Teaching about endtimes by brother Bruce
Daniel
Chapter 12
In today's study I will be showing from the scriptures that Daniel chapter 12
applies both to the Tribulation period and also to the Millennium.
Watch how the prophecies of Daniel 12 pertain to the end of the tribulation and
to events that occur in the Millennium. Revelation is quite clear that the final half of the seven year Anti-Christ prophecy is 42 months or 1260 days. Four scriptures confirm second half of tribulation is 1260 days long:
1) Revelation 11:2
2) Revelation 12:14
3) Revelation 13:5-6
4) Daniel 7:25
However, Daniel's prophecy suggests that it is 1290 days or 1335 days, with neither of these numbers agreeing with the revelation of John or even with Daniel's own previous prophecy in Daniel chapter 7.
The first strong and somewhat obvious clue that this prophecy applies to the end of the Millennium is found in Daniel 12:2 which states, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt". If you notice carefully here this resurrection that is mentioned in the Daniel 12 prophecy has some people resurrected to life and some resurrected to shame and
everlasting contempt. The first resurrection in Rev 20:4-6 has no one resurrected to shame, contempt, or any negative judgment. Only the second resurrection that occurs
at the end of the Millennium has such a negative feature mentioned, and thus we can conclude the resurrection of Daniel 12:2 is talking about both the resurrection of the righteous and the
wicked, occurring at both ends of the Millennium.
In the first resurrection it is the elect who have been chosen to rule as kings and priests with Christ. We know from a careful reading of Revelation chapter 20 that this first resurrection occurs in the beginning of the Millennium. We also know that the kingdom in which these kings and priests will rule is not established until the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:15) at the very end of the tribulation, just before the day of God's wrath occurs. Revelation 11:18, which is talking about events that occur after the seventh trumpet, confirms clearly that the resurrection occurs during the seventh trumpet.
Thus there is no reason to believe that any resurrection can occur before or during the seven year
tribulation, as many Bible scholars suggest. If one reads the 3.5 year prophecy from Rev. 11:1-14
this period consist of the Trumpets. The first woe is finished, which were the
four horsemen of the apocalypse, consisting of the first five seals of Satan's
wrath. The second woe is the trumpet judgments, and the third woe refers to the
bowls of God's fierce wrath.
Now lets look at other identifying clues from Daniel chapter 12 to place the second resurrection even more clearly at the end of the millennium. Let us identify Michael the prince that is mentioned in Daniel 12:1. In Daniel 10:5-13 Michael the prince
of angels is clearly identified as one who came to the aid of the angel who delivered the vision to Daniel. If we look for other accounts of an angel named Michael we find just two in the Bible. We find the account where Michael battled the devil for Moses' body and we find the account in
Rev chapter 12 where Michael casts the devil and his angels from heaven. Thus there is a fairly solid reason to believe that the Michael in Daniel chapter 12 will be fighting some demonic force at the time of his prophesied appearance. Do we find any such similar event near the second resurrection? Of course we do!!! According to Revelation 20:7-10 just before the second resurrection, the devil will be let loose for a bit and inevitably thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone. Thus we have solid reason to believe that the events in Daniel chapter 12 refer to the resurrection of the dammed and correspond to Revelation chapter 20.
Once God's kingdom arrives, Christ is not leaving. The word “Rapture” is closely
related to the word gather and the word “Rapture” also has a secondary meaning “to rescue”. Christ will Rapture/rescue his followers and gather both
flocks (Israel and the gentile believers) to Jerusalem. (Isaiah 56:8, and Isaiah 27:12).
I personally believe that the total tribulation is more than seven years long, as suggested in Rev. 2:10. Here are some scriptural notes I have on my thinking:
If we use the day for a year rule as is often used in Bible prophecies then we can surmise with some certainty that the tribulation is MOST LIKELY 10 years long, and not seven years long as most teach. (see Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:5–6 for day-for-year principle) The first and most obvious scripture that shows that the tribulation must be longer than 7 years is the Two Witness prophecy in Revelation chapter 11. If you read the chapter carefully the two witnesses prophesy and proclaim their message for 1260 days, which is equivalent to 3.5 years. In Rev
11:7 it tells us "when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them." So how long will the beast be permitted authority? Rev 11:2 tells us 42 months and this is also verified in Rev. 13:5. So 42 months, which equals 3.5 years, added to the 3.5 years of the Two Witnesses testimony equals 7 years. Obviously the tribulation is
longer than seven years, and thus we know that this scripture in Rev 2:10 is likely correct when it suggests that the tribulation is ten years long.
This teaching will show you exactly at what time the Devil is cast down from heaven in the book of revelation:
There are 3 things that appear in the 12th chapter of Revelation that are
of great interest if you know that stars are angels (see Rev. 1:20):
1) a sign in heaven of the Devil and 1/3 of the angels be cast out
(compare Rev. 12:3-4 to Rev. 8:12) to
2) the Devil being actually cast down (compare Rev. 12:9 to Rev. 9:1)
3) and woe predicted for the earth. (compare Rev. 12:12 to Rev. 8:13)
A comparison of these scriptures reveals the exact timing of the when the devil will be cast out of heaven to the earth! The sign in heaven described in Rev 12:3-4 will take place at the fourth trumpet, the devil himself will be cast down at the time of the fifth trumpet, which is the first of the three woe trumpets that bring woe to the earth as stated in Rev. 12:12.
