Copyright © 2024 Michael A. Brown
The sections below describe the
various events that will take place in the first half of the seven years.
1.
Confirmation of the
covenant
‘And he will confirm a covenant
with many for one “seven.”’ (Dan. 9:27)
It is clear from this verse that it
is the confirming of a covenant which triggers the beginning of the seven-year
period and sets it into motion. As I
said above, it is not the rapture that does this, because by this stage
the rapture has already happened a while back.
The
word ‘he’ as the subject of Daniel 9:27 evidently refers to Antichrist. It is he who confirms the covenant which is
being referred to; it is he who later puts an end to sacrifice and offering,
and sets up the abomination that causes desolation, and it is he who then
ultimately meets his demise, as the rest of this verse indicates.
The
word ‘many’ evidently refers to the different parties with whom this covenant
has been made. Many commentators believe
that this refers to the Islamic Arab nations which surround Israel, and hence
that this covenant is between Israel and these Arab nations.
So
what is this covenant that is being referred to? Most commentators believe that it is
Bible-speak for what we would nowadays call a political agreement or
treaty. Although some have thought that
it will be a new and fresh political peace agreement which Antichrist will make
with Israel, it is more likely that Antichrist as the new major regional power
broker will affirm an already-existing agreement that Israel has previously
made with surrounding Arab nations. The
Hebrew word gawbar used in v.27 means ‘to confirm,’ not ‘to make’ (which
would be the Hebrew word karath), implying therefore that this covenant
is pre-existing.
Some people think that this
covenant may be the present ‘Abraham Accords’ which seeks to bring peace to the
Middle East and to solve this most intractable of political problems. Under the terms of this agreement, several
Arab countries have already normalised their relations with Israel, and more
countries are expected to do so. Of
course, only time will tell if the ‘Abraham Accords’ really are this covenant,
but developments in this area are certainly something to keep an eye on.[1],[2],[3]
It
would seem then that this covenant, and the confirming of it by Antichrist,
aims to attain a continuing peace in the Middle East. Antichrist will be acting as an established
major regional power broker, and therefore the continuance of peace in the
Middle East will depend on him agreeing to and confirming this covenant. His rise to regional power, so quickly and so
close by, will make Israel, and the surrounding nations and indeed the
international community, nervous and wary that he may well have intentions
regarding Israel. Which of course he
will, but he plays that card later on, halfway through the seven years.
The
fact that the confirmation of the covenant aims for the continuation of peace
in the Middle East seems to be affirmed by the fact that one of the more
contentious issues which exist between Palestinians and Israel will be
addressed by it, vis. that of the desire of many orthodox Jews to
re-build the temple, on Temple Mount.
According to Revelation 11:1-2, this will happen early on in the
seven-year period, and therefore very soon after the covenant is confirmed by
Antichrist (see below).
The
fact that Antichrist confirms this covenant for a seven-year period, and
thereby establishes a continuing peace in the Middle East in the short-term,
may well lead to him being hailed and lauded as the man who has hopefully
achieved a lasting peace. However, we
should be clear on the fact that Antichrist’s underlying intention will not be
to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East at all, because he will wilfully
betray this covenant halfway through the seven years. And, as we will see in the final section of
this chapter, he will also have intentions regarding some of the other Middle
Eastern countries as well, not just Israel.
So
this so-called ‘peace’ with Antichrist will therefore be deceptive and
short-lived. His confirming of the
covenant will be nothing but political pragmatism. Furthermore, his agreement that the
re-building of the temple can go ahead will be duplicity and deceit, since he
will actually have his own intention for it: he plans to set himself up in it
after he has betrayed the covenant and invaded Jerusalem (see below and in the
following chapter). Final, lasting peace
in the Middle East will only come about during the reign of the Prince of Peace
in his millennial kingdom!
2.
The building of the third
temple
So the first thing we are told of
that will happen in the first half of the seven years, after the covenant has
been confirmed by Antichrist, is the re-building of the Jewish temple on Temple
Mount. For the Jewish people, the temple
in Jerusalem together with its priestly system of regular daily sacrifices is
the focal point and the heart of their corporate faith in their worship of
Yahweh. Although they have not had a
temple since they returned to their historic homeland from 1948 onwards, it is
impossible to imagine Judaism in its full old covenant expression without
one. The temple is inseparable from
Judaism (cf. Deut. ch.12).
The
first temple, often referred to as Solomon’s temple, was destroyed by the
Babylonians in 587/586 BC. After the
return of the Jews from exile, the re-building of the temple was viewed as the
most important work that needed to be done, and this received impetus through
the prophetic exhortations of Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 5:1, 6:14). This second temple, often known as Herod’s
temple because of the work he initiated in order to extend it, was destroyed by
the Romans in 70 AD. After that time and
the dispersion of the Jews from the land, there was no Jewish temple on Temple
Mount. Since 688-707 AD, that tract of
land has been occupied by the Dome of the Rock and then also by the Al Aqsa
mosque. So, since 1948/1967, many
orthodox Jews have been waiting patiently for the day to come when they will
finally be able to re-build their temple, on Temple Mount.
