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[0:00] If you'll take just a moment to look at the map, I don't want to spend much time on it. And one reason I don't is because those who are receiving this content by mail or by electronic media will not have the advantage of having the map in front of them like you do.

[0:17] So we'll only just spend a couple of minutes on it. But I do want to point out some things that are really important. You will note that the area that encompasses modern-day Israel as the Holy Land extends up into or next to Syria, right below Phoenicia, and the red line there follows it, and comes down to Esion-Geber at the Gulf of Aqaba.

[0:45] It's kind of like a point. It comes down to all the land in the Sinai Peninsula there to the left was land that Israel conquered in the 1967 war, and then as part of the peace negotiations, they gave it back to Egypt, and it's still maintained by Egypt.

[1:03] But the main thing that I wanted to point out to you is a little-known place. Well, actually, it's very little on the map, but it's a major tourist attraction. I've never been there, even though I've been to Israel twice.

[1:16] Both times I was there, Petra was off-limits because there was some activity taking place there, hostility, and they wouldn't let us go down there. But I understand that that's opened up now, and you can visit Petra.

[1:30] And if you will look right below Jordan, Jordan in the red to the right side of your map, and down a little bit, you see the little print there, Petra.

[1:42] And it is my opinion and the opinion of a number of Bible scholars who know a lot more about it than I do, that this area, the rose-red city of Petra, which is incredible if you've ever seen it.

[1:57] I've seen it in some wonderful videos and pictures, and maybe I'll be able to show those to you a little later. But it is a huge, huge expanse, and it's a very strategic place.

[2:10] And it is that about which the little prophet Obadiah has written. It's just one chapter, the Minor Prophets. And he is talking about this area of Petra, which at the time was right on the east-west trade route.

[2:30] And people would come right through there. And one of the significant things about Petra, and it's still true today, is that if you go there on foot, there's only one way in, one way out.

[2:40] And it is an opening that is no wider than what a man or a couple of men at the most on horseback could get through. And a number of prophecy scholars believe that Petra, this rose-red city of Petra, is the very geographical place where the remnant of Israel will be holed up, and they will be sustained miraculously with food and water in the same way, much the same way, that the Jews were when they came out of Egypt.

[3:19] It will be a supernatural thing. And by the way, this is going to be tribulation content. And you must remember that when this 70th week of Daniel gets underway, the church, the body of Christ has been taken out, gone, and there is a reversion back to the kingdom gospel and the items that accompany that, one of which will be miraculous manifestations of every kind that you can imagine.

[3:48] And those miracles and dynamic things that you read about in the book of Revelation that a lot of people refuse to take literally because it just seems too overwhelming.

[4:01] We say, well, that's just figurative. It doesn't really mean that. Well, I'm persuaded it really does mean that. And there is going to be a reversion to the visual, obvious, in-your-face kind of activity that we do not see now.

[4:21] That was evident when Israel was coming out of Egypt and the miracles that God performed for them. And it was evident during the earthly ministry of Christ when He performed all of His miracles.

[4:32] And it was evident when the apostles performed miracles in the book of Acts. But that all went into oblivion. And now we are not walking by sight.

[4:45] We are walking by faith, which is entirely different. And that's characteristic of the church, which is the body of Christ. So it is the Jew that requires a sign. And this is going to be a reversion to the time of Israel.

[4:58] So these miraculous manifestations that are found in the Revelation mean exactly what they say. And I cannot envision either a 100-pound hailstone.

[5:14] Can you imagine the damage that that will do? That's just one of many things that's going to be happening during that 70th week. And part of that time we'll find the remnant of Israel.

[5:29] And I don't know how many there will be. But there will be a remnant of Israel. And they will be located here in Petra. And they will also be in Jerusalem.

[5:42] And we'll see an interesting passage that talks about saving the tents of Judah first. That's there in chapter 12. And these two areas are going to be under siege by the Antichrist.

[5:54] And it's going to be an absolutely horrendous time. So let's get into our text, if we may. And we've already touched on it a little bit. But I want to be a little more complete than what we've treated it before.

[6:09] So if you will look at Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 1. I'm just going to point out a couple of things. We're not going to read the whole passage. But I want to show you some of the more salient features to it.

[6:23] The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. And maybe I should stop right there and say, As plain as that seems to be, It does not satisfy some who insist that this word Israel here does not now mean Israel.

[6:46] It means the church. The Christian church. And frankly, that just stuns me that that kind of a position can be embraced.

