19. REVELATION - Participants And Timing

About 30 years ago, I came to the LORD. I began to read the Bible regularly. One of the things that always puzzled me was where the Muslim Arabs were in the Bible. The Muslim Arabs say their ancestor was Ishmael, who was placed on a makeshift altar by his father Abraham as an offering to God. Some sources say on what became the (supposed) Temple Mount in Jerusalem though most Muslims believe it was in Mecca. The Christian Bible relates it was Isaac in the land of Moriah per Genesis 22:2. By tradition this is where Solomon’s temple was built centuries later.

God promised Abraham the land of Canaan and also seed. However, God took His own time as He often does, and Abram and Sarah decided to help Him. As Sarah apparently could not have children, she gave her Egyptian maidservant to Abraham to produce the required seed per Genesis 16, a common custom for the time. Abraham was 86 at this time. At the age of 13 for Ishmael and 99 for Abraham, God instituted male circumcision in Genesis 17. In verse 12, God relates this was to be done on the eighth day of the male infant’s life, i.e. the baby was part of His covenant with Israel. But Ishmael had his circumcision as an adult of 13, in accordance with God’s wishes, as in Judaism, a boy becomes a man at age 13. Hence, though circumcised, he had to choose to go with the covenant or not. Over time, he chose not to follow it.

Now Ishmael certainly seems to be a good candidate for the Muslim Arabs in the Bible. After all, they say they are in his line through Abraham. So what does the Bible write about Ishmael? In Genesis 16:11- 12 And the Angel of the LORD said to her (the pregnant Hagar): “Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

In Genesis 21, Ishmael with Hagar, his mother, is cast out from Abraham’s community after scoffing or laughing at Isaac when he was weaned. Yet God tells the distraught Abraham that He will make Ishmael a great nation in verse 13, which He confirms in verse 18. In verses 20- 21, he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran as an archer, and his mother took a wife for him from Egypt. Thereafter, the record is rather sparse. His genealogy is given in Genesis 25:12- 18. In Genesis 28:8- 9, we are told the daughters of Canaan, the two who married Esau, did not please Isaac (Isaac knew that Canaan had been cursed by Noah in Genesis 9:25), so Esau married a daughter of Ishmael as his third wife. The Bible relates, per Genesis 37:25- 28, that Joseph was sold to Ishmaelite and Midianite traders who carried him to slavery in Egypt. Ishmael’s genealogy is given again in 1 Chronicles 1:28- 31. In Psalm 83:6 they are listed with the tents of Edom in a confederacy to destroy Israel, in what appears to be a prophecy of the future.

Ishmael fathers Kedar and Tema in 1 Chronicles 1:29. Isaiah prophesies against Kedar in 21:13- 17. In Psalm 120:5, the psalmist Iaments: “Woe is me, that I dwell in Meshech (northeastern Turkey today, though some believe it refers to Moscow), that I dwell among the tents of Kedar (Arabia)! 6 My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace. 7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.” Note: Does this refer to modern Israel dwelling among the Islamics? Kedar is also cursed in Jeremiah 49:28- 33.

There does not seem to be much about Islam in the Bible if it solely referred to as Ishmael. However, if the Muslim Arabs are also referred to in the Bible as Esau, it makes sense. After all, Jacob and Esau struggled together in Rebekah’s womb per Genesis 25:23, and Rebekah was told by the LORD in verse 23, “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older (Esau) shall serve the younger (Jacob).” And remember that Esau’s third wife was Ishmael’s daughter. These people likely intermarried, but to find the fate of Islam and the Islamic Arabs in the Bible, I believe you look for Esau. If I am correct, the destruction of Islam is noted in many prophetic verses to include Obadiah, Ezekiel chapters 25, 29-39, Amos 1- 2:3, Daniel 8 and 11:40- 41.

First, however, let’s go to the minor prophet, Obadiah: The vision of Obadiah.

Thus says the LORD God concerning Edom (Remember Esau is referred to as Edom, his land, and Seir or Mount Seir, a prominent landmark of Edom)

(We have heard a report from the LORD, and a messenger has been sent among the nations, saying, “Arise, and let us rise up against her for battle”):

2 “Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be greatly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; you who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ 4 Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” says the LORD.

It is interesting to compare these verses with Isaiah 14:12- 15 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

Is YHWH, the God of the Bible, calling out Islam and Allah? I believe so.

Continuing in Obadiah: 5 “If thieves had come to you, if robbers by night- Oh, how you will be cut off!- Would they not have stolen till they had enough? If grape-gatherers had come to you, would they not have left some gleanings? 6 Oh, how Esau shall be searched out! How his hidden treasures shall be sought after! 7 All the men in your confederacy shall force you to the border [of Israel?]; the men at peace with you shall deceive you and prevail against you. Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you. No one is aware of it.

8 “Will I not in that day,” says the LORD, “Even destroy the wise men from Edom, and understanding from the mountains of Esau? 9 Then your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

Obadiah 10 “For violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. 11 In the day that you stood on the other side (Psalm 137:7 when the Edomites rejoiced at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC- Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, “Raze it, raze it to its very foundation.”)- In the day that strangers carried captive his forces, when foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem- even you were as one of them.”

Obadiah 12 “But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity; nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress. 13 You should not have entered the gate of My people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. 14 You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped; nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of distress.

Obadiah 15 ”For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you. Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. 16 For as you drank on My holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually; yes, they shall drink, and swallow, and they shall be as though they had never been. [Note: These two verses refer to the End Times to me. When did Edom drink on the holy mountain of God? During the reign of Islam! Except for less than a century when the crusaders controlled Jerusalem mostly in the 12th century (1099- 1187 AD) and until the Jews returned home and Great Britain conquered Palestine in 1917 till Israel became a nation in 1948.]

