Vision of Four Beasts

 

Vision of Four Beasts

Vision of Four Beasts 

Nebuchadnezzar had been shown the kingdoms of men represented by the pleasing symbols of a tall statue and a great tree, in Daniel chapters 2 and 4. Here in chapter 7, Daniel, the servant of God, is shown these kingdoms as they really are: like dangerous wild animals. The same four empires are shown and this vision supplies more details to what had previously been revealed.

The first beast was like a lion, a fitting symbol of Babylon. Many stone lions have been unearthed at Nineveh and Babylon. The outstretched eagle’s wings refer to the territory ruled by Assyria. Wings were plucked when the power of Assyria passed to Babylon, and the addition of a man’s heart means Babylon was more humane than the cruel Assyrians. These powers had ended the kingdoms of Israel and Judah (Jeremiah 50:17). Babylon’s empire covered the Fertile Crescent from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.

Another beast, like a bear raised on one side, symbolised the Medes and Persians, with the latter dominant. This empire devoured much more territory than Babylon.

A leopard, a swiftly moving beast of prey, indicated the rapidity of the Greek conquest of Persia. Four wings indicate the expansion of the empire of Alexander the Great, and four heads show its subsequent four-fold division under four of his generals.

The lion, the bear and the leopard (Daniel 7:4-6) correspond to the gold, silver and bronze parts of the image in the king’s dream (2:32, 38-39). The dreadful and terrible fourth beast had great iron teeth (7:7) and corresponds to the legs of iron (2:40).

Iron teeth refer to Roman power. Bronze claws refer to the persistence of Greek culture and philosophy. [Also the two legs of the image relate to the Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin) aspects of the iron Roman empire]. Ten horns refer to the ten barbarian nations that succeeded the Western empire in the 4^th and 5^th centuries. The things attributed to the little 11^th horn, which was in the midst of the ten, are so remarkable and so appropriate to the Papacy that no other application seems possible.

As the little horn uprooted three of the horns, so the emerging Papal power took the lands of three barbarian kingdoms. As overseer and spokesman, its eyes and mouth have gone throughout the earth. It spoke “great words against the Most High” (7:25), accepting such titles as Holy Father and the infallibility that belongs to God alone. It made war on the saints and prevailed over them for a period of three and a half times. This refers to 1260 years from AD 533, when the Eastern emperor Justinian acknowledged the Pope as Universal Bishop, to 1793, the date of the “reign of terror” in the middle of the French Revolution, which curtailed the Papal power to persecute.

 

Another Eastern emperor, Phocas, confirmed the authority that Justinian had granted to the bishop of Rome. Some 1260 years later the Papal States were lost and the Papacy was confined to the Vatican. It now professes to work for the reunion of all churches, provided it is recognised as the mother church. It wants Europe to unite under its Christian influence. The Catholic Church, patterned upon the operation of the Roman empire, maintains its institutions in the style of autocratic Rome.

Daniel saw that the Son of Man would be given dominion and an everlasting kingdom over all nations, and the saints of the Most High would reign with him (7:13-14, 18, 22, 27). At his trial, Jesus told his accusers that Daniel 7:13 and Psalm 110:1 applied to himself: “Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64).

 

It is abundantly clear that God has ruled in the kingdom of men, and is still doing so. As saints, called out from the world, there is a crown of life laid up for us. Not all of the saints will be chosen, but only those who keep the commandments of Christ. We must keep the vision fresh and alive in our hearts.

In the symbol of the dreadful fourth beast, God showed Daniel that the power of Rome would continue in one form or other until its dominion is taken away and replaced by the kingdom of Jesus Christ and the saints. The Apostle John, who lived in the time of the Roman Empire, was given many more details of the development of the Roman Beast.  

 

Bible Prophecy Russia Preparing to Attack the West Daniel 11:40,45

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the West has made a coordinated effort to isolate Russia, cutting off financial and computer services dependent on the Internet. These moves could backfire now that Russia has been forced to operate independent of the West. An attack by Russia on offshore infrastructure, such as Internet cables, would cause catastrophic economic damage to the West, but significantly less to an increasingly isolated Russia. Putin seems to be preparing options for retaliation that may have seemed unthinkable during more peaceful times.

On April 20th, the UK’s Daily Telegraph warned that Vladimir Putin is preparing to attack the UK (20-Apr-2023):

“For a long time it was only speculation. Now we know for certain: Russian spy ships are mapping wind farms and key cables off the British coast. There can be only one reason for this—to learn how to sabotage UK and European critical infrastructure in the event of a full-scale war with the West.”

Euronews echoed a similar warning under the headline, Putin's ghost ships spying on critical infrastructure 'in case of war' (20-Apr-2023):

“Russia is running a fleet of 'ghost ships' in the Baltic Sea with their transmitters turned off—as they map offshore wind farms, gas pipelines, power, and internet cables in the waters around the Nordic nations for possible sabotage attacks.”

Defense officials have been warning governments about Russia’s threat on critical infrastructure for some time, but little has changed. In 2017 the BBC ran a headline, Russia a 'risk' to undersea cables, defence chief warns. The article explains this warning while highlighting potential economic disruption should this occur:

“The UK's most senior military officer has warned of a new threat posed by Russia to communications and internet cables that run under the sea.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, the chief of the defence staff, said Britain and NATO needed to prioritise protecting the lines of communication.

He said it would ‘immediately and potentially catastrophically’ hit the economy if they were cut or disrupted.

The cables criss-cross the seabed, connecting up countries and continents.”

The sabotage last year of the Nord Stream pipelines, “which caused natural gas to leak into the sea and atmosphere, highlights the threat posed by undersea attacks on critical infrastructure. In addition to natural gas pipelines, the submerged internet cables that keep the world connected could be an appetizing target for rogue actors” the American Enterprise Institute said (30-Sep-2022). The majority of these cables are owned and operated by private companies answerable to shareholders and not governments.

In March 2022, France 24 reported Threat looms of Russian attack on undersea cables to shut down West’s internet, saying that:

“US President Joe Biden warned this week that Russia is considering attacks on critical infrastructure. One of the scenarios that has been mooted since the start of the war in Ukraine is that Moscow will attack undersea cables to cut off the Western world's internet.”

TeleGeography Submarine Cable Map: https://www.submarinecablemap.com

Breaking Defense provided an analysis of this threat in February 2022, providing three reasons why nations should be increasingly worried about possible sabotage of undersea cable infrastructure:

“‘One, it’s very easy. They span thousands of miles, they’re not guarded,’ Jones explained. ‘You can get down there if you want to create mischief. You can go down in a mini-submarine which you can easily hide in a mothership, and go down there with hydraulic shears and cut the cable, or possibly tap into a relay or repeater station.’

Secondly, ‘the impact is severe: national economies depend upon these undersea cables,’ she said. For example, she cited the paper’s finding that the US Clearing House for Interbank Payment Systems, known as CHIPS and familiar to anyone who has worked overseas for a US company, does some $1.8 trillion in monetary transactions among 22 countries every single day.

And the third thing is that ‘bad actors can enjoy plausible deniability.’”

