{"id":18412,"date":"2017-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-01T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-037-god-knocks-us-down-so-we-will-look-up\/"},"modified":"2017-10-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-01T05:00:00","slug":"daniel-037-god-knocks-us-down-so-we-will-look-up","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-037-god-knocks-us-down-so-we-will-look-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 037 – God Knocks Us Down So We Will Look Up"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18412","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 037 - God Knocks Us Down So We Will Look Up","sermon_date":"20171001","sermon_month":"10","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":"","sermon_slides":4998,"sermon_mp3":5002,"sermon_id":"10117950203","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"9:24-27","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nGod Knocks Us Down So We Will Look Up\n\n10-1-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 9:24-27\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 37\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Daniel, chapter 9 and verse 27, and you\u2019re probably saying to yourself there\u2019s only one verse left in the chapter, how long can this take?\u00a0 Well, you might be surprised, or maybe you won\u2019t be surprised, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t know.\n\nThe title of our message this morning is God Knocks Us Down So That We Will Look Up.\u00a0 As you know, we are continuing on in this prophecy that Daniel was given in the 6th<\/sup> century B.C. called The Seventy Weeks Prophecy.\u00a0 I believe it\u2019s not the easiest prophecy in the Bible to understand but if you give yourself to this the rewards are almost limitless.\u00a0 You\u2019ll have proof that the Bible is God\u2019s Word and\u00a0 you\u2019ll also have a timeline, if you will, that will keep you from what I would call end times confusion.\n\nSo what we\u2019ve done is broken this prophecy down into ten parts.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the ground that we have covered thus far.\u00a0 The focus of this prophecy is who?\u00a0 The Hebrew people and the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 That\u2019s very important to understand to interpret this correctly.\u00a0 Number 2, the prophecy concerns a time period of 490 years, seventy sevens; it\u2019s a clock that God gave to Daniel with a start button, a pause button and a stop button on it, but the clock has 490 years on it.\u00a0 Each year of the prophecy, as we have studied, consists of 360 days.\n\nNumber four, at the conclusion of this clock, once the 490 years are elapsed what can be expected?\u00a0\u00a0 Well generally six things and you can sum up all of those things as the political and the spiritual restoration of the Jewish people.\u00a0 The kingdom of God will be a reality on the earth with Jesus ruling and reigning from David\u2019s throne in Jerusalem.\n\nNumber five, we\u2019ve looked at when this prophecy started to tick, when it began to run.\u00a0 I\u2019ve tried to contend that this prophecy began March 5, 444 B.C. from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem; it is my conviction that this is the decree spoken of in Nehemiah 2 which took place in the month of Nisan in the 20th<\/sup> year or Artaxerxes.\u00a0 It comes out to March 5, 444 B.C.\u00a0 That\u2019s when the Divine finger moved onto the start button and this 490 year clock started to elapse.\n\nNumber six, exactly, and this is the proof that this could not be a book of human invention; the prophecy ran exactly 483 years, up to Palm Sunday, because that\u2019s what the prophecy predicts, until Messiah the Prince there will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens making 483 years, 173,880 days would elapse.\u00a0 Daniel is given this prediction between the decree and when the events of Palm Sunday would take place, when Jesus would present His Messianic credentials to the nation.\u00a0 I\u2019ve tried to labor to show you that that prophecy was fulfilled to the exact day.\n\nYou have nothing like this in any other alleged holy book; nothing like this in the Qur'an, for example, where the life of someone, Jesus Christ, is laid out before it happens right down to the exact time He would show up, the exact day He would show up presenting Himself to the nation Israel as their King.\n\nAnd the last time we were together we began to look at this idea that number 7, there is a gap of time at the conclusion of year 483 but before the final seven years of the clock tick.\u00a0 In other words, on Palm Sunday the divine finger moved from the start button, which it had been on for 483 years and moved to the pause button.\u00a0 God put this prophecy on pause, on hold, and today we\u2019re living in what is called the gap, which is more than just a store, it\u2019s a pause.\u00a0 Lewis Sperry Chafer called this an intercalation, a pause in the action where God is not bringing in the kingdom per se<\/em>, that will take place when the final seven years of the clock run, but He is doing something unique in the last 2,000 years called the age of the church, the body of Christ.\u00a0 You are part of it, I am part of it, everyone that has trusted in the Messiah that the nation of Israel in the first century rejected is part of it. We are baptized or identified into Christ\u2019s body, the church.\n\nSo what is happening today is very real, it is the work of God, it is something that we should celebrate, it is a purpose that we should press into but it is taking place in between the 483 years of the prophecy that have already transpired and the seven years yet to come.\u00a0 I\u2019ve labored, last week, to show you why this pause is there in the action.\n\nAnd this takes us now to\u00a0 number eight, the final seven years of the prophecy yet future constitutes the tribulation period.\u00a0 We know that the clock has 490 years on it, 483 years have elapsed; we know that 483 taken away from 490 equals 7.\u00a0 That\u2019s where we get this idea of a future seven year tribulation period.\u00a0 We know that there is a gap in between the first 483 years and the final 7 years.\u00a0 The final seven years are yet future and those years constitute the tribulation period.\n\nYou say well, what verse could I look at and study to learn about the specifics of this seven year tribulation period.\u00a0 I\u2019m so glad you asked that question because it\u2019s right there at the end of the chapter.\u00a0 It\u2019s in verse 27.\u00a0 This takes us to number 9 and we probably will conclude our sermon this morning with number nine, taking a look at number 10 next week.\u00a0 But number 9, and this is where we begin to build something that most of Christianity is confused on today, has probably been confused on throughout the age of the church, an eschatological model.\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 A model or a blueprint for the end.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me that the Bible doesn\u2019t just reveal the beginning exactly what happened, it reveals to us the end.\u00a0 And many, many people are confused about the end because they haven\u2019t given time to the foundational building block of the end which is Daniel 9:27.\u00a0 Notice what that verse says.\n\nDaniel 9:27, \u201cAnd he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.\u201d\u00a0 It took me a very short time to read that verse; it\u2019s going to take me a longer time to explain it.\u00a0 This verse, though, is a foundational piece of the prophetic jigsaw puzzle; without this piece an understanding of what God is doing in the end times will always remain a mystery to you.\u00a0 But with an understanding of this verse you have the grid, you have the framework, you have the timeline if you will, because this verse reveals four things.\n\nNumber one, the duration of the tribulation period.\u00a0 Number two, when is the tribulation period going to start?\u00a0 A lot of people are confused about this, they thought it was going to start September 23rd<\/sup>, which obviously is a failed prophecy because today is October 1st<\/sup>.\u00a0 What is going to happen right in the middle?\u00a0 It tells you exactly what happens at the midpoint.\u00a0 And then number four, how does the whole thing wrap up; what is the seminal event that ends this time period.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a look at those four things this morning.\n\nNumber one, the duration.\u00a0 Notice what Daniel 9:27 says, \u201cAnd he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week,\u201d some of your versions say \u201cweek,\u201d some of your versions say \u201cone seven,\u201d \u201cbut in the middle of the week\u201d or the \u201cseven,\u201d so it makes two references there to the \u201cweek\u201d or the final seven.\u00a0 If you have been tracking along with us we have explained why this word translated \u201cweek\u201d is actually the Hebrew word shebuah<\/em>, which refers to a seven year period of time.\u00a0 That\u2019s how the Hebrew word is used, for example, in Genesis 29:27 concerning Jacob serving Laban for Rachael\u2019s hand; a seven year period of time.\u00a0 [Genesis 29:27, \u201cComplete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me for another seven years.\u201d]\n\nWhat the Holy Spirit is revealing to us is a yet future seven year period of time that the whole plan and program of God revolves around.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit is so specific in this the Holy Spirit wants us to know the duration of this time.\u00a0 The duration of this time is not something man has made up; it\u2019s a seven year period of time emanating from Daniel\u2019s prophecy which originally was given as 490 years, 483 years elapses, seven years remaining; seven years yet future and this is where we get this idea of a future seven year tribulation period. There is an increment of time yet future in the calendar of God, in the chronology of God, which has never elapsed.\n\nYou say well, if that\u2019s true, then what\u2019s the start time?\u00a0 When does this final seven year count actually begin?\u00a0 I\u2019m glad you asked that because that takes us to number two: what starts this time period?\u00a0 Notice, if you will, once again Daniel 9:27, there is an event which is just as real as Artaxerxes back in Nehemiah 2 issuing the decree a hundred years after Daniel died which started the clock.\u00a0 There is an event yet future which is just as real where God will take his finger off the pause button; His finger has been on that pause button for two thousand years, His finger will move off the pause button and move back onto the start or perhaps the restart button.\u00a0 And what event will it be?\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear here in Daniel 9:27, \u201cAnd he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week,\u201d what moves the finger of God off the pause button onto the start button once again is an entity called \u201che\u201d making some kind of \u201cfirm covenant with the many\u201d and this covenant will last for \u201cone week\u201d or seven years.\n\nNow we\u2019re not ready to close in prayer\u00a0 yet because we have to figure out who the \u201che\u201d is and who\u00a0 \u201cthe many\u201d are.\u00a0 Once you understand who the \u201che\u201d is referring to, that pronoun, and \u201cthe many\u201d you\u2019ll understand exactly what moves the divine finger off the pause button from which it\u2019s been on for two thousand years, back onto the start button allowing the seven year countdown to take place.\n\nWho is the \u201che\u201d exactly?\u00a0 Well, one of the rules of grammar that you can learn is pronouns are often identified by their immediate antecedent.