Tribulation from the Inside Out - Part 3 of 4
I was hoping to finish my little series with a third message, but I realized this morning that I really need to "set the stage" for the final portion. In order to understand the timing of the Tribulation, and WHY it works from the inside out, you have to take the time to breakdown some very important prophecies in the old testament. Just like I have talked about Tribulation…the evidence of real change taking place…happening from the inside out in our hearts, and in our churches…tribulation is also going to take place from the inside out in the earth. The middle of the earth IS the Middle East…the middle of the Middle East IS the city of Jerusalem. The spiritual middle of Jerusalem IS the temple mount…from the inside out great trouble is coming to earth, and Daniel was told how and why this thing is happening:
Daniel 9:24-27 "A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 25 Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times.
26 "After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. 27 The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him."
Daniel was told that God had a 490 year plan for Israel to “finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place”…this means there is a 490 year plan for Israel until she accepts her Messiah and He returns and begins ruling the earth from the Temple Mount. Jesus is going to return when Israel invites Him back to be her Messiah. He promised the Jewish leaders this shortly before they arrested and killed Him:
Matthew 23:37-39 "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; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'BLESSED is HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!' "
See how that is all caps? In the NKJV, that means Jesus was quoting the Old Testament. You can find the prophecy Jesus was referring to in Psalm 118. If you are a believer in this day and age…the last days…you REALLY want to know and understand Psalm 118. It is literally being fulfilled in real time right before your eyes.
Psalm 118 is the prophetic vision God gave the psalmist of the final days of Daniel’s 490-year prophecy. The writer of Psalm 118 prophesied that Israel would trust in a man to be her messiah rather than Jesus, the chief cornerstone that was rejected in 32 ad. Just like she chose Saul to be her king instead of God, and Caesar instead of Jesus. Israel is going to put her trust in one last man, and this man IS the antichrist. Psalm 118 tells the story in advance of:
1. The 7-year covenant that marks the beginning of Israel putting herself in the trust of a man,
2. the breaking of the covenant that leaves Israel “surrounded by her enemies like bees)
3. The final result of this worst moment in Israel’s future being to put the trust in the cornerstone once rejected
4. The final statement is the Israel cry to the true messiah “Save us, you ARE the blessed one in the name of the Lord”. This blessing comes from the temple mount…the house of the Lord:
Psalms 118:8-26 It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in man. (9) It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in princes. (10) All nations surrounded me, But in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. (11) They surrounded me, Yes, they surrounded me; But in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. (12) They surrounded me like bees; They were quenched like a fire of thorns; For in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. (13) You pushed me violently, that I might fall, But the LORD helped me. (14) The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation. (15) The voice of rejoicing and salvation Is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. (16) The right hand of the LORD is exalted; The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. (17) I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of the LORD. (18) The LORD has chastened me severely, But He has not given me over to death. (19) Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the LORD. (20) This is the gate of the LORD, Through which the righteous shall enter. (21) I will praise You, For You have answered me, And have become my salvation. (22) The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. (23) This was the LORD's doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. (24) This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. (25) Save now, I pray, O LORD; O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity. (26) Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.
Understanding this story written in advance is key to understanding what is happening in the earth right now.
Let’s go back to the Daniel 9 “70 weeks” prophecy I started with. The NLT, which I quoted here, calls the weeks “70 sets of seven”…most translations call the 70s “70 weeks.” This is very important. God breaks down Israel’s time of indignation into 7-year time periods called “weeks.” Daniel was told 70 “weeks”…or 70 “sevens” of years (490 years), were decreed…determined by God…as the amount of time that it would take to allow Israel to choose, of her own accord, to invite Jesus back as the Messiah she rejected. Then Daniel was told the first 483 years, the “7 plus 62 weeks” in verse 25, would end with the crucifixion of Jesus as He appeared to have “accomplished nothing”:
Daniel 9:26 "After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.
So Daniel was told that a ruler would arise, and his armies would destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the Temple. Israel was being given what it wanted. When Israel rejected Jesus…they chose a different king…the ruler who came to destroy the city and the temple:
John 19:15 But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!"
