It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn

Have you ever heard the expression, it's always darkest before the dawn? And that expression means that sometimes it just seems like when we're going through the deepest part of a trial or a problem, only then does a solution arise. Only when we're really down and it just seems like we feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders, then out of nowhere, suddenly an answer arrives. Well, next week we're going to enter the fall Holy Day season by celebrating the Feast of Trumpets together. And this upcoming feast represents the return of Jesus Christ to this earth and all the events that are associated with the Feast of Trumpets, and there are many, and we'll touch upon those during that Holy Day.

However, before Jesus Christ returns, it's going to be darkest before the dawn.

Biblical prophecy reveals some terrible times ahead for this world, and we need to be aware of some of the things that are going to happen. We need to, first of all, understand that God is going to protect those people. Those who love Him and have a relationship with Him will be protected from these horrific events that are going to occur in the world, but they're going to happen. And we need to understand what these times are and at least discuss the skeletal framework of some very, very bad things that are going to occur in this world. Today I'd like to discuss what the Bible calls the Great Tribulation, and again, just the skeletal framework of it. We don't have time to go into tremendous detail. We'll basically be focusing on Matthew chapter 24. But again, we need to be aware of this world. And as we see, Mr. Fader touched upon it in the sermonette, as we see a continuance of this world going to hell in a handbasket, we need to understand that that's part of the plan, and that that was prophesied to happen millennia ago. God wants us to understand the things that are going to occur, and He wants us to be prepared for them. Let's start out in Daniel chapter 12, beginning in verse 1. If you'll turn there with me, Daniel chapter 12 and verse 1, because He also had a number of prophecies regarding the end time, or the end of the days of human rule on this earth.

Daniel chapter 12, and we'll begin here in verse 1. They give you some context. It starts out and it says, at that time. That's obblously speaking, and a reference of the latter days, the end time of humans ruling over themselves in this world. This is speaking of two great regional powers that are going to go to war against each other. One is called the King of the North. This is discussed in verses preceding this, the King of the North, and the other is known as the King of the South.

Now, in this part of Daniel's prophecy, this North-South conflict will describe a clash of civilizations, including a leader of a soon-coming European superpower that will be the King of the North, and that's the revived Roman Empire, a successor to the Seleucid rule. This is a dual prophecy. This prophecy was fulfilled in a smaller way in the past. The King of the North was a number of Seleucid Syrian rulers, and the King of the South is a leader or a political alliance who is the successor to the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt.

Again, anciently, the first fulfillment, smaller fulfillment, of this prophecy, the Ptolemaic rulers were the King of the South. In biblical prophecy, the ultimate fulfillment will be part, a ruler that comes out of the Arab and Islamic world, and it's a clash of cultures, and we see that already occurring today. The United States having difficulties with Iran, for example.

It's a clash of cultures. One is a Western culture, another one is an Islamic culture. We have trouble communicating, we have trouble maintaining peace, and this is the time that Daniel is talking about here. So it says, at that time, Michael, and Michael's an archangel who served as the guardian over the nation of Israel, Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people.

Again, his job is to be a guardian archangel over the people of Israel, and there shall be a time of trouble. Such never was since there was a nation. So going all the way back to the early chapters of the book of Genesis, this will be a time of trouble that has never existed before, even to that time, and at that time your people shall be delivered.

So God is going to protect his people. Now that doesn't mean life is easy. Again, as we heard in the sermon Ed, life sometimes can be challenging. If you go back to ancient Egypt, before Israel left ancient Egypt, there were some early plagues in which they suffered along just like the Egyptians. They suffered the same plagues as the Egyptians.

But the more horrendous plagues that occurred, God put a dividing line between Goshen to protect the Israelites and the plagues the Egyptians were going through. And yes, when we have economic downturn, sometimes God's people get that pink slip and we lose their jobs.

When sometimes due to economy or other things, the world suffers. We suffer along with it to a degree. But God ultimately is going to protect us and preserve our lives. So let's continue here. Verse 2, your people shall be delivered. Everyone that is found written in the book, and it's Jesus Christ that adds those names to the book, religious leaders don't add names to the book of life. Councils and committees don't add your name to any book, any spiritual book of life.

