Roman soldiers brought back a Menorah and other holy relics from the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
By David Cook
The Mäshiach had to come before 70 AD. Let me explain why. In the Tanakh we read prophecies about the suffering, death and resurrection of Yeshua our Lord; the promised Mäshiach. [1] In Daniel chapter 9 we read about important events that were predetermined in heaven for the benefit of the Jewish People;
Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Daniel 9:24 HSV
The angel Gabriel brought an important communique from heaven to Daniel, foretelling that sin would be atoned for in the future and that everlasting righteousness is available for those who have faith like Abraham. Gabriel prophesied that the Mäshiach would make an end of sin and finish transgression, and be put to death. Yeshua our Savior redeemed us from the debt of our sin with His own blood. The prophet Isaiah wrote extensively of the suffering and crucifixion of God’s Righteous Servant, Yeshua the promised Mäshiach in Isaiah chapter 53. Gabriel gives Daniel these significant points in Daniel chapter 9 verse 24;
To finish transgression.
To make an end of sin.
To atone for iniquity.
To bring in everlasting righteousness.
To seal up the vision.
To seal up prophecy.
To anoint the most Holy.
Then Gabriel explained that a decree would be made to restore and rebuild Jerusalem;
Therefore know and understand that from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Yerushalayim until the Mäshiach Prince there will be seven ‘sevens’ and sixty-two ‘sevens’. The streets will be rebuilt, and the wall, despite treacherous times. Daniel 9:25 HSV
From the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Mashiach comes there will be a certain period of time. The period of time is given in weeks of years, similar to a decade only in seven year periods. There will be seven ‘sevens’ and sixty-two ‘sevens’, for a total of sixty-nine ‘sevens’. Sixty-nine ‘sevens’ or sixty nine weeks of years is equal to 483 years. So after the decree is issued to restore and rebuild Jerusalem there will be 483 years and then the Mäshiach will come.
From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem on March 14, 445 BC by Artaxerxes Longimanus until Yeshua arrived and was presented in Jerusalem riding on a donkey as the Messianic King on April 6, 32 AD. This is celebrated by believers of Yeshua the Messiah on Palm Sunday. We discover that when we calculate 69 weeks of years (or 483 years and correct for leap years) it figures out to be 173,880 days to the day. [2]
How is this possible, to announce the coming of the Anointed One, the Lord’s Mäshiach, the King of Zion; almost five centuries before the historical event transpires in precise detail? The Tanakh is an amazing collection of books, our awesome God orchestrated it. YHVH our Elohim is omniscient, the future is as clear to Him as the present and the past; He knows the beginning from the end.
After sixty-two ‘sevens’ the Mäshiach will be put to death, and will have nothing. The people of the prince that will come, will destroy the city and the temple. The end will come with a flood. War and desolation are determined until the end. Daniel 9:26 HSV
So after the sixty-two ‘sevens’ and the before mentioned seven ‘seven’s (483 years) the Mäshiach will be put to death. Then the people of a future prince will come and destroy the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. YHVH Elohim sent Gabriel to tell His people that an Anointed Prince, who is the promised Mäshiach must come, atone for sin and be put to death before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple. The destruction of Jerusalem and the second temple occurred in 70 AD, during the siege of Jerusalem; when the Roman legions fought under Titus Vespasian and the Roman army leveled the city. The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD was the catastrophic and crucial event of the First Jewish-Roman War. [3] The Roman army, led by the future Emperor Titus and Tiberius Julius Alexander second-in-command, along with the enlisted soldier legionnaires in Judaea, conscripted provincial soldiers from Syria, other soldiers from Alexandria and in collaboration they besieged, destroyed and conquered the city of Jerusalem. [4]
Josephus wrote that “Vespasian sent his son Titus [who], came by land into Syria, where he gathered together Roman forces, with a considerable number of auxiliaries from the kings in that neighborhood.” [5] Josephus goes on to give us these details; “Malchus also, the king of Arabia, sent a thousand horseman, besides five thousand footmen, the greatest part of which were archers; so that the whole army, including the auxiliaries sent by the kings, as well as horsemen and footmen, when all were united together, amounted to sixty thousand.” [6]
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman senator and historian. He wrote extensively on the history, of this period of the Roman empire. Tacitus includes the Roman attack on Jerusalem and gives details of the specific legions and the peoples that comprised the attacking army: “Titus Caesar . . . found in Judaea three legions, the 5th, the 10th, and the 15th . . . To these he added the 12th from Syria, and some men belonging to the 18th and 3rd, who he had withdrawn from Alexandria. This force was accompanied . . . by a strong contingent of Arabs, who hated the Jews with the usual hatred of neighbors.” [7]
The siege ended with the sacking of the city and the destruction of the Second Temple. The destruction of both the first and second temples is mourned each year at the Jewish fast Tisha B’Av. The Arch of Titus, celebrating the Roman sack of Jerusalem and the Temple, still stands in Rome. The Arch of Titus, was built in 82 AD by his younger brother Emperor Domitian to commemorate Emperor Titus’ victories, including in the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Photo by J. E. Howard, “The Arch of Titus”; built in 82 AD to commemorate Emperor Titus’ victories; including in the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
The Jewish People Did Not Recognize the Visitation of the Mäshiach
Tragically, most of the Jewish people did not recognize the time of their visitation by Yeshua the Mäshiach, God’s promised Messianic King. As the Mäshiach King approached Jerusalem, He wept over the city and He gave the reason why the city of Jerusalem and the Second Temple were destroyed as predicted by the angel Gabriel in Daniel 9:26;
41When He approached Jerusalem,
He saw the city and wept over it,
42saying, “If you had known in this day,
even you, the things which make for peace!
