the Temple.
The
Kings of Daniel 11:40 and Beyond
Sometime
prior to the second 3½ years with all its horror of a Satanic dictatorship,
there is an attack against Anti Christ’s reign by the Kings of the South and of
the North (Daniel 11:40). We know it is
during the tribulation for it is an attack against Anti Christ (and therefore
after he had come to power), and we can know it is before the second 3½ years
because in Daniel 12:1, just after the invasion, the Archangel Michael stands up in
readiness to help the people of Israel through “a time of trouble, such as never was since there
was a nation [even] to that same time”.
The
identity of the king of the north is not known with certainty although there
are thoughts of him being ‘Gog
of Magog’ (Ezekiel 38-39) but this is unlikely for reasons we shall cover
shortly. Another
possibility is the rebellion of one or more of the ten confederate Kings (see
below).
(The king of the south is probably Egypt, for anti-Christ
sweeps through Palestine and conquers Egypt in what may be an act of
retribution.)
King of the North (Daniel 11:40)
The term King of the North in Daniel 11:6 to 20
refers to the ancient Kings of Syria.
In 11:21, 28, 29 it refers to Antiochus Epiphanes,
with Daniel 11:31-39 alluding to Antiochus' desecration of the Temple, and also on
into the 'time of the end'/'the time appointed' (vs.35) to the time of
Antiochus' counterpart (Antichrist), of which Christ Jesus spoke in Matthew
24:15.
In Daniel 11:40, speaking of anti-Christ, it states that at the time of
the end (see vs.35) the 'King of the North' shall come "against
him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships".
This latter king cannot therefore refer to
Antichrist for he would have to come against himself. There must be another King of the North "having
a mighty army chariots, horsemen, and with many ships".
Ezekiel 38: 14-15, speaks of Gog of Magog, a chief prince, coming out
of the north parts to invade Israel with "many
people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty
army", and being destroyed upon the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 38:22 -
39:1-2).
This description corresponds
with Daniel 11:40 and suggests the identity of this King from the North as
being Gog of Magog. But does it?
Probably not, for at least three reasons:
1. Gog’s invasion is against Israel, “the
people [that are] gathered out
of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of
the land” (Ezekiel 38:12). Gog comes
down to take a spoil from Israel not
to attack anti-Christ.
2. The aftermath of both invasions speak of events that preclude them
being concurrent, for Daniel 11:40-43 shows anti-Christ as an invader, entering
into Israel ‘the glorious land’ overthrowing (killing or conquering) many people, and other countries in the area
being invaded. The point is that during
such a time Israel is unlikely to have the freedom to spend seven months in
burying the dead of Gog’s invasion forces (Ezekiel 39:12-16), therefore Daniel
11:40-43 and Ezekiel 39:12-16 are separate events.
3. In line with the
second reason, Israel also makes use of the captured military hardware of the
Gog invasion to produce their energy needs for seven years (Ezekiel 39:9-10),
which would indicate Gog’s invasion occurs at least seven years before
anti-Christ’s invasion of the ‘glorious land’.
This burning of the weapons of war might occur after the tribulation and
in the first years of Christ’s reign, but that is improbable.
(A note on the ‘many people being
overthrown’: With the Hebrew rab
meaning ‘abundant in quantity’ and there being limited nations in the area it
seems clear the ‘many’ refers to people, not countries as the KJV implies.
This is supported in vs.42 where it goes on to speak of countries as
also being conquered. Even though Edom, Moab and the chief of the children of
Ammon escape invasion, anti-Christ does invade Egypt even to the borders of
Ethiopia.)
Therefore the question ‘who is the king of the north’ in Daniel 11:40 remains.
With Gog of Magog being an
improbable contender and with no other identifiable candidate, it leaves the
identity of this ‘king’ unknown. But his
existence is real and rebellion against anti-Christ his aim.
While anti-Christ is in Egypt, Daniel 11:44 speaks of
tidings coming “out of the east and out
of the north” , tidings that alarm
him to such an extent that he loses control, and in intense anger sweeps northward to annihilate ‘many’. What those tidings are is open for conjecture
but it is possibly the king of the North's breach of allegiance.
