It’s so good to see everybody
in this afternoon. For those of you out in television, again we just like to
welcome you to our informal Bible study. I’ve said so often, but I’ll say it again,
we don’t try to pick away at other people; we don’t try to attack anyone. I’m
just going to teach what the Book says. You know, I’m just reminded. I
had a gentleman in one of my classes here in Oklahoma. He’s been part of the
class for a long, long time. As a young man, he was a football player for one
of the major universities in America. He told me one time, “When you’re in
that situation, there’s nothing that you can’t do.” But he said, “You know,
Les, over all the years that I’ve been coming to your classes, I’ve never heard
you rant and rave against the drinking, against this or against that. And yet
thanks to your teaching, that’s all left my lifestyle.” So, what’s the point? Hey, you
don’t have to rant and rave at these people that you can’t do this and get to
heaven. All you have to do is just teach the Book and the Word of God will
take care of it. So, that’s my approach to these things. If you haven’t heard
me get all up tight about one thing or another, well, that’s my attitude. If I
can keep people in the Book, the Book will take care of it. I don’t have to. So again, those of you out in
television, just remember, that all we’re going to do is search the
Scriptures--compare Scripture with Scripture--and let you decide what the Book
really says. Today we’re going to start a
study in the Minor Prophets, where we started some time ago in Hosea. But
before we go back to Joel, which we’re going to study today, I’d like to have
you turn with me to Romans chapter 15 verse 4. And this is the encouragement
to study all of Scripture. Now you know I’m so Pauline in our doctrines for
today, of course. Paul is the Apostle of the Gentiles. But see, our
Apostle of the Gentiles admonishes us to study all of the Scripture, not just
Romans through Philemon. That’s the approach we have to take. The Apostle of
the Gentiles writes: Romans 15:4 a “For whatsoever things
were written aforetime (In other words, before he came on the scene,
probably even before Christ’s earthly ministry.) were written for our
(What’s the word?) learning,…” Now, what’s the difference
between learning and doctrine? Well, all the difference in the world.
Learning is background. Learning is to get an understanding of how did all
this come about? How did it happen that Christ was crucified? How did it
happen that He ascended back to Glory? How did it happen that He sent the
Apostle Paul to the Gentiles? This is all background. But doctrine, what does that
tell you? It tells us how to be saved, how to live the Christian life, what to
look for at the end, so far as we are concerned. That’s in Paul’s epistles.
But all of Scripture is for our learning. Always remember that. All right, so
finish the verse. Romans 15:4b “…that we (as
Grace Age believers) through patience and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope.” See, and the world despairs. The world is in perplexity
today. They don’t know which way to turn. My, I was reading an editorial
again just this morning which was almost a carbon copy of one I referred to in
our last taping. The dilemma that the Western world finds itself in. We
either have to go in and stop Iran and their nuclear enterprise, or we have to
put up with them and then let them blackmail us. So, which is worse? Well, one
is as bad as the other. There is no real solution as far as men can understand
it. What did the Lord tell us? In the last days, the world would be filled
with perplexity. And that’s the word—perplexity. All right, we can go back into
the Old Testament now, and we’re going to see how that through the prophetic
writings we can look at the situation today and say, “Hey, it’s all in God’s
design. He knows what’s going on. He’s not caught by surprise. This is
exactly what prophecy has told us would come.” All right, so we’re going to go
back, and we’re going to start our study in the next little Minor Prophet. We
used Hosea our last time together, and now today we’re going to take the next
one. But, like I told the folks here in the studio, don’t walk away from the
TV set and say, “Oh, well, he’s in the Old Testament. That doesn’t mean
anything to me.” We’re not going to stay in the Old Testament very long
today. We’re going to be jumping right up into other portions of Scripture.
But we’re going to start back here in the little Minor Prophet of Joel, which
is probably, as near as I can determine from all the chronologies that I can
look at, the first of the Jewish prophets. He writes about 25, 30 – 40 years
before Isaiah. He writes before any of the others. Maybe Jonah was a little
earlier, but Jonah isn’t really a book of prophecy like these are. So, this little Book of Joel
actually is the first real book of prophecy in our Old Testament. It’s going
to line up, of course, with all the rest of them, but it stands alone as being
the first or the oldest. In other words, you know that David and Solomon ruled
around 1,000 BC. Joel is written about 800 and some BC--between 100 and 200
years after King David. Now, I was mulling this over
again during the night. I had to think, that’s no longer than you and I think
of George Washington and John Adams and our founding fathers. They were all
holding forth in the late 1700’s, and that’s just a little over 200 years ago.
So, in proximity, Joel is writing about the same distance of time after David
and Solomon as we’re living after Washington and the founding fathers. Just to
give you a little time element. All right, let’s pick it up now in verse 1,
chapter 1, the Book of Joel. Joel 1:1-2 “The word of the LORD
(Now that means that God Himself is speaking through this human instrument.) that
came to Joel the son of Pethuel. 2. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye
inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your
fathers?” In other words, there’s the key. Has anything like this
been spoken before in Israel’s history? No! This is the first real revelation
of prophetic events. They’ve never heard anything like this before. All
right, now verse 3: Joel 1:3 “Tell ye your children of
it, (It’s important.) and let your children tell their children,
and their children another generation.” In other words, there’s
another little tidbit of information. This isn’t going to happen tomorrow, but
down the road, maybe several generations. Well, you know, it was even more
than that. It has now been over 3,000 years. These prophetic things are
written so accurately, which proves, of course, that our Bible is the Word of
God. It also shows that with God time really doesn’t mean anything. Three thousand years with God
is no more than a snap of the finger. As these things are written as we saw in
the Book of Isaiah, I’ll go back to that a minute first. You remember in the Book
of Isaiah that we had three distinct prophecies concerning Israel. The first one was the Babylonian invasion which was imminent. It wasn’t that far in the
future. The next one was the Roman invasion of A.D. 70, after Christ’s earthly
ministry. The third one, of course, was the one that we’re going to look at
today--the Tribulation bringing in the Second Coming. So, you have those three
big events in Israel’s prophecy. Two of them have now been fulfilled; the
third one is still future. Isaiah dealt with all three.
Jeremiah did. Most of the other prophets did, but Joel deals with one. And
which one is it? The Tribulation. So we’re going to be spending the whole
afternoon today studying the scriptural description of this final seven years
of horrible tribulation. All right, reading on in verse
4. Here we get a little physical illustration of what the Nation of Israel, I
think, suffered physically at the time that Joel is writing, but it was also an
indication of periods of time leading up to this final chastisement which we
call the Tribulation. All right, he uses a locust as an example -- verse 4. Joel 1:4 “That which the
palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left
hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the
caterpillar eaten.” Now, stop and think a minute. How much is left?
Nothing! Nothing! The land is totally barren of anything edible. And unless
you understand the devastation of locusts in the Middle East, you probably
can’t really understand at all. But when you read about it,
they could actually eat the doors off of their houses. They could eat the bark
off the trees so that everything died. But the interesting part now, here comes
the Divine inspiration of all of this. We have four distinct steps here. Look
at them. The first one is – “that which the palmerworm hath left the
locust ate.” Then you have – “what the locust left the
cankerworm ate. And that which the cankerworm left the caterpillar ate.” All right, now I like to think,
and I don’t know if I’m on the right track or not, but as soon as we get to the
Book of Daniel, Daniel laid out the prophetic program or what the Bible calls
the “times of the Gentiles.” And when would it start? With the
Babylonian captivity, or the Babylonian invasion, and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. That was the first great Gentile empire. That’s the first part
of the locust I like to think. The second empire was the Medes
and the Persians. They overtook the Babylonians. They ruled the then known
world. Then after a couple or hundred years or so Alexander the Great came up
from Greece, and he enveloped the then known world, including Jerusalem and the
Jew. All right, after Alexander the Great’s demise, then you come to the worst
empire of all, and that was what? Rome! And Rome also, as you well know, was
occupying Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion. They were the heavy boots
that the Jews hated. Oh, they hated the Romans. So, here we have four
distinct periods of time that are symbolically pictured with four distinct
periods of locusts. And all of it is to show Israel, as well as us, that by
the time they have gone through their time of testing and tribulation there
would be nothing left. Nothing! And we’re going to see in our Scriptures
that that’s exactly what the rest of prophecy is telling us. It’s going to be
the worst time in all of human history when this final seven years comes upon
the planet. All right, but I want to go
ahead and finish the first fourteen verses before we start chasing other
Scripture. So, let’s go on ahead now to verse 5, the warning to the Nation of
Israel, even though this is way back 800 years before Christ. Almost 3,000
years before it’s going to happen he says: Joel 1:5-6 “Awake, ye drunkards, and
weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut
off from your mouth. (Shoot, there’s nothing growing! There are no
grapes on the vine.) 6. For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and
without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek
teeth of a great lion.” Well, if you remember your
other descriptions of the Roman Empire, that was part of it. It was beyond
description. It had teeth that were indescribable. This is the picture, of course,
of the empire that will be evident when Israel comes into this final
Tribulation. Joel 1:7a “He hath laid my vine
waste, and barked my fig tree:…” Now, don’t forget what the analogy
is. The locusts are doing it physically as a symbol, but when it comes in
reality, the whole land will come under this kind of devastation, not from
locusts, but from invading armies. Get the picture? We’re using the locust as
a symbolism of what’s really going to be done with the invading Gentile armies
at the time of the Tribulation. Joel 1:7b “…he hath made it clean
bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.” Now
understand what he’s talking about? Why are they white? They’ve eaten the
bark off. The locusts have taken all the bark off the trees. It’s a symbolism
that during the Tribulation the same thing is going to happen to everything in
the physical world. It’s going to be devastated. Joel 1:8 “Lament (be
sorrowful) like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her
youth.” Now, we just saw it happen in the news in New York the other
day; where the groom was killed and the poor little bride was left without
him. And it is heartbreaking. We see it periodically where maybe on the day
of a wedding or maybe just a day after the wedding one or the other is killed
or something. And it is; it’s devastating. It’s heartbreaking for a young
couple to be suddenly left without their mate. All right, so this is the kind
of sorrow that will be coming on the Nation of Israel in particular but the
whole world in general. Joel 1:9-10 “The meat (or the
meal) offering and the drink-offering is cut off from the house of the
LORD; (In other words, no more ritual, no more opportunity to carry out
Temple worship.) the priests, the LORD’S ministers, mourn.
