We're gonna do a little exercise together, okay? No, it's not rapture practice. We've got, there's a second portion of this message that we're gonna do a lot of, hold your spot here and go back here. So I just want you to take whatever dominant hand you have, those first two fingers, and give me a little bit of this, okay? Stretching, stretching, stretching, because it's going to get good, okay? I'm so excited about this study, the reason being because the Feast of Trumpets is right around the corner. So we very well may be preaching a message that a lot of people will hear after the rapture looking for answers. And when I pray for this ministry here at Calvary Community Church, specifically the online ministry, I pray for whatever amount of time is available after the rapture that people would be looking for the truth and they would find our material. I really believe that that's gonna be a part of the ministry that continues on, even after all the body of Christ in the church is caught away. I just got an email from somebody that watched the video that I did about three years ago, and they said, I get it now. I understand eternal life. Thank you for preaching the gospel clearly. Thank you for your First John series. I love seeing that, because that series is up, it's posted, it's just circulating, but people are still finding the truth. I want you to go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. We're going to get to that passage in a moment. But I'm just taking my time with this because there hasn't been an opportunity like right now to really speak clearly and concisely on the whole issue of the tribulation period. Now, about two years ago, we did a series called Keep Looking Up, where we went into detail about the prophecy in Daniel chapter 9. And every time that I get around to this topic of the Tribulation Period, Daniel chapter 9 is something that I go into heavily, because I think it's one of the greatest proofs for the timeline of the Tribulation Period, who the Tribulation Period is for. But I've done that so much that we're going to look at some different passages, and if you're interested in Daniel chapter 9, verses 24 through 27, about that even critics of the scripture, higher critics who do not believe the scripture to be inspired by the word of God, say that a lot of prophecy hangs on Daniel chapter 9 verses 24 through 27. And that's just coming from a secular point of view. If you want to study on that, we have a series called Keep Looking Up. You can go on sermonaudio.com, look for the church name, you'll see that series. You can play it and watch it there. Today we're going to be going through a different portion of scripture, still a prophet, still something in the Old Testament that I think makes just as strong a point for the tribulation period being for Israel and how Israel is not the church. It's a very popular theory that's floating around today, ever since October 7th, which we're almost coming up on a year on. Does that surprise anybody? I can't believe it's been that, you know, that a year has gone by since that tragedy happened. in Israel, but there's been a lot of talk since last year, really the beginning of this year, that, well, Israel over there, what they're doing is wrong, and we are true Israel. We have replaced Israel with the church. We're gonna do a basic reading of the text today and try some of those theories. That's not the point of what we're doing today, but it will be a large discussion that we have. But I wanna talk about two different types of tribulation that we see in the scripture. That word tribulation is used quite a bit, but if it's a capital T, tribulation, it's referring to a set of years, seven years, that is yet to be fulfilled on the prophetic timeline for the transgression that Israel committed against the Lord. And that's the prophecy of Daniel chapter nine. goes through that, this is how some people have asked me, why do you say the tribulation is seven years? Well, because scripture proves that out, the use of the word a week with Genesis chapter 29, one week being one year, Daniel, or excuse me, seven years, Daniel's 70th week, all that comes into play, and I would encourage you to look at the message that I did on that a couple of years ago, because for the sake of time, I wanna make sure we look at some of this stuff in jeremiah we're not in jeremiah yet you're in first thessalonians three right now but the first use of the word tribulation i want to look at is the tribulation of the church lowercase t i want you to see in first thessalonians chapter three rampage uh... twelve sixty eight in a church loan bible starting their inverse one paul's writing to thessalonica he had a really good time with them very encouraging he talks about some things that they suffered Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith. Now, I want you to underline, and to comfort, because it's gonna come into play with this next two verses. There was a period of time in which Paul ministered in Thessalonica, The gospel was received. The teaching of the apostles was received well. It was something that Paul remarked in chapter two. He was so thankful that they didn't just accept the apostles as some messengers of a certain religion, but they actually received it as the word of God. Look just over the page for a moment in chapter two in verse 13. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in the truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." So that's the attitude of the Thessalonian believers. Paul came in with his workers. They established the truth. They received it, and it worked in them. They heard the word. They were not blocked by their unbelief. They believed and went forward and grew, and it was a great encouragement. You can see those last three verses there of chapter two. Paul talks about, you're my hope, my joy, crown of rejoicing, because we're we're going to be in this together now forever as a part of the body of Christ. Then when he gets to chapter 3, he says there needed to be a messenger Timotheus sent to comfort them. That would imply that something changed. And this happens. I think we can all testify to this happening. Things go well, something happens, things go bad. We just had this this past week. I can't tell you how many times I go back and forth looking at the news, looking at all this stuff, trying to figure out what's the safest thing to do for service on Wednesday night. What are we going to do for the men's breakfast? What are we going to do about the church on the lawn? And my week was going fine. I knew that there was a hurricane out there. Well, it wasn't a hurricane at the time. Saw how fast that thing strengthened. It was crazy. I think it was a category four at landfall. And I saw all this stuff, and I'm like, well, we'll get there when we get there. And then the next thing you know, it's here. We're having to cancel school and all that. All of that can be an effect on whatever comfort I had coming into the week. Now everything is disrupted. Now