End Time Abomination of Desolation

Brethren, we do live in very dangerous times. I believe we all understand that. We live in the time described in the Bible as the end of the world, or the end of the age. In Matthew 24, I want you to notice what is written here. Christ's disciples came to Him, and they asked Him, as He said on the Mount of Balaise, they said, Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming? Those these things would be a time when the temple would be destroyed. What are going to be the signs of your coming and of the end of the world, or the end of the age? So they wanted to know when this age, man's age, would cease to be there. I want you to notice in Galatians 1 and verse 4 that Paul very clearly talks here about who gave Himself for our sins, referring to Christ, that He might deliver us from this present evil age. This world, this age that we live in, is referred to as an evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. So when God calls us out of this world, one of the things that He does is to call us out of this evil age, society with its customs and traditions and its approaches. They're not called good but evil.

This is the age of man. First 6,000 years that man's on the earth, it's the age of man. Man has rule of the earth. He's not under God's government. It's also the age of Satan the devil. The devil rules over mankind during this period of time. Notice in the next book of the Bible, the book of Ephesians 2, beginning here in verse 1, how it describes this age. It says, "...you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sands." So again, showing we've been called by God and we've been made alive. We have a spiritual life, or new life, "...in which you once walked," that's all of us, "...according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh and fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and whereby nature children of wrath, even as others." The word here for prince in the Greek means ruler, commander, or chief leader. So the devil is the chief leader of this world, of the society around us. He is the one who is the commander, so to speak. The word disobedience here, because it talks about all of us have been disobedient, means to be obstinate or obstinate opposition to the divine will. And so in the past, we all walked in a way that was opposite to the will of God, the plan of God, the purpose of God, and went and followed our own way. Now let's turn back to Matthew 24 again. But this is in mind that we live in the end of the world, in the end of this age, in the end of man's age, with Satan influencing and ruling over him, the prince of the power of the air.

In verse 6 here, Christ said, look, there's going to come a time when you will hear wars and rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled, all these things shall come to pass, but the end is not yet. Well, right now we know that there are several what we would call major wars in Iraq, Afghanistan. There's always warfare going on in Syria and Israel and Palestine in that area. I was just looking up this morning. You can check various websites. You'll see that it's estimated that there are anywhere between 20 and 50 wars going on or conflicts right now. All of these are not major. They may be tribal, some nature, but they're fighting and conflict. Some are major, some are minor. And he goes on to say, look, the end is not yet the end of this world. See, that's what they ask. When is the end of the age or the end of the world going to come? He said, well, the end is not yet. For a nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilence, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. So all of this is the beginning of troubles and sorrows that are going to come upon the earth. Now in verse 14, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached and although the world is a witness to all nations, and then the end shall come. Now, this is what drives us, brethren. We realize we're in God's church. We've been called for two purposes. One, we're being trained to become kings and priests. You know, that's the main thing that God is doing. But also, God is working through His church to take a warning to the world, to preach the gospel to this world. And we know that we're not going to be the ones who will ultimately do this. The two witnesses will eventually take this message. But the church has that responsibility. Now, if we begin to sit back and think, well, the Lord is delaying His coming and begin to eat, drink, and beat our fellow brothers, and just take it easy, then we won't be ready when Christ comes back. Now, let's notice in verse 15 something that I want us to come to today and take a look at.

Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. And it goes on to give a whole list of instructions here. So we're told when we see the abomination of desolation take place. How many of us understand what that abomination is and what has to happen in order for that to take place? We do live in the end time, and we live in an age when this prophecy is going to be fulfilled. Not going to be 100 years old in the future if we have any inkling of what prophecy is all about. Let's go back to the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel, chapter 11, because he mentions Daniel the prophet here.