Obadiah 17 “But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. 18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph [all the lost tribes and not just the Jews must return to Israel] shall be a flame; but the house of Esau shall be stubble; they shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,” [Does this refer to all the Edomites, or just the religion of Islam? I suspect the latter.] for the LORD has spoken.

Obadiah 19 The South shall possess the mountains of Esau [southern Jordan], and the Lowland shall possess Philistia [the Gaza Strip]. They shall possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria [the West Bank]. Benjamin shall possess Gilead [part of modern Jordan]. 20 And the captives of this host shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath [northern Lebanon]. The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the South. 21 Then saviors (the LORD and His saints) shall come to Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.

Most of the prophets spoke of judgement for several nations. However, Nahum delivered a specific judgement on the hyperpower of the day- Assyria, which came true in 612 BC. Earlier, Jonah had done the same, but the Ninevites (Nineveh was the capital of Assyria) had repented. Obadiah is the only other prophet that I am aware of that delivers a specific message of judgement on one people- Edom. This prophecy was given after the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC. The Edomites cheered the Babylonians on. The Israelites and the Edomites fought on several occasions, but mostly before Jerusalem’s destruction. It is an End Times prophecy, so it is future, apparently the near future, if Christ’s millennium is the Shabot or Sabbath of a Biblical week with each day being a millennium per Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8.

Malachi also prophesied about Esau in the mid-fifth century BC: 1:1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” says the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved; 3 but Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.”

4 Even though Edom has said, “We have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places,” thus says the LORD of hosts: “They may build, but I will throw down; they shall be called the Territory of Wickedness (If Edom represents Islam, so much for their god being the same God as that of the Jews and Christians), and people against whom the LORD will have indignation forever. 5 Your eyes shall see, and you shall say, ‘The LORD is magnified beyond the border of Israel.’”

Jeremiah was a prophet of the LORD till shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. In Jeremiah 49:7 Against Edom. Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished? 8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will punish him. 9 If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, would they not destroy until they have enough? 10 But I have made Esau bare; I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. His descendants are plundered, his brethren and his neighbors, and he is no more. 11 Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive, and let your widows trust in me.”

49:12 For thus says the LORD: “Behold, those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. And are you the one who will altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it. 13 For I have sworn by Myself,” says the LORD, “that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.”

49:14 I have heard a message from the LORD, and an ambassador has been sent to the nations; “Gather together, come against her, and rise up to battle!”

49:15 “For indeed, I will make you small among nations, despised among men. 16 Your fierceness has deceived you, the pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says the LORD. (a repetition of Obadiah 2- 4)

49:17 Edom also shall be an astonishment; everyone who goes by it will be astonished and will hiss at all its plagues. 18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one shall remain there, nor shall a son of man dwell in it.

49:19 “Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan against the dwelling place of the strong; but I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For who is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd (Zechariah 11:17 gives a description of the worthless or idol shepherd, the anti-Christ, who is blind in his right eye and has a shriveled arm after his assassination and resurrection- Rev 13:3) who will withstand Me?”

49:20 Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that He has taken against Edom, and His purposes that He has proposed against inhabitants of Teman (Isaiah 63:1-6 chronicles Christ saving the remnant of Israel in Bozrah [Petra], just before Armageddon, where His robe is soaked in blood [Revelation 20:13]); surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely He shall make their dwelling places desolate with them. 21 The earth shakes at the noise of their fall; at the cry its noise is heard at the Red Sea. 22 Behold, He shall come up and fly like the eagle, and spread His wings over Bozrah; the heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.

After the LORD returns, Joel 3:19 Egypt shall be a desolation (Ezekiel 29:12) and Edom a desolate wilderness, because of violence against the people of Judah, for they have shed innocent blood in their land.

Ezekiel 35:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it, 3 and say to it, ‘Thus says the LORD God: “Behold, O Mount Seir (Edom), I am against you; I will stretch out My hand against you, and make you most desolate; 4 I shall lay your cities waste, and you shall be desolate. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. 5 Because you have had an ancient hatred (going back to Esau and Jacob), and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end (Ezekiel 4:5- 6), 6 therefore as I live,” says the LORD God, “I will prepare you for blood and blood shall pursue you; since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you. 7 Thus I will make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it the one who leaves and the one who returns. 8 And I will fill its mountains with the slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those who are slain by the sword shall fall. 9 I will make you perpetually desolate, and your cities shall be uninhabited; then you shall know that I am the LORD. 10 Because you have said, ‘These two nations (Israel and the USA- The USA is Manasseh- See Genesis 48:19-20 where Great Britain and the British Empire represents Ephraim and America follows it as Manasseh) and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess them,’ although the LORD was there, 11 therefore, as I live,” says the LORD God, “I will do according to your anger and according to the envy which you showed in your hatred against them; and I will make Myself known among them when I judge you. 12 Then you shall know that I am the LORD. I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are desolate; they are given to us to consume.’ 13 “Thus with your mouth you have boasted against Me and multiplied your words against Me; I have heard them.” 14 ‘Thus says the LORD God: “The whole earth will rejoice when I make you desolate. (Although most Muslims are not terrorists, most terrorists are Muslim.) 15 As you rejoiced because the inheritance of the house of Israel was desolate, so I will do to you; you shall be desolate, O Mount Seir, as well as all of Edom-all of it! Then they shall know that I am the LORD:’”

Ezekiel 36:1 “And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD! 2 ‘Thus says the LORD God: “Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights (the West Bank, the high ground of Israel) have become our possession,’ 3 “ therefore prophesy, and say, ‘Thus says the LORD God: “Because they made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you are taken up by the lips of talkers and slandered by the people”- 4 ‘therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD God! Thus says the LORD God to the mountains, the hills, the wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations all around- 5 ‘therefore thus says the LORD God: “Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession, with wholehearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country.”’ 6 ”Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, and the valleys, ‘Thus says the LORD God: “Behold I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations.” 7 ‘Therefore thus says the LORD God: “I have raised my hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame.”

