Chapter 01 – The seventieth week of years

An overview.

Table – The Great Tribulation – classified by events.

The seventy weeks of seven years and the last week of seven years.

Table – Sequence and Duration of events in the Last Days.

The tribulation of those days – the beginning of the birth pangs.

Table  – The World Empires in the Bible.

The one who now holds back the lawlessness.

The man of lawlessness, the first Antichrist.

The persecution of those who believe in Jesus.

The great darkness – the sixth seal

The Second Coming of the Lord – the death of the first Antichrist.

The raising and Rapture of those who believe in Jesus.

The day of the LORD.

God’s two witnesses.

The demonic second Antichrist, raised again by Satan.

The second Antichrist kills the two witnesses in Jerusalem.

The false prophet.

The seventh trumpet: the mystery of God is finished.

The Day of the Wrath of God.

Resurrection of the martyrs to reign with Christ for a thousand years.

The thousand years kingdom of peace of the Son of God.

Table – Sequence and duration of events in the Last Days.

An overview.

According to Daniel, the start of the seventieth week of years marks the beginning of the events of the Last Days. This last of the seventy weeks of years seen by Daniel extends over two periods of the Last Days. In the first period occurs the "tribulation of those days" (Mt 24:29) with the first Antichrist (the "beast from the sea", Rev 13:1), involving catastrophes and the persecution of Christians throughout the earth.

The subsequent Great Darkness, with the Second Coming of the Lord, the killing of the first Antichrist by the Lord and the raising of the dead in Christ for the Rapture, together with the still living congregation of the Last Days, is the last event of this first period, whose darkness all over the world already heralds the second period, the "Day of the Lord" or "Day of the Wrath of God".

The interpretation of the seventieth week of years thus reveals a division of events into two parts. It starts with the "he" mentioned in Daniel 9,27 concluding "a firm covenant with the many" (the Jewish people?) "for one week" (week of years), but then "in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering", so evidently breaking this covenant.

And this "he" – the Antichrist – will then, according to recent findings, be active in both periods – in the first part as the "man of lawlessness", as Paul calls him in 2The 2,8 (and see also Mt 24:12!). At the end of this period he will be destroyed by the Lord Jesus on the latter’s Second Coming to earth, being slain "by the breath of this mouth" (2The 2:8). In the second period, the second part of the week of years (on the "Day of the Lord"), this man who has died will resurrected by Satan (the "beast from the abyss", Rev 11:7) and will rule the earth as the "demonic Antichrist".

(See also Discourse 86: "The first and the second Antichrist.")

According to Rev 13:7, this resurrected demon will overcome God’s two witnesses, the two prophets, in Jerusalem, and he will be given "authority over every tribe, people, language and nation". As the false "resurrected Messiah", he evidently becomes the ruler of the world. At the battle of Harmagedon he fights, together with his allied kings and their worldly hosts, against the Son of God and the latter’s heavenly hosts. The battle goes against him, and together with his false prophet (the "beast from the earth", Rev 13:11), he is thrown alive into the lake of fire (Rev 19:20).

When we analyze these biblical passages more closely, we can see that the first, human Antichrist, in the first half-week, is mainly associated with the Jewish world as his sphere of activity – hence for example the persecution of Christians (Mt 24,9-11) and the abomination of desolation in the holy place / the temple (Mt 24,15). The second, demonic Antichrist, on the other hand, will extend his power and dominion to the entire world (Rev 13,7) in the second half-week.

Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place.

Mt 24,9 "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 24,10 At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 24,11 Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 24,12 Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 24,13 But the one who endures to the end  (44,5 months), he will be saved. 24,14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

24,15 Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 24,16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 24,17 Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 24,18 Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 24,19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 24,20 But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath." Mt 24,9-20;

For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

Mt 24,21 "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 24,22 Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 24,23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’or ‘There He is,’do not believe him. 24,24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 24,25 Behold, I have told you in advance. 24,26 "So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them." Mt 24,21-26;

The indication in the above passage (Mt 24,22) that "for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short" clearly corresponds to Daniel’s statement in Dan 11:35 below: "…it will still come at the appointed time." And this likewise confirms, as does the Lord’s invitation in Mt 24,15: "When you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet…", that we must interpret the Lord’s utterances in Mt 24 in conjunction with the statements of the prophet Daniel.

From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.
.

Dan 12,11 From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12,12 How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days! 12,13 But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age." Dan 12,11-13;
(1290 days = 43 months (1335 days = 44,5 months)
(1335-1290 = 45 days=1,5 months)

They will do away with the regular sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation.

Dan 11,31 "Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. 11,32 "By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.

11,33 "Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. 11,34 "Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy. 11,35 "Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.

11,36 "Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. Dan 11,31-36;

Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off.

Dan 9,26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 9,27 "And he will make hard the covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and in the temple there will be the abomination of desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." Dan 9,26-27;

We find in Matthew two references to a tribulation. First there is that of the persecution of Christians, where Christians are persecuted and killed for the sake of the name of Christ (Mt 24:9-20). And then there is a second reference in Mt 24,21. But as the context shows, both texts are concerned with the one event, the Great Tribulation.

In Mt 24,1-8 the Lord gives a short account of the beginning of the birth pangs, but the description of Great Tribulation itself starts at Mt 24,9. In Mt 24,21-26 this same Great Tribulation is then described in greater detail. Finally, in Mt 24,27-31 below, we find the prophecy of the Second Coming of the Lord, with the raising of the dead in Christ and their being raptured together with the still living congregation of the Last Days.

For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

Mt 24,21 "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 24,22 Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 24,23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’or ‘There He is,’do not believe him. 24,24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 24,25 Behold, I have told you in advance. 24,26 "So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’do not believe them. " Mt 24,21-26;

And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time.

Dan 12,1 "Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. Dan 12,1;

The prophecy of the darkening of the heavenly bodies on the Second Coming of the Lord, in Mt 24,29 below, then starts with "immediately after the tribulation of those days". Seeing that the Lord has just referred to this in Mt 24,21 as the great tribulation "such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now", this has to mean that we find ourselves here right in the middle of the Great Tribulation.

The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky.

Mt 24,27 "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 24,28 "Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. 24,29 "But immediately after the tribulation (Rev 7:14!) of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky (Rev 6:12-14!), and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 24,30 "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 24,31 "And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. Mt 24,27-31;

Here in Mt 24,29 the Lord refers to the time before his Second Coming as "the tribulation of those days" (the first half-week?). So this is the period of time that the Lord will bring to an end with the Rapture of the Christian congregation. This is also the time of which the Lord says that "for the sake of the elect those days have been cut short" (Mt 24:22).

The Second Coming of the Lord, with the killing of the first Antichrist and the Rapture, appears to bring to an end this first period of time (the first half-week) and to lead over to the second part, the second half-week, with the "Day of the Lord" (also known as the "Day of the Wrath of God"). So the darkening of the heavenly bodies also forms the starting point when we compare the parallelism of Mt 24 with Rev 6 and 7.

The sun became black, the moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, and the sky was split apart like a scroll.

Rev 6,12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;6,13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 6,14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Rev 6,12-14;

(See also Discourse 05: "The parallel course of events in Mt 24 and Rev 6 und 7.")

And finally, Revelation too shows a division of these Last Days into two periods. In the first half of the week of years, the Jews evidently have a religiously dominant function (2The 2:4) and are responsible for the persecution of Christians. Although pressure is exercised on the Christians of the world even from the beginning of this half-week, the real persecution and killing of Christians clearly only begins with the setting up of the abomination of desolation in the holy place, at the end of this first period of three and a half years.

(See also Discourse 48: "An alternative view on the sequence of events in the Last Days.")

The second part of the week of years – the Day of the Lord / Day of the Wrath of God – is then only described in greater detail in Revelation. Here we find the judgments of the trumpets and the bowls, which, when we look more closely, likewise represent such a great tribulation as has not been since human beings were capable of forming thoughts. So much for this overview.

The Great Tribulation – classified by events. (LANDSCAPE)

(See also Chapter 03: The Great Tribulation.)

The seventy weeks of seven years and the last week of seven years.

The vision of Daniel.

Daniel had read in the book of the prophet Jeremiah of the seventy years decreed for Jerusalem to be laid waste and destroyed, a time when the country and its inhabitants, together with the neighboring peoples, would serve the king of Babylon (Jer 25,11-12). Only when these seventy years of Babylonian rule are completed will the Lord bring back his people to Israel once more (Jer 29:10).

This whole land will be a desolation and a horror for seventy years.

Jer 25,8 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, 25,9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 25,10 ‘Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 25,11 ‘ This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

25,12 ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’declares the LORD, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation. Jer 25, 8-12;

When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will bring you back to this place.

Jer 29,10 "For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. Jer 29,10;

As Daniel was very concerned about his people, while at the same time not fully understanding this prophecy, he prayed to God for a better understanding of these mysterious words. And indeed, after Daniel had fasted for two weeks and abstained from all appetizing food, God sent the archangel Gabriel to explain this prophecy to him.

Daniel observed for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

Dan 9,1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— 9,2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

9,3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. Dan 9,1-3;

Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city.

Dan 9,22 He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. 9,23 "At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.

9,24 "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 9,25 "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.

9,26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut Rev and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 9,27 "And he will make hard the covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and in the temple there will be abomination of desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." Dan 9,22-27;

The historical background

The prophet Daniel lived and was active between 605 and 562 BC. In 597 BC, Jerusalem was conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the first exodus of the people of Israel to Babylon was ordered. Under its king Zedekiah, Israel now became tributary to Nebuchadnezzar. Ten years later, however, in 587 BC, Zedekiah revolts against Babylon. The result is a second siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. The city is taken for the second time. Amid these events, the temple is also destroyed and the second deportation takes place.

In 539 BC, the Persian king Cyrus defeats the Babylonians and captures Babylon. Then, in 538 BC, he allows the Jews to return from Babylon to Israel, and in 537 BC – 60 years after the first deportation – the first Jews returned to Jerusalem. Between 520 and 516 BC, Zerubbabel builds the second temple in Jerusalem, which is consecrated in 515. So much for the historical facts.

(See also table 03: "The historical world empires and their effects on Israel.".)

