Volatile Islam: Rise of the King of the South?

Well, it seems like, you know, I think every time I come here, I think I say something like, we've entered into a new era. And it seems to be that way. I know that when we were here after the feast, not this past year, but the year before, the Hamas, the Hamas attack on Israel had just taken place. So we talked about that and how that may enter into a time where there would be continual conflict in the Middle East.

And that seems to be going on and probably will continue until the time, you know, the armies surround Jerusalem and Jesus Christ returns. You know, last time we were here after the feast this year, and it was the midst of the presidential election year.

We didn't know, no one knew how things were going to turn out. But I remember talking about whatever happened in the election, it was gonna be a new country going forward, a new time. Because either there was going to be one that solidified the direction the country was going, or in the other hand, it was going to move in a different direction. But whatever happened was going to be put America into a new position. And we talked about faith, and we talked about having an unshakable faith and knowing God is in control, and we need to have that faith in him.

And also, one of the verses I find myself using around the world anymore is 1 Thessalonians 5.3. In the aftermath of all that, and the peace, and the calm, the relative, and I guess even somewhat surprising calm that has gone on in the country here since that election, 1 Thessalonians 5.3 says, when they say peace and safety, sudden destruction comes. So it is not a time for us to be complacent, not a time for us to just kind of take it easy. It is a time for us to renew our faith in God, and to really exercise the calling that he's giving us, and making our calling and election sure. And as peaceful as the time was, or seen peaceful in America, January 1st kind of opened our eyes when you had the terrorist attack there in wherever that was.

I've just drawn a blank as to where that was. Oh, New Orleans. Yeah, and the name, a familiar name from the past shows up, ISIS. ISIS is there. And it reminds us of the time when ISIS was in full bloom, you might say, back several years ago, and they were pretty much marching across the Middle East in a reign of terror.

People were fleeing before them, and there was just all sorts of havoc going on. There were things happening in the news with beheadings and everything, and it was just kind of like amazing to see that is really happening in the world around us with this terrorist group that's just kind of marching through, taking over territories, and just wreaking havoc on that area of the world.

And we thought for a while that they had been subdued, but here they are again, and here they are not with maybe a group of people, but someone who's been indoctrinated by them, and it made us realize we live in a different world. It wasn't only a few weeks before that, a similar situation occurred in Germany that made the news where someone in a similar fashion took a vehicle and drove into a market, killed whoever it was, 12 or 13 people.

In the aftermath of that, just three days later, the leader, the prime minister of Germany, was pretty much given a no-confidence vote. I don't think it was only because of that, but because of some other economic problems. That was like the last straw. And all of a sudden we see in Europe, I don't know about all of a sudden, but we see in Europe and in America, all this talk about immigration and anti-immigration, and we have a president-elect now who talks about deportations.

In Germany, they've closed their borders. In England, there's been unrest. In France, there's been unrest. And we enter a time, we enter a time that drills our attention back to what is going on? What's next in America? What's next in America? And what's next in Europe? And so as we look at where we are in prophecy, and sometimes I like when we switch the calendar over to a new Roman year, to look at where are we? What is happening because things are happening pretty quickly in America. Let's go to Daniel 11. Well, no, let's not go to Daniel 11. I wanna talk about terrorism a little bit. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 32.

When we ask the question about what is going on, or what's next for America, we could, most of us, answer those questions. What's next for Europe? We could answer those questions. We know where it's eventually going to go. Only God knows how it's going to get there step by step. But as we look at terrorism, I think it's good for us for a moment to remind ourselves of where terrorism first began. I see on the screen there that you have a map behind you.

That's there, and it shows the world as the world is going to be before the return of Jesus Christ. You have the three powers that be that are going to be there. We'll get to Daniel 11 in a minute. You have Europe there in the yellow. You have Asia in the blue, and then down in the, yeah, let me see, this would be your, my left, probably your right, you have the Middle East. And you have the King of the North, the King of the South, and you have the East. That's the world at that time. At the time we get into Daniel 11, there is no more West. You see Britain off to the side there. That's the West. They've controlled the dialogue in the world for a number of years with the British Empire, following them with America even further to the West. So you have the West that has been in power for centuries now, and that's where the world has looked. But when we come to the time of the end, you have these three powers. And this land mass that you see here, that's in the center of the Earth. You have Europe, you have the East, and then you have the King of the South. And so when the King of the South, King of the South has an interesting history. There is one place in the world that this terrorism that seems to plague the Earth and pop up every now and then happens, and that's in the Middle East. Well, let's go back to, let's go back to Deuteronomy, I think I mentioned, and look at verse 32, chapter 32, and remind ourselves where terrorism began, because this isn't something new. This is something that God talked about that's in the Bible. And God says he hates that type of warfare. He hates all of warfare, but this terrorism where it is, but it is going to be part, we see in prophecy, of America's future, America's future. If we look in Deuteronomy 32, this is a prophetic chapter. It's called the Song of Moses.

