Light on the Hill

Jane: Getting ready for the soon return of the Lord, next on Light on the Hill.

James Kaddis: Christ could come at any moment. And yes, it is getting sooner and sooner. When you look at when Christ is coming, absolutely we get one day closer every single day, but Christ could come at any moment. And I've been believing that for 30 years and nothing has minimized my belief. As a matter of fact, as time going is going on, my belief in that fact is getting stronger and stronger because I'm seeing lots of evidence that we're beginning to see forming regarding the tribulation about what has to happen in order for the tribulation to take place.

Jane: Welcome to a new week at Light on the Hill and we hope you're ready for an intriguing study on the 70 weeks of Daniel. While 69 of these weeks have already taken place, there's one week that 's not accounted for that will take place in the future. Pastor James Kaddis will spend the bulk of our time discussing this 70th week and by the end of our time, you'll be able to say with confidence Jesus could come at any moment.

James Kaddis: So look what he says. He's going to deal with the first 69 weeks here and that's very very important, okay? Look what he says. Know therefore and understand, this is verse 25, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and and build and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks and the street shall be built again and the wall even a troublous time. So three score and two weeks means 62 weeks and then when he says seven weeks, you add 62 to seven, that gives you 69 weeks.

When you look at 69 weeks very specifically, that means you are talking about 483 years. If you take 483 years and you get to a calculator and you multiply that by seven or by 360 because remember we're talking about a Babylonian calendar. Babylonian calendar had 360 days per year. That brings you to 173,880 days. You have to remember that number because if you'll remember that number, then it will help you understand when the date to restore and rebuild Jerusalem actually took place or why the significance of that date is as it is because it helps you understand something bigger.

And I'll give you the example for it. I'll spill the beans right now. If you look at March 14th, 445 BC, that would have been the day that Artaxerxes Longimanus declared that Jerusalem be restored and built. Okay? Very very important. You can read about that in Nehemiah chapter two. If you take that day and you calculate 173,880 days and you in essence take into account the Babylonian calendar and all the other things that are going on, it literally brings you to the exact day that Jesus rides into the city on the donkey and uh and people are praising him Palm Sunday, which by the way this is also very important to understand.

This is the day that the lamb would have been presented on Passover day. Remember what God told everybody in the book of Exodus. He said you are to present the lamb on the 10th day and on the eve of the fourth day, if you remember, you are to kill the lamb. And so it's interesting because Jesus rides into the city on the 10th day would have been the 10th day and it would have been on the 14th day he would have been offered. And if you think about it, a lot of people struggle with how can it be Jesus was in the grave three nights uh and and rose three days later when uh the the Shabbat takes place on the evening of Friday night.

Well, that's because we are talking about the special Sabbath that took place, the special Shabbat that took place, which of course took place on Thursday night. The start of the special Sabbath would have been Thursday night. Why? Because if Jesus was presented on the 10th day, meaning he rides into the city of Jerusalem on day 10 and then he is crucified and killed on day 14th, then that would make perfect sense because he would be crucified on the celebration or the evening of the celebration of the special Passover. And that would explain why from Thursday night to Friday night they did nothing with his body and then from Friday night to Saturday night they did nothing with his body and that would explain why at the break of dawn in the very morning on Sunday they would have gone and they did what they did to take to care for his body only to discover that he had been resurrected from the dead at that morning.

It makes perfect sense, but all of it is related to the uh Jewish tradition of Passover that God had handed down to his people to celebrate in a very specific way. And it was very important to understand that because there would have been days. This didn't happen a lot, but there would have been days where the uh the 14th day would have not fallen on the regular Shabbat because of the way that the lunar calendar goes and the day that Jesus was actually crucified was one of those days where the Shabbat fell on one day before the actual Shabbat.

They call it the special Shabbat and it happened every so uh now and again based on the lunar calendar. Remember everything goes by that. We don't go by the calendar that we go by today, which is why all of this stuff is so incredibly important to look at. All of these things that people tend to nuance, like you have to be aware of those things and to understand it. And so this is this is like a really critical thing to keep in mind all these things that are actually happening here. So know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, which is what we talked about unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks.

The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times. And after notice this, three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood and unto the end of the war of desolations are determined. Now this is really important because this is um pretty critical when you start looking at all of the things that have happened here and you look at the death of the Messiah and so on and so forth.

but still keep this in mind. We have one more week that hasn't been accounted for. There's one more week that hasn't been accounted for and by the way it hasn't even happened yet. We still do that because if you are looking for that final week, you would seek to try to find it between the time that Christ was crucified and resurrected until the time in which we live now that there are some people that will say well that 70th week of Daniel was the time of Titus in 70 AD when he came in and he destroyed the temple.

