Global SITREP B9-18: The Kings

"the kings"

15 June 2018: Our brother Nick posed a question to me via email the other day about the kings mentioned in the Book of Daniel. his question was in an Email because - for whatever reason - Nick simply couldn't get online to pose his question as a comment in the last SITREP. And I thought my plan of action of sending an Email back to Nick with my answer would be a simple thing to do; I thought my understanding of Daniel that has developed over many years is fairly solid, so writing an Email response would be not issue at all. 

Well, I'm here to tell you no sir and no ma'am, that plan of action was simply not going to happen. Firstly, every time I tried the words never got to be more than four or five and the train of thought would fizzle. Dead stop. Try again. Same thing. Forty-five minutes later I fully understood because the LORD let me know very clearly that my response had to be done here, in this manner. There was something important I had to learn anew and pass along to others who read here. 

Have you ever had the thought or wondered why God sent the angel Gabriel to provide the prophet Daniel the specific information that we read in Daniel chapters 10 and 11? I've never read an expose that speks to this question by any biblical eschatologist. Why was it important for Daniel, and, by extension, all of us, to learn about the kings of the north and south in chapter 10? What more important lesson could there be within all of the dialog foretelling a couple hundred years in advance specific details regarding two of the four empires that came out of Alexander the Great's Empire (i.e. the third beast empire)? This is directly related to Daniel 8:21-22, but we'll get to that shortly. So, for us this is ancient history; fulfilled prophecy, right? Or is it? Could it be a two-fold prophecy?

The two empires I'm talking about are the Greek Seleucid in southwest Asia, and the Ptolemaic Empire centered in Egypt and the Levant. The king of the north and the king of the south. Long story short, over hundreds of years and several successor kings of these two empires and umpteen battles between them, it finally came to pass that the king of the south emerged victorious over the king of the north. But not by his power did the king of the south be victorious over the king of the north. 

God sent another empire, another "king" to subdue the king of the north. The new king was Rome, the fourth (and final) beast empire which put an end to the king of the north's plan to conquer the Ptolemite throne in Egypt. I've written of this part before on Eschatology Today, but not in this manner. The king of the north was Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and his encounter in northern Egypt with a Roman consul who drew a line on that sandy beach and informed the precursor of the coming Antichrist, if you cross this line you will be at war with the Roman Republic. Antiochus thought wisely and turned his army north, marching them to Jerusalem where the precursor of the coming "Abomination of Desolation" took place in the Second Temple in 167 BC. A hudred years later, circa 64 BC, Rome would complete the conquest of the Seleucid Empire, and thereby all of what had been the third beast empire because part of the fourth beast empire just as God had revealed to Daniel back in Daniel 2:36-45. 

The Daniel 2 prophecy is expounded upon in Daniel 7, but with an over 2,000 years twist. The fourth beast which consumes the third beast, which had consumed the first and second beast, is now send as a ten-horned beast. But Rome isn't to be a ten-horned beast until the time of Israel's 70th Week. In Daniel 7:7 we have it in plain text, absolutely unambiguously i would add, that ancient Rome, which was never a ten-headed beast, is the same as the fourth beast of the 70th Week. This beast will control territory in Europe and well as in southwestern Asia, exactly as ancient Rome did. Two feet representing two land masses, with five toes on each foot. those five toes are the ten horns. And (Daniel 7:8 and 7:24) the eleventh, the little horn, which rises up among the ten is Antichrist.

Hopefully, I haven't lost anyone yet and you're following this eschatological trail of bread crumbs. Like the Revelation of Jesus Christ the Book of Daniel bouces forward and backward in time as we understand it. So we come to Daniel 8 and Daniel 8 has a great deal to do with what follows in Daniel 10 and 11. Now we're launched back to Daniel 8:21-22. Greece, which we know all four horns, which stood up in place of Alexander's Empire, are conquered by Rome. And read verse 23: "And in the later time of their kingdom..." Here again is a 2,000+ year leap forward in time to the present era, to the era of Israel's 70th Week as detailed by the angel Gabriel in the subsequent chapter, Daniel 9.

Now moving along, Daniel 10 gets really, really interesting. It should be fresh in your mind, yet recall that Gabriel has just given Daniel the 70 Weeks prophecy that we read in Daniel 9:24-27. Yet in Daniel 10:10-21 we see the same over-arching prophecy tied-in directly with various angelic beings which are manifested as prices or kings over a couple of specific nations of interest: Greece and Persia. These angelic beings are engaged in fighting each other as well as manifesting in the events that directly affect these nations and their futures. There is also an incredible, little mentioned note here regarding what had been previously written in what gabriel refers to as "the Scripture of Truth" and which this angel intends to reveal to Daniel for the specific purpose of fulfilling what was stated in verse 14: "I have come to make you understand what will happen your your people (the Jews) in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come." 

The Bible, especially the Old Testament in which the Book of Daniel is a key part, has not yet been written as the time this meeting between Gabriel and Daniel takes place, i.e. the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia. So the "Scripture of Truth" Gabriel is referring to must be some Heavenly tome of the things that will be; an angelic book of God-breathed prophecy.

Daniel 11 begins with the warring kings of the north and south. This time is the first year of Darius the Mede which turns the clock back to Daniel 5:30 and the aftermath of the "writing on the wall." So Daniel 11 begins by recapping a foretelling of future events which we've also seen in Daniel 8:21-22, and the wars between the Seleucid Greeks (kings of the north) of Babylonia and the Ptolemaic Greeks of Egypt (kings of the south). At verse 20 the text begins speaking specifically about Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the forerunner of the coming Antichrist. At Daniel 11:30 we see Antiochus IV Epiphanes being turned back by Rome (western ships of Kittim that sailed from Cyprus). Again, this was fulfilled in 168-67 BC. And the blasphemous actions at verses 30-31 are an exact foreshadowing of the mid-70th Week 'Abomination of Desolation."

Suddenly as verse 36 the narrative Gabriel is giving to Daniel jumps forward in time, from discussing the forerunner of the future Antichrist, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and his battles against Greeks in Egypt, to the actual man who will be the coming Antichrist. An intantaneous forward leap of approximately, 2,100 years into the future, our present era, this generation. Instantly, we see in this prophetic Scripture that the king of the north and the king of the south are no longer fighting each other as they did for all of the 3rd and 2nd centuries before Christ- they are suddenly allies standing against the Western Antichrist of the 70th Week.

And it is here that some error has been made. In earilier eschatological works various writers had erroneously assigned the 'king of the north' nomenclature upon the coming Antichrist. Nowhere is the made more clear than in Daniel 11:40 where both a future king of the north and a future king of the south will together attack the Western Antichrist, and whom we know for certain is directly associated with both Greece and Rome, and a kingdom which begins wth ten horns, or kings of nations, among whom he was the eleventh to rise up among them and pluck a certain three of those ten out by the roots for himself. Those ten horns (kings) are represented in the image at the top.

