A Wrap-up of Endtime Events - Questions & Answers

[0:00] Well, as mentioned earlier, partly out of guilt for having not given you ample time for Q&A for many of the sessions that we've had, I decided that we'll just have a major Q&A and you'll have opportunity.

[0:22] Now, we've got plenty of time, so if you have questions that you would like addressed or if you would like to make comments, in connection with what we've already studied, you're more than welcome to do so.

[0:36] I guess I would just suggest that we try to keep the content, subject matter, within the realm of prophecy because that's what we've been devoting so much time to lately.

[0:49] You'll recall that this actually started a couple of years ago when we developed a series that was entitled The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problems.

[1:05] And that, of course, was a takeoff in an opposite direction from what Adolf Eichmann and Adolf Hitler had established in the 1940s when they came up with what they called the final solution to the Jewish problem.

[1:23] And their solution, of course, was to eliminate the Jewish people. And they set out to do that and they succeeded. They succeeded in the murder of over 6 million innocent Jewish people during the Holocaust.

[1:42] And that was definitely perhaps the blackest mark on the history of humanity, maybe with one possible exception.

[1:56] And that is the 50 million unborn that the United States alone ended the lives of, plus the unborn throughout the rest of the world, making even the numbers of the Holocaust as horrible as they were pale in comparison.

[2:17] So, without any further ado, if you have questions, we have a pair of young ladies back there, a couple of them, who are going to assist us with the microphones.

[2:31] So wait until the microphone gets to you, please. And feel free to make your question or ask your question and make your comment. And who have we that would like to lead it off?

[2:47] Okay. Yeah, Mark, would you mind talking a little bit about the two witnesses and what happened before and after they were brought back?

[3:00] Okay. Good question. I think I erroneously mentioned on the last session that we had together, I think I identified the two witnesses in Chapter 12, but they're in Chapter 11 of the Revelation.

[3:14] And we do not know anything about these individuals insofar as their identity is concerned. I'm satisfied that they would almost have to be Jewish, but we are not told exactly who they are.

[3:28] There's just speculation on the part of some that one is Elijah and the other is Enoch, but we do not know that. They are not identified.

[3:39] They are given a supernatural protection and they are in Jerusalem. They are proclaiming the word of the Lord.

[3:50] And it is not appreciated by those who are recipients of that message, nor is it appreciated by the rest of the world. Because by this time, the world will be under the influence and, in many respects, the domination of the Antichrist.

[4:09] And he will have his own agenda. And it will be completely unlike anything that the world has seen before. It will be evil and corrupt from the very core.

[4:21] But the people will buy into it. And these two witnesses are going to denounce them. They are going to proclaim the truth.

[4:33] And as a result, there will be efforts made to kill them and eliminate them. And they will not be able to do so. Now, let me just inject here something that is very important and that is key to understanding the whole end time, particularly the 70th week of Daniel.

[4:49] And that is this seven-year period is going to be visited with miraculous supernatural events and demonstrations, one after another, the likes of which this world has never seen.

[5:04] We cannot begin to identify with what is there. And it is pretty much described in the book of the Revelation. But so many interpreters refuse to take those things literally because they do not comport with our experience or with our history.

[5:22] And we say, well, those things can't be real. It can't mean that because we've never had anything like that. Well, let me tell you something. We are not the standard. The standard is whatever God wants it to be.

[5:36] And this is going to be a time of supernatural revelation. It's going to be impacted with angelic visitation and with demonic visitation. We perhaps are dealing with those things on a very limited level today.

[5:54] But when we do, it's very difficult for us to even recognize it. But it won't be then. And these are going to play a very, very strategic role. And there are going to be all kinds of supernatural things happening.

[6:06] And just let me run through this again very quickly. These two witnesses are indestructible. And the world hates their message. Hates their message and hates them. Tries to kill them.

[6:17] Can't. This is all in Revelation 11. The Antichrist who has suffered death by this time. And this too, by the way, is just part of the counterfeit of Christ.

[6:33] The Antichrist is the, what shall I say? He is the symbol, or not the symbol, but he is the counterpart to Jesus Christ, the real thing.

[6:47] And he has suffered a mortal wound and has died. And he comes back to life. Well, how can that be? Well, it can't be. In accordance with our understanding, it can't be.

