-8-
Standing Firm against the Antichrist
Heb 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
I don't know about you, but I need this. I need 'stirring up'. I need to meet with God's people regularly. And I need encouragement. And I need this whether or not the near coming of Jesus is a factor. I just need it.
And from what I read here … I need to give it out as well. I need to stir people up. I need to be an encourager. And I need to remind myself and others that Jesus is coming … and this world is not my final home.
And I suspect that we all need encouragement and we all could do more encouraging and reminding that everything changes when Jesus comes for us.
We left off in the previous chapter with Daniel 11:31-32
The tribulation period is half over when 'the abomination of desolation' is placed into the Holy Place. That is, the seven years is half over. But the Great Tribulation, as it is referred to by Jesus, is the second half.
As we noted, this will be the time for God-fearing Jews to run for their lives. Somehow God will provide protection for them.
This will be the time for the gentile believers … the church, to 'look up' for help to be able to endure to the end.
I want to insert a cautionary comment right here. Many, many evangelical bible prophecy teachers refer to the whole seven year tribulation period as 'The Wrath'. (Shortened form of 'the Wrath of God'.) , This is a very important part of the 'pre-trib' position, but it is incorrect. This view builds on the verse that says that we, (the church) are not 'appointed to wrath'. This, and a few other scriptures are emphasized to show that God's wrath will not fall upon His own children, and therefore we are removed just before this event called 'the Wrath' takes place.
I want to point out two things … If this period of time is rightfully called 'The Wrath, … and God, because He does not let his wrath fall on his own children, actually takes His children out … … then we have a huge problem occurring shortly after he has removed us. The problem is that many people will become believers during the tribulation … and they too will be God's children, but guess what? They would be under God's wrath. But that contradicts the teaching that God does not put His own children under His wrath. So … either the whole period should not be called 'The Wrath' … or … there will be no one come to Christ during the tribulation.
So what do we conclude, Biblically? That terrible time called 'The great tribulation' IS a time of wrath according to Revelation … woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!" Re 12:12 ¶
The tribulation is a time of the Devil's wrath. But True believers have endured certain amounts of his wrath for centuries. This will be a time of Satan's fury. And believers will be there.
But the tribulation actually IS a time of God's wrath as well. We read in Re 16:1 ¶ Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.”
So, the tribulation is a time when both the wrath of Satan and the wrath of God will be felt and seen on this earth.
Will God's people have to endure God's wrath? The answer is No. It is correct to say that God's children are not appointed to GOD'S wrath.
We have a biblical account of God's pouring out his judgments … one at a time, on a sinful people in the old testament. And we can see there how it affected God's people.
Ex 10:21 ¶ Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt."
22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.
23 They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, ….
This darkness was one of the plagues that God brought on Egypt in order to bring about a change of Pharoah's mind. But it did not.
There is a similar 'plague' mentioned in the Revelation.
Re 16:10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.
This 'bowl' or plague … is the wrath of God. You cannot help but see the similarity with what God did in Egypt all those years ago.
But I did not read the last part of the verse in Exodus
… but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.
God inflicted Egypt with plagues and, even though His children were in close proximity to the Egyptians, His negative actions did not touch one of them.
Just what will it be like for Christians during the time of tribulation? The bowls of God's anger will not touch one of His children.
Some biblical commentators have referred the bowls of God's wrath as 'judgment bowls'. It may not be wrong to call them that, but just like He did in the time of Moses, God's objective was to bring about repentance, and so will it be during the tribulation.
God has a specific purpose during the tribulation period. Actually, He has more than one.
One of the most obvious and essential purposes is for God to be able to announce the end of the day of grace for this era. There is coming the time that God must say, 'Time's up'.
Re 10:5-7 Then the angel whom I had seen bestriding the sea and the land raised his right hand to Heaven, 6 and swore by the living one of the timeless ages, who created Heaven, earth and sea and all that is in them: "There shall be no more delay! 7 In the days which shall soon be announced by the trumpet-blast of the seventh angel the mysterious purpose of God shall be completed, as he assured his servants the prophets."
And why has God waited this long? The apostle peter said,
The Lord is … longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2Pe 3:9
God wants everyone to come to him, but in order to transition into the next age, He is going to have to 'call it' at some point. The fairest and most gracious way is for Him to give a warning. He has chosen to do it via a 'count-down'. The book of Revelation is so very explicit regarding the count-down. What we have seen in Daniel chapter eleven is a picture of what man is doing during this time. Revelation includes that but also shows clearly what God is doing during the final seven years.`
God is initiating a count-down to the end. He is also using very severe methods to bring about repentance. God tells us to evangelize as well, first by using compassion and appealing to the lost based on the love of God, then, when that does not work, we are to 'pull them out of the fire'(Jude 1:23). This means we need to paint a clear picture of a smoking hot hell, where, as Jesus points out, “their worms don't die and the fire is never quenched” (Mark 9:48)
A third purpose for this count-down, is to allow for a time of purging for certain segments of the church. For example, in Jesus' letter to the church of the Laodiceans he is addressing a very self-centered centered, self-satisfied church. He says that He wants them to be 'as gold, tried in the fire'. He is suggesting that they would benefit by having a bit of fire in their lives, to purify them.
