Mat_24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination
of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso
readeth, let him understand:)
Mar_13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of
desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let
him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the
mountains
Do you understand?
Jesus said - 'whoso readeth let him understand'. So, do you understood? Have you read about
that abomination of desolation? During
the course of this prophecy study we will cover this subject. We will read
about the abomination that makes desolate. Jesus KNEW about this prophecy.
Jesus wanted US to know about this prophecy.
Did Jesus say those words- 'let him that readeth understand' for no
reason? Did Jesus ever speak a single
senseless word? Who are we to choose
which words of our Savior are more important than others? Who are we to dismiss
Jesus' words? Are we supposed to study indicating that there is work involved
in our Savior's words? Or are we simply supposed to hold fast to the easy
words, the easy sayings, those readily understood? Why are we told that reading and
understanding would go hand in hand?
Reading that just a touch further there is more instruction. 'Then let
them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains.'
Comprehension and instructions, not important? So what happens to those
who choose not to read and don't understand and never flee?
Mar 13:35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the
master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or
in the morning:
Mar 13:36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
Mar 13:37 And what I say unto you I say unto all,
Watch.
If we choose not to
listen we may be found sleeping and to be found sleeping means we will not be
ready for Christ at His return.
People fully believe
that things like this do not matter! They shrug it off and simply do not want
to think about these truths. They want
to ignore Christ's own words in favor of their most favorite verse ear pleasing
verses. They want the milk that is sweet
and easy to swallow, not the meat that must be chewed thoroughly, that takes
too much time and isn't as sweet.
May God help us to
study, really study and not give in to the seduction of the simple, the easy,
the pleasing.
******* Continuing
our prophecy study-- Please GO back and
read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are,
if you haven't been following this study daily. *******
The next verse in
Daniel 7 is--
Dan 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and
behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it
had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue
with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before
it; and it had ten horns.
A fourth beast- a
fourth kingdom. This beast is dreadful,
terrible, exceedingly strong with great iron teeth. This beast devoured and
broke things into piece, stamping what was left with its feet. This beast was
different from all the other beasts before it, and this beast had ten horns.
There is very little
doubt that the Roman Empire was powerful and strong, a conquering kingdom, that
conquered Greece toppling it from its position as a major ruling kingdom.
Let's take a few
moments to read some Roman history--
By the
3rd century BC, Rome had become the pre-eminent city of the Italian peninsula,
having conquered and defeated the Sabines, the Etruscans, the Samnites and most
of the Greek colonies in Sicily, Campania and Southern Italy in general.
During the Punic Wars between Rome and the great Mediterranean empire of
Carthage, Rome's stature increased further as it became the capital of an
overseas empire for the first time. Beginning in the 2nd century BC, Rome went
through a significant population expansion as Italian farmers, driven from
their ancestral farmlands by the advent of massive, slave-operated farms called
latifundia, flocked to the city in great numbers. The victory over Carthage in
the First Punic War brought the first two provinces outside the Italian
peninsula, Sicily and Sardinia. Parts
of Spain (Hispania) followed, and in the beginning of the 2nd century the
Romans got involved in the affairs of the Greek world. By then all Hellenistic
kingdoms and the Greek city-states were in decline, exhausted from endless
civil wars and relying on mercenary troops. This saw the fall of Greece after
the Battle of Corinth (146 BC) and the establishment of Roman control over
Greece.[15]
Roman dominance
expanded over most of Western Europe and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea,
though its influence through client states and the sheer power of its presence
was wider than its formal borders. Its population surpassed one million
inhabitants.[22] For almost a thousand
years, Rome was the most politically important, richest, and largest city in
the Western world.
*
Clearly Rome took
over as being this territory's central figure and remained so for many
years.
Remember how the iron of Rome moved down to mingle
with the clay in the feet and
toes of the Daniel chapter 2 statue? The toes are the last kingdoms before the
statue is destroyed and Rome is still in existence in those toes.
Does Rome still
exist in our modern world? Undeniably, yes, Rome still exists. Is there a kingdom-like power in Rome? Does
Rome have anything noteworthy today?
Where is the Vatican? In Rome.
The fact the iron
would co-exist with the clay is still true today and will be true until Christ
returns. Too many wish to make those
toes solid- reflecting no mingling at all. Too many are hoping for a one world
government, a one world kingdom, too many believe that this might be possible
and what I have to say to them is this…
NEVER will the various countries, the various super powers give up that power
and allow another to rule, not in truth. It'd be easy for...let's say the EU-
the European Union to try and lead by example- but those countries that make up
the EU have NOT given up their individual power. Those countries retain their
individual status- they are NOT all in agreement under one ruler. There will
NEVER come a time when, say… France will agree to give up its name entirely and
adopt the sole name of EU merging with other countries giving up their
individual names.
Prophecy tells us
that the many countries we are separated into today will for the most part
remain separated. That's not to say there won't be some that join here and
there but there will never be a kingdom such as Ancient Rome to rule over so
many again, not in the land where God brought His chosen people- that is still
a factor here and we can't overlook it.
Having said all
that- history shows this--
There were ten
nations at some time in their history that were most important in bringing the
Roman Empire to its knees, who as independent kingdoms held portions of the
Roman empire as theirs.
Huns, Ostrogoths,
Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians, Heruli, Anglo-Saxons, and
Lombards.
