The Perils of the End, Part 1

That's a great song. It speaks specifically about the coming kingdom of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And you know, you know the prayer in Matthew chapter six, in Matthew chapter six, it says, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The disciples had asked the Lord to teach them how to pray. And so the Lord would begin to teach them what it means to pray. He says all prayer begins with a, with a cry of adoration. Our father who art in heaven, it's a recognition of, of, of God as, as our father and that he is in heaven.

He can do whatever he pleases. It begins with a cry of adoration. That cry of adoration leads to our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. It's a cry of consecration. It's, it's, it's a cry that says, Lord, I want my, or your name to be consecrated in my life, set me apart as holy. I want your name to be hallowed in my life. Well, that only happens as a result of a cry of adoration. So that cry of adoration leads to a cry of consecration, which leads to a cry of anticipation, which says our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.

It's a cry of anticipation on the part of the believer. And that cry of anticipation leads to the ultimate cry of submission. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. All prayer must begin that way because if it does not begin that way, guess what? God does not hear your prayer. It all begins that way. You must recognize God as father who is in heaven. It's a cry of, of adoration to my God, which leads me to that, that, that cry of consecration. I want God's name to be hallowed in my life. I want to be set apart under his purposes that he might be honored and glorified, which allows me then to anticipate his coming kingdom to earth.

And that allows me to live in submission because I want his will to be done. Listen, if you go to prayer and you don't want God's will to be done over your will, do yourself a favor. Don't waste your time. Don't waste your time because if you want your will over God's will, guess what? Nothing's going to happen anyway. You must submit yourself to the will of God. And that's what Christ says to his men.

This is what I want you to do. This is how I want you to pray. Pray this way. And how do you know you're praying for God's kingdom to come? You lovingly reach out to those who are sinners. You recognize that they're away from God. They're separated from God. And the king one day is going to come and bring his kingdom. And they need to be a part of that kingdom. So if you're praying thy kingdom come, then you are lovingly reaching out to sinful people because you want them to be a part of that kingdom.

You want them to experience what you've experienced as a child of the king. And so you pray and you lovingly reach out to those who are sinners. On top of that, you know you're praying for God's kingdom to come when you live to reflect God's kingdom to everybody you come in contact with. You live to reflect that kingdom. You're a child of the king and you want everybody to know that you are in submission to an ultimate authority and that authority is your king. And you live in submission to that king.

And the kingdom of God is not of this world. You're a citizen of another kingdom where Christ rules and reigns. And then you longingly anticipate the return of the king. You can't wait for him to come again, as Peter said, looking and hastening the coming of our Lord. We can't wait to see him again. And somehow, someway on the western slope of the Mount of Olives, Christ was going to get all that across to his men. When he answers one question and gives them the longest answer to any question he ever gives them, because he wants them to realize that they must reach sinful people, people that are separated from God, people that are not a part of his kingdom.

See, when Christ came, he came and presented the kingdom. The kingdom of God is at hand, he said. And then he said in Luke chapter four, I must go everywhere to every village into every town and preach the gospel of the kingdom. So not only did he present the kingdom because he is the king, he preached the kingdom to everybody he came in contact with. And because he preached it, he wanted us to pray for it and then to actually portray it through our lives. And that's what he wanted his men to see and know and understand, because everything in his ministry was about the kingdom of God.

And so they come and they ask a question, and Christ gives an answer. He has spent all of Wednesday on the Temple Mount, all of Wednesday answering questions, all of Wednesday preaching the truth of the word of God. And for all practical purposes, the nation of Israel has rejected Christ as the king. The leaders have said, you aren't God. In fact, leaders have said, you're not of God, you are of Satan. And the people have been, for lack of a better phrase, bewildered at the fact that once they praised him on Monday and sang his praises as their Messiah, why he hasn't enacted his kingship if he truly is the Messiah.

And so Christ wants his men to understand the coming kingdom of God and all of its glory and all of its manifestation and everything surrounding the coming kingdom, because they ask the question, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? We want to know when is all this going to take place? When is this going to happen? And so when everybody on the Temple Mount, everybody among the religious establishment had rejected him as king, rejected him as God, he goes and does the only thing God can do, and that is to predict the future accurately, because he's in control of the future.

