Prophecy and Mystery Contrasted - Prophecy 26

[0:00] Good morning. Appreciate your presence this beautiful spring day. Thank you for joining with us for this nine o'clock hour. And let's look to the Lord now in a word of prayer, shall we?

[0:15] We're grateful, Father, for this occasion to be together. Thank you for being at the center of it. Thank you for like groups such as ours that are meeting all over this country with common concerns and common interests.

[0:28] And we are grateful for each and every one of them. We do not understand how you are able to be with each of these groups, but that's part of what makes you who you are. And we are glad for your presence with us and with them.

[0:42] So we ask that you will sanctify this session, especially to yourself and to the hearts and minds of those who hear. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, we are continuing to follow a very brief and very elemental kind of description that is the great dividing point in the Bible.

[1:04] And that has to do with the distinction between what we are referring to as prophecy and mystery. And when we use the word prophecy, we are referring primarily, not exclusively, but certainly primarily to the nation of Israel and to God's dealings with these covenant people as such.

[1:27] It is very definitely a national covenantal relationship into which God has entered with his chosen people at Mount Sinai.

[1:40] And there it is explained in considerable detail. That, however, is in marked distinction to the relationship that he has to the body of Christ, which is comprised of all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, who have expressed a common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their substitute for their sin.

[2:02] And the great distinction that separates these two is an important aspect that is generally lost or disregarded by most of Christendom.

[2:16] And I say that with great sadness because there is nothing that opens up the understanding of the scriptures more than understanding those two distinctions.

[2:28] But so many people, and I must confess I was one of them, so many people tend to see the Bible as just a composite whole, which in a way it is.

[2:40] But it has to be separated. It is intended to fulfill and to require what was spoken of by the Apostle Paul when he talks about rightly dividing the word of truth.

[2:52] And this means that certain times belong to certain peoples and certain incidents belong to certain peoples. For instance, we in the body of Christ are not a covenant people.

[3:10] We have not entered into any kind of a covenant with the Lord. We are not covenantal. Israel is covenantal. We are not. We are totally different. We are what is referred to as mystery.

[3:23] And the meaning of that word is something that is secret or hidden and cannot be known unless someone provides the key to open it up.

[3:37] It's almost like a code. It's almost like having a coded message that you cannot understand at all unless you have the key to the code.

[3:49] You apply the key to the code and voila, there it is. It's plain as day. And that's kind of the way this relationship is between Christ and the church.

[3:59] It is something that is not a subject of prophecy. That is, it was never predicted, never promised, never expected. And Paul makes that so crystal clear.

[4:12] I'm not going to turn to it because I know you're very familiar with it. In Ephesians chapter 3, he explains, which in time past, this relationship was not made known to the sons of men.

[4:25] Nobody knew it. Nobody knew it. And when God sprung it on the people in the first century, it caused quite a stir. And it still does.

[4:38] And largely, it is still underappreciated or, in many respects, not appreciated at all. So we're looking at this little chart here. And I guess we'll need to make more of these.

[4:50] I know some of you, maybe all of you have them. But it's easy to misplace and forget where you put it. But we'll be making more of them. And this is just a very simple little thing.

[5:02] And this is one reason that I chose it. It's because it puts these distinctions all together in just one simple page. The basic distinctions between prophecy and mystery.

[5:13] And Mr. Stamm was insightful enough and kind enough to make this one of his items of his written legacy. And we are beneficiaries of it, as are many other people. So, on the one side, he talks about prophecy and the characteristics of it.

[5:27] On the other side, it is a complete contrast. And the difficulty arises with so many well-meaning Christians who try to put them together.

[5:39] You can't do that. Now, you can study them separately. And you should. Because it is to great profit for you to understand prophecy in order to really understand mystery.

[5:53] While they are not actually connected at all, one does not make sense without the other. So, it's important to understand it from that standpoint. So, the prophecy is on the left side of this.

[6:05] And the mystery is on the other. And what we have been taking thus far, we've just been meandering down through these, trying to clip them off one by one. And now we have arrived at item number 10 on prophecy.

[6:18] And the counterpart of it across the page is mystery, the absence from the earth. And item number 10, prophecy concerns Christ's coming to the earth. We've already looked in our last session together at the first reference that is given.

[6:33] By the way, the two references here are not the only two. There are dozens of them. But he's just picked out a couple of the more prominent ones. We've already looked at Isaiah 59. And this morning, if you will turn to Zechariah chapter 14.

[6:50] Zechariah is a book that is not often visited. But if you can find Malachi, which is the last book in the Old Testament, then Zechariah is right before it.

[7:00] So, you won't have any problem with that. Zechariah. Zechariah. And we'll be looking at chapter 14. Also, note the heading of the prophecy is, item 10, prophecy concerns Christ's coming to the earth.

[7:21] This is commonly referred to as the first advent or the first coming of Christ. And whereas it is mentioned a number of times in the Old Testament, even beginning with the book of Genesis, chapter 3 and verse 15, the seed of the woman, he is referred to there.

[7:41] And he is found many, many times in his first coming. As you go through the Old Testament, he keeps popping up here and there, what he's going to do when he comes the first time, etc.

[7:51] But, the second coming is mentioned many, many times over as opposed to the first coming.

[8:03] All in the Old Testament. In other words, there is far more in the subject of prophecy that deals with the second coming of Christ than there is that deals with the first coming.

[8:17] Both are found there in the Old Testament. No question about it. But, the number of times that the second coming is referred to greatly outweighs the first coming in Bethlehem by so many.

[8:35] And this is what we are looking at now. And it has to do with item 10, Christ's coming to the earth. And prophecy concerns that. And it is Zechariah 14 and verse 4.

[8:46] But we'll start with verse 14. Or verse 1. Behold, a day is coming. And by the way, I want you to look at that phrase. A day is coming.

[8:59] In verse 1, because a day, as you move on through the chapter, is going to become that day. But it's still talking about the same day.

[9:11] And, you need to know that it is not exclusively in reference to a 24-hour period.

[9:22] Many times, that's what the word day means. In fact, most of the time, that's what the day means. But there are other occasions, and we will see some of them, where a day is in reference to an era or a sphere of time.

[9:39] So, let's begin here. Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you.

[9:53] Now, this is going to be a kind of payback for the nation Israel. And, as we'll see later, it will be millennial in content. For, or because, verse 2, I, God speaking here through the prophet Zechariah, I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle.

[10:18] Now, I don't know if all here means all without exception, or if it is all in a rather generic term, simply meaning a great many.

[10:30] How many nations are there that are recognized as national entities today? Anybody know? Yeah, really close to 200.

[10:45] Maybe 202, something like that. That is national entities that have declared themselves a nation and is recognized by other nations in the world as being a duly constituted nation.

[11:04] There are about 200 of them. And I don't know if that is exactly what he's talking about here or not. So, the jury's still out, but it may well be and it could go either way. And the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled.

[11:27] But the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then, then, now, this is talking about a time when Israel nationally is going to be on the brink.

[11:47] And I mean on the brink of complete annihilation. This is when these nations are going to gather on the plains of Megiddo under the generalship of the Antichrist who will amass nations there from the world.

[12:05] And by the way, by that time, what we recognize as the world and the nations thereof will have been reduced to 10 geographical spheres throughout the earth.

[12:19] 10 of them. In other words, there will be, we've got about 200 nation states now. When this time comes, the world will have been reoriented, planet earth will have been reoriented and restructured governmentally and there will be one government and one rule and it will be headed by the Antichrist and it will see planet earth divided into 10 geographical zones and each of those will have their own ruler under the rulership of the Antichrist.

[12:55] And what they are, what they are intent on doing is completely obliterating the nation of Israel.

[13:06] This is, this is Hitler's dream fulfilled. Hitler's ambition was to rid the globe, starting with Europe, to rid the globe of the Jewish people and it was referred to as the Jewish problem.

[13:21] And the answer to the Jewish problem, quote unquote, was to eliminate the Jew. When you eliminate the Jew, there's no more problem because they were made the scapegoat for the world's economic ills, social ills, everything else and they paid a very, very dear price.