We saw in the events of
Antiochus Epiphanies’ incursion into Israel a type of anti-Christ, and it could
be that other events of Antiochus’ day may have prophetic significance also.
AUBERLEN, on page 65 of his
THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL etc, accepts Porphyry's statement that “Antiochus, in the eleventh year of his
reign (166-165 B.C.), invaded Egypt again, and took Palestine on his way. The
"tidings" of Daniel 11:44, as to the revolt of tributary nations then
led him to the East”. Porphyry made
the statement that, “Antiochus, starting
from Egypt took Arad in Judah and devastated all Phoenicia; then he turned to
check Artaxias, king of Armenia. He died in the Persian town Tabes, 164 B.C.”.
This statement from history
does seem to fit with the future movements of anti-Christ prophesied in Daniel
11:44-45.
“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.”
Rebellion against
anti-Christ by unidentified persons from the north seems to be the best we can
do in answering the question: Who is the ‘king of the north’ of Daniel 11:40???.
The ‘tidings’ from the
north and the east (Daniel 11:44) may refer to the arrival of the huge army
from the east, whose passage was made clear by the drying up of the Euphrates
river (Revelation 16:12).
Whatever
the identity of the kings of vs.40 is, their attack seems to be the grounds for
anti-Christ’s invasion of Israel - the ‘Glorious Land’, and probably the
catalyst for breaking his covenant with her - the time when he causes ‘the sacrifice and the oblation to cease’ (Daniel 9:27). In the frustration
and anger caused by this attack from the north and south, anti-Christ could
lash out at anyone who he perceived as an enemy and if at this time Satan is
ejected from heaven and indwells him, just as Antiochus Epiphanies did before
him, this Anti Christ could turn on Israel in satanic fury.
Daniel continues: “He
(Anti Christ) 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.”
(Daniel 11:42-43)
The
mention of Ethiopia (kushıy) and
Libya here links this whole campaign to the time of the ‘Gog of Magog’ invasion
for we read in Ezekiel 38:5 of Ethiopia (kushıy) and Libya’s part in that confederacy. Anti-Christ’s incursion into Egypt could be
one of retribution against Egypt and a mopping up in regards to Cush and
Libya. It has been shown that ancient
Cush is not the present day Ethiopia but North Sudan.
Invasion
of Israel and the desecration of the Temple will cause many in Israel to flee
to the wilderness of Edom and Bozrah, or to be more specific to Petra. This corresponds to the flight of the woman
into the wilderness (Revelation 12:6).
The
armies of Anti Christ pursue them but are swallowed up. We should keep in mind that at the mid way stage
of the seven years; the kingdoms of the world suffer a great earthquake and
almost certainly many casualties. The
timing of this first great earthquake may be analogous to the earth opening to
swallow Satan’s pursuit of the woman into the wilderness (Revelation
12:16). The Great Rift Valley lies between Jerusalem and Bozrah and it is highly likely massive seismic movements will occur there.
Ant-Christ is able to
advance on Egypt however, and will take control of that nation’s wealth. As he prepares to invade Ethiopia and Libya, “…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 11:44-45).
While he is in Egypt
tidings from the north and the east bring him hurrying with great fury to
destroy, and utterly to make away many.
There is no mention what these tidings are, or who ‘the many’ might
be. One would suspect invading forces to
be involved but he does not enter into a battle; in fact he “plants
the tabernacles of his palace” (sets up headquarters) near
Jerusalem.
This leads one to
suspect ‘the many’ may be those inhabitants of Jerusalem who were not killed or
taken captive in Anti Christ’s initial attack against her and are now fortified
in Jerusalem and offering strong resistance to his will. (I refer you to Zechariah 14:2, where Anti
Christ’s initial attack against Jerusalem sees half of the city going into
captivity and “the
residue of the people not being cut off from the city”). The many may be those who manage to fight off the Anti Christ’s armies, and
in offering resistance, are the reason for his fury.
We
notice that in this passage from Daniel there is no mention of any immediate
battle and the news from the East may have been of chaos in Babylon, the
results of the destructive earthquake (if Babylon had been rebuilt to serve as
his palace and capitol, its destruction would cause his anger).
Such a natural God ordained destruction, plus the
Jewish resistance in Jerusalem, could very well turn this Satan possessed, anti
Christ/anti God man into uncontrollable and destructive fury against all that
is of God.
