Day 1260
The question was, Why do you say Satan is cast to earth on day 1260? There are no dates in Revelation. I wrote a brief e-mail response, and sent it complete with typos and an unfinished paragraph that should have been deleted. I promised a longer response if requested; I knew there was a need for a prophecy primer. After all, concerning biblical prophecy, it is us at The Philadelphia Church, or it is the internet’s Prophecy Central.
Actually, the events revealed by Christ to John and recorded in the book of Revelation are dated. All of the events occur on or after the Lord’s day (Rev 1:10), which is the timeframe of John’s vision. All of the events described will soon occur (Rev 1:1 & 22:6-7), for "the time is near" (Rev 22:10). The words of the prophecy are not to be sealed for the time is near. The words the prophet Daniel received that were inscribed in the book of truth (Dan 10:21) were to be sealed and kept secret (Dan 12:4, 9), for their time was in the distant future when many "shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase" (v. 4). Their unsealing was dated to the time of the end.
Some events in Revelation are additionally dated with the phrases "1260 days," "forty-two months," and "time, times, and half a time." All three phrases reference the same length of time--three and a half years--but from differing perspectives. When the phrase 1260 days is used, the perspective is of human beings. Forty-two months refers to the perspective of angelic beings, and time, times, and half a time refers to the Most High’s and His Christ’s perspective. So the same quantity of time will be addressed by differing phrases depending upon the narrative perspective. And the use of differing phrases for the same quantity of time doesn’t necessarily mean the periods have differing starting and stopping dates.
Examples of the above are seen chapter 11, verse 3: "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." Christ speaks, but the prophesying will be done by the two witnesses. Their work will be for 1260 days. They will be clothed in sackcloth 1260 days. They will mark time on a daily basis.
Chapter 13, verse 5, says: "And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months." The perspective is the beast to whom the dragon gave power. This beast, as will be argued within this paper, is the spiritual prince of Greece after being dealt a death blow. The narrative perspective is demonic.
The 1260 day example concludes the second woe (Rev 11:14). The forty-two month example is in the third woe, which includes the harvest of the earth and seven plagues. In a seven year long Tribulation (the length partially based upon Dan 9:27), DAY 1260 stands between the second and third woe. On this day the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ (Rev 11:15). Plus, on this day, Satan is cast from heaven (12:9), for "when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time" (vv. 13-14). God nourishes the woman; God gives the two wings of the great eagle. The narrative perspective is God’s. And there is no reason to nourish the woman past Christ’s return. It won’t take days for Satan to see that he has been cast down from heaven. So without delving especially deep into the book of Revelation, Satan being cast from heaven can be reasonably dated to DAY 1260.
But a prophecy primer is needed. Therefore, let’s begin a much more convoluted explication of the book of Revelation to arrive at the same date.
Many teachers of Israel, the woman who gives birth to the male child (Rev 12:1-6), claim that the book of Revelation is not sealed, their claim based upon chapter 22, verse 10: the angel told John, ‘"Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.’" These teachers of spiritual Israel generally insist that Revelation’s symbolism is merely difficult to understand. But the words of the book have been effectively sealed by Christ’s use of a literary trope. The Lamb of God doesn’t remove the seals from the scroll (Rev 5:1-6:1) until John sees Him do it on the Lord’s day. The scroll remains sealed until the Lord’s day when the revealed events are soon to occur, or near in time. If humanity has not yet reached the Lord’s day, the scroll is still sealed, meaning that it cannot yet be read. No man nor angel is able to unseal the scroll until Christ as the Lamb of God does on the Lord’s day. All of humanity can read the words that John wrote, but those words are about the scroll that remains sealed. Thus, the words are themselves sealed until the Lord’s day. Readers assign meaning to words; words don’t come with little backpacks containing their meaning. Therefore, the inspired or divine assignment of meaning isn’t revealed until the Lord’s day when John sees the Lamb of God remove the seals from the scroll. Until then, we can only make some sense of Revelation because the visions of Daniel have been sealed.
Does saying that Revelation is presently sealed contradict what the angel told John? Not in the least, for when humanity reaches the Lord’s day and the events described by John are soon to occur and near in time, the words of John’s vision will be readily understood. The words John writes on the Lord’s day are not sealed. The sealing is by narrative perspective, the literary trope of John writing on the Lord’s day when Christ removes the seals. The scroll remains sealed until the Lord’s day, and no one other than Christ can open the scroll. Again, Christ doesn’t open the scroll until the Lord’s day when John sees Him do it, so the contents of the scroll remain sealed until the Lord’s day.
The person who argues, based upon chapter 22, verse 10, that Revelation is not sealed doesn’t understand that the linguistic objects for the icons soon and near require that the referents under discussion must be placed in physically close proximity one to the other. Either that or the person willfully assigns his or her own objects to the icons. In either case, the person argues not with me, but with Christ. I will accept the culturally agreed-upon assignment of objects to icons.
The other argument that can be made is that the Lord’s day has arrived. The expression "Lord’s day" equates to the expression "the day of the Lord." From the many passages in Old Testament prophecies where this expression or its abbreviated referent "that day" are used, the Lord’s day doesn’t begin with Christ coming as the man Jesus of Nazareth, but with Him coming as the King of kings. Any argument that the "church-age" of Israel’s history represents Christ’s rule as King of kings is intellectually vacant, regardless of whether 4th-Century allegorists of the Alexandrean school or the present Pontiff attempt to make the argument. If Christ were reigning today as King of kings, He would disqualify Himself to rule. Satan remains the present ruler of this world even though he has been disqualified (John 14:30; 12:31; 16:11; Eph 2:2). He won’t be removed, though, until the Lord’s day when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Messiah (Rev 11:15). This is when he is cast from heaven (12:9). So all forms of the argument that humanity is presently being governed by Christ as the King of kings require that the new heavens and the new earth came a thousand years ago. It is this argument that caused a terrific amount of land and money to be donated to the Roman Church immediately prior to the end of the first millennium C.E. as evidenced by the dedications of surviving church buildings. The argument was used, whether sincerely or insincerely only Christ knows, to extort contributions.
Therefore, the vision of John that Christ gives him has been as sealed as the vision of Daniel. John’s vision isn’t sealed through typology, how Daniel’s vision was sealed. Rather, John’s vision has been sealed by Christ’s use of a literary trope: John’s vision doesn’t take place until the Lord’s day. Yet the seven churches to which letters are addressed were real churches, with the strengths and weaknesses described by Christ. And the letters to these seven churches on an ancient Roman mail route would tend to support an argument that the vision wasn’t sealed, but readily understandable when it was given.
Poe’s "Purloined Letter" exploits the motif of hiding a thing in plain sight. The words of the book of truth given Daniel were sealed until the time of the end, but three centuries after Daniel received them, every teacher of Israel believed that he understood them. The four kings of Persia were Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius Hystaspes, and Xerxes (Ahasuerus). The mighty king of Greece was Alexander. And the final king of the north was Antiochus Epiphanes. So how are these words, inscribed in the book of truth (Dan 10:21), sealed and secret until the time of the end (Dan 12:4, 9)? Either they were sealed, or God doesn’t mean what He says…they were sealed.
The words inscribed in the book of truth were sealed by their shadow. God sealed them by making Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius Hystaspes, and Xerxes (Ahasuerus) the four kings of Persia. Teachers of Israel didn’t look for any deeper meaning. It was truly miraculous that God could, a couple of hundred years earlier, reveal in great detail the course of human affairs. Thus, teachers of Israel believed they understood words that were to have been sealed until the time of the end. They felt no reason to return to chapter ten, or to consider that the angel had been withstood by the sar [prince or king] of Persia for twenty-one days, and that this angel would again have to fight with the sar of Persia, then after that, the angel would have to fight with the sar of Greece.
The words inscribed in the book of truth were sealed by God revealing the physical shadow of events that were to occur in the spiritual realm. The physical great king of Greece, Alexander, is the shadow of the great horn of the spiritual he-goat of Daniel chapter 8. And Christ uses, in the literary trope, the same strategy to keep John’s vision from being understood prior to the time of the end.
The seven churches are not eras of a single church as some teachers of spiritual Israel assert. They are the seven lampstands (Rev 1:20) of which Christ stands in the midst (v. 13). They all existed at one time on a physical mail route; they were contemporaneous fellowships. Likewise, these seven churches exist on the Lord’s day, with Christ standing in their midst. And this is the key that unlocks all of biblical prophecy: in all things, the physical precedes the spiritual. Prophecy isn’t unlocked by identifying the United States and Great Britain as the descendants of the ancient house of Israel (i.e., the northern kingdom of Samaria). The covenant that made the circumcised descendants of the patriarch Jacob the holy nation of God (Exod 19:5-6) has been abolished in its entirety (Eph 2:15). The spiritual nation of Israel superceded the physical nation as the holy nation of God (1 Pet 2:9). This can be seen in Revelation chapter 12 where the woman that gave birth to the man child "who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron" (v. 5) "has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1260 days" (v. 6). This is the same woman that the dragon pursued (v. 13) who will fly into the wilderness "to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time’ (v. 14). Same woman, same period of time being nourished in the wilderness--this is the woman with whom the dragon is furious and goes "off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus" (v. 17). The woman goes from being physical Israel ("on her head a crown of twelve stars – v. 1) unto whom the man Jesus of Nazareth is born (the male child who will rule all nations – v. 5) to being spiritual Israel, the offspring of which hold to the testimony of Jesus (v. 17). From God’s perspective, the transition from physical Israel being the holy nation of God (Exod 19:5-6) to the Church being the holy nation of God (1 Pet 2:9) is seamless, without burp, glitch, or disruption.
Physical Israelites and their many scattered descendants are no longer in a covenant relationship with God, for they killed the Covenantor on Calvary. They released themselves from the covenant none of them kept (John 7:19) by killing their God, born as the man Jesus of Nazareth (John 1:14). For a teacher of Israel to now insist that endtime prophecies concerning Israel pertain to the circumcised descendants, or to the lost descendants of physical Israel reveals the individual’s lack of spiritual understanding. This teacher might well have the Spirit of God, but this teacher remains carnally minded and in need of spiritual milk.
