Prophecies of Daniel - Page 56 of 59 - Prophecies fulfilled, and yet to be fulfilled

“So who is Armageddon, anyway?”

Feb 26, 2013 · by Mark McMillion · In: Current events, Daniel videos and texts, The Future and Endtime

If you look at the broad picture, how many people in the world know who, or what Armageddon is? Five percent? One percent? And how many have heard the word “Armageddon” somewhere, but have no idea what it is? (Just that we’re supposed to be afraid of it.) I dare say that the ones who don’t know anything about what “Armageddon” means is a far larger group than the ones who do understand that word.

If you don’t know what Armageddon’s about, what’s written here is for you. In short, “Armageddon” means “hill of Megiddo”. So it’s not a “who”; it’s a “what”. It’s a rather small hill that’s in the plains of Megiddo in the north of modern Israel.

“Why is everyone talking about that and trying to get everyone afraid?”, you ask. Here’s why. In the book of Revelations in the Bible, it says the final cataclysmic event before the return of Jesus to the earth will take place at that location, the hill of Megiddo, “Armageddon” in the north of modern Israel.

So that word has come to signify the final events before the return of Jesus to the earth. And sadly, it’s often referred to as “the end of the world”. Even in the dictionary I just looked in, when looking up Armageddon, it used the phrase “the end of the world”.

My friends, that phrase, “the end of the world”, is not really helpful or accurate. I grew up during the nuclear arms race in the 1960’s and we’d regularly have drills in school to prepare for a full nuclear attack on our country. “The end of the world” was very real then and that’s not the kind of thing the Bible predicts, the utter destruction and end of our planet and humanity.

A better way to describe what the Bible predicts would be to say, “the end of the age.” It will certainly be that. But this “end of the world” phrase is just another thing that scoffers and mockers use to exaggerate and ridicule Bible prophecy.

So if “Armageddon” is the catchall term for the return of Jesus and the coming of God’s Kingdom on earth, if it’s not the end of the world, what is it? Well, like I was saying, it will be the end of the age, and the biggest change humanity has seen in thousands of years. And it wasn’t just Jesus that told about this.

To me, one of the best and simplest explanations of all this is found in the book of Daniel Chapter 2 in the Old Testament. I’ve made a 25 minute video on this chapter and you can view it by clicking here. God gave a dream to the leader of the emerging world power at time, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. But then God made it so that Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t remember it.

As it turned out, a young Hebrew captive of Babylon, Daniel, was able to tell Nebuchadnezzar both what he dreamed and what it meant. Nebuchadnezzar had seen a strange statue of different kinds of metal, gold, silver, brass and iron. Then in his dream he saw a stone which struck the statue and turned it to dust. And the stone itself turned into a great mountain that filled the whole earth.

Young Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the statue and the various metals represented his kingdom of Babylon and the kingdoms that would come after his. But the stone that struck the statue, destroying it and then filling the whole earth represented the coming Kingdom of God on earth, a kingdom that God Himself would ultimately bring and cause to take root right here in our world. The climax of Daniel’s explanation to Nebuchadnezzar is found in Daniel 2:44. It says, In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. But it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms. And it shall stand forever.

This basically sums up in a beautiful, hopeful way what’s eventually going to happened in our world, and what God has been foretelling for many centuries. Armageddon is just going to be a major physical location in the very final physical events of the end of this age and the beginning of the next. The big picture is that the nations of the earth will eventually be overcome and brought into subjection by the kingdom of God Himself in the person of His son, Jesus.

If you get a chance to watch the video on Daniel Chapter 2, you can see there how what took places is like God’s explanation Himself to Nebuchadnezzar, someone for whom this was all really new. Maybe like you. I hope this is some help. I look forward to sharing more with you about all this.

Is the USA “Babylon the Great”?

Feb 19, 2013 · by Mark McMillion · In: Basic Christianity, Insights, My past, The Future and Endtime Tagged: Antichrist Empire, Babylon, Babylon the Great, spiritual fornication, the Catholic Church, the Great Whore

I was having coffee at Starbucks with a friend and she asked me, “So do you think the USA is Babylon?”

Whew, how do you answer a question like that? I did know what she meant. She was referring to the book of Revelation chapters 17 and 18, two of the most controversial, nitty-gritty chapters in the entire Bible.

I could make a big explanation about those two chapters for the many of you who don’t know the background but I’ll do that in another post. Here I’ll just tell you what answer I gave my friend and why. My answer was, “Yes and no”.

