{"id":18400,"date":"2017-06-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-11T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-025-world-governments-on-the-horizon-part-2\/"},"modified":"2017-06-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-11T05:00:00","slug":"daniel-025-world-governments-on-the-horizon-part-2","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-025-world-governments-on-the-horizon-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 025: World Governments on the Horizon (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18400","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-daniel","series_event-daniel","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Daniel 025: World Governments on the Horizon (Part 2)","sermon_date":"20170611","sermon_month":"6","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":4738,"sermon_slides":4739,"sermon_mp3":4742,"sermon_id":"61117944213","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"7:25b","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nWorld Governments on the Horizon, Part 2\n\n6-11-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 7:25b\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 25\n\nIf we could take our Bibles and open them to the book of Daniel, Daniel 7:25; the title of our message this morning is World Governments on the Horizon, Part 2.\u00a0 Is there going to be a Part 3?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know, we\u2019ll see how far we get today.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping to finish the chapter today, God willing.\u00a0 This sanctuary looks so spiritual and holy but you wouldn\u2019t have recognized it Monday through Friday of this week at Vacation Bible School.\u00a0 We had a tremendous turnout, we had about 80 kids and I noticed some of our VBS workers wore their green shirts; we have not been raided by the Environmental Protection Agency.\u00a0\u00a0 I know this is not a good time to do this because all the workers just walked out of the room but those that are in here that did contribute to VBS could you stand just for a minute so we could recognize you.\u00a0 [Clapping]\n\nWe appreciate everybody\u2019s hard work in that and one of the neat things about it is you see giftings in people you didn\u2019t know they had come to the forefront.\u00a0 It was just a tremendous week and I was a crew leader and anybody who thinks it\u2019s easy to do VBS has never done it.\u00a0 And so I\u2019m really tired; so I\u2019m just going to close in prayer if that\u2019s all right.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 You guys are laughing, I was serious\u2026.. some people are clapping at that prospect.\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and turn to the Book of Daniel, chapter 7 and verse 25 as we try to finish the chapter today we see two world governments coming.\u00a0 The first government that\u2019s on the horizon is the kingdom of the antichrist that I believe is being built now in the world.\u00a0 And it\u2019s tempting to look at the conditions of the world, the direction of the world.\u00a0 If all I had in this world was the news and I didn\u2019t have the lens of God\u2019s Word I would be a very depressed and defeated person.\u00a0 But God has seen fit to disclose to us, not just the kingdom of the antichrist but the kingdom that follows.\n\nYou see, the kingdom of the antichrist, if I\u2019m understanding my Bible correctly, and we\u2019ll see that today in our verses, only lasts about three and a half years.\u00a0 The kingdom of Jesus Christ will last a thousand years and it will really last forever because after that thousand year period this world will be replaced by fire with a new heavens and a new earth.\u00a0 So the sermon application is very easy: what kingdom are you living for?\n\nFirst of all, what kingdom are you a member of?\u00a0 And number two, what kingdom are you living for?\u00a0 As\u00a0 you look at your own life and you look at the things that you invest\u00a0 yourself in are you really living, are we living for kingdom values, eternal values or have we become so caught up with this world and the pressures of this world and the promises of this world that our lives really don\u2019t have an eternal significance.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s what comes to the forefront as we go through these verses this morning together.\n\n \n\nOf course the prophet Daniel is a sixth century prophet, he was raised up by God to define prophetically a period of time called the times of the Gentiles.\u00a0 It\u2019s a period of time that really began with the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century B.C. and it\u2019s a time period that goes all the way until the second advent of Christ, yet future, at the end of the tribulation period.\n\nDaniel sees, as we look at this chapter, these things about 553 B.C.\n\nHe is probably a man in his mid-60\u2019s at this point.\u00a0 The Babylonian Empire is still in existence when he has these prophecies that he sees in chapter 7, really what Nebuchadnezzar also saw in chapter 2, it\u2019s just their perspectives were different.\u00a0 What Nebuchadnezzar saw is a beautiful statue Daniel saw through a Jewish lens or eyes as four disgusting beasts that would trample down Israel.\n\nWho are these disgusting beasts that are coming out of the sea in his vision.\u00a0 Well, these are various empires that would be in power and would trample down the chosen people.\u00a0 First came the lion which represented Babylon, the empire that would be in existence when Daniel had these prophecies.\n\nSecond came the bear which would represent the Media-Persia Empire which followed Babylon.\u00a0 And then would come the Leopard which would represent Greece.\n\nGreece then would be followed by this terrible beast, Daniel just describes it as a ferocious beast, which would represent Rome.\u00a0 But in this vision Daniel began to see things that really don\u2019t represent Rome completely or perfectly.\u00a0 He sees a ten-horned or ten king confederacy which would dominate the world in the last days.\u00a0 That part of the vision is yet future from our perspective, and that would be the empire of the antichrist.\u00a0 So Daniel, in essence, saw Rome but he saw Rome sort of as a pretext, if you will, for something yet future, something Daniel couldn\u2019t really understand but we, based on the time period we\u2019re living in, can understand it, something called the new world order, one-world government.\u00a0 And that is a ferocious form of government that brings an unrelenting persecution and enslavement to the masses.\n\nAnd yet as depressing as that subject is to contemplate and think about it we learn in the rest of this vision that that new world order is on borrowed time.\n\nGod is allowing it to come into existence for a season but He will quickly bring it to an end as the Ancient of Days, verses 9-12, or God the Father, calls an end to that empire and then turns the kingdom of this world over to His Son, that glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That kingdom that we are to be praying for regularly. Did not Jesus teach His disciples to pray this way?\u00a0 \u201cThy kingdom come.\u201d\u00a0 Is that part of your prayer life?\n\n[Daniel 7:9-12, \u201cI kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His<\/em> seat; His vesture was<\/em> like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool.\u00a0 His throne was<\/em> ablaze with flames, its wheels were<\/em> a burning fire.