if you would turn there please, Revelation chapter 10. I did get word from Brother Bear last week, they had one of their homecoming Sundays, they had 100 in attendance and they had one person get saved, so praise the Lord for that. I said, oh yeah, we had somebody get saved too, so. Revelation chapter 10, are we all there? All right, let's pray. Father, we come to this evening, and Lord, it is good to be in your house. It's good to be in church, sing, to pray, excited about some of the prayer results we're seeing with Luke Steele and Miss Jean. And Lord, it always is a joy to bring our requests to you because somewhere along the line, you show us what you can do. And Lord, we thank you for that. And Lord, I pray tonight that you would speak to us, that you'd minister to us. Lord, we need to hear from heaven. We are nothing but dust and ash. We are human beings trapped in this three-dimensional world down here. It's hard for us to grasp reality, Your reality. Lord, I pray through Thy Word, You would open up the Scriptures to us. Help us to comprehend it. Help us to see it. Help us to understand it. We look forward to the day, Father, when we won't have church like we're having now. that the singing will be wonderful, that the fellowship of the saints will be incredible, because we'll be up there with you. But until then, Father, please feed your sheep. Lord, all you have here is a piece of dirt to work with. Pray that you'd fill it with your spirit, your power, your passion, your words, your wisdom. Direct it and guide it. Spirit of God, move throughout this building tonight, stand behind this pulpit, sit next to us. We desire that you minister to us tonight. Lord, we thank you for it in Christ's name, amen. And we left off last week, Revelation chapter nine, and talked about people that had seen a lot of stuff. And yet, instead of repenting, they got more hard, and it listed four sins that they were guilty of, murder, theft, adult or fornication, and sorcery. We talked a little bit about sorcery last week, and strange world coming during the time of the tribulation. I'm glad we're not gonna be here, amen? Now in Revelation chapter 10, He says in verse one, I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, and he had in his hand a little book open. And he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth, and he cried with a loud voice as when a lion roareth. And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. So Revelation chapter 10 is another what we call a parenthetical chapter in this book. We went through the, in Revelation chapter six, we went through the first through the sixth seals. And then we had a parenthetical chapter in chapter seven. And then after that, after that break, the seventh seal was open. We've gone through six trumpets from Revelation eight and nine. Then there's a break at the chapter, which is chapter 10. And then the seventh trumpet will sound again in the 11, chapter 11 and verse 15. So here in this text, we have a mighty angel coming down out of heaven. And he's got certain characteristics. And I think if we look at these characteristics of this mighty angel, I think we'll recognize who it is. So you notice, first of all, it says he was clothed with a cloud. Take your Bible and turn to Acts chapter one. Acts chapter one. Clothed with a cloud. In Acts chapter one, when Jesus Christ ascended once and for all before Pentecost, The disciples there, they were watching him. In verse nine it says, when he had spoken these things, while they beheld he was taken up in a cloud, received him out of their sight. So the last thing they saw as far as Jesus Christ was concerned was there he goes and there's a cloud. Go to Revelation chapter one. Revelation chapter one. Revelation chapter one and look at verse seven. It says, behold, he cometh with So there again is the mention of him coming with clouds. Go to Revelation chapter 14. Revelation chapter 14. Revelation chapter 14 starting at verse 14. He says, and I looked, and behold, excuse me, a white cloud, and upon the cloud sat one like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. Another angel come out of the temple, crying with a loud voice, unto him that sat on the cloud, thrust in thy sickle, and reap, for the time has come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in the sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. Hmm, go to Matthew 24. Matthew 24. Matthew chapter 24 and verse 30, Jesus, and of course, Matthew 24 is the prophetic chapter in the book of Matthew. Every gospel except John has a prophetic chapter. In Mark, it's Mark 13. In Luke, it's Luke 17 and 21. John does not have a prophetic chapter. And because of that, I think the Lord said, you know what? I forgot to give you that prophetic chapter, John, and shows up to him on the island of Patmos. And so let me give you about 22 of them. Matthew 24 and verse 30, it says, 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. Look at Psalm 104, Psalm 104. Psalm 104 and verse three, Referencing God, it says, who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters, who maketh the clouds his chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind. So I think if we go strictly by looking at the fact that he's coming with the clouds or he's clothed with a cloud, it sure sounds like it's Jesus Christ. You know, a preacher says he's an angel, and so is the angel of the Lord. But the angel of the Lord is not an angel. The angel of the Lord is God. When you define, and we've gone through this before, if you want to define the word angel, there is only one definition, and it's not messenger. There's only one definition that fits everything, and that is an appearance. And so the angel of the Lord is an appearance of