The Big Rocks of End-Time Prophecy

I've titled this message the big rocks of end time prophecy. Okay, big rocks of end time prophecy. Now, we do have some people who weren't here last time. Do you remember what big rocks are? That's the stuff you put in the jar first. If you get the big rocks in, you can get the gravel in and you can get the sand in and you can get the water in.

But if you put those in first, you can't get the big rocks in. So the big rocks are the things we pay attention to. Those are the most important things. So that's why we call them the big rocks. So this is the big rocks of end time prophecy. Who here has no interest at all in end time prophecy? It's probably like almost nobody. We're all looking.

You see headlines, you watch the news. I mean, it's not like it used to be in the old days where, you know, you turned on the 5:00 news on your ABC station. Most people don't do that anymore. You probably get it through social media. I understand like X and Facebook and all these are like a lot of people get their news there now.

So, whatever news you're getting, you certainly see headlines of things that are going on in the world. And lots of those things you might wonder, well, what's important? What should I be paying attention to? What's this relevant to? So last week we covered what are the principles for understanding end time prophecy to kind of help us to step back and say okay well we we begin with our Bible.

We walk through and we make sure that we understand what it says and then once we have a clear understanding we can then look at the headlines and we can make some decisions about relevance. Today I want to give you the big rocks which was the focus of last week's preparatory message getting us ready to look at what we're supposed to look at.

If you if you're like just if you're just normal, there's a lot going on out there. And so I've been thinking a lot about how we can get distracted by things which seem important, but they're really just interesting because there are a few things. So you can't pay attention to everything, can you? I mean, we have prophecy booklets, right? And if you've read any of them throughout any of the history of the church, lot of detail provided, prophetic detail provided in those booklets, can you pay attention to every

single one of those things? Try to figure out where every single one of those little puzzle pieces fits in the big puzzle. It's like you've got to have something to focus on. You can't be everything or you're you're never going to know what's going on. Identifying the big rocks isn't so that we can get down to the itty bitty itty, you know, the teeny the sand, the gravel, the sand, and the water of end time prophecy.

It's to know what have I keep my eye on. That's what I want you to be thinking about. What do I need to keep my eye on? There are just a few things to keep our eye on. We are going to start with Daniel chapter 2. Now, we know that Daniel was asked to come forward and not only tell the king his dream because none of his seers could tell him what he dreamt and he was grumpy about that and he basically wanted to kill everybody unless somebody could come forward and tell him what his dream was and then what it meant. And so

they they find this Daniel and they bring him to him and and Daniel basically says, "Well, God has revealed this to me, so I will tell you what he has revealed." He sees a vision. The vision, if you recall, is of a man. He's tall. Verse 31, it says of Daniel 2, it says, "You, oh king, were watching, and behold, a great image.

This great image whose splendor was excellent stood before you, and its form was awesome. The image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched, verse 34, you watched while a stone was cut without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces.

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Daniel then goes on to explain verse 37.

And he says, "You, oh king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. Wherever the children of men dwell or the beasts of the field and the birds of heaven, he has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold.

" So we have him describing this figure, a man, a massive tall figure apparently. And the and at the very top of course is this head and it is made of pure gold. This is Nebuchadnezzar. This is Babylon. When did Babylon come on the scene? 608 BC is the first wave of captivity in which Judah is taken. When Daniel and Ezekiel and others are taken over to Babylon just a few years later, this is the dream that he's given.

Judah gets sent back home when Persia conquers Babylon which happened in 539. Okay. So now Persia rules Palestine where Judah now gets to go home finally and Cyrus gives the edict and sends the Jews back home. They rebuild the walls. Well, it took them a while but let's just summarize quickly. They rebuilt the temple.

They rebuilt the walls eventually. This is prophecy as we see each of these things unfolding. And so the silver it says where the verse 39 it says but after you shall arise another kingdom. So we know this figure this man that Nebuchadnezzar sees represents different governments different kingdoms. It says after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours.

Then another a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron. In as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything and like iron that crushes that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. This is describing the second beast was des obviously is Persia.