We left off in the previous chapter talking about the Anti-Christ, the corrupt leader, bringing in a huge army into Israel, ending with his going into the temple, setting up a throne there, and announcing that there is no other God other than himself. Let's re-read it.
Da 11:31 “And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.
At the mid-point of the tribulation the anti-Christ, the King of the North, shows who he really is. All flattery and slippery smooth talk aside, he comes in with a mighty army. God-fearing Jews run for their lives. Anti-Christ turns his anger against Christians. And then we read this:
Da 11:32 … the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.
As I pointed out at the beginning of this chapter, we will need a lot of encouragement and support to be happening in our churches in order for us to be ready to stand firm and take action in the face of this horrendous opposition.
Verse 33: And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder.
'The wise' refers to believers. The wise, the church, will cause many to 'understand'. There could be two meanings for this.
Thousands of believers have been taught that they would be taken up beforehand. Preparation to stand firm against the policies, flatteries and 'lying wonders' of this false messiah are not particularly seen as being all that important to a 'Pre-Tribber'.
Can you imagine the despair, the floundering and confusion that so many will experience. The wise among the people shall make many understand. That is the first meaning of this verse. But I think it also includes evangelism.
We (the church) will be using the word of God to point out what is going on in the world. This verse seems to indicate that we will be quite successful in leading people to faith in Jesus. But it looks as though we will not be all that successful right at the beginning of the tribulation. We will do some stumbling first. Why? Likely because we were simply not ready to step into the arena of the enemy.
But the remainder of the verse sounds like some were ready. They stood their ground … and some went to meet Jesus.
But Daniel's prophecy goes on, 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help.
Right about that time … just after the mid-point of the tribulation, two witnesses show up. They will preach, call fire down from heaven and make life miserable for non-believers. This is the 'help' that believers in the tribulation receive. This will be a good thing. (Rev 11)
But look at the rest of the verse ...
And many shall join themselves to them with flattery,
This is not a good thing. I don't like the word 'many'. This sounds like trouble. Many joining the church, speaking all the right words … but the words are actually shallow flattery. These will be the 'brothers' or 'sisters' who will 'turn you in' to the authorities. This is what Jesus was talking about when He said, 'Brother shall betray brother to death'. (Mark 13:12)
Moving on in Daniel ...
Da 11:35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.
As I said earlier, some of the 'wise' are like the Laodicean believers in Revelation 3. They will really benefit spiritually from this difficult time. Refined, purified, made wide.
John observed this from his view in heaven …
Re 19:8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Meanwhile, that is, during this difficult, yet purifying time for the church, this what the Antichrist will be doing.
Da 11:36 "And the king (of the North) shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done.
Here is what Paul said to Thessalonians a thousand or so years after Daniel's prophecy.
2Th 2:4 (the Anti-Christ) opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
We note that 'he shall prosper'. He has, at this point, shown his true colors. But he is not without opposition. One year into the seven years he had tries to take care of an enemy 'stronghold'. He will have only a limited success. A year later he will try to finish the job and he will fail. He will move against the orthodox Jews in Israel in spite of there being an undefeated stronghold, the king of the South. He will boldly claim to be God of this world, even though the southern stronghold still exists.
There will be one more huge conflict between the king of the North and the king of the South. We will look at that in the next chapter.
For now we will look at verses 37-39 of Daniel 11. These verses spell out what kind of a person the Anti-Christ is.
Da 11:37 “He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.
The God of his fathers? Is this person a Jew? Is he a 'former' Muslim? Who is this God of his fathers? We are not told.
He does not regard the 'desire of women'. What does this mean … that he does not desire women? That he is homosexual? (Or, as some have pointed out, perhaps this refers to Jesus. Apparently the 'desire of all Israeli women' is to be chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. That means Jesus, being the messiah … was the desire of women of the ages … and this man of sin has no regard for him.) So again, this is not totally clear, but don't be surprised if the Antichrist is gay.
In place of honoring anyone or anything we are told that he honors only one thing.
Da 11:38 “But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things.
He worships power. The ultimate stronghold. And that is Satan.
Da 11:39 “Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.
His 'rule' will become extensive. His 'governing' seems to benefit many.
It seems fitting that we should end this chapter with the same verse we started with.