Not only has Russia been shown to be mapping undersea infrastructure, but also successfully tested disconnecting from the Internet in 2019. China has developed a similar strategy. Meanwhile, since the COVID-19 pandemic began, society has become almost entirely dependent on digital processes which typically run from massive, centralized data centers interconnected around the globe by these very same undersea cables. It would seem that Russia is far more prepared for this scenario than the West and there is no sign that anything has changed in recent years. There are no business continuity plans to deal with such a widespread coordinated attack.

The economic consequences of such a disaster would be global and immediately catastrophic. Imagine getting up one morning to find that international communication has been severed. It is no longer possible to communicate outside of continental borders. Text messages fail to be delivered. Foreign news sites are unavailable or are no longer updated. Emails are returned as undeliverable, many key web applications are failing, international banking is brought to a standstill, and global stock markets go into free fall. At first, there is no explanation for what is happening, and so as time ticks on, people being to panic. Speculation mounts that there has been a highly organized state-sponsored global attack on the Internet. A run on the banks begins, and accounts and withdrawals are limited or frozen. As the outage turns from hours to days, store shelves empty and available supplies are snatched up (when have we seen that before?). In the midst of this chaos, Russian tanks are rumoured to be rolling west into Europe and south through Turkey, but information is slow and inconsistent; details are unclear.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, this hypothetical picture may have seemed farfetched. Today it is chillingly plausible.

The pandemic we have lived through has taught us just how vulnerable society is and that such an event as a global Internet outage can suddenly and dramatically change life as we know it. Those of us who have lived through a days-long outage, such as the massive power outage in eastern Canada and the United States in 2003, understand what this kind of event can be like. What would it be like if such an event was combined with a massive Russian attack? If the experts are right, it could take weeks to repair cables following such an attack, and recovery efforts would be subject to sea weather conditions.

Speaking of Rosh (Rus) or Russia, Bible prophecy leads us to expect just such an event, culminating in the invasion of Israel:

"Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them… In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you” (Ezekiel 38:7-9).

These events come at the time of a clash between the king of the north (Russia) and the king of the south (Britain and her allies) as described by the prophet Daniel:

“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over… And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him” (Ch. 11:40,45).

This will be a dark day, when once again the lights go out all over Europe. It may also be that the Creator will turn the elements against the wickedness of the earth (including that which is pushed over the Internet) as well as Russia and her great company at that time when “he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”

WIRED, a technology magazine, has described a different threat to the global Internet and its super highways under the headline, A Bad Solar Storm Could Cause an 'Internet Apocalypse', “The undersea cables that connect much of the world would be hit especially hard by a coronal mass ejection” (26-Aug-2021):

“While severe solar storms are extremely rare, the stakes are perilously high. A prolonged global connectivity outage of that scale would impact nearly every industry and person on Earth…

A moderate-severity solar storm in 1989 knocked out Hydro-Québec's grid and caused a nine-hour blackout in northeast Canada, but that too occurred before the rise of modern internet infrastructure.”

Such an event would disrupt civilian and military infrastructure alike. Whatever happens, we see that the world is very vulnerable, like a house of cards ready to fall. When this happens, it will bring down the pride of man and people will have no place to turn but toward God:

“Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help… Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them…” (Psalm 146:3,5-6).

So, trusting in our God we do not fear what the future holds. But, now is the time to ensure that we are on the Lord’s side. This has been Daniel Billington with you this week as we continue to look at the news in the light of Bible truth.

“For Three Transgressions And For Four”

 

4) “For Three Transgressions And For Four”^[4]

After the briefest of introductions, Amos 1, 2 consists mainly of eight judgements foretold against Syria, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah and Israel. In each the solemn repetition sounds in the ear: “for three transgressions and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof.” This doom, against the people of God and against their ancient enemies round about, was spoken “two years before the earthquake” in king Uzziah’s reign, and presumably was to be fulfilled through that cataclysm. This was the proximate or primary fulfilment of the prophecy. At the beginning of his work as prophet, Amos was presenting his credentials — a prophecy soon to be fulfilled. When events turned out just as he said, the people would be ready to take notice of his ensuing prophecies. All this in accordance with Deuteronomy 18: 22: “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

THE LAST DAYS

This should not be deemed to be the limit of application of Amos’ initial prophecy. There are good Biblical reasons for looking for a further fulfilment in the Last Days:

1. 1: 2: “The Lord shall roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem” is a passage which is repeated verbatim in Joel 3:16, in a context the last-day fulfilment of which none would question. So evidently Joel saw this Amos prophecy as having reference to the time of the end. The similarity of 1 :6, 9 to Joel 3 :4, 6 confirms this conclusion.
2. The language of the prophecy requires an upheaval, which is a final retribution for the evil wrought by the nations listed on four (not seven) separate occasions, which have involved all of them. This is not traceable in ancient history, but presents no difficulty whatever in the twentieth century.
3. Uzziah’s earthquake provides a valuable clue. In Zechariah 14: 4,5 that earthquake is presented as a unique prototype of the earthquake which will happen at the coming of the Lord. Isaiah describes the same earthquake beforehand also (2: 10-22). But this description by Isaiah is appropriated in two places in the New Testament as prophetic of the coming of Christ. Isaiah 2:19 = 2 Thessalonians 1: 9 “... punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints ...” Also, Isaiah 2:19 = Revelation 6:12, 16: “and there was a great earthquake and the kings of the earth, and the great men ... hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.”

THREE WARS — THEN A FOURTH?

If the conclusion based on these Scriptures be accepted, a further conclusion of exceptional interest follows. The nations enumerated in Amos 1, 2 are Judah and Israel together with all the Arab powers round about. On three separate occasions in recent years all these peoples have been involved in transgression together — in 1948, when the state of Israel was established; in 1956, the time of the Suez crisis; and in 1967, the amazing six-days war.

The prophet says explicitly there is to come a fourth involvement, which will lead on inexorably to divine retribution upon them all. This prophecy reads like specific reinforcement of the inferences possible from such Scriptures as Psalm 83, Obadiah, Ezekiel 35,36, Joel 3, that there must be yet another clash between Jews and Arabs, in which, or after which, all will pay the penalty for their cruelty, selfishness and ungodly materialism.

It may be that Amos 1: 1 justifies a further conclusion. Why was the prophecy made public “two years before the earthquake”? Is the vindication of the prophet’s dependability the only reason for mention of this unusual time element? Or is it there to indicate also that after the third (or maybe the fourth) transgression there is to elapse a period of only two years before the great divine intervention that must inevitably ensue?

It may be appropriate to add a further detail. Amos mentions both Judah (2: 4) and Israel (2: 6). Both were in existence in his day. In a sense both are now in existence today. Up to 1967 there was a small very circumscribed Jewish state, very little larger than the old southern kingdom of Judah. Since the six-days war the territory of the state of Israel approximates much more nearly to the dimensions of the combined kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The stage is set for big new developments.