(Because there is nothing to partake of) 10.The field is wasted,
(no production) the land mourneth; for the corn (or the grain) is
wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.” Joel 1:11 “Be you ashamed, O ye
husbandman; (Now, the other word for husbandman in my language is
farmers - those who till the ground and raise the crops.) howl, O ye
vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the
field is perished.” There is none. We got just a little taste of it
here in our wheat area of Oklahoma this past year, where there just was no
crop. That’s only one little small area; it didn’t affect the whole. But here
it’s going to be universal. It’s not just going to be a little small segment
or area of the planet. Okay, now then verse 12. Joel 1:12a “The vine is dried up, and
the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also and the
apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered:…” For two
reasons: the bark has all been eaten off, and there’s no water. When we jump
up to the Tribulation, it is going to be such horrendous devastation it’ll be
the same effect. So, all of this is symbolism of a reality. All right,
reading on in verse 13. Joel 1:13 “Gird yourselves, and
lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in
sackcloth, (which was a humiliating experience, of course) ye
ministers of my God: for the meal-offering and the drink-offering is withholden
from the house of your God.” Because there isn’t anything. There’s
nothing to bring. Joel 1:14 “Sanctify ye a fast, call
a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into
the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,” Because of the
devastation. All right, now here’s the verse that I want to take as our
subject matter for the rest of the afternoon. This is the first time in
Scripture that it’s alluded to. All the other prophets will use it, but Joel
is the first, as near as I can tell -- verse 15. Joel 1:15a “Alas for the day!
(What day?) for the day of the LORD is at hand,…” Now, let that
just ring for the rest of the afternoon. We’re going to be talking about the
day of the Lord. Now, for those of you that have
been with me for quite a while, what’s the day of the Lord? The Tribulation!
Those final seven years of horrendous activity on the earth. God’s wrath being
poured out. And according to the Book of Revelation, during the last half it’s
going to be Satan’s wrath as well. So, it’s going to be a double-barreled
attack on the planet. Joel 1:15a “Alas for the day! For
the day of the LORD (Don’t let it leave your thinking.) is at
hand,…” Now there again, I have to stop, don’t I? What does “at
hand” mean? Well, it’s just out in front of us. But was it? No. It
is three thousand years away. Three thousand years out into the future. But
God is speaking of it as “at hand.” Now, what does that show?
That God is timeless. Does that mean it’s not going to happen? Don’t you
believe it. It is going to happen. But it’s going to be in God’s own time. Now, you remember when we were
back in Isaiah. When Isaiah spoke of the coming Babylonian invasion, he spoke
of it, too, as maybe in the next month or next two months, it’s coming. Israel was to get ready for it. In actuality, how long was it? It was almost a hundred
years, because God is timeless. So, we look at all these things the same way.
My, the way it looks to us the Lord could come tomorrow! He could come next
week. Everything so far as we can see is in place. But don’t bet on it
necessarily, because God is so timeless. His wheels grind so slowly. But it’s
going to happen. When they foretold of Christ’s
first coming, it was the same kind of a situation. They didn’t know but that
it was going to be in their lifetime. But was it? Why, heavens no. Christ
didn’t come until 2,000 years after Abraham. A thousand years after David.
But He came! How does Galatians put it? “That when the fullness of
time…” Oh, I love it when you people know these verses and say them
before I do. “That when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth
his Son.” Was He a day late? No. Was He a day early? No. So, we can always rest assured
that these prophecies, even though they are way out in the future, they’re
going to happen. All right, now then, the day of the Lord, we’re going to
chase this down. I’ve almost not enough time left, but we’ll go back to Psalms
a minute. Come back with me to Psalms chapter 2. Here is one of the earlier
outlines of prophecy. You’ve heard me use it over and over. You know, I always have to be
reminded. Iris tries to convince me, but it’s still hard, because whenever I
teach something the second time, I feel as though it’s old hat to everybody.
That’s the hardest part of holding a seminar. I’ll tell Iris on the way, I
say, “But, Honey, they’ve heard all of this before.” She says, “But, Les, they
don’t remember all this after just one hearing of it.” But to me you do. But
on the other hand, no, we’ve just got to keep repeating it. All right, so I’ve
used this portion of Psalms over and over. But I know there’s somebody out in
television that has never seen it before. So, if you’ve heard it, ten, twelve,
fourteen times, bear with me. If you’re hearing it for the first time, well,
let me know it. Okay, Psalms chapter 2 and I guess I might as well start at
verse 1, because it’s just not fair to jump into the middle of something like
this. Psalms 2:1 “Why do the heathen
(the non-Jewish world) rage, and the people (that’s the people of
Israel) imagine a vain thing?” So, we’ve got the whole human
race in the lens of our picture here, the heathen and the Nation of Israel.
Verse 2 Psalms 2:2 “The kings of the earth
(the world and of Israel) set themselves, and the rulers (of all
of these) take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his
anointed, saying,” What does that mean? Neither one was responsible
for Christ’s death by themselves. The Gentile world was just as responsible as
Israel and visa versa, because they were both involved. And you know that
from the crucifixion. All right, so the world in general, the leadership at
least, they say: Psalms 2:3 “Let us break their (That
is--God’s.) bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” In
other words, cords is what we would call reins as we drive a horse. They’re
not going to let God control them. And then when God sees their attitude,
verse 4- Psalms 1:4 “He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh: (Not a laugh of comedy, but a laugh of scorn.
Ridiculous! How can men laugh at the Creator of everything?) the LORD
shall have them in derision.” Now, I used the word perplexity in my
opening remarks. It is the same thing. The world was in total derision when
Christ made His first advent. They didn’t know what to do with Him. They
didn’t know how to handle him. All right, now then verse 5. Because they
rejected Him, you’ve got to read between the lines, now. The world and Israel have rejected the Messiah at His first advent. Psalms 1:5 “Then (After
they’ve rejected Him. They’ve crucified Him.) shall he will speak unto
them in his (What?) wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.”
Now, don’t miss that. It doesn’t say a word there about love and
mercy and grace. He’s going to speak to them in His wrath. Now, let’s look at my time line
for a moment. Coming out of the Old Testament prophets, we have His three
years of ministry, and then Rome and Israel put Him on the cross. He rose from
the dead. He went back to Glory. All right, then instead of opening up the
Church Age right away as it happened—according to the Old Testament prophets,
the next thing that was to happen was the seven years of Tribulation. The Old
Testament knew nothing of a Church Age! That was the next thing on God’s
prophetic program. This is what I always like to emphasize – there is nothing
in the Old Testament or the four Gospels to indicate that God’s going to open
up His timeline and go to the Gentiles. Nothing! Everything was to keep
coming just like it says here. Watch this! This says it all. After they’ve crucified Him,
they’ve rejected Him, and they’re in confusion, they don’t know how to handle
Him, what’s the next thing in God’s program? His wrath—because they rejected
the Messiah. All right, but then what follows the wrath? Verse 6—the King and
His Kingdom. Psalms 2:6 “Yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion.” This is what I’m always trying to
emphasize, that when you leave Paul out of your Scripture – when you drop Romans
through Philemon out of your Scripture – for the sake of understanding the Old
Testament, then what you’ve got is the Old Testament program. Christ goes up,
in comes the Tribulation, Christ returns, and He sets up the Kingdom. That was
the Old Testament – that’s all they knew, because the Church Age and the Gospel
of Grace was a total secret. No one had even a clue this was going to happen. This
is what’s basic in understanding Old Testament prophecy. That it was going to
come right down the line and Israel, of course, was to have evangelized the
nations. They were to be the light to the world. That’s all true enough, but
you’ve got to remember that the Church Age was unknown in the Old Testament
economy. Joel 1:1-15 For those of you joining us on
television, again, we just want to thank you from the depths of our heart for
all your kind letters. My, I wish I could share our letters with everybody.
You know the favorite theme? I may be 30 years old, some are 40, 50, 60, 70
years old, it doesn’t matter how old they claim to be – “For the first time in
my life I am understanding the Bible! And I’m enjoying it.” Well, that
thrills us; because that’s all we want to do, just help folks to study on their
own. Don’t sit back and listen to what I say or what some preacher says, get
into the Book. This is where it’s at. You know, I can twist things if
I wanted to. Other people twist it, you know they do, but the Word is sure.
It’s steadfast. It’s unchangeable. That’s what we hope we are accomplishing. Again, we want to thank you for
your prayer support and your financial help. After all, we do have to pay for
TV time. I think some people think they pay us. You know, that’s what my wife
thought. When they called and asked if we would come up here to Channel 47,
she thought, well, they pay all the comedians! Why don’t they pay you?! But,
that’s not the way it works. We have to pay for our own TV time. So we do
appreciate so much your financial help and your prayers. Anyway, we’re going to keep
right on going this afternoon. I suppose if I want to title these four
programs, Jerry, we can just title it as “The Day of the LORD.” This time of
vexation, this time of devastation, death, destruction, and the wrath of God,
however you want to put it. It’s coming. And don’t blame God. He gave the
human race 6,000 years to give Him credit where credit is due, but they will
not. So finally His wrath is going to be poured out. All right, we’re going
to still basically use Joel as our jumping off place. Joel 1:15a Alas for the day! For the
day of the LORD is at hand,…” But since we ended the program the last
half hour finishing with the verses in Psalms chapter 2, I’m going to jump up
now in this half-hour to some of the other portions that deal with this same
term – “The day of the LORD.” So for now, turn to Isaiah
chapter 2. I’m going to start reading at verse 6. The term we’re going to
head for is in verse 12. Let’s start reading in verse
6. Now remember, this is Isaiah. He writes almost a hundred years later than
Joel. They are, of course, writing before the Babylonian captivity, which
happened in about 606 B.C., but nevertheless, Isaiah is also going to use the
same term. Isaiah 2:6-7 “Therefore thou hast
forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the
east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in
the children of strangers. 7. Their land also is full of silver and gold,
neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses,
neither is there any end of their chariots:” Isaiah 2:8-10 “Their land also is full
of idols; (Speaking of, in this case, the Babylonians, I think.) they
worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
9. And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore
forgive them not. 10. Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear
of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.” Isaiah 2:11-12 “The lofty looks of man
shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD
alone shall be exalted in that day. (Now, here it comes.) 12. For
the day of the LORD (The same day of the LORD that Joel talked about,
that Psalms 2 was foretelling, now Isaiah speaks of it.) for the day of
the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, upon every one
that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” In other words, even
the kings and presidents and senators and emperors and generals are all going
to come under this tremendous wrath of God. All right, it’s going to even
affect the physical, verse 13. Isaiah 2:13-15 “And upon all the cedars
of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
(the eastern country beyond present day Iraq) 14. And upon all the high
mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, 15. And upon every high
tower, and upon every fenced wall,” In other words, this wrath of God
is going to fall on everything and everybody. Now again, always go back to
the analogy that we drew from the Book of Joel. Grasshoppers and locust
destroying everything in their way – the bark off the trees, the wood off the
houses, the water out of the creeks and rivers, everything goes! Well, that’s
a symbolic picture of this horrendous day of the LORD. All right, now let’s jump up a
little ways further, still in the Old Testament prophets. Come up with me to
Jeremiah chapter 25. We’ve used these verses before. This is a little more
graphic, a little more frightening. In fact, if you aren’t frightened at the
situation in the world today, then you don’t know what’s going on, because it
is getting frightening. We as believers are going to be
hated more and more. We know that there are powers out there that think that
they’re doing their god a service by getting rid of us. And if the Lord
doesn’t come, we may face that yet, earlier than we’d like. But here it is, in
the day of the LORD, Jeremiah chapter 25. Oh, I’m going to, just for sake of
time, now, drop all the way down to verse 30. Now, this is another description
of the events associated with the day of the LORD. Jeremiah 25:30a “Therefore prophesy thou
against them all these words, and say unto them, the LORD (Now, that’s
the term for Jehovah, which is the Old Testament term for God the Son, or Jesus
the Christ as we know Him in the New Testament.) the LORD shall roar…”
Now, I just caught this since
I’ve been preparing for this last week. You know, that whenever you have
Scripture dealing with God’s judgment on the Gentile world, I think you’ll
almost always see the word “roar.” Just look for it. Now, that’s just
a little tidbit, again, that as you study on your own, look for that term, “the
Lord will roar.” Now, I don’t think it’s ever spoken of on Israel alone, but whenever the Gentile world comes in, this is the term. Jeremiah 25:30b “…and say unto them, the
LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he
shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that
tread the grapes, (Now, if we’ve got time this afternoon, we may see
the references that are associated with the treading of grapes in the books of
Revelation and Isaiah.) they that tread the grapes, against all the
inhabitants of the earth.” Not just Israel, even though Jeremiah is
writing to Israel, yet watch the language. This roaring is going to come upon
the whole human race. Now verse 31, watch the globalism of this language. Jeremiah 25:31 “A noise shall come even
to the ends of the earth; for the LORD (God the Son, again) hath
a controversy with the nations, (not just Israel – all of them) he
will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword,
saith the LORD.” Which, of course, is an instrument of death. Jeremiah 25:32 “Thus saith the LORD of
hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, (Not
righteousness. Not holiness. Evil.) and a great whirlwind shall be
raised up from the coasts of the earth.” Now, the other word for coast
is borders. Sometimes your marginal help will tell you that. So, these great
whirlwinds are going to be established. They will go from nation to nation
from one border to the other. I feel that this is an indication
of nuclear explosions, because I feel this is toward the end of the seven
years. Now verse 33 and I think this nuclear devastation is going to almost go
from one end of the planet to the other. There are enough nukes stored to
destroy this whole planet ten times over, and they’re going to use them, but I
don’t think it’ll be until we get to the last year or two of the Tribulation.
Here is the end result now in verse 33. Jeremiah 25:33 “And the slain of the
LORD (This is God’s wrath. Not His love. It’s His wrath.) shall
be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth:
they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; (Because
there’s going to be so many of them there won’t be any opportunity for anyone
to even take bulldozers, because there’d be nobody to run the bulldozer.) they
shall be as dung (trash) upon the ground.” All right, that’s a graphic
description, of course, but that, too, is written by one of our Old Testament
prophets. All right, now let’s jump up to Ezekiel. This is another big
battle. I almost stood alone for the longest time, but not anymore. There are a
lot of people beginning to see it as I have for a long time, that this battle
will be in the first year, I feel, of the Tribulation. It will probably be
toward the end of the first year, maybe the tenth or eleventh month of the
first year of the seven. It’s the great northern invasion, when Russia and the Muslim world to the south of them, as well as North Africa, will come together under
a Russian leadership, and they’re going to invade the mountains of Israel. I guess maybe that takes a
little explanation. We know that as soon as the anti-Christ comes in, we’ll be
looking at it down the road, but I think in order to understand this we have to
jump ahead of it. When the anti-Christ makes his appearance, the first thing
he’s going to do is get a tremendous peace treaty established in the Middle
East, which will be a supernatural thing because humans would never be able to
do it. But supernaturally, in God’s design, he will bring about a peace treaty
between Israel and the Arab or the Muslim world. We know from other Scriptures
that it’s going to be a treaty that will allow Israel to rebuild their Temple. They’re going to go back into Temple worship. Those of you who have been there, or
if you’ve read about it, there is a group in Jerusalem that has everything
ready for Temple worship. They’ve got the priests’ garments hanging on the
mannequins. They’ve got all the shovels for all the altars. They’ve got
everything ready. So, as soon as that Temple is built, why, it’ll be a matter
of hours and they’ll re-establish Temple worship. So, we have to realize that
that peace is going to be a phenomenal thing that will actually bring the Arab
world to the point of permitting Israel to build a Temple. They will. Okay, with that kind of a peace
and prosperity making the Jewish people into a state of euphoria, they’re going
to think that they’ve got nothing to worry about. I think they’ll dismantle
their military in six months. They’re going to send those Israeli troops and
the gals home. They’re going to forget war and military operations. They’re
going to be, like I said, in a state of euphoria. But, you see, what they
don’t realize is that some Russian generals up there in Moscow are planning a
great invasion. And of course, it is God design. God says, “He’s going
to put hooks in their jaws.” God is going to pull them down,
and it becomes a means of God’s judgment. But nevertheless, it’s going to
happen. The Russians are going to put together a great army, including most of
the Muslim world. But, as I’ve pointed out before and in some of my seminars,
the unique thing is there are two nations here that, almost hard to believe,
are not listed, and that’s present day Iraq, or Babylon, and Egypt. Egypt isn’t in here. Neither is Babylon or Iraq. So, I have to feel that something is
going to happen over there that will yet bring Iraq to the fore as a financial
center of the final seven years. Okay, come with me now to
Ezekiel 38 where, again, this is all part of the day of the LORD. This is
going to happen after the Tribulation has begun. Ezekiel 38 and I guess I
might as well start at verse 1. Ezekiel 38:1-2 “And the word of the LORD
came unto me, saying, 2. Son of man, set thy face against Gog,
the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against
him,” Now, all Bible scholars are pretty well agreed that that’s
terminology that points at Moscow and Russia and, of course, they’re due north
of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 38:3-4a “And say, Thus saith the
Lord GOD; (See, this is all God’s design.) Behold, I am against
thee, (In other words, it’s going to be God’s act of judgment against
the nation of Russia.) O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 4.
And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, (Now, this is
symbolism of how God is going to literally cause them to bring about this
invasion.) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses, and horsemen,
all of them clothed with all sorts of armor,…” Now you’ve got to remember,
Ezekiel is writing back in antiquity. So, he couldn’t say trucks and tanks and
helicopters, could he? But that’s what it’ll be. It’ll be military hardware. Ezekiel 38:4b-5 “…even a great company
with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. (or weapons.
Here are the nations that are listed.) 5. Persia, (present day Iran. Yes, Iran is going to meet its doom, I think, in that first year of the seven.) Ethiopia, (Ethiopia down there in Africa. It is almost 100% Muslim
today.) and Libya with them; (You know Libya is Muslim, under
Qaddafi.) all of them with shield and helmet:” Ezekiel 38:6a “Gomer, (Which,
of course, is Eastern Europe and Yugoslavia and Albania, Northern Greece.
That’s all part of what we would call Gomer. It, too, is mostly Muslim.)
and all his bands; the house of Togarmah…” That’s Turkey. And goodness sakes, anybody knows that Turkey is predominately Muslim. My, when we were
over there some time ago, all you see are the onion head mosques. And a couple
of the girls that guided us on two different occasions were Muslims, but in
name only. They were secular, but they were Muslim, simply because their
parents had raised them that way. But they said they never practiced it. But
nevertheless, Turkey is Muslim. So, all these Muslim nations will be brought
together by a Russian military leadership, and he’s going to bring them “on
to the mountains of Israel.” Verse 7 Ezekiel 38:7-8a “Be thou prepared, and
prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee,
and be thou a guard unto them. 8. After many days (So we know that
this is at the end of God’s time for the human race. This is in the
Tribulation.) thou shalt be visited: (God’s going to move in) in
the latter years thou shalt come into the land (Now watch this
carefully, because you know this is exactly what Israel is today.) that
is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people,…” Now stop a minute. Go back
with me to Deuteronomy. Keep your hand in Ezekiel. Deuteronomy chapter 30
verses 1 and 2 because this is exactly the prophecies that fit. You know, I
was so tickled, Dick. The other day after our Oklahoma City seminar, I don’t know
how many people as they left said, “Les, I’ve been listening to you for years,
but today is the first time that all the dots connected.” Did you hear
something like that, Dick? Over and over. And then someone else said, “Now it
all fits.” Well, we’ve just got to keep plugging away. And hopefully this is
what will happen. Here’s a good example. Moses
is writing clear back here in 1500 B.C., prophetically. Deuteronomy 30:1a “And it shall come to
pass, (It’s going to happen.) when all these things are come upon
thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, (Now
remember who we’re talking to, the Nation of Israel, the Jew.) and thou
shalt call them to mind among all the nations,…” Now, what does that
mean? Every one of them. Every nation on the planet. Now of course, at the
time that Moses wrote, it was still rather limited. But for our day and time
when it’s going to happen, it means 140 some distinct nations. Jews are going
to come out of every one of them. Deuteronomy 30:1b “…thou shalt call them to
mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, (And
then verse 2, what’s going to happen?) 2. And thou shalt return unto the
LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice…” Now in order for Israel to return to the Lord, where do they have to go back to? The homeland! And have
they? Yes! Deuteronomy 30:3b “…and have compassion
upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the
LORD thy God hath scattered thee.” They’re there. Contrary to
anything logical, they are there. They should have never made it, but they
did. All right, now chapter 38 of Ezekiel. See how it all fits? Where does
this land that’s going to be invaded, where do the people of it come from?