But it's not the same Song of Moses that's in Exodus 15. Let's just read through a few verses here to remind ourselves of this prophecy here. In chapter 32, verse one, it says, "'Give ye, O heavens, and I will speak. "'Here, O earth, the words of my mouth. "'Let my teaching drop as the rain, "'my speech distill as the dew, "'as raindrops on the tender herb "'and as showers on the grass. "'For I proclaim the name of the eternal, "'ascribe greatness to our God. "'He is the rock, his work is perfect. "'For all his ways are justice, "'a God of truth and without injustice. "'Righteous and upright is he.'" We all remember that. We all would say those same words. "'But his people, his people,' verse five, "'they have corrupted themselves. "'They are not his children "'because of their blemish, a perverse and crooked generation. "'Do you thus deal with the eternal, "'O foolish and unwise people? "'Isn't he your father who bought you? "'Hasn't he made you and establish you?'" And America has forgotten that. In Deuteronomy 8, God warned, or through Moses warned them, when things are good, when you have plenty, don't forget me. And here in Deuteronomy 32, a song or words that God gave Moses for the latter days, his people have left him again. He's the one who provides everything and they've turned away from him. We drop down to verse 17.

Oh, verse 15, let's begin there. Jesurin, that's Israel, his people, and we know who his people are today, where they are in the world. Jesurin grew fat and kicked. You grew fat, you grew thick, you're obese, you're lazy, you're complacent, you're not in shape, you're not doing the things that you should do. Thought then he forsook God who made him and scornfully esteemed the rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy with foreign gods, with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they didn't know, to new gods, new arrivals, that your fathers didn't fear.

When we read those verses, we might think of Daniel 11, where it talks about the king at the end of time, at the end time, and it says the very same thing about him. He worships a god his fathers didn't know. He sacrifices to things that their fathers never knew, a new religion coming on the earth. And God says his people have done the same thing. They're worshiping all these idols, they've forgotten him, and they'll bow down and do anything to anything else except God. In verse 23, because of the way they've treated God, because of their response, he says, I'll heap disasters on them, I'll spend my arrows on them, they'll be wasted with hunger, devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction, I'll send against them the teeth of beasts, with the poison of servants of the dust, the sword shall destroy outside, and there shall be terror within. There shall be terror within, for the young man and virgin, the nursing child, with the man of gray hairs. Terror within.

Says the same thing Leviticus 26 in verse 16. Terror is going to be part of the future. Part of America's future, part of the world's future, just as we see, and as we may see increasing in the times ahead of us. Where did that terror begin? Let's go to Deuteronomy, just a few chapters back, in Deuteronomy 25. Again, here in Deuteronomy, Moses is reminding Israel, God's people, then and now, about who they should obey, to be paying attention to God's commands, to be paying attention to what he would have them do, and he reminds them of how these things have happened and some of the things that God has said. In verse 17 of Deuteronomy 25, he says, remember what Amalek, remember what Amalek did to you on the way, as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary, and he didn't fear God. It was a surprise attack. Not war like Russia and Ukraine are doing war, not war like World War I, World War II, or other words we hear, but Amalek, Amalek, the grandson of Esau tells us in Genesis 32, Genesis 36, verse 12, he brought terror attacks, surprise attacks, unlike warfare, cowardly attacks, I will attack the weak, I will attack and kill, simply for the sake of killing. I don't care who I kill, the weak, the ones at the rear, the ones who are straggling, and that's what they did. And God says to Israel, remember this, therefore it will be when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, and the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.

The people and that warfare God hates. He says the same thing in Exodus 17, verse 16, and I'm sure you remember a command that he gave to the first king of Israel regarding Amalek, so let's go forward here to 1 Samuel 15.

1 Samuel 15, verses 1 to 3.

Saul, as you remember, was the first king of Israel, and Samuel gives him a command from God in verse 1. Says the eternal sent me to anoint you, king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore heed the voice of the words of the Lord, thus he says, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and don't spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

Eliminate that trait from them. They are given to tear, they are given to these attacks that are there that are heinous in God's eyes.