[6:59] But we know that our Lord came back to life. And I don't understand all of the powers that are going to be involved in this. But he's going to come back to life. And you know what he's going to do when he comes back to life? He will succeed in actually killing the two witnesses.

[7:14] And the whole world has a big celebration. Wonderful. Best thing that ever happened. And they're even going to be sending presents of congratulations to each other. Because these two troublesome witnesses are dead.

[7:28] And their dead bodies are going to lay in the street in Jerusalem for three days. And world cameras are going to be on them. And everybody is going to be rejoicing over their death. And at the end of three days, life comes back into them.

[7:44] They are raised. And they ascend to heaven right before the world's eyes. So that's a pretty dramatic thing. In fact, it doesn't get much more dramatic than that. That's the story of the two witnesses.

[7:57] And it's in Revelation chapter 11. Other comments or questions? Okay. In the back.

[8:11] And then we've got one up front here. Roger? Yeah. You talk about Gog and Magog. And I think it's Ezekiel. And the armies. And you said that battle could happen any time.

[8:23] And then also there's one in Revelation 20. After the thousand years, Satan is loose and he gathers Gog and Magog again. Can you distinguish between them two? Because I like to put them together sometimes.

[8:35] It just makes sense. The unmauled villages in Ezekiel makes me think, When is that going to happen in our lifetime before Christ returns? So I just have a problem with that.

[8:46] Yeah. Well, there are some similarities between them. And that's what makes them a little bit confusing. My understanding, and I want to make it very clear, I don't have a corner on the truth at all.

[8:57] Not even close. But I've spent a lot of time studying these things. And so have a lot of other people. But I am satisfied that the Russian invasion of Israel that is described in chapters 37 and 38 of Ezekiel could very well happen in our lifetime.

[9:16] And I think that it absolutely has to be before the tribulation period begins. And it is clear in the text there, we won't take time to turn to it, but it is clear in the text that the reason that the Russians are invading Israel and their allies who are with them, and the text says to take a spoil.

[9:38] That simply means that there is something economic and beneficial to them, and that's why they're coming, coming to take it away. I don't know if you're familiar with this or not, but this is something that occurred probably, well, I guess now it's been probably four or five years ago.

[9:56] But one of the world's largest oil deposits has been discovered, of all places, off the coast of Israel.

[10:07] And they say that it is greater than the deposits of Saudi Arabia. But there's been so much turmoil going on in Israel just trying to survive, fight for its existence, that they have not pursued that.

[10:22] And I don't know if that's what they're going to be coming after, or if that's what the Russians and their allies are going to be coming after or not. Also, it is estimated that there is wealth, chemical wealth in the Dead Sea that exceeds trillions of dollars.

[10:40] And the biggest would be potash, which of course is critical for fertilizing soil throughout the world. So that may be involved if they're coming for that. We do not know. But the text makes it very, very clear that the nations of Russia and its allies that invade Israel are going to be absolutely decimated on the mountains.

[11:05] And it will not be so much due to the military input from Israel as it will be action on the part of God himself and the entire Russian contingent and their allies are going to be completely wiped out.

[11:24] Just completely wiped out. And that is somehow going to telegraph back to the land of Russia and there is going to be a devastating loss in the land of Russia.

[11:38] And you've got to remember that the official position of Russia today is atheistic. Now they have made a lot of opportunities available for people like even Ravi Zacharias and Billy Graham to have been there and preached.

[11:55] But the official government is still atheistic and is still communistic. And that is going to come into play. So I believe, and I'm just trying to put some things together and this may or may not be accurate, but I believe that it is going to be that devastating blow delivered to Israel that is going to be apparent to everyone that this was a God thing.

[12:22] This was a God thing. And it is going to turn many of the Jews who are living in the land to the truth. And I suspect that this will be one of the recruiting measures that will be utilized to muster 144,000 Jewish evangelists.

[12:47] Young men, young men, no women, young men, no married men, young men. And they are going to have the seal of God in their foreheads. They come up in Revelation 7 and again in Revelation 14.

[13:00] And they are indestructible. They have the seal of God upon them. No doubt attempts will be made to take their life, but they will not be successful.

[13:12] And these 144,000, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel are going to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom throughout the whole world. And it will be an enormous time of two things that are extreme opposites.

[13:28] evangelization and persecution. They're going to go hand in hand. This is also going to be the same time the mark of the beast will be in play and people not having it will not be able to buy nor sell or anything like that.

