The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Revelation - The False Prophet Surfaces

[0:00] In the brief description that is given there, the false prophet surfaces and following the arrival of the Antichrist, the false prophet makes his appearance.

[0:16] Satan is the energizer of both of these evil personages. Both are aptly characterized as beasts. A rather fitting description.

[0:27] As the Antichrist will succeed in wielding political power, the false prophet will succeed in wielding religious power.

[0:38] Together, they will do the dragon, that is Satan's bidding, and the world will be compliant. And we will be looking at Revelation 13, verses 11 through 18.

[0:53] And I have just a couple of comments before Gary comes to read the scripture for us. And I simply want to remind you that what we are dealing with in this last book of the Bible is what the book of Daniel refers to as the 70th week of Daniel.

[1:14] But as we have explained before, it isn't a week of seven days. It is a period of seven years. And there are 70 sevens for a total of 490 years in the whole complex.

[1:31] 483 of those years are already passed. They passed when Jesus was crucified. That ended the 483rd year.

[1:45] And that ended 69 of the 70 weeks. But the 70th week did not follow the 69th week. There is an interim.

[1:56] There is a gap in between the 69th and the 70th week. And we are that gap. We do not belong to the 69th week.

[2:08] We do not belong to the 70th week. We are sandwiched in between those. And we are not mentioned at all in the Old Testament.

[2:20] We are not prophesied. We are not predicted. We are the church, the body of Christ. And this is something that is entirely new. That is not found as a subject of prophecy.

[2:32] Once the church is removed, the rapture takes place, then things will begin moving toward that 70th week.

[2:43] But that is not the beginning of the 70th week. And I want to make this point because it needs clarification. Some are of the opinion that it is the rapture, the removal of the church that starts the 70th week of Daniel.

[2:57] And that is not the case. By the way, the 70th week of Daniel is identical with the tribulation period, the time of Jacob's trouble. That is just a different name for the same period of time.

[3:10] But when we are raptured and removed, there may be a considerable period of time yet ahead before that 70th week begins.

[3:22] It is because Daniel chapter 9, beginning, I think, with verse 24 through 27, makes it very clear what it is that kicks off that 70th week.

[3:32] In other words, when Christ died on the cross, that clock stopped ticking, that prophetic clock. And when the Antichrist, who is referred to here in chapter 13, that we've already studied briefly in the first few verses, he will enter into, he will negotiate a peace pact with the nation of Israel.

[4:00] And it will be a peace accord that they will sign that will be in force for seven years. Now, we've already got those on the table, but they haven't gone anywhere.

[4:13] Remember the Camp David Accord? When Jimmy Carter was president? And he had Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin together? And their picture appeared on Time magazine.

[4:24] And it said, Isaac and Jacob, or Esau and Jacob. I'm sorry. Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael and Isaac meet again.

[4:37] They're in the person of Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, the Jew and the Arab. And, of course, nothing came of it. It was just a big flop.

[4:48] And then there was the Oslo Accord, and nothing came of that either, that President Clinton tried to broker. But this will be different. This is a peace accord that Israel will buy.

[5:02] And I do not know for sure who is going to be offering it. If I did, I guess I'd know who the Antichrist is, but I don't know that either. But at any rate, it is going to be enacted and enforced, and everything is going to be operating rather smoothly for three and a half years, or 1260 days, or a time, times and half a time, or 42 months.

[5:30] All of those figures I just gave you all speak of the same thing. It is one half of that Great Tribulation period. And when half of it is gone, half of the seven years, the Antichrist reveals himself for who he really is, and literally all hell breaks loose.

[5:53] And the Jews are running for their life. Two-thirds, two-thirds of the Jewish population of the world will be killed.

[6:05] They will be put to death during this time. And the third surviving will be referred to as the remnant.

[6:18] And they will be miraculously provided for in the same way that God provided for the Jewish people when they came out of Egypt. I do not know if it will be the same kind of manna, but it will be a miraculous provision and protection for them while the Antichrist is seeking to destroy them without success.