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[4] That is, 3 + 1 = 4; not 3 + 4 = 7. Compare Micah 5:5, where 7 + 1 = 8 (Revelation 5:6), not 7 + 8 = 15

 

3) “The Time Of Jacob’s Trouble”

Jererniah 30, 31

The phrase (Jeremiah 30: 7) is a familiar one to all students of prophecy. It turns out to be the key to the understanding of a remarkably complete picture of the day of Messiah.

“Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it (a time of trouble such as never was! Daniel 12: 1); for it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.” Clearly this is intended to be the last great deliverance. And how? By the coming of Israel’s Messiah. The Hebrew text here almost clamours to be translated: “the time of Jacob’s trouble, but out of it Jesus”!

A further specially significant detail is that this keyword “trouble” is the same Hebrew root which is used to describe how Jacob trembled at his impending encounter with Esau: “Then Jacob was exceedingly afraid and distressed ... Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children” (Genesis 32:7, 11).

JACOB PRE-FIGURES ISRAEL

The phraseology in Jeremiah 30 seems to imply that Jacob’s experience when he returned from his arduous life with Laban only to encounter Esau near the river Jabbok will be re-enacted in the Last Days experience of his nation.

This conclusion is surely put beyond doubt by the remarkable series of allusions in Jeremiah 31 to that period in Jacob’s life:

v. 7: 0 Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.

v. 8: Behold, I will bring them from the north country (compare the return from Laban in Syria) ... and with them the blind (Isaac? Leah?) and the lame (Jacob halting upon his thigh), the woman with child (Leah), and her that travaileth with child (Rachel).

v. 9: with weeping, and with supplications (Jacob’s importunity with the angel: Hosea 12:4) ... by the rivers of waters (the Jabbok) in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble (Jacob’s lameness) ... Ephraim is my firstborn (Joseph the favourite).

v. 11: For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him (Laban) that was stronger than he.

v. 15: Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted (Benjamin=Benoni=son of my sorrow).

v. 16: thy work shall be rewarded (contrast Laban’s treatment of Jacob).

v. 19: after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh (again, Jacob’s lameness).

v. 21: Set thee up way marks (the heap of witness — Genesis 31: 45, 53 — to mark the final return to the Land).

Those accustomed to this kind of allusiveness in the writings of the prophets will have no difficulty in recognizing that here the final return of Israel is being described in terms of the return of Jacob from Syria. The entire picture in Genesis is marvellously apposite.

Because he sought the heavenly blessing by his own devices, Jacob was compelled to leave the Land of Promise. He spent many years in a Gentile land enduring hardship and oppression. At last God brought him away from persecution to dwell in the Land, which was his by right. No sooner was he returned than he had to encounter his brother Esau, “which is Edom,” coming against him with a great force of men. In the night, which followed, Jacob wrestled — against Esau, so he thought! — for the safety of his family. If they were to survive, everything depended on his self-reliance, prowess and ultimate victory. Yet all the time he was actually pitting his puny strength against angelic powers who, unseen, controlled and directed his life. All his days this had been Jacob’s fault. Now, wrestling at Jabbok, the lesson was learned. It meant subjection to Esau (see Genesis 33, especially v. 3), and the outcome — all unexpected — was that he was left unmolested in the Land. God appeared to him at Bethel, and the great Promise was ratified.

A TYPE FULFILLED

The teaching of Jeremiah 30, 31 is that all these events, pregnant with meaning, are to be re-enacted in the Last Days. Already Jacob has returned from the land of his oppressor where he has borne long and arduous task work. In the Land of Promise he has encountered Esau soon to prove mightier than he. With little reliance on God but with confidence in his own powers he now wrestles for national survival. All this is according to the unerring counsel of God, but the divine Providence in these momentous developments goes unrecognised. So there must ensue a time when Jacob, lame and disabled, shall acknowledge the superior might of Esau — but, now acknowledging also the over-ruling power and wisdom of God, Jacob becomes Israel, a people of destiny, freed from all adversaries and oppressors and rejoicing in inheritance of the Land and in a glorious vision of God:

And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord (Jeremiah 31: 28).

 

1) Fishers And Hunters

Jeremiah 16

The greatest day in Israel’s history was their deliverance from Egyptian bondage by the hand of Moses. Of this their Passover is an unfailing reminder, when they say: “The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.”

Jeremiah 16: 14, 15 foretells the coming of another day of deliverance which will utterly dwarf that ancient experience. Instead, they will say: “...The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers” (v. 15).

This promise certainly did not find its fulfilment in the return from Babylon, for in no respect did that restoration compare with the deliverance from Egypt — and here Jeremiah foretells something considerably greater than that. Also, it is to be noted that the same promise is repeated in Jeremiah 23: 7, 8, where it is specified as the work of Messiah, the Lord our Righteousness. So, without any possibility of doubt, here is a prophecy of the Last Days. The rest of the chapter shows how the fulfilment is to come about.

FISHERS —

“Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them” (v. 16). Since the twentieth century came in, these words have found ample fulfilment. In many different ways God has, so to speak, dangled bait before His ancient people to lure them back to Himself and back to the Land. The Balfour Declaration in World War I was almost an incitement to Jews to get busy on re-colonization of Palestine. And circumstances were every way propitious—the Turks had been driven out, the Land was almost empty of population, the few Arabs there were tolerably friendly and willing to sell large areas of land at give-away prices, and the mandate was in the hands of Britain. The barometer was set at “Fair.”

— AND HUNTERS

But at first the Zionist Movement was slow to gather momentum. Nearly everywhere the Jews were tolerably comfortable, and pogroms seemed to be a thing of the past. So God tried a more radical method: “And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” Thus there arose, to the utter astonishment of the entire world, a fanatical German demagogue who attracted power to himself as a magnet. This man was possessed with an insane hatred of Jews and everything Jewish. Before World War II began, and especially during it, Jews were hunted with a calculating resolution and inhumanity without parallel in world history. Both before and after the war, this hunting of God’s people meant a great swelling of the stream of immigrants to Palestine. Increasing Arab hostility cleared out the Jewish communities in all the lands of Islam, and the new State of Israel throve. But it throve in godlessness! An overwhelming proportion of its three million people are without effective religion. Such religious conviction as exists is of negligible power, for it is basically a zeal for arid rabbinic tradition. Repentance and faith towards God are almost unknown. Jewish Christians in Jerusalem are only a tiny handful. The great lesson of self-mistrust and of faith in the God of Abraham has still to be learned.

Accordingly, the Jeremiah prophecy proceeds: “For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land” (vv. 17, 18a).

Israel is God’s firstborn, endowed in time past with double blessing (see Deuteronomy 21: 17), but bearing also double responsibility. The present generation has certainly developed God’s Land with unmatched skill and industry, not to God’s glory however, but out of their own pride and for their own selfish ends. Therefore, first, before the divine blessing can be given them there must come recompense and a consequent change of heart.

When this transpires, the fullness of God’s kingdom will flood in: “The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit ... I will cause them (Israel, or the Gentiles?) to know mine hand and my might: and they shall know that my name is Jehovah” (vv. 19, 21).

