Alright, let's open our Bibles tonight to Psalm 79. 79th Psalm tonight. I'll also be turning to Deuteronomy 28 soon, among other passages as well. since we had to cancel the midweek meeting last Thursday due to Hurricane Milton coming through the area. For tonight I'm bringing the message I was planning to bring last Thursday. The week before that, if you recall, I brought a midweek message from Psalm 75, a very prophetic psalm of Asaph, who was King David's chief musician, who we also saw in that psalm to be a prophet. having foretold in that psalm and actually being the first, in fact, to prophesy about the great tribulation that will one day come upon the world just prior to Christ's return to resurrect His saints and judge His people at the judgment seat of Christ. And we'll be talking about that again tonight, that tribulation period. Asaph was given that revelation 250 years before Isaiah's similar prophecy, and 450 years before Daniel's, and actually over a thousand years before the Apostle John's revelation of that very same time of tribulation. Very interestingly then, my scheduled reading in the Psalms for last Thursday was Psalm 79, another very prophetic psalm written by Asaph, actually having a double literal fulfillment on two important dates in Israel's history. And also, I do believe, having direct application to our time, to a third soon fulfillment, and to current events taking place both in the Middle East and also in American politics. In this Psalm 79, the singing prophet Asaph, foretells in amazing detail the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem and the Temple, many years before there even was a Temple in Jerusalem, and long before Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the other Old Testament prophets foretold that same destruction and desolation. And Lawson expresses the Jews' prayer for deliverance from and retribution upon its enemies. Which retribution, now almost three millennia after the psalm was written, the modern state of Israel appears to be seeking by making genocidal and at the same time what appears to be suicidal warfare against its surrounding neighbors. And which retribution, by the way? Donald Trump is now, very interestingly, promising to assist them in acquiring, while promising to protect them at the same time to be their president. And so we read here, beginning in verse 1 of Psalm 79, Psalm of Asaph, O God, the heathen are coming to Thine inheritance. Thy holy temple have they defiled. They have laid Jerusalem on heaps. Now, of course, that had not happened yet in Asaph's day. Verse 2, The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Verse 3, Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them. Verse 4, We are become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. And then Asaph says, How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry forever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire? Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place. Oh, remember not against us former iniquities. Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us, for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name, and deliver us, and purge away our sins for Thy name's sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? Let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of Thy servants which is shed. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before Thee according to the greatness of Thy power. Preserve Thou those that are appointed to die. They're going to be praying this prayer again one day soon, by the way. and render unto our neighbors sevenfold unto their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. So we, thy people, and sheep of thy pasture, will give thee thanks for ever. We will show forth thy praise to all generations. First for tonight, just to the authorship of this psalm. The more liberal commentators, which often includes 19th century rogue Presbyterian Albert Barnes, And this case definitely includes the 17th century Irish Wesleyan Methodist Adam Clarke, who dares to say without blushing for embarrassment that this psalm was not actually written by the Asaph that was King David's contemporary and chief musician. Barnes is a bit less liberal, at least allowing that the author could be David's Asaph, Adam Clarke says as follows, the title, the Psalm of Asaph must be understood as either applying to a person of the name of Asaph who lived under the captivity or else to the family of Asaph, or to a band of singers still bearing the name of that Asaph who flourished in the days of David. For most undoubtedly, says Clark, the psalm was composed during the Babylonish captivity, when the city of Jerusalem lay in heaps, the temple was defiled, and the people were in a state of captivity. The Methodist Adam Clark appears to have felt the psalm was most undoubtedly far too detailed and exacting in its description of what occurred when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city for it to have been prophetically foretold in advance. I was rather disappointed in Clark to read that. However, on the other hand, and as usual, the slightly earlier British Baptist, Brother John Gill, got it right on this point. Gil states as follows, he said, This psalm was not written by one Asaph who was supposed to live after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, or, according to some, even after the times of Antiochus, of whom there is no account, but by Asaph, the seer and prophet that lived in the time of David. He wanted to be a prophetic spirit, foresaw and foretold things that should come to pass, spoken of in the psalm. Nor is it