[6:38] So, that brief introduction will arrive now at Revelation chapter 13. We'll ask Gary if he will come and read the last portion of that.

[6:50] And by the way, this is talking about the false prophet. Now, let me give you this first. There are three principal characters involved here. Three principal negatives.

[7:02] And they constitute a counterfeit trinity. Satan himself, who is described as the dragon in the Revelation. Satan himself is the counterpart to God the Father.

[7:15] The Antichrist is the counterpart to Jesus Christ. The false prophet that we will be looking at this morning is the counterpart to the Holy Spirit.

[7:27] Satan has his unholy trinity. And each one of them serve a kind of function that the righteous ones serve in their capacity.

[7:41] God the Father is at the head of the program. Satan will be at the head of his program. He will be energizing both the false prophet and the Antichrist.

[7:53] And then the second person, who is mimicking the person of Christ, will be the one who is politically supreme during this 70th week.

[8:05] And the Holy Spirit counterpart is the false prophet. And as Christ made clear, and I think it's John 16, when he said, I will pray the Father and he will send you another comforter.

[8:21] And when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will glorify me and he will show you things to come.

[8:34] That's what Jesus told his disciples shortly before he left them. So the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit is to elevate and exalt the person of Christ.

[8:46] The primary ministry of the false prophet that we'll be reading about shortly, his primary ministry is to elevate the Antichrist and cause all men to worship him.

[9:00] And in many respects, he will succeed. So I want you to understand, as we move on through this, there is the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is the unholy counterpart, Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet.

[9:16] And each of them have similar kind of roles. All right, Gary, would you come and read for us, please? Good morning.

[9:28] Good morning. Good morning.

[10:00] Good morning.

[10:30] Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

[11:00] who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak, and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

[11:23] And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead.

[11:39] And he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

[11:54] Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast. For the number is that of a man, and his number is 666.

[12:10] Now, please turn back a page in the book of Revelation, and take a look at chapter 16, and we'll be looking at verses 13 and 14.

[12:29] And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.

[12:47] For they are spirits of demons, performing signs which go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.

[13:05] Please turn back another page. And you should come to chapter 19. And we'll be looking at verse 20 in chapter 19.

[13:21] Verse 21.

[13:51] Please turn back another page. And you should be in Revelation 20. And please take a look there at verse 10.

[14:04] And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also.

[14:19] And they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. Thank you.

[14:31] Rather gruesome scenes. And the first one that he read depicts the rise of the false prophet, and the others deal with his activity, and the last dealt with his end.

[14:47] No question about it, the book of the Revelation sets forth the theme that has existed from the beginning, and that is the conflict between good and evil.

[15:01] And we know, of course, how it is going to end, because of the creative power and omnipotence of God. We've also mentioned from time to time, and I want to keep this in front of you, because it is very critical to understanding the whole subject, those three basic reasons as to why the 70th week of Daniel is going to be as it is.

[15:28] Why it is even going to be part and parcel of the human race. And there are three reasons that are given. We've already looked at each of them, and I'll not go back to the references other than to just mention them.

[15:41] So we won't take time to look them up, but if you want to get the CD and do that at your leisure, you may do so. The first reason for this time of tribulation will be to make an end of wickedness.

[15:54] And it sounds kind of reminiscent to what is recorded regarding the rationale for the destruction of the world the first time, when God brought the flood upon all of humanity.

[16:08] He looked down upon the earth, and behold, the entirety of humanity was corrupt, and the earth was filled with violence, and the Lord saved Noah and his family, and then started all over from that.

[16:21] So that will be the first purpose that will be served in this great tribulation period. And it is called a tribulation because it is going to be so intense and so catastrophic and so destructive that Jesus described it as a time the world has never seen before and would never see again.

[16:44] This is the final culmination, the final showdown, the end shootout of good and evil, and good, of course, will prevail.

