Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ² For by it the elders obtained a good testimony (Hebrews 11:1,2).

Pondering the history of the United States Marine Corps, I am immediately at a loss for words. I feel extremely insufficient to speak of their commitment and exploits.

Though I have no concept of actual warfare and military inter-service planning and logistics, as best I can simply understand it, the Marines are essentially the land-based (army-style) forces of the US Navy. As such, they have often been the first invasion force in major military campaigns, especially when those invasions came from the sea.

The motto of the United States Marine Corps is Semper Fidelis (often shortened to “Semper Fi”). In English, this Latin phrase means “Always Faithful.” Each Marine is committed to be faithful to defend their Marine brothers and sisters next to them, their specific units, the US Marine Corps itself, and the United States of America.

Semper Fidelis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vPIWDLPm6M

I hope and pray you have been blessed by the study series we just finished on the book of Daniel. The upcoming series will be on the stories found in Hebrews 11, “the faith chapter.”

God alone is “Always Faithful.”

He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).

But as Christians, we are called to reflect Christ. As the days and years roll by and we get closer and closer to Christ’s return, God is calling a people to perfectly reflect the faithfulness of Christ to an unbelieving world.

that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27).

Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).

Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).

Marie Durand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3auQAdWPBY

A similar description of the people of God at the end of time occurs a couple chapters earlier, with the specific prophetic time frame attached so that its application to our day cannot be mistaken.

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

¹⁴ And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

¹⁵ And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

¹⁶ And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

¹⁷ And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:13-17 KJV).

God preserved a knowledge of His Word through His people in the Dark Ages. By 1798, at the end of the 1260-year (time, times, and half a time) papal persecution, Satan would be feeling the time-crunch ticking for the final moments he had remaining to hurt Christ by attacking and deceiving God’s people.

What does this description tell us about God’s people at the end of time?

1. They look like God’s people through all time, just like a remnant is the same material as everything else that was ever part of the bolt of cloth.

2. They obey God’s Ten Commandments.

3. They have the testimony of Jesus.

What is “the testimony of Jesus”?

the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10).

So the faithful people of God at the end of time will live lives and exhibit characteristics that look like God’s faithful people throughout time. They will obey Christ’s commandments and remain intimately connected to Him through His Prophetic Word.

That description sounds a lot like the example of Abraham, commonly known as “the father of the faithful.”

Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him (Genesis 18:18,19).

Abraham: The Father of the Faithful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dTYibQJVVk

Many Christians mistake faith as being the diametric opposite of obedience. How does the Bible equate the two? Some fun math principles to begin with:

• If A = B and B = C, then A must also equal C.

• If A is the opposite of B, and B is the opposite of C, then again A must equal C.

The Bible says that sin is the diametric opposite of obedience.

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4).

The Bible also says that sin is the diametric opposite of faith.

whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23).

If both faith and obedience are the diametric opposites of sin, they must themselves be fundamentally identical. Just maybe, that’s why God used the combination to describe the character and life of the people of God at the end of time.

Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).

It really makes perfect sense if you think about it. Obedience is faith in action. Faithfulness is obedience to a fault.

The stories we will study in Hebrews 11 are of common people like you and me. But they were common people who made seemingly uncommon decisions to trust the Word of God when it made no human sense to believe it could come true.

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸ And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit (James 5:16-18).

God had stated that if Israel fell away from Him that it wouldn’t rain. Elijah trusted the Word of God and told Ahab it wouldn’t rain. And it didn’t rain.

And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed (Deuteronomy 28:23,24).

The walls of Jericho fell by faith in the promise of God, but the people had to march and then shout or the walls would have stood for centuries. Noah was saved from the flood by faith in the promise of God, but if he didn’t build a boat that looked stupid on land, he and his family would have died too. The widow who reached out to Elisha was spared her sons being taken away for her debts, but she had to borrow pots and pour oil that didn’t exist except by God’s Word to earn the money. In each story, we will learn that living by the Word of God, especially when it doesn’t make human sense, is the very definition of what faith is.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

Some would say that obedience by definition demonstrates a human-based effort to be saved by works, but that disobedience actually demonstrates true faith in Christ’s love and power to forgive. This is an absolute spiritual deception! Jesus died to save us FROM our sins, NOT IN our sins.

you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? (Romans 6:1,2).

Yes, Jesus will forgive our failures. But never would His will for us to be intentionally walking the path of disobedience. Intentional disobedience is the wide road that leads to destruction. Narrow is the gate and straight is the way that leads to life, the way of faithful obedience to Christ’s plan for your life.

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ² And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world (1 John 2:1,2).

With each and every passage we examine in this series, please ask yourself the question:

If obedience to God’s Word and will is Christ’s specific plan to demonstrate His power to save through my life, am I complying with His will? Or am I going my own way?

Is there some aspect of my life I haven’t given to Him that is keeping Him from using me as His witness to the world and to the universe? Or have I given all to the point He can say of me as with Job, “Have you considered My servant ______?” Can Christ add me to the faithful list of whom Hebrews 11 says, “by it (faith) the elders obtained a good testimony”? (Hebrews 11:2).

If United States Marines can trust and faithfully fulfill the orders of their fallible human commanders, even if they can’t understand the reasoning, how can God’s people not be faithful to fulfill the Commandments of the Divine Savior, regardless of whether or not the requirements are important in our eyes?

If United States Marines can be faithful to a cause greater than themselves, how can God’s people not be faithful to an even Higher Call?

you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

In the Holy Spirit’s power, the love of Christ displayed on Calvary, and every good and perfect gift from the Father of Light supplying our every need to fulfill His will, may we each carry the motto of spiritual Marines into our daily battles, wherever the King may send us.

Semper Fi

Romans 4: Faith that Saves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS3XIVLEljs

she judged Him faithful who had promised (Hebrews 11:11).

What does it mean to be faithful to the call of Christ in the final days of earth’s history? Revelation presents the final faithful generations as “the remnant.”

And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17).

What is a remnant? It’s a small end-piece of cloth that is the very same substance, creation, and design of the entire original bolt of cloth.

The faithful remnant will look like the faithful ones God has used through all time. The faithful remnant will reflect the character of Jesus. They will take God at His Word and obey whatever He says no matter the consequences to themselves and no matter how odd it may look to all outside appearances.

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39).

This won’t necessarily look the same in every situation. Noah built a boat while the world scoffed. Peter, James, John, and Andrew walked away from their livelihood with no prospects of feeding their families to follow an itinerant Preacher. Daniel opened his windows to pray when doing so meant a night with the lions. John the Baptist gave the message of reproof to an evil king and remained faithful even though there was no miraculous deliverance as Daniel had received.

The specific cost each was asked to pay was not the determining factor. The willingness to accept the call to follow Christ and His Word in spite of their questions was.

I hope and pray the series on Daniel, A Call to Worship, has been a blessing to you.

Tomorrow, we will begin a new series entitled Faithful in the Final Days.

We will systematically study the faith chapter, Hebrews 11. The stories are from the Old Testament, but the testimonies of faithfulness could not be more pertinent to the final generation.

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1 Corinthians 10:11).

I pray this new series will be a blessing as we walk through the “Hall of Faith.” Ultimately, each portrait of faithfulness these individuals present to us gives a small piece of a picture of Jesus. The portrait of Christ will not be complete without your story of faithfulness. I pray that none within the sphere of influence of this writing will be found to be a missing piece when He returns.

Great Chapters: Hebrews 11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoStMEcTc5k

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; ²⁰ that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them” (Deuteronomy 30:19,20).

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— ⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” (Revelation 14:6,7).

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17).

Ultimately, the book of Daniel is a call to worship Jesus Christ: the King of kings, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Savior, and the Protector of His people.

Whether we want to be part of it or not, we were all born into the middle of a war. We must each choose a side. Neutrality is impossible.

Linage Journey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehmiQUV7mHc

The King of kings reigns from heaven, the epitome of self-sacrificing love. Christ came in person to defeat the foe. That victory cost Him His life, though He rose again and ascended to heaven as Conqueror. Those who choose His service remain as His representatives on earth.

The rebel leader, the epitome of selfishness, has been banished to earth. Satan was cast out of heaven after falsely accusing God of the selfishness that was in his own heart. He enlisted Adam and Eve to his side at the tree in the Garden of Eden. Since that time he has been working out his rebellious plans through the kingdoms of man.

Bible prophecy presents the two leaders figuratively as the true kings of New Jerusalem and Babylon respectively: Jesus Christ as King of Jerusalem and Satan as king of Babylon.

where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. 7 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ² to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace” (Hebrews 6:20-7:2).

⁴ that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:

¹² “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
¹³ For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High’ (Isaiah 14:4,12-14).

The two systems of worship are presented in Genesis and the themes run through the book of Revelation.

Babylon is introduced in Genesis 11 as the center of self-worship.

And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” ⁹ Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth (Genesis 11:4,9).

Jerusalem is introduced in Genesis 14 as the Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace.

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said:

“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
²⁰ And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

And he gave him a tithe of all (Genesis 14:18-20).

Sin is a deadly cancer. We are all born into the kingdom of spiritual Babylon. Except as we accept the cure of forgiveness and new life in Christ, we are all doomed to eternal destruction.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

Calvary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sticwfNWfM&list=PLAortNXplLTh83WtSGdaDED7JWHpDv3L3&index=19

Through the grace granted us through the sacrifice of Christ, we are all free to choose to defect from citizenship in Satan’s kingdom to become citizens of the Kingdom of Righteousness that will never end.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:16,17).

giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:12-14).

And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:17-19).

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ² Beloved, now we are children of God (1 John 3:1,2).

Christ is our only Hope of salvation.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3).

So that none need be deceived, Christ has laid out the Gospel, the path of salvation through the New Covenant promise.

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” ¹⁷ then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:16,17).

He presented it in the pattern demonstrated through the Old Testament sanctuary service.

The Blueprint (Sanctuary)

https://youtu.be/ffjqQ8YIPMA?si=05uInHjbuZuILfbu

Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary (Psalm 77:13).

Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ² a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man (Hebrew 8:1,2).

Throughout history, Satan has inspired pagan rulers to defy the God of heaven and attempt to compel God’s people to direct worship somewhere else, anywhere else, than to Christ. The book of Daniel presents the kingdoms of man moving forward from the time of Babylon, but earlier books of the Bible are filled with stories of various kingdoms attempting to redirect or compel the worship from God’s people to some other entity, ultimately to Satan.

As we have studied the book of Daniel, we have seen a clear line of blasphemous treason against the God of heaven perpetrated by Satan via the kingdoms of man. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and pagan Rome all attempted in some way to compel worship to themselves and away from King Jesus.

Daniel 7 identifies the entity who would replace pagan Rome. The little horn power has a list of characteristics that, collectively, can only point to one entity in human history. Sadly, that entity was revealed to be us as the organized Christian Church.

We would be the ones in New Testament times who would blasphemously redirect our worship toward a human entity rather than to the Divine Son of God. How would we attempt to do this? Daniel 8 says we would attack the Heavenly Sanctuary, the way of the Gospel. We would think we were able to replace the Gospel of Christ as presented through the sanctuary service with a man-made, Satan-inspired counterfeit!

the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:3,4).

We would call the human leader of this entity the “pope,” meaning “papa,” or “father,” in direct violation of the Word of Christ.

Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven (Matthew 23:9).

We would attack every level and every instrument of the sanctuary service. We would blasphemously try to replace Christ with a human leader of the church. We would try to replace grace through faith in the cross with human works, confessing our sins to a priest and seeking forgiveness from a man rather than from Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (altar of sacrifice).

We would sprinkle infants instead of immersing youth and adults who could make a conscious decision to follow the way of the cross, removing the clear example of death, burial and resurrection to a new birth in Jesus (laver).

We would try to replace the Bible with human tradition (table of showbread). We would try to compel people to accept our religion not by Biblical reasoning, but by force and compulsion (seven-branched candlestick). We would refuse to pray to the One Mediator, Jesus Christ, and instead pray to the dead as though they could hear us and save us from the power of Satan (altar of incense).

As prophesied by Daniel, we even decided we could change God’s Eternal Ten Commandment Law (ark of the covenant).

And shall intend to change times and law (Daniel 7:25).

We would tell God that His choice of a holy day wasn’t good enough, that we had the power to supersede His Word and His will. We would acknowledge that He declared the seventh day to be holy, but we would claim the right to transfer that holiness to the first day of the week without His Biblical instruction.

Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.

—C. F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons, in answer to a letter regarding the change of the Sabbath, November 11, 1895.

The Seventh Day with Hal Holbrook

https://youtu.be/_C8wvaqq1l4?si=MTxb4KqTHqHDztzb&t=425

The God who created us set aside the seventh day of creation week as a holy, blessed day, sanctified for communion with Him (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11). It was a blessing given to humanity before sin marred the planet. It was a day to commemorate His power to create, the reason He is worthy of worship in the first place.

You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created (Revelation 4:11).

After sin entered, the Sabbath was endowed by God the additional honor of being a symbol of redemption, restoration, and salvation through the blood of Christ (Ezekiel 20:12-20). Thus, Satan sought by destroying the Sabbath to obscure yet another reason that Christ alone is worthy of worship.

And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
¹⁰ And have made ^[d]us kings^[e] and priests to our God;
And ^[f]we shall reign on the earth.”

¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, ¹² saying with a loud voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:9-12).

Yet, in an attitude of blasphemy and treason, we as Christians followed Satan’s lead and chose to honor Sunday in place of the Bible Sabbath. Sunday, a day dedicated to pagan worship of the sun. Sunday, a day that had no blessing of God, no sanction from His Word, no sanctity from Heaven, merely the command of man.

And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men (Matthew 15:9).

But God, through Daniel, predicted a turning point in salvation history. The Reformation would restore the sanctuary, one step at a time.

Justification through faith in the cross, baptism by immersion, the Bible and the Bible alone, praying to Christ alone, and conversion through Biblical evidence rather than compulsory force of government were one by one restored to Christianity through the power of Christ and the blood of many martyrs.

Martin Luther: Just Live by Faith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDDjhkUoAzA&list=PLG-L_0-A41yZ7SXsJV-LDu2opMl28z-_k&index=20

The final restoration prophesied was the restoration of the image of Christ in His people.

that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:26,27).

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love (John 15:9.10).

The Fourth Commandment, the Commandment specifically attacked by the little horn power as the one that supposedly established human ecclesiastical power as being above the authority of God’s Word, was prophesied in Revelation to be restored around the time of the final judgment hour, in 1844 AD.

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— ⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water (Revelation 14:6,7).

With the heavenly proclamation that judgment was imminent, the Sabbath commandment was quoted in a call to worship the Creator to whom the Sabbath always pointed.

As with the restoration of the other sanctuary steps, Satan would vehemently resist. Sabbath-keeping was condemned by many Protestants. The day Christ dedicated to identify faith in His promise to save and sanctify His people was attacked by many of His people as being a representation of work-based religion. Satan also propagated the theory of evolution into mainstream circles, including Christianity. This created worldwide doubt in God’s creative power, thus undercutting the very foundation of the Sabbath in many minds.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17).

The “rest of her offspring,” or “the remnant” as some versions describe it, depict a last-day church that looks exactly like the original. What did the original church believe about obeying God’s commandments?

If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15).

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked (1 John 2:3-6).

Jesus Christ, with a finger that would one day be nailed to a wooden cross, etched the words of the Ten Commandments into stone. Man has absolutely no power in heaven or on earth to change one jot or tittle of these commands. Man cannot define what sin is or is not. Only the God of heaven who is Truth can define Right from wrong.

Daniel 3 depicts a human king demanding worship of an image under penalty of death. The leaders from the entire known world were required to bow and worship the image in violation of the second commandment or face death at the hands of human power.

The decision was clear. Faithfulness to God would result in death at the hands of man. Loyalty to man’s decree over God’s command would lead to eternal death. Whose power would those present ultimately trust?

The Bible predicts a last-day repeat of this scenario, except on a global scale. Human power will command disobedience to God’s commandments, notably the fourth commandment that the little horn power has claimed authority to change.

The Impending Conflict

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QMHEWuRDf0&list=PLAortNXplLThhktwnIu_9AmB1xsIShpWG&index=37

Faithfulness to God will to all appearances require the sacrifice of one’s life.

And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. ¹⁵ He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. ¹⁶ He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name (Revelation 13:14-17).

But trusting in the power of man will bring the wrath of God unmixed with mercy.

Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name” (Revelation 14:9-11).

Whose power to save will you trust? God has the power to save you from the wrath of man. Man has no power to save you from the wrath of God.

If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up (Daniel 3:17,18).

Some who choose to honor God may indeed suffer and die while the judgment continues. God can use their faithfulness as seed for His kingdom. But after all decisions have finally been made for or against Christ, the righteous, like the worthies in the fiery furnace, will both obey God’s Law and be protected from the threats of man.

Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).

At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book (Daniel 12:1).

Again, we are in a war. Neutrality is impossible. We are each born into the kingdom of Babylon. Unless we choose to defect to the Kingdom of Christ, eternal death is our ultimate destiny.

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).

It is possible to orchestrate a lifestyle that appears to be in obedience to God’s Commandments yet does not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” ¹⁷ So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸ He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ¹⁹ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” ²⁰ The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” ²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” ²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions (Matthew 19:16-22).

It is not possible to knowingly live in defiance of God’s Commandments and yet be living in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:3,4).

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin (James 4:17).

It might be easy to say you wish you had never heard about the Sabbath and how man decided to blasphemously try to change it. Then you wouldn’t be responsible to God for knowingly choosing a different path. But God is calling each of us to follow Him fully. Knowing and understanding His will is a blessing, not a curse.

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained (Acts 17:30,31).

Facing Life's Record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VO4lTsIPQE&list=PLAortNXplLThhktwnIu_9AmB1xsIShpWG&index=29

The judgment day to which Paul looked forward to is the day in which we live. It is a solemn time to be confessing our sins and asking Christ to remove sin from our lives, not a day to be looking to hide or excuse our sins.

you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹ For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people (Leviticus 23:27-29).

Our prayer at this time must be the prayer of the Psalmist:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
²⁴ And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23,24).

If you live in spiritual Babylon, Daniel’s call to worship is Christ’s call to salvation. Come out! There is no time for delay!

After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. ² And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! ³ For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” ⁴ And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. ⁵ For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities (Revelation 18:1-5).

The Final Warning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW8jluUYGdI&list=PLAortNXplLThhktwnIu_9AmB1xsIShpWG&index=39

If you are a spiritual descendant of the heroes of the Reformation but have never before heard and understood that Righteousness by Faith includes a transformation process leading one to keep all Ten of Christ’s Commandments, I beg you to go to Christ and honestly ask, “what will you have me do?” The answer, if you listen to Christ, will always be, “Follow Me.”

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? (Romans 6:16).

It may be that honoring the Sabbath truth makes life difficult with your work schedule or it could even come between you and your family. Please, place your trust in Christ. If we cannot trust Him with earthly needs and concerns, we are lying to ourselves if we claim we are truly trusting Him for eternal salvation. He calls each of us to trust His promise.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33).

If anything I have written has gone against the Word of God, always go with God’s Word. But if this series has opened your eyes to a call from God that you have not heard before, or you have heard a call that you have heard before but never before heeded, I urge you not to turn away this time.

For every soul there is a final call. Who can say that this call isn’t yours?

“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (Hebrews 3:15).

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself (Daniel 1:8).

