In the Word

Pastor Mike Warren: We've come as far as verse 35, actually finished verse 35, but we'll back up to verse 35, and then we'll finish out chapter 11 and we'll pick up chapter 12 next week. I want to divide these into two sections because there's a lot there. You know, I've just been so ambitious. I don't know why. I always think I can go further than I do. I come with the best of intentions. Oh, we're going to get this chapter done, and sometimes it's like three verses.

So tonight my goal is to finish chapter 11. If I could get that done tonight, then I will be a happy camper. So hey, turn there with me if you will and let's pray. Father, we thank you. You know, we thank you that you have given to us in advance, as it were, those things that you planned out as far as end-time prophecy goes, those things that you have dyed in the wool and set in order so that they don't overtake us unaware.

We thank you tonight, Lord Jesus, that you tell us that we're children of the day and not of the night and that these times should not overtake us as unaware. So Lord, as we study your word, speak to our hearts, challenge us. Lord, do more than just put information in our heads, but awaken our hearts to the fact that at any moment you could interrupt human history once again. You could remove your church and judge this world that, by the way, is ripe for your judgment.

And so Father, just again, you know, wake us up. Help us to understand with all the saints the time that we are living in. And it is short, and there's still a lot of things that need to get done. And so may you stir in our hearts to be about your business, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus we ask. All God's kids would say, amen. Amen.

Well, as we come to chapter 11 now to verse 35, as we've walked through this last section from chapter 10 on, as now Daniel is getting a good view of the future, about 375 years of it, something changes here because it's going to go from Antiochus Epiphanes, as we saw last week as a type of the Antichrist to come, to the actual final event.

And you'll notice as we go through this that it kind of skips over the church because you have to remember, and I've had a lot of people tell me, well, why does it do that? Why does it just skip over? Because Daniel is writing concerning his people, Israel. The church was a mystery hidden in times past. Paul was the one who the Lord showed through by revelation that the church should come through for there should be a stopping of Daniel's, you know, 70-week vision at the 69th week and it wouldn't swing into the 70th week until after this thing called the church had existed and been taken out. We're going to see that tonight.

And then it'll swing over to the last seven years, which we know as the tribulation period, which Jeremiah chapter 30 calls Jacob's trouble. It's dealing with Israel again. So God is not done with Israel. So now as we come to verse 35, notice carefully as he ends this section, he says this, "And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, to purge them," is the idea and they're going through this tribulation period, "and to make them white, even to the time of the end because it is yet for a time appointed." And that's a Hebraism of saying this is way off in the future.

But there's a time coming in the future where God is going to try and test his people once again, Jacob's trouble. A time where he is going to, well, some of them will fall, fall by the sword, will surrender their life as a martyr to serve Jesus Christ. And so Daniel is awoken to the fact that far off in the future there's a time of trouble coming for his people, but this time of trouble has a distinct purpose in it. It is to purge them.

Trouble has that in our life. It has a refining effect upon us. I know most Christians today, they want to live a life that is trouble-free. You know, what fun is that? Listen, you never grow in the easy times. You don't. That's why Solomon said that it's better to go to a funeral than to a wedding because times of sorrow have a more refining effect upon our lives. We learn more about faith and we learn more about the faithfulness of God. We learn more about endurance and commitment and consecration. We learn more about ourselves and our dedication to the Lord in the valleys than we ever learn on the mountaintops.

In fact, when you study throughout church history, it has been those times of great persecution that the church was the purest, that the church had the most power, had the greatest effect upon the world. And so here, Daniel is seeing as Gabriel is communicating to him, there's a time coming, but it's at the end of the days. It'll be the final conflict. There's going to be a period of time where God's people are going to be tested. They're going to be tried.

In fact, that phrase "the time of the end" is used again as we see in verse 40. Let's read it there. It says, "And at the time of the end shall the king of the south..." So again, he's putting it off in the future. In fact, we see it again in chapter 12, verse 4. Let's read that together. "But thou, O Daniel, shut up these words." Now, as Gabriel is speaking to Daniel, he's trying to figure it out, and he's just told, "Shut these words up and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase."

I find that interesting. That's one of the indicators of the last days, the end times. Just, you know, it doesn't cost you anything extra, but as a fact, do you know that knowledge doubled up until the 1900s every hundred years? Man's knowledge about things doubled every hundred years. From 1945 till the 2000, it doubled every 25 years. And from 2000 to 2021, right now, currently, I just looked it up as of October the 20th, 2021, knowledge is doubling every 12 hours.

If you don't think that's so, go down to one of the stores where you buy your computers and buy one. And when you get home, it's obsolete. Knowledge is increasing and running to and fro means world travel will be as easy as walking across the street. And so Daniel now, the focus is going to go from the example that we had with Antiochus Epiphanes and as he walks through that part of world history giving us greater detail as he saw there in chapter 2 with the four kingdoms.

But now as he comes, the focus will be upon our time. And he's going to talk about the Antichrist, the real Antichrist, the one who will come to the fore in the last days that will be possessed of Satan as the world ruler or world leader. And there're going to be some things we're going to look at tonight that will bring him into that position. In fact, I would suggest to you right now the stage is being set. Have you been watching the news? I hope you haven't, but let me just inform you in case you didn't, that this last week all of these peace talks that are going on, our United States and its great wisdom and with its great leadership has now removed all sanctions and restrictions from Iran so that they can now seek nuclear capability.

And Israel's intelligence came out just recently and said that we know that they're less than a year away from developing a nuclear weapon. They have the platform now to deliver it. And we're not going to let that happen. We know from our studies of eschatology that something takes place in the Middle East. I believe it's Psalms 83 where those radicalized Islamic countries who are crying for the destruction of Israel because Israel will become a cup of trembling and a stone of stumbling, the prophet says, in the last days of all nations round about them.

I don't think that there's a day that goes by in the governments of this world that Israel and Jerusalem don't come to the fore as how do we deal with the conflict in the Middle East? Because as you see now, the players are shifting. The things are moving because America is no longer a power as a police force that can keep things in check. You see Russia on the move. You see China on the move. You see Iran, you see Syria on the move. You see all of these pieces, as it were, on a chessboard moving into position, as it were, if you're paying attention to prophecy.

And we're living at that time and we're living in that moment where Israel for its very survival, because now it stands alone as the prophet said. In the last days, listen, Israel will be abandoned to itself. And Netanyahu told us that we're not relying on anybody else. We'll take care of our own problems and those threats that come against us. Did you notice that they flew their jets into Lebanon last month and they couldn't even be tracked by their radar? That was their way of saying that when we come for your nuclear centrifuges, you're not going to know until they're a burning heap.

Now, what do you think that that will happen if you wake up tomorrow and Israel's gone in to take out those centrifuges that our government and the UN in their great wisdom have given a free course to develop nuclear capability? Do you think that they might retaliate? Those who because Iran is not in the first wave. It comes with Gog and Magog. Well, why is that? Because pretty much they've been eliminated as far as that's concerned. They've been taken out of the game for a short period of time.

But as these nations, these 10 toes, I think it's the 10 toes, those 10 Islamic nations that we studied about in Psalms 83 attack Israel, we know at the end of that verse in Psalms 83 that God shows up in such a way that the whole world knows that God, Jehovah, he alone has rescued Israel. And now they'll be in possession of all of the oil. They'll for the first time in the history of their nation have the complete fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant and all of the land that is associated with it after this holy jihad takes place.

And as they possess all of the land, they possess the oil. And then we're told in Ezekiel 38, 39 that Russia and her hordes come down for a spoil. They come for the oil. And when they come down, God shows up again, as it were. And for every seven soldiers that come down, one will be left alive. They'll bury the dead for seven months, and for seven years they'll have to cleanse the land after the Battle of Hamon-Gog.

And when all of the dust settles on that, we're going to see tonight, up comes a man who has all of the answers. And he's going to position himself not just to be the world leader, he's going to position himself, as we're going to see tonight, to be God. And he will demand to be worshiped as God. He will defile the rebuilt temple. And by the way, if you went to Israel with us a year and a half ago, we got to go to the Temple Institute and I had some interesting conversations as we, you know, toured through the place. And you see all of the instruments, everything that is necessary to reconstruct temple worship has been recreated.

So I was talking to the tour guide and I said, "Well, I see that the Menorah, which is three feet tall, that's a replica." And he goes, "Yeah, but we have the real one. It's done. We just wouldn't have that much gold sitting in this building because the Menorah is made out of one solid piece of gold. It's three feet tall and however wide those would be." And so I said, "Yeah, but you don't have the Ark of the Covenant." He goes, "Yeah, but we know where it's at." I said, "You're serious?" He goes, "I'm serious as a heart attack."

All of the priests have been trained. In fact, they're looking for the red heifer, thought they found it not too long ago, come to find out had a little white hair on the chest, which disqualified it. Listen, if you, Jesus said had you known the day of your visitation when he came the first time, it wouldn't have taken you unaware. And they could have studied the prophets. They could have studied Daniel chapter 9, they had it in their possession and they could have known the very day through a simple mathematical formula that Jesus would ride triumphantly into Jerusalem. They could have known that Palm Sunday.

And he weeps over Jerusalem, said, "Had you known, then none of this stuff would have happened to you." Well, we're living in the time of the next visitation, as we're going to see tonight. When Jesus comes back with the last trump, the trump of the archangel, and the dead in Christ rise first, and we who are alive remain are gathered up, caught up to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we be with him forever. He's going to remove his church, and then that pendulum will swing one more time to that last 70 years called Jacob's trouble. And that's what we're going to be reading about tonight as we come to the end of chapter 11 of Daniel, where it's a time of trouble, a time of great difficulty, where God is testing now and trying his people Israel.

First for the rejection of their Messiah. Zachariah chapter 12 says, "When this takes place, their eyes are going to be opened, that is when he offers the abomination of desolation three and a half years into that, and they're going to realize they crucified the Messiah." And they're going to mourn like someone lost their own son. And they're going to flee as we're going to see tonight to a place prepared for them in the Jordan.