We
are told in Revelation 11:1-2 that this temple, the so-called third temple
therefore, will be built in the early part of the first half of the seven
years:
‘I was given a reed like a
measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar,
and count the worshippers there. But
exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the
Gentiles. They will trample on the holy
city for 42 months.’ (Rev. 11:1-2)
This
architectural language of measuring is a prophetic allusion to the passages in
Zechariah 1:16-17 and 2:1-4 which speak specifically of the re-building of the
temple and Jerusalem after the return from the Babylonian exile:
‘Therefore this is what the Lord
says: “I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be
rebuilt. And the measuring line will be
stretched out over Jerusalem,” declares the Lord Almighty. “Proclaim further: This is what the Lord
Almighty says: ‘My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will
again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.”’
(Zech. 1:16-17)
‘And I lifted my eyes and saw, and
behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to
see what is its width and what is its length.”…
“Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages
without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it.’”’
(Zech. 2:1-4)
So
it is both hermeneutically and prophetically sound to interpret Revelation
11:1-2 as referring to the building of the third temple during the early part
of the seven-year period. Furthermore,
it would appear from the words of Revelation 11:2 that, when the agreement is
made to allow the re-building of the temple, on Temple Mount, only part of this
tract of land will be ceded to Israel for the building of the temple. The rest of it will remain occupied by the
Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque.[4] In this agreement, the fact will be
recognised that Temple Mount is considered to be holy ground in both Judaism
and Islam.[5] The reference in this verse to the holy city
being trampled on for 42 months by the Gentiles is, of course, to the second
half of the seven-year period, the Great Tribulation (see the next chapter).
However,
because we know the end from the beginning through the revelation of the
prophetic Scriptures, we also know that the existence of this third temple will
prove to be short-lived. Even if the
fabric of the building survives the Great Tribulation, to whatever extent, we
know from the writings of the prophet Ezekiel that it will certainly be
replaced with what will then be a fourth temple, after the Second Advent when
Jesus reigns from Jerusalem in his millennial kingdom (Ezek. 40:1 –
44:31). So this third temple will exist
for a maximum of seven years.
There
have been calls and a growing movement among orthodox Jews to re-build the
temple for several decades now. As a
result of this, proactive planning and practical preparations have been ongoing
for the day when an agreement comes into force to allow the temple to be
re-built. The fact that Jewish daily
temple sacrifices and offerings will one day be re-established on Temple Mount,
is clear from the statements that there will be worshippers in a temple, that
there will be an altar in it, and that Antichrist will later put such
sacrifices and offerings in this temple to an end:
‘Go and measure the temple of God
and the altar, and count the worshippers there.’
(Rev. 11:1)
‘In the middle of the “seven” he
will put an end to sacrifice and offering.
And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation…’
(Dan. 9:27)
Even
a cursory browse through the Temple Institute website will convince the reader
that much of the furniture, the sacred articles and objects used in religious
worship, and the priestly garments needed for services have been prepared, all
to the exacting stipulations of the Mosaic covenant, and priests are also being
trained.[6] With the speed of modern building methods, it
would only take a matter of days or a few weeks at most to erect the building
itself, to consecrate it, and then to initiate daily sacrifices and services. So as things stand right now, the Jewish
religious authorities are more than ready and prepared for the day when this
agreement will be made!
The
building of this temple will, of course, be of major significance to orthodox
Jewish believers. For them, it will
symbolise the fullness and culmination of the purpose of their re-establishment
in the land, and so it will no doubt be a time of great joy and rejoicing for
them.
However,
as I said above, this temple will also be significant for Antichrist too. His deceptive underlying motive all along in
making this agreement to re-build the temple will be so that, after he has
invaded and conquered Jerusalem later on, he can then set himself up in this
very temple and demand to be worshipped as a divine being. Satan will have no
further meaningful use for the Dome of the Rock or the Al Aqsa mosque nearby,
as these will have served their historical purpose. It is the Jewish temple that Antichrist will
use to set himself up in. This, of
course, is the abomination that causes desolation, and it is discussed further
below.
I
would like at this point to emphasise that Antichrist will indeed set himself
up in this physically re-built temple.
There are several verses that support this.
Firstly,
Jesus himself said that the abomination would be set up in ‘the holy place’:
‘So when you see standing in the
holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’, spoken of through Daniel
the prophet – let the reader understand…’
(Matt. 24:15)
When
he said this, Jesus was talking to religious Jews, and there is only one way
that they would have interpreted the words ‘the holy place,’ and that is as
referring to the physical temple.
