A Wrap-up of Endtime Events - The Second Coming of Christ, Part 2

[0:00] Well, open the word of God, please, to the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 63. Isaiah chapter 63.

[0:13] In just a moment, we are going to read this interrogative. It is a kind of question and answer situation that is being posed by the prophet Isaiah as he is under the inspiration of the Spirit of God.

[0:35] And it is spoken of in very unusual terms because it is in reference to an historical event, which, of course, to this date and time has not yet happened.

[0:52] But it will be spoken of there and in other passages as well, as if it is something that has already occurred. If you will note in the bulletin, there is just a paragraph there about our previous session, which was number six in the big wrap-up, revealed how and where Christ will return.

[1:15] And we covered that with part one. Today's session reveals what he will do when he comes, to whom he will do it, and for those on whose behalf he will do it.

[1:31] And all of that is going to be tied in with what we will be presenting today. And to just briefly give you a heads up as to what he will do when he comes, he will absolutely decimate the forces of the Antichrist.

[1:49] And he will do so with nothing more than his spoken word. And to whom he will do it has already been answered. That will be the armies of the world that have previously gathered at Armageddon, that have marched southward as Christ will be moving from Basra to the north, and he will engage them in the valley of Jehoshaphat, which is also referred to as the great African rift in that particular part of Israel.

[2:24] And he will do so on behalf of his covenant nation Israel and the remnant that is surviving at the time.

[2:36] They will have been in a mode of repentance and contrition for their sin and for the sin of their ancestors over the rejection of Yeshua HaMashiach as their Messiah.

[2:53] And they will plead with God for the Messiah to return. And he will. And he will return. He will come there to Basra, which is the sheepfold, otherwise known as Petra.

[3:07] And the passage to which we have referred in Isaiah 63 will be read as follows. And if you will come up, Gary is going to read the questions, and I'll just provide the answers.

[3:20] And it's a little bit of drama that the prophet is entering into. And it begins in the very first verse with Isaiah chapter 63 in a question and answer kind of motif.

[3:33] Why is your apparel red?

[3:46] Why is your apparel red?

[3:59] And your garments like the one who treads in the winepress? I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no man with me.

[4:12] I also trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath, and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments. And I stained all my raiment, for the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption has come.

[4:31] And I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished, and there was no one to uphold. So my own arm brought salvation to me, and my wrath upheld me.

[4:45] And I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.

[4:56] Thank you, Gary. And as I mentioned earlier, all of this is spoken of in the past tense. That is not at all unusual when it comes to prophetic language, because as we pointed out to you, that with God there is the ever-present eternal now.

[5:15] He does not deal in terms of past, present, and future. And all that God has prophesied that will come to pass is just as good as completed. It is a true saying that someone has coined that all prophecy is, is history written in advance.

[5:36] And indeed, that is precisely what it is. Now, if you will revert back to stage four in the map that you have that has been provided in your bulletin, once again, I just briefly want to go through some things here to kind of bring you up to speed and give you a frame of reference for where we're going this morning.

[5:57] And by the way, even though I said that we will not have a Q&A for another week, that will be two weeks from today, that does not preclude the possibility of our having a Q&A today in connection with this content.

[6:12] But please don't hold me to it, because, well, you know probably how futile it would be to do that anyway. So if you will look at item number three under these eight stages, we will just kind of jump in there.

[6:27] The fall of Jerusalem is going to occur. There will have been a valiant effort on the part of the Jewish people to hold out, but they will eventually succumb.

[6:39] And the Antichrist will take the city of Jerusalem, and the women will be ravished, and many people will be put to death.

[6:51] It will be a time of great carnage. The Antichrist, in pomp and a victor position, will go into the temple that will exist at the time.

[7:03] And by his very presence in the most holy place, he will defile the temple just by being there. That is that of which Daniel spoke in chapter 9, and our Lord Jesus referred to in Matthew chapter 24, that when you see the abomination of desolation that is spoken of by Daniel the prophet, then flee to the mountains.

