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this morning, find your place there. We've been journeying with the Lord Jesus through the book of Mark and learning of the greatest person that has ever lived, and I'm glad he still lives, aren't you? Whenever you study biographies, normally you're reading of somebody that's lived and they've died. They're no longer in existence so far as what we would understand life is concerned. But when it comes to the Lord Jesus, He lived, He died, and He forever lives. What a blessing. And the good news is He's coming again. That's what we're studying about. And when you come to Mark chapter 13, as we've worked our way through the Gospel of Mark, and I love to preach through the Bible, book by book, chapter by chapter, many times verse by verse. And that's what we do Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. You don't want to miss it. Tonight we'll be in the book of Joshua. Sunday night, Wednesday night, we'll be in the book of Psalms and studying the Bible together. And every, every service is important. And I want to encourage you to be a part of it. You say, You know, maybe you're an 830 viewer, maybe they're watching the service. Watch, and I meant to mention this this morning, the 830 service. Watch the services if they don't attend. I want to encourage you to be here. Let God speak in your heart and work in your life. Alright? Mark chapter 13, verse number 14. If you don't have a Bible, the text verses are on the screen. And here, the Lord Jesus is giving a sermon to His disciples on the Mount of Olives, or on the slope of the Mount of Olives, three days before He'll go to the cross. It's entitled, The End Times According to Jesus. And here He's giving us a prophetic discourse, one of the most important, comprehensive, chronological, prophetic passages found anywhere in the Bible. Verse 14, But... It's a transition. when ye shall see the abomination of desolation." We looked at that last Sunday. Spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not. So this is an event that will take place in the earth's future in which there's going to be something that's abominable and detestable. It's detested by God that will be in a place where it ought not. And Matthew tells us it's the holy place. It's the holy of holies at the temple in Jerusalem. Let him that readeth understand. Now the disciples are hearing it. The Lord's speaking it. But the Lord's also looking forward to a yet future day when there will be another group of believing Jews like these disciples that will live in this time known as the tribulation period that will read His words. He's addressing them. And He's talking to you and me today about what is going to happen as our earth races toward its final days. He said, Let him that readeth understand. That's a parenthesis. So when you see it, Look, he says, Then let them that be in Judea, that is a geographical location, flee to the mountains. And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein to take anything out of his house. And let him that is in the field not turn back again, for to take up his garment, his clothing. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. He's talking to nursing mothers, and pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. Wouldn't it be difficult for travel, verse 19, but for in those days... He's talking about those coming days shall be affliction such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. The Lord's saying there's going to come a time in the earth's future there's never been anything like it before and there'll never be anything like it after. He goes on to say, "...and accept that the Lord had shortened those days no flesh." That's a phrase meaning all humanity. So He's addressing believing Jews, His disciples, which are a picture of the remnant of believing Jews during the tribulation period, but now He's talking about everybody. No flesh should be saved. That means they wouldn't survive. But for the elect's sake, those who know the Lord, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or, Lo, he is there, believe him not. For false Christ and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect." The deception will be so powerful that if it were possible, it would deceive even those who know the Lord. But you know what? If it were possible is a reminder that it's not possible. Look at verse 23. There's our third mention of that phrase. Pay attention. Pay attention. Be alert. He said, Be aware of the day in which you live. Christian, listen to me. We ought to be aware of where we are in God's program. What's God doing in the world? I don't have to understand everything. I just need to, number one, understand He's in charge, right? He's written the script. That lets me know that God not only knows what's going on right now, but He knows what's getting ready to come. He's in charge and it's okay because my Father's in charge. I have to understand it all, but I need to understand where I am and where the world is going. And that's what He's talking about in these verses. And He tells us, pay attention. Stay alert. Don't let the world lull you to sleep spiritually. Stay tuned in to God. That's what he's saying. We're looking at this passage in the Bible. I want you to draw your attention back to verse number 19. We're looking at this passage here. And he talks