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— ⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

⁸ And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

⁹ Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

¹² Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:6-12).

If you love Jesus, if you are thankful He died to save you and would like to follow Him and His Word regardless of the apparent consequences, please respond to this link or contact me in whatever other way you have access to. Jesus is waiting for you to make the decision to follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

Strengthened for the Journey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rZQ5OA61Bw&list=PLGKboWdhbsCuMqtSXb9m5RroVO1XhEH2C&index=19

⁴ “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

⁵ Then I, Daniel, looked; and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank. ⁶ And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?”

⁷ Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.

⁸ Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?”

⁹ And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. ¹⁰ Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.

¹¹ “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. ¹² Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.

¹³ “But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:4-13).

The prophetic narrative of Daniel 10-12 began with Daniel prayerfully seeking understanding and being given an Answer via a vision of Jesus Christ. The middle of the narrative is an extensive in-depth prophecy through the history of the kingdoms of man waging war against the Kingdom of God, attacking the King by attacking His children. In our last presentation, we saw Christ’s response, His wrath poured on the wicked followed by His return in glory to save His chosen ones. The narrative ends as it had begun. Daniel was again asking for wisdom to understand, and the Answer was again given him via a vision of Jesus Christ.

In reading the ten verses, we see there are basically three motifs presented in repetition.

1. The book of Daniel is sealed until the time of the end (Daniel 12:4,9,10).

2. The time frame granted to the kingdoms of man (Daniel 12:5-8,11,12).

3. The assurance of final deliverance (Daniel 12:13).

In this final presentation of our series on Daniel, we will study each motif individually.

1. The book of Daniel is sealed until the time of the end (Daniel 12:4,9,10).

   

⁴ “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

⁹ And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. ¹⁰ Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand (Daniel 12:4,9,10).

Daniel was told by the angel not to stress over the meaning of what he had seen, because the book was to be “sealed” up until “the time of the end.” He was promised that there would be a time when knowledge would increase and the wise would understand.

Much has been made in Christian circles about the books of apocalyptic prophecy being “sealed.” Many Christians have been taught that we are not to study Daniel and Revelation due to the instruction found in this one verse. The reasoning is offered that we have no idea when the time of the end could be. Therefore, we have no reason to believe the books have ever been unsealed.

There are a couple problems with this theory. First, in contrast to Daniel, Revelation was never a sealed book.

And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand (Revelation 22:10).

The very name of the book is “Jesus Christ Revealed.”

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, ² who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. ³ Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near (Revelation 1:1-3).

But second, even in the book of Daniel, we see a stopping point to the time the book would be sealed. It would be until “the time of the end.” What do we know about the time of the end?

“many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase” (Daniel 12:4).

and…

till the time of the end. ¹⁰ Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand (Daniel 12:9,10).

In a very literal sense, “running to and fro” and an increase in knowledge is unmistakably accurate of the past few centuries. I can’t pretend that I would have had the ingenuity to survive in the New England winters of the 1600s. But my great-grandmother’s generation who began their lives in covered wagons and died after the moon landing would have never disputed that either Biblical descriptor fails to find application in our present day.

I have been told by those who understand Bible vocabulary much better than I do that these descriptions are actual spiritual applications rather than secular. They were written in a way to imply Biblical knowledge increasing through Bible students “running to and fro” from the back to front of their Bibles studying out the meaning of these passages. From the early 1800s, the British and American Bible societies began spreading God’s Word around the world. Today, billions of humans have access to God’s Word in their own language 24/7/365 via an app on their phones.

Mary Jones

https://youtu.be/5Saab53GGyI?si=eF0Bnh7iFWmLo7Uk

I hope and pray that, whether in relation to this blog or simply your own Bible reading plan, in some way you are personally fulfilling this prophecy of running to and fro and that your Bible knowledge is increasing. I especially hope and pray you are fulfilling the portion of being purified, made white and refined, and being wise to understand.

Beyond these general predictions, is there any way to more specifically confirm whether or not we have crossed the threshold of the time of the end? Has the book of Daniel been unsealed yet? Can we know for sure? The answer can be found by “running to and fro” within the book of Daniel ourselves. Which brings us to…

2. The time frame granted to the kingdoms of man (Daniel 12:5-8,11,12).

   

The prophetic narrative in Daniel 8,9 states that the time of the end would have arrived by the time the “sanctuary would be cleansed,” when the judgment day in heaven would begin.

Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, “How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?”

¹⁴ And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.”

¹⁵ Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. ¹⁶ And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” ¹⁷ So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, “Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end” (Daniel 8:13-17).

We have already learned that this 2300-day (day for a year) prophecy began with the third decree to rebuild Jerusalem, found in Ezra 7. The decree was issued in the fall of 457 BC. It would expire with the beginning of the heavenly judgment hour 2300 years later in the fall of 1844 AD. The presentation Right on Time unpackaged the prophecy timeline if you would like to review the passage.

We can know for certain that we are living in the time of the end because we are living in the great judgment hour of apocalyptic prophecy which the Bible says would begin during “the time of the end.”

The book of Daniel is no longer sealed. The book of Revelation was never sealed. We as Christians are today responsible for studying and understanding the meaning of the apocalyptic words that were hidden since the days of Daniel.

Then I, Daniel, looked; and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank. ⁶ And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?”

⁷ Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.

⁸ Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?”

¹¹ “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. ¹² Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days (Daniel 12:5-8,11,12).

The passage in Daniel’s closing chapter gives an even earlier starting date for the time of the end, the conclusion of the “time, times, and half a time,” which ended in 1798. We have seen that this time prophecy refers to the temporal reign of the papal little horn power, that extended from 538-1798 AD.

Who is the Man declaring the same time prophecy in this chapter? It is Christ Himself. How can we know that the One clothed in linen is the same One who John saw tending the candlesticks in heaven’s sanctuary in Revelation 1? When Christ makes the promise to overturn the kingdoms of man, He puts His own Name on the line, “Him who lives forever.”

The author of Hebrews wrote that God puts His own Name on the line when making a promise because there is nothing greater that He can use to affirm His Word. The Name of the Creator whose Name is Truth (John 14:6). Christ is the One for whom lying is a literal impossibility (Titus 1:2).

For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, ¹⁴ saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” ¹⁵ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. ¹⁷ Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, ¹⁸ that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us (Hebrews 6:13-18).

The same Jesus who promised Abraham that he would have a son and be a blessing to the entire planet also promised Daniel that soon after the 1260-year prophecy was completed, the King of heaven would intervene to right the wrongs of the human kingdoms against His people.

Daniel was told to seal his book. Daniel was promised by the Man in linen, the God who cannot lie, the Savior of the world, that the time of the end would come when the book would be unsealed.

John was prophetically shown the same Man standing in the same exalted position with an open book in His hand.

I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. ² He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, ³ and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. ⁴ Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.”

⁵ The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven ⁶ and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, ⁷ but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets (Daniel 10:1-7).

What book was Jesus holding when He made the announcement? Revelation does not specify, but Bible prophecy only identifies one book that was ever to be sealed and later opened by the power of Christ. The book of Daniel.

John was told that the “mystery of God” would be completed when the seventh trumpet was about to sound. What is the “mystery of God”?

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

Jesus announced that prophecy’s great climax would occur when the “mystery of God” would be complete, when Christ’s character was implanted in the hearts of His people.

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us (2 Corinthians 4:6,7).

In contrast to the “mystery of God,” the “mystery of iniquity,” aka the “man of sin” of 2 Thessalonians 2, has the Satanic goal of preventing Christ’s character being implanted into human hearts. The mystery of iniquity was prophesied to attempt to block the New Covenant promise from being implanted in our hearts by attacking Heaven’s sanctuary in Daniel 8:9-12. The sanctuary depicts the plan of salvation.

Christ promised Daniel that during “the time of the end,” the little horn power’s attack on Heaven’s sanctuary would be overturned. Each of the spiritual applications of the articles of furniture would be restored. Through the plan of salvation depicted in the sanctuary service, “many” would be purified, and “the wise” would understand.

• Altar: Justification through faith in the cross of Christ.

• Laver: Baptism by immersion demonstrating the death and burial of the old life of sin and a resurrection to a new life in Christ.

• Table of Showbread: The Bible and the Bible alone as the rule of faith and doctrine.

• Seven-branched Candlestick: Sharing the Gospel of salvation with the world.

• Altar of Incense: The sinner may directly come boldly before the Eternal throne through the merits and in the Name and power of Jesus Christ.

• Ark of the Covenant: The entire Ten Commandment Law written by the finger of Christ would be restored, including the Fourth Commandment that was changed by the little horn power.

• Great High Priest: Christ, our Advocate in the courts of Heaven, ministering in the True Sanctuary not made by human hands.

The seventh trumpet would sound. The “mystery of God” would be completed. The attack on Heaven’s sanctuary would be reversed. The image of God would be revealed in His people. The great judgment day would expose the futility of human efforts to establish any sort of righteousness apart from the blood of Christ. The New Covenant Promise would be exemplified in the hearts and minds of God’s people. “Christ in you, the Hope of glory.”

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” ¹⁷ then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:16,17).

Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads (Revelation 14:1).

What outward demonstration would this transformation look like to a watching world and supernatural universe?

here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).

The law of God written in their hearts and minds is naturally lived out in their daily decisions and actions.

These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Revelation 14:4).

The sins they have committed have been wiped clean by grace through faith in the blood of the Lamb.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it isthe gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10).

What events did the sounding of the seventh trumpet signify? The seventh trumpet would open with the heavenly judgment (1844 AD) and be completed by the return of Jesus.

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” ¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷ saying:

“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
¹⁸ The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

¹⁹ Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail (Revelation 11:15-19).

At the time of the end, the seventh trumpet would sound, the books would be opened, the judgment would begin, the mystery of God would be completed as His character would be reflected in His people, and Jesus would soon return.

Satan is not idle while God is changing lives during the time of the end. In fact, Satan is working harder than ever to deceive and separate people from Christ. Again, the mystery of iniquity is the antithesis of “the mystery of God: Christ in you, the Hope of glory.”

During the Dark Ages, Satan attacked God’s people so powerfully that he would have eradicated God’s truth from the earth had Christ not specifically interposed to save His people and preserve the message of salvation.

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. ¹⁴ But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. ¹⁵ So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth (Revelation 12:13-16).

But at the end of the 1260-year prophecy, at the time of the end, when the seventh trumpet is about to sound, Revelation tells us that Satan will even increase his efforts to destroy truth, as well as all those who receive the New Covenant promise.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17).

Peter wrote a similar description of the evil one.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).

But Christ’s faithful ones are not to fear. They are the apple of His eye, the constant recipients of His protective care. The mystery of Godliness, Christ in you, the Hope of glory, is a power that Satan cannot overcome.

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:31-39).

Apocalyptic prophecy is not a collection of scary beasts and a prediction of hellfire intended to frighten people into submission to God.

Apocalyptic prophecy is not a prediction of God’s plan for the political nation of Israel to somehow win back control of the ancient Davidic kingdom on earth.

Apocalyptic prophecy is the story of salvation through the blood of Christ and a call to worship Him alone in Spirit and in Truth.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. ¹¹ And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death (Revelation 12:10,11).

The promise of Christ assured Daniel that the judgment would make things right, and at the return of Jesus, the kingdoms of man would crumble forever. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the kingdoms of man being blown away like dust on the floor would be a reality.

When would these things be? At the end of the 1260-year prophecy, the “time of the end” would begin. At the end of the 2300-year prophecy, the judgment would begin. At that point, all time prophecies would have been fulfilled. “There should be delay no longer” (Revelation 10:6). The mystery of God would be completed as Christ’s character would be reflected in His people. And the result of this heavenly judgment would be that Christ would be given the Kingdom for eternity.

But the court shall be seated,
And they shall take away his dominion,
To consume and destroy it forever.
²⁷ Then the kingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him (Daniel 7:26,27).

3. The assurance of final deliverance (Daniel 12:13).

But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days (Daniel 12:13).

Daniel would not live to see the fulfillment of the prophecies he received. He wouldn’t live long enough to understand the prophecies. But he was given the assurance that his name would be called on the great resurrection day, and that would be enough.

With Job, he could proclaim his confidence in the God whom he loved.

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
²⁶ And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God (Job 19:25,26).

With Paul, he could look back on his life and know that through the grace of Christ, he had been faithful.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Timothy 4:7,8).

With the redeemed who have died through all the ages past, he could descend to the grave resting peacefully, waiting for his Redeemer to call him from the grave.

Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them” (Revelation 14:13).

Your dead shall live;
Together with my dead body they shall arise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;
For your dew is like the dew of herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead (Isaiah 26:19).

The author of Hebrews wrote about those who, like Daniel, came under the power of death here on this earth. They are resting in their graves until the resurrection morning.

And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, ⁴⁰ God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us (Hebrews 11:39,40).

But their record of faithfulness is also a call for us.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1,2).

Whether we live to see Jesus return or fall asleep in death, we can have the assurance that Christ will return to claim His own.

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

¹⁵ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:1-3).

But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days (Daniel 12:13).

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20).

The Second Coming

https://youtu.be/kKhUx86a3eU?si=rAwzko8gDfEKYBuQ&t=6

God bless you and your family!

On July 4, Americans celebrate our independence as a nation. American independence isn’t just celebrating a day America won a battle or signed a contract accepting governing responsibilities from the mother country. American independence is a day we celebrate a concept of freedom that in 1776 was a revolutionary idea.

We celebrate a form of government where the leaders are chosen by the people and answerable to the people. We celebrate a nation where the individual is free to make choices that will define their life, and they are individually responsible for the consequences and rewards that those choices might bring.

Does Bible history tell about another “Independence Day”? Check out the story of the Exodus. Interestingly enough, the very day of the year that the Israelites left Egyptian bondage was the 430th anniversary of the day they had arrived (Exodus 12:40,41). They called this day the Passover, because the Angel of death had “passed over” the houses whose doorposts were washed with the blood of the slain Passover lamb (Exodus 12:6-13).

God instructed Israel, through Moses, that they should celebrate their independence each and every year on the 14th day of the first month of the Hebrew calendar (Exodus 12:14-20,24,25). It was definitely a day worth celebrating. In one day, God had taken a group of slaves and turned them into a nation, and not just a nation, but His own special people. They were a nation ordained by God for the highest calling of anyone on earth (Hosea 2:23; Exodus 19:3-6).

Through the coming centuries, Israel often forgot to celebrate the Passover as instructed by God (2 Chronicles 30:5; 2 Chronicles 35:18). But God had designed that the Passover in Egypt, as miraculous a moment in world history as it was, would actually itself be a small prophecy of the much greater deliverance to be obtained some 1500 Passover celebrations later when the true Lamb of God would be slain, allowing sinners the world over to be saved from the power of sin and death by accepting Christ’s blood to wash the stain of sin from their lives (1 Corinthians 5:7; Revelation 7:14-17). Through His sacrifice as our Passover Lamb, applying the merits of His blood to the doorposts of our hearts, Jesus opened the way for everyone to receive the promise to be part of His chosen people (1 Peter 2:9,10; Galatians 3:29).

There was another anniversary of freedom in Christ has also been largely forgotten throughout history. Rather than an annual celebration, God declared that this anniversary should be celebrated each and every week. Just like the Passover occurred on the anniversary of a previous day when Israel had been a free people, this day to celebrate deliverance from sin was ordained by God before sin even entered the world. And the Bible predicts our deliverance from sin will be celebrated on this day through the ages of eternity.

When Christ knelt in the dirt and got His hands dirty to form Adam (and Eve later that Friday afternoon), He looked upon His perfect creation and determined that such a grand event needed a celebration. Jesus said, “It is finished,” and He rested from His work of creation through the Sabbath hours (Genesis 2:1-3). Jesus wasn’t taking a nap from exhaustion (Psalm 121:3,4). He and all the unfallen universe were celebrating His amazing creation (Job 38:4-7).

Hundreds of thousands of Friday afternoons later, the true Passover Lamb was hanging on a cross, paying the Price for our deliverance from sin. In the final moments of His agony, Jesus lifted His head and cried out, “It is finished!” He then bowed His head, died, and rested in the tomb through the Holy Sabbath hours (John 19:30,40-42; Luke 23:53-56).

Was it any more coincidence that Christ died on Friday and rested through the Sabbath than it was that He died at Passover as the Passover Lamb? I guess one could argue that there are 51 more Sabbaths in a year that Jesus could have slept in the tomb than there are Passovers to die on. But does the Bible actually make a connection between Sabbath and deliverance from sin? Or is that just a reach?

When Jesus spoke the Ten Commandments to Israel from Mount Sinai, He prefaced the Commandments with two verses we usually skip over when reciting them (Exodus 20:1,2). Christ prefaced the Ten Commandments with the reason He was calling Israel to follow the Commandments. “Because I saved you from bondage, follow Me—here’s how:” is essentially the message of Exodus 20:2. Please note Jesus didn’t say, “Follow these rules, and I will save you.” He said, “Because I have saved you, follow Me.” Sounds a lot like salvation by grace alone through faith alone in the power of the blood of Christ alone if you think about it (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Strangely enough, some people have used this deliverance/salvation aspect of the fourth commandment as repeated in Deuteronomy to say that the Sabbath blessing was only meant for the Israelites (Deuteronomy 5:12-15). To use the argument that Deuteronomy says the fourth commandment needs to be kept to celebrate deliverance from Egypt would basically tell the hearer that the entire Ten Commandments as given in Exodus 20 only apply to those God delivered from Egyptian bondage (Exodus 20:2). Did God seriously only want Israelites to be faithful in marriage and avoid theft and murder? Of course not.

In Exodus 20:8-11, Christ explained to Israel that the Sabbath was instituted at creation as a celebration of Christ’s creative power. But in Deuteronomy 5, it’s repeated specifically as a celebration of Christ’s power to deliver from bondage. Through the beautiful symbolism of the Passover Lamb, we see that Christ intended the deliverance from Egypt to prefigure the much greater deliverance from the power of sin. Rather than Deuteronomy 5 negating creation as a basis for worldwide Sabbath celebration, limiting the blessing of the Sabbath to those of Israelite heritage, Deuteronomy 5 tells us the Sabbath is not only a memorial of creation, but a promise of Christ’s deliverance from sin on Calvary. The blessing is not just to those who can trace their lineage through Jacob, but to all who through faith take hold of Christ and plead the merits of Christ in place of their weakness (Genesis 32:26-28; Galatians 3:29).

We can do nothing to make ourselves worthy before Christ. Only Christ can make us holy. Jesus designated the Sabbath blessing to be a sign that, through faith, His people were relying solely on His merits to make them holy (Exodus 31:15; Ezekiel 20:12,20). Every week, we are granted by Christ Himself the opportunity to spend the Sabbath hours with Him celebrating our spiritual “independence day”!
In those precious 24 hours, we celebrate and acknowledge Him both as our Creator and our Re-Creator (Revelation 14:6,7; Revelation 12:11).

Another Independence Day is coming. Jesus will once again cry out “It Is Finished!!” This time, it won’t be walking through the Garden of Eden with His new creatures. It won’t be hanging on a Roman cross, moments from death.
Christ will declare it this time from His throne in heaven (Revelation 16:17).

