Questions and concerns about the antichrist. Part 3 of four.

We ended part two with this. 

Because he, the antichrist, affirms the “peace” covenant, we seem to think he is the one that initiates it, and that is not what the scriptures tell us. The passage that we love to cling to and misread is Daniel 9:26, 27, where we make several huge assumptions that are incorrect.

A common translation reads like this.

Daniel 9:26-27 NKJV  "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.  27  Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate." 

Confirm is the Hebrew word gâbar and means to be strong, exceed, confirm, and strengthen. You cannot use a word like strengthen and assume that he made the covenant. If this coincides with the covenant that the UN made in 2013, then all this mystery character can do is attempt to make the killing more efficient. Since the UN's vision has subtle bloodless death as its main method of help, then killing off more people should be an easy task.

Let's pick it apart.

• “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off...”

  This speaks of the death (and resurrection) of Jesus, the Messiah.

• “And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.”

  This next one is where great and damaging assumption takes place.

  Followers of my blog have read, on multiple occasions, how Titus was desperately trying to preserve the temple, as an uproar in Jerusalem could have caused his death at the hands of Caesar. Titus, in his case, was the prince, but the people who came at his orders were 

  also conscripted Assyrian Troops. These Assyrian troops ignored, at their own risk of death, the orders from Titus to extinguish the fires they had started. So the people of the prince who came were Assyrians. These Assyrians match the legs, feet, and the mixed material toes of Daniel's statue. If you look up the word mixed in something like the Strong's concordance, you will find that it is the Aramaic word arab and means mixed.

• What do we know for sure?

• That violent people, on behalf of the antichrist, will once again come and destroy: the city and the sanctuary. I say once again because the serpent has obviously done this once before during the reign of Titus Vespasian. If Psalm 83 depicts a coming war (I don't think so,) then that, along with Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, describes at least two wars.

  Those two events - the destruction of the city and the sanctuary, are not in close proximity, time-wise, because we have learned that the sacrifice will be stopped 1240 days into the seven-year covenant, which was reaffirmed by the antichrist. 1290 days later is when the abomination will be set up in the temple. Somewhere between the abomination being set up and the return of Jesus as the warring Messiah 45 days later, the temple will be destroyed.

• Considering how many people have countered with Israel will NOT be destroyed, it feels like it is necessary to emphasize, Israel will be destroyed. All at one time, right after the rapture of the church? Maybe not. 

• The allusions to "The end of it shall be with a flood" are numerous. You can only bring complete destruction once, but you can bring many destructive battles that will seem like complete destruction and still have some form of function. Just look at what is happening to Ukraine. An example of what I am talking about can be seen in the function of the rebuilt temple. 1240 days into the covenant time cycle, the antichrist will cause the sacrifices to cease. Certainly, the firebombing from God that we see in Ezekiel 38, 39 will be substantial. 

• In what form or purpose will the temple serve after the cessation of sacrifices?

• Because we understand that Israel will be completely destroyed, then a complete destruction - one that removes the functional government and the religious heads that turned the people away from Jesus the Messiah, must come to pass, but when? 

  Scripture tells us that the wanton killing that comes at the direction of the antichrist and the false prophet would indicate that people are forced to worship the beast - and, in time, the image. Islamic prophecies tell us that the false prophet steps up as the enforcer of Sharia law after wholly pledging himself to the Mahdi. The false prophet will be the primary person at this point, who enforces compliance and worship of the Mahdi - the antichrist. When it comes to worshiping the image, well, you cannot do that if the image is some animatronic head located in a temple that may be blown up. So that piece of logic just got destroyed. We are told that the desecration of the temple happens 1290 days after the cessation of the sacrifices, and, as far as I can tell, having this image sitting on the same altar where you were doing the sacrifices would be the desecration. Do the math, and you will find that we have now extended beyond seven years.

  
  This may be classified as one of those scriptural mysteries, but the Jews count a day as any portion of a day. Apply this to Jesus' death and resurrection. If Jesus died on Friday afternoon (one day), He is in the tomb before 3P.M., the beginning of the Sabbath. Sabbath lasts until 3P.M. Saturday evening (two days.) Sunday, early in the morning, no matter the time, is the third day. The logic behind this is that Sunday began at 3P.M. Saturday evening. Consider that Jesus used the Prophet Jonah as an analogy to His own time in death. I think He did this so that, beyond all questions, people would understand that Jonah was dead for three days, and God brought him back to life. (Believe it or not, I have had many arguments with people about how Jonah was dead for three days. Ask yourself would use someone who had lived comfortably in the belly of a big fish with a raft, a small table, a lamp, and a deck of cards, like Pinocchio, to represent your own death and the magnificence involved in those actions, if his experience was not even close? The Mediterranean Sea, where the narrative of Jonah took place, has a fish capable of swallowing a human whole; it is called a basking shark.)