But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
43″For the days will come upon you
when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you,
and surround you and hem you in on every side,
44and they will level you to the ground
and your children within you,
and they will not leave in you one stone upon another,
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19:41-44 NASB
Both God’s envoy the angel Gabriel and Yeshua the Son of God, the promised Mäshiach prophesied the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. In the Bible we see both the severity of God’s judgment and the mercy and love of our Father who is in heaven. Yeshua the Mäshiach explained God’s plan for our redemption and salvation, and how to receive eternal life.
14“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world,
but that the world might be saved through Him.
18“He who believes in Him is not judged;
he who does not believe has been judged already,
because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:14-18 NASB
In the fullness of times, Mäshiach did come and was presented as King in Jerusalem. In the Gospel of John we read how God blesses all those who believe in and receive His Son, Yeshua the promised Mäshiach.
11He came to His own,
and those who were His own did not receive Him.
12But as many as received Him,
to them He gave the right to become children of God,
even to those who believe in His name,
13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:11-13 NASB
In the book of Daniel 9:26 we read how God sent the angel Gabriel to Daniel in response to his fasting, repentance and contrite prayer to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Gabriel told Daniel that the Mäshiach will come and be put to death before the destruction of the Jewish Temple and the city of Jerusalem. We know from history that the siege of Jerusalem by Emperor Titus happened in 70 AD; and this is when the temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed. So the Mäshiach had to come before 70 AD. Why then are so many Jewish people still looking for the coming of the Mäshiach?
Is it because they put more faith in the oral traditions of the Talmud taught to them by the rabbinic community; rather than the Word of YHVH Elohim in the Tankh?
[1] Suffering of the Mäshiach, Isaiah chapter 53, Psalm 22:1-24; death of the Mäshiach in Daniel 9:26, Isaiah 53:8-9, resurrection of the Mäshiach Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 53:10-12.
[2] Missler, Chuck, “Daniel’s 70 Weeks”, Koinonia House, 2004. (Also, the recording of “Expositional Commentary on Daniel”)
The angel Gabriel visited the prophet Daniel while he was exiled in Babylon. Gabriel delivered an important message for the people of Israel. Gabriel spoke of “seventy weeks“, the first sixty-nine weeks predicted the time when the Messiah would come and be declared the Messianic King. The seventieth week is about the seven years that precede Messiah coming on the clouds with power and great glory and the rapture of God’s elect.In the book of Daniel, chapter nine we read about Gabriel visiting Daniel in Babylon in response to Daniel’s humble and contrite prayer. The angel Gabriel delivers an important communique from heaven concerning “seventy weeks” (a time period of 490 years) of significant events that will take place in Jerusalem and concerning the people of Israel.
24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25 So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” Daniel 9:24-27 NASB
In this scripture Gabriel speaks of two very different princes, one Prince in verse 25 is the protagonist, the other prince referred to in verse 26-27 is the antagonist. The first Prince, the protagonist is the Mashiach (the Messiah) of whom both Moses and the prophets foretold would come. The angel Gabriel explains exactly when in history the Messiah would come and be announced in Jerusalem as the Messiah. Gabriel states that sixty-nine weeks (seven weeks and sixty-two weeks) after “a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem” Messiah the Prince would arrive in Jerusalem.
Then after the sixty-two weeks
the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing
Daniel 9:26 NASB
In verse 26 it is prophesied that an anointed One who is the Messiah “will be cut off”. This tells us the Messiah will be executed and die and seemingly have nothing. But much was accomplished on our behalf by Messiah’s atoning death on the cross. Messiah Yeshua Himself prophesied His sufferings, death and resurrection while He was on earth;
“The Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes,
and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
Luke 9:22 NASB
Let’s take a closer look at Daniel chapter 9. Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon began a siege against Jerusalem and in 587 BC, his army broke through the walls and conquered the city. [1] Then most of the Jewish people were taken into captivity and exiled to the Babylonian empire. After living in Babylon for many years Daniel began fasting and praying for the sins of his people and asking God in behalf of the holy city, Jerusalem.