Psalm 119:105 SIGNS OF OUR TIMES

 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105 SIGNS OF OUR TIMES Vol. 33 No. 11 Novem 2022 Dear Lovers of Truth, In order that we reach a sensible Biblebased conclusion concerning the major players in world events that herald the glorious return of our Lord, we must trace their appearance in the record in the final words of Jesus Himself. From recent editions of SOT you will know that they are represented in symbol by The Dragon; the Beast; and the False Prophet in the remarkable 16th Chapter of Revelation: 12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. THE DRAGON In Isaiah 27:1 and Isaiah 51:9 the dragon is mentioned as representing the Pagan nations of Assyria and Egypt and connects the Dragon with the Serpent—the originator of all evil and rebellion against God. The most notable rebel and originator of Pagan doctrine was Nimrod (Gen 10:8-9). His influence is found in Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman mythology—evidenced also in the beliefs of the Jews at the time of Christ—beliefs which Jesus used in the parable of “the Rich Man and Lazarus”, etc. But the most outspoken occasion was when He said: Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44). Here Jesus links the Edenic Serpent with those who crucified Him, linking them to the curse on the Serpent: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15). Those who comprised the “Serpent Seed” are revealed in Acts 4: 27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. What the counsel of God had determined beforehand was “that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles” [Acts 26:23]. It was in His resurrection that Jesus “slew the Dragon/Serpent”—Sin. THE PAGAN DRAGON NATIONS Nimrod was the “mighty hunter who confronted the LORD” (Genesis 10:9). Nimrod was worshipped under many names: (1) Early Sumerian Enmer, later Mesopotamian Ninurta (originally Nimurda), Biblical Nimrod, Greek Ninus; (2) Old Babylonian Marduk, Biblical Merodach, later simply known as Bel or Baal ('Lord'); (3) Late Sumerian Asar-luhi (a principal epithet of Marduk), Assyrian Ashur, Egyptian Asar (Osiris); (4) Sumerian Dumuzi, Biblical Tammuz, Phoenician Adonis, Greek Dionysus, Roman Bacchus.... Paganism influenced every religion—even the Jewish traditions and beliefs to such an extent that the Apostle John wrote: “we know that the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1John 5:19). THE DRAGON IN THE APOCALYPSE We meet this Pagan Dragon in Revelation 12: 1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. In this scene the True Israel (the woman) has reached the time for the Messiah to be born— but the Pagan-dominated Dragon-powers of both Rome (Herod +) and the Jewish hierarchy combine to thwart his ascent to rulership. The Christ-child is taken to heaven—while the Church escapes into the wilderness of the nations—where—in Chapter 17—John sees her return as a Harlot riding a scarlet Beast! THE BEAST There are three (3) significant “Beasts” in Revelation Chapter 13. The First (1st) Beast has seven heads and ten horns, and has body parts like those of a leopard, a bear and a lion—and “the dragon gave it its power, its seat and great authority” (cp. Daniel Ch.7:4-8). This is a description of Europe in WW2 when, under Hitler, it contained the major countries represented by these animals. These pagan (Dragon) attributes gave the Hitler/Beast his power. Germany behaved like the barbarian hordes from whose roots this nation matured. Rev 13: 1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. . The description of Adolf Hitler here is hard to miss. He systematically murdered the Jews (the Saints - Psalm 148:14) in the Holocaust which lasted from the summer of 1941 until the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945—a period of 42 months (3½ years). The nations of the world “worshipped the Beast” by copying Hitler’s mechanised form of warfare and barbarism in every detail. . At the end of WW2 Germany was divided by “The Berlin Wall”—described in verse 3: “one of his heads as it were wounded to death….” THE BEAST OUT OF THE EARTH This Beast had “two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon” (v. 11). History tells us that this Beast was the USA and the USSR who raged against each other in “Dragon language” but acted “like lambs” because they never fought each other. The “Deadly wound” which divided Europe was known as ‘the Berlin Wall’ which lasted from 1961 to November 1989. Its removal signified that the same Germany that had been wounded to death; had his deadly wound healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. Thus all Europe has gradually revived! This is “THE LATTER DAY BEAST” which appears at the end of Revelation Ch.16—and on which the Harlot Church rides in Ch.17:3! THE FALSE PROPHET We have little to gain by referring to the Old Testament to trace this phrase. It is of New Testament usage BUT describes three Muslim nations that align themselves with Gog. However, before the Gogian invasion, we find “the false prophet” with the Dragon and the Beast “drawing all men to the Great Day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:13-14). The present alliance of China with Russia and Iran appears to some to fulfil this verse— but according the foregoing reasoning, a case is made for Europe as being “the Beast”. CHAPTERS 17-20 OF REVELATION These chapters apply to events after the Kingdom of God is established in Jerusalem. In Ch. 17:3 the Harlot is riding this European Beast as the nations revolt against the rule of Christ (the Lamb) and the redeemed (v.14.) In Chapter 19 there is a more detailed recapitulation of the events in Chapter 17. 17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse (Jesus) , and against his army (the Elect). 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the Germanic-European beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. EZEKIEL 39:17-20 By comparing the above with these verses from Ezekiel 39 will convince the reader that “the False Prophet” is Persia (Iran), Cush and North Africa—that is— all remaining Islamic nations. The Dragon’s demise is in Chapter 20. In the Master’s Service, Arthur Wright,

Armageddon August 2027

1) The sun will go down at noon (a lot faster than normal), and the earth will be darkened in the clear day.
2) The light shall not be clear nor dark. On this day, it is "not day, nor night". The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.
3) The stars shall fall from heaven, visible motion westward (and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken).
4) The Sun -- Moon stands as a habitation.
5) At evening time it shall be light.


An important theme is present in various parts of Scripture that deal with the Apocalypse, or the unveiling, the revealing, of Jesus Christ to the whole world. The table below illustrates how the great earthquake is usually coupled with the sun and moon being darkened.

The Morning Stars Ascending and Descending Upon the Son of Man
John 1:51 - And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
Jesus Christ promised Nathanael that he would witness greater things than simply telling Nathanael he saw him under the fig tree. The many miracles that Jesus did during his ministry, and especially his resurrection, are a few noteworthy examples. It is clear that the the heavens have never opened and the disciples never witnessed "the angels of God" ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. This must be referring to a moment in time after the resurrection of the dead has occurred, most likely when Jesus Christ comes in power and great glory with all the holy angels with him (Matthew 25:31). I emphasize the use of the word "angels" in these texts. The question remains, what exactly is Jesus talking about? These angels are "ascending and descending". In one sense, the angels could refer to the immortal beings that existed before the creation of Adam. Jesus made the point that he could have called upon twelve legions of these angels to rescue him (Matthew 26:53). However, in another Scriptural sense, the "stars" are also apocalyptically referred to as "angels".
Revelation 1:20 - The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
This is not the only case in Scripture where the stars are referring to angels. An Old Testament example clearly demonstrates the parallel.
Job 38:7 - When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
In the Greek Septuagint, the word for "sons of God" is ἄγγελοί the word for "angels". This is acknowledged in some English translations of this verse. Here, the morning stars are equated to the angels. We do not have do doubt that "angels" are equivalent to "sons of God". Consider the following:
Luke 20:36 - for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. (NASB)
In the New Testament, Christ says the righteous are like the "angels" who cannot die anymore, and called sons of God. Comparing this to what is written in Daniel, the righteous are as the "stars" for ever and ever.
Daniel 12:3 - And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
Therefore, after considering the parallels in Scripture between stars and angels, is it possible that the angels ascending and descending the same as the morning stars ascending and descending upon the Son of Man? Recall that God was going to darken the earth "in the clear day" (Amos 8:9). This could be referring to the heavens opening of John 1:51. In other words, all the clouds on earth are going to be removed to maximize the visibility of the sky. Due to the supernatural speed of the rotation of the earth, we will see the morning stars ascending out of the east, and descending in the west.