Every nation on the planet. The Jews have come in from every direction. All
right, Ezekiel 38 verse 8 again. Ezekiel 38:8a “After many days thou
shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is
brought back from the sword, and is gathered (That’s the Jew) out
of many people, against the mountains of Israel,…” Now that’s a term
that we like to use just about like the day of the LORD. The mountains of Israel. All those geographical high points that you’re acquainted with throughout the Old
Testament, where are they geographically on today’s map? They’re in the West Bank. They’re occupied predominately by Palestinians. So the mountains of Israel are going to be invaded for a two-fold purpose – to chastise Russia and the Muslim world, but
also to open the mountains of Israel to be occupied by the people who have had
it promised to them from time immemorial, the Jew. All right, reading on. Ezekiel 38:8b “… (and they’re
going to come) against the mountains of Israel, which have been always
waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely
all of them.” And that’s where they are. They’re in relative safety.
They’re in production. My, a couple of years ago we happened to be in Israel at the very right time when all the almond trees were in bloom? Oh! They opened
the windows of the bus and for miles the aroma of the blossoms of those almond
trees was just floating through the bus. Oh, it’s just unbelievable. Not just
a little grove or two, it was miles! That’s Israel today in such production.
All right, read on in verse 9. Now when it seems as though Israel has finally arrived, they’ve come back from every nation under heaven, they’re prospering,
and they’re production is unbelievable – the Russian generals get an idea, and
God says: Ezekiel 38:9-11a “Thou shalt ascend and
come like a storm, (up to the Nation of Israel) thou shalt be
like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with
thee. 10. Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the
same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil
thought: 11. And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled
(or undefended) villages;…” Now remember what I said a
moment ago. As soon as the peace treaty is signed, Israel will dismantle their
military. So, what have they got to defend themselves? Nothing. They’re
defenseless. This Russian invasion will take advantage of that. They’re going
to come-- Ezekiel 38:12 “To take a spoil, and to
take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now
inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, (the
Jew) who have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the
land.” That’s Israel today. Now you’ve got to remember, I’ve referred to this over and over, as late as 1944, the
final years of WWII, I had a good friend who was stationed with the British
Army. He was detached from the American Army and was assimilated with the
British for whatever reason, and he ended up serving in Palestine—Ancient
Israel. And you’ve heard me say it before, how did he describe it? Absolute
desolation. He said there was nothing there. This is, you know, after the war
that we’re talking about. Absolute desolation. He said he wouldn’t want to be
caught dead there. Well, that’s what the Scripture
says. It’s been desolate, but now it’s in full production. So we know that
we’re getting so close, all these things are being fulfilled. Well, anyway,
for sake of time, we’ve only got two minutes left. I’ve got to bring you on
over to the end of chapter 38. What’s going to happen to this invading horde?
Oh, God is going to supernaturally annihilate them on the mountains of Israel. Ezekiel 38:19-20a “For in my jealousy and
in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day (when this
great invasion comes on the mountains of Israel) there shall be a great
shaking in the land of Israel; 20. So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls
of heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon
the earth, (everything) and all the men that are on the face of
the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down,…” Now this is all the
supernatural activity of the day of the LORD. That’s why I came back here.
Now verse 21, God says: Ezekiel 38:21 “And I will call for a
sword against him (this invading force from the north) throughout
all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his
brother.” What are they going to do? They’re going to be killing each
other. Now remember, it said everyone is going to have a weapon. They’ll be
using their weapons on each other. Now, has that happened before
in Israel’s history? Sure. The Syrians did it, and when the Jews got there
all the spoil was laying there for them to take because the Syrians had killed
each other, not knowing what they were doing, in their confusion. The same
thing’s going to happen here. All right, then verse 22, here comes the wrath
of God at the first year of the seven. Ezekiel 38:22 “And I will plead against
him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his
bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, great
hailstones, fire, and brimstone.” Now, a lot of people think that
that’s the language of Armageddon, and it is, but this is not Armageddon. This
is a separate battle early in the time of the Tribulation. Then verse 23 in
closing. Ezekiel 38:23 “Thus (God says) will
I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many
nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” So, this is all a
part of that great seven year period known in the Old Testament and in the New
(we’ll see that in our next half-hour) as the “day of the LORD.” Okay, good to see everybody in
this afternoon. Again, for those of you joining us on television, we would just
like to invite you to an informal Bible study. That’s why we’ve got coffee
cups and what have you. We just want to be like a home Bible study where we
can just fellowship together and learn to search the Scriptures. That’s all I
can beg people – just search the Scriptures! If you haven’t got a good study
Bible, go out and buy one. That’d be the best money you’ve ever spent. Okay, we’re spending the
afternoon on what Joel said way back in the Old Testament, 800 years before
Christ, when he used the term “the day of the LORD.” The day of the
LORD is that last seven years of time before Christ returns and sets up His
Kingdom. Okay, as we are looking now at “the
day of the LORD,” we’ve been coming up through the Old Testament a few
portions. Now I’m going to jump into the New. Come with me to Matthew 24 and,
oh, these are the words of the Lord Jesus Himself toward the end of His earthly
ministry. The Twelve are getting curious. How is all this going to come to an
end? They understood that He was going to be bringing in the Kingdom. But as
yet in Matthew 24, they don’t know He’s going to be crucified and die, but they
do realize that there’s an end to this human program that had started – well,
at their point in time – 4,000 years before, and now it’s 6,000 years since
Adam. All right Matthew 24 and we’ll start at verse 1. Matthew 24:1 “And Jesus went out, and
departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the
buildings of the temple.” Which, you’ve got to understand, the Temple wasn’t just one little building. It was a whole complex. It involved a lot of
various activities. In fact, I think a lot of the apartments of the priests
and so forth were involved in that Temple complex. Matthew 24:2 “And Jesus said unto
them, see ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be
left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Which
of course happened when the Romans came in A.D. 70, forty years later. The
Romans literally took the Temple down, stone by stone. Matthew 24:3-4 “And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples (the Twelve, nobody else) came unto him
privately, (In other words, no press of crowds or anything like that.) saying,
Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming,
and the end of the Age? 4. And Jesus answered and said unto them, (Now,
here He begins unfolding the events that will roll through those seven years of
Tribulation. And the first warning was--) Take heed that no man deceive
you.” Be not deceived. So, that tells us that verse 5 is already
happening. Matthew 24:5 “For many shall come in
my name, saying, I am Christ; (or the Christ, the Messiah, the
Anointed) and shall deceive many.” Now, I just made the comment,
I hope I didn’t confuse you. These are all things that will take place as soon
as the Tribulation or the day of the LORD begins. It’s going to be a
tremendous outpouring of satanic deception, but we’re seeing the beginnings of
it. You remember, I think in my
last taping I mentioned this. I know I did in several of the seminars around
the country. You remember when the Pharisees and the Sadducees taunted Jesus
about end-time events and so forth, and what was Jesus’ response? Oh, He said,
“you hypocrites, you can look at the sky and predict tomorrow’s weather,
but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Well, I’ve been using that for
the last twelve months or so as I travel to wake people up. What are the signs
of the times, the signs that the end is near? Well, the number one sign for us
today is the return of Israel to the land. That is the number one sign of the
times! Because we know that you can have no end-time prophecy until Israel is back in the land. So there you are. The same way here, Jesus is
warning the Twelve that there’s going to be coming a time of deception like the
human race has never seen before. Now again, remember what we showed on the
timeline, that all these prophecies were going to come one right after the
other. Even after Christ is crucified and He’s raised from the dead, He’ll go
back to Glory. Then in would come the day of the LORD, those final seven
years, and then Christ would return and yet set up the Kingdom. I guess we’ve
got it up there on the board, that’s the Old Testament line of prophecy. Now remember, keep the Church
Age out, because that is not revealed until we get to the Apostle Paul. Okay,
so one of the signs of the Tribulation would be a great influx of false
messiahs. And He says they shall call themselves Christ. Matthew 24:5b-6 “…and shall deceive
many. 6. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not
troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Now,
I feel that the wars and rumors of wars that He’s talking about here are what we
talked about in the last program, when the Russian invasion will come in the
very first year of the Tribulation. All of a sudden that euphoria of peace is
blown away with this tremendous horde from the North. And Israel, especially, will be suddenly bereft of any peace, because the land is covered with
foreigners. Matthew 24:7 “For nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences,
and earthquakes, in divers places.” Again, we’re seeing just a little
bit of the beginning of this, but He’s speaking of the real thing. This is the
future of those final seven years. All right, verse 8. Matthew 24:8-9a “All these (the
famines, the pestilence, the earthquakes) are the beginning of sorrows. (That’s
at the very first year or so of the seven) 9. Then they shall deliver you
up to be afflicted,…” Now, who are the “you”? Israel. The Jews. And listen, anti-Semitism is just compounding by the week. The world is hating
the Jew more and more every day. So we’re already seeing the signs of this. Matthew 24:9b-10 “…they will afflict you, and
they shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
(They won’t even have America as a friend or ally once the Tribulation begins.)
10. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another,
(Because of the pressures of hatred and persecution, one will tell on another.)
and shall hate one another.” Matthew 24:11 “And many false prophets
shall rise, and shall deceive many.” See, it’s going to be a satanic
deception that will overcome even the work of the Holy Spirit, who I feel will
stay on the earth after we’re gone. Matthew 24:12-13 “And because iniquity
(wickedness) shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (In
other words, they’ll just turn against anything spiritual.) 13. But he
that shall endure to the end shall be saved.” Physically—they’re going
to come to the end of the seven years, and goodness sakes, they’re still
alive! They haven’t been martyred. They haven’t been killed. They’re alive.