we're in damage control mode. We're in making sure that we're not putting people in dangerous situations. Very light comparison to what was happening in Thessalonica. What was happening there? They're dying. Not from sickness, not from some type of food poisoning, but by the hands of other people who were against the teachings of Jesus Christ. Probably the Jewish leaders in the community riling those things up because the teaching of Jesus was considered blasphemous. And it still is considered blasphemous to this day. It doesn't carry a death penalty in this country, but it sure does in other countries. So now Timothy is going out there with the purpose of encouraging them. Now look at verse three, that no man should be moved by these afflictions. To say that the church will be free from any persecution, any hard times, any kind of tribulation is a false statement. The church will and has suffered greatly. The body of Christ has been under great attack from the devil, from spiritual wickedness in high places, from the flesh nature inside every believer. For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. So Paul says, I'm sending Timothy to comfort you. But this should not be something that takes you by surprise. We're suffering. People are not accepting what we're saying. They're using violence against us. They're using the law against us. We're appointed under that kind of suffering. But that is different from capital T tribulation, which I'll show you in a moment. Now look at verse four. For verily, truthfully, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation even as it came to pass, and ye know." Now, you'd have to have a lot of assumptions to say that 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 4 proves that the church is going through the tribulation. Is that accurate? Because you're going to hear that. you're gonna have people that load that up and they shoot it at you and say, see, your pastor's wrong, your church is wrong, you need to get on my side of the theology. We know from the context, and this is why I take time to explain these things, the context is talking about tribulation that they were suffering right there, in that moment, not some future event. Was the seven-year tribulation period happening when Paul was writing this? So either there's some type of weird parenthetical statement of verse 3, which is not common with the writing of any of the New Testament letters, save Romans. And you say, oh, well, Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11. How do we know that's a parenthetical statement? It specifically calls out the Jews. There's no change of audience here in chapter three. We're still talking to Thessalonians and believers. Paul's still giving them encouragement. The persecution, look at what it says, even as it came to pass and you know. Then he goes through his own personal story in chapter five, excuse me, in verse five and in verse six, that these things are gonna continue, and they did continue. There's a description of the ministry in 2 Corinthians chapter six that talks about we're persecuted all the day long. Romans chapter, I think it's chapter eight, where it talks about we're slain all day long with the sword. These things are to be expected. What's the difference though? It's something that's going to happen for a period of time here in the body. And the capital T tribulation is a specific event that is yet to be fulfilled. That's the difference. Please do not fall for the little hook that comes in the water with a with a piece of bait on it that says tribulation. People do this all the time. We talked about it last week. What's the bait in that situation? Well, the word rapture is not in the Bible. Okay. Well, really, neither is the English word Jesus. You'd have to go with the Greek word at that point. Really, there's no English words in the original text, so we should all just start speaking Koine Greek and original Hebrew if we go with that line of thinking. But can we see where the English word rapture came from? Yes, we did that study last week. So then we can rightly divide, apply where proper, And then things make sense. It all falls into place. But a lot of times people will load up verses like this and say, see, the church is appointed unto that capital T tribulation period. Not so. And this is where the Old Testament becomes incredibly important. But I want you to go to Colossians chapter 1 very quickly. Colossians chapter 1, verse 24. Paul, again, writing to a different body of believers in Colossae. And he makes a statement here in verse 24. Page 1263. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is, now this is a collective group, the church. Just as a reminder, the church is not the property lines on this piece of property here. The church is not the street address, it's not the Google Maps landing page. The church is brothers and sisters who have been placed into the body of Christ, of which Jesus is the head. I want you to see that in verse 18. Same book and chapter, Colossians 1, 18. And he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. So as we expect our limbs to obey what happens here first, so we, as the members of the body of Christ, should obey Jesus, who is the head. That's a good thing. That's not happening all the time. But the world will come against that collective body, the church, set to its destruction. And to the casual observer of history, which by the way, I hope you get a flavor for history. Some people say it's an acquired taste. I completely disagree with that. I'm not a big cinema guy. I don't like watching a bunch of movies and stuff. But when I do watch a movie here and there, I like dramatic pieces. I like big set pieces, big stories, drama, all that. And when I look at history, it is exactly that. It's a great study. Let's take a look at the historical tribulation, lowercase t, of the church. Go to Revelation chapter two. We talked about the book of Revelation last week. In depth, we have a series on Bible line called Dear Church that goes through every single letter to the New Testament churches from Jesus. This is on page 1332, Revelation chapter two, starting in verse eight. This is one of the seven churches that receives no ill report from Christ, just encouragement. But I want you to see here why they must be encouraged. And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write, these things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. And that's a great study if you just look at the first address that Jesus gives as titles for himself to these churches. Verse nine, I know thy works and what? Tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich. What a great statement. I hope you recognize your bank account, your possessions, your assets do not determine your value in Christ. Amen? Yeah. Some of you are getting it. We have spiritual blessings. All these things were already translated into the kingdom of his dear son in Colossians 1, it tells us. We got a lot to be thankful for. Did you see the car recently? That