The interpretation of the seventy weeks

As a matter of interpretation, we must point out here that the "seventy weeks" in Dan 9,24 refer to seventy "weeks of years", that is to say units of seven years. Literally it speaks here of seventy "sevens". But this same word, with identical consonants, normally referred to the week. We find the same kind of arrangement in other scriptural passages. So for example in Lev 25,8: "Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years…" – so the meaning of this term in Dan 9,24 is clearly the "week of years".

Various methods of calculation have been suggested with the aim of "accommodating" these 490 years. A highly illuminating attempt at interpretation was advanced by Gerhard Maier in his book "Der Prophet Daniel" ["The prophet Daniel"] (Wuppertaler Studienbibel, p. 345 ff). But in whatever way we try to arrange these 70 weeks of years, one thing must in any case be made clear: the promises of Dan 9,24 most definitely relate to the time after the 70 weeks of years!

Seventy weeks to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity.

Dan 9,24 Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. Dan 9,24;

After the announcement that these seventy weeks have been decreed (revised Luther text somewhat misleadingly gives "imposed") for the people of Israel, there comes a "then". So it is only when these seventy weeks of years are over that the events that now follow in the text will occur. These are:

-  Transgression is brought to an end.

-  Sin is done away with.

-  Iniquity is atoned for.

-  Everlasting righteousness is brought in.

-  Vision and prophecy are fulfilled (sealed up).

-  The Holy of Holies will be anointed

As things stand today, we can hardly speak of an end to transgression, either in Israel or in the world. Sin has not yet been done away with in such a way as to lose its effects. Sin as such is not even recognized in the world as yet, so people cannot atone for their iniquity either; and eternal righteousness is not to be found, not even in temporal terms. Vision and prophecy have only been fulfilled in part hitherto, and for all these reasons the Holy of Holies (the temple in Jerusalem, that is) cannot possibly be anointed – not least in view of the fact that there still is no temple in Jerusalem today.

So although we have to admit that in today’s world all these statements have by no means come to pass, we can still recognize that for Christian believers at least a part of these forecasts have found a preliminary fulfillment in the redeeming sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Through the acceptance of this sacrifice for our sin, our iniquity is atoned for and our sin is made an end of. So too among believing Christians it can be said that the transgression is finished and our deciding today for Jesus brings us eternal righteousness, when the Lord comes again.

But we have to realize that these statements in Dan 9,24 are considerably more comprehensive. It is not just a matter here of the iniquity, sin and transgression of Christian believers. It is about the iniquity of all humanity. And when we are also told that "vision and prophecy will be sealed up", this must also, and above all, refer to the fulfillment of the key statements of the Old and New Testaments: the Second Coming of the Lord and the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth – in other words, the Millennium.

But the fulfillment of these prophecies is a promise that only comes true in the Last Days. It follows that these prophecies are promises not for Christians but for the Jews. In the Millennium, when the Jews acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ, they will have all their sins forgiven in one hour. It is only on the sounding of the seventh trumpet, when the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of God and of the Lamb, and not before, that the mystery of God will be completed, as we are told in Rev 10:5-7.

And then too the last utterance in Dan 9,24 ("to anoint the most holy place") will likewise harmonize with the other prophecies about this final period of grace on this earth.

Its entire area on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy.

Ez 43,9 "Now let them put away their harlotry and the corpses of their kings far from Me; and I will dwell among them forever. 43,10 "As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the plan. 43,11 "If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the house, its structure, its exits, its entrances, all its designs, all its statutes, and all its laws. And write it in their sight, so that they may observe its whole design and all its statutes and do them. 43,12 " This is the law of the house: its entire area on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. Ez 43,9-12;

Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Isa 60,1 "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 60,2 "For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. 60,3 "Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Isa 60,1-3;

The seventieth week of years.

As we have seen above, Dan 9,24 refers to the time after the seventy weeks of years. Based on the quite concrete prophecies relating to this time – "eternal righteousness will be brought in, vision and prophecy will be fulfilled, the Holy of Holies will be anointed" – we have been able to conclude that this relates to the beginning of the Millennium.

And in Dan 9,27 we then find a reference to the time immediately preceding, the last of the seventy weeks of years.

And he will make hard the covenant with the many for one week

Dan 9,27 "And he will make hard the covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and in the temple there will be the abomination of desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." Dan 9,27;

Some commentators would like to see this seventieth week of years as referring (either additionally or exclusively) to the time of Jesus’ life and ministry on earth. They therefore translate the Hebrew word for "heavy" ("he will make heavy the covenant") as "strong" – an altogether plausible interpretation – and so read: "he will make hard the covenant with the many for one week". Seeing that the Lord started his public mission around three years before his death, and with his sacrifice on the cross for our sins no further sacrifice for sin is required (Hebr 10:18), they see the second sentence in the verse Dan 9,27 as having been fulfilled: "but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering" – while the "abomination of desolation in the temple", finally, in the third sentence of the verse, they see as having been fulfilled in the year 70 AD, with the sack of Jerusalem by the Roman troops under Titus.

Although at first glance this interpretation is quite appealing, when we look more closely, we find it results in some textual difficulties:

"But he will strengthen/consolidate the covenant of the many for one week".
There is no way of explaining why the covenant should be "strengthened" for one week of years – for seven years, in other words. In the lifetime of the Lord it would have been only three years or so – the time of his public activity – and not seven years in which he could be said to have strengthened the covenant of the many. But if we take this "strengthening" as referring to the effects of the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ death, we would be looking at a period of two thousand years.

"But in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering".
The idea here is that sacrifices and grain offerings are no longer required because of the New Covenant. Commentators refer to the Letter to the Hebrews, which states:
When He said, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete.

When He said, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete.

Heb 8,13 When He said, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Heb 8,13;

In Hebrews, chapter 10 this point is made in even more concrete terms:

For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

Heb 10,11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 10,12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of god, 10,13 waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet. 10,14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Heb 10,11-14;

If we take a look at the sacrifices the Israelites were ordered to carry out (Leviticus chapters 1-7), we find the following five sacrificial rites:

The sacrifices:

-  Burnt offering: bullock, sheep or goat – to be consumed in fire – an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

-  Thanksgiving offering: bullock – to be consumed in fire – an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

-  Sin offering: bull – to be consumed in smoke – for atonement.

-  Guilt offering: ram – to be consumed in fire – for atonement (for the entire congregation).

The grain offering:

-  Grain offering: flour, oil, salt – to be consumed in fire – an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

Of these five sacrifices, only one is explicitly for "sins", a second for "guilt". The others, however, are meant for thanksgiving and the glory of God. And when it says in Heb 10,12 that the Lord Jesus "offered a sacrifice for sins", this clearly and exclusively refers to the "sin offering" – maybe also the "guilt offering" – as a sacrifice which is no longer needed, but this in no way "abolishes" the other sacrifices (burnt offerings, thanksgiving offerings) and certainly not the grain offering.

This is confirmed furthermore by the fact that later, in rebuilt temple of the Millennium, we do indeed find sacrifices – sacrifices of thanksgiving – being offered (Mal 3:2-4; Jer 33:10-11; Jer 33:16-18; Isa 56:5-8;).

We must therefore assume that the statement: "And in the middle of the week he will abolish sacrifices and grain offerings" does not refer to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, through which further sin offerings have rightly become obsolete, but must actually refer to the abolition of all sacrificial acts in the temple.

"And in the temple there will be the abomination of desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolated".

The last statement of this verse also makes little sense in connection with the time of Jesus. Here, too, an attempt is made to interpret it as referring to the time of Titus, 70 AD, when the city and temple were destroyed by the Romans. But that would mean, surely, that one part of this seventieth week of years would have consisted in the Lord’s public ministry, while a second part would then have followed on some 37 years later.

Likewise with the promise "until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolated" – we can find no appropriate explanation for this in those times. As a very wide shot we might point to the downfall of the Roman empire, several centuries later. But as may be seen, none of these things quite fit together as we would expect them to.

We must therefore return to the beginning of verse 27 and ask ourselves who is actually meant by the "he" at the beginning of this verse – "he will make a firm covenant with the many". This is, of course, a retroactive pronoun, so we have to look for the corresponding, last-named subject in what is stated previously.

Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off.

Dan 9,26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 9,27 "And he will make hard the covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and in the temple there will be the abomination of desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." Dan 9,26-27;

If we – like many other interpreters – assume that the "anointed one" or Messiah who is here cut off is to be understood as a reference to the Lord Jesus and his death on the cross, we realize now that the time of the Lord’s public ministry is not an integral part of the seventy weeks of years at all. In Dan 9,26 it actually says explicitly: "And after the sixty-two weeks" – taking into account the seven weeks from verse 25, this makes it after the 69th week in total – while verse 27 already refers to the time after that, namely the seventieth week of years. The ministry and death of the Lord Jesus therefore fall between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth week of years.

The proponents of the Christ-centered interpretation of this text believe that they recognize God as the "subject of action" in Dan 9,26. They equate the "anointed one" who is cut off with Christ – quite correctly – but then think that the "he" in verse 27 also refers to Christ. However, this is clearly wrong. For the last-named subject before verse 26 is without doubt the "prince" whose people will come to destroy the city and the sanctuary.

This can be seen particularly clearly in Martin Buber’s translation, which is very close to the original text, where it says:

This "prince" – or "duke", as Buber calls him – in Dan 9,26 therefore refers not to the Lord Jesus, but to Titus. However, the events in the year 70 were only a pre-fulfillment. And likewise the events in the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, which the angel Gabriel prophesies to Daniel in Dan 11,21-36, are also a foreshadowing of the Antichrist.

They will do away with the regular sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation.

Dan 11,31 "Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. 11,32 "By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.

11,33 "Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. 11,34 "Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy. 11,35 "Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.

11,36 "Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. Dan 11,31-36;

Here above, in the prophecy about Antiochus IV, we already recognize some similarities with the predictions about the Antichrist, which the angel Gabriel then reveals to Daniel in Dan 12,1-13.

Right at the beginning we have this reference which the Lord also uses in Mt 24,21, and by which we can recognize that it is actually a prophecy about the Great Tribulation in the Last Days: "a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time".

And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time.

Dan 12,1 "Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 12, 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Dan 12,1-2;

Also at the end of this prophecy, in Dan 12,11-13, we find an important parallel with the other end-time prophecies: the Antichrist will abolish the continual sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation.

From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.

