(c) Homer Kizer

1.

Daniel’s vision of the he-goat trampling the two-horned ram was for the end of the age (Dan 8:17). It was not for his days, and it was sealed so that it couldn’t be understood (v. 26). Rather, it was for many days in the future, when a king of bold face shall be broken by no human hand (v. 25). And in this vision, the single horn of the king of Greece, an angelic being, is broken, and four horns arise from the stump of the single horn, and from one of these horns arises the king of bold face that will be broken when the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw is broken. Both are broken by no human hand. Both are broken when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ. Both are broken when Death, the 4^th horseman of the Apocalypse (Rev 6:8), is defeated through the public resurrection of the two witnesses (Rev 11:11–12).

The four horns have traditionally been understood to be the four generals who inherited Alexander’s kingdom upon his sudden death. But every traditional understanding or teaching was developed prior to the time of the end, prior to when the prophecy would be unsealed. The prophecy, however, seems fairly straightforward, and seems to be fulfilled by Alexander, the first king of a unified Greece (his father Philip did the unifying). Upon Alexander’s death, his kingdom was divided between his four generals. And therein is how the prophecy was sealed and kept secret until the time of the end. The obvious fulfillment of the prophecy caused physically minded pundits to wrestle with the 2300 days, transforming them into 2300 years, these years concluding in 1967 (there was no year "0"). The transformation of days into years, however, prevented the realization that the visions of Daniel were sealed with their shadow. Alexander was a shadow or type of a spiritual king that is part of Satan’s hierarchy and who is presently at war with the spiritual kings of Persia as rebellion within the old dragon’s administration of disobedience brings about its downfall. This war will have Greek ideals, such as democracy, prevailing over the mental landscape of humanity.

It is easy for an American to conclude that liberty though democracy is the natural yearning of all humanity. Politically conservative radio talk show hosts will affirm that this is so, and certainly, liberty is the yearning of those cultures that have been historically governed by Greek ideals. But all of humanity has been consigned to disobedience so that God can have mercy on all (Rom 11:32). All of humanity has been given to the prince of the power of the air, who reigns over the mental topography of humanity by controlling those yearnings that seem "natural." Human nature is a received nature, and is not the product of biology, as evidenced by King Nebuchadnezzar receiving the nature of a beast for seven years. For these years the king’s thoughts were those of an ox, not those of a conquering monarch. Likewise, the great apes share 99% of humanity’s DNA, and have demonstrated some ability to learn human languages. Yet the gulf between so-called human nature and the nature of apes is a rift valley far too wide to bridge with suspended cables supporting steel

girders. The evolutionary missing link is less biological than it is the separate natures given to humankind, created in the image and likeness of Elohim, and to beasts, created after their own kind. And that is the link: a human being consigned to disobedience is the spiritually lifeless corpse of one like the Son of Man, whose nature will become that of Christ Jesus. Prior to birth-from-above, a descriptive expression for receiving life from the receipt of the Holy Spirit [Pnuema ’Agion, or Breath Holy], a physically living human being is a spiritual corpse in the same way that a dead person is a physical corpse. And the nature of the corpse who has received life-from-above—the spiritual equivalency of "human nature"—will be, or become fully that of Christ Jesus when this child of God puts on incorruptibility. But this child will not put on an incorruptible body if the old self isn’t crucified and if a new self doesn’t mature in the tabernacle of flesh (i.e., in the same physical body) to which spiritual life was imparted. The development of the nature or mind of Christ must occur while the child of God lives in a body that is subject to death and decay. The child of God must actively reject his or her human nature that has been consigned to disobedience, this rejection being expressed in the euphemistic expression of crucifying the old man. The child of God’s human nature must die, for this nature is part of the physical creation, all of which has been placed in subjection to death. And the ongoing action of rejecting the impulses and desires of a child of God’s human nature spurs the development of the mind of Christ.

Thus, the natural yearning of all humankind is disobedience to God, with liberty though democracy being only one form of disobedience. Democracy wasn’t ordained by God, but exists as a quiet manifestation of mob rule. Democracy codifies rebellion against God, and presents this rebellion in a tolerable image. But when undressed, democracy is nothing more than the majority of the governed determining right and wrong, good and evil for themselves. As long as this majority agrees with God, the nation appears righteous. No national rebellion against God is detected. But as soon as the majority disagrees with God, then rebellion rears its ugly head as a horse with its bit between its teeth.