Only Jesus Christ has the right and the ability to do that. Verse 2, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some the everlasting life and some the shame and everlasting contempt. This is talking about different stages of the resurrection. The first resurrection, the second resurrection, what we call the third resurrection. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many the righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

So Daniel tells us there's a time coming that will be a time of trouble such as there has never been in this world. This will be a time known, the phrase that Jesus will use, as the great tribulation. He also spoke about this time period, and we should realize that these are going to absolutely be horrendous times.

There's going to be incredible suffering. Millions upon millions of people will lose their lives. Verse 4, but you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase. This prophecy was written before we had jet travel.

Think about this, and many shall run to and fro. He couldn't have imagined people would get inside of a metal shell and fly from one continent to another. But this is what this prophecy said. The year the end time, that things would be increased, that travel would increase, that knowledge would increase, and knowledge shall increase. He couldn't have imagined the Internet. He could not have imagined going to Google and typing in a phrase and getting a thousand pages on that subject or that title. Yet that is exactly what Daniel wrote and understood about the time of the end. Verse 5, Then I, Daniel, looked and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other in that riverbank. And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be? Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river. And when he had held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, he swore by him, who lives forever, that it shall be time, times, plural, and half a time. And when the power of the Holy People has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.

Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, My Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go your way, Daniel, the words are closed up. Don't worry about this. This is for another time, not yours, another age that's going to be way in the future beyond your lifespan. Just seal these up until the time of the end. Time, it said, they would occur for a time, times, and half a time. This is time is a biblical symbolism for a year. So a time is one year. Times is plural. That adds up to three years and half a year. So it's a three and a half year period is when this time of trouble, this great time in which there was none other, would occur. So that's a three and a half year total period. Now there are variations of this same amount of time, and we'll take a look at a few other scriptures, but they all add up to one thing. They all add up to this great tribulation lasting three and one half years. Let's go to Revelation chapter 11 verse 1. Revelation chapter 11 verse 1.

John was inspired to write, then I was given a read like a measuring rod, and an angel stood saying, Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there, but leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months. Now verse 3, and I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy 1260 days clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. 42 months happens to be three and a half years. 1260 days, 30 days being in a month, happens to be three and a half years. So that's one thing the Scriptures are very clear on, whether you go to the book of Daniel or the book of Revelation.

These two witnesses are specially appointed representatives of God, the witness to the world, that all people need to repent of their sins. And unfortunately it's a term that a lot of people have misused. As I've said before, I personally have met all eight of the two witnesses. I had one gentleman tell me once that he had a split personality disorder, and that he was both of the two witnesses. But the real witnesses will have access to God's Spirit. They will produce miracles. They'll strike the earth. They'll put plagues upon the earth, and they'll provide punishment. But their real mission is not making people suffer.

Their real mission is to encourage people to turn their hearts to God. So again, whether we want to use the term 42 months, 1260 days, or any other phrase, it adds up to three and a half years. So that'll be the length of time that this great tribulation occurs. Let's read it and find out a little bit more about it.

Now we'll go to Matthew chapter 24 and verse 21. Again, Matthew chapter 24 and verse 21. The individual, obviously, who discusses this in greater detail is none other than the Savior himself, Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 24 and verse 21.

And here's what he said. He said to his disciples, again speaking of the time of the end, this period that is ahead of us. For then there will be great tribulation, such has not been since the beginning of the world until this time. No, nor ever shall be. Similar phrase to what we read in Daniel just a few minutes ago about how horrific those times are and a time that bad had never occurred before.