any objection that what is here said is delivered as a history of facts, since many prophecies are delivered in this way, especially those of the prophet Isaiah. And so then, this psalm is not a mere historical chronicle of witnessed events, as Adam Clarke suggested. Instead, it is a predictive prophecy And it was King David's chief musician, who like David himself, and David's chief advisor, Nathan, was also a seer and a prophet, and who was, in this psalm, around 980 BC, given a vision of events that would take place not quite 400 years later, in 586 BC, when the armies of Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city and the sanctuary in a horrifically bloody scene, after laying siege to the city for two and a half years. causing tens of thousands to die of starvation and some to even resort to cannibalism. Before the walls were finally broken through and what was left of the city was either put to the sword or carried away in captivity to Babylon, just as Asaph describes here. We need to make note here that of that historical event, Asaph was not the first to prophesy. In fact, in Deuteronomy 28, the Lord himself warned the people in the law through the prophet Moses that these things would happen if they turned aside to the pagan idolatry of the Canaanites. The entire chapter of Deuteronomy 28 is devoted to the curses that would come upon Israel if they turned aside from following God's law. Let's start reading in verse 49. The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flyeth, a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young. Verse 52, And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high-fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustest, throughout all thy land. He shall besiege thee in all thy gates, throughout all thy land, in which the Lord thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the straightness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee. So that the man that is tender among you and very delicate, his eyes shall be evil toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave. So that he will not give to any of them the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he hath nothing left in him in the siege and in the straightness, wherewith an enemy shall distress thee in all thy gates. All these things in detail. came upon Israel and Judah. Because, like most people today as well, they were constantly stiff-necked and would not listen to the word of the Lord. We sent prophet after prophet to warn them. So Asaph wasn't the first to prophesy all these things and he wasn't the last either. As we read much later in 2 Chronicles 36, 15-21, And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up beatimes, which means early, before times, rising up early and sending because He had compassion on His people in His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, till the wrath of the Lord rose against His people till there was no remedy. Therefore, verse 17, he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, Nebuchadnezzar, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man or him that stooped for age. He gave them all into his hand. All the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princess, all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah. until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. For as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath to fulfill three score in ten years." Jeremiah, of course, known as the weeping prophet, was the last of those messengers God sent to warn the people. He was there prophesying before, during, and after the Babylonian invasion and destruction of the city. In fact, Jeremiah knew well that Asaph had prophesied about the same things the Lord was showing him. As in chapter 10 and verse 25 of Jeremiah's prophecy. He quoted verbatim from Asaph's words here in Psalm 79, verse 6 to 7, where Asaph said, "...Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name, for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place." Jeremiah quotes that verbatim in Jeremiah 10.25. He said, "...Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families, as opposed to kingdoms, that call not on thy name. For they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate. So there under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Jeremiah clearly quivered from Psalm 79, 6-7. And then after witnessing the fulfillment of his own prophetic warnings being poured out on Jerusalem, he witnessed the whole thing, Jeremiah then wrote the book of Lamentations, in which he then confirmed that the Lord's warning in Deuteronomy 28 of the siege and of the people starving and resorting to cannibalism did come to pass. Jeremiah said in Lamentations 2-20, Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom Thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and the children of Ispahan long? Shall the priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword. Thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger. Thou hast killed and not pitied. And then Jeremiah says in chapter 4 of Lamentations, verse 6, For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people was greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom. It was overthrown as in a moment, and no hand stayed on her. Speaking then of Judah, he says in Jerusalem, her Nazarites were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was of sapphire. But now, Jeremiah says in verse 8, their visage, their appearance is blacker than coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin cleaveth to their bones. It is withered. It has become like