Israel chose the man they feared most rather than the Son of God, who loved them most! What they got was the fruit of their choice less than 40 years later. In 70 ad, Caesar destroyed the city and the temple, using mostly Arab conscripted armies…the neighbors of Israel who hated her and were happy to be used by a foreign ruler they had chosen to destroy the City and the Sanctuary. This is an important dynamic to understand, because it is prophesied to happen again. Israel will trust someone who clearly does not have best interest in mind as her national security plan and this bad guy IS the antichrist.
Psalm 118 is clear that this will happen one last time. Same story, but in the final time. Psalm 118 is describing Israel “putting her trust” in the antichrist, the perfect man. What that gets her is one more go-round with the nations…not just little old Rome and her Arab armies, but all the nations…surrounding her like bees. Look in the news friends. This is the time YOU live in.
How do you know, Tom?!
Look back at Daniel 9:26-27:
Daniel 9:26 "After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. (break in time) The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. 27 The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him."
Ok, after 483 years from the time the Persian king Artaxerxes issued the decree that the Jewish temple should be rebuilt, Jesus WAS crucified, and shortly after that…less than 40 years….the city and the temple WERE destroyed. For the last 2,000 years the earth has waited for the conditions to be right for the last week…the last 7-year period. That is where I have written “break in time” above. Then the end was promised to come. The end requires some things be in place:
1. The temple needs to be rebuilt
2. For the temple to be rebuilt, there has to be Jewish people in control of the temple mount
3. For Jewish people to be in control of the temple mount, Jewish people need to have control of Jerusalem, the city that was destroyed in 70 ad
4. For Jewish control of Jerusalem to exist, there has to be a nation of Israel
In 70 ad, the temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed and Israel stopped being a political nation! For nearly 1900 years there was no Israel and no temple. Then, in 1948, the most amazing thing happened…one of the biggest Biblical prophecies was fulfilled:
Isaiah 66:8-9 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children. 9 Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?" says the LORD. "Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?" says your God.
In 1948, the national of Israel was born in one day, just like God told Isaiah. That started the birth process…contractions growing in intensity and duration until righteousness is born in the earth. By the signing of some papers, Israel was written back into existence. Then the wars started! That is what Daniel was told…the wars over Israel would continue right to the end:
“The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.”
Israel, though it was signed into existence in 1948, had to fight a war for her independence. She has actually been engaged in a war ever since then. Blood moon tetrads that land on Jewish feast days (The Blood Moons we hear a lot about lately) have marked major advances in the war to rebuild the temple. A tetrad of blood moons marked the creation of the nation of Israel in 1949-1950. Another tetrad of blood moons marked the taking of the City of Jerusalem in 1967-68, and the third tetrad of blood moons we are in right now is marking the re-taking of a portion of the temple mount. This is CLEARLY in the news. We are halfway into a final series of blood moons marking the fulfillment of Daniel 9 and Psalm 118 and Israel is clearly engaged in a very internal war over the temple mount.
Daniel 9:27 tells us what we can expect the final 7 years of the end to look like:
Daniel 9:27 The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him."
So the last 7 years, called the “Tribulation” will begin with the end time ruler…the global superpower leader, like Caesar, that Israel will put her trust in….promising to protect Israel one last time is she does what he wants done.
As trouble builds around the nation of Israel, she is supposed to turn to Messiah, the cornerstone the builders rejected…but Psalm 118 and Daniel 9, as well as a host of other prophecies, are clear that out of fear, once again, Israel will trust a man who actually hates her…just like she asked for Caesar to be her king instead of Jesus. What will result are the nations that this strong, yet secretly evil king, has aligned with to do his middle east bidding (just like Caesar used Israel’s natural enemies in 70 ad) will surround her like bees and attempt to push her to the point of falling again. The gather of the bees is clearly happening in the news. Do you see it? The commitment this end time ruler, also known as the antichrist, makes to Israel marks the beginning of the final 7 years leading up to the return of Messiah. He studies her situation and promises he can protect her.
The Bible is VERY clear what this evil ruler, the antichrist, will do in order to get Israel to do what he wants: He will align with 10 wanna-be global rulers, who want to revive the 7th global superpower led by someone who demands to be worshipped as God, known as the Ottoman Empire. To do this, he will allow a very vicious religious army, known as the “overflowing scourge” to rise up and scare Israel into the antichrists “protecting” arms. Then, after half of the seven years, he will break his promise to protect her, and one last time, the leader of the sole global superpower will set up HIS throne on the temple mount and demand the whole earth worship him as god.
Daniel was given the details of the antichrist’s odd plan to get rid of the fundamental religions of the earth by supporting a very violent religion. This is the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, ISIS, Al Qaeda radical Sunni “wahhabism” currently running amok over a large portion of the middle east, North Africa, and Asia right this minute:
Daniel 11:36-39 "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.
So the ruler…the king…the antichrist…the same guy that promises to protect Israel even though he clearly hates her…the end time “Caesar”…He is arrogant, and believes he is above all “so-called” gods. BUT, he empowers a very violent religion in order to accomplish his goal. This results in a very violent army, called the “overflowing scourge” in Isaiah 28, putting pressure on Israel to do what the antichrist wants. Israel caving in to the end time Caesar results in Israel trusting the very man who clearly hates her. This is called a “covenant with death” :
Isaiah 28:14-19 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, 15 Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement. When the OVERFLOWING SCOURGE (emphasis mine) passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves." 16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily. 17 Also I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the plummet; The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters will overflow the hiding place. 18 Your covenant with death will be annulled, And your agreement with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing scourge passes through, Then you will be trampled down by it. 19 As often as it goes out it will take you; For morning by morning it will pass over, And by day and by night; It will be a terror just to understand the report."
Clearly, Israel’s choice for Caesar one last time, rather than humbling themselves and choosing Messiah, does not work. Instead she gets worse and worse problems that build to the point that the antichrist lays siege to Jerusalem, putting Israelis in captivity like an end time Hitler:
Zechariah 14:2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
What is coming soon is a complete breakdown in the protection promised. The man Israel thinks will protect her…the one who has been conspiring with Ottoman Caliphate re-builders to bring hope and change to the middle east…WILL eventually let that temple be rebuilt as part of a “two state solution.” Revelation is clear that Israel’s temple that fulfills Daniel 9 will be part of a shared temple mount:
Revelation 11:1-2 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 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.
The earth will know 1,260 days (3.5 prophetic years) into the antichrist's "promise to protect" Israel, when it is broken, that they are in tribulation. The rest of the world will think they are coming into a time of global peace:
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
The church..."you dear brothers"... is supposed to know WELL before that. In fact Jesus gave the Seven Churches of Revelation a VERY clear sign that the end time global tribulation would happen from the inside out. I’ll finish up the series with that next….
Daniel 9:24-27 "A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 25 Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times.
26 "After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. 27 The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him."
Daniel was told that God had a 490 year plan for Israel to “finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place”…this means there is a 490 year plan for Israel until she accepts her Messiah and He returns and begins ruling the earth from the Temple Mount. Jesus is going to return when Israel invites Him back to be her Messiah. He promised the Jewish leaders this shortly before they arrested and killed Him:
Matthew 23:37-39 "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; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'BLESSED is HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!' "
See how that is all caps? In the NKJV, that means Jesus was quoting the Old Testament. You can find the prophecy Jesus was referring to in Psalm 118. If you are a believer in this day and age…the last days…you REALLY want to know and understand Psalm 118. It is literally being fulfilled in real time right before your eyes.
Psalm 118 is the prophetic vision God gave the psalmist of the final days of Daniel’s 490-year prophecy. The writer of Psalm 118 prophesied that Israel would trust in a man to be her messiah rather than Jesus, the chief cornerstone that was rejected in 32 ad. Just like she chose Saul to be her king instead of God, and Caesar instead of Jesus. Israel is going to put her trust in one last man, and this man IS the antichrist. Psalm 118 tells the story in advance of:
1. The 7-year covenant that marks the beginning of Israel putting herself in the trust of a man,
2. the breaking of the covenant that leaves Israel “surrounded by her enemies like bees)
3. The final result of this worst moment in Israel’s future being to put the trust in the cornerstone once rejected
4. The final statement is the Israel cry to the true messiah “Save us, you ARE the blessed one in the name of the Lord”. This blessing comes from the temple mount…the house of the Lord:
Psalms 118:8-26 It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in man. (9) It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in princes. (10) All nations surrounded me, But in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. (11) They surrounded me, Yes, they surrounded me; But in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. (12) They surrounded me like bees; They were quenched like a fire of thorns; For in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. (13) You pushed me violently, that I might fall, But the LORD helped me. (14) The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation. (15) The voice of rejoicing and salvation Is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. (16) The right hand of the LORD is exalted; The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. (17) I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of the LORD. (18) The LORD has chastened me severely, But He has not given me over to death. (19) Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the LORD. (20) This is the gate of the LORD, Through which the righteous shall enter. (21) I will praise You, For You have answered me, And have become my salvation. (22) The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. (23) This was the LORD's doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. (24) This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. (25) Save now, I pray, O LORD; O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity. (26) Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.
Understanding this story written in advance is key to understanding what is happening in the earth right now.
Let’s go back to the Daniel 9 “70 weeks” prophecy I started with. The NLT, which I quoted here, calls the weeks “70 sets of seven”…most translations call the 70s “70 weeks.” This is very important. God breaks down Israel’s time of indignation into 7-year time periods called “weeks.” Daniel was told 70 “weeks”…or 70 “sevens” of years (490 years), were decreed…determined by God…as the amount of time that it would take to allow Israel to choose, of her own accord, to invite Jesus back as the Messiah she rejected. Then Daniel was told the first 483 years, the “7 plus 62 weeks” in verse 25, would end with the crucifixion of Jesus as He appeared to have “accomplished nothing”:
Daniel 9:26 "After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.
So Daniel was told that a ruler would arise, and his armies would destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the Temple. Israel was being given what it wanted. When Israel rejected Jesus…they chose a different king…the ruler who came to destroy the city and the temple:
John 19:15 But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!"
Israel chose the man they feared most rather than the Son of God, who loved them most! What they got was the fruit of their choice less than 40 years later. In 70 ad, Caesar destroyed the city and the temple, using mostly Arab conscripted armies…the neighbors of Israel who hated her and were happy to be used by a foreign ruler they had chosen to destroy the City and the Sanctuary. This is an important dynamic to understand, because it is prophesied to happen again. Israel will trust someone who clearly does not have best interest in mind as her national security plan and this bad guy IS the antichrist.
Psalm 118 is clear that this will happen one last time. Same story, but in the final time. Psalm 118 is describing Israel “putting her trust” in the antichrist, the perfect man. What that gets her is one more go-round with the nations…not just little old Rome and her Arab armies, but all the nations…surrounding her like bees. Look in the news friends. This is the time YOU live in.
How do you know, Tom?!
Look back at Daniel 9:26-27:
Daniel 9:26 "After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. (break in time) The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. 27 The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him."
Ok, after 483 years from the time the Persian king Artaxerxes issued the decree that the Jewish temple should be rebuilt, Jesus WAS crucified, and shortly after that…less than 40 years….the city and the temple WERE destroyed. For the last 2,000 years the earth has waited for the conditions to be right for the last week…the last 7-year period. That is where I have written “break in time” above. Then the end was promised to come. The end requires some things be in place:
1. The temple needs to be rebuilt
2. For the temple to be rebuilt, there has to be Jewish people in control of the temple mount
3. For Jewish people to be in control of the temple mount, Jewish people need to have control of Jerusalem, the city that was destroyed in 70 ad
4. For Jewish control of Jerusalem to exist, there has to be a nation of Israel
In 70 ad, the temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed and Israel stopped being a political nation! For nearly 1900 years there was no Israel and no temple. Then, in 1948, the most amazing thing happened…one of the biggest Biblical prophecies was fulfilled:
Isaiah 66:8-9 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children. 9 Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?" says the LORD. "Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?" says your God.
In 1948, the national of Israel was born in one day, just like God told Isaiah. That started the birth process…contractions growing in intensity and duration until righteousness is born in the earth. By the signing of some papers, Israel was written back into existence. Then the wars started! That is what Daniel was told…the wars over Israel would continue right to the end:
“The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.”
Israel, though it was signed into existence in 1948, had to fight a war for her independence. She has actually been engaged in a war ever since then. Blood moon tetrads that land on Jewish feast days (The Blood Moons we hear a lot about lately) have marked major advances in the war to rebuild the temple. A tetrad of blood moons marked the creation of the nation of Israel in 1949-1950. Another tetrad of blood moons marked the taking of the City of Jerusalem in 1967-68, and the third tetrad of blood moons we are in right now is marking the re-taking of a portion of the temple mount. This is CLEARLY in the news. We are halfway into a final series of blood moons marking the fulfillment of Daniel 9 and Psalm 118 and Israel is clearly engaged in a very internal war over the temple mount.
Daniel 9:27 tells us what we can expect the final 7 years of the end to look like:
Daniel 9:27 The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him."
So the last 7 years, called the “Tribulation” will begin with the end time ruler…the global superpower leader, like Caesar, that Israel will put her trust in….promising to protect Israel one last time is she does what he wants done.
As trouble builds around the nation of Israel, she is supposed to turn to Messiah, the cornerstone the builders rejected…but Psalm 118 and Daniel 9, as well as a host of other prophecies, are clear that out of fear, once again, Israel will trust a man who actually hates her…just like she asked for Caesar to be her king instead of Jesus. What will result are the nations that this strong, yet secretly evil king, has aligned with to do his middle east bidding (just like Caesar used Israel’s natural enemies in 70 ad) will surround her like bees and attempt to push her to the point of falling again. The gather of the bees is clearly happening in the news. Do you see it? The commitment this end time ruler, also known as the antichrist, makes to Israel marks the beginning of the final 7 years leading up to the return of Messiah. He studies her situation and promises he can protect her.
The Bible is VERY clear what this evil ruler, the antichrist, will do in order to get Israel to do what he wants: He will align with 10 wanna-be global rulers, who want to revive the 7th global superpower led by someone who demands to be worshipped as God, known as the Ottoman Empire. To do this, he will allow a very vicious religious army, known as the “overflowing scourge” to rise up and scare Israel into the antichrists “protecting” arms. Then, after half of the seven years, he will break his promise to protect her, and one last time, the leader of the sole global superpower will set up HIS throne on the temple mount and demand the whole earth worship him as god.
Daniel was given the details of the antichrist’s odd plan to get rid of the fundamental religions of the earth by supporting a very violent religion. This is the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, ISIS, Al Qaeda radical Sunni “wahhabism” currently running amok over a large portion of the middle east, North Africa, and Asia right this minute:
Daniel 11:36-39 "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.
So the ruler…the king…the antichrist…the same guy that promises to protect Israel even though he clearly hates her…the end time “Caesar”…He is arrogant, and believes he is above all “so-called” gods. BUT, he empowers a very violent religion in order to accomplish his goal. This results in a very violent army, called the “overflowing scourge” in Isaiah 28, putting pressure on Israel to do what the antichrist wants. Israel caving in to the end time Caesar results in Israel trusting the very man who clearly hates her. This is called a “covenant with death” :
Isaiah 28:14-19 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, 15 Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement. When the OVERFLOWING SCOURGE (emphasis mine) passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves." 16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily. 17 Also I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the plummet; The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters will overflow the hiding place. 18 Your covenant with death will be annulled, And your agreement with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing scourge passes through, Then you will be trampled down by it. 19 As often as it goes out it will take you; For morning by morning it will pass over, And by day and by night; It will be a terror just to understand the report."
Clearly, Israel’s choice for Caesar one last time, rather than humbling themselves and choosing Messiah, does not work. Instead she gets worse and worse problems that build to the point that the antichrist lays siege to Jerusalem, putting Israelis in captivity like an end time Hitler:
Zechariah 14:2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
What is coming soon is a complete breakdown in the protection promised. The man Israel thinks will protect her…the one who has been conspiring with Ottoman Caliphate re-builders to bring hope and change to the middle east…WILL eventually let that temple be rebuilt as part of a “two state solution.” Revelation is clear that Israel’s temple that fulfills Daniel 9 will be part of a shared temple mount:
Revelation 11:1-2 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 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.
The earth will know 1,260 days (3.5 prophetic years) into the antichrist's "promise to protect" Israel, when it is broken, that they are in tribulation. The rest of the world will think they are coming into a time of global peace:
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
The church..."you dear brothers"... is supposed to know WELL before that. In fact Jesus gave the Seven Churches of Revelation a VERY clear sign that the end time global tribulation would happen from the inside out. I’ll finish up the series with that next….
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