Therein lies the problem: Adam in the Garden took to himself knowledge of good and evil and become like God (Gen 3:22), able to determine for himself what is good and what is evil, but he took to himself a prerogative that was not his. Children are to honor their parents, not to judge their parents. The children of God are to honor their parents with obedience to both Father and Mother. They are to honor the last Adam and the last Eve. Unfortunately, the last Eve has become like King Solomon’s harem, and the children of God have become like the children of these many wives, each vying for control of the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Solomon’s wives turn the heart of the king away from God. For all of his wisdom, Solomon lost what should have been most precious to him; i.e., his obedience to God.

In the garden of God, Adam voted with his mouth, choose disobedience over obedience, then blamed the woman for his choice. When his only covering for sin was his obedience to God, Adam undressed himself by removing this cloak of obedience. And from his disobedience, sin and death entered the world (Rom 5:12). Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4), and rebellion against God is nothing more than determining for oneself good and evil. Rebellion is marrying foreign wives—women "from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, ‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods’" (1 Kings 11:2). As Eve turned the first Adam’s heart away from God, so too did the many wives of Solomon turn his heart away from God. And the spiritual daughters of these foreign wives today comprise the last Eve, who will turn the heart of her firstborn son away from God 2300 days before Christ returns.

The insidiousness of taking onto oneself the knowledge of good and evil doesn’t appear evil as long as the person agrees with God: no rebellion is detected although rebellion exists through judging whether God’s determination of good and evil is valid. This is how iniquity went undetected in an anointed cherub for long enough that this cherub could drag down a third of the angels. As long as the person (or in the case of the anointed cherub, Satan) agrees with the law or commandment of God, the person will support God. But the moment disagreement arises, the person will set his or her opinion or determination ahead of God’s, thereby breaking the commandments. Therefore, a person is a rebel against God if the person determines that he or she will obey God. In what seems a contradiction, the act of choosing to obey is rebellion. Obedience is the given. Obedience is not a choice. To make obedience a choice permits the determination of not obeying. A person has no vote in this matter. All sons of God have only the prerogative of obeying, or rebelling. They do not have the prerogative of judging the law, or deciding whether they will obey or not, or deciding to partially obey. Obedience is a linguistic absolute. It either exists as a state, or it doesn’t. Willfully keeping only nine of ten commandments is rebellion against God.

The wages of sin or lawlessness is death (Rom 6:23). Determining whether a person will obey God breaks the first and the fifth commandments regardless of what that determination is. The underlying construct of "decision theology" (as taught by Billy Graham and other Evangelical theologians) is lawlessness through rebellion against God. Thus, to make a decision for Jesus causes the one making the decision to choose death over life. This decision, though, is today covered by Grace, the cloak of Christ’s righteousness. For every disciple must make the decision to leave the world and to crucify the old self. But once spiritually circumcised descendants of Abraham are liberated from bondage to sin when the Son of Man is revealed—the phenomenon that begins the seven, endtime years of tribulation—every disciple will be as Adam was, covered by his or her own obedience to God. To then determine whether the person will obey God will cause the person to attempt to enter God’s rest on the following day. To determine whether the disciple will obey God is unbelief that will always manifest itself as disobedience. This son of God (gender neutral) will marry a daughter of Pharaoh, just as Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, just as Ishmael married an Egyptian. And this son of God will settle in a spiritual topography that is analogous to the Sinai Peninsula. Using the metaphor that the Apostle Paul used, this son of God will adopt Hagar as his or her mother, thereby returning the disciple to being a son of bondage. And upon this disciple, God will send a great delusion for this disciple did not love the truth, but rather, decided to determine what is truth for him or herself. This disciple loved his or her human nature enough to resurrect disobedience from its grave.

Disciples obey the commandments of because God declared these commandments as the physical representation of the law received through receipt of the Holy Spirit, and life-from-above. When receiving life in the heavenly realm, angels received obedience to the law of God as their natural desire. This law was within them—until they listened to an anointed cherub in whom was found iniquity or lawlessness (Ezek 28:15), a cherub that convinced rebelling angels that they could determine for themselves what was right and what was wrong. Figuratively, the ideological firstborn son of this anointed cherub was democracy.

