Content in category Bible Study

Gog’s Assault in the Purposes of God

[…] But this great love and covenant privilege is also Israel’s greatest culpability. The same is true of the Christian. Because He has known them in a way He has chosen to know no other nation, He will not spare. “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities (Amos 3:2). It is the same for the Christian (Heb 12:6-7). It is a rule belonging to the very nature of covenant that the greater the opportunity for blessing, the greater the severity when that privilege is slighted. God will employ the bitter hatred of the enemy to minister corrective discipline or final judgment where the divine pleading is fatally resisted.

It is the paradox of God’s sovereign over-ruling of evil to accomplish His own purpose in grace (“you thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good;” Gen 50:20). Here, Gog thinks an evil thought (Ezek 38:10), but God has planned from all eternity to use that evil thought to bring an end of Israel’s long night of exile by His sovereign employment of Satan’s hatred to bring Jacob to the end of his power (Deut 32:36; Dan 12:7). […]

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The Synagogue of Satan and The Church of Pride

[…]
Now who exactly is Jesus addressing here in these passages? I’m not sure, but it could be either of three possible kinds of claims to Jewish identity, or some combination of them. First, there is the reprehensible but less fatal error of expecting that native Jewish identity and heritage gives the natural born Jew special covenant rights and favor over other gentile brethren. This is in manifest contradiction to the “mystery” that Paul proclaimed among the gentiles. (This propensity is currently making a come back).

However, it appears that the Lord is here denouncing something that is much more pernicious. All error is costly but not all error is fatal; this is fatal. It is more than pride of ethnic identity. It is the really Satanic presupposition that there is something good in man (Mt 19:17; Ro 7:18). It is the principle of all works religion that looks for something in the power of the creature on which it can base its hope of salvation or even a prideful distinction above others that permits judgment of others (Lk18:9; 1Cor 4:7). It is simply trust in the flesh. So the “Synagogue of Satan,” is, in one form or another, really just “the church of pride.” […]

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Gog (Ez 38) and the King Who Exalts Himself (Dan 11)

[…] Remember that Israel is dwelling securely when Gog comes down. At no time beyond the abomination could Israel be said to be dwelling safely (Rev 11:2). Note that this could NOT be the security of post-millennial Israel. It is the deceptive security that follows the presumptuous ‘league’, or ‘covenant with death and hell” (Isa 28:15; Dan 8:25; 9:27 11:23). This is further proven by the reference made to this particular kind of security described in Ezek 39:26. It is a security in which Israel’s sins only increase. This is not true of Israel’s millennial security. I believe this is the “time of tranquility” described in Dan 11:24, which follows upon the league made with ‘vile person’ in Dan 11:23. In other words, here is the false security of the first 3 /2 years of Daniel’s seventieth week.

The contrast between this security and millennial security is enormous. At the end of the millennium at the time of Satan’s momentary release, Israel has been abiding in the everlasting righteousness of covenant promise (Jer 32:40; Dan 9:24). The security that Israel enjoys in the Land throughout the millennium is based on the transformation that began at the day of the Lord (Isa 66:8; Ezek 39:22-29) and is guaranteed of unfailing continuance unto children’s children ((Isa 54:13; 59:21). They shall “all” be holy “from that day and forward” (Isa 4:3; 60:21; Jer 31:34; 32:40; Ezek 39:22). […]

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“Let The Reader Understand”

[…] My view is that IF we set our hearts, like Daniel, to “understand” what is written in the Scripture of truth (Dan 10:12, 21) in order to see how the prophetic scriptures line up (not only through close exegesis, but a deep dependency on the mercy that alone grants the Spirit’s illumination), then we will be able to recognize all that is necessary to not miss any of the critical turns that lie ahead. I believe a careful obedience to follow the Lord’s express instructions to ‘pay attention to Daniel’ (Mt 24:15 – “Let the reader understand,” i.e., understand what Daniel wrote) is critical in three vital areas:

1) Our protection from unequaled deception (Mt 24:4, 11, 24; Mk 13:23; 2Thes 2:3).

2) Our readiness to follow where God is taking the church corporately through the constraining influence of these specifically timed events.