[7:27] And there will be a number of Jews who will be able to escape the Antichrist, and they will flee to the mountains. And those mountains to which they will flee will be the mountains of Seir in the land of Edom, which is where Basra is also located.

[7:44] And there they will be part of that minority, but probably will be added to it because it will have been there. This remnant will have been holed up in Israel for the better part of the second part of the tribulation period for that three and a half years.

[8:04] And that's where they will engage this time of penitence and repentance and remorse and contrition and Bible study. And there they will begin to plead for the return of their Messiah, and of course, he will come.

[8:17] So as soon as the Antichrist then has defiled the holy place, he is going to resume with his armies, and they are going to march southward.

[8:33] If you will look at your map, you see Jerusalem that is located there. That is item three is the fall of Jerusalem.

[8:43] And then, as the arrow indicates southward, the Antichrist and his armies are going to march southward in the arrow that follows for item number four.

[8:55] That will be the armies of the Antichrist at Basra. And they are going there for the exclusive purpose of completely eliminating the last vestige of the Jewish people upon the earth.

[9:10] This will be the remnant. These will be they of whom the Apostle Paul is speaking in Romans chapter 11 when he talks about, and so all Israel will be saved.

[9:23] This is the all Israel that he's talking about. It will be the tiny minority, the remnant of Israel that exists. Because the Antichrist will have, during the tribulation period that preceded, he will have succeeded in eliminating, by death, two-thirds of the Jewish people from the planet.

[9:47] Two-thirds of all Jews living on planet earth will have been victims of the Antichrist and the tribulation period.

[9:57] And when he, with his army, is marching southward, as item four indicates, the armies of Antichrist at Basra, he's going there for the exclusive purpose of finishing the job.

[10:13] These will be the last Jewish people on planet earth, and he's going to eliminate them. And this is when, with their back to the wall, they are crying out and pleading to God for the return of the Messiah.

[10:30] And that's when he shows up. And it's going to be something. The battle will be engaged there, in Basra, or Petra.

[10:45] And the word Basra literally means sheepfold. And that's where these people are going to be. Just like sheep, they will be dwelling in tents.

[10:56] This is what the reference refers to when it says that when Christ comes, he will save the tents of Judah first.

[11:07] And that will be these people gathered here in Petra, crying out for their Savior to return. And he does. And he will be the breaker.

[11:19] He will be the one who breaks the siege that has been put in place by the Antichrist immediately before he intends to annihilate them.

[11:29] He is called the breaker. And he will break that siege. And then he will combat the Antichrist at the gates of Basra.

[11:40] And that's where the blood stains will come from on his garments. That's where all of this will begin. And as you note, up through item 4 and 5, then we go back north again.

[11:55] And it is this arrow that is indicating from Basra or Petra back up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. This battle is going to be engaged all the way up throughout the length of it.

[12:08] And it will be absolutely horrendous in every regard. And that's when he will engage the enemy. And we will see in today's session exactly how that is going to come about.

[12:24] If you would turn, please, to Revelation chapter 19. We've been there before, but it's necessary that we reinforce our thinking with a fresh look at this passage because it is so key.

[12:42] Revelation chapter 19. And beginning with verse 11. John, in his vision, says, and again, he's speaking as though this is an accomplished thing.

[13:00] It is prophetic that he is revealing it here. But he is talking about it as if it is a done thing. And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.

[13:12] And he who sat upon it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he judges and wages war. And his eyes are a flame of fire.

[13:24] And upon his head are many diadems or many crowns. And he has a name written upon him which no one knows except himself. And he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood.

[13:38] And his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven. And I can conclude nothing other than the idea that these armies are angelic beings.

[13:53] They are sometimes referred to as the host of heaven. And they are going to be coming with him. There will be other armies that will be there as well. You and I will be among them.

[14:05] But neither we nor the angels will be combatants. We will not engage in the conflict at all. Apparently, we are merely going to be observants.

[14:20] We are going to be spectators. We are going to witness this incredible event. The armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses.

[14:35] And from his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may smite the nations. And this is a beautiful symbol that is used. It is simply using a physical object with which people can identify, because everyone knows something about what a sword is like.

