Studies with Stearman | Discerning the Latter Days-OCT 9 2024
This week we study the patterns surrounding the rapture of the church
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Welcome to
00:04Studies with Stearman. Join us as we look
00:08deeper into the Bible. Strengthen your faith with us
00:12even as we see the day approaching. And now
00:16here's Gary. What we're doing in this
00:20study is attempting to recognize a pattern that runs
00:24throughout Scripture. Last week we looked at Revelation chapter 6
00:28and in Revelation chapter 6 you have the
00:32opening of the first six seals. And remember
00:36what the seals are. They are the seals on an indictment
00:40against planet Earth. And when the Lord opens those seals
00:44He's acting as the judge. He's acting in judgment.
00:48The first seals bring forth the four horsemen of the apocalypse
00:52and the Antichrist. Last week we spent quite a bit of time talking
00:56about the fact that as he first rides forth he's the
01:00prince. He's not the king. But then as
01:04you see his later development, the book of Daniel which we also looked at,
01:08Daniel chapter 11, he's called the king as he rises to power.
01:12So there are stages in the development of the Antichrist which we're
01:16going to look at. The church is going to be taken out at a certain
01:20point prior to what we read that is commonly
01:24referred to in the Old Testament as the latter days. We're going to study that term
01:28to a degree. Revelation chapter 6,
01:32first seal,
01:36and I heard as it were the noise of thunder at one of the four
01:40beasts saying, come and see. And I saw and behold a white horse
01:44and he that sat upon him had a bow. The crown was given unto him and he went
01:48forth conquering. And to conquer, that crown is in the
01:52Old Testament, it's a crown of a victor. It's a crown traditionally
01:56reserved for an athletic victor or in the case of the Caesars, the
02:00Caesars wore the little Stephanos crown. If you see the statue of Julius
02:04Caesar in Rome today, it'll have the little olive leaf crown on it
02:08which is symbolic of victory. We start
02:12out with the Antichrist participating or being elevated to power
02:16in military victory. And we pointed out last week
02:20that when we open those first five seals, one is the Antichrist,
02:24two is war, three is financial instability, four is
02:28death, and I take it that would include things like chemical,
02:32biological warfare, nuclear death, death from
02:36disease, hunger, because Jesus said there will be global
02:40famines during this period. The fifth seal has
02:44the saints under the altar saying, how long, O Lord, and remember
02:48it's interesting that the saints under the altar at the fifth seal are still
02:52saying, how long, O Lord, until you judge the enemy, which means he hasn't
02:56started to judge yet. So it is my contention that the
03:00first five seals are pre-tribulational. Before the tribulation
03:04the sixth seal then opens a whole new series of
03:08seals and you have the sun becoming black as sackcloth
03:12of hair, the moon as blood, and you remember what Joel said
03:16in 2.10 and 2.28, he said the sun's going to be affected, the moon's
03:20going to be affected before the great and terrible day of the Lord.
03:24So we're still talking pre-tribulational right up until the end
03:28of chapter 6 in Revelation where you have the kings of the
03:32earth, the great, the rich, the mighty, the leaders of the earth
03:36hiding themselves under the ground in the dens
03:40as the Bible says, in the rocks of the mountains. And in
03:44their fear they declare the day of His wrath
03:48is come. So now, right at the opening of the sixth seal
03:52you find a transition and then at this point
03:56you have at last come to the day called in the
04:00Old Testament the day of the Lord, called the day of Christ. It is
04:04the day that Jesus referred to as the tribulation, the great one,
04:08and it happens by degrees. That's the point
04:12that I want to make. We went back to Daniel 11.
04:16Again, I want to review this very quickly before we really
04:20get deeply into what we're going to be studying this morning. Daniel chapter
04:2411 talks about the Antichrist as king,
04:28not as prince. Remember
04:32Daniel chapter 9 speaks of the coming prince.
04:36Daniel chapter 11 talks about the king.
04:40Daniel chapter 11, verse 36,
04:44"...the king shall do according to his will. He shall exalt himself, magnify himself
04:48above every god, and speak marvelous things against the god of gods,
04:52and shall prosper until the indignation be
04:56accomplished." Now that indignation is the tribulation or the day of the Lord,
05:00the time of judgment. And so here as we look
05:04at him as king, this I believe is a later
05:08revelation. Revelation 6, he rides forth and the Greek
05:12there says conquering with the intention to further
05:16conquer. He's going forth to expand his empire, in other words.
05:20Here we see him farther along. He's called the
05:24king, he does according to his own will, he exalts himself, he magnifies himself
05:28above every god, he speaks marvelous things against the god of gods,
05:32and he shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished, for that that is determined
05:36by the Son. And so the willful king comes to power
05:40before the tribulation. And we looked at Daniel 11, 36-45
05:44last week and we noticed that even after he comes to power, or as
05:48he comes to power, he is opposed by the king of the
05:52north, the king of the east. And then again, the king of the east
05:56and the king of the north come against him twice in that passage
06:00of Scripture. And the last time we see
06:04him, he says,
06:08and he shall go forth with a great fury to destroy and utterly sweep
06:12away many, and he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the
06:16seas and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, none shall help him.
06:20And that's where we left off last week. The idea being that the
06:24Antichrist does not just say, hello, here I am, I am the
06:28Antichrist. He doesn't just do that one day. He goes through a
06:32series of stages in which he makes a name for himself.
06:36And he makes a name for himself in a series of battles.
06:40The only battle, until you get to the battle of Armageddon
06:44in Revelation chapter 19, the only battle that is recognizable
06:48from many perspectives is the battle that we normally think of as the
06:52battle of Gog of the land of Magog in Ezekiel 38.
06:56And I believe that that battle,
07:00the battle of Magog in Ezekiel 38 is the same battle seen at the four horsemen
07:04of the apocalypse. It is the same battle seen here
07:08in Daniel chapter 11 as he does various kinds of
07:12battle until he culminates his power by planting his
07:16tabernacles, his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain.
07:20That would be Mount Zion or Jerusalem. He makes that his capital.
07:24He does all this, and this is the final important point
07:28that we're going to go on. In verse 39,
07:32his rise to power is described, Daniel 11, 39,
07:36thus shall he do in the most strongholds, that is
07:40he's going to capture the vaults of power, the global
07:44track, the global keys to power.
07:48He will attain with a strange God
07:52whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory.
07:56This God in Scripture is called an alien
08:00God. If you just look at the Hebrew for what the King James
08:04calls strange, the word is nakar in Hebrew
08:08which means alien. An alien.
08:12Meaning it could refer to a foreigner,
08:16somebody who comes in town who doesn't speak your language.
08:20But nakar is the Hebrew word for alien. And in verse 39,
08:24Daniel 11, 39, thus shall he do in the most strongholds
08:28with an alien God whom he shall acknowledge and increase
08:32with glory. So Antichrist's power, that is the
08:36key to his power in the upper strata
08:40of political control, is this alien
08:44God whom he acknowledges. Now from that
08:48we know one thing for sure, the church is gone at this
08:52point. The church acknowledges this alien God
08:56that tells us the church is not in the world anymore because the church is the
09:00great restraining force. In the New Testament Paul says that the
09:04restrainer will continue to restrain until he be taken out of the way,
09:08and then all of this can happen and not before.
09:12So what Daniel tells us, what Revelation tells
09:16us is that a certain series of things has to happen
09:20before this man can stand up and really take power, which he does
09:24with the backing of this alien God. Now,
09:28this is very strange. We're not accustomed to thinking of things like this.
09:32In the 20th and 21st centuries, you know, now we're post-modern and
09:36we're cool and hip and we've got all kinds of computers and stuff,
09:40and we don't think about alien gods.
09:44Well, a lot of us don't. But I think they're at the
09:48point where the old gods and some new ones are
09:52getting ready to pop out again, and the only thing that's keeping that from
09:56happening is the presence of the church. Now, with all of this in
10:00mind we're going to study the prophet Zechariah. So turn over to
10:04Zechariah and we're going to look at Zechariah 11.
10:08And again we're going to study a series of events, a sequence of
10:12events in Zechariah's prophecy. You have
10:16chapter 11, the rejection of the Messiah when He came.
10:20Zechariah actually talks about the first coming of Jesus
10:24all the way through His prophecy.
10:28Chapters 9 to 11 talks about how they rejected
10:32the Messiah. And the Messiah is likened
10:36to a shepherd. His flock, the people of Israel,
10:40are cast away in chapter 11. The
10:44shepherds are gone and Judah and Israel are
10:48cut loose and they are cast to the four corners of the
10:52world. In Zechariah 11, 14,
10:56let's start back here in 12.
11:00Zechariah 11, verse 12,
11:04"...and I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price, and if not,
11:08forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
11:12Cast it to the potter, a goodly price that I was prized at
11:16of them." In other words, that's a fair price, a fair market value.
11:20Silver, by the way, in the Old Testament is called the
11:24metal of redemption. Silver was very strongly and figuratively
11:28used in the construction of the tabernacle. For example, the sockets of the
11:32tabernacle were made of silver. And silver is the symbol of
11:36redemption, or the price of redemption. And
11:40three times ten is a number associated with the
11:44tabernacle and associated with redemption. And so here they're
11:48talking about the price of the rejection of the Messiah.
