Monday, December 16, 2013

Reign Of The King Of The North

Daniel 11:36-45

“And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.  Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.  But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.” (Daniel 11:36-38)

When that northern king we know as the Antichrist comes to power, he takes over by trickery.  Once he is in power he will ignore any constitutional limitations using something like our executive orders to bypass the legislature so he just does as he pleases.  He promotes himself as greater and more powerful than any god, the most powerful man on earth, and regularly takes actions to destroy faith in God, completely ignoring the traditional religion of his land.

He will consider himself so much superior to anyone else that desires of God, of other powers or even of his lovers mean nothing to him.  If they disagree or want something else he will just replace them with someone else.  The only thing he will respect is power, the God of force and will set up a god of his own to be worshipped.

Revelation 13:1-8 describes the antichrist in a figurative sense.  “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

In order to consolidate his power, he will set up a new religion worshiping himself, and the Devil who empowers him.  Fortunately his power will be limited to forty two months, or three and a half years.

“Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.” (Daniel 11:39)

Revelation 13:11-16 describes how he will use a false teacher who poses as being from God, but whose doctrine is from Satan, the Dragon.   While he will claim to be acting for the people, his real focus will be on making a profit by giving others control of different areas.  “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:”

Everything about his administration will be  built on fraud and deceit,  even using fake miracles to convince people that he has real power according to II Thessalonians 2:9-10.  “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”  The fraud will begin to break down when he is unable to do what he promised.

“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.  He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.” (Daniel 11:40-41) 

When they realize his apparent power is only a sham, the southern kingdom will rebel, leading to powerful effort to quash the rebellion.  In the fighting many countries will be defeated, and Israel will be occupied, but the region south and east of the Dead Sea will be ignored as having little significance.  Matthew 24:15-22 and Revelation 13:13-14 describe Israel as having been forced to flee to the region for protection, where they stay for three and a half years after the Antichrist broke the treaty the previous administration wade with them.

“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” (Revelation 13:13-14)”

“He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.  But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.” (Daniel 11:42-43 

The Anti-christ’s primary target is the rebellious southern kingdom and he will wipe out Egypt.  Ethiopia and Libya will join forces with him to avoid destruction themselves.  Since the Jews will never embrace his false religion, he will then proceed to try to destroy them completely.  Ezekiel 38:1-6 describes the forces marshaled against Israel.

“And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.”

“But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.  And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” (Daniel 11:44-45)

The unrest will not be limited to the southern kingdom, and as he learns about the problems in the north and east, he will declare war on Israel in an attempt to distract the people from the problems in his administration by focusing them on the destruction of Israel, much like Hitler did to retain control of Germany.

In Ezekiel 39:1-5, God describes the results of the attack on Israel,  “Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.  Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD." 

Revelation 19:17-21 describes the same event.  “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”

Despite all his power and efforts to destroy everything relating to God, the Antichrist, his false religion, and his empire will be destroyed, and Satan himself imprisoned.




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