Part D – The End Times

Book 14 LESSON TWO * PART I

"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."

In other words, when the Body of Christ is finally finished and the last one has been brought in, there is going to be an out-calling of those who are alive and remain, by virtue of a change from this body to the new glorified body. All of those who have died in Christ during this Church Age will be resurrected with their new bodies. And we call that the Rapture of the Church.

After that happens, we find God picking up where He left off with the Nation of Israel. Remember, out of the 490 years that had been determined on the Nation of Israel, 483 of those years ended at the Crucifixion of Christ. Daniel 9:26. That left seven more years to make the prophecy complete. We call it the seven years of Tribulation. And that is what the whole Book of Revelation is all about. It is the unfolding of this final seven years of God dealing with the human race in general. But the Nation of Israel in particular. Then, as we found in the Book of Revelation, tying it all in with Daniel, we find that the very opening event of this final seven years, is the appearance of the Anti-christ. He will sign a seven-year peace treaty with the Nation of Israel. The treaties that have been signed by Israel with Palestine and Jordan, have caused a lot of confusion. Some people think that this is the peace treaty that Daniel speaks of in Daniel 9:27. But as far as I'm concerned, this treaty they have just signed is nothing but an agreement to agree or disagree. I don't think it will hold much water for long. But we know the Anti-christ is going to come on the scene, and he will be born of woman, flesh and blood. He will be much like Judas and will be used of Satan to fulfill Satan's aspirations. He will come on the scene as a tremendous political manipulator. He will be a charismatic type individual. He will be able to walk into any kind of summit meeting and command attention. They will listen to him, and, consequently, he will bring himself to a place of having the power of making that peace treaty with Israel as we referred to earlier.

The opening of the seven years will not only reveal the Anti-christ, but also his letting the Nation of Israel resume their Temple worship, with their animal sacrifices, and other Law-related rituals. We know that, even as we speak, the Nation of Israel has everything ready to resume Temple worship. However don't have the place where the Temple must be built. But they will have when the right time comes. It may take an act of war or nature for the Mosque of Omar to be destroyed. But we do know that Israel will have Temple worship for the first 3 1/2 years, all with the approval of this man Anti-christ. So today, this is Israel's anticipation, that they will have their Messiah and their Temple worship. But remember, Israel is looking for their Messiah to come the first time, because they don't recognize that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.

At the opening of the Tribulation, there will be the two witnesses (Revelation Chapter 10). We studied how these two will be on the streets of Jerusalem. They will begin a witness of Jehovah God to Israel. Out of their preaching will come the sealing of the 144,000 young Jews who will come on the scene, but not to preach the Gospel of Grace, Faith in the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ for salvation, we have had here in the Church Age. They will be preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, that Jesus, John the Baptist, and the twelve preached that the King is Coming. Repent and be baptized. That certainly will be good news for that period of history. They will preach this message all over the world. I think that shortly after the Tribulation begins, the Russian confederation will invade Israel. God will destroy them on the hills of Israel, so that will be a quick removal of those nations as enemies of Israel. And as we studied about the seals being removed, we found that one-fourth of the human race will be destroyed. By the time we come to the mid-point of the Tribulation, we find that the two witnesses will be killed and their bodies will lie on a street in Jerusalem for 3 days. Then they will be resurrected and the whole world will see them ascend back to Heaven.

Then at the mid-point of the Tribulation, the Anti-christ will come into the Temple in Jerusalem, and make war on the Jews. He will defile the Temple and set himself up as God, and force the Jew to worship him. Consequently, they will come under the horrible persecution of this man. Also at the mid-point, we find that Satan is cast down from Heaven for the final time. He knows his time is short (3 1/2 years) so now not only must the earth endure the wrath of Satan, but also in the Scriptures, this last 3 1/2 years is known as the Wrath of God. That is going to be a double-barreled unloading upon this planet. On one hand, from the Satanic forces, and on the other from a righteous God. You and I as human beings can't comprehend what that last 3 1/2 years will be like. The scenes we see in Rwanda, and what we saw in the Holocaust, as awful as they were, will only be a drop in the bucket as compared to these final 3 1/2 years. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 24.

"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

As those various judgments come to pass, don't forget that the whole reason for all of this is to pay off the mortgage that Satan is holding on the earth. Remember, Satan picked up the mortgage on the earth when Adam lost it the moment he sinned. We saw in Revelation Chapter 5, a scroll that has the seven seals on it (the mortgage that Christ will pay off). Paying off the mortgage is really the whole scope of the Tribulation. As a result, the curse will be lifted from the whole planet. Having now consummated these seven years, Christ will return at His Second Coming, and destroy the remaining armies at Jerusalem in the battle of Armageddon. As a result of the curse being lifted, and the defeat of Satan, the earth will be made for a renovation project, which God will accomplish in short order, making it ready for the Kingdom.

Christ will then set up His Kingdom on earth and it will be glorious. The earth will be brought back like it was in the Garden of Eden. Now comes the thousand-year reign and rule with Him upon this earth. I remind my classes that the Kingdom has been spoken of and prophesied all the way through the Old Testament. The coming of the King and the Kingdom. But it isn't until we get to Revelation that we have a time frame attached to it of a thousand years. The Old Testament speaks of it as being forever and eternal. Well, we have to reconcile some things then: why does Revelations speak of a thousand years? The reason the first part of it must be limited for a thousand years is this: as a result of the events of the Tribulation, most of the world's population is going to lose their lives. Most of those who have become believers as a result of the preaching of the 144,000 will have been martyred, and they will be resurrected with the Old Testament saints at a later time.

By the time we come to the end of the seven years, Isaiah 24:6 says, "There will be few men left." However, there will be survivors. Some of whom have heard the message and believed will be mostly Gentiles. They will become the seed stock for the Gentile nations to repopulate during this thousand-year rule. And the rest who survive will be lost. We then find these two groups standing before God as the Kingdom is set up in Matthew 25:32-46. They are noted as sheep and goats. One group, the sheep, will inherit the Kingdom. The other group, the goats, will go into everlasting punishment. We will also have another flesh and blood group that will go into the Kingdom, and that is the remnant of Israel. We saw that they went down into the mountains Southeast of Jerusalem at the mid-point of the Tribulation, and we found that in Matthew 24:16. God will feed, clothe, and protect them there for the final 3 1/2 years. They go out in unbelief, but will believe when they see Christ at His Second Coming. They will then be the seed stock to go into this Kingdom to repopulate it for the Nation of Israel.

Coming into the Kingdom with Christ ruling and reigning as King, we have the Gentile believers, and the believers from the remnant of Israel. These two flesh and blood groups will be responsible to repopulate the whole world. There will be a tremendous population explosion. The curse is lifted, there will be no pain in childbirth, and these children that are born will live the entire thousand years. There will be no sin, and Satan will have been locked up these 1000 years. It will be like the Garden of Eden, but on a world-wide basis. The children coming from these believers, though they are born with the old sin nature, do not have a tempter to exploit it, since Satan is locked up during that time. However, keep in mind that they have been living under the rule of the King, Who is benevolent. Also, these children have not had to make a choice for, or against God, as you and I and the rest of the believers had to make. So we find at the end of the thousand years that Satan must be released just for a little season. This will be a time of testing for the children. They will have to exercise their free will even as we did. And to give a choice, there has to be more than one option.

So Satan is brought back for the sole purpose of giving these new generations of children that choice to choose between Christ or Satan. Satan is given the opportunity to present his options to these children. And just like he did to Eve in the Garden of Eden, it will be that same type of temptation. Because the Kingdom has been so glorious, who could want anything different? Remember, Eve had it that good, but what was Satan's ploy with Eve? "You can be like God." And I think the same thing will happen here. I think he will say, "You've got it perfect, but you're still not God. Wouldn't you like to be like God?" And the vast majority will follow him hook, line, and sinker. After they have made their choice, and when they try to come against God, He will destroy them with fire. That then will be the end of time as we know it. After all that has happened, it's time for the Great White Throne judgment, where all the lost will be resurrected out of hell to be judged by Christ, and then sent to their final doom in the lake of fire. Jesus tells us there will be degrees of punishment for those going into the lake of fire, depending on their works here on earth. Now in our next lesson we will be going into Revelation Chapter 21 and verse 1:

"AND I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." That means the Kingdom will be lifted off the planet long enough for a whole new planet to come on the scene. I think I'll have the reason for that in our next lesson.

Now, let’s look at how the Church Age is going to end. Just turn on over in Corinthians to Chapter 15, and we’ll quickly look at this. There’s coming a day, and we think it’s real soon, the way things are happening in the world, I don’t see how it can be put off much longer. But, we are fast approaching the day when the last person will be brought into the body, and that vessel will be full, and God’s going to have to take it out of the way.

Now, here again, these teachings you won’t find anywhere but Paul. Nowhere has it ever hinted that there’s ever going to be a day when living people are suddenly going to be translated. "Behold I show you another mystery,..." another secret. "We (that is believers) shall not all sleep (or die), but...", we have to be what?..."Changed" "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," in the split second of an eyelash, (at) "...the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ" Those who have been part and parcel now of the Body of Christ. Not the Old Testament saints. Daniel says he has to wait. We’ll look at that in another lesson. But now, it’s the Church Age saints. These who are in the body. "At the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we... Paul says (and he expected to be alive) ...shall be changed." In other words, when the trumpet sounds, and if we’re living – and I think we will be, the dead in Christ will rise first and then we will suddenly take flight and we will go up with him. Now, in order to culminate all of this we have to go to 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4. Here, some people just simply refuse the concept of the Rapture; and when they do that, they have to throw Paul away first. This is because Paul makes so much of it, and here is probably the clearest language in I Thessalonians:

"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren (same language), concerning them which are asleep," (that is our loved ones who have died),"that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." In other words, if we, as believers, have lost loved ones, we don’t have to weep and wail and carry on like the heathen do. Because we’re going to see our loved ones again someday.

"For if we..." what’s the word? Believe! It doesn’t say if we are repenting and are baptizing. It doesn’t say if we join the church. It says if we believe. But we’ve got to be careful what we believe. Don’t just believe in God. We believe that Jesus died and rose again. There’s the Gospel. So, if we believe the Gospel, even so them also who sleep, or who have died, in Jesus; God will bring them with him. Now, watch the language. We know that the believer, as soon as he dies; his spirit and soul take flight to where? The presence of Christ in Heaven. And there they wait for this day of resurrection to be reunited with the believers resurrected body.

"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent..." – or go ahead of,"...them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven," now you remember Isaac. He met Rebecca where? Part way, away from home. "...The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:..."

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them (everybody) in the clouds (that is in the atmosphere), to meet the Lord (Where?)... in the air:..." And then we go back into Heaven with Him to go before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and have the marriage of the Lamb; and then we’ll be ready to come back with Him seven years later, as time reckons it, at His Second Coming; as He comes then to ...stand on the Mount of Olives... as it says in Zechariah 14. Read it when you have a minute at home. Those first six or seven verses. It says in part, "...in that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives."

The other night I was teaching in Acts Chapter one, "...and there he stood with the eleven, and he went up, and the angels said, 'why stand ye gazing up into Heaven, this same Jesus in like manner as you have seen him go, shall come again.'" I don’t say these things to be funny; I try to make it clear. He left how? Head first! He’s coming, how? Feet first. And He’s going to stand on the Mount of Olives just as sure as it’s there tonight; and that will usher in the Kingdom. And when He comes, we’re going to come with Him. In fact, I always like to use two prepositions – and that probably helps you remember as well as anything. When He comes at the Rapture, He’s going to come for us. When He comes at the Second Coming, He comes with us.

Editor's Note: Les further explains in Book 25, Lesson Two, Part I that it is from the words "caught up" that we have coined the word "rapture" - caught up to meet the Lord in the air. We are not told when in the timeline the rapture will occur, only that it will take place before the seven-year tribulation period begins.

Now let’s come back and continue our study about this mystery given to Paul in Romans 11:25. Nothing in Scripture foretold that there would be a long 1900 + period of time that Israel would be spiritually blinded as we have seen them be. But now let’s see when the Scripture says that will be. Looking at the last part of verse 25 again we find:

Now those of you who have heard me teach for a long time know that "until" is a time word. I shocked one of my classes a couple of weeks ago. They all know that I’ve always taught that there is no way we can know the day, month or year that The Lord is coming for the Church. It’s an eminent return, but we never set dates. Then I just shocked that class when I said, you’re all wondering when the Church is going to be raptured. Well I’m going to tell you exactly when it will be raptured, and some thought that I had gone out into left field. When is the Church going to be raptured? When the last person has been saved and completes the "Body." Now I don’t know what day, month, and year that will be, but that is the "until." Israel is going to remain blinded "until." The rest of the verse reads:

Now what’s the fulness of the Gentiles? The Body of Christ.

Consider it is also in conjunction with Genesis Chapter 1 in which the creation of the world, the universe, and all that is in them, including mankind is described as being completed in six days.

Notice that the first six days of creation were for man's benefit (Isaiah 45:18 says that the earth was formed to be inhabited), but the seventh day was for God - a day of rest. So, consider the following hypothesis: If 1,000 years is to God as a day, according to the timeline, we can see that man has just about used up his "six days" or 6,000 years (if our calendars are at all accurate). Are we about to enter into God's day - the "seventh day" or the final 1,000 years?

We are seeing the signs of the times in the wars, earthquakes, famines, and pestilences we hear about on the news daily. Terms being used today such as "global economy," "global politics," and "new age" are all indicative of the fact that we are very close to the end of our age. The stage is being set for Daniel's 70th week (see Daniel 9).

"Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, `How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.'"

Move on to Chapter 11. We've come through the blind man which was healed of blindness which he had since birth; sin is mentioned as well as with the impotent man; they were next to the pool which indicated a need for cleansing. Now to Lazarus and he's dead.

"Then when Jesus came, he found that he (Lazarus) had lain in the grave four days already."

What does I Peter say in regard to a day in God's mind? A thousand years is but a day, and a day is but a thousand years. So, picking up the analogy that we are dealing with the Nation of Israel just like the blind man who had been blind since birth, how long has the Nation of Israel literally been spiritually dead? 4000 years. That takes you back to Abraham at 2000 BC So, I think the four days of Lazarus' death is an indication that Israel, nationally, is spending 4000 years spiritually dead. But what will happen at the end of the 4000 years? She will be brought back to life. I realize this is a little bit backwards, but come back to verse 6; hopefully you are getting the picture. But here in verse 6, word came to Jesus that Lazarus was sick, and they knew that if Jesus would come that He could heal him.

"When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he (purposely) abode two days still in the same place where he was." And then what will He do? He will go to where Lazarus is and raise him from the dead. Look at the Book of Hosea for a moment:

"COME, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up." The pronouns here are the Nation of Israel.

What are the two days? Well the two days since the Cross is how long? 2000 years. What's going to be the third thousand years? The Kingdom. See how beautifully this all fits. Now, back to Lazarus for a moment. He calls Lazarus forth. Does Lazarus contribute anything? Nothing. Remember he came out of the tomb. And that is the picture of Israel. One day they are going to be called back to life, nationally, and we will get to it in our next lesson.

Now after Peter goes through all his explanation, you come down to verse 12:

"Then all the multitude (that is of these Jewish believers there at Jerusalem) kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And after they had held their peace, (they finally settled down and listened to some common sense approach to all of this) James (who was moderating the meeting) answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon (or Peter) hath declared how God at the first (that would be at the house of Cornelius) did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them (the Gentiles) a people for his name."

Now what is that? The Church, which is his Body. So for the last 1900+ years now the Church is being formed mainly by Gentiles who are being called out from among what they are, pagans or whatever, and becoming members of the body of Christ. Now as we've already seen then, as soon as that began, the Jews got envious and began to oppose it everywhere that Paul went. And God put a blindness upon the Nation. Remember, I'm always teaching and always reminding people, God deals with the Jew on two levels: National and personal. Now when he blinds them nationally, that does not take away the personal opportunity for Salvation. So don't ever think that God's being unfair. A Jew still has every opportunity for Salvation that we do, but it's on a personal basis and not on a national. So God is now calling out Gentiles as a people for His name, which is what we refer to now from Paul's epistles, as the Church which is His Body, the Body of Christ.

Now I'd like to use this analogy. I had just read an article, written by a physiologist, or he might have been an embryologist. He dealt with the fetus in the womb. And of course I'm not going to tell you anything you don't know, but I think it's such a beautiful analogy. At the beginning of pregnancy, that mother's body immediately begins to put all kinds of different cells into exactly the right place. And by the time that 9-month period is over, that little fetus has got all of his little fingers, fingernails, the eyes and everything now complete. And isn't it amazing, as this author pointed out, that the body rarely makes a mistake by making one finger much longer than it should be or making toes longer. But everything stops its cell-making process at exactly the right time. And when it's all completed and that little baby is complete and the cell-making process stops, then what? Delivery!

Now the Church is the same way. God has been adding individual believers from all around the world; Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Burmans, French, British, Americans, Canadians, whatever. Believers are coming into the Body one at a time. But isn't it amazing, just like the fetus in the mother's womb, one day the Body of Christ is finally going to have the last person in place. We don't know where it will be, but one day the last person is going to be put into the Body of Christ - It's complete. Now what's God going to do? He's going to deliver it from it's confines here on earth and we're going to Raptured out, as we saw in our last program, and that then becomes the "until" of Romans 11:25. Because you see, as soon as God has completed His work with the Gentile Body of Christ, where is He going to turn to? The Jew! Now of course, the Jew is going to have to go through those seven years of Tribulation before he enjoys all the blessings of Christ's return.

"I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in."

But nevertheless, we know from II Thessalonians Chapter 2, that as soon as the Church is gone, the Anti-christ is going to make his appearance and the world is going to go into that seven years, which is predominately the time that God starts dealing with Israel. And so that's when their blindness is going to fall away. As soon as the Church is gone and the Tribulation begins. Now at the same time, since we have the times or fulness of the Gentiles here in Romans 11, go back with me to Luke 21 and we have the other side of the coin, so far as Gentiles are concerned. And this of course is the unbelieving element. Now the fulness of the Gentiles here in Romans are the Church-Age believers, but Luke 21 speaks of another group of Gentiles who will be the unbelievers. The unsaved world of Gentiledom. Let's look at verse 23 and Jesus is speaking.

"But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people."

Now he is speaking in Palestine, he's speaking to Jews, and so this is where all of this is going to take place, isn't it? But he's not talking about the end-time, He's talking about 70 AD here. He's talking about Titus' great invasion and destruction of the temple. We pick that up now in verse 24.

"And they (the Jews of Jerusalem) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: (now there's the clue that this is 70 AD and not the last of the Tribulation, because at the end of the Tribulation the Jews are not going to be led captive into all the nations. They're going to just survive until their Messiah appears. But here they were and we know they were. They were emptied out of the land and they were dispersed into every nation on the face of the earth.) and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, (what's the next word?) until (there's your time word. How long is Jerusalem going to be under the boot of the Gentile armies?) the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled."

Now what are we talking about? Beginning way back here in 606 BC, way back at Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Jerusalem, is the first time that Jerusalem falls under the complete control of a Gentile empire, Babylon. All the way up through human history. All the way to the time of the Cross and at that time it was the Romans. And even as you come on into modern history, Israel has been under the control of various Gentile nations; the Moors, the Turks, and lastly before Israel finally made her independence, was Great Britain, under mandate. Britain was in charge of the Nation of Israel. Now of course, they've had a semblance of sovereignty, but for the most part, Israel is under the heavy hand of the U.N. or all the other nations and so forth.

And so they have been under the control of Gentiles ever since 606 BC and they will be until Christ returns at His Second Coming. Right now, running sort of parallel to that (not totally, but at least since the onset of the Church Age, which of course would be sometime between 30 and 40 AD, when the Church, the Body of Christ, had its beginning). For the last 1900+ years the Church has been accumulating, they've been brought into the Body, and it will be filled and Christ will take it out at what we call the Rapture. The Rapture will take place 7 years before the Second Coming. Here's what I want all of you to see, and even those out in television, that the Rapture will take place just before the Tribulation. All the way back here, we've had the out-calling of the Gentiles into the Body of Christ, which is the Church. It will end with the Rapture. These two processes, the times of the Gentiles, during which Jerusalem is under Gentile control, is going to end at the Second Coming. The fulness of the Gentiles will end at the Rapture.

I Corinthians 15:23, and we're using that text as a jumping off place, because we previously asked, "Who are Christ's at His coming that will be resurrected in the largest part of the resurrection harvest?" Remember from the Old Testament economy we had the firstfruits - the sampling - that's Christ and those who came out of the graves after He came out in Matthew Chapter 27. Then we have the main harvest, which is the Church resurrection and includes the Rapture. Then we have the gleanings and the corners, and if we have time we'll go back to Daniel Chapter 12 and we'll see this is the resurrection of the Old Testament saints shortly after the Kingdom here on earth is established. So I teach the resurrection of the Just (the believers of all the ages) will be in three distinct separate stages.

"But every man in his own order: (Or his own company) Christ the firstfruits; afterward (It's now been almost 2000 years.) they that are Christ's at his coming."

That's not a reference to His Second Coming but since Paul is writing about this he's talking about Christ's coming for the Body of Christ, "The Rapture of the Church," two completely different events that are separated by 7 years. Remember, all the Old Testament promises and programs never considered the out-calling of the Church. It was never in there because God had kept it secret. So all the Old Testament prophecies spoke of the coming of Christ to be their King, and they would have to go through the Tribulation and then they could have the King and the Kingdom. You can find that in Psalm Chapter 2, Joel Chapter 2, and Zechariah Chapter 14. They all speak of this kind of a Biblical timeline. However, Israel rejected the King back at the Cross and the Tribulation did not come in, they did not get the Kingdom. So instead, after having crucified their Messiah, and Peter does not succeed in turning Israel into repentance (Acts 2:38).