In Daniel 11:40-43, as a direct result of the Western Antichrist being attacked by a king of the north (probably Russia) and a king of the south (North African nations), a great war erupts in the Middle East. This could very well be a world war as well, as we can see in Daniel 11:44 the king of the north and those from the east cause Antichrist to go on an even greater warfighting campaign. This I believe is the lead in to the final battle of Har Megiddo and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Global SITREP A4-18: Developing the Technology of the 70th Week

10 January 2018: Last October posted HERE was a look at the near future of the 70th Week, as prophesied by God in Revelation 13:14, when AI (Artificial Intelligence) meets up with non-human intelligence. The AI has been developed to its current level by human intelligence. 

One example is seen in the 2-minute video embedded above introducing "Spot" the 'dog.' See spot run. Let us hope you never see "Spot" fully weaponized and on the hunt for those who have not taken the mark of the beast, and do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. These creations, and others not seen here, but well known in aviation circles, have the potential to bring the incredible text of Revelation 9 into something we can more easily understand.



If you've got a few minutes to expand your level of knowledge on AI in its current state and what it is capable of, the visit Boston Dynamics and explore the website. Check out Handle, SpotMini, and Atlas.

The Significant Issues With Bill Salus' 'Gap Theory'

Depiction of the Seven Seals Scroll of Revelation 5:1

16 June 2017: Is there something in the water? One has to wonder when a growing number of prophecy teachers slide into teaching things which the Holy Spirit immediately recoils from as being inconsistent with the discernment He has always provided. The bottom line here is that, and this is said in the brotherly love of Christ Jesus: such teaching is man-made and is not of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, in prayerful dealing with this issue I was led by the Spirit to 1 Peter 4: 7-11.

The issue at the head here is that our brother Bill Salus has been teaching things which are contrary to the above linked passage from Peter, and contrary, in my view, to Revelation 22:18-19. 

A recent advertisement heralded across the web by Bill Salus "Revealed Tonight on National TV - The Nation Discovers What The Bible Reveals is the True Content of the False Covenant Between Israel and the Harlot of Mystery Babylon." The program was a pre-recorded discussion between Gary Stearman and Bill Salus on Gary's half-hour Prophecy Watchers program. 

In all actuality the program is a discussion on Bill's beliefs (i.e. "I believe") in which the unstated details require the reader to purchase Bill's most recent book in order to read about them. We are asked up front to accept as fact that what is stated by Bill is correct exegesis, even though he acknowledges that our likely reaction to the theory he puts forward is a rather lengthy stretch from proper hermeneutic of the various prophecies discussed. The YouTube version of half-hour program is linked above.

Readers who've long been visiting Eschatology Today know there are two types of prophetic interpretation and they are diametrically opposed to each other. The two types are (1) proper exegesis, which solidly rests upon careful, objective study as well as one or more gifts of the Holy Spirit for discernment, and (2) eisegesis, which is based on a very subjective personal reading of the prophetic text in which the author intends to lead the reader into the conclusion, or interpretation he has drawn. We know well the result of when the infallible Holy Spirit leads, and when the fallible man leads. The former is proper hermeneutic exegesis in communion with Scripture and the latter is personal eisegesis.

Three key points of what Salus teaches in this video are as follows. 

A) Bill Salus is teaching that there is an undetermined amount of additional time between the Harpazo of the bride of Christ and the start of the 70th Week (i.e. the confirming of the covenant among many by the Antichrist per Daniel 9:27). This is Salus' so-called 'Gap Theory' which theorizes an additional dispensation of time between the current Church Age and Israel's 70th Week.

B) Bill Salus is teaching that Jesus opens the first five of the Seven Seals prior to the start of the 70th Week; that the four horsemen of the apocalypse, (i.e Divine judgment), are loosed upon the world prior to the start of the 70th Week. This teaching also includes opening of the Fifth Seal which martyrs who have died for their faith in Christ Jesus prior to the advent of the 70th Week. This teaching destroys the integrity of the 70 Weeks prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27.

C) Bill Salus is teaching that it is the Harlot of Revelation 17 and the rider of the fourth pale horse, ridden by Death and followed by Hades (Sheol), are "the many" who Israel makes a covenant with that is confirmed by the Antichrist for 7 years.

These three are primary points and are directly linked to other points, as mentioned before, which are not discussed at length in the video, and do require a monetary remittance in order to learn of them in the newest Bill Salus' book. I strongly disagree with our brethren having to pay for that which God has ostensibly revealed to us through Bill Salus' theory because it is an eisegesis until proven to be hermeneutic exegesis.

Here, in a nutshell - because this is a blog and not a book - is the problem with this teaching. Right from the start this teaching grossly violates the integrity of the God-breathed 70 Weeks prophecy (Daniel 9:24-27). I'm going to concentrate on this issue for the moment. 

The violation is that prior to the sequential string of Jesus' judgments on the earth (Seals, Trumpets, Bowls per Revelation 6, 8, 11 and 16) during the of 70th Week, according to Salus, our Lord Jesus cuts loose the Antichrist who immediately goes out conquering an to conquer; the red horse whose release triggers a world war; the black horse which is rampant monetary inflation and/or price gouging from the scarcity of commodities due to of global warfare and the interruption of global trade and commerce; and, finally the pale horse ridden by Death and followed by Hades, which are the results of the global war, starvation and death that consumes a quarter of the earth.

Why is this a problem? It is a problem because these are Jesus judgments occurring prior to the 70th Week. How did the angel Gabriel explain to Daniel what the specific purpose of the 70 Weeks was? Daniel 9:24. So how can there be judgment prior to the 70th Week. 69 weeks were completed, and leaves but one week, the 70th to fulfill the purpose of 70 Weeks, not 70 Weeks plus a year, or two years, three, four or more. 70 Weeks. This is how Bill Salus' current eisegesis attempts to destroy the God-breathed sanctity of the 70th Week. it is a horrendous thing to do in my opinion.

So here, according to Bill Salus, are 5 of 7 Seal Judgments occurring outside of and prior to the 70th Week. Then the Lamb of God opens the 6th and 7th Seals within the 70th Week. Continuity here, anyone? No, there is no continuity here. There is no integrity. Five seals of judgment upon the earth opened by the Lamb of God prior to, and two within along with the remainder of sequential Trumpet and Bowl judgments which occur uninterrupted. 

Then we have the problem of the 5th Seal occurring after the Rapture and prior to the 70th Week according to Bill Salus theory. In this aspect of his gap theory the Harpazo, {a/k/a the Rapture, and also known in Hebrew as the Laqach, i.e. the LORD God's taking of Enoch and Elijah} of the dead and living Bride of Christ has occurred. The physically dead in Christ have been raised to life in their new, immortal bodies and those alive on the earth were changed to their immortal bodies in the twinkling of an eye. In a microsecond of time all of the saints are now with Christ forever more. But wait... here prior to the 70th Week there's suddenly another group of martyred souls under the altar who've been murdered, martyred, for the word of God and their testimony. 