It appears to me that Edom, Mount Seir, and Esau’s descendants are in for a ferocious judgement. Esau’s genealogy is given in Genesis 36, and one of Israel’s most prominent enemies were the Amalekites, the descendants of the grandson to Esau through the concubine of his first- borne son, Elipahaz per Genesis 36:12. Per Exodus 17:8, Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. The battle is recounted in verses 8-13. Whenever Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed, but when he dropped them, Amalek. Finally, Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a stone, and each held up an arm leading to Amalek’s defeat, but God was furious at Amalek per Exodus 17:16 for he (Moses) said, “Because the LORD has sworn: the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” His wrath is expanded in Deuteronomy 25:17- 19 “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. (I suspect this refers to Exodus 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so as to go by day and night. I believe Amalek saw these great signs from God and attacked the Israelites despite knowing God was with them. And God did not forget their arrogance!) Continuing on Exodus 25:19, “Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.”

When Israel got her first king, Saul, God decided it was time to eliminate Amalek. Samuel gives the LORD’s instruction to Saul in 1 Samuel 15:2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 ‘Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox, and sheep, camel and donkey.’” Saul killed most of the Amalekites, but he spared their king, Agag, and Saul also kept the best of the animals, destroying only what was worthless and despised. Samuel confronted Saul over his disobedience, which had long term consequences. Saul stated the best of the animals were for sacrifice to the LORD in verse 21, but he had disobeyed his instructions. This event, plus one earlier in 1 Samuel 13, in which Saul offered a sacrifice, as if he were a Levite priest, cost him the kingdom. God knows all history, even before it began. HIStory is HIS story. In Genesis 49:10, Jacob prophesied that the kingship would go to Judah’s line and not Benjamin’s.

In verse 33, Samuel hacked Agag into pieces. In the book of Esther, the enemy of the Jews, is Haman, who sets in motion a plan to kill all the Jews. Haman’s father was Hammedatha, an Agagite, a descendant of Agag, so some of the Amalekites escaped. In Esther 5:14, Haman orders 50 cubit (about 75 feet) high gallows built to hang Mordecai, a Jew he hates. Instead, he and his sons are hanged (impaled) on this gallows. Hence, the animosity of the Amalekites led by Haman toward the Jews was enormous to desire to kill them all. Psalm 83, which I believe is an End Times prophecy, lists Amalek as one of the enemies of Israel, so they remain to this day.

The Utter Destruction of Islam

Amos 1:1 (given about 796 to 739 BC) The words of Amos, who was among the sheepbreeders of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake (I presume the earthquake is Ezekiel 38:19, i.e., God’s response to the Russo-Islamic invasion of Israel. I presume the utter destruction of Edom [Islam] is over a two-year period, meaning greater than one-and-a-half years and less than two-and-a-half-years. I suspect it is the same earthquake of Revelation 6:12 also, i.e. the sixth seal).

Amos 1:2 And he said: “The LORD roars from Zion, and utters His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.”

Amos 1:3 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with implements of iron. 4 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad. 5 I will also break the gate bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven, and the one who holds the scepter from Beth Eden. The people of Syria shall go captive to Kir,” says the LORD.

I believe Shia Iran will surround and attack Israel. Likely Jordan will be taken over by Iran. In Ezekiel 25, God says He will give to the men of the East (Iran) Ammon in verse 4 and Moab and Seir (Edom) in verse 10. This means Iranian forces must take over Jordan which is composed of Ammon, Moab, and Edom. There is a strong ISIS component at the border of Egypt in the Sinai, which will likely also attack Israel, but the nation of Egypt will not participate. All other nations, whose borders are contiguous with Israel, will attack her to include Syria and Lebanon and the Gaza Strip and likely the West Bank Palestinian state.

Isaiah 17:1 The burden against Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap (Damascus will be nuked and radioactive for forty years.)… The fortress will cease from Ephraim (Note: America and/or Britain will also sustain significant damage. Perhaps the $ will die. At present, only God holds up the $.)

Amos 1:6 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they took captive the whole captivity to deliver them up to Edom (Islam). But I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza which shall devour its palaces. I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn My hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines (the Palestinians) shall perish,” says the LORD God.

Sunni Hamas, funded by Iran, in the Gaza Strip will likely be hit with neutron bombs that kill people, but the radiation dissipates quickly. Buildings are left intact. It will not be a heap of ruins, nor radioactive for forty years like Damascus. The return of the rest of the Jews as well as the lost tribes of Israel will require this land and more.

Amos 1:9 Thus says the LORD : “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom (Islam), and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. But I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, which shall devour its palaces.

Tyre is to me two places- sometimes Ephraim (Britain) and/or Manasseh (America) - lands in the midst of the sea per Ezekiel 27 & 28, sometimes Lebanon per Ezekiel 26 and also as Sidon in Ezekiel 28:21-23. Here it is Lebanon, which is controlled by Shia Hezbollah, funded by Iran. Hezbollah has over 100,000 missiles to fire into Israel. Like Gaza, Tyre (Lebanon) went all out for Edom (Islam), and the God of the Bible will allow Israel to utterly destroy them, again with neutron bombs, so the returning Jews and lost tribes will have land.

Amos 1:11 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Edom (Islam or southern Jordan, here southern Jordan, though perhaps both), and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity; his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.”

Amos 1:13 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of the people of Ammon (northern Jordan), and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they ripped open the women with child in Gilead, that they might enlarge their territory. But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour its palaces, amid shouting in the day of battle, and a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. Their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together,” says the LORD.

Amos 2:1 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Moab (the middle portion of modern Jordan), and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime. 2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth; Moab shall die with tumult with shouting and trumpet sound. 3 And I will cut off the judge from its midst, and slay all its princes with him,” says the LORD.

I believe these are double prophecies that have already happened in the past, but will happen again all at once. Per Zephaniah, we are told that in the day of the LORD’s anger, He will leave no inhabitant in the land of the Philistines (2:4-7), which confirms my belief Gaza will be attacked with neutron bombs. In 2:8 He notes Moab and Edom will be like Sodom and Gomorrah – a perpetual desolation. Perhaps they too will be attacked with neutron bombs, but a nuclear bomb over all Jordan seems unlikely because, per Daniel 11:41, Edom, Moab and the prominent people of Ammon will escape from the hand of the anti-Christ. Israel must have a place to flee to, likely Bozrah (Petra) in southern Jordan (Edom).

Amos 2:4-5 indicates Judah, modern Israel, will suffer significant damage at this time, though its surrounding attackers will be annihilated. Amos 2:6-16 indicates significant destruction to Israel at the same time. To me, this refers to England and the United States, Ephraim and Manasseh respectively. In America, natural disasters, such as the super volcano Yellowstone erupting, and great earthquakes on the West Coast, and/or Islamic attacks within America and/or caravans of illegal immigrants, and/or ghetto uprisings, and the collapse of the $ will lead to the Anglo-Saxons, Jews, and other lost tribes to return to Israel. The white Anglo-Saxon population in America will be reduced by the rapture also.

Zephaniah 2:12 adds in this apparent End Times scenario that the Ethiopians (black Africans) will be slain by the sword, and Assyria will be destroyed and its capital, Nineveh, a perpetual desolation per 2:13-15. This would seem to be a problem if it refers to the End Times, since Nineveh is already a desolation and Assyria, at present, does not exist. Curiously, Zephaniah 2:3 seems to be a reference to the rapture, either just before or just into the End Times: Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the LORD’s anger (through the rapture?).

Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was utterly destroyed in 612 BC by Babylon and the Medes. However, ISIS, the terrorist state, encompassed much of what was Assyria, even capturing Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, which is directly across the Tigris River from the ruins of ancient Nineveh, the Assyrian capital. Remains of an Assyrian palace have been found recently in Mosul, so it may have been considered to be part of Nineveh, but the walled city was on the opposite bank. ISIS’s main conquest in Syria has recently been destroyed by America and the Syrian Kurds for the most part leaving only a few pockets of ISIS left. This year early in 2018, Iraq declared Sunni ISIS destroyed in Iraq as well. There are still many Sunni Muslims left in these areas, and I suspect it could be reconstituted easily in the future, though perhaps this is the destruction cited in Zephaniah. For now the remnant of ISIS will pursue guerrilla war.

It should be noted that the city of Babylon must be resurrected in the End Times. Saddam Hussein rebuilt portions of it before his demise in the early 2000s. It must be a desolation forever per Jeremiah 50:13, 40, so its utter destruction has not yet occurred. It has been written that the story of the world is told by the cities of ungodly Babylon and godly Jerusalem. After God destroyed the unbelieving world with the Flood, the descendants of Noah built a high tower – the Tower of Babel, in effect rebelling against God again, only a few centuries later. Per the ancient history book of Jasher, noted in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18, this was to invade heaven. How absurd!

Babylon was the source of all pagan religions. This was where the zodiac was perverted from God’s tale of the third two-thousand-year period, the Christian era, written about in Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament (sky) shows His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language where there voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

The zodiac was originally the tale of the Christ to come in the third two millennia period, the Christian age, given to Adam’s son Seth and Enoch. It began with Virgo, the virgin, and ended with Leo, the lion, destroying the longest serpent in the sky, or Christ, the lion of Judah, destroying Satan, the snake. In Babel, a century or so after the Flood, the zodiac was changed to begin with Aries the Ram, but in the very ancient Egyptian Sphinx, it still begins with Virgo. God raised Babylon to be the head of gold in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream per Daniel 2, and the Babylonian Empire went from about 612 BC to the capture of Babylon in 539 BC by Cyrus the Persian. Zechariah 5:5- 12 indicates it will be raised up again for its eternal destruction in the End Times per Revelation chapters 17 & 18. Also consider Zechariah 5:5- 11. Now how could this happen?

I have read that the Shia Iraqis who are 60% of Iraq’s population do not like Baghdad. They would like to rebuild Babylon on the Euphrates River as their capital. After America took Iraq circa 2003, we built a huge embassy in Baghdad, and then we built a brand-new ultramodern communications center. Curiously, this was built outside of ancient Babylon rather than the obvious choice of Baghdad. Both Mosul and Baghdad are on the Tigris River. As previously noted, Mosul, where the ruins of an Assyrian palace has been found, is directly across the river from the ruins of Nineveh. Upstream from both is a dam that our experts say should never have been built as the land is to too unstable to support it. It requires constant upkeep, or it will collapse. One day, perhaps the dam will give way flooding Mosul (the final destruction spoken of in Zephaniah 2:13 “… and make Nineveh a desolation” although ISIS destroyed much of what was left of the ruins of Nineveh, and in defending Mosul, much of it was also destroyed, though it is presently being rebuilt. This would make Nahum 2:6, which initially referred to the destruction of the walls of Nineveh in 612 BC by a flood a double prophecy), and then flooding Baghdad as well. Then perhaps Babylon will be rebuilt as a major capital of the world for the anti-Christ’s empire.

