Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
A song begins in heaven, more sweet and loud to him, that cleansed our sins by his atoning blood. To Him we sing in joyful strain Beyond her power, and praise all in #8 hole.
Unusual.
Again, I make it as a significant.
They had on it.
Several times in the last few months there have been questions raised with me, both from those gathered to the Lord's name and also from others.
About the Kingdom, the coming Kingdom, the earthly Kingdom, and how it all fits in with you and with me.
And there do seem to be.
Questions and perhaps even a slight bit of confusion on the subject at times. And also we know that there is that in that chapter, which is very much for our hearts and our consciences, bringing the forests, of course, the imminence of these things and how soon they can come to pass.
We don't need to spend excessive time on the little details, but.
I suggest that the chapter is a profitable one and.
I wonder what my brethren would think of at least taking it up for one meeting and more as the Lord may lead.
It's very timely.
Brother Bill, were you thinking of the entire chapter?
Well, it is. It is rather long, but if we could perhaps read the entire chapter to start with John, if that would be OK, and then see how things go. But it's nice to get what we get at the end of the chapter if we can take the time to read it.
John, would you mind coming up to a microphone? It might help too. Thanks.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
And Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See not all these things. Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives.
Disciples came unto him privately saying, Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled.
00:05:17
For all these things must come to pass.
But the end is not yet for nation shall rise against nation, and Kingdom against Kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes and divers places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you off to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and you should be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another.
And shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure under the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. And then shall the end come, when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation.
Spoken of by Daniel the Prophet. Stand in the holy place. Whoso readeth, let him understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. But him which is on the House top not come down to take anything out of his house either. Let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes, and woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.
But pray that your flight may not in the winter either on the Sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time no, nor ever shall be. And accept those days should be shortened. There should no flesh be saved before the elect's sake. Those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo hears Christ, or there believe it not.
For there shall arise false Christ and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very election. Behold, I've told you before, Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert, go not. For behold, He is in the secret chambers, believe or not. Whereas the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even under the West.
So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be, for wheresoever the carcass is, thither will the Eagles be gathered together.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together as elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves. Ye know that summer is 9 So like Why ye, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation cannot pass to all these things be fulfilled. Have an inertial pass away, but my word shall not pass away.
But on that day and hour, no, no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were social, also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, social also the coming of the Son of Man be.
Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you know now what hour your Lord does come. But know this, that if the Goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched. He would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
00:10:24
Therefore be also ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat and due season. Blessed is that servant whom is Lord when he come and shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that He shall make him ruler over all his goods.
But, and if that's our evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken the Lord, that servant shall come in a day when he looking not for him.
And in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall caught him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, there should be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Doesn't I'm asking the question, doesn't this whole chapter, this entire chapter refer to a time after the church is raptured to heaven?
It's not now, but it's then. After we're gone between the two comings, first the Lord will come for us, and then He'll come with us to set up His Kingdom. Is that correct?
Yes, I believe so on.
We should be hearing it from you though, Brother Chuck, not asking us whether it's correct or not.
But my thought was just this, that very definitely this chapter does in its large measure apply to future blessing in Israel. And so it does take place after the Lord comes.
But the moral condition of things that will exist at that time, you and I are surrounded with them today.
And I believe, and others can correct me, but I have often appreciated this, that God in His Word sometimes gives us something which in its direct application belongs to another group of people. And yet He puts it there because the moral lesson that is to be learned is applicable to us too. One quick example, for example, in Philippians 3.
It talks about those whose God is their belly, who mind earthly things, and it says their end is destruction.
That clearly speaks of an unbeliever, but it is put there in an epistle written to believers in order that we might lay hold of that, because we too can be taken up with the things of this life and be taken up with selfish motives, and so on.
And so I suggest here that it on one hand provides us with a clear picture of the Lord Jesus dealing with this world.
With the ultimate end of taking his rightful place. We had that before us in the hymn that was given out at the prayer meeting. We had it before us in one sense in the hymn that was given out at the beginning of this meeting. Although the heavenly side of things more but here is the Lord Jesus about to have his rightful place and the various conditions of things that exist in the world that lead up to that so that perhaps it would be.
An opportunity to get clear in our hearts.
What the Kingdom is and how the Lord is going to take it, and yet at the same time to realize that.