It is
this last campaign of Anti Christ centered against Jerusalem and against the
defenses of Bozrah that will refine the remnant of Israel, the remaining 1/3,
who in the immense pressure of certain annihilation will call on the name of
the LORD and so fulfill the prerequisite for the Lord’s return (Zechariah 13:9).
There are so many events recorded in the scriptures to do
with this last 3½ years that to fit them all in chronological order seems more
a matter of assumption than of evidence.
The reality of these individual events is sure and although the
chronological order is difficult to know, we can visualize the overall scene as
a world in geological, political, social and economic chaos, and armies and
allegiances in disarray.
Revelation chap 16: These final years, months and days are covered by this
chapter with its bowls of God’s wrath.
God says his fury is likened to strong drink, and is sufficient to make
men mad “because of the sword that he sends among them” (Jeremiah
25:15-16).
The bowls of wrath include plagues, natural catastrophe,
panic, excruciating heat and pain and these will take toll on the world’s
sanity and will end in a mad scramble to bring it all to an end. It is clear from vs.13 that satanic forces
are used to gather the nations for an all out assault on Israel (and on the
Lord). Nations that have rejected God
can only make evil decisions; and because evil is susceptible to greater evil,
the persuasion of these demonic spirits will ensure the kings of the earth
and of the whole world, will gather to the battle of that great day of God
Almighty.
Fear, jealousy, anger, hatred, pride etc. are all areas
of human nature that can be manipulated by the forces of evil, for they are
predisposed to evil. The political
puppets of Anti Christ will not be strong enough to stand against him and will
do his bidding. Such evil is well
documented in history; there are several instances from Nazi Germany of
Hitler’s demonic control over the hearts of other evil and weaker men. It is possible that not all of these leaders
are weak, yet their evil will still be manipulated to bring them down to this
conflict.
In Revelation 16:16 we see that it is God who gathers
these armies to har meghiddo, the Mount of Megiddo.
Using the arrogance and pride of man God draws them to the campaign of
Armageddon and they assemble in the valley of Jezreel about fifty kilometres north of Jerusalem. This will be the staging area for two final battles; one against
Jerusalem and the other against the Jews at Bozrah.
In Joel 3:9-11 God displays his derision for the
pretensions of ungodly men, and in Psalm 2:2-5 he laughs them to scorn. This final great battle is Satan’s and man’s
attempt to “break their (God’s) bands asunder, and cast away their
cords from us” (Psalm 2:3). God’s
reply to this arrogance is seen in verses 5-9:
He shall ‘speak to them in wrath and will vex them in his sore
displeasure’ and because these kings are not wise nor will they be
instructed, God’s Son ‘shall break them with a rod of iron; and shalt dash
them in pieces like a potter's vessel’.
In Revelation 16:18 we have the record of a second earthquake,
the central earth shattering event of this final judgement, “…a great
earthquake occurred, such as did not occur since man came into being on the
earth, such a huge earthquake, so great!”
This is greater than the breaking up of the great deep in the time of
Noah, greater than anything in the age of Israel, and no city of the world
survives. They all collapse and because
Babylon is mentioned in the same context this total destruction must also
include Babylon (the new capital of Anti Christ). The vibrations of strong earthquakes are
known to liquefy the earth and solid objects (buildings) have been seen to sink
deep into the earth. This earthquake is
so great mountains and islands disappear.
The earthquake and total
destruction of Babylon follow the assembling of the armies on the Plain of
Esdraelon. The destruction of Babylon is spoken of in Isaiah 13:19 “And
Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldee’s excellency, shall
be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from
generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither
shall the shepherds make their fold there.”
This whole chapter from
Isaiah 13 seems a foretaste of the latter part of Revelation 16. Although it originally applied to Cyrus as
the one who had been sanctified, set apart for the task of humbling Babylon,
Babylon was conquered but never destroyed in such a manner as we see happen in
these final verses. In Revelation 16 it
seems that the end has come at last.
Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed by invading armies but by volcanic
activity and here it seems Babylon is finally destroyed by this world
shattering earthquake.