the Lord. We don't have time to get into all that, but suffice it to say, it looks like we're referencing here this mighty angel is the angel of the Lord, which is Jesus Christ. Now, it also says there is upon his head a rainbow. Now don't fear, it's not that rainbow, okay? I know this is June, and, I'm sick of this stuff, to be honest. I'm not gonna go any much farther, because I'm absolutely sick of this stuff. It's just another example of how the heathens steal from the scripture, steal from God certain things. They stole marriage from us, or they thought they did, and said, well, we're gonna take marriage, and we're gonna redefine it, and we're gonna have the Supreme Court put their seal of approval on it, and that'll be marriage, to which we say, you're out of your mind. Marriage is one man, one woman, one lifetime, and anything beyond that is absolutely insane. And the idea of a rainbow, rainbow has nothing to do with a bunch of queers running around in their streets proud of their sin. You talk about gay pride. Two sinful words. To be gay, which is the nice way of saying being queer, is a horrible abomination of a sin, and being a transgender, what have you. All that is wickedness and sin, and on top of that, they've got pride. Pride is the sin of the devil. Pride comes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Nothing good in the Bible is said about pride. So they're using two things which are both sinful and marching down the street and bragging about it. Yeah. We're reading here what God thinks of that stuff. But I'm just saying the rainbow is not the sign of being transgender, LBGTQ, ABC, STP, WD-40, whatever they wanna call it. It is a symbol of something else. In Revelation chapter four, go there and look at verse three. It says, and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and sardine stone, and there was a rainbow round about the throne and sat like an emerald. So when John sees the Lord in Revelation four and five, he sees the throne and there is a rainbow round about the throne. Now go back to Genesis chapter nine, here's why there's a rainbow. Genesis chapter nine. And look at verse, starting at verse 12. Genesis nine, starting at verse 12. It says, and God said, this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. This is after Noah and his family got out of the ark, the floodwaters are subsiding, the world has been changed forever, and things are gonna start over again. And the Lord said, I'm gonna make a covenant with you, verse 13. He said, I do set my bow in the cloud. It shall be a token of the covenant between me and earth, and it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. And God says, when I see that bow, it's a reminder that I will never do to the earth what I just did to it. So the bow is a symbol of the end of, I shouldn't say the end of, but the bow is a symbol of a new start after judgment. New start after judgment. I'm not gonna do that again. I'm not gonna flood the world again. That's what the rainbow's all about. Now go to Ezekiel chapter one. Ezekiel chapter one. And if you're familiar with the book of Ezekiel, you know that he sees a vision of the Lord in chapter one and chapter 10. It's an incredible appearance of God manifesting himself in a peculiar way to this prophet. And this prophet is in Babylon. He went with the second deportation. He's a faithful man of God, a faithful priest, if I remember correctly. And so God is going to appear to him. I'm from the 70s, I'm sorry, but von Däniken was the guy that came up with the Chariot of the Gods and thought this was a UFO and all that. And again, just more ridiculous stuff that people come up with to deny the inevitable. Verse 28 of Ezekiel chapter one. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard the voice of one that spake. So when he sees this vision of God coming, part of that is the rainbow, and it was incredibly glorious. We get excited when we see a rainbow. What, twice a year around here we might see a rainbow? But there are double rainbows and stuff like that. This was an incredible rainbow. So here we have this mighty angel who has been clothed with the clouds, who has a rainbow around his head, and then it says something else. It says, his face was as it were the sun. Go to Revelation chapter one, Revelation chapter one. So far this angel sure does look like the angel of the Lord, which would be Jesus Christ. Now it says his face was as it were the sun. Revelation chapter one, starting at verse 16. Said he had in his right hand seven stars, out of his mouth one a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance, his face, was as the sun shineth in his strength. Matthew chapter 17, turn there. Matthew chapter 17, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain, what they call the Mount of Transfiguration, where he's gonna transfigure himself in front of them. And part of that in verse two, Matthew 17 in verse two, it says this, and was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. So again, there's the face shining. Acts chapter 26. The apostle Paul saw this shining face, Acts chapter 26. In Acts 26, Paul will be giving his testimony. I think this is the third time in the book of Acts he's giving a testimony. In verse 13, he says, At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven. above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them that journeyed with me. So Paul said, when I saw the Lord, it was just nothing but bright light. And so here is, again, this mighty angel, he's clothed in a cloud, got the rainbow, face shining incredibly brightly. And then another thing it says about it is his feet as pillars of fire. Go back to Revelation chapter one. He's coming close to matching the description of