All right, that’s what He’s speaking of, that “those who endure to the
end shall be saved.” Physically! We’re not talking about a
spiritual salvation in that verse, as I can see, at all. Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the
kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and
then shall the end come.” Now in verse 14, yes, during the Tribulation,
the 144,000 of Revelation 7 will be preaching not the Gospel of the
Grace of God, but they’re going to be preaching “the gospel of the kingdom.”
Now, I know that gets people
all bent out of shape when I proclaim that there are two Gospels in the New
Testament. They’re not active today, of course not. We only have the Gospel
of the Grace of God today. But in Christ’s earthly ministry and Peter and the
Twelve, they preached what Jesus calls “the Gospel of the Kingdom.”
And the Gospel of the Kingdom was the good news of the King. The Grace of God
is the good news of the finished work of the cross. Big difference. All right, so when the Church
is gone and the Gospel of Grace ends, the 144,000 will go around the world
preaching again the gospel of the Kingdom. And I don’t know why that’s so hard
for people to swallow. But it is. Boy, I get more complaints on that than
anything else. But here it is, “The gospel of the kingdom, (not
the Gospel of the Grace of God) shall be preached in all the world.”
And the Gospel of the Kingdom
was believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, along with repentance
of sins and water baptism to get ready to set up the earthly Kingdom. Whereas
today in Grace we believe in our hearts for salvation that Jesus died for us,
was buried, and rose again as we see in I Corinthians 15:1-4.
Now, I take this approach. I
don’t mind if people disagree. Just this last week I had a couple of calls
where they disagreed on something so far removed from the gospel that it’s not
even funny. I said, “Now look, if I’m right and you’re wrong or you’re right
and I’m wrong, is that going to determine our eternal destiny?” “No.” “Well,
then it really doesn’t matter, does it?” And that’s where it’s at. If it
doesn’t affect our salvation, our eternal destiny, hey, we can have some
disagreements. That doesn’t bother me a bit. It’s moot. What difference does
it make? For example, you know there are
those who think the world is 120 million years old. And others say, no, it’s
only six thousand. You know what I say? What difference does it make? Does
it make any difference? You know, I tell geologists, oil people, does it make
any difference where you tell your engineers to drill if the world’s 200
million years old or if it’s six thousand? Well, no. So, it doesn’t make a
bit of difference, does it? Yet they can get all bent out of shape. Well, the same way here. We
have this Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus and the Twelve proclaimed to Israel, and the 144,000 are going to take that same Gospel of the Kingdom around the world
during the Tribulation. The Church is gone, the Gospel of Grace is ended, and
multitudes are going to be saved by the Gospel of the Kingdom. God’s
Sovereign. He can do it any way He wants. So, yes, those 144,000 are going to
fulfill the Great Commission like no one has ever even come close. All right, now verse 15; here
we come to the mid-point of those seven years. Now, I’m going to make that as
a separate series of references in a little bit. I’m first looking at the
physical things concerning the Tribulation: the horrors, the death, and the
destruction. Then we’re going to look at the time element that it is indeed
seven years. And then we’re going to look at the personalities that are
involved - the anti-Christ and the False Prophet and so forth. So we may not
get finished this afternoon. We’ll continue next month. But, here in verse
15, now, the Lord Jesus is continuing on through the seven years of
Tribulation. He reaches the mid-point, and He says in verse 15- Matthew 24:15a “When ye therefore shall
see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,…” Now,
let’s go back and see what Daniel wrote. It’s the only way we can do it. Come
back to Daniel chapter 9. This is the confirmation that Daniel knew exactly
what he was talking about when he wrote by inspiration in prophecy, Daniel chapter 9, we have to
drop down to verse 24. Now remember why I’m coming here. The Lord Jesus is
using this portion of Scripture to define the events of those final seven years
that are coming. And remember, He doesn’t give any hint that there was 2,000
years of the Church Age in between all this. It was all just going to keep
coming. Always remember that the Old Testament knew nothing of the Church
Age. It knew nothing of our Gospel of Grace. Everything in the Old Testament
was dealing with Israel and the Messiah, her coming King, and an earthly
Kingdom. All right, but now here’s Daniel, who by Holy Spirit inspiration
writes, starting at verse 24: Daniel 9:24a “Seventy weeks
(of years or seventy sevens or 490 years) are determined (in
God’s program, now) upon thy people (Israel) and upon thy
holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,…”
That is the Kingdom. In other words, 490 years are
going to take place from a point back here in the Old Testament. It’s going to
be between the 400 and the 600 B.C., right about in 454 B.C. when Nehemiah was
given the command to go back and rebuild the city wall around Jerusalem. That’s
what it’s based on. From that point until Christ would be crucified would be
483 years. And then there would be another seven years, and it would bring in
the 1,000 year Kingdom. So, 490 years would be involved fulfilling the Old
Testament, Christ’s coming, the seven years of Tribulation, and the Kingdom.
That’s the 490 years that are determined upon the Nation of Israel. Okay, now
as you come down through verse 25, he breaks it down. Daniel 9:25a “Know therefore and
understand, that from the going forth of the commandment (to Nehemiah
to go back and rebuild the wall) to restore and to build Jerusalem unto
the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks:…”
And that’s for a total of 483 years from Nehemiah until the crucifixion. Four
hundred and eighty three years. But the whole prophecy is 490. So, we’ve got
seven years left that has never been fulfilled. All right, now you come on
down through verse 26. Daniel 9:26a “(After the 483
years) And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not
for himself: (In other words, He died for us. He didn’t die because He
deserved it. And then here comes the prophecy.) and the people of the
prince that shall come,...” Now, the prince that shall come will be the
personality that we’re going to look at sooner or later, the anti-Christ, and
he’s going to come out of the Roman Empire. Now again, I always like to use
my timeline. As you come up through the Old Testament from 600 B.C. until you
get to the time of Christ, you have the Babylonian Empire, the Mede and Persian
Empire, the Greek Empire, and then the Roman Empire. And you all know that Rome was part and parcel of the crucifixion. All right, so out of the Roman
Empire then, in the prophecy line of the Old Testament, would come the
anti-Christ, because Rome is over all of this. Now remember, I’ve got to keep
this Church Age out of here. I should have made a second timeline, I guess,
but whatever, I didn’t. So now we’re going to use this
line strictly as the seven years of Tribulation, which we’ve got here. Forget
about the Church Age – for now. That’s just not involved in our Old Testament
line of prophecy. Just keep it out of your mind for the time being. Then
we’re going to drop down and look at those seven years on a larger scale
timeline. Okay, continue on with Daniel chapter 9, once again, verse 26. Daniel 9:26b “…after Messiah be cut
off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall
destroy the city (And we know that Rome did this under Titus in A.D.
70.) and the sanctuary; (in other words, the Temple) and
the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations
are determined.” See, there’s nothing to indicate there’s a break in
the timeline. It’s all going to flow. All right, now verse 27, this prince
that shall come, we call him the anti-Christ, and I’ll deal with that a little
later. Daniel 9:27a “And he (this
prince that shall come) shall confirm (or make) the
covenant (or a treaty) with many for one week:…” Or seven
years. Now, someone called, or wrote, a while back with an interesting
statement. And they had a thought that I can’t ridicule one iota. The Oslo Peace Accord that was
put together back in Clinton’s time, wasn’t it? That Oslo Peace Accord has
almost everything in it that would bring about the peace treaty that the
anti-Christ will sign. So this writer, I think it was a lady, said, “You know,
Les, if that be the case, all they’d have to do is bring that thing back up and
this man anti-Christ can just simply agree – this is exactly the way we want to
do it – and it’ll be confirmed and it’s in place.” Well, that just tells us
how close we really are, that all the details of this necessary treaty are
pretty much agreed upon already. All right, but anyway, he’s
going to make a seven year treaty between the nations of the world,
predominately, I think now, the Muslim world and Israel. And it will give
them, as I said early today, permission to rebuild the Temple. Now, here’s
what the Lord Jesus was referring to. Remember what He said in Matthew? “When
you see the desolation spoken of by Daniel.” Here it is in this verse
27. Daniel 9:27b “…and in the middle of
the week (in the middle of those seven years) he shall cause the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease,…” Can you stop something that
hasn’t started? Now, you know there’s no sacrifice and oblation going on in Jerusalem today. And it can’t until they have a Temple. So, what does this tell us? That in those first
three-and-a-half years, as a result of this peace treaty, Israel is going to rebuild a Temple. And it doesn’t have to be a glorious, gold and cedar one like
Solomon’s, but it’ll be functional. I personally think it’s in a warehouse in Jerusalem right now, all ready to pull out and set up, and it’ll be functioning in less
than a week’s time. So, they’ll go back under Temple worship for the first
three-and-a-half years. Then the anti-Christ will turn
on Israel. We’ll look at that again in Matthew 24 in just a little bit. And in
the middle of the week, he will cause the sacrifice and oblation, or Temple worship, to stop. He’s going to turn on the Jew. Daniel 9:27c “…and for the
overspreading of abominations he (the anti-Christ, this prince that shall
come) shall make it (that restored Temple) desolate,
(Inoperable as far as Judaism is concerned, and it will remain that way.) even
until the consummation, (That is, the end of the seven years.) and
that which is determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Or the
desolater. In other words, the anti-Christ will meet his doom at the end of
the Tribulation. All right, now let’s come back
to Matthew 24. Back to Matthew 24, now this is exactly what Jesus is referring
to in verse 15. We are now at the mid-point of the seven years. The first
fourteen verses are the first half. Now we start the second half. Matthew 24:15-16a “When ye therefore shall
see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in
the holy place, (He’s in the Temple defiling it.) (whoso readeth,
let him understandJ
16. Then…” Now, those of you that have
heard me teach over a period of time, what kind of a word is then? It
is a time word. When the Jews see the desolation taking place up there on the Temple Mount with the anti-Christ defiling it, probably by sacrificing a hog, Israel will be just beside themselves. But the Lord says when you see that, wake up! Get out of
town! That’s the way we’d put it today. Get out of town! Here we go, verse
16: Matthew 24:16a “Then let them who be in Judea flee into the mountains;…” Now, I call this the escaping remnant of Israel. Now, you have to have the remnant that will come through the Tribulation and be
ready to go into the Kingdom. You have to have the Nation of Israel, but it
won’t be the whole Nation, it’ll be a remnant. I need to show you that. Let’s
see, I’m going to take the time. Keep your hand in Matthew, again, and come
back with me to Zechariah chapter 13 starting at verse 8. Now remember, this
is prophecy, again, so it’s going to happen. Zechariah, that’s the next to
the last book in your Old Testament. You know, I always tell people to find
Matthew. You can all find that, and then just go to the left, past Malachi and
there’s Zechariah. Zechariah 13:8 “And it shall come to
pass, that in all the land, (That is, the whole land of Israel.) saith the LORD, two parts (or two thirds) therein shall be cut off
and die; but the third part shall be left therein.” They’re
going to survive. Now verse 9: Zechariah 13:9 “And I will bring the
third part through the fire, (Now the fire here is the Tribulation, the
horrors of it.) and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try
them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will
say, It is my people: and they shall say, the LORD is my God.” So,
that’s the remnant. All right, back to Matthew 24. The remnant now is fleeing
out of Jerusalem at the middle of the Tribulation. All right, we’re going to
do this quickly, verse 16. Matthew 24:16-17 “Then let them which be
in Judea flee into the mountains: 17. Let them who is on the housetop not come
down to take anything out of his house:” Time is of the essence is the
way I usually put it. Don’t take time to find some heirloom or something of
value – get out of town! Matthew 24:18 “Neither let him who is
in the field (the working class) return back to get his clothes.”
