Pastor Marv introduces a new weekly class.
[0:00] Good morning. Once again, thank you all for being here and thanks to Jeff Jordan for providing us with this delightful facility to use. We really appreciate it.
[0:12] And the efforts of his sweet wife Amy for helping with the food and preparing this delicious breakfast. We just want to advise you guys that it will not be a hot breakfast like this every Thursday morning, nor do we expect it.
[0:26] But we do really enjoy it when it is provided and it was especially nice this morning. But some mornings, maybe more than usual, it'll just be coffee and donuts or something like that.
[0:39] Just some carbs to keep you going to lunch. So we want to express our appreciation for all that's provided for us. And if you want to show that in a tangible way, there is a plastic box right over there with some shekels in it.
[0:53] And you feel free to make your own change if you need to make change. And then in addition to that, there are beside that a number of CDs.
[1:03] And I want to say something about those just as soon as we have word of prayer together. OK, except our thanks, Father, for this meeting this morning and for the presence of each one, especially for your presence.
[1:15] Again, we do not understand how you can, in a very real way, be here in our midst and be in the midst of other groups like this all around the world that are meeting. Only because you are who you are and you are what you are beyond what we can comprehend.
[1:32] And we are grateful for everything about you, even that which we don't understand. Thank you for the meal that we've enjoyed, for the hospitality that is afforded us, and for the enthusiasm that is expressed here simply by the presence for the intake of the word of God.
[1:49] We trust that you will enable us to go beyond our own understanding and that you will provide enlightenment from yourself, which we know we need and do not have in and of ourselves.
[2:01] Thank you again for it all in Christ's name. Amen. There are a couple of CDs that have been distributed for the last few years.
[2:12] Several thousands of these have gone out and they are on display in about 10 or 12 different retail locations, particularly restaurants in Champaign and in Clark County.
[2:26] And we so appreciate getting the word out that way and the people who take them. And there have been tens of thousands of them distributed. So we are truly grateful for the opportunity.
[2:37] And I want to say a word about both of them and let you know that if you are so inclined, you're more than welcome to help get the word out. And you can take some on your way out as we leave.
[2:49] The first one is called Connecting with God. And it is designed to take someone who has virtually no background at all in the Bible.
[3:01] And maybe they have never been in a church except for a wedding or a funeral. So they don't know a lot of the church language and so on. But the effort is to keep this as simple as possible without any big theological words or concepts or anything like that.
[3:19] But for people who are really looking for answers, this will go a long way in providing some of those answers. It just it kind of it kind of anticipates the kind of questions that people would have and then makes a simple effort to answer them.
[3:37] It isn't as comprehensive as we would like, but it's designed to answer the questions that most people have. And then another has to do with the person and work of Christ.
[3:51] And it consists of 20 tracks, individual tracks. Each track is less than four minutes long. So the whole CD is a little over an hour, but it deals with just about everything regarding the life of Christ, beginning with his utter uniqueness, his place in the Trinity, his pre-existence, his birth, his ministry here on earth, crucifixion and death, burial coming again.
[4:21] The whole nine yards, each one is in just three or four minutes and they are all on this one disc. So there are two discs. You're welcome to either one or both.
[4:32] If you do plan to give them out, and I hope you do, I would recommend this, that before you give any out to anybody, that you listen to it yourself because it'd be kind of embarrassing if you give it to someone and they come up and ask you a question about something that was on the disc and you say, I don't know, I've never even heard it.
[4:53] So I want to forestall that embarrassment possibility. And I think you will enjoy hearing them. And we make an effort to keep them as straightforward and plain language as possible because we're living in a day and age where even though people ought to be more and more familiar with the things God has provided, we are less and less.
[5:16] And this is just designed to try and bridge the gaps. So the stack is right over there behind the offering box and you're welcome to take any of them. Also, we want to make it clear that some guys may find it difficult to be here by 730 or something like that or 7 o'clock when we usually start the meal.
[5:36] But we want you to know that you're welcome whether you get here when you can. If you can't make it until later, that's fine. Just come in and find a seat and make yourself comfortable.
[5:47] Also, some of you guys, many of you are retired and some of you are not. You've got other obligations. So in any event, if things go a little long, we run over or whatever, no one will think you're rude.
[6:02] Just get up and leave and leave when you have to because we've got different responsibilities and different schedules. And we'll just deal with it as it comes. So we want this to be a very relaxed and yet a very informative time.
[6:17] Nothing formal about it. But we just appreciate your presence and the spirit that you guys generate. I want you to know, and I don't say this half-heartedly, these Tuesdays and Thursdays are my boost emotionally and spiritually for the whole week long.
[6:37] You guys, I don't know, I just kind of feed off of your energy some way. I don't know how that works, but I'm glad it does. So thank you all for being here.
[6:48] And we're going to begin a study this morning that I had not originally planned, but given what's going on in our world today, and particularly in connection with the Jewish people, I think that maybe it'd be more appropriate if we devote some time to this.
[7:08] And we are committed to these studies for the end of December. And during the month of December, you guys can talk among yourselves.