The third beast is Greece. This is the fourth beast being described as iron which crushes everything else and that was the Roman Empire which literally destroyed all of its enemies. It says, "Whereas you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet the strength of the iron shall be in it.

Just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. And as you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another just as iron does not mix with clay.

Verse 44 says, "And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. This is literally describing the final 10 kings that come together that that exist together contemporaneously at the time of Christ's return.

That's the image that you see. So this first image that we see in Daniel 2 doesn't describe every single detail of what happens over time and layers all the kingdoms out for us. It doesn't do that. Daniel 7 does that. This gives us the overview, the big picture from Nebuchadnezzar to the return of Christ, the big rocks that relate to the beast itself.

Over in Daniel chapter 7, this refers to the same kingdoms, but it uses different imagery. Verse two of Daniel 7, Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.

The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off and it was lifted up in the earth or from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man and a man's heart was given to it. And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth.

And they said thus to it, "Arise, devour much flesh." After this, I looked, and there was another, a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this, I saw in the night vision, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth.

It was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it and had and it had 10 horns. This is describing the same four kingdoms beginning with Babylon as the lion moving on then to Persia. Meo Persia which is described here as the bear.

Then on to Greece described as the leopard and its four heads, the four kings that came from Alexander's conquering. The fourth beast isn't like those beasts. It has the attributes and the elements of them, but it is different. It is described in very violent powerful terms. It's not that the Greeks weren't violent and powerful, but they weren't stomping all over the once Alexander was done, they weren't stomping all over the world in conquering.

That was what Rome did after it conquered all of the territories that were Greece. Okay? Okay, so Daniel chapter 7 now verse1 15 he says I Daniel was grieved in my spirit within my body and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near to one of those who stood by and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things.

Those great beasts which are four are four kings which arise out of the earth. So we again now we have beasts instead of a man we have four different beasts. It says in verse 18, "But the saints of the most high shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever." Well, that's at the end of that fourth beast's final revival.

Verse 23, I think that's where I want to go. Yep. Verse 23 says, "The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it, and break it in pieces. The 10 horns are 10 kings who shall arise from this kingdom. The image we looked at in Daniel 2 has 10 toes.

Those 10 toes represent the final revival of that fourth beast, the final one. 10 kings giving their power to the one that would rule that beast. That's the very end time because it says this is when Christ returns. It is that stone that's cut out of the mountain that comes down and destroys those 10 toes.

That tells us those toes are the final 10 kings. They are not successive governing kings. They are the contemporary kings at the very end. These kings that are described here, it's the 10 horns are successive revivals of the forced beast. That's what we need to understand about what these are. These are not contemporaneous kingdoms.

They are revival one after another. 10 of them representing 10 revivals of the Roman Empire. Where did the Roman Empire rule from? Europe. This is not a small point. We have to remember that this is where all of the focus of this happened from Rome, Italy, Europe, its conquerings of all of the what what was known at the time as the world which was basically just the greater Europe.

If we understand that, then it begins to help us to remember when we're looking for a big rock of end time. We're looking for the development of a final power, a final revival of the Roman Empire, which comes out of Europe. It doesn't come out of Africa. It doesn't come out of Russia. It doesn't come out of Asia.

It comes out of Europe. It is not a revival of some foreign kingdom. It's a revival of the Roman Empire which ruled Europe. We really have to have that rock solidly in our mind so that when we're looking at headlines, asking ourselves beast questions, end time beast power questions. Is this Europe? If it's not, then we're not looking at a beast power issue.

Very simple math. You know me, I like to do simple math. Keep it easy for us to understand. And so this says as we read the 10 horns are 10 kings. Verse 24, who shall arise from this kingdom. That's the key word. These 10 kings come from this fourth beast, this kingdom that's described. That's your connective tissue.

So you understand it isn't some other power that's coming. It is the revival of this power that is coming. Okay? Now we can turn over to Revelation chapter 17. I've already marked mine so I can get over there quicker. Revelation 17 verse 8. We'll begin here in verse 8. It says, "The beast that you saw was and is not and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to predition.

