if you would, Revelation chapter 6 tonight. I'm going to slice the message off like loaf of bread. How about that? Alright, we'll come back and we'll finish it up and then we're going to preach one message on the anti... well, a series... we're going to preach on the Antichrist. Okay, let's just say that. I don't want to limit it. And then we'll be finished with our study on what's next. We began preaching on this subject because of the turmoil in the Middle East. There was a lot of of stuff flying on social media and all of this and people setting dates. And we wanted to understand not what the headlines have to say, what does the Bible have to say? You never interpret the Bible by the headlines. You always interpret the headlines by the Bible. And we want to understand exactly what God says about the matter of end time events. And while we may see things around us that are a prelude, they may set the stage, we are not in the tribulation period. Just because there's turmoil in the Middle East does not mean that the Lord is going to come immediately. Now we know His coming is inevitable, right? That imminency, the next event on God's prophetic calendar is the rapture of the church, that the doctrine of imminency, that Jesus could come at any moment, does not mean soon. It means inevitable. We know this. When Jesus gave the promise of His coming for His own, the saints of God, over 2,000 years ago, He told them that He would come for them. Every generation of Christians since that time have lived with the hope that it would be their generation in which Jesus would come. We're 2,000 years on the other side of that. Here's what I can tell you. We're closer than we've ever been before. Amen? and it could be our generation in which He comes. And we ought to be looking and longing and loving the appearing of the Lord Jesus to take us and translate us to a place called heaven. Look if you would Revelation chapter number 6 and find if you would verse number 15. The Bible said, And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men And the chief captains and the mighty men, and every bondman, that means every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and the rocks, 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 we understand that word day is not a 24-hour day. It's an extended period. We know that to be the day of the Lord. The day in which God is going to pour out His wrath, His undiluted wrath on an unbelieving world. Now just so that we sort of catch up in these areas, we talked about the definition of the tribulation period, that it's a set time in which God's going to pour out His wrath on the world. It has a two-fold purpose, and this is probably not in your notes, but I'm just catching us up. that it'll prepare Israel for the coming of her Messiah. Jeremiah 30 verse 7 calls the tribulation period the time of Jacob's trouble. And God is going to use this seven-year period to bring Israel to Himself. He's also going to pour out His wrath on an unbelieving world. I've said it before, I'll say it again. This world will not get by with what it did to Jesus Christ. They said, and we're going to find that they said no to Christ, and therefore they're going to... Listen, when you spurn God's mercy, all you have left is wrath. And one day, this world is going to experience God's wrath. And we talked about that. And we saw the golden key to the book of Revelation. It's chapter 1 verse 19. If you want to look back there, it's been about three weeks since we preached on the subject, so I'm sort of catching us up very quickly. Notice he said to John, Write the things which thou hast seen. That's chapter 1. The vision of the glorified Christ. The things which are, that's chapters 2 and 3, where we are right now, the letters to the seven churches. These churches, I believe, represent the condition of all churches of all ages. I personally do not believe that chapters 2 and 3 are prophetic. And the reason is the doctrine of imminency would do away with the prophetic church age, meaning that we have to wait on a Laodicean age to get there. Hey, I don't want to be a Laodicean church. What about you? I don't want to be lukewarm. I want to be a Philadelphia church. I want God to set before us an open door. I don't believe we have to be lukewarm. I believe we can be red hot in our love and zeal for Jesus Christ. Could I hear a witness from God's people? And so, I believe that at any moment, Jesus could come. And then when you come to chapter 4 onward, He's dealing with things which shall be hereafter. It's prophetic. It's apocalyptic. And we understand the next event on God's prophetic calendar is what we know as the rapture of the church, that prior to the tribulation period, God will remove His people, His saints, from this awful time of judgment. 