[7:20] And the last couple of weeks of December, which will be Thursdays, of course, we will decide then, or you will decide, whether you want to continue the group and on into January.
[7:32] And we'll make arrangements for that to be covered somehow. I wasn't aware when we started all of this, but I did get just yesterday an okay from my cardiologist.
[7:46] And he approved the hip replacement. So that is scheduled. Thank you. That's scheduled for January 8th, so I'll be out of commission for a little while.
[7:59] And there have been some talk about the possibility of somebody filling in for me. That has not been confirmed, but it's still being examined. So even though I may be out of commission, there's no reason why this meeting cannot go on if you want them to go on past December.
[8:17] And that's something that you can decide on later. So with all of those things out of the way, let's go first of all to John's Gospel, Chapter 4. We're going to be talking about not only Jewish people, but we're going to be talking about the Jew.
[8:38] And I think you know who that is. I had somebody suggest one time, they did say this to my face, but I got it by way of the grapevine. I guess it stands to reason why Marv is so fixed on the Jew.
[8:55] I didn't put it together at first, but with a name like Wiseman, I guess he's Jewish, and that's why he's doing that. And truth be told, I am not Jewish.
[9:06] I am a mix between Irish and French and English, mostly English.
[9:17] And my adopted name is Wiseman. My birth name would be Stevens, and that's about as British as you can get. So, no, I am not prejudiced toward the Jewish people or biased toward the Jewish people.
[9:34] But I am an admirer of the Jewish people, and especially of the one Jew of whom we will be speaking this morning.
[9:44] And he is referencing a situation in Samaria. And I need a little bit of historical background for this because it isn't always clearly understood.
[9:58] But it's generally known, at least among Bible students, that the Jews and the Samaritans have no dealings. And it is said that even to this day, if somebody is going, is in Israel and they're going up north, they will go out of their way and go around rather than go through Samaria.
[10:16] Take the shortcut. Because of the differences and the hatred exists for the Samaritans. And you need to know something about them because Jesus is making an exception in talking to the woman at Samaria.
[10:30] And these people are regarded as illegitimate by the Jewish population because Samaritans were considered to be renegades or half-breeds.
[10:44] In the year, the dates escaped me now. Maybe it will come to me when I'm thinking of something else.
[10:54] But there was a time when David was the king. You all remember, those of you in the scriptures, remember when Saul was the king of Israel and he had the thing with David.
[11:06] And eventually he was killed. And David came in, David the shepherd lad, and he began the Davidic dynasty. And everyone who sat on the throne of Israel from the time of David clear up to the last king to sit on the throne.
[11:25] His name was Zedekiah. And when the Babylonians in 586 B.C. We're talking about 600 years before Christ was born.
[11:35] The Babylonians invaded Israel. And they tore down the temple. And they tore down the walls. And they captured the king of Israel, Zedekiah.
[11:49] They watched him witness the execution of all of his sons. And then they put his eyes out. And made him walk. With thousands of others.
[12:02] As captives and slaves. All the way to Babylon. And they were there for 70 years. Before they returned. That was the Babylonian captivity. And this was the 586.
[12:19] And the 70 years. It was about 500 years before the birth of Christ. So what happened even prior to that was what took place in 722 B.C.
[12:32] When the same thing happened to the tribes up north. After they had divided. You know they had their revolt. And the south pulled away from the north. And the northern ten tribes were besieged by the Assyrians.
[12:48] And they led off Serval into captivity. But they left a force there to occupy the land of Assyrian soldiers.
[13:00] And when Assyrian soldiers get together with Jewish women. You know what's going to happen? It's boy meets girl. It's the same thing that happened when we occupied Germany after the war.
[13:13] There were American soldiers that came home with German war brides. And we occupied Japan. And there were soldiers that came home with Japanese war brides.
[13:24] And the same thing with Korea. It's a boy meets girl dynamic. And that's what happened. Always does. It's what happened in ancient Samaria. So when these occupying troops who were Assyrians.
[13:39] And as un-Jewish as you could get. Cohabited with the Jewish women. Then they produced children. And what did you call those children?
[13:50] You called them Samaritans. They were half-breeds. They weren't full Jews. Therefore they were considered outcasts. And they were the kind of people that you go out of your way to avoid and so on.
[14:02] But Jesus went to the well of Samaria. And while he was there refreshing himself from the well. His disciples were off in a nearby town picking up carryout.
[14:16] To bring back for Jesus and themselves to eat. And there was a woman who came along carrying her natural pot of course. And I'm going to skip most of the story for time's sake.
[14:28] Because we will have to for time's sake. We'll jump in with verse 14. Chapter 4 and verse 14.
[14:39] And Jesus says, Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. That in itself is worth exposition. But we can't take the time. The water that I shall give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.
[14:54] The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw. Fellas, we just go to the sink and turn on the tap and get a glass of water.
[15:07] Or go to the fridge and get it out of there. It's very simple. But this woman, like everybody else, had to leave town, walk outside of town, carry this heavy earthen jug and carry it back on her shoulders and make several trips during the day.