\u00a0 [10] A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him; thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; the court sat, and the books were opened.\u00a0 [11] Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. [12] As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.\u201d]\n\nPsalm 122:6 says we ought to \u201cPray for the peace of Jerusalem:\u201d what does that mean?\u00a0 When is the time period when peace will exist in the city of Jerusalem, and govern this world through Jesus Christ in peace.\u00a0 That is an indirect way, \u201cPray for the peace of Jerusalem\u201d to pray for the manifestation of the kingdom of God.\n\nBut Daniel looks at these things in verse 15 and he\u2019s very troubled by what he sees and so he wants more explanation, verse 16, which he is given in verses 17 and 18.\n\nBut Daniel really is not happy or content with the explanation.\u00a0 There is part of this vision that continues to bother him and this is that new world order or that one-world government that is\u00a0 yet future from our vantage point.\u00a0 So Daniel requests more information about that final phase of Gentile dominion before the establishment of God\u2019s kingdom.\n\nThe angel that\u2019s interpreting these things cooperates and begins to tell Daniel of a system of government that will extend over the entire world, verse 23, a worldwide empire.\u00a0 [Daniel 7:23, \u201cHe gave me this explanation: \u2018The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.\u201d]\n\nVerse 24, an empire divided into ten kings, or kingdoms, or perhaps we could call these regions.\u00a0 [7:24, \u201cAs for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.\u201d]\n\nAnd he continues to get this explanation in verse 25, of a horn that arose up amongst the ten with a boasting mouth; this would be the antichrist himself, who will be the ruler of this ten king confederacy.\u00a0 Daniel see threes kingdoms or regions rebelling against the antichrist and having to be subdued, and yet seven cooperate.\u00a0 And as Daniel continues to receive this information and get this explanation he sees something very interesting there in verse 25 which is causing an awful of confusion in our own day.\n\nNotice, if you will, verse 25, \u201c\u2018He\u201d that\u2019s the antichrist, \u201cwill speak out against the Most High\u201d that part of the verse we\u2019ve covered already, but then it continues on and it says \u201che\u201d that\u2019s the antichrist or the little horn, will \u201cwear down the saints of the Highest One\u2026.\u201d\n\nIf you go back to verse 21 Daniel already made a reference to this, he said, \u201cI kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them.\u201d\u00a0 There are many, many people today who will tell you that the church of Jesus Christ is destined to go into this time period.\u00a0 There are Christians today getting their theology largely from You Tube, and other sources like that, that are listening to false teaching and they\u2019re convinced that one of these days they\u2019re going to be eyeballing it with the antichrist.\u00a0 They\u2019re not really looking for Jesus Christ, they are preparing to meet the antichrist.\n\nThere are those that believe the rapture of the church will take place, not before the tribulation period starts, the top view, what we believe is the correct view; the view that we teach here at Sugar Land Bible Church, but they come up with some other view.\n\nMaybe the church will be raptured in the middle of this time period or at the end of this time period, or three-quarters into this time period.\u00a0 And their lives are filled, not with the hope of Christ\u2019s soon return but the subject of end times immediately grips their hearts with fear and they live, not in the hopeful expectation of the soon return of Jesus Christ but the fear of being plummeted into this time period of persecution and wrath and duress.\n\nThere are different ways that Christians have come up with to explain these different views; there they are in chart form.\u00a0 We believe they\u2019re in the\u00a0 top view, the church will not see one second of this time period that Daniel is speaking of.\u00a0 The church, by the promises of God will not see one iota of this time period that Daniel is predicting.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we call the top view, pretribulational rapturism.\u00a0 In other words, we, as the church, will be removed from the earth via the rapture before this terrible time period even breaks out.\u00a0\u00a0 I have never seen it as hostile as it is for the body of Christ today towards believers in the pre-trib rapture.\u00a0 I have never seen the personal attacks, the personal character assassinations, the personal venom coming against people that simply believe that Jesus is going to remove His church before the rapture takes place.\u00a0 As you tour the internet you will see one attack after another.\n\nHere\u2019s one pastor, he says, \u201cI personally do not believe that by the year 2020, any credible person will be teaching the secret pre-trib. rapture doctrine. I think the events that are coming in the next five years will utterly destroy the doctrine.\u201d Now I don\u2019t believe it will be a secret because we\u2019re going to hear a trumpet and the world is going to see everybody gone; that doesn\u2019t look very secret to me.\u00a0 \u201cI personally do not believe that by the year 2020, any credible person will be teaching the secret pre-trib. rapture doctrine. I think the events that are coming in the next five years will utterly destroy the doctrine.\u201d\n\nThis is very common; this is a very common mindset out there, a very common attack.\u00a0 I would interpret his statement as follows:\u00a0 The reason that no one will be teaching the doctrine in the year 2020 is maybe by then the rapture will have occurred.\u00a0 [clapping]\u00a0 And there will be nobody left to teach the doctrine.\u00a0 And I say to people you can disagree with us on the rapture all you want, we will explain it all to you on the way up.\u00a0 [laughter]\n\nBut in prior sermons I\u2019ve given you probably about seven reasons why we believe in the pre-tribulational rapture doctrine.\u00a0 I won\u2019t rehearse all of those arguments today but one of them stands out.\u00a0 The bottom line is this: the church, whether you\u2019re looking at 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:9, Romans 5:9, Revelation 3:10; Romans 8:1, whichever verse you want to gravitate towards is promised an exemption from divine wrath.\n\n[1 Thessalonians 1:10, \u201cand to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 1 Thessalonians 5:9, \u201cbecause God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,.\u201d\u00a0 Romans 5:9, \u201cMuch more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 3:10, \u201cBecause you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Romans 8:1, \u201cTherefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.\u201d]\n\nWe, as blood-bought saints, are not candidates for God\u2019s wrath and\u00a0 yet what is the tribulation period?\u00a0 It is a manifestation of the wrath of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the whole subject of the tribulation begins in Revelation 6 with Jesus opening a seven-sealed scroll and as He opens up each seal the wrath of God comes to the earth.\u00a0 It is not man causing these things; it is Jesus Christ Himself.\u00a0 In fact, by the time you get to the end of Revelation 6 the world itself recognizes the wrath of God because they say \u201cfor the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?