Iran may launch its attack against Israel on Monday-Tuesday, the 12th-13th, an infamous day in Jewish history, and some Israelis are eager for the final battle to begin!
Gog is not Russia. Just an old Cold war lie. He is a prince of Meshech and Tubal, which is in modern Turkey. Which means he is a man, not a nation.
Furthermore you cut off Mar 24, just before it talks about this sign: 15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—
For that to occur we need a rebuilt Temple.
Which ruins your Time line of current events being part of prophecy. You also leave out the surrounding of Jerusalem by armies, the 7 yr Treaty, that the AC makes with Israel and breaks after 3.5 yrs. In order to take over the rebuilt Temple and fulfill verse 15 of Mat 24.
Keep studying and maybe you will get the sequences of events correct.
A "holy place" can ONLY be one dedicated to Jesus Christ. A Jewish "temple" cannot, by definition, be a "holy place."
There is one, completed in 1907 on the north side of the Mount of Olives. It was built by Kaiser Wilhelm II and he named it for his wife, Augusta Victoria. All the material used to build it came from the nation of TRUE Judah...Diutisc.
This is partly why I've suggested in other articles that the "holy place" may be the SITE the temple was built on where Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac in faithfulness to God, which, I believe, is where the holy of holies and the ark of the covenant sat in the temple.
The abomination may well be the next Jewish temple that will be built on that site, because that temple will be a true abomination against Jesus Christ because it knowingly rejects his sacrifice and seeks to reinstate the old religion of the old covenant (Old Testament) with its animal sacrifices. And that would explain why the prophecy uses the seemingly vague "in the holy place" rather than "in the temple" or "in the holy of holies." Such an abomination standing on that site some day would certainly cause desolation.
In fact, it may not even have to be the full temple standing in the holy place. It may be enough that just one cornerstone is erected "on a wing of the temple" as Daniel can be translated (i.e. on a corner of the temple), making that the literal cornerstone the temple builders choose over Christ, the cornerstone of faith whom they reject all over again by that very act. I'm sure if just one cornerstone is raised to that site, which is revered as holy by three religions, the Muslims will go insane, and great desolation will follow as a direct result of this "abomination that causes desolation" "standing in the holy place."
Mark puts it this way: "When you see the abomination that CAUSES desolation standing WHERE IT DOES NOT BELONG--let the reader understand [as if there is a mystery/riddle in how this is being expressed] then ... flee...." Certainly, millions would say that a Jewish temple reinstating the old religion does not belong on that site. It is bound to bring world war just by the audacity of placing it there as an affront to all Islam while also being an abomination against Jesus Christ who predicted the original temple would be destroyed because the Jews rejected him the first time around.
Kind of makes the temple a set of bookends in the prophecies about Jesus' rejection by the Jews and the temple's destruction and then the prophecies about his return to set them straight on who he is following their attempt to rebuild the temple that God rejected a religiously meaningful forty years after the Jewish religious leaders rejected a Jesus. Full circle ending.
How does one account for Dan 12:11-12 without a literal temple “daily sacrifice”
Men forever have used Dan 9 dividing end times math into two 1260 day periods.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
Dan 12 destroys today’s teachings of 2-1260 days/2-3 1/2 year periods, never accounting for this 1290th day abomination, let alone a 1335th day blessing.
In order to have daily sacrifices an altar needs to be in place at the least. How a last days covenant and temple comes about can only be understood outside of today’s doctrines of men.
If the prophecy was sealed from understanding until the time of the end, why is it that we continue to teach using centuries old mathematical interpretations.
You mentioned that you don't believe the rapture will happen before the millennium when Jesus reins on earth from Jerusalem either. I believe it is part of the resurrection. Those who are dead will be resurrected to meet him upon his return, and those still living will be raptured to meet him.
Rev 20:4 records the first of two resurrections with those who overcame and rule with Christ in the 1000 years. Meaning the first resurrection occurs prior the 1000 years.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Todays doctrines on rapture have followers focused on those who are alive and remain, rather than the dead rise first, a resurrection.
Since the revelation records two resurrections men can’t add a third or take one of the two away. Both have to be accounted for, Rev 20:4 records the first prior the 1000 years, and Rev 20:5 records the second…
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Verse five “this is the first resurrection” points back to the first being prior the 1000 years of 20:4.
With 20:6 ending the two resurrections narrative pointing to the blessing…
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
The blessing being twofold, it’s in being part of the first resurrection and not having to stand in judgment at the second judgement.
Like two resurrections, two judgements need to be accounted for, the judgement seat of Christ/Bema, and the white throne.
The Bema a rewards judgement of believers, not a judgement of where believers spend eternity. The white throne judgement risks the second death, eternal separation, with the second death having no power over those blessed in the first resurrection 20:6, those of the first resurrection have their eternal standing with Christ.
As to a last days temple. One has to ask what it would take for Israel to rebuild. Scripture records a covenants, which doctrines speak of as a seven year false peace, broken at a 1260 day point/3 1/2 year period, yet Daniel's 1290 and 1335th days must be accounted for.
Peace only comes from war historically. Many scholars and theologians see a third Great War within scripture, noted within the 6th trumpet Rev 9:18, with 1/3 of humanity being killed.
Doctrines teach a seven year false peace, but the revelation narrative records just the opposite. So a covenant with Israel would have to come either prior or post this Great War.
We only read of a temple within the revelation after the sixth trumpet killing 1/3 of humanity. Peace/covenant after war?
Anyway, I loved your article and pray I’ve not spoke out of place!
