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NASB | Daniel 9:27 "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Daniel 9:27 "And he will enter into a binding and irrevocable covenant with the many for one week (seven years), but in the middle of the week he will stop the sacrifice and grain offering [for the remaining three and one-half years]; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until the complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who causes the horror." |
Subject: The AntiChrist |
Bible Note: Dear Brother Mark, Welcome back from the holidays! I hope they were a blessing for you and your family. There are at least three broad eschatological categories extant today that would answer these questions differently. All three, in my opinion, have some degree of merit. (The fact that one of these perspectives has great mass appeal and generates a lot of money is not, to my way of thinking, where it derives most of its merit.) All three have little to say beyond attempting to interpret apocalyptic prophecies. Consequently they leverage an unhealthy curiosity in people, doing little more than generating a bunch of unsubstantiated hot air, fomenting argument, and encouraging pointless speculation. One might even argue that they burden us with a perspective that interferes with our deriving from these passages the encouragement and instruction that God intends. You asked, "Do you really think that the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and the other books of prophecy, cannot be understood?" Nope, never thought that, never said that. Prophecy, by its very nature, is most clear after it has been fulfilled. I've no doubt we'll all be surprised, Tim and Jerry notwithstanding. I like what Octavius Winslow wrote back in the 1800s, "The declaration that 'our times are in the Lord's hand,' implies that the future of our history is impenetrably and mysteriously veiled from our sight. We live in a world of mysteries. They meet our eye, awaken our inquiry, and baffle our investigation at every step. Nature is a vast arcade of mysteries. Science is a mystery, truth is a mystery, religion is a mystery, our existence is a mystery, the future of our being is a mystery. And God, who alone can explain all mysteries, is the greatest mystery of all. How little do we understand of the inexplicable wonders of a wonder-working God, 'Whose thoughts are a great deep,' and 'Whose ways are past finding out.' "To God nothing is mysterious. In purpose, nothing is unfixed; in forethought, nothing is unknown; in providence, nothing is contingent. His glance pierces the future as vividly as it beholds the past. 'He knows the end, from the beginning.' All His doings are parts of a divine, eternal, and harmonious plan. He may make 'darkness His secret place; His pavilion round about Him dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies,' and to human vision His dispensations may appear gloomy, discrepant, and confused; yet is He, 'working all things after the counsel of His own will,' and 'at the brightness that is before Him, His thick clouds pass.' and all is transparent and harmonious to His eye." Mark, presuppositions are not necessarily bad things. John Hendryx puts it this way, "A presupposition is an ultimate assumption or foundational unquestioned principle which is or assumed to be true in the course of argument for the purpose of making other points. A presupposition is really an undergirding belief that precedes all other beliefs a person has; It is a belief that governs all our other beliefs or the most fundamental commitment of our heart and mind. Each person insists on some ultimate category of thought or conceptual framework which he must assume in order to make a sensible interpretation of reality. All of our arguments are ultimately settled only by appealing to the soundness of our first principles. Unbelievers start with the presupposition that man can be as God in the sense of being his own ultimate authority and erroneously believes he can do so successfully. For Christians we adopt the Word of God to evaluate all other beliefs, and must regard it with certainty. Reason must be the servant of Revelation (God’s Word). It is a view that places the Christian world-view and it’s basic assumptions over against the non-Christian world-view and basic assumptions!" When we use the word "presupposition" we do not necessarily imply anything disparaging. In Him, Doc |