[13:41] But you know, and without sidetracking too much, Israel, and I want to say this with what I know in my heart is genuine compassion when I say Israel set themselves up for this kind of negative treatment, not merely with their rejection of the Messiah, that was simply part of it and that was the thing that most Christians held against them, but for their continual, ongoing rebellion against the authority of the God who called them into his favor.

[14:21] And they had a history going all the way back, well, when he brought them out of Egypt, how long did it take them to lapse back into the idolatry that they had known before? Not long, not long at all.

[14:33] And the Lord says, surely all the day long I have stretched forth my hand to a disobedient and a gainsaying people. And they replicated that generation after generation after generation.

[14:46] You read it in the Old Testament and you read it in the New. These were a super stubborn people. And I also want to emphasize, and I'm quick to add, they are a very accurate picture of the totality of humanity because the Jewish nation is in effect a microcosm of the human race.

[15:12] I think it is a great mistake to say, well, what else can you expect of the Jews? After all, they were Jews, you know, and they have a reputation for it. Yeah, that's true.

[15:22] But they're also members of humanity and all of humanity shares in that same old problem. And it is the intense desire for self-rule, self-direction.

[15:38] And it is born into us because of the fallenness of humanity of which we each are partakers. So don't say that the Jew was particularly stubborn just because they were Jews.

[15:52] And they were particularly stubborn just because they were human beings. And what I'm saying is, had we been in the same position as they, we probably would have made many of the same decisions they did.

[16:04] So let us move on here. I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem. And this is a picture of what is taking place or what is going to be taking place in verse 3.

[16:15] Then the Lord will go forth. And fight against those nations. This will be in connection with the second coming.

[16:32] All right? And fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. And in that day, his feet, that is the Messiah's feet, will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west.

[17:01] Now that's really interesting. Not north to south, but east to west. by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.

[17:16] And you will flee by the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Ezel. Yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.

[17:31] And that was hundreds of years before Jesus ever came. Then, the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him.

[17:42] Who do you think will comprise those holy ones? Are you ready for the trip? We are going to be among these.

[17:57] This is not speaking of angels. This is speaking of separated ones. These will be believers who will have already received a glorified body.

[18:07] Most of us will have received it as a result of dying and spirit going to heaven and then later being rejoined with the body and having a glorified body and there with Christ.

[18:19] And when he returns, we're coming back with him. We're going to witness this. We're going to see it. And I want to emphasize, we're not going to be combatants. We're not going to shed blood.

[18:30] There isn't going to be any need for us to do so. But we are going to be witnesses as to what is going to take place. And this is the ultimate wrap-up.

[18:45] And we are privileged to see this. It's mind-boggling to say the least. I don't know how this is going to be arranged physically.

[18:56] I do know that a glorified body, a glorified body does not require space to occupy, which in itself is pretty mind-blowing.

[19:07] But that's the truth of the matter. So it'll be a body like unto Christ's body. Let's continue on. And it will come about in that day that there will be no light, the luminaries will dwindle, and this is what our Lord is talking about in Matthew 24 when he says, the sun will not give its light.

[19:34] The moon will be turned into blood. And that's not literal blood, but it's talking about it is going to adopt a blood-red color, probably as a result of what else is going on in the atmosphere.

[19:47] And it will look like just a big red ball. That's going to be the moon. But the moon will not be giving off the light that it normally does, even the moonlight, because that too will be obscured.

[19:58] And partly it will be obscured because of what's taking place on earth. And he continues and says, the luminaries will dwindle. That is, they will they will recreate, they will decrease greatly in the light.

[20:14] For it will be a unique day. A unique day. The word unique is related, of course, to our word uni, uni.

[20:27] U-N-I. We talk about a unicycle. It's a sickle with one wheel. And uni is a word from which united comes.

[20:39] And this is this is uni, it is a word from which uni comes. The uni means one of a kind. One of a kind. And each of us is unique.