Chapter 7: The Beasts of Daniel 7

Chapter 7: The Beasts of Daniel 7

The four metals of the image of Daniel 2, followed as they were by the feet and ten toes part of iron and clay, are matched by the four beasts of Daniel 7, culminating in the beast with ten horns, which is also destroyed by the second coming of Christ. It is emphasized that Nebuchadnezzar 'saw' the image, or literally, he had a vision of it (Dan. 2:26,31,34,41,43,45). The same word is used in Daniel 7 of how now Daniel 'saw' or 'had a vision of' the four beasts (Dan. 7:1,2,4,6,7,9,11,13,21). The Daniel 7 vision or 'seeing' was perhaps from God's perspective, Heaven's view of the same realities which Nebuchadnezzar saw from an earthly perspective.
 

The empires of Daniel 2 dominate the earth. The Hebrew eretz can refer either to the entire planet, or to the land- the land promised to Abraham, the land of Israel, from the Euphrates to the river of Egypt. The dominion of the four beasts is therefore over the same area. Daniel saw the beasts arising out of the great sea. This could be a reference to the laver, which is also called a 'sea' (1 Kings 7:23-26,39). This was a huge circular bowl for washing which was set upon 12 bronze oxen, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. They were arranged in four groups of three, facing north, south, east and west, in imitation of the camp of Israel in the wilderness. The beasts therefore arise out of the territory promised to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Rev. 17:15 interprets waters or seas as "peoples". The beasts therefore arise out of the peoples who are to be found in the land of the 12 tribes of Israel. The interpretation is confirmed by the words of the Angel in Dan. 7:17, who says that the four beasts who arise out of the sea are four king[dom]s which "shall arise out of the earth / land".


Dan. 7:21,22 speak of how the "saints" will be persecuted by the beast, and then "the saints" will 'possess the Kingdom'. The "saints" are Israel, the same Hebrew word is used in Ex. 19:5 to describe them as a holy or saintly nation, a nation of saints, sanctified ones. If we understand the Kingdom as primarily the land promised to Abraham's seed for them to 'possess', then this makes sense. That land will be dominated and trodden down by the beast, and then the remnant of Abraham's seed will triumphantly possess it eternally; and that mountain, or Kingdom, will then grow to fill the whole planet.


The little horn devours, treads down and breaks in pieces "the earth" (Dan. 7:23); that has little meaning if applied to the whole planet. The context speaks of destruction and persecution of "the saints", God's people in His land. The reference is surely to the specific land of Israel.
The four beasts are "diverse from one another" (Dan. 7:3), just as the four metals of the image of Daniel 2 do not naturally bond with each other. The four beasts are controlled by four spirits in Heaven who 'strive' with each other (Dan. 7:2). God makes His Angels spirits (Ps. 104:4; Heb. 1:7). Each of those kings or empires had a representative Angel in Heaven. It's not that the Angels themselves strive with each other, they are all obedient to God (see my The Real Devil chapter 2) but they play out before the court of Heaven the situation on earth. Later in Daniel we find Angels likewise representative of kings and kingdoms (Dan. 10:13,20). The comfort is that God is aware of all that happens on earth, and in fact He orchestrates it. The situation on earth is therefore not ultimately spinning out of control. My point in this context is that the four beasts strive with each other and do not naturally bond with each other. This is the same situation as we find in the feet and toes made part of iron, part of clay, mixed with each other but not cleaving to each other. Just as the image stands erect in the last days in order for it to be destroyed, so the sequence of beasts which we have in Daniel 7 are not simply a historical outline of a sequence of empires. Each of them exists in some form in the last days, and are united together in their brief domination of the earth / land promised to Abraham. The first three beasts stand 'before' the fourth one, the original meaning 'in the presence of', rather than previously in chronological terms (Dan. 7:7). The fourth beast has its body destroyed, although the other beasts are also present there and have their lives prolonged "for a season" (Dan. 7:11,12). The historical interpretation of the beasts is not irrelevant, however. The final entity dominating Israel will incorporate aspects of all the previous systems which have dominated the land promised to Abraham.


The fourth beast with the ten horns equates with the legs or iron and ten toes of the image of Daniel 2. This entity will be in existence at the time of Christ's return, because it is to be destroyed by His coming. And we have that same picture in Revelation. Historically, the legs of iron represent Rome, but the beast is not a historical entity, it exists in the last days. So although there are parallels and outline similarities between the metals of the image and the beasts, this is not to say that they are all one and the same. The final beast has elements of all the previous beasts, it is a composite entity including all the elements of the previous systems which have dominated the land and people of Israel. Just as the image stands complete in the last days, so the final beast stands complete. The whore sits on many waters, representing various languages and peoples; and yet she sits upon the beast (Rev. 17:1,3,15). The latter day beast is therefore not one nation but an amalgum of peoples. As the entire image was "terrible" (Dan. 2:31), so the fourth beast system is described with the same word (Dan. 7:7). But Dan. 7:7 emphasizes that this final beast is altogether more aggressive than any previous beast / dominator of the land: "Dreadful, terrible, strong exceedingly... it was different from all the beasts that were before it". This speaks of an entity that is more aggressive and fear-inspiring than the aggressive Babylonians, Assyrians or abusive Nazis. The current IS appear to fit that bill- a reign of terror involving cutting off children's heads and parading their actions on videos, live crucifixion of any who don't agree with them... The same radical difference between this final beast and all previous ones is brought out by the way in which John, after all he had earlier seen, was in shock at the way the beast drunk the blood of the saints, i.e. the people of God, Israel in their land (Rev. 17:6). And the whole world likewise is in shock horror at this beast (Rev. 13:3; 17:8). The entity currently known as the IS hasn't yet struck so much fear into everyone, but the time is surely coming. Dan. 12:1 puts it this way: "There shall be a time of trouble such as never was" for God's people, and they will be saved from it by the standing up of Jesus for His people, the resurrection of the dead and the destruction of the "king of the north". The "time of Jacob's trouble" from which he shall be saved (Jer. 30:7) must be understood in the context of how the phrase "time of trouble" is used in the Bible to describe times of Israel's invasion and suffering at the hands of their neighbours (Is. 33:2; Jer. 2:27,28; 8:15; 11:12,14; 14:8,19; Ez. 7:7). "There shall be a time of trouble such as never was" therefore suggests a time of abuse of Israel such as has never been seen. And this includes the Nazi holocaust, the death camps of Europe, the Babylonian and Assyrian attrocities... It's purely wishful thinking to hope that the IDF and Israel's military technology will stave this off. It will not. Jerusalem is to be taken and the women raped (Zech. 14:2). The beast is to dominate the earth / land of Israel.