[14:55] Hebrews 4.12 tells us that the Word of God is like a sharpened sword, two-edged sword. And it is able to cut both ways.

[15:07] And it is representative of the spoken Word of God. And that is the symbol that is used here, this sharp sword that proceeds from his mouth.

[15:17] It is his Word. That's all it is, his spoken Word. It's the same Word that spoke the worlds into existence, the same authority. He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty.

[15:29] And on his robe and on his thigh has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, Come, assemble for the great supper of God.

[15:50] Quite gory, is it not? The birds of prey have always made their livelihood, if you will, preying upon carrion.

[16:01] These are dead things that have given up life and are just so much garbage, if you will. And the feast that is going to take place on behalf of the fowl of the air is just something that we cannot begin to imagine.

[16:19] Come, assemble for the great supper of God, in order that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.

[16:38] And I saw the beast. And the kings of the earth. These are heads of state, and their generals, their military personnel, whom the Antichrist has succeeded in summoning, because the earth at this time will essentially be under his domination and his control.

[17:06] He will be the worldwide Superman. He will have enemies, but so far they will have not succeeded in deposing him at all.

[17:18] He has gained in strength, and I'm not going to elaborate upon the things that have given him credibility, but we touched on that in the last session. And as hard as it is for us to believe how the world could fall down and make obeisance at this man, but they do.

[17:36] And let me just inject something here, and this is going to be another illustration of it. We are convinced that one of the consequences of the fall has to do with the totality of our thinking processes.

[17:54] And it is part and parcel of our very being to be able to cogitate, to analyze, to meditate, to process information, and reach conclusions.

[18:12] And that is a God-given thing that enables us to do that. But the problem is, man's thinking, his skills at analyzing information and reaching conclusions, is also sorely compromised by the fall, so that he reasons and thinks with a fallen intellect.

[18:36] This enables such a thing as Hinduism. With 330 million gods to exist. This is the kind of thing that enables atheism to exist.

[18:54] Men think with a warped intellect, and they put all of their confidence and trust in their own mind, and they reach some really ridiculous conclusions. You look at all of the cults and isms that exist across the world.

[19:07] You look back at ancient civilizations, some of whom we would consider to be generally intelligent. And what do we find these people doing? We find them worshiping sticks and stones.

[19:19] We find them falling down to idols. We find them cutting down a tree and shaping half of the tree into an idol that they worship, and taking the other half of a tree and throwing it into the fire to warm themselves.

[19:32] We look at that and we say, good grief, what's wrong with these people? Where do they come up with this kind of crazy stuff? And the answer is, it is endemic to the fallenness of humanity.

[19:46] There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. All through human history, man has demonstrated time and time again that he has great capabilities for intelligence and understanding and invention and creativity, while at the same time he has an undeniable penchant for debauchery and depravity and stupidity and idolatry and things the likes of which you just cannot imagine.

[20:19] You've got this broad, broad swing of humanity. And what do you attribute it to? It's all attributed to the fall. Same thing that gives you weak kidneys, the same thing that gives you a weak mind, the same thing that gives you a weak back.

[20:34] All of these things that affect us physically, and all of these things affect us spiritually and emotionally. In other words, when Adam and Eve fell, everything about them fell.

[20:49] And when they passed on all of this newfound, whatever this fall consisted of that God didn't put there, but sin put there, they transmitted that automatically, genetically, just like they transmitted the color of mom and dad's eyes and skin tone and everything else.

[21:19] It's all part of the same package. And the only way that all of this gross ignorance and faulty thinking and skewed logic, the only way that it can be combated and overcome is by a massive injection of truth.

[21:41] And that's where the word of God comes in. This book is designed to offset man and his stupidity and his ignorance and his sin and everything else that's part of our fallenness and give us the real scoop as to what reality actually is and what the problem actually is and what the solution actually is.

[22:08] And you will not find that information anywhere other than in this book. It is not to be had. That's what it all boils down to.

[22:18] So, because man is like this, won't have any problem at all bowing down and paying obeisance to the Antichrist.

