 
### Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Book 82

By

Les Feldick Ministries

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Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Book 82

Copyright © 2015 by Les Feldick Ministries

ISBN: 9781310320804

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### Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Book 82

LESSON ONE * PART I

Tribulation Prophecy

Daniel 9:25 – 11:31

Okay, good to see everybody in this afternoon. We realize there's folks here from Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, and Alabama. Did I miss anybody? We're glad that all of you folks came in. And for those of you joining us on television, again, we want to welcome you to another Bible study. We are presently going verse-by-verse through the Book of Daniel. We again want to thank you for your prayers, your letters, and your financial help—all that makes this possible.

All right, we're not going to waste any time for announcements. We're going to go right back to where we left off in our last program—which for those of you in the studio, again, was a month ago. Back to Daniel chapter 9 and we'll go on back to verse 24. Jerry's got 25 on the board, which is a-okay. But let's go back to verse 24, which is the beginning of this tremendous benchmark of Bible prophecy.

You just cannot be a student of prophecy if you do not have an understanding of this portion of Scripture in Daniel 9:24 to the end. Because, again, it just refutes the scoffer, because this is so accurate. And that's what drives them up the wall. Then they begin to accuse that—oh, this was written long after the fact, and that Daniel was just a forgery. But, not true. Daniel was recognized as a prophet by the Lord Himself in Matthew 24. So we can rest on the promises that this is the revealed, inspired Word of God, and this prophecy is absolutely necessary to understand our end-time events. All right, verse 24:

Daniel 9:24a

"Seventy weeks (Or seventy sevens of years—that's 490 years.) are determined upon thy people (Now watch the language. God is addressing Daniel and the "thy people", of course, of Daniel was the Nation of Israel.) are determined upon thy people (the Nation of Israel) and upon thy holy city, (Jerusalem) to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,..."

Now, I have to stop. I can't help it. I wasn't planning on that, but something just came into mind. Here about a month ago in one of my classes here in Oklahoma the subject came up—how much of the world did God reconcile to Himself when He finished the work of the Cross? All of it! And see, that's hard for people to comprehend. Well, then we skipped from reconciliation to forgiveness. How much of the world's sin was forgiven as a result of the Cross? All of it! And one gentleman, just almost aghast, said, "You mean to tell me that everybody's sin is already forgiven?" And I said, "Yes." Well, I tried to prove as much as I could from Scripture, but I don't think the guy was satisfied.

And you know, the next day I had in the mail a book that somebody had sent to me. I don't remember the author's name, but it was dealing with that very subject. Within two or three days, I got another book from some other part of the country dealing with the same subject. And before I got back to that class, I had a third one. So, I went armed with three books all dealing with the fact that when Christ finished the work of the Cross, He reconciled every human being. He forgave all the sin of every human being.

Now, you see, that's beyond us. That's why it had to be God Himself who did it. No humans could have ever accomplished that. But now that does not make everybody go into Heaven when they die. It just means it's possible. God has already done everything that needed to be done for the salvation of every human being, and all mankind has to do is believe it for their salvation. He died for the sins of the world, was buried, and rose again!

And that brings up—now I'm going off Daniel. I can't help that. I'm going off Daniel. Come back to John's Gospel chapter 1. This just substantiates that the work of the Cross made reconciliation possible for every human being from Adam to the end. It made forgiveness a reality for the same number of people, because Christ did it all. All right, now that's what makes this verse so pertinent.

John 1:9

"That (speaking of Jesus as John the Baptist was announcing Him) that was the true Light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

Anybody exempt? No. In other words, everything that Christ did was not just for the few. It was for the total number. But what's the sad reality? The only ones that can cash in on it are those who take it by faith. So what happens to most of them? It's for nothing. And that's what so heartbreaking—that here Christ has accomplished all of that. He went through the suffering and the death of the Cross so that He could bring reconciliation and forgiveness to the whole human race, and yet only the small few cash in and take it by faith. Well, I didn't intend to do that, but evidently there's a reason. So, here it is.

Daniel 9:24b

"...to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,..." He did everything that was needed to take care of the sin problem and to make reconciliation. Now that's a word that you only see spoken again, if I'm not mistaken, in Paul's Epistles. I think it's II Corinthians chapter 5 where we have reconciliation brought up.

But anyway, getting back to the prophecy part of it now, there would be 490 years from the time of a decree—that we're going to look at here in a little bit—from a decree that went out from the Mede and Persian King to rebuild the city walls until this finished work of the Cross could be accomplished. Four hundred and ninety years. All right, now we jump into verse 25 and we see these 490 years broken into three categories. The first one is verse 25.

Daniel 9:25

"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: (Or 62 weeks times seven, which is 434 years) the street shall be built again, and the wall, (The city and everything would be built.) even in troublous times."

All right, now let's just go back a moment before we go any further and determine when was this commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, which is going to be the trigger-day of these 490 years. Go back with me to Nehemiah. That's back right after the Kings and the Chronicles and Ezra and Nehemiah. We'll probably be seeing it a little later this afternoon, but you've got to remember—there were two decrees given to the Jewish people out in that Babylonian captivity.

Now, I trust you all realize, and remember, now, that for the last several programs we've been dealing with Daniel and Israel in that Babylonian captivity. But there were two decrees that brought it to an end. The first one was given by Cyrus, not to Nehemiah, but to Ezra. And his job was to take a group of Jews back to Israel, back to Jerusalem, and rebuild the Temple. Because, after all, you've got to remember that this four hundred and some year period of time is going to take us to Christ's First Advent. And by the time Jesus comes and appears to the Nation of Israel, the Temple has to be operating. So God in His foreknowledge has prompted Cyrus to give Ezra the decree to go back and rebuild the Temple.

Well, then some years later the next king in that line of Persian and Mede Kings was Darius. He gave the commandment to Nehemiah to—not rebuild the Temple, that's Ezra's job. Nehemiah is to restore the city wall and the gates. Now again, you have to understand ancient history. How long would a city of any worth last if they didn't have a defensive wall? Well, not long. So that was always the first prerequisite. It was to get that wall of defense with its gates and so forth. So the second king after Cyrus who gave Ezra the command to rebuild the Temple is Darius; and he's going to give the orders to Nehemiah.

All right, Nehemiah chapter 2 and remember, now, this is the decree that is dating the 490 years. Not the decree to rebuild the Temple, but the decree that Daniel uses as a starting point of this 490-year prophecy. Here it is. Chapter 2 verse 1:

Nehemiah 2:1

"And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, (That's our April, in the spring.) in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence." Now remember, this isn't Daniel; this is Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 2:2

"Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I (Nehemiah) was very sore afraid." If you read history and the account of some of these historians, you've got to almost pick up a little bit of the personality of these Oriental Kings.

They were egotists that you wouldn't believe. And if they thought that one of their servants was unhappy, it was a reflection on him. So, what would he do? Destroy him. Get rid of this guy. This is what I think put the fear into Nehemiah. It was that the king recognized that he wasn't happy. So, what does he do? He prayed. Well, I don't blame him. His life was on the line, whether you know it or not.

Nehemiah 2:3

"And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, (Jerusalem) the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?" As a result of that Babylonian destruction, you know, seventy or eighty years earlier.

Nehemiah 2:4

"Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? (What did Nehemiah do? Now, I like to take little portions of Scripture. This has a tremendous lesson. Do you know that? Just these four or five words—) and I prayed to the God of heaven." How did he do it? Did he run to his prayer closet and get down on his knees? He didn't dare say a word in front of the king. So, how did he pray? Silently. He didn't even move his lips.

I remember one time—you remember that, Honey? We were up on the Temple Mount and the guide told us—you know we can't carry a Bible, and for goodness sakes don't pray moving your lips. Because the Muslim police are all around us watching, and if they would have caught you moving your lips in prayer, they'd have jerked you out.

All right, so Nehemiah was no different. He didn't dare even move his lips as he's standing there before Darius the king. So, what's the lesson? When can you pray? Anytime, anywhere, and under any circumstance—and you can pray silently, you don't have to move your lips. You don't have to speak out loud.

Now, let me give you a Scripture. Keep your hand in Nehemiah. Now we're on the matter—you pray wherever you are, whatever the circumstances, and that's fine with God. He hasn't laid down a stipulation that you go up to the Temple the fourth hour of the day. Come back with me to I Timothy chapter 2 and verse 8 and keep Nehemiah as your example.

Here he's standing before an Oriental king who would just as soon give the command to take him out and kill him as look at him. He dare not let that king realize that he's praying. But he is. Scripture says he is. All right, now look what Paul tells us in I Timothy chapter 2 verse 8.

I Timothy 2:8a

"I will therefore that men pray (Where?) every where,..." Not in a particular prayer closet. Not in some sanctuary. Not down at the altar. Anywhere! And that's our glorious privilege, that we can come into the throne room. Well, the Book of Hebrews says the same thing—come boldly into the throne room of Heaven in our time of need.

Okay, back to Nehemiah. Here is this young Jew, now, who is just a cupbearer, a servant of Darius the king, and the king recognizes that he's just not up to par. He's got something bothering him. The problem was—he was homesick for Jerusalem. Just like Daniel was as we saw in one of our other programs. "So I prayed to the God of heaven." Now verse 5, back to Nehemiah 2.

Nehemiah 2:5

"And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it." The city—in other words, basically get the wall and the gates repaired.

Nehemiah 2:6

"And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time." Now here it comes. This is what Daniel is referring to, and that's why I'm taking the time to show it to you—verse 7.

Nehemiah 2:7 – 8a

"Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters (See?) let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; 8. And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest,..."

Well, that stands to reason. If you're going to build something, you've got to have material. And the chief source of wood and building material, of course, was Lebanon. The cedars of Lebanon were one of their favorite building materials. So he needs permission for all this in order to accomplish anything.

Nehemiah 2:8

"And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me." So, what's he got? He's got the decree to go back and rebuild the city walls, rebuild and fix the gates of the city. He has all the pertinent permission that he needed to get the lumber and the timbers from the cedars of Lebanon.

All right, now come back with me to Daniel chapter 9. That is the beginning date of this decree. Now, archaeologists a long time ago, I think back to the 1800's when they were still having access to one of the great libraries in the Middle East—which, of course, were shut down later. But in one of those libraries, they actually found this decree. Dated in March, I think it was the 14th if I'm not mistaken, but it was in the year 454 B.C. Now remember, this is before Christ.

Maybe I can put it on the board, and that way you'll remember it a little bit better. We'll start back here with Nehemiah's decree. Like I said, I think it was March 14th, if I remember right, 454 B.C. All right, now we take that ahead 49 years, or seven weeks of years (when Ezra rebuilt the Temple), and that brings us up to 405 B.C. All right, now I think the reason that Scripture and the Holy Spirit, or however you want to put it, has broken a time factor here, is that this probably, and I can't set this in concrete. But it just almost seems that 405 B.C. is when Ezra, who went earlier, had completed rebuilding the Temple. They had a chapel dedication, and they were now ready to once again restore Temple worship. That was, as near as I can tell, about that 405 B.C. period. So there was probably a celebration that the Temple was being rededicated and so forth that the Scripture has seen fit to break it down into this 49 period of years. All right, now let's go on in verse 25 again.

Daniel 9:25a

"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment (given to Nehemiah) to restore and to build Jerusalem (to restore the city and the city walls) unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."

Now we go for another total. Not only the seven weeks up to 405, but now there's going to be another threescore and two—three times twenty is sixty plus two, so there's going to be another 62 weeks of years. If you've got your calculator with you, that's 434 years. I hope it is.

All right, so now you go another 434 years. But remember, we're talking in terms of B.C. and A.D. now, till we come all the way through. We're going to come past the time of the birth of Christ, and we're going to travel all the way to A.D. 29 and the Cross—which completes 483 years of the 490 years of Daniel's prophecy. I hope I've got my numbers right.

All right, now let's go back and look at it again. So, threescore and two weeks (62 weeks of years) times seven makes for a total of 434 years after the first 49 years of rebuilding the temple. That takes you up to A.D. 29 and a total of 483 years of the 490 years of prophecy.

Daniel 9: 26a

"And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (Now, that's where you have to take it slow.) the people of the prince that shall come (Now who's the prince that's coming? The Antichrist! That's the small letter "p" in this verse 26. And where is he going to come from? The empire that—) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;..." The Temple the second time and who was that? Rome in A.D. 70.

Now, I hope I'm not going too fast and not confusing. So, from Nehemiah's decree until the Cross is 483 years. Now, that is so explicit to be prophetic. See, that's why it drives them up the wall. We've got seven years unfulfilled of that prophecy. Okay, two minutes left, we've got to hurry. Let's look at verse 26 again.

Daniel 9:26a

"And after threescore and two weeks (483 years of the prophecy) shall Messiah be cut off, (crucifixion) but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;..." The second time which was in A.D. 70.

Now you want to remember, the Babylonians destroyed it the first time—the Temple and the city in 606 B.C. All right, now they've come and rebuilt the Temple and the city of Jerusalem again, only to have it all done over a second time in A.D. 70, which was 40 years, of course, beyond the Cross.

So, we've still got that seven years unfulfilled, which we will recognize in another program as the seven years of Tribulation. But get one thing out of verse 26 so that you'll never lose it—and that is that this Antichrist, this prince that shall come, is going to come out of the empire that destroys Jerusalem and the Temple the second time. And that was Rome. The Roman Empire.

Now you see, at the time that Daniel is writing, the Roman Empire hasn't even appeared the first time. The Roman Empire is still out in the future. That's what makes all of this so hard for the scoffer to accept—that Daniel had such perfect revelation of the future, that even though it hadn't happened, history proved that it did.

All right, I've only got a few seconds left, so we'll finish verse 26.

Daniel 9:26b

"...the prince that shall come shall (come out of the empire that will) destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof (building up to that time) shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." And, of course, there Daniel is referring to the horrors of the Tribulation that will leave not only Jerusalem and the land of Israel in desolation, but it will be worldwide. This whole planet will have to be totally destroyed in order to be regenerated and ready for the King.

LESSON ONE * PART II

Tribulation Prophecy

Daniel 9:25 – 11:31

Okay, it's always so good to have everybody in again this afternoon for program number 2. I guess you've all had your refreshments, and we can get back to work again. Go right back to Daniel chapter 9, and we'll pick up where we left off in the last lesson.

Just in case there's a new listener or two, we're a simple verse-by-verse Bible study. I want people to understand that. We don't claim to have all the answers, but we seem to keep the majority satisfied, anyway. Once in a while somebody will call or write and they think they've got me trapped. But you know what the problem usually is? They've misunderstood me. And I can show what the Book says and they see it. And I say you thought you had me, but you didn't. So anyway, it makes it interesting.

Okay for those of you here in the studio, we're in Daniel, once again, chapter 9. Let's just go back where we left off after verse 26, that after those total of 483 years from Nehemiah's decree to go back and rebuild the city, that would take us up to A.D. 29 and the time of the crucifixion.

All right, the point I just have to keep driving home—remember now what this verse says, that this man, Antichrist, the prince that shall come—he's called various things throughout Scripture. He's called the son of perdition, that wicked one, and so forth. He will have to come out of what at one time was the Roman Empire. And I will never deviate from that, because that's what it says: this prince that's coming will come out of the empire that will destroy Jerusalem and the Temple, which was the Roman Empire in A.D. 70.

Now don't forget, Daniel is writing clear back here in 500 and some B.C. It's still in the time of the Mede and the Persian Empire. So, it's going to have to fall under the Greek Empire. The Greeks are going to run for a couple of hundred years before the Romans come in, but Daniel's got it all straight already. And that's the miracle of Scripture.

All right, now then, the prince that shall come—we'll follow him down into verse 27. And when he makes his appearance, the first thing he will do—in fact, I maintain that this is what will open the seven-year clock. The clock will start ticking those final years when this prince that's coming, this man, Antichrist, will make a treaty in the Middle East. All right, let's look at it, verse 27.

Daniel 9:27a

"And he shall confirm (or bring about) the covenant (or a treaty) with many for one week (seven years):..."

Now, like so many portions of Scripture, I think God gives us credit for having a little bit of brain, that we can look at some of these things and put it together even though it doesn't say it word-for-word. If he's going to make a treaty with many, with our understanding now of the whole Middle East scenario, who are the many? Jews and Palestinians or Arabs. You can't make a treaty with just one side in agreement. You have to have both sides agree.

All right, so looking at the scenario that we have in the Middle East right now as I speak, you've got Israel surrounded by fifty times their own number of the Arab world. It's the bone of contention that's got the whole world all wrapped up in it. Everybody wants to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians or the Arabs. It isn't going to happen until this guy does it.

All right, now how will the Antichrist bring about a peace treaty that will satisfy Israel sitting there in that little strip of land, and at the same time satisfy the fifty million Muslim Arabs? Well, it's going to have to be a supernatural God-thing. There isn't a man on earth that would be able to bring those two factions together. No way. Now, they can talk—what do they call it? The Pathway or whatever, and they get this one and that program and this and that, hey, listen, none of it is going to work. Even after Obama met with Netanyahu here a few weeks ago—well, you see, on the surface they like to make the world think that there's hope. No, there isn't. Because, number one: Israel will never, never, never agree to let those four, five, six hundred-thousand Arabs that left in 1948 come back.

See, that's what the Arab world holds—they cannot have peace unless Israel agrees to let all these so-called displaced Arabs come back into the land of Israel. Well, Israel can't do that. If they would let six or seven hundred-thousand Arabs come back in within their borders, then they would lose their majority. There'd be more Arabs in Israel than Jews. So, it'll never happen. So, there isn't a man on earth that can bring about a peace in the Middle East as we understand peace. But, when this man appears, he's going to accomplish it. Not because he's so great, but rather it's a God-thing. It has to happen.

All right, when you look at verse 27 carefully, again using the common sense set of brains that God has given us, what can we determine? That in this peace treaty between little Israel and the Arab-Muslim world, the Muslims are actually going to agree to let Israel rebuild their Temple. Can you imagine even one Muslim today saying, yea, we can agree to that? Not a one. But God is going to intervene. It's going to happen. And like you've heard me say for the many years you've been hearing me teach, if the Book says it's going to happen, it has to happen, even though we don't see how. All right, so now look at these words.

Daniel 9:27a

"And he shall confirm the covenant (treaty) with many for (seven years) one week: (Now, the many has to include both sides: the Muslim-Arab world and Israel. But the Antichrist is brokering it.) and in the midst of the week (those seven years) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease...." Hold it. What do they have to have in order for animal sacrifices and worship to restart? A Temple!

Now, it doesn't say they're going to have a Temple, but the conditions say it has to. It has to. So now we can put two and two together. This peace treaty is going to be so supernatural, so brokered by God Himself that the Muslim world will actually agree to let those Jews build a Temple. And I'm convinced it's going to be on the Temple Mount right north of the Dome of the Rock, because there's a 200 square foot piece of pavement out there on which there's nothing but just concrete. And it's right straight up from the Golden Gate, or the Eastern Gate, the Gate through which Christ will enter Jerusalem.

All right, what more logical place to rebuild Israel's Temple than in front of that Eastern Gate. And in front of the Eastern Gate, like I said, is a 200 square foot—200 feet this way and 200 feet that way—of nothing but concrete. My, Iris and I have walked over it a dozen times. And every time I'm up there I say, "Someday they're going to have their Temple here."

All right, but now the Book doesn't say—and they're going to rebuild the Temple. But it does say that in the middle of those seven years the Antichrist is going to cause Temple worship and the sacrifices to stop.

Well, they can't stop if they haven't started. And they can't start unless they've got the Temple. All of this becomes obvious by reading between the lines. Now, maybe somebody says, you don't have a right to do that. Well, I've got a favorite verse of Scripture, or portion of Scripture—I do it all the time, and I don't think the Lord is displeased. Let me go back and show you what I'm talking about. Some of you know where I'm going.

John's Gospel and my goodness, if you don't use a little common sense and the brains that God has given us, you can't construct all of this. But you do, you use some common sense. John's Gospel, where is it, chapter 12? Yea, John's Gospel chapter 12, you've heard me do this before.

But this is interesting how you can construct—well, sort of like algebra. You can have one known and three or four unknowns, and if you know algebra, what can you do? We can determine what they all are. How? By mathematics.

All right, now it's the same way here. You only get little tidbits of information, but you can build the whole scenario if you just use a little sense. All right, here we are, John's Gospel, I'm just using this as an example of how to interpret Daniel chapter 9. John's Gospel chapter 12, jump in at verse 20, Honey. We're using this just as an example of how you fill in the details.

Verse 20, now it's the Feast of Passover, and the crowds of Jews are coming in from all over the world for the Feast of Passover. But it just so happens that it's the Passover at which Christ will be crucified. And Jesus is somewhere in the crowd. All right, now in the midst of this huge crowd of gathering Jews, verse 20.

John 12:20 – 21

"And there were certain Greeks (What are Greeks? Gentiles. What are these Gentiles doing at a Jewish feast day? Well, let's read on.) among them that came up to worship at the feast: (They weren't worshippers. They were just there for their own reason.) 21. The same (Gentiles and we don't know how many—two, three, four, five—I would say probably two or three.) came therefore to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and (asked him, or—) desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus."

Now, I'm going to put you on the spot. Two, three, four total strangers, they don't know one Jew in this crowd. How did they know to approach Philip? Well, now use your thinking. If you're in a crowd of strangers and you're looking for somebody, what do you do? You go and ask somebody. Now who were they looking for? They're looking for Jesus. Because after all, for three years His fame, I'm sure, covered the then-known world. This Miracle Worker in Israel. Three years.

And you want to remember, the Scripture tells us that if all of His miracles had been recorded, it's a play on words, I'm sure, but the world couldn't hold it. Well, what does that mean? If they would have recorded all of His miracles over those three years, you'd have needed a pickup truck at the least to carry it. Now you think that didn't scatter across the whole Middle East? Have you heard what this Guy is doing over there in Israel? Of course it did. So these Gentiles want to see this individual. Where is this Jesus, this miracle worker?

All right, so how'd they nail Philip? Well, somebody in the crowd says, there's one of His followers. He's with Him all the time. Go ask him where He's at. See what they do? So they go and they ask Philip, where's Jesus? All right, what does Philip remember? Now wait a minute, when we began all of this three years ago, He gave explicit instructions that we're to have how much to do with Gentiles? Nothing! What are we going to do? He won't take this fellow and talk to him. And yet maybe, maybe we'd better. Now that's what you have to do in a place like this, just use some common sense.

All right, so Philip—not knowing what to do, but knowing there's always safety in numbers, what does Philip do? Finds Andrew. He leaves those Gentiles, wherever they were, and he goes and finds Andrew. All right read on, verse 22.

John 12:22

"Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus." But now wait a minute, what do you suppose they did before they found Jesus? Hey, they hashed this all over. I know they did, because their instructions had been "go not into the way of a Gentile. Go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matthew 10:5 – 6) So, these guys knew that they were on strange ground dealing with some Gentiles. I can see the two of them yakking about this for several minutes, and they finally said, well, let's go find Him and see what He says.

All right, read on. Now this is interesting. This is the way you sometimes have to do with Scripture. They find Jesus.

John 12:23

"And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.'" Now, is there any invitation there to bring them in or take Him to them? Nothing! Why? Well, now He gives the reason.

