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April 4, 2020 |
| How Long | ||
As I write this we are well into the days of the Corona Virus. Naturally enough, Christians are asking if this event is in prophecy, whether this virus is a warning or judgment from God, and how long until the Messiah returns.
There are many people who say that Jesus could come back at any time. That just isn’t true. Bible prophecy describes many things that must occur before Jesus returns.
The Apostle Paul addressed this when there were people who were claiming that Jesus had already returned. His response was that there were things that must happen before the Messiah returns. That is also the answer to people in our time who claim Jesus could come at any moment. The Bible is certainly true when it says no one knows the time, but that doesn’t mean it could happen at any time. Here is what Paul says.
1 But we beg of you, my brethren, concerning the arrival of our lord Yeshua the Messiah and concerning our assembling unto him, 2 That you would not be soon shaken in your minds, neither be troubled, either from word, nor from a spirit, neither from an epistle that is as if from us, namely, that, "Behold, the day of our lord has arrived." 3 Let no man deceive you by any means, to the effect that surely no revolt will first come and the man of sin, the son of destruction, be revealed, 4 He who opposes and exalts himself against everything that is called God and religion, just as he will sit in the Temple of God, as God, and will show concerning himself as if he is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)
Paul lists two things that must come first, the "revolt" event we call the Great Falling Away and the revealing of the anti-Christ. There are other things as we will see in this lesson.
This study looks at what the Bible says about how long it will be. To do that this study will look at selected prophesies that clearly describe changes that will come. Then these changes will be linked into a series of periods of time. The events discussed here were chosen because they:
Together this series will give us a minimum time for how long it will be after we see the earliest event occur.
One of the main characters in the verses we will see is the person we know as the anti-Christ (false Christ). Only the apostle John refers to him that way. Other books refer to him in other ways. In this study we'll see him referred to as "the prince who is to come" and "the one who makes desolate". One common way to refer to him is by his boastful, blasphemous mouth.
It's going to be important to understand some terminology about him. He is the anti-Christ but he is the leader of an organization that is also anti-Christ. Sometimes he will be referred to and sometimes his organization will be referred to.
We will start with the Second Coming and work backward from there.
An angel describes to Daniel a 7 year period that would lead up to the Second Coming. This period is called the Tribulation. The last half of it is also referred to as the Great Tribulation, when things gets really bad.
And he [the prince who is to come] will make a firm covenant with the many for one week [7 years], but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate. (Daniel 9:27)
The 7 year period begins with the leader of the anti-Christ movement (the prince who is to come, the one who makes desolate) making an agreement with Israel that will allow Israel to begin sacrifices on the Temple Mount. Three and a half years later, at the middle of the Tribulation, he will break that deal and his forces will sack Jerusalem and he will put an abomination in the temple that desecrates it. Then things get really bad.
In order for the Tribulation to begin, we need to have the anti-Christ on the scene and with some authority. We certainly don't have that now so there needs to be changes that will let that happen.
Considering the agreement that is made, we also need to ask ourselves some questions. Why would he make such an agreement? Who is he that he has the authority to make such an agreement? What does he get out of this agreement?
Perhaps a related question is, why no one will make such an agreement right now and who is stopping that. Right now, the Muslims are stopping it. They generally hate Israel and are doing everything in their power to stop Jews from doing anything on the Temple Mount, even praying. It isn't just hatred of the Jews, however. Two of the holiest sites in Islam are on the Temple Mount.
Many people believe the anti-Christ is the Mahdi, the 12th Imam of Islam. That would make sense here because only a Muslim would be able to represent Muslims in such an agreement.
Obviously some significant changes have to occur before this agreement can be made. The anti-Christ must be on the scene and Muslims must have less interest in keeping Judaism off the Temple Mount. So the next step is to find prophecies that describe these conditions coming into place.
We do know for certain that the Tribulation will last 7 years. Therefore, even if these conditions were in place, the Second Coming would still be 7 years away.
The anti-Christ rises up from the "10 toed" world that Daniel's statue describes in Daniel 2. The 10 toes on that statue represent the 10 last kingdoms of man. The anti-Christ begins as something small when these 10 kingdoms are already in place, but he becomes very powerful and conquers 3 of those kingdoms, leaving 7.
1 And I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast ascending from the sea, which had 10 horns and seven heads, and upon its horns, 10 diadems, and upon its heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, and its feet like those of a wolf and its mouth like that of lions, and the Dragon gave its throne, its power and great authority to it. 3 And one of its heads was as if it had been crushed to death and its mortal wound was healed, and all Earth marveled after the beast. 4 And they worshiped the Dragon that gives authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast saying, "Who is like this beast, and who is able to war with it?"
5 And a mouth that speaks great things and blasphemy was given to it, and authority was given to it to work 42 months. 6 And it opened its mouth to blaspheme before God, to blaspheme the name and the dwelling of those who dwell in Heaven. 7 And it was granted to make war with the holy ones and to conquer them, and it was given authority over all generations, peoples, languages and nations. 8 And all the inhabitants of Earth will worship it, those who are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. 9 He who has an ear, let him hear. (Revelation 13:1-9)
This beast is another way of describing the 10 toed world order. The heads represent kingdoms, the horns represent kings (leaders), and the crowns (diadems) represent authority to rule. We know this because the angel who speaks to Daniel explains those symbols
This beast was described elsewhere as having 10 heads, 10 horns, and 10 crowns. Now it has only 7 heads. Therefore 3 kingdoms have been merged into another kingdom which then has 4 rulers and 4 crowns.