Revelation 17 &18 are mainly about a very unpleasant picture, a seven headed beast which had riding on it a woman who is called “the Great Whore”. Needless to say, this is all deeply allegorical and symbolic. Theologians and mystics for centuries have put forward ideas as to what it all means. During the beginning of the Reformation in Europe a few hundred years ago, it was universally agreed by the Reformation leaders that this “Great Whore”, “Babylon” was none other than the Catholic Church, which the Reformation movement was being fought by at that time. They even had what they thought was a very good reason to believe this. It says in Revelations 17: 9, “The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits.” So they said, “It’s clear that this means the Seven Hills of Rome, the center of the Catholic Church! So therefore this woman must be the Catholic Church!”

But if you read Revelations 17:18, it tells you right there what the whore of Babylon is. It says, “And the woman that you saw is that great city, which rules over the kings of the earth.”

“What city?” you ask. Well, that’s just it. In God’s eyes, He sees the big picture. He doesn’t necessarily look at national boundaries or humanly defined territories. God sees one gigantic city or network of intertwined metropolises throughout the earth. Whether it’s New York, Dubai or Shanghai, they’re all really very much the same.

Spiritual fornication

The worldwide city system of our day is basically what rules over the earth. It says in Revelation 17:2 that the kings (read politicians) “have committed fornication” with this Whore. Spiritual fornication, in the same way that James said to the early Christians, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God?” (James 4:4) So instead of loving God as His bride and wife, it says the rulers of the world have committed fornication with this Whore. And in Revelation 18:3 it says “the merchants of the earth have grown rich through her delicacies”. It goes on to say “her merchants were the great men of the earth, and by her sorceries were all nations deceived.” (Revelation 18:23) So what is that? Some would say, “It couldn’t be talking about our merchants. It couldn’t be talking about our politicians.”

If you look closely at the chapter, the Whore is riding on the seven headed beast. That beast represents the 7 world empires, stretching all the way back to Egypt. It says of this beast, “five are fallen, one is and one is not yet come”. (Revelation 17:10) The five that were fallen were the world empires that had been before that time, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. It says “one is”. That was the Roman Empire, the one that was active and ruling at the time of John’s revelation in 90 A.D. And “one is not yet come.” That is the one that is still yet to come, the worldwide Antichrist Empire that will exist just before the return of Jesus.

An “eternity to eternity” picture

But Babylon the Great, the Great Whore, rides on the beast with all seven heads, not just the beast that is spoken of in Revelations 13. So this in a sense is an “eternity to eternity” picture, just as a number of things are in Revelations. In our times “Babylon the Great” has been brought to almost a perfection, if you can call it that. But still this “Great Whore” is something that has existed throughout history, like this vision shows, all the way back for 1000’s of years.

But it’s not a nation; it’s an entity, one worldwide commercial behemoth that God sees as a prostitute , receiving the adoration and worship of the peoples of the earth. And sadly, if any one nation today epitomizes Babylon the Great, you’d have to say it is the USA. “All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” (Revelation 18:3) No matter where you go on earth, American “entertainment” and commercial/material values are hailed above all others. But in God’s eyes, it’s fornication with Mammon and the lusts of this world, brought to its highest perfection by the merchants of this country.

At least there’s something of a happy ending to all this. In Revelation 18:4, a voice from heaven says, “Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues.” It’s clear that God sees His people within Babylon the Great and He calls them out of her , before the judgments of God fall. So you don’t have to live in America to be affected or touched by Babylon. It’s there every time you turn on the television or go on line, wherever you live in the world.

The wonderful thing is, there’s a solution. There’s freedom from Babylon the curse of materialism and earthly values. The Bible says that in the future, ultimately “the cities of the nations fell, and Great Babylon came in remembrance before God.” (Revelation 16:19) Then and only then, after the ultimate defeat of worldwide Babylon, will the people of God rule this world with liberty and justice for all, under the leadership of Jesus Christ, the risen Savior and coming King.

[What do you think? I’d be glad to hear your comments. You can use the reply box at the bottom of this page.]

“The Wrath” and “the Trib”: what’s the difference?

Feb 15, 2013 · by Mark McMillion · In: Insights, The Future and Endtime Tagged: great tribulation, post tribulation, pre tribulation, rapture, the last 7 years, the return of Jesus, the wrath of God

(Warning.This is “wonkish”. That means this post isn’t written for those who are new to the subject of Bible prophecy and the endtime.)

