All right, so we've been talking about, obviously this is the Tribulation chapter, the time of the Great Tribulation specifically, and it's We've talked multiple times about folks who try to take, and a lot of times it's the folks that are what we would consider to be post-millennialists or amillennialists. They'll take what Jesus Christ is talking about in Matthew 24 and say, this already happened. They'll try to find someplace in history, mainly AD 70, that timeframe when Jerusalem was destroyed. We've mentioned that multiple times before, but they'll take that timeframe and they'll say, this is the start. This is where all these things are talking about destruction of Jerusalem. they're coming in, the Jews are going to be scattered and persecuted and all that kind of stuff. And yeah, that absolutely happened. And I believe with good evidence according to the Bible that had the Jews as a nation accepted Christ as their Messiah after His death, burial, and resurrection, that maybe AD 70 was the trigger point for the tribulation period and then eventually the coming kingdom. That's possible. Obviously, we'll never know that. But we know that certain things did not happen as Jesus Christ laid out. These things are still yet future. They have not taken place. And we're gonna see verses today, specifically starting in verse 29, that there's, I mean, if there's ever been a doubt in your mind, maybe not you guys, but anyone's mind as to when this is gonna take place, verse 29 should take care of that immediately. This verse 29 obviously has not happened. So we're gonna take a look at that. We're gonna open up in verse 29. Read a couple verses and then we'll pray and then get into the study here this morning. So Matthew chapter 24 and verse 29 So after everything that we've just read the first 28 verses, okay? Immediately after the tribulation of those days so immediately not and then some time but immediately all right immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. 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. Spoiler alert, that's not the rapture. Verse 31, and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Let's pray here this morning. Dear Lord, we thank you for this day. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to come together and just read from your word. Lord, I ask that you'd just open it up to us. Father, open up our hearts and minds to understand it and know what exactly you have us to learn here today. Lord, I ask that you'd just be with me. Lord, just give me a clear mind and heart, Lord, in this thing and only allow me to say the things that you'd have me to say. Father, I pray that you'd just fill me with your spirit, Lord, so we can just learn something from your word, Lord, and just grow closer to you through it. Lord, we love you and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so in verse 29, so up to that point, up to verse 28, Jesus is, if you remember, Jesus has basically answered the first question that his apostles asked him. If you look back at verse three, it says, and as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples 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? So Jesus has basically spent the next 25 or so verses describing when shall these things be? What is it that we're about to see? And specifically, they're asking about what he said in verse 2, saying that, you know, there shall not be left one stone upon another. They're saying, when is all this going to take place? What are we going to see? When is this going to take place? And then he just, Jesus spends the next 25 or so verses describing in detail what exactly is going to take place. And then in verse 6, he says, you shall hear of wars, rumors of wars. All these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. So all these things are going to take place, yet the end is still not yet, right? Because the end, we looked at, if you remember a few weeks ago, we looked at that end as the end of this world. And the world to come is that millennium. The world to come is when Jesus Christ comes back, second advent, steps foot on the earth again, and takes over the world, effectively, the kingdoms of this world. All right, so that is the end, right? So all these things, these tribulations, these are the beginning of those sorrows. These are that tribulation period, the time of Jacob's troubles, but the end is not yet, but it's right there. It's right there, because we see here that immediately after the tribulation of those days, now the end is coming, okay? It says, the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light. Thanks, buddy. And the stars, the stars shall fall from heaven. All right, so immediately after the tribulation of those days, so if, let's just play the if game here, if all the verses up to this point were in fact talking about AD 70, Nero, Titus coming in, destroying Jerusalem, destroying the temple, kicking out the Jews, murdering a whole bunch of Jewish Christians, that a lot of that early church experienced a lot of heavy, heavy, heavy persecution and torment by that Roman Empire, okay? If that happened, Jesus Christ would have had to have returned about 1950-ish years ago, give or take. He would have had to because he says here, immediately after that, that these things happen, immediately after that, Son of Man's gonna come back, okay? So if that is 70 AD, Jesus Christ has already come back, about almost 2,000 years ago at this point, which means we're already past the millennial kingdom. And so I guess now at this