Prophecy 3
– The Antichrist
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Daniel 8:12
And
an host was given him against the
daily sacrifice by reason of
transgression, and it cast down the
truth to the ground; and it
practiced, and prospered.{12} The
horn power cannot appear physically
on Earth until Jesus permits him to
escape the Abyss. This event (see the
fifth trumpet in Prophecy 8) will
occur about two and a half years into
the Great Tribulation. Because the
carnal heart is naturally rebellious
toward God and His authority,[14] the
devil will find it easy to deceive
those who stubbornly rebel against
the demands of the gospel of Jesus.
Lucifer will lead the wicked to think
that God’s saints are evil and
rebellious, and soon after, the
wicked will kill and destroy the
saints thinking they are doing God a
service.[15] God’s
people will be defeated. God will
remove the power He gave to the
144,000 and the devil’s minions
will kill them.[16] The
wicked will commit the unpardonable
sin. They will reject the clearest
evidences of truth and defy the
ministry of the Holy Spirit. Evil
will temporarily triumph because
truth will be thrown to the ground as
if it were garbage.[17]
The
devil’s demons will use painful
torture to subdue rebellious people
into worshiping Lucifer as Almighty
God during the fifth trumpet.[18]
The devil’s demons will also
lead the wicked to murder millions of
saints during the sixth trumpet
because they refused to obey the
devil’s demands.[19] The
devil will prosper in everything that
he does. He will cause his
followers to despise truth.
Worse, he will cause billions
of wicked people to despise Jesus and
His generous gift of salvation.
Discussion:
Daniel 8:13
Then
I heard one saint speaking, and
another saint said unto that certain
saint which spake, How long shall be
the vision concerning the daily
sacrifice, and the transgression of
desolation, to give both the
sanctuary and the host to be trodden
under foot?{13} I
overheard two angels talking. The
first angel asked some clarifying
questions: “How long will it
take for this vision to be fulfilled?
When will the daily intercession of
Christ at the Altar of Burnt Offering
end? When will this great rebellion
that causes desolation occur? When
will God’s efforts to save man
and the saints be trampled
underfoot?”
Daniel 8:14
And
he said unto me, Unto two thousand
and three hundred days; then shall
the sanctuary be cleansed.{14} The
second angel said to me, “All of
these questions are important, but
only the first one will be answered
in this vision. The rest of the
questions will be answered in
subsequent visions. Daniel, this
vision concerns the horn power who
will come from the north. He is a
coming king,[20] but not
from an earthly nation. He and his
angels will appear in the sky.[21] He is
the destroyer in Revelation 9:11 named
Abaddon (Hebrew) or Apollyon (Greek),
a stern-faced king who will appear at
the end of the world. Lucifer cannot
physically appear until Jesus allows
him to come out of the Abyss[22] and he
will not be released from the Abyss
until the cleansing (or restoration)
of Heaven’s temple is about to
end.”
The cleansing
of Heaven’s temple is intimately
connected with Lucifer’s
appearing because Lucifer’s bold
actions will force undecided people
into making a firm decision. When
everyone on Earth has chosen whom he
will worship and obey, the cleansing
of the temple will be completed and
salvation’s offer will end.
Many people
do not understand why Heaven’s
temple has to be cleansed. Please
consider three matters: First, God
does not forgive a sin, but God does
free sinners of sin’s guilt.
Earthly temple services teach us that
the guilt of repentant sinners was
transferred (via the blood of a
perfect sacrifice) to the horns of
the Altar of Burnt Offering.[23] Of
course, once a sinner’s guilt is
transferred to the altar, the sinner
is free of guilt, but his guilt
remains upon the altar. Second, the
earthly temple service teaches us
that the Altar of Burnt Offering
became defiled because the guilt of
sinners was transferred to it daily.
(Services at the Altar of Burnt
Offering were conducted each day.)
Third, the earthly temple was
cleansed once a year, on the Day of
Atonement. On this day, all of the
accumulated guilt was transferred
(via the sacrifice of a perfect
animal) to a scapegoat. Then, the
scapegoat was taken into the
wilderness to die a protracted death.[24]
The process
of cleansing Heaven’s temple is
important in this vision because God
has set a date (1844), near the end
of the world, when Jesus will open
the books of record and begin
cleansing Heaven’s temple. The
cleansing process in Heaven works
like this: Each person’s life is
recorded in real time (as it happens)
in a book. Every word, thought, and
action is faithfully written down.
When a person dies, the recording
ends because a dead person has no
thoughts, actions, words, or deeds.
At the appointed time (1844), Jesus
reviews the record of each dead
person. For example, let us assume
that Jesus started with the record of
Abel’s life, the first man to
die. After thoroughly investigating
the life of Abel, Jesus made a
decision about Abel’s eternal
destiny. If Jesus condemns Abel,
Jesus will then transfer Abel’s
guilt from the temple to Abel’s
head. If Abel is saved, Jesus will
transfer Abel’s guilt from the
temple to the head of the scapegoat
(Lucifer).[25] When
this investigative process ends,
Heaven’s temple will be
completely cleansed of guilt because
the guilt that previously
contaminated Heaven’s Altar of
Burnt Offering will be assigned to
its rightful owner.
Jesus will
reward His saints at the Second
Coming.[26] Jesus
will “reward” the wicked at
the end of the 1,000 years.[27] This
information is important because
Jesus will permit Lucifer, the horn
power from the north, to appear on
Earth when Jesus is about to complete
the cleansing of Heaven’s
temple. Lucifer and his demons will
bring the cleansing work of Jesus to
an end because they will force the
living into a firm decision regarding
whom they will worship and obey.
