Daniel 11: The World at War

Okay, if you turn over to Daniel 11, that's where we're going to be part of the time today. If you enjoy history, you can go over to our website, ucg.org. And there you can look for our Bible commentary. We have the whole Old Testament done. If you want to take a look at Daniel 11, there is a special handout done by Tom Robinson. He will go through every verse of this chapter. The portion I want to cover with you, he does not hit very hard, but the first 39 verses he goes through in great detail. And so if you want to go through all of the history, the first 39 verses of Daniel 11, I would suggest that you get that handout. Go online, read it if you don't have the internet. Ask one of your brothers and sisters here to download that for you, print that off for you. I think you'll find it to be very helpful. What you see in those 39 verses is a basic history of the futility of warfare. You see the king of the south fighting the king of the north. One side will win, and the other will be vanquished. After a few more years, the tables are turned again and again and again. The first 39 verses, well, actually throughout the course of the 11th chapter of Daniel, there are over 100 prophecies that Daniel wrote that have already been fulfilled.

Daniel 11 is one of the great chapters in the Bible in terms of proving God and the existence of God. So we certainly don't want to give that short change, but I do want to emphasize the latter times. So having said that, let's go over to chapter 11 here, and we're going to start in verse 40. We're going to go through the end of the chapter, but we're also going to be looking at fairly good portions of the book of Revelation. There's a couple of minor prophets we're going to look at as well.

A little bit more background, though, before we actually start getting into the end of Daniel 11. In the book of Daniel, the term the end of the age is used several times. Daniel describes a time just prior to the return of Jesus Christ. During that period of time, there is a leader called the King of the South.

There's also a leader called the King of the North. You see how that is set up in those first 39 verses, historically. What's the story behind—and I want to give just a little bit of detail to this—what is the story behind this impending, prophesied clash of civilizations. Brethren, you are seeing that right now in your news.

You are seeing a clash of civilizations. You are seeing Christendom and Islam clashing. It's going to happen more frequently, with much more bloodshed, with a lot more turmoil as time goes along. That's something you want to be looking out for. Because at the end of the age, just prior to the return of Jesus Christ, there is going to be a strong man in Europe. That strong man, we believe, is referred to in the Scriptures as the Beast. I don't know exactly the kind of personality he has—the Bible doesn't say—but perhaps he might be the kind of person that people are going to want to follow.

He may be a charismatic individual. He certainly will be somebody who is very adept politically. He's going to help unite Europe and that will be the king of the north.

The king of the south may well be a Muslim. He may well be, in his own right, a very charismatic individual. For many years, the dream of Muslims everywhere has been the restoration of a caliph. They are looking for a successor to the beloved prophet Muhammad. Muhammad established the Islamic religion in 600 AD.

They are looking for a transnational caliphate, denoting the time of authority, great authority of this individual, to bring order to all of the Muslim world. In terms of a clash of civilizations, you may expect—and we don't know for sure—but you may expect to see a strong man in Europe and also a strong man in the Middle East, a Muslim, very likely.

As I may mention, this prophecy in Daniel 11 covers a long period of time. It starts 500 years before the return of Jesus Christ and it goes all the way to the return of Jesus Christ. It is the longest ongoing section of prophecy, one section in a chapter in all of the Bible. So obviously something very much worth studying. Okay, with that in mind, let's read Daniel 11. At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, the king of the north.

And the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen of many ships. He shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. Now, I'll give you again a little more background to those first thirty-nine verses. In ancient times, the king of the south represented a line of Egyptian pharaohs.

So the king of the south was the Ptolemaic dynasty. That was the king of the south, Egypt. The king of the north was Syria in ancient times, through which we have Antiochus Epiphanes, we've gone through what he was, what he did, and so forth. But here is where we begin to understand prophecy for our day. In 64 BC, the Roman Empire conquered Syria and made Syria a Roman province. As a result, the king of the north became Rome.