Revelation chapter one when Jesus showed up to John. Revelation chapter one and verse 15. It says, and his feet likened to fine brass as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. So when Jesus Christ showed up to John his feet, and we would assume it's his feet a little ways up his legs, or John couldn't see because of the tunic he had on, that it could be that those went all the way up. At least we know the feet looked like they were burning like hot metal in a furnace. Go to Ezekiel chapter one, back to Ezekiel's vision of God. Ezekiel chapter 1 and look at verse 27. Ezekiel chapter 1. And verse 27, he says, and I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. So there again, when the Lord shows up to Ezekiel, he has his legs look as if they are on fire. And then it also says about this mighty angel that he has a loud voice as when a lion roareth. Go to Revelation chapter five. Revelation chapter five. And look at verse five. Again, this is the vision that John sees of the Lord in heaven. It says, One of the elders saith unto me, Weep not, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah. The root of David hath prevailed. Open the book and alluse the seven seals thereof, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Jesus Christ, of course, we know He's the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, but He's going to come back like a lion. And he is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He was prophesied of that in Genesis 49. You don't have to turn there. So here we've got his clothed with the cloud. He's got a rainbow around him. He has got his face is shining like the sun. His feet or legs look like they're on fire. He's got a loud voice that roars like a lion. And then he says something else very interesting, which is very revealing. When we go to Revelation chapter 11, we're gonna get the story of the two witnesses, the two prophets that show up. We'll get into that in a little bit. But it's the same angel that's talking in Revelation chapter 11 that shows up in chapter 10. And that angel says in verse three something very revealing. In verse three, he refers to those two preachers that show up, those two prophets as my two witnesses, my two witnesses. So it sure sounds to me like this angel is the angel of the Lord and the angel of the Lord, I believe, is Jesus Christ. So here is this mighty angel that comes down and this is, as far as I can see and a good logical assumption would be, it is Jesus Christ. Now, go back to Revelation chapter 10. And understand this, this mighty angel shows up sometime during the tribulation. Remember, this is a parenthetical chapter. We don't know exactly when he shows up. But he shows up sometime in the tribulation and he shows up for Israel. He shows up for Israel. I'll show you that in a minute. Revelation chapter 10, starting at verse 2, it says, And he had in his hand a little book open, and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice as when a lion roareth. And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. So notice he says, his right foot was upon the sea, which is most likely the Mediterranean Sea. All right, so let's picture this. Let's say here's the world. Here's that part of the world. You've got the Mediterranean Sea over here. Of course, you've got Italy and Greece back here. You've got North Africa here on the continent of Africa there. You've got Turkey over here. You've got Syria. You've got Iraq. You've got Iran, India over there. Okay? You have the Middle East right here. You have Israel right here. Now, it says, what foot did he stand on the Mediterranean Sea with? His right, okay? That would be this foot right here. Now, if it were his left and he's gonna stand on the ground, it would be like this, but no, it says his right foot is here and his left foot is on the land. Who's he facing? He's facing Jerusalem. Or he's facing Petra. because the last half of the tribulation, Israel is going to flee, and they're gonna hold up in the area known as Petra, which is Edom. Again, we'll get into more of that when we get into Revelation 12 and 13. But that's the appearance of that. Now you say, Preacher, this is just figurative stuff. I mean, it's just symbolic. Okay, if that's the way you wanna look at it, help yourself. I don't see it that way. I see it as more than that. Again, if you can give me solid reason why that's figurative, okay, I'll take it. But I haven't seen any reason why not to believe this thing, literally. He's a preacher, he's so big. This is the tribulation, right? There's a lot of weird stuff going on in the tribulation. We've already talked about the locusts coming out of the pit, the 200 million man army coming from the east, and all this kind of weird stuff. It's really not hard to accept the fact that Jesus Christ shows up in a magnificent way to the nation of Israel. Because this whole tribulation thing, I shouldn't say whole, but most of the tribulation has to do with God dealing with Israel. I mean, the Gentiles will be judged also in all that, but the primary thing is this is the time of Jacob's trouble. And so God is dealing with Israel. So let's look at some things about that tonight, just so you're clear on what's going on during the tribulation, why this stuff is going on, to whom it's going on to. Go to Ezekiel chapter 20. Ezekiel chapter 20. And we'll start reading at verse 27. Ezekiel chapter 20, we'll start reading at verse 27. He says, therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel. So who is he talking to? The house of Israel, the Jews, right. And say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, yet in this your fathers have blasphemed. I'll go down to verse 30. Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, says it again, thus saith the Lord God, are ye polluted after the man of your fathers, and commit ye whoredom after their abominations? For when ye offer your gifts, ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day, and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? I mean, they were questioning God. I was like, what are you questioning me about? Look at what you're doing. You know, I mean, again, there's the taking of the captives and what have you, and, you know, they're shaking their fist in God's face. God, why did you do this? And he said, well, you know, why did I do this? Look at the way you live. It's interesting, you read Jeremiah, to chase a little rabbit trail here, you read in Jeremiah that Jeremiah is preaching against the sins of the people. They were making hot cross buns to some other, some deity, practicing idolatry and what have you. And Jeremiah says, this is absolutely wrong, you've gotta turn from this. And their argument was, nothing's happened to us yet. I mean, we're doing this and nothing. Instead of recognizing God as merciful and patient and long-suffering, they committed the sin and said, man, I didn't get caught yet. We didn't, nothing happened yet. You know, very juvenile. That's the way a lot of kids think. I did that and I got away with it. I must be okay. No, you didn't get away with it because God is patient and merciful and long-suffering. And then when they do get judged, who do they blame? They blame God and Jeremiah. Oh yeah. Anyway, in verse 33, Look down at verse 33 of Ezekiel 20. He says, As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out will I rule over you. When will that happen? When will God rule over them? Blimey, okay. 34, and I will bring you out from the people, will gather you out of the countries wherein you are scattered with a mighty hand, with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. So he's going to regather Israel first. We've already seen that begin, 1918, Balfour Declaration, 1948, the starting of the nation of Israel. Verse 35, and I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face, like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod. I will cause you to pass under the rod. When shepherds took care of their sheep, occasionally they would have to evaluate their sheep. And so they would build a narrow gateway. So you've got the flock over here, but you're moving from there to there, and you have this narrow gateway that only one sheep could pass through at a time. And they would take the rod and they would hold the rod down. They would lift it up and then put it down again to let that one sheep in there. And then they would also take a stick, a rod kind of a thing, and they would rub the wool on the back of the sheep. And by doing so, if you do it against the grain, you can look at the skin. You can see through the wool and look down the skin and get a good evaluation of how healthy that sheep is or what's going on with that sheep. It's a form of judging the sheep. to determine if that sheep is healthy or if it's not healthy, and it's also a way of counting the sheep. When the Bible uses that term, passing under the rod, they're talking about God judging the nation of Israel. And again, that's the whole purpose for, again, not the whole purpose, but the main purpose of the tribulation time. In verse 37, it says, I will cause you to pass under the rod, I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge out from among you the rebels, them that transgress against me. I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn. They shall not enter into the land of Israel. You shall know that I am the Lord, and as for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, go ye, serve ye. Everyone is idols, and hereafter also, if you will not hearken unto me, but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, with your idols. For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all them in the land, serve me. There will I accept them, there will I require your offerings and the first fruits of your oblations with all your holy things. Again, referencing the kingdom right there. So he says there's coming a time when I'm gonna purge out the rebels. And by the time he's done purging, before he even comes back, that what's left of the nation, the whole nation, will convert to Jesus Christ. We'll look at that in a little bit. I'll go to Ezekiel 22. Ezekiel 22, we just looked at Ezekiel 20, or was it 22? 20, look at Ezekiel 22. Verse 19, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, because you're all become dross. What in the world is dross? When you heat metal to get out the imperfections, the dross is what comes to top, or the sludge, or whatever you want to call it. And then they take the cup, and they skim off the scum, if you will, and then heat it up again. And this is a purification process. He says, because you're all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem, as they gather silver and brass and iron, lead and tin in the midst of the furnace to blow the fire upon it, to melt it, so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. That's what Israel has to look forward to during the tribulation. The Lord is very serious about this thing here. He says, I have put up with so much from you. You people killed the physical manifestation of me when I showed up. You killed my son. And you said, let his blood be upon us and upon our children. And the Lord says, now you're gonna pay for that. And so does God vindictive? No, but he's just. He's just, and you violate the law. I know that's such a strange idea in this day and age, but when you violate the law, you're supposed to get punished. Yeah, I'm old-fashioned, I'm sorry, but we have laws