1 Thessalonians 5.9, God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. We don't have it on our sign, but it is in our doctrinal statement. We are a pre-tribulational. That means that we believe that the church will be raptured out prior to the tribulation period. We are pre-millennial. That means we believe that Jesus will return prior to the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. That's where we stand as a church, alright? And we believe that the church will not go through one millisecond, nanosecond, whatever, zillisecond, if there's a such thing. of the tribulation period, alright? Then number two, we want to talk about the duration of the tribulation period. We learned from Daniel 9 verse 25 that it's going to be seven years in length, 25 and 26, excuse me. It'll be seven years in length and it'll be divided into two parts. The first part, we know first three and a half years is the beginning of sorrows or birth pains. The second three and a half years are known as the great tribulation period. And the midpoint of the tribulation period is when the Antichrist will go into the newly rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and proclaim himself to be God. And then we began to work our way through the book of Revelation and we began to do a little overview. We talked about the devastating events of the tribulation period, that there are three cycles of judgment, and they're always in cycles of seven. There's three cycles of seven as it relates to the judgments of the tribulation period. There is the seven-sealed judgment. We saw that here in chapter 6. And we know that there's the opening of the seven seals. The Lamb of God opens the seven-sealed scroll in heaven sequentially, and when the seals are opened in heaven, something takes place on the earth. I just remind you, it's not Satan's wrath, it's the Lord's wrath. While Satan will be active during the tribulation period, he's not in control of it. God is. Number two, we saw the seven trumpet judgments beginning in Revelation chapter 8. And then when you come to the end of the book, Revelation chapters 15 and 16, you have what's known as the seven vial judgment, the vials of the wrath of God. Now we think of a vial, we don't use that word very often. Imagine in your hand, mind, a bowl, a bowl filled with the wrath of God. and these are poured out, and these are the final judgments of tribulation. Remember, when you come to chapter 6, chronologically, even though you've got more chapters, chronologically you are at the end of that seven-year period known as the tribulation. And we know these seven angels will pour out these seven vials of judgment full of the wrath of God on the earth, on the oceans and the rivers and the streams will be turned to blood. The sun will scorch men with great heat. There will be a supernatural darkness that will pervade the kingdom of the Antichrist. And I just want to help you understand. These are not figurative. These are literal. It's so horrific that words cannot fully describe the devastating effect of the wrath of God that will be poured out on this world. Alright? To where we are now. Letter B. There's going to be a great harvest of souls. Can I help us understand that in wrath, God remembers mercy. Look if you would at Revelation chapter 7. Would you look there? I'm just giving us an overview. When you come to Revelation chapter 7, you're going to see a suspension of judgment. God tells four angels on the four corners of the earth to hold back the winds of the earth, the four winds of the earth, north, south, east, west. He's talking about the directions of a compass to hold them back. It's the idea of withholding the storm of God's wrath. Why? Because in these verses, God is going to seal 144,000 of His chosen people, the Jewish nation. Now listen, somebody made this statement, God will use the horror of the tribulation period to bring millions of sinners to faith in His Son. It's going to be a time of great revival in the midst of the wrath. It'll be the largest in-gathering of souls in the shortest period of time in the history of the world. In verses 1-8 you have 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel. Look if you would. Verse number 3, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed, and there were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. I'm sorry, Jehovah Witnesses, that leaves you out. They believe they're the 144,000. The problem is, of the millions of people that's adhered to the false doctrine and the cultic teachings of the Jehovah Witnesses, the sad part is there's only 144,000 of them going to make it to heaven. The rest of them is left out. They get something less. That's not really exciting, is it? He begins to list the twelve tribes that have been sealed. Can I help us understand something? There are no lost tribes of Israel. God knows where every one of them are and who belongs to each tribe. And He's going to seal 144,000 Jewish males who will be like Apostle Paul's that will do in seven years what the church of Jesus Christ hasn't done in 2,000 years. They will carry the gospel to the world. This 144,000 are the firstfruits of a believing remnant of Jews who will come to faith in their Messiah, and they will receive Him as Savior during the tribulation period. And so you have the salvation of Jews in chapter 7 verses 1-8. But if you come to chapter 7 verse 9, you've got a different group of people. Look at verse number 9. He said, after this I beheld and lo a great multitude. Now we got a huge great