Satan appears as a disguised angel of light; he appears righteous, as do his servants. He doesn’t appear "evil," as he has been portrayed in Christian literature. And until iniquity manifested itself in the heavenly realm, he appeared righteous to other angels. His ideas seemed good, for he was full of wisdom (Ezek 28:12). Today, his ideals seem desirable to the descendants of the first Adam and the first Eve, who ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Self-determination of one’s government seems most desirable.

But once an angel determined for itself right and wrong, and to whom the angel would submit, the angel rebelled against God. War was fought, and these rebelling angels were cast, bound, into outer darkness. These angels became as the two thieves on Calvary were, guilty of lawlessness, imprisoned [i.e., nailed to the cross], and awaiting their slow deaths through the loss of their breaths. Glorified saints, who also were subjected to Satan’s broadcast of lawlessness but who overcame the broadcast, will judge these fallen angels, imprisoned in time, in death. Judgment for these angels will come before this death chamber that is the present earth and the present heavens are baptized with fire. If mercy is not given to a fallen angel, this angel will perish in the lake of fire. Satan will perish. Flames will come out of his belly and he shall be ashes under the feet of the saints (Ezek 28:18–19), written in past tense for from the perspective of the timeless heavenly realm, this event has already happened, just as saints have already been glorified (Rom 8:29–30).

There is nothing "natural" about human nature. Until a person is born-from-above, the person has a nature received from the prince of disobedience, the old dragon that has deceived the whole world. Reigning under this disguised angel of light and over the appetites of humanity is the spiritual king of Greece. But between the prince of disobedience and the king of Greece are the kings [sars] of Persia, who recently decided to push against the Greek federation. And their pushing brought about real war in the heavenly realm, a situation that cannot continue. But as this war is being fought, subtle victories will be won by the great horn of the king of Greece. The "line" [i.e., vertical line] will prevail over the "edge," the horse and the male form over the female form. Clarity, order, proportion, balance will prevail over softness, murkiness and the formlessness of meditation. Again, the battlefield over which the king of Greece fights is the mental topography of every person in every nation worldwide. And this spiritual king, with unified Athenian and Spartan values, will win in a decade or so just as Alexander defeated the Persians, for this spiritual king presently employs the military might of America in its spread of democracy, liberty, and individual rights. But when this spiritual king has defeated the kings of Persia, its first horn will be suddenly broken, the event that begins the seven, endtime years of tribulation. This horn will be broken because it is the firstborn of the spiritual king of Greece. It will be broken when all firstborns, spiritual and physical, not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God are given as ransom for the liberation of spiritual Israel from bondage to sin or lawlessness.

Again, from the perspective of the timeless heavenly realm, Babylon has already fallen. Satan is no more. The younger siblings of Christ Jesus have been glorified. God can see the end of a matter from its beginning, for time and its passage only exists inside the creation. Therefore, the Logos saw Satan fall (Luke 10:18) before He entered His creation as His son, His only (John 3:16). He saw the spiritual king of Babylon cast into time (Rev 12:9) before He was born as the man Jesus of Nazareth. Thus, when Satan offered to give Him the kingdoms of the world if He would worship Satan, Jesus knew first that those kingdoms were then Satan’s to give, but He also knew that they would not remain Satan’s. The Son of Man was in the unique position of knowing how the course of affairs would end. And to His friends, He has given this same knowledge although the details were kept sealed until the end of the age when knowing the conclusion of the matter determines life or death—when Grace will no longer cover lawlessness.

The parallel holds: Jesus’ only covering for sin was His obedience to His Father. He had no other covering. His baptism was to fulfill all righteousness, and His three and a half year ministry begins with His baptism and the Holy Spirit descending as a dove. These three and a half years complete the midweek cutting off of the anointed one in the seventieth week. The other half of His "week" long ministry (Dan 9:27) will begin with the liberation of the spiritually firstborn son of God from bondage to sin through empowerment by the Holy Spirit. No longer will there be a need for sacrifice and offering; no longer will there be a need for Grace. The spiritually firstborn son of God’s only covering for sin will be his obedience, this obedience made possible through the Holy Spirit, during the first half of seven, endtime years of tribulation. Thus, Jesus’ earthly ministry becomes the shadow of His endtime spiritual ministry, with the two witnesses now serving on earth as the two olive trees, the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord (Zech 4:14).

