Daniel chapter nine, we're looking at the three divisions of the 70 weeks, and this is part two. We looked at the cutting off of the Messiah, and we noticed the ABAB structure of Daniel 26 and 27, 9, 26, and 27. We're gonna finish looking up at 26 and 27 this afternoon. Amazing section of scripture, and we'll be looking at the prophecy regarding the destruction of Jerusalem as well. But I'll read the whole chapter. And the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, and the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, where the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years of the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord, the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them who keep his commandments. We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from my precepts and from my judgments. Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants, the prophets, which speak in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as it is this day, to the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, that are near and that are far off, through all the countries, whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass, that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belongeth mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord thy God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice. Wherefore, the curse is poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil. For into the whole heaven hath not been done as it hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, again, all this evil has come upon us. Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all his works, which he doeth, for we obeyed not his voice. And now, O Lord our God, that hath brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and has gotten thee renowned as it is this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly, O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from my city, Jerusalem, thy holy mountain, because of our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers. Jerusalem and my people become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications and cause thy face to shine upon my sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear, open thine eyes, and behold our desolations in the city which is called by thy name. For we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hearken and do! Defer not for thy note's sake, O my God, for thy city and my people are called by thy name. And while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, while I was, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me and talked with me and said, oh, Daniel, I have now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon my people upon the holy city to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring an everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. And here's our text, 25 to 27. Actually, 26 and 27. Know, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks, the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood. Unto the end of the war, desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the covenant and oblation to cease. And for the overspreading of the abominations, he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation. And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." That's the reading of God's holy word. We're looking at verses 25 and 26. We've focused our attention a whole bunch on the death of Christ. And we've come to fifth, our fifth point. The cutting off of the Messiah and the confirming or establishing of the covenant of grace results in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. In the ABAB structure, the first A, the murdering of the Messiah leads to B, the destruction of the city and the sanctuary. The second day, the confirming of the covenant by Christ's sacrificial death leads to the wing of abominations who makes desolate. And this is another description of the destruction of the temple. And there are a number of things to note about the two B descriptions. We're focusing on, we looked at the A aspect of the ABAB structure, now we're gonna look at the B aspect. Number one, the two B events happen. not in the 70th week, but after it. God, in his kindness and mercy, gave the Jews a whole generation to repent. And you all know the book of Acts, and you know the New Testament, and the Gospels, how to the Jew first, the Gospel went, then to the Gentile. Whenever Paul went to a city, even in the Roman Empire, to the Jew first, then the Gentile. They had that opportunity to repent. This is a special time of gathering the elect, a remnant throughout all Israel. And you can read about that in the gathering of the elect from the four corners in Matthew 24. The same apostate religious and political leaders who killed Jesus tried to put a stop to the sin gathering and even arrested Paul, Peter, and John, Acts 4, 1-3. In Acts 5-17, they arrested the apostles and put them in prison. but an angel from God let them out and ordered them to preach at the temple, Acts 5, 19 to 20. It is interesting that at the end of the 70 weeks, around circa AD 33, the center of the apostles' operations had, due to persecution, shifted from Jerusalem to Antioch. Paul was not sent out from Jerusalem, he was sent out from Antioch. Now people can argue, well, he was the apostle to the Gentiles, but the center of operation seems to have been Antioch at that time. This was the church that sent Paul out on his missionary journeys. Number two, the people of the prince that shall come to destroy the city and the sanctuary are the Roman arties under Titus Vespasianus, or Vespasian. It's a literal event that happened in history. It's prophesied very clearly here. This is the view of virtually all Orthodox expositors. Because of the rejection and murder of their Messiah, desolations are determined. That is, the destruction of the city and temple