The Coming Change in the World Order

Well, if you watch the news, and if you read things beyond the news, you see that the world continues to march along, and things continue to change. And it's kind of eye-opening as you watch things that are just different than what we've seen in the last generation in the world around us. A couple weeks ago, we talked about the Iranian general who was assassinated and the protests in Iran that were going on at that time. And then, literally, then we had the jetliner that was shot down, and as Iran admitted that they were the ones who accidentally shot it down, we saw the protests turn against their own government, which was a turn. You know, we've seen in the last week, if you looked at the prophetic times yesterday, where in Russia it was announced that some changes to the Constitution that led to the resignation of many in the government as they tried to broaden Mr. Putin's powers and solidify him in office for a time to come. You know, we have a stock market that is about to hit 30,000, a number that they said a few years ago could never happen, but it appears to be happening. And we see all these things going on around us. You know, in Britain, we have Brexit as a continuing saga. We have an upset in the royal family over there that is not unprecedented, but unprecedented in our generation. We see all these things happening around us that are just different, just different than has happened before. And we know that by the Bible prophesies a time to come, that when we look at the world the way it's set up at that time is so far different than the world we know it today. And as we read through prophecy, and we read those things, it can seem very foreign to us when we read through Revelation 13, for instance, and we see a great world power, a beast power that's autocratic and tyrannical, and think, how could that ever be?

And maybe 10 years ago we wondered, how could it come about? But we see today some of the writing on the wall, if you will, and how some of those things can come about. You know, when we read Bible prophecy, God says it is absolutely sure. We can take it to the bank as sure as we're sitting here today, as sure as we're breathing. So let's look at Isaiah 46. Today we'll talk about some of the things that we see and how it fits into prophecy. Once a year or so I like to see where we're going, remind you of some of the prophecies of the Bible and how the world is headed in that and things that have changed over the last year. So today we'll do some of that, but we'll look at some of the prophecies too to refresh our memory of them. But in Isaiah 46 and verse 8, God makes a statement that we should all take to heart and remember. No matter how difficult things may seem, no matter how confusing they may seem, no matter how it might seem to us, how could that ever be? When God says it, it's sure. Verse 8 of Isaiah 46 says, And one of the great proofs that the Bible is the Word of God is that we can look at prophecy in the Bible and we can see where it has been fulfilled and every single prophecy has been fulfilled or is yet to be fulfilled. There's prophecy that Jesus Christ spoke when He was on earth in Matthew 24 and other places. There's the great prophecy and revelation at the end of time, what the world will be like. The book of Daniel, all the little minor prophets, the minor prophets have a lot of prophecy in them. Isaiah has prophecy in them. The book of Daniel is full of prophecy as well. The book of Daniel has some very detailed prophecies that we can look at and see that God showed exactly what the world was going to be like from centuries and millennia ago and that it's come about exactly as He said. So let's go back and just look at a couple of those prophecies in Daniel.

The main one we're probably all familiar with. It's the great statue that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed. And this dream troubled him as he saw this gigantic statue with a head of gold and chest of silver, thighs of bronze and legs mixed of clay and iron. And he didn't know what it meant, but he knew it had some significance to him. And if you recall, he asked his wise men, you know, I want you to tell me not only what my dream means, but I want you to tell me what my dream is, which is an impossible thing, right? Absolutely impossible. So the wise men of his domain were like, that's impossible. No man can do it. But God could do it. And there was the man Daniel who believed in God who was very clear to him, no man could tell you this king, but there is a God in heaven who can. So we go back to Daniel 2 and just read what he, you know, in the prior verses he tells him exactly what he saw in his dream. And the beginning in verse 36, he interprets the dream for him. And if you remember Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon. It was the first world-ruling empire, if you will. And you remember from a few weeks ago when we talked about the beginning of the kingdom of Babylon, where it began, as we read back in Genesis 10, with Nimrod and the spirit and the marks of the kingdom that were back then. But in verse 36 of Daniel 2, Daniel says, this is the dream, as he explains it, Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. And wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom will 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. 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. And in the days of these kings, in these four succeeding or three succeeding world-ruling kingdoms, in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, and the fourth one there at the end of it will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.

And you can see in the next verse, Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face. He knew that that revelation was from God, had to be the true God who made that revelation. And in that prophecy that so many, not just people in the church, understand that that was foretelling what the world order would be from that time until the return of Jesus Christ. There would be the kingdom of Babylon.

There would be the kingdom of the Medes and Persians that would succeed them. There would be the kingdom of the Greeks that would succeed them. And then the Roman Empire that would be the people of iron, that would be there from that time in successive generations until the return of Jesus Christ. A brutal kingdom, a kingdom whose design was to rule the world, focused largely in Europe to bring Europe together.

And as you look through history, even the secular sources say that prophecy came exactly true. No one can doubt that prophecy. Where we are today, you look at that and you say that was what God had predicted. No man could have predicted it. What the Bible says is exactly what had happened. And Nebuchadnezzar realized it when he heard it. Later in Daniel, in Daniel 7, he talks about four beasts. He likens these four kingdoms to four beasts. We won't take the time to go there, but you might want to review that sometime.