\u00a0 In other words, when a pronoun is being used in a passage or a text you sort of back up to the nearest antecedent and you can sort of figure out who the pronoun is referring to.\u00a0 And when you back up to Daniel 9:26, which comes before Daniel 9:27, are you guys good with that, verse 26 comes before verse 27?\u00a0 It says this, \u201cAnd after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood\u2026.\u201d\n\nLast week we observed that Daniel 9:26 is speaking of Titus of Rome.\u00a0 [Daniel 9:26, \u201cThen after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.\u201d]\u00a0 Titus of Rome came on the scene about forty years after Christ left the earth; he brought a horrific wave\u00a0 of persecution against the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem in particular.\u00a0 He destroyed the city and the sanctuary and over a million Jews lost their lives in that holocaust of A.D. 70.\n\nWhen Daniel 9:27 refers back to the nearest antecedent in verse 26 what the Spirit of God is showing us is that Titus of Rome, as barbaric as he was, as horrific as he was, as anti-Semitic as he was, is nothing but a foreshadowing of something greater on the horizon for the Jewish people in terms of suffering.\u00a0 You talk to a Jewish person today who is not a believer in Jesus Christ and let me tell you something, this is part of our doctrine that they want nothing to do with because what is the slogan in Judaism following World War II?\u00a0 Never again, we will never allow the events of the holocaust, Adolf Hitler, to happen again.\u00a0 That\u2019s why they have so carefully documented the lives that were lost in the holocaust in what\u2019s called Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the holocaust memorial, and we\u2019re coming along as evangelical Christians and we\u2019re saying the worst is yet to come.\u00a0 In fact, it is this pattern of God bringing in something worse that He will use to awaken the remnant to their need to trust Christ because God knocks us down so we what? Look up!\u00a0 There is a tremendous knocking down yet future for the nation of Israel.\n\nWe continue on in the passage and it says [9:27b] \u201cin the middle of the week He will put an end to sacrifice and offering,\u201d I can bring in parallel passages and figure out who that guy is, someone that\u2019s going to rule for three and a half years.\u00a0 Daniel 7:25, a verse we\u2019ve studied before, indicates exactly who that man is: he is the little horn or this man called the coming antichrist.\u00a0 [Daniel 7:25, \u201c'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.\u201d]\u00a0 John makes a reference to him in Revelation 13:5, a beast coming forward to rule the world for 42 months.\u00a0 [Revelation 13:5, \u201cThere was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for 42 months was given to him.\u201d]\u00a0 That is sort of the idea that you get here in Daniel 9:27 where he will desecrate the temple midway through but first he will rule the world for 42 months.\u00a0 [Daniel 9:27, \u201cAnd he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.\u201d]\n\nParalleling other passages we can start to narrow down on who this \u201che\u201d is.\u00a0 He\u2019s prefigured by Titus but his identity is a future world dictator, a future world ruler, someone that John, in 1 John, refers to as the coming antichrist.\u00a0 We know, and more on this a little bit later, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. We know from parallel passages who\u2019s going to do that; Paul calls the man that will do that, in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 the man of lawlessness.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, \u201cLet no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come<\/em> unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, [4] who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.\u201d]\n\nThe antichrist is simply one of his minor names but he goes throughout the Bible by various designations: the beast, the lawless one, the little horn.\u00a0 He is the one that desecrates the temple, Daniel 9:27 tells us that someone is going to desecrate the temple, someone is going to rule the world for 42 months.\u00a0 Parallel passages, whether it be Daniel 7, 2 Thessalonians 2, are all brought in and this is how you study any doctrine.\u00a0 You don\u2019t look at what one verses says on the issue,\u00a0 you go to parallel passages and when you start to study the parallel passages you see exactly who this man is; he is the coming antichrist.\n\nThe passage goes on and it describes that this man is going to be destroyed.\u00a0 The wrath of God will be poured out on the desolator.\u00a0 Once again we know exactly who that is.\u00a0 2 Thessalonians 2:8 says, \u201cThen the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 19:20 says, \u201cAnd the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.\u201d\n\nSimply by studying parallel passages of how this \u201che\u201d or \u201cdesolator\u201d is destroyed, as well as by studying parallel passages identifying who was the one that desecrates the temple midway through the tribulation period.\u00a0 And by studying parallel passages it indicates that this man that\u2019s coming will rule the world for forth-two months we can narrow down on his identity.\u00a0\u00a0 He is the antichrist.\u00a0 He is the \u201che\u201d spoken of in verse 27 prefigured by Titus of Rome.\n\nNotice again what verse 27 says, \u201cAnd he\u201d antichrist \u201cwill make a firm covenant with the many for one week,\u201d you say well, I understand who the \u201che\u201d is, who\u2019s \u201cthe many\u201d?\u00a0 And I\u2019m glad\u00a0 you asked that question.\u00a0 Remember fact number one?\u00a0 This whole prophecy concerns who?\u00a0 The nation of Israel.\u00a0 Daniel 9:24 indicated \u201cSeventy weeks have been decreed for your people\u201d Daniel \u201cand your holy city,\u201d the whole thing revolves around the nation of Israel.\u00a0 Therefore \u201cthe many\u201d is a reference to the nation of Israel.\n\nYou say well, that expression \u201cmany,\u201d does it ever refer to Israel elsewhere.\u00a0 Once again I\u2019m glad you asked because Daniel 11:33 tells us this, same book.\u00a0 \u201cThose who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many;\u2026\u201d \u201cthe many\u201d is a reference to the nation of Israel, the special covenanted nation of God that this whole 490 year clock revolves around.\n\nSo we can begin to put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together and we can say this: there is coming an event in history which will move the divine finger from the pause button, which it\u2019s been on for 2,000 years, back onto the start button and the final seven years of the prophecy will elapse.\u00a0 And that event is a treaty of some sort between the \u201che\u201d (or antichrist) and the nation of Israel.\u00a0 The moment this man arises and that covenant is entered into there\u2019s only seven years left in human history until the bodily return of Jesus Christ in which He will establish His kingdom upon the earth.\n\nThis is why the Book of Revelation portrays the devil going to and fro having but a short time.\u00a0 Why does it keep saying \u201ca short time\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ve only got seven years left to try to thwart, to try to stop, to try to frustrate God\u2019s program.\u00a0 And so you can see in this chart that the covenant between the antichrist and Israel will start the final count.\n\nNow many people are worried, they\u2019re concerned, because they believe that this lawless one can come on the scene at any moment, perhaps today, and start this count.\u00a0 Now let me put your mind at rest about this.\u00a0 Paul, the apostle, in describing the coming antichrist writes this:\u00a0 \u201cYou know what restrains him,\u201d 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7, \u201cAnd you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. [7] For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so<\/em> until he is taken out of the way.\u201d\n\nPaul is telling the Thessalonians, who were just as confused about prophecy as anybody, that look, this \u201che\u201d who will start the clock with the covenant, can\u2019t even show up today because there is something in the earth holding him back.\u00a0 There\u2019s something in the earth working restraining him.\u00a0 The big question becomes well who is this restrainer?\u00a0 Whoever this restrainer is he has to be more powerful than Satan because you see, according to 2 Thessalonians 2:9 the lawless one will be the perfect manifestation of the devil\u2019s plans.\u00a0 [1 Thessalonians 2:9, \u201cthat is,<\/em> the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,\u201d]\u00a0 He will even form counterfeit signs and wonders; he will (the devil) express himself through this man as he\u2019s never expressed himself through a man in human history.\n\nSo whoever the restrainer is he has to be strong enough to hold back Satan\u2019s man of the hour.\u00a0 The only person I know of that can to that is God Himself.\u00a0 Beyond that, the participle \u201crestrainer,\u201d (it\u2019s very important to understand this, it doesn\u2019t show up in English) but God decreed that His Word would be written in Greek, the New Testament, to pick up on these nuances.\u00a0 The participle \u201crestrainer\u201d same word, switches from neuter, verse 6, to masculine, verse 7.\u00a0 What a tremendous description of the Holy Spirit because Jesus called the Holy Spirit \u201cHe\u201d, masculine, in the Upper Room, and yet the word \u201cHoly Spirit\u201d is the Greek word pneuma <\/em>\u00a0which is a neuter noun.\u00a0 So the switch from neuter to masculine very well explains this omnipotent being, this all powerful being that is functioning as restraint in the world, inhibiting Satan\u2019s program from going forward.\n\nNow let me ask\u00a0 you another question?\u00a0 Where does the Holy Spirit live today?\u00a0 Jesus was very clear about this in the Upper Room.\u00a0 He said, [(John 14:16] \u00a0\u201cI will ask the Father and He will give you another helper, that He may be with you forever,\u00a0 [17] that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be\u201d what? \u201cin you.\u201d\u00a0 How long is He in us for?\u00a0 At the end of verse 16, \u201cforever.\u201d\u00a0 What is happening?\u00a0 The Holy Spirit that permanently indwells the child of God today in the age of the church is the very instrument that God is using to prevent the antichrist from coming forward and entering into a covenant with the nation of Israel.\n\nIn other words, the whole scenario in Daniel 9:27 cannot happen until the Holy Spirit and His restraining ministry is removed.\u00a0 And since the Holy Spirit is in us forever who else has to be removed?\u00a0 The church; the church\u2019s very presence in the world is a stumbling block or an inhibitor to Satan\u2019s end time goal.\u00a0 Now when you start to see this you start to understand why Christianity is so hated, not only in the United States but throughout the world.\u00a0 Why is it that Christians are persecuted, maligned, routinely misrepresented on media constantly.\u00a0 It has to do with what our presence on the earth is accomplishing.\u00a0 It is stopping the devil\u2019s end time program.\u00a0 And so you might look at your life as something insignificant in Christ; the fact of the matter is you\u2019re highly significant.\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re more significant than you even realize, you\u2019re presence is being used by God to prevent this end time scenario from taking place.\n\nTherefore it is very logical to assume that the rapture of the church, the church removed from the earth is the removal of that restraint.\u00a0 And once that restraint is removed the devil has his man of the hour picked out and he goes immediately to the nation of Israel while they\u2019re in unbelief and he enters into some sort of covenant with them and the moment that happens the divine finger which had been on the pause button for two thousand years goes right back onto the start button and seven years begins to tick.\n\nAnd understanding it this way saves us from so much speculation.\u00a0 There are so many people today that are wasting their time and their energy and their resources trying to figure out who the anti\u00adchrist is.\u00a0 This is nothing new.\u00a0 This is a statement from Irenaeus who\u2019s one generation removed from John, the Apostle.\u00a0 Irenaeus writes this in his book, Against Heresies<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cWe will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of the antichrist, but if it had been necessary to announce his name plainly at the present time it would have been spoken by him who saw the apocalypse, for it was not seen long ago but almost in our own time at the end of the reign of Domitian.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0[Against Heresies<\/em> (Book V, Chapter 30]\u00a0 Irenaeus is saying this, quit the sensational\u00adism, quit the speculation, quit trying to name the antichrist, many of them thought it was Nero, or Domitian, or other people, because that man can\u2019t come forward until the restraint, via the rapture, is taken away.\n\nNow one of the things we know about Satan is he is not omniscient; we know from the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 28, verse 13 and verse 15 that he is a created being; he does not know when this restraint will be removed.\u00a0 [Ezekiel 28:13, \u201cYou were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you.\u00a0 On the day that you were created they were prepared.\u00a0 [15] \u201cYou were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.\u201d]\n\nAnd so he\u2019s always had a man waiting in the wings to fulfill this role once the restraint is taken away.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you look at world leaders today and they look an awful lot like antichrist, don\u2019t they?\u00a0 I mean, we\u2019ve even had some Presidents in the United States in modern times that almost look like they\u2019re auditioning for the job, running for antichrist.\u00a0 I look at different people and I say man, that person would make a great antichrist.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 And the reason that is so is Satan doesn\u2019t know when this removal will take place so he\u2019s always ready to begin the work with a man; every generation has such people.\n\nBut the bottom line is we can\u2019t know who the antichrist is until following the rapture; then and only then will that restraint be removed and the man of sin will come forward.\u00a0 And by the time I know his identity we will have the best seat in the house, viewing the whole thing from heaven.\u00a0 And this saves us from so much silly speculation.\n\nYou know, when I came of age and I voted for the very first time in an election I went and probably cast my vote for Ronald Reagan, and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ said do you not know what you have just done?\u00a0 I said what?\u00a0\u00a0 You just voted for the antichrist!\u00a0 And I said why do you say that?\u00a0 Well, they said \u201cRonald\u201d has six letters in it, and his middle name, Wilson, has six letters in it, and Reagan, his last name, has six letters in it.\n\nAnd all the way through my Christian life I can remember experience after experience of people falsely identifying the antichrist.\u00a0 Gorbachev came and went; people said he was the antichrist.\u00a0 Saddam Hussein came upon the scene; people said he was the antichrist.\u00a0 And then we had a President named Bill Clinton, remember that, and by then I had wised up a little bit, I said he cannot be the antichrist.\u00a0 And people said why, he looks exactly like an antichrist?\u00a0 I said well, there\u2019s a prophecy in the Book of Daniel that says the antichrist will not have the desire for women.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 And so I figured out it wouldn\u2019t be, couldn\u2019t be Clinton, he doesn\u2019t fit the description.\n\nBut you see, some fundamentals of prophecy, some basics of prophecy, understanding the covenant that\u2019s coming, the restraint which must be removed first, saves us from so much speculation which diverts our time and energy into things that could be more productive for God.\n\nHow long is this tribulation period going to last?\u00a0 Seven\u00a0 years.\u00a0 What\u2019s going to start it?\u00a0 There is going to be a yet future peace treaty between the antichrist and unbelieving Israel subsequent to, or following the rapture of the church.\n\nThis takes us to number 3, what\u2019s going to happen in the middle of this tribulation period?\u00a0 Notice again Daniel 9:27, \u201cBut he\u201d who\u2019s the \u201che\u201d?\u00a0 The antichrist, \u201cwill make a firm covenant with the many\u201d who\u2019s \u201cthe many\u201d?\u00a0 Israel, \u201cfor one week,\u201d how long is a week? Seven years, \u201cbut in the middle of the week\u201d notice how specific the Holy Spirit is here, \u201cin the middle of the week\u201d that would be exactly 42 months into it, 3\u00bd \u00a0years into it, 1,260 days into it, \u201che\u201d antichrist, \u201cwill put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come<\/em> one who makes desolate, [even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.\u201d\u2019\n\nSomething happens right in the middle called the abomination of desolation.\u00a0 What is that talking about?\u00a0 Fortunately we have some help from the same book.\u00a0 Daniel 11:31 makes a prophecy which has already happened and\u00a0 uses the same basic language.\u00a0 It says, \u201cForces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.\u201d\u00a0 If I can figure out what this prophecy was referring to in the past I can make an educated guess concerning what the antichrist will do halfway through the tribulation.\n\nHow was Daniel 11:31 fulfilled?\u00a0 We\u2019ve already studied it, because it\u2019s also alluded to in Daniel 8; it relates to this man, Antiochus Epiphanes, who arose during the intertestamental period, about 165 B.C.\u00a0 He went into the rebuilt Jewish temple; he told the Jews you can\u2019t offer sacrifices any more in this temple.\u00a0 He took away their prayer books and their Scriptures and outlawed their practices like circumcision.\u00a0 And this man went so far, this Greek, this Seleucid, Antiochus Epiphanes, he went so far as to set up a pagan image in the temple; it was a pagan image of Zeus.\u00a0 And the Jewish people rebelled against this and they liberated the Temple Mount and guess what?\u00a0 They got a holiday out of it, called what?\u00a0 Hanukkah.\n\nThat ought to be a lesson to the world; whenever you come against Israel, not only will Israel survive but she\u2019ll probably get a holiday out of the whole thing.\u00a0 The holiday called Hanukkah.\u00a0 And Daniel 11:31 is a prediction of that event.\u00a0 So what the Holy Spirit has done here in just the span of a few verses is He\u2019s given us two historical types, if you will, prefigurements, if\u00a0 you will, of what the antichrist is going to be like.\u00a0 Do you want to understand the coming antichrist?\u00a0 I think we should because it\u2019s part of the biblical date we\u2019ve been given.\u00a0 And the Holy Spirit says in these verses that we\u2019ve just covered this morning I want you to study two events in history. \u00a0Number 1, I want you to study Titus of Rome and what he did because he is the nearest antecedent to the \u201che,\u201d going back to verse 26.\u00a0 And number two, I want you to study Antiochus Epiphanes because he will desecrate and desolate the temple in a miniature form the way the future antichrist will.\n\nAnd if those two types or prefigurements are accurate you already know a lot of stuff about the antichrist.\u00a0 Number 1, he will be a man, (and the women in here are saying\u00a0 I knew that was the case) because Titus and Antiochus are males, that\u2019s why he\u2019s called the pronoun \u201che.\u201d\u00a0 Number 2, and there\u2019s much confusion about this, he will not be Jewish; he will be Gentile.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Because Titus and Antiochus were both Gentiles.\u00a0 Number 3, he will not be some kind of impersonal spirit but he will be an actual human being, just as real as Judas, Nebuchadnezzar, or any other villain in biblical history.\n\nIn fact, the Book of Revelation, chapter 13 and verse 15 says this:\u00a0 \u201cAnd it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.\u201d\u00a0 The beast or the antichrist is setting up a statue right in the middle of the tribulation period in the Jewish temple.\u00a0 Why is he doing that?\u00a0 Because that\u2019s what Antiochus did.\u00a0 Revelation 13:15 is a description of that statue.\u00a0 It apparently has some sort of magical powers; not all magic, not all miracles come from God, I hope we under\u00ad-stand that.\u00a0 There are counterfeit signs and wonders.\u00a0 This image, I mean, I\u2019ve seen things like this even at Disneyland, go into the haunted house at Disneyland you have these talking statues.\u00a0 This image apparently is going to have this sort of capacity to speak, I\u2019m not sure exactly how that is going to work out, but it is an image, a statue (singular) and that\u2019s brought to our attention because that\u2019s what one of the prefigurements of the antichrist Antiochus Epiphanes has already done.\n\nWhat Antiochus Epiphanes has done the antichrist will reproduce, yet in greater form.\u00a0 And this is the process of the final three and half years where God\u2019s agenda is to shatter the holy people.\u00a0 Who are \u201cthe holy people\u201d?\u00a0 The holy people is a reference to the nation of Israel.\u00a0 What is the biggest problem today with Israel?\u00a0 It\u2019s Israel; it\u2019s pride, it\u2019s the fact that their Messiah showed up and nationally they never received Him as king.\u00a0 Even today most Hebrews, although there are some that do become believers in the age of the church most Hebrews today remain in prideful, stubborn, unbelief against their own Messiah.\n\nAnd let me tell you a little something that was handed off to me when I first came to Christ, one of the best pieces of theology I ever received.\u00a0 The guy who led me to Christ said this: God knocks us down so we look up.\u00a0 If we\u2019re honest with ourselves that\u2019s how God got hold of all of us; He allowed things in one\u2019s life to spiral out of control, to go wrong and we say Lord, I\u2019ve got no one to trust in but You.\u00a0 And that\u2019s when Got begins to make Himself very real in a person\u2019s life.\u00a0 That process is what is in store for the nation of Israel.\n\nThink about this; one of their villains in the past, named Antiochus Epiphanius, when that villain\u2019s activities are replicated halfway through the tribulation period that is the seminal event which destroys Jewish confidence in false gods.\u00a0 Prior to this point in time they will have felt that the he that they\u2019ve entered into the covenant with is their Messiah and they\u2019re going to watch that false Messiah go into their own temple, tell the Jews no more sacrifices in the temple, that\u2019s what Daniel 9:27 predicts, he will replicate what Antiochus Epiphanes did by setting up a pagan statue in the temple and this will be an event that will shatter the Jewish heart because they will have discovered that what they thought was in the past in terms of the horror is now repeating itself.