14. The Chronology of the Final or 70th Week of Daniel (Revelation)
Most of the books I have read on Daniel’s final or 70th week relate it will be divided into two equal halves of 1260 days, a multiple of three and one-half multiplied by 360, the number of days in the ancient calendar year from Creation about 6,000 years ago until it was changed around 701 BC to the present 365.2422 days per year. I suspect this is from Daniel 9:27 “Then he (anti-Christ) shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”
However, the middle could mean not only the precise middle, but the approximate middle. Turning to Daniel 12:11 ”And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he who waits and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days…”
So now we have an extra thirty days and then an additional forty-five days for a total of seventy-five days extra. Why? One has to have knowledge of the feasts of Israel given to Moses by God in the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) as well as the subsequent feast of Hanukkah to answer this question. In Hebrew, the feasts are the moedim, which translates as the “appointed times.” Per Genesis 1:14 Then God said,” Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.” The word for seasons in this verse in Hebrew is moedim. The seasons are appointed times, but so are the feasts of Israel given by God to Moses. Hence, the word moedim refers to both. God has been fulfilling these feasts, as noted below.
The feasts are connected to the harvests in Israel. In the spring is the Feast of Passover on Nisan 14, followed immediately by the one week Feast of Unleavened Bread. Within the one week Feast of Unleavened Bread is the Feast of Firstfruits, when the barley is waved before the LORD before the Jews can eat it, the day after the regular Jewish Shabot or Sabbath, which is from Friday at sunset to Saturday at sunset within the week of the second feast. Jewish days go sunset to sunset. Hence, Firstfruits is always from Saturday at sunset to Sunday at sunset. The fourth feast is Weeks or Shavuot. It is seven weeks plus one day after Firstfruits and is also known as Second Firstfruits when the wheat is waved before the LORD before the Jews can consume it. The first day of this fifty day countdown is Firstfruits. Hence, this feast, like Firstfruits, is always on Sunday, which along with the Resurrection on Firstfruits is why Christians worship on Sunday.
Feast #1 Passover (Nisan 14)- Christ was the Passover Lamb. He was crucified on Passover.
Feast #2 Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15 to 21)- Leaven is a symbol of sin because it corrupts by puffing up. Christ had no sin. Hence, His body did not decay in the grave per Psalm 16:10.
Feast #3 Firstfruits- Christ was the Firstfruit of the grave, but Firstfruits is plural. Hence, the saints whose graves had been opened with the earthquake at Christ’s death were resurrected on Firstfruits also (Matthew 27:52- 53).
Feast #4 Weeks or Shavuot- The church was born on this feast, Pentecost to the Christian, when the Holy Spirit was given to the church.
Hence, Christ has fulfilled the first four feasts. He will also fulfill the last three. The fifth feast, with five being the number for grace (unmerited favor), is Trumpets on the first day of the seventh Jewish month Tishri in the fall. It points to the tenth day of Tishri and the sixth feast, Yom Kippur, the only day during the year that the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies in the Temple to atone for his sin and that of the nation. It is the holiest day in Israel, the one day in the year that the secular Jew is most likely to attend the synagogue even though he has not attended any other, equivalent to the reprobate Christian going to church only on Christmas or Easter. The days from Trumpets (Tishri 1) to Yom Kippur (Tishri 10) are known as the Days of Awe, when God opens the books of the good, the bad, and the in-between. God graciously gives the good another year of life; the bad will die during this year; the in-between will be given another year if they sincerely repent during the Days of Awe.
Though the Jewish religious year begins with Nisan 1 (changed during the Exodus in Exodus 12:2) in the spring, the civil year begins with Tishri 1, which begins the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), in the fall. The Jews believe Adam was created on Tishri 1.