I had thought Daniel 8 was ancient history which foretold the rise of Medo-Persia through a two horned ram and then its destruction by a one horned goat, Alexander the Great. The ram was the symbol of Persia, with its kings wearing a ram’s head in battle. The one horned goat was the symbol of Macedonia where Alexander ruled. Eventually, he conquered all of Greece and then began his three-year campaign to take Persia around 333 BC. Joel Richardson in a DVD pointed out this was likely a double prophecy. In verse 4, the ram pushed westward, northward and southward. This happened historically, but it is also happening now. Shia Iran, ancient Persia, now has significant influence in Iraq, where 60% of the population is also Shia, but they are Arabs, not Persians. A recent report noted Iran had 40,000 troops in Syria. They also support the Shia Hezbollah, the major player in Lebanon, and the Sunni Hamas, the major player in the Gaza Strip. Hence, the ram has gone westward, but also southward as they are supporting the Houthis in Yemen, and northward through a recent treaty with Russia.

Of course, modern Greece seems an unlikely player in all this for the one-horned ram. Richardson pointed out that prophecy often refers to the land from which the people came. I had forgotten. Greece was a maritime empire, and Persia, a land empire. The Persians came into conflict with the Greeks when they took the Greek cities of western Turkey, and the cities of Greece gave their brethren aid. Hence, Persia tried to conquer Greece. Erdogan, the leader of Turkey, has in April, 2017, pushed through a new constitution giving him the most power of any Turkish ruler since the Ottoman Turk sultanate a century ago. The Turks besieged Vienna in 1529 and 1683. Like Egypt, another Sunni power, Erdogan is unlikely to be happy with Shia Iran getting nuclear weapons. He would very much like to prevent this.

Iran will probably go forth a while longer in power. If Daniel 8 is a double prophecy, then it seems that the Kurds, the Medes of ancient history, must link up with Iran, as the other horn of the ram of Daniel 8:3. This seems very unlikely at present as the Kurds are the friends of the Americans and not the Iranians. Indeed the Syrian Kurds just helped America destroy the terrorist state of ISIS. Circa Aug, 2018, they were attacked by the Turks, who hate the Kurds. When Winston Churchill drew the boundaries of Middle Eastern states after World War I, he left out the Kurds, who should have had a state in northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, northeastern Iraq, and northwestern Iran. Now, none of these nations wish to give up their land for a modern Kurdistan. As the Kurds are landlocked, it will be difficult for America to aid them and/or the power of America must wane for them to seek alliance with Iran. Nevertheless, that is what I expect.

Ezekiel 25 notes in verses 8 to 10 that God will give Moab, Edom, and Ammon to the men of the East. I suspect this refers to Iran. Hence, Iran will likely take over Jordan and attack Israel, but the Israeli Defense Forces will defeat this effort, perhaps attacking Iran itself, perhaps taking out key components of its nuclear program. Circa 2012, the Muslim Brotherhood deposed the Egyptian leader Mubarak. Before this happened, Mubarak allowed two Israeli submarines to go through the Suez Canal. They likely now sit off the Persian Gulf with their cruise missiles ready to launch. The Israelis were greatly concerned about the Russian S300 antimissile system which was recently sold to the Iranians. Reportedly it is the best in the world. (The Russians have kept for themselves an updated model, S400, which guards their Syrian seaport above Lebanon.) The Russians sold the same system that Iran purchased to Cyprus, a friend of Israel. Cyprus has allowed Israel to examine this system. Hence, Israel will likely be intimately familiar with the S300, and Israel is the greatest high-tech nation in the world at this time. Ultimately, it will come down to God, whose name is not Allah, being on Israel’s side. As already noted, Israel will destroy all the surrounding nations save Egypt, and likely significantly damage Iran.

The Iranians want to reconstitute the Persian Empire, while the Turks wish to reconstitute the Turkish Empire. I believe that when Iran is significantly weakened, Turkey will invade Iran to make sure they never go nuclear. Per Jeremiah 49:34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, 35 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold I will break the bow of Elam (southwestern Iran on the Persian Gulf, where the Bushehr nuclear reactor is located, an area prone to earthquakes), the foremost of their might. 36 Against Elam I will bring the four winds (The great horn of the goat becomes four smaller horns in Daniel 8.) from the four quarters of heaven, and scatter them toward all those winds; there shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go. 37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, My fierce anger,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them. 38 I will set My throne in Elam, and will destroy from there the king and the princes,’ says the LORD. 39 ‘But it shall come to pass in the latter days: I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ says the LORD.

The one horned goat likely refers to Sunni Islam, more than 80% of Islam, while Shia Islam, whose major nation is the ram of Iran, composes about 15% of Islam. The Sunnis regard the Shias as apostates, and vice-versa. They hate each other passionately. The Turks and Egyptians will likely invade the weakened Iran. Pakistan which is primarily Sunni is likely very concerned about having another nuclear adversary to their west with nuclear India to their east. There will likely be another horn per Daniel 8:8. Is the fourth horn Saudi Arabia with their huge arsenal of American weapons plus nukes from Pakistan, or reconstituted ISIS (Assyria?) perhaps, or another Sunni power? Time will tell. In any event Iran will be significantly weakened, but not likely destroyed by this invasion as they are a key component of the Russo-Muslim invasion of Ezekiel 38 & 39. See Ezekiel 38:5.

