BBP: 15 The Surprising! Significance of Antichrist’s Religious Covenant for the Last Generation Church

Chapter 15

The Surprising! Significance of Antichrist’s Religious Covenant for the Last Generation Church

It begins God’s 7-year countdown to Christ’s Return

Contents

A) The 8 times Scripture says The Greatest Persecution will last exactly 1,260 days

B) God’s desire for the Last Generation Church to know the exact day Christ will Return

C) Refuting the objections

Primary points

• Scripture clearly states 6 times that The Greatest Persecution will last exactly 3.5 Jewish years.
• God wants the Last Generation Church to know exactly when The Greatest Persecution will end, and when Christ’s Return and the Church’s Rescue will occur.
• When the Last Generation Church sees Antichrist’s Claim to be God, it can know that this begins a 3.5 year countdown (or 42 months or 1,260 days) to the very day that Christ’s Return and the Church’s Rescue will occur!
• Even before that, when Antichrist’s Religious Covenant is implemented, Christians will know that Christ’s Return and the Church’s Rescue will occur exactly 7 years (2,520 days) later!
• A supposed objection to these conclusions is based on wrongly interpreting Christ’s statement that, “But about that day or hour [of His Return, cf. vs. 29-31] no one knows [present tense 2000 years ago]” (Matt 24:36). This does not mean “no one will ever know.
• Jesus said in the next verse, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it [Christ’s Return] will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt 24:37). Did you know that Noah knew exactly 7 days in advance when the Flood and God’s wrath would begin, and he and his family would be rescued from that wrath?
• Jesus said When you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door” (Matt 24:33 NLT). So it is not true that Jesus intended to say that His people will never know when His Return is very near.
• No Christian is going to be surprised by even the hour that Christ returns. Why is that? Because they will know the day of Christ’s Return.

A) The 8 times Scripture says The Greatest Persecution will last exactly 1,260 days

What will be the significance of Antichrist’s Religious Covenant for the Last Generation Church living on the Earth at this time? It will begin a 7-year countdown to Christ’s Return and the Church’s Rescue!

Daniel’s prophecy states that the Covenant will be for a period of seven years. In the middle of the seven years, exactly 3.5 years later, the Antichrist will commit the abomination that causes desolation (Dan 9:27). This will begin Antichrist’s Wrath and The Greatest Persecution (cf. Matt 24:15-29).

It is important to understand that Scripture clearly states 6 times that The Greatest Persecution will last exactly 3.5 Jewish years. The first two of these references to the length of The Greatest Persecution are in Daniel:

He [the Antichrist] will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time. (Dan 7:25 NIV ^[1])

It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the saints has been finally broken, all these things will be completed. (Dan 12:7 NIV)

First, we see that these two texts are referring to The Greatest Persecution when the saints will be delivered into the hands of the Antichrist, and the power of the saints will be broken. Secondly, we see that this period of time will last exactly a time, times and half a time. Bible scholars agree that this refers to a year, plus two years, plus one half of a year. This equals 3.5 years. ^[2] As we will see, references to this same time period in Revelation will confirm this.

Revelation has four descriptions of the length of The Greatest Persecution. Three of them are as follows:

But exclude the outer court [of the temple in Jerusalem]; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They [with the Antichrist] will trample on the holy city for 42 months. (3.5 years; Rev 11:2-3 NIV)

The woman [Israel] fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. (Rev 12:6 NIV)

The woman [Israel] was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. (Rev 12:14 NIV)

Let us briefly explain these texts. First, remember that The Greatest Persecution will begin in Israel when the Antichrist Claims to be God in a rebuilt Jewish temple (cf. Matt 24:15-16). Secondly, Revelation 12 is predicting that God will rescue a remnant of the Jews, out of the serpent’s reach at that time. The serpent is Satan (cf. v. 9) who will be cast to Earth and indwell the Antichrist at this time, and begin the 3.5 years of The Greatest Persecution (cf. vs. 7-9, 12, 17).

Thirdly, we see clearly in Revelation 12 that a time, times and half a time equals 1,260 days or 3.5 Jewish years. Jewish years are based on a lunar calendar which has months of exactly 30 days and years of exactly 360 days. The solar (Roman) calendar used in the world today has months of various lengths and years of 365 days, except for “leap year” which is 366 days. Prophetic time periods in Scripture are based on the lunar and Jewish calendar of years that have exactly 360 days.