With pedantic redundancy, allow me to repeat myself: it wouldn’t matter if the President of the United States were a direct descendant of King David (he might be), endtime prophecies about Israel are not about physical nations or carnal people, whether circumcised or not. They are about the spiritual nation: the Church. President Bush identifying himself as a born-again Christian means more prophetically than does his genetics; for it is the spiritual nation that will be recovered from bondage when Christ returns. The fate of circumcised Israelites is to become spiritual Israelites.
Again--I cannot stress this enough--in all things, the physical precedes the spiritual. The seven churches were physical fellowships in the 1st-Century. On the Lord’s day, they are spiritual fellowships. Disciples within each of the physical fellowships had the Spirit of God, so spiritual fellowships are not later (or endtime) physical fellowships composed of born-from-above disciples. Fellowships replace individuals. Thus, spiritual fellowships are, as a minimum, associations of like-minded churches. They are, in actuality, seven mindsets.
On the Lord’s day, seven spiritual churches exist simultaneously, with an eighth mentioned. In typology, these seven associations or mindsets are the spiritual reality of what the seven pairs of clean animals that boarded the Ark represent. The occupants of the Ark are the shadow of Christ, the seven angels, and the seven churches (Rev 1:20).
The Lord’s day occurs when the end of the age is near, and when the time for the events described in Revelation to happen is soon. That wasn’t two millennia ago, or two centuries ago, or even two decades ago. The Lord’s day is still in the future, but not too far in the future. Every earlier understanding of the book of Revelation has been from a physical perspective. Prophecy Central specializes in collecting these physical perspectives that are of a man or woman assigning meaning to the symbols. The physical perspectives are not of God, who reveals phenomena in the spiritual realm through recording the shadows these phenomena cast. Again, prophecies effecting endtime Israel aren’t about circumcised Israelites, but about spiritual Israelites (i.e., the greater Church). Thus, God sealed prophecies by not revealing the extent of the parallelism between the physical and the spiritual. Babylon in Revelation isn’t a physical kingdom; it isn’t united Europe, or some revival of the Holy Roman Empire. It is a spiritual kingdom over which Satan reigns as king (Isa 14:4-21). Nebuchadnezzar didn’t rule the children of men in China (Dan 2:37-38), but Satan as the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2) does by controlling the mental topography of humanity.
So all of the book of Revelation is dated to the Lord’s day, that period of time when Satan being cast from heaven (Rev 12:9) is near, or soon. I indirectly address what Christ saw when He saw Satan fall like lightning in the accompanying article, "Into the Promised Land." Therefore, since everything recorded in Revelation occurs or begins near or soon to the Lord’s day, except for the events that occur at the conclusion of Christ’s Millennium reign a relatively small window in time is under discussion. Seven years. Perhaps ten years. No more than that. To stretch the use of a passage, Jesus said, concerning the intense tribulation that follows the abomination that desolates, that this generation would not pass before all was accomplished (Matt 24:34). The indication is that the time of the end is less than a generation in length. Understanding Revelation, then, requires that a person thinks spiritually about only a few years, not lifetimes, and certainly not all of recorded history since the 1st-Century.
To review, the book of Revelation has effectively been sealed by Christ’s use of a literary trope. The Lamb of God doesn’t remove the seals from the scroll (Rev 5:1-6:1) until John sees Him do it on the Lord’s day. We have not yet reached the Lord’s day so the scroll is still sealed. We see the words that John wrote, but those words are about the scroll that remains sealed. Thus, the words are themselves sealed.
Because humanity hasn’t yet arrived at the Lord’s day, two reference texts must be brought to bear on the vision of John: Jesus’ Olivet discourse, and the visions of Daniel. These two texts share a common time referent, from which events in the spiritual realm can be dated with reasonable certainty. The referent is ‘"the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place"’ (Matt 24:15 – referencing Dan 11:31). Jesus, in the comment, ‘"(let the reader understand)’" (same verse) actually reveals the needed key for understanding prophecy: the sealed words of Daniel, according to Jesus, don’t refer to Antiochus Epiphanes, but to an endtime abomination of desolation. This endtime abomination "is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception" (2 Thess 2:9-10). The endtime abomination is the king of the North, one of the four horns that came up when the great horn of the he-goat is broken (Dan 8:8, 22 & 11:4). "And from the time that [the daily] is taken away and the abomination that makes desolation is set up, there shall be 1290 days" (Dan 12:11). And we have a hard date. Matthew 24:15 and Daniel 11:31 are dated to 1290 days before Christ comes as the King of kings, and when the holy ones awake to everlasting life or everlasting contempt (Dan 12:2).
Israel is nourished by God in the wilderness for 1260 days (Rev 12:6), or for a time, times, and half a time (v. 14). The abomination that desolates is set up 30 days earlier (day 1290). So we have two prophetic hard dates from which to work, even though the sealed scroll hasn’t been unrolled. The scroll is written upon within and without (Rev 5:1). What we are able to read is what has been written on its back.
