The Tribulation, part 1

Transcript

GR 426
12/13/1981
The Tribulation Part 1
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

I'll just echo what Jerry already said in his announcements and that is, if you haven't been here for the presentation of the program, you're in for a special blessing this evening. Exciting to hear the praises of Jesus Christ proclaimed in music. To be reminded of the great redemption that was secured for us by the coming such to earth by Jesus Christ. The plan of God in having His Son be born in a humble, low estate. Here we are two thousand years ago rejoicing in what He has done for us.

We're considering some of the events the Scripture presents that move us along to the second coming of Jesus Christ to earth. Just as clearly as the Scripture presents the reality of the first coming to earth of Christ, so it presents the reality of the second coming to earth. I take it just as the details of the first coming to earth were fulfilled very carefully, very precisely, exactly as the Old Testament prophets had spoken, so too the details of the second coming to earth of Christ will be fulfilled exactly and precisely as God has prophesied and promised in the Old Testament,

Now last time in our study together, we looked at the matters for the church. Particularly the rapture of the church. That phase of the second coming where Jesus Christ comes in the air. He does not come to earth at the rapture. But He descends in the clouds and He calls us, we who are believers in Jesus Christ, up to meet Him in the air and thus we are taken to His Father's presence in glory.

Two aspects to the rapture. First, the bodies of those who have died are called back to life in a glorified state, then we who are alive and remain are caught up to meet Christ in the air. Remember at death the person leaves the body and goes into the presence of Christ in glory. And at the rapture, the body is glorified, the person who has died moves back into that body and we who are alive are caught up to meet Christ in the air.

Then last Sunday night we looked at the judgment of believers at the Bema Seat where we receive the rewards for faithfulness in service in our lives here on earth. It should be a time of glory and anticipation. A great motivator for us in living our lives in light of that which really matters, which will really make a difference for all the time of eternity. We noted that at that judgment all that we have done will be tested by fire. And those activities which are worthless, of no value, of no importance in a positive sense as regards eternity are consumed by fire. I say of no importance in a positive sense because there is a sense of loss as you consider that matter. What a tragedy that there are believers in Jesus Christ who are investing their lives in those things which will be consumed as dross at the Bema Seat of Christ. They will be saved so as by fire, we saw Paul write to the Corinthians. But tremendous loss in the rewards that could have been theirs for faithfulness and service for Jesus Christ.

Now following the rapture of the church, events on earth take a particular turn because God now resumes a program focusing on the nation Israel. Beginning in Genesis chapter 12, and why don’t you turn there in your Bibles. Genesis chapter 12. God begins a program with one particular family. One particular man the head of this family and his descendants in Genesis chapter 12, verse 1. "Now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." There begins the unfolding of a program with the nation Israel. Where God particularly centers in on one nation, on one people. Over in Amos, chapter 3, verse 2 God says regarding Israel, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth." You are the only nation that I have chosen for myself, to be my own peculiar and special treasure. To manifest His glory in special and unique ways.

Now God's program with Israel proceeded from Genesis chapter 12 on down to the first coming of Jesus Christ. A period of some two thousand years—Abram lived around two thousand BC. Through the Old Testament the prophets anticipated the time when Israel would have an earthly kingdom. Would be governed by its own Messiah and King. That all the earth would focus on Israel and Jerusalem as the capitol of the world.
Jesus Christ came, the Messiah of Israel, presented Himself as king of the Jews and was rejected according to the plan of God. With the rejection of Christ, God's program with Israel as the people He is focusing on, is put on a sidetrack. Now again, it's not a change in the plan and program of God. But rather, a change in His program with Israel for a time. And He begins to do a new thing. Ephesians chapter 2 says He begins to bond both Jew and Gentile alike into one body. Turn over to Ephesians chapter 2 if you would. (Pause) Ephesians chapter 2 (Pause) Paul makes clear in writing to the Ephesians that this aspect of God's program has never been revealed or made known before. So it's not talked about in the Old Testament. The end of chapter 2 of Ephesians, verse 13, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in His flesh the enmity which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity." You see what's happened. With the coming of Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, God has bonded together Jews and Gentiles alike who come to believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior. He has made them into one body, The Law finds its fulfillment and completion in Jesus Christ. So no longer do we live under a system of commands, the ordinances of the Old Testament. But Jews and Gentiles alike live under the guidelines of grace. Personal faith. A personal relationship in Jesus Christ.

