God Evaluates What Is His

Transcript

GR 1535
06/21/09
God Evaluates what Is His
Revelation 11:1-2
Gil Rugh

We're in Revelation 11 together. We'll be looking at some other passages that will prepare the way for us to move into chapter 11. The bulk of biblical prophecy is occupied with the future work of Jesus Christ in bringing to completion the promises God gave to the nation Israel. Really from Genesis 12 until Acts 2 our Bibles are about the nation Israel and God's plan and program for the nation Israel.

Come back to Daniel 9. The framework for God's program for the nation Israel is the 70 weeks of Daniel found in Daniel chapter 9 and beginning with verse 24. I just remind you of this and then note some factors that will come into play in what we're going to be looking at later. Verse 24, seventy weeks, or 70 sevens, have been decreed for your people and your holy city. I think most reasonable interpreters of whatever viewpoint, reasonable meaning those who handle the scriptures with care and take it as the Word of God, are agreed that this is 70 weeks of years, 70 x 7 or 490 years. They are for your people and your holy city. This is rather clear. For your people, Daniel, Daniel was a Jew. It's for your people, the Jews; it's for your holy city. And that's a relatively common name, we'll see it again in Revelation 11, used in the Old Testament and New Testament alike for the city of Jerusalem. It's a holy city because it's the city set apart by God for Himself. That's what we're talking about when we talk about that which is holy, it is set apart from sin, set apart by God for Himself. Six things will be accomplished—finish the transgression, make an end to sin, make atonement for iniquity. So those first three had to do with dealing with sin. And then the last three—to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. That will bring us into the kingdom and the establishing of Christ's reign on the earth.

So you break it down. Know and discern from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince will be 7 weeks, that's 49 years. And then another 62 weeks for a total of 69 weeks. The 7 weeks and then the 62 weeks, during the first block of time Jerusalem would be rebuilt. Then we have 62 more weeks until Messiah the Prince. We come to verse 26, after the 62 weeks, which was after the 7 weeks. So after a total of 69 weeks, 483 years, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. We've noted it doesn't say in the 70th week, but after 69 weeks. So there is a hint here, at least a provision for a break because it won't be in the 70th week, it will be after 69 weeks. Because there is going to be a break, as you are aware, between the completion of the 69 weeks, the first 483 years, and the last week of years, the last 7-year period. The Messiah will be cut off, have nothing. The people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The people of the prince who is to come, we note that they will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The Romans under Titus in 70 A.D. destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple. So that's the people of the prince who is to come. That will be an indication to us of the nationality of the coming prince.

Verse 27, he will make a firm covenant. Who is the he? Well it is the prince who is to come, whose people destroyed the city and the sanctuary in 70 A.D. He will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. Obviously it's not the same people, those human beings, because they have died. But in that line, those people, he would be a Roman. He will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. So you see we're told something that happened after 69 weeks, 483 years. The Messiah was cut off, the city is destroyed and the prince who will be a descendant in the line of those people who destroyed the city in 70 A.D., he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. And I take it the many here refers to the Jews, the nation of Israel. So that's what marks the beginning of the 70th week. There is going to be a covenant, agreement, between the ruler of what we call the revived Roman empire, we'll have more to say about that in coming studies. He'll make a firm covenant with the many for one week, one 7-year period. In the middle of the week he'll put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. And on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate. And on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate. That expression is picked up in the New Testament, the abomination of desolation. That's where we pick up that last 7-year period is divided into two 3½ -year segments. It's a time of God's wrath, it's the period of time covered in Revelation 6-19 and we are in the midst of that week as we've noted, when we come to chapters 10-14.

Now one of the key events that takes place in this last 7-year period of God's program for the nation Israel is the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. The sacrifices will be reinstituted in the nation and in the temple. Now we're not told whether the temple will be rebuilt before the 70th week begins or during the opening period of this last 7-year period. All we know is by the time you get to the middle of that 7-year period, there is a temple in existence, sacrifices are being offered. We read in Daniel 9:27, in the middle of the week he'll put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. That requires the rebuilding of the temple.