  So, if the signs, and there are many, are telling us that the warring Messiah will be back in 2030, at the end of the seven years of wrath, then 2023 should be the year of the departure or snatching away of the church. Considering the Jewish understanding of time, then any point within this year of 2023 is fair game.

He is the antichrist, and nowhere does it say that Israel is the subject of this covenant. 

An interesting development occurred on June 13, 2023, when the UN stated, “Today, at the halfway point to 2030, that promise is in peril and a fundamental shift is needed – in commitment, solidarity, financing, and action – to put the world on a better path. And it is needed now.” If you wish to see this document, go directly to the UN's website. https://www.un.org/en/desa/we-need-7-years-accelerated-transformative-action-achieve-sdgs

So what are they calling the UN members to do about the potential that they might NOT reach their 2030 goal?

They have called for an urgent meeting where they will reaffirm the covenant for seven years. In Biblical terms, they are going to “confirm the covenant with many for one week.” In prophetic language, one week is equivalent to seven years.

If you are thinking I missed the context, then look at Daniel 9:26.

Daniel 9:26 NKJV  "… And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. ...”

It's not the man but those that follow his commands. Titus did not command his troops to destroy the temple, so don't go looking for a re-birthed Roman Empire.

When you read something like 1 Thessalonians 5:3, you need to be asking yourself, who are the “they”?

“For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.”
1 Thessalonians 5:3 NKJV

An obvious but presumptive choice would be Israel. How are you not aware? Israel just recently went through three nationwide votes to get a prime minister once again, as Benjamin Netanyahu was dragged through the mud over allegations, just as former President Donald Trump still is. One of their former Prime ministers has been plotting a coup for over two years with the aid of retired IDF Generals. All this has been monitored as they met for discussions through Zoom calls (you have no secrecy in Israel.) The country is on the verge of civil war, if not already there. Doctors are on strike, and approximately 10,000 reservists are refusing to return to much-needed duty all because the Prime Minister pushed for legal reforms that put an end to leftist legal interpretations and judgments. Decisions have pushed Israel into the critical situation they are now facing.

Still, in all this turmoil, it seems there are those that think they are in the best of times.

If you have been paying attention, the UN is calling for a meeting in early September, and they are already calling for peace, safety, and the reaffirmation of the seven-year covenant that was established to bring about the Social Development Goals designed to bring about the New World Order, that Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Obama talked about with frequency.

“His power will be great, but it will not be his own. He will cause terrible destruction and succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men along with the holy people. Through his craft and by his hand, he will cause deceit to prosper, and in his own mind he will make himself great. In a time of peace he will destroy many, and he will even stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be broken off, but not by human hands.”
Daniel 8:24-25 BSB

Since we know that royal honor has not been conferred upon him, then it's safe to say that he is not currently a part of the crowd that wants to dominate the planet.

You might ask, why, then, is he given the authority to do whatever he wants?

Allow me to remind you.

“Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. Revelation 13:2, 3 NKJV+

The beast was comprised of known empires until the two bronze leg aspects of the fourth showed up.

“This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.” Daniel 2:32-33 NKJV

Empire #1, the head of gold – Babylon under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar; #2, the chest and arms of silver - the Medes and Persians; #3, the Macedonian or Grecian monarchy, set up by Alexander. Now here is where it changes. According to John Gill's commentary, the Grecian empire was followed by “the two "thighs," the fourth empire. These legs of iron denote Alexander's principal successors, the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. Both were Grecian generals, and both were highly integrated into the surrounding Assyrian kingdoms. If you do your homework, you will get to the feet where the toes are mixed, iron and clay. The Aramaic word for mixed is arab. Trace this lineage back to Abraham and Isaac, and you will come to Ishmael and Esau. They are both described as nations that will NOT get along with each other.

The beast is best thought of as a demonic spirit that enters particular, handpicked people to drive, empower them, and be changed in Satan's favor.

“Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” Revelation 13:1-2 NKJV

And we have descriptions of the first three empires but not the fourth. Note that even within this passage, the beast takes on a singular male orientation.

Those handpicked people have ruled over kingdoms, empires, and “governmental bodies.” But as we read verse three above, we see one of these empires sustain what the world could see as a mortal wound. That means they never expected this empire to rise again. Oh, but it did as it was restored to health. Strangely, the primary word used to define this word “healing” is to serve or do service. If this was the Ottoman Empire, as I have spelled out multiple times, then the implications are that people have meticulously nursed this empire slowly and secretly back to health. History shows us that ideologies like the Muslim Brotherhood, an offshoot of the fallen Ottoman empire, began to emerge in Egypt but with much more violent motives.

Revelation 13:5 indicates that this beast, which has migrated into what appears to be a solitary being – a male, now has the “authority to do whatever he wants for forty-two months.” (That is 3.5 years.)

“Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months.” Revelation 13:5 NLT

End of part three.