\u201d [Revelation 6:17]\n\nHow could Jesus Christ, who absorbed in His body the penalty for our sins, the wrath of a Holy God in our place, thrust His bride into a time period where the wrath of God is manifested.\u00a0 We do not teach that Jesus died for most of our sins and you need to go through this tribulation period to kind of work off your Karmic debt or whatever term you want to use.\u00a0 We believe that it is a completed transaction.\u00a0 This is why Jesus Christ said in His final statement from the cross, just prior to His death, \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 The wrath of God against sin has been completely and fully satisfied and those that are related to Jesus Christ by way of faith live under that protective covering.\n\nPeople say well, this is just an American doctrine, I mean, you look over in the Middle East and you see Christians literally being crucified, martyred, stoned to death.\u00a0 You look at the suffering that Christians have experienced, even in the 20th<\/sup> century and the 21st<\/sup> century, not just in Islamic countries but in communist countries.\u00a0 And people say well, then go over there and try to sell your pretrib rapture doctrine, this is an American doctrine, it doesn\u2019t make any sense in other parts of the world.\u00a0 And I am not here trying to undersell the suffering that our brothers and sisters are experiencing right now around the world.\u00a0 According to The Voice of Martyrs ministry there have been more martyrdoms in the20th century alone than all of church history combined.\u00a0 We are not here to promote the idea that Christianity is easy; we are not here to promote the idea that the Christian life somehow exempts you from suffering.\n\nThe Bible is very clear that there are various forms of suffering that we all experience as God\u2019s people, like for example, ordinary trials. Didn\u2019t Jesus say in John 16:33, \u201cIn the world you will have tribulation; but take heart, I have overcome the world.\u201d\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Paul tell Timothy that as he grew in godliness he would suffer man\u2019s wrath, \u201call who seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Timothy 3:12]\n\nPaul goes on and he also explains that we daily experience Satan\u2019s wrath.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we are told, Ephesians 6:11-12 to put on the full armor of God.\u00a0 [Ephesians 6:11-13, \u201cPut on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. [12] For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces<\/em> of wickedness in the heavenly places.<\/em> [13]Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.\u201d]\n\nWe also know that the world system, Jesus says, hates us; we experience the world\u2019s wrath regularly.\u00a0 Jesus said do not marvel, John 15:18-19, if the world hates you for it hated me first.\u00a0 A servant, He says, is not greater than his master, if they hated Me they will hate\u00a0 you.\u00a0 [John 15:18, \u201cIf the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated<\/em> you. [19] If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.\u00a0 [20] Remember the word that I said to you, \u2018A slave is not greater than his master.\u2019 If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.\u201d]\n\nThese are various levels of suffering, not to be marginalized, not to be minimalized, not to be explained away, not to tell people that they will experience in one form or another as they walk with our Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Well let me tell you something about all of these forms of sufferings; as bad as they are, they do not represent the wrath of a holy God.\u00a0 These forms of suffering can be very severe but they do not rise to the level of a holy God unleashing His wrath upon a Christ-hating, Christ-rejecting world.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Book of Revelation is describing.\u00a0 And when you under\u00adstand the difference between these forms of wrath or ordinary trials or the wrath of Satan you can very quickly see the difference as you\u00a0 move into the Book of Revelation with the seven seal judgments, the seven trumpet judgments, the seven golden bowl of wrath judgments that bring the wrath of God to planet earth.\n\nDo you realize that in the tribulation period itself half of the world\u2019s population will be destroyed.\u00a0 Let\u2019s do a little object lesson; can we do that.\u00a0 Just hold your hand up like this, four fingers; now some of you aren\u2019t participating and I might call you out, like I did poor Anne back there, but you take your index finger and put that down.\u00a0 That\u2019s what happens in Revelation 6, it talks there about a quarter of the world\u2019s population being wiped out.\u00a0 And then you get to Revelation 9 (now I don\u2019t see hands up everybody) put down that middle finger; that\u2019s what happens in Revelation 9 because\u2026 don\u2019t put your hands down yet, you can tell I\u2019ve been working with kids all week, [laughter] I\u2019ll be back to normal next week, I\u2019ve just got to unwind a little bit\u2026\u00a0 But by the time\u00a0 you get to Revelation 9 it says a third of the world\u2019s population will be wiped out and what is left is half the world\u2019s population.\u00a0 Okay, you can put your hands down, we\u2019ll have a snack for you at the end of service. [laughter]\n\nThat is a time of incredible severity, is it not?\u00a0 World War I was bad, World War II was bad, but it pales, they pale, in comparison to what the Scripture reveals concerning the unrelenting wrath of God.\u00a0 How could God put His bride into that time period?\u00a0 It\u2019s the equivalent of getting engaged to a woman and then becoming an abuser of her prior to the wedding day.\u00a0 The whole doctrine of mid-tribulationalism, postribulationalism, prewrath rapturism, whatever idea you want to give it, not only does it take people\u2019s eyes off of the soon return of Jesus Christ but it thrusts Christ\u2019s bride, His blood bought church, into the wrath of God, something that is completely inconsistent with everything we know of the death of Christ.\n\nAnd this is why when you get into the Book of Revelation you don\u2019t see, particularly beginning in chapter 4 through verse 22, you don\u2019t see a single reference to the church on the earth ever in that time period.\u00a0 Revelation 4-22 is a description of this wrath; the church is never mentioned as being on earth.\u00a0 The church is mentioned about 19 times, the Greek word ekklesia<\/em>, in chapters 1-3 and then\u00a0 you get into chapter 4 and if the church is referenced at all it\u2019s in heaven, never on the earth.\u00a0 Chapter 5, same thing.\u00a0 Chapter 6, Jesus begins to open the seven sealed scroll, the word church completely disappears from the book at that point.\u00a0 In fact, the concept of the church isn\u2019t even there.\u00a0 What is the church?\u00a0 Jew and Gentile united together in one new man called the church.\n\nWell, the book starts looking very Jewish to me; God is not working through the church, Revelation 7, He\u2019s working (as I\u2019ll explain in just a minute), through 144,000 Jewish evangelists.\u00a0 Satan, Revelation 12, is not attacking the church as Paul says he does in our age, Ephesians 6, he\u2019s going after the nation of Israel.\u00a0 The church just drops off the radar screen.