Signs of the End of the Age

Transcript

GR 725
10/27/1985
Signs of the End of the Age
Matthew 24:1-8
Gil Rugh

Turn to Matthew's Gospel and the 24th chapter. One of the great prophetic portions in all of Scripture is Matthew chapter 24 and 25. It is the most extended, prophetic discourse that we have recorded from Christ during His earthly ministry. It is a section of Scripture that has been widely and variously interpreted, one over which there is much misunderstanding. I think as we move through the details of this section that it will become more clear what God's purposes and plans are particularly as it relates to the nation Israel.

Now for an understanding of this prophetic section, you must place it in its proper context and setting. In chapter 23 Jesus has concluded His public ministry to the nation Israel. He has pronounced woe and judgment upon the religious leaders of the nation and upon the nation for following those leaders in their rebellion against God, in their unwillingness to submit to God and allow God to accomplish His purposes in their lives.

Chapter 23 concluded with the emphasis on the abandoning of the nation Israel by the Messiah. In verse 37 that lament "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem," as Christ would have gathered that nation to Himself but the nation was unwilling. And we noted in verse 37 "How often I wanted to gather your children, but you were unwilling." The responsibility for the judgment that is going to come upon them rests upon them. God wanted to gather them, but they are unwilling to come to Him.

"Therefore," in verse 38, "your house is being left to you desolate!" And that ties to chapter 24 and verse 1--"And Jesus came out from the temple," and here we see the departure of the presence of the messiah in a formal way from the nation. Similar to what we have in Ezekiel chapter 10 with the departure of the Shikinah glory from the temple before the destruction of the nation at the hands of the Babylonians.

Verse 39, "For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! I am leaving and I will not come to you again until you are ready to receive Me. Until you are ready to say, 'Blessed is the One,'" referring to "Blessed is the Messiah who is coming from the Lord." Now that prepares the way for what is going to be discussed in chapter 24 and 25 which are going to be events surrounding His coming to earth the second time, things that will lead up to that coming and prepare the nation to say "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."

The chapter opens up with a little bit of the background. Jesus and His disciples are going out from the temple, and as they depart from the temple, His disciples point out to Him the glorious splendor of that structure--the temple of Herod constructed under the leadership of the Herods, years and years and years under construction. It was a magnificent, striking building. The other gospel accounts tell us the disciples drew His attention to the magnificence of the stones, huge blocks of stone that had been carved specifically for the temple and had been trimmed with gold. It looked both strikingly beautiful and almost indestructible. And the disciples draw His attention to this. You see the disciples haven't grasped all that's going on. They haven't understood the significance of what Christ has said in " Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!" That you'll not see Me until.. .and they're walking away saying "Isn't this a magnificent building! Look at the size and the strength of this structure." It gave the idea of permanence and durability and magnificence. And Jesus answered in verse 2, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down." This building with all of its beauty, with the strength and durability it presents is destined for destruction. And you see these huge stones? Not one of them will be left upon another.' Now that is a striking statement. And if you travel to Jerusalem today, they have excavated around the former temple site and you can look down into that valley area where it is excavated and you can see these gigantic blocks of stone that were tumbled down from the temple by the Romans in 70 A.D. And it's amazing because you wonder how many Roman soldiers did it take to move just one of these blocks of stone. And they've been pushed one off the other and they've rolled down, and there they lay where they've been for almost 2000 years in fulfillment of what Jesus said.

Now saying that triggers the thinking of the disciples. What is happening is that they are leaving the temple and going east through the valley and up on the Mount of Olives. So in verse 3 we read, "And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives . . ." From the Mount of Olives you have a spectacular view overlooking the temple site in Jerusalem. The disciples come to Him privately, so the public ministry of Christ as far as addressing the nation and instructing the nation concluded with chapter 23 of Matthew. But now there is this extended private discourse regarding the Second Coming of the Messiah that is addressed only to His followers. And the disciples said to Him, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"