In Daniel 7 an angel describes this beast in the same way, as a beast with horns and heads. It also describes the change in horns (leaders).
While I was contemplating the [ten] horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. (Daniel 7:8)
Thus he said: 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.' (Daniel 7:23-25)
This world order is going to become very opposed to God though it probably doesn't start that way. That appears to be an effect the anti-Christ has on it. In any case, that will be a problem for believers.
So now we know there needs to be a "10 toed" world in place for the anti-Christ to come up from in order to make the agreement that allows the Jews to begin sacrifices on the Temple Mount.
There is no time length associated with this; it is just background information we need so we can understand how different the world will be from what it is now and the number of changes that must happen.
Next, we'll look at something that happens soon after the "10 toed" world order begins. It will explain why the Muslims will be willing to accept the agreement to allow Jews to begin the sacrifices on the Temple Mount.
Ezekiel 38 and 39 describe a "battle" where God steps in to save Israel and destroy the attackers. The attackers are described as coming from the ancestral tribal lands of certain groups of people who were known in Ezekiel's time. These countries are now Muslim countries except for one, which appears to be Russia.
The militaries of these countries act under the pretense of needing to travel through Israel, but their real plan is to loot Israel. This is what God says to their leader and instigator.
Thus says the Lord God, "It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan, 11 and you will say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, 12 to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.' 13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you, 'Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?'" (Ezekiel 38:10-13)
As they pass through defenseless Israel God causes a massive earthquake. The Bible describes mountains being leveled (overturned). Something else that isn't clear happens and all of the invading people are killed. The animals begin to eat on the dead bodies as people continuously, for 7 months, bury the bodies they find (Ezekiel 39:12-16). After that a detailed search begins to find the remaining body parts. A huge mass grave is created for them.
The parts of this prophecy that are important to this study are that:
With the Islamic armies gone, there is no power behind their claim to the Temple Mount. In fact it is very likely that the holy sites on the Temple Mount will have been damaged by the earthquake, perhaps beyond repair. That would leave the Muslims with little motivation to fight for the Temple Mount.
There would be chaos for a while after this stunning defeat. As the anti-Christ emerges out of it, he could have some reasons to make a deal with Israel for the Temple Mount. It could be a bargaining chip to get something he wants more.
With such an obvious intervention by God to protect his people, the Jews from all other countries would begin to return to Israel.
But the question that leads us forward (though backward in time) is why Israel was defenseless at that time. The verses above speak of Israel as a people "living without walls and having no bars or gates." This symbolism means they are defenseless against this attack.
Right now if the army of another country wanted to cross through Israel and Israel said no, then no would be the answer. Even all together the Muslim armies are no match for Israel. So a big change is coming there as well.
The reason must be that the "10 toed" world order is in effect and that Israel no longer has the United States to protect her. Therefore, if the world order says to Israel that she must let those armies pass through, then she must.
The verses we've seen above show there needs to be a major shift from the current world order. Currently the world is made of 3 or 4 major kingdoms (countries), depending on how you count them, and more than one hundred others of different sizes. We can't imagine how the current order can become 10 kingdoms. The one thing we can say is that it would require a major upheaval.
Upheavals like that have happened before and somewhat recently. The world was a very different place before World War II than it was after. America was a small player before, but was the world power afterward and the world economy was re-structured around its dollar.
When all of prophecy is considered, one thing is very apparent in this new world order - the United States and really all of North and South America play no significant part in the end-times. The end-times world is a Mediterranean, eastern European, North African, Russian, and Chinese world. Nothing else is significant.
Economists and others have discussed these world order transitions. The supporters of the old order try to rebuild it but soon realize the foundation for it has shifted and it no longer works. There are also supporters of multiple ideas for a new world order and eventually one of those prevails. The process takes something like 3 years.
These are the things that we have seen in this study;
Now we'll look at the sequence of events that we have assembled but forward in time and give time duration values for them.
| Starting Event | Ending Event | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Collapse of the current world order | Establishment of the new order | 3 years (estimate) |
| Gap | ||
| Israel Defenseless - Ezekiel's battle | Anti-Christ deal to allow sacrifices on the Temple Mount | 20 years (prophecy - derived) |
| Sacrifices on the Temple Mount | Second Coming | 7 years (prophecy - clear) |
By chaining together prophetic events into a sequence and giving them values for the time each will take, we have come to a very reasonable value for how long it will be before the Messiah to returns.
I do have to wonder if the current world order will survive this virus. God has warned These United States before and they turned back to him for only a moment. In the 9/11 attack, the country ran back to the churches … for 2 weeks.
This event is different. There are no churches to run to. The entire world order is under attack. The response of the people has largely been to trust in their own actions or their government's actions to save them, not their God. In turn, the governments have taken actions that threaten to destroy everything they think they have.
We will see how this plays out. Is this just another warning from God, another chance to look at ourselves and change, or is this the end of this world order?
This lesson can be found at http://ourhope.site/2020-04-04%20HowLong/HL.html . If you are setup to scan QR codes, this code will take you there.