The moral character of things that is described here, you and I are experiencing now. And we can take to heart especially what is at the end of the chapter, because that applies to us as well as to those in the coming day. Interesting that you say it's the blessing not only of this world, but with Israel in view. And I think in that connection, it's helpful to see the the context of this 24th and 25th chapter of Matthew.
00:15:16
Because if we were to back up to the previous chapter, we would find at the end of the chapter that the Lord Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. The rejection of his own was sealed, so to speak. It had really culminated. And now the Lord Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and he says to them, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. He says that they're not going to see him until they say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, and he goes out of the temple, and he departs from Jerusalem.
The doom of Jerusalem and this nation in that way was sealed. But isn't it beautiful then, that between that and His agony in the garden, and ultimately His going to the cross, He takes up this subject here to show that this is not the end of the story? That in spite of the fact that He'd come unto His own, and His own received Him, not in spite of the fact that they rejected Him there, was going to be on the grounds of pure sovereign grace?
Blessing for that very guilty nation. And so Israel is going to be blessed in a coming day, not on the grounds that they he sought to bless them on in the Old Testament or even in the Gospels, but they're going to be blessed on the grounds of pure sovereign grace.
Think it's encouraging because if these chapters were not inserted here by the Spirit of God, what we have at the end of the 23rd chapter is a very bleak picture. If that was the end of Israel's history, we'd say, oh, how very sad, they'll never be blessed again. But brethren, there is a day coming when there's going to be the shout of a king amongst them. They are going to say, blessed be the name of the Lord. They're going to receive Him after their national and individual repentance. They're going to receive him as the king and the Messiah is going to be amongst them.
It's going to be a glorious day of brethren to think that Jerusalem is going to be the metropolis of the world someday, not Washington, DC, not Paris or London or Ottawa, but Jerusalem is going to be the center of everything. And a king is going to reign in righteousness and Princess shall rule in judgment. So it's very beautiful in connection with what Bill said, to see the context of this, these chapters, they're between the doom of Israel, the rejection of Israel.
He weeps over them, he says your house is lefty a desolate, and then he goes on to the cross.
But he doesn't go to the cross, He doesn't leave them without giving them this wonderful instruction and these prophetic words that there is a future day of blessing. Brother Jeff, do we not have here? 3 The Lord speaking to three different groups of classes of people. First, Israel.
The tribes of Israel, and then the Gentiles, and then finally Saints of God, you and me. And then we get into the 25th chapter.
Which is the picture of the church gone to sleep?
Am I right in thinking that the 1St 2 verses really?
Are the destruction of the temple at the time of Titus. So that is really in the church period, but it's from verse three on that really is what you were mentioning, Chuck, is the time of the tribulation period. Is that right?
The verse.
In chapter 12 of Genesis.
Is a very, very important verse when you're thinking of the nation Israel. God spoke to Abraham and just read one verse.
Verse two of chapter 12, the Lord said, I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. Well, that's really what's coming up.
After the tribulation period, but after we're gone in the seven-year tribulation period and the Lord Jesus descends with the Church, with his Saints, and sets up his Kingdom, so there Israel will be the leading nation, Christ will be the Messiah and ruling the entire world.
And it will be Israel, restored to blessings for the millennial day, won't it?
00:20:06
I think it is important that point because covenant theology.
Teaches that the church has replaced Israel and that Israel God's done with Israel. But that is not the case according to the dispensational teaching. We have it very clear in Scripture that Israel will again be the head of the nations, and through Israel in the earthly picture, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. But what I think is important to see in this chapter, brethren, it's not exactly.
Israel's blessing that is contemplating, contemplated. It's the breaking down of that stubborn resistance and that people to mortal anguish.
That when the Lord Jesus comes and they see him, and they say, what are those wounds in my hand? And they recognize him when they accept him, when they repent, and then they will be restored to blessing, as you were mentioning, on the basis of God's sovereign grace.
But really, Israel has been terribly persecuted through the ages, and the worst is still ahead for Israel. The most awful time of judgment is just ahead.
This chapter clearly shows us that.
Israel, according to the teaching you just mentioned, Bob, Israel is not going to be replaced by the church. Israel will be restored in a in this coming day, but it'll go through terrible trials before tribulation before that comes to pass. And that's what it will take to bring them to the end of themselves.
