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BIFIDS AND CHIASMS
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The following is essential toward understanding many areas of scripture.  It is copied and pasted with permission from the Ellis Skolfield website and is available in a printer friendly PDF on the downloadable books page.  Or go directly to the PDF.

Below is some of the technical data that went into the writing
of The False Prophet. It's a bit dry and lengthy so it was edited
out of the book. It is posted here for those who like their
doctrinal I's dotted and T's crossed.

Bifids & Chiasms

Many of us recognize that Revelation is repetitive. But if it is,
how can we recognize what chapters are parallel to what other
chapters? Are these repeats organized in a systematic way
that  we can prove? The answer is hidden in Hebrew poetry.
Hebrew poetry is parallel in nature. A Hebrew poet would say
something one way and then repeat the same  idea  later on  in
different words. These repeats could be a sentence, a paragraph,
or even several chapters long. So how can we identify repetitive
prophecies when we see them? By recognizing the Hebrew poetic
style in which it was written.

The most elegant of the Old Testament poets was Isaiah. In his
book we spot one poetic style very quickly. Isaiah is divided  into
two almost equal parts, and these two parts are repetitive.1 Isaiah
1 through 33  is parallel to Isaiah 34 through 66, not just in a
general  sense,  but  in  actual  content.  The  last  half  of  Isaiah
contains a different  description of the same subjects that are
covered  in  the  first  half.  Textual  scholars  call  this  type  of
repetition the bifidic form.2  
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1  Liberal scholars see this division and claim that the last half of Isaiah was not
written by Isaiah at all. Disregard well-known Hebrew poetic forms they invent
a shadow author they call deuteo-Isaiah. There is no historic or textual basis for
their contention, and Rabbinical scholars have always attributed the whole book
of Isaiah to Isaiah alone.
2  Packer-Tenny-White, The Bible Almanac, 1980, p349.
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This form is not unique to Isaiah. The apocalyptic books are
also bifidic and in Daniel the bifid is inescapable. Dan 2:4 through
Dan 7:28 is written in high Syriac. The rest of Daniel is written in
Hebrew. So why the two languages? Well, God is addressing two
different audiences. The first half of Daniel is to and about the
Gentiles who will rule the Holy Land into the distant future, while
the second half is to and about the future of the Jews during that
same time. Both halves of Daniel are about events that will take
place during the same time, so the book is bifidic.

In  the  Syriac  half  of  Daniel,  the  chapters  themselves  form
another kind parallelism -- a poetic stepladder. The Hebrew half
does,  too. These aren't more  bifids but  a different poetic  style
altogether. Once again Isaiah has a simple example of this unique
poetic form:

Isa 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways, saith the LORD."

If we were to get those thoughts across in present-day English,
we might  say something  like:  "Your  ways  and  thoughts  aren't
anything like my ways and thoughts." But in Hebrew poetry it's
written:

My, your = your, My
for a little verbal stepladder like this:


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That AB=BA stepladder is called a Chiasm,3 pronounced kee-ah-
zum.  Chiasms  appear  throughout  Scripture,  from  Genesis  to
Revelation. What an author declares in the steps going up, he
repeats in the steps going down. Here are two more chiasms, one
two-step  and  one  three-step:  an  ABC=CBA.  They  have  been
shortened for clarity, but the full text is in your Bible:


So why are chiasms important? In the above two-step AB=BA
chiasm, there were not four concepts. There were two concepts
about the same subject. In the three-step ABC=CBA chiasm, there
were not six subjects, just three, repeated in different words. If
Daniel and Revelation are chiasmic, the various visions will be
repetitive and parallel in a systematic way. Daniel will contain
repeated  visions about  the  time  of Gentile control  of the Holy
Land  while  Revelation  will  contain  repeated  visions  about  the
Christian Era. With chiasms, we can prove . . .

Which chapters are repeats of each other!

STEPLADDER IN DANIEL

In Dan 12:4, the Lord commanded Daniel to seal his book; then
just five verses later, God states that the book was sealed (Dan
12:9).  Now,  Daniel  was  a  godly  man  who  did  as  he  was
commanded. He couldn't change what the Lord had inspired him
to write, but nevertheless Daniel somehow sealed his prophecies
between  the  time  those  two  verses  were  written.  He  couldn't
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3  Packer-Tenny-White, The Bible Almanac, 1980, p364.
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modify  the  content  of  the  visions,  nor  change  the  historic
incidents, so what did he do?