[20:52] As individuals, each of us is one of a kind. There is not another you anywhere in the world. We are unique. So this will be a unique day which is known to the Lord.

[21:06] Neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening, evening time, there will be light. And it will come about in that day that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea, and the other half toward the western sea.

[21:31] It will be in summer as well as in winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth in that day. And of course the assumption is that those against whom he will be fighting will have been deposed by that time.

[21:49] And that's indicated back earlier in verse 3. it will be a very short battle. It will not be a lengthy drawn out battle. This is what Revelation 19 is talking about when it says that Christ returns and the sharp sword that proceeds out of his mouth it is not a literal sharp sword at all.

[22:15] It is simply the spoken word of Christ. This is the same one who said let there be light. light and there was light. He is going to decimate the Antichrist and the enemies of Israel that have come with him simply by the word of his mouth.

[22:36] We don't know what the word will be. We don't know how it will take place. All we know is that will be all that is necessary. It will not be a kind of conflict that you might think.

[22:48] So it's going to be unique one of a kind. And all the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimen.

[22:59] And I've got to move on down but let's look at what all is involved here. Look at verse 13. It will come about in that day.

[23:12] And that too is all speaking of the same reference period. And in verse 20 of the same chapter and in that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses holy to the Lord.

[23:29] The cooking pots in the Lord's house would be like the bowls before the altar and so on so on so on. And the last three words of Zechariah's prophecy are in that day.

[23:43] And this is all speaking of the same time period. This is what is referred to as prophecy and it is connected with what we've already looked at from Isaiah 59 and this is our Lord's coming to the earth.

[23:58] All right. Now, I haven't covered that as thoroughly as we might, but maybe we've covered it enough to generate some questions or some comments from you and I want to make sure that I give you time this time to do that because I haven't been very good about that.

[24:13] So, thoughts or comments or questions anyone? John in the back. You said in that day was also referenced in Matthew but what chapter was it?

[24:25] Matthew 24 and 25. It's in the Olivet Discourse and because it's so close by why don't we just flip over there just into the New Testament just a little bit.

[24:37] Matthew 24 this is the Olivet Discourse and it is given that name because Jesus delivered it when he was on the Mount of Olives and it is also well probably not the great it is it is the lengthiest comments that he ever made regarding prophecy but his his content and his message was actually longer in what's referred to as the Sermon on the Mount and that was in also in Matthew's Gospel chapters 5 6 and 7 but this is the longest that he has given as regards prophecy and if we may let's just let's just meander down to verse verse 29 immediately immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light

[25:40] I don't know exactly how to interpret this but my suspicion is that the sun itself will not actually be darkened or be changed at all but it's going to look like because of what's going on in the atmosphere you know as well as I do that when something cataclysmic is happening in the atmosphere whether it's like well like maybe the most dramatic example of that was the eruption of different volcanoes and we saw this right here in the United States too with Mount St.

[26:16] Helens in 1983 or whatever it was something like that and the ash the ash that was emitted from that volcano was so great that it just literally blocked out the sun you couldn't even see sun didn't change it's 93 million miles away the sun as far as it was concerned didn't even know what was going on on earth but the atmosphere blocked out the sun so much so as it might as well not even exist and sometimes we get that also and it's called an eclipse but that's a different thing so the moon will not give its light the stars will fall from the sky this is a cataclysmic thing taking place in in the atmosphere and the powers of the heavens will be shaken I'm not real sure either what that means but it may have reference to angelic spheres who occupy positions in the heavens that we cannot see but they are there and one of the best examples of that is in the case of

[27:26] Elisha when he asks the Lord to open the young man's eyes when he says last master there are so many of them how shall we do we don't stand a chance and Elisha prayed and said Lord open this young man's eyes so he can see what the real situation is and the Lord opened his eyes and there all spread around was enormous representation of what to that time was invisible angelic spheres very much present but not at all seen by normal eyes as this man was granted the ability to see them so this is going and by the way have we not emphasized and should we not emphasize again that during this time once the church is gone and the tribulation period begins which is what we're speaking of there is going to be a return of miraculous physical phenomena and demonstrations the likes of which have never been seen on the globe and they will even transcend the miracles that our