Sometimes thought about it because you think, as you say, of all that they've been through since they cried at the the trial of the Lord, his blood be on us and on our children. And we think of all the persecution and the suppression that Israel has suffered, but it hasn't brought Israel as a nation to the end of themselves yet. And when you look at the Middle East today and you scan the headlines, you realize that Israel is a nation is still trying to bring about blessing and peace by their own devices.
They have not come to themselves to the end of themselves yet. They're still by peace packs and summits and negotiations and.
Lining up with the United States and the allied forces and so on. They're still trying to bring about the blessing, but God will have to pass them through the circumstances of the tribulation to bring them to the point where they realize that they cannot do it.
They cannot do it in themselves. They cannot do it with the help of superpowers or other nations, friends and allies.
And I say it's blood flowing in the streets up to the horse's bridle that's going to bring them to that point. So difficult, so severe are going to be the circumstances that Israel passes through that it says that but for the elects sake, those days shall be shortened or else all flesh would perish. That's what it's going to take to bring them to individual, national and individual repentance. But I would like to just echo what Chuck said at the beginning or what he asked and what was answered. And that is.
As we embark on this chapter, we want to be very clear in our minds.
That when he speaks of the signs of his coming here, they asked him what are the signs of, of his coming when he speaks of this. They are signs in connection with his appearing. They are signs in connection with what is going to take place after the rapture. And if you'll just allow me to say a word on that, because I believe that one of the great confusions in Christian circles today is the Lord's coming for his Saints, what we refer to as the rapture.
And the Lord's coming with his Saints, what we refer to as the appearing, is often confused and sometimes actually mixed together so that it leads to all kinds of confusion even as to the responsibility and calling of the church and their hopes and so on in this dispensation. But the there are really in a sense, no signs of the Lord's coming for his Saints, the rapture.
00:25:00
Paul, when he said we which are alive and remain, he was speaking at that point of himself and the Thessalonian believers, they were looking for the Lord Jesus to come at the rapture at any moment. There's never been anything, brethren, that needed to take place for the Lord Jesus.
To give the shout and call us home. What we do see and have our signs connected with that time when prophetic events are going to begin to unfold again here in this world. And ultimately the Lord Jesus is going to appear back in this world for the blessing of Israel and for the blessing of the nations, for the blessing of this whole world. Now, we do see signs today, but are they signs connected with the rapture? Not really, no.
There are signs connected with what is going to take place after the church is gone.
If there were signs connected with the rapture, there would have been something down through the ages to delay in the minds of believers. The Lords coming. My Father was looking for the Lord Jesus to come at any moment. The early brethren were looking for the Lord Jesus to come at any moment. But I do believe this, brother, that the closer we get to the rapture, the more we begin to see signs of what are going to take place.
After, let me use a little illustration that's helped me. Suppose I decide I flew to Saint Louis this time. But suppose I'm driving to Saint Louis, as many of you did.
And we'll suppose that my wife has come ahead and she has agreed to meet me 20 miles outside the city limits of Saint Louis. Now, as I drive towards Saint Louis, what do I see? I see signs that I'm getting close to Saint Louis. The road signs say Saint Louis 100 miles, St. Louis, 50 miles. If I'm driving at night, I see the urban glow of the city in the sky as I approach.
Another sign might be that the traffic picks up, the lanes of the highway become more.
And all those kinds of things that the area becomes more built up. But what am I really looking forward to? I'm looking forward to meet my wife 10 miles out of Saint Louis. But a sign that says Saint Louis 50 miles encourages me that it's only 40 miles to the point where I'm going to meet my wife. The urban glow in the sky or the build up of traffic or lanes of Hwy. encourage me that I'm more. I'm getting closer to the point.
Where I'm going to meet my wife, although what I'm really don't forget the arch and the arch, yes, the arch, but the more I see of those signs, those are signs of not where I'm going to meet my wife. There are signs of what is coming. After I meet my wife, I'm going to pick her up and we're going to come to Saint Louis together.
But what I'm seeing are signs of what is beyond the point, the rest stop or the area where I'm going to meet my wife and brethren. That's in a sense helps us to understand. We see signs that encourage us as to the appearing of Christ and what is going to unfold after we're gone. But what are we really looking forward to? We're looking forward to the rapture, but don't those signs encourage us that the rapture must be very, very close?
Just as those Rd. signs and things encourage me that I'm getting close to that point, brethren.
