Month: October 2017

Surprisingly, the fifth seal of Revelation six and Daniel’s question of how long the events of the vision of Daniel twelve will last is a marker for placing the middle of the tribulation in each book. If the fifth seal is the marker for the last three and a half years of Daniel’s seventieth week then presumably the first four seals are the first half of the same week.

Daniel 12:7 specifies that the end comes after three and a half years when the persecution of the saints is complete. The Hebrew word wəyiṯ·labbənū sometimes translated purified means to make white (Daniel 12:10). The saints of Daniel 12:19 will be made white. The fifth seal of Revelation 6:9-11 contains the same message. The saints under the alter are given a white robe and told that the end comes when the number of those to be persecuted is completed.

The sixth seal of Revelation, Revelation 6:12-17, may coincide with Daniel 12:12 and gives an idea of the timespan for the seven bowls of God’s wrath; forty-five days. These scriptures suggests that the saints are raptured to the marriage feast of the lamb when the number of those to be slain is completed (Revelation 14:14-20). During that feast the seven bowls of God’s wrath are poured out on the wicked, the only ones left on earth. The response of the those suffering the bowl judgments support the idea that only the wicked are left on the earth (Revelation 16). After the seven bowls the Lord returns to establish His reign.

The difficulty with understanding any connection between Daniel eleven and Revelation six is that Revelation six is happening in the heavenly realm while Daniel eleven is happening in the earthly realm as a result of spiritual influence. As the spiritual restraints are loosened, the breaking of the seals, the result is observed by John. It is sometimes misunderstood from the English translation that the “living” creatures before the thrown are speaking to John when they same “come” and not summonsing the riders on the horses. The Greek means “come and see”.

The rider of the first seal has a bow and is given a crown, he comes as a warrior to be crown a king. As with Daniel twelve and the fifth seal of Revelation, there are parallel sections of Daniel with the first seal; most notably being Daniel 11:3. Daniel 11:2-4 is a recap of Daniel eight which details where this mighty king comes from and what causes his notoriety. The antichrist rises after the fall of the mighty king of Daniel eleven with intrigue and manipulation. If the rider of the white horse is not the antichrist then the start of the last week of Daniel nine does not begin with the opening of the first seal of Revelation.

Next week we will look at other potential markers for the beginning of Daniel’s seventieth week.

May God bless you in your study of His word.

Daniel 9:27 has given the clearest marker for the start of the last week of the seventy weeks prophecy, a strengthening of the covenant. We need to identify which covenant is being referred to in order to get an idea how this strengthening might be manifested in order to place the marker in the right place in the Revelation narrative.

Of the covenants of God in the Old Testament only three are serious contenders, the Abrahamic, the Sinaitic (made with Moses at Mount Sinai), and the Davidic. Of the three, it is the Davidic covenant that establishes the Messiah’s rule from the Temple at Jerusalem. Moving forward from Daniel nine to Daniel 12:11 Daniel is told that “From the time the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. [HCSB]” The vision of Daniel ten through twelve occurs in the third year of Cyrus; there was no Temple in Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed it after the rebellion of King Zedekiah. This verse points to a future temple and the Davidic covenant as the covenant being strengthened in the end-times.

From the time the “abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days”; 1,290 days to what? Daniel 12:11 is in response to Daniel not understanding the statement of Daniel 12:7, “Then I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river. He raised both his hands toward heaven and swore by Him who lives eternally that it would be for a time, times, and half a time. When the power of the holy people is shattered, all these things will be completed. [HCSB]” The “these things” are the things of Daniel eleven that results in the battle of Armageddon (Daniel 11:45). It is clear that Daniel 11:29-35 corresponds to the “abomination of desolation” of Daniel 12:11, therefore, from the antichrist appearing at Daniel 11:21 to the desecration of the temple at Daniel 11:31 is the three and a half years period of the “strengthening” of the Davidic covenant.

Who, then, in Daniel eleven starts the process of war and destruction in the Middle East that affects the whole world? It is the warrior king of Javan (Daniel 11:2-4). (See blog post titled “O Rider, Who Are You?” in the May 2017 archive for more background on the topic) This will be a devastating war that will change the make-up of the Middle East from how it is known today. This warrior king appears to be a better fit, scripturally, for the role of the conquering king of the first seal of Revelation 6:1-2.

Next week’s post will explore the events of Daniel 11:1-20 and how they might relate to the first four seals of Revelation 6.

May God bless you in your study of His word.

In the realm of Christian eschatology there are series of time frames associated with the tribulation. Most pre-millennial Christians know that there is seven years predicted for the tribulation but may not be aware it comes from the book of Daniel and not Revelation (Daniel 9:24-27). Many know that there is a three and a half years period associated with the tribulation but few realize there are numerous three and a half years periods spoken of in scripture; concerning the antichrist in Daniel, Jerusalem and the two witnesses in Revelation and an another concerning the saints in Revelation (Daniel 12:7; Revelation 11:1-6; 12:14). But very few Christians realize there is a 2,300 days prophecy associated with the tribulation (Daniel 8:13-14) and two periods in Daniel twelve, one being 1,290 days and the other 1,335 days (Daniel 12:11-12). All these times deal with the same subject and God gave these times so that the saints correctly discern eschatological events and those living during the tribulation can find courage in the knowledge that -the return of Christ is in sight. What, then, signals the starting of the countdown for each of these time periods on the second advent clock?

A note of clarification is in order. There is no intent to imply or give the expectation that the day or hour of the return of Jesus can be predicted based on identifying when timeframes associated with the tribulation begins. Jesus clearly told the disciples that is not possible (Mark 13:32).