But that's completely impossible. That can't be the case for a lot of reasons, many of which we don't even have the time to go over, believe it or not. But it's theoretically impossible. It doesn't even make sense. It doesn't even make sense. But look what it goes on to say. He says uh which by the way um uh there there there are some moments in this after the 62 or the 69 weeks where you could easily based on what you read here in Daniel fit in Titus coming in and destroying Jerusalem, that that may very well be uh you could make a viable case for that, but it does not account for the 70th week.

Some people will conflate this and say well that means that's the 70th week. No, it doesn't. Why? How do we know this? Because look what it says in verse 27. This is very very important. And he shall confirm the covenant. Okay? And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease and for the over spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate even until the consummation and the determined shall be poured upon the desolate. By the way, I want to make myself very very clear here.

You could viably, if you wanted to, create a reasonable biblical argument that this last verse in Daniel refers to Titus. You could make a viable argument that that's the case except for Jesus talking in Matthew 24. Jesus speaking in Matthew 24 completely cancels out any thought that this could be a viable explanation for what happens. First of all, let me just simply explain this. The destruction of Titus in 70 AD did not take seven years to take to make happen. Okay? So you would have to work very hard to figure out seven years to make that happen.

And then you would also have to explain why if the destruction of the temple by Titus in 70 AD was a fulfillment of this, then how is it in the middle of that destruction period that there is somebody who sits himself in the temple and demands to be worshiped? To be a much sense that makes when you look at Matthew 24, when you look at the book of Revelation, when you look at how it all begins to combine, you begin to realize that the dots connect a completely different way. Let me tell you what the Bible tells us.

The Bible tells us based on what we read about here in Daniel chapter nine verse 27 that the commencement of the 70th week of Daniel, the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel is characterized by the making strong of an existing peace treaty. Okay. We know that the lawless one, we know that the Antichrist, as we often times refer to him as, will be perceived by many as the Messiah that the Jews had been waiting for. We also know that he will be one that will bring peace at a very temporary level. Actually, he's not going to bring peace.

Somebody's going to bring peace before him. But what he's going to do is he's going to make strong the prospect of peace going into the beginning of this seven year period. When you look at Daniel 9:27 and where it says he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, confirming the covenant means making strong an existing covenant. Somehow people think that confirming the covenant means he's going to you know create some new peace deal. No. He's going to make strong an existing peace treaty. Now I don't know what that refers to. Could that be him making strong the existing peace treaty with Egypt and Jordan while at the same time bringing into play a multi-Arab bilateral agreement that comes in the form of Abraham Accords?

Could it be somebody who's going to make strong that existing deal that's probably being made right now as we speak by our president? By no means does that mean that our president is the Antichrist. He doesn't even meet the biblical definition of the Antichrist. It doesn't even come doesn't even come close to meeting the biblical definition. The Antichrist is a non-Jew who actually comes from somewhere around the same area of Rome, ancient Rome. Okay? His roots aren't even from that area. So that it's just it's it it it doesn't even make sense. I do think it's hilarious how people are even writing books on the fact that Donald Trump is the Antichrist and he just doesn't meet any of the biblical definitions as such.

He just doesn't. He just doesn't. As very self-promoting as Donald Trump is, as humorously into himself he seems to be I think it's kind of hilarious. I really I have a deep-rooted love for the man. I'm just being I'm just being honest. I just love the man. He still gives glory to God in every situation that you would look at as vital or or important. He seems to have a real problem with taking glory from God. He doesn't seem to have the spirit of Antichrist in him, folks. But that's a whole different point. You can just cancel out the idea that it's him by just understanding what the Bible says about who this Antichrist is going to be very very important that we look at it.

By the way, when the Bible tells us that this Antichrist will have no regard for women, okay, what it's actually referring to is the fact that he has a a deep-rooted hatred for God. He is literally a secular humanistic man. As a matter of fact, so much he is so secular in nature that his hatred for God has to be covered up by a false prophet that makes him look to be something that he actually isn't. You can't have a president of the United States who says that he considers himself to be a Christian and gives glory to God for his life being saved.

Uh it doesn't it doesn't work. And folks, let me just repeat myself and saying getting nicked in the ear is not a fatal head wound that we read about in the Bible concerning the Antichrist, okay? Can I just Can I just make myself clear on this one? Okay? So all of these things need to be understood. I probably wasted more time than I should on that specific subject, but it's worthwhile talking about. But here's the thing. We know that the Antichrist, we know we know will be the one that will start the tribulation. And the way that he starts the tribulation is making strong an existing peace treaty.