God then brings forth the Apostle Paul and this is what we have been looking at for the past three lessons, and it's the calling out the Body of Christ primarily from the Gentiles. And since it has nothing to do with the Old Testament program or Tribulation, which is also tied to the Old Testament and primarily for the Jew, then we maintain that the Body of Christ is insulated from God's dealings with Israel either before or after the Cross, and so consequently this is why I teach the Rapture. The Body of Christ has to be off the scene before God can pick up dealing with Israel again. Always remember, if we could just take the Church out, which is in parentheses, then we can place the Tribulation back with the Old Testament economy of the Second Coming of the Messiah, the Tribulation, the King, and the Kingdom. However, when Israel rejected it, God went to Paul and the calling out of the Body of Christ, and it has to be raptured and then He will yet bring in the Tribulation to Israel. Now let's go back to Romans again. Turn to Chapter 11 verse 25 (that I always I maintain will be the triggering mechanism for Christ coming for the Church). Now we know there is no time element, we can never say that in five years He's coming. I certainly like to think He is, but we can't say that. We don't know if He's coming in a hundred years, but we do know that He's coming, and we do know that He's coming the moment that the Body of Christ is complete. When the last person is saved, and the Body is complete then Christ will come for the Church.

"For I would not, brethren,..." (Remember Paul is writing to the common ordinary believer out there in the pew. Every believer should be aware of these things, and that's why I teach. I don't have to teach the preachers and the seminarians, but rather I want to teach the common people out here in the everyday walk of life. Because God wants every one of us to drop our ignorance, and pick up on the wisdom of His Word).

Now define the word `ignorant.' When someone is ignorant it doesn't mean that they don't have the brain power. Someone who is ignorant isn't someone who is incapacitated to a degree, but rather ignorance is simply a lack of being taught. I consider myself ignorant regarding electricity. I know the ramifications of it, but to get right into the details of three-phase electricity, I'm lost, Why? Because I've never been taught about it. I'm sure I could learn it if I had to, and it's the same way with Scripture, most people are ignorant of the Scriptures not because they don't have the capacity but because no one has taught them. So this is what Paul is constantly advocating; learn, learn, gain knowledge, get wisdom from The Book.

"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; (And here is the secret) that blindness (A spiritual blindness) in part is happened to Israel,..."

Well, what's Paul talking about? When Israel rejected the Messiah, why did they reject Him? Ignorance! They didn't know Who He was. I've been telling my classes for 25 years, over and over, Israel should have known Who Jesus was. Israel could have known Who Jesus was because it was in the Old Testament. Why didn't they? They didn't bother to study. The priests knew it, and they knew the stuff on the surface, but they didn't get right down into the nitty-gritty of the Old Testament prophecies. When the wise men came to Herod and asked about the King of Israel, Herod calls up the big-wigs of Judaism, and they had to go search the Scriptures to see where He was to be born. Did they find it? Sure they did. They said "He was to be born in Bethlehem," so they could have known, but they didn't. And do you know America is no better right now today? Every last person in these 50 states should know that we are in the end times, that we are approaching the very coming of Christ, and the Tribulation, the appearance of the Anti-christ and world government, but do they? No. Most of them don't even know what you're talking about. Why? Because they chose to remain ignorant. They don't have to be, but they are. Paul is admonishing the believers at Rome, "Don't be ignorant of this fact that God has literally dropped a spiritual blindness on the Nation of Israel." Remember the individual Jew can still have his eyes opened and believe, but nationally they are blinded, in fact, here in this chapter look at verse 7.

"What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; (What were they seeking? The King and the earthly Kingdom! How did they miss it? They were ignorant. How ignorant? Well, they were looking for a King Who would come in with pomp and power and circumstance, at least symbolically riding on a great white Arabian steed. Instead their King came riding in on a lowly donkey. And they missed it. Well, they were ignorant of Who He really was, and so Paul says, `that Israel did not obtain that which they were looking for,') but the election (Those few Jews who did believe) hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." And that's the Nation of Israel to this very day. They are still blind to Who Jesus really was. Now coming back to verse 25, Paul says, "That we Gentiles are to understand that this spiritual blindness has fallen on the Nation of Israel, and it will remain on their spiritual eyes"

Well, what's the fulness of the Gentiles? The Body of Christ, the Church. So when the Body of Christ is full then God will take us out of the way and He will start dealing again with the Nation of Israel. Now when I say that the Tribulation is primarily Jewish, here's where I have to go back with you to Jeremiah Chapter 30, and of course this is just one verse. There are many, many others. However this one is so plain that I think anybody can comprehend it.

Let's turn to 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2. Now, just for a little recap from the last lesson. I hope I didn't leave any questions unanswered. The first resurrection of believers of all ages is really broken down into the three categories as indicated by Israel's harvest of grain. That is, first there were the 'first fruits,' which was of course epitomized by Christ, and those that came out of the graves in Matthew 27.

We have the Main harvest that came from the Church Age and the great resurrection day at the Rapture, or the trumpet sound when Christ shall leave Heaven and meet us in the air. The Old Testament believers as well as the Tribulation Believers who will have been martyred and died, seemingly are represented by the gleanings and the corners that were left in the Jewish harvest, and they will be resurrected shortly after the kingdom has begun.

Then, I hardly had time to explain at the end of the lesson, but you see this is why we have that picture in the parables, and in the Old Testament, that the Jewish believers will be the guests at the wedding feast. We won't take time to look at that, but if you want to, you can pick that up in Psalms Chapter 45, I think. It's also alluded to in the Song of Solomon. Lots of people don't understand the Song of Solomon as being so typical of Christ and His Bride, the Church. Now on our Time Line we're coming to that next event. The Church Age will have ended with the Rapture, and then we know that the Tribulation will be ushered in next. It will be that seven years not associated with the Church - because the Church Age has ended - it's gone. Instead, we'll be coming back to God's dealing with the Jew once again. I'll never forget a little lady in one of my classes, all of a sudden she just happened to see it. Then she exclaimed, "In other words God's going to pick up with the Jews where he left off." She hit the nail on the head perfectly.

Now, he has taken this Old Testament program, as we saw back in Psalms Chapter 2. God's time table stopped when He turned to the Gentiles with the Gospel of Grace. When that period has ended you will find Grace and Law cannot mix. Israel is going to have the Temple, she's going to go back under the Law. If ever I have any argument that we will not go into the Tribulation, it's that one purpose right there. You can not mix Law and Grace. Therefore, Grace cannot go into the Jewish economy, as it will pick up again in that seven-year Tribulation period. It has to be removed, so they cannot be mixed.

Paul, here in 2 Thessalonians, is coming as close to prophecy, if you want to call it that, as he does in any portion of his writings. He is introducing us to this seven-year period of time which Jesus in Matthew 24 calls the time of Tribulation. Now in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 verse 1 Paul writes to the Thessalonians believers who, believe it or not, had gotten to the place with all the persecution that they were under, and all the pressure, they were afraid that the Rapture had taken place, and they had missed it. So, Paul had to quickly come back with 2 Thessalonians and reassure them that they hadn't missed the Rapture, that, yes, things were going to get tough, but it wasn't their situation.

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand."

Do you see how that little bunch of words sets that completely apart from the second Coming. See, at the second Coming Christ won't be gathering people unto Himself. He's coming! But here Paul is referring to an act of Christ where He's going to gather His own unto himself, and that's the Rapture. Verse 2: "That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled." In other words, Paul is setting their mind at ease that they hadn't missed the Rapture. And he's going to give them points to look for so that they'll know that they haven't missed it. "Neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that day of Christ is at hand." Here is a time to stop and define. The Day of Christ is referring to that out-calling of the Church, the Rapture. The Day of The Lord, the Day of Jehovah, the Day of God; that is this period of time, including the Tribulation and into the Second Coming and the setting up of the Kingdom. That's all referred to as the Day of The Lord, etc. But, the day of Christ is that time when Christ will call the Body of Christ unto himself.

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;..."

Let's look at what he says. "that day", the day of Christ, the calling out of the body, "shall not come except there come a falling away first." Now, that word in the Greek is 'apostasia,' from which we get the word, apostasy. Now, I'm afraid too many Christians, churchgoers and members, do not know what apostasy is. I can remember when I was young, I thought it had something to do with the Apostles, but I wouldn't doubt that a lot of other people think the same thing, because it is so close in pronunciation. But apostasy is that turning away from the revealed truth of the Word of God.

Isn't that exactly where we are today? The churches, for the most part, have apostatized. They have turned their backs on the basic truths of Scripture. And this is why all the false teachings are having such a free run in so many of our main-line denominations. And this is why so many theologians and pastors and preachers are denying the Virgin birth. They are denying the literal, physical, visible Resurrection of Christ as just so much methodology. They have turned their backs on the revealed truth of the Word of God. We're in it, so now then, what does that tell you and me? We could be expecting the Day of Christ at any time because the apostasy has now come about.

Let's look further. "..there shall come a falling away first...." (apostasy). There's also a second definition of apostasy. We see it here and other places in our New Testament. It is actually translated, "departure," as a person departing from one place to another. So, you might say that within verse three, you not only have the apostecia of Christendom turning it's back upon the truth of the Word of God, but also the departure of the Christian himself; we're going to be taken out. And then, as soon as the apostasy has come on the scene, there shall be the revealing of whom? That 'man of sin,' who will be revealed, the son of perdition. Who is that? The Anti-christ.

(5d) From what government will the Anti-christ ascend to power during the tribulation ?

"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."

Be careful. I'm sure you've all seen posters and books with all of these different looking animals that people have portrayed as the Anti-christ. But we are not talking about a beast per se; we are talking about a government. Remember, Daniel, Ezekiel, and John here in Revelation write in symbolic language. You have to search the Scriptures to reduce these symbolisms to a literal thing. It's going to be a government headed up by the one man, Anti-christ.

The beast here in Chapter 13 is first and foremost the revival of the old ancient Roman Empire. And the reason it is referred to as a beast here, as well as in Daniel, is that the government will be so bestial in its operation, there will be no concerns about individual or human rights. And then the seven heads and ten horns and ten crowns - this again is a twofold picture I think, as Satan is often referred to as the seven heads and so forth, referring I think to his power and his authority. But usually we think of the seven heads and ten horns as the revived Roman Empire. It will be a consortium of ten nations coming out of the Old Roman Empire territory. And I think we are seeing it coming on the scene even tonight as the Common Market, or European Community. At the present time, I think there are twelve nations that make up the EC (it may go a little higher), but when the peace treaty is signed between the Anti-christ and the Nation of Israel there will be only 10. And we will be showing that as we come through our study of Revelation.

Back in verse 1 of Chapter 13, John "stood upon the sand of the sea." And remember that the sea here is the sea of humanity, the masses of people around the globe. The world is getting "global." That's the word you hear and see lately. So out of this mass of humanity will come this empire that has been dead since about 300 AD and will be headed up by this man of sin, the Anti-christ. Now verse 2:

"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon (Satan) gave him his power, and his seat (throne), and great authority."

Go back again to Daniel 7. When we studied Daniel several lessons ago I stressed then that when we studied Daniel we would have to study Revelation and Matthew 24 and 25. They just all fit together so nicely. You can't study one without the other two. Now that mandates a lot of repetition. But as I have learned over the years, repetition is one of the best tools of learning. Here, Daniel is describing a vision that he has had. Which, of course, is looking forward down through history, and he uses practically the same language.

"Daniel spake and said, `I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea." There's that symbolism again with the mass of humanity. And out of that sea of humanity the following happened:

"And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another." These were governments, not animals.

"The first was like a lion (that was Babylon)... And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear (that was the Medes and Persians empire)... After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard (that was the Greek empire under Alexander the Great)... After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast (or empire), dreadful and terrible (this was the Roman empire)..."

The Roman empire was noble in some aspects, but it was bestial in many others. It had no concern for the lower classes of people. They threw people to the lions and thought nothing of it. They also became grossly immoral, wicked and evil. And, consequently, the empire finally fell in on itself. If you compare this passage with Revelation 13, you will see that John doesn't list the Roman empire. He begins with the Greek, the leopard, because he is speaking at a time when the Roman empire is still on the scene. So he doesn't have to list that one. But out of this Roman Empire you are going to see the residue of the previous three great world empires. But here John lists the empires in reverse order. These four empires are the ones the Bible concerns itself with as the times of the Gentiles. We read about the Roman empire that faded off the scene, but now is coming back on the scene in verse 7:

"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had (what?) ten horns."

Now back to Revelation 13:3. Let's take this slowly so that we don't lose the overall picture. We have ancient Babylon, the ancient Medes and Persians, Greek, and Roman empires. Daniel sees all the residue of those empires coming back together in the revival of that fourth (Roman) empire that was dreadful and terrible:

"And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast (this empire).

Let's bring it right up to the present time. Western Europe is coming together more and more as the United States of Europe. Tonight, I think they are at the number twelve, and like I said, they may go to thirteen or more. But whatever transpires, we know they will drop back to ten. This is a revival of that empire that existed what - almost 2000 years ago? It was dead, and yet here it is coming back full force. And the world is amazed. How can this be. Just fifty years ago most of the great cities of Europe were in heaps of rubble, ravished by war. Their industries had been destroyed. Yet where are they tonight. They are almost looking down on us.

I've said for years, that it almost seems that there was a conspiracy to destroy our United States of America. I still think there is. Right after World War II, when we had utterly demolished our enemies, the Marshall Plan came on the scene and we just literally rebuilt Europe with American dollars. Since then we have seen our industries leaving. We have all the oil resources we will ever need, but where do we get our oil? Foreign suppliers. Our industries are farmed out to Japan, Europe, Mexico, and Third World countries. Our steel business is almost gone. So you can see it seems there is a conspiracy to just bleed our beloved America dry. And all of it to enhance this revival of the ancient Roman Empire, or what we call the 10 nations of the European Community. But nevertheless, this is all in the end-time picture, and in this EC there will come this leader, this man, this human, who is the other aspect of the beast. So you almost use the term synonymously.

"And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off (now that completed 483 years of the prophecy that was determined in verse 24, which would still leave 7 years still to be fulfilled), but not for himself (He didn't die because He deserved it, but rather for the sins of the world. Now here comes the prophecy), and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;..."

That means that the prince that shall come, the Anti-christ, would come out of the empire that destroyed the Temple and city of Jerusalem in 70 AD and we know that was Rome. And that is why the Bible has been looking forward to the end-time when the Revived Roman Empire would once again come to power, and we see that even tonight with the E. C. They already have currency printed for the E. C. with the logo of a woman riding upon a beast as described in Revelation. Isn't it amazing how an ungodly world, (and Europe certainly is) is falling right into the very format of the Book of Revelation.

I just read a couple of interesting things about the European situation. A gentlemen sent me an article from the news magazine call "Europe" which is strictly a magazine to report the events in Europe, and out of that I picked up something that I had totally missed, and if I missed it I feel a lot of other people also missed it. Beginning in the late 50’s and through the 60’s and 70’s, we had those original 10 nations of western Europe which for the longest time, the world referred to as the "Ten," then later on they became the common market, and European union, but the connotation was that it was the "Ten."

So when I taught end time events of prophecy in this Through the Bible study a few years back I naturally referred to the "Ten" then as what I thought was the revived Roman Empire. It fits so beautifully with Daniel and Revelation that I was very comfortable with that, and then all of a sudden the "Ten" expanded to eleven and twelve, thirteen, and fourteen. I just explained to my classes, well maybe it will go on up to fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen, but by the time the anti-Christ is ready appear on the scene, it’ll drop back to "Ten."

Well now I learn from this magazine "Europe" that there are two separate organizations in western Europe. One of them is the original "Ten." And for our television audience, I’ll put it on the board, the "Ten" ever since the 60’s is equal to the western European union, it is now referred to now as the W.E.U., but it’s still the "Ten." But the organization we’ve been hearing the most about lately is the European union without the Western on it. But within that European Union are the original "Ten," but it’s now up to nineteen nations. So I’m still on solid ground because the "Ten" are still intact, they are a separate organization from these nineteen nations, and so they can still be the revived Roman empire out of which the anti-Christ will come.

Well when we left Indiana last Sunday, somebody had given me the Sunday edition of the New York Times, and one of the front page articles was that the "Ten" was frantically getting their own military established so that the next time something comes up they won’t have to depend on the American military for their power. As I read that I couldn’t believe my eyes. So they have already set a time table to have a real Czar, a real chairman of the board who by sometime in the year 2000 will be in total control of their military, their security, and they hope to have as strong a military force as we now have with the United States involved as well. They want to be able to do what we’ve done in consort, they want to be able to do it themselves. So that just tells me again that we’re getting so close to the time that out of that "Ten" nation complex which will be the real revived Roman empire, out of it will come then the anti-Christ.

So these are just little interesting items of tidbits and all I wanted to bring out of that is, Kosovo in itself, I don’t think, has a real implication on all this, but indirectly now, because of the Kosovo deal the western European union suddenly realized that they are inept militarily for such another fracas, so they’re going to have to really speed things up and get ready in case something else comes along and not have to depend on America. Always remember, there’s going to be three major areas of military power by the time we get to the Tribulation. That will be Western Europe, China, and Africa. I feel that Russia and the United States will somehow meet their demise and will no longer be a factor in the events of the Tribulation period.

The opening of the seven years will not only reveal the Anti-christ, but also his letting the Nation of Israel resume their Temple worship, with their animal sacrifices, and other Law-related rituals. We know that, even as we speak, the Nation of Israel has everything ready to resume Temple worship. However don't have the place where the Temple must be built. But they will have when the right time comes. It may take an act of war or nature for the Mosque of Omar to be destroyed. But we do know that Israel will have Temple worship for the first 3 1/2 years, all with the approval of this man Anti-christ. So today, this is Israel's anticipation, that they will have their Messiah and their Temple worship. But remember, Israel is looking for their Messiah to come the first time, because they don't recognize that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.

"...and power was given unto him to continue (which means to carry on. How long?) forty and two months (or 3 1/2 years)."

So how far does this verse bring us? To the mid-point of the Tribulation. I'm going to stop there in this portion concerning the Anti-christ. Now let's drop down to verse 11. A couple of lessons ago I mentioned the fact that during the Tribulation there would be an unholy trinity. A counterfeit trinity, with Satan as the counterfeit of God the Father, with the Anti-christ as the counterfeit God the Son, and with the False Prophet, the religious leader as we will see here in verse 11, the counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. Not so much in his make-up, but in his operations.

"And I beheld another beast (this also is a man, but it is also a system. Not a government but a religious system) coming up out of the earth; ..."

Stop a minute. The Anti-christ is described as coming up out of the sea, and since the Book of Revelation is dealing almost exclusively, or primarily with the Nation of Israel, it's God dealing with His Covenant people once again, in preparation for His return. Naturally all the Gentile nations are going to be affected by it, but it's Israel's seven-year treaty that concerns itself with the time factor and everything that is taking place here. Israel will be so quick to accept the Anti-christ and his treaty, his offers of protection, and the Temple worship. I don't say it to look down on the Jew in the least bit, but I feel that this man, Anti-christ, will be a Jew. An Apostate Jew to be sure. Otherwise I can't see Israel so readily accepting his offers that he will make to them.

"And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, `Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming (in other words, the setting up of your kingdom); and the end of the world (as we know it)?' And Jesus answered and said unto them, `Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ;...'"

Or "I am the Messiah." Now stop a minute. Are we already seeing that? Sure we are. But to no extent that it will after that seven years has begun. And remember that just as soon as the Anti-christ signs that seven-year treaty with the nation of Israel, this seven-year Tribulation period is going to tick off, month by month, and day by day. And it will end exactly at the end of the seven years. Now someone asked the question at break, "Well, what will the Anti-christ offer the nation of Israel, that they will sign the seven-year treaty?" Well, what is Israel most hungry for tonight? Peace. They want peace with their neighbors. They want to be accepted into the family of nations of the world. And they have to maintain their defense structure. They have to keep their people taxed to death just to keep their enemies at bay. So if this man comes in, and I think he'll come out of the European Community with the power of N.A.T.O. behind him. And I think he'll come in and offer the nation of Israel absolute protection and a sovereignty that no one can approach. He'll say, "I guarantee your borders. You can dismantle you armed forces. I'll protect you." And Israel is going to fall for that, hook, line and sinker. And on top of that, he's going to give them permission to have their Temple worship. And he's going to guarantee them freedom in that.

And so they're going to have no qualms about signing this seven-year treaty. Because like I said a few lessons ago, they'll almost think he's the Christ, if they don't indeed. But as we see Jesus unfold the events of the Tribulation, remember this: even though we are seeing the beginnings of it; we are seeing the great increase in earthquakes; we're already seeing the potential of famine; and we are seeing famine in some places. Yet it's nothing compared to what it will be when these seven years begin to unfold.

"And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately (just the Twelve), saying, `Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming (remember in I Corinthians 1:22, the Jew requires a sign. They wanted to know when His Kingdom would be set up), and of the end of the world?'"

Jesus now begins to lay out the events of the seven years. It begins from the appearance of the white horse in Revelation 6 - the Man of Sin, the counterfeit christ, the Anti-christ.

"And Jesus answered and said unto them, `Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, `I am Christ;...'"

Do you see that? That's the white horse. He's will come on the scene and practically convince the world that he is Christ. He's what the world is looking for. And we are already seeing people like that. Sigma Moon from Korea, about 15 years ago, tried to tell the world that he was the Christ. And we've had others, and we will have still more. But it's going to be culminated by the real counterfeiter, the real Anti-christ, and he's going to convince the world that he is the Christ and he shall deceive many. Going back to Revelation, stop at I John, Chapter 2 for a moment. This is the same writer who wrote the Book of Revelation. Now let's drop down to verse 18. And here again, as I have stressed before, is the one place where this Man of Sin is actually called the Anti-christ.

"Little children, it is the last time (these writers of Scriptures had no idea there was going to be 1900 + years before this would happen. They thought it would be coming in a relatively short time): and as ye have heard that antichrist (here John is speaking of the real Anti-christ) shall come, even now are there many antichrists;..."

Of course there are. But they can't hold a candle to the one that is coming. Now let's go back to Revelation Chapter 6. So we see this Man of Sin comes on the scene and he begins to conquer and overtake nations. He is setting up his power base.

We are still at the mid-point here and Satan indwells the man Anti-christ. Think back a moment, when did Satan indwell Judas? It was in the upper room at the last supper, Matthew 26:25, "Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, `Master, is it I?' He said unto him, `Thou hast said.'" That's when Satan entered into Judas. From that moment on Judas became an instrument of Satan. As a result, Judas was able to betray Christ in the garden. But when Judas tried to resist the power of Satan and throw the silver at the feet of the priests there at the Temple, what happened? The language is kind of confusing. In one Scripture it says Judas hung himself, and in another it says that Judas fell head-long and his bowels burst forth. In reality both are correct. There are no contradictions in Scripture. When he tried to rebel against Satan, Judas's body almost exploded with the power of Satan. As he was catapulted, Judas' body burst asunder, and at the same time he hanged himself on a pole as the result of the catapulting. We will try to cover that before we go into the Book of Acts. So Satan is going to indwell the man Anti-christ, and from that point on everything the Anti-christ says and does will be a word and act of Satan himself.

"These (all these nations under the headship of the Anti-christ and the false prophet) shall make war with the Lamb (Christ), and the Lamb shall overcome them (at Christ's Second Coming): for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful." You and I are the ones that will be coming with him.

"And he saith unto me, `The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth (in other words, where this great religious system is operating), are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues,...'" It's a world wide religious system. Verse 16:

"And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these (now all of a sudden you have a change in language so watch it. Remember in verse 7 this religious system is riding on the back of the beast but now) shall hate the whore (or religious system), and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire."

That again is symbolic language. What is the Anti-christ going to do with the religious system? He's going to destroy it. Why? We must come back to II Thessalonians as we must compare Scripture with Scripture. We can also go all the way back to the Book of Daniel.

"Who (the Anti-christ) opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."

He's going to set himself up as God and won't let the world religion have anything to do with him anymore. He's going to take absolute control himself. And since he is going to sit in the temple of God, we know that Israel will rebuild her temple and it will be in Jerusalem. In Daniel Chapter 9 we find out what this fellow will do at the mid-point of the Tribulation. We find he's going to move into the temple in Jerusalem. He then will defile it. Verse 27, where the prince that shall come in verse 26 shall:

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many (the Jews) for one week; (seven years) and in the midst of the week (at the end of 3 1/2 years) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,..."

In order for temple worship to cease, it has to be going. So it stands to reason that if the Anti-christ is going to go into the temple in the middle of the Tribulation, then the temple must be operating. So that tells us the Nation of Israel will get her temple rebuilt, and we know she is ready for it, even as I speak. So at the mid-point of the Tribulation the Anti-christ will go into the temple and suddenly turn on the Jew. And he will set himself up as God and force the Jew to worship him rather than the God of the Old Testament which they think that they worship. Just because Israel gets her temple back at the beginning of the Tribulation doesn't mean that God will be working in their lives. It will be much the same kind of religion as Judaism was during Christ's earthly ministry. They had the temple, the priest, the sacrifices. Was God in it? No. They were still practicing a religion. And so it will be again in those 3 1/2 years. Because they are still denying the Christ that died for them. Now back to Revelation Chapter 17:

"For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast (the Anti-christ), until the words of God shall be fulfilled." In other words, when the seven years will have finally come to its end. Then verse 18:

"And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Now there is a lot of speculation as to what city that is. Personally, I think by this time it will be Jerusalem.

"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."

That is where we are tonight. The nations think they are in control, but we know they're not. The world is falling apart completely, and I see no hope of the world returning to a stable condition. I'm not a pessimist, but rather an optimist; but on the other hand I see things that are going on in our beloved nation that we are no longer able to turn around. We are past that point of no return. So that tells me we are that much closer to the end and the calling out of the Body of Christ at the Rapture. I have a Jewish gentleman that lives in Hollywood, California, that watches the program, and we share with each other quite often. He's not a Christian Jew. He's an Orthodox Judaistic Jew. Anyway, he called so excited the other morning, and reported that He had just returned from a seminar of rabbis. He said the rabbis are all excited because they are convinced that we are right at the coming of the Messiah. He said they realized that they had some tough times ahead during the Tribulation. I always remind him that everything they are looking for in their Messiah coming the first time, is really the Anti-christ. And it is. The Jew is blind to that and they will accept Anti-christ. Remember Jesus said in John 5:43, "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."

"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy (speak forth the Word. The word "prophesy" in Scripture can mean either one. To speak about the future or just speak forth the Word. They are His witnesses, and they are going to minister primarily to the Nation of Israel and the area of Jerusalem.) a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth."

That is 3 1/2 years. We know that is not the last 3 1/2 years, because you see when you come to end of their ministry in verse 12.

"And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, `Come up hither.' And they ascended up to heaven..." And then in verse 13:

"And the same hour was there a great earthquake,..."

This is at the middle of the Tribulation and not the end. These two witnesses will minister the first 3 1/2 years. That is why I've come to Chapter 11 (the middle of the Tribulation), after Chapter 6 (the beginning of the Tribulation) because again we are going to come right back to an event at the beginning of the Tribulation. It is the appearance of the two witnesses. I'll have to comment on who those two witnesses might be. We can't be dogmatic because the Scripture doesn't tell us. There's nothing in this verse that says that it's going to be so and so. But we can speculate. The one that I think is a little easier to decide on than the other, is Elijah. I think that it's very possible that one of these two witnesses will be Elijah, because Elijah was taken up without having died. And there is a good reason for that. Let's go to the Book of Malachi. It's the last book of your Old Testament. Malachi Chapter 4 and verse 5:

"Behold (the prophet writes. God is speaking through the prophet), I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:" That's plain English. I know it was originally in Hebrew, but for us it's in plain English. Before the great and terrible day of the Lord, Elijah will come.

"And he (that is, Elijah) shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

Alright, flip back if you will to Matthew Chapter 11. Again, we are in Jesus' earthly ministry. Now in Chapter 11 he makes an unusual statement. Starting with verse 11. Jesus is speaking and he says:

"Verily I say unto you, `Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now (and remember that this is during Christ's earthly ministry) the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.'"

"For all the prophets and the law prophesied (of the coming kingdom) until John. And (what's the next word?) if (a little word like that is so easy to gloss over. but it's loaded) ye will receive it,..."

Who is Jesus talking to? Jews. He's talking to the Nation of Israel. If they would receive what? The King and the Kingdom. That's what He's offering. He's their King and He's ready to set up the Kingdom, if Israel would accept the King and the Kingdom at this point and time. Remember that it's an offer. We know according to prophecy that it couldn't have happened because Christ had to die. But nevertheless, it was still a valid offer. They had the opportunity to accept Him as their King. So read it in that light.

"And if ye will receive it (the Kingdom then), this is Elias,..."

Who is? John the Baptist. Think about that for a minute. Jesus is offering the Kingdom to the Nation of Israel in fulfillment of those Old Testament Covenants. The Abrahamic and all the rest of them. The Old Testament said, "that before the return of Christ or the setting up of the kingdom, Elijah had to come." But Jesus said, "If you accept the kingdom now, then what? John is the prophesied Elijah." That's hard for us to comprehend, but that's what He's saying. But since Israel did not accept the King, and did not accept the Kingdom, what has to happen? Elijah has to come. Come back to Revelation Chapter 11. I have to feel that on the basis of those two scriptures, one of these two witnesses will quite likely be the Old Testament Elijah brought back on the scene. He was also at the Mount of Transfiguration. Back to Revelation 11:4:

"These (the two witnesses) are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth."

In other words, they are God's messengers for that time. The candlestick refers to the light that a candlestick gives forth. In the midst of the Tribulation darkness and wickedness and iniquity, in the great cataclysmic events that are taking place, these two men will still be like a spiritual lighthouse. Now verse 5:

"And if any man will hurt them (or try to), fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies (they're going to have a special power for their protection as they proclaim the Word of God): and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed."

In other words, these two witnesses are going to have that kind of power. And then in verse 6, is another reason why so many people feel that one of these witnesses is going to be Elijah, because he's going to do the same thing that he did in his Old Testament experiences.

"These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy (or their speaking. Remember Elijah stopped the rain for three years back in the Old Testament.); and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will." Now that kind of language gives us an idea that it could be Moses. See? Now I never get dogmatic about this. Others say it has to be Enoch, because Enoch didn't die either. This isn't all that basic to our doctrine. All we have to do is believe that our Sovereign God is in control, and is going to bring these two men to the city of Jerusalem at the very onset of the seven years of Tribulation. Now verse 7:

"And when they shall have finished their testimony (their 3 1/2 years), the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit (I think the beast could either be the Roman Empire which is now the E.C. and is now back on the scene. Or the beast here could be in reference to the Anti-christ himself. I throw this out to get you to study. I remember years ago as our class was dismissed, a lady walked out the door and she had just been a visitor. She had come from another part of the country. And she said, "Well, I don't know that I agree with you, but I'll give you credit for one thing. I have already promised myself that starting tomorrow I'm going to study my Bible." And that is the only reason I teach. Then verse 7 winds up with this government that I think will be the Anti-christ or the revived Roman Empire) shall make war against them (They will try to destroy these two men. And they are going to succeed), and shall overcome them, and kill them." So these two men will be put to death.

"And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified."

So that was what city? Jerusalem. So they are going to be killed and left to rot on the streets of Jerusalem. Just because of their mortal hatred for these two men. Verse 9:

"And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves." They will just lie out in the hot sun for 3 1/2 days.

"And they that dwell upon the earth (not just Israel, but the whole earth, from one end to the other) shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth."

Well, how did they torment them? By simply pointing out their wickedness, and their iniquity. And the righteous judgment of God which is already to a certain degree upon them. And the world is going to hate them. But the amazing thing is that verse 11 says something that 50 or 60 years ago was almost hard to swallow, and the average Bible believers had problems with this. All you could say was that God in His wisdom knows how He is going to do it. And now you see it is so common. What is it?

"And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them (God brings them back to life), and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them."

Who saw them? The whole world. How do they see them? Television. We do that everyday. It is very common now to see a news broadcast from the other side of the earth. I can remember when I was a kid, I would hear a preacher preach on this, and I can still hear mom and dad talk about, how that was going to be possible. How can the people of the world see two dead people lying on the streets of Jerusalem. Now, we just take that for granted. It will probably be on the 5:30 national news. And the whole world will see these two witnesses suddenly ascend.

"And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, `Come up hither.' And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them."

Right in view of the cameras up they go, and this is going to shake people up. But remember this will be the time of the supernatural and God isn't going to hide it. And when these two witnesses who have been put to death, are suddenly made alive, and ascend right out of the midst of Jerusalem, the whole world will witness it. Now these are Tribulation days. The days of Supernatural. Alright let's go on to verse 13:

"And the same hour (remember this is the mid-point of the Tribulation) was there a great earthquake,..." You have to remember that Jerusalem and especially the valley of the Jordan, and the Dead Sea, and the Sea of Galilee, are sitting right on a tremendous fault line. It's historical. In fact, that's probably why the Dead Sea is so deep and why it is so far below sea level (approximately 12-1400 feet below sea level). Because at times the fault has literally dropped the surface of the earth in that area. Remember the whole Jordan valley is below sea level. Even the Sea of Galilee is 600 feet below sea level. So when the Bible speaks of great earthquakes in that part of the world it is not unusual.

So we know we are at the mid-point of the Tribulation. Remember I told you rather than go verse by verse chronologically, take Revelation by events. The beginning (the appearance of the Anti-christ and these two witnesses), and at the mid-point we have the end of these two witnesses and have a great earthquake. We studied earlier how the Anti-christ will come in and desecrate and defile the Temple at the mid-point. We will try to look at that in our next lesson. But for now let's look at Revelation Chapter 7. And here again is a portion of Scripture that has been so completely perverted that we have a lot of confusion and it doesn't have to be. It is so plain. Now since these two witnesses are beginning to proclaim Godly things, and I think again just like Jesus said, they are going to be proclaiming the King and the Kingdom is coming. Out of their preaching, almost immediately, they will have a response of their prophesying or speaking, by the 144,000 young Jewish men that we find in Chapter 7. Now let's read it:

"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth (remember this is supernatural experiences in a supernatural time), holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree."

"And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt (or judgment on) the earth and the sea, Saying, `Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.'"

Now isn't that easy to understand? These servants, I feel, have been listening to the two witnesses and so they are responding. Now look who they are in verse 4:

"And I heard the number of them which were sealed (or designated or commissioned): and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand (now watch where they come from) of all the tribes of the children of Israel."

So that there are no mistakes, He names them in verse 5-8 except for one. And that question comes up often. Why aren't Dan and Ephraim mentioned in these 12 tribes? Remember, they moved up into the northern part of Israel, and what were the tribes guilty of? They were the first ones to go into idolatry. And, consequently, they are left out of these 12 tribes. So we have 12,000 from each of the other 12 tribes all sealed and they are given a particular mission.

Book 11 LESSON THREE * PART IV

So we know we are at the mid-point of the Tribulation. Remember I told you rather than go verse by verse chronologically, take Revelation by events. The beginning (the appearance of the Anti-christ and these two witnesses), and at the mid-point we have the end of these two witnesses and have a great earthquake. We studied earlier how the Anti-christ will come in and desecrate and defile the Temple at the mid-point. We will try to look at that in our next lesson. But for now let's look at Revelation Chapter 7. And here again is a portion of Scripture that has been so completely perverted that we have a lot of confusion and it doesn't have to be. It is so plain. Now since these two witnesses are beginning to proclaim Godly things, and I think again just like Jesus said, they are going to be proclaiming the King and the Kingdom is coming. Out of their preaching, almost immediately, they will have a response of their prophesying or speaking, by the 144,000 young Jewish men that we find in Chapter 7. Now let's read it:

"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth (remember this is supernatural experiences in a supernatural time), holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree."

"And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt (or judgment on) the earth and the sea, Saying, `Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.'"

Now isn't that easy to understand? These servants, I feel, have been listening to the two witnesses and so they are responding. Now look who they are in verse 4:

"And I heard the number of them which were sealed (or designated or commissioned): and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand (now watch where they come from) of all the tribes of the children of Israel."

So that there are no mistakes, He names them in verse 5-8 except for one. And that question comes up often. Why isn't Dan and Ephraim mentioned in these 12 tribes? Remember, they moved up into the northern part of Israel, and what were the tribes guilty of? They were the first ones to go into idolatry. And, consequently, they are left out of these 12 tribes. So we have 12,000 from each of the other 12 tribes all sealed and they are given a particular mission. And here it comes in verse 9. As a result of their sealing:

"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations (that indicates that the 144,000 will not limit their ministry to just the Nation of Israel), and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;"

Now remember back in Chapter 6 when we talked about that 5th seal, in verse 9-11 it reads:

"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, `How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?' And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."

This is where it all begins. These 144,000 young Jewish men will be encircling the globe in a miraculous way. They won't have to buy any airline tickets. I think they will be Spirit sent. They won't have to learn a language. They will know every language and dialect everywhere they go. And these 144,000 young Jews will circle the globe at least three or four years out of this seven. And here are the results of their ministry. Verse 13:

"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, `What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?' And I said unto him, `Sir, thou knowest,' And he said to me, `These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

Now that is a vast number of people from every tribe and tongue and nation. And they will martyred almost as soon as they believe. But a few will survive. And we will pick them up in a later lesson. There will be some survivors, as we saw in the Book if Isaiah a couple of lessons ago. What I think we have here is sort of a compensation, or an evening out of what the Nation of Israel literally missed. They were originally going to be the vehicle to bring the pagan, Gentile world to a knowledge of their Jehovah. And they missed it. But the 144,000 will sort of make a compensation for that.

Turn to Revelation 7. The Book of Revelation primarily deals with those final seven years before the return of Christ at His Second Coming; then the setting up of His Kingdom upon the earth. This seven years is primarily God dealing with the Nation of Israel; however, all the world will become involved. Remember Jeremiah 30:7?

"Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it."

We'll look at this verse more in detail later. It's God dealing with His Covenant people and for this reason they are still coming back to their homeland, getting ready for these final seven years.

The best way to study Revelation is not to try to take it chronologically, but find the events at the beginning, at the middle, and at the end of the Tribulation, and then fill in the gaps. Chronologically it won't make all that much sense to you. The past several lessons we have been looking at things at the beginning. 1. The appearance of the Anti-christ when he will sign that seven-year peace treaty with the Nation of Israel, which will again kick God's time clock back in gear, as it has been stopped now all during the Church Age. 2. The appearance of those two witnesses. They will come to the Nation of Israel in Jerusalem. And they will begin proclaiming God's Word to the Nation of Israel, and out of the ministry of these two... 3. God is going to seal and commission the 144,000 young Jewish men whom God will use to circumvent the globe. They won't be preaching the Gospel of Grace as we know it, but, rather, they will be reverting back again to the Gospel of the Kingdom as it was being proclaimed at the time of Christ and Peter and the eleven.

There is a vast difference between the Gospel of Grace and the Gospel of the Kingdom. When you understand that, the Bible is much less confusing. At that time, the Age of Grace has ended and the Church is gone. A person will no longer have the opportunity to join a local congregation. But rather these 144,000 will be telling the world that the King is coming. After all, that was the message in Christ's earthly ministry. He Himself referred to it more than once as the Gospel of the Kingdom. The King and His Kingdom were about to come on the scene. Of course Israel rejected that, and the King was crucified. God raised Him from the dead, called Him back to heaven to sit at the Father's right hand until His enemies should be made His footstool. That `until' signifies the time when He will once again deal with His Covenant people of Israel.

We closed our last lesson with God sealing the 144,000 Jews (there were 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes). Remember, the reason that God set aside the Nation of Israel was to fulfill the promises of Genesis 3:15, that the Seed of the woman would come to be the Redeemer of mankind. In order to bring that to a fulfillment, He set aside the Nation of Israel, and promised Abraham that through that Nation of people would come the Messiah. So God begins to prepare the Nation of Israel for the roll of being the missionary to the nations. Exodus 19:6 says, "And ye shall be unto me a Kingdom of Priests and an holy nation." He put them under Law, I maintain, to prepare them for that tremendous role that would be theirs to carry out. But when the opportunity came and they could have had the King and the Kingdom, and they could have brought all the nations of the world to a knowledge of their God, they dropped the ball. In their unbelief they rejected the King and the Kingdom. They, in turn, were dispersed out into the world, lost their temple and worship, and God turned to the Gentiles through the Apostle Paul without using the Nation of Israel. Using that same analogy in order to get a sweet taste of some sort of a redeeming of themselves, God will let these 144,000 Jews at least get a taste of what the Nation of Israel missed. This 144,000 will see a multitude come to a knowledge of salvation through their ministry. Now verse 9:

"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, `Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb,'" In other words they had been martyred almost as fast as they had been converted throughout the Tribulation. Now verses 13 and 14. And after John sees this multitude of converted people.

"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, `What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?' And I said unto him, `Sir, thou knowest.' And he said to me, `These are they which came out of (the) great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'"

"Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."

That was like, I suppose, when God put a mark on Cain, that no one could take his life. And it's the same way with these 144,000. They were sealed so that they could not be killed. Suffer, yes, but they couldn't be killed. Reading on you will see that there were 12,000 sealed from each of the twelve tribes. To see how all of this fits with Matthew Chapter 25 come down to verse 16. These are the privations that Tribulation believers, as well as the 144,000, will suffer during this seven-year period.

"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more;..."

Remember, if people don't take the mark of the beast during this time, they won't be able to buy or sell, and seven years is a long time if you can't buy groceries. Seven years is a long time if you can't make a house payment, buy gasoline, or pay a doctor bill. So they will end up hungry and thirsty, and naked. Come back to Matthew Chapter 25. So the 144,000 suffered these same privations during the Tribulation. They were thrown in prison and they're going to be hungry, and the only sustenance they had was from these believers. These believers, although they will have little to spare, will sacrifice to help these 144,000.

Editor's Note: More about the 144,000 and how their mission ties into chapter 25 of Matthew will be explained a few pages ahead under the question: "Will some people live through the tribulation?"

Revelation 5:1"And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book (or scroll is a better word. It was rolled up and sealed) written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals."

Just picture a scroll rolled up and then sealed with seven seals. On the outside are written details. This is alluded to in the Old Testament economy, going back to Israel. They had every right to mortgage their property. Some may think mortgages are strictly twentieth century, but mortgages are not something new. Even at the time of Ruth and Boaz, they could mortgage their property. If they got in a bind and the mortgage was due, and they couldn’t pay, they would either lose their property, or could go to a next of kin for help. If the next of kin had the funds, and wanted to, then the mortgage could be paid off. There you have the three requirements for paying off a mortgage. Next of Kin, Able, and Willing.

This was the whole idea in Israel, that the families would keep their inheritance. Now we have the same picture here of a mortgage. It says it was written inside as well as on the outside. The private details that were not for public scrutiny were written on the inside. But the things that needed to be made public were written on the outside – for example, who the property belonged to. We still do that at the court house today, so it’s not that much different. The lesson here is, there is a mortgage involved, sealed with seven seals, but only One can open the scroll and pay it off.

No one seemingly had the next of kinship, who had the wherewithal in wealth, and who was willing. And John says in verse 4:

"And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, `Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.' And the four beasts (creatures) said, `Amen (so be it).' And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever."

The stage is set. God the Son has taken the mortgage with the seven seals on it. And now He is going to open it and begin the process of paying it off. Now we come to Chapter 6, and the first thing we are introduced to is the four horsemen of the apocalypse; most have heard of it. They are very interesting. Verse 1:

"And I saw when the Lamb (God the Son) opened one of the seals,..."

He will take them off one at a time. And these seven seals are going to take us up to the mid-point of the Tribulation. Now the best way to understand the Book of Revelation is to realize that there are a whole series of sevens throughout the Book. The part we skipped was the seven letters to the seven churches. Now we will see the seven seals; the seven seal judgments. They will introduce the seven trumpet judgments. The seventh trumpet judgments will introduce the final seven bold judgments. Interspersed between, there are seven distinct persons, and seven woes.

The whole Book of Revelation is a breakdown of sevens. And seven is God's perfect number. The whole Book is not a book of myths and legends; it is a perfectly tuned Book that is definitely a part of the Word of God. What we have is the beginning of this final seven years. Several lessons ago from the Book of Daniel, we showed that this seven-year period of time, which we call Daniel's seventieth week, or the time of wrath and vexation, or primarily the Tribulation, will be opening when the Anti-christ signs that seven-year treaty with the Nation of Israel. That's back in Daniel Chapter 9. And when he signs that seven-year treaty, this is the beginning of the opening of the seals we see here in Revelation Chapter 6.