Before bringing the full weight of Jesus’ Olivet discourse to bear upon the book of Revelation, one passage in the Olivet discourse needs mentioned.; ‘"But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man’" (Matt 24:36-37).
How the coming of the Son of Man can not be known when the events described in Revelation have to occur has been one of the mysteries of God. That mystery is a little less mysterious since the words of Daniel have been unsealed. The prophecies about Israel being liberated from captivity upon Christ’s return require that Israel again be taken captive. The Prophecy Central collection of endtime pundits have the modern nation of Israel (i.e., physical Jews) again being liberated from captivity. A variant of their teaching is held by the splintered followers of Herbert Armstrong, who had the United States and Britain being taken captive. None of these pundits have been able to read even the back of the scroll to see that Israel goes from being a physical nation to a spiritual nation. Israel was completely taken captive by the spiritual king of Babylon (Isa 14:4-21) by the 4th-Century C.E. The nation has been the mental bondservant of the king of Babylon for sixteen centuries without the nation knowing it was in captivity. The holy nation of God has been in bondage to sin/lawlessness ever since it misapplied its liberty, spurning not merely the accursed gospel that they must become physical Israelites before they can become spiritual Israelites but also being spiritual Israelites. They chose instead to be "spiritual" Gentiles. They ignored the laws of God that were written on their hearts and minds as they were mesmerized by the teachings of the "workers of lawlessness" (Matt 7:23) whom Christ denies knowing.
The holy nation of spiritual Israel split just as the physical nation did following Solomon’s death. The spiritual house of Judah assigned personhood to the Breath/Pneuma of God. The spiritual house of Israel claimed that Christ was a created being, and had been created by the Father. Just as the physical house of Israel (the northern Samarian kingdom) fought against the house of Judah, so has Arian Christianity warred against Trinitarian Christianity. They are still at war. Latter Day Saints and Jehovah Witnesses have Christ being created by the Father. They are modern day sects of Arian Christianity. Both Evangelical and Catholic Christianity denounce these sects of Arian Christianity. Both actively wage war against them, with actual bullets fired a century and a half ago when Joseph Smith was lynched.
Because the captivity of Israel is mental, not physical, a person would expect both houses of Israel to philosophically oppose their liberation from slavery until the day they are mentally liberated at the second Passover. Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God was penned in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, the 10th of Nissan, according to the instructions for how to execute His shadow (Exod 12:3). He was sacrificed the afternoon of the 14th of Nissan, and removed from the Cross at even of the 14th, the time for the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb (v. 6). Christ is spiritual Israel’s Passover Lamb. But unlike when the Passover lamb was sacrificed by ancient Israel in Egypt, firstborns were not slain at midnight. Israel was not spiritually liberated although an argument can be made that salvation was now offered to the nation (Rom 10:9 – the referent for "you" is physically circumcised Israelites whose hearts and minds have also been circumcised through obedience as described in Deu chptr 30).
Unlike all of the other High Sabbaths of God, the Passover has a second occurrence. There are two Passover liberations from bondage. The first was from physical bondage in Egypt, an event that won’t be remembered after the second liberation occurs (Jer 16:14-15). The second will be the spiritual liberation of Israel from bondage to Satan as the spiritual king of Babylon. At this liberation, spiritual and physical firstborns not covered by the Blood of the Lamb of God will be slain, just as the firstborn of man and beast were slain in Egypt. This slaying probably matches the release of the four angels bound at the Euphrates who will kill a third of humanity (Rev 9:15). It is unlikely that such a large slaughter of human beings is twice warranted before the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ. Although the still sealed scroll cannot be here read with absolute certainty, it can be read with enough certainty for me to state that "the hour, the day, the month, and the year" when these death angels are released is the hour of the second Passover. A third of humanity will be firstborns not covered by the Blood of Christ; they will be slain. Consider for a moment the nation of China with its one child policy--China isn’t mentioned in endtime prophecies for the nation will be devastated on this second Passover. This great nation will cease being a factor in world affairs because of its rejection of Christianity. So the slaying of two billion plus human beings as all being firstborns (all that open the womb belong to God – Exod 13:2 et al) isn’t unrealistic.
Because Israel was taken spiritually captive and no one really noticed, the spiritual fulfillment of many prophecies can occur without the world realizing what is happening. Thus, many of the phenomena described in Revelation that occur will be attributed to natural causes, such as a meteor strike (Rev 8:8) that sends ashore a tidal wave that destroys a third of the ships (v. 9). So when Satan is cast from heaven as a bolt of lightning at the same time that a great earthquake splits the Mount of Olives, too many newly liberated and extremely persecuted "Christians" (because of the slain on the second Passover) will accept the mark of the beast (Rev 13:18 -- Chi xi stigma, or the tattoo of Xx) and will worship the antiChrist as the Messiah, thereby returning themselves to being Satan’s slaves. Only now, they are physical slaves, intimidated by being excluded from being able to buy or sell, for Satan will lack the ability to supernaturally control mental landscapes. He can only use physical force to return his former slaves to bondage.
