CHAPTER 2: Agenda and Timelines
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“….. O Daniel, I
am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.” Dan. 9:22
“And of the children of Issachar, which were men
that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; …. ” I Chr. 12:32
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, ..” Gal 4:4
“… shut up the words, and seal the book, even
to the time of the end:..” Dan 12:4
“… Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book:
for the time is at hand. Rev 22:10
“For as in Adam
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
Then cometh the end, when he shall have
delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down
all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under
his feet.
The last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death. 1
Cor 15:22-26
A God of Purpose, Times,
and Seasons
The almighty God is a God
of order, Who works out His purposes according to preset timelines. He cannot be railroaded or stampeded into
acting precipitously.
“To every thing there is a
season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” Ecc_3:1
“And he said unto them, It
is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in
his own power.” Act 1:7
Nevertheless, the Lord is
willing to share with anyone curious and serious enough to seek to understand
those timelines. But the responsibility for seeking is placed squarely on the
seeker:
“Redeeming the
time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but
understanding what the will of the Lord is”. Eph
5:16-17
It was noted in the
Scriptures that the children of Issachar, to their credit, had understanding of
the time, and knew what Israel ought to do, per time. (I Chr. 12:32). Indeed, the Lord Jesus makes it clear that it
is essentially hypocrisy and unwillingness to face realities that rob people of
the ability to see timelines that are clearly unfolding before their eyes:
“Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and
of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?” - Luk_12:56
So, we see that the Lord
is willing to share His secrets with those who love Him, and displaying
maturity as sons, express interests in what is going on around them.
A good demonstration of
this Seek-and-Find principle is the situation with the heathen king,
Nebuchadnezzar. As he pondered on the
bed what could be coming after his reign, the Lord graciously gave him the
famous dream of the great image, in which was clearly revealed the future
history of the world, up till the very end of time. (However, as soon became
evident, it is one thing getting a dream, and another story entirely, getting
the interpretation!):
“As for thee, O
king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to
pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall
come to pass.”
“But as for me,
this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than
any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation
to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.” Daniel 2:29-30
We can therefore conclude
that, if only we would be truly interested, and would seek understanding of
events unfolding around us, we should be able to identify critical
developments, discern their implications, and very importantly, know how to
respond to them.
Having understood the fundamental
issues sketched out in Chapter one of this book, we can actually follow the
progression of consequent actions happening in key sectors; and thereby discern
how close to the resolution of these issues we might be. The website RaptureReady.com has indeed developed
a framework for such activity. In the
section labelled “Nearing Midnight”, the statuses of identified key indicators
are used to compute a quantity called the “Rapture Index,” indicating how close
the authors perceive we are to the Rapture of the Church, which is to herald
the return of the Lord Jesus to earth. (see
https://www.raptureready.com/rapture-ready-index/)
A similar framework is
maintained by a group of secular scientists, publishers of the Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists. They call their own model the Doomsday Clock, which is
described as “a symbolic representation of the world’s proximity to global
catastrophe”. This is the point of singularity where everything breaks down
into chaos. It is interesting to note the fair agreement between these two models,
developed from two different perspectives – one spiritual, and the other
secular. At the time of this writing, the
Rapture Index on RaptureReady.com translates to a Nearing Midnight time of 11:58:00
pm, while the scientists’ Doomsday Clock indicates 11:58:30 pm (see https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/).
On both clocks, 12:00:00 midnight marks the end of the world.
An interesting news
headline, at the time of writing this chapter, says “Godfather of AI shortens odds of the technology wiping out humanity over
next 30 years.” The story is that of Geoffrey
Histon expressing his opinion that “there is 10% to 20 chance AI will lead to
human extinction in three decades, as change moves fast.”1.
Unfortunately, even many of
the few who can see the doomsday approaching, have little idea of how to
respond to it. A recent Project Nightfall report documented how billionaires are
commissioning “doomsday vaults” where they and their families could take
extended shelter at the arrival of the sure-to-come apocalypse2.
This behaviour clearly betrays their ignorance of the promise of the Lord Jesus
to go and prepare a place for those who will subscribe to His offer. The place He has gone to prepare is
infinitely superior to whatever any builder here on earth can build. And it
takes care not just of the body, but of the soul, and the spirit as well.
An alternative escapist concept
downplays the body entirely. It involves “emulating” or copying the data in the brain (assumed
equivalent to the mind) and uploading it into the computer Clouds, while
discarding (or “recycling”) the body3. A mid-way option conceptualizes
downloading the mind into a humanoid android, thus indefinitely preserving the
brain (and expectedly the mind and consciousness), with new “bodies” being procured
as needed from time to time4.
In this chapter, we
examine in some details, the approaching singularity on earth based on timelines
revealed in the pronouncements and perspectives expressed by Satanists on one
hand, and those revealed in the Holy Scriptures, on the other. We will also sprinkle in, some of the
predictions from the secularists and extra-Biblical references, for emphasis.
As we shall see, the timelines towards the apocalypse from these different
camps, tend to converge, indicating that time is indeed up for the current
world order.
Before delving into
details, we might consider, for example, one major common element predicted in the
end-time scenarios from the two different camps: a mass depopulation event,
involving a class of human beings, as a necessary prelude to the incoming new
world order.