He writes the future. He is the future. He is the great I am, the God who was and is and who is to come. So he knows the future. So he does the one thing that only God can do, and that is to help his men understand there is the future. And this is how it's going to unfold, because they're going to need to know that the one they're serving is the God of the universe, because they're going to be facing all kinds of turmoil and difficulty in days ahead. So it begins to answer the question, what will be the sign of your coming, the end of the age?

If you've got your Bible, turn me to Luke chapter 21, because that's where we're at. We're looking at the perils of the end. We've already looked at the predictions surrounding the end, and then we looked at the persecution that comes at the end, and now we're looking at the perils that surround the end. We've already looked at this to help you understand the details. We told you that Matthew 24 and 25 is a parallel passage to this, along with Mark chapter 13. And in there, the Lord explains to us everything that we need to know pertaining his coming again.

Now, God doesn't give us every detail surrounding his arrival, but he gives us all the information we need to know pertaining the things to the end that should establish an anticipation about our lives that says, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. We want your kingdom to come and be on earth as it is in heaven. We want your name to be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven. We want your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, because in heaven, it's done perfectly.

And the cry of the believer is, I want your kingdom, your name to be hallowed, and your will to be done right here, just exactly as it is in heaven. Christ knows that when he answers the question, he's going to perk the interest of the men that are on the mount with him that day concerning the things of the end. Oh, by the way, if your mind today is not perked with anticipation about things concerning the end, let's just say you're not a part of the 11, you're a part of the one called Judas, because Judas wasn't interested about the end.

He could care less. So if you're among those people who could care less about the end, just put yourself in the category of Judas, not in the category of the other 11, because the other 11 would continue to carry on the gospel. Judas would betray his master, would betray his God, and we'll look at him in great detail over the weeks to come, and what led to the plot surrounding his betrayal, because he just was not interested in the things concerning the end.

But the other 11 were. So Christ would present to them everything they needed to know. So he gave them the predictions about the end. He told them there would be military dissension, there would be messianic deception, military dissension, and monumental devastation. There'd be earthquakes, there'd be famines, there'd be all kinds of turmoil on the earth. The nation would rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and many will come in my name saying, I am the Messiah, I am He. He says, don't go after them.

Don't forget though, the kingdom will not immediately follow that. And then he goes on to say, but listen, listen.

He says in verse number 12, before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you to the synagogue and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name's sake. And that will lead for an opportunity for you to present the truth of the gospel. He moves from the predictions concerning the end to the persecution that will take place at the end. And there's going to be persecution that's going to come. It's going to escalate. It's going to go beyond anything you can ever imagine.

He goes on to tell them, make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves, for I will give you utterance and wisdom, which none of your opponents will be able to resist or a few, but you will be delivered up even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends. And they will put some of you to death and you will be hated by all on account of my name. Yet not the hair of your head will perish by your endurance. You will gain your lives. You're going to make it because I'm going to save you.

I'm going to glorify you. This was all good news for them. Now, remember, they didn't understand two different comings. One where the Messiah would come and judge sin in order to redeem man. Second time he comes to judge sinners to bring retribution upon man.

They didn't understand the difference between the two comings. Matthew's account tells us that everything will escalate toward the end. He compares them to birth pains where you're about to give birth to a child and the labor pains are there, but they increase with frequency. And that's what the book of Revelation is all about. And that's why we've told you that in the book of Revelation during the tribulation, those birth pains escalate to an enormous intensity. It begins with the seven seal judgments that span the seven-year tribulation.

Not that there's CO1 on one year and CO2 on two year and CO3 on three year. No, it's not like that. But it's the seven seals that span the length of the tribulation. And from the seventh seal come seven trumpets. And from the seventh trumpet come seven bowls of judgment. And why the seven seals happen over years, the seven trumpets happen over weeks and months, and the seven bowls happen over days and weeks. So they increase in rapid succession at the end, the escalating judgment of God upon man.

And the Bible tells us exactly in the book of Revelation how it's going to happen during the tribulation that's going to happen upon the earth. And in fact, it says over in Matthew 24 that it is called a great tribulation. Christ says these words in Matthew 24, for then there will be great tribulation such as not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever shall be.

