The End:
The Most Holy
is Anointed
“And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.”Dan. 9.22‑24
The final thing to be accomplished in the 70 weeks of Daniel will be the anointing of Jesus as the "Most Holy". This moment in the Temple, after Jesus has come and destroyed the Antichrist and the armies of the world with the sword of his mouth, after he has cleansed the Temple from the abomination of desolation according to the prophecy of the 2,300 days spoken of in Daniel chapter 7, is the consummation of all the things prophesied in Daniel's vision of the 70 weeks. The walls and streets of Jerusalem were rebuilt, the Messiah came and was cut off, and now the transgression has been finished, Israel's sins have been overcome, and Christ has provided reconciliation for Israel, everything in the vision and prophecy has been "sealed up" so that, Jesus, the one who is the embodiment of everlasting righteousness, can be crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords, dubbed the Prince of Peace, and anointed as the Most Holy and High Priest of God for all time.
Antichrist Has an Appointed End
The Antichrist has come, has usurped God's throne and authority, and has met his appointed end.
“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
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He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
But tidings out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly make away many.
And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.“ Dan. 11.40,42-45
And "none shall help him". Jesus will come back with his saints, and by the power of his very presence, he will destroy the Antichrist and his armies. At his word the armies of the world which have assembled at Armageddon in Israel will be consumed. After nearly seven years of bickering, lying, fighting and warring, the Antichrist will have finally subdued Egypt, he King of the South, but tidings up north, which Revelation reveals is the troops of the Kings of the East who come marching over the dried up river bed of the Euphrates, will cause him to return to Israel for his appointed doom. These troops are probably joined by Russia and its remaining hordes; and most, if not all, of the rest of the armies of the world. They will all be deceived by lying spirits which are unleashed especially for this Judgment Day battle. Somehow these countries and their leaders will be convinced that converging on Israel will give them a chance to defeat God himself (Rev. 19.19). But Christ will come in the air, with his saints, to judge the armies of the world, and to utterly destroy the Antichrist, the False Prophet and all the armies who come to Armageddon to confront him.
“And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
Neither shall he regard the god of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
But in his estate shall he honor the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.”Dan. 11.36‑38
The prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, as well as the words of Jesus, not only show that the confirmation of the covenant reestablishes the daily sacrifices and the religious rights under the pattern set down in the Scriptures, but that they must be administered in the Temple of God at Jerusalem on the Holy Mount. Surely, anything short of that would be less than a fulfillment. The Antichrist will help the Jews and their quest for reconstituting the Temple. If it is built already, he will help establish its legitimacy. If it is under construction, he will help complete it. If it is has not been started, he will champion the movement to build it. Because Daniel prophesies that there are 2,300 days from the institution of the daily sacrifice to the cleansing of the Temple we can assume that the institution of the daily sacrifices comes some 220 days into the Tribulation. (220 + 2,300 = 2,520 days, or 7 years). The Temple may already be near completion when Israel and the Antichrist strike their bargain, but it may take 220 days after the confirmation of the covenant to actually get the ball rolling on the sacrifices. Under the Covenant of the Law only a Temple with God's presence could be the place for the sacrifices which properly remit the sins of the nation of Israel. Without doubt a Temple is essential to the fulfillment of the prophecies of 70th Week of Daniel.
Persecution and Martyrdom
At first, the Antichrist will encourage the Jews to keep the Covenant of the Law with their God. He will encourage them to hold fast to keeping Jerusalem as their Capital City and to holding on to the land promised by God to their fathers so long ago. He will do everything he can to aid the establishment and operation of the Temple. He will insist that the Jews be allowed to sacrifice according to their law, uninhibited by restraints from outside interests. All this will he encourage so he can usurp it for himself; so he and his father, Satan, will be able to openly defy the one True God, steal the worship of the world, and make war against God's chosen nation, Israel. It is history's ultimate coup d'etat. Satan and the Antichrist, with the False Prophet at his side, will seize the throne, seize the land, and seize the souls of Mankind. They will reward the faithless for their rebellion and worship. They will distribute the land and power to those who forsake the Holy Covenant and will fiercely persecute and kill all who oppose the new, and abominable, covenant. As Jesus said,
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall arise and deceive many.
And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure until the end shall be saved.
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When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth; let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. ...
