| The Royal Marriages, Part 2: The Seven Seals. The Abomination of Desolation and the Great Tribulation. As I showed in "Royal Marriages," S God's meeting with the Israelites at Mt. Sinai, to the accompaniment of a trumpet, His voice, fire and smoke, etc., was a type and foreshadowing of the Latter Day descent of Christ to meet with and subsequently marry His Church. This parallel is summarized in Hebrews 12:18-29. Z The Latter Day meeting will likewise be accompanied by a/the (last) trump, His voice, fire and smoke, etc., as foretold in Matthew 24:29-31 and Revelation 6:12-17f. The latter passage says these events will occur at the Sixth Seal. Because the marriage covenant between God and Israel at Sinai was a type of the Latter Day marriage, one might suspect that other events during the Exodus also foreshadow End Times events. Here I will show that the Seven Seals of Revelation were all foreshadowed soon after the Israelites left Egypt. Also foreshadowed were the completion of Christ's redemption by his blood, and the Abomination of Desolation. S The last things to take place before the Exodus were Israel's first Passover feast, and then the passover by the Lord to smite Egypt's firstborn. Israel was "redeemed" "out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" after their Passover lambs were slain, and their blood put on the Israelites' houses: lambs' blood. Ex. 12:3-13; 13:14-15 Z In Revelation 5:9, just before the opening of the Seven Seals, the blood of Christ the Lamb likewise brings redemption to God's people: "You have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation": the Lamb's blood. This first parallel, the redeeming blood of the Lamb, is our starting point (for everything). The Abomination of Desolation and the Great Tribulation S During the night of the first Passover, two things took place at the same time: God brought redemption to Israel, and the Destroyer (Ex. 12:23) desolated Egypt. The Destroyer defiled, with the corpses of the Egyptian firstborn, not just their houses, but also their temples: "against all the gods of Egypt I [the LORD] will execute judgment," Ex. 12:12. Each Pharaoh was worshipped as the high god Osiris, and his firstborn son as the god Horus. Therefore, Pharaoh's house and throne room, like God's, were also his temple. When the god Horus, Pharaoh's firstborn, was slain (Ex. 12:29), the temple of Osiris was defiled. Likewise was slain in its temple the other high god of Egypt, the Apis bull-calf (which was also a firstborn), because the Destroyer killed "the firstborn of all livestock." Ex. 12:29 Z In the Last Days, the Son of God will bring redemption by his blood (Rev. 5:9), and the "Son of Destruction" (i.e., of the Destroyer) will bring the Abomination of Desolation into the Holy Place, thus defiling it. 2 Thes. 2:3-4; Mt. 24:15 Most likely, these two events will again take place at the same time. The Osiris-Horus cult came from Babylon (under another name), and was a Satanic perversion of the true faith in God the Father and Christ the Son. Horus's profane blood defiled Egypt's temple, but Christ's divine blood will purify His Father's heavenly temple. However, while the heavenly temple is being purified, and redemption being made for God's people, the Son of Destruction/Perdition will be defiling the Temple Mount in Jerusalem � the world's Holy Place. God will allow this because Jews and Muslims, who until now have controlled the Temple Mount, don't have the blood of Christ to cover them. In ancient Egypt, the temple-throne room of Osiris was the representative holy place of the world's religions. Therefore we have: S Just prior to the First Trump, God sanctified His people by lambs' blood, and the world's temple was defiled. Z Just prior to the Last Trump, God sanctifies His people by the Lamb's blood, and the world's temple is defiled. S Immediately after the worldly Osirian temple was defiled, the Israelites "went out of Egypt in haste." Ex. 12:33 Z Immediately after the Abomination of Desolation takes place, Christ instructed his people in Jerusalem and Judea to "flee." "For then shall be [the] Great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor shall ever be." Mt. 24:16, 21; Lk. 21:20f. S These words were foreshadowed by similar words of God before the former desolation: " Then shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again." Ex. 11:6 This tribulation in ancient Egypt was a type and foreshadowing of the Latter Day Great Tribulation of the whole world. [It is widely believed that the Abomination of Desolation will be the act of the Son of Destruction/Perdition "sitting as God in the naos [shrine or temple] of God, showing himself that he is God." 2 Thes. 2:4 Daniel 11:45, probably speaking of the same event, says, "And he shall plant the tents of his palace in the glorious holy mountain..." � mentioning no literal temple. In my opinion, this ruler will set himself up on the site of the Most Holy Place of the Jews' ancient temple on the Temple Mount (probably being the little 'Dome of the Tablets' in the northern part of the Mount.) I do not believe a full temple needs to be rebuilt before this event: rather, "naos"/ shrine merely refers to the ancient Most Holy Place. Likewise, the "daily sacrifice" taken away at this time (Dan. 9:27, 12:11) refers, in my opinion, to the Jews' daily "sacrifice of praise" at the Wailing Wall. Jer. 17:26; 33:11; Heb. 13:15-16 I do not believe animal sacrifices need to be resumed in order to fulfill these prophecies.] Revelation 5 describes Christ the Lamb "taking the scroll" having seven seals, then the Lamb's "redeeming blood," and then His "receiving power." Right after these things, in Revelation 6, He begins to open the seals: First Seal, Rev. 6:1-2. Z Here is seen someone going forth "to conquer": to bring others under submission. S This seal was foreshadowed in Ex. 14:1-9f., when Pharaoh and his hosts repented of freeing the Israelites from "serving" them (vs. 5), and set out to bring them back into bondage within a few days of their Exodus. Should the Last Days timetable proceed on the same schedule as the former, then very shortly after the believing Jews flee Jerusalem and Judea, others will set out in conquest. The foreshadowing events were limited to the Middle East, but the Latter Day, culminating events will take place worldwide. Second Seal, Rev. 6:3-4. Z This seal foretells "that people should kill one another...[by the] sword," i.e. warfare. S Such was foreshadowed by the destruction of Pharaoh's army as they attacked Israel. Ex. 14:14f. (The Book of Jasher records that there was an initial skirmish between Israel and advance units of Pharaoh, in which "many [Egyptians] perished by the hand of Israel": people killed one another by the sword. Jash. 81:17 Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18 say that Jasher is a reliable record.) This battle took place about six days after the Exodus began. Third Seal, Rev. 6:5-6. Z Here is foretold food scarcity. The generally-acknowledged parallel passage of Matt. 24:7 says "there shall be famines." S In Ex. 16:3f., it is recorded that "the children of Israel said to [Moses and Aaron], ...[Y]ou have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Time: 30 days after the departure from Egypt. Z A widespread Latter Day famine could easily begin within a month if wars disrupt food shipments, which are already precarious in many parts of the world. Continue Return to Index Return to Index, page 2 Part 3: The Seven Trumpets Part 1: The Royal Marriages of Israel, Esther, and the Church |