It is always very exciting to me, each week, as we open the Word together and go through the discovery process. We are digging deep into who this man of sin is and how and when he declares war on Israel.
We learned a new term — backfiling. This is the perfect term to describe the writers of prophecy, including John, who give us a phrase or statement concerning an event in prophecy and then later come back to that event to explain it, or put meat on the bones of the earlier statement, in greater detail, to shed light on the subject.
We saw this put into practice in Matthew 24, with Jesus explaining the world circumstances leading up to His return, and the establishment of the millennial kingdom.
An example is found in Mat 24:8-9 All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Jesus tells the Jews that they will be hated of all nations for His name’s sake. This does not occur until Mat 24:15-22 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
This is a perfect example of backfiling. This Sunday we will walk through the 70 Weeks of Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 9:23-27. Please take some time and read it over this week, in preparation for our study.