The Corona Virus in Light of Bible Prophecy

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to today's Bible study. The Bible study today is titled The Coronavirus in Light of Bible Prophecy. We continually hear about the virus from just about every perspective possible. So we're not here tonight or today to rehearse what you're continually being apprised of through the many media platforms, but we're here to determine how we should look at this as Christians. How should Christians review and view this event? And for that matter, how should all the peoples of the world view this event?

It seems that people are very perplexed trying to take advantage of it. Some people are trying to sell various products. Conspiracy theories abound. And this crisis for us should be viewed as a wake-up call for all of the peoples of the world. Regardless of the cause of the virus, God has allowed it to happen, and it should be viewed as a call to repentance.

When Jesus started his ministry, he went out saying, Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. And indeed, it is a time for repentance. It's a time to get on our knees and beseech God that he would deliver us. It should serve as a time for self-examination.

And coming to grips with the fact that we're not in control of our physical existence, our existential being in the physical sense, but we can determine where we will spend eternity. God will not always plead with humankind. The prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 55 and verse 6, Seek you the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Even with all the wake-up calls that God sends to his people and has sent through the ages. You can read in Matthew 23 about the many wake-up calls that God sends to the nation of Israel, and yet they kill the prophets that he sent to them.

God is sending a wake-up call to the whole world now and to his church.

And when the bridegroom knocks on the door, will you be ready? According to the prophecy, only half of the people will be ready. So will you be one of the wise virgins with your lamps filled with oil? We know that those who are not ready will have the door slammed in their face.

Will you and I be ready? What we're facing with the coronavirus is as if a nuclear bomb has been dropped on the whole world. An invisible enemy, a virus suddenly erupts on the scene, and people by the thousands become infected, and thousands are dying. The whole world goes into panic mode, and the people look to governmental leaders, the medical profession, and science to find a cure, a way that they might be delivered, a way that they might be protected.

And a few religious leaders speak up, but they don't know what we know.

Fox News is running a short spot, has been with Franklin Graham, but instead of urging the people to fall on their knees and repent, he issues, as it were, an altar call to ask them to give their heart to the Lord. And we do need to give our hearts of very being to God and Christ.

But we can only do that in the truest sense of the word, upon repentance and upon understanding what God is doing here with the sons of man. Some people may mention God, but they are not really looking to him. And they surely don't understand the great questions of life.

Who is God? What is God? What is His purpose? Who is man? What is man? And what is His purpose?

Who is God? God is our Father. What is God? God is spirit, and His purpose is to bring sons and daughters to glory in His family. Who is man? Well, man is made in the image of God with faculties akin to God. He can think. He can reason what is man. Man is made of the dust of the ground. He is mortal and subject to sin and death. But His purpose, the great overriding purpose of humankind, His transcendental purpose that excels all others is to become a glorious, radiant spirit being in the kingdom of God. So here we are in a worldwide pandemic that came about through a gene mutation, perhaps, of some kind of virus, and it was produced through genetic engineering in a laboratory and accidentally released. Or some say in content that was released on purpose.

But whatever the case, a virus is not the result of the Lamb of God opening the seven seals of Revelation. So we need to know the sequence of events that are revealed in the Bible so we will not be deceived. We read in Revelation 13 and verse 8. Revelation 13 and verse 8, And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. Notice all except those who are, whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, will be deceived. Will you be one of the ones that is deceived? Or will you know and know that you know the sequence of events that are revealed in God's holy scriptures? So let's note who opens the seven seals of the book of Revelation.

In Revelation chapter 5 and verse 1, And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside seal with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof.

And we go down now and we look at verse 5. And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. So it is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the lion of Judah, who is worthy and who is able to open the seals. And I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elder stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. Of course, the eye is the light of the eye, and right now the church of God is supposed to be a light set on a hill, and that we are not to let our light be blinded, that we are to let our light shine, we're not to put it under a bushel, we are to proclaim boldly the Word of God. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and twenty-four elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them lamps of golden vials, full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. Yes, the prayers of saints, and now is a time to pray as never before, because it is the prayer of the saints that seems to change things. And so often when God's people were in trouble through prayer and fasting, God did intervene. And they sang a new song saying, You are worthy to take the book to open the seals thereof, for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.

And has made us unto God, kings, and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.

Yes, the Lamb is the one who is worthy to open the seals.

We look now at the world scene, and we ask, well, what are the events that are prophesied before Jesus Christ comes again?

In Matthew 24, we see that many faults Christ will arise and deceive many.

We hear of wars and rumors of war, and we know from the book of Revelation that the city of Jerusalem is going to be divided. We're here in Revelation in chapter 6, and I'm sorry, in chapter 11. You can look there, and let's look briefly there at Revelation chapter 11.