We read in the book of Daniel;
7 “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. 8 Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; 10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. 11 Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. 12 Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. 13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice. Daniel 9:7-14 NASB
Daniel is honest with the Lord about the condition of his own life and of the lives of his people, the people of Israel. We continue reading in Daniel chapter 9 verse 20;
20 Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, 21 while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. 22 He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. 23 At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision. 24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. Daniel 9:20-24 NASB
In response to Daniel confessing his sin, and the sin of his people Israel; God sent the angel Gabriel to Daniel to give him insight about important events that would take place for God’s people and their holy city, Jerusalem.
Seventy weeks have been decreed for God’s people and their holy city, Jerusalem.
to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin,
to make atonement for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal up vision and prophecy and
to anoint the most holy place.
When Messiah the Prince came and sacrificed His life as a ransom for many, the payment for transgressions was finished. God’s righteous wrath was appeased. Yeshua is our salvation, His sacrificial death on the cross was an atonement for our iniquity.
Isaiah wrote prophetically of Yeshua’s atoning death on the cross for our sins;
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
Isaiah 53:5-6 NASB
The Lord caused the iniquity of us all to fall on His Son Yeshua. The debt of all our sin was paid for by the Moshiach, by His sacrificial death on the cross; He was pierced through for our transgressions.
When Yeshua received the sour wine,
He said, “It is finished!”
And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
John 19:30 NASB
Just before Yeshua died on the cross He said, “It is finished”. What was finished? Was Yeshua’s life finished? He did die on the cross, but His death on the cross was to atone for our sins. The Just died for the unjust, so that we could be justified before a just God. To pay the debt we owed to God for our sins. After Yeshua gave His life as a sacrifice on the cross and poured out His life blood as a ransom for all sins, the debt was canceled out and paid in full; it is a completed transaction. Yes Yeshua died but His life wasn’t finished forever, His body remained in the tomb for a brief time and then on the third day He came back to life. Yeshua is the resurrection and the life. [2]
John the beloved disciple wrote;
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,
and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1 John 2:2 NIV
Messiah paid the debt we owed to God for all our transgressions, Yeshua made an end of the sin debt, He redeemed us with His own blood. Messiah canceled our debt, it is finished!
The apostle Paul explained to believers in Yeshua the Messiah;
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness,
and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
14 in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:13 NASB
Saint Paul wrote;
13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14 NASB
Through faith in Yeshua the Messiah we can have everlasting righteousness! God made His Son Yeshua, who knew no sin to become the scapegoat. Messiah Himself is the sacrificial Lamb who took all our sin upon Himself on our behalf, so we could be declared righteous by God through faith.
He made Him who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB
We continue to read in Daniel chapter 9;
So you are to know and discern
that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
until Messiah the Prince
there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
Daniel 9:25 NASB
Here the angel Gabriel tells Daniel when in history the Messiah will arrive. Gabriel explains that “from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince” there will be a period of time measured in weeks of years, “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks”. Here in chapter nine of Daniel “weeks” is weeks of years instead of weeks of days. So at this time in Jewish culture many things were measured in units of seven instead of the Greek custom of units of ten. A week of years is a seven year period of time, similar to a decade that is a ten year period of time. When you add seven weeks and sixty-two weeks you have sixty-nine weeks. When you multiply sixty-nine (weeks) times seven years we end up with 483 years. So from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be 483 years.
From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem on March 14, 445 B.C. by a Persian king named Artaxerxes Longimanus until Messiah Yeshua arrived and was presented in Jerusalem as the Messianic King on April 6, 32 A.D.; we discover that when we calculate 69 weeks of years, it figures out to be 483 years to the day. To be exact, it is 173,880 days to the day when you correct for leap years. [3][4]
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”
28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” 41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” Luke 19:28-44 NIV
On April 6, 32 A.D. Yeshua made His entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey coming down the Mount of Olives. His disciples joyfully proclaimed, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” This was the arrival of the Messiah in fulfillment of Gabriel’s prophecy of the sixty-nine weeks. The sixty-nine weeks prophecy given by Gabriel foretold when Messiah would arrive in Jerusalem and be proclaimed the Messianic King!
The Jewish prophet Zechariah prophesied that Messiah the righteous King would come to Jerusalem to provide salvation. Yeshua means “salvation” in Hebrew. Zechariah wrote that the just Messianic King would arrive in Jerusalem, humble and riding on a donkey.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is just and endowed with salvation,
Humble, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9 NASB
In Luke chapter 19:41-44 Yeshua wept over Jerusalem and the people He loves, His own people. He came to the Jewish people and the majority rejected Him as the promised Messiah. If only the Jewish Sanhedrin would have known on that very day, that the prophesied Messiah was in their midst and honored Him as the anointed King of Israel, they could have made peace with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by receiving His beloved Son. Yeshua said, “but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Then Messiah prophesied the attack and devastation on Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish Temple, because the Jewish leadership and majority of the people did not recognize the arrival of God’s Messiah, Yeshua; the Son of the living God.
43 The days will come upon you when
your enemies will build an embankment against you
and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
44 They will dash you to the ground,
you and the children within your walls.