Over in chapter 3, verse 4. "By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ." Remember we talked about the word mystery in connection with the rapture? That it is something not before revealed by God but is now being made known by Him. Well Paul says this matter of the church, the body of Christ, Jews and Gentiles alike, brought together into one entity is something now being revealed for the first time. Verse 5: "Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets... to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel." So today, God is dealing with all people in the same way. He does not have a special nation that He is dealing with. When we come to be followers of Jesus Christ by faith in Him, we do not become part of Israel, we become part of the body of Christ, the church. This began in Acts chapter 2. It will continue down until the rapture of the church. But God’s program with Israel is not over.

Look over in the Book of Romans. There are those today who understand that God’s program with Israel is finished because Israel rejected its Messiah, God has no future for Israel. That is not true. What God promised for Israel throughout the Old Testament, will be fulfilled for Israel. Following the rapture of the church, God will resume His program with the nation Israel. To note here, that’s why the nation Israel is such an important nation today. They are special to God, even though God is not dealing with them as He did through the Old Testament. He’s dealing with the church today. None the less, He has them in a holding pattern so to speak. Moving them towards that final time of preparation when the nation Israel will receive Christ as their Messiah.

In chapter 11 of Romans, verse 25. Could open up with the first part of the chapter. Chapter 11, verse 1. "I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!" A reminder to the Gentiles. Lest we be arrogant and proud. God has rejected Israel so don’t give any thought to Israel—we’re the special people now. "May it never be", strongest way you could say, "No" in the Greek language. King James says "God forbid." You can’t even conceive of such a thought that God would reject
His people. "For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew." He has not rejected the nation Israel. He has simply set them aside for a time, under discipline, under chastening, but His people none the less.

Down to verse 25. In the midst of this God notes, or Paul writes that God's program with Israel is the same as with us. It is by grace. So because they have been unfaithful does not change God's program. Because God's program with them does not depend upon them but upon Him. Not upon their faithfulness but upon His faithfulness. Because it's a program not of works, but of grace. If it's of grace, then it's solely from the basis of God's doing. Down in verse 25. "For I do not want you brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening of Israel has happened until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." Note. It's a partial hardening and it is of limited duration. There are Jews who are saved today. When a Jew comes to believe as the apostle Paul did, He comes to be part of the body of Christ, the church, the bride of Christ. There is a partial hardening and it is until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. That expression the "fullness of the Gentiles" refers to this period of time when God's program focuses on the Gentiles. There are Jews who are saved, but the vast majority of the Jews do not believe. It is the time of the fullness of the Gentiles, when God's program focuses on the nation - on the Gentiles. Characteristic of this period of time as Jesus spoke in the Gospels is that Jerusalem is trodden underfoot until the time of the Gentiles has been fulfilled.

Note what happens in verse 26: "And thus all Israel will be saved." Note that. There is a future national salvation for the nation Israel. "The deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." The Messiah will come to be the deliverer of Israel. By the time we're done with the events we are going to be talking about in the coming weeks, the nation Israel will be prepared as a nation. Not every single individual, but the large portion of the Jews will be ready to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Messiah and receive Him as their King. So you note verse 28, "From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake." So as you look at the Jews in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they are enemies. They stand opposed to what God has done in Jesus Christ. That’s for our benefit as Gentiles. That's that we might be the recipients of the proclamation of the gospel and believe it. So Israel is the enemy of the gospel today but I’m the beneficiary of that, because God is dealing with us. We as Gentiles are privileged to be those who hear the message and believe it. But note, but from the standpoint of God’s election, God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. The fathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, God made promises to them and God chose them, and from the standpoint of God’s choice, they are beloved. You know why? Verse 29: "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." Boy that ought to cause your heart to rejoice. If that's true for Israel, that's true for us. You know why Gil Rugh is going to be in heaven? Because of the choice of God and the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. You know why there's a future for the nation Israel? Not because of their faithfulness. You don't find any faithfulness in the nation Israel today. But because God chose them and promised to Abraham, promised to Isaac, promised to Jacob, promised through the prophets that He would establish them as the nation around which the world revolves. Over which His divine Son would rule in the eternal kingdom. And God cannot go back on His word. In spite of the condition of Israel today. Enemies from the standpoint of the gospel. From the standpoint of God's sovereign choice, they are beloved. So I say that there is no special nation that God is dealing with today, you must understand that in this context. The nation Israel is still the beloved of God. But He is not dealing with them in the same way He did in the Old Testament. Rather He is dealing primarily with Gentiles and some Jews who come to believe the gospel. We are welded together into one body, the church.

