Having summarized (in the October 1998 Christian Shepherd) the history of the Gentile empires to their conclusion, we mark especially that the fourth empire of iron and clay, which was the Roman empire, will be revived in a coming day (after the church is caught away, out of this world). In this revived imperial form, its leader will be the complete expression of diabolical power. Thus possessed by Satan, it will be instigated in rebellion against God and Christ and so be destroyed.
We will remember that in the past history of Israel we saw that when Christ was presented to the Jews at Jerusalem, He was rejected and received only a little band of disciples. He told them that He had come in His Father’s name and that Him they would not receive. If another came in his own name, they would receive that one.
Now, during the coming time of this crisis of the world’s history, when the Roman empire has been revived, the Jews will have been gathered again into their land. However, the majority of them will be there in a condition of apostasy.
Scripture shows that a false Messiah will present himself to them at that time one who will be received by the mass of the Jews and rejected by the little, faithful remnant. This is just the reverse of what took place when our Lord Himself was there.
The false Messiah is the connecting link between the Gentile powers in a state of apostasy and revolt and the Jews in a similar condition.
Christ was presented to Pilate, who represented the fourth kingdom of iron and clay, and to Caiaphas, the high priest, who spiritually represented the Jewish nation in that day. Both united in crucifying Him, being rejected by the mass of Jews and received by the little band of disciples.
The false Messiah will be received by the mass of Jews in this coming day, and he will be recognized by the imperial head of the restored Roman empire. The hearts of the little remnant of Jews who refuse him will pass through a time of unparalleled tribulation. This tribulation is God’s way of training their hearts for the kingdom which is about to be substituted for that revived empire of the Beast.
This false Messiah is introduced in Daniel 11:36-39. Chapters 10-12 of Daniel are occupied with this subject. The Lord Jesus Himself alludes to the prophecy of Daniel 12 when He is instructing the Jewish remnant in Matthew 24.
He says, “Immediately, after... those days... shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven... coming... with power and great glory.” This refers to that coming solemn time of the great tribulation of three and one-half years.
In Daniel 11:36-39 the false Messiah is seen in the eyes of the Jews as “The King.” He does according to his own will, and, exalting himself above every god, he regards not the God of the Jews or the true Messiah. For a time, he speaks against the God of gods and prospers till judgment is accomplished.
In Revelation 13:11 this same person is called “another beast” who comes up “out of the earth” having two horns “like a lamb” (an imitation of Christ) but with a voice like “a dragon.”
In Revelation 16:13-14 we find the three great allies of evil the dragon, the beast and the false prophet through unclean spirits gathering all the kings of the habitable earth to battle in that “great day of the God Almighty.”
In Revelation 19:19-20 Satan’s two great instruments—the beast and the false prophet gather together to make war with the Lamb who is the Lord of lords and King of kings and who is accompanied by His heavenly saints. They are both “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”
But there is yet one link which is wanting in this sad, sorrowful history: How is it that this false Messiah becomes the link between the history of professing Christendom and the Jews at the close of this age and before the ushering in of the blessedness and peace of the millennium?
This brings us to consider the subject of the great Gentile parenthesis, which fills up the space between the time when Israel was the acknowledged earthly people of God and that coming time when they shall be so again.
This subject is the calling of the church. In it is involved the second coming of Christ for His saints, before His manifestation with them to the world in the judgment which we have been partially considering. Also involved in this is the first resurrection. That is the resurrection from among the dead of which Christ was the firstfruits of the saints, “the children of the resurrection.”
This subject is a blessed one, near to the heart of Christ and a secret that was hid in God the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Eph. 3:9-11; 5:32).
F. G. Patterson (adapted)
(to be continued)