Now, for Israel today, that would be the scientist, the medical people, and the business people, because Israel is no longer an agrarian nation like it was at the time of Christ. So, the whole
cross-section of the Nation now is involved in these verses. Matthew 24:19-20 “And woe unto them that
are with child, and to them that are nursing in those days (young
mothers)! 20. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter,
(Because Jerusalem gets twelve to fourteen inches of snow every once in
a while.) neither on the sabbath day:” So that they would not be
limited as to how far they could walk. Now, here’s the verse that I wanted to
end with, verse 21. Matthew 24:21 “For then
(beginning with that desecration of the Temple) shall be great
tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, (the
time of Christ) no, nor ever shall be.” This takes us right on
up past our own day and time, including the Holocaust. So, that should tell
you something – that for Israel as well as the rest of the world, the time is
coming in these last three-and-a-half years when it’s going to be worse than
anything in all of human history. It’s going to be beyond comprehension. And
that was in the words of the Lord Jesus himself, that there is nothing in all
of human history that compares with these last three-and-a-half years. Joel 1:1-15 This is our fourth program
number this afternoon. For those of you out in television, again we just want
to invite you to an informal Bible study. We are just comparing Scripture with
Scripture. If you disagree, like we just said at break time, you know you can
disagree with me on some points as long as it doesn’t affect your eternal
destiny and you’re not fooling with God’s eternal plan of salvation. Why,
there’s room for differences of opinion on a lot of things. So anyway, today we’ve been
talking all day about “the day of the LORD,” which was first introduced
to us in the oldest book of prophecy back there in the Book of Joel. All of
the Old Testament writers speak of this period of time called “the day of
the LORD.” And in one place in Paul’s epistles he does too. So, that’s
why we’re going to look for these next few moments at II Thessalonians chapter
2. We’re going to start at verse 1, where, in all of Paul’s epistles, this is
the only place that I’m aware of that he talks directly in a perfect parallel
with the Old Testament prophecies concerning the day of the LORD and this man
of sin that will be heading up the world government during that time. II Thessalonians 2:1 “Now we beseech you,
brethren, (Remember, Paul always writes to the believer.) by the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him.” Now
of course, we’ve got to use the timeline that we had up there to start with,
where we have the Church Age now opened up out of the line of Old Testament
prophecy. But for now we’re not going to do that. We’re just going to show how
Paul is in perfect accord with the Old Testament. All right, verse 2: II Thessalonians 2:2 “That ye be not soon
shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter
as from us, (In other words, Paul said, don’t be taken in by a
forgery.) as that the day of the LORD is at hand.” Now, what’s
Paul saying? Don’t get shook up because of the horrors of persecution that
you’re going through and the Roman Empire with all of its pressures upon the
civilizations, upon the citizens rather. Paul says, don’t believe a forged
letter that you missed the Rapture and that you’re in the Tribulation. He
said, don’t buy into that. And here’s the reason, verse 3. II Thessalonians 2:3a “Let no man deceive you
by any means: for that day (the day of the LORD) shall not come,
(or begin) except there come (Now the King James and a lot of
your translations have--) a falling away first,...” Those of you that get my
newsletter, for those of you out in television, be aware of our January
newsletter. We have a guest article by a famous Greek scholar who teaches this
verse exactly the way I did when I taught Thessalonians a few years ago. And
that is that there is a better translation and one that all the old manuscripts
used instead of a falling away. It is the departure—to leave from one
place to another. That’s the way I look at the Rapture. II Thessalonians 2:3b “…that day (the
day of the LORD) shall not come, except there come a departure first,
(the Rapture, the leaving of the Church) and that man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition;” Now, those are all terms that
Scripture applies to this “prince that shall come” spoken of in
Daniel, and that John, we’re going to see in a little bit, calls the “anti-Christ.”
All right, let’s continue on in Paul’s dissertation concerning Old
Testament prophecy. So, this man of sin cannot be revealed until the Church is
gone. Now verse 4, this is going to be the character of this man, the
anti-Christ. II Thessalonians 2:4a “Who opposeth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that
he as God sitteth in the temple of God,…” Now, there’s only one Temple of God so far as earth is concerned, and where is it? Jerusalem. Fortunately, we talked about
the Tribulation Temple in the last program. It’s going to be built at the very
beginning of the seven years, because the anti-Christ, as he makes that peace
between the Muslim world and Israel, will give them permission to rebuild their
Temple. I think they’ll have it right beside the golden dome up on the Temple Mount. All right, now when the anti-Christ goes in and defiles it, he will, I
think, set it up as his headquarters in total opposition to everything Jewish.
II Thessalonians 2:4 “Who opposeth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that
he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
He’s going to be above every god, he thinks, that has ever been known, whether
they’re pagan or whatever, and he is going to sit in the temple of God. I think it’s the temple in Jerusalem, the one that Israel has just had defiled. He’s going to show himself that he is God. All right, let’s go back,
before we go any further, to the Book of Daniel chapter 11. There are several
references to him in Daniel’s book of prophecy. But let’s just go to chapter
11, dropping down to verse 21. Daniel 11:21 “And in his estate shall
stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom:
(In other words, they aren’t going to just glibly say, “Here, we want you to be
the head of this kingdom.”) but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the
kingdom by flatteries.” He’s going to be the smoothest fast-talker the
world has ever known. And he’s going to wiggle his way in and become the chief
governmental authority on the planet for these last seven years. All right, now let’s see, I
think I’ve got another one I want to use here in chapter 11, verses 36 and 37 Daniel 11:36 “And the king
(This vile person that’s going to come in and take over the rule of the world
through flattery.) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt
himself, (See what kind of a person he is?) and magnify himself
above every god, (be it pagan or whatever) and shall speak
marvelous things against the God of gods, (the God of Scripture) and
shall prosper till the indignation (or the day of the LORD, or the
seven years) be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.”
It’s going to happen! God has spoken it. He’s
going to remain as head of the world government until he’s finally deposed at
the end of the seven years. Daniel 11:37 ”Neither shall he regard
the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, (Now you can make out
of that whatever you want.) nor regard any god: for he shall magnify
himself above all.” Now, that says enough about him, doesn’t it? All right, let’s come back to
how Paul explains it in Thessalonians again. Now, in light of Daniel, let’s
read verse 4 again, II Thessalonians chapter 2 repeating verse 4. II Thessalonians 2:4 “Who opposeth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that
he as God (That’s what the world is going to reckon him as, that he is
the God of Creation. He’s the supernatural.) sitteth in the temple of God, (The one that he defiled, probably with hog’s blood.) shewing
himself that he is God.” Now verse 5—Paul is writing to these
Thessalonian believers who’d only been with him a couple of weeks. And, boy,
he must have really unloaded on them, because what does he say? II Thessalonians 2:5 “Remember ye not, that,
when I was yet with you, I told you these things?” Now imagine, here
they’re fresh out of paganism and yet they were in such a spiritual state that
they could comprehend all the things that Paul was teaching. So now he could
write some time later, don’t you remember that when I was yet with you I
told you these things? Now, I use that as a reason to
teach prophecy even today. Now granted, you’re not going to get salvation by
understanding prophecy. But, it will enhance your spiritual life to have an
understanding of what is out in front of us. It’s coming. Every day’s
newspaper is screaming it. Paul was doing the same thing with the
Thessalonians. He was telling them that all these things were just out in
front of them and to be ready for it. They had no idea that it would be 2,000
years. All right, reading on in verse 6, now Paul writes: II Thessalonians 2:6 “And now ye know what
withholdeth (Or, that which restrains) that he might be revealed
in his time.” Now there’s a difference of opinion by some people on
this verse. I feel this is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the
restrainer. He’s the One that’s holding back the forces of iniquity that are
trying to come in even before the Tribulation begins. So, since you and I are
indwelt with the Holy Spirit, that becomes part of our experience, to be a
restrainer. We’re not going to turn it around. We’re going to hold it back.
All right, now verse 7: II Thessalonians 2:7 “For the mystery
(or the secret) of iniquity doth already work: (In other words,
sinfulness and wickedness have been with us, especially since the Tower of Babel, and it’s increasing in its power and its control.) only he who now
hindereth will hinder, (That’s why I feel this is the work of the Holy
Spirit.) until he be taken out of the way.” II Thessalonians 2:8a “And then (There’s
your time word again. When the Church is gone, when the Body of Christ is
gone.) shall that Wicked one be revealed,…” That’s perfectly in
accord with verse 3. They both are saying the same thing. As soon as the Body
of Christ is raptured and gone, and the Holy Spirit’s main vehicle for
restraining sin is gone, “Then shall that Wicked one be revealed.”