Let's take a few
moments to touch on each of these and then if you're so inclined you can read
further by going to the various links or searching for information on the
internet as you desire. Before you skip
over all this as not being interesting ask yourself if perhaps taking a bit of
time to correlate history to God's prophecies isn't worth it. We NEED to do this. We need to study God's
word. When God gave us His prophecies it was for a reason and not just for
those who lived during the time the prophecies were given. Remember this…
Dan 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and
seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and
knowledge shall be increased.
I don't know about
you but I know there is a point in history when we went from the thousands and
thousands of years with horses as our main source of transportation to suddenly
riding in trains, cars, airplanes… and it was SUDDENLY when you think of how
many thousands of years we were in the dark where modern technology is
concerned. Knowledge shall be
increased, and it WAS increased and hasn't stopped increasing rapidly, by leaps
and bound. Just think for a moment where we were fifty years ago… a hundred
years ago and look where we are now. And
you know what, back in the mid 1800's when all this started Biblical knowledge
was increasing by leaps and bounds as well for those with eyes to see and ears
to hear.
So when we really
understand that prophecy sealed up is unsealed and there for our understanding
we NEED to take the time to really understand as much of it as we can and by
the grace and mercy of our Savior we will understand all we need to understand,
all that He wants us to understand.
Let's take a bit of
time here and read these little excerpts that merely place these ten nations
pitted against Rome. For a much fuller understanding please, please take all
the time you can to study more on your own.
1 Huns and Rome- Called
the Scourge of God by the Romans, Attila the Hun was king and general of the
Hun empire from A.D. 433 to 453.
2 Ostrogoth and Rome-The First Siege of
Rome during the Gothic War lasted for a year and nine days, from 2 March 537 to
12 March 538.[1] It was fought between the defending East Romans, under general
Belisarius, and the Ostrogothic army under king Vitiges. The siege was the first
major encounter between the forces of the two opponents, and played a decisive
role in the subsequent development of the war.
3 Visigoths and Rome- In
401 Alaric began his attacks on Italy; he was halted by Stilicho, but after
Stilicho's death he succeeded in his invasion, and the Visigoths became masters
of Italy. Negotiations between Alaric and Emperor Honorius failed, and in 410
the Visigoths sacked Rome. Alaric died soon afterward.
Pasted
from <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0861818.html>
4 Franks and Rome- What distinguished
the Frankish kingdom was not the height of its culture. Clovis was no
Theodoric, and his capital city of Paris was no Ravenna . The Franks were
creating a new people whose culture would be a genuine fusion of Roman and
Germanic elements
Pasted
from <http://history-world.org/germanic_tribes.htm>
5 Vandals and Rome- The
Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during
the 5th century, perhaps best known for their sack of Rome in 455.
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandals>
6 Suevi and Rome- 411 The Vandals, Suevi
and Alans partition the Iberian Peninsula among themselves, only the northern
part remain under Roman rule.
Pasted
from <http://www.tacitus.nu/historical-atlas/rome3.htm>
7 Burgundians and Rome- Six
major German tribes, the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, the Vandals, the
Burgundians, the Lombards, and the Franks participated in the fragmentation and
the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
Pasted
from <http://www.friesian.com/germania.htm>
8 Heruli and Rome-The Heruli (spelled
variously in Latin and Greek) were an East Germanic tribe from Scandinavia.
They raided towns in the Roman Empire, captured Byzantium in 267 AD and sacked
several Greek cities.
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heruli>
9 Anglo-Saxons and Rome -
Whereas in France ,
the original Romanized inhabitants vastly outnumbered the invading Franks, in
England the Germanic invaders, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from northern
Germany and Denmark , drove most of the original Celtic inhabitants to Cornwall
, Wales , and Scotland in the far western regions of the British Isles . The
invaders, whom for convenience we call the Anglo-Saxons, ignored most of the
Roman achievements they found. They disliked the land already being farmed,
which was mostly light chalky soil on the hilltops, and preferred the clay
lands of the river valleys. They paid no attention to Roman law, but introduced
a wholly Germanic tribal system of government. They arrived as pagans, and were
converted only at the end of the sixth century by St. Augustine 's mission sent
directly from Rome . The Anglo-Saxons thus received what Romanization they had
from the Catholic Church. From the Roman Empire itself, they acquired only the
roads. By contrast even with Clovis 's Paris , life in Anglo-Saxon England was
rough, drab, and dangerous.
Under the impact of
these Germanic invaders, the control of the Roman Empire in Western Europe
disappeared. The last emperor in the West was the boy ruler Romulus Augustulus,
who was killed in 476 by the Germanic chieftain Odoacer. Odoacer however did not
declare that he had put an end to the Roman Empire in the West. He sent the
insignia of the emperor back to Constantinople with the message that the empire
needed only one emperor, and that he would act as the representative of
Constantinople in Italy . Odoacer felt, in short, that he had reunited the
Roman Empire . However, the Roman Empire in the West had fallen. Britain , France , the Low Countries , Spain
, north Africa, and Italy itself were all in the hands of Ger- manic invaders,
whether or not those invaders paid lip service to the emperor in faraway
Constantinople
Pasted
from <http://history-world.org/germanic_tribes.htm>
10 Lombards and Rome- At this time, the Lombards, who were experiencing a
revival, invaded and razed the Roman countryside. There was little the pope
could do against the Lombards, who had become allies of Byzantium
*
This is enough for
now, it's a lot to take in, but so worth it to help gain a clearer
understanding of the prophecies given to us by God to understand and know what
will come to pass and what has come to pass.
There is no doubt that God's word is true- prophecy alone proves that
beyond any question whatsoever.
In His amazing
Love!!! By His will!
Amen.