[22:34] And really believe, really believe, he is actually God. Now, I suspect it's hard for you to believe that and should be because of all people, we ought to know better.

[22:52] But when you've got the kind of background and skewed thinking that I have just described, sky's the limit. History is replete with this. And I'll just give you one more example.

[23:06] Ruth, the Moabitess from the land of Moab. These were people who were engaged in worshiping the god Molech.

[23:20] Molech just looked pretty much like a big, ugly Buddha. And in his lap was a fire pot. And they would kindle fire in his lap just like an outdoor fireplace, only there's this ugly image of Molech.

[23:40] and in that they would place their babies and burn them alive. Can you imagine what that would be like?

[23:53] Can you imagine this was done in the name of religion? Molech. Old Testament refers to this in a number of places and the people are called those who cause their children to pass through the fire.

[24:16] Unbelievable. That just shows you the depth of depravity, the capability of fallen human beings and the kind of intellect and reasoning processes they engage in and the conclusions that they come to.

[24:34] And you know something? Apart from the word of God we're all left to that. And it's pretty pathetic. It's as ugly as it can be. Well let us hasten on if we may.

[24:49] He is going to engage the enemy and guess who the first casualty will be. And this is delicious. Come if you would please to let's do this while we're really close by.

[25:06] Jude is right before the revelation. So let's just come back to Jude. We won't be skipping around too much. And I want you to look at Jude verses 14 and 15.

[25:18] We'll get that out of the way right now because we've talked a little bit about who's going to be there. Jude 14. And about these also Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied saying behold the Lord came there's that past tense again still hasn't happened but he's speaking of it from the standpoint of history behold the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

[26:19] These are grumblers finding fault following after their own lusts they speak arrogantly flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. Then if we may come back to the second Thessalonian passage where the apostle Paul reveals to us who the first casualty is going to be when Christ returns and this combat gets underway.

[26:48] We are in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and let us begin with verse 7 if we may.

[27:00] 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 7. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

[27:14] and then that lawless one will be revealed. Now this lawless one is referred to with other titles and other names throughout scripture.

[27:26] One of which is the man of sin. Another is the prince of darkness. Another is the prince that shall come. These are all referring to the same person. and he is here called the lawless one.

[27:38] In verse 8. Then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming.

[27:56] That is the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders.

[28:07] This is the Antichrist and he is going to be the world's consummate liar. He will have gained the loyalty of nations throughout the world and they will respond to his call to combat against the nation of Israel.

[28:28] They will have already been gathered there in the plain of Israel and Armageddon and they will have already marched south and here he is going to be leading them and we are told that he is in effect going to be the very first casualty.

[28:46] Picture this if you will and I realize it's difficult for you it's difficult for me I just cannot contemplate the massive numbers of people that are going to be involved.

[28:58] We aren't given any specific number we are not told that it is tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or however many suffice it to say it is a huge huge company of military made up from different contingencies all across the globe and they have all massed there under the leadership of the Antichrist and here is where Christ appears and the very first casualty the very first one that he dispenses is none other than the Antichrist himself he will be the first casualty and if you want to see his arrival in hell let's go to Isaiah chapter 14 and there it is described what it's going to be like when he arrives there Isaiah chapter 14 beginning with verse 3 and it will be in the day when the

[30:11] Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon and say and by the way of course scholars have struggled for years trying to identify who this king of Babylon is and I think Isaiah is telling us who the king of Babylon is and the book of the Revelation is telling us who the king of Babylon is the king is the Antichrist and he is the one who when he is massing with the armies in Armageddon he is going to receive word from a messenger that Babylon is no more political Babylon and economic Babylon as we saw in Revelation 17 and 18 are going to be completely destroyed just absolutely leveled and the thing that's going to make that so significant is that this is going to have become the world power entity at the time it will not be

[31:24] Washington DC will not be London or Moscow it will be Babylon and it is going to be completely destroyed the king of Babylon will be in Armageddon and he will hear word that he has that his country that his city that this marvelous Babylon economic political capital of the whole world is even close to that now but it will be that it is destroyed and when he hears that that's when he marches south to Jerusalem because there's nothing he can do there so how has the oppressor ceased and how has fury ceased the Lord has broken the staff of the wicked the scepter of rulers which used to strike the people in fury with unceasing strokes which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution the whole earth is at rest and quiet they break forth into the shouts of joy even the cypress trees rejoice over you and the cedars of