When these things that we rehab here unfold, we're going to be with Christ. When the heavens open up to reveal Him and He comes back to reign and set up the Kingdom, we're going to be with Christ there. Something has to take place before now. Brethren, do we love His appearing? And I'll just make this one final comment. The Lord's coming for his Saints and the Lord's coming with his Saints really are, in a sense, so interconnected in Titus that they are part of our hope, looking for that blessed hope.
That's the moment when he's going to give the shout and call us away. But it doesn't stop there. And the glorious appearing. The two things are really what we ought to be anticipating and looking for seven years apart. I have another question.
In our prayer meetings we pray for China and India and Europe and though the whole world. Mostly we're thinking about Gentile, though gentile world.
I very seldom hear anyone in our prayer meetings, including myself, pray for Israel.
00:30:06
Pray for the Jews. But if we pray for the Jews, it would be with the thought that they might come now to see that Jesus is the true Messiah and receive him, and then they'll be a part of the church. But what should be our attitude? This is a legitimate question, and I don't know how to answer it exactly.
What should be our attitude towards this day when Israel will finally.
Be brought into its blessing. We know that that can't take place until after we're gone. Someone have a thought on that Till we come back too. And we'll come back to. Yeah, But I mean, we, you don't. In our prayer meetings, we hardly hear anyone pray for Israel. Is that wrong? I'm asking, is that wrong or is it right? As a nation, they've been set aside and said, say, under this mountain, be cast into the sea. And they are cast into the sea.
So as a nation, they're just like one of the other Gentile nations as far as the gospel is concerned. A Jew is saved the same way as a Frenchman or a German is today, and there is no distinct acknowledgment of them as a nation. They've been set aside. And so we do pray for Jews the way we pray for Frenchmen and Indians and Chinese, as you said. But nationally, somebody said, friends of Israel, you know, they're trying to breed a red heifer and they're trying to rebuild the temple and so on. An Orthodox Jew said, some friend, you are, you're going to build a temple so we can have sacrifices and trigger the great tribulation upon ourselves.
Because really, they're there in unbelief right now, and we preach the gospel and thankfully we do meet Jews that are saved.
But I was just thinking this in connection with this, our brother Don spoke and really Job is a picture, is a figure of the Jew and the tribulation that they're going to go through. And there's a lesson for us in it because in the book of Esther, you see that in an outward way, the Gentile bride did not adorn herself for the king. And so he takes up with the Jewish bride and with Israel. Everything is temporal. And we see in that a picture.
Just as I have a picture of my wife, we may have a picture of our wedding. It's a picture of a relationship that the world has never seen in a public way in this earth in connection with the church. And so he's going to deal with Israel so that if for 1000 years there will be a people on this earth that will display something of his thoughts towards men here on this earth.
And the appearing as our brother Jim referred to will bring a satisfaction to the heart of the believer because.
Man praise thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We go into a store and we hear the Lord profane. We see laws passed that are really contrary to the word of God. And the thought of the fact that the Lord is going to be honored in this world where he was cast out and rejected really does rejoice our hearts. And the rapture is not enough, if I may put it that way, to do that. But to see that the Lord will be honored here where he is dishonored really brings joy to the heart of the believer and the heart of God is really not going to be enough to God just to have.
His children home at the rapture in the Father's house. What God is really looking forward to is the full exaltation and vindication of His Son on the planet where they cast him out. But I would just say this too in connection with Chuck's question. I don't believe it's an intelligent prayer or in Christian character for a Christian to pray thy Kingdom come when the Lord Jesus taught the disciples to pray that.
He gave them a prayer that was suited to their condition and position at that time.
They were still under the Jewish order of things. The king had perhaps not been fully rejected then, and so he taught them as Jews to pray thy Kingdom come for us. In this dispensation. We're to pray for kings and all that are in authority, that we might live peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty, recognizing that in the interim of the King's rejection, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Most High, ruleth in the kingdoms of man and setteth up the basest of men in the kingdoms of men.
However, we are to love his appearing and I believe in our souls what we need to rejoice in.
And look forward to with anticipation is the fact that the Lord Jesus is going to have his rightful place here in this world. We go to work Oregon school. We hear the name of Christ taken in vain cursed in cursing. We see the Bible and prayer removed from the schools. We see that Christ is still rejected. We hear his name in vain as I say, but ought to rejoice our hearts brethren is to think there's a day when the Lord Jesus is going to have his rightful place and if.