Matthew recorded Jesus’ words, and he expected the reader to understand
what was being referred to.
Furthermore,
that this is referring to the physical temple is implied also by the fact that
this is the end-times parallel of what Antichrist’s historical predecessor,
Antiochus Epiphanes, did. He set up his
abomination inside the actual physical precincts of the temple.
The
apostle Paul says similarly that Antichrist will set himself up in God’s
temple:
‘…so that he sets himself up in
God’s temple…’ (2 Thess. 2:4)
This
verse cannot mean that Antichrist sets himself up in the spiritual temple of
the body of Christ, i.e. that he will be some kind of false ‘Christian’
religious leader who leads the worldwide Church into her end-times apostasy, as
some commentators think. To be
consistent with Matthew 24:15 above, and also with Daniel 9:27 below, it can
only refer to him setting himself up in the physically re-built temple.
There
are statements in Daniel 9:27 regarding Antichrist putting an end to sacrifices
and offerings halfway through the seven years, and setting up the abomination
at the temple:
‘In the middle of the “seven” he
will put an end to sacrifice and offering.
And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation…’
(Dan. 9:27)
Taken
together, these references to sacrifice, offering and the temple can only mean
one thing: that there will be a physically re-built temple in Jerusalem in the
first half of the seven-year period, and in which sacrifices and offerings will
be made. Antichrist will later usurp
this temple for his own diabolical use.
3.
The ministry of the Two
Witnesses
Parallel with the building of the
third temple and the establishing of its daily ministry, God will anoint and
speak through two very powerful prophetic ministries in Jerusalem during this
first half of the seven-year period.
This reminds us of similar events during the building of the second
temple in the post-exilic period. These
two men will exercise their prophetic ministry for the whole of these 3½ years,
beginning from the very day that the covenant is confirmed:
‘“And I will give power to my two
witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two
lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.’
(Rev. 11:3-4)
This
allusion to the two olive trees of Zechariah ch.4 brings to mind the
high-priest Joshua and the royal leader Zerubbabel during the time when the
second temple was being built in the post-exilic period. These two men were the two historical olive
trees that were anointed to serve the Lord of the earth (Zech. 4:11-14). However, these Two Witnesses of Revelation
ch.11 will not represent kingly and priestly offices, rather they will carry a
genuine and powerfully anointed prophetic gifting, just as Haggai and Zechariah
did when they prophesied during the time of the building of the second temple.
These
two men will have very powerful, earth-shaking ministries indeed:
‘These men have power to shut up
the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and
they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with
every kind of plague as often as they want.’
(Rev. 11:6)
This
jaw-dropping description of the power of these two prophetic ministries reminds
us forcibly of those of the prophets Elijah and Moses. So much so that some commentators believe
that Elijah and Moses themselves will literally return to earth to fulfil these
ministries during this first half of the seven years. Others believe that these two men will be
Enoch and Elijah, on the grounds that, because neither of these two men died
physically, then they must return to earth at some point to experience death
(cf. Gen. 5:24, 2 Ki. 2:11-12, Heb. 9:27).
Others believe them to be symbolic of Israel and the Church.
Personally,
I do not hold to any of these views. I
believe simply that God will raise up and anoint two adult, male Jewish
believers whom he has chosen for this very powerful end-times ministry, and
that their ministries will bear some of the characteristics of their respective
biblical forebears who represented the Law and the Prophets of the old
covenant.
Note
that these two men are described as being clothed in sackcloth (v.3). Their message, therefore, like that of many
of the Old Testament prophets, will be one of mourning over sin (both
individual and national), the gospel call to repentance and faith in Jesus as
Messiah, and strong warning of the terrible judgement soon to befall Israel in
the Great Tribulation. Their message
will be forthright, and they will certainly not mince their words! The re-emergence of old covenant
sacrifices and offerings in the third temple, will not be sufficient for Jewish
people to come to saving faith in Christ. They will still be in the spiritual blindness
and disobedience of the old covenant. So
they will need this kind of powerful prophetic ministry, in order to repent and
come to faith in Jesus as Messiah in this spiritually dark post-rapture period.
John
describes the city of Jerusalem in the time of this sixth trumpet as being like
‘Sodom and Egypt’ (v.8). ‘Sodom,’ of
course, speaks for itself, and alludes to the abominable moral state of many
people in the nation, whereas ‘Egypt’ alludes to the lack of practical faith in
God when it comes to national affairs, and a reliance on pragmatic political
alliances and relationships with other nations (cf. Isa. 31:1-3).