Heb 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
I don't know about you, but I need this. I need 'stirring up'. I need to meet with God's people regularly. And I need encouragement. And I need this whether or not the near coming of Jesus is a factor. I just need it.
And from what I read here … I need to give it out as well. I need to stir people up. I need to be an encourager. And I need to remind myself and others that Jesus is coming … and this world is not my final home.
And I suspect that we all need encouragement and we all could do more encouraging and reminding that everything changes when Jesus comes for us.
We left off in the previous chapter with Daniel 11:31-32
The tribulation period is half over when 'the abomination of desolation' is placed into the Holy Place. That is, the seven years is half over. But the Great Tribulation, as it is referred to by Jesus, is the second half.
As we noted, this will be the time for God-fearing Jews to run for their lives. Somehow God will provide protection for them.
This will be the time for the gentile believers … the church, to 'look up' for help to be able to endure to the end.
I want to insert a cautionary comment right here. Many, many evangelical bible prophecy teachers refer to the whole seven year tribulation period as 'The Wrath'. (Shortened form of 'the Wrath of God'.) , This is a very important part of the 'pre-trib' position, but it is incorrect. This view builds on the verse that says that we, (the church) are not 'appointed to wrath'. This, and a few other scriptures are emphasized to show that God's wrath will not fall upon His own children, and therefore we are removed just before this event called 'the Wrath' takes place.
I want to point out two things … If this period of time is rightfully called 'The Wrath, … and God, because He does not let his wrath fall on his own children, actually takes His children out … … then we have a huge problem occurring shortly after he has removed us. The problem is that many people will become believers during the tribulation … and they too will be God's children, but guess what? They would be under God's wrath. But that contradicts the teaching that God does not put His own children under His wrath. So … either the whole period should not be called 'The Wrath' … or … there will be no one come to Christ during the tribulation.
So what do we conclude, Biblically? That terrible time called 'The great tribulation' IS a time of wrath according to Revelation … woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!" Re 12:12 ¶
The tribulation is a time of the Devil's wrath. But True believers have endured certain amounts of his wrath for centuries. This will be a time of Satan's fury. And believers will be there.
But the tribulation actually IS a time of God's wrath as well. We read in Re 16:1 ¶ Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.”
So, the tribulation is a time when both the wrath of Satan and the wrath of God will be felt and seen on this earth.
Will God's people have to endure God's wrath? The answer is No. It is correct to say that God's children are not appointed to GOD'S wrath.
We have a biblical account of God's pouring out his judgments … one at a time, on a sinful people in the old testament. And we can see there how it affected God's people.
Ex 10:21 ¶ Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt."
22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.
23 They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, ….
This darkness was one of the plagues that God brought on Egypt in order to bring about a change of Pharoah's mind. But it did not.
There is a similar 'plague' mentioned in the Revelation.
Re 16:10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.
This 'bowl' or plague … is the wrath of God. You cannot help but see the similarity with what God did in Egypt all those years ago.
But I did not read the last part of the verse in Exodus
… but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.
God inflicted Egypt with plagues and, even though His children were in close proximity to the Egyptians, His negative actions did not touch one of them.
Just what will it be like for Christians during the time of tribulation? The bowls of God's anger will not touch one of His children.
Some biblical commentators have referred the bowls of God's wrath as 'judgment bowls'. It may not be wrong to call them that, but just like He did in the time of Moses, God's objective was to bring about repentance, and so will it be during the tribulation.
God has a specific purpose during the tribulation period. Actually, He has more than one.
One of the most obvious and essential purposes is for God to be able to announce the end of the day of grace for this era. There is coming the time that God must say, 'Time's up'.
Re 10:5-7 Then the angel whom I had seen bestriding the sea and the land raised his right hand to Heaven, 6 and swore by the living one of the timeless ages, who created Heaven, earth and sea and all that is in them: "There shall be no more delay! 7 In the days which shall soon be announced by the trumpet-blast of the seventh angel the mysterious purpose of God shall be completed, as he assured his servants the prophets."
And why has God waited this long? The apostle peter said,
The Lord is … longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2Pe 3:9
God wants everyone to come to him, but in order to transition into the next age, He is going to have to 'call it' at some point. The fairest and most gracious way is for Him to give a warning. He has chosen to do it via a 'count-down'. The book of Revelation is so very explicit regarding the count-down. What we have seen in Daniel chapter eleven is a picture of what man is doing during this time. Revelation includes that but also shows clearly what God is doing during the final seven years.`
God is initiating a count-down to the end. He is also using very severe methods to bring about repentance. God tells us to evangelize as well, first by using compassion and appealing to the lost based on the love of God, then, when that does not work, we are to 'pull them out of the fire'(Jude 1:23). This means we need to paint a clear picture of a smoking hot hell, where, as Jesus points out, “their worms don't die and the fire is never quenched” (Mark 9:48)
A third purpose for this count-down, is to allow for a time of purging for certain segments of the church. For example, in Jesus' letter to the church of the Laodiceans he is addressing a very self-centered centered, self-satisfied church. He says that He wants them to be 'as gold, tried in the fire'. He is suggesting that they would benefit by having a bit of fire in their lives, to purify them.