We agree on the rapture and what you've written about the 1,000 years, etc.. Like you, I believe the rapture is part of the resurrection. I have believed that for decades, so I have no idea why you read something else into my statements. (Sometimes people jump to conclusions because they are just too eager to judge, but it sounds from what you just wrote that that is not the case. So, thank you for that.)
I also believe the full meaning of the prophecy is sealed until the end of days, which is why we should all be humble in interpreting what it might mean. As one of God's deepest secrets in the Bible, it is not likely we are going to perfectly figure it out. So, my counsel has always been to hold whatever we believe on these matters lightly in an open palm, rather than grasp it fast as a dogmatic belief. It is, after all, a great mystery.
The benefit in considering multiple views is that, when the prophecy's time comes, we might better be able to see how our times fit within it and understand it. The understanding could come by some prophet divinely explaining it, but it also could come by the time just being right to where it reveals itself (suddenly becomes obvious because of what actually happens). That would explain why the New Testament, in referring to these Daniel passages, says "Let the reader understand." That seems to imply the reader CAN understand AND will have to make some effort to do so.
I wrote years ago that these prophecies are not intended as road maps to the future but as assurances (hope) to the people who will I've in those dire times, so they can understand their own dark times. Since the horrible times were foretold as well as the divine ultimate outcomes, they can be assured they are in God's hands and that they will be OK if they stand with Jesus. In fact, precisely BECAUSE these long-future events were foreknown by the prophets, they can be trusted in those times ... even if we don't fully understand them UNTIL those events start to unfold around us. Then the veil will be lifted.
So, with that as my own approach, let me go back to the Daniel prophecies you mention. All Bible translators will agree that translating the Daniel passage about the Abomination that Causes Desolation is particularly difficult because the langue is ambiguous and can be translated a few different ways. When I studied poetry back in college, one of the things we talked about was how a great poet will sometimes use intentionally ambiguous language because he WANTS the poem to be interpreted in more than one way and intends all of the meanings. I think that may be the case here.
What I see is a prophecy that intentionally applies to EVERY period where the temple was destroyed. When Antioches Epiphanes destroyed the first temple, the abomination that happened was that he sacrificed a pig on the altar, which was outside the holy of holies. (Obviously, huge sacrilege in the eyes of Jews.)
When Titus came as the literal prince (son of Vespasian, the general just raised to being Caesar in Rome) who destroyed the second temple in AD70, he offered the Jews in Jerusalem a treaty (covenant) if they would surrender Jerusalem peacefully because he didn't want to destroy the city. He wanted to make it his capital in Israel once the insurrection was put down, as he figured he would rule Judea as governor while is father ruled the empire as Caesar.
He also had no desire to destroy the temple. The Romans were into accumulating gods and honoring the gods of any place they conquered because why would you want to upset them? The Romans were not, after all, monotheistic. So, the more gods, the better, and you'd better stay on their good side, not be wiping out their temples.
Many of the Jews accepted the prince's treaty (fulfilling other prophecies you allude to that are often thought to apply to the end times), and they left the city voluntarily, and their lives were spared as promised by Titus, now a prince with his father's ascendancy. This was, after all, the end times of ancient Israel and of the Mosaic Covenant because the temple's destruction meant the Mosaic Covenant could no longer be truly practiced as commanded. A band of zealots, however, held the city as long as they could, so Titus had to bust down its walls to get them.
The zealots (insurrectionists) then retreated to the temple and used it as a fortress (talk about ungodly!), and THEY desecrated their own temple this time by piling the bleeding corpses of their fellow insurrectionists on the altar to get them out of the way as Titus fired into the temple with his catapults, arrows, etc. Josephus writes that the altar was so dripping with the human blood of the zealots that it overflowed its gutters (a MAJOR desecration, even worse than the pig, given that no human blood, not even a drop by accident, was ever to be shed in the temple, much less on its altar). And, thus, Titus brought about the end of the daily sacrifice with his war as the ultimate cause of its end, but the direct or operational cause was the Zealots deciding to use the altar as storage for their own corpses.
Once Titus killed many of them, those who were left managed to retreat to Masada, which is another whole story. To route them out, Titus had to destroy the temple walls and create huge damage inside the temple before they evacuated. Titus, then, entered the temple and did exactly as described in the prophecies by standing as a warrior in the holy of holies, which by Mosaic law was never to have any human other than the Jewish high priest go inside of it once the Ark of the Covenant was placed inside. So, that was the second abomination and second fulfillment of what was written in Daniel. (In each of these major temple destructions, we see similarities that fit the prophecy but with a different twist, each fulfilling aspects of it.)
Titus, then, destroyed the entire temple, leaving not one stone resting upon another as prophesied forty years earlier by Jesus when he left the temple for the last time after being rejected by the Jewish religious leaders of his time.
As they say, history may not exactly repeat, but it often rhymes. So, I think we can expect the prophecy to have yet another fulfillment when the Jews attempt to rebuild the temple that God, himself rejected, after they rejected Jesus. That would make the temples bookends on each side of the long period where Jews reject Jesus (the Church Age). And why would that end-times for Jews in Israel not be a major part even of Jesus' prophecies because it mattered hugely in bringing the Old Testament to a close and to Jesus' immediate audience, especially his disciples who would all live through those events. (Thus, much of what he says has meanings that overlay both periods.)
As with Antiochus and his pig, and the Zealots piling human corpses on the same altar and Titus standing in the holy of holies before tearing it all down, I think we can expect each event to fill aspects of the prophecy, written with intentional ambiguity to allow multiple legitimate readings/translations.