An article I shared with you twenty years ago, Time Magazine had an article, “Time for a New Temple,” and a prayer starts the article. The subtitle is “Traditionalist Jews Hope to Rebuild their Sacred Edifice.” Then the prayer, may it be thy will that the temple be speedily rebuilt in our day. That plea to God recited three times a day in Jewish prayers expresses a yearning that makes Jerusalem's temple mount potentially the most volatile 35 acres on earth. Though nineteen centuries have passed since Roman troops obliterated Herod's gilded temple, the mount remains the object of intense Jewish reverence. And the article is about the institute in Israel that is reconstructing the articles needed to carry on the temple ritual. And these organizations are zealously making preparations for the new temple. They point out that animal sacrifices and other aspects of temple worship are so ingrained in Judaism that they take up a third of the 613 biblical commandments. So in order for the Jews to do what the Old Testament requires of them, they'll need the temple. So the article, again it's 20 years old, but it has pictures of freshly woven priestly vestments that had been done according to scriptural instructions, painstakingly made with flax spun by hand into 6-stranded threads and so on. One of the leaders in the temple institute says, no one of us can say how or no one wants to do it by force, but sooner or later, in a week or in a century it will be done. We will be ready for it. Every day's delay is a stain on the nation. So that thinking, and it has not gone away in the twenty years.

The Bible is clear, we will have the temple. The temple goes back to the tabernacle in the Old Testament under Moses, where the instructions for the tabernacle were given. The tabernacle was the predecessor of the temples. It was temporary, it was a tent-like structure that could be taken down and moved because Israel was not yet in the land. The first temple was constructed under Solomon in 960 B.C., and it lasted until 586 B.C. when the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it. So it had a long life. II Kings 24-25 record that. So it was built under Solomon, so we have Solomon's temple, the first temple. Then there was a temple constructed under Zerubbabel. It's recorded in Ezra 3. It was basically destroyed, for all intents and purposes not usable, in 168 B.C. by Antiochus Epiphanes. Herod's temple, we might consider it a third temple, but it is usually considered part of the second temple, a rebuilding of Zerubbabel's temple. You read about second temple Judaism. And you read the Old Testament and think it seems like Zerubbabel built a temple and then Herod built a temple, that would be the third. In one sense you could look at it that way, but basically it is usually considered the second temple constructed by Zerubbabel. It went through a period where it was basically destroyed, but Herod restored that temple and brought it perhaps to greater grandeur than even Solomon's temple. It was a magnificent structure. That went from 516 B.C. when Zerubbabel built it, we just consider that the second temple, and lasted down until 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed it. So you have the two major temples. The second temple has two phases, it's constructed under Zerubbabel and the destruction that took place under Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 B.C., but it wasn't totally annihilated, but it suffered major damage. Then the rebuilding under Herod. And that was a long process. That was the temple in existence when Jesus Christ was on earth. Destroyed in 70 A.D.

Then there will be the tribulation temple. We're going to talk more about that in a moment. After the tribulation temple there will be the millennial temple. The millennial temple occupies Ezekiel 40-46, and you have great detail given in those chapters at the end of Ezekiel's prophecy on the temple that will be in existence during the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ, the first phase of the eternal kingdom.

We're concerned with what is called the tribulation temple, the temple that will be reconstructed and in operation during the first 3½ years of the 70th week of Daniel in particular. Several passages point to this. We just read Daniel 9:27, in the middle of the seven years, this final seven years, the antichrist, as we refer to him, will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. That means it has been going on. Somewhere, either prior to the beginning of that 70th week or in connection with the covenant he made with them to start the 70th week, Israel has been able to rebuild the temple and reinstitute the sacrificial system. This article I read to you from twenty years ago makes note that there was a process even then going on of meeting with different Jews to try to determine who would qualify as being in the priestly line. What goes on is those Jews with the name Cohen, which identifies them as priests. Now to find out if they can trace back lineage and be comfortable a certain group will be qualified to be set aside and consecrated as priests and so on.

