And this morning, if you turn with me to Daniel chapter 12, I’d like to read.
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.
6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days
Let’s just go to prayer.
Dear Holy Father, as we come before you this morning, Lord, as we look at the events of the end times, what you’ve revealed in Daniel, Revelation, Zechariah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Lord, may we see that we are living in those days. The time is drawing near. The Apostle Paul has told us in the book of Thessalonians that the day of your appearing and calling of your church could come at any time. And Lord, I pray that you would just help us this morning as we look at your word to be prepared and to share with others the hope that we have in Jesus. And Father, that we would be prepared for that day. And Lord, that we would be able to share the gospel with people that they could be saved. We live in a world which is filled with evil. And the prince of the power of the air desires to destroy that which is pure and holy and righteous and good. And Lord, you have told us in your word, even as we read this morning, that you are there to be our shield, to be our strength, to be our help in every present time of danger. Be with us now, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
The last portion of chapter 11 and chapter 12 speak of one that is referred to as the Antichrist and the last events that are going to occur before the Lord Jesus comes to gain victory and establishes kingdom, the millennial kingdom upon the earth.
A lot of people read this and they don’t believe it’s going to happen. But as one looks around and sees what’s the events that are transpiring in the world, one can see all of these things being put in place to occur. Last time we were in the book of Daniel in chapter 11 and we talked about the Antichrist and what his character was.
His character is one of evil, wickedness, and he desires to destroy everything that God loves. He not only is inspired, but he will be empowered and really Satan will give him tremendous powers, but it’s only the powers that God will allow. As we’re looking at chapter 12, the Lord reveals to Daniel events that are going to occur and he says it’s going to occur in a time, a times, and a half time, or the last three and a half years.
The last three and a half years of what is referred to as the tribulation period, the last three and a half years are referred to as Jacob’s trouble or the great tribulation that will be upon the nation of Israel. As one looks at the world today, I like to say anti-Jewism instead of anti-Semitism because if you really want to know, Arabs are Semites as well, but people don’t hate the Arabs, they hate the Jews. And why do they hate the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? To the point that the nation of Iran, its whole goal by its Mullahs and leaders was to destroy the nation of Israel.
And all they could think about was getting an atomic bomb and the whole purpose of the atomic bomb was first to bomb Israel and then the United States and to kill all the Jews. Why? Why this severe hatred? Well, the Bible tells us that Satan hates that which God loves. And one of the things we see is that the spirit of the Antichrist is permeating our world in many ways.
In our own nation, which has been throughout history one of the most blessed nations on the face of the earth, we’ve had more privilege than any other country and we’ve been different than any other nation. We sit here this morning with the freedom to meet, to study God’s Word, to read what His Word tells us and we don’t have to fear someone breaking through the door, at least yet, to take us away. But why should those that have that privilege also be filled, in many cases, in many churches with a spirit that is against the Jewish people or anti-Jewishness, if you would? Part of it is it’s motivated by Satan and Satan does that.
As we come to chapter 9 this morning, the one that is referred to as the Antichrist is going to be the one that takes over the leadership of the world. I want us to take a look beginning at chapter 12 and verse 1.
And it says, And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. Even to that same time, at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
What Daniel has revealed is that there is coming a greater tribulation and a greater hatred of God’s people than we even see today. It’s going to be so great that the whole world is going to come against the nation of Israel. People would say, why would that be? If you look at Israel today, and it’s interesting, if you’re listening to the news, they were talking about that right now Iran is bombing Arab neighbors because they are so wicked and so vile and so evil and so out of their minds that they think by bombing other Arab countries that weren’t fighting against them that somehow that will cause them to put pressure on the United States to not come to the aid of Israel.
But as I was listening to the things that they’re bombing, they’re bombing desalinization plants in some of those Arab countries. Those Arab countries have anti-missile devices to prevent the missiles and drones from Iran attacking them. Where did the desalinization plants come from? Where did the anti-drone and anti-missile devices come from? If you listen closely, you’ll find out Israel is the one that developed them.
