SRR #81 | Jesus and the Feet of Nebuchadnezzars Statue

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I do a podcast. I'm not interested in your podcast. The anathema of God was for those who denied justification by faith alone.
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When that is at stake, we need to be on the battlefield exposing the air and combating the air.
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We are unabashedly, unashamedly Clarkian. And so the next few statements that I'm going to make,
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I'm probably going to step on all of the Vantillian toes at the same time. And this is what we do at Simple Riff around the radio, you know.
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We are polemical and polarizing Jesus style. I would first say that to characterize what we do as bashing is itself bashing.
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It's not hate. It's history. It's not bashing. It's the Bible. Jesus said, woe to you when men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way, as opposed to blessed are you when you have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
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It is on. We're taking the gloves off. It's time to battle. In this episode of Simple Riff from On The Radio, Timothy Kaufman walks us through the implications of a fulfillment of Daniel's 70th week during the
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Greek Empire and its implications for Jesus' prophecy in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.
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When viewed under the rubric of a Danielic timeline, it becomes apparent that Jesus indicated that the destruction of Jerusalem would take place during the period of the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's statue in Daniel chapter 2, exactly when
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Daniel said the kingdom would be given to the saints and precisely the time when Jesus said it would be taken away from the
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Jews and given to the Gentiles. He also discusses the apostolic exhortations regarding the day of the
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Lord that was said to be within one generation and the day of the Lord that was to happen in the distant future.
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For more, here's Tim. Hey, thank you, Tim. I appreciate that.
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It's good to be back. I hope everybody enjoyed our last episode. We left off with a pretty important question and we're going to get to that today.
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But it is certainly good to be back and we appreciate everybody's patience. In our last episode, we concluded our study of the 70 weeks of Daniel with special focus on the time periods related to that 70th week, including the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings, the time times and a half, the 1 ,290 days, as well as the 1 ,335 days.
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In our concluding remarks, we show that Jesus' reference to the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet in Matthew 24, 15 and Mark 13, 14 was not a reference to the future fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy, but rather to its past fulfillment under the
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Greek Empire. By understanding that past fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy, that is,
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Antiochus IV placing the statue of Jupiter in the sanctuary in 167 BC, we are able to understand
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Jesus' prophecy that the same abomination, the statue of Jupiter, would return to Israel as a harbinger of doom for Judea.
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Ten years after Jesus' prophecy, Gaius Caligula, emperor of Rome, commanded that statues of Jupiter be placed in all the temples of the empire, and those statues were shipped to Israel in 40
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AD. As we mentioned last week, what is translated as the holy place in Matthew 24, 15 is actually missing the definite article in the
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Greek and is more properly rendered a holy place or unholy ground.
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For such a reference as that, all of Israel qualifies and is a place where an idol ought not be, according to Mark 13, 14.
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Neither Matthew nor Mark actually refer to the holy place when they quote Jesus' words.
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Our point in all of this, and in fact the namesake of our series on the Danielic imperative, is that the
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Lord established a timeline in Daniel, and it is imperative that we understand that timeline in order to understand the eschatology of Jesus and his apostles.
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As we showed in our analysis of Daniel 11, the abomination of desolation took place in the latter part of the
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Seleucid Empire, one of the four successor empires of Alexander the Great, something that is confirmed by Daniel 8 as well.
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Once it is understood that the abomination of desolation was erected under the Greek Empire, the meaning of Daniel 9 becomes clear as well, since its conclusion is the removal of the abomination and the restoration of lawful
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Mosaic sacrifices on the altar in the sanctuary in the final episode of the
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Lord's punishment of the Jews under the Leviticus 26 protocol, initiated under Jeremiah's preaching as a 70 -year punishment, and then expanded sevenfold by Gabriel in the period of Daniel's prophetic ministry.
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Understanding when the 70th week occurred and being able to place it in the Greek Empire where it belongs and identifying the abomination itself helps us understand
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Jesus' words when he said that his listeners would see that abomination of desolation again and very soon.
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It happened in ten years, and the prophesied decline of Judea followed upon its arrival, ultimately leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70
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AD. When we left off last week, we recounted the many fulfillments of prophecies made by Jesus, Peter's denial, his own death and resurrection, the coming of the
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Holy Spirit, the coming of false Christs and miracle workers, wars, famines, earthquakes, the surrounding of Jerusalem by armies, and its ultimate destruction.
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All this was prophesied to happen within that generation. We left our listeners with a question last week about what else was supposed to happen within that generation, and we asked it with Daniel's timeline in mind, because Jesus himself told us these things with Daniel's timeline in mind.
