Texts: Daniel 2, 7, and 9 | Revelation 13:5-8 | Mathew 24
- According to Wikipedia:
“On February 28, 2026, a war between the United States and its allies against Iran and its allies began, with the United States and Israel conducting military strikes in Iran and killing Ali Khamenei, the leader of Iran.”[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude_to_the_2026_Iran_conflict - The current regime has been ruling Iran since 1979.
The last 47 years since, have been characterised by police brutality and oppression of the people in the name of Islam, and mass weapons production for the purpose of attacking Israel, and then huge amounts of money being funnelled to terrorist groups. Iran has provided about 90% of all funds provided to the terrorist organisations, Hamas and Hezbollah. - In the last two years, Israel has been systematically destroying these terrorist organisations.
Now, the U.S. and Israel are targeting, what Israel calls, the head of the snake. Today I want to consider these events in the light of Biblical prophecy concerning the end times. - For our study today, we will take these four points for consideration.
i. The Rapture of the Church
ii. The Time of Jacob’s Trouble | The Great Tribulation
iii. The Breaking of the Covenant with Israel
iv. The Lessons from World Events Today.
The Breaking of the Covenant with Israel (Daniel 9:24-27)
- Who makes and breaks a covenant with Israel?
a. The one who makes the covenant in verse 27 is the prince mentioned in verse 26.
– Verse 26 tells us that the people of this prince would be the ones who would destroy the city and the sanctuary.
– It was Rome that destroyed the city and the sanctuary, which is why we believe that this prince, who is yet to come, will arise out of a restored Roman empire.
b. This prince is the little horn mentioned in Daniel 7:8
In Daniel 7:1-8, Daniel reveals the kingdoms as they were and are to come. These kingdoms are represented by four beasts.
i. The first beast was like a lion with eagle’s wings.
– When compared with the vision of the statue, in Daniel chapter 2, this beast represents that same nation that the head of gold represented, namely the Babylonian Empire.
ii. The second beast is like a bear, which raised itself higher on one side.
– The fact that this beast lifted itself on one side is representative of the two nations that comprised this second kingdom.
– This kingdom was the Medo-Persian Empire, in which Persian became the prominent side. This kingdom would be less powerful than the first.
– This is the kingdom represented by the silver chest and arms in Daniel chapter 2.
iii. The third beast is like a leopard, with four wings on its back, and four heads also.
– The four wings represent the rapid spread of this empire and the four heads, mentioned afterward, represent a kingdom which divided into four parts.
– This is a very clear description of the Greek empire under Alexander the Great, which spread rapidly during Alexander’s reign, but when he died, the kingdom was divided into four parts under four of his generals.
– This kingdom is represented by the belly and thighs of brass in Daniel chapter 2.
iv. The fourth beast is “dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth.” It was different from the beast before it and it had ten horns.
– This isn’t one solid kingdom, but is a mixed kingdom, which is why no single animal can represent it, and why Daniel chapter 2 tells us it is a kingdom of iron mixed with clay.
– This is the Roman Empire, the last great empire to rule that region in the prophetical view.
– Since the antichrist is said to arise out of this kingdom, we must assume that there will be a revived Roman Empire in the last days.
c. In Daniel 7:7, at the end of the verse we are told that the fourth beast had ten horns.
– We believe that this revived Roman Empire will consist of ten nations, represented by the ten horns.
– The Antichrist, who is represented by the little horn, will rise up and take control of three of these nations, thus making a powerful three-nation coalition with which he can force his agenda on the other seven nations.
d. This little horn, that forms a three-nation coalition, is the same Roman prince who is mentioned in Daniel chapter 9, who makes a covenant with Israel for one week.
– This is a seven-year peace deal that the Antichrist will make with Israel at the beginning of the seven-year Tribulation.
– In the middle of the week, or the middle of the Tribulation, antichrist will cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. Half-way through the Tribulation, he will break his peace deal with Israel and will move against Israel. - In Revelation 6:2, the Antichrist is depicted as riding a white horse, wearing and crown, and having a bow but there is no mention of arrows, as he goes forward to conquer. This indicates that he will initially attempt to conquer through diplomacy.
a. He will come on the scene and promise to solve the middle-east conflicts through a peace covenant with Israel.
– When I was in Israel, we asked our tour guide what the Jewish perspective is on who their Messiah will be. He told us that, for the Jews, their Messiah isn’t God in human flesh, but their Messiah is a political leader who will bring peace to Israel and allow them to rebuild their Temple. That is exactly what the Antichrist will come on the scene promising to provide for Israel.
– The in the middle of the Tribulation, Antichrist will go up into the rebuilt Temple and will defile it with the abomination of desolation. This is described in Revelation 13 when the image of the beast is set up in the Temple, and the people are commanded to worship it.
b. Revelation 13:5-8
The Lessons from World Events Today
- What do we see happening?
a. Wars in the middle east and the demand for world peace.
– What happens in the Middle East is central to our understanding of how Bible Prophecy is going to play out and when these things are going to come to pass.