[32:36] Lebanon saying since you were laid low no tree cutter comes up against us she all from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come this is she otherwise translated as the grave or the place of departed dead in Hebrew and here it is as if it were speaking and it is welcoming if you can call it thy Christ into its ranks since you were laid low no tree cutter comes up against us she will from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come it arouses for you the spirits of the dead all the leaders of the earth it raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones they will all respond and say to you even you have been made weak as we remember this is the one who will have been declared to be God he's not fulfilling that role now even as you have been made weak as we you have become like us your pomp and the music of your harps have been brought down to shield maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you and worms are covering how you have fallen from heaven oh star of the morning sun of the dawn you have been cut down to the earth you who have weakened the nations you said in your heart

[34:07] I will ascend to heaven I will raise my throne above the stars of God this is all of the I wills that are set forth here by the adversary and then in chapter chapter well let's remain there's more right here in verse 15 in his own tomb but you have been cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword who go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse this antichrist is going to be trampled his dead body is going to be trampled underfoot by his own henchmen nay you will not be united with them in burial because you have ruined your country you have slain your people the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever prepare for his sons a place of slaughter because of the iniquity of their fathers they must not arise and take possession of the earth and fill the face of the world with cities what a time that's going to be and the slaughter continues and we'll cap this off with

[35:46] Zechariah chapter 14 if you will turn to that please Zechariah chapter 14 and let's begin with verse 12 now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet and their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongue will rot in their mouth and it will come about in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them and they will seize one another's hand and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another this will be the abject confusion that will take place and

[36:46] Judah also will fight at Jerusalem and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered gold and silver and garments in great abundance so also like this plague will be the plague on the horse the mule the camel the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went up against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the king the lord of hosts and to celebrate the feast of booth and this of course will be after all of that has concluded that's all over and done with and then for the final reference in Joel prophecy Hosea Amos and Joel I'm sorry Hosea Joel and Amos chapter three verse twelve well let's start with verse nine proclaim this among the nations prepare a war rouse the mighty men let all the soldiers draw near let them come up beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears let the weak say

[38:10] I am a mighty man hasten and come all you surrounding nations and gather yourselves there bring down O Lord thy mighty ones let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe come tread for the wine press is full the vats overflow for their wickedness is great multitudes multitudes in the valley of decision for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision the sun and moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness and the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem the heavens and the earth tremble but the

[39:14] Lord is a refuge for his people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel then you will know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion my holy mountain so Jerusalem will be holy and strangers will pass through it no more all of this is part and parcel of that great wrap up that is coming and my oh my I don't know if you are aware of it or not but what we are actually speaking of here chronologically is somewhere between the last 48 to 72 hours of the tribulation period's end this is the actual end and it is going to be consummated with this tremendous bloodshed that is going to occur in the valley of

[40:15] Jehoshaphat sometimes it's referred to as the Kidron Valley and that's one of the names in the New Testament but it is also one of those places that has two different names means the same place this is part of the great African rift and what it is is a huge defile in the earth kind of like a V shape and in the bottom of that place and it will be that which surpasses anything that we can imagine the blood flow and the carnage and I don't know to what extent that is figurative or literal one of the texts says that the blood will flow to the horses bridles that may be a poetic expression it may not be required to be taken literally but at the same time there is going to be so many who knows perhaps hundreds of thousands of combatants here and there are going to be a huge number of animals and this of course brings us to another subject that I do not feel adequate to address nearly as much as

[41:28] I would like but it is unmistakable as you go through these prophetic portions of scripture both in the Old Testament and in the New that animals and in particular horses are going to play a very dramatic role that's a little difficult for us to contemplate given the strides that have been made in modern warfare and technology just recently we had hellfire missiles launched from ships and from planes that devastated certain areas of Syria and one can only wonder why this kind of technology would not be used and available by the antichrist and even the opposing forces during that time and we cannot say with any kind of certainty at all about all we can do is speculate and I have already posed to you the possibility that the

