Okay, good to see everybody in
this afternoon. We realize many of you are here for the first time. Some are
from out of the state, more than I can recognize individually. But we’re glad
you’re here, and we trust the Lord will bless your time with us. For those of you out in
television, again we want to invite you to keep doing what you’re doing. Take
your notes and study and learn to search the Scriptures on your own. Again, we
always want to thank everyone for your prayers, your financial help, and most
of all for your complimentary and encouraging letters. My, it helps doesn’t it,
Mom, when we can read how the Word is blessing more and more hearts. All right, now the first thing
I’m going to have to explain, especially to my audience that has been with me
all these years with that old music stand. I had a call and a fellow up in Minnesota wanted to know if he could make a pulpit for me, or a podium I guess he called
it. I said, “No, not really. Because all of our mail says to never change a
thing!” And that’s going to include my old music stand, even though it was
getting pretty dilapidated and wasn’t mine. It belongs to the studio here. But then he sent me a picture
of it with a nice note, and he said if you’ll take it, I’ll deliver it. Well,
what are you going to do? So, anyway, he brought it clear down from northern Minnesota and left it here at the studio for us. So we’re going to use it. But, if I get
a lot of flack from my TV audience that they want the music stand back, then
I’m going to have to give the podium to the station or someone who can use it. Now, you know that’s the way
our program has been set. I try to be communicable with my audience and tell
you what takes place in the ministry. So this is the reason you see me behind
a different podium. Okay, we’re going to pick right
up where we left off in our last program, which was a month ago now in our
taping sessions—Daniel chapter 7 verse 9. Now, as I reviewed the programs, I
know I did a lot of just reading verses in the first part of Daniel without
much comment, because there was just no other way to do it. So I kind of
apologize to my audience for that. But from here on, now, we’re going to be
able to do a lot of what we normally do, comparing Scripture with Scripture.
But with some of those chapters we covered in the last taping, we just couldn’t
do that. So here in Daniel chapter 7
we’re going to drop in at verse 9. And remember, in the first 8 verses of this
chapter Daniel had a dream, a vision, in which he saw the progression of the
same Gentile empires that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. Where Nebuchadnezzar
saw metals: gold, silver, brass, iron, and so forth; Daniel sees them pictured as
beasts of prey. And remember, back there in the first part of the chapter, the
first, which was Babylon, was picked as a lion. Then he comes up with the bear
and then the leopard and then the Roman Empire was something beyond
description. All right, so that was Daniel’s approach to these coming world
empires. Now again, let me emphasize,
this is exactly why the scoffers have ridiculed Daniel as being a forgery. Because
how could Daniel foretell these coming empires so explicitly and so correctly
unless it had been written after the fact? Well, you see, the scoffer knows
nothing of Holy Spirit inspiration. God knows the end from the beginning. And
even as we are today 2,000 years removed from the time of Christ, yet we are
exactly where Scripture says we would be. So as we look back at our own
past election, even from the believers’ point of view, we have to recognize
that God puts these people in office. And even though we try to do what we
have to do, yet we have to recognize that God is in Sovereign control. He
knows the end from the beginning. So He could very readily show Daniel and
Nebuchadnezzar the progress of these Gentile empires. All right, after he finishes
that dream of these coming world empires as we see them coming on the scene
today, in that same dream, now, we pick up in verse 9. Daniel 7:9 “I beheld (Or, he
was a viewer of all these things in his vision.) until the thrones were
cast down, (In other words, all these Gentile empires have come and
gone, and they have now gone into the dustbin of eternal history.) and
the Ancient of days did sit, (which is a reference to God the Father) whose
garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his
throne (See, now this speaks of the throne in Heaven, where we normally
speak of God as being seated on the throne—God the Father. God the Son is not
on the throne in Heaven. God the Father is. All right, so the Father’s--)
throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.” Now I’ve said it before. I get
a little disturbed when people write books and try to explain Heaven. Because
whenever they use Scripture to describe Heaven, they’re always using the
description of the Kingdom, the 1,000 year reign. Listen! That is not Heaven.
That’s merely the 1,000 year millennial reign of Christ on earth. And it takes
a stretch to go into the eternal Heaven of the Heavens, because Scripture gives
us no clue. All we know is it’s going to be glorious. But we do have a little
bit of a picture of the throne room itself, which is certainly not all of
Heaven. To get a little glimpse of that, turn back with me to Ezekiel. And the reason I’m doing that
is because of the word “wheels” in the verse I just read. “His
throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.” All
right, now to pick that up, come back with me, like I said, to Ezekiel chapter
1. That’s where we have the description of these wheels. Got it? Ezekiel
chapter 1 and, oh, let’s see, let’s come down to verse 4. Ezekiel 1:4-5a “And I looked, and,
behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding
itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the
color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5. Also out of the midst thereof
came the likeness of four living creatures….” All right, now we have
the description of these angelic beings and likenesses and so forth. But come
all the way down to verse 16, and you find the word that brought me back here. Ezekiel 1:16 “The appearance of the wheels
and their work was like unto the color of a beryl: (That’s a gemstone.)
and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was
as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.” Now your imagination can
picture that as well as mine. I had someone try to paint something like that
one time and they sent it to me. But it’s just something that is beyond us.
And the only reason I’m showing this, is because the word is used in Daniel and
again in Ezekiel. All right, we also have a
picture of it to a degree back in Revelation. So if you’ll come back to
Revelation with me for a moment, we get that same kind of a connotation of the
fiery flames and so forth that are pictured in the heavenly part, the throne
room in the Book of Revelation. And, oh, let me see, where do I have to go? I
had one picked out. But come with me first to chapter 4. Revelation chapter 4
and drop in at verse 2 for sake of time. Revelation 4:2-3 “And immediately I was in
the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
(The throne upon which God the Father is positioned.) 3. And he
that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and
there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. (Now
see, we can’t imagine this. This is beyond human comprehension.) 4. And
round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw
four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment: and they had on their
heads crowns of gold.” All right, now jump up to verse 6, and,
remember, we’re comparing this with Ezekiel and Daniel. Revelation 4:6 “And before the throne
(That is this throne in the Heaven of the Heavens. Not the throne that Christ
will sit on in Jerusalem. This is in the heavenlies.) And before the
throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the
throne, and round about the throne, were four creatures (living beings)
full of eyes before and behind.” All right, I think that’s far
enough for now in the Book of Revelation. So come back with me again to Daniel
chapter 7. So always remember, that when it comes to describing the Heaven to
which we are going, we can only go just so far. We just cannot comprehend the
glory and the beauty of what we’re going to call our abode. Now I had one
writer speculate from some little pieces of Scripture that there would be
mountains and rivers and so forth. Well, maybe, maybe not. But all I know is
it’s going to be so glorious that even the Apostle Paul was not permitted to
describe it. That’s why the Lord put that pressure on him with the—what did He
call it, “the thorn in the flesh,” in order to remind him to
never share what he saw up in Glory. Now if Paul wasn’t permitted to
show it, who in the world has got the brass today to say that they’ve got the
right? That’s the only reason that I can put on it—that it is so far beyond
our human understanding that God knows that there is no use in trying to
describe it. And that’s where we’ll leave it. It’s going to be glorious. It’s
going to be fantastic beyond comprehension. All right, now back to Daniel
chapter 7 then, after the reference of the wheels as burning fire in verse 9,
now verse 10. Daniel 7:10a “A fiery stream issued
and came forth from before him: (in other words, from the throne room) thousand
thousands ministered unto him,…” Now you’re getting used to the word
trillions, so you shouldn’t have any trouble with thousands. I’ve got to bring
these things in once in a while, because I like to see people smile. You know,
back when I was young, there was a famous senator from the state of Illinois, who I think at the time was probably a chairman of the finance committee, by the
name of Everett Derkson. Remember him? Good man! Everett Derkson was a good man.
And I’ll never forget reading that one time as the committee was discussing
the budget—you know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Everett Derkson says, “Now
wait a minute, fellows. You’re talking millions and millions, then it won’t be
long and it will be billions.” Well, poor ‘ol Everett wouldn’t have been able
to take if he were to hear it today. Trillions. You know how much a trillion
is? There’s no way of knowing, because I think I read a while back that there
are less than a trillion seconds between now and the time of Christ. I mean,
it’s just beyond us. So anyway, here we’ve got
millions—a thousand thousands is a million. All right, not even a trillion – a
million. Verse 10: Daniel 7:10 “A fiery stream issued and
came forth from before him: thousand thousands (millions) ministered
unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand (That’s a hundred
thousand in my understanding. Or is that a million? Anyway--) they
stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.”
Now, of course, that leaps up to the Great White Throne. Verse 11: Daniel 7:11 “I beheld then because of
the voice of the great words which the horn spake: (Now remember, we
talked of the little horn up there in verse 8 in our last program.) I
beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the
burning flame.” Now remember who the beast is
in Scripture? It’s the anti-Christ. All right, now keep your hand in Daniel.
We’re going to go back to Revelation and see exactly how perfectly Daniel fits
with the Book of Revelation. All right, when we get to the
end of the Tribulation, the anti-Christ has been holding forth for the previous
seven years, and the False Prophet, the religious leader. And as I mentioned in
our last taping, if you’re aware at all of what’s taking place in Christendom,
it is that constant push of meeting after meeting after meeting to bring all
the religions of the world under one head. And that, of course, in the
Tribulation will be the False Prophet. All right, so the False Prophet and the
anti-Christ are men born of women, flesh and blood, but they have been
satanically empowered. All right, now here’s their end even as Daniel showed
it. Revelation 19:20 “And the beast
(the man anti-Christ) was taken, and with him the false prophet (The
religious leader, whoever he is.) that wrought miracles before him, with
which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast,…(Now
remember, that all goes back to those previous seven years of Tribulation. Remember
all that? Back in the earlier chapters of Revelation. Now look at their doom.
Look at their end.)...These both were cast alive into the lake of fire
burning with brimstone.” All right, flip back to Daniel again just to
make sure you get it all locked in, verse 11 again. Daniel 7:11b-12 “…I beheld even until
(the anti-Christ) the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given
to the burning flame. 12. As concerning the rest of the beasts, (These
are the cohorts with the man anti-Christ and with these Gentile empires.) they
had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and
time.” All right, now we’ll go down into verse 13: Daniel 7:13a “I saw in the night
visions, (Now this is still Daniel continuing on with his dream, or
vision, however you want to call it. Now in his next night vision--) and,
behold, one like the Son of man…” That’s a reference, of course,
from the Old Testament of God the Son as we know Him. As we’ve been teaching
in the daily program lately in the Book of Hebrews—that would be God the Son,
Jesus of Nazareth, the Creator God. All right, now he sees Him in this
Old Testament dream. Daniel 7:13b-14 “…came with the clouds of
heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, (Which again is a picture of
God the Son coming before God the Father.) and they brought him near
before him. 14. And there was given him dominion,
(power, authority) and glory, and a kingdom, (And this kingdom
will include--) that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him:
his dominion (or His rule, His government, His Kingship) is
an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which
shall not be destroyed.” All right, now before I comment
any further on that, let’s again jump up to Revelation, chapter 5.
Revelation chapter 5 and you know you can’t study Daniel without studying
Revelation or vise-a-versa. When we did the Book of Revelation way back in our
little books—what, 10 through 14? That’s exactly what I did. I went back and
forth between Daniel and Revelation. Well, now that we’re studying Daniel,
we’ll have to do the same thing only the other way around. We’ll go from
Daniel to Revelation. Now remember what Daniel just said—that he saw the Son
of man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he came before the Ancient of days,
and the father gave unto him dominion and glory and a kingdom. All
right, now in Revelation chapter 5, then, we can pick it up right here in verse
1. Revelation 5:1a “And I saw in the right
hand of him who sat on the throne (Now have you got the picture? God
the Father was seated on the throne, at least positionally, and he has a book.)
a book (or a scroll) written within and on the backside,…”
Now you see, it had to be a scroll, because they didn’t make books back in
those times. I don’t know why the translators used it at all. But a scroll
and it was rolled up. Now it stands to reason that if
you unrolled that scroll, what you write will be on the inside when you roll it
up. You can picture that. All right, then after it’s rolled up, if you want
to put something on the outside, yes, you can write on the outside of the
scroll. Now picture all that, because that’s the point. All the details of
this scroll, which is really a mortgage on planet earth between God and Satan,
all the details are written on the open side. But when it was rolled up and
sealed, then you have information on the outer part of the scroll. Now reading
on: Revelation 5:2 “And I saw a strong angel
proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy (or who is able) to
open the scroll, and to loose the seals thereof?” Now again, this was
going back to antiquity. Maybe not long before Israel. But anyway, they
already had the whole idea of buying and selling land and property with
mortgages. You know, I think a lot of us
have got the idea that this is all a modern day phenomenon. No, it isn’t.
They had mortgages clear back at the time of Ruth. You remember that. How Boaz
had to pay the price of redemption to get the inheritance back. So that’s
nothing new. So the Scripture is right in line with what everybody understood—that
when you signed a mortgage, it was detailed, rolled up, and sealed with the
things that mattered first on the outside. Now, it’s the same principle
that we’ve got today. If you’re really on top of things and you’re buying a
piece of property that is mortgaged, you won’t take the person’s word for how
much the mortgage is. What do you do? Either you or your real estate agent or
the attorney—where are they going to go? The courthouse. You go into the
recorder and you ask if you can see the copy of this mortgage of the property
that you’re buying. Well, what’s the purpose? So that you know exactly the
financial situation of that piece of property or you’ll get taken. It was the
same way back in antiquity. Those details were all written on a mortgage and
sealed. Same way with this spiritual mortgage—God made a mortgage with Satan
when Satan picked up dominion of planet earth. Now when did Satan pick up
dominion of planet earth? Well, when Adam fell. It was Adam’s dominion. He
was to have control of the whole planet. Everybody thinks just that little
Garden of Eden. No, Adam had dominion of the whole planet. And when he
disobeyed God, he dropped the ball. Who picked it up? Satan did. All right,
but Satan didn’t just pick it up and glibly go his way. God set up a mortgage,
in so many words, and that mortgage is going to demand payment before, once
again, it becomes God’s dominion. All right, now that’s the whole
picture of mortgages through Scripture. It is to get us ready for this
scenario in Heaven in Revelation 5. We’ve got a mortgage. Details. Sealed.
But on the outside are certain details pertinent for the immediate. All right,
now verse 5 and I’m going to run out of time if I don’t hurry. Revelation 5:5 “And one of the elders
(up there in Glory) saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the
tribe of Juda, (Who’s that? That’s Jesus Christ.) the Root of
David, hath prevailed (He has maintained His ability--) to open
the scroll, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” In other words,
make time or make it ready to pay off. Revelation 5:6-7 “And I beheld, and, lo,
in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders,
stood a Lamb as it had been slain, (In other words, a reference again to
Christ’s crucifixion, His death as the true atonement.) having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all
the earth. 7. And he (God the Son, the Lamb of God) came and
took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat upon the throne.” Revelation 5:8-9a “And when he had taken
the scroll, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down
before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours,
which are the prayers of the saints. 9. And they sang a new song,…”
Why? It’s the beginning of the end of the curse of planet earth. God is now
ready to pay off Satan in full and take back once again that which He had one
time owned and controlled and then lost because of Adam. Now verse 9: Revelation 5:9 “And they sang a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,…” Now remember what made Him
worthy? His death, burial, and His resurrection. Now, I’m going to keep
hammering away at resurrection, because I had a phone call early this morning
before we left. The guy said (just like I’ve mentioned over and over), “Why do
so many people talk about Christ’s death, and they totally ignore the resurrection?”
And I’m afraid we’re all aware
of that. But listen, the work of the Cross was not complete without the
resurrection. He had to be raised from the dead in order to continue the whole
unfolding of God’s plan for the Ages. Don’t ever discount the resurrection as
part of the plan of salvation. All right, so here it is again. Revelation 5:9-10 “And they sang a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for
thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation; 10. And hast made us unto our God kings and
priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” Now you’ve always got to
remember that John is a Jew, and the whole Book of Revelation is directed primarily
to Israel. So don’t put us in here. This is not Church Age language. This is
all God dealing with Israel. Verse 12, this picks up the resurrection. Revelation 5:12a “Saying with a loud
voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power,…” Now that’s
where I have to stop a moment. Where was His power exercised? At the
resurrection. Resurrection power! Revelation 5:12b-13 “…to receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. 13. And every creature
which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in
the sea, and all that are in them, (They are all under His dominion now
once again.) heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be
unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”
And this is the whole concept, then, of the end-time scenario—because of what
Christ accomplished on the Cross with His death, His shed blood, His burial,
AND HIS RESURRECTION. Okay, good to see everybody
back again. You’ve had your coffee and your break. Again, for those of you
watching us on television, remember, we always make four of these in an
afternoon and in between times have a coffee break. That’s the reason that we
keep it informal. For those of you that are joining us, we trust that you will
learn to study the Word, and many of you are. My, we are so thrilled with the
response that we’re getting of people finally learning to study and to enjoy
this Book. I had a phone call the other
day. You could just sense the young man’s exuberance. He said, “Les, I’ve
never found anything so exciting.” And it is! It’s a glorious Book! And this
is what I like to show—how all the Scriptures fit together. And you know, the
scornful out there, they don’t have a clue, do they? They just don’t have a
clue. All right, we’re going to pick
up again where we left off back in Daniel chapter 7. But I want to go back to
verse 14, even though we discussed it in the last half hour. I want to come
back because I’m beginning to realize more and more that most of Christendom,
most Church people, has no concept of this earthly Kingdom. They may have heard the term “millennial,”
or they may have heard the term “the thousand years,” but they have no concept
that this is literally going to be a Kingdom with a King and ruled with
government. It’s going to be without any sin, without any of the curse. But
nevertheless, there are going to be flesh and blood humans from every nation on
earth that are going to be involved in this glorious coming Kingdom. Now just to show you how it has
been referred to all though Scripture, even though we did a series on the
Kingdom not too long ago, we’re going to rehearse it again. But before we go
back, let’s look at verse 14. God the Son came before God the Father in verse
13, now verse 14: Daniel 7:14 “And there was given him
(to the Son) dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, (Plain as
English can make it. And in this Kingdom--) that all people, nations,
and languages, should serve him: (He’s the King!) his dominion is
an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall
not be destroyed.” Now I say this with some
trepidation. I’m convinced that this earthly Kingdom is going to slip on into
eternity. Fortunately, the Lord led me to a well-written book way back, I
think maybe even before Iris and I were married. It was written by a theology
professor not in Dallas Theological Seminary, but of Dallas Bible School of sorts. I had a gentleman in one of my classes the other night who vows up and
down that he was in that Bible School and he probably would be able to find the
book for me again. But anyhow, the book was just simply laying out so clearly
this concept of the 1,000 year rule and reign of Christ, and how that even at
the end of the 1,000 years it will go right on into eternity. Now on that basis, let’s come
back and look at Revelation again before we go back further into the Old
Testament. Come with me to Revelation 21, and I say this with trepidation. I
don’t put this in concrete by saying, now this is the way you’ve got to believe
it. But to me it’s worthy of thinking. It’s worthy of considering that since
this 1,000 year Kingdom reign is spoken of over and over as forever and ever
and ever, then it must go into eternity. Now are those people in the Kingdom
going to go in as flesh and blood? No, I don’t think so. I think they’ll
receive an eternal body of sorts. But nevertheless, come back to Revelation
21. This is interesting. We know that this universe is
going to be totally melted down and dissolved according to II Peter and other
Scriptures, but here in chapter 21 we’ve got an interesting concept. Revelation
21 verse 1, and just look at what it says. After the Tribulation and after the
1,000 years, after the Great White Throne—nothing left but eternity, and what
does John see? Revelation 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven
and a new earth: (That’s what it says.) for the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Now let’s go back to Peter. I
can’t just make mention of something and not let you read it with your own
eyes. Come back to Peter, and I have to look a minute whether it’s first or
second, it is chapter 3, I know. II Peter chapter 3—let’s go back and look at
it. I think we did it in our last taping session, which is only a program or
two if you watch it every day. But if you’re just watching it by the week,
it’s already quite a while back. II Peter chapter 3 verse 10, now remember,
the “day of the Lord” starts at the beginning of the Tribulation,
but it carries all the way through the Kingdom. Everything now is under the
Lord’s control. II Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens (Plural.
Now I look at that to be the solar system, the stars, the universe.)
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements (In other words,
all the materials that make up these stars and these planets.) shall melt
with fervent heat, (Well, naturally, because when you have the
destruction of matter, you generate heat. That’s part of chemistry and
physics.) the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also (See?) and the works
that are therein shall be burned up.” Now you’ve got to remember that
when this thing happens, the 1,000 year Kingdom has already passed, even the
glory of it. It’s going to be burned up. Now verse 11: II Peter 3:11-12 “Seeing then that all
these things shall be dissolved, (Just literally melted down to
nothing.) what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holiness and
godliness, 12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God
(That is the onset of eternity is the way I look at that.) wherein the
heavens (the universe) being on fire shall be dissolved, and the
elements (in other words, all the materials that make up matter) shall
melt with fervent heat?” II Peter 3:13 “Nevertheless
(Peter says by inspiration) we, according to his promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Now, I don’t
think Peter’s talking about the millennial Kingdom. I think he’s talking about
this new heaven and new earth of Revelation 21. Well, be that for now, if you
don’t agree, that’s fine. I’ve got no problem with that, but it’s worthy of
thought. Now then, if you’ll come back
to Daniel chapter 7 again, being reminded that the constant language is that this
1,000 year heaven and earth Kingdom will not end at 1,000 years, but it will go
on into eternity because of this kind of language. Look at the last half of
verse 14 once again, if you will. Daniel 7:14b “…his dominion
(That is Christ as King of Kings and LORD of LORDS over this earthly Kingdom) is
an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which
shall not be destroyed.” It’s going to somehow slip on into eternity. All right, but now just to
emphasize again how much the whole Old Testament puts on this concept of an
earthly Kingdom, we’re going to go back and hit just a few of these verses.
Because, you know, I get letter after letter—Les, don’t ever stop repeating.
Repeat and repeat and repeat. Luther, how many years have you
been sitting here? Almost all the way from the beginning. And here not too
long ago he came up at break time and he says, “Les, don’t ever stop
repeating.” You remember, don’t you? He said, “Today I saw something that I
never saw before.” Well, it’s not because he hasn’t got what it takes. He’s
human. And for all of us, it just bears repeating and repeating and repeating;
then all of a sudden it just begins to make sense. All right, so come back with me
to Exodus chapter 19. I think this is the first time we have a definitive
reference to a coming Kingdom. Now in latent language it’s in the Abrahamic
Covenant. Of course it is. And in latent language it’s in some of the other
covenants. But by the time we get to the Davidic Covenant, it’s for real.
David is the first King in the long bloodline of families that will lead to the
King of Kings, Jesus of Nazareth. Now here in Exodus 19, if I’m
not mistaken, is the first reference to a coming Kingdom. And it’s a reference,
of course, to the 1,000 year or millennial Kingdom. All right, start at verse
3 of Exodus 19 so that you get the setting. Israel has just come out of Egypt. They’re gathered around Mount Sinai, and God calls Moses up into the mountain. You
know the account of all that. Exodus 19:3a “And Moses went up unto
God, and the LORD called…” Now again, I always emphasize these terms of
Deity, especially back here in Exodus. Moses goes up unto God and the LORD—now
God involves Elohim, the whole Triune Godhead. But who’s the LORD?
God the Son. So here you have the Triune God on the one hand, but immediately
now it’s God the Son who speaks. Now that reminds me. Do you
remember when I first started teaching years and years ago? We were in John’s
Gospel chapter 1 verse 1, and what is the term of Deity for the Son? What’s He
called? The Word! “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and the Word was God…and by him were all things made that are made.”
All right, then you remember,
what did I put on the board? Word! What do we do with words? Communicate!
Exactly. So whenever God communicates with the human race, I don’t care where,
when, or how, it’s always God the Son. Now mark that down if you don’t
remember anything else today. Whenever God speaks, under whatever circumstance
or whatever purpose, it’s always God the Son. Let me just prove it to you. Come back—keep your hand in
Exodus. You know, I told my last seminar, I guess that was when we were in
Branson, that I do this all the time. I said you’ve just got to get used to
me. This is the way I teach. Come back with me to Hebrews chapter 1. And you
know, when people try to tell me through letter or a phone call once in a while
that God spoke to them and told them something uniquely pertinent to the
situation, I say, “Now wait a minute. God isn’t doing that today. God is not
talking to any human being today. Don’t come and tell me what God told you,
because I won’t buy it.” Because when God finished what’s between these two
covers, the Word of God ended. It’s complete. And don’t you buy any of this
rubbish where they say, well, I’ve had a special revelation from God. No, they
haven’t. It hasn’t come from God. And here’s the reason scripturally. Hebrews 1:1 “God, (the
Triune, Elohim God) who at sundry times and in divers (or
various) manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,”
Well, of course He did. All the Old Testament writers were prophets. Moses
was a prophet. Daniel, who we’re studying now, was a prophet. The Lord
Himself called him that in Matthew 24. All right, but now look at verse 2. Hebrews 1:2a “Hath in these last days…”
You remember what I said in the last half hour? When are the last
days? Beginning with Christ’s first advent. And then the day of the Lord
starts with the Tribulation. But the last days of Scripture are from Christ’s
first coming all the way through. Because according to the Old Testament,
there was no inkling of a 2,000 year Age of Grace. It was all going to keep
right on going. So this is a reference to Christ’s first coming when He was
here on the planet. Hebrews 1:2a “God hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son,…” Now you grammar people, what
tense of the verb is that? Past tense, absolutely. And what does past tense
mean? That’s ended. God has spoken. It’s over. It’s complete. Now I’ll show you another
Scripture. Put your hand in Hebrews, we’re going to have some fun, aren’t we?
