An Unusual Introduction to This Week’s Article

Once before it was necessary to repost a prior Eye of Prophecy article, due to the sudden demise of my laptop hard drive. The time it took to start all over again that week with a brand new engine prevented writing of a new article. Still, the repost included pictures and captions not part of the original article.

Well, it has happened again. Not because my computer hard drive dropped dead, but because my left eye began flashing little bolts of light, surrounded by mysterious shadows. This is not metaphorical!

These were the opening lines of Eye of Prophecy article, To Be or Not to Be in Heaven (A Revisit), posted 5-6-17.

*(My eyesight has stabilized, and the articles have continued … thank you, Lord!)

The first repost referenced above was, Why the Rapture? (A Revisit), posted 11-5-16.

Of the 253 Eye of Prophecy articles to date (one each Saturday), those are the only two published a second time, albeit with some modifications.

Although there is no emergency reason, this week’s article plus the next two are reproductions of sorts. But with substantially revised form and content of the original six-series Eye of Prophecy entitled, The Woman and the Beast, posted 10-12-13 through 11-16-13.

Reasons for reopening this six-article set: Visitors during the first year or so of Eye of Prophecy were significantly fewer than those of subsequent articles (to be expected for any new website). However, readership was disproportionately low, for that very reason—six parts … too many! Nevertheless, there is some good stuff in those articles. But, then, I would say that as the author!

Sometimes in my articles, excerpts from previous Eye of Prophecy posts are included… in italics or quotations marks. However, because of the extensive makeover, there will be no excerpt quotes from the original six articles, as it would disrupt the continuity of this week’s post, as well as the next two. Rather, previous contents will be blended in with the new material. Technically, I think this is permissible (no plagiarism or failure to acknowledge), as I am the author of all Eye of Prophecy articles. Trust that meets with your approval!

So, let’s begin by restarting the engine of a six-cylinder vehicle originally produced as, The Woman and the Beast.

Enjoy the ride! But be sure to get out of the car before it plunges over a precipice that will spell the end of the woman part way through the Tribulation and final fate of the beast (who had returned from the Abyss) at the end of the Great Tribulation. You will escape this fatal destiny-altering crash if you have believed and received Messiah Jesus as personal Savior (John 3:16). He is the one who will, “…defeat them because he is Lord of all lords and King of all kings. And his called and chosen and faithful ones will be with him” (Revelation 17:14).

Revelation Chapter 17 … Where It All Began

A year or so after my first book—O Israel … the end is the beginning for those left behind—a novel published in 2007, I began a sequel. After writing just a few chapters, the Lord dramatically interrupted this project one night in November 2008. He did so with a dazzling disclosure (discernment) that the Antichrist beast of Revelation had already lived and died before John’s visions of the beast as recorded in Revelation 13 & 17.

The pivotal passage is: “…I will tell you (reveal to you) the mystery of this woman and of the beast… The beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction. And the people … will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died” (Revelation 17:7-8, parenthesis mine).

Immediately, I stopped writing the sequel and embarked on a stirring literary voyage, “…to the ancient Roman world, to the very origin and lair of the beast, to the first-century church, to the abyss and back again, to the pre-emptive death and eternal destruction of the Antichrist, to the mesmerizing visions of John, Daniel, and Zechariah.” To, “expose and declassify that which has been concealed and classified; the secret of the beast presumed to be confidential until the body of Christ is taken from the earth.”

The above quote is taken from the back cover of my second (non-fictional) book: Out of the Abyss … can the number of the beast be solved, 666? Published in February 2011. Followed by the inception of Eye of Prophecy website in July 2013.

To say that the Book of Revelation contains some of the most apocalyptic events known to man would be the proverbial understatement. One of the most captivating is John’s amazing vision of a woman sitting on a scarlet beast. Moreover, it is one of only two revelations in which an angel explicitly explains the mystery of what John had just witnessed. As said in a previous article or two: a mystery revealed is no longer a mystery.

In this current trilogy, we’re going to identify and examine the woman and the beast upon which she sits. Considerably more attention will be given to the woman, as several Eye of Prophecy articles have dealt extensively, even exclusively, with the Antichrist Beast.

“So the angel took me in the Spirit into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over it. The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In her hand she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality. A mysterious name was written on her forehead: ‘Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.’ I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement” (Revelation 17:3-6).

Who is the Beast?

My book, Out of the Abyss provides ample evidence to answer that question. As do parts or the whole of 50 Eye of Prophecy articles posted to date in the category of Antichrist. The beast is Nero!

If you find that conclusion to be incredible or inconceivable, then I encourage you to read the book and/or some of the articles. You will find Biblical documentation, historical evidence, and sound reasoning to support this astonishing identification: The early Christians knew and so, too, can we know. The number and name of Antichrist has been solved!

(Regarding both Christian and secular Roman views about Nero particularly prevalent in the first four centuries (A.D.), see Eye of Prophecy article, The Legendary Return of Nero, posted 4-4-15. Also, Reappearance of the Beast, posted 9-21-13).

Who, Then, is the Woman?

Let’s get right to the answer. In the angel’s explanation of the woman and the beast to John—with a qualification that understanding and wisdom were needed to fully grasp this clarification (Revelation 13:18 & 17:9)—he discloses the identity of the woman: “And this woman you saw in your vision represents the great city that rules over the kings of the world” (Revelation 17:18, italics for emphasis).

Which begs another question: Which city is the great city. It’s not as hard as you might think, because there are only two viable choices: Babylon and Rome. Although it’s conceivable that Antichrist Nero upon his return will maintain an office in Brussels, Belgium (headquarters of the European Union), his command center will be in and his loyalty to “the great city.”

Babylon

A common if not prevailing view—held, for example, by the authors of the Left Behind anthology, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins—is that the ancient (supposedly restored in the last days) city of Babylon is the proper choice. With the following rationale:

• The wording in Revelation 17:5: “A mysterious name was written on her forehead: ‘Babylon the Great…’”
• The entire 18th Chapter of Revelation that describes in graphic detail the utter destruction of Babylon, beginning with verse 2: “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!”
• Some Old Testament prophecies announcing the destruction of Babylon, particularly Isaiah 21:9 which also reads, “…Babylon is fallen, fallen!”
• The attempt of Saddam Hussein to rebuild Babylon during his dictatorship in Iraq. Which came to a screeching halt with the capture, trial, conviction, and execution of this evil tyrant.

(Hussein fancied himself as the reincarnated Nebuchadnezzar)

Let’s test the validity of Babylon as the choice.

First, the mysterious name of Babylon the Great does not tell us that the woman (the great city) is, in fact, Babylon. Rather, it states that Babylon the Great was written (symbolically of course) on the woman’s forehead. So, what or who is Babylon the Great? Revelation 17 also answers that question: “Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.” In other words, Babylon the Great is not actually a city at all in the context of the woman being the “great city that rules over the kings of the world” (Revelation 17:18).

Rather, Babylon the Great is the mother that would bear children who would seek to “prostitute” the eternal existence and imperishable Word of the true and living God and of his Messiah. This corruption and distortion of God’s everlasting truth is the core foundation of all non-Christian world religions, religious organizations that are Christian in name only including cults, and anti-religious systems such as the occult New Age movement or communism or even globalism.

Through graphic description and by contextual implication, the great city of Revelation 17 would be the dwelling place of the worst of her children, as also vividly depicted in Revelation Chapter 18. Thus, when the great city is crushed (during the tribulation), Mother Babylon which birthed the woman sitting on the beast is also destroyed.

Another passage in Isaiah refutes the idea that a renovated modern-day Babylon is the great city symbolized by the woman:

“Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the flower of Chaldean pride, will be devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them. Babylon will never be inhabited again. It will remain empty for generation after generation…” (Isaiah 13:19-20). Then the last verse of that chapter tells us, “Babylon’s days are numbered; its time of destruction will soon arrive.”

About 170 years later Babylon was annihilated by the Medes-Persians … beyond recognition.

Today’s Babylon is a virtual wasteland compared to the glory of ancient Babylon. In fact, just two verses earlier in Isaiah 13, we read: “Look, I will stir up the Medes against Babylon…” (Verse 17). This emphatically places Isaiah’s prophecy of Babylon’s destruction (once for all time) in the context of what is now historical fact that the Mede-Persian empire destroyed Babylon.

Both Isaiah and the angel of Revelation foretold the obliteration of Babylon; with, as indicated, Isaiah’s prophecy coming to pass (in 539 B.C. to be exact). However, neither Isaiah nor the angel of Revelation are saying that Babylon will twice be destroyed. They repeat the stunning prediction for dramatic emphasis, but the angel of Revelation repeats it for another reason.

Consequently, when the angel announces that, “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!” (Revelation 18:2), the fall (that takes place during the Tribulation) includes both the great city itself—symbolized by the woman, not by the ancient city of Babylon—AND Satanic systems that seek to replace the everlasting truth of the true and living God. Systems such as occult astrology, pantheism, or polytheism that were promoted by and flourished in the ancient Babylonian kingdom. Then continued by Rome during the glory days of the Roman Empire. And continuing to this very day, but in vastly different way and form … as we shall see in this trilogy of articles.

Thus, the angel’s repetition of Babylon’s fall applies: (1) Tangibly to “the great city” destroyed during the Tribulation. (2) Intangibly to “Babylon the Great, Mother of all Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World” (Revelation 17:5).

ROME (Roma)

Why is Rome the only feasible choice as the great city of Revelation Chapter 17? Let’s begin the answer with a few more questions.

What realm had conquered most of the known world when the book of Revelation was written? Easy answer: The Roman Empire. What city was the political, cultural, economic, and military center of this great empire? An even easier answer: Rome. And what would happen to Christians if a newly written scroll that contained some of the most astounding revelations ever witnessed and recorded had mentioned Rome as the “Mother of All Prostitutes, holding a goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality, drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus…” (Revelation 17:4-6)?

Or conversely, a city “hated by the scarlet beast and the ten horns (kings) who would strip her naked, eat her flesh, and burn her remains with fire” (Revelation 17:16)? For Roman citizens, Roman Generals and Roman Legions, but especially to Caesar: had Rome been identified by name, these would have been defamatory words of disrespect and even treason. In short order, many more Christians would have been rounded up and executed. Thus, it was necessary to disguise the great city of Rome as the woman and Babylon. The Christians were also protected in Revelation Chapter 13 when the angel and John encoded the identity of the Beast (Nero, the Antichrist) within the number six hundred sixty-six; then encouraged believers to solve the mystery of this number (Revelation 13:18).

Returning to Revelation 17:18: “And this woman you saw in your vision represents the great city that rules over the kings of the world” (italics for emphasis).

The word (rules) is obviously a present tense verb. With the clear connotation that this great city was ruling over other kings and their nations, as Rome did, when Revelation was written. As discussed in several prior articles, the beast (Nero Caesar) had already died, but the woman who sits on the beast was still thriving—Rome. At the beginning of the tribulation period, the beast will reappear from the Abyss and, with the allegiance given to him by ten kings who will have risen to power (Revelation 17:12), the beast would eventually turn on the woman and annihilate her.

Babylon (the ancient city, itself) could not possibly be the woman of Revelation 17, for at least two reasons: (1) it had already been destroyed and, according to Isaiah, would never return to any form of greatness, whatsoever. (2) When Revelation was written, Rome was the only city “that rules over the kings of the world.” This present tense verb “rules” would extend to the end times, as the woman (great city) would be alive and well during the onset of the Great Tribulation and will be, at first, in collaboration with the beast.

However, the Roman Empire was destroyed in the 5th century AD.

How, then, could Rome (the heart of the Roman Empire) qualify as the great city, with an ongoing relevance through the Dark Ages, through the political and military prominence of European kings/queens, during the Protestant movement and ensuing Renaissance, right up to the present time? How can the present tense “rules” be extended to the Great Tribulation? The answer to that question resides in the answer to another question: Since the fall of the Roman Empire, What did and also what will the woman (the great city) look like, signify, represent, or characterize during the end-times?