Dan 12,11 "From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12,12 How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! 12,13 But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age." Dan 12,11-13;

Even if the Lord’s statement in Mt 24,15, "when you see the abomination of desolation standing", could leave us in doubt as to where this abomination of desolation is to stand, Dan 12,11 definitely gives us confirmation that the abomination will be set up where the continual sacrifice was offered – that is, at the temple in Jerusalem.

So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel.

Mt 24,15 "So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand— 24,16  then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 24,1/ Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 24,18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 24,19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 24,20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 24,21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again. 24,22 "If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. Mt 24,15-22;

And the setting up of the abomination of desolation in the temple is now also the time when the tribulation of those who believe in Jesus, of which the Lord warns us in the Gospels, reaches its climax.

So it is the Antichrist to whom all these scriptural passages refer. He will rule and dominate this "week", these seven years. For the first three and a half years – the first half of this week of years – he will succeed in establishing and expanding his rule as a human being, mainly in Israel, as a false "Messiah".

He will abolish the daily (Mosaic) sacrifice and grain offering and set up the abomination that leads to desolation (the Satanic faith). In so doing he will break the covenant with the Jews (the Mosaic faith) and introduce a new religion.

He will initiate a persecution of Christians that can certainly be compared to the persecution of the Jews in the "Third Reich". As we will see below, at the end of the first half of this week of years, he will take his obsession with power to the extreme and sit down in the temple in Jerusalem, pretending to be God himself (2The 2:3-4). The Son of God will then kill him with the breath of his mouth when he returns to rapture the deceased and living believers in Jesus.

In the second half of this week of years, this man killed by the Son of God will be resurrected by Satan and, according to what Revelation tells us, will become an absolute world ruler in the form of a demon. He will exercise power over "all tribes and peoples and tongues and nations" (Rev 13:7).

But we have not yet reached this point. At the beginning of the seventieth week of years, the "ground" has not yet been sufficiently prepared. We know from history that it always takes very specific sociological and economic conditions for dictators to come to power.
Just as Hitler once based his "Third Reich" on the collapse of the German economy, with unemployment, hunger and misery, the Antichrist also needs a scenario of misery and hopelessness in order to appear as the great "savior" on the world stage.

Sequence and Duration of events in the Last Days.(PORTRAIT)

See also Table 17: "The Chronology of the End-Time Events.")

The tribulation of those days – the beginning of the birth pangs

The first seal – the first Antichrist: the rider on the white horse, the man of lawlessness

Many false Messiahs will appear and will mislead many.

The statements of Mt 24 and Rev 6 show a partial parallelism that must not be overlooked in the exegesis. Although the rider on the white horse in Rev 6,1-2 has no direct equivalent in the Gospels, the judgments of the seals from 2 through 4, and in particular the contents of the sixth seal judgment, are also featured in the Lord’s end-time discourses. Here is a direct comparison:

A white horse, and he who sat on it went out conquering and to conquer.

Rev 6,1 Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come." 6,2 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. Rev 6,1-2;

For many false Christs will mislead many.

Mt 24,3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" 24,4 And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you.

24,5 "For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’and will mislead many. Mt 24,3-5; (Lk 21:7-8; Mk 13:3-6)

According to the interpretation favored at Immanuel.at, this rider on the white horse is the first, human Antichrist. Among the many false Christs, he will evidently assert himself, with the help of Satan, as the most successful liar. He is a liar and a deceiver, but people want to believe his lies and so he succeeds in pushing through his deceptions without any problem (similar to someone like Trump in the USA) and presenting himself as the true "Messiah".

This could be just what is meant by the phrase "he went out conquering and to conquer": namely, that his lies – the "arrows" he shoots – never miss their target and he always gets away with them. We also find these character traits in Paul’s description of "the man of lawlessness, the man doomed to destruction" in his second letter to the Thessalonians.

Until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction

2The 2,3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 2,4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 2,5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 2,6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time.

2,7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. ,8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming.

2,9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 2,10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 2,11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 2,12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.. 2The 2,8-12;

This man of lawlessness will not care about any laws, but will enforce everything according to his will and people will believe everything he says because "God sends them a powerful delusion". He will even sit down in the temple and claim to be God himself. But as people believe these deceptions of his, they will adopt the same kind of attitude in their personal everyday lives.

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.

Mt 24,11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 24,12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. Mt 24,11-12;

And here we can see that the "lawless one" and lawlessness in Paul, in 2The 2:3,7,8 and 10 (unrighteousness), have an obvious counterpart in Mt 24,11 above, where the Lord himself indicates that lawlessness will prevail. And so it would be quite understandable if this lawlessness not only caused the love of the many to grow cold, but even caused mutual hatred to break out among people.
And that would again be a parallel to the second seal, where the rider on the fiery red horse was given the power "to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a great sword.

Table  – The World Empires in the Bible. (LANDSCAPE)

The one who now holds back the lawlessness

The prophecy of Paul, in 2The 2,3-9 below, is the key passage for the interpretation of the two Antichrists. In verse 2,7 we first find the statement: "For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way." And then in verse 2,8, following on from the revelation of the lawless one, Paul prophesies that he will be killed by the return of the Lord for the Rapture.

For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.

2The 2,7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 2,8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming. 2The 2,7-8;

We can assume here with a high degree of probability that "the one who now holds it back" is the Holy Spirit. For with reference to the Holy Spirit, the Lord tells the disciples in Jn 14,26 below that the Father will send them the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, in his name; and he then explains to them, in Jn 16,7, that it is good if he himself goes away – that is, to the Father – because if he does not go away, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will not come to them. But when the Lord is with the Father, he will send them the Holy Spirit..

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name.

Jn 14,2626 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Jn 14,26;

Eit is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you;

Jn 16,7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. Jn 16,7;

And all this leads to the following conclusion: if the Lord does not go to the Father, the Holy Spirit cannot come to earth. Conversely, this must mean that if the Lord, when he returns for the Rapture, comes back to earth, the Holy Spirit, i.e. the one who "now holds it back" in 2The 2,7, must return to the Father again. This means, however, that there is no longer any restraining influence and so the way is clear for the revelation of the lawless one, the first Antichrist.

And then, in verse 2:4, Paul goes into more detail about the behavior of this lawless one (the blasphemer, the first Antichrist) following the departure of the Holy Spirit. He will exalt himself "above all that is called God or is worshiped" and he will sit down in the temple and pretend to be God himself. But here, while we have to do with the first Antichrist (up to 2The 2,7), there is still no indication of any influence of Satan whatever.

(See also Discourse 108: "Who or what still restrains the Antichrist"?)

The man of lawlessness, the first Antichrist.

First the apostasy must come and the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition, must be revealed.

2The 2,3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 2,4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 2,5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 2,6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 2,7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.

2,8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.

2,9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 2,10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 2The 2,3-9;

The text in 2The 2,8 has already been commented on above, but from 2The 2,9 onwards we are obviously dealing with a different individual. Paul still calls him "lawless one", but after prophesying that he will be killed by the Lord, Paul speaks of this lawless one coming "in accordance with how Satan works".

Based on the fact that Paul has been giving us a chronological prophecy here (starting with 2The 2,3), we can assume that he has followed a similar procedure in 2The 2,8 and 9 and that this lawless one will therefore "come again" in 2,9 after his death in 2The 2,8. And thus Paul reveals to us that this lawless one, although he died as a human being, has been resurrected "through the work of Satan". So the same person, the first Antichrist, will reappear as the second, demonic Antichrist, resurrected by Satan – later featuring as the "beast from the sea" (resurrected living creature, demon) in Rev 19,20 who is thrown alive into the lake of fire.

Paul also emphasizes his great power and the lying signs and wonders that this second Antichrist will work. And he moreover points out that this second, resurrected Antichrist will use "all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved."

In addition to these prophecies of Paul in 2The 2,3-9 above, where the first Antichrist in 2The 2,8, following his appearance as the "lawless one", is killed by the Son of God at the latter’s return for the Rapture and is then resurrected "by the work of Satan" in 2The 2,9 as the second Antichrist, we then find below, when we analyze this second Antichrist, the same process in the prophecy about the "beast from the sea" in Rev 13:1-8.

The second seal.

Wars and rumors of wars (…) nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Mt 24,6 "You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 24,7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. Mt 24,6-7;

Men would slay one another.

Rev 6,3 When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come." 6,4 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him. Rev 6,3-4;

The statement in Mt 24,7: "nation (people) will rise against nation (people) and kingdom (empire) against kingdom (empire)" could lead us to assume that this would be a world war. Especially if you follow Martin Luther’s version, which unfortunately translates incorrectly as "one nation will rise against another and one kingdom against another".

The original Greek, however, does not say "one nation against another", but "nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom". Luther is right, certainly, that the mention of "people" and also "kingdom / empire" is an indication of the global significance of this statement.

But this particular combination has a second additional meaning. We have to ask ourselves why the Lord did not include "nation against kingdom and kingdom against nation" in this statement. And in fact there is only one plausible answer to this: because he wanted to point out that it is not one nation fighting against the other, but "nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom", i.e. the citizens of each country, whether nation or kingdom, fighting against their fellow citizens. In other words, these are civil wars.

It is therefore not one nation that will rise up against another, but each nation against itself. Every nation, whether democracy or kingdom, but especially the remaining autocracies of this world will rise up against themselves. And that does not indicate a world war, but rather worldwide popular uprisings and even civil wars. The citizens will – for whatever reason – rise up against their own governments.

And of that we have an excellent description in the other biblical passage above, Rev 6,3-4: "it was granted to him to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another (original Greek text); and a great sword was given to him." These risings in every country all over the world will go so far that "men will slay one another", so we have to envisage bloody civil wars here.

The third seal.

Famines, earthquakes and plagues.

And in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.

Mt 24,7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 24,8 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Mt 24, 7- 8;

A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius.

Rev 6,5 When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6,6 And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine." Rev 6, 5- 6;

For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equalled again.

Mt 24,21 For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equalled again. 24,22 ‘If those days had not been cut short, no-one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. Mt 24,21-22;

There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then.

Dan 12,1 ‘At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people – everyone whose name is found written in the book – will be delivered. 12,2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Dan 12,1-2;

As it is described in Mt 24,21-22 and Dan 12,1-2, the tribulation of this time will be one such as there has never been before. And it will not just be limited to a single country or people – like Israel, as some suppose – but will have worldwide effects.