How can this be? The dead in Christ were raised to incorruptible bodies just prior to this point in the future, so who has murdered these redeemed Christian brethren enmasse because they've preached the word of God as their testimony? The cannot be the 144,000 as they've not yet been selected from the 12 tribes of Israel, nor can they be those 70th Week saints who are martyred for Christ during the 70th Week. So, who are these saints? Bill Salus has no answer for this equally critical flaw in his gap theory. Get that? A flawed theory. Since when does the Holy Spirit reveal flawed prophetic theories or interpretations to men? Simple answer brothers and sisters: He doesn't reveal flawed anything; His word and testimony are inerrant.

Another item. The 70th Week comes in two halves. 1,260 days each, for a total of precisely 2,520 days, which we are also told by Bible prophecy will be shortened in order that the 70th Week does not become a 7-year long extinction level event for human life on the earth. And by the way, there is a gap, two gaps in fact, but they both occur after the 70th Week has taken place. Gabriel also informed Daniel (Daniel 12:11-12) there would be an additional gap of 30 days (one additional month) followed by another gap of 15 more days, for a total gap of 45 days following the 70th Week. So, there's a 45-day gap at the end of the 70th Week according to the angel Gabriel. 

Here's something else that I find to be a problem with Salus' gap theory. He says the first five seals are opened before the 70th Week begins. Where in the God-breathed text of Revelation 5 or 6 is this stated with the certitude of Salus' assertion?

In Revelation 5 (read this carefully!) the scroll is seen by John in the right hand of God. This scroll is written on both sides of its surface. This means the entire scroll is one continuous document which is sealed with seven (also obviously visible to John) seals along its outer leading edge (see the image above).

The Lamb of God takes this sealed scroll from the right hand of God the Father who is seated on His throne. The 24 elders - who are redeemed men - then fall down in worship. 

Jesus the Lamb of God was worthy to look at, recieve and open the seven seals on the scroll upon His ascension into Heaven. 

John sees each Seal being opened by the Lamb, and as each of the first four Seals is opened each of the four living creatures tells John in sequence, "Come and see." And immediately John sees a vision of what is within the text of that Seal.  

The 5th and 6th Seals are revealed straight away to John, and they are, as the first four are, FUTURE EVENTS which take place during the 70th Week and NOT PRIOR TO IT! 

Also, there is Revelation 7:1-3 where all of the aforementioned Seals are held from occurring until AFTER the 144,000 of all Israel have had the Seal of God placed upon their forehead. 

This completes my refutation of Bill Salus' "gap theory."

Thinking cap time. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, "Come now, and let us reason together." Would not Gabriel have given Daniel detailed prophetic instruction from the LORD God of any gap of time (days, weeks, months or years)  to exist after the Harpazo but prior to the 70th Week? Would the angel Gabriel have withheld this kind of detail when such exquisite detail about the week and its immediate 45-day day aftermath were given?  And why, oh why, did the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul in II Thessalonians 2:3 not mention even a single word about a gap of time containing five Seal Judgments of the Lord Jesus Christ along with a Great Apostasy and full revealing of Antichrist in his own time? 

If you are like me, and many other of our brethren, the believing in and teaching of this kind of eschatology is very problematic, and we have strong objections to it. Aside of the above stated issues, my objection is centered first and foremost upon the sum of this erroneous teaching, taken from Revelation 5, 6, 7 and 17, and it is contrary to the warning given in Revelation 22:18-19. I do not intend to belabor this issue further, and would prefer to dust off my sandals and move forward in my own labors,. I prefer to allow the reader to determine what they will about this. 

Global SITREP C9-15: The Surest Sign of the "End of the Age"

19 June 2015: Our LORD Jesus Messiah began His Olivet Discourses virtual checklist of prophetic end times signs by pointing to the Temple on Mount Moriah and prophesying to the apostles that it was soon to be destroyed with not one stone to remain standing upon another. This prophecy came to pass exactly as described by Jesus 37 years later on 10 August (9th of Av) in 70 AD. 

How appropriate would it be then for the Temple of the 70th Week to have its construction, completion and worship services commenced prior to the advent of the angel Gabriel's prophecy about Israel's 70th Week? I believe the Word of God Himself in the text of the Holy Bible tells us this will be the case. 

Therefore, a standing and fully-functioning Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah would be the greatest physical sign of the imminent arrival of the final seven years of human history as we have known it since Jesus' own death, resurrection and ascension into Heaven and the rebirth of Israel in fulfillment of Isaiah 66:8.

John the Revelator writes in the first three verses of Chapter 11 the revelation which  God gave to Jesus who made it known to the angel who presented it to John:

"I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 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. And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”"

Here is a standing and fully functioning Temple at the very commencement of the 70th Week, upon the Lord's appointing the Two Witnesses to commence their prophesy and ministry for the 42 months (1,260 days) of the first half of the 70th Week. 

Look at the grandeur, spectacle and sheer size of the Temple as imagined and scaled to correct proportions above.  How long does it take in this era to prepare the ground and layout all of the requisite necessities for the construction of such a Divinely ordained structure such as this? 12 months? 2 years? Three? More? 

The point is that a structure such as this will require a schedule and an executable plan to complete. Other religiously ordained things are required to place it into actual service, and they will require a certain amount of time also to complete. 

Whatever these unknowns amount to in linear time, one thing is certain, all of these activities will all occur prior to the start of the 70th Week, as well as all of the logisitics which are necessary to make such a construction effort even possible. The Harpazo can occur at any moment, yet there is also the distinct possibility that the Bride of Christ will be witness to the prophetic events, such as the fulfillment of the Psalm 83 war, which are prerequisite events to any of this occurring. 

As the text reveals, the "times of the Gentiles" are still in progress when the Two Witnesses begin their appointed and prophetic ministry and the construction and completion of the Temple structure occurs.

Global SITREP B10-15: Parah Adumah in Howell, NJ (A Red Heifer)

5 April 2015:  Lakewood, New Jersey is well known as having a very large Jewish community and the Beth Medrash Govoha (BMG), a Haredi Yeshiva founded five years prior to the creation of the State of Israel. With a student population of 6,500 students the BMG is one of the largest Haredi Yeshiva outside of Israel, if not the largest.

As reported by a local newspaper, The Lakewood Scoop, just three months ago, 11 January 2015, a group of the Rabbis from the BMG were called to a farm in nearby Howell, NJ that is run by a Jewish businessman named Herb Celler, the son of Auschwitz survivors, to investigate the possibility that a pure Parah Adumah - Red Heifer - is present on the farm (image above). Upon concluding their close inspection of the red heifer the now extremely impressed and excited Rabbonim sent word via eleven high definition photographs to their brethren in Eretz Israel.