And those who dwell on the earth will marvel whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they see the beast that was and is not and yet is." Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads and the seven mountains on which this are seven mountains on which this woman sits.

Am I getting that right? Yes. There are al also seven kings. Five have fallen. One is the other has yet has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was and is not is himself also the eighth and is of the seven and is going to predition. The 10 horns which you saw verse 12 now are 10 kings who have received no kingdom as yet.

But they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is lord of lords and king of kings, and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful.

What does that sound like? This is a different way of viewing the final beast. This is describing the same 10 toes we saw in Daniel 2, the final 10 kings. Here it's in the context of the woman that's riding those final kings and the seven subsequent kingdoms that she did from after the healing of the wound. These 10 rulers exist immediately before Christ returns because they actually oppose him when he comes.

That's how you know what Revelation 17 is talking about right here. These are those kings that oppose Christ at his return. They are and make up the final revival of the Roman Empire. They are the 10 toes. So when we watch world events, one of the major developments we should be watching is what's going on in Europe. You see a headline that talks about Germany.

talks about Germany spending a certain amount of its GDP on its military, which it had been previously given permission to rebuild finally. Well, it's Germany. They're all in on that idea. Where's Germany located? It's not Russia. It's not Asia. It's not Africa. It's Europe. When we're looking for significant things that are happening in Europe, that might be one.

We're looking for that kind of thing to happen in Europe. This power has to come together. It has to wield real power, including military power. Right now, the US is the military power of the world. We are the world's policemen. Europe has depended upon our military for a long time. Now, they're starting to get the idea that maybe the United States isn't going to be there for them at some point in the future.

Maybe they ought to have their own military. So, we're looking to see what they do about that because we're hearing them say those things. That's prophetically significant. We're looking for Europe because we're looking for the rise of this fourth beast. Now, we're looking for something to happen. And as you're going to see today, I'm going to go back to Daniel that relates to this end time beast power.

Daniel 11, I'll begin here in verse 40. So Daniel 11:40, it says, "At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him." Who's him? The king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots and horsemen and many ships, and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.

He shall also enter the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape from his hand. Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. Okay, prophetic setting. The time of the end, the king of the south shall attack the king of the north. What does that look like? I don't know. Is there anybody anywhere? Now remember, biblically speaking, geography is always determined from Jerusalem.

It is the center of the compass. What is east of Jerusalem? Iran. So if I'm looking at an event that deals with Israel and its foe Iran east, and I'm looking at scriptures that talk about a king in the north and a king in the south, what does that have to do with anything? It doesn't look prophetically significant.

It's not the right geography. I'm looking at my compass for something south. What is south of Jerusalem? If you looked at your map, all across North Africa, all the way over across through Ethiopia and then up through Saudi Arabia and up over through Iran, what is all that? It's all Arab. Is there one king amongst all of them? that's creating all this symmetry and harmony amongst all of the Arab peoples to form what looks like a king of the south.

Hardly. But I just read you that there's a new accord among some of the Arab nations that they just signed together. Maybe prophetically significant because those nations are in the south. So if I'm looking at the map and I'm looking at what the scripture says, we start with the scripture and then we can look to see, okay, well I've read a headline.

And does that headline fit the king of the south? Well, if it's talking about Iran and the Gulf of Oman, no. If it's talking about these Arab nations, maybe might be because the scripture talks about a king coming from the south and it says that he's going to attack. Now, has any king attacked the north? Doesn't look like it. At least not yet.

So, this is what I want you to be thinking about as we think about, okay, what is prophetically significant? And it's the first big rock is we're looking to Europe for the rise of the beast. The second now in conjunction with the beast we see the king of the north language. We see king of the south language.

The king of the north is tied directly to the beast. It is that king which comes south. That's things we are looking for. So that's our first big rock. The final rise of the Roman European beast system. Second big rock, a powerful religious system rides and supports the beast. The beast is imagery. So we have to take the imagery out and substitute what it's standing for.