The sixth clear reference to The Greatest Persecution lasting exactly 3.5 years is in Revelation 13 where we read:

The beast [Antichrist] was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months… It was given power to wage war against the saints and to conquer them. (Rev 13:5, 7 NIV)

So we see that The Greatest Persecution will eventually include the saints, which is the Church, and again, last exactly 3.5 Jewish years or forty-two months. ^[3]

In addition to these texts, God says in Revelation that I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days (Rev 11:3 NIV), during the same time the Gentiles … will trample on the holy city for 42 months (v. 2). As argued elsewhere, these events will also occur during The Greatest Persecution. ^[4]

Finally, we could derive that same 3.5 years for The Greatest Persecution from Daniel 9:27. The prophecy says the Antichrist will persuade many people to make a religious covenant with him for a period of seven years. In the middle of the seven years [3.5 years later] he will stop the sacrifices and offerings at the Jewish Temple and begin The Greatest Persecution for the remaining 3.5 years of Daniel’s Last Seven Years. ^[5]

B) God’s desire for the Last Generation Church to know the exact day Christ will Return

This is a total of 8 references to the exact same time period of 3.5 years in prophetic Scripture. Obviously, this is important for us to understand. ^[6] What is God’s purpose for telling His people 8 times that The Greatest Persecution will last exactly 1,260 days? Because God wants the Last Generation Church to know exactly when The Greatest Persecution will end, and when Christ’s Return and the Church’s Rescue will occur. For those enduring The Greatest Persecution, it will be a great encouragement to know exactly how long it will last.

This conclusion is based on the following. First, Scripture clearly teaches The Greatest Persecution will begin with Antichrist’s Claim to be God (abomination of desolation, Matt 24:15; Dan 9:27). Then Scripture repeatedly predicts The Greatest Persecution will last exactly 3.5 years (cf. Dan 7:25; 12:7; Rev 11:2, 3; 12:6, 14; 13:5). Therefore, it needs to be asked: What event will end The Greatest Persecution? What will happen when the 3.5 years of The Greatest Persecution is completed? Jesus clearly told us it will be Christ’s Return and the Church’s Rescue. In His Endtimes sermon He said:

“Immediately after the completion of the greatest persecution of those days, then ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

Then the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the sky. And then all the peoples of the Earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of Heaven, with power and great glory [Christ’s Return].

And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet sound, and they will lift up and gather together God’s elect people from one end of the sky to the other, from everywhere on Earth” [the Church’s Rescue] (Matt 24:29-31 ^[7])

Clearly, Christ’s Return and the Church’s Rescue ends The Greatest Persecution by removing the Church from the Earth. ^[8] Therefore, when the Last Generation Church sees Antichrist’s Claim to be God, it can know that this begins a 3.5 year countdown (or 42 months or 1,260 days) to the very day that Christ’s Return and the Church’s Rescue will occur!

Even before that, when Antichrist’s Religious Covenant is implemented, Christians will know that Christ’s Return and the Church’s Rescue will occur exactly 7 years (2,520 days) later! This is because Antichrist’s Claim to be God (the abomination of desolation) will occur exactly in the middle of the seven years of Antichrist’s religious covenant (Dan 9:27). ^[9] These conclusions can be summarized in the following graphic:

As noted in the previous message, Antichrist’s Religious Covenant will mark the beginning point of Daniel’s Last 7 Years. Exactly in the middle of that 7 years, the Antichrist will Claim to be God in the abomination of desolation. And Scripture states multiple times that the resulting Greatest Persecution will last exactly another 3.5 Jewish years. Jesus also taught that The Greatest Persecution will be ended by His Return and the Church’s Rescue. Therefore, on the day the Antichrist’s Religious Covenant is implemented, the Last Generation Church will know that exactly 7 years later (or 2,520 days), Christ will Return and any who are still living will be Rescued.

C) Refuting the objections

Of course, the immediate objection to the above conclusions is Christ’s statement over 2,000 years ago: “But about that day or hour [of His Return, cf. vs. 29-31] no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matt 24:36 NIV). Unfortunately, most wrongly interpret Jesus as saying “No one will ever know” when He is returning. But that is not what Christ said. He said no one knows, present tense, 2,000 years ago, when Christ would return. But at a certain point in the Endtimes, both Christ and the Church will know the exact day of Christ’s Return.