about, for in those days shall be affliction. Affliction. Interesting word. It speaks of intense anguish. It pictures the distress of a woman in hard labor. Hard labor. And here he's talking about the hard labor of the tribulation period. Matthew described it this way in the Olivet Discourse, his rendition of the sermon in Matthew 24-21. They compliment one another because God's Word never contradicts itself. He says this, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. So the tribulation period, this coming time of judgment in the earth's future is seven years in length. We already learned how we got that number and how we arrived at that. And it's divided equally into two parts. The first half, three and a half years. Second half, three and a half years. And there's an event that's the transition. It's the turning point that will bring you out of the first three and a half years of the tribulation to the final three and a half years. Alright? Now, the first three and a half years we've already learned in our study is the beginning of sorrows. Look at verse number 8, latter part of it. He said, these are the beginnings of sorrows. There's the beginning birth pains. If you know anything about birth pains and labor pains, they start off relatively mild and infrequent. Infrequent. There we go. And then, as you get closer to the birth, they pick up, not only in frequency, but intensity, until there at the very end, there is intense pain and anguish. And listen, labor pains are going to announce an arrival. Listen, if a woman begins labor, a baby's going to come. They're going to arrive. Isn't that right? There's a new person. getting ready to arrive on planet earth. Let me tell you, the labor pains of the tribulation period are announcing the arrival, not of a baby, but of an extremely important individual, none other than our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Hey, I've got good news, Jesus Christ, the one who lived, the one who died for your sins and my sins, and was buried, for in He rose again the third day, He ascended back to glory, and He is coming again. and the labor pains of the tribulation are announcing the arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, it's a time of judgment. It's a time that this world will face the wrath of God as it never has before. And you say, preacher, why? Because this world will not get by with the rejection and the crucifixion of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. God's dealing also with the nation of Israel in this passage. And when we come to verse number 14, you have that event, what they will see that will tell them they're in the final three and a half years and the Lord's coming is just around the corner. We're talking about the great tribulation period. Let's pray and ask God to help us this morning. Lord, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the truth of Your Word. I pray You'll help me as I preach today. Lord, I pray You'd give clarity of thought and speech. Lord, give understanding to Your people. Open our eyes that we might see truth, that we might have understanding. Lord, help us not just to grow in our intellect, our knowledge of the Word, but God, to realize how this affects how we live today. How we live today, Lord. And Lord, You may be speaking to someone here that doesn't know You. Lord, their sins aren't gone. They don't have any hope of heaven. They're not sure of heaven. And Lord, You want them to know You as Savior. And I pray You'll speak to us today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Notice if you would please as we look at this time in the earth's future known as the Great Tribulation Period. And we saw this last week. We really just dealt with this first point, the perversion of the Antichrist. So we understand that the Antichrist who will rise to power during the Tribulation Period, that there will be an event that's related to him, that they will see, that this believing remnant of Jews will see, that will mark this transition, this turning point from the beginning of Saras, first three and a half years, to the great tribulation period, last three and a half years, and that's in verse 14. He said, but when ye shall see, that means they'll see it with their physical eyes, the abomination of desolation. And we notice the Lord gave us a key to understanding what that event was in Daniel's prophecy. And we saw that in Daniel chapter number 9. And you can go back and grab that message and listen to it if you missed it. And there the Lord gives us an understanding of what this event, this abominable, of the Antichrist in the holy place that they will see that will mark this transition. You say, preacher, what is he going to do? Well, friend, he's going to walk into the newly rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. Israel for three and a half years have been experiencing a time of unprecedented peace. They have rebuilt their temple. They have reinstated their sacrifice and their worship system, and all of this is going on. The priesthood, all of that is taking place. And in the middle of the three and a half years, the Antichrist will break his peace treaty with the nation of Israel. Drunk with his own power, his own sense of importance, his own might, he will walk into that temple, the holiest site on planet earth, and he will proclaim himself to be God. After he does that, he will install in the holy place an idolatrous image, not of some false god, but of himself. Sort of reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 3. What about you? Made the big golden image unto himself and demanded the world of that day worship it. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? They wouldn't bend, they wouldn't bow, and they wouldn't what, church? Burn. And we know God delivered them. Well, you know what? They're a prototype of Jews during the tribulation period. The Antichrist will set up an image of himself. He will desecrate and defile the temple of the living God. But he'll go further than that. He will proclaim Himself to be God and demand the world worship Him. We saw that in Revelation 13. We saw that. Where they all wondered after the beast, this man of beastly character, and all the world worshipped Him. And they followed Him and they worshipped Him. Listen, it's the great lie. You realize Satan's a great counterfeiter, and just as God has His Son, the devil has his. He's going to mimic a death and resurrection. After that, He's going to proclaim Himself to be God. And the world is going to bow before this, not Christ, but Antichrist. When that happens, when that event, the perversion of the Antichrist in the temple, who opposeth, Paul says, and exalted himself above all that is called God of his worship, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, man claiming to be God. When that happens, here's what you need to do. We're going to see it in a moment. Can I just take a little side note and say this? Anytime you meet the Antichrist in Scripture, you always meet his destruction. Remember we told you that His number was 666? A lot of mystery around that number. Hollywood, different things. Can I just be honest with you? God tells us about that number. It is the number of a man. Man was created on the sixth day. And we recognize that man's number in the Bible is six. I don't believe every number in the Bible means something, but there are certain numbers that God has attached symbolism to. Six is one of them and it pictures that of a man. Can I tell you the world will hail the Antichrist as the Superman. He's the answer. He's the one this world's been looking for. He's the one going to solve the problems. He's going to fix the economies of the world. He's going to fix the climate of the world. He's going to fix this and this and this and this. But all of that is just to gain power and to gain domination over the world. His real end goal is world domination and worship. So he's going to come to the forefront. Anytime this man comes on the scene and the world hails him as a Christ, a Savior, God is reminding you he is just a man. Guess what God's number is? Seven in the Bible. You know what that tells me? Try as he may, this man is a six. He will always be a six. He'll never be a seven. And God has His number. He will lift him up against God. He thinks he's going up. God said, no sir, you're going down. God's already predetermined the length of time that this man will even be in power. Three-and-a-half years. He'll rise to power first three-and-a-half. He'll be in power last three-and-a-half. And he will meet his destruction at the hands of the Lord's Christ. Listen to what Paul said, And then shall that wicked be revealed, 2 Thessalonians 2.8, Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. For in the antichrist will meet his doom at the coming of Jesus Christ. But this event, this perversion of the Antichrist will lead to the panic of the people. Let's go back to our text. Jesus says, when this group of people sees this event take place, verse 14, look at the latter part of it. Then, here's what you need to do. Here's what you believers, those of you that know me, you believing Jews, need to do. Then let them that be in Judea flee into the mountains. So there's two geographical locations. He said that he's talking about a geographical place. He's not telling everybody to flee. He's talking to this group of believing Jews that are in the land of Israel. And he says to them, when you see this event take place in your temple, you flee, you run, you get out of town. Speed is of the essence. Alright, now let's look at it. Look at verse number 15. Notice we're continuing the thought, "...and let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein to take anything out of his house." Here's what God says. If you're on the rooftop relaxing, don't go back in the house and pack your bags. He said, you get off the roof and get gone. Now I don't know about you, when was the last time you sort of relaxed on your rooftop? Now if I did that, I'd be on the ground, my back broke, neck broke. It'd be bad. I don't even get on the roof. I'll find somebody else to do that for me. I don't trust me on it anymore. But anyway, side of the point. In Middle Eastern countries, especially in your more rural areas and even inside the city of Jerusalem itself, they still have flat roof systems. And that day, early in the morning and late in the evening, the people would go up on the rooftop and that's sort of like their back porch. And they would catch the evening breeze. That's when they would relax. That's when they'd have family time. That's when they would unwind. And the Lord is saying, if you're on the rooftop unwinding and you're relaxing and you