The first 3 1/2 years are not so much the wrath and vexation, although they will be bad enough. The last 3 1/2 years are going to be terrible for those who must go through it. Remember, as you study Revelation, that all through Scripture these seven years are divided 3 1/2 and 3 1/2; 42 months and 42 months; 1260 days and 1260 days

Let's continue in Revelation Chapter 6. We left off in verse 2. Christ has taken the scroll from God the Father. And that scroll includes the mortgage that Satan is holding over the planet as a result of the curse. And the curse is going to be lifted by the time all of this is over. As we see the first seal of this mortgage removed, it's the appearance of a white horse. There are many who feel that, because it is a white horse, it has to be Christ. But I'm convinced it is the false christ, because from Genesis Chapter 3, just as soon as man entered the scene, Satan came in as the master counterfeiter.

"...and he that sat on him had a bow;..."

"Bow" is hard to track down since it can be pronounced and mean different things. You can't really define this word from the Greek as to what is implied, so I'll have to follow in the tracks of men I've read, that most agree it's the bow that would shoot arrows. But, from our study of the Anti-christ out of Daniel, I trust I made it clear that Anti-christ is not coming in using power of military might or by fighting wars. How is he going to come in? Peaceably and with flattery. He is going to be a political maneuverer - a charismatic type individual. He doesn't have to use his ammunition, but may come with the threat of power behind him which he will have. Even Western Europe still has NATO. But he doesn't actually have the military power yet. He hasn't come that far along.

"...and a crown was given unto him:..."

The world is going to recognize him as their leader. Remember, he will come up out of the Common Market of Europe. The European Community (EC). There will be 10 nations in all and he will come up and usurp the power. Look at Matthew 24. It's the perfect parallel of Revelation Chapter 6. So always compare the two. Note that Matthew 24 is all prophecy about the Tribulation. There is no Church Age doctrine in here whatsoever. This is strictly Tribulation ground.

"And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, `See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, `There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.'"

Jesus was looking toward the siege of the Roman armies under Titus. And that is just what the armies did. Once they got inside the city wall they devastated the city. Josephus recorded (and it's not Scripture), that the Roman soldiers had heard it rumored that between the very building stones of Herod's Temple, there was a lot of gold and other kinds of wealth. And soldiers being soldiers, tore it down stone by stone looking for that supposedly hidden wealth. But whatever the reason, we know that the Temple was destroyed just as Jesus said it would be. This Temple could not be destroyed by fire like King Nebuchadnezzar did to Solomon's Temple, but remember Solomon's Temple was built from the beautiful cedars of Lebanon. So it burned to a crisp. But Herod's Temple was predominately of stone and of course the precious gold and silver, etc. But anyway it was all destroyed except that little segment of the wall that is now known as the Wailing Wall.

"And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately (just the Twelve), saying, `Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming (remember in I Corinthians 1:22, the Jew requires a sign. They wanted to know when His Kingdom would be set up), and of the end of the world?'"

Jesus now begins to lay out the events of the seven years. It begins from the appearance of the white horse in Revelation 6 - the Man of Sin, the counterfeit christ, the Anti-christ.

"And Jesus answered and said unto them, `Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, `I am Christ;...'"

Do you see that? That's the white horse. He's will come on the scene and practically convince the world that he is Christ. He's what the world is looking for. And we are already seeing people like that. Sigma Moon from Korea, about 15 years ago, tried to tell the world that he was the Christ. And we've had others, and we will have still more. But it's going to be culminated by the real counterfeiter, the real Anti-christ, and he's going to convince the world that he is the Christ and he shall deceive many. Going back to Revelation, stop at I John, Chapter 2 for a moment. This is the same writer who wrote the Book of Revelation. Now let's drop down to verse 18. And here again, as I have stressed before, is the one place where this Man of Sin is actually called the Anti-christ.

"Little children, it is the last time (these writers of Scriptures had no idea there was going to be 1900 + years before this would happen. They thought it would be coming in a relatively short time): and as ye have heard that antichrist (here John is speaking of the real Anti-christ) shall come, even now are there many antichrists;..."

Of course there are. But they can't hold a candle to the one that is coming. Now let's go back to Revelation Chapter 6. So we see this Man of Sin comes on the scene and he begins to conquer and overtake nations. He is setting up his power base.

"... and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal,..."

Remember these seals are on that mortgage, that scroll. He signs the seven-year treaty with the Nation of Israel as we saw back in Daniel. The next event which may be within the first month or so after the seven years have begun, is another horse. This one is red.

"And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon (the red horse) to take peace from the earth (when you have the absence of peace, what do you have? War. I mean a real one. So this power entity, this rider of the red horse is going to bring war on the earth), and that they should kill one another:" I want you to underline those last three words, because I think this indicates what I'm going to show is the rider of the red horse. We won't have time to take it all the way through during this lesson. But here we have the rider of the red horse, and his battle ground is going to be epitomized by not killing the enemy, but what are they going to do? They are going to kill each other. To whet your appetite, and as you are turning to Ezekiel, I want you to be thinking what great power on earth is associated with the color red? Russia. For over twenty years I've been teaching that I think the rider of the red horse will be the Russian invasion of Israel. Just as in Ezekiel 38 and 39. So in Chapter 38, and again, Ezekiel begins as he does so many times:

"And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, `Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,"

Most Bible scholars are convinced that Gog and Magog, Meshech and Tubal are Russia and her satellite nations. I have told my classes for quite some time not to believe for a minute that the Russian bear is dead. The Russian bear is alive and well. They may be crimped a little economically, and be a little cold and hungry, but the Russian army is sitting there east of the Ural Mountains just as intact as it has ever been. I read again in one of the major news magazines recently, that Russia has not cut one person from their staff of espionage. They are just as busy with their spying activity as they have always been. They have not slowed down the production of any of their war materials. They recently sent another rocket into space. How are they doing all of this if they are destitute and broke? Listen, they are just as alive as can be. And we know they have their problems, but one day soon the Communist will come back in and take over and Russia will be right back on track.

Editor's Note: The events of Revelation 6:4-8 and Ezekiel 39:1-9, which will also take place in the first 3 1/2 years of the tribulation, are covered under a separate question "What will happen to America during the tribulation?" a few pages ahead. Keep that in mind as we now move down a few verses from Revelation 6:4 to verse 9.

Let's go back to the horsemen of the Apocalypse in Revelation Chapter 6 for a quick review. First we have the appearance of the Anti-christ. He signs the seven-year treaty with Israel which gives them relative peace and safety. Then I feel you will have that great invasion of the red horde from the north, which in turn will precipitate a great demise in the food supply. That will trigger the famine (or the black horse in verses 5 and 6), as well as the pestilences. And remember that we showed you in Matthew 24 that Jesus foretold that these things were just the beginning of sorrow or travail. These are the beginning days of the Tribulation. It's going to be the most awful seven-year period in human history. We will be seeing that, as Jesus spoke of it in Matthew 24. But now, turn to Revelation Chapter 6. Remember, these horsemen were also seals, and we have four of the seals off (there were seven seals on the scroll to begin with). Now He opens the fifth seal. And John, in his visionary experience, of course:

"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:"

I have to feel he was making reference to the Tribulation martyrs. Later we're going to show that, yes indeed, there will be multitudes of non-Jews who will have a salvation experience during this turmoil. But they will not live very long to tell about it, because it's going to be a period of time where they are going to be martyred immediately. These are the ones I feel that John sees in a prophetic light, and these who have been martyred for their faith will cry:

"And they cried with a loud voice, saying, `How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?'" And, of course, we know that He's going to.

"And white robes were given unto every one of them (that is, these that had been martyred for their faith); and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."

That's all part of the fifth seal. Now we come to the sixth seal. Remember there's only seven that are holding this scroll together, and Christ is the One that is opening it in order to be able to read that mortgage and pay it off. Okay, we're coming back to that scroll that was in Revelation Chapter 5:

"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and , lo, there was a great earthquake;..."

In Matthew 24, that was one of the things that Jesus had mentioned, that there would be famine and pestilence and earthquakes in divers places. We're already seeing a tremendous increase in earthquake activity; thousands of percent in the last twenty or thirty years. There's so many earthquakes taking place every day that the media doesn't even bother to report them. I read recently in one of the daily papers there where three or four earthquakes; not huge, but 4.6 or 5 on the Richter scale. There was one in China, one in Southern Russia and one in Iran. They're taking place every day. This is contrary to history; it hasn't always been that way. In verse 12 we're approaching the mid-point of this seven years. We're about at the end of 3 1/2 years as we get to the sixth seal.

"...and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;"

All you have to do is know the circumstances. When there's tremendous earthquakes, there's more than likely volcanic eruptions as well. As we know from the past, volcanoes can spew out so much dust that the sun can almost be blocked out. I think that's what we have here. It isn't that God all of a sudden is going to blacken the sun, per se. But as a result of all these activities on the planet, the sun will almost become like we've seen it at times, like a little red glow. And the moon became as blood, again because of all the pollution that has been blown into the atmosphere. Then verse 13. This is God dealing primarily with the Nation of Israel. Jeremiah said it was the time of Jacob's trouble. I've pointed out over the years, for those of you who have been following from Genesis on, that whenever God was dealing with Israel in the land, the supernatural was commonplace. Beginning when Moses went into Egypt, the plagues were supernatural events that were under God's control. The opening of the Red Sea was supernatural. The life and escapades of Samson were supernatural. And the appearance of the Angelic hosts at Christ's birth was supernatural. The opening of the prison, when Peter was in captivity, by the use of a earthquake - what was it? Supernatural. So this is what I'm talking about. When God is dealing with that Nation of Israel, as He will be in these seven years, we're dealing with the supernatural every day - things that are beyond the ordinary. In verse 13, we even have cosmic disturbances.

"And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places."

In other words, tremendous earthquake activity. And this is only in the first half. The second half is going to be far worse. Even rulers and men in high places are getting shook up:

"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains (and they actually plead for death): And said to the mountains and rocks, `Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:'"

Do you see for the last 1900 plus years, mankind has not seen the wrath of God. Now we know there has been a lot of calamity. We know that there has already been a lot of earthquake activity, and wars and famine and so forth. But that has not been the wrath of God. I've always maintained that the things that come upon the human race, that plague us, are not acts of God's wrath. They are God permitting Satan to bring suffering and turmoil to God's creation. God is not in the business tonight of pouring out His wrath. He's a God of Grace, tonight. Paul says in Romans Chapter 5, that where sin abounded, what's always greater? His grace abounds even more. But, grace has ended here with the out-calling of the Body of Christ just before the Tribulation begins. We are seeing the wrath of the Lamb being poured out. Verse 17, and it's repeated twice in two verses:

"For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"

Do you remember Psalms Chapter 2? We've used it so often coming up through the Old Testament. After mankind, Jew and Gentile, have rejected the King, they're going to go into a period of perplexity and derision - and that's where the world is tonight. They don't know where to turn. And then what does the next verse say in Psalms Chapter 2?

"Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure."

It's no longer the Age of Grace. All these events take us up to the mid-point of this seven years. We've had the appearance of the Anti-christ. We've had the permission (if I may use that word) for Israel to go back into Temple worship. She's going to go back under the Law you might say. She's getting closer to that all the time. Now back again to Revelation 6. As we come to the end of the Chapter, let me repeat verse 17:

"For the great day of his wrath is come: and who shall be able to stand?"

The Bible does not actually refer to the Tribulation as being the wrath of God until the last 3 1/2 years. The first 3 1/2 are going to be bad enough, but the last 3 1/2 years will be beyond human comprehension. Let's go to Matthew 24 once again. I've said before, you can't study Revelation without studying Matthew 24. Here Jesus is speaking of this very thing. Starting at verse 8, what does Jesus call all of these things that are taking place (the tremendous loss of life in that 1/4 of world has died - and all the pestilences and famine)?

(10d) What is the mark of the beast ?

"And he (this false prophet) had power to give life to the image of the beast,..."

I previously have said that the Japanese have a technology to build a biological computer. In other words, it won't be just electronic, but will have living biological cells. Now what they are driving at, I don't know. But it will be a computer that will put the present day computers to shame. And I think that is just an indication of what we have here. That this image is going to be the brain of our technology so that it will actually be able to speak and think and give orders. One of our national news magazines a few weeks ago had a lead article on the electronic explosion that is about to come upon us. Where television will not only be the incoming of information, but also the outflow. The old TV set will just be the center of everything. This is being set up for just exactly this situation, where one world government will have their thumb on every home around the planet. Nobody will be left out. So this image was able to speak.

"...that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."

Again, I think it will come through the information of television. The powers that be will know all activity of every home. There will be no escaping it. I've told my classes that `they' know all about you. And more than once someone will say, "And who are `they?'" I don't know precisely, but I know it and you know it. We've all read articles about how they know where we spend our money and where we have it invested. They know our health. They know everything. And so who are they? The powers that be. Insurance companies, financial institutions, magazines. In farm magazines I can get a free subscription by completing a survey which asks how many cows I have, how many acres I have, etc. I quit filling them out. I'd rather pay for my subscription because they don't have to know. It is the same in every other occupation. They want to know everything about your business. It seems so innocent, but it isn't. It will come back to haunt people that someone out there knows everything about them. Once you are in someone's computer this information is kept and added to every time there is a transaction. They, who are they? Anyway, verse 16. So this great religious leader:

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man (also women) might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast (the power, the political system, the religious system, etc.): for it is the number of a man (and that is always 'six' in Scripture); and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

That's where we get the 666. Now let's clarify. You and I don't have to worry tonight about receiving the mark of the beast. This is a Tribulation event, and believers will not be here. Anyway, everybody isn't immediately going to accept this demand to have this mark placed on them. Just like Social Security would like everyone have direct deposit. But how slow are most people to accept it. They want to see that check in their hands and deposit it themselves. So there is foot-dragging, even though it's probably safer and faster. I use it. I'm not afraid of direct deposit. But it will be the same way with this mark of the beast. Multitudes of people will drag their feet. They won't take it right away, human nature being what it is. So it won't instantly take over. That will be a blessing in disguise, because anyone who has not taken that mark of the beast will have an opportunity of salvation as those 144,000 Jews will be proclaiming it. But if they have taken the mark, then they can preach their hearts out and that individual will have no chance for salvation. He's doomed the minute he takes the mark.

Now what is the mark of the beast? I said long before most of the big wheels began to realize it, that I was convinced that this mark of the beast is nothing more than an eighteen digit computer number. In other words, three sets of six numbers or digits. Most of you are acquainted with the little bars and lines on every product that you buy, especially in our supermarkets. What's it called? The universal product code. And the outside bars, and the very middle bar has a value of six. Now it's not on your boxes of cereals and so forth. Some of the other numbers are. You might see a 2 or 3 or 4, but remember, the outside and middle bars are valued at 6. Now all they have to do is expand this universal product code a little more and you will have eighteen digits. And that is sufficient to give everyone on the face of the earth a separate number. If they can keep track of products in a supermarket down to the last nitty-gritty, simply by running it over a scanner, then they won't have any problem keeping track of every human being. In fact the largest computer on earth is reported to be in Brussels, Belgium. And that thing is huge (I think I read it takes a city block just to house it). It is very capable of keeping track of every human being on earth. So just simply bring this whole mark of the beast down to something that is so common already. An eighteen digit number of 666, and you have the mark of the beast.

We also know that there have been places that have tried a cashless society. Can a community actually go for 30 or 60 days without ever using a checkbook or billfold? The only problems that they have is the check-out lines start backing up, because the people in this test area can never find their card in their purse. This secular article suggests that if there were some way of putting a mark on the flesh so that it can be scanned, it would speed up the check-out lines. It is all there, the technology is simply waiting to be implemented.

Believers don't have a fear of the 666. We have all the evidence of the world that the precursors of it are with us. You and I use it everyday. You can't go and get a drivers license without it, or file your taxes without it and what is it? Your social security number. It is not the mark of the beast, but it is the forerunner of it. And remember America is not the only nation with a social security system. I was surprised when I read a few months ago that even the small nations in what we call the third world have social security systems and all of their citizens have a number. Germany, years ago, began tattooing a number on the heels of newborn infants before they left the hospital. So we can see the world is getting ready for the fact that they can't do anything without a number. If it gets to the place where it is a completely cashless society, and if you haven't got that number, it will be impossible to do anything. So people without it will die for the lack of the necessities of life.

Last lesson we were discussing the aspect of the red horse in Revelation Chapter 6. I like to tie it in with Ezekiel 38 be it right or wrong. I'm very comfortable putting this great invasion of Israel in the early stages of the Tribulation. Remember, after the Anti-christ signs that peace treaty of seven years with the Nation of Israel, she will suddenly drop her guard, thinking her borders are guaranteed with this treaty. So when you come to the language in Ezekiel 38, I think it is so appropriate that under those circumstances, with an outside power now guaranteeing their sovereignty and their safety, that it becomes what Ezekiel calls a land of unwalled villages.

When Ezekiel was writing, the walls of the city were the first line of defense. When you speak of a land of unwalled villages what does it tell you? Here is a land with no defense. They have been guaranteed safety by some outside political and military force, but for the nation itself, she is there with no real visible defense. This Northern confederation of nations, that we think will be headed up by Russia immediately takes advantage of this fact. Today, hardly anyone dares to attack the Nation of Israel because they know they will have a fight on their hands if they do. More than likely they'll get whipped. But here they now realize that Israel is complacent. Israel has finally gotten this almost Messiah-like atmosphere, that they no longer have to fear their enemies.

When we finally get into the Gospels, we will study about Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, who suddenly had his speech given back to him. I always tell people to read what he had to say in Luke 1:67-71 and to read it carefully.

"And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, `Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people (Israel), And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;"

This is exactly what Israel is looking for today. That they could be safe from their enemies. It's not a spiritual thing. It's physical. And they will swallow what the Anti-christ will promise. Now picking up where we left off in the Book of Ezekiel. Chapter 38 and verse 9. God speaking through the prophet to the Northern Confederation, because it will involve more than just the Russians.

"Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land (not necessarily air power, but massive invasion armies.), thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee." It will be a consortium of all these nations listed in verse 5 and 6.

"Thus saith the Lord GOD; `It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:'"

"And thou shalt say, `I will go up to the land of unwalled villages (Israel is now sitting there relatively safe and secure. Now's the time for a surprise attack.); I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,'" Then to verse 12: "To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited,..."

What a perfect picture that is of Israel? It had been a no-man's land for years, and now since 1948, it has blossomed into a land of production. They are building highways; they're building apartments. It's almost like being in America. Their traffic patterns are much the same as any major city here. I had a gentlemen in my class when we were still in Iowa who's gone to be with the Lord now. He was stationed with an American group in Palestine during World War II. I can still remember his explaining the conditions. He said, "Why in the world would anyone want that country? I just couldn't understand. There's nothing there." Well that's not the case today. It's a vibrant country. It's producing. And they're just constantly coming up in production of agriculture, technology and medical. The Nation of Israel is at the forefront of all these things.

"...and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations (that's where the Jews have come from remember. Every nation on the globe.), which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land."

Tarshish, I think, either refers to Spain or Great Britain, and I would probably say Great Britain. Some of the other nations involved there in the NATO alliance, will be under the rule or control of the Anti-christ at this time. And all they're going to be able to say is, "What do you think you're doing?" Because this has caught them so by surprise, they won't have time to retaliate, militarily. And so all that they do I suppose, is tell the media at a press conference, "Well, all we can say is, `What do they think they're doing' and there's nothing we can do about it." Read on:

"...hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey (are you invading)? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods,..."

In other words, to take a great spoil? That's about all the Western European nations are going to be able to do. But remember that God's going to intervene in short order.

"Therefore (God says to the prophet), son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, `Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day (when they invade Israel) when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,...'" And that means everything from Lebanon, all the way, I think, to Moscow.

"And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days (that's the second time the word "latter" has been used. And that is why I have to feel that it will be in the Tribulation), and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen (or the Gentiles) may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog,..."

In other words, when the rest of the world will see what a Sovereign God can do to a modern military force.

"And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face."

You need to remember that Russia has been anti-God for the past 70 years. And God hasn't forgotten. God is always just. And when He pours out His vengeance, He has a reason. I think that Russia still is going to have to answer for all the millions that the Communists put to death, and for their ill-treatment of the Jew. God says, "My fury is coming up before me."

"For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, `Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;'"

As a result of this invasion. Now verse 21, and I want you to watch the language very carefully. God says:

"And I will call for a sword against him (that is, against these invaders) throughout all my mountains,..."

A lot of people don't realize that Israel is mountainous. In fact, I was reading an article just the other day, of someone who was speaking to one of our head government people (I think in the State Department). He didn't know that Israel was a mountainous country! I know that our younger generation hasn't been taught geography like I was. But there are people who are, seemingly, in places of high authority and they don't even know simple geography. But yes, Israel is mountainous. The very center of the country is just a string of mountains and valleys. Here is the very series of words that I tie with Revelation Chapter 6. And this is my reason for bringing it. I go by that basic rule of Bible study: Always go to the place of first mention. In other words, when something is mentioned in the Old Testament and then again in the New, see if they tie together. Now look at the language:

"...every man's sword shall be against his brother."

Do you see that? Now to those verses that we read in Revelation, Chapter 6, and I want you to see the comparison. Of course, I don't get dogmatic. If anyone says, "I can't see this," that's fine. This is the way I see it and I wouldn't teach it if I wasn't comfortable with it. Now back here now in Revelation:

"And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they (that is, the combatants) should kill (who?) one another:..."

Not the enemy but each other! That's what's so unique about this great invasion of Israel. Go back to Ezekiel and compare the words. The Sovereign God is going to fight this battle here on the hills of Israel. And of course it happened before. Do you remember Samaria had been encircled and was under siege, and they were starving to death. Then the Lord gave them a prophecy that by tomorrow night at this time, they would have more food than they would know what to do with. And you know the Syrian army was put into a route because in their confusion, they were killing each other. So it's happened before. Now look what Ezekiel then says again in comparison to the red horse statement in Revelation 6, that every man's sword should be against his brother. In other words, they're going to be annihilating themselves. God, Himself, of course, is going to come in with His own power.

"And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. (which of course is the same language of Sodom and Gomorrah, you'll remember) Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD."

In other words, that Russian army or that Northern Confederation army will be defeated by not only its own confusion, but by a tremendous power of God. And it's going to be utterly destroyed there on the hills and mountains of Israel. Now we have to go into Chapter 39 because these two chapters tie together:

"Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, `Thus saith the Lord GOD; `Behold, I am against thee,...'"

It would be awful to have God simply tell America for example, "I'm against you." I'm afraid the day is coming. But so far it hasn't happened. Now then, verse 2. He says to this invading force:

"And I will turn thee back (God will. And remember that He brought them down. And this is the way God deals with nations when He judges them. He brought them into the Nation of Israel. He destroyed them there. And now He says, "I'll turn thee back"), and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:"

Now some people believe that this is Armageddon and I just can't agree with that. This is a separate war. A separate battle within the seven-year time frame. But it is not Armageddon.

"Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD (and then look at verse 6. Underline it if you haven't before). And (God says) I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles:..."

In other words, the homeland of Russia as well as the homeland of all these nations that have consorted against the Nation of Israel. The language is different than it is with the destruction of the army and Israel itself. Their (Israel's) God is going to do it by sending pestilence and hail and brimstone. That's God. But in Chapter 39 verse 6, I think God is using an outside force to destroy the Russian homeland. I'll comment on verse 6 in more detail, but first let's do verses 7-9 and pay particular attention to verse 9:

"So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen (or Gentile) shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken. And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand staves, and the spears (remember Ezekiel is writing the language of his day. We would say today the tanks, armored personnel carriers and so forth), and they shall burn them with fire seven years:"

People will say, "This can't be the Tribulation because there want be enough time for it." But if you will remember in Scripture a part of a year was counted a whole year. A good example was when a King would serve Israel for 10 years and 1 month, it would say he served for 11 years. So using that rule of thumb, an invasion of the Nation of Israel within the first 11 months for instance, after the seven-year treaty is signed, will still make this prophecy come true. I might also point out that back in the 1960's a Dutch scientist had perfected some sort of a process where he came up with a tank that was made with wood product that would actually repel shells and so forth. And the Russians bought a large quantity of them because they were so much more economical. Then after the war in 1967 in Israel, the Israelites captured some of these tanks and discovered that they burned like cardboard. Whether that is still the case, I don't know. But if it is, then you see again the Scripture is so accurate. The Jewish people will use this equipment as firewood if this is the case.

Now I want to finish commenting on verse 6 as I had promised. I'm going to speculate, and I want to make sure that people understand that this is only speculation. I can't prove it through Scripture, but I can certainly whet your thinking. And just consider the possibilities. Logically. Now I know that God doesn't have to work in the terms of logic. I know that. But many times He does. Logically then, I've put it before my classes over the years, and I've never had anyone ridicule the concept at all. Logically, if you were sitting in a place of authority, whether it's in the Kremlin or some other place in this Northern Confederation, and you were getting ready to invade the little Nation of Israel, I think that you would realize there's only one nation on earth that might oppose you. And who would that be? America. We are the only friend that Israel has in the world. And I think that the Russian leaders would understand that if they invaded Israel, America would probably come to her defense.

Now I mentioned in my last program, and Time magazine just stated it again a couple of weeks ago, that every missile that has ever been pointed at America before, is still sitting there. Still pointing at the American target. Speculate, project, that's all I can do. If you were the commanders, what would you do? I know what I would do. I would say, "Let's unload everything that we have on North America. They're the only possible enemy that we have." And that's what I think will happen. I think the Russians will unload everything that they have and will utterly knock the Western Hemisphere out of the rest of prophecy. Because there's nothing for us in prophecy. Then, when it says that God will send a fire on the Russian homeland, we know that we have submarines all over the oceans of the world, loaded with ballistic missiles on board. So after we have suffered that initial attack, I think our military will still have enough left to give the command to unload all our submarines on the Russian homeland, which will destroy it.

I said that this is all speculation and I don't say it to cause fear or anything like that, because you want to remember that in the Tribulation, events are going to start taking place that are so beyond human understanding. And that's why I think it's so logical to teach it. That when America retaliates and knocks out the whole Russian homeland, then you see between those two annihilations, North America out of the picture for the most part. And the Russian homeland is also out of the picture. Now I want you to come back to Revelation once more. And you can stop again at Matthew 24, because I told you that Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 are direct parallels. So you might as well stop first at Matthew 24 verse 7. And remember, I stopped in the middle of verse 7 with regard to the red horse. Alright, let's go to the last part of verse 7. And this will tie us to the third horse of Revelation 6:

"...and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." Now flip back to Revelation Chapter 6 verse 5:

"And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast (or creature) say, `Come and see.' And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts (or creatures) say, `A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny;...'"

What does that black horse indicate if you're going to have to ration the food supply? Famine. Alright, come back to my premise. Take, for example, the great production areas of the North American Continent; whether it's the great grain belt to the north, or the citrus growths in other areas such as California, that have vast food production. If you knock out the great food production area of Russia (the Ukraine), what does that do to the world's food supply? It almost annihilates it. So what will the rest of the world suddenly find itself in? A famine.

The language in this verse boils down to the average worker (a field worker for example) having to work a full day, sun-up to sun-down, just to earn enough money to buy bread for the next day. It's going to be runaway inflation caused by a shortage of goods. You're going to have a tremendous decrease in the production of food stuffs. And whenever you have famine and the amount of death as we've seen in Somalia and so forth, what accompanies it? Disease. It just goes hand in glove. Now, lest you think that I'm stretching the point, come down to the fourth horse in verse 7, because these all tie together now. The black horse spoke of famine. What comes as a result of the famine?

"And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast (or creature) say, `Come and see.' And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

The fourth horse is the pale one. As a result of the demise of two great power structures, he now sees this pale horse and on him was Death; and Hell followed with him. And power was given over them to kill with the sword. And what have you, what portion of the world? One fourth. Whether it's one fourth of the geographical area or one fourth of the population, either one. But this is the Tribulation. This is just the beginning.

Go back to Matthew 24 again. I guess you could just put a mark in it because we will be flipping back and forth. In Matthew 24, after these four horsemen have made their appearance (remember these are merely symbolisms. This isn't really someone riding on a horse and announcing that the world is going to have famine. They are symbolic of these events that are going to come on the planet) Jesus goes on to say in verse 8 that there would be famine and earthquakes and pestilence in divers places.

"All these are the beginning of sorrows."

"Travail" is a better word. The King James uses "sorrow." Your newer translations may have the word "Travail" because Jesus is speaking in terms of a delivery. When we were back in Chapter 5 of Revelation, I spoke of a scroll, which was the paying off of a mortgage. It was also a delivery of the earth from the curse that was instituted back in the garden. This is what Jesus is referring to; all these events that are going to come on the planet, beginning with these horsemen of Revelation. This is just a beginning. This is like the mother who is about to deliver. Her birth pains are relatively mild and far apart. That's what we have here. As great as this is going to be, it is mild compared to what it is going to be at the end. And so he says, "These things are just the beginning of Travail." This is the beginning of the delivery process. Look at one verse in the Book of Jeremiah Chapter 30:

"Alas! for that day is great (that is, this Tribulation), so that none is like it: it is even the time of (who's trouble?) Jacob's trouble (the Nation of Israel); but he shall be saved out of it."

So these things will have their vortex upon the Nation of Israel.

Now think about that. At the mid-point, after Satan has been cast down from heaven, he will indwell the man Anti-christ, even as he did Judas. And as we saw in our last lesson, he's going to turn his wrath particularly upon the 144,000 Jews, but all the people of the world are suddenly going to feel the wrath of Satan. But not only of Satan, we are also going to have the wrath of God. Now what does that tell you. No wonder Jesus said that it was going to be worse than anytime in human history. People will say, "Now wait a minute, God is a God of love." Oh, He still is today. But once this day comes, His Grace ends, and He becomes a God of judgment, and a God of wrath. Let's go back to the Book of Psalms, Chapter 2 for a moment. We must overcome this theology that God is just a God of love. You see, that's another reason that people think that He couldn't possible dream up something like an eternal Hell, or the lake of fire. Here, we have to qualify. He was a God of love when He sent Christ to the Cross, that's for sure. And He has loved the human race ever since. He has poured out His Grace upon humanity. But what has humanity done with it? They have walked it under foot. And so now He finally gets to the place where His love and Grace is withdrawn and it's His wrath that has come in. Psalms Chapter 2 verse 5. This is taking us into the Tribulation:

"Then shall he speak unto them (the people of the world) in his wrath (not His Love), and vex them in his sore displeasure."

Now you know what vex means. He is literally going to torment them. And He is going to do it righteously with all fairness and justice because you see, He has so patiently poured out His love to toward the human race and they continue to react in unbelief. And that is the worse sin possible. Unbelief is the sin that sends all mankind to doom. It's just the opposite of faith. And when you have faith, then you are pleasing unto God. That is, faith in His Word. And when you have faith in His Word you are obedient to it. And when we are obedient to the Word, then we become exactly what God want us to be. Now come back to the last part of Revelation 12:12 again. The Devil is literally kicked out of heaven. He comes down to his domain on the earth. He comes to Jerusalem to join the Anti-christ:

"...having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

And how long does he have? 3 1/2 years. And he will pull out all the stops. He will use things he has never used before. I know the average person will say, "Now why would Satan do that? They are in his pocket." I've given the illustration before, but it's worth repeating. If some underworld organization can't get a business man to knuckle under their demands because he's too strong in himself, who will they threaten? His family. His wife and children, because he knows that if that father sees them suffer, then he will react. Now Satan does the same thing to God. Satan feels that when he torments and brings all of these things upon the human race, who does he really get at? The heart of God. Now God's wrath is going to be coupled with it, and that will make that final 3 1/2 years what it is. If you don't think that last 3 1/2 years is going to be awesome come back with me to Revelation Chapter 8.

We have come through six seals during our study. The sixth seal was the great earthquake which triggers the mid-point of the Tribulation. Now when you come to Chapter 8 we come to the seventh seal. The seventh seal will open up the scroll and the paying off of that mortgage that's within. The seventh seal in itself is not an event, but it triggers the seven trumpets. So out of the seventh seal comes the first of the trumpet judgments, and there will be seven of those. When we first started our study in Revelation, I put it on the board that the events of the Tribulation are like a mother approaching her day of delivery. First comes a light birth pang. Just enough to know that your time is at hand. And maybe an hour or two later comes a little harsher one. And it just keeps increasing in intensity as well as in closeness. And so it will be that way in the Tribulation. It will start out rather mild, but as it moves to the end it's going to crescendo. Until finally the last day comes and Christ returns. As we start to read, remember we are still at the mid-point, and this is what follows.

"And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was (what?) silence in heaven (there is not an angelic voice, an instrument, a note of music, a shout, or trumpet, but absolute silence in heaven. Now that is sobering! Why? Because of the awful things that are about to happen on the earth) about the space of half an hour." I don't think we can get the drama of it. Everyone in heaven is so aware of the awful things that are about to happen. Now verse 2:

"And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets." These trumpets will simply announce the next event:

"And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand."

Now what was the purpose of the incense in the tabernacle? What's the purpose of incense anytime? To give a sweet aroma. That holiness of worship and righteousness. Now for God, the sweetest incense that could ever come up to His nostrils is the prayers of the saints. That's how much emphasis God puts on prayer. He wants us to pray. We are commanded to pray. So now we have the beginnings of the trumpet judgments.

"And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake."

When you read of thunderings, and lightnings, and voices again, flash all the way back to Exodus. When God came down on Mount Sinai, what did you have? Thunderings, and lightnings, the voice of God; so it's just a constant replay, except on a totally grander scale.

"And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth (and as a result): and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up."

We won't take time now to go back to Exodus, but if we did, what was one of the plagues? This very same thing. Fire running along the ground, and hail. I imagine it was a very traumatic thing. I always think of it this way. Even though the events in themselves will probably bring a lot of death and destruction, there will also be a lot of psychological warfare, if you want to call it that. These things are just going to lambaste the very mental part of people. It's going to be beyond our comprehension to see these things happening one right after the other. Now to the next one. Verse 8:

"And the second angel sounded (this won't be a matter of hours, but it probably will be a matter of days and weeks), and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;"

Here again, if we had time we could go back into the Old Testament, and prophecy tells us there will be great disturbance in the cosmos. In other words, I think there is going to be great meteorites coming down and hitting the earth. A good example are the ones that hit the planet Jupiter not long ago. Our scientists are trying to dream up a nuclear device to explode on any meteorite that might be heading for the earth and try to deflect it. So we know that this particular one will land in the ocean, and the third part of the sea became blood.

"And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed." It will be in an area where there are shipping lanes and lots of ships will be destroyed in this one event.

"And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;"

In other words, it's going to attack the fresh water. Again go back to Egypt, and remember when Moses caused the river Nile to turn to blood? And it was normally their source of drinking water. So what did the Egyptians quickly do? They dug wells for fresh water. And then God affected even the well water. So God will constantly be one step ahead of them. Now verse 11 is very interesting:

"And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter,"

Now this is just an interesting thought, and I don't know if it has any impact on this verse at all. But what does the word Chernobyl (where they had the nuclear disaster in Russia) mean? Wormwood! So that might be just a little indication of things that may be used of God, to brings these things to pass. Well it looks like we have time for one more trumpet in this lesson. And that will be the fourth one in verse 12:

"And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, `Woe, Woe, Woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!'"

There has already been a tremendous loss of life, both man and creatures, and it's all coming under the wrath of God. And yet the angel says, "It's nothing compared to what is still future for the inhabitants of the earth."

The best way to understand the Book of Revelation is to determine all the things that take place at the beginning of the Tribulation, the things at the mid-point, and the whole host of events at the end, which of course, will be at the time of Christ's Second Coming. And then He will set up the Kingdom. I know there are folks and groups who just cringe at my teachings that the Kingdom will be here on the earth at the end of the Tribulation. And I make no apologies for teaching that. Because this Book is full of it. That's what it talks about from cover to cover - the coming of this Kingdom on earth. Which in reality is where heaven will be also. And that is another concept that a lot of people can't understand, that heaven will be on the earth. When this earth is destroyed at the end of that initial 1000 years, of course, and you get into the last two chapters of Revelation, what do you have? A new heaven and a new earth. Even the eternal abode is going to be on an earth-type situation, and not up in the regions beyond in a heaven of an ethereal, and all the foggy notions that people have about heaven. But nevertheless, it's going to be a viable, social existence on planet earth.

Another thing I would like to share is that the Church Age we are in at the present time, will someday end, and I've always emphasized that the Church Age is indeterminate in time, for we don't know when it will end. It began back here in the Book of Acts, especially as Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, began preaching the Gospel of the Grace of God, and calling out what he refers to as the Body of Christ. I've always told folks in my classes that it's not so important what congregation you are a member of. But are you a member of the Body of Christ? You can be any denomination you want to, but unless you are a member of the Body of Christ, you are eternally lost. The Scripture is so plain. But once we have entered into God's salvation and the Holy Spirit's work of placing you into the Body of Christ, then we have what the Bible refers to as eternal life, eternal salvation, the hope of glory.

I got a letter from a gentlemen from Indiana, who said, "Les, I just thrill at all you are teaching, but I've still got some questions about the Rapture of the Church." I'm sure he was wondering if the Church going to go into the Tribulation. I've made the statement more than once, that I could stand here for an hour or two and give you references that prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the Church will not go into the Tribulation. And mostly because this whole concept of the Body of Christ is a revelation only given to the Apostle Paul, you will never find it mentioned in the Old Testament or the four Gospels. It is strictly a Pauline revelation. Paul maintains that this Body of Christ, which is all wrapped up in another word that is predominately Pauline, is "the mystery." Now the mystery is the revelation that God is now doing something different in these last 1900 + years of time, after the revelation of these mysteries. He is calling out the Body of Christ, not under Law, not associated with the Nation of Israel, not associated with Judaism, or the Temple. It is totally the operation of the Grace of God, based upon the finished work of the Cross, His death, burial and Resurrection.

And this is so totally removed from Law, which will again come in during the Tribulation, because Israel will again have her temple worship. And you can not mix Law and Grace. We couldn't mix it during the Church Age and it won't mix in the Tribulation. The Church would be as out of place as a fish out of water in the Tribulation. It just wouldn't fit. It is not part of the Jewish program. It is completely insulated from all of God's dealing with Israel. Whereas in the Tribulation, God is primarily dealing with Israel. So as the Church Age is completed then, it must be taken out of the way so God can once again pick up where He left off with Israel.

Why is it that the world is always so concerned about peace in the Middle East? Every United States President, at least since President Kennedy, has almost made it their prerogative to somehow or other be the one that could bring peace to the Middle East. Yet, look at all the other areas of the world that need peace. They are not that concerned about those. But they are hung up on the Middle East and peace for them. Well again, it comes back to the Scriptures. What do the Scriptures say about Jerusalem? It will be a stone of stumbling. And isn't that exactly what it is. Every President has stubbed their toe on Jerusalem. They are so intent on bringing peace to the Middle East. And that's why the Anti-christ will finally be the one to do it. He will bring a seven-year treaty of peace to Israel and the Middle East. Seemingly the world is going to think that he is the mastermind and so forth. So the very fact he signs that treaty will begin God's clock ticking again, and the seven years of Tribulation will begin.

Then as we noticed in previous lessons, we have the introduction of the two witnesses who will proclaim the Word of God again to the Nation of Israel. Out of them will come the 144,000 young Jews who will be sealed and commissioned of God. We have also discussed the Great Russian invasion of Israel sometime after the Tribulation has begun. And then we have the various judgments of God begin to fall. When we get to the mid-point of the Tribulation, the Anti-christ at that time will go in and defile the temple, and immediately stop temple worship. He will demand that He himself be worshiped as God. That will trigger this final 3 1/2 years.

This is where we are now in this study. We have seen the sixth seal removed and the trumpet judgments begin. And again, I like to make the analogy that Jesus made in Matthew 24. These Tribulation judgments are a perfect parallel of a young lady approaching delivery of her little one. And when the birth pangs begin they are rather mild and far apart. But as she gets closer and closer to the delivery hour, everything will crescendo. So, as we have come past the mid-point and the trumpet judgments are taking place, they also will keep getting a little closer together. They keep getting worse and worse until finally we get to the last seven judgments and they are called the Bowl judgments. In the King James they are called `vials.' I prefer to use the word `bowl' and I'll tell you why in a little bit.

In our last lesson we finished Revelation Chapter 8 with the end of the fourth trumpet judgment. Now let's go into Chapter 9, where we come to the 5th trumpet judgment. These trumpets are merely God's way of indicating that it is now time for the next judgment to fall. This won't be isolated to the Middle East, but will be world-wide. Many of the plagues that will take place in the Tribulation are a repetition of what took place in Egypt under Moses.

Another thing to remember, all the way up through the Old Testament the supernatural was rather commonplace. All you have to do is reflect back and all of them had to do with the Nation of Israel, and we don't have a problem with that. But as soon as you get into the Book of Revelation and start talking about these supernatural things that take place, a lot of people think you've got to be a weird person to believe them. They say, "This isn't really going to happen." But yes it is, because most of them have happened before and the Book says it will. I'm not a prophet of doom, neither am I one to sensationalize. Those of you who have heard me teach over the years know that. We just simply teach it because the Book says it.

"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth (now here is how you learn to study your Bible. You will notice in the next statement that this star is given a pronoun. What's the pronoun? Him. We don't know what angel it is, but it's a personality. It's a person of some sort. I think it's an angel and I don't know which one it is. But nevertheless it's not just a body from outer space falling): and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit," Now the bottomless pit is not Hell, or the lake of fire. It is a unique place that God has reserved.

"And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power."

If you have ever been stung by a scorpion, you know it has a unique sting to it. Their sting burns and lasts for quite a while. Now these locusts are going to have a psychological effect on humanity as much as anything, by their appearance and their ability to sting.

"And it was commanded them (Notice God has complete control of them. This is God's wrath being poured out upon God-rejecting mankind. We will see shortly that everything He does is fair and just.) that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads." Who are those (which do have the seal of God in their foreheads)? The 144,000. Remember back in Chapter 7, verse 3, where the angel is instructed:

"Saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." Then are listed the twelve tribes from which come the 144,000 young Jews. These are referred to in Chapter 9, verse 4. These locust will not be able to touch the 144,000. Now verse 5 of Revelation 9:

"And to them (the locusts) it was given that they should not kill them, but that they (that is mankind) should be tormented five months;"

I know the first thing that comes to mind is, "How can a God of love do something like this to His created beings." Well, you must remember the big picture. For thousands of years God has been nothing but gracious, kind, loving, and patient. But back to Psalms Chapter 2, all of a sudden we break into a period of time that is going to be the wrath and vexation of God. When He has finally run out of His patience and said, "I've had enough." In the day that you and I are living and have seen the fabric of the world society just rot at the seam (even in these last 15 to 20 years), don't you often ask yourself, "How long will God put up with it?" You look at what men and women are doing today and you just have to ask yourself that question. Well it won't be much longer! And when He does stop being gracious, His wrath is going to be beyond our comprehension. And as the Scripture tells us, it is fair and just. He will torment the human race with the stings of these locust, and instead of hurting for an hour or two it's going to sting for 5 months. The 5 months refer to the length of the result of that sting.

"...and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days (remember, here we are in the last half of the Tribulation) shall men seek death, and shall not find it ; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them." In other words, people won't even be able to commit suicide. Because a Sovereign God is going to take even that from them. Then verse 7:

I know for years I looked at that and couldn't figure anything out. Then one day I was catching grasshoppers for my wife to fish with, and it had never struck me before. Have you ever looked real close at the head of a big grasshopper? What does it look like? A horse's head. And then I read soon after, that in Germany there is a species of grasshopper that they call the Horse-headed Locust. And so there is something for thought. It's not way out in left field. These locusts will also be psychologically frightening. It will also attack the human race mentally.

