There is a great deal in Scripture about the future of Israel. In addition, prophecy has been the subject of considerable interest. Consequently, there is a lot written about this subject. I can only give a very brief overview. The general pattern given here is based on maintaining the distinction between Israel and the Church, a pre-tribulation removal of the true Church (“Rapture”), and the premillennial return of Christ in judgment. I cannot give supporting arguments for this view in this short blog but additional information can be found in the writings given in the Resources section below. By far the best exposition of Revelation is by F. W. Grant. However, Mr. Grant assumes the reader is already familiar with the general outline given in the writings of William Kelly and J. N. Darby.
Some argue that some of these features of prophecy (e.g., the Rapture) are late additions to Christian theology and therefore are open to question. But, this makes the mistake of ignoring the Scriptural basis for these doctrines by appealing to historical precedent. So, what about Sola Scriptura? The problem is that important doctrines were lost during the rise of the Roman Church and were only recovered gradually. The Spirit of God would focus our attention on doctrines when they are most relevant. The authority of Scripture is the basis of all doctrine and so was the first to be revitalized. The doctrines sketched above became fairly mainstream during the late 18 and early 19 hundreds but they were developed in the early to mid 18 hundreds when interest in the unique character of Israel was noticed in Scripture. The previously dominant “replacement theology” was replaced by doctrines based on a more literal reading of Old Testament Scriptures. It must be noticed that the soundness of these “new” ideas has been confirmed by 20th-century history. Most noticeably Israel became a modern nation on May 14, 1948. This validation cannot be ignored.
One of the problems encountered in reading Old Testament prophecy is that the Church is not mentioned. This will confuse those who do not realize that the Church is a mystery and was only brought to light in the New Testament. (Rom. 16:25–26; Eph. 3:1–7; Col. 1:26–27.) A mystery in the New Testament is a truth that at one time had been hidden, but would now be revealed to the people of God. There are breaks in the Old Testament that reflect this gap. Notice how the Lord Jesus breaks off quoting from Isaiah in Luke 4:17–20. The remainder of the passage in Isaiah reads, “and the day of vengeance of our God;” (from Isa. 61:2). Reading this part would have been inappropriate at the time of His first advent. John records His words “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (Jn. 3:17.) Such “discontinuities” must be recognized, otherwise the interpretation of the prophecies in the Old Testament becomes hopelessly confused.
To the point of the present discussion, the most important discontinuity occurs in Daniel 9:
“Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.
And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
Daniel 9:26–27, NASB.
Sir Robert Anderson has shown that the calculations from this chapter clearly identify the Lord Jesus as the Messiah (or, “Christ”).1 The “people of the prince that shall come” are obviously the Roman armies who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. Notice that this identifies the “prince that shall come” as a Roman Emperor. It is he that shall make a covenant with “the many.” To make any sense of this we must insert 2000 plus years between verses 26 and 27. The Roman empire will be restored in some form and the head of that empire will confirm a covenant, probably a treaty for military support, with the people of Israel. Right now, the prophetic clock is “paused.” (Acts 1:7) It will be restarted when this covenant is established.
This passage establishes the seven-year period called the “tribulation.” Notice that the last week (of years) is divided in half. The period of 3 ½ years (42 months, Rev. 11:3; 13:5) or “time, times, and half a time” (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 12:14) or one thousand two hundred and sixty days”2 (Rev 11:2) occurs many times and ties these prophecies together. The abomination that brings a desolator is also a marker used by the Lord Jesus in his prophecy in Matthew (“abomination of desolation”, Matt. 24:15). This is likely the action of the Antichrist to exalt himself in the temple mentioned by the apostle Paul. (2 Thess. 2:3–4.) Many Scriptures describe this time of trouble for Israel and the whole world. We can only look at a few.
I will use this division of the tribulation into two equal parts. The first half seems to be mostly preparatory to the “great tribulation” (Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21) or the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7). A key feature seems to be the confederation of nations to form a “revived Roman empire.” Many think this will consist of ten nations.3 However, because ten is often used in Scripture symbolically, I am not dogmatic about the actual number of nations involved. Another key feature is the relationship between the false Christian Church—children of Thyatira (Rev. 2:22–23.)—pictured by the woman riding the beast in Revelation 17. See for example Matthew 13 where the woman is also used as a symbol for the Christian profession (the “kingdom of heaven”). History repeats itself so we only need to look back to the Christian profession during the period from 500 AD to 1500 AD to see an example of how the Christian profession can seek to acquire political influence.
In the middle of the tribulation, the Christian profession is destroyed (Rev. 17:17.) and God more directly takes up His work with Israel. In Israel, pride comes to the forefront in the person of “the king.” Daniel 11:36–45 gives a graphic picture of the events during this time. The attitude of “the king” is so like the present (2025) leaders and people of Israel that one might almost think we are already in the tribulation period. But, the evil has not yet come to the full measure. Before leaving this passage, we must notice the invasion of the “king of the north.” (Vers. 40–45.) This is evidently the old Assyrian power rising up again.4
The climax of the arrogant pride of the Antichrist, “the king” of Daniel 11 ver. 36, is described by the apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Thessalonians 2:1–12.
In the Garden of Eden, we saw Satan tempted Adam and Eve, “You shall be as God.” Now we see in these events mankind in opposition to God’s chosen people, Israel, and Israel seeking to stand independent of God. On both sides, it is mankind following Satan’s deception.
The humbling of the pride of Israel is graphically portrayed by the prophet Zechariah.
And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land shall mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves. On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
Zechariah 12:10–13:1.
The context for this repentance is the prospect of their total annihilation. As described in Daniel 11, the “king of the north” (Assyrians, possibly Turkey and Syria) will overrun the land. The nations of the earth will be gathered to overwhelm Israel. (Rev. 9:16) Israel will have lost all hope for survival. Then, the Lord Jesus, who they rejected and crucified will appear to fight for them. These verses in Zechariah show the profound repentance that will grip the nation of Israel. Just as the deliverance from Egypt under the leadership of Moses was so great that “a dog will not even bark” (Ex. 11:7, NASB) so the Lord’s deliverance from the armies that come against Israel from the whole world (Rev. 9:16) will be so spectacular that the armies that have come against Israel will be paralyzed with wonder and fear. (Zech. 14:14)
After the deliverance, there will be rejoicing among the faithful. Many of the Psalms describe the rejoicing and prosperity for the whole world that results. This is the subject of the next post.
Resources
The text of all of these resources is available online at https://stempublishing.com/. However, the cross-references in The Numerical Bible are not in the online version and are extremely useful. So I recommend that the serious student of Scripture buy the complete set from Believers Bookshelf, Sunbury, PA.
Grant, F. W., The Numerical Bible: Psalms. Loizeaux Brothers, 1931.
———, The Numerical Bible: Ezekiel. Loizeaux Brothers, 1931.
———, The Numerical Bible: Hebrews to Revelation. Loizeaux Brothers, 1931.
Kelly, William, An Exposition of the Book of Isaiah. C. A. Hammond, 1947.
———, Lectures on the Book of Daniel. Bible Truth Publishers, undated.
———, Lectures Introductory to the Study of the Minor Prophets. Bible Truth Publishers, undated.
Endnotes
1. Sir Rober Anderson, The Coming Prince.
2. Prophetic years are 360 days, so 360 times 3 ½ = 1260.
3. This is based on Daniel 2:40–43.
4. It is easy to see in the alliance developing between Turkey and Syria a foreshadow of this power north of Israel.
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