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In fact, when Jesus told his listeners to watch for these things to happen, he said, So likewise, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
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Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.
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Now at first this might seem to be a curious statement from Jesus. He said, When ye shall see
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Jerusalem encompassed with armies, that's Luke 21 20, and about to be destroyed, and its inhabitants fall by the edge of the sword, and are led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem is trodden down of the
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Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. That's Luke 21 24. He then said,
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Know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. I say that it might seem curious, because it is traditionally assumed that the kingdom
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Jesus came announcing was already at hand, and thus had arrived with Christ's birth, or at the latest with his ascension.
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John the Baptist began his ministry by saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's Matthew 3 2.
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And when John was killed, Jesus began preaching, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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That's Matthew 4 17. And he taught his disciple to go about preaching, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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That's Matthew 10 17. When Jesus authorized the 70 to go about to the cities healing the sick, he said,
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And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. That's Luke 10 9.
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What they were saying was, Repent, for the kingdom of God is almost here. It was near at Christ's birth.
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It was near when John the Baptist went about preaching. It was near when Jesus went about preaching.
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It was near when the 70 went about preaching. It was near when Jesus died, rose, and ascended to his
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Father. It was near as the apostles went out to the nations to preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven.
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And it was still near when Jerusalem was surrounded with armies. Except by then, it was very near, as Mark 13 29 says.
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When ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.
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By then, the kingdom of God was so near, that it was on their very doorstep. So why would
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Jesus say that by 67 AD, when Jerusalem would be surrounded by soldiers, and on the verge of destruction, that the kingdom of God was still only near, and at the doorstep, but still had not arrived?
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What was Jesus talking about? The answer is in the Danielic timeline.
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So now we will turn to the two chapters of Daniel that we have not spent a lot of time on yet, chapter 2 and chapter 7.
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In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream in which he saw four successive empires depicted in the form of a statue.
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A head of gold, which was the kingdom of Babylon, a chest and arms of silver, which was the
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Medo -Persian Empire, a belly and thighs of bronze, which was the Greek Empire, and legs of iron, which was the
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Roman Empire. That fourth empire at some point became weak as iron mixed with clay, and then ultimately is broken into fragments or toes.
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But what is most notable to us is that it is in the period of the feet that the stone strikes the statue, and Daniel teaches us that the meaning of the stone is that the
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God of heaven will set up a kingdom and give it to the saints. Referring to the period of the feet of iron and clay,
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Daniel writes, Thou saw'st till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces.
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Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors.
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And the wind carried them away that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
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That's Daniel 2, 34 -35. His interpretation of that is in Daniel 2, 44.
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And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.
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And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
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So it is during the fourth empire that the God of heaven would set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed and would never be left to another people.
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Notably, in Daniel 7, when the narrator is explaining to Daniel the significance of the four successive beasts, he says pretty much the same thing.
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These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
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But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.
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That's Daniel 7, 17 -18. So twice in the book of Daniel, that is
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Daniel 2, 44, and in Daniel 7, 17 -18, we are told that after four kingdoms arise out of the earth,
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Babylonian, Medo -Persian, Greek, and Roman, God would set up a kingdom and that the saints of God would receive it.
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The key here is that it was supposed to happen during the fourth empire, and in particular, in the period of the feet of the fourth empire, as depicted in Daniel 2.
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Anyone who had been paying attention in Jesus' day knew that something was about to happen. The kingdom of God was supposed to be set up during the fourth empire, and the fourth empire was now upon them.
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This is the time they were waiting for. That is why everyone kept asking Jesus when he was going to set up his kingdom and kept trying to make him king.
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Luke 19, 11 says, And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
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John 6, 15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
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Acts 1, 6 -7 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying,
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Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them,
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It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. And this is where Jesus appealed to the
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Danielic timeline. They were allowed to know a general sequence, but not the specific details of the times or the seasons.
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But to help people understand that the kingdom of God that was to be set up in the fourth empire was a heavenly kingdom, not an earthly one, and further, that it was not going to be set up until the period of the feet, and the period of feet had not yet come,
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Jesus alluded to Nebuchadnezzar's statue from Daniel chapter 2. The period of the feet was near, and because the period of the feet was near, so was that heavenly kingdom so eagerly anticipated by God's people.
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So how did Jesus appeal to the Danielic timeline? He did so in his parables when he spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem and placed it in the period of the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's statue.