They will not leave one stone on another,
because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Luke 19:43-44 NIV
This prophecy in Luke 19:43-44 was fulfilled in 70 A.D. Yeshua foretold of the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the second temple during the first Jewish-Roman War. The Roman army, was led by the future Roman Emperor Titus. [5] The war, resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple which was initially prophesied by the angel Gabriel to Daniel;
and the people of the prince who is to come
will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
And its end will come with a flood;
even to the end there will be war;
desolations are determined.
Daniel 9:26 NASB
So Gabriel prophesied about the sixty-nine weeks that foretell when Messiah would come and be proclaimed the Messianic King. Then Gabriel prophesied of the war in Jerusalem, that the city and the temple would be destroyed. But what about the remaining 70th week?
Gabriel explains about the 70th week in Daniel 9:27
27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” Daniel 9:27 NASB
The prince who is to come “will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering”. A future prince will make a firm covenant with many (Israel and other nations) for seven years. Or he will “confirm a covenant with many” is how it is translated in the New International Version. It is possible this prince will confirm and or revise an existing covenant or peace agreement for an additional seven years. In the middle of the seven year covenant or three and a half years after the covenant is enacted, the prince “will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering”. Who is this future prince who will make a covenant with the rulers in Jerusalem? Who is this prince who will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering?
The prophet Isaiah wrote of this covenant;
14 Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, O scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, 15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.” 16 Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. 17 “I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies And the waters will overflow the secret place. 18 “Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place. 19 “As often as it passes through, it will seize you; For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”
Isaiah 28:14-19 NASB
Isaiah prophesied that the Jewish rulers in Jerusalem will make a covenant with death, and deceptively make a pact with Sheol.Isaiah went on to prophecy that the covenant will be canceled. In Daniel 11:40-45 we read that the king of the North (who many believe is “the prince who is to come” spoken of by Gabriel in Daniel 9:26) will attack Egypt (who is the king of the South) and then enter the “beautiful land” which is Israel. Here in Isaiah 28 we learn that an army will “pass through” and trample some of people in Israel and seize others for exile. This time in Jerusalem will be a time of great tribulation like no other, a time of sheer terror. [6]
Zechariah prophesied about an army that will pass by Israel and then return and be an oppressor of the people of Israel. This is the army of the king of the North (spoken of in Daniel chapter 11:40-45) who goes down to attack Egypt and “passes by” Israel and then returns and oppresses the “Beautiful Land”, namely Israel.
But I will camp around My house because of an army, Because of him who passes by and returns; And no oppressor will pass over them anymore, For now I have seen with My eyes.
Zechariah 9:8 NASB
The prophet Zechariah wrote of the horrendous time when Jerusalem would be attacked by the nations surrounding Israel and that they will plunder and divide the possessions, capture the city, ransack the houses and the women will be raped. Half of the people in Jerusalem will go into exile but the rest will remain in the city.
A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. 2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Zechariah 14:1-2 NASB
Therefore thus says the Lord God,“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.
Isaiah 28:16 NASB
The stone laid in Zion, the tested stone, the costly cornerstone laid for the foundation is Yeshua the Messiah, our solid rock. [7] Isaiah tells us that the person who “believes in” Messiah Yeshua the cornerstone will not be disturbed.
The remainder of Daniel 9:27 gives us an important clue to the identity of the antagonist of Messiah, this future “prince who is to come”;
“and on the wing of abominations
will come one who makes desolate,
even until a complete destruction,
one that is decreed,
is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
Daniel 9:27 NASB
The future prince will perform an abomination, he will make the Jewish Temple desolate. This event, known as the “abomination of desolation”; is written of both in the Jewish Tanakh in the book of Daniel and in the New Testament Scriptures by Yeshua the Messiah and the apostle Paul. Yeshua the Messiah and Son of the living God was asked by His disciples; “what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” [8] One of the signs Yeshua gave to His disciples to signal His coming was very soon is the “abomination of desolation”.
15 “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 18 Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22 Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” Matthew 24:15-22 NASB
The apostle Paul wrote of the “abomination of desolation” to the church at Thessalonica. Paul also explains who it is who desecrates the temple.
2 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 NASB
The apostle Paul explained that “the man of lawlessness” or “son of destruction” take his seat in the temple and display himself as God; this is the abomination of desolation. This “man of sin” is the anti-Christ spoken of by Gabriel in Daniel 9:26 as “the prince who is to come”. In the scripture passage above Paul explains to the church at Thessalonica that the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and our gathering together to Him (the rapture of the elect) will not happen until two events take place first.
The apostasy comes first (the great falling away from the faith) and;
The man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction who takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God (the abomination of desolation).
The prince who makes a seven year covenant with the Jewish rulers in Jerusalem and other nations. Then 3.5 years later, in the middle of the seven year covenant this prince will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. Later the prince commits the abomination of desolation, this “prince who is to come” is none other than the anti-Christ. The anti-Christ is referred to by Saint Paul as “the man of lawlessness” and “the son of destruction”. The anti-Christ is the antagonist of the Messiah.
The Jewish prophet Micah foretold that the Moshiach who existed from eternity past would be born in Bethlehem, and then later shepherd His flock during His millennial reign upon the earth from Jerusalem. Prior to Messiah’s millennial reign of peace, Israel will be invaded by the “Assyrian” who will trample Israel’s citadels. The “Assyrian” is “the king of the North that we read about in Daniel chapter 11:41 who will invade the “beautiful land” — Israel.
And He will arise and shepherd His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.
And they will remain,
Because at that time He will be great
To the ends of the earth.
5 This One will be our peace.
When the Assyrian invades our land,
When he tramples on our citadels,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men.
6 They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
The land of Nimrod at its entrances;
And He will deliver us from the Assyrian
When he attacks our land
And when he tramples our territory.
Micah 5:4-6 NASB
The prophet Micah wrote that Messiah will deliver Israel from the Assyrian, when the Assyrian attacks and tramples Israel’s territory. The ancient Assyrian empire included modern day Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Jordon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, and Ethiopia. The Assyrian spoken of in Micah chapter 5 is the anti-Christ, “the prince who is to come”. The prophet Daniel wrote about the anti-Christ in chapters 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12. The anti-Christ is called by various names in the book of Daniel, the little “horn” in chapter 7:11, 7:20-26 and chapter 8:9-19, “the prince who is to come” in chapter 9, the “king of the North” in chapter 11:36-45, and in chapter 12:7-11 details are given of the anti-Christ concerning his authority for time, times and half a time (3.5 years) “finish shattering the power of the holy people” and that he will abolish the regular sacrifice and grain offering and then later “the abomination of desolation is set up”. In Daniel chapter 11 and elsewhere we read that the anti-Christ (king of the North) conquers the nations that made up the ancient Assyrian empire (except for the modern day Kingdom of Jordan), thus he is referred to by the prophet Micah as the “Assyrian”.
In Daniel chapter seven we read this description of the anti-Christ who is called a “little horn”;
7 After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. Daniel 7:7-8 NASB
In this vision both the ten horns (and eleventh “little horn” who is the anti-Christ) represent rulers, princes or kings. We continue to read and we learn of the ultimate demise of the “beast” kingdom that is the anti-Christ empire;
11 Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. Daniel 7:11 NASB
20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. Revelation 19:20 NASB
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:14-15 NASB
In chapter 10 of the book of Daniel, Daniel has a vision of a Messenger from heaven who explains to him in great detail things that will transpire during the last days, during the 70th week; that is the last seven years preceding the coming of Messiah on the clouds with power and great glory. Some interpret this Messenger from heaven as an angel with great authority, others believe the Messenger is the per-incarnate Messiah.
2 In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. 3 I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed. 4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris, 5 I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. 6 His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult. 7 Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great dread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves. 8 So I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength. 9 But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground. Daniel 10:2-9 NASB
In Daniel chapters 11:36-12:4 this special Messenger from heaven foretells of the battles and wars of the “king of the North” (the anti-Christ) who will attack and defeat the “king of the South” (the king of Egypt), Libya, Ethiopia and the king of the North will also invade the “Beautiful Land” (which is Israel). But we read that Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon (modern day Jordan) “will be rescued out of his hand”; Jordan won’t be invaded by the king of the North. The anti-Christ will hear rumors from the East and from the North that will disturb him (most likely rumors from China and Russia). Finally, the king of the North (the anti-Christ) will “pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain” (Jerusalem).There in Israel, the king of the North “will come to his end, and no one will help him.”
36 “Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. 37 He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all. 38 But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures. 39 He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price. 40 “At the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through. 41 He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. 42 Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. 43 But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels. 44 But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. 45 He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him. 12 “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4 But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.” Daniel 11:36 through 12:4 NASB
We read in Daniel chapter 12;
11 From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Daniel 12:11 NASB
At some point in the future we can see that the third Jewish Temple will be built in Jerusalem and that regular sacrifice will begin again. Here we are given some very important information to understand future prophetic events. From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished by the anti-Christ until the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.
The 70th week (seven years) begins with the covenant the anti-Christ makes with the Israeli rulers. (Daniel 9:27, Isaiah 28:14-15)
3.5 years later the anti-Christ abolishes the regular sacrifice. (“in the middle of the week” or in the middle of the seven year period, Daniel 9:27)
1,290 days later (3.58 years) the abomination of desolation is set-up. That is, the anti-Christ takes his seat in the temple of God and declares himself to be God. (Daniel 12:11, Matthew 24:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)
The 70th week is a prophecy about the seven year period of time that precedes the coming of Messiah on the clouds in great power and then He will send out His angels to gather His elect! Daniel has a vision of four kingdoms (empires) and then he sees the kingdom of Messiah. The fourth kingdom is that of the “little horn”, a king who increases in power and might on earth. This fourth kingdom is the empire of the anti-Christ.