Israel right now has developed the desalinization process in the Middle East where literally Israel is blooming because of their ability to take the salt water out of the Dead Sea and turn it into that which is drinkable. To take water that is so disgusting you wouldn’t do anything with it and it becomes pure. Their goal is that they want to take water from the Mediterranean and build canal into Israel to bring even more water into the land.
They’ve shared this with their neighbors who hate them. Isn’t that amazing? Israel, when it comes to the medical abilities of helping people, the ability to find people in natural disasters, they have greater abilities and greater equipment than anywhere else. And oftentimes they’re the first ones to go when it’s to help even their enemies.
So why would the world hate someone like this? Why would the world hate a nation that is the only nation that allows women freedom in the Middle East? The only nation that allows people who do not believe what they believe to live there and be citizens? Why would they hate them? Because there is a supernatural spiritual battle going on and it goes all the way back as we’ve shared before to the Garden of Eden to the time that man first sinned and Satan deceived man and got him to rebel against God. And today men’s natural tendencies, unless they give their heart and life to Jesus and are transformed in their character, they will much quicker adapt and embrace the ungodliness of this world and the hatred and lies of Satan than they would the truth. Daniel is revealed that the last days are going to be the worst days that the nation of Israel will ever face.
And if you look at the Bible why that would occur, it’s because if Satan and his distorted thinking could kill all the Jews, God would not be God. Because even here we see that God has given promises to the Jewish people that have not been fulfilled. And that when the Lord Jesus returns and the whole world is against Israel and He returns and defeats their enemies in a day, in a moment, that they will look upon Him whom they pierced and realize He is the Messiah.
Now, there’s interesting things that are told us about the last days, even in chapter 12 as Daniel is coming. Verse 2, And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. I want you to understand that there are two resurrections.
The resurrection of the believer and the resurrection of the unbeliever. The resurrection of the believer, much like Jesus appearing, Jesus came two times. He came the first time to redeem us from our sin.
He’s coming the second time to set us free and to judge the world when His judgment shall come. Well, resurrections, even though there’s a resurrection to life and a resurrection of those that will be condemned to eternal damnation, the resurrection to life the scripture reveals to us isn’t just a one-time event. The first resurrection occurs when you and I will be caught up in the air with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul reveals that to us, if you’ll turn with me to Thessalonians. Paul is talking to the church at Thessalonica. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians.
We find that the Lord reveals to us that we will not… In 2 Thessalonians, I’m sorry, 1 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul talks about the fact that we’ll be changed in a moment and we’ll be made new creatures and receive our glorified bodies as the Lord comes to give us, as He comes to redeem us. And the rapture will occur. And Jesus comes and calls us onto Himself.
This will be the first resurrection. The resurrection of those that have believed and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. But we also realize that during the tribulation period, the Bible tells us in the book of Revelation that there are going to be those that will be saved, that they will accept Christ, and they will be killed because of their faith in Christ and what Jesus has done to redeem them.
And the Antichrist will have them killed immediately. What Daniel is seeing here is also the resurrection of those and the resurrection of the Old Testament saints that occur and that they shall be caught up to eternal life as well as those of us that have accepted Christ and will be caught up during the time of the rapture. But he’s also talking about the fact that at the end of the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ, there’s another resurrection.
And it’s referred to as the Great White Throne Judgment. And every person who has ever lived upon the earth will be resurrected and stand before the Lord. Those who are written in the book of life will already be with the Lord.
Those who are not written in the book of life will stand before the Lord and give account for Him for their lives. And Daniel is revealed that they shall be sent to eternal damnation. Now it’s interesting that one of the things that Satan comes and does is he wants to take our eyes off of the fact of the difference of the two resurrections.
And he wants to bring into the church a philosophy of universalism where everybody is going to make it to heaven. And he also wants to bring into the church a denial of the fact that there’s a hell. But as it’s revealed to Daniel in the last days, at the end of the last seven years, this seven years put into place the events that are going to occur that will ultimately result in these two resurrections being completed and fulfilled.
Verse 3, it says, And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as stars forever and ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
Daniel has only revealed what I’m showing you, but he doesn’t show them exactly all of the things that are going to happen, every specific thing. But he does tell them that there’s going to be some interesting things occurring, and you’re seeing those things occurring right before us today. He says, first of all, many shall run to and fro.