The anti-Christ. Daniel calls him “the prince that shall come.”
Paul calls him the “son of perdition, that man of sin.” See,
these are all references to this one supremely wicked individual. All right,
but the Lord’s going to consume him, verse 8. II Thessalonians 2:8b-9a “…whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth, (at the end of the Tribulation) and
shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming: 9. Even him, whose coming
is after the working of Satan…” All right, now I think I have
to stop here a minute. Let’s go all the way up to the Book of Revelation. I
just have to do this. Come up with me to Revelation chapter 12. Since we’ve
been introduced to Satan, now, as being a major player during this last three
and a half years, let’s see what happens. Revelation chapter 12 and let’s drop
in at verse 7. Remember why I came here. Paul refers to Satan as coming
during the last half of the Tribulation with power and signs and lying
wonders. All right, here’s where he comes from, chapter 12 verse 7. Revelation 12:7-8 “And there was war in
heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; (Now
remember, who is the dragon throughout all of Scripture? Satan. This is a real
war.) and the dragon fought and his angels, 8. And prevailed not; neither
was their place found any more in heaven.” Michael is the winner. Revelation 12:9a “And the great dragon
(Satan) was cast out,…” (of heaven) Oh, now people have a problem
with that. Satan in heaven? Yes. Satan has access to heaven. Absolutely! I
think that’s why we’ve got to have a new heaven and a new earth at the end of
everything, because Satan has defiled everything that God ever made. Revelation 12:9b-10a “…that old serpent,
called the Devil, and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world: (He is the
master deceiver.) he was cast out (of heaven) into the
earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10. And I heard a loud voice
saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our
God,…” Well, what’s it telling us? As soon as the Tribulation has run
its course, it’s going to end with the Second Coming of Christ. He’s going to
set up His kingdom, and we’re going to have that thousand-year reign. It all
fits. Now continue on: Revelation 12:10b “…and the kingdom of our
God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down,
who accused them (That is, the believers.) before our God day and
night.” Now, have you ever been aware of that? Every time we fail,
every time we give somebody a sharp tongue, the old Devil is right there with
the Lord, and he says, see what he just did? See what she just did? He’s
accusing the believers constantly – day and night. All right, verse 11, but of
course Michael and his holy angels: Revelation 12:11-12a “And they overcame him by
the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not
their lives unto the death. (All right, now here is why I came back
here, verse 12.) Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in
them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!...” Now
remember, who’s down on the planet? The lost who were left behind. Now some of
them are being saved, of course, by the 144,000 preaching, but the vast
majority is still in total rebellion. They’re under the control of the
anti-Christ. Revelation 12:12 “Therefore rejoice, ye
heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of
the sea! (Here it is now.) for the devil (Satan) is
come down unto you, having great (What?) wrath, because he
knoweth that he hath but a short time.” That’s what’s making him so
angry? He knows he only has a short time. So what do I call this last three
and a half years? It’s a double-barreled wrath. The wrath of God because of
unrighteous men; the wrath of Satan because he suddenly realizes his time is
about over. And it’s going to be beyond human description. That’s why Jesus said
it the way He did, that there has never been a time in human history like those
last three and a half years. All right, let’s come back to
Thessalonians and again pick up Paul’s dealing with these things, in full
accord with the Old Testament prophets and the Book of Revelation. All right,
verse 9 again: II Thessalonians 2:9 “Even him, whose coming
is after the working of Satan (Who has now been cast out of heaven.
He’s in full force in the planet. I think he will indwell the man anti-Christ
like he did Judas, and he will empower that wicked individual like no human
being has ever been empowered.) with power and signs and lying wonders,”
What does he use them for? To convince the masses that he is what he claims to
be because he can perform miracles. That’s why I am so frightened by the
miracle working, because it deludes too many people. All right, now read on in
verse 10. II Thessalonians 2:10a “And with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;…” Now stop and
think a minute about what we’ve covered today. What did Jesus claim would be
the main factor in the opening days of the Tribulation? Deception. Remember?
Deception. Deception. The master deceiver is now coming to the fore. Always remember that the term
anti-Christ is really a misnomer. He’s not against Christ so much as he is a
counterfeit Christ. He is going to claim to be even more than Jesus Christ
Himself. He’s a counterfeit. All right, read on. II Thessalonians 2:10 “And with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” Now, you want to
remember that we’re dealing in a period of time of only seven years. So, all of these people that
are living in this seven year period had opportunity to hear the Gospel.
Right? They had every opportunity, especially with the technology that we’ve
got today. They’ve had every opportunity to hear the Gospel. So, why are they
in the Tribulation? They refused it. That’s what Paul is talking about.
These people who are suffering under the deluding power of Satan are there
because they rejected the Gospel before the Rapture took place. All right, now then, for those
who heard the Gospel and understood it and perceived it and still said,
“Thanks, but no thanks,” their doom is sealed even worse than those who had
never heard before. And remember, the 144,000 are going to go into every
tongue and tribe. Nobody will be able to say I never had a chance. But these
people who heard the Gospel and rejected it, here it is in verse 11. II Thessalonians 2:11 “And for this cause
(Because they heard it, and they rejected it.) God shall send them a
strong delusion, (He’s going to mix their brain. And what are they
going to do?) that they should believe the lie.” They’re going
to believe the lie. I prefer the over a lie,
because it’s the primary lie that they’re going to believe. And
what is it? That the anti-Christ is God. That’s what they’re going to
believe. Why are they going to believe it? Because God has made them think
that way. Now, let’s read it again,
because this is a big question that comes in all the time, “Les, who are these
that Paul is talking about in II Thessalonians 2?” Well, these are people who
heard the Gospel of Grace of I Corinthians 15:1-4. They’ve considered it and
rejected it. Now, you’ve got to stop and think. There are multitudes of
people who have never heard “the Gospel” to consider it—church people. They go to church every
Sunday. They don’t hear the True Gospel. But IF they’ve heard it and they’ve
contemplated it, the Spirit has opened their understanding and they still
reject it, then God will send them a strong delusion. They’re going to believe
that the anti-Christ is who he says he is. That will seal their doom. All
right, so for that reason then: II Thessalonians 2:11b-12 “…God shall send them a
strong delusion, that they should believe the lie. 12. That they
all (those who have been deluded) might be condemned who believed
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” They’d rather
live in the wickedness of the world as to come in to God’s saving Grace. All right, now in the couple of
minutes we have left, let’s go back to Revelation and pick up this man
anti-Christ who is going to be revealed shortly after the Church is taken out.
He’s going to become a great world ruler. Let’s start at verse 1 of chapter
13. Here we are going to look at this person who is going to come, and through
the power of Satan, rule the planet. Revelation 13:1-2a “And I stood upon the
sand of the sea, (That is the sea of humanity. We’re not talking about
the Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific. We’re talking about the sea of humanity,
with all of its teeming millions.) and saw a beast rise up out of the sea,
having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads
the name of blasphemy. 2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard,…” Now
remember, this is merely a symbolic picture of this empire as well as the
emperor. Revelation 13:2 “…and his were as the feet
of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his
power, and his seat, (or throne) and great
authority.” Now, this is the coming into human view of this man
anti-Christ. He’s going to have all the powers of previous empires at his
disposal. All right, we’ve got to do this quickly. Revelation 13:3 “And I saw one of his
heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the
world wondered after the beast.” Again, there are two ways to look at
it – is the Empire the Roman Empire which died and came back, or does this man
die and miraculously come back? But whatever – he’s going to come out of the
masses of humanity. He’s going to become a tremendous world ruler. But before
we let this half-hour run out, I have to show what’s going to happen to him,
and that is back in chapter 19. We are still in Revelation, got to do this
quickly! Got 50 seconds left! Revelation 19, the Second Coming of Christ
defeats all the armies of this man anti-Christ, now verse 19. Revelation 19:19-20 “And I saw the beast,
(the anti-Christ, this world ruler) and the kings of the earth,
(who have been cooperating with him) and their armies, gathered together
to make war against him who sat on the horse, and against his army. (That’s
Christ at His Second Coming. So, this is after the horrors of the battle of
Armageddon and Christ has destroyed the armies.) 20. And the beast was
taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with
which he deceived them who had received the mark of the beast, and them that
worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning
with brimstone.” Okay, it’s good to see
everybody in again this afternoon. We always appreciate the fact that you folks
come in and spend the afternoon with us. For those of you out in television,
again we just want to invite you to a simple, informal Bible study. I don’t
want to make it too complicated. I keep telling my phone callers, keep it
simple. My, everybody wants to complicate everything, and God didn’t intend it
for that. He wants it kept simple. That’s how we hope to teach, and yet bring
out things that the vast majority of Christendom totally ignores. We always appreciate that
everybody in the studio has their own Bible and pen and notebook. That’s the
way to study. The same way for you out there in television, open your Bible
and sit down with your cup of coffee and study with us. All right, now last taping, the
previous four programs, we started in the little minor prophet of Joel. In my
introductory remarks, remember, I told you that Joel is the oldest written
prophecy that speaks of “the day of the LORD.” Now of course, it’s back
in Psalms in more latent language, and we’re going to probably look at that a
little later today, but to actually come right out and speak about “the day
of the LORD,” Joel is the first of our Old Testament prophets to use the
term. Now remember, even though Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel come
first in our Bibles, Joel was written before any of them. So, when I say that
Joel is the first, I mean chronologically. All right, now as we move away
from chapter 2, where we spent our last four programs, where it spoke of “the
day of the LORD” and the judgment that is facing the Nation of Israel and
the world in general, we come into another break in the timeline, which of
course is going to fit what we have on the board. That is in chapter 2 verse
27 as an introduction. Joel 2:27A “And ye shall know that I
am in the midst of Israel,…” Now remember, God is talking through the
prophet to the Nation of Israel. This is all Jewish. Joel 2:28-29 “And it shall come to
pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon
all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29. And also upon the servants
and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” Now,
let’s keep right on going for a little bit -verse 30. Joel 2:30-31 “And I will show wonders
in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31. The
sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great
and terrible (What?) day of the LORD come.” So, these
are all descriptions of, again, that final seven years. Which, as we saw in
the last four programs, are “the day of the LORD” – what we call the
Tribulation. It will be followed by the return of Christ, who will finally
fulfill all of the promises made to Israel, you might say since Abraham, and
bring in the Kingdom. Now, remember when we were
studying Isaiah, and I kept repeating and repeating, because that’s what my
listening audience asks me to do. We showed that there were three distinct
judgments facing the Nation of Israel, and they all sound as though it’s next
week or next month. But you see, to God time means nothing. Five minutes is
ten thousand years, so far as God is concerned, or the other way around. So, back in Isaiah, who wrote
about 700 B.C., he was speaking of all three of these great invasions and
destructions of the city of Jerusalem. The first one was the Babylonian
invasion, which was going to come in about 100 years. But he makes it sound as
though it’s going to be next month. Then the second one he talked about was
the invasion of the Romans in A.D. 70. Again, it sounds as though it’ll be in a
year or two. Then Isaiah comes to that “day of the LORD,” the final
seven years, which would come in future from our point in time. Now, all three
of those were prophesied by the prophets, but Joel only speaks of the one, and
that’s the Tribulation, “the day of the LORD.” All right, now we’re going to
come back up and pick this apart before we move on through Scripture. In
verses 28 and 29 we have a complete description of the day of Pentecost.