Look over in Daniel 12:11, from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up. Remember in Daniel 9:27 is one who comes on the wings of abomination and makes desolate. Here it's the abomination of desolation is set up. There will be 1290 days. So from that middle period, the middle of the 70th week, he puts an end to sacrifice and grain offering. The regular sacrifice is abolished, the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. Well, 1260 days would be half of the seven-year period, using a 360-day prophetic year. Then we have 1290 days and then blessed is the one who comes to 1335 days. So an additional 45 days on top of the additional 30 days or an additional 75 days. We'll talk about those when we get to the setting up of the millennium. But you can see we are in the middle and looking forward to the end and the establishing of the kingdom.

Turn over to Matthew 24, and Jesus giving the Olivet Discourse. This is another one of the major discourses of Christ in the book of Matthew. We've been studying the Sermon on the Mount and here you have the Olivet Discourse. Look at verse 3, the question. He is on the Mount of Olives, that's why we call it the Olivet Discourse. The disciples came to Him privately saying, tell us when these things will happen, the destruction of Jerusalem, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. So the discussion, some of what He talks about in this context parallels what we've seen in the judgments already beginning in Revelation 6. Then you come down to verse 15, therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place. Let the reader understand. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get things that are in his house, whoever is in the field must not return home to get a cloak. Woe to those who are pregnant. Pray your flight won't be in winter on the Sabbath. Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, or ever will be. We are in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel and the most intense persecution ever will break out as Satan attempts annihilate the nation Israel. In connection with this we have an end put to sacrifice, the abomination of desolation is standing in the holy place. That requires the temple to be in existence, the outer court of the temple, the holy place, the holy of holies. What is going to happen is the abomination of desolation, apparently going to be a statue, we'll say more about that in a moment, is going to be erected in the holy place. Couldn't be erected in the holy place if there weren't a temple. Things aren't that complicated.

We're getting ready to go into Revelation 11. A commentary I was rereading this afternoon was saying this is perhaps the most difficult chapter in biblical prophecy. And the way he tried to interpret it, no wonder. I mean, it's not about Israel, it's not about Jews, it's about the church, and he is off on flights of fancy. It's rather clear, isn't it? When is the abomination of desolation going to be set up? In the middle of the 70th week of Daniel.

Down in verse 21 of Matthew 24, then there will be great tribulation that has not occurred since the beginning of the world. And that will then culminate with the return of Christ, down in verses 30-31 when He will appear and every eye will see Him.

Turn over to II Thessalonians 2:3, let no one deceive you, it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. I take it we're talking about the same man described in Daniel 9, the prince that is to come. He is the man of lawlessness, he's the son of destruction. The one who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship. Now note this, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. That's the abomination of desolation that will be standing in the holy place. He in effect sets himself up in the temple that the Jews had constructed and now declares himself to be god. We get more details of this as we move into Revelation 12-13, this activity of the man of lawlessness, the antichrist, the son of destruction. All talking about the same person. We have to have the temple to have him set himself up in the temple.

Now we may get an idea here of what takes place. Let's go back to Daniel 11. Now in Daniel 11:21 and down through verse 35 Daniel prophesies about a man who is coming called Antiochus Epiphanes. He has already appeared in history, he ruled from 175-164 B.C. in Syria. Now Antiochus Epiphanes was a godless man, some of you are familiar with the history. The Romans were rising to power and wanted to assert their influence in the Middle East and so Antiochus Epiphanes as he was trying to expand his power went down into Egypt. And the Egyptians called for the Romans for help and so when Antiochus Epiphanes arrived in Egypt the Roman commander was there and told him he would have to go to war with the Romans if he didn't turn around and go back. And Antiochus Epiphanes said he'd have to think about it. So the Roman commander drew a circle around him in the sand and said, that's fine, think about it. You have until you leave the circle. Well Antiochus Epiphanes could not stand against Rome so he went back up to Palestine and he was enraged and so he vented his rage on the Jews. And one of the things he did there was to desecrate the temple, offer a pig on the altar, an unclean animal. Then another thing he did was he had constructed a statue of the god Zeus, but he had the statue constructed with his own features. In other words he was the incarnation of Zeus. And he had that set up in the holy place in the temple.

