The Books of Daniel and Revelation

SYNOPSIS  -  The Gospel of the Kingdom of God announced by Jesus is a message of hope and gladness for men and women of all nations .  After his resurrection, Jesus declared - “ All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me; go therefore and make disciples of all nations .” Installed as the  Lord over all things , he commanded his disciples to proclaim his sovereignty and the good news of the salvation that is now available through him for all men and women from every nation, whether Jew or Gentile, Greek or barbarian, rich or poor, male or female - ( Psalm 2:6-10, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:7-9 ).

SYNOPSIS  -  The parable of the budding fig tree pointed to the destruction of the Temple predicted by Jesus  –  Mark 13:28-29 .  Next, Jesus gave his parable of a “ budding fig tree .” The illustration was the first part of the answer to the disciples’ original question – “ When will these things come to pass? ” The image of a fig tree sprouting foliage provided the clue for the “ when ” of the predicted events – Its sprouting foliage would signal the arrival of “ summer ,” the time of the fulfillment of “ all these things .”

  SYNOPSIS  –  The whole earth will witness the “Son of Man” arriving on the clouds to gather his “elect” to himself  – Mark 13:21-27 .  The narrative now takes us beyond the “ abomination of desolation ,” the destruction of Jerusalem, and the horrific “ tribulation ” to the return of the “ Son of Man ” to gather this “ elect .” How much time will pass between the “ tribulation ” and the arrival of Jesus is not stated. However, during the interim, the church must beware of “ false prophets ” who will disseminate false information about his coming, employing impressive “ signs and wonders ” to validate their claims.

SYNOPSIS  -  Throughout the present age, the Church has been plagued with deceivers bent on misleading the saints and causing apostasy .  In the New Testament, the term “ antichrist ” is found only in two of the three epistles of John. In his first letter, he warned - “ It is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come to pass .” John did not deny that an individual “ antichrist ” would come - His point was that " many antichrists ” were active already in his churches - A situation that would continue and culminate in the final " Antichrist " prior to the return of Jesus - ( 1 John 2:18 ).

SYNOPSIS   –  Only Daniel was able to reveal and interpret the troubling dream of King Nebuchadnezzar  -  Daniel 2:1-49 .  The second and third chapters of  Daniel  present a single story told in two parts. In the first one, King Nebuchadnezzar dreams of an enormous image composed of several materials. In the second part, he attempts to implement the image from his dream but according to his concept of political power. The interpretation of his dream provided by Daniel highlights the key theme of the book -  God rules over the World-Power and gives it to whomever He pleases .