"Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is such an honor to come together with you today for the study God's Word. I humbly ask you would join us in praying for our brothers and sisters who are facing severe persecution, that their witness would help to turn the hardened hearts of their persecutors, leading others to Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. that their suffering would not be in vain, but glorify our Lord.
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is such an honor to come together with you today for the study God's Word. I humbly ask you would join us in praying for our brothers and sisters who are facing severe persecution, that their witness would help to turn the hardened hearts of their persecutors, leading others to Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. that their suffering would not be in vain, but glorify our Lord.
When the desires of a man's heart are not filled by God, Who has made us for Himself, Satan will step in and fill those desires with immorality and idolatry. Idolatry and moral degeneracy left unchecked lead to disordered lives which are dishonorable to God. Let me be clear, those who refuse to worship God, the One true and living God, are worshipping Satan.
As Christians, understanding that the Lord is indeed coming again, and that it could literally happen at any moment, we must learn to rearrange our priorities. Should the Lord appear later today, what would He find you doing?
Will He come back to find that you’re nursing that grudge? Screaming obscenities at that person who cut you off in traffic? Or withholding forgiveness, that is destroying your personal relationships? Will He find that you're not using your financial resources to expand His kingdom? Or perhaps involved in that secret immoral sin? That's exactly the way it's going to happen, in an instant, at a time you least expect.
At the end of the Book of Revelation, you will find the word "Maranatha,"which means "Come, Lord Jesus." May I encourage you to awaken each day, look up and say, "Perhaps today, Lord, perhaps today!"
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Amen
Today's Message: Perilous Times Are Coming!
This a tremendous passage focuses on Jesus’ somber forecast of the last days coming directly from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In our world today, global thinkers are always devoting their lives to climate change, spending excessive amounts of money, trying to the bring hope of making the earth a better place. It's almost as though they're trying to reinvent the wheel. I believe the message of Scripture is abundantly clear, things are going to get infinitely worse before they will ever get better. In fact, we can look forward to the problems that plague our world, becoming worse and worse, getting more severe than anything the world has ever known. Our Lord has even given this period of time a name: Great Tribulation. Though this period of time centers on the nation of Israel, it will encompass the entire world. Jesus details the events symbolizing the pain of society in the future by comparing it to the agonizing pain of a woman giving birth to a child without any anesthesia.
This time of indescribable horror, of more misery than we can imagine, when God will begin to pour out His wrath and judgment upon the earth, a time of which Daniel and the prophets spoke, will occur after a brief time of false peace. It will be unlike any other time in human history. This is the time right preceding the coming of Christ. However, out of this time of great distress, severe trouble and judgement, is going to come salvation and the raising up of Messiah and His kingdom.
I am astonished by the number of professing Christians who do not believe that the Second Coming of Jesus is a literal, physical return, though Jesus Himself emphasizes the point. There are more than 500 prophecies in the Old Testament about the Second
Coming, and one out of every twenty-five verses in the New Testament contain many signs that we are to watch for that will indicate that the time of the Lord’s return is getting nearer. I believe it’s impossible not to see the clear prophetic picture as stated by our Lord, concerning His second coming. It is evident in Isaiah's, Jeremiah's, Daniel’s and Zechariah's prophecy and our Lord's message, there’s going to be a time of great trouble. So, what our Lord is saying here really isn't anything new, He is simply reiterating what has already been said. This sermon was brought about by the disciples question, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"
We should thank
God for who those have the audacity to speak the Truth, against the
corruption of deceptive false gospel that is being taught in many
churches today, with boldness and courage, calling us out of darkness to
Light, turning away from sin to righteousness, even though it was
uncomfortable to hear, encouraging us to search the Scriptures for ourselves to
learn what it actually says about sin, that comprise our eternal future.
"Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."
Imagine the disciples hearing this sermon after they just saw Jesus cleanse the temple, confront the religious leaders about their hypocritical religious system, then they hear Him say, "This temple is coming down, and not one stone here will be left upon another," According to their eschatology, they could see all of this happening in a matter of days or weeks. More than they’ve ever believed that all Hell is going to break loose.
Let's look at verse 15, "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place."
He’s already given them some general signs, now He saying this is the one sign that sets the whole thing in motive. This is the key event that really kicks off verses 4 to 14. "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation," you will know you’re in the Tribulation. He is using the "you" in the prophetic sense, meaning you who are alive in that day. In order to gain a little more insight so that you’ll understand, let's look at Daniel chapter 2.
"Then there will be a fourth kingdom as
strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so,
like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in
pieces. In
that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of
iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness
of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery."