a stick. They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger. For these pine away, stricken through want for the fruits of the field. The hands of the pitiful women have soddened their own children. They were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. The Lord hath accomplished His fury, hath poured out His fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and hath devoured the foundations thereof. These things all came upon Israel just as the Lord had warned them over and over. Let's turn over now to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew 24, because from this chapter and others that we've studied, combined with current events in the Middle East, it appears that similar judgments will come upon the Jews once again, and possibly very soon. Again, we see in this chapter, and also in Mark 13 and Luke 21, a record of a private discourse the Lord Jesus had with His inner circle of chosen apostles, which we know from Mark 13.3 was limited to Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Reading here beginning in verse 1 of Matthew 24. And Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And that, of course, was accomplished in 70 A.D. when Rome destroyed the city and the temple, just as it had been done previously in 586 by Babylon. Verse 3, And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? Again, there are three questions asked by the disciples here. When shall these things be? Two, what shall be the sign of thy coming? And three, the end of the world. Three questions regarding three events. Which events did not all three take place in 70 A.D.? Sadly, a growing number of very deceived Christians today vainly want to believe. But to understand the warfare currently raging between Israel and its neighbors, Iran, Hezbollah up there in Lebanon, we have to understand what the Lord Jesus meant in answering these questions. And the first thing we need to take notice of here is also the first thing that Jesus said in response, where He said in verse 4, Take heed that no man deceive you. For emphasis then, our Lord repeated that same warning in verses 5, 11, and 24 of this chapter. He said the days prior to His return would be marked and characterized by deception. And one of the biggest deceptions of our time about how to view this passage in Christ's answer to the disciples' questions is the dangerous resurgence in recent decades of preterist eschatology. being promoted most vociferously, and I'd say most effectively, by so-called pastor and blind guide, Chuck Baldwin, among others, of course, having been concocted in the early 1600s by Rome's Jesuit order to defeat the reformers' belief that the Pope was that man of sin, the Antichrist. And so to that end, Jesuit preterist eschatology holds that Christ's Olivet Discourse, found in this chapter, Mark 13, Luke 21, along with the prophecies found in 2 Thessalonians 2 and most of John's book of the Revelation, were all completely fulfilled in the first century AD, when Rome destroyed Jerusalem. The end of the world, mentioned here in verse 3, taken by preterists to simply mean the end of the age. and in particular the end of the age of Judaism and the dispensation of the Mosaic Law. The Protestant deception then gained acceptance in the 17th and 18th centuries, but it began to die out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to be replaced by C.I. Schofield's corrupt perversion of premillennialism, which is pretty much just as bad. But unfortunately, preterism is making a resurgence in our day, especially in mainline Protestant and evangelical denominations, and even among many Baptists, as people are finally seeing the folly of Scofieldism as dispensationalism, but like Chuck Baldwin, they're jumping from the frying pan of Scofieldism into the fire of preterism, which is why we have a web page on the subject and posted several messages online to refute it. In verse 21 of this chapter, the Lord Jesus says as follows, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. He then says in verse 29, Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Verse 30, And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Popular preterists like Gary DeMar, David Chilton, and now Chuck Baldwin pretend to be very scholarly in their scripture-twisting attempts to spiritualize these very words and claim that these words were fulfilled in AD 70 when Rome destroyed Jerusalem. but really in so doing they only display themselves to be ignorant and deluded fools who really don't care about proper exegesis of the truth of God. They have ulterior motives. This phrase being perhaps the most wonderful promise of the Bible, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. along with Christ's promise to descend on Hedron at His trial the night He was betrayed, saying in Matthew 26.64, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Those statements are both direct references to the prophecy of Daniel 7, 13-14. where Daniel said, I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. John referred to that same day in Revelation 1 verse 7. where He said, Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him. This refers to that wonderful day at the end of this age, not the Jewish dispensation, the end of this age, when as John described in Revelation 11 and 15, that seventh and last trumpet is sounded. That, by the way, being the very same trumpet referred to here by the Lord Jesus in verse 31, Matthew 24. Revelation 11 and 15 we read that seven trumpets sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. That obviously did not happen in 70 AD. The kingdoms of this world have not yet