What are the Times of the Gentiles

Brethren, it is time now to enter God's time machine, the Sabbath. It's holy time and space.

Astronomers talk about space-time, and we actually have a spiritual space-time today, because God set apart this day for us to rest. We have all our physical and other type of activities during six days, but this is God's time to focus on the Bible, to focus on what He wants us to receive through His Word. We are just His servants. We are just that pipe or tube where He sends forth. He uses human instruments, but we're not the ones that have His Word. He's the one that's the author of it. So it's time to see the biblical world through His Spirit and through His Word, the Bible. We did that last weekend. If you were present, you heard the message about Pentecost, but today we're not going to focus on Pentecost. We're going to focus on Bible prophecy. There are important things happening in the world, and some are not generally known. So this is important to be updated because we're interested in what's going to happen in the future. God's Word is a type of a time machine that we can be transported and see what God describes is going to happen in the future. Through God's Spirit in us, He's able to guide us and show us His will. It has been interesting in the past weeks when I've sat with you in the coffee social or other places. How many times members have said that they are alarmed at what they see around them? That they see this is becoming a strange and weird world. That's not the typical what they knew decades before. Things are happening that have not happened in the past. I remember, for instance, I remember we had Wade Nelson, who was a World War II veteran. He'd been through a lot. And here, probably about six years ago, I was having lunch with him, and I said, Wade, what is it about this world that has impressed you, that has got your attention in the past decades? And he immediately answered. He said, the biggest thing that has surprised and impressed me was that Supreme Court ruling in 2015, where now they were going to just open up the floodgates and people could get married, whether you're a man or a woman, or if you're two women or two men or three men and two women, it's all available. And he said that has shocked him more than anything else. And we saw that. Once this was open to society and just the dike burst. And now people are talking about transgenders. We didn't know what transgenders was. Five, ten years ago, one politician in Ohio, he's a conservative, he was complaining that his children were being taught in the schools that there are 42 different genders. Not just a man and a woman, but now you have all of this middle section of types of people.

So this isn't a normal world we are living in. This is something that is coming into the schools, it's coming into the churches, coming into politics. And the purpose of this message is to go over what is happening in world events, especially what is happening in the war in Ukraine and how it is changing the politics of the world, what they call geopolitics, and how we are crossing a threshold. We are crossing a line that was not the case in the past. And I want to show you, this is what impressed me the past week in The Economist magazine. There is a missile, and it's a nuclear-tipped missile, and it's breaking a barrier, a red barrier, which is sort of what had been kept in restraint. It just broke through. And it's titled, A New Era, Why the War in Ukraine Makes Nuclear Conflict More Likely. I'm going to go ahead and pass this out, pass it to the congregation, because it really got my attention how these experts in geopolitics are very alarmed what is happening.

God tells us we should stay awake, watch world events, not be caught napping, because when this happens, it's going to shock the entire world. They're not going to be ready for what is going to come. We can be ready. We can be aware. We can prepare. Notice in Luke 21, Luke 21, in verse 34, Christ was describing before his return, and he's going to return not too far into the future. I remember as a young boy, maybe I was eight or nine years old, I was in the Catholic Church, and all of a sudden I asked my mother, when is Christ coming back?

Do you know what the Catholic Church teaches? She basically said, oh, it's going to be in a million years. I didn't have to worry about that anymore. Eat and drink and be merry, because you don't have to worry about Christ coming back soon. I was shocked when I came into the Church and realized that time is growing shorter and shorter for him to return.

So it says here in verse 34, Christ said, but take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life. In other words, what was mentioned in the sermonette about just focusing on materialism, just the physical things, money and wealth, and getting ahead in life, if that's your main goal and not the spiritual part of things, he said. And the day, talking about Christ's return, come on you unexpectedly, for it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

And the snare is a trap, and it will spring suddenly. The animal gets caught, and he wasn't aware of it. He thought everything was fine. It's going to happen in this world. They're going to be shocked when the end time events all of a sudden erupt, and they're going to be caught. It's too late to do much about it. He goes on to say, watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man, to be able to be ready when Christ returns, to prepare spiritually our lives, and to be watching because he's talking about it's like a snare.

He's talking about world events. Not get caught in that trap. And a lot of people are going to do so. He goes on to say, verse 37, and in the daytime he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.

That's where he gave his message. That's why it's called the Olivet prophecy, because he was there. Now, the Bible contains several descriptions of what we are living today. Let's go to Luke chapter 17. To me, this is the most accurate description that I have found. Luke chapter 17 verse 24, Christ again talking about before he returns. He says, for as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in his day.

See, Christ is going to come in like a as bright as a sun. It's going to illuminate. Everybody's going to go outside. Anybody ever goes outside to watch some of those fireworks and Disneyland close by? I sometimes do. And you can see the glimmer, but Christ is going to be a thousand times more powerful. He's not just coming like one person, coming down.

It's going to be this huge radiation, like the sun. And we're going to see him coming down. That's what he says. And then it says in verse 26, and as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. So Christ said, just like in the days of Noah, if anybody's seen some of the movies about the arc and the preparation and what was happening in society was so corrupt, so evil.

There were so many murderers and violence and people were so crazy and destructive that God decided he had to end mankind. He just preserved one family that was following him his way. Well, he says it's going to be that way. It's going to be a very small church that is going to be doing his will when he returns. Just like in Noah's day, it was just one faithful family. Well, now we're talking about a small group of people that are going to be faithful. He says they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. So people were doing all of the physical things, but in the day that Lot went out of, I'm sorry, it says until, and it said they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Very quick, very sudden. And so we see society as a description of the generation, a deterioration of moral values. And we're seeing that more rapidly. I've never seen it in my lifetime, the way it has been in the last even three or four years. And we're just seeing senseless violence. We're seeing thousands and thousands of people dying of drug addiction. And now you can actually take drugs legally. And how do you like to be driving your car? Some evening and somebody was filled with all kinds of drugs in them or smoking something that hinders, and that's all known.

But society has become so permissive that they'd rather give the people the freedom to take drugs than to protect people driving as they should at that time. So this is a similar situation that we are living in Noah's time and it's getting worse and worse. And then it goes on to say the second comparison of the society before. It says likewise, as in the days, it was also in the days of Lot. They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but on the day that went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. When Christ comes back, he said that this was going to be a society where homosexuality was going to be rampant, where all of these gender things are going to happen, differences, and society no longer can determine what is right from wrong.

And it's happening in our days. Also, let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. This is the second great description of the end time days. 2 Timothy chapter 3, starting in verse 1.

It says, But know this, that in the last days talking about before Christ comes back, perilous times will come, which means dangerous times. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money. That certainly is far more now than it's ever been.

Boasters, proud, blasphemers. God's name is taken in vain all the time. You see profanity everywhere on the streets, on the TV. Disobedient to parents. We see that's very characteristic today. No real respect for parents. Kids talking back, cursing at their parents.

Unthankful. They don't really give thanks for things. Unholy. They don't think holiness is something that we should aspire to. Unloving, unforgiving, slanders without self-control. Brutal. And that's what we see. The senseless killings, the brutality, despisers of good, traitors. They're unreliable. Turncoats, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And certainly we live in that hedonistic society. Lovers of pleasure, people. For that, they'll pay thousands of dollars. But to follow God, oh, that's not really exciting. That's not so important for us.

And now, focusing on the main subject, something new has arrived on the world scene that is not well known. You're not going to hear in the news, but it's very significant. And in that cover that I've been showing you from this last The Economist magazine, it shows that nuclear-tipped missile breaking a ceiling, a restraint, and they call it a new era we are entering. We're now that ceiling, that lid that had protected society and civilization from nuclear war and attacks, that ceiling is being broken, especially through this war in Ukraine.

That's why it titled, Why the War in Ukraine Makes Nuclear Conflict More Likely. Back a little over a hundred days ago, Putin declared war on the Ukraine. And that same day that he invaded, he warned, especially the NATO countries, including the U.S., that they better not interfere, or there's something that's going to hit them that they've never seen before. And he is referring to nuclear weapons.

He would unleash consequences, quote, such as you have never seen in your entire history.

Now this brings two implications, two effects that we're beginning to see now. Number one, for vulnerable nations, such as the Ukraine and others, who do not have the atomic bomb, they are now considering building their own nuclear weapon, because now they know that the Ukraine is not protected. And the promises that have been made, because the Ukraine, as part of the Soviet Union, actually did have atomic bombs in their territory. But since they didn't have the command centers and it was going to be so expensive, they signed a treaty with Russia, with the US and Great Britain and others like France, that they didn't need these nuclear weapons because they committed themselves never to invade the Ukraine. Well, how did that work out? These Ukrainians now are getting slaughtered by the Russians who had signed that peace treaty.

Secondly, it's not only for the nations that don't have it, but the nations that do have the atomic bomb. Now they're realizing, hey, this is good. We can threaten a nation. We can invade them, and if we got the atomic bomb, we can hold it over their heads. And we can threaten others not to get involved. So Putin is establishing a very dangerous precedent, a very dangerous move in his part.

And so basically the lid is off this nuclear proliferation that for so many decades had been stopped, and nobody really discussed about ever threatening to use the bomb like Putin did a little over something like four months ago.

This reminds me of the period in the Bible called the times of the Gentiles. Have you ever had a sermon on the times of the Gentiles? What are they? Are they important for us or not? Let's go to Luke 21.

I'm sorry. Luke 17. We already went through Luke 21. Luke 17.

Verse 24. Let's see here. I wanted to get to, you know what, it was, sorry, let's go to Luke 21. And he says here in verse 23 of Luke 21, it says, But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days when God intervenes in world affairs. So this is a special time in which God is going to release any bindings, any restraints upon these powerful Gentile nations that are going to carry out a lot of the end time destruction. Notice in 2 Thessalonians, talking about the restraining or the restriction here, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.

These are important scriptures to remember because they are prophecies given by God through His servants. It says 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

In verse 1, it says, Notice it doesn't say that when a person dies, you're going to go up to heaven because here it says when he returns, that's when we're going to gather together to him, not before. So the doctrine of immortality of the soul is false, and the doctrine of dying and immediately going to heaven or hell is also false because it says here that the coming of our Lord and our gathering together to Him says, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away come first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. So people are concerned. What are some of the signs of those end times? The word falling away here is apostasia in the Greek from where we get the word apostasy, and it can mean a rebellion against God, against His truths, people that will turn away from His truths. That's going to happen even more as we arrive in the end time. It can also have to do with Satan's rebellion because Satan is going to act right before the end times begin. So there are two different focuses on this apostasy. It can be a falling away of the truth before Christ comes back, but also has to do with Satan's rebellion. He's going to try to storm heaven and he's going to be cast down. That rebellion, that apostasia, will happen before the man of sin is revealed. That's when all the restraints will be removed to allow all these end times to take place.

It goes on to say, verse four, about this man or son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. Now there have been a lot of dictators who have tried to take this power upon themselves. Probably the closest we ever got in history to something like this was Adolf Hitler. He wanted the German race to worship him. Some called him a God.

And he deceived so many people, led them into World War II and destruction of so many nations and about 50 million people died as a result. But there is going to be a time when that restraint is going to be lifted and Satan is going to be able to do much more than he has done with these former puppets that he has used in the past. It goes on to say, do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? So Paul had sermons on prophecy. He was telling the brethren, be aware of these things. And now you know what is restraining that he may reveal in his own time. Now who can restrain Satan? Well, God. But also through his angels. We're going to see how Archangel Michael with the angels that are in heaven had to fight Satan and his angels and throw them back here to the earth. It says, verse 7, for the mystery of lawlessness or the religion of lawlessness is already at work. Satan's way of turning grace into licentiousness or license. Only he who now restrains will do so until he's taken out of the way. Well, God can't be taken out of the way. Christ can't be taken out of the way. But these angels that are restraining Satan now can be with the Archangel Michael so that Satan can do this much more power and influence during that period, which is the times of the Gentiles. That's when they will have just about absolute power. Notice in Revelation 12, remember, don't believe me, believe the Bible. Revelation chapter 12 and verse 7.

It says, and war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. So it seems like right now, Satan can't do this. But there's going to be a moment when the seal, the cover is going to be lifted. That restraint and Satan and his angels are going to be able to storm up to heaven. But they did not prevail. Nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. They will never go up to heaven again.