Now we want to focus on, is God resuming His program with the nation Israel. The rapture occurs. We sometimes say that this is a parentheses and many jump on this. It is not a parentheses from God's perspective. But in the Old Testament there is nothing said about the church. So as you look at it from the Old Testament perspective, it is a parentheses because there's nothing revealed about it. From God's perspective it is part of His eternal plan. That He would deal with the nation Israel up till Acts chapter 2. Then He would set them aside for a time to deal with the church, primarily the Gentiles, until the rapture of the church. Following which He will resume and bring to completion and fruition, the promised program to the nation Israel.

Turn back to Daniel chapter 9. We are going to do something of an overview of the first part of this period of time following the rapture of the church. We'll be picking up some details of particular events in coming studies. In Daniel chapter 9 is significant because here God lays out the years of His program with the nation Israel. And in the end of the chapter where we'll focus our attention for a few moments. Verse 24—we talk about the seventy weeks of Daniel. This unfolds the 490 year program that God has with the nation Israel, You note, Daniel 9:14 says, "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people," Now seventy weeks is literally 70 7's and we won't take the time right now to trace down the comparison. We'll read through this section here first. But its seventy sevens and the 70 7's are really seven-year periods, so seventy times seven years is four hundred and ninety years. We get sometimes a misunderstanding, we read seventy weeks, we think of a seven day week. But literally says seventy-seven and the context of Scripture has to determine whether you're talking about seven days or seven years, seven hours, whatever. And the context of Scripture particularly compared with the Book of Revelation indicates we are talking about seven years. So seventy times seven years is four hundred and ninety years. "Have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place." You note what is to be accomplished. Six things in this section. Comes down to verse 27 again. Will be accomplished. First verse 24: It's decreed for your people (Daniel is a Jew-—it's for the Jews) your holy city (no doubt the holy city is Jerusalem—we even sing of that in our songs) to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness (obviously that hasn't occurred yet) to seal up vision and prophecy, to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem unto Messiah, the prince will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. So from the time that the decree is given to rebuild Jerusalem, down to Messiah the Price, is sixty-nine weeks. Seven weeks plus sixty-two weeks—sixty-nine weeks—four hundred and eighty-three years. That carries us down until the time of Jesus Christ.

Verse 26, "After the sixty-two weeks (which was after the seven weeks remember) There will be seven weeks in verse 25 and sixty-two weeks. Then after the sixty-two weeks which was after the seven weeks, so after a total of sixty-nine weeks, after four hundred and eight-three years, Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. There's a clear prophecy of the execution of Jesus Christ, Amazing that the Messiah would be cut off and have nothing. That one who was prophesied to rule and reign in majesty and glory is going to be cut off and have nothing. The Jews couldn't understand that. It was fulfilled, we studied about it in the Gospel of John—that Jesus Christ was executed. The Messiah of Israel. "The people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary." Comes an important person we will be talking about in coming days. "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," Now verse 27 is crucial. This prince that shall come, the anti-Christ, we will look at him in detail in a coming study. Just note him now. He is the political leader of the western world. The Scripture reveals him. He will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. He'll make an agreement with the nation Israel for a seven-year period. In the middle of the week (three and a half years along) 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. What happens, that following the rapture of the church, there is a revelation and a sense of power of an individual out of the western world—evidently Europe—who as the leader of a federated group of nations makes an agreement with Israel. Evidently guaranteeing the sovereign security of that nation (we’ll see in other passages in our studies along the way). Israel is under his protection. He is Satan’s imitation Messiah. For three and a half years they will prosper under his protection. After three and a half years, he turns on Israel and the final three and a half years of the tribulation are given over to an attempted annihilation of that nation. See that Satan’s hatred is still vented on God’s people and on the nation Israel.