And there was given me a reed like unto a rod, and the angel stood saying, Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar, and them that worship therein. Right now, there is no temple. The Arabs are in control of the temple mount, the temple mount and the edifice on the temple mount are administered by Jordan, by the royal family of Jordan. But the court which is without the temple leave out and measure it, for it is given to the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot for forty-two months. Of course, the temple has not yet even been built, and at the present time, there are two Arab mosques on the temple mount, and the Jews are really forbidden to even go on the temple mount. They talk about sacrificing a Passover lamb on the temple mount this year, and they've tried that in the past, but usually they're turned away by the Israeli police. So how are the Jews going to be able to gain control of the temple mount? It will be either through some kind of great calamity that comes upon the world, or warfare, and or diplomacy, and some kind of peace treaty.

So we see that from Revelation chapter 6 that Jerusalem is still standing when it is given over to the nations. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians, he was writing as if Jesus Christ was going to come immediately, and then in chapter 2 he he lets us know that it may be some time, and he gives definite signs with regard to when that time will come. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him. Our gathering together unto him. When is that going to happen? That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first. The Greek word falling away, apostasia, departing from the truth, a false teaching, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. See, there were even apparently letters going out as if they were coming from the apostle Paul, saying that the day of the Lord is at hand, and Paul writes and sets the record straight and lets them know. Now we look at verses 4 and 5.

The son of perdition has to be revealed, Paul says, and then verse 4, who comes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. So a false, a pseudo-Messiah is going to come on the scene and sit in a temple according to the word of God, so that would mean that the temple would have to be built. At the present time, the Jews have made preparation for the building of the temple. The Temple Institute has devoted itself to identifying the Cohan priesthood through DNA testing. They have prepared the garments and the utensils that are used in temple worship, and they are ready to go with a building but they have not yet secured the temple mount. They have not yet purified it with the sprinkling of the ashes of a red heifer, but they say all that is ready to go. Verse 5, Remember you not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things. So the word of God is very clear, and he goes on talking about some of the things that are going to happen and how the deception takes place.

Look at verse 9, And him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders. Of course, miracles is not necessarily a sign that it is from God.

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, in them perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. You have to develop your own love affair with the truth of God. No one can do that for you to love the truth. And for this cause, why? Because they did not love the truth. God shall send them strong delusion. Yes, God will allow them to be deceived, and they shall believe a lie, as it says in the Old King James. There is no indefinite article in Greek, so it should be the lie. What is the lie? That that one that is sitting in the temple, saying that he is God, he is a liar and a deceiver, and of Satan the devil. Now let's go back to Revelation chapter 6 and the six seals. We have seen that so far that Jesus Christ is the one who is worthy to open the six seals. Actually, it's seven, but the verse six we're going to look at, first of all, here in Revelation chapter 6 and verse 1. So what we have seen so far that Jerusalem has to be given over to the nations for 1260 days. We've seen that the temple has to be built and sent a perdition to sit in that temple, saying that he is God. And we've also read Revelation 13 8, which says that everyone whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life will be deceived by this power that is coming upon the earth. In Revelation 6 verse 1, And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, and of the four beasts saying, Come and see, and I saw, and behold, a white horse.

And a white horse generally represents peace. And of course, in Matthew 24, it prophesies that false Christ will come and say, and we know that this one that sits in the temple of God says that he is Christ. And at that time, a pseudo-peace is on the face of the earth. But at the same time, it is a deception. And he that sat on him had a bow. And a bow is symbolic of military might and power. And a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. So a time comes, especially when the second seal is open, that the red horse goes forward. So look at verse 4. There went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him, and thereon to take peace from the earth. So that means some kind of pseudo-peace was on the earth. And this red horse, this power that wages war, takes peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another, and there was given unto him a great sword.

So who knows what kind of weapons, weapons that perhaps we have never even seen, will be unleashed during that time. And many people will fall under that sword, those weapons, sword being generic for those weapons. In verse 5, and when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see, and I beheld and lo, a black horse. And he that sat upon him had a pair of spallances in his hand, and I heard a voice in the midst of the fourth beast say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see you hurt not the oil and the wine.

So here, this black horse represents famine. Of course, we're in a situation now with this virus, in which people could begin to really feel hunger pains, especially those who are in the high-rise buildings of the various mega-opolises across the world in cities like New York, and Paris, and Tokyo, and Beijing, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and Houston, and many other places on the face of the earth.

We'll talk a little more about that later. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked and behold a pale horse, and his name that set unto him was Death, and the grave, Hades, not Gehenna, and Hades followed with him, and powers given unto him over the fourth part of the earth. In some parts of the world, they don't know what to do with the dead bodies, like in Italy, even at the present time, and what's happening now is nothing like what is going to happen.