These
two men will be invincible for the whole of the 1,260 days during which they
minister. People do not necessarily have
to minister for a long time in order to be effective and fruitful. The quality of what we do in God’s work is
not measured by the length of time we spend doing it. These men will have a short, but very
powerful and highly effective ministry, and this ministry will come to a sudden
end after 3½ years. And for the whole of
this time, they will enjoy a measure of divine protection over them which is
unique in the word of God. Many
commentators believe that the description below is figurative:
‘If anyone tries to harm them, fire
comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them
must die.’ (Rev. 11:5, cf. 2 Ki. 1:9-15)
Their
ministry will obviously be based in Jerusalem, and their main focus will
therefore be ministering to the Jewish people.
However, their ministry will also have a worldwide impact, as I infer
below, probably through the internet and television, and through the powerful
acts of judgement that will take place in various parts of the world through
their ministry.
As I said earlier in this chapter,
this period of Daniel’s seventieth week is the time when God will be working
redemptively to bring many Jewish people to faith in Jesus as Messiah. One of the very reasons why Satan so
unremittingly attacks and tries to overcome Israel in the present day is so
that he can then exterminate the Jewish people and prevent this end-times
harvest among the Jews from taking place. However, Daniel’s seventieth week will be
God’s day of redemption for the Jewish people, just as he had purposed it to be
in the time of John the Baptist and Jesus.
It will be their Days of Awe, in which God calls them to repentance,
leading up to the Second Advent of Christ.
So God’s focus will be on the Jewish people, and many Jewish people will
come to faith in Jesus during this first half of the seventieth week.
‘I will give you a new heart and
put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give
you a heart of flesh. And I will put my
Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my
laws.’ (Ezek. 36:26-27)
‘And I will pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of
supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced…’
(Zech. 12:10 ASV)
‘On that day a fountain will be
opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them
from sin and impurity.’ (Zech. 13:1)
Therefore,
many people will be brought to faith and saved during this time, but the
ministry of these two prophets will at the same time also bring torment to the
unrepentant. The intermittent judgements
that will fall on various parts of the world through their ministry in this
first half of the seventieth week, will certainly mean that these 3½ years can
be considered to be a time of tribulation for the world, even before the Great
Tribulation begins later on.
Jewish
people have always been amongst the hardest to reach with the gospel of Jesus
Christ, ever since the Pharisees rejected the gospel and excluded Christian
Jews from synagogues following the catastrophic events of 70 AD. However, in this first half of the seventieth
week, it is as though the gospel wave that surged out from Jerusalem in 33 AD
and has reached the whole world since then, will finally have converged again
at the point where the stone was first thrown into the water, Jerusalem and
Israel, in returning from the farthest corners of the earth, as it were.
In
addition to the ministries of these two prophets, there will also be 144,000
Jewish men who will be saved and sealed by God.
These men are those who were sealed in Revelation 7:3-8. Many commentators believe that the ministry
of these men will go out to the Jewish people of Israel, and that it will
perhaps also extend much further and reach many people in the world. It seems that these men will eventually be
martyred as a result of the persecution they will undergo (Rev. 14:1-5). This will be God’s last call to people
to repentance and faith before the Great Tribulation begins. [7]
So
do I believe that people can still repent and get saved after the rapture and
during the seven-year period? Yes, I
do. The purpose of the rapture was to
remove restraint so that the rise of Antichrist could take place, in order to
fulfil many prophetic Scriptures, and to take faithful believers at that time
away from the end-time outpouring of God’s judgements and wrath. But it is my belief that Gentiles as well as
Jews will certainly be able to believe and receive Christ during this
post-rapture period. The rapture will
not stop the Holy Spirit from working in this world, despite the dense
spiritual darkness and delusion that will then prevail. Perhaps many so-called believers, who did not
get raptured, will finally repent of their nominal faith and truly believe
after the rapture? How many unsaved
relatives of believers will reconsider their position and come to faith after
the rapture? Perhaps many. However, in most if not all cases, embracing
Jesus at this time will lead to persecution and martyrdom, because Antichrist’s
end-time one-world system will persecute those who believe. These believers will also certainly have to
face the issues of worshipping or not the image of the Beast and receiving or
not the mark of the Beast, with execution as the certain penalty for refusing
to comply (see the following chapter).
As
I said in chapter 6, this time of the first half of Daniel’s seventieth week
after the rapture is parallel to the passage in Matthew 24:4-14. This latter passage speaks of the same period
of time, and it helps us to fill in some details of what spiritual life will be
like at the time, especially in Israel.
It will be a time of widespread spiritual deception with many false
prophets appearing and deceiving people, just as there often were in the time
of the old covenant when God’s true prophets spoke (vv.4-5,11). There will be increasingly regular, frequent
and intense birth pains all over the world (vv.6-8). Jewish believers who have embraced Jesus as
their Messiah will be persecuted and even martyred for their faith, and they
will be hated by people everywhere (v.9).
This implies that many Jewish people will still refuse to believe in
Jesus as Messiah, even though these two powerful prophetic ministries are
happening right in their own country.