00:35:20
There is open sin and rebellion if his name is openly taken in vain, he's going to to deal with that morning by morning that's loving is appearing, entering into the fact that there's a day coming when the heart of God and the heart of the Lord Jesus are going to be satisfied and rejoice when that blessed one has his rightful place. He has it in heaven today, but he does not have it on earth yet. And so we don't pray for the Kingdom that was a that was Jewish.
A Jewish prayer, but we are to love his appearing and look forward to it with anticipation. Is that right, Bob?
In a certain way where we are longing for his Kingdom to college, yes, and I would say Chuck verse that's I hear quoted quite often about praying for the Jewish people is pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
We know that there cannot be peace there until they recognize the Prince of Peace, until they repent of their terrible sin of having rejected him so.
In a certain sense, we know that it's going to take to the end of the Tribulation before there's peace in Jerusalem. There cannot be until that time. So really that we can't pray exactly for the peace of Jerusalem right now, but we can pray for that. People like you say pray for the gospel going out to those people that they would repent. But I think it is.
Important to see that. I'd like to say too that in this.
Question of the Lord's coming to take us home. The Rapture Scripture speaks.
Quite seldom about it. It's something that's revealed in the New Testament. It is not spoken of at all in the Old Testament. The rapture does not appear in this chapter. Sometimes where one is taking another left is quoted as the rapture. That is not the rapture. That is the appearing when he comes and roots out, and those that are taken are taken away in judgment.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. But on the other hand, the appearing.
Is something that Scripture probably speaks more about than any other.
Time in the history of this world. The Old Testament is full of it. Enoch knew about it.
And Scripture is full of it. And I think it's because, brethren.
Really thinking about it, I don't think in the whole history of this world there's going to be a time from the creation to the end of this world when there will be a greater display of power and glory than when Jesus comes again to reign with his Saints. I think that's going to be the vastest display of power and glory and that interests us.
As believers in the Lord Jesus, we look forward to that day. And as you said, Jim.
We wait not only for that blessed hope, the rapture, but we also wait for the glorious appearing or the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. God is going to glorify his Son. He's going to make Him number one man in the whole universe, and it's going to be outwardly evident. Every eye shall see him.
Tremendous to think, brethren, that we're going to be eyewitnesses of that moment. Tremendous.
Read the last verse in the New Testament.
To the last two verses, he which testified this Revelation 22.
He which testifieth these things saith, This is the Lord speaking. Surely I come quickly. Amen. What's the response? Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Now we're waiting for Him to come for us to take us home. But are we not waiting for Him to come back to set up His Kingdom? Could that not embrace both?
00:40:02
That Brother Chuck, I've heard people say, and I think what you say is helpful because I've heard people say, well, why should I be interested in prophecy or what's going to unfold after the Rapture? It really doesn't affect us, but it does affect us. We are going to be eyewitnesses of this. We're going to have a part when he finally comes back to administer the Kingdom. Be thou over 5 cities, be thou over 10 cities. We're going to have a part in that administration.
We're going to stand with the Lord Jesus as his, as his bride and as his wife, as the Church of God. And so it does. Let me use another illustration. I was in business for many years and we'll suppose that I come home from the office and I say to my wife in those days, and I said to my wife, you know, we're going to make some changes at the office. I remember when we moved our location and well, suppose I came home and said, now, Faye, we're going to move our location and we're going to be more central and downtown. And I think it's.
A better location, we have a bigger shop behind and so on. And we'll suppose my wife held up her hands and said, now Jim.
I'm not interested in what goes on in the office. My sphere is the home here. And I'm just interested that you come home at 6:00 every night and we enjoy time together and you help with the children and you supply the needs and you bring the paycheck home. And that's my interest in my sphere.
Now, how would I feel? Wouldn't I feel very disappointed? Why? I'd say what happens at the office does ultimately affect what happens at home. No. When I came home from the office and discussed things, my wife was very interested in what went on at the office. And brethren, it's true that we are going to view things from a heavenly perspective in that day as the bride of Christ, as his wife, but it is going to affect us.
And if it has to do with God's interests and the full exaltation of his Son, if it has to do with the Lord Jesus coming back and having his rightful place.