The anointed one in the prophet’s Daniel’s seventy week vision is cut off midweek, and prophecy pundits have had no good explanation for the intervening millennia. The explanation returns to what Jesus represents in the plan of God: He is the paschal Lamb of God, a Lamb appropriate to the size of the household of God. He was slain or sacrificed on Calvary when the Passover lamb was traditionally killed. He entered the grave when the roasting of the Passover lamb would have begun. And the spiritually circumcised nation of Israel has been like the physically circumcised nation in Egypt as that physical nation roasted and ate the lamb with their shoes on, their loins girded, and their staffs in their hands. The taking of the sacraments is the eating of the Lamb. The continual expectation of Christ Jesus’ eminent return has been eating while fully clothed and ready to leave Egypt. And the passing of the death angel throughout Egypt at the midnight hour is the physical equivalent of the phenomenon that begins the seven, endtime years of tribulation. For the past two millennia, humanity has lived in spiritual darkness (John 12:35), has lived through the first six hours of one single night in the seventieth week. At the soon-to-come spiritual midnight hour, the passing of the death angels through spiritual Babylon will leave all firstborns not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God dead. This includes all spiritually circumcised Israelites who have left their houses, or who haven’t covered doorways and lintels with the blood of the paschal lamb, for they are the firstborn of God. Taking the sacraments on Passover is the spiritual equivalent of smearing blood on physical door posts and lintels..

With the midweek death of Christ Jesus at Calvary following His three and a half year ministry, humanity entered spiritual darkness—and humanity remains in this single spiritual night until the death angels pass throughout Babylon at the midnight hour. The remaining half week of the seventieth week occurs during the first half of the seven endtime years of tribulation. Thus, Jesus’ earthly ministry (i.e., His three and a half years in Judea) forms the shadow of, or type of His endtime ministry as a life-giving spirit. The spiritual reality of the type is, then, the three and a half years that the glorified Christ ministers to spiritual Israel after this holy nation is revealed as the Body of the Son of Man. The empowerment by the Holy Spirit of the 120 on Pentecost (Acts chptr 2) becomes the antetype of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon all flesh after these three and a half years.

One physical shadow (the first Adam, for example) represents two spiritual phenomena, the first phenomenon being spirit-in-flesh (Jesus during his earthly ministry), and the second being spirit-in-spirit (Jesus’ endtime spiritual ministry; Jesus as a life-giving spirit). Thus, the shadow is the antetype of the spirit-in-spirit reality. The spirit-in-flesh is now the type of the one reality. So the empowerment of the 120 by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) saw physical tongues of fire surround and empower those assembled together on that day of Pentecost. This is the shadow or antetype of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon all flesh as described by the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28), which doesn’t occur until the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ (Rev 11:15; Dan 7:9–14); which doesn’t occur until Satan is cast from heaven (Rev 12:9–10). The type of this empowerment by the Holy Spirit is, now, the liberation of the spiritually circumcised descendants of Abraham from bondage to sin when death angels pass throughout Babylon, slaying firstborns not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God. And the seventy weeks end when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ halfway through the seven endtime years of tribulation. What is inserted, from a human perspective, in these seventy weeks is one very long spiritual night, a night of two millennia duration.

The concept should now be firmly established: the physical precedes the spiritual, and the visible reveals the invisible. The circumcised nation of Israel’s going down to Egypt and becoming bondservants of Pharaoh, followed by the nation’s liberation and journey to Judea is the antetype of humanity being consigned to disobedience so that God can have mercy upon all (Rom 11:32). Having mercy becomes the spiritual reality of physically circumcised Israel's liberation from physical bondage; having mercy is God liberating humanity from bondage to disobedience. The intervening type is the spiritually circumcised nation being liberated first in the mind, then in the body.

Again, antetype, type, reality—the basis for understanding what Jesus knew when He overcame Satan. A physically uncircumcised nation (the children born in the Wilderness) crossed the Jordan to enter God’s rest, where they were circumcised before the Passover. They are the antetype of a spiritually uncircumcised nation born-from-above during the first half of the seven, endtime years. This is the nation empowered by the Holy Spirit when Satan is cast from heaven and can no longer reign as the prince of the power of the air; this is the nation that will call upon God’s name, and that God will identify as His people (Zech 13:9). This is the nation representing a spiritual Seth. This is the nation about which Jesus said, All who endure to the end shall be saved (Matt 24:13). This is the nation that will be accepted by God after the glorified Jesus completes the seventieth week, completes His week of ministry. This is the nation that will enter God’s rest, which is first the weekly Sabbath, then His Millennium reign, then is glorification.

