What Are the Signs of the End of the Age?

Brethren, as you and I look at Bible prophecy, we appreciate the fact that we know prior to the return of Jesus Christ that many horrible events are going to happen here on planet earth. There's going to be a tremendous loss of life before intervention by Jesus Christ at the end of the age. Even people who are not religious by nature can see that there are difficulties that appear very insurmountable. What do we look at? What's happening to the environment, population explosion, food production, what have you? People are wondering, can this planet last another 40 years at the rate that we're going? After that, the fact that over the years those who are religious, and that would include us in this group, people have made all sorts of predictions as to when the end was going to come. Of course, we and our church culture have been guilty of that. I came into the church in the mid-60s. I remember cutting my teeth on the literature that Basil Woolfin illustrated, saying all those cartoons. I think he did some illustrations for Mad Magazine. He did, actually, do that. When you took a look at those characters, you saw one person clubbing another person, then somebody gnawing on an arm or a leg, and buildings falling down, tsunamis coming. That was a come-to-God moment, as I was reading that as a young kid.

We've made the commentary, and we've been wrong. Back when I was a younger man, maybe a little younger than Leah's today, back in the 1970s, our thought was, in 1972, we're going to be done. In 1972, when we're through, in 1975, Christ is coming back. Three and a half years later, the Kingdom of God starts in 1975. Well, here we are, 2011. None of that's happened. So we have been disappointed. Some of our prognostications have not been on target. But that doesn't change the fact that Christ is coming back. That doesn't change the fact that there are prophecies that will give us indications when that's going to happen.

Let's take a look over here at Matthew 24. Leah was over there for a while. I'm going to be here quite extensively today. Matthew 24. Verse 21. Matthew 24, verse 21. For then there will be great tribulation, such as not been seen since the beginning of the world until this time, no nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. So here we see Jesus Christ. And in my Bible, it's all in red ink here, red lettering. Jesus Christ talking about a future time of world catastrophe. Leah was talking earlier today about being prepared. How can you and I be prepared?

Maybe you might have somebody who's a family member, maybe somebody at work, maybe a next-door neighbor. And they would like to know as they see things happening, and they have some general idea about prophecy, and they come to you and they say, well, what can we expect? Could Christ come back tomorrow? And you would like to answer them in a way that is more specific. You would like to show them some of the signs of the end of the age. So, brethren, I want to give you today some of those signs. If you want to take notes, I'll make it fairly easy for you. I'm going to ask a question. What are the signs of the end of the age? What are the signs? What do we look for?

Now, typically, as human beings, we want to know everything right down to the last detail. But Bible prophecy is not written that way. It's written from a general perspective.

We'll be painting the picture here, a broad stroke, as opposed to getting into every finite little detail. Here in Matthew 24, let's go back to the very beginning of the chapter, verse 1.

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple. The disciples were really taken by that edifice, by the structure, by the architecture, by its grandeur, its beauty. They were impressed, and they were discussing this with Jesus Christ. Christ wanted to make a point about how impressive that edifice was, verse 2.

So here you've got Jesus Christ referring prophetically to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, a prophecy that would come to pass in many of their lifetime. And here they are, as very zealous Israelites, and they're wondering, how can this be? Why would God allow this?

And so this is percolating in their minds, and they respond here in Matthew 24, verse 3.

Read it, and somebody would come up to you right now and ask you when the end of the age would be coming, or what would be the signs, or indications that were there, what would you say? Would you be able to give them some real meaty answers? Now the things I'm going to cover with you today, they're not new truth, but I think it's more of a refresher. But again, let's remember something. What we're about to go through is I'm painting broad brush here, as the Bible does. Prophecy is not like a gigantic math equation, where you've got all the symbols on one side of the equation, some other symbols on the other side, and everything balances out, you know, everything right until the very last bit. There's no secret area here in the scriptures that we've not preached to you, and time's gone by. Sometimes I get the impression people think, well there's got to be something in the minor prophecy we're not just, we're just not seeing. Or something in the major, something we're just not seeing. No, we're seeing things, but a lot of times it's a matter of interpretation of what we're seeing.

Matthew 24, verse 36. Matthew 24, verse 36. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. So please keep that in mind. You know, over the years I've known people who've had extensive charts and graphs and having things right down to the last little detail, and then so much of the time those things didn't work out the way they thought they would. And people get disillusioned, disappointed. Sometimes people stop coming to church because things just, you know, I must be wrong. The Bible isn't what I thought it was. My equation here didn't work out. I remember years ago, not too many years ago, as I was here pastoring, I had one gentleman call and he was pointing to several verses, and he was actually counting the letters in words, English words, and using that as an indication about various prophetic things. And I said, sir, we can't do that. Oh yeah, it makes perfect sense. You know, you go over this many letters and you've got this letter and it stands for this, and there was this tremendous math equation using English, not even the original tongue of the scriptures. Brethren, what exactly, when the Bible talks about the end of the age, what exactly are we referring to? Let's have a definition of terms here to begin with. Let's go over to Daniel 12. Look up Daniel 12.

I want to define terms here, the meaning of the time of the end. Now, last Sabbath, we took a look briefly at prophecy in Daniel 11, but here we have a date stamp in Daniel 12. I want to be in Daniel 12 for a little bit, a few minutes. Daniel 12. Verse 1, at that time, Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people, and there should 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 is found written in the book.

So here you have a time of great cataclysm. You also combine it with a time of deliverance of people whose names are in a book. Now, we understand there's a book of life. We understand our names are in that book of life. And we understand that our deliverance is at the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the saints. So here is the general time stamp we're looking at. Verse 2, And many of those who sleep in the dust of the air shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. So verse 2 verifies we're looking at the return of Jesus Christ. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever. Verse 3 is a description about you and what you're going to be like when you're resurrected and made immortal and glorious. Notice now verse 4, But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and now it shall increase.

So here we see in verse 4 a discussion about people won't really know what these signs are until the end of the age. And it's implied here that at the end of the age God will allow His people to understand. We drop down to verse 6. And one said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river, How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be? Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to the heaven, and swore by him who lived swivel that it shall be for a time, times, and half of a time. Now this is biblical language, biblical prophetic language, for three and a half years.

Okay? So when we're talking about the end of the age, we're talking about the last three and a half years before the return of Jesus Christ. This is also known as the time of the Gentiles. Okay? At time, times, and half a time. And notice the rest of verse 7. When the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished. Who are the holy people?

Isn't it? Aren't they God's people? Irrespective of church organization, you know, the church is an organism. We are a spiritual body that transcends organizations. We are the holy people.

Our power is in the process of being shattered because of various issues we have amongst each other. But it says here, these things won't happen until the power has been completely shattered.

Brethren, has our power as a church been completely shattered? No, it has not. Now, there's going to come a time when there's going to be a famine of the Word. We're not in that time right now. So when we're taking a look at signs that must happen before the return of Christ, this is one of them. There's going to come a time where we will not be able to do a work as a church. Not in the way we currently think of it. We're not going to be able to have services, probably. We're not going to be able to have literature, not be able to be able to headquarters because of tremendous persecution. But it is at this time that you've got the two witnesses who come upon the face of the earth, and they will conduct a work the way we see in the book of Revelation. So God will always, in His mercy, He will always have somebody on this planet who is discussing the truth of God. Now, have we come to that place? Are the two witnesses doing their thing right now? Of course not. So when people say that, you know, Christ had come back tomorrow, that's not the case. This has not happened yet. This is one of the things that has to happen. And this takes place in that last three and a half year period of time.

Daniel 12, verse 8, says, Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, My Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And He said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. And again, I feel it's implied there that Daniel couldn't know, and he knew a great many things. God opened his mind and we'll see that a little bit later on in the sermon. God revealed many important things to Daniel, but not this. But it says that it will be opened at the time of the end. God wants us people to understand what's going to be happening. Okay? Not in every last detail, but broad brush, broad stroke.

So, to avoid confusing those who are the people of God, the holy people of God, God gives us some things that must transpire before the return of Jesus Christ. Let me go through some of those things now with you. You might as well take these as a matter of some bullet points or make it easy on yourself. One of the things that must happen before Christ comes back is Jerusalem has to be dominated by Gentile powers. Jerusalem has to be dominated by Gentile powers. Has that happened? Is that happening now? The answer is no. The answer is no. That is not happening right now. This is something that has to take place. There's a couple places we want to take a look at here. Let's go look at Luke 21. Luke 21. Luke 21 is a similar passage to Matthew 24 and Mark 13. They all deal with the Olivet prophecy in terms of the subject matter. But here in Luke 21, verse 24, And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive unto all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

So again, here's something that must take place, and this is going to take place in this last three and a half year period before Christ returns. Turn to Revelation 11. This will shed more light. I went and just read. Revelation 11 deals with the two witnesses. Notice what we see over here. Revelation 11, verse 1. Then I was given a read like a measuring rod, and the angel stood saying, Rise and measure the temple of God. We think this is poetic or symbolic language for the church. That there is time for the church to be measured.

I think, frankly, it's always the time for God's people to be measured. Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there, symbolizing the ministry and the membership both.

Verse 2. Believe out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will tread the holy city under foot for 42 months.

So here you see the time of the Gentiles is defined. It's defined as 42 months, or, in terms of biblical time, three and a half years.

Three and a half years. So Jerusalem has to be dominated by Gentile powers for three and a half years. Then Christ will return. Not happening right now. That puts the time of Jesus Christ return at least three and a half years away. Right? Maybe a whole lot more than that.

Something else that takes place during this three and a half year period of time, and there are probably any number of things that take place. I just want to highlight some really big issues that are impossible for us to miss. Jerusalem being dominated by Gentile powers, that's, you're not going to, you know, oversleep one morning and miss it. You know, that's something that we're going to catch. Two other things you want to take a look at here. Matthew, going back to Matthew 24. Matthew 24. Start a year in verse 8.

A second thing we're going to see in these last three and a half years is an intense persecution of God's church. An intense persecution where people are killed, people are martyred. Brethren, we've not seen that here in this country now, have we? Now, we've seen martyrdoms, we've seen people being murdered and hurt in different parts of the world, even in this country. You know, a little here, a little there, you know, isolated incidents here and there. In this country and other things around the world. But in terms of an intense persecution and martyrdom of the saints, we've not seen that. That's going to take place before Christ comes back. Matthew 24, verse 8.

Now, we're talking about Christians here. They will deliver you, Christians, up to tribulation and kill you. And you will be hated by all nations for my namesake.

Why is that? Well, because we're going to bring some tidings the world doesn't want to hear. And, you know, the old saying about they're going to want to hurt the bringer of the message. And then many will be offended and betray one another and will hate one another.

We're talking about people in God's true church doing this. What we see in verse 10.

Brethren, that's why it's so important that you and I view ourselves as members of God's church. We're not Republican. We're not Democrat. We're not Union. We're not labor. We're not white. We're not black. We are God's family. Satan would love to divide us along all those lines. And to get us to thinking about the other guy not being quite like us and have issues with the other guy, the other gal. Don't allow Satan to do that because you see what we have here in verse 10. People being offended, betraying one another, hating one another, and allowing one another to be killed.

What did Christ say? He said, when I come, will I find faith on the earth? In the book of Revelation, you've got the Laodiceans.

You've got the parable that I think maybe Lee mentioned, or maybe was mentioned earlier today over in Ann Arbor. The parable of the virgins who didn't have all the oil they needed for their lamps.

It's talking about God's true church. You and I don't want to be there. We don't want to do that. We don't want to be caught as Lee was saying unprepared.

Verse 11, the many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Many who? People in the world are already deceived.

Didn't Jesus Christ himself say, be careful that you're not deceived?

Verse 12, because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. Because some members and ministers will lose their way and not stay with God the Father and Jesus Christ.

They will become lawless. They'll turn their back on the things of God and the law of God. And because of that, they'll be hurting and betraying one another. As people are hurt and betrayed, the love of some of those who are being hurt and betrayed will grow cold.

Talk about a need for preparation. Verse 13, but he who endures to the end shall be saved.

So, brethren, this is something, again, you're not going to oversleep one night and miss this. This is something that has to take place before Christ returns, and it takes place during that last three and a half year period in an intense way. Now, let's take a look at a third thing, and there are probably many others. I'm just highlighting some really obvious things here. Revelation 12 is a chapter that talks about God's true Church, God protecting his Church.

Revelation 12, verse 14, But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she may fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time, time, and half a time, for the presence of the serpent. So here, again, you've got this last three and a half year period before the return of Christ. You've got the woman, it says, being given two wings of a great eagle. Now, this is the same terminology that was used for Israel as they left Egypt.

What this is talking about is God helping a people leave a bad situation, and God was going to supernaturally protect them, just as God did with Israel as they left Egypt.

It says, they're going to go into the wilderness to her place. This is what has led some to believe that there is a place of safety.

Maybe there is? I don't know exactly how. You know, we're going to find out about this when it happens. This is a detail I'm going to leave by itself. God will take care of that. We in faith allow God to handle that on his own. We'll be nourished there for three and a half years. You know, we used to talk about a time of final preparation. But, brethren, one of the things I want to point out to you is this. I think we've had a mistaken idea in the past that God is going to protect all of his people.

Well, how can you have that be true, and what we read in Matthew 24 be true? Matthew 24 talks about a martyr. Even here in the book of Revelation, it talks about a martyrdom of the saints. All of God's people aren't going to be protected. You might not be, I might not be. The original apostles, all but one, died a horrible death. Jesus Christ! Look what he went through. If Christ, our Savior, can go through what he went through, if the apostles, people like Paul and the others, go through what they went through, who am I to say I demand complete protection? I can't say that. You can't say that. So, again, we have to make sure our relationship with God is really strong. Because before the return of Christ, some of us, if Christ comes in our lifetime, some of us will be martyred. Probably will face some horrible times.

And the reason I bring this up, brother, because I don't want any of you to find yourself, maybe your mate or your kids or grandkids or somebody is slaughtered or killed, for you to say, you know, I was never told it was going to happen this way. I was told I was going to be protected. And you get offended and you walk away from God. I want you to know you may have some really difficult, and I may have some really difficult times, really difficult times. Christians through all eras have had that. Who are we to say otherwise for ourselves?

So what is the meaning of the time of the end? It's the last three and a half years prior to the return of Christ. You see Jerusalem being dominated by gentile powers. You see an intense persecution of God's church. You see God's people, some of God's people, being given divine protection. None of those things have happened yet. So those are all indications of some of the things that are going to be happening. Now, let's go back to Matthew 24, because here in Matthew 24, we see some things that aren't happening. They're happening right now. And you're not blind to the fact. But you know, if you're going to be talking to friends or relatives and they're asking you, what are some of the signs, you want to also bring this in, because here are some more signs of what's going to be taking place prior to the return of Christ. Here in Matthew 24, verses 37 through 39. Matthew 24, verse 37, Now, we see, what we see here is, you know, a very sobering time. God says before Christ comes back, it's going to be just like the days of Noah. Are we seeing that today? You bet you we're seeing that today. What do we see here in these three verses? We see people saying to themselves, well, life's life! This is the way it's always been. It's been this way for millennia after millennia. Life's just life. Life goes on. That's one of the things people are saying. Another thing people are saying is that they care for the things of the world. They care for things of the world. That's their primary importance to them, not the things of God. As Lee correctly pointed out, they are not prepared. People are not prepared. They don't see it coming. They don't see what's about to come coming, and they're going to be hit by it, just as the people of Noah's day. They had no comprehension that this flood was going to come. But it came, and all but eight people were killed. Let's go to 2 Timothy for a moment. 2 Timothy chapter 3.

Timothy adds some light to this as well. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1. But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. 2 Timothy 3.1. Parallous times will come in the last days to sign. For men will be lovers of themselves. We're seeing any of that in society? Lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanders without self-control, brutal, despises of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.

What is a form of godliness?

People who say they're religious, who look to be religious, but who deny the power of god, the Holy Spirit. To whom does God give his spirit to those who obey him?

We need to be obeying God, not just going through motions. In the end of the age, there'll be plenty of people who have a form of religiosity, but are they truly obeying God? And they are the obeying God from the right heart and the right spirit, the right mind. These are things we are seeing right now, and these things are going to intensify as we get closer to the return of Jesus Christ. So as we have when we're talking previously, some of those things we've not seen. Some things we are seeing. Some things we are seeing.

Now let me reverse course once again and go back and show you three other benchmark items that are in the process of taking place right now as you and I are living. A framework of things that we need to be aware of. Before I get there, I want you to like you to turn to 2 Peter chapter 1. Because we want to take a look at why we even have prophecy.

How we should view prophecy. Does prophecy have spiritual benefit to it? 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 19.

2 Peter 1.19. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place. 2 Peter 1.19. And so we have the hope of a whole new society, a whole new world, a different way of doing things. And the things that hurt you so much and bother you so much is sensitive Christians. When you see what you go through and what your beloved family members go through, you're looking forward to a time that's different than this. We've got some really lovely little children here. Once upon a time, I had little tiny kids. Now they're grown. But I still look at my kids and wish they could be in a different world. I wish we didn't have the kind of world that we've got. I was watching the news the other day and my heart sank as I heard the story about the one reporter over in Egypt. I forget the woman's name. Mother of two.

She and her camera crew were separated from a larger group of reporters, if I understand the story correctly, surrounded by about 200 people. This is Egypt, where 83% of Egyptian women say that when they go into public, they're fondled, they're groped. Men will unveil themselves to them. This poor woman was sexually assaulted for a lengthy period of time. There were 200 guys.

I don't know who all attacked her, but you know, you hate to see that. It was interesting, though, the people who came to her rescue were a group of Muslim Arab women who saw what was taking place and rushed to her aid. We don't want a world like that. That's a dark world. It's a very dark world. We want a world where our kids, you know, they play in the streets as we see there in the various prophecies in the Old Testament. We want a different world. So, prophecy is there to give us hope. The world's not always going to be the kind of place we have right now. We want a different world and a better world than a world that's run by God the Father, Jesus Christ, and you as the saints have gone. So now let me get into some things that to some degree have taken place and to some degree need to take place before the return of Jesus Christ. We've already gone through a number of things. Let me go through some other very important major things. One of the things would be this. Man's ability to annihilate human life. Man's ability to annihilate human life on this planet.

We have passed that point. We're there. We reached that point back in the mid-40s, and we've only been escalating things since that point. We dropped the bomb on Japan, two of them actually, and since that point we have improved, if you want to use that word, to having hydrogen weaponry, chemical and biological weaponry. We can destroy life on this planet many, many times over. Many, many times over. So this is a condition. Let's go back to Matthew 24 for a moment.

Matthew 24.

Matthew 24. We've read this again, but I think a bear is repeating. Matthew 24, verse 21. For then there would be great tribulations such as not been seen since the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved.

So there has to come a time when war would take everybody if it went unchecked. And, you know, before World War II, I don't care how many rifles or bullets or bombs you had, there would always be natural checks and balances where you couldn't get to everybody and kill everybody on the planet. You know, people would go off into the woods, the jungles, or whatever.

I mean, how, when you think about what happened after World War II, how many years was it after World War II where we kept on having Japanese soldiers coming out of the other jungles? I think they were coming out of the jungles until the 1960s.

People who never got the word, the war was over.

But now we're living in a time where because of radiation and what have you, poisoning food supplies, we can eradicate all life from this planet. That's something that we see here in Matthew 24 had to take place, and it's taken place. We passed that. A second major item.

And here it's a little bit of both. Some of the major portion of what I'm about to tell you has taken place, but not all of it. The second, another major item that has to take place, is a Jewish nation being reborn, a modern-day state of Israel. And prior to 1948, that was thought to almost be laughable.

Prior to 1948, with so many Arab countries and the Arab peoples living in that region for hundreds upon hundreds of years, the few number, I forget how many it was that originally established the nation of Israel, I think it was half a million or something, yet the many millions of Arabs all around them. People, you know, that's not very, very good odds. And yet, God wanted that nation to be, and it is. So that portion has come to pass. But there's another portion about the nation of Israel that we still have to watch for that hasn't come to pass. Let's go, if you're in Matthew 24, let's look at verse 15 and 16. Matthew 24, verse 15. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. There needs to have, there's going to be some kind of offering taking place in the land of Israel in some sort of venue, whether it be a temple or an altar. We're not exactly sure what would qualify here. Again, this is one of the things God's going to show us.

But since the late 1980s, people have been trying to build or start to build a temple or an altar or something there on the Temple Mount. Now, even though Israel controls most of Jerusalem and the nation, does Israel right now control the Temple Mount? The answer is no. The Muslims are in charge of that, and they won't let people in to build anything. But there's going to come a day. And I don't know, maybe this will be a bargaining ship. I don't know. You don't know, but maybe it'll be a bargaining ship. Well, if you give us the whole of the Temple Mount, we'll allow there to be a nation-state for the Palestinians. I don't know how it's going to come to pass. But at some point, Israel will have complete control of the Temple Mount. When you see that taking place, we are very close. But it's not there yet. We're not there yet.

A last major thing that we're going to see—again, I hate to use the word last. That probably is not the best way of explaining this, but another major thing. The last thing I want to discuss before we move on to a different section of the sermon, which actually is going to be kind of a reiteration of what Lee was talking about. How do we prepare? But another thing we're going to see is a new superpower in Europe.

And this is one of those things we're seeing some of it right now.

But do we see the beast as it really is going to be right now? The answer to that, I believe, is no.

So this is something that you and I will be continually watching as world news continues to reveal things to us. Let's go back to the book of Daniel, chapter 2. Daniel, chapter 2.

I'm going to spend a little time with this because we're living. We're seeing this right now. Daniel, chapter 2, verse 28.

But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. Now, remember, this is the same guy that in chapter 12 God says, Daniel, you can't know certain things right now. And yet God is about to reveal something very important to Daniel. So God is picking and choosing what he wants to release his information to Daniel. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. He's made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed were these. As for you, O King, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed about what would come to pass after this. And he who reveals secrets is made known to you what will be. But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than any living. But for the sake of, for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the King, that you may know the thoughts of your heart. You, O King, are watching behold a great image, this great image whose splendor was excellent stood before you and its form was awesome. Now, again, this is nothing new to you. You've studied this, you know this. There's going to be this tremendous image and it's symbolic of the nations that will have control, world-ruling nations of the eras.

Verse 32, this image's head was of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs, notice legs, we'll come back to that a little bit later, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron, partly of clay. You watched, now what I've read to this point talks about world-ruling empires of men. Verse 34, you watched while a stone was cut, cut out without hands, which struck the image on a state of iron and clay and broke them in pieces.

Now, this stone, cut without hands, is talking about the return of Jesus Christ. He's going to come and smash the world's kingdoms and establish the kingdom of God. Verse 35, then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, the gold were crushed together, it became like chaff from the summer threshing floors, the wind carried them away so that there was no trace found of them.

When Christ returns, the time for human rule under Satan is over. Finish you at verse 35. And a stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Mountain, symbolizing a government. We're talking about the government of God and the kingdom of God.

Verse 36, this is the dream. Now we will interpret, give, tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom. So, we've talked about this a number of times.

It is God who makes kings, who makes presidents, who makes prime ministers. It is by God's hand that these things are done. He's given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory, and whatever the children of men, or wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand and made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold. So here we find out that Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian empire, is this head of gold.

Verse 40, and the fourth kingdom shall, oh excuse me, verse 39, and after this you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, then another, a third kingdom of bronze, shall rule over all the earth, and the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, and as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and like iron that crushes that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. So you see a progression there from the Babylonian empire to the Medo-Persian empire to the Greco-Macedonian empire to the Roman empire. But remember what we read earlier, verse 32, legs of iron, this last kingdom will have two legs of iron. When you take a look at history, what kingdom do you see, what world ruling power do you see that was divided in half, if you will, or had two major cities that acted as places of rulership? Well, you've got the Roman empire, with its western head over in Rome and its eastern head over in Constantinople.

Of course, we have, I'm not going to take the time to go through all these scriptures talking about you know, all the resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire over the years, right down to our day today.

The last one was during World War II under Mussolini. There is yet coming another one. Now, let's turn to Revelation 17. It talks about this and notice something here. Revelation 17.

From the time of the end, the last resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire, we're going to see something that we are not seeing right now.

Revelation 17.12. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they shall receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. So we're looking at something of very short duration. Ten different kings. Now, does that mean ten nations? Does it mean ten nationality groups? Maybe a nationality group might be a combination of two or three nations as we draw political lines. We don't know. That's something we just will have to wait and see. Ten kings can be over 15 nations. So far as we know, if we take a look at political boundaries, is that how God's going to view it? I mean, you take people who are German by family culture, you've got Germans in Austria as well as Germany, right? So is that one nation or two? You've got people who are Italian in Switzerland as well as Italy. You know, most people think of Italians. Dark hair, olive, complected, and yet you go into northern Italy and you find an awful lot of blonde, blue-eyed Italians. I've got a number of cousins that are blonde, blue-eyed, and they're 100% Italian. So how does God view these ten nations? Are there ten groupings? And how many could be any number of nations? We just have to wait and see. Verse 13, Revelation 17 and 13, these are of one mind and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them for He is the Lord of lords and kings and those who are with them are called chosen and faithful. So again, this is talking about the time of the return of Jesus Christ with His resurrected saints to put down this kingdom.

The last resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. So we've seen, right now we see, and that's why I keep on coming back to things that are happening in Europe. The King of the North. They're starting to push back at the King of the South even right now. And then, of course, with the King of the South, I don't know if you want to consider it, Pakistan is a part of that group, but they are nuclear. They might bring the weaponry to the pushing at the King of the North. Certainly, we have dumped billions of military dollars into Egypt. They are not nuclear, but they certainly have enough conventional weapons to make life troublesome. So we're seeing a lot of things right now that are in the beginning stages, or maybe even past the beginning stages. Things that we need to keep on watching. Now, before I end, I do want to discuss how we prepare. But for your note's sake, so that you will have this down, let me just again summarize where we've been. We're asking, what are the signs of the end of the age? We talked firstly about the last three and a half years of man's rule on this planet before the return of Christ. In that last three and a half years, we saw how Jerusalem will be dominated by Gentile powers. That's not happening right now. We saw there's going to be intense persecution of God's church, God's people, martyrdom of saints. That's not happening right now. We've also seen God's people, some of God's people, will be protected. Again, we're not seeing that right now. So all of those things we're not seeing at this point. Another thing that Jesus Christ says will be taking place during the time prior to the return of Christ, a sign at the end of the age, it will be like the time of Noah. Now, we're seeing all those things. It's a matter of degree. People, life as normal, caring for only the things of the flesh, not spiritually prepared. All those things that happen on Noah's day, they're happening right now. They are going to continue to happen until the return of Christ. And then the last thing we looked at is some other major benchmarks. Man's ability to annihilate all human life. That's come and gone. We are past that milestone. The Jewish nation being reborn, that is partially done. There is a Jewish state, the nation of Israel, but they do not have full control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. That's the one issue we've got to wait for. That's not taking place yet. And lastly, the thing I've covered last was this new superpower in Europe to emerge. We're seeing that. It's like watching a beautiful butterfly come out of a cocoon. Of course, I don't know how beautiful this thing is going to be. It's called a beast. You get the point I'm trying to make. We're in the process of watching that before our very eyes. That brings us back to Lee's Sermonet. What do you and I do with this? How do we handle this? What does God expect from you and I? You know, when you think about what I've said earlier in the day, when Christ says, when He comes, will He find faith on the earth? When you take a look at the prophecies of the church at the end of the age and you see the church of Laodicea, who was snooty and self-righteous and felt that they had everything and they needed nothing, and yet they were spiritually blind.

When you see the parable of the foolish virgins who were sleeping on the job as Christians, I think there should be a wake-up call to all of us, every one of us. Let's go back to some scriptures, some that Lee had already covered. Let's go back to Mark 13. Again, Mark 13 is similar to Matthew 24 and Luke 21. We're going to go to Mark 13.

Mark 13, verse 33, where it says, Take heed, watch, and pray, for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to each his work and commanded a doorkeeper to watch. Watch, therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming. In the evening, at midday, at the crowning of the rooster, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all, watch. Brethren, we've got two important things here we need to be doing. I think we have been very zealous for trying to watch world events, but the more important thing is we watch what's happening in our lives. We watch where we are spiritually. We make sure we take a good exam. We need to always be in a Passover examination mode. Where are, where am I? And you know, as I say those things, and as you're thinking about the sermon today, I'm sure there are things going through your mind right now. Areas where you know you need improvement. Areas where I know I need improvement. You know, Lee gave an interesting message today over at Ann Arbor. Ken Cook gave an interesting message where he was talking about, it was a little gory, but he was talking about the man who was, I think he was out hunting or something. I forget exactly the details, but he fell into some sort of a trap, a bear trap. He got his hand caught, and all he had was, you know, his knife. He couldn't reach his weapon and whatever, and so he realized no help was going to come, didn't have a cell phone or whatever. So what did the guy do? He ended up carting off his own hand so he can get loose. And the point that Ken was trying to make, the section of scripture where it says, you know, if your right hand offends you, get rid of it. And obviously God does not want to do these sorts of things literally, but the idea was if there's things in our life spiritually that need to be operated on and need to leave, we need to be working on that. It's a very good message, and we need to be thinking about that. Not just the Passover time, but at all times. What is there in my life that God is not pleased with? What stances? What types of thinking? What kinds of attitudes? What kinds of actions? We need to be watching ourselves, not watching the other guy, but watching ourselves with an eye toward being what God wants us to be. Let's look at Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21. Luke 21 verse 36. Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass. Yeah, we want to watch because there's going to be horrendous things happening in the world scene. That's part of it. But notice the end of verse 36. We want to watch so we can stand before the Son of Man. And the implication is not stand before a mis-condemned sinners who are going to go into the lake of fire, but stand before God and Jesus Christ as victorious Christians who are going to be given eternity in God's kingdom. We need to be watching and looking and examining. Again, forgetting to look at the other guy, but looking at ourselves. So this is one of the ways we need to be prepared. We need to be watching. We need to be alert. Now here in Luke 21, let's look at verse 34 and 35. But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, cares of this life, and that the day come upon you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

So verse 34 and 35 says, not only must we be watching, but we must be doing. We must be growing. We must be performing surgery on ourselves spiritually, cutting out spiritually those things that don't belong in our hearts and minds. We can't allow ourselves to be weighed down with the sins of human nature.

We must get rid of those things. Just two more scriptures that will be done for today. Over here in 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. Verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise of some kind of slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Every time that you and I wake up, it is a gift from God that he's giving us time, life, opportunity to repent and become more like him.

Verse 10, But the day of the Lord will become as the thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with great noise, the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works and then will be burned up. There's coming a time for a lake of fire. Fire purges all things. This earth will become like the sun. Why does God do that to this earth? We talk about the lake of fire.

It won't be to some little local thing. The whole earth will become one big sheet of fire. Why? Because mankind has walked all over this planet. The sinful feet and hands of men have touched virtually everything. And because of that, this world is dirty and God has got to purify it. And so the fire will engulf the entirety of this planet. Okay? Now notice verse 11. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Now, when the earth is burned up, hopefully you and I will be resurrected. Before that point, we will be in the family of God.

We'll be spiritual. So this fire will not affect us one bit. Those who are going to be going into the lake of fire, they'll be standing on the planet when it becomes like the sun. And as Malachi says, it will only be instantaneous and they'll be burned up as ash. They won't be hopping around in fire for all eternity.

One last scripture, brethren, for something that is encouraging. We want to end on an encouraging note because there's so much here for us to think about. But again, remember that one scripture we saw there in 2 Peter. I mean, now we're turning to Luke 21. But there in Peter we talked about how prophecy is a light, a lamp for us, showing the kingdom of God returning and the beauty and power.

We want to look forward to that. We want to bathe our minds on those beautiful thoughts. And also this thought here, this very last verse we want to read today, Luke 21, verse 28. Luke 21, 28. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near. Yeah, there's a lot of hell on earth to come. But then Christ will come. A new age will dawn. You will have eternal life. You and I are going to experience a level of existence that we right now cannot imagine. And it will last for all time. You think about who it is you love right now tremendously, whether it be your wife, your husband, your kids, all of the above.

And when you think that at some point in the future you're going to be a being that has total love for everybody. Love that we can't even begin to comprehend. How beautiful is that state going to be?

How beautiful is that opportunity for us going to be? So, brethren, what are the signs of the end of the age? Well, I've given you enough of them today. Some of them are coming to pass. Some of them haven't come to pass. Some are partially coming to pass right now. But at least now you've got a better answer to give to people when they say, hey, what's happening? What's going to happen? Now you've got a little checklist to give to them.