I’m not suggesting a Revived Roman Empire, because I firmly believe there is no such thing in Scripture. In my book Out of the Abyss (Chapters 15 & 16) and several Eye of Prophecy articles such as, Exposing Antichrist’s Identity … More Compelling Evidence Part I & II (Posted 3-18 & 3-25, 2017), significant evidence is presented to demonstrate that the seven heads of the beast are kings, not kingdoms (Revelation 17:9-11). Instead, there will be a Revived Roman Emperor. A man (Nero) who had already lived and died even before John first saw visions of him as the Antichrist beast; who would suddenly reappear from the Abyss at the outset of the Great Tribulation (Revelation 17:7-8).

Concerning the woman, you will see that it’s the same woman, but she has taken on a new appearance after the fall of the Roman Empire. At the beginning of the Tribulation, the woman will be in alliance with and gain support from the beast-king but will also attempt to influence him. Just like this same woman’s adultery (spiritual and political) with the kings of the earth to manipulate them and control the people of their kingdoms since the fall of Rome (Revelation 17:2).

Can you find another verse in Revelation Chapter 17 that also conveys the rule of the woman in the (ongoing) present tense? If you can locate this verse, you will find more evidence that the woman (both the ancient version and the modern version—because “rules” is present tense throughout) is Rome. A strong hint: What city was built on how many hills?

The Rise & Fall of the Mighty Roman Empire

Invincible! Such was the mindset of the Caesars, the Roman Legions, the Roman Senate, and most Roman citizens during the zenith of the Roman Empire. Moreover, nearly all the peoples and nations conquered by Rome felt the same way. Who could stand against such a powerful empire? Who could consistently defeat the Romans in battle? Who would dare oppose such a massive domain that, by the end of the 1st century dominated much of the civilized world and civilized, by ruthless force if necessary, parts of the uncivilized world? How could Rome ever fall from glory?

But fall she did, exactly like the Prophet Daniel predicted one thousand years earlier: “I continued to watch because I could hear the little horn’s boastful speech. I kept watching until the fourth beast was killed and its body was destroyed by fire” (Daniel 7:11).

The little horn was Daniel’s description of the ruler who would later be called the man of lawlessness by Paul, the beast of Revelation, and the Antichrist in I John 4. The Roman Empire would become the “beast” of Daniel’s prophecy, the fourth and final Gentile kingdom (directly pertaining to God’s plan for Israel and the Messiah). Though it was the mightiest and most terrible of the four kingdoms, it would one day cease to exist.

For nearly six hundred years, the woman (the great city) that John saw in his vision would “…rule over the kings of the world” (Revelation 17:18). For most of those six centuries Rome was the largest city in the world. Historians place the demise of the centralized Roman Empire at 476 A.D. However, the eastern portion of the empire continued for hundreds of years with its capital of Constantinople (now called Istanbul). No other nation on the face of the earth, including the United States of America, has ever attained the pinnacle of supremacy like the Roman Empire. But one by one the Roman emperors fell; piece by piece the colossus crumbled from within, until European barbarians dismantled her beyond recognition.

The woman continues to rule but in a far different way. Before we explore the transformation of the woman from a ruler “over the kings of the world” (Revelation 17:18) to “the great prostitute, who rules over many waters” and with whom, “the kings of the world have committed adultery” and by whom, “the people who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality (Revelation 17:1-2), let’s examine the strategy of the one who is behind the formation of Godless empires and ungodly world systems. Whose degenerate plan is to depose and displace the true God and His Messiah.

Satan’s Tactics

Because Satan cannot see into the future, he is forced to react to human events the same way we do … in the linear unfolding of time, from day-to-day. But throughout Biblical and secular history we see two distinct patterns of Satan’s designs and operations. (1) An immediate attempt to destroy by external power whoever or whatever stands in his way and interferes with his evil schemes for mankind. (2) When sheer force doesn’t work, he resorts to attacking from within. He does so through a sinister agenda of perverting God’s truth—by deceit, distortion, lies, counterfeit imitation, compromise, immorality, apathy—with the predictable result of rebellion against God and substitution of God’s eternal Word with false man-made beliefs and ideas.

The historical and contemporary evidence is incontrovertible: The evil that men do—including unjust wars or atrocities initiated by one nation against another, one ethnic group against another, or one race against another—begins with a belief system. Thus, the Third Reich sought to annihilate the entire Jewish race, because Hitler harbored the depraved idea of Aryan supremacy which led to a shocking view that Jews were sub-human. This ungodly, immoral, racial hatred comes straight from hell.

Conquest by Force

The following is an excerpt from my second book, Out of the Abyss. It provides an overview of Satan’s plots to eliminate all those who would dare oppose him and his ultimate plan for world domination by vainly trying to usurp God’s universal authority; his warped and unattainable goal of being like the Most High God. In italics:

Satan wanted to crush Christianity as soon as he could…. If you examine Scripture, you will find this preemptive strategy and pattern of Satan in every situation that involves the promised Messiah or Israel as the racial ancestry of the Messiah. You only need to look at the historical proximity between the prophesied event or person and the timing of Satan’s preemptive attack.

It began with Cain’s murder of Abel, who Satan thought was the direct progenitor (seed) of the Messiah … He acts on what he thinks is going to happen next, meaning soon. He tried to preempt Moses from his role as deliver of Israel; thereby, holding Israel under Egyptian bondage and keeping them from the Promised Land. He tried to exterminate Israel through the powerful, but wicked Persian official Haman. In the same pattern as Moses, Satan stirred Herod to kill all the newborn children in Bethlehem. He tried to get Jesus to sin in the wilderness, thereby, discrediting Christ from being a perfect sacrifice. He was instrumental in killing Jesus by crucifixion, hoping that Jesus could not arise from the dead. And now, he was diabolically obsessed with the destruction of the early Christian Church by means of killing all the Christians.

This blueprint continued throughout history, culminating with the Holocaust—a depraved attempt to exterminate all Jews, which would prevent them from returning to Israel, which in turn would prevent Yeshua from returning to Jerusalem to establish Messiah’s kingdom. Satan knows the signs of the end times. He knew that Palestine had been declared a two-state region by Lord Balfour; it would be just a matter of time before the Jews would, in great numbers, fulfill hundreds of Old Testament prophecies that the Jewish exiles would return home. On and on we could go in demonstrating that Satan launches his attack as soon as he realizes that there is yet another event that could destroy his plan for the human race.

And don’t forget what happened right after Israel miraculously became a state in 1948. Not in a year, or a month, or even a week—the very next day Arab nations attacked the Jews with the express intent of destroying Israel. That is as now as it gets!

Do you see this? Satan never waited before. Why would he wait for an unknown, unspecified, interminable length of time for the Christian church to flourish and usher in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth? Revelation hadn’t been written yet, so Satan didn’t know the rest of the story. His arrogant ambition and pernicious pattern is always now. That’s why he selected Nero to be the king prophesied by Daniel.

Alas, the rebellion abruptly ended; rudely interrupted when Satan’s superman (Nero) left the scene before all the terrible things Satan wanted to do could be completed! Satan must have been furious a Nero, at the Roman Empire, at the Church, and at Christ. Satan never learns or doesn’t care that evil feeds on itself and ultimately self-destructs. In fact, except for the intervention of Messiah, the world would self-destruct during the Great Tribulation. (Pages 225-226).

Not until the Lord revived Nero and imprisoned him in the Abyss, then the book of Revelation was written, did Satan realize that he would be given one last chance during the end times to establish his kingdom of pure evil on the earth. Though he knows that God always wins, he’s wickedly vain enough to still try; to take as many people with him to their fate in the Lake of Fire as he can. This last desperate attempt will itself bring about his end. As God will for the second time in human history respond by judging the entire world because of the global defiance of God and Messiah Jesus—instigated by Satan, Antichrist Nero, and the False Prophet.

Internal Conquest by Infiltration and Subversion

When force doesn’t work, when Satan’s best laid plans are foiled by God, then Satan reverts to his Plan B to defeat God and God’s people, whether the people are Jews of the Old Covenant of Law or the new man (Jew and Gentile … one in Messiah Jesus) under the New Covenant of Grace.

An early Biblical and well-known example of this strategy is the idolatrous golden calf made by the Israelites who grew impatient for Moses to return from Mt. Sinai. Many of these same people who had witnessed God’s powerful and persuasive miracles of the Egyptian plagues, yielded to the voice of a rebellious few within the Israelite camp … wanting a god they could see and worship visibly.

This happened just a few weeks after their miraculous deliverance from Egypt and the stunning rescue of the Jews from annihilation when their backs were to the Red Sea. You remember: God parted the waters and his people walked across the sea on dry land! And what happened to the Egyptians? They had the audacity and arrogance to ignore this stupendous miracle and pursued the Jews. As a result, the Egyptians drowned when God caused the walls of water to collapse on them. Did Pharaoh and his army seriously think that God would deliver the Israelites by supernaturally parting the waters, only to allow them to be massacred on the other side? If he had carefully contemplated the whole thing, Pharaoh would have stayed on his side of the sea!

Satan couldn’t destroy God’s people by force, so he reverted to discord and disgrace from within the ranks. Hence, the golden calf and subsequent apathy, complaints, and rebellions from a discontented few.

So, stop trusting in God to get you to the Promised Land. Devise and implement a plan, an idea … someone, something (money, power, prestige, flattery) to get you where you want to go or be. But whatever it takes or whatever you do, be sure to leave God and His message to humanity (the Bible) out of it. In the proverbial nutshell that’s Satan’s lie to the world and even to the people of God.

“Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God” (II Corinthians 4:4).

“For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones” (Matthew 24:24).

Satan’s switch to Plan B doesn’t mean that he abandons his diabolical determination to literally destroy Jews and Christians whenever possible. He does this oblivious to the historical reality that the harsher the persecution of Jews or Christians, the greater the good that came out of even the most horrendous hate and vicious brutality. Hence, the exponential growth of believers during their persecution by the Roman Empire. Or the unthinkable horror of the Holocaust precipitating the prophetic rebirth of the state of Israel and the massive return of Jews from the four corners of the earth.

In today’s world, there is increasing oppression of true believers in Christ Jesus, including atrocities committed by Muslims in several African nations, as well as some Arab countries. As well as a reprehensible return (rise) of Anti-Semitism.

As developed in next week’s article, we’ll see that it was internal subversion of the true Gospel of Messiah Jesus through an ecclesiastical hierarchy that caused far more damage than external persecution by those who hated the (true) Christians.

Things to Ponder

As seen, the woman (great city … Rome) was ruling over the kings of the world when Revelation was written. This same woman would also be in existence during the Tribulation as clearly shown in Revelation 17:12-17, which says, for example:

This transformation from ancient Rome with its Caesars that ruled over kings and kingdoms to the subsequent form and substance of the woman beginning in the 4^th to 5^th centuries and continuing to this very day will be developed in more detail in the next two articles.

The only other thing to ponder is to not miss those articles!

That and the infinitely more important near-future reality: “Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His (Messiah Jesus) kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him” (Daniel 7:27, parenthesis mine).

For those not all that familiar with the word panoramic, it is the adjective form of the noun, panorama. From the Greek word, horama (which means “sight”), Webster’s Dictionary defines panorama as, “…2a: an unobstructed or complete view of a region in every direction; b: comprehensive presentation of a subject; c: range; 3: a mental picture of a series of images or events.”

Picture a helicopter circling over the Grand Canyon, with a panoramic 360 degree vista. Standing on Mount Everest with a wide-angle camera lens, shooting a spectacular scene that … seems to go on forever. Or reading four verses in the book of Daniel that bear a breathtaking bird’s eye (let’s make it an eagle) view of the two most influential men and significant events in mankind’s history and destiny. One man of light, life, salvation, and all that is good; the other for darkness, death, judgment, and all that is evil.

There are no greater prophecies in Scripture than those of Messiah’s coming to the earth that he created, not once but twice—commonly referred to by theologians as the First and Second Advent of Christ. Though the far greater majority of people on earth, past and present, have not accepted Messiah Jesus as their personal Savior; a vast number of people from every race, religion, and nation recognize the name of Jesus Christ.

(One of My Favorite Passages in All of Scripture … The 1st & 2nd Advent of Jesus in Two Verses)

So, too, have billions of people on this planet heard, seen, or read about the evil antithesis of Messiah Jesus. This corrupt counterfeit of Christ bears several names in the Bible: ruler, king, little horn, man of lawlessness, and beast. But he is most commonly referred to as: Antichrist.