Two basic questions are here--When will these things happen that you're talking about? And the "these things" encompass the events from the end of chapter 23 and the opening verses of chapter 24. It has to do with the abandoning of the temple by the Messiah until the nation is ready to believe in Him and the destruction of the temple. And we'll see in a moment the disciples saw all these things as related to them. The abandoning of the temple by Messiah, the destruction of the temple, and the return of Messiah to rule the nation all linked together in Old Testament prophecy. When will that happen, and then a two-part question-- What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age? Literally it is the same question, just elaborated a little bit in two parts. The sign of Your coming and the end of the age. They realize that when Messiah comes that will be the climax of this age, and for the Jews there were two ages--the present age and the coming age. The present age would climax with the coming of the Messiah, and He will establish a glorious kingdom and that is the future age. When is that going to happen, How will we know it's time for Your return? That's what Matthew chapter 24 and chapter 25 is all about. What is going to happen leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth? What events will we be able to take notice of that will tell us that the Messiah is about to return? And primarily chapter 24 will focus in on those events. Chapter 25 focuses on the judgments that will take place when the Messiah does return to earth and prepares to set up His kingdom.

Now we ought to note here before we go further something of the prophetic pattern of Scripture. Some confusion has come in the interpreting of Matthew chapters 24 and 25 because people have not noticed or have not taken account of God's prophetic plan. The Church is not in view at all in Matthew 24 and chapter 25. The events of Matthew 24 and 25 take place after the Church has been removed at the Rapture. So the pattern is, in the Old Testament God is working with the nation Israel to prepare them for the Messiah. Messiah comes, and that is revealed in the Gospels, and offers a kingdom to the nation. The nation will not have Him as their king. "You were unwilling," therefore, the nation is rejected and set aside. The kingdom is not established--now that's not a delay in God's plan but from human perspective--and God begins to work with all peoples, not just a single nation, but people from all nations now gathered together to form the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church begins in Acts chapter 2 on the Day of Pentecost. God is not dealing with the nation Israel as His people today. He is dealing with all those who come to be believers in Jesus Christ, who become part of the Church of Jesus Christ. That will go from Acts chapter 2 down until the Rapture of the Church. The Rapture of the Church is not in view in Matthew 24 and 25. Paul reveals the truth of the Rapture of the Church in 1 Corinthians 15 and in 1 Thessalonians 4. Paul says, "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound and the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed." Paul says, "I tell you a mystery." This is new material not before revealed by God--that's what a mystery is in the New Testament. This is new material that God is now revealing for the first time. So Paul says, "I show you a mystery, something that's not been revealed before." So you do not have the Rapture in Matthew 24, even though some of the things we'll study in Matthew 24 seem like the Rapture. We'll see that they are really just the opposite of the Rapture.

So at the Rapture of the Church, all true believers are bodily caught up to meet Jesus Christ in the air. The dead are raised from the grave, and those who are alive are caught up, undergo an instant transformation, glorified, to meet Jesus Christ in the air. All unbelievers are left on the earth, and God resumes His program with the nation Israel. That's why it is sometimes drawn as a parenthesis, because as you read the Old Testament you read the prophets talking about the coming of Messiah. And a chapter like Isaiah 53, "He shall suffer and die in rejection," but Isaiah goes on to talk about ruling and reigning in glory, and he sees them just like that, right together. And that's why the Jews couldn't put it together. How can you have a Messiah who will suffer and die, and a Messiah who will rule and reign in glory? You know how we understand it? We know now that there is a gap of almost 2000 years at least from the first coming where He'll suffer and die, and the Second Coming where He'll rule and reign in glory. Now we're going to pick up after the Rapture of the Church with events called The Tribulation.

Turn back to Daniel chapter 9. This period of time following the Rapture of the Church--the Rapture is the removal of the Church from the earth, all believers of Jesus Christ--we have a period of 7 years commonly called The Tribulation or the Seventieth Week of Daniel. In Daniel 9 it is revealed to Daniel that God has a time framework for His nation Israel. And in verse 24 of Daniel 9, "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city . . ." Your people--the nation Israel; your holy city--Jerusalem. Seventy weeks, or literally, seventy sevens, and if you study some other passages in Daniel and compare those with passages in Revelation, it becomes clear we're talking about seventy 7-year periods. So they are a week of years, not a week of days, seventy 7-year periods or seventy sevens. If you multiply seventy times seven, you have 490 years--'490 years have been determined for your people and your holy city.'