11:52"...and the Lord said, Cast it to the potter, a goodly price I was
11:56prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the
12:00potter in the house of the Lord. Then I cut asunder my other staff,
12:04even bands or bindings, that I might break the brotherhood
12:08between Judah and Israel. The Lord said unto me, take unto thee
12:12yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
12:16For lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not
12:20visit those that be cut off. Neither shall
12:24seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor
12:28feed that that standeth still. But he shall eat the flesh
12:32of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.
12:36And he shall be an idle shepherd that leaveth the flock. The sword shall be upon his
12:40arm, and upon his right eye. His arm shall be clean dried up, and his
12:44right eye shall be utterly darkened."
12:48Well, this is a prophecy, and I know you
12:52grasp the significance of this. The prophecy of the Antichrist, the false shepherd
12:56who comes to his people in the latter days. Notice he comes in the
13:00wake of the price having been paid. Now,
13:04who paid the price? Israel paid the price.
13:08Who took the money? Judas took the money.
13:12Thirty pieces of silver, and it was the price of the false
13:16redemption of the house of David. There are only two
13:20people in the entire Bible that are likened
13:24to each other, and they are the Antichrist
13:28and Judas. Judas and
13:32Judas have a lot in common. It's just amazing. They have things in
13:36common, for example, in their view of the world. The
13:40Antichrist, if you really look at what he's doing, as he rises to power
13:44he's promising people that he will give them their fair share of the product of the
13:48earth. If you look at what Judas does while he's alive
13:52among the disciples, Judas is very concerned
13:56constantly about the treasury, about money.
14:00That's kind of what makes his little world tick. He was the treasurer among the
14:04disciples. The Antichrist is preoccupied with money,
14:08mark of the beast. And so you have a real
14:12close correlation between Judas and the Antichrist, and here you
14:16have Zechariah writing, and Zechariah is talking about
14:20the price of the false redemption in the same breath as
14:24he's talking about the idle shepherd. Now, if you look at
14:28John, hold your place there, go forward to John 10,
14:32Jesus has a discourse on
14:36the shepherd. John chapter 10,
14:40"...where he calls himself the good
14:44shepherd. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door of the
14:48sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a
14:52thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the
14:56door is the shepherd of the sheep." And Jesus begins a
15:00discourse in which he calls himself the shepherd.
15:04And if you go down here to John 10.10,
15:08"...the thief cometh not but for to steal, to kill, to destroy. I'm come, if they might have
15:12life, they might have it more abundantly. I'm the good shepherd.
15:16The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling and not
15:20the shepherd, whose own sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and
15:24the sheep and fleeth, and the wolf catches them and scattereth the
15:28sheep." So Jesus is saying, I'm the true shepherd, I'm not a
15:32hired shepherd. I'm not a shepherd for hire. So the figure of the
15:36antichrist is that of a shepherd for hire.
15:40In other words, his motivation is money. Jesus'
15:44motivation was not monetary. The false shepherd will be
15:48motivated by money. Judas was motivated by money,
15:52and he's going to be motivated by money.
15:56And in the prophecy of Zechariah you have the
16:00figure of the 30 pieces of silver followed by the
16:04idle shepherd whose right eye and his
16:08right arm are crippled. Now isn't that interesting?
16:12Who does that remind you of? It reminds you of the antichrist in the New Testament,
16:16right? See, the antichrist in the New Testament is
16:20a beast with a deadly wound that is miraculously
16:24healed. The beast that rises up in the last
16:28days, he's a composite beast. He's a global
16:32beast, if you will. He's like a leopard, his feet like the feet of a bear,
16:36his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gives him his power
16:40and his seat and great authority. That's that strange or
16:44alien god. The dragon gives him his authority. And I saw one of his
16:48feet and the deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the
16:52beast. So I take it literally. I take it that at some
16:56point the antichrist is going to be, and this is during his rise to
17:00power, he's going to be wounded physically.
17:04And he's going to be miraculously healed by this alien power
17:08behind him. And when he is, that will certify to the
17:12world that he is the chosen one, that he will pose as the Messiah.
17:16Later he'll stand up in the temple and announce that he is God, the very
17:20God of gods. In so doing, all he's going to do is substitute
17:24himself for Jesus. In other words, he's going to pose as the man
17:28whom we think of as our Redeemer. But at that time the world will be so
17:32ignorant of these things they'll accept him as the Redeemer,
17:36as the Messiah. Probably he will pose as the Son of
17:40God or God Himself. Having
17:44said that, we go back to Zechariah chapter 12.
