THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK

Satan, needing agents to fulfill his purpose, will raise up a man amid the confused state of affairs he has created in the West. This man is the "little horn" (Dan. 7:8,20,24,25). He is the "Beast" himself (, 17:10-18, 19:20), the "King of Babylon" (). This man will also be a Gentile, for the Beast comes from the sea (, 17:15 -- the restless condition of the Gentile peoples), and from among the ten horns which are the Gentile nations of Western Europe ().

Satan will invest this man, "the little horn," with extreme power. He will be fully fit to be a link with Satan. .

Through his power, Satan will also control the governmental leaders ("stars") of the West. .

The "little horn," with the help of satanic power, will quickly dominate the revived Roman Empire and will become, as a dictator, the head of the Empire. It seems that he will gain control of the empire through intimidation. After overthrowing three of the ten horns (the ten nations), the others will submit, giving him their power. . .

Immediately after this, the Beast (the Confederation of the ten nations), having the little horn as its head, will depose and destroy the harlot (the false church), the religious system that had been controlling the Empire during the first three and a half years. This is what Revelation speaks of when it announces that "Babylon is fallen." Political Babylon destroys the religious leadership of the Empire. , 17:16, 18:2.

Having overthrown the religious system, the Empire will assume a new and different form, coming to be satanically controlled by the "little horn."* The Beast will continue in this form for forty-two months (or the last three and a half years). .

[ Note: *Before this the Beast (the Confederation of the ten nations) was seen rising out of the sea (), but now it is seen rising out of the abyss (), which implies a satanic control. ] The whole world will marvel at the Beast (the Western Confederation of the ten nations) in its new form. , 17:8.

Around this time another man will arise in the land of Israel, who will be moved by the energy of Satan (). He will be an Israelite, perhaps from the tribe of Dan (, , also omitted in Rev. 7). He will act together with the first Beast, the "little horn," and will be like his Prime Minister. He is the "Antichrist" (), also known as the "King" (, , 30:33, 57:9), "the Man of Sin" (), "the Son of Perdition" (), "the Lawless One" () (or "Illicit" cf. literal trans.), the "Fallen Star" (), "the Second Beast" (), "the False Prophet" (, 19:20, 20:10), "the Worthless Shepherd" (, , ), "the Bloody and Deceitful Man" (, etc.), "the Profane and Wicked Prince of Israel" (), and "the Prince of Tyre" (). Psalm 10 gives the description of the moral character of this man of sin*.

[ Note: *The Antichrist is also typified by the following people: Abimelech (Judg. 9); Saul (1 Sam. 8-31); Absalom (2 Sam. 15-19); Ahab (1 Kings 16-18); Ahaz (2 Kings 16); Shebna (Isa. 22); Zedekiah (Jer. 39 and 52); the Hireling (); Haman (Esther 3-7); Herod (Matt. 2). ] This man of sin (the Antichrist) will present himself to the Jews as their Messiah, and they will receive him and make him their king. He will reign over the land of Israel. , Sam. 15:2-6,11.

The Antichrist will establish his governing throne in Jerusalem, and will promote his corrupt lackeys and admirers to occupy positions of government over the land of Israel. Jerusalem will be wholly given over to every kind of iniquity. , , Sam. 22:7,8.

The moral description of the apostate Jews who will follow the Antichrist can be seen in the following passages: Ps. 14; 35-36; 73:3-12; Isa. 58,59.

The Beast, with the help of the Antichrist, will break the covenant with the Jews. They will abolish all religious activity in their domains (the western part of the earth, including Israel), causing the false worship of Israel and of corrupt Christendom to cease. The goal is to open the way for the worship of the Beast and of his image. ; ; . An idolatrous image of the Beast will be placed, by the Antichrist, in the temple in Jerusalem. This is the "abomination of desolation". He will proclaim an edict throughout the Empire that the image be worshiped. Idolatry will be imposed on the Jews in Israel. This idolatrous worship will also be imposed on the earthly worshipers of apostate Christendom, who heard and rejected the gospel of God's grace during the Christian era. ; ; ; ; ; . The Beast and the Antichrist will then take total control of the land of Israel. They will keep it captive, as belonging to their Empire, for the last three and a half years. Everything in the land of Israel will be subject to them. ; ; Ex 3- 12).* [ Note: *Babylon of antiquity kept the Jews in captivity long ago, but the Jews will once again be captives of Babylon (the Western Powers) through the Beast and the Antichrist, and will need deliverance. The deliverance of the Jews of old came with the coming of Cyrus, the King of Persia, (called the Lord's chosen one -- Isa 45-48:20), who defeated the Babylonians. Cyrus is a type of the Lord Jesus, who will appear at the end of the tribulation to destroy the Beast and the Antichrist, giving the faithful remnant deliverance. After Cyrus had freed the Jews, he gave orders for them to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and restore the worship of God (; ) which the Lord will also do (Ezek 40-48). ] Since all knowledge of God will be abolished from the domains of the Beast and the Antichrist, there will be a famine for the Word of God. The people will seek the Word of the Lord and will not find it. .