As you move through the first 69 sevens, or by the end of 483 years, we'll read in verse 26 of Daniel 9, "Then after the sixty-two weeks . . ." Now that was after seven weeks--he's broken this down in certain sections. First there was a 7-week period, or 49 years--70 times 7. Then there are 62 more weeks--so you add the 62 to the 7 and you have 69 weeks, or 69 times 7 is 483 years-- and Messiah will be cut off. You see what happens then? After 483 years from the giving of the decree recorded in Nehemiah chapter 2 until Messiah is executed. 433 years. Someone has done chronology of this and has come to the conclusion that the 483 years concluded exactly on the day of the Triumphal Entry, Palm Sunday, when Christ Triumphantly entered Jerusalem. And you'll note, it says "after" 483 years, so within the week Messiah is executed.

Note verse 26, "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week...” So you notice there is an implication here there is a gap between the 69th and the 70th week. He says, the Messiah is cut off after the 69th week; he does not say "in" the 70th week, which would be the way to say it if it was going to happen in the last 7-year period. But after the first 483 years, then certain things happen. And then this prince that will come--which is a reference to the Antichrist, the political ruler of the Western world and ultimately the world itself during the 7-year tribulation. We'll be talking about him in some detail later in chapter 24.

Verse 27 is an important verse. "He will make a firm covenant with the many for one week." Remember it's a week of years, not of days, literally, for one seven or one 7-year period. So what marks the beginning of the tribulation is this representative of western world nations, a confederacy of western world nations, ten nations confederated together within the general confines of the old Roman Empire. Under the leadership of this one individual, he signs a covenant or agreement with Israel. That marks the beginning of the 7-year Tribulation. That will occur, apparently, shortly after the Rapture of the Church. So the Rapture of the Church itself does not begin the 7-year Tribulation, but the signing of this agreement by the Antichrist with Israel marks the beginning of it.

Now note the breakdown here. "He will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, 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. We're going to talk about that expression in a later study in Matthew 24. Christ uses it as a guideline for Israel to know where they are in relationship to the coming of Messiah.

"Even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate." Basically what you need to pick up here is the Antichrist will sign an agreement with Israel. That will mark the beginning of a 7-year period. That 7- year period is divided into two equal parts--in the middle of the 7-year period he will break his agreement with the nation Israel. Three and one half years into the Tribulation. And what's going to happen is for the first 3! 4 years he is going to be a false Messiah, a false friend of the nation Israel. In the middle of that tribulation period, he is going to turn against the nation Israel and attempt to destroy the nation and annihilate the Jews. Christ will begin a detailed discussion of that in Matthew 24:15.

Now come back to Matthew 24. That's the time framework we're talking about in Matthew 24--that 7-year period. That, Daniel tells us, begins with the signing of that agreement. We'll know we're in that framework because Christ is going to draw on material from Daniel chapter 9 later in this discussion. So that will help clarify events of Matthew 24 and 25 if you keep in mind the Rapture of the Church has already occurred. That is a past event as far as these issues are concerned.

Now Christ is going to go on, and beginning with verse 4 He is going to talk about events that will take place during the first 3 and a half years of that 7-year period. And from verse 4 through verse 8 He'll talk about that first 3 and a half -year period. From verse 9 through verse 14 He'll talk about the second 3 and a half year period. So the first 14 verses give you an overview of this 7-year period. Through verse 8 you have the first 3 and a half years. Through verses 9-14 you have the second 3‘A-year period. I realize that's different than the note in some of your reference Bibles. That just happens that note is wrong, of course, and this is the right view.

Then with verse 15 down through verse 28, He's going to give you the details of the second 3‘A-year period because that's the focal point for Israel. That's the intense time for the nation Israel. Now, what about the destruction of the temple and the coming of the Messiah? I take it what Christ has talked about in verses I and 2, the destruction of the temple that will take place in 70 AD, but the disciples pick up on that destruction and relate it to prophecy. And the prophecies of the Old Testament link the destruction of the temple with the coming of the Messiah, so Christ does not return with the destruction of the temple that's going to take place in 70 AD. But He talks now within the framework of a future destruction that will take place in connection with His second coming.

Go back again to the Old Testament, the Book of Zechariah and chapter 14. Now if this is new material to you, don't get lost in the details because we're going to be unfolding this as we move through chapter 24. So hopefully it will become clearer.

Zechariah 14. Here we are talking about events that will take place in connection with the Second Coming of Christ to earth to establish His earthly kingdom. So verse 1, "Behold, a 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, 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." You see that the city is destined to be surrounded and overrun and destroyed by its enemies again. You can go back and read Zechariah 12 and 13, which help with the framework of this.

Then note what happens in verse 3. "Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives," (the Lord's feet) "which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south." You see what happens? There's going to be a destruction of Jerusalem, and with that the temple. Then the Messiah will come to deliver His people. And then verse 9 of Zechariah 14, "The Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one." So you can see why the disciples when He talked about the destruction of the temple naturally associated that with His Second Coming to earth. Because that's what Zechariah does. So Christ picks them up in verse 3 of Matthew 24. The destruction you read about here in Matthew as well as in Mark 12 and Luke 21--the parallel accounts--have to do with events in the Tribulation, not the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. But there is a coming destruction that will take place immediately preceding the Second Coming of Christ to earth.

Come back to Matthew 24 then. We're going to see in verse 4-8 something of the events in the first half of the Tribulation. These are paralleled by events in the Book of Revelation, and we know also that we're in the first part of the Tribulation because the events in verses 4-8 are paralleled by the four horsemen of the Apocalypse — the opening seals of judgment in the opening half of the Tribulation discussed in Revelation 6. So we'll look at the parallel between what He reveals here and what is revealed in Revelation 6. In Revelation 6 we have begun the Tribulation, the 7-year period. We'll see basically the same kind of material covered in both sections.

Verse 4 of Matthew 24, "And Jesus answered and said to them, 'See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ," and will mislead many.'" The disciples are warned about being deceived, and the deception focuses on false Messiahs--those who will come and say they are the deliverers of the nation. "I am the one in whom you can trust.' "I am your Messiah and your deliverer, and you can follow Me." Now what Christ is going to say is "Don't be misled by any of this. Even though many will be misled, don't you be misled." The point is going to be as the chapter unfolds "When I come the second time, you won't need anybody to tell you about it." He's going to say, "It's going to be like lightning flashing across the sky." The sign of the coming of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens and everyone will see it. You're not going to need someone to come and say, "Hey, I've found the Messiah, He's over here. Come follow Him." No, He just tells them not to be misled. What you really have is instruction to the Jewish nation that during that tribulation period there are going to be false messiahs, and the false messiahs will have a focal point in the ultimate false messiah, Satan's counterfeit Christ, the Antichrist.

Look over in Revelation 6. We're going to be going back and forth from Matthew 24 to Revelation 6. Revelation chapters 1-3 contain instructions to the seven churches of Asia. Chapters 4 and 5 we are carried to the Throne Room in heaven. There we see the 24 elders, representing the Church in the presence of God in glory. Now we come to chapter 6 we see God dealing in judgment with the peoples of the earth and particularly the nation Israel to draw them to Himself ultimately and prepare them to accept Jesus as their Messiah.

In chapter 6, verse 1, "I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals," and what you're going to have here is a scroll sealed with a waxed seal. So when you broke a seal, you could unroll it so far. Then when you break the second seal, you can unroll it a little further, and so on. So each time they break a seal, they can unroll the scroll so far and a judgment is read and poured out upon the earth. "I heard one of the four living creatures saying, 'Come!' And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer." Now that does not represent Jesus Christ. It represents Satan's imitation Christ. He comes on a white horse as the conquering victor. Jesus Christ at His Second Coming, in chapter 19 of Revelation, will also come on a white horse. But we're dealing here with different persons. This is the Antichrist at the beginning of the Tribulation, and he comes forth to conquer, similar to what you have in Matthew 24. False messiahs and false christs coming. The key one and focal one will be the Antichrist himself. We know he comes conquering and to conquer because in the Book of Daniel, chapter 7, verses 8 and 24, we are told that the final form of western world government is ten nations joined together in a federation. The Antichrist rises to power within this ten-nation confederacy by conquering three of these nations. We are told in Daniel 7, verses 8 and 24, that he subdues three of these kingdoms. That he tears them out by the roots, picturing the fact that he has conquered them, taken them over. So the false messiah comes conquering and to conquer, to assimilate power, to assimilate and bring together his control within this confederacy. At the same time he is offering himself as a friend to the nation. He signs a covenant with the nation, "I will guarantee your security." The armies of the western world stand behind the nation Israel, and the enemies of Israel are our enemies. Anyone who attacks Israel attacks us. So for the first time Israel will be free to take the multiplied billions of dollars that it is forced to channel into military might and channel it into developing the nation. Ezekiel 38 tells us that it becomes a nation of un-walled cities because it is so deluded by the false deception of the Antichrist that they believe they don't have to have their own armaments any more. The western world with the Antichrist as that false deliverer will preserve and protect them. Christ warns, "Don't be misled. He's not the Messiah."