3) Our ability to understand the true essence of what is at stake in terms of what these events reveal, but most importantly to apprehend with all saints the full weight of glory that God has invested in this eschatological vision (Isa 28:12; Dan 9:24; 12:9-10; Hab 2:2-3; Ro 11:25-36; Rev 10:7). […]

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On the origin of the Antichrist

[…] The only thing clearly stated about the geographical origins of the Antichrist is found in Dan 8:9 and 11:21. There he is depicted as coming out of one of the four ‘notable horns’ (i.e., one of the four divisions of Alexander’s kingdom). I believe his origins in both geography (Dan 8:9; 11:21) and descent (spiritual if not entirely genetic), will be from among the descendants of Ishmael and Esau (Ps 83; Isa 34:5-6, 8; Ezek 35-36, Obadiah 1:6-17) together with those nations (Ezek 38:5-6) that will support them in their final prosecution of “the everlasting hatred” (Ezek 35:5). Hence, I believe that the ten kings allied with the Antichrist will be Islamic, if not entirely Arab. For reasons I hope to explain in future correspondence, I’ve had this view since 1973 when the Lord revealed it during the Yom Kippur War.

Whether or not I am correct in my view of the ten kings, it should be evident to anyone that the Antichrist, regardless of his origin, will be able to command the forces of the Islamic world through a common hatred of what Daniel calls “the holy covenant” (Dan 11:28, 30). Not only in Daniel, but in the larger context of Old Testament prophecy, this final war against the covenant is depicted as a presumptuous defiance of God’s claim to the Land, the city of Jerusalem, and the sacred institutions of a restored Jewish worship. (Side note: The sacrifices that will be restored by unbelieving Jews are entirely without efficacy. This will become clear when they find themselves again cast out of the Land in flight from the Antichrist. Still, the “holy pace” in Jerusalem has real significance. As a divinely commanded token of the covenant, it remains holy and set apart, not simply because it is sacred to Jews, but by reason of the Word of God. Its sanctity does not inhere in the faith of the worshippers, but in the authority of the God who elects. This is why Satan desires to defile the place that bears God’s name, and to possess the city from which the Son is destined to rule all nations […]

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Dan 2:44 – The Kingdom Shall Not Be Left To “Another” People

[…] You mention Daniel and the issue of the millennium. I can’t say much at the moment, but I know you’ll agree that there much more at issue here than mere questions of how different texts should be interpreted. I believe the battle is more spiritual than that. I believe how we see Israel is a gauge of how we see God. The tragic story of the church’s historic rejection of God’s declared intentions towards Israel is beyond mere flesh and blood.

Since time will not permit more, I want to call your attention to just one verse that is telling of so many others. It is Daniel 2:44. Notice that the scripture says “in the days of these kings.” What days? What kings? Dan 7:24 makes clear that the kings in view here are the ten kings that are contemporary with the final Antichrist. In John’s apocalypse, he is the beast that tramples down Jerusalem for the last 42 months (Rev 11:2; 13:5) before Christ’s return. Thus, it could hardly be clearer that these then kings are immediate contemporaries of the Antichrist. They are united with him through their mutual hostility against “the holy covenant” (Dan 11:29, 30). In this context, the term “holy covenant” is clearly identified with the ‘literal’ holy places and institutions, which are situated in a very literal Jerusalem (Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; Mt 24:15-16). Hence, the Antichrist’s assault on Jerusalem is a further chapter in Satan’s long war against the covenant, which in this context is shown to be inseparably related to the literal Land and people of Israel […]

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The Lord Shall Set His Hand Again The SECOND Time

[…] The status of the present return gives the illusion of a final return only because a second age-long dispersion beginning with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem was not clearly distinguished in the prophets from the much shorter Babylonian captivity. (Note: Those who scorn the concept of a “gap”, or better, ‘hidden age’ between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel should consider that if such an interim is not recognized as necessarily implicit in these prophecies, establishing a necessary distinction between a near and partial fulfillment [first-fruits/earnest] and a future fulfillment that is complete and final, then the more serious problem of failed prophecy presents itself, something that liberal critical scholars like to refer to as ‘prophetic dissonance’, since it is certainly no loss to them if prophecy has failed. But quite on the contrary, it is this very phenomenon, in keeping with the divinely designed puzzle of Messiah’s twofold advent, that forms the context and conceptual framework of the mystery revealed in the NT. Hence, a so-called ‘gap’ is by no means without scriptural precedent, but is inherent in the mystery that was divinely hidden for judgment. Indeed, it was necessary for Israel to stumble at the mystery).

