Well, we know
that the Abomination involves the anti-Christ standing
in the Temple in Israel, proclaiming himself to be God.
(Daniel 9:27 and 2 Thessalonians 2:4)
But that
can't happen until two other things take place.
Obviously the anti-Christ has to be revealed first.
And the Jews have to build their Temple, something
that can't happen until they experience a change in
attitude causing them to demand a Temple regardless of
the consequences. Today less than 1 in 4 people of
Israel want a Temple built, but even if every one of
them did, just the hint that they were going to build
one would send the rest of the world into a tizzy. It
simply wouldn't be permitted.
So some
major event has to take place to convince the Jewish
people that building a Temple in Israel is the right
thing to do in spite of all the trouble it would
cause, and some world leader has to have enough clout
to convince the rest of the world, especially Israel's
neighbors, to let them do it.
Daniel 9:27
also reveals that as the End of the Age approaches, a
leader from among the people who destroyed the Temple
in 67 AD will confirm (enforce) a 7 year covenant with
Israel that includes permission to build a new Temple,
and that in the middle of this period he commits the
Abomination that Causes Desolation. That explains the
persuasive world leader. He's the anti-Christ, and he
wants the Temple built for reasons that have nothing
to do with Israel. The unanswered question in Daniel's
prophecy is why the Jews would desire a Temple at that
particular time. They know what a problem this would
cause in their own country, among their Arab
neighbors, and around the world.
Our
knowledge of the Old Testament tells us that a Temple
was specifically required for the Levitical worship
system. So then, because of the uproar it would
create, it seems logical to assume that the Jews would
only want a Temple if they felt it was absolutely
necessary for the Nation of Israel to re-instate their
Old Covenant worship of God.
How Does
That Happen?
Toward the
end of his two-chapter prophecy that speaks of a great
end times battle between Israel and its neighbors
(Ezekiel 38-39), Ezekiel noted that God is going to
use this battle to reveal Himself to Israel and the
world once again. The way He'll do this is to give
Israel a decisive victory in the face of such
overwhelming odds that everyone on Earth will realize
that only God could have done it. Ezekiel wrote that
following the battle God would gather all His people
alive at the time to Israel, not leaving any behind.
(Ezekiel 39:28)
So this
battle is the event that compels a national return
to God in Israel. And when all the living Jews in
the world are suddenly drawn to Israel because God
has called them there, they'll demand a Temple so
they can resume their Old Covenant relationship with
Him. If He was calling them through the Messiah into
a New Covenant relationship, they wouldn't need a
Temple so it has to be a resumption of the Old
Covenant. Their New Covenant call, prophesied in
Jeremiah 31:31, happens later during the time of the
Two Witnesses. (Revelation 11)
Also on
the heels of Ezekiel's battle, the anti-Christ will
emerge with a plan to restore peace to the Middle
East. He first appears as a peacemaker as foretold
in Daniel 8:25. He will cause deceit to
prosper, and he will consider himself superior.
When they feel secure, he will destroy many and
take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet
he will be destroyed, but not by human power.
I prefer the King James translation of the second
sentence, which begins, "By means of peace he
will destroy many ...". So the battle of
Ezekiel 38-39 creates the circumstances for both the
anti-Christ and the Temple to appear on the scene,
setting the stage for the Abomination that Causes
Desolation.
Connecting
The Dots
Using our
Bible knowledge to back into the present from the
Abomination that Causes Desolation, so far we find
the sequence looks like this. The Abomination can't
happen till the Temple's built. But that can't
happen till a 7-year covenant is confirmed
permitting its construction. (By the way, this
7-year period is often called Daniel's 70th week
because it's the last week of years in a prophecy
consisting of 70 weeks of years given to Daniel in
about 538 BC.) (Daniel 9:24-27)
The
7-year covenant can't happen till someone from
among the descendants of the Roman people emerges
with a plan for peace in the Middle East. And that
can't happen till the battle described in Ezekiel
38-39 puts the Middle East in all out war.
Ezekiel's
battle can't happen until God is ready to reveal
Himself to Israel again, bringing Jews from all
over the world to Israel clamoring for a Temple so
they can re-instate their Old Covenant
relationship with Him.
But
Wait, There's More!
And
neither God's revelation to Israel nor the
emergence of the anti-Christ can happen until the
Church is gone, for two very good reasons.
1. In
Acts 15:14 James clearly prophesied that after
the Lord had taken the church He would return
and rebuild the Temple. Simon has described
to us how God at first showed his concern by
taking from the Gentiles a people for himself.
The words of the prophets are in agreement
with this, as it is written: "After this I
will return and rebuild David's fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore
it." (Acts 15:14-16)
After
the Lord has taken the Church, He'll return
and rebuild the Temple. Two Greek words are
critical to our understanding of this passage.
The one translated tent also means Tabernacle,
a reference to the Temple. The one translated
taking means to lay hold of, or take up in
order to carry, or carry away. I believe it's
a veiled reference to the Rapture of the
Church preceding God's return to Israel.
If
so, it's consistent with God's way. He seems
to focus either on Israel or the Church, never
both at once. In the greater context of the
passage James was illustrating this very point
from the other end of the Church Age. He told
the gathered Apostles that God was setting
Israel aside while He took from among the
Gentiles a people for Himself. But after He
had taken them, He would return to restore
Israel.
Later,
Paul alluded to this sequence in Romans
11:25-27. I do not want you to be
ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that
you may not be conceited: Israel has
experienced a hardening in part until the
full number of the Gentiles has come in. And
so all Israel will be saved, as it is
written: "The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
And this is my covenant with them when I
take away their sins."
Apparently
God has assigned a specific number to the
church. When that number is complete, the
Church will "come in" to the place prepared
for us (John 14:1-3). Then God will turn again
to Israel, reversing the hardening of Israel's
heart, taking the blinders from their eyes,
and offering salvation once more.
2.
In 2nd Thessalonians 2:6-7 Paul explained that
the anti-Christ could not be revealed until
the power that's restraining him is taken out
of the way (literally out of the midst). To
most evangelical scholars the power Paul wrote
about is the Holy Spirit as resident in the
Church. Since this power is sealed within us
(Ephe 1:13) it stands to reason that if the
Holy Spirit is taken we have to go too. Here's
another hint of the Rapture of the Church,
this time preceding the appearance of the
anti-Christ. So if the Rapture has to precede
both the revelation of God to Israel and the
revelation of the anti-Christ to the world,
then the Rapture has to precede the battle of
Ezekiel 38 as well. And now we've backed our
way right into the present time. The very next
major item on God's prophetic timetable has to
be the Rapture of the Church.
That
makes the sequence of events go like this,
the nearest one first. The Rapture, the
Battle of Ezekiel 38, anti-Christ's
appearance, the 70th week of Daniel begins,
the Abomination that Causes Desolation, the
Great Tribulation, the Second Coming, the
Millennium, and Eternity. It's as simple as
connecting the dots