[16:56] So according to Isaiah 13, 9, and Isaiah 24, and verses 19 and 20, there we are told that it is designed to make an end to wickedness.

[17:11] And the upside. There is a bright spot to this because in the midst of that cataclysmic upheaval that is going to take place on earth, there is going to be an enormous worldwide revival.

[17:27] There will be huge numbers of people who are going to come to faith during this time, this cataclysmic event, because one reason is because someone has said man's extremity provides God's opportunity and men are going to really count the cost and they are going to look at what is involved and they are going to consider their options.

[17:56] They are going to have their backs to the wall and many are going to be brought to Christ during this time of tribulation because of the intense suffering and persecution that is going on.

[18:11] They will look to him for refuge and many will find it. This will be largely a result also of the efforts of the 144,000 Jews who are going to be proclaiming the gospel.

[18:24] And let me just inject this because this too is very, very important. what in the world is going to cause 144,000 Jews to begin evangelizing Gentiles in the world?

[18:41] And I think the only plausible answer, at least the only one that I can arrive at, has to do with what we have already considered in Ezekiel 38 and 39. And this deals with the Russian invasion.

[18:55] Russia and some of her allies we do not know who all those other nations are going to be. But, I think you can almost guarantee that they will be Arab nations. They are going to invade the land of Israel.

[19:09] And they are going to suffer an utterly devastating defeat. It will not be at the hands of the Israelis. It will be at the hand of God himself.

[19:21] And he will use natural means as well to devastate the Russian army and her allies. And it will be affected back in the homeland of Russia as well.

[19:32] So, Israel is going to see that God has been working and is working on behalf of Israel and has defeated her enemies for her.

[19:44] And this is going to result in a massive turning of Jewish people back to the God of their fathers. Most of Judaism now is in what is referred to as Reformed Judaism, which is a very liberal kind of Judaism.

[20:02] Plus, there is a huge number of Jews worldwide who are committed to atheism. And they have simply given up on the God of Israel that is depicted in the Bible. But this is going to bring them back in droves.

[20:14] So, that will be one of the results. And then, we are told that the third reason for the tribulation period is to break the will of the holy people.

[20:25] And we saw this in our monthly session that met just last Tuesday or the Tuesday before on the subject of the stubbornness of the Jew.

[20:37] And we pointed out to you numerous passages from the Old Testament where God said through the prophets, Surely all the day long I've stretched forth my hand to a disobedient and a gainsaying people.

[20:48] You are a stiff-necked people. And God charged them with stubbornness over and over again all throughout the Old Testament. And they're turning to idolatry. Well, this is going to break the back of their stubbornness.

[21:03] And they are going to move from being a stubborn people to being a pliable people. And it will be a 180-degree turn for the Jewish people.

[21:16] And that is referred to in Daniel 12 verses 5-7, Ezekiel chapter 20, and verses 34-38.

[21:28] That is to break the will of the holy people. And it is not broken now. So it will be then. Now, in our text in Revelation 13, if you will look at it, please, we'll just move down through here and I'll try to finish as quickly as possible.

[21:48] Maybe we can have a little Q&A. Verse 11, and I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. John is being given this vision. And that's exactly what it is.

[21:58] It's just like a panoramic vision. And it is couched in these symbols. But symbols mean something. And throughout Scripture, whether you're comparing Old Testament or New, the symbols that are given always mean the same thing.

[22:14] It isn't a symbol means one thing here and something different over there. That would be terribly confusing. But there's consistency with the symbols. And the mountains, for instance, and the thrums, and the kings, always speak of a power that is entrenched.

[22:29] And that will become obvious as we move on through. So this other beast is coming up out of the earth. Another beast, notice if you will, is coming up out of the earth.

[22:42] Now that's significant because the first beast, which is the Antichrist at the beginning of chapter 13, actually it's the end of 17, I mean it's the first 17 of chapter 12 in the beginning, and he, and that is the dragon, that is Satan, stood on the sand of the seashore, and saw a beast coming up out of the sea.