And so you read down in Daniel 11:31 as Daniel prophesied what Antiochus Epiphanes would do. Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, do away with the regular sacrifice, and they will set up the abomination of desolation. That gives us some insight. Antiochus Epiphanes, much has been written on him, he becomes a type of the coming antichrist because of his sacrilege of the temple and setting up this image of himself, which is called the abomination of desolation. Now it's not the same one as we read about in Daniel 9 and Daniel 12, but it anticipates that. And so evidently the coming antichrist may well have an image of himself set up in the temple and declare himself to be God and the only valid object of worship. Revelation 13, we'll get into that and we'll look at more of the details there.

So let's go to Revelation 11. All of that was the introduction. What is going to happen in the first two verses of Revelation 11 is the temple is going to be measured and we will be told there are 42 months remaining in the 70th week of Daniel. So that's pretty clear, isn't it, in light of what we just read in the book of Daniel. He's going to make a firm covenant with the Jews for one seven-year period. In the middle of the seven years, even our youngest children would be able probably to tell you what the middle point is in seven—it's 3½ years in. What is 42 months? Well if we stop and work it out, 3½ years. I just can't understand, commentary I was reading, a man with training in a well-known dispensational school has changed his mind. He says this is not talking about the Jews, and these are not things to be taken literally. I mean, how would you take what we read in Daniel? A period of seven years, divide it in half and we'll talk about the days. We have 1290 days because there are an additional 30 days because between the return of Christ and the setting up of the kingdom we're going to have a period of 75 days. We have judgment of the sheep and goats and so on to take place, other events we'll talk about. The end of verse 2 will tell us it is 42 months, if you would like it by days verse 3 will tell you we're talking about 1260 days. If you like it half of seven we'll go back to Daniel 9, remember, in the middle of the seven-year period. The scripture is clear.

Look at verse 1, there was given me a measuring rod like a staff. And someone said, get up and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside the temple, do not measure it for it has been given to the nations. They will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months. And during this time I will grant to my two witnesses, they will prophesy for 1260 days. This will come up over in chapter 12 verse 6, 1260 days. When we get down into chapter 13 verse 5, we'll talk about 42 months. So in verse 14 of chapter 12 there is a time, times and a half time, which take us back to Daniel. God just tells us again and again and again. There are people who say this is really complicated, I wonder what 42 months is. Well just start with the simplest explanation, it may be it means 42 months. Brilliant. I mean, how did I get to be so smart?

So John is instructed to measure the temple and those who worship in it. Note, get up, measure the temple of God, the altar and those who worship in it. Now this is something, we won't take time to go back to the Old Testament, but measuring does happen. In Zechariah 2 Jerusalem was to be measured in anticipation of judgment. In Ezekiel 40 the millennial temple is measured. When we get to Revelation 21 we'll find the new Jerusalem is measured, it has to be measured with a golden measuring rod. Measuring seems to indicate God is evaluating what is His, making a distinction between what belongs to Him and what is profane. The measuring is part of His process of marking it out for His purposes. Like we get the same idea. If you're measuring something, you are evaluating it, you are considering it. Maybe you bought property and you go out and you measure it and you drive in a stake and get an idea, this is what belongs to me for my house, this will be the edge of our property. That's the concept here. God is measuring the temple of God. He is measuring the people because they are being evaluated by God. We'd say we are sizing them up. Same kind of expression as God prepares to give further information here.