So this is a treacherous and reasonable action by Satan and his angels. That God still allows them to go up. But now they're going to do it stethily. They're going to do it when that restraint is removed. And then they're going to storm up. And of course, they will be cast down. Verse 9. So the great dragon was cast out. That serpent of all called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. People don't know this. They don't understand how much Satan has deceived this world with wrong teachings, with false teachings. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with them. So they're here now, but they're restrained. Michael and his angels keep these angels like they're in prison here on this earth to wander. But there's going to be a moment when God says the time has come and they will allow Satan to go up. And it says in verse 10, then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. And they overcame him, talking about the brethren, by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Talk about the angels. They're going to be happy they're up there and not here when Satan is thrown down with his demons. And then they're going to have power for three and a half years. This will be the ultimate reign of the Gentiles. For the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows that he has a short time. Yes, just a limited period of time. And that's when the man of sin is going to be revealed. All of these things are like dominoes that are going to fall at that time. And what we're beginning to see here are some of the restraints. We had relatively peace for over 70 years. And after World War II, we've never had something as terrible as that. But now, again, we see the rattling of sabers. We see some of these world leaders armed with nuclear arms that are threatening the world. And a lot of analysts are saying that if Putin and the Russians do not do well in the Ukraine, if they start losing the war, that Putin can resort to what they call tactical nuclear weapons, which are the ones that can be fired with artillery. And it'll just destroy just a mile or two of damage to scare the Ukrainians into surrendering. So Putin is already threatened. But the problem is that this man doesn't know that he has loosed a whirlwind upon this earth, because other nations are going to say, well, if they're going to threaten us, we want to have the bombs as well. Because we can't trust treaties, because Putin was the one that signed a treaty that he wouldn't invade the Ukrainians, and that the Ukrainians naively gave back the nuclear weapons to Russia. And now they're stuck with a nuclear power threatening them. By the way, right now there are eight different nations that have atomic bombs, and one that the latest is that they have enough material to create three bombs. I'll get to that in a minute. So this is in round numbers. These are the eight nations that have atomic bombs, nuclear weapons. Eight out of 200, approximately, nations on the earth have nuclear arms. Russia has around 6,000.

The U.S. has around 5,500. China has around 350. France has 300. Britain has 230. Pakistan has 170. India has about 160. Israel has around 90. North Korea has around 20. And now Iran, from the agencies, as you know, they're breaking that pact. They're removing the cameras from these nuclear parts of the pact that they had signed. They're removing the surveillance cameras. And those that are in the intelligence are saying that they have up to three materials to make three atomic bombs. Now, Israel said they would not put up with that because Iran said that they want to erase Israel from the face of the earth. And so here we got these dangers, but now with Russia threatening nations about it, what happens is it's like in a neighborhood where nobody has ever been robbed, nobody's ever had any problems. People are peaceful. Then all of a sudden somebody is robbed and killed in the neighborhood. A lot of people are going to get guns to protect themselves. Well, this is the same type of thing that neighborhood has changed, but they called the nuclear taboo, which was something that for 50 years nobody talked about. Diplomats, politicians, they kept it quiet. It's not a gentlemanly to talk about nuclear weapons or to threaten. Well, with what Putin has done, that's why it broke the barrier. Now we're starting to see nations getting emboldened and scared, especially in Europe. Notice in Joel, the book of Joel, one of the prophets in the Old Testament.

In Joel chapter 3, going to chapter 3, it says verse 9, proclaim this among the nations. So this is talking again about the end time. In Joel's day, it had a limited fulfillment, but it's talking about the end time as well. Proclaim this among nations. Prepare for war, not for peace. That's what Putin has done now. The nations are desperate. Wake up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up.

Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Totally the opposite of God's kingdom, where you're going to take the armaments and turn them into pruning hooks, into instruments for agriculture. Now all these nations are saying we have to give the priority to build a bomb. So if anybody threatens us, we're going to have a bomb to protect us. And then he goes on to say, Let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble and come all you nations and gather together all around. Cause your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord. Let the nations be waken and come up to the valley of Jehothafet. For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. So that's right before Christ comes back. Weak nations are going to start arming themselves. Now as a result of what's happening in the Ukraine and with what Iran is now preparing to have their own weapon system, now you have countries like Saudi Arabia that feel threatened. You have countries like Turkey and Egypt in the Middle East and around the world and the Asian countries, Japan, South Korea, they used to depend upon the U.S. umbrella to protect them. They said, well, what happened to the Ukrainian treaty that the U.S. was not faithful? They had committed to stopping any war in the Ukraine. And so they see that the U.S. has a weakened leadership and they're not respecting things very much. It's sad and it's not just one president. We've had a whole series in the past as well. So what are we looking at? The nations are starting to now arm themselves. They have the technology. Probably if you see enough YouTube videos, you could probably build one of those things because all the secrets are out.

So what rapidly should we focus on? Let's go to 1 Thessalonians. No, I'm sorry, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

Where did time go? Didn't even get to third base on this one, but it is what it is.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13. It says, But we, talking about the brethren, are bound to give things to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit that's receiving God's Spirit. That was what Pentecost was all about. And belief in the truth to which He has called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistles. These are things that the apostles taught that we have here faithfully inscribed in God's word. Verse 16, Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, in our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts. Yes, we don't need to get desperate or depressed over what's coming. We know our redemption is near. God's kingdom is clear and nearer than ever before. It says, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. That's what we should do now, brethren.