The New International Version of the Bible is used throughout unless otherwise specified.

ISA 45:1 "This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:

ISA 45:2 I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. Anointing is commonly used to appoint kings. In the case of King David, it was Samuel the prophet that anointed him King of Israel on God’s instructions, even though it was a considerable time before he became king. Cyrus is such a one as will be anointed by God as king, to do what God asks of him. God makes it very clear that it’s He that sets up kings and destroys them: Dan 4:17 "The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.'" No spirit ruler rules anywhere without God’s permission. When God grants sovereignty to a spirit ruler, the human executives of that nation are generally the very lowliest of men. Exceptions are rare. In this instance, in the Book of Daniel, Daniel is declaring to Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon, what is to happen to him. V16 says this, "Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times (years) pass by for him." So Nebuchadnezzar was transformed into a beast and had the mind of a beast for seven years. This was the punishment Nebuchadnezzar suffered when he elevated himself above God. This information will be very relevant later in this study when we start discussion of the beasts that are to arise in these last days.

ISA 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. Well, that’s Cyrus’ name all right, and Cyrus, being a spirit ruler of the heavenly realms, has continually existed since he first came to power. Though he was deposed after he became the ruler of the Medo-Persian Empire, which swallowed up the territories of Babylonia, God will once again take hold of his hand to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their armour. Perhaps the Prophet Isaiah didn’t know what the ‘riches stored in secret places’ in his day meant. Today, the power and wealth in the Middle East is fueled by petroleum, and this resource has a controlling interest throughout the world.

ISA 45:4 For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. Cyrus doesn’t acknowledge God in the same way that Nebuchadnezzar did – which we covered earlier. There are subtle differences. Yet, he knows the value of complying with God’s instructions or the consequences of not doing so.

ISA 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me,

ISA 45:6 so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. Cyrus was described earlier as coming from the north and from the rising sun. This has a double meaning. Cyrus comes from the north-east of God’s City Jerusalem, but he also comes from the rising sun which represents Lucifer – the present morning star. God makes it clear that a new sun will arise, which will replace the old, and this One is called the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2). God is also making it clear that there is no rising sun to bring light except Him! It seems that most rulers of the heavenly realms believe themselves to be the next rising star. They love power over others and will do anything to get it. Believe me; the present rising sun has a setting date!

ISA 45:7 I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things. This confirms God’s explanation about the coming Sun of Righteousness. Prior to His arrival though, there will be a lot of darkness! God intends to give the dark forces a period of rulership to teach the House of Israel some much-needed lessons. Foremost among these lessons will be the meaning of salvation, and to get it firmly fixed in the minds of these rebels what they will be saved from! You’ll note in the next verse that, at a certain time, salvation will spring up – and righteousness will grow with it:

ISA 45:8 "You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the LORD, have created it. So you can understand what Peter says in: 2Pet 1:19-21 "And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star (sun) rises in your hearts. ²⁰ Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. ²¹ For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." Peter says that God’s servants await the dawning of a new day when the Morning Star or Sun arises in your hearts. Not the old morning star or lightbringer called Lucifer, but the dawning of the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2).

ISA 45:9 "Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, `What are you making?' Does your work say, `He has no hands'? There are plenty of people who like to quarrel and find fault with their Maker. God describes them as broken pots or shards on the ground. As we’ll soon find out, these are the very people who object to the Work of God’s hands, and feel He has made a mistake in His choice of servants. The broken pots feel they are more eminently qualified to be the Work of God’s hands.

ISA 45:10 Woe to him who says to his father, `What have you begotten?' or to his mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?' This example illustrates a situation where a child begins to blame his parents for what he is. He sneeringly blames his parents for his gene pool or his socio-economic level. God goes on to make the point that, as the Potter, He will make what he chooses, and warns everyone about questioning His motives or the work of His hands.

ISA 45:11 "This is what the LORD says-- the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? Concerning things to come is a reference to Bible Prophecy. With the fulfillment of all Bible Prophecy at hand, God makes His own choices of whom He will create to be His servants – the children of God. As the Master Potter, He will decide what He will make, and He wants the broken pots to think very carefully before raising criticism against Him. He’s the Creator God, and from the very beginning to the very end, He will bring about all that He has planned. This doesn’t sit too well with those whom God describes as broken pots in these final days as Bible Prophecy advances. Some of these people believe themselves to be comparable to God in holiness, and therefore more eminently qualified for honour than those whom God chooses as His servants.

ISA 45:12 It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands (a reference to the Potter who creates with his hands) stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts. Here’s a reference to the starry hosts again. They may think they control everything, but God marshals them and they do as He commands – and they dare not refuse! There are none who want to be sent to the Abyss (Luke 8:31).

ISA 45:13 I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the LORD Almighty." Let’s just say that the coercion comes in the form of a threat from Almighty God and Cyrus knows better than to resist.

ISA 45:14 This is what the LORD says: "The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and those tall Sabeans-- they will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you, coming over to you in chains. They will bow down before you and plead with you, saying, `Surely God is with you, and there is no other; there is no other god.'" (The name ‘Sabeans’ is derived from the word ‘Seba’ or ‘Sheba’, which relates to Ethiopia, and, for that matter, the Queen of Sheba of Solomon’s day.) And here we see an example of the exact opposite of the attitude of the potsherds. These people from Sheba acknowledge that God is with His servants – the Work of His hands, and that there is no other god.

ISA 45:15 Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God and Savior of Israel. In days of old, God did tend to hide Himself from everyone except His servants the prophets. For long periods in the past, God remained silent, and even in our day, while the potsherds were running rampant and trying to fashion and shape the Potter to their concepts and ideas and their perceptions of Him, He has continued to remain silent. But not for much longer! Remember what we read in the 42^nd chapter? Isa 42:13-15 "The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. ¹⁴ "For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. ¹⁵ I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools."

ISA 45:16 All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced; they will go off into disgrace together. Those who tried to shape God into their own image will go off in the severest disgrace imaginable, and they’ll get what their actions deserve!

ISA 45:17 But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting. Israel is actually defined as 144,000 – the Jeshurun of the Song of Moses. Yet we also find that God is going to reap or harvest where He has not sown, as with the people of Sheba. Matt 25:24-27 "Then the man who had received the one talent came. `Master,' he said, `I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' ²⁶ "His master replied, `You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest." The bankers in this case are the Levites who collect the Tithe and will continue to do so forever in God’s Kingdom. You can dance around it all you like, but God will demand His money from those who persist in robbing Him (Mal 3:8-10) and it will be their money or their life!

So what about those who are harvested where God hasn’t scattered seed? These unlikely candidates will be highly favoured because they did what Israel would not do and failed to do! Rev 7:9-10, 13-17 "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." Remember how those from Sheba (Sabeans) came over to God’s servants praising God as the one true God? These tall, black Sabeans are certainly not of the Tribe of Israel. And neither are all of this great multitude, who come from every nation, tribe, people and language. These represent every different kind of people on earth, including the Israelites. Then, as they gathered around the Throne of God, the question was asked about who they were: V13 "Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from?" ¹⁴ I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

By following Jesus, and immersing themselves in the blood and death of Jesus in the Great Tribulation, these people emerge in white robes and stand before God. The very act of washing their robes indicates that they were covered in blood, and this is what the Great Tribulation is all about – a blood-letting time of horror and carnage. The washing of their clothes is spoken of figuratively, because God actually gives them clean white robes to wear. This is true also of those who are killed during the time of the Fifth Seal. These truly were the ones that set an example for all those who would afterwards turn to God: Rev 6:9-11 "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. ¹⁰ They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" ¹¹ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed." These people went willingly as sheep to the slaughter. They laid down their lives for God and for others, and willingly became martyrs. They didn’t love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

The uncountable multitude, who likewise turn to God will be rewarded and become a part of the Family of God. V15 "Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. ¹⁶ Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. ¹⁷ For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

As we previously indicated this all occurs within the timeframe of the opening of the Seven Seals – and immediately before the Seventh Seal is opened. All that occurs after this is against the whole world, and at a time when God restores the earth to its original shape, when mountains will crumble, valleys filled in, seas will disappear and every continent moved. Jerusalem, however will remain geologically locked into place and unmovable (Zech 14:9-11). All the landmasses of the earth will recede back toward Jerusalem to become a single continent.

During the period of the opening of the Seven Seals, a vile beast under the auspices of Satan will arise and do astounding damage. This beast will follow after the Medo-Persian Empire. In the Book of Daniel, we see the time-frame for this: Dan 10:20 "So he said, "Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come; ²¹ but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince. ¹ And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him.)" Gabriel came to tell Daniel what was written in the Book of Truth. This is spoken of again and again by the prophets and is referenced many times as the Scroll – as we’ve seen in the Book of Isaiah. This Scroll of Truth is revealed by the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

After the prince of Persia comes, the prince of Greece will come. Prior to this, however, Gabriel is commissioned to support and protect Darius the Mede. Darius the Mede is the one whom Cyrus empowered as his human protégé, and it’s Darius the Mede that took over the Babylonian Empire (Dan 5:30). Thereafter, it became the Medo-Persian Empire. Darius must have been well-positioned at that time to simply take over rulership from Belshazzar, king of Babylon. The Scriptures are not specific on who actually killed Belshazzar, but Darius won the day with a little help from Gabriel who protected him. Darius became the king over the Medo-Persian Empire. The same ruler of the heavenly realms, who God favoured in that day was Cyrus, whom God will again anoint as ruler. This is the very same scenario that will develop in our time.

Speaking of the prince of Greece who will come (Dan 10:20) after the prince of Persia, we find a description of his nation-states in: Dan 8:21-27 "The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king (This was Alexander the Great, the King over Greece/Macedonia). ²² The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power. What Daniel saw was a shaggy goat, initially with one horn, but later when this was broken off, four more grew out of it. From this same shaggy goat (which is the King of Greece – V21 – and a demon ruler), a master strategist will arise. ²³ "In the latter part of their reign (that is, the reign of the four kings who took over the former territories of the Alexander’s Greek/Macedonian territories), when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. ²⁴ He will become very strong, but not by his own power (the same spirit ruler who gave Alexander his power anciently, will empower him, and this ruler is the King of Greece). He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. ²⁵ He will cause deceit to prosper (note these words because the West is already being conditioned to believe deceitful lies. The most deceitful lie that has prospered lately is the madness called ‘global warming’. Ranking beside this is the theory of multiculturalism, which has now become a form of madness. Then there’s political correctness and the list goes on! How easily people are deceived by Satan’s wine of deception!), and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power (in fact he will be captured by a mighty angel and thrown alive into the Lake of Fire). ²⁶ "The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future." The vision was sealed until the time came to unseal it, and this was done by the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. ²⁷ I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for several days. Then I got up and went about the king's business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding." Daniel heard it all but didn’t understand it. Sometimes a prophet of God becomes literally exhausted trying to understand the meaning of what is written in the Scriptures. False prophets don’t have this problem; they simply invent their own interpretations and beguile others with it. Truth doesn’t randomly drop like manna from heaven! It has to be searched for from the Scriptures. As Jesus said, ‘Seek and you will find’ (Matt 7:7). How many people today do this? How many people today even care? After what he saw, Daniel concluded it was beyond understanding – for his time. But he knew it was sealed, and that a time would come when it would be unsealed in the distant future. In other words, in our day!