[42:33] EMP effect may be something that is transversing the whole globe because this would have the practical result of neutralizing or making effect of any and all weapons that have anything to do with electronics or computerization it's difficult for us to imagine something like that but we have been advised by authorities who are very knowledgeable about this that capability exists right now and the EMP is simply letters for it stands for electromagnetic pulse and this is a phenomena that would be that would be activated with a nuclear device and this nuclear device could be easily carried by a submarine submarine it could lay off the east coast of the

[43:40] United States completely submerged you wouldn't even know it was there and this nuclear device could be launched from that sub or multiple subs also it could be brought in by rocketry such as an ICBM and it would be intended to explode above the atmosphere it would not fall on any of our cities it would probably not kill thousands and thousands of people like a nuclear atomic bomb would but this is designed to be to be activated in the atmosphere way above miles and miles above the earth and it would have a radiating effect from that upon all of the earth below and it would completely disable anything and everything that is electrical and electronic your car won't run gas pumps won't work your air conditioning won't work your furnace won't work nothing will work no tanks will work no planes will fly nothing the whole population would be reduced to a 19th century lifestyle overnight and as I have facetiously said before the only ones that would not be profoundly affected would be the Amish we just cannot imagine anything like that whenever we have a power outage now that exists for more than three or four hours the power company is besieged with hundreds and hundreds of calls wanting to know when is the power going to be back on we just cannot live without that so

[45:36] I don't know this is like I said this is just a possibility but it is a distinct possibility and not only that but if such were to be realized for instance the United States then what capacity what ability would we have to retaliate anything that you would want to use to retaliate wouldn't work our governments worldwide have been dependent upon what is commonly referred to as the mad principle it's probably probably a pretty fitting name for it the mad principle is probably the main thing that prevents any nation even a rogue nation from activating nuclear activity because the mad principle which stands for mutually assured destruction mad and every country knows that if they should take the initiative and provide the first strike the retaliation would be incredible if the

[46:58] Soviet Union were to decide to launch a nuclear device against the United States or that that rotund little guy in North Korea with the bad haircut if he would decide to do something like that everybody knows it's pretty common knowledge that there would be such a horrendous price to pay for having done something like that that his country would be virtually eliminated by the retaliation that would come on the other hand that is assuming that you have the ability to retaliate because if that EMP thing should be in effect you couldn't you couldn't retaliate the president the president could get on his telephone and order his bombers well no he couldn't do that his telephone wouldn't work would it no his telephone wouldn't work so he couldn't order his bombers into the air to bomb whoever for whatever it just wouldn't happen so we just can't imagine but do you know man is such a such a warlike aggressive creature he will find some way to fight he will find some way to make war and if it has to be the old fashioned way with you know with horses knives with swords with whatever we're capable of doing that yeah we're capable of doing that so it's really something we're talking about isn't it yeah it's really something but let me ask you this so what did you think did you think that this world as we know it is just going to go on like this forever well it isn't going to it isn't going to reminds me of that prophecy that

[49:03] Peter talks about that in the latter days scoffers shall come walking after their own lust and saying where is the promise of his big deal Jesus is coming again yeah well right all things continue just as they are since the fathers fell asleep nothing's changed yeah well that's that's classic definition of uniformitarianism nothing has changed and as it has always been so it will always be no it won't no it won't history is not cyclical it is linear there is a stopping point and that's what we're talking about right now the stopping point and speaking of stopping points I'm stopping so if you have a question we've got about 10 minutes and we will entertain whatever you would like to ask and this will of course not take the place of our extended

[50:06] Q&A that we planned two weeks from today but maybe you've got a comment that you'd like to make would like to hear it anyone the electromagnetic pulse that you talked about that would affect the entire world not just the United States is that correct well no I don't understand enough about that except to say that it would be more localized in fact and I don't know the specifications of this how much of an area it would include but it's entirely possible that there would be multiple EMPs released in different places that would all be coordinated by a common enemy and I remember I can't recall the guy's name now but he was at the time he was the chairman of the