The temple refers to the temple proper which was divided into two divisions—the holy place, then you have the curtain, the veil, and then you have the holy of holies. So what he talks about here in measure the temple of God, the altar and those who worship in it, the altar would be the altar of incense which is in the holy place right before the curtain, going into the holy of holies. So that's the inner portion. He doesn't measure the outer court where the Gentiles were allowed to come in. He says that in verse 2, don't measure the outer court. So when he says measure those who worship in it, that would be the Jews. The Gentiles weren't allowed to go into the inner part of the temple proper. Remember in the book of Acts the Jews made accusation against Paul that he had brought a Gentile in. That would defile the temple, Gentiles would defile it, they are unclean. So the Jews are ready to kill Paul for desecrating the temple. He didn't really do that but it was a false accusation they made. So here when he measures the temple and the altar, he's talking about the inner part of the temple. And the Jews in the inner part of the temple. They are the only ones who would be allowed in there for worship.

Verse 2, leave out the court which is outside the temple, that outer court, the court of the Gentiles where the Gentiles were permitted to come. Gentile proselytes did become worshipers of the God of Israel and so on. So you leave out the court which is outside the temple, do not measure it for it has been given to the nations. And they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months. So you have this area and Jerusalem are going to be under Gentile domination for 42 months. Note what happens here, a clear distinction is made between the Jews and the Gentiles during this period. This is a time when God is working out His plan of salvation for the Jews. There will be Gentiles saved during the seven-year period. You understand this is a time when God's plan focuses on the Jews. Remember the six things accomplished for your people and your holy city, Daniel in Daniel 9:24? Dealing with the sin of Israel, bringing righteousness to the nation Israel. So the Jews involved in worship here are measured out by God and ultimately they're going to belong to Him but the outer court is for the Gentiles don’t measure. And they're going to trample underfoot Jerusalem for 42 months. The holy city, we noted that when we were in Daniel 9:24, seventy weeks are determined upon your people and your holy city. And we won't take time, Isaiah 48:2, Isaiah 52:1, we'll see it in Revelation 21:2 and 22:19 and other passages. The holy city, we still use that reference today. We talk about the holy city and we know you're talking about Jerusalem. It will be trampled underfoot, it will be under the domination of the Gentiles for 42 months. Trampled underfoot, tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months refers to the contempt they have for it. You trample underfoot something you're indicating is not worth anything. We have this issue come up with our flag. Can you desecrate the flag? What do people want to do? They throw it down and trample all over it. What are they indicating? They have no respect for it, they have contempt for it. That's what it pictures for Jerusalem. The Gentiles have contempt for Jerusalem, for the Jews and for the God of the Jews.

There are 42 months left in the times of the Gentiles. Come back to Luke 21, it's parallel to what we read earlier in Matthew 24, the time of the tribulation. Verse 17, you, referring to Jews, will be hated by all because of My name. Yet God will be preserving the nation Israel, they will survive through this. When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, recognize her desolation is near. Those in Judea must flee to the mountains, those who are in the midst of the city must leave. Verse 22, these are the days of vengeance. Woe to those who are pregnant. There will be great distress upon the land. After this, verse 24, they will fall by the edge of the sword, will be led captive into all the nations and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. The domination of Jerusalem by Gentiles is a characteristic of the times of the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles really began under Nebuchadnezzar in 586, 587 B.C. because after that conquering of Israel, the subjugating of the nation Israel and Jerusalem, it has never been free from the domination of the Gentiles. In Jesus' day it was the Jews' city, but their king was not even a Jew. Herod was an Idumean. And the Romans were the power. Now Israel has a certain power, but the times of the Gentiles are not over. There is a little seeming respite and the Jews have their own nation and they fight for Jerusalem and now in our day they have become a nation and they united the city of Jerusalem. And it goes back and forth. But the big players here become the Gentile nation and it will be a Gentile who signs an agreement with them to start the seven-year tribulation. But in the middle of that the Gentiles will assert their power, come in and bring destruction on the nation again. It will be at the end of the 70th week of Daniel, you will have the end of the times of the Gentiles. They will be over.