\n\nYou see, your average Gentile today really knows very little about Antiochus Epiphanes but I\u2019ll tell you something, a Hebrew knows all about it; it\u2019s part of their history.\u00a0 It is part of Hanukah, and when that event recurs in greater form the Jewish heart will be fractured.\u00a0 And yet that\u2019s the place God wants them because once the props, the false securities, are kicked away and removed that\u2019s when the Holy Spirit shows up.\u00a0 Once we, in our humanity, in our pride, in our stubbornness, get to a point where we say Lord, I\u2019ve tried everything else, nothing else has worked, I\u2019m going to try You, that\u2019s where God is grinning, smiling from cheek to cheek because that\u2019s what He\u2019s wanted all along.\u00a0 He\u2019s understood that; the only people that don\u2019t understand it are ourselves and this is how God has to work.\u00a0 He knocks us down so we look up.\u00a0 He is going to knock down the nation of Israel through a double cross or a betrayal, or a man that they have trusted in so greatly, and he will disappoint as all false gods do.\n\nWhat false God are you banking on today?\u00a0 That you\u2019re counting on?\u00a0 The economy, the right political party in the White House, your retirement account, your health?\u00a0 What is your prop, even as a Christian what is your prop that you\u2019re relying upon?\u00a0 Let me just tell you something about God.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a matter of time that God starts kicking that away and that\u2019s how spiritual growth happens.\u00a0 And this is how conversion of a monumental, national scale will occur midway through the tribulation period.\u00a0 This desecration of the temple, this replication of what Antiochus did is very clearly said to be in \u201cthe middle of the week.\u201d\u00a0 You can just mark it down and bank on it; if God says it\u2019s going to happen it\u2019s going to happen!\n\nRight in the middle is this desecration of the temple and this false statue and this ending of their sacrifices.\u00a0 How long will this tribulation period last?\u00a0 Seven years.\u00a0 What\u2019s going to start it?\u00a0 A peace treaty between the antichrist and unbelieving Israel.\u00a0 What is going to happen right in the middle is a betrayal, the desecration of the temple.\n\nAnd now the final question is well, how is the whole thing going to wrap up?\u00a0 How is the whole thing going to conclude?\u00a0 Notice again Daniel 9:27, \u201ceven until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.\u201d\u00a0 The desolator himself is desolated by God.\u00a0 The persecutor himself is persecuted by God.\u00a0 The destroyer himself is destroyed by God.\u00a0 The betrayer is himself betrayed, even by God, because you see, a person can persist long enough in rebellion, in rejection of Christ that God is left no choice but to pour out His wrath on such a person.\n\nBeloved, the bottom line is sin is going to be paid for one way or the other.\u00a0 Fortunately for us in the age of the church, as we celebrated, as Alex was leading us this morning, the sin debt of the world has been paid for by what Jesus did.\u00a0 This is what the elements represent and if we will receive what has been done then the sin debt is paid for.\n\nBut what about the person who refuses that offer and rejects it?\u00a0 There is nothing good in that person\u2019s future and what awaits them is a fiery indignation.\u00a0 As the Book of Hebrews explains, \u201cIt is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 10:31]\u00a0 And yet this is what the end is of this antichrist.\u00a0 2 Thessalonians 2:8 says, \u201cThen that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;\u201d Jesus speaks one word and this man is eviscerated, consigned into Revelation 19:20, the lake of fire.\u00a0 [Revelation 19:20, \u201cAnd the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.\u201d]\n\nWhat, going back to fact four in the larger study, what is going to happen at the end of this 490 year period?\u00a0 What will happen is the political and restoration of the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And listen to me very carefully: there is only one man who will bring peace to that nation and to the world for that matter, and that\u2019s the Prince peace.\u00a0 Everything else that you see on the news about the nation of Israel entering into this peace agreement or that peace agreement, or the nations of the earth meeting in different locations to solve this Middle East crisis which Zechariah predicted would be a stumbling block to the nations of the earth in the last days.\n\nAll of those are false props, false securities because God has designed this caldron bubbling in the Middle East to be exactly what it is.\u00a0 God wants the nations of the earth to understand this is unfix\u00ad-able; the only person that will fix it is the Prince of Peace.\u00a0 And through this shattering process, through this double cross, through this betrayal the nation of Israel, in the final 42 months of the tribulation period cries out to God citing Psalm 118:26, which is a Messianic psalm.\u00a0 [Psalm 118:26, \u201cBlessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD; We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.\u201d]\n\nAnd Jesus answers; He rescues them, He protects them from the beast, and then He begins what the human race has always wanted, utopia, which will last a thousand years.\u00a0 And after the thousand\u00a0 years it will merge into the eternal state.\n\nI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re trusting in for this world, what ideology, what partisan brand name, but whatever it is, it cannot deliver what it promises to deliver because only the Prince of Peace will bring peace to the world and therefore the physical, I\u2019m not talking about the rapture here at all, the physical, visible, tangible return of Jesus Christ to the earth will solve this world\u2019s problem.\n\nYou remember when Jesus ascended in Acts 1?