TODAY'S TECHNOLOGY IN BIBLE PROPHECY
Lesson 1: A general overview of how modern technology forged the keys
that unlocked the Bible's "sealed" end-times prophecies.
I Introduction/Background.
A I became interested in Bible prophecy while reading a
special edition of Life Magazine on Israel's swift
victory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War.
1 The Life report said the Jews' retaking
Jerusalem was a fulfillment of prophecy.
2 The article failed to mention which prophecy, so I
began reading the Bible to find this prophecy.
3 I eventually found it in the book of Zechariah.
4 I then wondered if there were prophecies describing
the eventual development of the great engineering
achievements of the modern world.
a What I found was a vast body of prophecy describing
the major inventions of the twentieth century such
as spaceships, communications satellites,
submarines atomic weapons, ICBMs, super dams, to
name a few.
b The descriptions of these things are not an
occasional obscure verse but chapter after chapter
detailing every aspect of these modern inventions.
B Why are modern man's inventions described in prophecy?
1 They help explain unique events to look for leading up
to the Second Coming of Christ.
a Now the minute I mention the Second Coming people
tune out, or start heading for the exits.
b The typical response is "Oh right." People view the
Second Coming of Christ right out there with the
President paying off the national debt.
c The Second Coming is a concept people have heard
about, but they do not believe it will really
happen-certainly not in their lifetime.
C I then wondered if the nations who developed today's
inventions might also be present in Bible prophecy.
1 I found today's nations identified in terms of their
national emblems-England's lion, America's eagle,
Russia's bear, China's dragon, etc.
2 This, of course, is the opposite of what today's
prophecy experts are telling us.
a For example, most prophecy experts believe the U.S.
is not in Bible prophecy and will rapidly decline and
be destroyed in the near future.
b Two recent prophecy books by two leading authors,
each contain chapters titled "The Late Great
United States".
c They base their opinion on the premise that the U.S.
is not mentioned in Bible prophecy so therefore it
will be destroyed.
d Are they right? Can Bible prophecy give us definite
answers and help us prepare for the future? Are we
living in the last days? These are the issues to be
reviewed here.
II The place to begin a discussion of "The Role Of Prophecy In
Preparing Us For The Future," is the Bible's definition of
the time-of-the-end.
* When Daniel finished his book he had one question-what
are the meaning of these prophecies? He received the
following answer:
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book,
even to the time of the end: [when] many shall run to and
fro, and knowledge shall be increased (Dan. 12:4).
A When would the end-times prophecies be understood?
* At "the time-of-the-end," not before and not after.
B When this sealed end-time message is opened, what would you
expect to find?
1 A complete explanation of the prophecies written
centuries and centuries before, or a new prophetic
interpretation, never heard before?
2 Clearly, one of the signs of the time-of-the-end must
be the arrival of a new prophetic message.
III One example of a new message that Daniel did not understand
and could not have been determined by anyone prior to the
time-of-the-end, is Daniel's vision of the four beasts.
A Daniel's vision of the four beasts used symbolic beasts to
represent the rise of four future great powers.
1 Daniel's (555 B.C.) vision shows the successive rise of
a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a fourth "exceedingly
dreadful" beast that will rule the entire world.
2 The Ante-Nicene Fathers (A.D. 325) affixed the nation
of Babylon to the lion, Medio-Persia to the bear, and
Greece to the leopard.
3 This view has since been published essentially
unchanged in countless religious books.
B What basic evidence reveals that the Ante-Nicene Fathers
interpretation of the four beasts vision can't be valid?
1 According to Dan. 12:4 "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the
words, and seal the book, even to the "time-of-the-end"
. . ., neither Daniel nor anyone else would be able to
correctly interpret any"time-of-the-end" prophecies
until the"time-of-the-end."
2 Therefore, since 1,675 years later we know A.D. 325
was not the time-of-the-end, the Ante-Nicene Fathers
interpretation of Daniel's vision could not possibly
be correct.
3 So you have to make a choice-either throw out the
prophetic interpretations written before this time, or
throw out Dan. 12:4.
C Conversely, if it is the time-of-the-end, then we will be
able to determine the correct interpretation of Daniel's
vision of the four beasts?
2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and,
behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great
sea.