After the removal of Iran as a nuclear power, Egypt will invade Israel as the king of the south and Turkey will invade Israel as the king of the north in Daniel 11:40. This invasion is also noted in Ezekiel 30:1-5. The anti-Christ will be in charge of Jerusalem and Israel at this point per Revelation 11:2 “But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.” (NOTE: Most prophecy experts say the final week will be divided into two equal 42 month periods. I do not. I believe there are three separate 42 month periods within Daniel’s final week per Revelation 11:2, and 11:3, and one 1260 day period is the Great Tribulation per Revelation 13:5, 12:6,14 and Daniel 7:25. They overlap, but they are separate.) The final week of Daniel (2,520 days) begins per Daniel 9:27 when the anti-Christ confirms a covenant with Israel. I suspect the modern nation of Israel (Judah per Amos 2:4-5) will then be attacked by the surrounding Muslim nations save Egypt per Amos 1- 2:3. The attacking nations are destroyed, but modern Israel (America, and perhaps England, is listed as Israel in Amos 2:6-16, and as Ephraim in Isaiah 17:3- The fortress will also cease from Ephraim meaning at least America with Isaiah 17:1 referring to Damascus being hit with a nuclear weapon.) suffers catastrophic damage and there is a 2300 day period when per Daniel 8: 13- 14, the sanctuary and the host of Israel is trampled underfoot, i.e. the anti-Christ is in control of Israel, or at least Jerusalem. The host could refer not only to the people of Israel, but also the lost tribes, especially America and Great Britain. This 2300 day period is within the final week of Daniel’s 2520 days. I suspect Israel will utterly destroy the surrounding contiguous Muslim nations save Egypt, but they will suffer so much damage themselves that they will seek a protector. America, the obvious choice, will have massive problems of its own, especially after the rapture of the church. Unfortunately, he will be the anti-Christ, who will guarantee their safety, perhaps by making Jerusalem an international city. He must have sovereignty over at least Jerusalem to put up the idol in its Temple.

The last 1260 days of this 2300 day interval is the Great Tribulation. As the Gentiles will tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months or 1,260 days per Revelation 11:2, and this begins the 2300 days, there will be an overlap of 220 days. On the 1041st day of the 2300, the abomination of desolation will go up and the Great Tribulation will begin. The anti-Christ must lose Jerusalem after 1260 days, or about 220 days after the Great Tribulation begins per Revelation 11:2. For some reason, the Temple cannot be cleansed until thirty days after the Great Tribulation per Daniel 12:11. The image of the beast in Revelation 13:14- 15 perhaps cannot be destroyed till Christ returns- demonic or artificial intelligence or some combination thereof. Zechariah 14:12 notes God will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem. The next verse states then the LORD will go forth to fight against the nations. Hence, the anti-Christ must lose Jerusalem after putting up the abomination of desolation. During the first 1040 days of the 2300, the anti-Christ in Israel will be attacked by Egypt and Turkey (Lydia) per Daniel 11:40. Per Ezekiel 30:5, all the mingled people will also attack Israel. This has been said to refer to the people of Arabia, but I suspect it will also refer to the Muslim refugees to Europe and America and elsewhere. The North African Muslims (Libya) and the black African Muslims (Ethiopia) will also participate per Ezekiel 30:5. Per Isaiah 19:2 the LORD will then cause civil war in Egypt, the anti-Christ takes over per verse 4 And the Egyptians I will give into the hand of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them. In Isaiah 19:5- 9, something happens to the Nile River.

This is elaborated on in Ezekiel 29. Verse 1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt. 3 Speak and say, ‘Thus says the LORD God” “Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, ‘My River is my own; I have made it for myself.’ 4 But I will put hooks in your jaws, and cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales; I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, and all the fish in your rivers will stick to your scales. 5 I will leave you in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers; you shall fall on the open field; you shall not be picked up or gathered. I have given you as food to the beasts of the field and to the birds of the heavens. 6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 7 When they took hold of you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their backs quiver.”

Egypt along with Jordan are the two contiguous nations with the Jewish state who have peace treaties with Israel, but it has been a cold peace though much better since al-Sissi replaced the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi a few years ago. The present Jordanian king has also expressed regrets regarding his peace treaty with Israel that was signed by his father.

8 “‘Therefore thus says the LORD God: “Surely I will bring a sword upon you and cut off from you man and beast. 9 And the land of Egypt shall become desolate and waste; then they will know that I am the LORD, because he said, ‘The River is mine, and I have made it.’ 10 Indeed, therefore, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Ethiopia. (My readings indicate that during the time of Isaiah 740 to 680 BC Cush [Sudan] and Ethiopia were considered the same. This prophecy was given about 588 BC. I suspect they were considered the same still.) 11 Neither foot of man shall pass through it nor foot of beast pass through it, and it shall be uninhabited forty years. 12 I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and among the cities that are laid waste, her cities shall be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.”

So, the fish will be on the shore and Egypt will be unlivable to man and beast for forty years. The Nile River is Egypt! How could this be brought about? Quite easily! In the 1960s, the Russians built the Aswan Dam on the Nile River. The dam is 10,200 feet across and 360 feet tall. The water behind the dam goes up the Nile River 340 miles. The modern name for Syene is Aswan, located just above Egypt’s southern border, with Migdol being in the Nile delta near the Mediterranean Sea. It has been said the only thing that would destroy the Aswan Dam is a nuclear weapon. If the Aswan Dam were nuked, the fish would be on the shore, and Egypt would be uninhabited for forty years. When the anti-Christ takes over, the Egyptians will rebel, and the anti-Christ will nuke the Aswan Dam. Isaiah 19:5 confirms this in referring to Egypt, “… and the River (Nile) will be wasted and dried up.” Verses 6 to 10 also noted that the fishermen mourn and those who require the River’s water for their work.