John’s baptism with water is analogous to the earth’s baptism by the Flood of Noah’s day. Both are baptisms into death, the antetype of baptism by Spirit and by fire, the baptisms of Christ Jesus (Matt 3:11), the baptisms into spiritual life, first in the flesh, then in a glorious body. Thus, the ministration of death was the giving of the law as tablets of stone. The ministration of life is now the giving of the law in first tabernacles of flesh, then in incorruptible tabernacles. Whereas the physically uncircumcised nation entered God’s rest on the 10^th of the first month, and was circumcised and had healed by Passover, the spiritually uncircumcised nation entered Jerusalem with Jesus on the 10^th of the first month and was spiritually circumcised when the glorified Jesus breathed on ten of His disciples and said, Receive the Holy Spirit [Pneuma ’Agion or Breath Holy] (John 20:22). This spiritually circumcised nation has since grown large. During the six long hours of spiritual darkness between when the Lamb was sacrificed and when death angels will pass over spiritual Babylon—Jesus was sacrificed from the foundation of the world; hence these six hours represent six days and six thousand years—the spiritually circumcised nation has awaited liberation. This nation has prayed to God for deliverance, and its prayers have been heard. Deliverance will momentarily occur. But this nation doesn’t know for what it has prayed. Deliverance will mean that this nation must quickly walk from Egypt to Judea, where it will enter God’s rest, and begin to live as spiritually circumcised Judeans. Unfortunately, except for a Joshua and a Caleb, this nation will, because of its unbelief, rebel against God and will receive spiritual death in a still physically living body of flesh. This death comes from God sending a great delusion over those who do not love the truth enough to walk uprightly before Him when their only covering for sin is their obedience.

The greater Christian Church is the spiritually circumcised type of the physically circumcised antetype holy nation that rebelled against God because of its unbelief, then tried to enter God’s rest on the following day (Heb 3:19 & 4:6; Ps 95:10–11; Num 14:11, 35, 40–41). The rebellion when Satan is loosed for a short time at the end of Christ’s millennial reign is the reality of both antetype and type rebellions, the first in the geographical Wilderness of Sin and the second in the spiritual wilderness of sin during the Tribulation. Therefore, during the last half week of the seventieth week (i.e., the first half of the seven, endtime years of tribulation), the glorified Jesus will be to the spiritually circumcised nation [i.e., the Church] as the physical Jesus was to the Pharisees and Sadducees during His earthly ministry. The two witnesses are, again, during the first half of the Tribulation the physical spokespersons for the glorified Jesus: they are the two olive trees who stand by the Lord of the whole earth. They are the two witnesses who publicly establish the defeat of Death. And the power they have comes from them being actual representatives for the glorified Christ.

2.

Sealing a vision implies that an unsealing will occur after the passing of many days (by extension, at the end of the age). This unsealing couldn’t occur in the 2^nd Century BCE, when the Greek reign over Judea was broken. Also, it couldn’t occur in the 16^th, 17^th, 18^th, 19^th, or 20^th Centuries. The time of the end didn’t arrived in 1843, or in 1927, ’37, ’47, ’57, or ’67. Prophecy pundits teach the prevailing dogma of Protestant theologians, who accepted as an article of faith that the Roman Church was the great whore of Babylon. The acceptance of this dogma has legs long enough that any contrary teaching has no creditability. These protesting theologians gull spiritual infants with detailed explanations of Daniel’s visions, all the while understanding nothing themselves. They make the drunk priests of the prophet Isaiah’s day appear as pillars of understanding. They deceive and are deceived, and like carnival barkers, they have bilked tithes and offerings from generations of sincere disciples.

The seals, however, have been removed. Humanity presently lives in the time of the end. And the visions of Daniel reveal why "old Europe" opposed American intervention in Iraq, why the established news media opposed the zeal of an Evangelical President, why a realignment of power has occurred, why conservative news commentators such as Rush Limbaugh sense humanity entering an age of individual liberty such as the world has never experienced. The he-goat that flew out of the west (Dan chptr 8) is in the process of trampling the two-horned ram that formerly ruled over the mental topography of the world. Both ram and he-goat are powerful demon alliances within the reigning hierarchy of spiritual Babylon. But the great horn of the king of Greece, like its shadow Alexander, will prevail, thereby creating a brief period of what will seem to be America’s conquest of world public opinion.