And we see those four beasts mentioned again in the book of Revelation, when it talks about that last world-ruling kingdom that will be on the earth at the time before Jesus Christ returns. It's described as a terrible beast, a brutal beast that's there at that time, just like he talks about the beast of iron and at the end of the days with the iron mixed with clay, a loosely held confederation that's there for one purpose, that leads up until the return of Jesus Christ.

If we move forward to Daniel 11, in Daniel 11 we find maybe the most detailed prophecy in the Bible and the most complete prophecy in the Bible. It pretty much chronicles the history of the Middle East, if you will, and it's amazing in the aftermath of Daniel 11 sitting here in the 21st century and even in the 20th century, when you look at what God prophesied through Daniel, in Daniel 11 you see with remarkable accuracy the history of that area spelled out. We'll be in Daniel 11 in a minute, but let's back up to Daniel 10 here for just a second and look at verse 11.

Daniel, if you'll remember, he would see these visions and he would wonder, what do they mean? And he would continually seek God. What does that vision mean? Because as he watched these things and as he saw these things, he would have no idea what does that all mean? So he would seek God and finally God sent him. As an example to us, when we seek the truth, when we seek God, he will send the answer in his time.

In verse 11 of Daniel 10, as the angel came to him, he said to me, He said to me, O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you. While he was speaking this word to me, I, Daniel, stood trembling. As you can imagine, if we had someone, an agent, a messenger of God, come to us and say, I will now tell you what that means. And he said to me, Don't fear Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard and I have come because of your words.

I've come because you've shown you want to know and I'm here to tell you what it is. Let's drop down to verse 14. I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days. Not there for the time he was living, but in the latter days. I will come to make you know what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come. Daniel was overwhelmed with what was going on there.

As you can imagine, in verse 21, the messenger angel says, I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of truth. He was there to tell the truth of what was going on, what this vision meant. And then we come to chapter 11, where there's this detailed prophecy that even as it was spoken to Daniel, he didn't understand, or perhaps he understood, but we'll see that what God says at the end of this prophecy. And I'm not going to read through the entire thing.

Let me just reference you to a couple places. We have some books in the back, the Middle East in Prophecy, that in the middle around pages 20 to 25 we'll talk about this chapter in detail and relate exactly in history by secular sources exactly what happened and what these verses did as they played out in actual real life. And also if you go to the ucg.org website and just type into the search engine, ucgbiblecommentary, if you go to Daniel and go to Daniel 11, in that commentary right there, very short, there is something at the bottom of the page that I hadn't seen before that is an interlinear Bible with these verses that has the actual events of history that match up with these verses.

So there's a couple places you could look, but let's go through a few verses here so you get the flavor of the detail that God provided to Daniel in this. Daniel 11, verse 1 says, In the first year of Darius the Mede, I, even I, stood up to confirm and strengthen him. And verse 2, And now I will tell you the truth. The messenger says, Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia. And indeed, if you look at history, there was Darius the Mede, and there were three more kings after him.

There was Cambecus, there was someone named Smertus, and there's a story about him where he was an imposter because the real son Smertus was secretly assassinated, and then there was Darius the Persian. So three more kings after him, history bears out, that's exactly what happened. And the fourth shall be far richer than them all. By his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. And if you look at history, the fourth king from the time of Darius the Mede was Xerxes.

He was the husband of Esther, and he was far richer than the other three kings. And he did have a read here from the quote from the Expositor's Bible Dictionary. In one of the largest assaults of ancient history, he sent a vast force of hundreds of ships and a million troops against the Greeks, one of the largest shows of force in ancient times. So as we go through the first few verses here, verse 2, we see already Daniel knew this was something that was going to happen in the future.

We can look at it here in 2020 and see what happened is exactly what the Bible said. So we have the Medo-Persian Empire succeeded by four kings after Darius. And then in verse 3, it says, Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. Well, the mighty king, the next mighty king after Xerxes, was Alexander the Great. He was of the Greek kingdom. And you've all heard of Alexander the Great. What he did, his exploits were astounding for someone so young.

He died early at age 33, but known well-known in history. And this verse refers to him. The time frame is perfect. He will do according to his will, and he did while he was alive. Verse 4, And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up, and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled. For his kingdom shall be uprooted, even for others besides these.

So he would be uprooted, and his kingdom, which he fashioned, would be divided four ways, among four other people, but not of his sons, not of the people who were close to him. There are the others who would succeed him. And history shows that's exactly, exactly what happened. Let me read from here. It says, within a few years... Well, I'm going to paraphrase here, because I think the wording here is a little complex.

When was Alexander died? He didn't have any heirs. He had an unborn son, he had a nephew, and they tried to take the kingdom. One of his close generals tried, Antigonus tried, to fashion a government after him. It all failed. So ultimately, it went to four other generals who were not close to him. But it was four different kingdoms, and those generals' names were Ptolemy, who became, as we'll see here in a minute, the king of the south. It says in verse 5, he was situated in Egypt and in that area. There was Seleucus, who became, who was situated in Syria.