Thus, in one translation of one of those passages (I think it was the Jewish Tanakh, but I don't have that before right now), it says the abomination will stand "on a wing of the holy place." That could easily mean stand where the corner of the old temple stood, which was built with wing-like ends on the front that were wider than the rest of the structure. In other words, it could mean when the first cornerstone (that being where construction of a building of this type usually begins) is set in place on the holy site, the end times have fully begun.
I find that a very interesting concept because it would make the New Testament statement that Jesus is "the cornerstone the builders rejected" a prophecy with a literal fulfillment. The earlier temple builders never knew Jesus when they were building the temple. They cannot reject what they never knew. They completed their work before Jesus was born. They MAY have later rejected him if they were still living when he was alive. Some probably were.. However, ALL temple builders today certainly know of Jesus. It is hard to imagine a single Jew who doesn't. So, they will be building their temple in direct rejection (again) of Jesus, trying to reinstate the old religion in order to continue rejecting the New Covenant. What an ultimate abomination against Christ.
How ironic that the temple of the end times, itself, becomes the abomination, if this interpretation proves true. (Again, making sense of Pauls words that God now prefers temple of human flesh (indwelling us with his Spirit) over temples of stone.) Laying of that one cornerstone, which the Temple Mount Faithful have already cut out and finished, would certainly make the prophecy literally true in CAUSING desolation, which the former acts in history did not do.
Yes, desolation came each of those times, BUT it was not CAUSED by Antiochus sacrificing a pig. It was caused by Antiochus destroying Jerusalem. It was not caused by General Titus standing in the holy of holies. It was caused by Titus destroying all of Jerusalem, temple included, so that no new insurrection could ever happen from there. However, placing the cornerstone for a new Jewish temple to replace the Muslim Dome of the Rock (or even just stand infant of it) would clearly CAUSE global outrage among Muslims.
There is a lot more to write on the things you've brought up, but I ran out of comment space above, and I'm doing this off the top of my head at lunchtime at work, so I don't have my reference books before me. I'll end with a note that, when Paul talks about the Antichrist standing in the temple of God, every other time he refers to the "temple of god" he is referring to the church. So, he MAY mean the Antichrist standing in the church (presumably as its head), not in a Jewish temple, which would mean the next temple never even has to be finished. Just laying its first cornerstone MAY be all the cause of desolation and symbol that the end is here that we need.
Agreed. I think a literal future temple boils down to the cessation of daily sacrifices on the 1290th day. A cornerstone alone wouldn’t allow for daily sacrifices. We have no historical record of an abomination on a 1290th day, or a blessing occurring on a 1335th day. It’s these two specific days that point to a future temple.
Unless I’ve missed a piece of history that you may be aware of. Do you have knowledge of these two specific days occurring in either Antiochus Epiphanies or Titus histories?
I remember back to the pandemic, once deaths began to add up in Islamic nation, I heard an interesting podcast, three clerics were calling for the allowance of Israel to rebuild the temple, to sacrifice and pray their God to end the pestilence and death on humanity.
Made me wonder if a pandemic brought this much fear, how much greater fear will humanity face with the judgements within the revelation, especially when 1/3 of humanity will be killed in one trumpet alone.
I’ve performed a few podcasts discussing the idea of theosophy quite a lot, in particular Alice Bailey’s ‘The Externalization of the Hierarchy’ and ‘The Reappearance of the Christ.’
Now, quickly, I’ll mention two things and combine them.
1. I was raised with a strict pre millennial “rapture” viewpoint.
2. Jesus said that in the end even the elect will be deceived.
Let me combine these thoughts.
After numerous years of reading the Bible, I came to see the falsehood of pre-mill rapture eschatology.
Once I saw that, I recognized, after reading the occultists, how many Christian’s and “believers” will be deceived at the end.
At the end, the nations will come against Israel to destroy her. In that moment though, a supernatural “saviour” will appear, with a heavenly host, to divinely interact with the world, initiate a global peace, and set up rule.
This hero will be worshipped around the world as the saviour, divine, and the herald of peace.
Christians who believe strongly in the rapture will believe he is Jesus, because he may even claim the name of Jesus, who has supernatural power and a gospel of love and acceptance for all.
And anyone who goes against this divine powers global peace will be hunted down as enemies of peace and love.
More or less, I believe that the coming saviour will in fact be the Antichrist who deludes the world with a false peace before the true and only saviour, the Risen Jesus Christ, appears to initiate his true, eternal kingdom on earth.
What are your thoughts about this potential idea/theory?
I don't believe the rapture will happen before the millennium when Jesus reins on earth from Jerusalem either. I believe it is part of the resurrection. Those who are dead will be resurrected to meet him upon his return, and those still living will be raptured to meet him.
I believe Jesus said, "IF IT WERE POSSIBLE," in the end "even the very elect would be deceived." Correct me if I'm wrong because I don't have time right now to try to find the passage.
Paul also said there would be a great falling away. So, maybe some will be deceived and others not. In fact, I think it was Paul who spoke the words just mentioned.
We certainly see some Christians being deceived when they throw in with the Temple Mount Faithful and help fund the sacrilegious temple that will bring destruction upon the earth when they try to build it on the Temple Mount, which those Christians do in order to bring the end times on more quickly just as those Jews involved with that do. A small number of zealots can bring a lot of trouble.
I avoid the occult because feel it has a darkness that clouds understanding of the Bible because all we need to do is approach the Bible with a true heart and an open and humble and inquisitive mind, but I THINK our views about the end are similar. There will be a false Christ, but true believers will not be deceived by him. Exactly how that false Christ will show up, I don't know. Many say, as you do, that it will be as peacemaker who establishes a false peace in Israel's hour of need.