The new age Satanists unequivocally
declare that their coming new age will be heralded by the “culling” from earth,
of certain “separatists” who have consistently refused to cooperate with the
coming new order. For example, based on
what “Voices” told new age medium, Barbara Hubbard, she wrote in her “Manual
for co-creators”5:
“Humanity will not be able to make the transition from
Earth-only to universal life until the chaff has been separated from the wheat.
The great reaper must reap before we can take the quantum leap to the next
phase of evolution. No worldly peace can prevail until the self-centred members
of the planetary body either change or die.
That is the choice……
“We, the elders, have been patiently waiting until the
very last moment before the quantum transformation, to take action to cut out
this corrupted and corrupting element in the body of humanity. ……the
self-centred members must be destroyed.
There is no alternative.”
These refuseniks comprising
of people stuck on the old ways of living, will refuse, for example, the new
sexuality, gender- and species-transitioning, and many other “progressive”
ideas. Being “self-centred” refers to
their insistence of keeping their mind personal, and not pooling it together
into a universal mind with those of others. Possibly as their ultimate “nemesis”, they will
also refuse to accept novel life-saving medical procedures [think of mRNA-
based procedures here] in times of the
many pandemics which are expected to mark the end-times. They would therefore
be selectively “panicked and confused” and consequently eliminated, en masse!
A popular version of this scenario has
extra terrestrials (ETs) doing the sanitation work of removing these filthy “separatists”
who are obstructing the new world order.
The ETs are thought capable of doing this via instigation of selective
bio-engineered pandemics, or even more blatantly, via a UFO-associated mass
abduction! The
statement of the “elders” in Hubbard’s book affirms this6:
“We are in charge of God’s selection process for
planet Earth. He selects, we destroy….We
will use whatever means we must to make this act of destruction as quick and
painless as possible to the one-half of the world who are capable of
evolving…:”
Of course, Christians
also agree on the inevitability of this same mass removal [“cutting-out”] event;
but they interpret it as the blessed Rapture of the Saints!
In either case, there is
a coming literal physical departure of Christians en masse, from this
planet. The only people who cannot see
this reality are those who have no time for deep reflection. These are people who see their reflections in
the mirror and forget almost immediately what they saw. The ones the Lord referred to as hypocrites.
It can also be surmised
that, contrary to the scenarios depicted in the popular Left Behind series (by Tim
LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins), the world will most likely not miss the missing
Christians after the Rapture! As a
matter of fact, as explained later in this book, it will not be until three and
half years after the Rapture, that the people left behind on earth will begin
to feel the heat. This will start with the
Jews, when the antichrist takes over the newly rebuilt Temple declaring himself
to be God, and demanding worship from all (Dan. 9:27, II Thess 2:4). Then people from other nations will also begin
to smell the coffee as the new wonder technologies they had hitherto celebrated
begin to backfire (see Rev 14:9-11, Rev. 16:2).
What time is it,
Watchman?
Can we specify a date for
the coming of the Lord? Absolute
negative!
“But of that day
and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father
only.“ Mat
24:36
What can be declared with
full certainty is that the coming touchdown of the Lord Jesus to earth is at
least some seven years away from now. In
other words, the world is not “ending”, for at least, the next seven
years! This is the seven-year period
required to celebrate the Marriage Supper in the air, while the Lord is enroute
earth. Correspondingly, it is the period
when the antichrist would be given absolute latitude to manifest on earth, trying
out his much vaunted “new world order”.
These will be elaborated shortly.
So, to restate for the
sake of clarity: the Rapture of the
Church could very well happen any moment from now, as all related prophecies
and signs are already fulfilled. However,
it (the Rapture) will only mark the beginning of the 7 years that will precede
the Lord’s actual descent to earth proper. Nobody can predict the date of the
Rapture, but as long as it has not happened, there is still a seven-year period
before the touchdown of the Lord on earth.
We might be able
to better appreciate how far-spent the time is, by reviewing the timelines and
schedules firmly believed by the two parties in this great Conflict. The Satanic and the Divine Timelines are
actually open for us to peruse, and as we will see again, there is pretty good agreement
between the two. Both are unequivocal in declaring that we are already in
“injury time”. Things ought to have
closed “yesterday”.
Satan’s Agenda and
Timelines
The Satanist fresh
efforts for a take-over of the world, after the great reset introduced by the
Noahian flood, was recorded in Genesis chapter 11. It was a twin-project to
build a City, and a Tower.
“And they said, Go
to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto
heaven;..” Gen. 11:4
The “City” refers
to social governance, while the “Tower whose top may reach unto heaven” component
indicates a spiritual portal to bridge heaven and earth, and refers to religion. The intervention of the almighty God stopping
the projects is depicted in the uncompleted pyramid which today features
prominently in several occult symbols and literature.
