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from Time to Time - Part Fourteen

Dec 10, 2023 by: John Herbert | Series: From Time to Time

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Da 9:24 “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city......

We shall continue to look at what God has determined for these seventy weeks.

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Sunday December 10th 2023
From Time to Time – Part 14

1). Da 9:26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, [The Lord’s crucifixion after 483 of the 490 years of Daniel’s prophecy] but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come [The fourth form of the Babylonian kingdom under the man of sin] Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. [At the mid-point in the tribulation]

We had seen last time that in Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks there is no time gap between the sixty nineth and the seventieth week even though we know that two thousand years of the dispensation of the church lies in between. And this is because the seventy weeks are given to the Jews and no one else. Once the Kingdom of the heavens had been taken from Israel and they had been set aside, marked by the Lord’s crucifixion, it is as if they have been frozen in time, or to use a more common metaphor, Israel’s time clock was stopped. And once that clock is started again, when time is unfrozen, it can only begin at the point at which it had previously stopped.
	a). And as we have seen, when God does begin to deal with the Jews again as Daniel’s seventieth week begins, there must be a Babylonian kingdom in play, with an Assyrian king as its head. And it is the beginning of the establishment of this kingdom with Babylon as its capital that we see when the first seal on the seven sealed scroll is opened – Re 6:2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. [Indicating a man of ‘peace’] He who sat on it [the man of sin] had a bow; [At this point a bow and no arrows] and a crown [A stephanos] was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. [Just as Nimrod did, as a mighty hunter before the Lord]

In Daniel, we find this same process of establishing his kingdom described this way – Da 11:21 And in his place shall arise a vile person, [the man of sin] to whom they will not give the honor of royalty; but he shall come in peaceably, [the white horse] and seize the kingdom by intrigue. 22 With the force of a flood they shall be swept away from before him and be broken, and also the prince of the covenant. 23 And after the league is made with him he shall act deceitfully, for he shall come up and become strong with a small number of people. 24 He shall enter peaceably, even into the richest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers: he shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches; and he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but only for a time.

And as we had seen last time this Babylonian kingdom under the man of sin is metaphorically portrayed in the fourth part of the great image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream from Daniel Chapter 2. And as we had also seen, what is pictured there is ONE image standing in Babylon, representing ONE kingdom that is seen in four forms. And again, because it is the Jewish people who are being dealt with within the four hundred and ninety years allotted to them, the fourth form of this Babylonian kingdom is seen as immediately following the third.
	b). Just to remind ourselves, the first form of this kingdom is seen under Nebuchadnezzar to whom God gave the scepter of rulership beginning the times of the Gentiles. The kingdom that began with Nebuchadnezzar was then overthrown by the Medes and Persians, who having conquered the kingdom, ruled their empire from the city of Babylon. Later the Babylonian based kingdom of the Medes and Persians was overthrown by the Greeks, under Alexander the Great. And having conquered this kingdom Alexander ruled his empire from Babylon. This is what these kingdoms all have in common, they all center on Babylon, with the city of that name as their capital city. 
	c). That said, if the first three kingdoms are all ‘Babylonian’ in this respect, then the fourth cannot be anything else. And from the time of the Greeks conquest onwards no other Gentile world power has ruled from Babylon. Not the Romans who came next historically, nor the British upon whose empire the sun never set, nor any other world power even to today. Nor will they until…….
	d). Following the death of Alexander the Great, his ‘Babylonian’ kingdom was divided between his four generals which ended rulership from the capital city of Babylon, allowing this kingdom to dissipate and fade from the scene historically – Da 7:6 “After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, [the third form of the kingdom under Alexander] which had on its back four wings of a bird. [the four generals] The beast also had four heads, [the four generals again] and dominion was given to it.

Da 8:1 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar [Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson] a vision appeared to me—to me, Daniel—after the one that appeared to me the first time. 2 I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in Shushan, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai. 3 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, [the ram pictures the Medes and the Persians] and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. [the two horns represent Media and Persia, with the Persians becoming the dominant power] 4 I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could withstand him;  nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great. 5 And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, [the male goat pictures the Greeks under Alexander] across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. [this is Alexander] 6 Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. 7 And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand. [the overthrow of the Medes and the Persians] 8 Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, [Alexander’s death] and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. [Alexander’s four generals]

And following Alexander’s four generals, comes the man of sin, and we can know exactly which part of the ‘Babylonian’ kingdom he will come from – 
Da 8:9 And out of one of them [one of the four divisions of the kingdom] came a little horn [the man of sin] which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. [therefore coming from the north] 10 And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. 11 He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. 12 Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.

V10 onwards takes us to the mid-point in the tribulation, which we have seen described in – Mt 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), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…………. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Da 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.

Lk 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.

Now, to go back to the little horn – Da 7:23 “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which shall be different from all other kingdoms, And shall devour the whole earth, Trample it and break it in pieces. 24 The ten horns are ten kings Who shall arise from this kingdom.
And another [the little horn] shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, And shall subdue three kings. 25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.

Let’s remember that from God’s perspective when dealing with Israel, the fourth kingdom comes immediately following the third, there being no time gap between them. And we had seen the third kingdom divided into four parts upon Alexander’s death. The man of sin, the little horn, is raised up out of the northern division of the kingdom and is seen subduing three kings, the other three of Alexander’s generals.
	e). By the time this happens Alexander’s generals will be long dead and mostly forgotten, but this is the way that God chooses to show the Antichrist in control of the complete, whole, and undivided Babylonian kingdom that had previously been put on hold after Alexander’s death. Again, making abundantly clear that it is the same Babylonian kingdom that God raised up through Nebuchadnezzar that is at the heart of His final work among the Jewish people.
 