We are also told the true Messiah will return at such a time as when the plight of the Jews in Israel is at its most desperate. At least, that is how I understand those scriptures. That is when, in desperation, they will realized Jesus always was the Messiah, and they rejected him; and they will repent by saying, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
They will look upon him whom they rejected and pierced and will mourn. Imagine the agony of realizing that the 2,000 + years of wandering and suffering you endured as a people was all because you rejected your actual Messiah and continued to reject him throughout all those years. Then he returns in love and mercy for those who will repent, and you finally realize who he was all along and repent.
Outrageous republican and democrat war mongers killing our troops for those devils in Israel. Not ONE drop of precious Western blood should be spilled for these monsters and not one dime or piece of equipment given to them. Let the pagan moslems and Talmuds kill themselves off.
Outrageous republican and democrat war mongers killing our troops for those devils in Israel. Not ONE drop of precious Western blood should be spilled for these monsters and not one dime or piece of equipment given to them. Let the pagan moslems and Talmuds kill themselves off.
Jesus said he LONGED to gather the Jews together as a hen gathers its chicks, and he told his Jewish disciples he loved them and that the world would know they were his by their love. Jesus prayed and said to God in heaven, "You sent me and have loved them even as you loved me." They were all Jews who became faithful to him.
But he also said that the Jews would not see him again until they say "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." He said this to the Jewish religious leaders whom, whom he saw as blocking other Jews from the truth. He called them hypocrites and said their father was the devil. So, not all Jews are the same.
"If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.... My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."
His disciples were Jews, but not of the kind like the Pharisees--the Talmudic lot you mention. However, Jesus' emphasis is on love, and his Apostle Paul made it clear a time will come when all Israel will be saved because they will repent, as Jesus said they needed to in order to see their Messiah again, and say, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
None of that means we have to spend our blood and treasure helping Zionists seize the land while they reject the one who is called "Prince of Peace" because only he can rule the land in peace. But Jesus command is love.
IF the battle of Gog U Magog happens, it will happen EXACTLY as prophesied using Horses Shield /Buckler, Clubs and Swords / Spears. That would put us back 800 to 1000 years in technology, and that would only happen after a certain Cataclysmic event.
Please note the war with Gog U Magog is a "Bad" Prophecy, and bad prophecies do not have to happen if the nation ( or person) repents. Jews ( Yahudim) and other Hebrew tribes who wish to hasten the Return of the Davidic Dynasty ( Beit Dawid), The Temple ( Miqdash), and the Ark of the Covenant ( Aron Hakodesh) simply need to convince the majority to Keep the Sabbath ( Shabbat) and God ( Hashem) would inspire someone of the House of David, and also Prophecy will return.
BTW anyone who studies enough Torah, Archeology, History, or all three, knows the Temple can not be located on the so called Temple Mount. You need a spring, and that is the Shiloach ( Silwan), close to Soloman's Palace, in what today is called "ir David" ( "City of David"), but back then was simply Yerushalayim. Those who wish to rebuild the temple absent prophecy returning are making fools of themselves, as they will never know the precise location of the Alter ( Mizbayach).
When you insist it has to happen literally with ancient technology, however, that seems like insisting, where the Bible says the Jews will be brought back into the Land of Israel on the wings of eagles, that they literally must be flown in by eagles and not by modern aircraft?
That said about rigid literalism, I fully agree this MAY not be that particular battle and agree that, even if it is, prophesied bad events have been forestalled in biblical history when the people wholeheartedly repented as a nation. And I can certainly agree that inspiring people toward reverence toward God is a whole lot better than inspiring them toward taking the times into their own hands by fomenting religious war as some are doing.
So, thank you for those insights as well as the note of caution about those who wish to rebuild the temple on the "Temple Mount" because such an action is highly likely to bring great calamity that will be destructive to many by making the war about religion, rather than about terrorism from Gaza. Yet, that is what these zealots are committed to doing.
It's true not everything needs to be taken literally to understand bible and prophecy correctly. However when it comes to Gog U Magog there is also the prophecy that Survivors will burn the weaponry for years as firewood. Ezekiel 39 : 9 - 15
Just look at today's weapons, 98% of it wont burn well, or would be a health hazard if one manages to do so. From drones to composite armor, to military Rifle stocks,...not much of it is meant to burn as firewood. Even the wood stocked AK-74 and AK-47 versions are often Laminate, the rest are plastic like the M-4 / M-16 series. This prophecy, should we deserve such death and destruction, is very detailed and very literal.
In Prophecy sometimes things come true in unexpected ways, but the evidence here is this prophecy would be still in the future...how far in the future I can not say.
Gog Magog destroyed by fire as Ezekiel records is shown after the 1000 years Rev 20-7-10
Armageddon nations are gathered in the 6th vial, the actual battle not recorded until Rev 19 prior the 1000 years.
Two last days resurrections must be accounted for. Rev 20:4 allows one to understand the first prior the 1000 years, due those entering the 1000 year kingdom having lived through the marking of humanity. The second recorded to occur after the 1000 years after Gog Magog.
Blessed are those in the first resurrection. Few seem to understand why those in the first are blessed.
With the revelation recording two resurrections, Men can’t add a third resurrection prior the first, due the warning of adding or taking away from the prophecy.
Gog is not Russia. Just an old Cold war lie. He is a prince of Meshech and Tubal, which is in modern Turkey. Which means he is a man, not a nation.
Furthermore you cut off Mar 24, just before it talks about this sign: 15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—
For that to occur we need a rebuilt Temple.
