Tag Archives: Revelation

July 6, 2024 · 10:14 am

Who or What is Restraining the Antichrist? (Part 2)

            For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective… (Hebrews 4:12a AMP)

The Bible contains 1,817 predictive prophecies. To date, approximately one half of them have been fulfilled. The remaining ones are expected to be fulfilled during the End-Times. Given God’s omniscience, He will always be 100% accurate. 

Now, think about an Isaiah or Daniel or Zechariah or another prophet speaking an End-Times prophecy over 2,000 years ago. The words were spoken and written down for future reference. Yet, these are not just dead words penned on a scroll, but are living, powerful time-bombs awaiting their appointed times to explode forth in fulfilment.

            Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word. (Psalm 103:20 NASB)

Who makes sure the Bible’s prophecies are fulfilled at the exact time specified by the Lord? 

I believe God’s angels are assigned this task. Somehow, these chosen angels can hear the DNA guidelines within the prophetic words and know when the prophecies need to be fulfilled.

In 2 Kings 19:32-34, Isaiah spoke a powerful prophecy to King Hezekiah of Judah that the Assyrians would not come into Jerusalem or even shoot one arrow at the city and that the Assyrian army would retreat back to Assyria.

That night, one angel went into the camp of the Assyrians and killed 185,000 soldiers.

Gabriel gave insight to Daniel, Mary and Zacharias so that the prophetic narrative could be moved forward.

Michael fought the prince of Persia so that Gabriel could finally speak to Daniel. It is Michael who will arise when Israel is facing defeat in the End-Times. It is Michael who will wage war against Satan and his kingdom of darkness, casting them out of heaven and down to earth.

And it is an unnamed angel who chains Satan and throws him into the abyss for a thousand years.

These are only a few examples of angels carrying out God’s prophetic words.

            And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 NASB)

So, who or what restrains the Antichrist?

I believe that Michael – the archangel who defends and has charge over Israel – is the one who restrains the Antichrist until God’s appointed time for the Antichrist to appear on the world scene. 

Now, don’t go thinking that Michael uses a metal sword or a spear to restrain Satan from pushing his Antichrist agenda ahead of time. No, not at all! Michael uses the prophetic words of the Bible as his sword. And he probably tosses in a few, “The Lord rebuke you!” in Satan’s direction every so often.

Okay, I will hang my hat on Michael as the restrainer.

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May 24, 2019 · 8:17 am

Friday’s End-Times Bible Study (Part 10)

 

In Chapter 24 of Matthew, Jesus warned us twice about false prophets. His first warning was given for the time period before the abomination of desolation, which would be for the first half of the seven years of Tribulation.

Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. (Matthew 24:11)

The second warning was given for the time period after the abomination of desolation or the second half of the seven years of Tribulation…also referred to as the Great Tribulation.

For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible even the elect. (Matthew 24:24)

Then Jesus seemed to reemphasize His warning about false prophets and false christs by adding–

Listen carefully, I have told you in advance. (Matthew 24:25)

Wait a second! All of Matthew Chapter 24 is a warning. So why did Jesus add these words?

I believe the forty-two months or one thousand two hundred and sixty days between the abomination of desolation and when the angel blows the seventh trumpet will have more people prophesying than any other time in the history of the world. How can I make this statement?

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:17-18)

The testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy, will be poured out on God’s people. All Christians will be able to prophesy.

Plus God’s two witnesses will be prophesying in Jerusalem.

And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. (Revelation 11:3)

But also Satan will counter all of this with his false prophet.

He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do…He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark… Revelation 13:11-17)

As we can readily see, there will be a war waged between true prophecy and false prophecy. Lives and souls will be at stake!

Most American believers will read all of this and say, “Oh Larry, I’m just going to trust God.”

Now, that’s good, but the over one hundred and fifty chapters in the Bible concerning End-Times prophecy are given to us so that we can prepare ourselves ahead of time. It’s up to each of us what we do with the resources the Lord has provided for us.

And those of the people who understand shall instruct many… (Daniel 11:33)

I want to be one of those who instruct others. What about you?

(Continued in Part 11…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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April 7, 2019 · 2:14 pm

Friday’s End Times Bible Study (Part 1)

My computer has had problems for over a week, but this was the article I had ready to go. So, think of today as a different type of Friday, okay?

The Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation sometime around 90 AD. He would have been in his mid-70s at the time, being the youngest of the twelve original apostles who walked with Jesus. All of the others were martyred by then.

The Temple had already been destroyed (70 AD), Jerusalem was almost totally destroyed by the Romans (70 AD) and there was no nation of Israel when John received his vision from Jesus. We can only wonder what was going through his mind at the time.

You see, for the prophetic words in the Book of Revelation to be fulfilled there has to be three entities set in place:

  1. The Temple
  2. The city of Jerusalem
  3. The nation of Israel

If any of these three entities are missing, then the prophetic words can’t be fulfilled.

For nineteen hundred years, nothing happened. Many Bible scholars even debated whether the Book of Revelation was an allegory, rather than a prophetic book based on truth. The odds looked so impossible for any of the three entities to ever be restored.

Then, two thirds of the world’s Jewish population were killed in the Holocaust. Two thirds! Skeptics wondered if the Jews could ever bounce back from such devastation.

Yet, out of the ashes, the nation of Israel was born in 1948. Only West Jerusalem was returned to Israel at the time. Another nineteen years passed before Israel annexed the rest of Jerusalem in the Six Days War of 1967.

So, since 1967, only the Temple is needed to begin the time-clock for the fulfillment of the Book of Revelation, but of course, there are a few obstacles to overcome before this happens.

The Temple Mount is revered by both Islam and Judaism. The Muslims built the Dome of the Rock there and consider it the third most holy site for their religion. And the Jews believe the Temple has to be built on the Temple Mount.

How can this be resolved? Can you have both the Temple and a Mosque on the Temple Mount at the same time? Is this possible? I have no clue, but I also have no doubts that God has plans to make the Temple happen.

When will this take place? Soon…

(Continued in Part 2)

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