Again, as American/Greek values prevail throughout the world, democracy will rule supreme, momentarily. For as soon as the great horn of the king of Greece defeats the kings of Persia, this horn will be broken. And the breaking of this horn—the death of an angelic being, what the spiritual king of Babylon has been telling his cohorts is not possible—is the event that triggers seven endtime years of tribulation.

Babylon’s hierarchy appears as a man, and God will deliver a blow below the belt when He liberates the spiritually circumcised descendants of Abraham. He breaks the erect great horn where the bronze loins diverge from the bronze belly. He will ransom the firstborn of Babylon, spiritual as well as physical, to deliver the descendants of Abraham from lawlessness. As God ransomed the firstborn of Egypt to deliver circumcised Israel from bondage to Pharaoh (Isa 43:3–4), so too will God give the lives of men and of at least one powerful angelic being to deliver spiritually circumcised Israel from bondage to sin.

With the breaking the great horn of the king of Greece, a third of humanity will die as the Body of the Son of Man is revealed to be a spiritual Cain. The world will experience a sudden labor pain of such severity that Babylon staggers like a punch-drunk fighter who has been hit one too many times. Babylon is going down, but its fall takes three and a half years as the last Eve delivers two sons, this Cain and an Abel, in the first year of the seven endtime years. It is her labor pains that the world feels as she ultimately delivers three spiritual sons, with the delivery of the third son [Seth] occurring half way through these endtime years of tribulation. And this is what prophecy pundits couldn’t know until the time of the end.

Jesus’ words of patient endurance is the good news that the third son of the last Eve, born-from-above when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon all flesh, will be saved through enduring to the end. But when born anew, this spiritual Seth will have already seen more death than is today imaginable. Two of every three human beings will have either physically or spiritually died. This son will hate death so much that this son will keep the laws of God as a matter of course, for the wages of sin or lawlessness is death. Therefore, enduring to the end will mean, for this third son, living by faith, believing that God will provide the essentials necessary for life. The ripening of the fields (with disciples as grains of wheat) will then become the exercise of seeking the righteousness of God by faith.

During the first half of the seven endtime years of tribulation, Sin and Death, presently together as two kings that reign in the flesh of disciples (Rom 7:25), separate and actually make war against one another in the manner that the Seleucids fought the Ptolemies for control of Jerusalem. Because Jesus spoke in figurative language and because what Scripture records is actually this figurative language, the temple in Jerusalem serves as a metonymic representation of the fleshy tabernacle of every disciple. The Ptolemies, the king of the South, the king of Egypt or sin, controlled Judea for most of the years following the division of Alexander’s Empire. Only for two decades or so did the Seleucids reign over this holy landscape before physical sons of light broke their tyrannical rule. The physical king of the North, Antiochus Epiphanes, the shadow of the spiritual king of death or darkness, set up the abomination that makes desolates (the statue of Zeus) in the Holy of holies. But light repels darkness. Life defeats Death, the fourth horseman, of the Apocalypse.

In His Olivet discourse, Jesus said the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel occurs at the time of the end (Matt 24:15). The Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes can only be a shadow or the antetype of an endtime reality—and the endtime abomination that makes desolates is the lawless one who comes by the workings of Satan (2 Thess 2:3–10). This lawless one is the king of bold countenance that is the little horn on the head of the fourth beast of Daniel chapter 7, the little horn that uproots three existing horns. And it is this little horn who attempts to change times and the law (v. 25), and into whose hand the holy ones are delivered prior to their liberation by one like a son of man.

The holy ones are delivered into the hand of the king of bold countenance for a time, times and half a time (i.e., three and a half years). But after this period, the Court of the Ancient One shall sit in judgment, and shall take dominion from the four beasts. The kingdom of the world will be given over to the saints, while the body of the fourth beast is given over to be burned. This fourth beast is dealt a deadly wound, but this wound heals, and all the world marvels.

