In the eleventh chapter of Daniel, there are prophecies concerning the history of the world. Since I'm not a great history buff like some, I can't explain most of what goes before verse 21. (However, I'll look into history in the meantime.) But, here is where the Antichrist appears in Daniel 11:
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
In other scripture, the Antichrist is described as coming in "peaceably". (His is also vile. Yikes.)
22 And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
He shall work deceitfully. Don't believe a word this guy says! He is the opposite of Jesus Christ and we know that Jesus is "The Truth". What would "a small people" mean? Are the people short? Or, are they a country that's not recognized internationally as being very important?
24 He shall enter peaceably (there's that word again) even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
He's going to spoil the fattest places and share it! Like a Robbin Hood or something. And he's going to predict his own future and tell people how he's going to conquer.
25 And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him.
Who is the king of the south? (My guess is that this is talking about Israel. But there are other verses in the Bible to explain this. Right now we're concentrating on the personality of the Antichrist.)
26 Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.
27 And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.
There's going to be a lot of lying going on. We need to have a lot of discernment these days.
28 Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits and return to his own land.
The holy covenant is the agreement that has been confirmed "with many" by the Antichrist himself. But, it seems like the covenant is cramping his style and he wants to break it.
29 At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.
30 For the ships of Chittim (Cyprus and possibly also other islands in the Mediterranean Sea) shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.
31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
So, the Antichrist will take away the "daily sacrifice" which I assume is the sacrifice that the Jews will be making in their newly built temple in Jerusalem. And he will place the "abomination that maketh desolate". That sounds pretty bad. Of course, we Christians will not be bowing down to worship this idol and that's where all the trouble comes in.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Power! Protection! Provision!
I want to share an eye-opener I experienced the other day while reading Revelation 7. (I have been in the book of Revelation a LOT lately and I think that is a normal response to what is going on on the earth today!)
Revelation 7, verse 2: "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel."
And what came to me was this: "This is not a physical army. That is, it has nothing to do with physical blood lines. It has nothing to do with the physical children of Israel. It has everything to do with those who are born again in the spirit of Christ. Even Jews who receive Jesus will NOT remain a part of their natural blood ties regarding this sealing. Even if they could possibly know which son of Israel they hailed from, it doesn't matter.
(The Jews have now been thoroughly intermingled with other races to the point that a Jew could have two or three sons of Israel as a forefather. Am I right? I mean, how could you even trace your bloodline back all that way?)
So, now, what happened is this (I believe): when we receive Jesus, we are grafted into the tree, just like Paul said in Romans 11. We become connected to the faith of Abraham and Israel and part of their fruit!
Romans 11:24 "For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?"
So, although it is more natural for a Jew to receive and believe in Jesus, especially since Jesus came to the Jews first as their prophesied Messiah, I believe they still need to be grafted in!
In other words, what I'm saying is that I believe the 144,000 will be born-again believers like YOU and ME! We are already sons of Israel of what tribe, maybe God can show us if we ask Him!
Wow!
So, there you go. Take it or leave it. It's up to you. You don't have to believe it.
Personally, I do not believe for one second that the 144,000 will be all Jews. Nope. The 144,000 are Spirit-filled, Christ-believing, on-fire, full-of-faith, full-of-the-Word, Warriors of the Faith who are already out there fighting for Jesus and lost souls!
THE SERVANTS OF OUR GOD!
Those who are already out there serving God, winning souls, testifying and preaching the Gospel who are serving God will be sealed to protect them so they can CONTINUE winning souls, preaching the Gospel and teaching others how to survive WITHOUT RECEIVING THE MARK OF THE BEAST!
So, what are you doing for Jesus TODAY?
Are we getting ourselves positioned to receive the SEAL OF THE LIVING GOD? So that we can continue to be a witness and a blessing to others who are new believers?
Revelation 7, verse 2: "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel."
And what came to me was this: "This is not a physical army. That is, it has nothing to do with physical blood lines. It has nothing to do with the physical children of Israel. It has everything to do with those who are born again in the spirit of Christ. Even Jews who receive Jesus will NOT remain a part of their natural blood ties regarding this sealing. Even if they could possibly know which son of Israel they hailed from, it doesn't matter.
(The Jews have now been thoroughly intermingled with other races to the point that a Jew could have two or three sons of Israel as a forefather. Am I right? I mean, how could you even trace your bloodline back all that way?)
So, now, what happened is this (I believe): when we receive Jesus, we are grafted into the tree, just like Paul said in Romans 11. We become connected to the faith of Abraham and Israel and part of their fruit!
Romans 11:24 "For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?"
So, although it is more natural for a Jew to receive and believe in Jesus, especially since Jesus came to the Jews first as their prophesied Messiah, I believe they still need to be grafted in!
In other words, what I'm saying is that I believe the 144,000 will be born-again believers like YOU and ME! We are already sons of Israel of what tribe, maybe God can show us if we ask Him!
Wow!
So, there you go. Take it or leave it. It's up to you. You don't have to believe it.
Personally, I do not believe for one second that the 144,000 will be all Jews. Nope. The 144,000 are Spirit-filled, Christ-believing, on-fire, full-of-faith, full-of-the-Word, Warriors of the Faith who are already out there fighting for Jesus and lost souls!
THE SERVANTS OF OUR GOD!
Those who are already out there serving God, winning souls, testifying and preaching the Gospel who are serving God will be sealed to protect them so they can CONTINUE winning souls, preaching the Gospel and teaching others how to survive WITHOUT RECEIVING THE MARK OF THE BEAST!
So, what are you doing for Jesus TODAY?
Are we getting ourselves positioned to receive the SEAL OF THE LIVING GOD? So that we can continue to be a witness and a blessing to others who are new believers?
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