Four Blood Moons (14 page)

(R
EVELATION
11:5–6)

As a result of the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom, many will come to faith in Christ during the tribulation. In the process of time Paul declares that all Israel will be saved just as he was—by divine revelation when the scales that judicially blinded him to the recognition of Jesus Christ fell from his eyes (Romans 11:25).

The impact of the angels flying through the heavens preaching the gospel of the kingdom and of the two witnesses, will produce a harvest of souls: “a great multitude which no
one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues” (Revelation 7:9). The multitudes will have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (v. 14).

Until the time of the Rapture, the church is to preach the
gospel of salvation
. It is the message of the first coming of Christ. It speaks of Christ's virgin birth, His life, death, and resurrection. The preaching of the gospel of salvation produces our redemption by grace through faith in Christ, which promises eternal life.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the
gospel of your salvation
. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.

(E
PHESIANS
1:13
NIV
)

Jesus now reminds his disciples of the coming perilous times referred to by the prophet Daniel as the “abomination of desolation.”

“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand).

(M
ATTHEW
24:15)

What is the “abomination of desolation”? The abomination of desolation is the desecration of the Temple in Jerusalem and the termination of blood sacrifices for the atonement of sin.

Daniel (7–6 BC) prophesied about the vicious Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes, saying, “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation” (Daniel 11:31
NASB
).

Antiochus Epiphanes ruled the Jews from 175 to 164 BC killing over one hundred thousand during his reign. Epiphanes hated the Jewish people, and in his desire to defile the Temple, he offered a sow on the altar, which, according to the Law of Moses, was an unclean animal making the Temple unclean—and an abomination for the Jewish people (Leviticus 11:7). In addition to offering the sow on the altar, Antiochus set up a statue of the Greek god Jupiter to be worshiped in the Temple of the Lord.

Daniel is prophesying of the “abomination” of Epiphanes. Jesus, in Matthew 24, is referring to the future abomination that will be caused by the Antichrist saying that
he
will be
like
Epiphanes. While Epiphanes placed a Greek idol in the Temple, the Antichrist will set up an image of
himself
for all to worship.

The book of Revelation makes a clear reference to this image:

If anyone worships the beast
and his image
, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and
his image
, and whoever receives the mark of his name.

(R
EVELATION
14:9–11)

In AD 70, the Roman General Titus was sent to Jerusalem to crush Jewish resistance against the Roman Empire. Titus placed on the entrance to the Temple a Roman eagle—an unclean animal according to Jewish law—which was an abomination to the Jewish people (Leviticus 11:13). Roman standards representing their idols were placed in the Temple for all to worship. This was the “abomination of desecration.”

Jerusalem was viciously destroyed, the Temple leveled, and the Jewish people were banished from their beloved capital. The Roman army built a garrison on the ruins of the city. Meanwhile, in the city of Rome, the victory over Jerusalem was celebrated by the construction of the massive Arch of
Titus near the entrance to the Roman Coliseum. I have been there to see this tribute to Titus, who was responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Jews.

Over the top of the Arch of Titus is depicted a great military parade of triumphant Roman soldiers carrying away the Temple treasures from Jerusalem, and herding seventy thousand Jewish captives toward Rome. Those Jewish captives were forced to build the Roman Coliseum, where thousands of Christians were later fed to lions and slaughtered for their testimony of faith in Christ. Three words made them an enemy of the state and cost them their lives: “Jesus is Lord!”

In AD 107 the Emperor Trajan came to Antioch and forced the Christians to choose between the Pagan Roman gods and death. Ignatius refused and the emperor condemned him to death by being torn to pieces by wild beasts at Rome—“damnatio ad bestia.” Ignatius travelled to Rome, guarded by soldiers, and showed no fear of being devoured by lions in the Roman Colosseum.
¹

An even greater demonic Roman leader, Hadrian, walked onto the stage of history in AD 117 as emperor of Rome. Hadrian promised the remnant of Jewish people who remained in the city that he would restore Jerusalem and rebuild the
Temple. The Jewish people were jubilant and filled with hope.

In AD 130, Hadrian broke his promise to the Jewish people. Jerusalem would be rebuilt—but as a Roman city named Aelia Capitolina.
Aelia
reflected the second name of Hadrian, which indicated an act of imperial worship.
Capitolina
was a reminder that the city was dedicated to the worship of the Roman gods. At the heart of the paganized city, a temple to Jupiter (Satan) was erected on Mount Zion, desecrating the site of the Holy Temple. This was an abomination of desolation.
²

Hadrian followed in the footsteps of Antiochus Epiphanes by tormenting the Jewish people. Hadrian outlawed circumcision, the observance of the Sabbath, and prayers in the synagogue in an effort to assimilate the Jews into the Roman Empire.
³

In his rage against the Jews, Hadrian made an attempt to obliterate their name and existence from the pages of world history. He decreed that all the maps in the Roman Empire would no longer read
Judea
but would read
Palestine
after the name of the ancient enemies of Israel (Philistines). Goliath of Gath was a Philistine.
⁴

Historically there has never been an autonomous group of people called Palestinians. Only with the coming of Yasser Arafat in 1959 and his terrorist organization (PLO) did the word
Palestinians
become a distinctive word to describe a specific group of people.