They will heed the false prophets, and they will simply cling onto and
give their allegiance to the newly founded old covenant temple ministry, just
as many Jewish people did in the time of Christ. Also, many people will abandon the faith
(vv.10-12), and the gospel of the kingdom will be preached all over the world
(v.14, cf. Rev. 14:6-7).
4.
Betrayal of the covenant
As I have intimated above,
Antichrist will prove himself to be a thoroughly treacherous character, just
like his historical predecessor Antiochus Epiphanes, and he will finally do
what he secretly intended to do all along.
About halfway through the seven-year period, ‘in the middle of the
“seven”’ as Daniel expressed it, this end-times king of the north will betray
the covenant with many that he had confirmed (Dan. 9:27). He will invade and conquer Israel and
Jerusalem, and furthermore he will also invade and conquer other Middle Eastern
Arab countries as well (this last point is summarised below in the final
section of this chapter).
‘He will... invade the Beautiful
land.’ (Dan. 11:41)
‘I will gather the nations to
Jerusalem to fight against it; the city shall be captured, the houses
ransacked, and the women raped...’ (Zech. 14:2)
Scripture
seems to suggest that, when he does make his move, it won’t take long at all
for Antichrist to overcome and conquer Israel, probably just a matter of a few
days at the most. He is given power to
overcome Israel, and he will make Jerusalem his new home and the seat of his
evil reign. John’s reference to ‘the
saints’ in the verse below from Revelation 13:7 uses the language of the book
of Daniel in which ‘the saints’ refers to the Jewish people (and especially
those who believe):
‘He was given power to make war
against the saints and to conquer them.’
(Rev. 13:7)
‘He will pitch his royal tents
between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain.’
(Dan. 11:45)
In
reference to the Great Tribulation which lasts for ‘a time, times and half a
time,’ i.e. 3½ years, an angel told Daniel that it will not begin until the
power of ‘the holy people,’ i.e. Israel, has been finally broken. So Israel’s repeatedly successful resistance
and defence of herself and her people in times when she has been under attack,
ever since she became a nation again in 1948 and which has made her feared by
all her Arab neighbours, will one day come to an end. It is through Antichrist’s invasion that this
will happen, and the time of the Great Tribulation will then follow:
‘It will be for a time, times and
half a time. When the power of the holy
people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.’
(Dan. 12:7)
The
fact that the Two Witnesses are killed by Antichrist on the final day of this
1,260-day period, and the fact that Antichrist will obviously have had to
invade Israel and Jerusalem in order to do this, suggests that his act of
treachery in betraying the covenant will have begun before this, i.e. a short
time before the end of the 1,260 days.
When
he has successfully taken the city of Jerusalem, Antichrist will make a beeline
straight for these two men, in order to shut their mouths and rid the earth of
them just as soon as he can. Their
anointing and blunt, direct message will already have tormented him for three
and a half years, and, in his unrelenting hatred for the word of God, he will
be unable to endure or tolerate them anymore.
Although Antichrist will happily accommodate religious activity, and
will take up and use the recently built temple for his own purposes, yet the
powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit and the uncompromising message of the
prophetic word of God will be something he hates and cannot endure:
‘And I will appoint my two
witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days... Now when they have finished their testimony,
the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower them and
kill them.’ (Rev. 11:3,7)
The
death of these Two Witnesses at this point marks the end of the 1,260 days of
the first half of the seventieth week.
However, the events of the sixth trumpet / second woe continue on for
three and a half more days.
As
we would probably expect from people with an evil, unrepentant character,
Antichrist and his supporters will treat the Two Witnesses with disdain, hatred
and mockery even in their death. They
will leave their bodies unburied on the street in Jerusalem for three and a
half days, and they will gloat over them.
That the ministries of these two men had a worldwide impact is shown by
the words of Revelation 11:10 below.
Many people in the world, blinded by the dense spiritual darkness of the
post-rapture period, were tormented by their message and the acts of judgements
which took place around the world through them, and they hated them for
it. So the whole world will know that
the Two Witnesses are dead, and people all over the world will rejoice. It seems that it will be on the news and
internet everywhere.
Again,
effectiveness in ministry is not shown only by fruitfulness. The purpose of the word of God is to expose
sin, and, as it does this, many people reject its message and turn away from
God’s offer of salvation. The purpose of
the message is to act as a witness to the truth, regardless of how people may
respond to it. Some people want to
remain in darkness rather than coming into the light, because they do not want
their evil deeds to be exposed (John 3:19-21).
Just as it is true that righteous people rejoice when the wicked die, it
is also true that evil people rejoice when the Lord’s prophets are killed (cf.
Prov. 11:10).