No amount of emphasis on these words can describe the destruction
that is going to occur to the earth’s surface, and it is impossible that loss
of life would not be in proportion. The earth has been rocked and shattered (all the cities are in ruins),
there have been plagues, there has been warfare, and criminality will be
rife. With 2/3rds of the surface of the
earth shattered it is logical to assume there would be a proportionate loss of
life. The destruction of 2/3rds of the
Jewish people during this time is
foretold, and it is estimated by some scholars that this same figure will apply
to the gentile nations also.
The
destruction during these years will mean the power arrayed against Israel in
the latter stages is unlikely to have the same force as before, especially if
the armies involved have used nuclear weapons against each other. From the breaking of the covenant these
events are limited to just 3½ years and with decimated forces the warfare
could possibly be restricted to ground warfare or even hand to hand fighting.
Armies of Anti Christ at Jerusalem:
Zechariah 12:2-3. God will make
Jerusalem a cup of trembling (likened to drunkenness) and a burdensome stone to
all who try to conquer her, and will utterly destroy them even if it be the
entire world. Many nations have overrun
Jerusalem in the past therefore the day spoken of here must be another
day, a future day.
Vs.4 God will be behind
the scenes causing disruption to the enemy in both equipment failure (horse
with astonishment), and psychologically (madness – i.e. fear,
rage, and perhaps
stupid bravado).
Vs.8 In the day of this siege God is going to motivate
the people of Jerusalem so that the feeble will have the
strength of a young and vigorous fighting soldier, and the leadership will be
inspirational; likened to the
angel of the LORD. That this
is God’s Spirit at work there can be no doubt.
Vss.5-6
The people of the surrounding countryside (Judah) will see the valour of the
citizens of Jerusalem and will be moved to emulate them. Their exploits in the field of battle is
likened to a devouring flame.
In Micah
4:9 - 5:1 we have this same battle described, with the Jewish residents
(daughter of Zion) being strengthened by the Lord to destroy many of the
enemy. It must be clear to those who
know anything about the six day war of 1967 that Israel had supernatural help
to sustain, strengthen and enable her to win against such superior
numbers. This end-time event will be
even more unequal in the natural sense (but God is on the side of his
people). There will be deaths, but God
uses death as judgement and as pressure for testing, and the people who survive
this onslaught will know it is God who has been with them and given them the
victory.
From Zechariah 14, it
appears the last 3½ years are all considered to be the Day of the Lord, for the
passage begins with Jerusalem being overrun and half of the people being taken
captive, but the rest remaining in the city (vs.2). These manage to hold out against the armies
of the world until the Lord’s personal intervention against Israel’s enemies in
his return to the earth on the Mount of Olives (vss.3-4). The cataclysm that results splits that
mountain in two with a great valley being formed, to which the Jewish people
are told to flee; the valley will be a means of protecting the people from the
effects of the ‘plague’ that is to follow.
Before this final event,
we are told in Zechariah 12:7, the LORD will deliver ‘the tents of Judah’
first. The countryside will be made
secure before the Lord turns his attention to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
Armies of Anti Christ at
Bozrah:
Micah 2:12 tells of the
gathering of the remnant of Israel to a place called Bozrah. Bozrah means
sheepfold. In this verse God is saying
that the remnant of Israel will be as a flock of sheep gathered into the
sheepfold (Bozrah). The walled-in rock
city of Petra would make a wonderful and very large sheepfold.
Bozrah is recognised by many
as being the same as Petra, and this being true, the rock walls of this
wilderness city of Petra will be the place to which the Lord gathers his
remnant. In the first 3½ years of the 7
year treaty with Anti Christ, there will be many Jews who hear the words of
Jesus of Nazareth found in Matthew 24:15-16, "Therefore
when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), then let
those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." The mountainous area surrounding and
centered on Petra is the place where they will flee, in heed to the words of Jesus
of Nazareth.
Edom, and Moab, and the
major portion of Ammon are all part of the kingdom of Jordan, and include
Petra.
Isaiah 34:1-2, 5-6
speaks of God’s indignation and wrath against the heathen and a great slaughter
that rains upon them in the land of Edom.