The sun will shine with ever greater intensity and so influence the weather that it does not rain any more. The crops, if there still are any crops in the fields, will burn up. New fruit will fail to grow because of the drought. The glaciers will melt and the rivers dry up.

The fourth seal.

A quarter of the earth will be killed by sword, famine and plague.

 They were given power over a quarter of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Rev 6,7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!’ 6,8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a quarter of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. Rev 6,7-8;

Already in the time of the "beginning of the birth pangs", with the first three judgments of the seals, the world has been afflicted by wars, famines and other catastrophes. Now, with the fourth seal, mankind is truly experiencing a tribulation such as has never been before and will never be again.

"A quarter of the earth killed" - death and hell reap their harvest. This "quarter of the earth" could of course refer to the fourth part of the people of the world. But it is also possible that we are talking about the fourth part of the land area of this planet. And if it also refers to the most populous quarter of the earth’s surface, namely Asia, this will affect what is currently almost half of the world’s population (3.6 billion).

But even if it were only the fourth part of the population, there are already over two billion people today who are being carried off by wars, hunger, thirst and pandemics. This report of the first phase of God’s judgments on this world ends with the fourth seal. And if the above interpretation is correct, between 2 and 3.6 billion people, as things stand today, will have perished in these worldwide catastrophes.

It is therefore altogether reasonable to assume that this will be the greatest catastrophe of all time for mankind. Although all the people of the world – apart from Noah and his family – perished in the Flood, the world’s population at that time was barely more than a few million, so that can hardly be compared with the scale of the disaster here.

The fifth seal.

The souls of the martyrs in heaven.

The souls of the martyrs in heaven.

Rev 6,9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 6,10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 6,11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. Rev 6, 9-11;

At the time of the fifth seal, at least a quarter of humanity has been killed in the preceding catastrophes of the Great Tribulation. The great multitude of believers among them is then seen in Rev 7,9-17, after the Rapture. Here they are already in heaven before the throne of God, clothed in the white garments of believers and justified by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.

The above reference in Rev 6,11: "until their fellow servants and brothers, who were also to be killed like them, were added in full" therefore indicates not this great multitude of believers who have already been raptured, but first the martyrs of all times, and then above all those believers in Jesus who will be killed during this time, who have been hated, betrayed, condemned and put to death by the whole world – even by their closest relatives – because of their faith, and will continue to be killed for a short time to come.

The tribulation of Jesus’followers.

Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you.

Mt 24,9 "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 24,10 "At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Mt 24, 9-10;

You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, and they will put some of you to death.

Lk 21,16 "But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, 21,17 and you will be hated by all because of My name. 21,18 "Yet not a hair of your head will perish. 21,19 "By your endurance you will gain your lives. Lk 21,16-19;

The hatred against Christian believers ("hated because of my name", Mt 24,9) and the pressure of the Antichrist’s (false Mosaic?) global dominion will come to such a pitch that even relatives, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers will betray them and bring them to judgment. But the Lord promises these despised believers that they need not worry about what they will say in the face of their earthly judges.

The Holy Spirit will fill them and give them the right words. And at the end of days, the Universal Judgment of all humanity, these judges will be condemned because of these words, because they heard them spoken but were not willing to understand them.

For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

Mt 10,17 "But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; 10,18 and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 10,19 "But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say.

10,20 "For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. 10,21 "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

10,22 "You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. 10,23 "But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. Mt 10,17-23;

During this time, many martyrs will lose their lives because of their faith. But even those Christians who miraculously survive this period will only be able to do so with a great deal of suffering, sacrifice and indescribable fear. But it is precisely for the sake of these chosen ones that the Lord promises to shorten the time of their tribulation, so that they will not give in to the pressure like others, be deceived (convert to the anti-Christian [false Mosaic?] faith) and worship the image of the beast.

For the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

Mt 24,22 "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 24,23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’or ‘There He is,’do not believe him. 24,24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 24,25 Behold, I have told you in advance." Mt 24,22-25;.

The abomination of desolation in the holy place.

The false prophet, the beast from the earth, will now cause people to make an image of the first beast – the Antichrist – and worship it. Anyone who is not prepared to worship this image is a "blasphemer" and will be killed.

And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast.

Rev 13,13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. 13,14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

13,15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 13,16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 13,17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 13,18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. Rev 13,13-18;

The abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.

Mt 24,15 "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand). Mt 24,15;

This blasphemous image in the temple of Jerusalem can also be found – as the Lord says, in Mt 24,15 above – in the Old Testament, in the prophet Daniel, where Daniel too calls it the "abomination of desolation".

And in the temple there will be abomination of desolation.

Dan 9,26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut Rev and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

9,27 "And he will make hard the covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and in the temple there will be abomination of desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." Dan 9,26-27;

They do away with the regular sacrifice and they will set up the abomination of desolation.

Dan 11,31 "Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. 11,32 "By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. Dan 11,31-32;

The text above, from Mt 24,15, is the basis for the interpretation of all the events surrounding the setting up of the abominable image in the temple. Mt 24,15 also explicitly refers to the parallelism with the prophecy of the prophet Daniel.

In the book of Daniel, however, we have two references to the setting up of an abomination of desolation. One is in Dan 9,27, the other in Dan 11,31. Although almost all interpreters agree that the seventh king of the north, from Dan 11,40 onwards, refers to the Antichrist, some do not want to recognize Dan 11,31 as a parallel passage because verses 21-39 of this chapter refer to Antiochus Epiphanes and can also be clearly linked to historical tradition.

(See also Table 04: "What is written in the Book of Truth (Dan 11,1-45: 12,1-13).".)

These prophecies about the end times are continued, however, in Dan 12, where the time of the Great Tribulation is described. And here we find another reference to the abomination of desolation in Dan 12,11:

From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up.

Dan 12,11 "From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.

12,12 "How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!

12,13 "But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age." Dan 12,11-13;

The angel Gabriel clearly refers here to Dan 11,31, and gives us to understand that from the time when the abomination of desolation is set up, there are still 1290 or 1335 days remaining until the end.

From this context, it must inevitably be concluded that this same verse 31 and the following verses have a reference to the "end", i.e. to the Antichrist and the time of the Great Tribulation. The most reasonable interpretation, then, seems to be that which relates Dan 11,31-39 both to Antiochus and to the Antichrist. We find this peculiarity of prophecy, namely that pre-fulfillment and final fulfillment overlap in some texts, relatively often, so this approach is by no means unusual.

The abomination of desolation in the temple as a signal for flight?

Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

Mt 24,15 "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 24,16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 24,17 " Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 24,18 "Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 24,19 "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 24,20 "But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. Mt 24,15-20;

But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

Mk 13,14 "But when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 13,15 "The one who is on the housetop must not go down, or go in to get anything out of his house; 13,16 and the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his coat. 13,17 "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 13,18 "But pray that it may not happen in the winter. Mk 13,14-18;

From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.

Dan 12,11 "From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12,12 How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! 12,13 But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age." Dan 12,11-13;

The text above, in Mt 24,17-18 and Mk 13,15-16, is probably attested in the oldest manuscripts, but a closer look reveals a peculiar impression when we compare it with the parallel passage in Lk 17,31:

The gathering of the chosen.

Lk 17,28 "It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; 17,29 but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 17,30 "It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 17,31 "On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back.

17,32 "Remember Lot’s wife. 17,33 "Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 17,34 "I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. 17,35 "There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. 17,36 "Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left." 17,37 And answering they said to Him, "Where, Lord?" And He said to them, "Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered." Lk 17,28-37;

We recognize that this text in Matthew and Mark is probably to be assigned to different events than those referred to in Luke. Whereas Matthew and Mark relate these statements to the setting up of the abomination in the sanctuary and a flight into the mountains, Luke on the other hand associates them with the Second Coming of the Lord and the gathering of the elect by the angels.

And if it is somewhat difficult to understand these sentences in Matthew and Mark in their context, in Luke we can recognize the immediate connection quite clearly. The first sentence here is almost word for word identical to the statements in Matthew and Mark. Incidentally, the fact that there could be people on the roof here still caused astonishment for some commentators in our latitudes, where we are only familiar with pointed tiled roofs, even in the last century – even giving rise to the supposition that severe hail must have fallen, damaging all the roofs, so that the inhabitants would have been forced to climb onto their roofs to repair them.

However, since Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Turkey and Israel, as well as Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, have become favorite vacation destinations for Central Europeans, we know that the houses there usually have flat roofs, forming a terrace on which laundry, spices and other things are laid out to dry in the southern sun and also serving as a place to linger in the cool evenings.

From this roof, a narrow stone staircase on the outside of the house – but inside the property wall – leads down to the inner courtyard. From there you enter the actual house on one side, this usually consisting of two small rooms, while on the other side, facing the street, there is the clay wall with a low entrance door.

And now it is important to pay close attention to the way the text is formulated here. We are told in Luke: "On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out." If these instructions were followed exactly, the people would have to stay on the roof. But the situation associated with this text in Matthew and Mark, with the injunction to flee to the mountains, requires precisely the opposite reaction – namely to climb down in order to be able to flee from the house.

The same applies to the subsequent exhortation to the house dweller working in the field: "and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back." Here it becomes particularly clear: they should not flee, not even turn back – even mentally! – to see what is behind them.

Now some have argued that what is being recommended here is that people should come down from the roof but not go into the house to fetch their things – exiting instead at once by the gate of the courtyard. Others again have claimed that the houses had two staircases – one going down to the courtyard and a second one on the outside wall, descending to the street, and that this is the escape route indicated here.

But not only would this second staircase have been an unnecessary expense at the time – it would also have been an open invitation to thieves and other riff-raff to gain entrance from the street by way of the staircase, so this argument too must be wrong.

But what does this injunction actually mean? If we look at the context in Luke, we realize that these sentences are obviously set in a completely different context as opposed to Matthew and Mark. In Luke 17,30 we are already "on the day that the Son of Man is revealed". And a little further on, in Luke 17,34, we read that this is the time of the gathering of the elect, the Rapture. Flight is no longer relevant here. On the contrary, the long-awaited redemption by the Lord is approaching. They no longer have to go anywhere, but should just stay wherever they are at the moment.

Whether they are in bed, in the field or at work, the angels of the Lord will come and take those who are the Lord’s and leave the others behind. This is also confirmed by the Lord’s subsequent answer to the disciples’ question in Luke 17:37 as to where this would happen. He said: "Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered", giving them to understand that they did not have to go to a special "gathering place". The angels that the Lord will send will be able to find them wherever they happen to be, even without an external sign, just as vultures are able to find carrion instinctively

(See also Table05: "Synopsis of the Lord’s eschatological discourses.".)