When the universe hears that cry, the unfallen beings will break out in thunderous praise (Revelation 19:1-7). The elements of earth will convulse in chaos (Revelation 16:18-21). The lost will flee in terror as they see the Lamb of God coming in glory (Revelation 6:14-17; Matthew 26:64; Revelation 1:7). And the people who by faith in Jesus have accepted the New Covenant promise to allow Him to write His law in their hearts will cry out in response, “Behold! This is our God! We have waited for Him. And He will save us! This is the Lord! We have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” (Hebrews 10:16,17; Revelation 14:12; Isaiah 25:9).

Some well-meaning people have told us through the centuries that the day appointed by Christ as a sign of His saving power, the one day He asked us to “Remember,” has been done away with. We have been told that the promised blessing of the Sabbath ended at the cross (Isaiah 56:1-8; Isaiah 58:11-14). I would challenge any who agree to go to the Bible in prayer and see if this or any other promised blessings were canceled at Calvary. I cannot find any in my Bible.

Through all eternity, Isaiah tells us that every Sabbath we will gather to celebrate the One who Himself is both our Life and our Freedom (Isaiah 66:22,23).

While we treasure our national freedom and individual liberties guaranteed us by the Constitution and bought for us by the blood of men and women who determined that our freedom was worth giving their lives for, may we never forget to celebrate our even greater deliverance. The Lamb of God decided that our freedom was worth giving His own blood, His own Life for.

Only God knows where, but somewhere there are two tables of stone. The writing on the stones was not made by pen or ink, but the engraving fire of the finger of the Master of the universe. The hand that was nailed to the dreadful cross wrote on the stone…”Remember.”

How could we ever forget to honor the One to whom we owe our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor? Remember…Never, Ever Forget!!

Have you ever wondered what Bible prophecy says about the United States of America? You will be amazed to find what Revelation 13 prophesies about our great nation.

I urge you to take advantage of this free resource from Amazing Facts ministries to learn the Biblical perspective of the USA’s role in end-time events.

Multiple topics are referenced in these three verses that are worthy of entire presentations in their own right. Some of these topics have been covered in prior presentations.

Rather than rewriting these topics for those who are new to this blog, you will find links in this presentation to those prior presentations covering the mentioned topic. If you do not feel a need to restudy a prior presentation, feel free to skip the link and continue on in this presentation.

I hope and pray it is a blessing.

At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people (Daniel 12:1).

During our last original presentation, we examined the prophesied high-water mark of the power Christians commonly call “the antichrist.” The passage we studied began with the attack from the king of the South against the king of the North.

At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him (Daniel 11:40).

This prophecy was specifically fulfilled when France took the pope captive and removed temporal power from the Vatican in 1798. The new pope remained the head of the church but was no longer the head of a nation. It was no longer a nation, so it could not longer be a “horn” or “beast” as both prophetic symbols represent a nation (Daniel 7:17,24). Further national atheistic antagonism against papal rule was demonstrated by the Soviet power throughout much of the 1900s as well as continuing in China and various other nations yet today.

The last original presentation continued with the “healing of the wound” as the prophecy predicts a return of papal power that even exceeds its power in the Middle Ages. Historically, the Vatican became a recognized nation again in 1929, in a treaty with Italy’s Mussolini. The papacy was prophesied to respond to the attack by atheistic secularism and then completely sets itself up between Christ and all humanity. Only a tiny portion or earth’s inhabitants will ultimately reject papal authority.

and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. ⁴¹ He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. ⁴² He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. ⁴³ He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. ⁴⁴ But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. ⁴⁵ And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain (Daniel 11:40-45).

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 13:3).

This healing of the wound was partially fulfilled when the Vatican became a nation again in 1929. But its fulfillment will not be complete until almost the entire world “worships the beast” (Revelation 13:8).

But then, in just half a verse at the very end of the chapter, we are told that Jesus wins.

yet he (the beast) shall come to his end, and no one will help him (Daniel 11:45).

This week’s passage is the prophetic expansion of what that last glorious phrase will look like.

At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book.
² And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life,
Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
³ Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever (Daniel 12:1-3).

Before beginning the presentation on this passage, I would like to propose that the order of fulfillment in the passage is actually:

1. Verse 3 (spiritually)

2. Verse 1

3. Verse 2

4. Verse 3 (literally)

The discussion will thus be presented in this order and I ask that you prayerfully study it for yourself and please share with me any thoughts you may come up with.

Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever (Daniel 12:3).

We see throughout the Bible the use of repetitive phrasing to state an idea two different ways, shedding additional light as to what each phrase means collectively as well as individually. The Psalms and Proverbs use this structure quite often.

Teach me Your statutes.
²⁷ Make me understand the way of Your precepts (Psalm 119:26,27).

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10).

Daniel used the same literary motif in Daniel 12:3. “Those who are wise” and “those who turn many to righteousness” are the same people. In the eyes of Christ, these will shine with His glory. Christ will use these faithful ones to turn many hearts to Him rather than following the beast power. The souls that Christ saves through their faithful witness will be the eternal reward for their commitment to Christ.

Who are these people? Why does the Bible call them “wise”?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.
His praise endures forever (Psalm 111:10).

The “wise” who have “good understanding” are those who “fear God” and who “do His commandments.” Their lives praise Jesus Christ and they will “endure forever.”

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— ⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” (Revelation 14:6,7).

Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).

Those who follow the beast are not wise. They believe and teach “for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9).

He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,
And shall intend to change times and law (Daniel 7:25).

Instead of being wise, the beast’s followers believe the beast’s lie.

with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12).

“The wise” describes the last-day generation of God’s people.

Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads. ² And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. ⁵ And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God (Revelation 14:1,2,4,5).

And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17).

These are the ones who will walk in the light of Christ, following His commandments, while the entire world is being commanded to bow down to the beast power.

It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. ⁸ All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:7,8).

He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. ¹⁶ He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name (Revelation 13:15-17).

In the midst of terrible persecution, the people of God will open their Bibles to show their friends, neighbors, and all who will listen that the papal power is not following the Word of God but rather is deceiving the entire world.

And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many (Matthew 24:4,5).

The faithful will deliver to the world the glorious message of righteousness by faith in Christ alone, without any need for a human mediator standing between the Christian and Jesus Christ.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10).

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).

What is the light they are shining that looks like the stars of heaven and the blazing atmosphere at noonday? It’s the message of salvation that Christ gave to them. They are reflecting this light to a dying world.

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).

With the power of the Holy Spirit that exceeds the Day of Pentecost, they will shine the light of the Gospel. They will warn the entire planet to worship Christ rather than the “antichrist” power.

After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory (Revelation 18:1).

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— ⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

⁸ And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

⁹ Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name” (Revelation 14:6-11).

The message of salvation will be proclaimed until each and every capable mind on planet earth has made a final decision to either receive the papal mark or to follow the Lamb wherever He leads. But at some point, the door of mercy will close. Michael will stand up.

He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still (Revelation 22:11).

What does it mean for Michael to “stand up”?

(If you are new to this Bible study, please click the link to see the Biblical evidence that “Michael” is not a created being, but rather is the Creator Himself, Jesus Christ.)

https://bibleprophecy.substack.com/p/who-is-michael?r=hr44g

During the judgment hour as Christ intercedes for the salvation of fallen man, thrones (plural) are “set” for the Father and Son to sit in judgment.

I watched till thrones were put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head was like pure wool.
His throne was a fiery flame,
Its wheels a burning fire;
¹⁰ A fiery stream issued
And came forth from before Him.
A thousand thousands ministered to Him;
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court was seated,
And the books were opened (Daniel 7:9,10).

In this judgment, Christ, as man’s representative before the Father, acts as both Judge and Defense Attorney for those who have accepted the merits of His blood in their place.

For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22).

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained (Acts 17:30,31).

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1).

Again, at some point, this judgment will be complete. The door of mercy will close.

And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh (Genesis 6:3).

What does that have to do with when Jesus stands up? Jesus stands up when the judgment hour is finished. The proceedings will be over. The Judge will leave the courtroom.

We learned in past lessons about the 70-week prophecy regarding the nation of Israel (Daniel 9:24-27). From the starting date of 457 BC, Israel, as a nation, had 490 years to make things right with God. Halfway through the final “week,” with only 3 1/2 years remaining in the prophecy, they killed Jesus Christ.

https://bibleprophecy.substack.com/p/right-on-time?r=hr44g

True, anyone of any race is still welcome to answer the call of Christ today, but the nation of Israel had only 490 years to fulfill their mission or to no longer be the chosen people of God as a nation.

As the time expired 3 1/2 years after Christ’s death, Israel as a nation was given one more chance to repent and accept Christ as their King. Before the national council, Stephen gave the last invitation of Divine mercy to the nation that had killed Jesus.

The message was rejected. The decision was final. The King who had overlooked Jerusalem from the back of a donkey and wept over her, pleading for her repentance, had accepted Israel’s rejection of Him as complete.

Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, ⁴² saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, ⁴⁴ and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:41-44).

Later, Jesus directly told Paul in regards to the national council Paul wanted to reach out to with the Gospel:

and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me (Acts 22:18).

It was over.

What postural position did Jesus take when the Jews made their final decision to reject Him? Jesus stood up.

When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. ⁵⁵ But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, ⁵⁶ and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

⁵⁷ Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; ⁵⁸ and they cast him out of the city and stoned him (Acts 7:54-57).

The judgment hour where mercy’s door had stood open for the nation of Israel was complete. There was nothing more God could do to save the nation. The door had shut.

And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy (2 Chronicles 36:15,16).

Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? ³⁴ Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ³⁵ that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar (Matthew 23:33-35).

At the end of the final heavenly judgment hour, Daniel tells us that Jesus will “stand up.” It’s over. All decisions are final. But Daniel doesn’t stop the narrative with Jesus standing up to say, “It’s over.” Daniel continues with some of the most assuring words in Scripture for those who love and serve God at the end of the judgment hour, those who have the faith of Jesus and keep Him commandments.

The prophecy predicts a time of trouble that will make the holocaust look like child’s play. But the warning is sandwiched between promises of Christ’s personal protection for His people.

At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book (Daniel 12:1).

We don’t know everything that will happen during the time of trouble, but we can know that the most devastating warning ever given by God is directed to those who finally determine to deny Christ.

If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation (Revelation 14:9,10).

When is the wrath of God poured out without mixture? During the seven last plagues.

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete (Revelation 15:1).

Preceding the Flood, when the door was shut, the wicked were confirmed in their unbelief. Likewise, the seven last plagues will not draw people back to God. Their rebellion will be confirmed and displayed throughout the universe.

And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory (Revelation 16:9).

As the plagues fall, the unfallen universe will once again acknowledge God’s justice.

Great and marvelous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the saints! (Revelation 15:3).

You are righteous, O Lord,
The One who is and who was and who is to be,
Because You have judged these things.
⁶ For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
And You have given them blood to drink.
For it is their just due.”

⁷ And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments” (Revelation 16:5-7).

While the wrath of God unmixed with mercy is being poured out on the rejectors of His love, the righteous will be shielded from the effects of the seven last plagues. Just as God’s people were shielded from the seven last plagues that fell on Egypt before the Exodus, God’s will protect His people from the seven last plagues to fall upon planet earth.

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
¹⁰ No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
¹¹ For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways (Psalm 91:9-11).

For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock (Psalm 27:5).

You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence
From the plots of man;
You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion (Psalm 31:20).

Some of the lost will have chosen to deny Christ for no better reason than to avoid economic sanctions. They will have known the truth, but they determined that having a meal ticket today was worth more than trusting a promise for tomorrow.

While the plagues are falling, rivers and oceans turning to blood, and intense heat will be crushing the earth, the necessities of life they hoped to protect will dry up. As with the power whose threats they bowed to and in whose word they placed their trust, they “shall come to his (their) end, and no one will help him (them)” (Daniel 11:45).

But the righteous who put their faith in God’s Word will be fed by the Hand of the God that fed Elijah in the wilderness.

He will dwell on high;
His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks;
Bread will be given him,
His water will be sure (Isaiah 33:16).

At the close of time, Satan will seek to exterminate the remaining few who refuse to bow in worship to his cause. Economic sanctions will have already been employed to attempt to coerce them to compromise faithful obedience to God in exchange for apparent personal security. Later, Satan will inspire that a death decree be proclaimed throughout the earth to all who refuse to swear allegiance to his kingdom.

the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. ¹⁶ He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name (Revelation 13:15-17).

However, after the decisions are final, martyrs would no longer be seed for the Gospel. No one would turn to Christ through additional deaths of the righteous. The death of God’s children would simply be a reason for Satan to celebrate. Christ would receive no glory in the sacrifice of His children. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego of old, Christ will walk through the fire with His people. Satan won’t be able to kill any while Christ is standing by to protect them.

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior (Isaiah 43:1-3).

Friends and family will turn against God’s faithful few, but the Lord of hosts will be their refuge.

When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take care of me (Psalm 27:10).

And then Christ will return in glory.

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life,
Some to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2).

As Jesus returns, He will call the sleeping saints to arise and receive their final reward.

looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:2,3).

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17).

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵ “O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:51-55).

There are others who will be raised as well. These will be terrified to see the One they crucified coming in Divine glory. These are those who will be raised to “shame and everlasting contempt.”

the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”

⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:63,64).

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him (Revelation 1:7).

These will join with the remaining wicked leaders at the very end pleading with inanimate nature to shield their gaze from the One who sits on the throne.

And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, ¹⁶ and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ¹⁷ For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17).

In answer to the terrified query of the guilty, “Who is able to stand?” Christ will reveal the answer from His throne in the glorious sky.

Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).

My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord (Matthew 25:23).

And then will come the literal fulfillment of Daniel 12:3.

Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever (Daniel 12:3).

All humanity arriving in heaven are equal in that all are there for only one Reason, the precious Blood of Calvary. All the righteous of all the ages will shine with the glory of Christ that through His power their characters had reflected on earth. But heaven will hold a special celebration party for those who have stood faithful to Christ when Satan had complete control of all the wicked on earth.

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ¹¹ All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying:

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
Thanksgiving and honor and power and might,
Be to our God forever and ever.
Amen.”

¹³ Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?”

¹⁴ And I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. ¹⁶ They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; ¹⁷ for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:9-17).

On earth they followed Him wherever He led. In heaven, they will continue doing so throughout eternity.

Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads. ² And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. ³ They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth. ⁴ These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. ⁵ And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God (Revelation 14:1-5).

From the depths of Laodicean apathy, Christ will have perfected His church.

So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. ¹⁷ Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see (Revelation 3:16-18).

that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27).

And their reward will be unimaginable:

To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne (Revelation 3:21).

The decision is looming for every soul. We are clearly instructed not to seek prophetic insight to pinpoint specific dates for His return. But Jesus said we can and should know for sure when the time is near.

Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near—at the doors! ³⁰ Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

³² “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is (Mark 13:28-33).

The time is near. Our generation may or may not live to see the final events come to pass, but the decision to follow Christ and His Word or to join Satan’s kingdom of selfishness will come to everyone.

Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! ¹⁵ And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:14,15).

There is no time for delay. Decide today that you will trust in Christ to have the strength and determination to follow Him wherever He leads.

He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7).

Final Choice

https://www.youtube.com/live/Z2yTKnSI5vY?si=-ai8LhFWJYF2sjiG

Surviving the Tailspin

https://youtu.be/FYUjHER-fjs?si=GePy4Y82OrwrmAtY

ChatGPT depiction of John writing Revelation on the island of Patmos.

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(Revelation 13:1).

During our last presentation (Who Is the “antichrist”? Part 1https://bibleprophecy.substack.com/p/who-is-the-antichrist?r=hr44g), we traced the prophecies identifying the antichrist through the vision of Daniel 7. The identifying characteristics we listed by category.

Starting with a list of nations in Europe: Point by point, clue by clue, we were able to filter out various nations until only one nation remained that could possibly fulfill Daniel 7’s prophecies of the “antichrist.” Vatican City.

The main identifying characteristic in Daniel 7 that we did not examine carefully was that this power would be arrogant enough to think it could change God’s holy Ten Commandment law. We will explore that aspect in an upcoming presentation.

This presentation will be very similar to our last presentation, except we will use prophecies of the “antichrist” from chapters outside Daniel 7 to see if the prophecies lead us to the same conclusion. Just as Jesus had to fulfill each and every Messianic prophecy to be the Messiah, not just some or even most, the “antichrist” power must meet every prophetic stipulation as well.

We won’t be studying in order to offend anyone. We simply owe it to ourselves that we are certain of the prophetic conclusions. God inspired the prophecies because He wants us to understand them, not because He wants to confuse everyone. God calls each of us to know the Bible for ourselves. And it would be very unfair to our Christian brothers and sisters in the Catholic faith to identify their leadership as the “antichrist” power if Vatican City does not in fact fit each and every applicable prophecy.

Other than Daniel 7, Revelation 13 provides possibly the most descriptive picture of the “antichrist” in the Bible. Revelation 13 is a very scary-sounding chapter. We dipped our toe into the last half of Revelation 13, describing the beast from the land, when we studied Daniel 3, The Beast and the Image(https://bibleprophecy.substack.com/p/nebuchadnezzars-rebellion?r=hr44g). This study will focus on the first half of Revelation 13, the beast from the sea, using the systematic principles of Biblical interpretation that we have already learned.

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. ² 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).

Which Way America?

Before getting blown away by the magnitude of whatever John was seeing or by trying to assign a quick interpretation to this beast, let’s take careful note at what is very obvious. The apostle John wanted his readers to use Daniel 7 to interpret this passage.

How do we know? Daniel saw a lion, a bear, a four headed leopard, and a grotesque ten-horned beast coming out of the sea. Together, the four beasts had seven heads and ten horns. The ten horns were interpreted by the angel to be ten kingdoms. A little horn came up later removing three of the original horns.

In Revelation, John saw a grotesque beast with seven heads and ten horns wearing crowns. This beast had the body of a leopard, the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. As we read through Revelation 13, we will see that the character of this beast is the same as the character of the little horn of Daniel 7. We don’t know exactly what this beast looked like beyond the description, but we can know that John was giving his readers code words to get them to look back to the prophecy of Daniel 7.

Let’s read the entire passage of Revelation 13:1-10 and then compare it with what we learned from Daniel 7.

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. ² 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. ³ 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. ⁴ So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”

⁵ And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. ⁶ Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. ⁷ It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. ⁸ All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

⁹ If anyone has an ear, let him hear. ¹⁰ He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints (Revelation 13:1-10).

Geographic (Daniel 7):

• It arose out of the fourth beast that arose out of the sea (Daniel 7:3,7,8).

• It came up among the ten horns (Daniel 7:8).

• It was a little horn, yet in some way it appeared greater than the other horns (Daniel 7:8,20).

Geographic (Revelation 13):

• An amalgamation of the four beasts of Daniel 7 rose out of the sea (Revelation 13:1,2; Revelation 17:15).

• Just as Satan, (the dragon) worked through the Roman Empire to try to destroy the Infant Jesus, Satan (the dragon) would work through the Roman Empire to give the seat (the city of Rome) and authority (civil power) of the Roman Empire over to the beast power (Revelation12:4; Revelation 13:2).

• The seven heads represent seven hills on which the capitol city sits (Revelation 13:1; Revelation 17:9; Revelation 17:18). Rome is “the city of seven hills.”

• The entire planet would become subject to its authority (Revelation 13:7).

Chronologic (Daniel 7):

• It arose after the other ten kingdoms (Daniel 7:8).

• It would reign for “a time and times and half a time” (Daniel 7:25).

• It will not finally end until the judgment condemns it and the saints receive the kingdom (Daniel 7:26,27).