see this event, don't go in your house and pack your bags. You come on that outside staircase, because it's on the outside, and you immediately leave the city. And you flee to the mountains. You run and don't look back. sort of reminds about Lot and his family back in Genesis chapter number 19. There's destruction coming. Then notice he talks to another group. Look at verse 16. He's talking about different times when it might take place. And let him that is in the field, if it's happening during the workday hours, You're out in the fields. You're working. You remember that's an agricultural society. He wouldn't say factory. They wouldn't even understand what that was. But we get it. There's still people that farm in our day. If you're out in the field, you're out in the factory. You're working. Don't turn back again. Don't go back to your house. Leave. Drop the hoe. Stop what you're doing. Leave the city. Get out of town. Look at verse 16. Verse 17, but woe. You know, many times when you see that word woe in the New Testament, it's a pronouncement of judgment even in the Old Testament. But here, that's not what it is. The Lord's not pronouncing judgment on nursing mothers. It's a statement of pity. The Lord knows what's going to happen. I get this all the time. Preacher, if God was so loving, why would He let bad things happen in our world? I mean, if God's really God! You ever hear people say that? Why does God let that happen? Friend, can I just be honest with you? God didn't make that happen. God didn't mess up our world. We did. God's going to be the one who fixes it. But there has to be a time that we have to undergo the fruit of what man did in his own sin and experience the ramifications of his own sin. Because you know what? If we never understood the penalty of sin, we would never understand the need of a Savior and one to fix it. And the bad things that happen in our world is not God. And it's not that God doesn't love people. And it's not that God doesn't care about people. And it's not that God's not interested in people. It's not that at all. We live in a broken world. And it's going to be broken until Jesus comes back and fixes it. Thank God He's going to fix it. Amen? And so we find these nursing mothers, verse 17, but woe to them that were with child. Can you imagine, here's a nursing mother trying to leave Jerusalem and get into the mountains and she's running for her life, verse 18, and pray that your flight, your fleeing be not in the winter when the water's swollen and it's cold and it's difficult and the weather would be against you and it'd be difficult in getting there. Pray that it's not during that time when this event takes place. He's reminding him of the danger of that day and the difficulty of what it will be like under the rule of the Antichrist. You see, 2,000 years ago they said no to God's Christ. Man still says no to Him today. And what we have in our world is the fruit of a world that wants nothing to do with God. And God lets man have what he wants and what he deserves. And sometimes as God's people, we have to go through it too. But you know what the good news is? We don't have to go through it alone. That no matter how difficult, no matter how hard, no matter how grievous life becomes, and sometimes when we experience the loss, aren't you glad there's a God there to enable us and strengthen us and walk with us in this journey and see us through? Isn't that a blessing? Hey friend, I don't have to go through it alone. Neither do you. Where are they going, preacher? Look at verse number 14. I've got to move quickly. Look at verse 14. He said, Let them, being Judea, flee to the mountains. So they're running to the mountains. It's a picture of shelter. It's a picture of refuge. But there is a distinct place. that they're going. I want to show it to you. Hold your place here. Turn to Revelation chapter 12. You remember how we went to Revelation last week? And you're going to find that John in the Revelation just expands the teaching of Jesus and is going to explain in a greater way what's taking place and give us some understanding. Revelation chapter 12. It's here we're going to see in greater detail Satan's war, not just on mankind, but upon the Jewish people. That's been going on throughout history, throughout their existence, and during the tribulation period in particular. Revelation chapter 12, I trust you found it. Let's look at verse 1 very quickly. Could we do that? 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." Let me tell you what that's not. Preacher, what's it not? It's not the Virgin Mary. If you have any roots in Catholicism, you will find pictures of Mary fitting this description. It's not Mary. It's a picture of the nation of Israel. The Bible is the best commentary upon it, Seth. When you go to Genesis 39, Joseph is going to have a dream, and these elements of the sun, moon, and stars are in that dream, and it pictures right off the bat, the Lord tells us, his family, the nation of Israel. So God's not talking about a woman in particular, but a nation in general, because it's through Israel that we have the Messiah. They're God's earthly people. And God has chosen them as His earthly people. And it's through them that He gave us the Lord Jesus. It's through them He's given us our Bible. It is through them that we can know the God of Heaven. And