And some of the prognostications that some have made with regard to the coronavirus has not turned out to be nearly as deadly, not as many people infected as they said, not as many people have died, as I said, and the ratio of those infected has been lower than what they projected.

And of course, you have the fear mongers out there trying to, trying to scare people with regard to all of these kind of things. But this pale horse, when it goes forth, takes one-fourth of the people of the earth. Now, the population of the earth at the present time is said to be eight billion, or approaching eight billion, so one-fourth of that would be two billion people dead as this pale horse comes forth.

This is unbelievable. One out of four people on the face of the earth. Virtually every family on the face of the earth would be affected by it. And then we come to Revelation chapter 6 and verse 9, and when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony in which they held.

And through the ages, there have been martyrs for the word of God. Some people have given their lives for the word of God, even to be able to translate the Bible into the language of the common people and have given their lives, perhaps not even really understanding the great questions of life and really what the great transcendental purpose of humankind is to understand really that God is bringing sons and daughters, spirit, begotten-born sons and daughters, to glory in his family.

And so there will be people who will die and martyrdom for the truth in the future. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw those under the altar, verse 10, and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them, and white robes are symbolic of righteousness, and was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little while, until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be killed.

Then after those five seals are opened, then comes the opening of the sixth seal, and things really begin to change with this. In the opening of the first of the five seals, humankind plays a great role, and we could say perhaps that is Satan's wrath. But what is coming with the opening of the sixth seal is the wrath of God and the Lamb, as we shall read in just a moment. It is when God directly begins to intervene, and he is the one who is orchestrating the events that ensue with the opening of the sixth seal.

So we are now Revelation 6 and verse 12, and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.

This is God's doing. It is not the doing of man. It is not the result of any kind of blood and moon that results from natural phenomena that happens now and then in the course of the natural cycles that have been ordained of God.

But this is God's direct intervention, the moon becoming as blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig tree cast her untimmed, timely figs. And stars, of course, can be symbolic of angels and demonic powers. God is going to shake the powers of heaven and earth.

And when she is, when she is shaken of a mighty wind, and the heaven departed as a scroll when it rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. No human being can do this. The islands and the mountains are moved out of their places. Can you imagine the great destruction that will ensue from this, the tsunami waves that will be created? And the kings of the earth and the great men, the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond man, and every freemen, head themselves and the dens and the rocks of the mountains.

See, nothing will save them then. No gold, no silver, no doctor, no political power, no political leader, no one sitting in the temple of God saying that he is God. He'll be revealed for what he is, son of perdition, a false messiah.

And said to the mountains, fall on us, fall on us, hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Notice, hide a face that sits on the throne. See, the Lamb got the book out of the hand of the one that sat on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? So, brethren, we see here that God directly intervenes, and then the seventh trump is introduced, and the seventh trumpets are divided into seven, the seventh trump is divided into seven trumpets, and then the seventh trumpet is divided into seven bowls of wrath. Let's notice now in Revelation 8 and verse 1, the first of the seven trumpets in chapter 7, an inset chapter in which the 144,000 are sealed, 12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel, and in chapter 8, the trumpet plagues began to be poured out, and they are poured out supernaturally by an angel and when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven in the space of half an hour.

See, the Lamb is still the one that opens the seal, and I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints. As we read from chapter 5, the prayers of the saints waft up before the nostrils of God as a sweet odor, and they make a difference. It is when these prayers come up that these trumpet plagues began to be unveiled upon the golden altar which was before the throne and the smoke of the incense which came up with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And so, the seven trumpets are, the first four of the seven trumpets are unleashed upon the environment. And then, in chapter 9, after the four trumpets are unleashed upon the environment, then the plagues began to torment directly humankind. Notice verse 1 of chapter 9, the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven under the earth, and to him was given a key to the bottomless pit. And he out upon the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke of great, a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out locusts upon the face of the earth, and unto them were given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. The scorpions of the earth have power to steam. Of course, there's a plague of locusts now, plaguing Africa, parts of Africa, and also plaguing the Middle East, not the Middle East, I'm sorry, in Asia. These plagues of locusts are as large as some cities. They darken the earth, they blot out the sun, and they're eating crops at a ferocious rate, and Africa will surely be facing starvation at the close of this coronavirus, even if that were not the case, because of the locust plagues and other factors that go into it.

Then we'll notice in verse 12, Noah wrote verse 11 here, Revelation 9 and verse 11, and the name of the star is called wormwood, and the third part of the waters became wormwood because many died of the waters. Oh, I'm reading the wrong verse.

I mean, I want chapter 9, and I was in chapter 8, and chapter 9, and verse 11, and they had a king, that is, the locusts who had a sting like a scorpion, and they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue had his name Apollyon, which means destroyer. So you see, the angels of God opened the first four seals, and then here is an angel at the bottomless pit, and then the angel that opens, that begins to open the trumpet, the sixth trumpet.