Many Christian
writers including Gary H. Kah (in The New world Religion, already cited) have
pored over these satanist literature and extracted for us some cogent points
(so we, thankfully, don’t have to do so ourselves). The summary is that, Satanists are absolutely
assured that their disrupted Babylonian City and Tower project will be resumed
in the year 5776 AL in their satanic calendar, where the AL refers to Anno
Lucis/Anno Lucifer (year of light). [Years
in AL are derived simply by adding 4,000 to the years in the Gregorian calendar
counted in AD Anno Domini – year of our Lord Jesus]7. The
year 5776 AL / 1776 AD therefore marks the resurgence of their hope for a
takeover of the world. That year is found
inscribed (in Roman numerals) on the one-dollar bill of the US currency. Many people will swear that the inscription refers
to Illuminati Freemasonry which was founded that year, noting especially the co-presence
of the uncapped pyramid and the occult eye of Horus also inscribed alongside on
the currency. Officially however, the
inscription supposedly refers to the year that the United States of America
gained her independence.
The interesting
point is that on the Hebrew calendar (supposedly denoting number of years since
the creation of the earth), the year 5776 corresponds to the year 2015 AD. Since September 14 2015 (Rosh Hashannah,
first day in the Jewish calendar year 5776), Satanists have gone wild, claiming
that their time has come. They claim
that that year ushered in their Aquarian (water carrier) age, and marked the
end of the Pisces Age (the age of the fish, supposedly the Christian age). The supposed opening
of The “Abyss” and “new portals” to usher in extra-dimensional beings into our
world on September 23 and 24 of that year were part of the several activities
excitedly announced in the occult world at that time8. Notably, the activities coincided with some
esoteric physical experiments carried out, on those dates, at the sub-atomic
particles-smashing facility at the CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear
Research), in Geneva. A mysterious suicide, about the same period of
one of the top scientists at the facility, one Dr Edward Mantill, further added
to the tension and suggestions that new physical dimensions, with seemingly
spiritual implications, were being opened up by the experiments9.
As to be expected most of these were
pronounced “conspiracy theory” by the mainstream press. Interestingly, in her
70th year of existence, CERN is set to repeat those collisions at
unprecedented high energies come October, 202410.
Long and short,
Satanists are irritated that there should still be people standing for
Christianity today. They are supposed to
have been eradicated by now! There are
in fact well-documented step-by-step guidelines prescribed for the overthrow of
Christianity by Satanists. Describing
the Plan of the “Hierarchy” in his book The New World
Religion, Gary Kah wrote11:
“The Hierarchy has revealed to occultists that the
teachings intended to condition the world for the new age (also known as the
Aquarian Age or the New World Order), fall into three categories: (1)
preparatory, given from 1875-1890, written down by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky;
(2) intermediate, given from 1919-1949, written down by Alice Bailey; and (3) revelatory, emerging after 1975, to
be revealed on a worldwide scale via the radio and television (meaning that some
of the major film producers and script writers, as well as television
personalities – whether they be politicians, religious leaders, or merely paid
actors – would have to be tapped into the same occult forces and be privy to
the same demonic “enlightenment” as their predecessors at the Theosophical
Society)”
Alice Bailey’s “intermediate
phase” strategies have been summarized into the so-called 10-point Charter,
which prescribes:
1. Take God and prayer out of the education
system
2. Reduce parental authority over
the children
3. Destroy the Judeo-Christian
family structure or the traditional Christian family structure
4. If sex is free, then make
abortion legal and make it easy
5.
Make divorce easy and legal, free people from the concept of marriage for life
6.
Make homosexuality an alternative lifestyle
7.
Debase art, make it run mad
8.
Use media to promote and change mindsets
9.
Create an interfaith movement
10.
Get governments to make all these law, and get the Church to endorse these
changes.
(See for instance https://www.inspiredwalk.com/6297/alice-baileys-10-point-plan-to-destroy-christianity).
It is evident that
virtually all the items on the list have today become fait accompli. As can be seen, the contrived efforts to
destroy Christianity begin with subtle manipulations in the education, family,
and sexuality sectors, and end up in the psychic and spiritual dimensions. The
media and the arts are to be the prized tools to actualize the objectives. All these have systematically played out
within the present generation, especially with the extra-vigorous push added
since September 2015.
A contemporary
setting-out of Satanists’ scheme for our world is the infamous Georgia
Guidestone. Erected by unidentified sponsors in 1980, it stood for 42 years,
before it was destroyed by a mysterious explosion in 2022. The top three of the 10 inscriptions on the Guidestone
address human population, reproduction, and merger:
·
Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 (half
a billion) in perpetual balance with nature.
·
Guide reproduction wisely – improving
fitness and diversity.
·
Unite humanity with a living new
language.
(see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones#Inscriptions)
Some of the
expectations of globalists on the timelines for the realization of their dream
is captured in Figure 1, taken from a Korean site, https://blog.naver.com/mcho1234/222357898119. Interested readers
can check out the details of the diagrams on that site.
Having glimpsed
these Satanist agenda, it is left to each of us to take heed to our individual
selves, and ensure we do not become the devil’s tool for accomplishing or
promoting them. We should love and take
care of the people God has placed in our sphere of influence, particularly those
of our own families. We should also
endeavour to appreciate and guard our collective humanity – we should love,
value, and respect other humans – irrespective of creed, colour, social status,
or faith. On the global scale, we can be sure that the almighty God will not just
fold His hands and watch the gloating globalists have their way. We can look forward to His intervention
again, like He did in Genesis 11. It is
He that will have the last word and the last laugh. We have His sure words on this: “Surely I
come quickly!”