it was in St. Pete, I think, or somewhere. The whole house burned down, that Tesla battery reacted with that salt, and literally nothing but the brick is left. That's a sad thing. I saw a lot of videos of people's homes, just the ocean lapping up against the glass one or two times and then you hear the breaking of it and then all of a sudden the couch and everything is floating. It's just, it was crazy. I have some friends of mine who have property on Anna Maria Island. Total destruction. I saw videos of bulldozers just lifting sand to what seemed like would be an eternity. I mean that's how quickly our possessions can be gone. Jesus says, the church in Smyrna, who suffered at the hands of evil men, they are poor on the world's status, but in Him, they're rich. Amen? That's good. That's a good thing. And I know the blasphemy of them, which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Yikes. That's a strong statement. We explain that statement in the Dear Church series, but long story short, there were Jews who were persecuting that body of believers in Smyrna. And the Lord took that as something that was used by the devil. It's a crazy statement there in verse nine, but we're gonna move on. Fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer. Now, hang on a minute. The suffering here is tied directly to their tribulation and poverty. Is this the seven-year period which is described in Daniel 9 and in Jeremiah 30? It can't be. There are five more churches addressed after this. It's got to be something else. It is likely the persecution, and I would say I'd move from likely to confirmed, the persecution of the church from the devil. The devil works on the church. And I've said this before to some people. Some of you have heard me say it. If you're the kind of person that says the devil made me do it, you need to move out of that mentality. You've got a flesh nature. We all learn self-control at some point in time, I hope. I hope we learn self-control at some point in time. And our flesh can be used against the Lord's will. We can set ourselves as, even as children of God, set against him. Not a good thing. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and you shall have tribulation 10 days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. So there's encouragement from the Lord. Not only has he seen the persecution they've had so far, but he says more is coming. This can't be that seven-year, one-time event. There's a lot of discussion about that 10 days, but in no way can you have 10 days equal to one week as it's used in Genesis 29. It's just the Lego pieces don't fit. How many of y'all tried to put Legos together and you're not doing it well? I guess only I have suffered that. It's horrible. I don't like it, you know? That's what happens when we try to take a theology, and what theology are we talking about? Replacement theology. The theology that says physical Israel is no more, it's all spiritual Israel. The suffering that the church has yet to go through is catastrophic if that's the case. We're gonna read some stuff in Jeremiah that'll make you hard gulp. You'll go, mm, that doesn't sound good at all. It's not for us, it's for Israel. God had a promise given to them, and there are things that have to come to pass, because he has guaranteed them. That tribulation period is the crucible, the heating element leading up to the second coming of Jesus Christ. And we'll be at that event just from the top view, okay? We'll have that blimp view, you know? All right, now I want you to go to our main portion of study this morning, Jeremiah chapter 30. I said earlier, if you wanted to take a look at any kind of teaching on Daniel chapter nine, we have that available online. And I would encourage you to go check that out. Dr. Arnold does an excellent job. You can probably find videos on his channel as well. You can speak to Mr. Luis Hernandez about that. There's a lot of good teaching out there that rightly divides the word of truth. We're gonna look at Jeremiah chapter 30. Typically, people look at one verse and it's verse seven. So let's zoom in there for a moment, then we're gonna zoom out and do a little context, which is my favorite type of study. This is on page 804, if you have a church loan Bible. I'm scanning to make sure everybody's heads are down looking at their Bibles, because I don't wanna move on before people get there. There are still some leaves quietly falling to the ground. Here we go, verse seven. Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble. You should underscore that in some way. Very specifically, the prophet Jeremiah, under the inspiration of the Lord, as he is revealing this vision, says this time is for Jacob, whose name was later changed to the church, right? No. To what? Israel. Now, my favorite thing, we're gonna back up to verse four. Look at these statements here. And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. This is what you call a context clue. And I'm not trying to be comical here, I'm just being very basic. As somebody who studies, when you see things like this, you say, what is coming next already has a recipient. We already know who these are to. Unless we're going to say that Israel and Judah are words that are used interchangeably for another group, which they're not, we know verses 5, 6, and 7, and through the rest of the chapter here, concern Israel and Judah. That is not the church. So I would tie that to what we just read in verse seven. It's the time of Jacob's trouble, not the church. Church is something different. Look at verses five through six. For thus saith the Lord. So here's what he's saying to Israel and Judah. We have heard the voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child." Weird statement. I mean, in our day and age today, some people would say that's normal. But what's the point that is being made here? The wailing of the men, the grief of the men, the outcrying from the shock of man is comparable to a woman in labor pains, in delivery. Now, maybe you've seen some of these videos where these loving husbands, they don't know what they're getting into, and there's some type of birth simulator machine that they put these things on their stomach, and you get to experience what the woman has experienced. You know, that's all cute, fun, social media stuff. This is not like that. This is not for a TikTok. that is being made here or some reel on Instagram or Facebook. The thing that's being communicated here is catastrophe and it's sudden. I want you to see the rest of the description here in verse six. His hands on his loins as a woman in travail and all faces are turned into paleness. Now you say, what does that look like? That's probably something that looks like this. Hands on the loins, probably in a squatted position. I'm not gonna do that. but you'd probably understand what that would be. You've seen people go through this type of body response when a disaster has happened suddenly and they have nothing that they can do. They literally collapse, lose color. It's a state of shock. This is likely the description of the first five seals that come out from the tribulation period. Jesus talks about it, we're gonna see it in a moment. All still concerning Israel, but this disaster that's gonna happen is going to be sudden and quick. Look at verse seven. Alas, for that day is great. That day is referring to the day of the Lord, which is not a 24-hour day. I don't think that. I think that's a phrase for the entire tribulation period that culminates in the return of Christ, which will be on a 24-hour day. But there's seven years of events that happen leading up to that time, split in between the first tribulation and the great tribulation, as Jesus calls it. Next week, we're gonna study that great tribulation. This week, we're gonna study that first half. Has anything changed in the way of context? Has the recipient changed? No, no change. Look at verse eight. I'm sorry, we didn't read the rest of verse seven. Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. I believe that's referring to when the Lord comes back. And at that time, the remnant of Israel will be the remnant that will have the Holy Spirit. And then you have the prophecy of Ezekiel fulfilled. Calvinists today say that when you get saved and you get indwelled with the Holy Spirit, that's the fulfilling of prophecy in Ezekiel chapter 36. It can't be. It cannot be. Otherwise, you could never sin again. And I'm not talking about a dual nature setup like the scripture speaks of. They teach, you gotta make sure you're saved. If you've really had that Ezekiel 36 conversion and you sin, you're not saved. Dr. Stephen Lawson is experiencing this right now. A prominent teacher in Calvinist reform circles. He's on video talking about if you have an adulterous relationship, I think he said an adulterous relationship, or a pornographic habit, that you're not saved yet. The man just stepped down from ministry for an inappropriate relationship with a woman who's not his wife. Now, I'm not here to hit the man while he's down, but to just ask a question. Has he experienced salvation? According to his theology, no. If at any time that sin was happening, he is not saved according to his theology. You see how dangerous that is? And there are many people, I would say thousands of people, whose faith is shaken because of one man. And this is why I despise reformed teaching. It lifts up men, teachers, doctorates, PhDs, books, theories. Let's lift up Jesus Christ and the Word of God, amen? If the Bible says you can know you have eternal life, you can have eternal life and know it, amen? That's a good thing. Why would we try to change what the scripture says? The devil's out there, folks, and he's doing a real good job. Back to the text here. Verse eight, for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy, oh, sorry, neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him. Now, there are some that would say, Jesse, when you're talking in Jeremiah 30, that's talking about the impending Assyrian and Babylonian captivity. Good critique needs to be checked. What kind of servitude is being described in verse eight? This is the one of a slave. And historically, just on a secular analysis of Israel's captivity in Assyria and Babylon, they were not slaves. This is referring to a different period. This has to be a future event. which likely describes what is going to happen with the covenant that the Antichrist established in the first three and a half years, and then he breaks at the abomination of the desolation of the temple. And then Jesus says all that he says in Matthew 24, pray that it's not in the winter, pray that you don't have a child who is breastfeeding, pray that the mountains will find you and cover you, or that you'll find the mountains and that they will cover you. This description here must be referring to the last time that Israel will be brought under the authority of another nation, which would be the tribulation period. He says very clearly, the neck yoke will be broken, the bonds will be burst, which is the idea of shattered beyond repair. Think of something exploding. and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him." Meaning, the other nations will not take Jacob and use him in service to themselves. Now verse nine. Here's the fastball down the middle that we just need to make sure we don't miss. But they shall serve the Lord their God. Is that happening right now? Has that happened at all corporately for the physical nation of Israel since Jesus Christ ascended? It has not yet happened. We pray for Israel. We pray for Israel every Sunday morning. I pray for Israel often. We have great partners in ministry, like In Grace with Pastor Jim Scudder, that go out and they come alongside Israel. But Israel today, they possess the land, but they are in the state of unbelief. I'm fairly certain this is true, at least this is what I heard when I was over there. It is considered illegal to go out and share the Christian faith with the idea of getting somebody who is Jewish to trust in Christ. Illegal. That's not a nation in belief of Jesus Christ. Now, they still have rights like every nation does. They have the right to defend themselves. They're doing that, they're in war. Our country doesn't, a lot of people in our country don't know war. Can you imagine if something happened where let's just say Mexico did something in a city of Texas to the degree of what happened in Israel? We'd have a larger United States. We'd have more states. Mexico would have been destroyed and no one in the world would have been like, oh, that's genocide. There's an agenda against Israel. But please don't get it mistaken. Where Israel is today is not in belief. It is in unbelief. We cannot say that the tribulation period is for the church because this has not yet come to pass. Now look at this next part. And David their king, so they're gonna serve the Lord God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. That's Jesus Christ. Is that the position of Israel today? No, it can't be. So there's a period of time, starting in verse four, described in five and six and seven, where it will be catastrophic for Israel. From that, there will be a remnant, verse eight, they're gonna be broken out of that bondage, they're gonna be delivered. Verse nine, I believe, is the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, where they're gonna believe on Jesus Christ, and they're gonna serve him under his authority. Now, this is the portion of the message where we're gonna be holding our spot in two different places. So let's go to the first place, Matthew 24. Ooh, I like Matthew 24. There were a lot of people online that are like, oh, Jesse will never talk about Matthew 24, because it destroys his theology. And I'm like, I don't even know what that means. Matthew 24 is a great timeline, and I want you to see some comparisons for that, but it's for the tribulation period. I want you to see that before we go to the second portion of Scripture. It's on page 1032, Matthew 24, starting in verse one. Great place to start. Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. So they're doing a little tour. Look at this. Jesus said unto them, what did he say? See ye not all these things? What would those things be? That'd be the physical building of the temple. Verily I say unto you, and you can quote him on this, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. Has that happened? Yes, that has happened. This is what you call a near and far prophecy from most of what we're gonna look at in Matthew chapter 24. There are some elements of what Jesus says which can be correctly applied to the destruction of Israel in 70 AD, the Jewish wars that happened there, okay? Titus came in, he flattened the place. He specifically told the soldiers, do not destroy the temple until I get there, but it was, The mortar of it was gold. They not only destroyed it, they melted it down and kept it for that purpose. There is not one stone left upon another of the temple in Jesus' time. Some would say, what about the wall? Well, that was not a part of the temple. And it's worshiped because it was the closest remaining structure from that time, not of the temple, that was to the Holy of Holies. That's why they put the prayer requests in there. Do you know what that is significant for? They don't have a high priest who goes into a temple anymore and communicates for them like they would on the Day of Atonement once a year. That's not happening anymore. This is another sign that they're still trusting in the things that are no longer used by God. That structure there is not the last remaining piece of the original temple. You can go and look into that research. It's the closest remaining structure to the ruins of that temple. Then there's a question in verse three. Here's a context clue. And he sat upon the Mount of Olives. I have been there, I've sat there, and I've heard some fantastic singing. The last time we went, this young lady from Quentin wrote up there, Stephanie Zellmer, she wasn't able to go the last two trips because of COVID, not an excellent singer. And I think, were you there, Blake? We sat down and the whole day was cloudy. And as she's singing this song about Israel and Israel's essentially turning to Christ and all that, literally the sun opened up, or the clouds opened up and the sun shone down. And you're standing there, you're sitting there on the Mount of Olives and you see Jerusalem right over there. And you recognize Jesus is gonna come down right here. This is not, oh, I'm playing games, I picked the Christian religion because that's the religion of my parents. This is real. He's gonna really come down there and rule and reign from there, and I get to sit there and enjoy it. The next time I get to sit there and enjoy it, because I don't think I'm going back, I'll be honest, the plane ride, whew, but the next time I go back, I'm gonna be in much better condition, and the flight will be a lot easier, and it won't be on a Boeing, it'll be on a horse. It'll be great. Be great, I won't be ashamed to wear a robe in public, you know? He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, tell us. So they're asking a question, what's the question that he's gonna answer? And he will answer this question from verse four of Matthew 24 all the way through verse 50, verse 46 of chapter 25. It's a whole discussion, the Olivet Discourse is what it's called, where he answers this question. Here's the question, it's threefold. When shall these things be? What things? The destruction of the temple. And what shall be the sign of thy coming? Which would be the second coming. And the end of the world. Commonly translated world could also be translated as age. Jesus then gives an answer. He says, verse four is very important. Take heed that no man deceive you. If there's one thing we need to remember, it is that there are those out there set to deceive us, period. Now, I don't think this is talking to the church, but there is also descriptions in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 The ministers of light as they appear are really demons. The angel himself looks pretty, or the devil himself looks pretty attractive to man if we're not paying attention. But Jesus says this, take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ, Messiah, and shall deceive many. It's gonna work. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Now remember here, when Jesus makes this discussion, he is still in the dispensation of the law. The church is a pause between those two dispensations. Salvation, always the same throughout. But what he's saying here is there's going to be wars and rumors of wars. We are not supposed to look in our social sphere today and say this is a fulfillment of that prophecy. I don't believe that's what's being spoken of here. I'm going to show you that in a minute with some things in Revelation. Has there been wars since Jesus made this statement? Yes, have there been rumors of wars? I can't tell you how many times I hear Hannity every once in a while, and I don't watch him, but I hear him every once in a while say, oh, there's gonna be a World War III event, it's coming. And there's a lot of Christians who latch on to Matthew 25, six and say, or 24, six and say it's a fulfillment of prophecy. This is a warning for those in the tribulation period. You're gonna see the wars, the rumors of them. There's gonna be wars. I'm not coming yet, not returning yet, but those things will happen. Why do you think believers in the tribulation period need to know this? Look at verse four, or verse five. There's going to be many that say, I'm the Christ. There's going to be one guy who's the Antichrist. And people are going to go, sir, yes, sir. They're going to believe that he's God, capital G, God. But the end is not yet. Verse seven, for nation shall rise against nation. That's commonly interpreted as race. Do you see the bedrock for a race war getting ready to start in our world? Some would even say it's already started. There are many things that you can innocently say, and it will be twisted against you. You'll lose your job. By the way, if you have any questionable social media, you should just go ahead and delete it, because it takes seven years for it to all go away anyway. It's like your taxes. But how many times have we seen people say things when they're teenagers, 12, 13 years old, and they lose everything as a result of it? Do we see a world that is pitting us against one another because of the color of our skin? Is that the sign that Jesus is coming back? I don't think so. I think this is speaking about the tribulation period. And what I see here is we're ramping up for that stuff to become full force. I watched a debate recently, a former debate between Romney and Obama back in, I think it was 2012. I was shocked. They had notes. They spoke with substance. They didn't have ad hominem attacks at one another. I understood the policies that Obama was saying. I understood the policies that Romney was saying. The debate was at a table. The