– This is why all eyes are on the Middle East. For the Christian, the next even in the prophetical calendar is the Rapture, and we look at the Middle East to see things falling into place in preparation for the events prophesied to occur immediately after the Rapture.
– The eyes of the Devil and his demons are on the Middle East, because they hate the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, the nation that brought forth the Messiah who sealed the Devil’s doom. The Devil also knows that, by comparing events in the Middle East with Bible Prophecy, he can discern what we have discerned, that his time is short.
b. Israel became a nation May 14, 1948.
– Since end-times Bible Prophecy is centred around the nation of Israel, there needs to be a nation of Israel for these events to happen.
– It has only been in the last 78 years that there has been a nation of Israel in the Middle East. Prior to that, Israel was scattered among the nations.
c. Since the day the Israel declared independence, on May 14, 1948, nation around Israel have plotted Israel’s destruction.
– In the last 48 years, Iran has been ruled by an Islamic Regime that became the worlds leading sponsor of terrorism, providing roughly 90% of the total financial support received by Hamas and Hezbollah.
– The Iranian regime constantly opened their parliamentary meetings with chants of death to Israel and the U.S.
d. In response to this, Israel and the U.S. have launched widespread military strikes against Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, who are all militant proxy groups funded by Iran.
– For the last few years, Israel has been dismantling these terror organisations while promising that they will eventually go after “the head of the snake,” Iran.
– “On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a large-scale offensiveagainst Iran after weeks of military buildup and threats from President Trump. In a Truth Social post, Trump said the goal of the operation is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and “to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.””[1] https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/confrontation-between-united-states-and-iran
– The supreme leader of the Islamic regime, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the opening minutes of the conflict and the Iranian people are rising up in an attempt to overthrow the regime and take the country in a different direction.
e. The world is desperate for peace, particularly in the Middle East.
– President Trump sees himself as the President of peace and has set his sights on ending wars around the globe and establishing the United States and the European Union as the de facto police forces, with the U.S. concentrated on the Western Hemisphere and Europe focused on the Eastern Hemisphere.
– Donald Trump has emphasized the need for European nations to build their military might and to take the leading role in their part of the world, including the Middle East.
– President Donald Trump has launched the Board of Peace, which was intended to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, but it is clear that he wants to use this platform to promote and eventually establish world peace.
f. We already saw that, in the Ezekiel 38 war, verse 11 describes Israel as a land of unwalled villages, that dwell in safety. That certainly isn’t a description of Israel today. Today, Israel has the most extensive defensive systems in the world, it is not a land of unwalled villages that dwells in safety.
– But, what if the destruction of Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, sets the stage for a peace deal between Antichrist and Israel in which Israel receives guarantees of protection as long as they disarm themselves, which would make the Islamic community very happy?
– This war in Iran could very well be setting the stage for all those things to fall into place. - The Jews are preparing to rebuild the Temple.
a. There are a few major groups on Israel who are preparing to rebuild the Temple and reinstitute Temple sacrifices as soon as possible.
– The Temple Institute is the main group, and they have been strongly advocating for the reconstruction, pretty much ever since Israel took back control of the Temple Mount.
– You may wonder how Israel is going to achieve this, since the Muslim Dome of the Rock currently stands on the Temple Mount, however, many Jews believe that they should build the Temple in the empty space next to the Dome of the Rock, so that both buildings would stand together in the one mountain.
b. The Temple Institute has been working to recreate the furniture and vessels necessary to restore Temple worship. Here are a number of things they have already recreated.
– The Temple Institute and Temple Mount activists believe that, by using prefabricated materials, they could build the next Temple in a little time as a few months.
– Further to this, they have managed to obtain red heifers. The significance of this is in the fact that the ashes of a red heifer are required for making the water of purification for the priests who would serve in the Temple.
– There is a school in Israel for the training of Temple priests, and these priests practice mock sacrifices long with other Temple service. - How should we respond?
a. Don’t get caught up in conspiracy theories.
– Theories about the date of the rapture.
i. It is important to remember that, while we believe the rapture is imminent, or could happen at any moment, the Bible tells us that no one knows when it will be.
ii. Mathew 24:36-39
– Theories about the identity of the Antichrist
i. Firstly, Donald Trump is NOT the Antichrist! Just in case you were wondering, no U.S. President will be the Antichrist. As we already saw, the Anti-Christ will arise out of a revived Roman empire, not out of the United States of America.
ii. You may be wondering if the Antichrist is already alive and walking around in this earth. That may be the case, but you wouldn’t know it.
2 Thessalonians 2:6-10 “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” - Be faithful | Be watching | Be serving
a. I Corinthians 4:2 “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
b. Luke 12:37-38 & 40 “Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.”
c. Colossians 3:23-24 “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”
Conclusion
- The rapture is imminent and it’s timing is unknown, but it is a certainty.
- The Tribulation is for the judgement of unrepentant man and to bring Israel to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
- The event happening in the world today are shaping the world for the coming kingdom of Antichrist.
- Our response should be to have faith and be serving Christ while he tarries his coming.