Now this is interesting because when you read in the New Testament, Paul talks about this time period quite a bit. And one of the thing that one of the things that the Apostle Paul tells us is that the Antichrist can't even be revealed to the world until the church is raptured. He says that in Second Thessalonians chapter two. And the reason that he gives for the Antichrist not even being revealed to the rest of the world is because we are defined as being the restraining force. So if we're talking about the time of Titus, this restraining force existed at high levels at the time that Titus sat around, right?

Christians have not been yet raptured. They've not been raptured to this day, folks. I got news. So the Bible tells us that the Antichrist won't even be known to the world until we're gone because we are the restraining force. We are the restrainers. Christians filled with the spirit of God, we're the restrainers. So this becomes interesting because Jesus quotes Daniel 9:27 and it's an interesting quote that he gives us in Matthew 24. This is the passage that Jesus quotes as the very first sign to look for for who will be the fig tree generation. By the way, I hate to say this, but so many people get the fig tree generation phrase wrong.

They don't understand it in the correct context. Contrary to a very popularized belief, the fig tree is not symbolic of Israel within the context of Jesus when he speaks about it in Matthew 24. The fig tree demonstration that Jesus gives is a simple one. He says look at the fig tree. When you see figs coming from the tree, then you will know that the season is near. Likewise, when you see this sign, then know that that generation will not pass until the second coming happens. That's interesting. What was the sign that he told us to look for?

Daniel 9:27. The abomination that makes desolate in the middle of the 70th week. So guess what? I got news for you everybody. None of us are going to be the fig tree generation. At least those of us that are Christians, we're going to be raptured before that. But there will be a fig tree generation and that would be the generation that sees the abomination that causes desolate. Let me make myself by the way very clear. You don't want to be a part of that generation because if you were on earth while the abomination that causes desolate is taking place, you are very very likely hopeless.

You are very very likely going to be part of the judgment that's coming. It's amazing how that all works. Going back by the way to Jesus writing into the city in Luke 19, he brings this tragedy out and he condemns the Pharisees. He said you missed this thy day. He made it very clear that they should have known Bible prophecy. They should have expected it. And Jesus tells us in Matthew 24 the Daniel's 70th week has everything to do with the tribulation that we're expecting. Now here's the good news. None of us are going to be here for that.

Those of us that have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ now and in this moment will not be here when that happens. So we learn that the commencement of that 70th week happens by this Antichrist that makes the treaty strong. And we also know that the generation that sees the abomination that causes desolate will be the generation that will see the second coming of the Son of Man. But there's something else that we should probably point out and it's not related Well, it is slightly related to what we're reading about, but it's just something that I want to add to this.

Did you notice that Jesus said that no one will know the day or the hour? No one will know the day or the hour of the second coming of Christ. Now some people look at that and go way way way. Doesn't that refer to the rapture? No. It actually refers to the second coming of Christ. But if you're not going to know the day or the hour of the second coming of Christ, how much more are we not going to know the day or the hour of the rapture? Think about that for a second. There's no timeline.

God never intended for us to know what the day or the hour of the rapture is going to be. By the way, my conclusion that nobody will know the day or the hour of the rapture has nothing to do with Jesus saying nobody will know the day or the hour of the second coming. That relates to the second coming and it's nothing to do with the rapture. People conflate the second coming with the rapture all the time. The second coming happens after the tribulation. The rapture happens before the tribulation. The doctrine of eminency is the reason why I believe that nobody will know the day or the hour of the rapture.

Okay? God intended for us to believe that his coming for the church could take place at any moment. And right now biblically there's nothing that would keep that from happening. So it could happen today. Wouldn't it be great if it happened right now as I'm preaching? That'd be so cool. That'd be so cool. And the people that here weren't here watching, well, you know what, you missed out, you know. Anyway, I'm kidding. I'm not saying that you're not going to get taken up if you're not I was joking. Get it? Anyway. But the point is this.

The point is is that it could happen at any moment. Christ could come at any moment. And yes, it is getting sooner and sooner. When you look at when Christ is coming, absolutely we get one day closer every single day, but Christ could come at any moment. And I've been believing that for 30 years and nothing has minimized my belief. As a matter of fact, as time going is going on, my belief in that fact is getting stronger and stronger because I'm seeing lots of evidence that we're beginning to see forming regarding the tribulation about what has to happen in order for the tribulation to take place.

We have technology in place. We've got the kind of crazy things with AI that we've never seen in the last five years. The the things that we are looking at right now. By the way, let me just explain something to you. AI has been around for a long time. Artificial intelligence has been a uh a thing that's been used for a lot more years than we've actually been making it popularized. As a matter of fact, the very first smartphone you've ever had in your hand was using AI at some level. Matter of fact, some of the vehicles that you own, if they are older than 1990, then you probably have no concern about AI being used in one way or another.

There are people that used AI in trading in the stock market as early as the '80s. So there's been some form of AI in one way or another, but the reason why it's so prominent now is because the amount of expansive knowledge that's coming out of how it's shaping and how it's moving is something like we've never seen before. It is something like we've never seen. Do you know that if you take the combined demand for power worldwide today and you put it all together, it won't be enough to facilitate the power requirements of AI as they project it in two years from now.

I mean think about how serious that is. AI will literally be limited by the amount of power output that we can produce. That's AI's current limitation today is the ability or the inability to be able to bring power to the table. Understand this, folks. It's a really important thing to to recognize. Everything that surrounds us today continues to yell and scream about all the things that we know concerning the Bible. Now I know that there were some puzzled look looks on your faces and maybe uh maybe not on your faces, but maybe on some of the faces of the people that are watching online when I say that nobody's going to know the day or the hour of the second coming because any solid Bible student worth a bean is going to disagree with me at one level when I say that.

They're going to say how in the world could you not know the day or the hour when we know that the end of the tribulation will be exactly seven years from the time that it commenced? And we know the commencement of the tribulation will be when the treaty is made strong. Here's the question that I would ask you. How did you know when that day happened? The Abraham Accords, as we understand them today, when they were signed was actually solidified literally months and months and months and months before it was signed. They were solidified by a handshake in a gathering room between a group of Arab nations and our president.

And that was months before we even heard the name Abraham Accords. So what are we talking about? Are we talking about seven years from the time that it actually happens or seven years from the time that they break the news it's going to happen? Or would it be seven years from the time that an actual signed document takes place? When is it going to be? When when is it going to be? Or is it going to be seven years from a time that nobody ever saw? Okay, fine James, I give that to you. Well, we can tell you when that exact date happened once we know when the enemy sat himself in the temple and demanded to be worshiped.

Okay, when did that happen? Did it happen when he makes a law that says you all have to bow down to me and take the mark of the beast? Or did it happen when he privately asked for a moment with the priest that he owns in his pocket to go into the temple and sit somewhere where he shouldn't be sitting and where he privately when the whole world doesn't know and nobody is watching him, he privately sits in the temple and says I'm God. Does it start from that day? Does it start from the day when he started thinking about it in his mo in his head?

And because of the fact that he's in power, that's when it actually happened? We just don't know. No one will know that thy day or thy hour. You just not going to be able to know. So how much more are we not going to know the rapture? Look. No one knowing the day or the hour being declared by Jesus is the reason why I can confidently tell you that we're not going to know the day or the hour at the end of the tribulation when the second coming will be. And the doctrine of eminency of the rapture, the eminency of Christ coming for his church to rapture the church is the reason why I say no one's going to know the day or the hour of that.

So somebody comes to you and says here's the day or here's the hour and they manipulate it based on a passage like the one that we just read. Don't listen to them. They're not teaching you correctly. You're not hearing it all in in its entirety. Very very rich stuff.

Jane: Thanks for joining us today for Light on the Hill. We're in the middle of a study in the book of Daniel. Pastor James Kaddis will be right back. If you joined us late or you just want to hear this again or even share this with someone you know, visit lightonthehillradio.com or oneplace.com. You'll also find us on most podcast platforms. Light on the Hill is listener supported. Simply put, it's the generosity of our listeners that really helps us remain on stations like this one across the country. You can give through the website at lightonthehillradio.com or through our Light on the Hill app.

Pastor James, today you spoke briefly about artificial intelligence. Why do you believe that AI will factor into the world of the final Antichrist and the tribulation period?

James Kaddis: Jane, this is a very complicated question, but the reality of it is AI is another tool that's being used right now to influence the masses and it will undoubtedly be a tool that will be utilized in order to accomplish the purposes of the final Antichrist. When you read about what the Antichrist accomplishes in Revelation chapter 13, one of the things that we know is that he utilizes technology. We know that because of the cashless society that we go to the fact that the abomination that causes desolate happens and yet people are still waiting in line to receive the mark of the beast.

We know this is technology driven and we even know that the animation that we see being given to us here in the book of Revelation, specifically chapter 13, would seem to indicate that AI is going to be a massive part of that.

Jane: That's fascinating. Thanks, Pastor James. As this study in Daniel continues, you may have a question or two about the end times. Perhaps you're in need of prayer or have a comment you'd like to share with Pastor James. There's a place to contact us at our website lightonthehillradio.com. We'll pick up where we left off in Daniel next time on Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. May God richly bless you as you live to honor him the way Daniel did. This program is presented by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.