At that time, that was the king of the north, and going forward, it was the king of the south and the king of the north who had all of the power. Okay, that was there at that time. So we have Seleucus and we have Ptolemy, and the other two kings that came at that time were Cassander and Lysimachus. So as we go through here, and we see in verse 5 that the king of the south shall become strong, that's exactly what happened.

History shows that Ptolemy and Egypt became a very strong king. Seleucus and Syria in the north became a very strong king. The other two sort of faded into oblivion. Those two were the two who marched forward in history that we see. So in the ensuing verses, again, I'm not going to go through all these verses, but what I want to point out is, in the detail of these verses, you see the history of the Middle East.

And if you haven't reviewed it for a while, it's fascinating to read the history. It's fascinating to see what God predicted, and it came about exactly as God said. Now let's drop down here a few verses to 167 B.C. Let's just drop down to verse 29, because there's a notable event as these two forces, the Ptolemaic regime and the King of the North regime under Seleucus, headquartered in Syria, come down in verse 27 of Daniel 11. It talks about a meeting between these two kings. It says, So what God purposes will happen, they may have had something that they had in the works, when returning to his land.

Now if we look back up in verse 25, we see us talking about the King of the South, because in verse 25 it says that he will stir up his power against the King of the South with the great army. So we come down to verse 28 and it says, So he has, as he comes back, he's got this disposition, here's these Jews, here's this Jewish religion, I don't like them. So his heart is moved against the Holy Covenant, so he shall do damage and return to his own land. So, in 167 BC, you have this king, Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus IV, he's called in history, he's of the Seleucid line, headquartered in Syria.

And he comes through and history shows this is exactly what he did. He came back and he had an issue with the Jewish people. He hated them.

At the appointed time, verse 29, it says, He shall do damage, and he did do damage. They show that 80,000 Jews were murdered or assassinated at one time when he was there. In verse 30 it says, So he's got a challenge coming to him. He's got someone who's beginning to war against him. Notice what his reaction is.

He's aggrieved and returned in rage against the Holy Covenant. It wasn't the Holy Covenant that was enraging him. It was these ships from Cyrus, someone that is challenging him. And he turns against the people of the Holy Covenant and he did damage. So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the Holy Covenant.

And history does show that the Jews who yielded to him, the Jews who pled allegiance to him, the Jews who forsook their beliefs and followed him, he did show favor because he was all about getting people to turn from their beliefs to his beliefs.

Verse 31, The famous Abomination of Desolation, Jesus Christ talks about the Abomination of Desolation that is spoken of by Daniel the prophet. A thing that will happen before his return, not the same Abomination of Desolation, because this occurred before Jesus Christ was on earth. But in this Abomination of Desolation, Antiochus set laws against anything that the Jews stood for.

The Sabbath was outlawed. Anything they stood for was outlawed. He went and he defiled the temple. We know as God set up the temple, he dwelt in that temple. Sacrifices were to be of clean meats as he ordered. Antiochus went and defied them and put unclean meats. He set up a statue to Zeus in the temple. Everything to defy the living God. And many people were killed during that time.

Jesus Christ, we won't turn to Matthew 24, verse 15, but he says, When you see the Abomination of Desolation, when you see something happening before my return, in the latter days, flee to the mountains, because the end is very near. So it tells us that something similar to what Antiochus did here back in 167, 168 B.C. is going to happen again.

Those who do wickedly, verse 32, against the covenant, he shall corrupt with flattery. What he wants is people to turn from God. That's his entire mission. Just turn from God. And as we look at the Beast's power of Revelation 13, that will be the intent we see of that power as well. Those who do wickedly against the covenant, he shall corrupt with flattery. But the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits. The people who are strong, who don't yield to the force of men, who don't yield to the threats that are there, who don't turn against God just because they're afraid of the man. Verse 33, and those of the people who understand shall instruct many. Yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. Oh, there's going to be rough times, and there was rough times for the Jews of that time. But those in history shows, the Maccabees did stand strong, and the priests of Maccabee, they did stand strong about it. They suffered greatly, but they stood through it all, and they did instruct many, and many came through it.

Let's start with verse 35. Some of those of understanding shall fall to refine them, purify them, and make them white until the time of the end, because it is still for the appointed time. That was going to happen, but that wasn't the end yet.

But as you look through history, and as you go through there, the credibility of Daniel is undeniable. The prophecies in the Bible, 100% of them came about exactly as it's detailed here in Daniel 11. You can see it in our literature, you can see it in secular literature. No one can deny, and no one ever does deny, the accuracy of the prophecy here in Daniel 11.

There are some who will say, well, the book of Daniel must have really been written after the time of Christ, so that people could see it in arrears. Not the case. It was written hundreds of years before these things happened. So when we read the prophecies in Daniel, and as we read the prophecies in the Bible, we see every single one of them came through, and Daniel is a tremendous book to look at, because it happened exactly as God said it would. And as we move into verse 36, we find what he says about the future, the times that we live in and the times ahead of us.

If all the prior came, the stuff that is written here after the Antiochus is certainly going to come about as well. Well, let's drop down. In verses 36, 37, and 38, you can see that those are talking about the time when Rome became the king of the north, 65 BC. Rome conquered the king of the north, Syria, so they became the king of the north.