become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Jesus is speaking here of the end of this age. When as we read in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, the Lord Jesus will put down the kingdoms of this world and will clean up the mess. He'll make all things new and He'll take His throne on this planet, on this earth, in person. Paul says in Romans 8, that all creation anxiously awaits that day in earnest expectation. John wrote at 1 John 5, 19, that this present world lieth in wickedness. And that because, as Paul said, the God of this world, that being Satan the devil, has blinded the eyes of them which believe not. And no one with eyes to see and a brain to think Can there make an honest claim that the kingdoms of this world became the kingdoms of our Lord in A.D. 70? As Daniel 7.13-14 says, must take place when, as Jesus says here in this chapter, they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. That must be fulfilled literally, not spiritually. It's absolute foolishness to dare say, to suggest, as Preterists do, that these words were fulfilled when Jesus came spiritually, invisibly, whenever I wouldn't see Him, when Jesus came spiritually by using the armies of Rome to destroy Jerusalem. Those armies came in the limited earthly power and glory of Rome, not in the power and great glory of the Son of Man referred to here. We also see here that at the sounding of that seventh trumpet, Revelation 11-15, not only did the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, but the context of that verse then says in verse 18 also, Revelation 11-18, And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth. That also ties in, that verse also ties in directly with what Jesus says here in this discourse, Matthew 24, both in verse 21 and 31. When Jesus said here in verse 21, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. That is a quote, almost verbatim, from Daniel 12, in verse 1, where Daniel is told, "...and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time." First of all, the tribulation suffered by the Jews in AD 70, as we've said before, in no way qualifies as a fulfillment of that prophecy, because it was just a mere replay of the destruction that took place in 586 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city and the temple. Much worse times of tribulation have taken place since that time, World Wars I and II included, in which millions upon millions of people died. But then also, we see in the context there in Daniel 12, just as with the sounding of that seventh trumpet in Revelation 11, that this time of tribulation occurs at the time of the end, immediately before the resurrection of the righteous, when they rise to stand before the Lord in judgment. which is precisely what Jesus referred to here in Matthew 24 in verse 31. saying at the time of his coming in power and great glory, and he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet. That's that same seventh trumpet, Revelation 11 and 15. It's also that last trumpet Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15, 51 to 52, at which we'll all be changed in twinkling of an eye, the last trumpet. That is that same trumpet. Jesus said that he will send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Mark records that statement in his version of this discourse as follows in Mark 13, 27. Mark says, "...and then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven." And without question, that pins down the event Jesus refers to here as the resurrection of the just, at which we'll be raised to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4. So it's utterly preposterous, disgraceful, and outrageous to suggest, as preterists do, that verse 31 of this chapter was fulfilled in the first century by human messengers of the church, Christian evangelists going out into the world to preach the gospel. Preposterous! My point tonight is that neither Matthew nor Mark recorded Christ's answer to the first question posed here by the disciples. When will that second temple, as it had been renovated and greatly beautified by Herod the Great, when will that temple be destroyed, as Jesus said in verse 1? That did take place in AD 70, but only Luke records Christ's words in this discourse relative to that event. Luke also puts in proper context the words that Matthew records here in verse 34 where he says, "...verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." That's covered more than once. Preterists hang their hats on this verse saying it means the events Christ was describing in Matthew 24 had to be fulfilled in the first century generation Christ was speaking to. And therefore they say the passage was fulfilled in AD 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. However, in comparing this passage with its parallel in Luke 21, which Frederick has consistently failed to do, it becomes obvious that the words ìthis generationî in this verse does not mean the generation Christ was speaking to during the first century. It means the generation he was speaking about. It's a generation described in the preceding verse at Matthew 24, 33, where Jesus said, So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. In other words, the generation that sees these things begin to come to pass is the generation that will see them fulfilled. That conclusion is proven by Luke's version of this discourse in Luke chapter 21. So let's turn there briefly, Luke chapter 21. This exact statement, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled, occurs in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And Luke makes it very clear in this chapter that the