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******* EXCERPT MT 24 STUDY INCL REV 6 ******
[Mt 24:4-5]:
"Jesus answered: 'Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, claiming 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many."
And the ultimate deceiver, the Antichrist who will deceive many
[Rev 6:1-2]:
"I [John the Apostle] watched as the Lamb [Jesus Christ] opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, 'Come!' I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider [the Antichrist] held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest."
Scoffield, (Oxford NIV Scoffield Study Bible, 1967, Oxford University Press, p.1320, footnote #1):
"The rider on the white horse is not Christ. Those who identify this rider with Him consider the passage a prophecy of conquest by the Gospel. But no crown was given to the Lord as the proclamation of the Gospel began, and the terrible world events which accompany the other three riders (vv. 3-8) do not imply an earlier conquest by Christ."
[Compare Dan 9:26b-27]:
"The people of the ruler [the Antichrist] who will come will destroy the city [of Jerusalem] and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He [the Antichrist] will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven' [with Israel for 7 years]. In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. [Thus breaking his covenant with his evil treachery] And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."
Our Lord commands, as reported in Mt 24:4-5, that one who is living in the end times of the tribulation should be on his guard that he not be misled by any of the numerous false Christs who will appear on the scene - numbers like never before. Many will indeed be deceived:
[Mt 24:23-24]:
"At that time......
["At that time" refers back to Mt 24:21 which pictures a period of "tribulation unequaled from the beginning of the world"]
.......At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible."
Jesus is warning all men living at that time - during the tribulation - about this "birth pain" which signifies that the age of the Gentiles is in its final days. This does not include a direct warning to people living in other ages. Believers of the church age for example will either have died or been raptured before the tribulation begins, (1 Thes 4:13-18).
With the number of deceivers in the tribulation so much the greater than in any other age - with that number will grow the number of vulnerable people who being subject to such staggering catastrophes on the earth they will desperately seek anyone with answers - right or wrong - ultimately they will be subject to the Antichrist. Believers of the church age through whom God the Holy Spirit worked as a restraining influence will have been gone in the Rapture, (2 Thes 2:7 & 4:13-18).
Evil will now have its uninhibited day.
(v. 6) " 'You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.'
(v.7a) Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom..
[Rev 6:3-4]:
"When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, 'Come!'
Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword."
There will be such a degree of hot wars, economic and political wars and just plain rumors of conflicts everywhere that this is why Scripture reflects this condition of this "birth pain" in a form of the future tense of the Greek verb 'mello' which carries the idea of future, relentless, incessant, hearing of and occurrences.
MacArthur, (op cit., p. 18):
"Following the analogy of labor pains, the implication is that the conflicts will increase both in number and intensity as the return of Christ approaches, until they explode into a grand holocaust of bloodshed and carnage."
No one who lives on the earth during the tribulation period will escape the consequences of wars and rumors of wars. All nations and all kingdoms will be involved.
(v. 36) " 'The king....... [of the Roman empire, the 10 as yet future European nations, (cp Dan 7:24). At this point in Daniel's prophecy he leaps ahead in time from Antiochus Epiphanes whose career was described in vv.21-35, overleaps the church age to the end times and begins describing the future Roman empire of 10 European nations and the one who only could be the Antichrist]
(v. 36 cont) " 'The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place.
(v. 37) He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers....
[This ruler will be the final ruler of the last Gentile empire - the final Roman Empire and will be a Gentile himself. Compare: "the little horn" in Dan 7:8, 24b. He has no allegiance to any of the religions of his fathers - to any of their gods.]
(V. 37 cont) He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers, or for the one desired by women.....
["He will show no regard......for the One desired by women" - no regard for the Messiah. The Antichrist repudiates the messianic hopes of Israel in order to place himself as god over them. It was the traditional hope of every woman that she would give birth to the Messiah as prophesied in O.T. Scripture]
...............nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all.
(v. 38) Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses [war]; a god unknown to his fathers [Satan] he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts.
(v. 39) He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price,
(v. 40) At the time of the end the king of the South [Egypt with Libyians and Nubians, v. 43] will engage him in battle, and the king of the North [Russia + allies, Ez 38 & 39] will storm out against him with chariots and calvary and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood.
