End-Time Insights

The “ Beast ” is a single history-spanning entity that has existed since the dawn of human civilization, beginning when Babel “ SET UP a high tower to make us a name, lest we be scattered upon the face of the earth .” That incident is alluded to by Daniel when describing how Nebuchadnezzar subjugated Jerusalem and took the “ vessels of the house of God into the land of Shinar to the house of his god .”

End-Time “ Babylon ” sits on the same beastly entity that John saw “ ascending from the Sea ” in Chapter 13, but it combines the four “ Beasts ” of Daniel into one final malignant creature bent on destroying the saints. In Chapter 17, its “lineage” and inevitable destruction are described with language from Daniel’s vision of the “ Little Horn ” and the “ Fourth Beast .”

Jesus is the one who unveils the Mysteries of God, and only he is qualified to reveal the nature of the “ unseen God .” In him, all the promises of God find their substance. He is the interpretive key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures and provides the correct understanding of Bible prophecy, and this is especially so in the Book of Revelation where the sacrificial “ Lamb ” reigns over all things.

The Book of Daniel presents insights into the future with an emphasis on the rise and fall of empires. This includes times of “ tribulation ” when the people of God endure persecution at the hands of despotic pagan rulers. However, before doing so, the Book declares that the downfall of the Jewish kingdom was according to the will of Yahweh. It was the God of Israel who “ gave ” the Babylonian king sovereignty over Judah.

Fifty years ago, I was influenced greatly by the bestseller, ‘The Late Great Planet Earth.’ In it, I read how last-day prophecies were being fulfilled before our eyes in the daily news headlines. All the “signs” indicated that I was a member of the “last generation” that would live before the return of Jesus. The Antichrist, Armageddon, and the Millennium were just around the corner.