Unless a person is spiritually minded, the coming of the Son of Man can certainly occur as the Flood did in the days of Noah. Neighbors would have watched Noah build, but they didn’t believe. And they all perished. Likewise, all of humanity will be liberated from mental bondage to sin when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ. All of spiritual Israel will have been liberated a short while earlier. But some portion of those who have been liberated will not believe and will perish. This portion will not live by faith, but by sight. They will believe what they can see. They will believe that they have to do business in this world to survive. Their physical lives will mean more to them than salvation. And they will perish forever, for salvation was offered to them. Everyone receives one chance to receive salvation. No one receives a second chance. And all human beings alive on the Lord’s day will receive their one chance to be saved. This is why the endtime gospel that all who endure to the end will be saved (Matt 24:13) must be taken to the world as a witness to all nations before the end comes (v. 14). God is not a respecter of persons. All of humanity must be warned about what is at stake during the last 1260 days of the Tribulation. And from love for all of humanity, The Philadelphia Church takes this endtime gospel to the world. This is why it is either us, or Prophecy Central.
Returning now to Jesus’ Olivet discourse: after his disciples showed Him the buildings of the temple, Jesus said that there would not be left one stone upon another (Matt 24:1-2). His disciples then came to Him privately and asked when will the throwing down of stones be, and ‘"what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?’" (v. 3). Jesus answers their question, so what Jesus said is narrowly focused and addresses the time of the end when He would return as the Messiah. To read Jesus’ Olivet discourse in any other manner contradicts the context of the passage.
Jesus began by telling His disciple not to mislead (in every English translation, verse 4 is poorly rendered), because many would come in His name and would lead many astray (v. 5). He then said that there would be wars, famines, and earthquakes (vv. 6-7), but all of these things were only ‘"the beginning of the birth pains’" (v. 8). Jesus’ Olivet discourse is to His disciples, who will, when He breathes on them following His ascension (John 20:22), become the holy nation of Israel. They become the second Eve who will give birth to many heirs of God. So the idea that wars, famines and earthquakes are the beginning of Israel’s labor pains makes sense within the context of end of the age prophecies. And if there is beginning labor pains, hard labor pains are certain to follow.
After saying that wars, famines and earthquakes were the beginning of the labor pains, Jesus said, "‘Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold’" (Matt 24:9-12).
Delivering Israel into tribulation and killing disciples who are hated because of Christ’s name will surely seem like hard labor pains…after the second Passover occurs, Christians will, indeed, be hated for Christ’s name sake. How, the world will ask, could God do such a thing? No God that they would worship would kill innocent firstborns. A person can imagine what will be said by those who lost a firstborn. In Egypt, every household was affected. That will likely be the case on the second Passover for the households not covered by the blood of the Lamb.
Jesus’ Olivet discourse is chronologically presented. After the beginning of birth pains comes the real pains, but the pains come before the good news that all who endure to the end will be saved (Matt 24:13) is delivered as a witness to all nations (v. 14). That good news is going out right now, but only weakly. It must get to every person so that each individual realizes what is at stake when the individual is spiritually liberated on DAY 1260. Again, this will be each person’s only chance to receive salvation. To accept the mark of the beast, that is the tattoo of the Cross, will cause the person to killed by God, and will very likely cause the person to lose his or her chance for salvation. Unless a person comprehends what is at stake, the person will probably not think taking the antiChrist’s tattoo is a big deal. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Israel must live by faith. The holy nation must fight to capture the promised land that is glorification. The holy nation won’t fight with guns or swords, but mentally fight an Adversary intent upon devouring the nation. And the nation wins. Whether individuals win is up to the individual. For, "If anyone is to be taken captive, / to captivity he goes; / if anyone is to be slain with the sword, / with the sword must he be slain. / Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints" (Rev 13:10). Saints aren’t to rebel against the antiChrist, or to take up arms against him. Rather, saints are to endure whatever fate is allotted each. For the saint who endures to the end shall be saved (Matt 24:13 & 10:22).
Satan as the antiChrist cannot take any person’s salvation away. The person must voluntarily relinquish his or her salvation just as Esau voluntarily sold his birthright for a bowl of lentils. When the person who has been mentally liberated from bondage to sin is still so carnal as to trade temporary deliverance for eternal deliverance, the person will go into the resurrection to contempt (Dan 12:2), or condemnation (John 5:29), which is the second death. But the person must be warned ahead of time, for there will be a famine of the word during the reign of the antiChrist. Every nation must be warned before the end can come. Every nation will be warned before DAY 1290 when the abomination that desolates (Matt 24:15 & Dan 11:31) is set up (Dan 12:11).