Okay, now come back a few pages to Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1
and drop in at verse 25. Remember now, this is Paul the Apostle writing to the
Church at Colossi. He’s writing during his prison experience. Won’t be much
longer and he’ll be put to death. Now look what he says, and I dare say 99% of
Christendom, even most fundamental, do not know what this verse says. Let’s
look at it. Colossians 1:24-25a “(Paul—up in
verse 23) Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up
(or bring to the full) that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ
in my flesh (In other words, his suffering, suffering for the sake of
the Gospel.) for the body’s sake, which is the church: 25. Whereof I am
made a minister,…” Now you remember how I
emphasized Acts chapter 9:15—when God told Ananias to go thy way, for he, Saul
of Tarsus, is a what? Chosen vessel unto me. And you remember how I pointed
out that word chosen? Out of the thirty times that the word chosen is
used in the New Testament, only once in this verse in Acts 9:15 does it use the verb, or the Greek, that means divinely chosen. That’s what Saul’s
Apostleship is. He was divinely appointed to be God’s spokesman here on earth.
And that’s why people have to learn, whether they like it or not, that we take
God’s orders through His designated Apostle. All right, so he says: Colossians 1:25 “Whereof I am made a
minister, (by Divine appointment) according to the dispensation
of God which is given to me for you, (See how we get it? Through the
Apostle Paul, which is given to me for you. Now here’s what I came back here
for. I wish we had it on the screen. It isn’t up there, but I wish it were.) to
fulfill the word of God;” Now those of you who have got
Greek Dictionaries at home and a Strong’s Concordance—there they got it on the
screen. I’m going to read it again, for the sake of our television audience. Colossians 1:25 “Whereof I am made a minister,
according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill
the word of God.” Now just leave that on the
screen, guys. When you get home, you find a good Greek Dictionary, or many of
you have the Strong’s Concordance. This word “fulfill” means to
bring to an end, to fill up, to finish. There are about four or five other
words and they all mean the same thing—that when the Apostle Paul finished his
letter to II Timothy, that completed the Word of God. Not the Book of
Revelation. I refuse, and I have for 30 years, to believe that John wrote in
A.D. 95. Now, I know that’s what tradition says, but tradition be blamed. I’m
just not going to listen to it. This verse says it all—that to the Apostle
Paul was given the wherewithal to complete the Word of God. All right, now then, with that
come back with me to Hebrews. Maybe I made my point. I hope so. Back to
Hebrews chapter 1. If I’m not careful, I’m going to run out of time before I
get back to Exodus. All right, Hebrews chapter 1, again. Let’s read it
quickly. Hebrews 1:1-2a “God, who at sundry times
and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2. Hath
in these last days spoken (Past tense, it is finished.) unto us
by his Son,…” Now, can you get it any plainer than that? Now we’ve already lost my
theme. Who is the Communicator? God the Son. God the Son always. Under any
circumstance it has to be God the Son who communicates between the Triune God
and the human race. All right, now with that, come
back to Exodus 19. This is why, even though God called to Moses and brought
him up to Mount Sinai, when it came time for God to speak, who is it? God the
Son! The LORD, L-O-R-D, and LORD is always a reference to Jehovah, who is
God the Son. All right, my, that took me a long time to get full circle,
didn’t it? All right, now verse 3: Exodus 19:3-4a “And Moses went up unto
God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, (Now
this is Jesus speaking in His Old Testament theophany.) Thus shalt thou
say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4. Ye have seen
what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings,…” Now be careful. Did they fly?
How’d they go? Well, they walked. And the reason I do this, is because when
the remnant of Israel leaves Jerusalem in the middle of the Tribulation, the
Scripture says again they’re going to what? Fly like eagles. But they’re not
going to fly. It’s going to be a supernatural exodus under God’s control.
And that’s the point I’m trying to make. All right, so He says: Exodus 19:4b-5 “…and how I bare you on
eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. 5. Now therefore, (Now
remember, Israel is just fresh out of Egypt.) if ye will obey my voice
indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye (the Nation of Israel) shall
be a peculiar (an intrinsic) treasure unto me above all people:
for all the earth is mine:” That’s why we call them the favored
Nation, the Chosen People, however you want to put it. God said so. Oh, I
know, Satan’s in control, but God is still above it all. Now here comes the
verse I came back for. Took me fifteen minutes to get there. Can’t help
that. Verse 6: Exodus 19:6a “And ye (the
Nation of Israel) shall be unto me a (What’s the next word?) kingdom…”
Now listen, whenever you see a word like that, don’t just run over it. Stop and
think. What are the requirements of a Kingdom? What do you have to have?
You’ve got to have a King. Well, that doesn’t do any good. What does he have
to have? He has to have subjects. Well, they’re not going to be floating
around out in space someplace. Where are they? In a geographical area of
land. Got it? A Kingdom then is going to involve a King and people and land,
territory. All right, so they are to be: Exodus 19:6b “…a kingdom of priests,
and an holy (or a set apart) nation. These are the
words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” All right, now since I haven’t
got an awful lot of time left in this half hour. Come up all the way with me
to Isaiah. Otherwise, if I had more time, I would stop in II Samuel chapter 7
where God announces to King David that a Kingdom is coming out of his
bloodline. But let’s, for sake of time,
jump all the way up to Isaiah chapter 9 where we have a good description.
Verses you are all aware of, but most people don’t understand because they have
no idea of this coming earthly Kingdom. Isaiah chapter 9 and jump in at verse
6. Now remember, Isaiah is writing, prophesying to Israel. Not to the world in
general, but rather Israel. Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us (to
the Nation of Israel) a child is born, unto us a son is given:
(And I tie that in with John 3:16.) and the government (the means
of controlling this nation) shall be upon his shoulder: (the Son
that God gives) And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty
God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Now those are all titles
of the Son of God, of Christ, of Jesus of Nazareth. Isaiah 9:7 “Of the increase of his
government (as King) and peace there shall be no end,
(Which again means, I think, that it’s going to go into eternity.) there
shall be no end, (It’s going to be upon the throne of
David, which was on Mount Zion in Ancient Jerusalem, and Mount Zion is still in
Jerusalem.) upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it,
and to establish it with judgment (or rule, government) and with
justice (There’ll be no corruption in His Kingdom.) from
henceforth even for ever. (See that?) The zeal of the LORD of
hosts will perform this.” All right, now since that is
going to involve all the tongues and tribes, back up with me now to the very
early part of Isaiah chapter 2. Now, I know this is repetition, but like I
said, this is what most of us need. Isaiah 2:2 “And it shall come to
pass (It’s going to happen. Hasn’t yet, but it is coming.) in
the last days, that the mountain (which is a word for Kingdom in Old
Testament language) that the mountain (or the Kingdom) of
the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, (In
other words, it’ll be above any kingdom that’s ever existed.) and shall
be exalted above (smaller kingdoms or) hills; (And here’s
the key.) and all nations (Every nation on earth is going to
what?) shall flow unto it.” Jerusalem will be the capital
of the world. All the ramifications of this worldwide Kingdom under Christ’s
control will be headed up in Jerusalem. It will be the very vortex of all the
activity. Okay, good to have everybody
back again for program number 3. For those of you out in television, again, we
just want to welcome you to an informal Bible study. That’s all we want it to
be. It is to learn how to study on your own. And, you know, I don’t attack
anybody. I refuse to do that. Because my approach is, if I can show the truth
simply from Scripture, they’re going to see the error. And it’s working. My
goodness, how we get phone call after phone call. I had a pastor call just before
we left this morning. He said, “Les, I finally see it.” Well, I didn’t have
to tell him and brow beat him. The Lord just opened his eyes and he could see
it. That’s been my approach, and hopefully I’ll never change from that. All right, we’re going to
continue where we left off in Daniel chapter 7. But we’re going to leave it in
just a minute and go back and look at some more references with regard to what
God is promising here to the nation of Israel, as well as to the nations of the
world once this Kingdom becomes a reality. So, let’s go back briefly to Daniel
chapter 7 verses 13 and 14 for a kick-off place. Daniel 7:13-14a “I (Daniel) saw
in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man (which is the
other term for Christ of the New Testament) came with the clouds of
heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, (or before God the Father) and
they brought him near before him. 14. And there was given him (that is
God the Son) dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,…” And that’s what we’re looking
at now for most of the afternoon—that to God the Son was given and promised a
Kingdom, not just over Israel, but-- Daniel 7:14b “…that all people,
nations, and languages, should serve him: (In other words, under this
Kingship of Jesus of Nazareth.) his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
Now we always like to emphasize that there is no time factor given in the Old
Testament whatsoever. But when we get to the Book of Revelation, it’s what? A
thousand years. All right, now we’re not going
to doubt Scripture and say, well, now it can’t be forever if Revelation says a
thousand years. Because as we showed in one of our previous programs this
afternoon, that when you get to chapter 21, what happens after this 1,000 year
kingdom scenario is destroyed? We have a new heaven and a new earth. So I
think we’re on the right track to feel that somehow or other (I can’t explain
it) this 1,000 year millennial reign of Christ will go right on into the
eternal. And what God does with the people…we’ll leave that with Him. You know, I’m getting more and
more all the time—I just tell people I can’t answer that. We’ll just wait
until we get there, and then we’ll find out everything that we think we have to
know. So we’re showing from the Old Testament, again, like we’ve done many
times before, the promises of things pertaining to this Kingdom. Well now, we
saw in our last program how that Jerusalem will be the capital of it all. Now come back to Isaiah chapter
11, a portion of Scripture you’re all acquainted with. But again, it just shows
how that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is going to rule the planet with
absolute authority. He won’t need a House of Representatives or a Senate. He
won’t need a Cabinet. He won’t need advisors. He’s going to be, as God, fully
capable of running and ruling this Kingdom by Himself. Isaiah 11:1a “And there shall come
forth….” Now you know you’ve heard me say it a hundred times over the
last years. When the Bible says it shall come to pass, or it’s going to come,
what can we rest on? It’s going to happen even though it hasn’t yet. God
isn’t through. It’s going to happen. It’s out in front of us. We can see now
that it’s getting closer and closer. How many of you are watching
the daily program in Hebrews? I’m just kind of curious. Oh, my goodness,
well, now you’ll know what I’m talking about. I caught just a few minutes of
it this morning before we had to leave to come up here. Just a few minutes and
do you realize that much of what I’m saying back there in 2001 I could have
said last week? But this morning’s program just boggled me. I could have said
it last week. You’d never know that that was spoken nine years ago. Well,
why? Because everything is just coming now to a vortex—what I talked about ten
years ago is now. It is still in the same beam, but now it’s getting closer and
closer. Well, the same way with all
these Old Testament things. Yes, we’ve talked about them before, but we’re so
much closer now than we were when I taught it maybe a couple or three years
ago. Isaiah 11:1-2 “And There shall come
forth (It’s going to happen.) a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and
a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest
upon him, (Now we’re speaking of Jesus the Christ. The Son of God.
The King.) the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel
and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” Isaiah 11:3a “And shall make him of
quick understanding in the fear (or the wisdom) of the LORD: and he
shall not (Now here it comes. Here’s going to be how He will rule over
this coming earthly Kingdom.) he shall not (rule) judge
after the sight of his eyes,…” In other words, now just stop a
minute. Whenever there’s a big disaster—whether it’s the flood of the Mississippi, or whether it’s Katrina down in New Orleans—what did they expect the President
to do? Well, get off his duff in Washington and get out and see it all
firsthand so that he’ll know what the problems are. Right? This One won’t
have to, because through His Omnipotent Eyes He’ll know everything that’s taking
place in His Kingdom. See? So He won’t have to judge, or come to conclusions,
after looking at something. Isaiah 11:3b-4a “…neither (will
he) reprove (or make any corrections or so forth) after the
hearing of his ears: (What he’s heard. He’s going to know everything,
see? He’s going to be absolute Sovereign King of Kings.) 4. But with
righteousness (See?) shall he judge the poor,…” Here’s
where the Beatitudes come into play. The Beatitudes that were spoken on the
Sermon on the Mount will finally become a reality in this 1,000 year rule and
reign of Christ. Isaiah 11:4-5a “But with righteousness shall
he judge (or rule) the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek
of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of this mouth,
(That, of course, was done during the Tribulation.) and with the breath
of his lips shall he slay the wicked. (He did that at the end when He
got everything ready for the believers to come in.) 5. And
righteousness…” No corruption. No cheating someone out of what
belongs to them. It will be total righteousness. No sex trade. No liquor
trade. No gambling casinos. All that stuff that pertains to the world of
Satan will not be present in this Kingdom. Isaiah 11:5 “And righteousness shall
be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.”
Then here we come to the animal kingdom. I love this, because you all know I
love animals. I could read this verse once a day, every day, year in and year
out. Isaiah 11:6a “The wolf also shall dwell
with the lamb,…” Now, do you picture these things? I mean, this
isn’t pie in the sky. It’s going to happen. The wild animals are going to
co-habit with the domestic animals. The innocent little lamb and the goats and
the dogs and the cats and everything are going to be perfectly in conformity
with each other, in harmony, if I can use that word. And there is no more
curse, no more carnivorous animals. Isaiah 11:6 “The wolf also shall
dwell with the lamb, (Because he’s not looking at it for something to
eat.) and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; (For the same
reason—that big cat isn’t going to look at a baby goat for his food.) and
the calf (That is the calf of the domestic cattle as we know them and
as Israel knew them.) and the young lion and the fatling together; and
(Then in the midst of all that—what?) a little child shall lead them.” See? It will be a perfect
environment. Children can play amongst what we now call wild, carnivorous
animals. They’re all going to be like pets. Now don’t forget what he’s talking
about. The wolf. The leopard. The lion. Little kids are going to be able to
play with them. Lead them. Gorgeous! Doesn’t that give you a thrill? My
goodness, it’s unbelievable. Isaiah 11:7 “And the cow and the bear
shall feed; (That is together.) their young ones shall lie down
together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” In other words,
it’s going to have the digestive system—instead of needing meat and blood that
it gets from killing something, it’s going to have a digestive system that will
be able to eat provender such as straw and grass and so forth like an ox. Isaiah 11:9 “They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy Kingdom: for the earth (the whole planet) shall
be full of the knowledge of the LORD, even as the waters cover the sea.”
In other words, God is going to be in such total, total control of this
heaven-on-earth existence. But now this isn’t Heaven. Like I said in the
beginning of the first program this afternoon, this is not Heaven’s Heaven.
This is an earth with a heaven-like atmosphere. And don’t ever mix the two. Now, I’m going to show a little
later, maybe not today, but in our next series of four, that we’re going to
have some kind of a connection with this Kingdom. But I no longer feel that
the Church (the Body of Christ) is going to come back in mass at the Lord’s
Second Coming. I used to kind of think that, but not any more. Now, I think
we’re going to have a connection with it, so don’t prejudge me until we get
there. All right, so here we have
another description of the earth being as perfect as it was before the Fall.
All right, now I think for sake of time, let’s just jump all the way up to
Zechariah, the next to the last book in your Old Testament, chapter 14. And
there it is in language as plain as anyone could hope to read it. Now by the time we get to
Zechariah, we get a clearer view of the fact that this Kingdom cannot come in
until the seven years of Tribulation are passed first. We made reference to it
with the mortgage and so forth. But now we’ve got a better description in
Zechariah even than we have back in the Prophets and so forth. Zechariah 14:1-2a “Behold, the day of the
LORD (Which we said earlier is the beginning of the seven years of
Tribulation.) cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
(In other words, the Prophet and God are speaking to the Nation of Israel.) 2.
For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall
be taken, and the houses rifled,…” It’s going to be awful for the
citizens of Jerusalem. Now remember, while this is
taking place, where are the remnant of Jews? Out there in a place of
protection. We don’t know where, but he says out in the mountains God is going
to protect them for these final three-and-a-half years, supernaturally. Nothing
of the Tribulation horrors will touch that remnant of Israel—which, remember, will be about five million people. Now, that’s a good chunk of human
beings, and God’s going to sustain them for three-and-a-half years. But for
anything that’s left back there in Jerusalem who were not part of that escaping
remnant at the beginning of that last three-and-a-half years, it’s going to be
awful. Zechariah 14:2b “…the city shall be
taken, and the houses rifled, and the women raped; and half of the city shall
go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off
from the city.” All right, then verse 3, when it looks like there is
no hope and Satan and his anti-Christ and their hordes of Gentile armies look
like they’re taking everything over. Zechariah 14:3 “Then shall the LORD go
forth, and fight against those nations, (Who are under the control of
Satan and his man anti-Christ, remember. And he’s going to go forth and fight…)
as when he fought in the day of battle.” And then after all has been
destroyed and defeated, He’s going to show up in Jerusalem. Zechariah 14:4a “And his feet shall stand
in that day (After the Tribulation horrors have come to an end.) upon
the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of
Olives shall cleave (separate) in the midst thereof toward the
east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley;…” And we know from Ezekiel that
through that valley will flow a river of fresh water all the way to the Dead Sea. Enough to totally heal it as we see now in, oh, let’s see, let’s just jump up to
verse 8. Zechariah 14:8 “And it shall be in that
day, (When Christ has returned to Jerusalem.) that living waters (fresh
water) shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former
sea, (That is out to the Mediterranean.) and half of them toward
the hinder sea: (Or the Dead Sea, which is east of Jerusalem just a few
miles, remember.) in summer and in winter shall it be.” All
right, now here’s the verse that I always head for. Zechariah 14:9 “And the LORD
(God the Son, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth in all of His
Glory) shall be king over all the earth: (Now be ready to show
your fellow church people. Most of them don’t know this. Now some do, but
most of them don’t. Now, they like to spiritualize it, you know, and
allegorize it. No way. You take it literally. He’s going to be King of Kings
and Lord of Lords over the whole planet, ruling from Jerusalem.) in that
day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.” Well then, thinking of that
river of fresh water, I can’t help but think of Ezekiel. So let’s come back to
Ezekiel for just a moment before we go into the New Testament. And I think it’s
pretty close to the last chapter. Yea, it is. Chapter 47 and this is another
one of the supernatural phenomena of the Kingdom. Now those of you who have
been to the Dead Sea, or read about it, you know it is so full of salt and
minerals that you can’t do anything but float in it. It is by far the saltiest, most
mineralized piece of water on all the earth. Even Salt Lake in Utah is nothing compared to the saltiness of the Dead Sea. But all right, look what’s
going to happen. Chapter 47, we won’t take time to read these earlier verses,
but he sees a river of water starting out of Jerusalem, and he sees it as it
heads out toward the Dead Sea. Ezekiel 47:8 “Then said he unto me,
These waters issue out toward the east country, (See, that’s where the
Dead Sea is from Jerusalem. Down, down, down to the east and down
altitude-wise to a couple of thousand feet below sea level.) and go down
into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea,
the waters (That is of the Dead Sea.) shall be healed.”
They’ll be made like fresh water. Now verse 9. Ezekiel 47:9a “And it shall come to
pass, (It’s going to happen.) that every thing that liveth, which
moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live:…” In other
words, along the banks of the river the various trees and the herbs and so
forth are going to be just growing profusely, because it now has access to this
beautiful freshwater river. Ezekiel 47:9b-10a “…and there shall be a
very great multitude of fish, (See?) because these waters shall
come thither: for they shall be healed, and every thing shall live whither the
river cometh. 10. And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon
it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim;…” Now that pops a question,
doesn’t it? Are we going to eat meat in the Kingdom? Now, I said we; I
mean the people there. I’m not sure we’re going to be
there that full time or not. But anyway, are people going to eat meat during
the Kingdom? Well, not meat, but evidently they’re going to eat fish, because
these fishermen certainly aren’t going to catch nets full of fish just to let
them rot. So I have to take from this that they are at least going to be
eating fish. And we know they’re going to eat figs. They’re going to eat grapes.
They’re going to have the fruit and so forth. But evidently, just look what it
says. Ezekiel 47:10 “And it shall come pass,
that the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim;
they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to
their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.” So, that’s
just a little tidbit. You can think about. You don’t have to believe it if
you don’t want to, but it certainly indicates that is the prospect. All right, now let’s jump
quickly into the New Testament. I’m going to start with Matthew chapter 5 and
verse 17, Honey. Now Christ has already begun His earthly ministry. I think
this is probably part of the Sermon on the Mount. Verse 17 of Matthew 5, Jesus
is speaking and He says: Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come
to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
(What?) fulfil.” Now the casual reader thinks, well, He must be
talking about the Cross. No. Not yet. That’s still future. So what’s He
talking about? All these promises concerning the Kingdom. All these promises
of His being a King and His bringing in the Kingdom. Now, lest you think I’m
stretching the point. Keep your hand in Matthew, I’m not through there. Come
all the way up to Acts chapter 3, and let’s drop in at verse 19 first. This
is Peter, again preaching to the Nation of Israel in view of this coming
Kingdom. The King has already been rejected and crucified, buried,
resurrected, and ascended back to Glory; but the whole promise is that He’d be
coming back and would still be the King over this glorious Kingdom. So that’s
Peter’s basis of his preaching. So verse 19, well, no, I’ve got to read verse
18 first. Acts 3:18-20 “But those things, which
God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should
suffer, he hath so fulfilled. 19. (So,) Repent ye therefore,
and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20. And he (God) shall
send Jesus Christ, who before (back in the Old Testament) was
preached unto you:” And what would He come for? To
be the King! To set up the Kingdom. This is Israel’s prospect, especially now
on this side of the Cross. The Blood of Atonement has been shed. He’s been
raised from the dead. He’s ascended back to Glory. He’s seated at the
Father’s right hand. Psalms 110 verse 1, what does it say? “Come sit at
my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” And when
would that be? The end of Tribulation! And then He would come be the King. All right, but now come all the
way down through these verses that Peter is using to prepare the Jews for the
coming of this King and His Kingdom. All right, now to verse 25. My, just
look these carefully. Peter is telling the Nation of Israel—now you want to
remember, there’s no concept of the Apostle Paul and the Gospel of Grace. Not
a word yet. So all Peter is resting on are these Old Testament promises. And
we’re going to go back and look at one of them after this. I have to. But
look at verse 25, Peter said: Acts 3:25-26 “Ye (the Nation
of Israel, the Jews of his day) are the children of the prophets, and of
the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy
seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. 26. Unto you first (Israel) God, having raised up his Son Jesus, (in resurrection power, remember) sent
him to bless you (Israel) in turning away (How many?) every
one of you from his iniquities.” See, Christ couldn’t come until
every Jew had believed who He was, and they didn’t. So, it was postponed. And
then, of course, we go on and we have the rising of the Apostle Paul and him
becoming the Gentiles’ Apostle. But here we have this promise of this King
waiting in the wings to bring in the Kingdom. All right, now if you’ll flip
back to Matthew chapter 5, maybe that’ll help you understand why I think that
Jesus isn’t speaking yet of the Cross. He’s speaking of the King and the
Kingdom which had been promised ever since, well, like we saw, Abraham. And in
our last program we saw that Israel was promised everything in the Book of
Exodus. But read the verse again. Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come
to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”
He came to bring in the Kingdom to Israel. All right, now I forgot and I
skipped back in Isaiah. So come back with me, because we don’t want to leave
it out completely. Come back with me to Isaiah 42, because we’ve got to pick
up the fact that God hasn’t forgotten about the non-Jewish world which we call
Gentiles. Isaiah 42 dropping in at verse 1. Isaiah 42 verse 1. Oh, good
heavens, that half hour is gone. Did you know that? Boy, they go fast. Are
you ready, Honey? Isaiah 42:1 “Behold my servant, whom
I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; (Now remember, God is
speaking through Isaiah the prophet as he writes to the Children of Israel.) I
have put my spirit upon him: (That’s a person.) he shall bring
forth judgment to the Gentiles.” Who are we talking about? God the
Son. The Messiah, see? And He’s going to rule over Gentiles. Well, what have we been saying
all the way along? He’s not going to be just a King over Israel. He’s going to be the King of the whole planet. Every nation that is on the world today, I
feel, will have enough survivors to begin every new nation that we have on the
world today into the Kingdom. That’ll be all of the Orient. All of the
in-between, the Middle East. All of Europe. All of the Americas, all South America. They’re all still, I feel, going to be represented in this glorious
Kingdom over which Christ is going to rule. All right, down to verse 6 and
I guess that will kill this half hour. Isaiah 42:6 “I the LORD have called
thee (That is Israel.) I the LORD have called thee in
righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for
a covenant of the people, (For what purpose?) to be a light of
the Gentiles;” Well now, what did God promise
Moses back in Exodus 19? That every Jew would become a priest of God. Well,
Isaiah is putting it in a little different language, but it’s still the same
thing. Okay, good to have everybody
back again. We’ve lost a few people, but I can’t say that I blame them this
afternoon. It’s been a long session. But anyway, we again want to let our
T.V. people know that we’re just an informal Bible study. I don’t want it to
be anything but that. I don’t want to start preaching at people. We just want
to teach the Book. Although I do get a little wound up, I know I do. But I still don’t want to get
away from the teaching concept, so that people can see for themselves what the
Book says. It doesn’t matter what some denomination says, or what I say, but
what does the Word of God say. And we have to be able to rightly divide it—to separate
Israel from the Body of Christ—and then it all falls in place. All right, program number four
for the afternoon, and we’re in book 81. My, I just asked Iris coming up—that
means how many trips have we made to Tulsa? It’s been a bunch of them.
