LUKE 21!--Antichrist Tribulation & 2nd-Coming Salvation! DFO 1507 15/3/81
1. HALLELUJAH! PTL! TYJ! WELL, GREETINGS TO ANOTHER BIBLE STUDY OF THE PROPHECIES OF GOD'S WORD REGARDING THE ENDTIME, the Last Days in which you & I are now living. We have just finished studying Matthew 24, & we're not going to go into the details of Matthew 25 which are really more moral teaching & spiritual lessons on being ready & faithfully serving the Lord, being full of His Spirit & being obedient & busy for Him to the very day that He comes. That's what Matthew 25 is about.
2. YOU CAN READ IT FOR YOURSELF & I'M SURE YOU'LL UNDERSTAND IT. He gives a number of examples, parables & illustrations to try to help you understand that you are supposed to love Him & be faithful to Him & faithfully serve Him until the very end. If you want, that is, not only your salvation--which is guaranteed, TTL--but if you want to be received into His Heavenly Kingdom with reward & praise & commendation, not shame & embarrassment & even contempt because you failed Him!
3. EVEN THOUGH SAVED, EVEN THOUGH A BELIEVER, EVEN THOUGH ONE WHO HAS RECEIVED CHRIST, even though perhaps one filled with His Spirit, perhaps you somehow failed to do your job. You failed to use your talent for the Lord. You failed to have sufficient oil in your lamp to lighten the World & give light to others. "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine! Let it shine! Let it shine! Let it shine!" Some of you are going to be like the foolish virgins who ran out of steam, ran out of oil, only shone for awhile, then went to sleep.
4. SOME ARE GOING TO BE LIKE THE FOOLISH MAN WHO BURIED HIS TALENT & said, "Well, here Lord, I'm giving You back what You gave me, even-Stephen, fair trade! You gave it to me, I'm giving it back!" The Lord says, "Wait a minute! I gave it to you to use it & increase it & make it profitable & fruitful! I expected you to cause it to gain other talents & to use it for My glory, to witness & help win souls for the Kingdom. Instead of that you hid it & buried it away & you didn't use it, you didn't gain anything in the way of souls or witnessing or those fed & taught for the kingdom!"
5. THERE ARE A LOT OF SPIRITUAL LESSONS IN THAT 25TH CHAPTER, but you can read those for yourself. They're quite simple, quite plain, I don't need to interpret them or explain them. I'm sure you will be convicted enough if you just read the 25th Chapter to yourselves, & I highly recommend that you do so, perhaps before you even have seen this particular video in which we are going on into the more prophetic passages of God's Word.
6. AS WE HAVE EXPLAINED PREVIOUSLY, WE ARE NOT DEALING WITH THE PROPHECIES OF THE PAST WHICH HAVE ALREADY BEEN FULFILLED. It's a marvellous, thrilling study to deal with fulfilled prophecies, it encourages your faith to know that these regarding the future will also be fulfilled just as accurately & just as perfectly & just as surely as every prophecy of the past has been fulfilled. These too shall not pass away until all is fulfilled! "Not one shall lack her mate!" (Is.34:16) The Lord will make sure that every single prophecy is fulfilled.
7. SO WE'RE NOT TAKING TIME IN THIS PARTICULAR SERIES WITH FULFILLED BIBLE PROPHECIES, those which have already occurred & happened, but with those which are yet to be fulfilled & very soon, PTL! Hallelujah! So are we ready? Everybody ready? We're going ahead then tonight with Luke the 21st Chapter, & we're beginning with the 20th verse. Have you got your Bible? And are you prepared to study the Word? Luke 21:20. Have all of you got it? Jesus again is speaking:
8. "AND WHEN YE SHALL SEE JERUSALEM COMPASSED WITH ARMIES, THEN KNOW THAT THE DESOLATION THEREOF IS NIGH. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; & let them which are in the midst of it depart out; & let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto." Well, dear brother Begin, who wants so eagerly to get his Jews into Judaea, is one of these days going to have a problem in trying to see how fast he can get'm out!
9. "FOR THESE BE THE DAYS OF VENGEANCE, THAT ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN MAY BE FULFILLED."--In which God's going to punish the Jews for the way they treated the poor Palestinians & the poor Palestinian Christians. "But woe unto them that are with child, & to them that give suck in those days! For there shall be great distress in the land, & wrath upon this people."