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the church has been taken to heaven; she is being rewarded by Christ in heaven during these events.\n\nThe church, as we have studied on Wednesday night before we decided to take our hiatus, is a mystery.\u00a0 Ephesians 3:3-6 Paul calls the church many times a mystery.\u00a0 Ephesians 3:9 he calls the church a mystery.\n\nWhat is a mystery?\u00a0 A mystery is a truth never before disclosed; that\u2019s what the church is.\u00a0 The church is a brane new work or move of God in history subsequent to national Israel\u2019s rejection of His Son.\u00a0 The moment that happened, the moment the nation of Israel, not every Jew but nationally the leadership rejected the Son is the moment God took the nation of Israel and put them into \u201ctime out\u201d.\u00a0 We had to put a few kids this week into time out.\u00a0 And God put the nation of Israel into time out for two thousand years or more.\u00a0\u00a0 And because God does not leave the earth without a witness of Himself He created something He always knew he would create, it just hadn\u2019t been disclosed yet, the church of Jesus Christ, beginning in Acts 2, this wonderful work of God whereby a person at the point of faith in Christ is baptized or identified into the body of Christ.\u00a0 It\u2019s a work of God that God has been doing for 2,000\u00a0 years.\u00a0 I\u2019m part of it, you\u2019re part of it, so is every Christian a part of it over the last 2,000 years.\n\nPaul explains to us in Romans 11 around verse 25 that God\u2019s program for the church is not just going to go on and on and on.\u00a0 Paul explains that there is a whole number of Gentiles that must be reached in this age.\u00a0 It\u2019s a number known only to God so don\u2019t ask me how many have to come in, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0\u00a0 But at some point the very last Gentile believes in Jesus Christ, the bride of Christ is made full, is made complete and God says that\u2019s it!\u00a0 The earthly program of the church is over and God says to the Son, go get My children.\n\nNow maybe this event is going to happen in our lifetime, I hope and pray it will, I can\u2019t guarantee that but in this glorious event called the rapture of the church, the church at that point is taken to heaven and God, who has not forgotten Israel, who has had that nation in \u201ctime out\u201d all of these centuries, who cannot forget His covenants and His promises to them, at that point the nation of Israel becomes center stage and Israel becomes the focus once again of God\u2019s earthly work.\u00a0 We in heaven are busy to be sure; we are watching, we are praising, we are worshipping, we are being rewarded, we are married at that point, the bride and the groom become husband and wife, all of these things are happening in the Father\u2019s house while the horrific events of the tribulation period are taking place below.\n\nSo how, then, do we understand Daniel 7 and verse 25\u2026 see, that was just introduction, we\u2019re getting into the text now, how do we understand this when it says \u201cHe \u2026 will wear down the saints of the Most High\u201d?\u00a0 Notice what it doesn\u2019t say here; it doesn\u2019t say the little horn or the antichrist will wear down the church; it says He will wear down the saints.\u00a0\u00a0 Why did Daniel not say church?\u00a0 He did not say church because the church is a what?\u00a0 A mystery.\u00a0 Daniel knew nothing about the church.\u00a0 In fact, this prophecy is given before the church existed and it concerns a time period after the church is removed.\u00a0 And people say well, you know, hold the phone here, it says \u201csaints\u201d doesn\u2019t it?\n\nThe thing to understand about this word \u201csaints\u201d is the word \u201csaints\u201d is a non-technical term.\u00a0 Well, what do you mean by that?\u00a0 A technical term is a word that always means the same thing everywhere it\u2019s used.\u00a0 That\u2019s not how the word saints functions; sometimes we are called saints, Romans 1:7 calls\u00a0 us saints as members of Christ\u2019s church.\u00a0 [Romans 1:7, \u201cto all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d]\u00a0 I like what J. Vernon McGee said, \u201ceither you\u2019re a saint or\u00a0 you\u2019re an ain\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 But sometimes, Psalm 149:1, particularly as it shows up in the King James Bible, old figures are called saints.\u00a0 So the word saint itself is not some sort of dead giveaway that Daniel is talking about the church; he\u2019s simply talking about the people of God used in a non-technical sense.\u00a0 And because Daniel is talking about a time period before the church existed He\u2019s had these prophecies and He\u2019s talking about a time period after the church is gone, I do not believe that the word saints at all is a description of the church.\u00a0 Daniel couldn\u2019t have known anything about the church.\n\nWell who are these saints then?\u00a0 These are people that God saves after the church is gone.\u00a0 Do we realize that as members of Christ\u2019s body\u2026, as members of Christ\u2019s body and as His bride, with all of our evangelism, all of our VBS\u2019s, all of\u00a0 our Sunday Schools, all of our missionary support, that God doesn\u2019t need us?\u00a0 Do we realize that?\u00a0 Do we realize that God uses us because He wants to?\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot like my daughter, and I want to make sure she\u2019s not in there, when we were teaching her to empty the dishes in the dishwasher and she was so small at that time, now she\u2019s almost as tall as her mom, have you noticed that?\u00a0 And we were teaching her how to empty dishes from the dishwasher and she was a very little person stumbling around and making some mistakes and I said to myself, it would just be a lot easier if I just did it myself.\u00a0 But then I thought if I just did everything myself I deprive her of the joy of contributing; I deprive her of the opportunity to grow and become mature and learn a basic work ethic as a contributor of the family.\u00a0 So we tolerated her inefficiency.\n\nGod is a lot like that with us.\u00a0 God does not need us to evangelize planet earth; God\u2019s got the whole thing under control.\u00a0 I\u2019ll show you exactly what He\u2019s going to do in the end times, but in the interim time we\u2019re like these little kids emptying dishes out of the dishwasher.\u00a0 God condescends to our level and sees fit to use us even though He doesn\u2019t need us because He doesn\u2019t want to deprive us of the joy that we receive when we\u2019re used by God.\u00a0 Testimony after testimony of our DVBS workers this last week was the joy of serving these children; the joy of sharing the gospel.\u00a0 In fact, I had one little boy in my group as a crew leader and during the week we had opportunities to ask kids different questions, I just asked my group the question, do you all know what Jesus did for you 2,000 years ago?\u00a0 And a lot of the kids coming from church families could just give a quick answer, He died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead.\u00a0 And one little boy says to me, I\u2019ve never heard that before in my whole life.\u00a0 He was not someone that comes from this church, I don\u2019t know what kind of church, if any, he goes to, I don\u2019t know anything about his parents.\u00a0 And the joy that I had of explaining something that most of us take for granted to ears that have never heard it before is a joy that I wouldn\u2019t exchange for anything.