That's why we stand on that, and have stood on that as an issue, as a discussion point for generations now inside the church. Now, why will the king, in verse 4, he says, at a time then, the king of the south shall attack him? Why is that going to take place? Could it be that this great Muslim leader does not like what he sees happening to the Muslims in Europe? Could it be that because of what's happening currently in Europe, and what will continue to happen in Europe, that Europeans are going to be fed up with what is happening, with the treatment other Europeans are getting at the hands of the Muslims, and react violently toward the Muslim population?

Could it be that the king of the south sees that and feels a need to protect fellow Muslims? That might be the perception. It might be the perception by this king of the south that, you know, the time is right. It's time to establish a caliphate. It's time to establish a world order of Muslims, and we're just going to take charge. We're going to start here. We're going to start with Europe, and we're going to go through the rest of the world.

So those are some things you might be looking for. Daniel 11, verse 41, says, He shall also enter the... Who's He? Verse 41. The beast, the king of the north, its European. He shall enter the glorious land. That's talking about the holy land, the modern state of Israel.

And many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape from His hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. These constitute the modern country today of Jordan. Verse 42. That we're now outside. Daniel 11, 42. And He, the beast, the king of the north, shall stretch out His hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

Verse 43. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. Also, the Libyans, the modern state of Libya. Perhaps also the modern peoples of Ethiopia. Sudan shall follow at His heels. Verse 44. The news from the east and the north. Now where do we get directions in the Bible? They're always from the center of the Middle East Jerusalem. But the news from the east and the north of Jerusalem shall trouble Him, shall trouble the king of the north. Therefore, He shall go out with great fury to destroy and ameliate many. Now brethren, where are we? We need to pause here for a moment.

Where are we at Daniel 11, verse 44? Where are we in the scope of prophecy? You understand that the book of Revelation is composed of seven seals. Seven seals cover the whole book. When you get to the seventh seal, the seven seals are composed of seven trumpets. That covers the rest of the book. The seventh trumpet has seven last plagues. So you've got three groups of seven in the book of Revelation. Seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven last plagues.

Now where we're at in Daniel 11, verse 44, we're into the seventh seal. Now what does that mean for you and I? We've gone through this in the past. What is the fifth seal? The fifth seal is the great tribulation or the time of Jacob's trouble. Who is Jacob? Jacob is Israel. Who is modern Israel? Well, our literature, the Bible, the scriptures show who modern Israel is. You've got the state of Israel in the Middle East, but you also have the tribes that were lost to history.

We've got our booklet on that subject. I'm sure you've all read that. The time of Jacob's trouble is the time of America's trouble. Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. When the great tribulation comes, that's Satan's wrath on this country, on the people of God in this country. During a time of the great tribulation, the king of the north will already have waged war on us and defeated us. By the time Daniel 11.44 comes, there is no longer a United States or Britain or Canada as a political entity. We're gone. We're gone as a political entity.

That's why it's so important for us to appreciate what God has for us in the scriptures. We don't want to be playing around with these kinds of things. But we're past the great tribulation. That's the fifth seal. The sixth seal is the heavenly signs. The seventh seal is composed, like I said, of these trumpets. So, let's now leave as a marker here in Daniel 11. And let's go over to Revelation 9. You want to pick up the story there. Revelation 9. Because we saw in Daniel 11.44 that something was bothering the king of the north.

He saw something coming at him. He saw a power coming at him from the north and the east. And again, those directions are always from the Holy Land. But when you take a look at the Holy Land, you're going north and east. Where are you heading? Well, let's take a look here at Revelation 9 starting here in verse 1. Revelation 9.1. Then the fifth angel sounded.

So already we've had four of the seven angels do their jobs. The fifth angel sounded. They saw a star falling from heaven to earth. The star is Satan the devil. The hen was given the key to the bottomless pit. The bottomless pit is synonymous with the home of evil, the home of death, the home of destruction. And of course, Satan knows he's got a short time here. Satan hates mankind. Satan wants to turn his entire planet into one large graveyard. Verse 2. And he opened the bottomless pit.

Satan opened the bottomless pit. And smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. So what you have here is a picture of something very ominous, something very threatening, something very sinister that's coming out of this bottomless pit.

