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.

Gifts of Grace, Romans 12:3-8.

Paul opened the twelfth chapter of Romans with a stern warning that we are to present our bodies as living sacrifices. 

Here is how the NASB puts it:

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. NASB

I can just hear some old, Jewish, man, emphasizing loudly, the phrase, “I exhort you, by the mercies of God,” as though your life depended upon it. 

There is, no doubt, a saucy flavor to Paul's writing, but it is more noticeable when you realize that Paul was a Jew first; that understanding then permeates everything he says and should pervade your entire discernment of the Bible.

Perhaps the best way to understand Romans 12:1 comes through Eugene Peterson's Message, when he says, 

“Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.”

There is a reason for a comment like this, and we see it in Romans 12:2, where Paul says,

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. NLT

He might as well have said, the world will suck you in and turn you into something other than what God designed you to be if you play with the fire, and that is why you are going to need a tremendous amount of grace if you plan on pulling yourselves out of the fire because it is there every day, working against you. If you are not a follower of Christ but do not spend time in God's, then you are going to have nothing but problems, especially with a statement like this because you think you are in control; you are not!

All of God's goodness, the righteousness He bestows, His power, and the life that is in Him – that will be manifest is the age to come, is the Grace of God. A very inadequate descriptive I know, but the idea is much like holding a carrot before a horse, if you want it, you will pursue it – that life, which is the great mystery.

On that note, Paul begins expounding upon Romans 12:3.

Romans 12:3 NASB For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

Without a broader understanding of God’s word, I might think Paul was the only one who received this grace, but that is not the case. Pay attention to the next few passages.

(Romans 1:3-6 NASB) “concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;”

If you are in Christ, then you are one of the “whom” of which Paul speaks. Romans 10:12 tells us that His grace abounds to all.

Romans 10:12 NASB For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;

Let's assume, for a moment, that God has poured great spiritual understanding upon you; to top it off, He even tells you when to take out the trash just minutes before the collection truck shows up. How are you supposed to act? The answer to this is also a part of Romans 12:3.

“I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment,” Romans 12:3b NASB

There you have it, don't think more highly of yourselves than you ought to. What does that mean, or perhaps, what then is the limitation?

Romans 12:3c NASB, “as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”

The limitation is, God has given this same measure to everyone who believes; therefore, you are no one special, merely, as Paul put it, an obedient slave, doing what a slave to Christ is supposed to do.

Okay, wait a minute here, I thought we were talking about grace – you know, God's Riches At Christ's Expense, and now we are talking about slavery and obedience.

Paul introduced us to his letter to the church in Rome by addressing himself as a slave to Christ.

Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated to the gospel of God,
(Romans 1:1 LITV)

For those who want to dance around the words, yes, many use the phrase “bond-servant,” because it is easier on the ears.

Get real! What do you think a “bond-servant is”?

It is someone who, in most cases, has given themselves over to another, typically because they have become indebted and can't pay. This type of slavery often happens to children, to this day. It is not uncommon in India for a lower caste family to sell one of their children so that the family survives.

What if you like the way this owner treats you and you have become comfortable with the lifestyle – one in which you typically have no right to an opinion?

Then you submit yourself to them and have a hole punched in one of your ears that signifies your permanent submission. Paul knew what this meant, not only to the Jews, who frequently were the slave owners but on several occasions, as a nation, found themselves in bondage. Although the Jews will fight with you, saying we were never in bondage, Egypt is one of those times, and, for Paul to say it, it was like throwing cold water in the face of someone on a cold day. It was meant to wake them up and shock them at the same time.

In addition to slave terminology, Paul talked about a level playing field.

As students of the Bible, we know that Paul, speaking to the Jewish believers within this Christian community equated this playing field to a perceived advantage the Jewish believers thought they had over, what they deemed the inferior Gentiles, who somehow had become followers of Christ, as the Jews had.

To some, this idea of a level playing field is completely devoid of God and involves a government in which bullies and terrorists control the power; take from those who have, and allegedly give it to the poor. Sadly, this idea includes those who don't care to work. Lamentably, the bullies who want to run this Socialist style of government still get to keep what they acquire.