Which ruins your Time line of current events being part of prophecy. You also leave out the surrounding of Jerusalem by armies, the 7 yr Treaty, that the AC makes with Israel and breaks after 3.5 yrs. In order to take over the rebuilt Temple and fulfill verse 15 of Mat 24.
Keep studying and maybe you will get the sequences of events correct.
A "holy place" can ONLY be one dedicated to Jesus Christ. A Jewish "temple" cannot, by definition, be a "holy place."
There is one, completed in 1907 on the north side of the Mount of Olives. It was built by Kaiser Wilhelm II and he named it for his wife, Augusta Victoria. All the material used to build it came from the nation of TRUE Judah...Diutisc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Germany
https://annlaemmlenlewis.com/2022/12/26/golgotha-and-a-christmas-concert-at-the-augusta-victoria-church/
This is partly why I've suggested in other articles that the "holy place" may be the SITE the temple was built on where Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac in faithfulness to God, which, I believe, is where the holy of holies and the ark of the covenant sat in the temple.
The abomination may well be the next Jewish temple that will be built on that site, because that temple will be a true abomination against Jesus Christ because it knowingly rejects his sacrifice and seeks to reinstate the old religion of the old covenant (Old Testament) with its animal sacrifices. And that would explain why the prophecy uses the seemingly vague "in the holy place" rather than "in the temple" or "in the holy of holies." Such an abomination standing on that site some day would certainly cause desolation.
In fact, it may not even have to be the full temple standing in the holy place. It may be enough that just one cornerstone is erected "on a wing of the temple" as Daniel can be translated (i.e. on a corner of the temple), making that the literal cornerstone the temple builders choose over Christ, the cornerstone of faith whom they reject all over again by that very act. I'm sure if just one cornerstone is raised to that site, which is revered as holy by three religions, the Muslims will go insane, and great desolation will follow as a direct result of this "abomination that causes desolation" "standing in the holy place."
Mark puts it this way: "When you see the abomination that CAUSES desolation standing WHERE IT DOES NOT BELONG--let the reader understand [as if there is a mystery/riddle in how this is being expressed] then ... flee...." Certainly, millions would say that a Jewish temple reinstating the old religion does not belong on that site. It is bound to bring world war just by the audacity of placing it there as an affront to all Islam while also being an abomination against Jesus Christ who predicted the original temple would be destroyed because the Jews rejected him the first time around.
Kind of makes the temple a set of bookends in the prophecies about Jesus' rejection by the Jews and the temple's destruction and then the prophecies about his return to set them straight on who he is following their attempt to rebuild the temple that God rejected a religiously meaningful forty years after the Jewish religious leaders rejected a Jesus. Full circle ending.
How does one account for Dan 12:11-12 without a literal temple “daily sacrifice”
Men forever have used Dan 9 dividing end times math into two 1260 day periods.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
Dan 12 destroys today’s teachings of 2-1260 days/2-3 1/2 year periods, never accounting for this 1290th day abomination, let alone a 1335th day blessing.
In order to have daily sacrifices an altar needs to be in place at the least. How a last days covenant and temple comes about can only be understood outside of today’s doctrines of men.
If the prophecy was sealed from understanding until the time of the end, why is it that we continue to teach using centuries old mathematical interpretations.
You mentioned that you don't believe the rapture will happen before the millennium when Jesus reins on earth from Jerusalem either. I believe it is part of the resurrection. Those who are dead will be resurrected to meet him upon his return, and those still living will be raptured to meet him.
Rev 20:4 records the first of two resurrections with those who overcame and rule with Christ in the 1000 years. Meaning the first resurrection occurs prior the 1000 years.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Todays doctrines on rapture have followers focused on those who are alive and remain, rather than the dead rise first, a resurrection.
Since the revelation records two resurrections men can’t add a third or take one of the two away. Both have to be accounted for, Rev 20:4 records the first prior the 1000 years, and Rev 20:5 records the second…
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Verse five “this is the first resurrection” points back to the first being prior the 1000 years of 20:4.
With 20:6 ending the two resurrections narrative pointing to the blessing…
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
The blessing being twofold, it’s in being part of the first resurrection and not having to stand in judgment at the second judgement.
Like two resurrections, two judgements need to be accounted for, the judgement seat of Christ/Bema, and the white throne.
The Bema a rewards judgement of believers, not a judgement of where believers spend eternity. The white throne judgement risks the second death, eternal separation, with the second death having no power over those blessed in the first resurrection 20:6, those of the first resurrection have their eternal standing with Christ.
As to a last days temple. One has to ask what it would take for Israel to rebuild. Scripture records a covenants, which doctrines speak of as a seven year false peace, broken at a 1260 day point/3 1/2 year period, yet Daniel's 1290 and 1335th days must be accounted for.
Peace only comes from war historically. Many scholars and theologians see a third Great War within scripture, noted within the 6th trumpet Rev 9:18, with 1/3 of humanity being killed.
Doctrines teach a seven year false peace, but the revelation narrative records just the opposite. So a covenant with Israel would have to come either prior or post this Great War.
We only read of a temple within the revelation after the sixth trumpet killing 1/3 of humanity. Peace/covenant after war?
Anyway, I loved your article and pray I’ve not spoke out of place!
Thanks, Jimmy, for the clarification.
We agree on the rapture and what you've written about the 1,000 years, etc.. Like you, I believe the rapture is part of the resurrection. I have believed that for decades, so I have no idea why you read something else into my statements. (Sometimes people jump to conclusions because they are just too eager to judge, but it sounds from what you just wrote that that is not the case. So, thank you for that.)