Daniel further references these four kings of Greece who get taken over by the large horn that emerges once more, and afterwards, a little horn suddenly arises, in Dan 7:7 "After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast--terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. So this fourth king is not only more powerful, he also has ten horns – meaning ten kings or rulers. How many nations in the Middle East did Alexander conquer anciently and suborn to his authority? Well, this latter-day Alexander will do the same and become very powerful. V8 "While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully." This is the description of the second beast that arises and gives his allegiance to the first horn, whom we know through history as Alexander.

Dan 7:1-28 "In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream. ² Daniel said: "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. ³ Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. This is obviously not talking about human beings but demon rulers.

V4 "The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it. Here's a beast who had his wings taken off and he becomes earth-bound and demobilized. This dream occurs after the death of Nebuchadnezzar and during the reign of his grandson Belshazzar. It relates to the Sealed Scroll that begins unrolling or opening in the very last days. This is the head of gold on the Great Statue that Daniel described, which Daniel confirms is the Kingdom of Babylon. It was written as a prophecy for the distant future, and though Daniel may not have known what it meant, he recorded what he saw. The heart of a man that was given it was the heart of Nebuchadnezzar formerly, but in these latter days, it was the heart of Saddam Hussein – who believed himself to be the incarnation of Nebuchadnezzar. Both were rulers of Babylon. Iraq is the nation of Babylon – the same nation of old. When Babylon became an empire, its borders reached throughout the entire Middle East. Daniel was well-acquainted with Babylon because he lived there. He knew other nations would arise in conquest, including Persia and Greece because he was told about the Shaggy Goat charging the Ram, and he was plainly told who the Goat and the Ram were – which we’ll get to shortly.

Now another ruler arises with a voracious appetite for power and begins to consolidate his power throughout the region. V5 "And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, `Get up and eat your fill of flesh!' These three ribs apparently relate to three women or nations (the first woman Eve was made from Adam's rib, and this is the identifier. You might like to ponder why God didn’t just create Eve in the same manner as He did Adam. Instead, He created her from one of Adam’s ribs. This was to have far-reaching implications in the overall plan of God – all of which we won’t go into now). This beast relates to the second part of the Great Statue and is the Kingdom of Silver. It also relates to the opening of the Second Seal. This is the Prince of Persia. This beast eats his fill of flesh all right! He succeeds in destroying the House of Israel, namely the ‘Prince among his brothers’ Ephraim. This is something he’s been vowing to do for years now, and he has the weapons to do it. In the second seal, this is describes as: Rev 6:3 "….It’s rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword’.

V6 "After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.

Who and what is this beast? Well, he is obviously seeking four crowns for his four heads, and they're given to him. This is the ruler who consolidates his position by taking over a kingdom of four nations – the three ‘ribs’ of the Persian King, plus one more. This is the king of the Medes (Kurds today) and these are the four kingdoms God gives him: Iran, Iraq, Syria, and it now seems obvious that the other kingdom is Turkey. There are fierce border conflicts going on today between the Turks and the Kurds. The Turks want the Kurdish oilfields and have been severely provocative about it. Well, the outcome has been determined by God, and the Turks will lose! God has given Cyrus this assurance, and Cyrus is the prophesied ruler of this Kingdom! This kingdom represents the Bronze part of the Great Statue, because it emerges markedly inferior to the former two. Interestingly, God tells Cyrus He will break down gates of bronze (Isa 45:2) for him in order to give him absolute rule of his acquired territories. He also says He will cut through bars of iron. But eventually he will come to his end when the Shaggy Goat emerges knocking the ruler (the Ram) to the ground in conquest – though not before he fulfils his contractual obligations towards God. This is to free the Jewish hostages held in the empire, and to fund the building of the Temple.

V7 "After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast--terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. Well this is a whole new player - completely different from the others! Those readers who know their history will know that Alexander the Great came and conquered the Medo-Persian Empire, and he began by invading Turkey (referred to in history as Asia Minor). This is exactly what will happen when the King of Greece makes his move. The King of Greece is the fourth beast, and follows in the footsteps of Alexander the Great. I think everyone knows from history that Alexander conquered the entire Middle East and set up puppet rulers over ten conquered nations. Modern-day names and borders of these nations differ from the names of Alexander’s time, but they are still the same people.

V8 "While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully. While Daniel was thinking about these ten horns of the fourth beast, another little horn emerges. The identity of this little horn, as we will soon see, is the false prophet. Three of these horns will be uprooted before it.

And now we come to the verse where Daniel identifies the time sequence when all these things will be fulfilled, all of which corresponds to the time when the Books are opened: V9 "As I looked, "thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. ¹⁰ A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened."

Well, what a coincidence! The Book of Revelation, chapter 5 details this very prophecy of Daniel, and immediately before all the Seals are opened, which begins in Rev 6:1. Rev 5:9-14 "And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. ¹⁰ You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." ¹¹ Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹² In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" ¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" ¹⁴ The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped. Rev 6:1 "I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals." So here we see the very event described that Daniel prophesied about. As you will see from these verses, this is the time when the Lord Jesus takes over absolute power. At the completion of the events described in the Scroll, the whole earth will acknowledge the Creator God. This is God’s purpose, and He plans to ensure that rebellion never arises again.

Dan 7:11-12 "Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. ¹² (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.) These other beasts, Babylon (Iraq), Persia (Iran) and the Medes (Kurds), which preceded the fourth beast, which also manifests itself as the former Alexander, have all been stripped of their authority but are allowed to live – but only for a period of time. Just one of these four beasts has absolute power and authority, and he acquires a second beast as his helper. This little horn arises to become the false prophet, giving his absolute allegiance to the first beast. Their names are Death and Hades (sometimes referred to as ‘Grave’ in the Old Testament).

There are two beasts specifically named as being thrown into the Lake of Fire. These are Death and the Hades: Rev 6:7 "When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" ⁸ I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." These are exact ones to whom Daniel was referring. And as he confirmed in Dan 7:11 above, these are thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is confirmed in Rev 19:20 "But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. ²¹ The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse (Jesus Christ is the Rider of this white horse – see Rev 19:11), and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh." Note that the rest of them – the horses or nations that were controlled by the Beast and the False Prophet – are killed by the sword that comes out of the mouth of the Lord Christ. This sword is a weapon of war! The reason it comes ‘out of His mouth’ is because He is the Commander of armies and He commands the outcome – and it’s carried out. You will see later that when the Lord Christ appears suddenly, He goes out and slaughters many people single-handedly and gets His garments soaked in blood. At this appearance, He comes riding, not on a horse, but the foal of a donkey. But we’ll deal with this prophecy later.

Further confirmation of the fate of the Beast and the False Prophet is found in: Rev 20:10 "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever (meaning for the rest of their lives until there is no more day and night for them, but only eternal darkness – death!)."

And now we see that the Beast and the False Prophet are identified as Death and Hades. These must surrender the dead that are in them. The dead, which God is concerned with here, are those who refused the mark of the beast and were promptly killed, and they’ll need to be judged on whether they fully complied with God’s instructions in this. Rev 20:14 "The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." The only people who have their names written in the Book of Life are those who have God’s Holy Spirit – and no other! But even those with God’s Holy Spirit are not immune to the penalty of disobedience, especially in regard to worshiping the image of the beast. And some may believe that God will forgive them if they do it when faced with death. Well, the judgment will confirm this one way or the other. If their names are not in the Book of Life, it means that it’s been removed! And they’ll be thrown into the Lake of Fire, where Death and Hades will be, and they’ll be burned up forever – never to live again! We all have one shot at life, and those who die without God’s Holy Spirit will never live again. This is one of the central messages of the whole Bible. It’s beyond belief that anyone could fail to understand it! Without God’s Holy Spirit there is no life in the hereafter.

And so, as we continue in the 7^th chapter of Daniel, we see that Daniel further describes the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of Heaven. Dan 7:13-14 "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples (people of all nations), nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. This further confirms what Daniel wrote in Dan 2:44 "In the time of those kings (the kings that make up the Great Statue of gold, silver, bronze and iron), the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands--a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. "The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."

And now we get back again to the four great beasts that Daniel has been describing in the seventh chapter. We find that the fourth beast relates to the iron part of the Great Statue, while the first three beasts relate to the gold, silver and bronze. Daniel asks God’s angel for an explanation: Dan 7:15-28 "I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. ¹⁶ I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this. "So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: ¹⁷ `The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth. ¹⁸ But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever--yes, for ever and ever.' ¹⁹ "Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws--the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. ²⁰ I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell--the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. ²¹ As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, ²² until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.

Now the angel begins to give Daniel further explanation of this fourth beast by way of clarification: V23 "He gave me this explanation: `The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. ²⁴ The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom (that is, all the kingdoms that Alexander conquered anciently and of which he became absolute ruler. The Bible records that these ten kings only acquire power for one hour – immediately before they are mustered for an attack against Jesus Christ Himself. We’ll get to all this later). After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. ²⁵ He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time (3½ years). ‘Handed over to him’ means the saints will be betrayed. People will willingly betray them if it means saving their own lives, and this is how high the stakes will be in that day. The set times and the Laws that this crazy beast will try to change are the keeping of God’s Holy Days (set times) and the Law of God – which the saints obey (God doesn’t give His Holy Spirit to those who don’t obey Him – Acts 5:32 "We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.").

V26-28 "But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. ²⁷ Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.' ²⁸ "This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself." Take particular note of what is written here. The Saints will take over sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven….. and all rulers will worship and obey Him (God). This verse details exactly what God intends. The Saints will replace the rulers of the heavenly realm and will take over all the kingdoms under the whole heaven. Like Jesus Christ, they will be part of the God Family and will bear His Name. No longer will they be a little lower than the angels, they will be lords over all the angelic beings. Even God’s 24 counsellors or elders will surrender their crowns (Rev 4:10). And they do so happily knowing that the new Family of God have experienced the disastrous consequences of disobedience to God and will never allow it to be repeated again. It should come as no surprise that even the angels long to look into these things (1Pet 1:12).

Just to make a quick observation about present circumstances in the world. Greece has become an economic basket-case with colossal debt and with no means to repay. This is exactly the situation that existed in Germany at the start of WW2. In just a few short years Germany became the behemoth of the whole region! So don’t think for one moment that Greece is too far gone. It too, will be a behemoth. And to further confirm this, the whole world will be astonished when they see this beast arise from Greece (Rev 13:3) and the present situation gives the reasons why. It will be most unexpected! When Greece hosted the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, it was expected that the country would be propelled to affluence with trade and investment as has been the case with other nations hosting the games. Yet it never happened! Instead they began a downward spiraling that has led to their current predicament. What is more, they dragged Europe down with them as well. Europe has bled a trillion Euros to bail them out. It remains to be seen what the outcome of all this will be. It’s not a happy day for Europe with the Euro currency plunging to record lows as a result. Even more astonishing is that America is obligated to provide 20% of the bail-out money. So the whole world will be astonished to see this beast-power arise.

As we quoted above in Dan 7, this king will arise as the fourth of four beasts which will arise successively, culminating in the Iron King, with large iron teeth and bronze claws that crushes and devours everything in his path. Yet he will extend his power to the entire Middle East, crushing the Babylonians, Persians and the Medes, bringing them into his empire as subordinates. At this point he will effectively have seven heads. The first four come from his own group of Greek-Macedonian nations, who took power when Alexander died anciently, but once again find themselves under the Shaggy Goat’s rule. Then, as the horned Shaggy Goat, he will attack the Ram, defeating him and swallowing up his Empire – consisting of the Babylonians, Persians and Medes and all their possessions. Through the conquest of these people he will marshal their armies into his ranks – just as Alexander did – and together they will continue the conquest. These three, Babylonians, Persians and Medes, represent the bronze claws. ‘Bronze’ representing their place on the great statue described by Daniel. From this point on, they crush everything in their path and spreading to the whole world (Dan 7:23).

And this is why the four beasts are described in Dan 7 as terrifying beasts, because they are going to do terrifying acts. Collectively, they will do astounding damage throughout the Middle East, gaining power over ten nation states and will prove to be unstoppable. His power won’t be limited to the Middle East though, it will reach throughout the world, and will "devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it."

Dan 8:1-3 "In the third year of King Belshazzar's reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. ² In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal. ³ I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns (Medes and Persians), standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later." This is a reference to the Persian Empire with the longer horn, but the other horn (the Medes or Kurds) grows up later to form the Medo-Persian Empire under Cyrus – the anointed one. It’s under Cyrus that the Ram surges forward and charges in all directions:

V4 "I watched the ram as he charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against him, and none could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great. You'll notice that he charges towards the west (Syria), the north (Turkey) and to the south (Iraq) and consolidates his power base as the Medo-Persian Empire. This is the ram that is later knocked down and conquered by the Shaggy Goat from Greece. This is the account of this later event:

V5 "As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. ⁶ He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at him in great rage. ⁷ I saw him attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him; the goat knocked him to the ground and trampled on him, and none could rescue the ram from his power. ⁸ The goat became very great, but at the height of his power his large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven. ⁹ Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. ¹⁰ It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. ¹¹ It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low. ¹² Because of rebellion, the host of the saints and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.

Jesus Christ mentioned this: Matt 24:15 "So when you see standing in the holy place `the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand-- ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." How many readers have understood this? It's almost impossible to find anyone today who believes what the Bible says and are willing to acknowledge that the King of Greece is the Beast. Jesus even points the way to what Daniel said, but still they don't believe. Most readers have difficulty believing that a New Temple will be built, and that daily sacrifices will be made in it - until they are taken away by the Beast. Nor could they understand that the daily sacrifices will be restored some years later when the Sanctuary is reconsecrated.

Antiochus Epiphanes truly did believe he was a god. In the second book of Maccabees we find a long and harrowing indictment against him: 2Macc 6:1-11 "Not long after this the king sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to abandon the customs of their ancestors and live no longer by the laws of God; also to profane the temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus, and that on Mount Gerizim to Zeus the Hospitable, as the inhabitants of the place requested...They also brought into the temple things that were forbidden, so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings prohibited by the laws. A man could not keep the sabbath or celebrate the traditional feasts, nor even admit that he was a Jew. At the suggestion of the citizens of Ptolemais, a decree was issued ordering the neighboring Greek cities to act in the same way against the Jews: oblige them to partake of the sacrifices (to demons), and put to death those who would not consent to adopt the customs of the Greeks. It was obvious, therefore, that disaster impended. Thus, two women who were arrested for having circumcised their children were publicly paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then thrown down from the top of the city wall. Others, who had assembled in nearby caves to observe the sabbath in secret, were betrayed to Philip and all burned to death. " So let's just say that Antiochus Epiphanes, while not the prophesied beast, is certainly a good imitation of him.

The Apostle Paul also mentions about the Beast setting himself up in God's Temple: 2Thess 2:3 "Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. ⁴ He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God." So apparently, Paul didn't know what he was talking about either - according to the false prophets! Because he, too, states that this prophecy is yet future! Paul knew what the Scriptures said, and this is where he got his information. In fact, from the Book of Daniel!

Continuing where we left off in the Book of Daniel, we find a continuation of these things: Dan 8:13-14 "Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, "How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled--the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host that will be trampled underfoot?" ¹⁴ He said to me, "It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated." So this gives us a bit of an idea what is going to happen. Suddenly, everyone turns to jelly in the Holy Land and most will succumb to the lying wonders the Beast performs, and so they rebel against God's Kingdom and His servants - the very ones who rescued them! When people become so gutless and exhibit hearts the size of a pea, you really can't expect too much integrity from them. Here was the perfect chance to be martyred for God and to have everlasting life, but instead they loved their lives more than God. Interestingly, Daniel has something to say about this too: Dan 11:31-37 "His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. ³² With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him." "Violated the Covenant" is a reference to God’s Covenant that all people of Jerusalem will be obliged to live by. With cunning flattery, this Beast will convince people that God’s Covenant is unrealistic and deprives them of their rights. He offers an alternative covenant, which he promptly breaks himself. We’ll get to this in a few moments.

Yes, there will certainly be a fight-back from the Temple Fortress! Those who know their God will know what this means, and they will also know the outcome. It's the final act before the Battle of Armageddon. In the lead-up to this, there will be people who are wise enough to instruct others, yet as with others in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, they will have to put their lives on the line if they choose obedience to God. V13 "Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. ³⁴ When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. ³⁵ Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time." When people are captured, it becomes a real problem, because they're used as human shields by the satanic forces of the heavenly realms. We even see mad creatures today actually offering themselves as human shields on the side of Islam. You can be sure of one thing! Such traitors will be the first to be gunned down without the slightest qualm of conscience! There is nothing more detestible than a traitor.

V36 "The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. ³⁷ He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all." This certainly gives us the measure of this pompous fool! If he has no regard for his other colleagues, the demon gods who love to be worshipped, it's certain that he will have no regard for human beings. It's worth noting however, that he uses flattery to corrupt those who have violated the Covenant and turned against God.

Daniel even adds a lot more about the events that surround the desecration of the Temple and the end to sacrifice and offerings. It begins with the reign of the anointed one, Cyrus, and the later emergence of the beast: Dan 9:25-27 "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one, the ruler, comes, there will be seven `sevens,' and sixty-two`sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. ²⁶ After the sixty-two `sevens,' the anointed one (Cyrus) will be cut off and will have nothing." So at that time, Jerusalem will need to be rebuilt after disaster has befallen it. Roads and trenches - presumably site preparations - will be built, but in times of trouble, which is a fair indiction that wars will continue to the end. Yet after the departure of the anointed one, Cyrus, it faces destruction yet again. The Beast and his armies will arrive for the specific purpose of destroying the City and the Sanctuary, and trying to undo all that Cyrus set out to do. Continuing in V26 "The people of the ruler (the Beast called Death) who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. <sup>27</sup> He will confirm a covenant with many for one `seven.' In the middle of the`seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." The end that is decreed for him is to be thrown into the Lake of Fire. He will be captured along with the false prophet and together they'll be thrown alive into the Fiery Lake (Rev 19:19-21).

Continuing in Dan 8:15-17 "While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man. ¹⁶ And I heard a man's voice from the Ulai calling, "Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision." Here we see that Gabriel looks like a man. He doesn't have wings or feathers, but he still looks very imposing. In fact, Daniel was overawed by his stature: ¹⁷ As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. "Son of man," he said to me, "understand that the vision concerns the time of the end." The archangels of God are very powerful and have a rough, tough, super-imposing presence, and Gabriel is no exception. When mainstream Christianity exhibits their own renditions of Gabriel, he certainly doesn’t look like someone who would induce a terrified reaction. Instead, their rendition of Gabriel looks more like a woman! V18-22 "While he was speaking to me, I was in a deep sleep (Daniel fainted), with my face to the ground. Then he touched me and raised me to my feet. ¹⁹ He said: "I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. ²⁰ The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. ²¹ The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. ²² The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power. This clearly shows that the two-horned ram represents the Kings of Media and Persia.

In the latter part of the reign of the four kings that took over from Alexander when he died, a stern-faced king – the Beast – a master of intrigue, will arise. Like Alexander, he will rise to very great power, and vent his rage in the Middle East, knocking down nations like dominos: V23-27 "In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. ²⁴ He will become very strong, but not by his own power (the devil gives him his power – Rev 13:3). He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. ²⁵ He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power. Instead he will be thrown into the Lake of Fire by God’s archangels. V26-27 "The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future." And here we see that this vision has been sealed up until the distant future when the Lion of the Tribe of Judah breaks open the Seals to reveal the contents of the Scroll. Naturally enough, the contents of the Scroll are revealed to His servants the prophets. V27 "I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for several days. Then I got up and went about the king's business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding." This clearly shows that it was beyond understanding until the Seals were opened.

Now that the time has come for the Seals to be opened, the false prophets can go on vacation. They’ve exhausted themselves inventing their own renditions of Bible prophecy without any regard for the Scriptures that Jesus used while on earth – the Old Testament. What a field day of intrigue they’ve had. In fact, they’ve been masters of intrigue and in so doing, they’ve actually emulated the Beast, who also throws Truth to the ground and tramples on it. Perhaps the reader can now understand why God is so scathing towards false prophets. I wonder who’ll be the first to confess their woeful lies and distortions? If they don’t, then there is a place prepared for them where they’ll get more than a suntan. It’s the place where all ‘goats’ will be thrown! Matt 25:31-33, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left." So the goats will be placed on the left, and this is what happens to the goats on the left: V41-46 "Then he will say to those on his left, `Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. <sup>42</sup> For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, <sup>43</sup> I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' <sup>44</sup> "They also will answer, `Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' ⁴⁵ "He will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' ⁴⁶ "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Those who take on the role of the goat, which is a reference to the mind of the Beast, and follow him by taking his mark in order to save their lives, will be thrown alive into the lake of fire. This punishment is confirmed in The Judgment: Rev 20:4 "I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years." And just to confirm these ‘goats’ are thrown into the lake of fire – along with Death (the beast) and Hades (the false prophet) we find it confirmed here: V11-15 "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." So here we see a clear distinction between the sheep and the goats. The goats are those who received the mark of the beast. The sheep are those who refused it and were killed or beheaded. The goats are thrown into the same lake of fire as Death and Hades and suffer the same fate. Jesus Christ Himself confirms these things in Matt 12:36-37 "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Just to add to this, Daniel also spoke of this Day of Judgment: Dan 12:1-3 "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people--everyone whose name is found written in the book--will be delivered. ² Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. ³ Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. ⁴ But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge."

Down through the ages there have been many people who lived blameless lives in obedience to God, but never distinguished themselves in any particular way. These eventually died and were buried. They were never really tested to the degree that the saints and martyrs will be in these final days. So what happens to them? Well, they too, have a resurrection – at the end of 1,000 years (Rev 20:5). The exception to this are all the martyrs who gave their lives for God, as well as, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets (Luke 13:28). Just to confirm this, we find these words concerning martyrs for God in Heb 11:35-39 "Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. ³⁷ They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. ³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. ⁴⁰ God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." These martyrs went through all this suffering so that they might gain a better resurrection! And they did! They will be made perfect with all the saints who serve God faithfully in these last days.

