2,500 Years of Chastisement
The first chapter of the Book of Daniel introduces the prophet and explains his presence in Babylon and how God caused him to find favor and influence with Nebuchadnezzar, Darius and Cyrus. Chapter two summarizes the scope of his prophecies and is expounded throughout the remainder of the Book.
Nebuchadnezzar's defeat of Judah in 606BC began the "times of the Gentiles" which continue until the consummation and destruction of all life on Earth in the battle of Armageddon. God speaks to the king in a dream he cannot remember but which strikes fear into his heart. The king promises great honor to the man who can recount and interpret his dream. God reveals these things through His prophet, whereupon Nebuchadnezzar falls upon his face before Daniel and worships him as a great prophet of the "God of gods", commanding his people that they should offer sacrifice and incense before him in honor of his God. In chapter three the king erects a golden image of Daniel and commands everyone throughout his empire to do obeisance (Daniel 2:6; 3:1-7).
In his dream the king saw an image representing the four Gentile world powers that would hold dominion over Israel during the times of the Gentiles. The first was Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon which was to be succeeded in turn by the empires of Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Each was represented by a different metal. Babylon being the most noble, was the head of gold, Medo-Persia the breast and arms of silver, signified the age in which Judah's captivity would end, with the people free to return to their Homeland and their City. Greece was the belly and thighs of brass, and Rome his legs of iron and the feet part iron and part clay.
The two legs signified Rome would be divided between the East and West. The feet which were part of iron and part of clay pointed to the union of the church with the state when Rome changed from an Imperial to a religious power which would also be divided -- between the Eastern Orthodox and Western Roman Catholic churches. The ten toes of the feet of iron and clay represent the five Eastern and five Western European nations into which the Empire was divided. Their reunion is the ten nation confederacy prophesied in Daniel 7:7, 23-24; Revelation 13:1; and 17:3, 7, 12-13 and is consistent with the ten economic/military blocs planned by the Club of Rome. Inasmuch as iron and clay will not unite, Rome will remain divided yet in it will be the strength of iron.
Daniel 2:43 "These kingdoms shall mingle themselves together with the seed of men" through marriage alliances through history, and by an agreement with the natural Serpent's seed "Jews" in Daniel's Seventieth Week. And through Papal fealty, or state union with the false church whose doctrine which stems from Catholicism, is spiritual serpent's seed.
The union between these ten states was to be "in the latter days". We see this restoration of the Holy Roman Empire being fulfilled in the European Union (Daniel 2:28; Revelation 17:12-18). In the days of this confederation God will restore the kingdom to Israel and break and destroy all of these kingdoms.
Brother Branham said, "Let me give you a little something on the iron and clay. Remember when Khrushchev beat his shoe on the desk at the U.N.? Well, there were five Eastern nations there and five Western. Khrushchev spoke for the East and President Eisenhower for the West. In Russian, Khrushchev is clay and Eisenhower means iron. The two main leaders of the world, the two big toes of the feet of iron and clay, were side by side. We are in the end of it all".
"In Revelation 13:4 it asks, "Who is able to make war with the beast?" Now there are at present some great names in the world. There are some mighty nations, but right now Rome is calling the tune. The pope is in the driver's seat. And his power is going to increase. No one can war against him" (An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, 237:2-3).
That was forty years ago. We are at the end of the generation. The ten nations that once comprised the Roman Empire will again divide between East and West, Jewish and Roman Catholic, Communist and non-Communist. The Eastern bloc will utterly destroy Vatican Rome and the United States of America. This will terminate Man's day in Armageddon prior to the Millennium which restores the kingdom to Israel, with Jesus and His Bride sitting in the throne of David.
With the exception of some digressions, the remaining visions of the Book of Daniel show how God will restore Daniel's people and his holy city. I refer not to the edict of Cyrus that set the captives free to build the walls and streets of Old Jerusalem, but to the revelation of Jesus Christ to 144,000 elect Israelites who will live through eternity in New Jerusalem, a city not made with hands that descends from God out of heaven and whose temple is the glorified flesh of the 144,000 as foreseen by Ezekiel who was also a captive in Babylon.