Accordingly, Jesus said in the next verse, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it [Christ’s Return] will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt 24:37). Did you know that Noah knew exactly 7 days in advance when the Flood and God’s wrath would begin, and he and his family would be rescued from that wrath? After Noah had completed the ark, God told him:

Go into the ark, you and your whole family… Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made… And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. (Gen 7:1, 4, 10 NIV)

Noah knew the exact day that the wrath of God would begin, and his family would be rescued from that wrath. ^[10] Jesus said His coming, the beginning of His wrath, and the Church’s Rescue would be just like it was in the days of Noah. One way this will be true is that just like Noah, the Last Generation Church will know the exact day when Christ’s Wrath will begin, and it will be Rescued from that Wrath.

Jesus said it this way in His Endtimes sermon: When you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door” (Matt 24:33 NLT). All these things refers to all the Endtime events He had just described including The Beginning of Birth Pains, Antichrist’s Claim to be God, and The Greatest Persecution. Jesus said when the Last Generation Church sees those things, they will know His Return is very near. So it is not true that Jesus intended to say that His people will never know when His Return is very near.

Jesus went on to say something that most Christians ignore or do not understand:

The master of that [wicked, cf. Matt 24:48] servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. (Luke 12:46 NIV; cf. Matt 24:50)

Did you hear Jesus? He warned that if He Returns on a day, or even at an hour that you do not expect him, He will cut you to pieces and assign you a place with the unbelievers which is Hell. Ask yourself an important question. If Christ returned right now, even while you are reading about His Coming, would you be surprised that Christ returned at this very hour? Of course you would. ^[11] Therefore, no Christian is going to be surprised by even the hour that Christ returns. ^[12]

Why is that? What is the only way God’s people will be able to expect Christ’s Return on the day and even at the very hour it occurs? They will know the day because God said multiple times there will be exactly 1,260 days from the abomination that causes desolation to the end of Antichrist’s Greatest Persecution and Christ’s Return. More than that, Scripture clearly teaches that the implementation of Antichrist’s Religious Covenant will be a 7-year countdown to Christ’s Return and the Church’s Rescue.

Some have recognized the apparent contradiction between the repeated prediction that The Greatest Persecution will last exactly 1,260 days and Christ’s statement 2,000 years ago that no one knows when He will return (Matt 24:36). Because they have wrongly interpreted Christ to mean “no one will ever know” the timing of Christ’s Return, they have offered a different solution to this problem.

Regarding The Greatest Persecution, Jesus said in His Endtimes Sermon: “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened” (Matt 24:22 NIV). It has been claimed that Jesus meant the repeatedly predicted 1,260 days for The Greatest Persecution will be shortened and therefore, Endtime Christians will not know the exact day of His Return. ^[13]

Understandably, the language of something being cut short and shortened could be understood this way. The Greek word used here (koloboō) means “to cause something to not be full length, to reduce the duration of something, to shorten.” ^[14] So then, was Jesus saying that even though God repeatedly predicted and promised in Scripture that The Greatest Persecution would last exactly 1,260 days, that God had changed His mind? No.

First of all, it is borderline heresy to claim that God would go back on something He repeatedly promised and clearly predicted. Scripture says several times:

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Num 23:19 NIV; cf. 1 Sam 15:29; Ps 33:11; 89:34; 110:4; Mal 3:6; Tit 1:2)

Essentially, what some seem to claim is that God lied repeatedly when He predicted The Greatest Persecution would last exactly 1,260 days. Prophets in the OT were to be stoned to death if they predicted something that did not come true (cf. Deut 18:20-22). All of this is why there are no examples in Scripture of God changing a prediction He has made concerning the Endtimes.

Secondly, even after Jesus said The Greatest Persecution will be shortened, the Revelation later repeatedly predicted it will last exactly 1,260 days (Rev 12:6) or 42 months (Rev 13:5; cf. 11:2-3; 12:14). Obviously, the prediction had not been changed.

Thirdly, there is no reason to accuse God of lying or changing His prediction because Jesus never said Christians will never know the day of His return. Instead, Jesus taught “When you see all these things in the Endtimes, you can know his return is very near, right at the door” (Matt 24:33 NLT).

For all of these reasons, we can be certain that God has not shortened the repeatedly predicted 3.5 year duration of The Greatest Persecution. Accordingly, MacArthur comments on Matthew 24:22:

Kolobo (cut short) can carry the idea of stopping instantly, and that could be the meaning in this context. Since the length of the Great Tribulation is repeatedly stated as being divinely ordained at three and one half years, its length could not be reduced without God’s contradicting His own Word. The idea would therefore be that God has predetermined that those days of calamity will stop short of total destruction. ^[15]

So what did Jesus mean when He said of the Greatest Persecution, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened” (Matt 24:22)? He simply meant this: If those days of the persecution were not cut short or stopped, no Christians would survive and be alive for the Church’s Rescue.