But you know Saul didn't do that. He had mercy on them, and so from generation to generation, as God says in Exodus, you will have war with Amalek. They will be there, that's where terror begins. And the Middle East, the Middle East, if you wanna advance the slide, the Middle East has become the hotbed for terrorism. As you look at the countries that are up there on that map, that represents the Middle East, and as you look at the names of those countries, you realize there are some of those hotbeds of terror where they come from. You have Iran, known, known to be a terror estate. You have Afghanistan off to the, just off to the east of Iran, a terror state. You have other cells there in the Middle East, Yemen. As we've watched this war with Israel over time, you hear of groups that now have become familiar names, the Hezbollah's of the world, the Hamas's of the world, the Houthis of the world. And you see those attacks that are there, and these terror attacks. You see what went on with Hamas in Israel in that attack. Not an act of war where militaries fought against each other, but a surprise attack and ripped open people, simply for the sake of killing. Just like with the same attitude that those who may not have grown up in the Middle East have when they drive a car, simply for the purpose of killing people, and watching how many people they can kill, and thinking that they're doing their God a service. When Mr. Netanyahu used the term about Amalek, back months ago, he drew a lot of response from the world, but we knew what he was talking about. Because as they endured that Hamas attack, and the attacks they've had since then, he realizes this started long ago, in an animosity toward Israel and God's people. When you look at the Middle East, all those countries there come from Edom, Esau, Ishmael, we won't take the time to go into all that. You could look at all that yourself. All have been enemies of Israel and God's people, descended from Abraham's son Isaac, down through the ages. It has been that type of area.

So as we think of the future, and we look at Daniel 11, which we will turn to now, we see at the time of the end, we look at Daniel 11 and verse 40.

At the time of the end, that's the time yet ahead of us, it says the King of the South will attack him, and we see who him is in the next phrase there, and the King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. So as you remember the map from Europe, and you can see the King of the North, and we know when that's gonna come about, the West is no more, the seat of power is no longer the West, the seat of power is Europe, as the world stops looking to the West and begins looking to the North, and the autocratic power that's in control at that time, we could talk about that, and another time, we will talk about that because there are things going on in the world right now that are leading toward that direction and the development of that King of the North, what will happen, but he will sweep down through these countries, and there is no mistaking who the King of the South is, because it tells us in verse 41 what those countries are, he'll enter the glorious land, that's Jerusalem and Israel, and many countries shall be overthrown, but then he says these shall escape from his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon, we'll get to those in a minute, he'll stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape, well everyone's heard of Egypt, it's had the name down through the ages, he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt, and then it mentions Libya, which off is the country just West of Egypt, and Ethiopia, they'll follow his heels, whatever that means, either they support him, or he is deferred, and gets his attention diverted from what he's doing and has to go deal with the east, and what they're planning against him at that time, but you have these countries, and Ethiopia is down there just West of Yemen on that map, so we have these countries that are there, and we talk about the east, and we can talk, and we will talk about the east as we see that coming together in a way that we couldn't have seen, or didn't know how it would come about five, 10 years ago, but we see it happening today, but today I wanna talk about the king of the south.

We've had the attention drawn to that with the terror attacks on January 1, and we've had other things happen in that time that are interesting as well. You know, back in December, we had a surprise change in the world, or the Middle East order. We woke up one morning, and Syria, Syria had been overthrown. The government there that had been long standing, supportive of the United States, from what I understand, had been overthrown. No one saw it coming. Even the United States government, and there are challenges as you see, said they didn't see that coming. Even though war had been raging over there since 2011, they didn't see that happening. It happened suddenly, and all of a sudden, there's a regime that's new over there that's completely different than King Assad, who had been there before.

Syria does have a place in Bible history, and a place in Bible prophecy. And it's maybe an insignificant event on the face of the world, but there is something that we might learn from Syria, where it is in the Bible, and what happened to them. Now you'll remember Damascus is a word, Damascus is the capital of Syria. That name showed up back in December when the capital was overthrown, and you saw the new group, HTS, as it's called, claiming victory. The king had been exiled to Russia where he is now, and a new government would come, would come in to be. Damascus, of course, has this place in the Bible. Paul was on the road to Damascus when God stopped him and converted him. He was going to Damascus to convert Christians, or to persecute Christians. So we know that there were Christians that were there in that area. And over the decades and centuries, Damascus, which some say is the oldest functioning city on earth, has become kind of known for its cradle of Christianity in the middle of the Middle East and Islam. And it's had that reputation, and under Assad, that was pretty much fostered. But when you look at history, and when you look at the last 13 years under Assad, and see the statistics that were there at one time in 2011 when the war began as the attempted overthrows of King Assad occurred, there were one and a half million Christians, statistics say, that were living in Syria. But by last year, it was down to 250 to 300,000. So over the course of time, more than a million Christians had been displaced, or something had been. Anyone believing in Jesus Christ as Islam began to take control of that country.

Well, Syria is in the Bible. Let's go back to First Kings.

Because we find an interesting event here that has to do with Syria, and Elijah, and Elisha.

It has its beginnings in First Kings 19, and then we find the rest of the story in the book of Second Kings. But let's look at First Kings 19.

As we turn there, this is the chapter that describes what happens after Elijah had that famous incident or event with the prophets of Baal. And you remember the prophets of Baal, they were going to call down fire from heaven, and they paraded around their sacrifice, or for all day nothing happened, and Elijah called on it, God immediately consumed. And Elijah, rightfully so, thought, God has proven who he is. He is the God of Israel. He is the one to worship. So who wouldn't think that Israel would just simply bow down and say, yes, we worship God. Forget Baal, forget all these other gods. There is only one God, but they didn't do that. Jezebel said, you know, you might have killed my prophets, but now I'm going to kill you. So Elijah runs off to the wilderness to hide, to hide and to be refreshed, to be renewed, if you will, because it was a kind of a stunning thing. So we pick it up here in First Kings 19. Let's begin in verse nine.

There, it says, he, this is Elijah, there he went into a cave. He spent the night in that place, and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and God said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah? What are you doing? How much time are you going to spend here? So Elijah replied, I've been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant. They've torn down your altars. They killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life. I've done everything you asked me to do. I haven't wavered in my faith. I've done what you have done. I haven't been afraid. I've been there, and I showed them with faith in you, and then they turned on me, and now they want to take my life. So you can understand from a human perspective, this is something he has to kind of deal with, just as we have to deal with things that happen in our lives. And remember, whatever God's will is, it's something that he's teaching us, something we need to know as he works out his purpose. So in verse 11, God says, go out, stand on the mountain before the Lord, and then it goes through the familiar things. There's a wind, there's a storm, and then finally that still small voice. God says, listen, listen to that voice. And in verse 13 he says, what are you doing here, Elijah? And Elijah repeats what he had said before. And God says to him, in verse 15, go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus.

Go there, go to Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Hasiel as king over Syria.

Why would God send one of his prophets to Syria, a place that is still on the map today, we know exactly where it is, it's been that way through history. Anoint Hasiel, king over Syria.

Well, you know, Elijah had been there long enough, and God said, you know, you could be here forever. Sometimes when we're depressed, or we know people that are depressed, we would take the same advice that God gave, get out of your house, go do something. Go there and don't let things just build up on you, don't swallow in your pity. So he says, go away, go away and do this. Verse 16, he says, go, anoint Hasiel as king over Syria. You shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimsi as king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat, of Abel Malola, and you shall anoint him as prophet in your place. And then he says in verse 17, it'll be that whoever escapes the sword of Hasiel, Jehu will kill, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill, yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.

You're not alone, Elijah. There are people that I'm working with that haven't bowed down to Baal. You know, we've learned that. We've learned that in the church over the last couple years. And you've seen the little country of Pakistan that's on that map.

God was working with people in Pakistan. We had no idea. Now we do as they found us, or God led them. Had people working in Bangladesh, something we have never seen before or done anything in before, God's working with them. We have another little country that I won't say right now that within the last couple weeks as we were down in Houston at that family weekend came to me that now there is a group in another small country in that area that has reached us saying they know about the Sabbath, and they're looking for someone else that knows about the Sabbath and the Holy Days and whatever. We see God at work. There are people around the world that God is working with.

We can pray for all of them and know that God is at work. And as we see these things that happen in prophecy, as we see these things that happen in the church, realize God is real. He is at work. The plan that he's laid out in this Bible is happening. His is happening. We just need to keep our eyes open and our faith and eyes on him no matter what might come our way to try to distract us or interfere in what God is doing. Well, anyway, we get back to Elijah. Elijah does it. Now, it's very interesting. I'm not gonna take the time to read through the accounts here, but if you go through the next several chapters when you have chance, you'll see Ben Heydad is the king of Syria at this point. And he is warring with Samaria, the capital of Israel, and nothing that he does works out the way he wants. He tries to attack Samaria. God intervenes, and he's the one who goes running. So he is the king during that time as God is working this out. If we go over to 2 Kings, 2 Kings 8, we find the rest of the story that began with God telling Elisha or Elijah, go out and anoint Hasiel king over Syria of all things.

So in 2 Kings 8, we'll pick it up in verse seven. As you will have read, Elijah did go out, he anointed Elisha as a prophet, and Elisha took up the mantle of Elijah at that time, and he began continuing the work that God was doing through Elijah. So verse seven, Elisha went to Damascus, and he went to Ben Heydad, king of Syria, and Ben Heydad was sick. And Ben Heydad said, the man of God has come here, and the king said to Hasiel, his servant, take a present in your hand, go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the eternal by him saying, shall I recover from this disease? So Hasiel, remember God said, go anoint Hasiel, king of Assyria. So Hasiel went to meet him and took a present with him of every good thing of Damascus. 40 camel loads, and he came and stood before him and said, your son Ben Heydad, king of Syria, has sent me to you saying, shall I recover from this disease? And Elisha said, go tell him, you shall certainly recover. However, the Lord has shown me that he will really die.

Well, that's an interesting statement, isn't it? You'll recover, but he will die.

Verse 11, he sent his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed and the man of God wept. And Hasiel said, why are you weeping? And Elisha answered, because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. Their strongholds you will set on fire. Their young men you will kill with a sword, and you will dash their children and rip open their women with child. You will be not the typical warfare. You will wreak havoc against Israel. You will do things to them that they don't see coming. It will be heinous and it will be awful acts, but you, you will be the one to punish Israel, God's people, because they turned from him. Ben Heydad tried, but Hasiel, Hasiel, Hasiel, Elisha tells him, it's gonna be you. I see what you're going to do. I see the havoc, I see the terror, I see what you're going to do to God's people.

So Hasiel said in verse 13, but what is your servant? A dog that he should do this roasting? I mean, really? You think I'm gonna do this, Hasiel said? And Elisha answered, the Lord has shown me that you, you see the italics there, that you will be king over his Syria.

Elisha anointed him king over Syria, Hasiel, just like God said, anoint Hasiel as king over Syria or Syria.

And it happened. A very quick turnaround we'll see from one regime to another. And then he parted, verse 14, from Elisha, came to his master who said to him, what did Elisha say to you? And he answered, he told me you would surely recover.

And that was true. He would have recovered. God said he would recover. But, verse 15, it happened on the next day that Hasiel took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over Ben-Hedad's face so that he died. And Hasiel reigned in his place. Just as God said, just as God said that it would happen.

There's a quick turnaround. It was something that they didn't see coming before Elisha showed up there. And Syria played a part in the demise of Israel at that time.

So the question we could ask, certainly not gonna make any statements here, but the question we could ask with the sudden change that no one saw coming from a king that had been there for, I don't even know how long, King Assad was there. And then this quick turnaround that no one, even the intelligence saw coming, all of a sudden there's a change in Syria, a change in regime. So let's turn our attention to the new leaders or the new government in Syria. If you go to the next slide, I'll read this in a minute. Let me give you some things about this. There is a group, I will tell you what the, it's called Hayat, Tahrir, El-Sham. It's known as HTS. It's a group, the group that conquered and finally caused the king to be deposed is that group. It's a group with known ties to ISIS and Al-Qaeda, which were responsible for the genocide of Christians, all documented by Presidents Obama and Trump. They're a known group. The United States calls them a global terrorist organization, still to this day.

So if you read the slide up there, here in an interview with someone in a Syria from newsnation.com, there's an article What Will Become of Christians in New Syria that was just posted back on December 16th. This is the quote that's there. The new leader, Al-Jolani, was the founder and head of what became HTS. The US listed him as a specially designated global terrorist over a decade ago and lists HTS as a terrorist organization. He is a hardened, a jihadi, militant and leader. Most recently, he ruled town of Idlib and in 2022, the New York Times reported that only one 90 year old Christian remained there. That will be the fate of all Christians in Syria under HTS rule, I fear, the interview he said.

Now again, Islam. Islam rules. And so we were talking about his credibility because he has gone on air saying he's a moderate, he's gonna protect everyone, the whole nine yards. But the article also went on to point out, we heard that out of Afghanistan, everything was going to be different, but they have all gone back to the way they were before. So the question is, with this change in Syria, what happens? What happens from here on out? Only God knows and only God knows if this is a prophetic event that takes us another step toward the rise of the king of the south as everything begins to come together and as we see that map that you recall before, Islam taking over the entire section of the Middle East. And as you look at the end of the world, the end time, you see religion plays such a major part in it. Islam rules the king of the south. Islam rules the king of the south. If I had that map, maybe we could go back one to the Middle East map if you have that.

Yeah, in every nation that's listed there, Sharia law, you know what Sharia law is, rules, right? It's in effect, the only country, the only country that Sharia law in the Middle East isn't in effect in is in Lebanon. That's the little dark blue country right above Israel, which is right next to the red country of Jordan that you see on the map there. That's the only one. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, they've been an ally of the United States, but as you look at it and look at some of the things that are written about them, they've kind of distanced themselves from the United States over the last year. And if these facts are true that you read, there isn't one church that has ever been sanctioned in Saudi Arabia that recognizes Jesus Christ. Only Muslim, only Muslim. It is a completely Muslim country, and that is where this area is going. There are some other bastions, apparently, out there that we don't know yet, but more and more as we see things going, that is where it seems like the world is going. Now, if we go two slides forward, let's leave Syria there. We'll leave it with a question. This is what the same area looks like in the time of the Old Testament. When we look at Daniel 11, and it talks, as we read in verse 43 there, about the king of the north is gonna pass through, gonna pass through the king of the, the kungkum of the south, and everyone is going to be destroyed, except the kingdoms of Ammon, Moab, and Edom will escape this time around. And so the question would arise, why? Why would God spare those areas? They, they too are part, they're Muslim, they have that same ideology, not as militant as the other places around, because not every Islamic person is violent and given to those outbursts. It's the Amalekite spirit that is in some that colors the whole group, but those are spared. So I'm gonna, just a couple verses on that, because as you look at that area of the world, we know that the church in times past has talked about the significance of that area of the world and those verses in Daniel 11. So we're in Daniel, let's look at Isaiah 16.