[15:22] And wouldn't it be nice if there was such a thing as some kind of magical water? You just drink it and you never get thirsty. Well, that's not the kind of water Jesus was talking about. But that's what she picked up on.
[15:33] A lot of misunderstanding. And Jesus said, Go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband.
[15:45] Jesus said to her, You have well said I have no husband. For you have had five husbands. And the one whom you now have is not your husband.
[15:57] This you have said truly. I would have loved to have seen the expression on that woman's face. Who is this? What is, what, how, when, where, what?
[16:10] What's going on here? She was thrown into a tizzy right off. Who could this possibly be? And she's just dumbfounded by what he says. But of course, he knows that.
[16:23] And the woman said, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. That's the best you could do. Well, not even prophets go around making statements like this.
[16:35] So Jesus is more than a prophet. And she says, Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. And you people, that is you Jews, say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
[16:49] And Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, An hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father.
[17:02] You worship that which you do not know. We worship that which we know. For salvation is from the Jews.
[17:14] What does that mean? Exactly what it says. Jesus isn't putting forth some kind of bragging rights here. He is simply stating a matter of fact.
[17:26] And I might inject right here, even though I'm quite confident that it's already the persuasion of this group, that when Jesus said salvation is of the Jews, he was, of course, speaking as a Jew, and being not only a Jew, but the Jew through whom the salvation of which he was speaking is going to become a reality.
[17:53] And, fellas, we need to know today, in the 21st century, it is still true. There is no salvation apart from the Jew.
[18:04] For this one to have made the statements that he makes, like, I am the bread of life, I am the water of life, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and I and the Father are one, and so on.
[18:23] For statements like that, the man either has to be who he says he is, or he's an egomaniac, one of the two. But there is no in between, and everybody has to make a choice.
[18:36] So what it comes down to is the identity of this person who is speaking to this woman at the well. And she doesn't have a clue, but she does start thinking.
[18:48] And as she puts it together, you know what she comes up with? The text goes on to tell us, as she gets so excited about what she says, she forgot her water pot, she ran into town, she told the man there in the city, this little village of Samaria, about this man, you've got to come and see and talk to this man who told me everything that I've done.
[19:15] could this be the Messiah? He's making noises like the Messiah.
[19:27] The Messiah, what is that? The Messiah is the anointed one. That is Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah. This woman all the way back to town to tell these men who she met at the well, this stranger, and long story short, we won't go into it, but all the Samaritans come there, and the men come back from the village, from buying food and so on.
[19:52] It's a beautiful thing, guys, here in chapter four, because Jesus says, about, don't you say, don't you guys say, and doesn't everybody say, in four months, the harvest will be ready.
[20:12] You go out in the fields and harvest the fields. And then he turns to his disciples and says, behold, I say unto you, the field is white already to harvest.
[20:23] What did he mean by that? Here comes this woman, and she's got a bunch of men with her. And they're all wearing their traditional Samaritan garb, which is the outer garment of white.
[20:38] And Jesus sees a full flurry of white robed men coming toward them with this woman leading them. And Jesus says, look upon the fields, guys.
[20:52] They're white already to harvest. He wasn't talking about the green fields. He was talking about the Samaritans wearing those white robes coming down the road. Look upon them. The fields are white already.
[21:03] It was a different kind of white he was talking about. Not the ripening of the grain, but the ripening for the message. And the Samaritans came, and they had a wonderful time together.
[21:14] So keep that in mind, if you will, because this is so strategic. And who Jesus is is so strategic. And the Jew is so strategic.
[21:25] I have a fixation on the Jew, admittedly. Admittedly. And the reason I do is because if the scriptures make anything crystal clear, it is that God has a fixation on the Jew.
[21:45] So I'm just fixed on that one that God is fixed on. And that is the Jew. Going to give you a couple statistics. I want you to remember them for the rest of your life.
[21:56] Big order, okay? The Jew represents two-tenths, two-tenths of one percent of the world's population.
[22:09] That's not very many people. Just think of that. Not one percent. Two-tenths of one percent. And they are responsible for 20 percent of the international Nobel Prizes distributed internationally.
[22:31] What is that all about? And do you realize that these people, the Jewish people, have a record of survival that defies everything, leaving the only possible answer, it's a God thing.
[22:50] It's a God thing. And do you realize that the Jew and the God of the Jews have been estranged for almost 2,000 years?
[23:03] In other words, they aren't on speaking terms. The Jewish people, as a nation, has been set aside in their unbelief. The huge difference is, and the difference is monumental, the difference is, yes, they are set aside.
[23:18] Yes, they are under divine discipline. But it is a temporal thing. And as you read the three chapters of Romans, 9, 10, and 11, it makes it quite clear that God has set aside his people.
[23:35] The apostle Paul, the Jew of Jews, said himself, Hath God cast away his chosen people whom he foreknew? God forbid! I also am a Jew.
[23:47] And he goes on and explains the discipline time that Israel is under until he brings them back to himself again. And fellas, to this day, Israel is the only nation in the history of the world that has been out of existence for 2,000 years and all of a sudden shows up again as a national entity.
