“Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven’; but in the middle of the ‘seven’ 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,” (Daniel 9:27).
It is in this last verse of Daniel’s prophecy that the reader is moved into the final 70th “week” or last 7 years of this age, the period we call “end times.”
This verse opens with a man confirming or strengthening a covenant with Israel and “many” people for 7 years. He is a world leader: a Putin, an Obama, a Cameron or whoever. Because of his success in bringing about a Middle East “peace” treaty— which many thought to be impossible— he is lifted up in pride.
This historic treaty will cause the world to proclaim “peace and safety”. It will also allow for the rebuilding of the third Jewish temple. But in the middle of this 7-year period, the world leader will stop the sacrifices and offerings within the newly rebuilt temple!
In Daniel chapter 4 there is a story about King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon becoming insane, like a wild animal. Instead of Nebuchadnezzar honoring God, he became lifted up in pride. Because of his pride, Nebuchadnezzar became like an animal, a beast for 7 years! Nebuchadnezzar’s madness is a prototype of what will happen to this world leader.
After bringing about the heralded Mid East treaty, pride will cause this man to be taken over by a spirit. This spirit arises from the abyss and takes control.
THE WORLD RULER ONLY BECOMES THE “BEAST”, THE ANTICHRIST AFTER HE IS POSSESSED BY THE SPIRIT FROM THE ABYSS! His revealing as the beast takes place at the midpoint of the 7-year period when he walks into the temple and proclaims himself, God.
Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 24:15: “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
In 2 Thessalonians 2:4, the Apostle Paul tells us that Antichrist is the one “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
This is the signal that Jews in Judea need to flee to the mountains to escape the destruction to come.
There will be an “image” or likeness of Antichrist’s true identity erected at the temple (Revelation 13:14-15). This “image” will be erected under the supervision of the False Prophet:
“And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”
In the Bible, the word for “image” usually indicated a human form. Two infamous “images” mentioned in the Bible are the giant statue of Daniel 3 and the statue of Zeus (during the time of the Maccabbees under Antiochus Epiphanes. It is mentioned in Daniel 11:31 as another abomination that desolated the Second Temple). In each instance, the king sought to unify his kingdom by having himself worshipped as a god. To do this, the image or statue of his god would bear the king’s face!
THE “IMAGE” WOULD BE A COMBINATION OF TWO PERSONALITIES: A FALSE GOD AND THE KING. IN COMBINING THE TWO PERSONALITIES INTO ONE “IMAGE”, THE KING WOULD TAKE ON GODLIKE STATUS!
The “image” of the beast will reflect this. It will be the “melding” of the world leader with another spirit. The identity of that spirit will be covered in a later blog.
Daniel 12:11 tells us that this “image” will be set up for a total of 1290 days. “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1290 days.”
The timeframe places the image’s destruction with the pouring out of the 7th bowl judgment when all the cities of the world fall, and Jerusalem itself is broken into three parts. Presumably this massive earthquake will destroy the “image” of abomination at that point. Antichrist himself will meet his end at Armageddon (Revelation 19:20) .
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