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That is when the heavenly kingdom would be set up, and that is when the kingdom would be taken away from the Jews and given to the
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Gentiles. Let's just walk through his parables to see what Jesus was talking about. On one occasion,
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Jesus spoke of that kingdom in terms of the Lord of the vineyard. In the parable, the tenants of the vineyard caught the husbandman's son, cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
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That's Matthew 21, 33 -39. Jesus asked the Jews what the Lord of the vineyard would therefore do to them when he cometh, and they answered,
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He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
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Jesus affirmed their interpretation and responded, Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof.
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That's Matthew 21, 42 -43. On another occasion, using a similar parable,
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Jesus spoke of a king preparing a wedding banquet for his son. Instead of planning for the wedding, those who were invited made light of it, abused his servants, and treated them spitefully, and slew them.
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That's Matthew 22, 2 -6. How was the king to respond to such disrespect?
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Jesus tells us in Matthew 22, 7. When the king heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burnt up their city.
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As the parable concludes, the invitation is extended to others, and the original guests are rejected.
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That's Matthew 22, 8 -14. In yet another parable about the kingdom, Jesus speaks of taking a possession away from an unfruitful servant and giving it to the fruitful one.
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For the unfruitful servant had said, We will not have this man to reign over us. That's Luke 19, 14.
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What was the nobleman to do with such an insolent citizenry? Jesus tells us. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
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Luke 19, 27. At another time, Jesus addresses the scribes and Pharisees, commanding them to Fill ye up the measure of your fathers.
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That's Matthew 23, 32. That's a term describing the accrual of sins for a day of judgment, as in Genesis 15, 16 and Romans 2, 5.
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He told them they would persecute, scourge, and crucify the prophets, who he himself would send them, according to Matthew 23, 34, so that the prophecy would be fulfilled, and the end result would be that their house would be left to them desolate.
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This is what Jesus said in Matthew 23, 37 -38. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would
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I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.
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Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. So, with those parables in mind, let us ask some questions.
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The Jews are the husbandmen of the vineyard, the unfruitful servants, who refused to come to the wedding, who abused the
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Lord's servants, the prophets, and treated them spitefully, and slew them, and killed his son as well.
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So, when did the lord of the vineyard miserably destroy those wicked men? When did the king destroy those murderers and burn up their city?
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When did the noble men slay those who would not receive him as king? When was their house desolated?
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When was the kingdom taken away from the Jews and given to another nation? Surely none of these things had happened in Jesus' earthly lifetime, and none of them happened in the three decades immediately following his death and ascension.
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The answer to all these questions is 70 A .D. Jesus would wait until 70
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A .D. for them to fill up the measure of their fathers, then he would burn their city and destroy those wicked men who would not that I should reign over them.
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And it is then that he would desolate their house. It was in the destruction of Jerusalem that the kingdom was taken away.
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The house was left to them desolate. The vineyard was taken away from the Jews and given to another nation.
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As Jesus had warned, When ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
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That's Luke 21 20. Within one generation the time would come when the kingdom would be taken away, and that time would be visibly apparent to anyone who was paying attention.
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The time to take the kingdom away from the Jews to set up a heavenly kingdom to be given to the Gentiles was fast approaching, a kingdom transfer that Daniel had long ago foreseen in Daniel chapter 2.
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Consistent with Daniel, Jesus places these events in the period of the iron and clay feet of Nebuchadnezzar's statue.
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Notice that in the context of these parables about taking the kingdom away from the Jews and giving it to a more fruitful nation,
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Jesus identifies himself as the stone, and then uses the imagery of Daniel 2, 34 -35 to explain when these events would occur.
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They would occur during the period of the feet, and that period was not far off. Here is Jesus' conclusion on the parable of the unfruitful husbandmen in Matthew 21.
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Jesus saith unto them, Did you never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
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This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof.
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And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
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That's Matthew 21, 42 -44. Jesus says the same thing in Luke 20, in the same context.
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He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said,
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God forbid. And he beheld them and said, What is this then that is written? The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
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Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
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That last sentence is nothing other than a reference to Daniel 2, 34 -35. The impact of that stone that smote the image.
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Nowhere else in scripture but in Daniel chapter 2 is such imagery of a stone breaking something upon impact by striking the feet, which would cause someone to stumble and fall, and then grinding it to dust by falling on it.