John 12:24

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except (unless) a kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." All right, now what does your brain have to tell you to do? Picture that wheat farmer. What does he do with the wheat seed? Well, he plants it. And if you plant something, what do you do? You cover it with dirt. You bury it. What's the result? Germination. A sprout. And in a few months a hundred fold of grain.

All right, so what is Jesus using the wheat kernel as an analogy of? His own death. His own burial. His own sprouting in new life. You got the picture? Now, what's the big answer? He could not be the object of faith to those Gentiles until He had finished the work of the Cross. Got that? Now, it doesn't say that in black and white. It doesn't say that in word-by-word. You've got to think it through. But, there's no other way to look at it.

Now, come back to Daniel, the same way back here. You have to have the liberty to look at some of these Scriptures and, without violating Scripture, staying with the text, you put two and two together and you get four. All right, so if this man, Antichrist, is going to bring about a peace treaty that's going to bring about a Temple at which he can stop the worship, he can include in that peace treaty the permission from the Arab world for Israel to build a Temple.

Now, it won't be a gold and silver edifice like Solomon's. I maintain it's in a warehouse in Jerusalem right now, prefabbed and ready to go out and get set up and be functioning in less than a week's time. But it's going to happen. I can stand here and guarantee it's going to happen, because the Book says so. And Jesus put His stamp of approval on it.

All right, now let's see; am I ready to go to Matthew? Not quite. Come back to Daniel chapter 9 verse 27.

Daniel 9:27a

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (seven years): (That will take us up to the end of the 490 years prophesied by Daniel.) and in the midst of the week (at the end of three-and-a-half years) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, (Temple worship to stop from that point on, from the midpoint until the end of the seven years.) and for the overspreading of abominations (Now when the Scripture speaks of abomination, it's that which isn't fit to repeat. And he's going to bring it in.) he shall make it (That is the Temple, the rebuilt Temple during the Tribulation, he's going to make it—) desolate, (In other words, totally unusable for things of God. And it will remain desolate—) even until the consummation,..." or the seven years are completed. And now we have the promise that everything that's been prophesied is going to happen to this man, Antichrist. He's going to hold forth over those seven years, and then will be his doom.

All right, let's go back. We've got eight minutes. Okay, let's go back a minute to I Thessalonians chapter 4, I mean chapter 5, I'm sorry. I usually use chapter 4 and then feed in, but we'll just jump in at chapter 5. I Thessalonians chapter 5 and we'll start at verse 1, Honey. I Thessalonians chapter 5 and, again, you're going to have to interpolate a little bit here. You all got it?

I Thessalonians 5:1 – 2

"But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. (Now remember, this is Paul writing to Gentiles in the Body of Christ up in Thessalonica.) 2. For yourselves know perfectly (or completely)that the day of the Lord (these final seven years) yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord (seven years of the Tribulation) so cometh as a thief in the night." In other words, it's going to catch the world by surprise.

I Thessalonians 5:3a

"For when they (the world, the masses) when they shall say, Peace and safety;..." What's that? Well, that's what the world is looking for. And what's the Antichrist going to do? Promise it. He's going to come in with flatteries, as we see in Daniel chapter 11.

We'll be seeing that later. He's going to come in with flattery. Well, what kind of flattery does the world like to hear today? Peace and prosperity. That's all they care about. My, America's proved it again. All they're concerned about is their bank account. Nothing else matters. Peace and prosperity.

So, that's how the Tribulation will open. Israel is going to have the Temple. Israel is going to have total protection of her borders, supposedly for seven years. And I maintain they are going to be so euphoric as a nation of people, they'll dismantle that fabulous military machine in three weeks time. They're going to send the guys home. They'll park their fighter jets, and Israel is going to live it up. This is what they've been waiting for. This is supposed to be their peace and prosperity.

But now look to the next part of this same verse. After the peace and prosperity and safety, then cometh what?

I Thessalonians 5:3b

"...then sudden destruction cometh upon them,..." Sudden destruction and that's what will fill, then, the rest of those seven years. Now, I personally think that this peace and safety bit will probably last about ten or eleven months. And then it's going to be war and desolations and everything that the Tribulation is foretelling.

All right, so here is the upfront scenario now—when the Antichrist comes in and brokers this fabulous peace treaty that no one else could ever have done because it's a God-thing. It has to happen that Israel will have permission to rebuild her Temple.

All right, now then, let's just back up to Matthew and see how the Lord Himself treats all this in Matthew chapter 24. Now those of you that have been with me over many years know that Matthew 24 is the Lord's description of the Tribulation period. He starts right out with the very epitome of the man, Antichrist, and he's a deceiver. He's going to be the greatest deceiver the world has ever seen. So the warning is in Matthew 24 verse 4.

Matthew 24:4 – 5

"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. (And then the next thing is false Christ's.) 5. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and he shall deceive many." And then in verse 6, like I've already alluded to, the peace and safety won't last very long, and then here it comes.

Matthew 24:6 – 7

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. (We're just at the beginning.) 7. For nation shall rise against nations, and kingdom against kingdom: (And then as a result of all this war and upheaval.) and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." And then the next verse:

Matthew 24:8 – 9

"All these are the beginning of sorrows. (See, this is all just the beginning of these seven years of horror and tribulation. Now here comes Israel's scenario.) 9. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of (How many nations? All but one? No.) all nations for my name's sake." Well, the day is coming that even America, Israel's greatest friend and ally, will turn against them and be part of their being persecuted.

Matthew 24:10 – 11

"And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11. And many false prophets shall rise, and deceive many." Now again, we haven't got time right here, but you want to remember that this man, Antichrist, who will be the political and the economical leader, he's going to have a sidekick. And he's going to be the leader of the what? The religious system. The false prophet and he's going to control the masses through false religion. Well, under that false umbrella of religion, you see, this is what's going to happen. You'll have false prophets popping up all around the planet and they, too, will do nothing but "deceive many."

Matthew 24:12 – 13

"And because iniquity shall abound, (Oh, it's going to be beyond our human comprehension, the wickedness and the immorality that's going to run prevalent during these final seven years.) the love of many shall wax cold. 13. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."

Now that's not a spiritual salvation, that's a physical. There are a few survivors coming to the end of the Tribulation, and we've dealt with them before. They will go into the Kingdom, if they have been believers, if they have heard the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Now here that comes in verse 14. This is what will be preached. And I had to make a point I made because I had just had a letter yesterday. What's the message that the 144,000 Jews will be preaching during the seven years? Well, here it is, plain as day from the lips of the Lord Jesus Himself, verse 14.

Matthew 24:14

"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." That's the end of the Tribulation. Notice it's not the Gospel of Grace that saves them here. Now you can't get it any plainer than that.

Now back up, those of you who are new, those of you who haven't heard this before out in television, and you'll see where we're coming from. Back up a minute to Matthew 9, because we've got to do everything with Scripture. And again, it's dealing with Jesus in His earthly ministry, right at the beginning of it back in chapter 9. Matthew 9 verse 35. Got to do this quickly, only got 20 seconds.

Matthew 9:35a

"And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching (What?) the Gospel of the Kingdom,..."

LESSON ONE * PART III

Tribulation Prophecy

Daniel 9:25 – 11:31

Okay, good to see you all back from coffee break. We'll begin program number 3 this afternoon, and we're going to go back where we left off in the last program. I didn't really get an opportunity to finish it like I should have. Fortunately, someone came up during the break and said, "Well, you've got to explain what the Gospel of the Kingdom is."

All right, let's go back and do that. We don't want to leave any loose ends. So go back with me to Matthew chapter 9. We're still going to go back to Daniel, don't worry. We're not out of there for good. But come back with me to Matthew chapter 9 where we just left the end of our last program, just to qualify terminology.

Matthew 9:35

"And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, (That is of the Nation of Israel.) teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, (and along with that, of course—) and healing every sickness and every disease among the people."

All right, now then, go to chapter 10 verses 5 and 6 and you'll see where they were to take this Gospel of the Kingdom. And always remember, you all know it, I know you do. What's the definition of Gospel? Good News! You all know that. All right, so it's the good news of the what? The Kingdom—that glorious heaven on earth that is coming at the end of the Tribulation and over which Christ will rule and reign.

All right, that was the Good News. But in order to appropriate that Good News, what were the children of Israel to believe? Who this Jesus was. That's all God was asking Israel to believe, that He was the promised Messiah. That was their Gospel. That was the very heart of Kingdom Gospel.

Today, under Paul's epistles and the Gospel of Grace, we must believe that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again.

Now of course, along with the Gospel of the Kingdom they still had Temple worship. They still kept the Law. They knew nothing of the freedoms and the liberties that we have under Grace. But, that was the Good News of the Kingdom, that the King was in their midst. But they had to believe who He was in order to appropriate it. All right, but it was limited to Israel as we see now in Matthew 10 verses 5 and 6.

Matthew 10:5 – 6

"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, (Now, that's as plain as English can make it.) and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: (Because they were half-breeds. They weren't full blood Jews. And then here's the cap of it all.) 6. But go rather (instead of the Gentiles and Samaritans) go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And that is limited to Jew only.

All right, now then, to come to the very heart, like I said a moment ago, of the Gospel, turn over to Matthew 16 and we get Peter's confession of faith. Peter is saved by this Kingdom Gospel. This is his confession. Matthew 16 and again we like to start at verse 13. We've done it hundreds of times over the years, but we'll do it again.

Matthew 16:13 – 16

"When Jesus came into the borders of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14. And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. 15. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16. And Simon Peter answered and said, (Now here's his profession of faith of the Kingdom Gospel.) Thou art the Christ, (the Messiah) the Son of the living God." Period.

Not a word about faith in the crucifixion, not a word about death, not a word about shed blood, not a word about resurrection, only that He was the Christ.

All right, now for sake of comparison, I have to do this every time. Here is the Gospel that we are proclaiming in this Age of Grace. The Kingdom Gospel passed off during the Book of Acts, and now we're left with only one. I don't know where people get the idea that I'm proclaiming two Gospels. But, oh, I get it all the time. Where do you get that we're under two Gospels? You don't hear me right! That's all I can say.

The Kingdom Gospel passed off the scene in the Book of Acts. I can't name the date and the month, but somewhere back there in the Book of Acts it fell through the cracks. Israel rejected everything and we're left with this Gospel of the Grace of God, which is now I Corinthians 15, plus many other portions. But this one in particular says it all.

I Corinthians 15:1 – 4 and it's amazing. I've said it before, and I'll say it again—it's amazing how most tracts, books, and sermons never mention it. I can't understand it. Some do, but not many. In fact, I just gave Jerry Pool a CD that somebody sent me from the audience of the late Adrian Rogers, and what do you suppose his sermon was? I Corinthians 15:1 – 4. And it was a good one! Man, I agreed with every word of it. But for the most part, they just never mention it. But here it is.

I Corinthians 15:1 – 2

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel (See, singular? Not one of two, the one and only.) which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2. By which (this Gospel) also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you,..." In other words, this is Paul's message—the death, burial, and resurrection of Israel's Messiah, the Son of God.

I Corinthians 15:3 – 4

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, (from the ascended Lord, of course) how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" That's the Gospel which saves us. And it's so simple that people hate it. Isn't it amazing? They cannot believe that this is enough.

You know, I've shared it with a couple of my seminars. I don't think I've put it on the air. But when we were in San Antonio a while back, after everybody had left, a young lady came up and she says, "You mean I don't have to be baptized to go to Heaven?" I said, "No." "I don't have to do such and such?" I don't want to name it, because I don't want somebody to say, well, you're picking on that particular group.

So, she said, "I don't have to do this and that?" And I said, "No." "I don't have to do this?" "No." And she says, "Why not?" And I said, "Young lady, do you know the last three words that Jesus spoke from the Cross?" And I was surprised she knew. She said, "Yea, it is finished." I said, "Now think a minute. If your religious leaders are telling you you've got to do this and this and this and this, they're calling God a liar, because He said, it's all done."

Wow! That little gal about melted in her shoes! Her eyes got as big as saucers. She said, "I've never thought of it that way." I said, "Well, you'd better, because if God says it's done, and man says but it isn't, then in my book that's calling Him a liar. The God that I know will not let humans call Him a liar." Well, like I told someone the other day. Thinking back, I think the little gal was saved right there in front of me, because she just saw the whole thing.

And this is what I maintain—that it's His death, burial, and resurrection. Of course Paul doesn't mention the shed blood here, but he does in Romans, and that's the package that makes up the Gospel of Grace. We don't do a thing but believe it. And then God goes in and transforms us and changes our appetites. I told a young person the other day, you don't give up anything. The things that you think you're going to give up, you're only too glad to get rid of, because God changes our want to.

Well, anyway, that's the difference between the Kingdom Gospel, which was to Israel. It fell through the cracks in the first part of the Book of Acts, or in the first years after Acts. Then came Paul and the Gospel of the Grace of God. That's the big difference. There are not two Gospels today. There's one. But, when the Gospel of Grace ends and the Tribulation begins, then the Gospel of the Kingdom will come back once again.

Now, I think I may have neglected showing it. Now we go to Matthew 24, or did I already? Maybe I did that in the last program. Let's look at it again. Matthew 24 verse 14 from the lips of the Lord Jesus Himself. He's speaking of these final seven years, Matthew 24 verse 14. This is so simple a child can understand it. A lot of theologians can't, but kids can. Verse 14:

Matthew 24:14

"And this (speaking of what He and the Twelve were now preaching) this gospel of the kingdom shall be (at a future time) preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; (Not just Israel, now it's going to go to the end of the earth. See, they're going to fulfill the Great Commission. Absolutely! This is the fulfilling of the Great Commission during the Tribulation.) shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." End of what? The Tribulation. Time as we know it will enter into the thousand year reign of Christ.

Well, now that's the difference between the Gospel of the Kingdom during Christ's earthly ministry. It fell apart. Disappeared. The Gospel of Grace came in. And when the Church is gone in the Rapture and the Tribulation begins once again, the 144,000 will proclaim the Kingdom Gospel.

Now, let's go back and look at that. We'll get to Daniel by-and-by. Don't worry. Come back to Revelation. See, now this is why I don't prepare for this. You know that. I didn't intend to do this anymore than whatever. But I just feel that this is the way the Lord leads. Come back to Revelation 7. I feel now—again, I can't just point to a word that says this is the way it is—but I think by putting everything together, when you have the appearance of the Antichrist to sign the seven year treaty, I think on the very same day, in another part of Jerusalem will come the two witnesses of chapter 11. And they're going to be proclaiming on the streets of Jerusalem the Kingdom Gospel. Out of their preaching, I feel, will come the 144,000 Jews.

All right, let's look at it. Revelation 7 verse 3—we know that some of the horrors of the Tribulation are about to start, because the angel is told to hold off.

Revelation 7:3

"Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." In other words, so that no one can put them to death. All right, now here it comes in plain, plain language.

Revelation 7:4

"And I heard the number of them who were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel." Now that's as plain as language can make it, isn't it? So, the next time these people come to your door and claim to be one of the 144,000, look them straight in the face and say, "You don't look like a Jew to me!" "Well, I'm not." "Well, then how in the world can you be one of the 144,000?" "Well, we just are." No, they're not. These 144,000 are going to be specifically sealed shortly after the Tribulation opens—again, by a God-thing!

Now just stop—just stop and think. Israel has now been out there in dispersion since the Babylonians in 606 B.C. and then again after A.D. 70—scattered in all the nations of the world. Just a little small nation compared to the number of everybody else, ten to fifteen million most of the time. Any other group of people on earth would have lost their identity. Think about it. They would have intermarried. They would have died off. They would have lost their identity. But the Jew didn't. And what has kept them together for 2600 years? Passover!

The secular Jew, for the most part—just like secular Christians keep Christmas. Oh, they wouldn't miss Christmas for anything. Well, the secular Jew is the same way with Passover. They're going to celebrate that Passover supper. It has been the glue that has held the Jewish people together as Jews. Even though they're unbelievers, they're still Jews.

And I could take you back to Exodus and that's what it was. It was set up to get the kids' interest, because the children would say—why are we doing this? And the book of Exodus says—so that you will be able to tell generations down the road about this Passover in Egypt. And here it is, all these thousands of years later, and they're still practicing Passover.

All right, but here's what I was going to ask you. How many Jews in the world today know what tribe they are associated with? Hardly any. There might be a few from the tribe of Judah, or Levi, rather. The Cohens, they feel that they are in the tribe of Levi. They don't know what tribe they are, but you know who does? God does. God knows exactly every Jew on the planet and where they're connected. So that by the time the Tribulation opens up—let's go back to Revelation chapter 7 again, quickly. Revelation chapter 7 and the sealing of these 12,000 from each one of twelve tribes—you come right down the line, and then you come down to verse 9. Twelve thousand from each one of twelve tribes for a total of 144,000 and God knows exactly who they are and where they've come from.

All right, now then, to show you that they are fulfilling the Great Commission—they're naturally going to preach the Kingdom Gospel for two reasons. What's the first reason? Because the Lord said they would. What's the second reason? Well, the King is coming. And that's the whole hope of the Kingdom Gospel. The King is coming. He's going to set up His Kingdom. It's going to happen when these seven years come to an end. The Second Coming and in comes the King and His Kingdom. All right, so in the meantime, throughout these seven years of the Tribulation, these 144,000 Jews are protected providentially. Nobody can put them to death. But, oh, what happens to their converts? Immediate martyrdom. Here it is, verse 9.

Revelation 7:9a

"After this...." After these 144,000 have been set apart and they're sent to go around the globe. They'll go supernaturally. They won't have to go through the airports. I just know that they're going to go from place to place without benefit of transportation. They're not going to have any language problem. It's going to be a supernatural phenomenon.

Revelation 7:9

"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, (See? Not just Israel) of all the nations, and kindreds, and people, and languages, stood before the throne,..." Here they are standing before the Lord, which means what? They've already been killed. They won't last long during the Tribulation once they become a Kingdom believer. All right, so here they are, already before the Lamb.

Revelation 7:9b

"...clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;" And then you come on down to verse 13, and John's approaching one of the elders there in Heaven.

Revelation 7:13

"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What (or who) are these who are arrayed in white robes? and where did they come from? 14. And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they who came out of great tribulation, (See? They had responded to the 144,000 preaching by believing that Jesus of Nazareth was the King and He's coming to set up His Kingdom.) And he said to me, These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." So, they have put their faith, again, in that work of the Cross.

All right, now let's go back to Matthew 24 where we digressed from. Matthew 24 and continue on for a little bit in what Jesus is saying about these final seven years. All got it? Verse 14 again, I want to leave it impressed.

Matthew 24:14

"And this (The same Gospel that He and the Twelve were preaching in Israel.) this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." That is of the seven years, the Second Coming. All right, now He backs up to the middle, what Daniel referred to as in the middle of the week.

Matthew 24:15a

"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,..." See that? That's from the lips of the Lord Himself, that Daniel was a legitimate God-given prophet. He's the one who foretold these final seven years, and that in the middle of the seven this prince that shall come will go in and desecrate Israel's Tribulation Temple and defile it.

Matthew 24:15

"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, (the Antichrist) spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (He goes into the Temple. We're going to cover that a little later, as Antiochus Epiphanies did a hundred and some years before as a prototype. But when you see it for real—) (whosoever readeth, let him understand:)" Now verse 16. Here is the warning for the Jews of that coming day. It's still future.

Matthew 24:16 – 17

"Then let them who be in Judea flee into the mountains: 17. Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house:" (They haven't got time. Because you want to remember, war is coming like the world has never seen once we get past this mid-point. So He said,) "Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house:"

Matthew 24:18 – 20

"Neither let him who is in the field return back (that is to his house) to take his clothes. (Or to get an extra set of clothes, however you want to look at it.) 19. And woe unto them that are with child, (young expectant mothers) and to them who are nursing (mothers) in those days! 20. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, (when the snow can be 12 – 14 inches deep) neither on the sabbath day:" When they wouldn't be able to walk more than three quarters of a mile and they wouldn't even get out of Jerusalem.

Now before I go into verse 21, I want to back up a minute. Here you have these various groups of Jews living in the area of Jerusalem that compose a cross-section of a society. Why? Because you see, this is the remnant of Israel that will come back up into the area of Israel from their place of safety when Christ returns and He establishes His Kingdom. This remnant of Israel will become the seed stock of the nation that's going to be operating on the planet for the next thousand years. So, you've got a whole cross-section.

I feel that those living on the housetop are retired older people who have the wherewithal to be on the housetop in the middle of the day. Next, you have the working class, which today in Israel, of course, would be your scientists and your educators and your health people—business people. In Jesus' day Israel was agrarian. It was an agricultural class of people, but not today. Most of them are metropolitan. All right, and then, of course, you have the ladies and the women involved and their little children. It is a complete cross-section of a society that will flee out into a place of safety to survive those last three-and-a-half years. All right, now let's move into verse 21 while we're here.

Matthew 24:21a

"For then (this last half of the seven years.) shall be great tribulation,..." Not just tribulation like the first half, it's going to be bad enough. You know, I've made the point over and over that by the time you get to the middle of the Tribulation, one fourth of the world's population is already gone.

Now, you know, we're at about seven billion. So, one fourth of seven is one and three quarters. That's a billion, seven hundred and fifty million people who will lose their life in that first three-and-a-half years. Now, that's bad enough, but yet it's nothing compared to the last half. All right, verse 21:

Matthew 24:21

"For then shall be great tribulation, (The horrors of it are beyond human comprehension.) such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." Now remember, these are not from some prophet. This is from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Matthew 24:22a

"And except (or unless) those days should be shortened,..." Now I look at it—I'm not a Greek scholar—but the way I look at the Greek word there, it could mean "brought to its timely end." In other words, it's not going to go a half a day over. It won't be a half a day short. But on the exact time, according to God's watch, it's going to end.

Matthew 24:22b

"...there should no flesh be saved: (otherwise) but for the elect's (In other words, for this group of Jews that are going to be out in a place of safety.) for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." So here we have the scenario, then, of what I call the escaping remnant of Israel.

Now, let's see how many that's going to be. I think I've got time. Go back with me to Zechariah, next to the last book in your Old Testament. I think we looked at it a couple of months ago, but we'll look at it again. Zechariah 13, Honey, verses 8 and 9. And that's why I call this group in Matthew 24 the escaping remnant. It won't be the whole nation. It's going to be the remnant.

Zechariah 13:8 – 9

"And it shall come to pass, (Now, you've heard me say that over and over. What does that mean? It's going to happen. Hasn't yet, but it will.) that in all the land, (That is of Israel.) saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; (that's two-thirds) but the third shall be left therein. (And here's why I think that this is what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 24.) 9. And I will bring a third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God."

LESSON ONE * PART IV

Tribulation Prophecy

Daniel 9:25 – 11:31

Okay, you're all still here for program number four. You know, by this time I expect some of them to have started taking off, and there's some empty chairs. Anyhow, we appreciate you're still here. I am just reminded we are in book number 82. We're in the first four programs for those of you out in television; and if you are interested in these, just call us by book number.

All right, we're going to keep right on going in Daniel. We digressed for a couple of half hours. See, that's why I want to keep it informal. I'm not going to get tied up. You know, it was just like one time a pastor, years ago, asked if I would come to his church after I'd had a Saturday all-day seminar. And I said, "Yeah, I would be glad to do that, but I'm going to warn you in advance, nobody is going to get their hands around my throat. I'm not going to give up my independence." He said, "Fine. There's no sense in doing that."