Now, let's look at Daniel chapter 11, devoted to historical things, like the historical figure by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes, which means Antiochus the "maniac." Who, by the way, called himself Antiochus, the Great One and the latter part to the end times. Antiochus slaughtered thousands and thousands of Jews, he then abominated the temple, slaughtering a pig on the altar and then stuffing pork down the throats of the priests, setting up a Greek god in the place. It was so defiled, the Jews never went back. You can study more about it in Daniel chapter 9, in which he speaks about the seventy weeks, or the 490 years to the kingdom of Messiah. Now, that leaves one week left to be fulfilled, which hasn't come yet. We are living in that undetermined time gap between the 69th and the 70th weeks. So, Daniel is giving us a historical picture, a preview of what the end time abomination is going to be like.
"Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy. Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.
"Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all."
According to Daniel, there will be a newly reconstructed Roman Empire which has "ten toes," or a ten-nation confederacy and out of which will rise a great leader and he is in control and will become the protector of Israel. It’s at that point the powers of the world move to fight against him and take Israel, but he wins. And when he wins that's when he commits the abomination of desolation as we see here in Daniel. The word abomination is the Greek word "bdélygma," from the root "bdēō," to reek with a foul odor or stench. Notice it's the genitive form here used to express possession or ownership, in association with a source, the abomination spoken of by Daniel the prophet.Israel will make a seven year alliance with this powerful guy and in the midst of the alliance, the one they lean on for protection smites them. This is a description of the Antichrist, the king will do as he please, who flaunts his hatred toward the true God and sets up his own power and his own strength. So there’s going to be in the future, one who will bring a great event of desolation, the abomination of desolation, which is abhorrent, utterly repulsive to God, that will cause the destruction of the holy place, speaking about the temple. There in the temple was holy of holies, a specific place set apart unto God. It cannot mean anything else but the whole temple, called the holy place in the Old Testament.
All of this is connected to the end of sin and the time of the kingdom, so the prince, the willful king, the little horn, the antichrist, is going to make a covenant with Israel during the final week, just before the coming of Christ. And halfway through that seven years, or 1260 days, 3 1/2 years, he's going to cause the sacrifice to stop, all of their worship and sets up an idol, and tries to force them worship the false god. Which abominates the temple, and the Jews refuse to go near it, making it desolate. That’s where the abomination of desolation becomes permanent. The temple just stands there. That's 12 hundred and 90 days from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and 30 days beyond the abomination that makes the temple desolate, in which all the living people still on the earth are gathered together before the Lord to be judged. That will be the judging of the nations, the sheep and goats, described in Matthew 25. Which is the difference between Daniel 12 and Revelation 12.
Now some have asked then "What then is this 1335 days in Daniel 12:12, that's another 45 more days?" I believe that's the time when the Lord establishes His Kingdom and sets up His throne in Jerusalem. That's why Daniel says, "How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!" 1260 days, end of Tribulation. 30 more days for the judgment of the nations, the sheep and goats and then 45 more days for the establishing of the Messianic millennial kingdom. It's the abomination of desolation that kicks the whole series of events off.
Now, listen to this in Revelation 13, "There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him." At the mid-point of the Tribulation, in the middle of the 70th week, he starts his blasphemy against God, His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. Power is given him, over all kindreds, tongues and nations and look what he does; he makes war with the saints and he overcomes them. He sets himself up as the idol, the object of worldwide worship. His comrade, the false prophet's job is to bring the world to worship the image of the beast. He gives power to the image so that it can speak. With the technology we have today, we can easily imagine how easily this can be accomplished. The saints will refuse worship the image of the beast, and they are going to be slaughtered.
In Closing..
As we continue move toward the end of human history, I hope and pray you are beginning to get the picture, this charismatic, seemingly friendly world leader, who Israel thinks is going to be their strength, their protector, will set himself up to be god of all gods, who will betray them, come against them, and establishes the abomination of desolation. What is it that's going to bring Israel to covenant with the Antichrist? It’s their constant fear of being overtaken by their enemies, Arab nations and their allies because the hatred against them is so deep. Ancient territory of Persia now occupies the nations of Iran and Afghanistan. Afghanistan is under Russian control, an alliance that poses a tremendous threat to Israel. Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia, the nations of Islamic theology, believe that Islam must triumph over anyone and everyone who confesses that Muhammad is not the prophet and the Qur'an, is not the word of God. It's not difficult to see why the small Jewish nation of Israel is an obscenity in the eyes of Islam, only worthy of death. Islamic extremists are constantly producing terrorists for the subversion of the entire free world, a reality that most western nations cannot conceive such a theological war. But that is exactly what is happening, that is why Scripture says there will be war after war after war. If and when the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, the highest elected official, shouts "Allah says kill, they will kill." That’s why it’s such a danger. Why? Because they have an alliance Satan himself, who has for centuries tried to wipe the Jewish people out!
That's why the second coming of Jesus Christ, is both a warning to the unbeliever of the coming judgment and a highly motivating, tremendous encouragement to the believer, and blessed hope, of the glorious kingdom that is to come!
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved