The Next 40 Years: Life on the Run

Today I want to talk about some prophetic scriptures. A number of months ago, back before the feast, I gave a sermon called 40 years in the wilderness, reflecting on the 40 years since the death of Herbert Armstrong, God's apostle back in the 1970s to the 90s and all the events that had taken place with the scattering of the churches prophesied in Zachchariah and the other issues that had been, you might say, our experience for 40 years because we certainly experienced being scattered in a wilderness, you might say
of fragmentation and of God's people sort of um you know having to prove exactly what God promised the Israelites. They had to prove when they were in the wilderness and that was God says I will put you in this wilderness for 40 years to prove you and test you to see what is in your heart whether or not you will obey my laws.
Now, we look at where we are. And so, this sermon is called the next 40 years, life on the run. I wish I could tell you that the next 40 years are prophesied in the Bible to be times of ease, times of peace, times of, you know, life for a Christian being, you know, kind of like being at a resort, sitting back on the beach, you know, drinking iced tea, looking at the ocean. That's not what it says.
The scriptures in the Bible, I've reviewed all of them that I can find about the church in the end time, there's one that's positive about our experience now. Now the end experience is wonderful because we are in the resurrection. God's people meet Jesus Christ in the air. We land on a Mount of Olives and we proceed to then be part of the family of God forever.
But between now and then, the scriptures indicate it's going to be life on the run. It's not going to be just having a great time and easing back. First, I want to review the three prophetic threads in the Bible. The Bible contains three separate histories, three separate groups of people that are categorized, that are given pretty much step-by-step history.
And we need to understand that those prophecies apply to one of those three groups. Sometimes conditions that apply to two or three of them. The first one, and this is the one you're most familiar with. It's not historically the first, but historically, or at least why is it our experience, the first threat of history we have, are the descendants of Abraham called the people of Israel.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel. We have their history beginning in Genesis 12, coming all the way through books of Exodus, and of course all the histories of Judges. We have the histories of the kings and the chronicles and even down into the new testament because the 10 tribes of Israel were well spoken of several times in the new testament.
Josephus even reimburses that re reinforces that and talks about the 10 tribes and where they were scattered. And then many of the prophecies especially in Ezekiel and Isaiah refer to the peoples of Israel. Not the little nation of Judah over in the Middle East, but the scattered peoples of Israel, primarily the descendants of Joseph who have received the promises of the blessings given to Abraham.
And those prophecies apply to our time. So when we look at prophecy, we have to understand which ones apply to the descendants of Abraham, the descendants of Jacob and where are we in the sequence of those things and where do we fit in? The second history is given to us is the history of the gentile nations. Now, let's go over to Daniel chapter 2 just because I don't have time to cover all three of these, but I want you to understand when you look at prophecies which of these three groups of people this particular prophecy is talking about. In Daniel chapter 2, this is the
foundation of the story of mankind's four world ruling empires beginning of course in the time of ancient Babylon in the 600s, 500s, 700s BC. Daniel chapter 2 and verse 31, very plain says, "You, oh king, were watching behold a great image." So we are all familiar with this image. We've seen it depicted in pictures by artists where they have this guy's got the statue and his arms are folded and he has a head of gold and the the chest of of silver.
Well, let's continue. Is a great image. This great image was splendor and excellent. Stood before you. Its form was awesome. It was an amazing thing to see. Its image's head was of fine gold. His chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, and his legs of iron, and feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
And you watched while the stone was cut without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay. So a supernatural stone, not one that was man-made, but one that came out of the sky that was made without hands, comes out and destroys this image. It turns completely to chaff or to dust and simply is blown away.
Now in Daniel chapter 7, we in Daniel chapter 11 and 12, we have additional information about these four world ruling kingdoms. And then of course we have them again mentioned in the book of revelation. So the second history that is given to us in the Bible is these four world ruling nations and much of the prophecies that are about the end time do cover what is happening with these gentile nations because they are the ones that then surround Jerusalem.
All the armies of the earth gather to to resist the returning Jesus Christ. And of course, the beast power will begin in the area of the fourth beast and rebuild that fourth beast and the final, the 10th and finally the 11th image or the resurrection of that beast because one is and one was and one is yet to come. And I think you understand those verses.
Now, which prophecies refer to Israel? Which prophecies refer to the gentile nations? Those are important. Today I want to focus on the third group whose history we have in the scriptures. And the third group is those who are called by God to be in his church. It begins with a man you've heard of.
His name is Seth. Seth began the the time of following God back in Genesis. We have Gen. Let's go back to Genesis chapter 5. Because you see when Jesus Christ said that the gates of Hades would not prevail against his church, he meant forward and backward. But going back to the time of Seth, there were people who God called who understood God's knowledge, understood about the kingdom of God, and they followed him.
In fact, in Genesis, we have these 10 men, 10 generations from Adam down to a man named Noah who were perfect in their generations, and they are called righteous. They were the beginning of those whom God would call. Genesis chapter 5. This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness or the image of God.
And sadly, we live in a generation in a time when people have almost completely forgotten the incredible importance of respecting the fact that we are made in the image of God. Men choose to disfigure themselves in all sorts of ways. Men and women both and the due violence to their own bodies or to the bodies of others.