point, we're dead on into eternity. Everything is perfect, there's no sin, everything is solid, right? Obviously, that didn't happen. I mean, we're seeing things that very obviously in eternity, there's not going to be all the abominations of the world that we're seeing going on around us that are clearly contrary to Scripture and His law. Obviously, that did not happen. And I beg someone, try to spiritualize this thing. Try to. That's really all you can do. You can say, oh, it's a metaphor. It's an allegory. It's just, it's mythological and all that kind of stuff. It's complete garbage. Just believe the book. Everything up to this point in the book has either come to pass, if it's been a prophecy, as it's been stated. There's not been any sort of crazy allegories and all that kind of stuff throughout the prophecies. It's come to pass, and there's still more things to come to pass. So this obviously did not happen in 70 AD. Could it have happened like it opened up with? I believe so. I believe had they accepted Jesus Christ, they, the national Jews, the religious leaders specifically, Had they accepted him as their Messiah, as their Savior, who had to die first for their sins, and then he comes to set up their kingdom. Had that happened, yeah, I think AD 70 could have been a solid kickoff point for the rest of Daniel's 70th week rolling right in. Which is why there's so many times throughout, mainly the book of Matthew, Jesus is talking to his disciples as if this is right around the corner. As if their literal physical generation is going to experience these things. Because it's possible, it could have happened. But it didn't. And so we see there throughout the book of Acts, lo, I turn to the Gentiles and all that kind of stuff, right? But it says there in verse 29, it says that the sun, the moon, and the stars, the sun's gonna be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven. All right, look over, we're gonna run a whole bunch of references, and there are dozens more than what we're gonna look at, so we're gonna look at a small handful of references that specifically talk about this time period when the sun will be darkened, the moon will be darkened, the stars will fall from heaven. So anyways, first let's turn to Joel chapter two. Joel chapter two. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Joel chapter 2 and verse 10. Joel 2, obviously very, very, very heavy Second Advent, not just Tribulation, but Second Advent, Day of the Lord, Jesus Christ coming back. So Joel 2.10, the earth shall quake before them. Jesus talked about earthquakes coming. The heavens shall tremble, the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. Now, the stars in Matthew 24, I believe strongly that there's double application here, that these are going to be physical, literal, the stars in the celestial heavens, the heavenly bodies, those objects, they will be dimmed. They will be darkened. They will not give their light. I believe there will be no kidding darkness upon the face of the earth for a time. The sun, the moon, and the stars. But I think there's also double application, another application to the stars being angels. You can look at references in Revelation where it talks about, in chapter 12, where the devil with his tail, he casts a third of the stars, a third of the angels out of heaven and to the earth, and then there's war in heaven and all that kind of stuff. Stars are angels. Angels are stars many times throughout scripture. But here, specifically in Joel 2.10, the stars shall withdraw their shining, and there's another verse we're going to look at too. it's that is also talking about the physical literal you know little bitty dots up in the sky way up there okay those will be darkened stay in Joel look at chapter 3 chapter 3 in verse 15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shining. Verse 16, the Lord shall also roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth shall shake but the Lord will be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel. Again, try to apply that to AD 70. I don't, I could be wrong. I don't remember there being a time period that's described in history as being perpetually just pitch black across the surface of the entire earth because of the sun, the moon, and the stars. There might have been maybe an eclipse around that time, but that doesn't darken the sun, the moon, and the stars. That doesn't make it pitch black so dark that you can feel it, as the Bible describes that kind of darkness. It hasn't taken place. Also, the Lord never roared out of Zion and out of Jerusalem. That didn't happen. The only roaring that took place was the mourning and lamenting from the Jewish people and the Christians of that time as they were fleeing for their lives across the whole world and being scattered, which also fulfilled prophecy. This did not happen in the past, it is yet to be fulfilled in the future. You all know that. I'm obviously not trying to convince anybody of this thing, but this is what many in the world preach and teach, especially the ones that want to deny who Jesus Christ is and that he's going to physically come back. Because it takes away any of our responsibility to live right. It takes away any of our responsibility to live as if he's coming back. to live expecting him to return either for a rapture or for his kingdom, either way. Oh, it's just, we're gonna bring in the kingdom, the church. So the Catholic church and many others like them say, we're gonna bring in the kingdom or we have brought in the kingdom and we are that kingdom. We are Christ incarnate here on earth. And that's complete hogwash and it's anti-biblical and it's satanic because it's anti-biblical, right? Look at Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 13. Isaiah 13 and verse 9. Isaiah 13, 9 says, Behold the day of the Lord. All right, day of the Lord, 2nd Advent. The day of the Lord cometh cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. Sinners never got destroyed out of it, AD 70 or any time since then. The sinners have only become more and more prevalent. And as a society continues to grow and turn their back on God, sin even gets, you know, gosh, it's unbelievable where we're at right now in this country. Verse 10, for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light. So that's the stars, that's literally physically the stars, the constellations even called out. The sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity. And I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. That there's likely a reference to the Antichrist, the devil himself, and all of his followers. The proud and the haughtiness of the terrible. All right. Couple more, Amos, Amos chapter 8. If you've written Joel before, it's just next book over, Amos chapter 8. We'll look at verse 9. Amos 8, 9 says, And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. So this one here even says he's going to cause the sun to go down. Now what does that mean? I don't know. The earth's not flat, so don't get weird on me. But somehow the sun is going to go down at noon. Now maybe that just simply means it's going to go black, it's going to go dark, I don't know. if it goes down. I don't understand exactly what that's referenced to, but when you tie that in with all the other passages, the light of the sun ceases to go. How does that work? How does the climate not... I don't know. It's going to be a miracle. It's going to be incredible, to say the least. And you're going to see other passages here in a moment where the wicked are the ones that are now hiding. Hide us. They say they want the mountains and the cliffs to fall on them to protect them from the wrath of the Lamb. They know what they've done, they know who's coming for them. And they said, we can't see anything, just fall on us. We'd rather die than face the Lamb of God. All right, let's see. Then lastly on this topic, Revelation chapter six. Revelation chapter six, in verse 12. All right, so this is the sixth seal here, so the sixth seal brings in, basically closes out one of the depictions of the tribulation period, the second advent. So the sixth seal is basically bringing in Christ back to the earth, so it's setting all this stuff up. So we are at the tail end of the tribulation here in Revelation 6.12. So Revelation 6.12 says, And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. It's interesting. We're not going to be able to get there this morning, but likely next week we're going to hit the parable of the figs in Matthew 24. It's interesting there's a connection here in Revelation as well to the fig trees. So we'll look at that probably next week. Verse 14, and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. The earth is literally going to be shaken. The earth is going to tremble when Christ comes back. Verse 15, the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks that are shaking and trembling by the way, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand." Now that throne there is not yet, I don't believe that this throne yet is the physical throne on earth, but they know who's on the throne of the universe. So this is likely, in my opinion, I could be wrong, Pastor, but I believe that this is likely a reference to the throne up in heaven. They know who the Lamb, who's, you know, God is actually on the throne up there. Because when Christ comes back and all these things are taking place, he's marching with his armies to Jerusalem to establish his kingdom. But he's got to get rid of the wicked before he does that first. So that's just a small little side note there. But anyways, the great day of his wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand? No one's going to be able to stand and fight against Jesus Christ when he comes back. Now, I said that it's likely going to be a double application. We'll get into that here in just a second, a double application to the angels that are going to fall from heaven, those stars that Satan's going to bring down with him. But before we get into there, from the physical darkness standpoint, we're going to look at, go ahead and you can turn there while I give a small illustration, Exodus chapter 10. But without even stars, when the sun is gone, and the moon, if you've got a new moon, and so the moon is dark, there's no moon in the sky, and the stars are even dark, you've got a cloudy night sky, and there's no stars making it through. I mean, you can get more pitch black than that, but if you're out in the wilderness, out in the woods somewhere, away from city lights, It gets dark, and it is eerie. When it gets dark and quiet and all that, I mean, it is an eerie darkness that you can almost feel. You can feel the darkness. There was one of the training courses I went to when I was in the Army. It was out at Fort Benning, Georgia. It was called ARSLIC. It was Reconnaissance and Surveillance Leaders course. You go out there, and one of the first things you do during the first week is land navigation. But you do day land nav, and then the final portion of the test is a night land nav. So you get all these