Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): Many in our world make it their aim in life to be a star, whether it's in the movie, sports, or on social media. Let's turn to Daniel chapter 12 on Light on the Hill and see what a real star looks like in God's eyes.

James Kaddis: I have found the peace only comes from you. I have found the joy only comes from you. Cuz all I need is you.

Guest (Male): This is Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. We're nearing the end of an intriguing study in the book of Daniel. Here in chapter 12, Daniel is told to seal up the book. While the meaning of it wouldn't be clear to him, it will become obvious to those living at the time of the end. Pastor James believes we're in that time where it's becoming clear and obvious. Here he is with today's message.

James Kaddis: You are not children of the night. You are children of the day. You're not sleeping. You're awake. You're watching this. And so you're not going to be taken unexpectedly when Christ comes for his church. You're not going to be shocked by that fact when we are all raptured. It's not going to be something that hits you the wrong way. No, you will be expecting it. And the attitude that you must have while you're waiting for that expectation, that blessed hope that it's often times referred to as, is that you need to be people that are busy, doing things for the kingdom, working hard, taking the next step, literally investing all that you have into making the better uh life, into growing things for uh your family and for your children's children.

Why? Because the Bible tells us to occupy till he comes. And not only do we occupy till he comes, but our earnest expectation to see this very special moment in our lives should be the thing that drives us to living righteously and walking in purity. And so all of this is something that we're talking about now. When the church age ends and the rapture happens, then we will after a period of time, how long that time is, I don't know. I think it'll be a short period of time. But after a certain period of time, there will be the commencement of what we refer to as the tribulation.

And of course, the first three and a half years of that tribulation are not going to be easy years. As a matter of fact, they're going to be substantially difficult, but not nearly as difficult as the last three and a half years. The last three and a half years are going to be substantially difficult. That's when the antichrist sets himself up in the temple and demands to be worshiped. He's the one that makes a peace treaty according to the previous chapter in Daniel. Daniel chapter 9 verse 27, he makes strong an existing peace treaty between the nation of Israel and where he stands as the greatest power broker that ever lived, at least in that moment.

And when that happens, the Jews are going to think that they're that he's the savior, that he's their Messiah, that all is well, except when he sets him up sets himself up in the temple and demands to be worshiped. Then the Jews will realize the mistake that they made and God will in essence deliver his people in that moment. So the dispensation that we're in right now is called the church age. And in that age, anybody who wants to receive salvation, Jew, Gentile, doesn't matter who it is, there's no racial distinction, there's no uh background uh distinction, there's nothing like that.

Anyone who wants to uh receive salvation must do it by receiving Christ into their life, must do it by putting their faith and trust in Jesus. When the church is raptured, then the Lord will commence the process or the dispensation that we often times refer to as the time where the Jews will be dealt with. And this is of course a dispensation dedicated to God dealing with his ancestrally chosen people. The problem is this. If you love the Jews and you care about the Jews, then you're going to preach the gospel to the Jews. Why?

Because you don't want the Jews to go through the tribulation. When they go through the tribulation, it will be the worst thing they've ever seen. And that's a crazy statement. It'll be worse than the Holocaust. It'll be worse than October the 7th. It'll be worse than anything they've ever experienced as a nation. It'll be worse than what Esther put them through or what uh Esther saved them from uh as they were being put through what was going to be a total annihilation of the Jewish state. The Bible says that a time will come where it will be remarkably difficult, that it's going to be very very hard.

It's going to be like something they've never seen before. It's going to be something that 's going to take them off guard. It's going to be absolutely terrible. It's going to be a brutal time. And that's what it's talking about. So there will be this dispensation where God will deal with his people and bring them into this close loving relationship with him and many of them will be saved. And we know that. We know that God will do that. But the way that that happens is not going to be fun. And I think that's the thing that we have to pay attention to.

Also, I should note this that God is a God of books, right? And that's kind of an important one as well because God holds a couple of books in his hands, several books that he holds. And those books have specific purposes. There's one book that we absolutely want to be in, and there's another book that we don't want to be in, right? One of the books that we want to be in or the book that we want to be in is of course the Lamb's Book of Life. We want to be in that book where God opens the pages.

He sees our name in there. And of course, we know obviously that we have been written into that book and we have salvation. And of course, we know as the body of Christ that because we chose to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, our name is in the Lamb's Book of Life. But there's another book. And that book is not going to be a good book. That book is going to be uh a book that is going to bring uh detrimental uh uh end to anybody who's in it. You don't want to be in that book of judgment.

You don't want to be in that book that of course is the book that shows every single sin that you've committed, every wrongdoing. You don't want that. But the Lord does keep books. And it's important that we understand that, right? And so when it talks about the fact that we'll be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book, that is a very very very important principle. And Jesus talked about this book not only in Matthew, but he made reference to this book as well in Mark. And we see this being uh spoken of.

And it is interesting because when you look at everything that happens prior to this time, whether it be what happened with Armageddon and and and what ends up happening with the world rebelling against God and knowing how tumultuous of a time that 's going to end up being, we can all say thank you Jesus that we're not going to be part of it on the reciprocal end. Yes, when we be part of it on that end of people that will be with the Messiah, we'll be in his army. With him, we'll actually be riding in on these uh horses coming to watch all of this.

But we are not going to be a part of the receiving end of it. And it is interesting because when all of this happens, the most uh significant uh thing that we can recognize is the fact that we get to be participants in a way that is actually glorious and not in a way that's difficult or hard from the sense that we're the receivers of all of this bad stuff. Look at verse two. It says, And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and to some an everlasting uh contempt or some to shame and everlasting contempt.

And of course, it's interesting because um we talked about this on so many levels. Um we talked about what the Bible deems as the first resurrection and what the Bible often times talks to as a different resurrection. And that resurrection is the resurrection that we don't want to be a part of, right? The first resurrection actually started with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And those of us who died after the resurrection of Christ while at the same time having had accepted his free gift, we will be a part of the first resurrection. As a matter of fact, the first resurrection as we understand it according to what we know from the book of Revelation actually ends when all of those that were martyred during the tribulation uh in essence are uh raised up to experience the reward for all that they uh for all that they did and for all that God did for them.

And then that happens. And of course, that's a pretty powerful moment when that all takes place, that is all finalized of course after the uh second coming of Christ. But the second resurrection, the other one that you don't want to be a part of, of course is going to be the one that happens at the end of the millennial reign. The one that happens at the end of the millennial reign is the one that you don't want to be a part of because if you end up being a part of that one, you are in essence going to be living uh to eternity resurrected unto death.

You'll be resurrected to experience all that hell has waiting for you. And that 's not something that any of us want to be in. We don't want to be in that lake of fire. And I think that's a very very important thing to think about. So very important note here. But look what he says in verse three. He says, And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. And they that turned many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. This is so interesting because look at look at the first phrase here.

It says, They that be wise shall do what shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. And they that turned many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. It's so unique because when you look at the world in which we live, so many people want to be stars. You know, people want to be famous. They want to be sort of in the limelight. And they want to be looked at as a superstar that's shining bright and and and experience the notoriety that often times comes with that uh type of thing and what the Bible actually tells us.

And this is really critical and this is really important and something that I think is uh very pertinent to our understanding is the fact that the true stars will be the ones who choose to act in wisdom. The true stars will be the ones who say that they are going to listen to the voice of God and act according to the voice that's been given to them. That the true stars will be people who will turn the hearts of others towards the Lord. That the real stars, the one that shine bright, will be the one that will take God's wisdom and God's counsel and act according to his wisdom and counsel and shun the wickedness that often times comes from denying what the instruction of God is.

And I think that that's really important. And it's really great when it's when he says that they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. In other words, it's not going to be an unnoticeable matter that when you continue to allow the Lord to stand as he stands in and of himself, when you literally get out of the way and you show people who he is and you use the wise counsel that he's given you to live your life in every aspect of your life, the Bible says it will be completely noticeable.