So, I'm independent. I'll go anywhere the doors are open, but nobody is going to tie me down and try to convince me that I'm wrong and so forth. So bear with me that we can just continue to reach people without attacking people. And I don't claim to be the only one that's right, no way, shape, or form. But I do feel that using Scripture with Scripture I'm confident that we're not leading anyone astray.

All right, back to Daniel now after some digression, chapter 10 verse 1. Now remember, poor old Daniel is just like the rest of us. He's getting older and the years are going by, and he knows by now that those seventy years have long since been fulfilled. Why can't he get back to Jerusalem? Well, he never did.

So now we get into chapter 10, and we are now into the third year of Cyrus, the king of Persia. Now, I know most people don't have the love for history that I do. But you see, if you come out of the Babylonian Empire, after they were defeated by the Medes and the Persians, Daniel moved right across from Babylon up to Shushan and became one of the top men in the Mede and Persian Empire.

But during the course of the Mede and Persian Empire, before Alexander the Great comes in, there were three, if I understand history, there were three separate kings. Starting with, I don't remember what the name was now, but he was the father. I think it was Astyages or something like that. Then the next one was Cyrus. Then, if I've got my history straight, the next one was Darius. Now, they can all be called Artaxerxes, because that was the term just like Pharaoh. So when it says Artaxerxes the King, that wasn't his name, it was merely his title.

All right, so now we've already come through the first king and we are up to Cyrus. Now I shake people up once in a while, and I like to do that. It makes them look. Makes them study. I think that Cyrus was the son of the king that married Esther. That shakes people up, but it's pretty obvious. Cyrus was a son of Queen Esther.

But now again, think about it. What did God call Cyrus? My chosen. Why? Because it was Cyrus that first gave the decree to go back to Jerusalem and establish the Nation of Israel once again. Then from Cyrus, I think we go to Darius. And he was the one, if I'm not mistaken, I don't stand to be totally correct, but if I understand right, Cyrus was the son of Queen Esther, and then his son was Darius. And he was the one, then, that instructed Nehemiah to go back and build the city wall. So, this is a progression of time.

Now, of course, old Daniel is about 89 years old. And remember, he was probably 14 or so when they took him captive. So he knows by years that those 70 years are fulfilled and consequently, then, Cyrus was the one to give the decree. All right, Daniel chapter 10 verse 1:

Daniel 10:1a

"In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; (has been all along) and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long:..." What's he talking about? All these years that he's been out of Jerusalem, out here in foreign country. It's been a long time, almost 75 to 80 years.

Daniel 10:1b – 2

"...and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision. 2. In those days I Daniel was mourning (grieving) for three full weeks." And what's he grieving over? Jerusalem. Israel in desolation and, oh, how he wants to go back. But God isn't allowing it. Verse 3:

Daniel 10:3 – 4

"I ate no pleasant bread, (in other words, rich food) neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. 4. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, (in other words, on the 24th of April) as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel;" That's the Tigris River today which has been in the news, the Tigris and the Euphrates. So, he's on the banks of the Tigris River.

Daniel 10:5 – 6

"Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: 6. His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude."

Who is it? Jesus Christ in His Old Testament appearance. Now, if you need some confirmation, come back to Revelation and you'll see that the definitions, the descriptions, are almost identical. Revelation chapter 1 verse 13 and then we're going to look at another one clear over in chapter 19. All got it? Revelation chapter 1, let's start at verse 12.

Revelation 1:12 – 13

"And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, (Which, of course, is a New Testament reference to Christ.) clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle."

Revelation 1:14 – 15

"His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15. And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters." You see the parallel of that? As Daniel was describing the man that he saw in the river there at Tigris, so John sees much the same thing concerning Christ here in the Book of Revelation. Then reading on, verse 16:

Revelation 1:16

"And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." And that's an exact description of the transfiguration, if you remember that.

But now flip over in Revelation to chapter 19, and these all just confirm that these are all descriptions of our Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 19 starting at verse 11, now we see Him as He is approaching the Second Coming. As He's leaving Heaven's glory and going to take over planet earth to set up His Kingdom as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We'll see it in the end of this passage.

Revelation 19—now remember, we are just comparing these descriptions of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here, of course, it's after His incarnation. He has become flesh. But Daniel saw Him in what we call a theophany. And you remember I did a series on those theophanies—oh, some time ago—when God appeared in human form in the Old Testament and then just disappeared back up into glory. But here, in the New Testament, these are descriptions of His appearance after He has become flesh. All right, Revelation 19 verse 11, the Second Coming:

Revelation 19:11 – 12a

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. (Now here it comes) 12. His eyes were as a flame of fire,..." Now see, all these descriptions are speaking of the same thing. Daniel spoke of it as what? Lamps of fire and then here the other one as a flame of fire. All right, same way here.

Revelation 19:12 – 13

"His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 14. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God." And that's what John 1:1 calls Him. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God." All right, now verse 14:

Revelation 19:14 – 15a

"And the armies who were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,..." See, now there's two references to the sharp sword; which, of course, is His Word. The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword.

Revelation 19:15

"And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: (Now remember, He's ready to return now and defeat completely the armies of the Antichrist that are gathered there in the Middle East.)And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." Now remember, the winepress is a vat filled not with grapes, but with what? Wrath, see? The troops and the armies of the world, gathered there at the Middle East at His coming, will be like pressing grapes in the wine vat.

Revelations 19:15b – 16

"...and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. (Now here it comes.) 16. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS." That's Christ at His Second Coming.

All right, now flip back to Daniel and see that this is who he's seeing on the banks of the Tigris River. He sees the Lord Jesus as a theophany. He will go back up into the invisible until He comes by way of Bethlehem. All right, now we're back to Daniel chapter 10 and verse 7.

Daniel 10:7 – 9

"And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. 8. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. 9. Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face to the ground." Now, I think in verse 10 we go from Christ to an angelic individual.

Daniel 10:10 – 12

"And, behold, an hand touched me, who set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. 11. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. (And I think that's the language of an angel rather than of Christ Himself. So you've got two scenarios here.) And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. 12. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words." But, verse 13, now this is an interesting little tidbit.

Daniel 10:13

"But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, (or one of God's angels) came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia." Now what does that give you a little light for? That these pagan empires have demonic angels in their employ and they are watching over them; and Michael, a righteous angel, was interrupted by one of these demonic angels of the kingdom of Persia. All right, so now we go on to verse 14.

Daniel 10:14

"Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people (the Nation of Israel) what shall befall thy people in the latter days: (Which from Daniel's time is leaping clear over to what's even future for us.) for yet the vision is for many days." Now remember, Daniel is holding forth at about 535 or 40 B.C., and we're now 2,000 and some years on this side. So, 2500 years have already gone by and yet these things are not fulfilled. But they will be. Don't ever doubt for a minute. Now in verse 15:

Daniel 10:15 – 17

"And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. (speechless) 16. And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. 17. For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me."

Now remember, he's talking as a man of 89 years of age, plus all that he's come through these last 75 or 80 years. Now verse 18 and I think again we come back to a theophany. Here again we have Christ in a visible appearance.

Daniel 10:18 – 19

"Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, 19. And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me."

Daniel 10:20

"Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come." Who's that? Alexander the Great. See, now here's the unfolding of history. We came through that Babylonian Empire, went into the Mede and the Persian. Three kings have come and gone. And now, in the time of the third king of the Medes and Persians, here comes Alexander the Great. The next Gentile Empire as Daniel had been foretelling it ever since chapter 2. All right, so now we have "the prince of Grecia shall come." Which is a prophecy concerning Alexander the Great. Now verse 21:

Daniel 10:21

"But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince." Then we come into chapter 11, and I'm not going to take that verse-by-verse, because it is all the unfolding of the history of the Greek Empire going on into the Roman. Now, as we saw several programs back, after Alexander the Great had conquered the then-known world according to prophecy, he died at the age of 33. What happened to his empire? It was divided into four areas under four of his generals.

All right, now the one of those four generals that becomes the most important is the one called Antiochus Epiphanes. He was Syrian, but he had that part of the Greek Empire that controlled Israel, Jerusalem. And that's what makes him a key player. And Antiochus Epiphanes hated the Jews. Hated them so much that at one time, after all of these verses have gone through history, he went into the Temple in Jerusalem and sacrificed a hog on the altar and totally defamed the Temple and set up a pagan idol in the Holy of Holies, which, of course, infuriated the Jews.

All right, now then, that man, Antiochus Epiphanes, becomes what I call at least, the prototype, the forerunner of the true Antichrist who will do the same thing. He will make that treaty with Israel, and it'll be a deceitful treaty. In the middle of the seven years he will turn on Israel with the most hatred that any man has ever poured on the Jewish people.

All right, now we're going to pick up a little bit of the preview of this in verse 21. I'm going to skip all these verses between, because it's just a matter of wars and battles between these four elements and the Greek Empire. The only interesting one in there is Cleopatra, who everybody has heard of. She's in there someplace. But other than that, I want to bring it out in verse 21, where we come to the picture of the Antichrist as Daniel sees him prophetically. But remember that Antiochus is simply a forerunner, a prototype. Verse 21:

Daniel 11:21

"And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, (Now remember, we're describing the coming Antichrist.) to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by(What?) flatteries." So, just from that one verse you pick up two views of the guy. On the one hand he is despised. He's despicable. But on the other hand, he is so smooth talking and he is so arrogant that he brings about the rule of the kingdom, and he's going to come into a place of almost a dictatorial rule.

Daniel 11:22a

"And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him,..." In other words, he's going to have tremendous power. He's going to rule them on the one hand with the carrot and on the other hand he's going to use a huge stick. I think he will finally come to the place of using the nuclear weapons that are accumulating.

Daniel 11:22 – 23

"And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, (with military power) and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant." (That one—I'm not ready to comment who I think that is) 23. And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: (See, that's the kind of a leader he's going to be. He's going to crash talk people. He's going to control them, but he's going to have such a satanic power that he will do it deceitfully.) for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people." In other words, he's not going to have millions; but he's going to have a relatively small group of influential people.

Daniel 11:24

"He shall enter peaceably (Now don't forget who we're talking about—the coming world ruler.) He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time." Now again I have to deal with the word—time is a reference to one of the three-and-a-half years. Verse 25:

Daniel 11:25 – 26

"And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south (That's Egypt.) with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him. 26. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his food shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain."

Daniel 11:27 – 29

"And both of these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed. (In other words, it's God's timetable that they're talking about, even though they don't know.) 28. Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; (He's going to develop a hatred for Israel and their Temple worship.) and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land. 29. At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter."

Daniel 11:30a

"For the ships of Chittim..." Now, I'm not always sure, but I think Chittim might be Spain, might be Great Britain. But I think one point that he made here is that this was one of a few times that you see a name in Scripture of the use of naval vessels. So, I think this was an indication that part of these end-time wars, these last seven years, will involve ships of the sea—which, of course, antiquity knew nothing of. It's just a thought. And I think we're seeing it—that we have these battleships and aircraft carriers and what have you.

Daniel 11:30

"For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant." Now I need to wind this up quickly.

Daniel 11:31

"And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, (And that's all because of that Tribulation Temple that was built at the beginning.) they shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate."

Now you see, come back to chapter 9, again, real quickly—back to chapter 9 verse 27. Now it all fits. This man, Antichrist, shall confirm, or make, a treaty with many for one week, which we covered earlier.

Daniel 9:27b

"...and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the over-spreading of abominations he shall make it (That is that Tribulation Temple.) he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, (or the end of those seven years) and that determined (or prophesied) shall be poured upon the desolator."

All right, so all these things are part of that Tribulation scenario with this man, Antichrist. It'll be such a hatred for Israel and the Temple that he will bring in an abomination. The abomination of Antiochus, of course, was to kill a hog, swine slaughter, on the altar. And that was bad enough, but I think this guy is going to be even worse.

LESSON TWO * PART I

The Last Message to Daniel

Daniel 11:32 – 12:13

Okay, it is good to see everybody in today. Another opportunity to share the Word. And we trust that as we teach, you're praying and asking that the Spirit will direct us. For those of you out in television, again, we want to welcome you to an informal Bible study. And that's all we want it to be, is a Bible study, so that you can learn to study and read and enjoy the Bible on your own. And from our letters and phone calls, I think we're succeeding to a certain degree.

All right, we're going to pick right up where we left off in our last program, which was last taping. For many of you, that's a few weeks ago. We're going to drop in where we left off in Daniel chapter 11 verse 32. Let's finish the chapter rather quickly, because from here to the end of the chapter is an Old Testament preview of the coming Tribulation.

And, of course, I think if we have time, if not this afternoon, then in the next four programs, I'm going to make a point of the fact that there's probably no other subject that is so thoroughly dealt with in Scripture as those final seven years of the Tribulation. A lot of it is so horrible that the scoffers, of course, just think that it's a bunch of funnies. But, really, it is a coming time. And as we see the world's whole scenario, the stage is being set for these final seven years.

All right, now here we pick them up prophetically, even as we come into a prophetic picture of the Antichrist in verse 36. But let's just finish the chapter. Because if I don't, you know what will happen? They write and say, why didn't you cover verse 32 to the end of the chapter? I did that with Galatians. I'll never do that again. But when I skipped the last chapter, I didn't think that it was that important and I went on into Ephesians. And I've had hundreds of letters...why did you skip those verses? So I don't dare. All right, verse 32:

Daniel 11:32 – 33a

"And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: (in other words, smooth talk) but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. 33. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: (Boy, that's always the case, you know. If you know something, you can share it with somebody.) they shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword,..." Now, this is all typical of the Tribulation. That as soon as someone professes their faith, they'll be martyred. They won't last very long at all. All right, then you go on:

Daniel 11:33b – 35

"...they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. 34. Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. 35. And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try (or test) them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed."

Now, that reminds of a verse back in Jeremiah. I was going to use it anyway a little later on in the afternoon, but it won't hurt to use it twice. So, go back with me to Jeremiah chapter 30 and we'll see the same kind of language. Jeremiah chapter 30 verse 6, and I think I've got another one that I want to look at in Zechariah chapter 13. Hang on just a second. Yeah. All right, just look at these two portions, again prophesying the horrors of those final seven years, especially the second half of them and especially for the people of Israel.

Jeremiah 30:6 – 7

"Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, (or childbirth labor) and all faces are turned into paleness? 7. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble (or Israel), but he shall be saved out of it."

Now, if you'll jump ahead to Zechariah 13, you have much the same kind of language, only now it's even more specific. Zechariah chapter 13 and we'll jump in at verse 8.

Zechariah 13:8a

"And it shall come to pass,..." Most of you know that we've been traveling for the last two weeks. We've been speaking to a lot of people. And I'm emphasizing over and over, when this Book says thus saith the LORD, or it shall come to pass, what can we depend on? It's going to happen! It's going to happen, even though these prophecies were written back in 400 – 500 B.C. We've now come 2,000 years on this side, and it's still in the future. We're closer now, of course, than they were then, but it is going to happen.

Zechariah 13:8

"And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, (That is the land of Israel.) saith the LORD, two parts (or two thirds) therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein." And I feel that that's the escaping remnant of Matthew 24:15.

Zechariah 13:8b – 9

"...but the third shall be left therein. 9. And I will bring the third part through the fire, (That is the testings of those last three-and-a-half years.) And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try (or test) them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, (When it's all over.) and I will hear them: and I will say, It is my people: and they (Israel, this one third of surviving, or what I call the escaping, remnant.) shall say, the LORD is my God."

Now, you see, that hasn't happened for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years that God could call the Jewish people my people and they in turn would claim Him as their God.

All right, back to Daniel chapter 11. Those were portions I didn't intend to use, so I'm already five minutes behind if I was on a schedule. But you know, thank the Lord I'm not on a schedule. All right, so here we have it, verse 35:

Daniel 11:35

"And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, (That is through the fires of the Tribulational testing.) even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed."

Now when God sets a time schedule, is He ever a day late? Is He a minute late? And you know the verse I love to use most of all when it comes to God's timeliness in fulfilling this prophetic plan is—jump all the way up to Galatians. I just love this little portion of Scripture to see that God is so exact in His scheduling. He's not off a minute in any of the things that have unfolded for the last 6,000 years. All right, but here in Galatians chapter 4, we're talking about something totally different. We're talking about Christ's birth in Bethlehem. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4, and I hope you love it as much as I do.

Galatians 4:4a

"But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman..." So, what does that tell you? The very conception of Christ in Mary was timed in such a way that on the exact day that God had appointed from eternity past, He was born. That's how exact God is in everything He does.

And the same way back here in Daniel, flip back with me. This Tribulation thing is not going to come by accident. It's not going to be a day late or a day early. It's exactly on God's timetable. It's all been foretold for thousands of years, and now we're looking it in the face. The whole world is getting ready for it, whether they know it or not. We'll be looking at that more and more this afternoon.

All right, let's move on into verse 36, where now we jump into almost explicit language describing the man, Antichrist, who, we feel, is alive. He's someplace in the world. He's in some government. And one of these days it will be a little more evident, although I feel we'll never know for sure who he is. We may speculate all we want. There have been books written of all the various men that they have been prognosticating as being the Antichrist. Nobody knows. Nobody will know that are believers, because I'm a firm believer that we will be taken out before the Antichrist makes his appearance. And I pick that up from II Thessalonians. All right, but now in Daniel 11 verse 36:

Daniel 11:36a

"And the king (this coming world ruler) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, (Now, he's going to be quite the character, believe me.) and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, (in other words, the God of Creation) and shall prosper (He's going to get away with it.) till the indignation (or those final seven years) be accomplished:..."

Now, just for the sake of showing and proving, again, the miraculousness of Scripture, turn with me up to II Thessalonians. Because the main thrust of my teaching is I want people to see that this Book isn't just thrown together by campfire stories. This is all put together by the intrinsic wisdom of the Creator God Himself. So turn with me to II Thessalonians chapter 2. And even though the Apostle Paul rarely speaks of prophecy, in fact, if I'm not mistaken, these are the only verses where he alludes to prophecy. And I think that the main reason is to show us that even this Apostle is so led of the Holy Spirit that he can fit the things together coming out of the Book of Daniel.

All right, now remember what he just said about the Antichrist back in Daniel—he'll magnify himself, and he'll speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and so forth. Now look at II Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 4. Almost the identical description.

II Thessalonians 2:3c – 4a

"...the son of perdition; (up there in verse 3) 4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,..." Do you see that? He puts himself above all that is called God. Now for those of you who are history buffs, what did almost all the ancient emperors end up thinking of themselves? That they were god. Most of the Caesars, and you go back to Nebuchadnezzar and all the other oriental kings, they all got to the place that they felt they were God.

Even King Herod, but, boy, he bit the dust, didn't he. As soon as King Herod accepted the worship of his subjects, almost immediately, remember, God put him down. And if I'm not mistaken, either worms chewed him up or dogs or something, but it was a horrible death. But see, we can't get away from the fact that when they get that kind of power, they get the puffed up idea that they're above humanity. They're now gods. Well, this guy is going to do it supremely like no one has ever done it before, and he's going to show himself that he is God.

All right, now let's come back to Daniel, once again. We'll just move on through the chapter. Now these are all just graphic descriptions of this world ruler that probably is somewhere in the world today. He doesn't know that he is the Antichrist, only God does. But nevertheless, he's being groomed. And one day at the right time he will come forward after the church is gone. All right, verse 37—since he set himself up as God, naturally he shall neither:

Daniel 11:37b

"...regard the God of his fathers,..." Now I've got to stop right there, don't I? We normally think that someone like this would have to be a Jew, because he is putting himself above the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Well, I'm not saying that can't be. But, you see, he could also be an apostate of Christianity. He could still be putting himself above the God that he has worshipped in the Christian faith. Or, he could be an apostate of Islam, as far as that goes. He could even do that, put himself above Allah, or of the other things. Just remember that this guy is going to be so uniquely different and so uniquely puffed up and arrogant that he'll have no compunction about elevating himself to such a position, regardless of whether he's a Jew, whether he's Christian, or he's Islam. I don't think it makes any difference whatever place he comes from.

I'd better qualify that. I still think they're going to come out of Western Europe because of Daniel chapter 9. But, you see, you've got all three of those elements in the European Governments. You've certainly got enough Jewish people that are in a high place of government. You have quote/unquote apostate Christians. And you also have tons of Muslims in Europe today. Europe is almost turned Muslim already. So, there's no problem with any of those three backgrounds coming out of the Ten Nations of Western Europe. I had to clarify that. Now let's go on into verse 38.

Daniel 11:38

"But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stone, and pleasant things." And so on and so forth, and again, I think there's one of the Scriptures that we're going to see sometime before the afternoon is over. He is going to honor a god of nature that evidently has some tremendous power. Well, what power is lying in warehouses all around the world and that will be triggered in the closing days of the Tribulation? All of our "nukes."

Nuclear power is something, of course, that no one ever dreamed of until we got the atomic bomb back at the end of World War II. But I said it in the last taping, and I'll say it again, because I've had statements from scientists proving that I'm right. These hydrogen bombs that are standing in warehouses—they've never seen one openly exploded. Not like the old atom bomb that they dropped from a steel tower. They actually witnessed that. As far as I know, no one has ever witnessed an open explosion of a hydrogen bomb. So, even our scientific community really doesn't know the power that those things are going to exercise once they're released. But this guy, I think, is going to almost cherish the day when he can give the command to start.

And I've said it for thirty-some years that I do not believe that a hydrogen bomb will be exploded until we get to these last days of the Tribulation. I just cannot see it happening, for the simple reason that if anybody, even this guy down in Iran, if he would try to drop a nuke on Jerusalem, somebody would retaliate immediately and it would just be the end of everything. Well, God's not going to let that happen, it's not going to end until He is ready to end it. So I think we can rest on that premise that these nukes will not be used until we get to that last part of these seven years.

All right, so continue on, we are describing the man, Antichrist, as he finally makes his appearance. And verse 38 again:

Daniel 11:38 – 39

"But in his estate he shall honor the God of forces: (Maybe that was the word I had in mind. He will think the world of all of this nuclear power that now sits at his fingertips.) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 39. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain."

Now again, I may be as wrong as daylight from dark, but I think what we dealing with here are the satanic and demonic powers. He's going to draw on demon power, and Satan, of course, will be indwelling him in the last half. This is what I have to feel we're looking at here—that he's going to be toying and exercising the demonic powers. All right, verse 40:

Daniel 11:40a

"And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind,..." Well, you see, some feel that the king of the north and the king of the south were two different empires, but they cannot be. Because the Antichrist is the king of the north, and who the king of the south will be—at this time I'm in no position to guess, and I can't find anybody else that does either. So, we'll just let that one slide. But now you come to the last half of the verse.

Daniel 11:40b

"...with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over." Now just to mention the ships, of course, indicates the use of naval power. And that is, of course, today like never before in history. All right, verse 41, now it becomes obvious.

Daniel 11:41a

"He shall enter also into the glorious land,..." Well, now there's only one piece of real estate in the world that is glorious in God's eyes. And what is it? The little land of Israel. So, he's definitely going to make his appearance in Israel. And I think that he will make his headquarters in the defiled Temple up there on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Daniel 11:41

"He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon." Now those are Arab nations and, again, to what extent he's going to leave them alone—I'm in no position to comment. Now verse 42:

Daniel 11:42 – 43

"He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. (Egypt is going to come under his wrath, as well.) 43. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps." So, he's going to have total control of North Africa, and they're going to be under his thumb. Now verse 44:

Daniel 11:44 – 45a

"But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. (So, these are conflicts that he's going to have to put down in order to maintain his power. But, of course, he's going to be successful in doing so.) 45. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas (Between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea; which, of course, is Jerusalem.) he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain;..."