Chronologic (Revelation 13):

• The crowns on the ten horns indicate that the ten kingdoms are chronologically reigning concurrent with the establishment of the beast power (Revelation 13:1).

• This nation would reign for “forty-two months” (Revelation 13:5). This is the same three and a half year period noted above in Daniel 7:25.

• It would then be put to death, receiving a “mortal wound” (Revelation 13:3; Revelation 13:10).

• But this nation would be resurrected to reign again. After which almost the entire planet would bow before it, eventually on pain of death (Revelation 13:3,4; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 13:14-17).

Activity (Daniel 7):

• It was somehow different than the other horns (Daniel 7:24).

• Its rise removed three other horns (Daniel 7:8).

• It made war against the saints, prevailing against them (Daniel 7:21).

Activity (Revelation 13):

• This nation is a persecuting power (Revelation 13:7).

• This nation compels worship of itself (Revelation 13:7,8).

Character (Daniel 7):

• It had the eyes of a man (Daniel 7:8).

• It had a mouth speaking pompous words (Daniel 7:8).

• It intended to change God’s law (Daniel 7:25).

Character (Revelation 13):

• This nation blasphemes God, His Name, and His sanctuary (Revelation 13:6; Daniel 8:10-12).

• In worshiping this nation, humankind is actually worshiping Satan (Revelation 13:3,4; Revelation 12:9).

• The few that do not worship this nation are the very same few who keep the Ten Commandments that Jesus spoke from Mount Sinai and then wrote in stone with His own finger (Revelation 13:8-10; Revelation 14:12).

Are we seeing a string of similarities between the little horn power of Daniel 7 and the beast from the sea in Revelation 13?

Revelation 13:1-10 portrays a nation (beast) reigning concurrently with and yet greater than the other nations that would replace the Roman Empire. It portrays a blasphemous power seated in the city of Rome that demands the worship that is due to God alone, persecuting all dissenters. In compelling worship of itself it is actually compelling worship of the power that established it, Satan himself.

And yet though empowered by Satan and having Satanic qualities, it would deceptively appear in some ways to be like Jesus Christ. As Jesus’ ministry lasted three and one-half years before He died and then rose again to receive the worship and adoration of the heavenly hosts, this nation would reign for three and one-half prophetic years (1,260 years) before dying, only to be resurrected to again receive worship and adoration from the hosts of earth.

The papacy, already a religious power, gained full civil power when the Ostrogoths (the third “horn” to fall) were expelled from Rome in 538 AD. 1260 years later, General Berthier removed the pontiff from his throne and the French government stripped the papacy of all civil power. Once again it was a religious power only. In 1929, Mussolini signed a treaty with the Vatican restoring Vatican City as a nation, no longer simply a church.

As with the little horn of Daniel 7, the only entity in the history of planet earth that fits the prophecy of Revelation 13:1-10 is the papacy, Vatican City.

Since being resurrected as a nation, Vatican City has yet to regain sufficient power to compel worldwide worship as Nebuchadnezzar did in Daniel 3. But Revelation 13 says she will regain that power one day, through the coercive power of the beast from the land. The good news is that, as in Daniel 3, the God of heaven will walk with His people through whatever fire they are called to endure.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.

When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,

Nor shall the flame scorch you (Isaiah 43:2).

Centuries before Jesus was born, Jonah was called by God to warn Nineveh of coming destruction. Jonah famously ran away because Nineveh was infamous for their cruelty. Through Jonah’s preaching, the city repented and was spared the promised destruction.

Nineveh, the capitol of Assyria, was the most fearful field of labor in Biblical lands at the time Jonah was sent to preach to them. At the end of time, the beast power will claim the entire world as its territory.

authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. ⁸ All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:7,8).

It is to this territory that the beast claims as its own to which God’s people today are called to deliver the warning to escape the coming destruction.

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people (Revelation 14:6).

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. ⁵ For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities (Revelation 18:4,5).

Jesus warned us that Satan would use the beast from the sea, Vatican City, to deceive the entire world into worshiping itself in place of Jesus Christ. Our only safety is in holding tightly to Jesus Christ and trusting His Word.

These last two presentations may well be painfully difficult for some to read, especially for Catholics who truly love Jesus. Don’t turn your ear away from Christ’s call. Come out from under the influence of the beast power. Worship God alone!

I hope and pray you will be blessed.

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. ⁸ I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words (Daniel 7:7,8).

ChatGPT image of the angel explaining the vision to Daniel.

I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things (Daniel 7:16).

The ten horns are ten kings
Who shall arise from this kingdom.
And another shall rise after them;
He shall be different from the first ones,
And shall subdue three kings.
²⁵ He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,
And shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand
For a time and times and half a time (Daniel 7:24,25).

During our last two presentations, we were introduced to the judgment scene in heaven that will immediately precede Christ’s return in glory. During this judgment, Christ stands in defense of His people, while the little horn power stands condemned.

But the court shall be seated,
And they shall take away his dominion,
To consume and destroy it forever.
²⁷ Then the kingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him (Daniel 7:26,27).

Our studies into the identity of this little horn power (commonly referred to by modern Christians as the “antichrist”) are not based in the purpose of satisfying idle curiosity. It is not for the purpose of declaring ourselves right and someone else wrong that we need to know who this entity is.

The Bible gives its readers hundreds of prophecies about Jesus because when Jesus came, God wanted everyone to know that Jesus was the promised Messiah. He didn’t want anyone to be confused. Those who didn’t recognize Jesus would miss out on the blessing of the Gospel and suffer eternal ruin. God wanted all to recognize Christ as the Savior of the world.

The second most clearly identified entity in Bible prophecy is the power many Christians refer to as the “antichrist.” God wants everyone to know who this entity is because this entity promotes a different gospel than the Gospel of Christ. It offers a gospel of deception, the “doctrines of devils.” But it will look so similar to the genuine Gospel that Jesus said, “if it were possible,” even the elect would be swept away by the deception. It is vitally important for Christians to identify this entity in order to avoid the deceptions that could cost us eternal ruin.

It should be no surprise that Satan has been very successful in convincing millions of Christians that the “antichrist” won’t present itself in our day. Such a belief tells Christians that there is no real need for us to study to identity the entity for ourselves.

One of Satan’s best deceptions is to convince the world, even Christians, that he himself does not literally exist, that he is some sort of cartoon figure or just a general concept of evil as opposed to a very powerful enemy with a mind far superior to our own. Why should it surprise us to find that Satan uses a similar deception to convince the world that the antichrist power won’t be present or identifiable during our lifetimes? Of course Satan wants to convince the world that a lead player on the devil’s All-star team cannot possibly be identified today and that no Christian needs to be diligent to study its importance.

What we examine in today’s presentation could be painful for some readers. Not one of us wants to find out we have been lied to. Please keep in mind always that this study is about a false system of worship, not the individuals in that system. But if you do find yourself in that system, please accept God’s Word and come out of that system while the invitation of Christ is still available.

With that caveat, let us prayerfully proceed.

This is our table from our recent study One Throne, Four Beasts, One True King:

The four beasts represent the same four kingdoms we learned about from the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

Intro the the antichrist

https://youtu.be/fTeMHW2OYWY?si=AlKVT-UV-q5u2j9T

The prophecies stated that Rome would not be overcome as the first three empires were, but rather Rome would disintegrate into ten kingdoms. Throughout history these kingdoms would repeatedly try to rebuild the ancient Roman Empire but would continually fail. And in the times of these kingdoms, Jesus would return (Daniel 2:40-45).

We have been living in the era of the feet and toes of the image and the ten horns of the fourth beast since the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 AD. The ten kingdoms that divided the Western Roman Empire were the:

1. Alemanni—Germans

2. Anglo-Saxons—British

3. Burgundians—Swiss

4. Franks—French

5. Heruli—Extinct

6. Lombards—Italian

7. Ostrogoths—Extinct

8. Suevi—Portuguese

9. Vandals—Extinct

10. Visigoths—Spanish

Seven of these ten kingdoms still compose the major nations of Western Europe to this day. History has confirmed that rulers have unsuccessfully used war, marriage alliances, intrigue, and nearly every means possible to reassemble the ancient Roman Empire under their command. The Bible says they will not be able to do so, but these individual nations will still be world players when Jesus returns.

During our presentation God Is My Judge: Part 1, we added a couple lines to the timeline table. A little horn power would arise, and the heavenly judgment would convene to condemn this little horn power. This judgment would immediately precede Christ’s return.

The Old Testament Messianic prophecies about Jesus were numerous, but they could generally be sorted into specific categories.

Geographic: Where Jesus would be born, where His ministry would be, where He would die.

Chronologic: When Jesus ministry would be, when He would die, when He would be raised to life.

Activity: Jesus would teach in parables. He would rescue the spiritual captives of Satan. He would die for our sins.

Character: Jesus would be the sinless Lamb. He would be the embodiment of self-sacrificing love.

Likewise, the prophecies of the little horn power can be sorted into very similar categories: Geographic, Chronologic, Activity, and Character.

There are other chapters and prophecies of the “antichrist” power. Some we will look at later in our studies of Daniel. Some others we will examine as part of this presentation and subsequent presentations on Daniel 7. While it is important to note that the Bible has much to say about the “antichrist” power outside of Daniel 7, it is also important to note that there is sufficient information within Daniel 7 to know for a certainty who this “antichrist” power is.

We can begin by reading the portions of Daniel 7 that tell us any details regarding the little horn power, listing any and all available clues from the text. When the list is compiled, we can sort the clues into the categories listed above. Many of the clues will not be determinative by themselves, but collectively assembled, there is only one entity in world history that could ever possibly fit the entire prophecy.

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. ⁸ I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words (Daniel 7:7,8).

What can we know about the little horn just from these two verses?

• It arose out of the fourth beast.

• It was a little horn.

• It came up among the ten horns.

• Its rise removed three other horns.

• It had the eyes of a man.

• It had a mouth speaking pompous words.

Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; ²⁰ and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.

²¹ “I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, ²² until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom (Daniel 7:19-22).

New clues found in these verses include:

• Its appearance was greater than his fellows.

• It made war against the saints, prevailing against them.

• It did not end until the judgment condemned it and the saints received the kingdom.

Thus he said:

‘The fourth beast shall be
A fourth kingdom on earth,
Which shall be different from all other kingdoms,
And shall devour the whole earth,
Trample it and break it in pieces.
²⁴ The ten horns are ten kings
Who shall arise from this kingdom.
And another shall rise after them;
He shall be different from the first ones,
And shall subdue three kings.
²⁵ He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,
And shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand
For a time and times and half a time (Daniel 7:23-25).

Additional details in this passage include:

• A horn is a kingdom. The little horn was thus a nation.

• It arose after the other ten kingdoms.

• It was somehow different than the other kingdoms.

• It intended to change God’s law.

• It would reign for “a time and times and half a time.”

But the court shall be seated,
And they shall take away his dominion,
To consume and destroy it forever.
²⁷ Then the kingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him (Daniel 7:26,27).

• Nothing new to interpret here, but reiterating that the little horn power will not end until Jesus returns and gives the kingdom to His people.

Combining and sorting the lists:

Geographic:

• It arose out of the fourth beast that arose out of the sea (Daniel 7:3,7,8).

• It came up among the ten horns (Daniel 7:8).

• It was a little horn, yet in some way it appeared greater than the other horns (Daniel 7:8,20).

Chronologic:

• It arose after the other ten kingdoms (Daniel 7:8).

• It would reign for “a time and times and half a time” (Daniel 7:25).

• It will not finally end until the judgment condemns it and the saints receive the kingdom (Daniel 7:26,27).

Activity:

• It was somehow different than the other horns (Daniel 7:24).

• Its rise removed three other horns (Daniel 7:8).

• It made war against the saints, prevailing against them (Daniel 7:21).

Character:

• It had the eyes of a man (Daniel 7:8).

• It had a mouth speaking pompous words (Daniel 7:8).

• It intended to change God’s law (Daniel 7:25).

If you are looking for a car to buy, you can’t just do an internet search for “cars to buy.” You will have way too many options to make the search usable. But if you tell the search site to find a certain make, model, year, trim, color, special features, low milage, low price, and easily accessible location for you to purchase the car, you can limit the possible cars in your search to just a few, or even just one.

Although Bethlehem is a small town, it’s safe to say that a lot of people have been born there throughout the millennia. It’s likely that in Jesus’ day, there were a lot of Jews able to trace their lineage back to King David. Some were no doubt great story tellers, just as Jesus told parables. Many people have been murdered through the centuries, as the Messianic prophecies said the Savior would be murdered. But very few people have fulfilled all of these things, not to mention the hundreds of other Messianic prophecies as well.

Many of the Messianic prophecies do not pinpoint only Jesus. Most are simply filters to narrow down the possibilities. But when you repeatedly narrow down the search by additional prophecies, it becomes clear that Jesus of Nazareth was the only Person in world history who could possibly be the Messiah of Bible prophecy.

The same principle applies to the prophecies of the little horn (“antichrist”) power. None of the prophecies regarding the little horn are solely sufficient to identify the entity. But when compiled together, history leaves no doubt but that there is only one entity in earth’s history that could possibly be the “antichrist” power.

From the geographic clues above, the Bible tells us that:

• The little horn power is a nation that rises out of the ashes of the old Roman Empire, what we would recognize as Western Europe today.

• It’s a small nation, but yet it holds greater power than the other nations of Western Europe.

From the chronological clues above, the Bible tells us that:

• It arises some unspecified time period after the other horns have been established with the fall of Rome in 476 AD.

• It would have a temporal reign of three and one half prophetic years, but yet it would somehow continue until Jesus returns.

From the activity clues above, the Bible tells us that:

• It is somehow a distinctly different kind of kingdom than the other nations of Western Europe.

• Its rise to power has something to do with the elimination of three of the ten kingdoms that replaced the Roman Empire. This also gives a chronological time of origin as well.

From the character clues above, the Bible tells us that:

• This is a blasphemous power, established not on the principles of God’s government, but rather it’s based on human ideas.

• It is a persecuting power.

• The blasphemy of this power is so great that it openly claims the right to change God’s Law.

What does all that mean? Here is a list of today’s European nations according to the United Nations. Starting at the top left and going down each column, the nations are listed in descending order of population.

The angel told Daniel that a horn represents a nation. The little horn power wasn’t Hitler. The little horn power is not any individual. It is a nation.

The little horn arose out of the ruins of the Roman Empire after the other ten kingdoms arose. If all ten kingdoms still existed today, then we could know the little horn power probably wasn’t yet among us, since its rise would be tied to the destruction of three of the ten kingdoms.

Because three were destroyed in the sixth century and the prophecy specified that their destruction would coincide with the rise of the little horn, we can know the little horn power had to have been established by the sixth century.

The prophecy also specifies that the little horn, though it would have a time limit to its temporal rule, in some form it would last until Jesus returns. So this nation has not gone extinct. All that is to say that the little horn power must be represented on this list of European nations today. As we examine the prophecies above, we can eliminate those that do not fit the prophecy and see if we get down to one single nation.

The little horn was prophesied to be a small, yet powerful independent nation in Western Europe that was established sometime after 476 AD, but it’s rise must have occurred prior to the end of the sixth century.

Eliminating the nations that are not located within the boundareis of the ancient Roman Empire, our list looks something like:

The little horn would arise “among” the ten horns. The ten horns became nations in the ruins of the Western Roman Empire. If we eliminate the modern nations in territory that once was the Eastern Roman Empire, our list looks like this:

Because the ten horns arose prior to the establishment of the little horn, we can rule out the seven existing nations the other earlier horns represent. Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland.

Being a “little horn,” it would be fair to at least eliminate the nations in the most populace half of the chart.

The little horn was prophesied to be in some way “greater than his fellows.”

Of the eight remaining nations, can you think of one that has had a greater influence on world history than any of the other forty-three nations we have considered?

The little horn power was prophesied to rule for 1260 years (prophetically “time, times and half a time”—we will study this much more in depth when we study Daniel 9). Did any of these eight nations have significant power for over a millennium?

The little horn was prophesied to speak blasphemy. Two Biblical specific definitions of blasphemy are given in the Gospels (both by the Jews falsely accusing Christ of blasphemy). Blasphemy is presented both as a man claiming to be Divine (John 10:30-33) as well as a man claiming the right to forgive sins (Mark 2:7).

Can you think of any of the above nations that claims to have the power to forgive your sins? Or one that claims to be deserving of the worship that is due to God alone?

Can you think of a nation listed above that has persecuted those who refused to give the worship this nation demanded?

Historically, the Emperor Justinian worked to eliminate the Heruli, Vandals and Ostrogoths because their Christianity was heretical. They did not believe in the Divinity of Christ. Beyond that, these three barbarian tribes rejected the role of the Bishop of Rome to be the earthly head of the Christian church.

The Ostrogoths were the final tribe to be driven from Rome in 538 AD, allowing the Bishop of Rome to assume the role of head of state in the ruins of the Western Roman Empire as well as to claim the role of the head of the Christian church on earth.

There is only one nation on planet earth that:

• Was and is a religio-political power. Like the Kingdom of Christ, it counts its kingdom not in residents within its borders, but rather in worldwide adherents to its teachings.

• Exists as a tiny nation and yet holds amazing political power.

• Arose in Western Europe after the barbarian tribes had defeated Rome.

• Was instrumental in the destruction of three of the barbarian nations.

• Began to reign as a political leader in 538 after the Ostrogoths were expelled from Rome. The papacy lost its temporal power in 1798 at the hand of General Berthier of France, 1260 years after the pope assumed political power.

• Continued to exist as a church but not a nation beyond 1798, but was restored to temporal power in 1929 and continues to exist as a nation to this day.

• Demanded worship, persecuted non-adherents, and to this day still claims the power to forgive sins.

Only one nation meets every stipulation of the prophecy of the little horn of Daniel 7.

Vatican City.

The papal power was pinpointed by God through Daniel and multiple other prophets as the “antichrist” power that would be a deceptive tool of Satan to attempt to deceive even the very elect.

Again, this is not intended to criticize any individual of any faith. I recognize this might be difficult and painful for some to read. But as Christians we are bound to tell the truth as it is given in the Bible.

Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. ²⁰ For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard (Acts 4:19,20).

God isn’t trying to be mean to anyone by revealing this. He just wants to warn and protect His kids, and that includes all who will listen to His call.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).

Our enemy is the devil, not humans made in God’s image.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

Jesus is warning us that there are those who have enlisted themselves, knowingly or unknowingly, in Satan’s service. And Jesus warns us that their deceptions will cause eternal ruin. He begs us to heed His warning.

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. ⁵ For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities” (Revelation 18:4,5).

It has been said that Jesus cannot just have been a good Man. He was either a lunatic, a liar, or Lord of all. Once Jesus made the claims that He was Divine, He immediately placed Himself in a position where it was all or none. He was either everything He claimed to be, or He was the greatest deceiver in eternal history. With the Bible as our Guide, we can see that Jesus was everything He claimed to be and so much more!

When the papacy declares itself to be worthy of the worship that is due to God alone, it places itself in the same situation. Either the papacy is truly the bride of Christ and she is everything she claims to be, or she has deceived billions into following a false gospel that leads people away from Christ instead of to Him. There is no middle ground.

Each of us is individually responsible to Christ to study for ourselves whether or not these things are so. I pray that you will heed His warning.

Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion (Hebrews 3:15).