So while this text makes clear sense in Luke, it is less clear in Matthew and Mark – who are also rendered misleadingly in the Luther translation. In the original text, Mt 24:18 does not say "he who is in the field, let him not go back", which gives the impression that we are being warned against "returning", but rather, identical in wording to Lk 17,31, "he who is in the field, let him not turn back to what is behind him". It is therefore an invitation to stand still and not to look back, which is also underlined by the injunction in Lk 17,32: "Remember Lot’s wife".

To what extent these two sentences in Matthew and Mark actually mean something else, or whether they were already assigned to the wrong event when they were written down, is a question that can no longer be answered with certainty today.

A great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world.

Mt 24,21 "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

24,22 "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 24,23 "Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’or ‘There He is,’do not believe him. 24,24 "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 24,25 "Behold, I have told you in advance. 24,26 "So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’do not believe them. 24,27 "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 24,28 "Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Mt 24,21-28;

For the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.

Mk 13,19 "For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will. 13,20 "Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days. 13,21 "And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ’or, ‘Behold, He is there’do not believe him; 13,22 for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.13,23 "But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance. Mk 13,19-23;

The Great Darkness.

The sixth seal.

With the next seal, the sixth, a new event begins: the Great Darkness. This event is mentioned astonishingly often in both the Old Testament and the New. It is the last event in the period of the seventieth week of years, and following the Second Coming of the Lord for the Rapture leads into the next end-time period, the Day of the Lord.

The sun became black, the moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth.

Rev 6,12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 6,13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 6,14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Rev 6,12-14;

The sun will be dark and the moon turn to blood before the coming of the Day of the Lord.

Joel 2,31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 2,32 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls. Joel 2,31-32;

The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

Apg 2,19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 2,20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 2,21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."(Joel 2,31-32). Act 2,19-21;

The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.

Isa 13,10 The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.  Isa 13,10;

The sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.

Joel 2,10 Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.Joel 2,10;

Joel 4,15 The sun and moon will darken, and the stars will withhold their light. Joel 4,15;

And this event too was announced to us by the Lord Jesus – almost word for word – in his end-time discourse. In Mt 24,29 and Mk 13,24-25 there is also talk of the darkening of the heavenly bodies, along with a mention of "the stars of the sky fell to the earth" – the only place in Scripture where this is found, similar to Rev 6,13 above.

The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give it’s light, and the stars will fall from the sky.

Mt 24,29 "But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give it’s light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Mt 24,29; (Lk 21:25-26; Mk 13:24-25;)

Likewise the indication in Mt 24,29 and Lk 21,26 that "the powers of the heavens will be shaken" is echoed by a corresponding statement in Rev 6,14: "The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up.

(See also Chapter 04: "The Great Darkness.".)

The Second Coming of the Lord.

The revelation of the Lord.

In this Great Darkness there then occurs the revelation of the Son of Man, who comes for the Rapture of those who are his. All human beings will see him coming with great power and glory. The surviving Christian believers can now lift up their heads, for their redemption is at hand.

For that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.

2The 2,3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 2,4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 2The 2,3-4;

The coming of the Son of Man will be like a lightning.

Mt 24,27 "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Mt 24,27;

Like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky.

Lk 17,24 "For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. Lk 17,24;

The sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky.

Mt 24,30 "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. Mt 24,30;

The death of the first Antichrist.

Before the Lord sends out his angels to gather the Christian believers who are still alive, he will first kill the Antichrist, as Paul prophesies.

The lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming

2The 2,8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 2,9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie,  2,10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  2,11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie  2,12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.2The 2,8-12;

The gathering of the elect – the Rapture.

The raising of the dead and the Rapture.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes (15,51-52): "We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." This "last trumpet" has been understood as referring to the seventh and last trumpet of the judgments of the trumpets in Revelation.

At the last trumpet the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

1Cor 15,50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 15,51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 15,52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1Cor 15,50-52;

But then we were able to show here, at Immanuel.at, that the Second Coming of the Lord is to take place at the sixth seal, at the Great Darkness, and not at the seventh trumpet (see the table "The Great Tribulation" above). And since clearly the Rapture cannot take place without the Lord, the Rapture must therefore also take place at the sixth seal.

Closer examination then revealed that "loud trumpets" will also sound at the gathering of the elect by the angels of the Lord. So it is obviously the sound of the last of these trumpets that Paul is referring to in his statement in 1Cor 15,51-52, and not the announcement of the seventh trumpet judgment in Rev 9,13. It follows that after the Rapture the mystery of God is by no means yet complete.

And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call,

Mt 24,30 ‘Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 24,31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Mt 24,30-31;

The dead in Christ will rise first and then we who are alive will be caught up together with them.

1The 4,15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 4,16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 4,17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 1The 4,15-17;

We groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling.

2Cor 5,11 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 5,2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 5,3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 5,4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 2Cor 5,1-4;

He will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Rom 8,10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.  8,11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Rom 8,10-11;

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt

Dan 12,1 ‘At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people – everyone whose name is found written in the book – will be delivered. 12,2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 12,3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. 12,4 But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.’ Dan 12,1-4;

Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

Lk 17,28 "It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; 17,29 but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 17,30 "It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 17,31 "On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back.

17,32 "Remember Lot’s wife. 17,33 "Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 17,34 "I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. 17,35 "There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. 17,36 "Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left." 17,37 And answering they said to Him, "Where, Lord?" And He said to them, "Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered." Lk 17,28-37;

The silence in heaven – the seventh seal.

And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

Rev 8,1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 8,2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 8,3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne.

8,4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 8,5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Rev 8,1-5;

With the seventh seal we find something like a turning point – the conclusion of what has been happening so far, and the start of a new period. It is like the calm before the storm, so to speak – that is how the seventh seal comes across.

Then the kings of the earth hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

Rev 6,15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 6,16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;

6,17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" Rev 6,15-17;

The Day of the Lord (judgments of the trumpets) and of the Wrath of God (judgments of the bowls).

The judgments of the trumpets.

The first trumpet, a third of the earth and a third of the trees and all the green grass was burned up.

Rev 8,6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared hemselves to sound them. 8,7 The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. Rev 8, 6- 7;

The second trumpet, A third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Rev 8,8 The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, 8,9 and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed. Rev 8, 8- 9;

The third trumpet, Aathird of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters-

Rev8,10 The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. 8,11 The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. Rev 8,10-11;

The fourth trumpet, a third of the sun and the moon and the stars were struck.

Rev 8,12 The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. 8,13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!" Rev 8,12-13;

The first woe.

Fifth trumpet: smoke went up out of the pit and out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth.

Rev 9,1 Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. 9,2 He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. 9,3 Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. Rev 9, 1- 3;

The men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads are tormented for five months.

Rev 9,4 They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 9,5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. Rev 9, 4- 5;

The second woe.

The sixth trumpet: A third of mankind was killed by fire and smoke and brimstone.

Rev 9,13 Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 9,14 one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." 9,15 And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.

9,16 The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. 9,17 And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. 9,18 A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. 9,19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm. Rev 9,13-19;

God’s two witnesses.

The two witnesses prophesy for 1260 days in Jerusalem.

After the killing of the first Antichrist by the Son of God on his return for the Rapture, God sends his two witnesses to Jerusalem to persuade people of sound mind to turn back and repent, but to prophesy doom to the wicked and impenitent and to announce judgment to the world on the coming Day of the Lord.

 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days.

Rev 11,1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, ‘Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshippers. 11,2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.

11,3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.’ 11,4 They are ‘the two olive trees’ and the two lampstands, and ‘they stand before the Lord of the earth.’ 11,5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.

11,6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.  Rev 11,1-6;

The invincibility of the two witnesses.

In the days of their prophesying in Jerusalem, the two witnesses are invincible. If anyone attacks them, fire comes out of their mouths and kills their opponents. At first glance, you might wonder who would try to kill two men who after all only "prophesy" and call people to turn back to God.

Fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies.

Rev 11,4 They are ‘the two olive trees’ and the two lampstands, and ‘they stand before the Lord of the earth.’ 11,5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. Rev 11,4-5;

However, as we will see a little further on, in the commentary on Rev 11,6, not only the inhabitants of Jerusalem have every reason to fear them, but the whole world is watching Jerusalem spellbound – waiting to see who will finally succeed in eliminating these two saints of God who have brought about drought, famine and water shortages worldwide.

The power of the two witnesses to control nature.

These two prophets of God will close the heavens during the time of their prophesying – i.e. for 1260 days or 3½ years – so that it will not rain on this planet. The result of this is a drought catastrophe with food shortages, famine, thirst and pandemics. They also have the power to turn the waters into blood and strike the world with pestilence and other kinds of plague.

They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying.

Rev 11,6 6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. 11,7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 11,8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city – which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt – where also their Lord was crucified. Rev 11,6-8;

The global dimension of this climate catastrophe.

This climate catastrophe will not be limited locally, but will have effects all over the world – as we can see from the statement in Rev 11,6 "they have power… to strike the earth…" – and it becomes even more apparent in Rev 11,10:

Because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

Rev 11,9 Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 11,10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. Rev 11,9-10;

Based on the above statements, it can be assumed that the whole world is aware of the activities of the two prophets in Jerusalem, so the perpetrators of this global climate catastrophe are known to all people. Hence a concerted effort will be made to eliminate the two prophets in Jerusalem. But to everyone’s horror, they will discover that these men are invulnerable. No rifles, pistols or other weapons will be able to harm them. On the contrary, every squad that sets out to eliminate them is destroyed down to the last man. And with every attempted attack, the plagues grow worse.

The demonic second Antichrist, resurrected by Satan / Rev 13.

He has power over all peoples and languages and nations, he is the ruler of this world.

We have documented the appearance of the second, demonic Antichrist in two biblical passages below. First in Rev 13,13-18, where his death as the first Antichrist (7th head) and his resurrection by Satan are recorded, and then further down in Rev 11,7, where he rises as a beast (demon) from the abyss.

One of the first actions of this false "Messiah" will be to rid the world of the two witnesses of God, the two prophets in Jerusalem. This demonic Antichrist will now take into his own hands what many have tried and failed to do in the past three and a half years, and show the world his power.

