On the Brink of Christ’s Return

Transcript

GRM 700
9/17/2000
On the Brink of Christ’s Return
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

The issue of Biblical Prophecy is one that always captivates our interest, challenges us in our thinking. But more than that the Bible indicates that Biblical Prophecy and the truths of things that are to come are to mold and shape very direct the way we live. We’re going to talk about some prophetic matters in our time together today, that are not just to satisfy some curiosity, to tweak our interest a little bit, but really to grip hold of our lives and have an impact on the way that we live. The focus of life—what we live for.

The Bible indicates that we live in light of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. By the imminent return we mean He could return at any time. Now the church has lived in light of the imminent return for 1900 years and Christ still has not returned. But that should not change in any way the expectations we have. I think there are good biblical reasons for us living today to expect in an even sharper way and clearer way the return of the Lord very soon, even more so than any other generation before us. While we all are to live in light of the imminent return, down through church history, it is also true when we see many of the things that the Bible talks about that will take place in connection with the return of Christ to earth taking place, that should cause us to be more alert and more aware. Jesus told the Jews of His day, His disciples, as He talked things that would take place in preparation for His return to earth to establish His kingdom, He told them when you see all these things taking place, lift up your eyes; your redemption draws nigh. They were to be alert to what is going on. I think we in the church are to live with an alertness today.

Now let me just set out the timeline that’s very familiar to most of you but if you’re relatively new to Indian Hills it’ll help you track what we’re doing. We have the crucifixion of Christ on the cross. Then, shortly following that, we have the establishing of the church and that’s the period we call the church age, the period of time in which we are living. The church age will conclude with what is called the rapture of the church. We read about it in our Scripture reading in
I Corinthians 15. We’ll say more about that in a moment. It’s when the church is removed from the earth, caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air. That is followed by a period of seven years called the seventieth week of Daniel, or the seven-years tribulation. At the end of that seven years, Jesus Christ will bodily return to earth and establish an earthly kingdom over which he will rule and reign for eternity.

Now we talk about the imminent return of Christ because the next event talked about in Biblical Prophecy is what is called the rapture of the church—the time when the church is caught up to meet Christ in the air. There are no events that have to happen before that in prophecy. However, we get a sense of how close we might be to that event because the Bible has much to say about what will happen in the seven years following the rapture of the church. When we see many of the things that the Bible says will happen in the context of the seven years concluding with the return of Christ to earth to establish His kingdom, we see those things beginning to take place, then we know that the rapture of the church must be very clear.

Back to I Corinthians 15. Let me just say a couple of words about the rapture of the church and then I just want to highlight a few matters that focus attention on events taking place that point toward the 7-year tribulation that will precede the return of Christ to establish His kingdom. We really have a two-phase return of the Lord. We have the return of the Lord at the rapture for the church and then approximately seven years later we have the return of the Lord to earth to establish His kingdom. At the rapture of the church, He comes in the air and believers are caught up to meet Him in the air. When He returns to establish His kingdom, He comes to the earth. Numerous differences between these two events but the rapture is really the first phase, the first step in the Second Coming of Christ.

In I Corinthians 15 verse 50 Paul said, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” He’s talking there about the church because the Scripture is clear. People will go into the kingdom; He will establish in physical bodies. A person who dies at a hundred years of age will die accursed of God in the kingdom. They will have gone into the kingdom in a physical body, people who were saved during that seven-year period before Christ returns. So numerous indicators that people will go into the kingdom in their fleshly bodies. But the church cannot go into the kingdom in physical bodies. God has a plan for the church that is special and unique.

Verse 51, “Behold, I tell you a mystery.” A mystery in Scripture is something that has not before been revealed by God. It’s not an addition or a change in the plan of God; it is simply new revelation to us regarding God’s plan. So what Paul is saying is, here is new material regarding the plan of God. “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” The word sleep referring to the death of a Christian because his body is temporarily inactive; it’s not being used. The Christian, the person who has died believing in Christ, has left his body and gone to be with the Lord. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So, his body is asleep while the person is with the Lord. “We shall not all sleep.” Not all Christians are going to experience physical death, but every believer in Jesus Christ will experience bodily transformation.

