at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He was full-time there for 26 years and for 15 years he served as department chair and professor of practical theology. Believe it or not, he went to Stanford University and distinguished himself there. Went on to Fuller Theological Seminary where he had professors in the old days like Wilbur Smith and Everett Harrison, Harold Lenzel, and a host of others that at that time at Fuller Seminary believed in biblical inerrancy. They believed in the absolute authority and infallibility of Scripture. Of course, things changed about 1963 at Fuller, and people like Wilbur Smith were brokenhearted. He had given his whole library to the institution. wish that he hadn't. But nevertheless, in those days, they offered some very fine training. And he went on to pastor for several years, and then ended up at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where he was a colleague of my good friend, Dr. Paul Feinberg, for many years. Paul and I were at Tauba together, and he recently went to be with the Lord at a very young age, unfortunately. But there were three dispensational premillennial faculty members there at Trinity, and I guess now there are two. But we have deeply appreciated Dr. Larson's teaching. He is the author of a tremendous book called The Company of Hope that chronicles the history of dispensational pre-millennial, pre-tribulational eschatology. He also has written a number of other books you'll find at the back book table, some of which are on preaching, the anatomy of preaching, and he's got some on evangelism, telling the old, old story. Let's welcome Dr. David Larson to our pulpit to speak on this special topic tonight, The Church in Heaven and Israel in the tribulation. Let's all stand for just a minute. The mind can absorb only what the seat can endure. So let's stretch a little bit. We'll let you sit back down. If you are interested in Bible prophecy, or if you know someone who is interested and would like to give that person a thoughtful gift, Or if you know someone, even a clergyman, who ought to be interested in Bible prophecy and would like to give a suggestive message, let me do recommend to you this book. Have a look at it out at the table. This book, 580 pages, 20 clams. Not too bad, and I would be delighted to autograph the book. It will doubtless add to the value of your estate to have an autographed copy of this book. One of the ways in which to study the book of the Revelation is to highlight the great contrasts which thread through this magnificent capstone of divine revelation. This morning we contrasted from Revelation 1 and 13 Christ and the Antichrist. Another very important and basic contrast in the book of the Revelation is between the church which is Christ's body, and Israel, his ancient people. The church is here. These seven lampstands, Revelation 2 and 3, among which the living Christ walks, has them under surveillance. Church is there. Church is at the marriage supper of the Lamb in the nineteenth chapter. We'll be talking more about aspects of the church, and particularly tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock. Say, that's an early starting time tomorrow morning. I want to tell you, the people who come here for the 8 a.m. service tomorrow, they are the elite of the elect. We're going to be able to identify with some alacrity the elite of the elect, 8 o'clock. Because I'll be opening the third chapter of the book of Revelation to show you, you know, the church at the end of the church age. What will it be like? The church is here in the book of Revelation. And tomorrow night we'll be seeking to prove to you that during the tribulation period, the seven years, remember 483 years of the 77's, from the edict to rebuild the walls of the city, to the presentation of Messiah, the one who would die, be cut off and have nothing, 177,880 days, 483 years fulfilled the very day our Lord Jesus was presented on Palm Sunday, the year that He died. But there's an additional seven years I show in the book Hippolytus in the first early years of the church, the third century, speaks about the detached seven years. This idea that John Nelson Darby invented dispensationalism and its eschatological interpretation of Bible prophecy is, of course, a myth. Here's Hippolytus talking about the detached seven years in his commentary on Daniel, third century. Well, where is the church during the seven years? I'll seek to show you tomorrow night that the church is in heaven. We're out of here, folks. We're never even going to see the Antichrist. What folly to try to identify who the Antichrist is. He may be living tonight. We don't know. But what difficulty folk have gotten into. We're not looking for the Antichrist. We're looking for our Lord Jesus Christ, you know. But take the church home. We'll seek to show that from the book of Revelation tomorrow night that the church is in heaven during the seven years. On earth, during the seven years, Israel. Now, the passage I want to turn to tonight is the eleventh chapter of the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 11. I'll refer to several texts, but I'm looking especially at chapter 11. Let's have a breath of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we love Your Word. Your Word is truth. Be our teacher through the Holy Spirit. O God, open our eyes, grip our hearts, move us and change us. with the Word of God. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Revelation 11, verse 1, There was given me a reed, like a rod. And the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship in it. Third reference to the temple which will exist in the tribulation period. Jesus referred to the temple in Matthew 24 when in the tribulation period, the greatest time of suffering and anguish since the world began, the tribulation. And there will be a temple and the abomination of desolation will be set up on a wing of the temple. Jesus said it. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2, the Antichrist will set himself up to be worshipped in the temple. There's going to be a temple. Here's the third reference to the temple. They're talking about this temple among the Jews. They've got all the accoutrements ready. They're even trying to identify who can function as priests legitimately, descendants of Levi. They're making a very significant effort through DNA studies of a very complex origin. No Jew since the destruction of the temple has been able to tell you of what tribe he or she is. But they're desperate. They've got to find who's going to function in this temple. I had a friend down in Dallas. His name was Epstein. He's a Christian Jew. He got a call from Jerusalem. Mr. Epstein, we'd like to talk to you. Wondering, well, I'm a Messianic Jew. Clunk. They didn't want any more conversation with him. Verse 2, But the court which is outside the temple leave out, and measure it not, for it is given unto the nations and the holy city, and they shall tread under foot forty and two months. See, these variables Seven years, 42 months, 1,260 days link Daniel and Revelation in a very significant and important way. And I will give power to my two witnesses and they shall prophesy 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before God, the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and they shall overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the peoples and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not permit their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and a half, the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, And great fear fell upon them and those who saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up here. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud. And their enemies beheld them. And about the same hour there was a great earthquake. And the tenth part of the city fell. And in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand. And the remnant were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. It's a great passage. The Jews are on earth during these seven years to experience one of the most remarkable and significant chapters in their long and troubled history. You see, folks, the Jews is the key to history and prophecy. God chose this nation, not because they were more righteous than other nations. I have always wondered, as I've talked to the Lord, why He chose the Jews. How odd of God to choose the Jews, Ogden Nash said. I thought the Lord should choose the Swedes. In His sovereign grace, He chose the Jews. That's His prerogative as God. And he gave to Abraham, the father of the Jews, promises, wonderful, unconditional promises of a seed, of blessing, and of a land. And my friends, while secure possession of and prosperity in that land is conditioned on the obedience of the Jews, that land belongs to them in perpetuity. God said to Abraham, I give it to you as an everlasting possession. Now, folks, everlasting is a long time. And I have a personal stake in that word and so do you, because we have been promised everlasting life. And I'll tell you, I believe when God says everlasting, He means everlasting. How about you? He's not going to renege on that. He's not going to pull back on that. He's not going to shift that over to somebody else. Praise God. I'm a very simple-minded person. And I read the Bible in what I think is a normal, simple, plain, literal where possible manner. And when my God says, I'm going to give this as an everlasting possession, He means it. But there are increasingly among us those who say, not true. This is what we call replacement theology or supersessionism. Israel has been superseded by the church. You know naughty Israel? Ah, God shifted all the promises to us, the church. The judgments belonged to the Jews. God lowered the boom on them. But we get the blessings. My friends, that is a seedbed for anti-Semitism, has proven to be so down through the centuries. The replacement theory is a serious mistake. Fifty-four references to the Jews in the New Testament, and every single one of them is to ethnic geopolitical Israel. Even the passage in Galatians 6, I am convinced, where Paul refers to the Israel of God. And when he said the Israel of God, he was not talking about the church. Israel is Israel. And my friends, the character of God, the veracity of God, the dependability and faithfulness of our God, that's what's at stake in this issue. And it's important. Malachi 3, 