10. WHAT PEOPLE? WHAT PEOPLE LIVE THERE? What people are trying to settle it & take it over & rob the Palestinians of their homes & their country? God's people? Well, they used to be God's people, & they're still called Israelis, Israelites, & they've called it Israel, but they're no longer God's people because they have rejected Him. They killed their King! They crucified their Messiah, Jesus Christ! So they were through with God & through with Jesus & they said, "Let His blood be upon us & upon our children!"--And so it's been ever since! (Mt.27:25)
11. AND FINALLY GOD IS GOING TO WREAK HIS FINAL JUDGEMENTS UPON THEM right there in the land that they have stolen from the poor Palestinians, the Christians who really deserve it, the Christians to whom it was promised by Abraham & by the Lord through every Prophet, that it would be given to His children, His people, His Israel, His Jews! [DELETED] (Re.3:9) [DELETED] (Jn.8:44)
12. THAT LAND IS TO BE GIVEN TO GOD'S CHILDREN[DELETED]! That land is to be given to the Israel of God[DELETED]! That land is to be given to God's children, the true Jews, the real Israel of God by faith, whether they be Jew or Gentiles, male or female, whatever they may be! That land is to be given to God's children!--[DELETED][EDITED: "T"]o the real Jews.--[DELETED][EDITED: "T"]o the new Jews, those who are Jews by faith, those who are Israel by faith, those who are the children of Abraham by faith! (Ga.3:24.)
13. THEY ARE THE TRUE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM! THEY ARE THE ONLY CHILDREN OF GOD!--Not [EDITED: "those"] Jews who live in Israel today, but unto us, unto you Christians, you Children of God, you Family of Love, you who love Jesus & have Jesus & His love in your hearts! Yours is the land & to you it shall be given, & the former children of the kingdom, Jesus Himself said, shall be cast out into outer darkness & there shall be weeping & wailing & gnashing of teeth! (Mt.8:12.)
14. DEAR MR. BEGIN HAD GREAT HOPES FOR JUDAEA & SAMARIA, the West Bank which he took away from Jordan & the Palestinians & is trying to give to the Jews. One of these days when the armies of Gog & Magog, Russia & the Communists, begin to surround Israel & Jerusalem, he's going to wish he never ever had settled one single settlement in Judaea, much less Samaria! He's going to wish he had never proclaimed Jerusalem the capital, "the eternal, permanent capital of Israel & the Jews!" He's going to wish he could get his hell out of there as fast as he can get his damn britches on! And he may not even have time to get'm on!
15. "FOR THERE SHALL BE GREAT DISTRESS IN THE LAND, & WRATH UPON THIS PEOPLE." Whose wrath? The wrath of God! Wreaked by the Russians & the Communists & the forces of the Antichrist as the tools of God in the hand of God! Like Nebuchadnezzar was "a razor that is hired" to punish His Own people for their sins! (Isa.7:20) 24th verse: "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, & shall be led away captive into all nations: & Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." This passage sounds a great deal like the one we've just finished reading in Matthew 24, doesn't it?
16. WELL, HOW LONG SHALL JERUSALEM BE TRODDEN DOWN AT THIS TIME? You say, "Oh, that happened a long time ago when the Romans took over Jerusalem & destroyed it & the Temple, & they cast out the Jews into all nations of the Earth, threw'm out of Israel & led'm away captive into all nations. That's when that happened." Well, He's saying that that will happen, that's true.
17. BUT HE'S USING EXACTLY THE SAME TERMINOLOGY IN THIS PASSAGE THAT HE USED IN THE PASSAGE IN WHICH HE IS DESCRIBING THE INVASION OF ISRAEL by the Antichrist forces of Russia! He's using the very same words almost exactly! In this case, instead of saying, "When ye shall see the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place," instead of that He says, "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."
18. WELL, FIRST IT HAS TO BE COMPASSED WITH ARMIES & DESOLATED because of its rebellion against the World government of the Antichrist, & then he sets up his Image, & then follows this time of great trouble such as was not since the World began.--Not only for Israel, for Judah, "the time of Jacob's trouble," but for all people of whatever religion Worldwide, because the Antichrist will insist that the whole World worship him & his Image then. They shall fall by the edge of the sword, led away captive & there'll be a terrible time of trouble! But here's a key right here in these words in the middle of the 24th verse:
19. "AND JERUSALEM SHALL BE TRODDEN DOWN OF THE GENTILES, UNTIL THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES BE FULFILLED." Now where else in the Bible does it use this same terminology, that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled? In fact, in the other passage which we're going to find now in Revelation the 13th Chapter, we are going to see exactly how long the Gentiles are going to trod down Jerusalem until their time be fulfilled. Shall we turn to it? Would you like to turn to Revelation the 13th Chapter with me & let's find out what it has to say.
20. HE'S TALKING IN THIS 13TH CHAPTER ABOUT A BEAST THAT RISES UP OUT OF THE SEA, the sea of humanity, 1st verse, "having seven heads & ten horns, & upon his horns ten crowns, & upon his heads the name of blasphemy!" We've already seen this beast in Daniel the 7th Chapter in various forms, & here he is a combination beast with all the great World powers & great World empires depicted in one great beast with seven heads, the seven great World Empires that have come & gone upon the stage of history from the days of earliest Egypt to this last one of the Antichrist, Russia.
21. "SEVEN HEADS & TEN HORNS"--WHERE ARE THE TEN HORNS? THEY'RE UPON THE LAST HEAD, THE SEVENTH HEAD! Because this makes it very clear in a following chapter that the ten horns are ten kings who cooperate with this Beast in his last form, his seventh head, the Antichrist! They are ten great World powers who cooperate with the final great World leader, this Devil-man, this Satan in the flesh, the Antichrist, these ten kingdoms. "Upon his horns ten crowns, upon his heads the name of blasphemy."--Because he's anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-religion, & demands that the whole World worship him as its God. We don't have time to go into all the likenesses here in the 2nd verse, but it shows how he was the same as the beasts of Daniel 7.
22. THIRD VERSE: "AND I SAW ONE OF HIS HEADS AS IT WERE WOUNDED TO DEATH; & his deadly wound was healed: & all the World wondered after the Beast." Have you got it in your Bible? Can you read it? Can you see it? Are you zeroed in on it? Hallelujah! How much of the World is going to wonder after the Beast? They're going to wonder, for one thing, & they're also going to wander away from God!
23. "AND THEY WORSHIPPED THE DRAGON WHICH GAVE POWER UNTO THE BEAST." This Beast is the Antichrist, & the Dragon is that old red Dragon, that same Ol' Boy that's been causing us trouble ever since the Garden of Eden! He was called the Serpent then, right? Now he's called a Dragon. What's a dragon? Have you ever seen a picture of a dragon? Did you know that there really were dragons?--Really, fire-breathing, smoke-breathing dragons! If you don't believe it, just read the 40th & 41st Chapters of Job!
24. YOU'LL FIND THAT DEAR SAINT GEORGE, A GREAT CHRISTIAN, ACTUALLY FOUGHT A FIRE-BREATHING, SMOKE-EXHALING DRAGON! There were a few left around in his day! But there used to be a lot of them in Job's day, & God uses this dragon as a type of the Devil. He sounds a lot like an alligator, doesn't he? Or one of those huge prehistoric monsters which apparently were destroyed in the Flood. What do they call those things? Dinosaurs! Thank God for our astute educated cameraman here. Dinosaurs were dragons!
25. I BELIEVE WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS IN JOB, THAT THEY ACTUALLY BREATHED OUT FIRE & BRIMSTONE & SMOKE! You say, "Come on now, Dad, you don't really believe that old fairy tale stuff, do you?" Yes, I do! I'm a great believer in fairy tales! I'm a teller of fairy tales, but they're true! Even if they were given to me by fairies, God's Angels, they're still true! I believe a lot of those fairy tales were true, believe it or not! I believe they were based on fact about the war between the demons of Hell & the angels of Heaven! You read'm & see, they're always the forces of good struggling with the forces of evil.
26. I EVEN BELIEVE IN GREEK & ROMAN MYTHOLOGY, HOW ABOUT THAT? I believe this is leftover legends of the battles between the Angels of God & the demons of the Devil! I believe they really happened! Maybe not exactly as they are finally portrayed in those myths of mythology & legendary tales--they might have embellished'm a bit & exaggerated a bit & added to a bit perhaps--but I believe they're based on facts of early spiritual warfare between the Angels of God, the forces of good, & the forces of evil, the demons & devils of Hell, the Devil! You say, "Now I know this guy is cracked! He believes in fairy tales, Greek & Roman mythology, he even believes in Astrology! He's gotta have a screw a little bit loose somewhere up here!"
27. WELL, I'LL TELL YOU SOMETHING, I BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE which is even further out than Greek & Roman mythology & all the legends of man & all the fairy tales put together! You want some wild tales & some miraculous supernatural happenings & things that sound like fairy tales & Greek mythology?--Just read the Bible! It's all right here! But even more exciting, more thrilling, more wonderful, because it's true! Every single word & every letter, every passage is the Truth of God!
28. SO IF YOU WANT TO READ AN EXCITING BOOK, WHY DON'T YOU TRY READING THE BIBLE? You've read all these other best-sellers, well, the Bible has outsold every book that was ever written & is still the World's best seller!--Still sells more copies every year than any other book in the World! They don't tell you that, do they? They don't put that at the top of the list of the Top 20 bestsellers in the newspaper!