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” In a moment, the twinkling of an eye. The Greek word for moment there is the word atom, the smallest particle of time, quicker than you blink your eyes. When Christ descends in the clouds and calls for believers, we’ll immediately be gone. In the smallest particle of time that event will occur. “The trumpet will sound,” the last trumpet. This is not the last trumpet of Scripture—it’s the last trumpet for the church. Like with the Roman armies, when the last trumpet sounded that was the sign for the army to move out. So here the last trumpet for the church calling it to glory.

“The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” Two events occur: number one, there are Christians who have died, their bodies have been placed in the grave. Their bodies will come out of the grave, be caught up in the air and those people will move back into their bodies. The body will be glorified. Then immediately following, we who are alive who believe in Christ will be instantaneously caught up. If this event would occur now, quicker than you can blink your eye everyone who is a believer in this auditorium would bodily disappear, be caught up in the air. Those who are not believers in Jesus Christ would be left sitting here to endure the awful events of the coming tribulation.

“Then this perishable body will have put on immortality.” He talks about that. “The perishable would have put on the imperishable and the mortal will have put on immortality. Death will be swallowed up in victory,” in verse 54. That is to be a motivation for us in verse 58, to stay focused and diligent and steadfast in our lives. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” What we are doing in our service for Him is worthwhile. Someday we will be gathered in His presence.

Turn over to I Thessalonians 4, another major passage on the rapture. There are other passages we could talk about but these two are major passages. 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep.” The Thessalonians were a little concerned. Some of their loved ones had died. What about them? What happens? Well, you should not grieve as the rest who do not have hope. You know it does not mean that Christians do not have grief and sorrow when a loved one dies. Because you know when a believer loses a loved one who is also a believer the separation is temporary. They’ll come a time of reconciliation, restoration of that relationship. So, our grief is tempered by our hope. For the unbeliever when a loved one dies, that’s it for time and eternity. The relationship is over forever. There is no softening of the grief of loss because there is no hope. But Paul says we have hope.

“If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” Note where they are. He will bring with Him; God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Now at this time those who have been with the Lord are returning with Him. I Thessalonians 4:15, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” So now those bodies that have been in the grave are caught up out of the grave and in an instant of time, an atom of time, they are transformed. Those believers who have been separated from their body now move back into those physical glorified bodies.

Immediately following that event, verse 17, “We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” You note this event is a meeting in the air, in the clouds. It involves all who are believers in Christ receiving glorified transformed bodies. That’s a different event that will occur about seven years later when Christ returns to the earth and He gathers before Him all the living and separates the living between believers and unbelievers, between goats and sheep and sentences the goats to death and hell and invites the living sheep to go into the kingdom. It can’t be the Second Coming. If every believer got a glorified body at the Second Coming, there would be no one to populate the kingdom. There would be no little children. A little boy couldn’t lead them as Isaiah said because there’d be no little boys and on we go. We’re talking about two different events when we talk about the rapture of the church and the Second Coming to earth to establish the kingdom.

Here we are approximately, and I’ll say why I keep saying approximately, seven years before the Second Coming to earth. The church has been removed. Now we are ready for the seventieth week of Daniel, or the seven-year period that will conclude with the return of Christ bodily to earth. Go back to Daniel chapter 9, Daniel 9 and this will intertwine and overlap with what we talked about in our previous study on the coming kingdom. In Daniel 9 we are told that God’s prophetic program for Israel entails seventy 7-year periods of time. Daniel 9:24, “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people.” We talk about the seventy weeks of Daniel. This is what we are talking about. Literally seventy sevens and it’s seventy weeks of years not weeks of days. So, four hundred and ninety years encompass God’s program. Note, “for your people,” talking to Daniel, the Jews, “and your holy city,” Jerusalem. Six things will be accomplished by the time you get to the end of this four-hundred ninety-year period. “To finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.”