[51:10] Joint Chiefs of Staff and you take the army the Navy the Air Force the Marines and you put all of them together and they constitute the military brains and then one of them is the chairman of the whole group he is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and I remember him saying that it is the kind of thing like the EMP that keeps us awake at night and it's quite something to hear one of our leading generals say something like that because they readiness and preparation people who are safeguarding this nation have have have to be creative and imaginative and they have to try and think in terms of any possible kind of threat that might come our way and then be prepared to offer a solution or an answer to it and they don't call these think tanks for nothing and some of the best and brightest just devote themselves to this kind of scenario and thinking up these kind of things because technology today has made so many many things possible that earlier were just unthinkable and they have to try to combat these things what if and it's always dealing with the what if what if they do that what would our response be so it's a nightmare situation the world is a dangerous place the world is a place other comments well and

[52:55] I was just thinking that if it didn't affect them in the Middle East at Armageddon then why would they be on horses if they were still able to use their warfare but without them having the planes and trains and mechanized things ships wouldn't even sail so it would be sailboats going across the ocean to amass and I don't think there's enough horses right now to sustain a huge army I mean I'm just kind of thinking out loud but I understand and you just can't help but wonder about these things and think out loud a little bit and I don't I do remember a comment that I remember reading about this it's probably been a good ten years ago and the comment was talking about it had to do with the interpretation of prophecy and are we to take the things that the prophets describe which from the description they give are really quite bizarre they are describing phenomena in their prophecies that they had never before seen and didn't know what to call them or how to describe them and the best thing that the prophets could do was say it was like or it resembled and they would utilize what they were familiar with to try to explain what they were looking at that they had never seen before now it's difficult it's really difficult for us to do this but just use your imagination a little bit alright and let's go back to say let's go back to say 1900 could you envision could you envision a tank in 1900 this thing to know to do this thing in the 1890s but nothing like a war machine like a tank how would you go about describing something like that that you never seen when this was a dilemma that the prophets had and some are of the opinion that what they were describing was the way that this thing is actually going to be and it's going to be some kind of an instrument of modern warfare or some are saying that what he did was what we're supposed to do is just update this and where it talks about horses we're supposed to modernize that and say well actually they're not horses but they are armed cavalry jeeps and tanks and things like that these are just active human imagination we just don't know so the difficulty is in trying to interpret these things were they really what they were describing they're going they're talked about being like locusts and they had stings in their tails and some say well that you know that sounds like a modern helicopter with a sting in its tail and there's a machine gun coming out of that that'll sting you and the rotor blades and everything like a bird flying and after all how would you describe a helicopter to someone who'd never seen or even knew what an airplane was a fixed wing plane so all of these are part and parcel of the problems of interpreting prophecy fascinating fascinating

[56:49] John commenter question over here this will have to be our last we're just about out of time early on you talked about how the fall has affected basically everything about us including our minds and I think that's why the Lord admonishes us I think it's in Romans 12 to renew your mind and even from our video this morning he had to renew Moses mind and Israel mind to get Egypt out of them basically and I think that's what we have to do and it's work it's a lot of work you're right you're right absolutely thank you thank you all right would you stand please we'll be dismissed father we once again are reminded of what

[57:51] Peter said seeing that these things are coming upon this earth what manner of men and women we ought to be challenging times in which to be alive times of great responsibility once again we are so thankful that we have the sure word of God upon which we can depend for insight and understanding even though we do not grasp much of it as clearly as we would like we grasp enough to know that we have responsibilities to fulfill and to know that you have already empowered us with what is needed to fulfill them we have obedient and willing hearts thank you for being the God that you are and thank you for being the faithful deliverer that you have promised yourself to be to your people Israel thank you for using them as a catalyst to bring many of these things to pass and especially through whom our

[58:54] Lord Jesus the Messiah came the tribe of Judah the house of David we bless you for him and we look forward to that time when we really will see him face to face thank you for that truth in Christ name Amen