[28:40] Lord wrought when he was here on earth because his miracles were pretty much confined to one small area Jerusalem or Israel and this is going to be different this is going to be worldwide the cataclysm is going to take place what John I don't know I don't know it would appear that he did then but his servant did not and it may simply be that the Lord enabled him to do that enabled him to see that because those who those who were with with them were so much greater but you couldn't see them and that makes all the difference in the world that's that's quite dramatic so the powers of the heavens will be shaken or disturbed or riled or what and then then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and it will not be a happy time it will be a sad time their mourning is because they understand the implications of this and what is going to happen and if there are probably any two words that are going to be more dramatically expressed during that time when this happens it's going to be oh no that will be the last thing they'll want to see because they know what that is going to portend and it is not good news for them

[30:27] John is this what is in the Lord's Prayer thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven is this when it starts well this isn't when it starts but this is when that which has prevented it will be done away and this is this what is going to be decimated here is the international worldwide ruin and government of humanity headed by Satan himself and here it is all coming to a screeching halt and the kingdom will be shortly then after this established but first he's going to deal summarily with the enemies of Israel and the enemies of God and this is it this is it all the tribes of the earth will mourn and literally let me put this on let me just put this in plain language all of the people who are there who are on the wrong side are going to be the ones who are mourning and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory it is not possible for

[32:00] Hollywood or anyone else to portray what this is going to be like but it will be you talk about unique talk about a once in won't even be once in a lifetime I guess you'd say once in eternity that this kind of situation is going to happen and he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect his chosen ones from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other and there are some cross references here that you might want to note we won't take time to turn to them because if we do you won't have any time for more questions but you might want to consider Isaiah 45 and verse 4 and Isaiah 65 verses 7 through 16 and it wouldn't hurt to look at Ezekiel 5 and verse 10 and Isaiah 43 verses 5 through 7 and this is all prophecy this is all all prophetic material this this that we are considering now has absolutely nothing to do with the church nothing to do with the body of Christ we will be there we will be witnessing this but this is not about us this is about that last final enemy that will be destroyed to which we will be witnesses but this is this is prophecy and this is the fulfillment of prophecy the church has already been removed we've already been at the marriage supper of the lamb and we are at the end of that period we have returned with the

[33:44] Lord and this is the wrap up the tribulation period so yes in verse 34 of chapter 24 can you put that in context for me truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take place well there are two ways of looking at that and the first way I think is completely unacceptable he's not talking about the people to whom he was addressing these comments at that time and saying that you he's talking about this generation will be the generation when these things are occurring and that generation will not will not conclude until all of these things have been wrapped up this is not going to be strung out over a long period of time it's going to be very short and it is in reference to those who are on the earth who comprise that group that

[34:48] Christ is coming to eliminate at that time all the people living on the earth they will all be members of that generation at that time okay does that help anything else other comments or questions anyone well now I don't feel so bad for not giving a time okay Dave it's just so interesting so many people get mixed up in this and they try to appropriate for themselves and clearly if it's taken in the right context which you're dealing with today makes a lot more sense oh absolutely thank you for noting that I do appreciate it John in verse 31 of Matthew 24 and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from under heaven to the other this elect are they all

[35:59] Jews or there's no Christians there are Jews I take it that that's the principal import of it yes there I would not go so far as to say that they will be all Jews but they will be well I think probably probably in the context the emphasis is upon the Jewish people the church has already been gathered out but you need to understand that during this tribulation period there are going to be a lot of people who were not believers when the rapture occurred and they didn't leave they're still here on the earth and many of these will come to faith in Christ during this tribulation period they will be exposed to the preaching of the 144,000 during this time although they will be not they and they will not be exclusively ministering to to