points, and you're going through woods. I mean, Fort Benning, Georgia was pretty densely wooded areas, a lot of it. So we go through there, and this isn't just your introduction to land navigation. This is one of the more kind of advanced type courses. The objectives for the training is more advanced than that. It's not just look and point, and you can see your point way off in the distance. So it's not exactly easy, but the point is it was at nighttime and you're given night vision goggles that you're not allowed to be caught using, right? So they have like little patrols going up and down the paths. You're not allowed to be on the roads and follow the roads. You have to stay in the woods. So if they see you or catch you using them or being on the trail and all that stuff, they'll pick you up and they'll hoodwink you and they'll drop you off in a different location. But anyway, so with night vision goggles even, if you don't have even a little bit of light from the stars that come in, even night vision goggles, they don't create light. They simply take light that exists and amplify it so that you can see around you, okay? So if you have no light coming down from the sun, well not the sun, but the moon and the stars, those night vision goggles are just going to make a dark green haze in front of your eyes. You're not going to be able to really see anything anyways. And so there was one point during this land navigation course, because it was so dark, this is the setting, there was no stars out. It was a cloudy night. There was no light whatsoever. So I'm walking through this dense, thicket area, and I fall. And there's a little bit of a drop off. I did not see it coming, so I tumble and fall. and I've got my map, I've got my compass. My map, I have no idea where it goes. It just vanished from my arms. And I didn't realize that I had missed it because I was so disoriented. I didn't realize I had dropped it. So I'm figuring out, OK, I've got my night vision, I've got my compass, the things that cost money if I lose them. I've got those things, so all right, let me just figure out where I'm at and keep going. But I lost my map. So about, I don't know, two minutes later, I realized, where's my map? I don't have my map. I try, in all this darkness, to go back and find this thing. It felt like 30 minutes, but it was probably closer to 5 or 10 minutes. I felt like a blind person, feeling around for this map, and I had already walked away from the area. I spent probably 5 or 10 minutes just looking for this map, because there was no light whatsoever. terrifying, to say the least. I had no idea where I was going, where the map was. I'm not going to be able to finish the course. I'm going to fail. I'm going to get kicked out. I'm not going to be able to finish the training. And I'm going to have to go back with my tail tucked between my legs back to my unit and say, sorry, sir, I failed. Luckily, I found it. But the point is that it was eerie. You could feel the darkness. There's nothing. When the sun, moon, and the stars go away, there's nothing you can do short of an artificial light. to bring light to a situation. And it's going to be a darkness that can be felt, that's going to be completely unbeknownst to these people, they're not going to know what to do with it. And I could be wrong, but there might even be something where the Lord prevents even light bulbs and flashlights from functioning during that time. He wants them to be able to feel that darkness and that terror that comes with it. So if you're over in Exodus chapter 10, look at verse 21, this will mimic It's very similarly what Moses was able to do with the Lord's help with Pharaoh. So Exodus 10.21 says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. And they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Three days. I don't know. Maybe it'll be dark for three days during this time period. I don't remember seeing any specific time period where the sun, moon and stars are darkened for an instant or for days. I don't know. But I wonder, because there's so many similarities, and we're going to look at more here in a moment, of Exodus and the plagues there. So many similarities with that in the tribulation period. So I almost wonder if there's going to be three days of darkness, possibly, during that time period. Not sure. Could be wrong on that. Nonetheless, have any of you guys ever been to like a mammoth cave type place? Mammoth cave is in Kentucky, but there's a lot of other caves and caverns around where they'll take you down to one of the darkest parts. And usually it's like mammoth cave, when I went, when I was a teenager, we went down there and we had, everyone had like a little lantern they carried with them. Because they, you take it down there and they'll shut off all the lights along the railings and all that stuff. When they did that and they had everybody turn off their lanterns, I mean, it was a darkness that could not be described. It was, it is, if you've never experienced that, just take my word for it, but go check out some, you know, I don't know if the Cave of the Winds has a similar type thing. Go down there when they shut off all the lights and you have no phones or nothing like that. You literally, you can't see this. You cannot see it. It's a darkness that can be felt. And I believe that's the level of darkness that's gonna be placed on this earth when Jesus Christ is about to step foot down. It's going to be eerie, and these people are going to be fearing for their lives. There's not going to be any proud