And isn't it interesting, when we went to Israel, that you know, we went right into Jordan. We had a really neat tour guide, Fatty. He was really skinny too. But his name was Fatty. I had a hard time calling him Fatty. But that was his name. He was our tour guide. We went into Jordan, we went over to Wadi Rum, we got to see where they filmed the movie Mars and Lawrence of Arabia. You know, we got to stay there and visit. But they're on friendly terms, Jordan, although it's basically an Islamic country, they trade with Israel. They have tourism with Israel.

And we got to go to the city Petra. We're going to see in the Scripture that that's the place where God will send his people for the last three and a half years to protect them while he's judging this Antichrist and all of his hordes. And if you've ever gone to Petra, you know it's not what you think in the movies where you see Harrison Ford riding down the corridor there, and then he comes into this big opening and you see what is the treasury. And you think that's Petra. That's just the gateway to Petra. You take a hard right and you go back in there, and it goes back in there for miles. In fact, in its heyday, it boasted 330,000 people residents in that city in its heyday. I believe that's the place where Paul went when he went into Arabia for those three years to be a student of the Holy Spirit.

But there's preparation even to this day for them to have that place. So that's what's before us this evening. So let's read as we come to verse 36, "And the king," now we're moving into the Antichrist of the time. He will rise, and listen, he's going to rise as a world leader, not as a man who represents some republican or democratic system, but as a king, as a potentate, as a ruler, or as a dictator. We're moving toward a one-world government.

Now, let me say a few other things. In order for somebody to rule, I know there's a lot of people say that there's no way one man could rule the world. Well, I beg your pardon because I know the Scripture says it's going to happen. But there's a number of things that do have to go with that, and I would agree with those naysayers that it would have to be an economic system that he could control.

Do you, if your eyes are open, just notice what's happening to the dollar. All world currency is based on the reliability of the dollar. And now the dollar is going to be inflated through this printing of money and all of the things we're doing till the dollar will be worthless. We're already seeing a moving away to Bitcoin and other sources, gold, people are investing in gold because when the dollar is no longer the world currency, then you can bring in under what might be a European style of economy.

What about the army? Well, we're seeing everything moving toward the UN is in control. They're making decisions concerning what's going on militarily. Listen, all the pieces are falling into place if you pay attention. And so he's saying to us here, "And the king shall do according to his will." He is going to rule as it were as an absolute potentate. He'll do, that's why he's called the willful king. He will do as he wills. "And he shall exalt himself, he shall magnify himself above every god."

And so he will position himself, and all the religions of the world will worship him because he's going to position himself as we're going to see tonight to be the religious leader, not only the military and economic leader of the world, but the religious leader of the world. He will magnify himself above every god. He shall speak marvelous," that's old King James, but it means horrible or terrible things "against the God of gods, against the God of heaven, the true and living God, and shall prosper."

Now this freaks a lot of Christians out. He's going to prosper in his efforts when he comes to the fore for seven years. We're going to see there's a beginning to his reign, there's a middle in which he's exposed, and there will be an end. And it's a short period of time, it's seven years. But God is in control of all of this. Satan, Prince of Darkness, grim, we tremble not at him. One word will fell him. We're going to see in a few moments this is predetermined by the foreknowledge and fore counsel of God.

He shall prosper. He will become for a short period of time the ruler of the world. He shall prosper till, please circle that. Because so many times we think, oh, the enemy, it looks like he's winning, but there's always an until. Until the Ancient of Days shall show up. Until the God of glory returns, until the King of kings and Lord of lords shows up. Satan will have his 15 minutes, but God will have his day. Make no mistake about it.

Even in our own lives, the Bible says in Psalms 23 that, you know, the Lord is our shepherd, we shall not want. He leads us by still pastors, he leads us by still waters, he makes us to lie down in green pastures, and yea, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We're not guaranteed that there won't be the valley of the shadow of death in our lives. In fact, we are guaranteed there will be. Jesus said, "In this life you're going to have trouble. Be of good cheer." Why? Don't look at the trouble, look at me, Jesus said, "Because I have already overcome."

We serve the King of Glory. We are on the winning side of this thing, guys. And I want to be here. I'll be honest with you. I've been thinking about it lately because I know it's approaching. I've been asking the Lord, "Let me be here through Psalms 83, and then I'd like to be here through parts of, you know, Ezekiel 38 and 39. I just want to see you do what you do. And then take me home." Some of you might not want to see that, but oh man, how I would like to see the world shocked when the God of heaven, Jehovah himself, shows up. You talk about an iron dome over Israel.

In fact, we're going to read next week when we get to chapter 12 that at this time Michael, by the way, who's only the only archangel, he's only the one called an archangel. There, you know, Gabriel's not an archangel. Lucifer wasn't an archangel. Lucifer was a cherubim. But it says at this time Michael the archangel, and it seems to be when you read through and understand about Michael, he is the leader of the host of the armies of heaven. He is going to stand up during this time and he is going to defend Israel. You think Israel has any worries? I think those angels fly alongside of their F-16s and just block the radar, man. You know?

Listen, God's eyes are continually upon Jerusalem. That's why we're to pray for the peace of Jerusalem because those are his people and he ain't done with them yet. But he shall prosper till the judgment be accomplished. God is doing something here. He is disciplining his people for rejecting their Messiah, for crucifying the Messiah. He's going to use this time of Jacob's trouble, this time of difficulty, to wake them up to the fact that Jesus was the Messiah and they are going to turn to him.