Anyway, it’s gone fast. Now let’s continue on that
Kingdom concept before we go back and do a verse-by-verse with Daniel again.
Let’s come back to Matthew chapter 3 and the onset of Christ’s earthly
ministry, which is going to begin with John the Baptist. After all, John the
Baptist was sent to be the herald of, or to announce, the King and His Kingdom
to the Nation of Israel. Because all these covenant promises were made only to
Israel. The Gentiles had no part of those covenants. But as we saw in the
last part of the last program, Israel was to understand that even though all
the covenant promises were theirs, they would still be instrumental in bringing
the Gentiles to a knowledge of Israel’s God. And, of course, we’ve been
seeing a little preview of that in our study of Daniel with Nebuchadnezzar.
That process where he was a total pagan with no concept of the God of Gods, but
as you come up through his life, he sees a little more and a little more.
Until finally, I think, before he left planet Earth he was a believer in the
God of Israel, or the Most High. All right, so now remember that, that all
these promises of this coming King were limited to the Nation of Israel because
He was to be their King. Well, what prompted the Romans
to put on the cross above Christ the sign—“Jesus of Nazareth, the King of
the Jews”? What prompted it? Well, He had that much understanding, even
as a pagan ruler, that that’s what Jesus had claimed to be. That He had
claimed to be the King of Israel. All right, now we come into Matthew chapter
3 and we start with John the Baptist. Verse 1: Matthew 3:1-2a “In those days
(That is after Jesus had grown up in Nazareth as the carpenter’s son.)
came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, (down
there by the Jordan River) 2. And saying, Repent ye:…” Now, it’s interesting. You
know, I get chewed up one side and down the other because I maintain that
repentance is not a prerequisite for salvation today. We don’t repent and then
get saved. We get saved, and then we repent or change directions. I’ve got a fellow out in Indiana. He will hear this just as well as you will, and it won’t bother him a bit. He
said, “Les, when they asked me if I’ve accepted Jesus as my personal Savior, I
said, No, I never accepted Him as my personal Savior. I believed The Gospel of
I Corinthians 15:1-4. The moment I believed The Gospel, He became my personal
Savior.” Hey, I like that. Or the other one that they always use. Take
Jesus into your heart. No, that’s not The Gospel. It’s not in this
Book. What’s in this Book is that if you believe that Jesus died, shed His blood,
was buried and rose from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You believe that and what’s the
first thing you do? You change your mind about things. You repent. And what
does God do? He comes into your life. The Holy Spirit comes in. So don’t get
that cart out there in front of the horse like most of Christendom does. Leave
it where it belongs. Salvation comes first. But for Israel—yes, repentance was
a prerequisite. And that’s what we’ve got to understand – the change in
program, All right, so that’s what made me think of it. Matthew 3:1-2a “In those days came John
the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2. And saying, Repent…”
Now for Israel, you see, that was a logical word—because did Israel know right from wrong? Of course they did. They had the Book. They had the Old Testament
ever since day one. They knew. And if they didn’t, it was their own fault. They had to look at their own
situation as a Nation as well as individuals and change their mind about these
things in order for God to bless them with the King and the Kingdom. So, yes,
for Israel a prerequisite was to repent. For us, it’s a result. What a
difference. Matthew 3:2 “And saying, Repent ye:
for (What reason?) the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Why? Because the King is in their midst. The King is already walking the
dusty roads. And then he goes on to say: Matthew 3:3b “…The voice of one crying
in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
Here is the first inkling that the King is on the planet. He’s in the midst of
Israel. He’s ready to prepare Israel for the Kingdom. Well, now I guess the next
place I should stop would be at Peter’s confession of faith in Matthew 16. Now
a lot of this I know we’ve covered over and over, but repetition is still the
key. In Matthew 16 we’re at the end of Christ’s three years of His earthly
ministry. He’s been performing miracle after miracle after miracle. He did
all those miracles. Did they convert the Nation of Israel? No. No. Just a
few. So, you see, that’s not the
key. Miracles do not bring people to salvation, even the miracles of Christ
Himself. After three years of miracle after miracle after miracle, the
supernatural was just an everyday occurrence. He has the Twelve and they’re up
clear at the headwaters of the Jordan River in what we call Caesarea Philippi.
The Roman word is Banias. In fact, we were just there last October.
It’s beautiful. They’ve made a national park out of it. Matthew 16:13 “When Jesus came into the
borders of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, (the Twelve) saying,
Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14. And they said, (Now
watch this. We’ve gone over it before, but look at it again. They responded
by saying--) Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some,
Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. 15. He saith unto them, But
whom say ye that I am?” Fellows, you’ve been with me
now for three years. Who am I? That’s all He’s asking. Who am I? And Peter
responds in verse 16. It’s what I call Peter’s confession of saving faith. Matthew 16:16 “And Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art the Christ, (the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Son
of God) Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Any reference
to the Cross? Any reference to His death? Not a word. And he was right on.
That’s all God expected him to say, because that was the crux of the matter.
Who am I? Well, you’re the promised Messiah. Well, you see, if every Jew
would have answered that way, as we saw back there in Acts chapter 3 earlier
this afternoon, Christ would have come. They would have fulfilled that
requirement by believing. In fact, I had a question in the mail yesterday,
and it’s a good question. And I hope you’ve all been aware of that. If (and
it’s a big IF) a human being could keep the Ten Commandments without ever
breaking a one of them, could he get to Heaven on it? Well, yes, because he
hasn’t broken them. But what’s the problem? It’s
not possible! Only Christ did. No human being can go through life without
breaking the Law. It’s impossible. But if they could, then there would be
nothing to keep them out of God’s Heaven. They’re sinless. They’re pure. But
we’re not. We’re hell-bound sinners. All right, here was Peter’s confession
of faith, “Thou art the Christ…,” the Messiah of Israel. All right, you come on through
the crucifixion and all that, and we’re not going to pick that up here, because
we want to look first at Israel’s relationship to this Kingdom. Now come over
with me to Luke chapter 1, because I want you to see what Israel was to have believed as a Nation of people. They were to believe it to the last Jew. Luke
chapter 1 and let’s drop in at verse 67. Here we have Zacharias, the father of
John the Baptist, approached as to what the young lad’s name should be. And he
said that his name is John. All right, now verse 67: Luke 1:67a “And his father Zacharias
was filled with the Holy Spirit,…” Now that’s the key. Don’t miss that
word “filled.” He had all of the Holy Spirit that a man could have, so that he
could thoroughly understand all that is facing the Nation of Israel. Don’t
miss that. Luke 1:67-68a “And his father Zacharias
was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied (He spoke forth
being moved by the Holy Spirit, and look what he says.) saying, 68.
Blessed be the Lord God of (Whom?) Israel;...”
Not a word about the Gentile world. Israel. See, this is what we have to
understand, and what most of Christendom still doesn’t understand—that
everything Jesus said and did up until the Cross was on behalf of these Old
Testament covenants made with Israel. Not a thing about the Gentiles. Luke 1:68b-69 “…for he hath visited and
redeemed his people, 69. And hath raised up an horn of salvation for
us in the house of his servant David;” How many Gentiles in the House
of David? Not a one. Not a one. This is all strictly Jewish ground. Luke 1:70-71a “As he spake by the mouth
of his holy prophets, (As we’ve been looking at all afternoon: Daniel,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Moses.) which have been since the ages began: 71.
That we (the Nation of Israel) should be saved (From our
sins? Come on, it doesn’t say that. It doesn’t say that. Saved from their
what?) our enemies,…” Well, now stop and think. Who
were Israel’s enemies, you might say from the very onset of Abraham, but
especially by the time of Christ. Well, the Arab world around them. No
different than today. It’s always been the same, being circumvented by the
Arab world. All right, but when this promised King and Kingdom would come in,
they wouldn’t have a thing to do with them. Luke 1:71 “That we should be saved
from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;” Now I hope
you realize that anti-Semitism is coming up day-by-day again. We’re just about
back like it was when Hitler showed up. Luke 1:72-75 To perform the mercy
promised to our fathers, (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David and
all the rest) and to remember his holy covenant; 73. The oath which he
swear to our father Abraham, 74. That he would grant unto us, that we being
delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him (That
is the King.) without fear, 75. In holiness and righteousness before him,
all the days of our life.” In other words, it’s going to
be Heaven on earth. A Kingdom of righteousness, absent of wickedness. Then
verse 76, he now comes with regard to the announcement of the King, the
Messiah. Luke 1:76-77a “And thou, child, shalt
be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the
Lord to prepare his ways; 77. To give knowledge of salvation unto his people….”
All Jewish promises. All right, let’s jump over to
the Book of Acts and come over to the scenario after His 40 days of being with
the Twelve after His resurrection. Now, Easter Sunday’s coming up. Uh, oh, I’m
dating the program, aren’t I? But on Easter, for just a few hours at least, a
portion of the world’s population will be made aware of Resurrection morning.
But, like we were talking on the phone yesterday, and he agreed with me 100%.
I said, you know, there are multitudes of people that believe that Jesus died,
was crucified, that He was buried, and that He arose miraculously from the
dead. But they only know it historically. Now, what do I mean by that?
They don’t have it in the heart. It’s just a historical fact. Now, do any of
you doubt that Washington crossed the Delaware on that cold, miserable winter
day? No, you don’t doubt that. Why? Because history has reported it over and
over, so we can all talk about it. Well, it’s the same way with
the rank and file of the world. Yeah, they know that there was this Jesus who
was crucified and the Romans and all this, and He arose from the dead. But it’s
just a historical bit of information. It doesn’t mean anything to them
spiritually. Always remember that. That even though we have all the services
of Christmas and all the services of Easter, for the rank and file of even most
church members, that’s all it is. It’s just a mental assent to an historical
record. But to bring it into a means of salvation, I’m afraid it’s for the
precious few. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think so. All right, now come back to
Acts chapter 1. He’s been resurrected, and He’s been with the Eleven for forty
days. Drop down to chapter 1 verse 3. Acts 1:3a “To whom also he showed
himself alive after his passion (That is His death, burial, and
resurrection.) by many infallible proofs,…” And, you know, it has
happened over and over—where a skeptic or an atheist will actually rant and
rave that there was never such a thing as the Resurrection. And they go to the Middle East to prove that they’re right, and what happens? They become a believer! It
happens over and over. There is so much evidence that indeed He arose from the
dead. Acts 1:3b “…being seen of them
forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:” Now
that throws a curve at people, because Matthew speaks all the time of the
Kingdom of Heaven and now here we have the Kingdom of God. Now what’s the
difference? Paul even speaks of promoting the Kingdom of God. Well, I put it on the board. I
suppose, what was it, two or three years ago now? I’ve had Sharon, she’s not
here today. But I had Sharon put a big circle, then in the circle I had her
draw two smaller ones. Remember that? All right, the big circle is the Kingdom of God. That includes everything that pertains to God’s holiness and
righteousness: Heaven, the Angels, the Old Testament believers, the New
Testament Jewish believers of early Acts. Everything that pertains to His
holiness and His righteousness is in the big circle—the Kingdom of God. So when Paul speaks of the Kingdom of God, yes, we, too, are part of the Kingdom of God. But those two circles that I had
her put inside the big circle—one was the Kingdom of Heaven. Well, since Israel rejected it, that’s pretty much empty. But now what’s the other circle? The Body
of Christ. The Body of Christ—and that’s
all Paul talks about, with one or two exceptions, he calls it the Kingdom. But
the Body of Christ is that compilation of believers in this Age of Grace who
have come into the Body by virtue of believing Paul’s Gospel. We become members
of the Body, but we’re also in the Kingdom of God. See that? Now, when the Body of Christ is
taken out in the Rapture, it’ll still be part of the Kingdom of God, because Heaven is. But now the Kingdom of Heaven becomes the major component, because now Israel comes back into God’s economy. Israel will once again be in the limelight, and they
will fill the Kingdom of Heaven, which is in the Kingdom of God. Now, does that make sense? I hope it does. Don’t get confused. The Kingdom of God is that overall—everything that belongs to God. But in it you have the Kingdom of Heaven, which will become a reality when the 1,000 years begins; and you’ve got
the Body of Christ, which we trust is nearly full. It’ll be taken out and
taken up into the heavens, but we’re still part of the Kingdom of God. So when Acts speaks here of
pertaining to the Kingdom of God, yes, because the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus
has been proclaiming to be the King of is in the large circle. All right, now
verse 4: Acts 1:4a “And being assembled
together with the Eleven, he commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father,…” Going back to John 17. What
was the promise? That God would send the Holy Spirit. He said He would send a
Paraklete—someone to come alongside and be your help. All right, that’s what
He’s referring to here. That Jesus promised that when He would leave, the Holy
Spirit would come. All right, so He says: Acts 1:4b-5 “…wait for the promise of
the Father, which ye have heard of me. 5. For John truly baptized with water;
but ye (speaking through the Eleven, but to the Nation of Israel as a
whole) shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.” How
many? Ten days. And what day will that be? Pentecost. And what happened?
The Holy Spirit came down. All right, but we’ll look at that at another time.
Now verse 6: Acts 1:6 “When they therefore were
come together, (Jesus and these Eleven Apostles) they asked of
him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the (What?)
kingdom to Israel?” It’s all on their minds. It’s all they’ve been
hearing for three years. Well, now, Lord, are you ready to bring in the
Kingdom and give it to Israel? What was His answer? Oh, you foolish
Galileans? No. He just says: Acts 1:7b “…It is not for you to
know the times or the seasons,…” Yes, the Kingdom is coming, but it’s
not for you to know when. All right, now lest you wonder
why are they are at this late date now—after the Messiah has been crucified,
He’s been buried, He’s risen from the dead, He’s been with them now for forty
days showing His hands and in a physical body, He ate fish, walked with them,
talked with them—why are they so expectant of the Kingdom? Well, come back
with me to Matthew chapter 19. I haven’t looked at this in a long time. This
is toward the end of His earthly ministry. Now don’t forget why I brought you
back here. Why are Peter and the rest of the fellows so anxious about this
Kingdom? Well, look what they got promised. See, everything fits. That’s why
I love to teach, to show how it all fits. Matthew 19:27 “Then answered Peter and
said unto him, (That is unto Jesus.) Behold, we have forsaken all,
(What’s he talking about? His family. His fishing. Galilee. It’s beautiful up there. I can see why they would hate to leave Galilee.) Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have
therefore?” What’s Peter asking? What’s
going to be our reward? He knew he was saved. That wasn’t the point. What
are we going to have for reward? Lord, look what we left. Look what we did to
follow You these last three years. What are You going to give us? Well, you
know what that shows me? Those men were just as human as we are. That’s all
it is. It’s our humanity. Hey, if I’m going to do all this, what do I get in
return? Now look at the Lord’s answer. He doesn’t rebuke Peter, not one bit.
Matthew 19:28b “And Jesus said unto
them, Verily I say unto you, That ye who have followed me, (these last
three years) in the regeneration (In other words, when the 1,000
year Kingdom comes in.) when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of
his glory,…” Now aren’t you glad we’ve been looking at it all
afternoon? Where’s it going to be? Mount Zion in Jerusalem! The same place
that David’s throne sat. Now, Jesus said, when I set up this Kingdom in my
throne room there in Jerusalem-- Matthew 19:28c “…ye also (You
twelve men—now it won’t be Judas, it will be Mathias, but it’ll be the Twelve
Apostles.) ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, ruling the twelve tribes
of Israel.” Now, do you have to be a Ph.D.
to understand that? No. When the King sets up His Kingdom, He’s going to rule
the whole planet. And who is primarily going to be in control of Israel? Well, the Twelve Apostles. Now, I don’t know if I’ve got
room on the board, or if I’ve got time. I haven’t got time. But I drew a map
in one of my classes the other night. Do you realize how huge the Nation of
Israel will be in the Kingdom? It’s not going to be that little slip of land
along the Mediterranean. It’s going to be the whole Middle East! Have I got time? Turn real
quick to Genesis chapter 15. Because when these men are going to be ruling the
Twelve Tribes of Israel, they’re going to be ruling a big portion of real
estate. Genesis 15 and this is when God first deeded it to the Nation of
Israel. It’s a real estate transaction. Genesis 15:18 “In the same day the LORD
made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed (That is the
offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the Nation of Israel.) have I given
(past tense) this land, (Now look where it goes.) from the
river of Egypt (Whether it’s the Nile or another one that might have
been there, but figuratively-speaking from the Nile.) from the river of
Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:” Now goodness, you
all know the Middle East well enough now—from the Nile to the Euphrates, and
then in Joshua it includes Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran—it’s going to be the
whole Middle East. That is going to be Israel’s homeland. Okay, good to see everybody in
this afternoon. My, we’ve got the room about full today. We appreciate so
many of you that are in for the first time. For those of you joining us out in
television, we always like to thank you over and over for your prayers, your
letters, as well as your financial help. And we appreciate that so many of you
pass it on to others and give them our time of broadcasting and so forth. We
just praise the Lord for every part of it. Well, we’re a Bible study, and
we’re going to come right in and take up where we left off in our last taping.
Since this is the first program of these four this afternoon, we’re going to go
right back to Daniel chapter 7. You’ll remember that verse 14 was where we
kicked off and spent two, three, or four programs on the Kingdom. And the reason I do that is
that so many church people across the whole spectrum of denominations know
nothing of this thousand year glorious Heaven-on-earth Kingdom. They just
don’t know what it’s all about. So that’s what we did the last several
programs. So now we’re going to continue on, after hitting verse 14 for a
kick-off verse, and pick up verse-by-verse in Daniel chapter 7 again. Daniel 7:14a “And there was given him
(Now remember, this was all part of a vision that Daniel had, and in that
vision he saw all this.) And there was given him (that is God the
Son) dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, (That’s why we kicked
off and had all those references on this coming earthly Kingdom. Not only
would it be a Kingdom,--) that all people, nations, and languages, should
serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom…” Now remember I stopped and
asked—what does a Kingdom involve? A King, a people, and a land—that’s three
prerequisites for having a Kingdom—and He’s going to have it all. It will be: Daniel 7:14b “…an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
All right, now we’ll go on from there and drop down into verse 15,
where now Daniel has come away from this vision experience. He says: Daniel 7:15 “I Daniel was grieved in
my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.”
You know what I think he had? He had a migraine! He had a headache after all
of these revelations. Now I always have to repeat and
repeat and repeat—don’t just read this as some kind of a myth or a legend,
because all through Israel’s history the supernatural was commonplace. So for
someone like Daniel to have these visions one right after the other is not just
a figment of someone’s imagination. They were real. This was how God was
dealing with His Covenant People. All right, after seeing these
visions of not only the coming world empires (we’re going to come back to them
in verse 17), but also of this glorious throne room experience where he saw God
the Son standing before God the Father with the admonition that He would one
day be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. All right, verse 16: Daniel 7:16 “I came near unto one of
them that stood by, (And that has to be an angel.) and asked him
(this angel) the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know (or
understand) the interpretation of the things.” Verse 17, and
here we come to a recap, again, of his vision that he experienced up there in
verses 3, 4, 5, 6, and so forth. Daniel 7:17a “These great beasts,…”
Now always remember that when either the Book of Revelation or the Book of Daniel
or even Ezekiel, when they speak of these beasts, they’re speaking of empires.
And, of course, the beast of all beasts will be the anti-Christ and his rule
over those final seven years. So don’t picture some humongous, horrible
looking animal. Even though it is depicting wild animals, yet it’s an empire.
It’s a government. Daniel 7:17 “These great
(empires depicted as) beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall
arise out of the earth.” Who will be heading up these four Gentile
empires? Now just for a second, turn back to the first part of the chapter,
still in chapter 7; and we’ll just hit them briefly. Daniel 7 back to verse 4: Daniel 7:4a “The first was like a
lion, (see, a carnivorous killing animal) and had eagle’s wings:…”
Well, an eagle is pretty good at ripping flesh. Then you come down to
verse 5. The next empire after Babylon, which was the Mede and Persian, and
it, too, is pictured as a carnivorous beast. Daniel 7:5a “And behold another
beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side,
(And you can see it’s carnivorous, because what does it have in its mouth?) and
it had three ribs in the mouth of it…” See, it’s a meat-eating
animal. All right, then you come down a little further to verse 6. Daniel 7:6a “After this (After
the Mede and Persian Empire passed away, what overtook it?) I beheld, and
lo another, like a leopard,…” The Greek empire. Alexander
the Great was pictured as a leopard. Well, the reason Alexander the Great is
always pictured as something that moves fast and quick is because his conquests
were so rapid. He was able to shave off hundreds of miles by taking daring
detours and so forth. He was almost reckless, and yet his recklessness always
paid off. So, there will be several references, even now today, to the speed
of Alexander’s conquests. All right, here’s he likened to-- Daniel 7:6b “…a leopard, which had
upon the back of it four wings of a fowl;…” Depicting the four generals
that would take over his empire, and we’ll be looking at that in a little
bit. And then verse 7, here comes the fourth empire, which was in the first
go-around, the Roman Empire. Daniel 7:7 “After this I saw in the
night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful, and terrible, and strong
exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and
stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse (It was
different.) from all the beasts that were before it; (And then
you come to the Revived Roman Empire at the end of the age with--) and it
had ten horns.” So, here we have the four
Empires that were Gentile in nature. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream—now let’s just go
back, because everybody needs review. Come back to Daniel chapter 2, and we’ll
see that in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream; which, of course, Daniel interpreted, you
have the same four empires. But here they’re depicted as a beautiful
metal-composed statue or an image of a man. And you can just picture this out
there in that Middle Eastern sun. Down in verse 31 of chapter 2, the same four
empires but described differently. Verse 31, Daniel is interpreting. He says: Daniel 2:31-32 “Thou, O king, sawest,
and behold a great image (or likeness of a man). This
great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form
thereof was frightening. (I think because of its shimmering beauty.
Now here it is.) 32. The image’s head was of fine gold, his
breast and his arms of silver, (Now, can you picture that in a bright
sunlit day—that gold and silver?) his belly and his thighs of brass,”
My, just image how that would
shimmer in that noonday Middle Eastern sun. Then as he went on down through
the torso: Daniel 2:33 “His legs of iron, his
feet part of iron and part of clay.” All right, now those are the four
Gentile empires beginning with Nebuchadnezzar in about 606 B.C. Now come back
to Luke 21, because this is the way I like to teach. This is the way I prefer to do
it. It is not to just stay in one chapter, which sometimes I have to, but in
this case I can jump you all the way up to Luke chapter 21 and tie it
together. Luke 21 and we’ll drop in at verse 20. This is during Christ’s
earthly ministry. So, if you have a red-letter edition, it’s in red. The Lord
is speaking. He’s speaking prophetically. Now, He’s not talking about the
Tribulation and Armageddon, but rather He’s talking about the A.D. 70
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Luke 21:20 “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, (Roman armies) then know that the desolation
thereof is nigh.” Now, file that word desolation in your
computer, because I’m going to be using it periodically through the afternoon.
Seven times the Book of Daniel speaks of desolation. So mark this one down. Luke 21:21-22a “Then (Now
remember who is speaking, and who He is speaking to. This is Jesus in His
earthly ministry telling this to His people Israel.) Then let them who
are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them who are in the midst
(that is of Jerusalem) of it depart out; and let not them that are in the
countries enter thereunto. 22. For these be days of vengeance,…” Now
again, file that word. Just put it up in your computer. We’re going to talk
about it a little later this afternoon. Luke 21:22-23 “For these be the days of
vengeance, that all things which are written (back in the Old Testament
prophecies) may be fulfilled. 23. But woe unto them that are with child,
(That is when this big invasion of Jerusalem takes place.) and to them
that are nursing, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land (of
Israel), and wrath upon this people (the Jew).”
Now verse 24 and here’s why we know it is not Armageddon; it’s not Tribulation;
but rather it is A.D. 70. Here’s the kicker. Luke 21:24a “And they shall fall by
the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations:…”
That’s not going to happen at the end of the seven years of Tribulation. At
the end of the seven years, the remnant of Israel will come into the Kingdom.
But this group of Jews is going to be either killed or dispersed into all the
nations. Here’s the part I want you to remember. Luke 21:24b “…and Jerusalem shall be
trodden down of the Gentiles, until (And what kind of a word is that?
Time word. There’s coming a day when it will be no more, when the Prince of
Peace will finally come and Jerusalem will finally be the City of Peace, and Christ will rule and reign. But until then, the Gentiles are going to control Jerusalem.) until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” So here we have—from the onset
of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire, through the Medes and Persians,
through the Greek, through the Roman. Then after the Roman Empire dissipated
and fell away, up came the Muslim world. See, Mohammedan came out about A.D.
610. All right, from A.D. 610 until after World War I, when the British
General Allenby defeated the Muslims who were occupying Palestine at that time,
then it became a British mandate. And of those of you who know
anything about the War of Independence that Israel had to fight, the British
army was present. They were the ones that kept everything subdued trying to
keep peace and tranquility. And in their trying to do that, of course, they
tried to help the Arabs win that war and did everything they could to see the
Jews defeated. But you see, even Great Britain forgot one key player in world
affairs. The God of Glory! And the God of Glory saw to it that the Covenant
People won that War of Independence, and here they are in the news every day. And again, I shared it with my
seminars on the road. If ever you have any reason to doubt Scripture, there is
one living proof. The Jew! He’s in the homeland. He’s where he belongs. I
don’t care how much people fret about it, they are exactly where God wants them
to be. Because never forget, the whole scenario for the Second Coming is Jerusalem. And He cannot come to a Jerusalem that’s under Muslim control. He’s going to
come to a Jerusalem that is occupied by His Covenant People. Never lose sight
of that. In fact, someone just asked me
if I would draw a map on the board before we get through with all this of what
the Promised Land is. I don’t think I’ve ever actually drawn the map. I’ve
described it. But you see, the Promised Land—from the day that it was deeded
to Abraham, repeated to Moses, repeated to Joshua, and repeated through the
Prophets—is all the way from the Nile River—I think I will. I think I’ll put
it on the board. Okay, here we have the Mediterranean Sea. Down here is the Nile River. And then up here, of course, you have Turkey. Now this is just a caricature. This isn’t a map. Okay, out of Turkey comes the Euphrates River all the way down to the Persian Gulf. Then from the Persian Gulf
it’ll go all the way down to the Red Sea and back up to the Nile River. Now here, of course, is the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and
here’s Jerusalem. Up here’s Damascus. Over here is Baghdad. Well, actually,
it’d be more like down there. But anyway, that whole Middle East will be Israel’s homeland in the Kingdom. Well, let’s put Baghdad more like down here. Because I remember when we were up here in the Golan Heights
last fall, (those of you that were with us, you remember) we saw an arrow
pointing to Baghdad. How far was it, Mom? Three hundred miles. See, the Middle East is, yeah, it’s large; but on the other hand, it’s pretty compact. But that’s Israel’s homeland. They have never had more than just this little neck of land like today,
a little bit up here during the time of Solomon and David. But they have never
had all of that. But they will, because God has promised it. Now, I know a lot of people
won’t like that. But I’m getting in the habit of doing things that people
don’t like. I’m getting used to it. So anyway, the times of the Gentiles are
those heavy boots of Gentile armies that have been on the streets of Jerusalem since 606 B.C. Now, even since 1948 when they declared their independence,
they’re still under the political thumb, especially of America. They can’t do anything without America giving the final okay. Now while I’m on this, and I
think I’ve got time enough. Come ahead, if you will, to Romans chapter 11. As
a rule, I go from Romans 11 to Luke 21; but today I’ll go from Luke 21 to Romans
11. We have another time situation and another filling of things that God has
ordained. Only it’s the very opposite of what you see in Luke. In Luke we
have the Iniquity of the Gentiles coming to the full. And when they finally
reach the full mark, just like the Canaanites did after the promises made to
Abraham—I hope you all remember that. You know, when God first called
Abraham out and promised him the Nation, He told him that it would be 430 years
before his offspring would be able to come in and enjoy the land of Canaan. Well, why wait 430 years? It was going to take that long for the Canaanites
to fill their cup of iniquity. Now, if you have any doubts about how wicked
and immoral the Canaanite people were at the time of Israel’s occupying, you go
back and read Leviticus 18. I will never read it in public. I can’t, because
it is so explicit in the immoral behavior of the Canaanite people. They had
reached the full mark. And that’s why God was
absolutely just and righteous in telling the Jews to do what with the
Canaanites? Oh, we don’t even like to say it. Well, what did He tell them?
Don’t spare a one of them. Men, women, children, babies—obliterate them.
Well, Israel didn’t have the heart. They couldn’t do it. So, they left too
many Canaanites, and what happened? Exactly what God knew would happen. The
Jews embraced the Canaanite, idolatrous religion. And it was their downfall.
So, God had to indeed deal with the Jew for embracing the Canaanite, idolatrous
worship. But all right, we’re going to
have the same thing now. The world is filling its cup of iniquity. And if you
don’t know that it’s being filled, you’re not in the news. You’ve got your
head in the sand. I mean, it’s awful. And the more we travel and the more we hear,
the more we understand how awful the behavior of the people of the world is
becoming. But here we have the opposite
of that. And that’s in Romans 11 verse 25, where Paul has been laying out so
clearly, that after the Gentile church age has come to the full, God will
return to dealing with His people Israel. He’s not through with Israel. Now, we know that even most of Christendom, let alone the rest of the world—now
always stop and think. You know, I’m saying that more
and more, aren’t I? Stop and think. How much of the world is under what we
would call biblical, or Christian, influence? The Orient? Huh-uh. The Middle East? Huh-uh. Europe? Huh-uh. South America? Huh-uh. So what’s left? America. We’re the only part of the world. Now, I know there are a lot of Christians in China as a result of the underground Church. But by-and-large, the whole world outside of
our United States of America has almost nothing to do with biblical
Christianity. All right, their wickedness is
to them not all that unusual, because they’ve been doing it for centuries. But
even for them it’s getting worse and worse and worse. All right, but now here
in our beloved America we’re seeing a turning away from the Word of God. We’re
seeing a direct opposition to our Christian message. They hate us whether we
want to admit it or not. But on the other hand, God is filling His cup, which
is the Body of Christ. So, as every person that gets saved becomes a member of
the Body of Christ, we’re filling our vessel as the world is filling theirs. All right, now I like to depict
these two as coming up through the last 2,000 years almost side-by-side. Now
look what this one is. Romans 11:25 “For I would not,
brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, (This is another
thing that had never been revealed before but is now revealed to the Apostle
Paul. And the word secret is the other word for mystery.)
this secret, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; (this mystery
is--) that blindness (spiritual blindness) in part
(for a period of time) is happened to Israel, (The Jewish
People—and that blindness is going to continue—and what’s the next word?) until
(Until what? The Body of Christ is full. Now, it doesn’t say that in so many
words. But it says--) the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” Now let me qualify why I know
that’s the Body of Christ. Come back with me to Acts 15, and this is after
that Jerusalem counsel. Paul and Barnabas have been debating with Peter and
John and the rest of the Twelve in the Jerusalem church that they were
commissioned to go to the Gentiles and the Twelve were commissioned to stay
with Israel. Paul and Barnabas, by God’s help and by the Holy Spirit’s work,
won the argument. All right, now James who was moderating that meeting in Jerusalem—come to verse 13 of Acts 15. Acts 15:13a “And after they had held
their peace,…” Well, what does that mean? Hey, it had been a riotous
day. They had been arguing. You know, and I always point out—you know, not to
be deriding the Jewish people. I love them. But on the other hand, I get a
kick out of the way they do things, and one of them is when they argue. My,
when they argue, there are no punches pulled. They go at it tooth-and-nail.
Well, the word indicates that. So after they had spent the whole day arguing
and everything, they finally “held their peace.” They finally
quieted down. Acts 15:13b-14 “…James (the
moderator comes up and he says--) answered, saying, Men and brethren,
listen unto me: 14. Simeon (that’s Peter) hath declared how God
at the first did visit the Gentiles, (That’s a reference to the house
of Cornelius.) to take out of them (Now watch your language. To
take out of whom? The Gentiles.) to take out of the Gentiles a people
for his name.” Acts 15:15-16a “And to this agree the
words of the prophets; as it is written, 16. After this (See? After
God has called out the Body of Christ, and it’s full and complete.) I
will return, (which is a reference to the final seven years and His
second coming) and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is
fallen down;…” But what I want you to see is
that this fullness of the Gentiles is the calling out of the Body of Christ.
Whereas Luke, when he refers to the times of the Gentiles, is referring to the
Gentile world under the headship of these empires that Daniel has been seeing
in his prophecy. All right, now then, for just a
moment or two left, let’s come back to Daniel chapter 7; where he is reviewing,
once again, these four great Gentile empires—first listed by Nebuchadnezzar as
the head of gold, the chest of silver, the belly of brass, the legs of iron.
Then Daniel saw them as a lion, as a bear, as a leopard, and as something
beyond description. All right, now for the two minutes we have left, verse 18. Daniel 7:18 “But the saints of the
most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for
ever and ever.” Now what’s that a reference to? Well, the earthly,
millennial Kingdom over which Christ is going to rule and reign. So right here between verse 17
and verse 18, we leap all the way up from the time of Daniel around 500 and
some B.C. to the end time—which we feel we’re getting closer and closer to,
with the soon appearance of that man of sin, the son of perdition, the prince
that shall come and all these other names, but best known as the anti-Christ.
And he’s coming. Don’t you think for a minute he’s not. The whole world is
getting ready for him, and that’s what we’re referring to here in verse 18. It
is after the time of these four empires. I hope I’ve been making it
clear for the last several tapings. I hope you realize that all four of these
empires are now in the news every day. Iran was ancient Persia of the Medes and the Persians. Iraq was ancient Baghdad, or Babylon, over which
Nebuchadnezzar ruled. Then you’ve got Syria, which is in the news now every
day. And Syria was a part of Alexander the Great’s Empire, which we’ll see
further on this afternoon. Then the Roman Empire, good heavens, you’d have to
have your head in the sand not to realize that the European Union is in the
headlines everyday. And they are, of course, the Revived Roman Empire which is
setting the stage for the Second Coming of Christ. So, here we have the saints
that will take the Kingdom as a result of Christ’s Second Coming, and they “will
possess it for ever and ever.” Now, I haven’t got time in 25
seconds, but I think I referred to it several tapings back. There are two
favorite hymns by American church people that have a reference to this verse
wrongly, and we’ll pick that up in another program. Okay, good to see everybody
back. For those of you joining us on television, if you would like to come in
for an afternoon of Bible study and coffee and all the goodies over there –
it’s almost like a feast day, isn’t it? Just come over to Tulsa, normally the
first Wednesday after the first Sunday, and you’ll enjoy the day. We’ve got
folks today from Oklahoma City, Enid, Texas, Florida, and Nevada. My goodness,
I hope I didn’t miss anybody. But anyway, we’re always glad to have visitors
come in and join us. All right, this is a Bible
study. We’re going to just keep right on going verse-by-verse through Daniel
chapter 7, and we’ve just left off at verse 18. And again, I do want to thank
our television audience for all of their kind letters and prayer support and
financial support. I can’t renege on doing that. All right, verse 18 again: Daniel 7:18a “But the saints of the
most High shall take the kingdom,…” Now you know, people will just do
anything with Scripture and twist it for their own ends. Now, I don’t know when it
started, but somewhere back in church history there was a movement abroad
called Reconstructionism. What they were really preaching was that the Church
would finally take over the world almost by force, militarily, and then be
ready to hand it over to God at His Second Coming or whenever. And as a result
of that theology came two of our favorite hymns, at least they were for me when
I was a kid. One was “Onward Christian Soldiers.” Now just stop and think a
minute. See how militaristic that is? And it is the same way with “The Battle
Hymn of the Republic.” It is militaristic. And that’s not the way God is
going to do it. God is going to let the Body of Christ fill up, and then He
will take it out in the Rapture. In will come the anti-Christ and those
final seven years, and then Christ Himself will be the One that will take the
world by force with His wrath and vexation of those final seven years,
especially the last three-and-a-half. So anyway, it’s amazing how people can
twist the Scriptures to fit their own theology. All right, so enough of
that. Now we can move on to verse 19. Daniel goes on. Daniel 7:19a “Then I would know the
truth of the fourth beast,…” Or this fourth empire. Now never lose
sight of what I closed with. In Daniel’s day, yes,
Nebuchadnezzar came in 606 B.C. They held forth for a hundred years or so.
Then came the Medes and the Persians, which is present day Iran and a part of the world just north of them. Then came Alexander the Great and what we call the
Greek Empire. Then that faded away. A couple of hundred years later and the
Romans came in. And, of course, the Roman Empire held forth, like I said in
the last half hour, until around the fourth or fifth century. After that you have the
appearance of Mohammad and the world of Islam. They pretty much became the
occupiers of that part of the world up until World War I when the British took
over the Mandate of Palestine and so forth. Daniel 7:19 “Then I would know the
truth of the fourth empire, (the Roman) which was diverse from
all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, (See,
that’s exactly the way it was seen in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as well.) and
his nails of brass; which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the residue
with his feet;” Now all that shows is the
absolute authority of these empires, and this Roman Empire especially. But,
the Revived Roman Empire that’s going to appear for the final seven years of
Daniel’s 490 years of prophecies, which will be coming, maybe not this taping
but the next one. That will even be worse than anything that has ever been
before, because it is an outpouring not only of God’s wrath, but of Satan’s.
Satan, as we’ll see later, is also a major player—especially in those last
three-and-a-half years. All right, now verse 20. This
is definitely Tribulation ground, because the ancient Roman Empire was not
associated with the ten horns and so forth. So whenever you get to ten horns
and ten crowns, then we’re leaping up to those final seven years. Daniel 7:20A “And of the ten horns
that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom
three fell;…” Now remember, we’re talking about nations. We’re not
talking about some creature with ten horns sticking out of his head. We’re
talking about an empire composed of ten distinct nations and kings and so
forth. All right, out of the ten, three will disappear. Now for thirty years I’ve
taught it, and I still haven’t found any reason to change. It is that I feel
these ten nations will be the original ten that came out after World War II.
And they started with the Club of Rome in 1945. Those ten nations just moved
on up through the years and became what we now know as the European Union. But
the ten that originally started are still what I call “veto holders.” In other
words, even though there are twenty-five or thirty nations coming into the Union, yet those original ten still have the final authority. I’m going to take the time to
read them, because a lot of people don’t understand who they are. I’ll try to
go slow enough so that you can write them in your notes. We start out with the
three small ones that I think will disappear – Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Now, if you can abbreviate, you can write a little faster. Then you’ve
got the bigger ones – France, Germany, Italy, Greece, United Kingdom (that’s
England, Britain), Portugal, and Spain. Now those are the ten that came
together right after World War II and formed what they called early on the Club
of Rome. Then it became the European Community. And then the last few years
we call it the European Union. And a year or two ago they formed their own
currency called the Euro. And as I predicted way, way back—when that would
appear, it would go right by the dollar in value. And I was right. It’s gone
right on by and it is now presently about a dollar and thirty cents for every
dollar. So anyway, here is what I
feel—now, I know there are a lot of different concepts of this end-time thing,
but this is where I’m still the most comfortable—that these are the ten
original nations of the Western European Union. The ten horns. And the three
that fall away will be those three small ones—the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Then out of the seven will come the anti-Christ. All right, let’s go a
little further in verse 20. Daniel 7:20 “And of the ten horns
that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three
fell (or disappeared); even of that horn that had
eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than
his fellows.” In other words, he’s going to
have a charismatic personality. He’s going to have an authoritarian air about
him so that the world will succumb to his leadership. Now remember, he’s going
to be an ordinary human being, but naturally he’s going to be given these
things by virtue of God’s Sovereignty. But also, he’s going to be empowered
later on by Satan himself. All right, now verse 21, as he beholds in this
image or in this vision-- Daniel 7:21 “I beheld, and the same
horn (This man anti-Christ, now—the singular—he’s come out of the seven.)
the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;”
Well, what does that mean? That means that by the time he comes into full
world dominion, which will be at least at the middle of the seven years, he’s
going to turn on the Nation of Israel. First, because those are the saints
that the Old Testament talks about. The Old Testament knows nothing of
Gentiles as saints, so that’s always Jews. All right, let’s see how the
Lord Himself—and we’ll be looking at this more than once, because I get pounded
constantly—don’t ever stop repeating. Jump up with me now to Matthew 24, and
we’ll see exactly what Daniel is talking about. How that at the middle of the
Tribulation this man anti-Christ, the singular horn out of the ten, is going to
turn on the Nation of Israel. And he’s going to do everything in his power to
totally annihilate them. Now does that sound so weird and far out? No,
they’ve got that guy down in Iran, that’s all he can think. It is to just
totally destroy the Jewish people. He wants to nuke them in the worst way
possible. But here’s what the Lord says in Matthew 24 verse 15. Matthew 24:15a “When ye therefore shall
see the abomination of desolation,…” That is when this man anti-Christ
will go into that rebuilt Temple as a result of the seven-year treaty,
remember. We’ll be looking at all that over the next several programs. He will
go into that rebuilt Temple and defile it with some sort of an abominational
idol. It will infuriate the Jews, of course, but that won’t do them much good,
because he’s going to turn on them with the idea of destroying every last one
of them. All right, now drop down to verse 16. Matthew 24:16a “Then…” In other
words, Jesus is telling the Jewish people of that day, when you see this happen—and
it’s going to be on front page news. How this man has gone up to the Temple mount and has gone into the Temple and done all these things. It’ll be on “You
Tube,” and it’ll be on the cell phones, and it’ll be all over the world.
Everyone will know what’s going on. So Jesus tells his Jewish people—when you
see this happen, then get out of town. That’s the best way I can put
it. Get out of Jerusalem. And He says: Matthew 24:16-17 “Then let them which be
in Judaea flee into the mountains: (to a place of safety that God will
designate) 17. Let them who is on the housetop not come down to take any thing
out of his house.” Now we’ve gone over this before, and I’ll probably
go over it again. I feel these are the wealthier Jews of the area of Jerusalem living up in the penthouses of their beautiful apartments. My, how many of you get the
Jerusalem Post? Any of you? Am I the only one? Do you get it? Okay, do you
notice the places that are for sale and for rent? Oh! Nothing less than a
million dollars. I mean, there is nothing less than a million. Most of them
are from two to three to four million dollars – apartments! Not houses with
five acres like in America. These are apartments. So don’t think for a minute
there aren’t a lot of wealthy people in Jerusalem. Absolutely! So to those
kinds of people the Lord says, hey, you may have some things that you just
don’t want to part with, it cost you a lot of money. Leave it. Leave it and
get out of town! All right, now we come down to
the next level of the economic scale—the working people. I don’t care whether
they’re professionals—lawyers and doctors and business people and the
scientists and so forth in their Silicon Valley, or whether it’s carpenters or
ditch diggers. We’re dealing with all the rest of that economic scale where it
says: Matthew 24:18 “Neither let him which is
in the field return back to take his clothes.” Now, I try to help
people to understand, that when you read your Bible, understand that it’s
talking in the language of that day. Well, now think back 2,000
years—at the time of Christ. What was the occupation of probably 95% of the
Jewish people? Farming and herdsman and orchards. They weren’t cosmopolitan.
They were agrarians, so that’s the language. It is the same way when you read
Ezekiel and all those things—you’ve got to understand that they’re writing in
the language of antiquity. So, you have to use common sense and put it into
the language of today. All right, so to the working
class, that whole middle area, He says: let him not turn back to take his
clothes. In other words, don’t worry about a second set of clothes. Why?
Because just like when Moses led the people out into the desert for forty
years, what happened? Their clothes never wore out. Their shoes never wore
out. Well, it’s going to be the same way with this escaping remnant of Jews.
They won’t need a new set of clothes. They won’t need anything, because God’s
going to provide everything for those final three-and-a-half years in this
place of safety. Because after all, I think we
looked at this a couple of weeks ago, but let’s go back again before we lose
our train of thought. Come all the way back to Zechariah, the next to the last
book in your Old Testament, just ahead of Malachi. Zechariah chapter 13,
because we’ve got to be realists, the Book knows what it’s talking about. And
we have to believe it. Zechariah chapter 13 verse 8 and this is all part and
parcel of what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 24 and Daniel is talking about
in chapter 7. Zechariah 13:8a “And it shall come to
pass, that in all the land, (That is of all the land of Israel.) saith the LORD, two parts therein (two thirds) shall be cut off
and die;…” Now you’ve got to remember, the
anti-Christ is going to be ruthless in killing off the Jews. He’s going to
spare none of them. But God supremely, sovereignly, is going to spare the one
third. Zechariah 13:8b-9a “…two parts therein shall
be cut off and die; but the third part (the one third) shall be
left therein. (In other words, God’s going to protect them for this
purpose.) 9. And I will bring the third part through the
fire,…” That is of Tribulation. Remember when we were back in
Daniel and his friends were cast into the fiery furnace? You remember that I told
you that was a picture in type of Israel in the Tribulation. Even though they
were cast into that raging fired-up furnace, it never touched them, because the
Son of God was in there with them. Well, it was a picture of this one third of
Israel. They, too, will come through the horrors of those final seven years
untouched, because He’s going to bring them through it. And as a result: Zechariah 13:9b “…and I will refine
them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call
on my name, (We’re going to be talking on that a little later this
afternoon.) and I will hear them: and I will say, It is my people:…” God
hasn’t said that for a long, long time. Already starting with Moses,
how did He refer to the Nation of Israel? Your people. Thy people. And Moses
said, they’re not my people, they’re Your people. No, they’re thy people. And
all the way through Daniel’s experience, God says the same thing—thy people.
But when it comes to this point in time at the end of the Tribulation, when
this remnant of Israel will finally recognize their coming Messiah, then God
will say “My people.” That’s part of the Jeremiah 31 New
Covenant. Now stop and think, be aware of
the numbers. There are just a little over fifteen million Jews on the planet
today. They just took a census of it, again, not too long ago. A few of
fifteen million, so a third, is five million people. That’s about the same
number that went out of Egypt under Moses. So it’s a pretty close parallel. All right, reading on in
Matthew 24, He says in verse 19—the next group of people you’ve got after the
wealthy living in the penthouses, and the working class, the middle class—now
we come to those who are homemakers and mothers and so forth. Matthew 24:19-20 “And woe unto them that
are with child, and to them that are nursing in those days! (young
mothers carrying their little ones) 20. But pray ye that your flight be
not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:” Because what happened
three-and-a-half years earlier as a result of that seven year peace treaty? Israel was given permission to rebuild the Temple. They went back under the Law, and they enjoyed
that for three-and-a-half years. It was a relative time of peace and
prosperity. So, here’s the kickback of it.
Now since they’ve been under the Law, literally, they’ll have to hope that this
great event won’t be on a Sabbath day. And I’m sure the Lord will see to it
that it won’t be. So, hope that it won’t be on the Sabbath day, nor in the
winter. You know, a few years ago we
were on a cruise ship on the Mediterranean. We were supposed to stop at Ashdod, but we couldn’t dock because of—man, we had fifteen, twenty foot waves that whole
trip for two weeks. I got seasick every day. But you ought to see my tapes of
those. We were in one of the ships that have little movies, and the ship taped
it for us. And when you look at that DVD—not DVD, VHS—we didn’t have DVD’s in
yet. There was a screen behind me because it was a movie theater. And that
screen just goes like “this,” all the way through that whole hour of lecture.
How I maintained without tossing my cookies, I don’t know. But anyway, we
couldn’t dock. The seas were too high. So we go up to Haifa, and we
rearranged our whole schedule so that we could send the buses down to Jerusalem from Haifa, so that they could at least tour. Well, they had fourteen inches of
snow in Jerusalem! So we couldn’t even do that. All to make the point that when
Jesus said, hope that it won’t be in the winter time, because they can have
12-14 inch snowfall in Jerusalem. All right, verse 21, this is the whole sum
of the matter. Matthew 24:21a “For then
(beginning with the mid-point of that final seven years) for then shall
be great tribulation,…” Now you know, that’s why some people feel that
the first three-and-a-half years aren’t Tribulation. Well, I beg to differ.
Because, and now I’ll tell you why I differ. When they say that there won’t be
much harm or danger or death and destruction until the first half is over—keep
your hand in Matthew 24 and come back with me to Revelation chapter 6. Because
I’ve got to make the point. Don’t ever think for a minute that it’s going to
pie-in-the-sky the first three-and-a-half and then everything breaks loose.
No. The first three-and-a-half is going to have enough of its own. Revelation
chapter 6 and that’s after the white horse, the red horse, and the black horse;
and then you come down to verse 7. Revelation 6:7-8 “And when he had opened
the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth creature say, Come and see. 8.
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death,
and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over one fourth part of
the earth, (Now that’s speaking of population, not necessarily land
area, but over population, because you don’t kill land area. You kill people.
All right, and here it is that power was given unto this fourth horse over one
fourth of the earth’s population.) to kill with the sword, and with hunger,
and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” Now, if you know your math,
what’s one fourth of seven billion, which is the present-day population? Well,
my little calculator said 1.75 billion people. That’s one and three quarters
billion people who will lose their life in the first half. And then is when it
really takes off. All right, so back to Matthew 24, again, if you will,
because this is from the lips of the Lord Jesus Himself. From the Creator
God. From the God of Glory. And He will not stretch the point. Verse 21
again: Matthew 24:21 “For then (at
this midpoint of the seven until the end) for then shall be great
tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world (Now you
remember what that entails, all the judgments and the disasters that the human
race faced for 4,000 years up to the time of Christ. But then He leaps ahead.
He doesn’t just say has ever been. But He looks forward and through the eyes
of the Creator God He could tell us exactly what it’s going to be.) such
as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Now that tells us that this
final three-and-a-half years is going to be the worst period of human
decimations in all of human history. And the world is getting so ripe for it.
