Time is Running Out!

 

We know that the coming world leader will attempt to cohabitate the religions of the world. We are already seeing the bumpers stickers "Coexist" that is a step in that being looked at as being acceptable. While the Antichrist might not be physically empowered just yet, the spirit of the Antichrist, according to 1 John states that it is already at work. God is watching this happen as Satan begins to get things set up for this to happen. The stage is being set for the portion of Scripture we are going to study today. It hasn't happened yet, but things are being put in place for it to happen at a future time.

If you have one of those "coexist" bumper stickers on your car, you might want to remove it. You may want to research a bit about the man who created those stickers as well. You need to find out what it's all about. There is even a new one now called "tolerance." While he is making millions off these bumper stickers he firmly believes in anything but co-existence. You're driving around with an impossibility on the back of your car, because there is no way the religions depicted there on the sticker, could ever tolerate each other because its a collaboration of hostile world views and religious biases. All of those symbols will gang up and eradicate one of those symbols that are on that sticker and that is Christianity.

There is a time coming when deception will happen. This very specific warning of events involves a coming deception to the nation of Israel.

Revelation 11:2a ~ "But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles."

The Old Testament says that the outer court area of the Temple is defiled. The next time the Temple is rebuilt there will be a dividing line between something that it unclean, something that God says belongs to the Gentiles, something that is defiling, and something that the Jews will herald as the Temple. This is why I believe that the Dome of the Rock, that mosque will stay during the 7-year Tribulation Period. Here is the reason why, the Antichrist will engineer a peace agreement and its Muslim enemies. So how can the Temple Mount be used that is palatable to both the Jews and the Muslims? Somehow and someway, the Antichrist will appease the zealot spirit of the Muslims on the mount and at the same time, he will appeal to the zealousness of the Jews that want to worship on the Temple Mount. There will be a wall in between the two and I believe we are seeing hints of that wall today in Israel where they are building a defense wall, which is working tremendously. I think this is a forerunner to the wall that will be built between the Dome of the Rock and the Temple of the Jews.

God has stated that the area outside the Temple, is defiled. Now what would make it defiled? False worship? Misguided faith? Practices of an occult? Absolutely these things would. But the fact remains that all around, written in Arabic, on the Dome of the Rock mosque, in tiles says,"God is not begotten, and neither does God have a Son." No wonder God says to leave it out. Leave it out. A term for non believer.

Proverbs 30:4 ~ "Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!"

People might say this is a contradiction, but I will go with what the Bible says any day! The Bible says that when this man comes on the scene there will be a great deception and Israel will be deceived. This is the last 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation Period.

Matthew 24:21 ~ "For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again." 

Jeremiah 30:7 ~ "How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it. "

We know that Jacob got a new name and it was Israel. This is referring to the nation of Israel during the Tribulation Period.

Daniel 12:1 ~ "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of the nations until them. But at that time your people - everyone whose name is found written in the book - will be delivered."

John is giving us an insight as to how the tables are turning from the first 3 1/2 years to the second 3 1/2 years. He is making a connection. When this mid point happens there will come an end to human government. The Gentiles will tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months. This 42 months is a code word for Bible students,

Luke 21:24 ~ "They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations, Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled."

Remember prior to 1948, Israel was not a nation. Then it became a nation. In 1967, they took control of Jerusalem, then the Temple Mount, but then turned around and gave it back that same week. Why didn't they hang on to it? Because it wasn't time yet according to God. The time of the Gentiles was not yet complete. The "Time of the Gentiles" has two meanings. (1) It is certainly the control of the Gentiles over Israel, meaning that Israel does not have sovereignty over its own nation, nor its capital. That is true today in many ways. (2) A time would be given to the Gentile nation to hear the gospel and respond to the salvation message. The Bible says that time is running out. It will conclude. It will terminate.

Just like in the days of Noah, he had to wait. Noah had to wait 7 days after he built the ark for it to rain. The Bible says it had never rained before and that the water came up from the ground to water the plants. It had never rained before. The people were outside mocking Noah until the Bible says that God closed the door of the ark. We know that the clouds began to form, and imagine what people thought of that and then it began to rain and it didn't stop. There was a great earthquake and the bowels of the earth opened up and let the water out. We now know scientifically that there is more water beneath the earth, than above the earth. Did you know that? There are bigger rivers beneath the earth than are on the surface of the earth.

Zechariah 14:3 ~ "Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. ON that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem and, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from the east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountains moving north and half moving south."

This will happen at the culmination of the 7-year Tribulation Period to culminate human government. At the end of Tribulation Period, God will end human government and He is sending out warnings. Human government fails every time. We should not be looking for political leaders to provide all the answers, but look to the Lord. We should vote. People died so we can vote. To honor the dead and the veterans, we should all vote. If you're not sure who to vote for, vote for the lesser of the two evils. Even though God knows the outcome, He has asked us to be involved. Be salt and be light. The result, we leave up to God. Either not enough of us voted or a lot of us voted, but God made up His mind in 2000 anyway. Who put Bush in office? Not the Supreme Court. God put him in office. God says He raises up kings and He pulls kings down. Whoever God puts in office next will tell us what is coming next. Think about it!

God has given us through John, a window into the future. When you read or study the Bible consider this, the same Holy Spirit that was alive when all this happened, is alive in you today. Ask God to allow that Spirit to show you what it was like during that time, to see the things they saw, to feel the things that happened, to smell the smells and hear the sounds. Perhaps that is one of the reasons so many treasure hunters or archaeologists love what they do. It's exciting because you never know what you will find. What we are looking at right now, has never happened before. We've been allowed today to discover, to explore, to uncover, to see things that no one has ever seen before in our study. God gives us just enough to know about this upcoming event.

As we will study next week, we will look at these two witnesses, who they are, where do they go, where did they come from and what is up with their powers. It will be extremely important to know certain portions of the Old Testament to understand the ministry of these two witnesses. That is the point about the whole book of Revelation. God is basically saying, I've written down the future for you in my Book and you might want to take a look at it. No other man made gods of the religions of the world have done such a thing. 27% of the Bible is devoted to future events. He is saying, "Here is the future."

We will be studying more about the 42 months, which is 1,260 days according to the Biblical calendar which is equivalent to 3 1/2 years of the later end of the Tribulation Period. He is telling you that you can trust Him with your eternal life.