The "iron teeth" of the beast (Dan. 7:7) can be connected with the way that "Damascus" tore the Israelites with teeth of iron (Am. 1:3). Damascus is a key player in the future Islamic state which is to be established in the land promised to Abraham. There will be an element of the historical Syrians in the entity which finally dominates Israel. And we can clearly see that in the IS. The same figure of a beast with huge teeth closing in upon Israel is to be found in Joel 1:6, describing the Babylonian and / or Assyrian invasion of the land. Teeth like lions are also mentioned in the picture of men with long hair arising like aggressive locusts out of the earth / land to torture to death those who live there for five months (Rev. 9:4-8). This very much sounds like the long haired jihadist fighters of the IS briefly dominating the land at the end. But they are part of the beast system, which includes this element of teeth because it is a composite figure including all elements of Israel's persecutors.


The beast will "devour" the land (Dan. 7:7), just as the historical Babylon 'devoured' Jerusalem with fire (Jer. 30:16; Lam. 4:11; Ez. 15:5; 19:12; 23:25; Hos. 8:14; Am. 1:4; 2:5) and the Assyrians devoured the land (Jer. 50:17; Hos. 11:6; 13:8; Joel 1:4,19,20; 2:3,5,25). All these verses use the same word translated 'devour' in Dan. 7:7. Clearly enough, the 'devouring' of the fourth beast is a summation of all previous 'devourings' of God's land and people. Even in Old Testament times, this idea of a singular beast embodying all Israel's enemies was not unknown. For Ez. 34:28 looked forward to the day when "Neither shall the beast of the land devour them [any more]". Mal. 3:11 likewise speaks of how "the devourer" will be rebuked by God when finally Israel respond to the Elijah prophet (Mal. 3:1). This again suggests that the final devouring of Israel will be whilst the Elijah prophet is making an ongoing appeal for their repentance and acceptance of Jesus. Once they do so, the devourer is rebuked and Jesus returns to His desperately repentant people.


The beast stamps on others (Dan. 7:7); the same word is used for how Egypt did this to God's people and others within the land promised to Abraham (Ez. 32:2). Although Egypt doesn't figure in the sequence of metals in the image of Daniel 2, the beast incorporates aspects of all Israel's previous dominators- and they include Egypt. We can therefore expect the beast entity to include features of Nazi, Catholic and other historical persecutors of God's people, even though those entities weren't part of the Daniel 2 image. This is why the historical interpretations of 666 and the beast which apply them to Nero's Rome and various Catholic persecutions are not per se incorrect. They were true for their time. But the final persecuting entity will include them all within what it is and what it does.


The Remnant
It is specifically stated that the beast "stamped the remnant" after it had torn and destroyed the land. This may mean that as a result of all the persecution and destruction of the majority of Jews in the land, the surviving remnant is stamped underfoot, or subjected to despite. The very same metaphor is used of how the city of God will be "trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled". Those "times" may well refer to the period of 1260 days, three and a half years, spoken of in the prophecies of the tribulation. This trodden down and abused remnant are those who will finally repent and accept Jesus. There are prophecies of how this "remnant" (same word translated "residue" in Dan. 7:7 AV) will finally repent (Is. 10:20-22; 28:5). Is. 11:11,16 speaks of the latter day gathering of this "remnant" from areas throughout the land promised to Abraham- as if there will be a literal taking captive of the surviving Jews left in the land, scattering them throughout the 'land' promised to Abraham. The chronlogy fits well- the beast briefly dominates the land, the majority of Jews living there are killed, a remnant remains, who are stamped underfoot whilst Jerusalem likewise is trodden underfoot, and this leads to their repentance and therefore the return of the Lord Jesus to save them from the IS. It's worth noting that the word "remnant" is used repeatedly of the remnant of Judah who were in captivity in Babylon at Daniel's time and the remnant of them who returned to the land. This would've been how his first audience naturally understood the term- referring to Jewish people who had been taken out of their land by their neighbours (Ezra 3:8; 4:3,7,9; 6:16; Neh. 10:28; 11:1,20; Esther 9:16 "the remnant of the Jews that were in the king's provinces").
Then shall come to pass the word of Zech. 12:8: "He that is feeble among them [s.w. Dan. 11:41 about how many in the land of Israel will be overthrown or made feeble] in that day shall be as David". The suggested allusion is to David overcoming the Palestinian Goliath, who all else feared to make war with as he spoke his blasphemy against God and Israel- exactly the language of Rev. 13:4-8.

The Revival of all the Beasts
On one hand, the metals of the image in Daniel 2, and the sequence of beasts which parallel them in Daniel 7, speak of a series of kingdoms in history which dominated Israel. And yet on the other hand, they must all exist in the last days, under the headship of a latter day Babylon. I suggest this will be fulfilled by the latter day entity which dominates Israel including elements of all the previous empires which dominated Israel. The other prophecies in Daniel contain more detail about these various empires in their historical fulfilment. Elements of those prophecies will therefore also have some application in a latter day sense; various characteristics of those empires will be seen in the final entity which dominates Israel. It will be not only Assyria redivivus  but also Persia, Greece and Rome redivivus. This kind of thing is seen elsewhere in the Scriptures- for often Israel’s enemies are described in terms of their previous oppressors, especially Egypt. Take Is. 52:4: “My people went down into Egypt to live there, and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause”. It was the Egyptians who oppressed Israel in Egypt, but they are here called the Assyrian- because at Isaiah’s time, the Assyrians were the threat to Judah, but they are cast by Isaiah in terms of the Egyptians of previous centuries.


Daniel 7 depicts the various metals of the image as various beasts. The final beast of the last days incorporates all the elements of the previous beasts. But her head will be Babylon, replete with a latter day Nebuchadnezzar. Note that the first three of the empires of Daniel’s image had Babylon as their capital. It is appropriate that the latter day revival of the image and beast has Babylon likewise as its capital. It surely cannot be accidental that in Babylon today, “the ancient temple of Ishtar has been rebricked, replastered and whitewashed… carved into the bricks are reliefs of oxen and a mythical beast called the mushrishu, with the head of a serpent, body of a fish, front legs of a lion, and back legs of an eagle” (Chattanooga New Free Press, April 5, 1987). Latter day Babylon chooses to identify itself as an amalgam of beasts!


The various beasts and metals must all be in existence at the time of Christ's return in order for him to destroy them by his coming. The little stone hits the image on its ten toes- corresponding to the ten horns of the fourth beast of Dan.7. The ten horns must in a sense be in existence at the time of Christ's coming. But so also is the fourth beast, corresponding to the legs of iron- because it is at the coming of Christ that “the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame” (Dan. 7:11). Likewise at this same time, “the rest of the beasts… had their dominion taken away” (Dan. 7:12). The other beasts, corresponding to the earlier metals in the image, are ‘alive’ at the coming of Christ. Just as the image stands complete, so all the beasts are alive in order to receive judgment. The horns are presented as part of the fourth beast; their destruction is part and parcel of the fourth beast’s destruction.