Then he breaks it down: first a seven-week period, forty-nine years and then a sixty-two week period. Then we’re told in verse 26, “After the sixty-two weeks,” which were after the seven weeks, so after a total of sixty-nine weeks or 483 years, “Messiah will be cut off.” He’ll have nothing; the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Seventy AD the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple and so on. The prince who is to come, remember in our previous study we talked about the final form of earthly government—the Roman Empire will be revived with ten kings in a confederacy, ten nations federated together with the strength of iron and the brittleness of clay. Out of those ten will arise a little horn Daniel chapter 7 says, who will replace three of them and he becomes the dominant power. The prince who is to come is a Roman because he comes from the people who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD we’re told here. The people of the prince who is to come. There’s some, has been some discussion, will the antichrist be a Jew? No, he’ll be a Roman because he’s of the people who destroyed the city in 70 AD. He will come, the prince who is to come, and there is going to come war and desolation.

Note verse 27, “He will make a firm covenant with the many for one week,” one seven-year period. It’s after the sixty-ninth week is concluded the Messiah is cut off. It doesn’t say in the seventieth week, after the sixty-ninth week. He could have said in the seventieth week or at the beginning of the seventieth week. It’s after the sixty-ninth week. The seventieth week doesn’t begin when the sixty-ninth week is over. The seventieth week begins when the prince who is to come signs an agreement with Israel. Consistent with Old Testament prophecy, the period of time we call the church age, shortly following the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ down to the rapture of the church is not included anywhere in Old Testament prophecy. That’s why Paul says in writing to the Ephesians that the mystery of the church was revealed to him. It’s something that hadn’t been revealed before. That’s why Paul had to tell the Corinthians, “I show you a mystery,” something not before having been revealed. This has to do with God’s plan for the church.

Here you have the sixty-ninth week and the seventieth of Daniel come together but there’s an indication there may be a gap because something happens after the sixty-ninth week and before the seventieth week. Now we find out that gap has lasted almost 2000 years—the church age. The rapture of the church will occur. Sometime following the rapture of the church, the prince that will come will sign an agreement with Israel. That will mark the beginning of the seventieth week of Daniel. The rapture of the church is not the beginning point of the final seven-year period. The signing of the covenant is. Now he may be signing that covenant at the same instant that the church is raptured. But there could be a period of time following the rapture before that event occurs. Remember Jesus Christ died on the cross, was raised from the dead. He ministered among His disciples for 40 days. Then after 50 days the Holy Spirit comes in Acts chapter 2, Pentecost, 50, and the church begins. There was a 50-day gap there and really the sixty-ninth week of Daniel ended a week or so before the crucifixion of Christ, because it was after the sixty-ninth week Christ was crucified. We have about a two-month period all together when the sixty-ninth week ends before the church begins. We could have a period of days, weeks or months following the rapture when things solidify before this final agreement. I don’t know the timeline there. I don’t think it would be years since the purpose of the rapture is to remove the church so God can complete the program with Israel. But you ought to note this marks the beginning of the seventieth week of Daniel. Then this seven-year period is divided into two. In the middle of the week, and you’ll see other places we’re going to read it’s going to be called forty-two months, or three hundred and sixty days, the one half of this seven-year period. We know it’s a week of years.