Trumpets is a very interesting feast. All the feasts save Trumpets are when the moon is full. On 1 Tishri, only a thin crescent is visible in the sky from 6 PM to 10 PM. A valid witness must declare they have seen this crescent moon to begin the feast. If the sky is overcast and the moon not viewed, then the feast is postponed to the next day- Tishri 2. Some believe Christ in Matthew 24:36 was referring to this feast when He said no one knew the day or the hour (of His return to rapture His church). The crescent moon is the symbol of Islam. What would the Muslims do if their great enemies were suddenly removed via the rapture on a crescent moon? If the Great Satan as they call America suddenly deteriorated into chaos, would they not rise to take out the Little Satan- Israel? Tishri 1, the feast of Trumpets in 2018, begins at sunset on 9 September in Jerusalem.
Feast #5- Trumpets (Tishri 1, and sometimes 2)- the obvious choice for the rapture of the church, though other feasts are possible. Per 1 Thessalonians 4:16, For the LORD Himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Another possibility for Trumpets would be the destruction of the Russo-Muslim army of Ezekiel 38 and 39. Perhaps, both this and the rapture will occur on Trumpets though likely separated by years.
Feast #6 – Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10). I believe Christ will return on this day to destroy His enemies and begin His reign on the earth, not rapture His church to heaven, on Yom Kippur, i.e. Armageddon.
Feast #7 – Tabernacles (Tishri 15 to 21), the ingathering of the crops for the year. The Pilgrims modeled Thanksgiving after this harvest festival of Israel. It is also the feast of the millennium of Christ per Zechariah 14:16: And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. The number seven means completeness in Judaism.
Remember Daniel 12:11, 12. The extra thirty days of the 1290 are required to cleanse the Temple upon removal of the Abomination of Desolation. Seventy-four or seventy-five days after Yom Kippur is the Feast of Hanukkah, which celebrated the removal of the first Abomination of Desolation set up by Antiochus Epiphanes circa 167 BC. I suspect Hanukkah, also known as the Rededication of the Temple (validated by Christ in John 10:22) and the Feast of Lights, will celebrate the end of Daniel’s final week and the removal of the second abomination of desolation, and coronate the King. As it is an eight day feast, this means Daniel’s 70th week will be divided into three portions with the final portion being 75 to 82 days. Does the 70th week end on the first day or the last day of Hanukkah, an eight day feast, or somewhere in between?
Now what about the middle portion? Per Daniel 12:1 At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time...
6 …”How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?”
7 Then I heard a man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished. (NOTE: times in this sentence means two times, not indefinite plural. The reference is to three and one-half times, which multiplied by 360 equals 1260 days or forty-two months, i.e. the Great Tribulation.)
Revelation 12:6 Then the woman (Israel) fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (NOTE: during the Great Tribulation)
Revelation 12:14 But the woman (Israel) was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times (two times, not indefinite plural) and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. (NOTE: Again the Great Tribulation)
Revelation 13:5 And he (anti-Christ) was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. (NOTE: Again the Great Tribulation)
The four verses above all refer to the Great Tribulation of 1260 days. Hence, the final week (seven Biblical years of 360 days per year) of Daniel is divided into three portions with the middle portion being 1260 days beginning on the fourth day of Unleavened Bread, “in the middle of the week” per Daniel 9:27 and ending on Yom Kippur. In the middle of the week is thus a double prophecy referring not only to a week of days with reference to the fourth day of the week-long Unleavened Bread, but also the fourth year of Daniel’s 70th week of years, but not the precise middle. 1260 days after the fourth day of Unleavened Bread often, but not always, falls on Yom Kippur. The third portion goes 75 to 82 days, ending somewhere between the first and eighth day of Hanukkah. Thus, the first portion is 1260 less 75 to 82 days.
Revelation 11:1 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.” 2 “But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.
The anti-Christ will control Jerusalem for 42 months or 1260 days, but this is not the same time period as the Great Tribulation, though it will overlap the beginning of the Great Tribulation. The anti-Christ must be in control of Jerusalem to put up the abomination of desolation in the soon to be rebuilt Jerusalem Temple. This period could begin the final week of Daniel, but it does not have to. Per Zechariah 14:1 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem..