And we'll pick up the story here in Daniel chapter 11. Daniel the 11th chapter is the longest prophecy in the Bible. When I say longest, it covers the longest period of time. It is a very detailed prophecy. It actually goes into a lot of significant events, but it is very detailed. And as we know, prophecy is world news written in advance. It's like reading a newspaper. I forget what the name of the program was, but some of you might remember there used to be a television program where this fellow every morning, the cat would come to his door and meow, and he would go out and there'd be a paper. And it was news of what was going to happen that day. And he, if there was a tragedy about to happen, he would try to keep it from happening. Well, you and I have news in advance. Now, we also have the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. You know, that's the best news. But we also have news about prophecy and events that are going to transpire in this world. Now, with that in mind, let's go over here to verse 21 to get a feeling. Remember, there is a warning beginning here in verse 5 about the King of the South, King of the North. When Alexander died, his empire was divided among four generals. Two of the major generals, Seleucidae and Tomi, one became ruler over the King of the North, one over the King of the South, as far as prophecy is concerned here. Well, in verse 21, we find here what has taken place in the past. And, you know, this prophecy, though it was about the future, is now in the past. It says, in his place, well, back up to verse 20, there shall arise in his place one who imposes taxes on the glorious kingdom, but within a few days he shall be destroyed, but not in anger or in battle. And his place shall arise a vile person to whom they will not give the honor or royalty. He won't be considered royalty. Eventually, what you find in this prophecy describes is a Seleucidae ruler named Antiochus IV, also known as Antiochus Epithides, who is going to rise up. And in his place, Seleucidae IV's place shall arise a vile person to whom they will not give the honor or royalty.

Most Syrian officials at this time, to give you what it's talking about, were tired of the Seleucidae rulers, their excesses, and they backed a usurper. His name was Helodorus, and what he did was to poison the previous king. So he came in as a usurper. He was not royal. He was not of the royal line, so to speak. And he came in and he usurped the authority. But as the end of verse 21 says, there's another individual who's going to come along, but he shall come in peacefully and seize the kingdom by entry.

The prophecy here is talking about Antiochus Epiphanes. He came in, historians said, in the manner of Roman manners. He came in with a great deal of flattery, flattering the people. He got the aid of King Eumenus II of Pergamon, and officials at home, and he forced Eiodorus out, and he obtained the throne in 175 BC. So he became ruler at that time. He became the ruler over what we would call the Kingdom of the North. Kingdom of the South at this time was basically in Egypt. So we read in verse 22, and with the force of a flood they shall be swept away from before him, and be broken, and also the prince of the covenant. So who's this prince of the covenant? Well, what you find, these verses explain that all those who opposed Antiochus Epithonese would be swept away or broken, and they were. At this time, Syria ruled over the Holy Land, or over Palestine, and included in those who were swept away was one who was called the prince of the covenant. This is apparently a reference to a Jew who changed his name and took on a Greek form. It was called Jason. Jason was appointed by Antiochus to replace the high priest, and so he was set by Antiochus over the Jewish worship system. He was to be the high priest, not the regular high priest, but he was appointed. He was dropped from that position later on by Antiochus after only being there for three years in favor of another individual who had a Hellenized name, an apostate by the name of Minelaus. Minelaus, then, was appointed to be high priest in place of Jason. Now we read in verse 23, after the league is made with him, He shall act deceitfully, for he shall come up and become strong with a small number of people.

Elements of the Jewish leadership at this time made a league or a treaty with Antiochus.

So they allowed him to come into the country, or he could have come in anyway, but he came into the country, and he came in with a small force. And they thought that this was going to be a peaceful invasion, so to speak. What did the league or covenant entail that was made with these Jewish leaders at that time? Well, many of you are familiar with the books of 1st Maccabees and 2nd Maccabees. They are historical books. They are not biblical, although they are contained in the apocryphal writings in the Catholic Bible. The 1st Maccabees describes the events that took place at this time. And I want you to notice, it gives the history of this time. In 1st Maccabees, chapter 1, verse 11, King James Version translation, in those days when they were out of Israel, wicked men who pursued or persuaded many, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with a heathen that are all around us. Now, why did they do this?

Well, continuing in a paraphrase, they said, For our refusal to associate with them, in other words, the Gentiles around us, has wrought us nothing but trouble. So, all we've got is trouble from these Gentiles and Gentile rulers. Now, this proposal that they made appealed to a lot of people, and some of them became very enthusiastic about this. And they went to the king, and they received permission to build a stadium in Jerusalem, like all of the other Greek cities, so that they could have games, and they could have everything going on in the city of Jerusalem, just like the other cities in the Greek world. They also had surgery performed to hide the fact that they were circumcised. I'm not exactly sure how you do that, but since they had been circumcised, they were re-something. Anyway, to hide this, they abandoned the Holy Covenant, started associating with Gentiles, and did all sorts of evil things, verses 11 through 15, quoting from today's English version of this. Still, there were those who did not apostise among the Jews, who did not go along with this league, and did not wholly abandon their worship of the true God. Now we read in verse 24 that, "...he shall enter peacefully even into the richest places of the province, and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers. He shall despise among them the plunderer, the spoil, and the riches, and he shall devise his plan against the strongholds, but only for a time." Now, Antiochus soon betrayed the religious leaders in Judea. By taking from the rich, this is what this is talking about, he plundered the rich, he gave it to the poor in the land of Judea. But this was only a temporary ploy to gain the support of Jewish masses. He was wanting to get all of them on his side. And once he had them all on his side, he stopped doing this. He kept the riches for himself. Now, let's advance over to verse 28 here in this chapter. And notice what happened in 168 B.C. after the king defeated Egypt. You'll notice beginning in verse 25, he went down and fought against the king of the south, defeated him. And as verse 28 says, while returning to the land with great riches, he had plundered Egypt, and he was coming back to Syria and to that area, his heart shall be moved against the Holy Covenant, and shall do damage and return to his own land.

So, notice here what he did. Again, quoting from Maccabees, 1 Maccabees here says, while returning to his land with great riches, his heart shall be moved against the Holy Covenant, so he shall do damage. Well, actually, that's quoting what we just read here. 1 Maccabees records that he set himself against the Jews. He massacred many of them, plundered the temple at Jerusalem before returning to Syria. That's 1 Maccabees 1 verses 20 through 28. Now, verses 29 through 30, you find that he embarked on a second venture into Egypt, as we read here. At the appointed time, he shall return and go toward the south. So, he was going to go back down and attack Egypt again. But it shall not be like the former or the latter. First time he conquered them, this time he could not. Why? For ships from Cyprus shall come against him. Therefore, he shall be grieved and return in rage. Notice, this time he comes back again through Palestine and he returns in rage. He's just absolutely angry, vengeful at this point. Enrage against the Holy Covenant and do damage. So, he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the Holy Covenant.

So, what you find happened, he embarked on this second venture into Egypt. He was unsuccessful this time because the Roman fleet forced him to give up his fight and to return the island of Cyprus to Egypt. And so, he was defeated at this time. He accorded special favor to those among the Jews who rejected their religion. So, if they gave up their religion, he said, you can live peacefully. I won't bother you. 1 Maccabees explains, verses 29 through 33. When the soldiers entered Jerusalem, their commanders spoke to the people, offering them terms of peace and completely deceiving them. Then he suddenly launched a fierce attack upon the city, dealing at a major blow, killing many of the people. He plundered the city, set it on fire, tore down its buildings and walls. He and his army took the women and children prisoner, seized the cattle. Then, Antiochus and his forces built high walls and strong towers in the area north of the temple and turned it into a fort. So, he basically took over Jerusalem at this time.

Now, in verse 31, we come to the point that Jesus Christ referred to.

Let's notice. Enforces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress.

Then they shall take away the daily sacrifice and place there the abomination of desolation. Now, what happened? What was this?

Well, again, the book of Maccabees, all you have to do is read chapter 1.

It gives us this detail. Antiochus now issued a decree that all nations in his empire should abandon their own customs and become one people.

What do we see going on in the world today, just to stop to think about it? Don't we see globalization? Are they not talking about one world rule?

What we not see in the future, a great false church, arise that will impose its brand of religion upon the Christian world. We won't be able to impose it upon the Muslim world, but you will have basically a religion that will impose its will on the Christian world. Then you have the Muslim religion, Islam, that will continue to impose their will upon those who are Muslims. Then you'll still have the Oriental Buddhists, and Shintoists, and Taoists, and all of those. But you will have two major factions that are going to come to a climax of probably contending for control of this world and final battle for this. So there are a lot of parallels, as we will see as we go through this sermon. So what he's asking the people to do, all nations are to give up their religious customs, their traditions, and to follow what he was imposing. All the Gentiles and even many of the Israelites submitted to this decree. They adopted the official pagan religion, offered sacrifices to idols, and no longer observed the Sabbath. Now the king also, this is Antiochus, also sent messengers with the decree to Jerusalem in all the towns of Judea, ordering the people to follow the customs that were foreign to the country. He ordered them to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, wine offerings in the temple, commanded them to treat the Sabbath in festivals, his ordinary work days. So what's going to happen in the future? Isn't there going to come a time when there will be a mark of the beast, that those who do not comply with the wishes of certain religious traditions will be martyred and will be killed? Going on, it says, they were even ordered to defile the temple and the holy things in it. They were commanded to build pagan altars and temples and shrines and to sacrifice pigs and other unclean animals there. They were forbidden to circumcise their sons, were required to make themselves unclean in every way they could, and so they would forget the law which the Lord had given through Moses and would disobey all of its commands. The penalty for disobeying the king's decree was death. Now stop and think about the future. What if you were faced with fall down and worship this idol, or you're going to have your head cut off, or skinned alive, or boiled in oil. You go back and you read about what's happened to some of the true servants of God down through the ages, and you'll find all those things occurred to those who said, no, I won't. And it is prophesied to happen once again.

It says, the king not only issued the same decree throughout the Holy Empire, but he appointed officials to supervise the people and commanded each town in Judea to offer pagan sacrifices. Many of the Jews were ready to forsake the law and to obey those officials. They defiled the land with their evil and their conduct and forced all true Israelites to hide wherever they could. So those who wanted to continue to obey God, keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days had to go into hiding, down through what we call the dark ages, from the end of the first century up till the time of what would maybe be called the time of the Protestant Reformation. Those who were true servants of God had to hide. They couldn't publicly, in many cases, you obey God. They did it in private. Now you'll notice again in verse 31, the last part of it, that he shall take away the daily sacrifice and place the abomination of desolation in the temple.

So we go on reading here in 1 Maccabees chapter 1. On the 15th day of the month, Kezlev, in the year 145, now that corresponds with 167 BC, they set up the abomination of desolation on the altar in the temple. This was apparently a pagan altar with the image of the Greek god Zeus on it. It was set atop the temple altar. Now remember, for the Greeks, Zeus was their chief god. He would be the chief god in the pantheon. So therefore, what you find is, to them, this would make sense. You'll set up an idol to worship him. We are further told, pagan sacrifices were often in front of houses and in the streets. Any books of the law which were found were turned over and burned. Anyone caught with a copy of the sacred books or who obeyed the law were put to death by the order of the king. Month after month, these wicked people used their power against the Israelites caught in the towns. On the 25th of the month, these same evil people offered sacrifices on the pagan altar, erected on top of the altar in the temple. Indeed, pigs declared unclean in God's law were offered over his own altar at this time.

Verse 60 and 1 Maccabees 1, mothers who had allowed their babies to be circumcised were put to death in accordance with the king's decree. Their babies were hung around their necks, and their families and those who circumcised them were put to death. Imagine having a little baby, murdered, hanging around your neck as you walk around. This is what they did at that time. And yet, as horrible as this time was, there were still some who resisted. In fact, 1 Maccabees reports, many in Israel stood firm or were resolute in their heart and would not eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant, and they did die. They were martyred. Very, great wrath came upon Israel.

Yet many resisted. The priestly family of Matthias Maccabees and his son and successor, Judas Maccabees, did not compromise. They read letter rebellion. In the end, their efforts as patriots were able to drive the Syrians out of the country and to restore the proper worship. So, brethren, all of this that I've read to you here has already happened. That took place back around 167 BC. Hold your place here, but let's go back to Matthew 24 again. I want you to notice something. Matthew chapter 24.

We'll begin to read in verse 15 again.

Therefore, when you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

So, it says when this happens, if you're in Judea, get out of Judea. That's not the place to be. Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. The emphasis is on get out quick. Let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes, but woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days. And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. Now, Christ's warning here is about the abomination of desolation. When he gave this warning, Daniel's prophecy had been fulfilled almost 200 years before. Now, Christ knew that, so what was he referring to? Well, the fact is prophecy is dual, and there is a duality here, as we will very clearly see. And then in verse 21, verse 21 pegs the time slot here that all of this is going to take place. For then there will be great tribulation such as not been since the beginning of the world, until this time known or ever shall be. So there's coming a time of trouble, tribulation, persecution, such as there has never been in history. And unless those days were short, no flesh would be saved or left alive. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. Brethren, who are the elect? The elector who called out one, the chosen ones?

You are the elect. If there was not a group of people who were the elect, who were serving God and obeying God, we find that God might not cut those days short, but He will. Now, in Daniel 12, coming back to Daniel 12 and verse 1, we find this same time talked about. At that time, what time? Verse 40. At the time of the end.

What did the disciples ask? When will be the end of the age? Well, verse 40 is talking about the time and the end. In other words, the end time. The end of the world. Chapter 12, verse 1 at that time. The end time. Michael shall stand up the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation. Can't be two times of trouble without parallel. This is referring to the same time. In fact, Jeremiah 30, verse 7 tells us, it is the time of Jacob's trouble. The time when the nations of Israel at the end time are in trouble. It says, even to that time, and at that time your people shall be delivered.

Everyone who is found written in the book. So what time are we talking about? Verse 2. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever. Talking about the time of the resurrection. So verses 1 and 2 and 3 here shows that this time of trouble is at the very end time, the same time we read of in Matthew chapter 24, the time of the resurrection when the first resurrection takes place. Now verse 4, But you, Daniel, shut up the words, seal the book, until the time of the end. The time of the end, again, is mentioned. The end time, the end of the world. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. And when I say the end of the world, I'm not talking about the destruction of the planet. I'm talking about the end of the six thousand year period of man's rule, Satan's rule.

Now notice in verse 8, Daniel wasn't quite satisfied. He said, Although I heard, I did not understand, then I said, My Lord, what shall be the end of these things? When is all this going to happen? And he said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed. When? Till the time of the end.

So it wasn't meant to be understood until the time of the end. So, brethren, we understand most of the book of Daniel. I don't say that we understand everything here, not by a long shot, but we understand the overall gist. And let's notice what will happen at that time. Verse 10, Many shall be purified and made white and refined.

Doesn't this tie in with Revelation chapter 3, that at the end time, that many are going to have to be purified? Put on white raiment, refined, go through tribulation, but the wicked shall do wickedly, none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand at that time. So this awful period of tribulation occurs at the end of this present age, this present evil age. Now in verse 11, From the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.

Blessed is he who waits and comes through the 1,335 days. But you, notice what he tells Daniel, you go your way till the end, and you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days. If you only had verse 13, you would know that when you die, you go to the grave and you await the resurrection. And that's what he says here. So what we find is that there is a duality of prophecy, and there's going to come a time in the future that Jesus Christ said that at the end time, there would be another abomination of desolation set up.

And it's in our day today, and we'll be back in a minute. Are there any lessons that we can learn from the first fulfillment of this prophecy? Well, in Tychus and Epiphanes, I think it was a forerunner of the end time king of the north, the world dictator described in the book of Revelation and referred to as the beast that is going to come up. Notice in Daniel 11 again in verse 40, Daniel 11.40, talking here about the end time. At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, many ships, and he shall enter into the countries and overwhelm them and pass through.

King of the south would be south of Jerusalem, king of the north would be north. King of the north here is referring to a power block in Europe. The beast, the king of the south here is referring to some type of an Islamic Muslim block of nations who unite together. And you'll notice here that he, the king of the north, shall enter the glorious country, that's Palestine. Many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape from his hand. Edom, that's Turkey. Moab, that's Jordan, and the prominent people of Amman.

And he shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. So the king of the north pushes down into North Africa, and he shall have power over the treasures and gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt, and also the Libyans and Ethiopians, shall fall, or excuse me, shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him, therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and to annihilate. So here we get down to the final battle at the end time. When the nations from the east, the Euphrates River, dries up, these nations come down to the mid-east. The beast powers already in the mid-east, and they gather together to fight the final climatic battle for rule of the world.

And verse 45 says, he shall plant the tent of his palace between the seas, and the glorious holy mountain, and yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him. At that time, then it goes on, as we read earlier, the disciples of Jesus ask him again for the sign of the end of the age. And we've been reading here some of those signs that are going to take place. No doubt this end-time ruler will employ the same deceit and underhanded trickery methods that mark the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes and many of his successors.

And to accomplish his ends, he will feign overtures the peace, probably to the Jews, maybe move down into the Mideast, into Jerusalem, into that area, under the guise of a protectorate, maybe to protect Israel, the Palestinians, you know, separate them. The indication is that the city of Jerusalem will probably be divided here in the future. In fact, I had an article I was going to bring today, but it felt I had enough material without referring to it, showing that the Jews expect Jerusalem to be divided. It's only a matter of when, not if, and they are preparing for it.

The fact that there is this overture might help to explain why the king of the south attacks the king of the north, or goes against him, as we read back in Daniel 11.40. It may feel that the king of the north is getting too involved in the area of the world that they think they have jurisdiction and rule and control over. There are other parallels that we can see. Part of the abomination of Antiochus involved the cessation of the daily temple sacrifice.

Yet, there is no temple today. So how are you going to have a sacrifice without an altar? At least an altar, some type of temple. Daniel's prophecy makes it clear that there is some type of temple, place of worship in Jerusalem, that there will be an abomination of desolation set up again. For this prophecy to be fulfilled in the end time, it appears, number one, that sacrifices will again be reinstituted. That there has to at least, number two, be an altar erected. And possibly, probably, some type of a temple structure. Antiochus defiled the temple by setting up and erecting an idol to the pagan god Zeus and killing pigs on the altar. The end time abomination may involve an idolatrous image in a new temple. There is one thing that we know for certain, and that is that there will be an actual person who will sit in the temple claiming that he is God. Let's go over to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2, beginning in verse 1. 2 Thessalonians 2, and we'll begin here in verse 1. I've gone through this in great detail in the past with you, but let's just hit some of the high spots. It says, Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, wasn't that one of the questions the disciples asked? When are you coming? The end of the world? When are these things going to happen? And of our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or word or letter as if from us as though the day of Christ has come. Let no one deceive you by any means. That day will not come unless the falling away comes first. So there will be a falling away from the truth.

I think we've seen at least one falling away taking place. And also notice the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition or destruction. Who is this man of sin? Well, it goes on to describe him, who opposing exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

So this individual is going to sit in some type of a religious temple and claim that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? Now you know that what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time. It wasn't time for this person to come on the scene back at that time or 500 years ago. But there's going to come a specific time in history when God will allow this individual to do that. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. So whoever this religious leader is, he's alive when Jesus Christ comes back, because Christ will be the one to destroy him. And it says, the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan. So where does he get his power? Where does he get power to perform miracles, signs, and wonders? Well, according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteousness and deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusions that they should believe the lie, and they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure and unrighteousness. So here we have this individual deceiving many through power, signs, and lying wonders. Now we're told ahead of time, brethren, that you don't believe every sign, you don't believe every wonder, you don't believe everything you see that's miraculous. You have to look to their fruits. You have to look, are they obeying God, keeping his commandments to the law and to the testimony? They've got to speak according to that. Now you might also remember the original abomination of desolation marked a period of time of unparalleled horror and misery on the Jews during their day. There's going to come a time in the future, once more, when the true servants of God are going to be put under the magnifying glass and are likewise going to go through a period of misery and suffering. Many will be protected, and hopefully all of us will be. Some will not be, and some will be martyred before that period of time. Let's notice here in Matthew 24, Ged, Matthew chapter 24, and we will begin here in verse 9. We find then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and they will kill you, and you will be hated of all nations, or by all nations. Why? For my namesake, that's why.

Because you're a Christian, because you claim you to obey God, we will be hated by all nations. So wherever God's people are, they will not be held up, esteemed. They will be despised, and they'll come after us. In verse 10, and then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

Now, I want you to notice what this is saying. Many will be offended and betray one another, and will hate one another. That's talking about us. That's talking about the Church of God communities. There's coming a time when people will get offended over things, and because they will get offended, they will betray one another, and they will hate one another.

Has it ever occurred to us, brethren, that not only will problems come from without, they will come looking for us if we obey God, but problems might arise from within, and people would be betrayed, turned over to the authorities, and people would hate one another.

But verse 12 says, because lawlessness will abound, and we certainly live in an age in this society that can be described as lawless or disobedient, the love of many will grow cold. Our love for one another cannot grow cold. Our concern for one another cannot grow cold. We have to have that love and concern for each other and for this world. That's why we've been called now. And then going on in verse 13, but he who endures to the end shall be saved. So you and I will have to endure to the end. The word endure here means to persevere under misfortune and trials, to hold one's faith in Christ, to endure, bear bravely and calmly when you are ill-treated. Brethren, we have the wonderful example in Scripture, and from history of those who stood fast. You go back to the time of 167 when the Antigua and the Epithanes, many of the Jews gave up their religion, followed through in order to have peace. But yet there were those who would not compromise. Many were martyred, and yet many held faithful, and they were not martyred. They stood fast. We have the Living Testimony in Hebrews 11. Of all of those who had faith and trusted God and held God intervened on their behalf. And toward the end of the chapter, we have the example of those who were faithful, and yet God allowed them to be martyred. They still had faith. It wasn't a matter of they had less faith. They probably had more faith, and yet they were martyred. So brethren, we have the example of many down through the ages who would not compromise with God's way of life, who would not compromise with what God said. Now, how do we know that if we were ever faced with that, that we would not compromise? Well, we just need to ask ourselves the question, what are we compromising with today? Do we compromise with God's law? Do we compromise with the Sabbath? Do we compromise with tithing? Do we compromise with clean, unclean meats? Do we compromise you with God's law and way of life? Or is it so etched in our minds and engraved on our character that we would never dare to do that? Because if it isn't now when going is easy, when the going gets tough, it would be easy to compromise. So brethren, we have the awesome hope of the return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection to eternal life, the establishment of His kingdom on this earth. That's what we look forward to, the glorious hope that we have. But as verse 13 says, He who endures to the end, the same will be saved.