was decreed by God. As we noted, this cannot refer to Antiochus epiphanies or a future for us Antichrist, for the judgment is directed is directed to the generation which killed the author of life and rejected as well as persecuted Jesus' apostles and prophets. It does not fit with Antiochus at all. Doubtless the Lord had this very passage in mind when speaking of the then approaching siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. He said, Luke 21, 22, for these be the days of vengeance that all things that are written may be fulfilled. The things that are written were the things foretold in this verse of the prophecy, Daniel 9.26, which were fulfilled at that time, AD 70. The Lord's words recorded in Matthew 23, 32 to 36 and Luke 19, 43 and 44 also refer to the calamities foretold in Daniel 9.26, as will be clear Clearly seen, if you take the time later to look at those passages, also Matthew 24, the abomination of desolation, or the abomination which causes desolations, that's Daniel 9, 26 and 27. Number three. The destruction is described in comprehensive terms. It is with an overflow. Its end is with an overflow. The end of the Jewish nation with Jerusalem in the temple would be like a flood of destruction. The great Roman armies would overflow the land as an irresistible force. They would destroy everything in their path. An identical language is used in Nahum 1.8 of the destruction of Nineveh. But with an overflowing flood, he will make an utter end of its place. Now, this can't refer to Antiochus, for he caused a lot of damage. He killed a lot of Jews, but he didn't destroy the city. The complete destruction is emphasized by the statement, till the end of the war, desolations are determined. From the beginning of the war by the Romans with the Jews to the end of it, there would be nothing but continued desolations, a dreadful havoc and ruin everywhere, and all disappointed and determined by the Lord as a just punishment for their sins. Regarding Jerusalem, Paine writes this. The later Roman procurators faced an increasing breakdown of law and order in Jerusalem. James, the brother of our Lord, Acts 15, 13 and 21, 18, suffered martyrdom by stoning in AD 62. And that's just, when you get a chance, look at Joseph's Antiquities 20. And therefore, before the city's demise, its Christian community fled to safety across the Jordan in obedience to Christ's words in Matthew 24, 15 to 22. They fled to Pella. The fatal Jewish revolt began in AD 66 and lasted three and a half years. See Luke 19.43 and 21.20. The Roman general finally forced his way into the city, breaking successfully through the three north walls, and on August 6th, That's coming up soon. On August 6th of the year, and that's the anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death also. On August 6th of the year 70, his army burned the temple, eventually leveling it just as Jesus had predicted, Mark 13 too. Except for Herod's three western towers, the city and its fortifications were totally destroyed. End of quote. We must remember Jesus' words in the Olivet Discourse. After the disciples had showed Jesus the buildings of the temple, he said to them, do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down. Matthew 24, verse two. The stones that made up the temple were of exceptionally large dimensions. And thus, this statement would have shocked the disciples. Eidersheim says this. According to Josephus, the city was so upheaved and dug up that it was difficult to believe that it had ever been inhabited. At a later period, Tumus Rupus had the plowshare drawn over it. In regard to the temple walls, notwithstanding the massiveness of the stones, there was nothing left in place. with the exception of some corner or portions of the wall left, almost to show how great had been the ruin and desolation. It always pointed out to me how the inside of the walls were covered with gold, and when they burned the temple, the gold melted and went in between the large, massive stones that upheld the temple, and they wanted that gold, so they tore everything apart to get at the gold. Well, let's look at the wing of abomination. In verse 27, we read, and on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate. The phrase wing of abominations cannot be understood until we understand what the word wing refers to. In the Old Testament, when we're not speaking of a literal bird, the word wing can refer to the extremity of an upper garment, 1 Samuel 15, 20, 37, and 24, 5, excuse me, 27 and 24, 5. For this reason, Jesus, James Jordan believes that the wicked, unbelieving priesthood who murdered Jesus and persecuted the saints is in mind. In an earlier work, he believed it referred to the temple. can also be used to describe the uttermost parts of the earth, Isaiah 2416. And in the plural, the ends of the earth. If this view is in mind, it would suggest the Roman army composed of men from every part of the empire. And it would be to say that the whole world would attack Jerusalem and destroy it, if you're going to take it in the sense of the uttermost parts of the earth. Because the word is used of extremities, Edward J. Young argues that it refers to the pinnacle of the temple itself. But under the apostate, Jews has become a place of idolatry and heathenism because they rejected Christ. Here's what he says. He writes, in what sense, however, may the temple be described as abominations? Well, the word has a primary reference to idols. Now, at the time of Titus, actual idols were not erected in the temple. Therefore, the word must be used figuratively to describe the worship of the temple after they all had been rent in twain. No longer was this the house of the Lord, but a house of abominations, for the true worship of Jehovah had ceased. The one making desolate is said to be over or upon the wing of abominations. That is, he comes over the summit or highest pinnacle of the temple, thus signifying its utter destruction. Now given our Lord's use of Daniel 9.27 in the Olivet Discourse, the wing of abominations, the view that makes the most sense is the view that it's the Roman armies which encircled Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Listen to Matthew 24, 15, and 16. And remember, this is when Jesus in Matthew is referring to Daniel 9.27. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads let him understand. Then let those, that is the Christians, who are in Judea flee to the mountains. And they actually did, they fled to Pella. That's Matthew, written to primarily a Jewish audience. Now let's look at Luke, who's writing primarily to Gentiles, and listen to the exact parallel passage in Luke. Luke 21, 20 to 21. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Instead of the abomination of desolation, which the Gentiles wouldn't know what that meant, they're not familiar with Daniel, he says, when you see the city surrounded by the Roman armies. Here's what Matthew Poole writes, and this is a common interpretation. This abomination was the Roman army with its eagles and with their superstitious rites and approaching to besiege and subdue any place. And this is executed by Christ upon them, Matthew 22.7. when he is called a king, sending forth his armies, and destroying the murderers that destroyed him, and burning their city. And their coming is Christ's coming." Malachi 3, 1-2. So regarding Matthew 24, we have partial preterism in a commentary that came out around 1660 by a covenant. So don't tell me partial preterism was made up by the Jesuits. It's nonsense. After breaking through the walls, an incredible slaughter occurred. Now Titus, the general, did not want his soldiers to destroy the temple, which was extremely famous in the ancient world. It was one of the wonders of the ancient world, and it was gorgeous. It was a beautiful work of art. He didn't want it destroyed. But in a frenzy of violence, they could not be stopped. After part of the sanctuary had been set ablaze, the soldiers brought their legionary standards into the sacred precincts and set them up against the eastern gate, and they offered sacrifices to them. Now remember, the standards that they carried had the Roman eagle and had a thing ascribing divinity to the Caesar. Acclaiming Titus and Pyrrhus emperor, victorious commander, as they did so. The Romans' custom of offering sacrifices to their standards had already been commented on by a Jewish writer as a symptom of their pagan arrogance. But the offering of such a sacrifice in the temple court was a supreme insult to the God of Israel. You have to understand how people thought in the ancient world. They're thinking, my God defeated your God. So we're going to go in your central place of worship, in your temple, and we're going to sacrifice to our God. Now this fact is important. For those who insist that this passage must refer to Antiochus Epiphanes, who, by the way, sacrificed a pig at the temple, and then he set up a statue of Zeus. For they don't believe that Daniel 9.27 fits with AD 70. They want to attach it to Antiochus. But as we have seen, the content of our passage and Jesus' own use of it can only apply to the events of AD 70. In addition, given the fact that Jesus applied Daniel 9.27 to the events of AD 70 rolls out the dispensational futurist view. which asserts that in our future, it still hasn't happened yet, our future, a dictator of the European Confederacy will double cross the Jews and he's gonna set up a statue of himself in the temple. In the Gospels, Jesus makes reference to the 70 weeks only in terms of the abomination of desolation. Matthew 24, 15, Mark 13, 14. In the RSV, it's called the desolating sacrilege. which is to be the sign of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, which is fulfilled when? AD 70. Interestingly, Josephus is not a Christian. He was a secondary historian. He was a Jew working for the Romans. Josephus, the secondary historian who wrote about the destruction of Jerusalem, believed this destruction was a fulfillment of Daniel 9. Regarding the fulfillment of Daniel 9.27, John Foster says this. He's a 19th century commentator. The representations of Caesar and of the eagle on the Roman standards were worshipped by the soldiers of that nation, and thus were, in Hebrew phraseology, an abomination. With equal propriety is their army described by the word desolation. They plundered and devastated without mercy, and to use the indignant expression of a hostile chieftain, and this is a quote from the speech of Galgasus from Cassidus, The Life of Agricola, page 30. Quote, where they have made a desert, they call peace. And you remember when South Vietnam, the city of Hue, they had to destroy the city to save it. They planted their standards before Jerusalem, several full logs of land around which were counted holy. The temple was more particularly called the Holy Place, Acts 6.13. And on the capture of the city, this prediction was fulfilled to the letter. For the Romans brought the eagles into the temple and sacrificed to them there. Out of respect to the Jewish scruples, they had always before left their standards at Caesarea by the Roman governors. Now, I want to read just a quote from Philip Morrow to give you the flavor of the destruction. Now, if you read Josephus, you'll know that the zealots, the sects that caused the revolution against Rome, which brought down the Roman government and ended the destruction of the city, these were not pious Jews. They were vicious murderers, and they were slaughtering each other in the city before the Romans even came. But here's a quote to give you an idea of the flavor of things. In order to overthrow John, he's a zealot leader who is killing people left and right. This is before the Romans are in the city. The people finally admitted Simon and his followers. From that time onward, the civil warfare within the city became more incessant and