I urge you to watch this presentation by the late Pastor Kenneth Cox, covering the identity of the “antichrist” power in further detail from Daniel 7.

Rise of the antichrist

https://youtu.be/gdNMsHZAshA

AI image of the extent of “Pickett’s Charge” at Gettysburg (hopefully the picture is at least somewhat historically accurate). The furthest reach of this attempt is often called, “The High Water Mark of the Confederacy.”

And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him (Daniel 11:45).

On July 3, 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg, General Lee authorized a Confederate offensive known as “Pickett’s Charge.” General Longstreet, among others, was sure the effort would be doomed for failure and strongly opposed it. But General Lee overruled the objections and gave the order to proceed.

Of the roughly 12,000 Confederate troops that began the walk across the open field, the South lost about 5,000 in a single hour. The Union artillery cut through the lines of advancing troops, leaving dead and wounded all over the battlefield.

Some Confederate troops did make it across the field and temporarily broke through the Union lines, but the Union pushed back and the remaining able-bodied Confederate forces were compelled to retreat. The next day, the Confederate forces evacuated Pennsylvania.

A thousand miles away, General Grant gained control of the entire Mississippi River by defeating Vicksburg. Two huge concurrent victories for the Union. The Confederacy would spend the balance of the Civil War simply playing defense hoping the Union would lose its resolve to win. The South never had another opportunity to win the war outright.

The furthest extent of the Confederate forces into the Union lines at Gettysburg has been called, “The High Water Mark of the Confederacy.” The national park service has an excellent website and video on the moment that can be accessed by clicking here.

https://www.nps.gov/places/the-high-water-mark.htm

At the end of Daniel 11, we see a similar scenario in the spiritual battle between Christ and Satan. Instead of a Civil War within the boundaries of the United States, Daniel 11 prophesies a high-water mark for the enemies of God just before the return of Jesus.

At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. ⁴¹ He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. ⁴² He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. ⁴³ He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. ⁴⁴ But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. ⁴⁵ And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him (Daniel 11:40-45).

As we study the last few verses of Daniel 11, we need to reiterate some principles of Bible prophecy we have studied in the past.

• Bible prophecy is better understood looking back through history rather than predicting specific future events. This increases a believer’s faith that the other prophecies are just as reliable.

• There are some details of Bible prophecy we will not understand until Jesus decides His people need that specific message.

Jesus Himself said that He was prophesying the events leading to His death for the purpose that, when it came to pass, the faith of the disciples would be strengthened rather than shattered.

Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He (John 13:19).

Had Jesus not warned the disciples of His upcoming betrayal and death, they would have wondered how the Messiah wouldn’t have seen it coming. By warning them ahead of time, Jesus gave them ample evidence of His Divinity in that even though things didn’t work out the way they expected, He was fully aware of what would happen and made the choice to walk to Calvary anyway.

As for some prophecies we won’t figure out until they have occurred, we have seen some prophesies simply made no apparent sense when given. Yet when they were fulfilled, they were proven entirely correct.

One such prophesied event was the money the priests bribed Judas with. Zechariah’s prophecy specified thirty pieces of silver being thrown into the temple for the potter.

And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter (Zechariah 11:13).

An initial read would make one think such a claim was ridiculous. Who throws money into the temple? Why would it be going into the temple for a potter? And yet it was fulfilled precisely.

Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, ⁴ saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”

And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”

⁵ Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.

⁶ But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.” ⁷ And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. ⁸ Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day (Matthew 27:3-8).

The book of Daniel was declared to be sealed until the time of the end. The prophecies were true, and yet they would not be understood as a cohesive whole until Jesus determined that His people would benefit by opening the message to their understanding. The passage this presentation covers begins with the start of “the time of the end.” As these prophesied events play/played out, the prophetic mysteries hidden in Daniel are/were to be opened and shared with the world.

At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him (Daniel 11:40).

“The time of the end” is said to begin when “the king of the South” would attack the king of the North. We have studied that the king of the North at this point in the prophecy refers to the Vatican church/state power. The last time the chapter mentioned the king of the South was the passage about the love triangle playing out in Egypt between Antony, Cleopatra, and Julius Caesar (Daniel 11:17-19).

So who is this new king of the South that would arise to attack the papacy at the time of the end? The best way to determine this is to allow the Bible to interpret itself.

• “The time of the end” would begin when the papacy was attacked by the king of the South (Daniel 11:40).

• The papal power would receive a deadly wound at the end of the 1260-day prophecy (Revelation 13:3).

• “The time of the end” must therefore begin in 1798.

• Another power Revelation refers to as “spiritual Egypt” was prophesied to be given special power at the end of the 1260-day prophecy (Revelation 11:1-8).

• If it can be determined historically who dealt the papacy its mortal wound in 1798, we can identify the king of the South as described in this passage.

Here’s part of the story from a Catholic source:

https://www.catholictextbookproject.com/post/the-pope-dragged-from-rome-february-20-1798

Berthier demanded that the pope abandon his temporal authority over Rome and the Papal States and leave Rome itself for good. Pius replied that his authority had come to him from God, and he could not justly abandon it. Berthier resorted to force. He declared the pope deposed and proclaimed Rome a republic. The 80-year old Pius was banished from the city, and on February 20, 1798, French soldiers dragged him from Rome.

France, more than any other single Western European power, had been instrumental in protecting the papacy’s political power in the early years of its 1260-year reign. While the Reformation gained adherents throughout much of Europe in the 1500s, France doggedly supported the papacy against the so-called “heretics.” Massacres were planned and executed. Huguenots who survived were driven from France. France’s middle class disappeared, leaving only the wealthy, the aristocracy and clergy, along with the very poor and uneducated.

Having been the first barbarian nation that militarily supported the papal power, it was almost fitting for France to be the nation that struck the mortal wound against it. But how was France to be compared spiritually to Egypt? If you trace through the line of prophetic kingdoms in Daniel, there is a thread of spiritual consistency.

• Nebuchadnezzar set up his image on the Plain of Dura to signify that he was greater than the God of heaven. He didn’t ask the Hebrews who their God was. It was their God who had given the prophetic dream that Nebuchadnezzar was fighting when he commanded the false worship. Instead of questioning God’s very existence, Nebuchadnezzar simply didn’t believe any God could deliver from the power of Babylon.

• Darius signed a decree that all who prayed to anyone but himself would be killed. He didn’t deny Daniel’s God. He simply set himself as more worthy of worship.

• Antiochus of the Greek Empire, and the process of sacrificing pigs in the temple at Jerusalem followed the same pattern.

• The Roman demand to offer incense to Caesar or face being shut out of society or killed was not, in the Roman mind, a command to deny the existence of Jehovah. It merely demanded the Caesar be added to the list of gods a conquered people must worship.

• The papacy didn’t deny the Divinity of Christ. It actually used this truth as a weapon to claim they had the power from Christ to change the law He wrote on stone with His own finger.

Egypt, however, was a different story. When called upon to let Israel go, Pharaoh denied to even acknowledge the existence of the God of Israel.

Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ”

² And Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go” (Exodus 5:1,2).

France, to a greater extent than any modern nation preceding it, denied the existence of Almighty God with a bold defiance that makes a Christian heart shudder. France declared the Bible to be fable, compelled the clergy to either deny Christ, leave France, or die. The French Republic then set up the “goddess of Reason” to replace the God of heaven.

Revelation 11 gives additional identifying characteristics:

the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified (Revelation 11:8).

Like Sodom, France’s denial of God’s sovereignty led them to the most debasing practices of sexual immorality. Like Jerusalem who killed the Lord of glory, France, led by the religious leaders supposedly doing the work of God, had previously killed untold thousands of God’s servants for simply choosing to worship Christ according to the Bible rather than the dictates of the church.

In the centuries since, other nations have carried the banner of atheism. Most notably the Soviet Union and then China have both officially declared that God does not exist, actively persecuting those who desire to worship the God of heaven and share the message of salvation. Not only have these atheistic nations blocked the spread of the Gospel, but they have also been roadblocks against the expansion of papal power, enslaving massive swaths of the earth’s population in their own spiritual infidelity instead of Rome’s.

Godlessness has also invaded much of the capitalist West. Even though not often directly inhibited by the laws of the land, forces opposing the spread of the Gospel can be found in nearly every aspect of life. From entertainment to financial markets to social programs to education, the original lie is repeated: in spite of your sin, “you shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).

But as powerful as the attack by atheism was, dealing the papacy the deadly wound, Daniel 11 only grants it half a verse. The power of the king of the North would strike back with ferocity. The deadly wound would be healed (Revelation 13:3).

At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through (Daniel 11:40).

Before just reading this passage and moving on, do a quick Bible search on the word “whirlwind.” Almost always it is referring to the power of God, most often in retribution for rebellion against His government.

• When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more,
  But the righteous has an everlasting foundation (Proverbs 10:25).

• For behold, the Lord will come with fire
  And with His chariots, like a whirlwind,
  To render His anger with fury,
  And His rebuke with flames of fire (Isaiah 66:15).

• The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
  The lightnings lit up the world;
  The earth trembled and shook (Psalm 77:18).

• The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
  And will not at all acquit the wicked.

  The Lord has His way
  In the whirlwind and in the storm,
  And the clouds are the dust of His feet (Nahum 1:3).

This counterattack by the king of the North appears to the world to be the power of God’s judgment against sin. Claiming to be the Vicar of Christ, the papal power claims as its own the right, even the Divine duty, to punish those who do not accept her voice as the voice of Christ.

in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:8).

There is one specific Biblical reference to “whirlwind” that is very pertinent to the counterattack by the king of the North.

Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire (Ezekiel 1:4).

Who did Ezekiel see?

And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. ²⁷ Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. ²⁸ Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord (Ezekiel 1:26-28).

Ezekiel saw the pre-incarnate Christ, the King of the universe, the true King of the North, seated on the sapphire throne. It was the same heavenly vision that Moses, Aaron and the leaders of Israel saw at Mount Sinai.

Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, ¹⁰ and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. ¹¹ But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God (Exodus 24:9-11).

It was the same throne from the north that Lucifer had coveted before he was expelled from glory.

For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High’ (Isaiah 14:13,14).

As the deadly wound is progressively healed and papal power extends across the planet, Paul’s prophecy of the “man of sin” will become more and more complete as the deception becomes more and more difficult to discern. The papal response to the king of the South will appear to be the spiritual equivalent of the Throne of Christ coming in the whirlwind toward Ezekiel.

the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:3,4).

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11).

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).

The words of Daniel continue to describe the power of the king of the North as it extends around the globe.

He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. ⁴² He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. ⁴³ He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels (Daniel 11:41-43).

It is very tempting to read apocalyptic prophecies and interpret them as if the Biblical prophecies from thousands of years ago automatically apply to political boundaries of today. The “Glorious Land” must be the political nation of Israel formed in 1948. “Ammon” must be Jordan, with its capitol city being Amman. “Egypt” must be modern Egypt as it currently occupies the map of North Africa.

But we have studied more than enough Bible prophecy to know that cannot be the Biblical standard for prophetic interpretation.

Literal Babylon was prophesied to never be rebuilt.

And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
²⁰ It will never be inhabited,
Nor will it be settled from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there,
Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.
²¹ But wild beasts of the desert will lie there,
And their houses will be full of owls;
Ostriches will dwell there,
And wild goats will caper there.
²² The hyenas will howl in their citadels,
And jackals in their pleasant palaces.
Her time is near to come,
And her days will not be prolonged (Isaiah 13:19-22).

Yet Babylon is a key last-day player according to the book of Revelation.

“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! ³ For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.”

⁴ And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues (Revelation 18:2-4).

Literal Babylon cannot be prophesied to both be forever in ruins and yet rising as the chief end-time antagonist against God and His people. If the only acceptable interpretation is entirely literal, then the prophecies are mutually exclusive, the Bible contradicts itself, and we can’t trust the Bible. Many dear Christians determined to claim they are interpreting it literally will fudge a bit and say it just means the modern nation of Iraq instead of Babylon. But that’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says, “Babylon.”

The same prophetic line of reasoning believe “the 144,000” are 144,000 literal Jews from the political nation of Israel founded in 1948. “Jews” are so named because they are from the southern kingdom called “Judah.” The term may fairly be applied to Benjamites and Levites who were part of the southern kingdom of Judah. A few other tribes were represented that either from the northern tribes before they fell to Assyria. But the end result is that most of the twelve tribes no longer exist. The Bible says there will be 12,000 from each of the listed tribes, most of which are not at all part of today’s nation of Israel.

And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:

⁵ of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed;
⁶ of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed;
⁷ of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed;
⁸ of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed (Revelation 7:4-8).

If literally translating the prophecy, there is no way the modern nation of Israel could possibly fulfill the prophecy. Popular prophetic interpretation simply ignores this reality and claims the prophecy fits anyway.

To be true to the text, we must allow the Bible to interpret itself rather than imposing our conceptions and ideas upon the text. When James addressed his letter to Christians around the known world, he addressed it to “the twelve tribes.”

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings (James 1:1).

According to James’s understanding, prophetic spiritual Israel is not a political entity in the Middle East. Biblically, prophetic spiritual Israel is whoever has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. Paul’s writings agree.

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:29).

Similarly, allowing the Bible to interpret itself tells us that the prophecies of the rise of “Babylon” refer to spiritual Babylon, not literal a literal Babylon rebuilt in defiance of God’s prior prophecy concerning the literal city in present-day Iraq. When Peter talked of the congregation of Christians in “Babylon,” he was speaking of his Christian brothers and sisters where he was a prisoner in the city of Rome.

She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son (1 Peter 5:13).

With that understanding, let’s take another look at the passage of nations and see what can be understood from a Biblical approach rather than a 2026 world map.

He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. ⁴² He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. ⁴³ He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels (Daniel 11:41-43).

“Entering the Glorious Land” sounds prophetically similar to “sitting as God in the temple of God.” The papacy planted itself inside God’s church, His New Testament “spiritual house” on earth.

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:4,5).

We have already seen that spiritual Egypt is prophetically used in Revelation to represent France specifically and atheism generally.

While we won’t try to identify the other specific nations in the passage in this study, the Bible does give indications as to what they might represent. A very basic defining point is that there are only two groups at the end. One group worships the king of the North. The other group has their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 13:8).

The nations listed as being overtaken by the king of the North will spiritually represent people who accept the counterfeit worship of Christ as directed by the papacy rather than remaining true to the Biblical worship of King Jesus.

Conversely, the nations the king of the North could not overcome represent those who, regardless of their national or spiritual background, choose to truly worship Christ in defiance to human commands to worship the king of the North.

Moab and Ammon were nations that descended from Abraham’s nephew Lot (Genesis 19:36-38). Edom was a nation descended from Esau (Genesis 36:9). All three nations worshiped idols and generally were a thorn in Israel’s flesh. But God would not allow Israel to destroy them when they came out of Egypt because they were descended from Lot and Esau (2 Chronicles 20:10).

Why these specific nations, historically idolators, are listed as spiritual representatives of those end-time peoples not being overcome by the king of the North, I confess I am not sure. But we can know that whoever the Bible is referring to here are people that will in the end choose to trust in Christ and His Word rather than human guidance for their salvation.

But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. ⁴⁵ And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him (Daniel 11:44,45).

The language is designed to have the reader study the initial literal king of the North, ancient Babylon. We can learn about the fall of spiritual Babylon by studying the fall of the literal city of Babylon.

Why did Belshazzar throw a wild party the night before Babylon fell? Because Cyrus the Persian was camped outside the city with the combined armies of the Medes and Persians. Media was located north of Babylon. Persia was to the east. Belshazzar was worried because of the news coming from the east and north.

Who is the last-day spiritual King that literal Cyrus represented?

Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd,
And he shall perform all My pleasure,
Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,”
And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” ’

45 “Thus says the Lord to His anointed,
To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held (Isaiah 44:28-45:1).

Who is our true Shepherd?

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11).

Who is the Lord’s true Anointed One?

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him (Acts 10:38).

Cyrus was a picture of Jesus. As Cyrus’s advance troubled Belshazzar, the glory and. power of the Gospel of Christ and the call to follow Christ no matter the cost will trouble the leaders of spiritual Babylon.

After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. ² And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! ³ For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.”

⁴ And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. ⁵ For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities (Revelation 18:1-5).

In response to the message that calls the people of God out of her communion, the papacy will “go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many” (Daniel 11:44).

Ultimately, it will be proclaimed throughout planet earth that refusing to falsely worship God by following the dictates of the papal power will be considered a capital crime.

He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. ¹⁶ He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name (Revelation 13:15-17).

The final verse describes the high-water mark of this papal bid to stand against the King of glory.

he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain (Daniel 11:45).

What do “seas” represent in Bible prophecy?

Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues (Revelation 17:15).

Bodies of water in apocalyptic prophecy represent masses of people. The beasts of Daniel 7 and the first beast of Revelation 13 rise out of the sea (Daniel 7:2; Revelation 13:1).

Comparing the voice of Jesus in Daniel vs Revelation reveal the same representation.

the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude (Daniel 10:6).

His voice as the sound of many waters (Revelation 1:15).

The waters represent the masses of humanity that the papal power claims as its own.

authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. ⁸ All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:7,8).

It was to this same group of people, claimed by the papacy as its own, that the final message to “come out of Babylon” will be given.

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— ⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

⁸ And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Revelation 14:6-8).

What is the “glorious holy mountain”?

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it (Isaiah 2:2).

Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads. ² And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. ³ They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth. ⁴ These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Revelation 14:1-4).

The “glorious mountain” is where the redeemed follow the Lamb wherever He leads. It is where the throne of the true King of the North, Jesus Christ, sits in ultimate glory. It is the throne that Satan sought to usurp from the very beginning, and now Satan is using human forces to attempt to accomplish the same goal.

For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north (Isaiah 14:13).

The high-water mark of the papal power will be reached and the mortal wound will be fully healed, when and only when the papacy will have successfully set itself between humanity and the throne of God. Through a universal human edict in direct rebellion to God’s Ten Commandment law, promising death to the offender, the papacy will have compelled the world to make a decision to either follow the Commandments of God and be killed (John 14:15; Revelation 14:12) or accept the false sabbath of human origin and presumably be allowed to continue life as usual (Daniel 7:25).

Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. ¹³ And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

¹⁵ “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

¹⁶ And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon (Revelation 16:12-16).

What Daniel covers in just a couple verses is the setup for the Battle of Armageddon.

• Demonic powers at work

• Papal power and her sidekick the “false prophet” working under Satan’s lead

• Miracles performed by demons

• Bringing together the civil and religious powers of earth

• Way prepared for the return of the Messianic King Jesus that Cyrus prefigured

• Jesus says He is coming quickly

• The world is brought to “Armageddon,” “the mountain of Megiddo,” “the mount of the congregation”

Like the Confederates who successfully crossed the stone wall on Cemetery Ridge, the high-water mark reached by the papacy will be short-lived.

yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him (Daniel 11:45).

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, ¹⁰ standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come’ (Revelation 18:9,10).

Jesus wins.

If you are new to this series, you may need to read some earlier posts to have the Biblical foundation necessary to have this presentation make sense. That’s OK. Please do go back and learn.

If you’ve been studying with us for some time, you know the players. You know the issues. You know the stakes.

The devil is using both demonic and human agencies to assemble the world in rebellion against God, with the Vatican as its visible leader. The call, the command will be given to reject God’s Law in order to worship a false sabbath that does not recognize Christ as Creator and Redeemer.