Figure 1:
Globalists Satanic Timelines [From https://blog.naver.com/mcho1234/222357898119]
Divine Agenda and Timelines
Sometimes in codes,
sometimes in plain language, the almighty God has also detailed in the
Scriptures, the timelines towards the fulfilment of His agenda for our
world. Although the timelines are clear,
and contain dramatic details at times, it turns out that at the end of the day,
it is impossible for anyone by sheer deciphering of Scriptures, to pronounce
with absolute certainty the date of Christ’s imminent second coming or the end
of the world.
The reality is
such that, as one sticks together the various pieces of timelines for God’s
end-time agenda as revealed, one comes across a certain period of time whose
value is blank or indeterminate. This is
often referred to as the Gap. It is
more or less like the situation in a football match which normally should last
ninety minutes. Invariably, there would
be some stoppages during the match, which exact duration is left to the Referee
to determine – at his sole discretion. Technically,
this is called “injury time”.
Most of the
exquisitely detailed revelations of the divine timelines for the end-time are
found in the Book of Daniel. In Daniel
chapter 2, we have the famous dream of Nebuchadnezzar already referred to. In the interpretation given to the prophet
Daniel, we have world history neatly laid out starting from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar,
through the various kingdoms that were to arise after him, up to the time that
the God of heaven will clear off all human governments, and establish His own
kingdom, that would last forever.
“…Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise
another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which
shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong
as iron:….. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron,
and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly
broken. Dan. 2:38-42
“And in the days
of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be
destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it
shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” Dan 2:44
All this looks quite straightforward. Surely the setting up of God’s everlasting
kingdom here on earth is referring to the second coming of the Lord Jesus. In subsequent dreams and visions given to
Daniel himself, in Daniel Chapters 7 and 8,
more details are further provided, substantiating this dream of the
great image and its interpretation. The four kingdoms that “shall bear rule
over all the earth” are clearly identifiable as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greek,
and Romans. After these comes the
kingdom to be set up by the God of heaven.
And it shall be everlasting.
So, what stops
us from determining the kick-off date for the coming of this kingdom, and of its
King, our Lord Jesus Christ? It is the
Gap.
Although each of
the first three of the kingdoms mentioned came and left, replaced by a
successor, the same is not true of the fourth, the Roman empire. The Roman kingdom which replaced the Greek,
indeed crumbled as a kingdom with global authority around 476 AD, (having first
split into East and West factions in 286 AD), but it really has not completely
left the scene of power, there not being any clear replacement or successor for
it since12. In fact, what is indicated in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is
that the Roman kingdom, represented by the legs of the image, will be rebirthed
at a later time, now represented by the image’s feet. We know it is essentially the same kingdom
since the feet of the great image are comprised of partly the same material as
the legs (iron) only that it is now mixed with another, much weaker material,
clay. Furthermore, the visions in Daniel
7 and 8 do not include any other human kingdom after this fourth kingdom. As those of us priviledged to be living in
contemporary times can affirm, there is currently no single authority in charge
of the entire world. Yes, the struggles
are ongoing, and intense, but the Russian-Chinese axis are clearly not under
the same sovereignty as the Western (NATO) axis at the present time.
What is currently
playing out is the increasing influence of non-state players (think of groups
like Blackrock, and people like George Soros and Bill Gates) who are gradually
exerting global influence by taking over of key UN Agencies and Organs. At the same time, they are doing their best
to undermine the powerful nation-states (for example via unending wars) while
propping up small nations who are willing to do their bidding and serve as
fronts in the meetings of the UN. In
short, the global authority-wielding entity which will continue the reign of
the Roman kingdom is still struggling to emerge. How much longer it would take to do so is
directly at the discretion and sovereign determination of the almighty
God. The time period between the
crumbling of the Roman empire, and its coming rebirth is that unknown Gap.
The jewel of all prophecies giving detailed timelines
of end-time events would be that recorded in the 9th Chapter of the book of Daniel.
It gives actual length of time, from a
reference historical event, to the time that the Messiah will bring in eternal
righteousness – apparently referring to the everlasting kingdom of Daniel 2. Perhaps we can discern from this, how long
exactly the Gap will last? The prophecy:
Dan 9:24 Seventy
weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision
and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Dan 9:25 Know
therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment
to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be
seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and
the wall, even in troublous times.
Dan 9:26 And
after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:
and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end
of the war desolations are determined.
Dan 9:27 And he
shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week
he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the
overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the
consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
We should note
that two different “princes” are indicated in the prophecy. One, “Messiah the Prince”, and the other “the
prince that shall come”.
Several anointed
and cerebral minds, including Sir Isaac Newton, have studied and written
extensive commentaries on this prophecy.
The general consensus is captured by retired Scotland Yard detective,
Sir Robert Anderson in his 1895 book, The Coming Prince.13 What comes out clear is that the prophecy is
referring to two clearly separate periods of times, with the interval between
the two periods left unspecified. This
also constitutes a Gap. While we might
theorize that both Gaps in Daniel 2 and Daniel 9 have the same duration, it
does not bring us any closer to knowing the exact duration.