It is a great tribulation. It's described in the Bible as the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is a phrase used 19 times in the Old Testament, four times in the New Testament. It describes that in tribulation, unlike the world has ever seen before. This is how Zephaniah described it. Zephaniah chapter one, verse number 14, near is the great day of the Lord, near and coming very quickly. Listen, the day of the Lord in it, the warrior cries out bitterly. A day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and the high corner towers.

And I will bring distress on men so that they will walk like blind because they have sinned against the Lord and their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord's wrath and all the earth will be devoured in the fire of his jealousy, for he will make a complete end, indeed a terrifying one of all the inhabitants of the earth. So the prophet Zephaniah would ascribe for us as he was able to understand the day of the Lord through inspiration on what would happen when the great tribulation, the day of the Lord would come.

That day of the Lord in scripture is also described as the day of destruction from the Almighty in Isaiah 13 and Joel chapter 1. It's called a time of fiery and burning anger in Isaiah chapter 13. It's called the time of doom in Ezekiel chapter 30. Great and very awesome, Joel chapter 2 verse number 11. Darkness and light, Amos 5 18. It's called the time of Jacob's trouble in Jeremiah chapter 30. So it's described in various ways throughout the Old Testament, but it's all in reference to that great tribulation, that great time of distress that's going to come upon the entire world because of what God himself is going to do.

That's why it's called the great tribulation, and that's why in Matthew's account and Mark's account there's a phrase that occurs not in Luke's account, and that phrase is this, let the reader understand. Let the reader understand. God is not trying to confuse you. God's not trying to to make things difficult for you. He wants you to understand the end. He wants you to understand everything that that surrounds the end so that you can come to a better understanding of all that you need to understand concerning the great and terrible day of the Lord, unlike the world has ever seen.

So unlike what people would imagine, it's going to get worse. It's not going to get better because that's the way God has designed it. According to second Thessalonians chapter 2, the Holy Spirit will remove his restraining influence in the world, and lawlessness will increase.

It means love will grow cold, and Satan, according to Revelation 12, will be thrown finally geographically out of heaven because that's where he exists today, and he's thrown out of heaven.

He said, wait a minute, I thought the devil was in hell. Not yet. He's going to go there, but he's not there yet. It's prepared for him, but he's not there yet, but he's going there. And when Satan comes down to this earth in Revelation chapter 12, and demons are released all over this world, the havoc that will cause will be absolutely astronomical, beyond anything we can ever imagine today. And that's where the world is going. Let the reader understand. Understand what? How will the reader know that the end is near?

Because that's the answer to the question. What will be the sign of your coming, your presence, and the end of the age? How will we know it's coming? Are there any detailed evidences that will give us a clear picture on how we will know it's going to come? And when you come down to verse number 20 of Luke 21, now you're going to have the answer as to that time and the events surrounding it. Listen to what it says. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that our desolation is at hand.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of the city depart, and let not those who are in the country enter the city, because these are days of vengeance, in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Woe to those who are with child and those who nurse babes in those days, for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Christ says, you want to know the end? You want to know the signs? When you see armies surrounding Jerusalem. Now, some would say, well, that was what happened in 70 AD, when the Romans came and surrounded the city and plundered the city and destroyed the city and killed 1.1 million Jews and burned the city to the ground. And Josephus says that when people walked by, it would look like a city that was never inhabited, it was destroyed so badly. So is Jesus talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD?

Most commentators would tell that's what he's talking about, but it's not. How do we know that? We're going to tell you so that you know without a shadow of a doubt of what Jesus is talking about. He says, but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation, her ruin is at hand. This is a specific event. Her desolation is at hand. Well, wasn't Israel destroyed? Wasn't Israel ruined in 70 AD? Well, yes, to some degree it was. And Christ had prophesied that your house has left you desolate in ruins.

Three times he said that to warn them of impending judgment. He told them that not one stone will be left upon another. The whole thing is coming down and it did in 70 AD. Is this the event he's talking about? Well, it says this. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Well, in 70 AD that happened. When Rome came and destroyed the city, they fled to the mountains. That did happen. And let those who are in the midst of the city depart. They did. And let not those who are in the country enter the city and they didn't.

