I have copied, for your reading pleasure, and the ease of referring to it, the words of the prophet Daniel in Daniel 7, and the words of Christ in Matthew 24. These passages contain prophesies about the Tribulation and have parallels in Revelation. After the end of Matthew 24 I have some thoughts about it:
Daniel 7 written around 590 BC
1. In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
2. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
3. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
4. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.
5. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
6. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
7. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
8. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
10. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
11. I beheld then because of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.
12. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
13. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, and nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
15. I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.
16. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things.
17. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
18. But the saints of the most High, shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever,
even for ever and ever.
19. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, and brake into pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet.
20. And out of the ten horns which were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
21. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them;
22. Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
23. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down and break it to pieces.
24. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them: and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand, until a time, and times, and the dividing of times.
26. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end.
27. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
28. Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.
Matthew 24
1. And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him, for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily, I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
4. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5. For many shall come in my name, and shall say, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places.
8. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9. Then shall they deliver you to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
10. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11. And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many.
12. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whose readeth, let him understand:)
16. Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains;
17. Let him which is on the housetop come not down to take anything out of his house:
18. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20. But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22. And except that those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
23. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25. Behold, I have told you before.
26. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall the coming of the Son of man be.
28. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken:
30. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and with great glory.
31. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40. Then shall two be in the field; one shall be taken and the other left.
41. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find doing so.
47. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49. And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50. The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51. And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Daniel begins by saying, "The four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea." This has been echoed in Revelation 7:1, "I saw four angels which stood at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree."
So? Some have said that God will remove the restraining influence of His Spirit from the earth during the Tribulation. This I think is correct, at least to a degree. Evil will be allowed to have its reign on earth. "The four winds," according to some, means the Holy Spirit. By saying that they are holding the four winds, it is saying that God is going to withdraw the restraint of evil that His Spirit brings. Do I think this is being said? I don't know. Maybe. This point in the Tribulation seems to be about the right time for this to happen. But consider, Revelation 7:1, "I saw four angels...holding the four winds,". If the "four winds" refers to the Holy Spirit, why would He be restrained by four angels? How would angels be capable of restraining God?
At this point in Revelation, the seventh seal was just opened, and the Seven Trumpet judgments, the second set of three judgments, begins. This puts the Tribulation at about a third of the way through, or maybe only a fourth. It's a crescendo of judgments and increasing evil. It seems like the great forces of good on God's side, and evil on Satan's side, have collided on top of us in one big train wreck. And it never really seems to have been about us at all. It has been about the unseen spiritual world having a mysterious war that we're in the middle of.
Also, Daniel, like John in Revelation, refers to the sea. In Revelation 17, the meaning of the sea is given as being the people of earth. Let me just say, "the beast of the sea" of Revelation means the Antichrist will rise out of the general population of the earth, although I believe he will be of Jewish heritage. At a minimum, people will believe that he is. The "beast of the earth" I'm not certain about. I've heard some say earth....land....land....land of Palestine.....from Israel. Therefore they conclude he is Israeli. I don't see all those dots connected. Maybe. But this wasn't addressed in Revelation 17.
The four beasts are four empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The fourth beast is by far the worst, and he has ten horns. John again spoke in similar terms in Revelation 13 about the Beast of the Sea. The beast has ten horns. Horns symbolize authority. These ten horns are ten kings. The fourth empire, the Roman Empire, is divided into ten big districts. "But the Roman Empire went away a long time ago!" No, it went dormant. It is waking up and starting again. This is the empire of the last days.
The little horn comes up from among the ten horns, and topples three of the ten horns. Here's what I imagine: The world unites into one big government. People think this will bring peace because if we're all one country, we won't have a war with ourselves. This big empire will be divided into ten districts...1) North American 2) Western Europe 3) Eastern Europe 4) China 5) Southeast Asia 6) Australia 7) South America 8) Northern Africa 9) the remainder of Africa 10) India. I made this up. I don't know. But something like this is my guess. These ten districts have ten leaders, like presidents. Then a colossal personality comes to the foreground and gains political prominence, eventually usurping the power of three of the districts. I suppose it might be something like a takeover of North America, Western Europe, and Northern Africa.
This confuses me because in Revelation 13, the beast of the sea has ten horns. So this is the same beast. But there seems to be a blurring of the lines between the beast and the horn that comes up out of the ten horns. Hmm... I'll have to think about it.
The horn in Daniel 7, like the beast in Revelation 13, has a mouth speaking great things, and speaking against God. He also makes war with the saints. The beast in Revelation is given power to continue 42 months. The horn in Daniel 7 continues for time (one year), times (two more years) and a dividing of times (half a year), or three and a half years. This is the same as 42 months, and is the last half of the seven years of the Tribulation, known as the Great Tribulation. But where is the abomination of desolation? It's in Daniel somewhere. But I didn't find it in Revelation.
On to Matthew 24. Verse 5. For many shall come in my name and say, I am Christ.
I understand that the word Christ in this verse was implied but not written in the original. When Moses was spoken to by God from the burning bush, God told Moses that His name is "I am that I am." God is "I am." This verse says that many will call themselves the great, "I am," claiming that they are God. Have you ever heard this? I have. Look out!
Verse 15: "When therefore ye shall see the abomination of desolation. spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place,"
This means the beast, or some have said, the false prophet, will enter the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem and demand to be worshipped as God. I don't see it in Revelation.
Verse 21: "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."
This is the only place that I know of that the expression, "the Great Tribulation," is found in the Bible. The Tribulation is seven years long. It is divided into the first three years, and then the last three years, which are called "the Great Tribulation." I don't dispute this at all, but from the way I've heard it presented before I studied it myself, I would have imagined that John in Revelation, or Daniel maybe, had called the period the Great Tribulation when they were writing about it.
Verse 29: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken."
In Revelation 6:12-14, the opening of the sixth seal, "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a might wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together;"
Then in Revelation 8: "The fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise."
It seemed to me that in Revelation Chapter 6 the sun was black, the moon was like blood, the stars fell unto the earth and the heavens departed. Yet in Chapter 8, the sun is back again, only to be smitten by a third, and the moon and stars also. But when did they come back?
And then Jesus says in Matthew 24 that after the tribulation the sun shall be darkened, the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven.
I've just never heard anyone give a good explanation of this. Is it one event repeated? What is the timing of the event? Is this an eclipse? Have you ever noticed that apocalypse and eclipse rhyme? Or is there an asteroid that blocks the sunlight, and moonlight and starlight, and eventually it clears up, only to have another event? Or maybe three events?
One more...Joel 2:31 "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come." And verse 32 "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered."
Why does God speak in riddles?
Next, the conclusion of the sounding of the Seven Trumpets.
PS Matthew 24:24 "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."
Then Revelation 13:13-15 "And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, and causeth that they that dwell on the earth should make an image to the beast, whose had the wound by a sword and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak, and causeth that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed."
The false prophet in Revelation 13 is a miracle worker. The Antichrist also impresses people with supernatural powers which come from Satan. For one thing, he is raised from the dead. The image of the beast is an idol that everyone knows for sure is a manmade thing, yet the false prophet has the supernatural power to give life to the image of the beast.
The point is, supernatural miracles don't mean something has been done by the power of God. The false prophet will do great wonders, and deceiving the people of the whole earth by the power to do miracles, will convince them to worship the beast and the image of the beast. These supernatural signs, wonders, and miracles will be extremely convincing and not a sleight of hand. However, they are not from God, they are from Satan.
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