3 Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations…
These and the subsequent verses indicate this is the culmination of the Great Tribulation’s 1260 days, when all the nations come against Jerusalem. Hence, the anti-Christ will have to be in control of Jerusalem to put up his idol in the Temple to begin the Great Tribulation, but he must lose it thereafter for all the nations of the world to come against Jerusalem at the end of the Great Tribulation.
I have explained the destruction of Islam in a previous section. For a synopsis:
1. All the contiguous Islamic nations to Israel save Egypt attack Israel and are destroyed per Amos 1 & 2. These contiguous entities to include the Sunni Gaza strip, the Shia Hezbollah of Lebanon, the Shia Syria are all Iranian proxies. In Ezekiel 25, God says He will give Moab, Ammon, and Edom, the modern state of Jordan, to the men of the East, which I suspect refers to Iran. In effect, Israel is surrounded except for Egypt, and I have read that ISIS is rather strong on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Per Zephaniah 2, I believe Assyria, likely ISIS as of today, and Ethiopia are also defeated. My readings suggest Ethiopia would be Sudan and/or Ethiopia, i.e., black African Muslim nations. ISIS has been almost destroyed on this date of March 11, 2018, but I believe it could rapidly be reconstituted. Israel may also attack Iran, the source of the attack.
2. Sunni Turkey, the one-horned goat of Daniel 8, recreates the caliphate with other Sunni nations and successfully attacks Shia Iran with at least 3 other Sunni Muslim nations, likely at least Egypt and Pakistan, per Daniel 8 and Jeremiah 49:34- 39.
3. Per Ezekiel 30:1- 5, Egypt will attack Israel with Turkey, North African Muslim nations, and Ethiopia (and/or Sudan) and all the mingled people, probably a reference to the Islamics who have migrated to Europe and America. They will be defeated.
4. The Aswan Dam is nuked likely by the anti-Christ per Ezekiel 29, making Egypt desolate for 40 years.
5. The Russo-Islamic invasion of Israel is defeated by God Himself per Ezekiel 38 & 39.
Per Daniel 11:40, “At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him (anti-Christ); and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.”
I believe the invasion here by the king of the South, or Egypt, occurs when the anti-Christ controls Jerusalem and perhaps all Israel for 1260 days per Revelation 11:2, but before the Great Tribulation begins. At or about the same time, while still in control of at least Jerusalem, the anti-Christ will be attacked by the king of the North, Turkey, or Lydia per Ezekiel 30:1-5. This is why the anti-Christ is troubled in Daniel 11:44 with news from the east and the north, as kings of the east must soon come per Revelation 16:12 and from the north the Russo-Islamic invasion of Ezekiel 38 & 39. Likely there will be a treaty placing the anti-Christ at least in control of Jerusalem after the Israeli Defense Force utterly defeats all the contiguous Muslim nations save Egypt. Hence, this 1260 day period when the anti-Christ controls Jerusalem will overlap with the Great Tribulation beginning towards its end. Per Zechariah 14:10 the LORD will return just as the anti-Christ and his forces take Jerusalem on Yom Kippur at the end of the Great Tribulation. Hence, the anti-Christ must lose Jerusalem sometime after the abomination of desolation is set up, but for some reason, Israel is unable to rededicate the Temple during this period.
It is possible that this 1260 day period when the anti-Christ controls Jerusalem could begin with the start of Daniel’s final week. However, another possibility is found in Daniel 8:14. Beginning with Daniel 8:13 Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, “How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?” 14 And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.
I have read the word days, underlined above, literally translates as morning and evenings referring to the sacrifices in the Jewish Temple. Some believe this refers to 1,150 days or 2,300 sacrifices ending on 25 Kislev circa 164 BC when the Temple was retaken by the Maccabees from the Syrian Greeks, while others believe in a literal 2,300 days referring to the six to seven year period beginning with the death of the high priest Onias III circa 70 AD and ending with the retaking of the Temple in 164 BC. I believe the interval is true, but it is hard to pin it down precisely with the information available, regardless of whether you are referring to 2,300 days or 1,150 days.