So you can say that all that happened in 70 AD, but then he says this, because these are days of what? Vengeance. Qualifying term. What are the days of vengeance? And then he says, in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled. So somewhere it was written that a day of vengeance would come and all these things would be fulfilled. And that is not 70 AD. So the question comes, how do you know what the days of vengeance are? Turn back with your Bible to Isaiah 61. Isaiah chapter 61. In Isaiah 61, you'll recall that this is a passage that Jesus would quote in Luke chapter four in the synagogue in Nazareth many years ago when we covered his time coming to Nazareth and he preached this section of scripture.

It says in verse number one, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. That's the Messiah speaking because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And he closed the book. He shut the scroll and he sat down. He said today, these things are fulfilled in your ears, in your, before your eyes. He proclaimed himself as the Messiah because he was, but he didn't read on because it was a favorable year of our Lord.

It was the year in which God brought grace to man, to free the captives, to save the sinner, and the Messiah would come to do that. But he closed the book because the next phrase says, and the day of vengeance of our God, it wasn't the day of vengeance. The day of vengeance was going to come, but it wasn't the day of vengeance because the day of vengeance goes on and says to comfort all who mourn. Somehow during the days of vengeance, those who mourn are going to be comforted. And what does Matthew 5 verse number four says, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

What is that mourning? It's mourning over their sin, mourning that they are separated from God. And it goes on in Isaiah 61 to speak about the salvation that Messiah will bring to Israel. And when you come to Isaiah chapter 62, what do you have? You have the salvation of Israel, the beauty of Zion, and all the things that God's going to do when he restores the kingdom to Israel and that they will be called by a new name and they will be crowned with his glory and they will be his people and they will call him their God.

And then you go to Isaiah 63 verse one, who is this who comes from Edom with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, the one who was majestic in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength. Isaiah says, who is this one who comes? It is I who speak in righteousness mighty to save, says the Lord God of Israel. Why is your apparel red? And your garments like the one who treads in the winepress. He responds, I have trodden the wine trough alone and from the peoples there was no man with me.

I also trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath and their life blood is sprinkled on my garments and I stained all my raiment for the day of vengeance was in my heart. The day of what? The day of vengeance was in my heart and my year of redemption has come and I looked and there was no one to help and I was astonished and there was no one to uphold. So my own arm brought salvation to me and my wrath upheld me and I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath and I poured out their life blood on the earth.

Take that back to Zephaniah chapter one, which you read earlier verses 14 and following and you begin to understand that this is the day of the Lord. This is the day of vengeance. See our God is a God of vengeance. Sometimes we forget that. That's why the Bible says in it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the Lord.

That's why Paul said in he said knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men knowing the terror of the Lord. We persuade men. We know about the vengeance of God. We know about the wrath of God. We know about the anger of God and because we do we want man to be able to escape his wrath escape his anger. How to the saving blood of the cross of Calvary. That's how and so when Isaiah sees the Messiah coming from from Edom the wilderness Messiah's arrived. His garments are stained with blood. He's trodden though the wine press alone that takes you right back to the book of Revelation Revelation chapter 14 where he treads the wine press alone and blood splatters everywhere because it is the day of vengeance and the day of vengeance was in his heart because he was going to bring retribution upon all those who did not obey his voice.

If you go over to earlier in Isaiah Isaiah 59 verse 17, it says that he put on righteousness like a breastplate and a helmet of Salvation on his head and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing. This is the Messiah being illustrated as one putting on his army for his is a wardrobe for for warfare. It's called the the garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself with zeal as a mantle according to their deeds. So he will repay wrath to his adversaries recompense to his enemies to the coastlands.

He will make recompense. He will it is the day of vengeance Micah 5 verse number 15 and I will execute vengeance and anger and wrath on the nations which have not obeyed a day of vengeance. So Jesus says in Luke's gospel in answer to the question.

Yes, there will be there will be all kinds of predictions that will take place. Let me give them to you messianic deception.

It's happened throughout all the ages, but it will increase beyond measure in the tribulation period. There will be military dissension. Yes, it has happened all through the ages, but during the tribulation it will be beyond measure. There will be monumental devastation earthquakes famines pestilence. They have happened all throughout the history of man, but not like they will during the tribulation. And there's going to be persecution at the end. You'll be turned in by your own family. Your own family will put you to death.