‘Their bodies will lie in the
street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where
also their Lord was crucified. For three
and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on
their bodies and refuse them burial. The
inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending
each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on
the earth.’ (Rev. 11:8-10)
However,
after three and a half days, Antichrist along with everyone else who witnesses
it, will get the shock of their lives when God unexpectedly and without any
warning raises these two faithful prophets from the dead in full public view of
everyone who happens to see it. Fear and
terror will strike their hearts, as it no doubt would! Furthermore, not only will these two men be
raised from the dead, they will also be taken up into heaven very soon
afterwards in a way which is similar to how Jesus himself ascended, leaving
their enemies dumbfounded and bewildered (cf. Acts 1:9).
‘But after three and a half days
the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and
terror struck those who saw them. Then
they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while
their enemies looked on.’ (Rev. 11:11-12)
It
is God himself who has the last word with his Two Witnesses. Antichrist will have power over people
ultimately because of their fear of death (cf. Heb. 2:14), but there is a realm
in which he (and Satan too) will be powerless to influence or control people,
and that is the realm of the resurrection power of God, because this goes
beyond death. Antichrist’s power will
not be able to reach or operate there, so blessed are all those in that time
who will hold on to this glorious hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ! (cf. 1
Peter 1:3-5).
Furthermore,
God will also act at that time in Jerusalem in a measure of judgement which
will affect much of the city. Very soon
– within an hour – after the Two Witnesses have ascended into heaven, there
will be a severe earthquake in and around Jerusalem which will cause major
structural damage to buildings and in which seven thousand people will
die. Jerusalem lies just a few
kilometres from a major fault-line between the Arabian and African tectonic
plates which runs all along the Jordan Rift Valley to the east of the
city. So this area is unsurprisingly
subject to occasional quakes and tremors.
Along
with the resurrection and ascension of the Two Witnesses, this act of judgement
will speak clearly into the hearts of many people (both in the city and
elsewhere) at the very time when Antichrist (and many other people worldwide)
were believing that they had gained a great victory for themselves (cf. Rev.
11:10). Many of the survivors of this
earthquake will have no problem making the simple connection between the
resurrection/ascension of the Two Witnesses and the earthquake, and they will
understand that the earthquake was an act of God in judgement. They will be terrified and will give glory to
God:
‘At that very hour there was a
severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the
earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to God.’
(Rev. 11:13)
The
abomination that causes desolation
The key event that links the two
halves of Daniel’s seventieth week is the setting up of what the Scriptures
call the ‘abomination that causes desolation.’
This happens at the midway point between the two halves of the
seventieth week: after the end of the first half, but before the second half
begins. It is the sign that the second
half, the period we know as the Great Tribulation, is about to begin (Matt.
24:15).
It is appropriate and natural that
its description be placed in this chapter, because the setting up of the
abomination is an act of the king of the north, Antichrist, and he does it very
soon after he takes over Jerusalem. So I
have placed its description here, after the sub-section above which dealt with
Antichrist taking Jerusalem and killing the Two Witnesses. The setting up of the abomination takes place
very soon after those events, and its description therefore flows on naturally
from them.
As
I will show at the end of the following chapter, the abomination is set up
after the three and a half days during which the Two Witnesses lay dead, i.e.
it is set up immediately after their resurrection/ascension, and therefore on
that very same day. The reader can see
this from the full layout of the chronology of the seventieth week which I give
at the end of the following chapter.
However,
the passage in Revelation 11:1-14 contains no mention of the abomination being
set up, perhaps because the emphasis in that passage is on the Two
Witnesses. It is not there, so we have
to try to fit the pieces of the prophetic jigsaw together as best we can. The
lack of clarity is over the chronology of two separate events: the abomination
is set up after the Two Witnesses have ascended up into heaven, but is it set
up before or after the earthquake which gives Jerusalem a massive shaking at
that very same hour?
One
thing is certain. As surprised and
shocked as Antichrist may be when the Two Witnesses are resurrected and ascend
to heaven in full public view of all those who see it happen, he will want and
need to get people’s attention back onto himself as soon as he can. He will not be fazed by what happened, he
will simply continue on in his wilful satanic defiance and act quickly to
re-establish his authority over the people by setting up the abomination.
It
is difficult to imagine him doing this after such a severe earthquake, because
people’s attention will necessarily be elsewhere. So it seems that he may set the abomination
up just as soon as he can after the resurrection/ascension of the Two
Witnesses, very quickly in fact, and then the earthquake strikes. But I am only conjecturing here…
So
that would raise the question: is the severe earthquake an almost immediate
response in judgment from God to the setting up of the abomination, as well as
towards the taking of Jerusalem by Antichrist and his killing of the Two
Witnesses?