However, I wonder if it is a double prophecy that also refers to the final week of Daniel. It clearly refers to the sanctuary and the host (the Israelis?) being trampled underfoot in Daniel 8. It would appear to end with the conclusion of the Great Tribulation when the sanctuary is no longer trampled underfoot. Subtract 1260 from 2300 yields 1040 days, so the Great Tribulation begins 1041 days after the host is trampled underfoot. I suspect this refers to when the Israelis (the host) give up Jerusalem to the anti-Christ, most likely by treaty. The seven Biblical years of Daniel’s 70th and final week is 2520 days. 2520 less 2300 yields 220 days, so this period would appear to begin 221 days into Daniel’s final week. Since I believe the final week ends with the 8 day Feast of Hanukkah, although I am not certain whether it is the first or eighth day, this 75 to 82 day period must be subtracted from the 220 meaning this 2300 days begins after the first 138 to 145 days have been fulfilled, i.e. day 139 to 146 after the beginning of Daniel’s final week. Now what could cause Israel to give up Jerusalem to the anti-Christ? I do not believe they would do this if the hyperpower America supported them, so perhaps America as a hyperpower is no more. At the same time, I do not believe the Israelis would give up Jerusalem unless they too were substantially weakened. It appears that the anti-Christ will be attacked by the king of the South (Egypt) and the king of the North (Turkey). I suspect this occurs when the anti-Christ controls Jerusalem during the 1260 days of Revelation 11:2. It appears that per Amos 1 & 2, when Israel wipes out Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, Syria, and Jordan, she will sustain significant damage to both the nation of Israel, listed as Judah in Amos 2:4-5, and America and Britain, listed as Israel in Amos 2:6-16. I would suspect America had already lost its hyperpower status for the 70th week treaty to be signed. Now America sustains catastrophic damage in the verses already listed in Amos 2. The lost tribes of Israel must return to Israel, to include Ephraim and Manasseh, the Anglo-Saxons of England and America to me, as well as the dispersed Jews.
As I believe the great earthquake of Ezekiel 38:18 is the earthquake referred to in Amos 1:1, and perhaps Revelation 6:12, the destruction of Islam is completed within 2 years (more than one and one-half and less than two and one-half years) of the events of Amos 1 & 2, which I believe will occur during the 1260 day period that the anti- Christ controls Jerusalem (per Revelation 11:2), but before the overlapping Great Tribulation. If the 2,300 day period is true, the treaty that gives the anti-Christ control of Jerusalem and the Great Tribulation are both 1260 days meaning the overlap will be 220 days. The Great Tribulation will begin on the 1041st day of the 1260 days that anti-Christ controls Jerusalem. If Islam is destroyed in 2 years or, at most, less than two and one-half years after the contiguous nations save Egypt are defeated and this begins before the 1260 days of the anti-Christ controlling Jerusalem, then the destruction of Islam would have to occur at least a year before the three and a half years that the anti-Christ occupies Jerusalem are up, before the 900th day of this period, i.e., before the Great Tribulation begins on the 1041st day. There is also Ezekiel 39:12 which relates the house of Israel will be burying the corpses of the participants of the Russo-Islamic invasion of Ezekiel 38 & 39 for 7 months, or 210 days. This would also happen before the Great Tribulation began, pushing back the possible date of the defeat of the Russo-Islamic invasion to at least 210 days before the Great Tribulation begins, or before the 831st day of the treaty giving anti-Christ control of Jerusalem.