There’s many forms of running to and fro. First of all, we have the ability to go places we’ve never gone in faster times than we’ve ever gone. You can go out to Hector Airport, get on a plane, and be in Europe in a matter of hours.
You could go to the West Coast in about two and a half or three hours on an airplane. Elon Musk is developing SpaceX where he wants to be able to take people into outer space, and he wants to be able to take people through going into the realms of space and be able to do a lot faster travel than you can on airplanes today. Those things are realities and happening.
He also talks about wisdom will increase exponentially. Anyone who’s bought a computer knows that that’s true. You can’t leave the store without your computer being outdated.
But it’s not only that. If you look at what is being done, the exponential growth of wisdom and knowledge and man thinking that he has the ability to become God is occurring in the day in which we live. Many people are buying into the fact that they want to be able to live eternally, but not because they’ve accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior and because God has given us that great privilege and honor, but because they will be able to manipulate it through marrying themselves to computers, putting their brains in the cloud, doing all kinds of bizarre and strange things.
And they would rather believe in that than in the fact that God is their creator. Today, they’re talking about the fact that computers are being trained to build computers, and there’s grave concern among some of those that are developing them that computers will be able to not be able to be controlled by humans. And I read an article where there was two computer technicians who were developing software for computers and developing the ability of computers to help them develop and aid in developing and make computer technology and androids and different things.
And they had these two computers and they were speaking in computer language and all of a sudden they were creating their own language that those that were developing the language for the computers to talk couldn’t understand, and they shut off the computers. The computers were actually talking to each other and developing their own things. Knowledge is increasing beyond our ability to comprehend what it was even five or ten years ago.
When you look at where men have come from, from my father who grew up on a farm farming with horses to where we are today, and it’s unbelievable. Daniel says that was what it’s going to be in the last days. But the real sign of the last days is going to be how men will turn to follow men and ultimately Satan instead of God.
He says that there’s coming a time in verse seven, and I heard the man clothed in linen which was upon the waters of the river when he held up his right hand and left hand to heaven and swear by him that liveth forever that it shall be for a time, times and a half time. What is going to be for a time, time and a half times? When he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people and all these things shall be finished. At the end of that last three and a half years, everything that Daniel has been given very brief glimpses of is going to be fulfilled and done.
Now, I want you to turn with me to Revelation chapter 12. And in Revelation chapter 12, we’re given a picture of this man referred to as the Antichrist and his purposes. Satan came to war against the people of God.
And it’s revealed to us and it was revealed to John, and that’s what also was shown to Daniel in his book. And in Revelation chapter 12, it reveals that Satan comes and why do the people hate Israel so much? Because it’s through Israel that God brought his word. It’s through Israel that God brought the Messiah.
It’s through Israel that God brought the means by which Satan would be defeated and destroyed and he would bring the one who would crush the head of the serpent and that would be the Lord Jesus Christ. It would be through the nation of Israel that God would do these things. And we see in verse chapter 12 of Revelation, it says, And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
And she, being with child, cried, prevailing in birth and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon the heads.
What does that description sound like? It’s the exact same beast that is seen in the book of Daniel. It’s what we talked about where mankind have decided that they want to create a world that they will control. And it’s interesting that they are already in the process, as we shared the last time we met, with establishing a kingdom that will be in ten regions.
And it will be governed by ten rulers. They will have ten crowns upon their heads. And ultimately, these ten will be accountable to one. This was back before King Charles became king. He was still Prince Charles.
They were talking, and at that time, it was shortly after COVID, and there had been this whole plan to see how they could control the population of the world, and how much the people would yield to their control. It was a plan. It was all planned out.
You can go, and you can do the research yourself, and you can see how that COVID-19, they ran a trial run about a year and a half or two years prior to it actually occurring. And everything that they did, they did in their trial run to see how it would work. And they planned it out.
They didn’t do it on people in the world, but they put their plan together and stated how it would happen, and it’s exactly the way it happened. They wanted to see how they can control people. Why? Because they want to take control of the world.