\n\nNow why did God give me that experience?\u00a0 Because He needs me?\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t need me at all.\u00a0 He wanted to give me the joy of participating in His work.\u00a0 The work of God is going to get done, the only issue is are you going to comply with the Spirit of God and be the tool that He uses or not?\u00a0 The issue is not is going to get the work done, the work is going to get done!\u00a0 The issue is your level of participation; are you going to be third string on the bench doing nothing or are you part of that starting five?\u00a0 I believe that God wants to give every church age believer the experience of being part of that starting five.\u00a0 But the reality of the situation prophetically is God does not need us at all.\n\nThe fact of the matter is, He\u2019s got a plan in place whereby world evangelization is going to take place.\u00a0 Revelation 7 tells us it\u2019s going to take place through the hands of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists.\u00a0 You can read all about it in Revelation 7.\u00a0 There will be a great, innumerable multitude converted during that time, during these 144,000 Jewish evangelists.\u00a0 You know, when a Jewish person gets saved, it\u2019s interesting; they get set on fire for the things of God because the Holy Spirit starts to connect the dots for them and they recognize that what they have believed all of these years about the Old Testament Hebrew Bible actually points towards Jesus Christ.\n\nYou take the Apostle Paul, who had that revelation and that insight as he was converted on the Damascus road and the Spirit of God began to teach him.\u00a0 You could not stop the evangelistic activity of the Apostle Paul.\u00a0 We read all about it in the Book of Acts.\u00a0 Can you imagine this world with 144,000 apostle Pauls?\u00a0 The energy, the life, the motivation, the enthusiasm, and I\u2019m not negating the fact that God can and does use the church today but we somehow have a mindset that we\u2019re needed by God.\u00a0 We\u2019re not needed at all!\u00a0 The whole program is in place, the only question is are we going to have the opportunity to participate.\n\nBack to the opening question\u2014then who are these saints?\u00a0 It\u2019s not the church.\u00a0 These saints are those that are converted through the 144,000 Jewish evangelists.\u00a0 It never says church here?\u00a0 In fact, how could this be the church because it looks like as you read these passages that the antichrist is winning?\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear he\u2019s wearing down the saints; how could that be the church when Jesus specifically said, Matthew 16:18, \u201c\u2026I will build My\u201d what? \u201cchurch; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.\u201d\u00a0 Look back at verse 21, \u201cI kept looking and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them.\u201d\u00a0 How could that be the church when Jesus promised that \u201cthe gates of Hades will not\u201d same word, \u201coverpower\u201d His church.\n\nAnd as we continue to move on we get even more of a description of what this man, the antichrist, or the little horn, is going to do.\u00a0 Look, if you will, at verse 25, continuing on, it says, \u201che will intend to make alterations in times and in law;\u201d what is this man, the antichrist, going to do once he comes to power?\u00a0 Not only will he wear down the saints but he will make changes \u201cin the times and in the law.\u201d\u00a0 Another way of saying that: he will create a world without God.\u00a0 He will erase from planet earth every vestige of Christian thought.\u00a0 He will create what we like to call a new world order, a one-world system of economics, politics and religion that exclude God and His point of view, and His perspective on life.\n\nYou know, we have an antichrist that\u2019s coming but did you know that there have been little anti\u00ad- Christ\u2019s that have arisen?\u00a0 In fact, 1 John tells us that before papa antichrist shows ups there\u2019s going to be baby antichrists.\u00a0 You have many examples of people trying to erase God from the world.\u00a0 You have an example of this in what is called the French Revolution.\u00a0 Did you know that around the time of the American Revolution there was a completely different revolution taking place on the other side of the Atlantic in Europe?\n\nAnd this is what one writer says about that French Revolution: the seven day week was replaced with a work week of ten days with the result that Sunday as a day of rest and Christian worship was eliminated.\u00a0 The French Revolution was so monumental in what it tried to accomplish and get rid of God that it even changed the seven day work week, which comes right out of the Bible, to the ten day work week.\u00a0 This writer goes on and he says, \u201cThe French calendar was also changed to reflect the new anti-Christian spirit of the revolution.\u00a0 The convention voted on October 5, 1793 to abolish the Christian calendar and to introduce what they called a republican calendar.\u00a0 The founding of the Republic, September 23, 1792, was the beginning of a new era and a new year 1.\u00a0 Instead of the birth of Jesus Christ being the focal point of history the founding day of the new French Republic would define how time would be kept.\u201d\n\nSome other writers of the French Revolution say this: \u201cWhen it comes to the liberty of conscience, religious liberty, civil liberty, it is interesting to note the vast difference between the American Revolution and the French Revolution.\u201d\u00a0 So in their revolution the French cracked down on the church and confiscated its properties; they desecrated the altar of Notre Dame by placing atop of it a naked woman, the symbol of reason.\u00a0 They did away with Ann\u014d Domin\u012b<\/em>, which means, as you know, the year of our Lord, and made 1792 their year 1, the first year of the republic, a republic without God.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How does that end?\u00a0\u00a0 And soon a republic that was subject to chaos and anarchy and finally tyranny.\n\nThis experiment without God didn\u2019t end well.\u00a0 The experiment that the little horn will bring in, a world without God, won\u2019t end well; it\u2019ll end with self-destruction and the judgment of God.\u00a0 And people say well, pastor, come on, we\u2019re living here in the United States, something like that could never happen here.\u00a0 If I\u2019d stood up in 1960, 1950, and said within a few years Christianity will be removed from public schools, the Ten Commandments will be banned from public school classrooms on the grounds that they are unconstitutional, home schooling--in some states home schoolers would be harassed (not here in the great state of Texas, thank God for that) but in other places of the world home schoolers will be harassed.\u00a0 Evolution, the view that from the goo to the zoo to you would become the dominant thought of the United States.\u00a0 And people that believe in the Word of God would be banned from holding public office.\n\nYou say well come on, now you\u2019re getting hyperbolic, that doesn\u2019t happen here in the United States.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know who you voted for of what and I don\u2019t really care, that\u2019s not my point.\u00a0 But on Wednesday an exchange went on and you can find it on You Tube, between Presidential (former, thank the Lord for that) Presidential contender Bernie Sanders and one of the President\u2019s people that he wants to put in charge of what\u2019s called OMB, the Office of Budget Management, if I\u2019ve got the title right, and there\u2019s an exchange that goes on for about three minutes between Bernie Sanders and this Donald Trump appointee and this appointee had committed a great and serious offence in the eyes of Bernie Sanders.\u00a0 What did he do?\u00a0 Well, this man was a graduate of Wheaton College. Wheaton College, a Christian school, which banned a professor for coming to class wearing Muslim garb trying to show solidarity with Muslims.\u00a0 This college, correctly in my estimation, said fine, you can do that on you own time but we\u2019re a Christian college and we\u2019re here to promote Christianity.\u00a0 And in the process this particular public official made a statement about how Muslims are rejected by God as long as they are outside of faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 In other words, this graduate of Wheaton College articulated publicly in an article in support of his Alma Mater, Christianity 101; the bare basics of Christianity, the exclusivity of the gospel.\n\nAnd in this exchange with Bernie Sanders he brings up this statement that this public official made as he was seeking confirmation that Muslims are outside of the grace of God until they trust Christ.\u00a0 And he kept repeating it and repeating it and repeating it, and don\u2019t take my word for it, you can watch the whole thing on You Tube, and the thing concludes with Sanders saying I will not vote for this public official because of his Christian beliefs.\u00a0 Sanders makes the statement that he is free to believe what he wants about the Bible but do not let it influence your behavior in public office.\u00a0 Do we realize that John Jay, George Washington\u2019s first Chief Justice to the United States Supreme Court, the first Chief Justice that America ever had said, and this is the quote that I\u2019ve documented and it\u2019s verifiable in the letters of John Jay, that we should prefer Christians for our rulers.\u00a0 In other words, if you have a choice between a Christian and a non-Christian in an election you vote for the Christian because they\u2019re governed by a certain code of ethics that the non-believer is not governed by.\u00a0 That\u2019s not my opinion, that\u2019s what John Jay said.\n\nAnd now we have degenerated to a point in this country where a former Presidential contender can publicly say a person is not fit to hold office because he believes the Bible.\u00a0 My, how we have fallen!\u00a0 If I\u2019d said all of these things would happen in 1950 probably no one would have believed me.\u00a0 And yet they\u2019ve happened.\u00a0 The spirit of the antichrist is alive and well, changing just exactly as Daniel saw the times and the seasons, the epics and the alterations setting the stage for this world without God.\u00a0 It happened in the French revolution; to a large extent (if you\u2019ve got your eyes opened and I know many of you do) you see the same thing happening.\u00a0 He will change the law, the times, the circumstances.\n\nGo up to a millennial today, ask them some questions: What do you know about the Mayflower Compact, America\u2019s founding charter?\u00a0 What do you know about John Winthrop, the Puritan that came to America and said America is \u201ca shining city on a hill,\u201d quoting the Sermon on the Mount?\u00a0 What do you know about The Declaration of Independence that anchors our rights in God?\u00a0 What do you know about The United States Constitution that divides power amongst three separate branches because of the biblical belief in the depravity of man?\u00a0 Give them a quiz, what do they know about those things?\u00a0 They know nothing about it; it\u2019s been erased from the memories, it\u2019s been erased from the school books.\n\nRead the book by Paul Vitz called The Hidden Censors<\/em>, a sociologist that began to examine what happened to the vestiges of America\u2019s Judeo-Christian undergirding, the moment the Department of Education took its place, the moment education in America became federalized under the Jimmy Carter administration.\u00a0 President after President has promised to abolish the Department of Education but it\u2019s still there; it\u2019s more powerful than ever.\u00a0\u00a0 Read what Paul Vitz says\u00a0 in The Hidden Censors<\/em>, how the understanding the history, some of which I\u2019m explaining now, has been removed from the schools, from the minds of the youth.\u00a0 It happened in the French Revolution, it\u2019s happening right now in the United States of America, it\u2019s happening all over the world.\u00a0 And one of these days following the rapture of the church there will not be a single witness for Christ on planet earth; the world without God will have succeeded until God puts His hand on the 144,000 Jewish evangelists.\n\nI wish, pastor, you weren\u2019t teaching these prophecies.\u00a0 I wish you would teach something more relevant to our lives.\u00a0 Boy, if you want relevance look at the prophecies of the Book of Daniel; look at what he saw under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.\n\nAnd notice what it says in verse 25, \u201cand they\u201d who is \u201cthey\u201d?\u00a0 That\u2019s the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and their converts, \u201cthey will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.\u201d\u00a0 Well, what in the world is that all about, \u201ca time, times, and half a time\u201d?\u00a0 \u201cA time\u201d is a Jewish year; \u201ctimes\u201d plural, is two Jewish years, and \u201chalf a time\u201d is half of a Jewish year.\u00a0 So one plus two plus a half equals three and a half years.\u00a0 Good, we\u2019ve got two snacks available for you in the back.\n\nHe is talking here about the second half of the tribulation period when all hell itself breaks loose on the Jewish population and those that they convert.\u00a0 Sometimes in the Bible you\u2019ll find this expression: forty-two months, Revelation 13:5\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes you\u2019ll find this expression, \u201cone thousand, two hundred and sixty days,\u201d as Revelation 12:6 says.\u00a0 Sometimes you\u2019ll find the expression that\u2019s used here, as in Revelation 12:14, \u201ca time, times and a half a time.\u201d\n\n[Revelation 12:6, \u201cThen the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.\u201d [Revelation 13:5, \u201cThere was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 12:14, \u201cBut the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.\u201d]\n\nThe tribulation period has seven years to it, it\u2019s divided into two parts, the midpoint is when the antichrist desecrates the Jewish temple, we\u2019ll be saying a lot more about that as we continue in the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 But the second half of it is what Daniel is referring to here.\u00a0 A cross reference to that would be Matthew 24:15-22 where Jesus tells the Jews what they are to do when they see this desecration.\n\n[Matthew 24:15-22, \u201cTherefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), [16] then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. [17] Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. [18] Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. [19] But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!\u00a0 [20] But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. [21] For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. [22] Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.