In Revelation 11:3 the LORD will raise up two witnesses to prophesy for 1260 days. Elijah is one per Malachi 4:5. Many favor Enoch as the second witness, but I favor Moses. I had favored Enoch, because, like Elijah, he never died, i.e., God took him per Genesis 5:24. However, the Bible is filled with models, and Enoch is the model for the rapture of the church. Noah, his three sons, and their wives went through the Flood, and everyone else was destroyed. Though many people will be raptured before the Great Tribulation, they will be one body, just like Enoch was one body. The church will be the body of Christ. Hence, there will be many people who never died in heaven besides Enoch. Therefore, I favor Moses as the second witness because of the miracles that are done in Revelation 11:6- to turn waters into blood and produce plagues. Moses was not allowed to bring the children of Israel into the promised land, but this time, in combination with Elijah, he will bring back not only the Jews, but also the lost tribes into Israel. At the end of the 1260 days, the two witnesses will be killed. Three and a half days later they are resurrected per Revelation 11:11. Why three and a half days? Earlier I had noted that if you go back 1260 days from Yom Kippur or Tishri 10, it often, but not always, falls on the fourth day of the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now why would this be so? Satan likes to mimic Christ. Per Zechariah 11:17, often taken to refer to the anti-Christ, the worthless shepherd will be blind in his right eye and have a shriveled arm. Could it be that he will take these wounds (Revelation 13:3) on Passover on the first or perhaps the second Passover of the newly-built Jerusalem Temple as Christ did almost two thousand years earlier? Then, anti-Christ is resurrected on the third day of Unleavened Bread just like Christ. Then, he sets up the abomination of desolation the following day, on the fourth day of Unleavened Bread, making Daniel’s 9:27 verse “in the middle of the week” a double prophecy. It occurred on the fourth year of Daniel’s week of years, but also on the fourth day of Unleavened Bread’s week of days.
If the above interpretation is correct the two witnesses will also be killed on a Passover and resurrected on the anniversary of the setting up of the abomination of desolation on the Jewish calendar, likely one year though perhaps two or even three years later. This would be God’s way of saying to Satan, “You are trying to take over one of My feasts. That’ll be the day!” If this seems unlikely, then remember that per Daniel 7:25, the anti-Christ shall intend to change time and law. This is not as unusual as it seems. The atheistic elites of America have changed the old designations of time for Western Civilization of BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini- Latin for in the year of our LORD) to BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (the Common Era). The nations conquered by Islam in the 7th century likewise changed their dating system from the birth of Christ to the year Mohammed went from Mecca to Medina. The atheistic French Revolutionaries tried to wipe out all vestiges of Christianity in the calendar. Sept 22, 1792 began year one of the French Republic. They even made the weeks ten days long, and they eliminated Sunday, Christmas, and Easter from their new calendar. If the two witnesses were to be killed on Passover in 2022 (sunset, April 14 to sunset, April 15, Jerusalem time), then they should appear 1260 days earlier, or around sunset November 1 to sunset, November 2, Jerusalem time, of this year of 2018. If the two witnesses were killed on Passover, 2023 (sunset, April 4 to sunset, April 5, Jerusalem time), then the two witnesses would appear between sunset, October 22 to sunset, October 23, 2019, Jerusalem time, presuming I am correct on their being killed on Passover. The dates for Passover are from the Internet. I suggest you confirm my math.