What is coming out of the bottomless pit? Again, God, prophecy is not the easiest thing to understand. And that's why so many people say, well, I think this about prophecy or that about prophecy. But to understand what's coming out of the bottomless pit, let's go over to Revelation 17. Revelation 17. And verse 7. But the angel said to me, Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has seven heads and ten horns.

Now in the scriptures, a woman symbolizes a church. And so there is a church that has over and over and rides a beast with seven heads and ten horns. Verse 8. The beast you saw was and is not and will ascend out of the bottomless pit. So this particular beast, this particular power, which is the king of the north, which is a militarized Europe, which is very sinister motives because of the leadership, both spiritually and physically.

This is the beast that you saw was. The Holy Roman Empire was on earth for x number of years.

And is not. The Holy Roman Empire did come to an end at a certain point. And will ascend. Then the Holy Roman Empire will have a last resurrection out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. So the people of the earth who are not called and converted and have God's Holy Spirit, they're going to look at all these things and just be in amazement as to what they're seeing. But you and I don't need to be in amazement. Now it's said in verse 7 that the beast has seven heads and ten horns. Now if you have stuck in your Bibles your little beast chart, got your little beast chart there handy? If you have your beast chart handy there's a section, a column here for Revelation chapter 17. In Revelation chapter 17 you see what the seven heads are and how they correspond to this whole situation with Daniel and the book of Revelation.

It starts with Justinian's restoration of 554. And of course you don't need to write all this down, you've got it on your chart. You go from Justinian to Charlemagne to Otto the Great. These are all resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire. To the Habsburg dynasty of Charles V, Napoleon's French Empire, then the Hitler-Mussolini axis powers of World War II, where Mussolini very much wanted a restoration of the Holy Roman Empire. And then there's one yet to come in our day.

One yet to come in our day. So it says seven heads, ten horns. The seven heads are those various restorations of the Holy Roman Empire. The ten horns is what you and I are going to see, perhaps in our lifetime. Ten different nations. But understand brethren that God looks at a nation differently than we do. We tend to look at political boundaries. As an example, we would tend to look at Germany as a nation, Austria as a nation. We would say, well, those are two distinct nations. Well, those are political boundaries. If you take a look at the makeup of the people of those two countries, they're basically one people. That was one of the arguments that Adolf Hitler used in World War II. They were one people. So view them as one, not two.

And so at the end of the age, when the Bible's talking about a union of these ten toes, it may be a different look than what you and I are accustomed to seeing. We may see 50 nations, political entities, but it may only be the ten that God views as a nation.

Okay, let's go back to chapter 9 of Revelation.

I think you're probably seeing now why I decided to go on with the last six verses.

If you were going through all the history, your head would be swimming.

Revelation 9, I think you read the first two verses, verse 3, then out of the smoke the locusts came upon the earth, and to them was given power, as scorpions of the earth have power, the power of death. And they were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. See, brethren, God has the authority, He's got the power, to protect His people. And as I said to you on so many occasions, God will protect His people.

But to view that imbalance, we also have to realize that God doesn't have to protect all of us. You know, God didn't... God allowed the apostles to be martyred. He allowed Jesus Christ to be crucified. When you look at Revelation chapter 6, and you know, you've got the scene where in vision an angel will say, well, how long before we can have the return of Christ? And they said, well, we've got to have more martyrs. More martyrdom is going to be coming.

More of us. So we need to steal ourselves with the idea that we have got to be strong and tough, as strong and as tough as Jesus Christ. He was no weakling. Jesus Christ was a tremendous individual. Now, we're never going to be perfect like Jesus Christ, but we need to emulate Him in terms of how we view our walk with Him and be close, because you never know.

Satan the Devil may have you in the crosshairs someday in terms of persecution.

But why does it sit here in chapter 9 of Revelation verse 4, the angels were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing?

Now, remember where we are in prophecy. A tremendous portion of war has already taken place.

You don't knock down the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, without something bad happening in the world. Nuclear warfare, perhaps, biological warfare, perhaps, chemical warfare, perhaps, perhaps all of the above. But the ecology of the earth is going to really suffer. We've gone through, in the 19 years I've been here past, we've gone through the whole book of Isaiah where it talked about how the earth is going to teeter as a drunkard.

That maybe the earth itself will be knocked off, kilter, because of all that's happening with the nuclear warfare and so forth. But I want you also to go back where we had Revelation chapter 8. And we talked about there being on the seven seal, seven trumpets. Let's take a look at these, starting here in verse 7. The first angel sounded, and hail and fire followed mingled of blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. Brethren, how are we able to breathe? God, with His great ability to produce a mechanism by which you and I breathe fresh air, we have, like the green we see out here, that scrubs the air for us. If it's not there to scrub the air, we will die.

We can't get a good breath. It says here, one-third of the trees and all the green grass.

So a great deal of destruction taking place in this earth's ecology. The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning a fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. Again, brethren, we need this ecosystem. And all of a sudden, great portions of the earth are under attack. God is bringing mankind to His knees, because mankind will not be brought to His knees any other way. That's human nature. And when you and I are thinking about our nature, we've got the same nature that these people here have. That's why we've got to be on top of it and use God's Spirit to help us. Verse 9, and a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Verse 10, that a third angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. So not only is the salt water affected, now the fresh water is affected to a large degree. Verse 12, then the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars. So the third of them were darkened, and the third of the day did not shine, likewise the night. You know, that's going to affect growing seasons.

Verse 13, and I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because the remaining blast of the trumpet, the three angels who are about to sound. So in the book of Revelation, you've got those seven seals. We're into the seventh seal. The seven seals composed of seven trumpets. We've looked at the first four in chapter 8. In chapter 9, we've looked at the fifth seal. The fifth seal is when the king of the north looks to the north and to the east and sees something that troubles him, and he goes to attack it. They want domination of the world. And so what you're looking at is mankind wanting to dominate the world. We believe, well, we'll get into that in a little bit. What takes place when you have a European power coming into the Holy Land in Jerusalem, in the holy place that the Muslims consider very holy? What's happening to the Muslim mind when they see this occupying force come from Europe into the Middle East, especially into the area of Jerusalem? What's going through their mind? What's going through their mind is they want payback. They want to get those infidels out of the Holy Land. So that's what we have here. Let's continue on in Revelation 9. Revelation 9, verse 13. Then the six angels sounded. That's also called the second woe, the second stage of war. The six angels sounded and they heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is the four gods, saying to the six angels who had the trumpet, released the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. Now, Euphrates River used to be the furthest boundary of the Roman Empire. So we're looking at countries beyond that point. So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. Now, a quarter of mankind had already been killed during the time of the Great Tribulation. Now, another third of mankind is being killed here. Verse 16. Now, the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million. And I heard the number of them. 200 million. You know, over the course of years, brethren, and many years gone by, people used to poo-poo this verse. They would say, who could have an army of 200 million? It's impossible to have an army that large. Is it really? Is it really? Let me give you three possibilities that may be taking place right here. Three possibilities.

Possibility number one is, as the King of the North is now ensconced in the Holy Land, that the Islamic forces in the world, and there's 1.3 billion Islamic folks there in that region. 1.3 billion. Maybe the Islamic forces will get together and say, you know, we need to expel these Europeans out of the Holy Land. So you have an army composed of the nations of Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, perhaps even with participants from India. Some of the areas from the Soviet Union or former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, Turkestmenistan, and the various other of those smaller countries. And again, that area of the world has 1.3 billion Muslims.

So possibility number one is a Muslim force is about ready to descend upon the King of the North.

King of the North says, you know, we better get on our horses and ride and go destroy them before they annihilate us. Possibility number two. This is where we tended to come down in years gone by historically in the Church, but I think as time goes along we may be leading more toward possibility number one. But possibility number two, remember the King of the North in Jerusalem sees a massive army forming from the Northeast. What other countries from the Holy Land are Northeast? Russia and China. That's typically where we have been with our thinking. And certainly there would be a very plausible reason for both Russia and China wanting to be in the Middle East. They want Middle Eastern oil. You've got China, which was very close now to having the same strength of economy as the United States. I forget the exact figure, but I think China is bringing online a coal-producing factory one a week. In this country we're trying to destroy coal producers.