In other words, it's not going to be something where you diminish and fade off into the in into the sunset. This is something that everybody's going to be able to see. It will be without an exception a remarkable and successful thing. And everybody's going to be able to notice it. Everybody's going to be able to see it. You know, I was thinking about this the other day where um uh the uh one of the Starlink missions was flying and it was interesting because I remember where I was the very first time um that they flew one of these um uh missions with SpaceX where actually the rocket goes up and then of course the booster comes and lands back down.

It was an interesting moment. I remember the very first mission that they actually was the very first mission that they flew where they did this and the public was actually aware of it. I was um uh standing uh right here in the sanctuary. I was talking to somebody and I had a friend of mine who gave me a call. And um he is a literal rocket scientist. Like literally he's a rocket scientist. His specialty is plasma uh propulsion. That's that's his area of specialty. And he called me and he said, Hey bro, my latest project is being worked on right now.

If you want to stand out and see it, you're going to see something you've never seen before. Really? He goes, You're in California, right? Yes. You're in Southern California? Yeah. Well, something's getting launched in about 30 seconds from Vandenberg Air Force Base. At the time it was called the Air Force Base, not the Space Force Base. And so um it was uh Starlinks uh one of the very very first uh early not Starlink SpaceX missions that was flown on uh something that they had not called Falcon 9 yet. It wasn't quite called the Falcon 9 yet.

Uh it was a very very interesting thing. And he said, Bro, take a look. So I look out uh in the direction of Vandenberg and I couldn't believe my eyes, but I was watching a rocket launching. And of course, we never really saw rockets launching from Vandenberg uh prior to SpaceX really flying a lot of these missions. It was pretty rare. Every now and then you'd see a missile test or you see something like that, but nothing like this. And so I remember standing out here in the north lot before that hideous warehouse across the street was built.

There was nothing blocking your view. It was just basically a mowed down empty lot. And so you would stand there and he said, Just look out on the horizon. And I looked at the horizon and I saw this rocket. It was very clear it was a rocket that was flying out. And he says, Okay, in about 10 seconds you're going to see something that the world has never seen before. What are you talking about, bro? What are you talking about? He says it's going to look like the rocket just blew up. But pay attention. It won't blow up.

What's going to happen is going to be something really spectacular. And you can hear these people in the background because he's sitting in one of the control rooms in Washington and he's just, You know, raw Washington State by the way. And they're just going, Raw! They're screaming and they're yelling and they're all excited. He's like, Just watch watch the sky. So I look at the sky and sure enough I see what looks like a nasty explosion. I mean, it looked kind of ugly. It was a a nasty explosion. And of course, what I saw is what looked like three rockets, three little rockets going the wrong way, almost like you hit the reverse button.

And this is when they were uh playing with a rocket system that was very much like what they call the Falcon Heavy today. And so you see this one rocket still going off into space and you see it going one way and then you see these other three rockets and your it looks like they're coming back down. It looked like somebody had hit the reverse button. And I just thought, Oh my goodness. That that that right there has to be one of the most spectacular things that I have ever seen in my life. And I remember looking at this and telling my buddy, Wow, Justin, this is so crazy, man.

This is how in the world did you guys do this? This is wild. And he goes, Bro, you ain't seen nothing yet. He says, wait till the video comes out of what we're going to show. Those those rockets are going to land like it's nothing. Those are first stage rockets and they're going to land back down in the same way that they came up. They're not going to fall over. They're not going to anything. We're just they're just basically going to land on these little drone uh uh uh little drone ships, these little uh uh launch pads.

They look like little launch pads in the Pacific Ocean actually really close to you, really close to where you are near the Manhattan Beach area. They're going to come down that way and they're just going to land right there. And sure enough we saw all three of them coming down at the same time. Uh well one after the other. It was one of the most spectacular things that I saw. And I remember standing out there kind of with my my jaw to the ground just being really shocked about what it was that I was looking at, not really quite understanding what was happening.