I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast

Rev 13,1 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. 13,2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.

13,3 I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain,

and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;

13,4 they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?

13,5 There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty‒two months was given to him. 13,6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 13,7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. 13,8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. Rev 13,1-8;;

Here John sees a "beast" coming up out of the sea, "having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems/crowns". The seven heads represent the seven human empires of the world (Dan 7,17, see the table above) up to the Millennium. And now it is interesting that in Rev 12,3 (in reverse order) this beast has "seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on its heads", and "its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth." So who is this "beast" here?

In order to answer this question, we must take a quick look at Satan, his actions and above all his intentions. We know from Lk 4,5-8, where Satan tempts the Son of God and tries to lead him astray, that Satan has been given power over all the empires of this world – evidently so that he can test human beings in this way, in order to see whether they will hold fast to God in spite of his temptations and so attain to eternal life, or whether they will fall away from God and be condemned to eternal damnation at the Last Judgment.

In this text in Luke, we can see the true and only goal of this former angel who is now a demon. He offers the Son of God power over all the kingdoms of the world: "If you worship me, it will all be yours." It is precisely this burning desire of Satan’s to be worshiped that led him to seduce the angels of God, shortly before this encounter with the Son of God while Satan was still in heaven.

And he succeeded persuading a third of the angels to join him and engage in a battle in heaven against the other two thirds of the angels under the archangel Michael, his aim being to seize power in heaven. At that time, two thousand years ago, he lost this battle and was cast down from heaven to earth, along with his angels. Since then they have all been demons.

(See also Discourse 137: "The battle in heaven.")

And now we can answer our question above as to who this "beast" in Rev 13,1 is, with whom the heads and horns are mentioned in reverse order as compared with Satan in Rev 12,3, and with whom the diadems or crowns sit on the horns rather than on the heads. It is still the same Satan – only around 5000 years later.

In Rev 12,3 we see Satan at the beginning of his activity, in the time of the Pharaohs, when all these world empires (the heads with the diadems / crowns) are still in the future. In the Last Days however, the time of the Antichrist, all these world empires are already a thing of the past. The last world empire still remaining to Satan is precisely that of the Antichrist.

This can also be seen from the fact that this beast is described in Rev 13,2 with all the characteristics of Daniel’s vision (which we will deal with below), where each of the four beasts is described, in reverse order: like "a leopard or panther" (Greece), "and its feet were like those of a bear!" (Medo-Persia), "and its mouth was like the mouth of a lion" (Babylonia). Here now, in Rev 13,1, he only has power over the 10 horns, i.e. the 10 kings / kingdoms in this last world empire of the Antichrist.

But now this last world empire too is in danger because the Son of God has killed its ruler, the first Antichrist. The seventh and last head (the first Antichrist) of this beast from the sea (Satan) seems to have "a fatal wound" (the Antichrist being slain by the breath from the mouth of the Lord Jesus, on his return for the Rapture). But his death wound was healed (he was resurrected by Satan) and this beast (Satan manifest in the Antichrist) then rises from the abyss in Rev 11,7 below, as the second, resurrected Antichrist, and kills the two witnesses of God in Jerusalem.

The second Antichrist kills the two witnesses in Jerusalem. / Rev 11; Dan 7;

And here we recognize him again: that being who "will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people" (Dan 7,25) is the second Antichrist, now resurrected in demonic form. After his being raised from the dead he rises from the abyss (Rev 11,7), and his first action is to kill the two witnesses of God in Jerusalem. These two saints of God have remained unconquered for three and a half years, but now the resurrected Antichrist appears and is able, with the power of Satan, to kill them.

The beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack the two witnesses and overpower and kill them.

Rev 11,3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.’11,4 They are ‘the two olive trees’ and the two lampstands, and ‘they stand before the Lord of the earth.’11,5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 11,6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

11,7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 11,8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city – which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt – where also their Lord was crucified. 11,9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 11,10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. Rev 11,3-10;

As I watched, this eleventh horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them.

Dan 7,19 ‘Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws – the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. 7,20 I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell – the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. 7,21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them,

7,22 until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favour of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. 7,23 ‘He gave me this explanation: "The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. 7,24 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. 7,25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time Dan 7,19-25;

This is the clear indication of the second Antichrist when we come to interpret these texts, that after his resurrection by Satan and his ascent from the abyss, equipped with the strength and power of Satan (and being possessed by Satan), he can overcome and kill the hitherto invincible two witnesses of God. Thus we find him above, in Dan 7,25, as an eleventh "horn", but also as the "beast that comes up from the abyss" in Rev 11,7, and especially in Rev 13,7 as the seventh and last head of the "beast from the sea".

A further characteristic that we find both in Dan 7,25 and in Rev 11,6 and Rev 13,5 is the fact that this second, demonic Antichrist "speaks against the Most High" (Dan 7,25), against God that is to say, and "it opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven" (Rev 13,6), and cf. "The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies" (Rev 13,5).

We find another important insight, namely the duration of the second Antichrist’s time of activity, in Dan 7,25: "a time, times and half a time" and in Rev 13,5: "to exercise its authority for 42 months", i.e. three and a half years. What also becomes apparent in this context is the total duration of the activity of both the two witnesses and the second Antichrist.

According to Rev 11,2, the two witnesses of God will prophesy for 1260 days. Then, when they have completed their testimony, Rev 13,7 tells us that the second Antichrist will come up out of the abyss and as his first action kill the two witnesses of God, after which he exercises authority himself for another three and a half years. This results in a total period of seven years, which could again be the seventieth week of years.

(We would like to compare these and other parallels between Dan 7,20-27 and Rev 13,1-7, 19,20 and 20,4 in the light of the following table:)

(See also Table 06: "The Antichrist, the "queen" in the devil’s chess game.")

What also emerges from these texts is the authority which this second, demonic Antichrist will exercise in his three and a half years of effective activity. In Dan 7,25 it is only stated that "the holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time"; but Rev 13,7 tells us, on the other hand, that the beast "was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation".

And finally, Rev 13,4 and 13,8 allow us to recognize a very important connection. Rev 13,4: "People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?" And Rev 13,8: "All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast." Here we have indisputable proof that this second Antichrist will appear as a religious figure.

The fact that this second Antichrist establishes himself as a religious figure worldwide, and "all inhabitants of the earth" worship him and the dragon, permits us to draw the following conclusion: evidently Satan is trying here to imitate God (for this reason, Luther actually describes him as "God’s ape"). The first Antichrist is a Jew (a "goy" would not be accepted as a Messiah in Israel), and with the help of Satan and deceptive miracles he appears in Israel as the false Messiah.

But then he is killed by the Son of God, on the latter’s Second Coming for the Rapture. After that Satan raises him again from the dead, and "the dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority" (Rev 13,2). Thereupon the first Antichrist, now the second Antichrist and in demonic form, rises up from the abyss, and the first thing he does is to overcome and kill the hitherto invincible two witnesses.

Seeing that the two witnesses have plagued mankind for three and a half years and all attempts to eliminate or kill them have been in vain, because they were invincible to humans and all attackers were killed by them immediately, people are now happy to have finally got rid of them through this "risen Messiah".

It is also clear that people do not only worship the second Antichrist – they also worship the dragon, because he gave this second Antichrist power. The dragon will hardly have introduced himself as Satan, but the second Antichrist will claim that the dragon is "God the Father" and that he, the second Antichrist, is his son and also God.

As a result of this deception and of the miracles that he is able to work with the power and authority of Satan, he will become ever more famous and popular – so that his influence extends beyond the borders of Israel, and he actually comes to be worshiped by the entire world. We find this symbolically represented in Dan 7,8, where a small horn grows up between the ten horns, three of which it then uproots, going on to become much bigger than the other horns.

And then other texts too become much easier to understand. This false Messiah will no longer represent the Mosaic faith in Israel – as he originally did, when he was the first Antichrist – but now that he is world famous, he will proclaim himself to be God and demand to be worshiped: "In the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation." (Dan 9,27).
Since these two witnesses of God have plagued mankind with unbelievable catastrophes and crises and have so far been considered invincible, their killing by the second, resurrected and demonic Antichrist will be applauded by the whole world: "Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?" And the beast is given "authority over every tribe, people, language and nation".

In the end, however, he will have to fight against the Son of God and his heavenly army in the battle of Harmagedon. But we can assume that even if he is the ruler of a world empire, he is still a religious figure, as the false Messiah – one who has achieved power through religious deception – and this makes him different from the other rulers who have obtained their power on the field of battle.

So like the Pope today, he does not have an army of his own, but must convince the worldly "horns" or kings to fight for him. And so he and his false prophet, together with the dragon (Satan) send three demonic spirits to the kings of the world, to enlist their armies on his side.

And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs;

Rev 16,1316,13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 16,14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. 16,15 ("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.") 16,16 And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon. Rev 16,13-16;

The dream of Nebuchadnezzar – Dan 2.

But as we have already remarked above, actually the prophet Daniel was the first to have this vision of the kingdoms of the second Antichrist (the "kingdom of the feet" and the "kingdom of the toes"). In fact, he had the vision twice. The first time, it was the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon, in Dan 2,31-41. With the help of God, Daniel was able to interpret the king’s dream of a statue.

There was a single great statue; that statue was large and of extraordinary splendor.

Dan 2,31 "You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. 2,32 "The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 2,33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 2,34 "You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. 2,35 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Dan 2,31-35;

As can be seen from Daniel’s interpretation of this dream below, in Dan 2,37-44, Nebuchadnezzar was given a prophecy in this dream about his empire and the empires to come after him. The head of gold is Nebuchadnezzar’s own empire, i.e. Babylon. The breast and arms of silver represent the Medo-Persian Empire, which came to power after Babylonia.

The belly and thighs of bronze represent Greece, whose armies under Alexander the Great succeeded in defeating the Persians, so that Greece became a world power. And finally the legs of iron stand for the Roman empire, which took over world dominion from the Greeks around the year 146 BC.

(See also Discourse 98: "The fifth kingdom in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar: America?")

The feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom.

Dan 2,37 Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 16,38 in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. 16,39 ‘After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 16,40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron – for iron breaks and smashes everything – and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 16,41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. Dan 2,37-41;

Contrary to the opinion of some interpreters, the feet and the toes, partly of iron and partly of clay, are a further, divided kingdom – namely, the "kingdom of the feet" of the first Antichrist and the "kingdom of the toes" of the second Antichrist. And the kingdom of the toes has another specific feature compared to the kingdom of the feet: "they will mix with each other through marriage (politically correct term for sexual intercourse), but they will not cling to each other". In other words, they will not love each other, nor will they be in solidarity for long – "any more than iron mixes with clay".

As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.

Dan 2,42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 2,43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. 2,44 ‘In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure for ever. Dan 2,42-44;

(See also Table 03: "The historical world empires and their effects on Israel.")

The four beasts / kingdoms from the sea in Dan 7.

And then Daniel had a further vision where – similarly to the apostle John’s vision of the beast in Rev 13 – he sees four beasts coming up out of the sea. And these are the same four world empires which we have identified in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream above: Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon as a "lion", the Medo-Persian empire as a "bear" and Alexander’s Greece as a "leopard" (sometimes translated as a "panther").

And just as Daniel, in his interpretation of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Dan 2,40, sees "a fourth kingdom, strong as iron – for iron breaks and smashes everything", so in his second vision (Dan 7,7) he sees " a fourth beast – terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left."

And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.

Dan 7,3 And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. 7,4 The first was like a lion but had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and set up on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. 7,5 And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and they said this to it: ‘Arise, devour much meat!’7,6 After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

7,7 After this I kept looking in the night visions,
and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and extremely strong;
and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet;
and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

7,8 While I was thinking about the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the previous (ten) horns were plucked out before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like human eyes, and a mouth uttering great boasts. Dan 7,3-8;

As in Rev 13, here again in Daniel we find "beasts that come up out of the sea". And, as we then learn in Dan 7,17, "The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth." So, as in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, these are the third through sixth of the seven world empires, namely Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece and the Roman Empire, but without the first two world empires of Egypt and Assyria (see the table above).

And now it is interesting to note the development of this beast. In the prophecies here following, it has seven heads and ten horns at the beginning and diadems / crowns on its heads. Then it is described in reverse order, with ten horns and seven heads and the diadems / crowns sit on the horns. Finally, only the horns are referred to, and neither heads nor crowns are mentioned at all.

This could be interpreted as a successive loss of power. First the beast (Satan) is in power (with crowns) in the seven world empires (heads). Then he has lost power in the world empires (heads; no crowns) and only has power left to him in the ten kingdoms (horns with crowns). In the end, only the ten kingdoms (horns) are left, over which he no longer has any power (no crowns).

Rev 12,3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 2,4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky (angels) and flung them to the earth.

Dan 7,7 After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, (…) and it had ten horns.

Rev 13,1 Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems,

When we look more closely, however, we see that appearances are deceptive. No loss of power is intended here, but rather – as we mentioned above – quite simply the passing of time. Six of these world empires existed in the past 5000 years, and have then, by the time of the last world empire of the Antichrist, become the past.

If we continue to follow the text in Dan 7, the explanation of the vision that Daniel receives from "one of those who were standing by" is the most illuminating for our purposes:

The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth which will be different from all the other kingdoms.

Dan 7,15 "As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. 7,16 I approached one of those who were standing by and began requesting of him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:

7,17 ‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.7, 18 But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and take possession of the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.’

7,19 "Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet,

7,20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head, and the other (according to Dan 7,8: "little one") horn which came up, and before which three of the horns fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts, and which was larger in appearance than its associates.

7,21 I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and prevailing against them,

7,22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.

7,23 "This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth and trample it down and crush it. 7,24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will humble three kings. 7,25 And he will speak against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time. Dan 7,15-25;

Let us take a look at this "kingdom", as Daniel describes it here. It will be "different from all the other kingdoms". Earlier kingdoms and empires had only ever achieved their power through battles and wars. In the history of the world, one nation has always defeated another and taken over its power.

So if this last human-ruled kingdom on earth is different from all these previous kingdoms, then it can only be because its power was not obtained through fighting and war. But how can you conquer the world in our day without fighting and war? – Well, we live in this world empire, which – at least for the most part – was not created through war: namely, democracy.

In a democracy, the ruler, the sovereign, is the people of each country. And power in a democracy is achieved through free elections and not through murder and homicide. This is indeed completely different from all the previous world empires. Yes, and although democracy has not yet spread throughout the world, in the end it will undoubtedly "devour the whole earth and trample it down and crush it".

In our time (2022), we are thus living in a very interesting period from a biblical perspective. We are currently witnessing Russia’s attack on Ukraine, and in the era of global democracy this is unlikely to go well for Russia. So if Russia is nonetheless victorious, then the above interpretation is wrong. However, if Russia loses and Ukraine becomes a free democracy, then this interpretation is correct.

(See also Discourse 133: ";The fourth world kingdom of Daniel: worldwide democracy.")

So if this "kingdom" is to be understood as worldwide democracy, where is the Antichrist, with Satan manifesting himself in his spirit? Well, there is only one possible answer: he is this eleventh horn in Dan 7,8: "This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully." As for these boastful utterances, we are later told that "he will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people." (Dan 7:25)

This fourth beast, the fourth world empire, will therefore be different from all kingdoms and will extend over the whole earth (devour, trample, crush...). However, there are no longer diadems / crowns on either the heads or the horns. And since these crowns symbolize the reign of Satan, this means that Satan no longer has any direct power in this last empire on earth.
But he has found a way to still exert influence. He has resurrected the first, human Antichrist whom the Lord Jesus killed with the breath of his mouth, giving him all his power and authority and even the throne; meanwhile he possesses his spirit and can therefore direct and monitor him at will.

In the battle of Harmagedon the second Antichrist fights, with the support of his allied kings and their worldly hosts, against the Son of God and the latter’s heavenly host. This battle he loses (Rev 16:13-16) and then dies a second time, by being thrown along, along with his false prophet (the "beast from the earth", Rev 13,11) into the lake of fire (Rev 19:20).

In the table above we can see that this beast, which rises out of the sea in the Revelation of John, unites in itself all the characteristics of the four beasts in Daniel 7 – the lion (Babylonia), the bear (Medo-Persia) and the leopard or panther (Greece). So John’s beast from the sea in Rev 13:1 combines all these properties of the past beasts (world empires).

But although this beast from the sea in John possesses all these properties, it is fundamentally different from the other beasts. And with this, we now also recognize the connection with the fourth beast in Daniel, and in particular its eleventh horn. Daniel describes both as fundamentally different from the other three beasts (heads / kings) and from the other ten horns (kings).

In order to understand this difference – first of all, that of the fourth beast in Daniel 7,7 – we must realize that these other three beasts, or world empires, have one thing in common: they have always achieved their power and greatness through conflict and war. This fourth beast in Daniel, however, no longer wages war; it fights on the political stage.

The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth and trample it down and crush.

Dan 7,23 "This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth and trample it down and crush it. 7,24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will humble three kings.

7,25 And he will speak against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time. Dan 7,23-25;

And now Daniel describes, in Daniel 7,24 above, the ten horns of this fourth beast. These stand for ten kings who will arise from this great empire of the fourth beast. But after them – that is, after they have come to power in their kingdom – an eleventh king will arise who will be different from the ten. He will be small at first, but he will grow in power and will supplant three of the ten by taking away their kingdoms.

The fourth beast, then, from which these ten kings and then the eleventh king emerge, is completely different – as Daniel indicates in verse 7,23 and also in 7,7 – from the other three beasts (kingdoms or world empires). To begin with this fourth beast was the Roman empire, but in our day there is no Roman empire anymore – on the other hand, we have the Antichrist to look forward to – not in our time, we may hope, but at any rate to come at some time in the future – so where does that leave us?

In the case of the Roman empire, the difference between this fourth empire and the other three empires was actually not so marked. All four gained power and territory through war; the Roman Empire was just much more brutal and consistent in its warfare. However, since these prophecies at the same time point to the Antichrist, there must be a "continuation", so to speak, of the Roman Empire into our time and beyond.

And if we let ourselves be guided by the absolute difference of this empire compared with the other world empires, as repeatedly emphasized in these prophecies, we do indeed find an "empire" which differs absolutely from the previous world empires and from the Roman empire as well. What we see is a real paradigm shift in the expansion of political power.

As we have explained earlier here at Immanuel.at, this world empire clearly consists of all the democratic states of the entire world combined ("it will devour the whole earth"). It is the unified democratic form of government that combines these many states of the world into a world empire (or kingdom). In all these states government is exercised by the same ruler as sovereign – namely, the people. This "kingdom" is indeed "different from all others that were before".

(See also discourse 133: "The fourth world kingdom of Daniel: worldwide democracy.")

And if we just come back to the horns now – Daniel writes in Dan 7,24 above: "As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise." If the above interpretation is correct, and in view of the fact that these kings must of course have kingdoms of their own, this fourth beast or fourth world empire (the former Roman empire) would be expected to give rise to ten sovereign states.

Now we could indeed restrict this fourth beast to the Roman empire and so to Europe (the Mediterranean), in which case these horns would be ten states that have developed from the Roman empire. Let us say, for example, Spain, France, Italy, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Syria and Jordan. But this would limit these events of the Last Days essentially to Europe, whereas we are told that the beast "will devour the whole earth".

If we see this fourth beast on a global scale as the worldwide democracy of our day, on the other hand, it shifts into another dimension. Then these ten horns would have to be ten global confederations. And this is not illogical either. We can already see five confederations of this kind, starting from the USA with its 330 million inhabitants  (California, with 39 million inhabitants and a GNP of 4.1 trillion US$, is the state with the seventh biggest economy in the world); then we have the European Union (450 million), the African Union (1.3 billion), the Union of South American nations (UNASUR, 430 million) and finally the Arab League, comprising 22 states and 400 million inhabitants.

If we now consider that large nations such as Russia, China (1.4 billion), India (1.3 billion), Indonesia (273 million), Australia and parts of Africa are not even included here, it is not unrealistic to assume that five confederations of states could come together in these parts of the world as well, so as to arrive at these 10 prophesied kings (confederations of states).

But then Daniel continues in 7,24: "and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will humble three kings". As we have now seen with the fourth beast / world empire, its difference from the three previous world empires lies not in its military superiority as in the past, but in its form of government as a democracy, the sovereign being the people.