Which, I feel, is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on which you have the Golden Dome, the Mosque of Omar, whatever you want to call it. And where I also feel, as I think we've mentioned before, will be the seven-year peace treaty that the Antichrist will sign between Israel and the Arab world that will permit Israel to build a Temple of sorts up there on the Temple Mount.

I think I explained it the last time we were here, that there is that large, almost 200 feet if not mistaken, 200 feet by 200 feet square—nothing but pavement as smooth as this floor right north of the Golden Dome and also straight west of the Eastern Gate. That's where I personally feel that this rebuilt Temple that the Jews will be permitted to build in the early days of the Tribulation will then become his capital. I think he's just going to do everything he can to besmirch the things of God. I may be wrong, but that's the way I'm looking at it. So, he'll make Jerusalem his capital, and all the things pertaining to his power will be exercised.

Now, we've got a few minutes left. Let's go back to the Book of Revelation, which, of course, is the parallel Book of Daniel. The two fit hand-in-glove. We'll come back to chapter 13 of Revelation to pick up how the world will fall at his feet. Now, I think we're all aware that we're seeing an example of that even in our own country today. How we have a man who has suddenly captured the astonishment of the world. I read some time ago that they're actually raising statues of him in cities all around the world. Well, it's just an indication of how people can suddenly be attracted to one individual. Chapter 13 of Revelation, we'll use this to finish up these last three minutes. John, the writer of Revelation, is speaking in symbolism much as Daniel does.

Revelation 13:1 – 2

"And as I stood upon the sand of the sea, (That is the sea of humanity.) and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and, ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. (Now that, of course, I think, indicates his empire, his Revived Roman Empire. And it'll be as Daniel saw it in chapter 2.) 2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon (Satan) gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."

That's what I mentioned just a few moments ago. This man is going to derive his power from Satan himself. In fact, I think Satan will do like he did with Judas. I think he's going to indwell the man, Antichrist, whoever he is. Then I'm going to come all the way down to verse 5, lest I run out of time.

Revelation 13:5

"And there was given unto him (this coming world ruler) a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue (or to keep on going) forty and two months."

Now, you know we've stressed it over the last several programs that these final seven years are always divided into two halves: three-and-a-half years and three-and-a-half years; twelve hundred and sixty days and twelve hundred and sixty days; forty-two months and forty-two months. Those are all the terms of Scripture. Now, here we have the same thing. That after he has defiled the Temple of Jerusalem and he's turned against the Nation of Israel, he now has forty-two months where he can draw on the satanic power.

Now, I don't have time enough left here. But in Revelation chapter 12 we have another parallel package where Satan is cast out of Heaven at the very mid-point. When this Antichrist goes in and defiles the Temple on Earth, Satan is getting kicked out of Heaven. All right, now it says as clearly as can be put, that when he is kicked out of Heaven and he's brought down to earth, he immediately hooks up with the man, Antichrist. And I feel, like I said, that Satan will indwell him. All right, by indwelling the man, Antichrist, it will give him tremendous power. Now verse 6 of Revelation 13:

Revelation 13:6 – 7

"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, (In other words, if it's the one that's on the Temple Mount, as I think, he's going to defile it and curse it and blaspheme it.)and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7. And it was given unto him (In other words, God in His Sovereignty permits it, but Satan is going to empower him to do it.) And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, (That is anyone that professes salvation.) and to overcome them: (He'll put them to death.) and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations."

Now, when Scripture brings these things down to tongues, that means that every dialect throughout China, every dialect throughout India, or any other nation you can think of, are all going to come under his total control. So, it says that those that are in the Lamb's Book of Life will not lose their life.

LESSON TWO * PART II

The Last Message to Daniel

Daniel 11:32 – 12:13

Okay, once again it's good to have everybody back. You had your coffee break. We'll pick right up where we left off in our last thirty minutes, and that'll be in Daniel chapter 12 and verse 1. For those of you joining us on television, again, how we thank you for your letters. My goodness, the descriptive letters that we get of how you watch the program and how you make the coffee and how the dog gets excited, the canary gets excited—we get all these descriptions of people watching our program. But the main thing is they're learning, and that's all we can ask.

We just got back from a long trip, and it is the same every place we go, "I watch you every morning." Well, when they watch every day, then that tells me they're interested. If they just watch now and then, ah, they're just filling in time. So for those of you out there, again, we just appreciate you so much for your prayers, your financial help, and, of course, your letters. Okay, back into Daniel.

Daniel 12:1a

"And at that time (In other words, we're dealing with this final seven years.) At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble,..." Now, I'm glad we looked at those two portions back in Jeremiah and Zechariah in the last half hour. How a time of trouble it is indeed going to be for the Nation of Israel. It will be:

Daniel 12:1b

"...such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered,..."

All right, now before we go and see what the Lord Jesus Himself said about it, turn back with me to Psalms chapter 2. While you're doing that, I'm going to put a makeshift, shortened-up timeline on the board. I'll put it over here hopefully where you can get it on the camera.

Remember that we're coming up out of the Old Testament with all of these prophecies concerning all this, and, of course, it led up to His rejection after three years. Then according to all these Old Testament prophecies—see, that's what I have to constantly remind when I use this timeline. This is the Old Testament timeline. Then Christ would ascend back to Glory according to Psalms 110 verse 1, where it says "come sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool." Well, you see, shortly after that, these seven years were supposed to open up divided in half—three-and-a-half and three-and-a-half—and then that would trigger the Second Coming of Christ. Not the Rapture but the Second Coming of Christ.

Now you see, when you look at it in this light, you have to ask the question then, so far as we're concerned, what's missing? Well, the Church Age! This calling out of the Gentiles. Well, why? Well, you see, the Church Age was totally unknown to all biblical writers except the Apostle Paul. Now, people don't like that, and I say it carefully. But it's a fact. That's why Paul is always saying "Behold, I show you a mystery." A secret.

Well, who kept it secret? God did! And you all know Deuteronomy 29:29 by now, "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God, and those things which are revealed belong unto us." What's the word revealed mean? Something that's been kept secret has now been revealed.

All right, so the Church Age is still a secret. All through these Old Testament prophecies you won't see any sign of it whatsoever. This is the format. Now, have you got Psalms chapter 2? We've used it thousands of times, I think, in the last years, but here it is again. Down to verse 4, when mankind, Jew and Gentile, Romans and Israel, have rejected the Messiah—they've crucified Him.

Psalms 2:4

"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." Then verse 5, after they have rejected Him.

Psalms 2:5

"Then shall he speak unto them (That is the human race, but Israel in particular, because they are the most responsible.) then shall he speak unto them in his (What?) wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure."

But, what's going to follow in verse 6? The King—the King and the Kingdom, that part of Scripture, like I say all the time, most of Christendom knows nothing of. That after Christ has been crucified, rejected, ascended up to Glory, He's going to wait whatever time He knows it's going to take until the Tribulation is ended, and He will return and set up His Kingdom.

All right, now then, stop at Daniel chapter 12 once again, because if you're like me, you've already forgotten what we talked about two minutes ago. Daniel 12 verse 1, the last half of the verse.

Daniel 12:1b

"...there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: (That is from 2,000 B.C. when Abraham was called.) and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the Lamb's Book of Life." In other words, the believing element.

All right, now jump up to Matthew 24 and see how perfectly Daniel agrees with what the Lord Jesus Himself says. Matthew 24 and we'll start at verse 15. And, again, verses that we use over and over—24:15. And remember, this whole chapter of Matthew 24 is Jesus unveiling the horrors of these final seven years. Starting with verse 5:

Matthew 24:5

"For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." Well, we're already seeing the beginning of those kinds of deceptions with all the false teaching that is rolling upon the human race.

But all right, jump up to verse 15 to get the parallel, if I may use the word, the parallel with Daniel 12 verse 2. Now the Lord Himself says:

Matthew 24:15 – 16

"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, (That is the Antichrist going in and defiling the Temple.) spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16. Then let them who be in Judea flee into the mountains:" Because of the coming holocaust. But the part I want you to compare with Daniel is verse 21.

Matthew 24:21

"For then (when we get to these final three-and-a-half years) for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, (That is at zero, or in the first century, AD, 29, however you want to put it.) no, nor ever shall be." Looking all the way down the corridors of time to the end, there would be nothing to compare with these final three-and-a-half years.

Now, what makes me have a heart-stop is when I read this and then think of Hitler's Holocaust. See, that was down the pike 1900 and some years from the time that Jesus spoke this. But even that will pale into insignificance compared to these three-and-a-half years. You and I cannot comprehend it. And yet we can't diminish it, because it's what the Book teaches.

All right, now coming back to Daniel chapter 12, it will be a time like there has never been before, except for those who had become believers, or will in God's own knowledge, His pre-knowledge, foreknowledge. All right, but now verse 2, and we jump into something that Daniel probably deals with more specifically in this last chapter of his prophecy than all the Old Testament put together. Because, see, you don't have a lot of reference to the resurrection in the Old Testament. Now, there's enough that we know that they believed it. They understood that there was an afterlife. But to understand resurrections as we can see now in chapter 12 and then jumping into the New Testament, the Jews just didn't have a handle on it. All right, verse 2:

Daniel 12:2a

"And many of them that sleep in the dust..." In other words, that have died physically. Now maybe I'd better qualify. Why does the Scripture speak of the physical death as sleep?

Now, I'm going to make you aware of some of the cults that speak of soul-sleep. No. We don't believe in soul-sleep. The soul never sleeps. It never loses its consciousness, because the soul was created after God Himself and God doesn't sleep. So get those two concepts separate. The soul never dies.

The soul and spirit never sleep, but the body that dies does. It sleeps. Why? Because the day is coming when God's going to awaken it. So it's not gone, like a dog's. It's, again, that intrinsic created being of God in such a way that He can call it back to life. So, it's correct to call physical death, sleep, but don't ever speak of the soul-sleep. Now, did I make my point? Did I make it clear? The soul never dies; the physical body does. And we can call it asleep, because it's going to be awakened again, see? It's not final.

Daniel 12:2a

"And many of them who sleep in the dust of the earth, (In other words, they've died physically, all the way since Adam. And what's going to happen to them?) shall awake,..." See, that's the whole teaching of resurrection. Now, most of the religions of the world—all your Oriental religions and all that—they don't speak of resurrection. They speak of attaining a higher level of coming back in reincarnation. But to be resurrected? Not a one that I know of has any dealing with that, only our biblical concept. All right, now let's read on. So, many of them who have died physically will awake.

Daniel 12:2b

"...some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3. And they that shall be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

All right, now let's jump all the way up to John's Gospel and see, in the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, that very same concept. John's Gospel chapter 5, now this is the beauty of Scripture: the more you study it; the more you compare Scripture with Scripture, the more parallels that you can draw, the more believable it becomes. And the scoffer can scoff all he wants. And you know why he scoffs? They never read it. They never read it. They scoff about something they know nothing of.

You know, I think I shared it on one of the previous programs. I don't watch much television, but I happened to catch when Bill O'Reilly on FOX was interviewing Ted Turner. And, of course, you all know Ted Turner has CNN. So Bill is kind of jabbing him a little bit, and he said, "Ted, if I understand you correctly—you hate FOX news." He says, "I sure do." "How can you hate something that you never watch? Because you never watch FOX do you?" He says, "Never!" "Well, then how do you know what you're hating?"

Well, you know it's the same way with Scripture. If they've never studied it, how can they hate it? If they've never studied it, how can they scornfully scoff at it? It really becomes ridiculous, doesn't it? But all right, now look what the Lord Jesus says and compare it with what Daniel wrote—that those who are asleep in the dust shall be awakened, some to glory and some to everlasting contempt. Now here's what Jesus said about it, John's Gospel chapter 5 verse 28.

John 5:28

"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, (Well, now that's 2,000 years ago. But 2,000 years is nothing in God's eyes. So, it's still out in front.) for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves (everybody from Adam to the end that has lived as a human being and died) shall hear his voice." Not all at once. Not in just one resurrection, but over the period of resurrections they're all going to be brought forth. All right, now here He divides them, verse 29.

John 5:29a

"And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life;..." Now we've done this before. When the Scriptures speak of human beings doing good in God's eyes, what have they done? They've believed. I heard it over here. They have been people of faith. From day one it's faith, and that is the key. Hebrews says "Without faith it is impossible to please God." All right, so men of faith, whatever dispensation, will come forth in the resurrection of life. But those who went out into eternity without faith are going to come unto what? The condemnation.

John 5:29b

"...and they that have done evil, (no faith) unto the resurrection of condemnation." So, here you have Daniel and John in his Gospel in perfect accord that the day is coming when every human being will experience resurrection, some to life eternal and some to eternal doom. All right, come back to chapter 12, again, for just a moment. We're on verse 3.

Daniel 12:3a

"And they that be wise..." Those who had the wherewithal to believe what God said. You know, that's the smartest thing a person can do, isn't it? It is to become a child of God. In whatever dispensation, whether it was Adam and Eve or whether it was someone since then, or whether it's today or whether it's in life to come, or in time to come, this is the smartest thing that a human being can do.

Daniel 12:3

"And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; (In other words, as they are in God's presence.) and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." In other words, there's our encouragement to be a soul winner.

All right, verse 4, we'll shift gears here a little bit, and we'll come back to resurrections later in the chapter. Now verse 4:

Daniel 12:4a

"But thou, O Daniel, (Now remember, how old is he? Oh, he's about 90. He's almost pushing 90 or a little over. He's getting right up there, and he's never going to get back to the Promised Land in this life.) But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end:..." Now that sounds odd, doesn't it? But think about it. Was there any need in God's wisdom to be talking about prophecy 2,000 years ago? Well, of course not.

God knew it wasn't going to happen. So there was no real need to have an understanding of it. But you see, as I pointed out in, I think, the last taping. When you go back to the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah was prophesying and preaching and proclaiming to the Nation of Israel of his day in 700 B.C. that the enemies were coming, and that if Israel did not turn from their wickedness they would be hearing foreign languages in their midst—in other words, occupying troops. And over and over he's warning Israel of the coming Babylonian invasion. I think I said it in the last taping. My, it sounds as if it's going to be in another month or two and they'll be here. How long was it, remember? Hundred years. It was a hundred years before it happened, but it happened. And that's why I'm saying the same way here. We may think these things are way out in the future, but it's going to happen.

All right, but now, so far as understanding end-time prophecy that God in His wisdom knew that from Daniel's day until these things would actually come to pass would be 2,700 years. Well, it was really no need for it. So, how did God program it? Well, I'm still going to stick to that hundred years, and we've been doing it in our seminars from time-to-time. I have a series of three or four nights' lessons, "The Signs of the Times." When the Lord said in Matthew—you can discern the red sunset and know it's going to be fair tomorrow, but you can't understand biblical signs. Well, we have the same thing today.

Now God has opened these prophetic books, and since about 1860 – 1865 there's been an increase in the knowledge of prophecy things. But it wasn't necessary until then. So, most of Christendom knew absolutely nothing of end-time events. Now, they did for the first few years after the Temple was destroyed. But it faded off and these things were moot. But now just stop and think. How many of the things that we see are indicating that we're coming down to the end? And now we're, I like to do it this way, like a snow ball rolling down hill.

So when I do this, that's what's in my mind. I just see that old snowball picking up snow as it's going along. All right, the further down it goes, the faster it goes and the bigger it grows. This is what we've got with the end-time scenario which these people back here and all the way up until about 1860—none of them knew anything whatsoever.

Now, you've got to realize that most of your mainline denominations and all of Roman Catholics to this day are not taught anything of end-time. Nothing. All you have to do is just talk to any of these end-time denomination people. Now, I don't mind naming them, because they will admit it just as fast as I will. You take all the mainline reformation churches—the Lutherans, the Presbyterians, the Christian Reforms, and the Methodists, the Congregationalists and probably others—go up to any one of them and ask them about the Rapture, ask about the Tribulation. You know how they'll look at you? Like we old cowmen say, "like a bull at a new gate." How am I going to handle this? They don't know a thing about it. Now there are a few that are starting to wake up. But for the most part they know nothing of end-time prophecy, because they are still keeping the Book closed.

All right, go to a Roman Catholic. I don't care who he or she is and ask them, do you know anything about the Rapture? I had a fellow the other day, had never heard the word. Had never even heard the word, let alone knew what it was. And that's typical, because they have never considered end-time prophecy. And, of course, primarily because one of the early church fathers, and I put this on a program several months back.

Origen, O-R-I-G-E-N, one of the early church fathers was the first one to promote replacement theology. And of course the reason was, Origen lived after AD100, around A.D.135 AD. He, of course, had witnessed the destruction of the Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem. and the dispersion of the Jews. And the Jews were already all around the then-known world. Well, he came to conclusion that God was all through with the Jewish people and that in time they would assimilate and disappear. Now that's why we call it replacement theology, because the Church was supposedly picking up what Israel dropped.

Well, it was one of the most awful, awful things to come out of the early church fathers. Because this is the reason, now, that all of your mainline Protestant denominations coming out of Roman Catholicism in 1511 never heard it. Never considered it. Until this very day.

All right, but it's the same way with a lot of other things. God kept the lid on technology. Until when? Again, the late part of the 1800's, then all of a sudden you have all of your inventions, one after another. The steam engine, the telephone, the telegraph, electricity, of course, and then by the time you get to the turn of the century, you've come to the airplane, the automobile. Now you're downhill. Now technology just starts rolling until we get past World War II, and now up into our own lifetime the advent of the computers.

My, I think I was sharing with one of my classes on the road the other day. Do you know how big a computer was back in 1970? It filled a room. Almost this size. Now they've got it in their shirt pocket. Same power. Same ability. And I happened to have a fellow in one of my audiences who had worked with computers in 1970, and he said, "Les, you are exactly right." He said, "When I first started working in the computer business, it took a room almost as big as this one to do what our little hand-held does now." Well, just image how technology in the secular world has been unrolling. And in the biblical area? Now we have an understanding, we have resources that, up until the turn of the century, they never had and they never used. So, all these things are just exactly as the Scripture shows. See, we didn't read the last half of verse 4.

Daniel 12:4b

"...close up the book even to the end: (Then there's a colon and the last half says—) many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."

Now, I think most people always just think world's knowledge. No. Biblical knowledge—an understanding of the Scriptures like has never been before. And it's because God has now opened the understanding that we can discern these things that folks a hundred years ago had no possibility of understanding.

Now, in the two minutes we have left, I'm just going to pursue this a little further. As we are now seeing the signs of the times: this tremendous increase in biblical understanding; biblical outreach, as well as in the secular world of the inventions and the discoveries. Now, I read in a scientific journal about three or four years ago, and we're seeing evidence of it already. You know what the big push in all of our research laboratories is? To make everything smaller. Smaller. Smaller. Smaller.

That's why we have now come from a computer that fills a huge room to a little outfit in our shirt pocket. And the same way with all these other things, the cell phone. My goodness, I know the first cell phone Iris and I had was a box that big that set on the floor. But now, here it is so small the kids just hold it and, there again, they're texting. And I read another article. They're getting addicted to it. And how in the world can a kid learn anything if all he's doing is asking his friend, "What are you doing." And the friend texts back, "Nothing." Then five minutes later, he texts his friend, "What are you doing?" And he texts back, "Nothing." But, you see, the brain is sleeping. That's what worries me. These kids are going to find nothing in all this punching of their cell phone that's going to prepare them for the future. Oh, well, I'm getting on a soapbox.

But anyway, look at all the things that are snowballing just since 1900. The New Age Movement. Now, you see, the New Age Movement, except as the Ancient religions—but to actually pick up tidbits from the New Age phenomena and put it into a modern scenario was unheard of until about the 1890's and a gal by the name of Alice Daily. Then after 1900 others picked up her thinking, and it's also been snowballing. Right now the biggest push in our big churches in the cities is a movement as New Age as you can get, but under the disguise of evangelicalism, and it's called the Emerging Church. Look out for it. It is as dangerous as anything can be. What they're really trying to show is that they want to bring all of Christendom back under the umbrella of Roman Catholicism. That's what it really amounts to. And we're hearing it in our travels. That especially in these larger churches in the cities these people are coming in with the doctrine of what they call The Emerging Church. And, beloved, it's as dangerous as anything can be.

LESSON TWO * PART III

The Last Message to Daniel

Daniel 11:32 – 12:13

Okay, good to have you all back again after another break. We'll pick right up where we left off after the last half hour. For those of you out in television, Iris wants me to let you know that we still have the one and only book we've ever published. We advertise them at $11.00. We still haven't changed, and we've sold thousands of them. A lot of people use them like a tract. You'd be amazed how many people buy and just hand them out like a tract. They've been a good vehicle. Okay, thanks, Herb.

All right, for those of you joining us on television, again, we're just a simple Bible study. Most of the time we go verse-by-verse. Somebody asked me one time, how can you get by without using notes? And I said, "All I do is read. Who needs notes to read?" So anyway, that's the basis of our teaching. We just simply take it verse-by-verse, and then look at some cross references, as well. All right, we'll pick right up where we left off, Daniel chapter 12 and verse 5. I've been sitting here waiting and debating in my own mind whether I should come back and do a little more in verse 4, but I think I'll let it go for now.

Daniel 12:5 – 6

"Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. 6. And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?"

Now, whenever you read things like this, especially in the Old Testament, and I've been sharing this with people more and more lately. We have to understand that when God was dealing with Israel, the supernatural was commonplace. Always remember that when we read these things. The scoffer says—who would ever dream of anything like that? No, not today, because we're not programmed for the supernatural. We're not supposed to be. But Israel was.

All you have to do is go to the very beginning of Israel's existence. Joseph was already having his dreams that were supernatural in content. Coming out of Egypt—a total miraculous removal of several million people with their little ones and their livestock, out of an enemy environment, across the horrors of the Sinai Peninsula. And, yeah, I feel Mount Sinai was over in Arabia. And then the miracle, I think we mentioned it in our last taping. There was probably not a greater miracle in all of Scripture, other than the things pertaining to Christ Himself, than the opening of the Red Sea.

I mean, what a fabulous miracle that was: how these several million Israelites and all their livestock are standing on the shores of the Red Sea in a dilemma. What are we going to do? And what did God say? Find driftwood? Build boats? He said "Stand still." And God opened the Red Sea.

Now, that had to be over a period of miles for that many Jews to go across on dry land. Yet the timing was so perfect that all the hosts of the Egyptian army coming upon their rear, now—then the timing—that God opened the Red Sea and the Israelites could go through. And by the time the last Israelite is going out on the east side of the Red Sea, the Egyptians are coming in from the west. And when the last Egyptian is inside the shores of the Red Sea, here comes the water again. And God got every one of them.

You know, when I was a kid I used to hunt. And you know, my buddy and I, if we saw three or four ducks or something, we liked to get all of them. Well, God did. He got every one of them including the king. What a miracle! What a miracle!