Don’t ever blame God for coming down so hard on the human race. All right, we’ve got four
minutes left. Come back with me to Daniel. We’ll continue on a few more
verses here in chapter 7. Verse 21 is what kicked us up to Matthew. Daniel 7:21 “I beheld, and the same
horn (this man anti-Christ, the singular horn out of the ten) made
war with the saints, (That is the Jewish people.) and prevailed
against them;” He succeeded in killing two thirds of them, only the
third that is providentially escaping will survive. All right, now verse 22. Daniel 7:22a “Until the Ancient of
days came, and judgment (or rule) was given to the saints of the
most High;…” In other words, Israel is still going to come back under
the rule and reign of their Messiah and King. Israel will become the greatest
nation on the earth during that thousand year reign. All right, verse 22
again. Daniel 7:22 “Until the Ancient of
days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time
came that the saints possessed the kingdom.” The thousand year reign,
which will open up as soon as these seven years have been culminated. All
right, now verse 23. Daniel 7:23a “Thus he said, The fourth
beast…” This fourth empire, which is a Revived Roman Empire which the
world is getting ready for—this whole, I’m sure, this whole financial debacle
is just setting the stage for a world economy, a world currency, which will
lead to a world government and a world religion. It’s all coming together so
quickly. All right, verse 23. Daniel 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth
empire, shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all
kingdoms, (It’s going to be different from all other kingdoms that have
ever been in our past history.) and shall devour the whole earth, (Not
just the Middle East, not just Europe, it’s going to be a world-wide government
control.) and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and
break it in pieces.” In other words, it’s going to be absolutely
vicious in its control of the masses. Now, I haven’t got time. We’ll
do it in another one. I was just going to show you something from Revelation,
but we’ll go on for now. Verse 24: Daniel 7:24 “And the ten horns
(These ten nations out of which the three have fallen and you’ve got seven
left.) the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: (Now
that’s plain English. They are separate nations under separate governments,
but they will all be brought together.) and another shall rise after them;
and he shall be different from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”
Three governments and I’ve already stressed who I think it will be. It’ll be
the three little ones of Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. All right, then verse 25 and that’ll probably wind us up for this half hour. Daniel 7:25a “And he shall speak great
words (Oh, he’s going to be arrogant. He’s going to be self-deifying,
and he will--) speak great words against the most High, (That is
against our God of Creation. Our God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.) and
shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws:…”
Okay, good to have you all back
from the break. We’ll go into program three this afternoon. My, they’re going
fast today, aren’t they? Okay, again, for those of you out in television, I
haven’t mentioned it today, but we’re just an informal Bible study. That’s why
I will not wear a suit and tie. I want people to be able to enjoy a cup of
coffee, because this is just like a home Bible study, only quite a bit larger.
And now since we’re reaching so many, it’s really getting large. But again, we
always appreciate hearing from you and that you are praying for us out in TV. All right, let’s go right back
where we left off in Daniel chapter 7. We’ll repeat the verse that we closed
with, might not have gotten all of it. Daniel 7:25 “And he (speaking
now of this anti-Christ that’s coming) he shall speak great words against
the most High, (In other words, he’s going to be
blasphemous.) and shall wear out the saints (That
is the Jews of his day. He’s going to be constantly on them in persecution and
killing them off.) and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think
to change times and laws: (Now, I want you to catch that word. That’s
part of his operation—it is to change things.) and they shall be given
into his hand until (See, there’s a time word again. If you become a
student of Scripture, you can tell exactly what it’s talking about. It’ll
be--) until a time and times and the dividing of time (or
three-and-a-half-years).” In other words, just like
Daniel chapter 9 is going to point out when we get there—at the middle of the
seven years, exactly the middle of seven years, he will come from, I think, his
headquarters in Europe. And he’ll go into that rebuilt Temple up there on the Temple Mount as result of the seven year treaty made back in Revelation, and he will turn
against the Jews in particular. But he will also bring on despotic rule to the
whole world. All right, so it’ll be for
three-and-a-half years. The first three-and-a-half and the second
three-and-a-half. All right, verse 26: Daniel 7:26 “But the judgment shall
sit, (In other words, what God has declared.) and they shall take
away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.” That’ll
be at the Second Coming of Christ when He will utterly defeat and destroy this
man anti-Christ and whatever he’s been able to hold together. Now you’ve got to remember that
the scenario on planet Earth is going to be beyond human description. It’s
going to be death and destruction. I’ve showed the verses over and over from
Jeremiah and some of the other prophets of the total death and destruction that
will happen on planet Earth in those last three-and-a-half years. All right,
now verse 27: Daniel 7:27a “And the kingdom and
dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be
given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting...”
In other words, that’s what
Christ will bring in at His Second Coming. That remnant of Israel that we saw escaping in Matthew 24 will come back up now, every last Jew a believer. They
will now be a nation of men, women, boys, and girls—all believers—and they will
begin to repopulate the Nation of Israel. And they will enjoy that whole Middle East as we drew it on the board in the first program this afternoon. That’s Israel’s future. Two thirds are going to be lost, but one third will come into the earthly
Kingdom. Now, you see, that’s a fact of
Scripture that I’ve been emphasizing all over the country. We just came back
from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee and had a fabulous time. And this
is what I’m emphasizing—that God has never had more than the small remnant of
the human race. Never has He had the multitudes. Only eight were on the ark.
Then you come up into Israel’s history. My, Elijah, you’ve heard me repeat it over and over. He thought he was
the only one. That’s how bad it was. But God still had seven thousand
scattered throughout the nation. But out of seven million that’s only like one
out of a thousand. That’s not many. And then you come to Isaiah at
the time that he was prophesying the coming doom of the Babylonian invasion.
How did Isaiah put it? Had it not been for the very small remnant of the righteous.
Well, what’s a very small remnant? Not much! And that’s all that was
left in Israel in Isaiah’s day. And then, of course, in came
the Babylonian invasion and took the whole nation out to Babylon. But did it
change their spiritual life? No. They didn’t even have an interest in going
back to the Holy Land when Cyrus came along and gave them permission. Out of
those millions of Jews that went out to Babylon, only, I think, forty-four
thousand came back under Ezra. That’s just a remnant. Then you get up to the Lord’s
earthly ministry, and He puts it so graphically. You all know the verses, “Broad
is the way, and wide is the gate that leadeth to destruction, and many there be
that go therein.” And then the other side of the
coin is, “Narrow is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life
eternal, and few there be that find it.” So, that’s been a fact of Scripture.
Well, even here, you see, God
doesn’t get the whole of Israel. He gets one third. Two thirds have rejected;
and, of course had lost their life as a result of it. But one third, which
would be that typical population number of Israel up though her history, about
five million. They will come in and begin to repopulate the Promised Land.
All right, now back to verse 28 in Daniel 7. Daniel 7:28a “Hitherto is the end of
the matter….” In other words, this pretty much settled it—that after
these four empires have run their course, they come back a second time around
getting ready for the final seven years and the rule of the anti-Christ. That
triggers the Second Coming and the setting up of God’s earthly Kingdom. Daniel 7:28 “Hitherto is the end of
the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations (or my thoughts) much
troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my
heart.” Now I have to think in my own
mind, poor old Daniel. He’s now, I put it here in my margin, 87 years old.
How old was he when he left? Fourteen. So he’s been out there in that
foreign, pagan territory all those years. What would that be, about 73 years?
What do you suppose was the longing of that man’s heart? The King and the
Kingdom. Certainly! Now that they had run the course of the seventy years that
had been promised, surely, now God would bring in the Kingdom. But I think
he’s getting the drift. It’s not going to happen, Daniel. It’s way out in the
future. All right, so keep all that in
mind. He’s just as human as we are, and, oh, how he was longing that these
end-time events could get past and bring in the Kingdom. Now you drop into
chapter 8, and all of a sudden, as I’ve said so often when I teach Paul, the
prophet shifts gears. I think you understand what I mean by that. All of a sudden it’s a
different scenario. Primarily because up until now, with the exception of the
first chapter or two, this was written in the language of the Babylonians and
the Chaldeans. But now it comes back to Hebrew. Because now, you see, the
Holy Spirit understands that it’s primarily dealing with Israel rather than with those Gentile empires of chapters 2 through 7. So now we come back to the
Hebrew, and Daniel is now 87 years of age. Daniel 8:1-2 “In the third year of the
reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after
that which appeared unto me at the first. (In other words, still more
visions.) 2. And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that
I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in
a vision, and I was by the river Ulai.” In other words, he’s no longer
in Babylon. He’s up in the capital of the Medes and the Persians, which is
north and east of present day Baghdad. So he’s now part and parcel of the next
empire. Miraculously. Unbelievable how this dear man Daniel was able to be
such a major player throughout the Babylonian Empire, then goes right on into
the Mede and the Persian and becomes the top man in the government over there
as well. Daniel 8:3 “Then I lifted up mine
eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram (Now we
deal with the species we call sheep in this goat’s case, so it was a sheep
ram.) which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was
higher than the other, (In other words, it wasn’t like we normally
would like to see on the perfect animal. But remember, this is a symbolic
thing. All right, one horn was higher than the other.) and the higher
came up last.” Now in these succeeding
verses—this is why the scornful and those who hate to admit the inspiration of
Scripture claim that this was all written after the fact. But Daniel is
predicting it to the very last detail long before it happens. And that is the
rise of the Mede and Persian Empire confronted by Alexander the Great. Now
that’s what all these succeeding verses are dealing with. So I’m not going to
take lot of time with it, because most of you are probably not as interested in
history as I am. But, you know, this is biblical history. This is what you
read in a college history book and Daniel wrote it before it happened. See,
that’s the miracle of Scripture. All right, so now he sees the
ram, which was indicative of the Medes and the Persians, a combination of two
nations. Daniel 8:4a “I saw the ram
(the Mede and Persian Empire) pushing westward,…” Now always
stop and think. Why didn’t they go east? Why did they go west? Why didn’t
they go toward the Orient? Why didn’t they head over toward China and Afghanistan and India? Well, you see, in God’s divine
purposes, which direction did the Gospel go? West. That’s why we’ve been so
blessed in our western nations, because the Word of God did not go east; it
went west. God did all of His workings over the last thousands of years
through that move westward rather than eastward. So when you go home tonight and
you take a hot shower and you sit in front of a big plasma TV and you eat a
T-bone steak, you know what you have to thank God for? That the Medes and the
Persians didn’t go east, they went west! It’s that simple. Because you
see, we’ve been so blessed, and you know where it started. Now, I didn’t
intend to do this. I may even have to look a minute. Come back with me to
Genesis. I think it’s chapter 9. Now this is why I love
Scripture. How God knows the end from the beginning because He’s in control of
it. He created it. But way back here in Genesis chapter 9 verse 27, we have
the three sons of Noah: Ham, Shem, and Japheth. Genesis 9:27a “God shall enlarge
Japheth,…” Now who followed Japheth? Well, the Caucasian races.
Japheth from the Middle East went up north into the Caucasians, then they
migrated over into Europe. So Japheth is the progenitor of what we would call
the Caucasian races. Shem was the progenitor of the Middle Eastern races. All
right, so verse 27 again. Genesis 9:27a “God shall enlarge
Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem;…” Now, I don’t know
how many of you remember how I taught that when we were back in Genesis. But
you know how I look at that? The Caucasian people are going to be given the
wherewithal, the energy and the ambition, to increase and enjoy technology.
Just stop and think. The whole industrial revolution, where did it start? Not
China. Not India. Europe and North America. All right, from the industrial
revolution we jump across over to America and you’ve got the agricultural
revolution—the tremendous increase in agricultural production and what have
you. And you have the increase in manufacturing. Well, that was all part of
the western civilizations. Not the Far East. In fact, I tell Iris every once
in a while—when I look at the news and how these third world people are still
plowing with the old water buffalo, still plowing with a stick many times.
Well, they’ve got the same brain capacity that our Mid-western farmers had.
What made the difference? Well, I can only put one word on it. God. Because I can remember as a kid
when my Dad, who was farming in the 1920’s and the 1930’s—when those farmers
would get together, what would they talk about? How they could plow more in
less time. How they could produce more with less work. The Far East still
doesn’t look at it that way. Why? Because God has singularly blessed the western
culture. But, now here’s the next one.
This will make you smile. Even though Japheth is going to be given the
wherewithal to have all the energy and do all the doing, who is going to
finance it? The Jew—and he’s going to dwell in the tents of Shem. And
I’ll stand on that until the day I die, because that’s just the way God
ordained it. You cannot do anything without
money. Nothing. You have to go and borrow it, because nobody starts out with
it. And where did everybody have to go? To the Jewish bankers. I think
Genesis just says it all—that Japheth will be enlarged. They’re the ones that
are going to set technology on edge, but they’re going to do it with Jewish
bankers. And I think I can back it up with history and economics and
everything else, that that’s exactly the way God intended. All right, now I can take
another one. When Paul was beginning his missionary journeys and he had gotten
to the west end of Turkey to the Aegean Sea, he had intended to U-turn and go
back along the northern shores of the Black Sea and then back into Asia. What happened? The Holy Spirit stopped him. He had a vision that night of a man
over in Macedonia in Greece. And what did the vision say? “Come over
and help us.” And Paul didn’t argue. Instead
of U-turning back to the east, he took a ship across the Aegean, went up to
Philippi, and Christianity took hold in Europe. So, as we sit here enjoying
all of our western culture and our blessings, it all began by God’s design. All right, back again to where
I was. Daniel 8 and verse 4, this is simple history. That’s all it is—by
God’s foretelling it before it happened through the prophet Daniel. Daniel 8:4 “I saw the ram
(the Mede and Persian Empire) pushing westward and northward, and southward;
(Not east—west, south, and north. In other words, around the Mediterranean Sea and up over toward the Caucasians.) so that no beasts might stand
before him, (In other words, no empire could stand before this Mede and
Persian host.) neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand;
but he did according to his will, and became great.” In other words, the Medes and
Persians, under Artaxerxes and later on under King Cyrus, had absolute power
and reign over the then-known world. All right, verse 5: Daniel 8:5 “And as I was
considering, (When he saw the ram pushing to the west with its armies,
all of a sudden something else came up in his vision, and it’s a goat.) behold,
an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not
the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.” Singular
or plural? Singular. One. Well, who is this? Alexander the Great.
Alexander the Great was the next major player on the stage of history. Now there’s an inkling in here.
Oh, I know what I wanted to look at. “And he touched not the ground.”
Now what does that speak of? You can run so fast that it’s almost as if you’re
not even touching the ground. That was the swiftness of Alexander’s
conquests. He moved his army so much faster than anybody could ever dream
possible. It was a supernatural thing. You pick this up two or three
times in the Scriptures, the speed of Alexander’s moving of his armies. All
right, and “he had a notable horn between his eyes,” which is
indicated by the singular Alexander the Great. Daniel 8:6-7a “And he came to the ram
who had two horns, (In other words, Alexander the Great’s armies
confront the Medes and the Persians coming from the east. All right--) And
he came to the ram who had two horns, which I had seen standing before the
river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.” In other words,
Alexander the Great just overwhelmed the Mede and Persians.) 7. And I saw
him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him,…”
In other words, he had anger. He had nothing on his mind but to destroy the
enemy. Daniel 8:7b “…and smote the ram, and
broke his two horns: (In other words, he just utterly destroyed the
governmental power of the Mede and Persian Empire.) and there was no
power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped
upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.” In
other words, Alexander the Great utterly defeated the Medes and Persians. Daniel 8:8a “Therefore the he goat
(Alexander the Great) waxed very great: and when he was strong, (In
other words, he kept getting stronger as he conquered more and more nations.) the
great horn was broken;…” Now, how many of you know the story of
Alexander the Great? Well, he was the master of dissipation. He literally destroyed his own
body with his riotous living—and not only with alcohol, but with women and
everything else. So by the time he was thirty three, Alexander the Great had
conquered the then-known world and cried, they tell us, literally cried that
there were no more nations to conquer. He had conquered them all. That’s when
God took his life. Now then, Alexander the Great
had now formed the Greek Empire, usurping the Mede and the Persian and taking
up more from where he’d left in Greece and Egypt and Palestine and all of
that. Then his empire was divided by four of his generals, and that’s where we
constantly get this picture of four when it’s associated with Alexander the
Great. You remember way back in chapter 7, Daniel saw this animal with four
wings and so forth. All right, so he waxed great, but he was broken.
In other words, he dies. And in his place came four notable ones and they’re
going to divide the empire into four distinct areas. Now as soon as you get to verse
9, we leap all the way from 300 B.C. to the end of the age and the
anti-Christ. Now that’s the way Scripture does things. So you might want to
make note of it in your Bible, that here in verse 9 we now leave off with history
back in 300 B.C. and we jump all the way up to that which, we think, is near
future. I think we’re getting so close. Of course, I said that ten years
ago. But you want to remember, ten years in God’s eyes is not even a
split-second and a hundred years isn’t much. But you see, the reason I keep
thinking more and more that we’re close, and I’m not stretching the envelope,
is that when these prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah especially, when they were
warning Israel of this coming Babylonian invasion because of their wickedness
(I hope I get back to that before the afternoon is over.); that because of
their horrendous idolatry they’re going to be overrun by these Gentile Empires,
how long was it until it happened? Well, a hundred years. It sounds like it
was going to be next month, because Isaiah says you’re going to have foreign
languages in your midst. From what? Occupying troops. But it wasn’t next month. It
was a hundred years before it happened. But we can use the same analogy
today. All of these end-time things that I can point out and stand here by the
hour, when did they really begin? The last part of the 1800’s. Technology –
when did you get the invention of the steam engine and the telephone and the
telegraph? The late 1800’s. Then at the turn of the century you have the
airplane. Then you come to the technology of World War I and World War II and
it’s just a downhill flow. All right, you can take it in
every category. When did people start getting a knowledge of prophecy? The
early or the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s. Up until then it was never even
mentioned. But then all of a sudden guys began to understand. The New Age
movement—when did the New Age Movement begin? The 1890’s. And after the turn
of the century, it, too, is on a downhill swing. So, all these things that are
now coming to a head for our end-time scenario have been around a hundred
years. That’s why I feel that we are appropriate in thinking that the Lord
will be coming, yet, even in my lifetime as old as I am. All right, so back to chapter
8. I’ve only got a minute left. Verse 9: Daniel 8:9 “And out of one of them
(out of one of these four generals out of which the Greek Empire was divided)
out of one of them came forth a little horn,…” Now that’s a title for
the anti-Christ, but in this case it’s going to be the forerunner of the
anti-Christ, or what I would call the prototype. Everything that this “little
horn” is going to accomplish back in antiquity you’re going to see
replayed by the man anti-Christ. I haven’t really got enough
time left to take that any further. But we’ll come back to it in our next
program. Verse 9 and out of one of these Greek quarters of the Greek Empire,
comes a guy by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes, who’ll be a Syrian. He is one
of the four generals that take over the Greek Empire that was established by
Alexander the Great. He will be a perfect prototype for the true anti-Christ. Okay, good to have everybody
back from your break. This is the fourth program this afternoon. We’re going
to get out of here and get home in just a little bit, but let’s pick up one
more program by going back to Daniel chapter 8 where we just left off in verse
9. Now remember what I’ve been
saying—this is history before it happened, prophesied by the prophet Daniel.
Consequently, the unbelieving world can’t comprehend it. That’s the beauty of
prophecy. It just simply proves that our Bible knows what it’s talking about
when it can predict things or foretell things long before it happens. All
right, now back to Daniel chapter 8 verse 9 again. Daniel 8:9a “And out of one of
them,…” That is out of one of these four areas of the Greek Empire.
Now don’t forget that after Alexander the Great, by his own cunning and his
leadership, had conquered the then-known world and actually cried tears that
there wasn’t any more ground to conquer, he died a drunkard’s death, really, if
you want to know the truth of it, at the age of 33. He had four generals, and in
order to make sure that none of Alexander’s sons would take his place, they
murdered them. See, now that’s how history works. These four generals connived
to kill the sons of Alexander the Great so that there wouldn’t be anybody to
usurp the power except themselves. These four generals now divide
the empire. And the worst of the four was Antiochus Epiphanes. Now you want to
write that one down. Antiochus was the general that took over the part of the
world that included Syria and Israel and Egypt. He was a despot, and he gave Israel fits. He was, well, we’ll see it here in the Scripture in just a minute. That’s why
he is what the Scripture calls a preview of the man anti-Christ. So we go back
to so many of the things that Antiochus did that we know the anti-Christ will
do as well. Verse 9 again: Daniel 8:9 “And out of one of them
(out of these four generals) came forth a little horn, (which is
an indication that he’s the type or picture of the anti-Christ) which
waxed exceeding great, toward the south. (See, that took
in the land of Israel.) and toward the east, and toward the pleasant
land.” And that, of course, is another reference to Palestine, or the land of Israel. All right, verse 10: Daniel 8:10 “And it waxed great, even
to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to
the ground, and stamped upon them.” Now, that may be kind of hard to
comprehend. But one commentary designated that as the priests as they worked
in the Temple. He made a point of killing them first and downtrodden them. All
right, now verse 12: Daniel 8:12 “And an host was given
him against the daily sacrifice (Now you know, that’s in the realm of
the Temple worship. He’s down in Jerusalem, and he had a daily host or--) an
host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and
it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.” Now, I think all that is in
reference to his destroying the Temple and the Temple worship and the Word of
God and all that was associated with it. Then verse 13: Daniel 8:13 “Then I heard one saint
(or a believing Jew) speaking, and another saint (believing
Jew) said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be
the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation,
to give both the sanctuary and the host (That is the population of
Jerusalem in general.) to be trodden under foot.” Now keep remembering, this is
all taking place back there in about 300 B.C. while Antiochus Epiphanes was
ruling his part of the Greek Empire before the Romans came in. And the
anti-Christ is going to follow in his footsteps now some 2,300 years later.
All right, read the next verse. Verse 14: Daniel 8:14 “And he said unto me, Unto
two thousand and three hundred days;…” Now nobody of whatever I can
read can give an answer to this, and I can’t understand it. So we’ll just
leave that verse set. Nobody can understand what those 2,300 days are
referring to. Now verse 15: Daniel 8:15 “And it came to pass,
when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning,
then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.” Now
whether it’s the Lord, or whether it’s an angel, I’m going to wait and see if
it comes up in the coming verses. Daniel 8:16-17a “And I heard a man’s
voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man
to understand the vision. (So, I think that’s who the man’s voice in
verse16 is—Gabriel.) 17. So he came near where I stood: and when he came,
I was afraid, and fell upon my face:…” Now you can understand that
Daniel is still very human in spite of all that God has been doing with him,
and he was afraid. Who wouldn’t be? To have an angel the likes of Gabriel suddenly
appear? Daniel 8:17b “…but he said unto me,
Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.”
See, now we’re leaping all the way over to what for us is still future, that
would be 2,300 years plus. Daniel 8:18-19a “Now as he was speaking
with me, (this angel Gabriel) I was in a deep sleep on my face
toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright. 19. And he (Gabriel)
said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the
indignation:…” Now the indignation in
Scripture is the seven years of Tribulation. Let’s go back. I haven’t done it
for quite a while. Keep your hand in Daniel. I hope I can remember where I’m
at. Come back with me to Psalms chapter 2 again. We use it quite often. I always
call it the outline of the Old Testament program. And here we pick it up, of
course, at the crucifixion, the rejection of Israel’s Messiah. Psalms chapter
2, I think it’s high time that we review it. We might as well start at verse
1. In years gone by we’ve used it quite often, but it’s been a while. Psalms
chapter 2 and I just want you to see how beautifully this is laid out now since
we’re seeing it also in Daniel. Psalms 2:1-2a “Why do the heathen
(the non-Jewish world) rage, and the people (Israel) imagine a vain thing? (What’s the matter with their thinking?) 2. The
kings of the earth (Now in this case, it’s the likes of Pilate and the
Roman authorities.) set themselves,…” In other words, you know,
they were all prone to think that they were God themselves. Psalms 2:2b-3 “…and the rulers
(That is of Israel.) take counsel together, (In other words, when
the High Priests consorted with Pilate to put Him to death.) against the
LORD, (in other words, Jesus of Nazareth) and against his anointed,
saying, 3. Let us break their bands asunder, (That is the reigns, or
the controlling power, of Israel’s God. They wanted nothing to do with Him.) and
cast away their cords from us.” Well, Israel had been that ridiculous
all through their history, of course. Psalms 2:3-4a “Let us break their bands
asunder, (That is the bands of the Triune God.) and cast away
their cords from us. 4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:…”
How can Israel, or anybody else for that matter, be so ridiculous? Psalms 2:4b-6 “…the LORD shall have
them in derision. 5. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
(That’s the Tribulation.) and (he will) vex them in his
sore displeasure. 6. Yet (After running the course of
the days of indignation, the seven years of Tribulation, this is what will
follow.) Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” See how perfectly it unfolds.
They reject the Messiah. They kill Him. But according to Old Testament
prophecy, in short order the Tribulation would come in. Christ would return,
and Israel would have the Kingdom. See, there’s no hint of Paul and the Church
Age in anything in Old Testament prophecy. It was a secret kept in the mind of
God until He gave it to the Apostle Paul. Psalms 2:6-8a “Yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion. 7. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said it
unto me, Thou art my Son; (See, there we know we’re speaking of
Christ.) this day have I begotten thee. 8. Ask of me, and
I shall give thee the heathen (the Gentiles) for thine
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth…” As we’ve already
seen, that’s a reference to the coming Kingdom. All right, so all the way
through, now, we’ve got this set of events: first Christ would be rejected, and
then would come the Tribulation, then the Second Coming and the establishing of
the Kingdom. All right, now let’s come back
up to where we were in Daniel chapter 8. Now we’re going to see this vision
explained. Verse 20: Daniel 8:20-22 “The ram which thou
sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. 21. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: (That’s Alexander the Great.)
and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. (Or
Alexander himself.) 22. Now that being broken, (In other words,
he died at the age of thirty three and his power is broken by virtue of
physical death.) whereas four (Those four generals that we’ve
been talking about.) four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up
out of the nation, but not in his power.” In other words, those four
segments of Alexander’s Empire will become pretty much independent, yet they’re
going to be fighting against each other. Verse 23: Daniel 8:23-24 “And in the latter time
of their kingdom, (these four generals including the main player,
Antiochus Epiphanes) when the transgressors are come to the full, a king
of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, (In other
words, I think it’s a reference to his demonic influence, satanic power.) shall
stand up. 24. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he
shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy
the mighty and the holy people.” That’s Israel. Daniel 8:25 “And through his policy
also shall he cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself
in his heart, and by peace shall he destroy many: (All right, now we
come to an understanding that we’re talking about the anti-Christ. The one who
is the follower of Antiochus Epiphanes, because of the capitalized word
Prince. Here’s the key.) he shall also stand up against the Prince of
princes; (Which is a title of Christ.) but he shall be broken
without hand.” Now let’s jump ahead. We’ll be
coming to it probably in the next taping. But jump all the way up to chapter 9
verse 26, and here’s where you get the connection that now we’re talking about
the anti-Christ confronting the Son of God, Jesus Christ, at His Second
Coming. Daniel chapter 9 verse 26, we’ll look at this in detail in our next
taping, hopefully. Daniel 9:26 “And after threescore and
two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, (a reference to His crucifixion) but
not for himself: (In other words, He died for us, not for anything He
had done. Now here it comes.) and the people of the prince that shall
come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be
with a flood,…” Oh, I didn’t go up far enough. I should have gone up
to verse 25. I’m sorry. Sorry about that. Jump back up to verse 25. Daniel 9:25a “Know therefore and
understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to
build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the (What?) Prince….”