We have lost the respect for the image of God that we should have. He created the male and female. I know that's not popular today. Not long ago, I had occasion to go on the King County, Seattle office of the King County. Uh it was one of their one of their uh places where you do some legal things of just helping somebody.
And King County officially lists 18 different genders you can choose from. 18. God made them male and female. They have added 16 to that. So it's really sad what has happened. The complete rejection of God's truth in our society today. But that's a sidelight. So Adam lived 130 years, begott a son in his own likeness after his image, and he named him Seth.
In this chapter, we have Seth beginning Enish, and then we have other men mentioned, Caan, Caanin. These men were the ones who were the essentially the only ones who were following God during this time in the pre flood world. Verse 18, Jared lived 162 years and begat Enoch. And of course this is the pre flood world 900 plus years after Adam and Enoch walked with God for 300 years.
He begat Methuselah or actually Methuselah begat Enoch. All the days of Enoch were 365 years. He died a youngster compared to all the rest of them. Enoch walked with God and he was not. So Enoch was one of the creatures of righteousness who of course eventually became an ancestor of Noah. All the days of Methuselah were 969. He lived and died.
And of course, Lamech lived 182 years and had a son. His name was Noah. And he was perfect in his generations. So, the church of God goes back a long way. And we have not only a a not a history where we have everybody's name, but we certainly have a good enough history to know that there have been followers of Jesus Christ's teachings, followers of God, true teach followers all the way down through time.
Now, I want to go over to Daniel chapter 7, and that's where we're going to begin our study of the prophecies concerning the church in the end time. Because Daniel chapter 7 is the first place where the saints of God are mentioned as a group. Daniel chapter 7, of course, builds on and adds to the knowledge in chapter 2 about the four ruled ruling kingdoms.
And here we have Daniel chapter 7 twice mentioning very specifically the saints of God and the fact that that they're they're going to have an eternal reward given to them. They shall possess the kingdom forever and ever. Let's drop down to verse um seven. After this I saw in the night visions, behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceeding strong.
It had huge iron teeth. It was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were beaten, and it had that were before, and it had 10 horns. So, we have this prophetic prophecy here, prediction about this fourth beast that would come after the other three, but it was going to be different and it would be an expanding kingdom.
It would devour and break in pieces and trample. And we understand that the Roman Empire exploded on the scene in about 250 BC and by the time 150 years later controlled the entire Mediterranean and subsequent to that most of Europe, most of the island of Britain and then on into Eastern Europe and all of North Africa, much of the Middle East over to the place they were on the edge of Bethnia, but they were not allowed to conquer Bethnia.
remember went over there was going to do that when he was one of the triumvirates serving with Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar and he was stopped beaten because the Bethnians were Israelites and the Israelites were heading up north and many of you may know the story because I assume you all you know are interested in that kind of thing but I'll tell you if you may have forgotten Julius Caesar was assassinated when the March 44 BC what was he planning on doing he had amassed one of the largest Roman armies in history over Bundesium over on the
coast and he was going to had this big navy and he was going to conquer Bethnia because it they had beaten Cassus and so he wanted to he wanted to settle his score and he wanted to land in modern day Turkey, go all the way to the east, conquer Bethnia, go all the way up through what we call Eastern Europe today, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia and then Western Germany.
He wanted to come back down into Rome with his massive army and be the great hero, have the greatest triumph ever celebrated in Rome. Now the problem with that is he likely would have done it because he was a general. He was of unparalleled comp accomplishments. He'd already conquered Gaul and killed millions of Gauls and of course had gone to Britain but then came back.
So he was when he was assassinated his army basically disintegrated and so God spared Israel the Israelites who lived in Bethnia and on up into the area of the Caucuses mountains there today we call Iraq and southern Europe that would have been conquered by Julius Caesar and the ancestors that we know as the sons of Joseph living in that area would have been wiped out or would have been certainly subjugated to Rome.
So when you hear about the assassination of Julius Caesar, God may have at least allowed it. I'm not going to say he inspired it directly, but you know, maybe so. Um, but it's just an interesting history how God has protected the people of Israel physically from being destroyed during all of those years.
Now, having said that, this was the fourth beast who was going to kill all the Israelites way back then, but they're going to try to do it again. This is just a beginning, you might say, strategy because the Bible says in what is 7, it is in his heart to destroy nations, not a few. And so that's who we're talking about, this fourth beast.
And it is in his heart to destroy nations, not a few. Now, what happens in verse 8 is I was considering the horns, these 10 horns, these 10 resurrections of the Roman Empire. And little one comes up among the before whom three of the first horns were plucked up and by the roots. And there in this horn was eyes like the eyes of a man, a mouth, speaking pompous words.
So this man speaking pompous words comes up in the middle of the third between the third and the fourth resurrection and we know that as a false religion and man who claims that he is Jesus Christ or sitting in the seat of Christ and so we have this little horn that comes up and begins to dominate these resur these horns or resurrections of the Roman Empire.
Now he says I was watching till thrones were put in place and the ancient of days was seated. So this is a big panorama of history. But now it comes forward to the time when it's time for the return of Jesus Christ. But it is in the context of this Roman Empire of this fourth beast as it is being dominated by this little horn with the great eyes and a mouth speaking pompous words.