15 “As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. 16 I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: 17 ‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. 18 But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.’ 19 “Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, 20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates. 21 I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them 22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.
23 “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 26 But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’ Daniel 7:15-27 NASB
The apostle John wrote about the kingdom of the anti-Christ in Revelation 13:1-10. The seventieth week is a seven-year period of time that soon will be upon us. This seven-year period of time is revealed to us prophetically by the Lord our God in much detail by the prophets. [9] At the end of God’s prophetic 70th week, after the abomination of desolation there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. This period of great tribulation is known as known as “the time of Jacob’s trouble”. [10]
Then we read about how blessed is the person who keeps waiting and preservers until the 1,335 days arrives!
12 How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! 13 But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.” Daniel 12:12-13 NASB
What is the blessing the person receives who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days? This blessed event happens 45 days after the abomination of desolation.
Yeshua explains in Matthew 24 that after the abomination of desolation, there will be a short time of severe tribulation and then a blessed event will take place; we meet Messiah Yeshua our Lord in the clouds!
29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. Matthew 24:29-31 NASB
This blessed event is the rapture of the elect. Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of the living God will come on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. He will send His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect people from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. [11]
Paul explains that at “the last trumpet” believers in Messiah who have died will be raised to life and transformed into glorified bodies, and that the believers in Yeshua the Messiah who are alive on earth will be transformed into glorified bodies! At the last trumpet the people of God will be transformed from mortals to immortals, from perishable bodies to imperishable glorified bodies. [12]
50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 NASB
Isaiah prophesied that God’s departed people (those who have faith in God’s promised Messiah) will rise from the dead and live! They will be taken up to to our Father’s mansion in heaven via the rapture of the elect [13] and wait for a little while in their rooms until God’s righteous indignation is poured out on the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits. 20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms And close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while Until indignation runs its course. 21 For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
Isaiah 26:19-21 NASB
Then God’s righteous wrath will be poured out on the earth [14] and then Messiah will return as promised and fight the wars of God [15]
But He will be indignant toward His enemies.
15 For behold, the Lord will come in fire
And His chariots like the whirlwind,
To render His anger with fury,
And His rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For the Lord will execute judgment by fire
And by His sword on all flesh,
And those slain by the Lord will be many.
Isaiah 66:14-16 NASB
The prophet Zechariah wrote;
3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. 7 It will be a unique day – a day known only to the Lord – with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will belight. Zechariah 14:3-7 NASB
8 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.’ 3 Thus says the Lord, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’ 4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. 5 And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.’ 6 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in My sight?’ declares the Lord of hosts. 7 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; 8 and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.’ Zechariah 8:1-8 NASB
“The Lord of hosts” is a title for Messiah Yeshua, He will set up His messianic millennial reign of peace; [16] where He will rule the nations in the strength of His might with a rod of iron from Jerusalem. [17] Daniel is given more information about Messiah’s eternal kingdom in Daniel chapter seven, that ultimately the saints of the Highest One will be given the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven during the millennial reign of Yeshua the Messiah on earth. [18] Blessed are those who long for His appearing. Amen. Come Adonai Yeshua!
[2] Yeshua is the resurrection and the life, John 11:25.
[3] Missler, Chuck, “Daniel’s 70 Weeks”, Koinonia House, 2004. (Also, the recording of “Expositional Commentary on Daniel”)
[4] Nehemiah 2:1-4 Gives an account of the permission granted in “the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes”, andthe subsequent decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem on March 14, 445 B.C. by Persian king, Artaxerxes Longimanus.
[6] Yeshua prophesied about a time of great tribulation in Matthew 24:21.
[7] Messiah Yeshua is the cornerstone, the stone the builders rejected. Psalms 118:22, Isaiah 8:14, Luke 20:17, Ephesians 2:20, 1 Peter 2:4-10.
[8] Matthew 24:3 NASB
[9] The 70th week in Daniel 9:27, Daniel 11:36-45, Daniel 12:1-13, Matthew 24:9-15, Revelation 6:1 to 11:14.
[10] Jeremiah 30:1-24, Zephaniah 1:15, Matthew 24:15-29, Revelation chapters 8:1 to 11:14.
[11] a great trumpet rapture Matthew 24:30-31, trumpet of God rapture 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, rapture 2 Thessalonians 2:1, last trumpet rapture 1 Corinthians 15:50-52, seventh trumpet rapture Revelation 11:15-17, great trumpet rapture Isaiah 27:12-13.
[12] at the last trumpet believers in Messiah Yeshua are transformed from mortals to immortals 1 Corinthians 15:42-57.
[13] The “dead in Messiah” will rise from the dead and be raptured, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, Matthew 24:29-31, 1 Corinthians 15:50-52, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, Isaiah 26:19-21, Daniel 12:13, Ezekiel 37:1-14.