From the time Nebuchadnezzar put Jerusalem under Tribute in the reign of Jehoiakim (who was placed by Pharaoh), to the present day, there has not been a sovereign king in the throne of David. Jehoachin and Zedekiak were vassals to Babylon, and most kings post-Captivity were Edomites. Jerusalem has been under Gentile government from that day to this. Jerusalem and Israel are STILL under Gentile government -- government by the Jews who are Edomites unrelated to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with NO part in the Abrahamic, Mosaic or Noahic covenants. Surely you can see this.
Look, Nebuchadnezzar trod down the walls of Jerusalem. It took Judah forty-nine years to rebuild them (Daniel 9:25). After Jesus, Roman general Titus trod down the walls and destroyed the city in AD70 (Daniel 9:26; Luke 21:6- 7, 20-23). Even after the Gentile dispensation ends, Rome will still be treading down the walls of Jerusalem. Revelation 11:1-2, "A measuring reed like a rod was given to John (who represents the living Bride who will not see death): and the Angel (Christ) stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." The Bride is NOW time measuring the 144,000 by THUS SAITH THE LORD of the absolute of God's unchanging and revealed Word -- and the Token Life It creates. Separating holy from unholy, clean from unclean. The figure of the temple is but a Hebrew symbol, for nothing unclean or defiled was permitted into the congregation of the righteous. Read Leviticus.
The saints shall judge the earth. These people have got to become Christians. Since the revelation of the Seven Seals we have the perfect interpretation of the Word. We know God's Standard and are one with Christ without a Mediator.
Most "Jews" so-called (like most so-called Christians) don't give two hoots about holiness and the Word of God. Those following the Talmud have Satan's standard hand-book on uncleanliness and abomination.
How long will the walls of the city be trodden down? "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles UNTIL the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24). NOT the Gentile dispensation, which ends seven years before the times of the Gentiles cease. How long? "Rome shall make it desolate until the consummation" (Daniel 9:27).
Don't be deceived by the "Jews" who are not so gentle Gentiles. They are Edomites, Hittites, Hivites and Canaanites IMPERSONATING Israel. God's unchanging Word instructs us Jerusalem will not be under the rule of Abraham's natural seed until these imposters have all been destroyed in Armageddon and Jesus Christ, the TRUE Son of David takes His rightful place.
Daniel was a prophet to Israel. His prophecies concern his people (Israel) and their holy city (Jerusalem) through the "times of the Gentiles". They reveal their sin, sin's penalty, the six-fold recompense which restores his people to favor with God and the restoration of their kingdom in a Jerusalem not made with hands.
Chapter three types the mark of the beast being forced in the midst of Daniel's Seventieth Week. All the world must worship the image of the beast on pain of death (Revelation 13:15-18). And all of the world has served Babylonian accounting, Babylonian Trinitarianism, or Talmudic religion. However 144,000 elect Israelites like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego will face martyrdom rather than do obeisance. These men are cast into a fiery furnace, heated seven times hotter than the tribulations through the Seven Church Ages, typing the tribulation judgment under the Seventh Trumpet. As the Angel of God was present with this faithful trio in the midst of their tribulation, His "parousia" or Presence will manifest to the 144,000 with revelation and eternal Life.
Times don't change. Here's what Brother Branham said, "The church had to turn His Word down first. Then after the church turned It down, and called Him a Beelzebub or an evil spirit . . .it was brought before the government, so that the whole race had to be condemned. . . Now, we find Jesus . . . before a governor . . . to be tried. . . the church turned Him down first because they didn't believe His Message, because they didn't know the Word. Jesus told them, "If you would have heard Moses, you would believe My Word, because he is the one that spoke of me. . . For their traditions, the church condemned Him."
". . . We see what's supposed to be here today, (the revelation for THIS hour) and we see It, but the system won't let them accept It. . . . it isn't the person; it is the system. . . It wasn't the Jews; it was their system. That system condemned Him, because it didn't tolerate with their system. Do you understand? ... the same thing takes place NOW. And they chose this public enemy, a murderer. But the issue now has involved the government. So the government has to pronounce this sentence; because to take a life, it must come before the government. They wasn't allowed to do that because they were under the rulership of Rome. And they couldn't take a life no matter how much their church said, "We got to do it." . . So it has to be brought before the government. Now, the government's . . . if that isn't a picture of today . . ."
