Daniel the Jewish prophet predicted in the 600’s before Christ that his people were to have a period of 490 years in which to wrap up their history. An astounding statement. Daniel’s people, Daniel’s holy city, the Jews whose capital forever is Jerusalem, they have been assigned a calendar that cannot deviate from its intended purposes.
During the 490 years sin will be dealt a death-blow, righteousness will be brought to the planet, and all the Messianic prophecies will be fulfilled.
Problem. Four hundred ninety years would have expired about seven years after the death of Christ. To this day, we are an evil-producing planet, and much that Messiah is to do, including supervise a worldwide reign, has not been done.
Solution. A Gentile calendar has been added within the boundaries of the Jewish one. We call it, variously, the church age, the age of grace, the times of the Gentiles. The Jewish time-piece, the offering of sacrifices in a Temple, was suspended at Calvary, when the timeless offering of Jesus was given for all men, not just the Jews.
That clock will tick again for Israel. Defying and denying their Creator, Israel will demand that their sacrifices start again in a Temple of their own on the very hill upon which that Temple once stood. The sacrifice of Christ will be deemed unnecessary and un-Messianic, and they will once more await their promised one. Judaism will be resurrected.
The politicians of the world being what they are, there will come a time when making such a deal with Israel will seem a small thing. The world will continue to hover on the brink of destruction and the idea of sacrifices in exchange for world peace will sell. A seven-year agreement will be signed by one who now has taken the reigns of a new world order, probably headquartered in Rome.
No, this man is not the antichrist. It is surprising for some to discover in the minutia of detail of the coming events of our world, that the next world ruler will simply be that. But one will rise up –literally- within his boundaries, during his reign, and Hitler-like, slowly take over all.
Three and one half years into the treaty, he will have become strong enough to end the sacrifices, and will be well on his way to ending the sacrificers too, the Jewish people. He will be blocked in these efforts, and will then come after the church of Jesus. Also contrary to present thought, he will prevail against the church, sending them into the arms of Jesus. A hollow victory, but Earth-side, a convincing one.
During this episode, the man of sin will enter the newly-constructed Temple, a marvel of architecture and symbol of world religion, sit on the mercy seat, and declare to the world that he is the god of all.
The true God will finally say, after waiting these many thousands of years, that He has had enough. The scene that follows, as He withdraws His hand of mercy, is called eloquently in Scripture, “Trouble.” We use the word “tribulation.” Trouble like we have never seen. Within three and one half years, to save the planet from total ruin, Jesus returns, catches up His bride, and finishes what God has allowed men to start, with a little help from nature.
The Kingdom is then set up in Jerusalem. 490 Jewish years from the time Daniel spoke the prophecy, sin is crippled, righteousness is exalted, Messiah is here. Luke confirms in his accounting of Jesus’ description of the final events, that these tribulation days “are the days of vengeance, that all will be fulfilled.” The A.D. 70 destruction of Jerusalem that most interpreters point their readers to for fulfillment of Luke 21, simply won’t do it. The abomination of desolation and its resultant Trouble are the end of the age of grace, plus the end of those 490 years. The God-blessed new world order will have arrived.
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