Note this, “he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” We’re going to have something happen in the middle of that seven-year period and on the wings of abomination comes one who makes desolate and will put an end to sacrifice and grain offering. The most significant event that has occurred, I believe, in church history is the return of Israel to the land in 1948. The most significant event in the context of marking off the fact that we have moved closely to the end of time and the return of the Lord. Now, Israel could have been gathered as a nation after the rapture of the church. But we know from Old Testament prophecy God would gather His people from all the nations in which they have been scattered. He’d gather them for two purposes: He’d gather them for judgment, and He’d gather them for blessing. But they had to be gathered back in the land. We know for end time events to occur, for example, for the prince that will come to sign an agreement with Israel, Israel had to exist as an entity. There had to be some definition of the nation for him to sign an agreement with the nation to mark the beginning of the seventieth week. The Jewish people have existed down through history. But it would have been hard for them to sign an agreement. They had no formal structure. They’re scattered throughout the world. But in 1948 they come into existence as a nation. Now we see formal proceedings going on to try to establish peace among the nation Israel and its neighbors and so on. A tremendously significant event. Israel is back in the land after centuries of being scattered and now in a place where the events of the seventieth week can begin to unfold at any time. There could be a firm agreement with the Jews.

Turn over to, uh, Matthew chapter 24. Jesus referred to the event we just read about in Matthew, the abomination of desolation. In Matthew 24 Jesus is explaining to His disciples events related to His Second Coming to earth to establish His kingdom. We talked about this in our previous study. 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 let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Woe to those,” verse 19, “who are pregnant.” Verse 21, “There will then be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be.” This three and a half-year period will be the worst time that has ever occurred on the face of the earth. In fact, Jesus said if He did not intervene at the conclusion of this time, the conclusion of the seven-year period, particularly the last three and a half-year period, verse 22, “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved.” The destruction, the carnage, the death taking place round the world is so great that if Christ did not intervene at the climax of that seventieth week, the world would quickly go out of existence. Between disease and war and famine and so on there would be nobody left alive. That tells you how bad it is. We’re talking about the death of billions of people, as we’ll see in a moment.

He intervenes for the sake of the elect. You see the rapture of the church occurs just before the seventieth week of Daniel. All believers are removed from the earth. But then God raises up some who come to know Him and proclaim His truth—the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11 will be preaching the gospel. The 144,000 Jews sealed from every tribe, from every tribe will be representing the Christ they have come to believe in. People will be saved. Christ will intervene at the climax of that seven-year period. That’s when all Israel will be saved. So, there will be a national turning to Jesus as the Christ on Israel’s behalf, on the part of the Jews as they get to the end of the seventieth week of Daniel. Not every Jew will be saved, but there will be a mass turning among the Jews to Jesus as the Messiah. They’ll be ready to say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” The Messiah will return to spare them and deliver them.

Note the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stands in the holy place. You know what that indicates? The temple has to be rebuilt. Sometime by the time you get to the middle of the seventieth week of Daniel the temple in Jerusalem will have been rebuilt. Sacrifice and grain offering will be going on. In Daniel 9 he’s told us. He’ll put a stop to that in the middle of the week. The abomination of desolation, we’ll say more about that in a moment, will be set up in the holy place. That’s in the temple. The temple will be rebuilt.

Turn over to II Thessalonians chapter 2—great prophetic chapter. We’re just going to pick up, uh, a couple of observations. Verse 3, “Let no one deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.” That’s the prince who is to come. That’s the little horn of Daniel chapter 7. He’s the man of lawlessness. He’s the son of destruction. He’s the one “who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God, “the abomination of desolation. This coming prince will take his seat in the temple that has been rebuilt and declare that he alone is God and all must worship him. That’s when persecution will break out. The Jews must flee.

The Holy Spirit restrains events. His restraining ministry will be removed at the rapture of the church. We’ll talk when we study the Book of Acts about how He came at Pentecost and how He’ll be removed at the conclusion of the church. Verse 7, “The mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.” I’m just, my mind’s boggled and this is part of what I’ll be doing with you tonight. People who are predorists, the word predorist means they believe the Book of Revelation was fulfilled in the first century. The man I’m going to refer to this evening is a predorist. It’s the way he gets around specific biblical prophecy. They’ll, well, you know this man of lawlessness and so on, he was an historic Roman figure, an emperor. Well, that can’t be. You know this man will be brought to and end by the appearance of Christ’s coming. Matthew 24 says don’t believe people who tell you He’s come because when He comes it will be like the lightening flashing across the sky. Acts 1 says He’ll come in clouds and glory just as you saw Him go into heaven in Acts 1. That has not happened folks! Next time somebody tells you say, well, I’m a predorist. Hit them on the side of the head. Maybe they’ll come out of it! (Laugh) Maybe they fell out of bed on their head. I don’t know what happens to people. I mean just read it.