The times of the Gentiles are different than the fullness of the Gentiles. Just a point of clarification. Come to Romans 11. The times of the Gentiles are characterized by Jerusalem and the Jews being dominated by the Gentiles. It started when the Babylonians put an end to the southern kingdom. And so in effect the independence of Israel as a nation was over and it was dominated to one degree or another by the Gentiles down to our day. And there will be further more complete domination in the days ahead. That's the times of the Gentiles, running from 586 or 587 B.C., depending where you want to put that final destruction, down until the end of the 70th week of Daniel to the return of Christ. The fullness of the Gentiles in Romans 11:25, I do not want you to be uninformed of this mystery, brethren, that you will not be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles is come in. And so all Israel will be saved. And really the fullness of the Gentiles is the church age. This period of time in which we live began with Acts 2, the starting of the church. In the book of Acts you see the emphasis becomes reaching out to Gentiles and that continues down until the rapture of the church. Then God picks up His program with the nation Israel again. And even though Gentiles will be saved as they were in the Old Testament, as they were in the gospels, salvation now will be focused in the nation Israel and then come through the nation. So the difference. The fullness of the Gentiles, we live in that time now. There is an overlapping of course with the times of the Gentiles and the fullness of the Gentiles. The fullness of the Gentiles refers to the time of Gentile salvation, the Gentiles being the focal point of God's plan of salvation, the church age. The times of the Gentiles is characterized by Jerusalem being trodden underfoot by Gentile powers.

Back to Revelation 11 to wrap things up. I take it where we are, and this is why I indicated that I believe when we come to chapter 10 we really are moving now to events relating to the last half of the tribulation. We just take Revelation sequentially. We pick up with the 70th week of Daniel, the seven-year tribulation beginning in chapter 6. We have the church in chapters 2-3. And you have unfolded the seal judgments and the trumpet judgments. Now after the sixth trumpet but before the sounding of the seventh trumpet we begin to unfold things that will take place and cover a period of 42 months. That would seem to indicate we are at the middle here and we are told, verse 2, 42 months; verse 3, 1260 days and so on. This will be further emphasized as I mentioned in chapters 12-13. So we'll have the sounding of the seventh trumpet in chapter 11 verse 15 and everything gets ready, but we won't have the contents of that seventh trumpet until we get to chapter 16 and the seven bowls which come out of the seventh trumpet. So we have, if you will, this interlude filling in the material we need to understand events unfolding over this last period of time.

The covenant with Israel that we saw in Daniel 9 becomes key. If you are watching the news, if you read articles on this, that's why we say Europe becomes a key thing. We'll be talking more about the identification of the revived Roman empire when we get to chapter 13 and how this is the culmination of Gentile earthly empires. And the place that Europe plays in this and we know the antichrist will be Roman from Daniel 9. We begin to look at the part the European Union plays with Israel and the role they have. I saw an article recently in the last month or two talking about Israel's interest in becoming identified with the European Union. And we just look and see all the parts coming together and we say, how will this play? And it's interesting to see it unfolding? With Israel back in the land, they have to be back in the land before they can build the temple which has to be in the land obviously. So we didn't have that until 1948. Then they didn't have Jerusalem and the site of the temple until the 1967 war. They had to have the temple site, now the temple site is still under Muslim control. But that will have to be taken care of. An article notes here that some of these Jews are convinced they know where the holy of holies is on the Temple Mount because they have to be careful as a Jew. They wouldn't walk on the site where the holy of holies was because they are not allowed in the holy of holies. And even though the temple has been destroyed, if you walk on that ground where the holy of holies was, they view that you have walked into the holy of holies. And the article saying we have identified the site, we're confident we know where the holy of holies is so we can go on the Temple Mount without being afraid we'll walk on the holy of holies.