Satan hates them. Verse 2, and she being with child cried, travailing in birth. Now here's biblical history. The writer of Revelation under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is going back and talking about past history. She's with child, that's the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. She's travailing in birth and pains to be delivered. Verse 3, that is the desire and the cry for the Messiah prior to His coming. Verse 3, And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon. This is a picture of Satan, his ferocity, his destructive nature. He's got seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head. That is the kingdom of the Antichrist. Satan is behind the Antichrist and his kingdom. He's energizing it. He's empowering it. Verse 4 speaks of his original rebellion against God, and then look at the last part of it, and the dragon stood before the woman. This talks about Satan's antagonism against the nation of Israel, which was ready to be delivered. Now why is he setting himself against them? because it's through Israel that the promise of Messiah would come. Remember, it's given to Abraham, all of his descendants. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic and the Davidic covenants. Watch what he says, "...for to devour her child." Here he wants to devour the child, the Lord Jesus, as soon as it was born. Remember Herod the Great slaying the children. out in the coast of Bethlehem, right when the Lord was born. You remember that? Throughout the Lord's earthly life, there was attempts made to kill Him, to keep Him from the cross, to destroy Him. Every one of them failed. At times, Satan tried to drown Him in the lake of Galilee. Other times, he would move people to oppose Him and seek to stone Him. He stirred up the religious leaders against the Lord. Alright? He failed. Look at verse 5. And she brought forth a man, child, we know that, to be the Lord Jesus, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. That's His kingdom. And her child was called up unto God and to His throne. That picture is the ascension of the Lord Jesus. So now, watch this. Watch this. Stay with me. Satan has been fighting against the Lord Jesus during His earthly sojourn. He's now in heaven. What's Satan doing now? He's fighting against the nation of Israel. Watch what happens. He turns his attention to the woman. And the woman fled. Why? Because he's opposing her. It's Satan's war against Israel. Anti-Semitism. Can I just say something? Quote-unquote racism of any kind ought not be found among the people of God. Amen? There's only one race and that's called Adam's race. God made of one blood all men to dwell upon the face of the earth. Can I tell you, God's not in dividing everybody up. He's not. Based on culture and skin color and this and that. Can I tell you, the gospel unites people. It doesn't divide them. Amen? And that's true of the nation of Israel because there is a hatred against the Jews that's going on in our world. And it's fostered by Satan himself. And it's going to culminate during the tribulation period under the Antichrist who was at peace with Israel. He now proclaims himself to be God. He desecrates their temple and now this man goes to war with Israel. The one who's at peace with him is now persecuting them to the point that it's going to make what Hitler did during World War II look like a walk in the park. And notice the Bible said in verse 6, And the woman fled, she ran, just as the Lord said thereto, into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God. Do you know God has a place for His people to go? And He will guide them there. They will flee to the mountains and God will guide them to this place. He's already prepared for them. It's sitting empty, waiting on them right now. You say, preacher, where is it? It is the rock city of Petra. It's a fortress. It's a rock fortress that had been carved out of the mountains by the Edomites that were destroyed and removed by the Babylonians. And it sits empty today, awaiting on the day when God's people will flee to this place from the persecution of the Antichrist. And there He will protect them and preserve them and nourish them for three and one-half years. Look what He says. where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days." Twelve hundred and sixty prophetic days or three and one half years. Satan will be confined to the earth, verses 7 through 12. He'll know his time is short. He's going to go on a rampage. Alright? Verse 13, And when the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. All nations will gather against Israel, seeking to destroy her. Verse 14, And to the woman, these believing remnant of Jews, were given two wings of a great eagle, divine aid and assistance. You say, preacher, is that anywhere in the Bible? I mean, where did you get that from? Listen to what happens, okay? You go all the way to the book of Exodus. When Israel come out of Egypt, they come out of Egypt where they've been in bondage over 400 years, they cross the Red Sea, they go into the wilderness, and they're brought to the land of Canaan. And here's what God says in Deuteronomy in Exodus. He said, I brought you to Myself. I bore you on wings of eagles or eagles' wings. It speaks of divine assistance. Listen, when they flee, God will aid them and care for them and nourish them and preserve