We notice that in verse 12 and 13, one woe is passed, so the fifth trumpet plague is called the first woe, and behold there came two woes more hereafter, and the six angels sat and heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet, loose the four angels which were bound in the great river Euphrates.

And so here these trumpet plagues are poured out, and the trumpet plagues come to the trumpet plagues, the first, the, I'm sorry, the plagues five and six are the first two woes, and we notice that in Revelation 15, the seventh trumpet plague is divided in the seven bowls of wrath. And so in Revelation 15 verse 6, and the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. See, once again, it is God who is in control, directing the trumpet plagues and the seven bowls of wrath, although demons may be involved in it as well. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever, and the temple was filled with smoke after the glory of God, and from his power no man was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. So we see the sequence of events here. The seven seals are open, the seven trumpet plagues are poured out, the first four trumpet plagues are on the environment, the next two on humankind directly constituting the first two woes, and then the third of the woes, the third woe, is the seven vials of wrath.

In chapter 11, we go back there once again to chapter 11.

We notice once again there that the city of Jerusalem is divided into two parts and the outer court given to the Gentiles to tread down for 1260 days, and then we see the advent of the two witnesses.

Revelation 11.3, I will give power unto the two witnesses, and of course the two witnesses have not come on the scene, and they prophesy from Jerusalem. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks that are standing before the God of the earth. And of course that hearkens back to the prophecy in Zachariah chapter 4 of the two olive trees, the two sons of oil, and they have power, supernatural power given to them.

What we notice with regard to them that they are killed by the one that ascends out of the bottomless pit. Verse 7, and when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them, and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city. And that great city in this case is Jerusalem. We know that because it says which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Eventually, as it says in Daniel chapter 11 verses 44-45, the beast power plants his headquarters in Jerusalem. This is the Word of God. This is not speculation. This is not what I say. This is what the Bible says.

And then in chapter 11, once again we see, I repeat what we read in Revelation 15, and the seventh angel sounded, there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the 24 elders which sat before God on their thrones fell upon their faces and worshiped God, saying, we give thanks unto you.

So the two witnesses give their lives. They are caught up. It says, come up here and rest as it were. Verse 11 of chapter 11, the Spirit of God enters into them.

You notice in Revelation 11, 18, and the nations were angry. Your wrath has come in the time of the dead that they should be judged and that you should give reward unto your servants, the prophets and to the saints and to them that fear your name, small and great, and you should destroy them which destroy the earth. Yes, the nations are mad and they are going to get even more angry when the seven bowls of wrath are poured out. So we go now to chapter 16. The bowls of wrath are poured out. Revelation 16 verse 1, And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of the God upon the earth.

And the first, when it poured out, is vile upon the earth, and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

Remember Revelation 13, 8, everyone whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life are going to be deceived and worship the beast. So pour out your this vial upon those that have the mark of the beast, upon them that worship his image. And then we see some of the other bowls of wrath poured out. And we come now down to verse 10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seed of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they're gnawed their tongues for pain. You can't imagine what the world would be like if the power grid were to go out. Of course, some of the conspiracy theories are talking about the power grid going out, and what are you going to do, and all of that. And of course, we should, and there may be temporary power outages there have been in the past. And the wise person would make some kind of preparation. Do you have a flashlight? Do you have a lantern? Do you have a lamp or anything like that? This is not in response to a bowl of wrath, because this darkness comes from Almighty God, and there's nothing they can do about it. But notice how they respond to, their kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. So apparently they come to understand, well, this is from God, but I'm not going to repent. I'm going to hang on. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon.

That's Satan the devil. That old serpent, Satan the devil, who is deceiving the whole world, Revelation 12, 9, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

These three are still in league to the very end, for they are the spirits of devils, working miracles which go forth in the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. And then there is an inset verse here, a warning to all of us. Verse 15, Revelation 16, 15, Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches and keeps his garment lest he walk naked, and they shall see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial unto the air. There was a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, it is done. Now that we see that from the book of Revelation, and now we want to go back to Matthew 24 and see the events there, the definite markers, perhaps greater markers with greater imprint, perhaps upon our minds, that we can actually see then these events that lie in the future that are described here in Revelation, of the opening of the seven seals and the seven trumpets and the seven bowls of wrath. In Matthew 24, the apostles come to Jesus Christ in the first three verses and ask him, what is the sign of your coming in the end of the age? And Jesus gives him some of the signs that will come. We read verse 7, Matthew 24 verse 7, nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There shall be famines, pestilence, earthquakes in different places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows. So we are in that time, I believe, of the beginning of sorrows. You notice also in verse 5, we mention with the opening of the seals, many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ and shall deceive many and this special one, the one, the son of perdition, who sits in the temple of God, saying that he is God and does all those signs and wonders and through those signs and wonders deceives the world and he is destroyed by the brightness of the coming of Jesus Christ. You shall hear wars, rumors of wars, see that you be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. And so the end is not yet with regard to our work, according to what we read here in the scripture, and there is more. In Matthew 24 and verse 15, but when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, of course this gives credence to the book of Daniel and the words that Daniel spoke that are recorded in the book of Daniel.