It's that whole vision that Ezekiel had of the valley of dry bones. And if you're a good student of prophecy, you will understand that that's a two-part vision. When he takes him to the high mountain and he shows him these dry bones that have been dead for a long time and they're just scattered around like Israel cast to the wind for 2,000 years, he asks the question to the prophet, "Can these bones live?" Well, if you asked any historian or any theologian before that, they would have said absolutely not. They would just spiritualize it away.

Ezekiel gives the right answer. "I don't know, Lord. You know." He said, "Prophesy to these bones." And he prophesied to the bones and they all came together and they stood up an exceeding great army, but there was no breath of life in them yet. Today, we see Israel standing up. You know, I went back and looked up on the history channel when I was sick. You know, I had a couple days there where I just couldn't get out of bed, and I watched all of the history recordings on the Six-Day War and then '73, all the tank battles, the miracles that took place. Listen, Israel will never be, in fact, some of you kind of freaked out when we were wanting to go to Israel, said, "Man, it's a dangerous place." The safest place on the planet is Jerusalem. You want to be safe and secure? Go to Israel.

But God is going to protect them. Michael, the great archangel, the leader of the host of the armies of heaven, will rise up at that time and I think we're in that time to protect Israel. So listen carefully. "Shall prosper till the judgment is accomplished." And listen carefully for you and me today, "for that that is determined shall be done." You know, I hear a lot of Christians praying, "Oh, get us Trump back in office, let's get gas back to $2 a gallon, Lord, I want to buy another, you know, rib-eye steak, I can't afford it now, we want the economy, want this," and it's rah, rah, political, political, political.

Listen, I'm telling you right now, can I speak to you plainly? America's not coming back. Can I say that? I'm not trying to depress you. You know why I'm not trying to depress you? Because you're not a citizen of America. You're a citizen of heaven. Jesus said, "When you see these things begin to take place, don't look out, look up because your redemption draws near." Because when Jesus comes, we're going to get a body like unto his. How many ready for a new body?

I found out tonight that I'm already a- I'm an illegal alien because I didn't sign up for Medicare. I'm old enough to sign up for Medicare. When did that happen? Last Sunday, it snuck up on me. 27 years ago, Kim and I came and planted this church. We've been here 27 years. She showed me some pictures of what we looked like when we came here. She still looks the same. What happened to me? You did this. We're moving towards something.

And it's interesting that he tells us here that God has determined something to take place. God is going to judge this nation. He is in the process of judging this nation. This nation cannot continue to do what it's doing and the moral- listen, this country is amoral. When you now can put legislation before our leaders of this nation that you can end the life of a baby after it comes out of the womb, how long do you think God is going to tolerate that?

When he says in his word that it's better if you hurt the least of these my little ones to tie a millstone around your neck and cast yourself into the sea. And we're aborting babies by the hundreds and thousands. I think it's up to 61 or 62 million. Laugh in his face about the first thing he instituted which was marriage. And now we're confused about what sex we are, and now there's things, there's like at least six. Man, when I was- I wasn't confused when I went to school. There was a boys and a girls, and then later there was a men's and a women's bathroom. But, confused.

And the lying, and the cheating, and the bribery, and the thievery. It's just this world is so corrupt and there's no place to go but up. And when it gets to, and by the way, God does not judge time through seconds and minutes and hours and days and weeks and months and years. He judges time morally. And when things get to such a fever pitch morally, then it demands the judgment of God. And don't you think we're just about there?

So he's saying that the things that we're seeing going on today, the decline of this nation, the stripping away of the economy, and it will go away, I will tell you this, it's going to get worse because God has to get not only the attention of the world, he has to get his church's attention so they're not caught up in the things of this world. When you study the parable of the ten virgins, all ten of them still need to be woken up, even the five wise. He has to wean us from this world and from the distractions of this world.

So he's saying, "Listen, this is something God is doing, for that that is determined shall be done." And your prayers are not going to stop it. I hear people praying, "Oh God, save America." No, God save Americans. God, pour out your spirit one more time, send it across this land, convict men of sin and of righteousness and of the judgment that is to come. Lead and guide them into all truth.

We had a young man that came up and introduced himself to me after the service, and you know what? He reminded me of me 46 years ago. You could see he was lost in his face. And I said, "I used to be you. You remind me of me." And I just started reading his mail and he started tearing up. He goes, "How do you know these things?" Because I've been where you've been. And there's hope in Christ. There's hope in Jesus. Jesus can set you free. Do you want peace? You're not going to find it in the drugs. You're not going to find it in immoral living. That hole that is in your heart can only be filled by the one who made your heart.

And you know, in most Christian, at point, said, "Do you want to pray?" I didn't say that. I said, "You go home and think about it, come back next Sunday, let me know what you decide. But you need Jesus, brother." And I'm talking to you from a one that was exactly where you're at 46 years ago. You can't fool me. I see it written all over your face. Hopelessness, despair. It's not working for you anymore, is it? I thought he was like 19 years old, I find out he's 25. He made it further than I did. I can only make it to 19, and then I gave up on it and just gave my life to Jesus.

But listen, these things are going to happen because God determined them to happen. And we're warned ahead of time of the things that are going to happen. Now he tells us about this man's character when he comes to the fore. He said, "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers." So most theologians, and I would agree with them, think that he must be from Jewish descent. I would say that for a number of reasons. Number one is I don't think that Israel would enter into a covenant as we saw back in chapter 9 with somebody who was from Islam.

See, a lot of people say, "Well, he's going to be from Islam, he's going to be against the God of gods." No, I think he's going to come from Jewish descent because it says he will not regard the God of his fathers nor desire of women nor any god, for he shall magnify himself above all. And another thing you probably read if you read commentaries on this, there are a lot of scholars that think that he's going to be a homosexual because he doesn't regard women. That's not what it's saying at all. Oh, he could be. Nowadays he could be, he could be anything nowadays.

But I don't think that's what it's talking about. I think it's talking about that he's not going to have any regard for the God of heaven or for his Messiah, Jesus. Because in 1 John chapter 2 verse 22, and this is the text that I use to prove my point in this, it says this, "Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ?" And we're talking about Jesus is the Messiah, the redeemer, the savior of the world. Any religious system that denies that Jesus is the Messiah, Emmanuel, God incarnate in human form, is a liar. And that includes the Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses, that includes any religious system that denies who Jesus is.

And so John tells us in his first epistle, "Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ?" Now listen to the second part of this verse. "He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son." And I think this is Gabriel's way of telling Daniel that he is going to deny the Father because he will have no regard of the God of his fathers, and he will not have any regard toward the desire of women because every woman of that time desired to be the one who gave birth to the Messiah.

And so he will not regard Jesus as the Messiah, and it's, it would flow in the context because it says "nor regard any god." So this is a spiritual thing because he's going to set himself up to be a god, for he shall magnify himself above all. And then it says, "But in his estate shall he honor the God of forces." He's going to use manipulation, intrigue, he's going to use power, he's going to use coercion. He's going, in fact, you will be forced during his regime to take the mark of the beast. And it will be intentional. You will have to take it or you cannot buy or sell. And if you don't take it, then you will be executed.

He will, he will come in first as a man of peace. And can you imagine with me? Listen for a moment, if tomorrow you woke up and Israel went in there and took out those centrifuges, like they're going to. It's not a matter of when. Listen, guys, listen, gang, it's just a matter of, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. And we could wake up to a different world tomorrow. When these peace agreements are over with in Paris, the Paris Accords, and already we're seeing now it hasn't been ratified by our senate yet, but he can give an executive order and it will have to wait for another year for the Republicans to take over the senate again to tear that up.

But from now to the next November set of elections, if he makes an executive order to remove the sanctions and let Iran seek nuclear enrichment, Israel says, "We can't let that happen. We will not let that happen." And so they attack. Iran is reeling, but not those other ten radically Islamic nations that are surrounding Israel right now calling for the destruction. They will attack. Hundreds and thousands will be dead in that particular battle, and then comes the hordes from the north. Millions will be dead after that battle is done. And the world will be reeling from war.

Do you think of a man rising with a seducing spirit about him, who has all the answers, they won't follow him? Because at that moment, the Spirit of the living God indwelling the church, that salt and light will be gone. And it's going to become a very strange place here as we're going to see as we move through these next verses. So let's take a look at the two sections of Scripture that deal with this man in the New Testament.

I want to take a look tonight at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, we're going to read the first 13 verses. Paul writes profusely on what Daniel is seeing, and then in Revelation chapter 13 and the first seven to nine verses, we get another good view of this man of sin. He's called the man of sin, he's called the willful king, he's called the son of perdition, he's called the Antichrist. But he will be this man completely possessed of the devil that will come to the fore after this world is battle-strewn and have all of the answers and he'll bring all the countries under one government, at least for a season.

He'll make a covenant with Israel to rebuild the temple, and they will. He'll defile it halfway through that last seven years, their eyes will be opened as we're going to see through the rest of chapter 11, and then Israel flees to Petra where God protects them for the last part of this time. And then as we see at the end of chapter 11, we return and Isaiah chapter 63 becomes a reality. But so that you understand that you, listen, you and I will never know who the Antichrist is. I've had people ask me all the time, "Do you think it's Obama?" I don't know. "You think it's you think it's Putin?" I don't know. "You think it's Biden?" Of course not. He's not smart enough to be the Antichrist. I mean, this guy's going to be pretty slick. I don't know, and I don't care because I'm not looking for the Antichrist. I'm looking for Jesus Christ because I'm going to be removed. I'm going to be dining with Dad at the marriage supper of the Lamb when he is revealed.

Watch what Paul says. Paul is writing because some people had come into the churches he planted there or the church he planted there in Thessalonica and said, "You know, the Lord has already come, the rapture's already happened," and they were confused. And so Paul has to write back to them. And it's interesting, Paul ended every chapter in 1 Thessalonians, the first letter to the Thessalonians, where he was reminding them of the coming of the Lord. Five chapters, every chapter ends with the coming of the Lord, the rapture, the removing of the church.

And yet they're still confused on this, and Paul says, "Hey, when I was with you, I told you these things." Paul's there four weeks, three Sabbath days, and they have a great diet of eschatology. Do you think end times prophecy's not important to the Christian? That's why we study it here. And so Paul writes back to them, we'll start a reading in verse 1 so we get the context and let's go through verse 13. He says this, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him."

That's what we would call the Rapture when God returns for his bride and we're caught up as the bride of Christ to meet the bridegroom Jesus in the air. And we know that from our study through Revelation that takes place in chapter 4. And chapter 5, the church is in heaven because we sing the song of the redeemed, "You have redeemed us from every tribe, tongue, and nation unto our God by your blood." Only the church can sing that. We're in heaven in chapter 5. Chapter 6, the tribulation begins. And it starts with the Antichrist coming on the fore with the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

The very first, that man on a white horse that comes with a bow and no arrows to conquer is the Antichrist. What follows the Antichrist is the red horse of war, which we're going to see tonight that it doesn't go so well for him either because there are rustlings of armies. In fact, they'll all gather in the end in Armageddon for that last final battle where the blood will flow to the horse's bridle for 200 furlongs. It's moving toward that last and final battle. But this man will have his day and it says- he said, "Listen, I beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him, that you be not so soon shaken in mind or troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor by letters as from us as the day of the Lord is at hand."

Paul knew that the day of the Lord was coming, but it hasn't happened and it's- there's things that have to take place before it can happen. Now we have the beautiful privilege of hindsight because Paul didn't realize that Israel would be scattered and then drawn back and the generation that sees the rebirth of Israel and the regain of Jerusalem, that generation wouldn't pass away. Paul did understand the thing about the church age, but he expected, he lived with this and we should too, with this sense of the imminent return of Christ. He thought and lived like Christ was going to return in his time.

Boy, how much more should we be living like Christ is going to return in our time? But he says this in verse 3, listen carefully as we read through these passages quickly. We've studied this in detail before. "Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day," the day of the Lord when he comes for his bride, "shall not come except there come a falling away first." Listen, that is not the Rapture. Some people try to twist and torch that verse to say that. That's not what it's saying. It's saying there's going to be an apostasia. There's going to be a falling away from the biblical faith.

And we're seeing it today. Theater has replaced theology. Drama has replaced doctrine. The power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer has been substituted by entertainment and light shows and theater and the whole thing. And prayer and prayer meetings are a distant memory. And God's word is no longer being taught from the pulpits around America. It's this entertainment. It's these sermonettes to Christianettes. It's whatever you want to hear that deals with your social things and the ear tickling.

In fact, we were told, Paul told Timothy in the last days, men will depart from the biblical faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. And listen, they will heap themselves teachers having itching ears and they'll turn away from the biblical truth. You know, we hear today that you don't study through the Bible anymore. You don't study the Old Testament because there's enough Old Testament in the New Testament. You don't study prophecy anymore because nobody can understand- are you kidding me? 27% of the Bible is prophetic in nature.

The Lord tells us through the prophet Amos in chapter 3 verse 7, he says, "Listen, the Lord God does nothing until first he reveals his secrets to his servants the prophets." And we should study to show ourselves approved, workmen who need not to be ashamed, who can rightly divide the word of truth. Amen? Now, I'm telling you, don't take my word for it. I've been a student of prophecy for 40 years. You go home, be a good Berean, search it out and see what I'm telling you is so. Go search out Psalms 83. It's never happened in the history of Israel, but it's about to, followed by Ezekiel 38 and 39. And somewhere in the midst of that, this man of sin will come to the fore and the church won't be here.

Listen carefully. "Let no man deceive you by any means that that day shall not come except first there's a falling away and the man of sin revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God," so the temple will be rebuilt, "showing himself that he is God." We know that he makes a covenant, Daniel told us back in chapter 9, when he comes to the fore to rebuild the temple. Everything necessary has already been gathered.

And then he says this, "Remember you not that when I was yet with you I told you these things? And now you know," Paul says, "you know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. You know that there's something," he's going to mention it, "that's restraining him. The Antichrist cannot come upon the scene while this thing is in place." And he tells us what the thing is. "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work." Look around. Is it not working?

Man, you know, you got guys being turned into gals and gals being turned into guys and and and men getting pregnant, and we don't know what bathroom to go into, and there's no moral compass anymore. And homosexuality is the accepted thing of the day, and aborting babies as a means of, I mean, what more troubled times could we be in? He said, "Listen, you know what restrains, and the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he," and it's in the masculine tense here, he. The Holy Spirit is always mentioned in the masculine tense. "He who now restraineth will restrain until he be taken out of the way."

When you're born again, and by the way, you are baptized by one Spirit into this thing called the body of Christ or the church, there's a marvelous thing that takes place in your life. You are now indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. And that Spirit will never leave you and it will never forsake you. It'll be an ever-present help to you. It's a constant source of wisdom, knowledge, and strength. That is given to every believer. When Paul prayed for the church of Ephesus in the two prayers that he prays for them, the very first one he says that I pray that the eyes of your understanding would be open and illuminated that you could understand with all the saints what is the exceeding greatness of the power of God toward you, even the same Spirit that indwells you that raised Christ from the dead.