6, I, the Lord your God, do not change. Therefore, you are not destroyed, O sons of Jacob. Jeremiah 30, we've heard about the ordinances. tonight so grippingly that govern the sun and the moon. And the Lord says in Jeremiah chapter 30, as long as these ordinances governing the sun by day and the moon by night persist, so I will not destroy Israel for what they have done. That's what the Bible says. Now, my friends, how can you say that has to do with the church? The church didn't come into existence until the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out. And uniquely in this age, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, male nor female. The church, this is a unique creation of God of this age. But God is not through with the Jew. And I believe I could show you in all parts of the New Testament that the landedness, Israel's possession of the land ultimately and finally is reflected again and again and again and not least in the book of the Revelation. Inductively, I can show you the Jews are a distinct and an identifiable people in the plan and purpose of God, and God has a great and a glorious purpose for His ancient people. Praise be to His name. And I worship our God for His fidelity to His promises. Even in the very first chapter of the book of Revelation, Fascinatingly, if you look in verse 7, Behold, He comes with the clouds. This is His coming in power and glory. Seven years after the rapture. This is His coming, not for His saints, but with His saints. At the end of the tribulation, for the battle of Armageddon to set up His kingdom, He comes with clouds. Every eye shall see Him. This is not a coming like a thief in the night. Every eye shall see Him, and they also who pierced Him. Look, in speaking of the whole of humankind, there is yet a specific identity for those who pierced Him. Now, if the Jews have disappeared, folks, this people, After all they've gone through across these 2,000 years, the pogroms, the suffering, the Holocaust, they're down to about 13 and a half million, against whom are pitted the Arab world, the whole Muslim world of a billion, two hundred million people. Folks, the Jews tonight are in a very precarious situation. They lost the Second Lebanese War. It was a disaster for Israel, externally and internally. And they're facing Hamas, along with the PLO. The new mayor of Bethlehem is a member of Hamas, dedicated to destroy Israel. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran. Have you ever heard such hatred and venom spewed out as from this wicked man who says, we shall wipe out Israel? United Nations, the disunited notions, All they can do is condemn Israel. The Commission on Human Rights has sixty-five times condemned Israel for its safety wall, for its self-defense, and not once has the United Nations condemned the suicide bombers of the Middle East. What a travesty of justice. referring to apartheid, rallies in the interest of destroying the Jews held in London, major denominations in the United States divesting all investment in the State of Israel. Educational societies of faculty in Britain refusing to participate with the Jews in any educational conference. My friends, the resurgence of a vicious and mean anti-Semitism around the world. And in our own country, we have regular anti-Semitic incidents with swastikas painted on synagogues. the first Muslim member of the United States Congress elected by the voters of the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. And as the number of Muslims increases in our land, the pressure rises upon politicians. And Israel is increasingly isolated. Well, God's not through with the Jew. He has not cast away his ancient people. Look in Revelation chapter 7. Here you've got a reference to a remnant of 144,000 out of Israel from twelve tribes. This is Revelation 7, 4 and following. Twelve thousand from Judah. Twelve thousand from Reuben. Well, of course, the cults have always loved this chapter. The Seventh-day Adventists, they think they're the 144,000. The Jehovah's Witnesses, those who sell the most awake magazines, they're the elite 144,000. I am meeting hundreds of Christian theologians and teachers who say, the church is the 144,000. I say, of what tribe are you? Now, you know when it says 144,000 of Israel, do you know what I think it means? I think it means 144,000 out of Israel. This idea of ten lost tribes, forget it, notwithstanding what the Mormons say. The New Testament speaks of the twelve tribes. Anna was one of these so-called out of these ten lost tribes. Remnants of all twelve tribes were in Eretz Israel, the land in the New Testament. James says so. Paul says so. And here you have, in the Tribulation, a vital role served by 144,000 Jews. I believe this is the vanguard of all Israel being saved. This is the first installment. And I'm going to seek to show you from chapter 11 when it is in the seven years that the 144,000 are saved. The balance to be saved through their ministry, ready for the return of Christ when He comes in power and in great glory. Now, the great unnumbered multitude which follows in the description here in chapter 7, this great unnumbered multitude which comes out of great tribulation. Notice verse 14, 7-14. These are