When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, who so reads let him understand. Who so reads let him understand. Then it begins to talk about the actions of very various people as they see that day coming upon them.

And you notice verse 21, for then, when, then, when the abomination of desolation is placed, then shall be great tribulation. The abomination of desolation has not been placed. In fact, the temple has not even been built and much less the man of sin, the son of perdition, sitting in the temple of God saying that he is God. The two witnesses have not offered their testimony. So we know from this that there is yet a lot to come and a lot to be done.

So the abomination of desolation, as we shall now see from the book of Daniel, marks a countdown to the end. So if we go now to Daniel 11, first of all verse 31, when you therefore shall see, now I'm quoting Revelation 24 and verse 15, we therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet. Let him who reads take heed in Daniel 11 and verse 31.

An arm shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate.

Now a type of this happened in the past with Antiochus Epiphanes, one of these eluded leaders, after the death of Alexander the Great. His kingdom, his empire, was divided into four divisions and given to four of his generals, and one of the generals was Seleucid, and it was called the Seleucid Empire. It included Palestine and modern-day Syria, and extended all the way to India, and one of those rulers in circa 167 BC polluted the restoration temple and offered swine's blood upon the altar, and the daily sacrifice was taken away.

But we shall see from this that was a type of what was to happen. Once again, we'll read verse 31 and continue, and then go to chapter 12. An arm shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he corrupt by flatteries. But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall be helped with a little help, and many shall cleave to them with the flatteries. And some of them of understanding shall fall to try them, to purge and to make them white, even to the time of the end. The time of the end. Time after time in Daniel chapter 11, and also Daniel chapter 12, he speaks of the time of the end. The Hebrew word gets, q-e-t-s, gets, has to do with the end time, because it is yet for a time appointed. Then we pick it up again in chapter 12 with, you see, the abomination of desolation is placed, and the daily sacrifice is taken away. Of course, the Jews have planned to restore temple worship. As I've already noted, they have already procured the, all of the instruments necessary for temple worship. They have made the garments for the priesthood, identified the priestly line, and that what is holding them back, of course, is access to the temple mount, and some kind of piece of cord that would allow them to build a temple on the temple mount. Now we are in Daniel chapter 12.

We start in verse, we'll start in verse 8, and I heard, but I understood not. Of course, you should read all of 11 and 12.

Then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go your way, Daniel.

For the words are closed up and sealed to the time of the end. Many shall be purified and made white, and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly. And we read from Revelation chapter 9, and also from Revelation chapter 16, that in the face of all these various things, that people do not repent, do not turn to God. But the wise shall understand, and from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away in the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. And blessed is he that waits and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. So the setting up of the abomination of desolation marks a countdown to the end. Once again, in verse 11, and from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away. And we read in Daniel 11, 31, that sacrifice being taken away, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. And blessed is he that waits and comes to the three hundred and thirty-five days. So we see now the order of events. And so let us let us at this time review what we have said to this point.

In Revelation chapter 5, it is the Lamb of God who is worthy to open the seven seals.

The Lamb of God takes the book out of the hand of him that sits on the throne, and the seals are open one by one. The white horse goes forth with a bow conquering and to conquer. And apparently some kind of peace accord is reached, and there are false christs also at that time. But then there arises this one who sits in the temple of God, as described in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, claiming that he is God, and people are deceived. The whole world is deceived by the signs and wonders that he performs. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life are not deceived by this one, the Son of Perdition, the man of sin who sits in the temple of God. And so we see then the red horse taking peace from the earth, and with the sword a lot of people are slain in this warfare. We see the black horse and famine. We see the pale horse and one-fourth of humankind is killed. We see the fifth seal, and we see in vision those that were martyred through the ages, crying out symbolically, oh Lord, how long till you really intervene? And then when the sixth seal is open, God begins to intervene. It introduces the day of the Lord and the wrath of the Lamb. And it also introduces the trumpet plagues. And we find that the trumpet plagues are divided into seven trumpets, the first four on the environment, and then we have the first and second woe described in Revelation chapter 9. And then we see in chapter 11 that the seventh angel begins to sound, and the kingdom of God and Christ are given to them. The kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of God and Christ. That's Revelation 11 in verse 15. And of course, then the nations are very angry because that God is taking to power and beginning to exert his influence upon the world and upon the sons of men. Then when the seventh angel sounds, the seven trumpet plagues, then the seven bowls of wrath are unleashed. And we read about how devastating that is upon the sons of men.