anymore. There's not going to be any haughtiness anymore saying that we can stand up against this so-called Christ. It's not going to happen. All right, so back in Matthew 24, end of verse 29 there. So after it talks about the sun, moon, and stars, it talks about the powers of heavens shall be shaken. The powers of the heavens shall be shaken. They're going to be shaking in their boots. Ephesians 6.12. Common passage here, but Ephesians 6.12 says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. So these powers in the heavens, they're going to be shaken. And this isn't NASA, this isn't Elon Musk trying to go to the, no, these are powers, principalities, spiritual powers and wickedness of the heavens that are going to be shaken. They'd be shaking in their boots. Isaiah chapter 24, Isaiah 24 and verse 21. Isaiah 24, 21 says, And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, there's your powers in the heavens, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. So why does he got to make a distinction there? If it's not talking about anything other than the rulers and the kings of this earth, Who else is that talking about? Who are the high ones on high if they're not the kings of the earth? So there's something, there's a distinction being placed here between these two. He's going to punish and he's going to, his wrath is going to be poured out on both of those, the rulers of this earth as well as the powers of the heavens. And then Revelation, here's where we're going to see those stars, Revelation chapter 12. See those stars of heaven being angels and they're going to fall from heaven. All right, so Revelation chapter 12, we'll start in verse one. It says, and there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars. Interesting that there's a sun, moon, and stars there too. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth and paying to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven crowns upon his head. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born." Move down to verse 7. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels. and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven." Folks, there's going to be war in heaven. There's going to be the powers of heaven are even going to be shaken. Michael the archangel and the angels are going to be out there fighting spiritual battles over top of the heads of the people physically on the earth. And they're going to be fighting those up in heaven. It'd be interesting, I wonder almost if some of the sound of that clashing of war can be heard audibly down on this earth. There's evidence throughout the Old Testament where something's happening up in heaven and they hear it on the earth. I forget the passage with the mulberry bushes down in, I think it's one of the Samuels. where there was a sound of rushing wind, rushing mighty wind over the mulberry trees. And they heard it. There was nothing to be seen there. It's like UFOs flying over top of those trees there or something like that. There's some angelic war fighting that takes place in the heavens above our heads that many times we don't even realize. But this is going to be, they're going to be cast down to the earth as a result of this thing. All right. Lastly, in verse nine there, the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. So there's the teaching where Lucifer used to be able to go up into the third heaven, and then he gets cast out of the third heaven when he falls. So now he's basically likened to a dragon, he's likened to Leviathan there in the book of Job, and he's kind of swimming up in the great deep up there in the second heaven, but then he's going to be cast down to even the first heaven, he's going to fight Michael and the archangels, and then at that point he's going to be cast down again to the earth, and he's going to be physically there on the earth. And then ultimately the final fall of Satan is when he's cast down into the pits of hell itself. All right, so that's verse 29. Verse 29 there. Verse 30 says, Matthew 24, 30 says, and then shall appear, so after all those things, immediately after the tribulation, 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." Now, just because they see Him coming in the clouds, this is not the rapture. All these things that we've described to you is not the rapture. Again, there is no room in Matthew 24 for a church age. There's no room in Matthew 24 for a bride of Christ. It is not part of Matthew 24, okay? So this is not the rapture of the church, the rapture of the bride of Christ. The sign of the Son of Man is gonna be when he makes his appearing in the clouds and then continues his descent down onto the surface of the earth. That's why the book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ. He's revealed, it's the revelation of him. So when he is revealed to the earth, to the people of the earth, but specifically says here that he's going to be seen by all the tribes of the earth and they shall mourn. So the Son of Man is described in Daniel, Daniel chapter 7 verse 13. Daniel 7 verse 13. Notice this is the Son of Man that we're talking about, the Son of Man, so it's a physical revelation, a physical revealing of Jesus Christ at this point. This is not a spiritual thing, his kingdom, his spiritual kingdom, no, no, no. The Son of Man will be coming and people will be able to physically see him. Verse 13, Daniel 7, 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 in a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed." So, if this is AD 70, we'll go back to