This lawless one will be brought to an end by the appearance of the coming of Christ. That has not happened. If anyone tells you it has don’t believe them! Go to Matthew 24! If they tell you He’s come, don’t believe it because when He comes, you’ll know it and the whole world will because it will be like lightning flashing across the sky. So, we know this event is yet future and we saw that in connection with the establishing of the kingdom.

His “coming is in accord with the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders, with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false.” People think, “Oh, well, if these things happen, I’ll believe it.” No, because when you’re in that seventieth week of Daniel it’s going to be harder to believe, not easy; and God is even going to make it easier to believe a lie.

I’ve clipped out some articles. Marilyn loves it. I get a lot of magazines. You know, I get professional discounts, so I say, “Sure, I’ll take it. I’ll take it.” I always save them because I may need an article and periodically, she’ll say, “You know, the magazine racks are full. The cradle that’s decorative is full. The pot by the fireplace is full. The table’s covered.” That’s all she says. That means it’s time for me to sift out the magazines. Well, I tore out some articles. These are only from the last two weeks’ editions, so I didn’t want to go back in history.

Time, September 11th, “Miracle Campaign”. Once Barak’s partner, the Shah’s Party, it’s a party in Israel an orthodox party, is tapping into mysticism to give its politics more potency. What’s interesting is it sounds like you’re at a hyper-charismatic meeting because here you’ve got hundreds of Jewish people come to worship in this ultra orthodox setting. You know what they’re there for? Healing services. Wheeling people in a wheelchair and trying to heal them and get them to stand up. It says here in the one article the crowd wills a miracle until the exhausted invalid collapses into his wheelchair and says, “I do feel stronger.” (Laugh) That sounds like a Jimmy Swaggert service. Ha! But he goes on to say, “But in Israel today it’s a question of the kind of miracle you’re looking for. The most controversial point in Israeli domestic politics is the way the ultra orthodox Shah’s Party uses mystical faith to cast an aura of purity around its machine.” I find it interesting. Remember in I Corinthians 1? The Jews seek for signs. We just read II Thessalonians 4 what? We’re going to come into contact with the greatest miracle worker apart from Jesus Christ Himself. False wonders, false signs—Romans 13—even to the point of mimicking resurrection from the dead. What interests me is what I read in a business magazine or a newsmagazine and see what? Even within Israel there’s a rising movement and influence. People want more spectacular signs, looking for the miraculous, want to be deluded. You see the preparation of the Spirit of God.

In this article that came out of, September 18th Business Week, “Israel. Can a Secular Revolution Save the Peace Process?” Talking about the Prime Minister of Israel looking for whatever he can do to try to salvage his government and do anything he can to bring about a quick resolution to the peace process as the salvation for his government. It was alluded to in the previous article as well. “What Barak really wants to do is tie up a peace deal by the end of the month.” Part of the solution he’s come to is what we’ve already heard, control of the Temple Mount and this fits with some of the mystical ideas. “He wants Arafat to agree that sovereignty over the Mount, holy to Jews and Muslims, belongs only to God.” I saw that in the newspapers as they talked about this and what? All the holy sites like the Temple Mount belong to God. I mean they’re going on and he’s talking here, it’s a week later in a different news magazine, business magazine, what he’s working with, with the ultra orthodox party with secular Jews trying to get a peace resolution. Well, you know, it’s interesting to me that’s a focal point because Daniel wrote 500 years before Christ that’s what’s going to start the seventieth week of Daniel? The leader of the revived Roman Empire is going to ink an agreement with Israel. You ought to be interested that Clinton’s been involved in this. Now I’m not saying Clinton’s the antichrist no matter what you think of him. (Laugh) I don’t think so because it seems to me that the antichrist will be a relatively minor leader—he’s a little horn. He arises from among the European community. He is a Roman and the European community has made very clear their desire to intervene in the peace process and be a key player. They will be. You see all these events coming together. What would happen? Now we’ve got that God rules over the holy sites like the Temple Mount. What do you think would happen if the Arabs would decide, “We’ll pull one over on Israel. Tell them to let us establish a capitol in Jerusalem and we’ll let them build a temple.” Now what do the Jews do? Would they be willing to give up part of Jerusalem for a temple? I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen, but you can see how things can happen really very quickly. We know there’s going to be a temple functioning during the first part of the seventieth week of Daniel. Will the temple be rebuilt before the rapture of the church? I don’t know. I didn’t know whether Israel would be regathered to the land before the rapture of the church. I just knew they had to be regathered before the tribulation. Will the temple be rebuilt? I’ve read you articles from, secular magazines in recent yeas that they already have a place in old Jerusalem where they are making the utensil and garments for the priest, so that when the temple is rebuilt, they will be ready.