One of the more interesting possible aspects of timing is noted from a Joel Richardson lecture at a Perry Stone 2017 International Prophetic Summit, earlier this year, on the eighth chapter of Daniel. I had always thought of this as rather straight forward. A ram, a symbol of the Medo-Persian Empire, in verse 4 pushed westward, northward and southward and no animal could withstand him. Earlier it mentioned the ram had two horns, one higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. The lesser horn represented the Medes, and the higher one, the Persians, who made it the Persian Empire. Then a goat with a single horn came from the west without touching the ground and struck the ram breaking his two horns. This represented Alexander the Great who very rapidly conquered the immense Persian Empire. The goat was a symbol for Greece, and a one-horned goat, the symbol for Macedonia, Alexander’s home. At the height of the goat’s power, his horn was broken and replaced by four horns, supposedly Alexander’s generals who divided the empire among themselves with Alexander’s sudden death. Out of one of these horns came a little horn that challenged God Himself. In verse 11, he took away the Jerusalem temple’s daily sacrifices. He cast down truth and prospered. This represented Antiochus Epiphanes who stopped the sacrifices in Jerusalem circa 167 BC, put up the original abomination of desolation, and tried to destroy Judaism. After 2300 days with a footnote in one of my Bibles, indicating morning-evenings for days, apparently referring to Temple sacrifices, (The Jerusalem temple offered sacrifices at 9 AM and 3 PM), the temple was cleansed. This does not seem to quite fit, because the temple was cleansed after being desecrated in about 3 years. However, if you presume that the morning-evenings refers to the 2 sacrifices a day, or 2300 sacrifices, making 1150 days. This would seem to fit, though not exactly. Others prefer 2300 actual days and begin the prophecy between 6 and 7 years earlier as already noted. I believe the prophecy is precise, but we don’t have the records to confirm this.
Joel Richardson noted on one of Perry Stone’s recent DVDs that, the little horn of Daniel 8:10 grew up to the host of heaven and cast some down to the ground. In other words, angels were cast out of heaven and onto the earth, which did not happen during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, but will happen during Revelation 12:6- 9 after the rapture of the church, when the woman’s male child is caught up to heaven, likely the rapture, in Revelation 12:5. Richardson then noted Iran, Persia of old, now controls much of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon (the west) and has a significant presence in Yemen (the south). They also have a treaty with Russia (the north) basically fulfilling again the prophecy of Daniel 8:3- 4. The Iranians are presently surrounding Israel with the Sunni Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Shia Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in February, 2018, it was reported that they had 40,000 troops in Syria. They are presently setting up conditions for Amos 1 to 2:3. It is curious to note that in Ezekiel 25, God says He will give Ammon (northern Jordan) and Moab (central Jordan), and Seir (another name for Edom, or southern Jordan) to the men of the East in verses 4 and 9- 10. Could the men of the East refer to Iran taking over Jordan and continuing the encirclement of Israel? I believe so.
President Erdogan, the leader of Turkey, has made himself circa April, 2017 with the rewriting of the Turkish Constitution a virtual dictator and the greatest Turkish ruler since Ataturk at the end of World War I. Actually, Ataturk was trying to transform his nation into a modern European state, so a better analogy would be a sultan, when the Ottoman Empire was expansionist centuries earlier. Erdogan wants to remake the Ottoman Empire, and the Iranians want to reconstitute the Persian Empire, but under Islam, of course. Of course, Turkey is not Alexander’s Greece, but as Richardson pointed out there were significant Greek colonies on both sides of the Aegean Sea with Aegean meaning goat. The Greeks were great seafarers. Their colonies and Empire included the cities of present-day Turkey’s western seashore. The subjugation of these Greek cities in western Turkey by the Persian Empire and the aid provided them from Greece led to the Greco-Persian Wars a few centuries before Christ. Hence, Erdogan could represent Greece. If so, he must have significant victories over Iran, likely in the near future, and his conquests must be very rapid as the one-horned goat traveled so rapidly that his feet did not seem to touch the ground in Daniel 8:5. He broke the power of the ram, Persia or Iran. The one-horned goat is then killed, and his kingdom broken into four horns. This all seems very unlikely, but perhaps it can be done. Erdogan has recently attacked the Kurds in Syria. The Kurds are the ancient Medes. After World War I, they were not given a country, but became part of southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria, northeastern Iraq, and northwestern Iran. Like the Cherokee Native Americans, the Kurds like the mountains. The March, 2018 Prophetic Newsletter of The King Is Coming notes that Erdogan intends to destroy the Kurds before he moves on to attack Israel. “In the weekly sermons on Friday- the Muslim day of prayer- mosques in Turkey, Sudan, Libya, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, among others, have been proclaiming Erdogan as their new sultan and asking Allah to prosper him, and the caliphate he will lead. The first order of business will be eliminating the Kurds.” The US has strongly supported the Kurds in the past, and they were a major factor in the recent decline in ISIS in Syria and Iraq after America made sure they were well armed. Their new weapons have upset the Turks, and they have also frequently rebelled against the Turks in southeastern Turkey since World War I. They are a land-locked people surrounded by their enemies, and hence, it is difficult for America to send them support. The Turkish attack may drive them into the arms of Iran. Remember in the original prophecy of the ram in Daniel 8, he had two horns, one identified as Persia and the second as the Medes, or the modern Kurds.