Now, back up while we’re in Daniel to Daniel chapter 2. We should note it’s the, Daniel 9:27, the signing of that agreement with Israel for one week marks the beginning of the seven-year tribulation. Now that happens evidently shortly after the rapture of the church. How much time might be there we’re not told. The church is removed from the scene. The anti-Christ is not revealed until after the rapture of the church so no sense in guessing who he is. And then he will make the agreement with the nation Israel. So whether we’re talking about days or weeks or months, we don't know. Sometime following the rapture of the church this representative person of the western world will ink that agreement with the nation Israel and you can start to mark off seven years from that point of time until Jesus Christ returns to earth. Seven year period which is catastrophic for the world and for Israel. A period of God's wrath on the earth such as has never been seen before.

Now within this framework in Daniel chapter 2, we have portrayed the coming nations of the earth. Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. He sees a great image. He gets Daniel to interpret the significance of this image to him. The image is a man, a statute, and each of the parts of the man represent a coming empire, starting from the head and going to the feet. And you’ll note—there's an increase in the strength of the metals but a deterioration in the quality. You'll start out with a head of gold which is most valuable but a rather soft metal. You'll conclude with feet of iron which is not that valuable of metal but it is the strongest. In Daniel chapter 2, verse 36: "This was the dream" He's told Daniel or he's told Nebuchadnezzar what the dream was, now here is the interpretation. Verse 37: "You, 0 king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory, and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold." The Babylonian empire. Short-lived empire. Approximately 86 years. It's the head of gold.

Verse 39, "After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, “that other kingdom inferior to you characterized by silver in the image as we have not gone back and read the details, is the Medo-persian empire that followed the Babylonian empire, "Then a third kingdom of bronze, will rule over all the earth." Bronze or brass depicting the Greek empire founded by Alexander the Great. "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces." Depicts very accurately the Roman Empire. The empire that ever existed. One of the historians of that day wrote about the impossibility of fleeing from Rome. The hopelessness of standing against Rome, It dominated and controlled and crushed.

Then, verse 41, "In that you saw the feet and toes," This image, the man, had feet and toes, "partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay". So you see, there is another kingdom coming that is a mixture of iron and clay. That’s where we get the emphasis on the Roman Empire, experiencing something of a revival. It’s not a different metal, it’s a continuation of the iron. But the iron has been weakened by being mixed with clay so it has strength, but it has a brittleness.
Verse 42, "And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery." Now note verse 44, helps you understand what the toes are, "In the days of those kings" (the kings depicted in the feet and the toes). Now we would expect that an image of a man that has a head, has arms, has chest and belly, has legs, has feet, would also have ten toes. There are some who disagree and say it doesn’t say how many toes this man has. But we are talking about ten kingdoms here. That will become clear and we’ll look at some other passages in a moment. What is clarified here, both in other passages in Daniel and in the Book of Revelation, that the Roman Empire, that kingdom of iron, will continue on. The Roman Empire is not done. There will be a federation of ten nations, evidently within the general confines of the old Roman Empire. That will be joined together under the powerful leadership of one individual. A kingdom that is both strong and weak. That has those things which bind it together very strongly, yet those elements which keep it from adhering very strongly. That federation of nations.

Now note verse 44, "In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom," Now note, it's in the days of these ten nations, this federated kingdom of iron and clay that “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. That kingdom will not be left for another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy." You know Daniel doesn't have any fears about whether he's telling the truth or not. "I just told you what the dream is king. I just told you what the interpretation is. Let me tell you, the dream is true and my interpretation is trustworthy." How does he know? Because God told him.

Now you see what is happening here. God is laying out the course of coming world kingdoms. Some unbelievers cannot accept the Book of Daniel as being written around five hundred years before Christ because they say, "Impossible that you would have these prophesies." But what would you expect. Do you think God does not know the future? He tells us the future very clearly. You note in verses 44 and 45 that the kingdom of Christ will be established, replacing all earthly kingdoms, I'm not talking about a spiritual kingdom here. But we are carried in verse 44 and verse 45 to the second coming of Christ to earth when he annihilates earthly kingdoms and assembles all the people of the earth under His direct sovereign rule. Obviously that has not occurred yet. Jesus Christ is not ruling over the earth. He has not established a kingdom with its capitol as Jerusalem and Himself as earthly ruler. That is yet future.