them. Is this interesting to you? Look at verse 14. "...that she might fly into the wilderness." They'll escape. into her place, Rock City of Petra, where she is nourished. God's going to take care of her for a time. That's one year and times. That's two years and half a time. That's a half a year. Three and one half years, 1260 days from the face of the serpent, Satan. The serpent goes all the way back to Genesis 3 when you meet the devil the first time in the garden. He's pictured there in the form of a serpent. He uses the serpent to masquerade Himself and that has held through throughout the Bible. and the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood." Whether this is a literal flood, the flood of armies, anti-Semitic propaganda, whatever, we don't know till we get to that day. But here's what I know, verse 16, "...and the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swatted up the flood." You know what God's saying? Whatever Satan seeks to do to my people, I'm going to stop it. which the dragon cast out of his mouth. Verse 17, And the dragon was wroth with a woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God." So this is a remnant of believing Jews that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Do you know as a nation right now, they've rejected Jesus Christ, but in this day there's going to be a believing remnant that will receive Jesus Christ. God will nourish them. I've got to bring this thing to a close, but I've thought about this. I believe that God, much like during the days of the Nazi Holocaust, will use believing Gentiles to bring food, clothing, shelter, care for His people even in other areas outside of Israel to shelter them and protect them from the destruction of the Antichrist, much like the Holocaust. But I believe there's a... God sent eagles' wings. I believe there's some divine assistance. Could it be that God will again rain down manna from heaven to His people? Could it be that God will give them water from the rock? Could it be that through miraculous aid that God nourishes and cares for a group of people that will number in the tens if not hundreds of thousands that will be in this place? I just want to tell you, if God can take care of them and He's already promised He will, He can take care of you. Isn't that amazing? Let's give you the last thing and I'm going to quit. Let's go back to Mark 13. Can we do that? Do you see how these dovetail together? See how they fit? Now I want you to notice number three, the protection of God. Look at verse number 19. For in those days shall be affliction, there's hard labor." That's what I wrote beside the word in my Bible. Hard labor of the tribulation. Such as was not from the beginning of the creation, which God created at this time, neither shall be. I don't have time to mention the trumpet judgments of Revelation 8 and 9. You can go read that. of oceans turn to blood, sun, moon, stars darken, earthquakes, all these things. Sun scorching men with heat in the kingdom of the Antichrist. You can go read that Revelation 8, 9, 16. It's going to be a terrible time. And I want you to notice verse number 20, and accept that the Lord had shortened those days. Do you believe every word of God is important? Not just the sentences, not just the chapters, but every word. Okay? Did you notice had is past tense? This is not something that God will do. It's something He has done. Did you notice that? Okay? Important when you read your Bible to slow down and catch the words. Because here's what's important. A lot of people think, okay, God's going to shorten those days so He's going to darken the sun, moon, and stars. So for a third part of the day, God's going to shorten it down from 12 hours to 8. That's not what He's talking about. Others think that He's going to take the three and a half years and make them shorter. He can't. There's one week, seven years, started predetermined. So what does He mean here? That word shortened means to cut off abruptly. It means to halt. It means to stop. Here's what God's saying. When He wrote the history of the world, so to speak, when God wrote the script, God knew in His foreknowledge that if He allowed this time to continue on, the work of the Antichrist and its destruction and its persecution, the judgment of God on this, the wars, if God allowed it to go, Nobody would survive it. All human flesh would die. That's what he says. Look what he says. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh, no human being would be saved. That doesn't mean spiritual salvation. That means they wouldn't survive. But for the elect, those who are saved whom He hath chosen, He hath already done shortened the days. That means, friend, it's three and a half years and it will come to an abrupt halt. Boom! Done. Stopped. And God's already wrote the script. So preacher, what's going to bring it to a close? Jesus. Because the very next scene is Him coming from heaven. But something's going to happen before that. Look at verse 21. I'm going to give it to you real quick and we're going to be done. And then if any man shall say to you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, He's there, believe him not. Don't you believe him. For false Christ and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, to deceive, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed. Behold, I have