Well, you're turning to Isaiah 16. I'm gonna refer you first to Isaiah 17, because there's a little prophecy at the beginning of Isaiah 17 that shows Damascus, which we were talking about before, which has continually existed, some say the oldest functioning city in the world, that is going to be destroyed at the end time. Isaiah 17, let's look there first, the burden against Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city and it will be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aror are forsaken, they will be for flocks which lie down and no one will make them afraid. So Damascus will cease, it's going to end. It has existed all this time, it will serve its purpose, but because of their ideology and what they do, God will see that they don't survive into the millennium. Now as we talk about that, we remember that in the second resurrection, God will bring people up, they will have an opportunity to know the truth of God, they will have the Holy Spirit, they will have an opportunity to repent from their ways and have their minds changed to follow God. But in this area of the world where there is Islam that has been so steeped in hatred, hatred of Israel, the ancient people of Israel, hatred of Israel today, that's why you see Iran just totally committed, totally committed to the destruction of the little nation of Israel over there and America. They may not know it, but that's why they hate, they hate the people of God and that's just boiled into them. But in Isaiah 16, if we go back to the little kingdoms of Ammon and Moab and Edom that you see there, that God says these will escape, these will escape as the king of the north marches through. We see in chapter 16, and those of you who follow the Bible studies we've been doing on Isaiah and Ezekiel now and recently in Ezekiel we've talked about this area of the world and what God may have in mind underline may. We don't know exactly what God has, but there are things in the Bible that point to this a little bit and we will see where God leads it and what he has in mind. But in verse six, or chapter 16, verse three, it's talking about Moab, you can see in verse two. We're talking about this area of the world, down in the very southern part of that, I'm probably standing right in front of it, you see a name down there, Petra, that everyone is familiar with. But God says to the leaders of that land, take counsel, execute judgment, make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day, hide the outcasts, do not betray him who escapes.

What is God talking about here? Talks about it in chapter 15, he talks about it in other places, hide the outcasts. Why are those three spared from the king of the north as he marches through? What does God have in mind for that area of the world when he says hide the outcasts? We go over to Zephaniah, fourth book from the end of the Old Testament.

Zephaniah, prophecy for the future, in chapter one, and verse 12, scripture I like to turn to to remind me and everyone, we can't become complacent, we have to be on fire for God, we have to keep our eyes open, we have to keep our minds awake and watch what's going on. Verse 12 it says, it'll come to pass at that time, I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men who are settled in complacency, who say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil. Complacency, God doesn't like complacency, it's the Laodicean attitude that says, we've done it all, we don't have to do anything else, we just have to be happy with what we've done, we're rich and increased with goods and we don't need to do anything else. God expects us in our individual lives and collective lives to be working, working until the return of Jesus Christ, just as Jesus Christ is still working today. But down in chapter two, in verse three, he talks again about this place that he might have, he tells us seek God, something we should all be doing, seek him, all you meek of the earth. And meek is not just a word that says weak of the earth, like some people want it, it says meek, you stand strong for the word of God. You're humble before him, you recognize he's in control of everything and we're subservient to him and that he gives us everything we have, but you stand strong in his word. Meek, strength under the control of the master, that's who we are. Strength that comes from him under his control, armed with the truth. Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld his justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. It may be. We'll see what God's quiet God has in mind, where that might be, only he knows. And then of course, if we go to the end, the last book in the Bible, Revelation 12, we have that same sentiment of God listed there. At the time of the end when the great dragon is cast down and he is making war and wreaking havoc with God's people, God says some, some will be nurtured away from his presence.

Verse 12, Revelation 12, verse 12. Rejoice, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell on them, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and see, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows he has a short time. And when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman, that's the church, which gave birth to the male child, the church that teaches the commandments, that abides by his will, that is led by his Holy Spirit. But the woman, that's the church, was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent. There's that place again. Where is it? Only God knows. And only he knows who will be there.

We don't live to get to that place. We live to serve God. We learn to live and adopt and have his truth become part of us. His Holy Spirit in us become like him. Not as some in the church and past thought, if I am just in the place of safety, if I'm just in the church, right church, I'll be in the place of safety. No, no, because you see, verse 17, there's some who were there for the wrong reason. They were asleep, they were complacent, they were just fighting their time. Verse 17, the dragon was enraged when he couldn't get to the people that God was going to put in this place. The dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Those who God didn't said, you're not ready. You need to be tested, you need to be tried. I need to know that you are committed to me and my way of life and that your faith is in me and that you have come out of the world and you have done the things that those who are called should be doing. Should be doing, not sleeping, not keeping one foot in the world and one foot there, having faith in God and following everything that he has to say.