they who come out of the great tribulation, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. This is the fruit of Jewish evangelism in the last three and a half years of the tribulation. Listen, our God wants all people to be saved. In every age, there are going to be people saved. Old Testament people were saved. Times of Jesus people were saved. During the church age, He is not willing that any should perish. God wants people to be saved. Jesus died for the sins of everyone. I believe that. In the Tribulation, people are going to be saved. In the Millennium, people are going to be saved. This is the great consuming passion and purpose of our God. that people will be saved, that we meet Jesus and receive Him as our own personal Savior and Lord. And as the result of the testimony and ministry of the 144,000, there will be a great unnumbered multitude of Gentiles who are saved in the tribulation period. And I can only say, praise God, shoot the devil. The devil's defeated. Well, now we come over to chapter 11, and here we have two witnesses. Folks, God is never without a witness. He even had Melchizedek in the midst of all of those Canaanite tribes and all of their gross idolatry. He had a witness, a priest of the Most High God, to whom Abraham paid tithes of all that he had and shared some kind of a sacramental meal. God always has a witness. And after the church is translated in those first three and a half years, when the Antichrist is consolidating his power, this is Revelation 6, when you've got the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, the first of whom is the Antichrist, and then in his wake, War and famine and death. Conquering the world. Consolidating the sovereignty of all the nations. And the whole world goes after the beast, as we saw this morning. Well, during those first three and a half years, God has his witnesses, and these are the two witnesses described here. The early church was inclined to Enoch and Elijah. In more recent years have fought Moses and Elijah. I am basically agnostic on Enoch or Moses. Who can say for sure when the Bible doesn't tell us? Well, you know for sure, Pax Vulbiscum. One of them is Elijah. Because Malachi chapter 4, the last verses of the Old Testament, tell us that before Messiah comes, Elijah will have a ministry. turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers. Folks, that's going to be a powerful ministry. And it is only dispensationalism in my judgment which has any kind of a coherent and cogent interpretation of this in the Gospel of Matthew. How could John, when asked, are you Elijah, say no? Matthew 11, Jesus says, if you had received it, He would have been Elijah. The offer of the kingdom. The theocratic kingdom. The messianic kingdom. Promised. It was offered. There was a bona fide offer. Some are not liking the word postponed kingdom. They're liking contingent kingdom these days. Whatever. The kingdom was offered. The One preparing the way had come. in the spirit and power of Elijah. But in Matthew 17, the Lord said, He came and you rejected Him. He was beheaded and I am to be crucified. So the Jews are not wrong at Passover today to still have an empty chair for Elijah. The Elijah ministry of Malachi 4 is yet to be, and it will be in the first three and a half years of the tribulation. These two rustic prophets in Jerusalem. I think, from my standpoint, one of the highlights in Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' Left Behind series is the portrayal of the two witnesses during the first three and a half years. Do you remember those two rustic prophets and how the Antichrist, Carpathia, sends out his soldiers to silence them? They are an annoyance to Him. They are an irritation to Him. They're the fly in the ointment to Him. And He sends out His soldiers to silence these two Old Testament prophets who are preaching the Word of God, and those soldiers are ash in a flash. God protects them for three and a half years. Folks, He has His witness. They're sowing the seeds of the Word of God. They're not appreciated. They're opposed. but they're faithful in their proclamation of the Word of God. That's what this text says. We read it. These two olive trees, verse 4 of chapter 11, they had power to shut heaven that it rain not. Very much in an Elijah-like picture. And power over waters to turn them to blood. That sounds like Moses. And verse 7, when they shall have finished their testimony. Folks, We're immortal until our work is done. God will give us breath to breathe until our testimony is finished. Praise be to His name, not a minute before. As long as we're of any use to Him, He'll keep us on the firing line. And when they shall have finished their testimony, then the beast, the antichrist, makes war against them. He comes up gnashing his teeth. Ooh, he's furious. For three and a half years, he has been foiled and frustrated by these two witnesses. Two! He's got an army. He's got a coalition of the nations. And these two witnesses have withstood him. Praise be to God. Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm. Dare to make it known. How many years has it been since we sang that? We sing some other things, but we don't sing that. I will move on. He kills us. They are murdered in cold blood. Can you not hear it over CNN? Wolf Blitzer reporting. I'm in Jerusalem. The two prophets. These two remarkable individuals who have stood so adamantly against the world ruler, Nikolai Karpathia. What's this? They are murdered. At last they succumb, stone-cold dead in the market. Wolf Blitzer, Jerusalem reporting. And their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. This is Jerusalem. This is Jerusalem. spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. It is the place where our Lord was crucified. And the peoples and kindreds and tongues and nations see these dead bodies. Three and a half days. Robert Govett was a Bible scholar in the 19th century, an Englishman. He was writing a commentary of the book of Revelation. He came to this verse. He said, how is it possible, if the earth is a sphere, writing 1880, that all of mankind shall see these two corpses exposed on the streets of the city of Jerusalem. Well, said Robert Govett, somebody's going to have to invent some kind of a little box And you can look in this little box and you're going to be able to see what happens on the other side of the world. Oh, my friends, praise be to God. Through modern Telstar communications system, you know we're right there on the other side of the world. In Baghdad, in Jerusalem, in London, Yes, the feasibility and plausibility of a literal fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Never more possible than today with this ancient people returned to its land within the lifetime of many of us here, now 5.2 million strong. as many Jews in the Holy Land as are Jews in the United States for the first time. The fig tree has budded. So the whole world sees these two corpses and they rejoice because they are adherents of the beast and his world government. They rejoice. They make merry, verse 10. They send gifts. It's Christmas in July or whatever month it is. It's a run on the department stores because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. The spokesmen for God inevitably are regarded as tormentors. Ahab said to Elijah, here you are who torments Israel. And my dear friends, God save us. How can preachers who are worth their salt and faithful to the Word of God be other than seen as irritants and tormentors of a world that is in rebellion against God? Where did we get the idea? We can be friends and buddy up to everybody, no matter what they believe and where they stand. They rejoiced that these two prophets were dead. After three days and a half, the Spirit of life from God entered into them. Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Jerusalem, ladies and gentlemen, I think I have 20-20 vision. I have just seen something the like of which the two corpses have just stood upon their feet. The two corpses. Am I seeing it? Up! Up! Up and away! This is a very ungluing experience. Wolf Blitzer reporting, CNN Jerusalem. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Now look what happens. Folks, great fear fell upon those who saw them. Great fear. They heard a great voice from heaven come up here. They ascended. The same hour was an earthquake. Tenth of the city of Jerusalem fell. And in the earthquake, 7,000 died. And the remnant, the remnant. Who is this remnant? These are people in this area. These are Jews. This remnant were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. Folks, the inhabitants of the earth Do not give glory to the God of heaven. Revelation chapter 6, those who are in revolt and rebellion against God, before the judgments of God, cry out to the rocks to fall upon them, but they do not repent. I believe at this point, the 144,000 are converted. Their eyes open. A fountain of cleansing is opened for Israel. This is Zechariah 12 and 13. They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced. You've got a people movement to Christ among the Jews, 144,000. And they now become God's witnesses in the last three and one-half years. And the gospel of the kingdom is preached in all the world. And then the end will come. God is never without a witness. This is Ezekiel 37. Not only a physical return to the land, but a spiritual regeneration. Folks, two trends of thought in Scripture. Obviously, in Ezekiel 37, these bones in Death Valley, these unregenerate Jews, Folks, they're in this land in unbelief as the huge preponderance of Jews are in Israel tonight in unbelief. A relatively small proportion of them observant Jews. The only observant Jew that has been Prime Minister of Israel since its inception in 1948 was Menachem Begin. But there's going to be a turning And this people, God bless them, who know all the languages on the face of the earth, what missionaries they're going to be. The Jews in Israel come from 104 different countries. They don't need to go to language school to preach the gospel. They know the languages. And there are great depositories of Bibles, New Testaments, and commentaries in Israel planted now waiting for the conversion of the 144,000. They're going to do crash course. And they're going to start to preach. Listen, these people, they can sell refrigerators to Eskimos. I mean, look, you don't have a lot of Jews living in Reading. But I'll tell you, I know Jews. I live