Verse 24 states very clearly the mission which the
Messiah the Prince would be coming to achieve within the indicated period of
“seventy weeks”. This comprised of six
clear activities: “to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and
to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”
From our vantage point in history, we can see that
these six activities fall into two distinct groups and timelines, indicating
two different comings of the Messiah. The
first three activities were accomplished at His first coming, viz: finish the
transgression, make an end of sins, and make reconciliation for iniquity.” It remains that He should usher in everlasting
righteousness, seal up the vision and prophecy, and anoint the most Holy. These are to be accomplished at His expected
second coming.
With the “week” used in the prophecy interpreted as a
period of seven years,
the “seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” in verse 25, (that is
sixty-nine weeks) therefore translates to 483 years. According to calculations made by Anderson, based
on lunar calendar, this turns out to be exactly, to the day, the time interval
between the decree to rebuild Jerusalem given by King Artaxerxes on March 5, 444 BC, and the triumphant march of the
Lord Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday of AD 32. Ironically, it is on the basis of this
incredible accuracy that some liberal theologians, (the Higher Critics) reject
the book of Daniel as a forgery14.
How can such details be written so accurately ahead of their time, they
scoff!
With 483 years already gone of the 490 years (“seventy
weeks”) of history indicated in verse 24, it is clear that only “one week” (7
years) remains for the fulfillment of the entire prophecy indicated. However, it is now over 2,000 years since the
fulfillment of the first aspect of the prophecy!
The only explanation is that we are still in the Gap
period. The fulfillment of the second aspect of the prophecy involving the commencement
of an eternal kingdom of righteousness is currently put on hold. And it will remain frozen for an unspecified
period of time, at the discretion of the almighty God.
So what is this Gap period, the current dispensation,
really all about; and how might we discern the mind of the almighty God, as to
its duration?
According to
Scriptures, the almighty God in His infinite wisdom has determined that, for an
unstated period of time, “blindness” would come upon a major portion of the
Jewish nation which would cause them to reject their Messiah. This will consequently put a temporary halt
to their status as God’s special people and His witness and “teaching aid” on
earth. That priviledge would be transferred to the new creation, the Church,
which will comprise of people from all nations of the world – both Jews and
Gentiles.
Looking closely at
Daniel 9:24, we see that the time period indicated actually pertains
specifically to the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon
thy holy city”. The fulfilment of the
entire prophecy therefore pertains primarily to the Jews, and this will resume
only, after the Gap period is expired.
First, why the Gap?
The extension of God’s saving grace to non-Jews provided by the Gap, will
be the fulfilment of His promise to Abraham, that he would be a blessing to all
families of the earth.
“And I will make
of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and
thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse
him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
Gen 12:2-3
Furthermore, the ministry of the Messiah, “the son of
David, the son of Abraham” (Mat 1:1) is clearly indicated as not being limited
to the people of Israel:
“And he said, It
is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of
Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a
light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the
earth.”– Isaiah 49:6
In His first coming, before His sacrifice on the
Cross to settle the issue of “sin, transgression, and iniquity”, the Lord Jesus
made it clear He must give priority to the Jews in His ministry. This is clearly exemplified in the story of
the Canaanite woman of Mathew 15:
“But he answered
and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel…. It is
not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. (Mat.
15:24,26)
It was necessary that the Messiah first present
Himself to the Jews as their King (as He did on Palm Sunday), and be rejected (as
He was by them before Pilate on Good Friday), before the grace He brought could
be offered to others.
“Then saith he to
his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not
worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find,
bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and
gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding
was furnished with guests.” – Mat. 22:8-10
“Then Paul and
Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should
first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” –
Acts 13:46
So, how long might
the Gap last? Two key Scriptures give us
clear hints. One refers to the holy city of Jerusalem, and the
other to God’s chosen people, the Jews:
“And they shall
fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations:
and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled.” - Luke 21:24
This prophecy about Jerusalem is particularly clear
to us in our generation, from our vantage point in history; and it is clearly
an ongoing one. The Lord foretold that
Jerusalem would be trodden down by non-Jews for a period of time, but that the
Jews will return to exercise sovereignty over the city at the time appointed
for this. The year 70 AD saw the sacking
of Jerusalem and the Temple during Passover, by Roman forces led by Titus. An estimated one million Jews were killed,
and 97,000 enslaved. Some six decades
later, the city of Jerusalem was actually ploughed to remove every trace of
Jewish presence, and its name changed to Aelia Capitolina. Jews and Christians were banned from the city
and its surrounding areas.15
Jerusalem subsequently witnessed various gentile
rulers ranging from the Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ayyubid, Mamluk, Ottoman, and
finally the British.16 However, according to the word of God, the
times of the gentiles did come to an end.
The Jews returned first to the land, Eretz Israel, and declared an
independent state in 1948; took over the sovereignty of most of Jerusalem in
1967; and today is tenuously sharing governance of the spiritual heart of
Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, with Arab states.
If this prophecy will be an indicator of the length
of the Gap period, it is left for each of us graced to live in 2025 to discern
how close we might be to its final fulfilment. We will return to this shortly.