Verse 22, and unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. So Jesus Christ is literally going to return to save humanity from destroying ourselves, literally wiping off all human life and perhaps other life from the face of the earth. And we could do that with no clear weapons, we could do that biological weapons, we could do that just by being selfish and greedy and destroying enough of our environment that the whole environment collapses upon ourselves. So there are numerous ways that the human race can destroy itself, and we may not know exactly which one it could be, but if it weren't for the actual return of Jesus Christ for your sake, because you are his elect and he loves you and you are precious in his sight and he has plans for you through eternity, it's for the sake of the elect that he will intervene and shorten those days because if he didn't, the world would destroy itself. So again, if God does not intervene and stop these events, humankind would wipe itself off of this planet. But God loves you. You are his chosen, you are his elect. So he was going to allow the world to do a lot of self-damage, but not total self-destruction. Now let's go back to verse 6 and get some context of what he meant here. This is Matthew chapter 24 and verse 6. I'm going to read a couple of verses here and then if you'll bear with me, I'll go into some statistics and show how some of these things may already be occurring. Verse 6.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. So this is a prophecy and Jesus says that these events are absolutely going to occur and they include the rumor of wars and troubles in this world. God has a plan unfolding in human history. Part of that plan are some very tragic events that have to come to pass before the kingdom of God is established. Verse 7. For nations shall rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in various places. So what I'd like to do is I'd like to just take a look at these phrases and see how in a small way some of these are already occurring and they could be a forerunner of some tragic events soon or maybe 20 years from now. I don't know. I will say this especially to those who are young in our congregation. What I'm talking about today is part of biblical prophecy and it's absolutely going to happen. But God does not want you to put your life on hold. You're very important to God and He wants you, whatever age you are, to live your life to the fullest, to achieve your goals, to reach for your dreams, and to not put your life on pause because you fear that these prophecies are going to occur in a year or in two years or in five years. These prophecies are going to occur but only Jesus Christ and the Father know when these things are going to happen. He wants us to live our lives fully and He wants us to live our lives abundantly and not live in fear. God has not given us the spirit of fear. So let's take a look at some of these phrases for nation shall rise against nation. First of all, we have Iran. This is from Reuters.com. Quote, German intelligence agencies claim Iran tried to obtain missiles and nuclear technology in breach of a groundbreaking international agreement. By the way, this is an agreement the United States left a few months ago. The German Federal Intelligence Service accuses Tehran of making 32 procurement attempts in 2016 alone. In a report on the findings, German officials said Iran used shell companies in China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates to sidestep restrictions. So they're violating an agreement that they signed trying through shell corporations in other areas of the world to secure this material in order to make nuclear weapons. From express.co.uk, which is a website, it says Iran's weapons development were curbed by the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a deal that froze the Iranian nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions in January of 2016. Israel is willing to resort to military action to ensure Iran never acquires nuclear weapons. Israel cats, the intelligence minister has stated. Quote, we will not allow Iran to transform Syria into forward-base sea harbors, air bases, and Shia militias, he said. We will act together with the United States and other countries in the world until they stop the ballistic missiles that threaten Israel. End of quote. And this has happened. Last year, Israel has sent their air force into Syria to attack targets in Syria because they felt they were part of Shia militias or they were sponsors from Iran and they wanted to wipe them out. Recently, Iranian drones have shot down a U.S. surveillance drone. You may have heard about that about a month ago. They've threatened U.S.

ships in the Gulf and they may be the origin of recent attacks in Saudi Arabia that destroyed some of their oil fields. The digital forensics is indicating that those drones came from Iran.