As most of the Bride of Christ has come to be informed over the years, the Haredi expectations of the appearance of a pure Red Heifer has become eschatologically important to us as well.  A living, unblemished (kosher) red heifer within just a very few miles drive of where I live in New Jersey, is almost inexpressible, but I'll try.

For Haredi Jews ever since the restoration of all Jerusalem, the site of the Temple Mount, to the state of Israel in June 1967, there has existed the expectation of the appearance of a pure Parah Adumah is a sure sign to them of the coming of the Moshiach and the rebuilding of the 3rd Temple. For us this red heifer represents a clear signal of the nearness of a specific God-breathed purification rite (in the above linked Numbers 19) for the construction of the 3rd Temple which is a real-world indicator concerning the imminent nearness for fulfillment of the angel Gabriel's prophecy regarding the 70th Week. Talk about chills going up and down one's spine and hairs standing on end! A truly incredible sight is this red cow!

By the way, Mr. Celler turned down an offer that came out of New York of one million dollars for this cow. He said this cow is not for sale and he is sending this gift from God to Israel as a gift.

Now, just to make sure everyone who reads this understands the issue clearly, here is the GotQuestionsDotOrg entry on this subject:

Question: "What is the significance of a red heifer in the Bible? Is a red heifer a sign of the end times?"

Answer: According to the Bible, the red heifer—a reddish-brown cow, probably no more than two years old which had never had a yoke on it—was to be sacrificed as part of the purification rites of the Mosaic Law. The slaughtering of a red heifer was a ceremonial ritual in the Old Testament sacrificial system, as described in Numbers 19:1-10. The purpose of the red heifer sacrifice was to provide for the water of cleansing (Numbers 19:9), another term for purification from sin. After the red heifer was sacrificed, her blood was sprinkled at the door of the tabernacle.

The imagery of the blood of the heifer without blemish being sacrificed and its blood cleansing from sin is a foreshadowing of the blood of Christ shed on the cross for believers’ sin. He was “without blemish” just as the red heifer was to be. As the heifer was sacrificed “outside the camp” (Numbers 19:3), in the same way Jesus was crucified outside of Jerusalem: “And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood” (Hebrews 13:11-12).

The Bible does teach that one day there will be again be a temple of God in Jerusalem (Ezekiel chapters 41-45). Jesus prophesied that the antichrist would desecrate the temple (Matthew 24:15), and for that to occur, there obviously would have to be a temple in Jerusalem once again. Many anticipate the birth of a red heifer because in order for a new temple to function according to the Old Testament law, a red heifer would have to be sacrificed for the water of cleansing used in the temple. So, when a red heifer is born (which is quite unusual) it might be a sign that the temple will soon be rebuilt.

Yes, this red heifer born and raised on Herb Celler's farm in Howell, NJ was declared kosher by Haredi Rabbonim on 2 April 2015, the second birthday of this unblemished red heifer. Rabbi's are now coming from Israel to see her.

Global SITREP A9-15: What Scripture Says

2 February 2015: A lot of what I am about to post has been posted before, but given the lateness of the season of these last days and the fact that I believe many of you already know these things, this will just be a reminder so that some do not get, no pun intended, 'carried away' with what some websites are already posting or will soon be posting.

Just the facts. Just Scripture.

Psalm 90:10 tells us a generation is 70 years, or 80 years if it is a generation of strength.  Does this mean that the Harpazo must occur on a specific date prior to the 70th year since the modern nation of Israel, the prophetic fig tree, was born on a single day, 14 May 1948, in precise fulfillment of Isaiah 66:8?  No one can tell us that with any assurance. Only God our Father knows for sure.

Paul tells us in Romans 25 that "...a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in..."  The emphasis is mine for the obvious reasons. Can any one tell us with any assurance when the last Gentile will have been grafted into the Holy olive tree?  (Read Romans 11:16-24 for the context of this Spiritual truth!) Of course not, only God the Father could possibly know such a thing. That last Gentile could receive his/her salvation in the Blood of the Lamb at any time; only God knows!

However, what I believe we should learn from Romans 11:25 is that once that very last Gentile has been grafted into the Holy olive tree by the Blood of the Lamb, that is the time when the Lord God will turn His undivided attention upon Israel and the Harpazo will certainly occur at that time. Marana'tha!

There is another series of prophetic verses related to this that are found in Ezekiel 39:21-28. These verses are the lead-in to what occurs in Ezekiel 39:29 where Ezekiel, speaking for God says, "I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel." It is the Battle of Gog/Magog which God will use "So the house of Israel shall know that I AM the LORD their God from that day forward." (Ezekiel 39:22)

This is another powerful clue that the 70th Week prophesied to the prophet Daniel by the angel Gabriel (Daniel 9:24-27) is about to commence. And we all know that the Bride of Christ will not be on this earth during the 70th Week. Those 7 years are reserved for Israel when God will make Israel captive once again, but this time Israel will be a captive of God (Ezekiel 39:25-28).

God is Sovereign, He is Supreme. He is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent. The Harpazo will occur when He says; just make sure you're ready at all times for it will come at a point which no one expects.

Global SITREP E7-14: Advancing Our Situational Awareness of 'Last Days' Wars

20 November 2014: SITREP E7-14 is a work in progress, and it is as focused an attempt as I can manage to advance our situational awareness of the wars that will occur in these 'last days'. This is one of the most important SITREPs on Eschatology Today. It is a one-post overview of five-part series The Prophetic Road to Revelation linked below. I define the phrase 'last days' as encompassing the time remaining between the present and the onset of Christ's Millennial Kingdom, how ever long that duration of time may actually turn out to be. As we approach what men have declared will be the year 2015 AD, I happen to believe these 'last days' could constitute a relatively short span of time, perhaps a decade and a half at most. I am absolutely certain these 'last days' will be shortened by the Lord in order to prevent the extinction of human life from planet earth. Within a microsecond at any point prior to the start of Israel's 70th Week the Bride of Christ will be taken from this earth in the Harpazo, otherwise known as the Rapture.

As a starting point I'll begin in the very near future, in a post-Psalm 83 world in which Israel will have vanquished those enemies with an 'olam ebah' ancient hatred of the God and people of Israel. These enemies are primarily Sunni and may well manifest themselves on this coming battlefield in the form of the newly declared Islamic State and its Wilayat (provinces). In this near-future world the situational awareness brief would hold that Damascus is a city which no longer exists as described by Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:23-27. In this world there will have been effected a military 'one-state solution; there will be no such thing as a West Bank or a Gaza, there will only be Israel.  Israel will be territorially expanded beyond her present frontiers and, at the minimum, have military control to the north over the whole of Lebanon (Joshua 13:1-7), Syria as far as the Euphrates River to the northeast, western Jordan (Ezekiel 39:11), and the northern Sinai to the Wadi al-Arish and possibly even further south as indicated by Isaiah 19:18-25.

In this time, which is apparently still prior to the advent of the 70th Week (Daniel 9:20-27), Israel will be a an economic power doing robust mercantile business with the Arabian Peninsula and the European Union (Ezekiel 38:13) and other nations of the world. Israel will be at peace, living in safety and security (Ezekiel 38:10-11). By now you have discerned that I am referring to the time just prior to the attempt by a confederation of nations led by the resurgent Russia, its commonwealth of nominally independent, former Soviet states (the military alliance known as the CSTO in other words), along with a lesser group of military powers such as Iran, Libya and Sudan.

At this point we need to take a quick diversion to discover why the Islamic Republic of Iran is not the menacing, nascent nuclear threshold military power that the P5+1 and Israel are currently concerned about. The diversion takes us to Jeremiah 49:34-39 and the second sentence of that passage (verse 35) which states clearly and unequivocally, "Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might." I believe this verse is a direct reference to Iran's intended delivery system for the nuclear weapons the majority Shi'a Islamic nation is now attempting to arm itself with. The remainder of these verses detail what I have long interpreted to be a preemptive conventional military suppression of Iran by a coalition of nations who come from every direction of the compass.

While it is not known precisely when this fulfillment might occur, we can look to the recent past of the paragraph above concerning Psalm 83 to see that Iran did not play a role of belligerence and armorer of Israel enemies in the final fulfillment of the Psalm 83 war that it is currently casting itself in. There is a reason why Asaph did not itemize Persian participation in the Psalm 83 scenario. In sum, by the time Ezekiel 38/39 comes to fulfillment, Iran is a lesser military power that it is in late 2014, but Iran is not so weak that it cannot participate in the Ezekiel 38/39 attempt by Gog of Magog's confederation of forces invasion. This indicates the Jeremiah 49:34-39 in another prophecy of the end-times prophecies which goes through a process of literal fulfillment, not unlike Psalm 83 which is now in its 66th year of fulfillment process. We'll come back to this shortly.

At this point I will put a few key prophecies in a comparative spotlight.  The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel reiterate key points of the same prophetic word given to them by the Lord. I have often searched for Scripture to parallel what is written in Ezekiel 36-39. I believe that parallel exists in Jeremiah 30:1-7 regarding the restoration of Israel and Judah to the land and a point blank reference which ties this restoration directly to the time of Jacobs trouble (i.e. the final 42-months of the Megas Thlipsis). In this set of verses we see a period of time that literally holds within its context a minimum of 1947-48 to at least two and one half decades into the 21st century (according to the generational template of Psalm 90:10). Again, a process of fulfillment is maintained in the plain text of the prophecy.

Then at Jeremiah 30:10b there is something that should be very familiar to all students of prophecy: "Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid." Compare this with Ezekiel 38:11 which says: "You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’" That these are things of the 'last days' is beyond question as Jeremiah writes, "In the latter days you will consider it." 

Jeremiah 30:16 reads, "Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will make a prey." Turning immediately to Ezekiel  39:10b the identical judgment is pronounced: "...Israel...will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord God."

Another prophetic parallel is found between Jeremiah 31:33-34, where it is written, "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”" This is clearly a direct reference to what the Lord says in Ezekiel 39:29, "And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God." 

Is there any doubt these things are specifically the Lord God's dealings with Israel that will be occurring during the 70th Week, the purpose of which the angel Gabriel informed of Daniel by saying:

"Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy."

Since we are looking at the 70th Week, I must now turn to Daniel 11:40 and make an important note that the "him," and the "he" in this verse are direct references to the Antichrist, the rest of the plain text is virtually self-explanatory. "At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through." And where is "he" at this time when these armies from the south and the north attack him? I  think he  is in Israel at this time which gives us the point of reference for identifying the directions from which these enemies come against him.

Let me ask a question here.  Are there two invasions of Israel in the last days? Is Daniel 11:40 a different end time war than the one Ezekiel prophecies about with enemies coming from both the north and south of Israel? If so, then during what period of time would Israel have men set aside to mark and bury the dead in the Valley of the Passengers/Hamonah east of the Dead Sea or be burning the enemy weaponry for the subsequent seven years?

Before these questions are answered, I will pose another necessary question that needs to be addressed first. Does Israel currently dwell in all of the land the God promised to them “for all time”?

According to Joshua 1:4 (Joshua ben Nun) the answer is no, Israel does not yet possess all of the land God has promised to them for all time. That land includes the entire wilderness that Joshua’s feet have trod upon; plus Lebanon, and all of the land to the east as far as the Euphrates River, plus all of the land of the ancient Hittites towards the west where the sun sets shall be Israel’s sea coast border. Going back further to the Abrahamic Covenant, the land is detailed in Genesis 13:14-17 and in Genesis 15:18-21. 

During Joshua’s time the Hittites were in the era known as the ‘New Kingdom’ circa 1400-1200 BC. This Hittite territory was in what is today virtually all of central Turkey and extended in a strip of land westward to the Aegean Sea. The Hittites were the principle enemy of the Egyptian pharaohs.

When will Israel take full possession of the land God has promised to them “for all time”? That answer depends on which scholar of the Bible one makes such an inquiry.  However, based upon my studies it appears full possession of the promised land will occur in stages over a certain, and now decidedly limited, amount of time. It will also be conditional or dispensational to the time when Israel is fully within the new covenant relationship with God and Christ on the throne in Jerusalem during the Millennium. Everything that has happened to Israel over time, at the present and into the future is for the purpose of God fulfilling His covenant with Abraham, and the 70^th Week prophecy given by the angel Gabriel is without question the culmination of that promise. This is when Israel will take full possession of the promised covenant lands. 

I believe the ‘last days’ wars are key to the acquisition of the promised possession. These wars commenced with the Psalm 83 war and will conclude with the Magog war and the wars of Israel’s 70^th Week. As it is written in Jeremiah 30:16, thus says the Lord, “‘Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; Those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will make a prey.” So much for Turkey being a dominant force during the 70^th Week according to some theories.

Let’s return now to the questions I posed above.  

Are there two invasions of Israel in the last days? That depends on some specifics, such as if at the time of Daniel 11:40 the Antichrist in Israel with power and authority at the start of the 70^th Week. It occurs to me that for the literal fulfillment of John 5:43 his physical presence in Israel would appear to be a necessity. After all, it is this impostor of Moshiach ben David's 7-year covenant that Israel will accept in their misguided belief that he will be Moshiach ben David. I think the covenant he makes with the expanded great power that Israel will be at that time is a 7-year ‘partnership for peace’ between the Antichrist’s EU/NATO and Israel. 