It is of interest to note in Zechariah 17:16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18 If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

This is curious. I did not think Egypt gets much rain except on the Mediterranean shore. They get most of their water by irrigation from the Nile River. It appears something has happened to the Nile River. Of course, it is likely that Christ in His millennium will return the entire earth to a large garden except for the areas He has cursed, like Babylon and Edom.

After destroying the king of the South’s (Egypt’s) and the king of the North’s (Turkey’s) armies invading Israel, per Daniel 11:40, the anti-Christ will take over Egypt in Daniel 11:42, with the Libyans and Ethiopians following at his heels. In verse 44, news from the east and the north shall trouble him. The east refers to Revelation 16:12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared (This would include China and likely India and others). However, first comes the north.

The news from the north that troubles him is that of the preparation of the Russo-Muslim invasion of Ezekiel 38 and 39. Per 38:1 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set your face against Gog (Putin?), of the land of Magog (Russia?), the prince of Rosh (Russia), Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the LORD God; “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. 5 Persia (its remnant), Ethiopia (black Muslim Africa), and Libya (North African Muslims) are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north (Armenia, part of Turkey) and all its troops- many people are with you. 7 Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them. 8 After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.” (The text reveals they think they are safe, but they are not in reality.) 9 “You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you. 10 ‘Thus says the LORD God, “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan: 11 You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates-“

For most of the history of mankind, villages and cities had walls to protect them. This changed in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, modern Israel built walls at their borders and within their nation to protect themselves from the Palestinian Muslims, from Gaza and Lebanon, and all the other Muslim nations contiguous to them. From this verse, I suspect those walls have been taken down, meaning they are no longer concerned about the nations contiguous to them or the Palestinians within Israel. I suspect most no longer exist as noted earlier.

12 “to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited (The Jews and the lost tribes have returned!), and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land. 13 Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold (Isaiah 60:9), to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’”’ (NOTE: Dedan to me is Saudi Arabia. In effect, they are saying, “Are we next?” Tarshish is Great Britain and all their young lions, their offspring to include the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand per Genesis 48:19) 14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the LORD God: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it? 15 Then you will come from your place out of the far north (Russia), you and many peoples with you , all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. 16 You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.” 17 Thus says the LORD God: “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them? 18 And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the LORD God, “that My fury will show in My face. 19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel’ (Remember Amos 1:1- This is the earthquake 2 years later, and I suspect Revelation 6:12 as well). 20 ‘so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’ 21 I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the LORD God. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23 Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.”’

39:1 “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says the LORD God: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; 2 and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. 3 Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. 4 You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,” says the LORD God. 6 “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands (the USA? England?). Then they shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. 8 Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the LORD God. “This is the day of which I have spoken. 9 Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelin and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years. 10 They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the LORD God. 11 “It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog (the multitude of God). 12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. 13 Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the LORD God. 14 “They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. 15 The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. 16 The name of the city will also be Hamonah (multitude) Thus they shall cleanse the land.”’

I believe the above refers to the destruction of Gog and his army, i.e. the Russo-Muslim invasion of Israel, likely destroyed on the Jewish feast of Trumpets or Passover. This will occur during the first 1040 days of the 2300 before the abomination of desolation goes up. From verse 12, there will be an interval of at least 7 months or 210 days, when Israel is burying the dead of the Russo- Muslim invasion before the Great Tribulation begins. Hence, it must occur before the 831st day of the 1040 before the abomination of desolation goes up. Now Ezekiel telescopes us from the Russo-Muslim army’s destruction on to Armageddon.

17 And as for you, son of man, thus says the LORD God, ‘Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: Assemble yourselves and come; gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs, of goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 You shall eat fat till you are full, and drink blood till you are drunk, at My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you. 20 You shall be filled at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men and with all the men of war,” says the LORD God.

I believe this refers to Armageddon and Christ’s return to reign, likely on Yom Kippur per Daniel 12:11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. (The extra thirty days at the end of the Great Tribulation’s 1260 days are to cleanse the Temple.) 12“Blessed is he who waits and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.” Hanukkah is always 74 to 75 days after Yom Kippur. Hanukkah ends Daniel’s 70th or final week. It will celebrate the removal of the second abomination of desolation just as it celebrated the removal of the first abomination of desolation circa 164 BC. Hanukkah is an eight-day feast.

21 “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. 22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward. 23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them and hidden My face from them.”’ 25 Therefore thus says the LORD God: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name- 26 ‘after they have borne their shame, and all the unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. 27 ‘When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, 28 ‘then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 ‘And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the LORD God.”

I had earlier suggested there will be two 1260 day periods overlapping one another by 220 days. Likely, the destruction of the contiguous nations to Israel will occur after the anti-Christ confirms the treaty with the many per Daniel 9:27. The destruction of these nations will occur shortly before the 2300 days begin. I suspect the anti-Christ will be assassinated (Revelation 13:3) on Passover, likely the first Passover of the rebuilt Jewish Temple. He will mimic Christ and be resurrected on the third day of the feast of Unleavened Bread (Zechariah 11:17). On the next day, the fourth day of Unleavened Bread, the resurrected anti-Christ will put up the abomination of desolation in the Jewish Temple and begin the Great Tribulation. As Unleavened Bread is a seven-day feast, and he sets up the idol on the fourth day, the prophecy of Daniel 9:27 becomes a double prophecy with reference to “in the middle of the week.” It refers to the fourth day of Unleavened Bread and the fourth year of Daniel’s final week, but not the precise middle of Daniel’s final week. The final week would be in 3 portions with the middle portion the Great Tribulation of 1260 days, the third portion going 75 to 82 days as Hanukkah is an 8-day feast. The first portion would be 1260 less 75 to 82 days. Often, but not always, 1260 days after the fourth day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread falls on Yom Kippur.