[23:08] That's different. This is the beast that comes out of the sea, indicating, I think, that this has to do with the parameters of the Mediterranean Sea, and the nations that surround that.

[23:23] This is where this one is going to surface from. Some are of the opinion that it has to do with the revival of the old Roman Empire, and that's entirely possible.

[23:34] This could be one of those ten toes that is going to resurface, and we'll see that later as we move on through that. But this beast has ten heads, ten horns, and seven heads.

[23:46] On his horns were ten diadems, or crowns, and his heads were blasphemous names. This blasphemy is all going to be designed against and toward the God of heaven.

[24:01] You need to understand that most of the earth, most of the population of the earth, is going to be anti-God insofar as the revelation of the true deity is concerned.

[24:17] Men are going to shake their fists at God. They are going to end up fighting with Satan himself and with the Antichrist, it's going to be a very bold kind of defiance that we see only the earliest vestiges of today.

[24:35] I don't know if you are aware of it or not, and maybe it's just us preachers who pick up on it more than anyone else, but there is definitely brewing an anti-Christian, anti-God sentiment across the world.

[24:52] and it is increasing more and more. The world as a whole is becoming less and less tolerant of spiritual things, and they are making it more and more obvious through books that are written, positions that are taken, and it's going to increase more and more.

[25:16] And this blasphemy is, you can only blaspheme deity. You can swear or you can curse at a man, but you can't blaspheme a man.

[25:28] Humans are not for blasphemy, they're not subjects of blasphemy, only deity is subject to blasphemy, and this is going to be an in-your-face God.

[25:42] So, this beast is the second in this unholy trinity, the first, I'm sorry, the third, the Antichrist, the Antichrist is the second, the first, of course, is the dragon of verse 17 of chapter 12, and then the first who is the counterpart of Christ is this Antichrist who surfaces at the beginning of chapter 13, and now the third person who is the false prophet is the one in question in verse 11, and he is coming up out of the earth as opposed to the sea, and that perhaps indicates I would think a different origin, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon, interesting that lamb like, two horns, but speaking as a dragon, and he exercises all the authority of the first beast, that's the antichrist, in his presence, and he makes the earth, and those who dwell in it, to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed.

[26:57] Now, you've got to keep in mind that this first beast who has the fatal wound is going to make a comeback. Interestingly enough, this is nothing more than a takeoff, a counterfeit of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who also made a comeback.

[27:17] This beast, this antichrist, is going to be assassinated. He will be killed, and he will come back to life.

[27:33] That is going to recruit a lot of supporters, and what is it that he is going to do when he comes back to life? One of the principal things he is going to do is go to Jerusalem and he is going to confront the two witnesses in chapter 11 that no one has been able to defeat.

[27:56] These two witnesses that still remain unidentified are going to curse the earth for three and a half years.

[28:11] Rain is going to be withheld over the globe. Can you imagine what this is going to be like? Can you imagine the planet doing without rain for three and a half years?

[28:27] And it will be determined that these two men who are indestructible are the cause of it.

[28:41] And everybody is going to know it's their fault. They're responsible. Numerous attempts will be made to take their life. None will succeed. But when the Antichrist comes back to life, he's going to gain a lot of respect, a lot of authority, and when he succeeds in dispatching these two witnesses that we've already considered in Revelation chapter 11, he is able to kill them, and they lie on the streets of Jerusalem over three days without burial, and the whole world will focus on this death scene, this gruesome two bodies lying there, cooking in the sun, and they will rejoice the world over.

[29:36] They're going to have parties, they're even going to send gifts to each other, celebrating the demise of the two witnesses. Nobody has been able to defeat them until this one who came back from the dead.

[29:50] Now, do you see what kind of credibility that is going to give him? They are going to be ready to line up behind this man, and they will. So, let us read on. He performs great signs, this is the false prophet, he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.