Well, it was shortly after this that Charles was meeting with many of the leaders of Europe, and he made a statement that was a very interesting statement. He said, the nations of the world need to be prepared to give money to the prince. Who is he talking about? To this prince, this man.
I believe that he had slipped and was stating what they all have as their desire, to have this man that will lead them, and be able to bring the world into total control, and they’re ready to yield to him. Satan has always had that man. When Jesus was born, he had King Herod.
And King Herod, you can read in the Gospels how he attempted to kill all the children in the city of Bethlehem that were under the age of two and under, trying to kill the Messiah. Verse 5 of chapter 12 of Revelation, and she brought forth a man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. Now, who is that describing? In Scripture, through the nation of Israel, through Mary, came a man-child.
He lived until he was in his early thirties, ministering on earth, and then he laid down his life and paid the penalty for our sin, was buried according to the Scriptures, and rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven. Just as the description is given here, this man-child who was caught up into the heavens and sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her a thousand, two hundred, and threescore days.
The same three and a half years appear. And John is talking about another event that occurs in the life of the nation of Israel, this woman. How do we know it’s Israel? Well, you can go back and look up at the description that is given at the beginning of chapter 12 of the book of Revelation.
And you will see if you go back to Genesis and read when Joseph had his dream. He had a dream where his mother and father appeared and his brothers were stars around them. And the very same, very similar description given here of who would become Israel.
Who the parents of Israel were in his dream and who his brothers and he were in the stars. There were twelve stars and they all bowed down to his. And that was the dream that Joseph had.
This shows us the same vision that’s given to John that Israel is the one through whom the Messiah would come. I want you to know what’s happening with Iran right now. Why are they so, why are these people so filled with hatred and desire to kill that they just have to have an atomic bomb? If you look at what Islam teaches, as I’ve shared before, if you compare Islam to biblical Christianity in the Bible, they’re exact opposites.
Jesus is going to come to save his redeemed when the world is trying to kill all the Jewish people at the end of the age. The Muslims believe that their Mahdi, their Messiah will only come if they can kill all the Jews, number one. And number two, throw the world into such turmoil that that will bring him to come.
The exact opposite of why Jesus would be coming. He’s coming to redeem, to save the Jews. They want to kill the Jews.
If you look at other things within their religion, they have nothing that deals with redemption or love or forgiveness. The Bible is full. Of God’s love and forgiveness.
Well, we see the same event occurring here in the book of Revelation that occurs in Daniel where the nation of Israel flees into the wilderness and they flee there in the last three and a half years. You can go on and you can read in that there’s going to come much tribulation in the world. But there’s going to be one area that God is going to preserve and it’s not going to experience that the Antichrist is not going to be able to come against.
And that God’s judgment during the last great tribulation is not going to be experienced. Edom and Moab. And that’s the area that the nation of Israel will flee to, to escape the great persecution from this prince who wants to kill them.
What is the events as I’ve shared with you before? It’s as if you’re looking at a Chinese theater. There’s events in the heavens and there’s events on the earth. And they’re happening simultaneously.
But the events in heaven impact the events on earth. In chapter 12 of Revelation, it reveals to us the events that are going on in heaven with what’s going on on earth in the last three and a half years. It says, And there was a war in heaven.
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not. Neither was their place found anymore in heaven.
The dragon could no longer stay. Satan, the great deceiver, was not allowed into heaven any longer. Today, even right now, Satan still has access to the throne of God.
How do we know that? It tells us in the book of Job. He is there before the Lord accusing you and saying, You can’t believe they’re a Christian. Look at what they did.
Look at the things they believed. Look at the things they did and the things they said. How can you say that they’re your child? And Jesus is there as our defense attorney saying, Look at them.
They’re covered by my blood. They’ve been forgiven. But there’s coming a day where Satan will no longer be able to enter into heaven.
He will be cast down and he will know then that his time is extremely short. The final judgment is coming when he will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity. It says here that he will be cast to earth and when he is, there’s great anger will come.
And the great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil and Satan which deceived the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of the brethren is cast down, Which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.
