Prophecy 3
– The Antichrist
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Daniel 8:23
And
in the latter time of their kingdom,
when the transgressors are come to
the full, a king of fierce
countenance, and understanding dark
sentences, shall stand up.{23} Gabriel
continued, “During the final
days of Earth’s history, when a
majority of people have rejected the
gospel and become completely
rebellious toward God, this
stern-faced king, a master of
manipulation (deceit and intrigue),
will be permitted to appear. Satan
will physically appear as a glorious
man and masquerade as Almighty
God.”
The devil is
represented as a horn coming out of
the north because divine disaster
comes from the north.[34] The
fifth trumpet will be a divine curse.[35]Lucifer will
only be released from the Abyss when
the gospel stalls and a majority of
people have rebelled against the
clearest evidences of truth.[36]
Daniel 8:24
And
his power shall be mighty, but not by
his own power: and he shall destroy
wonderfully, and shall prosper, and
practice, and shall destroy the
mighty and the holy people.{24} “When
Lucifer is released from the Abyss,
he will not rest. He and his angels
will travel the world constantly. He
will become very popular. He will
gain control of the world, but not
through his own power. The Most High
God has granted the devil the
authority to lead the wicked astray.[37] Lucifer
will perform dazzling miracles.[38]Billions of
wicked people will embrace him, give
him glory, and obey him as though he
were God. The devil will cause
astounding devastation and he will
succeed in whatever he does. He will
kill most, if not all, of God’s
servants, the 144,000.[39] He will
also kill millions of God’s
saints.[40] The
devil will masquerade as God for
about a year and the saints will be
overrun and conquered.
Daniel 8:25
And
through his policy also he shall
cause craft to prosper in his hand;
and he shall magnify himself in his
heart, and by peace shall destroy
many: he shall also stand up against
the Prince of princes; but he shall
be broken without hand.{25} “Lucifer
will cause deceit to prosper and he
will consider himself to be God.
After five months of counterfeit
signs, torture for the non-religious,
and great signs and wonders, the
sixth trumpet will sound and the
devil will be permitted to kill
people. Suddenly his character will
change and he will demand that a
global church-state, a counterfeit
theocracy, be set up. He will rule as
King of kings and Lord of lords. To
eliminate his opposition, he will
kill a third of Earth’s
population.[41] The
remaining two-thirds of the world
will worship him and wear a tattoo on
their right hand; the mark of the
beast. Just before Jesus returns, the
devil and his ten puppet kings will
take their stand against Jesus, the
Prince of princes. The devil and his
forces will be utterly destroyed, but
not by human power.”
Jesus will
destroy the physical body which the
devil has occupied at the time of the
Second Coming. Jesus will return
Lucifer and his demons to the Abyss
(the spirit realm) and imprison them
on this planet for 1,000 years (while
the saints are in Heaven). At the end
of the 1,000 years when the Holy City
descends from Heaven, Jesus will
resurrect the wicked. At that time,
Lucifer and his demons will be
released from the Abyss for a few
days before they are annihilated with
fire.[42]
Daniel 8:26
And
the vision of the evening and the
morning which was told is true:
wherefore shut thou up the vision;
for it shall be for many days.{26} Finally,
Gabriel stated, “Daniel, this
vision consists of three parts and
all of them are true. First, the
kingdoms of the ram and the goat will
become well known in history. This
will help God’s people, who will
live in the distant future, to
determine when King Artaxerxes will
issue a very important decree.
Second, when the 2,300 years have
expired, Jesus will open the books of
record and begin judging the dead.
Third, during the appointed time of
the end, when Jesus is almost
finished with cleansing Heaven’s
temple, the devil will be released
from the Abyss. This stern-faced king
is the horn from the north. He will
appear out of nowhere and cause
enormous devastation. He will cause
the undecided to make a firm decision
regarding whom they will worship and
obey. This will bring the
intercession of Jesus to an end.
Because this information will be
pertinent to those who live at the
end of the world, this vision will
remain sealed up until the final
generation arrives.
Daniel 8:27
And
I Daniel fainted, and was sick
certain days; afterward I rose up,
and did the king's business; and I
was astonished at the vision, but
none understood it.{27} I
was exhausted and lay ill for several
days. I could not explain what I had
seen, but I knew it was horrible.
Eventually, I got up and went about
the king’s business. I was
appalled by the vision and I could
not understand it. So, I began to
pray for understanding.