You can kind of tie in 2 Thessalonians 2 to this very easily. So I watched till thrones were put in place and the ancient of days was seated. So there is a time of judgment. You know, if you ever been to court, everybody stands, the judge comes in, he sits down. That means it's time for court to be in session and judgments to be rendered.
His garment was white as wool. The hair of his head was like pure wool. And his throne was a fiery flame. Its wheels a burning fire fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. And thousands thousands ministered to him. the same vision really as you see in Revelation uh 4-6 where we have visions of God's throne and all these angels round about him and it said thousands thousands ministered to him 10,000 times 10 thousands stood before him so millions of angels and the court was seated and the books were opened so it's
time for the books to be opened and the earth to be judged now the books are opened again in revelation 20 during the time of the post post millennium the time we call the great white throne and judgment. And the books are the same books. But let's continue. I watched them because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking.
Second Thessalonians says he sits in the temple of God saying that he is God and wanting all the earth of course to worship him. And Revelation 13, the image of the beast cause is caused to worship the beast himself. I watched till the beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away. So when that statue is pictured as being destroyed by this stone cut without hands, all these beasts are destroyed and they're taken away in the wind because they become just like sand or like just basically pieces of grass in the wind. As for the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season at a time.
So they survive for a short time, probably into the millennium. There will be remnants of man's government and it will take a few years to get all of that sorted out. I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the son of man. So when Jesus years later is spoken of as the son of man. This is what he's referring to. The book of John has many many references to the son of man is not just a man.
He's saying the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. The son of man has all these issues. He's saying telling him I am the son of man that is referred to in the book of Daniel as the one who will come on the clouds of heaven which is what Jesus told Pilate and even the some of the of the phacal priests on the night he was taken to trial the night he was crucified that you shall see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven.
So the son of man is coming in the clouds of heaven. So he was simply quoting this verse out of Daniel when he was on trial. It's interesting to comprehend that. And he came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him and to him was given dominion and glory and pe and a kingdom and all peoples and nations and languages should serve him and his dominion is an everlasting kingdom.
So a wonderful wonderful time that's promised. All of the terrible carnage, the suffering, all that man's government has done to the creation of God, to the created people of God, it's all going to be removed and replaced by a beneficial government for everyone. Now, I Daniel was grieved in my spirit within my body and the visions of my head troubled me.
So, he was didn't understand all these things. Later in the book, he asked, "Please, can I understand this?" God just said, "Go your way, Daniel. These things will be revealed at a time far in the future." So I came near to the one of those who stood by and I asked him the truth of all this very similar to what John does in Revelation many hundreds of years later.
So he told me and made me know the interpretation of these things. These great beasts which are four are four kings which shall arise out of the earth. But notice verse 18. But the saints of the most high first time this group is mentioned as a group and given a label. The saints of the most high shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.
So, as we contemplate the real truth Mr. Row talked about about the message of Passover and and restoration and being made complete, this is where it's all leading. We shall possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Then he says, I wanted to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was very dreadful.
And he mentions here in verse 20 the 10 horns that were upon its head, the other horn that came up before which three fell, namely that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows. Now here we get one of the first prophecies about the condition of the church of God, the people who are following God, the saints in the time before the return of Jesus Christ.
I was watching and the same horn was going on vacation with the saints. Is that what it says? It doesn't say that. The same horn was making war against the saints and prevailing against them. So what does it mean to make war on the saints and prevail against them? Well, we've seen persecution off and on down for the last 2,000 years.
we read about in the book of acts where Paul was stoned, where he was shipwrecked, he was chased out of town. Uh in our experience, we haven't had much of that yet. Any persecution we have experienced has almost for entirely been self-inflicted because of jealousies and human nature and sin among God's own people. But there is a time coming when the beast is going to cause war against the saints.
I think it's important for us to note that in the last few years, we have seen churches in this country attacked. Remember the one in Minneapolis a couple months ago that was attacked and people were firebombing and all sorts of things and there was a reporter in there trying to become the center of attention like they often do sadly and it was one of those things where the police withdrew and allowed essentially the mob to take over.
Now, as we look at what's been happening in the world around us the past, let's just say the past 5 to 10 years, we have seen mobs become more and more common. We saw unrestrained mob chaos back in 1920 after the death of an individual back east that may or may not have been caused by by the police. Who knows what it was? But certainly, we have seen mobs even in the area where we live on the West Coast be given free control.
you know, where we live north of Portland, Portland was uh there was mobs going up and down the street and the mayor actually told the police to get away and not even protect the federal buildings in Portland. So, we have what Jesus Christ called a time of lawlessness. But when lawlessness happens and mobs are in control and they are not restrained, what is always the result? Any good historians here about the French Revolution? No.
Remember the French Revolution ended not in freedom for French people. It ended in a million of them being slaughtered. Many of them by guillotines of course many of those were simply the educated and the productive class of the French Revolution. I just finished a good autobiog or biography of Lafayette. Um, what an incredible man and but very very detailed about his experiences going back to France after the American Revolution and wanting to have the same result in the French which would have been a representative government, freedom of speech, freedom all the
freedoms in our in our uh in our constitution and our bill of rights. In fact, he along with his good friend Thomas Jefferson wrote a document called the rights of man which became the foundation of the French Revolution. But because they didn't have a god-based revolution like America did, it was a human-based.