And they loved not their lives unto death. And there is what he’s saying about you and I. How do we overcome Satan? By the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony and believing in him. We read that in the psalm.
The Lord is our shield. We’re not our shield. The Lord is our strength.
We’re not our strength. And we see here that as Satan is cast out upon the earth, he’s cast out and he no longer can accuse the brethren before the Lord. Verse 12.
Therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea. For this devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
And now what is that great wrath? That great wrath is coming down and it’s going to be manifesting itself through the Antichrist, this one whom he possesses and who is established as his ruler upon the whole earth. That man is going to persecute anybody who even would think of turning to Christ. And he’s going to have him put to death.
But not only that, at the same time that Satan is doing that, God is going to be judging the world for all of those that have rejected him. And we see that you’re going to have the various forms of judgment that are going to come during the last portion of the Great Tribulation. People today say, are we in the Great Tribulation? Well, if you read in the book of Revelation, it talks about that during that time period, you’re going to see the earth is going to change dramatically as the grass is going to be burned up, the trees will be consumed.
There’s going to be things, meteors will be hitting the earth. And God’s wrath will be coming against those who have rejected him and who are coming against his principles and violating his word and coming against his people. It says in verse 14 of chapter 12, And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into a place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent.
And so we see that the Jewish people are going to be taken. And like I mentioned, Moab and Edom are going to be the area that they will be fleeing to in the wilderness. And the serpent cast out his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away in the flood.
And the earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood, which a dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have testimony of Jesus Christ. There is why Satan hates the church and there is why Satan hates the Jewish people.
Because we keep his word and we follow the Lord and we honor him and he’s wroth with them. As you go back to Daniel, Daniel talks about the fact that just as the events happened that we looked at earlier as he relayed the various empires that came and they came in order that he gave them the events that he gave. Just as those events occurred, these events will occur.
Just as those events were reality, these events will become reality. And the problem is, as you look around the world today, you see things being put in place. You’re seeing things being put in place for a one world government like it’s never been before, a one world economy.
You see nations that are spoken of in here. Did you realize that right now Russia is helping Iran? This is not going to be the battle of Ezekiel, that’s yet to come. But they’ve found that Russia is sending Iran satellite pictures of where U.S. has got its ships, where it’s got its planes, where it’s got its various places that they can shoot their rockets at.
They’re sending pictures of Israel. They’re sending pictures of the bases that we have in the Middle East. And Russia is doing that.
Why would Russia have anything to gain from Iran other than what the Bible says that they will become joined in their hatred of Israel? If you look at what has happened, Russia is losing a lot of money in this war against Ukraine. Israel has a lot of resources. And the Bible says that the reason Russia will come against Israel is for her resources.
A lot of people that have studied and are archaeologists and Bible scholars believe that there’s buried in Israel, even to this day, a lot of gold and silver that remains from the temple that is buried, that may or may not be known where it’s at by the government. Russia could be coming for that. They could be coming for their natural gas.
They could be coming for their technology. But the Bible says they’re coming. And they’re already doing things to align themselves with what appears to be a total lost cause in Iran.
Why would Russia do that? Because there’s spiritual powers at work behind the scenes that we don’t even recognize or know. If you look at what has happened in our country, in the MAGA movement, there are some people in the MAGA movement who are very vocal about it. They’re very vocal people.
And yet, at one point in time, they spoke in favor of Israel. And today, they’re Israel’s greatest adversary, trying to get conservative people in the United States to turn their back on Israel. Why would they do that? It’s spiritual.
And the Bible says it’s going to align itself in the events that Daniel and Revelation reveal. We’re living in times that I never thought I’d see, and yet I’m seeing them. And may we remember that we’re to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
And when you pray for the peace of Jerusalem, you’re praying for the Messiah to come, that peace could be established, and that judgment would occur, and that justice would be revealed. And worked out. Let’s just close in prayer.
Lord, I pray that you just help us. As we look at the events around us in the last days, help us to be encouraged by the fact that your word reveals all of these events would occur before they occurred. And it reveals to us that you are the one who will gain the victory.
And Lord, help us to trust in you and rely on your wisdom and your strength. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
.