Jesus said you and I as the church are the salt of the earth, we're the light of the world. We're indwelt by the Spirit. And that which is restraining the absolute putrefaction of this world, because that's what salt does, it stops putrefaction, it stops the rottenness. It has an antiseptic effect is you and me. Now, Jesus warned us about our saltiness, did he not? Be careful lest you lose that saltiness because if you lose it, you become of no use, you're not effective, just to be thrown out and trampled under foot of man. Our words should be seasoned with salt but full of grace.

And then you are the light of the world. You're what exposes and dispels darkness. That is the function of the church. If you go to my doctrines class online and you study ecclesiology- not eschatology, ecclesiology, the function of the church, that's why we're here. We are the antiseptic effect upon the putrefaction of this world. We're that which exposes darkness for what it is and we bring light into this world. That's our function. Our function is not get saved and live for ourselves. Our function is get saved and bring as many people into the kingdom as we possibly can. To go out into all of this world and preach this gospel. Because you're not to please yourself.

I was teaching the guys on Monday night in 1 Thessalonians, going through it. You're not to please yourself. You- you're bought with a price. You belong to a master, and the master gave you an order. What's the order? Go out into all the world and preach the gospel. Pray for people. And he says this, listen carefully, I've got to get done with this section tonight. "Who opposes, exalts above all that is called God that he be worshipped and he sitteth in the temple, but listen, he will continue," verse 7 says, "until."

He can't come until that which constrains is taken out of the way. Now watch verse 8, "And then," when the church is gone, raptured, "and then shall the wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." And by the way, we read Revelation 19, we studied through that section, and we come back with him. "Even him whose coming is after," listen to this, "the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. Why? Because they received not the love of the truth."

Listen, you know, it it blows my mind today, and I've talked to many pastors, "Well, you can't teach the Bible anymore. People won't sit for an hour anymore here the word like they used to back in the beginning of Calvary Chapel when Chuck would teach for two hours." You guys are lightweights. Chuck was here. I've tried you a few times, I've gotten close.

Now listen how important the word is in these last days. "Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion." What gives us spiritual discernment? Is it not the word? When you hide God's word in your heart and something comes that's not God's word, the Spirit alarms you to that. That's not true, that's not right. That's not from the Lord. For he says this cause, "God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

Then he focuses on you and me. "But we are bound to give thanks for you always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and for the belief of the truth." We need to be in the word, laying that foundation. So this man's going to come up on the scene, and man, he's going to deceive with lying signs and wonders. He's going through force take over and become the world leader.

Let me read quickly through Revelation chapter 13, we'll start in verse 1 again and then we'll come back and try to see if we can tie a knot in it tonight. He said, and this is John, he said, "And I stood up on the sands of the sea and there a beast, I saw this beast rise up out of the sea," which is always a reference to humanity, "having seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten crowns and upon the heads the names of blasphemy." So he's seeing this, this wicked beast come up out of the sea. "And the beast which I saw was like a leopard with his feet and a bear and a lion and the dragon," that is Satan, "gave his power," so this is the Antichrist, "his seat and great authority.

And I saw one of the heads as though it was mortally wounded." We know from the Old Testament he's going to receive a wound. His right arm is going to dry up. He's going to appear to be dead, but he's going to come back to life and all the world is going to wonder after him because again, he is against Christ. He's Antichrist. He's going to do everything that Christ did but in the opposite or in the phony way, fake way.

He said he continued and be healed, all the world will wonder after him, "and they shall worship the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they shall worship the beast saying, 'Who is like unto the beast and who is able to make war with him?'" Well, I got the answer for that one. Just wait a few years. "And there was given unto him, there was," notice this as we walk through this. You know, some of you guys freak out way too much about the wicked one and spiritual warfare. You know, I go through it. There's times where, you know, I'll go to bed at night and I'll just get off to sleep and all of a sudden my heart will start racing and here's the enemy in my ear.

And I just get up and say, "Oh, you again. Let's go downstairs, let's open the Bible, let's have prayer meeting." He doesn't like prayer meeting or Bible, so he goes away. Again, I don't focus on my enemy. I know I have one. Paul said we're not as those who shadowbox. That we do have an enemy, that's why we're to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, and we need to stand because the devil has these well-laid schemes for us. But you know what? If your focus is on him, your focus is on the wrong thing. When he shows up, my focus is on my commander-in-chief. See, he doesn't look so big and bad when I look at Dad. My father. Amen?

Who is my shield and my buckler and ever-present help in a time of need. No weapon formed against me will prosper. This is the heritage of the saints. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in this world. In fact, if you resist him, he has to flee. The authority of Christ's name has been granted for us to use as the church. Fear is the antithesis to faith. And that's all Satan can do is try to strike fear in your heart. He is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But I will tell you, all he can do is slobber on you because Jesus already pulled out his teeth and he jerked out his claws. He just a big kitty cat. Amen? Okay, got that done. Let's move on.

And so listen carefully, verse 5, "And it was given," God is allowing this, "it was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy." God could have stopped it anytime he wanted. "And power was given unto him to continue 42 months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, and he blasphemed his name, and he blasphemed the tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven," that's us, he's still shaking his fist at us, we got away. "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints," that's the Old Testament saints that are now in this last seven-year period called Jacob's trouble, "and to overcome them."