17:48Again you have the price of redemption, the false price of
17:52redemption. You have the foolish shepherd, the hireling shepherd, he's called
17:56the idle shepherd. In the Hebrew that word means worthless or
18:00false. The false shepherd that leaves the flock,
18:04the sword shall be on his arm and upon his right eye, his arm shall be
18:08clean dried up and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. His right arm
18:12and his right eye. The right arm in Scripture is
18:16always symbolic of power or authority.
18:20The right eye is symbolic of insight or
18:24wisdom. His arm and his eye.
18:28But more than that, I think it's a literal wound, at least in Revelation it seems to
18:32be. Now what follows that in Zechariah chapter 12?
18:36What immediately follows that discourse is a
18:40prediction of a latter-day war.
18:44So let's look at this, chapter 12.
18:48Most expositors refer to Zechariah chapter 12 as the little apocalypse.
18:52In other words it's a miniature book of Revelation.
18:56"...the burden of the word of the Lord for Israel saith the Lord which stretcheth
19:00forth the heavens layeth the foundation of the earth and formeth the spirit of man within him.
19:04Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people
19:08of the land. They shall be moved round and round about, when they shall
19:12be in siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem."
19:16Okay, when's that going to happen?
19:20The nations being in siege against Judah and against Jerusalem.
19:24I'd say we are seeing at least the leading edge of it right now.
19:28Anytime you read the news out of the Middle East, what are you reading? Hamas and
19:32Fatah and the powers of the Western Alliance, the Europeans,
19:36the State Department has ordered Israel to what?
19:40Give up on Judea and Samaria. Just stop.
19:44Stop what you're doing and leave, and by the way
19:48leave East Jerusalem as well, because that's going to be the new capital of
19:52Palestine. So we're already seeing this
19:56happening. Jerusalem is a cup of trembling,
20:00actually in the Hebrew it's a cup of poison.
20:04A cup of poison unto all the people round about, when they shall be
20:08in siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem, and in that day
20:12will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. All that
20:16burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people
20:20of the earth shall be gathered together against it. This is going to
20:24be a progressive gathering. We're already seeing the leading edges of it.
20:28A moment ago we talked about Daniel's view, Daniel chapter 11
20:32talks about the Antichrist trying to seize power in Jerusalem
20:36and he goes up against the eastern and the northern enemy in order to do it
20:40and they come against him twice, but he finally secures the
20:44holy mountain. And he sets the tabernacles of his palace in the
20:48holy mountain. After some initial warfare
20:52Jerusalem is going to be a burdensome stone for
20:56all people. Now when it says all people it means
21:00all people. The battle of Armageddon
21:04which you see in the 19th chapter of Revelation in its final stage
21:08just before the second coming of Christ takes time to develop
21:12and the battle of Armageddon is simply one of a
21:16series of battles that begin, I believe, long before the tribulation.
21:20They rage at various times through the tribulation. There's one in the
21:24middle of the tribulation and there's one at the end of the tribulation.
21:28So when does Zechariah's battle take place?
21:32Zechariah 12, 3, in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for
21:36all people. The fourth verse, in that day
21:40saith the Lord, I'll smite every horse with astonishment and his rider with
21:44madness and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah and will smite every
21:48horse of the people with blindness.
21:52What does that mean? Well,
21:56if you're riding a horse and your horse goes blind
22:00you're in deep trouble. But
22:04I think this is figurative language because
22:08I think we've gone beyond the horse cavalry. We have the air cavalry now
22:12and all those Apache helicopters. We've got all kinds of cavalry.
22:16We've got cavalry that can come against you in a dozen
22:20different ways including missiles and aircraft and high-tech
22:24devices of all sorts. And
22:28apparently there's going to be an attack against Israel
22:32and all those high-tech devices are going to fail.
22:36The invader is going to be struck with blindness. Verse 5,
22:40and the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, the inhabitants of Jerusalem
22:44shall be my strength and the Lord of hosts their God.
22:48Hmm. At this point the leaders of Judah,
22:52the Jews, are going to get an idea.
22:56The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength and the
23:00Lord of hosts their God. Hey, they say,
23:04these governors of Judah. Maybe there is something to this God thing after
23:08all. Right now Israel does not have what we would call
23:12faith in God. There is a godly remnant in Israel, but the
23:16Israelis are a very secular people and they depend upon their own secular
23:20devices. They're very proud of their army and of their
23:24high-tech capabilities, their nuclear force and so forth.
23:28They depend upon that, not God. But during this battle
23:32the governors of Judah, in Hebrew the word for governor
23:36is eluf. What it says is elufim hayahuda,
23:40the secular governors of Judah.