More than 80% of Islam is Sunni with only about 15% Shia. The Sunnis hate the Shias and vice-versa, each regarding the other as apostates. Iran is primarily Shia as is 60% of the population of Iraq. Could it be that Erdogan will put together a Sunni coalition? As there are four horns, there would be four major countries involved. Turkey would be one, as would the numerically larger by population state of Egypt, both large Sunni Islamic nations.
Jeremiah 49:34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam (the southwestern part of Iran contiguous with the Persian Gulf where the Bushehr nuclear reactor is located), in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah saying, 35 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might. 36 Against Elam, I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and scatter them toward all those winds; there shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go. 37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, My fierce anger,’ says the LORD; ‘And I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them. 38 I will set My throne in Elam, and will destroy from there the king and the princes,’ says the LORD. 39 ‘But it shall come to pass in the latter days: I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ says the LORD.”
God will bring enemies against Elam from the four quarters of heaven. Let us see. We already have two major Sunni nations, Turkey and Egypt. To the east of Iran is the Sunni nation of Pakistan, which faces nuclear-armed India to their east. I suspect Pakistan is very upset about having another nuclear power immediately to their west, especially if it’s a Shia Islamic nation. The fourth nation could be Sunni Saudi Arabia with its massive US armaments, or perhaps ISIS reborn. Recently, it appeared that ISIS had been almost destroyed, but I believe it could easily be reconstituted in the near future. There is also Iraq with its immense oil reserves, though it is currently under Iran’s thumb. Zechariah 5:5- 11 would seem to indicate that Babylon will be rebuilt for its final complete and utter destruction as in Sodom and Gomorrah (Jeremiah 50:40, Isaiah 13:19). It is interesting to note that after America invaded Iran circa 2003, we built a huge embassy in Baghdad, and a state of the art communications hub, but the latter was built outside the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon, the source of pagan religion. Isaiah 13 & 14, Revelation 17 & 18, and Jeremiah 50 & 51 foretell the fate of Babylon, but Jeremiah 50:9 is especially interesting: For behold, I will raise and cause to come against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country, and they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be captured. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; none shall return in vain. The underlined portion would appear to indicate the warrior is especially skilled, but in the actual translation, the arrow is expert. It is a smart weapon or missile. Isaiah 13:17 and Jeremiah 51:11, 28 indicate God will send the Medes (modern Kurds) to destroy Babylon, which happened in the past, but I believe it is a double prophecy. It will also happen in the future (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
In any event, four Sunni nations attack Iran, likely after Iran is weakened by Israel’s destruction of her proxies in Amos 1- 2:3. Israel may even attack Iran before or during this time, weakening Iran significantly. After Sunni Islam’s victory, the leader Erdogan (king of the North) declares himself the new caliph or sultan and attacks Israel per Daniel 11:40 along with Egypt’s leader (king of the South). Erdogan is killed and the Sunni caliphate breaks into their component nations again. After their defeat, a little horn comes up among their residua. This is a double prophecy referring to Antiochus Epiphanes who desecrated the Jewish Temple circa 167 BC. However, the little horn is also taken to be representative of the coming anti-Christ of Daniel 7:8. Could there be two little horns- one the anti-Christ of Daniel 7:8, the European anti-Christ and the second the false prophet of Revelation 13:11-18? The false prophet seems to be an unlikely candidate as Revelation 13:11 relates that he comes out of the earth, meaning he is Jewish. There are still a few Jews in the Islamic lands, but again this appears unlikely.