There's this 36 and 37, talks about the emperors of Rome who didn't regard God, who listened to no one but themselves. Nothing could change their minds. It was going to be exactly the way they said it would be. So let's drop down to verse 40 here, where it talks about the time of the end, the time that is yet ahead of us, okay?

The time before Jesus Christ returns. Verse 40 says, At the time of the end, the king of the south, when we know the king of the south, the old king of the south was headquartered in Egypt, the king of the south, somewhere in the Middle East, the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, the king of the north, now headquartered in Rome, because Rome conquered Syria in 65 BC, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships.

And he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. And in case anyone doubts what the king of the south, his domain, is like, it sells us in verse 41. He will enter the glorious land, Israel, and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape from his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. Those are the people right around the country of Jordan when you look at who those descendants are. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

And in verse 43 it talks about the Libyans and Ethiopians as well. So at the end of time, we have this king of the north, and we've talked about the king of the north a lot. Revelation 13 is a very telling scripture because this king appears out of nowhere, and the world marvels after him. But what we see in these verses before we go any further is there will be a king of the south. And today there is no king of the south.

Today we have a loose, you know, many Arab countries who are down in that area, and there is no king. They haven't been united really since the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire ended with World War I. But it wasn't even an Arab nation who was over those Arab nations back at that time.

It was the Turkish nation who ruled the Ottoman Empire. And since then, with World War I and the advent of it and the aftermath of it, and the aftermath of World War II, things happened in the Middle East that really set it apart from its entire history.

Before that, the Middle East was kind of like an afterthought to everyone. It was there, it was just there, but it wasn't really anything that the world had to think about. But over the last several decades here, as the world has needed some of the oil that was in the Middle East, as we see the Middle East struggling because they want to be unified, and for a period of time they were unified when Muhammad came on earth, and for a period of time with his religion, Islam, it did unify those countries.

But then even in that religion there was division, and there was strife, and you have the Sunnis, and you have the Shiites, and you have other factions that are there that only war against each other. They haven't been able to come up with anyone who would unify them as one force. And even today we see it struggling, right? We see Iran try to make progress, and they, I think, would like to be the leader of the Middle East, but we see the problems they're having there. And we see that, you know, what is going to happen?

You know, some people say the regime of Iran is going to fall, that it won't be there, with all the protests that have been going on lately over there, that may not be, that may not be the regime that is there for much longer. Who knows? Only God knows. But we see at the time of the end there will be a united king of the South. There will be a confederation of those Arabian Islamic nations that's going to be a force on the Earth, okay? A force that's going to be able to challenge the beast power of Revelation 13, the one that people say, you know, who is this?

Who can make war with the beast? Who can do this? Well, the king of the South thinks he can. He's got a unified army. He has whatever weapons that he has at his disposal. He has a group of people beyond them, and he pushes and he attacks the kings of the north. And the response from the king of the north is, he's going to march through and just simply overwhelm them. He's not going to tolerate that challenge from a unified group of people.

So as we look at history and we see what's going on, we know there will be a king of the north. We know that it's going to be in central north of the Mediterranean Sea. We know that it's going to be a unified Europe because it tells us that in Daniel 7 with the Great Sea. It tells us that in Revelation 13. It tells us that in Revelation 17. And we know there's going to be a king of the South. Now we know that there's going to be conflict.

There's not going to be peace at the time. The beast power rules. There's going to be a conflict between them and the king of the south. So if we go through verse 43 and we see that that's part of the landscape ahead of us. We don't see it today. It will come about. And then if we drop down to verse 44, we see, well, it's not only the king of the south. News from the east and the north will trouble the king of the north.

Therefore, he will go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. So we see as he takes care of the king of the south, he's got another challenge from the east and the north. And if we look at where the king of the south is and we look at the east and the north, it's not any stretch of the imagination to see the China and Russia and North Korea and those nations are up there.

And so we know at the time of the end, we've got another power that's sitting there in the eastern, east of the king of the north, that's going to cause him problems. And the east is mustering an army to come or mustering an attempt to come and overthrow them as well. It angers. It angers the king of the north. And so he will be furious. He will be furious and he will go out to destroy many. Anyone that he can get his hands on. In verse 45, it says, he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain. It'll be there in the Middle East in Jerusalem that he plants his tents. Yet he shall come to his end and no one will help him. So at the end of this prophecy, it takes us from the time that Daniel was alive, all the way until the time of Christ's return. In the end, he will come, he will be destroyed, and no one will help him. Christ will return, as we read in Revelation, and he will destroy that kingdom and the kingdoms of the earth, and the kingdoms of the kingdoms will be his. We'll come back to Daniel 12 in a minute, but let's go back to Revelation 16. Revelation 16, we talked about news from the east and the north, will trouble him. He will go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. He sees what's happening over there, and he sees a challenge coming his way. And as he has historically done, he responds with fury. In chapter 16, we see that there will ultimately be, whether it's the first attack or the first news from the east that angers the king, but ultimately there will be kings from the east who do come and march against the king of the north. Revelation 16, verse 12 says, The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.

So we've got this pathway now for these kings of the east to make their way over to where the king of the north is. I saw three unclean spirits and frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon. This isn't of God. This whole setup, what's going on, is of Satan. It's his world. It's his domain. And these powers that are warring with each other are under his influence.

I saw three unclean spirits coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs which go out to the king of the earth, kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God almighty. A great conflict at the end of the age, ultimately as the kings of the east come in war against the king of the north, and we know what the ultimate end of that battle will be. In Revelation, we're there in 16. Let's look at Revelation 17 as well.

Revelation 17.

And verse, let's just pick it up in verse 5. On her forehead, the name of this kingdom that will be there on earth at the time before Christ's return, on her forehead a name was written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. This kingdom, just like his predecessor Antiochus, he'll turn against God, he'll turn against the people of God, and he will want to destroy them, just like Antiochus wanted to do that. And we see that in the Bible and other places as well. When I saw her, John says, as he is receiving this revelation, and when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. Look at this beast! Where did it come from? Look how powerful it is! But the angel said to me, Why did you marvel? I'll tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was and is not.

It was the Roman Empire. Back then, it's another resurrection of the Roman Empire, the same spirit that has always looked to dominate Europe, unify Europe, and be the world-ruling power. The beast that you saw was and is not and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. God will judge this kingdom. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel. There will be an awe, 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. So the world will marvel. As we see in chapter 13, when this beast arises out of the sea, who can make war with this beast? Look at the power. Look at the economic might. This is the savior of the world. And chapter 17 tells us, it will be a mighty thing, but a forceful beast that is nothing like the government that we live in today. You have a beast. You have a false prophet. And therein is to make people worship the way they want you to worship. There is no freedom. There is no democracy. There is no freedom of speech. There is no freedom of religion. All that has disappeared. It will be what that kingdom wants at that time. And they will have the power to back it up. As it says in Revelation 13, if you don't submit to the beast, you won't buy. You won't sell. They will make your life miserable. If you're not killed, your life will be totally, it will just be a very difficult life. So as we look at the world situation, as we've said before, at the end of time, you see these three powers, all centered over in the Middle East, Europe, and East of Europe. You see the king of the north. You see the king of the south. You see the eastern powers. What you don't see anywhere is any power from the west. And today, the power of the world is in the west. The power in the world today is the United States. We are still the world's watchdog. We are still the economic leader. We are still the military leader. The world still looks at the United States today as who can defeat them. They're the juggernaut of the world. We don't see anything about any power from the west anywhere in prophecy at the end time. It's the north, the south, and the east. So let's go back to Daniel, Daniel 12, and see if we can see what happens. Where are these powers of the west that are so extant today and so obvious on the earth that are absent in the prophecies of the world order at the time of Jesus Christ's return? In chapter 12, verse 1, a continuation of what the angel messenger is telling to Daniel as he explains this prophecy.

And Daniel, you can imagine Daniel, he's hearing all this detail, and his mind had to be overwhelmed. He had no idea. You know, maybe God showed him exactly what the panorama of history would be. And in verse 1, it says, He watches over your people, Daniel. There will be a time of trouble, exactly what Jesus Christ said in his prophecy. There will be great tribulation at that time, such as as never was since the world began, nor ever will be again. Such as, and this is exactly what it says here in verse 1, And at that time your people will be delivered, every one who is found written in the book, those who do not yield to this coming beast power in government, who looks like the savior of the world, but we know that it is not of God. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth, and we see sleep, it's their dead, many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Speaking of the resurrection that occurs at the time of the seventh Trump when Jesus Christ returns, many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15 in the first resurrection, some to shame and everlasting contempt, who had the opportunity, but never counted it important enough, to follow God exactly and with the careful diligence that he requires. Some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise, I hope that's all of us in this room because God is the one who gives us wisdom through His Holy Spirit, those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. And He says in verse 4, But you, Daniel, shut up the words, seal the book until the time of the end.

You know, the prophecies in Daniel 11, they simply could not be understood until the time of the end. If we were sitting here in 100, let's say 175 BC, and we read the prophecies of this book, we would scratch our heads and wonder, what is God saying here? Because so much was about after that time.

But most of these things, except verses 40 through 45, have happened. We can look back at history, and not just God's Church, but even secular history says, it's remarkable the detail that is in Daniel 11 and how every single thing in it follows the pattern of recorded history exactly. So today, in the time of the end, we can understand Daniel 11. We can see God's hand at work. We can see that what he prophesied as he gave us that detailed history, it has certainly come to pass. We know his word is certain. We know that what he says is certainly going to come about. So he says, Daniel, shut up the word, seal the book until the time of the end. In the time of the end, we'll be able to see what that prophecy means. We'll be able to see the history and how it unfolded. Many shall run to and fro, knowledge shall increase. In that time of the end, people will be able to go all over the world. They'll have cars, they'll have airplanes, they'll be traveling every place, and they will have knowledge unlike anything that the people of that time could ever have imagined. Even knowledge available that, you know, 30 years ago, we couldn't imagine that we would have at our disposal by just going to our little home computer, turning it on, and having literally the world at our fingers. People will run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. I, Daniel, looked, and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank, and one said to the man clothed in linen, you know, it's priests who are clothed in linen, right? Who is above the waters of the river? How long? How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be? And I heard the man clothed in linen, who is above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever, that it will be for a time, times, and half a time, the same three and a half years that it mentions in Revelation 13, when the beast's power will have control of the earth. It will be for time, times, and half a time, and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished. Daniel didn't understand, but he asked the question. But let's pause there for a moment. When the power of the holy people is completely shattered, what does that mean?

Well, we know God would look at you and me as his holy people, right? The people of the church that he has called, who have responded, who have repented, who have been baptized, who have this Holy Spirit, by Liv, Hos, Holy Spirit. Certainly, we're God's people. It tells us in 1 Peter 2.9, we are a holy people, a special treasure to God. And certainly, as you read through Revelation 13, you see the beast's power turns his attention to the people of God.

I will wipe out that belief and those people who will take a stand against the beast power and the false prophet, who say, I'm going to stand for God no matter what you do to me, I want to wipe them out, just like Antiochus did back in 167 and 168 B.C.

But are those the only holy people? Is that all God is talking about when the power of your people, or the holy people, has been completely shattered? Let's go back to Deuteronomy 7. We know in 1 Peter 2 that God calls his people spiritual Israel today, his holy people, but he also called the nation of Israel his holy people back at the time he brought them out of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 7 and verse 6. He says to the physical nation of Israel. Now, remember, the physical nation of Israel has its place in the millennial rule of Jesus Christ as well. Physical Israel is prominent. Physical Israel, when they realize they've turned against God, we've read the verses recently in Ezekiel, they loathe themselves. They will turn to God. They will serve God in the temple. Physical Israel is a people that was special to God, still is special to God. He has never lost sight of them, even though they have turned against him. Even though he will punish them, he has never lost sight of them.

He made promises to them that he intends to keep. Deuteronomy 7 and verse 6. He says to the physical people, You are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. Your holy people, descendants of Israel. So as we look at the world around us and we see what God said, he may have given us the answer in Deuteronomy 12. The power of the holy people shall be completely shattered. We can look at ourselves, right? We can look at ourselves today as God's people, spiritual Israel.

We would not say that we have power, would we? We would say the power, whatever power we have is of God. It's not our power, it's God's power. What we do, even in our daily lives, is by God's power. He gives us a spirit of power and love and a sound mind.

It's not our power, but physical Israel always believed in their power. And God says in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, I'll break the pride of your power. I will shatter your power. You will come to realize it's me. So here in Daniel 12, when he says the power of your people, Daniel, will be completely shattered. He may give you an indication of what happens to the nations who are physical Israel today, the descendants of those nations that we've talked about. It will be completely shattered. And so we may not see, or we do not see, those people on earth today, or at the end of time, they're sort of absent.

We see a Gentile, we see Gentile kingdoms, we don't see anything of Israel, and it's the English-speaking people today who seem to have the power of the earth, and the financial power, the economic, the military power. But that all disappears between now and the time of the end. We are in Daniel 12. Let's read a few more verses in Daniel 12 here.

Although I heard, Daniel says, I didn't understand, and I said, my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he repeats in verse 9, he said, Go your way, Daniel. The words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end, until the time before Jesus Christ returns. Well, as we see the prophecies and we see what God has said, this is what the world order will be at the time before Jesus Christ returns.

We, as his people, may want to watch what's going on in the world to see as those things develop. Let's go to Luke 21. Luke 21, and look at Christ's own words. Luke 21 and verse 36, he talks about in his words the things that will happen before his second coming to earth.

And in verse 36, what's recorded here is the last words of that prophecy, Olivette prophecy of Luke 21. Christ says, 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. Watch what's going on. Keep your eyes open. See what's going to happen here. And we've talked about the word watch before. To watch what is happening in world events and to watch ourselves as well. Because it's not going to happen literally overnight. We're not going to wake up one day well, we might wake up one day if we're not watching, right? And see an eastern power that's very, very large that somehow under our own noses became a mighty, mighty power. We may see a king of the north emerge if we're not watching what's going on and think, how did that happen? Like the world is marvels when they see it. Where did that come from? The people of the God shouldn't marvel when they see it. It might take us by surprise, but we know it's coming. Let's go back to Isaiah. Isaiah 30.

Isaiah 30 and verse 12. Isaiah 12. Thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perversity and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. You see the bulge in the wall. You see things happening. You don't pay attention to it. You just kind of go about your own way. And then one day the wall bursts and you think, oh wow, how did that happen? Well, if I had been paying attention, I would have seen the bulge in the wall. I would have seen what was coming about. It wouldn't have taken me by surprise. It comes, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant to the person not paying attention. But it's been happening gradually all along. It's always been there. Someone just wasn't paying attention. You can read verse 14, but let's go over to 1 Thessalonians and see what Paul says in the same vein. 1 Thessalonians 5.

1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 1. You can see in the last verses of chapter 4, there he's talking about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the saints in verses 13 to 18 there. And he continues in the same verse, the same vein in chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 1.