Come back to Matthew 24. That's the first indicator--the presence of false messiahs, particularly the false messiah. Secondly, verses 6 and 7, "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end." Keep in mind that just because this is all going on, it doesn't mean the Messiah is coming right now. "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." During this time there will be wars and fighting among nations. We saw that with what we mentioned about the Antichrist as he conquers, there are battles going on. He subdues three nations, tearing them out by their roots and subdues them. There's going to be an intensifying of conflict and the rumors of war, so He says, "Do not be frightened." There's going to be a fear among people, and we see some of that building today when we talk about the ability to annihilate the world. Look at the armaments we have and the fear that spreads. During the first 3‘A years of the Tribulation, there will be an increased fear of the danger because there will be wars and rumors of wars.

There will be fighting among the western world nations as the Antichrist solidifies his power and take control of three nations. We can imagine the un-selling impact that will have. Russia is beginning to move in the north so that by the middle of this tribulation, it will launch an attack in the Middle East aligned with Arab allies. Now all this is brooding and going on, you can see why people would be frightened. The world is going to come apart. The western world is at war with itself; Russia is beginning to move and the Arabs. Is there any wonder the nation Israel may begin to fear that things might come apart. "Don't be frightened." Isn't that interesting that Christ says this in the middle of that? There is going to be war; Russia is going to destroy much of that portion of the Middle East. There is going to be conflict, and Jesus says, "Don't be frightened." There's no danger of total annihilation here because God has a program and a plan for His people there.

Revelation 6. The first horse in Revelation 6--and that's why we call them the four horsemen of the Apocalypse--these first four seals present four horsemen galloping out, picturing judgment. The second seal is broken, verse 3, "And when He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, 'Come!' And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men should slay one another; and a great sword was given to him." The red horse pictures the bloody conflict that will take place; great numbers of people will be slaughtered in the wars that will be going on around the world. Peace is destroyed, even as Christ said, wars and rumors of war.

Come back to Matthew 24:7, the end of the verse, "in various places there will be famines and earthquakes." So I take it there will be an increase in famines in the world, and increase of natural disasters, if you will. He focuses here on famines and earthquakes. We've had the opportunity to see how devastating famines can be. I heard a statistic just recently talking about 150 million people being in danger of starvation. In the 7-year tribulation there is going to be a multiplying of this. Earthquakes. We've seen how tremendously devastating earthquakes can be and how powerless we are in the face of them. And in that 3%-year period, there is going to be a multiplying of famines and a multiplying of earthquakes. Natural disasters are going to be increasing.

Jump back to Revelation 6:5, it talks about the third horsemen. "And when He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, 'Come!' And I looked and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand." Black horse used to picture the devastation of famine, same kind of picture as blackness used in Lamentations with the starving of the people under the destruction of Jerusalem then. "And I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, 'A quart of wheat for a denarii’s, and three quarts of barley for a denarii’s; and do not harm the oil and the wine.'" A denarii’s was a workingman's wage, and you can't even buy enough to stay alive with what you make in a day. Tremendous famine, which results in tremendous starvation around the world. Famines, natural disasters.

Now come back to verse 8 of Matthew 24, and get ready to jump back to Revelation 6 quickly. Verse 8, "All these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs." You ought to put a mark in your Bible there. This is just the beginning of birth pangs, and the picture is labor pains. This is just the start of the labor. And at the start of labor there is pain, but as the labor progresses the pain intensifies. The worst is yet to come. Jesus says this is just the beginning of labor; these are just the warning pains. You want to know how bad it is? Jump back to Revelation 6.