The
Rules of Interpretation
Please
consider how the Rules of
Interpretation (which are discussed
in the Introduction) are observed in
this prophecy:
Rule
One says an apocalyptic
prophecy has a beginning point and
ending point in time and the events
within the prophecy occur in the
order given. This prophecy contains
three elements that occur in
chronological order. First, the ram
represents the Medo-Persian Empire.
Second, the goat that follows the ram
represents the Grecian Empire.
Centuries later, the horn power from
the north appears. Notice that there
is a large gap of time between the
goat and the horn power. This is not
uncommon in apocalyptic prophecy. For
example, there is a gap of 1,000
years between the sixth seal (the
Second Coming) and the breaking of
the seventh seal at the end of the
millennium. Nevertheless, this
prophecy has a beginning point and an
ending point in time and the events
occur in the order given.
Rule
Two says a fulfillment
only occurs when all of the
specifications are met, and this
includes the order stated in the
prophecy. History confirms that the
Medo-Persian Empire fell to the
Grecians. History also confirms that
Artaxerxes issued a decree to restore
and rebuild Jerusalem in 457
B.C. Even though nothing is written
in this prophecy about the starting
point of the 2,300 years, the next
vision (Daniel 9) will address this
topic. Hopefully, you can see how the
prophecies interlock with each other
– one prophecy cannot say
everything that needs to be said.
This interdependency between the
prophecies means the student needs to
understand almost everything before
he can understand anything! The Bible
reveals much more about the
stern-faced king (the Antichrist) and
we will learn more about him in
subsequent prophecies.
Rule
Three states that
apocalyptic language can be literal,
analogous, or symbolic. We know there
are symbolic elements in this
prophecy because the symbols
are defined with relevant Scripture. Gabriel
told Daniel the ram represented the
Medo-Persian Empire and the goat
represented the Grecian Empire.[43] History
confirms this sequence! The angel
also told Daniel who the horns on the
ram and goat represented.
Gabriel’s words become important
because the horn that “just
appears” out of the north will
be a man.[44] He is
defined as “a stern-faced
king” who will appear at the
appointed time of the end.[45] Remember,
when a symbol is used, God always
defines the symbol with a relevant
text. If this is not the case,
prophetic interpretation becomes a
cornucopia of confusion.
Rule
Four says the presence
or absence of the Jubilee Calendar
determines how God measures time..
(See Appendix A and Prophecy 4 to
learn how the Jubilee Calendar and
the seventy week prophecy define Rule
Four.) Since we have not examined
Prophecy 4 yet, please consider two
points: First, weekly cycles of seven
years did not end when Jesus died on
the cross in A.D. 30, because Jesus
died in the middle of the seventieth
week (a Wednesday year). Second, we
will find in the next prophecy that
the 2,300 days and the seventy weeks
have the same starting date. This
date is 457 B.C. This means the
seventy weeks ended in A.D. 33 and
the 2,300 days ended in 1844. Both
time periods must be translated
because they occur during the
operation of the Jubilee Calendar
(1437 B.C. – 1994).
Some people
teach the 2,300 evenings and mornings
in Daniel 8:14 represent
1,150 days. They reach this
conclusion by dividing the number
2,300 into 1,150 mornings and 1,150
evenings. This approach will not work
for five reasons.
First, six
times in Genesis 1,[46] God
declared that an evening-morning
cycle constitutes one day. Who can
usurp what God has defined? The 2,300
evenings and mornings in Daniel 8:14 amount
to 2,300 days.
Second, in Genesis 1, one day
contains one cycle of ereb-boqer. (These
are Hebrew words for evening and
morning). There is no conjunction
between ereb-boqer (such
as ereb and boqer) and there is no
precedent in Scripture for dividing
2,300 ereb-boqerinto
1,150 days.
Third, God
could have said “2,300 yowm”
in Daniel 8:14. The Hebrew
word yowm is used
more than 2,200 times in the Old
Testament and is usually translated
“days,” but God did not say
“2,300 yowm.”
He chose to say 2,300 “ereb-boqer.”
This word choice is important because
Daniel 8 refers to services in
Heaven’s temple. For example,
the cleansing of the temple is
mentioned, the end of daily services
is mentioned, and the place (or the
importance) of God’s sanctuary
is mentioned. Cycles of ereb-boqer
have a distinct association with
services in the temple. Services at
the Altar of Incense were conducted
daily – ereb-boqer.[47] The
annual cleansing of the Earthly
sanctuary occurred on a specific day
which was determined by the arrival
of a specific evening and morning
– ereb-boqer.[48] Services
at the Altar of Incense in Heaven
will continue (ereb-boqer)
until corporate intercession is
terminated and the censer is cast
down.[49]
Fourth, there
is a symbiotic relationship between
1798 and 1844. These two dates
support each other. The cleansing of
Heaven’s temple in 1844 could
not begin until Jesus was found
worthy to receive sovereign power in
1798. The Bible is clear on this
point: The court was seated and the
books of record were opened after the
Ancient of Days took His seat.
Chronologically, 1844 follows 1798.
Fifth, when
we examine Prophecy 6, we will find
that 1798 and 1844 work very closely
together. The harmony that comes from
the sum of these parts is truly
amazing! Only God could have created
such a tapestry that involves
redemption and timing.
When these
five issues are considered, there is
no possibility that 2,300 cycles of
ereb-boqer can represent 1,150 days.
This is the longest prophetic time
period in the Bible and it securely
stands upon a historical footing
provided by the Medo-Persian and
Grecian Empires. During the days of
Persian King Artaxerxes, the 2,300
year clock began ticking. Then, Jesus
came to Earth and confirmed the
accuracy of this clock with His
death. This fact will be addressed in
the next vision.
References:
- See
Chapters 11 and 12 in my
book, Jesus: The Alpha
and The Omega or freely
download these chapters
at https://www.wake-up.org/Alpha/Subjindex.htm. Return
- Horns do
not necessarily have
animal hosts: 2
Samuel 22:3; Luke
1:69; Zechariah
1:19-21. Return
- 2
Thessalonians 2; Revelation
17:8; Daniel
11:36; Luke
1:69; Ezekiel
29:21; 1
Samuel 2:1,10 Return
- Deuteronomy
4:19 Return
- Isaiah
41:25; Jeremiah
1:14; 6:1; Ezekiel
1:4 Return
- Revelation
9:1-11 Note:
The names Abaddon and
Apollyon mean the same
thing in both languages:
Destroyer. Return
- Daniel
11:36,37; 2
Thessalonians 2:4 Return
- Revelation
13:14,15 Return
- Revelation
13:13 Return
- 2
Kings 17:16; 21:3-5; 2
Chronicles 33:3-5 Return
- 2
Thessalonians 2:4 Return
- 2
Thessalonians 2:3-12 Return
- Revelation
13:15 Return
- Romans
8:5-8 Return
- John
16:1-3 Return
- Daniel
12:7; Revelation
11:7 Return
- See this
parallel: Isaiah
59:12-15. Return
- Revelation
9:1-11 Return
- Revelation
6:9-11 Return
- Revelation
9:11 Return
- Revelation
9:2,3 Return
- Revelation
9:1 Return
- Exodus
29:10-14 Return
- For
further study on these
matters, please see
Chapters 11 and 12 in my
book, Jesus: The Alpha
and The Omega or freely
download these chapters
at https://www.wake-up.org/Alpha/Subjindex.htm. Return
- For sins
placed on the scapegoat
see Leviticus
16:1-31,
for sins placed on the
heads of sinners
see Leviticus
20:9; 2
Chronicles 6:23; Ezekiel
18:13. Return
- Revelation
22:12 Return
- Revelation
20:15 Return
- Genesis
1:5 Return
- Ezra
7:7,8,11-28 Return
- Revelation
9:11 Return
- 2
Thessalonians 2:3 Return
- Isaiah
14:16,17 Return
- Ezekiel
28:2 Return
- Jeremiah
4:5,6; 6:1,22; 50:3,41 Return
- See Revelation
9:12 in
Prophecy 8. Return
- 2
Thessalonians 2:9-12 Return
- 2
Thessalonians 2:9-12 Return
- Revelation
13:13,14; 17:13-17 Return
- See Revelation
16:4-7 in
Prophecy 14 and Revelation
18:24 in
Prophecy 15. Return
- Psalm
79; Revelation
9:15; 13:7 Return
- Revelation
9:15 Return
- Revelation
20 Return
- Daniel
8:20,21 Return
- Isaiah
14:16,17 Return
- Daniel
8:19,23 Return
- Genesis
1:5,8,13,19,23,31 Return
- Exodus
29:38-42; Leviticus
24:3 Return
- Leviticus
23:27-32 Return
- Revelation
8:2-6 Return