Daniel sees the four beasts (corresponding with the four metals of the image of Daniel 2) all come up together after the waves of the sea are troubled (Dan. 7:3), connecting with the Lord's description of the last day powers around Israel in the same way (Lk. 21:25). The fact they all come up together shows that he was not only seeing a continuous historic vision. The way he sees the beast representing Babylon come up when historical Babylon at the time of the vision had already 'come up' shows it was not a historical description of those powers. The beasts all exist again in the last day, just as all the metals of the image exist together in order to be destroyed together by the Lord’s return. Yet the 'traditional' interpretation of the beasts as depicting the various empires which dominated Israel in the past still holds true; the point is, the final beast incorporates elements of all those powers which once dominated Israel. It is in this sense that the whole image of Dan. 2 stands complete in the last days; the latter day Nebuchadnezzar has beneath him all the elements of Israel's previous persecutors.


Dan. 7:19 describes the fourth beast as having the iron and brass metals of the image of Dan. 2 in it. The fourth beast had feet and teeth, we are specifically told. The lion, representing the head of gold, had feet (Dan. 7:4); the bear, representing the breast of silver, had powerful teeth. The fourth beast has “claws of brass”, but brass referred to the third empire in the sequence of empires in the parallel Daniel 2. The point being, that the fourth beast has elements of the previous beasts in it. And likewise, the final entity which dominates Israel at the time of the Lord’s return in glory will have within it elements of all the previous dominators. Thus the fourth beast had all the characteristics of the other beasts. By it being destroyed through its ten horns being smitten by Christ's return, it is as if the image of Dan.2 is standing erect and complete in  the last days, being hit on the ten toes (cp. the ten horns of the beast) by Christ's return.

The Sign of the Son of Man Matthew 24

Zechariah 14:7 - But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.

The LORD is well aware of this day. He has planned it since the beginning of creation. All the events that are to transpire have been carefully considered by him. Nothing will be an accident, although it may seem that many of the events look incidental from a human point of view. The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law (Deuteronomy 29:29). God has revealed this information concerning his Almighty Day of reckoning to his servants so that in the end he may be glorified. His Word will come to pass as scheduled. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry (Habakkuk 2:3). Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants (Amos 3:7). It is his good pleasure to allow you to know these things well in advance. Since we are the children of the day, he does not want us to remain ignorant of the times and seasons in which we live. To understand more perfectly what will happen on the Day of the LORD, he has graciously revealed to us yet another important, unique detail concerning the sky: “At evening time it shall be light.” Considering the data set forth on the solar eclipse occurring on August 2nd 2027 in the afternoon, or more precisely, 12:00 PM, and that if this remained a normal day as it was since the beginning of creation, the light would completely appear once again in the middle of the afternoon around 1:20 PM Israel Standard Time, well before evening time. The words of inspiration force us to accept that supernatural events will cause the light of the sun and the moon to be withdrawn until evening time. The details of how this will occur remain unknown to us, hence, the day "shall be known to the LORD." Regardless of any theory that is put forward, including the theory in which I present in this article, when it is subject to the most intense scrutiny, it fails to meet all scientific criteria of the natural world. In any event, it will require a miracle, which will be a true sign from heaven that the Lord Jesus Christ is present in the earth, and the world will be without excuse. The whole world will see the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.

In spite of not knowing the specific details of what will occur, there are other parts of the inspired Word that give us more clues as to what will happen. Jesus himself, while sitting on the Mount of Olives, the exact location in which he intends to stand and fulfill the following prophecy, said that the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (Matthew 24:29). If we were to take each of these facets of the prophecy literally, the first two make sense given the fact of the reality of solar eclipses. Both the sun and the moon will be dark. The third phrase, “the stars shall fall from heaven”, may at first glance appear to give us problems. How could we be asked to take this literally? The hard pressed would have to qualify what is meant by a star “falling from heaven.” Of course, if a star collided with earth, knowing how many times larger a star actually is, it would be an impractical expectation. Just as in the case when we say the sun is setting, we are using geocentric language, meaning that this is what appears to be happening from a point on earth. Even so, the stars falling from heaven will appear to do so from one’s perspective looking at the sky. In fact, to say that the stars are “falling from heaven” is equivalent to saying that the stars are setting in the west. If you consider it, every evening during a sunset it is possible to see the sun “fall from heaven.” Therefore, since the sun and the moon will be darkened, the stars will be visible in the sky, and you will see the stars moving in the sky from east to west. “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27). This analogy is used to describe how universal his sign in heaven is. It will be seen by everyone worldwide. Because everyone is located on different points on earth, the sign must be able to be discerned wherever you happen to be. If the stars are setting in the west from a point in Jerusalem, it follows that stars are falling in the west from anywhere. It means that the earth is rotating at such a fast speed that it is possible to discern the movement of the stars. Is it unreasonable to expect this? After all, how would we expect for it to be light at evening time if the rotation of the earth was not supernaturally modified to rotate faster?

God said that he would “cause the sun to go down” at noon, and darken the earth on a clear day. On a natural day, starting at noon, the sun starts to make a natural course downward toward the horizon. Therefore on this day, its course toward the horizon must be special. The sun would appear to take a more dramatic course in the heavens. This is where we consider the fourth phrase of Jesus’ prophecy. “The powers of the heavens will be shaken.” On the day of the greatest earthquake ever recorded in human history, the earth will be removed out of its place (Isaiah 13:13). This will cause all people on earth to see the sky move irregularly, hence, the heavens shall shake. The sun, moon, and stars will no longer be bound to their normal cycles. Only God knows how these heavenly bodies will be manipulated. One facet that has been revealed to us is given by the prophet Habakkuk.

Habakkuk 3:11 - The sun [and] moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, [and] at the shining of thy glittering spear.

Upon first glance of the verse it should be noted that the “and” in between “sun” and “moon” is inserted by the King James translators and is absent from the Hebrew. While in most cases adding words does not interfere with a normal interpretation of an English passage, it does highlight the fact that this is a unique pairing in the Hebrew of the words “sun” and “moon.” This is the only place in the Old Testament where these two words appear together in succession with no modifiers. A look at the Young’s Literal Translation of this passage will prove to be most useful.

Habakkuk 3:11 - Sun -- moon -- hath stood -- a habitation, At the light thine arrows go on, At the brightness, the glittering of thy spear.

The language appears to be borrowed from the incident recorded in Joshua, in which the sun and the moon both stood still about the space of a whole day. However, it is apparent from the context that this is a different incident, spoken of prophetically. In fact, this event is yet to occur. It will occur on the Day of the LORD. When the sun goes down at noon, this is a reference to the moon blocking the view of the sun. Once the moon blocks out the sun, they become one entity to accomplish the celestial miracle, a Sun -- Moon. Another difference in the Young's Literal Translation is that the translators omit the word "still". It is not that the sun and moon need to stand still in the sky, but rather stand together. They stand together to form a habitation in the sky while watching the event from Jerusalem until evening time in Jerusalem. Even while the earth is rotating faster, from Jerusalem, the sun and the moon will appear to move across the sky together. Afterward, the sun and the moon resume their natural paths and cause the light to appear again at evening time. At the light of evening time the arrows go on, and at the brightness, the glittering of the spear.