But I will save you. I will glorify you. You are secure, but the peril at the end. Here's the peril at the end. How will you know this? It will be called the days of vengeance when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies. You see it don't enter the city flee run get out of there because this will be the day of vengeance because everything that was written beforehand must be fulfilled. Now the question comes what was written beforehand that needs to be fulfilled. Well turn with me to Matthew chapter 24.

And we'll see what Matthew says about this because Matthew's account is the same as Luke's account, but he adds a little a little variation to what's going to happen. Remember verse number eight of Matthew 24, but all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they would deliver you tribulation and will kill you. You will be hated by all nations on account of my name. We talked about that in Luke chapter 21. Remember you're going to be hated by all because of the name of Christ. And at that time many will fall away and would deliver up one another and hate one another.

It says and many false prophets will arise and will mislead many and because of because lawlessness is increased most people's love will grow cold. And when will that happen the most? It happens today, but it will happen to an abnormal level in the tribulation because the lawlessness will increase the restraining power the spirit of God is removed and lawlessness will be unchecked and man's love for Christ will grow cold calloused. He says, but the one who endures the end, he shall be saved. That's all this is parallel to Luke 21 and the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations and then the end shall come.

That does not mean that the gospel will be preached before the rapture of the church. It means that the gospel will be preached in the whole world in that seven year time span. And then the end will come. In other words, everybody who was on the planet will hear the gospel. How do we know that? Three reasons. You have two witnesses. One like Moses, one like Elijah revelation 11. Okay. Who do supernatural acts when they open their mouth fire comes out of their mouth. They consume all who come against them and they preach the gospel from that 144,000 Jewish evangelists are saved and God brands those 144,000 Jewish evangelists.

He brands them with his name and they cannot die because when you come to revelation 14, they're standing on top of Mount Zion. The tribulation is over and they're all there all 144,000 of them. The antichrist is going to brand his followers. Christ is going to bear brand his followers and they're going to preach the gospel and Jew and Gentile will be saved. And a lot of those Jews and Gentiles will perish, but those 144,000 will make it all the way to the end. And then revelation 14 tells us that there's an angel that flies around in mid heaven, preaching the gospel, the supernatural act of God and the whole world, the gospel we preached to the end of the age.

And then the end will come. Remember the context is birth pains increasing. The context is the tribulation. Now read on. 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, that him who is on the housetop not go down to get the things out that are in the house and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are with child and those who nurse babes in those days, but pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on a Sabbath for then there will be great tribulation such as not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be.

And so what Matthew does is he picks up where Luke picks up about the results of the day of vengeance. Okay. And the desolation of Israel and Matthew describes the desolation as the abomination of desolation that was spoken of by Daniel, the prophet. And so when Jesus says in Luke chapter 21, there is a desolation that's coming.

It's called the days of vengeance that all things that have been written must be fulfilled. That which was written was written by Daniel, the prophet. And what he specifically wrote about in Daniel nine 27 was the abomination of desolation. Are you with me? I don't want to lose you here. I know it's a lot of information. So turn me to Daniel chapter nine, Daniel chapter nine. This is good stuff. I get all fired up about this stuff. Turn with me to Daniel chapter nine.

Now, listen, we have a lot of CDs on this that you can get in book of revelation that we went over in great detail. Verse by verse, we have a series called, uh, uh, the return of the King. We have a series in Mark chapter 13, uh, which is a parallel passage to Luke 21. So we have a lot of information concerning this. So what I'm going to give you, I'm going to give it to you so rapidly. You probably will say, well, my head is swimming, but that's good because that will make you want to study it all the more.

Matthew, January 29, verse number 24, 70 weeks have been decreed for your people and your Holy city. 70 weeks. Listen, these are 70 sevens. Okay. 70 sets of seven years, four to 90 years. Daniel receives a prophecy and he explains it by telling us 70 weeks have been decreed for your people and your Holy city. This is about the nation of Israel. This is about the Holy city, Jerusalem to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin and to make the atonement for iniquity. That all happened when the Messiah came the first time that it says to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most high Holy that has not yet happened, but it will at the return of the King.

So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. Listen very carefully. Look here. He says, look, here's the deal. There's going to be 69 weeks from the start of a decree that's been given to Israel. And that decree is recorded in Nehemiah two Nehemiah six happened on March 14th, 445 BC, BC, when King Artaxerxes issued a decree for Israel to go back and rebuild the walls and rebuild the city.