Which side will you be on? Will the Vatican stand between you and Christ? Or will you spiritually walk upon that mountain where the 144,000 “follow the Lamb wherever He goes”?

Please accept Jesus today. Accept His forgiveness. Accept His righteousness. Accept His Lordship of your life.

Don’t delay. The crown of glory awaits the overcomer.

Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).

Ivor Myers on Daniel 11:40-45

https://www.youtube.com/live/sQDMVTMOSrM?si=vdwA9HNtAaF9onww

Two days ago our nation celebrated “Mother’s Day.” The second Sunday in May has given many florists and greeting card retailers a way to keep business booming into late spring. The younger crowd may not remember, but when long distance was billed by the minute, Mother’s Day was also an annual boon for long distance phone carriers.

The Bible has a host of stories about mothers. Some loved God dearly but made significant mistakes (Sarah, Rebekah). Some loved the world and their family will be mostly or entirely missing from heaven due in large part to their unfaithfulness (Mrs. Lot, Jezebel). Some died too young to significantly impact the lives of their children (Mrs. Phinehas, Rachel). Some childless women filled a motherly roll so faithfully God recorded their names in His Word (Rebekah’s nurse Deborah). Some loved their children so much they would give them up rather than see them hurt (prostitute before Solomon when Solomon commanded the baby to be divided). This last category describes the love of the mother we wish to remember in today’s presentation.

If you would enjoy taking a quick ten question Bible trivia quiz on Bible Moms, please click the kahoot link

https://kahoot.it/challenge/05820884?challenge-id=210ae2c5-eaa7-4485-bc42-9c7421cfcca0_1778361739720

If you wanted to offer a list of “who’s who” of mothers throughout history, any such list would probably start with Mary of Nazareth. While some well-meaning Christians grant her reverence due to God alone, the Bible does make it clear that Mary loved God and was tremendously blessed to be chosen to be the mother of Jesus Christ.

Second place would seem like a very distant second. Perhaps the mother of Peter and Andrew, or maybe Mrs. Zebedee would fit the title. The mother of John and Charles Wesley certainly had an amazing impact on the world. Reformers, statesmen, inventors, writers, and so many other people who have changed the course of human history were guided into life through the prayers and instruction of a God-fearing mother.

One mother early in the Old Testament left a legacy of faithfulness to God that will only be fully comprehended in heaven. Jochebed’s father Levi was probably quite old when she was born, as she married one of Levi’s grandsons, her nephew Amram. Levi, though repentant of his guilt in Shechem and for later selling Joseph, was not listed favorably in the final tribal prophecies of Jacob (Genesis 49). Only after the Exodus was the tribe of Levi elevated to the priesthood through faithfulness at Mt Sinai. During Jochebed’s lifetime, her tribe did not have a particularly strong reputation for faithfulness to God.

Jochebed’s life was mostly lived during Israel’s time of slavery to Egypt. Both Levi and Amram lived 137 years. Presuming Jochebed’s longevity to be similar to theirs, one would surmise that she had very little to hope for in life. The dying promise of Joseph, that God would return Israel to the land of promise, was recited by the faithful. But the beatings and oppression of bondage were the apparent reality. The century (plus)-old promise of a dead uncle felt so far removed as to be nothing more than fanciful mythology.

Many Israelites despaired of ever leaving Egypt. Too many forgot the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The multitude of idols and deities in Egypt seemed to mock the idea that a more powerful unseen God could exist, much less that Israel would ever be free from the most powerful nation on earth.

Jochebed was different. When Pharaoh’s command to kill the Israelite baby boys doomed the life of her youngest son, Jochebed trusted Moses to God’s care rather than allow him to be thrown as a sacrifice to the god the Nile River. Her faith in the God of heaven was richly rewarded when the princess of Egypt scooped Moses up, adopting him as her own.

Yet, Jochebed still had to prepare Moses to hold onto God when the glories of the court would tell him that it would just be easier on everyone if he submitted to the spiritual customs and pagan traditions taught there. Through all the years exposed to the basest forms of idolatry, Moses remained faithful to God, as much from Jochebed’s constant prayers as from her former diligent teaching before he was taken to the palace.

The details of the family legacy Jochebed’s faithfulness inspired can be found from Exodus through Deuteronomy, as well as many other passages throughout the Bible. Her firstborn, her daughter Miriam, was among the first (if not the first) women ever chosen by God to be a prophetess. Aaron, her middle child, also had the gift of prophecy and was chosen by Christ to represent Himself as the high priest of God’s people.

Moses was what every parent would want their child to be. A leader of men, a military genius, and the most educated of the aristocracy of the day. But most important was the spiritual legacy of the life he lived.

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.

²⁴ By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, ²⁶ esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

²⁷ By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them (Hebrews 11:23-28).

The boy who had once floated in a basket on the Nile would one day kneel before the God of the universe and ask as it were to a friend, “Show me Your Glory.” What a testament to a mother’s prayers. What a testament to her daily faithfulness to share with her children the promise of a freedom she would never experience in this life.

One day Jesus will come with a shout so loud the dead will hear. Jochebed will rise to the inheritance of the righteous. She will learn of the amazing exploits of her children during their lifetimes. The plagues, the passover, the desert wanderings, the sanctuary service, the manna, the water from the rock, and so many more stories will thrill her soul.

And she will see the vast host of the saved, untold millions of which will have learned of Jesus by the experiences of and the writings by the children she loved and prayed for. She will look back on the years of slavery, the years when freedom was nothing more than a prophecy given by her uncle. Then she will hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” She will turn and see the face of Jesus, the face Moses was not allowed to look upon when he asked to see His Glory. And she will bow at His feet knowing that every tear, every prayer, every sleepless night was worth it all.

If you are a Christian mother, thank you for the impact your daily life has for time and eternity! If you are not, please find a Christian mother and thank her for her faithfulness to the calling God has given her.

https://youtu.be/tniXZD8Ha2E?si=uxA4KF-V30IN-xBk

May God bless you today!

https://kahoot.it/challenge/06863948?challenge-id=210ae2c5-eaa7-4485-bc42-9c7421cfcca0_1777160459490

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 13:3).

In our last presentation, we focused on Daniel 11:31-35. This passage covers the papal persecutions of “heretics” during the Dark Ages. We also examined how God relieved the pressure of the persecution by opening the door to the New World, a land that would grow into a great nation dedicated to the protection of religious and civil liberty for all people.

And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. ³² Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. ³³ And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. ³⁴ Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join with them by intrigue. ³⁵ And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time (Daniel 11:31-35).

Spiritual Warfare

https://youtu.be/GSRA6m-D-uY?si=sqIZcK0F-OWSNIcd

The following portion of Daniel 11 seems to take an interlude in historical progress to identify without question what power the term “the king of the north” is describing through the final portion of the vision. We have traced Daniel 11 beginning with the Medo-Persian Empire, through the Greek Empire, the pagan Roman Empire, and finally to the papal Roman power of Western Europe.

Before the vision of Daniel 11-12 reaches its climax, Daniel used specific language tying “the king of the north” at this point in the vision to the papacy as identified by the little horn power in both Daniel 7 and Daniel 8. Moreover, New Testament writers used the language of this very passage to prophetically identify this same power.

Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. ³⁷ He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. ³⁸ But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. ³⁹ Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain (Daniel 11:36-39).

Breaking it down piece by piece:

Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god (Daniel 11:36).

And he shall exalt himself in his heart.
He shall destroy many in their prosperity.
He shall even rise against the Prince of princes (Daniel 8:25).

the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:3,4).

John Calvin: “Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman Pontiff the antichrist, but those who are thus opinioned do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself. After whom we speak and whose language we adopt. I shall briefly show how that Paul’s words in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies to the papacy.”

shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods (Daniel 11:36).

He shall speak pompous words against the Most High (Daniel 7:25).

And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies (Revelation 13:5).

“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty” written by Pope Leo XIII. Encyclical Letter June 20, 1894.

shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done (Daniel 11:36).

But the court shall be seated,
And they shall take away his dominion,
To consume and destroy it forever.
²⁷ Then the kingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High (Daniel 7:26,27).

But he shall be broken without human means (Daniel 8:25).

the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” ³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:29-31).

He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword (Revelation 13:10).

she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ ⁸ Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her (Revelation 18:7,8).

Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Revelation 19:20).

He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all (Daniel 11:37).

Refer back to the first passages above on Daniel 11:36. Also:

And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. ¹¹ He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down (Daniel 8:10,11).

they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:4).

in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, ² speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, ³ forbidding to marry (1 Timothy 4:1-3).

But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. (Daniel 11:38).

In this part of the passage, Daniel prophesied that this power would abandon allegiance to the humble Christ, whose Kingdom is not of this world.

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

³⁷ Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”

Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:36,37).

When Satan offered Jesus the powers of earth in exchange for a single moment of worship, Jesus flatly refused and commanded that Satan depart.

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’ ” (Matthew 4:8-10).

When Satan offered the Christian church the same deal, they gladly accepted it.

I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, ² with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication (Revelation 17:1,2).

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls (Revelation 17:4).

And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore: ¹² merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; ¹³ and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men. ¹⁴ The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all. ¹⁵ The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, ¹⁶ and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! ¹⁷ For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.’ Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance ¹⁸ and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like this great city?’

¹⁹ “They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate (Revelation 18:11-19).

When Simon Magus attempted to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit for money, the apostle Peter rebuked his perverse concept of the grace of Christ in the harshest of terms.

And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, ¹⁹ saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰ But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! ²¹ You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. ²² Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³ For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity” (Acts 8:18-23).

Yet, centuries later, Peter’s alleged spiritual successor began promoting the sale of indulgences in order to fund the building of a magnificent edifice dedicated to the name of Peter rather than the Name of Jesus Christ. The Protestant Reformation was sparked in large part by Martin Luther’s refusal to accept the indulgence as a method of forgiveness acceptable to God. While the spirit of the Reformation is being abandoned by the vast majority of Protestants, the Vatican continues to recognize the purchase of forgiveness and salvation as a legitimate path to righteousness.

Truly did the prophet record the terrible record:

merchandise of…bodies and souls of men (Revelation 18:12,13).

Rome and the Reformation

https://youtu.be/HlXNdtue1Lg?si=g62NNlTYm-xQhzDO

Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain (Daniel 11:39).

Any “god” except the true and living God, is a “foreign god.” The object of such worship is, without exception, ultimately Satan.

The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. ³ 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. ⁴ So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:2-4).

The spirit of antichrist is ultimately the spirit of Satan.

“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
¹³ For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High’ (Isaiah 14:12-14).

Any “gospel” except the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a false gospel.

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8,9).

The Bible says the sanctuary service gives us a picture, a pattern, of the plan of salvation.

Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary (Psalm 77:13).

Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ² a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man (Hebrews 8:1,2).

As we have studied, through each step of the sanctuary service, the papacy has attempted to place itself between the sinner and Christ.

by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down (Daniel 8:11).

he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven (Revelation 13:6).

As we approach the climactic passages of the vision of Daniel 10-12, I want to reiterate that these presentations are not in any way meant to disparage Catholic believers. I believe the vast majority of Christians who will be in heaven will be Catholics who have lived and died loving Jesus and lived up to all the light they had access to receive.

These presentations are not even an attack on the individual Catholic leaders. If God can save Nebuchadnezzar, He can save anyone.

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down (Daniel 4:37).

Our conflict is not with individuals or Christian denominations or even pagan religions. Our conflict is with the enemy of souls, Satan.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:9).

Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time (Revelation 12:12).

God did not intend for the prophecies of the “antichrist” power to be merely a whodunit. He didn’t intend for the prophecies to be used as a sledge hammer for one religion to use against another.

God made the prophecies so very clear to identify this power because He is in the business of saving humanity from the power of sin, and Satan’s deceptive power is his most effective weapon to destroy humanity.

The Devil's Tricks

https://youtu.be/UzCCGsQd2Vk?si=tc0du7qjGah21Y37

Satan used deception in the Garden of Eden:

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).

Satan will use deception till the very end of time:

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many (Matthew 24:3-5).

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty (Revelation 16:13,14).

Jesus loved the religious leaders of His day. He longed for their salvation. But Jesus knew that not only would most of them never accept Him, but that through their influence many of the people would be lost as well.

Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³ for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God (John 12:42,43).

Jesus condemned the leaders, not because He despised them, but rather because He wanted to save as many as He could who would otherwise be lost by blindly believing their false teaching.

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in (Matthew 23:13).

How many well-meaning Catholic missionaries crossed the seas to new lands in order to teach a false gospel to the natives of the land? Many of them undoubtedly thought they were bringing honor to the Name of Christ. But they taught the people a path of salvation other than the Way, the Truth and the Life. The route they offered was not the narrow Way but the broad road.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves (Matthew 23:15).

To the corporate papal Christianity that persecuted those who were faithful to God’s Word, that claimed the power to change God’s Law, and that blasphemously bore the titles of God Himself, could Christ honestly say anything other than that which He said to the Jews upon leaving the temple?

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁸ See! Your house is left to you desolate (Matthew 23:37,38).

I urge you to study these prophecies for yourself. Not so that you can be “right” and stick it to friends who disagree with you. Not so you can appear “smart” and win a Bible trivia game. Not so you can point fingers and set yourself above others.

Study these prophecies only because Jesus gave them to His people as a gift. They are in the Bible for a reason. God tells us that the reason is so that you and I and all who will heed them will not be deceived.

As we proceed into the final phases of this amazing prophecy, there will be portions we cannot know every detail of. But what we can know is that Christ will reveal Himself to those who seek Him through His Word.

Let us all keep our eyes focused on Christ. May we accept His Word as the only Source of truth, no matter what our senses tell us to the contrary. And Christ will open our minds to understand what we are reading as He determines our need and our capacity to receive it.

Revelation Reveals the Antichrist

https://youtu.be/LMge7B2pxec?si=5eZR4E0f3NY54s8S

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. ¹⁴ But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. ¹⁵ So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth (Revelation 12:13-16).

I hope and pray you enjoyed the Easter week presentations again this year. We can never ponder the life and death of our Savior too much. Without Christ, nothing has meaning, and we are all doomed. With Christ, we have life eternal.

It has been some time since our last presentation in the Daniel series. The last few presentations in the series have investigated the meaning of the term, “the abomination of desolation,” the identity of the entity involved as it applies to the studies in Daniel 8, Daniel 9, and Daniel 11, and the specific abominations that connect the multiple examples together.

The two-fold prophecy Christ gave His disciples on the Mount of Olives, as recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 17 and 21, was to give them insight into both the destruction of Jerusalem prophesied by Jesus and Daniel 9 as well as insight into conditions at the end of earth’s history. The final end-time application of the abomination that causes desolation as prophesied in Daniel 8 and 11 we discovered was the Christian apostasy that developed into the papal system.

As with prior examples of the abomination that caused desolation in the sanctuary at Shiloh, Solomon’s temple, and Herod’s temple, during the Christian apostasy Satan convinced God’s people to participate in idolatry and desecrate His holy Sabbath.

Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them (Ezekiel 22:26).

Using the leadership of the Christian church itself, Satan convinced the vast majority of Christians through the Dark Ages that obedience to God’s Law should be considered less important than following the spiritual guidance of man.

Jesus’ own words tell us how deadly this deception really is.

These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
⁹ And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men (Matthew 15:8,9).

Rome and the Reformation

https://youtu.be/HlXNdtue1Lg?si=M7_1xKibjAHKZQh7

How do we know from the New Testament that the abomination that causes desolation would be repeated again beyond the destruction of literal Jerusalem? How do we know the prophecy pinpoints the Christian church of the Dark Ages? We can know by the wording used by the Bible itself.

Jesus spoke of the destruction of literal Jerusalem as beginning the time of the Gentiles.

And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Luke 21:24).

In Revelation, John used the same wording to describe Roman Christianity.

But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles (Revelation 11:2a).

OK, same wording, but what does that prove? How does that connect to papal Rome? Let’s read the rest of the verse.

But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months (Revelation 11:2).

We have seen beginning in Daniel 7 that the three and one-half year prophetic period, or one thousand two hundred sixty literal years, points unmistakably to the Vatican power. Every time we find that time period in prophecy, we can know that it is referring to the twelve hundred sixty year papal reign, from 538 AD - 1798 AD.

Then the saints shall be given into his hand
For a time and times and half a time (Daniel 7:25).

that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered (Daniel 12:7).

they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months (Revelation 11:2).

they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth (Revelation 11:3).

Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days (Revelation 12:6).

she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent (Revelation 12:14).

a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months (Revelation 13:5).

For a review of the clear identity of the little horn power of Daniel 7, please review the study entitled Who Is the “antichrist”? Part 1.

Prophecy declares that during this 1260-year reign of papal power, God would have a persecuted faithful few to preserve the light of the Gospel so that His truth would never be extinguished. This week’s passage of Daniel 11 prophesied specifically of these stalwarts of the faith.

Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. ³³ And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. ³⁴ Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join with them by intrigue. ³⁵ And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time (Daniel 11:32-35).

The plight of these devoted Dark Age followers of Christ when there was no human reason to believe they could survive reminds us of those in the Old Testament who suffered for Christ in the same manner.

Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— ³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. ³⁹ And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise (Hebrews 11:35-39).

Tens of millions paid the ultimate sacrifice for their faith, their only “crime” was to accept the Word of God as supreme over the commandments of men. They counted their trials and sufferings of little consequence in comparison to the sufferings of the One who first gave His Life for them.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Around the geographical fringes of Roman Christianity, the Celtic Christians, the Christians of Ethiopia, and others boldly held fast to the Gospel as it was in Christ. The Celtic church sent missionaries to mainland Europe with the Good News that Christ had died, yea had risen again, and was now seated on the right hand of Power. From within the confines of papal Europe, the Waldensian and Albigensian Christians for centuries proclaimed the message of hope through faith in the blood of the crucified Redeemer.

Columba and Iona

https://youtu.be/yIdHlLaMflM?si=d97AAAj7BsyYHIsh

It would have been easy for these relatively small companies to hide in their native mountain homes and secluded hideouts, holding the truths of God’s Word for themselves and their families to cherish. Instead they traveled as salesmen, studied at the universities of the great cities, opened schools of their own, and copied portions of the Word of God at the peril of their lives.

the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. ³³ And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering (Daniel 11:32,33).

Their intent was not personal wealth beyond their needs and replenishing their inventory. It was not to gain knowledge in order to establish a name for themselves. Their goal was constantly to seek and save the lost. While any possible recipient of truth might turn out to be a traitor, they took the risk to share the light of the knowledge of Christ whenever a hungry soul showed interest.

Many never returned home, suffering a martyr’s death. But He who had called them was faithful. Well might these faithful few be called the “church in the wilderness.”

Waldensian Christians

https://youtu.be/QnbGeEyOqyI?si=C5xsdNh4NI--m2ni

Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days (Revelation 12:6).

All appearances suggested that the light of the Gospel was to be crushed once and for all. Satan determined to finally destroy these hated Christian minorities that refused to accept the bishop of Rome as head of the church in place of Christ.

The Inquisition killed millions. Crusades formerly aimed at recovering Jerusalem from Islamic power were now turned against Christians who would not submit to Rome. Anathemas and interdicts were pronounced against Protestant strongholds. Many Waldensians were mercilessly slaughtered while others were compelled to flee across the Alps in mid-winter. Huguenots were eradicated from France. The power of the Holy Roman Empire was leveled against the Lutheran districts of Germany. Even the distant Christians of Ethiopia were for a time held under the sway of Rome.