[13:44] And then what is described in Revelation 20, my understanding is, is much later than that. And I do not think that the Russian invasion of Israel is even going to be part of the 70th week of Daniel.

[13:59] I think it's going to come before that. And it could be in our lifetime. This thing could start in the next three or four weeks, as far as I'm concerned. But the Revelation 20 thing, where the Gog and Magog are involved, this is after the thousand year reign of Christ, when there has been peace and prosperity on the whole earth for a thousand years.

[14:25] And Christ has been ruling from Jerusalem with a rod of iron. And justice and equity has prevailed throughout the whole world. Yet, there are going to be a huge number of people born during those thousand years.

[14:43] And they will not be people with glorified bodies. We will be there too. But we will have a glorified body like the body of Christ. But these will have the kind of bodies that we've got.

[14:55] And they will be subject to the evils and the sin and the corruption and everything that this generation is. And we are told that at the end of a thousand years, after having been incarcerated, Satan is going to be loosed from the bottomless pit.

[15:12] And the text says that he goes out to deceive the nations again. He's been in jail for a thousand years, but he has not been rehabilitated. The same old Satan.

[15:23] And he is going to succeed in recruiting a huge number of people. And he's going to simply tell them, you know what God's been doing for you the past thousand years?

[15:34] Well, I can get you a better deal than that. And they're going to buy it. And the text tells us in Revelation 20 that God simply calls down fire from heaven and devours them. That's the end of that. And then you enter into the eternal state that is in the next chapter.

[15:49] So I do think that the Russian invasion thing and Ezekiel and the 20th chapter and the destruction of the last vestige of evil there are separated by many, many years.

[16:03] The best I can do. Okay. Comment over here. Joe, wait for the mic, please. Yeah. Okay. Get the mic. Get the mic. You said you thought that this first invasion of Russia, of Israel, and the defeat would be before the tribulation.

[16:22] Like it could be in our time. But you said the defeat of the Russians then would be in God's hand, supernatural thing. But isn't it true, and you've preached this before, that it's only during the tribulation that supernatural things happen, that God acts in that way, and not in these times?

[16:42] So there seemed to be a little conflict there. Okay. Yeah. I see what you're saying. And I can't explain that other than to say that God can do anything he wants to do anytime he wants to do it.

[16:55] But there is no question that God uses what we would call the elements, the wind, the rain, the earthquake, and all of these things to devastate that army.

[17:15] It is not going to be a military conflict. It is going to be the devastation of the Russian army through what we would call supernatural means. But I see what you're saying, and all I can say is during the seven-year tribulation period, there's going to be a huge intensification of the supernatural.

[17:33] But I do not say that to mean that that's the only time that it can occur, because we've even got history where during the lifetime of Christ there were a lot of supernatural things to do.

[17:46] Dahlia, you have a comment or question? According to Revelation, will the tribulation, in the tribulation, will the rapture occur before the tribulation or in the tribulation?

[18:00] Yeah, well, this is a question that has divided Christendom for a long time, and it still does. And there are a couple of different positions it's taken. One is that there is a pre-tribulation rapture, which is the position that we embrace here, simply because, in our opinion, it best fits the evidence and is most consistent with what is recorded in Scripture.

[18:27] But there are good people on the other side who disagree with us, and we ought not to be fighting about these things. We just agree to disagree. People who hold these other positions love the Lord just as much as we do.

[18:40] And as I've often said, when we get to heaven, we're all going to get straightened out because we all have wrinkles in our doctrine and in our theology. Nobody's got it all together. So there is the pre-tribulation rapture, which we believe means that Jesus Christ will return for the body of Christ, for believers, prior to the beginning of that 70th week of Daniel, where God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation.

[19:08] And we find this supported, I think, rather strongly in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, where the rapture is described there in some detail.

[19:26] And then there are those who believe that we will not be raptured until the end of the tribulation. This is, of course, called post-trib position, in which case it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me because there's nothing to be rescued or saved from because calamity has already passed.

[19:46] The tribulation has already been experienced. And then there is the mid-tribulation period, which believes that the tribulation is clearly separated into two segments of three and a half years each.

[20:02] Sometimes it's called 42 months, which is three and a half years. Sometimes it's called a time, times, and a half a time. And the time is one, the times is two, added to it, that's three and a half a time, that's a half.