We read about the darkness, and we read about gathering the nations together to the place called Armageddon. And we see that when the abomination of desolation is placed, there's great tribulation such as never was, and that marks a countdown. And from Daniel 1131, we see that the beast power takes the daily sacrifice away and places the abomination of desolation.

Then in Daniel chapter 12, we see that from the time that the abomination of desolation is placed, that a countdown begins. 1290 days, blessed is he that comes to the 1290 days and then the 1335 days. So, brethren, how are the things that are going on now affected you? Most of the people of the world do not even understand why they exist in the first place.

First place. Their only hope is to hear, and now.

So, when their immediate lives are threatened, the innate desire and drive for self-survival kicks into gear. For most people, turning to God is not in their thoughts.

They cannot return to God because they have never been there in the first place. So, what about you and I? How has this crisis affected our thinking? For decades in the Church of God, we have based our messages to a large degree on the understanding of end-time events based on the rise and fall of empires and nations. And much of our prophecy and prophetic message was based on duality. That is, it happened in the past, it's going to happen in the future.

And the ancient world was structured according to national and natural boundaries.

After Noah's flood and the tower of Babel debacle, God had divided the peoples, the sons of Noah, into their various inheritances and told them to go out, be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. They rebelled and they built their tower of Babel. And they were all of one language, and God began to confound their languages and force them to go to their various inheritances.

And so, we read in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 8 that God is the one that sets the bounds and habitations of nations. You can read in Genesis chapter 10 about the table of nations and what God did there. In those days, travel and communication was really slow. The nations of the world were somewhat quarantined by national and natural boundaries. And most of the church's in-time prophetic scenarios were developed along the ancient structural lines of nations.

Now, what single invention? And of course, it's difficult to say it was a single invention because many inventions led to this, but this what the advent of the internet changed the world in a way that it had never been before. What might be called the germinal beginning of the internet is said to have taken place in 1969 with the advent of what was called the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, ARPANET, ARPANET as it was called, the acronym A-R-P-A-N-E-T. But the World Wide Web was not launched until 1989, so the World Wide Web is 31 years old approximately, now live and in color, almost real-time communication from any location on the face of the earth as possible. And it's going to increase, so almost real-time, actual as an event happens, can be communicated with 5G technology. And along with the World Wide Web came the global economy, and we have seen what has happened on the world scene with regard to the stock market when this virus has hit the world and practically shut down the stock market. The stock market, as of today, has begun to recover to some degree, but who knows, tomorrow it may go down again, depending on what the news is, especially out of Washington. Now, the world has returned to Babylon.

The limitations placed on the nations when God divided the nations and confounded their languages has been eradicated. The so-called superpower nations with nuclear bombs have been held in check by what is called the MAD, the Mutually Assured Destruction Doctrine.

If you bomb us, we'll bomb you and we'll both be destroyed. So the Mutually Assured Destruction Doctrine has kept the nations apart to some degree, but now the world is facing an unseen enemy, and the verdict is still out on how the coronavirus came into existence.

But we have seen from Scripture the events that must be fulfilled before the end of this age, and it seems from reading those Scriptures that once again things will return and the economy will come up once again, and then the advent of those events that we talked about in Revelation and also Matthew 24 and from the book of Daniel. The verdict is still out on how the coronavirus came into existence. Viruses have existed through the ages, and they have killed millions. Scientists thought the Spanish flu was a result of a bacterial mutation.

It was not until the 1930s that a microscope was invented that was powerful enough to see a virus. In 1918, the world was fighting a world war, and in what you might call the beginning of the beginning of the really crank up of the industrial revolution, though the industrial revolution had begun many decades before in Europe and had come to the U.S., but the industrial revolution was now in full swing with the advent of the automobile and Henry Ford's assembly line, and people were moving to the cities changing the demographics of the world.

The industrial revolution, world war, advancements in travel, and communication began to shift the demographics of the nation from an agrarian society to an urban society with more and more people crammed into small areas. Today, almost 90 percent of the U.S. population lives in a metropolitan area, and those who don't live in a metropolitan area probably live about 50 miles from one. Rural America has disappeared in ghost towns, rundown buildings, and the old school houses haunt the rural countryside today, and so it is far more difficult to prevent the spread of any communicable disease today.

The advent of immunization against deadly diseases of the past have made it possible for many of those diseases to be pretty much under control.

I remember how as a child growing up in the early years, how people talked about smallpox and how dread smallpox was, and I remember the day that I got the vaccination for smallpox. I know the church has, in some cases, been against vaccinations because of possible side effects.