deadly. The distracted city was now divided into three factions instead of two. The fighting was carried even, these are Jews against Jews. The fighting was carried even into the inner court of the temple, whereupon Josephus laments that even those who came with sacrifice to offer them in the temple were slain, and sprinkled that altar with their own blood, till the dead bodies of strangers were mingled together with those of their own country, and those of profane persons with that of the priests. And the blood of all sorts of dead carcasses stood in lakes in the holy courts themselves." That's from Antiquities 5.1.3. There were never any such conditions as these in any city before or since. Among the dire calamities which befell the wretched people was the destruction of the granaries and storehouses of food so that famine was soon added to the other horrors. The warring factions agreed in nothing but to kill those that were innocent. And here's a quote from Josephus, Josephus 5.2.5. Quote, the noise of those that were fighting was incessant, both by day and by night. and the lamentations of those that mourned exceeded the noise of the fighting. Nor was there ever any occasion for them to leave off their lamentations because their calamities came perpetually one upon another. But as for the seditious bands themselves, they fought against each other while trampling upon the dead bodies which lay heaped one upon another. And being filled with a mad rage from those dead bodies under their feet, they became the more fierce. They moreover were still inventing pernicious things against each other. And when they had resolved upon anything, they executed it without mercy and amended no method of torment or of barbarity." Okay, so what ISIS is doing is not new. The zealots were doing it. At the time described in the preceding paragraphs, the Roman armies had not yet reached the city and as much as the Passover season now came on. and things seemed to quiet down momentarily. The gates were open for such as wished to observe the great feast. I think that's when the Christians, if any were there, they hightailed it. My translator in a footnote says this, this is a translator of Josephus. Quote, here we see the true occasion of those vast numbers of Jews that were in Jerusalem during the siege by Titus and who perished therein. For the siege began at the Feast of Passover, when such prodigious multitudes of the Jews and proselytes were come from all parts of Judea and from other countries. Now listen to this, this is shocking. As to the number that perished during the siege, Josephus assures us, as we'll see hereafter, there were 1,100,000 killed. 1,100,000 killed and 97,000 taken captive, made slaves. That is incredible. This is notable as the last Passover. I'm just going to stop for a moment. Now, see the poetic justice of God. Who were the first preachers to the Jews after Pentecost? Simon and John. Who were the leaders of these factions who were slaughtering innocent people? Leaders of the Zealots, different factions. Simon and John. When does it occur? It happens at Passover when the city would be the most full of people. God knows what he's doing. You don't want to mess with Christ. That joyous feast of the remembrance of God's gate deliverance of his people out of Egypt ended in the orgy of blood. The tyrant John took advantage of this opportunity to introduce some of his followers with concealed weapons among the throngs of worshipers in the temple who slew many. while others were rolled in heaps together and trampled upon and beaten without mercy. And now, though the Roman armies were at their gates, the warring factions began again to destroy one another and the innocent inhabitants. For, says Josephus, quote, they returned to their former madness and separated one from another and fought it out. And they did everything that the besiegers could desire them to do, for they never suffered from the Romans anything worse than they made upon each other suffer. Nor was there any other misery endured by that city which after which these men did could be esteemed new. It was most of it all unhappy before it was overthrown, and those that took it did it a kindness. For I venture to say that the sedition destroyed the city, and the Romans destroyed the sedition. And there were Edomans in the city, there were zealots, there were different factions, and these were bloodthirsty murderers. Remember who was crucified next to Christ? The thief on the cross? Well, they say he was probably a zealot, but he was converted. This is a much harder thing to do than destroy the walls, so that we may justly ascribe our misfortunes to our own people." End of quote. That's 5-6-2 from Josephus. This is the most astonishing feature of this great tribulation. For surely there was never a city besieged was a besieged city whose inhabitants suffered more from one another than from the common enemy. In this feature of the case, we see most clearly that it is one of judgment, and that, as the Apostle Paul said, the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. Totally, totally shocking. Well, let's have summary and conclusion here and wrap things up. In the second half of Daniel 9, we have seen an amazing prophecy given in response to Daniel's prayer. Daniel learns how long it will be from Cyrus' decree to the building and restoring of Jerusalem in the temple. He is also informed of the amount of time before the building of Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah, the Prince. This passage is thoroughly messianic and tells us a lot about Christ's solidific work and its consequences. Once again, Christ is the centerpiece of all human history, and he's clearly the centerpiece of redemptive history, and the Old Testament makes that very clear. The saving work of the Messiah is both negative and positive. He finishes transgression, he makes an end of sins, and he makes reconciliation for iniquity. He