phrase, this generation, does not and cannot refer to the generation he was speaking to almost 2,000 years ago. But we all need to see that Luke is the only Gospel writer that clearly records Christ's description of the events of AD 70 and Jerusalem's destruction in the Olivet Discourse, while Matthew and Mark do not. On the other hand, only Matthew and Mark record Christ's reference to what Jesus calls the abomination of desolation. That prophesied event that we've actually devoted more than one message to proving was not fulfilled in AD 70. But again, Daniel chapter 12 makes very clear that event also takes place in direct connection with the final resurrection of the just on the last day before Jesus returns. So as with many events recorded in the Gospels, we have to look at all three writers to get the full picture. In Luke's account, verses 8 through the first half of 24 do describe the events that took place during the first century when Rome destroyed the city. But to save time tonight, I'll cut down to verse 20 where Jesus says this, And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed or surrounded by armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein too. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days, for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations. And that is exactly what took place in AD 70, which Asaph prophesied there in Psalm 79. But neither Matthew nor Mark addressed that exile of Jews from the land, because their focus was more on Christ's coming at the end of the world. Then here in Luke 21, after Christ foretold that dispersion of the Jews from Palestine, the entire church age is then summarized in the latter half of verse 24, which says, And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. The times of the Gentiles being, of course, the time when the Gospel is going out to the Gentiles during the Church Age. Those times then will be fulfilled when Paul says the fullness of the Gentiles have come in, to the Church that is. And then national Israel will be restored and grafted back into the people of God as Paul says in Romans 11, 25-26. So by the way, Jerusalem was trod down in the Gentiles from AD 70 until Jerusalem was partially reclaimed by National Israel in the Six Day War of June 1967. But the Jews still do not have full rights to that city and will not have the Temple Mount in their possession until the covenant of Daniel 9 is ratified at the beginning of the seven-year period described in Daniel 9.27, Daniel's 70th week. And so, Jerusalem shall be trodden down to the Gentiles during the Church Age until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And then comes Daniel's 70th week, the latter half of which being the period that we refer to as the Great Tribulation, which we read about beginning here in verse 25. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. For the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. That means literally, by the way, verse 28. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable, Behold the fig tree, and all the trees, when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. And then Jesus says here, verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. He's talking there about the generation after the church age, after the Gentiles have come in, and during that 70th week of Daniel. Verse 31 to 33 are repeated almost verbatim, word for word, in Matthew and Mark's accounts. But in Luke's Gospel it is clear as crystal that this generation is the generation that witnesses these events come to pass at the close of the Church Age. when the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, as Jesus said. Or as Paul said, when the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. At which time also we know, from Zechariah 12-14, that we will, once again, and for the third time that is, see Jerusalem surrounded by armies. And we will then, at that same time, as was not seen in Babylon's destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. or when Rome repeated that scene in 70 A.D., we will then finally see what Jesus described as a great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. Why am I emphasizing this again, you ask? Because deception abounds today among professing Christians. many of whom fail or flat out refuse to see the great prophetic significance of what's been taking place in recent decades and in particular over the last year, both in Israel and also in American politics that are clearly leading to the soon fulfillment of these things. They fail to see how the things Donald Trump is doing may well be leading to fulfillment of Bible prophecy. And they also fail and refuse to see where these things will end up as it relates to the final destiny of Israel and the Jews, which will not ultimately be destroyed by Iran and its allies, as for good reason, the world is beginning to think Israel deserves, and as is being proclaimed by many YouTube analysts that have good intel, but they have no spiritual discernment because they are not saved. The judgment upon Jerusalem that God unleashed in AD 70. being a repeat of a very similar judgment in 586 B.C. as each were prophesied by Asaph in Psalm 79, foreshadowed a future time of tribulation that will be far worse, not just for Israel, but for the entire world. in response to the continued barbaric, insanely genocidal, and in fact, what appears to be suicidal warfare being waged against Gaza, Lebanon, and very soon apparently, all Israel's surrounding neighbors, by Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF, four weeks ago, before Iran's missile attack on October 1, in a fiery