The fourth horsemen, verse 7. "And when He broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, 'Come!' And I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name 'Death'; and Hades was following with him. . . ." Hades is the place where the wicked go following death. It's a place of suffering and torment, as Luke chapter 16 describes it, similar to Hell. But Hell is eternal; Hades is the holding place for the wicked until they are finally sentenced to hell. Now here you have Death coming where you have people dying and then being cast into Hades. "And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth." What He's saying here is that in these opening judgments one quarter of the earth's population is going to be destroyed, and Jesus says that's just the beginning or the start of labor. The serious things haven't even begun yet. Stop and think about that if the earth's population is about 4 billion people. That would mean 1 billion people would die in just the beginning judgments of the Tribulation. An awful time. It's no wonder that in Matthew 24:22 Jesus will say, as we get into the second half of the Tribulation and things really get bad, that if He did not intervene there wouldn't be a person left alive on the face of the earth. And you can understand that. One quarter of the earth's population is going to die before things really get bad. Can you imagine what it's going to be like during the second half of the tribulation? And if He didn't intervene at the end of seven years and let it go on, the population of the world would be annihilated. As it is, we know from accounts given that well over half of the earth's population will die in the judgments of the Tribulation. This is just the beginning of birth pangs. One quarter of the earth's population destroyed. Now keep in mind He's telling the Jews what will be the signs of your coming and of the end of the age? When will these things occur?" Well, here's a guideline for you. During the first 3‘A years you'll see these things happen--false messiahs, particularly the Antichrist, this false deliverer of the nation Israel; you see going on around the world wars and rumors of wars intensifying; an increase of natural disasters, as we would call them, famines and earthquakes, etc. Revelation 6 says wild beasts of the field and pestilences accelerating. That will tell you. When is this going to happen? Well, we're getting close now. We're in that time framework for the destruction of the city and the persecution of the nation. But it's just the beginning.

Now let me say something here. The question naturally arises, what does this have to do with us today? How does this fit with us? We see wars and rumors of wars going on. We see false messiahs. We see natural catastrophes. If they're not increasing in number, at least they're increasing in visibility because they're on the news quite a bit. You just have to turn it on and watch for release specials, either having to do with famine or helping earthquake victims or whatever. What does this have to do with us today?

Well, I think we can expect that if this is what is going to take place in the opening years of the Tribulation, that as we move towards that time we can expect to see a foreboding of these things. That these things as they get progressively worse and worse, we will see a moving towards these kinds of things--for example, false christs. If Satan is preparing the world for the accepting of a false messiah, we can expect there to be a conditioning process going on. It won't necessarily just happen like that! But the world will be being conditioned to accept the fact that there could be a man who could function as God on this earth and be worthy of our worship. So we know that's going to be taking place, I take it we can expect to see something of the preparation for that in the background of our own day if we're very close to the Rapture of the Church and the beginning of this Tribulation. And we do see an increasing presentation of men as messiahs. This is particularly evident with the infiltration of the western world with eastern cult ideas and their gurus. Some of you remember some time ago now a large newspaper ad and magazine ads announcing the arrival of the Christ on earth, and the beginning of world peace. The amazing thing is that multitudes of people are accepting these things and are beginning to follow these men. What does it do? It begins to condition people in their thinking that there can be a man with supernatural power that can be worshipped as God right here on this earth. And you find even intellectual scientifically minded, skeptical people following these kinds of Men. How many well-known people--one of the prominent figures today in the movie world, publishing books etc.--that are geared toward this kind of idea. Nobody sits back and ridicules and laughs at them. They're saying, "Maybe there's something to it." Preparing the way. So I think what we do see is not a fulfillment of Matthew 24, the fulfillment occurs after the Rapture. But perhaps we can see things happening that are preparing the way for these events, wars and rumors of war, a progressive deterioration, and a fear that we see. Turn on the TV and you see people marching in the streets in skeleton costumes, etc., a fear that we could annihilate the human race. We must have peace today! "But there is no peace, sayeth my God, for the wicked." That does not mean there will be no interludes of peace, false peace. There will be for Israel during the first 3‘A years of the Tribulation, but it will be a false peace. But the general pattern will be deterioration. We see the potential for conflict and battle becoming more serious and more serious. So even though we live in a time of relative peace, no major world wars going on, you look around and there are battles going on here, battles going on there. We are involved in one way or another in conflicts in this part of the world. Other major powers like Russia in another part of the world; China in another part of the world. The conflicts and the battles and the potential -- we say we've got to talk peace lest something flare up and all of a sudden it's out of control. We as believers can pray for peace. We're exhorted to pray for the leaders that we might have peace to present the gospel, 1 Timothy 2. We need to be careful that we don't get caught up in the peace movement, because there will be no peace in the world and we find that if anything there is going to be less peace as we come to the events preceding the Second Coming of Christ than there will have ever been. So any peace we do have is temporary and elusive. But we ought to take advantage of whatever peace there is for the proclamation of the gospel. And that's why we pray for the leaders and the rulers, not so they can bring the world peace or a lasting peace, but they may be able to provide an atmosphere under the grace of God for a time for us to be able to more effectively minister the Word of God. The danger is, God's provided us an interlude of peace where we are but we've gotten caught up enjoying the peace and fail to realize the purpose of the peace--to give us a unique and special opportunity to proclaim the truth of Christ with more liberty and freedom. But it's only transitory; it's only temporary.

Natural disasters. Again, the famines and the earthquakes going on today do not fulfill Matthew 24. They will be fulfilled after the Rapture of the Church. But we can perhaps expect to see a development, a moving towards that. Isn't it amazing not too long ago, in my lifetime and in most of your lifetime, we were talking about being able to feed the world and annihilate poverty and starvation, now you can turn on the tube and watch people die of hunger. Some of us can't get on the right diet to lose the pounds we need to lose! It's not working, is it? We're going to be able to control pestilence, insects, etc. Now we find out we've got all these insects that are immune to our pesticides.

We see famines, we see earthquakes. We see forecasting there are going to be disastrous earthquakes here and there. We know it's going to come, we just don't know when. We can begin to see things being prepared for the coming of the Messiah. Now we need to be careful. I don't know whether Jesus Christ is coming today, this week, this year, or in 50 years. I don't really know. The Bible doesn't say that these things will happen before the Rapture of the Church. The only signs given in the Bible are those that relate to the Second Coming of Christ to earth, events that occur after the Rapture of the Church and leading up to the Second Coming. But I am told what those things are, and as I see things developing more and more that fit the pattern of what the Bible says will happen in that 7-year period, then perhaps I ought to perk up and be a little more alert that perhaps the time is drawing near for us to be called to be with Christ in His presence in glory, that He might pour out His wrath upon the earth. We see that the 7-year Tribulation is a time of wrath and judgment, and God has not appointed us to wrath. No, we are those who have been given salvation in Jesus Christ.

The tragedy in this, you know what this is all for? Remember the end of Matthew 23? "You shall not see Me again until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord'." Even the awful agony and judgments of the Tribulation are manifestations of God's grace in drawing the nation Israel to Himself, so that by the end of this 7 -year period, we will see Israel will be brought to her knees before God, reading to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah and believe in Him and have Him come and be their deliverer. But all the agony and all the trial and all the judgments are because they were unwilling to have Him. What does Israel have to look forward to? As a nation there will be deliverance. The Messiah is coming. But for individuals within the nation there is judgment and condemnation for they have refused to believe in Him.

Now we ought to say that you and I stand in the same kind of position. God has offered to us free salvation and deliverance and forgiveness, but you can only have that on His terms. You must recognize your sinfulness and recognize that Jesus Christ in His first coming to earth died to pay the penalty for your sin was raised because that penalty was paid. The question is have you believed in Him? If you have not, you will become the object of God's wrath and judgment. In other words, if Jesus Christ would come for His own today, every believer would be removed from the earth and you would be left to go into this time of trial and judgment and destruction. And I take it if you've heard the gospel this clearly here and have not believed it, the chances of your salvation in the Tribulation are very slim if at all. Second Thessalonians 2 says God will send a strong delusion during that period of time, that people should believe the lie of Satan. Have you come to trust Jesus Christ as Savior? As He attempts to gather you to Himself, are you willing? If not, we deserve the judgments that will be poured out. We deserve Hell. But praise God; He's saying He doesn't want to give you what you deserve. "I want My love and My mercy and My grace to result in your salvation." You can believe in Him, and have the hope of looking for the coming of Christ and not the judgment on the earth.