Rev 13:1-4 "And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. ² The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. ³ One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. ⁴ Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?" You’ll notice that this beast, described here, comes out of the sea and ‘resembles a leopard’, has ‘feet like those of a bear’ and a ‘mouth like a lion’. And isn’t this how Daniel described the first three beasts of Dan 7 as like a leopard, a bear, and a lion? In other words, this beast resembles all the powers he conquers because afterwards he rules over them and they become a part of his empire. This is what happened in the days of Alexander. And isn’t the fourth beast, who takes over and crushes all the beasts before him securing their kingdoms for himself, the very one who emerges as the beast with ten horns (Dan 7:7). Did you notice this verse above: The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. The dragon is virtually equipping this beast with similar powers to himself. And as we’ll find shortly, these all include magical powers and sorcery. Demons just love to involve themselves in this type of thing. Magicians are springing up everywhere now in television shows doing tricks, but now these things are real and unexplainable in human terms. They are demon sorcery! The function behind these shows is the ability of demons to make physical objects materialize and dematerialize – and even their human mediums who perform these lying wonders can dematerialize on cue. So don’t think for one moment that they are doing it through the power of their minds – as the mind-freak shows would suggest, they are doing it through the power of demons. It’s important to understand this if you hope to escape from being deceived.

We also saw this in the verses above: "Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast". By consenting to the authority of the beast, men will be literally worshipping the devil! So this makes it very clear why God will not tolerate such behaviour. There is no ‘free pass’ for anyone who succumbs to the beast and his authority.

Just to confirm that Satan the devil is the power behind the throne of the Beast with seven heads and ten horns, it’s plainly stated in these verses: Rev 12:1-6 "A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon (the lesser light) under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. ² She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. ³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. This actually confirms the region where the Dragon or Satan lives and rules. It’s the same region that is subject to the conquest of the beast who comes after the likeness of Alexander.

V4 "His tail (a reference to his demon followers or rulers) swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. ⁶ The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days." The woman that gave birth to the Child was the House of David, and Jesus constantly confirmed that He was the Son of David. The House of David eventually became just two Tribes after the House of Israel went into captivity. These two Tribes were the Tribe of Judah and the Tribe of Levi, both of whom chose to remain faithful to God and the Holy City Jerusalem.

Continuing with the reference to the seven heads and ten horns, we find another woman, who is referred to as a harlot or prostitute. This woman certainly doesn’t remain faithful to God or Jerusalem, but to Babylon, the host city of so much evil in past generations. Today, it’s been rebuilt again by Saddam Hussein. As a proxy of a ruler of the spirit realm, Saddam knew the importance of this city of Babylon and completed the building of it for his master Satan. Sure, Saddam is now dead, but he paved the way for the other beasts to arrive and to fulfill Bible Prophecy. In his depraved and irrational mind, Satan wanted to set up his throne and habitation right where he formerly deceived the children of God in the Garden of Eden. In this case, it was the woman who was deceived. The Garden of Eden was in the very area of Babylon between the rivers – the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers (Gen 2:14).

And now we get to the description of this harlot woman, a detestible woman that holds absolute power over his subordinates. Rev 17:3-18 "Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns." Who’s this woman with seven heads and ten horns? We just read it in Rev 12:3 "Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns". As we’ll see in a moment, this dragon (which is the devil – Rev 12:9) gives his power to the beast, but still maintains power over him. The devil is the great harlot or prostitute and his city is Babylon on the Euphrates River.

Continuing in Rev 17:4 "The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. ⁵ This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." In the course of this study, we’ve seen quite a number of these abominations that the Bible predicts will arise in the earth. And here we see, yet again, the mention of the seven heads and ten horns. The message concerning these relates to abominable destruction and blood-letting throughout the earth. The Harlot who sits on this scarlet beast is the same being who was in the Garden of Eden – the Serpent or Satan!

And what’s the primary mission of this Great Harlot? To pour out the blood of the saints and to destroy anyone who bears the Testimony of Jesus. V6 "I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. ⁷ Then the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. ⁸ The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not (at the time when this Book of Revelation was given, he was no longer in power. Instead, he was serving a long imprisonment in the Abyss), and yet will come (he’ll come all right – and in our day). ⁹ "This calls for a mind with wisdom (This type of Wisdom comes only through God’s Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God – 1Cor 1:24 "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" – which relates to the Testimony of Jesus mentioned above in V6.). The seven heads are seven hills (or seven kingdoms) on which the woman sits. ¹⁰ They are also seven kings. Five (kings or heads) have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. ¹¹ The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. (The eighth king is the one who follows after and gives his allegiance to the Beast who has rulership over seven kings and ten horns – the ten horns themselves also receive kingship, but only for one hour.) ¹² "The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. ¹³ They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴ They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings--and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers." Under what circumstances would these ten kings receive power for just one hour? These are nations or former kingdoms, which have been brought under the power of the Beast and are subservient to him. The clue to this is in these words: "The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom" – These horns are waiting in the wings to become kings – and these are spirit rulers! So what is their purpose, and what do they hope to achieve? As we read in V13 above, their purpose is to give their power and authority to the Beast and to make war against the Lamb. All their power is accumulated together to storm the Holy City of Jerusalem, and it will take just one hour to set them on their course down the Valley of Armageddon. Prior to this, God will have prepared the Valley for this exact eventuality. This is where the Beast and the False Prophet will be captured. The Battle of Armageddon is too complex to deal with here, so we’ll defer it until later in this study.

Presently, we’re dealing with the Beast and the ten horns. After a while, the Beast will grow tired of Satan and his excessive demands. And in this next quote concerning this, we learn that the waters on which the Great Harlot sits is actually a reference to peoples, multitudes, nations and languages – rather than actual water. Rev 17:15 "Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. ¹⁶ The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh (or consume all the flesh in the city by burning it with fire) and burn her with fire. ¹⁷ For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled. ¹⁸ The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth." Here we see that the woman or great harlot is also a reference to Satan’s city of Babylon – which the Beast and the ten horns will hate! When they have had all they can take from this harlot, they will attack it and destroy it, killing everyone there, and leaving it a smoking ruin. God says He will put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose – which is to destroy Babylon. God fulfills this by agreeing to give the Beast his/their power to rule. This is the preliminary destruction of Babylon. Much worse is to come for Babylon, when God destroys it so utterly, that it won’t be found again. A great earthquake will open up and Babylon will literally be rolled off the resulting cliffs. Jer 51:24-26 "Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion," declares the LORD. ²⁵ "I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth," declares the LORD. "I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain. ²⁶ No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever," declares the LORD." God describes the earthquake that will accomplish this enable it to be rolled off the cliffs: Rev 16:17-20 "The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" ¹⁸ Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. ¹⁹ The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. ²¹ From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible." This is how Babylon disappears forever. And haven’t we been telling you from the beginning of Isaiah, chapter 40, that the mountains would be leveled? When God says above that every island fled away and the mountains could not be found, this is exactly what He means! God is going to restructure the landmass of the earth to what it once was when He first created it. In the process of doing this, all the cities of the nations will collapse. It’s beyond comprehension that people today are so obsessed with ‘saving the planet’, when God has other things in mind. The cities in which they took so much pride are going to be leveled, and there will be nothing left of value – unless they want to squat among the ruins and eat dust like a serpent – and this is likely to be their only option.

Dan 7:11-12 "Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. ¹² (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.) There are two beasts specifically named as being thrown into the Lake of Fire. These are Death and the Hades and they are mentioned here: Rev 6:7 "When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" ⁸ I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." And just so we can be sure that this is speaking of the Beast and the False Prophet, we find this in Rev 19:20-21 " But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. ²¹ The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the Rider on the Horse (This rider is Jesus Christ Himself – see comments below), and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh." In these next verses, we find that the Beast and the False Prophet are named as Death and Hades, and here it’s confirmed that they are thrown into the Lake of Fire: Rev 20:13-15 "The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." These verses clearly show that Death and Hades are none other than the Beast and the False Prophet!

We just read this verse above in Rev 19:21 "The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the Rider on the Horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh." Which rider is this referring to? The identity is given in V11 "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war." This is a little different from the general concept of most people concerning the Mighty One, Jesus Christ! He is a Mighty, Conquering Warrior who plans to bring justice to the earth through war! All living flesh will be the beneficiaries of this mighty conquest because it will restore peace to the earth! V12 "His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. ¹³ He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵ Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. ¹⁶ On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." This is what we’ve been saying all along! Jesus Christ is the Mighty Conqueror who will fight and destroy all His enemies. Lamentably, most of Christianity depict Him as a long-haired and effeminate weakling, which clearly shows they have never known Him!

But His servants know Him, and they serve Him. As a point of interest, when the seven seals of the Scroll are removed by this Mighty Warrior, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, He will again triumph: Rev 5:5 "Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." (His triumph was His death and resurrection from the cross – Col 2:15, 1Pet 3:19. Jesus Christ suffered in order that we might live to replace God’s enemies.) So, here we see that the Rider on the White Horse, mentioned in Rev 19:21, is the Mighty One Himself, but with the opening of the First Seal, we see a different being riding a white horse. In fact, we see 4 riders riding four different horses; a white one, a red one, a black one and a pale one. Who then, is the rider on this white horse? Well, we don’t have to guess! Remember the great statue that Daniel described? Who was the head of that statue? It was the King of Babylon. And who was the Master of Babylon (Iraq) in our day? It was Saddam Hussein! He’s the ruler that presided over King Nebuchadnezzar’s territories. Saddam actually believed himself to be the reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar. What is more, Saddam actually rebuilt the City of Babylon, including Nebuchadnezzar’s throne room.

So what does the Scroll have to say about this first white horse? Rev 6:1 "I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" ² I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest." The rider, of course, is a ruler of the heavenly realms – a spirit being, and Saddam Hussein was his protégé. This ruler was given a crown (but with God’s consent) to make his entrance. Being an absolute tyrant, he became ruler by crushing his enemies. No-one in his country was safe from his madness. The jails and torture chambers were kept full all the time. But even this wasn’t enough, he was bent on conquest! For eight years he waged war against the Persians (Iran) but couldn’t prevail. Then he decided to conquer Kuwait, but again he failed. Being bent on conquest is one thing, but actually succeeding is another matter entirely. As far as the conquest of Persia (Iran) is concerned, it could not have happened. Prophecy must be fulfilled, and it so happens that the next horse to make its appearance is a red horse and this horse has become the proxy ruler of Iraq anyway through their Shi’ite Muslim rulers there.