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Someone falls upon a stone when they trip over it as it strikes their feet, and Jesus says this in the context of himself being the chief cornerstone, and the
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Lord of the vineyard coming to destroy these husbandmen and give the vineyard to others. And invokes
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Daniel 2, 34 -35 to explain it. He appeals to the period of the iron and clay feet, the very point at which
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Daniel describes the new kingdom being set up and given to the saints. Jesus' use of such plainly
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Danielic imagery in the context of a statement that the kingdom would be taken away from the Jews and given to another nation, is simply a restatement of Daniel's prophecy that in the days of these kings shall the
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God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people.
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That's Daniel 2, 44. What was to be taken away from the Jews and given to the saints of God would never be taken away again, according to Daniel 7, 18, and would never be given to another people, according to Daniel 2, 44.
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By the use of such imagery, Jesus has identified the destruction of Jerusalem with the transfer of the kingdom and has clearly identified the purpose of his coming within one generation, to destroy
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Jerusalem and her inhabitants and take the kingdom away from the Jews and give it to the Gentiles. That is why he warned his people to leave
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Judea and not return. He was coming back within one generation and would do so visibly for the express purpose of taking the kingdom from the
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Jews. And this is precisely when he would set up the kingdom of heaven and give it to the saints.
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That is why Jesus said, Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, in Luke 12, 32.
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And when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand, Luke 21, 31 -33.
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And when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors, Mark 13, 29.
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All of this points us to the period of the feat of Nebuchadnezzar's statue, during which the
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God of heaven would set up a kingdom that would be given to the saints and never taken away. Thus, the time that was approaching, but had not yet come in Jesus' day, was the transition from legs of iron to feet of iron and clay.
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Clearly, Jesus had made the prophecy during the period of the iron legs, and clearly the fulfillment would take place only after the iron period was over, just as Daniel had prophesied.
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That transition from the legs of iron to the feet of iron and clay is simply one of the most eagerly anticipated events in all of eschatology, because of all that was supposed to happen during the period of the feat.
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But Christ's heavenly kingdom is not all that was supposed to happen. During the feat, there was something else, something terrible, that was going to happen during the period of the toes of the feet.
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And that was the rise of the most diabolical kingdom of all, which incorporated all the worst elements of all the preceding empires, and that is the kingdom of the little horn of Daniel 7.
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That was coming too, and that would be happening in the period of the feet as well, and specifically in the period of the toes of the feet.
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And we must not overlook that aspect of the Danielic timeline. There was indeed a heavenly kingdom to be set up during the period of the feet, according to Daniel 2 .44.
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And then there was an earthly kingdom of the little horn that must come during the period of the toes and the horns, according to Daniel 7 .8
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and 25. It is that kingdom of which the saints were warned and instructed to avoid.
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Only after the rise and reign of the man of sin, the son of perdition, does Christ return to smite the nations, according to Revelation 19 .15,
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and to cast the beast and the false prophet alive into the lake of fire, according to Revelation 19 .20.
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Only then is an earthly kingdom given to the saints, that is, after the judgment against the little horn.
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Only then will the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven be given to the people of the saints of the
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Most High, according to Daniel 7 .26 -27. And we note that that is when the saints receive an earthly kingdom under the whole heaven, not until after the judgment against the little horn.
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That is the time depicted in Revelation 11, when the last angel sounds his trumpet, and voices in heaven say,
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The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever, according to Revelation 11 .15.
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And the twenty -four elders say, Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth,
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Revelation 11 .18. This is something that does not happen until after the beast and false prophet of Revelation 13 are judged and cast into the lake of fire.
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And in fact, the reward promised is to those who had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, nor had received his mark upon their foreheads, according to Revelation 24.
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It is the time of the first resurrection, and to emphasize our point, it comes after the period of the toes, because the beast, the wicked one, the man of sin, the son of perdition, and therefore the false prophet with him, do not emerge until the period of toes.
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And this is why the period of the feet is so important in the Danielic chronology. Three kingdoms are in mind.
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First, Christ's heavenly kingdom, that we were to know was almost here when Jerusalem was surrounded by armies in the first century.
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That was when Christ was to return visibly to judge Israel and destroy Jerusalem. The heavenly kingdom of God was to come in the period of the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's statue.
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Second, the earthly kingdom, the little horn, who would come during the period of the toes of Daniel 2 and the horns of Daniel 7, would be the successor to the
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Roman Empire and would be an empire of wickedness and evil. It was to be the period of the beast and the false prophet of Revelation 13.
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Third, Christ would return to smite the nations and judge the beast and false prophet and cast them alive into the lake of fire.
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It would also be the time of the first resurrection. After that comes the period of a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.
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That's Revelation 21, 1. As we discuss these kingdoms, it is important to note that Jesus did not say he was returning within one generation to sit on his throne of glory for the final judgment of all the nations of the whole world.