(v. 41) He will also invade the Beautiful Land. [Israel]. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Amon [Jordan] will be delivered from his hand.
(v. 42) He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape.
(v. 43) He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Nubians in submission.
(v. 44) But reports from the East and the North will alarm him,
[a great army from the East, 200 million strong, (China already has an army that large), moving to battle the Antichrist and another from the North, (Russia again), coming to do battle in the valley of Armageddon, Rev 9:16]
(v. 44 cont) and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many.
(v. 45) He will pitch his royal tents between the seas
[he will now set up in Israel between the Mediterranean & Dead Seas]
(v. 45 cont) "He will pitch his royal tents between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain [Jerusalem]. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him."
[Mt 24:6-7a cont.]:
(v. 6) " 'You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.'
(v.7a) Nation will rise against nation, anh"d kingdom against kingdom..
MacArthur writes, (op. cit.., p.20-21):
"Consistent with Daniel's description, Zechariah prophesied that the Lord "will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle." (Zech. 14:2-3)........
But before the Lord comes to acomplish that final conquest, the Antichrist and the forces of the north, south, and east will engage in ruthless combat and succeed in slaughtering a third of the world's population. In the face of that unparalleled carnage man's last vestige of hope will vanish and stark terror will rule the day. Only believers who hold fast to the Lord will have the divinely-given strength and courage to avoid being petrified with fear."
[Mt 24:7b-8]:
"There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains."
[Rev 6:5-6; 12-14]:
[Famines - Rev 6:5-6]:
"When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, 'Come!' I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, 'A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and wine!' "
[Earthquakes - Rev 6:12-14]:
"I watched as He opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place."
Famines and earthquakes have occurred throughout history but not to the great extent as those which are the birth pains of the end times: "A quart of wheat for a day's wages........every mountain and island was removed from its place." - as indicated in the parallel passages in Revelation. And consider this earthquake which will occur just before our Lord's second coming:
[Rev 16:18-20]:
(v. 18) "Then there came flashes of lightening, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.
(v. 19) The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of His wrath.
(v. 20) Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.
(v. 21) From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible."
Note the accompanying signs in Rev 6:12-14, previously quoted, which occur at this future time - they have definitely not occurred in history yet and are therefore yet future:
(Rev 6:12b) "The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,
(Rev 6:13) and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.
(Rev 6:14) The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place."
[Mt 24:9-12]:
" 'Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of Me."
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
[Rev 6:9-11]:
"When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, 'How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?' Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed."
The context implies a widespread - worldwide handing over: "you will be hated by all nations". The "you" does not apply to the disciples to whom our Lord was speaking nor to church age believers who are ALL raptured out of the world (1 Thes 4:13-18; 5:9) before the tribulation of God's wrath begins with the opening of the first seal and our Lord's release of the rider on the white horse (Rev 6:1-2). Our Lord is speaking prophetically to all people who become believers during the end times - ESPECIALLY JEWISH BELIEVERS. That period of time about which our Lord was prophesying is the 7 year tribulation period and no other age because the entire scenario that Jesus Christ is painting in His prophecy fits no other age.
The Greek word "paradidomi" in verse 9 which is translated "will be handed over" is used as a technical term for being arrested by those in authority, (cp Mt 4:12 - same word). How widespread the persecution will be to have public authorities directly involved in the arrest of tribulation believers! The persecution of believers will never be so widespread or so pervasive as in the tribulation time. The temporary or localized persecutions of the past - even in ancient Rome - do not qualify under this description of persistent, worldwide, pervasive, persecution of Jew and Gentile alike. These persecutions will originate largely from the Antichrist who breaks his covenant with Israel and reverses his role as protector of the Jew to persecutor!
Mark provides more details:
[Mk 13:9]:
"You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of Me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them."
And from the Old Testament, Daniel prophesies about the same period in which these persecutions will occur relative to the actions of the Antichrist:
[Dan 7:25]:
"He [the Antichrist] will speak against the Most High [God] and oppress His saints and try to change the set times and the laws. [i.e., institute his own system of absolute rulership] THE SAINTS WILL BE HANDED OVER TO HIM FOR A TIME, TIMES AND HALF A TIME"
["TIME" = 1yr + "TIMES" = 2yrs + "HALF A TIME" = year = 3 1/2 years total]
[Compare Dan 9:24-27, (again)]:
(v. 24) "Seventy 'sevens'.........................