The most obvious place to start the second advent seems to be with the breaking of the first seal in Revelation. If it is the opening of the first seal and the appearance of the rider that marks the beginning of the tribulation then it logically applies that the seven year period begins with the breaking of the first seal. But, how will the saints recognize that the rider on the white horse has been loosed as opposed to just another tyrant rising briefly on the world stage? Therein lies the key to aligning all the time frames consistently to all the eschatological prophesies. Yet, applying timeframes to end-time events is biased by the identity applied to the rider of the white horse and therefore influences the understanding of the book of Revelation itself. It is a curious outcome that the way the Book of Revelation is understood centers, to a large degree, on who is identified as the rider on the white horse in Revelation 6:1-2 (See blog post titled “O Rider, Who Are You?” in the May 2017 archive for more background on the topic).

Evangelicals most often identifying the antichrist as the rider on the white horse and that association fits well with the pre-millennial dispensationalist doctrine of a pre-tribulation rapture. The Book of Revelation then becomes a message to those who will be left behind from chapter six onward. The world will be left without the Church, the light of the world, and presumably the Holy Spirit, to somehow obtain a faith that submits to Christ even when it results in death itself. The accepted thinking is that the two witnesses of Revelation eleven will evangelize the Jews and it is the Jews that are the focus of Revelation from chapter six on. Such an idea does seem at odds with the fact that the Revelation was written to the Church, Gentile churches at that, and not the Jews.

There is nothing in scripture that identifies the antichrist outright as the conquering king of the first seal. The Greek verb “nikaó”, translated “conquer” means “I conquer” and implies victory from battle (Revelation 6:1-2). The description of the antichrist in Daniel eleven describes him as contemptible and tells that he obtains the kingdom by flatteries which is at odds with the Greek verb “nikaó” (Daniel 11:21-24). Still, the antichrist is seen in Daniel nine as making a covenant with the Jews for seven years (Daniel 9:27). The Young’s Literal Translation of Daniel 9:27 gives a better understanding of the Hebrew which says the antichrist “strengthens a covenant with many – one week”. The strengthening of the covenant is, perhaps, a better marker for the beginning of the seven years of tribulation rather than the appearance of a conquering king.

A covenant is an agreement between God and His people. It is likely that the covenant to be strengthened is the covenant between God and Abraham rather than the Sinaitic Covenant (the covenant between God and Moses). Abraham is the father of the Arabs as well as the Jews which could be the basis for allowing a new Temple on the Temple mount in Jerusalem.

Starting with the antichrist as the rider of the white horse becomes problematic when harmonizing the books of Daniel and Revelation. It seems more correct, when taking Daniel and Revelation together, that the rise of the antichrist occurs somewhere after the opening of the first seal. The first scripture that can be directly applied to the antichrist in the Book of Revelation is Revelation 13:5-9. This is the scripture describing a diverse beast with seven heads and ten horns and the beast being given a mouth to speak blasphemies (See blog post titled “The Babylon Of Revelation” in the September 2017 archive for more background on the topic). Nowhere else in scripture is the antichrist described this way, but he is described as speaking blasphemies against the Most High in the book of Daniel (Daniel 2:23-25; 11:36). The description of the beast in Revelation thirteen has a dual purpose, it is a metaphor that associates both the end-times Babylon and Satan’s earthly representative, the antichrist. The metaphor is intended to mimic the relationship between God the Father, Jesus His Son, and the Church. The English interpretation of the scripture in Revelation is that “he opened his mouth” but the Greek does not carry the personal pronoun “he”. Young’s Literal Translation reads, “there was given to it a mouth speaking great things, and evil-speakings”. The antichrist as the mouth is an apt metaphor that expresses the demon possession of the antichrist by Satan himself and harmonizes with scripture in Daniel.

A clear marker for the start of the last week, the seven years of the Tribulation, is the strengthening of the covenant but is that the same as the rider on the white horse? There is another candidate for the rider of the white horse that will be examined next week.

May God bless you in your study of His word.

When Christians think of the battle where Christ returns to cast the antichrist and the false prophet in the lake of fire, where Satan is bound for a thousand years, they think of the battle of Armageddon as the last great battle in the Bible (Revelation 19:17-21;20:1-3). That would be incorrect. The last great battle where Satan and his minions are cast into the lake of fire is the battle with Gog and Magog after the millennial reign of Christ (Revelation 20:7-10). The antichrist and his minions are long gone by the time Gog and Magog appear in the narrative.

The majority of Christians give little thought to final battles in the book of Revelation either because they believe the book to be allegorical, a-millennials, or that Christians will be raptured into heaven before any of this happens, pre-millennials. Yet, there is no scripture that supports either case, not even 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17. Commentaries that espouse a pre-millennial rapture ignore the scriptures where the New Testament Epistle writers believed they were living the last days where the return of Christ was imminent (2 Timothy 3:1; Hebrews 1:2; James 5:3; 2 Peter 3:3; 1 John 2:18). That means they believed the Church was already in the tribulation and had no notion of a pre-tribulation rapture.

If we accept that the Church will go into the tribulation, just as the Apostles believed, then the second and third chapters of Revelation are understood as a message of warning and encouragement to the tribulation Church. Indeed, the blessings promised to those who overcome in those two chapters are seen being given to the overcomers in the following chapters.

The battle of Armageddon is not the final battle with Satan and the idyllic world where the lion lies down with the lamb does not occur until after the battle with Gog and Magog (Isaiah 11). It is interesting to note that Isaiah 11:11 tells that this idyllic world happens when God gathers His people from the nations of the earth a second time, perhaps after the second and final battle with Satan.

The news gives evidence daily that the prophesies of Daniel conare being fulfilled. The tribulation is approaching and there will be no taking away of the Church, the one true light in the world. We are given the light of Christ to proclaim it, not to hide it (Matthew 5:14-16).

May God bless you in your study of His word.