message. Lord Jesus and Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the opportunity to gather as your family in your house and now open your word. Please help us do that. Help us to understand it. Help us to look around, see the signs, and understand the things that are going to be fulfilled shortly. As we look around, we see them. We know that it can't be much longer until you come back and get us before things get initiated in what you have in your prophecies. Please help us to understand that. Help us to be urgent about doing your work so that more can come in and know you before it may be everlasting too late. And please be with us now that we can grow closer to you and bring honor to you as we pray in Jesus' precious holy name. Amen. Tonight we're going to start a study on prophecy, the major prophetic events that have yet to be fulfilled. Of course, the next major prophetic event that needs to take place is the rapture of the church. There's nothing else that has to be fulfilled prior to the rapture. It could happen before we finish this lesson today. But in order to look at a general overview of the prophecies of the last day, It's a good place to start in the book of Matthew and look at the Olivet Discourse, they call it, the Sermon on the Mount, where the Lord speaks of the last days in Matthew chapters 24 and 25. Now, he gives them a general overview of some of the events that's going to take place. And you have to break it down intricately and understand the different timelines of the things that he's speaking of. And whenever you're studying prophecy, you need to understand the timeline of when it is going to be fulfilled. Whether it's going to be fulfilled prior to the rapture, after the rapture, after the tribulation, during the tribulation, during the millennial period, or during the eternal state. So there's different times that prophecies will be fulfilled. So in order to get them in the proper line of when they will unfold, sometimes can be quite a challenge. But if we as Christians that have faith and trust in Jesus Christ, knowing that He loves us and cares for us, and not going to put us through anything as devastating as the tribulation time, understand and know that the next major prophetic event is going to be the rapture of the church, as we'll see the verses that back that up. And also in prophecy, you need to understand who He's speaking to and who the prophecy is is speaking of, because you have the Jews, the Gentiles, and the church, or all of those that are born again. So you need to understand those as well when you're looking at prophecy of the entire Bible through the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, who is speaking of, and who He's directing His prophecies to. as we'll see some of this in Matthew 24 and 25 as well as we get further into this. But as I said, this is a good place to start is Matthew chapter 24 because it gives us a general overview that the Lord is wanting us all to know. Now to have an in-depth study of the prophecies We would have to go all through some of the prophecies of the Old Testament and the New Testament and probably, oh, I don't know, 30 years or so of study, we might come close to understanding some of it. So, let's look at Matthew chapter 24 and we'll get right into it. And it reads, And Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. Now the temple that we're speaking of is the temple that was built on the mount there in Jerusalem. If you see any current day pictures of Jerusalem, you see this huge golden dome, known as the Dome over the Rock, and that is currently owned by the Muslims. And that is on the Temple Mount. That is on the foundation where the Temple was once built. Now the Temple was built by Solomon and then Herod, when he come along, added to that and built quite a massive, beautiful temple there. And that's what he was just talking about here, about the buildings of the temple. Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. That's prophecy. Prophecy that He gave them concerning that very temple there where we currently see just the And if you see any pictures of Jerusalem and you see the Orthodox Jews and the wall they call the Wailing Wall, that's one of the walls of the foundation base there where the temple was at. And they'll stand there at the wall and they'll take little prayers and they'll fold it up and they'll put it in the cracks of the wall. You may have seen that and there's little cracks and crevices between the stones and there's hyssop actually growing out of those little cracks and crevices. And they'll stand there and they'll pray at that temple wall. and the Wailing Wall they call it. And that will actually be the same foundation that they will build the new temple on. in the prophecies that we'll see as we continue the study. But this prophecy here of that the temple would be torn down and not one stone left upon another was fulfilled approximately 70 years after Jesus told them about this prophecy. Because of all the civil unrest that occurred, all the persecution against the Christians and so forth, They came in, they conquered that area, and that was totally devastated, and it was torn down completely. Like I say, about 70 years after Jesus was telling them this prophecy of it being all torn down. As we continue in verse 3, And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? That's one question. And what shall be the sign of thy coming? That's two questions. And of the end of the world? Three questions. So they ask him three questions here. Now he gets into this little sermon here and he explains those three questions. As he continues, And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. The wars and rumors of wars. It wasn't very long after he spoke this that those wars and rumors of wars sure kicked in. And they've been that way ever since. So many scoffers might say, well, look, things are going along just like they were. Still got wars and rumors of wars. Well, this is an increase of even more and more of it. As we see throughout the ages, as we see through the time since Jesus spoke these words, there's been a lot of wars and rumors of wars. And we're right now in the midst of a lot of wars and rumors of wars. Seems like it just doesn't stop. And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled." Over and over we see the Lord comforting us and letting us know not to worry about stuff like wars and rumors of wars. For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. The end is not yet. Now the end is also a study in its own, where you see the end of times, the end of the world, the end of things, and then also the day of the Lord. That's another study. So there's a lot that you can get into here. When he speaks of the end is not yet, the end of what? There's dispensational time periods, you may say, throughout the Scriptures. There'll be a time that he's speaking of that will be the Tribulation time. There'll be an end prior to the Tribulation time, the end of the time of grace. There'll be an end at the Tribulation time. And then there'll be an end at the Millennial period. So which one of the ends is he speaking of when you hear, the end is not yet? Think about that. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places." Like Linda mentioned earlier, the earthquake down in Mexico, recent Earthquake, there was recently an earthquake not far from here, and a few years back we had another earthquake right in this area. And this isn't a very common area to have earthquakes. And when you see earthquakes in divers' places, when I was a child and I was reading this, I was thinking they meant the earthquakes that were down in the oceans, where divers go. Well, the word divers actually means diverse, or many different places, as we see in the world today. But these that he's speaking of here are going to be at such a magnitude that it isn't going to be any question that he's speaking of, or I should say that we see the fulfillment of these prophecies, where there will be many, many earthquakes around the world in different places. places that normally didn't have earthquakes. Of course, the crazy secular world would have you believe that because you drive a big old gas-guzzling four-wheel drive that you're the cause of that, that it's global change because you have polluted the world, so let us tax you a little bit more to stop this from occurring. That's what the world would have you to believe. Global change, global warming is what they used to say, and then the scientists themselves proved that that was a myth, that that wasn't occurring, so they had to change the name of it and start calling it global climate change. That climate change is because the evil man is upon this world. They're ignorant, they don't know what they're talking about. The events that have taken place in this world are under the control of Jesus Christ. He spoke this world into existence. He preserves it by His Word. No matter what we try to do, we cannot destroy this world. We can make it uncomfortable for ourselves, of course. If you're rolling around in pollution, it'll affect your health and your well-being. But we're not going to destroy this world ourselves. That's reserved for Jesus Christ. He will destroy this world. He is controlling the timeline. The global changes that we see are under His control, on His timeline. The events that are occurring throughout the world are under His control. So don't be overly concerned about it. This attitude that they have is that man is in control of everything. This is totally off the mark. Continuing in verse 8, all these are the beginning of sorrows. The beginning of sorrows. Now that term, the beginning of sorrows, is a reference we'll see in the prophecies, and it's speaking of the things that will occur during the tribulation time, where there will be great sorrow, and the great judgments that will be upon this planet. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." This is another one that we would look around the world today and say, this is currently being fulfilled. Just recently, Tammy mentioned to me a bulletin that she saw that there was some folks killed in a church. It was the Church of Christ. Six, I believe it was, that were shot down in the Church of Christ. I mean, that's the craziness that he's speaking of here. That it'll be accepted by the world to hunt down and kill Christians. As we've read the statistics of last year, some 90,000 Christians were killed last year simply for being Christian. And this year the numbers are cranking on up there as well. And that is part of the prophecy. That more and more the world is going to become anti-Christ, anti-Christian. And we're seeing that fulfilled. But what he's speaking of here is going to be in such a magnitude that it will be no doubt that it is the fulfillment of these verses. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. That kicked in right away as well. A lot of false teaching, a lot of false prophets have been throughout the centuries since Jesus wrote these or had them write these words that he spoke about this false teaching, these false prophets. A lot of it around. As you see, all the many, many false religions that are out there. All the many false so-called Christian religions that are out there. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, or shall become of none effect. They won't be loving one another. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. This is an interesting verse here. But he that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved. This is actually a verse that pertains to the tribulation time. The Christians that become born again during the tribulation time, if they endure, if they hold out, they will actually be saved in a way, and this isn't talking about eternal salvation, because if they trust in Jesus Christ, they already have that. This is talking about the ones that will be saved and be able to enter into the glorious millennial period. If they endure to the end, the end of the tribulation time, one of those ends that I was speaking of, that there's a complete study on, that you enter into that, you'll be able to go into that, as we'll see as this unfolds, about how He divides the sheep from the goats, and speaking of those. Verse 14, "...and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." Another interesting verse here, speaking of spreading the gospel of the kingdom. There again, the kingdom is, once again, a study of its own. Which kingdom is he speaking of? The kingdom that we are all a part of when we become a Christian. That's one kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom that he's speaking of here is the kingdom of the millennial period, when Jesus Christ comes and sets up his throne on that Temple Mount in the New Temple and rules and reigns for a thousand years. That gospel there, the good news of that kingdom that those that endure to the end will be able to go into will be preached to all nations of the world. Even the angels themselves will be able to be a part of the spreading of that gospel. That's how we can be assured that it will be to all kingdoms of all the world, the gospel of that kingdom. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." There again, a reference to the end. That end is the end of the millennial period that he's speaking of. Verse 15. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, and stand in the holy place, whoso readeth let him understand." I love the way they put it in parenthesis down there, whoso readeth let him understand. Okay, what is this abomination of desolation? The abomination of desolation is when the Antichrist, at the midpoint of the Tribulation, shall actually come into that new temple that gets built and set himself up as being God to be worshipped. That is the abomination of desolation that is spoken of by Daniel. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." In the prophecies, we'll see how this is fulfilled, where the ones that are born again, those that are there, that have given their lives and trust over to Jesus Christ, will flee to the mountains, the mountains of Megiddo, actually, and will be there and be protected during the second half of the tribulation. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. And that's how quick you need to escape. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor no nor ever shall be." The great tribulation reference is to the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation. When it kicks in, it will be so great that he has to have his people moved out of the way So he's telling him here that that clue when the Antichrist sets up his throne there to try to pretend to be God, that that's the time for you to flee to the mountains and they will be protected there from the effects that we'll study about of the tribulation time. The judgments that will come upon this world, the only place that you could possibly survive them without the torment that will come upon them is in that protected area, Mount Megiddo. read about. As he continues, "...and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." This has been misunderstood by some and actually said that shortened, that means it's going to be less than seven years. No, we've got to go back and look at what was the original word before it was translated into the King James Version. The word shortened there means to be limited to a set amount of time. So if it had not been limited to the set amount of time of seven years, things would have been so horrible that it would have been very difficult to even protect those up on Mount Megiddo from the judgments upon this planet. As we see, when we get into that, the severity of those judgments that just shake the foundations of the entire planet. And for that reason, He has limited it to only seven years. This is continued in verse 23. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, Because when Jesus Christ comes back to set up His millennial kingdom, it will be seen by all of the planet. In verse 24, We see here, "...for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." That's how convincing the false prophet will be during that time. Behold, I have told you before. Reminding us, he's been prophesying these things for quite some time. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. Behold, he is in the secret chambers. Believe it not. 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." Now this is when he comes back in his glorious appearance with all of those saints and his angels at the end of the tribulation time. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. And the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. That's some of that final judgments that will come upon this planet. So severe of a judgment that the sun will be darkened to the point that when you're looking up, that you're not going to be able to see it very well. It will be that much pollution, you might say, that will be stirred up from all the volcanic actions and the meteors striking the planet and so much. And it will definitely be an awesome time. And that will be near the end or right at the end of the tribulation time. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. You are like, why are they mourning? Why would all the tribes of the earth mourn? That's because these tribes of the earth at that time are those that have followed Satan and not followed the Lord, and that's why they're moaning. They're like, whoa, now here it comes. And they know their time is ended. And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of the trumpet. And they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from the end of the heaven to the other. from one end of the heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the door. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Now this last verse here that we read, verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all things be fulfilled, led some to believe that this would occur in their lifetime that heard these words. But it is not speaking of the generation that he was speaking to. He's talking about the generation that is going to be going through that tribulation time. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." There was a thing that was being spread around here just recently. I think yesterday they were saying it was supposed to be the end of the world. I think I'd heard something about that. Any of y'all hear that? Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, I think they might have been wrong. Yeah, it's talking about all the alignments of the planets and all this stuff, and then they got all shook up with this past eclipse, that that was it, you know, when the eclipse occurs, the end of the world. They've been doing this ever since the Lord spoke about the end of times. Somebody comes up and says, they've set a date, they've set a time. Well, what's the Lord say here? But of that day and hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only. It's in His control. He's the one that's going to set that time. He's not going to tell us exactly the date. Because we are to continue as if we had another hundred years to live, but at the same time be of an anxious mind that we know that it could occur instantly, at a moment in the twinkling of an eye. So we've got to be ready for it. But don't be setting dates. Verse 37, But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left. We'll finish it with this point right here in verse 40 and 41. These are those that are be taken to judgment, because anytime you see the term to be taken in that way, it's talking about taking and going to judgment. Those that are left are those that are left at the end of the tribulation time, entering into the millennial period. Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken to judgment, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken to judgment, and the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doeth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what hour, what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh." Let's finish it right there. and we'll pick it back up here next time and see how this is all fulfilled and it is going to be such an awesome thing to be a part of that and make sure that you're in the right part of that on the right side because you don't want to go into that horrible judgment of the tribulation period. Let's finish it up here and we'll return to this next Sunday. Let's pray. to let more know about your word, to let more know about the salvation that you offer, so they can be looking forward to the last days, not be dreading them. We thank you so much. Let everything that we do bring honor to you, as we pray in Jesus' precious holy name. Amen.