There is no need to read into Christ’s statement that the 1,260 days of The Greatest Persecution will be shortened. He simply meant the duration of the persecution will be shortened from what the Antichrist would desire and enforce without the intervention of God.

Therefore, we see the surprising! significance of Antichrist’s Covenant for the Last Generation Church. It begins God’s 7-year countdown to Christ’s Return. Because Endtime Christians will know the exact day of Christ’s Return, they will be expectantly waiting that entire day for the very hour He Returns. Only in this way will the Last Generation Church have the necessary focus and expectation to be like servants who are doing nothing except waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him (Luke 12:36 NIV).

Jesus went on to say:

“Happy and blessed will be those servants the master will find on the alert and watching when he comes!… Whether he comes in the middle of the night or just before dawn, those servants who are alert and watching will be happy and blessed!” (vs. 37-38 ^[16]).

Endtime Christians will be happy and blessed and alert and watching when Christ comes because they will know the exact day He is coming, whether he comes at an hour in the middle of the night or just before dawn. Can you imagine being one of the relatively few Christians whom God will enable to live to the end of The Greatest Persecution when Christ’s Return, the Church’s Rescue, and the First Resurrection will occur? They will know it is the last day (John 6:40) and certainly will be happy and blessed! ^[17]

1. Saints reflects the 1984 version of the NIV and the NASB in quotes of Daniel and Revelation. ↑

2. These prophesies in Daniel are referring to the future Antichrist. But it is remarkable that evidently the persecution of Antiochus Ephiphanes, the forerunner of the Antichrist also predicted in Daniel lasted exactly 3.5 years. Accordingly, Beale writes:

   The initial fulfillment of the ‘abomination of desolation” in the temple occurred during Antiochus Epiphanes’ oppression from 167 to 164 B. C. (1 Maccabees 1-3; 2 Maccabees 5; cf. 1 Macc. 1:20-64 with 4:5ff.; Josephus, War 1.19 and 5.394 summarize the period as “three years and six months”). (566) ↑

3. The metaphorical approach of Beale leads him astray when he remarks regarding the repeated length of The Greatest Persecution in the Revelation:

   The number of the “forty-two months” is not literal… All the references in Revelation to the period appear to be general allusions only to a figurative three and a half years based on all the references throughout Daniel. (565, 567) ↑

4. For more on the meaning of Rev 11:1-14 and the Endtime ministry to God’s Two Prophets see Additional Studies on the Endtimes, ch. 13; online at www.trainingtimothys.com. ↑

5. For an explanation of the suggested translation of Dan 9:27 see BBP, ch. 14, sec. A. ↑

6. There is another possible reason God has ordained that the Antichrist will be given exactly forty-two months … to exercise its authority (Rev 13:5 NIV). Scholars are generally agreed that: “the ministry of Jesus extend[ed] over a period of three years and the months that preceded the Passover of [John] 2:23” (ISBE, I.688-89). If that period was six months, then Antichrist’s forty-two months (3.5 years) to exercise its authority would be one more way he will imitate the real Christ. ↑

7. For an explanation of the suggested translation of Matt 24:29-30 see CET, ch. 3, sec. E. For v. 31 see ch. 4, sec. C. ↑

8. As early as ca. A.D. 180 the early Church Father Irenaeus wrote that Christ’s Return would occur at the end of 3.5 years of the Antichrist’s Reign:

   But when this Antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father. (Against Heresies, V.30.4) ↑

9. The suggested translation of Dan 9:27 is:

   The ruler will arise to successfully persuade many people to make a religious covenant with him for a period of seven years. In the middle of the seven years he will stop the sacrifices and offerings at the Jewish Temple. And at the Temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

   It might be concluded that the end that is decreed for the ruler Antichrist occurs at the end of Daniel’s seven years. However, Antichrist’s activities on Earth do not end with Christ’s Return and 1st Appearance.