Now it's commonplace. Matter of fact, if you watch the last uh um uh it was specifically very visible. If you watch the the last Falcon 9 rocket that got launched uh uh a few days ago uh the one that got launched at night, not the one during the day, but the one that got launched at night, it was spectacular. As a matter of fact, so spectacular that my ring door camera was able to capture both rockets, right? the one that actually flew up at at midnight and the one that kind of came down. And um I remember dragging my kids out at midnight to watch that rocket just a few days ago and the same emotion being being overwhelmed with the same emotion after the rocket launch, completely looking at the sky after having looked at the rocket, looking at the fuel kind of having had dissipated with the funny look that it creates in the sky and then seeing the stars that glimmer, that shine in the background.

It's such a spectacular thing. But the thing that you have to understand and recognize is in both of those cases you could not sit there and go, Man, I wonder is that really a rocket? Is that what's really going on? No, it was very clear. It was very obvious. You look at it, you could see it. It was very clear what it was. It wasn't something that was of any confusion. It was there. And that's the way the Bible says it's going to be with those of us who walk in wisdom concerning these things. There will be no question as in the what's going on and what's actually taking place.

And that's something that's very important here. But let's look at the final verse that we're going over for today. And it says this. It says, But thou, oh Daniel, and by the way, this is something that we all should be taking to heart here. This is something that I think that's spectacularly important what he says. He says, But thou, oh Daniel, he says, shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. And this is so uh in interesting because he's basically telling Daniel to uh basically don't even try to figure it out.

Don't try to understand what it is that you're saying. He says until the time of the end. What does it mean when it says until the time of the end? When he says until the time of the end, that means that at a time in the end all of this is going to become obvious. And I believe that we're at that time. I believe we're in a time right now where things are have become so obvious it's not even funny. Things are becoming more and more obvious and knowledge is is increasing in ways that we never thought it could increase.

It's actually pretty remarkable. I was thinking about this. I was listening to Pastor Chuck talking about this earlier today as I fell asleep for my little afternoon nap. And one of the things that I caught him say before I fell asleep was uh uh something that I just thought was so nostalgic. It was like weird to hear him say it. He's like, Here we are in the beginning of 1980 and the scientists tell us that knowledge has literally, you're not going to believe this everybody, has doubled since 1970. All knowledge known to man has doubled from 1970 to 1980.

And you think about that and you think what that's hilarious, right? Like we don't live in that kind of age anymore. We don't live in an age where that kind of thing happens. You know, it's funny if you have a moment and you want to uh uh get a little scared, ask yourself to make a note of this and go and take a look at AI today. Go ask something like uh Grok or go ask uh ChatGPT. Ask a very simple question. Say in human terms, tell me overnight how much knowledge you're actually acquiring. Like just give me a better idea.

And you know what Grok will tell you? Grok will tell you that in the last 10 hours I've acquired more human knowledge than human beings have able to acquire in 25 years. I mean, if if you think about that, that's such a crazy statement if you think about that. Like if you if you think about the fact that in 10 hours AI as we know it has gathered enough information, some of these AI models have gathered enough information to make up for all of humankind in the last 25 years every 10 hours that's happening. So if you think about the way things are changing, knowledge is becoming uh very common to us.

And matter of fact, it's getting to the point where there's so much knowledge out there. There's so much awareness. There's so much information that bad information is easy to obtain, right? We talked about such an example of that actor that I was talking about. I always forget his name again. But that actor that's Terence uh Howard who, you know, is talking about one times one equals two and he's running around uh challenging all kinds of things that scientists are saying today. And don't get me wrong. I think challenging things that scientists are saying not for the sake of challenging them, but for the sake of trying to come up with something that you know is better or something that you know is more accurate is fine.

There's nothing wrong with that. But it is interesting how now many statements that people are making can just simply be plugged into little AI models and you can actually figure out what actually makes sense. You can take these problems and carry them into fruition. Things are changing and people are coming to different conclusions and knowledge is increasing. But the thing that's uh becoming even more interesting is the fact that as knowledge is increasing, we are also accelerating the path by which humanity is going to be destroyed. And that's something that we're we're doing and we're doing it at a rapid pace.