We saw in the news in the last few years about all the fuss over the red heifer. Why? They need the ashes of a red heifer to reinstitute sacrifices. Well, you don’t have a temple. Well, it’s almost this given we’re going to have a temple. We just have to get everything ready so that when we have it. I find it amazing. That’s what the Bible says we’d be going to. We have a European community with a revived Roman Empire which you have to have because you have to have the leader of this 10-nation confederacy come forward and ink the agreement to start the seventieth week of Daniel. You see a number of these things coming together. You realize we may be moving very close to the return of the Lord.

Turn over to the Book of Revelation chapter 11 and then we have to move on to a couple of other things quickly. In Revelation 11 verse 1, “There was given me a measuring rod like a staff; someone said, ‘Rise and measure the temple of God.’” Now we are in the seventieth week of Daniel. What I want you to note again: the temple is in existence. It’s going to be trampled under foot, the last half of that time, the end of verse 2, “for forty-two months.” If you don’t know what forty-two months is read the next verse, “Twelve hundred and sixty days,” half the seven-year period. See there’s not a question about the specific period of time we are talking about, the temple in existence, sacrifice being offered, then the destruction that is brought.

In chapter 12 you have the dividing time of that three-year period. The last part of verse 6, “one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Or in verse 14 of Revelation 12 it’s called “a time, times and a half time,” picking up the expression from Daniel. Or down in verse 2 of chapter 13, the end of verse 4, “forty-two months.” So you see the time we are talking about, God is very, very specific. The temple will be rebuilt. Israel will be back in the land. They’ll rebuild their temple. They’ll institute their sacrifices. The revived Roman Empire, the leader will be their defender for the first three and a half years.

Over in chapter 17 of Revelation I want you to note something else. There’s an apostate church that comes into existence in this period of time as well. The true church, all believers in Jesus Christ are removed from the earth at the rapture. But let me tell you they’ll be many, many church people left because being part of a physical church does not mean you are truly part of the spiritual body of Christ. That’s a spiritual transaction that occurs when a person repents of their sin, places their faith in Jesus Christ. So, you have the apostate church, a church that comes to power and intertwines now with the political situation. In Revelation chapter 17 verse 1 talks about the “great harlot who sits on many waters,” referring to a spiritual entity who sits on many waters. She envelopes many people. I take it we’re talking about the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestants allied with her whose influence pervades many countries, particularly throughout the Western world.

“And he carried me into the wilderness,” he sees this “woman siting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names,” verse 3, “having seven heads and ten horns.” There we are. See the connection with what we looked at in our previous study? The revived Roman Empire, the climax of the seven empires: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, the ten-nation confederacy. There’s our seven. The ten horns, that final form of the Roman Empire, the ten horns are ten kings as he says in verse 12. “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings. They have not yet received a kingdom.” So as John writes this at the end of the first century, 95 A.D., somewhere in there, this ten-nation confederacy still has not come into existence. We know there is a clear break between the sixty-ninth week and the seventieth week of Daniel because the sixty-ninth week of Daniel ended about 60 years before. We still haven’t had the seventieth week because we don’t have the ten nations, the ten kings; and you can’t have the little horn who comes out from among the ten horns until you have the ten horns.

The Scriptures are clear. I say that because some people say, “Oh, well, you just arbitrarily put a gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week.” No, God put a gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week, and we just read our Bibles and find it there. The ten kings have not yet come into existence. They’ve not yet received a kingdom as John writes. We know the Messiah was cut off after the sixty-ninth week. The little horn who will sign an agreement to begin the seventieth week doesn’t come into existence until the ten horns are in existence because he comes out from among the ten and replaces three according to Daniel 7. So, it’s yet a future event. It’s yet a future event till today because we know when the little horn comes to his end it’ll be because Christ returns to earth like the lightning across the sky. So yet future event.

This great harlot, I take it, is led by the Roman Catholic Church. We don’t have time to go into this. We’ve done some detailed studies on other occasions on Revelation 17. We see it’s encompassing power, almost a billion people consider themselves Roman Catholics and begin to reach out to other places. Now the Pope causes a stir, it’s on the front page of the Omaha World Herald, what people thing because he did declare that if you’re not Roman Catholic you cannot have full salvation. So, all this that even evangelicals running around saying, “You know, the Pope’s a believer. He believes in salvation by grace through faith.” He believes in salvation by the Roman church; and some Roman Catholics are responding in the paper, and they think it’s terrible what he said because he shouldn’t be so narrow because anyone who’s doing good works is going to heaven. They oppose what he said but not because of their good theology because he’s not pluralistic enough.

But ultimately it will come, and you have a federation, ten nations federated in a revived Roman Empire. It has the strength of iron but the brittleness of clay. You have a religious power encompassing a billion people in the Western world riding on this beast and you see its power and influence. The little horn works with the church to solidify his power until in the middle of the tribulation when he decided he alone is God then he destroys the church, even the apostate church; and all ten nations give their power to the antichrist down in verse 17.

When I look and see this move toward ecumenisity and even evangelicals talking about we can put down our difference, not only Protestants and Catholics but Evangelical Protestants and Catholics and we can join together. We have more in common than we do different. Isn’t it amazing? It’s going to come to that. If you removed every true believer from the world, and particularly that will impact the Western world, that would remove a lot of barriers toward people joining together with the Pope accepting his leadership. You know you already have a man like Robert Schuller whose influence has pervaded the church in seeker services acknowledging he went for the blessing of the Pope before he built his building. I mean we are not so far from this, folks. It’s going on under our noses and around us. Oh, my. So much to say, so little time. We haven’t even touched on Ezekiel 38, Russia, but Ezekiel 38 talks about the time in the tribulation when Russia and her allies including Arab nations will attack Israel. If you read Ezekiel 38 you’ll note Israel will be living securely, it’s repeatedly said, will be living without walls, without defenses. As a result of the agreement with the Western world leader, Israel will turn its attention, which if you read the articles, they want to do so desperately, to developing the nation so that they will put down their military defenses. They have the military might of the revived Roman Empire defending them. In that, Russia is going to come down, I take it this will take place about the middle of that seventieth week, and attack Israel.

Interesting, all that’s taken place in Russia. I clipped this out of, uh, Business Week, September 11th. “The Crumbling of Russia” The country is scrambling to find funds for infrastructure. The country is disintegrating. A full-page article on it, and what does Ezekiel 38 say? Russia and her allies are going to look and Russia’s going to think, “There’s money. We need it. They don’t have defenses. Let’s take it.” And maybe we though, “Oh, with the crumbling of Russia doesn’t that go against biblical prophecy?” No, it’s just prepared the way. Now we see a nation that is coming to the brink that people are writing in secular magazines saying, “We don’t know what they’re going to do. This is a desperate situation.” The Bible tells us what they’re going to do. They still have tremendous military might and power. In that seventieth week of Daniel, they’re going to unleash it against Israel. So even these kinds of things, I read it and I say, “My, how does that fit with biblical prophecy?” I used to think, “Why would Russia attack Israel? Just because they don’t like them?” No, Ezekiel 38 says it’s because of the wealth in Israel. What are they saying Russia needs so desperately? Money, money, money. They’ve got all the figures here, the dollars that we’re dealing with and everything. That’s what they’ve got to have. I say, “Ezekiel wrote that 500 years before Christ? This is what Russia’s going to be looking for.” Now you have a Russia that is in exactly that situation.