I'll leave it at that. But there's a reason that God has those three areas reserved. Now in the end, they're all destroyed. You see that in the book of Isaiah, you see that in the book of Ezekiel and Obadiah. Those are wiped out at the time of Jesus Christ's return. But they're there for a reason before that. Now if we go another slide forward.

We go back to this slide. We've talked about many of the nations that are there in the Middle East. We could talk more about them. Syria is in the news today. Syria, we can watch. And as we watch what's going over there, we can kind of just remember what's in the Bible about Syria in the past and their history and don't know what God has in mind as we look at it. But apparently they're a factor in the formation of the King of the South. The country just north of Syria is Turkey. That's the other one I want to talk about for a few moments because Turkey has a significance in the Bible, in history, and in prophecy. So Turkey, today we know it is Turkey, but when you read through the Bible and you read Asia, it's talking about Turkey, right? The seven churches of Revelation, they were all in Turkey, what we call Turkey today, Asia Minor in the Bible. Paul himself came from Tarsus, which today that Tarsus is located in Turkey. Didn't call it, wasn't called Turkey that day. It was called Asia Minor or whatever they called it during that time. When you read about Derby, Lystra, Phrygia, and those places, those were all in Turkey where God had people that came down even into the Book of Acts on the day of Pentecost. Turkey is the site of where Noah's Ark, some claim has been found. We know that in Genesis, God said it rested on the Mount of Ararat, and there is a group of people, and we've talked to them, that have some significant things on Noah's Ark that may be there, only God knows, but it's located in Turkey. That's where it is. So we have in history, Turkey's got a history with the, with the church, and with Christians who are living there. Today it's a Muslim country, predominantly. Today it's part of the European Union, the only European Union country that is primarily Muslim. And in recent times, we've heard of the president of Turkey having some comments. You know, he's pretty much outspoken. He has a vision for Turkey that may be reminiscent of Putin and Russia. He kind of remembers some glory days from way back whenever, and kind of has a vision of Turkey becoming more than it is today. And as this thing with Syria has been uncovered, there have been some articles written, and he's made some comments that indicate that what's going on in Syria has something to do with him, as well as he sees what's going on in the development of this area of the world. If we go to the next slide, let me read something that came out in the Wall Street Journal back on December 20th.

Talks about Syria and the aftermath of what's going on there. The article written by Mr. Trofimov back on December 20th says, as the order in Syria takes shape after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Turkey has emerged as by far the dominant power in Damascus. Isn't that interesting? This brings President Erdogan of Turkey closer than ever to reaching his ambition for a sphere of influence that stretches across former Ottoman lands all the way to Libya and Somalia. It's an approach that has involved competing with Iran as the most vocal defender of the Palestinian cause. So he's kind of like on the wrong side of the equation if he's a pro-Palestinian supporter. Now interesting in the fall of Syria, the news says, and I have not, I don't understand it at all, but once Syria fell, Iran became almost a non-factor. All the power that they perceived they had in the Middle East, and there have been in the news a lot, they have sort of become found, something has happened with the fall in Syria that they are no longer considered a leader in the Middle East. And you can see that. They've been very quiet. Something is going on over there. And in this article it's very interesting that Turkey, Turkey is the one who has Syria, and how did Syria have some sway that no one knew about over Iran that they've just become silent? Many would have thought that they were gonna be the ones leading the charge. They're the ones out front saying, death to America, death to Israel. But not lately, not lately, as we see a change in Syria for some reason. So, but Turkey, Turkey of all places, has become the dominant power in Damascus. Going on in this article, it says President-elect Donald Trump, in remarks at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, describes Assad's ouster as an unfriendly takeover of Syria by Turkey. Erdogan highlighted his own vision of Turkey as a leading power in the Middle East two days later, when he said, every event in our region, and especially Syria, reminds us that Turkey is bigger than Turkey itself. The Turkish nation cannot escape from its destiny.

What is its destiny? What factor does it play in times going ahead? And as we watch what's going on in the Middle East and the evolution of the King of the South and the rise of the King of the South, where does it fit in? Will it leave the European Union? And will it become part of this Middle East alliance of nations, all Muslim-based, all of one religion?

Will that be what happens? Only God knows. Interesting, when you look at the Ottoman Empire, and you can go to the next slide, that'll show what the ancient Ottoman Empire was that Mr. Erdogan is talking about. As he thinks back onto Turkey's, the Turkish Empire and its heyday, all those green areas, even light green, shows the scope and the range of the Ottoman Empire back from the 1300s to the 1600s. It controlled a large part of that world. It controlled a large part of it. And when you look at where Turkey is, up there around that blue area, it butts right up against, or I guess it's a light green area, butts right up against Europe. Right up against Europe. So when you see the King of the South and you see Europe, two of the powers that will be there at the end time, you can see how they just kind of there, in that part of the world, just confront each other. So when it talks about the King of the North marching through, marching through the King of the South and dominating those countries and taking its treasures, one of which is oil. One of which is oil. Bible talks about gold and silver, but oil is a precious commodity. Europe has been dependent on Russia, the United States, and the Middle East for oil. Why wouldn't they want to take over the King of the South? Especially when the King of the South is pushing at them and aggravating them with terror attacks and any other kind of surprise things that are going on. Just as we look at what that is. But you have the Ottoman Empire. And looking at the Ottoman Empire, it went by several names. One of the names that it was known by was the land of Tamani, T-E-M-A-N-I. And interestingly, another grandson of Esau was named Taman, T-E-M-A-N. Now the commentaries will say, no, no, no, it had nothing to do with Taman because there's a city in Moab, not Moab, in Edom. That's named Taman and that's the Taman. But it's interesting that back in history, it was called the land of Tamani. Another one that was against Israel, another enemy of Israel and descended from the group of people that had ancient animosities toward the sons of Abraham that descended from Isaac. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So as we look at these things and we look at the king of the south and see what's going on, or what may be going on in the world today, there's a lot for us to keep our eyes open on. I often use the analogy that we see another bud on the prophetic tree that Christ talks about in Luke 21. We see that happening if we're watching what's going on and just waiting and seeing what God has to say, but our eyes open.

And it should be encouraging. When we see prophecy and we see things happening to us, on one end we might say, it's a little scary to think that it's really happening, these things that we've known and talked about for years, that it's really happening, but really what our response and what our attitude should be is one of encouragement, excitement, and zeal. God's will is being done. His word continues to be true in every aspect of it. It should motivate us to grow closer to him, to come further out of the world, to do the things that he wants to say, and to truly make our calling and election sure. That's what he called us to be. This shouldn't stop us. This should excite every single one of us. And we keep our eyes open. And we review our lives. We see what's going on in it. And we let God lead us and direct us in the way he wants us to go. We know where it's all going. As sure as you and I are sitting in this room today, and those who are watching us on the web, that you're listening to this. It will happen. And God will see us through. That's the unshakable faith we have in him. We absolutely know he will do it. And we learn to love him and do the agape thing, even when it hurts, that we choose to do the things that he would have us do. We choose to do the things that he would have us do to work with others. Deny self, Christ said. If you can't be my disciples, he said, if you can't deny yourself, say no to what your desires are and what yes to what his are.

We spent some time in Daniel 11. Let me close in the book of Daniel as well.

You know, as we talk here, we talk about the king of the south, king of the north. You'll probably hear something in the next few weeks about the king of the north and what's going on there. And the king of the east because there are things happening over there as well. Sort of behind the scenes, if you will. But little things that draw these three powers of the end time powers that are drawing them closer and closer to each other to the picture of the world where God said it will be at the time of Christ's return. If we look at Daniel 12, you know, after Daniel 11, where he talks about these three powers that be and what's going to happen on there. And the war that then will occur between the east and the north, he gives us these very hopeful words.

First chapter 12, verse one, at that time, Michael, one of the archangels shall stand up. The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. God is watching over every single one of us. He is leading, he is guiding. Our job is just as it said in 7th and I have to, seek him, seek righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. Seek his kingdom first. The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. And there will be a time of trouble. You can't deny that that's coming. It will come, but God is in control. And God knows who his people are. There will be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time, your people shall be delivered. Everyone who was found written in the book, the book of life, by yielding to God, by surrendering during to him, by being led by his spirit, by doing his will, by coming out of the world, by being sanctified by truth, sanctified by his Holy Spirit, binding together with him, binding together with each other, becoming the one that he wants us to become. Everyone who is found written in the book, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Some to everlasting life, those would be in the first resurrection, and some to shame and everlasting contempt, some of which who had the opportunity to be sons of God, but just didn't count it important enough to really choose God by their actions and the choices that they make. Those who are wise, I would hope that's everyone in this room and everyone listening, those who are wise, wisdom comes from God, it's his wisdom we seek, it comes by doing his will. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

Turn many to righteousness by the things that we do, by the examples that we set, by the opportunities we take to speak of the truth of God, and the hope that is within us as it says in 1 Peter 3 and verse 15.

As we march forward in time, keep God in your eyes, watch what's going on. Jesus Christ said, watch, watch what's happening, be ready. Don't let, don't let everything else in the world take you away from God, keep your eyes on him. Until then, you're in our prayers, and we look forward to seeing you the next time.