One basic question I would put forward for consideration would be the following. Given that we have established that the rotation of the earth will be modified to rotate faster, how much will the earth rotate? Will the earth rotate just enough to cause the sun to appear to have moved six time zones until 6:00 PM at evening time, or, will the earth rotate a full day and six time zones? Of course the details are only known to God. However, I would like to submit a simple reason why we might expect the earth to rotate at least a full day and six additional time zones. We find recorded in the Bible of two incidents in which God manipulated the motion of the heavenly bodies. The first instance was the miracle of the sun and the moon standing still for about the space of a whole day.

Joshua 10:13 - And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

It is important to stress the word “about” a whole day, indicating that the amount of time did not quite reach a full day. The next occurrence in Scripture of when the heavenly bodies were manipulated was in the days of king Hezekiah, mentioned earlier. The sun moved backward ten degrees.

Isaiah 38:8 - Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

There are 360 degrees in a circle. Half a circle would represent a 12 hour day, or 180 degrees. Therefore, 10 degrees would represent 12/18, two thirds of an hour, or 40 minutes. At this point we have to make an assumption that the 40 minutes completes the whole day from the day of Joshua.

The fact that these celestial miracles occurred is a testimony to the fact that the sky as we see it today is in fact what we should have seen yesterday. In other words, our sky is a day behind. Although the 24 hours go by, a new day is defined in the Jewish calendar by the setting of the sun. Today’s scientists falsely assume the sun set on a day that it did not when determining the position of the sky prior to Joshua's long day. The diagram below demonstrates this.

It shows the calendar week supposing Joshua's long day occurred on a Wednesday to show from Joshua’s point of view that he experienced an extra-long Wednesday. In order for the sky to catch up, since the time went by, the sun and the moon both need to make an additional course across the sky in a much shorter period of time. In fact, this may be one application of the phrase: “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:22). The scientists who are responsible for all of our technology that can calculate the position of the sun, moon, and stars from a view on earth start with the basic assumption that what we see in the sky today is in fact what the sky should look like today. Given that we have evidence from Scripture that the earth will rotate faster, is it too farfetched to suggest that God intends to reset the celestial clock on this day? Will he allow the earth to spin a full rotation and allow us to see the sky the way we would have seen it had the sun never stood still? If this is the case, it will give the world an even better opportunity to see the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, to witness the stars falling in the west, more time to see the powers of the heavens shaken, and the whole earth will get a chance to see an impossibility: a Sun -- Moon standing together in its habitation with its brightness diminished, making its path across the sky from east to west. Furthermore, this would create a full day that is "not day, nor night".

Since our sky is a day behind, it should be recognized that the sky we will see on Monday August 2, 2027 should have appeared that way on Tuesday. This is depicted in the second row.

Therefore, when the sun sets the second time at evening time it will become Wednesday. Keep in mind that the sighting of the sliver of a new moon, whenever it occurs, always defaults to the first day of the month. On Monday August 2, 2027 there will be a new moon. The earth will spin so fast that the sun will set twice in a short space of time, well before a natural timing of Wednesday August 4th. Therefore, since the Jewish day is defined by the setting of the sun, there will be two Jewish days in a period of 24 hours. These two days are the rest of Monday Tammuz 29 and almost all of Tuesday Av 1. The Jewish month is normally scheduled to reset to Tuesday Av 1 at the next sighting of the new moon on Tuesday August 3, 2027 at 4:37 PM IDT, nearly 3 hours before that day’s sunset. In any event, the new month will occur between the celestial miracle which already contains a sunset, but before the sun sets the second time at evening time. On that second sunset it will be Wednesday Av 2, and 6 hours later at Midnight would be Wednesday August 4th for Gentiles. Going forward our sky will be consistent with the current day of the week.

One last question to consider is how much time is required to accomplish this miracle? Since the Day is only known to the LORD, only he knows the answer, and therefore the discussion will remain in the realm of speculation and conjecture. Once you consider that it will take some time to rotate the earth an extra time, it becomes necessary to rotate the earth more than 24 time zones in order for the apparent position of the sky to catch up. It will have to spin through at least the number of time zones for each hour the earth took to rotate. Referring back to the first time I mentioned that there was a fulfillment of Amos 8:9 in Matthew 27:45, a time frame is mentioned for the miracle. Darkness covered the land from the sixth hour unto the ninth hour. If this is any clue, I will submit that this darkness that was experienced in the land is a type for the darkness that will be experienced on the Day of the LORD. Since this celestial miracle took three hours to accomplish, on this basis, the earth will likewise be shaken, and the stars shall fall from heaven for the space of three hours. This means that the sun will have experienced a total number of six hours of global supernatural darkness.

Notice in the past from Genesis Chapter 1 just before the first day of creation that there was an excessive darkness. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. Before God created the light, it was dark during the diurnal period we know as light. Although we are not told precisely what time during the first day God created the light, only that it was before sunset, my model shows that at the end of day "0" at evening time (around sunset), God created the light. You would see the light in the following morning on the first day. This means that from morning until evening on day "0" it was dark, or 12 hours of darkness. “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” After the extra-long day in the time of Joshua the earth received a bonus of 24 hours of light, netting an extra 12 hours of light. In the time of Jesus Christ the earth lost 3 hours of light on the day he died. The supernatural darkness occurred when it was normally supposed to be light. The earth currently has a net extra 9 hours of light. The solar eclipse occurring at noon will once again cause the earth to supernaturally lose 3 more hours of light. The earth would still have a net positive 6 hours of light. Therefore, resetting the celestial clock on the Day of the LORD will justify the need to shift the earth an additional 6 time zones of light from noon until evening time! It means that the earth will spin through 30 time zones (instead of 24) in the space of 3 hours, which means the earth would reach a speed of 30/3, or 10 times the normal rotation! The effect of the earthquake will be immeasurable! It will take 1/10 of the normal time of 6 hours, a mere 36 minutes, for the sun to go down at noon to the horizon on its first trip. This situation raises further questions such as how life will be able to survive under such conditions. The force of the earthquake will doubtless cause the waves of the seas and oceans to become tumultuous. "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken" (Luke 21:25-26). Without divine intervention, the natural disasters alone would be enough to annihilate all the mortals. It must be the case that God will divinely control the weather events. God has given Jesus all authority and power in heaven and in earth. Just as in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, with the softly spoken words “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39), he can cause any hurricane, any tsunami wave, or any quaking mountain to immediately cease in its destruction. As children of the day, we need not worry about tomorrow, nor about the events of the Day of the LORD, for tomorrow will worry about itself (Matthew 6:34). Follow the command of Jesus to watch for his second coming and pray always you are accounted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:36).