For this to happen, those gentile armies must first be there. In vs.8 the reason for God’s wrath is made
clear; it is “a year of recompense for the cause (the defence) of
Zion”. Since 1948 the Jewish peoples
have had to defend themselves against Arab attacks, incessant terrorism and at
times full scale warfare, and God’s wrath waits the day when his people call
upon his name.
Israel’s national salvation:
We saw at the very start
of this study the prerequisite for the Lord’s return; the Jews must call upon
the name of the Lord.
They must acknowledge their offence, which offence was the
utter rejection of Jesus as Messiah, and they must call to this same Jesus who
their forebears had rejected, as ‘blessed’ favoured of God who comes in the name of the Lord. Under the threat of national annihilation the
remnant that have heeded the warnings thus far “will (in their
affliction) seek me early (earnestly)” (Hosea
5:15).
Arnold Fruchtenbaum
believes Hosea 6:1-3 suggest this will be three days prior to the return of
Messiah to Bozrah and then to the Mount of Olives:
“Come,
and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath
smitten, and he will bind us up.
After
two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall
live before him.”
One can imagine, in the
terror of these last 3½ years, the Jewish people anxiously discussing this
issue. Obviously Jesus the Messiah/Christ,
the Son of the Living God has been preached to them (by the 144,000 evangelists)
and they will, by the end, understand the claims of Christ and will come to
agreement that they must call on his name.
Second coming of Christ:
We now see the
fulfillment of Christ’s promise: They call, and he returns to save and re-gather
the Jewish people. The deliverance from
their enemies will be witnessed by the entire earth for “…every eye shall
see him, and they [also] which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall
wail because of him” (Revelation 1:17; Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke
21:27).
He will return first to
Bozrah to destroy the armies of Anti Christ and to lay waste the country of
Edom.
“The sword of the LORD
is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, [and] with the blood of
lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a
sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea” (Isaiah 34:1-6)
“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 lie waste; none shall pass through it
for ever and ever” (Isaiah
34:9-17).
In Micah 2:13 we are
told of a breaker (deliverer), shattering the siege against the
sheepfold (Bozrah) and freeing the remnant that had been shepherded there 3 ½
years earlier: “They will break out, Pass through the gate, And go
out by it; Their king will pass before them, With the LORD at their head."
This is the beginning of
the final battle; which is fought by the Lord himself. In Isaiah 62 the LORD tells Israel of their
deliverance and redemption, and follows in Chapter 63 with a description of
their conquering King of kings and LORD of lords:
“Who [is] this that
cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this [that is] glorious in
his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in
righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore
[art thou] red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the
winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people [there was] none
with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and
their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my
raiment. For the day of vengeance [is] in mine heart, and the year of my
redeemed is come. And I looked, and [there was] none to help; and I wondered
that [there was] none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto
me; and my fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger,
and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the
earth” (Isaiah 63:1-6).
In Revelation 19:11-13
we recognize this to be the one who is also called The Word of God. “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a
white horse; and he that sat upon him [was] called Faithful and True, and in
righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes [were] as a flame of fire,
and on his head [were] many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man
knew, but he himself. And he [was] clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and
his name is called The Word of God.” This
is the resurrected Christ pictured as Israel’s deliverer and Messiah, and judge
of all the earth.
This battle extends from
Bozrah to Jerusalem and beyond, for Revelation 14:20 speaks of a wine-press extending
a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
There is divergent opinion as to what is meant by this fantastic flow of
blood, but because the Greek haima
can refer to any liquid or similar substance of a reddish colour, it is more
than probable Tom McElmurry is correct in his assessment that it is magma
flowing out of the fissures caused by the geological upheaval of the time. This winepress of God’s wrath against the
ungodly enemies of Israel will bring death to countless numbers.
It is seen in Revelation
19:21 that prior to this great slaughter, the Anti Christ and the False Prophet,
the leaders of the armies of the world, are cast into the Lake of Fire.
This battle will be
fought outside the walls of Jerusalem and in a place called the Valley of
Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:2, 12, 14). This is
not a historical name, there has never been a valley known by that name; it is
a designation given in this instance to the Kidron Valley between Jerusalem and
the Mount of Olives because it is the place of the final great deliverance of
the Jewish people (c.f. 2Chronicles chap 20).