in our country, such laws as you cannot protest in front of a Supreme Court justice's house or any judge or any jury member because that, you know, you're trying to change their minds by doing it. You're not allowed to do that. That's against the law. Yet they're allowed to do it for some reason. If it were reversed, it would not be allowed. You know the story. But I happen to believe that, you know, if the law is broken, there is a punishment that goes along with that law. And God will punish, but God will be merciful. God will only punish to the extent of the violation of the law. But in this situation right there, he's very angry. They have violated a multitude of laws. And he says, I am going to gather you in my anger, in my fury, and I'll leave you there and melt you. Verse 21, yes, I will gather you and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof, and ye shall know that I and the Lord have poured out my fury upon you. Is he gonna destroy them? Let me ask you this, does a refiner try to destroy the silver when he heats it up? He purifies it, he refines it. And I don't know if you ever heard the story of that, When they do the refining process, they heat it up, the scum comes to the top, they skim off the scum, heat it again, more scum will come to the top, and that goes on four or five, maybe six times. And do you know how the guy knows when it's pure? He looks at it. Yeah, there's no more scum, but here's the thing. He looks at it and can clearly see his reflection in the molten metal. You know what Jesus Christ is trying to do with us? The same thing. Because he wants to be able to someday look down at us and see his reflection. So don't fuss the next time the Lord's dealing with you about something or chasing you or what have you. You're just getting closer to being like Jesus Christ. Malachi chapter three, take your Bible and turn there. I mean, this is a constant theme throughout the Old Testament of God judging Israel. Malachi chapter three, starting at verse one. Behold, I will send my messenger. Now, this ought to sound familiar. He shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom he seeks shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant in whom he delight. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Well, that fits for the first coming, right? And his messenger was John the Baptist. But look at verse two. But who may abide the day of his coming? Which one? Day of his first coming? The angels got a kick out of it. They're singing, what have you. The shepherds enjoyed it, but for the rest of the world, it was really not a big deal. That was the first coming. Who may abide the day of his coming? The second coming? That's a whole different story. He said, as the lightning goes from the east all the way across the sky to the west, everybody's going to see this. But who may abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth? For he's like a refiner's fire, and like a fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. So again, there's that same concept. As a refiner, he's gonna heat them up with judgment, and that process will purify them, so when it's all said and done, sometime before he comes back, the nation will turn to him. Malachi chapter 4, go to one chapter over. For behold, the day cometh that he shall burn, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud and all the do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts. that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name, now watch it, shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. How is sun spelled? S-U-N. And that mighty angel we read about in chapter 10, his face is like what? Like the sun, interesting. Verse three, and ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. Go to Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30. So they go through the judgment. Certain individuals are purged out. Certain people are faithful and true. And it says the Lord will run and rise as a son of righteousness with healing in his wings. Jeremiah 30, verse five. For thus saith the Lord, we have heard a voice of trembling, of fear and not of peace. Ask ye now and see whether a man doth travail with child. Wherefore do you see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman and travail and all faces are turned into paleness? You'll know when men get tired and men get weary because they start doing this, You watch a football game. When you watch a football game where the linemen are worn out, and you'll see them stand, they start putting their hands on their hips, and then pretty soon they'll start doing this. That's a sign that they are getting tired and worn out. These guys here are acting like pregnant women. They are just, yeah, they're going through it. Verse six, ask ye now and see whether a man doth travail with a child. Wherefore I do see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail. All the faces are turned into paleness. Alas, for that day is great. so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble." That's what the tribulation is, the time of Jacob's trouble, not the time of the church's trouble. We're out of here and our judgment will be at the judgment seat of Christ. This tribulation period is the time of Jacob's trouble. When you try to merge the church in with that, you have a problem. It is the time of Jacob's trouble. Go to Daniel chapter 12. Again, referencing that time, Daniel chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12 and verse one. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, Israel, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time. So this will be the worst thing the world has ever experienced. Jesus said that. And at that time, thy people shall be delivered. Everyone shall be found written in the book. So there's this time of trouble for the nation of Israel. The time of Jacob's trouble. Go to Zechariah chapter 12. Now here's where it gets interesting. Zechariah chapter 12. Zechariah chapter 12. And starting at verse nine. Zechariah chapter 12, starting in verse 9, says, It shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. During the tribulation time, the Bible says all nations shall be gathered against Jerusalem. I think he says that in chapter 10, including the United States. whatever's left of the United States. Every nation will be against Jerusalem. And so he says, it came to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy 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 supplication. Now he's just taking them through the fire. He's taking them through the refining process. And now that is over. And now he's gonna pour upon them the spirit of grace and supplication. And look at the next part. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced. The nation of Israel will look upon Jesus Christ whom they have pierced. Now John mentions in John 19 the reference to whom they have pierced is Christ being crucified. So he says there's coming a time when these people will look and they're gonna see him. It says, they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. So there's coming a time as Israel goes through this refining process, when that is finally over, there's a vision of Jesus Christ. Now it's either when he comes back, or it's this mighty angel with one foot on the sea and one foot on the land, there he is. It does have to be toward the end of the tribulation, and they look up, and there he is. And as a nation, they collectively say, oops. Boy, did we mess that up for 2,000 years. Yeah, sure did. But now you've been through the fire. And God has refined them and refined them and gotten the rebels out and gotten the unbelievers out and the idolaters out and all that stuff. And here's this group of people that's ready. And he pours upon them the spirit of grace and supplication. And they look upon him and they believe. And that group of people, which is what is left of the nation of Israel, will be converted. Go to Isaiah chapter 66. Isaiah chapter 66. Isaiah 66, and I don't know if you're familiar with the book of Isaiah that much or not, but Isaiah matches the Bible. Chapter 39, we have 39 books in the Old Testament, chapter 39 of Isaiah kind of matches the last book of the Bible, and chapter 40, you have a sudden change, and you've got John the Baptist showing up. And so that matches the New Testament, and chapter 66 kind of matches the book of Revelation. Isaiah 66, look at verse seven. Before she prevailed, she brought forth. Before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child." Then he says this, who has heard such a thing? Before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child? Before she prevailed, she brought forth? In other words, boom, that quick. I thought my wife was quick. She was one of these rapid delivery people. Had a card. You know, RD something. Rapid means rapid delivery. You get to the hospital, show them that, and they realize, get her going as quick as you can. And I think most of our kids came in four hours or less. There were some that have been slow all their life, and they didn't come as quickly, but for the most part. I mean, that's rapid delivery. After going through nine months, But what he's talking about here is this, before they even go through all of that stuff, suddenly the birth comes forth. He says, who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Now watch it. Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to birth and not cause to bring forth, saith the Lord? Shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb, saith my God? The Lord said, I started this a long time ago. And now they've been through the fire, now I'm ready for them, and I'm not waiting any longer. And he pours upon them the spirit of grace and supplication, and the nation is saved in a day. Look at Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11, look down at verse 26. Remember Romans chapter 9 has to do pretty much with Israel's past, Romans 10, Israel's future, Romans 11, Israel's present, and Romans 11, Israel's future, with some other stuff in there. Romans 11 verse 26, and so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them, that I shall take away their sins. So all Israel will be saved, and they'll be saved like that when they see a vision of Jesus Christ. And again, it's either this appearance of the mighty angel, or it's when they see him coming back and they recognize who it is. But they're gonna see something. And there's no reason not to believe it wasn't this mighty angel as he makes his appearance toward Israel and they look up and they see that. And God's been dealing with them, taking them through the fire for a few years now. Tribulation, you know, five, six, six years. And now they're at the point where he's purged them out and they're ready. and he pours upon them the spirit of grace and supplication. They look upon Jesus Christ and saved, just like that. Now what else is interesting about this mighty angel is that he had in his hand a little book. If you go back to Revelation chapter 10 and verse two, It says, he had in his hand a little book open. He set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth. Now drop down to verse eight. Revelation 10 and verse eight. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again and said, go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel and said unto him, give me the little book. Politely, I'm sure. And he said unto me, take it and eat it up. It shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. So what's going on here? We use the terminology, we would use the phrase hard to stomach. Something you hear, something you, I mean, figuratively, it's not able to put up with someone or something, not being able to tolerate or endure something or someone, something bad, hard to stomach. For John, he was, in his mouth, it was sweet as honey, but it was hard to stomach because of all that was gonna happen. I happen to believe that the little book may have been the final prophecies of the book of Revelation. Revelation 10 and verse 11, he finishes that by saying, he said unto me, thou must prophesy again before many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. So he's got the little book, he gets it in his mouth, it's sweet as honey. But what he has to prophesy, what he has to say is just bitter, bitter. And even though it's judgment and it's righteous judgment and all that, it's still bitter. And I would say this, if, I'm gonna put it to you this way, I have heard preachers that have preached judgment and what have you, and I'm thinking, they're not getting it. Let me put it to you this way. I can see where this country deserves judgment. I think we can all see where this country deserves judgment. But I don't want to see it happen. That's a hard thing to stomach when you think about the judgment coming upon this nation before the rapture. We deserve it. We deserve every bit of it. We may be getting it right now. This stuff may be going on right now. But there's nothing to rejoice in that. I've got kids around the world. I've got grandkids around the world. The last thing I wanna see is judgment coming upon this country or wherever they may be. And there's a lot of preachers that preach, it's like, I actually heard guys on a street corner preaching about hell like it was a, I'm trying to figure out the word. I mean, they're preaching about hell with no remorse in their voice, no sorrow in their voice. You know, it's like, yeah, you're gonna die and go to hell. You're gonna die and go to hell. I'm thinking, what in the world is that? Listen, the last thing I want to think about is my worst enemy, dying and burning for eternity in a lake of fire. I understand the truth of that. I understand the reality of that. I understand the reason for that. But I don't wanna see it. I don't wanna see it. I mean, even the people that persecute us or ridicule us or whatever they think about us, none of that is even close to being as bad as somebody burning in eternity. And I think that's what's going on with John here. The word in his mouth, oh, this is the word of God, this is great, you know. But then he begins to preach and realizes what he's saying or what he's gonna have to say. and it's just more judgment. I'm just curious if John at this point had already reached that place like, Lord, I'm sick of this. I am tired of seeing this stuff here. It's just one thing after another and people are dying and it's a horrible thing. It might be the reason why the angel said go get that little book and eat it because you've got more to say whether you wanna say it or not. Ezekiel chapter 3. Go back to Ezekiel chapter 3. Ezekiel the prophet gets a little book himself. Ezekiel chapter 3 starting at verse 1. Ezekiel chapter 3 starting at verse 1. He says, moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest, eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. He said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat, and it was in my mouth, as honey was for sweetness. And he said unto me, son of man, go get thee into the house of Israel and speak with my words unto them. What did he just do? God gave him a book to eat and said, eat it, and then they'll go preach what's in it. Same idea. That's why I believe that little book was probably the remaining chapters of the book of Revelation that John is getting. I think we'll stop there for tonight. We go into the seven thunders a little bit next week. But, It's quite a thought there. You got this mighty angel coming down, preaching to Israel. Think about the history of Israel, the future of Israel. Amazing stuff. Anybody have any questions or any comments or anything like that? All right. All right, well, we'll be dismissed in prayer. Don't forget, Saturday we'll meet here at nine o'clock. Saturday we'll meet here at nine o'clock. And we'll go out as long as we think we should and hang some bags on some doors and try to get the gospel out. And then don't forget Sunday. We had a great Sunday last week. Let's pray for more visitors Sunday and pray that God would bless the church and bless the services. Father, we thank you again for you. Lord, amazing stuff in this book. And maybe we're making more out of it than we should. Maybe it is just figurative, but I can't see that, Lord. I see more to it than that. My Lord, you are quite a God. You're gonna judge your people and punish them the way they deserve, yet at the same time, when you've accomplished your purpose there, you're gonna pour grace and supplication, and your children will come to know you, your nation. Lord, thank you for that. And thank you again, Father, that your church doesn't have to go through this. Help us, Lord, as these days approach, to be the witnesses that we should be, to glean from the harvest a few more souls before you come. Pray for our country, Lord, that you would be merciful and gracious and patient with this country. Because, Lord, there's a lot of people in this country that love you and don't love what's going on in it. And, Lord, I pray you would keep that in mind as you look upon this nation. Thank you again. Lord bless our Outreach Ministries Saturday and bless our services Sunday. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen.