"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." - ISAIAH 8:20

What exactly do we mean by "Futurism" or the Futurist Interpretation of Prophecy? We have listened to their preachers and read many of their books and we think it is fair to say that they transfer all prophecy to a future fulfilment during a period of either seven or three and a half years at the end of this age, during which they claim six main events are to take place:

1. The Secret Rapture of the Church.
2. A Revived Roman Empire.
3. The Head of this Revived Roman Empire, the Beast or Anti-Christ, whom they identify with the Prince of Daniel chapter 9, will make a Treaty or Covenant with the Jews.
4. Anti-Christ will sit in a rebuilt literal Jewish Temple at Jerusalem.
5. Anti-Christ will break his Treaty with the Jews, ushering in a time of unprecedented persecution, which they say is The Great Tribulation.
6. All of this is to take place during the prophetic era known as "Daniel's 70^th Week", which they detach from the rest of the prophecy in Daniel chapter 9 and postpone until the end of the age.

Having defined "Futurism", we also need to know its origin. The plain fact is that the novel theories outlined above were unknown in Protestant Christendom until about one hundred and fifty years ago. The great Reformers, Martyrs and Puritans had with one voice proclaimed the Historist Interpretation of Prophecy, which stated that the Papacy was Anti-Christ, the Roman Church, Mystery Babylon the Great, and that the prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse were a continuous outline of historical events up to the present time. Naturally such an interpretation was not to the liking of Papal Rome, and so from the time of the so-called Counter-Reformation, the theologians of the Roman Catholic Church began to undermine the prophetic foundation of Protestantism by devising a rival or alternate scheme of prophetic interpretation. Some six Jesuit priests were largely responsible for inventing what we now call "Futurism". They were:

1. RIBERA
2. BELLARMINE
3. ALCAZAR
4. VIEYRA
5. CANISIUS
6. LACUNZA (who wrote under the assumed name of RABBI BEN EZRA)

"See ye not all these things (the Temple)? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." - MATTHEW 24:2

The Temple site remained unused from 70 A.D. until the Fourth Century, when the Roman Emperor known as Julian the Apostate, knowing that the will of God was that it should not be rebuilt, decided to demonstrate his rebellion against the Almighty by commencing work on a new structure. Historians record that fire came mysteriously out of the earth compelling the workmen to cease building operations. When the Caliph Omar rode into Jerusalem in the Seventh Century, he found the Temple mount in a heap of rubbish, the refuse of the city having for generations been thrown there by Christians to show their contempt for the Jews. Omar had the site cleared and erected the Mosque which bears his name as a covering and protection over the holy rock, claimed as the site where Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac. The Dome of the Rock and its sister shrine, the El Aqsa Mosque have been permitted by Almighty God to stand upon the site ever since in order that no Jewish Temple can be rebuilt. The reason why such a Jewish Sanctuary cannot be reconstructed is really quite simple if we would but search the Scriptures. The Jerusalem Temple with its priesthood, rituals, furnishings and animal sacrifices - like its predecessor the Wilderness Tabernacle - pointed forward in type and shadow to the coming of Israel's Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was both our great High Priest, and at the same time, the final and ultimate sacrifice of all the ages - the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world. When the agony of Golgotha,s vicarious sacrifice reached its climax, the God-Man Jesus Christ cried out:

"It is finished: and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost….." - JOHN 19:30

"And behold the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." - MATTHEW 27:51

"But this man (Jesus) after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God." - HEBREWS 10:12

"For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified…….there is no more offering for sin." - HEBREWS 10:14 & 18

"That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verliy I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! BEHOLD YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT UNTO YOU DESOLATE. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." - MATTHEW 23:35-39

"The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." - MATTHEW 21:43

 DANIEL'S 70^th WEEK

In the ninth chapter of the Book of Daniel we find a prophecy, commonly referred to as "Daniel's 70^th Week", which has become a corner stone and foundation of "Futurism". By taking the Scriptures out of their context to make them a pretext, the "Futurists" tell us that this prophecy foretells the coming of a one-world dictator, the Prince of the Prophecy, who will make a Treaty or Covenant with the Jews, break it after three and a half years and sit enthroned for worship in a rebuilt Jewish Temple, from which he will impose the "MARK OF THE BEAST" and unleash the horrors of the "GREAT TRIBULATION". To call this interpretation fanciful would be kind, to call it downright deception would be more accurate. Let us now examine the "Seventy Weeks Prophecy" and see for ourselves.