statement before the UN General Assembly, Turkey's President Erdogan compared Israeli Prime Minister and genocidal maniac Bibi Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler and called for global action against Israel. He said just as Hitler was stopped by the Alliance of Humanity 70 years ago, Netanyahu and his murder network must also be stopped by the Alliance of Humanity. He said more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the October 7th invasion of Israel last year and its ensuing campaign in the Gaza Strip, while more than 17,000 children have been the targets of Israeli bullets and bombs. I'll add that the official Palestinian Health Ministry count as of September 29th was 41,595 Palestinian dead in Gaza, which is 10 times the number of those killed in all previous Israeli-Gaza conflicts since 2008. Erdogan went on to say, I call out the United Nations Security Council. What are you waiting for to prevent the genocide in Gaza, to put a stop to this cruelty and this barbarianism? Speaking then just after US President Joe Biden, Erdogan also criticized Biden's hypocrisy in the region, saying those who are supposedly working for a ceasefire from this stage continue to send arms and ammunition to Israel so it can continue its massacres, which is a very true statement. In July, Erdogan threatened to send Turkish troops into Israel to intervene on behalf of the Palestinians, but so far, for Turkey's part, that's just talk. Not so concerning Iran, however. As of today, as of this evening, Israel has yet to show the world how it will respond to the second barrage of missiles Iran launched at it on October 1st, done as a second warning following up on the first such attack last July, that Israel needs to end its campaign against Gaza and Lebanon. There's talk of Israel attempting to take out Iran's nuclear research facilities in response, but according to Scott Ritter and others, those facilities are buried so deep underground that Israel cannot take them out without U.S. assistance. or without Israel resorting to using nukes, which will bring Russia into the conflict if they do that, no doubt against the U.S. as well. The situation is extremely explosive and incendiary and is bound to only get worse. Netanyahu is being pushed by many hardline Zionists in his cabinet who truly believe, based on God's promise to Abraham, that Israel has every right to drive out the Palestinians, take all the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River. And sadly, there are also many biblically illiterate American so-called Christians the useful idiots of Talmudic Judaism that we preached about previously, who believe the same thing, and are therefore foolishly throwing their full support behind Donald Trump in the coming election, which is now less than two weeks away. There are very disturbing rumblings right now. Tremor is taking place, indicating that the US economy and the dollar is not just in trouble, but is actually on the very verge of complete collapse. It's been reported the Bank of America a huge financial organization, is on the verge of bankruptcy, fears of which have been greatly exacerbated by the BRIC summit that's been taking place over the past three days in Kazan, Russia, which has as its goal the overthrow of the U.S. dollar as a World Reserve currency. In response to which, Donald Trump says once he's in office, he'll impose a 100% tariff on any nation that threatens to turn from the dollar as its reserve currency. He'll make economic war against any nation that threatens the US dollar. And speaking of Donald Trump, personally I find it to be very interesting and telling while at the same time being egregiously atrocious. That while claiming to be a pro-life candidate, Donald J. Trump has uttered not one word that I've ever heard about in condemnation or even in criticism of the insane warfare Israel has waged in Gaza or its mass murder of the Palestinian population. Much to the contrary, in fact. He instead says we need to somehow remove all Jew-haters, as he calls them, who do condemn Israel's atrocities. And as mentioned up front, Donald Trump is promising Israel his full support and continued protection once he's back in the White House as U.S. President. Last August, at a fighting anti-Semitism event where Trump was introduced by pro-Israel Jewish megadonor Miriam Adelson, who donated a hundred million dollars to Trump's campaign. Trump said that years ago if you said anything bad about Israel or Jewish people you were finished as a politician. He said the most powerful lobby in this country by far is Israel and the Jewish people. Today it's almost like what happened? What happened? What happened to Schumer? Senator Chuck Schumer that is. What happened to all these people? Schumer is like a Palestinian. Trump said, the power of this lobby was powerful and it was for the good, not for bad. 15 years ago, it was the absolute most powerful. You couldn't have an AOC plus three. They wouldn't have a chance of being elected anywhere. And today you have AOC and some of these people, they're pretty violent, pretty violent. And they hate Israel and they hate Jewish people. Trump then told the Jewish group not to worry because he'll be their man in the White House. He said, you're going to end up winning because you're going to have the president, okay? Trump said, so you're going to end up winning. He also pledged at that event to give Israel the resources it needs to, quote, win the war. That will turn out to be another broken promise, however, since we know from the scripture something that Trump is no doubt clueless about, which is that no amount