[30:17] And he deceives those, because this is what they specialize in, he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, that is the first beast, the antichrist, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword, that's the antichrist who's come back to life, and has come to life.

[30:43] And of course the people are going to do this because that will give great credibility. So, let me reiterate something that we've already touched on, and I want to emphasize it again because as you read through the revelation, some of these things just seem so absolutely far-fetched to believe.

[30:59] And they are far-fetched from the norm. We live in what we call the norm. This is regular living. And we do not see signs and wonders and miracles and all kinds of stuff that's described here in the revelation.

[31:14] We just don't see that. Well, we do have our earthquakes and we do have floods and things like that. But this is supernatural stuff. This is entirely different. And this is going to characterize this 70th week of Daniel.

[31:30] What we are going to have is both sides, good and evil, pulling out all the stops for the allegiance of humanity. And it is going to look like, very much, like the wrong side is winning for a long time.

[31:50] And the only thing that's going to turn it around is the arrival of Christ himself in Revelation 19.

[32:04] That's going to be the turning point. Up until that time, evil will be prevailing. It will win the day until that time.

[32:16] there was given to him, verse 15, to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast might even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

[32:37] this is what is going to result in a huge number of martyrs. I cannot give you a number, but suffice it to say, it's going to be martyrdom on the scale that has never existed before.

[32:52] And that will have to do with their unwillingness to receive this mark of the beast. Because those who receive the mark of the beast will be ascribing loyalty, and ownership of themselves to the beast.

[33:12] They are signing on with the Antichrist. And they will be glad to do so. He will be seen as their protection. He will be seen as their savior.

[33:26] And those who will refuse the mark of the beast will be worldwide viewed as obstructionists.

[33:37] as obstacles who are in the way to the creation of a better world. And they will pay with their life.

[33:49] Huge numbers of these people are going to be martyred. Because you will not be able to buy, nor sell, nor transact any business unless you have that mark. And the mark will be obvious.

[34:00] The mark will be an indication of your loyalty to the Antichrist. Verse 16 says he causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor.

[34:14] It doesn't make any difference how much money you have. You won't be able to buy your way out of this. The rich and the poor, the small and the great, the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead.

[34:28] We have no idea exactly what that mark is going to look like. But again, it will be, for all practical purposes, it will be a brand. It will be branded.

[34:39] We've all seen cattle branded. It may not be significantly different. It will be something that will be easily identified from a distance. Nobody's going to have to walk up and look real close.

[34:51] People will be walking around and everyone that has that mark will be considered friends. And everyone who doesn't will be considered enemy, a pariah, if you will.

[35:10] And it provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

[35:24] Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast for the number is that of a man and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

[35:40] And throughout scripture, six does appear to be the number of humanity, the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day.

[35:54] he is branded, if you will, with a number six. That's humanity's number. God's number is seven. Seven is considered to be a number of perfection.

[36:08] And it resides only in the deity. And man, of course, comes in lower than God, certainly less perfect. And our number is six. And with this six, six, six, that's a number for each member of the unholy trinity.

[36:30] There are a number of different human names that can be configured so as to tally six, six, six.

[36:42] In fact, the list is probably almost endless. There are all kinds of names in all different languages that when you assign the numerical value to each letter in the name, you can come up with six, six, six.

[36:59] Of course, there will be all kinds of other configurations of numbers that will be far away from six, six, six, six, six, six, but there will be a whole lot of combinations that can add up to six, six, six.

[37:11] So that doesn't mean that this will be easily identified, but it does mean that whoever this Antichrist is, his name will equal six, six, six.

[37:24] Now, so will the number of other people, but his in particular, and obviously it will be someone in the forefront of notoriety that will be in a position to launch something like this, who will be readily identified with this particular number.

[37:41] Now, I've provided an insert in your bulletin, and one is from Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, and the other is from Dr. Henry Morris. One is operating from the Greek, and Fruchtenbaum is speaking about the numerical values in Hebrew, and we do not know exactly which these will be.