Then guess what happened? Millions of people died. The streets were turned into complete chaos. And eventually it ended in a man proclaiming himself emperor. What was his name? >> Napoleon Bonapart. Grabbed the crown from the king, from the pope, put it on his own head. So chaos and crowds in the street always end in a tyrannical dictatorship.
So we see crowds in the streets of our nation or nations abroad that are unrestrained and are not the lawlessness is abounding know for a fact that in history whenever that has happened the result has been a tyrannical dictator taking over and of course no human rights just abuse of people and so that is where we are heading as a world we are heading in many nations and places where there are still those type of things going on and they're going to increase where we are because Jesus Christ said lawlessness would abound.
But the final result of that will be Revelation 13. A worldruling beast, a man who will proclaim himself to be God and stand in the place of God and all the world will have to worship him and keep his mark or else they will be persecuted. So I was watching and the same horn was making war against the saints.
And so the horn that controlled the fourth beast is prophesied as making war against the saints. Now let's go over a couple chapters to Daniel chapter 11. J chapter 11 again is is a you know long history. I'm sure you've all studied it about the various comingings and goings of Antiochus Epiphanies and the things that were challenging.
So much of it takes place in the 160s to 170s BC in the area surrounding Jerusalem and of course Judea. But in Daniel 11 and verse 32, there is a time switch as you're familiar with. Much of prophecy does that. It switches centuries. It switches time frames. But the idea is that we comprehend what has happened in previous centuries and times so that when the time switch comes, we'll recognize, oh, that's happening again.
because Antichas Epiphanies was simply a type of the man of sin or the beast that's coming as were a number of other examples uh in the Bible. So in verse 32 of Daniel 11, we essentially switch from 167 BC to the times in which we live. I'm going to predict the times just ahead of us, just a few years ahead of us perhaps, maybe even less than that.
So verse 32, those who do wickedly against the covenant, he shall corrupt with flattery. Now this is a verse or a sentence that gives us pause for thought because so many American churches now have been based on flattery. I'd like to give you an assignment. Look at YouTube. YouTube, by the way, um is more hours of view on YouTube than all television stations, all other stations combined.
And YouTube is the second most used search engine in the world. But there are quite a number of very good programs that detail why the mega churches in this country have collapsed. Why even the great big ones in Houston, in Texas, in Los Angeles, they eventually are empty now. Many of them are being sold off.
And these YouTube videos are frankly pretty good about saying what the reason was, why these guys started. Uh they were all based on Robert Schuler's house of power, a big glass cathedral down in LA that it was based on he was kind of the founder of the feel-good God has a wonderful purpose for your life and tomorrow you're going to find out just how much God loves you because he's going to bless you with all this money and prosperity and great things.
And it was it was a real kingdom that was built and these megaurches were built upon flattery. That's what it was. The these megaurches were built upon flattery. No, nothing about repentance, nothing about how awful sin is, nothing about God's commandments. It was built, they call it the health and wealth gospel or the feel-good gospel.
And it has taken America like a broom sweeping the floor for the past 30 years. It's all coming home to roost now because people are realizing, especially, you know, the younger generation, I'm talking, you know, 35 and under, um, they have, I think, as a generation, some great weaknesses. But one of their great strengths according to Bara and some of the other uh analyses people that do these these surveys is that they are very let's just say analytical and they're very sensitive to hypocrisy.
They're very sensitive to um people being genuine and not being you might say uh self-centered and trying to pull the wool over people's eyes or deceive them. So, the younger generations have seen the fallacy of this feel-good um you know, health and wealth gospel that God has nothing but wonderful things in your life planned.
All you have to do is just wave your hand, give us some money, whatever it might be. And so, the the attendances in most of those churches are collapsing very, very quickly. Many of them are simply boarded up and for sale. Uh the Crystal Cathedral was sold to the Catholic Church. They turned it into a Catholic church.
Um just one of those things. But what we have here is a the covenant is being destroyed by flattery. Instead of the true church of God being taught the truth about the kingdom of God, the truth about repentance, the truth about God's holy days, about the Sabbath, instead people are being fed a diet of flattery. But it is all very shallow and people are leaving that in droves because it has no substance.
interesting that the you might say an uptick in religious interest in the past I'm going to say 10 years that's come up is people who want to know what the Bible really says there's a very strong interest in doctrine very strong interest in not in fluff and flattery and have your best life now or the purpose-driven church which that church is boarded up by the way Saddleback Church is gone it basically the purpose was exalting a man and as church is built around a personality or a charisma of an individual leader and many of those
leaders prove to be uh not living up to the standards of the scriptures. But the problem is is that people really do want to have truth but real truth of the Bible only comes from God's spirit and from those people who have the privilege of teaching that. So we are at a time I think when we have the fields are green that if we're able to reach a larger number of people with God's truth we're going to find that there's going to be a lot of interest in that and that we uh have to make sure that the ideas of this world and its
flattery and all of its failed attempts to build churches on a false foundation that none of that affects God's church. Let's look down here in verse 30. Uh continue verse 33. Those of the people who understand shall instruct many. That's positive. So during this end time when the church is being decimated, being destroyed, God's people are being scattered, the people who know God shall do strong.