There, I made my point. Now it’s Prince, capitalized. All right, now flip back. We
will look at this in days to come. Now come back to Daniel chapter 8. This is
the same Prince referred to in verse 25, the coming Christ. All right, so now
we know that we are dealing with the anti-Christ, who is going to follow in
almost the identical footsteps of Antiochus Epiphanes some 3,000 years
earlier. Daniel 8:25b “…and by peace he shall
destroy many; he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; (He
thinks he can fight the coming Christ.) but he shall be broken without
hand.” Now let’s go back and see how
the Book of Revelation deals with that verse. To what extent will God the Son
utterly destroy this man anti-Christ. Revelation 19, let’s drop in at verse
19. Revelation 19:19 “And I saw the beast,
(the anti-Christ) and the kings of the earth, (who he had
subjected under his own power) and their armies, gathered together to
make war against him who sat on the horse, (Which is a reference to
Christ, God the Son, Jesus of Nazareth, however you want to name Him.)
and they had gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse,
and against his army.” But all we have to do is look at verse 20,
didn’t take much but a spoken word. Revelation 19:20a “And the beast was taken,
(the anti-Christ by virtue of the power of God the Son) and with him the
false prophet…” The religious leader that’s going to head up a world
religion. Now we’ll come to that maybe in
a later time, how that everything during the Tribulation is going to be under
one world government. That’s why I feel we’re getting so close to the end.
Everything is pushing for a one-world government, a one-world currency, a
one-world religion. That is subtle, and it’s closer than most of us realize,
the idea of a one-world religion. All right, that’ll be headed up by the other
major player of these seven years, which is the false prophet. Revelation 19:20 “And the beast was taken,
and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him,…”
See, miracles and religion, they go together. They just go together, never
forget that. You don’t find Antiochus Epiphanes creating miracles. You don’t
see Nebuchadnezzar performing miracles. But it’s always associated with
religion. All right, this false prophet—one of his major points of winning the
world will be miracles. Revelation 19:20c “…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. (And here’s
their end.) These both (As human men that God has seen fit to
empower and to use.) These both were cast alive into the lake of fire
burning with brimstone.” In other words, they do not get the advantage
of the Great White Throne Judgment. They will be cast directly into the Lake of Fire. All right, now come back with
me to Daniel chapter 8, and we were at verse 25. Daniel 8:25b “…he shall also stand up
against the Prince of princes; (God the Son, the Coming Christ) but
he shall be broken without hand.” He won’t stand a snowball’s chance.
Oh, he’s going to feel that he’s had the world under his thumb for seven years,
and he thinks that he can defeat the Christ of Glory. No, he will not. He
will be cast into the Lake of Fire with the False Prophet. And then, as we
know from Revelation, Satan will be locked up. They can’t put him in the Lake of Fire, yet, because he still has to come back at the end of the thousand years.
Okay, now come back to chapter 8 verse 26. Daniel 8:26-27a “And the vision of the
evening and the morning which was told is true: (In other words, Daniel
says, believe it.) wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for
many days. 27. And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days;…”
Well, I can see why. My, when he got a picture of these end-time events and
saw it so vividly, it was almost more than the human can take. So he was sick
certain days. Daniel 8:27b “…afterward I rose up,
and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none
understood it.” Even Daniel could not get a complete picture. In fact, this might be a good
time. Jump all the way up to chapter 12, because this just says it all.
Daniel chapter 12 verse 8. We’ll be looking at it again somewhere down the
road, but for now it just says it all. Daniel 12:8a “And I heard,
(all these things from these visions and from the angelic conversations)
I heard, but I understood not:…” He couldn’t comprehend what all this
was all about. Why? Because God didn’t give him that much insight. Now you see, whenever I speak
of God keeping things from people, such as Daniel and such as these other
prophets—and even the Lord Jesus in His earthly ministry, He kept things from
those Twelve men that most of Christendom today thinks they understood—and they
did not. For example, did the Twelve
have any idea of what we call the Church Age or the Body of Christ? No. Not a
clue. Why? God did not see fit to tell them. And you see, all the way up
through the first part of the Book of Acts, those twelve men did not have a
clue. But they weren’t supposed to. It wasn’t their fault. Well, now read how
Daniel puts it. Daniel 12:8-9 “I heard, (all
these vision experiences) but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what
shall be the end of these things? (What is all this coming to? But
look what God says.) 9. And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words
are closed up and sealed til (When?) the time of the end.” All right, what did I say a
little while ago? I don’t know if it was this half hour or the last one. What
began about a hundred years ago? Well, the understanding of prophecy. For
seventeen or eighteen hundred years, Christendom knew nothing of end-time
prophecy. They had no idea that the Jews scattered out into every nation under
heaven would be going back home. They didn’t have a clue. But in the latter
part of the 1800’s, Bible teachers began to see it—that evidently the Jews are
going to come back to their homeland. It started in 1900. Well, it’s the same
way here. Daniel is told don’t fret over it. It’s not for you to know. But
when the end time comes, then God will begin to reveal these secrets. All right, got four minutes
left. Come back to Daniel and we’ll read the last verse once again. Daniel 8:27 “And I Daniel fainted, and
was sick certain days;…(Because he could see the ramifications, how
horrendous it all was, and yet couldn’t put it together.)…and I was
astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” All right, now then, for a
couple of minutes we’ll start in chapter 9. Daniel 9:1a “In the first year of
Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes,…” See, we’re at
the heart, yet, of the Mede and Persian Empire. Now remember, when Daniel
talked about Alexander the Great, that was still out in the future. Don’t get
confused now. We’re still in the Mede and Persian Empire time-wise in Daniel’s
life. The Greek Empire will come later. Daniel is still writing from the time
of the Mede and Persian Empire before Alexander the Great. Daniel 9:1 “In the first year of
Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over
the realm of the Chaldeans;” Because they had defeated them. They had
literally overrun the Babylonians. All right, verse 2: Daniel 9:2 “In the first year of his
reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of
the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years
in the desolations of (What?) Jerusalem.”
Now I told you to keep that word in your “computer,” didn’t I? Let’s go back
to Jeremiah 25, and let’s just see what Daniel is talking about. Jeremiah, come back to chapter
25 and verse 11. See, now this is the beauty of Scripture. Jeremiah is
writing probably a hundred or more years before Daniel, and here it is. Jeremiah 25:11a “And this whole land
(That is the land of Israel. Jeremiah 25:11—I noticed some of you are still
turning the pages.) and this whole land shall be a desolation, and an
astonishment;…” Do you remember years back I
read what old Samuel Clemens wrote—the guy who wrote Huckleberry Finn,
Mark Twain—when he traveled in the land of Israel in the 1860’s. I think I can
still almost quote it. He said—I have never seen such desolation. Even
the weeds of the desert will not grow here. We rode for days and days and
never saw a human being. The sun got hotter and hotter. I would not want to
live here. Well, that’s exactly what was prophesied. Jeremiah 25:11b “…an astonishment (of
the desolation); and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” Now, I know I’m going to have
to push time. Come back with me really fast to Leviticus 26. Moses already
speaks of it in Leviticus 26 verse 32. I won’t be able to wait for you. Leviticus 26:32a “And I will bring the
land into desolation:…” And we know it was for seventy years. Okay, it’s good to have
everyone in today as we begin the third part of Book 81. For those of you out
in television, again we just want to welcome you to our Bible study. And I
have to take the time to thank you out there for your letters. My, how we
enjoy mail time, don’t we, Honey? We still manage to read them all. We may
not all get them the same day they come, but sooner or later we get every
letter read. So don’t ever hold back from dropping us a note. And again, I have
to emphasize: please don’t write two, three, or four pages; because then we
can’t get every letter read. But we do appreciate your
letters, your gifts, and your prayers—everything that has made this such a
blessing to so many. For those of you here in the studio—we appreciate your
coming in. Many of you have traveled a good distance here today, and we
realize that. Before we begin the lesson, I
want to again let our audience know we still have this question and answer book
available. We just got a whole semi-load again the other day. It’s the one
and only book we’ve ever had, and they are still going out by the hundreds. They
are available, and if you’d like a copy just call the office and we’ll get them
out to you. Probably the best $11 you’ll ever spend. They also make wonderful
gifts. Okay, now we’re going to get
right into the Book, and we’re going to pick up where we left off after our
last taping. For those here in the studio, that’s over a month ago. For those
of you out in television, it was yesterday or last week, whatever the case may
be. We’re going to come back to
where we left off in Daniel chapter 9. We made rather a hurried commentary on
the first two verses. I didn’t really get to finish it like I’d like to, so
I’m going to go back and touch on those for just a moment before we drop into
verse 3. So, let’s start at verse 1. All right, in chapter 9 verse
1, remember now that poor old Daniel is about 87 or 88 years of age, having
been kidnapped out of Jerusalem when he was probably 12 or 14, which tells you
how long he has now been out there in the area of Babylon and Shushan. Well
over the 70 years that he knew the captivity was to be. So what’s in the old
fellow’s mind? Well, we should be getting back to Jerusalem one of these
days. The seventy years of captivity
has run its course. It’s over. And I think that’s why back even in a previous
verse in chapter 8—if you want to look at it a minute, in verse 27—I think the
old fellow was getting so anxious for the opportunity to go back home to Jerusalem;
which, as far as we know, he never did. But look what he says in verse 27. Daniel 8:27A “And I Daniel fainted,
and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business;
and I was astonished at the vision,…” Well, I think what he was really
sick at was that he had spent all these years throughout that seventy years
that was promised in prophecy and there was still no sign of going back to Jerusalem. Anyway, in chapter 9 verse 1: Daniel 9:1 “In the first year of
Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes,…” Now you
remember I pointed out in the last taping that we are already past the Babylonian K ingdom. And by the miracle-working power of God old Daniel moves from Baghdad, or Babylon, up to Shushan which is the capital of the Medes and Persians.
Unbelievable that here this Jew survives the whole Babylonian time and now
moves up into the Mede and Syrian Empire and is still in a place of authority.
It’s just unbelievable, except that God is in it. Now verse 2: Daniel 9:2 “In the first year of his
reign (That is of Darius the son of Ahasuerus.) I Daniel
understood by books the number of the years, (Well, what number of
years is he talking about? The seventy. The seventy years should be fulfilled
by now and we should be ready to go back home. All right, we’re looking at it
in just a moment, but let’s finish the verse.) whereof the word of the
LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish (or
fulfill) seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” Now Jeremiah prophesied it—but
you’ve got to know your history, and you’ve got to know your time. Jeremiah
was writing about the time that Daniel was the little lad being carried out to Babylon. So Daniel knew Jeremiah at least by name if not personally, and he’s referring to
his prophecy. But before we look at
Jeremiah’s prophecy, let’s go all the way back—and I love to do this to show
the scornful world that this Book is like no other book. Nothing compares to this
Book. Because here Moses is writing in Leviticus chapter 26—way back at the
very beginning of the Nation of Israel you might say—and he’s already
predicting this seventy years of captivity which won’t happen for years and years.
Leviticus chapter 26, drop in at verse 32, and God says through the prophet Moses,
who we know wrote Leviticus. Leviticus 26:32a “And I will bring the
land (At this point they weren’t even there yet, but they will be.) And
I will bring the land into desolation:…” Now, I’ve made the point on
this program over and over down through the years: anytime the Jew was
uprooted from the land—which we normally call the Promised Land, or that part
of Palestine that was Israel—anytime the Jew was absent from the land, it went
into desolation. No one else could come in and cultivate it and take advantage
of it. God made sure it went into desolation. See, that’s what ol’ Arafat
never agreed to. That’s why when he was holding forth and he would say over
and over that it was the Arab’s land; it’s always been their land; it has
always been a verdant land, which meant green. It has always been a
green land. No, it hasn’t. When Israel is out of the land, it becomes a total
desolation. And I’ll comment on that a little further on. All right, but
here it is. God says: Leviticus 26:32-33 “And I will bring the
land into desolation: and your enemies who dwell therein shall be astonished at
it. (The desolation) 33. And I will scatter you among the heathen,
and will draw out a sword after you: (In other words, they would be invaded
by these enemy nations.) I will draw out a sword after you: and your land
shall be desolate, and your cities waste.” Now verse 34, so we know
that Moses was talking about the seventy-year captivity. Leviticus 26:34a “Then shall the land
enjoy her sabbaths,…” Now for most people that needs some defining,
doesn’t it? When Israel went into the Promised Land, as part of the Law what
were they to do with the productive end of the land every seventh year? Let it
lay fallow. They were not to farm the orchards or the grain fields. The
seventh year was to be a land sabbatical. But did the Jews do it? No! They
never did. For 490 years they never gave the seventh year sabbatical. All
right, now look what the rest of the verse says. Leviticus 26:34
“Then shall the land
enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’
land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.” And how
many would there be in 490 years? Seventy. So, there’s the promise of the
coming seventy years of captivity down in Babylon while the land of Israel would lie fallow. Okay, now let’s jump up to what
Daniel is referring to—to one of his earlier contemporaries—Jeremiah chapter
25. This is the beauty of Scripture. These aren’t just fables conned up
before the campfire. This is the immaculate, intrinsically prophetic Word of
God. Here we have Jeremiah writing shortly before the Babylonian invasion and
before the Temple is destroyed. Verse 11: Jeremiah 25:11 “And this whole land
(See?) this whole land shall be a desolation, (The same word that
Moses used. Nothing is going to grow or survive.) And this whole land
shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the
king of Babylon (How long?) seventy years.” All in
line with prophecy. Now then, let’s come back to
Daniel and carry on with what he’s talking about—that all these years of the seventy
years out of the land are done, and it should be time for them to be going back
and re-occupying the land and rebuilding the Temple and so forth. Which of
course is going to happen as we’re going to see before the afternoon is over. All
right, verse 2 again. Daniel 9:2 “In the first year of his
reign (Ahasuerus or Darius) I Daniel understood by books the
number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet,
(And I’m going to add—as well as Moses.) that he would accomplish
seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” Now again, just to rise above
all of the statements from the Arab world—they like to make it sound like (I’ve
already alluded to it with Arafat) it has always been green, it has always been
productive, it had always been Arab lands. Well, now let’s just show you what
a lie that is. Come back with me. Now, I
didn’t intend to do this. That’s what I told Iris coming up, “You know, Honey,
I never know where I’m going to stop at thirty minutes.” I have no way of knowing
it. I don’t come up here with a set format or anything like that. I didn’t
intend to do this. Let’s go back to Nehemiah. The unbelieving world knows
nothing of this, yet we have to be aware of what the Word of God says. Go back
to Nehemiah, and we’re going to be doing this again later this afternoon,
hopefully. Nehemiah chapter 2 just to show
you that when Israel was gone those seventy years, nothing, nothing was done to
embellish it; to bring it back into production; to get it ready for occupancy
by whatever people might do it. No, it stayed desolate for the whole seventy
years. Nothing was done to bring it back into production. Nehemiah chapter 2.
He’s sent by the king to go back and get ready to rebuild the city walls of Jerusalem. Now Ezra, of course, was sent to rebuild the Temple. But Nehemiah was sent
back a good long while later to rebuild the city walls and make it preparatory
for occupancy by the Jewish people. Nehemiah 2:17 “Then I said unto them,
(those who were examining this with him) Ye see the distress that we are
in, how Jerusalem (Is…teaming with Arabs? Is that what your Bible says?
That’s what the ridiculous would try to tell us. After seventy years there’s
nothing in Jerusalem. It’s what?) lieth waste,…” It’s
desolate, see? Now that’s the point I’m trying
to make. Don’t believe all this garbage. Don’t believe it. It’s not true.
When Israel is out of the land, it becomes a total desolation. God won’t let
anybody make anything of it, and—well, I might as well comment on it now. I
was going to later. Even after A.D. 70 when the
Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and drove the Jews out to go wherever
they wanted, and they literally became the wandering Jews of the dispersion;
again, did the Arab world come in and occupy Israel and Jerusalem and put it
into production? Never happened! For nineteen hundred and some years Palestine—now I use the word Palestine as the big area in which we have the land of Israel. So don’t get on my case for calling Israel Palestine. Palestine is that
geographical area. All right, from the destruction
in A.D. 70 until around the turn of the century of 1900, so that’s about
eighteen hundred and thirty years, it was a total desolation. Oh, there were a
few little isolated pockets of people, of course. But by-and-large the land
was in total desolation. You know, I’ve always over the
years referred to Samuel Clemens, the author of Huckleberry Finn. We know him
better as Mark Twain. And you’ve heard me refer to it more than once on the
program. He traveled in the ancient land of Israel in the middle 1800’s. I
think it was around the time of our Civil War, around 1865. And he wrote a
book called Innocence Abroad. And he was merely speaking of being
abroad as an innocent traveler. In that book he gave this graphic description
of the land of Israel in 1865. He said, “The land is a total desolation.
Not even the weeds of the desert will grow here. We traveled mile after mile
and never saw another human being. The further we went toward Jerusalem the hotter the sun got. By the time we got to Jerusalem,...” he said again,
“...I would not want to live here.” Well you see, that was all during that
period of time when Israel was out in the dispersion, and the land of Israel was a desolation. Now then, before I’d even seen
this book by Mark Twain, I knew a gentleman who had been in World War II,
detached from the American army and was attached to something in the land of Israel. So, he served a couple of years at the very height of World War II in Jerusalem. Well, he was in one of my home Bible studies in Iowa after I began teaching up
there. And that was when we first became aware of this very fact. He was
telling us that it was such a—and it was a term he used—Godforsaken. He
said, “Why in the world anybody would want the Promised Land? What was God
thinking when He gave such a worthless piece of real estate to Israel.” Well, that’s the way it was even yet in the 1940’s. It was still a total
desolation. Well, the first time Iris and I
got there in 1975 it wasn’t much more than that. Because I still remember as
we were coming down the Jordan Valley, I said to her, “Honey, how in the world
could God ever call this the land of milk and honey.” It was still for the
most part just barren desert. Now, of course, every time we go back there’s
more cultivated area. My, remember last fall in the area of the Sermon on the
Mount? My goodness, what used to be just brush and sand dunes is now banana
groves. See, everything is just constantly increasing. But the point I’m
trying to make is that when the Jew is out of the Promised Land, it is
desolation. And don’t ever believe the propaganda of anything other than that.
All right, now reading on in Nehemiah verse 17 again: Nehemiah 2:17b “…Ye see the distress that
we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, (Now remember, this is at the end
of those 70 years, even quite a few over, and Jerusalem is lying waste.) and
the gates thereof are burned with fire:…” Has anybody fixed them?
No. They’re still laying there charred just like they were when the
Babylonians destroyed it. Nobody lifted a finger. And, oh, our people are
being fed all this garbage. When Israel is out of the land, beloved, it’s
desolate; and God sees to it that it stays that way. Now even after modern days,
when people would try to go and build up some of the cities—the Romans, of
course, tried it, and every time they’d get started rebuilding a city, what
would God destroy it with? Earthquakes. In fact, those are a lot of the
places that we visit when we’re over there. Bet She’an is a good example right
down there south of the Sea of Galilee. It was evidently a beautiful Roman
Colony. But before they finished building the city, what happened? Earthquake.
Totally destroyed it! It all lays there in rubble. And then malaria came in when
the Hula Valley was swamped. It was just totally infested with malaria. Malaria
was so prevalent in the land of what we call Israel, that no more than two
generations could survive it and they’d die off from malaria. Then the drought
came in. The rain stopped. So, God used those three areas to keep it
desolate: Earthquakes, Malaria, and Drought. And that’s all it took, and for
the most part it stayed desolate. All right, just a couple more verses here in
Nehemiah and we’ll get back to Daniel. Nehemiah 2:17b-19a “…the gates thereof are
burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be
no more a reproach. (Because you want to remember, that in antiquity
the wall was the first line of defense.) 18. Then I told them of the hand
of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken
unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their
hands for this good work. 19. But (Now watch this.) when
Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite,…” Now stop a minute. What kind
of people are Ammonites? Huh? Arabs. So just as soon as the Arabs got wind
that these Jews were thinking about fixing the place up, they opposed them.
Then, already! And it’s no different than it is today. All right, reading on,
verse 19: Nehemiah 2:19 “But when Sanballat the
Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian,
(See, now that makes it plain enough.) heard it, (that they were
going rebuild the city) they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and
said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?”
Well, the poor idiots, you know what they didn’t know? Nehemiah had the
contract in his hand from the king to get whatever he needed from the forest of Lebanon or from the quarries. He had it all okayed by the king and these Arabs
didn’t know that. Nehemiah 2:20 “Then answered I them,
and said unto them, The God of heaven, (See, that’s always what makes
the difference.) The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we His
servants will arise and build: but ye (to the Arabs) ye have
no portion; nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem!” And, beloved,
it’s just as valid today as it was back here in 606 B.C. Don’t ever lose sight
of the fact that it’s still the Promised Land and God is in control. All right, now time’s just
about gone. I didn’t intend to do any of that, but maybe there’s a reason for
it. Daniel chapter 9 again and we’ll move on. Verse 3, that’s what’s on the
board. Daniel 9:3-4a “And I set my face unto
the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth,
and ashes: 4. And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and
said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God,…” Now if anybody knew how
great and dreadful, by now Daniel with all of his visions was totally aware,
wasn’t he? So he knows what he’s talking about. He has seen God evidenced in
more ways than one over these previous 70 years. Daniel 9:4b “…keeping the covenant
and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;” Now,
what is that telling you? Who is Daniel primarily writing to? Well, his
fellow Jews. That’s what this is all for. Even though we have a lot of
Gentile prophecy in here, yet it is still Jewish ground. So the objects of his prayer
are the people of Israel who are out there still in captivity and haven’t as
yet made their way back to Jerusalem, although that’s certainly now in the
immediate future. So, we’re dealing primarily with the Jews under the Law,
even though they’d been away from any Temple worship. Yet this is all Jewish
language, “to them that love him and keep his
commandments.” That’s exactly what Jesus instructed the people of His
day—keep the Commandments. I might be biting off more than
I can chew. I think I can bring you back. I hope I can find it back in
Matthew, where he told the rich young ruler—my goodness, I hope I can find it.
I think it is 19, but I’m not sure. Well, I’m in Mark, no wonder I can’t find
it! Come back with me to Matthew chapter 19 verse 16. Because I want you to
see how identical the language is. Now, I don’t know how many of
you got to see the program this morning? I was getting ready, and I just got
little bits and pieces of it. Did you? Did you see what I was driving at?
Oh, when you compare the language of James, it’s word-for-word what Moses said
back there in Exodus. Not even close to what Paul said. But it all fits if
you leave it where it belongs. All right, now here’s another one. Exact words
that Daniel is using. Oh, wow, down to two minutes. Matthew 19:16 “And, behold, one came
and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, (I think I
emphasized that this morning, didn’t I. Yeah. Matthew 19 verse 16.)
Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Now
look at His answer. Matthew 19:17 “And Jesus said unto him,
Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if
thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Now that’s plain, isn’t
it? Why? Because they were under Law. They knew nothing of Grace. And that
was exactly the situation that Daniel is speaking of. Now flip back there for the
minute that we have left. Back to Daniel chapter 9, his praying is based on
his love for God as a good law-keeping Jew, and he is keeping His commandments.
But the Nation? Huh! Anything but. The Nation has just almost
become degraded. And we’ll take the next verse until the half hour is up.
Verse 5 and now he’s praying on behalf of his people—We—the Nation, Israel. Now this doesn’t affect us Gentiles. Don’t ever try to come back here and pray
like this for us today. We have Paul’s prayers to copy. This is Daniel
praying on behalf of his people Israel. Daniel 9:5 “We have sinned, and have
committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by
departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:” In other words,
what’s he referring too? All the facets of the Law which the Jewish people
should have known, if they didn’t, even though they were in captivity. They still had the Law and Temple worship in their memory, if nothing else, because it had been drilled into them.
Just like cults do today. They were taught those commandments and those rules
and regulations from infancy on. So it became second nature for them to keep
all these things. Well, we’ll pick up here in the
next half hour. Okay, good to see you all back
from a coffee break. For those of you out in television, we just want to
welcome you to an informal Bible study. Now I know I say it almost every
program. But you’ve got to remember, new people are coming in every day, and
we have to make them aware that we’re not just a bunch of kooks. We just love
to study the Word! And it’s catching on. My, I wish you could read our
mail. Which reminds me—again, thank you to those of you out in television for
your kind letters, your encouragement, and, again, for your financial help.