this horse and just keep kicking it. If this is AD 70, where is His kingdom that is yet to be destroyed, that shall never be destroyed? It's not there. Jesus Christ doesn't have a kingdom. The Son of Man doesn't have a kingdom today. Therefore, either the Bible is false and throw it away and go home. You're wasting your time here this morning, folks. Or, better yet, rightly divide the scriptures. Understand what Matthew 24 is talking about and where the church fits into the scriptures. We're not going through the tribulation. His kingdom has not yet been established. It is still yet future. Alright, so verse 30, back in Matthew 24, talks about all the tribes of the earth and says that they will all mourn. Those tribes of the earth. This isn't all the nations of the earth. Usually when the Bible talks about all nations, it's referring to the Gentiles. When it talks about all tribes, it's referring to Israel. So let's go ahead and look at Revelation 7. So all tribes of the earth, this is Israel. Revelation chapter 7. in verse four. It says, and I heard the number of them which were sealed, and there were sealed 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel. So then all the way down to verse eight, you've got each of the tribes mentioned, and 12,000 come from each of those 12 tribes. Okay, so those tribes there are the tribes of the children of Israel. Those are the tribes that are going to see the sign of the sun, man, in the clouds. They're gonna see him coming. But then it says that they're gonna mourn. There's gonna be mourning that's involved in this. And why is that? Well, if they're in the tribulation period, that's because they didn't accept Him as their Messiah. They didn't accept Him years prior as their Savior. So therefore, they see it now, and by this point, these folks, they've accepted that, right? But now they see Him in person, and I mean, you can't help, but I mean, imagine yourself, if Jesus Christ comes, we're gonna start mourning. Man, this is real. We knew it was real, we believed it was real. Get up to the judgment seat of heaven, judgment seat of Christ there, there's going to be some mourning, some weeping up there. I believe that wholeheartedly, and I know we teach that pretty strongly here, too. The wiping away of tears doesn't happen until way later. There's going to be plenty of tears, I believe, at the judgment seat, because we're going to get there and be like, ah, what in the world did I actually do for Him who did everything for me, gave everything for me? And we just kind of sit down here and go through life. Oh, we've got our fire insurance. We're good. We'll be all right. We bring meals. We come to church every once in a while. We're good. man, we're gonna get up there and it doesn't matter how good you think you were as a Christian in your Christian walk, you're gonna get up there and there's gonna be some mourning that takes place. And when you see your Savior face to face, it's gonna be a good time, a glorious time, don't get me wrong, but first there's gonna be some mourning that takes place when you get a chance to reflect on your entire life and what we decided to waste away during this time, this little bit of time, this vapor of a life that we were given by God. It's going to be a time of mourning. These tribes here during this time period, they're going to see him. They're going to see him come down in those clouds and they're going to begin to mourn. Look at Psalm 105. Psalm 105. Psalm 105 verse 37 says, he brought them forth also with silver and gold and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. It's talking about Israel there. And then Zechariah chapter nine, we're gonna see the morning come in with these tribes here. Zechariah chapter nine, Verse 1 says, The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach and Damascus shall be the rest thereof, when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord. So they're all going to be able to, they're all going to see him coming, all the people. But it talks about those tribes there, the tribes of Israel. That's who we're referring to. Stay in Zechariah. Look at chapter 12 now. Excuse me. Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 9. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations, so that's not Israel, that's the Gentiles, all the nations that come against Jerusalem, 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. Who pierced him? The Jews pierced him. Yeah, the Romans pierced him physically, but the Jews are the ones that put him on the cross, that rejected him, that caused him to be crucified. and all that, and did not accept him at the time. It says, Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Keep going in verse 11. And that day there shall be great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. So there's gonna be great mourning there, but it's gonna be the ones that see Jesus Christ coming for who he is, The ones that they first rejected, the ones that they killed, the ones that they murdered, the Jews there, they're going to see them coming and it's going to be a time of great mourning. But eventually we know that it kind of makes Matthew chapter 5 a little bit more real. We'll look at that here in a second. Actually, let's go ahead and turn there. Matthew 5 verse 4. Got the beatitudes here, beatitudes. makes this verse here in verse four mean a little bit something else other than just, oh yeah, look, he's gonna comfort us when we cry and when we're sad. No, no, no. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. that's talking about those Jews that are going through that tribulation. Those that mourn are the ones that see Jesus Christ for who He is as the Son of God, as their Savior, and as their coming King. And they see Him for who He is and accept Him. And they're going to mourn because He's coming back. And everything's going to flash before their eyes. Everything's going to come to memory. And they're going to understand what has happened, and it's going to be a sad day for them, but he's going to come and he's going to comfort them. And establishing that kingdom, he's going to renew them, he's going to restore them, and all those good things. But he says, blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed means happy. So stay on this mourning idea, look at Amos. We looked at verse 9 earlier of Amos 8, but Amos chapter 8, Look at verse 10 now. So verse 9 talks about the sun going down and darkening the earth. Verse 10, Amos 8.10 says, And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. And I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins and baldness upon every head. And I will make it as the mourning of an only son and the end thereof as a bitter day. It's going to be a sad, sad day for those folks, but it's not going to last long, right? It's going to be a glorious day. He's going to come back and wipe out the wicked and the proud and all that stuff. All right. Lastly, on this morning idea, Isaiah 66. Isaiah chapter 66. Look at verse 10. Here's the rejoicing. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her. All ye that love her, rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her. So that mourning is not going to last long, folks. I don't know how long the amount of time is between when Jesus Christ comes down and comes into the clouds and steps foot down and then finally conquers all and takes over Jerusalem. I don't know what the time period is there, if it's a day, a week, I don't know. But at some point that mourning is going to be over and he's going to say, rejoice. Those of you that mourn, rejoice. Jerusalem is reestablished. The kingdom is going to be there in Jerusalem. The king on the throne. It's going to be good. It's going to be all goodness, all happiness, all joy during that time. All right. But it says there back in Matthew 24 in verse 30 it says And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds Coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory You can turn to Revelation chapter 1 look in verse 7 Revelation 1 7 behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all Kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him even so amen That is not the rapture That is not, just because it's Revelation chapter one, a lot of people try to chronologicalize the book of Revelation from start to finish. That's not the rapture there. Look at all the wording and all the connections between what we're reading at the second advent in Matthew 24 and all throughout the rest. Comes in the clouds, every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him. All right, so that's not the rapture, that's the second advent. It says, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Some will wail out of mourning because they've accepted him and they, you know, all that. And some will wail out of terror and fear because the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah has come back. He's going to clean some houses. But there's also some very interesting parallels. We're not going to read, obviously, the whole chapter this morning, but there's some interesting parallels in Exodus chapter 19. If you want to turn there, we'll just look at a couple verses. But read Exodus chapter 19 sometime and try to see if you can pick out some additional similarities and connections between that and the tribulation here when Jesus Christ is coming back during the second advent. First off, look at Exodus 19 and verse 4. 19.4, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bared you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Isn't there also a passage in Revelation chapter 12, Revelation 12.14 says, And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. There's some similarities there, there's some eagle's wings, there's a connection there. Look at verse 5, Exodus 19, 5. We looked at parables in Matthew 13 where it talks about, calls Israel a peculiar treasure, calls them a treasure in a field. So very obviously that's Israel there. Look at verse 10, Exodus 19, 10. And the Lord said unto Moses, go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, watch this, and let them wash their clothes. Revelation 7, 14. These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. All right, so again, connection to those Jews there in the tribulation. They've washed their clothes and their robes. And then lastly, look at Exodus 19.11. It says, and be ready against the third day, for the third day, there's that third day again, for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. It's interesting that it's actually 1911. Sounds very similar to Revelation 1911. It says, and I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. It's his revealing. Heaven is open. They're going to see him in the clouds in the heaven. They're going to see him up there and he's going to come down. Another connection. Interesting. 