2). Ecc 3:14 I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him. 15 That which is has already been, And what is to be has already been; And God requires an account of what is past.

These verses from Ecclesiastes we can readily apply to what God has set in place concerning the coming of the man of sin and the Babylonian kingdom from which he will rule the world. This is the man of sin revealed in his own time. The time of the fourth form of the Babylonian kingdom, the time of the seventieth week, inextricably connected to the time of Jacob’s trouble.
	a). And as we consider Ecclesiastes v15, ‘what is to be has already been’, we will remind ourselves of that recorded by Jeremiah – 
Jer 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 ‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.

The punishment of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and that nation has already been and in it we are clearly shown what is to be - Da 2:34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found.

Da 7:11 “I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.

Re 19:19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. [the last king of Babylon is punished] 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. [the punishment of ‘that nation’, the fourth form of the Babylonian kingdom] And all the birds were filled with their flesh.

In Chapter 2 we see the complete eradication of this one Babylonian kingdom as it has existed throughout the times of the Gentiles, presented through the destruction of its final form, so that no trace of the kingdom from beginning to end was found. It will be a perpetual desolation. In Chapter 7 we see the destruction of the fourth great beast, the ruler of the final form of the Babylonian kingdom. And both these aspects from Chapters 2 and 7 are brought together for us in the antitype recorded in Revelation Chapter 19, where we see the ‘beast’, the man of sin, cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone and ‘the kings of the earth and their armies’, the fourth form of the Babylonian kingdom, ‘killed with the sword which proceeded form the mouth of Him who sat on the horse’, the Lord Jesus Christ.
	b). And this final outcome for Gentile world power seen through the destruction of a Babylonian kingdom, we will remember, has been foreshadowed in the foundational type of the flood of Noah – Ge 6:20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

And this final outcome had been seen again in another foundational type, after a slightly different fashion, in the account of Nimrod - Ge 11:5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

And seen once more through the type of the destruction of the Assyrian Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea – Ex 14:27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. 29 But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.

And seen once again through another type, seen in the events recorded in the Book of Esther – Es 7:10 So they hanged Haman [a type of the man of sin] on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's wrath subsided…………..8:1 On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. [the kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ] And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. 2 So the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai; and Esther appointed Mordecai over the house of Haman. 3 Now Esther spoke again to the king, fell down at his feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews. 4 And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king, 5 and said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight and the thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king's provinces. 6 For how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen?” 7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “Indeed, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he tried to lay his hand on the Jews……… 9:5 Thus the Jews defeated all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, with slaughter and destruction, and did what they pleased with those who hated them. 6 And in Shushan the citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. 7 Also Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha— 10 the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews—they killed; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder. 11 On that day the number of those who were killed in Shushan the citadel was brought to the king. 12 And the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the citadel, and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now what is your petition? It shall be granted to you. Or what is your further request? It shall be done.” 13 Then Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do again tomorrow according to today's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows.” 14 So the king commanded this to be done; the decree was issued in Shushan, and they hanged Haman's ten sons. 15 And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men at Shushan; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder. 16 The remainder of the Jews in the king's provinces gathered together and protected their lives, had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

As we move from the time of those things which are now past to the time of those things which are yet to come, the secular world would say, ‘history repeats itself’, but we would say that God has shown us the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done. And to continue today, we will go back again to look at one more depiction of this same final outcome for Gentile world power that provides another type as well as providing a connection back to Genesis Chapter 3. And this we will find from the life of David – 1 Sa 17:1 Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. 2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4 And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7 Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.

The description here is of Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, whose height, according to the Scripture, is approximately ten feet. And given his stature we might readily see him as a Nephilim, and as such, a type for the Antichrist – Re 13:4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” 5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.

And we might even find in Goliath an echo of Nebuchadnezzar’s great image from his dream.
	c). And it is not coincidence that Goliath is a Philistine, as we will remember that it was into the hand of the Philistines that the Jewish people had been put for forty years after the death of Abdon, Israel’s eleventh Judge. A complete period of time that foreshadowed another complete period of time, the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity, which itself foreshadows the final complete period of time allotted to the Jewish people, the four hundred and ninety years of Daniel’s prophecy.
	d). And in the account of this encounter with Goliath, we see two kingdoms in opposition, with the armies of the Living God of Israel on one mountain and Gentile world power, seen in the Philistines, on an opposite mountain with a valley between them – 1 Sa 17:10 And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. 12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years, in the days of Saul.

The reaction of ‘Saul and all Israel’, being dismayed and greatly afraid at the appearance of Goliath foreshadows the experience of the Jews among the nations during the great tribulation once the man of sin has revealed his true intentions, and this experience can be found prophesied in – 
De 28:64 “Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. 65 And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. 66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. 67 In the morning you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were morning!’ because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.

And to go back to the verses from 1 Samuel 17, we see that immediately following Saul and all Israel being dismayed and greatly afraid, David arrives on the scene. And that seen through Saul and all Israel is reminiscent of the condition of the Jewish people in Exodus before God sent Moses to deliver them. And both anticipate the anguish of the Jewish people at the end of the tribulation when they will cry out to the God of their fathers who will send the Christ to deliver them. 
e). And as we know there are events recorded from David’s life in which we see him as a type of Christ. And the account that follows in Chapter 17 of 1 Samuel is one such example – 1 Sa 17:33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”

This though will have to wait until the New Year if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.

from Time to Time - Part Fourteen

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from Time to Time - Part Fourteen

Dec 10, 2023

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: From Time to Time

Category: Sunday Morning

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A Recap from the Sermon