When I wrote the post I called “Introducing ‘Pre’ and ‘Post’ ”, I was aimed at those who are new to the whole subject. In that post I was explaining some of the basic concepts and terms in the study of the times leading up to the second coming of Jesus. And I explained how the Scriptures point to this time to be, in the words that Jesus used, a time of “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21).

But there are many people, especially here in the States, who are more familiar with this subject and already have a pretty good idea of what some say is going to be the scenario leading up to the Lord’s return. On the other hand, my contact with friends recently at church has led me to feel that there’s still quite a lot that is not clear for many people.

Last Sunday I shared a class in adult Sunday school on Daniel chapter 7. Afterwards a friend came up to me and said, “I’m a pre-Triber”. I knew what he meant. But I wondered how many of the folks who read these posts know what that means.

Some of you know the phrases “pre-tribulation rapture” and “post tribulation rapture”. In modern times, the vast majority of the evangelical believers are strong believers in pre-tribulation rapture. This is the doctrine that Christ will have a “rapture” before “the Great Tribulation” for one set of believers, generally considered to be the Gentile church. And then, at the end of the Tribulation, He will return and gather together the Jewish Christians that have had to go through the Great Tribulation.

I’m sure alarm bells will go off with some of you in my generalization there. But, broadly speaking, that’s the idea. The most famous, far reaching publication that postulates this position is “The Left Behind series”. These are a series of fictitious books, written by Tim LeHaye, about the endtime and are based on the preTribulation rapture view of Jesus’ second coming. Over 70 million copies of the books have been sold. Generally, if you’re in an evangelical or charismatic church, chances are you’ve never heard anything other than this “pre-Tribulation” teaching on the return of Jesus and the Rapture of believers.

But there’s a lot more to it than that. I could start by telling you that for 1800 years the view of Christian teachers almost universally was not the “pre-Trib” view but the “post-Trib” view. That is, there were not going to be two gatherings of the people of God, but one. And that the believers of the endtime would go through the Great Tribulation.

Around 11 years ago here in Austin one of the leading pastors in the city talked with me about this and recommended a book for me to read, which I did. (By the way, I’ve written more about this conversation and experience in a blog post called “Sound Doctrine?” or Speculation.)

The book that my pastor recommended is called “The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church”, written by Marvin Rosenthal. Basically Mr. Rosenthal came to believe, from reading God’s Word, that the believers of the endtime would be raptured or gathered together before the Wrath of God is poured out but that they will go through the time of Great Tribulation.

So I just think of you reading this and how some will know totally what I am talking about. But quite a few won’t. This is getting down to intricacies that my study on the book of Daniel will hardly be able to touch on, even if we go through all the prophetic chapters in Daniel.

These things that Marvin Rosenthal is speaking of have to do with the time immediately after the Great Tribulation. The clearest place this is spoken of is in Revelations 11. In verse 15 it is speaking of the seventh trumpet, “the last trump”, the one that signals the return of Jesus. It says “The seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.’”

But what happens next? Revelations 11:18, three verses later says: “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”

What happens next is the reward of the saints in heaven while down on earth begins the period of the Wrath of God, spoken of most plainly in Revelations 16.

I Thessalonians 5:9 says, “God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Romans 5:9 says something similar, “…we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

I strongly agree with what Mr. Rosenthal saw in the Word of God, that the believers of the endtime will not go through the period of the wrath of God on earth, which immediately follows the Lord’s gathering of the saved at the end of the Great Tribulation. So there is a clear distinction between the Wrath and the Tribulation that many believers who study these things don’t always see clearly.

And even more than this, the whole term “the Tribulation” is often just not clearly defined by many I meet who study these things. In my classes and videos, the term “the Great Tribulation” will mean the 3½ year period immediately before the Lord’s gathers His saved. This is the second half of what is called “The Last 7 Years”, referring to Daniel’s 70^th week, found in Daniel 9:27.

I don’t teach or believe that this entire 7 year period, Daniel’s 70^th week, is a time of great tribulation, only the second half. From my interaction with Christians here over the last 6 months or so, it seems many, if not most, don’t know or understand these different periods of time and don’t see them clearly and distinctly. I hope that I can bring the light of Scripture more clearly onto these subjects, as my blog posts and videos continue.

[If you have questions, comments or even disagreements, I’d love to hear from you. You can use the reply box at the bottom of this page.]

Main Content

Daniel’s Dreams and Visions

Spiritual fornication

An “eternity to eternity” picture

(Warning.This is “wonkish”. That means this post isn’t written for those who are new to the subject of Bible prophecy and the endtime.)