Death will be dealt a deadly wound when the two witnesses are publicly resurrected, and when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon all flesh, thereby imparting spiritual life to all human beings. Death rides a pale horse: he is the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse. In John’s vision, entities appear as they function in the plan of God. The glorified Christ appears as a Lamb, for He functions as the sacrificial paschal Lamb of God. The seven spirits that roam the earth function as Christ’s eyes; thus, they appear as eyes on the Lamb. Likewise, the fourth beast of Daniel chapter 7 functions as death in the plan of God, so this beast appears as Death. But how does the absence of life appear? This absence can only be described through its absence. Therefore, this fourth beast is named, and only described through the appearance of its image (chi xi stigma, or the tattoo [stigma] of Christ’s [chi] cross [xi]). Its description is deliberately omitted when Daniel records his vision concerning the four beasts.

Life was given to the first Adam when Elohim breathed into his nostrils. Crucifixion kills by slowly taking that breath of life. As the crucified person weakens, the person is no longer able to raise the body high enough to breathe. Thus, the cross serves as an apt symbol for death by suffocation. When now coupled to Jesus of Nazareth’s death at Calvary, the cross becomes the personification of Death. The cross is not an icon conveying the concept of "life," but of death. And this fourth beast is frightening and terrible and devours all life.

Again, Death will be defeated—has been defeated. But there has been only one person who has defeated Death. A thing is established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Therefore, the public resurrection of the two witnesses will establish Death’s defeat in fact, whereas today, disciples believe Death has been defeated through faith.

Traditional Protestant dogma identifies the great whore that rides the beast (Rev chptr 17) as the Roman Church, but within John’s vision, this woman is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth (v. 18). This great city is Babylon, the image Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision, fallen in the 17^th chapter. She is the soiled help-mate of Satan, the spiritual king of Babylon (Isa 14:4–21) who will then have been cast from heaven (Rev 12:9) and can no longer reign over humanity as the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2). The Roman Church will be no more. The Holy Spirit will have been poured out upon all flesh. Humanity will be divided between those born-from-above disciples who have accepted the mark of the beast and those who will not take this mark of death. Thus, even though dealt a mortal wound, Death will be given life by the antiChrist, Satan himself after being cast from heaven.

For the spiritual Seth, the third son of the last Eve, born-from-above when Satan is cast into time, Babylon will have the perverse attraction of beauty and ugliness, of sensual desire and death. If a person attempts to save his or her physical life by taking the mark of death, the person will not have endured to the end. The person will die. The person will make him or herself into a spiritual descendant of Esau, or of Ishmael. So the great whore appears in John’s vision as how fallen Babylon will function in God’s plan.

Biblical prophecy is about two kingdoms, one of which reigns over humanity from the heavenly realm and one that is about to come to power. The prevailing kingdom is Babylon, the kingdom of disobedience to which God consigned all human beings so that He could have mercy on all. The second kingdom, presently hidden in time under the cloak of Christ Jesus’ righteousness—this righteousness a garment as bright as the sun (Rev 12:1)—will be revealed (Luke 17:26–30) at the end of the age. Because only one kingdom can reign at any moment, and because the kingdom of the world doesn’t become the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ until Death, the fourth beast, is defeated, sons of God will be delivered into the hand of the man of perdition for a time, times, and half a time. They will be as Cain and Abel were, with some marking themselves for the second death, and with some becoming sacrificial lambs for the multitude of human beings that would not otherwise come to Christ Jesus. Those who seek to save physical lives will lose their spiritual lives. Those who value righteousness more than their breath will be glorified. Their blood will cry out from the ground as does the blood of the souls under the altar (Rev 6:9–11).

Because of Adam’s transgression and humanity’s consignment to sin, death reigned from Adam to Moses—the wages of sin is death. But sin was not counted as sin where no law existed even though all died (Rom 5:12–14). Thus, receipt of the law, whether through hearing with the ears or from the law being written on hearts and minds, imparts accountability to the receiver. Said in other words, receipt of the law is supposed to start an inner rebellion against lawlessness [sin] and by extension, against Death. So only after Israel received the commandments was sin counted against Israel, and only when sin is reckoned as sin does judgment occur. Judgment follows death (Heb 9:27), with the grave standing between the two for the mass of humanity that has died without receiving the law. But for born-from-above disciples, baptism serves as the literal death of the old self, for judgment is today upon the household of God (1 Pet 4:17). This judgment is upon the new man or self born-from-above through receipt of the Holy Spirit into the fleshy tabernacle of the old self. Likewise, since God is not a respecter of persons, judgment comes upon the mass of humanity who has never known the law following resurrection and birth-from-above. This is the great White Throne Judgment.