"And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle."

We here in America have never had to come under the attack of swarms and clouds of locust. But in the Middle East, when locust can all of a sudden come up and literally cloud out the sun, it is indeed a roar that can be heard in their coming. These things are going to be so numerous and huge, that the sound of their wings will sound like many chariots.

"And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months." It's beyond our comprehension isn't it?

"And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." Which really means the "Destroyer." Beyond that, we don't know who this angel is. It's not Satan I'm quite sure. But it could be one of his lieutenants. Now verse 12 says:

"One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter." If this isn't bad enough, there are still 2/3 of it left.

"And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, `Loose the four angels which are bound in the great rive Euphrates.'"

Why the Euphrates? If you remember back in Genesis Chapter 11, what took place on the Euphrates River? The Tower of Babel. And as I have stressed over the years, all pagan religions were instituted there. Every pagan, mystical religion that you read about or research has its roots at the Tower of Babel on the Euphrates River. Now evidently at the time that God scattered the human race or even later after Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians, and some of the high priests of these pagan religions fled - I think somewhere back there God confined four of these powerful demonic beings who had been under Satan's rule, and they were bound in the area of the Euphrates River. Another thing I like to point out about the Euphrates is that the Euphrates River is the boundary between East and West. Have you ever thought of it that way? Religiously and you know I don't like that word, but religiously it's the same way. East of the Euphrates has always been predominantly your pagan, idolatrous religion. West of the Euphrates you have some of the other religions - like Judaism, even Mohammedism, and of course Christianity. So the Euphrates River is like the dividing line. These four angels now have been confined in that boundary area. And now verse 15, then we will have to continue in our next lesson.

"And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men."

In other words, God has kept them waiting for a particular hour of a particular day, of a particular month.

Now I read something the other day (and I'm always stressing how God is meticulous in His timing), about how the temple that was built by Solomon, was destroyed on the same day and month (naturally in a different year) by the Babylonians.

In the last lesson, we were on verse 15 of Revelation Chapter 9. These are events that are going to happen. The Book of Revelation is totally different than any other portion of Scripture. When we taught the Book of Genesis, we just went verse by verse and chapter by chapter. You can do the same thing in the New Testament, but when you get to the Book of Revelation you can't do that. It would make absolutely no sense to just simply take the Book of Revelation and go verse by verse and chapter by chapter. But you must isolate the events into the beginning, middle, and end of the Tribulation. And why the Lord has seen fit to do this, I don't know. Except maybe to make us study. I can't see any other reason for it. He just wants to make sure that it's not so simple that we don't have to study it. We have been jumping around a lot purposely so we can keep the continuity of the events rather than the chapter and verse. So in Chapter 9 verse 15, we have been following the trumpet judgment, I don't know how far apart the events are at this point in time, maybe within 6 months, but they will keep getting closer together.

When we get to final seven bowl judgments, there will be, I dare say, every month a new one striking the human race. Now in verse 15 where we left off, these angelic beings that God has confined in the area of the Euphrates River are now released. They were prepared for a specific role. Their role is to slay the third part of men. I was thinking the other day, how many million people lost their lives as a result of World War II. 50 million. That is civilian, and military combined. But that's just a drop in the bucket compared to what's going to happen here. Today, we have between 5 and 5 1/2 billion on the earth. Do you remember back in the sealed judgments when we first opened the Tribulation, by the end of the disease and pestilence, 1/4 of the population will be gone. That's over a billion people in a matter of two or three years. Within a matter of months the human race will lose 1/3 of the worlds population. And people can just go on their way and think nothing of being caught in these events. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Anyway, it's coming. I think the way these people are put to death is in the next verse.

"And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them."

Those of you who know your math, how many is that? Well, that's 200,000,000. Remember there is only one power on earth that brags about being able to put 200 million men on the field of battle, and that is China. They have over a billion people. I have to feel that this is what is referred to. I feel that this 200 million men army will be the Chinese along with probably a few of the other Orientals. And they are going to be making their way westward toward the Middle East. Also remember we will be in a period of time when God is again doing the supernatural. And we will see God's Sovereignty causing the Chinese authorities to send that army westward. As they do, I feel they will be like Sherman's march to the sea in the Civil War. What did he do? He destroyed everything in their path. I think this Chinese horde is just going to literally murder and mutilate and ravage the countryside as they move to the Middle East. And at this time there is still one great natural barrier. And that is the Euphrates River. The various bridges across that river today couldn't move that many men across it. So we will see in a future chapter that God will dry up the Euphrates River so that they won't need bridges, but simply walk across. Now verse 17:

"And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone."

This is probably ancient language for tanks and all of their fire power. So this is probably the modern warfare of today. Then these 200 million men and the weapons of war will kill many:

"By these three (fire, smoke and brimstone) was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths."

Also remember, take things scripturally, and many times it's spiritual. But on the other hand, many times it's logical. What percent of the population of this planet lives in the Orient? A good part of it. I've already mentioned that China alone has 1/4 of the population of the world. And India with it's masses and millions. Japan also has millions. So if this great army is indeed just killing as they go, you can see easily see where a third part of mankind will be killed.

"For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt." And again, take this language as modern warfare.

"And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:" And here again, this is unique to the Orient. You have more idol worshippers in the Orient today than any other place on earth. All the areas of the east are still under idolatry.

"Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."

There is an interesting little word buried in this verse that very few people catch. And it's unfortunate that the King James translator haven't caught it. And that word is `sorceries.' And it is from the Greek word Pharmakeia. Now think for a minute. What is the English word that comes from Pharmakeia? Pharmacy. And the main role of a pharmacy? Drugs. Now read it in that light:

"Neither repented they of their murders, their drugs, their immorality, or thefts."

What do you have in that verse? The drug culture. You have the typical drug culture. Because wherever you have drugs, as we are seeing in our inner cities, what do you have? Murder. Along with murder comes theft, because they have to rob and steal in order to support their habit. And as soon as people become involved in that kind of a wicked culture then morality means nothing. So their immorality gets more gross by the day. I'm in favor of the so called "War on Drugs," but it is a losing battle. The world is headed more and more toward that end. The drug culture and demon worship many times go hand in hand. You can hardly separate them. Drugs muddle the mind. Demon worship muddles the mind. So it is an interesting verse and you can see how readily it fits into our society already, but it will be even worse during this time. The world will be completely saturated with drugs and all the evils that go with it.

Now that is the sixth trumpet, and we need to skip over to Chapter 11 and verse 15 to pick up the seventh. Do you see why you can't take it verse by verse. We have to follow the events and then come back to pick up what we had to skip:

"And the seventh angel sounded: and there were great voices in heaven, saying, `The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.'"

Now put that all together in one thought. What is Christ going to reign over? The Kingdoms of this world are going to become the Kingdom of Christ. And again, it comes right back to what we showed in our last lesson. As you come out of the Tribulation it is the paying off of the curse; it's going to deliver the world from the curse. The earth is going to revert back as it was in the Garden of Eden. And in comes the Kingdom. The thing that is amazing is the reference in Matthew Chapter 4. We know Satan is powerful and cunning, but on the other hand you wonder how he can be so ignorant as to think he can still overcome The Christ. But he will never give up until his doom is sealed. Let's look at it in Matthew. This is the temptation of Jesus, after 40 days of fasting. You all know the account:

"Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the (what?) kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them:"

We are not talking about something out there that is ethereal or invisible. We are talking about the Kingdoms of this world. Now from this point in history, when Satan is dealing here with Jesus during the time of His earthly ministry, what great kingdoms have already come and gone? Some of the great Pharaohs of Egypt. And then the Babylonian Empire. And then the great Medes' and Persians' Empire. The great and glorious Empire of Greece. And now we are at the very epitome of Rome. And all of these great empires flourished. And Satan says, "Look back at the centuries of time and look ahead. All these Kingdoms are mine. I'll give them to you on one condition." And what was that condition? If Jesus would fall down and worship him. Now isn't that something? Evidently, Satan at that point in time did not understand or comprehend that Christ was going to have those Kingdoms. They are going to be His, and He is going to one day just obliterate them from view, and they will blow away like the dust of the summer threshing floor as Daniel says. And He will set up His own Kingdom. A glorious Kingdom. Can you imagine what this world would be like if it was totally ruled and reigned over by Satan, as it will one day be ruled by Christ! Satan is still held in check by God's checks and balances. Satan can only do so much. But never lose sight that he is the god of this world. He is in control, but is still under the Sovereign God. But when Christ sets up His Kingdom, His power is going to be absolute and total and it will be glorious. Back to Revelation Chapter 11. Since we are fast approaching the return of Christ to set up His Kingdom, here is the language again.

"...The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."

I feel that this thousand years of Christ, which is delineated in Revelation as a thousand years, will just simply be the introduction to the eternal. In other words, when the thousand years of Kingdom rule has run it's course on the planet as we now know it back in the Garden of Eden situation, it too will be destroyed. It will be burned up by fire at the end of the millennium reign.

And then as I have mentioned before in Chapter 21 and 22 we have a new heaven and a new earth. But that new earth will again be the abode of those who have believed unto eternal life. I think it will be just an extension of the Kingdom economy. It will be an earth of tremendous production and activity. We won't be just sitting around getting bored or strumming on a harp. To me that wouldn't be heaven. Or just sitting around shouting `Alleluia,' although that will be part and parcel. I feel we will be intensely busy. Remember, God didn't create us to be idle. Did He? Why no! So when His Kingdom comes and He rules and reigns, yes it will be limited to the thousand years. But like I said, it will be interrupted for a little while, when the Great White Throne Judgment for the lost is conducted and then we will go into the eternal, I think based on that same pattern. Now verse 16:

"And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God," We have made reference to these 24 elders before in earlier lessons.

"Saying, `We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.'" And here it comes again.

"And the nations were angry (in their rebellion), and thy wrath is come (it's no longer love, mercy, and Grace), and the time of the dead (I think that's the spiritual dead), that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." In other words, God is going to deal with rebellious mankind. Now verse 19. These 24 elders are declaring that God is over all and will destroy those who have rebelled against Him. And it's coming close to the end of this seven-year period.

"And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament (or the ark of His Covenant): and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail."

Come back with me to the Book of Exodus Chapter 25. Remember here, Moses has just brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt and they are gathered around Mount Sinai. And now God is going to give them instructions for building their little place of worship, the tabernacle. Here the Lord is speaking to Moses.

"And let them (the Children of Israel) make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after (or according to) the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it."

A pattern is always from an original. So where is the original? It has to be in heaven. Now come back to the Book of Hebrews Chapter 9. The blueprint that God gave to Moses and Aaron was simply a pattern or a blue print patterned after the original which is in heaven. And it's the one in heaven we are going to see opened up in these closing days of the Tribulation in Revelation Chapter 11:19. But for now, Hebrews Chapter 9:

"But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building (or creation); This tabernacle not built with human hands is in heaven. So now back to Revelation 11:19 and this is what we see. Reading the verse again.

"And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament (or Covenant): and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail."

As God continues His wrath upon mankind, that's the end of the seven trumpets. We have had all seven of them unfold after the mid-point of the Tribulation. Now we are probably within a year of the very end of the Tribulation. We need to come all the way over to Chapter 15 where we are introduced to the final seven judgments, called the vials in the King James Version, or the bowl judgments. Now the reason they are referred to as bowl judgments is this. Picture a soup bowl rather shallow, as compared to a Coke bottle. Now if you were going to pour out the contents of that soup bowl, what would be the time element compared to pouring out the contents of a narrow-necked Coke bottle? It's instantaneous! So these bowl judgments are not going to be dribbled out. But literally, the whole planet will receive this whole bowl judgment as one quick strike.

Now let's again turn to Revelation Chapter 15, where we pick up the bowl judgments. And remember as we are nearing that last year of the Tribulation, these judgments will become more severe, and closer and closer together.

"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues (this is the wind down); for in them is filled up (or is consummated, or finished) the wrath of God."

This is constantly emphasized. This is truly the wrath of God. There is no love here. And it is so refreshing to know that, as believers of the Gospel of Grace, we won't be here. We will be taken out before these things begin. We can read these things and not have to worry about having to endure them. He tells us that we have not been saved to His wrath! We have been saved from it.

And for any of you who know not the Lord, who have never experienced salvation, this is written for you as an instigation to get right with the Lord, because this is going to be a terrible time. We know that eternal Hell will be worse than this, because it will be without end, but nevertheless, these folks will have to go through all of this with the physical and emotional pain and suffering and no hope of escaping it. So it is written as a warning for the unbeliever to yet consider God's offer of salvation while the time is still available. Now in verse 2 we have a vision in heaven:

"And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast (here we see the martyred Tribulation saints already present with the Lord in glory), and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God."

It's a verse like this where people get the idea that all we will do when we get to heaven is strum a harp. That may be part of it. But it will be far more than that! Now an interesting verse:

"And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb,..."

Now those are two separate songs. Let's go back to the song of Moses. Turn to the Book of Exodus Chapter 15. Remember that Israel has just come through the Red Sea. They've looked back and seen the residue of all the floating Egyptian horsemen, chariots and everything else. From all practical aspects it wasn't a very pretty picture. But when Israel could look back on their years of slavery and mistreatment and sufferings, and then be able to see what had happened to their enemies, no wonder they could sing. So this is the song of Moses. And again this is (as I have made the analogy over and over as we have studied Revelation) such a repeat of that Exodus experience and dealing with the Pharaoh and the plagues, only on a far grander and greater scale. And here is another parallel. These Tribulation saints, who are now removed from their suffering and are in the presence of the Lord, they too will sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. We won't read it all because it's too long, but here is the gist of it. Verse 1:

"Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, `I will sing unto the LORD (I remember when I was teaching up in Iowa, I had a class of young people on Saturday night, and the kids would bring their guitars and we would always sing songs before I would teach. And one of their favorite songs was based on the song of Moses), for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.'" And they continue on in their singing:

"The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation: my father's God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea." Now that is only a part of the song of Moses. Now come on down to verse 11, continuing the song:

"Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation."

Do you get the picture? They are singing that song of deliverance of redemption. That is the song of Moses. Now I would like for you to stop at Psalms Chapter 22. Here is a song of David, and David could also put his thoughts into songs. Which were always to God's glory. Words of praise and worship. This chapter is the chapter of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Come on down to verse 22:

"I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him: and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel."

Now turn on over to Psalms 86 and you will see more or less that same theme of worship and praise. This, of course, will be so appropriate for those in the very throne room of heaven, having come out of that horrible Tribulation experience.

"Among the gods (that is the gods of this world) there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works."

This song is being sung in Revelation just before the Lord returns to set up His Kingdom. Do you see how appropriate all of this is? We will study about that when we get a little further into the Second Coming of Christ and the setting up of His Kingdom.

"...O Lord: and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell,"

Do you see the praise and exalting of that song? Now back to Revelation and this is exactly what they are going to be singing and proclaiming here in the very presence of God. Now verse 3:

"And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, `Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways (remember I've told you that God isn't being unfair), thou King of saints.'"

"Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee (it has never happened yet, but it will!): for thy judgments are made manifest."

"And after that I (John) looked, and , behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:" We saw that happen before back in Chapter 11.

"And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues (now here is your final bowl judgments), clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles."

"And one of the four beasts (or creatures. We referred to them early in the Book of Revelation. They are angelic beings) gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials (or bowls) full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever." This is a symbolic picture again of how this wrath will be poured out.

"And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled."

Now here they come, one right after the other. Each one will be more severe then the previous one, leading up to the very battle of Armageddon. And the bringing of the nations to the Middle East. But first, Chapter 16, verse l:

"And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials (or bowls) of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first (angel) went, and poured out his vial (bowl) upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore (or boil, remember Egypt) upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image."

Now remember the mark of the beast (and we talked about in an earlier lesson), this is where people cannot buy or sell or do any kind of business unless they have the mark in their right hand or forehead. So just about the whole world will come under this plague of miserable boils. Now verse 3:

"And the second angel poured out his vial (bowl) upon the sea (I think this is possibly the oceans as we know them); and it became as (liken unto) the blood of a dead man; and every living soul (creatures and fish) died in the sea." Can you imagine what that does to the shores and ocean? We talk about pollution. We know nothing of pollution as it's going to be here.

"And the third angel poured out his vial (bowl) upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood."

This is literal blood. Remember again, the Egyptians had to dig fresh water wells and tried to get fresh water that way. Here, God is going to turn all drinkable water into blood. Why blood? Again look at the human race tonight. They are blood-thirsty. I've always put it this way: God created Adam a human being, but as soon as Adam became a sin creature, he became inhuman. And all you have to do is look at your newspaper tonight, and what has mankind become? He has, I think, become an inhuman being. There is not another species on earth that misuses their own species as man does. You don't see anything in the wild kingdom that torments its own. Only man. I suppose according to the Jerusalem Post that the Syrians are the masterminds on torture. They can dream up things that no one else can dream up. We use to think that Iraq was the best at this, but the Syrian puts them in the shade in torturing people. Man has intrinsic ability to somehow be blood thirsty. So God is saying here, "Alright, you've been blood thirsty now for 6000 years, now drink it." And it becomes a plague.

"And I heard the angel of the waters say, `Thou art righteous (Even the angels will never come back and say, "God, why are you doing this." Instead they say, "You are righteous God. They are getting exactly what they deserve."), O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.'" Now here is what we are talking about:

History tells us that during the dark ages (that period of time between about 500 to 1500 AD - that period before the reformation), in that thousand years of human history, it is estimated that at least 50 million Christians were put to death. Many of them horrible deaths. We can't even imagine, and yet they did it gladly for their faith. Bring it up to recent history. Again, during the seventy years that communism reigned and ruled Russia, also about 50 million people were put to death. By their own government! Indeed, they have shed the blood of saints.

"And I heard another out of the altar say, `Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.'"

Do you see the emphasis here? I know the first thing that we humanly think is, God isn't being fair. After all, why does this one generation have to come under such terrible cataclysmic events? It's this generation that is just simply bringing to a head everything that the previous generations have been sowing the seed of. And God has always done that. Remember the verse that contains the Ten Commandments? "And I will visit down to the third and fourth generation." That's the way God does things. Now verse 8:

"And the fourth angel poured out his vial (bowl) upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire (or intense heat)."

Go back for a moment to Isaiah Chapter 13. Because I always like to help people realize, that there are some groups who think that Revelation shouldn't even be in our Bible. But always remember, it still fits with all the rest of the Old Testament. Let's start at verse 9:

"Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, (now this is Isaiah written approximately 700 years before Christ), to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." Now here it comes in verse 10:

"For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible."

And in another place, the earth will be moved in and out of its orbit. And our scientists tells us if the earth was to tilt just two degrees off of what is normal, the earth would either burn up with heat, or would freeze up in the cold. So during that time the weather will be almost out of control. We are already seeing just a little bit of it, the bizarre weather around the world. Let's come back to Revelation. I would like to finish the sixth bowl judgment and then be ready for the battle of Armageddon in our next lesson. So now let's look at verse 10:

"And the fifth angel poured out his vial (bowl) upon the seat of the beast (Anti-christ in the city of Jerusalem); and his kingdom (world-wide) was full of darkness (don't forget this also happened in Egypt); and they gnawed their tongues for pain,"

"And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up (why?), that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared."

So the Euphrates River will be as dry as a bone. And that last obstacle will be removed for the 200 million-man army to come to Jerusalem.

Editor's Note: Next comes the Battle of Armageddon at the end of the seven year tribulation. It will be discussed just a few pages ahead under the question, "What will happen during the Battle of Armageddon?"

Book 11 LESSON TWO * PART IV

Let's come back to Revelation again. In Chapter 6, we don't have any of the descriptions that are equal to Revelation 19, so this has to be the counterfeit. The counterfeit christ is the Anti-christ. As we come into this seven-year period of Tribulation, 3 1/2 years and 3 1/2 years, we are going to find ourselves confronted with an unholy trinity all through the Book of Revelation. Satan is the counterfeit of the Father. The counterfeit of the Son will be the Anti-christ. And the counterfeit of the Holy Spirit and His works will be what we refer to in the Book of Revelation as the false prophet. I think Revelation Chapter 19 is the only place where he is named. This is at the end of the Tribulation, and all the horrible judgments have all ready happened. And it's time for the King and the Kingdom to come on the scene.

"And the beast (Anti-christ) was taken, and with him the false prophet (here he is named. The rest of the time he's referred to as a personality. Revelation 13 refers to him as the lamb with two horns) that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."

They go into the lake of fire without benefit of the Great White Throne Judgment. They are the very first ones to inhabit the eternal doom of the wicked, the lake of fire. All the other lost are going to stand before the Great White Throne and at least have their moment of time, and I guess they can put up an argument if they feel like it. Because Jesus said in that day, and He was referring to the Great White Throne, they will say unto Me: "But Lord, didn't we cast out demons in your name?" And what's His answer going to be? "Depart from me I never knew you." So there will be a time of rebuttal or whatever you want to call it. But not for the false prophet and Anti-christ. These two humans who are part of this unholy trinity will go to their doom.

Satan is going to go there as well, but he will join them sometime later. As we come through the Book of Revelation, be aware that Satan and the Anti-christ and the false prophet are working in unison, much like the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit today in the Age of Grace points people to God, the Son. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, to point lost people to the Son. For we believers, it's the Holy Spirit's work to teach and encourage and reprove us, so that we might in turn bring honor and glory to the Son. Now the false prophet is going to do the same thing during the Tribulation. He is going to cause people to worship the Anti-christ. Consequently, he fulfills a counterfeit role of the Holy Spirit. Both of these will be under the power of Satan.

Now let's come back to where we left off in Revelation 17. In verse 3 remember we are talking about this great religious system that is going to come on the world. We are already seeing all the seeds of it. Which particular religious system ends up heading it up I don't know. There is a lot of speculation. There are a lot of world-wide huge religious organizations on the scene tonight who have tremendous wealth, and political power. They have for the most part been persecutors of true believers. It has always been that way, even back in the Old Testament the pagan idolatrous world was always making life miserable for the true people of God. Even on this side of the Cross, I have always said that most, if not all, of the world's conflicts (and you look around the planet tonight and it stills bears it out), most of the conflicts have been precipitated by religionists trying to force somebody either out of their area or under their thumb. You just think about that. For example, that whole situation in Yugoslavia is exactly that.