I also believe the full meaning of the prophecy is sealed until the end of days, which is why we should all be humble in interpreting what it might mean. As one of God's deepest secrets in the Bible, it is not likely we are going to perfectly figure it out. So, my counsel has always been to hold whatever we believe on these matters lightly in an open palm, rather than grasp it fast as a dogmatic belief. It is, after all, a great mystery.
The benefit in considering multiple views is that, when the prophecy's time comes, we might better be able to see how our times fit within it and understand it. The understanding could come by some prophet divinely explaining it, but it also could come by the time just being right to where it reveals itself (suddenly becomes obvious because of what actually happens). That would explain why the New Testament, in referring to these Daniel passages, says "Let the reader understand." That seems to imply the reader CAN understand AND will have to make some effort to do so.
I wrote years ago that these prophecies are not intended as road maps to the future but as assurances (hope) to the people who will I've in those dire times, so they can understand their own dark times. Since the horrible times were foretold as well as the divine ultimate outcomes, they can be assured they are in God's hands and that they will be OK if they stand with Jesus. In fact, precisely BECAUSE these long-future events were foreknown by the prophets, they can be trusted in those times ... even if we don't fully understand them UNTIL those events start to unfold around us. Then the veil will be lifted.
So, with that as my own approach, let me go back to the Daniel prophecies you mention. All Bible translators will agree that translating the Daniel passage about the Abomination that Causes Desolation is particularly difficult because the langue is ambiguous and can be translated a few different ways. When I studied poetry back in college, one of the things we talked about was how a great poet will sometimes use intentionally ambiguous language because he WANTS the poem to be interpreted in more than one way and intends all of the meanings. I think that may be the case here.
What I see is a prophecy that intentionally applies to EVERY period where the temple was destroyed. When Antioches Epiphanes destroyed the first temple, the abomination that happened was that he sacrificed a pig on the altar, which was outside the holy of holies. (Obviously, huge sacrilege in the eyes of Jews.)
When Titus came as the literal prince (son of Vespasian, the general just raised to being Caesar in Rome) who destroyed the second temple in AD70, he offered the Jews in Jerusalem a treaty (covenant) if they would surrender Jerusalem peacefully because he didn't want to destroy the city. He wanted to make it his capital in Israel once the insurrection was put down, as he figured he would rule Judea as governor while is father ruled the empire as Caesar.
He also had no desire to destroy the temple. The Romans were into accumulating gods and honoring the gods of any place they conquered because why would you want to upset them? The Romans were not, after all, monotheistic. So, the more gods, the better, and you'd better stay on their good side, not be wiping out their temples.
Many of the Jews accepted the prince's treaty (fulfilling other prophecies you allude to that are often thought to apply to the end times), and they left the city voluntarily, and their lives were spared as promised by Titus, now a prince with his father's ascendancy. This was, after all, the end times of ancient Israel and of the Mosaic Covenant because the temple's destruction meant the Mosaic Covenant could no longer be truly practiced as commanded. A band of zealots, however, held the city as long as they could, so Titus had to bust down its walls to get them.
The zealots (insurrectionists) then retreated to the temple and used it as a fortress (talk about ungodly!), and THEY desecrated their own temple this time by piling the bleeding corpses of their fellow insurrectionists on the altar to get them out of the way as Titus fired into the temple with his catapults, arrows, etc. Josephus writes that the altar was so dripping with the human blood of the zealots that it overflowed its gutters (a MAJOR desecration, even worse than the pig, given that no human blood, not even a drop by accident, was ever to be shed in the temple, much less on its altar). And, thus, Titus brought about the end of the daily sacrifice with his war as the ultimate cause of its end, but the direct or operational cause was the Zealots deciding to use the altar as storage for their own corpses.
Once Titus killed many of them, those who were left managed to retreat to Masada, which is another whole story. To route them out, Titus had to destroy the temple walls and create huge damage inside the temple before they evacuated. Titus, then, entered the temple and did exactly as described in the prophecies by standing as a warrior in the holy of holies, which by Mosaic law was never to have any human other than the Jewish high priest go inside of it once the Ark of the Covenant was placed inside. So, that was the second abomination and second fulfillment of what was written in Daniel. (In each of these major temple destructions, we see similarities that fit the prophecy but with a different twist, each fulfilling aspects of it.)
Titus, then, destroyed the entire temple, leaving not one stone resting upon another as prophesied forty years earlier by Jesus when he left the temple for the last time after being rejected by the Jewish religious leaders of his time.
As they say, history may not exactly repeat, but it often rhymes. So, I think we can expect the prophecy to have yet another fulfillment when the Jews attempt to rebuild the temple that God, himself rejected, after they rejected Jesus. That would make the temples bookends on each side of the long period where Jews reject Jesus (the Church Age). And why would that end-times for Jews in Israel not be a major part even of Jesus' prophecies because it mattered hugely in bringing the Old Testament to a close and to Jesus' immediate audience, especially his disciples who would all live through those events. (Thus, much of what he says has meanings that overlay both periods.)
As with Antiochus and his pig, and the Zealots piling human corpses on the same altar and Titus standing in the holy of holies before tearing it all down, I think we can expect each event to fill aspects of the prophecy, written with intentional ambiguity to allow multiple legitimate readings/translations.
Thus, in one translation of one of those passages (I think it was the Jewish Tanakh, but I don't have that before right now), it says the abomination will stand "on a wing of the holy place." That could easily mean stand where the corner of the old temple stood, which was built with wing-like ends on the front that were wider than the rest of the structure. In other words, it could mean when the first cornerstone (that being where construction of a building of this type usually begins) is set in place on the holy site, the end times have fully begun.