The abomination of desolation who is set up on DAY 1290 is the antetype of Satan coming as the spiritual antiChrist on DAY 1260. This man of perdition is the demonic king of the North possessing a man who, because the man comes from Arian Christianity, actually believes that he has become God. He will be recognizable as an antichrist by Trinitarian Christianity. And great will be the persecution of Christians who will not rally around the Cross of this man of perdition, who will control the armies of a ten-nation coalition of five strong nations paired with five weak nations. This man of perdition will fight against a matching ten-nation combine ruled over by the four-headed king of the South. And we now need to go to Daniel to see the above unfold.
Daniel’s long vision (chapter 11) was sealed and secret until the time of the end. His vision of the he-goat trampling the ram (Dan 8:3-8) is for the time of the end (v. 17). Even the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision wasn’t understandable until the time of the end, as evidenced by how poorly the words of Daniel have been read.
Daniel says of his explanation of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision that the "dream is certain, and its interpretation sure" (Dan 2:45). Daniel says of this vision, ‘"[T]here is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days’" (v. 28 – emphasis added). So the purpose of this vision is to reveal what will be in the latter days to this physical king of Babylon. The vision is for the time of the end, just as Jesus’ Olivet discourse answered His disciples’ question of when the end of the age would come.
Nebuchadnezzar’s vision was of a human image, its head of gold (Dan 2:32), chest and arms of silver (same verse), and middle and thighs of bronze (same verse). And here is where the many teachers of Israel linked to Prophecy Central determine that Daniel's interpretation is not certain; for the division of the image occurs in the third kingdom, not the fourth. The fourth kingdom is never united. One half parallels or mirrors the other half, but neither half rules the world. Rulership remains with the third kingdom (v. 39) even after that fourth kingdom comes to power with the strength of iron. Thus, the fourth kingdom is a derivative of the third.
Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that he is the head of gold, into whose hand the God of heaven ‘"has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making [Nebuchadnezzar] rule over them all"’ (Dan 2:38). Nebuchadnezzar, though, never ruled over the children of men in Chili or China. He never ruled over the birds of the heaven, and it would be questionable if he ever ruled over the beasts of the field. So what Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar either is overstatement, or is not for the human king.
Remember, the key to understanding prophecy is that in all things the physical precedes the spiritual. Nebuchadnezzar is the physical king of Babylon. The course of physical kingdoms that stretches from him to the abomination that desolates that Jesus identifies as coming at the end of the age includes Babylon, the Medes and Persians, and the Greeks through Antiochus Epiphanes. The course of kingdoms does not include Rome or the Roman Empire. Thus, when the spiritual fulfillment of this vision occurs, Satan is the king of Babylon (Isa 14:4-21). The angel who brings the words inscribed in the book of truth to Daniel has to fight against the sar of Persia, and will have to fight against the sar of Greece, both powerful demons, or coalitions of demons. And from the king of Greece comes the kings of the North and of the South, again demons. And now Daniel’s words to Nebuchadnezzar make sense.
On the first Passover night physical human beings in Egypt served as the antetype for born-again disciples on the second spiritual Passover night; beasts served as the antetype for human beings who have not yet received the Holy Spirit and acquired life in the heavenly realm. Thus, Egypt represented "the world." And moving from the physical to the spiritual, God gave to Satan as king of Babylon rule over born-again Israelites [the children of men serve as their antetype], over humanity that hasn’t yet received the Holy Spirit [beasts serve as their antetype], and over angels [birds serve as their physical antetype]. God sent the house of Judah into physical bondage to the Chaldeans because they would not live within His laws. He sent spiritual Israel into spiritual bondage to the king of Babylon because the holy nation would not live within His laws. Physical Israel profaned God’s Sabbaths. Spiritual Israel profaned God’s Sabbaths.
A point that needs remembered: Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon was a theocracy, as evidenced by the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego narrative. The tendency in Western nations that have separated church from state is to forget that Nebuchadnezzar as king was the head of Babylon's religious establishment. Same for the Persian kings. And Alexander was thought to be the son of god. So Babylon, Persia and Greece were theocracies.
A second point needs mentioned: disciples can identify a false prophet by whether the individual inserts Rome, the Roman Empire, or the Roman See into the visions of Daniel. If the person does, the person has not been sent by God. The person is a fake, a fraud. The person is not spiritually minded.…I don’t care if the person has studied his or her weight in books written by other carnally-minded authors, the person has no qualifications to teach Israel, and is actually doing real harm to spiritual Israelites. This person by teaching when he or she hasn’t been sent has cut his or her name off from the book of life.
But let's see Rome’s absence from the visions of Daniel. The kingdoms of the image of Nebuchadnezzar are the head of gold, chest and arms of silver, middle and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, feet partly if iron and partly of clay (Dan 2:32-33). The iron, clay, bronze, silver and gold "all together were broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind [ruwach] carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found" (v. 35). First, note that all of the kingdoms are present and together when they are destroyed by a stone cut not by human hands (v. 34). Second, what has been translated in the above passage as wind is translated as breath and Spirit in Psalm 104:29-30. The word ruwach (Chaldean) is the equivalent of the Greek icon pneuma. So in the context of God destroying these kingdoms of Babylon, the image’s identity taken from its head, ruwach becomes the destroying power that the shout of the Israelites surrounding Jericho foreshadows (Jericho is an antetype of spiritual Babylon). While the stone cut without human hands crushes the feet of mixed iron and clay of the image, the kingdom set up by the God of heaven breaks ‘"in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold’" (v. 45). These kingdoms are not replacing one after the other, but are incorporated one in the other. They are permanently destroyed by the Breath of God after He has crushed them. And Nebuchadnezzar’s vision extends past the image to two events: (1) the cut stone crushes the iron, clay, bronze, silver and gold; and (2) the wind or breath blows the crushed iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold away. From the narrative distance of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision, these two events appear simultaneous. However, when that distance is foreshortened by two and a half millennia, the crushing precedes the blowing away by a short interval of time.