[20:15] So that's three and a half. Sometimes it is referred to as 1260 days. But it's all the same time period, and it's all the same amount of time. And some believe that the church will be here on the earth during the first half of that tribulation.

[20:34] And that's when the Antichrist reveals himself as recorded in Daniel chapter 9 and referred to in Matthew 24 by our Lord. When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, stand in the holy place, then flee to the mountain.

[20:50] That is the interim period, the three and a half year, one half of the tribulation is over. And some believe that the rapture is going to take place then. And then there are other scholars of a more recent vintage who believe that we are going to be here for the whole thing with the exception of the last bowls of wrath.

[21:11] And those bowls of wrath are from God. And they contain the most severe judgment of all. They are the worst. They are the most intense.

[21:24] And they are referred to as the seven bowls. Sometimes some translations render them vials, V-I-A-L-S. But whatever you call them, they are containers.

[21:35] And the angel portrays dumping them out. And it is the wrath of God. So those who take this position believe that believers will be here for the whole tribulation except for the God part when he pours out his bowls of wrath that will be raptured before that.

[21:53] In my own humble opinion, I do not think any of those positions can be consistently sustained and scripturally supported apart from the pre-tribulation rapture.

[22:05] That's what we hold to and that's our doctrinal statement. Comment or question up here in the front. I always wonder, you know, because biblically speaking, there is really nothing about the United States at the end.

[22:27] You know, everything is about Israel, Russia, China, them coming down and all that. But I just, I mean, it's just hypothetical thinking, but I just wonder how we're really going to fall.

[22:38] Are we going to implode? Are we going to be taken over? I wonder what's going to happen. But I've talked to some people. I don't know where they get their theology, but they think this is all going to be, I mean, like a walk in the park or something.

[22:49] And I really believe as Christians, especially us, this country, I believe we're going to pay. I mean, you look at the country as a whole, man. I mean, we're selfish, we're greedy, we're arrogant.

[22:59] And I believe one day, man, we're going to pay for that. What do you think? Well, you're absolutely right about the United States not even being mentioned or referenced in prophecy in any way that we can pinpoint.

[23:13] And quite frankly, and, you know, as an American that loves this country, and I'm sure you do too, and there are many ways in which we have made major contributions to the benefit and welfare of the world.

[23:26] And it is almost inconceivable for us to imagine a situation developing like that described in the Revelation without the United States playing some kind of a, maybe even a major part in it.

[23:43] We just can't conceive not being a player. But there are all kinds of things that can happen that can reduce a nation to insignificance.

[23:57] And when you look at history, I want you to remember that there was a time when Spain was a world power.

[24:08] What? Are you kidding me? Spain? Yeah. Yeah. Spain was a world power. And we'd call, they would have called it the superpower back in the 1400s.

[24:20] And yet, the Spanish Armada was literally wiped out and reduced to nothing. And it's hard to escape the idea that that was a God thing.

[24:36] When the whole Spanish fleet was defeated and it was the most formable in the world at the time. And when you look at other world powers, there was a time when it was said of Great Britain that the sun never set on the English Empire because they had all these interests all over the world and all these colonies and everything, one of which was USA at the time, you know, America, the new world.

[25:02] And today, it would really be a stretch to call England a superpower. You know, they're there and they're formidable but they're not.

[25:13] So I don't know. I don't know. Some are of the opinion that the United States of America has a much greater potential for corrupting from within and neutralizing ourselves than from without.

[25:32] And corruption is a killer. And corruption is that which keeps so many, maybe even all, of the third world nations from realizing their potential because corruption is carried on in the hands of the ruling class elite who oppress those others and they keep them from developing and prospering and so on.

[25:55] And it's that way pretty much throughout the world. I cannot imagine what's going to happen in America and to America so that we'll be taken out of the game if you will.

[26:10] I fantasize a little bit when I think about the description that is given for the destruction of Babylon in chapter 17 and 18 but we are not told who the destroyer is.

[26:23] Now maybe that's a God thing. Maybe God himself destroys Babylon because this is when the Antichrist is at his peak and he is forming his troops in Armageddon the plain of Israel and he receives word by way of a message that Babylon has been reduced to nothing but we aren't told who did it.

[26:48] I'd like to think it was USA but we don't know that. Like I said we may be out of the picture at the time but Babylon is going to be destroyed.