[24:15] And May 14, 1947, 1946, Israel was born again as a nation. And what they have undertaken since that time is absolutely astounding.
[24:30] And you must realize that these people devote 90% of their income to their survival.
[24:46] Think of that. to their defense, they are surrounded by seven different Arab hostile nations whose only objective is to destroy Israel permanently.
[25:02] And you can get some light on that. We won't turn to it, but it's Psalm 83 and that will give you some additional information. All of these ancient enemies. And by the way, all of the Arabs that surround them are all related to the Jews.
[25:17] They all come from Abraham. Next to Jesus Christ, Abraham is probably the most important person who has ever lived.
[25:29] And out of the loins of Abraham came the whole Jewish race and all of the Arab population as well. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Fellas, those are the big three.
[25:40] Remember them forever. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And whenever the scriptures in the New Testament refer to our fathers, they're not talking about the preceding generation as you and I would when we say my father.
[25:55] We'd be talking about the man who gave us life. No. When they say our fathers, they're talking about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And it goes all the way back to that. So the Jew is so strategic and what is being unleashed right now in the Mideast is something that is so significant and may have tremendous prophetic significance.
[26:19] I am not prepared to make any predictions or set any dates, but I am saying this. It looks very, very compelling that the stage is being set for the final curtain.
[26:33] I am not saying that it is, but I will say this. I won't be a bit surprised if it is and if it happens. And with a little more history in mind, I want you to go to Revelation chapter 12 if you would please.
[26:48] I want to allow some time for Q&A in this too, so you can look forward to that. If you've got questions that are germinating, we'll do our best to quit at a decent hour so you'll be able to ask them.
[27:00] Revelation chapter 12 and this book, of course, is one of the most enigmatic and yet, in many ways, straightforward and easy to understand.
[27:13] The thing that makes it difficult, let me just preface it with a few remarks. The thing that makes the book of Revelation so difficult for most of us to understand is because it contains elements in it that we consider impossible in this day and age.
[27:35] And they are impossible in this day and age because this we are living in now is called the church age. This is the dispensation of grace.
[27:47] And it is not one that is fraught with miracles such as you find in the gospels where Jesus and the disciples are performing miracles everywhere they go and it continues on into the book of Acts.
[28:00] We are not in that day. Paul said when he wrote to the Corinthians the Jews seek a sign. The Jews seek a sign.
[28:11] That means a miracle. Simeon. And the reason the Jews seek a sign or a miracle is because they cut their teeth on miracles. God brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand the twelve plagues and the passing of the Red Sea and all the banner from heaven and everything.
[28:30] He gave them one miracle after another just to demonstrate his presence and his care for them. And Jesus and the disciples as they went about performing miracles that was standard operating procedure for his ministry and for the ministry of the twelve.
[28:45] It isn't today. I'm not saying that miracles don't happen today because God God is fully able to perform any miracle any way any time he chooses under whatever circumstances he chooses but I am saying that the miraculous today that occurred in the book of Revelation and in the four gospels is not par for the course today.
[29:12] Back then it was considered standard operating procedure. Now it isn't but the revelation refers back to that time because once the church is removed the body of Christ is removed and we are exited out of here for heaven then that period of the miraculous is going to return because that's what's going to be on the front burner it will be in many respects a reversion right back to the book of Acts and you are aware that when Jesus was performing his miracles and he was presenting himself as the Messiah of Israel to Israel they rejected him common people received him but the intelligentsia and the shakers and movers all rejected him despite the miracles that he did this time however once these miracles are released and the church is gone and this new age starts again it's going to pick up right where the book of Acts left off we are a parenthesis guys we are the church the body of Christ we are we are not the subject of prophecy at all you can search the Old Testament and you will not find what we call a New Testament church ever prophesied or predicted but voila here it is came out of nowhere and if you want the commentary on that read
[30:41] Ephesians chapter 3 where the apostle Paul says this mystery of Christ in you of Jew and Gentile together was never predicted never prophesied never promised never expected just boom there it is all at once and that is the church and once this church made up of believers called the body of Christ once it is complete finished we are out of here we are gone that is the translation that is the rapture of the church what happens then then there is a reversion back to the day and age of miracles that is one of the reasons the book of Revelation is difficult for us to read these things and we say oh I don't know that I can buy that well it is going to be standard operating procedure then but it isn't now standard operating procedure for Christ during those miracles of his three years was one miracle after another and nobody ever challenged the authenticity of him so that's what's going to happen and I just want you to take a look here at
[31:46] Revelation chapter 11 or chapter 12 this is a woman Israel and John says a great sign appeared in heaven a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars just try and use your imagination and picture a scene like this John is simply describing what he's seeing in this vision and you can tell that he has taken aback by it because it's a stupendous thing and you just can't imagine this there's a woman clothed with the sun so her from her head down she's got a vision of the sun that is covering her body and then the text goes on and says and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown with 12 stars in it and she was with child pregnant probably ready to be delivered and you know how those of you who are dads you know how pregnant women get
[33:02] I mean it's pretty obvious especially when you come along the last couple of months it's pretty obvious and my wife used to say that for some reason even when she wasn't showing when she got that bottle of vitamins from the doctor and the confirmation that she was pregnant she came out of there and even though she wasn't any more than a couple of months pregnant she started waddling that was the way she walked when she carried a child they don't have a normal walk they're carrying a load and this woman is pregnant and it shows and verse 3 says another sign appeared in heaven and behold a great red dragon now this is all symbolism the issue of course is what do these things mean he's seeing them but what do they signify and she has a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and on his heads were seven crowns or diodents this must have been one of the most weird grotesque looking things that you could ever imagine you just try to plot this in your mind and it must have been quite a scene and as
[34:32] John is looking at this he's thinking wow this is this is wow this is really something stunning and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and I can't resist just injecting something here these who are swept away are not stars the kind that we see luminaries at night these are angels these are angels you say well how do you know that well we'll come to that later but guys the bible is always its own best interpreter keep that in mind everything in this book is connected to everything in this book it is a composite whole every part has a purpose every part has value even if it's a worrisome genealogy of so and so begat so and so begat so and so it's all there for a purpose and the text goes on to say tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven these are angelic beings they are those whom satan succeeded in recruiting to follow him and by the way the word stars is used very often in the scriptures in reference to angels and what it signifies is not the luminary bodies that we see in the sky at night no no no these stars are beings they are angelic beings and we even pick up on that in our culture the star in the bible simply means a principal one an important one an outstanding one and what do we call people who has the lead in a movie or a production star they're the star they're the star of the show what makes them the star they are the most important one in the play who's the star on the football team that's the guy that wins the
[36:55] MVP he's the star of the show he's the star of the team and that term comes over into our culture today as well and he threw them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth he that is the dragon might devour her child he's just waiting on this baby to be born so he can gobble it up and she gave birth to a son this is all the image a male child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron really yeah this one is to rule all of the nations all literally means all when will that be that will be when Christ returns and establishes his kingdom it will be a worldwide kingdom and everyone will be in subjection to him and to his authority that is a concept the likes of which we just cannot imagine but all of the nations of the earth will submerge their national identity and everything will be under the authority of this one when Jesus was talking to the rich young ruler in Matthew chapter 19 he told him that this rich young ruler said what must
[38:43] I do to inherit eternal life and he wasn't talking about dying and going to heaven he was talking about being in the kingdom which was common to them and Jesus said well you take all of your possessions and sell them and give the money to the poor and come and follow me and the guy said well I've kept all the commandments from my youth up you mean I have to do that too and Jesus said yeah and the young man went away sorrowful for he had many possessions and as you read that text there in Matthew 19 which we won't take time to go to but the disciples the apostles are standing there and they're hearing Jesus talk to this young man and telling them that and they get to thinking and Peter walks over to Jesus and said we heard what you just told that young man and then he said we did that we've already done what you asked him to do we've left our boats left our fishing business left our families we threw our lot in with you to follow you just like you told that young man that's what we did what's the payoff what are we going to get out of this it was a legitimate question is there a payday someday what's it going to be
[40:01] Jesus said verily I say unto you that you who have followed me which means for the past three years they had been with him he said when the son of man and Jesus always speaks of himself in the third person singular calls himself the son of man he doesn't say I very often he says the son of man when the son of man comes into his kingdom you also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel you who have followed me in the regeneration what's that when something is regenerated it's made new it's made over it's a do over there's going to be a regeneration of planet earth this earth the whole of it is broken ruined shattered by sin and it's going to be refurbished and reestablished when Jesus
[41:11] Christ comes he's going to set up his kingdom and the text says he's going to rule the nations plural with a rod of iron that means he's going to be a no nonsense reign he's going to be available and on the throne of the world and the twelve apostles are going to be there literally physically on their own throne and guess who else is going to be there King David's going to be there he died a thousand years before Jesus was ever born no David didn't die David's body died David's very much alive as I've said before guys get a fix on this because it's very important there's no such thing as dead people there are only dead bodies personhood continues when the body is destroyed or dies or whatever that's not the end of you that's just the temporal end of your body so what this is all talking about and by the way somebody else is going to be there during that rain you are you know that well that's that long after we're dead and gone probably well well we may be dead in the body but you're going to be alive somewhere and when
[42:43] Jesus Christ returns at the end of the tribulation period to set up his kingdom we're coming with him we've already been to the marriage supper of the lamb we've already had our time there we've been at the wedding and at the feast and we're going to return with him we won't be combatants but we will be witnesses we are going to see what's going to happen and Jesus is going to meet head on the armies of the antichrist as they descend from armageddon and come down and they're right in front of Israel right there in that great ravine and Jesus is going to come from the south where he arrived at and he's going to march north and there's going to be the conflict right in front of Jerusalem but it will simply end with a spoken word from his mouth and that's in Revelation chapter 20 he will decimate the entire enemies of