Well, all through Israel's history, you see, it's miracle after miracle after miracle—even coming all the way up to the angelic announcement to Mary. Did Mary pass out with fear when all of a sudden an angel was standing there speaking to her? Of course not. That isn't all that unusual. And then you come in even to the Book of Acts. Peter's in prison. Well, who comes and opens the door? An angel. Well, you see, that's the supernatural that we're not accustomed to today.

All right, so now the same way here. When we speak of two personalities standing on the river and speaking on the river, don't be surprised. It's a supernatural thing. And the same way as soon as the miracle of the Rapture has taken place. Even the beginning of the Tribulation cannot happen without the supernatural power of God bringing Israel and the Arab world together in a treaty. It could not happen today. I don't care how many great men would try it. It'll never happen until it's time for the Antichrist to come. So, always remember this: that in Israel's dealing with God, the supernatural is commonplace. All right, look at the verse again.

Daniel 12:6

"And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" Now these are not pleasant wonders. These are horrible wonders. It's the final judgment of God on God-rejecting humanity. All right, then the other one said:

Daniel 12:7

"And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swore by him that liveth forever that it (this period of time) shall be for a time (one year), times (plural. For two years, for a total of three), and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." Now, I'm going to take a little time here. Didn't intend to do this, but let's go back again to pick up the timing of these seven years. Maybe we should go back first.

Let's go back a minute to Daniel chapter 9, just in case we've got some listeners out there that have just tuned in and they've missed these previous programs. I'm sure there will be some. And it never hurts to repeat, anyway. Come back to Daniel chapter 9, where we have the proclamation of a 490-year period of time prophesied on behalf of the Nation of Israel. Now, that's down in verse 24.

Daniel 9:24a

"Seventy weeks (of years or 490 years total) are determined upon thy people (Now see, there's an instance, again—Israel is still out in unbelief, and God doesn't call them my people. But to Daniel He can say thy people.) and upon thy holy city, (Jerusalem) to finish the transgression, (in other words, the work of the Cross) and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,..."

Well, you see, there's our timeline that we put on the board in the first half hour. Exactly, repeated again—coming out of the Old Testament, in would come Christ's three years of earthly ministry, His crucifixion—death, burial, and resurrection—His ascension. Then in would come these final seven years—the worst of which will be the last three-and-a-half, triggering the Second Coming. I should put that up there, I guess, so that people will know what we're talking about. This is the Second Coming at the end of those seven years. He'll come to the Mount of Olives, and that will usher in, of course, the King and His Kingdom.

All right, so all the Old Testament speaks of it in that line. And like we said in that first half hour, there is not one mention of the Church Age. Okay, go on down to verse 27. Four hundred and eighty-three years of the 490 will be fulfilled at the time of the Cross. All right, but we've got seven years left. We've only fulfilled 483. There's 490 total. We pick up those last seven in verse 27.

Daniel 9:27a

"And he (The prince that shall come up in verse 26, which is a reference to the Antichrist, or the son of perdition, or all the other terms that Scripture puts on him.) he shall confirm (or make) the covenant with many for one week (seven years): and in the middle of the week..."

So, isn't this Scripture an amazing thing—that from the very time that we see the first mention of the time, the seven years, it's immediately split in half. Right from day one the Scripture divides these seven years into half and half. All right, so here it is.

Daniel 9:27b

"...in the middle of the week (at the end of three-and-a-half years) he (this Antichrist, this son of perdition) shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,..."

Now, you remember when we were looking at this several programs back, I asked the question—how can you stop something, if it hasn't started? So we know from this verse, that Israel will have a Temple rebuilt as a result of the treaty, and they will enjoy Temple worship for three-and-a-half years. Then at the end of the three-and-a-half years, the Antichrist will go in, up there, I think, on the Temple Mount. He will go into that rebuilt Temple and defile it and turn on the Nation of Israel like they've never been persecuted before. It'll be awesome. All right, here is the basis of our seven years.

Daniel 9:27c

"...and in the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to stop, and for the overspreading of abominations (That is the wickedness that's going to come on the planet.) he (the Antichrist) shall make it(the Temple) desolate, (and it'll remain desolate) even until the consummation,..." Of those seven years.

All right, now then, just to pick up again—I think we did this way, way back, but come all the way up to Matthew 24, once again. We looked at it in the first half hour. Matthew 24 verse 15 and here the Lord Jesus Himself starts at that mid-point. So, He, too, is looking at the seven years in two sections: the first half and the second half. All right, verse 15, we know it's the middle, because He speaks of what the Antichrist has just done at the Temple.

Matthew 24:15a

"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,..." Now, I do that emphatically to impress on everybody that the Lord Jesus Himself puts the stamp of approval on Daniel's book. That's why we can take it as authoritative as anything can be. All right, now He says, when you see that happen:

Matthew 24:15b

"...(whosoever readeth, let him understand:)" Now then, from verse 16 through verse 20, we have a description of this escaping remnant of Jews out of the area of Jerusalem and Judea to a place of safety.

Now, we don't know where it is. A lot of prophecy people think it'll be the city of Petra, over there in Jordan. And I won't argue the point. We've been there, and I've looked at it in that light. Yeah, it could be a very good place for them to encamp. Because not only does it have all the caves and so forth in the limestone mountains, but there's also a huge, flat desert area where they could encamp.

Now you've got to remember, supernaturally God is going to protect that remnant of Israel, wherever they are. Now, lest you think that's a stretch, go back to Egypt—because a lot of these things in this seven-year period are almost a "déjà vu" of Pharaoh and the plagues of Egypt. Now, if you remember, at the end of the fourth or fifth plague, God put an invisible fence around Goshen; where Israel, of course, lived, and the plague did not touch them. Now always remember that. That's where it first started. I think it was the plague of the flies. I'm not sure. But whatever it was, not a bit of that plague entered in to where the Jews were living, and Egypt was decimated by it.

Well, He's going to do the same thing for this last half of the Tribulation. Wherever Israel is led, God has a place prepared for them, as we'll see in Revelation. There'll be an invisible protective wall around them, and none of the horrors of the Tribulation will touch them. And that's going to be a supernatural, supernatural event. But it's going to happen. All right, so now the Lord speaks of these surviving Jews who will flee to the wilderness. Now, we'll go on quickly. We've done it many, many times, but verse 17:

Matthew 24:17a

"Let him who is on the housetop..." Who I've always referred to as probably the wealthy, retired people living on their penthouses or whatever, and they are warned to not even take time to go and find something that they would like to hang on to of their possessions. The main thing is to get out of Jerusalem.

Matthew 24:18

"Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes." All right, we always look at this as the working class. Whether it's professional people, whether it's physicians, or university people, or whether it's business people. These are in the working area. The income people. And He says to them, do not go back and get your clothes. Because you want to remember, at the time of Christ and the time that Scripture is written, Israel was an agrarian nation. Ninety percent of the people made their living herding sheep and farming, and orchards and so forth. Only a small percentage were business people. So, that's why the term here is "let him who is in the field." It's an indication of their working class. All right, so they are instructed not to go back and get extra clothes.

Then you jump into another segment. Now the reason I do this over and over and over, is because so many people think there's only one remnant of Jews in Scripture, and that's the 144,000. No, there are two remnants. This is the remnant that will become the seed-stock of the Nation of Israel in the Kingdom. Now, if you're going to have seed-stock, and I use that word, I think, correctly, you have to have male and female. They're going to reproduce. They're going to have families.

Well, you see, the 144,000 are all young men. So it just doesn't make sense that they are the remnant that's going to re-establish the Nation of Israel. This is the remnant that will do that. It's a cross-section. You've got men and women and children and babies. See?

All right, read on.

Matthew 24:19

"And woe unto them that are with child, (See? Little ones that haven't even been born yet.) and to them that are nursing..." Mother's who have already got one or two kids at their side. So, you've got a whole cross-section of a society right here in these few verses. And these are going to be the Jews escaping to that place of safety. All right, now then, Jesus—we've already looked at it—in verse 21 Jesus announces:

Matthew 24:21

"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." It's going to be awful. Beyond human comprehension.

All right, now let's pick up—since we're dealing with it—let's pick up this escaping remnant clear back in Revelation. And we can also depict the language of the three-and-a-half years as Daniel used it, and that'd be Revelation chapter 12, Honey. Revelation chapter 12 and, for sake of time, drop down to verse 5. The first three verses just establish that the woman is a symbolic picture of the Nation of Israel.

Revelation 12:5a

"And she (the woman, Israel) brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:..." Now, that's the way Scripture works. That's speaking of the Kingdom when He will establish His rule and reign of the nations, which is still future. Now, it will be a rule of iron because of its absolute authority; but it's going to be a benevolent rule.

In other words, there will be nothing that will hurt. There will be nothing that will cause sorrow or turmoil. So, even though it's an absolute rule, it's a righteous rule, as we see back in Isaiah 11 and other places. It'll be a Heaven-on-Earth existence.

Now, I can't repeat it often enough, because, like I say, most of Christendom never hears this. But in this coming thousand-year Kingdom over which Christ will rule and reign, Israel will be the major Nation. That goes back to Deuteronomy 2—you will no longer be beneath, you will be above. You're not going to be the tail; you're going to be the head. You will not borrow, you will loan.

Israel is going to all of a sudden make a complete inversion of where they've been all through history, and that'll be because their King is the Messiah. But all of the other nations of the world will be operative. All right, now where was I? Revelation chapter 12, the woman here is the Nation of Israel. But now remember, you haven't got the whole Nation. You've only got a third.

Remember in the first half hour this afternoon, we went back to Zechariah chapter 13 and found that one third will escape death. All right, I think that's this segment that's going to flee out to this place of safety. So, verse 5—I should have finished that verse. I'm sorry.

Revelation 12:5 – 6a

"And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: (but a benevolent) and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. (Speaking of Christ when He came and went back to Glory.)6. And the woman (this escaping remnant of Israel) the woman fled into the wilderness, (Now, we don't know which wilderness Scripture is talking about.) where she hath a place prepared of God,..." Now, take that slowly. What does that mean? Wherever God is going to leave them, He's already got it all ready. In other words, He'll probably have places of abode where they dwell out of the heat of the desert sun. He's going to have all of the infrastructure that they need for sanitation and all these things. It's all going to ready for them. And let God be God. He doesn't take ten or twelve months to do something. He can do it instantly. But, it's going to be ready for them when they get there.

Revelation 12:6b

"...where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her (or supply all her needs) there a thousand two hundred and sixty days." Which is how long? Three-and-a-half years. Twelve hundred and sixty days and forty-two months, or three-and-a-half years. All right, let's drop all the way down to verse 14. Now, this is the way Scripture works. And unless you know how to study, you'd never figure this out.

Now, we're dealing with this escaping remnant fleeing out of the area of Jerusalem—men, women, children, nursing mothers, expectant mothers—a whole cross-section. All right, verse 14:

Revelation 12:14

"And to the woman (this escaping remnant) were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, (The one that the other verse said was prepared of God.) into her place, where she is nourished (or fed, or provided for in every need) for one year plus two years plus a half year, (for three-and-a-half years) from the face of the serpent." That is from Satan and the man, Antichrist.

All right, now just to show you that what I said a moment ago had more clout to it than you had any idea—that the exodus out of Egypt was almost a forerunner of this for the escaping remnant. Come back with me to Exodus chapter 19. Now, I know for some of you, you've heard this over and over. For some of you, maybe you've never heard it before. And if you haven't, you'd like to have it repeated. So, that's why we do it. Exodus 19 and they have just come out of Egypt, and they're encamped around Mount Sinai, and Moses goes up into the Mount. Verse 3:

Exodus 19:3 – 4

"And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4. Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, (I explained that already a moment ago.) and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself."

Now stop. Has anybody ever told you that they sprouted wings and flew from Egypt to Sinai? No, of course not. What did they do? They walked. The Scripture is evident, how they walked with all their herds and their flocks. But I have to feel it was some sort of a miraculous, speeding-up somehow or other, as only God can do. Because they had to stay ahead of Pharaoh and his army, and they're on horseback.

So whatever, it doesn't mean that they flew, but it was a supernatural working of God that they somehow covered the territory, probably in less time than would be ordinary. But that's all that you can put on it.

Now the same thing, then, in Revelation 12:14—the same scenario as they're fleeing Jerusalem. They're either going to be on foot or maybe in vehicles, or whatever, but however they go, God is supernaturally going to enhance their travel. And let God be God. Let Him do it any way He wants.

All right, now if you'll come back to Revelation 12 verse 15. Now again, here you have to kind of interpret a little bit. And I just use common logic. We know that the Antichrist is now ruling from Jerusalem under the power of Satan. So immediately, when he hears of this group of Jews fleeing to whatever place they're going, he immediately sends out a command to have some military organization pursue them. Whether it be a battalion or a regiment or a company, I don't care what. But he's going to send some military operation to pursue these Jews, just like Pharaoh and his army pursued the Israelites in the Exodus. All right, now look what happens.

Revelation 12:15

"And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood (And I maintain it's a military command.) after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood." Or whatever he's telling the military to do—to either mow them down, machine guns, or bomb them or whatever—destroy them. But you see, about the time that military contingent catches up with the tail-end of the escaping Jews, God does another miracle. He opens the earth.

Well, you remember, He did it back with Korah in the Old Testament? All right, so that whole Antichrist military operation will sink into the opening earth. All right, now I'm down to seconds. So, when he hears what happens, verse 16.

Revelation 12:16

"And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood (or this military pursuit) which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17. And the dragon was angry with the woman, (That is, with Israel.) and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

LESSON TWO *PART IV

The Last Message to Daniel

Daniel 11:32 – 12:13

Okay, good to have everybody back. This will be program number four, and then we'll be out of here on time today. Okay, we're still sending out these Question and Answer books. It is eighty-eight questions, if I remember right, answered from our previous program materials. They're a good light people are using. They're a good tract and answer a lot of basic questions. Okay, Herb, if you'll take this book. Thanks. So if you're interested, why give the office a call. We send them out with an invoice. They're $11.00. I think they're worth it.

Okay, we're winding up pretty much the Book of Daniel in this program. We'll go back to Daniel chapter 12. Like I said in the first half hour this afternoon, in the opening verses it spoke of resurrection. There's probably more resurrection taught in Daniel chapter 12 than all the rest of the Old Testament, because you don't have a lot of resurrection teaching in the Old Testament. The first one I ever found—way, way back when I was just all of a sudden brought to my senses that I hadn't been taught everything there was to know, and I had to search for some of these things.

I'm going to open with that one. Go all the way back with me to the little Book of Job. Oh, I guess it's not a little book, but back to Job chapter 19. This was the first concept that I pulled out of the Old Testament concerning resurrection. And then, of course, Paul, in I Corinthians 15, just opens the whole Pandora's Box—if I can use the expression—of resurrection details and kind of fills everything in. But back here in Job chapter 19, drop down to verse 25. And as far as we know, Job is probably the oldest written book of our whole Bible. Now, look what the man writes.

Job 19:25

"For I know (no if's, and's, or but's) for I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:" Now there's your first inkling, then, of a coming earthly Kingdom with God the Son as the King. All right, "He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." Now, here comes the resurrection part.

Job 19:26

"And though after my skin worms destroy this body, (in other words, physical death) yet in my flesh (in resurrected flesh) I shall see God:" Now, that's as plain as you can get it so far as Old Testament language is concerned.

All right, now come up to Daniel. Even though we're going to start—Jerry's got it on the board—in verse 8, let's just drop back a minute to verses 2 and 3, again. We looked at it in the first half hour, but I told you then—I'm going to look at it later in the afternoon. Chapter 12 reviewing verses 2 and 3.

Daniel 12:2 – 3

"And many of them who sleep in the dust of the earth (in other words, have died physically) shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

All right, I think I'm inclined to take you back, again—like we did in the first half hour this afternoon—just quickly to John's Gospel chapter 5, so that you understand that Jesus is saying almost the same thing that Daniel is. Naturally, it's the Scripture. It's inspired of the Holy Spirit. All right, John chapter 5, again, verses 28 and 29.

John 5:28 – 29

"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, (Sometime out there in the future—we're closer now by 2,000 years than when Jesus spoke it.) in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29. And shall come forth; they who have done good, (Or people of faith, as we mentioned before.) unto the resurrection of life; and they who have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation."

Now, we don't know until we get to the Book of Revelation that those two events are separated by over 1,000 years. The resurrection of the just takes place before the Kingdom, and the resurrection of the lost is at the end of the Kingdom. We'll look at that a little bit later in this half hour.

Now, come back with me to Daniel chapter 12, again. Now verse 8, and again he repeats what he said earlier in the book:

Daniel 12:8a

"And I heard, but I understood not:..." Now just stop and think a minute. All these visions and prophecies that Daniel had seen throughout his lifetime—from the time he was a lad of fourteen until now when he's up in his 90's—and he had seen some of them fulfilled. But a lot of this was still way out in the future, and he couldn't even begin to comprehend it. He says so.

Daniel 12:8b

"...then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" All these prophetic events, what are they leading up to? Well, you and I know—eternity. Everything is moving to eternity.

Now, human history establishes the fact that since Adam until now has been in the area of 6,000 years. We've got a thousand years left for the earthly Kingdom, but then what? Eternity! Eternity! And you see, not a one of us can comprehend the length of eternity. You know, once in a while a blip will flip through my mind—are we going to get bored? No. I'll tell you ahead of time. We'll never get bored. But on the other hand, to think in the terms of eternity means it's never going to end. Now, for us in Glory, that is something easy to take. But for those who have gone the other way, it's frightening to contemplate that they will be there forever and ever and ever. You know, zero to the umpteenth power. It's unbelievable. All right, back to our text, verse 9.

Daniel 12:9

"And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end." Well you see, we're in that period of time. So now the Scriptures have been opened up in such a way that we can now fit it all together. But, like I said in an earlier program, until about 1900 nobody could. And then in the late 1800's, all of a sudden just a few sprinkling of Bible scholars were getting the idea that the Jew would evidently go back to his homeland.

Well, there was hardly any indication of it when they first started thinking about it. But then, of course, in the late 1800's—in the 1890's—why, then a couple of Jewish leaders, Theodor Herzl and Chaim Weizmann, I think were a couple of the Jewish leaders that started the move to get the powers that be, primarily Great Britain—because you want to remember, at that time the sun never set on the British Empire. Their empire circumvented the globe. So, Great Britain was the people in charge of the Middle East. So, they were the appropriate ones to approach about establishing a homeland for these Jews who were now scattered all around the planet.

Well, from that, of course, at 1900 it finally came to the place where the Jews started going back. Until in 1948, of course, they were declared a sovereign state. All these things now, as I said in the first program this afternoon, have just been rolling down the hill gathering snow, or gathering moss, however you want to picture it, and bringing us up to the present time right now today, where we have an understanding of these things like they never had before.

And a lot of it is due to technology. For example, when Revelation spoke—now, let's just go back and look at it. This is a Bible study. And what we don't finish today, we'll pick up a month from now in our next taping. But come back to Revelation, and I think I want chapter 10. Chapter 11, I'm sorry—Revelation chapter 11, the two witnesses. And I won't go through all the verses right now. I haven't got time. But here the two witnesses appeared on the streets of Jerusalem—I think at the very same moment that the Antichrist and Israel and the Arab world are meeting someplace else—and they are going to start proclaiming, again, the Gospel of the Kingdom, like Jesus said.

Matthew 24:14

"And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness, and then shall the end come."

The Gospel of Grace ends with the Rapture of the Church. It began with the Church, and it's going to end with the Church. But the Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the Tribulation. All right, these two witnesses, I think, will open the door someplace in Jerusalem. All right, but now the part I wanted you to see is in verse 7. They're going to continue their preaching for three-and-a-half years, from the opening day until the mid-point.

Revelation 11:7 – 8

"And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit (That is the Antichrist under the power of Satan.) shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 8. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." So, it's Jerusalem.

Revelation 11:9

"And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not permit their dead bodies to be put in graves." All right, now do you see what that verse says? The population of the world, from one end to the other, is going to witness these two bodies lying on the streets of Jerusalem.

Now, Loraine, you and I both remember. When we were kids, if somebody preached that—on the way home I can still hear Mom and Dad question, how in the world can that ever be? How can people over here in America see two dead bodies on the streets of Jerusalem?

Well, that was a dilemma. But the Book said it. And now, of course, it's every day. These cell phones drive me up the wall, on one hand, and they—it's just unbelievable. But these kids with these cell phones will see those two bodies on the streets of Jerusalem quicker than you can blink an eye. But see, without the technology, it could have never been possible.

So here again, I can go back to the increase of knowledge. That starting there at the beginning of the last half of the 1800's and you come up to 1900 and here comes technology. Leading to all the things that we take for granted today. But would the world function without it? There's no way that this world could function with the technology available in 1900. But, everything progresses relatively. Everything is relative.

As you have the increase of automobiles and the need for fuel, oil production increases. As population increases, food production increases. And God has got it all under control, so it'll last until the end. Don't worry about the environment. Now, take care of it, naturally. I don't want to see trash on the road any more than anybody else. But don't worry about ol' planet earth. You don't have to be a tree hugger to keep it going. God's got it under control. And He's going make sure everything functions until He's through with it.

All right, so here we have these two witnesses prophesied as being seen by every tongue and tribe and nation, but it could not happen without the technology of satellite television and now the cell phone. But here, it's no problem.

All right, back to Daniel chapter 12 a minute, again. Because we want to talk about the resurrections, hopefully before the half hour is gone. All right, so now in verse 10:

Daniel 12:10a

"Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: (Well, we certainly see that. We're still seeing people saved today, but, oh, the ungodliness is on a downhill slide. It's just getting worse by the day.) and none of the wicked shall understand;..."

They don't understand what things are taking place. They don't see that all of this stuff pertaining to globalism and the financial meltdown—it's all in preparation for the coming of the Antichrist. It's getting everything ready for him. But that's not what we want to look at now. We'll look at that maybe in another taping. Now verse 11, here we come.

Daniel 12:11a

"And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,..." Now, you've got to stop and think a minute, again. When did Temple worship begin? At the signing of that treaty at the opening of the Tribulation.

That will be part of the treaty, that Israel can re-establish Temple worship. And they're going to. I think that Temple is all set, prefabbed in a warehouse in Jerusalem. And when that treaty ink is dry, those Jews will start building that Temple. And I think it'll be, like I said before, up there on the Temple Mount, and within a matter of forty-eight hours they're ready to go.

Now, we know that the Jews have got everything ready for Temple worship. They've got all the garments for the priesthood hanging on mannequins. Iris and I have seen them. They've got all the shovels for the fire of the sacrifice and all that. Everything is ready. All they've got to do is build that Temple. It'll go up overnight.

All right, now we go back to the time when that Temple will be shut down by the Antichrist, which is three-and-a-half years from the end, or twelve hundred and sixty days from the end. Except here we have the exception.

Daniel 12:11

"And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, (That is the mid-point of the Tribulation.) there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." Thirty days beyond the sixty. But, it doesn't stop there.

Daniel 12:12

"Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." So, now we've got an extra seventy-five days after the end of the Tribulation.

Now, we know the Tribulation is going to end right on schedule, or no one would survive. Now then, this great event, which is the resurrection of all of the saints that were not in the Body of Christ—I feel they will all come out of the graves at this point in time, because of verse 13.

Daniel 12:13

"But go thy way (God tells Daniel.) until the end be: (Well, not the end of the Tribulation. That's another event. But to the end of these seventy-five days into the thousand years.) Go thy way until the end be: for thou shalt rest, (That is in death.) and stand in thy lot at the end of the (seventy five) days."