\u00a0 And the disciples were looking on, and the angel said in Acts 1, of Galilee, why do you stare up into heaven, this same Jesus is going to come back just like you saw Him go.\u00a0 [Acts 1:11, \u201cThey also said, \"Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.\u201d]\u00a0 How did He go?\u00a0 From the Mount of Olives.\u00a0 How is He coming back?\u00a0 To the Mount of Olives.\u00a0 In fact, the Mount of Olives we\u2019re told will split in two when He comes back.\n\nHow did He leave?\u00a0 Visibly.\u00a0 How is He going to come back?\u00a0 Visibly!\u00a0 How did he leave physically?\u00a0 Thomas, you remember, could touch the body of Christ prior to His ascension.\u00a0 He\u2019s not coming back as an invisible Spirit, He is coming back as a physical, visible reality that is just as real as when He came the first time.\u00a0 He\u2019s coming back physically, visibly, tangibly to the Mount of Olives, to Jerusalem, and THAT will solve the world\u2019s problem.\n\nAnd\u00a0 until that happens everything else is an allusion; it can promise all kinds of things but beloved, it can\u2019t deliver.\u00a0 The only hope for the world is Jesus.\u00a0 The only hope for the Jewish people and the Hebrew nation is not their military prowess, and their skills and finance, it is Jesus Christ, their Messiah and their Redeemer.\u00a0 Heaven knows it, Israel doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 So what does God have to do?\u00a0 He\u2019s got to knock them down through the desolation of the temple so that we look up.\n\nThere\u2019s a lot of things there in Daniel 9:27; how long is it going to last?\u00a0 Seven years.\u00a0 When is it going to start?\u00a0 A peace treaty between the antichrist and unbelieving Israel.\u00a0 What\u2019s going to happen in the middle?\u00a0 The desecration of the temple on a more intense level than even what Antiochus did.\u00a0 And what\u2019s going to conclude this event?\u00a0 Jesus Christ returning to a repentant and believing nation of Israel but to get them in that place of repentance and belief God has to knock down a major prop which will happen halfway through.\n\nAnd you say well, this is all very interesting; are there events taking place in our world that are setting the stage for this.\u00a0 I mean, a chess game can\u2019t just happen, the pieces have to be arranged.\u00a0 And you\u2019re articulating this with such clarity it\u2019s almost as if you believe that the world is being set up for this event.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s your assessment you would be correct.\u00a0 And if you come back next week I\u2019m going to show you exactly how God\u2019s hands are moving history in ways that have never ever happened before to prepare the way for this event.\n\nYou know, what props has God kicked out from under you?\u00a0 What have you been relying upon that you discovered is an empty cistern?\u00a0 If that\u2019s your condition today then may I just say to you you\u2019re in a great place because this is where the Lord wants to meet you with the power of His Holy Spirit, He wants to show you that nothing else has worked; now you\u2019re teachable, you\u2019re in a place to depend upon Him.\u00a0 And God brings us, over and over again as Christians even, to that point of crisis where we have to trust in Him because the issue is too big for us.\n\nAnd let me tell you something, God uses these kinds of things to awaken the unbeliever; He is in the business of removing the props and the unbeliever is woken up and maybe you\u2019re in that condition and you\u2019ve just stumbled into this church or you\u2019re just watching it for the first time on the internet and our answer to it is the gospel.\u00a0 The gospel is good news!\u00a0 Why is it good news?\u00a0 We celebrated it this morning, because God did everything.\u00a0 He did EVERYTHING that can be done to bridge the gap between the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God.\u00a0 What He asks us to do by matter of free will and volition is to trust, not in ourselves, not in our denomination, not in our ability to work hard but to trust in Him.\n\nThe reality of the situation is there\u2019s only two types of philosophies in this world: there\u2019s the do philosophy, where people are on some kind of obstacle course thinking that completing the obstacle course is going to make them right with God.\u00a0 That\u2019s philosophy A.\u00a0 Unfortunately there\u2019s philosophy B, which is the done philosophy, it\u2019s done, we\u2019re not trusting in our own works, we\u2019re trusting in His work that He did for us.\n\nWhere are you in all this? \u00a0Are you in the doing camp or the done camp, because let me tell you something, Christ\u2019s final words on the cross was \u201cIt is finished,\u201d it\u2019s done, it\u2019s completed.\u00a0 What else is there to add?\u00a0 What else do you want to do for an encore?\u00a0 No, we don\u2019t do that, we trust in what He has done.\n\nIf the Spirit is convicting you as I speak then our challenge to you this morning is to trust in this man, Jesus Christ, and what He has done.\u00a0 It\u2019s something you can do right now as I\u2019m talking; it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you rest and trust exclusively in Him.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something that you have done or are doing then on the authority of the Word of God you\u2019ve 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, Father, we\u2019re grateful for this prophecy from the 6th<\/sup> century and how it enlightens us concerning You ways and Your work and where our world is headed.\u00a0 In these difficult times, in the last days, Father, make us people that trust and walk and rest completely in Your sufficiency.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give\u00a0 you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 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