God will send a strong delusion over the earth. The Antichrist, through his wonders and lying signs, will deceive the guilty apostate multitude of earthly worshipers of both Christendom and Israel, that is, those who consciously rejected the gospel of God's grace that is preached today during the period of the Church. They will believe the Antichrist's lie and worship the Beast and his image, sealing their sentence. ; . Furthermore, the Antichrist will cause everyone in the western land (Christendom) and in the land of Israel to receive the mark of the Beast on both the forehead and the right hand. Without that mark people will not be able to buy or sell. .

The faithful Jewish remnant and any Gentiles who believe the gospel of the Kingdom will refuse, for conscience's sake, to worship the image of the Beast and receive his mark. This will draw the bitter wrath of the Beast and the Antichrist who together will promote a terrible persecution such as the world has never known. They will make war against the saints and overcome many. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .

THE GREAT TRIBULATION The terrible persecution caused by the Beast and the Antichrist precipitates the "great tribulation" which will continue for the period of 1260 days (18 days less than the last three and a half years. Three and a half years are 1278 days), also called the "time of tribulation".#2# ; ; ; ; ; Rev 8-11:18 (Seventh Seal).

The persecution during the great tribulation will be so severe that people will hesitate to tell their thoughts even to their wives or members of their own family, for fear of being reported to the authorities. The closest friend will not be trustworthy. ; ; .

Because the city of Jerusalem and the land of Israel have been given over to the impious idolatry that the Antichrist will introduce, and because of the persecution that will arise, the faithful Jewish remnant will be forced to flee to the mountains, caves and crevices of the earth in search of safety. They will be hunted without measure. ; Ps 42-72 (Second Book of Psalms); ; 1 Sam 19-27; - 17:29; ; .

Part of the remnant will flee to the mountains of Judea in search of shelter. .

Others of the remnant will flee to the east of the land of Judea, to the land of Moab (perhaps present-day Jordan), and also to the north, at the height of Mount Hermon in Lebanon. ; ; ; ; .

Although most of the remnant will flee, it seems that some will remain in Jerusalem. God will use them to maintain an adequate testimony for Himself in that place, in the face of idolatry (represented by the "two witnesses"). They will be miraculously protected by God until the period of their testimony, which is 1260 days, is completed. .

Although many saints are divinely protected, martyrdom will be abundant.* Ps 12; ; ; ; ; .

[ Note: *There will be two classes of saints who will believe the gospel of the Kingdom during the seven years. A preserved portion (, 14:1-5) will come out of the tribulation to enjoy the Millennium on the earth. The other class will be made up of the martyred portion which will include those who will die in the first three and a half years under the reign of the woman -- the false church () -

and also those who will die in the last

three and a half years under the persecution of the Beast and the Antichrist (). The portion of those martyred will be resurrected later and seen reigning over the earth, together with Christ, during the Millennium (). ] It will not rain in the land of Israel during the great tribulation (the last three and a half years). ; ; ; .

As the great tribulation unfolds, the prosperity that the Western world has known will dwindle.* The rich who were not affected by the famine in the first three and a half years will now feel the hardships of the hunger that will spread throughout the entire Western world. (First Trumpet).

[ Note: *The "third part" that appears twelve times in Revelation 8, in connection with the trumpet judgments, refers to a restricted area of the earth. It is the Roman portion of the Western world -- the sphere where the Beast and the Antichrist will exercise their authority -

Israel, Western Europe and

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