- The four winds represent four different winds of
political change and revolution that would inspire
a sea of people to rise up and replace the rulers
over them with a new system of government.
3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one
from another (Dan. 7:2-3).
1 The beasts symbolically refer to four, completely
different, power structures that would arise out of
the sea of people in the future.
2 This prophecy shows how these winds of change
eventually gave rise to great powers that bear their
standards.
D The Lion-Eagle beast.
4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I
beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was
lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet
as a man, and a man's heart was given to it (Dan. 7:4).
1 The lion represents Great Britain, which has the lion as
her national emblem.
2 The attached eagle's wings represent the 13 Colonies
original dependence on the British lion, parent nation.
3 The plucked eagle's wings depict the colonists
separation from England to build a new nation,
the United States, when they won their fight for
independence in the American Revolutionary War.
4 The new nation of the United States "was lifted up from
the earth" by the colonists who fought for a democratic
form of government-"that stood on its feet as a man,"
with an elected president representing the heartbeat of
the nation.
5 Uncle Sam represents the U.S. government elected by the
people.
6 The first wind of revolutionary change, therefore,
established democracy as a new form of government
on the earth.
E The Bear beast.
5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and
it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in
the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said
thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh (Dan. 7:5).
1 Why would the twentieth century Soviet Union be a likely
candidate for the fulfillment of the bear beast imagery?
a For centuries the bear has been Russia's national
emblem.
b The Russian-led 1917 Bolshevik Revolution marked the
rise of a second great "beast" world power that was
set up by the masses who were inspired by the world's
second wind of political change, communism.
2 World War II in Perspective.
a The Russian bear "raised up itself on one side"
during WWII when it conquered half of Poland, half
of Finland, and the eastern Rumanian provinces of
Bessarabia and Bucovina.
b A rib signifies a part of a country; not a complete
country.
3 How does Russia's initial World War II territorial
conquests prove that the bear beast could not
possibly represent the Medio-Persian empire?
a Dan. 8:4 defined the Medio-Persian empire as a "ram
pushing westward, and northward, and southward."
b The historical record confirms the fulfillment of
the ram's territorial expansion in three directions,
not one, as specified for the bear that "raised up
itself on one side."
4 The second major wind of revolutionary change,
communism, was established by twentieth century Russia.
F Resurgent Islamic Fundamentalism and the World Government
movement are the third and fourth winds of change.
G What fundamental feature of the Babylonian, Persian, and
Greek empires, categorically removes these three ancient
kingdoms as possible candidates to represent the first
three beasts?
1 Nothing changed, they had identical monarchial
governments.
2 Thus, they were not "diverse one from another," as
required by the prophecy.
H Note that none of these forms of government could have been
determined by anyone before the time-of-the-end.
I Can people understand Daniel's prophecy today?
1 Of course they can.
2 Egypt used the leopard as their national emblem 4,000
years ago.
IV When would "the time-of-the-end" arrive?
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book,
even to the time of the end: [when] many shall run to and
fro, and knowledge shall be increased (Dan. 12:4).
A When "many shall run to and fro,
B And knowledge shall be increased."
C The twentieth century's widespread use of motorized
vehicles and subsequent unprecedented knowledge
explosion, clearly fulfills Daniel's definition
of the"time-of-the-end."
D How did increasing knowledge break the seals and open the
end-time prophecies to our understanding?
- By increasing knowledge to the level that produced the
inventions described in the end-times prophecies.
V Let's look at one end-time prophecy that has been opened by
modern technology?
A Zechariah's description of the first manned space flight
around the world is one example.
8 I saw by night, and behold a man was riding upon a red
horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in
the bottom; and behind him were there red horses,
speckled, and white (Zech. 1:8).
1 The way this prophecy begins you could only conclude
that Zechariah was writing about some horses and a
rider he saw.
2 But notice the question Zechariah asked next.
9 And I said, What are these, my Lord? And the angel
that spoke with me said to me, I will shew thee what
these things are (Zech. 1:9, TSVGE).
1 How do we know the horses Zechariah saw were not
living horses?
a From Zechariah's question: "What are these, my Lord?"
b From the angel's answer: "I will shew thee what
these things are."
c Note that both Zechariah and the angel were in
agreement-the things they were looking at were
not living horses.