As a student of Scripture, I have intently studied Bible prophecy since the 1970s. Yet it wasn’t until November, 2008, when I realized that some of the pieces of the prophetic puzzle on the Antichrist were not accurately assembled. It began with a dramatic disclosure from the Lord (proper discernment and application of two verses in Revelation 17) that the Antichrist had already lived and died before John even saw him (in the form of a beast) and wrote about him. The implication was staggering, to the extent that it changes and corrects the conception of a modern-day man rising to power as the Antichrist during the soon to come Great Tribulation.

After seeing the astounding vision of a woman (a great city, which is Rome … see the six-part Eye of Prophecy series, The Woman and the Beast, posted 10-12 through 11-16-13) sitting on a beast with seven heads and ten horns (this is the same beast depicted in Revelation 13), the angel explains the mystery, beginning with the beast. Said the angel to John:

“Why are you so amazed? …I will tell you the mystery of this woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns on which she sits. The beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now. And yet he will soon (abruptly, suddenly) come up out of the bottomless pit … And the people who belong to this world (the unsaved during the Tribulation) … will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died” (Revelation 17:7-8; italics for emphasis, parenthesis mine).

There is absolutely no ambiguity with regard to what the angel told John. This beast (man) had already lived and died before John first saw it (him) in the first century.

Antichrist passages explored extensively in Out of the Abyss and several prior Eye of Prophecy articles are: II Thessalonians 2 (man of lawlessness); Daniel 7 (sudden appearance of the little horn, king to lead a ten-nation confederation); Daniel 11, Revelation 16 & 19 (Antichrist’s final advance on the Middle East and attack on Israel—Armageddon); Zechariah 11 (worthless shepherd); Revelation 13 (the Hebrew gematria number of the beast matching Nero Caesar and the fact that the world will be amazed at the miracle of his reappearance); Revelation 17 (the Antichrist had already lived and died but would return from the Abyss, to continue on a global scale what he began in the first century). And a panoramic passage which is the main focus of this week’s and next week’s article.

These riveting passages provide evidence of the geopolitical and biographical origin of the Antichrist—none other than the Roman Emperor Nero. With Revelation 17:7-8 presenting the foundational fact that the Antichrist’s appearance during the Tribulation is not that of a modern-day man born in that (our) generation. Whereas, the other Biblical references listed above (including the rest of Revelation 17) relay more specific details to narrow down the Antichrist “candidates” to one man.

*Note: As stated before in a few Eye of Prophecy articles, my identification of Nero as the Antichrist is neither a Preterist View (as they subscribe to the exceptionally erroneous conjecture that the Tribulation took place in the 1^st century) nor is it new in the sense of being revelatory. Rather it is discernment from the Lord to revive the clear understanding of the early church (1^st through 4^th centuries) that Nero was, indeed, the beast of Revelation. For example, see Eye of Prophecy article: The Legendary Return of Nero, posted 4-4-15.

The first mention of the Antichrist (designation of king and little horn) is found in Daniel Chapter 7, which is Daniel’s dream vision of the four beasts—world kingdoms. Chapter 7 primarily confines the introduction to and exposure of Antichrist in the context of his sudden unexpected appearance (reappearance as Revelation 13 & 17 tells us some 600 years later) at the outset of the Great Tribulation.

(Beasts Symbolizing From Left to Right in Order … Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome)

However, there is one passage in Scripture (in just four verses) which panoramically juxtaposes and correlates the first and second coming of Messiah alongside of the initial appearance and then reappearance of the Antichrist. This passage is nothing short of astonishing, to include the precise amount of elapsed time until Jesus would be hailed as the Messiah in Israel—one week before his crucifixion and resurrection. It is also the passage that, more than all the others in Scripture, confirms that the Antichrist would be and was (as fulfilled some 600 years later in the 1^st century) the Roman Emperor Nero—the man of lawlessness, the ruler, the little horn, and the king. This wicked man has been kept alive in the Abyss for some 2,000 years and will return as the Antichrist beast of Revelation.

This most sweeping of all Biblical prophetic passages is found in:

Daniel 9:24-27 (Vision of Daniel in 539 B.C.)

Let’s briefly look at the setting.

Daniel had been taken captive to Babylon during Nebuchadnezzar’s first attack against Judah in 605 B.C. Ezekiel was exiled to Babylon in the 2^nd campaign of 597 B.C., with the third (and final) most destructive onslaught occurring in 586 B.C. when Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple were destroyed. Jeremiah was also a contemporary (older than Daniel and Ezekiel); however, he was never deported to Babylon.

In 539 B.C. right after Persia had conquered Babylon, Daniel read Jeremiah’s prophecy, “…that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years” (as quoted by Daniel in Chapter 9, verse 2).

That had been the warning given by God through Jeremiah to the two southern tribes of Israel—Judah and Benjamin. If God’s people persisted in worshipping false gods (idols) and refused to return to him, the prophecies given to Moses long before would come to pass—the final and most devastating of which was the inconceivable exile to foreign nations.

Daniel then proceeded to offer one of the most poignant and powerful prayers recorded in all of Scripture, acknowledging the unrepentant sins of the people and God’s perfect justice in judging them. Then pleading with the Lord to be merciful to him and his people. It was tantamount to asking the Lord to please remember his promise to limit the punishment to seventy years (Daniel 9:4-19).

Daniel had barely begun praying when God sent the angel Gabriel to him, but not just to answer Daniel’s prayer, as it was already a foregone conclusion that the Babylonia captivity would last for only 70 years. Rather, the Lord would give to Daniel an astounding panoramic prophecy concerning Israel’s future that would encompass the New Covenant of salvation and Israel’s ultimate physical and spiritual restoration; also times of great turmoil caused by both the first and second appearance of the anti-Messiah. And other phenomenal events that we’ll get to later in this and next week’s article.

Before we read the four verses of this powerful prophecy, let’s pick it up with Gabriel’s first words to Daniel:

“…Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God. Listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision” (Daniel 9:22-23).

(Depiction of Gabriel Appearing to Daniel, Who Would Have Been in His Early Eighties By This Time)

Here is Gabriel’s stunning revelation to Daniel, quoted in its entirety. However, for purpose of easier referencing later on, each verse will be cited individually.

“A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place” (Daniel 9:24)

“Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times” (Verse 25).

“After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end” (Verse 26).

“The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him” (Daniel 9:27).

In just four verses, the angel Gabriel revealed a total of seven (once again illustrating the striking significance of the divine number seven) distinct components to this amazing prophecy. Some of the seven are well-known and sufficiently grasped by students of Bible prophecy; others have been misunderstood or misapplied, especially verse 26.

*Note: You may want to print the above portion of today’s article that quotes the four verses of Daniel Chapter 9, for easier reference as we proceed.

(1) The Seventy Weeks of Daniel

In Hebrew, the 70 weeks represent 490 actual years (one week equals seven years) of time that began with the Persian King Artaxerxes’s decree in 445 B.C.—recorded later in Nehemiah Chapter 2—allowing Nehemiah to return to Israel and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. However, the 70 weeks (particularly the sweeping events depicted in verse 24), would also prophetically span the interlude between the first 69 weeks of this era and the remaining (70^th) week.

Sixty-nine of these weeks (483 years) would end with the triumphant ride of Jesus on the back of a donkey (as foretold by Zechariah) into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday. Seven days later, Messiah Jesus would arise from the dead to seal the New Covenant of Salvation through faith in God’s grace … the substitutionary sacrificial gift of His Son. That is the (once for all) atonement spoken of in verse 24.

The 70^th week would not commence until: “The end will come…” (verse 26) at which time the Antichrist would make a seven-year treaty with Israel (verse 27). From which we get the duration of the Great Tribulation, beginning with believers taken from the earth in the Rapture (I Thessalonians 4 & I Corinthians 15).

Take special note that the same ruler (Antichrist) introduced earlier in verse 26 is the one who orchestrates this seven-year treaty with Israel; separated by a (long) period of time before the 70^th week would begin, as clearly conveyed in the last half of verse 26: “…The end will come…” Which perfectly matches with Nero’s first time/tenure on earth as a Roman Emperor to his return from the Abyss at the outset of the Tribulation.

At the end of that 70^th week (seven years) when Messiah returns triumphantly to earth to set up his Millennial Reign, other of Daniel’s predictions in verse 24 will come to pass. Israel’s rebellion (their persistent refusal by the majority of Jews to accept Jesus as their Messiah) is finally ended when the remnant left at the end of the Tribulation embraces Jesus as their Messiah. First they will mourn for Jesus because they (and their ancestors) had denied him as their Messiah Savior (Zechariah 12:10-14). Everlasting righteousness will be established in the Kingdom of God, and the Most Holy Place (the 3rd Temple) will be divinely “anointed” or set apart for worship and prayer during the Millennium.

At that point the entire scope of the prophetic vision will have been confirmed … completed.

These 70 weeks would comprehensively comprise everything pertaining to Israel’s redemption (individually then nationally) and their ultimate physical and spiritual restoration to the Promised Land. In between the 69^th and 70^th week, the times of the Gentile domination would continue over Israel, which finally ended in 1967.

(2) Sixty-Nine Weeks to Messiah’s Arrival on Earth

Daniel gives us the starting point of that phenomenally precise prediction, and the Gospels tell us exactly when Messiah Jesus (“the Anointed One comes” … Daniel 9:25) fulfilled the prophecy as foretold in the following well-known passage:

“Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt” (Zechariah 9:9).

Not until the appointed time during his marvelous and miraculous ministry on earth did Jesus allow Israel to “officially” acknowledge him as the long-awaited Messiah; even though his profound teaching and his powerful miracles that no one had ever done before proved that he was the Son of God … exactly who King David said the Messiah would be (Psalm 2 & Psalm 110).

Read with me from Matthew’s Gospel: “The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it. Most of the crowds spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting.

‘Praise God for the Son of David (all Jews knew that term was equivalent to the Messiah)! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!’

“The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. ‘Who is this?’ they asked. And the crowds replied, ‘It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee’” (Matthew 21:6-11; italics for emphasis, parenthesis mine).

Although mentioned in subsequent Eye of Prophecy articles, here is an excerpt from an older article, An Incredible Prophecy Time-Lapse Prophecy (Posted 1-18-14). That article was all about the amazing discovery (disclosure) given to Sir Robert Anderson, published in 1894 in his book, The Coming Prince.

Once again, time/space prohibits extensive review of what he found, so I will highly condense his amazing discovery: Sir Robert Anderson calculated (with partial assistance from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich) the Julian date of King Artaxerxes edict to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem to have been March 14th, 445 BC. Furthermore, the Julian date for Jesus’s magnificent ride into Jerusalem was April 6th, 32 AD. By employing the Hebrew calendar, Sir Robert Anderson tallied 173,880 days had elapsed which is exactly 483 Jewish years!! Absolutely astounding! I repeat for emphasis: Incredible!!

Sir Robert Anderson factored in leap years and the 24 days from March 14th to April 6th. Some mathematicians/scholars determined that Anderson was two days off or so; but whether they’re right or Sir Robert was right, doesn’t matter all that much. The fact is: to calculate within two days, or two weeks, or two months, or even two years is remarkable. When you’re talking about 483 years, even a gap of two years still gives significant validation to the prophecy. Meaning that it’s not the God-given prophecy that’s a little off; rather, it might just be a slight miscalculation of what is a fairly complex system of balancing two calendars over such a long period of time.

Unless God, himself, directly inspires someone (such as the prophet Daniel), there’s absolutely no way for a man or woman to predict either the decree of Artaxerxes (some 95 years after Daniel’s vision) or the coming of the Messiah (some 483 years—Jewish calendar) years later to the year and the very day! Or, for that matter to predict anything, with or without a definitive time-frame of fulfillment, on an error-free, 100% standard of accuracy….

*Foot Note: Sir Robert Anderson recognized that Daniel’s prophecy was one (of a very few) Biblical prediction based on an actual calendar time-lapse projection … in this case regarding Messiah’s first coming. The insight given to me comes from the “hidden” gem of prophecy found in Leviticus Chapter 26, pertaining to the Lord’s second coming during the generation that would see the end of Gentile domination of the Jews in 1967. It also is based on a precise period of time, in this case the four phases of seven times over representing the actual historical time-line of God’s uninterrupted discipline of Israel.

(Sir Robert Anderson … 1841-1918)

See Eye of Prophecy articles, Seven Times Seven (to the 4^th Power) Parts I, II, III; followed by The Omega Generation—published 1-25-14 through 2-15-14. Also refer to articles: Jubilee and Messiah … They Go Together! (1-25-16) & Double Israel’s Trouble and Double Her Blessings! (8-13-16).

Whether coincidental or not: Sir Robert Anderson was an Investigator for Scotland Yard and my profession was principally that of an Insurance Investigator.

(3) Messiah’s Death

“After this period of sixty-two sets of seven (69 sets of seven in all or 483 years—173,880 days), the Anointed One will be killed…” (Daniel 9:26a, parenthesis mine).

In Verse 25 the angel Gabriel describes (breaks down) the 69 weeks by saying, “seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven.” There could be two reasons for this: (1) sometimes the way in which the Hebrew language would (poetically) emphasize periods of time. But not just in Bible times. Do you remember a famous U.S. President who used the same kind of expression? “Four score and seven years ago…!”

(2) Gabriel is indirectly but nonetheless prophetically underscoring the time (seven weeks or 49 years) that would pass from the time of the Jerusalem walls decree to the 400-year period of silence when the Lord did not speak to his people through prophets, which is the last 400 years of B.C. time. Forty-nine years from 445 B.C. would lead to the year 396 B.C. which very well could have been the year when Malachi’s prophecies ended. Personally, I lean towards option 2.

Equally astonishing in Daniel’s Chapter 9 prophecy: Not only was Messiah’s arrival on Planet Earth (prophetically earmarked in time by thousands in Israel hailing him as Messiah exactly 173,880 days after the Artaxerxes decree) precisely foretold, so is the fact that he would be killed and that his death would occur BEFORE the 2^nd Temple was destroyed (Verse 26). The implication of that fact is stunningly significant, in that there’s no other time for Messiah to (first) arrive other than before the temple was destroyed.

Here is an excerpt from Eye of Prophecy article: Where is Messiah … Is He Already Here? Posted 6-25-16. (In italics):

Daniel’s prophecy is unambiguously clear: The Messiah would appear before the destruction of the Temple, which took place in 70 AD. And that’s exactly what occurred … Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection some 40 years before the Romans sacked Jerusalem, which irrefutably validates the accuracy of Daniel’s prophecy.

Whereas, the religious leaders and people of Jesus’s time scorned him for the reasons given thus far—most prominent of which was ignoring the plain evidence for the time of Messiah’s appearance and marginalizing or outright rejecting his teachings and miracles—all those who deny that he is Messiah after the Temple was destroyed have no grounds whatsoever to refute the Messiahship of Jesus.

Why?

Because they have the 20/20 hindsight of history, right up to the present day. The Messiah would come at the end of 483 years, exactly when Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem … hailed by the people as the Son of David, the Messiah.

Then the Messiah would be killed BEFORE the Temple was destroyed by the armies of a ruler who would arise (shortly) AFTER Messiah arrived and was killed.

According to the time-line of Daniel’s prophecy, there is no way that the Messiah could (first advent) arrive on the scene of history AFTER the Temple was destroyed.

Daniel’s prophecy confirms prior predictions of Messiah’s death as found, for example, in Isaiah Chapter 53. Right up to this present day, the suffering of the Jewish Messiah is a source of consternation and bewilderment to many Jews, especially the observant among them. It is such a paradox that several Rabbis endorse the theory that there are two Messiahs, not just one. See Eye of Prophecy article, More Than One Messiah (12-5-15) and a companion article, Messiah’s Arrival … On Whose Authority? (11-25-15).

Or they continue to maintain that the personal pronouns applied to the Messiah (a man) speak of Israel as a nation in Isaiah 53. Which is impossible because no nation can be “an offering for sin” or “bear all their sins” or “had done no wrong” (Isaiah 53). The nation of Israel certainly couldn’t or wouldn’t be, “…buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave” (Isaiah 53:9).

(If I counted correctly, there are 36 personal pronouns of he, him, or his; plus “a man of sorrows” for a total of 37 references to an individual man–the Messiah–in Isaiah 53, a chapter with 12 verses)

I respect and admire and love the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. But with tough love I must say that for anyone, scholar or otherwise, to allege that the personal pronouns describing a man (the Messiah) in Isaiah 53 apply to Israel as a nation is a grammatically ignorant and/or deliberate contextual distortion of the passage.

For that matter, how could Messiah victoriously, but also humbly, enter Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt while at the same time appearing to Israel as their conquering King, liberating them from their enemies? In Biblical times, a king entering a city on a donkey was a gesture of redemptive-like resolution and peace, without the need for armed conflict. As opposed to a king riding into a city on a horse, symbolizing triumphant conquest in war. In fact, immediately after the verse quoted earlier from Zechariah (Messiah riding into Jerusalem on a donkey) we read:

“…I will destroy all the weapons used in battle, and your king will bring peace to the nations. His realm will stretch from sea to sea … to the ends of the earth. Because of the covenant I made with you, sealed with blood, I will free your prisoners…” (Zechariah 9:10-11).

The only possible explanation is that Messiah came first as Israel’s Sacrificial Redeemer to establish the New Covenant (sealed with his blood) prophesied by Jeremiah (Chapter 31), then will return as King of all kings to establish the Kingdom of God from Jerusalem.

Even before Isaiah 53, we read this in the preceding chapter:

“See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted (which is the only prophetic image most Jews have of Messiah). But many were amazed when they saw him (Isaiah is switching to the past tense to emphasize what must come first, even though the entire passage in prophetically future). His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance one would scarcely know he was a man” (Isaiah 52:13-14, parenthesis mine).

The Gospels vividly tell us that Jesus was struck about his face, part of his beard pulled out, beaten on his head with a rod, a crown of thorns placed on his head, and mercilessly flogged with a lead-tipped whip. Combine that with long nails driven through his wrists and feet on the cross and you get a graphic picture of Isaiah’s prophecy—that Jesus could hardly be recognized as a man.

But then immediately switching back to the future (return of Messiah), Isaiah states, “And he will startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence…” (Isaiah 52:15).

One day soon all of Israel will recognize beyond any doubt that Jesus is the Messiah when he returns to the Mount of Olives (from which he ascended back to heaven) and rescues the Jews from annihilation at the hands of Antichrist (Nero). Then and only then will their redemption as a nation be complete.

(4) Soon After Messiah’s Death, a Ruler (Antichrist) Would Arise

In amplification of Daniel Chapter 7 which deals primarily with the activities of the Antichrist during the Great Tribulation (although Chapter 7 does identify that this ruler would come from the 4^th World Kingdom—Rome), Daniel 9 informs us when and from where the Antichrist would first appear as further supported by Revelation Chapter 17.

Long before the book of Revelation was written telling us that the Antichrist beast of the Great Tribulation had already lived and died in the 1^st century (but would return from the Abyss), Daniel Chapter 9 paints a clear picture that this evil man would arise (soon) after Messiah’s birth, life, death, and resurrection.

We know that this ruler would appear soon after Messiah’s death, because of the qualifying language in Daniel 9:26. Beginning with:

“…the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple…” (Daniel 9:26a, italics for emphasis).

Here is an excerpt from my book, Out of the Abyss (in italics):

Another convincing reason to assign contemporary status, correlation, and connection between the ruler (Nero) and the Roman Legions of 70 AD relates to the ruler arising after the Anointed One (Messiah) is killed, “appearing to have accomplished nothing…” (Daniel 9:26).

If the ruler is a modern-day man, then this verse doesn’t fit. Worse, the first part of the verse is simply inaccurate. What am I saying? I am saying that, as this book is written, we can look back some 2000 years and clearly see the monumentally astounding accomplishments of Christianity. Yet Daniel 9:26 effectively tells us that the ruler will sequentially rise to power during the time that Messiah’s death “appears” to have accomplished nothing. In other words, the ruler would arise fairly soon after Messiah is killed.

Nero was born just three to four years after Christ died, and he ruled as Emperor just two-three decades after Christ’s resurrection and return to heaven. Christianity was still in its infancy. To the populace of Israel, the Roman Empire and world at large, the tragic death of Jesus of Nazareth seemed to have accomplished very little. To Jewish Zealots, Jesus’s death accomplished absolutely nothing … It took several centuries for Christians and the secular world to comprehend the increasing influence that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ had exerted on the world (Pages 256-257).

(Busts of the First Five Roman Caesars …. Left to Right: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero)

The next paragraph after the above excerpt reads:

“Stating it bluntly: the Roman Legions of 70 AD could not be of, from, or belong to a ruler born some two thousand years later. This would stretch the chain that binds the Roman Legions of 70 AD to a modern-day man to the breaking point. Remember again: this ruler or king originates directly from the fourth world power (Roman Empire) of Daniel Chapter 7. The ruler does not come from a future 7^th empire, because there is no such empire in the book of Daniel, as there are not seven heads to the beast of Daniel, only the ten horns (tribulation kings)” (Out of the Abyss, page 257).

Which leads us to the next remarkable feature of this four-verse passage in Daniel Chapter 9, as hinted at in the preceding paragraph just quoted. But one that will need to wait until next week’s Part II article!

That next point is:

(5) The Armies (Roman Legions) That Destroyed the 2^nd Temple Belonged to Nero Caesar

As opposed to the impractical notion of these Roman legions belonging to a ruler who wouldn’t be born for another 2,000 years.

Points 6 & 7 will also follow in next week’s article, to, among other things, further demonstrate that Nero is the Antichrist, because the same ruler whose armies destroyed the Temple will initiate the seven-year treaty with Israel (at the outset of the Tribulation).

Things to Ponder

As with other visions seen by Daniel, I’m sure he was overwhelmed at the magnitude of all that Gabriel was telling him, particularly because the breadth of it was comprehensively condensed to a few sentences.

All of the seven component prophecies explained to him by Gabriel as recorded in Daniel 9:24-27 were astounding. But I think the one which probably stunned him the most was the fact that the Temple would be rebuilt. And then destroyed yet again! By a ruler who would arise shortly after Messiah was killed, which he already knew would happen by virtue of Isaiah and King David’s prophecies of Messiah’s death. Yet Daniel didn’t need to wait long to see the unfolding of the rebuilt Temple facet of these seven prophecies.

Less than a year later, the Persian King Cyrus, in his very first year of reign after conquering Babylon, issued a decree that the Jews could return to Israel and rebuild the Temple (See Ezra Chapter 1)!

Although Jeremiah had prophesied that the Babylonian Captivity would last only 70 years, God had not disclosed to him that the Temple would be rebuilt. In fact, it was the year when the Temple was finally finished (516 B.C.) which completed the 70 year-exile of the Jews, after Solomon’s Temple was demolished in 586 B.C.

Do you see how graciously the Lord answered Daniel’s prayer for mercy on and forgiveness of Daniel’s people, the Jews? Not only would the Jews return to Israel (some of them, as not all agreed to go back), the Temple itself would be rebuilt! That’s grace and mercy that only the Lord God can express in real time and in concrete ways. And then the Lord gave Daniel a condensed but nevertheless panoramic view of Israel’s future and destiny like virtually no other found in Scripture. One, however, that we can understand even better than Daniel, if we eagerly and thoroughly compare Scripture with Scripture and also history … particularly the 1^st century

(Depiction of The Third Temple Superimposed on Temple Mount Next to the Dome of the Rock)

“Indeed, the Sovereign Lord never does anything until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

“The time has come, says the Lord, when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine! I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again … I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God” (Amos 8:13-15).

To the Gentile believers in Rome, the Jewish Apostle Paul wrote:

“Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it” (Romans 11:11-12).

Long live Israel!

Long live Messiah Yeshua!

A Warning From Messiah Jesus

“Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or “There he is,’ don’t believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones” (Matthew 24:23-24).

There is a wise saying, “Be careful what you wish for….”

Down through the years, various endings to this adage have been inserted. Such as, “…it might not turn out how you think.” With the most popular warning: “…you just might get it.”

The idea, of course, is wanting something that might cause you harm or someone who isn’t really good for you. In the worst case scenario, getting what we want instead of what we really need can result in a ruinous end to relationships, goals, careers, security, tranquility, or to life itself.

In the Eye of Prophecy article, The World Wants a Messiah … But Needs The Messiah (posted in January, 2017), I wrote (excerpt in italics):

There have been a few messiah-types down through the ages. Whether their methods and eventual legacy turned out to be benevolent or malevolent, they used the same kind of passionate language that we just read from Geert Wilders of The Netherlands; or like Winston Churchill who motivated the minds and stirred the hearts of England during World War II. Or the opposite evil extreme of Hitler’s diabolical rhetoric that hypnotized millions of Germans. And tyrannical messianic figures like Joseph Stalin, who made grandiose promises that could only be kept through suppression of his own people and subjugation of surrounding peoples…

By and large, people want and/or need to be told what to do and how to do it; as long as they can trust the one who is leading them to know and accomplish what’s best for them.

It all began with God, who created us to fellowship with him, but also to obey him out of complete trust that he knows beyond all doubt what’s best for individuals and for governments. That to trust and obey him would mean eternal life through a paradise on this earth. Or to wrongly exercise the free will he gave us by choosing to go our own way and do our own thing if that’s what we really wanted. Not the least of which is trying to govern ourselves without God’s absolute standards of truth and the freedom that comes from that truth.

We failed; human governments of all kinds have failed. There simply cannot be peace and security between peoples until we first have peace with God through a change of the human heart and destiny—possible only through believing and receiving God’s solution to the human problem of sin and evil … God’s Son, THE MESSIAH.

…Moreover, the destiny of nations (both good and bad) has often been determined by the benevolence or malevolence of rulers … the laws they make and enforce, the decrees they issue, decisions they make, benefits they provide, and goals they aspire to. As the leaders go, so go the people. A ruler with integrity, compassion, and wisdom can be, and often is, a moral compass to the entire nation. Conversely, a selfish, deceitful, evil ruler can bring an entire nation down. Even the United States of America, which many contemplate to be the greatest nation of all time (at least the greatest Republic), relies heavily on its President—considered by some as the most powerful position in the world—to lead … economically, socially, militarily, legally, and morally.

The rise and fall of great leaders, noble and ignoble; of great nations, moral and immoral, is the stuff that legends are made of….

In that same article, I quoted from another Eye of Prophecy article, Kingdom of God (published January, 2015). As follows:

Jesus spoke often of the Kingdom of God; for example, comparing it to a mustard seed … the smallest of seeds that when planted grows into an enormous tree. Which is exactly what has happened to the body of Christ; an exponential growth down through the ages, to now consist of believers from virtually every nation and language on earth. It is the Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts and minds of those who have been redeemed by the shed blood of Christ. Next, will come the final physical Kingdom of God on this earth; at which time all people, all governments, all nations will be brought under the authority of God’s magnificent Son. He will rule the nations with firmness, but fairness.

Isn’t that what most people want? They want: law, order, equality, safety, peace. And they want someone who has the kind of authority to realize those dreams, but also someone who is kind and considerate with that authority. One who truly cares about people and what’s best for them; who can rule and judge with impartiality and kindness. A truly wise and benevolent King whose attributes perfectly reflect who and what he is: Love, Truth, Justice, Mercy.

In the article, The World Wants a Messiah … But Needs The Messiah, I went on to say:

Tragically, this waiting and watching and increasingly wicked world of ours will embrace one last time a man more devious, deceitful, deplorable, and destructive than they can imagine. They will choose to believe the lie that this final false messiah is Messiah, instead of Christ Jesus—the true Messiah. Though only for seven years, the anguish experienced because untold millions will follow (to the point of worship, including many of the intellectuals of today’s world) the Antichrist will result in death and destruction that will make World War II seem like a small skirmish with only a handful of casualties. (See Eye of Prophecy article, Shocking Statistics of the Great Tribulation, posted 6-6-15).

(Arlington National Cemetery … A Reminder of the Price of Freedom)

Brief Review of Last Week’s Article

First, the premise and purpose for listing four examples last week and three more in this week’s article, as stated in the previous Eye of Prophecy post:

“Today the how of his arrival is focused on his actual bodily reappearance, with parallel Biblical examples given to demonstrate that Nero’s return from a 2000-year absence is not nearly as far-fetched as it may sound. That it is fact, not fantasy…”

Later in that article:

“Those left behind at the Rapture will be mesmerized by a man who returns from the grave (as they see it … actually from the Abyss). Their initial incredulity will soon yield to the reality of what they are seeing; in part, because of the fictional fantasy images of paranormal phenomena being portrayed as almost routine in today’s New Age, literary, and entertainment circles…

“To remind us that many of God’s sovereign plans for the human race are achieved through supernatural events—past, present, and future—and, therefore, not to be so skeptical about a two-thousand year old man (Antichrist Nero) returning to earth in the same body in which he departed…”

Then summarized with:

“Please don’t miss next week’s article in which three more parallel examples will be given to illustrate comparatively that Nero’s actual reappearance on Planet Earth will be in the same body in which he died. As opposed to an imposter or some sort of virtual reality made possible by super technological special effects like holograms or whatever. Among other things, Nero will arrogantly flaunt the scars of his deadly wounds as proof of his return from the grave; in order to imitate and supersede the true risen Messiah Jesus who lovingly invited Thomas to see and touch the nail prints in his hands and the spear wound in his side.”

The first four examples were:

Fact #1: The Antichrist Had Already Lived and Died Before the Book of Revelation Was Written

Fact #2: In Order to Come Up Out of the Abyss, the Antichrist Must First Be Confined to the Abyss

Fact #3: Only Embodied Beings Inhabit the Abyss

Fact #4: The Bodily Resurrection of Messiah Jesus

Now let’s pick it up with the next precedent to further illustrate that the physical return of Nero in the same body in which he was confined to the Abyss is every bit as conceivable and possible as:

Fact #5: The Bodily Resurrection of the Dead in Christ & Transformation of Living Believers

I and others have written much about this phenomenal promise, predicated on and made possible by the powerful prototype resurrection of Messiah, himself. This staggering event, later called the Rapture, was first disclosed by the Apostle Paul in I Thessalonians Chapter 4 … then to the believers in Corinth.

“But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye (the transformation, not the entire sequence of events as portrayed in I Thessalonians 4), when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies” (I Corinthians 15:51-53, parenthesis obviously mine).

If God can raise his Son from the dead with a body that was even better than the one Jesus was born with—a human body subject to earthbound dimensional limitations such as space and time and, for example, fatigue that we all experience, and also the need to open doors instead of gliding through them as Jesus did after his resurrection!—then nothing is impossible for God. Then, at the Rapture, to raise the dead in Christ and transform them to new eternal spiritual bodies along with the living believers and literally lift believers into the air and take them to heaven, then is anything too hard for the Lord?

Certainly not the revival of Nero, confining him to the Abyss alongside of very wicked embodied angels, and releasing him from the Abyss in the same body to give Satan and millions on this planet one last chance to prove that they are greater than God. The lies of Satan and his man of sin will be believed for two reasons: (1) the perceived miracle that Nero arose from the dead; (2) the fact that they hated God, Christ, and the truth to begin with.

“This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles (most of which will be done by the False Prophet … see Revelation 13). He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth” (II Thessalonians 2:9-12, parenthesis mine).

The biggest lie of all is that Nero by his own ability and/or Satan’s power arose from the dead.

The world at large will believe this lie because they will wish for (something like) it to happen, without any remorse or second thoughts as to the consequences. And they will get what they want!

But then, Jesus of Nazareth who is the real everlasting, “Way, Truth, and Life,” will return to make all things right!

Fact #6: Appearance of Satan in Bodily Form During the Great Tribulation

Although Satan’s appearance is not a resurrection or return phenomenon as such, the fact that he will greet Nero upon his ascent from the Abyss (see Revelation 13:1), then be thrown (bodily) into the Abyss during the Millennial Reign of Messiah Jesus on earth (Revelation 20), is another parallel to the physical reappearance of Nero.

When Satan is referred to as the dragon in Revelation, it is an intentional and specific reference to his existential (space/time) appearance. Please refer to Eye of Prophecy articles, Satan in Bodily Form … When and Why? Part I & II, posted in November, 2016. These articles provide compelling evidence based on Scripture to confirm that Satan will, indeed, be seen in an earthly dimensional form during the Great Tribulation.

(Artist Rendition of Satan Chained in the Abyss)

Fact #7: Moses’ and Elijah’s Appearance with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration & Future Appearance as the Two Witnesses of Revelation Chapter 11

Much of an entire chapter in my book, Out of the Abyss, was devoted to Moses’ and Elijah’s (bodily) appearances with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and what will be a reappearance (in those same bodies) as the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11. More information was presented in the trilogy of Eye of Prophecy articles, The Two Witnesses, Part I, II, & III. Posted 6-7, 6-14, & 6-21-14.

Most, if not all, believers know of Elijah’s famous chariot ride when he was taken alive from the earth directly to heaven. Many unbelievers have also heard this story, the text of which (II Kings 2) was partially quoted in last week’s article under the heading of Things to Ponder (which is found at the end of every Eye of Prophecy article).

However, I would venture to say that fewer believers are familiar with the account of Moses’s departure from earth … a mysterious passing and an even more mysterious burial. Still fewer remember—or if they do recall, are profoundly perplexed by—a puzzling verse in a one-chapter book of the Bible that not too many Christians read or quote … at least in comparison to other New Testament books.

“But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.) (Jude 1:9, parenthesis in the text).

Here is an excerpt from Out of the Abyss in quotation marks (You might want to first read the account of Moses death and burial in Deuteronomy 34):

“Why was Satan so bent out of shape over the body of Moses? The only rational, logical explanation is that Michael, on orders from God, had arrived to take the body of Moses directly to heaven. In fact, can you think of any other reason? This may also explain why no one knew where God had buried Moses. For that matter, how often does God directly bury someone himself, let alone conceal the burial site?

“Moses would be raised from the grave with his original body intact, and this didn’t set well with Satan … It’s entirely credible that Satan reminded Michael (and God) that the curse of sin was physical death and bodily decay. God had no right to make an exception to this rule, as it was God’s decree in the first place that Adam and Eve would surely die if they sinned…

“In no uncertain terms, Michael reminded Satan that God is in control … If the Lord wanted to take Enoch from the earth directly to heaven and later Elijah, then the Lord would do just that. Same thing with Moses; the only difference is that Moses had died, but that’s a mere technicality with God” (Page 244).

(Michael Will Again Do Battle With Satan At the Outset of the Great Tribulation … See Revelation Chapter 12)

A few paragraphs later in that chapter, I explained why both Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus in their original earthly bodies, instead of spiritual bodies that will be given to Old and New Testament saints beginning with the Rapture resurrection.

“Remember, too, the Mount of Transfiguration. Who were the two prophets who miraculously appeared and conversed with Jesus? Right: Moses and Elijah. Since Christ had not yet died and arose from the grave, neither Elijah nor Moses would yet possess the resurrected new body given to all believers. The only explanation is that both prophets still inhabit their original bodies, albeit through some special divine preservation, not known to us this side of eternity.

“…Thus, a strong case could be made that God, through the Archangel Michael, took Moses bodily from the grave. Whether God restored him to life before, during, or after his escort from the grave … well those of us going to heaven can ask Moses when we get there. Why else would only God know the exact burial place of Moses in Moab? You would think that such a great prophet would be buried in a conspicuous place like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph—where anyone in Israel could visit and venerate the grave” (Out of the Abyss, pages 245-246).

God had a special prophetic plan and purpose for Moses and Elijah, beyond their ministries while on the earth the first time. First to appear with Jesus on the mountain and witness a preview of Messiah’s soon to come glorified body when he would arise from the dead. Then to be seen by Antichrist Nero and the whole world as the Two Witnesses during the Great Tribulation. In both events, these two mighty prophets appear in their natural bodies, with the second appearance resulting in their death (Elijah’s first death, Moses’ second), only to be raised to life 3 ½ days later; this time taken to heaven in what will be their transfigured resurrected bodies.

*Note: The very fact that Moses and Elijah are killed by Antichrist (Nero) 3 ½ years after they begin their second magnificent mission on earth, leads to the inescapable conclusion that they will appear (as they did with Jesus on the mountain) in their earthly bodies.

Once again: The purpose of this illustration that Moses and Elijah, to this day, possess their original bodies—Elijah through direct conveyance to heaven by chariot while he was still alive and Moses (soon after he died) resuscitated and taken to heaven by Michael—is to demonstrate that the Lord has done the same thing with Nero … revived him after death and kept him alive in the Abyss (certainly not in heaven!).

Which brings us to what is probably the most obscure yet intriguing prophetic preview of the Antichrist, also called the little horn, ruler, king, man of lawlessness, and beast. In the passage about to be quoted, he is labeled as a, worthless shepherd. What we’re going to see is that:

The Physical Wounds That Lead to the Death of Antichrist Nero Were Portrayed in the Old Testament!

Factoring in the length of the book—proportionally word for word—the book of Zechariah contains more Messianic prophecies than any other book of the Bible. Chapter 11 is no exception. However, the first part of this chapter is similar to Isaiah 53 and a handful of other Messianic passages that foretold the suffering and death that Messiah would experience because his own people, the Jews, rejected him as Lord and Savior. In fact, Zachariah 11 precisely predicted that Messiah (the Good Shepherd) would be sold for thirty pieces of silver, which is exactly what happened when Judas betrayed Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders.

Then Zechariah switches from playing the role of the good shepherd, whom the Jews would deny as Messiah, to an evil shepherd that God would allow to deceive and attempt to destroy Israel.

“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go again and play the part of a worthless shepherd. This illustrates how I will give this nation (Israel) a shepherd who will not care for those who are dying, nor look after the young, nor heal the injured, nor feed the healthy. Instead this shepherd will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves” (Zechariah 11:15-16, parenthesis mine).

In the context of but also contrast to prophecies concerning Israel’s final restoration and the role that Messiah (Jesus) will play in Israel’s ultimate reconciliation back to God, the above passage graphically depicts what this “worthless shepherd” (Nero) would do to the Jews after he breaks the seven-year treaty with Israel halfway through that pact (See Daniel 9). God’s reason for allowing a counterfeit Messiah to betray Israel in the end times is a stark reminder that Israel spurned their true Messiah two thousand years ago. Not until they suffer one last time under a false shepherd, would they come to their senses and fully realize that Jesus of Nazareth was and is their true Shepherd.

Zechariah ends the chapter with an amazing prediction of what will happen to this worthless shepherd (when he was killed by the divine sovereignty of Jesus, then placed into and subsequently would reappear from the Abyss).

“What sorrow awaits this worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! The sword will cut his arm and pierce his right eye. His arm will become useless, and his right eye completely blind” (Zachariah 11:17).

Compare this astonishing prophecy with the return of the Antichrist beast.

“And he (the False Prophet) deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life” (Revelation 13:14, NASB, italics for emphasis, parenthesis mine).

A few contemporary scholars, including me, are convinced that the sword in the above two verses is literal, not figurative. Neither Zechariah nor John uses metaphorical imagery by saying or implying, “like that of a sword.” The best application for any Biblical passage is to read it literally unless the context of the word or phrase clearly indicates otherwise.

John, the author of Revelation, first saw the Antichrist beast as recorded in Revelation Chapter 13. And the very first thing he observed about the beast above all else was that, “…the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast. They worshipped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshipped the beast…” (Revelation 13:3-4).

The entire globe will see the aftermath of these 2000-year old wounds which rendered Nero’s arm useless and completely blinded his right eye.

Here is an excerpt from Out of the Abyss: (In italics)

Historians tell us that Nero tried to commit suicide but couldn’t finish the job. He may have stabbed himself in the neck, but his servant Epaphroditos assisted him in finishing the task…

With the aid of Zechariah Chapter 11, let’s do a little visualizing. Picture, if you will, Nero on his knees, as it’s highly unlikely he would have been standing. In both the ancient world and even the more modern world, those who wanted to end their life with a sword would first kneel…

The servant, Epaphroditos, raises the sword above his head to ensure a powerful and fatal blow. With all his strength, he thrusts the sword downward. At that very instant, Nero reflexively or instinctively lifts his arm to deflect the strike (Zechariah doesn’t tell us which arm was wounded). The sword partially slices through Nero’s arm and penetrates his right eye. Depending on the angle of the blow and how Nero had knelt, he could have raised either arm…

Yet Nero’s hands would not have been tied, as are the hands of people who are being executed by a sword or whose heads are waiting the fall of the guillotine blade … so the victim can’t deliberately or reflexively raise hands and arms to deflect the blow.

If you like, kneel to the floor … and do your own simulation. Have your wife stand to one side and then the other, pretending to be Nero’s servant … Give her a nice, soft, rolled or unrolled hand towel so she won’t hesitate to finish her action and strike the blow, yet an object that will probably make you flinch. Ask her to swipe a descending blow and see how natural it is for you to instinctively ward off this blow. Try to figure out on which side of Nero his servant may have stood, to have inflicted a wound to Nero’s right eye and one of his arms. See how real this is and how it matches so well with Zechariah Chapter 11 and the historical records of Nero’s final minutes…

Zechariah vividly depicts this “worthless shepherd” as a ruthless, but also a pathetic figure. It’s entirely feasible that Nero will be self-conscious of these wounds; though he will make the most of the fact that he died from these wounds, and then returned from the dead. His physical appearance in the tribulation and the historical evidence that Nero was not that great of an orator, explain why the False Prophet will do most of the talking for the beast…

Search the Scriptures. You will not find any direct evidence that the beast is a great orator, statesman, or consummate genius as modern-day views characterize him. He is clever; he is a braggart and a blasphemer, but that doesn’t make him charismatic. Antichrist’s accomplishments and “charisma” are attributed to his miraculous resurrection, the statue, and the persuasive ability of the False Prophet, including, but not limited to “astounding miracles” (Pages 247-249).

Summary

The world continues to look for messiahs in all the wrong places. They search anywhere and everywhere except the Scriptures, which impart absolute truth and tell us that the one and true living God has, indeed, given us a Messiah … a Savior.

This obsession to emulate and even worship a man who will identify with their decadent desire to break all chains from God and Biblical morality and truth, will result in unrepentant defiance of God and Messiah Jesus (See Psalm 2 & Psalm 75).

“But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God … And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts” (Revelation 9:20-21).

They will stubbornly continue to indulge themselves in these wicked pursuits in the midst of catastrophic carnage all around them, right up to the point of death and eternal destruction (separation from God) in the Lake of Fire.

The super heroes portrayed in contemporary books and movies are priming the world with a type of messiah different than the historical megalomaniacs who promised but didn’t deliver utopia. Instead they deceived their followers and even turned on them. Unlike the messiah-like tyrants of the 20^th century, people are now looking for a man who will have a supernatural origin and paranormal abilities to give the people what they really want. And that’s exactly what and who they will get.

A man who returns after 2000 years.

A man who will take to diabolically new heights what he specialized in during the first century … murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and thefts (including unlawful seizure of the Roman throne).

(Depiction of Nero Using Christians as Human Torches)

Here is an excerpt from Out of the Abyss (in italics):

When Nero appears on the scene, he will mesh perfectly with the wickedness of this world. The world will embrace him as a leader who allows, endorses, and even initiates this immoral, ungodly, and contemptuous fist shaking at Almighty God (Page 213).

Ignorantly and ironically, many left behind after the Rapture will experience the same devastating results through Nero like those (only far worse) caused by Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Hideki Tojo of Japan, Mao Tse-tung, Saddam Hussein, and lesser known but, nonetheless, deadly despots. And this time not only man-made catastrophes, but also the apocalyptic divine wrath of God will be poured out on the pure evil of a corrupt world gone mad.

“We give thanks to you, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who always was, for now you have assumed your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were filled with wrath, but now the time of your wrath has come … It is time to destroy all who have caused destruction on the earth” (Revelation 11:17-18).

“…Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand, must drink the wine of God’s anger. It has been poured full strength into God’s cup of wrath…” (Revelation 14:9-10).

Things to Ponder

As stated in Out of the Abyss and a few Eye of Prophecy articles: Scripture is crystal clear that the first century church and all believers thereafter were meant to know the identity of the Antichrist. There are only two verses in Revelation, indeed in all of Scripture that actually challenge the reader to solve the mystery of what’s being said. Both of these relate directly to identifying the Antichrist beast (his number and his geopolitical, biographical origin). They are found in Revelation 13:18 and Revelation 17:9, respectively.

As I’ve said before, but which bears repeating:

The main benefit of and purpose for knowing that Nero was the man of lawlessness who was killed by the providential will of Christ Jesus and will return from the Abyss as the Antichrist beast is that (now and especially after the Rapture) some people will NOT be so, “…amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died” (Revelation 17:8).

If you do not know Messiah Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord, please don’t delay the decision that will change your heart, your life, and your eternal destiny: “…Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31).

To wait until the Rapture and Great Tribulation is to wait too long. It will be extraordinarily and painfully (literally … pain of torture and death) difficult to believe the truth and choose the true Messiah, Jesus, over the lies and deception of the false Messiah, Nero; whose reappearance will cause many to blindly accept what they will see as a resurrection from the dead—instead of a return from the Abyss as providentially permitted by God.

Does anyone know for a fact they will be alive tomorrow? Then waiting that long is too long.

“That is why the Lord says, ‘Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead. Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish’” (Joel 2:12-13).

“The Lord … does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment” (II Peter 3:9-10).

Anzio and Antichrist?

Are you already shaking your head or wondering out loud, “I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of Anzio and I know I’ve heard the name Antichrist? Whether Anzio is what I think it is or not, what’s it got to do with the Antichrist?”

For those who know what and where Anzio is and maybe even remember its historical significance, you may still be befuddled as to why there would be any connection with Antichrist.

(Short Pause: I think that’s the first time I’ve ever used the word befuddled. Mostly because it’s a silly sounding word which reminds me of the cartoon character Elmer Fudd who was always being outwitted by Bugs Bunny. Nevertheless, befuddled is a synonym of confused, baffled, puzzled, bewildered, and so forth)!

Well, I hope to calm your curiosity and clarify your confusion by establishing a convincing correlation between Antichrist and Anzio. The best way to do that is to take a brief historical trip to Anzio, Italy of the 20^th century, then to go back even further in time to the 1^st century. Then back to the future to confirm the connection between Antichrist and Anzio.

Fasten your seatbelts; it’s a titillating but turbulent trip.

First, an introduction to 21^st century Anzio, direct from Wikipedia:

“Anzio (‘antsjo) is a city and commune on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about 51 kilometers (32 mi) south of Rome. Well known for its seaside harbor setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands … Anzio’s population: 54,115.”

(Modern-Day Anzio)

Continuing in Wikipedia: “The city bears great historical significance as the site of Operation Shingle, a crucial landing by the Allies during the Italian Campaign of World War II.”

You most likely knew about Anzio. Like me, however, you probably identified it not as just Anzio, but as Anzio Beach. Along with Salerno, Anzio Beach was one of the largest amphibious assaults undertaken by the Allies in World War II. With, of course, the biggest of all at Normandy Beach in France (D-Day, June 6, 1944). Historians agree that the seaside landings in both the European and Pacific theatres of World War II played a major role in the ultimate Allied victory. And some historians have pointed out strategic flaws in Operation Shingle. But the fact remains: it led to a decisive defeat of German troops in southern and central Italy followed by the exhilarating liberation of Rome.

General Dwight Eisenhower announced the surrender of the Italian Armies on September 8, 1943. Italy dropped out of the war, except for forced conscription of some Italian battalions by the Third Reich. Soon thereafter, Germany responded with Operation Axis. The Germans swept in and occupied most of Italy, including Rome. The Allies countered with Operation Avalanche. Most Italians switched allegiance and embraced the Allies especially the American soldiers; many Italians had relatives or friends in America, via considerable Italian immigration during the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

After the Allies invaded Italy in 1943, the Germans stopped them cold at what was called the Gustav Line at Cassino, Italy. Winston Churchill came up with an idea to attack the line from behind it (from the south). This would require an assault from the Mediterranean Sea. Anzio was selected as a beachhead and the landing took place on January 22, 1944.

Time/space does not permit more details of battle defeats and successes, or the Allied good and bad decisions of Operation Shingle. Bottom line is that American soldiers of the 5^th Army entered Rome late on June 4; the following day, June 5^th, German troops withdrew from the city. Romans wildly celebrated their liberation from German tyranny, even though just a few months earlier their soldiers had been fighting on Germany’s side. The very next day (D-Day, June 6^th, 1944) the Allies stormed several beaches at Normandy, France. This triggered the beginning of the end of the Third Reich.

During the four-month bloody battle for Italy, German troops actually pushed the Allies back to the beachhead in February, 1944. After a change in command (generals), the Allies regained the offensive including breach of a German line of defense between Rome and Anzio.

The name of that defensive line: Caesar Line!

(The “Hitler Line” on the Map was Another Name for the Caesar Line)

After the fall of Rome to the Allies, some German forces remained in northern Italy until May 2, 1945. American Commander Mark Clark was criticized for “grandstanding” with his main objective of liberating Rome at the expense of what might have been a complete expulsion of German troops from all of Italy. Nonetheless, the Italian Campaign was a major success for the Allies and, ironically, for Italians whose victory was with and from the Allies not against them. The “eternal city” of Rome was liberated with minimal damage to buildings or loss of life to Rome’s civilians.

(Liberation of Rome, Coliseum in Background)

Dozens of World War II movies have been made including one released in 1968 simply called, Anzio. Although the cast was mostly non-Italian actors such as Robert Mitchum, Peter Falk, and Robert Ryan, it was produced by Italian Dino de Laurentiis, and shot mostly in Italy by an Italian film crew.

From Anzio to Antichrist

Stay with me while we continue this mysterious journey between Anzio and Antichrist a little longer, so as to peak your interest. Also, in summary fashion, to once again disclose the identity of Antichrist, as established from the astounding evidence found in Scripture and 1^st century history. Those who have read my second book, Out of the Abyss and/or just a few articles in the category of Antichrist on the Eye of Prophecy website, will know that the Antichrist revealed in the 1^st century and also—because of his incredible reappearance in the near future—the 21^st century is none other than the Roman Emperor Nero.

By means of meticulous documentation of Scripture and accurate correlation with secular history, we know that Nero was the Man of Lawlessness exposed by the Apostle Paul in II Thessalonians 2. He was the Roman Caesar who personally ordered several of his legions under Generals Vespasian and Titus to crush the Jewish uprising in 66 AD, which led directly to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple as prophesied in Daniel Chapter 9. His name in Hebrew gematria spells six hundred, sixty-six as found in Revelation 13. He had already lived and died before John was given the visions of the Antichrist beast in the book of Revelation (Revelation 17:7-8 & 11; Revelation 13:3, 12, 14).

Thus he (Nero) is not only one of the seven (five who died) kings (Roman emperors) of Revelation 17, he is also the composite beast himself (Antichrist). In that same 17^th Chapter of Revelation, we are told that the Antichrist beast who had already lived and died would reappear from the Abyss to the amazement of those left behind at the Rapture. That same shock and awe is described in Revelation Chapter 13. All of these correlations (and more) between Antichrist and Nero are presented in enormous detail in Out of the Abyss and in various Eye of Prophecy articles.

The following passage is John’s first comprehensive vision of the beast of Revelation (called Antichrist only by the Apostle John as found only in his epistle of I John). The second major revelation of the beast is found in Revelation Chapter 17. In my book and some Eye of Prophecy articles, you’ll find extraordinary evidence to show the Abyss is under the oceans or seas. Such as: Soon Comes the Antichrist … Straight From the Abyss, Part I & Part II. (Posted 8-20 & 8-27-16).

“Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns … I saw that one of the heads seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast. They worshiped the dragon (Satan) for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. ‘Who is as great as the beast?’ they exclaimed. ‘Who is able to fight against him?’” Revelation 13:1-4).

(Note: One reason masses of people will ask those two questions will stem from the thought: How can you fight against or kill someone who came back from the grave 2000 years later? Their answer: You can’t. Though they won’t know until it’s too late, Nero will not be killed again. He will be thrown into the Lake of Fire alive along with the False Prophet. See Revelation 19:20).

Nero is one of the seven heads (kings-Roman Emperors) and like Revelation 17 he is also the composite beast itself. He lost his empire on June 9, 68 AD, when he was killed (fatal wound) by his servant. Nero preferred death over being captured and tortured by Roman soldiers, but he didn’t have the courage to do himself in. His recovery from that deadly blow and return (reappearance) to earth will captivate those left behind to the point of yielding their complete allegiance to this vile man.

Mostly, however, I want to direct your attention to the first few words of the just quoted passage: “Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea…” (Revelation 13:1). Which tracks with the Antichrist beast (Nero) coming up out of the Abyss in Chapter 17, as the Abyss is beneath the sea.

(Fairly Accurate Depiction of the Beast in Revelation 13:1-2)

As also established in my book and some prior Eye of Prophecy articles with Scriptural and cogent reasons given, the sea here is literal … not figurative. The sea is not the mass of humanity, no more than is the Abyss in Revelation 17 (a very real place, different from Hell).

Nero & The Remarkable Revival of His Name

This heading is actually the title of the Eye of Prophecy article posted recently on April 1, 2017. In that article, some fascinating facts were presented reflecting a prominent surge of Nero’s name in just the past few years. Trust me, that article was no April fool’s joke or ruse.

If you’ve ever bought Nero bottled water, Nero tile floor covering, Nero tires, Nero video games, Nero watches and handbags; if you’ve heard about or maybe you’re driving a brand new Kia NIRO or watched the now famous Super bowl automobile commercial earlier this year about NIRO; if you’ve ever purchased software from Nero AG; if you’re tuned in to the music of the rock band NERO; if you’ve seen or belong to one of many organizations whose name is an acronym for N E R O; then you’ll know how prevalent his name is in mainstream media and every-day products.

(Kia Is Now the Official Sponsor of the NBA … The Playoffs Are Currently in Progress)

There’s more: A phenomena of late 20^th and now 21^st century thinking and rethinking of Nero by many people … including professional writers, artists, entrepreneurs, politicians, professors, archeologists, as well as “common” people.

Here are excerpts (in italics) from my article, Nero & The Remarkable Revival of His Name, which quotes from and comments on a National Geographic article published in September, 2014 entitled Rethinking Nero, written by Robert Draper:

In general the article was about Nero himself; one that included information about partial restoration of Nero’s Golden Palace (Domus Aurea) subsequently opened to the public, but shut down in 2010 due to partial collapse of its roof. (Note: I have no doubt that this exhibit will be reopened before the Rapture or most likely when Nero reappears … he’ll see to it.

“The world-famous amphitheater (Colosseum) … was apparently named for the more than 100-foot-tall bronze statue of Nero depicted as the sun god—the Colossus Neronis—that once loomed over the valley.

“Just to the west of the Colosseum sprawl the lavish imperial ruins on the Palatine Hill. In April 2011 the Special Superintendency for the Archaeological Heritage of Rome opened an exhibit at the Palatine and other locations nearby devoted to the life and works of Nero … The exhibitors knew that any show about the notorious Nero would attract visitors.”

Then Robert Draper quotes a well-known biographer of Nero whom he had interviewed in preparation for his article:

“Well, he’s a good box office,” observes Roberto Gervaso, the bald and hawk-eyed 77-year-old author of the 1978 biographical novel Nerone. ‘They’ve made lots of films about Nero, but they couldn’t resist making a caricature of him. Such picturesque depravity attracts a biographer. I could never write a biography of St. Francis. And I would certainly rather go to dinner with Nero than Hadrian.”

Draper continues to quote Gervaso:

“He (Nero) was a monster. But that’s not all he was. And those who came before and after him were no better. The true monsters, like Hitler and Stalin, lacked (Nero’s) imagination. Even today he would be avant-garde, ahead of his time.”

Then Roberto Gervaso concludes his remarks to the article’s author Robert Draper with these chilling words:

“I wrote my book 35 years ago precisely because I wanted to rehabilitate him (Nero). Maybe you could do more.”

What this biographer said about Nero is absolutely unmistakable, as is the nostalgic way in which he said it. He wants Nero, his name, and his image to be redefined and readjusted to be more (different) than just a “monster.” To be the avant-garde Renaissance type man who Gervaso believes Nero really was. With the obvious inference that the “good” in Nero far outweighed the bad.

That’s exactly what is happening the world over, sometimes subtlety with such things as tires and tiles. But more overtly with such things as cars and video games and people like Roberto Gervaso who want Nero back in the limelight … apparently, you would think, to the point of wishing he would return! Little do they know that they will get their wish. And when they take the mark of the beast they will go down in flames along with their hero.

It is truly remarkable in an adversely twisted way that the name of Nero has reappeared in the 20^th and 21^st centuries and in mainstream media and products at that. That cannot be said of any other ruler, especially one from the ancient 1^st century AD. We still hear or read the name of Hitler, but always in a negative way and rightfully so. And we see things named after famous leaders who are characterized as good figures of history. Such as JFK airport in New York. Or the Lincoln Town Car.

But not of sadistically immoral, brutal tyrants such as Nero. Not, that is, until our generation.

I firmly believe that the resurgence of Nero and his name is no mere coincidence. Instead, it is a Satanic driven preparation to the reappearance of this evil man, himself.

More Startling Evidence of the Revival of Nero and His Name

In the context of today’s article—that of conveying a little known fact about the 1^st century Roman Emperor Nero, then determining its connection to his reappearance from the Abyssal Sea soon after the Rapture (Antichrist’s link to Anzio)—let’s look at additional content of Robert Draper’s article, Rethinking Nero.

What you’re going to see is more alarming authentication that a cross-section of people and professionals from all walks of life are not only trying to “rehabilitate” Nero’s despicably infamous persona and portray him in a much more favorable light, but also (deliberately or inadvertently) reviving the 1^st – 5^th century belief that Nero would return.

Please see Eye of Prophecy article, The Legendary Return of Nero (Posted 4-4-15). Also, the Nero Redivivus Legend was summarized in my article, Nero & the Remarkable Revival of His Name.

(One of Hundreds of Nero Coins in Existence … The Term “Legend” Originated from Coinage Mostly of Rulers)

In his article, Robert Draper quotes a well-known Italian archaeological journalist Marisa Ranieri Panetta who is referring to Nero:

“… Not to suggest that Nero was himself a great emperor—but that he was better than they said he was, and no worse than those who came before and after him.”

Draper then commented on Panetta’s complimentary observations of Nero:

“Ranieri Panetta is among the energetic and multiplying voices who have spurred a reappraisal of Nero.”

Robert Draper does try to balance the “multiplying voices who have spurred a reappraisal of Nero” by giving a couple of examples of those who still hold Nero in historical contempt. However, the entire gist of Draper’s article is the astonishing 20^th and 21^st century resurgence of not only keen interest in Nero but also the desire to radically change the historical perception that Nero was only bad.

For example, Draper quotes Princeton University Professor Edward Champlin’s revisionist book, simply entitled Nero. Champlin describes Nero as, “…an indefatigable artist and performer who happened also to be emperor of Rome … a public relations man ahead of his time with a shrewd understanding of what the people wanted, often before they knew it themselves….”

Then Draper quotes archaeologist Heinz-Jurgen Beste who extolled Nero’s avant-garde creation of “Neronia” an Olympic style poetry, music, and athletic contests.

“It was something new, like young people today with their social media, where suddenly everything personal is on exhibit … He’d created something no one had seen before: a light-flooded public place not just for hygiene but also where there were statues and paintings and books, where you could hang out and listen to someone read poetry aloud. It meant an entirely new social situation.”

Robert Draper then comments on his visit to Rome:

“Spending time in the still great but recession-battered city of Rome and discussing the last of the Julio-Claudian emperors with scholars and political figures, one is tempted to compare the grandiosity of Nero to the showmanship of a more recent fallen Italian leader.”

Draper is referring to Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was convicted in 2013 of tax fraud and who had served as Prime Minister for nine years (over staggered terms), resigning in 2011.