Isaiah 14:25 (God speaking) That I will break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders.
This happened in 701 BC when the Assyrian army besieged Jerusalem after destroying all the nearby Jewish cities. Per 2 Kings 19:35, an angel of the LORD one night killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, and the Assyrian king decided it was time to leave. But is Isaiah 14:25 a double prophecy of the future also? If the anti-Christ is the Assyrian, it is clear that he will be broken before Jerusalem in the future, near future to me.
Micah 5:5… When the Assyrian comes into our land, and when he treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princely men. 6 They shall waste the land of Assyria, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances; thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and when he treads within our borders. Israel or Judah never wasted the land of Assyria, so this is future.
Revelation 17:3- 4 refers to a beast on which sits a woman arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls… 5 And on her forehead a name was written: “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth.” Verse 10 “There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue for a short time. 11 “the beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition. Although there are more than one interpretation of this, I like Chuck Missler’s. This prophecy was given circa 95 AD in the Roman Empire. Kings can refer to nations. The five refer to the ancient empires of Egypt, then Assyria, then Babylon, then Medo-Persia, then Greece, then Rome, the power at the time. The seventh would be revived Rome. The people groups of these ancient kingdoms still exist as modern nations with the single exception of Assyria. The Assyrian is the most likely candidate for the beast that was, and is not, and is the eighth though of the seven, i.e., the anti-Christ.
So the Assyrian is the anti-Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 notes he will only be revealed after the rapture or removal of the church from the earth. But why is he called the Assyrian? Is it because he will be the world dictator as his predecessor after the Flood- Nimrod, who built Babel, where paganism originated, and Nineveh, the subsequent capital of Assyria? Will he rebuild Babylon and also Nineveh, old capital of Assyria, and/or Mosul which is directly across the Tigris River from Nineveh? Mosul was taken back from ISIS, which had held much of the land of the old Assyrian Empire, in the past year. Will he rebuild Assyria? Daniel 8:9 notes a little horn will grow out of one of the four notable horns that arise after the single horn is broken. My best guess for three of the four horns would be Turkey, Egypt, and Pakistan. What nation is the fourth horn symbolic of? The original little horn grew out of the Seleucid Empire that arose in Syria and the East. Will he be a Muslim of Syrian descent or from another Muslim nation, one of the other notable horns? I believe that the anti-Christ will rule over Europe because Ezekiel 38 & 39 ends with the destruction of Islam and Russia, leaving only Europe and Asia, especially China, as major powers. Could his family have immigrated to Europe decades ago, and he comes to power in one of the European nations? After all, Hitler was born in Austria and immigrated to Germany just before or early in World War I. Napoleon, who became Emperor of France, immigrated from Corsica. I can only conjecture. Time will tell.
-Gentry
Addendum: The Jews have a very peculiar calendar. The original calendar was 12 months of 30 days each. This means that at Creation, the moon revolved around the earth in 30 days, and the earth around the sun in 360 days. This is why we have 360 degrees in a circle. It is also likely why when Mohammed rode his horse into Mecca circa 630 AD, there were 360 idols around the Ka’bah, one for every day of the old creation year. Mohammed pulverized the 360 stones. Some titanic cosmic event changed this to the moon revolving around the earth in 29.53 days, and the earth revolving around the sun in 365.2422 days. My readings indicate this change occurred around 701 BC.
God gave Moses seven annual feasts with six to occur when the moon was full. Hence, the Jews have a lunar calendar. They alternate 30 and 29 days every month. To make it correspond to the year, they periodically add a day to the 29 day twelfth month of Adar and add a thirteenth month to the calendar- second Adar composed of 29 days. This is done every third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth year.