The second prophecy indicating when the Gap will
terminate is about peoples:
“For I would not,
brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in
your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the
fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
- Romans 11:25
This clearly states that the partial blindness of the
Jewish nation allowed by God, will last only until a certain number of Gentiles
have come in into the Church. Thereafter
the Church age will close, the Gates of
salvation by Grace will close, and the Saints will be removed from the scene - raptured.
From the other Scriptures already discussed, the
rapture of the Church will be to meet the Lord Jesus in the air, on His way to
earth to fulfil the remaining prophecies in Daniel chapter 9, which are to be
fulfilled after a period of 7 years.
These 7 years correspond to the 7-year Marriage Supper in the air.
Further reference to the 7 years, giving detailed
indication of what would be happening on earth is seen in Rev 12. On earth, the first half of the 7-year
period, (three and half years) will be bliss as the new world order unfolds and
people celebrate the “excision” of the incorrigible separatist Christians.
However, midway, the ruler of the revived Roman empire, (the “prince that shall
come” in Dan 9:26) will reveal his true antichrist nature as he goes to the
Jewish Temple (which would have been rebuilt at the commencement of the final
Jewish 7 years), claiming to be God. [This prophecy is specially highlighted by
the Lord in Mat.24:15].
While this may be okay with the rest of the world,
the Jews will kick against it, leading to their intense persecution. The treading underfoot of Jerusalem for the
final three and half years (forty-two months) is referred to in Rev 11:2.
“But the court
which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto
the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and
two months.”
Rev 12:14 details the helps and provision that God
would have however prepared ahead for His people during this time. [Note that
“a time, and times, and half a time” correspond to three and a half years (42
months), compare Rev 12:6 and Rev. 12:14].
“And to the woman
were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness,
into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time,
from the face of the serpent.”
The final three and half years (the second half) of
the antichrist reign on earth will mark the outpouring of God’s wrath on the
world as indicated in the sixth chapter of the book of Revelations, during the
opening of the seals. All these will be
preparatory to the final coming of the King Himself to destroy the antichrist by
the “brightness of His coming” (II Thess 2:8), thereafter instituting the millennia reign on
earth.
With all these accomplished, it will be time for
restitution of all things, and the Lord Jesus can come to earth to fulfill the
rest of Daniel 9, picking up His bride along the way during the 7 year Marriage
Supper:
“Whom the heaven
must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” Act 3:21
Figure 2, from Now The End Begins, summarizes the
Divine Timeline for the endtime from the Book of Daniel a pictorial.
A brief summary of
Nebuchadnezzar’s and Daniel’s dreams on One World Govt
Daniel Chapter 2 Daniel 7 Kingdom Date
Head of Gold Lion Babylon 605-539
BC
Breast of Silver Bear Medo-Persia 539-331 BC
Thighs of Brass Leopard Greece 331-168 BC
Legs of Iron Terrible Beast Rome 168 BC - 476 AD
Feet of Iron and Clay Beast 10 Global ??
(AntiChrist) Regions
History has proved not
only the accuracy of the Bible in this matter, but also tells us point
blank that time is up! Are you
making any preparation at all?
|
Figure 2: Divine Timeline: Image taken from https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/book-of-daniel-by-clarence-larkin/.
Further Contemporary Insights on the Divine Timelines
We can appreciate the timelines in these upcoming
events at even finer resolution by bringing in some contemporary Jewish
prophecies. (Being contemporary necessarily
means they are extra-Biblical, and as such, cannot be given same weight as
Scriptures). They have to do, in the main, with the restoration of Jewish
worship and sacrifices in Jerusalem. As
repeatedly discussed, this development representing a wholesale return of the
Jews to the God of their fathers, can only resume with the rebuilding of the
third Temple, an event closely related to the rapture of the Church.
The prophecy in Daniel 9 specifically makes it clear
that there would be a Jewish Temple standing in Jerusalem at the final 7 year
“Jewish” period. In their records of the
teachings of the Lord Jesus on end times, the writers of the Gospels
specifically draw the Reader’s attention to the prophecy of Daniel chapter 9,
and that the Temple will be functioning at that period.
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of
desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso
readeth, let him understand:)” Mat.
24:15 (Also, Mark 13:14)
The Lord had earlier in the narrative stated clearly
that the Temple would be destroyed at a period of time, before the final end
period.
“And Jesus said
unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not
be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Mat 24:2,
(Also Mark 13:2)
Thus, the erection of the third Jewish temple is a
major event that can help us discern our current placement on the end-time
timeline.
There have been two Jewish Temples to date, both
built on the same location on Mount Moriah (or the Temple Mount) in
Jerusalem. The first one built by
Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonian on the 9th day of the month Av, in 586
BC. The second one built by Zerubbabel-Joshua
around 536 BC, and expansively refurbished by king Herod between around 20 AD,
was destroyed on the same date of 9th of Av, in the year 70 AD by the Romans.17 The landmark prophecy in Ezekiel 37
speaks both of the return of a unified prosperous Israel nation to the land of
Israel, and also of the Sanctuary and Tabernacle of God being with them,
forever (verses 26-28).
