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Although the Scriptures focus upon God's
dealings with His Chosen People, the Jews, the non Jews (known in
the Bible as the Gentiles), are not ignored &mdash as the quote
above from Jesus demonstrates.
The Bible teaches that God chose the Jewish
people to serve as witnesses of His glory (Isaiah 41:10-12). He
also chose them to serve as a channel of His blessings to the world
(Genesis 12:1-3).
Through the Jews, God revealed Himself and
His Law. And through the Jewish prophets, He pointed Mankind to the
coming Messiah (1 Peter 1:10-12).
The Focus
Shifts
God did not start using the Gentiles as a
vehicle of His purposes in history until His Chosen People turned
their backs on Him and gave themselves to human idols. At that
point in time, God began to work through both the Jews and the
Gentiles to carry out His plan of redemption.
His first step was to bring judgment upon
the Jews for their idolatry. He did this by allowing them to be
taken into exile by the Babylonians.
It was during this exile (605 &mdash
536 B.C.) that God revealed to His prophet Daniel that He had a
plan for using the Gentile nations to help achieve His purposes in
history.
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A Prophetic Dream
Daniel was one of the Jewish exiles. He
came to the attention of the Babylonian leaders through his ability
to interpret dreams. He was called upon to interpret a troubling
dream which God gave to the Babylonian king,
Nebuchadnezzar.
The king saw a huge statue of a man in his
dream. The statue was made of a succession of metals. It had a head
of gold, a silver chest, thighs of brass, and legs of iron. It
rested upon a precarious foundation &mdash feet of iron mixed
with clay.
As Nebuchadnezzar stared at the statue,
admiring its beauty, the feet were suddenly struck by a
supernatural stone (&ldquoa stone cut out without
hands&rdquo). The statue collapsed, and the stone expanded
rapidly into a mountain that engulfed the whole world (Daniel
2:31-35).
Daniel explained that the dream dealt with
the future and extended even to the &ldquolatter days&rdquo
(Daniel 2:28). He pointed out that the golden head was
representative of the Babylonian empire. It would be succeeded by
another empire represented by the silver chest, and it would, in
turn, be overthrown by another empire symbolized by the thighs of
bronze. The fourth empire in the series was represented by the legs
of iron (Daniel 2:36-40).
Later, God revealed to Daniel that the
empire that would follow Babylon would be the Medo Persian which,
in turn, would be overthrown by the Greeks under Alexander the
Great (Daniel 8:1-8, 20-21). The empire symbolized by
the iron legs was never specifically identified, but we know from
history that it was the Roman Empire which eventually split into
two parts, the Eastern and Western Empires.
A Prophetic Gap
The prophecy evidently contains a time gap
because there is nothing in history that corresponds to the empire
represented by the feet of iron mixed with clay.
In subsequent dreams and visions, the Lord
revealed to Daniel that this kingdom of iron mixed with clay would
be a loose confederation of ten nations (Daniel 7:24). This
confederation would arise out of the territory of the empire of
iron &mdash the Roman Empire (Daniel 7:7-8). Daniel was also
shown that this revived European confederation would serve as the
base for the construction of the last great Gentile world empire
&mdash namely, the empire of the Antichrist (Daniel 7:8,24-26;
8:19-27).
Further evidence of a time gap is found in
the fact that history fails to show a ten nation European
confederation expanding into a world empire and then being suddenly
destroyed by a supernatural intervention of God. Nor has a kingdom
from God encompassed the whole world, submitting the nations to the
rule of the Messiah (Daniel 2:41-45; 7:13-14,27).
A Prophetic Vision
Fortyeight years after
Nebuchadnezzar&rsquos dream, the Lord gave Daniel a vision of
the same succession of Gentile empires. However, instead of a
glorious statue of a man, Daniel saw a series of ravenous wild
beasts which devoured each other.
The first beast, representing Babylon, was
a lion that had wings like an eagle. The second, a symbol of Medo
Persia, was a bear raised up on one side. Next came a leopard with
wings like a bird, representing the rapid conquest of Alexander the
Great who built the Greek Empire. The fourth beast was
&ldquodreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had
large iron teeth&rdquo (Daniel 7:7). It also had ten horns
(Daniel 7:7). The iron teeth of the beast relate to the iron legs
of Nebuchadnezzar&rsquos statue, and so it represents the Roman
Empire.