[27:00] and by the way it will be the real Babylon it won't be I don't think it's a symbol of something else.

[27:10] Other comments or questions? Okay. I have a question. So I have a question more of the overview of how you approach Revelation and I just need to introduce it with the idea that and we all approach the Bible in certain ways and how we approach the Bible seems to affect or determine how we interpret things like Revelation where it's a little shaded if you will it's not so crystal clear so we approach the Bible from a literal dispensational viewpoint and that almost determines how we're going to interpret Revelation.

[27:47] I've heard it said that there are four main ways of approaching Revelation and we would fall under what would be called the futurist in other words it's in the future and there are a few other ones and I was hoping that maybe you could talk for just a little bit about the other views and I'll list at least what's in my mind and maybe you have more that you could add to them and what some of those assumptions are because our assumption in interpreting Revelation is that it's literal unless the text itself says that it represents something else and if you're discussing with someone else who approaches the Bible differently there's no way you're going to see Revelation the same way so it's almost pointless unless you go back to the foundational assumptions so the other three ways would be the preterist view and the symbolic view and then maybe the historical view which I'm not as familiar with but some people believe that it's been fulfilled throughout church history so I don't know maybe you could comment for just a little bit about those three that's really important because interpretation is everything really it's everything and it has been said and rightly so that you can make the Bible say anything you want it to it's all in how you interpret it and we we stump for a literal a consistent interpretation we believe that the words of scripture are meant to be taken at face value because the purpose is to communicate truth it isn't to obfuscate it isn't to provide materials so that it will leave everybody wondering

[29:27] I wonder what that means it's intended to communicate and the message is in most cases very clear at the same time we're eager to admit that the Bible does contain a lot of figurative language that is not intended to be taken literally and in almost every instance the context will reveal that so that it becomes very very clear the preterist view of scripture simply believes that the events that are described in the book of Revelation have already occurred they're already past they took place a long time ago way back and the historicist view the historicist view says that as you go through the book of Revelation it is actually depicting and describing events that have already occurred in human history and they are able to look at it and frankly in my opinion

[30:32] I just don't understand how they can do this I can't do it myself it just makes no sense that they can go into the Revelation and in accordance with their interpretation they can find the reign of Charlemagne they can find World War I and World War II and all these things I just feel like you have to have a really super active imagination to look back on history and say that that's what these things are that are being described in the Revelation the things that are being described in the Revelation are the things that are being described and that they are at the time that they are being set forth and when you open the chapters the first couple of chapters of Revelation it seems to me abundantly clear that it is a picture a description of things to come the future things and they were future as of the time John wrote them which was about 90 to 100

[31:35] AD in that first century and he was given this incredible vision if you will of what was going to transpire upon the earth in the future times and I think that that's the most consistent interpretation it is called the futurist view which simply means of course we see the events of the Revelation as occurring in the future how far in the future we don't know but as I've often said we're closer than anybody else has ever been okay anyone else yes does that mean that when all this is passed that we'll be called Preterists that was just a follow but my question had to do with the millennial reign and the status of the body of Christ I think you can confirm this but I think you said at one point that you believe that well the body of Christ will be raptured and receive resurrection bodies at that time but you also said that the body of

[32:45] Christ will be a part of the millennial reign is that correct yes I think so so yeah I just wanted to see what kind of biblical support or what you would look to in regards to that specific question okay good question boy you know I wish I don't have a copy here probably if I thought of it I would have had some made and distributed but at our last Tuesday morning monthly class I distributed a sheet that contained that contained would you mind bringing that up here young man would you get that bringing up here for me thank you thank you so much it contains a literal government of the messianic kingdom and it has the chain of command if you will and I could make these available to you and we did for that class unfortunately we ran out of time we didn't get to this but it's scheduled for the next month but Christ the king is ruling and reigning over everything with a rod of iron and this is stated so many times in prophecy and there will be a Jewish branch under the government and a

[34:02] Gentile branch and the Jewish branch will be ruled over by King David and we saw numerous references in the Old Testament that refer to King David being resurrected and by the way all these people are going to be resurrected Abraham and Isaac and Jacob these are all going to be resurrected you didn't think the spirits of these people were going to be gone forever did you they're coming back we're all coming back it's going to be a resurrection and David the king who lived a thousand years before Jesus Christ was born is going to be bodily physically resurrected and he is going to be the vice regent under Christ himself ruling over the Jewish branch and under David there will be the twelve apostles these are Jews and Jesus said in Matthew 19 that you talking to his apostles said you who have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man comes into his kingdom you also will sit upon the twelve thrones of