So when we look at the time of the end, it won't be that the world is falling apart. It will certainly will before Jesus Christ. But for us, if we hear peace and safety, it's not time to relax. It's not time to fall asleep. When they say peace and safety, sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, you and me, but you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are sons of light and sons of the day.

We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. Let's keep our eyes open. Let's watch what's going on around. Let's watch the leaves as they begin to bud on those trees that Christ said. Let's see what's happening because we know what the end is. We know what's out there.

We know that Jesus Christ, in the sure prophecy of Daniel and in Revelation and in Christ's own words, there will be these powers, a changing world order that's going to result in the King of the North, the King of the South, and news from the East and the North. Three powers that will be on earth with no power from the West anywhere mentioned. Those three. Those three in a totally different government. So, the time I have remaining.

Not much, but let me give you some things to watch for as we head into 2020 and this decade. And things that we can be paying attention to. And we'll take them right from Daniel. Watch the East. Watch China. China has for centuries been a sleeping giant. They've been over there. They've had a billion people. They've had all this opportunity, but for decades and centuries they've just sort of been dormant there in the East.

Now under President Xi, they've become a dominant power. They're still autocratic. They still want to tell people what to do, but they've become very interested in economy and very interested in the military. You see, you don't hear much about them on the world news in America, but as you look at the prophetic times that we send out each week, you see some of the things that are said about China as they make, begin to make a difference and see themselves in a different light today than they ever have in our past history. Let me, let's read to you. Well, I mean, they've certainly been in the news with trade wars, right?

That's been all over the news, even here in America. And as we see, you know, as we see China, all of a sudden I think we woke up and thought, well, they've become a very rich nation, number two economy in the world with a determination to become the number one economy in the world within the next 10 to 15 years. At our expense, they've become a very great power, an economic power, and they're using their money for things other than just to be the economic power. This is from Business Insider magazine, an article that was written back on August 26th by Ellen Iones.

Here's the title of the article. It says, China's military power may surpass the U.S.'s faster than you think, thanks to six shrewd strategies. I'll just read the first paragraph or two here. China's military power, she says, is quickly becoming the greatest threat to U.S. military primacy. From posturing in the South China Sea to damaging hacking campaigns, the Chinese government is investing more time and resources into its military strategy, and it shows. A June report from the Center for a New American Security, co-authored by former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, outlines the ways China's strategy and technology threatens to best the U.S.

in a great power struggle and what the U.S. can do to maintain its military primacy. If she goes on, I'll just read it a little bit. Chinese military is well on its way to besting the U.S.'s technological edge due to rapid economic and military development. By stealing, so we've seen two words, right? Hacking and stealing. It's been kind of China's past, even back for several, by hacking and stealing, already extant weapons technology, China is developing advanced weapons at a rapid pace.

It's also figuring out how to disrupt the U.S.'s battlefield systems, working on long-range weapons, and leading the way on artificial intelligence. She goes on and she says they are developing directed energy weapons, advanced space weapons, electromagnetic rail guns, high-powered microwave ovens, and even more exotic arms. In addition, they've been down in South America buying up resources and doing the things that a nation that is looking to be a military power and the force in the world would do to get themselves ready. Now, some of these things, you know, you don't hear about on the news every day.

They look like they're kind of just little things China's doing down there and whatever. But if we listen to what's going on, if we pay attention and we remember what the prophecy is, at the time of the end, there is a power block from the east, and as we see these bulges on the wall, one day that bulge is going to crack, and there we have something that perhaps the rest of the world, the not-wise, the understanding that they don't have that God has given you and me will be taken completely by surprise.

How did this happen? And it talks about hacking, talks about artificial intelligence. The article goes on to say that China knows everything their population is doing. They are advanced in that. They are big brother. And this Chinese company, Huawei, you know, you probably may have heard of that in the news, and one of the reasons that the United States doesn't want to trade in them more, because they look at it as something that China is spying on us on.

And China has always done that. But we know they're not the only ones who are good at hacking. All over the news is Russian hacking, right? It's all directed at what they're doing to our election systems. We know that North Korea can. We've heard that North Korea hacks our systems and whatever. So we got these powers in the east that are very adept at hacking. And that's kind of one of their ways of warfare. They're also very good at hiding, the article said, what they're doing.

They figured out how to evade the satellite systems in China so that no one knows exactly what they're working on, because they know the element of surprise. If they were to attack or be attacked, they don't want people to know exactly what they have. We, on the other hand, are very open in everything we have, so that's how they can kind of develop their weapons around it.

So we have Russia, we have North Korea, we have Russia, who Vladimir Putin, we've mentioned, has just gotten wider powers as a result of a change in the government there, as they move from a democracy to more of an autocracy. And as we see China doing the same thing, they've always been that way, but as they keep the power over their people, the North Korea is pretty much in that mix as well.

So that over the time, keep watching the east and watch what's happening. Watch what's happening as that alliance forms with each other, not with Europe, not with America, but as they form with each other. The other thing to watch, you know, is America and the King of the North, and I'll briefly go through this. You know, Brexit is a topic we do hear about recently. The British population by landslide voted Boris Johnson back in, supporting Brexit, and Brexit has been a problem for Britain, because they need a trade agreement.