The book of Daniel identifies the iron, bronze, clay, silver and gold without any prophecy guru having to insert Rome into the inspired text. Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that he is the head of gold (Dan 2:38). Daniel then reveals who succeeded Babylon’s reign: "That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom" (Dan 5:30-31). So we know that Darius the Mede is part of the silver that incorporated the gold. Now, the angel Gabriel tells Daniel who will succeed the Medes: ‘"As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power’" (Dan 8:20-22).
The silver chest and arms represent the Medes and the Persians. The bronze belly and thighs represent the Greeks, and the legs of iron represent the four kingdoms that shall arise when the great horn is broken. And from the book of truth, we see who these four kingdoms are: ‘"Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds [ruwach – "breaths" or "spirits" are equally valid English icons] of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these’" (Dan 11:3-4 – emphasis added). So the Greek kingdom is plucked up and goes to others who are not Alexander’s posterity. And we see the division of the Greek kingdom in Alexander’s four generals divvying up the Greek kingdom. Thus, the division isn’t the western and eastern Roman Empires, but the emergence of the kings of the South and North (Dan 11:5-6)…the secession of kingdoms is still represented by bronze.
By this time, Rome exists in the West. But the kingdom of consequence (i.e., the kingdom that forms the physical shadow of the spiritual reality) is not Rome, but the kingdom that controls the promised land, especially Jerusalem. Endtime prophecies are about Israel--not the modern nation of Israel, but spiritual Israel. The Church is God’s holy nation (1 Pet 2:9). The circumcised descendants of the Patriarch Jacob ended their covenant relationship with God at Calvary. The law that had made them God’s holy nation (Exod 19:5-6) has been abolished (Eph 2:15). Now, unless these circumcised descendants are grafted onto the true vine that is Christ just as biological gentiles are grafted onto the vine by God the Father drawing them (John 6:44, 65), these circumcised descendants have no relationship with God, regardless of how pious they might seem. Therefore, endtime Jerusalem isn’t the physical city of Jerusalem, but the spiritual city walled by living stones in which are the doctrines of Christ. Spiritual Jerusalem doesn’t have geographical coordinates, but theological.
The transition from bronze to iron occurs in the narrative of the sealed words from the book of truth in verses 14 through 23, even though the retained identifiers of "king of the North" and "king of the South" are still attached to the reigning powers. Remember, the division occurs when the torso of the Nebuchadnezzar’s image becomes the loins or thighs. This division is made in the bronze portion of the image, not in the iron portion. All prophecy pundits who would have the iron portion representing Rome will have the division occurring when Rome divided into Eastern and Western Empires. But the Roman Empire ruled Judea from Rome at the time of Christ. The division of the Roman Empire occurs in the days of Constantine. It certainly doesn’t occur prior to when Rome gained control of Judea.
Matthew writes, citing Jesus, that wisdom is required to understand the abomination of desolation. The angel that brings Daniel knowledge of the abomination of desolation said the words were sealed and secret until the time of the end. The angel Gabriel tells Daniel that Daniel’s vision of the he-goat trampling the ram is for the time of the end (Dan 8:17). The sealed words inscribed in the book of truth concern, the angel tells Daniel, ‘"what is to happen to your people in the latter days’" (Dan 10:14). Daniel’s people were Israelites. And Jesus’ Olivet discourse is to His disciples: His disciples are the referent for the pronoun "you" in verses 9 and 15. Jesus’ disciples will be delivered up to tribulation and will be put to death. His disciples will see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet. Daniel doesn’t speak of two abominations of desolation. He speaks of one that will occur in the latter days, the one Jesus mentions when the end of the age comes.
In Revelation, Jesus tells John, ‘"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches’" (22:16). So the "revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place" (1:1) is for the churches; i.e., Israel. Jesus’ Olivet discourse was for His disciples, who would become all of spiritual Israel when Jesus breathed on them and said, ‘"Receive the Holy Spirit’" (John 20:22). Daniel's vision is for Israel in the latter days. The only Israel that exists in the latter days is the greater Church. And in every prophecy where Israel is mentioned at the time of the Lord’s day, the reference is to the greater Church…Israel is the woman of Revelation 12 that the dragon pursues. She brings forth the male child, Christ Jesus (v. 5), and she brings forth offspring "who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus" (v. 17).
There is only one Israel that is the holy nation of God.