You’re in Revelation. Go to chapter 7. I’m overtime. This is too good to leave out, I mean the rapture might occur this afternoon and you’d be happy I told you this morning. (Laugh) Just one more point and we will be done. I clipped this out of Business Week; I had a lot of old Business Weeks (laugh) September 11th, “Bio-Invasion”. “No longer hindered by time and distance, disease can strike any species anywhere. It’s a multi-page article, one, two, three, four, five, six pages out of a business magazine on the world on the brink of disaster. So susceptible to tremendous disaster from disease, from animals, from plagues, that one authority says, “It’s not a matter of if this will happen, it’s a matter of when.”

Turn back to Revelation chapter 6. The opening series of judgments in the seven-year tribulation are the seals. You see different seals and you have the four horsemen of the apocalypse with the conquering, the war, the famine, death and you note out of these things, famine, wars, death, verse 8, “An ashen horse; he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to him over a fourth of the earth,” that’s over a billion people we’re talking about here, “to kill with the sword, with famine, with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.” That’s just the beginning. That’s why I say I look, and I open a business magazine and I read a special report, and we are on the brink of this kind of disaster. The United States spent $9 billion last year, according to Cornell University, trying to fight agricultural disaster and prevent it. According to this a serious outbreak would ripple through that and that would be a pittance. They realize we are on the brink. Things we thought we had annihilated. You know it wasn’t too many years ago we thought we would be without insecticides and pesticides and all of this we’re bringing everything under control. Now, we’ve got here things they have spent billions of dollars to annihilate. Now they find out here’s it’s happening; and now the thing they find out, these diseases that infiltrate into animals now translate they’re estimating that up to a hundred and thirty-six thousand people in Britain could get infected with the mad cow disease. You know we first start out in animals and their observation is it’s always fatal. You know when you had a few, but they’re estimates is not breaking out yet this…. All these kind of things. I think, “Is it so hard to believe famine, pestilence you add to that. But you know about a billion people and things have just started. We have to complete the seals and then go to the trumpets, then complete the trumpets and go to the bowls. Is it any wonder Jesus said if He didn’t intervene at the end of seven years there wouldn’t be anybody left alive on the face of the earth? Can you imagine the multiplying of this if you have a billion people die, the spread of disease and the breakdown of barriers we have to try to be careful to keep disease out and so on? All of the sudden now the world begins to get overwhelmed. All these things taking place.

What does it mean? We live on the brink of the return of the Lord. We ought not to expect things are going to improve doctrinally. Passages of Scripture say it will get worse. We’re moving toward a time when the world is ready to follow the antichrist. We oughtn’t to be surprised that there is not a great interest in sound doctrine and biblical truth. That does not mean we do not want to be diligent. We ought to be pursuing with passion the presentation of the gospel. We ought to be diligent about the work of the Lord, abounding in the work of the Lord. This is no time to sit back to semi-retiring. It’s a time to step up and be diligent doing the work of the Lord because the return of the Lord, I believe, draws nigh.

Let’s pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace. Thank You for Your abundant provision in Christ. Thank You, Lord, that we look for the blessed hope, even the appearing of the glory of the One who is our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Lord, may we be diligent in these days. May we apply all of our energy to be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord? We are not wasting our time in so doing, because our Lord is coming again. May this church stand as a testimony to this glorious truth? We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
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