1911 there. All right. Let's close with Matthew chapter 24 and verse 31 and we'll finish with a couple thoughts, short thoughts here. Matthew 24 verse 31 says, "...and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds." Remember that phrase there, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. So you're going to have a great sound of a trumpet. You turn to Revelation 11-15, I'll just turn there quickly. Revelation 11, 15 says, and the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven saying, the trumpets here, great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. All right, so there's gonna be a great sound of trumpet there. but it says he's gonna gather together his elect. It also talks about how he's gonna send his angels. So there's some teaching there that says that those angels likely could be us, could be the church, the bride of Christ, could be some of the, perhaps the Jews that have already been raptured out during that mid-trib rapture, or resurrection there, could be. It says in various places we will be like angels, various places like that. So it could be that we will come bearing that message to gather up his elect. All right, now it says together, he's gonna gather together his elect from the four winds. We've looked at this before, so we're not gonna belabor the point. The elect is not us. Yes, Paul calls the bride of Christ, calls us his elect in Pauline doctrine, in the Church Age doctrine. But elect up to this point, especially in the book of Matthew, there is no church. Can't say it enough, there's no church. So this elect here is tied to the Old Testament where he calls the elect Israel. Israel is God's elect, his chosen. They're chosen for a reason, chosen for a purpose. You can look at places in Zechariah chapter 2, Isaiah, multiple places there. But look at Ezekiel. I want you to see from the four winds here. Ezekiel chapter 37. Ezekiel 37, this is the passage of the Valley of Dry Bones. But Ezekiel 37 and verse 9 says, Then said he unto me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, like the wind from the four corners, the four winds, thus sayeth the Lord God, come from the four winds. It's the same wording there. Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. There's going to be a resurrection. There's going to be a rapture of dead saints there. There's going to be a rapture at that point, and they're going to come from the four winds. There's going to be a rapture of dead and living Jewish saints. We're going to close with this thought, two more passages to run to, and then we'll be done. There's going to be a rapture of dead and living Jewish saints, typified by Moses and Elijah, at the end of the Tribulation, immediately preceding the Battle of Armageddon. I heard someone who was teaching this basically said, I don't understand why there would be a rapture. Why would you do basically a U-turn to come up and come down? Because there's going to be a rapture of dead saints as well. and they're going to come back as an army with the Bride of Christ. There's going to be armies, plural, the Bible talks about. The Bride comes back as an army, the Jews come back as another army, and we come back with Jesus Christ and stomp out the wicked there. But they can't do that if they're still physical, if they haven't gotten their glorified bodies yet, if they haven't been redeemed yet. They have to have that that spiritual, that rapture, that ascension take place. So yeah, it can be a U-turn. It could be as quick as that. They can go up there, get the new body and all that stuff, be resurrected from the dead, and then come down immediately with the captain. Pastor hit on it real hard, real good on Wednesday nights. If you weren't here for Wednesday, we have the recording, but you really missed out on some solid teaching there on both amid and post-trib rapture of Jewish saints, both living and dead. But look at Revelation chapter 11, Revelation 11 and verse 11. It says, and after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them, this is talking about Moses and Elijah, and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them. That's how we describe our rapture, that it's going to be visible. People are going to be able to see it. Those that are left behind are going to know. They might not understand what's going on. Oh, there they go. Something just happened here. We saw them ascend. The same thing's going to happen. So at the very least, for sure, there's a post-trib, at the end of the tribulation rapture that takes place right there. You can't deny that. Lastly, look at Psalm chapter 50. Psalm 50. Psalm 15 verse 2, out of Zion the perfection of beauty God hath shined. Our God shall come and shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me. those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." Folks, in the Tribulation period and in the Millennium, there's a new covenant that the Jews will be given. It's a new covenant. It's not the New Testament for them. It's a new covenant for them. So it says here that there's going to be a, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice, that's those Tribulation saints, folks. But he says, gather my saints together unto me, bring them to me, come up hither. So that's that rapture there immediately preceding the battle of Armageddon. And I don't know, three days instantly. I don't know how much time period, but at the end of the tribulation, before the battle of Armageddon, there's going to be a rapture of dead and living Jewish saints. But again, remember, we opened up with this, but Matthew 24, 6, the end is not yet, but the end is right around the corner for these folks. All right, let's close in a word of prayer. That's all we got time for this morning, and then we'll be dismissed.