The next cruel dictator to copy the pattern of Hadrian will be
the Antichrist, described by the prophet Daniel and referred to by Jesus during His Prophecy Conference.

Daniel 7:8 refers to the Antichrist when he speaks of “another horn, a little one.” In prophetic scripture a “horn” represents a king of an existing or coming empire. This prophecy introduces us to a figure (the Antichrist) who will be elevated to a position of authority over ten nations that arise out of the original Roman Empire.

The one whom John called “the beast” will come to power, not by military conquest but by the request of the people (Revelation 17:13). He will eventually become the leader of the New World Order!

He will appear on the world scene in the “latter time” of Israel's history (Daniel 8:23). He is a Gentile, because he arises from the sea (Revelation 13:1), which represents the nations of the world (Revelation 17:15).

The Antichrist will come from the Roman Empire since he is a ruler of the people who destroyed Jerusalem (Daniel 9:26). He will be a political leader of a world government with seven heads and ten horns (Revelation 13:1). This means that when he comes to power, there will be, for a short time, a New World Order that has ten leaders. The Antichrist will conquer three of those leaders, and he will wear their crowns. Again, he is emulating Jesus Christ, who is King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

The coming Antichrist will be ultimate “abomination of desolation” because he will introduce himself as god (Daniel 11:36–37; Revelation 13:5) and demand that the world worship him. He will set up his image in Jerusalem and present himself as the savior of the world.

This “little horn,” this son of perdition—the chief son of Satan—will be anointed to receive demonic power from Satan himself (Ezekiel 28:9–12; Revelation 13:4). He is driven by the demonic spirit of pride given to him directly by the prince of darkness. He will cause deceit to prosper (Daniel 8:25) and be exceedingly arrogant. Daniel states, “He shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many” (8:25
KJV
), which means the Antichrist will make peace treaties he never intends to keep, especially with Israel.

He will blaspheme God, as John the Revelator states: “He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God” (Revelation 13:6). He will force everyone on planet earth to take his mark, and without that mark you cannot buy or sell (vv. 16–17). Information technology already exists today to mark and manage every person on planet earth via computer chips with unlimited data that will enable total control by the New World Order.

What is the future of the Antichrist? He will be defeated by the hand of God, the defender of Israel. He will be cast alive into the bottomless pit with the False Prophet, who helped him deceive the nations into believing he was god (Revelation 19:20).

How will Israel and the Jewish people be able to finally
identify the Antichrist? They will know by the specific sign that he will repeat the “abomination of desolation” of Antiochus Epiphanes, Titus, and Hadrian.

Jesus' warning to the Jewish people about the time and identity of Antichrist is as follows:

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is on the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

(M
ATTHEW
24:16–20)

This text proves that the Antichrist will come when Jewish law controls Israel. Praying that your flight “may not be on the Sabbath” could only be possible if the Jewish people were living in Israel and the Sabbath laws were in effect. According to Torah, a Jewish person may not walk more than “A Sabbath Day's Journey” except in emergency situations. On
that day
, the exception to the rule applies and the Jewish people may run
any
distance to save their lives.

Matthew 24:21 says, “Then [after the Antichrist has committed
the abomination of desolation to the Jewish Temple] there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Remember that Matthew 24 is a message from a Jewish Rabbi to His twelve Jewish disciples. Jesus says this time of great tribulation will be worse than anything ever experienced in history. When you recall the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, the million-plus Jews who died when Titus besieged the city in AD 70, the monstrous acts of Hadrian in AD 130, and the systematic slaughter of six million Jews in Hitler's Holocaust, it staggers the mind to grasp a kind of trial and tribulation that would exceed these atrocities. But Jesus, the all-knowing Lord, has said a greater tribulation than these is coming. The prophet Daniel describes this time as “a time of distress, such as never occurred since there was a nation” (12:1
NASB
).

Some are teaching that we are currently experiencing the Great Tribulation. Our nation is under God's judgment, but the times we are living in is a Shangri-La compared to what's coming in the Great Tribulation.

We read in Revelation 9:15 that on a certain day during the Great Tribulation one-third of mankind will be killed. Think about it! There are about six billion people on the earth today. Think of two billion people being killed in twenty-four hours around the world!

Revelation 6 describes the red horse of war, the black horse of famine, and the pale horse of death. This
trinity of
torment
thunders across the face of the earth, commanded by the Antichrist, who is riding the white horse of Revelation 6:1.

The Bible records that in the final battle for global supremacy at Armageddon, “blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs,” or two hundred miles (Revelation 14:20).

This kind of human suffering and massive death toll is beyond the mind of man to fathom and why Jesus Christ, the Son of God, accurately calls it the “great tribulation.”

This mega-eradication of lives seemed utterly impossible to comprehend, but with the holocaust that will result from the effects of a global nuclear war, killing two billion people in a day is inevitable.

The nuclear genie is out of the bottle and Armageddon is knocking at the door.