We left off in the previous chapter talking about the Anti-Christ, the corrupt leader, bringing in a huge army into Israel, ending with his going into the temple, setting up a throne there, and announcing that there is no other God other than himself. Let's re-read it.
Da 11:31 “And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.
At the mid-point of the tribulation the anti-Christ, the King of the North, shows who he really is. All flattery and slippery smooth talk aside, he comes in with a mighty army. God-fearing Jews run for their lives. Anti-Christ turns his anger against Christians. And then we read this:
Da 11:32 … the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.
As I pointed out at the beginning of this chapter, we will need a lot of encouragement and support to be happening in our churches in order for us to be ready to stand firm and take action in the face of this horrendous opposition.
Verse 33: And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder.
'The wise' refers to believers. The wise, the church, will cause many to 'understand'. There could be two meanings for this.
Thousands of believers have been taught that they would be taken up beforehand. Preparation to stand firm against the policies, flatteries and 'lying wonders' of this false messiah are not particularly seen as being all that important to a 'Pre-Tribber'.
Can you imagine the despair, the floundering and confusion that so many will experience. The wise among the people shall make many understand. That is the first meaning of this verse. But I think it also includes evangelism.
We (the church) will be using the word of God to point out what is going on in the world. This verse seems to indicate that we will be quite successful in leading people to faith in Jesus. But it looks as though we will not be all that successful right at the beginning of the tribulation. We will do some stumbling first. Why? Likely because we were simply not ready to step into the arena of the enemy.
But the remainder of the verse sounds like some were ready. They stood their ground … and some went to meet Jesus.
But Daniel's prophecy goes on, 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help.
Right about that time … just after the mid-point of the tribulation, two witnesses show up. They will preach, call fire down from heaven and make life miserable for non-believers. This is the 'help' that believers in the tribulation receive. This will be a good thing. (Rev 11)
But look at the rest of the verse ...
And many shall join themselves to them with flattery,
This is not a good thing. I don't like the word 'many'. This sounds like trouble. Many joining the church, speaking all the right words … but the words are actually shallow flattery. These will be the 'brothers' or 'sisters' who will 'turn you in' to the authorities. This is what Jesus was talking about when He said, 'Brother shall betray brother to death'. (Mark 13:12)
Moving on in Daniel ...
Da 11:35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.
As I said earlier, some of the 'wise' are like the Laodicean believers in Revelation 3. They will really benefit spiritually from this difficult time. Refined, purified, made wide.
John observed this from his view in heaven …
Re 19:8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Meanwhile, that is, during this difficult, yet purifying time for the church, this what the Antichrist will be doing.
Da 11:36 "And the king (of the North) shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done.
Here is what Paul said to Thessalonians a thousand or so years after Daniel's prophecy.
2Th 2:4 (the Anti-Christ) opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
We note that 'he shall prosper'. He has, at this point, shown his true colors. But he is not without opposition. One year into the seven years he had tries to take care of an enemy 'stronghold'. He will have only a limited success. A year later he will try to finish the job and he will fail. He will move against the orthodox Jews in Israel in spite of there being an undefeated stronghold, the king of the South. He will boldly claim to be God of this world, even though the southern stronghold still exists.
There will be one more huge conflict between the king of the North and the king of the South. We will look at that in the next chapter.
For now we will look at verses 37-39 of Daniel 11. These verses spell out what kind of a person the Anti-Christ is.
Da 11:37 “He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.
The God of his fathers? Is this person a Jew? Is he a 'former' Muslim? Who is this God of his fathers? We are not told.
He does not regard the 'desire of women'. What does this mean … that he does not desire women? That he is homosexual? (Or, as some have pointed out, perhaps this refers to Jesus. Apparently the 'desire of all Israeli women' is to be chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. That means Jesus, being the messiah … was the desire of women of the ages … and this man of sin has no regard for him.) So again, this is not totally clear, but don't be surprised if the Antichrist is gay.
In place of honoring anyone or anything we are told that he honors only one thing.
Da 11:38 “But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things.
He worships power. The ultimate stronghold. And that is Satan.
Da 11:39 “Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.
His 'rule' will become extensive. His 'governing' seems to benefit many.
It seems fitting that we should end this chapter with the same verse we started with.
Heb 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.