Therefore, is Daniel 11:40 a different 'last days' war than the one Ezekiel 38/39 prophecies about with enemies coming from both the north and south of Israel?  I think not. While there is no mention of Temple worship and the associated rituals, that omission may merely be an indicator that the Temple structures complex on Mount Moriah (Zion) remains under construction or is nearly completed but unconsecrated at that time.

The  start of the 70^th Week is precisely 42 months prior to the Abomination of Desolation. It should be obvious that those  42 months amounts to a very short, finite amount of time; just enough for one great world war centered in the Middle East around Israel, but not two.  I have come to think that these Scriptures indicate the Magog Confederation invasion occurs when Israel is living in a false sense of peace and security during the first 42 months of the 70^th Week (the Thlipsis). God supernaturally destroys five-sixths of those enemies and send fire upon Magog Confederation's homelands and those dwelling securely in the coastlands. However, Antichrist is there with his False Prophet and all the attendant signs and lying wonders to usurp full credit of the miraculous defeat of the Magog Confederation's forces. And the people will believe this lie, as can be seen in the great overview of this period given to us by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11, with particular respect to verse 11.

Then there's the second 42 months of the 70th Week, the Megas Thlipsis, and I believe Daniel 11: 41-45 are a brief overview of that period of time, with verse 44 directly related to the gathering Antichrist's forces at Harmagedōn (a/k/a Armageddon) to square off against a remnant army from the north and the approaching massive army of the kings of the east (image at the top) for whom the Euphrates River has been prepared for their passing over. But instead of fighting each other these forces square off to wage war upon Jesus Christ and His Saints at the Second Coming.

This now leaves one final question I posed above:  During what period of time would the fulfillment of Ezekiel 39:11-16 occur where Israel has men set aside and employed to mark and bury the dead soldiers  of the Magog Confederation in the Valley of the Passengers east of the Dead Sea? When would Israel be burning the enemy's weaponry for a subsequent seven years of time? Could this activity not be occurring at the start of the Millennium? I think the answer here is an affirmative.

This has been an attempt to advance an understanding of the ‘last days’ wars in consideration that there does not appear to be enough time left with the outside limit set by Psalm90:10 for all these prophetic things to take place and in consideration of the Lord cutting short those days into order that mankind survive the Megas Thlipsis.  Do not consider this to be chiseled in stone doctrine or dogma; it’s an interpretation of many inter-related Scriptures which I pray will lead to increased Bereanism by all.

Addendum: An Eschatological Clarification

 Daniel chapter 10 and 11 are the angel Gabriel's instructive narrative to the prophet Daniel of world events - primarily warfare and conflicts waged by European kings and their kingdoms in the Middle East across a great span of time totaling 27 centuries (6th century BC to the 21st century AD).

These two chapters are an indispensable key to unlocking and understanding 'last days' events; primarily leaders, battles and wars, and the future of Israel across this great expanse of time to the 'last days'.

The prelude to this entire narrative (Daniel 10:1-9) by the angel Gabriel occurs when Daniel is lying beside the Tigris (Hiddekel) River, in present-day Iraq which was at that time under the control of the Medo-Persian Empire (the second great world empire) and Daniel has an incredible vision of Gabriel in all of his angelic glory.

Gabriel begins the narrative by relating to Daniel how there are angelic contests involving Gabriel and Michael against other angelic beings which determine which kingdoms on the earth rise and which fall.

Gabriel begins this narrative be describing when the rise of the Macedonian-Greek king Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon) and his world empire would occur (the third great world empire).

From Alexander the narrative of Gabriel traces a bloodline, a genetic lineage of kings to the forerunner of the Antichrist, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Antiochus wars against the Macedonian-Greek kings of Ptolemaic Egypt are vividly described, as is his all important encounter in 168-67 BC with the rising fourth great world empire, the Roman Empire. The details of this are found in Daniel 11:29-31.

There is a seamless transition in Daniel 11 between the forerunner Antichrist Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the future Antichrist of Israel's 70th Week. This evokes the bloodline, a direct genetic link between the two. I believe this transition, a literal leap forward in time of more than 2,100 years plus a generation (this generation) occurs in the empty space between verses 35 and 36 of Daniel 11.

In Daniel 36 through 39 the angel Gabriel foretells the coming Antichrist's exploits in the near future and his rise to power, his takeover of entire nations at the start of the 70th Week.

Daniel 11:40 therefore is a battle which occurs during the early part of the 70th Week. I think this could well be the same battle as the Lord had Ezekiel prophesy about in chapters 38 and 39.

Then in Daniel 11:41-43 there's the European Antichrist's retaliatory military campaign of conquest throughout the eastern Mediterranean region.

Finally, Gabriel ends the narrative at verse 44 in what I believe is the intelligence report Antichrist receives informing him of the approach of massive armies - a remnant army from the north and the army of the kings of the East heading for the Euphrates River which has been dried up for their crossing. This is the stage setting for the final battle of Har Megadone (Armageddon) at the end of the 70th Week.

We all know what happens next.

Marana'tha!

Global SITREP C7-14: Intel Brief for June 2014

5 June 2014: The current situation on planet Earth is pretty much the same as it was the last time a global war was in the making.  Ours is a polarized world as the above image depicts, with the world powers moving their chessmen within the various theaters of kinetic conflict. This is completely consistent with the prophetic view expressed in the Bible prior to the 70th Week, and nothing that has not already been discussed on Eschatology Today in recent years. However, an Intel Brief for June 2014 to update everyone on global maneuverings is called for at this time.

In Ukraine low intensity conflict rules the day and the night in the eastern part of the country between the government in Kiev and Russian-speaking so-called "separatists" led by Russian special forces and military intelligence commanders taking their orders from Vladimir Putin in Moscow. So far and overall, absent the direct involvement of the bulk of Russia's main air and land forces, Kiev's military forces are inflicting tremendous damage and casualties on their "separatist" adversaries in engagements of various sizes and durations. However, Russia's aggressive actions in Ukraine, as is the nature of special operations forces, are very stealthy and continue unabated, but at some point heavy forces will be necessary to forestall total defeat.

I continue to assess that the probability of a full-scale Russian military invasion grows with every "separatist" set back or defeat in combat; a war of attrition is not in Russia's interest by any measure. Countries on the periphery of Ukraine have used this low intensity period to strengthen their forward deployed and reserve battalions and brigades and place them in a near-war posture. This is true with NATO in the West, especially in Poland; Finland and Sweden in the North and with other nations to the South, such as in the not fully resolved Russian war of aggression against the Republic of Georgia.

