Tag: the beast

The 70th Week

Daniel 9

It is more than just numbers.  However, the numbers help tell the story.   Daniel chapter 9 is also known as the “70 Weeks Prophecy.”  It was a message given to the prophet Daniel.  Daniel had sought to know the purpose and plan of God.  He called upon God to save him and his people.  For his piety, God revealed to Daniel His mighty works.  In particular, God revealed to Daniel the events that would happen at the end of this age.  Even though this is called the “70 Weeks Prophecy,” the spotlight falls to the 70th week or the last week.  Each week is really “week of years.”  Since each regular week has seven days, each week of years has seven years.  The 70th week, then, is really the last seven years of this age.  It is the seven years prior to the return of Jesus Christ in glory. 

As the prophecy unfolds for us in Daniel 9:26-27, a person who is called “the prince who is to come” makes a covenant or a treaty with Israel at the beginning of the seven years.  Perhaps, unknown to most people, this “prince who is to come” is the same as the “little horn” of Daniel chapter 7.  He is the same as the “small horn” of Daniel chapter 8 and as the ‘king of the North” and the “despicable person” in Daniel chapter 11.  He is also the same as the “beast” in Revelation chapter 13 and the ‘lawless one” in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.”  He is known widely as the antichrist.  

In the middle of the week or after 3 ½ years, the “prince who is to come” dramatically breaks the covenant with a horrible abomination.  This is the very prophetic sign that Jesus warns us about in Matthew 24:15: “…when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place….”  What is this abomination of desolation?  In Thessalonian 2:2, Paul says of the “lawless one, “…he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God….” 

More importantly, this horrible and unmistakable event initiates the “Great Tribulation” according to Matthew 24:21.  The antichrist will make war upon the saints during that time.  Again the numbers help to tell the story.  The tribulation begins in the middle of the week.  Of course, this is the 3 ½ year point.  So, the Great Tribulation endures for 3 ½ years.  This length of time turns up in other places too.  In Daniel 7:25 he reports that the length of the little horn’s rampage is “time, times, and half a time.”  Time being one.  Times being two and a half being a half for a total of 3 ½.  The period of  time, times and half a time is repeated in Daniel 12:7 and even in Revelation 12:14.  Revelation 12:6 mentions a period of 1260 days (A 360 day calendar was used in Bible times.  When 360 days is multiplied by 3 ½, it equals 1260 days!).  Revelation 13:5 notes that the beast’s authority lasts for 42 months.  42 months, of course, is 3 ½ years.  However, as dramatic as the beast appears so his end will be at the return of Christ.  Daniel 9:27 reads, “…even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

-Scott Deane

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading plan passages at BibleGateway.com here – Daniel 9 & 10 and Psalm 148-150

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Revelation and Double Fulfillment

Revelation 17

Revelation 17 14 .png
Today is a bit longer. Please bear with me to the end.
Before we start this devotion, please go read Isaiah 7:14. 
Is that verse about Jesus? 
According to Matthew 1:23, the answer is a clear and resounding yes. Now, go back and read Isaiah 7:14, 16-17, 8:3-4, 10. It would seem that Immanuel is also a reference to Isaiah’s son, Maher-shalal-hash-baz, who is the child of a/the young woman, and his title (Immanuel) shows the people that God is with them (Immanuell literally means “with us is God”). 
I know that may be some new information for you, but this is what I want you to see : When Isaiah gave the Immanuel prophecy, he wasn’t JUST talking about something that would happen hundreds (700+) of years in the future. He was talking about something that was going to happen SOON, that would impact King Ahaz’s life in just a few years time. Did he speak about the future as well? Matthew says yes, but that’s not all he speaks about.
This bit of insight is helpful to have in mind as we read Revelation 17 (or if you have already read it, as you go now and re-read it). Many who read the text of Revelation focus on the future aspects of the book. When will it happen? (Some people say : “Always just around the corner!”) Who are Gog and Magog? (“Always enemies of our country, like Germany, China or Russia!”) Am I prepared? (“Buy your food kit now!”) But, just as the prophecies of Isaiah meant something for the people of his day, we MUST recognize that the prophecy and revelation of John meant something to readers of John’s day.
And John’s readers knew what he meant. There are things that are hard to understand about the scene he saw, but he made it clear enough that they would have understood at least SOME of it. The picture is of a prostitute/harlot/whore sitting upon a beast. She commits sexual immorality with kings, she rides upon a beast, gets drunk on the blood of the saints. She has many names.
Woman who rides upon the beast, through hints we see in this text, is Rome (and by extension, the Roman Empire). Rome is a city sat upon seven hills (v.9). Rome is the great city that has an empire over the kings of the earth (v.18). Rome, like Babylon the Great before her, destroyed the Jewish Temple, and therefore Rome was acting in the “spirit of Babylon”. (v.5) The sexual immorality committed by the kings of the Earth is their worship of the Emperor as “the son of the gods” and “god-in-flesh”, which was discussed in an earlier devotion on Revelation, when the author spoke about the imperial cult. (v.2) Most importantly for the first readers, this woman was drinking the blood of the saints; that is a poetic description of what they were experiencing under the persecution of Rome.(v.6) 
When John uses all these images, we are given a powerful picture of the spirit of any empire that moves against Christ. And that is true in every age and in every place where there are empires drinking deeply the blood of saints and worshipping that which is not God. What we must always realize is that both in the day of John and our own, the truth is that Christ will conquer them all. Verse 14 says “These will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” 
Could there be another city that will sit upon 7 hills, with kings, and be Babylon the great? Maybe. All of Revelation 17 could happen again in the future, with other systems, empires, and rulers. But verse 14 will be always and forever clear : whoever makes war against the Lamb will be defeated. The Lamb will conquer them by his power.
 

Brothers and sisters, we stand with him. We are called. We are chosen. No matter the persecution of the Dragon, the Beast or the Harlot, let us remain faithful. (v 14)

 

Jake Ballard
(Jake Ballard is Pastor at Timberland Bible Church in South Bend, IN. He lives in the Michiana Area with his wife and daughter. If you’d like to say hi you can find him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jacob.ballard.336  You can also hear more teachings at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_awyI1LyPZ4QEZVN7HqKQ Otherwise, he is available on all hailing frequencies, by using the Palantir, and via carrier pigeon, though it’s getting colder in South Bend. God bless you all!)
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