So war may be inevitable. We don't know what the world is going to lead to, but when Jesus used the phrase, nation shall rise up against nation, in this one situation you have Iran against the United States, Iran against Israel, Israel against Syria. So we see that nation is rising up against nation. How about China, an emerging superpower? This is from Reuters.com and I quote, military spending in the People's Liberation Army has grown about 10% annually over the last 15 years. China's military budget for 2014, according to IHS Janes, a defense industry consulting and analysis company, will be a hundred and forty eight billion dollars. That's what they spent on their military in 2014, which is the second largest in the world. Second largest expenditure, only exceeded by the United States, I might add, the second largest expenditure on military implements in the world. Here's from Wikipedia an article called the People's Liberation Army. The PLA is the world's largest military force with a strength of approximately two million two hundred eighty five thousand personnel. It is the fastest growing and modernizing military power in the world with significant defense and global projection capabilities. Do you know that one of the platforms of the Communist Party is that this is to be the Chinese century, the 21st century? Their goal is to make China the dominant superpower in the world this century. China appears, and this is continuing in this Wikipedia article, China appears to have installed weapons including anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems on all seven of the artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea, a U.S. think tank reported citing new satellite imagery. So to expand their military power, they've created islands in the South China Sea that obviously is irritating other neighbors and nations and they're putting their military on these islands. Just deflects their muscles a little bit, saying we're here, we're powerful, and we're gaining in strength. Singapore-based South China Sea expert, a gentleman named Ian Story, said he believed the move would help ready the facilities for a probable next step of China flying jet fighters and military transport planes to its new runways that it's building on these islands. From the onset, it's been quite obvious that the artificial islands were designed to serve as military outpost in the South China Sea said Story. If you've been reading the news, you're aware of the fact that Hong Kong has been in protest for over 100 days. When Britain handed over Hong Kong to China, China agreed to allow Hong Kong to have democratic principles because that's all the people in Hong Kong ever knew. Well, since then, China has pushed and pushed and pushed a more autocratic regime upon those in Hong Kong. And what we see today was started by the leaders in Hong Kong trying to pass a bill that basically said that you could be tried in mainland China if you committed a crime in Hong Kong. And if you are tried in mainland China, that means you disappear and no one ever hears from you again. And that's really what sparked these protests that have been going on now for a hundred days. China isn't becoming more democratic. It's becoming less democratic. A few decades ago, when the Western world decided to negotiate trade agreements, very favorable trade agreements to China, here's what the Western world said. If we negotiate these trade agreements and we allow them to make money, they'll become more democratic. They'll treat their people better. Abuses will end. Just the wealth will help them and bring them along to be more democratic. And the exact opposite has happened. The Communist Party has approved the removal of a two-turn limit on the presidency, effectively allowing Zhao Ping to remain in power for life.

The first individual since Mao Zedong to have that much power in Communist China.

So China isn't becoming more democratic. China is becoming more autocratic, more control-oriented. Most of the citizens now, their faces have been scanned, because they're scanning technology in public. So they know exactly who you are walking in the streets and where they can find you. And everything that you do. So again, this isn't a democratic mindset, this is an autocratic mindset. Look, spend a few minutes talking about the Soviet Union. It's also becoming more authoritarian and undemocratic. And here's a part that I find specifically troubling. In February, a Danish construction worker whose name was Dennis Christensen was found guilty by a Russian court of organizing extremist activities. You know what his extremist activities are? He's a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses. He was given a six-year sentence for his beliefs as the Jehovah's Witness. Obviously, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness, and I may not agree with much of their theology, but I'll fight to the death for their right to teach and believe what they want to believe. Because I believe in democratic principles. This past week, so that wasn't just some one-off or some anomaly, this past week, six other Jehovah's Witnesses were sentenced for up to three and a half years, according to court spokesman Olga Pernuva. She confirmed last week, according to the court ruling, the men were found guilty of continually practicing the activities of a quote, extremist organization. So your religious beliefs are extremist if you don't conform to the Russian Orthodox faith. That was, by the way, oppressed for decades under Communist rule. So we see, even in the Soviet Union, we don't see China and the Soviet Union and the remnant nations of communism becoming more democratic as they get wealthier. And as time goes on, we see them becoming more autocratic, more controlling. North Korea, this is from Newsweek, quote, North Korea has advanced its missile development program to the point where it could strike the US mainland with an intercontinental ballistic missile. They're already there if they choose to do it. A top US general has confirmed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, made the claim as he appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee a few years ago as part of his reappointment process. So North Korea now has the capability to send an intercontinental ballistic missile and hit California, hit the west coast of the United States.

Then there's the European Union, which is facing its own difficulties, including the controversy over Brexit, the United Kingdom leaving either unfriendly or unfriendly terms, their association with the European Union. This is from express.co.uk, a website. Germany's contribution to the European Union are set to rocket as the bloc counts the cost of life without Britain after Brexit. What many people don't realize is Germany, which is a powerhouse, finances the poorer nations that exist within the EU. Continuing here in this article, a bombshell report has revealed Angela Merkel's nation will have to increase funding to about a third from 15 billion euro in 2015 to around 20 billion once the UK leaves. This is annually. The damning report records the true cost of the Brexit for Brussels, with Germany set to become the world's largest cash machine in a bid to prop up the ailing bloc. This is from a Wikipedia article, European debt crisis. It says since 2009, several Eurozone member states were unable to repay or refinance their government debt or to bail out of over indebted banks under the national supervision without the assistance of third parties. And here they are. Here are countries since 2009 that have been unable to pay their bills, pay their debts. Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, and Cyprus, and Italy. I don't know who's left in the EU. That's a lot of nations.