In about 1963, when I was coming into the truth, my wife and I were coming into the truth.

The Sunday afternoon arrived at the high school. We were not yet attending church. We were reading the booklets, studying. The high school, you could go get your vaccination, receive the polio vaccine, the Salk vaccine. I remember the struggle in my mind. Would I be vaccinated or not? Would my wife? Would my daughters? Of course, I knew about polio. One of my cousins was a victim of polio, and it was fairly common to see others who had been crippled with that horrible disease.

But my wife and daughters received the vaccination that day.

At this point, there is no vaccine for the coronavirus, and there are, once again, we have those of the conspiratorial nature and some saying that they want to vaccinate you and you can't go back to work until you receive a vaccination. People will be anxious to get the coronavirus. Some say that this vaccination would be linked to the mark of the beast, but the mark of the beast has to do with worshiping the beast and receiving a mark. I doubt this is it, but we have to be on guard for everything. At a present time, isolation is the best way to stop the spread of the virus. But today, because of the structure of society and the change in the demographics of the nation, it's very difficult to do to make people stay at home. And also, they're dependent on someone else for their daily food and other items necessary for food and also to maintain sanitary conditions. So the human race is trapped, and as the president has said, eventually people have to return to work or the economy fails. The food supply chain is broken, and people are left to fend for themselves. So what will happen if that food chain is broken? The health system fails. So once again, we need to be wise. We need to take whatever precautions that we need to and be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

You couple the fact that a large percentage of American diet consists of processed foods.

So the factories have to run, and the butcher shops have to cut the meat, and so on and so on it goes.

They can't depend on the smokehouse or salt down food or anything like that. They are not growing vegetables, so they can't can the vegetables the way we used to do back on the farm.

And even then, growing up on the farm, we had to go to town for some of the staples, even way back then.

So we live in a totally different world. The jet age, the space age, the nuclear age, the internet age, making possible almost instant communication by various platforms, including so-called social media, the global economy, urbanization, killing of the unborn, acceptance of homosexuality, God is mocked, public prayers virtually banned, 10 commandments cannot be displayed in public, evolution is taught as a scientific fact, the rise of Islam and its threat against the western world, and especially Christianity, and the list goes on.

We speak of various things in prophecy, we speak of duality, and much of our attention is focused on the military and political issues and consequences. Not to say that those things are not important, yet in less than three months, we're practically brought to a grinding halt by an invisible enemy, and it's probably going to get worse before it gets better.

So we need to turn to God as never before. We indeed need to take the admonition that we'll read about in just a moment from Isaiah and from Amos, prepare to meet your God.

You know, in the model prayer we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and we yearn for the kingdom of God, but at what price comes the kingdom of God?

There's an enigmatic scripture in Amos that we want to read. Now let's go to Amos and the minor prophets, and we want to go to Amos chapter five. Amos was a gatherer of figs, and God called him to be a prophet. He tried to resist, but there was no way he could get out of it. He was sent to prophesy, and so he did. So let's go to Amos. I'm trying to get there myself at the present time.

In Amos chapter five, in Amos chapter five and verse 18, we're not supposed to put our hands to our mouth, but I just licked my finger. So in Amos chapter five, in verse 18, woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord. To what end is it for you?

The day of the Lord is darkness and not light, as if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, even very dark, and no brightness in it?

And we saw that the stars of heaven fall, and the moon becomes his blood, and it's a day of darkness and gloominess. God would, pleading that humankind would repent. God is not anxious to open the seven seals and pour out the trumpet plagues and the vials of wrath.

Millions of people are going to die during that time. Of course, I know on the other hand, we pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And the kingdom will come. The question is, will we be ready, and where will we stand? Now let's go back to Amos chapter four. In Amos chapter four, and God takes the northern kingdom especially to task here, the northern kingdom, after it was divided under the rule of Jeroboam, they continued a fault system of worship. They changed the time of the feast, and they changed the priesthood, and the sacrifices to some degree, but they continued to sacrifice.

So, notice Amos four verse one. Hear the word, euchine, eucatl, eucals of Baishan, better in the mountain of Samaria. Samaria was the capital main city, the northern kingdom there, which will press the poor, which crush the needy, which say to the masters, bring and let us drink.

The Lord God has sworn by his holiness that lo, the day shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks and your posterity with fish hooks.

So, God will put a hook into the jaw, into the head, into the mind, into the heart.

He will plead with all flesh. In verse four, come to Beth El. Beth El, Beth is the Hebrew word for house El, one of the primary names of God. Come to the house of God and transgress at Gilgal.

A multiply transgression. Bring your sacrifice every morning in your tithes after three years. So, no matter what you're doing with regard to that, if it is not done the way that God specifies that it be done in truth, all of his ways are done truth, it is like an abomination to him.