I find that a very interesting concept because it would make the New Testament statement that Jesus is "the cornerstone the builders rejected" a prophecy with a literal fulfillment. The earlier temple builders never knew Jesus when they were building the temple. They cannot reject what they never knew. They completed their work before Jesus was born. They MAY have later rejected him if they were still living when he was alive. Some probably were.. However, ALL temple builders today certainly know of Jesus. It is hard to imagine a single Jew who doesn't. So, they will be building their temple in direct rejection (again) of Jesus, trying to reinstate the old religion in order to continue rejecting the New Covenant. What an ultimate abomination against Christ.
How ironic that the temple of the end times, itself, becomes the abomination, if this interpretation proves true. (Again, making sense of Pauls words that God now prefers temple of human flesh (indwelling us with his Spirit) over temples of stone.) Laying of that one cornerstone, which the Temple Mount Faithful have already cut out and finished, would certainly make the prophecy literally true in CAUSING desolation, which the former acts in history did not do.
Yes, desolation came each of those times, BUT it was not CAUSED by Antiochus sacrificing a pig. It was caused by Antiochus destroying Jerusalem. It was not caused by General Titus standing in the holy of holies. It was caused by Titus destroying all of Jerusalem, temple included, so that no new insurrection could ever happen from there. However, placing the cornerstone for a new Jewish temple to replace the Muslim Dome of the Rock (or even just stand infant of it) would clearly CAUSE global outrage among Muslims.
There is a lot more to write on the things you've brought up, but I ran out of comment space above, and I'm doing this off the top of my head at lunchtime at work, so I don't have my reference books before me. I'll end with a note that, when Paul talks about the Antichrist standing in the temple of God, every other time he refers to the "temple of god" he is referring to the church. So, he MAY mean the Antichrist standing in the church (presumably as its head), not in a Jewish temple, which would mean the next temple never even has to be finished. Just laying its first cornerstone MAY be all the cause of desolation and symbol that the end is here that we need.
Agreed. I think a literal future temple boils down to the cessation of daily sacrifices on the 1290th day. A cornerstone alone wouldn’t allow for daily sacrifices. We have no historical record of an abomination on a 1290th day, or a blessing occurring on a 1335th day. It’s these two specific days that point to a future temple.
Unless I’ve missed a piece of history that you may be aware of. Do you have knowledge of these two specific days occurring in either Antiochus Epiphanies or Titus histories?
I remember back to the pandemic, once deaths began to add up in Islamic nation, I heard an interesting podcast, three clerics were calling for the allowance of Israel to rebuild the temple, to sacrifice and pray their God to end the pestilence and death on humanity.
Made me wonder if a pandemic brought this much fear, how much greater fear will humanity face with the judgements within the revelation, especially when 1/3 of humanity will be killed in one trumpet alone.
And Mystery Babylon must fall.
Peace always follows war.
These are the fruits of Abrahamism, lies, hate, greed, conflict, genocide, slavery, human suffering and death.
Another home run. It is linked on SQ.
Well written, brother.
Thank you!
So, a thought, David.
I’ve performed a few podcasts discussing the idea of theosophy quite a lot, in particular Alice Bailey’s ‘The Externalization of the Hierarchy’ and ‘The Reappearance of the Christ.’
Now, quickly, I’ll mention two things and combine them.
1. I was raised with a strict pre millennial “rapture” viewpoint.
2. Jesus said that in the end even the elect will be deceived.
Let me combine these thoughts.
After numerous years of reading the Bible, I came to see the falsehood of pre-mill rapture eschatology.
Once I saw that, I recognized, after reading the occultists, how many Christian’s and “believers” will be deceived at the end.
At the end, the nations will come against Israel to destroy her. In that moment though, a supernatural “saviour” will appear, with a heavenly host, to divinely interact with the world, initiate a global peace, and set up rule.
This hero will be worshipped around the world as the saviour, divine, and the herald of peace.
Christians who believe strongly in the rapture will believe he is Jesus, because he may even claim the name of Jesus, who has supernatural power and a gospel of love and acceptance for all.
And anyone who goes against this divine powers global peace will be hunted down as enemies of peace and love.
More or less, I believe that the coming saviour will in fact be the Antichrist who deludes the world with a false peace before the true and only saviour, the Risen Jesus Christ, appears to initiate his true, eternal kingdom on earth.
What are your thoughts about this potential idea/theory?
I don't believe the rapture will happen before the millennium when Jesus reins on earth from Jerusalem either. I believe it is part of the resurrection. Those who are dead will be resurrected to meet him upon his return, and those still living will be raptured to meet him.
I believe Jesus said, "IF IT WERE POSSIBLE," in the end "even the very elect would be deceived." Correct me if I'm wrong because I don't have time right now to try to find the passage.
Paul also said there would be a great falling away. So, maybe some will be deceived and others not. In fact, I think it was Paul who spoke the words just mentioned.
We certainly see some Christians being deceived when they throw in with the Temple Mount Faithful and help fund the sacrilegious temple that will bring destruction upon the earth when they try to build it on the Temple Mount, which those Christians do in order to bring the end times on more quickly just as those Jews involved with that do. A small number of zealots can bring a lot of trouble.
I avoid the occult because feel it has a darkness that clouds understanding of the Bible because all we need to do is approach the Bible with a true heart and an open and humble and inquisitive mind, but I THINK our views about the end are similar. There will be a false Christ, but true believers will not be deceived by him. Exactly how that false Christ will show up, I don't know. Many say, as you do, that it will be as peacemaker who establishes a false peace in Israel's hour of need.