But the prophecy reveals that the persecuted band would receive unexpected help.

Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help (Daniel 11:34).

Jesus even mentioned a reprieve from the terrible persecution in His discourse with His disciples.

And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened (Matthew 24:22).

The words of Revelation present the story of relief more fully.

So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth (Revelation 12:15,16).

During Satan’s great attempt to extinguish the Gospel, “the earth helped” the church in the wilderness. What does that mean?

The visions of Daniel 7 and the first half of Revelation 13 depict beasts (nations: see Daniel 7:17) arising out of the sea.

Daniel spoke, saying, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. ³ And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other (Daniel 7:2,3).

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 (Revelation 13:1).

What does the word “sea” represent in Bible prophecy? What does the Bible say?

Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues (Revelation 17:15).

The strife among nations in Daniel 7 historically occurred in the areas of the great civilizations of the known world, places where multitudes of people and great nations clashed for power. Likewise, the beast from the sea at the beginning of Revelation 13, the papal power, was located in the heart of Western Civilization, the city of Rome.

Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits (Revelation 17:9).

What city is famous for its seven hills? Rome.

And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth (Revelation 17:18).

What city reigned over the kings of the earth in the days that John wrote Revelation? Rome.

But the last half of Revelation 13 presents a beast rising peacefully from the earth.

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon (Revelation 13:11).

At this point, do not focus on the characteristics of this beast. Just note that it is a nation rising relatively peacefully from “the earth” (as opposed to striving on the sea). This nation was a place that God sent His church in the wilderness to protect her from what would have been its near-total destruction in Europe by the power of Satan.

When the Separatists of Scroby, England, decided to leave Holland and travel to the New World to secure a home where they and their children could worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, they had no idea that they were the beginning of the stream of persecuted Christians who would fulfill this prophecy to the letter. The land that would become the United States of America offered the hope of freedom to those who sought peace from the persecutions of the Old World.

The Pilgrim Fathers

https://youtu.be/F0SH80kbxBo?si=D5O3lLuHWfhud3kq

Centuries later, the light of liberty would be held aloft in New York Harbor holding a tablet that reads:

“Give me your tired, your poor.

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

These words of hope echo the words of Christ Himself:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

The Mayflower and the Birth of America

https://youtu.be/lUeokj1WbZ0?si=RozfTH0t3PQLAqTS

The prophecy of Daniel 11 continues:

but many shall join with them by intrigue (Daniel 11:34).

False believers pretended to align with the people of God in oder to secure personal gain. William Tyndale was famously betrayed and suffered a martyr’s death. Monarchs who knew the truth sold their people and their own souls for the sake of earthly rewards. The national leaders could not foresee that the results of rejecting the Gospel and eradicating its followers would lead to untold bloodshed and the ruin of their own nation, such as occurred during the French Revolution.

Margaret of Navarre

https://youtu.be/R_4t1TALcVo?si=Mm2w_5z2YgVCNTsY

³⁵ And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time (Daniel 11:34,35).

John Huss, Jerome of Prague, George Wishart, Zwingli, Cranmer, Ridley, the Oxford Martyrs, and many other leaders of the Reformation died along with those who adhered to its teachings.

George Wishart

https://youtu.be/paoyCzx4uqc?si=3B-ih8tog3KFTpEf

they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death (Revelation 12:11).

But God preserved the lives of some great Reformers. Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, John Knox and others God protected under the fiercest of persecution in order to complete the work of reform that He had called them to do.

Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever (Daniel 12:3).

John Calvin: the Work in Geneva

https://youtu.be/bR1g7SzxZHk?si=WPdMkjMQNytjnqrw

The stories of their lives remain today as lights of truth and hope that can never be extinguished. Words that inspire immense faith and songs that call for the greatest sacrifice for the cause of truth ring down through the centuries to us today.

“Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God!”

“A might fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Our helper He amidst the flood, of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe, doth seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great, and filled with cruel hate. One little word shall fell him.”

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

https://youtu.be/oiuFhqPKFHw?si=Dtt4VH6Y4XMv0u5J

There are millions of other stories that will remain hidden in death until the final resurrection of the righteous, stories of those who gave all when no one but God knew of their sacrifice.

The church in the wilderness was to persevere in the time and place God called it, all the while waiting patiently for “the time of the end.” At the time of their suffering, the faithful ones at best partially understood the 1260-year prophecy. They didn’t know when to expect the persecution to diminish. But they trusted the God who held time and space in His hand.

Looking back through history and comparing events to the words of prophecy, we have the benefit of seeing the exact fulfillment of God’s Word through the New Testament era, much as the disciples were able to understand how the Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in Christ when He explained them on His Resurrection Day. The church in the wilderness did not have this comprehensive view of history, but they trusted God anyway.

The “time of the end” arrived right on time. The pope was removed from his throne and the political realm of the papacy was eliminated in 1798. As God’s Word prophesied, the knowledge of God’s Word expanded exponentially when the papal power received the mortal wound.

But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase (Daniel 12:4).

The history of the church in the wilderness teaches us several things about our Almighty King:

1. The Word of God never fails.

2. Nothing Satan or the schemes of man can do will ever take God by surprise.

3. Whether we are called to live for Christ or to die for Him, He will always be in the fire with His people. He is no less concerned for His faithful ones today than when He walked through the flames with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

May we each have the faith to trust in His care, to follow Him completely, and trust the results and consequences to His power and plan.

Finishing the Reformation

https://youtu.be/qtbekkAo3HE?si=a31UWI8QYGt2DBIY

Slowly the hours of the night passed. The Roman soldiers had never before heard of anyone being assigned to make sure a dead Man stayed dead, but orders were orders. Suddenly their lackadaisical attitude was completely shattered by something, or someone, they couldn’t really tell.

Like a bolt of lightning, an angel had descended from heaven. Whether the sonic boom of his arrival at such infinite speed or a direct manifestation of Divine power, the ground where they are trying to hide from the angel’s presence quaked in apparent terror just as they did. The angel approached the massive boulder setting before the tomb and flicked it away as if it were a marble (Matthew 28:2-4).

With a message from the Father, the angel announced to the Body of Jesus that it was time to arise. God’s Word had declared that Jesus would receive victory over the power of death, and God’s Word cannot fail (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).

The soldiers had thought they were just on some random assignment, weird, but random. How could they have known that the night they were assigned to guard the grave was the night determined in Divine counsel to be the day Jesus would conquer death?

In past studies we have looked at the time prophecy of Daniel 9. The seventy prophetic weeks, or 490 literal years, began with the third decree to rebuild given in Ezra chapter 7 by Artaxerxes in the autumn of 457 BC (Daniel 9:24,25). The first sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years, were to reach the anointing of the Messiah. Jesus was baptized in autumn 27 AD (Luke 3:1). Halfway through week 70, or 3 1/2 years later in the spring of 31 AD, the Messiah was to be cut off, bringing an end to the sacrificial system (Daniel 9:26a,27a). Everything had happened right on time.

But another prophetic timeline was at play. The annual feasts of Leviticus 23 give a prophetic timeline of salvation history as well. Jesus Christ, our true Passover Lamb, was sacrificed on the Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7). He died on the exact day of human history which prophecy foretold He would.

It should not surprise us that the day of Jesus’ Resurrection should also have been foretold in the prophetic timeline. Paul wrote that Jesus Christ, the “Firstborn from the dead,” was the “Firstfruits of them that sleep” (Colossians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:20). The ancient Feast of Firstfruits, the celebration to begin the early harvest, was celebrated on the first day of the week following Passover (Leviticus 23:11).

Christ died on the exact day God’s Word predicted. Christ was raised on the exact day God’s Word predicted.

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 NKJV

All too suddenly for the guards it was all over. The angel rolled away the stone and called to the dead Man. The Captive in the grave walked out. Undoubtedly, the Roman soldiers heard the angel ascribe titles and glory to Jesus that told them exactly who He was. And then He was gone.

(AI generated)

Hurriedly they tried to compose themselves to go tell their superiors. They rushed to the city to tell the priests whom Caiaphas had given control of this mission over to. For a large sum of money, they went in with the greatest news ever told, and they came out with an incomprehensible lie that would have cost them their lives had it been true (Matthew 28:11-15).

Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb while it was still dark, very soon after the soldiers left. She saw the empty tomb and ran back to tell the disciples (John 20:1,2). Other women that loved Jesus were also on their way by apparently a different route, arriving just after daybreak (Mark 16:2). They saw the stone was rolled away from the tomb, and they went inside (Mark 16:4,5). They saw an angel seated bearing the most amazing news!

But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” Mark 16:6-7 NKJV

Luke says the angels asked the women the pointed question, “Why do you seek the Living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!” (Luke 24:5,6).

The angel even mentioned Peter by name. No doubt Peter had suffered terribly the past few days (Matthew 26:75). Of all eleven disciples, Peter must have had the most bitter sorrow to have cursed His Master’s Holy Name just before He died. But here, on the morning of the resurrection, Peter’s invitation is given by name. What love Jesus has for His erring children!

The women went back to town to tell the disciples the amazing news! (Matthew 28:8). But Peter and John with Mary Magdalene were already rushing to the tomb in response to Mary’s news that the tomb was empty (John 20:3,4). The two disciples entered the tomb and found it empty as advertised. Then they went back home, leaving Mary at the tomb (John 20:5-11).

There are more than a few times in the Bible where we see the love of God poured out on someone the world thinks of as a nobody. Jesus met the Egyptian slave Hagar after she ran away from Sarah. After that amazing meeting she called the God of Abraham “You Are The God Who Sees” (Genesis 16:7-13). The harlot Rahab was not only saved with her family from the destruction of Jericho, but Jesus included her in His family tree (Matthew 1:5). Jesus had to go through Samaria to meet an outcast at a well (John 4:4-7). God sent an earthquake to save the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:25-34). Now we see that same love poured out on the woman Simon didn’t want at his party (Luke 7:39).

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her. John 20:11-18 NKJV

And yet, after Mary had such an amazing experience and the other women had seen the angels, the disciples still wouldn’t believe them (Mark 16:9-11).

After Jesus ascended to Heaven and returned, He started walking the road to Emmaus with Cleopas and another believer. Jesus could have said, “It’s Me! I’m alive!” and their hearts would have been thrilled and they wouldn’t have heard another word He said all day. So instead, Jesus gave them one of the greatest Bible studies on the Messianic prophecies that had ever been given (Luke 24:13-27).
At the end of the day, Jesus acted like He was heading on down the road. Imagine if they hadn’t begged Jesus to stay with them. Imagine if He had kept walking and they never knew they had spent the afternoon with the One who inspired the Scriptures. Can you still feel the amazement they still had when, years later, they were telling Luke how their hearts had burned within them while He was explaining the Bible to them?

Upon realizing it was Jesus, they left their meal uneaten and raced back the seven miles through the dark to tell the disciples their experience with Jesus. When they arrived, the place was astir with the news that Jesus had revealed Himself to Peter as well (Luke 24:28-35).

Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the middle of the group. He must have had a twinkle in His eye when He said, “It’s Me. Why do you look so frightened?” He asked for something to eat and then He repeated and perhaps enlarged upon the earlier greatest Bible study in history.
Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:44-49 NKJV

There were some others who bore witness of Jesus’ resurrection. The Bible doesn’t give their names, but it can be fun to speculate a little bit.
Matthew wrote that the earthquake at Jesus’ death ripped open some graves of the righteous. And they were raised on Resurrection Day along with Jesus. They went into Jerusalem and appeared to a lot of surprised people (Matthew 27:51-53).
Again, I don’t know who they were. But I sometimes wonder if some of them were people known to the people of that era. John the Baptist? Maybe a bygone era? Isaiah? What if the number included some from before the Flood, whose stature, like their lifespan, probably far exceeded anything the locals had ever seen?
Until we get to heaven, it’s impossible to know. What we can know right now, without a shadow of a doubt, is that Jesus is alive!

And because He lives, we also can have eternal life in His Name (John 20:31).
Death is a defeated foe! Christ has won!

You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, Even from the rebellious, That the Lord God might dwell there. Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah Our God is the God of salvation; And to God the Lord belong escapes from death. Psalm 68:18-20 NKJV

Resurrection—AF

Sonrise Resurrection

Luke describes the Sabbath hours after Jesus died very succinctly.
That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His Body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Luke 23:54-56 NKJV

Before time on earth began, Jesus had been One with the Father (John 17:24). It was the Words that came from Christ’s lips that hung the worlds in space (Hebrews 1:2). It was the power of Jesus’ Word that created the subatomic particles and the subatomic forces that hold them together (John 1:1-3). It was the hands of Jesus that got down in the dirt to craft the body of Adam, and it was the breath of Christ that provided life to the previously inanimate form (Genesis 2:7).

When the Creation was completed, Jesus rested (Genesis 2:1-3). Jesus wasn’t fatigued, needing to take a nap from His wearisome labor (Psalm 121:4). But He saw the value in celebrating a work well done with the beings He had created (Job 38:4-7).

Take a closer look at Genesis 2:1-3:

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Genesis 2:1-3 NKJV

Did you catch it? What does God’s Word say in Genesis 2:1? The creation was “finished.” And although the English translations of Genesis 2:3 use the word “rested,” the Hebrew word per the interlinear Bible https://biblehub.com/interlinear/genesis/2-3.htm is sabat. Jesus finished His work on the sixth day of the week. Then Jesus Sabbath’d, and “the morning stars sang for joy” (Job 38:7). The work of Creation ended on Friday, and then Jesus Sabbath’d.

Fast-forward some four thousand years. Hanging on a Roman cross of torture on the sixth day of the week, Jesus cried out victoriously, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Then He hung His head and died. The work of redemption ended on Friday, and then Jesus Sabbath’d.

But, we might say, Jesus wasn’t resting. Jesus was dead. What exactly did Jesus say about the daughter of Jairus? (Luke 8:52). What did Jesus say about Lazarus? (John 11:11-14). How does Paul refer to those who have died in the faith of Jesus? (1 Thessalonians 4:13,14). The Bible, including when quoting Jesus, speaks of death as a sleep or a rest. Do the words of Jesus and Bible prophecy concerning the dead not also apply to Jesus when He died?

Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” Revelation 14:13 NKJV

So the record of Creation and the last moments before Christ’s death in the plan of Redemption say that both times Jesus was finishing something magnificent—and then Jesus Sabbath’d, or rested. Isn’t it interesting that the two great purposes for which we worship God alone are Creation and Redemption?

“You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11 NKJV
And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:9-10 NKJV

In that light, isn’t it also interesting that in the two Bible recitations of the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath commandment is placed in the context of these two great events, Creation and Deliverance?

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Exodus 20:8-11 NKJV

‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:12-15 NKJV

Christ made us, and then He rested from His work over the Sabbath day. Christ redeemed us with His blood, and then He rested from His work over the Sabbath day.

The word “sanctification” means to make something holy. The Bible tells us that through the power of the blood of Jesus alone, God is sanctifying us.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NKJV

The Bible tells us that since God created us and then rested over the Sabbath, and then Christ redeemed us and then rested over the Sabbath, He has made the Sabbath His “sign” that His people can show to the world we believe He will do what He has promised (Exodus 31:13; Ezekiel 20:12,20).

It makes sense if you think about it. If we can’t trust God enough to believe that in the power of His Word He can make a day holy, how can we ever trust Him to make us holy? (1 Peter 2:9,10).

The Bible makes it clear that only those who receive the gift of the Sabbath by faith will receive the blessing (Isaiah 56:6-8; Isaiah 58:13,14). The priests and rulers were very conscientious in their works-oriented approach to Sabbath observance, but they never received the Sabbath blessing of peace and rest through salvation in Jesus Christ.

While Jesus was resting in the tomb on the Sabbath and the disciples were resting according to the commandment (Luke 23:56), the priests and rulers had absolutely no peace or rest. When they should have been leading the worshipers gathered to study God’s Word, they were instead meeting with Pilate (Matthew 27:62).

(AI generated)

They brought Pilate a most unusual request. “We need to make sure the Man we killed yesterday stays dead! He said He would rise again, and we can’t have that. Give us some guards to be sure His crafty disciples don’t steal His body and say He’s alive” (Matthew 27:63, 64). OK, that’s not a direct quote. But that’s the essence of what they were saying.

These priests had been with the mob to arrest Jesus on Thursday night. They had seen how fast the disciples ran away from the Garden of Gethsemane. They knew Peter had denied even knowing Jesus, and then to prove it he had started cursing and swearing because everyone knew that Jesus’ followers wouldn’t do that.

These priests did not have the slightest worry the disciples would steal His Body and start an insurrection. But they were terrified of what Judas must have told them about what Jesus had said before they came to town (Matthew 27:63).

Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful. Matthew 17:22-23 NKJV

So far Jesus’ prophecy was two for two. And the priests and rulers were beside themselves to do anything they could to make sure He didn’t go three for three.

Providentially, their plan to keep Jesus locked in His tomb is the greatest single evidence that He was resurrected. The guards ended up being the only human witnesses of His resurrection (Matthew 28:4). Not to get ahead of ourselves before tomorrow’s study, but their lying claims that the disciples stole His Body while they slept could not have made sense to anyone. Any Roman soldier admitting to sleeping on duty was signing his own death sentence. And even then, if they were asleep, how could they know who stole the Body? Though their story was still being circulated decades later when Matthew wrote his gospel account, thinking men and women could not have believed it (Matthew 28:13-15).

The Bible predicts that Christ will say, “It is finished!” one more time. This time His proclamation won’t come while walking in the Garden of Eden or while dying on a tree. It will come from His heavenly throne (Revelation 16:17-21). Revelation 16’s account doesn’t clearly say that it just precedes His glorious return, but it tells us the islands and mountains flee away. Combined with Revelation 6, that’s all we need to know to know what’s happening. Jesus is coming again! (Revelation 6:12-17).

Will it be a Friday evening as the Sabbath approaches? I have no idea. But I know there will be a Sabbath-level celebration! (Hebrews 4:9,10). The prayer and the promise of Jesus will have finally come to pass. “It is finished!” will resound throughout the universe!

The Prayer: “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. John 17:24 NKJV

The Promise: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3 NKJV

To this end, the Father, the Holy Spirit and all heaven celebrated that Sabbath two thousand years ago. They knew what the cry of victory had signified. Christ had won! Evil was conquered! The Timeless One could not wait to send the angel with the resurrection call to His Son.

The Sabbath hours ticked by. Mere men thought they could overcome the plans of Almighty God (Psalm 2:1-5). They didn’t have long to learn of their failure…

The Resurrection of God the Son was just hours away. The Life of the Life-Giver was about to be restored.

From Sabbath to Sunday—Clark

After the rays of Friday morning finally began to dispel the darkness of that terrible Thursday night, the entire counsel convened for an official condemnation of Christ in the light of day (Matthew 27:1). He was then taken from the Jewish counsel to the court of Pontius Pilate, as the Jews needed Rome’s approval for capital punishment (John 18:31).

Pilate must have been irritated for being disturbed at such an early hour, and the fact that the stubborn Jews made Pilate come to meet them instead of the other way around didn’t win them any favors in his eyes (John 18:28). The Jews feared that they would be ceremonially unclean by crossing a Gentile threshold, but they did not accept Christ’s warning to them from earlier in the week that uncleanness of the heart was far more deadly than being ceremonially unclean (Matthew 23:25-36). They wouldn’t walk through Pilate’s door, but they were excited to murder the true Passover Lamb to whom their services pointed.