Daniel  scrambled  his  prophecies,  putting  them  out  of
chronological order. This is easy enough to prove because Daniel's
chapters  can  be  dated.  Now,  let's  see  what  that  shuffling
accomplished. Look at the below graph. It shows the chapters in
the order they appear in the Bible. The chapters with the (*) are
the ones that are out of sequence.4


Chapter 5 was actually written after 8, and Chapter 6 was written
after 9. Look at the subject column to the right. In the order the
subjects now appear, a three-step chiasm has been formed. Isn't
that remarkable?

If Daniel had not put his book out of order, that ABC=CBA
chiasm would not have been formed. I'm not even sure he knew
what he was doing, but God knew. Something as complex as a
chiasm doesn't happen by accident, it was deliberate, but what
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4  Both chs.6 and 9 were written in the 1st year of Darius. The dating of ch.9
before 6 can be determined by the formal introductory address Daniel used to tell
us of  the new king. In ch.9 the correct introductory form is used, while it  is
omitted in ch.6. Since Daniel was a master of court protocol, it is unlikely that he
would have made a mistake here. The dating of ch.5 after 8 is evident from within
the text itself. As an aside, the Lord has not permitted the author to fathom what
the book means when it is put back into its correct chronological order. However,
I sense there is a message there for someone.
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 Page 5

does it mean? Well, chiasms are repetitive, so it shows us that
Daniel's visions are repetitive. When we stand back and view the
1st chiasm in its entirety, its message appears to be:

During  the  time  of  the  Gentiles  there  will  be  four  major
empires and their descendants ruling the Holy Land. During
that time, God's people will suffer great persecution, but in the
end, God will judge those nations that have made His land a
desolation and taken His people captive.

DANIEL'S 2ND CHIASM

The 1st chiasm was primarily to and about Gentile nations, while
the second is about the future of  the Jews after the fall of the
Babylonian Empire. The second chiasm is a AB=BA, and  its
central message appears to be:

After the Jews return from captivity, there will be two major
empires, and their descendants, who will rule the Holy Land
into the distant future. During that same time Messiah will
come to earth and be killed. The temple will be desolated, but
int the end, the destroyer will go to final judgment.

Now that we understand the pattern, let's go to Revelation. The
following summary is not intended as a full exegesis of the book,
but only as an outline and study guide. Chiasms are, however, a
foundational  concept  that  will  enable  students  of  Scripture  to
understand almost every verse in the book. Some of the figurative
language is still sealed. Maybe the Lord has left  it for you to
unravel.

 Page 6

CHIASMS IN REVELATION

In Rev 5:1, God the Father holds a scroll that  is written on both
sides and sealed with seven seals. This was very unusual in the
time of John the prophet, 95-105AD. Most 1st Century scrolls
were written on one side only, but there is a reason for this two-
sided scroll.  

Rev 5:1 "And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the
throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed
with seven seals."

Rev 5:5-6 (excerpts) " . . .In the midst of the throne . . . and
in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain,
And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him
that sat upon the throne."

Careful study shows this "little book" to be the book of Revelation
itself. It is a picture of the Christian Era and it was given to Jesus
after His ascension. Jesus now opens the Seven Seals, the Seven
Trumpets, and the Two Witnesses, which describes events that
will "shortly come to pass." But before the seventh trumpet blows,
the Lord tells us what He is going to do with the side of the book
He has not read. In the verse quoted above, the book was sealed,
but in the verse below it is opened:

Rev 10:1-2 "And I saw another mighty angel come down
from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon
his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as
pillars of fire (Jesus, see Rev1:15): And he had in his hand a
little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and
his left foot on the earth."

As used in Revelation, "angel" can  refer to several  different
kinds of beings. He can be one of God's angelic messengers, a
fallen angel, Satan, a human messenger, the Holy Spirit, or Jesus
Himself.  Context  is  the  key  to  his  identity.  A  study  of  the
description of the Lord Jesus elsewhere shows the angel of Rev
10:1-2 to be Jesus. The Lord now gives this little book to John.

Rev 10:10-11 "And I took the little book out of the angel's
hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey:
and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he

 Page 7

said  unto  me,  Thou  must  prophesy  again  before  many
peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings."

Believe it or not, those verses explain it all. The little book is now
open because Jesus has read the seals and trumpets and shortly
the  Two  Witnesses.  He  then  tells  John,  "you  must  prophesy
again!" In other words: "Listen here John, I have read one side of
this two-sided book, turn it over and read the other side. Repeat
in different words what I have told you through the Seven Seals,
the Seven Trumpets and Two Witnesses."