The Apostle Paul writes,

Their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them—a war occurs in every person’s mind. The person knows whether he or she did what the person knew was right. If the person did what the person knew was wrong, the person is a hypocrite. And no hypocrite will enter the kingdom of heaven, for their righteousness does not exceed that of the Pharisees (Matt 5:20), who had the law but did not keep it (John 7:19). Therefore, the disciple today who has the laws of God written on his or her heart and mind will be judged by those laws, and by whether the disciple did, according to those laws, what the disciple knew was right.

Death reigns over the flesh of all men. No flesh will ever leave the creation; no one will be bodily raptured to heaven (a pre-Trib bodily Rapture of saints is a doctrine of demons, and perhaps the worst faith-killer that prince of the power of the air has ever devised). The corruptible must put on incorruptibility to cross dimensions—and crossing dimensions is what entering heaven is about. Thus, Death is confined to the creation.

The timelessness of the heavenly realm doesn’t permit the presence of life to co-exist with the absence of life. Change must occur. Timelessness doesn’t permit changes that are not compatible with what is, or with what exists at the moment, for in the heavenly realm the moment is everlasting. Change, however, is the abiding characteristic of time as one moment becomes the next moment. Thus, the presence of life in this moment can become the absence of life in the next moment. Every creature within time is assured that the moment will come when the absence of life will occur. This also includes spiritual beings that have been bound in time. Therefore, the metaphors of light and darkness represent Life and Death, and the heavenly realm as opposed to the physical realm. The creation is spiritually lifeless; it is dead, and the domain of Death. The ministration of death is receipt of the law without receipt of spiritual life. Judgment now occurs under the law, but because no spiritual life exists, there is none to lose. A person cannot lose what the person has never received. However, the born-from-above disciple who is an unprofitable and slothful servant can lose the glorified body the disciple has not yet received, for receipt of the Holy Spirit imparts actual life in the spiritual realm.

Growth requires change, requires the passage of time. Going from immaturity to maturity requires the type of changing that is characteristic of time. Disciples will not be glorified as "baby gods," as was taught by Herbert Armstrong. Rather, disciples are today the children of God, faced daily with those situations that produce mental or spiritual growth. Likewise, that portion of humanity which has not yet received birth-from-above is also facing situations that produce mental maturing, situations that compel the person to choose between doing what the person knows is right and what the person knows is wrong. These are the conflicting thoughts about which the Apostle Paul writes. And the person who chooses to do what the person knows is right and good demonstrates that the person is governed by natural law. This person need not fear resurrection and judgment. But the person who knew to do right, whether by natural law or through receipt of the laws of God, and chose to do evil stands condemned before God.

The firstborn son of Adam was Cain, who received upon himself the visible mark of death for murdering his righteous younger brother. The firstborn son of the last Adam will also, when revealed at the beginning of the seven, endtime years of tribulation, physically murder his younger brother. In addition, he will murder the new self dwelling within the same tabernacle of flesh as his old self, for Sin’s desire has been from the beginning the death of this firstborn son. Sin has lurked at his door. And this son, who would be accepted if he did well, will not rule over Sin through doing what this son knows is right. Rather, this son will take upon himself the mark of the beast, the mark of Death, the tattoo of the Cross. When liberated from bondage to lawlessness, this son will return to Sin just as the nation that left bondage to Pharaoh desired to return to Egypt. The allure of Sin and Death is the allure of Babylon, the scarlet whore drunk on the blood of saints. Thus, Sin and Death, separated for a time, times and a half a time, shall again be together in the personage of fallen Babylon. They shall, during the second half of the Tribulation, have no dominion of their own. Their reign for forty-two months will be through usurping the authority of Christ Jesus.

Once the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ, there will be no authority to reign except that of Christ Jesus. Yet the first three beasts of Daniel chapter 7 will have theirs lives extended for a season and a time. They have their lives, but no dominion. And Satan, cast from heaven, will come claiming to be the Christ, thereby usurping the authority to reign that then rightfully belongs to Christ Jesus. The antiChrist will not seem to oppose Christ, but will come claiming to be the glorified Jesus. Thus, Satan as the spiritual reality of the antiChrist—the man of perdition who proclaimed himself god thirty days before Satan is cast from heaven was only the type of Satan himself—gives his usurped authority to reign over humanity to the three beasts who lives have been extended. These three beasts are the first three horsemen of the Apocalypse.

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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."