[6:59] But this goes all the way back to the third century. All the way back to Augustine. And that's where the replacement theology began.

[7:12] And to this day, as I've told you a number of times, because I want to make sure you understand this, replacement theology, that the church, the Christian church, has taken the place of Israel as God's chosen people.

[7:25] That is the majority opinion in Christendom. And included in Christendom is Catholicism and Protestantism.

[7:39] And they both embrace this idea that the Christian church is the new Israel. And whenever you read Israel in prophecy, there was a time when it meant Israel.

[7:56] But because of Israel's rejection of their Messiah, God has set them aside permanently. And he's replaced them with the church. So even though Israel meant Israel here originally, the interpretation now is that it actually means the Christian church that's taken the place of Israel.

[8:16] And I just, well, I don't want to go any further with that. But look at verse 1. Thus declares the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.

[8:31] Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around.

[8:43] This is an idea, the concept is, this is going to be so unsettling that it will be as people staggering, reeling, rocking from the chaos that is taking place.

[9:00] Jerusalem, a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around. And when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.

[9:11] Now, Christianize those if you can. I can't. I can't. It just, I just, it just means what it says, and it says what it means. It will also be against Judah, and it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples.

[9:31] That is, a problem. A problem. And you know, Israel has by many been described as a problem for a long time. Adolf Hitler devised what he called the solution to the Jewish problem.

[9:48] Isn't that interesting what he called it? Well, here it's going to be a problem. Again, all who lift it will be severely injured, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.

[10:04] It. What is the it? Well, it would appear that the it is Jerusalem. How are you going to Christianize that? For heaven's sakes, Jerusalem is Jerusalem, and the nations of the earth are going to be gathered against it.

[10:20] In that day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness, but I will watch over the house of Judah. Now, there's something really special here about Judah.

[10:35] And it has to be because our Lord is descended from Judah. Also referred to as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

[10:47] What an interesting contrast. He is the Lamb of God, takes away the Son of the world, and at the same time he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Judah. And the expression that is given here, talking about horses, and I briefed this just a little bit, I think, the last time we were with you.

[11:04] I don't know how to take this, but I would suggest as far-fetched as it sounds, it may very well be literal also. And we talked a little bit about the electromagnetic pulse and the capability that that thing has of knocking out all electronics on all electric anything.

[11:25] and today even our battle tanks, even the Abrams tank, is loaded with computer chips as just about everything else is.

[11:36] Can you imagine all of this armament and all of this hardware coming to a screeching halt and being virtually worthless, unable to use? And I don't know if that's what's going to take place or not.

[11:47] I'm just suggesting that as a possibility. Later on in the revelation, if we get there, we will see that that that men are going to be afflicted with some kind of adversity that is going to leave them wanting to die and unable to do so.

[12:13] now, could that possibly be I mean, anybody that really wants to kill themselves will find a way to do it. You can slit your own throat, you can put a gun to your head, all kinds of ways you can kill yourself.

[12:30] But what if you are afflicted with some kind of neurological disease that renders you paralyzed?

[12:45] I'm just, this is just a possibility. There are all kinds of pathogens out there that could do us in that we don't know anything about.

[12:56] We didn't know anything about COVID-19 either, did we? And look what this thing is doing. It's amazing. All I'm suggesting is the potential for all kinds of affliction that we have not even imagined is lurking out there.

[13:14] And the revelation refers to these as a plague. Plague, that's what it calls it. And it goes all the way back to Egypt, the plagues that God brought upon Egypt.

[13:28] And then there was the bubonic plague that struck Europe when literally millions and millions died with the death cart that would come around every morning collecting bodies and people set the bodies of family members that didn't live through the night, set them out in front of their house just like you would put out the trash.

[13:49] And the death cart would come by and they'd stack bodies on those carts and haul them away and make that trip every day. We just can't fathom something like that. And we think, well, in this day of modern technology, blah, blah, blah, we don't have to worry about anything like that.

[14:04] Well, don't be so sure. We wouldn't think we'd have to worry about anything like this COVID-19 either, but it has brought the world to its knees and you can't even see it.

[14:17] Ironic, isn't it? Well, let us move on. Clans of Judah will say in their hearts, a strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the Lord of hosts, their God.

[14:29] In that day, I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood, flaming torch among sheaves. This is a supernatural ability that God's going to give to these people.

[14:40] So they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem.

[14:52] The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first. That is a really interesting expression.

[15:06] One Bible scholar in whom I have a great deal of confidence was the man who was our guide when we went to Israel. His name was Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum. He was born in Siberia and family moved to Germany and then to England and then eventually to the United States.

[15:24] Shortly after he came to the United States, he was confronted with the gospel and received Christ as his savior. Spent a couple of years down the road here at Cedarville University, then went to Dallas Seminary, got his doctorate in theology, and then he went to New York University, got his PhD, and wrote an interesting thesis called Israelology.

[15:46] It's quite fascinating. He is of the opinion, and there are a number with him, that believe that this tense of Judah refers to the bivouac of an enormous number of Jewish people who will be pulled up there in Petra, that little area that you see right below Jordan there, and the Antichrist, for whatever reason, will be unable to eliminate them, no matter how difficult, no matter how hard he tries, because their protection is going to be supernatural, and it's going to be supernatural for Jerusalem as well, and it's going to be quite a conflict that we just cannot fathom, but the tents of Judah, they take the position that these people are going to be living there in Petra, in tents.

[16:45] And we think, well, why in the world would they be, well, is there anything more portable than a tent? After all, they can't have a building project and build houses there and construct apartments and all the rest, and not only that, but go all the way back to Abram, he was a tent dweller and nomad and lived in a tent, and thousands and thousands of years, that's the way they lived, and it's going to be something that they will be reverting to and they will be supernaturally protected and supernaturally fed during this time, and they will be a large part of that remnant.

[17:24] This remnant, by the way, is that, I think, to which Paul is referring in Romans chapter 11 when he uses the statement, and so all Israel shall be saved.

[17:36] And it doesn't mean every Jew in the world is going to be saved, because two-thirds of them are going to die in the tribulation holocaust, and a number of them, of course, will not be believers, but those who are are going to be supernaturally protected, and they're going to be in Jerusalem, and they're going to be here in this area of Petra.

[18:00] And they comprise the tents of Judah, and we are told that in order that the glory of the house of David, of which our Lord, of course, is a direct descendant, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be magnified above Judah.

[18:22] And that simply indicates that Judah is going to have the preeminence. And that makes sense when you consider that Christ is from the tribe of Judah, and it will be to this area, I believe, that he returns for the second coming as a result of the prayer and repentance of these people who are there in Jerusalem and in Petra, begging, crying, repenting, and pleading for the Messiah to come.

[18:55] And we looked at a reference in Zechariah, O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down. And that's the prayer, and that's the prayer they're going to be offering. And that prayer will be answered.

[19:10] And Christ is going to return right here to the tents of Judah, and he is going to lead his people, beginning in verse 8, the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David.

[19:32] God's God's will be given ability to withstand the enemy.

[19:45] They will be like David, and the house of David will be like God and the angel of the Lord before them. And it will come about in that day. There's that phrase again.

[19:55] We saw it in verse 2. It's again in verse 3. It's in verse 4. It's in verse 5. It's in verse 6. It's about 14 or 15 times this phrase is used, in that day.

[20:08] And we cannot dissociate that in that day from any other period of time than this one. It is the only one that it fits. In that day, I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

[20:25] And who are they going to be? It's going to be all of them. Now, I don't know. I guess there are some, what, 180, 190 nations now that comprise the world globe.

[20:39] And I don't know that this is going to require that there be representatives from 190 nations around the world gathered here. But I think the expression is saying that it will be the preponderance of the world's nations.

[20:51] It's going to be, for sure, it's going to be the more prominent, the more capable nations that will be coming against Israel.

[21:02] And they will be led by the master deceiver, the Antichrist, who will be energized by Satan himself. And the goal is going to be one.

[21:13] One objective. And that is to eliminate Israel permanently. That's going to be the objective. All of these nations are going to see Israel as the world's problem.

[21:26] It's going to be anti-Semitism on a scale that you cannot imagine. And it's going to really be something. Because Marvin, the devil's behind this because he has to eliminate the Israelites in order for him to, in the end, win over Christ.

[21:41] He has to destroy all the Israelites. We saw earlier how that the Antichrist is going to be marshalling his troops.

[21:52] And by the way, they are going to mass here. If you look at your map, up to the north, you see where Akko is. It's modern Ptolemais.

[22:04] That's the area from which Paul began all his missionary journeys there in Ptolemais. But in this area where Mount Carmel is, Mount Carmel, right there on the coast, is the peak of this mountain.