Which nation is represented next on the statue Daniel describes? It’s Persia that is represented by the silver of the great image, and it’s Persia that comes to prominence next and is represented as a fiery red horse: Rev 6:3-4 "When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" ⁴ Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword." What’s the largest ‘sword’ today? It’s nuclear weapons, but those nations that have them now are afraid to use them, but not the latest addition to the thermonuclear club – Persia! Not only have they vowed to destroy America and the Israelis, but they’re prepared to do it. If America was wiped out and no longer a superpower, how much peace would there be on earth? There would be none, because it’s the might and power of America that is holding it all back. But this red horse and its rider are given power to take America out of the way and to fulfill their goals. Even the Apostle Paul knew from the Scriptures that a man of sin would have to arise, but it wouldn’t happen until Ephraim is taken out of the way. Paul didn’t just pluck this from the air as the false prophets like to do! He read it and understood it from the Scriptures. 2Thess 2:3-12 "Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. ⁴ He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God." This couple of verses has nothing to do with the Prince of Persia, but, rather, what follows later. Nevertheless, there is one great restraining factor in the world today, and this is Ephraim, the mightiest nation on earth – at present! V5 "Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. ⁷ For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way." Paul knew from the Scriptures that this mighty one is Ephraim, who pounds on the nations to the ends of the earth. When Ephraim speaks, men tremble, because he is the exalted one of Israel. No nation dares to provoke Ephraim too much! None could defeat him in all-out war, and all the nations of the earth know it. What is more, Satan knows it too! So the primary role of Satan and his demon rulers is to get rid of Ephraim – the United States of America, then everyone can happily go ahead and kill one another – and take peace from the earth! Until this happens, the lawless one will have to wait in the wings – he can’t make his move yet! But once Ephraim is taken out of the way, all hell will break loose. V8 "And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹² and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness."

Most informed people know today that President Ahmadinejab of Iran has messianic ambitions. He constantly speaks of the Islamic Mahdi – the messiah of Islam. He’s constantly steering public opinion to recognize him as the Mahdi. Who, then, is this Mahdi? History buffs will immediately recognize him as the one relating to British General Charles Gordon of Khartoum fame. At the time, the British were allied with the Egyptians in the occupation of Sudan. This is how one history book relates to the appearance of the Mahdi: ‘In 1881, Muhammad Ahmed declared himself the Mahdi, the prophesied Muslim messiah who would rid the world of evil, and launched a holy war on the infidel occupiers of Sudan. The Mahdi led a victorious attack on Al Ubayyid in 1883, and went on to capture all of the Darfur region of Western Sudan, defeating the Egyptian army led by British Colonel William Hicks. In 1884 British General Charles George Gordon was dispatched to Khartoum to evacuate Egyptian troops. The Mahdi’s forces surrounded Khartoum and besieged the city for 10 months, while Gordon begged the British government for reinforcements. On 26 January 1885, two days before British reinforcements arrived, Khartoum fell and Gordon and his entire garrison were massacred. The British reconquered Sudan in 1898.’ (Micropedia World History, 2001, page 208, by Professor Jeremy Black).

This is the description of the rider and the black horse: Rev 6:5-6 "When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" As we’ve seen in the last few verses, God has appointed a living creature over each of these four riders and horses of the Apocalypse. The job of these four living creatures is to lay out the ground rules. John hears a rather cryptic comment coming from among these living creatures specifying the quantities of the daily rations. Some armies are forced to forage for food, but this is a clear indication that specific rations must be met. To be quite honest about it, this is a very generous daily ration. Four quarts of grain makes a lot of bread for one man. So why is God’s representative, the living creature whose cryptic voice John heard, stipulating generous rations? Well, the reason will become obvious as we reveal who this rider is. It’s Cyrus, the dark horse of the rising sun and the one who doesn’t usually see eye to eye with Satan.

Then there’s the wine! This is a reference to Satan’s propaganda. Satan, as the harlot that he is, is drunk on the wine of his own depravities, and it’s this wine that must be conserved at all costs for the armies of a power that is seeking global conquest. This wine is referenced in Rev 18:3-5 "For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries." ⁴ Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; ⁵ for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes." These things have to be fulfilled, so the propaganda of her wine must continue until all nations have drunk of it. And drink of it they will!

The black horse of Rev 6:5-6 arises and is measuring out grain for wages and is warned against damaging the oil or the wine. The fact is that this is speaking of army rations, because the opening of the seals is all about war to the very end. In fact, the rider on the black horse is a reference to the emergence of Cyrus after the Prince of Persia has done his damage with his large sword. Cyrus will take over the country of Iraq and Persia, and jointly it will be called the Medo-Persian Empire. This is how the angel of God explained it to Daniel: Dan 8:19-21 "He said: "I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. ^{n 20} The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. ²¹ The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. ²² The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power." So the King of Greece is the one who destroys the Mede and Persian Empire, which at that time will be ruled by Cyrus.

We’ve learned a lot about Cyrus in preceding chapters and we know that God intends to break down iron gates and smash everything in his path in return for financing the building of His Temple and the City of Jerusalem. There are a number of things we can learn here from this. Firstly, there will be a need to rebuild Jerusalem after a disaster befalls the Holy Land. And secondly, that Cyrus will be ruler over the whole region from Persia to the Mediterranean. Just to put all this into some perspective, there will be two separate kings over the lands of Media (Kurdish lands) and Persia in the appointed time of the end until Cyrus takes power. Dan 8:19-21 "He said: "I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. ²⁰ The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings (plural) of Media and Persia. ²¹ The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king." There is no doubt that the Persian rider (or ruler) will lose power to the Kurds (formerly called Medes). It will arise as the Medo-Persian Empire, just as it did in Daniel’s description of the great statue or image. Cyrus will prove to be a very worthy foe, and also an ally of God. For a while, God will rain hell on anyone who opposes Cyrus – God Himself anointed him as ruler and he will ride out as a conqueror with virtually no restraint. It will take a brave nation to oppose him.

And now we see the opening of the next seal. This is the pale horse. We’ve already spoken a lot about this rider and the horse. This is what the Scroll says about them: Rev 6:7-8 "When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" ⁸ I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." Of all the seals, this is the one that plainly proves that these riders are spirit demons and all of them to one extent or another are bent on conquest. This last one certainly is, and he will go to any lengths to achieve his objectives. Note the words: ‘Its rider was named Death’. The horse itself, whatever colour, is merely the nation over whom the rider rules. It could be said that when these two monsters, Death and Hades, arise, imprinting their authority over the entire Middle East, the nations will be looking a little pale. They will have just undergone defeat, and will capitulate to the Beast and he will rule over them. The Beast’s combined power through conquest will number a fourth of the earth.

Consequently, the Beast and the False Prophet, together with all their hordes, will hate Babylon – Satan’s city of residence. They will turn and attack it, plundering and destroying it, burning it to the ground. By this time, Babylon will have developed so much power that the threat of its very existence must be removed. And a king like the legendary Alexander is just the one to do it. Now why would they want to destroy the city of the great ‘harlot’ himself – Satan? Well, by this time, Satan’s power will be fading, and the rulers of the heavenly realms who followed him in his rebellion against God are beginning to see him as the cause of their impending imprisonment. In the 14^th chapter of Isaiah, we read a bit about this. Here we read that the departed spirits who were kings on the earth are now in the Abyss and awaiting the arrival of Satan (Isa 14:9-12). They were probably saying something like, ‘That pompous fool is about to join us!’ When he arrives, they will sneeringly respond, V10 "You have become weak, as we are, you have become like us." It won’t be a good day for Satan, and especially as he arrives in chains to begin a thousand year sentence: Rev 20:1-3 "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. ² He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. ³ He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time."

So there will be plenty of animosity coming from the Beast and the Ten Horns! They’ll hate both Satan and his city of Babylon and they’ll have good reason to do so. Rev 17:15-18, 18:1-3 "Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. ¹⁶ The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. ¹⁷ For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled. ¹⁸ The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth." Well, this great city won’t rule over the kings of the earth anymore, and especially the iron Beast and his ten horns. Just remember that this Beast (Death) emerges from the Abyss where he spent many centuries incarcerated. He knows that ultimately it was Satan’s fault that led to his demise – and he has revenge in his heart! He will also know at that time what his ultimate fate will be and he will realize he has nothing to lose. The more destruction he can wreak on the earth the happier he will be.

In the next verse, we see a description of the activities of the Harlot City Babylon: Rev 18:1-3 "After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. ² With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. ³ For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries."

You’ll recall how Daniel described a huge image of gold, silver, bronze and the lower part of it was iron, with two feet and finally ten toes composed partly of iron and partly of clay. The fourth part of this great statue was iron, and the fourth beast of Dan 7 is also like iron with iron teeth and bronze toes that crush everything in its path. This great statue that Daniel saw and described from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is found in Dan 2:31-35 "You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue--an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. ³² The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. ³⁴ While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces AT THE SAME TIME and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth." Did you notice that this great statue, with all its component parts of Gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay were broken to pieces AT THE SAME TIME?

We find further explanations in the Book of Daniel concerning this great image that the false prophets conveniently overlooked: Dan 2:44-45 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands--a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. "The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy." Which Kingdoms is the Rock going to strike and destroy? All the kingdoms that make up the great statue! That is, the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, and the clay – all at the same time. Why is this so hard for false prophets to understand? Which of the false prophets ever actually believed God? Daniel gave the interpretation through inspiration from God and stated that it was true and trustworthy. And what do we see? The false prophets say that it’s not true or trustworthy and needs to be re-interpreted! Such people are the perfect candidates to be goats. And they surely will be! If they are so incompetent that they cannot understand simple language, what are they doing prophesying in God’s Name?

In the back-wash to all this, there will be a fight-back by the Greek-Macedonians. Their other target – Islam – will be firmly in their sights! The four regional kings of Greek-Macedonia will arise, and the fourth will seize all the power, just as Alexander did anciently. The four kings who originally inherited Alexander’s power when he died, will now give that power back to him. The real power will be the Prince of Greece which is represented by the shaggy goat. I don’t want to go into it all now, because we’ve already partially covered it, but there is a difference between a sheep and a goat (Matt 25:32-46 and note that it’s speaking of Christians and the division between good and bad). In this case, the shaggy goat is representative of those who are bad. The ram, believe it or not, under the auspices of Cyrus, will actually fund the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. So I guess the ‘lost sheep of Israel’ can learn something from this. It’s just a personal observation.

So this Goat (the King of Greece) attacks the Ram – who at that time will be the Medo-Persian Empire with Cyrus at the helm. Why is Cyrus called a Ram – the dominant member of a flock of sheep? Well, Cyrus has been given special duties by God to fund the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple. As an anointed servant appointed to this task, he certainly doesn’t fit the category of a goat – like Alexander! In many ways, Cyrus is quite remarkable. Just to put this into some kind of perspective, let’s note what Daniel had to say about him. This relates to the time when Daniel was falsely accused and thrown into the lion’s den. Dan 6:19-28 "At the first light of dawn, the king (the king was Darius but the spirit ruler was Cyrus) got up and hurried to the lions' den. ²⁰ When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" ²¹ Daniel answered, "O king, live forever! ²² My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king." ²³ The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. ²⁴ At the king's command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions' den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones. ²⁵ Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language throughout the land: "May you prosper greatly! ²⁶ "I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. "For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. ²⁷ He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions." ²⁸ So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian." Darius and Cyrus were both man and spirit, with Cyrus being the spirit part of the partnership. Dan 8:20 that identifies the Ram as two kings – one from the land of Media (Medes/Kurds) and the other from Persia. The king of the Medes/Kurds (Cyrus) supersedes the Persian king in Power (presently Ahmadinjab the ‘Mahdi’).

In summary, just a further word about the Persians (Iran). They won’t feel secure (and this is what the King of Greece is waiting for – Dan 8:25) until they have destroyed the US Administration in Washington and left the country rudderless and without any central power. What is more, the Persians have a very large sword to do the job, and they also have the madman (Ahmadinejab) to instigate it. This man fully expects to emerge as the Mahdi – the Islamic version of a Messiah. For some years after this, the Persians will feel very secure and even invincible, and seek to put their imprint over the entire Middle East. Then Cyrus will arise taking power by knocking down nation after nation and subduing them. He will take control of all of Babylonia and God will empower him to do it.

This King of Greece is described as the first beast in the Book of Revelation, which arises from the sea (Rev 13:1) – the Mediterranean Sea where the Greek Isles are! This is where the first beast arose from, and this is when he received the fatal wound that was later healed. The dynasty of Alexander ended when he died and his empire was parcelled out to his four generals. This beast, who once was, now is not, will arise from the Abyss. This beast is presently under punishment in the Abyss and awaiting release. Presumably, this release will come after the prophesied war in heaven.

Rev 17:6 "I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. ⁷ Then the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns." You’ll notice the great Prostitute rides this beast and controls him, but actually imparts all its own power and authority to him (Rev 13:3). ⁸ The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come. So this beast once was a king and ruler, but at present, he is not – yet he is coming! V9 "This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. ¹⁰ They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. ¹¹ The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

The Prostitute commands an empire of seven kings or kingdoms. Five of which have fallen to one powerful king, who exercises great power over the region. As we’ve already covered, this is Cyrus. Cyrus is the dark horse that is not too popular with the dragon because he is destined to favour God’s Holy City Jerusalem and fund its restoration. Satan wants a replacement ruler, so he stands on the seashore of the Mediterranean and waits (Rev 13:1). Sure enough, the ruler appears from the sea. This is the beast that is released from the Abyss – but is also destined for destruction when he is thrown into the Lake of Fire. In the meantime, he will rule with all the dragon’s power and authority and even the seat of his power (V3). This is the same ruler that once belonged or ruled the region of Satan’s throne in Babylon. It seems perfectly natural to Satan to call to duty the one who formerly defeated Cyrus and King Darius and took over the empire. This demon ruler has been in the Abyss for a long, long time, and he wants his territory back. From the dragon’s point of view, he wants him to do what he formerly did in the days of Alexander. He wants him to sweep across the sea and defeat Cyrus – the rebel ruler of the heavenly realm. Satan will see Cyrus’ promotion of Jerusalem as an act of treachery against him and his city Babylon, and will move to destroy him. Satan will know that God gave Cyrus his power and authority and finds he is powerless to steer Cyrus in the direction he wants. Satan’s only option is to call up the one who formerly defeated him. This being is called Death, and he formerly came in the form of Alexander the Great.

Rev 13:1 And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. ² The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. ³ One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. ⁴ Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?" This is the one who formerly defeated Cyrus. The Beast is Satan’s trump card and he plays it to good effect. The Beast will smash everything in his path without fear or favour and will astonish the whole world.

Here was see the natural proclivity of those who worship the beast. They worship him because no-one can make war against him. These types of peoples love tyrannical rule and care nothing for justice, fairness and mercy. The more destruction and slaughter he inflicts on others the more they will love and worship him. The whole world will worship him except – and this distinction is very significant – except those whose names have been written in the Book of Life from the creation of the world! (Rev 17:8). This is further emphasised in the following passage: Rev 13:5 "The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. ⁶ He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. ⁷ He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. ⁸ All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world."

1Cor 15:45 "So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit." Jesus Christ is both the first Adam and the last Adam, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. The human race began with Jesus – called the Logos at that time, and it will conclude with Jesus – the life-giving Spirit. As we’ve pointed out many times, if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn’t belong to Him: Rom 8:9-10 "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."

The conclusion is that from the creation of the earth, beginning with Adam, there has been a thread of humanity that has continued in the likeness of Jesus by their very nature. In the Book of Revelation, God makes a clear distinction between those who were destined to be included in the Book of Life – which belongs to the Lamb – and to the rest of humanity. In this instance, the distinction is clear. All the world, other than those who belong to the Lamb, will worship the Beast. By their very nature, these worldly people will favour the carnage and destruction wrought by the Beast, including the slaughter of the Saints (Rev 13:7). (Saints are those who have God’s Holy Spirit. As an interesting aside, the Papacy can never figure out whether or not former popes, priests and nuns had God’s Holy Spirit. It takes hundreds of years to decide whether they were saints or not!)

Satan knows that time is running out for him. He knows the Kingdom of God is imminent, and in his mind, this calls for drastic action and he plans to make a fight of it. This beast, whom God has called Death, who has spent centuries locked away in the Abyss, calls upon an ally from among the spirit rulers. And this ally is perfect for his grand ambition. Called the ‘Grave’, this demon is ever ready to send as many human beings into the grave as possible. He does this in the full knowledge that he will soon be joining them when he and the beast are captured (Rev 19:20-21). Since this is no longer avoidable, he’ll take as many as possible with him.

And so the second beast or false prophet arises! You’ll find that this second beast receives his power from the first beast – rather than Satan. Rev 13:11-18 "Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. ¹² He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. ¹³ And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. ¹⁴ Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵ He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. ¹⁶ He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, ¹⁷ so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. ¹⁸ This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666. Don’t waste too much time trying to figure this out. You’ll be told in the fullness of time, and at a time when you’ll really need to know. It’s God’s intention that only the wise need to know – and only at the appointed time. Just going back again to what we just read in Rev 13:8 "All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world." From this we get an idea of who the wise are! And notice the phrase, ‘from the creation of the world’.

As we've pointed out, God made certain certain provisions from the creation of the earth, and such people are not a part of it. They have their lot with all the inhabitants of the earth, and because of their actions, they are without excuse. Rom 1:18-20 "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles." These people are utterly primitive, but to the ignorant they see themselves as intelligent. In their endless craving for recognition, they choose to demean the greatest intelligence of all - the Creator God.

Just bear in mind that from the opening of the First Seal to the opening of the Seventh, the vast majority of all Bible Prophecy, as written by the prophets of old, will be fulfilled. In this time-frame, the embryonic mass or first-fruits of all future generations will be secured, and these servants of God will rule forever with him. Those who are gathered during and after the restoration of the earth will be mortal humans who will live and die eventually. They will, however, live to very great ages – like the life of a tree (Isa 65:20-22).

ISA 45:18 For this is what the LORD says-- he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited-- he says: "I am the LORD, and there is no other. God’s purpose is to make it habitable forever more, and the reminder of Satan’s rebellion, which destroyed the surface of the earth, will be gone. All the landmasses of the earth will be reassembled together into one continent, and there will be no middle or Mediterranean Sea. Instead, Springs of Living Water will gush forth forming ever-advancing rivers and streams, and these will emanate from under the threshold of the Temple.

ISA 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob's descendants, `Seek me in vain.' I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right. If you listen to some of the self-appointed evangelists and church leaders, you might imagine that God is speaking from a land of darkness. They strenuously ignore the message of the Scriptures that Jesus Christ used, and present only a sickening sob-story of sanctimony with the perpetual cry of ‘Give yo’ heart to the Lord!’ Never do they consider that God may be speaking the Truth regarding what is yet to come, and the reason is that they can’t accept that what God has declared is right. They have their own ideas on how the Kingdom of God should operate – and they don’t believe God is right. Of course these deceivers are well-aware that if they should speak the Truth, then their funding would dry up immediately.

ISA 45:20 "Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save. Speaking of such people who speak nonsense in God’s Name – because they’ve never known Him – it’s not surprising that they will not be saved in the manner to which they believe they’re entitled. Instead, they are destined to be fugitives among the nations. Pursued, harassed and killed by enemies they never recognized. They were too busy priming the coffers to take any notice of what God has said through all the prophets.

ISA 45:21 Declare what is to be, present it-- let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me.

ISA 45:22 "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. It’s from the ends of the earth that God has said He will redeem His people Israel – as we noted in former chapters (Isa 41:9, 43:6).

ISA 45:23 By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.

ISA 45:24 They will say of me, `In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.'" All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. Righteousness and strength come from the LORD, and contrary to popular belief, stupidity and weakness don’t!

ISA 45:25 But in the LORD all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult. Yes, it’s true. All the children born to the Israelites in God’s Kingdom will be righteous, and they will experience extreme happiness and elation – which is the meaning of the term ‘exult’.

ISA 46:1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary.

ISA 46:2 They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity. This is clearly a parable about false gods and the consequences of acknowledging them. Does anyone really believe that through the wide diversity of religions today, anyone is really serving the One True God? People burden themselves with all kinds of pagan nonsense, and now they face the prospects for all their sins. They will go into captivity! Some Christians may say that they would never bow down to an idol, yet they firmly believe in the pagan doctrine that they will go to heaven when they die. What they believe is the doctrine of demons! These are the very same people who will go into captivity because of their pagan superstition. God has no interest whatsoever in those who fail to serve and obey Him! And time is going to bear this out.

ISA 46:3 "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Now this sounds ominous! God is addressing those who remain of the House of Israel. In this case the House of Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel. What we are seeing here is a slight distinction of those who remain and those who don’t. We’re going to see some more of this distinction as we progress through the following chapters. Just bear this in mind.

ISA 46:4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. And here God is speaking of a rescue. How this will come about is explained in V11.

ISA 46:5 "To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared? Well, the theory of evolution may be a candidate in the minds of many. They seem to believe it competes with their Maker and many believe it discredits Him. This theory has become their god. Only a complete fool would dismiss the obvious existence of Intelligent Design by a Great Creator.

ISA 46:6 Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it.

ISA 46:7 They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles. They may think that their gold will save them from any type of adversity, but God makes it very clear that it won’t! God set in motion the final outcome long, long ago. What He has said, that will He do. None will escape the penalty of their sins.

ISA 46:8 "Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. The Creator God is not mincing words here! The House of Israel has rebelled just as they did anciently, and God knows how to get their attention. He warns them to fix it in their minds and take it to heart, because when they see it with their own eyes, they can’t say they weren’t warned.

ISA 46:9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. In other words, learn from history and remember the former things that befell the House of Israel. When God arises to act, He will take into consideration all of these things. He’ll remember their treachery towards Him, and consider it to be complete justification of the actions He will take. Mainstream Christianity want to forget the former things that are recorded in the Bible. They consider them irrelevant. They are under the illusion that everyone goes to heaven when they die, so everything from the past can be forgotten. Why remember it, they reason!

ISA 46:10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. God has made it all known from beginning to end that the day of reckoning would come. Out of all the hordes of Israelites on the earth today, God will make His selections of sons and daughters who will usher in the New Dawn. To this end, God will choose someone from the East, where the first rays of the sun makes its appearance.

ISA 46:11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do. We covered this earlier and it relates to God’s servant, a man who is like a bird of prey, in fact, an eagle. This far-off land to the East is a reference to Australia – the only Israelite land to the East. This is where God’s servant Elijah comes from. Remember how Elijah went up in a fiery chariot? This is how Elijah will come, just like a bird of prey flying overhead. You might also like to remember the story of how Elijah was confronted by pagan adversaries and how fire came down from heaven to destroy them (2Kings 1:10-13). This same situation is prophesied concerning God’s two servants in Rev 11:3-6 "And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." ⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. ⁶ These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want." God doesn’t entrust this kind of power to those who are not His servants. Most people don’t have the type of character to handle this kind of power, and neither could they, since they have not been taught and trained by God as God’s sons are (John 6:45).