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He only said that he was coming within one generation to judge Israel and destroy the city, and all the
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Jews who would not have him reign over them were to refuse the invitation to the wedding banquet. It is only later, as in Matthew 25, that Jesus will come to sit on the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations for judgment.
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That's Matthew 25, 31 -32. When he speaks this way of judging all nations, he is not referring to events that took place within one generation.
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But when he speaks of events that take place within one generation, he limits them to his judgment of Israel just as he spoke in the parables.
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Now we find the same order and time frame in the teachings of the apostles when they speak of the day of the
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Lord. In keeping with Christ's teachings, some of the apostolic admonitions and exhortations about the day of the
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Lord focus on Christ's return soon to punish the Jews and transfer the kingdom to the
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Gentiles. That day of the Lord was nigh, according to James and John. But other apostolic admonitions and exhortations about the day of the
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Lord focus on his return to smite the beast and the wicked one, the little horn of Daniel 7, and on the resurrection and the new heavens and the new earth.
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That day of the Lord was not soon, according to Peter and Paul. So let's look at how
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James and John speak of Christ's immediate return. When James speaks of Christ's imminent return within the generation, he does it in the context of Christ coming to punish the
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Jews, destroy Jerusalem, and give the kingdom to a nation more in keeping with the fruits of Christ's heavenly kingdom.
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For example, here's what James said of it. This is James 5, verses 7 to 10. Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the
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Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
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Be ye also patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned.
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Behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the
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Lord, for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Notice that James is speaking that the coming of the
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Lord draweth nigh, and he not only uses the same language as Jesus did in Matthew 24, that is, know that it is near, even at the doors, and Mark 13, know that it is nigh, even at the doors, and Luke 21, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
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James also uses the same imagery of the fruitful husbandmen as Christ did when explaining that the Jews had not been faithful husbandmen, and that he would give the kingdom to other husbandmen who were more fruitful.
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He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons, that's
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Matthew 21, 41. He will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others, that's
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Mark 12, 9. He shall come and destroy those husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others, that's
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Luke 20, 16. James even uses the example of the suffering patience of the prophets, to whom
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Jesus refers when he said that the Jews had mistreated those whom he had sent to them. James' discussion in chapter 5 is in the same context as Jesus' promise in Matthew 24,
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Mark 13, and Luke 21, to return within one generation to destroy Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee.
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When speaking this way, the apostolic exhortation from James is that the Lord's coming draweth nigh, or draws near, but it is only in the context of Jesus' coming to destroy
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Jerusalem and transfer the kingdom to another nation of husbandmen, who bear the fruits in their season.
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We notice a similar context when John introduces the book of Revelation and says that the time is at hand, that's
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Revelation 1, 3. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even so.
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Amen. That's Revelation 1, 7. The words for kindreds of the earth is actually literally tribes of the land, which is a reference to the nation of Israel, not a reference to all the nations of the planet.
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It is the same language that Jesus used in Matthew 24, 30 when he said, And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the
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Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. That's Matthew 24, 30. Likewise, when
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John describes the trampling of Jerusalem in Revelation 11, he uses the same language that Jesus did.
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Jesus said in Luke 21, 24, And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the
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Gentiles be fulfilled. John used the same language he was describing the same event in Revelation 11, 2.
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He said, But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not, for it is given unto the
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Gentiles, and the holy city they shall tread under foot forty and two months. As Jesus said, and John repeats for us, these events were near and focused on Jerusalem and the
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Jews who had rejected Jesus. These apostolic exhortations from James and John about the visible bodily return of Christ on the clouds is always in the context of destroying
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Jerusalem and the transfer of the kingdom to another nation, and always nigh, or near, or soon, just as Jesus said in Matthew 24.
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It is not about Jesus setting up an earthly kingdom, or gathering the nations before him for judgment. But there are other apostolic exhortations on the day of the
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Lord, and we notice that they have to do with the distant future and final judgment of all nations in the new heavens and the new earth, and then only after the rise of Antichrist, which is consistent with Jesus' statements in Matthew 25.
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When Paul speaks repeatedly of the coming of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians, he speaks of the first resurrection as in 1
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Thessalonians 4 .16 The dead in Christ shall rise first. This, of course, is not a reference to Christ's immediate return to smite
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Jerusalem in the period of the feet, but rather to his return to smite the nations after the period of the toes.