23:44I talked to Gershon Solomon about this one time and I said, who are these
23:48governors? And he said these governors,
23:52term eluf he said, literally refers to a
23:56secular leader, like a high-ranking military official
24:00or it can refer to a member of Knesset.
24:04The people who are running the show in a secular way.
24:08These are not godly leaders. The word eluf literally means
24:12a secular leader. And so we know that we're talking
24:16about a situation such as exists in Israel right now.
24:20The governors of Judah do not trust the Lord. Take my word,
24:24they don't. You can study the history of modern Israel and I've talked
24:28with people who fought in the 1967 war. They fought in the
24:32Israeli army. They don't give credit to God at all. Well, Gershon Solomon
24:36does, but most of them say it was our superior military skill
24:40that won us the victory. Here we see a turn. Verse 6,
24:44take the governors of Judah, like a hearth of fire among the wood,
24:48like a torch of fire in a sheaf, setting fire to the enemy.
24:52This is a battle, and I believe it's the first
24:56battle. It is the first battle in a sequence of latter
25:00day battles. And I believe it perfectly correlates
25:04with the northern invasion. That is
25:08Gog invading from the north with an alliance.
25:12Remember in Ezekiel 38 and 39 Israel is
25:16the victor, hands down. And so here is
25:20the reason that Israel is the victor in that day, well I make the governors of Judah
25:24like a hearth of fire among the wood. The Israelis have nuclear
25:28capability, and by the way they have field-grade nuclear weapons as well as
25:32the big ones. And like a torch of fire in a sheaf, they
25:36shall devour all the people round about on the right hand and on the left, and Jerusalem shall be
25:40again in her own place even in Jerusalem. When the
25:44smoke clears Israel will have full possession of Jerusalem.
25:48There will be no contest at that time. And this is during
25:52the build-up. There is going to be a period
25:56which I believe is seven years long, it culminates at the middle
26:00of the tribulation which means it starts three and a half years prior to the
26:04tribulation, and that's what Zechariah's talking about. It's a period of time he's
26:08talking about. The Lord also, verse 7,
26:12"...shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of
26:16Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. And that day shall the Lord
26:20defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble among them at that day
26:24shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God and the
26:28angel of the Lord before them." It's going to be a divinely
26:32led military victory for Israel. It shall come to pass in that
26:36period that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against
26:40Jerusalem. Again, this sort of sets the stage.
26:44Zechariah shows this pattern. Zechariah has
26:48talked about the potter's field, the rejection of Christ. He's
26:52talked about Judas, and he transitions from Judas
26:56into the Antichrist they call the idle shepherd.
27:00Transitions from that into the battle of Jerusalem.
27:04And he says that Israel's going to be victorious in the battle of
27:08Jerusalem. That victory will set up the pattern that allows
27:12the Antichrist to fully come to power.
27:16Let's go to Jeremiah 30 and look at this same pattern.
27:20Jeremiah 30.
27:24Jeremiah 30
27:28talks about the restoration of Israel.
27:32Jeremiah from the Lord saying,
27:36"...thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write all the
27:40words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. For, lo, the day is come,
27:44saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people, Israel and Judah,
27:48saith the Lord, and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their
27:52fathers, and they shall possess it." And these are the words that the Lord
27:56spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. So notice
28:00how long has it been since Israel and Judah
28:04were together again as a single nation.
28:08722 B.C. was the last time.
28:12That's a long time ago. So we're talking about
28:16the future here, when Israel and Judah will be back again.
28:20But when Jeremiah says these are the words concerning the Lord that spake concerning Israel
28:24and concerning Judah, he's talking about all the tribes coming back.
28:28"...for thus saith the Lord, we have heard a voice trembling of fear, not of peace,
28:32ask ye now, and see whether a man doth
28:36travail with child." This is the figure of birth pains
28:40which Jesus used as a figure of the period
28:44just prior to the tribulation when Israel would be experiencing
28:48a series of pains, growth pains.
28:52"...ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child."
28:56Or have labor pains.
29:00"...wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in travail, and all
29:04faces are turned to paleness." So the figure here is
29:08that this return to the land is going to be
29:12accomplished through a series of pangs.
29:16And the way birth pains work is you don't have a constant pain, you have
29:20a pain, and then you have a pause, and then you have another pain,
29:24and the pains get closer together until the birth occurs.
29:28And that's why this figure is used. Verse 7
29:32says, "...alas, for that day is great, so that none
29:36is like it. It's even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be
29:40saved out of it." Remember back in Genesis
29:4432 when Jacob crossed the river Jabbok at night
29:48on his way back into the Holy Land,
29:52he was struck by a man at midnight, and he wrestled with this man
29:56until daybreak. And this man turned out to be the angel of the
30:00Lord. And in the process of
30:04gaining a promise from God concerning the land grant
30:08and concerning Jacob's own prophetic destiny,
30:12in the process of wrestling with the angel he was crippled.