[22:21] You can stand on Mount Carmel and look over the plain of Esdralen. Armageddon. And it is incredible. It is magnificent. It is so expansive and so huge.

[22:33] Napoleon was said to have viewed this area from Mount Carmel. And he stood there and said, what a magnificent battlefield.

[22:47] But the battle will not be there. The staging will be there. This will be a place here in, you see, Megiddo.

[23:01] It's that area right there, the plain of Megiddo, that encompasses Megiddo, Jezreel, Nazareth, Cana, etc., Mount Carmel. It is also referred to as Israel's breadbasket.

[23:14] Because it is to Israel what Kansas and Nebraska is to the United States and what Saskatchewan is to Canada. This is to Israel. And it is a huge, huge, expansive area.

[23:27] And it can easily accommodate armies from the world massing there, preparing for this great battle. This is Armageddon.

[23:39] And for the most part, it's just talked about and looked upon as doomsday. And that's precisely what it will be. Because once those troops are massed, they are going to march south down to Jerusalem.

[23:56] And as they approach Jerusalem, the Antichrist is going to receive word. We looked at this earlier. Maybe we'll get there again, but it won't be today.

[24:07] The Antichrist is going to receive word that Babylon is fallen. It's destroyed. And rather, and he won't be there. He will be with these troops.

[24:19] And rather than go to the rescue of Babylon, he turns and comes straight down south to Jerusalem. And our Lord will have arrived at Petra.

[24:30] And he will be massing the army there. And they will march north. And the conflict will take place right in front of Jerusalem.

[24:41] You see the Dead Sea and the line that runs up there at the Jericho. It will be right there at the extreme of Jerusalem where that defile is that is called the valley, the Kidron Valley.

[24:55] It's also called the Valley of Jehoshaphat. That's where this blood is going to flow to the horse's bridles. And I don't know if that's hyperbole and a figurative expression or if it is going to be literal.

[25:09] But it's going to be a bloodletting the likes of which we cannot imagine. And this is where in Revelation where the fowls of the earth are called to feed upon the carrion are called to feed upon all the corpses.

[25:20] This is the world's last hurrah. Well, not the last.

[25:31] The last will be in Revelation 20. At the end of the millennial reign of Christ, there is another revolt.

[25:41] And that will be the final one. And we'll get to that eventually. So this is going to take place. And let's get back to our Zechariah text now. Yes. If that's all going to take place up there and you talk about Petra, how do the two tie together if they do tie together?

[25:58] Well, I think they tie together because Petra is where they're going to be for probably the first half, at least, of this tribulation period. It's broken up into two segments of 42 months each, three and a half years.

[26:11] And they are going to be sequestered there, protected. And that's where their repentance and study of the scriptures is going to really come alive for these Jewish people.

[26:24] And they are going to recognize, they are going to see the truth of Isaiah 53 that their forefathers rejected. And they are going to repent in mass and cry out for the Messiah to return.

[26:38] And he will return to Petra. And then they are going to come north. And the Antichrist and his troops are going to come from the north to the south.

[26:48] And the conflict will take place there in the middle. So it's after the conversion of the Jews. Right. Absolutely. Yeah. And it will be, well, we'll see more about it when we get there.

[27:02] Verse 10 says, I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on me whom they have pierced.

[27:23] And they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

[27:39] In that day, there will be great mourning in Jerusalem. This is mourning of sadness. Mourning of sackcloth and ashes.

[27:50] Mourning of repentance. Mourning of regret. Mourning of apology. It's going to be a time of weeping and wailing and conversion of the Jewish people when they recognize that their forefathers really did reject the Messiah.

[28:09] And they are going to apologize for them and beg God to send him back. And this time he will not be rejected.

[28:20] And their prayer will be answered. Christ will return. And they will look on him whom they pierced. And they will mourn. And the land will mourn.

[28:32] The family of the house of David by itself. And their wives by themselves. The family of the house of Nathan by itself. And their wives by themselves.

[28:43] The family of the house of Levi by itself. And their wives by themselves. The family of the Shemites by itself. And their wives by themselves. All the families that remain.

[28:55] Every family by itself. And their wives by themselves. these people are going to be a regenerate people, a renewed people.