All right, now I think in order to clarify that, I'm going to have to take us back to I Corinthians chapter 15, the great resurrection chapter of all of Scripture. But it is Paul, now, describing the resurrection of the Body of Christ. That's the only group of people that Paul is interested in, the Body of Christ.

I Corinthians 15:20a

"But now..." Now, that's one of Paul's favorite expressions, isn't it, because of the great change in modus operandi. Everything has been Jewish. Everything has been set according to Law. But when the work of the Cross is completed, and this Apostle was designated to go to the Gentiles, it's a whole new ballgame. That's why he is Holy Spirit inspired to use these two words.

I Corinthians 15:20 – 21

"But now (which is totally different from "And then.") But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (Died physically) 21. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead."

Now I suppose I'll wish I had an hour or more, and I'm going to run out of time. In Romans chapter 5, you see, Paul lays out so clearly that Adam was the first man and Christ was the Second Man, or the Second Adam. The first man plunged the human race into the sin problem. The Second Man made everything available to bring him out of it. So, you have these two entities. Adam, who set the human race under the curse; and Christ, the Second Adam, who, by His work of the Cross, made possible the salvation for everyone, if they'll only believe it.

All right, for those who have become believers of Paul's Gospel, and he calls it this over and over. I haven't got time to look at them, but "my Gospel," "that Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles." All right, that Gospel, of course, is—you're in chapter 15 anyway—you might as well back up so that we remind our audience what Paul's Gospel is. Just go back to the first four verses of this chapter 15. Most of you should know it by memory. We've read it often enough.

I Corinthians 15:1 – 2a

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel (Yes, there's only one.) which I preached unto, which also ye have received, and wherein you stand: 2. By which also ye are saved,..." My, that's as plain as language can make it. This is the Gospel that saves lost mankind.

I Corinthians 15:2b – 4

"...if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. (Now, here it is, the heart of the Gospel.) 3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scripture:." That's Paul's Gospel. And people that have believed that for their salvation will get to go in the Rapture.

And to show you that only the Body of Christ will be resurrected at what we call the Rapture, turn with me to I Thessalonians chapter 4, and we'll see the prerequisites for being in the Rapture. Now you see, the Rapture is the resurrection of the Body of Christ Saints who have died. Who will be called forth and reunited with their departed soul and spirit, so that they are now a complete body, soul, and spirit ready for eternity. Then in the next instant, we who are alive and remain will be translated. We will just suddenly be changed.

All right, but for everyone that will be in this resurrection of the Body of Christ, this is the prerequisite, chapter 4 verse 14.

I Thessalonians 4:14a

"For if we believe (What's the big word in there? I-F...If) if we believe..." And I always have to emphasize, I did it again the other day in Denver. Somebody came up and I said this is only for someone who truly believes. Most of Christendom doesn't. And I think I'm safe in saying that. They just don't get it, but here it is.

I Thessalonians 4:14a

"For if we believe (plus nothing.) that Jesus died and rose again,..." That's exactly what he said in I Corinthians 15, isn't it? That's Paul's Gospel. All right, for those who have gained salvation through this message, they are members of the Body of Christ. But listen, who was the first emissary or apostle who revealed this message? Paul.

It was never revealed to the Apostles. Peter, James, and John never preached death, burial, and resurrection for salvation. Now, let me show you an example. I'm going to run out of time. I know I am. Sorry about that. Come back with me to Acts chapter 4, the healing of the lame man. And see, this makes it so evident. I'm sorry, it's chapter 3. Those of you that are writing notes, I hate to make you scratch it out, but it's Acts chapter 3. They healed the lame man, and, oh, the Jews were all upset.

Now you've got to remember, this is only fifty days between the resurrection and Pentecost. It might we another week or so later, but we're talking in terms of within a period of sixty days after, maybe, Jesus performed His last miracle. So, it's not all that long ago. And they can't get it. How did you perform a miracle like this—healing the lame man that had been laying there at the Temple gate for forty years? Oh, it had just caused a big hubbub in Israel.

All right, now then, Peter comes back and he tells these Jews. We didn't do it. It was the power of God exercised because of the man's faith. But faith in what? Not the death, burial, and resurrection—now pick it up in verse 16. See, this is why I get uptight. I say, people can't read. They either read with their eyes closed, or they've got them open so far they see stuff that doesn't belong in there. And one of my rules of thumb is, if you're going to study the Scriptures, it's just as important to see what is not in the Scripture as what is. All right, but now look what is not in here, verse 16, Peter says:

Acts 3:16a

"And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong,..." Or whole! Does he say anything about the Cross? Not a word. Anything about the shed blood? Not a word. So, what did he believe? Exactly what Peter's profession of faith was clear back there in Matthew 16, when Jesus asked, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" And what was Peter's answer? "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Period. Not a word about the Cross. Not a word about resurrection. It was believing who He was, and what Gospel was that? The Kingdom Gospel! That's what Jesus and the Twelve preached, that Jesus was the King, the Messiah, and the Redeemer.

All right, it was faith in that fact that saved the Jews of Peter's day. But, you see, that leaves them back for the Old Testament. But for us in the Body of Christ, it's through faith not only in who Christ was, but what He accomplished. And that's what makes the difference.

All right, now then, I guess I'm going to run out of time. Here we have Paul in I Corinthians 15, again—oh, wound down to one minute. I'll never make it. I Corinthians chapter 15 and we'll just have to pick it up in the next taping, I guess. The key word is in verse 22.

I Corinthians 15:22 – 23

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (But now here's the kicker. Here's the frosting on the cake.) 23. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; (At His Resurrection, and I think those that came out of the graves.) afterward they that are Christ's at His coming." The Rapture of the Church—that takes care of all the resurrection of the non-Jewish believers.

LESSON THREE * PART I

The Resurrection of the Just

Daniel 12:13

Okay, good to see everybody in this afternoon. I think even our TV audience will realize this is the biggest crowd we've had yet. We appreciate that all of you have come in. As we found out before we came on the air, we've got people from all over the country here today. I haven't got time to list all the states. But wherever you're from today, we appreciate the fact that you are here with us.

All right, we're going to finish where we left off in our last taping. I didn't quite end up the way I wanted to, and we're going to go back and finish that today. So, if you'll join me here in the studio, and for those of you out in television, we're going to go back to Daniel chapter 12 to finish the last three or four verses dealing with the resurrection of the Old Testament and the Tribulation saints. Let's begin at Daniel chapter 12 verse 10.

Daniel 12:10a

"Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly:..." In other words, just like now, even as you come toward the end of the Tribulation, there'll be those that'll still be hearing the Kingdom Gospel, perhaps from the 144,000, and will become believers. Be martyred for it, of course. But on the other hand, the vast majority of the human race that's still surviving will never turn from their wickedness. All right, reading on in verse 10.

Daniel 12:10b

"...and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." Now, here's the timing. And this is what I want to deal with today—because so many, even the people that I read, have just got this all befuddled, or they ignore it completely. We're just going to look at it for what it says.

Daniel 12:11

"And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, (Which will be in the mid-point of those seven years.) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." Now, to take this to the end of seven years, or the final three-and-a-half, it should be twelve hundred and sixty days, so we've got an extra thirty days tacked on. Now you come down into verse 12.

Daniel 12:12

"Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. (Or a total of an extra seventy-five days. And then verse 13 is the key to the whole thing.) 13. But (God says to the prophet Daniel.) go thou thy way till the end be:"

Now, you've got to go back several verses—I think it's here in chapter 12. Yeah, just go back to verse 8. Then you'll see why Daniel is addressed the way he is. Back here in chapter 12 verse 8 Daniel says:

Daniel 12:8

"And I heard, but I understood not: (In other words, all the things concerning these end-time events.) then said I, O my LORD, what shall be the end of these things?" Well, he was human. He was just like we are, you know. You want to know what? What's coming next? What does the Lord tell him? Just be patient. Shut up the Book, because you're not going to be concerned with it until the end anyway.

Daniel 12:9

"...Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." All right, so now when you come down to verse 13—I hope I haven't confused you. Daniel is told that he's not to be concerned with these hundreds, and now another two thousand—so we're about 2600 years beyond the time that Daniel is living—and he is just simply told:

Daniel 12:13

"But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." Well, what days? These twelve hundred and sixty and an extra seventy-five days. So, here we have the end-time scenario after the Tribulation has ended and Christ has returned and the Earth has already been made beautiful like the Garden of Eden. Now, I've got to constantly remind people. The Lord Himself said it, "With God nothing is impossible."

So, when we see a devastated planet as a result of the nuclear explosions that we've been explaining the last several programs, don't think it's impossible for God to re-establish a beautiful surface of the planet in an instant. But, you see, we are so human. We think, well, that can't happen.

Well, all I can suggest to people is, on a beautiful starlight night—before the full moon knocks all the light out—on a beautiful starlight night, just consider what little bit of the universe we can see. And it's only a little infinitesimal part of it all. Yet those trillions of stars are all under God's thumb. He knows every one of them. He knows exactly where they are.

Well, then I have to make the parallel. If He knows all of those trillions of objects in space, you think He's going to have any trouble with a few million or billion human beings on the planet? None! None at all. So never limit God. He is so far beyond us. And that's why we have to take it by Faith.

All right, so here He has devastated the planet with all of the nukes and everything that's going to totally destroy everything. Yet almost as instantly this planet is going to be as beautiful as it was in the Garden of Eden, for the onset of that thousand-year earthly Kingdom. That's the way it's going to happen. All right, after the extra seventy-five days have run their course from the Second Coming, He sets up the Kingdom, and then will come the resurrection of the Old Testament saints, or the believers.

Now, I am betwixt and between where to go first. Here's where I always ask the Spirit to lead. So, let's go back to Matthew a minute. We'll just put Daniel on hold and come all the way up to Matthew chapter 27.

Now, what I'm going to do in order to clarify these various resurrections—and you've got to remember that. I think I stressed it on the program either the other morning or today. I don't know. But I know I made reference to it, that the resurrection does not just mean to be dead and brought back to life like Elijah did with the widow's son, or like Jesus did with Lazarus. That was not resurrection. That was just returning them back to life. They died again. But at resurrection, believers who have lived and died will be brought back to life eternal with a body fit for eternity.

All right, now we're going to go back, and I think we did this in a previous program, we're going to look at a little field of grain in Israel. Here in America we're acquainted with forty acres, so you can look at it in that light. All right, we're going to go back and check out the Scripture for all this. You see, when the Jews were getting ready for the feast of first-fruits, it was in the spring, and barley was their number one early spring crop.

Now, those of you here in Oklahoma, with all of our wheat and so forth, you certainly are aware that as a green field of wheat begins to turn color, gradually gets a little bit more yellow and gold, then all of a sudden sprinkled throughout the field, what do you see? Some early ripening single stems of grain. Just one stem here and a stem there and the heads on that are gold and yellow. Then about two or three days later, the rest of the crop catches up.

All right, now what Israel was to do with their barley harvest was—as soon as those early little individual stems of grain were ripe, they were to go into their barley field, pluck those individual stems until they had enough to make a sheaf or a bundle. All right, then what'd they do with it? They took it up to the Temple, and it was a "wave" offering. That was the instructions. We're going to go back and look at it in just a moment. All right, after they had plucked out those early stems of ripened grain, then naturally what followed? Well, the main harvest.

Now, I'm going to use the analogy of the grain harvest with the resurrections, because the Lord Himself associated soul-winning with harvesting. You all know the verse. "For the fields are white unto harvest." It was a spiritual harvest. All right, the same way here. I'm going to use the analogy that as Israel was to go into the approaching harvest of the early spring barley field, they would go in and pluck out those early ripening grains, make a wave offering, and then they'd come in and take the crop. Naturally. The whole idea is to get the crop.

But they were instructed not to harvest the corners or the gleanings. You know what gleanings are. Those are the stems that didn't get picked up, whether it's today's big machinery or whether it was back in antiquity when they used the little hand scythe. So, what was the purpose? Well, to leave for the poor. So, what we're going to do is take these three segments of the harvest and associate it spiritually. First, we have the First-Fruits. Then the Main Harvest. Then the last part is Corners and Gleanings.

All right, let's start with the first-fruits in Matthew 27. Now, I'm doing all this to get ready for Daniel's waiting at the end of the seventy-five days. Matthew chapter 27 and come over to verse 51. It's the account at the time of the crucifixion, beginning at verse 51.

Matthew 27:51a

"And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to the bottom;..." Now, you all know what the veil was. That was that heavy cloth curtain between the main part of the Temple, or the Tabernacle, in which were the candlestick and the loaves of showbread and the altar of incense. Then behind the veil was the Holy of Holies with the Ark of the Covenant. All right, that veil split, of course, from top to bottom, indicating, now, that the way into the holiest of all was accessible without using the High Priest.

But who knows—what did Israel do with the veil? They sewed it back up. They kept right on with their Temple worship, never catching on to what God had already said. That question comes in every once in a while, "Well, what happened to the veil when it was split in two?" They sewed it back up and continued on with Temple worship until the Romans destroyed it and the Temple in A.D. 70. All right, now back to the text.

Matthew 27:51 – 52

"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52. And the graves were opened; (It doesn't say how many. But, again, it's just a sampling.) the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints (That is these believing Jews.) who had died arose,"

Now, I'll never forget these three verses. I hadn't been in Oklahoma but a month or two, and a good old deacon from one of the local churches collared me, and he said, "Les, what are these people who came out of their graves while Christ was on the cross?" I said, "I never heard of such a thing." "Oh, yeah," he said, "they came out of the grave while Christ was on the cross." I said, "Well, now let's just go look a minute. That doesn't sound right."

Now you've got to remember, I wasn't as advanced in my Bible knowledge as much as I am now. But I knew something was wrong. So, I went and looked at it. You know, just like everybody else, what did he not see? The next verse! People don't read. Look at the next verse.

Matthew 27:53a

"And they came out of the graves after his resurrection,..." Not while He was on the cross! See how easy it is to just goof everything up.

In fact, somebody just showed me a letter to the editor of one of our more famous magazines in the country, and they were referring to me, no doubt about it. And they had totally, totally misquoted me—as misquoted as a man could be. And then the editor comments on my misquote. That's when I get up-tight. I mean, if they want to comment on what I said, then they ought to check me out on the Internet and so forth. But, no, they don't do that. They just say, well, this guy is a false teacher, don't listen to him. Well, no wonder I'm false, if I'm misquoted. How else can you be?

All right, so here again, see how easy it is for people to misread? He thought this happened while Christ was on the cross. No. They didn't come out of their graves until after His resurrection. Now, why am I emphasizing the "after"? Because Christ had to be the first to ever be resurrected from the dead. And, as I've pointed out in one of my recent programs on your daily, Monday through Friday, I was referring to the "only begotten of the Father." Maybe some of you have heard it in the last morning or two. Well, what does it mean that Christ was the "only begotten of the Father"? Well, the average church member says, well, that's Bethlehem. No, that's not Bethlehem. When He became the only begotten Son of God, it was at His Resurrection!

I guess I'd better use the Scripture, because I've got time enough. Come back with me to Psalms. You know, this is what I tell people at my seminars. We no more than get started and we start going all over the Book. Well, that's the way I teach. I can't help that. Today we're going to do the same thing. Come back with me to Psalms chapter 2, where you have that only begotten Son of God mentioned for the first time. Clear back in Psalms!

Psalms 2:7

"I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." Well, what day is He speaking of? Well, now again, we've got to compare Scripture with Scripture to get our answers. Come up with me to the Book of Acts chapter 13.

Paul is speaking in Antioch of Pisidia. That's up there in central Turkey. And he's rehearsing all of this before the Jews in that particular synagogue. Oh, my goodness, I'm going to take the time. I didn't plan to do this, but let's just take the time so that we qualify what it means that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. Let's go all the way up to verse 26. We may just skim some of these things for sake of time. But here Paul is addressing this whole scenario to these Jews in the Synagogue. And he says:

Acts 13:26 – 27

"Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. 27. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not,(Now this goes back to His earthly ministry, remember.) they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him."

Acts 13:28 – 30

"And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. 29. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. 30. But God raised him from the dead:" Now, this had been unheard of up until this time.

Acts 13:30 – 31

"But God raised him from the dead: 31. And he was seen many days of them who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witness unto the people." Now verse 33:

Acts 13:33 – 34

"God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is (Now watch this. This is what you have to do with Scripture.) as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. (now the next verse) 34. And as concerning that (the quote from Psalms 2) as concerning that (being called the only begotten Son of God) he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David." All right, so what caused God to call Him the "only begotten Son"? His resurrection!

All right, now let's go to one more. Go to Romans chapter 1, starting at verse 1. Here's where there is so much ignorance in Christendom. They don't take the time to check these things out. Where did the term originate? Well, it originated in Psalms chapter 2. Paul explains it in Acts 13. Now here comes the frosting on the cake.

Romans 1:1 – 3

"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2. (Which he had promised before by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;" In other words, his fleshly lineage came from King David. Now, look at verse 4.

Romans 1:4

"And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by (What great act?) the resurrection from the dead:" And the resurrection is almost totally ignored today. They can talk about taking Jesus into your heart. He's died for your sins. But they're leaving out the power! Because the power was not exercised until He arose from the dead! Are you with me? Now, that's the "only begotten" part of the Son of God, that He was raised from the dead.

All right, now let's come back again, quickly, to Matthew 27. I don't think I finished with those verses.

Matthew 27:53

"And came out of the graves after his resurrection, (Because He had to be the first to be resurrected and to be declared to be the only begotten Son of God.) came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

Well, now remember, these are believing Jews who had died. And like we've always taught, the soul and the spirit went—for the Old Testament Saint—down to Paradise. But now in this case, they come out of the graves and receive, not just the resurrected soul and spirit, but the body. They walked into the streets of Jerusalem in the new, resurrected body.

Now it goes to common sense, then, that they went only long enough to prove resurrection, and that they were the sampling of the first-fruits that we saw in the barley field in the realm of the spiritual. I think that's the whole purpose, so that they could fulfill the role of the first-fruits. Then they went on up into Glory, because there's no record of Jews still living today that were on the streets in "zero"—two thousand years later. So, we have to assume that they went on up into Glory in those resurrected bodies.

All right, now let's come back, then, to Leviticus chapter 23 and pick up where all of this actually began. It's right back here in the early days of Israel's Temple worship, when they're still out in the desert, and they have the little Tabernacle Tent. Now, you get into chapter 23 and you have the feast days of Israel. All got it, Leviticus 23, let's start at verse 9.

Leviticus 23:9 – 11

"And the LORD spake unto Moses saying, 10. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, (Now, like I said, the earliest grain was barley. So, when you reap the barley harvest—) then ye shall bring a sheaf (or I call them bundles) of the firstfruits of your harvest (those earliest ripening stems of grain, the sample) then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it."

All right, so that was the first step of fulfilling these resurrections—the firstfruits, which was Christ and these samplings that came out of the graves at Jerusalem.

All right, now if you'll back up a few pages in Leviticus to chapter 19, we see that the next part that they have to obey with regard to harvest is in verse 9. Leviticus chapter 19:9, these were all instructions according to the Law.

Leviticus 19:9

"And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shall not wholly (or completely) reap the corners of thy field, (You leave them.) neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest." And the reason is in verse 10—for the poor. So, God provides for the whole set of society. The poor were dealt with by leaving the corners and the gleanings. In other words, they would be the picture of the very last of the resurrection.

All right, now I haven't really got time enough to go into the next segment, but let's come back and stop at Daniel chapter 12, a minute, before we go on to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. So, if you'll stop at Daniel 12, just to refresh our memory. Because I've got to remember, our attention span isn't all that long, even for adults. We know it's not long for kids, but adults aren't much better.

Daniel chapter 12, again, the very last verse, verse 13, remember, Daniel is curious. What in the world is the meaning of all this? And God just says it's not for you to know. Because it was so far out in the future, he wouldn't have any contact with it, anyway. All right, here is what He says then in verse 13.

Daniel 12:13

"But go thy way till the end be: (Then he would be part of it.) for thou shalt rest, (Well, what does that mean? In death. His body would be asleep in the ground, and his soul and spirit would be in the presence of the Lord.)for thou shalt rest (Then here's his end.) and stand in thy lot at the end of the days."

Now, just like the word "company" in I Corinthians, "lot" is a military term. It was a term of organization. Now, I think all of you are aware of military chain of command. When you're down here as a foot soldier and a Private, you're in a Company. Then when you move up in organization, the next one is, if I remember right, Battalion. And from Battalion you come to a Regiment. Regiment to the Division.

All right, those are all military terms. So, if you write a letter to a serviceman, you have to know what part of the organization he's in, or he'll never get his mail. It's the same way in Scripture. We're using here military terms of organization. Daniel is told to wait in his particular lot, whether it was a Company or a Battalion or whatever, but God knew. Well, Paul is going to use the same thing, only in the Greek. It's going to be a little different term, but it also is a term of organization. God is an organizer. God is meticulous in everything He does.

LESSON THREE * PART II

The Resurrection of the Just

Daniel 12:13

Okay, it's good to see everybody in again. You've had your coffee break. For those of you joining us in television, we are, again, just a simple Bible study. I've announced it over and over, but I realize every day we have new listeners, and we've got to keep it qualified that I'm not associated with any group. I do not hold to any one denomination. We're just going to keep searching the Scriptures to see what it says.

And again, for those of you who are so supportive with your prayers and your letters, I just have to say thank you. And we know the Lord is using it. We're getting such a tremendous response from so many who are coming out of the darkness of lostness and into the glorious life that is fit for eternity.

All right, we're on the whole concept of the resurrections in this taping. We started our study of the resurrections in our last taping in the Book of Daniel. In our last program, we were talking about the resurrection of the firstfruits. Now we're going to go to the next part of the order of the resurrection—to the main harvest of the field. Now, I've got the square up here. If Israel was dealing with a little square field of barley, they went in first in the spring and took out those early ripening stems of grain. Then they would come and take the whole crop, but they had to leave the corners and the gleanings.

We're going to look at the main harvest in this half hour. Then, hopefully, before the afternoon is over, we'll come to Daniel once again and pick up the corners and the gleanings. This is the way I look at the resurrections: three of them, and yet they all comprise what Revelation will call the first resurrection.

All right, I Corinthians chapter 15 is the great resurrection chapter. We're going to, for sake of time, come in at verse 20.

I Corinthians 15:20

"But now (on this side of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection) is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them who have died." That's what we covered in our last program. Then in order to make more than just the one stem, in order to have enough for the bundle according to Leviticus, there were those Jewish believers who came out of the graves after His resurrection there at Jerusalem.

I Corinthians 15:21

"For since by man (Adam) came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." All right, now we'd better qualify that with Scripture, hadn't we? Back up, if you will, to Romans chapter 5 where we get the correlation. Adam was the first man that plunged the human race into sin and under the curse, but the second man is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who opened up salvation to the whole human race.

Romans 5:12

"Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; (So, sin and death almost become like Siamese twins. They are both horror to the human race, sin and death.) and so death (because of sin)passed upon all men, (none excepted) for that all have sinned."

All right, now if you'll keep that in mind as we jump back up to I Corinthians 15, once more, back to verse 22 now.

