One of the things is that the Antichrist (the Beast) will rise to power and allow the Israelites to build a temple to worship there, but only under his supervision. We will see later that the Beast, at the halfway point, will set himself up in the temple as the only one to be worshiped...
(Revelation 11:1-2) Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.
Also during the first half of the Tribulation, God will send out two very bold witnesses, who are prophesied about in Zechariah 4:11-14. Because of the evil in the world, they will be given powers, reminiscent of the powers given to Elijah and Moses...
(Revelation 11:3-6) And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. 6 These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.
Then at the halfway point of the Tribulation, the Beast will kill the two witnesses. And in a classic-Satan-type-move, he will mock Jesus' death as well as the Christmas celebrations of His birth. But God will display His power in a unique way to get the people's attention...
(Revelation 11:7-13) When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
This marks the end of the first half of the Tribulation...
(Revelation 11:14) The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.
Today's takeaway: people will mock God, but then interestingly they will turn around and mimic something of the truth in attempts to find redemption and fulfillment in life. Yesterday I saw a documentary on Hinduism. Every twelve years, these people will travel to the Shipra River which has been deemed holy. By washing themselves in the holy water of this river, they believe it washes away their sins.
They know there's a problem which needs fixing, but believe they only have to rely on themselves. They are trying to fix a spiritual problem with a physical solution; but our spiritual problem - can only be fixed through Christ alone...
(Romans 8:1-11) Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
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