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It is important to
note that the Ottoman Empire occupied the same territory from about A.D.
1300 to 1923, but it is not represented in the statue since Israel was
destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Romans, and the Jews fled to other nations.
The nation of Israel did not exist during the Ottoman Empire. Israel
returned in 1948 when the United Nations allowed the Jews to return after
almost 1,900 years. The statue deals only with those empires which have
controlled the Jews while they were in Palestine. The feet are symbolic
of a future version of an alliance of nations that will exist in the
same territory previously occupied by the four kingdoms of the statue.
The Stone. But first, what does the stone
represent? Every part of the statue has been symbolic of an actual, real
physical kingdom, empire, or nation. So we should expect the feet and
the stone to represent literal, real empires too. When Daniel explains
that a stone will crush the feet (Dan. 2:34, 45), he refers to one kingdom
or empire defeating all the previous nations or empires. The stone is
made without hands;, that is, God made the stone and He will destroy
all Gentile rule over Israel. The statue represents a succession of Gentile
control or rule over Israel. After the statue is destroyed, the stone
becomes a great mountain. It is a new kingdom which fills the whole earth
(Dan. 2:35). It is God’s future earthly 1,000 year kingdom. Each
symbol is a kingdom and the stone is a kingdom ruled by God!
Signs of the Future. When will the empire that is represented by “The Feet” come to power in the future? What are the signs of Jesus’ return? Jesus told us that lawlessness will increase (Matt. 24:12) and Daniel predicted that knowledge will increase (Dan. 12:4) in the last days. Another sign is that many will turn away from God in the end. Even though the good news about Jesus Christ has been spreading around the world, many will reject God. God calls this apostasy (2 Thess. 2:3). One very significant sign is the return of the Jews to the land of Palestine. This was predicted in Isaiah 11:11-12 and Ezekiel 37:11-14. Multiple passages indicate that the temple must also exist in Jerusalem in the end-times (Dan. 9:25-27; Matt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:3-4).
Jesus warned us that wars and earthquakes would increase (Matt. 24:6-7). The signs of the future appear to exist already. But we do not know if Jesus is coming soon or if He will delay His return for another 100 years. He could come tomorrow or in one hundred years. Christians have been expecting the end of the world for hundreds of years.
Jesus also warned us that the end-time would be very close when the “Abomination of Desolation” appears as predicted by the prophet Daniel (Matt. 24:15). We will discuss the “Abomination of Desolation” in more detail later. When Jesus said this, He was referring to the prophet’s statement in Daniel 9:27.
Future Timeline. Daniel 9:27 predicts that a 7 year period known as Daniel’s 70th week will start with peace for Israel. Daniel also predicts that something called the “Abomination of Desolation” will occur in the middle of the 7 year period. When the “Abomination of Desolation” appears, the peace will end and plagues, disasters, terror, and war will follow. This means that the first 3.5 years are peaceful and the last 3.5 years are filled with pain, misery, and a horrible war.
Jesus called the last 3.5 years a period of “great tribulation” (Matt. 24:21). As a result, the entire 7 year period is called the Tribulation. In other places in the Bible, each 3.5 year period is also called “time, times and half a time” (Dan. 12:7; Rev. 12:14), 42 months (Rev. 11:1-2) and 1,260 days (Rev. 11:3).
So the next major event in the future is the peace treaty that Daniel predicted. When it occurs, only seven years will be left before Jesus returns to set-up His kingdom on earth - His future earthly 1,000 year kingdom. |
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| Bible Prophecy of The Future | ||||||||