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Paul himself explained this in his second letter to the Thessalonians, where he reminds them that the day of which he had been speaking in his first letter was
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Christ's return after Antichrist, the man of sin is revealed, and not before. This is 1
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Thessalonians 2, verses 1 -4 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
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Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there be a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
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God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is
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God, and then picking up in verse 8, and then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the
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Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Here Paul comforts the people of Thessalonica with the knowledge that the great apostasy must occur first, so that the wicked one may be revealed, and that the coming of which he had been speaking was that coming when
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Jesus comes to smite the nations and the beast of Revelation 13. He was not talking about Jesus' imminent return within one generation.
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Similarly, Paul's reference to Christ's coming in 1 Corinthians 15 .23 was in reference to the first resurrection, as in even so, in Christ shall all be made alive,
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Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. That's 1 Corinthians 15 .22
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-23. And when Peter speaks of Christ's coming, he speaks of the destruction of the earth and the new heavens and the new earth, which of course is at the end, after the period of Antichrist.
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This is 2 Peter 3 .11 -13 That reference to the new heavens and the new earth is consistent with John's vision in Revelation 21, and comes after the
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Lord has come to deal with Antichrist, not before. These apostolic references to the day of the
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Lord refer to Christ's bodily return on the clouds to smite the nations and to reign on earth with his saints after the reign of Antichrist, and they are in terms of the first resurrection and the new heavens and the new earth.
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In other words, they are referring to the coming in Matthew 25 and what John described in Revelation 19, 20, and 21.
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Our point in bringing out these apostolic teachings on Christ's coming is that the apostles knew and taught of these same three kingdoms that Daniel mentioned, and which
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Christ showed to them as well, namely, that Christ was coming very soon to punish the
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Jews and set up a heavenly kingdom, that he was coming much later to smite the nations, punish the beast and the false prophet, raise his people to life in the first resurrection, so they might reign with him on earth in an earthly kingdom, and then after that he would create the new heavens and the new earth.
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Two days of the Lord, one very soon and one not very soon, but two nonetheless, and both would be bodily and visible.
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His apostles were forbidden to know the specific details, but they were allowed to know the general sequence of events, and it was entirely consistent with the timeline of Daniel 2 and 7, in which
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God establishes a heavenly kingdom in the period of the feet and gives it to the saints, and then the little horn sets up an earthly kingdom, speaking arrogantly against God, and then
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Christ comes and takes that away and grants an earthly kingdom under heaven to the saints after the little horn is smitten and destroyed.
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That is our Danielic chronology and the apostles held to it. But at this moment in our series, we are only talking about Christ's prophesied visible bodily return on the clouds to punish the
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Jews and destroy Jerusalem within one generation. His expressed purpose was to destroy Jerusalem and its inhabitants so that the kingdom may be taken from them and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
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And importantly, Jesus and his apostles said that return would be bodily and visible, and Jesus swore on the authority of the scriptures themselves that this would happen.
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He said, Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.
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Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And this gets us back to the question we raised at the end of our previous episode.
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Jesus predicted Peter's denial, and it came to pass within a few hours. Jesus predicted his own death and resurrection, and it came to pass within a few days.
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He predicted the coming of the Holy Spirit, and he came within a few weeks. He predicted the return of the statue of Jupiter, the abomination of desolation, and it happened within a decade.
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He predicted famines and wars, false Christs and false prophets to arise within one generation, and they did.
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He predicted that Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies, destroyed, and its inhabitants killed or taken away captive within one generation, and it happened.
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So we had one last question. Is there anything else that was supposed to happen within one generation?
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Can you think of anything? Of course you can. Jesus said he would return bodily on the clouds and visibly to destroy
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Jerusalem and take the kingdom away from the Jews and give it to the Gentiles. And the fact the scriptures insist, and the historical record shows, that this is exactly what he did.
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We have two historical witnesses to the events just prior to Jerusalem's destruction, and witnessed by all the tribes of the land.
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For every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, according to Revelation 1 -7.
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We remind the listeners to attend to the words of Christ and his apostles, that his visible bodily return within one generation was not to raise the dead, judge the nations, and set up his earthly kingdom and establish the new heavens and a new earth, but rather to judge the
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Jews and Jerusalem and set up a heavenly kingdom to be given to the Gentiles. We are not saying that Jesus returned bodily within one generation to sit on his throne of glory, to raise the dead and judge the nations, and create a new heavens and a new earth, because the scriptures do not teach that.
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They do, however, teach that he would return visibly and bodily within one generation to judge the
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Jews and Jerusalem and set up a heavenly kingdom to be given to the Gentiles. And here are the historical accounts of exactly that.
