July 19: PROPHETIC PARALLEL #10

At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack [the king of the North]. Daniel 11:40a

Both prophecies (Revelation 13 and the end of Daniel) mention the wound that is inflicted upon the king of the north power. Daniel’s account specifies which sector of humanity does the wounding: it is the atheistic sector, expressed by Daniel as the king of the South. Because atheism is first documented from within the borders of Egypt, this name became a Biblical symbol for unbelief in God (see Exodus 5:2). This symbolism carries over into the French Revolution when Bibles (the two witnesses, the Old and New Testaments, the Law and the Prophets) were burned in the streets of Paris (see Revelation 11:8). This attack on the word of God preceded the “deadly wound” to the papacy when Napoleon commanded his general, Berthier, to march into Rome and take the pope off his throne. The papacy’s loss of political and military power made it seem as though the office of the papacy was out of commission – dead! The choice of the word attack is also translated push at, which in Hebrew means to gore, as one beast gores another with his horns.

John writes: And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded… (Revelation 13:3a) This describes the same event as the one in Daniel 11:40a. This parallel between Daniel and John helps to confirm the correlation of prophetic visions between the two, shining a light upon both observations. This point of reference on history’s timeline helps us to make clear distinctions between events that have already transpired, those that are currently in the process of transpiring (as in the healing of the deadly wound), and things that are just around the corner.

Be aware that the enemy of souls desires to maintain his disguise as a religious leader by developing philosophies that place prophetic events all in the past (preterism) or all in the future (futurism). Both of these are cunningly designed to take the focus off the true historical nature of Biblical prophecy and its fulfillment. And both of these philosophies emerged from the Jesuit wing of Catholicism in the late 16th century, as assignments from the pope to Jesuit scholars for the sole purpose of counteracting the Reformation. Amazingly, Protestants who discovered these manufactured, authoritative-sounding viewpoints in Catholic writings were swayed by them. As a result, prominent Protestants have developed these ideas further, bringing them into mainline Protestantism through books, marginal notes in Bibles, and Hollywood movies. These ideas are perpetuated in Protestant seminaries.

Satan’s attempts to alter our point of view are not necessarily going to appear as temptations to sin, but rather as gentle conditioning toward the edge of the cliff. Only the Spirit of God can detect this as the devil’s work. But we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) We want Jesus to walk with us through all of our tests – and He will! – but are we willing to go back through Scripture and walk with Him through His trials and tests? A real relationship needs both!

“But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.” Luke 22:28