multitude, not 144,000, but so many that no man can number of all, watch this, all nations and kindreds and people and tongues. Did you see that? Now you know what? You say, preacher, who are that? That's anybody not a Jew. That's a Gentile. You say, preacher, how do I know if I'm a Gentile? Are you a Jew? No. Then you're a Gentile. How about that? That's real easy. And notice, they stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. Those palms, symbolic of victory. Friend, listen, they've come through great martyrdom. They have. They've been martyred. He sees this great multitude that are saved and they're in heaven. They're in heaven. They're clothed with white robes. They've suffered for their faith in the Lord Jesus. Some people would say, well, preacher, it'll be easier to get saved after the rapture when people can see all this is true than it is before the rapture. No, friend, it'll be harder because they'll seal their testimony in their own blood. They'll be what we know as tribulation martyrs. But aren't you glad that in wrath God remembers mercy? Isn't that a blessing? Alright, let's keep going, could we? There's going to be great persecution of the nation of Israel. This is as far as we'll get tonight. I hope we finish it. Alright, look at Revelation chapter number 12. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Now here's what's interesting. When you study the book of Revelation, we know there's lots of figurative language, but you don't have to try to think up what it might mean. If you study the Bible, the Bible's the greatest commentary on itself. And we know this to be the nation of Israel because if you look back, we won't do it now, back in Genesis 37 and verse number 9, In Joseph's dream, he described his father and mother and brethren as sun, moon, and stars. And we know this to be the nation of Israel. We move forward, and she being with child, cried, travailing in birth, in pain to be delivered, that this child is the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Because it's through the nation of Israel that God would give us His Son, the Messiah, the Redeemer. Look at verse 3, And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns." That's the final world empire. "...and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and he cast them to the earth." Now here's what that is. Those are the angels that followed Satan in his rebellion against God. and the dragon. And you're going to find the first part of chapter 12 is historical. Alright? It's not prophetic. It'll turn prophetic, but right here it's historical. Alright? And He stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. What did Satan seek to do to Jesus? Kill Him. Try to have Him stoned. He engineered the crucifixion, but we know God predetermined beforehand that Christ would die on the cross for the sins of the world. He just fulfilled the will and the work of God unknowingly. He thought He had won. It was His greatest defeat. Alright? Look at verse 5, "...And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with the rod of iron." There's no doubt about who that is, right? That's the Lord Jesus. "...And her child was called up unto God into His throne." That's the ascension of Christ. Now do you know between verses 5 and 6 are over 2,000 years of human history? Between verses 5 and 6 are 2,000 years of human history plus. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there." Do you know when you come to verse 6 you're in the tribulation period? Chapter 12 verse 5 is history. Chapter 12 verse 6 is prophecy. prophecy. And so we find that the tribulation we know is the time of Jacob's trouble. Israel as a nation will experience a time of persecution at the hands of Satan and the Antichrist and his minions. It's a time of persecution as she's never experienced before. It will make the Nazi Holocaust pale in comparison. Listen, not just some nations, not just most nations, but all nations will come against Israel and Jerusalem with one mission in mind, and that's the annihilation of the Jewish state of Israel. Do you realize that there are hundreds of millions of Muslims that surround the tiny nation of Israel, and they've got one thought in mind, and that's the annihilation of the Jewish state? You say, why Israel? Why Israel? Why pick on this little nation? Why? Because Satan's at work. Do you realize if Israel ceases to exist, Bible prophecy can't be fulfilled. It can't. Because Jesus Christ, when He returns, will return to a specific location in the nation of Israel. It's the Mount of Olives. We'll see that. And if Israel doesn't exist, Jesus can't come back. And in Satan's mind, he wins. Now, we know it's futile, right? We know the outcome. We read into the book and we win. One-third of the Jewish nation will survive. Two-thirds will be destroyed. The Lord will deliver them out of it. Look at verse number 14. I thought this was wonderful. Notice, if you would, that the woman fled into the wilderness. That's, I believe, the rock city of Petra where she had the place prepared. You guys back there? There we go. Good job, fellas. prepared of God that they should feed her there. I just put these