Therefore, the first return would see the Jews back in the Land, but still short of the eschatological salvation necessary to endure in the Land, thus looking ahead to an ultimate future tribulation that begins ‘in the Land’. In significant analogy with the first return, the Jews exist in the Land once more as a viable nation with restored covenant institutions (Dan 11:31; 12:1), but the exile continues so long as Israel remains under covenant jeopardy. Thus, the Jews of the modern return are in essentially the same position as those living in the Land after the first return. Though lately returned to the land, they remain subject to the same future tribulation and desolations that ‘the prophets of return’ predicted would persist until the ultimate deliverance of the still future Day of the Lord. The Jews in the Land today are no more ‘home free’ than that first remnant for whom Jacob’s trouble remained a future ‘necessity’ (“for that which is determined shall be done” Dan 11:36). […]

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Essential “Texts” concerning the Last Days

[…] I would begin with the Lord’s Olivet prophecy in Mt 24, particularly Mt 24:15. In my view, it is the single most important text on which to build a sound understanding of the order and nature of the last day’s events.

In only one place is the question is expressly asked, “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” Jesus’ answer is clear and forthright, but He presents His answer as incomplete until we have followed His personal instruction to go to Daniel for further understanding (“whoever reads, let him understand”).

There is a simple but profound strategy at work here, and it all begins with our care to honor the Lord’s command to read and understand Daniel, particularly Daniel’s reference to this most pivotal sign.

The Lord knew that when we go to Daniel to find and learn of this event, a much larger and more detailed context begins to unfold. Daniel provides the chronological framework into which all other prophecies of the end find their proper place and order. Not only are we enabled to identify more definitely the time and nature of the desolating sacrilege that begins the great tribulation, but by tracing the events that lead up to and follow from the abomination, we get a much fuller picture of the nature, the time, and purpose of Jacob’s trouble […]

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The Tents of Judah

[…] I’ve often marked the Lord’s specificity in His mention of Judea. Why not all of Israel? One would think that a modern invasion force would threaten all of the Land with equal devastation. Well, apparently not at first. And isn’t it particularly interesting that Jerusalem and the nearby West Bank are the two areas in hottest international contention. Jerusalem being the coveted capital of the new Palestinian state. The impression I get is that the Antichrist who has become a figurehead of Islam (as I believe) or who is a political champion of the Muslim world’s claims on the Land (as believed by others), will lead a multinational force in a sudden invasion that will catch Israel off guard and will overwhelm the nation militarily. This happens in the middle of the week (3.5 years after a delusive peace “league”). That is when we will see the abomination of desolation that begins the 42 months of siege (great tribulation). From this point, the Antichrist is physically present in Jerusalem (Dan 11:45). What will this mean for the Jewish inhabitants of the Land? It is clear what it will mean for those living in Jerusalem and the neighboring region of Judea (modern West Bank). That is where many of the settlers reside who take a covenant view of the Land. […]

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The pride of your power

[…] God is making a point that will reverberate in the Jewish soul for a thousand years. I want to show in what follows that it is very significant to God’s purpose that the Jerusalem that falls under the power of the Antichrist (Rev 11:2; 13:5) has first come under the control of the orthodox, if not entirely, at least to an unprecedented extent. (Compare Ps 83:12; Isa 28:14-15; 63:18; 64:10-11; Dan 8:13; 9:26-27; 11:22, 31, 36-37; 12:11; Mt 24:15, 20; 2Thes 2:4. ).

The picture one gets from these passages is of a Jerusalem that has accommodated the desire of certain orthodox sects of Judaism to rebuild the temple and restore the ancient ritual of animal sacrifice. This suggests sweeping changes in the current policies of the secular government, since under present circumstances; such a scenario is clearly out of the question. Something’s got to give! […]

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Reflections on the Mystery of Israel and the Church... by Reggie Kelly

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