[37:10] Jews even though they will all be Jews but they are going to be evangelists who are going to be evangelizing everywhere during this tribulation I can't begin to give you a picture of this tribulation period it is going to be chaos and confusion that you cannot imagine on the one hand it is going to be a time of an enormous oppressive police state the authorities are not only going to know who you are they're going to know where you are when you are there the information age is going to come to full fruition there will be no such thing as privacy during this time and the only people who will not have the mark of the beast will be people who are hiding out simply trying to preserve their lives not being able to buy anything not being able to sell anything not being able to travel anywhere these people are going to be living in dens and caves and whatever however they can survive because they are totally out of step with the world government in that they do not have the mark of the beast and these people will probably probably have real spiritual convictions that prevent them from taking that mark of the beast and I don't know that we can say that they will all be believers but I would say that they would either all be believers or certainly contemplating being believers or coming to faith and they are going to be people who are going to just try to survive this tribulation period and I think this is exactly what this passage is talking about earlier in

[39:14] Matthew 24 and in verse 13 of chapter 24 he says the one who endures to the end it is he who shall be saved and the saving here I think in the context is talking about a physical deliverance not talking about spiritual salvation he's talking about survivors physically and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations and then the end shall come so this gospel of the kingdom will be front and center the gospel of the grace of God that we know now and preach now is going to be gone with the church and the reversion will be the gospel of the kingdom and what is the principal item of the gospel of the kingdom it's the king it's the king the king is coming and that's what the kingdom is all about the kingdom is nothing without the king and these go together so when this time comes that's what is going to be fulfilled here and this is what he's talking about and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations and these are the nations that are ultimately going to gather in

[40:49] Megiddo for the great last push against Israel to annihilate Israel and these will be recipients of that gospel of the kingdom and when these 144,000 are preaching this gospel of the kingdom they themselves are indestructible this is the only way they can survive otherwise the antichrist would have them executed these 144,000 will have the seal of God in their forehead they will be indestructible that's the only thing that will enable them to carry out their ministry otherwise they would be eliminated and they are going to preach with tremendous success so that it's going to be a time of great revival and it's going to be a time that will coincide with the taking of this mark of the beast so that those who have not taken it those who have taken it they're gone I don't mean they've disappeared

[41:52] I mean they are beyond hope they are beyond rescue they are beyond salvation they have sealed their fate and once that mark has been taken they have pledged their allegiance to the other side they are no longer considered even possibilities of coming to faith their doom is sealed but there are going to be a great many people who as a result of the 144,000 are going to come to the conclusion and guess what it's the same conclusion that Israel needed to come to when Jesus was here the first time and what was the issue what was the only issue is Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah or not is he the one sent from God or not that's going to be the issue and that's going to be the basis upon which they are going to believe and I take it that the death burial and resurrection as historical realities will all come into play and that will be a given so it will be a package for them but this gospel of the kingdom is going to revert it's going to be preached then it will not be what we know today as the gospel of the grace of

[43:06] God although it will have salvific implications and these people will come to faith they will be much in the same category I take it and the question would they be members of the body of Christ well it would not appear so it would appear that they would be members of the believing segment of Israel that came to faith in Jesus as their Messiah when he was there the first time they would belong to that group and eventually in my humble opinion I think when the eternal state is created the distinction between Jew and Gentile even after the tribulation and in the kingdom I think that's going to be eliminated and there will be a final oneness where Jew and Gentile will be blended together in a way that they are not now someone else yes in Matthew 24 Jesus is addressing tribulation in Matthew does Jesus address the millennial the millennium well he addresses the millennium from the standpoint that he never uses the word millennium he uses the word kingdom kingdom is the millennium but the thousand year segment in particular yeah the kingdom the millennium and the thousand year reign of

[44:25] Christ are just different expressions of the same entity they are all the same thing and that's that's very helpful to clarify that because I remember because there are a number of times when Matthew uses the kingdom of heaven but when you come to Luke he uses the term kingdom of God and that has caused a lot of confusion because some think that there well there's a difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God no if you look at the context and I gave you a sheet earlier if you look at the context it becomes very apparent that they are speaking of one and the same thing but the reason that sometimes the kingdom of God is used instead of the kingdom of heaven is because a number of times the name of heaven is used instead of the name of God and remember when the rich young ruler came to his senses and he came back to his father and he said father