moderator kept his mouth closed. Let the guys talk. There was no jabs. There was no personal attacks. And I see what happened a couple of weeks ago and I go, this is exactly what our country deserves. You don't have many policies from either side anymore. They just tell you the other one's worse than them. That's dangerous. And this is why when you go vote, you go vote on what you know. But folks, our trust needs to be in Jesus Christ, amen? He speaks clearly. He does not sin when he speaks. And there's a lot of stuff going on today that I just, I look at it and I go, there's already that race war is happening between these two candidates. This stuff is, I want you to wake up to this and realize this is where we are. This is not a sign for the end of the times here, but it will be for the believer in the tribulation period. Nation shall rise, ethnos, race against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows. That is commonly the tie back to Jeremiah 30 in verse seven. The first three and a half years, Then shall they deliver up you to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. So now we're gonna pause here for a moment, hold your spot, and we're gonna go to Revelation chapter six. And I'm gonna show you how it's likely that each one of those verses gives a different description from Jesus about the seals. that are the first seals that are going to be opened. Because sometimes you may, I mean, some of you may have just heard me say, no, this is not for today. And that's something new. You haven't heard that before. I'm not saying the world is gonna, is not gonna have similar signs to this. But there's a lot of comparisons between what's gonna happen in the tribulations period specifically, with the first five seals of Revelation six, that line up exactly to what Jesus said in Matthew 24, which would be a sign of his coming. Are we looking back, are we right now as the church, looking for the Lord to come and physically touch down on the Mount of Olives? That's not the description that we talked about last week. We're looking for the harpazo, the great catching away, caught up. We're looking for the rapture. The Lord's gonna come down. He's gonna go, hey, let's go. And we're gonna go, all right. And we're out. Then these things will happen that Jesus described in Matthew 24. Revelation chapter 6. The first thing that Jesus says in Matthew 24 5 is that there will be false messiahs who will mislead many. I think that this could be tied to the first seal. Look in Revelation chapter 6 and verse 2. Well, we'll look at verse one. And I saw, this is on page 1336, when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, come and see. John, come on up here. Look at what happens when this is opened. And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. Now go back to Matthew 24, and look at the description in verse five. I would say we could even look at verse four. Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many. Why would this be a good connection to the first seal, the white horse? We know in Revelation 19 when Jesus comes back, he's on a white horse too. Now, what's the difference between the white horse in the first seal and the white horse that Jesus rides on? Jesus actually has a weapon. You say, well, Pastor, the rider on the white horse in Revelation 6 too has a weapon as well. He does, but he's missing something. Go back to Revelation 6 too. He's got a bow. How good is a bow without an arrow? Hello. What does this mean? He has the appearance of power, but he doesn't have any power of himself. Do we see that today? We saw what happened with COVID. People with the appearance of power telling you what we can and cannot do, then doing those things themselves. Dangerous. Was that the first seal being opened? Was COVID the first seal? No, nor is the vaccine the mark of the beast, people. Just take that idea and put it somewhere far away, all right? You throw that one under the bed, that's fine. No problem there. But I think this is a comparison to Jesus saying there's gonna be many that deceive as the Christ, saying, I am the Christ. They're gonna use that power to go forth and conquer. I think this is a part of the antichrist agenda. Both on a white horse. Antichrist will have the appearance of looking like a god, but he has no power. Now look at verse 6 of Matthew 24. Go back to Matthew 24 in verse six. The next thing, and this is where I believe we have the second seal, the second rider on the horse. Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. So let's look at the second seal. Back to Revelation six. We're in verse three now. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see. And there went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth. If it's not peacetime, it's what? Wartime. We're in a, well, we are in somewhat of a peacetime right now. Israel is not in a peace time right now. They are in a war time. And this is why I think most of the American media is kind of, but doesn't recognize that they're not looking about thinking of a war. Folks, the thing that they're doing relentlessly is because they are at war with Hezbollah and Hamas and all that. Look at what this says. Take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another, and there was given unto him a great sword. So this one, very different from the white rider, this one from the rider on the white horse, the rider on the red horse here actually has power. Now look at Matthew 24.6. What did Jesus say was gonna happen after those many people say that there's the Christ? What's gonna happen? wars and rumors of wars. This lines up with what's going to happen in that second seal. See that you be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet. There's a strong likelihood that there could be somebody listening to this message right now in the future that that warning is for you. Those wars and rumors of wars are not the sign that the Lord is coming. Why is that so important? Because the very elect could be deceived by the Antichrist. Folks, we know Jesus, amen? We know who he is. We have the great privilege of living in the time that we live. You ought to be happy for that. But there are people who are alive, I believe, right now, who are going to go into the worst period of time of all types of deception and all types of corruption and seeing things with your eyes and hearing things with your ears that you know are the way it should sound and the way it should look, but it's not. That technology exists today. They got deep fakes out there of actors saying things they've never said, and people buying it hook, line, and sinker. I've told you this many times. Some of you have come up to me and said, yes, Pastor, that's true. You go open a Google search and go look up something, the first result, you can't turn it off, is an AI-generated result. My headlights weren't working recently. I ran to Google. And something called Gemini gave me an answer. And I was reading it and I go, wait a second, this is the AI stuff. Now it was right. But I'll tell you, that's kind of disturbing. It's training you. Don't look at the facts yourself. Look at our collection of the facts. Do we have any record of how that's gone? You see how artificial intelligence and it's rapidly, rapidly advancing can be used in the tribulation period? to make the appearance of Jesus coming back? Or things that he said that he never said? Dangerous. Let's look at the third seal. Go back to Revelation 6. We're gonna look at verses five through six. And he opened the third seal, and I heard the beast say, come and see. I always wonder. Where did John go, you know? He was just there to see the first seal. He has to continually be told to come and see. I wonder what John was off doing. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse, third horse now, a description, whether it's physical or figurative, I don't think that's the purpose of it, but this third one now has a purpose. And he sat on him and had a pair of balances in his hands. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. This is a reference to rations. Why would you need rations of food? Because there's a shortage of food. Why would there be a shortage of food? Because the crops didn't grow and produce what they were expected to produce. Why would that happen? Famine. Go back to Matthew chapter 24, and the tie-in there is in verse 7. I think Jesus is mentioning the third seal here. For nations shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, pestilences, earthquakes in diverse places. You say, in the ocean? No. Multiple places. Places where you probably wouldn't expect it, there's going to be catastrophic destruction. If you want to destroy crop, you terraform. You see this, as a matter of fact, there's a really popular video that's on the internet right now of a man racing through. He has a tractor behind him and he is literally shaving the ground behind him because there's an all-consuming fire coming and burning up the crop. And the idea is once it gets to that bare soil there, it's gonna burn out. He's racing through there. He's doing damage by doing that, but he's trying to save his crop. If you want to destroy the ability for food to grow on a piece of land where it normally grows, you terraform it. This is an illustration that's used in Hebrews, that the thorns come up and it needs to be completely burned so that something new can be planted. I think Jesus is speaking about the third seal there of Revelation. Go back to Revelation chapter 6. We've got two more here and then we're done for this morning. Revelation chapter 6 verses 7 through 8. It's in the same verse that we just looked at, but look at this description. And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, come and see. And I looked and behold a pale horse, a fourth horse now, and his name that sat on him was death and hell followed with him. Power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword, war, and with hunger, famine, and with death, which is the result of both of those things, and with the beasts of the earth. I tie that directly back to seven, where it says kingdom against kingdom, nation against nation, pestilence, destruction, all of that tied right there. And then I think this one's less likely, but I like it out of all the comparisons because it makes the most sense with what Jesus says in verse eight of Matthew 24 and nine. So let's go back there. Matthew 24, verses eight and nine, Jesus says this. All these, those four events, which we see chronicled in Revelation 6, white horse, black horse, red horse, pale horse, all these are the beginnings of sorrows. So I think chronologically, for anybody that's listening to this and you're in the tribulation period, when you see those four things, you know The Lord is not coming back yet. There's actually worse to come. So don't be deceived by what you hear. Then this verse 9 comes in. A lot of commentators think that verses four through eight describe the first half of the tribulation. Verses nine through 14 describe the second half of the tribulation. I don't think I'm there yet with that. And then verses 15 through 51 talk about more specifically the second half of the tribulation in more detail. But verse nine seems to me to be that fifth seal in Revelation. Look at what it says. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." This is likely talking about believers. I don't think this is addressing the church. Look at what happens at that fifth seal. This is Revelation 6, 9 through 10, 9 through 11. Now the fifth seal is not an actual event on earth, but what has happened on earth so far? We've got bombs going, we've got race wars going, we've got false messiahs, we've got rations for food, people are dying at the hand of the sword, at the hand of one another, they're dying because they can't eat, they're dying at the hands of other men, likely the Antichrist's military power, So then the fifth seal is an actual view into heaven of the believers who are slain. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, for they hold the test for the testimony which they held. And this is where I would say to anybody who's watching in the tribulation period at this time, if you're looking around you and there was a great event that is being explained away as anything but the rapture, your life is in danger. There's gonna be a lot of people who die for their affiliation with Jesus Christ, for their faith. And for the testimony which they held, verse 10, and they cried with a loud voice, this is the fifth seal, saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? That's not the message of the church. Is that the cry of the church? No, we're looking for that blessed hope The glorious appearance, you see how this is different? The church is not being described here. Although there are believers in this time that we are looking at. And look at the chilling words in response. White robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, for until their fellow servants also and their brethren that they should be killed as they were should be fulfilled. Their rest is that many more are going to join you in death. Look back at Matthew 24, eight and nine. All of these are the beginning of sorrows. Then, and this is where I believe the fifth seal is described by Jesus, they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you. And you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. I also think that was a near prophecy to the apostles themselves, because every one of them, save John, was martyred for their faith, violently. It's, you know, you see often in satanic worship the upside down cross as if that has some type of pagan roots. That's how the Apostle Peter died. Not to say there's any glory in that or any kind of power in that, but the apostles lost their lives violently for their testimony of Jesus Christ. So there's a near application in that, disciples, that's gonna happen to you. You can tie that to John 13, 14, and 15, where Jesus warns about persecution. They hated me, Jesus, they're going to hate