2 From the information given here, where would we expect
to find out what the things Zechariah called horses
really were?
- In what the angel "shows" us next.
10 And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered
and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk
to and fro through the earth (Zech. 1:10).
1 How does this answer clarify what Zechariah was
observing?
a The good news is that it does.
b To see this consider the language, "sent to walk to
and fro through the earth," in the context of the
times-1611-when the King James version of the
Bible was translated into English.
* In 1611, if a man was walking "to and fro," he was
walking back and forth, or pacing around and
around, on a circular course.
* The expression, "through the earth," is
equivalent to saying, John passed "through"
London on his way to the coast.
* In other words John traveled completely through
the town, from one end to the other.
* "Through the earth," therefore, conveys the idea
of traveling from one end of the earth to the
other, while "to and fro" conveys the idea of
traveling around and around the earth,
repetitively.
2 Sir Lancelot Brenton's English translation of the
Greek Septuagint Version of the Bible (published in
1844) sharpened the form and substance of the matter.
10 So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees
answered, 'These are they whom the LORD has sent forth to
go round the earth' (Zech. 1:10, RSV, TSVGE).
1 At this point in the prophecy why would a spaceship be a
possible candidate for what Zechariah saw?
a Spaceships, like horses, carry men.
b Spaceships go "round the earth."
2 Some may wonder, if Zechariah was viewing spaceships,
why did he call them horses?
a It was a natural comparison for a man in ancient
times to make. If a man was riding, instead of
walking, then the "thing" being ridden had to be
something akin to a horse.
b In more recent times, early American settlers called
the first puffer-belly steam engines the Iron Horse.
c American Indians also called steam engines Iron
Horses when they first appeared on the western
plains.
d A horse apparently was the logical thing that
came to mind when people saw one of modern man's
mechanized vehicles for the first time.
B What does Zechariah's question:"What are these, my Lord?"
tell us about the "myrtle trees" that the "horse stood
among?"
1 Since Zechariah compared the horselike spaceship to a
horse, it follows that the "horse" was not standing
among living "myrtle trees," but rather the service
tower gantry that was similar in appearance.
2 Note also that the gantry the Russians used to launch
the first manned spaceship around the earth on
April 12, 1961, was painted green, and when hydraulic
arms pulled the sections back at the moment of launch,
they looked like evergreens blown back by the wind.
C What is the significance of Zechariah's first manned
space flight prophecy?
1 It marks the first of a series of unique inventions and
events to look for leading up to Christ's Return.
2 Zechariah's first manned space flight prophecy also
defines the generation that will see the final events
leading up to Christ's Second Coming.
NOTE: Zech. chapters 2 and 3 describe the first and second
coming of Christ and how Christ will lead the effort
of building a mighty body of believers on the earth.
VI The significance of Zechariah being awakened in the middle
of his prophetic visions on the destiny of today's space
technology.
1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked
me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep (Zech. 4:1).
A Zechariah's awakening in the middle of his vision, is a
prophetic reflection of Christians living during the
time-of-the-end, awakening to the meaning of his space-age
prophecies.
B Here again the historical record bears witness that
everyone on planet Earth continued sleeping for several
years after the arrival of manned space flight, and after
the Jews repossessed Jerusalem in 1967, before
Zechariah's space-age "wake up" report explaining the
significance of these events was finally understood.
VII Zechariah then listed a series of inventions and events leading
up to the Second Coming of Christ?
A In chapter 5 Zechariah described a modern communications
satellite in terms of a flying roll.
1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and
behold a flying roll (Zech. 5:1).
1 Ancient parchments were commonly called scrolls. When
rolled up they were called rolls or volumes.
2 The way this prophecy begins you could only conclude
that Zechariah was writing about a rolled up scroll
that was flying through the heavens.
3 But notice the question the angel asked next.
2 And he said unto me, what seest thou? And I answered,
I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits,
and the breadth thereof ten cubits (Zech. 5:2).
1 In view of Zechariah's initial report of what he saw:
"behold a flying roll," why did the angel ask him
"What seest thou?"
- To draw attention to the fact that Zechariah was
not viewing an actual roll but some flying object
that was similar in appearance to a roll.
2 Why would a communications satellite be a possible
candidate for what Zechariah saw?
a First, Hebrew rolls did not fly through the heavens.
b Second, satellites, like rolled up scrolls, are
cylindrical in shape.
c Third, rolled up scrolls did not come in dimensions
of twenty by ten cubits.
* A cubit was not a precise measurement in ancient
times but for centuries it has been considered
to be roughly 18 inches in length.
* Therefore, the flying roll Zechariah saw was
approximately 30 feet long and 15 feet in
diameter. (The latest widebody Brasilsat Hughes
Galaxy 367 satellite, launched in 1994, is
12X27.25 feet.)
* It turns out that it takes a 30-by-15 foot
cylindrical surface area to house the solar
panels used to generate the electricity required
to run the satellite's transponders.
B The angel then compared the flying roll's mission to a
curse that will control buying and selling in the future.
C Zechariah was then shown a modern spy satellite that the
angel called their future eye-in-the-sky and a space
shuttle that he described in terms of horses in the
chariot.
* (Note that Zechariah repeatedly asked the angel to
explain what these future inventions were
throughout this series of space-age visions.)
D These are some of the events and inventions to look for
leading up to Christ's Second Coming, (in Zech. 14).
VIII The World's First Atomic War.
* How far did knowledge have to increase to break the seals
and open all the end-time prophecies to our understanding?
1 Knowledge had to increase to the point where the main
message of the Revelation, the capstone of all
previously written Bible prophecy, could be understood.
2 The knowledge gained from the nuclear war computer
studies that began coming out in 1982, unlocked the
main message of the Revelation, the world's first
atomic war and its aftermath.
7 And the first trumpeted; and there occurred hail and fire
having been mixed in with blood, and it was cast to the
earth; and the third(part) of the earth was burnt (up), and
the third(part) of the trees was burnt (up), and all green
grass was burnt (up) (Rev. 8:7, IGENT).
A The first angel described the global scope of the war,
one-third of the earth's land mass burned up.
B Fire from a one megaton atomic explosion can set 95 square
miles on fire at the same time, a 20 meg., 500 sq. miles.
C Nuclear war studies estimate that there would be 2 billion
deaths from blast, fire, and radiation.
8 And the second angel sounded, and something like a great
mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a
third of the sea became blood (Rev. 8:8, NASB);
9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a
third of the ships were destroyed (Rev. 8:9, NIV).
A What facts eliminate a great asteroid as a possible
candidate for the unnamed "something?"
1 First, since Mount Everest is a great mountain (six
miles high), if the unnamed "something" was an
asteroid it would have to be at least six miles in
diameter to qualify as "something like a great
mountain," on planet earth.
2 According to scientific calculations, if a six mile
in diameter asteroid landed in the ocean it would
create a tidal wave three miles high and the impact
would make entire continents burst into flames.
3 Therefore, the unnamed "something like a great
mountain," could not be a six mile across asteroid
since such an object would burn up more than
one-third of the earth.
B The unnamed "something" will be damages resulting from
hundreds of millions of tons of atomic debris falling into
the sea.
IX A prophetic intermission of the atomic war prophecies explains
how one flying, speaking eagle represents the U.S. using
communications satellites to evangelize the world in the
post-AWWI period.
13 And I saw, and I heard one eagle flying in mid-heaven
saying with a great(loud) voice, woe, woe, woe to the ones
dwelling on the earth from the remaining voices of the
trumpet of the three angels being about to trumpet
(Rev. 8:13, IGENT).
A This eagle represents the U.S. using communications
satellites to evangelize the world during the final three
trumpet time periods of woe.
B According to Rev. 7:9, "a great multitude, which no one
could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples
and tongues" (Rev. 7:9, NASB) will respond to the U.S.
satellite broadcasts during the Great Tribulation.
C The U.S. flying eagle's presence shows the U.S. survives
the atomic war.
X The post-Atomic War Prophecies.
A The Revelation warns further that the fifth trumpet will
usher in 5 months of "nuclear winter" followed by three-
and-a-half years without rain and world-wide famine.
B What will it be like with 5 months of global freezing
temperatures, ranging from 25 to -25 below zero?
1 Chesapeake Bay will freeze, stopping up to half of U.S.
oil imports.
2 Static lines at power plants will contract, become
brittle and snap, causing sub-stations to burn and
blow up.
3 Railroad ties will contract, causing coal trains to
derail and power plants to run out of fuel.
4 Permafrost will penetrate 10 to 15 feet, freezing city
water pipes and septic fields and rupture gas mains.
5 Electricity will be out everywhere and natural gas
supplies will not be adequate to keep up with demand.
C These conditions and relentless famine will lead to war.
13 And the sixth angel sounded...
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two
hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them
(Rev. 9:13,16).
* The prophecy opens with a description of a 200-million
man army that will kill one third of the people on the
Earth over the course of a violent world war.
XI Rev. 12 introduces a woman, Israel, and a great red dragon.
3 And was seen another sign in heaven; and behold, a great
red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and on the
heads of him seven diadems (Rev. 12:3, IGENT).
A The word "red" serves to positively identify the "great red
dragon," as present day Red China.
1 People say to me, "Oh come on, everyone knows the dragon
is Satan's symbol."
2 My reply is "Yes, including the Chinese who adopted the
dragon as their national emblem thousands of years ago.
3 But China was not referred to as the Red Dragon and Red
China until 1949 when the late Chairman Mao's communist
political radicals, who were called Reds for short,
took over the country".
4 Thus the word "red" serves to positively tie the red
dragon to present day Red China.
5 Today's political cartoons bear witness to this obvious
connection between the red dragon and modern China.
6 The prophecy then warns of a Chinese invasion of Israel.
B One open question at this point in the prophecy is who will
oppose China?
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle,
that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place,
where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a
time, from the face of the serpent (Rev. 12:14).
A The"two wings of a great eagle" represents the U.S.
evacuating Israeli civilians from the path of the invading
Chinese, to a desert place where they will feed them for
3½ years.
B Since U.S. peace-keeping troops were sent to the Sinai in
1976, and the 82nd Airborne Division was stationed at
Eitam air base in the Sinai in 1982 (as part of America's
Rapid Deployment Force strategy), it appears "Israel's
desert place" has already been stocked with American food
and planes to fulfill this prophesied future rescue.
C The word "great," reveals that America will still be a
great power after AWWI.
D Note here that Bible prophecy only identifies two great
nations at the time-of-the-end, the great red dragon, Red
China, and the great eagle, the United States.
E This text shows the U.S. will stop Red China from
completely conquering the world with its 200-million man
army and will remain a great power during the same 3½ year
time that a world government is in power.
.
F This means the often heard message that the U.S. will cease
to be a great power and will be destroyed at the
time-of-the-end, is untrue.
G People ask: "How can the United States continue to be a
great nation with rampant sin in the land and corruption
on an epidemic scale stalking the halls of the national
government?"
1 The Bible provides a clear answer. God's people decide
the destiny of nations; evildoers have no say.
2 For example, not one God-cursing Sodomite was present at
the council that met to decide the fate of Sodom; only
God's messengers and Abraham.
3 Sodom was destroyed because God's people in Sodom, Lot
and his family, had not warned the people of Sodom to
repent of their evil and turn back to God.
4 And because there were less than five people in Sodom
who believed in God, the city was destroyed.
5 While it is true that there is great sin in the U.S.
today, there are also an estimated fifty million
Christians, many doing great things for the Lord.
a I.e., 80 percent of the world's missionaries come
from America and 85 percent of missionary support
comes from U.S. Christians.
b This is the difference between the Sodom of Abraham
and Lot's day and the United States of our time.
H One open question is when will these prophesied wars
come upon the world?
1 It can be said with certainty that these wars will not
occur until China becomes a great nation like the U.S.
2 China is expected to become the world's number one
economy by 2005.
3 China's trade surplus, some $38 billion in 1996, $49 in
1997, $57 in 1998, $67 for 1999, coupled with the
criminal transfer of U.S. advanced weapons technology
to China, is being used to build a massive military
machine.
4 It won't take but a few years and China will be ready
to fulfill her prophesied attempt to conquer the world.
5 These prophecies show the U.S. will survive the wars of
the future and remain a great nation right up to the
day Christ Returns.