It's standing for the European ro the final re revival of the Roman Empire. A European superpower. There is a woman a powerful religious system rides and supports this power. Let's turn over earlier in Revelation. Go back to Revelation 17. Let's go earlier. Revelation 17:1 says, "Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk

with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit to the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and 10 horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

And on her forehead a name was written, mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. So we see two distinct symbols here. A beast being written by this woman. Now your homework, validate for yourself that a woman in these contexts always refers to a church. Okay? So this is a church.

Is the church of God the only church? No, it is not mainstream Christianity which is the mainstreamist of all the mainstream Christian churches. So we know that there is a very large Christian denomination out there and it says that it's riding this woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and dorn.

And it said that this woman rides this beast. And it described this beast as having seven heads and 10 horns. What beast is that? A wound happens in 456 AD to the Roman Empire. It is broken into two pieces. The west and the east. The west is conquered by Gentiles, non- Roman Gentiles. The east is over in Constantinople. Rome is no longer a Roman province or it's not it's not a Roman kingdom anymore.

So the kingdom is split into two. If you go back to the image in Babylon, the image of Nebuchadnezzar and it has two legs representing that division that happened between in the Roman Empire. It was Constantine's vision to bring back these two pieces and to bring them back and make one whole Rome again in Europe.

Well, it was just it was Justinian who actually did that in 554. Justinian brought them back together in 554. What was the role of the of the Catholic Church throughout any and all of that? Do you know? Do you remember? Under Constantine, he wanted to unite Europe. He needed help. Catholicism was the wave across everything.

Constantine goes to the Catholic Church and creates a bargain. I need people, a military to fight, especially to go over and unite Europe. The Catholic Church says, "Great. Make everyone be a Catholic." Constantine says,"Great, make everyone a non-pacifist." Up until this time, the Catholic Church position was, "Whose right is it to pick up Peter's sword when Christ took it away from him?" They were pacifists.

Catholics were not allowed to serve in the military or bear arms. Constantine's vision was if I make all your people, if I make all Roman citizens a Catholic, you make them be able to serve in the military. This is when the Catholic Church changed its doctrine on serving in the military. A lot of people don't realize the connection there.

The Catholic Church has always been since that time forward has always been associated with the Roman Empire, the this case, the fourth beast. That beast suffered a deadly wound in 456. And over the next 150 years, 130 years, three non- Roman groups ruled in Rome. Seven remained. She's writing the seven. That means that the 1, two, three, the fourth of those 10, the first of those seven was Justinian's government.

And under Justinian he took the Catholic Church and he raised them up in position started allowing bishops to rule in areas to cooperate in court. This was the ascension of the Catholics in real power in the Roman Empire under Justinian in 554 and they ruled like that over the Roman Empire over Europe for 1260 years.

Now this what we've just read gives us this beast and it gives us this woman which rides this beast which means that this woman has a relationship with the kings of the earth exercises tremendous influence over Europe the end time power and of course she's had a long history of persecuting God's people. It's interesting.

The language that you'll see is always it it it's always placing this woman in the position of causing persecution but not actually doing it herself. She's using the government to do it. And throughout Catholic history, it was the governments under her that did the killing. And many were killed for heresies invented by created by or declared by the the Catholic Church.

Okay. Uh verse six, we're still in 17. Verse 6 says, "I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement." So the church's position is that this woman represents the great Roman religious system that carried many beliefs and practices of ancient Babylon forward.

So over the centuries, that religious system developed a remarkable relationship with revivals of Roman political power. I think that's what one of the things we have to really understand carefully is that we're discussing a prophetic and historical religious system directly connected to one another. That is going to be what we see at the time of the end before Christ returns.

The same power with a religious connection. Revelation calls this woman a mother which indicates that the religious ideas associated with Babylon did not remain in just one institution. They were carried forward into this institution all the way to today. And has that church adopted pagan practices? It's well documented. They have taken things that were pagan and declared that they now represent Christian things.

That is not anything we don't thoroughly understand. So the big rock for end time prophecy is not understanding the history of every single denomination. She's a mother, which means that she has children. They're called harlots. Men, prostitutes are not called harlots. Females are. We're talking about churches.

The language is difficult. I give you that. But it's to picture for you because to God fornication is worshiping false things, things that offend him, things he never said we should do. That to him is fornication. That to him is harlotry. When you pursue those churches which teach those things which are not right before God and you do those things.

And so these are called she is called the mother of harlots. She herself is the chief harlot of all harlots. This gives us the imagery that we can place. Many people are deceived by this. You know how tiny a flock God's church is? It's insignificant. We'd feel fortunate, I think, if we could count up all of the church of God believers of the truth and come up with 50,000 people.

Catholic church is a billion. Protestant religions combined to almost a billion. I mean, we are nothing. It is not us that's being talked about. It is not God's true church that's being talked about in that environment. We are not that woman. Want to be clear about that. But we are then looking in Europe for not only now the beast to arise, but we're looking for a powerful religious system to fully come on the scene and take her position supporting the beast.

That end time power. Revelation 13. Verse 11, beginning in verse 11 of Revelation 13. Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. And he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. What What is that supposed to look like? What is that of it? Why a lamb? Who is the great lamb? Jesus Christ says this this beast looks like a lamb but it speaks like a dragon.

I don't want to get this wrong but you are familiar with the wolf in cl in sheep's clothing. The very imagery that you should draw in your mind is this is what it's describing. It is a false religion. It looks like it represent Christ. It claims to be Christianity, that it represents Jesus Christ, but it speaks like the dragon.

Verse 12 says, "And he exercises all the authority of the first beast," which is the first beast. It is that end time Roman power in Europe, the beast. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast. telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.

He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. H what's that talking about? You know, at the time of Justinian, the Catholic Church didn't look the way that it looks today.

At that time, the Catholic Church remodeled itself after the Roman civil government. It became the image of that beast. You have a direct connection now between the Roman Catholic Church and the end time beast. They will be working hand and glove together. The second beast looks like a lamb but speaks with the voice of the dragon.

Revelation later identifies the final religious leader associated with these miracles as the false prophet. So you have the religion and then you have its leader. Revelation 19 verse 19 of chapter 19 says, "And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army.

Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image." These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. If you go to second cor 2 Thessalonians 2, you read of the man of sin and you read of additional information which is the same individual.

This false prophet which arises at the very end causes and deceives people by the power given to him over signs and wonders which are not coming from God but which come from the dragon which is the power behind both the beast and this end time religious power. So this second development we're looking for is we should expect to see or watch for a growing relationship between a political power centralized in Europe eventually culminating in a miracle working religious figure who supports this power that's going to be very close by the way

to the time when we are not going to I don't know how much we're going to be able to see of all this I presume we'll see most of this two big rocks so far the beast the religious power that supports it okay we can watch for those things to happen we're looking in the news for things that relate to those two things happening so maybe pay attention to what's going on in the Catholic church I will tell you in your own defense the United States papers generally just don't cover a lot of things that are going on in Europe that

we would find relevant you actually have to go and do some homework to find out what's going on truly going on in this world which relate to things we're interested We're watching because we're trying to keep our oil topped off. We just have a sense of what's going on out there. Is Christ going to return in our lifetime? It's a valid question and it should it really should encourage us to be doing our homework to pay attention to what's going on out there.

Not every nuance, not every detail, not all the sand and the gravel and the water, but obvious obviously the big rocks. We have to pay attention to those. Here's another big rock. Modern Israel has to fall, followed by Judah. Modern Israel. Who is modern Israel? Ephraim and Manasseh. Their birthright fulfilled beginning right around 1800 in the countries of the UK, Canada, the United States, and Australia predominantly.

This is modernday Israel. We have a nation on the map in an area of the promised land called Israel. It is Judah. So the modern Israel is not over in Jerusalem. Modern Israel are these other nations of Ephraim and Manasseh. Let's look at the what is prophesied. Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30 beginning in verse 5. Well, hold on.

Beginning in verse four, it says, "Now these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah." So this is a this is the whole house of Israel. Israel and Judah. This is what's prophesied about both of them. For thus says the Lord, "We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, not of peace.