The little book was written on both sides because the Lord was
to read one side, and John the other. "Out of the mouth of two or
three witnesses . . ." And what is John to prophesy about? The
above verses tell us: the 2nd chiasm, Rev 12 through 20, are about
"peoples, nations, tongues and kings." The Lord is telling John to
go back to square one, and tell the Church about the Christian Era
again. "You must prophesy again!" Revelation is bifidic!

If Revelation is like Daniel, it should also have chiasms in both
halves.  It  does,  and  here  are  the  parallels:  chs.2-3  are  about
churches, and  so is ch. 11. Ch. 6 is about Seven Seals, and chs.8-9
are about Seven Trumpets, both of which are symbolic pictures of
the Christian Era. The first half of ch.7 is about the Jewish saints,
the second half is about the Gentile saints. So again, we have a
perfect ABC=CBA chiasm!


Revelation is chiasmic by design and we can now know with
certainty which chapters are covering  the same subjects in
different words! In my opinion, the conclusion is now inescapable.
Revelation also has a message hidden within the chiasm. The 1st
chiasm is about the invisible spiritual world as God the Father sees

 Page 8

it, while the second chiasm is primarily about what will take place
in our material world. The central message of the 1st chiasm is:

During the Christian Era there will be seven different church
periods and seven different kinds of churches. The Jews and the
Church will be God's Two Witnesses on Earth. Trials, plagues,
famines, tribulation and wars will take place. But the saints,
both  Jew and Gentile, will be saved out of it, and in the
fulness of time, God will set up His eternal kingdom.

(A-A) The Seven Churches and the Two Witnesses: Rev 2-3, Rev
11. In the seven churches of Rev 2-3, the Lord tells us what the
Church will be like during the whole Christian Era. Sometimes
good, sometimes fair,  and  sometimes very bad. In Rev 11, we
learn  that  God  has  placed  Two  Witnesses  on  Earth  to  stand
against the enemy and make Him known. Why the two witnesses?
Because God honors His own word: "Out of the mouth of two or
three witnesses shall anything be established." Throughout our
era, the Church and the Jews Have been witnesses to the God of
heaven  in  a  sinful  world.  Those  witnesses  would  be  in  great
tribulation, but they would also be spiritually victorious.

And so it hnas turned out to be, though mighty empires have
fallen around it, the true Church of Jesus stands. At the end of the
Two Witnesses (1948AD), the Church and the Jews will lose their
spiritual power. There will always be a faithful remnant, but in the
last days Jesus will spit the lukewarm churches out of His mouth
and the enemy would spiritually destroy it. We see that happening
today, no waiting. (Rev 3:16 and Rev 11:7).

(B-B) The Seven Seals and the Seven Trumpets: Rev 6, Rev 8-9.
During  the  Christian  Era,  God  will  pour  out  His  wrath  upon
unbelievers. It didn't have to be that way and because of His Two
Witnesses the world is without excuse. To bring the unsaved to
repentance  many  terrible  things  will  happen.  Anarchy,  wars,
famines, and natural disasters will abound (Rev 6:1-8). At the end

 Page 9

there will be a mighty spiritual battle with 200,000,000 horsemen5
fighting, Man  will  hide  in  the  caves  in  the  ground  and  under
mountains, but he will not repent of his rebellion and sorcery and
idolatry (Rev 9:20-21). That sounds like today, doesn't it?

(C-C) The 144,000 and the Great Multitude: Central in it all are
the redeemed of the Christian Era: they from this great tribulation
of this era whom the Lord Jesus has reconciled to God the Father.
Included  are  the  physical  seed  of  Israel  (Rev  7:4-8)  and  the
Gentile church (Rev 7:9). The seal on the heads of the 144,000 is
the  name  of  the  Father  (Rev  14:1).  The  fifth  seal  (Rev  6:9)
describes the brethren who have gone before us. They are clothed
in white robes (the righteousness of Christ) and stand beneath an
the altar in heaven (a symbol of the cross). They do not cease to
cry, "how long, Oh Lord, how long?"