I love this verse. The people who know God shall be strong and carry out great exploits. Now I hope that happens. I want to be a part of that. Wouldn't it be cool to say that God someday says you you are part of doing great exploits. It doesn't say what the great exploits are. But the prophecy is very very clear that those who know God, not those who pretend to or those who claim to, those who really know God shall be strong and carry out great exploits.
This is essentially the only positive verse about conditions of God's church in the end time. The rest are all a little bit scary or a little bit of a strong warning. Those are the people who understand shall instruct many. Yet for many days they shall fall by sword, by flame, by captivity, and plundering. So they're going to be teaching what is truth.
They're going to be teaching what is right. And they're going to be doing it very strongly, doing great exploits. But they shall be persecuted, and many of them shall fall by sword and by flame, by captivity. It means being put in prison and by plundering. But when they fall, they'll be aided with a little help, but many shall join them with intrigue.
So they shall fall, but they many will s will survive. And yet others would try to join with them, perhaps for their own safety, perhaps for their own protection. We don't know. The details aren't given, but they'll be joined for a little help by intrigue. Some of those of understanding shall fall to refine them.
Now the other place where there is a refining prophesied is in the in the situation revelation 3 in the leadyian church that many of them have to be tried in the fire to make their garments white to find out whether or not they are going to be following God regardless of the challenges that they face. So I think it would be a good little note to make in your margin if you do that kind of thing to put down Revelation 3 Leodysian church is those that are being refined and purified and made white because it's the same thing said about that church era until the time of the
end because it is still for the appointed time. So then the king shall do according to his will. Revelation 13, the image of the beast to and he said he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god and speak blasphemies against the god of gods. So let's just hold our finger there and turn to second Thessalonians 2.
It's a verse that we've read quite a bit. So we'll just read kind of the highlights of it. But notice how the wording is almost identical. We just read here in Daniel that he shall magnify himself above every god, speak blasphemies above the god of gods and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished.
The wrath against God's people, the pe physical people of Israel and the spiritual followers, spiritual Israel. In 2 Thessalonians 2 verse three says, "Let no one deceive you by any means." In other words, no intrigue, no false teaching, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first. Perhaps that is also prophesied there in the book of Daniel that we just read, chapter 11.
The man of sin is revealed. Now, he hasn't been revealed yet that we know of. He may be on the scene. All during the last 40 years, we've had ideas of who this might be, but all those ideas have proven to be wrong so far. So, we need to be careful about writing names into the Bible that are not there. But if he's revealed, we're going to see it.
If he's revealed, he's not going to be hidden. He opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple, showing himself that he is God. It's almost identical to what Daniel prophesied in chapter 11. So he shall come on the scene. The man of sin will be revealed.
And we of course are waiting for that time. It says verse 37 in Daniel 11. Last part of verse 36 though, let's not finish not finish that verse. What has been determined shall be done. And that's after the wrath has been accomplished is part of God's plan to test and to prove his servants. And what has been determined shall be done.
He shall regard regard neither the god of his fathers nor the desire of women in other words their children their families the love they have nor regard any god he shall exalt himself above them all and the world will have to worship the beast in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses he will honor a false god a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and with silver then we had the prophecy about the time of the end with the king of the south comes up and and the king of the north attacks the king
of the north and the king of the north comes at him like a whirlwind. Then in verse 45, he shall plant this tent of his palace between the seas. That's between the Mediterranean and the sea of uh the Dead Sea where Jerusalem is between those two and his in the glorious holy mountain which of course we know as Mount Mariah or Mount Zion, the place for today is the Dome of the Rock and of course the Eloa Mosque.
Yet he shall come to his end and no one will help him. So we have then a prophecy that is I think not only not only shocking but certainly a strong warning to us that ought to make us understand it's time to be awake and not be asleep as things happen. He says in verse 12 or chapter 12 verse one at that time Michael shall stand up the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people.
And we've always felt there's Bible indications that are pretty strong that Michael is the guardian angel, so to speak, over the 12 tribes of physical Israel. And he will have to stand up to protect them. But there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. So what is coming is far worse than World War II.
It's far worse than Genghaskhan crossing all of Europe and slaughtering millions of people. It's far worse than any of the disease hordes of the epidemics of the Middle Ages. It's a time of trouble such as the world has never seen. At that time your people shall be delivered. Everyone who is found written in the book, the same book that nations are judged out of and people are judged out of.
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. So there shall be talking about a time of the resurrection. That's when it's going to take place. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament. Well, Jesus Christ is pictured in Revelation 1 as shining white with a golden belt, large golden belt, having, you know, shiny white hair.
Of course, some of us are going to have to grow some hair to have any get shining. But it's very similar to other places that describe that shining brightness. But we are to shine like the brightness in the resurrection. John says when we see him, we'll be like him. We'll see him as he is. We'll be like he is.
So we'll be shining and just looking a lot like pictured in Revelation chapter 1. Those who turn many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever. And so the job of God's people is to teach others to turn to righteousness, to turn away from their sins, accept God's plan, their savior. And of course, that is what we are to be doing.
Now I want to drop down here to the last part. Verse six, I said to the man clothed in the linen. So Daniel sees this man standing by the river clothed in linen, obviously an angel, maybe Mike, and he has to hold his hands up. I heard the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river. But he held up his right hand and then his left hand to heaven.