Okay. So we know the exact date there's going to be a decree given to Israel. And that decree will determine the beginning of the 70 weeks. And there will be 69 weeks that will be fulfilled 69 weeks of years, 483 years until the Messiah, the Prince, which is a phrase that describes, listen carefully, the inauguration of the Messiah, which happened exactly 173,888 days after March 14th, 445 BC, which is 69 weeks. Now there's been men who have done great research on this. One man's name is Sir Robert Anderson, who wrote a book called the coming Prince.

Another one is by Harold Honer, who wrote the book called the chronological aspects of the life of Christ. And they had determined that the entry into Jerusalem is the exact day from the day that Israel received on March 14th, 445 BC, the decree from Artaxerxes to go back and rebuild the city. And so God is precise. He's precise. Messiah, the Prince comes there will be seven weeks, 62 weeks, 69 weeks. It will be built again with Plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off, which is a total of 69 weeks.

They'll be cut off. It's a phrase that describes the death of the Messiah. The Messiah is going to die. He's going to die. So if people say, well, do the Jewish nation believe that Messiah will die? If they understand Daniel 927, yes, he will die because it says he'll be cut off. I'm sorry, Daniel 926 and have nothing in the people of the Prince who is to come. That's the Antichrist who destroyed the city and the sanctuary and it's in will come with the flood. Even to the end, there will be war. Desolations are determined and he will make a firm covenant with many for one week.

That's the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. He'll make a firm covenant with the people for one week. The tribulation begins not with the rapture of the church. The tribulation upon earth begins when the Antichrist, the coming Prince, the false Prince signs a covenant with Israel for one week, for seven years. And it says this, but in the middle of the week, 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. In other words, what's going to happen is that because there's going to be a rebuilding of the temple on the temple Mount, Israel will enact all of their sacrifices once again. But in the middle of that week, he's going to stop all sacrifices. He's going to commit what the Bible calls the abomination of desolation, the abomination of desolation, and he will pursue Israel with a passion. All this is recorded in the scriptures, in the book of revelation that explains to us this abomination of desolation.

The word abomination means blasphemy. Desolation means ruin or destruction. There's going to be some form of blasphemy that causes ruin to the nation of Israel. Christ says, these are the days of vengeance that everything that was written by the prophets of old must be fulfilled.

Matthew tells us it's the abomination of desolation that was spoken of by Daniel, the prophet that fulfills everything that leads up to the end of the arrival of the Messiah. The antichrist will rise and come against Israel. If you've got your Bible, turn to revelation chapter 13. Revelation chapter 13 speaks about the rise of the antichrist. There are many antichrists in the world, but there's one antichrist, big A, little c, and that is the one who comes to make a pact, a covenant with Israel. Okay.

It says in verse number 15, and there was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast that the image of the beast might even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. The abomination of desolation. Well, turn over to second Thessalonians chapter two for a moment.

So much to cover verse number three, let no one in any way deceive you for it will come unless the apostasy comes first.

He's speaking of the coming of the Messiah, the coming of the antichrist, then the coming of the Messiah. There's going to be an apostasy, a falling away. There's going to be a huge falling away. There's a falling away even today, but according to Matthew 24, because of the increase in lawlessness, because of the increase in false profits, many will abandon the faith. Many will fall away to prove themselves that they weren't true followers of Christ. He says, there's going to be an apostasy that comes first.

And then the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of destruction. That's the antichrist. He will be revealed when lawlessness increases. And there's a great apostasy because there has to be this false savior that appears on the scene. And it says 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. That's the abomination of desolation. He sets himself up in the temple and demands that the whole world worship him.

If they don't worship him, they will be killed. And that's what it says in revelation 13, verse number 15. Go back to Luke 21. Christ says these words, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize her desolation is at hand.

Yes, they were surrounded in 70 AD, but that's not what it's talking about here. Because we know that in Zachariah chapter 12, these words are spoken. The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel, thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heaven, lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him. Behold, I'm going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around. And when the siege is against Jerusalem, what siege is that? So when the Jesus speaks up in Luke 21, it will also be against Judah.