\u201d]\n\nThey are to flee into the mountains of Houston\u2026 sorry, it doesn\u2019t say that.\u00a0 They are to flee to Washington D.C.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that either.\u00a0 It says, verse 16, \u201cflee to the mountains of\u201d what? Judea.\u00a0 Ever where looked at where the mountains of Judea are?\u00a0 They\u2019re in the land of Israel, not in the\u00a0 United States.\u00a0 Jesus is not giving instructions concerning what Christians are to do when they see this happen.\u00a0 The worldwide church will be gone at this point; all of His instructions concern the nation of Israel.\u00a0 In fact, in Matthew 24:20 Jesus, to the Jews, says \u201cBut pray that your flight will not take place in the winter, or on the Sabbath,\u201d Shabbat.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that in Israel today you can get into what is called a Shabbat elevator; the elevator in essence doesn\u2019t work because it\u2019s Shabbat.\u00a0 Or, if I\u2019ve got this right, perhaps you\u2019re supposed to get in that elevator so the elevator worker gets a rest.\n\nSee, in Shabbat, in Sabbath it\u2019s the seventh day, Saturday, the day of rest.\u00a0 Could that be talking about the church?\u00a0 This cannot be talking about the church because the church (beginning in John\u2019s Gospel and into The Book of Acts) gathers not on the last day of the week but the first day of the week.\u00a0 Jesus resurrected not on the last Saturday but on what?\u00a0 Sunday.\u00a0 Our meeting is on Sunday, not Saturday.\u00a0 So how could this be a statement about the church when it\u2019s pray that your flight will not take place in the winter, or on a Sabbath.\u00a0 That has no relation to the church.\u00a0 These are instructions to the Jewish people after the church has been removed.\n\nNow do you want the angelic point of view on all these things?\u00a0 Revelation 12:6-17 tells you exactly what the devil is doing.\n\n[Revelation 12:6-17, \u201cThen the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.\u00a0 [7] And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, [8] and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. [9] And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. [10] Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, \u201cNow the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. [11] And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. [12] For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only<\/em> a short time.\u201d\u00a0 [13] And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.<\/em> [14] But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. [15] And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. [16] But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. [17] So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.\u201d]\n\nHave\u00a0 you read the Book of Job lately?\u00a0 The sons of God present themselves before God and who is right there with them to accuse?\u00a0 Satan.\u00a0 Yes, Satan has been thrown out of heaven but he has limited access, not to worship and serve as he once did as the high ranking angelic being, a cherub but now to communicate and accuse.\u00a0 This is why Jesus said to Peter, or Simon, Satan has demanded permission to sift you as wheat.\u201d\u00a0 [Luke 22:31, \u201cSimon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;\u201d]\u00a0 There\u2019s Satan, in heaven itself, not to worship and serve as he once did, but to communicate and to accuse.\n\nAnd Revelation 12 tells us that in this second half of the tribulation period that privilege is gone, it\u2019s removed, and consequently Satan, with limited access to heaven no longer has it and he plummets to the earth, knowing he has but a short time.\u00a0 Well, what\u2019s a short time?\u00a0 It\u2019s a \u201ctime, times and half a time,\u201d three and a half years, forty-two months to do what?\u00a0 To blot out the nation of Israel.\u00a0 [Revelation 12:14, \u201cThe woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent\u2019s reach.\u201d]\n\nWhy would Satan want to blot out the nation of Israel?\u00a0 Because he understands prophecy.\u00a0 The prophecies are the kingdom program is going to be birthed on planet earth, not through the Southern Baptists, not through the Methodists, not through the Presbyterians, not through the Episcopalians, but through the nation of Israel.\u00a0 That\u2019s a prophecy as old as Genesis 12:3, [Genesis 12:3, \u201cAnd I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s what God said, I\u2019m going to bless the world through the nation of Israel and what better way in the darkened mind and in the darkened imagination of Satan to prevent that prophecy from happening than to blot out the nation of Israel.\n\nAnd he knows he\u2019s got exactly three and a half years or forty-two months to pull it off and this is why Jesus is giving specific instructions to the nation of Israel for their protection and provision during this difficult time period.\u00a0 Anti-Semitism, or Jew-hatred has always been alive and well.\u00a0 In our series on The Protestant Reformation I\u2019ll show you that very clearly throughout the Dark Ages of church history.\u00a0 Sadly I\u2019ll show you the exact same anti-Semitism coming from some of the Protestant Reformers themselves who accomplished great exploits for God, in the book by Michael Brown, Our Hands are Stained with Blood<\/em>.\u00a0 I recommend that book to you as well.\u00a0 He documents the anti-Semitism that has come forth, not from the world but from the Christian church because of their lack of understanding of some of these prophetic subjects that I\u2019m dealing with right now.\n\nAnd I have been to Israel twice, I\u2019ve been to Yad Vashem, the holocaust memorial two times, and let me tell you something; the smartest thing the nation of Israel ever did was build that holocaust memorial where it\u2019s documented who died, what their names were, because we\u2019re living in a world today of what I would call holocaust deniers.\u00a0 In fact, Ahmadenajad, the former leader of Iran says the holocaust never happened.\u00a0 It did happen!\u00a0 Six million Jews were killed as a result of the holocaust.\u00a0 I\u2019ve actually been to Germany in the late 1980s and stood, with my own two feet in Dachau, it\u2019s the exact same thing you\u2019ll see in the movie Schindler\u2019s List<\/em>,\u00a0 where the Jews are herded off of these boxcars, freight cars, told to run down the hill by the Nazi\u2019s to get a hot shower and they go into these showers, which really aren\u2019t showers, breathing, trying to get their next breath, thinking the water is going to come out of the spout and poisonous gas comes out.\n\nThe holocaust happened, anti-Semitism is real, Revelation 12 gives you the angelic motivation and what is causing these things.\u00a0 Why is it that the nation of Israel is hated generation after generation after generation?\u00a0 Why is it that when I turn on You Tube once again I run into all of these people who want to blame all the problems of the world on the Jews?\u00a0 Why did the book, The Protocols of the Elders<\/em><\/em> of Zion<\/em>, document the fact, or try to argue the fact that the Jews were responsible for all the world\u2019s problems, they\u2019re controlling the banks, they\u2019re controlling the finances.\u00a0 Why is it that that book is the best seller in Islamic countries today?\u00a0 There\u2019s actually a spiritual reason for these things.