[38:04] Scholars are divided as to what the original language is of the Revelation. We traditionally believe that the Revelation is recorded in the Greek language, that is, the original manuscripts, but there are other scholars who disagree with that and say that that's not necessarily the case, and we do know, unquestionably, that the Revelation is an intensely Jewish book, perhaps the only book in all of the New Testament that is more Jewish in character than the book of the Revelation is the book of Hebrews, Hebrews, and that is for very obvious reasons.

[38:43] So, what we have shared this morning is just kind of an overview of this chapter 13, or the last portion thereof, and I do want to conclude for a few moments of Q&A if you have something that you would like to ask.

[39:00] I may or may not be able to give you a good answer. All I can promise you is a good effort, but you feel free if you do have a question or comment. Anyone?

[39:22] Okay, Roger? Will the Jewish people be misled into signing the peace treaty? It looks like something they shouldn't have done.

[39:33] Oh, yeah. Well, absolutely. Absolutely, they will be misled. But here's the thing. You know, since Israel's inception, I mean the rebirth of Israel in 1948, I think it was May 14, 1948, they have never known real peace in Israel.

[39:53] It is unbelievable the things that they have been able to accomplish under such enormous stress, and just trying to meet the demands for survival, being surrounded by all of these hostile forces, but they have never known real peace, and they don't have it today.

[40:13] So, when the Antichrist, and I'm going, maybe, I don't know, maybe, well, let me just say this.

[40:26] I'm not saying this is chapter and verse, I'm just saying that this is speculation, okay? This is just a Wiseman possibility. That should send up a red flag that means proceed with caution.

[40:38] But I really, call it a gut feeling if you want, I really feel that the one who will be instigating this peace process will be an Arab, very possibly a Muslim.

[40:56] Not all Arabs are Muslim, but most of them are. And it will be one who has to have some real clout and respect with the Jewish people.

[41:10] It has always been pretty much unthinkable that an Arab or a Muslim could introduce peace terms to Israel.

[41:21] In fact, you know, Anwar Sadat, when he was prime minister of Egypt, he made peace overtures to Israel.

[41:33] Do you remember that? And you remember what it cost him? It cost him his life. The Muslim Brotherhood assassinated Anwar Sadat as he was sitting in the reviewing stand watching the Egyptian troops pass by in a colorful kind of inspection parade.

[41:57] And someone jumped out of the crowd, put a gun to his head, and murdered him for the sole purpose of making peace gestures toward the nation of Israel.

[42:10] So when the time comes that someone of that stature will confront Israel and try to enter into negotiations with them, it will have to be someone that Israel would really trust and think that this is for sure going to happen.

[42:31] This is something that we prayed for and longed for for decades, and now it's really going to happen, and the rose petals will be flowing, and it will be wonderful, and Israel is going to sign on, and the words are going to be, oh my, peace at last.

[42:50] Can you believe it? This is just wonderful, and it will be wonderful, and it will be in force, and it will be maintained, and everything will be hunky dory for three and a half years, 42 months, a time, times, and half a time, 1260 days, and then everything breaks loose.

[43:12] That's the abomination of desolation that we looked at earlier that Jesus is talking about in Matthew 24. He says, when you see that happen, head for the hills, because they're coming after you.

[43:23] They're coming after you, and the hills that they're going to be heading for will be in southern Jordan, where they will take up refuge, I believe, in the ancient red rose city of Petra, and there God is going to sustain them with food and water and sustenance for that whole second half.

[43:42] of the tribulation period, while the antichrist is just itching to get at them, and why he's not able to militarily, I don't know, other than the fact that they are divinely protected. It's going to be something.

[43:54] Yeah. Other comments or questions? In the last three and a half years, is the things going on with the antichrist and all that, the destruction and all that type of thing, simultaneous with the pouring out of the bowls and trumpets and all those kinds of things, is that all going on at the same time, or is he using those people for that purpose?