[35:11] Israel judging the twelve tribes so that means that Peter and James and John and Matthew and Nathanael and all of the other apostles they're going to be ruling and reigning in Israel on those twelve thrones and there will be princes under them and there will be judges and counselors under them and this will be the Jewish branch Israel Israel and this is a real real bitter pill for anti-Semitic people oh they just vibrate at the thought but Israel the nation of Israel with Jesus Christ at the head in Jerusalem is going to be the supreme power and influence in the globe it's going to be a world that will be ruled over by the Jewish people with Jesus Christ at the head and this is going to be some kind of payback for all the persecution they've suffered for thousands of years so that's going to be the

[36:21] Jewish branch and then there will be the Gentile branch and it will be realized through the church and the tribulation saints and there will be kings on the earth who will be designated and given certain areas of responsibility in Gentile nations so I think that in the final analysis that all of these are going to be now we make a real separation between the body of Christ Jew and Gentile but I just don't see that as being carried throughout the eternal state certainly not or even in the millennium going to be a great deal of commonality then I think someone else back to the two witnesses in Revelation 11 6 it says these have power to shut heaven that it reign not in the days of their prophecy and have power over waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will so

[37:22] I'm wondering if that's one of the other reasons why they're hated so absolutely absolutely they are through their authority and their command they are wreaking havoc upon the earth and it is divine judgment that is being visited at the behest of these two witnesses and they are absolutely going to be despised by the world because they're going to produce a lot of misery a lot of judgment and the world is going to hate them for it so absolutely thank you for bringing that up someone else yeah there's lots of examples of christianity being vilified minimized even politicians are like obama were very active in this area my question is what is our reaction to be to those who are minimizing what the church stands for and are we we're not to just sit and wait for it to happen but what should we be thinking of in terms of reacting to this okay well that's a very good question our response in a hostile world and we ought not to expect it to be friendly frankly

[38:59] I think that the United States of America in general and our culture has for the most part really given the cause of Christ a pretty generous pass for a couple of hundred tolerant of us and I can only attribute that to the attitude that prevailed at the time of our founding fathers and their commitment to the Bible and to the God of the Bible which they made very very clear in the institutions they established and the things that they wrote our founding fathers nobody is saying that they were all Christians but there were many Christians among them and they certainly adopted Christian principles and I think that that has largely preserved this nation as we know it but it is crumbling the screws are tightening and it has been crumbling ever since prayer was kicked out of the schools the

[40:01] Bible was kicked out of the schools there is a secularization in general that has taken place and is I think undeniable and Christianity is becoming less and less tolerated less and less respected more and more marginalized and you know what we ought not to be surprised at that we really ought not to be surprised at that because those who own the cause of Christ have always been on the outside as it were and it shouldn't be any different we ought not to expect the world to fall in love with us because there is a natural barrier there that is undeniable and we need to keep that in mind there's a verse in Ephesians 4 I think it's 4 or 5 if I'm not mistaken but I've struggled over this I really have where the apostle Paul says do not be involved with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather rebuke them expose them how do you do that you can only do that by speaking out against them and that will get you in trouble because when when the opposition when the opposition cannot answer your arguments they want to do away with the one presenting them and I don't know if you're aware of it or not but this is in my opinion this is largely what is happening on a lot of our university campuses where they're trying to shut down conservatives shout them down cancel their meetings don't let them speak don't let them here have demonstrations out and keep them from speaking and I am satisfied

[41:50] I am completely satisfied they don't want these people speaking their message because they can't answer their arguments and when you can't defeat the argument that is being presented then you defeat the person take them out keep them from making the argument you can't answer it don't let them make it that's exactly what's going on now there is a fear factor there they don't want biblical conservative points of view in campuses like that because they have too much of a threat of being heard being listened to and that they don't want that's largely what's going on and so far as the situation in general is concerned we are called upon to be witnesses unto Christ to present the truth with the full knowledge that it may be costly to do so are you willing to pay the price or are we just going to dummy up and go along with the flow that's the issue that that confronts us and frankly