So all these things going on in the mind. We've been privileged to see Europe come together, many of these nations, and have their own currency. Now we look at our currency in relation to the euro and all these things going on. All preparation for this 70th week. Some of this will be coming up. The scripture focuses a lot of attention on the last half because as we'll see when we get to chapter 12, that's where things unravel. Evidently for the first 3½ years things go well because of the agreement that the Jews have signed with the man of lawlessness. He looks like a savior, guaranteeing their security. But now ............... How did this happen? What are the Muslims going to do about the Temple Mount? I don't know. But then again who would have thought at the beginning of the 1900s that Israel would be in their land and have possession? We knew the Bible .......... How is it all going to work out? It's amazing how God can work things out, isn't it? I mean, how are you going to get the nations of Europe together? They've been fighting for centuries. How are they ever going to come together as one? On it goes. We see God bringing things together.

During that first 3½ years Israel will be flourishing, things look good. But the man of lawlessness is not a friend. He is an agent of the devil and in the middle of that seven-year period, because of events that take place, he no longer has to pretend to be a friend of Israel. He no longer needs the support of certain entities. He is in a position to declare himself world ruler, to declare himself to be God. The only allowed worship now in all the empire is the worship of me. Why do you set up your image in the temple? When we get to chapter 12 we find out. The only people on earth that the devil hates with an endless hatred is not the United States, it's not the Germans, it's not the Chinese, it's not the Jews. It's the Jews. Why? Because God chose the Jews for Himself and all His promises, His covenants depend upon the Jews being established as the central people with their Messiah ruling from Jerusalem. So all satanic efforts focused to keep that from happening. That's why anti-semitism will never go away. The Jews can never be safe, they can never be destroyed but they can never be safe. They are under the protection of God but they are under the judgment of God. And even the fierce judgment of the tribulation and all the efforts of Satan to destroy the nation, when all is said and done the kingdom will be established, the Jews will be the central people on earth, the capital of the world will be Jerusalem, and the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of Jew and Gentile alike, will reign from Jerusalem. And we'll have the kingdom. So here we are, God having the temple measured.

I feel sad for people who claim to believe the Bible and read chapter 11 and say it's the most difficult chapter. You don't want to think he's talking about Jews and the Jewish temple when he talks about the temple of God, the altar. The man with a doctorate of theology degree. How can you miss it? And we know the end. Isn't it fun reading the last chapter and know our God is in control. I'm not prophesying that the Lord is coming at the rapture here next week or next month, but you know it wouldn't surprise me one bit if He did. Would it surprise you? So we live every day in expectation, right? And how much more as we see what's taking place in the world in these days. The One coming is our Savior, the One who will rule. And remember the letters to the churches? We will rule and reign with Him.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your truth. Thank you for your Word. Thank you for precious promises, precious prophesies given to your people Israel. Lord, they are precious to us, they remind us that you are a God of your word, you have chosen Israel for yourself and the gifts and calling of our God are irrevocable. Nothing can change what you have promised and prophesied concerning the nation Israel. We praise you that we Gentiles also have been called to salvation in the Jewish Savior, the One who provided salvation by His death on the cross, the One who will rule and reign over a Jewish kingdom. But Lord, we have not replaced your people, Israel. You in your marvelous plan have chosen to include Gentiles and make a place for them, but your promises to Israel stand firm. Lord, we have been privileged to see things in our lifetime that are amazing, that believers in past years could not imagine how it could happen, but they knew it would because your Word said it would. And we see your people back in the land after almost 2000 years, we see Jerusalem under the control of your people. We read articles talking about the building of the temple, the reinstituting of sacrifices. Lord, we are in awe. We knew it would happen because your Word said it would. But all this reminds us that we have a Savior who is coming for us, to take us into the glory of your presence so that the final seven-year period that you said would take place, 490 years. Four hundred eighty three years are not good enough, you are always true to your word exactly. There are seven years left, those seven years will be awesome. And Lord even as we contemplate what is yet in the future, may we be motivated to live holy and godly lives, expecting at any time the return of our Lord and Savior to take us into the glory of your presence so that the final phase of your program in preparing the way for the kingdom of our Savior might take place. We praise you for our time together in your Word, we praise you for the opportunity in these days to tell others of the Savior who is coming again, the Savior who not only died and rose from the dead, but a Savior who will reign from Jerusalem over the earth. We praise you in His name, amen.