In Georgia the new government is actively preparing for another Russian invasion. However, unlike their experience against Russian armored forces in 2008, the next war here will cause Russia's military forces to be bled profusely. Georgia has used the past 6 years to create the most combat hardened force in the Caucasian region, a force that if unleashed today would be more than capable of dislodging the twenty percent of its territory still occupied by the Russian army (South Ossetia and Abkhazia). What is not widely known is that Georgia's entire army has been rotated through and thoroughly trained in the past five years on the battlefields of Afghanistan alongside and in support of American forces. In short, the Republic of Georgia has a new army, an all-volunteer, top-notch and very battle-hardened professional army that can robustly defend its territory or strike the Russian bear a severe blow in his hind quarters should he suddenly move towards Israel. With the exception of the Polish army, Georgia now fields an army larger and more capable then most of the larger members of NATO. Keep an eye on Ukraine, but know that Russia has a much bigger potential problem with its expansion ambitions to the south. In 2015 this Georgian army will be fully integrated into the NATO Rapid Reaction Force of 25,000 troops.

In East Asia there are great rumblings among he military forces of the "kings of the East." Mainland China is actively provoking the Vietnamese with naval skirmishes in the South China Sea of late - several Vietnamese commercial fishing vessels have been sunk after being rammed by Chinese warships escorting a sea-going oil platform, and Chinese PLA armored units have run up onto the border with northern Vietnam. Chinese and Japanese air and naval forces have been squaring off against each other in the maritime area just north of Taiwan. In Thailand martial law was followed by a military coup d'etat which makes another southeast Asian nation less than stable in a region poised for war. And then there is North Korea with the prospect of a dual nuclear weapons test (with Iranian participation) and more launches of long-range, nuclear-capable missiles.

In Central Asia, from Pakistan to all the former-Soviet republics further north to the Uighur part of western China, Islamic jihadism is spreading like a wild fire and is the greatest threat to the entire region. Continued upheaval here is a given conclusion; war and the misery it brings on a far greater scale is inevitable.

In Africa, from Nigeria to the Horn of Africa, north to Egypt and Libya we find the northern half of the continent a place where war, rampant terrorism and insurrection reign supreme and where southern African nations (OAS armies) have joined their military forces with the expeditionary forces from NATO and the US in combat operations against Islamist militias such as Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab and Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM). Yes, the king of the South is flexing his muscles as well.

And last, but never the least, there's the Middle East powder keg. From the Eastern Mediterranean littoral to the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, and on down to Yemen, ongoing combat operations and maneuverings also perpetually rule the day and the night. Most concerning is the the Syria war which is now right up against Israel's northern frontier as it is up against Jordan's northern frontier. Iraq is a basket case and full-scale war between Sunni and Shi'a rages there in everything but name. Then there's the Iranian nuclear program, which is about to have yet another North Korean-hosted test as mentioned above. This program continues as the Obama Administration pretends to be negotiating a deal with an Ayatollah who just recently reiterated for the umpteenth time his plan to destroy the "great satan" America and then the "little satan" Israel.

Notice how the globe with the chessmen in the image above looks more like a traditional anti-ship mine than it does a chessboard. Any one of these regional conflicts has the potential to set the world on fire with the war that our Lord Jesus Christ prophesied about in the Olivet Discourse that would sweep the world like the flood of Noah's day. How many millions of lives were snuffed out in that flood? Unknown, but the coming flood of fire will take an exponentially larger number of souls.

Now is the time to double-down on your witness to those who have yet to receive the Grace of God through Christ our Lord. I believe all these things point to the very imminent yet completely unknown day and hour when the Harpazo will take us in less than a nanosecond leaving many of the unsaved we know and love behind to endure even more unspeakable horrors in the wrath of the 70th Week.

Even so, Marana'tha Lord!

All These Things Be Fulfilled - Part III - The End

The Third (70th Week) Temple standing upon 

Mount Moriah, Jerusalem in the very near future.

28 January 2014: It won't be long until a real-world fact very close to as what the image above depicts comes into existence. How the 3rd Temple comes to exist is the subject of the many pre-70th Week prophecies you can read about in these Eschatology Today pages as well as in the many linked websites and blogs found along the right margin of this blog's main page. However, the focus of this article is the third and final installment of the original 2009 "All these thing fulfilled... Part I and Part II." 

In Part III we will recapture the some key points from Parts I & II in concert with key items of Jesus' prophetic discourse to His disciples on the Mount of Olives circa the year 33 AD (Matthew 24). As a statement of eschatological belief, I convicted by the Spirit that from this point in time, January 2014, and going forward through the next 17 months or so the world literally will witness several of these major prophetic events coming to pass before our eyes and this disbelieving world will find itself landed squarely on the doorstep of the angel Gabriel's prophetic 70th Week, specifically, Daniel 9:27, as given us through the full "70 Weeks Prophecy" of Daniel 9:24-27.

The first point I would like to bring attention to in Jesus' Olivet Discourse is His prophecy in verse 2 regarding the destruction of the 2nd Temple. Let's consider that this prophecy stands like a proverbial book end on the left side of the prophecy. Our Lord then works his way through the several pre-70th Week signs:

1) Deception of many men falsely claiming to be anointed ones (false messiahs).

2) Wars and rumors of other wars that must take place (i.e. the prophetic wars of Isaiah 17, Jeremiah 49, Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38/39 that must take place), but the end is not yet .

3) Wars on a global scale followed by global famines, infectious plagues and earthquakes around the globe.

Our Lord then wraps this up neatly for us by referring to these signs as "All these are the beginning of sorrows" in verse 8. These the pre-70th Week "birthpangs" are heralding the coming of His Kingdom, and we are very familiar with them because we are currently living in them.  

Then a instantaneous transition occurs. I believe this transition has two sides or parts to it and occurs in instant of the Harpazo when the Father will have sent His Son to collect all of us, the Bride of Christ. In the Harpazo the bride will be physically caught up, snatched away from this earth and instantaneously changed into new spiritual bodies and met by the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to remain with Him ever more. This is the side of the transition that you want to be on because the other side of this transition is from the present world to the advent of the 70th Week. The Tribulation has arrived.

In this side of the transition that just occurred, back on the earth, terrible things now occur with respect to those who were left behind, who were Christian in name only; those of "Churchianity who were not truly redeemed and were not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. They suffer the consequences of their lack of decision to be covered by the redemptive Blood of the Lamb. At Matthew 24:9 Jesus tells us these people will be hated in all nations, persecuted and killed for "My name's sake."  

Facing an onslaught of universal hatred some will completely lose whatever basis of faith they had. Hatred of and betrayal of those who do repent (as seen in verse 13) in the aftermath of the Harpazo will become rampant. So, the time for a decision for Jesus Christ if you have not already done so is right here, right now, because in one instant, no one knows exactly when except for God the Father, this transition will occur without any further warning. 

Again, the 70th Week, the tribulation has arrived and is just getting started, as in verse 14 Jesus makes a crystal clear reference to the 144,000 Jewish evangelists will be going around the globe preaching "this Gospel of the Kingdom." The Bride of Christ has been Harpazoed into the the many mansions of His Father; the places He has prepared for the past nearly 2000 years for His Bride. On earth the fulfillment on Ezekiel 39:29 has occurred after the battle of Gog/Magog, and the redemption of Israel has begun wit the Lord pouring out His Spirit and the fulfillment of Paul's prophecy in Romans 11:22-27 has taken place.