[14] God’s righteous wrath poured out on sinful mankind. Isaiah 26:21, Isaiah 63:1-7, Revelation 16:1-21.
Many people around the world are looking for and longing for the coming of the Messiah and the era of peace He will bring upon the earth. We read in the Gospel of Matthew;
Yeshua came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”
This prophecy was fulfilled about 38 years later, in 70 AD when Roman legions under Titus attacked and subsequently destroyed much of the city of Jerusalem and the Second Jewish Temple.
While Yeshua was sitting on the Mount of Olives, His disciples came to Him privately, saying; “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” Matthew 24:1-3 NASB
So as Yeshua (Jesus) was sitting on the Mount of Olives He gave His disciples these three categories of signs of His coming, and of the end of the age;
The beginning of Birth Pangs (Matthew 24:8)
Tribulation (Matthew 24:9)
Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21)
On January 23, 2007 the Fars News Agency reported that “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem here on Tuesday assured that the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives.” [1]
The Beginning of Birth Pangs
Misleading False Messiahs. (Matthew 24:4-5)
Hearing of Wars and Rumors of Wars. (Matthew 24:6-7)
Famines in various places. (Matthew 24:7)
Earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7)
False Messiahs: False messiahs are a dime a dozen and certainly are on the rise whether it is Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Rebbe among his followers. Rabbi Schneerson was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe (Hasidic leader) of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The Rebbe’s followers believe and claim him to be the Messiah. Or the Sun Myung Moon the founder and leader of the Unification Church established in Seoul, South Korea. False messiahs are on the increase. [2]
Wars and Rumors of War: The United Nations released an estimate in May 2013, that the Syrian War death toll had exceeded 80,000. By June 2013, this figure was updated to over 93,000. Various opposition activist groups estimate between 72,960 and 96,430 people have been killed, of which about half were civilians, but also including 58,500 armed combatants consisting of both the Syrian Army and rebel forces, up to 1,000 opposition protesters and 1,000 government officials. [3]
Famines in Various Places: The BBC News reported on July 20, 2011 that the UN declared a famine in Somalia in Bakool and Lower Shabelle region; “An estimated 10 million people have been affected in East Africa by the worst drought in more than half a century. More than 166,000 desperate Somalis are estimated to have fled their country to neighboring Kenya or Ethiopia.” [4]
Earthquake Frequency: The frequency of earthquakes are similar to the contractions of a pregnant woman as she approaches labor and the the delivery of her child. The closer the woman comes to giving birth to her child, then the more frequent (and intense) the contractions become. Similarly, the closer we come to Messiah’s “coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory” (and the rapture of God’s people) then the more frequent earthquakes become. Take a look at the chart below with data from the U.S. Geological Survey, that shows the increase of frequency of earthquakes over time.
U.S. Geological Survey Earthquakes Data
Time Span
Earthquakes 7.0 or Higher
1 Earthquake Per Time
1 AD to 1000 AD
15 earthquakes 7.0 or higher
1 every 66 years
1000 to 1800 AD
114 earthquakes 7.0 or higher
1 every 7 years
1800 to 1900 AD
115 earthquakes 7.0 or higher
1 every 10 years
1900 to 1980 AD
774 earthquakes 7.0 or higher
1 every 37 days
1980 to 2000 AD
255 earthquakes 7.0 or higher
1 every 28 days
2000 to 2008 AD
127 earthquakes 7.0 or higher
1 every 26 days
2009 AD
17 earthquakes 7.0 or higher
1 every 21 days
2010 AD
24 earthquakes 7.0 or higher
1 every 15 days
2011 AD
20 earthquakes 7.0 or higher
1 every 18 days
2012 AD
16 earthquakes 7.0 or higher
1 every 23 days
U.S. Geological Survey Earthquakes Data. [5]
When my grandmother was living in the late 1800′s earthquakes 7.0 (or higher) happened one in every ten years. In 2012 earthquakes 7.0 on the Richter magnitude scale (or higher) happed one in every thirteen days! Earthquakes are dramatically increasing in both frequency and magnitude.
Beginning of Birth Pangs: Yeshua said that false messiahs, wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes are the “beginning of birth pangs”. He compared the turbulent times of wars, famines, earthquakes and false messiahs to the contractions and labor pains of a pregnant women, as she nears the day of delivery. [6] As the day draws near of the coming of our Deliverer we see false messiahs, wars (and rumors of wars), famines and earthquakes increasing in frequency. These four signs of the times, false messiahs, war, famine and earthquakes are like contractions that increase in both frequency and intensity as the day approaches of Yeshua’s coming for His people.
Yeshua the Messiah said; “but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will dobecause they have not known theFather or Me.”