And power because they're being tested as Daniel just said and some of them are going to fall. We just saw that back in 11, chapter 11 verse 35. "And power was given him over all kindred and tongues and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the Lamb in the book of life, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth." And then he ends this section by saying, "He that hath an ear let him hear." He doesn't say "he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church" because the church is not here in chapter 13. Church is already in heaven.

So in these last days, this man is going to show up. Gabriel is warning Daniel about it. And he will not regard the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, the Christ. He will set himself up and magnify himself as God. Verse 39 says, "Thus shall he do in the strongholds." And he's going to introduce, it says here, and this is, this is difficult because I've studied this to ad nauseam and scholars are all over the place on this.

But I think that when the church is gone, spiritually speaking, this is going to become a very weird place. As you study through Revelation, some weird things come up out of the, you know, the pit and just demonic forces at work. I think this is going to be- the veil between the spirit world and the physical world is going to get real thin when the church is gone. So I'm not sure what god he's going to introduce, but it's a strange god that he's going to introduce, something spectacular, something supernatural. Verse 39 says, "Thus shall he do in the strongholds with a strange god whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many and he shall divide the land," or it can be interpreted "the world for gain."

"And at the time of the end," and we're not going to be able to get any further than this, "the king of the south shall push against him and the king of the north." And when you go to Revelation chapter 6, you see that after the Antichrist comes on the scene, then the red horse, the horse of war comes on the scene and there are rivalries and things that begin to take place and we'll have to pick up there next week. My time is up. Unless you want me to check out that two-hour thing. We could probably finish it out tonight.

But suffice it to say that we're living in an interesting time. You know, I've had people say to me, "Well, you're scaring people." I hope I am. The Bible says some saved out of love and some out of fear, even knocking the fire off their garments. I would hope that as we study prophecy, because here's what John said, John said all who have this hope purify themselves.

I'm here to tell you tonight that time is winding down. It's shorter than we know. Oh, should we be about the master's business? You know, I have a policy in my life that I'm going to serve the Lord and plan to serve the Lord like he's not coming for 100 years. But I'm going to live like he's coming next second. So should we be about the master's business to the very moment he removes us? But when he comes, may he find us working, tarrying, laboring for the kingdom to bring as many people in as we can.

But Ray Charles in his current condition can see the stage is being set for this man to come to the fore. And I think Jesus, if you listen to the Spirit carefully tonight, I think you can hear when you sit alone with him, you can hear, "If you had known the day of your visitation, this day should not overtake you unaware." And I think these next weeks and months are going to be quite interesting.

Now, are we to roll up in a ball and just quit our jobs and wait? No. In fact, some of the people in the first century, they did that thing and Paul rebuked them. "Well, Jesus is coming soon, so let's just quit our jobs and, you know, go fishing." No, unless it's fishing for men. No, you- you labor while it's yet day because night is coming when no man can labor. But you work right up to the final moment.

You know, pray. We're going to get this school going before next year. And what if- what if before we could rescue our kids from this demonic education system, what if Jesus come? Do you think he might reward us for our efforts even though we didn't get to finish it? Like he said of David, "It was good it was in your heart to do it even though you couldn't fulfill it." Do you think he might reward us for the things we've committed ourselves to in working very hard toward even if he interrupts it when he comes back to remove the church? I think so. I think we ought to be about the master's business. Amen? Not ours, the master's business. Well, let's stand.

Man, I don't know how I make- I was determined to get through, but there's too much, there's just too much in the last verses that we want to look at. But I am warning you as your pastor, I am warning you tonight the time is short. I'm warning you tonight that our affairs need to be in order. We need to be ready. Jesus warned us over and over in the gospel to be ready because you don't know the day or the hour of his return and that that day should not take you unaware. You should be alerted to the times and the seasons that we're living in.

And man, I don't know if I can do any better job than I've been doing, and maybe somebody else can do a better job, but man, I've held prophecy and the coming the Lord before you guys for the 27 years I've been here. And we're closer today than when we started this church. And I want you to know that when we get to heaven, man, we don't have to worry about this stuff anymore. We can, you know, we're going to rule right over Christ. We can just go sit in the Bible study Jesus is going to teach over in Jerusalem. You won't have to listen to me anymore. But until that day happens, I'm telling you, man, get ready and don't get left. Amen? As one guy said, get right or get left. No, you get ready. Amen? Be ready because it could happen at any moment.

Father, we thank you tonight for your word and just the warnings that are in it. I thank you for a voice tonight. You know me, Lord, I'm stubborn, I'm going to be here if I can possibly get here. And I pray by Sunday I'll be back up to 100%. But Lord, I want- I want this congregation to know, I want them by the power of the Spirit to be awakened to the fact that you would make it ever so real to them that your coming is at hand and that any moment you could interrupt human history again by first removing the church and judging.

You know, even Billy Graham when he was still alive said, "If God doesn't come soon and remove the church and judge this world, he will have to resurrect Sodom and Gomorrah and apologize." Because the very sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are rampant in our culture and in our world today. And so Father, wake us up. Use us to wake others up, that they might taste and see that the Lord is good, that they might receive that gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of sin, have their names written in the Lamb's book of life. And so we pray these things tonight in the mighty name of Jesus and all God's kids would say, amen. I'll lead you in a last song.