in Chicago. And I go to my medical building and I'm telling you there are 65 doctors' names on the sign outside, and 63 of the 65 names are Jews. Listen, they are a gifted people. They have survived. They have been preserved supernaturally in the providence of God, in the face of all of their enemies, and the vicious anti-Semitism which lurks and rages on every side. And through their ministry, even those not back in the land will see the Messiah in their distant lands, as Deuteronomy also describes. And they will come back as regenerated believers. Two strands of truth there that must be observed. Some in unbelief in the land will be saved. And some in unbelief in distant lands will be saved. But there is going to be a great people movement to Christ that rejoices my heart. How can we not but love God's ancient covenant people and rejoice that they're going to be saved? That Paul's great vision in Romans 11 that those natural branches which have been broken off because of unbelief? And we wild olive branches, we Gentiles, that's not a terribly complimentary description of us. We wild, gnarled olive branches. We wild Gentiles. I wouldn't want to describe publicly what my Viking forebears did. when they swept down through England, Ireland. Naughty, naughty, naughty. But folks, this people, these wild olive branches cut off will be grafted in again. Folks, This is Israel. These wild olive branches aren't. We're grafted in to partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree, to become beneficiaries of the new covenant which was made to Israel, Jeremiah 31. But those natural branches will be grafted in again. And so, all Israel will be saved. There is something special. How can you deny it? Isn't that just like our God? that this ancient people who have been such a disappointment and a tragedy spiritually, they're going to be saved. There's going to be a great movement to Christ among them at the end time. My friends, you turn over to chapter 12 and what do you have? At the midpoint of the tribulation, three and one-half your point, Satan is cast out of any access to heaven to accuse the saints day and night as he has been wont to do through all these centuries. He's cast down to earth. And what does he do? He turns against the woman who brought forth the man-child. What time? Middle of the seven years. Why does he turn against Israel? Folks, that woman is Israel. That woman is not the Roman Catholic Church. That woman is not Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy of Christian Science. That woman is Israel. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given, Isaiah 9.6. Jesus was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. The woman brought forth the man-child and the Antichrist vents his spleen, he directs his rage at the woman and she flees and is given a hiding place in the wilderness. Why does the Antichrist hate the Jews? Well, one, because Jesus was a Jew after the flesh. Two, because the Jews have given us all But two books in our Bible, and three, because converted Jews at the middle of the tribulation, the covenant is broken, Daniel 9, 24 to 27. Why does the Antichrist break his covenant with the Jews? Because the 144,000 will not worship the abomination of desolation. That's why. And he is infuriated. He is enraged. And my dear friends, that twelfth chapter, oh, that's worth an hour and a half. Not tonight. And you come to the last chapters of the book of Revelation, what do you find? Inscribed and written on the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem, the names of the twelve tribes. Israel. God has a plan and purpose. infidelity to his promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This people. I love the Jews. I have an unsaved Jewish son-in-law. Oh, that he would come to Christ. His mother is a Holocaust survivor. Lives in the Queens in New York City. My daughter went to Wheaton. Backslid at the University of Chicago. Married outside of the faith has come wonderfully back to Christ. Oh, my friends. I have a lot of rabbis as friends. Dov Rosenblum is one of my friends. He's an Orthodox rabbi. David, he says, I like you. I like you too. You know, when Mrs. Rosenblum is going to have a baby, if it's on the Sabbath, I'm in trouble. I can't start my car. I have to hire a Sabbath. Look, if she's in labor, I'll start it and get to Swedish American Hospital, but I can't turn it off. I've got to hire a Sabbath boy, a Sabbath Gentile, pay him $25 to turn my car off. I say, Doug, when Messiah comes, how is He going to come? David, he's coming in the white Cadillac." I said, Dove, you people are the same as you were 2,000 years ago. He came on the donkey and that wasn't enough. Folks, look. You know what thrills my heart? I think of my son-in-law, Mark. Gifted, brilliant. He earns $400,000 a year. Oy yoy yoy yoy. He's so smart and so rich. He doesn't need God, he thinks. Almost died of cancer. That's when my daughter came back to the Lord. And the children are walking with Christ. Praise God. With God there is no impossible case. Prima facie evidence, dear people. How many of you have a loved one, a friend, a business associate, a neighbor who's not saved that you've been praying for for years? How many of