[29:10] And we cannot fathom the scope of this that is involved, but it will be... Well, remember when Peter and the Twelve preached the gospel of the kingdom and they addressed Israel on the day of Pentecost and then afterwards, and their message was the same, God sent His Son, men by wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory, but God raised Him up and now God has done His part in providing Him as a Messiah and a Savior.

[29:47] Now, Israel, the ball is in your court. What are you going to do? You receive this one as your Messiah, God will send Him back. That's the message of Acts chapter 3.

[29:58] He hadn't been gone that long. He just left in Acts chapter 1. And Peter says, God will send Him back if Israel will reverse and change their mind.

[30:09] And that was in chapter 3. And when you get to Acts chapter 4, the persecution begins. Not receiving, not receiving the Messiah, not accepting Him, but persecuting those who were preaching Him.

[30:26] And they beat them, and they imprisoned them, and they threatened them. And Israel said, thanks, but no thanks. We will not have this man to reign over us.

[30:37] This time, their answer will be the opposite of what answer their ancestors gave in Acts 3 and 4.

[30:48] This time will be a weeping and a wailing and an embracing of Yeshua HaMashiach as their Messiah. And it is going to be...

[30:58] And all of this, by the way, guys, keep in mind, during this time, and I don't know how many of them will be here or whether they're going to be circulated throughout the world or what, but there are 144,000 that we need to account for as well.

[31:16] Exactly where are they going to be and are they going to be... Possibly they could be here. I don't know. But I do know this, according to Revelation 7 and Revelation 14, and by the way, these 144,000 are not Christians.

[31:33] They are not Methodists and Baptists and Presbyterians. They are Jews. And when they are described as being 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, there is no way in the world you can Christianize those tribes and make them Christians.

[31:52] They are Jews. And they will be able to identify their tribal distinction. I have no idea how, but nowadays with the DNA and all that stuff, who knows what's going to happen.

[32:05] But these 144,000, remember, are indestructible. They have the seal of God in their forehead. And they will probably have bullseyes on their back too, but it won't make any difference because these are indestructible.

[32:20] And they are young men, and this is just a theory that I've thrown out. You can take it or leave it. But I... How are you going to account for how are you going to account for recruiting 144,000 young Jewish men to embrace Yeshua and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom everywhere during a time of tribulation, persecution, and massive evangelism all taking place?

[32:59] I mean, the world has never seen chaos like this. This is going to be incredible. This is why Jesus said it's a time such as the world has never seen before and will never see again. These 144,000 Jews are going to have to come from somewhere.

[33:14] And this is just a theory that I put together and it may not fly. I don't know. It wouldn't be the first time. But Ezekiel 38 and 39 make it very clear that there is going to be a massive invasion of Israel.

[33:36] And the chief invader leading that is going to be Russia and Russia's allies. And they are going to come and invade Israel and we are told they're coming for a different reason than what the Antichrist is coming to destroy the Jew.

[33:56] But these are coming to take a plunder. Yes, for wealth. And I don't know if it's the Dead Sea or if the oil or gas or whatever it is, but they are going to come in mass and invade Israel.

[34:10] And Israel, the IDF, Israeli Defense Force, is not going to have to lift a finger because that which is going to destroy them will be God Himself and there will be devastation and earthquake and cataclysm on the mountains of Israel and this invading army is going to be absolutely decimated, just decimated by what we would call nature, only it will be the hand of God and it will not be a conflict between the Jew and these people, it will be a conflict between God and the invading army and Ezekiel tells us that it's going to take seven months to bury the dead.

[35:00] There's going to be such a number of corpses. Now, if this is taken at face value and I don't have any idea how else to take it, I believe that's exactly what's going to happen, what kind of an impression will that have on the Jewish people when they see in an unmistakable way the supernatural power of their God eliminating these forces, that in itself is going to result in a massive turning from the secularism that the Jew is steeped in now back to the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[35:48] And I think those who are going to be most influenced and impressed by that will be Jewish young men who will come forth to volunteer on behalf of Israel for whatever the need and there will be 144,000 of them and they will have the seal of God in their forehead.

[36:12] I don't have any idea how that's going to come about but God knows those who are His and He will brand them with His own seal and they will be virtually indestructible and have a tremendous ministry during this time.

[36:24] The Bible isn't clear about when that's actually going to happen. Like it's the first part of the tribulation or before the tribulation that's going to occur. And aren't a lot of those that they win then, these 444,000 going to be martyred then probably to the end?

[36:39] Will they be martyred? Part of the martyr? I don't think so. I don't, well, I don't know. All I can say is they appear, as the Revelation describes them, they appear indestructible.