My, I get newsletters from several other ministries; and they’re all crying for
help, and they’re cutting back. So far…so far—I just asked the girls again
yesterday, “How did we end up with the month of May?” Right on. And that’s
all we can hope for. So again, thank you every one of you out there and for
your prayers. My goodness, prayer makes all the difference in the world. All right, right back to where
we left off in Daniel chapter 9 in verse 5. I want to use it again, because
I’ve got a Scripture reference that I’d like to bring in on this one. So if
you’re with me in Daniel chapter 9 verse 5, where Daniel is now in his prayer
to Jehovah. Daniel 9:5 “We have sinned,
(as the Nation) and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and
have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:”
All right, let’s go back to II
Chronicles. All the way back to that book of history, to the last chapter.
And that can be your crutch if you want to share these things with people. The
last chapter of II Chronicles and you can jump in at verse 15. We have exactly
the scenario for which Daniel is praying for forgiveness. Now maybe this is an
appropriate time to remind all of us: I know that what God says to Israel has no direct bearing on us today, except as we learn from it. But you know, as I’ve said
before when I taught Daniel way, way back in consort with Revelation—to a
certain degree we can set America right up beside all of this, even though we
not the Chosen Nation. We’re certainly not Israel. But we have been so
singularly blessed like no other nation under Heaven has ever been blessed, and
primarily because from day one, even though they may not have been totally
born-again believers, yet all the people responsible for making America get off
the ground and become such a nation is because it was always God-centered. We
were a God-fearing people. I’ll never forget, years ago my
Dad was telling me that when he first, as a kid of ten years old, came up to
our part of northern Iowa, it was still pretty much the frontier. But he
rehearsed with me one day—we were talking about it—how that the first thing,
not only the Baptists, but the Lutherans and the Methodists, they all got
together so that they could build some kind of a building where they could
share and hold their worship services. That was the most paramount thing. Not
the bars. Not the other garbage that Hollywood likes to make you think made up
the West Frontier. But the first thing that was pre-eminent was a place of
worship. That was the mentality of America all the way up through our
history. Now granted, we had a lot of
ungodly people along with it. You know, I’m always quoting Tocqueville, the
French historian who traveled America, I think probably, I don’t remember
exactly, but I think between 1900 and World War II. When he got back to France and wrote his book on history, he said that the reason America is so blessed is because America is populated by good people. Well, what made them good? Their worship. Their
putting God at least in a place of reverence. All right, so I can’t help but
feel that we’re going to come under the same kind of chastisement. In fact, I
think Billy Graham, if I’m not mistaken. I don’t like to quote people unless
I’m sure, but I’m quite sure Billy Graham made the statement a long time
ago—I’m going to say way back in the early 80’s. He was decrying how fast we
were going down the tube spiritually. And he made this statement: “Unless America repents, Sodom and Gomorrah will rise up and tell God He’s not fair.” So judgment is going
to come. And I have to feel this in the
back of my thinking as I teach these things concerning God’s dealing with a
rebellious nation like Israel. Hey, we’re going to come under that same wrath
some day. I’ve said it before on the program. I’m not saying anything
new—that when God judges America, it’s going to be like no other nation has
ever been judged, because we have been given so much responsibility. Churches
on every corner—you know, I shared with one of my classes here in Oklahoma. A couple of years ago we were in a Seminar in north Georgia, but we were staying
with some people in Chattanooga, Tennessee. As we left our host and hostess,
why, the first thing we saw was a church. And Iris said, “Honey, I’m going to
start counting churches.” Why, we hadn’t gone four or five miles and she was
already up to like twenty four or twenty five. She said, “I might as well quit,
I can’t keep up.” This is typical in America. Churches on every corner. We
have been given a tremendous responsibility as a nation of people. All right, now here’s Israel just shortly before the captivities begin. II Chronicles chapter 36 and jump in
with me at verse 15. II Chronicles 36:15a “And the LORD God of
their fathers sent to them by his messengers, (That is
the prophets.) rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion
on his people,…” He wanted to give them an opportunity to repent, as
we say today, and to have a change of direction. II Chronicles 36:15b “…because he had
compassion on his people,…” Now that’s what I’m emphasizing all the
time—remember, this is God and Israel. This isn’t God and the church. This
isn’t God and Gentiles. This is God and Israel. II Chronicles 36:15b-17a “…because he had
compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: (Which, of course,
was Jerusalem; but here comes that big flipside.) 16. But they mocked the
messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the
wrath of the LORD arose against his people, (Israel) till there
was no remedy. 17. Therefore…” What’s He doing? He
brings in the Chaldees, the Babylonians invade them, see? II Chronicles 36:17-18 “Therefore he brought
upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in
the house of their sanctuary, (these Babylonians) and had no
compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he
gave them all into his hand. 18. And all the vessels of the house of God,
(That is the Temple, remember.) great and small, and the treasures of the
house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these
he brought to Babylon.” All right, now drop all the way down to verse
21, and all this: II Chronicles 36:21 “To fulfil the word of
the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, (And I’m also going to add Moses.) until
the land (the Promised Land, Israel’s homeland) until the land
had enjoyed her sabbaths: (As I explained in the previous half hour,
every seventh year was to be left fallow and out of production as a land
sabbatical. But they didn’t do it.) for as long as she lay desolate
(70 years) she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.” Or
the seventy years of the captivity. All right, now come back to
Daniel chapter 9 and I’m going to go into verse 6. I’ve got yet another portion
that I want to take you to, and that’ll be in the New Testament. But let’s
stop in Daniel chapter 9 again and read verse 6, so that you’ll understand why
Daniel is praying the way he is praying in chapter 9. Daniel 9:6a “Neither have we
(the Nation) hearkened unto thy servants the prophets,…” See, I
want you to understand that there were prophets throughout Israel constantly preaching and warning them of judgment to come. Now you remember when we did a
verse-by-verse on the Book of Isaiah some time ago—I don’t think it’s even been
on the air yet, except on the weekends. But, my goodness, what was Isaiah’s
complaint? The same thing. Turn from your idolatry. Turn from your rebellion
or you’re going to have foreigners in your midst. Well, they didn’t turn, and
they got foreigners in their midst. All right, verse 6 again: Daniel 9:6 “Neither have we
hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings,
(See, the upper echelon were just as guilty as the low man on the totem pole.)
our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.” What
did they do with them? Now turn with me to Acts
chapter 7 and let the Scripture speak. Let the Scriptures tell us what they
did with them. Acts chapter 7 and here we have Stephen, the last opportunity
for the Nation of Israel at the time of Christ to yet repent of having
crucified and rejected their Messiah and enjoy all the fulfillment of all the
Old Testament promises. Here’s their last chance. I always call this the
crescendo, the music word. This is the crescendo of Israel’s rebellion. This
is when they came to the very peak of their adamancy – we will not succumb to
this Jesus of Nazareth. So here we have Stephen, now, presenting their last
opportunity. And always make note of the fact that when you get to the last
verse or thereabouts and the first verse of chapter 8, we’re introduced to the
next major player because Israel is rejecting. All right, Acts chapter 7 verse
51 and Stephen is addressing the religious leadership, remember, of the Nation
of Israel. To this religious leadership he says: Acts 7:51-52a “Ye stiffnecked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears, (Oh, they were circumcised in the
flesh, but not where it really counted in the realm of the Spirit, see.) ye
do always resist the Holy Ghost: (or the Holy Spirit. Now watch it.) as
your fathers (your forefathers back there in Isaiah’s time and before)
as your fathers did, so do ye. 52. Which of the prophets (any of them
that you could name) Which of the prophets have not your fathers
persecuted? and they have slain them who showed before the coming of the Just
One.” In other words, the very
prophets that were promising the peace and prosperity and the glory of this
earthly Kingdom, they killed them. And you’ve heard me say it a hundred times
on this program—if they didn’t like the message, what’d they do? They killed
the messenger. Okay, read it again. Acts 7:52 “Which of the prophets
have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain (put to death) them
who showed before the coming of the Just One: (The Messiah) of
whom (speaking of the Messiah) ye have now been the
betrayers and murderers:” That’s what the Book says. That’s not what
I say. It’s Scripture. Then look at the next verse. Acts 7:53 “Ye who have received the
law by the disposition of angels, (Now that’s kind of a tough one to
explain, because we know that the Law was given to Moses; but there must have
been an angelic force along with it.) Who have received the law…(those
Ten Commandments written by the finger of God in stone)…and have not kept
it.” Why? Rebellion. Unbelief. In fact, I had a call the other
day from a lady that’s writing a book, and she said, “Les, I don’t know who
else to ask.” Come back with me to Daniel chapter 9. She said, “I don’t know
who else to ask. Why did Israel reject the Messiah?” Well, now you just think
a minute—how would you answer the question? Why did Israel reject their
Promised Messiah? Well, I took her to Matthew 16. Now let’s look at it. This
is Bible study! I’m not under any set order to cover such and such in thirty
minutes. I took her back to Matthew 16.
I probably wouldn’t rehearse it, but she was so thrilled with the answer she
couldn’t say thank you fast enough. She said, “This is exactly what
I was looking for.” Now remember her question, “Why did they reject Jesus
as the Messiah?” And this is a good place to go. We use it over and
over—Matthew 16 starting at verse 13, at the end of His three years, just
shortly before they go up for the Passover and the crucifixion. Matthew 16:13-14 “When Jesus came into the
borders of Caesarea Philippi, (clear up there at the headwaters of the Jordan, remember) he asked his disciples, saying, (nobody there but the
Twelve) Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14. And they said,
Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or
one of the prophets.” How ridiculous can you get?
Now don’t forget, what has He been doing every day for almost three years?
Miracles. Miracles and more miracles. And they haven’t got a clue? No, they
didn’t have a clue, except Peter. All right, verse 15: Matthew 16:15-17a “He saith unto them, But
whom say ye that I am? 16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the
Christ, (The Messiah. The Anointed One.) the Son of the living
God. 17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-jona:…” But see, this was Israel’s problem then. It was Israel’s problem back here. And what’s the one word? Unbelief. Unbelief. Look at America today. What’s our problem? What’s the matter with Congress? They don’t have a clue. They
don’t know how to handle the Middle East, except by lobbyists and pressure.
Why not? Unbelief. They no longer put any value on the fact that this is the
revealed Word of God. To most of, I think, even our men in Congress, it’s just
another book. No, it isn’t. It’s the Word of God! All right, are you back at
Daniel chapter 9? So like I said, kind of lay America side-by-side here
because this could be our prayer today—although we’re not under Israel’s Law,
we’re under grace, yet we still have access to the Father. We have absolute
authority to pray on behalf of our nation and our leadership. Paul teaches it
in I Timothy 2:6 that we should pray for them, and why should we? “That
we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” And
nothing in Scripture would oppose that. All right, now read verse 6 again
after reading Acts chapter 7. Daniel 9:6a “Neither have we
(the Nation of Israel) hearkened unto thy servants the prophets,…” In
other words, they killed them or threw them in the dungeon. That’s where
Jeremiah was, remember, when the Babylonians found him. He was in a dungeon. Daniel 9:6b-7a “…who spoke in thy name
to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as
at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto
all Israel,…” Now you know, I have to always
keep hammering at that—because so much of even Christendom cannot get the fact
through their head that all Twelve Tribes are still viable. Ten of them didn’t
get lost. Don’t ever buy into that baloney. The Ten Tribes were never lost. They
stayed as part of Israel even into the captivities and here is proof of it.
It’s to all of those of Judah and Jerusalem, but also all Israel, the Ten Tribes. Daniel 9:7b “…and unto all Israel,
that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast
driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.” Now stop and think a minute,
again. How far are we removed from that Babylonian invasion of 606 B.C.?
About 75 years. That’s a long time. What had happened to a lot of these Jews
that were transported from Jerusalem and Judea out to Babylon? Well, they
began migrating all through the then-known Roman world. And I make the point, because
by the time we get to our New Testament, and especially now as we’re looking at
the little epistles of James and Peter and John in our New Testament, they’re
addressing Jews in the synagogue. How did they get there? Well, they’ve been
there for six hundred years. Because as soon as they got transported to Babylon, they started getting involved in business and banking and so forth and they
started migrating. So there were Jews scattered throughout the whole Roman Empire by the time of Christ. Let me show you. I’ve got to
do everything with Scripture. Jump all the way up to the New Testament. Go to
Acts chapter 2, now this is the day of Pentecost. And this again is what most
of Christendom just doesn’t get. They just can’t read it. Acts chapter 2 and
drop down to verse 5. Now I’m saying this in regard to history—600 B.C. is
when they were first emptied out of Jerusalem. And out of that whole nation of
people that was taken captive, only 40-some thousand came back under Ezra.
That’s just a little smidgen. What happened to the rest of them? Well, they
migrated all over the then-known world, see? All right, but they still kept
contact with the Temple in Jerusalem. They still, if they were good sincere
Jews, would come back to at least one or two of the feast days. Pentecost is a feast day and
saw Jews coming from all over the then-known world, which is now the Roman Empire. Verse 5: Acts 2:5 “And there were dwelling
(or abiding) at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men (Now watch it.) out
of every nation under heaven.” Well, what was the part of the world
under heaven that they were talking about? The Roman Empire. Now, the Roman Empire went all
the way from Spain, across the northern part of the Mediterranean, across the
Middle East, Turkey, out through present day Middle East, and then down around
the Mediterranean, down across Egypt, and into North Africa. That was all the Roman Empire. There were Jews coming from all those Nations throughout the then-known
world. Now it stands to reason, when those Jews have been out in these various
foreign nations now for two, three, or four generations, what language were
they speaking? Well, anything and everything but Hebrew. You got me? Now
look at the next verse, verse 6. Acts 2:6 “Now when this was noised
abroad, the multitude came together, (from every nation under heaven,
remember) and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in
his own language.” Goodness sakes, a sixth grader can understand
that. In other words, if they came from France, what were they speaking? One
of the French dialects. If they came from Syria, what were they speaking? A
Syrian dialect. If they came from Timbuktu, they were speaking those. But on
the day of Pentecost, what language did they hear it in? In their own
language. See, that was the miracle of Pentecost. It wasn’t an unknown
babble. It was their language that they heard. Come all the way back to
Daniel now, verse 8. Daniel 9:8a “O Lord, (See how
he is pleading in his prayer.) O Lord,…” What was the true name
for Lord? What were they refraining from saying? Jehovah. That’s who they
were really praying to. Daniel 9:8 “O Jehovah, to us
belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers,
because we have sinned against thee.” All right, now let’s look at
another one so that we get this pounded in at how far these Jews had gone in
rebellion against the God of Abraham. Come back with me to Jeremiah 44. We’ve
looked at it before. I’ve always got to remind people—I’m getting old, but I’m
not senile. I know I’ve used these many, many times. Jeremiah 44—the reason I use
some of these over and over is because they are so plain and simple and
explicit. There’s just no room for argument. Jeremiah 44 and drop down to
verse 15, Honey. Jeremiah 44 and we’ll drop in at verse 15, because I want you
to see how rebellious these Covenant People had become. And remember now,
we’re writing about the time of 600 B.C. Jeremiah 44:15-17a “Then all the men who
knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, (idols) and
all the women who stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt
in the land of Egypt, Pathros, (In other words, they had been migrating
in and out.) answered Jeremiah, saying, 16. As for the word that thou
hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee. 17.
But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of own mouth, to burn
incense unto the queen of heaven,…” What was the queen of heaven in
antiquity? The most immoral idol worship that you can imagine. Athena was
one. Artemis was one in Ephesus. They were all part of the same female
deities. Jeremiah 44:17b-18a “…and to pour out drink-offerings
unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, (Now watch the
language.) our kings, and our princes, (See that?) in the
cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of
victuals, (or food) and were well, and saw no evil. 18. But (Now
look at this foolishness. What foolishness!) But since we left off to burn
incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, we
have wanted all things,…” They had it all wrong. What was their
problem? They had left off the worship of Jehovah. Oh, they still did Temple worship. They went through the motions. But where was their heart? Worshipping
these idols. Worshipping these pagan gods of the Gentile world. They were
totally forgetting Jehovah. Okay, it is good once again to
have you all back after another coffee break. For those you out in television,
this is our third program this afternoon. Remember, we do four; and we would
like to invite you from the Tulsa area to come in for the afternoon. It’s on a
Wednesday afternoon, usually, that’s why we see mostly older folks. You know,
that’s the big question that comes in, “Why don’t we see any young people?”
Well, it’s a working day, and it’s not easy for young people to get off work
and come in for something like this. But anyway, for those of you
that are here, we always appreciate you coming in. And again, for those of you
out in television, we just want to thank you over and over for your prayers and
your financial help and your letters of encouragement. All right, we’ve only published
one book over the years, and it’s been going out almost like tracts, because we
send them out for $11.00 flat. We don’t charge any postage or handling. I had
a fellow down in Louisiana a while back, and he said, “Les, I carry a stack of
those books on my pickup seat, and if I talk to somebody that’s got any kind of
spiritual interest, I just give them one of the books.” Well, we’ve got a lady
in Indiana—how many has she given, Honey? Oh, sixty or seventy of them, at
least. She just hands them out like tracts. It is an informative book that
has 88 questions, and the answers have been taken from previous programs. Okay, we’re here for Bible
study and we’re going to get right back where we left off in Daniel chapter 9;
remembering, now, that Daniel is praying on behalf of the nation. They’ve
already been uprooted from their homeland for well over seventy years, but it
hasn’t had any spiritual affect, evidently; so he still prays. Then, you
remember, in my last program I said just lay America side-by-side and we could
be praying almost these same things on behalf of our nation as we see them go
so deep into unbelief, which is always the basic problem. All right, let’s
drop in where we left off, and that’s in Daniel chapter 9 verse 9. Daniel 9:9 “To the Lord our God
belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;”
Now you want to remember, God is always ready and willing to forgive—whether it
was Israel or whether it’s us nationally or individually. God is a God of
forgiveness. All right, now verse 10: Daniel 9:10 “Neither have we obeyed
the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, (See how Jewish
this is? This isn’t Grace. This is Law.) which he set before us by his
servants the prophets. Daniel 9:11 “Yea, all Israel have
transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice;
therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law
of Moses (See how Jewish this is?) the servant of God, because we
have sinned against him.” Daniel 9:12 “And he hath confirmed
his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges (Wow.
Where’s that put us? Where we are today. The same situation, it’s the higher
echelons of those that are in authority over us.) our judges that judged
us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been
done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.” Now don’t forget what’s he
talking about? The Temple was destroyed. The whole city was destroyed,
knocked down to nothing but rubble, and the people all taken into captivity
four or five hundred miles to the northeast to what is present day Iraq. Then it went on up later on into what is present day Iran. That was their area of
the captivity. All right, verse 13: Daniel 9:13 “As it is written in the
law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before
the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy
truth.” Now even though we did it in
the very first program this afternoon, for the sake of those who may not have
heard these programs I’m going to take you back again for repetition’s sake to
Leviticus 26—because I want people to understand why Daniel is, at 606 B.C.,
referring to the things that Moses wrote in1500 B.C., almost 800 or 900 years
previously. Well, again, it just shows how providentially the Word of God has
been brought together—that even Moses could warn of this Babylonian captivity.
And it never hurts to repeat. My, I look at these things over and over and
over, so I hope that you as my listeners can do the same thing. Leviticus 26 verse 32, and like
I said last program, I’m getting old but I’m not senile. I know we did this in
the first half hour, but we’re going to repeat it. Moses is writing in 1500
B.C. Leviticus 26:32-33a “And I will bring the
land (That is the land of Israel, the homeland.) I will bring the
land into desolation: (It’s going to be reduced to nothing but desert.)
and your enemies (the Arabs) that dwell therein shall be
astonished at it. (The desolation.) 33. And I will scatter you
among the heathen,…” The Gentiles. Now you remember in our last
program, I made mention that after they were taken out to Babylon they didn’t
just stay there. From Babylon they moved out into other areas of the
then-known world, so that by the time of Christ 600 years later, there were
Jews all over the then-known world. They had their synagogues. They had their
businesses. All right, so this is all foretold. Leviticus 26:33b-34 “…your land shall be
desolate, and your cities waste. 34. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths,
(that every seventh year they were to let it lay fallow) as long as it
lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then (while
you’re gone) shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.” And that’s why—now let’s just
stop at Jeremiah again for repetition’s sake to see how it all fits. Jeremiah
25, because I know everybody doesn’t watch every program. Although, that is my
favorite word from my listeners, “I watch you every day.” I had a phone call this morning
from up in Michigan. She said, “Les, my husband and I watch you every
day.” And she emphasized the every. Well, I love that. That shows
that they’re really interested in learning. Because you can’t just take this
one day and skip a few—huh-uh, you might just as well not listen at all. But,
oh, to get into it and just soak it up day in and day out. All right, Jeremiah 25 once
again, down at verse 11, Honey. Now, I want you to see how this fits perfectly
with what Moses wrote 1,000 years earlier. Jeremiah 25:11-12a “And this whole land
shall be a desolation, (same word) and an astonishment; and these
nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. (See? It’s
perfectly exact. It’s not just somewhere. It’s perfect.) 12. And it
shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the
king of Babylon,…” And, you know, He did. My goodness, He came down
on Babylon, first Nebuchadnezzar and then his grandson. You remember that?
Belshazzar—when he saw the handwriting on the wall. Jeremiah 25:12b-13 “…that I will punish the
king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the
land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
(Because, you remember, the Medes and Persians came in and destroyed Babylon.) 13. And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced
against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath
prophesied against all the nations.” Of that then-known world. All right, now let’s come back
to Daniel and his prayer in Daniel chapter 9. Oh, let’s see, verse 13 and
we’ll repeat it. Daniel 9:13-14 “As it is written in the
law of Moses, (That’s why I went back to Leviticus 26.) all this
evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that
we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. 14. Therefore hath
the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is
righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.”
Now as I’m reading—this is the
way I teach, I can’t help it. Let’s go back all the way up to Paul’s epistles
for just a moment and see the graphic difference. Even though, as I’ve already
said, we could almost pray the same way on behalf of our nation. But yet I
want you to see the difference in the prayer attitude of this Old Testament prophet
Daniel and our Apostle of the Gentiles, Paul. Come back with me to
Ephesians. I don’t know why the Lord’s kind of bumping me with this, but
evidently there’s a reason. Ephesians chapter 1 and drop in at verse 15,
because this is still another biblical prayer. Only instead of under Law by an
Old Testament prophet, it’s under Grace by the Apostle of the Gentiles. Ephesians chapter 1 starting at
verse 15 and I hope something comes of this. I don’t know why I’m doing it,
but there must be a reason. Ephesians 1:15 “Wherefore I also, after
I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,”
What does that tell you? How many church members have a real love for the Book
and for fellow believers? Not many. Church is just an obligation. You
fulfill it for an hour or two, and that’s all God expects for a week. But
that’s not the real way. God expects believers to have a hunger for the Word
and to have fellowship with like-minded believers. All right, back to where
we were—Ephesians 1 verse 16 and he says: Ephesians 1:16-17 “I cease not to give
thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; (Now here’s the
Apostle’s request on behalf of his fellow believers.) 17. That the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him:” Now wait a minute. What does
all that mean? You see, that’s what makes us different. That’s what sets us
apart—when as a believer we are constantly growing in Grace and knowledge. Not
to get puffed up. Not to look down at anybody, but to just simply be a better
ambassador, or reflection, of our heavenly connection. Do you see the
difference in the prayers here? All right, then go on, verse 18. Ephesians 1:18-19a “The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; that ye may know (not hope, not think,
but) know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the
glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19. And what is the exceeding greatness
of His power to us-ward who (Who keep the Law? Bingo! That’s not what
it says. It’s to us who what?) believe,…” Believe what? That
Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose again, as we see in
I Corinthians 15:1-4. And that is called Paul’s Gospel of Grace. Do you see the difference?
We’re people of faith. We’re not law-keepers. We’re people of faith. And
when our faith is exercised, then Paul’s prayer becomes a reality. We grow in
Grace and knowledge. You get to the place where people will come to you and
say, I’ve got a question. Because they know that you’ve probably got the
answer. That’s the result of the Apostle’s prayer. All right, now there’s another
one that I love over in Colossians. While we’re back here, we might as well
pursue that one a minute. Come on back to Colossians chapter 1. Here’s
another prayer from the Apostle. And I think that these are model prayers for
us to use on behalf of our loved ones and our fellow believers. I want
everybody to pray like this for me and for Iris and our family and for each
other. This is the name of the game. Colossians 1:9a “For this cause…”
In other words, because of who these Colossians are now, by their faith in that
finished work of the cross of Christ. Not because they’re law-keepers; not because
they’re Temple worshippers—but they have come out of Gentile paganism and they
are now reveling in the Grace of God. Colossians 1:9 “For this cause we also,
since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye
might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding;” Do you see what that is? Oh, that we become so
knowledgeable in the things of God that people will just be drawn to say, “Hey,
I’ve got a question. I know you’ve got the answer.” That’s where we have to
be. Colossians 1:10 “That ye may walk worthy
of the Lord unto all pleasing, (to those around us—the
lost world as well as fellow believers. That we might be--) pleasing, being
fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;” That’s twice in two verses that
we are to gain knowledge. Well, there’s only one way to gain knowledge, and
that’s what? Study. Study. That’s what your good students do. They study.