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This is Josephus writing in his Wars of the Jews. Besides these signs, a few days after that feast on the one and twentieth day of the month of Artemisius, a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared.
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I suppose the account of it was seen to be a fable were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals.
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For before sun setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds and surrounding the cities.
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Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 6, Chapter 5, Paragraph 3. The Roman historian
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Tacitus described the events prior to Jerusalem's destruction as well. This is from his histories,
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Book 5, Verse 13. Prodigies had occurred, but their expiation by the offering of victims or solemn vows is held to be unlawful by a nation, which is the slave of superstition and the enemy of true beliefs.
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In the sky appeared a vision of armies in conflict of glittering armor. And this is the answer to the question which we asked last time.
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What else was supposed to happen within one generation? Jesus and his apostles tell us, he was to return bodily and visibly on the clouds after the
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Jews had filled up the measure of their father's sins to burn their city and destroy those wicked men who would not that Jesus should reign over them.
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And it is then that he would desolate their house. It was in the destruction of Jerusalem that the kingdom was taken away, the house was left to them desolate, the vineyard was taken away from the
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Jews and given to the Gentiles. And it was to occur in the period of the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's statue.
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And Jesus said he would do this visibly within one generation. The Romans were simply his instruments of destruction.
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But he warned that he would perform this work himself upon his return. And he did. Now such a statement will lead to a lot of questions, of course, and we'll be happy to address them.
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We'll touch on them briefly here and in a lot more detail in coming episodes. Lest anyone presume that we are preterists, we have made clear here in this episode from the scriptures that there is a day of the
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Lord within one generation prior to the rise of Antichrist when Jesus comes to smite
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Jerusalem and the Jews take away the kingdom and set up a heavenly one and give it to the Gentiles during the period of the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's statue.
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Daniel, Jesus, James, and John all say this. And there is a day of the Lord after the rise of Antichrist which is related to the resurrection and the smiting of Antichrist and the nations.
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Daniel, Jesus, Peter, and Paul tell us this. And if the return within one generation is prior to the rise of the beast of Revelation 13, then
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Nero cannot possibly be the Antichrist of prophecy as the preterists would maintain.
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We will provide even more evidence to support this position in a future episode when we discuss the period of the iron legs of Daniel's statue.
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But for now, we'll simply say that the feet of the statue do not begin until 69 AD and Nero died in 68
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AD during the period of the iron legs prior to the period of the feet from which Antichrist was supposed to come.
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The man of sin does not arise from the iron legs but from the period of the toes of the feet and the toes do not begin until Diocletian begins to split up the empire in 293
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AD. Roman Catholicism is that beast that arises at the end of the 4th century during the period of the toes of Daniel 2 and the horns of Daniel 7 as we discussed at the beginning of this series.
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We will address those specific transitions from iron legs to iron and clay feet to iron and clay toes in a coming episode.
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And in particular, we will discuss how we can know from the scriptures when those transitions take place. Other listeners may wonder if the book of Revelation was written after the destruction of Jerusalem as Irenaeus says, how could
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John legitimately be said to prophesy Jesus' soon visible return before the destruction of Jerusalem?
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That is a good question and we'll say for now that Irenaeus held the minority position on the dating of the book of Revelation and his contemporaries held that it was written much earlier even during the reign of Nero.
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But we do not need to rely on the testimonies of fallible men to determine the date of the writing of the book of Revelation.
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We'll examine the book of Revelation itself which actually tells us multiple times when it was written using the
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Danielic timeline and the text does not point to the end of the first century but rather to the middle of the first century, years before the fall of Jerusalem.
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On a related note, we went into great detail in the preceding episodes about the 1290 days of Daniel 12 to show that they were literal days and a literal three and a half years that took place in the
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Greek period or the bronze period of Nebuchadnezzar's statue. However, when we read of the time, times and the dividing of time of Daniel 7 25 which are depicted as 1260 days or time times and a half in Revelation 12 6 and 12 14 during which the woman of Revelation 12 is persecuted and the 42 months of the reign of Antichrist in Revelation 13 5 we take them as prophetic days of years taking place in the period of the horns of Daniel 7 and the iron and clay toes of Daniel 2 lasting 1260 actual years.
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Our listeners might justifiably ask, hey, aren't you just randomly choosing when three and a half years is literal and when three and a half years is prophetic?
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Aren't you just choosing your interpretation after the fact based on your own assumptions? The answer to the questions is that the scriptures actually tell us which period is to be interpreted literally and which is to be interpreted prophetically and we will address that specific question in the coming episode.