On this globe where they spit in His face and cast Him out, then oughtened it to interest us as well. But will you let me just say this too? And I don't want to belabor something, but brethren, I believe it's important because I've heard Christians say too. Now, isn't it interesting to see prophetic events unfolding today? Brethren? God, as it were, has His finger on the prophetic clock. The hands of the prophetic clock. The prophetic clock has stopped for the time being.
God in the this interim is calling out a heavenly people for himself. And what we see, as we said earlier, are signs that lead to when the prophetic clock will start ticking again. But the prophetic clock is not ticking today. God, I say, is calling out a heavenly people. Another illustration. Suppose we go to A to a Opera House. We'll say for the sake of illustration.
And we're going to see a production now as we sit in the Opera House.
We see things that.
Indicate that the production, the time for the production to begin, is getting close. The orchestra begins to tune their instruments in the orchestra pit. You hear a hustle and bustle behind the curtain. At the last minute. The house lights are dim. But you wouldn't say the production began until the curtain went up. And so, brethren, we're probably right at the point where the house lights are dimmed now.
There on the eve of the Lord's return. But the things are not going to begin to unfold prophetically on this earth until the church goes up. Just like the curtain going up and then the production begins. You see signs that it's going to begin, but not until we go up will prophetic events begin to unfold. We are not seeing prophecy unfold today on the in this earth.
They already are in the Kingdom, aren't we? But the Kingdom today, if you look at Matthew chapter 13, there's a word used in connection with the Kingdom that shows the character of it now.
Matthew chapter 13 and verse 11 it says.
He answered and said unto them, That's his disciples, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom is today in mystery. The king is absent, is rejected, and his subjects, those that recognize his authority, are often persecuted and killed. The Kingdom is in mystery, but we are already part of that Kingdom.
00:45:13
There's another word that's used in connection with it that I think helps to see in Revelation chapter one.
Revelation chapter one and verse 9 says I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, there's three words that relate to Jesus Christ there. Not only the Kingdom, but tribulation and patience. That's the character of the Kingdom today.
But when Jesus comes again, it's going to have the character of power and glory, and that's what we're talking about in this chapter.
The burden was expressed that moral lessons would be drawn from this. It was just thinking as the Lord spoke about the temple and not one stone would be left upon another. I believe there is a moral lesson that we can draw from this and that in the disciples expectation was the immediate appearance of the Kingdom, and the Lord was just opening up to their understanding that that was not to be so. But as believers in this dispensation we may be looking for something great and permanent to be established now.
And it is not to be.
And you look at all of the Lord's faithful ministry, and how many were there believers at the end of that 500 we read in First Corinthians 15. And of that 500, how many were waiting in that upper room at Pentecost? 120 A small minority, 1/4 of them.
And so we're not to expect people say, well, the Lord will come when we've evangelized the world. Well, I believe that the Great Commission was accomplished in the days of the apostles and those who know anything about India or China or the far reaches of the earth. There's evidence that the gospel was very much gone out in the days of the apostles. We're not looking for the evangelization of the world for the Lord to come. We're not looking for the building of something because in an outward way, everything is going to be broken down.
And we may become very disappointed if we go back to our assembly where there were once 100 and now there's only 20, or maybe there's down to two or three. And we what we're seeing in an outward way is a breakdown. But we realize when we read Peter that God is doing a work. He's building a temple. There's no flaws in the work that God is doing, and it's going to be complete when the last stone is added. But in an outward way, there's a breakdown. And then there's a second thing that Christians become very occupied with.
Is wars and rumors of wars, how many believers have gotten taken up with Y2K or something going to happen? And they get buying freeze dried chicken and distilled water and stocking it up in their basements and becoming carried away in every wind of doctrine and terrified by what is happening and the Lord. Somebody once said when all this was Y2K business was going on, He said the Lord was asleep in the boat and we should be too.
There is a time at which we should be concerned about things and there are times about things about which we ought not to be concerned. And so the Lord tells them, like the apostle, he said, you know, he said after my departure, grievous wolves are going to come in. But what did they weep about? That they would see Pauls face no more. They weren't weeping about the grievous wolves coming in. And here the Lord is warning them that false Christs were going to come, and his man concerned about false doctrine and false Christs.
He's concerned about wars and rumors of wars.