ISA 46:12 Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness. Righteousness is obedience to God’s Law. Disobedience is lawlessness! Anyone who willfully disobeys God’s Law is destined for slaughter because there is no place for them in God’s Kingdom.

ISA 46:13 I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel. When God summonses His bird of prey to Jerusalem from the East, God’s righteousness will be enforced! And believe me; it won’t take long to clear Jerusalem of the rebels.

Before beginning the next chapter, let’s recap on a few things. Remember how we mentioned that God would put His Name of the foreheads of His people Jeshurun? Well the mad beast that arises from the Abyss will enforce the name of the first beast to be put on the foreheads (or on the hand) of his recruits. This first beast will have already set up his power base as a ruler, so the second beast will be subservient to him. And now, as we’ve found, God’s servants will call fire down from heaven to destroy their enemies. This same beast from the Abyss will do the same on behalf of the first beast. Rev 13:11-17 "Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. ¹² He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed." This is a second beast that exercises all the power of the first beast on his behalf. These two beasts are the beast and the false prophet. He might look like a lamb, but he speaks like a dragon – that is, like Satan himself. V13 "And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. ¹⁴ Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵ He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. ¹⁶ He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, ¹⁷ so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name."

So, Satan is to field two representatives; one a voracious beast and the other a false prophet. What is more, he plans to give them similar powers to God’s two servants, the witnesses. These powers are the ability to call down fire from heaven – just like God’s servants. Satan’s agents may lack the ability to strike the earth with a curse as often as they wish, as God’s servants are given, but they will attempt to offset this with all types of lying wonders through sorcery and preternatural acts. And of course, the Beast and the False Prophet will mark all their brood with the name of the beast on their foreheads. The prophesied result for anyone who receives this mark will be death forever: Rev 14:9-13 "A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, ¹⁰ he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." ¹² This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. ¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."

Then there are those who refuse the name of the beast: Rev 20:4 "I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years."

ISA 47:1 "Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate. Satan loses his throne and his image is destroyed. He projected himself as a women and dressed like one, adorning himself with gold and jewels and all the trappings of a harlot, yet presents himself as a virgin daughter as prostitutes are prone to do. The whole purpose of a harlot is to be alluring to her clients, and Satan is no exception. He manages to get the kings of the earth to figuratively commit adultery with him. To get a clearer picture of the meaning, we find this in Rev 18:1-3 "After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. ² With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. ³ For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries." With Babylon being a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, it’s hardly surprising that the kings of the earth are deceived into an adulterous relationship.

ISA 47:2 Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams. Gone will be all the allure and the excessive luxuries of Babylon. With their delicate living gone, they’ll have to take millstones and grind grain to make their own bread.

ISA 47:3 Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one." No-one in Babylon will be spared and the survivors will be led away naked and bare-footed. They’ll no longer be wearing their expensive adornments either – these trinkets will be torn from their bodies. And in a perverse twist, which we’ve already covered, this will be done by a former ally – the coming Beast!

ISA 47:4 Our Redeemer--the LORD Almighty is his name-- is the Holy One of Israel. This verse is inserted to show that the LORD Almighty is the real ruler of this earth, and the harlot of Babylon is about to lose his position. Satan is the present ruler of this world, and his rulership is about to end – very ignominiously! His rule will be replaced by the LORD Almighty, but only after Jesus has put down all dominion, authority and power: 1Cor 15:24-25 "Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death." We’ve spoken a lot about Death and this is the very one referenced here. Death (the beast) will be thrown into the lake of fire along with Hades – the False Prophet (Rev 19:20). He is the last (ruling) enemy to be destroyed. There will be no more demon rulers after this.

ISA 47:5 "Sit in silence, go into darkness, Daughter of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms. It will be an ignominious end for the inhabitants of the city of Babylon. God remembers their conduct of old, when they desecrated and destroyed the Kingdom of Judah and the Holy City Jerusalem. God intends to bring it all down on their own heads. Of course, all those humans that lived in that day are dead and gone, never to live again. But there is one being that still exists, and this is the one on whom all the guilt is placed. This is the one who chose Babylon as His eternal city, who reigned from there anciently, and will again once it’s rebuilding is completed. This being, of course, is Satan the devil.

ISA 47:6 I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke. At that time, God’s people no longer cared to serve their Creator God, so God gave them into the hands of Satan himself, who treated them mercilessly and subjected them to slavery. God notes that even on the aged Satan laid a heavy yoke. The Jews can certainly tell you a thing or two about this. They were worked to death during the Holocaust!

ISA 47:7 You said, `I will continue forever-- the eternal queen!' But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen. This reflects what God says in V5: ‘no more will you be called queen of kingdoms’. Satan should have reflected on what might happen!

ISA 47:8 "Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, `I am (I Am), and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.' Here God is addressing this ‘eternal queen’ as a wanton creature lounging around and imagining grandiose visions of herself. She even takes the Name of God, claiming there is no god beside her. And what does this refer to? It refers to God’s words in Ex 3:14 "God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.'" This is exactly the title that Satan is claiming for himself. God even says this concerning His name ‘I AM’ in V15 "This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation."

So this wanton creature, Satan, is firmly convinced that he alone is god and there is none besides him. It’s not hard to understand why God favours humble people, rather than those whose arrogance billows out due to their excessively high opinions of themselves. Such people remind God of Satan the devil. Like Satan, such people masquerade as angels of light. The Apostle Paul made this observation: 2Cor 11:13-15 "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵ It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve." I think we’ve all seen enough of these pompous fools to know what Paul was referring to. Satan’s servants masquerade as servants of righteousness – and how well-practiced they are in this masquerade! You can pick the most extreme of these cases by the way they dress. Bishops, arch-bishops, popes and others like to dress lavishly just like Satan. Nothing in their demeanor resembles that of a Humble Carpenter! Well, they will be humbled, just like Satan the devil will be, and their end will be what their actions deserve!

ISA 47:9 Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells. Satan, of course, is the ultimate sorcerer, but perhaps he should have reflected on what might happen when he turned over his power to the Beast and the False Prophet! Did he really expect loyalty from them? The Beast who arises from the Abyss actually spent eons imprisoned there because of Satan (2Peter 2:4). Why would he have any loyalty to him? He won’t! Instead, he will cause everyone to worship him, by recruiting the False Prophet to enforce the worship the Beast, and jointly they will attack Babylon and leave it a ruin. Satan’s wanton, lounging around will come to an end. Speaking of masquerading and deception, there’s an interesting aside to all this. Initially, the False Prophet will enforce the worship of the Beast and the Dragon/Satan (Rev 13:4), but once the Beast is established, they will both turn against Satan and his city of Babylon. They’ll hate the city and Satan so much that they will utterly destroy it and leave it a ruin.

ISA 47:10 You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, `No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, `I am (I AM), and there is none besides me.' Satan was always careful to get others to do his dirty work, while he appears as an innocent by-stander. ‘No one sees me’ is his catchcry while he’s busily plotting behind the scenes. And all the time he thought he had God fooled. God has never been fooled by him, even from the day he was created. It was only a matter of time before he proceeded down the pathway to wickedness and was actively plotting against his Creator.

ISA 47:11 Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you. So the queen of kingdoms is about to come crashing to the ground through an unforeseen event; something this creature never anticipated. He believed his powers of sorcery and his overriding authority over all lesser beings would hold him in good stead. Satan believes that as long as he gets others to commit outrages he can claim innocence. And as long as this remains true, then God will fail to indict him before the council of the holy ones. Almighty God is a God of Law, and He takes decisions according to Law.

ISA 47:12 "Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror. And this sums it up! He uses his sorcery to cause terror but always through other agents. He uses his great cunning to provoke others into committing these acts. Most of these decisions are taken in Council, where his counselors are subservient to him and allow him the final say. He steers all proceedings his way.

ISA 47:13 All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you. Almighty God sits in council with reliable spirit beings and listens to their advice. These are called the 24 elders (Rev 4:10). Many things are discussed and decisions are made based on the facts and according to Law. Satan also has a council who gives him advice. But the counsel they give only serves to wear him out. Satan’s whole persona is steeped in the occult of astrologers and star-gazers who try to make predictions according to the signs they see in the stars, or the markings on a hand, or as it’s mentioned in the Bible, by examining a liver (Eze 21:21). Satan is so superstitious that he can’t help himself, and this is true of all the rulers of the spirit realm. Yet none of his deliberations are based on law, but on superstition. As a conjurer, his whole existence is based on lies, distortions and illusion. It’s hardly surprising that all his counselors base their decisions on the teachings of Satan. They’ve learnt his craft.

ISA 47:14 Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone; here is no fire to sit by. As we observed earlier, Babylon will be burned to the ground and nothing will save it, not even Satan’s sorcery!

ISA 47:15 That is all they can do for you-- these you have labored with and trafficked with since childhood. Each of them goes on in his error; there is not one that can save you. In the last days, prior to its destruction, Babylon will be the capital of the world for trafficking in stolen goods. In relation to Babylon and its trafficking in stolen goods, the Prophet Habakkuk has quite a bit to say. Hab 2:4-10 "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright-- but the righteous [one] will live by his faith-- ⁵ indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples. ⁶ "Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, "`Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?'" We’ll learn how long this must go on for in a few moments, but notice this wanton creature, who lounges around like the queen of kingdoms, piles up stolen goods and is described as being as greedy as the Grave and like Death is never satisfied. The mention of these two creatures is very important, because it’s these who destroy Babylon and leave it a ruin. V7 "Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim." Here we see a little poetic justice, where Death and the Grave suddenly turn on the one who gave them power, whom they were indebted to. Satan wanted them to do all his dirty work while he lounged around in Babylon. Instead, as God has predicted, they will turn on him and his city. V8 "Because you (Babylon/Babylonians) have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man's blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. ⁹ "Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin! ¹⁰ You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life." Notice the words, ‘shaming your own house’. Babylon is Satan’s house from long ago, and will be again.

And now the question of when this is to occur: Hab 2:1 "I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. ² Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. ³ For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay." Sure enough, it’s confirmed in the Book of Revelation!

More to the point, God also outlines something else that will happen in our day – at the appointed time of the end. All of which implicates Babylon, and specifically the Babylonians. Hab 1:5-7 "Look at the nations and watch-- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. ⁶ I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. ⁷ They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor." The Babylonians today are Muslims – at least until the Beast gets through with them – and their worship of Satan (Allah) quickly diminishes in favour of the Beast. These evil creatures are now embedded in virtually every nation – they’ve been sweeping right across the earth. These ruthless creatures are a law to themselves and promote their own Shariah law. About ten years ago, no-one would have believed it, but now they do! After a few calamities, people begin to see clearly, though by then it’s usually too late. This is why God sends prophets to warn, but again, people only believe when they see it come true. This is not the kind of faith that God requires. God stipulates that the righteous one must live by faith (Hab 2:4, Rom 1:17). It should be noted that what Paul said in the Book of Romans (Rom 1:17) was a quote from the Book of Habakkuk. What is more, Paul was speaking of the coming Wrath of God: Rom 1:18-20 "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." It’s very true that the Wrath of God is being revealed from heaven and for good reason. People today love to suppress truth about God. The theory of evolution denies the existence of God and many weaklings have succumbed to this nonsense; some of whom still claim to be Christians. Yet the Author of their faith claims to be the Creator (John 1:1) and they don’t believe him. By suppressing the Truth they continue in their wickedness. Is it any wonder they will feel the Wrath of God?