29. THEY DON'T DARE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT, that in spite of all man's writing & man's foolishness & his fiction & his ridiculous interpretation of history & reality, that the Bible still out-sells'm all! They don't tell you that. They don't want you to know that, that they're all fools by comparison with God & His Word. You never read a fairy tale nor a myth nor a legend any more thrilling & exciting than the true Word of God! Hallelujah? TYJ? Amen? Well, it's true & it's all here!
30. 4TH VERSE: "AND THEY WORSHIPPED THE DRAGON WHICH GAVE POWER UNTO THE BEAST." If you really want to know who this great red Dragon was, then we have to go a lot further over in the Bible--in case you don't believe me right now--where it says that he is the Devil, the Serpent, Satan, that great red Dragon--not Communist China as some people have tried to say--but we'll get into that later, OK? That is back in the 12th Chapter & the 9th verse. Well, all right, God bless our dear cameraman, he wants you to be able to see it, so you'll know who that great red Dragon really was.
31. 12TH CHAPTER, 9TH VERSE: "THAT OLD SERPENT"--REMEMBER THAT SNAKE IN THE GARDEN--"CALLED THE DEVIL." Devil, D-e-v-i-l. Look at that word Devil, will you? Chop off his head, D, & you've still got "evil"; chop off the E, & it's "vile"; chop off the V & he's ill; & chop off the I & he's "'L"!--Hell! Satan which deceiveth the whole World!
32. IN THIS 12TH CHAPTER HE WAS CAST OUT OF HEAVEN INTO THE EARTH, so now he's come down to Earth to create hell on Earth. "For he knoweth that his time is short." He's only got three-&-a-half years left to do all the damage he can possibly do. So he personally possesses the Antichrist, this World leader, & from then on it's literally the Devil ruling the Earth, & it's hell on Earth with the Devil in the lead! 4th verse again of the 13th chapter. Have we got it? Can you find it? Can you see it? PTL!
33. SO WHY DO THEY WORSHIP THIS BEAST?--BECAUSE THEY WORSHIP THE DRAGON ALREADY! They've been worshipping him all their lives, the Devil! "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the Beast: & they worshipped the Beast, saying, Who is like unto the Beast?" Remember now that this Beast is the Antichrist, this Beast is the Superman, the World Leader.
34. DR. ARNOLD TOYNBEE SAID THAT THE WHOLE WORLD IS WAITING FOR A SUPERMAN! The World is waiting for a superman, a god-man who can solve all their problems & answer all their questions & heal all their economic ills & unite all their politics & end all their religious squabbles & stop all the wars & bring permanent peace & union to all nations.--One-World government, one-World dictator, one-World leader, the superman!
35. THERE IS A SUPERMAN! Aha! Not the kindly Clark Kent of the Metropolis Daily News! No, he was a nice guy. This guy is not so nice! He's a man of fierce countenance! He doesn't regard the desire of women. In fact, he doesn't regard anybody's desire but his own. And if anybody crosses him, he just goes "Zap!" & that's the end of them!
36. AND WHEN THE JEWS & THE CHRISTIANS & THE MUSLIMS & THE RELIGIONISTS BEGIN TO CROSS HIM, he just goes zap zap zap zap zap & that's the end of'm! He sets himself up as God, puts his idol in the midst of Jerusalem, in the holy place between the temples on Mount Moriah & says, "Worship me, I'm God! Forget all your other religions!" Because he's the Devil in the flesh! He is Satan in the Antichrist himself! And the World, what are they going to say? 4th verse again:
37. "WHO IS LIKE UNTO THE BEAST?"--this Antichrist--"who is able to make war with him?" He's got all the bombs, apparently, by this time. 5th verse: "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things & blasphemies." He's going to be very anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-religion. As far as the religions of the World are concerned, he's going to be totally blasphemous against all their gods & all their deities & against God Himself & Christ Himself!
38. AND HOW LONG IS THIS SITUATION GOING TO LAST? How long is he going to proclaim himself to be God? How long is he going to insist that the World worship him? It's plain as day right here in the last half of the 5th verse, read it: "And power was given unto him to continue forty & two months!" Forty & two months! Could that be any plainer? Isn't that just as plain as day?--42 months!
39. HOW LONG IS FORTY & TWO MONTHS? CAN YOU FIGURE THAT OUT? Well, let's see, 36 months is three years, plus six months which is a half-a-year, which again is the three-&-a-half years of the Tribulation that we've been talking about time & time again throughout these studies, in both Daniel & Revelation & many other books of the Bible. Power is going to be given unto him for forty & two months.
40. THAT'S NOT THE ONLY PLACE THAT IT SAYS THAT! We've just been reading in Luke 21st Chapter & it says he's going to trod down the holy city, Jerusalem, three-&-a-half years. Well, we don't just find the Tribulation once, not just in Daniel, we don't just find it in Jesus' words, in Matthew, we don't just find it in Luke, the doctor-Apostle, we don't just find it here in John, in his Book of Revelation, but turn back a little bit to the 11th Chapter, & here it almost sounds exactly like we just got through reading in the 21st Chapter of Luke. Look at it! Read it! What does it say? PTL! Revelation the 11th chapter, & the 2nd verse. PTL?
41. MAYBE A LITTLE SILENCE WILL EMPHASISE THE SCRIPTURE! I heard one preacher say once he knew there weren't going to be any women in Heaven, because it says in Chapter 8:1, in the Book of Revelation that there was silence in Heaven for half-an-hour! So he knew there couldn't be any women in Heaven!--Ha! Well, the silence was not to prove there are no women in Heaven, because, thank God, there are going to be lots of women there! In fact, I wouldn't be happy in Heaven if there weren't lots of women there! All those beautiful Houris of Heaven & rivers of wine!
42. GOD BLESS DEAR MOHAMMED, HE HAD A LOT OF MARVELLOUS REVELATIONS FROM THE LORD! God bless Islam & the Muslims, they've got a lot of things straight! If you really read the Koran itself, you'll find out that there's a lot of it very straight & according to the Bible. In fact, he talks about Jesus & about Mary & about Moses & about the Old Testament & New Testament stories. Mohammed was a real believer in Jesus Christ, more so apparently than a lot of Muslims today, I'm sorry to say!
43. ANYHOW, HERE IN THE 11TH CHAPTER OF REVELATION, IN THE 2ND VERSE, John says that he is told to measure the Temple of God, & the altar, & them that worship therein. Verse 2: "But the court which is without the Temple leave out, & measure it not; for it is given unto the"--what, Class? (Class: Gentiles!) Say it again louder! (Class: Gentiles!) Are you sure? Is that what it says? Is that what it reads? "And the holy city shall they tread under foot"--how long? (Class: Forty & two months.) Forty & two months. How long is that? Three-&-a-half years! There it is again, just exactly what He just got through saying back in Luke the 21st Chapter. Look at that again:
44. "THEY SHALL FALL BY THE EDGE OF THE SWORD, & SHALL BE LED AWAY CAPTIVE INTO ALL NATIONS: AND JERUSALEM SHALL BE TRODDEN DOWN OF THE GENTILES," 24th verse, "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." How long? John just got through telling us, for 42 months. That's when the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled. They will conquer & capture Jerusalem & Israel. Russia & its Antichrist forces under the leadership of this Devil-man will come & invade Israel because of its rebellion against his Covenant, & will conquer it & he'll set up his capital there, his palace there, his Image there, & he himself will sit in the Temple of God, as God, proclaiming that he is God! Think of that! For 42 months, three-&-a-half years! It says so in the Bible! It must be true if you believe the Bible. PTL? Well, what else?
45. 25TH VERSE: "AND THERE SHALL BE SIGNS IN THE SUN, & IN THE MOON, & IN THE STARS; & upon the Earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea & the waves roaring." The peoples of the Earth are always likened unto the sea & the waves. Are they roaring today? Have there been signs in the sun & the moon & the stars? Well, we've had men in the moon, they've had all kinds of sun signs & star signs, distress of nations with perplexity. It's all right there! You just read it, didn't you? Sea & the waves roaring! And notice that 26th verse, look at that:
46. "AND MEN'S HEARTS FAILING THEM FOR FEAR & for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth." You know what is the greatest cause of death in the U.S. today?--Heart failure!--Number one! And the doctors tell us it's mostly through anxiety, tension, pressure & all of these words which are summed up in one little four-letter word: F-e-a-r! Fear! There it is!
47. IS IT HAPPENING TODAY? Jesus is the One Who's speaking here in Luke, Jesus is telling you exactly what's already happening today.--The sea & the waves roaring! Every time you turn on the television, it roars! Every time you turn on the radio you can hear the waves roaring of a new war, a new riot, a new rebellion, a new revolution, more terrorism, more strikes, more problems!--Terrible things! The sea of peoples of the Earth with their waves, their leaders, roaring. "And for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth."
48. "FOR"--26TH VERSE--"THE POWERS OF HEAVEN SHALL BE SHAKEN!" Again He's telling you just exactly what's going to happen before Jesus comes. "And then shall they see the Son of man," 27th verse, "coming in a cloud with power & great glory." When is Jesus going to come? After the Antichrist has invaded Israel & taken over Jerusalem & trodden it under foot for three-&-a-half years, 42 months, 1260 days according to the Jewish calendar. And He says when all of this has happened, 28th verse:
49. "AND WHEN THESE THINGS BEGIN TO COME TO PASS"--when you see these things happen, what does He tell you & me to do? Can you find it? I mean, even when they begin to come to pass: "Then look up, & lift up your heads." Don't be discouraged, don't look down, don't get down in the dumps. Don't do like Peter did, look down at the waves & start to sink: Look up! Hallelujah! Don't look out, because the outlook is very bad. Don't look down, that's even worse! But look up! PTL? Look up! Why?
50. "AND LIFT UP YOUR HEADS!" HALLELUJAH! TYJ! PTL! "FOR YOUR REDEMPTION"--YOUR SALVATION--"DRAWETH NIGH!" Praise God! When all these terrible bad things begin to happen, start looking up, because Jesus is coming soon! PTL! As He said in the 27th verse, "They shall see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power & great glory." So when these things begin to come to pass, 28th verse, "then look up, & lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." PTL!
51. WELL, WE'VE ALREADY DISCUSSED THE FIG TREE IN MATTHEW, so we'll skip 29 & 30 which is about the same thing. When you see a fig tree begin to blossom, you know Summer's nigh, so He said when you see all these things begin to happen, you'll know that My coming is soon!
52. 31ST VERSE: "SO LIKEWISE YE, WHEN YE SEE THESE THINGS COME TO PASS, KNOW YE THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NIGH AT HAND!" Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL! Isn't that wonderful? I've just got to look at you a little bit & look around a little bit at my dear beloved faithful ones who are right here, because it makes me so happy! I like to see their smiles & nods & "amens"! "When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand!"
53. 32ND VERSE: "VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, THIS GENERATION SHALL NOT PASS AWAY, TILL ALL BE FULFILLED." Isn't that exactly the same thing Jesus said in Matthew?--When you begin to see all these things happen, when you hear about the Antichrist making a religious holy Covenant in Jerusalem, that he will give religious freedom to all religions if they'll support him, & that he will allow the Jews to rebuild the Temple on Mount Moriah, he will allow the Muslims to preserve the Mosque of Omar there in spite of it, & no doubt even let'm erect a Christian church there to symbolise the World's three greatest religions in their holiest place upon the face of the Earth! He said, "When ye see these things happen, you'd better start looking up because I'm coming back very soon!"
54. THEN THE ANTICHRIST BREAKS THAT COVENANT IN THE MIDST OF THE SEVEN YEARS, at the end of the first three-&-a-half. He gets fed up with religions, he gets fed up with their squabbles & fights & controversies! Even though he's done everything he can to try to please them & have his compromise internationalisation, inter-religionisation of Jerusalem, they're still not pleased, they're still not happy. They still cause him all kinds of trouble & he finally decides the best way to solve this problem is just get rid of them all!
55. HE SAYS, "I'LL SET MYSELF UP AS GOD! I'll put my statue there on Mount Moriah in the midst of their temples & we'll abolish all other religions & there'll be just one-World religion, just like there's now one-World government under me! And they can worship me as their god! That'll solve all these religious problems!" Well, at least he tries!
56. BUT WHEN THE JEWS REBEL & THE CHRISTIANS REBEL & THE MUSLIMS REBEL, ETC., HE HAS A LOT OF TROUBLE. "A time of trouble such as the World has never seen, no, nor ever shall be!" The time of Jacob's trouble, the time of the Great Tribulation for the last half of his reign, three-&-a-half years. And God's Word says when ye see these things happen, look up, because your redemption draweth nigh, your Salvation draweth nigh!
57. YOU SAY, "BUT I'M ALREADY SAVED! WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SALVATION? I'm a Church person! I'm a saved, born-again Christian! I've already got my Salvation. I love Jesus & I belong to Him & He belongs to me! I walked the church aisle & I shook the preacher's hand. I took my first communion & I go faithfully to Mass now & I'm a faithful church attendant. I proclaim myself as a Christian & I've already got my Salvation! I believe in Christ! I have Jesus in my heart! What do you mean I have to look up because my redemption, or my salvation draweth nigh? I've already got it!"
58. WELL, BELOVED, I AM SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU & I'm going to say something that is going to be very shocking to you Christians, & especially to the Family whom I know so well & they know & love me so well, none of you are fully saved yet!
59. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, DAD? YOU'VE BEEN TELLING US ALL THESE YEARS WE'RE ALREADY SAVED!--From the moment we receive Jesus we're saved! Forever, eternally! We don't have to worry any more about whether we're good or bad or what, except as a matter of trying to please Jesus & help others & gain a good reward. We certainly want to be good & we certainly don't want to be bad & we want to love & please Jesus & we want to try to help other people & love'm. What do you mean? I thought you've been telling me all these years I was already saved!"
60. NO, YOU'RE NOT REALLY SAVED YET! You're not literally saved yet. You're not truly completely saved. You're only saved by faith! "Well Dad, I thought you said that all it took was just faith & I was saved?" That's right, you're saved by faith! And as long as you have that faith in Jesus & you believe in Him & you believe He died for you, you're saved by faith.
61. "FOR BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED THROUGH FAITH." Right? By grace are ye saved through faith!" Hallelujah! Eph.8:9 & 10, isn't it? (Peter: 2:8,9.) 2:8&9, pardon me! I got Romans mixed up! Ephesians 2:8&9. Romans 10:9&10 says you gotta be sure to believe it in your heart & confess it. But Ephesians 2:8&9 says that, "By grace are you saved through faith." Is that right? Am I saying that right? "And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God! Not by works lest any man should boast."
62. YOU CAN'T SAVE YOURSELF! YOU CAN'T WORK YOUR WAY TO HEAVEN! You can't be good enough. You'll never be good enough, no matter how good you try to be. It's all by faith, all by grace. It's a gift, it's a gift of God. He says so in Ephesians 2:8,9: "For by grace are ye saved through faith." Is that right? Sure? "For by grace are ye saved through faith." It's a gift of God! You can't work for it, you can't be good enough for it, you can't do any thing to gain it except accept it. Except, e-x, accept it, a-c. PTL!
63. THAT'S THE TRUTH! HALLELUJAH? ISN'T THAT WONDERFUL? TYJ! We don't have time to turn to it now but you can in your Bible remember that, Ephesians 2:8&9: "For by grace are ye saved through faith." But it's all by faith. "Now we see in part, then we will know even as also we are known." (1Co.13:12.) Now we know in part, then we'll know everything. "Well, what are you talking about, Dad? I thought you told me all this time I was already saved!"
64. BY FAITH YOU'RE SAVED & IT'S AS GOOD AS DONE, FINISHED! In fact, it was finished on the cross. In fact, it was finished before the World was ever founded, before Creation, by Christ "slain before the foundation of the World!" (Re.13:8.) Preordained by God, foreordained, predestinated that you'd be saved if you'd believe by faith. But if this is your full salvation, if your salvation is really complete, it's a pretty hell of a salvation, because you're still in this hell on Earth & you're still having a hell of a time, & your body still suffers from the Curse & sickness & hunger & weariness & even death!
65. WE'RE TALKING NOW ABOUT THE FULL SALVATION, THE COMPLETE SALVATION, & you won't be completely saved, physically as well as spiritually, till Jesus comes! Get the point? You're saved now only by faith & you're certainly saved spiritually, although even spiritually you're not perfect yet, are you? Let's face it, nobody is perfect. Even in spirit today you have your problems & ups & downs & rounds & rounds with your wife or your husband or your mate or your children or your father & mother, & you have problems. So you're not perfect yet.
66. BUT THE TIME'S COMING WHEN THERE'S GOING TO BE "THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN MADE PERFECT!" (He.12:23.) Hallelujah? You're not perfect yet in either spirit or body, are you? So you're really only saved by faith, aren't you? But look up for your redemption draweth nigh! You're almost totally saved, not only by faith but in body, soul & spirit, completely perfect even, & whole & redeemed, redemption of the body as well as the spirit! "The spirits of just men made perfect."--Bodies made perfect & eternal & no longer subject to the Curse or the ravages of disease or weariness or hunger or faintness or needing sleep. Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL?
67. THAT'S THE KIND OF REDEMPTION HE'S TALKING ABOUT! "Look up for your redemption draweth nigh!" Hallelujah? Did you see that there? I think it was right there in that passage in Luke we were studying, wasn't it? Right there in the 21st Chapter & 28th verse. He says your real final redemption is drawing nigh. And when you see all these things come to pass, 31st verse, "know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. This generation will not pass away until all be fulfilled."
68. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NIGH AT HAND? I thought you told us, Dad, already, that the Kingdom of God is already here, within us? What are you talking about, this generation will not pass away till all be fulfilled? All those Apostles & those disciples are already dead & it never happened!" He's not talking about them! Of course they're dead! They weren't the generation that saw all these things happen, & all these things fulfilled!