And he's gotten taken up with things and so much so that Christians are involved in becoming involved in politics and trying to set the world straight. And what ought to be really our concern and the burden of our hearts is the fact is, as we've said, that this is not, we're living in the foreshadowing of these things, but these things are happening in our day that we are just being inundated with false doctrine and false representations of Christ. And that's what ought to concern us, not the wars and rumors of wars and the price of oil and what's going to happen to the price of gold.
We hate to be intelligent bystanders, but not overwhelmed by what's going on. And I believe the way we can be intelligent bystanders as to world events and what's going on and yet not overwhelmed is to realize the truth of a chapter like this. And that is that there is one who's in full control. The Lord Jesus speaks of these events prophetically. He know. He knows what's going to unfold. He knows what's happening Today I said at 9:11, there's no surprises with God.
00:50:20
The United States was surprised, the world was shocked, was God shocked? God had a perfect timetable. God allowed man only to go so far. Is that a comfort to us? Yes. We we're concerned. We need to walk circumspectly and carefully in the day in which we live and have discernment of the times. But brethren, we don't need to be overwhelmed. The most high rule within the kingdoms of men, and there's a day that's behind the scenes and there's a day coming when he's going to rule outwardly.
I enjoy the thought that Jim had early on about meeting his wife. I'm sure that when they make plans as such that it was a plan precisely He knew when to expect her, where to expect her, but we find the word of God. You just talked for us, doesn't it? It's written for our learning is written for our comforts too. So we see all these is written for us. We find that from the very early as our brother. I think brother Bob mentioned how the word of God through our Old Testament.
Tells us the appearing in fact, as we go through the word of God, we find that he gives us this overall framework of what things are to happen. We'll find perhaps let's turn to just a couple of quick example here. Let's go to Genesis chapter 8.
Place that we more likely wouldn't turn to, to look at that as the sign of perhaps of an out of an outline of what is to come. Genesis chapter 8 when we know this chapter as the chapter about the flood and about the ark. Just for times sake, I'm going to read a couple of verses here. Genesis 8 verse four and the ark rested in the seventh month.
On the 17th day of the month upon the mountains of Ararat. Now one more verse, verse 13. And it came to pass in the 600 and 601St year. Now here's the portion of my heart. And in the first month, the first day of the month, the water dried up from off the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the art and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dried.
We read it casual, it will say, well, what is that got to deal with prophetic pictures here. Well, we find that the 17th day of the month we were going to live it Chapter 23 that would coincide with the feast of the first fruit. It speaks of resurrection. Well prior to this scene was death was is isn't it death and resurrection has to come into play. And then at the end of the second portion that we ran off the first month, the first day. Well, we matched that up with the book of Leviticus.
Will find us the Feast of the Trumpet. The Feast of the Trumpet tells us that how Israel is going to be awakening if we were to go through the 70s, which we won't have time to go through. We see that death and resurrection comes in. Then we see that after resurrection there was the Feast of weeks, a picture of the church being formed 50 days after, but more is the 7th Sabbath and a moral after. Well there's a picture of the church.
But the Church is really in for a short while, and then after that period would be the Jews being restored. We see the feasts of the first of the Trumpet, and then the Feast of the Tabernacle of the Atonement, and then the Feast of the Tabernacles speak of how the Jews being brought back into blessings in the future deed. The Lord tells us that throughout His word. Now we're here here in our chapter that we have another picture here.
Here some of us perhaps look at this as the the last week that Daniel mentioned, the 70th week.
Now, if I may, just for I don't profess to know it well, I'd like to turn to Daniel Chapter 9. Actually, before we do, let's go back to the chapter. Just read a couple of verses there since we weren't Matthew chapter 24, Matthew 24, just as a quick division of the chapter. I think some already commented on from verse three on, or rather verse four, when the Lord told them to take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ.
00:55:00
And shall deceive many what that I believe is the beginning of that first half of that last week. And then that's what we hear about all these wars, rumors of wars. And then in verse 21, I believe this great tribulation would be approximately the middle of that week and then the events after. Now let's turn to Daniel Chapter 9.
As Jim mentioned earlier on how the prophetic flock stopped as if it were.
Daniel, he talked about 70 weeks, so let's just read a few verses here.
Verse 24.
70 weeks are determined upon Thy people and upon the holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision, the prophecy, and to anoint the Holy One. We know that Daniel had that vision, and he was given that vision to know there were 70 weeks upon his people.