Zechariah 14:4-5. “And his feet shall stand in that day upon
the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of
Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west,
and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove
toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee by the valley of my
mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel; yea, ye shall
flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of
Judah; and Jehovah my God shall come, and all the holy ones with thee.”
Zechariah 14:12-15. “And
this shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite all the peoples that have
warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon
their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their
tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that
day, that a great tumult from Jehovah shall be among them; and they shall lay
hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against
the hand of his neighbour. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the
wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and
silver, and apparel, in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the
horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that
shall be in those camps, as that plague.”
This entire scene is the
moment of the Lord’s return ‘with his saints’, and from vs.12 and 15 we
see it is accompanied by what is described as a plague. It is unlikely this plague is a nuclear
explosion, for the Lord fights this great final battle alone, therefore it is almost
certainly a supernatural destruction of all things flesh - Because of the
symptoms, it is likely to be something of great heat, heat that consumes flesh
but not bone therefore superheated air from the volcanic activity is a real
possibility (ref. Tom McElmurry). Every other living creature surrounding
Jerusalem will feel the effects of this plague.
The Jewish remnant is told to flee into the great valley caused by the
cleaving of the Mount of Olives; suggestive of it being a protection from the
plague.
This time of destruction
and upheaval ends with rivers of living
(clean fresh) water flowing from
Jerusalem, east into the Dead Sea and west into the Mediterranean (vs.8),
followed by the statement that “Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in
that day shall Jehovah be one, and his name one” - It is seen in this statement that Messiah/Christ is
Jehovah.
One can imagine the
mopping up that will be needed following such a catastrophic time, but
Messiah’s destruction of these armies finalises the time of Jacob’s trouble and
ushers in events leading into his Kingdom on earth – the Millennial reign. These events will include the incarceration
of Satan into the bottomless pit and the ejecting of demonic forces off the
earth, presumably along with Satan and awaiting the final great battle at the
end of time (Revelation 20:8). And there
will be the judgement of the sheep and goats - the nations of the earth (Matthew
25:32-33).
Many teachers tend to
gloss over the immediate aftermath of these terrible years as if a magic wand
will be waved and everything set to rights in a moment; but the earth will
continue to be ruled by God’s natural laws, survivors will be people of flesh
and blood and will have all the emotional trauma to cope with, it will be a
time of physical and emotional adjustment throughout the world. God’s will however will have been done, the
earth will have been purged of incorrigible sinners, Israel will have called
upon Jesus their Messiah, and the thousand year reign of Christ will have
begun; a time of faith but also a time of enforced law and order (Revelation
12:5) and subsequent peace.
The fact that law and
order need enforcing proves the continuation of the sinful nature within
mankind. We are a fallen race, a race of
selfish beings that need encouragement in controlling our nature. Selfishness is a basic characteristic of all
human beings, with the criminal element coming from those among us who will not
control their selfishness or tolerate others to do so. The proportion of criminals within a society
increases as law and order decreases. This is a fact today and will be seen
again at the end of the Millennium in the great battle of Revelation 20:8 where
Satan is let loose for a little season to test those born during the thousand
years of peace.
Criminals rebel against
law, and the emotional tension of a rebellious heart will be intensified during
this time of enforced law and order.
After one thousand years of peace and prosperity due to such
enforcement, it is inevitable the criminal element will revolt at the
instigation of Satan, and in so doing prove their criminality and ungodliness. Criminality is ultimately destroyed when fire
comes down from God out of heaven, and devours them
(Revelation 20:7-9) and this old world is changed.
The Apostle Peter tells how this will come about, “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” (2Peter 3:12).
Isaiah prophesies it, “For,
behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be
remembered, nor come into mind” (Isaiah
65:17).
The Apostle John had a vision of the event, “And I saw a new heaven and
a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and
there was no more sea” (Revelation
21:1).
And the aftermath, “And 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 book of life” (Revelation 21:27)
It is therefore seen
that believers of the Millennium will have been given resurrection bodies, for
they survive this destruction and the fervent heat of God’s recreation (2Peter
3:10-12) and enter into the Kingdom where there is only righteousness, peace
and harmony. From 1Corinthians 15:42 it
would appear that only death does away with the old sin nature and resurrection
allows entrance into eternity.