Rev 7:13-17 "And one of the elders answered, saying unto
me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and
whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.
And he said to me, These are they which came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before
the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his
temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among
them. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of
waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

REVELATION'S 2ND CHIASM

Now that we understand the chiasmic pattern, the last half of
Revelation is quite open. Most of these later visions can be related
to  world  history.  It  is  not  the  author's  intent  to  belabor  the
chiasmic form, but it is one of the major tools proving Revelation
is repetitive in an organized way. Remember in Daniel, how half
of that book was to Gentile nations, while the other half was to
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5  Throughout Scripture, angelic hosts are depicted as horsemen (2Ki 2:11, 2Ki
6:15-18, 2Ki 7:6; Zec 1:8, Zec 6:2-6; Rev 6:2-8, Rev 9:16, Rev 19:14). Conse-
quently, a major portion of the 200,000,000 horsemen of Rev 9:16 may be unseen
spiritual forces. If that is correct, then we may not see vast human armies massed
in the Middle East for this final battle.
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the Jews? Revelation is a little different. The audience is the same,
the Church, but the subjects are different. The 1st chiasm is God
the Father's spiritual view of this era, the 2nd chiasm is His view of
happenings in our material world. As a result, the central message
of the 2nd chiasm appears to be:

Seven satanic empires will seize control of the Holy Land
throughout history. Concurrent with those visible kingdoms,
God will have a spiritual kingdom on Earth composed of the
Jewish people and the Gentile church. In the fullness of time,
Jesus will return to reward the saints and judge the wicked.

This second  chiasm is about kingdoms, both earthly and
spiritual.  The  Jews  and  the  Church  are  the  Lord's  spiritual
kingdom  on  earth,  while  the  beasts  and  Babylon  are  various
aspects of the enemy's satanic kingdom, both seen and unseen.
Babylon centers on the world socioeconomic system, while the
beasts are governmental.

1.  As the Scarlet beast, Satan is the embodiment of the sin in
the world. He finally goes forth to deceive the nations as an
8th beast who has been loosed. That's today!

2. Through Leopard-Bear-Lion beast, Satan displays his
control of the kingdoms of the Middle East where the seat of
his earthly throne lies. The Islamic world!

Sometimes man's chapter breaks are in  the wrong place, or
don't belong in the passage at all because they interfere with the
flow of Scripture. The last half of Revelation is an example.

1.  Rev 13 and 14 appears to be all one vision.
2.  Rev 17 through 19 appears to be one vision.

This 2nd Chiasm shows us both godly and satanic kingdoms and
the final outcomes  for both. The rejoicing of the saints is the
subject of Ch 15, while God's wrath on those who have rejected
His Son is the subject of Rev 16.  This ABC=CBA structure is a
little  complicated,  and  there  are  alternative  views,  but  careful
study appears to support this version.

 Page 11


(A-A) Israel and the Church: Rev 12, Rev 20. The Woman with
Twelve Stars, and the reign of Christ. Many take Rev 20, the so-
called millennium literally,6 because it appears to use literal
language. The fact that Revelation is figurative, as are all other
biblical visions, makes that view difficult to support.

More likely, this is the whole body of Christ, all the redeemed
both Jew and Gentile. From the time of Moses, Israel has been the
caretaker of  the oracles  of God (Rom 3:2).  Israel was  the  line
through whom the Savior of the world would come. After Jesus
was glorified, Israel and the Church (the spiritual kingdom over
which the Lord now reigns, Rev 20:4), would be persecuted but
not destroyed. Satan would be bound  so as not to deceive the
nations during the Christian Era (Rev 20:2, Mat 12:29, Joh 12:31).

At the end of the Christian Era, Satan would be released for a
little season (Rev 12:12-13 and 20:7). Jesus is the first and only
resurrection. There is no other resurrection in scripture. Blessed,
indeed, are those who have part in Him as born-again believers.
Over  them  the  second  death  has  no  power  (Rev  20:6).  In  the
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6  The Greek  P\84@4 (chilioi) Strong's No. G5507, is an indefinite plural form of
P484VH (chilias), the word for a single thousand. This indefinite chilioi is the only
word translated "thousand" in Rev 20, so it cannot be proven that the "thou-
sand" in Rev 20 represents only one thousand years. Instead, this chilioi could
be referring any number of thousands of years. As a result, Rev 20:1-6 can be a
pictorial representation of the whole Christian Era, regardless of length.
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 Page 12

culmination of all things on this present Earth, there is a final
battle (Rev 12:17 and 20:7-9). Please notice how the account in
Rev 12 parallels Rev 20, and the many parallel verses indicate that
they are about the same time and events.

(B-B)  The Beast with Seven Heads, and the Leopard, Bear, Lion:
Rev 13, Rev 17. Throughout history there have been only seven
major empires and their descendants ruling  in the Earth. They
have been satanically empowered (Rev 17:3) because they are his
domain (Luk 4:6). Out of the Middle East we now have an empire
that  is the combination  of three ancient ones, Babylon, Medo-
Persia, and Greece. The whole Middle East  is the home  of the
Islamic  world.  Those  nations  are  held  together  by  a  common
religion and have a satanically inspired hatred for the Church and
Israel. They will always be at war with the spiritual kingdom of
Jesus (Rev 13:12 and 17:14).

The 144,000, the Eternal Gospel and Babylon: Rev 14-15, Rev 17-
19. The servants of the Lord are compared with servants of the
enemy. Now in the Christian Era, the Old Testament saints sing
about Jesus.7  For them He is a new song (Rev 14:3). The eternal
gospel  is preached to the Church  (Rev 14:6). The  trials  of the
Christian Era are foretold, followed by the Lord coming in the
clouds  to  reap  the  Earth  of  the  saints  (Rev  14:14-16).  In  the
Grapes of Wrath, more is told about the final battle (Rev 14:17-
19). The battlefront will be 200 miles long, from Jerusalem north-
ward.  Knowing  that  the  prophecies  in  Revelation  are  parallel
makes this a lot easier. The various little pieces at the end of each
prophecy, about a great battle, appear to be about the same great
battle - at least partially spiritual - of Armageddon.

Mighty Babylon falls (Rev 18). She is the haunt for every evil
beast and bird and creeping thing. Who is she? Since every death
on  Earth  is  attributed  to  her,  from  the  prophets  of  the  Old
Testament to the saints of the Church, Babylon is far broader than
one single empire or city, no matter how great and long-lasting.
Babylon is every unsaved rebellious person, land, and empire that
has ever existed on Earth.
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7  That the 144,000 are the Old Testament Israelites is provable by comparing
their identification as "first-fruits" (Rev 14:4) with Jer 2:3 and other Scriptures.
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Rev 18:24 "And in her was found the blood of prophets,
and of saints, and of ALL that were slain upon the earth."

Babylon  began  when  Cain murdered  his  brother  Abel  and
continues until the last Christian is impaled or beheaded in some
spiritually dark and human-snake infested concrete jungle.
Babylon means confusion.  Satan is the author of confusion.
Babylon is Satan's world. We have been commanded throughout
Scripture to separate ourselves from her. We haven't listened very
well, have we, so the Lord reminds us here:

Rev  18:4-5  "And  I  heard  another  voice  from  heaven,
saying,  Come  out  of  her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not
partakers  of her sins, and that ye receive not of her
plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God
hath remembered her iniquities."

Soon the light of the Word will be heard in her no more, nor the
voice of Jesus the bridegroom, nor the witness of the bride (the
Church is the bride of Christ), and Babylon will be no more...

Rev 18:23, 19:1 "And the light of a candle shall shine no
more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of
the bride  shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy
merchants were  the  great men  of  the  earth;  for  by  thy
sorceries were all nations deceived  . . . And after these
things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven,
saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and
power, unto the Lord our God."

(C-C)  The Songs of Moses and the Lamb and the Return of the
King: Rev 19. In the return of Jesus and the song of the redeemed,
the Lord closes the doors on the great beasts of Revelation. For
the world it is all over. As is true in the rest of Revelation, a dual
address is made to distinguish between the Old Testament saints
and the Church. The song of Moses is sung by Israel, while glory
to the Lamb is sung by the Church.

The Seven Bowls:  Rev  16.  The  judgment  of  the  bowls  is  a
terrible intensification of the seven trumpets. The plagues are
similar. The bowls are directed at one geographic area, the throne
of  the  beast.  Spiritual  in  nature,  these  bowls  tells  us  of  the
spiritual  darkness  that  now  engulfs  the  Middle  East  and  that
darkness will intensify until the end.

 Page 14

Rev 16:13-14 "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs
come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth
of the beast (notice there are three, the Leopord-Bear-Lion,
i.e.,  the Middle East), and out  of the mouth of  the  false
prophet (Muhammad). For they are the spirits of devils,
working  miracles,  which  go  forth  unto  the  kings  of  the
earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle
of that great day of God Almighty."

 The only threefold enemy the Lord mentions in Revelation is the
Leopard-Bear-Lion, so these three unclean spirits, like frogs, are
probably the satanic princes who spiritually control those lands,
Muhammad being the false prophet. These spirits have remained
in the Middle East throughout the Christian Era, but the poison of
Islam is now spreading all over the world. As is true of the other
prophecies which tell us of man's final rebellion, this one also ends
with Armageddon.