That’s what happened at Pentecost when God poured out His Spirit upon all
flesh. Now, you want to remember, he’s talking in terms of Jews and Israel. So the “all flesh” isn’t talking about the pagan world, it’s talking
about Israel. And you remember that when we look at Acts chapter 2, it’s
nothing but all Israel -- “Ye men of Israel.” So, the “all
flesh” is Israel. Joel 2:28b “…that I will pour out my
spirit upon all flesh; and your sons (Whose sons? Israel’s.) and your daughters (Israel’s) shall prophesy,…(or speak
forth)” Now, the word prophesy has two
meanings in Scripture. Yes, it can tell the future, but on the other hand, it
can mean just simply speaking forth the Word. You’ve got to always take the
context of what it’s talking about. Now, here it’s speaking of speaking out
the Word. And what was the Word on the day of Pentecost? The One you
crucified WAS the Christ. Repent of it. All right, but now let’s move on. Joel 2:28c-29 “…your old men shall
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29. And also upon the servants
and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” Well,
that was Pentecost. But, you see, the prophet goes right on into verse 30
which is speaking of the “day of the LORD,” the 7 years of
tribulation. Now, what’s missing? The Church Age! You know, I’ve stressed
it for all the years I’ve been teaching. There is nothing in our Old Testament
or in the four Gospels concerning the Church Age. I’ve got my timeline up here,
and I’ve got the Church Age pointed out here. But you want to remember that all
the Old Testament prophecies went right straight through as if this wasn’t in
here. They go right straight through from the ascension to the coming of the
Tribulation. Well, of course, now we’ve got the Rapture, but the Old Testament
knows nothing of that. So, from the Old Testament perspective, it would go
right from the ascension and then in no time in would come the anti-Christ and
those seven years of Tribulation, triggering the Second Coming and the setting
up of the Kingdom. They knew nothing…nothing…, and
I just can’t emphasize it enough. The Old Testament prophets knew nothing of
the Church Age. Jesus and the Twelve said nothing about a Church Age. It was
all in respect to the Old Testament prophecies, coming right on down the line.
And that’s what most of Christendom misses. In fact, a verse just comes to
mind. Come all the way with me a minute to Hebrews chapter 1. We’ve dealt with
this before, but again we’ve got to keep repeating some of these things. I
always have to wait because my listening audience says the same thing, “Don’t
go so fast, I can’t find them.” So, we’ve got to give everybody time, including
our TV audience, to look these up. Hebrews 1:1-2 “God, (The Triune
God) who at sundry times and in divers (or different) manners
spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
(That is the Old Testament writers. Now, verse 2, the same God that inspired
the Old Testament writers--) 2. Hath in these last days spoken unto us by
his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made (or
created) the worlds;” Now, what is that telling us?
When did the “last days” begin so far a Scripture is concerned?
Christ’s first coming! Now, look at my timeline again. See, how that fits?
Here we come all the way up through the Old Testament, 4,000 years, and Christ
comes. This is the beginning of “the last days,” because had not
the Church Age come in, had not 2,000 years intervened, wouldn’t that exactly
be what it was? Sure. In would come the crucifixion, the ascension, then
would come the Tribulation, and then would come the Kingdom. So, from His First Advent, from
the time He was born until He would come and set up His Kingdom, was only 33
years, maybe a couple, four or five years in here, for a total of 38, and then
seven years of tribulation - 45 years. Less than 50 years it would all be
fulfilled. So, what was it? It was “the last days.” Always
remember that, because these Old Testament writers had no concept of the
opening up of the timeline. Now, I think I’m going to do
something that I haven’t done for a long time. We did it way back--maybe ten,
twelve years ago, but come back with me a minute to the Old Testament, again,
all the way to Psalms chapter 2. Now, you’re going to say, well, I thought you
said that nothing was spoken of the end-time or “the day of the LORD”
until Joel. Well, I mean to specify “the day of the LORD.” But
here it’s in latent language--Psalms chapter 2. We might as well start at
verse 1, otherwise it doesn’t make sense. Psalms 2:1-2a “Why do the heathen
(the non-Jewish world) rage, (Now don’t forget, who’s writing?
David. When did David hold forth? 1,000 B.C., or 1,000 years after Abraham,
and he writes by inspiration.) and the people (Israel) imagine a vain thing? 2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the
rulers (of Israel) take counsel (What’s the next word?) together,…”
That’s why we’ve got to be so
careful that we don’t let the world blame Israel for the crucifixion. They
were part of it. Absolutely! But they weren’t alone. Who was involved? Rome. So, the whole world was involved with the crucifixion, Israel and the non-Jewish
world. Psalms 2:2b-3 “…together, against the
LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3. Let us break their bands asunder, and
cast away their cords from us.” In other words, we’re not going to let
God rule in the affairs of men. All right, verse 4, when God sees that
ridiculous attitude of mankind, what does He do? He laughs. What kind of a
laugh? Derision. Psalms 2:4-5 “He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision. (-) 5.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore
displeasure.” Well now, since the crucifixion
took place, has God ever vexed the world in His wrath and displeasure? No! It
hasn’t happened yet. So, just back up a little bit, and if you don’t mind
marking your Bible, put a little hyphen with parentheses around it right up
there between verses 4 and 5. Just to depict a break in this prophetic
timeline. Now again, look at this carefully. See, I can’t go slowly enough.
Here we have mankind rejecting the Anointed at the crucifixion. Now, verse 5. Psalms 2:5 “Then shall he speak unto
them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.” That is the
Tribulation. Is there any indication of a time factor in there? No. It is
just coming right down the line. Then as soon as the Tribulation has run its
course, what comes up? Psalms 2:6 “Yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion.” The Kingdom. Now, I hope I can get
everybody to see it as clearly as I do. That was Old Testament. That’s why
when Christ came; it was the beginning of “the last days.” It’s
all going to fall right in place. But now we know that God opened the
timeline. It’s now been almost 2,000 years. But does that mean it’s not going
to happen? Oh, yes, it’s going to happen! One of these days, God’s parenthesis
is going to stop, and the timeline is going to pick up where it left off. Okay, so put your little dash
and parentheses back there between verses 4 and 5, where we’re going to see
that mark of division between what had already happened and what is still
future. All right, now let’s move all the way up. I’m not going to hit all of
them. I’m just hitting a few that I remember the best. Go up to Psalms 118.
Psalms 118 and drop in at verse 22. Now you want to remember the Psalms has a
lot of prophecy. Veiled back in antiquity, but nevertheless, they’re all going
to be fulfilled someday. Psalms 118:22 “The stone (Remember
I’m always emphasizing that, who is “the stone” and “the rock” of Scripture?
Well, Jesus Christ, God the Son.) which the builders refused (-)
is become the head stone of the corner.” Now, when will that happen?
When He sets up His Kingdom. But what’s the first half of the verse? When
they rejected Him. So, what have you got here? You have a time element
between His rejection and His being King and the headstone of the corner. We
have now had, since David’s time, 3,000 years. But it doesn’t sound like it in
the Scripture. It sounds like it is all coming right quick. All right, let’s move up to
Isaiah, the first of the Major Prophets, chapter 9. These are verses that you
all know. Isaiah chapter 9 dropping in at verse 6 and to me this is the
thrilling way to do Bible study. You can’t get this by just reading it like a
storybook. You know, every once in a while somebody will call and say, “Well,
I’ve read through the Bible three times, and I’m reading through it again.” I
say, listen, that’s a waste of time. You won’t get anything out of the Bible
by just reading it straight through. You’ve got to know how to study and to
pick and put things together. All right, now here is a good
example. You wouldn’t get the first idea of what this is talking about by just
simply reading your Bible. It doesn’t make sense. But when we understand what
it’s doing here, then it’s as sensible as anything can be. All right, now in chapter 9 of
Isaiah, verse 6, again, remember this is all Jewish. There’s no Gentile involved
in this. Isaiah 9:6a “For unto us (the
Nation of Israel) a child is born, unto us a son is given: (See,
now we’re up to His first advent.) (-) and the government shall be upon
his shoulder:…” Wow! What’s happened? We’ve gone all the way from Bethlehem to the Kingdom. So, what do you do? Put a hyphen in there. Put parentheses
around it and show that there’s going to be a break in this timeline. Isaiah 9:6b “…and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince
of Peace.” Those are all titles of Deity that He will assume when He
becomes the King over His Kingdom. Now verse 7, and for you folks out there
who write in once in a while – well, where do you get any idea of an earthly
kingdom? Well, here’s one. Here’s your earthly kingdom. Isaiah 9:7a <LESSON ONE * PART I
ALAS, THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND
Joel 1:1-15
LESSON ONE * PART II
ALAS, THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND
LESSON ONE * PART III
ALAS, THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND
Joel 1:1-15
LESSON ONE * PART IV
ALAS, THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND
LESSON TWO * PART I
SHOWING A BREAK IN THE O.T. PROPHECY
TIME LINE
Joel 2:28-29