Length of the end times
How does God's word explain the length of the end times or the reign of the anti-Christ in relation to the Second Coming of Christ? This has been the approach of these essays to reveal that the Tribulation period is a theological term and explanation of God’s wrath in relation to the end times. While this may sound strange the bible presents a different picture of God's plan regarding the end times.
Please remember that I am a person that knows the importance of communicating with common terms. Common terms are what it takes to keep God, you and me on the same page through understanding what God revealed about his plan. The common terms I am talking about are the written words of God that remain the same no matter what happens. God’s words do not change, and by the same token God’s word is the common denominator to explain the details of God’s plans.
The verse above speaks of a daily sacrifice that will be abolished. So when was the daily sacrifice abolished? Was it when Titus a Roman general crushed a rebellion and destroyed Jerusalem? The daily sacrifice pertained to the unintentional sin of the entire nation of Israel on a daily basis. The purpose of the daily sacrifice was to maintain a state of grace between God and the people of Israel. The daily sacrifice was replaced through the death of God’s son. Jesus Christ became the sacrifice of God’s grace that dealt with the sins of the world and reconciled man to God. Christ who knew no sin became the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. Christ’s death was the atonement for our sin and since the sin issue was dealt with there is no more need for sacrifice.
Gabriel revealed a period of time between two earth shaking events regarding the end of time. This message revealed a time period that begins when the man of sin abolishes the daily Sacrifice and ends when he erects an idol (an image) of an unknown God up in the temple of God.
The abomination that causes desolation refers specifically to idolatry. What could be more abominable to a jealous God than to make something that takes his rightful place as God? God pointed that men knew better because the idol was made of the same lifeless material that they used too keep warm with and cook their meals. How could anything used for creature comforts be a God? In addition those idols may look great on your mantle, but they can not respond to your needs. If those who made idols to worship only knew that God said let your idols save you.
In the last days, Satan and his fellow demons will influence men to set up an image in honor of the beast that was wounded by the sword of Christ and yet lived. The worship of this image will not be voluntary for Satan’s cohorts will demand that everyone regardless of their stature in the world worship the Image or be put to death. Death is a strong incentive to those who do not know the God of creation. On the other hand, the people who know their God will firmly resist the worship of the image because they know that this or any other image can not save them from the second death. In Revelation 13 the image of the beast set up by Satan is the abomination that causes desolation.
With Satan behind the creation of the image and the incentive of death or worship the image, this condition may be all it takes for worldwide worship of a false God and the greatest falling away that the world has ever seen. Still this is the greatest deception ever placed on man because if you do not worship the image and they will kill your body. On the other hand, worship the beast and death in hell is your reward. In God’s eye the image set up to honor Satan is truly this abomination will cause total ruin.
The image will be set up after 1290 days after the daily sacrifice is abolished, but this may only be the beginning of woes. Gabriel went on to say “Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days’. It may take some time for Satan to gain the influence to encourage men and women to erect an image of him or what the Bible calls the abomination that causes desolation.
However, the time between abolishing all sacrifices to the true God and the setting up of the false God will be 1290 days. It also stands to logic that Satan’s reign will follow the setting up of the image. During the remaining 45 days of Satanic terror the Saints that reach the 1335th day will be blessed through their patient endurance and faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The times revealed in the Bible does not express a seven-year period of time for the end times. What makes the Tribulation period believable is that there is some truth to the opinions expressed by influential people. Nonetheless, the end times have several descriptions of time that are measured in days. The two witnesses will prophecy for 1260 days (Revelation 11:3). The time period between when the sacrifices will come to an end the abomination is set up is 1290 days or those who reach the end of the 1335th day. (Daniel 12:11). Satan's reign will last time, times, and half a time (3 1/2 years 1277 days) (Daniel 7:25) and is confirmed in Revelation 13:5 as being forty-two months which ie equal to 1260 days.
The time in the verse below does not seem to fit into one of these time patterns.
The time period of 2300 days stands out from all the others regarding the length of the end times. When exhausting all of the mathematical equations to see if they fit into any of the known time periods I had to look to other places for the answer. Why is it different from all the others and why twenty three hundred evenings and mornings. Evenings and mornings spoke of when the lamp in the Holy Place was lit and extinguished each day. In addition 2300 did not fit anything specific in the Bible. When checking the definitions of 2300 I found an answer that seemed to have validity. The word for “2000” was rendered from the word “'eleph” as two thousand by translators when the majority of expositors rendered “'eleph” as a thousand. Those who parsed the sentence indicate that the number of thousand was Hebrew dual. If you were to consider the majority of expositors as right and use 1,000 for the word 2,000, you would have a chart like the one below.
Revelation 11:3 1260 days
Revelation 13:5 forty-two months @ 30 days per months = 1260 days
Daniel l2:ll 1290 days
Daniel 8:13-14 1,300 evenings and mornings
Daniel 7:25 1277 days- 3 ½ years @ 365 days
Daniel l2:ll 1335 days
Normally, I wouldn’t advise changing the way the bible is translated, but the number of 2300 days is inconsistent with the known plan of God. The translators determined that grammar of eleph dictated it’s number to be dual which is a form of a noun, adjective, pronoun, or verb used with two items, such as legs. In this verse the only thing that has two parts described is the word day - mourning and evening. I may have flunked English, but this doesn’t make sense to me when most of the words of this sentence are singular.
Still we have five other times intervals to look at in regards to the end times. One of these time intervals use the cessation of the offerings and sacrifice, which speak of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Another speaks of Satan’s attempt to change the laws of God by abolishing the daily Sacrifice. Then again we have a time period speaks of the two witnesses who come from God and return to God without a defining point of when their ministry starts or ends. There is a strong probability that these time intervals will coincide with each other.
Copyright © 2010 Thinkgodly All rights reserved