pictures in there to keep those guys busy. All right. A thousand, two hundred, three score days. Do you realize how long? That's three and one half years. The last three and a half years of tribulation period. Look down in verse number 14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into a place where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time. That's three and a half years from the face of the serpent. Look at verse 15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman. Some believe that's literal water, a literal flood. that He might cause her to be carried away of the flood. Many believe that it's anti-Semitic propaganda. What are you seeing in our world today? An anti-Semitic propaganda as we have never seen it before on our college campuses, in our cities. By the way, do you know much of this is headed up by people that aren't even citizens of America? They're Arabic immigrants. Did you know that? They have no love for America and no love for Israel. Isn't that amazing? And young, young, mush-minded college students in our elite universities have believed the lie of anti-Semitism. Can you imagine? I'm not saying every young person is mush-minded. I didn't say that. Don't get upset at me. I said in the elite universities. Are any of y'all in elite universities? No? You're here. By the way, mom and dad, can I just say something? In these elite quote-unquote universities, all they're going to do is social engineer your child. They're not going to give them an education. Don't waste your money. Send them somewhere where they'll get an education. We'll give you outlets for that, by the way. We'll share some places they can go. And they're there. And you know what's happening? They're buying into the lie. Do you realize there are people that have greater IQs than I do that deny that the Holocaust ever even happened because they believed the lie of anti-Semitism and they are blinded by their hatred of the Jewish people? Friend, I'm just going to tell you something. The Jewish nation is not a perfect nation no more than America is a perfect nation. There's no such thing as a perfect nation. Every nation has its issues, but they're God's earthly chosen people. And friend, we wouldn't have a Savior tonight. We wouldn't have a Bible tonight. We wouldn't be sitting in a church tonight if there hadn't been a nation of Israel. Zechariah 13 verses 8 and 9. It's probably in your notes and I'm done. And it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die. Do you realize two-thirds of the nation of Israel will not survive the tribulation period, but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire. These are those that have placed their faith in Christ as Messiah, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is refined. And they shall call on My name. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Isn't that right? And I will hear them, I will say, It is My people. And they shall say, The Lord is My God. They will embrace the Son of God. They'll look at Him and they'll see the wounds in His hands and His side and His feet. And they'll mourn for Him as one mourneth for all. They'll weep and wail because of what they did to their Messiah. Right now they hate Him. But friend, there's coming a generation of Jews that will love Him. Now listen, not every Jewish person is a rejecter of the Messiah. Thank God. As a matter of fact, we had one in our own church that I had the privilege of leading to Christ, that Jewish people can be saved. Isn't that a blessing? And that's why we try to reach them with the Gospel. Hey, by the way, the Apostle Paul was a Jew. Yeah. John, Peter. Yeah. Aren't you glad Jews can be saved too? I believe anybody can be saved, don't you? Friend, God has a plan for the nation of Israel. They're going to go through a time of horrific tribulation, but God said, I'm going to save them out of it. Friend, you know what? America, you'll not find her in Bible prophecy. You won't find her. She's not there. You say, preacher, what happens to her? I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen to her. I really don't. My thought is that she'll probably become a part of the kingdom of the Antichrist. That's probably what I believe will happen to our nation. Become a part of the kingdom of the Antichrist. Even now our nation's beginning to turn against Israel. Have you noticed that? Already happening. Already happening. And I believe that may be what happens to us. We may cease to exist as a nation. I have no idea what might happen to us. I pray that whatever happens to us so far as ceasing to exist, that it happens after the rapture, don't you? That's what I pray for. I don't even recognize my country sometimes. Morally, I don't even recognize it. My heart grieves for America. Our prayer for America shall be saved. But I'm going to tell you something. Only one nation on the face of the earth has been given promise of perpetual existence, and that's the nation of Israel. Only one. The nation of Israel. Boy, I sure want to see revival in our land before Jesus comes, don't you? Let's do our part, could we church? Let's stand to our feet tonight, heads bowed, eyes closed.