So he holds both of his hands up. And he swore by him who lives forever. It shall be for a time, times, and half a time when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered. All these things shall be finished. So it is this process of the persecution of God's people that when it is over, all things that are prophesied here will be over.
All these things shall be finished. And of course, they've been told to go his way in the last part of verse 13. Go your way till the end, for you shall rest and will arise. God promises Daniel who'll be in the resurrection to your inheritance at the end of the days just like all of those who are in the graves shall have live with God's spirit shall rise up and have their inheritance at that time.
Now, I want to go to Luke chapter 12 because there's a little lesson we could learn here about the meat in due season and what we are to be doing in the meantime because it is easy just to go along with the world. It's easy not to go out and preach the truth of God that is offensive to some people or might cause them to be uh let's just say resentful, might cause some persecution.
But he says in revel in Luke 12, let's begin in verse 35. He says, "Let your waist be gerted and your lamps burning." So the sense of urgency that we need to have is described very clearly. Let your waist be girded. Have your clothes on ready to go in case it is time. And your lamps burning.
In other words, your fire in your heart still burning. Because as you know the the prophecy in Matthew 25 about the 10 virgins all go to sleep which I think is a very very sad prophecy that the church all goes to sleep but that five at least still have enough oil in their lamps to be accounted worthy to be in that final wedding supper that's pictured there.
Let your waist be girdered and your lamps burning. Now for years we had a I think a sense of urgency about Jesus Christ coming in the next those few years. And when I was in college, we wondered if we'd be able to graduate college if Christ wouldn't come first or if we'd be old enough to ever have children.
Now we have grandchildren who are attending or getting ready to go to their own college at some point. So the years have gone by. the the urgency we had was not wrong because it caused us to have a strong dedication to God's people and certainly a very very good service you might say mentality that so many so many have demonstrated excuse me over the years and we have a lot of those servants that are today in the grave awaiting the resurrection but Luke 12:35 says let your waist be gerted and your lamps burning Paul later says It's now time to awake out of sleep because your
redemption is nearer now than when you first believed. You yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he return from the wedding that when he comes and knocks they may open the door immediately, not after a long wait or not after gathering up all those things or putting things away that were sidetracking them that they may open to him immediately.
Blessed are those servants whom the master when he comes will find watching. Assuredly I say to you, he will gert himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them. But know this, if that man um I'm sorry, you see well it just talks about the sec verse 38 talks about the second or third watch.
Blessed is he find those servants. But know this, that in if the master of the house had known what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not allowed his cease to be broken into. Therefore, be you also ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. So Jesus Christ may be coming at a time when many have gone to sleep, when many don't really expect it.
After all, time's gone on much longer than we thought it would. But that doesn't mean it's not going to happen. Every word of God is sure. The word of God cannot be broken. And the prophecies about the church in the end time certainly is not they are going to come to pass. None of them are going to be ignored or not come to pass.
Not not actually happen. I want to go down to re I'm sorry to Isaiah chapter 6. I think we mentioned Revelation 13 enough times we haven't read it but that's okay. Isaiah chapter 6 going to begin in verse one. Here we have a vision of the Lord. There are four authors of the Bible who saw visions of heaven and wrote them down for us.
Obviously Ezekiel had two, chapter 1 and chapter 10 very very clear. Isaiah, John in uh Revelation saw heaven opened, saw the angels, saw the throne of God, saw the lamb and the seal. So we have his detailed explanation. The Apostle Paul said he was transported to the third heaven, but he saw and heard things he couldn't tell us about. No, that's very frustrating.
Why would he say that to us? You know, why don't you tell us what it was? Well, God didn't inspire him. But here in Isaiah 6, beginning in verse one, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
So Isaiah saw God sitting on his throne, high up in the sky or high above him and a large robe filling the temple. And above it stood saraphim. Each had six wings. Two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. Very similar to what Ezekiel records for us when he had these same vision in chapter 1 and chapter 10.
And he cried to one another, saying or they cried to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who was cried out. And the house was filled with smoke. But I said, "Woe is me, for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips.
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. The one of the seraraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. and he touched my mouth with it and he said, "Behold, your lips, your iniquity is taken away. Your sin is purged.
" Now, obviously, the coal wasn't burning like a fire. It would have probably killed him or certainly caused severe damage. But verse eight, I also heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" But I said, "Here I am. Send me." So he knew once he had had his sin taken away and his iniquity purged that he was then called by God to go with a message.
And I think we have to understand this that this can apply to us today certainly in principle that we understand our iniquity has been taken away. the lesson of Passover, the powerful examples and of course the messages that we understand from Jesus Christ's sacrifice that our iniquity has been taken away and our sin purged and God has a message.
We must to go out and we should volunteer and say go ahead God send us. But he said to them here I am send me. I think this next section truly applies to the time we are in. He said go and tell this people and keep on hearing but do not understand. Keep on seeing but do not perceive. There is a time when people's attitude is so hardened is so hatred of truth so hatred of God so just the animosity is is so strong that they will not be able to see. They will not be able to hear.
Says make the heart of this people dull and their eyes heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes lest they hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return and be healed. How often did Jesus Christ talked about seeing with their eyes, having their eyes healed so they could see or their ears? He that has ears to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. It repeats over in Revelation.