Why? Because they want to be improving in whatever discipline they’re
studying. All right, one more verse, verse 11: Colossians 1:11 “Strengthened with all
might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering
with (What?) joyfulness;” Now, you know I’ve always
expressed the difference between happiness and joyfulness. Come back with me
to Daniel chapter 9 and we’ll continue on in Daniel’s prayer. But let me answer my question.
What’s the difference between joyfulness and happiness? Well, happiness
is when you don’t have any bills or notes due. Happiness is when you
are in good health. Happiness is when all the neighbors speak well of
you. Your bank account is healthy. That’s happiness. But what’s joyfulness?
When it just seems like the ceiling is falling, the sky is falling, but we’re
still happy. Why? Because God is in control. Now that’s joy. Not happiness.
That’s joy. Happiness is when circumstances are good, but joy
is when we can rest on the promises of God. For example, have you ever read
the book Foxes Book of Martyrs? Oh, yeah, it’s awful. Awful!
But believers suffered down through the centuries for their faith. I think one
of the most heartbreaking ones I can remember out of the book was on a real
horribly cold winter night in Europe they had gathered believers. Stripped
them of all their clothing and had them sitting out on a frozen lake, out on
the ice. And on the shore, to just make
the temptations beyond comprehension, they had bonfires burning where people
could warm themselves and so forth. But those poor Christians out there in the
middle of the lake were freezing to death. Finally, one of them broke out and
headed for a bonfire to warm up. But the minute he did, someone on shore went
and joined those who froze to death. Well, that was just one example of what
people have suffered for their faith. But the book was constantly showing that
they were joyful in spite of it. Well, we know even the Twelve
all suffered a martyr’s death. The Apostle Paul suffered the martyr’s death.
Only he was beheaded. Now, I know things aren’t always provable, but in one of
the accounts I read of Paul being beheaded, he literally ran to the place of
beheading. As if to say, hurry up and get it over with. I’m going to Glory. Well, we’ve got to remember
those things, because it may still happen here. I’ll never forget years and
years ago, I was just a young Sunday School teacher and deacon. I asked my
pastor at the time, after everybody had left. Iris and the little kids were
waiting out in the car, as usual, weren’t you? Everybody had left and I said,
“You know, pastor, there’s one thing that scares me and worries me.” He said,
“What’s that?” I said, “If persecution should come to America, will I be able to stand it?” And, beloved, I’m going to pass it out to the millions of you
hearing me. You know what his answer was? “If and when that happens, the
Grace of God will be sufficient.” And that’s what we have to trust. We may
have to yet die for our faith. But if we do, the Grace of God will be
sufficient. Okay, now let’s come back to
Daniel, if you will, again. And continue on in his prayer on behalf of Israel. Verse 14: Daniel 9:14 “Therefore hath the LORD
watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous
in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.”
Remember, I showed you that in the last program—from Stephen in the Book of
Acts—how they killed the prophets and they rejected even Stephen. All right,
now verse 15: Daniel 9:15 “And now, O Lord our God,
thou hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand,
and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day: we have sinned, we have done
wickedly.” I think I shared with my class
here in Tulsa last Friday night—what reminded me of it was Israel coming out of Egypt. What was one of the biggest miracles outside of the work of the
Cross? I don’t ever put Christ in any of these areas, but outside of the
miraculous power of resurrection and all that, what do you consider one of the
greatest miracles in all Scripture? The Red Sea! The Red Sea! What a fabulous
miracle to bring three or four million people with all their herds and their
livestock and their little kids. To bring them out of Egypt and through the horrible wilderness of Sinai was bad enough, but here they are up against the
shores of the Red Sea. Not far behind are coming the armies of Egypt and all God tells Israel to do is what? Stand still. Don’t try to do anything. And what
happened? The Red Sea opened up. Now, it wasn’t just the
separating of the water that I think was so miraculous, but it was the timing
of it all. My goodness, after several million people had crossed the Red Sea and the last of the Jews are going up on the east shore, who’s coming in on the
west shore? The Egyptians. And the timing was so perfect that by the time the
last Egyptian comes in on the west side, the last Jew is going out on the east
side, and what happens? The water comes back. Not a Jew was lost, yet He
killed every Egyptian, including the king. Now I’m answering that because I
get that question all the time, “Was the king of Egypt involved.” Yes, plain
as day. But now, here’s my point. What
happened to the Nation of Israel in a matter of days or a few short weeks later
while Moses was up in the mountain? Oh, the golden calf and the horrible
immorality associated with it. They were dancing naked the Scripture tells
us. And we know from antiquity that that was all part of pagan worship. And
God actually had to put 3,000 of those Jews to death because of it. But here’s my point: how in the
world could the Nation of Israel behave so grossly immoral when the presence of
God is over them in a cloud by day and a fire by night and having just brought
them through the Red Sea? That’s enough to boggle the mind of anybody, isn’t
it? And yet, that was Israel’s tale of woe all through history. In spite of
all the miracles, they just couldn’t believe God. And all the way up through
their history—I know for years I used to think, you know, the Jews were all
righteous people. No, they weren’t, only a small percentage. All the way
through—you’ve heard me stress it in my seminars, especially when I’m going
around the country—how did ol’ Elijah put it? Well, I’m the only one left.
But what did God say? No, Elijah, I’ve got seven thousand that have not bowed
their knee to Baal. Seven thousand out of seven million? That’s one tenth of
one percent. And then you come up to time of Christ and He puts it so aptly. Wide
is the gate, broad is the way, and many go in thereat that leadeth to
destruction. They weren’t saved. But what’s the other side of
the coin? Narrow is the way, narrow is the gate, and (How many find it?)
few there be that find it that leadeth to life eternal. So, it’s always
been this way. But nevertheless, we still have to learn from others’
mistakes. All right, I’ve only got two
minutes left. Let’s finish the prayers, and then we’re going to be ready to
look at some of the foundations of biblical prophecy in our last half hour.
All right, continue on in Daniel chapter 9 and verse 16. Daniel 9:16 “O Lord, according to all
thy righteousness, I beseech thee (I beg of thee.) let thine
anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain:
(That is the Temple mount as we call it today.) because for our sins, and
for the iniquities of our fathers, (See, it’s been a generational
thing.) Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to
all that are about us.” Daniel 9:17a “Now therefore, O our
God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face
to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate,…” The Temple that’s been
destroyed up there in Jerusalem. Daniel 9:18 “O my God, incline thine
ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, (There’s
that word again.) and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not
present out supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for
(because of) thy great mercies.” Now then, I’m going to
close with this verse. Daniel 9:19a “O Lord, hear; O Lord,
(What’s the next word?) forgive;…” Oh, Israel had been so
rebellious. Israel was so steeped in unbelief, and all Daniel can plead for is
that God would forgive them and restore once again the Nation to her city of
Jerusalem and back to her Temple worship, so that God could continue on
preparing for the coming of Messiah. Because never lose sight of the
fact—what’s in the back of Daniel’s mind? The Kingdom. When the King would
come and Israel would yet enjoy that glorious Heaven-on-earth Kingdom. That’s in the back of his mind. Okay, program number four this
afternoon and for those of you joining us on television, it’s just another
program today, tomorrow, or whatever. I trust most of you out there know we’re
just an informal Bible study. I like to emphasize the study because
that’s why we can go back and forth—compare Scripture with Scripture. And
we’re going to do this right away now, right at the beginning of this program.
We’re going to prove something by just comparing Scripture with Scripture. And again, I want to thank all
the folks here in the studio for coming in. Some have come all the way from
southern Oklahoma and some came from Oklahoma City and others from other
distance places. We’ve got one couple from Minneapolis, I know. So, we just
appreciate people coming in and doing this with us. All right, we’re going to go
right back to where we left off. Daniel is still in his prayer, but he’s
coming to the end of it now. We’re going to move on into another basic part of
the Book of Daniel—that is prophecy. Daniel is a prophet, and I’m going to
show you that even the Lord Jesus Himself referred to him as such. So, let’s
come into Daniel chapter 9 and continue on where we left off. We’ll just sort
of skim through these verses, because verse 24 is where we really want to start
in this program. Daniel 9:20-21 “And whiles I was
speaking, and praying, (He’s getting to the end of his prayer now.)
and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my
supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God; (Which,
of course, is Jerusalem.) 21. Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even
the man (We refer to him as the angel.) Gabriel whom I had seen
in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about
the time of the evening oblation.” Now that makes me have to stop
and remind people. Throughout Israel’s history the supernatural was not all
that uncommon. The appearance of angels, the appearance of these visions, and
the miraculous as referred to in our last program—the opening of the Red Sea and all these things, the defeats of Samson. So, you see, throughout the Old
Testament economy the supernatural was not, like I said, uncommon. You come all the way up for the
time of Christ to appear and who appeared to Mary? Well, an angel. Well, she
wasn’t all that shook up. My goodness, if an angel appeared to one of us,
they’d probably have to lock us up the next day because we wouldn’t be able to
handle it mentally. But they did. They were used to these things. All right, so Gabriel appears
to Daniel, and he tells Daniel—you’re going to have a specific special
revelation of the future. He said: Daniel 9:22b-23a “…O Daniel, I am now come
forth to give thee skill and understanding. 23. At the beginning of thy
supplications (That is this prayer that we’ve been looking at for three
half hours.) the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for
thou art greatly beloved:…” Now I’ve got to stop. Whenever I teach Daniel,
normally we also make a lot—and I’m going to be doing it in this half hour—what
other book of the Bible do we always tie with Daniel? Revelation. All right,
who wrote the Book of Revelation? John. And what was John called? The
Beloved. Isn’t that amazing! Daniel writes this prophecy and he’s called the
Beloved. John writes Revelation and he, too, is called the Beloved. Now,
maybe that doesn’t mean much to you, but I think it does. It’s kind of an intricate connection here. Daniel 9:23b “…for thou art greatly
beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.” In
other words, don’t take it lightly. Now here comes this prophetic
vision which becomes, in my book at least, the very foundation of all Biblical
prophecy concerning the end-time. Not so much concerning Christ’s first
coming, although that’s in here. But it is basically the foundation of all of
our end-time study of prophecy. All right, here it is. Daniel 9:24a “Seventy weeks are
determined upon thy people…” Now I have to stop, because I have gotten
tons of questions over the years: why do you associate weeks with years? Well,
let’s just see what the Book says about it. We know that a week is a period of
seven years when it’s spoken of as Daniel uses it here. All right, skip across, at
least in my Bible, to verse 27, so that we have a jumping off place. Because
I’m going to prove first that this word weeks is a period of
seven years. Verse 27 of Daniel 9 and I’m just using the verse now to define
the word weeks. Daniel 9:27 “And he shall confirm the
covenant with many for one week: (Well, how long is that one week?
Well, it’s seven years. How do I know? Turn all the way up—well, let’s finish
the verse first.) and in the midst of the week (Now watch that.)
in the midst of the week he (Speaking, of course, of the anti-Christ.) shall
cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of
abominations (such wickedness that you and I cannot even begin to
comprehend) he (the anti-Christ) shall make it (That
is the restored Temple.) desolate, even until the consummation,
(or the end of those seven years) and that determined shall be poured
upon the desolate.” All right, now let’s just
qualify that a week is seven years. That’s my point. Jump up with me now to
Matthew 24 verse 15. This is in the Lord’s earthly ministry, toward the end of
it, of course. This whole chapter is prophesying these final seven years that
Daniel spoke of in verse 27. Matthew 24:15a “When ye therefore shall
see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,…”
And when did Daniel say it would happen? In the middle of the week. Don’t
forget that now. Daniel says in the middle of the week this anti-Christ, or
the prince that shall come as he calls him, will come into the Temple and defile it. All right, Jesus is putting his stamp of approval on that. He says: Matthew 24:15 “When ye therefore shall
see that abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand
in the holy place, (in the middle of that week) (whoso readeth,
let him understand:)” All right, that’s all we need of that verse for
the time being. We’ll be hitting it again later. Now, jump all the way up to
Revelation where, like we just said, the other Beloved of Scripture is writing,
John, and turn with me to chapter 11. Revelation chapter 11 and we’re just
going to be looking at time-factors. I’m not going to associate anything with
it. I just want you to see the time-factor. Revelation chapter 11 verse 2, all
got it? No, I’ve got to wait. You know, I’ve said it before, my listening
audience says, Les, I appreciate that you wait so I can find the Scriptures.
Okay, here we are. Revelation 11:2 “But the court which is
without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the
Gentiles: (Now here it comes.) and the holy city (Jerusalem, the Gentiles) shall they tread under foot forty and two months.”
How long is 42 months? Three-and-a-half years. Okay. Next verse, verse 3: Revelation 11:3 “And I will give power
unto my two witnesses, (and these two witnesses) and they shall
prophesy (or preach, or speak forth) a thousand two hundred and
sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” How long is twelve hundred and
sixty days? Three-and-a-half years. All right, now let’s go over to
chapter 12. Now remember what I’m establishing—that this week that Daniel
speaks of is seven years, and it is always split in half: three-and-a-half and
three-and-a-half. From the opening day until the abomination of the
anti-Christ going in and defiling the Temple are three-and-a-half years. From
the abomination until the end and Christ’s Second Coming are the second
three-and-a-half years. That’s all I’m trying to establish. All right, chapter 12 and verse
6, now we’re speaking of the remnant of Israel that’s going to flee from Jerusalem to their place of safety. Verse 6: Revelation 12:6 “And the woman (this
remnant) fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God,
that they (the Godhead) should feed her there (or provide
all her needs) a thousand two hundred and sixty days.” How
long? Three-and-a-half years. You just can’t escape it. All right, now come across the
page, in my Bible anyway, and let’s see, up there in verse 14. Revelation 12:14a “And to the woman
(this same escaping remnant of Israel) and to the woman were given two
wings of a great eagle,…” Now remember, Exodus spoke of the same thing
concerning Israel leaving Egypt as they flew with wings of an eagle.
So, it doesn’t mean they’re going to fly. It’s just going to be a supernatural
escape route. Revelation 12:14a “And to the woman were
given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into
her place,…” That place where God is going to protect that remnant of Israel for those last three-and-a-half years. And I think it’ll be five million Jews,
because Zechariah tells us it will be one-third of Israel. And today, Israel’s population is fifteen million. I think we’re close enough that I can use the
one-third: five million. Well, that’s not much difference than what The Exodus
was. You know, I get encouraged from
time-to-time, and I don’t get the big head over it. Don’t worry. But way, way
back when I first started teaching some of these things, I came to the
conclusion that the number of Jews coming out of Egypt under Moses had to be
between three and five million. Now that’s a big gap, I know. And if you’ll
remember when I first taught this on television, I likened it to Dallas and Fort Worth. Remember that? I said Dallas/Fort Worth together is little over
three million. Can you image those two cities moving out in mass with all their
flocks and herds? Well, that was Israel in The Exodus. But I’ve even expanded it to mean it could be five to seven. And
I’ve now read some others that are using those same numbers—that it could have
been as high as seven million Jews that came out of Egypt. Now, I know that’s
pressing the envelope, so I’ll keep it back at three to five. But anyway, here we have it: this great exodus from, not Egypt, now, but from Jerusalem—out into
a place of safety which is almost identical to The Exodus going out to Mount Sinai. It’s supernatural, again. All right, so this remnant of Israel will escape Jerusalem under the nose of the man anti-Christ, and she’s going to go to her
place. Revelation 12:14b “…where she is nourished
(Now, here’s my time-factor again.) for a time, (one year) and
times, (plus two, for a total of three) and half a time (for
a total of three-and-one-half years),…” Now, that should be
enough to settle it that a week in Daniel is seven years. A half of seven is
three-and-a-half. Okay, now we’re ready to go
back to Daniel, hopefully. I should never again have another question: why do
you call a week seven years? All right, back to Daniel chapter 9 verse 24. Daniel 9:24a “Seventy weeks…”
Of years. Now, if you know your math, that’s 7 x 70. And that’s how many?
Four hundred and ninety years. Is that unusual in God dealing with Israel? No, over and over He uses that same number. Sometimes it’s 430, but 490 over and
over throughout Israel’s history was a period of God’s dealing with the Nation
of Israel. Here’s another one: four hundred and ninety years or-- Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks are
determined upon (My people? No. What’s the word?) thy people…” Well,
why did God say thy people, when other times He says my
people? Well, it depends on Israel’s spiritual relationship. When Israel is in right relationship with God, it’s what? My people. But when
they’re out there in unbelief and rebellion—whether it was Moses or whether it
was David or whether it was Daniel, it’s what? Thy people.
Now—no, I’m not going to look. I’m not sure what the verse is. But when we
come to the Second Coming and Israel suddenly realizes who He is, then what
does the Scripture say? God will say they are My people. And Israel will say He is our God. But in the interim, no, it’s thy people.
See that? Little intricacies of Scripture. All right, verse 24 again: Daniel 9:24a “Seventy weeks
(490 years) are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,
(That is Jerusalem.) to finish (In other words, to finalize the
transaction between God and evil.) to finish the transgression, and to
make an end of sins, (Which, of course, was the work of the Cross.)
and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness,…” Which is a reference to the what, again? The
Kingdom! Oh, don’t lose the process. Go
back to Psalms chapter 2. I have to use it over and over, because this is the
simplest outline of prophecy in Scripture. And here this is fulfilling it to
the exact words. Psalms chapter 2, some day you’re all going to know these
verses by memory. Psalms chapter 2 and let’s
start at verse 1. I just love these verses, because they are so explicit and
simple. Now this is David writing in 1,000 B.C. with regard to Christ’s first
coming. Psalms 2:1-2a “Why do the heathen
(In this case, it’s the Romans.) why do the heathen rage, and the people (Israel) image a vain thing? 2. The kings of the earth (the Romans) set
themselves, and the rulers (the religious leaders of Israel) take counsel together, against the LORD,…” Now goodness sakes, when did they
do that? The night of His arrest, the night of His arrest they’re in the
Garden. What was the conspiracy? Why,
we’ll point out who He is; you arrest Him; and we’ll do the rest. And you know
what happened. They gave him a mock trial. Judas betrayed Him; the Romans
took over and through it all the Crucifixion. But way back here in 1,000
B.C.-- Psalms 2:2b-3 “…they take counsel
together, against the LORD, (That is God the Son.) and against
his anointed, (the Messiah) saying, 3. Let us break their bands
asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” We’ll not let God rule
over us. All right, now here’s God’s response from Heaven. Psalms 2:4-5a “He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh: (Not a laugh of comedy, but a laugh of ridicule
and scorn.) the Lord shall have them (That is the whole human
race—Gentile as well as Jew.) he shall have them in derision. 5. Then…”
There’s the time-word now. We’re moving on in time. After they have
rejected God’s anointed, then God will move in with His next point in human
history. And what is it? Psalms 2:5 “Then shall he speak unto
them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.” The
Tribulation—the wrath and vexation. Let me stop a minute. How many people in
the world’s leadership—whether it’s America, South America; whether it’s the
Orient or the Middle East or Europe—how many of the world’s leaders have any
concept of this coming seven years? None! I would dare say there isn’t a
leader in the world that knows that these horrible seven years of God’s wrath
is right out in front of us. The world’s getting ready for it. Everything
that’s taking place around the world today is just screaming at us that the end
is winding up. But they don’t know. And they think we’re crazy.
Isn’t it something? Those of us who have the knowledge, we have the wisdom,
and they think we’ve lost it. They think we should be locked up. I trust you
read what’s coming out of our government. We’re extreme right fanatics, you
know. They’ll want to lock us up before long. Well, so be it. At least we
know that we know what we’re talking about. All right, so now read on.
After they’ve rejected Him, then He’s going to come at the human race in His
wrath, not His grace and mercy in this case, but His wrath and vexation. Then
what’s the next event? Psalms 2:6 “Yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion.” And what’s that? The Kingdom. The
Millennium! All prophesied by David in 1,000 B.C. That’s why I love this
portion. It’s so simple. My goodness, anybody should be able to understand
that after the rejection would come the vexation and then would come the what?
The King and the Kingdom. How did Peter put it? You
remember back a few tapings we were dealing with Peter, and I used it at the
beginning of every taping session. First, the suffering, and then the glory
that would follow. Well, here it is with regard to the human race. They’re
going to suffer like you and I can never imagine. But what’s it going to lead
to? The return of Christ and the glory which would follow. And, of course, that is the
real reason that Peter taught, too. It was that Christ would suffer by His
rejection, but what would be the end result? His coming in glory and power.
First, the suffering, and then the glory which would follow. All right,
now verse 6 again, after the wrath and vexation-- Psalms 2:6 “Yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion.” The millennial reign of Christ. All right, let’s go back to
Daniel chapter 9, and we’ll read on a little bit. I don’t know if I’m going to
have time to go to the board like I wanted to, but we’ll play it by ear.
Daniel chapter 9 and reading on in verse 24. Daniel 9:24b “…to finish the transgression,
and to make an end of sins, (the work of the Cross where He took on
Himself the sin of the world) and to make reconciliation for iniquity,…”
All right, now that brings a
point. A lot of people just can’t comprehend it, and I suppose they think I’m
out in left field. But I want you to think. When Christ suffered and died,
the first inkling of what He was going to accomplish we get from John the
Baptist. And how did John the Baptist really open Christ’s earthly ministry?
What was his statement? “Behold, the Lamb of God which
(What?) taketh away the sin of the world.” How much? All of
it! I’ve been teaching this for
thirty years. That work of the Cross was so complete that God the Father was
satisfied and was willing to forgive every sin that had ever been committed.
It’s done. But, it goes for nothing until it’s appropriated how? By Faith.
That’s why it’s so ridiculous that people reject this message of hope and the
promise of Eternal Life by believing that Jesus died for our sins, was buried,
and rose again. Why do they hate it so, when it’s so simple? He has paid the
sin debt for every human being who ever lived. From Adam until the last person
in human history, it’s all been done for—paid for, forgiven. All right, but now I’ve got to
give you another word. I’ve only got three minutes. Oh, my goodness. Turn
all the way up to II Corinthians chapter 5. This is what Daniel has already
prophetically—(No, not Daniel—yeah, Daniel. Couldn’t remember whether it was
David or Daniel.)—Daniel is prophesying this would come. II Corinthians
chapter 5 verse 18. Oh, listen, this is mind-boggling. But the Book says it.
And if the Book says it, God expects us to believe it. That’s where we become
responsible. II Corinthians 5:18 “And all things are of
God, who hath (Past tense, it’s a done deal.) reconciled us to
himself (Now, of course, Paul is writing to believers, naturally. So
for us, of course, we know that we have been reconciled. But that’s not the
point I’m trying to make.) He hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ, (And, of course, reference is to that finished work of the
Cross.) and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;”
That we can tell the world, hey, you’ve been reconciled. God has already done
everything to bring you to Himself. Now here it comes, verse 19. II Corinthians 5:19 “To wit (that is
to say), that God was in Christ, reconciling (The
Body? No. The who?) the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them; and hath (Past tense, it’s a done deal.) hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (Of who? The whole
world.)” Every human being who ever
lived God considered him as forgiven and reconciled. Now, I’ve got to use the forgiven
word. I didn’t do that yet. Turn from II Corinthians and go on over to
Colossians. I’ve already made mention of John the Baptist, “The Lamb of
God who taketh away the sin of the world.” Not just the believer, but
the world! The unsaved world goes to their doom not because they had no
opportunity. It’s because they wouldn’t believe it. They wouldn’t take it by
faith. And that’s what makes it so pitiful—that the vast majority of the human
race walks all this underfoot, disregarding it rather than taking it by faith.
Oh, it’s awful. But, you see, they can’t handle it. Okay, I’ve got to do it
quickly. Verse 13 of Colossians 2: Colossians 2:13 “And you, being dead in
your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened (made
us alive) together with him, having (What?) forgiven you
(How much?) all trespasses (our sins);” Past.
Present. And future. But it doesn’t mean a thing until you appropriate it by
faith. And, oh, it’s so hard for the world to see it.LESSON ONE * PART I
THE SON GIVEN DOMINION AND A KINGDOM
Daniel 7:9-14
LESSON ONE * PART II
THE SON GIVEN DOMINION AND A KINGDOM
Daniel 7:9-14
LESSON ONE * PART III
THE SON GIVEN DOMINION AND A KINGDOM
Daniel 7:9-14
LESSON ONE * PART IV
THE SON GIVEN DOMINION AND A KINGDOM
Daniel 7:9-14
LESSON TWO * PART I
THE FOUR GREAT EMPIRES INTERPRETED
Daniel 7:14-9:2
LESSON TWO * PART II
THE FOUR GREAT EMPIRES INTERPRETED
Daniel 7:14-9:2
LESSON TWO * PART III
THE FOUR GREAT EMPIRES INTERPRETED
Daniel 7:14-9:2
LESSON TWO * PART IV
THE FOUR GREAT EMPIRES INTERPRETED
Daniel 7:14-9:2
LESSON THREE * PART I
DANIEL’S PRAYER AND PROPHECY
Daniel 9:3–24
LESSON THREE * PART II
DANIEL’S PRAYER AND PROPHECY
Daniel 9:3-24
LESSON THREE * PART III
DANIEL’S PRAYER AND PROPHECY
Daniel 9:3-24
LESSON THREE * PART IV
DANIELS’S PRAYER AND PROPHECY
Daniel 9:3-24
Copyright © 2009 Les Feldick Ministries. All rights reserved.