So it's just not the city of Jerusalem, it's against Judah, it's against Israel, it's against all Jewish people. And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will be severely injured and all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. In that day, declares the Lord, I will strike. That's when the Lord strikes, it's the day of vengeance. In chapter 14 of Zachariah, behold, the day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you.

For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city will be captured and the houses plundered. The women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations when he fights on a day of battle. That's the day of vengeance. Christ says, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, he says, recognize her desolation is at hand.

Take heed all of those of you who read this. Listen, get a CD of this and put it in all your friends' houses that don't know the Lord. Because how are you going to know the end is near? When you see the abomination, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, okay, he says, recognize her desolation. What's the desolation? It's the abomination of desolation. It's at hand. Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those from the midst of the city depart. Let those, not those who are in the country, enter the city, leave, get out of there, run, run for your lives, be gone.

Because these are the days of vengeance in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled. What was written? Matthew tells us, Daniel 9 27, the abomination of desolation as recorded by Daniel, the prophet in Daniel 9 27. Woe to those who were a child in those nurse babes in those days, for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people. Boy, I tell you, hopefully you're not pregnant. Hopefully you're not nursing babes because you're going to be encumbered. It's going to be hard for you to get out of there.

You're easier to catch. And he says, and they will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. What are the times of Gentiles? They began in 586 BC when Israel was taken into captivity and will not end until Messiah comes again. That is the times of the Gentiles because Israel has been oppressed by Gentile nations ever since then, ever since then. And this will be the time that Messiah comes.

And then when you have verse number 24, and there'll be signs in the sun, in the sky, right? And the son of man will appear. Jesus is talking to his men. He wants them to understand how they will know, how others will know the time is near. You want to know when the time will come when Messiah will be present among you. You want to know, you want to know when the end is about to happen. I'll tell you when. This is exactly when it's going to happen because there's a seven-year tribulation period. It's called 1260 days or three and a half years when the Messiah, when the anti-Messiah, the Antichrist rules.

He comes in Revelation 6 on a white horse and he has a bow but no arrows because he comes in peace. He makes a covenant with Israel for seven years, but he breaks that covenant in the middle, sets himself up to be king, to be worshiped as God. And those who don't will die. And Christ says, now you know when the coming of the king is near.

It's not too far away. It will be another three and a half years from that standpoint, another 1260 days because Revelation 13 tells us that the Antichrist rules with wrath and vengeance for 1260 days, a time given to him by the Lord God of Israel. So when you pray, pray thy kingdom come. Why? Because that's our anticipation. The king is going to come. And I wonder if you know the king. I wonder if you understand everything surrounding the king. What we're talking about is the end of the world. We're talking about, you say, well, that's just so far away.

No, it's not. No, it's not. Peter, Paul, James, John, they all thought it was next week, next month. They had no idea it was 2000 years away. You can sit there and say, well, it's probably another 2000 years away. Anyway, what difference does it make? It makes a big difference because you die today in your sins. You die separated from God forever. You need to know the king. You need to know him in an intimate way. Are you citizens of the kingdom? That's why Christ said, when you pray, you pray this way.

Our father who art in heaven, it is the cry of adoration of the heart. You pray this way. Hallowed be thy name. The cry of consecration. Lord, I want your name to be hallowed in my life. I want to be holy as you are holy, as pure as you are pure. Thy kingdom come. The cry of anticipation. Oh, Lord, please come. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. It's like those under the altar in Revelation 6. How long, oh Lord? How long until you avenge our blood? How long, oh Lord, till you set up your kingdom, Lord? How long until you come again?

How long, oh Lord? That's the cry of the believer. That's our main cry. We want God's kingdom to come to earth because that marks the arrival of the king. And when the king comes, he destroys all those who are against him. He sets up his kingdom. He rules and reigns on this earth to demonstrate to all that he is who he said he was from the very beginning. Nothing's ever changed. Do you know that king? Have you bowed in submission to him? Because then you will pray, thy will be done. Because in submission, in the cry of submission, you want God's will to be done right here in your life, in your family, more than anything else, because he's the king.

Let me pray with you. Father, we are grateful for today. We are grateful for a chance to praise and honor your name and to examine once again the coming kingdom of God. Our prayer is that there will be no one here who leaves without understanding how to be a citizen of your kingdom. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.