Posted on 12/23/2022 7:11:10 PM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
get your popcorn ready....
sorry, get your soul ready, because the final days approach.
Yes, and IMHO after the Battle of Armageddon.
The Dragon and his armies have been unable to touch them at all for 3-1/2 years.
Since those in Judea did flee unto the mountains (I take that as flight to Petra).
This in the wake of the Abomination that Causes Desolation at the midpoint.
The Man of Lawlessness, IMHO, will kill the Two Witnesses (Revelation 11:7) just before the Abomination that Causes Desolation. Their bodies lie in the street(s) of Jerusalem and then they come back to life and ascend to Heaven (Revelation 11:11-12) - WHILE the world watches.
Even CNN might see a few converts on that day, LOL.
A Christian that I know who comes from a Jewish family told me that Jews consider Jesus to be a false prophet.
With 20/20 hindsight, seems like that always required worldwide broadcasting.
ROM 11:25
For I, brethren, would not have you be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits: that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
So, don’t blame the Jews for not recognizing Jesus. They will, but after the scales have been removed from their eyes.
[With 20/20 hindsight, seems like that always required worldwide broadcasting.]
Absolutely.
The ENTIRE world watches:
1) Their bodies lie in the street(s) of Jerursalem
2) They come to life after being dead for 3-1/2 days
3) They ascend to Heaven - in plain view of the world
Now possible, with TV, internet cameras, drones, helicopters with TV cameras.
It will be shocking to the overwhelming majority of the world who believed that Satan’s anti-messiah was the “messiah” - he in fact will exercise all of the power and authority of the Dragon (Revelation 13).
This is called the day-year principle. You'll see it used in Scripture in Numbers 14:34 (God tells the Jews through Moses that they'll wander for 40 years, a year for each of the 40 days the spies spied on Canaan). In Ezekiel 4:4-6 God tells Ezekiel that he is to lie on his side for 390 days to symbolize Israel's 390 years of punishment, then lie on his side 40 days to symbolize Judah's 40 years of punishment. IMHO those examples don't necessarily mean we should use the day-year principle in eschatology. But they open the door for at least some of the Bible to be interpreted that way.
Last but not least is the multiple definitions of the Hebrew word "yomm" often translated to "day" in the Old Testament. It has multiple literal definitions for a time period: a daytime (when there's sunlight), a 24-hour day, a week, a year, a lifetime (like your grandfather saying "back in my day"), or some long era of unspecified length.
Maybe you've heard fellow Christians argue young-earth vs old-earth including how quickly the 7 "days" of creation were. Maybe you've heard the young-earthers say they believe in "literal days" (as in a week of 24-hour days) or old earthers believe in 7 eras. Well, technically the era interpretation of "yowm" in Genesis 1 is as much a literal interpretation of that word as the 24-hour day interpretation. This also applies when the same Hebrew word "yowm" is used in Daniel and is often translated as "day" or "days" when it could literally be just about any time unit (week, year) or even vaguely defined time periods like we use the word "era" in English (like we sometimes refer to part of the Old Testament as the era of judges followed by the era of kings).
In the context of eschatology, you'll find the day-year principle more commonly believed among eschatologists with a historicist belief, of which I don't believe, than among preterists or futurists, of which I'm both because I tend to believe many of the timelines begin only a handful of centuries after John (which might barely make me a preterist) and extend for over a thousand years into our future (making me part futurist). One thing that makes me different from most futurists is most of them tend to believe virtually all events happen within a few years or perhaps a century, while I tend to believe things are spread out across many centuries.
Another belief I have, and take it for what it's worth, is that us American Christians have a western bias when interpreting eschatology. For example, we often interpret the statue in Daniel 2 as representing mainly western empires. We know it includes the Babylon empire because the Bible text says it explicitly. But the succeeding empires we interpret on our own and often believe it's the Medes-Persian empire, then Greece, then Rome, then Europe (toes of iron and clay representing Europe being a loosely tied culture of many nations). I guess it's possible that's correct. But I believe the empires in eschatology are mainly centered around life as it unfolds in the Middle East, perhaps specifically Jerusalem, and not necessarily Europe. It's kind of like we never interpret the Mongolian Empire as being a Bible foretold empire even though it was large. But we probably ought to consider the Ottoman Empire because it was not only powerful and lasted for centuries, but it specifically controlled the Middle East including Jerusalem. Maybe, just maybe, the parts of the Daniel statue are Babylon, Medes-Persian, Greco-Roman (counting them as one empire since they worshipped the same pagan gods), then Ottoman Empire (which fractured a lot so that many Muslim nations were only loosely controlled by the Ottoman Empire in its last few centuries, including when the U.S. went to war with the North African Ottoman Empire nations in the Barbary Wars).
Makes me wonder how pre-20th Century folks understood that verse.
Those that flee after the abomination that causes desolation are refusing the Mark of the Beast - they have to flee to avoid being killed.
1/3 are brought through the fire (Zechariah 13 if memory serves).
NOW, regarding the rest of the world, yes, anyone who accepts the Mark of the Beast is doomed - there is no repentance for that. They are tortured with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Lamb and the holy angels forever.
And ever.
Yikes.
Revelation could not be clearer on this warning. The 3rd angel is the one who says it:
(Scripture to follow)
Revelation 14:9-12
King James Version
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2014%3A9-12&version=KJV
Probably many used allegory
It will in fact be literal
Those who believed in a literal reading were probably mocked and scorned
Interesting.
Filing under obscure and intriguing ideas for future reference.
Save
No, I’m a Messianic Jew. I was revering to those who take the mark of the beast and those in the media.
Not saying Left Behind 2 Tribulation Force was perfect
Only a televised declaration of a rabbi saying Jesus Christ is the Only Messiah - this thread made me think of this part
Jonathan Cahn has said that recently Jews are beginning to be turning to Jesus in greater numbers than have been seen since NT times.
(I was revering to those who take the mark of the beast and those in the media.)
I thought you might have meant CNN and possibly MSNBC (and others).
Given their Godless agendas you are probably 100% correct that they’ll take the Mark of the Beast.
Sadly.
We’re trying to save as many who have ears to hear and eyes to see.
Sounds about right
Your yom-explanation sounds like Hugh Ross (whom I respect tremendously, but we'll leave that for another occasion) wrote it himself.
I am well aware of the various instances of day-year equivalence which you cited, and their predicate for a similar usage here. What I wondered is whether there is specific scriptural support in this instance. Apparently, then, there is not.
Of course, that lack does not negate your hypothesis. It merely leaves it speculative, just as you indicated.
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