I came across your comments on the origin of the Antichrist, I would
like to hear your opinion on the ” fusion ” that will happen between
the Catholicism of Europe and Islam. Also the re-appearance of GERMAN Military Power seems to be in the mix.
Actually, I’m spread so thin on this kind of thing that I really don’t keep up as well as many with world happenings and their relationship to prophecy. I’m no expert on the behind the scenes workings of things that seem to enable many to ‘connect the dots’. I’m not, however, opposed to that kind of thing, provided it doesn’t end up militating against the clear and basic outline that Jesus intended that we get from Daniel. So I would certainly appreciate seeing anything that has impressed you along these lines. I just haven’t had the luxury or any compelling leading to do the necessary home work.
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).
It all begins with our obedience to simply ‘do’ what Jesus said. Jesus had a wise and glorious strategy in this simple but vital instruction. When we go to Daniel in search of that particular event (the abomination of desolation; Mt 24:15), we find it specifically mentioned in Dan 8:11-14; 9:27; 11:31; 12:11. Jesus well knew that the prayerful inquirer would not only find the mentioned event and sufficient evidence of its nature, but also the other signal events that lead up to the abomination (Dan 11:23-31) and those that following after (Dan 11:31-45).
The Lord also knew that our identification of the abomination and its relation to other prophesied events would bring into view the mysterious gap separating Messiah’s two comings to Israel (Dan 9:24-27), and the pre-determined time frame of the last seven years (Daniel’s last or seventieth week; Dan 9:27), which is ordained to bring in the Antichrist and the finishing of the mystery of iniquity (Dan 8:11; 9:27; 11:31-37; 12:11; 2Thes 2:4, 7-8). Jesus knew that our locating the time and nature of the abomination of desolation would constitute THE key that would bring into clarity and alignment all other prophecy leading to the climactic fulfillment of the covenant in the day of the Lord.
He knew the use the Father had intended to make of this specifically revealed pre-determined time frame to depose Satan (Dan 12:1 with Rev 12:7-14), and to crowd the church to its final fullness (Dan 11:32-33; 12:10; Eph 4:13; Rev 12:10-11), and Israel to the place of repentance by the removal of their power (Lev 26:19; Deut 32:36; Dan 12:7; the “set time” to favor Zion; Ps 102:13 w/ 110:3; Ezek 39:22). Thus finishing the mystery that brings the age to its predestined consummation (Rev 10:7). So much is invested in this simple exercise of following the Lord’s instruction to read Daniel in search of this event, which to neglect will surely prove very costly if not fatal (Mk 13:22).
I agree that there are many worthwhile things to consider. It will be glorious to see how some of these things fall into place, and I’m sure there will be surprises, but no speculation concerning possible scenarios compares to the VITAL importance of following through on the Lord’s express and definite command to go to Daniel in order to understand this central event, so pivotal to the alignment of the entire prophetic picture.
Yours in the Beloved, Reggie