As they leave the European Union, no one has done that before. What do we do? And they're looking for these trade agreements. Our president has said you can sign a trade agreement with us. And indeed, the papers say if they did that, that would be a pretty powerful trade agreement to be aligned with the largest economy in the world today.

Some speculate, it was even in the Beyond Today magazine last month, that such an alliance could even be expanded to include Canada and Australia and the nations that are there, and then you have a pretty powerful alliance there that Britain could find itself in that would be an absolute irritant to the north and to the east, right? Because it would kind of leave them as they're developing their things, that they would have this alliance of English-speaking nations that would have the supremacy in the economy.

But then we look at our economy. We look at the United States economy, almost ready to hit 30,000. It looks like the juggernaut of the world. And we've talked before how it's just a house of cards. It's not really based on anything real. It's all based on speculation. And there's reports all over the internet that you can see. You hear about it from time to time.

You know, I've got some articles here where the government or the Federal Reserve Bank keeps pouring money. Some say up to four trillion dollars has been pumped into the economy to keep it afloat. Wall Street Journal just this past Thursday came out with an article, and they, here's the title of it. It's from just January, well January 9th was today, so it came out a week ago. It says, the title of the article is, Money-Losing Companies, Mushroom. Even as stocks hit new highs, the percentage of listed companies in the red is close to 40%.

Does that sound like a healthy market? Here's what's written by James McIntosh, January 9, 2020. He says in the first paragraph, the combination of forces, he talks about some things, has pushed the percentage of listed companies in the United States losing money over 12 months to close to 40%, its highest level since the late 1990s, outside of post-recession periods.

This time there is no recession, and stock market indexes are at or near record highs. This sounds scary, although it's mainly worrying for investors in smaller companies. And so you have even economists who are worried about the economy. How long can we sustain that? How long can we keep it up? So if indeed there's an alliance that is based on our stock market, because when you look at the face of it, it looks awesome. Who ever could see? Even five years ago, we'd have a stock market at 25,000, let alone Thursday, it looks like we are absolutely on top of the world, and yet it could come crashing down in an instant just like it came so close to doing back in 2007 and 2008.

If that were to happen, if that were to happen and there was an alliance, and this is speculation, okay, if that were to happen and an alliance where Britain and America and maybe a few others have formed this alliance around the world and the bottom fell out from them, the whole world market would collapse. Everything, there would be global catastrophe, because it's all we are the ones who keep everything alive.

If that were to happen, the world would be in absolutely disrepair, it would be an absolute catastrophe if that happened. Unlike anything the world has ever seen. And somewhere, the Bible says in Revelation 13, Europe, the beast power arises and the world marvels. Here is the Savior. We have this world that's now just fallen apart, but here is this power, the king of the north that has come, that has rescued us from everything that looks so bad.

But that government isn't democratic. That government is very autocratic. That government is going to say exactly what it is. Like I said before, democracy is gone, freedom of speech is gone, freedom of religion is gone, everything we know is gone at the time before the return of Jesus Christ. So we can watch those things and watch what's going on and see what is God working out because we know what the end is. It's going to happen as sure as you and I are sitting here.

How does it happen and keep our eyes open? The other thing we can look at is what's going on in the Middle East. Because we know there will be a conglomeration of powers.

There will be a king of the south. There will be someone or some nation that rises. We have no idea who it is. Some might say that's where it was in Egypt in ancient days. Some thought it might be Iran. We see the problems going on in Iran. We don't know who it will be, but there will be a conglomeration because the Middle East since World War I has been looking for someone to unite them. And they will continue to look for that. And there will be powers that want to take the lead and others.

You know, we've had Al-Qaeda that appeared. We've had the Arab Spring back eight or ten years ago. We've had ISIS. There will be someone who will emerge as the king of the south. Keep your eyes on what's going on over there because the end result is there will be a power in the king of the south. And as we see these things develop and as you watch prophecy unfold, as God has detected, you know that it's truth, you know that His way is sure, and we won't be taken by surprise.

We'll know and we'll have the time to be preparing ourselves for what the ultimate end of prophecy is. You know, as we see these things happening around us. Peter asks a question in 1 Peter 3, 9-11. And he says, when you see all these things happen around you, what manner of people should you be? You know, if we let ourselves fall asleep, if we just kind of think, oh, everything's good, we've got decades before Jesus Christ returns, you know, we fall asleep. And what happens? We have the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25.

Some are thoroughly asleep, and everything takes them by surprise. Others are asleep, but at least they've maintained their relationship with God. Peter says, what kind of people should you be? I think we're still here in 1 Thessalonians 5. Let's continue in verse 6. 1 Thessalonians 5-6, therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the help of salvation. For God didn't appoint us, that you and me, He didn't appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Keep your eyes on the world. Remember God. Watch what's going on. And let prophecy not scare us, but motivate us to become closer and closer to Him.

So whenever that 1335 days that Daniel mentions in Daniel 12, then no one knows exactly what the 1335 days before Jesus Christ's return is, but He does say, blessed is He who comes to the 1335 days, that when that day comes, you and I will be among the blessed.