So here too, given the diversity of the little horn, this could be something similarly unexpected. It is not the democratic political strength of the little horn that gives him the power to overthrow three of the ten kings. Quite differently from the other "kings", he will be not a political but a religious ruler. In fact he will be the Anti-Christ, who will claim to be the "real" Messiah or Christ.

And as described in Dan 2:8-9, he will indeed be able to perform miracles with the support of the "dragon", Satan, so that the whole world will applaud him in amazement. Democratic politicians and heads of government, on the other hand, naturally lack such abilities and so have no way of opposing him.

(See also Table 06: "The Antichrist, the ‘queen ’  in the devil’s chess game.".)

In the light of this, the Antichrist – the little horn – must appear in Israel and must be a Jew (the Jews would never recognize a "goy" as their Messiah). As we can see, Israel is small compared to the ten confederations, but the little horn is quite different from the other ten horns: it is no longer about physical size, it is the spiritual indoctrination that counts. The Antichrist will soon be given worldwide admiration and acceptance through his miraculous deeds, and the hearts of the voters will flock to him.

And so this deceiver will probably first come to power in Israel as the Messiah eagerly awaited by the Jews, rebuild the temple and introduce the Mosaic rite as the state religion. With his miracles, he will then inspire large parts of the world’s population, especially the Messianic Jews, Catholics and Evangelicals worldwide, and thereby depose the democratically elected leaders in three of these kingdoms or confederations of states and bring himself to power in their place.

Above all, the 1.3 billion Catholics of the whole world will celebrate him as the "returned Jesus" and the Pope will join the ranks worshiping this "saint" and become his henchman, his "false prophet" (Rev 16:13). John sees this Pope in Rev 13,11-17 as the second beast rising from the earth (the earth symbolizes the religious world, in contrast to the sea, the profane world).

This first Antichrist will probably reintroduce the Mosaic religion in Israel as being obligatory for every Jew, and will also insist on enforcing this religion in his sphere of power in the world. But as Paul tells us in 2The 2,8, the Son of God will then come in the Rapture (in the judgment of the sixth seal, later on) and kill this first Antichrist with the breath of his mouth.

The Antichrist will rule in Jerusalem for 42 months and blaspheme against God.

The Antichrist now has a won game. He has overcome the two prophets who afflicted the earth with famine and pestilence and conquered the city of God, Jerusalem. He is now the absolute world ruler. He has become what Satan has always been – the "God" of this world.

But appearances are deceptive. Even this power of his is only being tolerated by the true God. And he has only a short time to exercise it. Three and a half years, or 42 months, are allotted to him. Then he too will be done away with.

He rules for three and a half years, when the dispersion of the holy people is brought to an end.

Dan 12,6 And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, "How long will it be until the end of these wonders?" 12,7 I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the dispersion of the holy people is brought to an end, all these events will be completed. Dan 12, 6- 7;

The nations will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.

Rev 11,1 Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, "Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. 11,2 "Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. Rev 11, 1- 2;

The false prophet

After Satan has fetched the first beast, the Antichrist, from the sea, he causes a second beast to arise, this time out of the earth. This is the false prophet, and he acts in the authority and with the power of the first beast. He too makes great signs and wonders come to pass, and he finally brings it about that the entire world worships the first beast.

The second makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast.

Rev 13,11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. 13,12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. Rev 13,11-12;

And they worshiped the beast and the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast.

Rev 13,3 I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; 13,4 they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?" Rev 13,3-4;

Many years before John received his revelation from the Lord, Paul had already warned of this development in his second letter to the Thessalonians. He emphatically points out that before the return of the Lord, this man of wickedness, the adversary and Antichrist, must come first, so they must not allow themselves to be deceived.

He takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

2The 2,1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2,2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 2,3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 2,4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 2The 2, 1- 4;

So people will take the Antichrist to be the Messiah, the Son of God, while his "father", Satan – who gives him this authority and power – is supposed to be God. We can sense the force of this delusion when we consider that even the elect will be at risk of being led astray. It can hardly be assumed that these people, these chosen ones of God, could be dissuaded from their faith by primitive false teachings. But this indicates that there will actually be a very subtle and diabolical imitation of the "coming of Christ", if even these servants of God are capable of being deceived.

The seventh trumpet: the mystery of God is finished.

The third woe.

The seventh trumpet – the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.

Rev 10,5 Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven,10,6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer, 10,7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets. Rev 10,5-7;

If the locusts rising from the smoke at the fifth trumpet are to be taken literally, this would mean that there had previously been a prolonged dry period without rain on the earth. Such locust plagues usually occur about two years after a drought, mainly in steppes and cereal fields.

As we then learn from Rev 9,18, a third of humanity will be killed in the sixth trumpet judgment alone. The majority of the inhabitants of a quarter of the earth were of course already killed in the fourth judgment of the seals (Rev 6:7-8). If we take the most populous quarter of the earth’s surface – Europe, Asia and the whole of North Africa – almost half of the world’s population must have died. Therefore, at the fourth trumpet, only around 50% of people are still alive. Of these 50%, a third, i.e. a further 17%, will now be killed. This results in a decimation of the world’s population by a total of ca. 70%, or around four billion people as things stand today.

To bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy.

Dan 9,24 "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. Dan 9,24;

Just like the seventh seal, however, the seventh trumpet does not bring any direct plagues. This last trumpet merely announces that there will be no more waiting. The kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ. Now the mystery of God is complete, as he has proclaimed to his servants, the prophets. Vision and prophecy will be fulfilled (sealed up) and eternal righteousness will be brought in..

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

Rev 11,15 Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." 11,16 And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 11,17 saying, "We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.

11,18 "And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth." Rev 11,15-18;

So this is the moment when God takes power in this world. It is the moment when God intervenes to put an end to the irresponsible actions of people towards each other and towards his creation.

The Day of the Wrath of God.

The bowls of the Wrath of God.

In the second part of the "Day of the Lord", we recognize the Day of God’s Wrath. It is the seven bowls of God’s wrath that give this time its name. One severe plague after another impacts humanity, which has already been decimated considerably. Nevertheless, they do not change their ways. On the contrary, people blaspheme against God because of these plagues, but they still do not repent.

The battle of Harmagedon.

The Antichrist calls on the kings of the whole world.

For the Antichrist, the situation is now becoming increasingly problematic. Hardly anyone is likely to have noticed the disappearance of the elect, as they are probably a small group in terms of numbers and, on top of that, they are likely to be hiding somewhere, in order to conceal their "flaw" (the missing mark of the beast). But the sign of the Son of Man in the sky has been seen by all people. And the Antichrist now also knows that his hour has struck. But he clearly cannot and will not go back. He is determined to fight this final battle as well. And with the support of Satan and the false prophet, he summons the kings of the whole world and their armies to Harmagedon.

Unclean spirits go out to the kings of the whole world.

Rev 16,13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 16,14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. 16,15 ("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.") 16,16 And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon. Rev 16,13-16;

The "Word of God" and the host of heaven.

And the Lord Jesus too now comes with the host of heaven, to take the field against these Satanic forces.

The Word of God, and the armies which are in heaven, were following Him on white horses.

Rev 19,11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 19,12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 19,13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

19,14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 19,15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 19,16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, ANd LORD OF LORDS" Rev 19,11-16;

The beast and the kings of the earth make war against Him who sat on the horse.

Rev 19,17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, "Come, assemble for the great supper of God, 19,18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great." 19,19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Rev 19,17-19;

The beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

Rev 19,20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 19,21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. Rev 19,20-21

(See also Chapter 07: "The Battle of Harmageddon.".)

The transformation of heaven and earth.

Before the Millennium, God will revitalize this planet which has been polluted by humanity and disfigured with its skyscrapers. The surface of the planet will be turned over by gigantic earthquakes, and the new surface of the earth will be level. There will be no more mountains or islands in the sea (islands, of course, are just mountains under water).

In the Millennium, people will live for as much as a thousand years, as in the time before the Flood. As a result of this longevity, the world’s population is likely to grow to a hundred billion people or more. However, the entire surface of the earth can now be used as arable land, so no one will have to go hungry.

There will be no more wars in the Millennium, for the Son of God will punish severely any military initiatives. And nature too – the flora and fauna – will be at peace. The lion, for instance, will become a vegetarian and will eat straw like the ox; wolves and lambs will graze together, and a young child will be able to play next to a viper’s nest (Isa 11,6-8; 65,25). Human beings will still be youthful at 100 years of age, and will have a lifetime of up to a thousand years.

However, we must be aware that there is some uncertainty in the interpretation at this point. There are three possibilities relating to these conditions of life in the Millennium: either they apply to all human beings, or they only apply to the inhabitants of Jerusalem or – the third possibility – there are only "inhabitants of Israel" now living on earth – only, that is, those who believe in the one and only living God.

In the latter case, however, it must be explained that the people who have survived the battle of Harmagedon, and in particular also the earthquake that transforms the heaven and the earth, consist of people from all nations who have converted to this God and so are entitled to call themselves Israelites. This then is the "Israel of God", which with the great multitude of its inhabitants will expand, in the east to the Euphrates and in the west as far as the Mediterranean.

A great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.

Rev 16,17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done." 16,18 And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 16,19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 16,20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 16,21 And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe. Rev 16,17-21;

Satan bound for a thousand years in the abyss.

The dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, is bounded for a thousand years.

Rev 20,1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 20,2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 20,3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. Rev 20,1-3;

The raising of the martyrs.

They will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

Rev 20,4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 20,5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 20,6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. 20,7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison.  Rev 20,4-7;

And that marks the conclusion of the events of the Last Days. What follows is the last period of time here on this planet – the thousand years Kingdom of Peace of the Son of God on earth, the Millennium.

The thousand years Kingdom of Peace of the Son of God.

"The Millennium."

To summarize, we can say that the seventieth week of years includes the two end-time periods, the "Great Tribulation" and the "Day of the Lord", with all their associated individual events. These seven years(?) are the culmination of world history. The reign of humans and demons over the world has come to an end. In the subsequent period of the Millennium, God and the Lord Jesus Christ will reign over humanity for the last thousand years of this first creation.

(See also Discourse 48: "An alternative view on the sequence of events in the Last Days.")

Finally, here is a link to these events of the seventieth week of years, in the order that can be derived from the relevant statements in the Old and New Testaments:

"The biblical path to freedom in the New Creation.".