[70 x 7 - 490 years. Daniel would be thinking in terms of years because a number of other Scripture passages indicate that 70 years was a period of time in which God dealt with the nation Israel, (Cp Jer 25:11-12; 2 Chron 36:21). The Israel people thought in terms of sevens, ("heptads"):
one week - seven days
every 7th yr-sabbath rest year(Lev25:1-7)
the Year of Jubilee - the next yr after seven 'sevens' or 7x7 - 49 years(Lev 25:8-12)
Therefore "Seventy 'sevens' " must mean seventy sevens of years or 70 x 7 - 490 years. "Seventy sevens" could not mean days or weeks, that would be too short of a time for all of the events in the prophecy to happen. And history proves this out since 490 days and 490 weeks have already transpired without the fulfillment of the prophecy occurring. If days were meant rather than years then the words in Hebrew which are translated in English as "of days" would have also been added as it was in Dan 10:2-3.
It must mean sevens of years also because Israel had not been letting the land lie fallow every seventh year as commanded by God, (Lev 25:1-7). This made a total of 70 sabbatical years which were not honored by this time in Israel's history. It would now require 490 years of time for God to enforce this command as per His Word, (Lev 26:34-35), and provide for the land being left fallow every 7th year, (70 sabbatical years missed x 7 - 490 years)
Finally, the most basic of proofs that "seventy 'sevens' " refers to years is to test it out by calculating it by years and then examining what happened in the future to see if the prophecies were precisely fulfilled. The following verses do just that when the timespan of years is calculated in:
(v. 24 cont.) "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy."
[So God has decreed that there will be a period of 490 years of Jewish history until there will be:
1) a "finish" to "transgression" - a finish to Israel's willful disobedience will be brought to an end.
2) "an end of sin" - the Hebrew word hatam" = "an end of" = completion of in the sense of ending. The context of this passage in Daniel combined with the examination of other passages which are about the same doctrine, (see *** below), indicate that the phrase "an end of sin" means a sealing up of - a final ending of the problem of unpunished sin with the satisfactory amount of punishment.
(***The concept of sealing up of sin is clearly taught in Dt 32:34 & Job 14:17).
3) atonement "for wickedness" = payment for sins - this specifically refers to our Lord's once for all time atonement for the sins of the whole world, (Ro 3:21; I Jn 2:2; Hebrews chapter 9).
4) a bringing in of "everlasting righteousness"
"to bring in" - in the verb form in this passage "to bring in" = to cause to come in. This refers to the causing to come in by God of a period of everlasting righteousness. This can only refer to that period of time in history beginning with the millennium. There is no other period in history which has everlasting righteousness.
5) a sealing up - a fulfilling, finally, of all "visions and prophecy" in Scripture. All visions and prophecies in Scripture will be sealed, i.e. fulfilled and completed and thereby sealed up as completed, no longer applicable for fulfillment.
6) An anointing of - the enthronement of "the Most Holy", the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of Lords. This will occur beginning at the period of the millennium.
******* END EXCERPT FROM MT 24 STUDY INCL REV 6 ******
Revelation 6:15-17 (NASB)
15
Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders
and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the
caves and among the rocks of the mountains;
16
and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and
hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb;
17 for the great day of
their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"
[So in view of the context of Rev chapter 6, it is evident that this did not occur in AD 70, nor at any time in history before or after to this day in 2022.
Here's what the Bible Knowledge Commentary says on Rev 6:15-17:
6:15-17. The practical effect of the judgment was fear in unbelievers from all walks of life. They called on the mountains and the rocks to fall on them and to hide them from God's wrath. Their fear was so great they would rather be killed by a falling mountain than to face the wrath of the Lamb and Their wrath, referring to the anger of the Triune God. Again this is not a picture of ordinary trouble but the period of greatest distress in world history."
[which has heretofore never occurred - even in AD 70]