John 16:2-3 NASB
Christians will be Killed: On May 28, 2013 FOX NEWS broadcast a report on the beheading of a British soldier on the street in London and the rise of Islamic killings of Christians and other non-Muslims (so called “infidels”). Author Raymond Ibrahim said; “In Indonesia, three Christian girls on their way to school were beheaded; in Syria last Christmas, U.S. supported rebels beheaded a Christian man and fed his body to the dogs. In Africa—Somalia, Tanzania, Mali—Christians are regularly decapitated.” [7]
Mr. Ibrahim spoke of the all-out jihad in Nigeria, Lebanon and in Sudan. In Sudan there has been a genocide, it is estimated that over 1.5 million Christians have been killed by the Janjaweed, (the Arab Muslim militia), and even suspected Islamists in northern Sudan since 1984. [8]
The Beginning of Tribulation
Christians will be killed i.e. Martyrs dying for their faith. (Matthew 24:9)
Christians Hated by All Nations because of Jesus (Yeshua) Name. (Matthew 24:9)
Many People will fall away from the Christian faith. (Matthew 24:10)
Many People will Betray and Hate each other. (Matthew 24:10)
Many False Prophets will Arise and Mislead Many People. (Matthew 24:11)
Lawlessness Increases and Most People’s love will Grow Cold. (Matthew 24:12)
The Person who Endures to the End will be Saved. (Matthew 24:13)
The Gospel of the Kingdom will be Preached in the Whole World as a Testimony to All the Nations. Then the End will Come. (Matthew 24:14)
Great Tribulation
Abomination of Desolation, the anti-Christ standing in the Holy Place of the Temple. (Matthew 24:15 also see Daniel 9:27 and 2nd Thessalonians 2:3-4)
Yeshua gives Instructions for those living in the Providence of Judea in Israel during the time when the Abomination of Desolation occurs. (Matthew 24:16-22)
Then there will be a Great Tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. (Matthew 24:21)
For the sake of the elect (Jewish and Gentile believers in Yeshua as Lord) those days will be cut short, otherwise no person would still be living. (Matthew 24:22)
False Messiahs and False Prophets will Arise and show great Signs and Wonders to Mislead People, if possible even the Elect, that is Jewish and Gentile Believers in Yeshua who are alive at that time. (The elect are chosen believers in Yeshua the promised Messiah. See Matthew 24:24 and Romans 8:28-33 and 1 Peter 2:9)
The Coming of Christ Jesus will be like lighting that flashes from the east to the west. (Matthew 24:27)
Immediately AFTER the Tribulation of those Days; the Sun will be Darkened, the Moon will Not give its Light, the Stars will Fall from the Sky, and the Powers of the Heavens will be Shaken. (Matthew 24:29)
Messiah Coming On the Clouds of the Sky & Gathering the Elect
The Sign of the Son of Man (Jesus Christ) will appear in the Sky. (Matthew 24:30)
All the Tribes of the Earth will Mourn when they see Yeshua (Jesus) Coming on the Clouds with Power and Great Glory. (Matthew 24:30 and Zechariah 12:10-14)
Yeshua (Jesus) will send His Angels with a Great Trumpet and they will Gather Together His Elect (that is Jewish and Gentile believers in Yeshua the promised Messiah, see Romans 8:33 and 1 Peter 2:9) from One End of the Sky to the Other. (Matthew 24:31 and 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-2 and I Corinthians 15:50-52)
This event that Yeshua referred to as the Son of Man coming on the clouds and sending His angels to gather together His elect; is commonly referred to as the rapture of the saints. It is important to notice that Jesus taught that His coming on the clouds and the rapture of the elect happens after the birth pangs and tribulation and after what Jesus referred to as great tribulation.
29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. Matthew 24:29-31 NASB
Then Yeshua gave more details about His coming on the clouds of the sky and the rapture of His elect in Matthew 24:39-41;
“…so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.” Matthew 24:39-41 NASB
The Son of Man (a name of Yeshua the Messiah) will come;
1. Two men will be in the filed one man will be taken up (raptured) and one will be left behind.
2. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken up (raptured) and one will be left behind.
The Apostle Paul also taught on this important subject when he wrote to the saints who were in the Thessalonian church;
Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 NASB
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church that two things would take place before the rapture of the elect (i.e. rapture of believers in Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of the living God);
1. The Apostasy (the falling away of many Christians from their faith. Yeshua spoke of this in Matthew 24:10 and Paul in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3)
2. The anti-Christ, who is the man of lawlessness and son of destruction; will be revealed and take his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. (Referred to by Jesus in Matthew 24:15 as the abomination of desolation and by Paul in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3-4 and in the Book of Daniel 9:27 and 12:11.)
Paul wrote to the church at Corinth that at the last trumpet the dead in Christ would rise from the dead and be given immortal bodies and then those who are alive and remain would be changed from mortals to immortals.
50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:5-52 NASB
Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica that our Lord Yeshua will descend from heaven “with a shout, with the voice of the archangel” and the sounding of the trumpet, the resurrection of the saints and rapture of both those who had died in Christ as well as those who are alive and remain on earth.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 NASB
Yeshua gave His disciples the promise that He would be “coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:30 ESV
Advent of Messiah 