   For example, the throne of the beast, and its kingdom (Rev 16:10) will still exist in the 5th Bowl Punishment and the Antichrist will be among those who go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle at Armageddon (Rev 16:14, 16). Therefore, it is some years after the end of Daniel’s 7 Last Years, at the end of Christ’s Wrath at the Battle of Armageddon, and at Christ’s 2nd Appearance, that the Antichrist the beast will be captured and thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur where the devil … the beast Antichrist and the false prophet … will be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Rev 19:20; 20:10). ↑

10. As noted, Gen 7:1, 4, 10 make it clear that Noah knew the exact day that the wrath of God would begin, and his family would be rescued from that wrath. Therefore, Walvoord makes many errors in the following quote regarding the repeated prediction in Scripture that The Greatest Persecution will last exactly 1,260 days:

    While all of these should be interpreted as literal time periods, they do not reveal the day or the hour of Christ’s return… While Noah was building the ark, it was obvious that the flood would not come until he had completed the project… But the day or the hour still was not clear [On the contrary, the day certainly was]… Using this OT illustration, Christ compares it to the events which will occur at the second coming of Christ. Like the flood, the second coming will be preceded by specific signs which indicate the approach but not the day or the hour of the coming of the Lord. (“Is a Posttribulational Rapture Revealed in Matthew 24?,” Grace Theological Journal 6, no. 2 (1985): 263).

    Again, this simply is not true. ↑

11. For more discussion on Matt 24:32-51 see CET, ch. 9, sec. B. ↑

12. Unfortunately, MacArthur could not be more wrong in his commentary on Christ’s Endtimes sermon and particularly Matt 24:36:

    Of that day and hour [of Christ’s Return] no one knows, Jesus declared categorically. The signs He had just been describing will be conclusive proof that His arrival is very near. Once they have begun, the general time period of His return will be known, because one of the key purposes of the signs will be to make it known. But even during those sign-days the precise day and hour of Jesus’ appearing will not be known, a truth He reiterates several times in this Olivet discourse (see 24:42, 44, 50; 25:13). (MNTC, Matt, loc. 43905ff)

    First, like most Christians, MacArthur misinterprets Christ in Matt 24:36 to mean “no one will ever know.” Secondly, he misinterprets the other verses he references. They are all describing how unbelievers will experience Christ’s Return, not believers (cf. CET ch. 9, sec. B). MacArthur goes on to write something that would be offensive to Christians in the Last Generation Church:

    As far as believers are concerned, knowledge of that specific time might also make them careless, causing them to withdraw and become spiritually sedentary, thinking it would be pointless to make plans for serving the Lord or to make further effort to win the lost. No one, believer or unbeliever, could think or function normally knowing the exact day and hour of Christ’s coming.

    All of this reveals the distorting influence of MacArthur’s Pre-tribulational view of Christ’s Return. No Christian during The Greatest Persecution will act as he describes. In addition, MacArthur’s argument is the same one Pre-tribulationists use for promoting their unbiblical doctrine of the “imminency” of Christ’s Return. No good Christians need this error to motivate them to serve and love the Lord. ↑

13. The view that the prophesied 1,260 days of The Greatest Persecution will be shortened is taught in the traditional Pre-Wrath Rapture view. In fact, perhaps the only difference between this view and the Pre-Wrath Rescue position taught in the Endtimes Essentials is this very point. Contrary to the Pre-Wrath Rapture view, the Pre-Wrath Rescue position maintains that The Greatest Persecution will last exactly 1,260 days and the Last Generation Church will know the exact day of Christ’s Return and the Church’s Rescue. ↑

14. BAGD. ↑

15. MNTC, Matt, 24:22. ↑

16. The suggested translation of Luke 12:37-38 is:

    “Happy and blessed will be those servants the master will find on the alert and watching when he comes!… Whether he comes in the middle of the night or just before dawn, those servants who are alert and watching will be happy and blessed!”

    Happy and blessed translates the Greek word makarioi which means: “being fortunate or happy because of circumstances” (BDAG). Unfortunately, Bible versions consistently and completely ignore the fact that that blessed (makarios) includes the meaning of feeling “happy.”

    Alert and watching translates grēgorountas which means: “to stay awake, be watchful” (BDAG #1) or “to be in constant readiness, be on the alert” (BDAG #2). Likewise, the NLT translates it with two words, having ready and watching. The NIV emphasizes the first definition and has watching (cf. ESV awake). The NASB emphasizes the second meaning and has alert (cf. NET). The suggested translation includes both ideas because both are probably intended. Not only will Endtime Christians be very alert on the predicted day of Christ’s Return, but if it is nighttime in their part of the world, they will also be staying awake (ESV) and watching.

    In the middle of the night or just before dawn reflects the NLT’s helpful explanation of the obscure second watch, or even in the third in the more literal NASB. ↑

17. The above interpretation of these biblical prophecies, and the wonderful encouragement it will provide for the Last Generation Church during The Greatest Persecution, will be discussed more in the book, The Greatest Persecution. ↑