of funding from America will help Israel win this war. Trump recently posted a tweet saying, if you hate America and want to eliminate Israel, we don't want you in our country. Along those lines then, two days later at an October 7th remembrance event sponsored by his campaign, Trump said this, We're going to remove the Jew haters who do nothing to help our country. They only want to destroy our country. And we will never let the horrors of October 7th be repeated here on American soil. We will not let that happen and we will solve the problem, etc., etc. Trump never specified who he identified to be the Jew haters and also never specified what he means by removing the Jew haters, how he defines Jew haters and how he plans to remove them or where he plans to remove them to. Apparently, though, he's referring to the many pro-Palestinian protesters who have been, and rightly may I say, publicly protesting Israel's genocidal campaign on America's college campuses and elsewhere, most of whom, I venture to say, are American citizens who have a constitutional right to peaceably assemble and protest. But then, despite all his rhetoric, Donald Trump doesn't know the Constitution and has no intention of defending it. That same day, October 7, Trump and his transition chairman, Howard Lutnick, commemorated October 7 by donning Jewish kippah skullcaps and paying homage at the tomb of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, a Russian-American Orthodox rabbi and the seventh rabbi of the Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty. who led the Shabbat Lubavitch movement for over four decades until his death in 1994. He is still regarded by many of his followers as a Jewish Messiah. And just like the Pharisees of Jesus' day was an extremely radical racist who believed all non-Jews are a lower species from Jews, quoted as having stated as follows, the body of a Jewish person is of a totally different quality from the body of members of all nations of the world. The difference of the inner quality, however, is so great that the bodies should be considered as completely different species. The bodies of non-Jews are in vain, he said. An even greater difference exists in regard to the soul. He said two contrary types of souls exist. A non-Jewish soul comes from three satanic spheres, while the Jewish soul stems from holiness, he said. Despite those types of sentiments, however, very common among the Lubavitchers and many other Orthodox Jews as well, Donald Trump paid homage to the man and is certainly, very interestingly, compelling himself as a savior to the Jews. That, of course, being one more of many evidences I presented previously and for which I still say Donald Trump is the best candidate to come along yet, bar none and by far, to qualify as that man of sin and son of perdition known as the Antichrist. And as obviously stupid and wicked and Marxist as Kamala Harris clearly is, I would venture to say that Trump may well be the greater of the two evils, neither of whom will be getting a vote from me on election day. I could go on, but I need to cut this short for tonight. All these things are leading directly to the very day the Lord Jesus foretold in Matthew 24-21, which was not fulfilled in ancient history, when there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. On that day, Jerusalem will once again, for the third and final time, be surrounded by armies such as it has not seen before. precisely as foretold by the prophet Zechariah 12, verse 2, where God says, Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem. Jerusalem will once again be besieged, and it will once again, just as Jesus says, be particularly troubling for those living in Judea. Let's turn back to Zechariah chapter 13 for a moment. In the context of that final tribulation, the Lord says through the prophet Zechariah that He will once again put the remnant of His people that have been regathered to the land through the fire. But He says that He will save and elect remnant of believing Jews through that fire. We read that here speaking of in the context of Jerusalem and its surrounding lands. We read in Zechariah Chapter 13, verse 8 to 9, where the prophet says, And it shall come to pass that in all the land, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall be left therein. And I'll bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My name, and I will hear them, and I will say, It is My people, and they shall say, The Lord is My God. Those verses add a bit of detail to what Zechariah said in context in the chapter before, where Zechariah declares, verse 2, chapter 12, Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. All that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. What's taking place right now in Israel is turning all the people of the earth against Israel. And that's how God's setting the stage to bring this prophecy to fulfillment. Skipping down to verse 8, Zechariah says, within that day, the Lord shall defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. That's the difference between this day and AD 70 and 586 BC. In this day, in that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble among them, at that day shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God. as the angel of the Lord before them. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Verse 10, And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications, and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced. Just as John says in Revelation 1-7, Every eye shall see Him, even them that pierced Him. Zechariah says here, They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. At present, Israel is making what appears to be, what many are saying, is suicidal warfare against Gaza and Lebanon. No one can justify or even sufficiently express the evil and the insanity of the ruthless genocide that Israel has perpetrated in Gaza, which for decades Israel has turned into an open-air prison camp, and now over the past year has been targeting hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, and residential neighborhoods and buildings for complete destruction in its horrendous, barbaric, and cowardly bombing campaign. all of this using American-made and American-supplied jets and bombs to do so, by the way. It's evil as it can be, and it's also evil for Christians not to see how evil it is and to instead condone the genocide, the goal of which has nothing to do with rescuing hostages or routing out Hamas. The obvious goal here is to render the entire Gaza Strip unlivable and uninhabitable, to drive the Palestinians out of the land so Israel can occupy that area as it has the entire West Bank region since 1967. Israel's barbaric actions of genocide in Gaza are indeed turning the entire world, not just against Israel, but against the United States as well. And while there is no way to justify or condone Israel's actions, and we do not justify or condone Israel's actions, we don't root for Israel here. We stand on the sidelines and let God deal with Israel. But we have to remember that the Lord is allowing these things to take place with His oversight, just as He is overseeing bringing the Jews back into the land in a state of unbelief and rebellion, just as He oversees all events of human history to bring Israel to pass and to fulfill what He has declared in His Word will take place. The Lord regathered the Jews to that land in a blinded and rebellious state of unbelief so that prophecy could be fulfilled, so that they would actually enter into a covenant with the Antichrist to bring about the abomination of desolation, to bring all these things to pass. The Lord declared through Zechariah, He's going to take them through the fire once more for all the evil they have done. To add some detail to Asaph's prophecy in Psalm 79, the present population of Israel is around 9.9 million people. Two-thirds of Israel's population will die in the coming tribulation. That's more than 6 million Jews, the number less that have been killed in Hitler's Holocaust. As we read in John's book of Revelation, that tribulation will be global, and the plagues poured out during that time will destroy a similar proportion of the entire earth's population as well. Lord Jesus said in Matthew 24 and verse 22, And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. At the present time, as Paul says in Romans 11.25, blindness in part is happened to Israel. But that's until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. In other words, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, as Jesus said in Luke 21.24. But then on that day, Romans 11, 26 will be fulfilled, where Paul says, and so all Israel, meaning the elect remnant, that one-third remnant that God's going to bring through the fire, the elect remnant of believing Jews, shall be saved. As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. That day will come, despite Chuck Baldwin and the preterists' rantings and ravings to the contrary. And on that day, As Asaph then says at the end of Psalm 79, verse 11, let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee according to the greatness of thy power. Preserve thou those that are appointed to die. Asaph said, and render unto our neighbors sevenfold unto their bosom their reproach, or with they have reproached thee, O Lord. Verse 13 of Psalm 79, so we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks forever. We will show forth thy praise to all generations. All these things are leading directly to the very day the Lord Jesus foretold in Matthew 24, 21, when there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. The good news for the Jews is that in that day, the Lord will finally bring an elect remnant from among the Jews through the fire to repentance and to faith in their true Messiah. And for us, the glorious truth is that those words in Matthew 24-21 are soon followed by the promise of Matthew 24-31, when He shall send His angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect in the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. And so then, as Jesus said in Luke 21, when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption doth nigh. And I will call it a night. And I'll just ask Brother PJ, if you would, to go ahead and say a closing word of prayer, if you would. Heavenly Father, we come before you. Thank you, Lord, for this day. Thank you for the message tonight. We ask God that you would continue to help us to remember that the days ahead are going to be dark, but those are going to be short lived as Christ will return and set up his earthly kingdom. And we're excited about that. We ask God that you would help us to have temperance and patience to wait for his appearing. Lord, prepare our hearts as we prepare the world to receive the king. Lord, we ask God that you would meet with us. On Sunday, Lord, we ask that you would have preeminence in our hearts and in our meeting. Lord, we thank you and praise you for all that you've done in our lives. And we ask God to be with each individual that's here tonight, help us go on our way and to get our work done and all our obligations taken care of. Lord, may we have joy in our hearts. Thank you for all that you've done in our life and what you're going to do in Jesus name. Amen.