So as this great religious system comes on the scene, it will of course be satanic. Just because it's a religion doesn't mean it's Godly. It will be a satanically inspired organization under the guise of religion, which will be headed up by this one-world religious leader, the false prophet, who could very easily be an apostate Jew. I was reading a few weeks ago about this famous Jew who was a Moslem. So it's not unusual for Jews to embrace something other than Judaism. But we do know that it's going to have tremendous power over the everyday individual. We will also see in a moment that it is supported by the government of the Anti-christ. Now that isn't new. Even today, you go into certain nations in Europe and the government actually subsidizes and supports some of the large denominations. One of the reasons our forefathers left Europe was the separation of church and state. That was going on over there in their generation. That didn't mean that they didn't want God in government. That is where it has been twisted all around. They didn't want God out of government, but they didn't want government to run their church. And that is as it should be. But in verse 4 let's look at the language:

"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand (that speaks of wealth. And again look at some of the large religions of the world. Their subjects are as poor as church mice, but the wealth is in the hands of the hierarchy. And this will be the same thing. Remember all the religions of the world will come under this one. It will be satanic, demonic because you see in her hand is this golden cup) full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:" Not so much the physical immorality, but the spiritual. Verse 5. We will come to the point where she is carried by the government in verse 7.

"And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY (from which we get the word `secret'), BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."

When we were studying back in Genesis, where several years after the flood, the Tower of Babel was built which started all pagan idolatrous religions. Any cult today, if they are a true cult, even though they may use a certain amount of scriptures, takes parts of their doctrine that will put their roots right back in the Tower of Babel. And so all the religions of the world have their roots at Babel. That's where it all began. And that is what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote in II Thessalonians.

"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:..."

It's been working since God scattered them from the Tower of Babel. And it has been a constant adversary of the true worship of Jehovah God. What was Israel's problem all through their early history? Going into idolatry. And on this side of the Cross you have the Apostle Paul going out into the Gentile world. What was he confronted with? Turn to the Book of Acts, and this is just one example. As Paul is now taking the Gospel of the Grace of God to the Gentile world, and as he and Barnabas have come into Ephesus, multitudes of those pagans are being converted. As they were being converted to Paul's Gospel, what were they doing with their idols? They were throwing them away. Now that in turn caused the ire of the men who made the idols, the silversmiths. Look what happens when Christianity begins to make inroads into idolatrous worship of these pagan religions. It's no different today.

"And the same time there arose no small stir about that way." What way? Paul's way. The Gospel of Grace.

"For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana (a female goddess), brought no small gain unto the craftsmen (the silversmiths); Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, `Sirs, ye know that by this craft (making silver shrines of Diana) we have our wealth.'"

And after all, what is the engine of economy? Greed. It's that constantly wanting more and more. And that's what fuels it. I'm certainly not in favor of sitting back and saying, "I'm not going to do anything." But on the other hand there has to be a tempering. So greed is what prompted the silversmiths to rise up against Paul's ministry and against Christianity.

"Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus , but almost throughout all Asia (that is Asia Minor, that would be Turkey), this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands; So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth."

Now that is what idolatry does. Idolatry just feeds on the baser instincts of humanity. Come back to Revelation Chapter 17. Here we have this great religious system. Verse 5 again takes us all the way back to ancient Babylon, the Tower of Babel. And it's been the adversary of the truth of God ever since. But it's going to crescendo during this last seven years. It will suddenly come to a peak.

Even though idolatry is basically dealing in the realm of the dark side of the spiritual, yet idolatry is dealing with man's desire to worship something. But when you get into a study of pagan worship, especially at the time of the Apostle Paul, remember that part and parcel of their worship was gross immorality. Because most of their places of worship, like the one mentioned in Acts 19, where nothing more than glorified houses of prostitution. All in the name of their religion. And those pagan priests would conscript young ladies from across the countryside and force them into prostitution. This is what God is finally referring to. Now verse 6.

"And I saw the woman (the religious system) drunken with the blood of the saints (who has been the persecutor of true believers? Religion of one sort are another), and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." I suppose that John marveled at wealth, and pomp and circumstance and power.

"And the angel said unto me, `Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.'" The Anti-christ.

What does that tell you? If you've got a beast of burden carrying something, then it's supporting it. What you really have here is this revived Roman Empire; this great political world-wide system headed up by the man Anti-christ is going to subsidize, and support this world church. Do you see that? And the church is riding upon it.

"The beast that thou sawest was (and again I'm holding to the fact that this is the Roman Empire. It was, then it faded off the scene), and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world (so we have the unbelieving element of the world who are going to be part and parcel of this great religious system), when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." In other words, when the ancient Roman political, economical system as well as the pagan religious system are all going to culminate.

"And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains (Kingdoms or nations), on which the woman sitteth." In other words she has rule. Now verse 10. Again I'll come back to the Nations of Western Europe who will be the core of all of this.

"And there are seven kings (remember we started with ten): five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come (in other words there is one to come on the scene); and when he cometh, he must continue a short space." Not for a very long period of time. Now in verse 11 we come to the rise of the Anti-christ.

In other words, the Lord is going to destroy it at His coming. Here you start out with ten nations. Three of them will lose their identity rather shortly. But each of their kings or prime ministers will stay in the picture. But the sovereignty of their nation will be lost. So the ten will be down to seven. Out of the seven will come the Anti-christ who will take over complete control and the others will fade off the scene. And he then is the eighth. Verse 12:

"And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings (do you see how plain that is? There's no gimmick here), which have received no kingdom as yet (they don't have the power and political clout that the Anti-christ will have); but receive power as kings one hour with the beast." Or Anti-christ and his empire. Here is what they will do:

The Anti-christ. Now that is what he has been working for. He came in with peace and prosperity and flatteries, not with civil war. He's going to manipulate. He's going to be very smooth. And all of a sudden he's going to have the pre-eminence. Now leaping to the end of the seven years in verse 14:

"These (all these nations under the headship of the Anti-christ and the false prophet) shall make war with the Lamb (Christ), and the Lamb shall overcome them (at Christ's Second Coming): for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful." You and I are the ones that will be coming with him.

"And he saith unto me, `The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth (in other words, where this great religious system is operating), are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues,...'" It's a world wide religious system. Verse 16:

"And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these (now all of a sudden you have a change in language so watch it. Remember in verse 7 this religious system is riding on the back of the beast but now) shall hate the whore (or religious system), and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire."

That again is symbolic language. What is the Anti-christ going to do with the religious system? He's going to destroy it. Why? We must come back to II Thessalonians as we must compare Scripture with Scripture. We can also go all the way back to the Book of Daniel.

"Who (the Anti-christ) opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."

He's going to set himself up as God and won't let the world religion have anything to do with him anymore. He's going to take absolute control himself. And since he is going to sit in the temple of God, we know that Israel will rebuild her temple and it will be in Jerusalem. In Daniel Chapter 9 we find out what this fellow will do at the mid-point of the Tribulation. We find he's going to move into the temple in Jerusalem. He then will defile it. Verse 27, where the prince that shall come in verse 26 shall:

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many (the Jews) for one week; (seven years) and in the midst of the week (at the end of 3 1/2 years) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,..."

Peter wasn't talking about his salvation, he knew he had that. He had already believed that Jesus was the Christ. So what's he talking about? He wanted to know what their reward would be for following Jesus (leaving everything else behind). Look at Jesus' answer:

"And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, `That ye which have followed me (the twelve, but we must leave Judas out), in the regeneration (that's when you restore something back like it was. The earth back like it was in the Garden of Eden) when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory (and according to Psalms Chapter 2, it will be in Jerusalem), ye (the twelve, we will have Matthias in the Book of Acts) also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging (or ruling) the twelve tribes of Israel.'"

Now isn't that so plain? When the Kingdom is set up and the Nation is now under their King, under The King will be twelve original Apostles each ruling the twelve tribes, there in Jerusalem. There in the land of Israel. Let's look at another verse or two. This comes back to the closing days of the Tribulation, but that is all tied to the beginning of the Kingdom.

"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." Now that's the end of the Tribulation. Look at what the next verse says:

"And then shall they (the Jews. What's the next word?) see (lock that word in for I'll come back and make a point with it) the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."

"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Remember, He is addressing the Nation of Israel.

"And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the (what's the next word?) kingdom of God is nigh at hand."

Now come on over to the Book of Acts Chapter 1. Of course, the Crucifixion has come and gone. Christ has been raised from the dead. He has spent forty days with the eleven. And now verse 3:

"To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days (they saw Him. How? With their eyes), and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:" Now verses 6 and 7:

"When they therefore were come together (Jesus and the eleven, on the Mount of Olives), they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?" Notice He didn't tell them there wouldn't be a Kingdom, but rather:

Don't think Peter had forgotten about the promise of both him and the others sitting on the twelve thrones we read about earlier.

I just had a thought. I'm going to give you something to look for. I want you to search the four Gospel accounts, and see if you can find a single time that the twelve referred to the Lord as "Jesus." I think you will have an eye-opener.

So the Kingdom has been the theme throughout all of Scripture. That this Kingdom is going to come on the earth where Christ will be the absolute King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Satan, as we have seen, is going to be bound and there will be no sin. But the question is, "Who is going to go into the Kingdom?" There are qualifications, of course. Come back to John's Gospel Chapter 3. A portion you all know forward and backward. And you have heard dozens of sermons on it. And here we have Nicodemus in verse 2:

"This same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."

Notice Nicodemus was head and shoulders ahead of most of the Jews of that day. He recognized that these miracles were telling him something. And he knew that Jesus was Someone special.

"Jesus answered and said unto him, `Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except (or unless) a man be born again (or born from above), he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" Now what does that tell you. Who can go into the Kingdom? ONLY BELIEVERS!

There will be no unbelievers in the Kingdom. Come back to Matthew 24. Several lessons ago, I had my timeline on the board showing the seven years of Tribulation. And at the mid-point of the Tribulation we see the Anti-christ coming in and defiling the temple at Jerusalem? Matthew 24 verses 15a and 16:

"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,... Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:"

I call this the escaping remnant of Israel. They go down to the mountains to the southeast of Jerusalem. They won't be the whole nation but as I taught you before, only the remnant. And in those mountains God is going to protect them for the last 3 1/2 years. Then as this remnant of Israel who have gone out to the mountains in unbelief (in that they have never recognized Christ as their Messiah), when they see Christ coming with glory and power at His Second Coming they will believe. So they, too, will get to go into the Kingdom.

Let's look at this remnant as they see Him coming from the view of Zechariah. Remember, I told you earlier in the lesson in Luke 21:27 to remember that word `see' - in that they would see Him:

"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications (remember this is the house of David, no Gentiles are there): and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced (His Crucifixion),..."

They will suddenly not only have their physical eyes opened but also their spiritual eyes. And they will recognize that this coming manifestation of The Christ, The Messiah is the One Who died back there on that Roman Cross. Let's look at one more verse in this lesson:

"And one (this remnant of Israel) shall say unto him, `What are these wounds in thine hands?' Then he shall answer, `Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends,'"

Then this remnant of Israel will experience that new birth that Nicodemus was told he had to have in order to go into the Kingdom. This remnant, by far, will be the largest number of people to survive the Tribulation. This then will be the seed stock of the Nation of Israel as they come into the Kingdom. All twelve tribes will be represented here. Isaiah tells us, "Will a nation be born in a day."

Turn in your Bible to Isaiah 24. We continue our study on who goes into the earthly Kingdom after the Tribulation. Remember at that time the earth will be restored back to the way it was in the Garden of Eden before sin entered. It will be glorious and beautiful. As we saw last lesson, the remnant of Israel that God had protected all during the last 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation will believe when they see Christ coming with power and great glory at His Second Coming. They will see the nail prints in His hands, the wound in His side and by sight, believe and know that He was and is their Messiah. They then will go into the Kingdom. Also remember this remnant is a mixed group of Jews we saw in Matthew 24 as they fled Jerusalem. They will then become the seed stock for the Nation of Israel. They are not the 144,000 Jewish men who preached during the Tribulation.

They will also, by far, be the largest nation in numbers to go into the Kingdom. So now we have the Nation of Israel established. Now let's pick up the Gentiles whom God hasn't forgotten. Even though the Age of Grace was primarily to the Gentiles yet even in the Tribulation, God has been preparing Gentiles to go into the Kingdom in ordinary flesh and blood bodies. Remember the Kingdom is going to see a tremendous population explosion. So by the end of that thousand years when Satan will be released for a little season to test those born during this Kingdom Age, there will be probably as many people on earth then as there are now. So in Isaiah Chapter 24 we will pick up these Gentiles. We will begin at verse 1, and again, it's a graphic description of the Tribulation as we have been studying it for the last several lessons.

"BEHOLD, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." We have been talking about all the cataclysmic events that will be taking place during the Tribulation.

"And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him." In other words, everyone is going to come under this tremendous cataclysmic seven-year period of events.

"The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away (under these judgments), the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish." Even their wealth is not going to protect them.

"The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws (the basic laws of morality laid down back in the Ten Commandments), changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." In other words, they have been totally disobedient to everything that God has instructed.

"Therefore hath the curse (that began with Adam) devoured the earth (it's because of sin that all of these things take place), and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned (yes there could be tremendous amounts of nuclear energy released), and few men left."

And despite all the cataclysmic events that happen, there will be survivors in just about any catastrophe that happens. There are normally some survivors. When we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, there were people who survived that blast and they were at ground zero. When there are terrible earthquakes, where there's a building collapse and it doesn't look possible for any one to be alive, they always find survivors. And so it will be at the end of the Tribulation. They will be scattered around the planet from every nation that you can think of.

Now let's try to figure out in the statement of verse 6, "and few men left." How many is a few? You can use any percentage you wish to figure a few. We have tonight in the world around 5 1/2 billion people. But for sake of easy mathematics let's round it off to 5 billion. I think 10 percent is too high for a few. When I think of a few I think of something less then 5 percent. So what would be 5 percent of 5 billion people? 250 million people. Let's bring it down to 1 percent and you still have 50 million. That is still a lot of people.

Don't forget the fact that at the beginning of the Tribulation God sealed 144,000 young Jews who will preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. Their main message will be, during almost all of the Tribulation, "The King is coming to set up His Kingdom." Many people will believe and be martyred. However some people will believe and survive. Then some people who won't believe survive. So all of survivors combined are the, "few men left" we read about here in Isaiah. Let's go to the Book of Matthew and pick these survivors up again and see what happens to them. Remember, no unbelievers can go into the Kingdom. Because Satan is going to be locked up, and we will start out with a generation of parents who are believers. In Matthew Chapter 25 we have the perfect description of how God is going to do it. Here we will be dealing with a point in time where the supernatural will be almost common-place. And so Christ is going to bring supernaturally all of the survivors, from all over the world, to Jerusalem. So, beginning in verse 31, this is Jesus speaking:

"When the Son of Man shall come in his glory (now watch the language here), and all the holy angels with him (that includes you and I; this is at His Second Coming), then shall he sat upon the throne of his glory (His Kingdom rule in Jerusalem)."

"And before him shall be gathered all nations (the biggest percentages of the population of the nations have been killed, as this is at the end of the Tribulation. But we still have the survivors, who are representative of their nations): and he (The King) shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." Here Christ the King will separate the believers from the unbelievers.

"And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left."

"Then shall the (what's the next word) King (notice He is already on the throne here ready to start ruling over the Kingdom) say unto them on his right hand (believers), `Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the (what?) kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:'"

That is nothing new to you is it? What does Ephesians Chapter 1 tell us? When were we chosen and in the mind of God? Before the foundation of the world. God in His foreknowledge knew exactly which one of these Gentiles would hear the Gospel of the Kingdom from the 144,000 and believe. Now in verse 35, the following is not what saved them but what distinguished them as believers:

"For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat (food): I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me."

"Then shall the righteous (these surviving believers) answer him, saying, `Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?' And the King shall answer and say unto them, `Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,...'"

That word `brethren' is the secret here. Jesus was a Jew so His brethren were Jews. So who is He referring to? The 144,000 that had preached the Gospel of the Kingdom during the Tribulation. It wasn't their good deeds that saved them. It is never good works that save anyone. They were saved by their faith in this message that was preached unto them. And as soon as they were saved what were they willing to do? Help these people who had brought this saving message to them.

Remember during World War II, who helped and hid the Jewish people from the Nazis? Christians. Why? Because it's a Christians' nature to do things like this. So here, Jesus is showing that these 144,000 are going to suffer privation all through their ministry. Go back to Revelation Chapter 7 for a moment, where the angel says:

"Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."

That was like, I suppose, when God put a mark on Cain, that no one could take his life. And it's the same way with these 144,000. They were sealed so that they could not be killed. Suffer, yes, but they couldn't be killed. Reading on you will see that there were 12,000 sealed from each of the twelve tribes. To see how all of this fits with Matthew Chapter 25 come down to verse 16. These are the privations that Tribulation believers, as well as the 144,000, will suffer during this seven-year period.

"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more;..."

Remember, if people don't take the mark of the beast during this time, they won't be able to buy or sell, and seven years is a long time if you can't buy groceries. Seven years is a long time if you can't make a house payment, buy gasoline, or pay a doctor bill. So they will end up hungry and thirsty, and naked. Come back to Matthew Chapter 25. So the 144,000 suffered these same privations during the Tribulation. They were thrown in prison and they're going to be hungry, and the only sustenance they had was from these believers. These believers, although they will have little to spare, will sacrifice to help these 144,000. Then Jesus said:

"...Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." This is the only setting in which this text fits. You can't put it into anything else. It's simply the response of these believers who have survived awful events of the Tribulation. Then in verse 41 Jesus addresses the goats or unbelievers.

"Then shall he (Christ) say also unto them on the left hand, `Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (and they will ask why): For I was an hungred, and ye gave me not meat (food): I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, `Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?' (and look at the Lord's reply): Then shall he answer them, saying, `verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these (the 144,000), ye did it not to me:'" And now He gives each group what they deserve in verse 46:

"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." And although the Kingdom is stipulated a thousand years it is still the beginning of eternity.

I had a gentleman call the other night who said, "Les, I have problems with what takes place in the Kingdom and what takes place in eternity. What's the difference?" I told him there were a lot of great theologians who debate the issue in their books as to what's in the Kingdom Age and what's in eternity. I can just simplify that by saying, "Always remember that all the situations concerning the Kingdom are an introduction to the eternal." Now that's the way I see it. It will be interrupted, by a new heaven and a new earth, but I think eternity will be based on pretty much the same set of circumstances that we have in the thousand years. So when Jesus tells these people that are going into the Kingdom that they are going into eternal life, indeed they are! Let's look at a few more of the attributes of the Kingdom. Turn to Isaiah Chapter 11:

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:" Jesse was the father of David and Christ is always considered the Son of David. So we are speaking of the Branch here as the Messiah, the Christ.

"And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD:" Those are all attributes of the Spirit and also indicative of the Christ.

"And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth (this is where the Beatitudes come into play, and become the constitution of the Kingdom): and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked (He did that at Armageddon)." And in verse 5 we come back again into the Kingdom.

"And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." This is all on the earth.

Book 12 LESSON ONE * PART I

Go back to II Thessalonians, because I think the following thought should immediately come to any student of Scripture: If people have missed being saved during this Age of Grace or Church Age, are they going to get a second chance? No. Here we see Paul (inspired by the Holy Spirit in II Thessalonians Chapter 2) identify those who cannot be saved with the message of the 144,000 during the Tribulation. Paul is not associated with prophecy per se. He's associated with the doctrines of Grace and with mysteries. Nevertheless he connects the end of the Church Age with the Tribulation by a description of what will take place as the Anti-christ comes on the scene here in II Thessalonians Chapter 2:

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first (the Church being raptured), and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; "

"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work (that goes back to the tower of Babel): only he who now letteth (hindereth) will let, (continue to hinder) until he be taken out of the way." I always teach it's the Holy Spirit who is the hindering force in the person of the believer, until he's taken out of the way, which would be in the departure when the Church is removed in verse 3:

"And then (when the Church is gone, and the Holy Spirit in His role as indwelling the believer has ended. Of course the Holy Spirit will be back on the earth as the Omnipresence of God) shall that Wicked (one) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth (at the end of the seven years), and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming;"

"Even him (Anti-christ), whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish (unbelievers); because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved."

Now get the picture. Those who will be ready to accept the coming of the Anti-christ will be those who had the opportunity to hear the Gospel, the truth of the Word of God, but they loved their unrighteousness and they spurned God's offer of salvation. Now verse 11:

"And for this cause..."

As we are entering into the Tribulation in this verse, we are entering in with God dealing in the supernatural. Today, we are fairly unaccustomed to that. God still works in miraculous ways, but we're not living where the supernatural takes place commonly.

"And for this cause (because this group of people have heard the Gospel and rejected it and so it is for that cause) God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a (and again I like to use the article `the') lie:"

There has been one lie all through Scripture. And I call it `the' lie. That is when Satan tells a person, "You can be God." They are going to believe it. God is going to send these people "strong delusion" who have heard the Gospel and rejected it. And these will be the very first people who will proclaim the Anti-christ as the god of this world, the one they have been looking for. But the ones who have never heard the True Gospel will have a chance in the Tribulation by the preaching of the 144,000. And now verse 12:

"That they all might be damned (or condemned) who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

Go back to the Book of Ephesians Chapter 1, because we have almost the same kind of language (so that you will know what the Apostle Paul is talking about). As we come down to the appearance of the Anti-christ and the Church has been removed, what should they, the unrighteous that were left behind, believe?

"In whom ye also trusted (Paul writes to believers only), after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise."

Let's take time to look at the Gospel again in I Corinthians Chapter 15, especially as we look at the awful things that are about to come upon the earth. I think there is nothing wrong with the whole concept of literally being scared out of our boots. And maybe fear will prompt someone to seek God's saving Grace in order to escape some of these things. I think that is one of the reasons it is put in here. Now I don't subscribe to the fear concept, but on the other hand, when the Scripture makes it so plain that these terrible days are coming on the earth, and we can escape it by simply partaking of God's salvation, then why not. Why be foolish and spurn so great a salvation only to end up in the horrors that are coming upon the earth. Now I Corinthians 15:1-4, and here is the most explicit definition of the Gospel that you can find.