Over in China they are one a week. And so they want a lot of power for its population.

They want a lot of power politically. And so possibility number two is what we're seeing here during the sixth trumpet is a combined Russian-Chinese force. And of course with those two nations, a standing army of 200 million is not hard to contemplate. Possibility number three is all of the above. The king of the north looks to the northeast. He sees the Islamic forces forming. He sees China and Russia forming. And he says, you know, again, we've got to do something about that. So let's now go back to Daniel chapter 11. Daniel chapter 11.

Daniel chapter 11, verse 45, lasts a verse of the chapter. And he, talking about the king of the north, shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas, talking about the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, in the glorious holy mountain Jerusalem, that he the bee shall come to his end, and no one will help him. So as you have the king of the north wanting to defend his territory, which is now in the Middle East as well as Europe, from these other invading forces from the northeast, we see that the king of the north comes to his end. Why is that?

Why is that? Let's go back to Revelation chapter 16. Over to Revelation chapter 16.

Revelation chapter 16 and verse 16. God enters the fray. When God enters the fray, you know things are going to happen. That it will be very interesting. Revelation chapter 16 verse 16. Of course, God has never been out of the fray, but he's been pulling the strings behind the scenes and putting the actors on the stage and so forth. Revelation chapter 16 verse 16. And they gathered them together to the place in the Hebrew called Armageddon. So you're about to have this titanic struggle for world dominance, the king of the north and this other army. At that point, we have a much more powerful army with the symbols to defeat them. Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19 verse 11. Now I saw heaven open and behold a white horse.

Now, early in Revelation, we saw a white horse, but that white horse was an antichrist or a symbolic of things that are anti-Christian. Now I saw heaven open and behold a white horse, and he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and a righteousness he judges and makes war.

So on this white horse, we've got Jesus Christ. His eyes were like a flame of fire. We saw that in Revelation chapter 1. On his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood. His name is called the word of God.

And the armies in heaven clothed and fine linen white and clean followed him on white horses. You know, Bretonnare, other scriptures, I'm not going to turn to all these other scriptures, but there are other scriptures that talk about how the heavens are going to roll back, and people are going to be able to see Jesus Christ. They're going to see him coming. They're going to say, mountains and rocks fall on us. We don't want to fall into that, the hand of what's coming. No, of course, the antichrist is going to say, well, that's the antichrist. We need to fight against that one. But in your mind's eye, you know, our God is a great teacher.

Our God knows how to make an entrance, and so does Jesus Christ. In your mind's eye picture, the heavens where you can see Jesus Christ on his white stallion. You can see an angelic host as far as the east is from the west, all on white horses, all in brilliant white clothing, and they're marching toward earth. I mean, just picture that in your mind's eye. That is a sight that is going to rattle the world. It's a sight that you and I are going to be screaming and clapping and singing and rejoicing because we know it's all but over, in terms of the travail of living in this flesh. Verse 15, Out of his mouth was a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God, and he has on his robe and his thio name written, King of King and Lord of Lords. So here we have Jesus Christ. The armies have gathered at Armageddon, but Armageddon, brethren, is a location 55 miles north of Jerusalem.

55 miles north of Jerusalem. It's 15 miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea.

It's only a gathering place. The final battle takes place right in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Let's go over to Joel, chapter 3.

The minor prophets, you've got Hosea, you've got Joel.

Joel, chapter 3, verse 1. For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem. So again, brethren, we talked about how there is no longer the western powers of whom I consider the powers, the United States, Canada, Britain, Israel, and so forth. They've gone into captivity. I will also gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. So God is going to gather them at Armageddon and bring them down to Jerusalem. And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of my people and my heritage Israel, whom they've scattered among the nations.

So our nation will go into national captivity sometime in the future. And why will our nation go into national captivity? Because we don't worship God the way God tells us to worship Him.

We're not a Sabbath-keeping nation. We're not a Holy Day-observing nation.

We don't tithe. All the beautiful things God gives us we do horrible things with to such a large degree. But God says, you know, enough is enough for that.

Who may have scattered among the nations, they have also divided up my land.

And so this is what God is going to do. Verse 11, Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together around.

A cautionary mighty wants to go down there, O Lord. Let the nations be awakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit the judge all the surrounding nations.

God says, you want to pick a fight? It's kind of like high moon. I'm right in the middle of the road. Come on. And so there's going to be that fight. And you know how that fight ends. Jesus Christ is victorious, and so forth. Zechariah chapter 14.

This is a book just before Malachi. Zechariah chapter 14.

If you enjoy movies, and I enjoy movies, you probably have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark. We're going to quote Raiders of the Lost Ark here.

It's come to that after 19 years.

But in that movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, there's a scene at the very end of the movie where the one guy who's got the Ark of the Covenant wants to take the lid off and look inside, and then you see what happens to all those people, right? Well, that's not too far off from what we see in Scripture. Zechariah chapter 14 verse 12. And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem. All those massive armies coming from the north and the east. Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet. Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.

They're going to be like very soft candles in a very hot room.

And then what takes place? Ah, this is the good stuff. Isaiah chapter 9.

Isaiah chapter 9.

Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder. Hallelujah! Literally, praise God!

We've got Jesus Christ in a rule, the earth. Not the king of the north, not the king of the south, not any hordes, Eurasian hordes coming out of the northeast. The government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. And notice, Prince of Peace. You know, this whole subject of peace, it was interesting as I was listening to Mr. Rhodes. I think this was back in 2004. He gave this lecture at ABC.

But he was talking about, you know, we tend not to think about all the war, since we have not, most of us in this room have not experienced it. But when you're looking at those first 39 verses of Daniel chapter 11, that when one nation subjugates another nation, all the currency you used to use, forget that. They're going to bring in a new currency. In so many cases, all the teachers and educated people you once knew, get rid of them. They don't want any sort of rebellion. They don't want anybody to want any ringleaders. And so, you know, animals are killed. Crops are destroyed. Homes are devastated. And when you've got people, armies thrashing back and forth, that's what you have. But now we have the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Verse 7, Isaiah 9-7, of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. Again, hallelujah.

Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order and establish it with judgment and justice.

Won't it be nice to have justice in the world? From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. You think you might be zealous?

Our zeal is nothing compared to God's zeal. God says, I love mankind. I don't love their sin, but I love mankind. And I especially love my people who've given their hearts to me.

And my seal will carry forth, and I will give them the inheritance that they deserve and the reward that they've earned. Micah 4.

Micah 4, right about the middle of the minor prophets there. Micah 4, verse 1.

Now shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills.

Of course, we're talking about governments. God's government will be exalted above the major nations and above the minor nations. Major nations being the mountains, minor nations being the hills. And people shall flow to it. People want very much to understand the truth of God. There'll be something that will drag their heels. You know, you've got Egypt there, they'll be dragging their heels. They won't get rain. God's just not going to destroy them, but, you know, God's got to work with them. God loves them, too. People shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, the ways of beauty, the ways of truth. And we shall walk in His paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between nations, or rebuke strong nations of fire off, people who don't want to get with the program. God says, you know, no more of that. You've had your time. You've sown all sorts of seeds of disruption. There have been countless tears because of going to Satan's way. No more of that.

They shall beat their swords in the plowshares, their spears in the pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore.

No Annapolis. No West Point. No Air Force Academy over there in Colorado. But everyone shall be under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. No one shall make them afraid.

So, brethren, what do you and I do? Is prophecy an end all? Of course not. And as your pastor for the last 19 years, I've said to you on so many occasions, understanding prophecy is of no value at all if we don't have a proper walk with God. If we don't have a proper walk with God, if we are not close to Him, then understanding the zip code of the beast, it doesn't do you any good.

It doesn't do you any good. So, be careful to watch world news, understand the times in which we live.

But even more importantly, brethren, watch your spiritual condition. Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ is our ultimate example. We look to Him for all things. We want to be like Him in all things. We want to study the Word of God deeply and richly and employ what we see in the Scriptures into our lives.