you are here tonight? Listen. Our hearts just ache for people who aren't saved. who, if they died tonight, would be eternally separated from Christ. And we've had them on our prayer list for years, and we've prayed, and we've prayed, and nothing seems to happen. Folks, don't give up praying. George Muller prayed. That man of deep faith and prayer, he prayed for two of his boyhood friends in Germany. Folks, one of them came to Christ at his funeral, and the other within the next five years. We've got to keep on praying. And as I see this marvelous truth from the book of Revelation, and see how God has stayed with this people in their orneriness, in their arrogance, in their brilliance, He hasn't given up. And there's going to be a turning. A turning. Let's keep trusting. Let's keep praying. You know what my motto is these days, sweetie and I? Knees down, chin up. I'll tell you, for the living of these days, knees down, chin up. Oh, I've seen it. On both sides of my family, these were Scandinavian immigrants. I mean, they came with nothing. Big families. Poor families. My mother had a black sheep brother, the youngest, Robert. He was nice looking, bright. Went to Detroit in the Depression. Got a job with the Hudson Motor Company. He was a drunk. He was a souser. Look, he lost his job. They couldn't even send him a new coat for the winter in Detroit because he'd hock it for hooch. Nobody had seen Robert. I can remember my grandmother's prayers. Our family just... Oh, that Robert would come to Christ. This is a hopeless case. And one year I had an invitation to go to Detroit to the Swedish church. for a revival. And everybody says, praise be to God. David is going to go to Detroit. David can see Robert. David can lead Robert to Christ. Everybody was so thrilled. I was thrilled. And I preached my heart out. And Monday afternoon the pastor said, I'll take you down to see your uncle. Now, I don't want to say anything about Detroit, but I was never in such a scumbag neighborhood in my life. It was a flop house. And I went up to the fourth floor and I found my uncle in a little cubicle and he was drunker than a skunk. And I said, Robert, this is David. I said, this is your sister Myrtle's David. My heart was just crushed. I said, God, how could you let this happen to me and to our family and to my grandma? I'm the first one who's seen him in 20 years and he's so drunk he doesn't even know who I am. I was depressed. Frankly, I was lower than a snake's nest button. And I preached that night and there was an old Swede in that church named Torval. Our Torval. And he was such a dear, He came up after this, he bought a David. He said, I hear you had bad experience today with your uncle. Oh, Art, I said it was a tragedy. Art owned five machine shops, was very well fixed. Over 80. He said, bought a David, don't feel so bad. I'll make you a promise. Clara and I, we're going to go down every week to visit your uncle. Art, I said, I'm not sure your sons would be so happy with that. Your Cadillac may lose more than their hubcaps down there. No, boy, no, David, he said, I'm going to go down there. And you know that old man, he went down week by week to visit my uncle. Most of the time he was drunk. One time, he called me after he came home. He said, I said to your uncle today, I said, Robert, you pray for me today. And he opened his eyes for the first time and he really looked. About two years later, he called me on the phone. He said, Brother David, I got bad news and I got good news. Well, I said, Art, let's start with the bad news. Your uncle has had a terrible fall on the ice and he's shattered both of his knees. Well, that is too bad. Now, here's the good news. They put him in the Danish old people's home and he's going to dry out there. They're not going to let him have any booze. Maybe I can win him to Jesus." Well, I said, pray God. Three weeks later, Art Torvald called me. David, he said. Art, what is it? Your uncle has prayed to receive Jesus as his personal Savior, and he wants to be baptized. Oh, hallelujah. One week later, my uncle died. And one month later, our Thorwald went home to heaven. Folks, we've got a wonderful God. We've got a redeeming God that wants people to be saved. Are we on this frequency? When I study the Jews, this is what grips me. God, God will move for the salvation of this people. Praise be to His name. Don't be discouraged, mom or dad, tonight. It's been hard. Maybe it's a nephew or a niece. Maybe it's a parent. Keep praying. Keep praying. Oh, dear Heavenly Father, we think of Your ancient people and how they have wandered and displeased You and disobeyed You. But Lord, in Your mercy and in Your grace, You remain faithful to your promises. And you will in the last days make a move in the tribulation through the two witnesses and through a whole complex and confluence of specific happenings that there will be among them a great movement to Christ. for which we give you praise and glory. And for every one of our unsaved loved ones, including my son-in-law, Mark, and his mother, Leslie, who comes out of the Holocaust with whom I have talked about heaven and hell so many times, O God, that they might be saved, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.