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand (positionally); By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." You must know what you believed. Here it is in verses 3 and 4. This is our Gospel:

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received (from our ascended Lord), how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" That's what the Book of Ephesians calls the truth of the Gospel. This is what Paul is referring to in II Thessalonians Chapter 2:10:

"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth...."

What is the love of the truth? The Gospel. And what's the Gospel? That Christ died for my sins, was buried, and that He arose from the dead. Those of you who have been in my classes over the years know that I do not ascribe to just an easy-believism. In other words, just saying that, yes, I believe that Christ lived, and that He died, and I believe that He rose from the dead; that's not what the Bible is talking about. The Bible is talking about a concerted faith and trust in that very act of God. That God Himself paid the penalty for all our sins. I have told my classes many times (and I like to put it this way): if you or I had been the only person living, Christ would have still gone to the Cross to purchase our redemption. When you have that kind of faith, that you can say that I believe that with all my heart, and can say that you know He is alive, I know that His Word is true; then God sees that faith as salvation. Romans 4 makes it so clear. It wasn't by works that Abraham was saved, but by faith. What was Abraham's faith? He believed God! And God counted it unto him as righteousness. He was a believer.

Folks who have heard this Gospel, and have been convicted by the Holy Spirit that they need this Gospel and reject it. They are the ones that will have no further chance at salvation and will be blinded from the truth. But there are literally billions of people upon the face of the earth tonight who have never heard the Gospel. I always maintain in every city that I teach, that there are multitudes who have never heard the Gospel. Now I know that is hard for us to believe. But listen, there are people who may walk into a place of business and there may be a preacher on the radio or television preaching the Gospel in all of it's truth and sincerity. But they don't hear it. They don't pay any attention to it. So I maintain they are going to still be candidates for the preaching of the 144,000.

I feel that the only ones who will be completely condemned are the ones we have talked about, who have completely heard, understood, were convicted by it and said, "No thank you" or, "I'll do it later," or whatever. We even have church people who have been in my classes, who have come and said, "Les, we have never heard the Gospel before." And they had been in church all their life. That is a sad commentary I know, but it's still the truth. So as these 144,000 Jews go out around the world, there's no one being saved as a second chance. But only those who have never heard the True Gospel. The ones who have rejected and are doomed will also be the first to take the mark of the beast, the 666. For us believers tonight we don't have that to fear as we will be gone when that comes on the scene for the Tribulation people. But they will accept that mark of the beast at the drop of a hat for they have already been completely deluded by a Sovereign act of God, that the Anti-christ is the man the world is looking for.

Book 11 LESSON THREE * PART I

Always remember that prophetically there are only three areas of the world that are involved in those last days of the Tribulation or the battle of Armageddon. And that is Western Europe, the Orient, and parts of Africa. There is nothing at the very end that concerns Russia, or the Western Hemisphere. There is nothing in prophecy that would involve those two great areas in that last great battle.

Now to Revelation 16. We studied the last 6 terrible judgments that will be coming upon the earth. I'm going to stop before we get to number 7 for a reason. After the sixth bowl had been poured out, which was the drying up of the Euphrates River so the armies can come into the Middle East from the Far East, John says in verse 13:

"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth (communications) of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet."

Satan, who is now indwelling the Anti-christ, will make contact probably by phone with all the national leaders still in place. He will ask for their armies to come to the Middle East to get rid of the real problem of mankind, the Jew (what Hitler called the final solution). I look at this final gathering of the nations at Armageddon as Satan's attempt once and for all to annihilate the Jewish people. But it's really going to end up, Satan against The Christ.

"For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty."

When President Bush was putting together the nations in Desert Storm, the papers said he would just pick up the phone and call the leaders of the various nations. Using only phone calls, he was literally getting these leaders convinced they should unify against Iraq. That was just a little tiny preview of what we have right here. Now verse 15, and The Sovereign God is behind it:

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." In other words, the Lord is reminding us that it is time for His appearance at the Second Coming, but before He does that:

"And he gathered them together (this is the power of a Sovereign God working through, of course, the mind set of the Anti-christ who puts out the call to the nations to come to Jerusalem) in a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon."

From which the word Megiddo comes. Another word is Esdraelon. And if you go to Israel as we did last spring, that is one of the tourist attractions. You will see the archaeological digs of the ancient city of Megiddo. When you stand on the hills of Megiddo amongst all the ruins of that ancient city, you can look off to the northeast and there is that beautiful flat valley. The Nation of Israel is predominately mountainous. You have these valley areas between the mountain ranges. The reason I'm pointing this out is that when God brings the armies of the world to Israel, naturally they will put their encampments on those valley floors. And this area of the valley of Esdraelon has been a battlefield throughout time. The place had great strategic importance, since it commanded the pass through the mountains between the plains of Sharon and Esdraelon. There have been hundreds of battles fought here. So he will bring the nations of the world to the Middle East. Now I know there is not a bit of military intelligence connected to it, but you must remember we are dealing with a Sovereign God and He is going to cause those generals to pack their troops into these valleys, beyond description. They will be in there like sardines in a can, because a Sovereign God is forcing the issue. Now let's come back a couple of chapters to Revelation 14, and we have a tremendous symbolic picture of all of this.

"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle." I feel this is an allusion to Christ. He is the One who is about to reap this harvest.

"And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, `Thrust in thy sickle (they used to use the sickle to harvest the grain), and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.'" Remember the communication is between the angel and Christ.

"And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." Chapter 16 shows the call going to all nations to come to the Middle East. That's the reaping A Sovereign God is bringing about.

"And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the cluster of the vine of the earth: for her grapes are fully ripe."

The word `fully' in the Greek means `over-ripe.' It's past harvest time. Here is the symbolism again. The grapes were gathered and put into a wine vat, where they could be crushed; the juice taken out of them and made into wine. The juice was squeezed out of the grapes by walking on them in the wine vat. They would put two or three people in a vat and they would walk until all the juice would run out. That is the allusion here, that this is exactly what God is doing with the peoples of the world. Now come back to the Book of Isaiah Chapter 63, and you will get the beautiful analogy. And again, I do this so you can see that all of Scripture fits together.

"Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Who do you suppose he is referring to? Christ! This is a picture of His returning and bringing forth judgment upon these gathering armies. "Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat." Don't lose that analogy. The grape harvest was put in the wine vat, and it was trampled by individuals. Naturally, the grape juice would spurt and juice would get all over them. The prophet sees Christ also covered with this red apparel. And he says, "Why are you this way?" Look at the answer in verse 3. And again, Christ is speaking:

"I have trodden the winepress alone (in Revelation Chapter 5, God the Father had a scroll. No one was worthy to open that scroll except the Son of God and He came and took the scroll. Here it comes to its fruition. He alone was worthy, and no one else was worthy of bringing on this particular judgment) and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, (do you see that) and trample them in my fury; and their blood (He's not speaking of His own Blood here) shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment." As He more or less tramples the people in the wine vat. Now verse 4:

For the day of vengeance is in mine heart (this isn't the God of Grace now. This is a God of wrath!), and the year of my redeemed is come." Let's hold all of this together. Revelation Chapter 19:

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True (it's the Christ), and in righteousness he doth judge and make war."

Because after all, what kind of people does he have in the wine vat? Military. It's the armies of the world that have come to the Middle East. Supposedly to annihilate the Nation of Israel. Don't forget those 200 million coming from the East. They will be packed into that little geographical area. And I think it will also include every valley in the Nation of Israel where these troops will be packed in. And as I said before, it will be contrary to all military strategy. But it's the Sovereign God who has reaped the earth, and has placed them in what the Scriptures call His wine vat. But remember, it's in righteousness. Now verse 12:

"His eyes were as (He doesn't say they are flames, but as) a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, be he himself." And here it is now. This is in complete accord with the Book of Isaiah:

"And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood (not His, but His victims), and his name is called the Word of God."

"And the armies which were in heaven (that will be the saints, as this is His Second Coming. The saints have been with him for seven years because they have been raptured out ahead of time. That includes you and I as believers. Now they are coming back with him) followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." That is also in verse 8 of this Chapter, where the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.

"And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword (what is the sharp sword? The Word of God. Remember Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword"), that with it he should smite the nations (how will He destroy them? With the spoken word): and he shall rule them (the nations, Believers only) with a rod of iron (benevolence, but absolute rule, there will be no funny business in His Kingdom. A good example is the Beatitudes. What are Beatitudes? Well the constitution of His government. That's when the Beatitudes will come into their full definition, "Blessed are the meek..." "Blessed are the poor..." That doesn't fit in the Church Age. You talk to a poor person today and I don't believe that he feels blessed. Do you? The Lord may provide and get them through, but they are not happy as such. But in the Kingdom there will be no unhappiness): and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."

What's His winepress? The valleys of Israel, wherein all these millions of troops will be packed, and He will destroy them with one fell swoop. It's hard for us to understand. Let's read on in Verse 16:

"And He hath on His vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

Remember, I purposely stopped just before we came to the seventh bowl judgment back in Chapter 16. I left off after the sixth judgment because I wanted to leave the seventh one till now:

"And the seventh angel (we've covered six of them. We're bringing you right up close to the end of the Tribulation) poured out his vial (bowl) into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, `It is done.'" This is the finale:

And again, I don't feel that this is an isolated one. I think the whole planet is going to come under these convulsions. Although the epitome of all of this is going to be in Jerusalem in the area of Israel. Let's go on:

"And the great city (Jerusalem) was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath."

Now I have to stop again. The Babylon in Revelation is not the ancient city, because the Old Testament says it will never be rebuilt. It will always be a habitation of nothing but wild animals and birds of prey. But the Babylon of Revelation is the whole world wide-system as we see it coming together today. The whole one world concept. Where Tokyo and Berlin and London and Rome and New York are just like one little tightly knit group. When I picture these end time events, I like to think that when Babylon falls, it won't be just one city. It will be all the cities of the world, who will in one hour fall into nothingness, by the spoken word of God. Now remember that. The Babylon here is all the world. I just read an interesting article in our daily paper that some junior high student had just won a great essay contest. What do you suppose the title of her essay was? "The Great New One World." That's what people love to hear tonight. They love to hear about the great one-world that's coming. And it is! It's getting smaller and smaller. But you see, it's going to suddenly evaporate.

"And every island fled away and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent (most of your Bibles tell you what that is. It's 100 pounds. We talk about golf ball-sized hail and softball-sized hail, but these are hundred pound chunks of ice!): and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great."

Now to Revelation 14, where we finish that analogy of the grape vat. Can you hold all of this together? Just like the vineyard keepers put all of their grapes into the vat and they had somebody trample them, so God has brought all the armies of the world to the Middle East. How is He going to trample them? With this final plague of the hailstones. Picture all of the millions of troops out there in nothing more then tents to protect them from the elements. Can that stop a hundred pound hailstone? NO! So they will be literally squashed, even as the grapes in the vat. I know this verse has been a verse hard to swallow over the years, but I'll make it real easy to swallow.

"And the winepress was trodden, without the city (indeed, these valleys are all to the north of Jerusalem), and blood came out of the winepress (out of these valleys), even unto the horse bridles (a river of water, and blood three to four feet deep), by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs (about 180 Miles)."

As that melting hail, which has crushed these millions of troops, begins to melt in that Middle Eastern heat, do you see how fast you're going to have a literal river of blood flowing as deep as a horse's bridle? That's not hard to believe. In fact, I always remind my classes that during World War II, during one of the battles on one of the islands in the Pacific, so many men were lost as they were coming ashore, that the ocean was red for about 5 miles out with the blood of our marines.

I don't claim to have any special revelations, and I don't think I teach The Bible that much different than a lot of men who are far more important and educated than I am. But I trust that I am able to make it a little easier to understand. We have been talking about the Kingdom the past few lessons. Christ has returned, the Tribulation has run its course, and I think the questions that come into everybody's mind are, "Who is going to go into the Kingdom? Are they going to be flesh and blood? Will they be having families? Will they be reproducing?" And the answer to all these question is, absolutely! This Kingdom will be on the earth, and will be `Utopia,' (that's the word the secular world likes to use). So let's take a few references out of the Old Testament to show that this Kingdom idea has been on God's mind from the very onset of the Book it-self, but especially after the call of Abraham.

I stressed many months ago that the Abrahamic Covenant you see was the Covenant between God and the Nation of Israel. He would make them a special, separated nation of people. He would put them in a geographic area of land and then, at the appropriate time, He would come to be their King, and set up the government. That comprises the Kingdom that everything is looking forward to.

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection:... but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."

Now the question came up in our last coffee break. That in verse 4, it sounds like just Tribulation people will reign and rule with Christ, and I was glad that someone caught that. Because that is probably true, but again you have to take Scripture with Scripture, and you can't make a doctrine, or identify anything with just one verse. Come back to Revelation Chapter 5, and here we have a verse that I would say includes all of us believers in verse 10.

"And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and (what) we (an all inclusive word) shall reign on the earth (with Christ)." We can also look at Chapter 19 verse 7:

"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb (remember the Lamb is to married to the Body of Christ) is come, and his wife hath made herself ready."

"And to her was granted that she (the Body of Christ, the Church) should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."

Go over to verse 14 in this same Chapter. Here we are now included in this army that is coming with Christ at His Second Coming.

"And the armies (Heavenly congregation) which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean."

Now can you tie all of that together? Not only are the Tribulation saints going to be included in that reigning and ruling with Christ for a thousand years but we are also included. Since we are talking about the Church Age believer in the Kingdom as this Kingdom will come on earth, come back to the Book of Colossians. Now Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles does not dwell a lot on the Kingdom, not nearly as much as the Old Testament does, and the Gospels as they pertain to Israel. But nevertheless we are involved in the Kingdom. Don't think for a moment that we won't be. In Colossians Chapter 1 (and again I'm going to run out of time in the middle of a subject). But if the Lord tarries there will be another lesson, and if He doesn't, we won't need it. Here in this passage Paul has been praying for the Colossi Gentile believers.

"Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet (or prepared us) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath (past tense) translated us (you and I as believers) into (what?) the kingdom of his dear Son:"

We are already members of the Kingdom. But always remember, where is the Kingdom tonight? In heaven, in the Person of Christ. When He was on the earth John the Baptist approached Jesus and what did He say? "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand." Why? Because the King was at hand. So when the King went back to glory, then the Kingdom is again in heaven (and we don't refer to Him as the King in the Church Age, but as Savior and Lord.) But always remember the Kingdom won't stay in heaven, but will come back to the earth, and Paul says, "We will be with Him. Part and Parcel of that Kingdom." So we are indeed a part of this coming Kingdom, which will then be on the earth.

Let's recap our last lesson for a moment about who will go into the Kingdom. First we will have the remnant of Jews that God is going to protect during the last 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation. They will be Jews that we read about in Matthew 24 that were escaping to the mountains at the mid-point of the Tribulation. They were a cross-section of the population of Jerusalem, from children and young pregnant women to retired older people. They will be the seed stock to repopulate the Nation of Israel. Second, there will be the survivors that believed the Gospel of the Kingdom as presented by the 144,000 that survive the Tribulation. They too will be a cross-section of society. This group will be Gentiles and will be the seed stock to repopulate all the nations, except the Nation of Israel. This Kingdom Age will last a thousand years and there will be only believers in this Kingdom. Satan will be locked up, the earth will be like the Garden of Eden. There will be no sin there. And Christ will be the absolute Ruler, a benevolent Dictator if you want to call Him that. It's going to be a glorious time. There will be no sin, sickness, or death, and you will have a population explosion that the world has never seen before. We also know that since the curse has been lifted, there will be no more pain in childbirth, which I think will encourage large families.

Regarding other aspects of the Kingdom, I've had many people ask me if they will see their dog or cat again in heaven (they want me to say yes)? But I have to say, "Not the one you had here." But there will be animals in the Kingdom. I'm sure that among those animals, people will have pets. I'm a dog lover myself, and have loved dogs ever since I was a kid. I had one for 15 years and I sure got attached to her. But I know I won't see that little black dog in the Kingdom economy. But there will be animals. That is why I had you turn to Isaiah Chapter 11. We touched on this in the last lesson, so let's just review a little. I like to show everything from Scripture. If I can't show it from Scripture then it's just my own idea. But when you can, I trust you will read it and believe it as this is the inspired Word of God. I take it literally. When you take the Scriptures literally you satisfy a lot of questions (and why not take it literally). If you read the account of Washington and his men crossing the Delaware on that cruel winter day, back there in the early days of our nation, do you spiritualize that and try to dream up something totally different? Of course not. You take it literally, and you take it so literally that you can almost feel the cold and pain they went through. And you need to do the same thing with Scripture. Don't read and then try to dream up something that it must have meant. Just say, "This is what it says, and I believe it." So looking at the animal part of the Kingdom again, let's go to verse 6:

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid (baby goat); and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."

Can you picture all of that? Just take it literally. The animal kingdom as we know it today would be in total opposition. That lion would eat that little calf in a second. But here they are lying down together. Do you see the difference? I'm always trying to get people to read their Bibles carefully. Don't just read it to be reading it. Here we have wild animals all of a sudden cohabiting with domestic animals! And unbelievable as it may seem, who is in the midst of them? A little child. Immediately you should ask yourself, "Where does this child come from?" Well, like the children today it came from parents, a father and a mother. Let's read on:

"And the cow and the bear shall feed (together); their young ones shall lie down together: and (now here is the secret of the whole thing) the lion shall eat straw like the ox."

Now let's compare Scripture with Scripture. Come back to Genesis Chapter l. This is why I say the Kingdom will be a reversion back to the Garden of Eden, before the curse came in. Now the comparison. Isaiah says the day is coming when these wild meat-eating animals are going to eat the same diet of grasses that cattle do today. In Genesis l:28-30 we read (here God is speaking to Adam):

"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.' And God said, `Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat (or food).'" Now verse 30:

"And to every beast of the earth (that also includes the animals we read about in Isaiah), and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: (or food) and it was so."

You won't see God give permission (I don't think even to the animal kingdom) to kill and eat meat for food until after the flood. Noah was then instructed that he could kill and eat the meat of these animals. But definitely before Adam sinned, none of the animals could eat meat, only green herbs. So that is what is here in Isaiah 11. The whole animal kingdom, including the most ferocious, carnivorous meat-eating species are going to change their diets and live peaceably with animals they once would have eaten.

"And the sucking (or nursing) child shall play on the hole of the asp, (which of course was a very poisonous serpent) and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' s (adder's) den."

Here we have had three children mentioned in just two verses. The inspired Word of God tells us that when this Kingdom is set up there will be human beings coming in at the front end of the Kingdom who are going to reproduce. They have to. We know by the time we get to the end of the thousand years, there are multitudes of people on the earth. We will be looking at that in a later lesson. Where did they come from? They came from believing parents who started at the beginning of the Kingdom.

Coming out of the Old Testament we came to the time of the Cross, and now we are in that undetermined period of time known as the Church Age. It will end when the Church is Raptured, or called out. And then began that seven-year period of time called the Tribulation. After Christ returns at the end of the Tribulation we come into this thousand years of what we call the Kingdom Age. It will be on earth in which these things will take place that we are reading about. All through this period of human history everything has been under the curse, and we have no question about wild animals and their behavior, and children should never play with them. And then at the end of the last lesson and I recapped at the beginning of this lesson who would be going into the Kingdom. All of these people I showed you will be different than you and I. We will have our new resurrected bodies, flesh and bone. These believing survivors of the Tribulation will have the same bodies that they had before - flesh and blood. They will then be the parents of these children we just read about with the wild animals in verse 6 and 8 of Isaiah Chapter 11. Let's look at verse 9:

"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain (a mountain in Scripture, especially in the Old Testament, is a Kingdom. Always look at the text): for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."

Let's look at some more Old Testament references of the earthly Kingdom. Go to the Book of Amos Chapter 9 (in our next lesson I'm going to explain the opposition to this line of teaching about a literal earthly Kingdom that will come on the earth. We call this opposition Amillenialism). Hopefully we'll show you that we are not throwing you a bunch of smoke, but that we can rest assuredly that even in the very early days of Christianity they all held to this view of an earthly Kingdom that someday would be on the scene. We have a lot of people who watch and are in my classes, who are handed books that are in opposition of the earthly Kingdom, the Book of Revelation and so forth. Now look at Amos 9:11,12:

"In that day (in other words when Christ is setting up His Kingdom) will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: That they (Israel) may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen (Gentiles), which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this." In verse 13, Here it is:

"Behold, the days come (when this Kingdom is finally set up), saith (Who?) the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper (what does that mean? Intense reproduction, remember there will be no curse, so they won't have to put up with weeds and insects, fungus and moles, and pests and all the things that hinder good crop production), and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt." And God goes on to say that with His dealing with His people Israel, as we have here in the Old Testament:

"And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God." Go to the Book of Zechariah, Chapter 14 verse 8:

"And it shall be in that day (when the Kingdom is in operation), that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them toward the former sea (the Mediterranean sea), and half of them toward the hinder sea (Dead Sea): in summer and in winter shall it be." In order to pick up on this you have to go back to Ezekiel Chapter 47. Ezekiel sees this same river, beginning in verse 1:

"AFTERWARD he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar," Notice this river has it source under the temple in Jerusalem. Now verse 8:

"Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea (that is the Dead Sea): which (when these waters) being brought forth into the (Dead) sea, the waters shall be healed,"

"And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither (from the temple area): for they (the waters of the Dead Sea) shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh." Now look at verse 10:

"And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it (this is the Dead Sea, and we know that from the term Engedi) from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea (the Mediterranean), exceeding many."

When we were in Israel, we stopped at the oasis of Engedi at the Dead Sea and some of our group went swimming. Someday, this will again be fresh water. In Matthew Chapter 19, here again is the promise of this coming Kingdom when Peter says to the Lord:

"...Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, `Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'"

Copyright ã 2002 Les Feldick Ministries. All rights reserved.