" He says, "Ask now whether a man is ever in labor with a child. So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces turned pale? Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. And it is the time of Jacob's trouble. Who's Jacob? Like we know Jacob's name was changed to Israel.

And we know this is a prophecy about both Israel and Judah, both offsprings of Jacob. So, this time of Jacob's trouble is coming. Well, I don't know about you, but I look at the news and I watch the stories that are out there floating around and it looks to me like a lot of trouble. And where are we seeing a lot of this trouble? How about Jacob's descendants? We are in a time of Jacob's trouble.

You know, if we're looking for the fall, which must come, we'll read that in Hosea. What's it going to look like? Do you think some foreign nation's just going to plop themselves down in the middle of Central America or Central United States and overthrow us? Something, I think, has to happen first. And I think we're living it in the time of Jacob's troubles.

We all saw what happened the early part of COVID. Well, most of CO downtown Seattle, an independent zone called CHOP and then CHAZ. No government here. Seattle couldn't go there. The police couldn't go in there. City council couldn't go in there. The mayor couldn't go in there. This was an independent country.

They declared themselves in the middle of a city of the United States. And we tolerated that for weeks, months, I think. I mean, if you're just looking for an example of how crazy things can get, that's one. We've seen cities, primarily large blue cities on fire, riot after riot after riot. I mean, I thought things would calm down after the police things and the Black Lives Matters things kind of calmed down and then the ICE stuff started happening and it skipped riots and riots and riots and news story after news story of rebellion and lawlessness like crazy.

Like I didn't think we'd be able to see this in real time what it would look like. Oh yes, we can. Just look around. We're seeing what this lawlessness stuff looks like. This to me is all a part of that Jacob's trouble. If this crescendos, I don't know what that means. But a nation as powerful as the United States, I'm suspicious that she falls from within far before she falls from without.

The final collapse of Israel, which includes Israel and Judah, does not have to be one sudden military attack. Our national sins, our economic weaknesses, our internal divisions, our debts, lots of things could cause us to have real problems, ongoing problems. We just hit $40 trillion in in US debt. It's it's such a massive number. And year after year, what do we see projected coming from Congress on balancing the budget? More deficits.

If it isn't deficit, then it's just printing money to fill in the gap. What does printing money do to the economy? Too many dollars chasing too few goods increases inflation. Economic policy has just as much consequence on this country and where it's going as anything else. We're doing it to ourselves. We do understand that the king of the north somehow is going to be instrumental in part of this final downfall of the US.

We just don't know how of Israel itself. We just don't know how. I do not have clairvoyance to be able to tell you. I know exactly what's going to happen. I don't. No, I just know that something's going to happen. It says in Hosea, Hosea 4 and 5, it says verse four says, "They do not direct their deeds turning uh toward their God for the spirit of harlotry.

" We know what that means. Infidelity to God. Do you would that be an accurate description of where the United States is going? Where Israel is going? I would say the spirit of harlotry is in their midst and they do not know the Lord. The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore, Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity.

Judah also stumbles with them. They're going to be stumbling. We're stumbling a little bit now. It just crescendos into some kind of an end. I don't know what that end's going to look like. But verse 7 says, "They have dealt treacherously with the Lord, for they have begotten pagan children. Now a new moon shall devour them and their heritage.

" Well, we know new moons happen once a month. And so our suspicion is that this could refer to how quickly the United States, Israel, and Judah could fall at the end. What are we looking for? This is one of those big rocks we're looking for. Where are we going? Where's the nation headed? It's not a question about your neighborhood at this point.

That's us looking nationally at what it looks like. God's going to fulfill his promise. This is going to happen and it's going to happen before Christ returns. The church has historically understood this passage to indicate a very compressed period of time, possibly within the span of a month. But the broader point is Israel and Judah do not fall in some distant unrelated era.

They fall together very quickly and very closely together. Their judgment converges at the same end time event. And we read earlier in Daniel 11:4 and 41, at the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, that is the king of the north, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind.

And we read in the next verse, he shall also enter the glorious land. The king of the north is going to sweep all the way down into Jerusalem. We also know the end time promises that the Gentiles are going to control Jerusalem. Over in Luke chapter 21, beginning in verse 20, it says, "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days.