[36:53] Now whether that indestructibility is going to be lifted, I don't know. I mean the ones they convert. Not them, but the ones they convert, they evangelize, the people they evangelize, the Jews and or Gentiles, those will be martyred.

[37:09] Oh yeah, many will be, many will be martyred. Yeah, absolutely. And by the way, the chief way, the chief way of execution during the tribulation period is going to be by beheaded.

[37:23] and it's interesting that that is the principal method of execution that Islam uses too, you know. And one wonders if there's going to be kind of a enormous upsurge of Islam and that they will be instrumental with the Antichrist.

[37:41] And we know that two-thirds of the Jews will be, will die. Two-thirds of it. One-third's going to last. That's right. Two-thirds of the Jewish people will be eliminated during the tribulation period.

[37:52] Some of them will be unbelievers, unbelieving Jews who are just martyred, killed by the Antichrist, killed by pestilence, killed by disease, killed by starvation, killed by all kinds of, people aren't going to be able to buy or sell anything without that mark.

[38:11] That's your guarantee of being able to survive. They won't, you know, many will not have that and they will die because of it. So it's going to be a time of tremendous evangelism.

[38:22] These 144,000 are going to have remarkable success. But there's going to be a lot of people who are going to be martyred during this time. That's why it's called the Great Tribulation.

[38:35] And the word in the Greek, ho flipsis, is the word that is also used for taking a grape put it between your thumb and finger and you just start squeezing the grape.

[38:54] And you squeeze it until you squeeze everything out of it. That's the definition of tribulation. Mankind is going to be on the squeeze.

[39:08] The pressure will be on. It will be more intense than anything the world has ever seen. And this world has seen some pretty ugly things.

[39:19] But this is going to top it all. I'd like to open this for Q&A now and we'll go into Chapter 13 the next time. But I'm sure you probably have questions or comments that you'd like to offer too and I want to have you out of here before 9 o'clock.

[39:37] Any other thoughts or comments, questions, feel free. This time frame just bothers me some whole.

[39:49] The various things that are happening, we all know that God could just wave His hand and take care of it right now without any problems at all. True. But He lets us go through all this process.

[40:01] I don't think any of us know the reason He's doing it, but it boggles the mind. Yeah, well it does. It goes through this whole process. It does. There are supernatural things.

[40:11] You've got to remember, fellas, what this is, among other things I guess we could say, this is, this is Satan and the Antichrist last hurrah.

[40:31] This is, this is not a big one. This is the big one. This is the ultimate end conflict between the forces of good and evil and it comes right down to this period of seven years.

[40:49] This is the wrap up. This is that time that the world has only thought about in terms pretty much of fantasy whenever they thought about it.

[41:01] Although there was a time when it was taken more seriously I understand that back in the, I think it was in the 1930s, I'm not sure, I remember reading an article about this, that the New York Times newspaper, quite interesting when you think about the New York Times today, purveyors of fake news, extraordinary.

[41:23] but the New York Times had a printing press assigned to a separate room and the type already selected to be run for the headline of that day when it came and it was in reference to the second return of Jesus Christ and it was called second coming print and it was higher and bolder than any newspaper print they had ever printed because they assumed that that would be the syndicum of all publications, you know, and it would be and I don't know if it even exists today.

[42:07] I suspect that they've probably done away with it, I don't know, but it's interesting and the term second coming type came out of that experience and that was in the 1930s I think that that happened.

[42:21] I doubt seriously that you'd get the New York Times to take that approach today. Wow. Any other thoughts or comments?

[42:31] Anyone? Feel free. Okay, I want to just just just take a couple of minutes and just give you a little bit of an eye opener to chapter 13 because it is glorious.

[42:46] It is in that day and ignore the chapter division. Remember, no chapter divisions. In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for impurity and it will come about in that day declares the Lord of hosts I will cut off the names of the idols from the land and they will no longer be remembered and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land and this is going to be a time of revival restoration cleansing forgiveness empowering all of this the Lord is going to bring with him.

[43:40] He will be that fountain and it's a it's a glorious thing to consider that the songwriter wrote that wonderful hymn there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins sinners plunged beneath that blood lose all their guilty stains and it was taken from this passage about the fountain and what Christ is going to provide and as we get into chapter 13 and move on to the end of the chapter and the end of the next book we'll see how this is all going to end and it's just going to be absolutely glorious glorious and we are going to be witnessing this we will not be combatants but we will be witnessing this because this resurrection will have taken place and it's going to be it's going to be something when the Lord comes with all his saints with him.