foretold you all things. Would you turn to Matthew 24 and we'll be done. Matthew 24 and we'll be done. Alright? As you're turning there, listen carefully. When the Jews go into hiding, the Antichrist is seeking to destroy them. So through false messiahs and false prophets, He will begin to lure them out of hiding. They will be saying, hey, Messiah's over in the wilderness. Messiah's over in a secret chamber. Go run to Him. When they do that, if they were to believe that lie, that false prophet about a false Christ, they would leave the place of hiding. They would come out into the open where the Antichrist could then destroy them. So the Lord's warning them. He's preserving. He's protecting. He's saying, listen, if anybody tells you that Christ is here or there or somewhere else, don't you come out of your hiding yet. Don't you go to them. You stay hidden because when I come, everybody's going to know it. You won't have to wonder where I'm at. You'll know immediately that I've come. And He's going to give us two ways we can know that. Matthew tells us. Are you ready? We're done. Let's look at them real quick. First of all, He's going to give a sign. Look at verse 27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. There it is. He'll come from the east. That's not what that verse is saying. He may come from the east. That's not what He's saying. What he's saying is just like the sun that shines because that was the ecosystem in that area. It comes from east to west flowing toward the Mediterranean. And when you see those storm clouds and the lightning flashes across the sky, everybody sees it. It's a very conspicuous, public, visible event that happens. Here's what he's saying. When I come, it'll be public, it'll be visible, it'll be open, and nobody's going to miss it. They're going to know that I've come. That's what he's saying. So you stay hidden till you see me. Where are you going to be, Lord? He tells them the place. Look at verse number 29. Excuse me, verse 28. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. That word eagles means birds of prey, flesh-eating birds. Eagles, falcons, buzzards, vultures, any kind of bird that would eat upon the flesh of an animal or a man. Okay? He's talking about a specific location. Where are there going to be a lot of dead bodies during the tribulation? At a place called Armageddon where the armies of the world have gathered together in a conflagration, a battle, a campaign that will catch Israel in the crossfires and they will fill the land of Israel. It's there that the armies of the Antichrist will fight against the Lord's Christ. The Bible says He will slay them with the breath of His lips. He said, that's where you're going to meet me because I'm going to come to your salvation, your rescue. He will stand again on the Mount of Olives and there He will defeat the armies of the Antichrist. There He will put the last period to the last sentence to the last paragraph to the last chapter of human history. Revelation 19. Friend, He will come. Do you know there's over 2,000 prophecies? 2,100 times the Bible says Jesus Christ will come again. You know what the Lord is saying to them? When I come, you'll know it. Be ready. He's going to say, watch. Christian, at least seven years Before He comes to the earth, He's going to come into the air for you. You know what He's saying? Watch. Be ready. Don't let this world lull you to sleep spiritually. You stay in tune with Me. And here's the good news. You say, Preacher, if I'm saved, what happens to me? The good news is you won't face any of what I preached on today. The Bible said He's not appointed us to wrath this day of judgment, but to obtain deliverance, salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to be snatched away to glory before it ever takes place. My wife was talking, that's the only time she's going to fly. Thank God. But now listen to me. If you're not saved, you'll face this. This isn't a fairy tale. This isn't a horror story. This isn't something Hollywood makes up. Oh, they might play games with it and make movies called Apocalypse and all these different things. Friend, I'm just here to tell you, Hollywood can't mimic what's going to come to this world. They can't even imagine it. And you don't want to be a part of it. God wants you to be saved today. He wants your sins to be washed away. He wants you to know you're saved. He died for your sins, was buried and rose again, and He wants to live in your heart. He wants you to know Him. And if you're not sure you're saved today, today would be a wonderful day to come to know Him. And Christian, He wants you to be His salt and His light in this day to share Him with the world that desperately needs Him. How are you doing on that? How are you doing? Maybe you need to come and say, God, I've not been a very good light, but from this day forward, I want to be your light. I want to be your salt. I want to make a difference for you.
The Great Tribulation Period - Part 2
Series End Times According To Jesus
What will the Tribulation period be like? In this sermon, Pastor Broyhill answers that question out from Mark 13 and Daniel 9.
Sermon ID | 822211536304906 |
Duration | 39:59 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday - AM |
Bible Text | Mark 13; Revelation 13 |
Language | English |
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