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No, we are not basing this on our personal assumption for now we will provide the following summary to whet the appetite of those who are interested.
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The time times and a half and 1290 days of Daniel 12 are literal days.
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The 1260 days of the testimony of the witnesses of Revelation 11 precede the destruction of Jerusalem and are literal 1260 days and the 42 months of Revelation 11 -2 during which the
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Gentiles trampled Jerusalem underfoot are literal 42 months. The 1260 days of Revelation 12 and the 42 months of Revelation 13 are prophetic days of years.
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We will not only show the evidence from the scriptures but we will also show the historical fulfillment of each of these in the coming episode.
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Finally, I am guessing that the vast majority of people who have listened thus far are now asking, wait a minute, why are we now just hearing this?
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Who on earth do you think you are trying to overturn millennia of tradition and introducing a new eschatology unheard of until now?
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That's a fair question, except that it's not unheard of. Daniel and Jesus and his apostles told us about this many, many years ago.
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But because we assume the 70 weeks of Daniel was a messianic prophecy and we assume that Jesus did not really mean one generation when he said all these things were about to happen, and because we assume that Irenaeus was correct about the dating of John's Revelation, we have missed what
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Jesus and his apostles were plainly telling us. Jesus said that he would return within one generation bodily and visibly on the clouds with one very specific purpose, to destroy
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Jerusalem, take away the kingdom from the Jews, and set up a heavenly kingdom and give it to his saints.
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He told us himself that he would do this and said to his audience when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift your heads for your redemption draweth nigh.
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That's Luke 21 -28. And when you see these things come to pass know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
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That's Luke 21 -31. So why look up? Why would we look up to the heavens?
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It's because the father was about to give them the kingdom, and one of the signs that he was about to do so was his son's visible return on the clouds not to set up his earthly reign or to judge the nations, but rather to take the kingdom away from the
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Jews and set up a heavenly kingdom for his saints. Now, I understand the skepticism of the listener, so let's just stipulate for the purpose of the question and assume that I'm a deluded, wannabe eschatologist sitting in his mother's basement plunking away on his keyboard hoping to make a name for himself.
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Okay, I'll stipulate that for the purpose of the question. I've got nothing to lose since I've got nothing to begin with, and nothing to gain since I'm not selling you anything.
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That said, Jesus told us this generation shall not pass till all these things be done, referring to what was to happen in Mark 13,
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Matthew 24, and Luke 21. And he told us that his words are the words of God that will not pass away.
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Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. That's Mark 13 -31. And everything he said would happen within one generation actually happened within one generation.
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The abomination of desolation returned to Israel, famines, wars, earthquakes, false
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Christs and false prophets, working miracles, Jerusalem surrounded with armies and destroyed, and its inhabitants killed or sent into captivity, as well as his visible return on the clouds, just as he said.
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This is not a gospel issue, of course, but it is an epistemological issue. I will cast myself upon the discerning patience of the listeners and ask for the gentle consideration.
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I do not anathematize those who disagree with me, and I do humbly request that my listeners not anathematize me for supposing that Daniel, Jesus, Peter, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John meant exactly what they appear to have said.
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If I'm wrong, I'll be delighted to understand my error from the Scriptures, and I welcome any questions from the listeners to that effect.
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Thanks again to those who have held on this long through episode 16 of the Danielic Imperative. We're just getting started, and we'll continue with episode 17 soon.
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Lots more to come in future episodes as we discuss the fulfillment of every single three -and -a -half -year 1 ,290 -day, 1 ,260 -day, 42 -month period in all of Scripture, and show from the
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Scriptures how to tell which are literal and which are prophetic. And we'll harmonize Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 to help the saints recognize the difference between the heavenly kingdom
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Jesus set up in the period of the feet, and the earthly kingdom set up by the beast, or the little horn, in the period of the toes, because many
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Protestants have fallen from the truth by not being able to distinguish between the two. And we'll also turn our attention to the throne room of heaven, where the
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Lamb breaks the seals, and the angels blow their horns and pour out their vials on the earth, the sea, the rivers and fountains, the sun, the seat of the beast, and on the
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Euphrates River, and on the air. We'll also discuss the identity of the woman of Revelation 12, and the flood that comes out of the mouth of the serpent in an attempt to overwhelm her, and her place of refuge in the wilderness, leading up to the
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Reformation, where she is kept safe from Satan's doctrines, but not from the persecution of the beast.
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All that and more in our future episodes, and it's all about the Danielic timeline.