"The church turns it down. Now, it's the government involved. The time had come . . . the church had rejected Him. That'd bring the wrath upon the church. But now, the nation has rejected Him, to bring the wrath upon all. And today, the WORLD has rejected Him to bring judgment to the entire world. ALL nations must be judged."
". . . There was a heathen nation controlling over a religious nation. Now, it's a all thing is religion. So it has to come to a world religion. Oh, my. A blind man could see that. . . When he sees it, he'll come out of his blindness."
". . . when this World Council comes together . . . What will WE do with this Jesus called Christ? They certainly don't want nothing to do with It. So there's only one thing to do then: exactly what they did then. They'll crucify It. Certainly. Shut it up; it can't be no more; it won't be allowed to do it. The force of the religion of the nations won't let them do it no more. Such ministry that goes on here and things like that will be absolutely closed out. . . without a sanction from the headquarters, the head of the church, see, an image unto the beast" (What Shall I Do with Jesus Called Christ? 17:71, 75-77, 120-121).
The times of the Gentiles began by forcing worship to the image of a holy man "in whom is the spirit of the holy gods" (Daniel 4:8). (If you would like to learn about the persecution of the Christian Church, you may download Foxes Book of Martyrs). Notice Daniel was not required to worship the image, for it was an image of himself. Nebuchadnezzar called him, "Belteshazzer" which was the name of his god, "Bel" (Daniel 4:8). When the iniquity of Babylon was full, God wrote a Message in tongues and destroyed Babylon (Daniel 5). The times of the Gentiles ends when the church and state unite under Rome to force the worship of a "holy" man, the Pope of Rome, who claims "the spirit of the holy gods" resides in him (Revelation 13:1-12; II Thessalonians 2:3-4).
Typing chapter three through Gentile eyes, we see how Christianity will face a brief period of persecution in the manifestation of the Sons of God before their body change and translation. Daniel represents the unseen Christ during the half-hour's silence in heaven, following the opening of the Seventh Seal in 1963 (Revelation 8:1); Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego type the elect Church, while the miracle in the fiery furnace of affliction represents the manifestation of the Sons of God and "third pull" when God will do what the Bride says. (She will be under His pre-eminence and be speaking His thoughts).
Daniel was silent, whilst the saints made their own choice whether to rest in the spoken Word, or adore his image. (Like Catholics kiss the feet of statues or adore relics, venerate Lourdes, etc.). God had a man in Babylon who could interpret the writing on the wall. Everyone at the blasphemous banquet could READ and understand the words of the Message which the finger of God wrote in Aramaic, the language of the Chaldees. They couldn't understand the MEANING of the Words which was SEALED up.
The writing is not on the wall today, It's in the Bible where Its been sealed with Seven Seals from the foundation of the World. Praise God who sent us a prophet through whom He could "finish the mystery of God spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21; Revelation 10:7).
The visible absence of our "Daniel' during "the silence in heaven for the space of half an hour", the Seven Seals have revealed to His Bride the mysteries of the seven thunders John was told to seal up unto the time of the end (Revelation 10:4, 6-7). And that spoken Word written between the lines has been transformed from "the letter" to the Logos or "Spirit of the Holy God" (singular) IN the Bride, to impart the mind of Christ and bring her under pre-eminence to exercise the "third pull" in the manifestation of the Sons of God, when what we say God will do.
As the lives of Daniel's three companions were are spared, not one hair of the Bride will be harmed. We too will be in the Presence and under the protection of the Son of God. following a short and powerful demonstration of the Spirit, this little hunted and persecuted little group will go to be with Jesus at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in the Sky. And through persecution and Gentile apostacy, the Message will be taken to the elect Hebrews by two prophets in the power and demonstration of the Spirit as It came to us, and by the purity of the faith they will see Christ's parousia. bb000423.htm
e-mail: [email protected]