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Roman Empire- the seventh head
of this Beast of the 17th chapter of
Revelation (Rev. 17: 12), which is
a1so pictured by the ten toes of
Nebuchadnezzar 's image of Daniel
2:40-44. Since these toes were on
the two feet that represented Eas t–
ern and Western Europe, there is
'strong likel ihood that this final res–
urrection of the Holy Roman Em–
pire will include Iron Curtain na–
tions of Eastern Europe as well as
nations in Western Europe. (Write
for our two booklets
The Book of
R evelation Unvei/ed at Last
and
Who or What l s the Prophetic
Beast?)
They will form a thi rd
gigant ic world power probably as
great or even greater than t he
U.S.S.R. o r United States of
America.
These ten toes of Daniel 2:40-44
will be dest royed by Christ at his
Second Coming and will be re–
placed by the world-ru ling govern–
ment of the kingdom of God, with
Chris t at its head and all the resur–
rec ted saints also ruli ng under
Christ.
Jesus' Principal Prophecy
N ow con s ider th e pri n cipal
prophecy of Jesus Christ himself.
It is found in Matthew 24, Luke 21
and Mark 13.
But we quote from Matthew's
account. J esus with his d isciples
had just come out from the Temple
(verse 1). He and his disciples were
looki ng at the buildings of the
Temple.
"See ye not all these things? ver–
ily
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say unto you, There shall not
be left here one stone upon an–
other', that shall not be thrown
down." That event happened in
A.D.
70 in the lifetime of those
disciples.
Then, a little later, as J esus sat
on the Mount of Olives with sorne
of his disci ples, they asked him,
" When shall these things be?"
They referred to the destruction of
the Temple, which,
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repeat, actu–
ally did occur in their lifetime in
A.D.
70. But then the disciples
added a not her q ues tion : " And
what shall be the sign of thy com–
ing, and of the end of the world?"
The disciples expected the end of
the world in thei r own lifetime, so
they connected this question with
the dest ruction of the Temple. J e-
March 1986
sus knew, of course, the end of the
world would not occur for more
than another 1,950 years. So he
answered only their first question
fi rst, for the Temple was destroyed
in
A.D.
70.
Jesus then said, " Take heed that
no man deceive you." He was
speaking to his own disciples about
being deceived in their lifetime. He
continued, " For many shall come
in my name, saying,
l
[Jesus] am
Christ; and shall deceive many."
How could they be deceived by the
teaching that J esus was the Christ?
Many did come in his name claim–
ing to represent him, saying that
Jesus was the Christ, and they de–
ceived the many even in that very
first century. Let me explain a very
important fact here. Soon after
lndividuals in every
century since
the frrst have believed the
world was at "the time
of the end."
But how may we know?
How may we be sure?
Christ's ascension to heaven and
the founding of the church in
A.D.
31, a violent controversy arose, ac–
cording to church history, as to
whether the gospel to be pro–
claimed was the gospel
OF
Christ,
or a gospel
ABOUT
Christ. The lat–
ter won out. False prophets did
arise in the first century, saying
Jesus was the Christ, but omitting
al together Jesus' gospel, which was
the message of the coming world–
ruling kingdom of God to rule all
nations after Christ 's Second Com–
ing.
Different Gospel Preached
In · Galatians 1:6-7, we see they
were already preaching a different
gospe1 than J esus' gospel of the
kingdom of God.
The apostle Paul also spoke of
these false prophets preaching a
different gospel , in
11
Corinthians,
the 11th chapter. To the church in
the very first century, he wrote:
" But
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fear, lest by any means, as
the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtilty, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. For if he that
cometh preacheth another J esus,
whom we have not preached, or if
ye receive another spi rit, which ye
have not rece ived , or another
gospel, which ye have not accepted,
ye might well bear with him"
(verses 3-4).
Of those false prophets claiming
to speak in Jesus' name, Pau l
added: "For such are fal se apostles,
deceitful wor kers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of
Christ. And no marvel; for Satan
himself is transformed into an an–
gel of light. Therefore it is no great
thing if his [Satan's] ministers also
be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness; whose end shall be
according to thei r works" (verses
13- 15).
These were actually the minis–
ters of Satan the devil, but carne in
Jesus' name, saying that Jesus was
the Christ. However, they misrep–
resented J esus, so that in fact they
were preaching about "another Je–
sus"- a different Jesus (verse 4) .
Just What Was Jesus' Gospel?
J esus carne as a messenger from
God bearing a message about the
coming kingdom of God to take
over and rule all nations. That was
Jesus' gospel. Notice the gospel
that J esus proclaimed.
Mark 1:1 begins to relate the
beginning of the gospel of J esus
Christ.
It
mentions how J ohn the
Baptist prepared the way, and how
J esus was bapt ized by John. Then
in verse 14: "Now after that John
was put in prison, J esus carne into
Galilee, preaching the gospel of the
kingdom of God"- what gospel
did Jesus preach?- "the gospel of
the kingdom of God." That is the
gospel of J esus Christ. That is the
gospel proclaimed by the apostle
Pa ul to gent iles (Acts 20:25;
28:23, 3 1).
Mark this well.
That
gospel was
not proclaimed to the world for
1,900 years. In the very first cen–
tury, they turned to a di fferent
gospel- a gospel about Christ, but
(Continued on page 18)
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