For then shall be great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Matt. 24.9-12,15-16,21
Once the abomination that makes the Temple desolate of God's presence is put in place, the battle, as Jesus said, will begin to rage with an intensity never before known. It is impossible for us to conceive of more extensive and vicious persecutions than of the Spanish Inquisition, or of Hitler's holocaust, but it will be worse than even those hellish reigns of terror. The Antichrist will be given power to make war, and to prevail against the saints and against the nation of Israel. Thousands upon thousands, millions upon millions, who hold the testimony of Jesus and refuse to worship the Beast and his image will be beheaded. In Israel, the Jews who do not forsake the covenant will be under such fierce attack that Jesus warns them to leave their houses and homes and flee into the wilderness and mountains without so much as grabbing a coat or packing a suitcase. The arrests will be arbitrary and sudden. The sentence of death a predetermined sentence. The Antichrist will use child to betray parent, brother to betray sister, friend to betray friend. The persecutions will torment the mind as well as the body, and every saint left on earth will have his patience tested by facing and accepting martyrdom.
But God will not leave his people powerless, or forsake them in so desperate an hour. Many will do great exploits. God will supernaturally protect 144,000 Jews who will be impregnable to the Antichrist's attempts to harm them. These marked Jews will do great things, but most importantly they will encourage the martyrs to resist the Antichrist's demands for worship giving them courage to resist the mark even though it means they will have to sacrifice their lives.
Two special men of God will appear at about the time the Antichrist sets up the abomination of desolation to wage war on the Antichrist and his kingdom. They will openly preach against the Antichrist's anti gospel and declare the judgment of the second coming of Christ. They will have power to burn things up by calling fire down out of heaven and will be able to shut up the rains wherever and whenever they want. These two witnesses will be the arch enemies of the Antichrist regime. For three and a half years these two anointed servants and prophets of God will wage a godly war of instruction and faith against the forces of deceit. They will teach the Jews the truth about Jesus, while exposing the lies of the false claims of the Antichrist.
In the end, the Antichrist will be given power to kill the two witnesses, but God will have the final victory when they are raised up from the dead after three days, just as Christ himself was raised after three days. The whole world, a world that has been rejoicing over their death because of the judgment they have brought on the Antichrist kingdom through their power to bring drought and fire on the earth, will be stunned. Thousands of Jews will repent in that moment, accept Jesus as the true Messiah, and reject the Antichrist for the False Messiah that he is.
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
If any man have an ear, let him hear.”Rev. 13.1‑9
Believers will be slaughtered. Jews will be interned, cruelly tortured, and brutally executed. It is the craven war of Hell and Satan, undisguised and uninhibited, against Heaven and God. The earth will be the battle ground, men's hearts the spoils of victory, God's word on the line. Those who know their God will remain true to the end.
It may be hard for many believers to comprehend, but the world has long been under the influence of the Antichrist gospel. An understanding of Daniel and a look at God's quintessential history shines a revealing light on the darkness of the Antichrist creed. If the world has been under the Antichrist's spiritual spell for thousands of years since the Tower of Babel, how much more will it be under the spell of the Antichrist when his power is operating at full bore. The majority of nations and peoples will follow after the god of this world. The Antichrist's spell will be woven by his supernatural rise from the deadly head wound, from his invincibility in war, from his charismatic diplomacy and from his insidious lip service to peace and love. He will be a living legend like no legend before ‑ dead or alive. His apparent invincibility and immortality will give credence to his claim as God. His exploits will conjure up visions of the unrealized glories of Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon all wrapped into one.
The Antichrist has a Religious Manager
He will have a religious manager. A personal promoter that the Scriptures call the False Prophet. This man will be the counterpart of God's special prophets. Like God's two witnesses, this man will also have the power to call down fire and do many mighty miracles, except he will only be able to perform when he is in the presence of "god", the Antichrist. The impression will be that this miracle man of god can work wonders because he is in the presence of god. These will be the signs and wonders spoken of which could deceive even the very elect if it were possible, and they will confirm the Antichrist as God of this world. People will flock to the Beast to worship him because of these miracles worked by the False Prophet. It will be a tight partnership. It will be an effective one also. To all worldly appearances the Antichrist will be the Christ.
As Alexander, Julius Caesar and Napoleon before him, the Antichrist will associate himself with the religion of the New Empire. He will use religion because he needs its basic precepts. He will want only those who believe in worshipping supreme beings because he is dead set on being that supreme being and the object of their worship. "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints , and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names ate not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Rev. 13.7-8
Religion Foiled: Whore of Babylon Ravaged
The Antichrist will pervert the Jewish Covenant but will use institutional Christianity to form his own religion. The False Prophet will turn out to be the high priest of this new religion. Just as Napoleon used the Papacy to crown himself supreme emperor of the New Republic, so the Antichrist will use the Christian establishment to crown himself King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And just as Napoleon turned on the pretentious Pope Pius VII, and plundered Papal wealth, so the Antichrist and his kingdom will turn on the hypocritical apostate church at the end. In one day, with terrible suddenness, just as Napoleon shocked the unsuspecting Pope, the Catholic Church and her subordinate denominations will be burned and robbed, her powers destroyed, her leaders murdered. Her lands will be confiscated by the New Empire, her monuments and buildings razed, her money, treasures, and art plundered, and her priests, ministers and spokespersons jailed or slain. In one day this whore will be totally devastated. The smoke from the destruction of the city of Rome will rise for ever and ever, says Revelation 18. She will be completely consumed. The merchants and men of the world will see it with horror and cry a flood of tears over her destruction.