And the Lord said, "How long?" So, how long will we be preaching to these people that don't really want to know, won't respond? He said, "Until the cities are laid waste without inhabitant and the houses are without man and the land is utterly desolate. The Lord has removed men away and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
So this I believe does apply to the time in which we live. I'll tell you why. How many wars are you hearing about in the news? Most of us just hear about the one in Iran, right? Because that's what the United States is involved in. There's all sorts of technology and certainly we are seeing sort of Star Wars come to life with all these drones and all these mechanical things. I was telling Mr.
Gothals earlier that you know years and years ago when I was a small boy there was a show called Star Trek and we had Captain James T. Kurt you know going to places where man had never gone before. And I remember going to school and and we talk about do you see Star Trek these doors opened automatically.
You just walk up and the doors open. CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT HAPPENING? And of course now you walk into any commercial building, Safeway, any store you want to doors all automatically open. And of course then they had these flip phones and they would talk to the guy up in the sky. Wouldn't that be really cool to have flip? That'll never happen.
But wow, wouldn't that be Well, we all have cell phones now. There's actually a web page or I think it's a web page. Maybe it's on YouTube. Last time I saw it was a web page that lists all of the inventions in Star Trek that have come to pass. Now, they don't do the transporter yet. I would love to have them do the transporter.
They could just beam us to a different city. Be better than going through the TSA checks and all the other inconveniences of flight. But Star Wars, which came out in 1978, I believe we were just moved to Pasco. It would have been 7778. Star Wars has all sorts of drones and and mechanical beings that are shooting each other and armies of all of these non living things killing each other.
That's basically come to pass because we have seen drone war not only in Israel in in the Gaza the last two years, but especially where they are fighting now. And much of that, of course, is going on in Russia and in Ukraine, but we don't hear much about it. On last Thursday, according to two new sources I saw, one of them was the Independent in England, Russia lost, 1700 soldiers on Thursday, the largest single day loss of life that they've ever experienced since World War II.
And they're losing huge amounts. Ukraine lost almost that many. It's a it's a real slugfest. 1.26 million Russian soldiers have died so far in that war. Who knows how many Ukrainians. And then of course you've got the the war going on between Pakistan and Afghanistan. And you may have heard about that, you may not have, but Afghanistan and Pakistan are going at it.
The problem there is that Pakistan is a nuclear power. They have about 15 nuclear bombs last I heard. And the people are not self-controlled like the Western nations are. If they could easily get mad and just start sending nuclear bombs off. Of course, India has a fairly significant nuclear arsenal. if Pakistan drops one on Afghanistan.
Um, who knows what could happen after that? Because my father who flew nuclear bombs in his airplanes for many, many years, he was an Air Force colonel. I asked him one time after he retired. I said, "Well, you know, for years you carried nuclear bombs all across the Atlantic and headed towards Russia and had to turn around at the last minute.
" I said, "Where do you think this is all going to end?" He said, "Well, there's an understanding among all the nuclear nations." And my father, for all of his faults, had some very good contacts for years. He his his roommate when he went to college was Alexander Heg, later became secretary of state and head of the joint chiefs of staff.
And my father and he were good friends. I met Alexander Heg when I was a little kid about seven or eight years old. He came to our house in Savannah with to see my father. At any rate, my dad did tell me this. He said, "Well, the problem is right now there's a stalemate." But he said, "When the first bomb falls, all the rest will follow.
" So when that first nuclear bomb falls, there's been this kind of a stalemate, kind of a staring contest about who's going to use a nuclear bomb first. And according to my father, who was not a righteous man, he was not a prophet, but he knew the industry, he knew what military strategy very well. And of those nations, uh, he said, "Watch it because when the first one drops, the rest are going to fall fairly soon.
" So if the first one happens to be in Afghanistan, that may or may not happen. If the first one happens to be the Russians getting backed into a corner and the Russian bear is not a good thing to poke into the corner, start poking him with a stick, which of course seems to be happening. Who knows what else might happen in Israel.
Israel has, by the way, about 90 nuclear bombs. And they also have the rockets and the means to basically put them anywhere in the world they want they want to put them. and they would certainly use them if they were attacked if they were threatened with the same type of of weaponry. So the times in which we live, it says here the land's going to be utterly desolate, but he says a tenth will be in it and return for the consuming.
So a tenth of the people of Israel are going to survive this coming holocaust. It says verse 12, "A tenth will be in it and return for the consuming as a teraban tree or as an oak whose stump remains when it is cut down." So like a tree that when it's cut down, their new shoots come out of the stump. So the holy seed shall be its stump.
So there will be God's people, the holy seed that will last through this time and will then begin to rebuild the world. I think that also refers to the people of physical Israel. Now, let's go over to a number of prophecies about Bible admonitions as what should be our our mindset as the end comes near. Let's go to Philippians chapter 4 and verse three.
This mindset of not only being urgent but also being making sure that we are not being sidetracked by the cares of this world. The Jesus Christ said a warning about Philippians chapter 4 and verse three. I urge you true companion, help those women who labor with me in the gospel. And so we have a lot of laborers in the gospel with Clement also and the rest of the fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. one of a number of places in the New Testament where the writer Paul sometimes Peter first Peter says the Lord is coming. The return of Jesus Christ is fairly close. And he tells that and wrote it down for us so that we would not lose our sense of urgency.