Furthermore,
it is interesting that Jesus gave a warning to believers that they should flee
from Judea immediately when they see the abomination that causes desolation set
up. He even told them not to go back to
their home to get anything, but to get out of Judea (including therefore
getting out of the city of Jerusalem, cf. Luke 21:21) just as fast as they can:
‘So when you see standing in the
holy place “the abomination that causes desolation”, spoken of through the
prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea
flee to the mountains. Let no-one on the
roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no-one in the field go back to get his
cloak. How dreadful it will be in those
days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the
Sabbath. For then there will be great
distress…’ (Matt. 24:15-21)
Although
this evidently has to do with the beginning of the Great Tribulation, I wonder
myself whether Jesus was thinking of and intimating to believers the fact of
this severe earthquake happening very soon after the abomination is set
up. To be caught in one’s home during a
severe earthquake can mean death, pure and simple. Therefore, was he saying in effect, get out
of there just as soon as you can, and just as you are, so that at least you
might escape the worst effects of this earthquake that will strike almost
immediately? This earthquake is the harbinger of the Great Tribulation that
will then be almost ready to unfold.
a.
So what is the end-times
abomination that causes desolation?
We saw in the first part of this
chapter that, after the king of the north Antiochus Epiphanes took control of
Jerusalem, he proceeded to desecrate the temple and began to persecute and kill
the Jews. He also set up the
‘abomination that causes desolation’:
‘It set itself up to be as great as
the commander of the army of the Lord; it took away the daily sacrifice from
the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down.
Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were
given over to it.’ (Dan. 8:11-12)
‘Then he will turn back and vent
his fury against the holy covenant. He
will return and show favour to those who forsake the holy covenant. His armed forces will rise up to desecrate
the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that
causes desolation.’ (Dan. 11:30-31)
Similarly,
just like his historical counterpart, when he has taken Jerusalem and killed
the Two Witnesses, Antichrist, the end-times king of the north, will put to an
end the daily Jewish sacrifices and offerings in the recently built temple. He can do this easily by decree (and then
enforce it with his soldiers) as soon as he has taken over the city. Furthermore, he will then desecrate this holy
place of God. He too will set up an
abomination that causes desolation.
However, in his case, this will take the form of setting himself up in
the temple (to reign) and proclaiming himself to be God. He will set himself up and demand to be
acknowledged and worshipped as a false Messiah and divine being:
‘In the middle of the “seven” he
will put an end to sacrifice and offering.
And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation…’
(Dan. 9:27)
‘He will exalt and magnify himself
above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods.’
(Dan. 11:36)
‘…nor will he regard any god, but
will exalt himself above them all.’ (Dan. 11:37)
‘He will oppose and will exalt
himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets
himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.’
(2 Thess. 2:4)[8]
Furthermore,
his infernal sidekick the False Prophet will also set up an image of Antichrist
in the temple, and he will demand that people everywhere worship this
image. This is discussed in more detail
in the next chapter.
‘[The False Prophet] ordered them
to set up an image in honour of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet
lived.’ (Rev. 13:14)
This
setting-up in the holy place of the abomination that causes desolation is the
sign that Antichrist’s end-times persecution of the Jewish people and the final
holocaust is about to begin. Jesus
himself was quite specific about this.
When Antichrist proclaims himself in the temple to be God and his image
is set up, this abomination will be the sign that the time has come for Jews
who believe in Jesus as their Messiah to get out of Judea just as fast as they
can, because the time of the Great Tribulation with all its distress is about
to begin:
‘So when you see standing in the
holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’, spoken of through Daniel
the prophet – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee
to the mountains. Let no-one on the roof
of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no-one in the field go back to get his
cloak. How dreadful it will be in those
days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the
Sabbath. For then there will be great
distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to
be equalled again.’ (Matt. 24:15-21)
Table
20.4 on the following page gives a summary of the events of the first half of
Daniel’s seventieth week and the three and a half days which follow it:
|
Sixth Trumpet: Part C Dan. 9:27, Rev. 11:1-14 The first half of Daniel’s seventieth week The covenant with many is confirmed by Antichrist. The temple in Jerusalem is rebuilt. The Two Witnesses prophesy from Jerusalem for 1,260 days. Antichrist betrays the covenant with many, invades Israel, and takes over Jerusalem. He attacks and kills the Two Witnesses. He puts an end
to sacrifices and offerings in the temple. The three and a half days The Two Witnesses are resurrected and ascend to heaven after 3½ days. [Antichrist sets himself up in the temple together with his image as the abomination.] There is a
severe earthquake and a tenth of Jerusalem collapses. 7,000
people are killed. |
Table
20.4 Part C of the sixth trumpet: the first half of Daniel’s seventieth week
and the three and a half days
A
summary of Antichrist’s activities in the Middle East
As I said in Part A of this
chapter, commentators are agreed that the prophetic passage in Daniel 11:36-45
refers to Antichrist as the end-times king of the north rather than to his
historical counterpart, Antiochus Epiphanes.