30:16Well, that whole figure of Jacob wrestling with the angel
30:20is a figure that is later realized during the
30:24great tribulation when Jacob, who is Israel,
30:28Israel wrestles during the night.
30:32And wrestles with God, I might add. They wrestle
30:36against God during the tribulation period because
30:40during the first half they receive the Antichrist as the true
30:44shepherd when he's really the false shepherd. During the second half
30:48Jacob has to flee for his life to a hiding place for
30:52three and a half years. That's Jacob's trouble.
30:56It's a dark night of the soul, but in the end like Jacob
31:00their wrestling will yield a permanent blessing.
31:04They're going to be crippled in the process
31:08just like Jacob was crippled in the process, walked with a limp the rest of his
31:12life. And to this very day the Jews remember the
31:16sinew of Jacob. But the sinew of
31:20Jacob that was shrunken is a figure for Israel battling
31:24against God. In fact it's kind of an interesting thing about the name Israel. I was
31:28told by a native Israeli once, in fact I asked her
31:32what does the name Israel mean? She was a Hebrew grammarian and I said,
31:36what does the name Israel mean in Hebrew? And she said it means two things depending on how you
31:40interpret it. It means either for whom God fights
31:44or it means who fights God.
31:48It has both a positive and a negative meaning depending on how you translate it.
31:52Israel is the one for whom God fights, but also Israel is the one who
31:56fights against God. They are a nation with split
32:00personality. And this is the story of Israel.
32:04This split personality going down through the ages until it finally
32:08regains its identity. It shall come to pass
32:12that great in that day saith the Lord of hosts that I will break his yoke
32:16from off thy neck and will burst thy bonds
32:20and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him.
32:24Wow. Suppose that could be the
32:28Antichrist? But they shall serve the Lord their God
32:32and David their king whom I will raise up unto them.
32:36Therefore fear not thou O my servant Jacob saith the Lord neither be
32:40thou O Israel for lo I will save thee from afar
32:44and thy seed from the land of their captivity and Jacob shall return
32:48and shall be in rest and shall be quiet and none shall make him afraid.
32:52Now we can talk about all of chapter 30 of
32:56Jeremiah if we had the time, we don't. But I'm going to go right to
33:00the end of the last verse in Jeremiah 30.
33:04The fierce anger of the Lord, Jeremiah 30
33:08shall not return until he have done it.
33:12Until he have performed the
33:16intents of his heart in the latter days
33:20you shall consider it. Well, I'm convinced we're living in the latter days
33:24right now. In the Hebrew,
33:28the latter days.
33:32We can do a whole hour on the latter days. That's such a remarkable
33:36phrase. It appears so many times in the Old Testament.
33:40The latter days. In the latter days, in fact what it says
33:44it says,
33:48in the latter
33:52days you shall know it.
33:56It's what it really says. In the latter days you're going to
34:00understand what all this means.
34:04If you don't right now, says Jeremiah, but in the latter days
34:08you're going to understand what all this means. That very same
34:12phrase, by the way, is used in Ezekiel 38
34:1616. Let's turn to Ezekiel 38
34:20and conclude our study for this morning there, because
34:24whether you look at Jeremiah, Zechariah, Micah
34:28chapter 7, Zephaniah chapter 2,
34:32Abraham, Joel, I don't care who you look at
34:36you're going to find this pattern. And
34:40Ezekiel 38 of course talks about the northern invasion, but look at
34:4438 16 of Ezekiel. Ezekiel 38 16
34:48says, and thou, and thou being Gog
34:52and the northern alliance, thou shalt come up against
34:56my people of Israel as a cloud to cover the land, it shall be
35:00in the latter days. Baakarit, how you mean?
35:04Same identical phrase.
35:08Same identical phrase, in the latter days. I think we're living in the latter
35:12days right now. In the New Testament the term
35:16last days is used. And in the New Testament you see last
35:20days applied to the entire church age. John, for example,
35:24talks about these are the last days. Speaking of his own
35:28time. Last days being the age of the church
35:32from the time of the resurrection of Christ until the rapture, or from
35:36Pentecost until the rapture, if you want to be technical.
35:40Those are the last days. But the latter days
35:44speak of the period just prior to this incredible
35:48development of tensions on a global scale that at a
35:52certain point in time break over into outright warfare.
35:56Right now it's just not a question of whether, but of when this whole
36:00thing is going to pop loose. Ezekiel 38,
36:04the thing about Ezekiel 38 that's interesting is that it
36:08looks like today. It doesn't look like any time in the past.