you, apostles. But I think it's also a future prophecy for what is going to happen to the believers that are here in the tribulation period. You can close your Bibles. If you want a copy of these notes and the notes from last week, let me know. You say, Pastor, how do I let you know? You can email me. You can get a hold of Kyla. I've thought about publishing these on the Bible End website already underneath this tribulation period series that we're doing, the remaining prophetic timeline. So next week, Lord willing, because we might be gone, next week, we will talk about the great tribulation period, where we get into some of the prophecy in Daniel 9, 24, some of the events that Jesus said in Matthew 24. And there's really just no way to go through that quickly, so I'm gonna take my time with it. I think it's a good study, and I pray that you're blessed by it. But if you're watching here today in this time, and the rapture has not yet happened, you need to put your faith in Jesus Christ alone. I cannot say this any more clear. Now is the day of your salvation. Do not wait, and if you have things that need to be solved and figured out, do not rest until they are solved and figured out. I have a brother in Christ who has gone over to a different form of salvation now, and there are some things that he's going through that he now believes are a matter of his existence in heaven or hell, and he still hasn't gotten them done. I would not be able to rest. If there was some work that I had to commit to get to heaven, I would not rest until that work was done. Because I don't know if I have this afternoon. I don't know if I have the next few minutes. The devil lulls us to sleep with the 24-hour clock. You could do it tomorrow. Just worry about it later. You can know right now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that when you die, and you're absent from this body, you'll be present with the Lord. Here's how you can know. If this hand represents you and me, this block of sin will represent sin. I put it on top of my hand because the Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God loves us very much, but he hates sin, and that sin is a cause of separation from us and him. To get to heaven, you have to be perfect, without any sin whatsoever. And none of us are like that. We can never be like that of our own works. All we produce, all of our righteousness is as filthy rags. The wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God in a literal fire-burning hell. There's no amount of good deeds that we could do to ever pay for this sin, because as we just had the Bible define for us, the wages of sin is death. Not good works, not penance, not giving, not stopping, starting, turning, praying. None of those things are going to be good enough to pay. For our sin, not of works, Ephesians 2, 9 says, lest any man should boast. If we would think we could do any kind of good works to save ourselves, we could stand next to, on the same level, dare I say we could be equal with Jesus Christ and his shed blood and his offered body. None of our good deeds could do that. We have a problem, we need a Savior, amen? Capital S, Savior. This hand represents Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, fully man, fully God. And what he did was he came down, lived a perfect life, had no sin, offered himself on the cross, his body and his blood, to pay for this sin, past, present, and future. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, go to hell, but have everlasting life. So what's the message there of John 3, 16? God loved the world, not this ooey, gooey, ishy, gushy love, which there's nothing wrong with that, but he loved the world for God so loved the world that he gave. That's how he's demonstrated his love. What's the demonstration of God's love? The body and blood of Jesus Christ, amen? That whosoever believeth in him, that's salvation when you not turn, not give, not commit, when you put your trust, when you believe, when you rely upon Jesus Christ as the Son of God who shed his blood and offered his body for you. He was buried and rose again three days later. When you simply believe that what Jesus did was for you, you get the free gift of everlasting life. Hallelujah, what a Savior. The world describes him as a man of sorrows. He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Amen? And if you want to know that you are not reserved for the tribulation period, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today. And if you are listening to this, and the rapture has happened, and you're looking for answers, bury your head in the Bible. Memorize it and know it beyond any error, and be looking for the signs of the Lord's return. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, shall we? Heads bowed, eyes are closed, nobody's looking around. If you're here today and you say, Pastor, that makes sense. I came in this morning thinking that I could do a list of things or maybe depend on my family's religion or just the fact that I'm not as bad as other people out there in the world. And I was trusting in those things. as a sign that I was going to get to heaven, that God would show grace and mercy to me because of those things. But I have changed my mind. I have put my trust in Jesus Christ. I believe that what he did was for me and that he offers me everlasting life. And I believe on Jesus Christ. I know I'm going to heaven. I have that assurance today. I would like to pray for you. Would you just slip your hand up and let me know that you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Raising your hand doesn't save you. This is not an emotional plea. We're not gonna be doing anything to embarrass you or ask you to stand up or anything like that. I just wanna pray for you and be encouraged that there was somebody who trusted Christ today. Anyone before we close? Heads are bowed and eyes are still closed. Folks, while we are not set for that wrath of the tribulation period, we will suffer persecution here. And we can see some of the things that will be happening in the tribulation period occurring today, but we are not looking for the second coming of Lord Jesus Christ. We're looking to get caught up out of here, or if we're not gonna be raptured in our lifetime, we need to remain faithful. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Do what you can with what you have, where you are, and look to the skies for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is coming soon. Would you also pray for those in our church who had damage from the winds and the flooding? I'm hearing reports of at least a couple of families. Would you pray for them? And keep your ears tuned to all forms of communication out of the church as we try to help those that have suffered great loss. Would you be the hands and feet in your community? When you go over to a neighbor's house or a friend's house to help with that damage, would you be prepared with the gospel as well? It'd be a great opportunity. Father, thank you for this time of study today.