The sign of the son of man is easy to identify. The sign is clearly identified in Rev 6:15-16 where it says, "Hide us from the face of him that sittieth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." Yet how can we be certain that seeing the face of him that sittieth on the throne is the sign of the Son of man in heaven? Let us compare the verses in Matthew chapter 24 to the verses in Revelation chapter 6 and this should remove any doubts we have, as the description and the sequence of the events is identical.
Similarities:
1) Sun becomes dark and the moon does not shine
Compare Matthew 24:29 to Revelation 6:12
2) Stars fall from heaven
Compare Matthew 24:29 to Revelation 6:13
3) Powers of the heavens will be shaken
Compare Matthew 24:29 to Revelation 6:14
4) Then the sign of the son of man will appear in heaven
Compare Matthew 24:30 to Revelation 6:15-16
5) Then shall all the tribes mourn
Compare Matthew 24:30 to Revelation 6:16-17
Proofs of Pre-Tribulation false teachings:
1) The first initiates God's eternal kingdom (Rev. 20:4-6) and the Rapture occurs after the first resurrection (1 Cor 15:52, 1 Thess 4:16-17), so obviously the Rapture cannot happen before the tribulation or even during the tribulation, as the first resurrection occurs after the tribulation.
2) Those first resurrected ones include those killed for refusing to taking the mark of the beast. (Rev. 20:4) How did they refuse the mark if the Rapture occurs before the tribulation?
3) Pre-tribulation teaching ignores earthly hope - the second flock (the great crowd or multitude). Those
who believe in the pre-trib are always those believing everyone goes to heaven. They abandon the great crowd by rapturing away the leaders
of the congregations and leaving the "other sheep" to fend for themselves.
4) Rev. 2:10 promises 10 days of tribulation and tells Christians in one of the congregations to "be thou faithful unto death", very clearly predicting that some will die during the tribulation. How can this prophecy come true if Christians are Raptured before the tribulation begins?
5) Saints are not sealed in forehead until after sixth seal and before seventh seal. (Rev. 6:12 thru Rev. 8:1) If God does not finalize his chosen ones until this moment then how can Rapture occur earlier? We know the 144,000 sealed are the Raptured ones because Rev 14:4 says, "these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth". Compare this statement to Rapture promise of 1Thess 4:17 and these other scriptures. (John 14:3, 2 Peter 2:11-12)
6) How can Zephaniah desolate earth prophecy be fulfilled if the wicked are not destroyed after Rapture? If the supposed
"tribulation saints", a term not found in Bible, are allowed to grow into a great multitude that no one can number then when destruction of wicked comes there is no desolate earth, as there will be too many survivors. If Gods people are Raptured/gathered to Israel as prophesied and then the wicked are destroyed, only then can desolate earth prophesy be
fulfilled.
7) To call the saints in the book of Revelation "tribulation saints" or "Jewish saints" and say there is no
Church on earth has a major flaw: according to scriptures all saints are equal (Romans 10:12, Gal 3:28-29), thus any saint on earth is a part
of the Church.
8) There are two large groups of saved people on earth: Rev 7:1-3 with the 144,000 and the "great crowd, which no man could number". How can so many people not be called the
Church?
9) How can the 144,000 be called the "first fruits" in Rev 14:4 if the Church is Raptured in
Rev 4:1? Would not the Raptured Church at Rev 4:1 be the first fruits if they are Raptured first?
10) Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 all give similar accounts of the Rapture, so why does Luke 21:28 say when these things begin to come to pass, look up for your deliverance/redemption is near if these events have not occurred yet? Have we seen stars falling from heaven yet? Have we seen the power of the heavens shaken? Have we seen the sun darkened or the moon not giving
its light? The scripture in Matthew proves that the imminent Rapture theory is not possible when Matthew 24:30 says after the above events "AND THEN shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; AND THEN shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. All these heavenly signs clearly must occur before the Rapture.
11) In regard to the same 3 chapters of end time prophecies, why do the gospel writers all have the Rapture happening after the 20 or so end time signs while all the pre-tribbers have the Rapture occurring before any of the signs happen?
If
you look at the seals carefully, the rider on the white horse is the False
messiah which is the first sign in Matthew 24:5, Mark 13:6, and Luke 21:8....
most people call the rider on the white horse the Anti-Christ but that
description never appears in scripture. The correct description of him is False
Messiah, although he will have the spirit of anti-christ. This False Messiah
works with the second beast of Rev. 13 who is commonly called the False Prophet.
These two characters will stand in direct opposition to Gods Two Witnesses of
Revelation chapter 11. These events must occur at the same time; the False
Messiah and the False prophet will stand in direct opposition to The TWO
WITNESSES simultaneously.
The
woman fleeing into the wilderness corresponds to the second half of the seal
judgments in Matthew 24:15-16.... while
the devil is cast from heaven at the fourth and fifth trumpet, showing overlap. Ezekiel
32:7 also prophetically confirms this connection is an actual literal event when
it foretells to us, “When I extinguish you, I will cover the
heavens and darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon
will not give its light.” Thus from prophecy as well as
scriptural similarity we can know with certainty that the events of the fourth
trumpet signify the exact timing of when the Devil will be cast down.
COM