Now, you see what has happened? We have been carried from Daniel's time right on past our time to the time when Christ comes and sets up the kingdom. Where does the church fit in? It's not dealt with. Remember what Paul said, it's a mystery? That the Old Testament says nothing about. God saw fit not to reveal anything about the church to Israel because it's not directly related to His program with the nation Israel so the Old Testament doesn't touch on it. Look over in Daniel chapter 7. And we're not going to get as far as I
Anticipated today, but that's all right, we have until the Lord comes. This is just
the first thing in about thirty-five events we were going to overview this morning.
I knew I would get carried away. So that’s all right--it has to be all right. The
clock will keep going. What happens in Daniel chapter 7 is God reveals to Daniel the same thing he revealed to Nebuchadnezzar only with different imagery. In Daniel, chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar, the earthly king sees the kingdoms of the world portrayed in a beautiful image. In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel sees the kingdoms of the earth from God's perspective, ravenous beasts that prey upon one another. And in Daniel chapter 7, verse 2: "I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring upon the great sea." The great sea here denoting the realm of humanity. Perhaps some would take it as the Mediterranean Sea. At any rate, the four great beasts were coming up from the sea. These four great empires "different from one another. The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet" given a mind, a human mind was given it—another beasts—second one--resembling a bear was raised up on one side, three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth, and thus they said ... Arise devour much meat. These kind of things we say "WOW, the book of Daniel is hard to understand. But really, accurate presentation. The lion depicts Babylon, the head. Just what we've been talking about back in chapter 2. Daniel said it was the head of gold, now here it is the eagle given the mind of a man. In case you have any doubt, jump over the verse 17 before we read the rest of them, "These great beasts which are four in number, are four kings or four kingdoms who will arise from the earth, but the saints of the highest will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever. So we're talking about four kingdoms.

O.K, Come back, verse 5, the bear. That refers to Medo-Persia. You see it raised up on one side because the Persians dominated this empire. The Medo-Persian empire was really dominated by the Persians. It has three ribs in its mouth, because it assembled its power by conquering and devouring three specific nations. Verse 6, "After this I kept looking" and incidentally, even the beasts depicts something. The eagle, depicting Babylon. The bear, depicting Medo-Persia. Medo-Persian's armies were great lumbering armies. They didn't surprise anyone. They just devoured everything in their path. In contrast to verse 6, "I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it." The leopard refers to Greece. An accurate depiction of it. Alexander’s armies traveled faster and more quickly than any armies previously on the face of the earth. Surprise, nobody expected them to be there as fast as they were. "After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it". Rome. Not one specific earthly animal. A terrifying beast more terrifying than any animal that had the ability to crush everything and anything. Picturing Rome. Note that last statement in verse 7. "It had ten horns." It had ten horns. So you see this final kingdom, comprised of ten nations flows out of the Roman empire. It is a continuation of it in various facets.

Verse 8, "While I was contemplating the horns, a little one came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.” So from among the ten horns, there comes another horn and he displaces three of them. He becomes a dominate element among the ten nation federation. That little horn is the anti-Christ. We'll talk about him in detail next time. He will come to power within this federation of nations.
Look over in Revelation chapter 13 if you would. Verse 1, "He stood on the sand of the seashore. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems and on his heads were blasphemous names." The seven heads here refer to seven nations. Just as Daniel was talking about the different nations, Babylon and so on. John adds, because he goes back all the way and picks up Egypt, picks up Assyria in his developing the nations as well as bringing them down current. We’ll see some of that as well in future studies. You note, ten horns. On his horns, ten diadems. A diadem is the crown of a ruler. So these ten horns picture ten kingdoms or ten kings. Then he’ll go on. One of the heads in verse 3—slain—have a fatal wound—and again come to receive the worship of the world—again we're talking about the anti-Christ. The man who is going to dominate the western world.