[44:18] Well, part of the difficulty in putting this together has to do with the chronology of these things happening. For instance, the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11, there is every indication that these two men, whoever they are, and the only thing I can be sure about is that they are Jews, these two men are going to have their ministry for virtually the whole first three and a half years of the tribulation period.

[44:53] This is something that is going to go on. They are going to begin, for all practical purposes, once that 70th week begins, their ministry appears to begin also.

[45:09] And they will preach, and they will be preaching truth, they will be preaching righteousness, and they will be bitterly, bitterly opposed by all the world.

[45:25] And they will be the ones responsible for the three and a half years of no reign and so on. So that's going to cover the whole first half of this tribulation period. That's going on all at the same time.

[45:38] Someone else? up here?

[45:49] up here? Okay. Okay. Well, John, John Akin's over here.

[46:01] So the peace treaty is going to be made, and at the same time, the witnesses are going to come into vogue and cause all that trouble for three and a half years?

[46:15] Yes. And I take it the witnesses are really going to oppose this peace treaty. And there will be a number of Jews who will fight tooth and nail to keep Israel from engaging in that peace treaty and they will be unsuccessful.

[46:33] Yeah. They'll be divided. And it's like I said, it's going to be a time of incredible turmoil. And it's going to be characterized by one manifestation after another of the miraculous likes, the likes of which none of us have ever seen.

[46:49] Nothing like this. I mean, this is, we live in, we live in what we would call a world of nature with natural circumstances and natural causes and effects.

[47:02] This is not going to be like that. This is going to be a whole different thing. This is going to be characterized by the supernatural. There's going to be demonic activity that is just unparalleled.

[47:14] We've never seen anything like it. It's going to be the opening of this abyss, this bottomless pit. And by the way, have you ever asked yourself, how can a pit be bottomless?

[47:26] How can it not have, how can it not have a bottom to it? And the answer is, I think, if it has no end.

[47:38] This could very well be a geographical location, someplace on the earth, that we know not of, that has an opening at the top, and an opening at the bottom.

[47:51] bottom. And there is no bottom. It is through the entire diameter of the earth. What are we talking about?

[48:05] We're talking about, what, 7,000 miles? Surely that can't be. Can it?

[48:15] I don't know. Bottomless pit. Open at the top and open at the bottom. It's just like a channel. And it is going to spew forth those spirit beings that are incarcerated there.

[48:33] And I have no idea how spirit beings are incarcerated. We know how physical beings are. We put them behind bars. But you can't do that with spirit beings. And these are spirit beings.

[48:44] It's an entirely different order. So like I'm saying, this is going to be a whole new thing, the likes of which we have never imagined. And it's going to characterize this whole period of time.

[49:01] All right. Appreciate your kind attention. Next week we are going to depart from the revelation for just one week. We will be bringing a special Father's Day message.

[49:15] And then following that we will return and we'll take up Revelation 14, which has resurfacing the 144,000 and their efforts throughout the world.

[49:25] And it will be that time of great evangelism. Would you stand with me, please? Our Father, we are truly grateful for what you have been pleased to reveal.

[49:37] And we are very much aware that we have not been as clear or as incisive as we would like to be. We all have questions remaining.

[49:48] This is a very complex issue. Yet it is one that you have not only been pleased to set forth in your word, but you have even promised a special blessing for those who read the things of this book and understand.

[50:03] And we thank you that you've provided the necessary keys for understanding and interpreting scripture that makes the Bible its own best interpreter. Thank you for the truth that is before us.

[50:14] We pray for a better facility of understanding, appreciating it. We look forward to knowing what is coming so that we might know better how to live in these our days.

[50:26] Even as Peter reminded us, seeing that these things are coming upon the earth, what manner of men we ought to be here and now. We trust that you will impress upon us the importance of governing our lives in accordance with the revelation that you've been pleased to give, not only of the book of Revelation, but of the whole book for which we thank you in Christ's name.

[50:51] Amen.