For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Scripture records that as three and a half years. So Jerusalem must fall at the beginning of the tribulation because the tribulation is also recorded as being three and a half years.

times time times and half a time 42 months 3 and 1/2 years all the same time period the tribulation the fall of Jerusalem the occupation by the Gentiles where are the Gentiles coming from Europe this is not Islam this is Europe that possesses the Holy Land we're looking for that the question is will that happen before or after we are taken to a place of safety.

The fourth big rock, God promises protection for his people. Turn over to Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3 is a continuation of letters to the churches. Verse 7 tells us which church. It says, "And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia, right?" So that's the church being talked to. Verse 10, it says, "Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

The hour of trial is the tribulation. It is coming to test the whole earth." And God promises those he calls Philadelphiaians. Protection doesn't tell us exactly how. It does give us a time frame. Turn over to Revelation 12. Revelation 12:13 says, "Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.

But the woman was given wings of a great eagles that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent, the dragon, Satan. There will be protection offered. Revelation 3:10 tells us who will be woman we know is a church.

If the dragon is pursuing the church, it's because it's not his church. It is God's church, the church that gave birth to Christ. It is us, those who are alive and remain, waiting for Christ to return. God's faithful. Those that God says persevered his through his command. We obeyed and stayed faithful. He promises protection.

He doesn't name names. You know, the Leodysans are described next. You know, they are first fruits. It says they have to go through a trial to be tried. Why? There's something different about their attitude than the Philadelphiaians. Read through it. You need to read through the rest of Revelation chapter 3 and understand what is described about the Leodysians because they they are the Philadelphiaians contemporaries.

We exist side by side with leodysians right now. If you want to know whether or not you're a Leodysian, read the qualities of a Leodysian. Look yourself in the mirror and do an honest analysis of your life. Am I a Leodysian as that is described or not? If I am, I know my future. If not, do I have an alternative future? Oh yeah.

It's being called a a Philadelphiaian by God, being protected from what happens at the end, from that hour which is coming. I want you to notice something here. This gives us a of gives us a possibility of what? Of timing. Let's look at the possibility of timing over in Matthew 24. I'm almost done. Matthew 24. Verse 15. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Okay, so this key phrase when you see very likely points to the reality that we may very well see that event happen before we are protected. That is the beginning when that happens. When the European superpower comes down in and takes over Jerusalem and that abomination of desolation which was forecast or foretold by Jesus Christ to happen which Daniel recorded for us which was initially fulfilled through Antiochus Epiphies which has yet to have a future fulfillment.

When that happens that is when the tribulation begins. It says when you see so this gives us a sense that maybe the timing is right then where all these things are going to converge together where somehow at this time we are now escorted out the tribulation is going to begin the time of the Gentiles is about to begin it's all happening simultaneously very close together at this time period before Christ returns.

So what should we be doing? We know what the big rocks are. I've given you four of them. Now, we're looking for the beast power to arise in Europe. We are looking for a religious power to arise and support that beast power driving everyone to take on the mark of the beast to do their commerce with greater Europe where wealth is what leads the way.

All of that. We're looking to see that happen hopefully in our lifetimes indicating the end is coming very near. We're seeing what looks like hints that these things are beginning to happen. We're looking for the downfall of Israel and Judah. That must happen. We're looking for the king of the north to sweep down into Jerusalem.

These are the things that we know are going to happen and they're the big rocks we should pay attention to. And we know that God is going to protect his people. The Philadelphiaians do not have to go through that tribulation. So, we can turn over to Luke chapter 21. We can see the instructions that Christ gives to us that we should take hold of in verse 34.

But take heed to yourselves. Luke 21:34. Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Our instructions are verse 36. Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the son of man.

So what should you be watching? It says, "Watch, therefore, is it to become an expert on end time prophecy and know every detail, every every piece of gravel, sand, or water that's connected? Or is it really to be watching the big rocks and spend the rest of your time watching the level of oil in our lamps?" I hope we pay attention to the important things, which will actually lead us to being worthy to escape all these things.