The Strand Study Bible

DANIEL

DANIEL

1356

be a superpower in one-billionth of a second. This great, magnificent nation that is so technically oriented has created an Achilles’ heel –electricity. With one $100,000 missile fired from a used submarine two hundred miles offshore and a few pounds of enriched plutonium exploding over the United States, every form of electricity would stop instantly and for months. 3

Ever hear of a DEW ? A DEW is a direct energy weapon, which emits electro magnetic pulses (EMP’s) without using nukes. Both the United States and Russia possess this lethal technology. Again, we’ve become so smart that we are now at the threshold of being able to destroy ourselves, with or without the use of nuclear and biological means. 3. We’ve become so smart that we now think man can solve his own problems . Because man has become so impressed with his intellectual capability, he now believes “he” is the answer to all his problems. Unfortunately, man is the problem; therefore he cannot become the answer. Ravi Zacharias, who wrote one of the chapters for Joe Gibb’s book Game Plan for Life , notes:

Even as I write this, numerous wars are raging across the world. It is ironic because in the last two centuries, mankind supposedly “came of age.” All the World Expositions and Exhibitions boasted of how far we have come in human progress. Yet the twentieth century was the bloodiest in history, with more people dying in warfare than in the previous nineteen centuries combined. 4

Take WWI as an example . After the war ended on November 11, 1918, the world vowed to never have a war like that again. The carnage alone, due to that war, was beyond comprehension at that time. Close to ten million people lost their lives. That’s ten times as many people as the United States had lost in all its wars combined, starting with the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish AmericanWar, WWI, WWII, the KoreanWar, the VietnamWar, Granada, and two Gulf Wars. More people died in WWI than any previous war in history. WWI was “supposed” to be the war to end all wars. During one battle alone in 1916 during WWI, the battle of the Somme, over 60,000 British soldiers died in one afternoon, while charging an entrenched German position. Eight days before the infamous charge, British and French artillery pounded the German line with over 1½ million artillery shells. They assumed that, after eight days of that kind of artillery pounding, the Germans would be in no shape to respond. So they charged. What took America nine years to lose during the Vietnam conflict took the British one afternoon. The Battle of the Somme, lasting four months (from July to October), cost the Germans about 500,000 men, the British 400,000 men and the French 200,000 men. After WWI, the world vowed that man was too smart to ever let that happen again. However, twenty-one years later in 1939, WWII started and man was at it again. Whereas WWI saw over ten million causalities, WWII saw seven times that! Over seventy million people died due to WWII. The reason man will never become the answer to his own problems is because man is the problem; he can never stop being evil. Again, we’ve become so smart that we still think man can solve his own problems. 4. We’ve become so smart that even our theories have now become facts . Ever hear of Stephen Hawking ? Arguably the most famous living physicist today, Stephen Hawking admits in his book called A Brief History of Time that he received his Ph.D based on a theory that ended up being a false theory. 5 However, because the scientific community now accepts theories as facts, God is out and men of theories are now being memorialized. That’s how smart we’ve become. Christ said that this kind of thinking would characterize the last days before His return. He said in Luke 18:8 : Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? The question, of course, answers itself. According to the Bible, right before Jesus returns, there will be less faith in God and His Word and more faith in man and his ways. We’ve become so smart that even our theories are now facts. 12:11-12 The last half of the Tribulation Period will last 1260 days (3½ years). The additional 30 days ( A THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY DAYS i.e., 1290 days – vs 11), plus the additional 45 days after that (1335 days – vs 12), suggests time needed for setting up the governmental machinery of the Millennium. The apparent reason for this additional time is so that the resurrected saints (who are to rule and reign with CHRIST - Dan 7:27, Mt 25:31-46 and Rev 1:6) will have sufficient time to understand their assignments and instructions as to how to operate during the Kingdom Age.

1 Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Are We Living in the End Times? , Wheaton, ILL, Tyndale, 1999. Print. 2 J.F.K. quote 3 Hagee, John. Jerusalem Countdown . Lake Mary, FL: Front Line. 2006. 2007. Print. 4 Gibbs, Joe. Game Plan for Life , Carol Stream, ILL, Tyndale House Pub., 2009. Print. 5 Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time . New York, NY: Bantam Books. 1988. Print. READ NEXT - Ezra 3:2 - 5:1