So what does he say we should be doing during a time when perhaps persecution is coming? A time when perhaps life on the run and the refining of those people that God wants to be in his kingdom is going to take place. He says be anxious for nothing. Don't worry. We have a very anxious generation. We have more anxiety drugs prescript prescribed now than we ever had in the past.
There's a good book called The Anxious Generation that I've got a copy of. just describes what has been happening to the youth in America for the last 20 years and why so many are anxious about something. And we were kids, we weren't anxious, we were just busy. We were anxious about getting a new bike or repairing our flat tire maybe.
But now we have anxiety drugs being prescribed almost like candy. It's just a sad sad commentary on our society. But God says, "Be anxious for nothing. Live a life of faith knowing that God has promised to take care of us and will always be with us." Remember last part of Hebrews chapter 13 I think it's chapter verse 6 Jesus Christ said I will never leave you and never forsake you and that's something we have to never forget so be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God so this is
in a time when challenges are coming don't neglect prayer don't neglect to be thankful don't neglect to make your requests made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. Humanly we cannot understand the peace that God gives us with God's spirit. Hopefully we can experience it and also come to understand it.
He will guard your hearts and your minds through Jesus Christ. Then we have of course the famous verse eight about all things that are good and lovely and noble. Think about those things. It's hard to do that when you're living life on the run, but we must all try. Let's go now over to James chapter 5 and verse 7. James chapter 5 and verse 7.
James tells us to be patient as the coming of the Lord draws near. So we may see challenges. We're going to see this nation continue to degenerate. We're going to see the social conditions get worse and worse. We're going to see immorality. We're going to see corruption in government. We're going to see riots in the streets.
We're going to see things that we never anticipated. But he says in the book of James, chapter 5, beginning in verse 7, therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. So just be patient. Just wait because Jesus Christ is in control and his word is sure and the prophecies we've read today are going to come to pass.
See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth. So there's no amount of talking or yelling or screaming at your plants that makes them grow faster. You know, you plant your tomatoes, you plant your zucchini, you plant all these things. They say that playing classical music in a greenhouse helps the plants.
I've never tried it, but I've heard people say that playing classical music in a greenhouse helps the plants grow faster. I'm probably not going to try that. So, you might try it on your own or see what you can find out. But no matter what we do, we cannot make the return of Jesus Christ come sooner. All we have to do is obey what he said.
Be patient until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and the latter rain. So the early rain really is depicted for us in the book of Acts. But the latter rain that is prophesied on God's people, I think we are perhaps on the verge of experiencing.
But we'll see how that works out. Be you also patient. Establish your hearts. Don't neglect salvation. The Bible warns us in Hebrews chapter 2, not neglect salvation. We do that by neglecting prayer, neglecting fasting, neglecting tithing, neglecting fellowship, you know, living a life on our own as as insulated from the world, insulated from other Christians does not work. So don't neglect salvation.
He says, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. It's the second time he says Jesus is going to be here soon. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. So, judgment is now upon the house of God. And we need to understand that judgment is sent.
Jesus Christ is standing at the door. And we are in need of being judged accountable, judged with a good report. Now, I want to end today over in Revelation chapter 2. Now, this is a church era warning that sometimes we gloss over because it doesn't apply to the Philadelphiaian or the Leodysian era.
But John warns us, let the the spirit says, "Let everyone listen to the lessons or the messages to all the churches." So each one of those apply to us. And while this historically may have been earlier, we are repeating perhaps their very same experience. Revelation chapter 2 speaking in verse 10. He says,"Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer.
" So for the next how many years? We may be living life on the run. We may be persecuted out of our synagogues or what symbolic synagogues the places which we meet. We may not be able to keep the Sabbath publicly. You know, it's interesting to contemplate that right now it's anti-semitism and attacks against synagogues.
But don't forget, we are Christians and we also keep the Sabbaths that we might be in the minds of some of those who want to persecute truth or hate God. We might be lumped into the same category as other people that we are truly not a part of spiritually, but we could be perceived that way. It says, "Don't fear any of those things which you are about to suffer.
" That's going to be hard. If you're suffering, it's going to be hard if you're living life on the run. But that is what we are told. Don't fear the future. Don't fear any of those things that you are about to suffer. Says indeed the devil is about to throw some of you into prison. That doesn't sound positive, but don't fear it.
He says that you may be tested and you'll have tribulation 10 days. Historically, we link that to persecution of dialesian lasted 10 years. But perhaps ours time will be similar, perhaps it won't. But the important lesson here is very clear. Don't fear any of those things that you're about to suffer.
And the last verse, the last sentence in this verse, be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. So that is a promise that is sure one of each one of us can look in the mirror and repeat to ourselves and be thankful for because we are entering a very dangerous time in human history.
And I would wager a very dangerous time in the history of the church of God because all three of these groups, the history of the Israelite nations, they're going to go to great tribulation. The history of the world really nations and what's going to happen with them when that final resurrection of that fourth beast comes and it is finally destroyed by Jesus Christ.
And of course, most importantly, the history of God's people. And as we face these years or any challenges in the future, don't forget, be faithful unto death. And Jesus Christ will give you the crown of life.