#175 More Old Testament Prophecy | Daniel 9

Way of the Bible

Welcome to Episode #175 of the Way of the Bible podcast. This is our seventh of eight episodes in our Twenty-Second mini-series entitled The Return of Jesus Christ. On today’s episode, we’ll continue to scratch the surface of Old Testament prophetic texts in the book of Daniel that speak of the return of Jesus. We are likely living in a period the Bible refers to more than any other. The judgment of the world and the return of Jesus Christ on the Day of the Lord.

I asked at the beginning of our last episode, “Are you ready for this?” The return of Jesus Christ. I ask it again. Are you ready? There are so many prophetic plates spinning wildly that all point to a world conflagration. We now have two escalating conflicts in the world and two others about to emerge. Israel and Iran are trading missile launches and fighter bomber sorties over the production of weapon-grade plutonium. The USA stepped into the conflict with a bombing raid of our own on three high-value nuclear targets in Iran.

Russia and Ukraine are still killing one another in large numbers on battlefields as well as indiscriminately bombing cities of both nations. The United States and the European Union both have their fingers in this conflict as they try to isolate Russia and weaken its power on the global scene.

With northern Europe and the Middle East in states of high tension, China has an excellent opportunity to expand its global power footprint by reclaiming the island of Taiwan. At the same time, North Korea has returned to firing missiles into the ocean to once again make its neighbors aware of their nuclear capabilities.

Why is any of this important? Hasn’t the world always been in conflict? The answer to this last question is a definitive, NO. The world hasn’t always been in conflict. Up until WWI, all wars on the planet were local or regional. Neighbors fighting neighbors for territorial dominance. WWI changed all that when suddenly there was a global disturbance between nations centered in Europe. Many historians do not believe the war ended at the signing of the Armistice of November 11, 1918 but was continued in WWII.

During WWII, the German regime murdered over fifteen million people, including six million Jews, which was a third of their entire population globally. The holocaust was not a one-off but a continual threat the Jews have faced since their dispersion into the world following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. Just look up their history, and you’ll see they are an often-hated, persecuted, and hunted people, no matter where they settle in the world. Yet through millennia, they have proudly retained their genealogical and national heritage.

In the early 19th Century, a Zionist movement began to actively resettle Jews from around the world in a new Israel in the promised land. This Zionist movement was successful in having a British declaration made to that effect in the early 20th Century (Re: Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917).

The land of Palestine, which encompassed Israel, was partitioned to the British after WWI as their spoil of war. Following WWII, and the dissolution of British control over the region, the delegates of the United Nations set aside a small portion of the British partition along the Mediterranean Sea for the nation of Israel. Amid local objections and inflamed emotions, the nation of Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948. Through subsequent short conflicts with other nations, Israel acquired control over additional disputed lands, including the city of Jerusalem.

Since its formation in 1948, Israel has become a powerful nation in the neighborhood and possesses nuclear weapons. It is a continual state of expansion as Jews from around the world migrate to this tiny country. Latest estimates indicate over nine million Jews are currently in Israel. This number constitutes almost one-third of all Jews in the worl