I Corinthians 15:22

"For as in Adam all die, (spiritually) even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Now, I have to stop there a minute, because we have a—what should I call it—a teaching. I don't like to call it a doctrine, per se. But beginning with one of the early church fathers, he dreamed up what today we call Universalism.

Now, I imagine the rank and file of church people don't even know what universalism is. But I think I'm qualified from time-to-time. Universalism is the concept that when Christ died and paid the sin debt for the whole human race; which, of course, we agree with. But they go on to say that after these last people have spent a certain amount of time in the Lake of Fire, they've paid their dues, then they'll come out and still get to Glory. That's the teaching of Universalists. Even Satan will one day be in Heaven. It's amazing, you know, how people can corrupt the Scriptures.

But this all goes back to those early church fathers that are held in such high esteem. Well, I used to, but I don't anymore. But, that is not what this verse means. See, they take a verse like this and twist it to mean that sooner or later everybody will get into God's Heaven, see, because—now read it again, so that you see where they're coming from.

I Corinthians 15:22

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." But the key there is the prepositional phrase "in Christ." Lost people aren't "in Christ!"

Now let's use another verse of Scripture. Just go ahead a few pages to II Corinthians chapter 5, and we'll see why that little term is—what's the word I'm looking for? It's confining. It just doesn't open the door to the whole human race. The work of the cross is only profitable for those who believe. And those who believe are those who are "in Christ."

All right, II Corinthians chapter 5 and, again, I always have to start with verse 14 in order to pick up the flow.

II Corinthians 5:14

"For the love of Christ (In other words, that love that drove Him to the cross.) For the love of Christ constraineth us;..." Now, the Apostle Paul invariably uses that plural pronoun instead of I or me. So he's still speaking of his own apostleship, because that's what drove him in spite of all of the suffering and the hardship. He never lost his desire to win lost people.

II Corinthians 5:14 – 15

"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, (or come to this conclusion) that if one died for all, then were all dead: (Just like he said in Romans 5, that Adam plunged the whole human race into sin and death.) 15. And that he died for all, that they who live (That is spiritually, now, as a result of the new birth—as a result of saving faith.) that they who live should not henceforth (That is from the time of their salvation.) they should not henceforth live unto themselves, but (were to live) unto him who died for them, and rose again." There's Paul's gospel. I mean, it's always popping up that our salvation is our faith in His death, His burial, and His resurrection.

II Corinthians 5:16a

"Wherefore (Because now Christ has finished the work of redemption with His death, burial, and resurrection.) henceforth know we no man after the flesh: (And who's he talking about? The next part of the verse—) yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh,..." Paul, or Saul, knew all about Christ's earthly ministry. He was out there on the outskirts in his fury against Him. He was probably more aware of Christ's preaching than the average Jew, because he was so antagonistic to it. So, he says:

II Corinthians 5:16b

"...yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, (But now here's the part that most of Christendom does not want to read.) yet now henceforth (from this time on) we know him no more." What's the Apostle saying? We're not resting on His miracles. We're not resting on His Sermon on the Mount. We're not resting on the Lord's Prayer. We're not resting in the Four Gospels. We're on this side of the cross, and Christendom can't get it.

I know I'm not spitting into the wind, because I hear it from every denomination you can think of. All they hear are the Four Gospels. We've got to follow Jesus. They're missing it. They're missing it! There is no salvation in those Four Gospels for us. It has to be on this side of the cross, because His earthly ministry was for a different economy. And, oh, it is so hard for people to see that, but it's exactly what Paul is talking about, "I knew Christ in His earthly ministry, but henceforth we know him no more." Because there is no validity to it for us.

What did it take? The cross! And people don't want to talk about the shed blood. They don't want to talk about the sufferings of the cross. They don't want to talk about this power of His resurrection! Because resurrection power changes lives, and that they don't want that. No, they don't want that. Here's where we have to be careful. How does the Scripture apply it? That we are on this side of the death, burial, and resurrection.

II Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore (because of that finished work of the cross) if any man be in Christ, (See that prepositional phrase? If we're in Christ.) we're a new creation: old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new."

See, we're going to become a different person. We're not going to be the same old person after professing salvation. But see, that's the trouble with most church members. They aren't any different tomorrow than they were yesterday. And there's something wrong. We've got to be a changed person. All right, so, "old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new." And that's as it should be.

All right, now then, back up to where we were in I Corinthians again, chapter 15, now verse 22.

I Corinthians 15:22

"For as in Adam all die, (In other words, he was the federal head of the whole human race.) even so in Christ shall all be made alive." But those who are in Christ are the only ones who capitalize on it. For the rest, the finished work of the cross is done for them, but if they don't appropriate it by faith, it won't do them any good. All right, now here comes what we came to look at in verse 23.

I Corinthians 15:23a

"But every man (Whether lost or saved, but Paul is talking primarily about the saved who are the members of the Body of Christ—those who are in Christ.) every man in his own (What?) order:..."

Daniel used the word lot. Paul uses the word order, which means the same thing. Every resurrection is going to be according to that particular phase of the resurrection. Are you in the firstfruits? No, we can't be, because that was for the few Jews in Matthew 27. But, we are in the main harvest. We are in that greatest number of believers.

Now, I was mulling this over when I woke up last night, and then all of sudden it struck me—and I have to...I have to pass this on. When I say that the Body of Christ will comprise by far the greatest number of believers—and, again, I'm going to go to the board. The firstfruits were just a sampling. The Old Testament Saints and the Tribulation Saints are going to be the corners and the gleanings. The Body of Christ—this Age of Grace, the Church Age for the last 1,900 years—will be the main harvest.

Well, now if you know anything about grain harvest, you don't even have to be a farmer to know that if you've got 39 or 40 acres of grain and you leave maybe a fourth of an acre on every corner, that's one acre. And maybe all the gleanings together will put up another half acre. Well, now you've got 38 ½ acres of full crop. How much is that compared to the corners? All the difference in the world.

All right, now why am I putting the Old Testament Saints and the Tribulation Saints in just that small percentage of the corners and gleanings? All right, from Adam to the flood, 1,600 years, how many believers do you think God ended up with? Well, he had eight on the ark. And there probably weren't very many more than that in the rest of the civilization. So, it was almost nothing between Adam and the post-flood. All right, now then, by the time you get away from the sons of Noah there in Genesis chapter 9, what's the next event in Scripture? Well, the Tower of Babel. Well, goodness sakes, how many believers were at the Tower of Babel? None. Not a one.

All right, so now there isn't really anything for God's harvest until we get to Abraham. Now then, Abraham begins the Nation of Israel. Now, from 2,000 BC until we get to the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 9, what percent of the total population was the little Nation of Israel? Now, I'm not asking for an exact number, but what percent? Well, what are they today? One tenth of one percent. So, even if they were five percent of the whole for those 2,000 and some years between Abraham and the Gospel going to the Gentiles, how many did God get out of that? Well, not many.

Let me show you. Turn back with me to Isaiah. Keep your finger in I Corinthians, I'm coming back. Isaiah chapter 1—now this may seem shocking to you, but this is reality. And in my teaching, I always try to be logical, commonsensical. Here's the Nation of Israel, just a small percentage of the whole—and out of that small percentage of the whole, how many percent of them were believers? Not much different. Probably one or two percent.

Look at it, Isaiah chapter 1 verse 9. Now again, you have to know a little bit about history. What time in history did Isaiah function? Well, about 700 B.C. Well, that was 300 years after King David and King Solomon. All right, now look what he says.

Isaiah 1:9

"Except (or unless) the LORD of hosts had left unto us (That is the Nation of Israel) a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom,..." So, how many believers in Israel? Just a little small remnant. And it's never increased.

My goodness, that's evident at Christ's first coming. He comes to the Nation of Israel. How many believers did He have surrounding Him? Almost none. His own family didn't become believers until almost the end of His three years of ministry. And what was the vast majority of Israel's reaction to it? We'll not have this man rule over us.

All right, now then, you come into the Book of Acts. What kind of luck, if I may use that word, what kind of luck did Peter, James, and John have with the Nation of Israel? Not much, except on the Day of Pentecost. But beyond that, it was all downhill. All right, have I made my point? So, how many believers did you have in the corners and the gleanings? Not that much. So, where's the main harvest? The Body of Christ—that will be God's main harvest.

All right, now let's come back to I Corinthians 15, again, verse 23.

I Corinthians 15:23a

"But every man..." Every believer, whether it's Jew in the firstfruits of Matthew 27, or whether it's the Old Testament believers like Daniel and those that will be saved during the Tribulation, who I think are all going to be part of this Old Testament consortium of people. They're not going to come into the Body of Christ. I know that.

I Corinthians 15:23

"But every man in his own order: (his particular area of the first resurrection) Christ the firstfruits; (then the main harvest and the gleanings) afterward they that are Christ's at his coming."

All right, now then, in order to pick up this resurrection of the Body of Christ—we've done it many, many times before. But I've learned that I just can't repeat some of these things too often. In this same chapter 15, now, we have one of the basic portions of Scripture dealing with this resurrection of those who are in the Body of Christ. It will come at the end of the Church Age, which we think we're looking at head on; and just shortly before the Tribulation begins. Because I've always maintained, and still do, that the Body of Christ cannot function in that which is Jewish. And the Tribulation period is Jewish.

All right, I Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 51, for the umpteenth time we're going to look at them again.

I Corinthians 15:51a

"Behold, I show you a mystery;..." Now, that's the keyword that most of Christendom ignores. They cannot accept the fact that this knowledge of a secret out-calling of the Body of Christ was kept secret.

That's why they try to take Scriptures out of the Four Gospels and use it for the Rapture. My, for the longest time all I ever heard was that the two women grinding at the mill, one is taken and the other left, was what? That was the Rapture—no, that's not the Rapture. That's God dealing with Israel.

Two people sleeping in the bed, one taken and the other left. That's not the Rapture. That's Israel at the end of the Tribulation and getting ready for the Kingdom. So, it's just the reverse. In those instances, it's the unbeliever who is taken away, and the believer is left to go into the Kingdom as flesh and blood.

Well, another one that everybody likes to use is John's Gospel chapter 14. Let's go back and look at it. I think I've got time. Come back to John's Gospel chapter 14. And the best of theologians will try to turn this all upside down and make it refer to the Rapture. Well, it can't, because what's the word in I Corinthians 15? Secret. How could the Holy Spirit cause the Apostle Paul to call it a secret if Jesus had let it out of the bag? But He didn't. He didn't let any secret out of the bag. He was dealing with that which was commonplace.

John 14 verse 1, who's He talking to? Well, the Twelve. Come on down to chapter 13 verse 37:

John 13:37 – 38

"Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. 38. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice." Now you know that was all part of Jesus dealing with the Twelve just before He's arrested and being crucified.

All right, here they are in the Upper Room, if I'm not mistaken, and Jesus is dealing only with the Twelve Apostles. And to the Twelve Apostles He says:

John 14:1 – 2

"Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Now you've heard me say it more than once. That's not us...that's not us. That's for the Jewish element. God always keeps Israel and the Body of Christ separate. Oh, if mankind could only do that also!

I had one lady tell me one time. She said, "Les, you took away my mansion!" No!! You know why? We're going to have something a million times better! This is earthly! Our abodes are going to be heavenly. And they are so tremendous the Bible doesn't even try to explain it. That's the only way I can put it. That's how fabulous our abodes are going to be in Glory. God knows better than to try to explain it. So, don't take these earthly mansions to heart. Don't think that you're losing something. Not at all. But here it is. Then He says in verse 3.

John 14:3

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Well, so what's He talking about? His ascension and His coming again at the Second Coming!

And if you don't think the Twelve are going to be involved, or at least eleven of them, come back with me now to Matthew chapter 19. Because I want you to see how all this fits. When Jesus is talking to the Twelve, He's talking to the Twelve—and you and I are not part of the Twelve Apostles. We're Gentiles.

Matthew 19:27

"Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" And you've heard me say it before. He's not talking about his salvation. He knew he had that. So, what's he talking about? Rewards! What am I going to get for reward, Lord? All right, and the Lord didn't scorn that. He gave him the answer.

Matthew 19:28

"And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye who have followed me, (These Eleven men, now we're not going to include Judas.) That ye who have followed me, in the regeneration (That's the Kingdom, when the earth will be reverted back as it was in the Garden of Eden.) That ye who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, (in Jerusalem on Mount Zion) ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel." See how God is connected with the Twelve? Well, those are the same Twelve He's talking to in John chapter 14.

All right, now then, let's come quickly back to I Corinthians again, chapter 15, and continue on with this harvest of the main part of the field. It's what we call the Rapture. But, you see, it isn't just those of us who are alive. It's going to take first the resurrection of the believers who have lived and died previously. All right, verse 51 again, of I Corinthians 15—I've got to move fast. Now all of sudden that clock is getting ahead of me.

I Corinthians 15:51 – 52a

"Behold, I show you a secret; (Something that's never been revealed before.) We shall not all die, (physically) but we shall all be changed, (In other words, God's not going to make every believer die so He can be resurrected, but He's going to change him instantly.) 52. In a moment, in the twinkling (blink) of an eye,..." That's how long it's going to take God to transform every living believer from this body of flesh to the new body fit for eternity.

I Corinthians 15:52b

"...at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,..." What dead? Well, the Body of Christ believers who have died. No Jews. No Old Testament saints in this. This is the Order, or the Company, or the Battalion that is separated from the other two groups which are Jewish.

I Corinthians 15:52c – 53

"...the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (Paul writing as if he would live to see the day.) we shall be changed. 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

Well, now I'm going to have to take you real quickly over to I Thessalonians chapter 4. We're still dealing with this same great event: the resurrection of the Body of Christ—whose members have died—so that they will have a body fit for eternity. We will be instantly, at the blink of an eye, changed. And why do I keep us separate from the Twelve and the rest of it? Verse 14, here's the key to get to go in this resurrection.

I Thessalonians 4:14

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who have died in Jesus will God bring with him." And be reunited with the body that's been laid to rest.

All right, did the Twelve get saved by believing in the death, burial, and the resurrection? No. They were saved before the cross ever happened. The Old Testament saints were saved before the cross ever happened. So, they don't qualify. They don't believe for salvation that Jesus died and rose again. And I can even go so far as the Tribulation, because Jesus Himself gave us the Gospel that will preached in the Tribulation, and it's not the Gospel of Grace. What is it? The Kingdom Gospel!

Matthew 24:14a

"And this gospel of the kingdom (which was preached before the Gospel of Grace was given to Paul) This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world..." The 144,000 will do that during the Tribulation.

LESSON THREE * PART III

The Resurrection of the Just

Daniel 12:13

Okay, good to have you back again from a coffee break. We'll start half hour number three this afternoon. And again, for those of you joining us, we just appreciate so much your financial help and your prayers—everything. Your mail—my mail time is the best time of the day.

Okay, we're going to continue on with this series of the Resurrections of the Just, as Jesus called it in John 5. We've covered the firstfruits, and we're now in the main harvest—which, I feel, is the resurrection and the Rapture of the Body of Christ. Because the Body of Christ is going to have the numbers for the main harvest, so far as I'm concerned.

Okay, I'm supposed to again remind our TV audience and those of you out there, we have one book. Only one and it's been so well received. It has touched so many hearts. We've still got plenty of them on hand, if you're interested. Why, you just call or write and we'll get a copy out to you. We've always charged $11, and that includes the postage.

Okay, let's just jump back in at the second portion of Scripture that deals with this main harvest, or the Rapture and the resurrection of the Body of Christ, which would be I Thessalonians 4. We touched on it in the last part of the last program, but let's look at it again. I Thessalonians chapter 4 and we'll start at verse 13. Because as the world's situation is turning, I think everyone in this room (and I think most true believers) are anxiously awaiting this event. Because things are not going to get better. I can tell you that much. It's nothing but a slippery slope, and we're on a downward slide. We'd better hope that the Lord comes sooner rather than later, or we're going to get our feet burned. We may anyway, but let's just hope and pray that the Lord will come sooner rather than later. So, here is our blessed hope, as Titus chapter 2 calls it.

I Thessalonians 4:13a

"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, (Now see, he's talking to believers and not to the world in general.) concerning them who are asleep,..." Or who have died.

Now there again, I think I made the point in the last taping. There are certain false groups that refer to soul-sleep. The soul never sleeps. The soul never loses consciousness. The minute physical death happens, the soul of a believer and the spirit go immediately into the presence of the Lord, conscious. It doesn't go up there to sleep. It doesn't go up there to hibernate. It stays conscious and waiting for this great event when they'll receive the body.

Now the lost, of course, will do immediately the same. They go to their doom to the place of torment waiting for their resurrection. Hopefully, we'll see that in the next half hour, if not this one. Yes, even the lost are going to be resurrected to be brought before the Great White Throne bodily. And from thence, then, to their eternal doom in the Lake of Fire.

But right now we're dealing with the believers who are in the Body of Christ. And all of our loved ones and our ancestors who before us became members of the Body of Christ are all involved in this company that Paul referred to in I Corinthians 15. We will be in that "lot," or in that company. All right, then verse 14, we looked at it in the last half hour, but we'll repeat it.

I Thessalonians 4:14a

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,..." Now here is what I call the credentials for being in the Body of Christ, or to be involved in this great event. We have to have our faith in that finished work of the cross—or His death, burial, and resurrection. That is the criteria.

And...come back with me. I can't help it. Keep your finger in I Thessalonians. Come back with me to Matthew 16, again. Because it is so hard for even good church people to see the difference between the Gospel that the Twelve were saved by and the other Jews of that day, and for us today. As different as daylight and dark. But they refuse to see it. They just don't want to see it. And I'll keep hammering away at it. There is this stark difference.

All right, in Matthew 16 we see the profession of faith of Peter. And, of course, it was equal to those Jews of his day as well as those who were saved on the Day of Pentecost and following. I'll show you that on our way back to Thessalonians. But for now, so that you'll see what I'm talking, go to about Matthew 16. We always start at verse 13. Now some of you have seen this a hundred times in the last ten years, but now once more.

Matthew 16:13 – 14

"When Jesus came into the borders of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, (The Twelve who have now been with Him almost three years.) saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? (Who am I? Who do the people on the street think I am?) 14. And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." Anything but the right One. Now verse 15:

Matthew 13:15 – 16a

"He saith unto them, (to the Twelve) But whom say ye that I am? 16. And Simon Peter answered and said,..." Now here was—here was the statement of faith that Jesus wanted from every believing Jew of that day.

This was his statement of faith. Now of course, all the Jews were still keeping the Law. They were doing the Temple worship. But this was an extra requirement with the appearance of their Messiah. They were to believe who He was. It's that simple. And Peter puts it, verse 16.

Matthew 13:16

"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, (You're the Messiah, the Anointed One.) the Son of the living God." Period. Not a hint about the cross. Not a hint about any shed blood. No idea of resurrection. But this is what the Lord is looking for, because this was the Gospel of the Kingdom—to believe that Jesus was the Christ.

Now what's the word I'm always using? It's so simple. But, oh, they can't take something simple. They've got to have—somebody sent me a while back what he wanted to put in a tract. My goodness, it was two pages of Bible verses. I just wrote back, "What is my creed? Keep it simple!" But, oh, they all have to complicate it. All right, so that was the Kingdom Gospel that saved the Jews of Christ's earthly ministry—by believing, along with their Law-keeping, of course. They didn't kick that out the backdoor. But they were to believe who this Jesus was.

All right, now let's jump up to the Book of Acts. We've got Peter, now, even after the cross—chapter 3—this is even some time after Pentecost. They've healed the lame man. Who, I'm sure, the Lord purposely ignored, so that this could happen. Because you know, everything was by God's design. This lame man lay at the Temple gate for forty years. So he had to be there during Christ's earthly ministry, but the Lord didn't heal him. But Peter and John come along, and they do. All right, chapter 3 verse 6:

Acts 3:6

"Then Peter said, (to this lame man,) Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." Does he say anything about the cross? Not a word. Does he say anything about the shed blood? Resurrection? Not a word. What's he emphasizing? Who He is. He's the Messiah. He's the One that's been promised ever since, especially, King David.

All right, then you come on down after the people see the miracle. They're all shook up and wondering how in the world this thing happened. Then you come down, for the sake of time, to verse 16. This was Peter's explanation to the Jews in consternation. How did you perform such a miracle? And here it is.

Acts 3:16a

"And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness..." Any word about the cross? Nothing. What did they believe? Who Jesus was! Now, is that so hard?

Is that too complicated that that was the Kingdom message—that this is your promised Messiah? Place your faith in Him and God will give you eternal life. You'll become part of the Kingdom. That was it. But, oh, they've got to confuse it and confound it and do anything else you can think about it, and then try to say it's the same thing that Paul preached? Hardly. Paul enlarges on it.

Come back to I Thessalonians 4, again. Of course Paul enlarges on the fact that this Jesus of Nazareth was the One who went to the cross. Of course it was. And we believe that He was not only the Messiah of Israel, but He was the Creator of the universe. Paul makes it so plain in Colossians chapter 1 that it was this Person of the Godhead that created everything. And yet He is the One who condescended and took on human flesh so that He could purchase our salvation. Is that so hard to comprehend?

All right, back to I Thessalonians 4 verse 14 again.

I Thessalonians 4:14

"For if we believe that Jesus (this Jesus of Nazareth, Israel's Messiah) died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." See, that's beyond what Jesus expected of the Twelve. Now we're under the Gospel of Grace—that Christ has done everything that needed to be done. Now verse 15:

I Thessalonians 4:15 – 16

"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we (as living believers) that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede (or go ahead of) them who have died. (And here's why.) 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump (singular) of God: (Not of angels—totally different from Revelation. This is a single trumpet blown by God Himself.) and the dead in Christ shall rise first:" Now you remember, I'm always qualifying—what segment of believers in human history are "in Christ"? The Gentile Body, which was a term that is strictly Pauline.

Now granted, from Adam to the end, when they become believers, they are God's. But they are not in that prepositional term.

Now maybe I'd better qualify it. Now these are things I don't intend to do ahead of time, believe me. Come back with me to Ephesians. Now Ephesians, of course, is one of the prison epistles—toward the end of the Apostle's life. So we get teachings and doctrines from these prison epistles that he doesn't even cover in Romans and Corinthians and Galatians. But nevertheless, they're all part of the Pauline revelations, and here's where we get to it. Ephesians chapter 1 and come all the way to the last two verses. Well, let's look at verse 20, and we have the power of verse 19.

Ephesians 1:20

"Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." That is at the Father's right hand as the Old Testament prophesied, and as Hebrews puts it—that when He had finished the work of redemption, He ascended back to Glory; and, positionally, He's at the right hand of the Father. Now verse 21:

Ephesians 1:21 – 23

"Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (Now here it comes.) 22. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head (And I always follow that with, not the King. He's not the King of the Body, He is the Head.) the head over all things to the church, 23. Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all."

All right, now as you come through these little chapters of the Book of Ephesians, I think it's 93 times where you have the prepositional phrases "in Him," "in whom," and "in Christ." It's throughout these whole six chapters to show us where we are positionally the moment we become a believer.

Now in fact, while you're in Ephesians, go back to chapter 1. We'll clarify a word that's twisted all out of shape by the theologians. And that's predestination. We're not predestined to Hell. You're not predestined to Heaven. You're predestined to a position in the Body. And see, that ought to make sense. That's what the Book says. It doesn't say a word about your eternal destiny.