Look over in Revelation 17. "And the ten horns," verse 12 "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings," no problem in interpreting what do the ten horns signify. They’re ten kings (and a king and a kingdom are used interchangeably) Ten kings or ten kingdoms who "have not yet received a kingdom." So as John writes Revelation 17, they are yet future. But they "receive authority as kings with the beast." He’s the anti-Christ. The political ruler in the western world. And then ultimately of all the world for three-and-one-half years. These have one purpose. They give their power and authority to the beast. And then the functioning will be in this chapter in our studies as well about the harlot church. In Revelation 17 that great apostate church, it will be raised up in the tribulation period. So what has the Scripture said in coming to the second coming of Jesus Christ? He is coming again. Daniel 9 revealed He would be cut off and then there would come a man on the scene who is a false Messiah, a prince who will enter into an agreement. He will be an acceptable person for the nation Israel and he will enter into an agreement with them for one seven-year period. He will rule a federation of ten nations that are the remnant of the old Roman Empire and that ten-nation confederacy will be smashed in oblivion after a seven-year period by the personal, visible, physical return of Jesus Christ to earth
That's how God laid out the future. Now this ten-nation confederacy—what is it? Where is it? I don't know. It may be the common market as a forerunner of this. I'm not going to give any prophecies because the Bible says, "If the prophecies of the prophet don't come true, you stone him." And I'm not so confident. Especially since we have a large stone area in our parking lot. Whether the common market is that or not, I don't know. It will be something like that at least. Within the confines of the old Roman Empire. Where ten nations will be brought together. And it may be that these ten nations will not be in their final solidified form until after the rapture of the church. But it's amazing to me to see as the Bible, five hundred years before Christ, talks about the second coming of Christ to earth, it talks about the old Roman empire being revived and ten nations being federated together and even today, you read your newspaper, you listen to the news, and we talk about that general area and the nations there moving and the pros and cons of being related to one another, of being bound to one another economically, which Revelation 18 talks about. The political and economic federation that will bind these nations together. We see it happening. Amazing. We'll be looking at Russia, her allies. We'll look at Lybia. If you read about Lybia, you can't help but think of Ezekiel 38 and 39. Because God says, "There's Lybia—trouble maker." You know things aren't going to get better in Lybia. Oh, they may get better for a time, but by the time we get down to the end, we're going to find Lybia agitated against Israel with Russia. All these things—what do they just remind us of? That Jesus Christ is coming again. We're celebrating His coming to earth the first time. Secured salvation and redemption. That He might make us a new people, bind us together into one body. A people forgiven and cleansed. A people of God, prepared for Himself. And He is coming again someday to establish His rule and reign over all the earth.

You know I believe He's coming. That every detail that is promised concerning His second coming will be carried out just like His first was. Just like He had to be born in Bethlehem. Just like He had to be born of a virgin. Just like all these things had to happen exactly as God said. So it's going to happen when He comes again. Are you looking for His coming? Are you excited about the day in which you live? We'll look in coming days about the events the Bible says are going to happen. You know, the worse things get in the world, the more you and I as Christians ought to be excited. You know the more there is to rejoice about. You know as things go down, the corners of our mouth ought to be going up. Because exciting, just what God said. What did Jesus tell the disciples? Don’t be worried when you hear the wars, when you hear the rumors and the famines and the earthquakes and all of that. Don't let that bother you, be reminded, that's necessary before my coming. You say, "Oh Lord, praise the Lord, another earthquake. Isn't that good to hear? Oh, praise the Lord more inflation. And just look at the famine. And everything's coming apart. Just hallelujah, praise God." Why? We have a God who is in control. He has everything under control and he's moving all things towards the culmination of history—the second coming of Jesus Christ. Are you ready for Him? Have you come to recognize and believe that He is the Messiah, the Savior, the One sent from God that He might pay the penalty for your sin. That He might die in your place? So that God might have the basis for forgiving your sins? Have you ever come to believe in Him as your Savior? I encourage you to. Consider—you're a sinner. Christ died for you. He was raised from the dead because He had secured salvation for all who would believe. Have you believed in Him? Are you looking for His coming today?

Let's pray together...