There are a lot of people who are making grave mistakes when looking at Bible prophecy, and that is replacement theology, which is taking Israel and replacing it with the church. That is so wrong on many levels and does a great disservice to the Bible. People think that the church is going to be destroyed during the Tribulation period. Yet Jesus said, "that the gates of hell will not prevail against My church." The church is not present during the Tribulation period. What is happening is that we have the 7 year Tribulation period in which God is focusing on Israel.
Daniel 7:21 ~ "As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them,"
God gives power to the Antichrist to destroy or devastate God's people, predominantly the Jews and secondary those to come to faith by virtue of the ministry of the born again Jews during the Tribulation period. We always want to read the Bible for what it says, don't read stuff into the Bible, let the Bible read its stuff into you. Don't let people convince you that the Bible isn't really saying what it is saying. It means exactly what it says. Let the Bible be the commentary on the Bible.
Yesterday we began to study sack cloth ministry and today we continue to with in regards to it meaning judgment and grace. Even Jesus had a sack cloth ministry. Jesus was ministering and a bunch of Pharisees, professional sin sniffers and fault finders and legalists, and they brought a woman to Jesus' feet and threw her down in front of Him, who they caught in the very act of adultery. They turned to Jesus and said, "Moses said she should be stoned for committing adultery, what do you say? For we have caught her in the very act?"
The Bible doesn't say what I am about to say, but I wish it did. I wish Jesus would have said, "What were you doing watching?" "We caught her in the very act, I mean, we were walking by..." Jesus said, "He who is without sin, cast the first stone." No one stepped forward. Then He began to write in the sand remember? It says that they were convicted from the oldest on down to the youngest. Why? What does an older person have over a younger person? They lived longer. The longer you live the more you have opportunities to sin. The oldest left first, because they lived longer and had racked up more sin, and even though the Bible doesn't say what He wrote the Old Testament says, "I have written their sins in the dust." I believe that Jesus was writing with the finger of God, who was the Son of God, writing in the dust, looking up to see who he was looking at and writing down all the sins that person committed before moving on to the next one. I believe He wrote their sins in the dirt and they saw what He had written, were convicted and walked away, the oldest to the youngest. Now that is judgment! Sack cloth!
Jesus turns to the woman and asks, "Woman, where are your accusers?" She was smart, remember what she said, "Lord, I have none." Did she not have accusers? Yes, but they were not present. They left! Can people accuse you of things? Can people accuse you of things that are true? Yes all of us! Where are they? You might say, "They are breathing down my neck right now!" Where are they before the presence of God? What is one of Satan's natures? He is before the throne of God accusing us day and night. God doesn't hear it when we are washed in Christ. I'm hidden in Christ!
Now that the woman's accusers were gone, He didn't say she didn't have any, Jesus said, "I do not accuse you." When God says that, you are free! Are you free? Is your conscience clear? Do you know that if you are a Christian right now, God says I do not accuse you between you and I is an interesting filter and that filter is My Son, Jesus Christ! You are washed in the blood as long as you continue to put your faith in Him. That is good news! The world does not like this because of what it implies. God's final witness to the world is a witness that is not acceptable to everyone because the message of God to man is divisive.
You know that to be true because the minute you give your life to God and rush home to tell others about it, they don't receive it well. There are some that when they give their lives to Jesus, found that their parents threw them out of the house. Jesus has said, "Don't think that I have come to bring peace, I've come to bring a sword. That a man in his own home will be divided against his wife, or a child against a parent." Jesus isn't into home wrecking. Jesus knows that within the same house if you have someone who believes and someone who doesn't, there will be division. That is true in many of our homes.
Revelation 11:7 ~ "Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them."
Remember how we have learned that you will never understand the Book of Revelation without reading the Old Testament? Where is this answered in the Old Testament? Daniel 7, specifically verse 21.
Daniel 7:21 ~ "As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them,"
God will allow the beast, (the Antichrist) to kill the two witnesses, or believers in God during the Tribulation period. Those of you that are born again Christians, when the rapture happens, you will be taken directly to heaven. You will not be here when this happens. Those who come to Christ during the Tribulation period are called Tribulation saints. You and I right now are called to live for Christ, and it is not easy. The Tribulation believers will not live for Christ, they will die for Christ. I suggest making the decision now! Daniel 7 is the key to understanding Revelation 11. Daniel 7 is one of the most remarkable passages of Scripture and a must for understanding Bible prophecy. Why? Who is the beast? He ascends out of the bottomless pit or the Abyss and that has a connection with Satan. It is connected with demons, and it is where an eternity in hell is deposited.
Whoever it is that ascends out of the bottomless pit we have an apparent problem. If we keep studying, our problem will go away. Why? This guy is a human being. He is human. So how does he ascend out of the bottomless pit where demons come from? The question we want to ask is what does the Bible say about his life? That will answer this apparent dilemma. First of all the Bible in Daniel 7, Daniel 2, and Daniel 11, teaches us about four world governing empires, that God mentions. It is all historic until the very end.
So God says in the Book of Daniel, world governing empire number 1, under the governing powers of Nebuchadnezzar was the Babylonian empire. God says so and calls it by name.