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." - DANIEL 9:24

"…….seven weeks and three score and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself" - DANIEL 9:25-26

"This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." - MATTHEW 3:17

The Daniel prophecy goes on to tell us that this Lord Jesus the Messiah would accomplish some six things during the course of His Ministry:

1. Finish Transgression
2. Make an end of sins
3. Make reconciliation for iniquity
4. Bring in everlasting righteousness
5. Seal up the vision and prophecy
6. Anoint the most Holy

"…shall Messiah be cut off but not for Himself." - Daniel 9:26

The "Futurists" try to tell us that the "he" in this verse refers to a future Anti-Christ, the Prince of verse 26, who having made a treaty or covenant with the Jews, breaks it after three and a half years, and causes the sacrifices and rituals of the rebuilt Temple to cease or be discontinued. However, this is a blatant example of taking a text from its context and making it a pretext to substantiate error and false doctrine.

The "He" is Messiah the Prince, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Covenant spoken of is the New Covenant, signed and sealed in His own blood at Calvary, by which Redemption and remission of sins was made available to the House of Israel, and whosoever will repent and obey the Gospel. For evidence let us read the following Scriptures:

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel…..After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." - JEREMIAH 31:31-33

"And He (Jesus) took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." - MATTHEW 26:27-28

"Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost (died). And, behold, the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;" - MATTHEW 27:50-51

"…and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined…..and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." - DANIEL 9:26-27

Daniel's 70^th Week ended in 34 A.D. with the martyrdom of Stephen and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the household of Cornelius. For some forty years after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus - a Bible generation of testing, trial and probation - the Jews refused, resisted and opposed the proclamation of the New Covenant Gospel of Salvation. In 67 A.D. they rebelled against the might of Imperial Rome, and a three year conflict commenced. The climax of these events came in 70 A.D. when the armies of the Roman Prince Titus, son of the Emperor Vespasian, laid siege to Jerusalem. The Jewish historian Josephus records the horrors of the siege in graphic detail. One million Jews perished by famine and the sword, some ninety thousand being sold into slavery when the Romans finally captured the city. The remaining Jewish Zealots had sought refuge in the Temple precincts and so the Romans launched a final assault during which a soldier threw a piece of burning wood into the inner sanctuary and soon the magnificent building was ablaze. Titus then marched into the sanctuary ruins, set up the Roman standards and offered the traditional sacrifice of an ox, a sheep and a pig. He subsequently ordered the systematic destruction of the city and the levelling of the Temple site to the ground (i.e. to its base or platform). Thus was the remainder of Daniel's Prophecy fulfilled by Titus the Prince, and by his people, the soldiers of Imperial Rome.

 ANTI-CHRIST TO SIT IN A REBUILT JEWISH TEMPLE RECEIVING WORSHIP

"…and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." - II THESSALONIANS 2:3-4

On the basis of this verse they go on to proclaim that their coming one-man Anti-Christ, the future superhuman, world dictator will be enthroned in a rebuilt Jewish Temple at Jerusalem to receive worship and adoration. This overlooks three very important facts:

1. Anti-Christ is not an open enemy or opponent of Christ, but rather a counterfeit or usurper who takes the place, titles and dignities of Christ. The Greek word "Antichristos" always denotes a "Vice-Christ"or a "substitute Christ". The following are some examples of the way in which Greek writers of the Biblical era would have used "ANTI" to mean a substitute rather than an open opponent.
2. A} ANTI-BASILEUS - A VICE-KING or VICEROY
3. B} ANTI-DIAKONOS - A VICE MINISTER

C} ANTI- DOULOS - A SUBSTITUTE SLAVE

D} ANTI-DEIPUOUS - A SUBSTITUTE GUEST AT A BANQUET

These are sufficient to illustrate the point.