{14-Continued} The
angel said, “When 2,300 evenings
and mornings expire, then shall
(future indicative tense) the
cleansing work of Jesus in
Heaven’s temple begin. Later,
the horn from the north will appear
on Earth and bring Jesus’
cleansing work to a close.”
(Note: God
has declared that an evening and a
morning constitute one day.[28]Therefore,
2,300 evenings and mornings are 2,300
days. This time period must be
translated as 2,300 day/years because
the Jubilee Calendar is in operation.
See Appendix A.)
The
explanation for the beginning point
of the 2,300 years will be revealed
in the next vision. For now, here is
a brief summary that may be helpful.
During the empire represented by the
ram, a noble and generous king will
come to power. God will move upon
this king’s heart to help His
people rebuild and restore Jerusalem.
King Artaxerxes, a future king in
Persia, will issue a decree to
rebuild and restore Jerusalem in 457
B.C.[29] and
2,300 years later, Jesus will open
the books in Heaven’s courtroom.
Jesus will begin cleansing
Heaven’s temple in 1844. (Note:
The breaking of the third seal in
Revelation 6 aligns with 1844.
See Prophecy 6.)
To summarize,
God put a ram, a goat, a 2,300 year
time period, and a horn power in this
vision. The ram and goat are well
documented ancient empires. After the
2,300 years expire, the horn power
will appear out of nowhere at the
appointed time of the end. The
connecting link between these ancient
empires and the appearing of the horn
power is a prophetic time period of
2,300 years. When the 2,300 years
end, Jesus will open the books of
record and carefully investigate the
life record of each person who sleeps
in the grave. When this process draws
near its conclusion, Jesus will
release the horn power (the devil)
from the Abyss so that he can appear
physically before mankind. The devil
and his angels will take actions that
force everyone into a firm decision
regarding whom they will worship and
obey. Once every decision has been
made, there is nothing further that
Jesus can do to save anyone.
Salvation’s offer will then
terminate and Jesus’ cleansing
work will end.
Daniel
8:15-16
And
it came to pass, when I, even I
Daniel, had seen the vision, and
sought for the meaning, then, behold,
there stood before me as the
appearance of a man. And I heard a
man's voice between the banks of
Ulai, which called, and said,
Gabriel, make this man to understand
the vision.{15} While
I, Daniel, was watching this vision
and trying to understand it, a
glorious being stood in front of me
who looked like a man.
{16} He was so
bright that I had to avert my eyes. I
heard Him say, “Gabriel, tell
Daniel the meaning of this
vision.”
Discussion
Daniel
8:17-19
So
he came near where I stood: and when
he came, I was afraid, and fell upon
my face: but he said unto me,
Understand, O son of man: for at the
time of the end shall be the vision.
Now as he was speaking with me, I was
in a deep sleep on my face toward the
ground: but he touched me, and set me
upright. And he said, Behold, I will
make thee know what shall be in the
last end of the indignation: for at
the time appointed the end shall be.{17} As
Gabriel approached me, I was
terrified by his size and brilliance
and I fell prostrate on the ground.
“Daniel,” he said to me,
“You must understand that this
vision concerns the distant future
and it points to ‘the time of
the end.’ ”
{18} While he
was speaking to me, I felt as though
my life evaporated. I was in a deep
sleep with my face in the dirt. Then
he touched me and helped me to my
feet.
{19} Gabriel
said again, “I have come to tell
you what will happen in the distant
future. The end of the world will be
marked by a time of wrath. The end of
the world will surely come. God has
set the date by His own authority.
Prior to the Second Coming of Jesus,
a great tribulation will overtake
Earth and last 1,335 days. God will
send a series of devastating
judgments upon Earth and everyone
will see and experience His wrath.
This is why the appointed time of the
end is also called ‘a time of
wrath.’
Daniel
8:20-22
The
ram which thou sawest having two
horns are the kings of Media and
Persia. And the rough goat is the
king of Grecia: and the great horn
that is between his eyes is the first
king. Now that being broken, whereas
four stood up for it, four kingdoms
shall stand up out of the nation, but
not in his power.{20} “The
empire of Babylon will soon fall. The
two-horned ram you saw represents the
coming kingdom of the Medes and
Persians. The horn on the ram that
came up last and reached out farther
than the first horn represents the
Persian side of this empire. The
Persians will dominate the Medes.
{21} “Later,
the Medes and Persians will be
overrun by the Greeks. The shaggy
goat represents the kingdom of
Grecia. The large horn you saw
between the eyes of the goat
represents a man, its first king,
Alexander the Great. Alexander will
die an untimely death at the peak of
his power.
{22} The four
horns on the goat represent four
generals who will replace Alexander.
These generals will be Cassander,
Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus.
None of these generals will be as
powerful as Alexander. They will
divide Grecia into four sectors and
each will rule over his sector.”
Notice again
this important point: A horn in this
vision represents a king. The great
horn on the goat represents Alexander
the Great. The four horns that took
Alexander’s place represent the
four kings who succeeded him. Notice
again this distinction: The goat
represents the kingdom of Grecia, but
the horns represent its kings. This
distinction is important in this
prophecy because the horn that will
come from the north will be a king
without an earthly empire.[30] He will
conquer the whole world. The devil
will be a “stern-faced
king” and he will physically
appear out of nowhere when Jesus is
almost finished with cleansing
Heaven’s temple. Paul refers to
the appearing of the devil as the man
of sin, the man of lawlessness.[31] Isaiah
calls him a man[32] and so
does Ezekiel.[33]