[45:28] I have sinned against heaven what did he mean sinned against heaven he meant he had sinned against God and he used the word heaven instead of using the name of God and a lot of Jews would not and still do not today use the name of God even in their writings and I amused when I read in the Jerusalem Post sometimes when it comes when an article in the Jerusalem Post I'm talking about today in the year 2021 when they use a capital G and then they use a dash and a dash for the OD they don't even spell out the word God because frankly I think it's more like a superstition of the Jews that they do that but God is not going to hold that against them if they spell out his name G-O-D but that's part of the tradition of

[46:28] Judaism yes Marvis when the abomination of desolation happens and the number of the Jews plead of Petra do you believe that when those Jews plead of Petra are already believers in the Messiah or is that like this guy is after us they get there and then that's when they have basically a gigantic Bible study well I think yeah that's a very good question we have taken the position that when Christ returns to the earth he will return primarily on behalf of the people who are gathered at Petra and Petra is a geographical location that is in the Dead Sea area and it is it is mentioned it is mentioned in the tiny little neglected book of

[47:31] Obadiah and there is a it is such an enormous place and I am confident that in the final analysis there will be a huge aggregation of Jews who will gather there and I think that at least in part these are many of those who will escape from Jerusalem during the time that Christ is spoken of here in Matthew 24 and they are going to flee for their lives because the army of Antichrist will be coming from the north well if they're coming from the north heading south you don't want to head north you want to head further south and that's what they do and they go down to Petra to what's commonly referred to as the rose red city of Petra which is an it appears that they are at least most of the last half of the tribulation period which means most of three and a half years they are going to be holed up there and one of the things that amazes me is that the

[48:45] Antichrist is seeking to destroy them and eliminate them and I don't understand why he is prevented from doing that other than supernatural intervention because the weaponry that they have and that opens up another can of worms and we don't know about the weaponry but there is the possibility that during this time there will be major disturbances in the atmosphere that will literally fry and incapacitate all electronic devices and all electrical devices which means planes can't fly tanks won't run nothing is going to work because everything that will have been computerized or electrified is worthless it won't operate that may be the reason why the antichrist isn't able to simply bomb them into oblivion because otherwise he'd have the capability of doing so but during this time that they are kept there we are told that they are going to be miraculously provided for with food and water during this time and it will be a time of great mourning but for the right reason they will be mourning over the sins of their ancestors who rejected

[50:14] Yeshua HaMashiach and they will mourn for him and their eyes will look upon him whom they crucified and it will be a time of enormous revival and coming to faith and belief of that entire Jewish constituency they will be the principal recipients of the elect during this time I believe and all our time is gone one more quick question anybody Mike I'm wondering if the believers with the glorified bodies who are going to be there observing this it has to be in the millions the folks on the wrong side are going to be able to see them and it's going to lend emphasis to it's over that's entirely possible I don't know what our being there is going to constitute

[51:15] I don't know if we will be there in the sense that we are now in that we occupy space and time with a physical body because we'll have a glorified body then but you've got to understand and this is a big item to try to understand we just cannot imagine having a physical body that is not limited by physical obstructions it has to do with the what's it called the displacement of molecules and the displacement of molecules allows a solid object to pass through a solid object well that can't be you can't do that you can't you can't you can't put this Bible on top of the table and make it pass through the table you can't do that because physical things don't work that way well supernatural physical things do work that way and remember when the disciples were hovered down hunkered down in secret with the door locked in fear of the

[52:31] Jews because they just crucified Jesus and the apostles figured they'll be coming for us next and they were all huddled there together probably in a big prayer meeting with the door locked the gospel writer says the door was locked and Jesus appeared in the midst of them you mean he didn't even knock on the door no you see what we're talking about is supernatural now we say we look at that we say oh that can't be well of course it can't be but under the right circumstances with the right one calling the shots anything can be and will be wow what a time hey enjoy your coffee break and try to respect much as you can the social distancing thing let's avoid the hugs and handshakes but that won't keep you from eating cookies and drinking coffee so you would just thank you