It
is not clear exactly when the end-time events described in this passage will
happen, but, being that Antichrist’s invasion of Israel is certainly included
as one of them, it is very likely that they will begin to happen towards the
end of the first half of Daniel’s seventieth week, and perhaps extend into the
earlier part of the second half.
Antichrist’s invasion of Israel is just one part of his wider military
intentions in the Middle East, just as it was with Antiochus Epiphanes. This will all be a treacherous betrayal of
his confirmation of the covenant with many.
So,
because this passage deals with the theme of the activities of the king of the
north in the Middle East, it is therefore appropriate that these events be
included here as the final section of this chapter, rather than in the
following chapter. But I do this with
the caveat that some of them may well take place in the earlier part of the
second half of the seventieth week.
These events are summed up in the following bullet points:
· Antichrist
will invade Israel, and he will make Jerusalem his new home and the seat of his
reign (vv.41,45).
· He
will be engaged in battle by ‘the king of the south,’ whoever that proves to be
in the time of the seventieth week. So
Antichrist will certainly meet with some resistance, but this will prove
futile. He will take Egypt, Libya, and
what is now northern Sudan (vv.40,42-43).
·
He
will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. Many countries will fall to him, and he will
extend his power over them (vv.40-42).
· He
will rule these countries as an emperor through local rulers that he appoints
(v.39).
· Modern-day
Jordan (biblical Ammon, Moab and Edom) will be delivered from his hand, but we
are not told exactly why this is (v.41).
·
At
some stage he will face problems from the east and the north, and many people
will be killed as he deals with these problems in a great rage (v.44).
Copyright
Notice
THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
[1] See
https://www.state.gov/the-abraham-accords.
[2] Egypt and Jordan
have held to their peace agreements with Israel since 1979 and 1994
respectively. Arab nations which have
recently normalised their relations with Israel through the ‘Abraham Accords’
are the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
More nations, hopefully including Saudi Arabia, are expected to follow
soon. See https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-724437,
accessed 17.12.2022.
[3] If the present
‘Abraham Accords’ are indeed the ‘covenant with many’ mentioned in Daniel 9:27,
then, assuming that the previously hostile Arab nations surrounding Israel are
among the ‘many,’ Israel would enter into a period of relative peace and stability
as this covenant is established.
However, surmising and without being dogmatic, this might suggest that
the stage is then set for the Gog – Magog attack described in Ezekiel chs.38-39
to take place. Most of the hostile
nations in this alliance are from much further north and they are well beyond
Israel, and it seems that they invade Israel when she is enjoying a time of
relative peace and prosperity (as we saw in chapter 13). The nations in this Gog – Magog alliance
would evidently not be party to this covenant.
Satan would then stir up his age-old violent hostility towards Israel
through these nations, rather than through the surrounding Arab nations (as he
had so often done previously) which by then are at peace with Israel. God will deliver Israel miraculously from
these invading Gog – Magog forces. She
would then continue to live in relative peace within the terms of this
‘covenant with many’ until Antichrist’s eventual betrayal of this covenant and
his invasion of Israel around the midpoint of Daniel’s seventieth week (see
later in this chapter).
[4] By political
agreement, this tract of land has remained under the control and oversight of
the Jordanian government since the end of the Six-Day War in 1967. It will be finally and completely liberated
from Gentile control only at the Second Advent of Christ.
[5] In Islamic
tradition, this is the place from where Muhammad is believed to have made his
ascent into heaven (a journey that Muslims call Al Miraj), after having
travelled by night from Mecca to Temple Mount in Jerusalem on a winged
creature.
[6] See
https://templeinstitute.org.
[7] It is a fact of
history that, for the most part, the Jewish people have been very resistant to
the gospel. Indeed, as the apostle Paul
said and as their own recorded history shows, they rejected and killed many of their
own prophets, they killed their own Messiah, and they then went on to persecute
those among their own fellow-Jews who did receive Jesus as Messiah. Since AD 70 and until recent times, their
rejection of the gospel has been almost total, except for occasional, small
trickles of converts here and there.
Both Paul and Jesus affirmed that this consistent rejection of the
message and messengers of God means that they are heaping up their sins to the
limit, thereby provoking God to wrath (Matt. 21:33-46, 1 Thess. 2:14-16). The continued rejection of the gospel message
by many unbelieving Jews in the end-times is certainly a major factor in the
pouring out of the wrath of God upon them during the reign of Antichrist in the
Great Tribulation.
[8] When he wrote
these words, Paul may also have had in mind the failed attempt of the Emperor
Caligula a few years earlier to have a statue of himself erected within the
precincts of the temple in Jerusalem.
This attempt was successfully resisted by the Jewish authorities. At this point, readers can also read through
the Appendix to gain a fuller understanding of the abomination of desolation.
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