And offer sacrifice at thanksgiving with leaven. See, God wants us to offer sacrifice with a pure heart, with a pure heart, unfeigned love for the brethren, and proclaim and publish the free offerings for this like you. O you children of Israel, says the Lord God, and I also have given you cleanest of teeth in all your cities, one of bread in all your places. Yet have you not returned into me, says the Lord. I withheld rain from you, and when there was yet three months to the harvest, I caused it to rain upon one city, causing not to rain upon another city. One piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained, not withered. So two or three cities wandered into one city to drink water. You see, they leave the cities. They begin to go to other places to find food, to find drink. We can hope that does not happen in what we are facing today. I submit you with blasting, with mildew, when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increase, the pommel worm devoured them. Yet have you not returned to me. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt. Young men have I slain with a sword. How many young men have died in vain and wars? And I've taken away your horses. I've made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils. And we won't go there about the stink. Yet have you not returned to me, says the Eternal. I've overthrown some of you as God over through Sodom and Gomorrah. And you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. Yet you have not returned to me. Therefore, thus will I do unto you, O Israel, and because I will do this unto you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. So that is what God is saying to us today. Prepare to meet your God, no matter what happens with coronavirus or any other thing. None of us know how much more time we have left to live in the flesh.

Verse 13, for lo, he that forms the mountains and creates the wind and declares unto man, what is his thought that makes the morning darkness and treads upon the high places of earth? The eternal, the God of hosts, is his name. So God says to seek him. We go to chapter 5 now, verse 4. For thus says the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live.

But seek not Beth El, nor enter into Gilgal, where false worship is being done, and pass not to Beersheba, for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth El shall come to nothing. And so it is. Seek the Lord, and ye shall live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph. Joseph sometime used generically for the whole twelve tribes, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth El. You who turn judgment to wormwood and leave off righteousness in the earth. Seek him that made the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death in the morning, makes the day dark with night, that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth. The eternal is his name. So this is the time to seek God. Look at verse 12, for I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins, they afflict the just, they take a bribe, they turn away the poor in the gate from the right. Now we go to Isaiah in the prophecy there in Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5, many times we quote especially, woe to those who call evil good and good evil. And so we are in that period of time in which that is happening. Evil is called good, and good is called evil. In this prophecy in Isaiah chapter 5, speaking in figurative terms in verse 1, God likens Israel to his vineyard. He talks about how he has dressed them, kept them, and taken care of them. In verse 3, and now inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge I pray you between me and my vineyard. What have you done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes. And now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard, I will take away the hedge thereof. And so the hedge has been taken away at least temporarily from the peoples of the world, and they're panicking. They don't know where to go. And of course they go to government, they go to doctors, they go to science, and of course you have to do some of that. You need to survive. You need to be able to continue to support the work of God and to be involved in carrying out the great commission that we have before us.

But God says that he is going to intervene. Verse 6, I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned or digged, but there shall come upon it briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they reign, no reign, upon it. For the vineyards of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah his pleasant plant, and he look for judgment, but behold oppression, for righteousness, but behold a cry. And so the peoples of the world have cried out.

They have wanted God to be taken away from their view. They want to hear smooth things. They don't want to hear the things of God, and so God says, I am going to eventually intervene. Now, as we are experiencing what we're experiencing, who knows how this came to be? But it is, and we must deal with what is. So once again, the seals of revelation have not yet been opened. The trumpet of plagues have not been poured out. So we could reason that this too shall pass, and we can get on with our daily business as usual. Will we continue to be lackadaisical, play on the edges of a lukewarm society, and yet somehow think we're God's people?

Or will we become zealous, fervently, filled with zeal for the work of God?

As I wrote in the Chairman's letter of March 18th, these are the beginnings of sorrows, and just like so many important events have served as a turning point, so will this event.

COVID-19 will be a major benchmark in modern history. Will we become zealous and seek to do God's will as never before? These questions are open-ended questions for you to fill in the blank.

Let's all diligently pray that God will grant us repentance, and that God will stop the spread of the virus. And I know that sadly, just like we read about when the bowls of wrath are poured out and the trumpet plagues, that many will blame God, curse God, and turn even more into lawlessness and iniquity. God is saying to the whole world at this present time, and of course, it is up to the Church of God to take the message of hope to the world. The only hope they have for them to come to understand who is God, our loving Father, what is God, His Spirit, and what is His purpose? To bring sons and daughters to glory. Spirit-born sons and daughters to glory in His family. Who is man? Man made in the image of God. What is man made of the dust of the ground? But His purpose is to become begotten of God's Spirit and born into God's family.

We need to take this message to the world, and God is saying to the world right now, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me. So, brethren, I hope that we take heed and that we understand and we do what we need to do in a time like this. For who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for a time like this?