Pilate asked Christ the questions for which every human must base their decision for eternity upon. “Are You the King of the Jews?” (Luke 23:3). “What is truth?” (John 18:38). With love in His heart, without any consideration for His own welfare, Christ opened to this heathen ruler the principles of salvation through His blood (John 18:36,37).

Pilate knew immediately that Christ was innocent of insurrection (Luke 23:4). But to save himself the repercussions of freeing Christ, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at that time, when he heard that Jesus was from Galilee (Luke 23:7).

Herod also knew immediately that Christ was not what the Jews were accusing Him to be. Herod hoped that Jesus would satisfy his personal desire to see a miracle (Luke 23:8). Herod had received and rejected the words of God given him through the prophet John the Baptist. Thus, Jesus chose not to speak further to Herod. Jesus’ silence made Herod furious. Herod allowed the soldiers to mock Jesus, but Herod refused to sign the death warrant and sent Jesus back to Pilate (Luke 23:11).

Exasperated, Pilate told the mob that neither he nor Herod could find a reason to condemn Jesus, so he would have Jesus beaten and released (Luke 23:14-16). Instead of palliating the rage of the crowd as Pilate had hoped, beating a Man that he had just declared innocent only opened the door for further demands for injustice.

Pilate thought of a plan based on a custom to release one prisoner of the people’s choice during the feast. Instead of giving them a choice of any prisoner, Pilate would make them choose between releasing Jesus and releasing the worst offended he had in custody, Barabbas (Matthew 27:15-18).

In the midst of the turmoil, a messenger brought a letter to Pilate from his wife. “Have nothing to do with this just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him” (Matthew 27:19). God was presenting to Pilate the grave responsibility he would hold if he consented to sign the death warrant.

The chief priests and rulers were making the most of the delay, telling the mob to request the release of Barabbas whenever Pilate would ask (Matthew 27:20). Matthew’s gospel in Greek includes the full name of the man we call Barabbas, which means “son of the father.” Bar: Son of. Abba: Father. His full name was “Jesus Barabbas.” Matthew 27:17 Interlinear Bible. Pilate called on the leaders of Israel and the mob they had incited to choose between the true Savior Jesus, who was the true Son of the Heavenly Father and an evil imposter who bore the same name but reflected the character of his father, the devil (John 8:44).

Side by side, Pilate presented both to the crowd. Jesus Christ was wearing a crown of thorns and a robe of purple covering His bloody back from the stripes Pilate had basely ordered. “Behold the Man!” Pilate commanded the mob (John 19:5).

With one voice the Satan-inspired crowd demanded that Pilate to release the imposter and crucify the Majesty of heaven. Blindsided by their demonic insanity, Pilate cried out, “Shall I crucify your King?” The leaders of God’s professed people shouted back, “We have no king but Caesar!” (John 19:19). Fearing what his own fate would be if he didn’t submit to the mob, Pilate conceded to sign the death warrant (John 19:12; Luke 23:24).

Caiaphas had recently declared it was better to let one Man die, even if He were innocent, than to have the Romans destroy the entire nation of Israel (John 11:49,50). Now, these same leaders had voluntarily sacrificed their nation, declaring their allegiance to the pagan Roman ruler they hated, rather than to acknowledge the Divinity of Christ.

Wanting to appease the crowd, Pilate had Jesus scourged again (Mark 15:15). Then he released Jesus to the soldiers to be crucified. As crucifixion was intended to shame as well as torture the victim, the heavy cross of on which He was to hang was placed on Jesus’ back for the journey to Golgotha. He had had no food since the last evening. He had had no sleep since arising the previous morning. He had been through intense agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had endured multiple mock trials, scourging and other physical abuse. Significantly anemic by this point, Jesus collapsed under the weight of the heavy cross, so the soldiers forced a man named Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross for Him (Mark 15:21).

On the way to Golgotha, Jesus heard the crying of women offering the cry of human sympathy. By destroying the One sent from the Father, the Jewish nation would forfeit the protection of God. Jesus knew that less than forty years later, Titus would destroy Jerusalem. Always putting others first, Jesus warned them not to weep for Him but for their own selves and families (Luke 23:27-31).

So many different things happened over the next six hours that I ask you to read each gospel account on your own. Take careful note that the gospel writers wrote with the intention of connecting Jesus of Nazareth with the Messianic prophetic writings of the Old Testament (John 20:31). We will examine a portion of them here.

Mark was careful to note the timing of the crucifixion. Jesus was hung on the cross at the third hour (Mark 15:25). The land became dark at the sixth hour until the ninth hour when Jesus died (Mark 15:33,34,37). The ancient tabernacle service called for a daily morning and evening sacrifice (Numbers 28:3,4). Hebrew tradition says these took place at the third and ninth hours of the day. Peter and John went to the temple at the time of prayers, being the ninth hour (Acts 3:1). Jesus was thus hung on the cross at the time of the morning sacrifice and died at the time of the evening sacrifice.

Likewise, the darkness occurred right on prophetic time. “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God, “That I will make the sun go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in broad daylight; Amos 8:9 - NKJV

The method of Christ’s crucifixion and the actions of the soldiers were foretold in prophecy. The Messiah was to die on a tree, bearing our curse (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13). He was crucified between two thieves (Isaiah 53:12; Mark 15:27,28). His clothes were to be gambled for (Psalm 22:18; Matthew 27:35). His hands and feet and side were to be pierced (Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10; John 19:34,37; John 20:27). The Sacrifice was to die without breaking a bone (Exodus 12:46; Psalm 34:20; John 19:33,36).

The words and actions of His accusers were prophesied (Matthew 27:34,39-43).

All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. Psalm 22:7-8,16-17 NKJV

They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Psalm 69:21 NKJV

His own dying words were written in Old Testament prophecy (Matthew 27:46).

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? Psalm 22:1 NKJV

In the midst of His suffering, Christ did not fail to care for others. He committed the care of His mother to John the beloved disciple (John 19:25-27). He spoke hope and assurance of salvation to the dying thief (Luke 23:39-43). Christ’s faithfulness and composure inspired the centurion to utter a shocking statement of faith (Matthew 27:54). And He prayed that His Father would forgive His torturers (Luke 23:34).

Pilate had ordered a sign to hang on the cross above Christ’s head. The crime for which Jesus was crucified was published for all to see. “This is the King of the Jews” was written in Greek, Hebrew and Latin (Matthew 27:37; Luke 23:38). The priests realized that many who would read the sign would study the Messianic prophecies and believe in Jesus. The thought terrified them. They went to Pilate and insisted he change the sign to read merely that Jesus claimed to be the King of the Jews rather than that He actually was their King. Through God’s providence, Pilate held firm this time and refused to change his statement (John 19:20-22).

At the time of the evening sacrifice, the darkness lifted and Jesus called out, “It is finished!” Then He died (John 19:30). The enormous thick veil of the temple, separating the holy place from the most holy place, was rent in two from top to bottom by an unseen hand (Matthew 27:51). A massive earthquake shook the entire region, sending boulders rolling down the hills and opening up graves around Jerusalem (Matthew 27:51-53). The true Lamb of God had been slain (Genesis 22:7,8,14; John 1:29). Never again would a symbolic animal sacrifice have any meaning.

“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; 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.” Daniel 9:26a,27a NKJV.

Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate to request permission to bury Christ’s body (Isaiah 53:9; John 19:38). Pilate was a bit suspicious that Jesus could have died so quickly, so he called the centurion to confirm that Jesus was actually dead (Mark 15:44,45).

Time was of the essence as the Sabbath hours were drawing near (Luke 23:54). Joseph’s personal tomb was in a garden very near the crucifixion site (Matthew 27:60; John 19:41). Nicodemus brought a great load of burial spices, and together they buried the body of Jesus (John 19:39,40). A large stone was used to cover the entrance to the tomb (Mark 15:46). With very little time before sunset, the women who followed Jesus were finally the last to return to Jerusalem to honor the Sabbath of the Creator (Luke 23:55,56).

It Was For Me—Clark

Through the ministry of Jesus as recorded by the apostle John, there is a constant theme that Jesus’ time had not yet come (John 2:4; John 7:6-8; John 7:30; John 8:20). But now, the time prophesied by the Passover service and the writings of Daniel had arrived (Exodus 12:6; Daniel 9:24-27). It was the middle of the 70th week of prophecy. The Messiah was to be cut off to confirm the everlasting covenant and bring an end to all further sacrificial offering.

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. John 13:1 - NKJV

Jesus sent Peter and John into Jerusalem to prepare for the final Passover supper, the one that would institute the Last Supper, the communion service of the New Covenant. Similar to the coin in the fish’s mouth, Jesus had a miraculous plan of action for the disciples to accomplish their task. They were to meet a man with a pitcher of water and he would lead them to a furnished room they could use for the asking (Luke 22:7-13).

Knowing the disciples’ penchant for arguing over who would have the highest place in the new kingdom (Luke 22:24), Jesus decided to give them a living lesson in humility. Just as He had laid aside His crown in heaven to be our Suffering Servant, He now laid aside His outer clothing and washed the disciples’ feet as if He were a common servant (John 13:3-17).

When Jesus gave thanks for the food, He offered it to His disciples as being symbolic of His own flesh and blood, which He was offering for the price of all humanity (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). It is only as the Life from Christ becomes integrated into our very being that we can receive the new life He freely offers (John 6:51-58). Jesus wanted to make such an impression with this newly established sacrament that He promised to never again drink grape juice until after He returns in glory (Matthew 26:27-29).

During this meal where Christ was giving His almost final directions to the leaders of the Christian church (John 16:12-15), He told the disciples that one of them would betray Him that very night (Matthew 26:21). He didn’t say this for the express purpose of outing the traitor, but to tell the traitor that He was well aware of his plans and expose the enormity of his guilt in performing such a wicked act (Matthew 26:23-25). Jesus also had a purpose in telling the other eleven disciples. If He had not, they might have had cause to wonder if Jesus just hadn’t seen it coming. So for the sake of sustaining their faith through the dark hours ahead, Jesus warned them in advance (John 14:29). Judas, angry at finding out Christ knew his diabolical plan, left to lead the priests to Jesus (John 13:27).

Out of His love for His disciples, Jesus once again assured them of His return to take them to glory (John 14:1-3). He promised them the Gift of the Holy Spirit, and revealed to them the blessings they would receive from that Gift (John 16:7-15). And Jesus told them the Secret to spiritual triumph for all time to come was to maintain a constant connection with Him, to abide in Him (John 15:1-8).

Jesus then prayed the most amazing prayer (John 17). He prayed that for the sake of His disciples, the Father would glorify Him before the world so that salvation would be offered to all. He prayed for His disciples, that the Father would hold them in His hand as Christ had held them in His hand. And then He prayed for you and me, that His Word might unite His followers as one. Finally, He prayed for His people to be with Him in heaven, so we can see His glory without the intervening veil.

Leaving the upper room, they sang a hymn as they made their way to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30). On the way, Jesus warned that they would all abandon Him that night (Matthew 26:31,32). Peter, always the brash self-confident one, boldly declared that he would never do such a thing. Jesus kindly warned Peter that he would deny Christ three times before the evening was finished (Matthew 26:33-35).

I hope you will listen to the supplemental video “Pressure” at the bottom to understand Peter’s story even better. The story of Peter should be a warning to all of us. How often do we fail to beg Christ to save us from our impending fall? How powerful He is to save!

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ left eight disciples near the entrance (Matthew 26:36). Taking Peter, James and John, Christ asked them to especially pray for Him (Matthew 26:37,38).

In the following moments, the destiny of the world would be decided. Satan tried to convince Jesus that the cost was infinite and the benefits miniscule. Satan pressed upon Christ the thought that He would lose everything and gain nothing. In agony, Jesus prayed for the Father to provide some other way—but always that the Father’s will would be done (Matthew 26:39).

Three times Jesus prayed this prayer. Three times He found His disciples sleeping. Seemingly devoid of all help, an angel appeared from heaven to strengthen Him to fulfill the plan of salvation, assuring Him that He would consider the reward well worth the cost (Luke 22:43; Isaiah 53:11).

Presently, Jesus heard the commotion of the mob and, wakening His disciples, proceeded to receive the kiss of betrayal from Judas (Luke 22:47,48). Showing repeatedly that He could have escaped had He intended to, Jesus allowed Himself to be carried away by the mob (John 18:6; Luke 22:51). Seeing Jesus was to be taken, His disciples all scattered just as He had warned (Mark 14:50).

Through the farce of the trial that would follow, first with Annas, then with Caiaphas (John 18:13,24), through the lies of bribed false witnesses, through the physical abuse and the taunts, through the three denials by Peter and the return of the blood money by Judas, Jesus maintained the composure of His Divine character. Satan was completely unable to overcome Christ with anything he could inspire his followers to do to Jesus.

After the failure of even the paid perjurers to repeat the same story, Caiaphas asked in exasperation if Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God (Matthew 26:63). Knowing that speaking at this point would cost Him His Life, Jesus boldly spoke truth to apparent power. Jesus had once said those who do not acknowledge Him before men could not expect Him to acknowledge them before His Father (Matthew 10:33). He would not require of others something He was unwilling to do Himself. He would make clear to all the connection He had to the Father and His mission of salvation.

“If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will by no means believe. And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go. Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.” Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?” So He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.” Luke 22:67-70 - NKJV

In spite of Hebrew law requiring capital punishment to only be obtainable on the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6), the entire council condemned Him to die solely on His own testimony (Matthew 26:55,56). Someday soon, their vile condemnation of the Majesty of heaven will be ringing in their ears as they are raised to life to see Christ coming in glory.

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. Revelation 1:7 - NKJV

And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” Revelation 6:15-17 - NKJV

I hope and pray you’ve been blessed. I also hope you will listen to Pastor Bradshaw talking about Peter’s denial in the link below. It should be a warning to each one of us!

Pressure-Gethsemane by IIW

Mark and Matthew both begin the narrative for this day by saying the priests and rulers were plotting the death of Jesus (Mark 14:1,2; Matthew 26:1-5). The same process with less clarity on chronology are presented in the other two gospels as well (Luke 22:1,2; John 12:9-11).

It’s interesting that both Matthew and Mark note that the leaders specified that they wouldn’t kill Jesus during the Passover celebration because it would stir up the people too badly (Matthew 26:5; Mark 14:2). A greater One than the earthly priests had determined that the day of the Passover should point forward to the sacrifice of the true Lamb, and human schemes and plans could not overrule the timing of the Almighty (Isaiah 46:9,10; 1 Corinthians 5:7; Exodus 12:40,41).

A Pharisee from Bethany named Simon, whom Jesus had healed of leprosy, threw a feast and invited Jesus and His disciples (Luke 7:36; Matthew 26:6; Mark 14:3). Lazarus, whose celebrity status was legendary for having been raised from the dead, was also an honored guest. Lazarus’s sister Martha was helping serve as hostess (John 12:1,2). Unfortunately for Simon, along with the service of Martha and the celebrity of Lazarus, he had to allow the baggage of their sister Mary, whose reputation was well-known as a dark stain on the community (Luke 7:37).
Of all the people who had heard Jesus declare that He was going to die on this trip to Jerusalem, apparently Mary was the only one who took His words seriously (Luke 18:31-34; Matthew 26:12). Sensing a chance to honor Christ while He could still sense her appreciation for His love for her, she broke open the burial spices in the midst of the feast and anointed Jesus’ head and feet with the oil (John 12:3; Mark 14:3).
As soon as the aroma filled the room, sharp condemnation was brought down on Mary. Estimating the bottle to have cost a year’s wages, and knowing the only way this woman could have possibly earned such a sum, the words cut like a knife (Mark 14:4,5).
Judas Iscariot was most vocal (John 12:4-6). Thinking in his mind how much of that money he could have taken had she donated the money to Jesus and the disciples instead of spending it all on burial spices made his blood boil.

Simon, the Pharisaical host, contemptuously thought to himself that Jesus must not be a true Prophet or He would know Mary’s history and be abhorred by her touch (Luke 7:39). And poor Mary, very likely the same broken soul who had been cast at Jesus’ feet for stoning, was probably trying to hide her shame and her tears (John 8:3-5).

How did Jesus react to each one? How does Jesus react to us today? One by one He met the needs of Mary, of Judas and of Simon, and He left their responses to His love up to them.

For Mary, He protected the downtrodden. He quieted her detractors and pointed out the love of her actions in contrast to the carelessness of everyone else present (Matthew 26:10-13). In Christ, she had finally found Someone who loved her because of what He could see she could become in His power, rather than someone who wanted to use her for selfish pleasure. In her messed up life, she had never known such love, and she was compelled by her love for Christ to do whatever she could to reciprocate. Jesus would not let such a one suffer the retribution of the hypocrites present.
For Judas, the reproof was indeed direct and immediate, but far more muted and compassionate than what Judas deserved (John 12:6). Jesus could easily have spelled out before all assembled each and every penny that Judas had stolen and exactly what Judas would have done with Mary’s money had she entrusted it to Judas’s care. But out of His love for Judas, Jesus held back from the rebuke that Judas was so deserving of.
And for Simon, who had been healed of leprosy by Christ but somehow still believed in his heart that Jesus clearly wasn’t of God if Jesus could not read the secrets of Mary’s past, Jesus proved His Divinity by reading Simon’s own mind. Telling Simon a parable and framing it as if Simon were somehow less guilty a sinner than Mary, Jesus presented before Simon the love that responds to true forgiveness and restoration (Luke 7:40-50). One has to imagine that years later when Simon related this story to Luke, Simon wanted the world to know that he too was “forgiven much.”
The Bible records that Judas did not respond to the love Christ showed him, but instead took offense for the reprimand and went to the meeting of the priests with the offer to betray Jesus into their hands away from the crowds of people (Matthew 26:14-16; Luke 22:3-6). In so doing, prophecy was fulfilled.

Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. Zechariah 11:12-13 NKJV

And another:

Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me. Psalm 41:9 NKJV

Can you imagine what Zechariah must have been wondering when he wrote those words? Pay me thirty prices of silver and I’ll throw them in the temple for the potter. Huh? And yet, that’s exactly what would happen!
Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it! ” Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.” And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Matthew 27:3-8 NKJV

Jesus had promised that the actions of Mary would be proclaimed everywhere throughout the world that the gospel would be preached (Mark 14:9). That has come true. But the world also is aware of the actions of Judas in response to that meal as well. And his name continues in infamy.
Jesus loves each and every one of us. He gave His life for every single one. Maybe we are coming to Him as Mary, a completely broken victim both of wrong choices and a society that hates us. Maybe we see Him through the eyes of Simon, self-righteously wondering if we truly even need Jesus. Or maybe our hearts are as Judas, seeking every angle to get ahead, no matter who we step on.
The issue isn’t how we come to Him. The issue is what we allow Him to do with our hearts when we meet Him and whether we allow Him to change our futures as well as our past. We cannot come face to face with the love of Christ and walk away unchanged. Whether we walk away as Mary and Simon or if we walk away as Judas is up to us.
John’s gospel records these woeful words of Christ. Pray that our proud hearts are melted instead of baked by the love of Christ on Calvary.

Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him— the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” John 12:35-37,42-50 NKJV

The Alabaster Box—Clark