We are also told the true Messiah will return at such a time as when the plight of the Jews in Israel is at its most desperate. At least, that is how I understand those scriptures. That is when, in desperation, they will realized Jesus always was the Messiah, and they rejected him; and they will repent by saying, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
They will look upon him whom they rejected and pierced and will mourn. Imagine the agony of realizing that the 2,000 + years of wandering and suffering you endured as a people was all because you rejected your actual Messiah and continued to reject him throughout all those years. Then he returns in love and mercy for those who will repent, and you finally realize who he was all along and repent.
Outrageous republican and democrat war mongers killing our troops for those devils in Israel. Not ONE drop of precious Western blood should be spilled for these monsters and not one dime or piece of equipment given to them. Let the pagan moslems and Talmuds kill themselves off.
Outrageous republican and democrat war mongers killing our troops for those devils in Israel. Not ONE drop of precious Western blood should be spilled for these monsters and not one dime or piece of equipment given to them. Let the pagan moslems and Talmuds kill themselves off.
Jesus said he LONGED to gather the Jews together as a hen gathers its chicks, and he told his Jewish disciples he loved them and that the world would know they were his by their love. Jesus prayed and said to God in heaven, "You sent me and have loved them even as you loved me." They were all Jews who became faithful to him.
But he also said that the Jews would not see him again until they say "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." He said this to the Jewish religious leaders whom, whom he saw as blocking other Jews from the truth. He called them hypocrites and said their father was the devil. So, not all Jews are the same.
"If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.... My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."
His disciples were Jews, but not of the kind like the Pharisees--the Talmudic lot you mention. However, Jesus' emphasis is on love, and his Apostle Paul made it clear a time will come when all Israel will be saved because they will repent, as Jesus said they needed to in order to see their Messiah again, and say, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
None of that means we have to spend our blood and treasure helping Zionists seize the land while they reject the one who is called "Prince of Peace" because only he can rule the land in peace. But Jesus command is love.
One of the most interesting, informative, and best articles I have read in a while. You have a new follower, Dave.
(I might have a follow up question for you if that’s ok after).
Wow! Thank you, PJ. Always open to followup questions.
Not Gog U Magog, maybe the run up to such events.
How can I be so sure?
IF the battle of Gog U Magog happens, it will happen EXACTLY as prophesied using Horses Shield /Buckler, Clubs and Swords / Spears. That would put us back 800 to 1000 years in technology, and that would only happen after a certain Cataclysmic event.
Please note the war with Gog U Magog is a "Bad" Prophecy, and bad prophecies do not have to happen if the nation ( or person) repents. Jews ( Yahudim) and other Hebrew tribes who wish to hasten the Return of the Davidic Dynasty ( Beit Dawid), The Temple ( Miqdash), and the Ark of the Covenant ( Aron Hakodesh) simply need to convince the majority to Keep the Sabbath ( Shabbat) and God ( Hashem) would inspire someone of the House of David, and also Prophecy will return.
BTW anyone who studies enough Torah, Archeology, History, or all three, knows the Temple can not be located on the so called Temple Mount. You need a spring, and that is the Shiloach ( Silwan), close to Soloman's Palace, in what today is called "ir David" ( "City of David"), but back then was simply Yerushalayim. Those who wish to rebuild the temple absent prophecy returning are making fools of themselves, as they will never know the precise location of the Alter ( Mizbayach).
Thank you for your thoughts.
When you insist it has to happen literally with ancient technology, however, that seems like insisting, where the Bible says the Jews will be brought back into the Land of Israel on the wings of eagles, that they literally must be flown in by eagles and not by modern aircraft?
That said about rigid literalism, I fully agree this MAY not be that particular battle and agree that, even if it is, prophesied bad events have been forestalled in biblical history when the people wholeheartedly repented as a nation. And I can certainly agree that inspiring people toward reverence toward God is a whole lot better than inspiring them toward taking the times into their own hands by fomenting religious war as some are doing.
So, thank you for those insights as well as the note of caution about those who wish to rebuild the temple on the "Temple Mount" because such an action is highly likely to bring great calamity that will be destructive to many by making the war about religion, rather than about terrorism from Gaza. Yet, that is what these zealots are committed to doing.
David,
It's true not everything needs to be taken literally to understand bible and prophecy correctly. However when it comes to Gog U Magog there is also the prophecy that Survivors will burn the weaponry for years as firewood. Ezekiel 39 : 9 - 15
Just look at today's weapons, 98% of it wont burn well, or would be a health hazard if one manages to do so. From drones to composite armor, to military Rifle stocks,...not much of it is meant to burn as firewood. Even the wood stocked AK-74 and AK-47 versions are often Laminate, the rest are plastic like the M-4 / M-16 series. This prophecy, should we deserve such death and destruction, is very detailed and very literal.
In Prophecy sometimes things come true in unexpected ways, but the evidence here is this prophecy would be still in the future...how far in the future I can not say.
Gog Magog destroyed by fire as Ezekiel records is shown after the 1000 years Rev 20-7-10
Armageddon nations are gathered in the 6th vial, the actual battle not recorded until Rev 19 prior the 1000 years.
Two last days resurrections must be accounted for. Rev 20:4 allows one to understand the first prior the 1000 years, due those entering the 1000 year kingdom having lived through the marking of humanity. The second recorded to occur after the 1000 years after Gog Magog.
Blessed are those in the first resurrection. Few seem to understand why those in the first are blessed.
With the revelation recording two resurrections, Men can’t add a third resurrection prior the first, due the warning of adding or taking away from the prophecy.