Number 2, the Medo-Persian Empire, under Darius and Sirus.
The third empire was under the rule of Alexander the Great, the Grecian Empire.
The fourth empire is a very interesting empire. The Bible says the fourth empire is the Roman empire, but unlike the first three, the Babylonian, Medo-Perisan and Grecian empires were all defeated by invading armies. The Roman empire was never defeated by an invading army. The Roman empire grew so massive that it began to break up. No one ever conquered it. Technically according to the historian rule book, it has never gone away. Its like in a coma or hibernating. The Bible says that in the last days out of the Roman Empire, when it broke up formed two sections, the eastern and western sections, and as the Bible describes its legs going down, and that in the it will be reassembled as toes in the end. This is key, because the Bible tells us that out of the toes, out of the kingdoms, that came out of the Ancient Roman empire, a ruler will emerge. Daniel and Revelation calls him the beast. You know him even if you are not a Christian as Mr. 666.
Don't confuse yourself when looking at this and see this guy coming out of various areas. in Revelation 13:1, that John saw him come up out of the sea and the sea were the nations of the world. Yet in Revelation 11 it says that he came up out of the bottomless pit. How does that happen if he is just a man? This is where it gets technical. We know he is empowered by demons, and he is possessed by Satan. Did you see John freaking out about the introduction of the beast? When John is confused, he asks a question in the Book of Revelation. He will ask, "What is the meaning of this or what are these things?" He doesn't say anything here. When the beast is introduced like it is to you and I in this study right now, there is no debate from John. The answer is so simple.
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem in Matthew 23 beginning in verse 37, and into chapter 24 of Matthew,
Matthew 23:37-39 ~ "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
Matthew 24:15 ~ "So when you see standing in the holy place 'abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel - let the reader understand - then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."
When you see the Antichrist, standing in the Temple, where he ought not to be, run for your lives. Jesus knew Daniel 9 and so did the Jews, as well as John. He knew Daniel 7, Daniel 2 and Daniel 11. All the Jews know Daniel. It is the key to understanding Bible prophecy. Do you see how wonderfully technical this is? John didn't question the introduction of the beast, because he already knew who the beast was. The beast would come bringing in the last world governing empire that would subdue God's people, based upon the Book of Daniel. Specifically Daniel 7:21.
Daniel 7:21 ~ "As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them,"
God will grant the Antichrist power to destroy and subdue the saints, until the Ancient of Days is seated and there shall be judgment in favor of the saints. This is the introduction to the Second Coming of Christ. So we must know Daniel. John did. This is why the beast is totally normal thinking for him. Guess what Christians have always referred the emperor of Rome as? The beast!
Daniel 9:26 ~ "the prince who is to come."
We know that the beast will make war with them, overpower them and kill them. So this man has been granted authority to do such things. The reason this witness is not acceptable to everyone is that this message is convicting.
Revelation 11:8 ~ "Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called the city of Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified."
Where was our Lord crucified? Jerusalem. How then can it be called Sodom and Egypt? Throughout all of history whenever people have rejected God, judgment always follows. God is so patient right now but it will not always be the case. When Israel went astray, how did God judge Israel? He sent an unbelieving pagan nation against them. There is a pagan cult that is beginning to wreck havoc on our nation, the cult of Islam. God knew about 9/11. Why didn't He stop it? As tragic as the death of those people were, as a nation as a whole, shouldn't worse things happen to us for what we have done? Did you know that we are the number 1 pornographic producing nation in the world? In the nation where it is the biggest producing nation, California is where it takes place! In California, it's in LA County. It's in the cities of Northridge, Hollywood and Burbank. God says I won't stand for it. God's not asking for your opinion or mine. He won't stand for it. He says I am holy and I have to do this. I am wondering what is holding back God from moving the Mojave Desert 25 feet to the north right now? So while people in California are sitting back enjoying the pornography and loving it, a great earthquake comes and now all of a sudden they want someone to pray. What is God's response?
Isaiah 59:2 ~ "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; you sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear."
That is this nation is it not? It will happen. It's coming. I just hope as Christians, He comes for us first. And if he doesn't, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." If we live, we live for Christ, either way it's a win-win thing for us. Will God will judge people that He loves? God has promised that if you are His child, He will chastise you. He will punish us for our wrongs. If God loves America, despite being founded on Christian principles, He will discipline us for our wrongs. It's called national judgment. He does this to nations. He promises to do this to nations. He will do it to America. He does it to His children.
The Bible says if He doesn't do it to His children, if He doesn't punish you for your wrong, I'm not talking about your sins, Jesus paid the price for our sins at the cross. Now that you're a Christian and you belong to God. If you go do something dumb against God and your backsliding away from Him,
Galatians 6:7 ~"Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."
God will discipline us because we do the wrong things. Jerusalem, Israel had done the wrong thing. The 7 year Tribulation period is God focusing on the nation of Israel, and He is dealing with them on national judgment, and that judgment will bring them to a place of repentance. This is how God works. It's fundamental, it's historical, it's biblical, it is what we are observing here.
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