The False Prophet, being the weasel that he is, will betray his Church and his "sheep" to ordain the Antichrist as "God". Sometime about the setting up of the Abomination of Desolation this betrayal will take place. The whore, as the Scriptures declare her, will have become an embarrassment by then. Pretenses of worshipping Jesus as God and of using the name of Jesus Christ will become a thing of disgust in the New Empire. All vestiges of worship to a God other than the anointed God of the Antichrist Kingdom will be unilaterally abolished. There will be no room for sharing power with a pompous and pretentious religion that has outlived its usefulness. And so it will be rubbed out.
With all pretenses of worshipping Christ and God solidly put away the real business of worshipping the Dragon and the Antichrist will commence. The whore, which had ridden on the back of the Beast through the ages, will be off its back and the Beast is now unharnessed and able to speak his great and blasphemous things. Dan. 11.36‑39
For all those who could care less about worship or religion, the Antichrist will carry the ultimate trump card. And they won't be allowed to leave home without it! The Antichrist's system of reforms coupled with world economic problems will create a situation that will entangle even the most apathetic person in his worship. Second only to his personality and seductive talk will be this economic trap. During the first half of the Tribulation he will be busy engineering a system that will hold all his subjects in total indebtedness to him and his government. By the midway point of the Tribulation the Antichrist will have gotten all that he wanted. No one will be able to buy or sell anything without meeting the Empire's condition for citizenship ‑ worship of the Antichrist. You will not be able to function at all in the system unless you take the Antichrist's mark. The ramifications are obvious: it will be nigh on impossible to survive if one can not procure fuel, food or clothing. The incentive to worship could not be made more practical, nor could it be more appropriate for those who believe in this world and its "gods". The consequences of accepting the Mark of the Beast and bowing in worship to him will be eternal death. There will be nothing tricky about the choices, however. The Gospel will be preached from heaven; thousands of people will testify to the truth about Jesus; and the two witnesses will perform miracles and preach in God's behalf. God will make the choices and the consequences clear; but still, most people will be loyal subjects of the Antichrist and indentured slaves of this world.
God's War
In the first years of the Tribulation the Antichrist will be preparing a case to counteract anyone who refuses to worship him. Those who balk at total citizenship will be viewed at first with great suspicion and then as traitors. They will be called rebels and atheists, refusing to recognize the "coming of God" to earth. No matter what the details turn out to be, the campaign against those who remain true to God will be full of pressure and testing as never before. The deception will be so great that for those without faith it will look as though the Antichrist is really God's man, the Most Holy, anointed and confirmed by miracles produced from the False Prophet's marvelous ministry. The False Prophet's works and miracles will even appear to fulfill Messianic prophecies of the Bible. It will be easy for the followers of the Antichrist to make a case against those who refuse to accept the deception, because they will look like ignorant malcontents just kicking up trouble with their intrusive notions of righteousness. "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise False Christs, and false prophets, and then shall show great signs and wonders; in so much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matt. 24.23‑24
God will wage a war of his own during this time. This is the time that Christ declared would be the "days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled". Not only will the two witnesses of God be used to wage war on the Antichrist, along with the 144,000 sealed Jews, but God will lay siege to the earth by supernatural disasters in nature, poison waters, earthquakes, droughts, hail storms and fire; spiritual forces from the pits of Hell will be unleashed to torment men; and the Holy Spirit will recede allowing the cruelties of men to be unchecked and uncontrolled. God may allow nuclear warfare on a limited scale (but not enough to destroy the world). These will be days of vengeance; so much vengeance that the Scriptures say men will seek death because of the terror of it all, but will not be able to find it. Men of the Antichrist Kingdom will curse God because of the burning up of the trees, the poisoning of the waters and the deaths of the animals and fishes; and because of the plagues and pain and grievous sores that are poured out onto the kingdom and its people. The Book of Revelation details God's war for all to heed. God's wrath will be felt beyond anything we can identify with, only a study of Revelation can give us an inkling of the judgment that is coming on all the earth during the final week of Daniel's 70 Weeks.
On to Act 6 scene 5 The Tribulation