[44:44] Mark Yes? Would you say that what we've written what's written here would not have been understood by these people whatsoever and that it was basically written for us I mean at this point in time for future people not for the people at this point in time because they wouldn't understand this No no they certainly didn't Prophets Prophets often times addressed issues that were current that people understood and were very well familiar with but they also uttered prophecies that they themselves did not understand and they and I think that's probably true of all the prophets but in none of them is it so obviously clear as in the book of Daniel because Daniel admits on different occasions he didn't have any idea what this is about I saw this vision and this is what it was but I don't have any idea what it meant and it would be explained to Daniel and he would write but he was he was completely it was it was all foreign to him as well and such is the case with many things that the prophets wrote they were instructed to write but they did not understand fully what they were writing sometimes they did sometimes they didn't

[46:03] Jeremiah wrote in great detail and told the people if they didn't repent God was going to bring a neighbor who was even more evil than they against them and would chastise them and take them into captivity and it would last for 70 years and by the way these people are going to be the Babylonians and he named it and he spelled it out so he understood full well what was coming of course they didn't believe him they thought he was just a crazy old coot but they soon had to live that down or try to so prophecy is just just I don't know I've often said that the best guarantee that unfulfilled prophecy will come to pass precisely as it is spelled out greatest guarantee are those prophecies that have already come to pass in a very literal way Rick yeah Mark they talk about as we enter or get near the end times there's going to be a great falling away which seems to be where we're at today but then they also say there's going to be a great revival in the end times so how do those two balance is the revival once the tribulation starts and the falling away prior or

[47:17] I've heard it said both ways some people say there's going to be a great falling away and then they say there's a great revival yeah I hear you and I agree with your perplexity I don't know exactly how these things are going to come about how they're going to play out but I think that yeah I think that both are true and sometimes you know sometimes adversity can be a blessing in disguise sometimes adversity can be a wake up call sometimes adversity can lead to a revival out of sheer desperation and it can be God's wake up call there are many many people who as individuals were hardened against the gospel wanted nothing to do with it but when they became confronted with something that they could not master something that they could not beat something that they could not write a check for something that overwhelmed them it's amazing how it can have a softening effect on the hardest of hearts because

[48:24] God does God does use wake up calls like that yes Gary I had read someplace where when they used that falling away basically it refers to the rapture people are going to get all the Christians are going to be gone and the rest of it did not take place well that's just yeah that's a possible interpretation I honestly don't know I've been on both sides of that issue like I have been of others too the word is apostasia and it literally means to fall away from and it can also mean to catch away well it's a different verb form but to fall away implies that you have to be there in order to fall away from it so when we're talking about about apostasy spiritual or biblical apostasy it means that one has discarded what we would call the dominant truths of the faith and they have fallen away from that that's what apostasy means it means to walk away or fall away from a position that was previously held and this is a general description of what we would call modernism there was a time when when well there was a time

[49:48] Princeton and Harvard and Yale and many of these stellar institutions were training pastors to go out and preach the gospel and these were evangelical schools and they have since fallen away they have apostatized and they no longer embraced those things that their founders embraced when they started those schools and it's a tragedy but you know fellas it is a natural human tendency the natural human tendency is not to stay on the straight and narrow path the natural human tendency is to veer off the path prone to wander Lord I feel it prone to leave the God

[50:52] I love and our our enlightenment so called our technological advances our progression our inventions and all of these things tend to make us more and more impressed by humanity and less and less indebted to God we get to the place of where we think we are just so smart you know and we develop a human arrogance that God detests frankly and it is nothing more than deification of humanity and it's it's humanism it's humanism it is man is the measure of all things that's the first premise of the humanist manifesto and it ties in beautifully with the communist manifesto which says there is no God we are our own

[51:52]  God we are our own deity and blah blah blah so okay well hey guys thanks for being here today we will continue this and within the next couple of weeks we'll be wrapping up Zechariah and we'll have to put some icing on the cake from Revelation and I'm looking forward to that and by the way it would be helpful if you would kind of hang on to these put them in your Bible because we'll be needing them later as well and I'll have extra copies if you lose yours but thanks for being here today looks like we got some sunshine out there now and the fog's all gone so have a great day and the Lord bless you