[42:58] I think we are responsible to proclaim the truth and to be willing to pay the price that goes along for having God simple as that other comments or questions yeah quick follow up to Nathan's question so all throughout Paul's epistles his focus is that our inheritance our conversation our hope is in heaven and all through the Old Testament the hope and the promise is in the land and so that I see is fulfilled in the thousand year reign and so I think what Nathan was asking and I have the same question was if our inheritance is in heaven will we be participating in Israel's realization of their hope in the land here on earth I mean I think in eternity it makes sense that we'll be able to talk with Abraham and the Jewish father you know it's not like we're going to be separate from them we're all the people of God but specifically in the millennium reign is the body of

[44:04] Christ participating in that or is it in heaven is our hope in heaven good question and I think the body of Christ will be very much participating I think we will be assigned responsibilities and so on during that time but we need to keep this in mind too there is a distinction to be made between the millennial reign of Christ which lasts for 1,000 years that's what the word millennium means lasts for 1,000 years at the end of that time when it ends John says and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the heaven the first earth were passed away and listen to this and there was no more seed no more seed in the eternal state which is not the same as the millennial reign of Christ is going to be here on this earth it is that for which he died paid for died for to redeem and its inhabitants it's going to be here on earth but when this new heaven and new earth is this planet is going to be done away this is what

[45:18] Peter is talking about the elements melting with the fervent heat and this is going to be done away there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth and that will be the eternal state and there will be no ocean no sea and I don't I don't really understand the full significance of that but a scholar that I really admire is Dr.

[45:43] Arnold Frutzenbaum and he is of the opinion and I'll just throw this in there for you to think about he's of the opinion that between Genesis 1-1 and 1-2 there is a gap but it's not the gap theory that most of the creationists and evolutionists talk about where it provides for the millions and millions of years but he is of the opinion that this is when Lucifer fell and that as a result part of the result was that the waters were created and the oceans were created and that the oceans were actually a kind of a part of the curse of the result of his fall and when you think of the lives that have been taken through the lakes and the oceans throughout the world and the ships lost at sea I read an article one time not too long ago it said something that they're in excess of 1,000 vessels sunk and sitting on the bottom of Lake Erie are you kidding me just Lake Erie 1,000 vessels that they know of they're on the bottom think of how many are in the Pacific and the

[47:04] Atlantic and all of these oceans were originally barriers that separated the people and eventually of course we've learned to span the barriers and I don't know about this it's an interesting thing to speculate about you know ocean views are beautiful I think everybody wants a place on the ocean or on the lakeside but it sometimes comes back to bite our time has almost gone maybe we'll take one more somebody just dying to ask a question over here yeah I do not know except I know that we will be we will be employed in a beneficial and a fruitful way and I'm convinced there will be a lot of surprises and no disappointments and it will be a time where the knowledge of the

[48:08] Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas and it will be things will be as they ought to be Joe I don't know where it's at and I can't quote the scripture but the scripture that says we go to heaven we die our spirit we will always be with Christ we will always be with him so when he comes back to earth we will be with him wherever he's at we will be with him that's what's going to make heaven heaven as much as anything and that's the first Thessalonians 4 passage it would be caught up to be with Christ in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord so where he's going to be we're going to be and that's what's going to make it what it really needs to be so I just want to close with this if I may thank you all for your questions I'm sure we could probably take more time but our time is gone I do want to say that we have a passage in

[49:10] Revelation 19 and verse 10 and I won't even ask you to turn to it but I'll just quote it it says that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy think about that and the word for testimony there in the Greek is the word martyria from which our word martyr comes and it's simply saying that it is the martyrdom of Jesus that is the spirit of prophecy and it's another way of saying that Jesus Christ and who he is and what he did is what prophecy is all about he is the core of it and in Luke chapter 24 we are told that our Lord confronted the two disciples on the road to

[50:11] Emmaus after his resurrection and they didn't have any idea who he was and he came alongside of them and he said why are you fellows so down you look so downtrodden what's going on what's the matter and they said you must be a stranger around here you don't know what's happened in the last few days and Jesus said what are you talking about they said well Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God the signs and miracles that God did in the midst of it and we trusted that it would be he who should deliver Israel but they crucified him three days ago he's dead they had no idea they were speaking to the Lord and he went on and the text tells us there in Luke 24 that he took them to the scriptures and he revealed all the things in the scriptures from Moses and the prophets about himself wow what a bible class and after a while he departed from them and the text says that they went on their way rejoicing and one of them turned to the other and said did not our hearts burn within us as he opened unto us the scriptures who is this one who is this one who is the core and the center of prophecy it is what he did who he was and what he did is what prophecy is all about and Paul sums it up in 1 Corinthians 15 when he says

