Paul the Poke

Daniel 8:23-25 “In the latter period of their rule, when the transgressors have run their course, a king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue. His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will; he will destroy mighty men and the holy people. And through his shrewdness he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence…

This king will be insolent and skilled in intrigue. Other adjectives in the original Hebrew could describe him as strong, mighty, and fierce. He will understand and be able to teach and communicate riddles, difficult questions, parables, enigmatic and perplexing sayings or questions. (Hebrew definitions provided by Strong’s Concordance)

His power will be mighty, but not by his own power… His strength and power will be exceedingly great. It will be given to him. Revelation 13:2b, 4 tells us from where the man draws his power. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. They worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

…and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will… The Hebrew grammar states he is the source and cause of destruction. He will destroy physical property to the point of ruination. He corrupts morally and is perverted. The destruction would appear to be beyond one’s power and difficult to do. The level of destruction will be extraordinary and difficult to comprehend. In a bizarre twist, his destruction will result in prosperity. In our vernacular, he will do whatever the hell he wants.

…he will destroy mighty men and the holy people… The Hebrew word for mighty is `atsuwm. Per Strong’s, it means: mighty, vast, numerous, countless, and strong (in number). Lots of people are going to perish at the antichrist’s hands. God’s people will also suffer at his hands. Revelation 13:7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them…

And through his shrewdness he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence…He will demonstrate shrewdness or sekel in the original Hebrew. Sekel can be defined as: cunning or crafty in a bad sense. The antichrist is going to be one slick-talking, smooth liar. And he is going to be able to sell.

This entry was posted on December 28, 2014 at 9:27 AM and is filed under Antichrist/Beast, Prophecy with tags Alexander the Great, Antichrist, Apocalypse, Daniel 8, goat, Greek Empire, little horn, Revelation 13, Tribulation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.