If the anti-Christ is slain on Passover, I suspect the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3 who will prophesy for 1260 days, during which they will call the Jews and the lost tribes back to Israel, will also be slain on Passover, likely the one after the anti-Christ is slain though perhaps two. They will be resurrected after three and one-half days, or four days after Passover on the Jewish calendar, the fourth day of Unleavened Bread, as when the abomination of desolation was set up, likely now a holiday under the anti-Christ. This would be God’s way of saying to Satan, “You are trying to take one of My feasts. That’ll be the day.” If they were killed on Passover of 2022 (15 April at sunset to 16 April at sunset) in Jerusalem, by my calculations they would come forth to begin their 1260 days on sunset 2 November to sunset 3 November, 2018, in Jerusalem as an example. If they were killed on Passover or sunset 5 April to sunset 6 April in 2023 in Jerusalem, they should appear on about 24 October, 2019.

In the original creation there were twelve months of thirty days each with the moon revolving around the earth every thirty days. We know this from ancient calendars from Japan, China, India, Assyria, Babylon, Israel, Egypt, Rome, Greece, and the Mayans. Circa 701 BC, it changed to a year of 365.2422 days with the moon revolving around the earth every 29.53 days. The cause of this is uncertain.

God gave the Jew seven Mosaic feasts. Six of the seven (excluding Trumpets) require a full moon. Hence, they have a lunar-solar calendar. The Jews alternate months of thirty and twenty-nine days, but this only gives a year of 354 days. Hence, they have a nineteen-year cycle with an extra thirteenth month periodically. This thirteenth month is known as Second Adar with twenty-nine days. They add a day to the twenty-nine-day twelfth month of Adar, and also Second Adar on the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth years of the nineteen-year cycle.

It seems unlikely to me that the anti-Christ would require the whole word to follow the Jewish calendar. However, victorious Muslims often converted churches to mosques. Perhaps, the anti-Christ will take over the Jewish calendar by right of conquest to commemorate the abomination of desolation going up. Per Daniel 7:25 …(he, the anti-Christ) shall intend to change times and law… In any event, according to the Jewish calendar, the two witnesses will be resurrected on the fourth day of the one week Feast of Unleavened Bread. This would be God’s way of saying to Satan, “You want to take one of My feasts for your own. That’ll be the day!”

Structure of Daniel’s Final or Seventieth Week

A Biblical week is composed of seven Biblical years of 360 days each. This is likely divided into three unequal portions. The middle portion is the Great Tribulation which is clearly 1260 days. Per Daniel 9:24, the week is ended with the anointing of the Most Holy. I had thought this would refer to the anointing of Christ but experts say it refers to the anointing of the Temple. It takes thirty days to cleanse the Temple after it has been desecrated, hence, Daniel 9:11 already noted, but I suspect this will be patterned after the first abomination of desolation circa 164 BC. The feast celebrating that removal was Hanukkah, which is always seventy-four or seventy-five days after Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, when I suspect Christ will come to reign. Hanukkah is the Feast of Lights, and certainly Christ’s millennium will be a time of light. It is also known as the Rededication of the Temple, a fitting time for the rededication of the Temple. It is an eight-day feast. I suspect it will go to the eighth, or last day of the feast, but it could be the first day or any of the other six. Presuming it is the eighth day, the three portions would be: #1 1178 days beginning with the confirmation of a treaty with the many (Israel) by the anti-Christ, #2 1260 days- the Great Tribulation beginning with the setting up of the abomination of desolation in the Jerusalem Temple on the fourth day of Unleavened Bread to Yom Kippur 1260 days later, #3 82 days ending on the eighth day of Hanukkah.

Within the final week of 2,520 days are the 2300 days of Daniel 8:13- 14 with the final 1260 days, the Great Tribulation. This ends when Christ appears to reign at Armageddon, ending the 1260 days of the Great Tribulation and also the 2300 day period as well, meaning it would begin on the 139th day of Daniel’s final week. During these first 138 days, the destruction of the all the nations contiguous to Israel save Egypt would likely occur, but the nation of Israel is also severely damaged. Israel would need a protector, and America will be unavailable. She will choose the anti-Christ of Europe to help her. He will take over Jerusalem, or at least the Temple Mount, but perhaps all Israel.

The 2300 days will consist of Revelation 11:2, when the Temple and Jerusalem are given over to the anti-Christ, and the Great Tribulation, when the anti-Christ rules, both of 1260 days. Hence, they will overlap 220 days. On the 1037th day, the anti-Christ will be assassinated on Passover. On the 1040th day, he will be resurrected, though blind in his right eye and having a withered arm per Zechariah 11:17, and on the next day, the fourth day of the one week Feast of Unleavened Bread (in the middle of the week per Daniel 9:27, a double prophecy referring to the fourth day of Unleavened Bread and the fourth year of Daniel’s final week of seven years), he will put up the abomination of desolation in the Jerusalem Temple to begin the Great Tribulation. This will end on Yom Kippur 1260 days later.

During the first 1040 days of the 2300, the invasion of Israel by the king of the south (Egypt) and the king of the north (Turkey) would occur per Daniel 11:40. This would be followed by the Russo-Muslim invasion of Israel. Per Ezekiel 39:14, it will take 210 days to bury the dead from this Ezekiel 38 & 39 invasion. Hence, both invasions would occur during the first 830 days of the 2300.

The third portion of 82 days will follow Yom Kippur’s Armageddon, ending on the eighth day of Hanukkah.

The rapture would likely occur just before or just after the final week of Daniel begins.

Revelation 22:10 relates that Revelation is an open book. Daniel 12:4 relates that Daniel is a closed book till the time of the end. So much of Daniel has been revealed in the last 20 years or so, that I can only wonder if it is now open.