At the present time, the Islamic shrine of the Dome
of the Rock stands on the exact location where orthodox Jews believe the third
Temple is to be rebuilt. Knowledge of the prophecy of this coming third Temple
is the major factor in the seemingly intractable Arab-Israel conflict. At the present time, the Temple Institute and
other Jewish agencies not only have detailed building plans for the Temple, the
materials for its construction have been pre-fabricated and awaiting
deployment! Similarly the instruments
for service, specially-bred animals for sacrifices, and priests are already being
prepared and groomed.18
One particularly relevant and well-known extra-Biblical
prophecy is that by the Jewish Rabbi, Judah ben Samuel (also called Judah the Pious).
Based on his biblical
calculations called the Gematria, together with his astronomical observations, he
predicted a detailed timeline for the return of the Jews to their homeland, and
the “beginning of the Messianic end-time.” Given in the year 1217,
it says:
“When the Ottomans (Turks) conquer Jerusalem they
will rule over Jerusalem for eight jubilees. Afterwards Jerusalem
will become no-man’s land for one jubilee, and then in the ninth jubilee
it will once again come back into the possession of the Jewish nation –
which would signify the beginning of the Messianic end time.”19
From history, the
Ottomans did indeed conquer Jerusalem, in the year 1517, and bore rule for four
hundred years after which they were displaced by the British, under the League
of Nations mandate, in 1917. Since a
Jubilee is 50 years (Lev 25:10), the Ottomans’ rule had lasted exactly eight
jubilees. Likewise, Jerusalem remained essentially a “no-man’s land” between
1917 and 1967 under various authorities (British/League of Nations till the
establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and thereafter with various wars
with Arab nations, until Israel eventually took possession of the entire
Jerusalem – West and East, particularly the “old city,” in 1967). That was also exactly a Jubilee after the
sack of the Ottomans. The accuracy of these fulfilled predictions lends
considerable weight to the final statement that the Messianic end time is
indeed here. The general expectation
from this “prophecy” is that the Messiah will appear within the 10th
Jubilee, which started in 2017.
It can be remarked
here that, significantly, every expansion of Israel in the Promised Land in
contemporary times, had always come at the instigation of her Arab foes! The
Jews were excited and contented just to have a homeland of their own,
especially after Hitler’s holocaust and other deprivations poured on them over
the centuries. They therefore joyfully
accepted the UN partition plan of 1947 offering them just a tiny slice of
Palestine, even without Jerusalem. It
was the Arabs who violently opposed the UN resolution (Resolution 181 of
November 29, 1947) and threw it into the gutters. They were confident that the rag-tag Jewish
army comprised of new settlers coming from various parts of the world and lacking
the required armaments for modern warfare, stood no chance against the well-developed
armies of five Arab nations which had been forged in the just concluded World
War II. The Jews were sternly warned
they would be mercilessly exterminated should they dare proclaim a sovereign
nation as allowed by the UN Resolution.
However, as is said, the rest is history. With everything turned to “Own
whatever you are able to win in battle”, the UN resolution was tossed aside,
and Israel unexplainably gradually gained the territories she currently
possesses, one Arab-instigated war after the other.
While some Arab
nations have come to terms with the existence of Israel and would be happy to
maintain the current status quo, others remain hell-bent on having her
exterminated. The usual ground for this unending
animosity is that Israel had grabbed land beyond the (militarily indefensible)
borders initially specified in the UN resolution. What is left unsaid is that such actions were
inevitable responses to Arab bellicose actions.
In short, virtually every progress made by the State of Israel towards
fulfilling the prophecies of total possession of the promised land had always
been a response to intolerable direct aggression.by the Arabs.
Which brings up
the incredible event of October 7 2023, where over a thousand Jews were massacred,
and abused in their land by Hamas militia. The action was largely celebrated
far and wide in the Arab world20.
So far, it is clear that current [October 2024] developments are not
following the scripts the planners of the attack might have envisaged a year
previously. Israel’s PM Benjamin
Netanyahu is defying all entreaties and insisting on sticking to his own
announced endpoint – total and permanent incapacitation of Hamas. This would seem
only a reasonable goal, though, seeing that Hamas and her sponsors, (notably
the Iranian government) have not stopped boasting that October 7 would continue
to be repeated, at increasingly grander scale, as long as both they and Israel
existed! Sadly, all these mean untold
hardship and collateral damage to countless innocent civilians on both sides of
the divide, especially the hapless Palestinians who Hamas deliberately and
shamelessly continue to use as disposable human shields.
The remarkable
similarity between the October 7 2023 attack by Hamas and an identical event in
exactly a Jubilee previously, in 1973, has been pointed out by Bible teachers21. Both events took place on the first Saturday
in the month of October, on a sabbath and Jewish holy day. And both resulted in wars. Clearly there is a prophetic underlying, and nobody
can claim to know how or when all these will end. However, going by the historic precedents
already cited, and the Agenda in view, it seems clear that everything is headed
towards the rebuilding of the Jewish temple on Mt Moriah. Based on Rev 11, notable Bible teacher Derek
Prince, had suggested a scheme on how the Temple could be built whilst
co-existing with the Islamic Dome of the Rock.