Ephesians 1:5

"Having predestinated us (Now remember, Paul always is talking to the believer.) Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will."

Now in the New Testament Greek, what is the adoption? When the father hires a tutor to take his little five-year old son, he almost gives him over completely to teach him day-by-day throughout his early years until he's about 15 or 16 years of age. Now when the tutor is through with that little fellow, what is he ready for? To come in beside the father in the business. That's what it meant to have the adoption—to be placed alongside the father in his business. All right, that's what we are predestinated to. We are predestinated to a position in the Body. Whether it's the toe, or whether it's the head, we're all placed in a particular place.

Now, I think in the last taping I gave the illustration of the baby in the womb. For nine months that mother is putting billions of cells into that little body. Does a cell that belongs in an eyeball go down to a toenail? Heavens, no. You wouldn't have a normal child. Everything goes to its rightful place. And at the end of nine months, what? The body is complete, and it's delivered. Well, it's the same way with the Body of Christ. Every one of us has been directed exactly to where God wants us. Now, it takes a little longer to get some of us where He wants us than it does others, but we're going to get there. Sooner or later you're going to get exactly where God wants you, because that's what you're predestinated to. There's not a word in here about Heaven or Hell! Isn't it amazing!

Now, you can come on down a little further, I think, verse 11.

Ephesians 1:11 – 12

"In whom (In Christ, the moment you become a believer, you're placed into the Body.) also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: (Now here's what we're predestinated to.) 12. That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ."

Does that mean it's a fire escape? Does that mean you weren't predestined to Hell, but you were lucky enough to be predestined to Heaven? No. Predestination is always into a position in the Body of Christ. Oh, it's just irritating how they can twist the Scriptures. But anyway, all through this little Book of Ephesians we have this constant reference to being "in Christ," "in Him," and "in the Body," and so forth.

All right, now back to I Thessalonians, if you will. Chapter 4 and we'll go on, verse 17. I didn't finish the last part of verse 16. I'm sorry. Verse 16:

I Thessalonians 4:16

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ..." See that? Those who are in the Body and have died physically—their soul and spirit went immediately into the presence of the Lord consciously. They don't go to sleep. They're conscious.

Now then, at this great event, Christ will bring all the souls and spirits of everybody in Christ, which I feel began with the Apostle Paul's conversion. I know a lot of people won't agree, but that's all right. And all those believers since then are waiting for this great event. Because you see, they're not up there bodily. They're only up there in the invisible realm of soul and spirit.

So what do you suppose every one of them is just waiting for? Well, their new body! Because to have a body in eternity like Christ's resurrected body—you and I cannot image what we're going to be able to do. We're not going to be limited by anything. And we're going to especially, I think, we're going to have our abode in Heaven. We will be sent by commuter to go into the Kingdom and carry out the Lord's work and come back to our abode in Heaven. Instantly. The Lord went back and forth. So we will, too. Well, anyway, that's stretching the imagination, isn't it?

But see, this is the glory of having that resurrected body. It's going to be limitless. And I always tell people, you want to get just a taste of it? Go into the Gospels and read those forty days between His resurrection and His ascension. And you'll get just a little taste of what we're going to be able to do. In other words, did a wall stop Him? Right through it. Did distance stop Him? No. He could go from Jerusalem to Galilee in less than the blink of an eye. Could He eat? Yeah, you people who love to eat. You're going to eat in eternity. Yeah, you are. I can prove it. The Lord did. He ate fish. And in Revelation—I thought I'd get there this afternoon—chapter 21, the new heaven and the new earth. The Tree of Life is going to be producing fruit on both sides of the river, and what are we going to do? We're going to feast on it. So, we're going to eat.

Well, anyway, back to I Thessalonians. He brings the soul and spirit of the departed believers so that they can have that resurrected body immediately. They will be a complete soul, spirit, and body again for all eternity. Then, after the dead have been resurrected, the great harvest. The dead of the Body of Christ are resurrected, then verse 17.

I Thessalonians 4:17a

"Then we who are alive and remain (We're living on planet Earth.) shall be caught up..." Now those are the two words that have been coined raptured.

I just told somebody on the phone the other day. When they ridicule that that word isn't in Scripture, you tell them, "You just don't know anything." Because the Latin Vulgate says "raptura," where you've got the two words "caught up." The Latin word is raptura, R-A-P-T-U-R-A. Check me out. And what does it mean? To be suddenly translated.

I Thessalonians 4:17 – 18

"Then we who are alive and remain shall be "raptura-ed" together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever (for all eternity) be with the Lord. (in that resurrected body) 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

All right, now drop down into chapter 5. Here's why I know we are in a pre-Trib rapture, because of these words in chapter 5 verses 1 and 2.

I Thessalonians 5:1 – 2

"But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2. For yourselves know perfectly (or completely) that the day of the Lord..." The Tribulation is right out in front.

Now you've got to remember, as I've been stressing in all those little letters lately on the daily program in James, Peter, and John. They all thought that the Tribulation was right in front of them. They really thought that that was right out in front of them. They had no idea that God was going to open up the timeline for 2,000 years. But here we are again. We're right up next to the appearance of the Antichrist. I'm sure it's going to be in all our lifetimes. I don't care how old you are. We're that close.

I Thessalonians 5:2 – 3a

"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3. For when they..." Now, you see the difference in pronouns? What's the pronoun up in chapter 4? We. Us. Now it's they and them. Now, that's as clear as language can make it, isn't it? That's two totally different groups of people. The we and the us are out of here. The they and the them are the left behind.

I Thessalonians 5:3a

"For when they (the left behinds) shall say, Peace and safety;..." Now we covered that a taping or two ago when we were back in Daniel. Isn't that exactly what the Antichrist is going to promise: peace and prosperity? And the world's going to fall for it.

Israel especially is just going to turn euphoric that this guy has finally brought them the peace they're looking for. He's going to guarantee their safety. I think they'll dismantle their military almost overnight. The whole world is just going to go into a euphoria over this man. And that's what all the world's getting ready for. This whole financial disaster is just building up to a system that that man is going to present to the world. That's how close I think we are. All right, but now read on quickly. I've only got two minutes left.

I Thessalonians 5:3

"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them,..." Well, I've got a time-frame on it. It's of my own making. I say, eleven months later.

Eleven months later, what's going to happen? I think the big Russian invasion—that invasion from the North on the mountains of Israel. Now, why eleven months? Well, you see, in chapter 39 of Ezekiel, it tells us that Israel is going to be seven years burying and cleaning up the residue of that great battle. Well, I cannot see Jews in the Kingdom burying dead corpses and burning up and collecting material. So it's going to have to be done during the seven years of the Tribulation.

Now then, Israel's way of chronological keeping of time was, any part of a year is a whole year. All right, so if I give eleven months of peace and prosperity and then—let's say from January to December 1st—in comes the Russian invasion. Well, see, that's still a part of the whole seven years that they've got to clean up. So, that's my conjecture that there will be eleven months of relative peace and prosperity. Then the sudden destruction, of course, is the Russian invasion of Ezekiel 38. All right, then reading on:

I Thessalonians 5:3b

"...then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a women with child; and they (the left-behinds, the Christ-rejecters) shall not escape." So, we have to look at all these things in the projection of Old Testament prophecy, as well as what Paul says here.

Now, I'm not going to go back to Old Testament anymore. Let's just turn over to II Thessalonians in the seconds that we have left. And in chapter 2, go down to verse 8.

II Thessalonians 2:8 – 9

"And then (after we are gone) shall that Wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume (at the end of the seven years) with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9. Even him, (This man, Antichrist, who all the world is looking for today.) whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying (What?) wonders."

What's he going to be? He's going to be a miracle-worker. And the world will fall for him hook, line, and sinker. And we're getting closer and closer every day.

LESSON THREE* PART IV

The Resurrection of the Just

Daniel 12:13

Okay, good to have everybody back for our fourth program. And again, I just have to constantly thank our TV audience, as well as all of you in here, for supporting us. My, next month would make 19 years since we've been on TV. That's just unbelievable, isn't it, Honey? We vowed up and down that it would never go more than six months. But we didn't know what the Lord had in mind, did we? But anyway, we appreciate you all so much and love you with all our heart.

All right, in this lesson we're going to wind up our study on the Book of Daniel and the revelations of Daniel chapter 12. And I like to remind you that we are in Book 82, finishing it up today. That means we have now completed 984 half-hour programs. That's a lot of talking, believe me. Anyway, Revelation chapter 20 is where I want to start. I want you to see one term back here before we go back to Daniel for a moment, and that is in verse 5.

Revelation 20:5 – 6a

"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6. Blessed and holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death (That is the Lake of Fire, Hell.) shall have no power,..."

Now then, there's nothing to indicate that that's going to be one immediate resurrection. But all three parts—I'm going to go back to my little field on the board. All these segments of resurrection: the firstfruits that we saw in the first half hour, then the main harvest that we saw in the next half hour, as well as the gleanings which are the Old Testament and the Tribulation saints (they make up the smaller percentage). That completes, then, the first resurrection.

All right, we're going to look at it again, briefly, and then we're going to look at the resurrection of the lost—which, of course, won't happen until after the thousand-year Kingdom-rule is finished. So, come back with me momentarily, again, so we can officially end our study in the Book of Daniel chapter 12. Again, this will be the last of the first resurrection. The firstfruits, then the Rapture of the Church, then the gleanings, and then we'll go into the Kingdom. Then at the end of the Kingdom, they'll have the resurrection of the lost.

But all right, back to Daniel chapter 12 to finish it up in total now. In verse 10, again, where we started at one o'clock this afternoon:

Daniel 12:10 – 11

"Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. (And then here's the timing.) 11. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, (Which we understand from Daniel, as well as from the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24, that'll be in the mid-point of the seven years.) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be twelve hundred and ninety days." Which is an extra 30 days, but we also know there will be a total of an extra seventy-five days added. All right, now verse 12.

Daniel 12:12 – 13

"Blessed is he who waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty five days (Or 1,260 plus 75. Now He tells Daniel—) 13. But go thy way until the end be: for thou shalt rest, (In other words, he's going to die physically, and his soul and spirit are in the presence of the Lord, just like all the rest of the believers of time gone by. What the Lord is really saying, is when these seventy-five days have finished, even though it goes into the Kingdom—) thou shall rest, and shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the (those seventy-five) days."

So, that's where I time the resurrection of the Old Testament saints, as well as the Tribulation saints who will be martyred. They will be the gleanings and corners in the first resurrection.

Now, let's back up for a little bit to Daniel chapter 2, and see why I have no problem with these extra 75 days. Now, some people try to twist this all into something else. I've read more ideas that you can imagine. But I have no problem just leaving it the way the Scripture describes it, because of Daniel chapter 2 when Nebuchadnezzar saw the image of this huge human likeness; which, of course, was gold and silver and brass and iron and clay. It was a depiction of the coming Gentile empires. All right, let's read over them quickly. I think we've got plenty of time. Verse 31 again:

Daniel 2:31 – 33

"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. (the likeness of a man) This great image, whose brightness was excellent, (Another translation says frightening.) stood before thee; and the form thereof was (again) terrible(or frightening). 32. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 33. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay." Now verse 34, he tells the king.

Daniel 2:34a

"Thou sawest (this huge image of all these metals until—) till that a stone was cut out without hands, (Which was a reference to an act of God.) which struck the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces." Which we feel, now, is a depiction of a revived Roman Empire that I feel is coming together in Western Europe. It will strike this image on the feet, which would be the empire primarily augmenting the Antichrist and his power. All right, read on.

Daniel 2:35a

"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold,..." In other words, from the feet right on through the body image going to the head of gold, will be all ground up under this huge stone. Or, if you want a picture: a steamroller that just rolls over this huge statue which depicted all the Gentile empires. And that's the coming of Christ. That's the steamroller. That's "the stone cut out without hands."

Daniel 2:35b

"...broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors;..."

And now here are the 75 days as I understand Scripture. And in these 75 days, from the Second Coming until the Resurrection of the Old Testament saints, the Kingdom becomes full flower.

Daniel 2:35c

"...like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: (In other words, that's going to be the total destruction of all the empires of this materialistic world. They will disappear through the crushing judgment of those final three-and-a-half years.) and the stone (which is the second coming of Christ) the stone that smote the image (and crushed all vestiges of those Gentile empires)became a great kingdom and filled the whole earth."

Now, that is the end, then, of the Tribulation. The end of all the resurrection of believers, and the Kingdom begins. Now, we've covered a lot in the last several programs on the Kingdom. So, I'm not going to spend any more time on that. But now, let's pick up the lost. We can't forget the lost, because after all, that's the greatest majority of the human race.

Come up with me now to John's Gospel chapter 5. Now, I would just as soon ignore this. I would love to be a Universalist. I could rest easier if I knew that loved ones who may have been lost and are in eternal doom—it would be a comfort to feel that one day they will still make it. But, beloved, that's not what the Book teaches. It's just not true.

All right, John's Gospel chapter 5 verse 28, if you've got a red-letter edition, it's in red. It's the Lord Jesus Himself speaking. And He says:

John 5:28a

"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming,..." Now, it's just like when the Old Testament says "Thus saith the LORD!" How have I been putting it over the last several months? When our Bible says, "Thus saith the Lord," or such and such will happen, it is going to happen! Don't ever think for a minute God is going to change His mind about something and that it won't happen. If it's in prophecy, it has to happen.

You know, that's been just pressed on me more than ever the last few months. Prophecy has to be fulfilled, or this Book is worth nothing. Now, let me just give you one example. Judas had to betray the Lord. He had to, even though it wasn't that God made him to do it. Judas had to betray the Lord, because it was prophesied. The Book of Psalms said that one of His own would betray Him. So, it had to happen. And it's true of anything that's been prophesied. It has to happen. All right, now here's another one. The Lord Himself is saying it.

John 5:28b

"...that all that are in the graves will hear His voice." Saved and lost. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean it is one general event. We've already seen that even the first resurrection is divided into three separate resurrections, but they make up the first. All right, now the second death, which Revelation spoke of, is this one. So, all the lost as well as the saved:

John 5:29

"And shall come forth; (Now He separates them.) they who have done good, (people of faith, they will come—) unto the resurrection of life; (That's the first resurrection, which we have just covered in the last three programs. Now come the lost, or the rest of the human race that are lost.) and they who have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation." Those who had no faith, regardless of how much wickedness they accomplished—that's not the point. They were without faith.

You remember when we were way back in the Old Testament twenty years ago, I always liked to use Jacob and Esau. What was the difference? I wouldn't doubt that Esau was probably a better kid to get along with than Jacob was. But what was the difference in those two boys? Jacob had a little faith, and Esau had none.

All the way through Scripture, those who had faith, regardless of how much righteousness they may have exhibited, were people of God. If they had no faith—like Esau, Ishmael, Cain, and others throughout the Old Testament—regardless of how much or how little wickedness they accomplished, they're lost, because faith is always the key. I can't emphasize that enough. It's not what manner of works we've done, it's our faith that God looks for, and then everything else follows.

And the same way with the lost—it isn't how much wickedness he's accomplished. It's the fact that he never exercised faith. He never agreed with what God said to do. So, they're lost. Oh, Hell's going to be full of good people. Believe me. It's going to be full of some of the best of people, because they never gave any concern to the Word of God. All right, now read on.

John 5:29b

"...they who have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation." So, they're going to be brought out of that place of torment that you see expressed in Luke 16, where the rich man was. You remember, he was suffering in the flame. Well, that's where the dead have been going ever since, until they're resurrected out of that place of torment. Now, let's pick them up in the Book of Revelation.

Come all the way up to Revelation chapter 20. We've come through the whole seven years of Tribulation. We've come through the thousand years of the Kingdom and now Revelation 20 verse 7.

Revelation 20:7

"And when the thousand years are expired, (They've finished. They've run their course.) Satan shall be loosed out of his prison." Now the question comes in constantly, why?—when God has got that—whatever you want to call him—locked up. He hasn't deceived anybody for a thousand years. It was Heaven-on-earth. Why let him out? Well, it's a good question that I have to answer.

You want to remember, the thousand years is another time of testing. It's another dispensation. Not quite as simple as in the Garden. Because there Adam and Eve only had one thing to deal with, and what was it? The tree. Do not eat of that tree and they'd be fine. That was their testing. But they failed their test. They ate.

All right, now for a thousand years the test has been to be loyal to the King. Be obedient to the King. And there was nobody to test them otherwise. There was nothing to tell them—why, go ahead and do otherwise. There was nobody whispering behind their back—well, try something. No, none of that. Only Satan can do that.

So, in order to test all these new generations that have been born from believing parents up front—they've never had to make a decision for or against. And that's been the whole human criteria, you know. We either choose for God, or choose against Him. It's always choice.

All right, now for all these new generations, there's been no way of testing their choice. So, God has to bring Satan back to give them the alternative. And what do you suppose Satan tempts them with? Well, go back to the Garden. Let's go back, I think we've got time. Come back to Genesis—because, see, Satan never changes his tactics either. Genesis chapter 3 and let's take it from the beginning.

Genesis 3:1a

"Now the serpent (Now that wasn't Satan, yet. But it was the instrument that Satan chose to use, and here's why. Because it—) was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made." In other words, Satan chose the best of all possibilities, and it was the serpent. If you want to look up the word subtle sometime, get a good dictionary. I haven't done it now for a long time, but there's a list of words that long describing subtle. And they're all good. To be subtle means that you are intelligent, and you are cunning—all these things that the serpent was. And that's what Satan chose.

Genesis 3:1b – 3

"And he said (Satan using the serpent) unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." Well, that God didn't say. But God did say they were not to eat of it. All right, now the serpent comes back in verse 4.

Genesis 3:4 – 5a

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (What's he already doing? Feeding the big lie, because God said they would. But the serpent says, no, you won't.) 5. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as (What?) gods,..." Now what does that do to people? Do you know that almost every famous totalitarian dictator, before he leaves planet Earth, what is he convinced of? That he's a god. We're almost seeing it again today, aren't we? They get that mental complex that they're some kind of a god.

Well, you see, that's what appeals to the human nature. All right, now if you'll come back with me to Revelation chapter 20, verse 8. Now remember what the temptation was to Eve.

Revelation 20:8

"And (Satan) shall go out (across the planet.) to deceive the nations..." Now you've got to remember, there's going to be billions of people, again. Because you've had a thousand years of no sickness, no death, and multiple childbirths. It's going to be a population explosion like the world has never known.

All right, so you're going to have these billions of people now, having begun with believers up front. But all these new generations of children have never had to choose for or against God. All right, so Satan comes back, and what does he do? He goes out, "to deceive." The big lie.

Revelation 20:8

"Satan goes out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, (in other words, the whole planet) Gog and Magog, (Everything, and he's going to—) to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." For what purpose? To defeat the King, because they're following him in rebellion. They are now following the big lie that they're going to be gods in their own right, and they don't need the God that's King. So, it's a total rebellion under Satan's leadership.

All right, verse 9, now look at this—the foolishness of human beings. And, oh, listen, they're ordinary humans. They're all going to come out of flesh and blood, saved parents who are going to survive the Tribulation. We've covered all that in past programs. They're going to come out with all the intelligence that anybody else could have. Yet, they're going to fall for Satan's lie that they can become gods. Instead of being under the King, they can be above Him. That's the lie.

Revelation 20:9

"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: (Jerusalem—but this time God doesn't show mercy and grace. This time God comes down in instant judgment.) and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Bingo! That whole multiplied billions of people are instantly off the scene. All right, then verse 10:

Revelation 20:10

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire (Satan finally gets there.) he's cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast (the Antichrist) and the false prophet are, (Now, they've been there a thousand years, so they're not annihilated like some groups try to teach. They are still there. Then the Scripture goes on to say they'll be there forever.) and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

All right, now let's keep on going. These are not pretty verses, but we have to teach them. Verse 11:

Revelation 20:11

"And I saw a great white throne, (Somewhere out in space, we don't know where this is going to take place. God alone knows.) And I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, (Which is Christ Himself.) from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them."

Now, you know I've taught in days gone by that I feel this whole universe will be pulled back into the Creator that flung it out in the first place. And in that interval of time, while there is no real universe, no multitude of stars, just a blackness of empty space—someplace in there, there's going to be this Great White Throne. Now, don't worry about the believers. God's taken care of them someplace else.

Revelation 20:12a

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;..." Now, this is why I started with John 5. How are they going to stand unless they have a resurrected body? But they will have. They're going to be resurrected out of their place of torment, and given a body to stand before this Great White Throne over which Christ is now, not the Savior, but the Judge. They're going to stand before Him.

Revelation 20:12b

"...and the books were opened: (See, God's going to be fair. He's going to do everything intricately and explicitly. He doesn't cut corners. He opens the books.) and another book was opened, which is the book of life: (To show them their name is not there.) and the dead (of all the ages from Adam to the end of the thousand-year Kingdom) all the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." In other words, the record of their daily experience.

Now, let's see what we mean by that. Come back with me to Matthew. Matthew chapter 9—thought it was. Go over to chapter 10. I don't see the one I wanted in chapter 9. All got it? Verse 15. Matthew 10 verse 15:

Matthew 10:15

"Verily I say unto you, (Now, this is Jesus speaking. And remember, He's the Creator. He's the Great White Throne Judge.) I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah (with their wicked behavior) it'll be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, (That is the Great White Throne of Revelation 20.) than for that city."

Matthew 10:16a

"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents,..." And so forth. All right, now let's come over to chapter 11. That's where it was. I thought it was 9 and 10, but it's 10 and 11. Now, come to chapter 11 verse 20. Again, it's Jesus' earthly ministry.

Matthew 11:20 – 23a

"Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: (They didn't pay a nickel's worth of time to all of His miracles and preaching and what have you. And here's His response.) 21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, (His miracles) which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, (which were wicked Roman cities on the Mediterranean seacoast) had my miracles been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented... 22. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. 23. And thou, Capernaum, who are exalted unto heaven,..."

So, they're going to be judged according to their works.

About Les Feldick:

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." — II Timothy, Chapter 2, Verse 15

Les Feldick is an Oklahoma rancher and has enjoyed that lifestyle for many years.

Les and his wife, Iris, have been married since 1953. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren.

What Les really likes is teaching the Bible. He has been teaching home-style Bible classes for over 30 years. His teaching is non-denominational, and his students come from diverse denominations and backgrounds. It was through one of these classes that a student helped open the door for his "Through the Bible" television program.

Les has never had any formal Bible training. It is through the Holy Spirit that he is able to teach night after night, never using lesson plans or notes, and seemingly, never growing tired. Les teaches in four different cities on a regular basis.

Les starts his classes in Genesis 1:1 and works all the way through the Bible. All the Scriptures quoted are referenced from the King James Version. Les comments that "Once a class has been 'Through the Bible' with me, we generally start over and do it again."

A Note From Les Feldick Ministries:

Les Feldick Ministries offers 6-hour video tapes of his television class (12 programs each), as well as DVD's, transcribed books, audio cassette tape sets, and CD's of the programs. See the ordering site for prices and ordering information.

If you would like to order books or DVDs or to donate to Les Feldick Ministries you may do so by going to the www.lesfeldick.com website. Should you have questions about that web site, you may call the office at 1-800-369-7856 or 918-768-3218 or write to:

Les Feldick Ministries, 30706 W. Lona Valley Rd., Kinta, OK 74552

www.lesfeldick.org