Those following verses in the chapter actually go into it in detail of what these 70 weeks were. Now just very briefly we'll see this verse 25 know therefore and understand you know I enjoy that portion. Is that not just to know it we know it. It says no no, therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to.
Build Jerusalem.
Unto the Messiah, the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks. These are the weeks of years. There were seven and then three score would be 60, and then two more weeks, 62 weeks. So there's a 7 weeks and then a 62 weeks. That gives us the 69 weeks. Now we won't have time. It is kind of hard to explain this with our chalkboard, but I'll mention it very briefly if you were to take this restoring.
To build Jerusalem, I believe that's Nehemiah chapter 2. That was the time of 445 BC. Some has it at 455, but I believe 445 is the correct thought. If you take the number of days into that. And by the way, Scripture speaks of years as 360 days. That's where a lot of mistakes are made, is 30 days a year from the prophetic side. And what you have to do is to take the 30 days a month, I should say 360 days a year.
And convert it back to our time of 365 and 1/4 day. You'll find that that seven weeks will coincide quite nicely to the book of Malachi, which is around 397 BC. And then the 62 weeks, if you go through the numbers, you'll find that it'll be from the time that our blessed Savior was cut off on the cross. And there is a man named, I forget his name. Anderson, I believe is his name. He did the calculation.
And they had it right to the day that the Lord Jesus entered into Jerusalem 65 weeks from the word of God fulfilled precisely that clock stopped as if it were for one more week for a while. One more week is to start. What is that one week? Well, let's look at verse 27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, or when this man starts for that one week.
In the midst of the week he shall cast the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abomination he shall make it desolate, and so on. I spent a lot of time here. I would rather now let someone else go into the chapter to explain this. The beginning of the week what happens, and then in the middle of the week what happened.
I believe that there's three things two in our chapter here that he mentions nation rising against nation, pestilences and earthquakes, 3 distractions that he wanted the disciples to avoid. I believe we could summarize them in three ways. There are three things that commonly are distracting Christians is the wars and the politics of wars and God raises up a nation and he sets down a nation. You know when Mr. Darby wrote that him this world is a wilderness wide. We have nothing to seek or to choose.
I had a stamp that my grand came from my grandfather and it showed England controlled everything that England controlled in the world was in red and they controlled half the world. Well, the Lord was finished with England and he picked up another nation and we're thankful. I can say this is living north of the border, that God has raised up a nation and he's used it as an instrument for peace and security in the world, for his people to allow free travel of the gospel and so on. And so God does this. We don't need to occupy ourselves with this question.
01:00:25
And the wars in this world. Pestilences. Man thinks that he's going to cure disease.
And I always remember what Clem Buchanan said at Regina conference 19 1/2 years ago, he said.
If the doctor tells you don't eat cabbage, don't eat it. And that sounds like such a simple statement, but I think what he was addressing was his preoccupation with Christians about what they eat and what they don't eat and so on. There are going to be pestilences and increasing pestilences in the world, and we're not to become occupied with it. I don't mean that we shouldn't be wise and we shouldn't conduct ourselves in a healthy way, but this world is seeking deliverance from something that is not. It is not going to see deliverance from.
Until the Son of Man appears.
And so we read in Isaiah 55, and I want to say this reverently, the dogs are going to be happy to see the coming of the Lord.
The lower creation are going to be happy to see the coming and the manifestation of the sons of God because they're groaning right now. And so if we've got involved ourselves in politics, we wouldn't know whether to be in the Green Party or where we would be because we realize that man has hurt the earth. He has, but there will be no deliverance for the earth, for the global warming or anything else until the Son of Man appears. And then there was a third thing. There was natural disasters. And so.
Man is occupied with the effects, as I say that man has had on the environment and the natural disasters and preventing them. But there will be no God is speaking through these things and so we don't need to become preoccupied with them, but what ought to preoccupy us is what the Lord is warning the disciples to be occupied with. As we see this now, I realize I'm applying this to ourselves because as we've said, we're seeing the foreshadow, we're seeing the the Arch of Saint Louis.
Long before we see the city of I may put it this way, where we're seeing these things unfolding and we're in a certain sense living in the the preparation for these things. And so we can apply these things to ourselves.
In.
Thought Bob.
That's alright, we can go on next time.
Praises the sweetest sound.
That every story.
All just started made just as strong.
Our fear.
10/3.
Then to the slave.
Take everything.
Today.
Let's have a look at all the.