Then, in verse 15, Jesus gives us the right side book end of this prophecy. He jumps forward 42 months into the 70th Week and to the point where the Abomination of Desolation, the man-made image of the Antichrist, the beast, the son of perdition, is standing within the Holy Place inside the 3rd Temple. These proverbial book ends capture a sequence of events that date back to their prophetic beginning. 

The sequence was of the destruction of the 2nd Temple, the destruction of Jewish Jerusalem and the end of Israel with a global dispersion. This process, as noted in Part I of this article, took precisely 70 years, a Biblical generation (Psalms 90:10) to complete.  On our calendar these events began in 66 AD with the first Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire and came to a final conclusion in 136 AD with the end of the third and final Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire.

In the initial Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire, also known as the "Great Revolt" and the one in which Jesus appears to have prophesied expressly in the Olivet Discourse, extended from late 66 AD to early 74 AD. This war was literally begun and ended at the fortress redoubt of Masada over a period of period of precisely 7 years. And those 7 years had a hiatus, definable first and second halves which had been brought about by first civil war among the Jews in Jerusalem, and, secondly, by a Roman civil war for control of the Empire. The result is well known world history, which can be read about here, and here, for those history buffs (like myself) who are so inclined.

As a related aside concerning the fulfilled prophecy of Daniel 9:26b "the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary," these links will prove beyond any doubt that two of the four key Roman Army legions (V Macedonica; XV Apollinaris and X Fretensis; XII Fulminata) which besieged and sacked Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD arrived direct from Europe via seaports on the Mediterranean coast of Roman Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon) and Samaria (modern-day Israel). The latter two had been garrisoned in Greco-Roman Aram-Damascus under Procurator Agrippa II and the 10-city Greco-Roman Decapolis.

So, the duration of these events, the revolts of 7 and 70 years respectively,  appear to be significant numbers of years when it comes to Bible prophecy, enough to make the Preterists hold to their eschatological position as they do. But all is not quite that tidy and neat, as we shall see. There are other critical factors which must be accounted for.

Now, moving on to the modern era beginning in 1948, the process has reversed with the restoration of Israel (per Ezekiel 37) in 1948 and the recapture of Jerusalem in 1967. These events have maintained through the  battles or mini wars of the ongoing Psalm 83 war (1973 and 2006) with the final battles yet to be joined, but entirely and glaringly imminent. The Psalm 83 war begun in late 1947/early 1948 is now in its 66th or 67th year. So what remains in the reversal of this prophetic process are the conditions permitting the building of the 3rd Jewish Temple... the 70th Week Temple... the tribulation Temple... the Abomination of Desolation Temple.

If the first, deconstructive part of this prophetic sequence occurred over a period of a literal 70 years, a single generation (as Jesus also noted), then why not consider that the restorative part of the prophetic sequence will also occur in precisely 70 literal years, or from 1948 AD to 2018 AD?  This seems logical, even possible given a quick glance considering where things are to day. However, that would be akin to engaging in what is known in these modern times as 'newspaper exegesis.'  There are other key factor involved which allow for more time for all of the pre-70th Week prophecies to achieve independent fulfillment.

No pun intended, but chief among those key factors is the prophecy of Ezekiel 38/39 in conjunction with the literalness of Psalm 90:10 which provides two definitions in terms of years or durations of a single generation: 70 as normal, or 80 of strength.

We must be cognizant that the prophetic Word which came to Ezekiel contains two timelines of prophetic significance. 7 years of burning, and 7 months of burying. In the text it appears as though the burning begins first and then the burying commences. The 7 years of burning the Magog Confederation's weaponry as a form of reciprocal plundering and pillaging is the critical eschatological factor to be considered as the text states this burning occurs over a literal and Biblical (360 days each year) 7-year period of time per Ezekiel 39:9.

Let me be perfectly clear about this conclusion: nothing is 100% certain or dogmatic or date-setting about the time-line interpretation I am presenting here, excepting only that "Eretz-Israel" was declared into its modern existence in a single day just as prophesied by Isaiah 66:8 and Psalm 90:10 defines the number of years in a generation. The Word of God is Supreme. And these two points must be addressed.

The first point is the date which starts the Lord's prophetic time-line with respect to Israel and the last days prophecies. That date was May 14, 1948 AD.  In the declaration of "Eretz Israel" David Ben-Gurion made no mention of borders of "the land," and no mention of the Lord God and His Abrahamic Covenant in their right to re-establish "Eretz-Israel" was made either. The declaration of "Eretz-Israel" was based upon a declared "natural and historic" right based on "the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly" upon which Ben-Gurion and those gathered with him in assembly in Tel Aviv simply declared the existence of the "State of Israel." They signed the very secular Proclamation and placed their "trust in the Almighty" on the 5th day of Iyar, 5708 - 14th May, 1948. Nevertheless, the prophecy of Isaiah 66:8 was precisely fulfilled at that moment, and the prophetic process of the redemption of Israel began.

The second point is that a normal generation per Psalm 90:10 was given a duration of 70 years. If one were to count forward 70 years in time the count would end in mid-2018 AD. However, if we are in a generation of strength, or 80 years per the same Psalm 90:10, that would count forward to 2028 AD.

Getting back to Ezekiel 38:9, I agree with all of my fellow students of the Lord's Word who say that Israel will have to complete this burning of the Magog Confederation's weapons prior to the middle of the 70th Week. Accordingly, IF the 70th Week should commence circa mid-2018, then the middle of the 70th Week would be circa mid-2021 AD plus and additional 6 months (to account for the full 42 months of the first halve of the 70th Week, thereby placing the time further forward to almost 2022 AD.  2022 minus 7 years is 2015, and for me that is just cutting everything a little too close. In fact, it does not work at all.

Therefore, consistent with my belief that this final generation is a Psalm 90:10 generation of strength of 80 years duration, my conclusion is that we must in sound hermeneutic exegesis push these times forward by most if not all of those additional 10 years. I realize folks are most urgently desiring the Lord's return, and pray daily for the Harpazo to occur without delay. However, in so doing in consideration of those additional ten years we allow for the literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 38/39 and the burning of the weaponry for a full 7 years as well as all of the other preceding prophetic wars (Jeremiah 49:34-39, Isaiah 17, Psalm 83 and associated prophecies) to transpire, each in their own time, and from which Ezekiel also declares that Israel will have recovered from, and be living in peace, safety and fearing no enemy when the Gog/Magog launches its attack. And, most importantly, we do nothing with respect to the timing of the Harpazo of the Bride of Christ. The Father will send His Son at a time we do not expect, Even so, Marana'tha!