36:12Ezekiel 38.8, for example, talks about
36:16Israel. Talks to Israel after many days,
36:20thou shalt be visited in the latter years.
36:24Now, here's a slight variation. The latter
36:28years, thou shalt come into the land that is brought
36:32back from the sword. Okay? When did the
36:36latter years begin? 1892, when
36:40the first aliyot, when the first Russians
36:44came, Russian Jews came back to Israel and founded
36:48Petah Tikva. And I mean it was worse than desert. It was
36:52bad. It was like the Mojave Desert, and these people had nothing to eat, nothing
36:56to drink, and three tents, and that was it. It was horrible.
37:00They came back in 1892. I think that that is the
37:04latter years described here. And after 1892
37:08there was another aliyah in 1895, and one in
37:121897, and several others. And as the Israelis came
37:16back they turned a desert into southern California
37:20basically. Became the fruit bowl for Europe.
37:24After many days thou shalt be visited, in the latter years thou shalt come back
37:28into the land that is brought back from the sword. Well, whose symbol is the
37:32sword, by the way? Islam. The sword of
37:36Islam. Here's a nation that was under
37:40the jurisdiction of a caliphate for years and years and
37:44years since the 9th century. One caliphate or another. In other words,
37:48Israel was under the control of the sword until
37:52the first Zionist Congress. 1897, the Balfour Declaration
37:56in 1917, the UN Declaration of 1947,
38:00statehood in 1948, the latter years.
38:04So Ezekiel's prophecy looks like today.
38:08Gathered out of many people which is against the mountains of Israel which have always been
38:12waste, well, there you go. For centuries Israel was
38:16under the jurisdiction of a caliphate,
38:20but it's brought forth out of the nations and they shall dwell
38:24safely, all of them. And again, I've said many times
38:28but it's worth repeating that that word safely is a translation of the
38:32Hebrew batach, which means to dwell with a
38:36false sense of security. That is the literal meaning of that
38:40term. And I have it on high Hebrew authority
38:44that that word batach, translated safely, should say
38:48but it's brought forth out of the nations and they shall dwell with a
38:52false sense of security, all of them. Which is
38:56exactly, by the way, what they're doing. That really typifies
39:00Israel today. Speaking of Gog,
39:04verse 9, "...thou shalt ascend, come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the
39:08land, thou and all thy bands, many people with thee."
39:12Now, this is several years prior to the
39:16tribulation, in my opinion.
39:20I think several years prior to the
39:24tribulation. Let's just say five years,
39:28just to be arbitrary before the tribulation.
39:32"...thou shalt ascend, come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land,
39:36thou and all thy bands, many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord God,
39:40thou shalt ascend, come like a storm, come like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands,
39:44many people with thee. And thou shalt think an evil
39:48thought, and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled
39:52villages, I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely."
39:56Same word, batach. Having a false sense of security.
40:00"...all of them dwelling without walls, having neither bars nor gates."
40:04It looks like today. And we get to
40:08various caliphates and emirates of the Arabs, Sheba and
40:12Dedan. Sheba is the northern territory of the sons of Ishmael,
40:16Dedan is the southern territory. Sheba the northern, Dedan the southern.
40:20So that encompasses all of the Arab world and the merchants of
40:24Tarshish would be the western alliance. England, America,
40:28Europe, etc. Shalt say art thou come to take a
40:32spoil. So even the battle lines look like today. And again we
40:36have the word safely in verse 14, therefore son of man prophesy
40:40say unto God, thus saith the Lord God in that day
40:44when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
40:48So that sets it up. Again, prior to the tribulation
40:52the Antichrist is not mentioned here at all. He's not a
40:56factor yet. In Revelation the four horsemen of the apocalypse
41:00riding forth, remember he rides forth as a conquering one
41:04with the intention to further conquer. Which puts
41:08this and the four horsemen at the same time period
41:12and the Antichrist is not even a thought at that time.
41:16As you read on in this prophecy, Ezekiel 38, 17
41:20thus saith the Lord God, art thou he of
41:24whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel
41:28which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee
41:32against them. In other words it's not just Ezekiel, it's
41:36many of the prophets have prophesied of the northern invader.
41:40And we've looked at some of them. Verse 18, shall come to pass
41:44now this is very interesting. It shall come to pass at the
41:48same time when God shall come against the land of Israel
41:52saith the Lord God that my fury shall come up in my face. This
41:56corresponds I think to the riding forth of the four horsemen
42:00in Revelation. It's not quite the tribulation yet
42:04not yet, but it's phase one
42:08of the battle. Phase two of the battle is seen in
42:12chapter 39 of Ezekiel where the battle becomes global in nature.