69. YOU ARE THE GENERATION THAT SAW ALL THIS HAPPEN! You're the generation that's seeing these things fulfilled, & your generation, this generation shall not pass away until all these things shall be fulfilled! This is the generation He was talking about, your generation! PTL? Hallelujah? TYJ? Isn't that wonderful? And He says when ye do see all these things begin to come to pass, look up & lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh! Hallelujah!
70. THANK YOU JESUS FOR THIS BOOK! THANK YOU FOR THIS WORD! Thank You, Lord, for Thy marvellous, marvellous Truth, Thy marvellous Word, Lord! We don't have to have any doubt about it, we don't have to have any fear about it, we don't have to have any misgivings or misleadings or confusion. It's all very clear & right here in Thy Word, plain as day!
71. AND YOU SAID WHEN THESE THINGS THAT YOU SO SPECIFICALLY DESCRIBED about the Antichrist kingdom & this Beast & his idol & his cruel reign, his suppression of religion, his Mark, Lord, when all of these things happen, we're to look up because You're coming very soon, our redemption draweth nigh!--Redemption not only by faith but completely in both spirit & body! We'll have totally new wonderful spirits & marvellous new supernatural miraculous resurrected bodies & raptured bodies! Hallelujah! TYJ!
72. HELP US, LORD, NOW, AS WE HEAR OF THESE AWFUL THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING & ABOUT TO HAPPEN! We will not worry, we will not fear, we'll not look down upon the waves, we'll not look out upon the outlook which is very bad. But we'll look up, for the uplook is so good! Hallelujah! TYJ! PYL! For our redemption draweth nigh!
73. OUR COMPLETE SALVATION OF SPIRIT, SOUL & BODY IS ALMOST HERE when there will be no more death, no more pain, no more fear, no more sorrow nor crying nor sickness & we'll have perfect bodies & "spirits of just men made perfect" as our redemption is completed in Thy coming! We'll rise to meet You in the air, Jesus, whether out of the grave or from the surface of the Earth, & out of this horrible time & this awful World with its hell on Earth led by the Devil & his angels!
74. THANK YOU JESUS FOR THESE WONDERFUL ENCOURAGING VERSES, wonderful encouraging passages which make it so clear! When we begin to see all these things happening we're not to look down or even look out, but to look up for our redemption draweth nigh! Our complete salvation of body, soul & spirit is almost here, about to arrive, very near, very nigh!
75. WE'RE NOT TO WORRY, JUST TO TRUST YOU, JESUS, TO LEAN ON YOU & YOUR WORD & remember what You said in these passages, that when all these things begin to happen, this generation shall not pass away, the generation that sees these things begin to happen, shall not pass away till all shall be fulfilled! Look up! When these things begin to happen, look up for your redemption draweth nigh! Hallelujah! TYJ! PYL! Amen! In Jesus' name, amen. PTL! TYJ! Hallelujah. Amen? Do you believe it? PTL? Do you want to sing that little song with me again we've been singing, sort of our theme song of this Prophetic Series:
76. "WHEN JESUS COMES, THE EARTH WILL SHAKE
AND HEARTS WILL QUAKE, BE READY!"
To have Jesus in your heart, that's the way to be ready.
"When Jesus comes, His face we'll see eternally, be ready!
Has your soul been filled with His fire of the Holy Ghost?
Are you saved & ready to meet the Lord of Hosts?
When Jesus comes His face we'll see eternally, be ready!"
Are you ready? Have you received Jesus into your heart? If you haven't, then you should sing this other little song we've been singing:
77. "INTO MY HEART, INTO MY HEART,
COME INTO MY HEART, LORD JESUS!
Come in today, come in to stay,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!"
If you sang that with me or said it with me or even meant it with me, He has come in! He promised to! He said, "Behold, I stand at the door & knock, if any man hear My voice & open the door, I will come in to him!" (Re.3:20)
78. YOU'VE BEEN HEARING HIS VOICE, ALL NIGHT LONG WE'VE BEEN READING HIS WORD. You've been feeling His voice in your heart asking you to open your heart's door to Him & His Love. And if you really meant that when you sang or said that little song with me, or wishing you could sing it, wishing you could say it, if you really meant it, He said, "I will come in!" He has come in! If you really opened the door, Jesus has come in! PTL? Hallelujah! TYJ! TYL!
79. BLESS THEM, KEEP THEM & MAKE THEM A BLESSING TO MANY OTHERS BY TELLING THEM OF THY LOVE & how to receive You as their Saviour, to escape the horrible things that are coming to pass, through Thy Salvation, in Jesus' name. Amen? PTL? X! GBY! Bye-Bye! See you next chapter, next lesson on Bible Prophecy! In Jesus' name! ILY! PTL!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family