Sun.’s Devo - God’s Plan for the End

Read: Daniel 11:36-12:13; 1 John 4:1-21; Psalm 123:1-4; Provers 29:2-4 Daniel continues his description of the Antichrist. He is referring to Antiochus and also the last Antichrist who is yet to come. This man will exalt himself and claim to be greater than any other god. He will blasphemy Yahweh and have no respect for the gods of his ancestors, or the god loved by women, or any other god. In the culture of the Greeks, the women worshipped the god of Venus but Antiochus took up Roman gods and worshiped gods of forces. This morphed into the worship of saints like St. Christopher who they claimed could protect you, and all the other saints who had different jobs. Verses 40-44 deals with a war between the north and the south. This was not done to this extent during the first antichrist, Antiochus so it has to do with the last Antichrist. When the time of the exploit of the Antichrist are over, Michael, Israel’s defender will stand up. We are all Israel if we are in Christ. At this time, God will rescue his people. This could be the Rapture. Daniel was told to seal up the rest of what will happen in a book and keep it a secret until the time of the end. Daniel then saw two angels standing on both sides of the Tigris River and a man in linen suspended over it. The one of the angels asked the man in linen how long it would be until these shocking events were over. The man in linen raised both his hands to heaven and swore by God that it would go on for a time, times, and half a time. Daniel didn’t understand what he meant so he asked how it would all end. The man in linen told him to go for now and what was kept secret and sealed would be opened in the end. God’s people would be purified by these trials, but the wicked would continue in their wickedness and they would not understand what the Bible says about them. Only the wise would understand. He did tell Daniel that it would start when the daily sacrifice was stopped and the sacrilegious object that causes desecration was set up. Starting there would be 1,290 days. And the ones who wait and remain until the end of the 1,335 days will be blessed. From the time that Antiochus Epiphanes offered the pig on the altar and stopped the daily sacrifices till the day Judas Maccabeus restored the worship of God was 1,290 days. Forty-five days later, Antiochus died making it 1,335 days. These numbers are repeated all throughout history. We should expect to see these days repeated as John told us that many antichrists would appear. “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”(1 John 2:18) “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” (1 John 4:3) “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” (2 John 1:7) We read about the antichrist in today’s reading in First John. A false prophet in the New Testament is not the same as one in the Old. In the Old Testament a prophet was confirmed by his words and if they came to pass. Some prophets’ words didn’t manifest until they were long gone. In the New Testament, the litmus test of a true prophet is if they claim that Jesus came in the flesh and had the Spirit of God. We can know if a person has the Spirit of God if he listens to the truth and accepts it. If he refuses to listen to truth then he has a spirit of deception. If we have the Spirit of God then we have his love and can give it to others. God’s love has no fear. If we are afraid of being punished by God then his love is not perfected in us yet. We love others because he loved us first. We need to understand and embrace his love for us before we can truly give it to others. Lord, help us to understand your love for us and throw off condemnation that is not of you. May we embrace your love and give it to others as you have loved us.