Well, the Book of Habakkuk is all about the Wrath of God and what will befall this earth. Just to put all this into perspective regarding the time frame, Habakkuk speaks of the Mighty Lord Christ returning from Teman (where a massive bloodbath occurs, which we’ll get to later) and describes his appearing. You’ll notice the reference to the ancient mountains and the age-old hills collapsing – just as we’ve been saying. This speaks of the time when all the valleys will be filled in to become flat ground instead of rocky craters, and the face of the earth is renewed. Hab 3:3-6 "God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. ⁴ His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. ⁵ Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. ⁶ He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal."

Jesus did list earthquakes as being part of the beginning of sorrows or birth-pains. Matt 24:7-14 "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains. ⁹ "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

Following the birth-pains or sorrows in all its forms, including famines and earthquakes, the Lord Jesus spoke of being hated by all nations. I would have thought the West is pretty close to this now with 57 Muslim nations spewing invective daily. We also find that the Christian nations will be handed over to be persecuted and killed because of Jesus (V9), adding that Christianity will be hated by all nations. Jesus noted that many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate one another (V10). During this time, the false prophets (V11) will have a field day deceiving people with their lies and promising good outcomes (as false prophets are prone to do). Then there will be a big increase in wickedness and the love of many will grow cold (V12). This speaks of very perilous times, and this will be greatly exacerbated by the hordes that sweep across the borders even though a wall or fence has been, or is being, built to keep them out. Since Obama became President, the progress of the wall has almost ground to a halt, and complaints are being made about the efficacy of the wall on the Democrat side of politics.

Just remember that Jesus came ‘only to the lost sheep of Israel’ and no other. What is more, His message is for them! So all this doesn’t auger well for Christianity or the House of Israel. But Jesus added these comforting words: V13 "But he who stands firm to the end will be saved". Did you notice the words, ‘will be saved’? Lying teachers and false prophets would have people believe they are already saved. The question is: Saved from what? Does this mean they don’t have to stand firm and endure to the end? Did Jesus get it wrong? No! These lying teachers got it wrong, and it will cost your life if you believe them.

Remember how in Isa 46:3 we saw mention of the House of Jacob being all that remained of the House of Israel? We suggested that you remember it. Well, now we come to the reason why.

ISA 48:1 "Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel-- but not in truth or righteousness--

ISA 48:2 you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and rely on the God of Israel-- the LORD Almighty is his name: As we mentioned previously, the House of Jacob becomes just one Tribe after all the House of Israel goes into captivity, and they alone remain. They are called by the name of Israel – how miraculous is this that God predicted that the Jews would take the name of Israel rather than their ancestral name of Judah when they settled again in the Holy Land? These people are further identified as being from the line of Judah, and they call themselves citizens of the Holy City. In days of old, the House of Israel went into captivity and became the ‘lost sheep of Israel’ until they re-established to become nations in their own right in predominantly Europe and North America. Yet the Jews returned to their ancestral lands and their God, and called themselves ‘Israel’.

ISA 48:3 I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. God has foretold a lot of things that have yet to be fulfilled. When God chooses to act these too, will all come to pass, and most will happen suddenly. When all the looting and plundering is going on, and with the shipping of stolen goods, most of the parasites of this earth will be preoccupied. They’ll be less preoccupied with what the Israelis are doing, and more focused on dividing the spoils – at least for a time.

ISA 48:4 For I knew how stubborn you were; the sinews of your neck were iron, your forehead was bronze. It’s true that the Jews are stubborn people. They’re not quick to understand truth – even God’s Truth. In many ways they resemble the pagan Muslims around them who worship the devil. (You don’t really believe that the god Muslims worship – Allah – is the Great Creator God, do you?) Yet even with their stubbornness, the Jewish people had the admirable quality of determination to establish the Holy Land, and in this regard, their stubbornness paid off. So God fought their battles for them and firmly established them. The nation bloomed until it became the envy of the whole Middle East. Islam is shocked and dismayed that they haven’t been able to match these amazing accomplishments and are well aware that their own citizens live like pigs – with the exception of the rulers and these hold the power.

ISA 48:5 Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, `My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.' The Israelis can be rightly proud of their accomplishments, but they have yet to learn that the Rock, the Son of God, the One that accompanied them in the desert anciently, is the One who brought it all about. The Jews are not above superstition either, especially when they think they can conjure a peace deal with Muslims! Above all else, the Israelis had better learn very quickly that God forbids any type of peace deal with Muslims. They are God’s enemies, just as they were anciently when the Tribes of Israel were about to enter the Holy Land. They were told to kill all the occupants or drive them out. Nothing has changed today and the same hordes are still a thorn in the side of the Israelis. What is more, the hostility of these hordes has never ended.

ISA 48:6 You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? "From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you. The Jews well-know what God’s instructions were millennia ago. Why don’t they admit them? Well, not much chance of that! Especially with Washington breathing down their neck to make peace with God’s enemies! From now on God will tell them of new things that will make an immense difference. These are hidden and cannot be seen yet, but God has already created them and they are available for use.

ISA 48:7 They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot say, `Yes, I knew of them.' These hidden things have already been created. What is more, they will be used to do what the Jews have failed to do! We’ve spoken of these many times and it was in something like this that Elijah was last seen flying away like an eagle. Of course, God could have given Elijah a nice white horse and he could have ridden away into the sunset as they do in the ‘spaghetti westerns’. Instead, God chose to demonstrate a prophecy for the future – in fact, our day. How did Elijah actually leave? In a flying chariot! How will he return? In a new flying chariot! So, to all you false ‘Elijahs’ out there, see if you can fake this one! An executive jet won’t qualify because God didn’t create it!

ISA 48:8 You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ear has not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth. Perhaps Judah was a rebel from birth, he was apparently called one, but it’s more important to learn what he is now. The Jews do, at least, hold fast to the Scriptures that Jesus and the Apostles used – the only Scriptures that existed in that time – the Old Testament. What is more, they obey and believe it (their understanding of it, however, is a little lacking). Christianity has not fared so well, generally speaking. This is in spite of the fact that Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1-5), and the One who spoke the Word throughout the whole Old Testament period. So it’s hard to imagine why Christianity is so uppity in regard to the Jews. What great things has Christianity-in-general done in service to their Creator? From what I’ve seen they’ve done nothing except tell lies in God’s Name. Perhaps they should study more closely what Jesus had to say in Matt 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. <sup>22</sup> Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" They prophesied in His Name all right, and none of their prophecies came true! I have yet to see even one of these confess to being a false prophet and apologize to all those who were deceived by them. Fat chance of that! Their own reputations are more important than truth.

ISA 48:9 For my own name's sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off. God is prepared to delay His wrath for a little while so that Judah can learn some vital lessons. The first lesson to learn is that the Sons of Jerusalem are strong. These are the ones who have been taught by God (Isa 54:11-17, John 6:45). They’ll demonstrate their strength by doing what ancient Israel failed to do, and this is to drive God’s enemies out of the Holy Land (Zech 12:4-9). Well, it won’t be pretty, but at least the Israelis will get the message. They’ll follow suit, and go out like flaming torches consuming the surrounding nations.

ISA 48:10 See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. In short, God has refined the nation of Israel in the furnace of affliction. There is no group of people on earth that has endured the hundreds of years of persecution the Jews have suffered. It’s taken a lot to refine them and they’ve suffered terribly. Yet, through it all, they’ve remained faithful to God. God has refined them, but not as silver, and certainly not as gold!

As for refining, God has reserved this initially for the Levites who are refined like gold and silver: Mal 3:1-4 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. ² But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. ³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, ⁴ and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years." The Levites, whom God has chosen, have already been undergoing a refining process, where lies and deceit have been stripped away, and replaced by the purity of God’s Truth. A true Levite cannot be deceived by Satan’s wine of deception. Just below, you will read of another group that God will refine like gold and silver and they will also be called Levites.

ISA 48:11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another. God makes it clear that He refined them in the furnace of affliction for his own sake, so that He would not be defamed by satanic forces and accused of utterly abandoning His chosen people. Until they were purified, He could not yield His glory to them, yet He is determined not to yield it to any other!

As mentioned above, the time will come when God will refine a certain group of people, who are positively identified in the following verses. But first the appointed shepherd must fight a final battle and be killed. Zech 13:7-9 "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!" declares the LORD Almighty. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones (the common citizens). ⁸ In the whole land," declares the LORD, "two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. Here God speaks of a shepherd who is close to Him. This man is struck down in battle (by the sword). This occurs when the Beast arrives to take over Jerusalem and the Temple when those who know their God will firmly resist him. In the aftermath of this brief battle, God will turn His hand against two-thirds of the people of the land to destroy them. The obvious conclusion we can draw from this is that these two-thirds have folded to the influence of the Beast. But God will spare one-third, and these will be refined like silver and gold. ⁹ This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, `They are my people,' and they will say, `The LORD is our God.'" See Mal 3:3 about refining the Levites (which we quoted above). These people will be rewarded for their faithfulness and obedience to God. The reader will understand the importance of faithful obedience to God, both now and forever in the future.

In the next verse, God speaks of a day of plunder, when the inhabitants of Jerusalem will divide huge amounts of plunder: Zech 14:1-10 "A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you. ² I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city."

In this next verse, we find that the LORD will go out and fight against the nations that He gathers against Jerusalem for battle. Here we see that the fight will be like the day of battle. Which day of battle will this be? This will be revealed when we get to Isaiah, chapter 63. This day of battle occurs some years before this final battle, which is called the Battle of Armageddon. You will also learn the location, which is specifically given, of this primary day of battle. It’s described as a blood-bath, which leaves the Lord Christ’s garments covered with blood. It’s a slaughter of Muslims when they are actively gathering for the worship of the devil (Allah). Perhaps this day of battle is what prompts the Beast and the False Prophet to dispense with Islam as a form of worship and enforce a new pagan religion, where the Beast becomes the object of worship. V3 "Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. ⁴ On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. ⁵ You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. ⁶ On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. ⁷ It will be a unique day, without daytime or night-time--a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light. ⁸ On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter. Now here's a challenge for you. Which is the eastern sea? Or, for that matter, which is the western sea? Well as we stated before, there is to be a reshaping of the earth and all the continents will stand together and form a specific shape. Jerusalem will be geologically locked in place and all the continents will move towards her. The Americas will be joined once more to Europe and Africa eliminating the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea will be gone, and the only remaining sea will be what we know today as the Pacific Ocean. So towards both the east and the west there will be just one sea. In fact, apart from the new earth continent, the rest of the world will be covered by sea. V9 "The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name." So now we know that the earth will be re-formed into a new earth when the LORD becomes King over the entire earth. We also learn that Jerusalem will be raised up, elevated into a mountain and the LORD will reign from its heights. ¹⁰ The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up and remain in its place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. ¹¹ It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.