According to Dr Prince, the Dome is actually supposedly located on the
site “given to the gentiles” (Rev 11:2) and could constitute part of the court
of the gentiles in the new Temple.
However, with the
recent indiscriminate missile attacks by the Iranian regime and her proxies on
Jerusalem, with some being intercepted right over the Temple Mount, who knows
what a stray missile could wreak, if the Dome is accidentally hit (or conveniently
left unprotected by the Jews!). That
might provide the opportunity for the soon-to-be-revealed antichrist (“prince
of the people to come”) to intervene and help build the Temple which he would later
desecrate three and a half years afterwards.
By then the Church
would be at the Marriage Supper in the heavenlies.
Prophecies
involving living Actors
To conclude this
section, we might even attempt to glean further finer resolution of the
end-time timelines by considering prophecies that include actors who are
currently living. Current Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is one
such actors. Some 30 years ago, for
instance, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe told a young Netanyahu that “he, Benjamin
Netanyahu, will be Israel’s prime minister, who will pass the scepter to the
Messiah.”22 Another related
prophecy says that Benjamin Netanyahu will be the PM when the third Temple is
built. Admittedly, all these are not necessarily firm time-specifying. Netanyahu first came into office as PM in
1996 and left in 1999 without the unfolding of any Messianic event, (except the
Y2K meltdown scare). He was back in
office ten years later, serving an unprecedented 12-year stretch till he was
removed in 2021 in a tense political climate that saw Israel having four
elections in two years. But then he was
back in office again in 2022 and has remained PM till date.
Another popular contemporary
end-time prophecy referencing currently living actors include that of a St
Malachy. In the documentation of his
vision, the mystic, an Irish Bishop later canonized as St Malachy,
indicated that the total number of popes, counting from 1143 A.D., would be
112. Most popular prophecy commentaries
claim that the current Pope Francis is the 112nd since Pope
Celestine II who became Pope in 1143.
However, the official list of Popes from the Catholic Encyclopaedia
lists Pope Francis as the 266th Pope from the Apostle Peter, and
only number 102 from 1143 AD. The problem
is that there are serious controversies in the list of Popes, As explained in
the Wikipaedia article23 on Popes (commenting on the list used by
the Catholic Encyclopaedia):
“This chronological list
of popes of the Catholic Church corresponds to that given
in the Annuario Pontificio under the heading "I Sommi
Pontefici Romani" (The Roman Supreme Pontiffs), excluding those that are
explicitly indicated as antipopes….. The 2001 edition of the Annuario
Pontificio introduced "almost 200 corrections to its existing
biographies of the popes, from St Peter to John Paul II".
Once again, it turns out that this “prophecy” also cannot
offer any firm end-time timeline.
However, related developments in the catholic Church could be
interesting, as they connect back to the Jewish Temple. Even though, as previously mentioned, orthodox
Jews have completed the fabrication of the materials and vessels to be used in
the coming Temple, a bombshell of a news came out in October 2023 (ISRAEL 365). It reads: “A leading Italian member of
parliament, who prefers to remain anonymous, held a Zoom meeting
with Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu in which
he said that his country is prepared to return the lost Temple vessels to
Israel – and that the time to do so is now”.
However, in reaction
published in the same journal on November 3, 2023, Harry Hirschel Mosko,
Director of the Museum Exchange Program, Jewish Heritage Project (located at
the Vatican in Rome), tried to downplay the news, highlighting that there is a
difference between the Vatican and the government of Italy.24 He
suggested that the news was exaggerated.
So, once again, it seems there is a limit to how far we can go in our
attempts to glean at very fine resolution, the divine timeline of the coming
Rapture of the Church. A situation akin
to the famous Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in physics.
Intersection
of Divine and Satanic Agenda and Timelines
Even, if there is a limit to how far we can predict the timing of the
fulfilment of end-times agenda, there can be no doubting that they are
imminent. One pointer of this is the
increasing convergence of both Divine and Satanic timelines. We observe that not only are all the themes heading for
a crescendo at the same time, we see both divine agenda and satanic agenda
heading for the same conclusion. An
interesting intersection is described in the book of Revelations, concerning
the coming world-governing empire that would be in place at the return of the
Lord Jesus. We saw from Daniel 2 that
the government would comprise of 10 kings (the ten toes of the iron-clay
feet). Revelations 17 clarifies that
these kings with pre-existing domains will decide to surrender their kingdoms
to the coming antichrist, in furtherance of the satanic agenda. What they would not realize however (even though
this is pre-written, and pre-published), is that by so doing, they are actually
fulfilling the Divine agenda:
“For God hath put
in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto
the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. “ Rev 17:17
In the next
Section, we examine, in three chapters, details of three main plots, (all
rooted in the “trans” culture). being
used to actualize the grand agenda of corrupting and controlling mankind. This, as already discussed, is the central strategy
Satan hopes to use to stall or even frustrate the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ to the planet earth in order to complete the work of redemption of
mankind and creation. Progress in these plots,
and the singularity they herald are clear to everyone who would take time to
see them and reflect on them. They are fairly good indicators to gauge the
imminence of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
====================================
He
who has an ear to ear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches
Rev
2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22; and Rev. 13:9
.======================================