Protestantism’s disdain of the Roman Church is manifest in a culture that supports prophecy pundits assigning to Rome every imaginable evil. Evangelical Christianity professes great love for those spiritually dead disciples in the Roman and the Orthodox Churches while teaching disciples to be lawless--what value has iniquity to a spiritually dead disciple? And I challenge the idea that disciples in the Roman and Orthodox Churches are any more spiritually dead than are disciples in the Evangelical Church. All are in spiritual bondage to sin. All will be judged by whether they practiced doing what each knew was right. Hypocrites in each church will go into the lake of fire, and those disciples who lived by faith will go into the resurrection to life (John 5:29). So no disciple has an advantage over another. For if I don’t do what I know is right, my fate will be with the hypocrites. Each disciple will be judged by action versus knowledge. If the Roman and the Orthodox Churches teach less Scripture to their disciples, their disciples will not be held responsible for what the disciples didn’t know. That, though, won’t be the case for their teachers. In every case, the laws of God were written on the hearts and minds of disciples when the disciples were drawn by the Father. These written laws of God tell disciples what is right.
All Israelites are made righteous when drawn by God. And the angel with John tells him, ‘"Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy’" (Rev 22:11). So the righteous continue to do what is right thereby continuing to be holy. But if someone who was made righteous does that which is evil, the person becomes an evildoer and becomes filthy or unclean. This person is no longer holy; this person no longer has a place in the resurrection to life. Therefore, the standard by which all born again disciples are judged is whether the disciple continues to do what the disciple knows is right. If he or she does, the disciple remains holy. If the disciple has walked away from doing what is right, the disciple needs to return to the covenant prior to his or her physical death. There is no other sacrifice for the disciple than the one given by Jesus which is extended by covenant to those disciples who are in covenant with the Father. Outside of the covenant, disciples will pay with both their physical and their spiritual lives for their sins.
Because endtime prophecies are for Israel as a way that Christ Jesus shares with His friends what will happen to the holy nation, thereby preparing the holy nation for forthcoming tribulations and persecutions, prophecy pundits that assign revealed events to physical nations do actual harm to the greater Church. Why isn’t Islam mentioned in prophecy? Because all Muslims will be mentally liberated from bondage to Satan when that dragon is cast to earth and Babylon falls--when they receive the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28). All Moslems will become Israelites halfway through seven years of tribulation. There are no more Moslems beyond the middle of the Tribulation. Likewise, there will be no more Jews, no more Buddhists, no more atheists. Satan as the antiChrist will require everyone to accept the mark of the beast (Chi xi stigma, or the tattoo of Xx) and worship the beast if they want to buy and sell. That mark is the tattoo of the Cross. The worship is of a false Christianity. And Satan will claim to be the messiah--as a spirit being, he will have the power of a spirit being. Therefore, Israel is warned, "If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes…Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints" (Rev 13:10). Saints must endure in faith for three and a half years. They must mentally fight just as physical Israelites under Joshua had to physically fight to capture the promised land, which is for the saints glorification. And their enemy will be as a roaring lion, spewing forth the Christianity of the Cross. For the last 1260 days prior to Christ’s return, all of humanity will have received the Holy Spirit. There will only be genuine Christians and false Christians.
Genuine Christians are "those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus" (Rev 14:12). It will prove difficult to keep faith in Jesus when it will appear that Jesus has come and has changed "the times and the law" (Dan 7:25). But "for a time, times, and half a time" (same verse) all those who endure to the end will be saved (Matt 24:13), without exception. And this is the prophetic gospel that must be preached to the world as a witness to all nations before the end comes (v. 14). It has just been preached to you.
The beasts of Daniel 7 are the four horns, or demons that appear on the head of the he-goat when the great horn is broken. But more about them later. The scene revealed in Daniel 7:9-14 is the parallel of Revelation 11:15-18. The lives of the first three beasts were prolonged for a season and a time (Dan 7:12). Those three beasts along with the head of the fourth beast that received a mortal wound, all parts of the king of Greece, compose the first beast of Revelation 13. And the king of the North being troubled by news from the east and the north, going forth in great fury, and no one coming to his rescue (Dan 11:44-45) is the parallel of Revelation 11:19 (this is what troubled the king of the North) and Daniel 7:11.
The sealed words given Daniel that are inscribed in the book of truth are no longer sealed. The spiritual kings of the North and of the South will battle for control of Israel. The king of the South reigns over the spiritual house of Judah; i.e., trinitarian Christianity. The king of the North reigns over the spiritual house of Israel; i.e., Arian Christianity. And when a person plugs this revelation back into the formerly sealed and secret words inscribed in the book of truth, the war for the control of Israel during the Tribulation and especially after the second Passover become understandable, especially when stored food is leveraged into Arian discipleship. The true hatred Trinitarian Christians feel toward Arian Christians comes as a reflection of what the king of the South feels for the king of the North. And if a person doubts that hatred exists, read what Evangelicals have written about Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. Then return to Daniel chapters 7 and 11, realizing that the four headed leopard is the king of the South.
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