And it's kind of scary when you think about it, but it's also brings a lot of hope because you know that there is a future, that we do have hope. And it is uh amazing to me how much power is available to us at our fingertips, yet how much ignorance is happening, how people are not acting in wisdom, how people are not taking the insight and the depth of God's word and using it to relate to the modern day in which we live. And I believe that the most valuable thing that we're going to be able to bring to this world is going to be giving people an understanding of what the scriptures teach in these last days and making them more aware of those things.

I think for uh uh on a large scale it's something that we have an obligation to do, yet it's also a gift that God gave us. God gave us the gift of being able to discern his word, to know what his word says, that in a world where information is uh multiplying over hundreds and hundreds of minutes instead of hundreds and hundreds of years, we need to recognize and understand the fact that the only valid uh uh for lack of a better term identifier in all of it is going to be that of Christ Jesus, is going to be getting into his word, understanding uh what his word says and recognizing it for what it is.

And that is the only source of truth that we should be uh trusting in. And I think that where real value is going to start coming in this world is going to be for those that continue to give people the word of God and to win them over to experience all that God has for them. I think that's very very important. And I think for all of us we have to recognize uh the fact that God is faithful in what he does. He's going to continue to be faithful in all that he does. And we have to look to him and we have to trust him for all of these things.

So come uh when push comes to shove, we know that we are coming to the very end days. We are coming to the last days. And God says, I'm going to open it up. I'm going to make people aware of what's going on and he's doing it already. So when we get into verses 5 all the way to verse 13, I think it's going to be very eye opening for you into seeing the final words that are being shared concerning these things. But I think that we've got a very good primer for what we are about to do when we dig in.

And I think that it was important to talk about some of these facts. So um there it is. We're done. And I think that as we get into the end of chapter 12, you guys are going to be really blessed as we put a sort of a cap on it all and it will make a lot of sense to you as we get into some final dates and some final time periods. With that, let's get into uh into prayer. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this time. And Lord, as we just spend a few minutes maybe taking some questions if anybody has it, we pray that you would guide our time together, Lord.

Thank you for your word. May it just settle within our hearts and give us uh discernment and understanding and awareness of that which you have for us. So Lord, we love you and thank you. We look to you and we ask these things in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor James Kaddis on Light on the Hill and his message The Time of the End. Here it again at lightonthehillradio.com, oneplace.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. Pastor James, you said that when Daniel wrote all of this down, the meaning of it all wasn't clear and obvious, but it sure is now for those of us living at the time of the end. Will you share one or two examples that clearly demonstrate we're living in the end times?

James Kaddis: Oh sure. There's lots of things that you can look at. I mean, Jesus told us what to expect as we approach these last days. Uh we can get into the description of what it would look like as in the days of Noah or as in the days of Lot. But just to keep this answer brief, we can just look at some of the current events that we're watching. We are looking at alliances beginning to take place between Russia and Syria and Turkey. We're looking at the nations that we read about in Ezekiel 38 beginning to form geopolitically the way you would expect them to form when the commencement of Ezekiel 38 begins to take place.

We know that the nation of Israel has been reestablished, which of course is a supersign, but we're also looking at a lot more focus being put on Jerusalem. The Overton windows being pushed in Jerusalem and we're beginning to watch people accept the function uh or the cause of the rebuilding of the temple with quite uh uh with a lot of ease. As a matter of fact, Saudi Arabia is beginning to voice its ideas as into what Israel should or shouldn't do in a positive way. So we're beginning to see all of that. And one of the great examples of that is the friendliness of Saudi Arabia towards Israel is beginning to grow.

And of course, one of the major dissenters of the attack of Ezekiel 38 will be Sheba and Dedan, which of course is Saudi Arabia. So all of this stuff is beginning to make a lot of sense and it's all beginning to materialize right here in front of us according to what the scriptures show us.

Guest (Male): Thanks, Pastor James. 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. 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.

James Kaddis: I have found the peace only comes from you. I have found the joy only comes from you. Cuz all I need is you.