also brings in everlasting righteousness, seals up the vision and prophecy, and anoints the most holy, his church. Beside the saving of his people and the establishment of a kingdom of grace, Jesus punishes those who reject him. and murder his people and persecute his people. Christ confirms the covenant of grace. He causes it to be efficacious and ends the sacrificial system forever and crushes his enemies with a rod of iron. The Jews, it's been almost 2,000 years, the Jews have not offered sacrifices since AD 70. And they completely altered their theology and eliminated atonement out of it. What they do, they're very clever. They take the passages that speak about how the Jews were offering sacrifices hypocritically and what God wants is repentance. They take those out of context and they say, oh, see, God doesn't really care about blood atonement. All he cares about is repent, repent, turn over a new leaf, and God will forgive you. Well, they completely misunderstand the Old Testament. The whole point of the sacrificial system and the tabernacle before, and the sacrifices that go all the way back to Abel and Cain, was the point of Christ. And until the Jews recognize Christ as their Messiah, they'll continue to receive judgment. When Israel murdered the author of life, they set in motion the abomination which makes desolate Daniel is told of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Roman armies of Titus, not a future Antichrist. The prophecy not only serves a strong apologetical purpose in that it proves the veracity of God's holy word, and it does so amazingly. Like I said, if you don't believe the Bible's the word of God, then you choose to be in ignorance and you deserve to go to hell because the Bible is so clearly proved to be the word of God. All those atheistic websites and all those atheistic books, they're nothing but blind liars. They're blind leading the blind. Christ is God. Christ has proven himself. Not only proves the veracity of God's holy word, but is exceptionally rich in its teaching on the nature of Christ's salvation. The focus of our passage is not on speculative, futuristic, prophetic fantasies or scenarios, but on the meaning and consequences of Jesus' sacrificial death. You can listen to hundreds and hundreds of hours of prophecy shows, and the most you might hear is, accept Jesus into your heart, or accept Jesus as your personal Savior. You don't hear the gospel, which is the focus of prophecy. Jesus Christ who came at the exact time God said he would, achieved a perfect salvation, fulfilled the covenant of grace, ended the old ceremonial sacrificial system, and established a kingship even over his enemies. Now it's important that we Americans learn the lesson of this passage. Learn the lesson of what happened to apostate Israel. If we neglect so great a salvation as they did, and I'm talking corporately about our nation, and treat Jesus as unimportant, we too will experience the rod of his judgment. The United States and America, which was so blessed with Christian teachings, Christian churches, and great ministers of the gospel, has, by and large, turned away from Jesus. and the truth of the word of God to embrace idols and selfish hedonism. These tapes that have come out from Planned Parenthood where they're talking about selling body parts and they're looking over a tub of an aborted fetus and they're going, oh, there's some kidneys. I think there's a leg there. Oh, look, it's a boy. This is the stuff of Auschwitz. This is the stuff of Nazi Germany. And do people cry out and beg for mercy from God for our nation's wickedness? No, the Democrats are supporting it and standing up for Planned Parenthood. Oh, it's good for science. Hillary Clinton has the ethics of Mengele. President Obama has the ethics of Hitler. It's just, they're not killing Jews, they're killing babies. If we as a nation does not bow down to Christ as Savior and King, we will be destroyed. And our judgment will be deserved. God has proved the Bible's the Word of God. God has proved with many miracles in the resurrection and many things that Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah who died on the cross for sin. God has proved that He rose from the dead, and He's sitting in His right hand as ruler. And if you don't believe it, if you don't bow the knee to Christ, then you will experience the rot of His anger, just as Israel did, just as Jerusalem did. So you better wake up. You better bow the knee to Christ as Savior. Look to Him dying on the cross, burning out the sin and guilt of His people. Trust in what He did. His sacrificial death, His glorious resurrection, and bowing to Him as Lord and King. Messiah the Prince, if He's not your Messiah, if He's not your King, if He's not your Lord, then you have nothing that will await you than the flames of hell. Life is short, goes by real quick, and then it's over, and they're gonna be standing before God. Are you going to be clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ, or are you going to be cast into the lake of fire? That is unavoidable. Believe in Christ now. Let us pray. Father, we give you thanks for this passage. We thank you so much for the salvation that your son achieved, and we thank you that he judges those who repudiate his holy word and his ministry. Help our nation, Lord. Bring repentance. Pour your wrath and indignation out on Planned Parenthood, on President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Hillary Clinton, and all the Democrats and all those Republicans that reject your word. Oh, Lord, bless our nation. Cause the churches to wake up and to preach the true gospel, to focus on Christ instead of prosperity and hedonism and gimmicks. Help us, Lord, as a nation. And when judgment comes, and it will come if we don't repent, Help your people. Provide a pellet for them. Give them wisdom to be ready and prepared. We thank you for your holy word in Jesus name. Amen.