Alright, so let's take a look at some other phrases Jesus used here in Matthew chapter 24. Another thing that he said is that there would be famines. He said, for nations shall rise up against nation and kingdom, against kingdom, and we've seen some things that could lead to world war very easily. We've talked about some of those things. Now let's talk about famines. From the organization FoodAidFoundation.org, it says, quote, some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy, active life. This is about one in nine people on earth. Poor nutrition causes nearly half, or 45% of deaths in children under five. Due to malnutrition, 3.1 million children die each year. That's pretty sad. You know, I might add, even in a nation as wealthy as we are, many Americans, including the elderly and children, suffer from malnutrition and hunger. And I serve in some organizations in the local community that serves the elderly and small children. And the term they use is food insecurity, but there are many Americans who go to bed hungry every night because they don't have enough to eat. Jesus talked about pestilences. That's not a term we use a lot in the world today. They're disease epidemics. This is from the Los Angeles Times, an article that they had in 2017. Quote, an estimated 5.9 million children under five died in 2015, mostly from preventable causes. The same year, 2.1 million people became infected with HIV. Malaria kills one child every 30 seconds. About 3,000 children every day. Over 1 million people died from malaria each year, mostly children under the age of five. An estimated 300 million to 600 million people suffer from malaria every year. Again, very sobering statistics. I want you to think of some of these things magnified by 10, and you get an idea of how horrific it's going to be in a great tribulation. From the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Quote, antibiotic resistance infections are already widespread in the US and across the globe. Many public health organizations have described the rapid emergence of resistant bacteria as a crisis or nightmare scenario that could have catastrophic consequences. The CDC, which is the Center for Disease Control, declared in 2013 that the human race is now in a post antibiotic era, and in 2014 the World Health Organization, as part of the UN, warned that antibiotic resistance crisis is becoming dire. There are now resistant forms of bacteria and viruses in hospitals, and they give the most powerful antibiotics we have, and in many cases it's not good enough the person dies. So some of these diseases are getting out of control and are no longer affected by some of our most powerful antibiotics. Jesus also talked about earthquakes and increase in earthquakes.

Here's what NBC News said. This is NBCNews.com, an article on their site.

The annual number of great earthquakes nearly tripled over the last decade.

Between 2004 and 2014, 18 earthquakes with magnitudes of eight or more rattled subduction zones around the globe. That's an increase of 265 percent over the average rate of the previous century, which saw 71 great quakes, according to a report by the annual meeting of the Geological Society in America that was held in Vancouver, British Columbia. End of quote. The earthquakes have tripled over the last decade. How about lawlessness? Jesus said there would be more lawlessness. According to the World Health Organization, quote, violence causes more than 1.6 million deaths worldwide every year. Violence is one of the leading causes of death in all parts of the world for mages 15 to 44. And some American cities for young people, violence is the leading cause of death in some of our major American cities now. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, they calculated on average the cost of violence related only to paying for police justice corrections and the productivity effect of violent crime, homicide, and robbery cost each American $3,257 for each taxpayer. It cost the U.S. economy each year $460 billion to deal with a criminal justice system and the crime that we have in our own nation. Jesus talked about love growing cold from NBC News.com, an article, Civility in America 7, the State of Civility. It said, quote, a survey from the KRC Research found that 75% of Americans see incivility as having reached crisis levels. You think so? Have you seen a hearing in the House of Representatives lately? 73% feel that the U.S. is losing stature as a civil nation. These stats are both record highs for the annual report now in its seventh year. Our political environment is a reflection of what's going on in our dysfunctional culture. Well, these are just some of the things that will increase and cause the Great Tribulation to occur. We need to appreciate and understand that the Great Tribulation is a worldwide catastrophe and it's man-made. There's an event that follows the Great Tribulation that we don't have time to talk about today called the Day of the Lord. And the Day of the Lord are the last plagues in the Book of Revelation and they are God's punishment upon the earth. But the Great Tribulation are all man-made punishments that we have brought and will bring on ourselves.

It's the result of thousands of years of cause and effect. Thousands of years of hate and corruption and competition and a decline in morals and generations and generations and generations violating God's law and is finally going to catch up to the human race. And we need to understand that. And again, my job today isn't to frighten any of us, but to just tell you candidly and help us to understand that when we see the kinds of things that we've been talking about today escalating and the world getting more depraved and some politician saying something even more stupid than they did yesterday, that we will understand that's all part of biblical prophecy. It's all part of what Daniel and Jesus Christ said thousands and thousands of years ago. However, as terrible as the events are in the Great Tribulation and millions, as I said earlier, are going to die, the Great Tribulation does have one positive effect. And that's actually my last scripture today. If you turn to Revelation chapter 7 verses 9 through 17, it does have a positive effect because some individuals are going to respond to God's message, which are brought by those two witnesses that I mentioned earlier. There are going to be people who will live through those events and say, I need to have a relationship with God. I need to turn toward God. I need to repent of my sins. I need to seek the gift of God's Holy Spirit. Revelation chapter 7 and verse 9, and here's what John was inspired to write. Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. John wrote, After these things I looked and behold, a great multitude which no one could number of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb of every race, of every nationality, of every language, of every former religious persuasion, a great multitude, so many people it can't even be counted. And continuing here, standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white romes with palm branches in their hands, palm branches symbolic of peace and reconciliation, verse 10, and crying out with a loud voice saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

Thanks to God, this great multitude says we have been given salvation. We'd understood that we need God. We need to have a relationship with Him and He has provided salvation. Verse 11, all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God. Verse 12 saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. God had a plan and it's a plan of wisdom and we should be thankful for it and we should give God glory and God's honor because His plan is coming in fruition.

Everything that He wanted is coming to pass. Everything He desired. Verse 13, and one of the elders answered saying to me, who are these arrayed in white robes? And where did they come from? And I said to Him, Sir, you know, so He said to me, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In other words, they accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Verse 15, therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits in the throne will dwell among them. They, that's this great multitude, shall never hunger anymore, like they did during the great tribulation, or thirst anymore, like they experienced in the great tribulation. The sun shall not strike them nor any heat, like the environmental catastrophes that occurred to earth during the great tribulation. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them nor any heat, for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. So as terrible as the great tribulation is on humanity, many will be motivated, many millions and millions beyond number, to repent and develop the right relationship with God. You know what history teaches us? That in any great catastrophe, the good get better and the evil get worse. If you look at the Holocaust that occurred during World War II, Jewish people who survived the Holocaust basically came out one way or another.

They basically came out some who were more convinced that there was a God and he has a plan and that God was involved in their lives and their lives were spared. Other Jews came out of the Holocaust angry, bitter, and atheistic, hating God, blaming God for all of those horrible events. So if we go through difficult events, catastrophic events, they show throughout history the good people tend to go through those trials. It makes them stronger, it makes them better. People that have no contact or interest in God simply become bitter and simply become angry. And we will see that effect occur through the Great Tribulation as millions upon millions will be brought to God through the things that they experience. As I said a few minutes ago, following the Great Tribulation will be a time called the Day of the Lord, and it is a series of events leading up to the return of Jesus Christ and they include the seven trumpets in Revelation chapters 8 through 11. Today I've only had a chance to give the skeletal framework of the Great Tribulation. We have some incredible articles, some wonderful Beyond the Day programs if you're more interested in the details of the Great Tribulation, the Day of the Lord, the Book of Daniel, and some of those prophecies. I haven't had time to look at that or discuss it today because of the clock. But here's the good news.

Through the Great Tribulation and all the things that this world is headed towards, the good news is God's people will be protected and that's you. As I said earlier to begin this sermon, it's always darkest before the dawn and yes this world will suffer some tragic and terrible circumstances in the future. But God will not abandon the world. For the sake of his elect, that's you, he's going to return to this earth in the nick of time to save humanity from destroying itself from this planet. He's going to save all humanity from total destruction.

And all of this sad devastation that's going to occur in the future will be followed by the dawn. And that dawn is the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

And next week we'll discuss the return of Jesus Christ as we assemble to celebrate together God's Holy Day known as the Feast of Trumpets. Have a wonderful Sabbath.