We can now see how the Lord had planned the Christian Era
all  along.  There  have  been  Two  Witnesses,  the  Jews  and  the
Gentile church. The Lord never  forgot His chosen people, and
through  the  Gentile  church  untold  numbers  of  Ephraim  have
unknowingly returned to the Lord. Through bifids and chiasms we
can now understand that both Daniel and Revelation are repetitive
in an organized way. Since the time of the Gentiles was over in
1967, Daniel, for the most part, is fulfilled.

Using the same bifidic and chiasmic style as Daniel, Revelation
continues where Daniel left off. With 12 parallel prophecies in two
chiasms, Revelation reviews the Old Testament Era and amplifies
what  Daniel  told  us  about  the  time  of  the  Gentiles.  Then  it
expounds on the satanically controlled empires of the world and
identifies  the  final  enemies  of  his  Two  Witnesses.  Revelation
closes with a brief description of the eternal kingdom of God.

A NOTE ON DANIEL EIGHT

Daniel 8:17-19 declares that the last half of the vision of the
Ram and the He Goat is a vision of the time of the very end, so we
should probably look at it for a bit.

The angelic being speaking to Daniel was not battling some
mere mortal. Those were satanic princes, as Dan 10:20 points out!
At the end of time, out of the area controlled by those spiritual

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princes, a little horn -- a wicked ruler -- will arise who will lead the
enemy's forces at the end of time, however, he will be brought to
ultimate defeat when Messiah returns.8

"Finally," you say, "there  is your Antichrist. We knew  it all
along." Not at all. This will undoubtedly be a political or military
leader, but he will be coming from the Middle East. The "little
horn" of Dan 8 could be Ben Laden of Al Queda or one of those
deranged mullahs from Iran. He could also be  someone acting
behind the scenes that we don't think very important, like Hassan
al-Tourabi, of Sudan:

DAN 8:9-11 "And out of one of them came forth a little
horn9, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and
toward  the  east,  and  toward  the  pleasant  land.  And  it
waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down
some  of  the  host  and  of  the  stars  to  the  ground,  and
stamped upon them."

DAN  8:23-25  "And  in  the  latter  time  of  their  kingdom,
when the transgressors come to the full, a king of fierce
countenance,  and  understanding  dark  sentences,  shall
stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his
own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall
prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the
holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause
craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself
in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall
also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be
broken without hand."

This is indeed a vision of the end (Dan 8:17 and 19), and this
little horn does not come out of the Roman Empire, but out of the
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8  Many try to identify the little horn of Dan 8:9-11 and 8:23-25 as Antiochus
Epiphanies, the Greek king who desecrated the temple in 168BC. The problem
with that interpretation is that 168BC was not "the ultimate time of the end"
v.17, or "the appointed time of the end" v.19. Scripture declares this to be an
end-time vision and we see it now being fulfilled in satanically inspired shadow
empires like Al Queda.
9  There is no reason to believe that we will be able to recognize the "little horn"
of Dan 8 when he appears, any more than we were able to recognize Adolf Hitler
as the "little horn" of Dan 7 until after Hitler was killed.
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lands once ruled by Greece (Dan 8:21). The Grecian Empire of
Alexander the Great covered the whole Middle East. Notice that
this final ruler is going to use peace talks to put people off their
guard. Sound familiar? Read the newspaper.

There is so much Scripture for the location and behavior of the
final enemy of the Jews and the Church that it is difficult to avoid
duplication. All end-time prophecy points to the Middle East. The
final enemy of God's people is the Islamic world. However, from
what we now know about Ten-Horns  of the Scarlet Beast, the
Islamic states won't be in this war by themselves. They will be
supported by the rest of the world. Nevertheless, at the very end,
it won't be man's weaponry but the voice of the King of kings who
will defeat them.10
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10  Included in the prophecy of the Ram and the He-Goat is a time period of 2300
evenings and mornings  (Dan 8:14). From Scripture we know  that evenings and
mornings are not days, and not times. The Lord gave us a day (a yom) for a year,
and a time (iddan or mowada) has been identified with some certainty, as 1000
years. God did not give us evenings and mornings for years. The author confesses
that he is not sure what these evenings and mornings mean. Are they 2300 days, or
since an evening and morning appears in each  day,  are they 1150 days?
Impossible to tell, but these evening and mornings probably refer to the evening and
morning sacrifices offered by the priests on the alter of burnt offerings. .