[43:44] Israel and that will be the end of that and then the kingdom will establish let's continue on here in Revelation chapter 11 the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there she might be nourished for 1260 days that's three and a half years guys that's one half of the tribulation period which is going to be seven years in duration this is Daniel chapter nine and Daniel's period of 70 weeks this is going to be that last week this is going to be the 70th week and there they are going to be quartered in what I believe is Petra it's a huge huge complex you just cannot imagine the 144,000 are going to be there and the remnant of Israel is going to be there and these are Jews who have survived the tribulation period up to this point and among them will be that 144,000 that are mentioned in
[44:53] Revelation 7 and again in 14 and they will have been evangelizing the entire world during this time of tribulation and there will be millions of people executed and murdered during this time there will also be millions who will be won to faith in Christ as the Messiah during that same time it will be a time of conflagration the likes of which you can't imagine Jesus himself described it in Matthew 24 he said it will be a time such as the world has never seen before and will never see again and fellas Jesus was not given to exaggerations it will be that kind of a time and then Christ will decimate the enemies of Israel so during this time they are going to be holed up here and this faithful remnant is going to be engaged in if you can believe it or not they're going to be engaged in a very intense ongoing
[45:59] Bible study and they're going to be studying their own scriptures the Old Testament and guess what they are going to find they are going to find that their ancient ancestors 2,000 years ago had the Messiah presented to them and they turned him down they were complicit in his crucifixion and he is exiled to heaven because they rejected the king listen if you reject the king it won't be a kingdom the two go together so Jesus is the king in exile and he is in heaven waiting that time when he is going to return and when he does it will be the result of these Jews who are the remnant of Israel I don't know how many there will be but they will be the remnant of Israel they are going to see where their ancient fathers made the wrong move in rejecting
[47:06] Yeshua and they are going to be enlightened and become convinced that that really was the Messiah and they will cry out to God in repentance for forgiveness for what their ancestors did and beg God to send the Messiah and guess who shows up that's when he comes Jesus said right before right before he was arrested he said you will not see me again until you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord and that's what they'll be saying when he comes let's hasten on with this if we may the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there she might be nourished for 1260 days that's three and a half years 42 months and it's going to be a time when the tribulation is taking place in the world and they're going to be holed up there and there was war in heaven
[48:12] Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon Michael is the chief archangel for Israel and he will be their defender here I do not know and this completely puzzles me because I just can't get my feeble brain around this all I've got is a human brain I have no idea what kind of conflict angelic beings can undergo we fight with swords and knives and bombs and bullets and things physical but these are not physical beings these are spirit beings we don't even really understand that but they are very real and angels have knowledge and they have powers that we don't have and we don't understand that either but they were created long before we were what we're going to be looking at later guys is prior to
[49:17] Genesis 1 1 and the tendency is to say well there wasn't anything before Genesis 1 oh my yes there was there was a whole lot before Genesis 1 1 and the Bible refers to that also so we'll be looking at it eventually when we get to that but this is going to be a time of conflagration the likes of which we can't imagine how do these angels engage in combat they are not physical beings we think in terms of wrestling with the physical body arms and legs and defeating the enemy but that's not the angel thing that's that's different that's this is an entirely different order altogether that we just can't imagine in the book of Daniel Michael says that that he had he had intended to come earlier to the rescue of Israel when they were in difficulty and he said but the prince of Persia what the prince of Persia withstood me that means he tried to prevent
[50:29] Michael from getting there how did he try to prevent him what are they what what they're not arm wrestling what's the conflict what how is I have no idea that's something that I want you to let germinate in your mind maybe we can pull our ignorance and see what we can come up with later but this is going to be truly remarkable so we continue reading there was war in heaven Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon that's Satan himself who was also a fallen angel and the dragon and his angels waged war and they were not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven and the great dragon Satan was thrown down the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world that's his whole game plan guys deception death destruction that's what he's all about the D stands for devil and it's also death destruction and deception his main his main thing is to deceive and Jesus says he does not have the truth in him he has no truth in him he is the deceiver the deceiver is somebody who causes things who causes people to think that things are other than they are that's what deception is it is deliberately leading somebody astray so they will take a course of action to defend a non-existent threat because the threat isn't there it's over here but they don't know that that's what deception is all about we have a a CIA a counterintelligence agency and its main objective is when the time comes is to sow wrong information and see that the enemy gets wrong information so that they take wrong precautions against it where the real threat is someplace else that's what they do in war time so this is deception that is going to be key and he deceived the whole world he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him and I heard a loud voice in heaven saying now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his
[52:59] Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down who accuses them before our God day and night and he is the accuser of the brethren so the time the text goes on and says verse 12 for instance rejoice oh heavens you who dwell on the woe to the earth the sea the devil has come down to you having great wrath knowing that he has only a short time and when the dragon Satan saw that he was thrown down to the earth he persecuted the woman who is the woman the woman is Israel the woman is the nation of Israel Israel has for centuries had a big bullseye painted on its back and every generation that has come up has seen fit to engage in some kind of persecution of the Jewish people and they have taken unto themselves the name that others have given to them they call them the wandering Jew you saw fiddler on the roof that's just a little taste of it the Jew would go here and be welcome and be settled in and all of a sudden anti-Semitism would rear its ugly head and the Jew is persona non grata and what does he do he gathers his belongings up and he puts them all in the cart and he starts pulling them away and they look for another place where they may be received and that's exactly what happened when the Jewish population began coming to the