Then Robert Draper quotes archeologist Andrea Carandini, who is still critical of Nero, but who is in the minority contrasted to those who seek to restore Nero in an entirely favorable light:

“Nero was a fool and a megalomaniac, but a fool can also be charming and interesting. The thing he invented, which all demagogues after him repeated, was that he cherished the masses. He made a gigantic thing of inviting the whole city inside his Domus Aurea (Grand Palace), which was one-third of the city, and making a gigantic show. This is television! And Silvio Berlusconi did exactly the same thing, using the media to connect with the plebes.”

(3-D Image of Domus Aurea, Nero’s “Grand Palace)

(Part of the Original Domus Aurea)

Next, Draper cites Rome’s former mayor who was also Italy’s former minister of culture, Walter Veltronie, stating that Veltronie “rejects any comparison between Nero and the scandal-ridden former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.”

Said Veltronie: “Berlusconi had no interest in archaeology—the word was simply not in his head … for me, Nero’s Domus Aurea is the most beautiful place in the city—the most mysterious, where different periods of history weave together. When I was minister of culture in the late 1990s, I took Martin Scorsese to see it, who was so impressed with the grotesques. And I also took Ian McEwan into it—he wrote about the Domus Aurea in his novel Saturday.”

Draper then quotes Professor of Greek and Roman architecture Alessandro Viscogliosi who Draper says, “designed a remarkable 3-D computerized reconstruction of the Domus Aurea.”

Said Viscogliosi about Nero: “He wanted to be close to the people … But as their god, not as their friend.”

From Antichrist Back to Anzio

There are other examples of the reprehensible rehabilitation of Nero’s so-called respectable even admirable attributes, but let’s look at the chilling conclusion to Robert Draper’s article, Rethinking Nero.

Regarding a statue of Nero, built and unveiled in 2010, Robert Draper writes:

“Today it sits at the edge of the sea, a rather stunning representation of the emperor in his early 20s, well over six feet tall, standing in his toga on a pillar, his eyes intent as his extended right arm points toward the water in all its splendid mystery. The plaque gives his full ruling name in Italian—Nerone Claudio Cesare Augusto Germanico…. Then, after describing his lineage, it says, ‘During his reign the empire enjoyed a period of peace, of great splendor, and of important reforms’” (Italics for emphasis).

(Anzio’s Statue of Nero, Erected 2010)

Note that I stopped at the end of Nero’s full name, and resumed with, “Then, after describing his lineage…” Why did I stop there?

Answer: For the suspenseful reason of saving the most astonishing feature of not only the purpose of this statue, but also the climax to what is happening in Italy and the entire world concerning the extraordinary revitalization of Nero and his name. And to answer the question posed in this week’s Eye of Prophecy article, Antichrist and Anzio … What Do They Have In Common?

By doing so, to provide yet another milestone marker and fascinating feature of Scripture’s amazing prophecy that the Antichrist beast will reappear from the Abyss/Sea, having already died before John saw the beast himself (Revelation 13:1 and 17:7-8).

Here is the full sentence in Draper’s article, beginning with what I’ve already quoted:

“The plaque gives his full ruling name—Nerone Claudio Cesare Augusto Germanico—and memorializes his birth here in Anzio on December 15, A.D. 37” (Italics for emphasis).

That is what Antichrist and Anzio have in common … Nero’s birth place!

Modern-day Anzio occupies a portion of the ancient Roman territory called Antium. Nero was born in Antium. Several wealthy Romans built vacation style villas along Antium’s shore line, the most famous of which was the Villa of Nero, spread over nearly one-half mile of seafront property.

Just a few sentences before that, Robert Draper wrote: “In all of the former empire, there is one locale that has elected to celebrate Nero: Anzio, the famed beachhead for American troops in World War II. This is where Nero was born and where he kept another villa—now mostly underwater, though numerous artifacts from the complex are housed at the local museum. In 2009 Anzio’s new mayor, Luciano Bruschini, declared his intentions to commission a statue of the town’s infamous native son. The statue was unveiled in 2010…”

*Note: That is the statue mentioned/pictured just a few paragraphs ago.

Later, Draper quotes Anzio’s Mayor Bruschini:

“When I was a boy, I used to swim among the ruins of the villa. As children, we were taught that he was evil—among the worst emperors of all. Doing a little research, I came to conclude that it’s not true. I consider Nero to be a good, even great emperor, and maybe the most beloved of the entire empire. He was a great reformer. The senators were rich, and the owned slaves. He took from them and gave to the poor. He was the first socialist!

“After I was elected, I decided to do this rehabilitation of Nero. We put up posters that said, ‘Anzio, City of Nero.’ Some people said, ‘But Mayor, he killed lots of Christians.’ I told them, ‘Only a few—nothing like the thousands of Christians who were killed later in the empire.’ We received proposals from two different sculptors. One of them portrayed Nero as a lunatic. We got rid of that one and used this other artist, which is the statue you see today. It’s now the most photographed place in the city. In summer big crowds congregate.”

The last sentence of Robert Draper’s article says, “The boy king was home now in Anzio, surrounded by the masses once again.”

A Pathetic Attempt by Anzio’s Mayor to Claim Nero Killed Only a Few Christians

A pause here to comment on the Mayor of Anzio’s statement that only a few Christians were killed by Nero (as if “only a few” would exonerate Nero’s cruel and callous culpability). This is not historically accurate. The number of Christians killed in the first century will never be known for sure. Some historians postulate that the estimated 20,000 Christians killed during Emperor Diocletian’s reign (81-96 AD) exceeded the thousands killed by Nero.

Yet, one fact is certain: The mass slaughter of Christians including the Apostles Paul and Peter began with Nero. Nero’s sordid savagery was so excessive that some of the Roman citizens who loved Nero were embarrassed if not shocked that their beloved Caesar could do such a thing. Even then it wasn’t that Christians were being killed in great numbers; it was the gruesome means Nero used to murder them.

I mentioned one horrifying way in my book Out of the Abyss, and subsequently in a couple of Eye of Prophecy articles. You may or may not remember this from history. To convince his admiring and devoted Roman citizens that the Christians started the great fire of Rome (most historians agree that Nero had ordered the fires set and was conveniently at his villa in Antium as a personal alibi); but also to mercilessly mock both the Christians and Christ himself, Nero had Christians placed on poles throughout his Grand Palace courtyard. He then ordered them to be covered in pitch/tar and set on fire to provide light for his guests. While the Christians suffered a slow agonizing death, Nero taunted them with these words: “Now you are truly the light of the world.”

(Depiction of Nero Burning Christians to Provide Light for His Parties)

In terms of the “numbers” of Christians killed by Nero, here is an excerpt from Roman historian Tacitus in his book, Annals:

“Accordingly first those were arrested who confessed they were Christians; next on their information, a vast multitude were convicted, not so much on the charge of burning the city, as of ‘hating the human race’” (italics for emphasis).

I highlighted vast multitudes to demonstrate that considerably more than “only a few” (phrase used by Anzio’s mayor) Christians and those accused of being Christians were “convicted.” If they were convicted, you can bet that most of them were executed.

To rationalize his obvious fondness of Nero and to be one of many wanting to change Nero’s image from a sadistic dictator to a benevolent monarch, it appears that Anzio’s mayor either deliberately or inadvertently (though some ignorance of history) tried to defend Nero’s brutality by comparing it to another Roman emperor.

The persecution of Christians begun by Nero continued, off and on with varying degrees of severity, until the Roman Emperor Constantine actually declared Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire in the early 4^th century A.D. From that came the Roman Catholic Church which not long thereafter (continuing for hundreds of years) killed more true born-again Christians (and Jews) than did its predecessor, the political Roman Empire.

The Return of the Antichrist Beast (Nero) From the Abyss/Sea

Very soon after the Rapture, God will release Nero from his 2,000-year confinement in the Abyss. This “miraculous” reappearance from what the world will consider a resurrection from the grave will stun many left behind on earth … to the point of complete allegiance to and worship of both Nero and Satan.

In my book and several Eye of Prophecy articles, I’ve provided extensive documentation from Scripture and from history to show the beast who had died would “come up out of the Abyss” (Revelation 17) and will “rise from the Sea” (Revelation 13).

Because Nero is the Antichrist beast, that Sea will be the Mediterranean.

Granted, the following proposal is speculation, but a supposition based on compelling correlation between Biblical prophecy and 1^st century history as related to the near future reappearance of the Antichrist.

Proposal: Nero will arise from the sea near Anzio (what he will call Antium), his place of birth. His spectacular reappearance and triumphant arrival will be jubilantly celebrated first by the citizens of Anzio, then by all of Italy upon his grand entrance into Rome. Then by the entire world. It’s one of several ways in which he will imitate (in a mocking sarcastic way) the things that Messiah Jesus said and did. Jesus told his disciples to spread the Gospel—Good News of God’s salvation offered through the death, burial, and resurrection of God’s Son—first to Jerusalem, then Judea/Samaria, finally to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

For the counterfeit Messiah, anti-Christ Nero: first in Anzio, then in Rome/Italy, then over the entire planet.

Here is an excerpt from Eye of Prophecy article, Soon Comes the Antichrist … Straight From the Abyss Part II (Posted 8-27-16) … In italics.

For those left behind at the Rapture, some will actually witness Nero’s ascent from the Abyss/Sea and many others will watch on video replay from those who captured it on their smart phone cameras. Don’t roll your eyes at that scenario! There even may be television crews alerted ahead of Nero’s ascent from the Sea, by some mysterious things going on such as smoke billowing from the surface of the sea. Did you know that there are huge subterranean volcanoes and rock structures that include chimney-like formations in these underwater fissures? Geologists call the ocean floor, The Abyssal Plain! They call these open vents in subterranean rock formations, Black Smokers. We looked at the embodied beings (fallen angels) that come from the Abyss (Revelation Chapter 9). Here is John’s description: “When he opened it (the Abyss), smoke poured out as though from a huge furnace, and the sunlight and air turned dark from the smoke” (Revelation 9:2). This 2000-year old description matches recent 20^th & 21^st century geological discoveries and vernacular—dark, smoke, furnace, shaft, poured out!)

Things to Ponder

When Nero returns he will strike up a liaison with the Holy Roman Empire (Roman Catholic Church). Soon, thereafter, he will replace this brief partnership with his ten-nation coalition; he will annihilate what he considers to be the usurper (Holy See) to the true Roman Empire. Then he will resume his savage persecution and killing of Tribulation saints (Revelation 13:7), and also launch a Tribulation ending assault against Israel. That final attack on the apple of God’s eye will seal Nero’s fate.

“He (Antichrist) will enter the glorious land of Israel, and many nations will fall … He will conquer many countries, and even Egypt will not escape … He will stop between the glorious holy mountain (Jerusalem) and the sea (Mediterranean) and will pitch his royal tents. But while he is there, his time will suddenly run out, and no one will help him” (Daniel 11:41-42 & 45, parenthesis mine).

(Har Megiddo and Surrounding Valley in Israel … I’ve Been There! Har means Hill or Mount in Hebrew, Which Yields the Name Armageddon)

During that final battle of Armageddon when Messiah Jesus returns physically to earth, all Raptured believers and resurrected Tribulation saints will be with him.

“Together (the Antichrist beast and his ten-nation confederation) they will go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord of all lords and King of all kings. And his chosen and faithful ones will be with him” (Revelation 17:14, parenthesis mine). Also, see Revelation 19:11-21.

The Day of the Lord is near … so very near.

Scan the globe. What do you see? Are you facing reality? If so, then you can’t help but notice that Planet Earth is enveloped in physical terror and spiritual/moral darkness … teetering on an axis of evil, ready to fall into an Abyss of destruction.

I’m sorry, but a head-in-the-sand optimism for a human solution isn’t enough to change the irreconcilable divisions we see all over the world. Left against the right; rich and poor; black and white; freedom vs. totalitarian Islamic subjugation; nationalism opposed to globalism; and any other polar divisions you can think of.

Messiah Jesus will soon return to make all things right. He will bring truth, justice, and Shalom (peace).

Are you ready?

“For the time is coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. And this will be his name: The LORD is Our Righteousness. In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety” (Jeremiah 23:5-6).