\u00a0 Satan has always wanted to blot out the nation of Israel prematurely because he knows that through Israel the kingdom will come, which he doesn\u2019t want to come because once the kingdom comes he\u2019s dethroned from the earth.\u00a0 Right now Satan is running the world system; he\u2019s called the god of this world, the god of this age, the prince of this world, but once the kingdom comes he\u2019s done, he\u2019s placed in a holding facility called the abyss where for a thousand years he doesn\u2019t bother people.\u00a0 And at the end of that thousand years, after his purpose is finished God takes him and throws him into the Lake of Fire.\n\nIf you were Satan would you like those prophecies?\u00a0 This is why there\u2019s so much of an attack on ministries and preachers and teachers who want to teach Bible prophecy.\u00a0 Satan doesn\u2019t want it taught, he doesn\u2019t want it understood because the pages of Bible prophecy clearly spell his demise, the end of the story which doesn\u2019t end well.\u00a0 And this is the time period that Daniel is seeing.\n\nOne other quick point; I thought we\u2019d get through verse 28 today, now my goal is just to get out of verse 25.\u00a0 It says in verse 25, \u201ca time, times and half a time.\u201d\u00a0 Forty-two months, one thousand two hundred and sixty days, that\u2019s a calendar increment, isn\u2019t it. \u00a0Did you know that the nation of Israel has calendar increments?\u00a0 They had a sojourn in Egypt that would be 400 years, Genesis 15.\u00a0 As I\u2019ll be explaining they have a prophecy of the 70 weeks, 490 years.\u00a0 The prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 25:11, Jeremiah 29:10 talks about a captivity of seventy years.\n\nDid you know that the nation of Israel has an actual calendar?\u00a0 Israel has what we would call in Latin ad quo ad quem<\/em> statements, time periods with a beginning and an ending.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You go into the New Testament do you have anything like that for the church?\u00a0 Do we have a calendar?\u00a0 No we don\u2019t.\u00a0 Do we have a seventy year captivity?\u00a0 No we don\u2019t.\u00a0 Do we have a 400 year sojourn in Egypt?\u00a0 No we don\u2019t.\u00a0 Do we have a 590 year or 70 weeks prophecy?\u00a0 No we don\u2019t.\u00a0 The church is of a character that\u2019s different than Israel.\n\nNow very fast let me introduce you to public enemy number one, John Nelson Darby, in Ireland had a work where God was using him so significantly that he was baptizing a hundred people every week.\u00a0 God\u2019s hand was all over this guy and God was using him.\u00a0 And then something happened, he had a horse riding accident, now this is in the 1800\u2019s with the lack of sophistication in hospitals, medicine and those kinds of things, where he was laid up for a period of time.\u00a0 The scholars call it Darby\u2019s years of convalescence.\u00a0 And he\u2019s a man of God and what do you think he was reading during this time of convalescence as he was recovering from a broken leg from a horse riding accident?\u00a0 Any guesses?\u00a0 He was reading the Bible.\u00a0 Do you know what he started to see in the Bible?\u00a0 Exactly what I just said.\n\nWhy is it that Israel has a calendar and time increments, yet the church doesn\u2019t?\u00a0 Aha, the church and Israel are different and if that\u2019s true, if Israel and the church are different God is coming back for the church at a different time than He\u2019s coming back for Israel.\u00a0 He\u2019s coming back for Israel to rescue Israel from the antichrist at the end of the tribulation period.\u00a0 Darby said that\u2019s not what is going with the church, He\u2019s coming back for the church through the what?\u00a0 What?\u00a0 It starts with an \u201cr\u201d\u2026 the rapture.\u00a0 And that is the retrieval of a doctrine\u00a0 called the pretribulational rapture theory.\n\nAnd let me explain something to you; had God not sidelined Darby it is doubtful that we would have that doctrine today.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, we\u2019re so activity oriented, he\u2019s baptizing a hundred people a week, and suddenly he gets in this horse riding accident and he\u2019s sidelined, and he\u2019s probably wondering, what is God doing?\u00a0 God is wrecking my ministry.\u00a0 In reality what God was doing through Darby is to take his influence, which seemed like a lot, baptizing a hundred people a week, and turning it worldwide because he retrieved a doctrine that had been buried in church history, called the doctrine of the pretribulational rapture and look at all of the people around the world, generation after generation who have been positively influenced by this doctrine.\n\nI say that to encourage you because some of you have been sidelined; you don\u2019t know what God is doing.\u00a0 Had it not been for this horse riding accident the global impact of Darby in God\u2019s sovereignty probably could have never occurred.\u00a0 We probably would have never heard the name John Nelson Darby.\u00a0 And he gets all of this by looking at passages during a time of his convalescence like this one here in verse 25, \u201ctime, times and a half a time.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019ll continue with verse 26 next week but let me ask you a question.\u00a0 If the rapture would occur today would you go?\u00a0 Would you want to go?\u00a0 How do you come under what I like to call the grace package where the rapture is applicable to you?\u00a0 It\u2019s simply by believing the gospel.\u00a0 What is the gospel?\u00a0 Good news.\u00a0 Why is it called good news?\u00a0 Because Jesus did all the heavy lifting; it\u2019s all been taken care of.\u00a0 What was necessary to bridge sinful humanity back to a holy God was accomplished through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.\u00a0 This is why Christ\u2019s final words on the cross were \u201cIt is\u201d what? \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s all done.\n\nWhat do you do then?\u00a0 You receive what He has done as a gift.\u00a0 You don\u2019t do it by works, you don\u2019t do it by good deeds, you don\u2019t do it by trying hard, you get it through a simple act of faith which simply means confidence or reliance or dependence on what Jesus did.\u00a0 The Spirit places a person under conviction and they respond to that convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit by faith alone in Christ alone, trusting Christ and Christ alone for your eternity and the safe keeping of your soul.\n\nWell, what else do you do?\u00a0 That\u2019s it!\u00a0 Because He\u2019s done everything and that\u2019s what brings you under the\u00a0 umbrella of God\u2019s grace, including should the rapture happen this afternoon you would be taken in the rapture as a member of the body of Christ.\u00a0 Becoming a Christian is not a twelve-step program, it\u2019s a one-step program between you and the Lord, in a moment of privacy when you trust in Him and Him alone for the safekeeping of your soul.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something that you are doing now or have done, then on the authority of the Word of God you\u2019ve just changed your eternal destiny.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we are grateful for prophecies like Daniel\u00a0 7, the insight that they give us into your purposes and even what you\u2019re doing in the world today.\u00a0 Make us good students and stewards of these prophecies as we walk with You this week.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t