[54:35] United States of America at last you mean you mean there is a nation that will actually welcome us the year 1492 familiar to all of us Columbus sailed the ocean blue you know what else happened in 1492 all of the Jews that lived in Spain were given a choice to be baptized into the Catholic Church and become a Catholic or leave the country and you won't take your wealth with you Philip and can't think of her name right off hand she was the queen and Philip was the king and in 1492 they bankrolled Christopher Columbus and gave him three ships to come to the new world to find the new world and at that same time that same year 1492 is when they issued that edict to the
[55:44] Jewish people and there were thousands of Jews who signed up to be baptized into the Catholic Church but guess what their heart wasn't in it they just did it outwardly to comply because they didn't want to leave the country and they continued to practice their Judaism in secret and so on and that's just one small modicum of history regarding the Jewish people they've been persecuted virtually everywhere and one thing that I was absolutely certain of and which I took a considerable amount of pride was that even though we disagree with the Jewish people and their rejection of the Messiah and so on we're going to treat them humanely they are people for whom Christ died and they certainly deserve our respect and our honor even though we disagree with some of their positions but yeah we will welcome the Jew here and there's one thing that you don't have to worry about in the United States of America if you are a Jew you don't have to worry about being ostracized or persecuted until now until now and where is this coming from are you kidding me the universities the bastion of intellectualism is going rogue and persecuted I can't believe it hey guys this is just one more thing that makes me say oh what is going on here and let me tell you if this is and I'm putting a big if there because I don't know I'm not making any predictions but I am saying if this is it you can expect more of the same and it will become more intense and more frequent in more places and all the while we would be saying it couldn't happen here well wake up and smell the coffee you know what the stuff that
[57:57] Americans are made of even though we like to think that it's different isn't it's the same as everybody else is made up of all throughout the world sure we're proud to be an American yeah no we wouldn't want to live any place else yes this is the greatest land on earth but let me tell you something guys we are all cut from the same bolt of cloth and it is called in the fallen humanity that's what it is and we're part of it thank God redemption is available salvation is available through Jesus Christ so you don't have to go that way but for those who don't that's the way they're going even though they don't know it that's the way they're going questions or comments anybody feel free yes so what's you know the the Jew came to America to seek safety in a place to live and all of a sudden now the world has gone crazy and they're they're being persecuted in our midst and I wonder if this is the beginning of persecution which the Christian church in the United States hasn't really experienced I wonder if this is the beginning of persecution for us well there it may very well be because and it's an excellent point that you bring up because not only eventually and I'm not saying that this is the persecution this thing may this thing may peter out and things get back to what you might call normal and it may surface again in another 20 30 years another 100 years I don't know but I'll tell you this when push comes to shove and the
[59:46] Jew is really under obvious persecution what do you think is going to be the position of anyone who supports the Jew they're going to lump you ride in with them you're going to be part of the problem and by by the way guys I don't know if you've been able to pick up on this or not but Christianity and things Christian and Christian people for about the last 10 to 15 years has become more and more noticeable we are becoming more and more marginalized less and less respected less and less tolerated and it is it is something that is brewing out there in the winds and if what we suspect is what it is it will only get more intense more quickly so don't be surprised if that's exactly what starts happening but just keep an eye on it in fact you don't have to necessarily keep an eye on it you won't be able to miss it yeah you won't be able to miss it yeah and it's it's a God thing too because way back when Abraham he was the father of the Jewish people God said to him nations that curse you after you I will deal with them harshly but nations that bless you God said this and he and we have blessed the Jew we have been their truest ally and we still are but not like we were we were a great ally of the Jew and
[61:25] God it's a God thing he loves us for that he's gonna he blessed our country the industrial revolution started right after World War two because we helped set up Israel as a nation President Truman in our he's he was the key figure that let the Jews become Israel become a nation he was that guy at the United Nations was making a decision well they would become a nation not so God has blessed our country but now in the last few years even before this incident occurred we were doing things against Israel that was negative we weren't blessing them we were telling countries don't trade with the Israelites you know they they aren't a good people don't trade with them so so we have started not even before what just had is happening now to not bless them to not help them to not do what's good for Israel and so we're is the more we see that happen in this world where this country is not supporting Israel it's a