[51:54] I delivered unto you that which first of all I received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that's what the testimony for the martyrdom of Jesus is all about that is the message everything else is subservient to that he is the eternal son of God according to Hebrews 1 he's the eternal God the son according to 1st Timothy 1 Isaiah 6 describes him as the mighty God he is the uncaused first cause he is the king of kings and lord of lords in Revelation 19 he's the lord of glory in James 2 he is Emmanuel God with us in Isaiah 9 he is the in Isaiah 9 the wonderful counselor the mighty God and everlasting father in Colossians 1 he is the one in whom all things consist in Acts 10 and Hebrews 1 he is the anointed one of

[52:55] God he is the creator and sustainer of all in Colossians 1 and John 1 he's the Lord of glory in James 2 he's the resurrection and the life in John 11 he's the word of God without whom nothing was made in John 1 he is the Lord our righteousness he is the son of David the king but he is also David's Lord in Luke 22 in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 he is the light of the world in John 8 he's the bread of life in John 6 he's the water of life in John 4 he's the reconciler of man to God in 2 Corinthians 5 he is the firstborn from the dead he is the fullness of deity in bodily form in Colossians 2 he is the captain of the Lord of hosts in Joshua 5 he's the star of Jacob in Numbers 24 he's the lion of the tribe of Judah in Genesis 49 he is the righteous branch of Jeremiah 23 he is our peace in Ephesians 2 he is the bright and morning star in Revelation 22 he's the last Adam in 1

[53:56] Corinthians 15 he is the stone whom the builders rejected who has become the chief cornerstone in Mark chapter 12 he is the good shepherd of Psalm 23 the provider of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 in Hebrews 8 he is the prophet that should come in Deuteronomy 18 he is the seed of the woman to crush the serpent in Genesis 3 he is the one in whom is hid all treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Colossians 2 he is the faithful witness and the firstborn from the dead Revelation 1 he is a priest after the order of Melchizedek Hebrews 5 and 7 and he is the one wherein our righteousness comes from God Philippians chapter 3 and what I have given you is just a minor picture of this incredible being called Yeshua HaMashiach Jesus the Messiah I guess we might say he is the spirit of prophecy might indeed we shall we're going to conclude this morning with a wonderful musical benediction and

[55:10] I want you to just take in the truth that this group is singing and I think it's the Gaither vocal band and you will just appreciate the music so let's just enjoy this and this will be our dismissal song hip pieces Absolutely p go out of, love always I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with them.

[56:01] He shall dwell within them, they shall be His people, and Almighty God will be with them.

[56:11] He shall wipe away the tears from their eyes, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crime, and no more pain, the former things are all passed away.

[56:39] He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

[56:53] He said unto me, Write these words, for they are faithful and true. And it is done.

[57:10] It is done. It is done. It is done.

[57:25] It is done. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

[57:36] The Son of God, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, He is everything. Messiah, Jehovah, the Prince of Peace is He.

[57:49] The Son of Man, seed of Abraham, second person in the Trinity. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

[58:01] The Son of God, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, He is everything. Messiah, Jehovah, the Prince of Peace is He.

[58:13] The Son of Man, seed of Abraham, second person in the Trinity. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

[58:25] The Son of God, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, He is everything. Messiah, Jehovah, Jehovah, the Prince of Peace is He.

[58:38] The Son of Man, seed of Abraham, second person in the Trinity. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

[58:50] The Son of God, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, He is everything. Messiah, Jehovah, the Prince of Peace is He.

[59:02] The Son of Man, seed of Abraham, second person in the Trinity. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Son of God, the King of Kings, the Messiah, Jehovah, the Great I Am, the seed of Abraham.

[59:33] He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Son of God, King of Kings, the Lord of everything.

[59:48] The Senhor, the King of Kings, the large heard of the Trinity.

[60:10] The King of Kings, the King of Kings, the Lord of everything. a gigantic wood, a giant wood, a giant wood, a giant wood, a giant wood,