4. Anti-Christ refers not to one man at the end of the age, but to a whole dynasty of "substitute Christs" down the centuries i.e. "THE PAPACY". The "Futurists" insist that Paul's use of the singular term "Man of Sin" substantiates their theory, but by comparing Scripture with Scripture we find that this not the case. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, we find the whole dynasty of High Priests in Israel referred to as "One Man" (HEBREWS 9:7). Again we are told that the entire company of believers in all ages is but "One Body" (I CORINTHIANS 12:12). Similarly the whole line of believers is referred to as "One New Man" (EPHESIANS 2:15). When we look back to Daniel's vision of the various Beasts, he is actually describing the entire ruling dynasties of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome as being "four kings", one king in each case symbolising or standing for a dynasty.
5. The Greek wording in II THESSALONIANS 2:4 refutes any idea of Anti-Christ sitting in a literal, physical Temple at Jerusalem. If Paul had wanted to state that the "Man of Sin" would be seated in a rebuilt Jewish Temple, receiving worship, he would undoubtedly have used the Greek word "HIERON", which is used on some twenty five other occasions to describe the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. Instead Paul uses the Greek word "NAOS", which according to Young's Analytical Concordance, means a "dwelling place" or "inner sanctuary". When the Lord Jesus used this same word "NAOS "in JOHN 2: 19-21, He used it to refer not to a building in Jerusalem but to His own body:

In the other Pauline Epistles, the word "NAOS" has a definite meaning other than the building in Jerusalem.

A} "And what agreement hath the Temple (NAOS) of God with idols? for ye are the Temple (NAOS) of the living God;" - II CORINTHIANS 6:16

B} "Ye are the Temple (NAOS) of God. If any man defile the Temple (NAOS) of God, him shall God destroy; for the Temple (NAOS) of God is holy, which Temple (NAOS) ye are." - I CORINTHIANS 3: 17

C} "In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple (NAOS) in the Lord;" - EPHESIANS 2: 21

It is crystal clear that Paul used "NAOS" to refer to the Church which is the "BODY OF CHRIST", and not to denote a physical building or sanctuary. Paul was not teaching that a one-man Anti-Christ would sit in a rebuilt Jewish Temple at Jerusalem to receive worship, but rather he was foretelling the rise of a "dynasty of counterfeit Christs", the "POPES OF ROME " who would receive the worship and adoration of organised Christendom, as was especially true during the DARK AGES prior to the REFORMATION.

 NOTE THE BLASPHEMOUS PARODY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT DESCENDING AS A DOVE

"He (the Pope) is borne in the Pontifical Chair, and is placed on the High Altar, a spot consecrated by the actual presence of the body, blood, soul and divinity of the living Christ. He sits on the High Altar using it as his footstool, and enthroned as King, he is adored as God, in the same manner as the consecrated wafer, adored by the Cardinal Princes, who kiss his feet which rest on the Altar of the Supreme. HE SITS IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD SHOWING HIMSELF AS IF HE WERE GOD."

 EZEKIEL'S TEMPLE

In their desire to establish some sort of Biblical support for their idea of a reconstructed Jewish Temple, the "Futurists" place great emphasis on the record given in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel's prophecy (chapters 40 -48), which give a detailed description of a future Temple. In what circumstances, however, was Ezekiel writing and to what does this detailed Temple vision refer? The Book of Ezekiel contains some thirteen visions and revelations given to the prophet over a period of over twenty-five years of exile in Babylon. Each of these thirteen documents is carefully dated, but the documents have not been arranged in chronological order, as the Book of Ezekiel is set out in our Bible. So whilst it appears that the Temple vision of the last nine chapters was God's final revelation to Ezekiel, the fact is that these "final" chapters should actually be placed much earlier in the book. The prophecy has nothing whatsoever to do with a rebuilt Temple in the modern Zionist State but rather was a vision, given by God to Ezekiel in 574 B.C., of a last offer of mercy and forgiveness to the Ten Tribed House of Israel, taken into the Assyrian captivity some one hundred and fifty years earlier, and a section of whom were still dwelling in the province of Ecbatana in Media. Ezekiel was sent to offer them a written scheme for national restoration which would embrace a new division of the land of Palestine, a reformed priesthood and a rebuilt and remodelled Temple. Furthermore, Ezekiel's offer was to embrace all Twelve Tribes of Israel, whilst the present day Zionist State contains only a remnant of the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi, outnumbered by Edomite and Khazar Jews, who, whilst practising the Jewish religion and adhering to the creed of political Zionism, are not true Israelites.

  A REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE

Closely linked to the "Futurist" fables of a personal Anti-Christ, and a rebuilt Jewish Temple complete with animal sacrifice, is the equally false concept that this one-man Anti-Christ or Dictator will revive the old Roman Empire, and reunite the various kingdoms and states which came into being after 476 A.D. It is over this resurrected Roman Empire that the personal Anti-Christ of the "Futurists" is supposedly to rule and reign. This theory is based upon the visions recorded for us in DANIEL chapters 2 and 7; in which the four great Gentile World Empires of history - BABYLON, MEDO-PERSIA, GREECE, ROME - are foretold in sign and symbol.

In DANIEL chapter 2, they are seen as the four metals in the image of a man, and in DANIEL chapter 7 as four wild beasts of great ferocity (see the accompanying chart). The final stage in both visions results in a ten-fold division - the TEN TOES on the feet of the image in DANIEL chapter 2 and the TEN HORNS on the final beast in DANIEL chapter 7. Undoubtedly these refer to the ten kingdoms which emerged in Europe after the collapse of IMPERIAL ROME. These were the:-

So far the interpretation holds true, but with the formation of the European Economic Community or Common Market in 1957, the "Futurists" began to preach and to predict that this was the first stage toward the creation of a ten-nation UNITED STATES OF EUROPE to be ruled by their oft predicted, future, personal Anti-Christ. It is at this point that their interpretation breaks down, because it stands in direct contradiction to DIVINE PROPHECY which says that the old ROMAN EMPIRE will never again be revived and united under one head.

We find in DANIEL chapter 2 that the ROMAN EMPIRE is represented by LEGS OF IRON symbolising unity, strength and power, but upon its break-up and collapse, there emerge feet and toes whose division and lack of cohesive unity is perfectly predicted in the following verse:-

"And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." - DANIEL 2: 43

Will the Roman Empire be resurrected in all its old strength and reunited under one head?

The "Futurists" say YES, the Bible says NO. The old Empire of the Caesars was broken up in 476 A.D. and remains broken until this day. It is part iron, part clay, partly strong, partly weak, partly democratic, partly dictatorial, partly socialist, partly capitalist; it will not be joined together. Down the centuries Roman Catholicism, working with and through the prevailing political philosophies which have risen and fallen in Europe, has attempted to perform this impossible task of reviving and reuniting the old Roman Empire and creating a Europe, Roman Catholic from the Atlantic to the Urals. We see on the stage of European history, Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire, we see the might of the Hapsburgs in the era of the Counter Reformation, Louis XIV, the Sun King of France, Napoleon, the Kaiser, Hitler and Mussolini with their Rome-Berlin Axis, and now the EC. All have failed and will fail. Yet in spite of both the evidence of history and in defiance of the plain words of prophecy, "Futurism" still awaits its revived Roman Empire and its personal Anti-Christ receiving worship in a rebuilt Jewish Temple at Jerusalem.

We are nearing the end of this study and the true facts are emerging from behind the veil of Jesuit inspired "Futurism".

1. ANTI-CHRIST has already come in the PAPACY.
2. Europe will remain divided, the ROMAN EMPIRE will not be revived.
3. The Temple area with its Moslem Mosques will remain until the LORD JESUS CHRIST returns.
4. There will be no rebuilt JEWISH TEMPLE.

 What then is the ultimate destiny of Jerusalem? For the answer we must now turn in our Bible to Zechariah chapter 14. There we find that as a result of the final BATTLE OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY, and the massive earthquake which will accompany CHRIST'S RETURN to the Mount of Olives, the present city of Jerusalem, the centre of Apostate Judaism, Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism is destined for destruction. The entire topography of the area is to be changed dramatically, and the NEWLY REBUILT JERUSALEM OF THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM AGE is destined to be a warm water port and the centre of universal worship for the LORD JESUS who shall reign as KING OF KINGS and LORDS OF LORDS, ruling the nations with a rod of iron. Let us close with the Biblical record of these future events:-

"Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the East, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the East and toward the West, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the North and half of it toward the South……And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord and His name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain….south of Jerusalem…there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited…..And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." - ZECHARIAH 14: 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16

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The Temple Mount in Jerusalem