[62:31] God thing we're going down well that's that's predictable too and it's just it's just part of the whole picture yeah yeah what's amazing is the first time Jesus came he came as like a lamb and he comes back this time it's going to be a little bit different oh my yeah you'd be come back there's the line of the tribe of Judah someone said Jesus is coming again and this time he will not be in a good mood yes you know the Bible says at the end of the tribulation all nations will come against Israel all that includes the United States of America you know 20 years ago 10 years five years ago you would have told people the United States is going to come against Israel you couldn't believe it yeah but you think if the rapture happens in the United States and you pull the Christians out of the United States we're already seeing it with the Christians here imagine how this country exactly pull the Christian you pull the church out how quickly will this country turn on Israel well that's not only that I wouldn't doubt that a moment but there is another scenario that may be played out even even as we speak and we're not aware of it and that is and this is just a wise man opinion so you can't take it to the bank but it's just something for you to think about I I think we have very very legitimate concern about the people who've been coming across our southern border many of these people are unidentified we don't know who they are we don't know where they are we don't know why they're here and I'm not down on immigrants we're all children of immigrants guys America was built by immigrants we're all descendants of immigrants we're all descendants of a country that opened its arms to people who wanted to come for a better life and there are multitudes of people who have invaded our southern shores but they've come to make a contribution and they've come to escape what they've been living in they come for a better life and if if you were in their position you'd probably be doing the same thing and so would I but there are those who have malignant intent and there are those who can be coming here as saboteurs and do you have any idea how easy it would be for somebody who really wanted to to in an absolutely disastrous way pollute our water supply so you couldn't drink the water yeah and the EMP the electromagnetic pulse that can be launched from a submarine off the shore of New York it doesn't even have to surface to launch it and can put a missile into the atmosphere that will not destroy anything or anybody and won't kill anybody but it will knock out all electronics and electricity so that your car won't run your truck won't run your furnace won't heat nothing will work that's got computer chips in it everything is shut down microwave towers will be worthless you can't communicate with anybody it would be it would be absolute catastrophe in just a matter of days and can you imagine the death rate and the suicide rate that would ensue so it may be it may be that israel will be under the gun and the united states may not be against israel but we may not be able to do anything we could be so crippled we wouldn't even be able to come to their aid just because of what has happened internally here in the united states and guys the thing that would rain is the most disastrous thing and that is chaos chaos and confusion would be so rampant authoritative information would be unavailable your radios wouldn't work your tvs wouldn't work nothing would work where are you going to get your information how you going to know what can you imagine what's going to take place people are going to start thieving and stealing and fighting over food to stay alive think about helping israel huh all we'd be trying to do is stay alive you know i'm not call me a prophet of doom if you want but all i'm saying is i know for a fact there are people placed in high positions of our government of security who are kept awake at night worrying about these things and trying to do what they can not too long ago just what the nineteen uh nineteen nineties nineteen eighties something like that i think i told you this before the whole northeast corridor was shut down went pitch black no electricity nothing all the lights of broadway went out why because a squirrel a squirrel got electrocuted in the grid at niagara falls shut down the whole northeast for what 16 hours something like that a squirrel you you tell me that yeah millions of people subways didn't work nothing crazy and you know something the efforts to rebuild and restructure the grid has failed to pass in congress a number of times because they don't want to shell out the money thing well uh i'm not finished but i quit anybody else have a comment or question yes something i just i mean i listen to everything you said i appreciate your words and everything i'm just going a little bit to the side of the jewish thing i agree with everything you said there but the last few weeks i've seen well i'm unthrowing and i'm on other sites that i've gotten to know people over the last couple years there's thousands of men that like us i'd say i don't know personally other than talking to them over social media they're on christian sites and they're coming together in groups like we are and they're going back out and i feel like we're losing focus of helping lift one another up even the christians you know versus the lost too i mean not to forget about the loss i think we've got to go out with a better attitude and i feel like the more information like some people get and use it as a tool or a weapon to hurt people and i see people coming saying man my life's a mess or i'm thinking about committing suicide or if i have these diseases or this thing i need help and people want to attack them with the word and push them down i don't feel it lifting up yeah i see you know if i know 10 books i'm going to use that against your wonder and i you know i just think we should be very careful to you know be careful to discern and help people live with another up always be a positive amen because there is such a dark light on this world right now amen so the more we learn let's go out okay thank you anybody else comment or question hey guys we all come from different backgrounds and i'm sure there's different churches involved here and some maybe from from no church at all but i just want you to know that you're all welcome you don't have to you don't have to be in a church to come to this group everybody's welcome and everybody's welcome to put in their two cents worth and and by the way i want to make this clear too i as a teacher i i don't bring this stuff with any kind of uh infallibility or anything uh i want you to know i'm free and open to be challenged by anything i say and i don't want you to feel like well mart said he expects me to agree with it no i don't i expect you to agree with it if you do but if you don't you've got a mind of your own and i respect that and and i would not be offended for somebody to challenge my conclusion or my position because keep in mind guys we're all flawed fallen beings and we all have wrinkles in our theology none of us has this thing called truth down pat we've all got wrinkles holes and and when we get to heaven all our wrinkles are going to get ironed out and some of us may need more ironing than others but nobody here is wrinkle free including me and i do not embrace a number of the positions that i held 20 years ago because i've learned something in the meanwhile and i was convinced that yeah well that's what i believe back then i was wrong now this is what i believe i've changed my mind so that's a good way to get a clean mind you just keep changing it okay thank you all for being here you