42:16Magog which is the land of greater
42:20Russia used to be called the Soviet Union. Ezekiel
42:2439, 6 says I will send a fire on Magog and among them that dwell
42:28fearlessly in the isles. Now those would be all the continents so
42:32at this point the battle takes on a global scale
42:36and they shall know that I am the Lord. But look at the
42:40verses that follow, 7 and 8. So I'll make my
42:44holy name known amidst of my people Israel. I'll not let them pollute my holy
42:48name anymore. The heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the holy one of Israel. The
42:52heathen being the Gentiles. Behold, this is key right
42:56here. Verse 8 of Ezekiel 39, it is come
43:00and it is done, saith the Lord God, this is the
43:04day whereof I have spoken. So finally at this point the
43:08day of the Lord begins right here. And it's exactly like
43:12it is in Revelation. You have the battle, you have the developing battle,
43:16you have all kinds of death and earthquake, famine, pestilence, who knows
43:20what all, but it's not the tribulation yet.
43:24It's the sixth. That doesn't happen until the sixth seal is opened. So this
43:28thing opens in a progressive fashion. Ezekiel
43:32shows the same pattern. It starts with an invasion,
43:36the invasion develops to a global level. And verse 8
43:40says at this point, it's come, it's done,
43:44saith the Lord God, this is the day whereof I have spoken.
43:48Verse 9, and they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall
43:52go forth, shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields, the
43:56bucklers, the bows and arrows, and the hand staves and the spears,
44:00and they shall burn them with fire seven years. They do this
44:04in the land of Israel. And if we take this literally, which I do,
44:08the burning of the weapons of the enemy takes seven literal
44:12years. This means since Israel is only
44:16in the land for the first three and a half years of the tribulation, at the
44:20end of the tribulation they're scattered again. They're driven into a hiding place
44:24for another three and a half years. That means that this seven years begins
44:28three and a half years before the tribulation. Which means the battle of Ezekiel
44:32begins before that. Maybe as much as
44:36five or six years before the tribulation.
44:40But the one thing I wanted you to see before we go any farther is that
44:44there is a very distinct, an extremely
44:48distinct pattern of development prior to the tribulation.
44:52Turn to Revelation and we'll close.
44:56In Revelation
45:00you have a very well-known pattern. In Revelation you have
45:04chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3
45:08talking about the age of the church. You have chapter
45:124 and chapter 5 showing the church in Heaven. Chapter 6
45:16showing the great battle opening up. Well you don't have to be a rocket
45:20scientist to see the pattern all the way through the Old Testament.
45:24The pattern is church age, church in Heaven,
45:28great battle, day of the Lord. And you see that
45:32over and over again. You see it in Zechariah, Isaiah chapter
45:3626, Zephaniah chapter 2, just over and over and
45:40over. You see that pattern. I think we right now
45:44have a pattern visible in Revelation chapter 3, verse 7,
45:48to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,
45:52these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David,
45:56he that openeth and no man shutteth, shutteth and no man openeth.
46:00That would be the effective church of the latter days.
46:04I know thy works. Behold I have set before thee an open door and no man can
46:08shut it. For thou hast a little strength, hast kept my word, hast not
46:12forsaken me. Behold I will make them of the synagogue of Satan,
46:16which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie.
46:20Behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have
46:24loved thee. One quick footnote, what's the problem of the church?
46:28The church is split right down the middle between that part of the church that
46:32believes that it will be taken to Heaven prior to
46:36the kingdom age, and that part of the church which believes
46:40the great majority of theology today
46:44believes in replacement theology. It believes
46:48that the kingdom will go to the church, not to the Jews.
46:52It is that that is referenced here. Behold I will make them of the synagogue
46:56of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold I will
47:00make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee.
47:04Those factions of the church which claim
47:08the rights that have been granted to Israel are going to be
47:12set straight one of these days. Because thou
47:16hast kept the word of my patience, I'll also keep thee from the hour of
47:20testing, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the
47:24earth. Behold, I come quickly. And that one
47:28where Jesus says, behold I come quickly, I think is a reference to the rapture of the church.
47:32Boom. Quickly. Incalculably swiftly.
47:36Hold that fast which thou hast. Let no man take thy
47:40crown. In other words, don't give up the faith. Keep
47:44the faith. Keep the blessed hope. Keep the fires
47:48burning. Don't give up and compromise what you believe
47:52because it's difficult. Him that overcometh will I make
47:56a pillar in the temple of my God. He shall go no more out. I'll write upon him
48:00the name of my God, the name of the city of my God which is New Jerusalem
48:04which cometh down out of heaven from my God
48:08and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear
48:12let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.