While Daniel was observing the fourth
beast, &ldquoa little horn&rdquo representing the
Antichrist grew out of the beast&rsquos head. It subdued three
of the other horns and then took over the rest of the horns. It
then quickly &ldquodevoured the whole earth&rdquo (Daniel
7:23-25). But after three and one half years, it was judged and
&ldquodestroyed forever&rdquo (Daniel
7:26).
It is obvious that the feet and ten toes of
Nebuchadnezzar&rsquos statue correspond to the ten horns of
Daniel&rsquos vision. Both represent a coalition of ten
kingdoms which will serve as the base from which the Antichrist
will conquer the world.
Why two presentations of the same
succession of empires? Nebuchadnezzar&rsquos dream presents the
prophecy from Man&rsquos viewpoint, looking upon the empires as
beautiful and glorious. Daniel&rsquos vision sees the kingdoms
from God&rsquos viewpoint &mdash as a succession of wild
beasts who are cruel and ruthless.
In both cases, the final Gentile empire of
the Antichrist is suddenly destroyed supernaturally, bringing to an
end what Jesus referred to as &ldquothe times of the
Gentiles&rdquo (Luke 21:24).
A Prophetic Expectation
The &ldquotimes of the
Gentiles&rdquo began with Nebuchadnezzar. They continue to this
day, and they will not end until the Second Coming of
Jesus.
The ruthless glory of the Gentile empires
was temporarily suspended when the Roman Empire split and then
later collapsed. At that point the international community
reorganized into nation states.
Since that time there have been many
attempts to rebuild a great Gentile world empire, the three most
notable being the Holy Roman Empire (the First Reich), the French
Empire of Napoleon, and the Third Reich of Hitler. However, all of
these fell short.
But the glory is not all past. The greatest
Gentile empire is still future. It will be the empire of the
Antichrist.
That's what all the talk about a
&ldquoNew World Order&rdquo is about. Satan is coalescing a
new world wide Gentile empire. Its nucleus is being provided
through the reunification of Europe.
Before long, some dynamic, charismatic
political personality will emerge in Europe who seems to have the
answers to all the world's problems. Europe will unite behind him,
and he will then venture forth to build a new world order, using
both deception and force (Daniel 11:36-45 and Revelation
6:1-6).
The final Gentile empire will unite the
world politically, socially, economically and spiritually. Every
nation will be included (Revelation 13:7). The Antichrist will be
assisted by a False Prophet who will pull together the world's
religions into an amalgamated, apostate super church that will
worship the Antichrist (Revelation 13:11-18).
At the end of seven years of unparalleled
tribulation upon the earth, God will pour out His wrath upon this
last Gentile empire. Its overwhelming destruction by fire will take
place in one hour (Revelation 18).
That's when Jesus will return to set up
another new world order &mdash the perfect world order. He will
reign from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem with a rod of iron, and the world
will be flooded with peace, righteousness and justice as the waters
cover the seas (Isaiah 11:9 and Habakkuk 2:14).
Prophetic Urgency
The &ldquotimes of the
Gentiles&rdquo are rapidly coming to a close. Jesus said the
final days of this time period would be marked by the liberation of
Jerusalem from Gentile control (Luke 21:24). That glorious event
took place on June 7, 1967 when the Jews reconquered the city of
Jerusalem for the first time in 1,897 years.
The Church may not have understood the
significance of this event, but the Orthodox Jews certainly did.
Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the Chief Rabbi of the Israeli Army in 1967,
rushed to the Wailing Wall, blew a shofar, and solemnly proclaimed
&ldquothe beginning of the Messianic
Age!&rdquo
The Orthodox Jews know the Old Testament
prophecies, and those prophecies say that the Jews will be back in
the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem when the Messiah comes
(Ezekiel 37 and Zechariah 12).
A Warning
Do not be deceived by all the talk
about a &ldquoNew World Order.&rdquo It is the old world
order dressed up in new clothes.
Satan is pulling together one last
worldwide Gentile empire in his futile attempt to frustrate God's
master plan. Most of the world will be deceived into believing that
this &ldquoNew World Order&rdquo will produce a utopia on
earth. It will create, instead, a living hell.
The &ldquoNew World Order&rdquo is
doomed to failure, for it will be based on the wisdom of Man. Pray
for the coming of the perfect world order that Jesus will establish
when He returns. It will be based upon the Word of God.
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