God's kingdom, which is currently in the spirit and unseen to us, will come in the physical realm when Christ returns to clean house. We see this in Revelation 19:11-21. There, everyone covered under the blood of Jesus, and by right of that blood, is the same. In other words, NO ONE, who is a citizen of that kingdom has any advantage, or, more access to God, and His love, than anyone else. Paul understood all this, and if there were a person who could have a problem, it would have been him. You see, Paul, when we first learn of him, was named Saul, and at the top of his class in the school of Pharisees. By Paul's own admission, he could have taught the teachers.

Did Paul know about the laws of God?

Without a doubt, but he did not know the love of God, and that is only found through an understanding of Jesus Christ. Fortunately, Paul gained that understanding one day, as he traveled on the road to Damascus, while on a mission to persecute these new Christ-followers - Jewish converts, which many devout Jews claimed were trying to corrupt the practices of the Synagogues.

Let's get back to this idea that God has allotted to each, a measure of faith.

For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (Romans 12:4-5 NASB)

The fact that the members do not have the same function should be a good indicator that our faith is not exactly for the same service, either. Note also this idea that we are ONE body in Christ; however, we are individual members one of another. Perhaps the BBE translation might help.

So we, though we are a number of persons, are one body in Christ and are dependent on one another; (Romans 12:5 BBE)

We are dependent on each other, each of us with our allotted, measure of faith. WHY? Because, as we share our weaknesses and strengths, we grow. We grow through the act of praying for each, not mindless candy prayers, but prayers in which we pour out our hearts to God on behalf of the other.

The next verse seems as though it is a shift from an intense and power-filled lifestyle, to simply giving out information. Pay attention, and I will sort it out. Since we are one body, and those allotments of faith for a particular thing can be varied, then we need to look at the definitions that follow in that light.

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:6-8 NASB)

We saw, in Romans 12:3 that we all (those us in Christ) have an allotment of faith, but here, in Romans 12:6-8 we can see that this faith He speaks of is diversified and shows up in what we come to learn in Paul's letter to the church in Corinth, that this diversity is the gifts of the spirit.

Can I logically explain this assertion?

Perhaps I don't need to, but, as we saw in Romans 12:3, Paul, in speaking of faith, uses the Greek word pistis; this is the same word translated believe in 2Thessalonians 2:13. So, faith and belief are the same. (Although, faith often seems like a choice motivated by evidence, while belief is merely an action based on faith.)

I am thinking of Abraham and the offering of Isaac as a sacrifice when I write this. Abraham demonstrated a corresponding trust/belief in what God had said to him; and, if you will remember, most of what we know about God's interactions with Abraham was in the form of some extraordinary and vivid dreams. It truly is a simple process when you think about it; what makes faith difficult is the demonic voices in your head that tell you it can't be done. Recently, my wife had to undergo quadruple bypass surgery. It took faith on my part to say, do it! I knew the risks, and so did Abraham.

(The next time you read about Abraham, and his demonstration of willingness, take note of Sarah. We see nothing of her after this event. Did Abraham comprehend that this possible break in their relationship would be a part of the price he had to pay, I entirely off? Perhaps Sarah was just old, as Abraham was, and no longer a contributor to the story? If age was the factor that made her go away, then how do you explain that moment in time when Jesus, at eight days old, was brought to the temple, and Anna, an aged prophetess, and Simeon, an aged priest, just happened to be there at that moment. Both exclaimed, upon seeing the baby Yahshua, that they had seen the coming of the Messiah they had longed for?)

Luke 2:27-32 NASB And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, (28) then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, (29) "Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; (30) For my eyes have seen Your salvation, (31) Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, (32) A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel."

1 Corinthians 12:9 makes it clear that pistis is one of the gifts of the spirit, alongside prophecy, teaching, and so many others.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11 NASB)

When you look at the endowments, there is a common theme. “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” The Amplified Bible puts it like this.

Now there are distinctive varieties and distributions of endowments (gifts, extraordinary powers distinguishing certain Christians, due to the power of divine grace operating in their souls by the Holy Spirit), and they vary, but the [Holy] Spirit remains the same. 1 Corinthians 12:4 AMP

So why then do we idolize some people and treat others as mundane because they are not as flashy as some with their giftings as some people?