God is Always Working II

Keys to Daniel's Prophecies

Fred R. Coulter—November 11, 2023

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Now then, let me just say this. With what we're studying here about how God was fulfilling things with bringing the Jews back out of captivity, that it shows that God will work with the people.

And also, if you look at the war that's going on, there's great significance in this, as I mentioned, and have covered, because the end result of this will be the finalizing of the Abraham Accord, where there is peace between the Arab nations and the Jews, and the building of the temple in Jerusalem.

There was a time when all of these things, leading up to the Jews being carried off into captivity into Babylon, that God sent Jeremiah and Ezekiel and some of these other prophets that we will see.

We will see that Zephaniah was sent in that time period before they were taken captive. So let's see the summary of this written by Ezra in 2-Chron.

It's very important with The Bible in Its Original Order, because the Old Testament ends with what is called the Book of Chronicles, and it was originally one book. That book starts out with genealogy, genealogy, genealogy, genealogy. Why? Because this shows the legal reason for what God is doing and through whom God is doing it, and why God is doing it.

When you come to 2 Chron. 36 and you turn to the next two pages, it's the 1st chapter of Matthew. It's very interesting how this is written, because what Matthew is doing, he's establishing the legal genealogy from Abraham, down to Christ, because the whole Bible from Gen. 15 is based upon the covenant that God made with Abraham.

So, in Matt. 1:1 since we're there, the book of Matthew, the book of genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Then it lists all of the genealogies coming right on down to when Christ was born.

This is important to show that Christ in His physical lineage was a fulfillment of the prophecies that God had given to Abraham and then later to David.

Let's read 2-Chron. 36, because this is a summary of what happened just before they were taken off into captivity. Then that sets the stage for them coming back out of captivity and what God would do with them and how He dealt with them.

2-Chronicles 36:10: "And when the year had ended, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him… [King Jehoiachin (v 9)] …to Babylon with the valuable vessels of the house of the LORD…."

Now, I don't know how many have been watching William Shatner and The UneXplained. Now, they've been running periodically about the Ark of the Covenant. Where's the Ark of the Covenant? 'Whoever has it has power.' Well, if you're not a Levite and if you're not of the house of Aaron, it's going to kill you.

Even though different ones wanted to get it because they could read the Bible and when God won the battle for them, the Ark of the Covenant was present with them. But they forget to read about the part in 1-Sam. when the priest were corrupt, the high priest and the two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas.

They went out to battle against the Philistines and lost. So they said, 'If we get the Ark and take it out ahead of us, we'll win.' Even though they were the ones who were authorized to handle it, their sins prevented them from doing what they should have done! So what happened?

This is what they never read, and what other Scripture they don't read. They went out to the battle of the Philistines and they were slaughtered. Both sons were killed in the battle! The messenger came back to tell Eli what happened to them, he said, 'Your sons have died and the Philistines have taken the Ark, and Eli fell over and hit his head on a rock and died to fulfill the prophecy that both Eli and his two sons would die the same day.

What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? See, because it says in v 10 "…with the valuable vessels of the house of the LORD…." They have a detailed summary of everything that the Babylonians took from Jerusalem written in cuneiform in clay. Guess what was missing? The Ark of the Covenant!

Now let's go back to the Philistines. When they had the Ark of the Covenant, they got it and they thought they would have great power. So, they took and they put it in the house of their god, Dagon. Then that night, God made Dagon fall down as if he was worshiping God because the Ark of the Covenant was right in front of him, and his hands fell off. So, they set him back upright where he should be, and the next night, he fell down and his head was severed.

What did God do? God was showing He was coming after the Philistines for taking the Ark. But He wanted them to learn a lesson: No one is going to take the Ark without consequences! What did God do? Now think about this: He multiplied millions of mice, covering the whole land of the Philistines, and everyone got hemorrhoids! Now, you talk about a plague! What did they do? They said, 'We've got to get rid of the Ark! We've got to get rid of the Ark!'
 
They didn't know what to do with it. They went to the priest of Dagon and they were inspired to say, 'We'll make an offering to god of gold, of golden mice and golden hemorrhoids, put them in a brand new cart and send it toward Israel and get it out of here.'

The consequences look pretty dire. If mice and hemorrhoids are the start of the plague, what would be the finish of them? So, the Ark went forward to Kirjath Jearim, to the house of Eleazar who was a Levite! [transcriber's correction]It remained there 20 years until David took it to Jerusalem.

Why do I go through all of this? To answer the question! None of them will go to the Bible to find out where the Ark is. They say it's in South Africa. They say it's in Spain. They say it's in Ethiopia. They say it's in the basement of the Vatican. They don't know where it is!

You can't tell the Jews where it is because they don't believe in the New Testament. You can't tell the Catholics where it is because they like to play secret and let everyone think that they have it. But they don't have it.

Since all of the expensive vessels of the temple were noted and recorded by Nebuchadnezzar, the Ark wasn't there! So, everybody thinks that Jeremiah took it below the temple and buried it. Well, they've been looking, looking, looking. They've even had the Knights of Templar for over a hundred years digging tunnels and caves in Jerusalem to try and find the Ark. Can't find it! They're still digging; they're still looking. They can't find it!

But it's right in front of their nose if they would read one Scripture in the book of Revelation, which tells us where the Ark of the Covenant is. How do we know that the Ark of the Covenant is there?

• since they can't find it any place on the earth
• since it wasn't mentioned in the valuable things that went from Jerusalem to Babylon
• since it wasn't mentioned in all of the treasures that the Romans took in 70A.D. when they destroyed the temple

• Where is the Ark? God tells us!
• What is the Ark? The Ark is a copy of things in heaven! To have it in the Holy of Holies of the temple!

In Rev. 4 & 5, what do we see? The Throne of God, and we see an outline of God Himself and Jesus Christ! But no Ark of the Covenant where the Throne is. Don't need it because God is there.

Revelation 11:19: "And the Temple of God in heaven was opened… [to see] …and the Ark of His Covenant was seen in His Temple…"

Some place in the temple was the Ark of the Covenant! How did it get there? God probably sent a couple of angels to take it up there during the days of Jeremiah so it wouldn't be taken captive over into Babylon!

But greedy, lustful men for power want it so they can win wars. Even Hitler and Himmler wanted to get it so they could win the war.

Can you imagine what would have happened if they would have found it, and all the nations of the Germans had mice and hemorrhoids?

"…and the Ark of His Covenant was seen in His Temple…" (v 19). That's where it is! Safely stored with God!

So, all of these men digging tunnels, collecting money, getting government expenditures to do it, looking for the Ark, and saying, 'We're going to find it. We're going to have power. We're going to be something great.' Never going to happen! Never going to happen!

We can predict this, the Jews will find an ark, but it will be one that they have made and planted to make it look like they found the Ark of the Covenant when they established the third temple.

What we're going to cover will be the things concerning the coming temple. The second temple, ties in with the destruction of the first temple.

2-Chronicles 36:10 "And when the year had ended, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the valuable vessels of the house of the LORD. And he made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem"—in place of Jehoiachin!

Verse 11: "Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem." So, God gave them another 11 years!

This shows how dedicated to evil that they were; read all of the book of Jeremiah. They never listened to Jeremiah.

• they didn't quit their sacrificing of children
• they didn't quit their breaking of the Sabbath

After Zedekiah was put there:

Verse 12: "And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke from the mouth of the LORD."

Jeremiah was right there through the last invasion. There were three invasions by Nebuchadnezzar over a 20 year period.
 
Verse 13: "And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. But he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning to the LORD God of Israel. Moreover, all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen…." (vs 13-14).

Think about this for just a minute: What did it take for them to learn?

Let's ask the question today for America. We see all the things going on that are going on here. Likewise with the Jews in the area of Jerusalem, what will it take for them to humble themselves?

God would lift the hand of correction IF there were genuine repentance!  But there isn't.

"…and they polluted the house of the LORD, which He had made Holy in Jerusalem. And the LORD God of their fathers sent word to them by His messengers, again and again…" (vs 14-15).

We'll see it again. Zephaniah was one of them.

"…for He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God and despised His words, and ill-treated His prophets until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people until there was no remedy" (vs 15-16). So, God waited till there was to the last thing!

Verse 17: "And He caused the king of the Chaldeans to go up against them. And he killed their choice ones by the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no pity on the young man and the virgin, nor on the old man and the very aged; He gave all into his hand."

That's the same thing we're seeing today with Israel right now in America. There's no pity anyplace!

• Who's turning to God.
• Where are the religious leaders?
• Where are the Protestants?
• Where are the Catholic priests?
• Where are the Jewish rabbis?

Notice that v 18 ties back into the first part of my message.

Verse 18: "And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his rulers, he brought all these to Babylon." Nothing about the Ark of the Covenant!

Verse 19: "And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces of it with fire, and destroyed all its beautiful vessels. And the ones who had escaped from the sword, he carried away to Babylon where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia" (vs 19-20).

Now here's where we start the beginning of the return back to Jerusalem and then back to starting to build the second temple, which some of the things of the prophecies we will see apply to today in the building of the coming third temple.

"…until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the Word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of the desolation it kept the sabbath to the full measure of seventy years" (vs 20-21).

Now the 70 years is calculated beginning with the first removal of Jews from Babylon, from the first year of the 20 years of invasion.
 
So that made it 607-606B.C. (somewhere around there). But the temple was not finished until 515B.C. Then the temple and everything there lasted clear on down to Christ. A lot of the things that we find in Zechariah have to do with that time of peace after they got the temple built.

That makes us wonder with this Abraham Accord, is there going to be peace so the Jews can build the temple?

Remember, when the temple is finished and the sacrifices are started right in the middle of the seven year period, then the King of the North is going to come against the King of the South.

Verse 22: "And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, so that the Word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing, saying, 'Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: "All the kingdoms of the earth … [that is within the realm of his suzerainty] …have been given to me by the LORD God. And He has commanded me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up!"'" (vs 22-23).

Now then, let's come back to the book of Daniel, Dan. 9, which has to do with all of the prophecies to take place from that time forward to the return of Christ.

They are all contained in Dan. 9. I've got this special setup for you that Carl Franklin did in bringing all of this together so you have a picture of what takes place, and I'll have Ron put it up online for you.

Dan. 9—Cyrus came, he made a declaration. Then he had to go on battle to fight against the Greeks. Then his cousin Darius the Mede was put in charge of Babylon.

Daniel 9:1: "In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, which came according to the Word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years" (vs 1-2).

What he did, now notice this becomes important. Whenever God is going to raise us up out of difficult times, we must fast and pray and come to God. That's what Daniel did. You can read all of his prayer. No prayer like this given by any of the kings, by any of the priests. So he was beseeching God, confessing their sins. I'll let you read all of it.

Let's see how God answered it and see the ending of his prayer.

Verse 17: "And now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary that is desolate for the LORD'S sake."

This also tells us that when people don't repent, the devastation becomes worse! Always does!

Verse 18: "O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name. For we do not..."

• How do we come to God?
• How, when you're in deep trouble, do you come to God so He hears your prayer?

You don't come to God and say, 'God, You've been doing all of this to me for a long time. How about if you let up a little bit?' NO!

"…For we do not present our supplications before You on account of our righteousnesses, but because of Your great mercies. O LORD, hear; O LORD, forgive; O LORD, hearken and do. Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God; for Your city and Your people are called by Your name" (vs 18-19).

Notice what that kind of prayer does. God will hear! This is important because it's written down and this tells us what God is going to do.

Verse 20: "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; yea, 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, came to me, about the time of the evening sacrifice" (vs 20-21).

Here God is directly answering Daniel. This becomes one of the important key prophecies from here all the way through Dan, 12. This covers the return back to Jerusalem, the raising up of Judea again. It covers the time from that time right on down to Christ. Then from Christ right on down to the time of the end (Dan. 12).

Verse 22: "And he made me to understand, and talked with me, and said, 'O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the word went forth, and I have come to declare it, for you are greatly beloved; therefore, consider the word, and understand the vision'" (vs 22-23).

Did Daniel understand the vision? No! That was a prophecy for those who would read it later when they could understand what was happening.

Verse 24:" Seventy weeks are decreed upon your people and upon your Holy city..."

Notice what it includes. This goes all the way to the establishing of the Kingdom of God on earth. It covers when the Messiah would appear. Then it jumps ahead to the last seven years. So, we will see there are three periods of time with space in between.

You will find with what Carl Franklin has written up concerning Daniel 11, which is one of the most difficult to understand in the whole Bible. Carl has gone through history and has solved the problem of all of Dan. 11.

"Seventy weeks are decreed upon your people…"

• each week has seven days
• each day is a year
• each week is equivalent to seven years

But the key that's important here is it doesn't tell you the space between these three segments of time. So, Carl has that all taken care of.

That will be posted online. Plus the book The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah. Because it tells us very closely to when He would come.

So let's read the vision; v 24: "Seventy weeks are decreed upon your people and upon your Holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sin..."

Where does that go to? Clear to the Lake of Fire and the removal of Satan! So, this covers a great period of time!

"…and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness..." (v 24).

• What is everlasting righteousness? New heavens, new earth!
• Isn't that it?
• Is there any time that we would have everlasting righteousness on the earth before the coming of New Jerusalem? NO!

Because as long as there are human beings, choices, and sin, you don't have an end to sin, and you don't have everlasting righteousness.

"…and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks" (vs 24-25).

The book we have: The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah tells you exactly how all of that fell. The end of the 62 weeks comes to a time just before the birth of Christ.

"…to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. It shall be built again with streets and the wall, even in troublous times" (v 25).

That's the first week, 49 years. That's what the book of Ezra and Nehemiah are all about. And tied into that is also part of Zephaniah and the book of Haggai and many parts of the book of Zechariah.

Some prophecies that have been thought to apply to the end in those books apply directly to the time when the temple was finished and the time leading up to the Messiah.

It gets really complicated here. This is why you need to get that material by Carl Franklin.

Verse 26: "And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself. And the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. But his end shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."

• How close are we to the last week? He tells us what's going to happen!

Verse 27: "And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week…."

• How that comes about is the Abraham Accord, that covenant. When does the covenant take effect? When a few of the nations of the Arabs sign up with it to establish relations with the Jews and remember the clauses in there to build the temple.

or

• Must it wait until all the Arab nations sign up on the Abraham Accord? And then they [the Jews] have permission to start building the temple!

In the November letter that's coming out, I explain what it is that God will show to the Jews the sign of when they should begin building the temple and where to build it. Because the temple was never where the Mosque of Omar is now located. As we've said many times, that was the area of Fort Antonia, Roman property.

And 600 yards to the south is where the temple was! To give you a hint of it. The temple had a constant flow of water. That was necessary to keep things clean. That was necessary for the sacrifices. And that was necessary as the type of living water coming out from the Throne of God.

How did that water get there? There are what is called the Gihon Springs! Even today, there's water flowing in the Gihon Springs. But they know that the source of it goes hundreds of miles north up into the mountains; that's where the water comes from. It comes down and it comes up and comes down again. This point is higher than the point of the temple.

So, when the water starts flowing, that will push the water up to the pavement where the temple is. And that's how it was when the temple was operating. So, all of those things are consideration in building the temple.

Verse 27: "And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease..."

We have that same thing in Dan. 12 about cutting off the sacrifices.

We have in the Daniel/Revelation series a chart showing all of that. It's important that you get those things. It's important that you read those things, not just skim them, not just have a superficial understanding, but realize what it actually is.

"…and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate even until the consummation…." (v 27)—end of the age!

What is that desolation? Jesus said, 'When you see the abomination standing in the Holy Place spoken of by Daniel the prophet.'

When the temple was destroyed in 70A.D., that never happened. We know from the prophecy in Rev. 11 that there has to be a temple. So, in order for this to happen, there must be a temple built.

What is the desolation? The desolation is 2-Thess. 2, 'The man of sin, the son of perdition, goes into the Holy Place and says, 'He is God.' We know that that happens just before Jesus Christ returns.

How do we know? Because 2-Thess. says that Christ is going to destroy him with the power of His mouth,  by His commanding him to be thrown into the Lake of Fire! That's the end!

The consummation here, all of these other details come together and come to the last seven years. Now, we're getting close to the seven years!

"…And the fully determined end which is decreed shall be poured out upon the desolator" (v 27). It's going to happen!

Let's look at the book of Zephaniah; I'm just going to cover some verses in the first chapter to show that this had to do with the time when they came back out of a prophecy, when they would come back out of Babylon and rebuild the temple.

This was given in the days of Josiah. This is a prelude that came before they went off into captivity into Babylon. It tells you why. In Zep. 1 there is nothing that comes to the end of the age necessarily.

Zephaniah 1:1: "The Word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah."

How long did Josiah reign? 31 years! Then three months for the next one. Then Zedekiah reigned for 11 years.

So this was given some 33 years before they went to Babylon; so you add 70 years to that. It's about 100 years before it took place. Let's read it; here's what God said He would do, and He did it. When God says He's going to do something, He will do it!

Verse 2: "'I will utterly consume all things from the face of the earth,' says the LORD."

That's not the whole earth. This is the earth around the area and the countries surrounding Judea.

Verse 3: "'I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks, with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of the earth,' says the LORD. 'I will also stretch out My hand upon Judah and upon all the people of Jerusalem….'" (vs 3-4).

That's the devastation that took place before they were carried off into captivity. God again gave another prophet.

"'…And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, the name of the idolatrous priests, with the priests, And those worshiping the host of heaven upon the housetops, and those worshiping, swearing to the LORD, also swearing by Milcom; and those who have turned away from the LORD, and who have not sought the LORD, nor asked of Him.' Be silent before the face of the Lord GOD, for the Day of the LORD is at hand, for the LORD has appointed a sacrifice; He has consecrated His guests" (vs 4-7).

That's against the Jews in Judah; it's not at the end time. Part of it could be applied a little later, but this is mostly right at the time leading up to their first captivity.

Verse 8: "'And it shall be in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, I will punish the rulers, and the king's children, and all who are clothed in strange garments. And in that day I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit. And it shall be in that day,' says the LORD, 'the sound of a cry from the Fish Gate, and a howling from the Second Quarter, and a great crashing from the hills'" (vs 8-10).

Again showing the destruction. Now, when they come back let's come to the book of Ezra. Let's look at them coming back to the area of Judea. We see the same thing. You see it emphasized here the decree that went out was by Cyrus the king that we covered in prophecy in the book of Isaiah, which was 150 years before he was even born.

Ezra 1:1 "And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the Word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might he fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying."

It's very important that this was in writing, because the adversaries of the Jews and the Samaritans who were there, trying to keep the Jews from building the city and building the temple, were coming and fighting against them all the time. They had to appeal back to Darius for Darius and Babylon to look up the decree that Cyrus had made and signed, and they found it.

Verse 2: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, "The LORD God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth…"

Isn't that something that a man not converted knew that God gave him all the kingdoms that he conquered? You read the prophecy of how he conquered Babylon.

They diverted to Euphrates. The water came down. The troops walked in. The gates were open, and Belshazzar was having a great feast, mocking God and drinking out of the vessels from the temple. Then there was written on the wall by the hand, 'mene, mene, tekel upharsin,' which is your days have come to an end! They're numbered! They're over!

And Cyrus walked in, took over the whole city of Babylon, the whole kingdom of the Chaldeans, without so much as throwing a spear. Quite a thing!

"…'The LORD God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth…. [that is all that he controlled] …And He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel—He is the God Who is in Jerusalem. And whoever remains in any place where he resides, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with animals, besides the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem'" (vs 2-4).

Only 40,000 people went up! Small group! You can read in Ezra 2 about the children of the people all the way through, the priests, the singers, and everything. You can read all the rest of the book of Ezra.

Haggai is another prophet that God used, and for building the temple. Haggai and Zechariah were contemporary. We don't know what's going to happen when the Jews start building the temple in Jerusalem. Maybe there are some parallels here.

It is also known that there are some Jews who say, 'No, don't build the temple.' That was happening during the days of Haggai.

Let's see what happened. Since it was difficult and the adversary stopped them building the house for a while until they got word back from Darius after reading the decree of Cyrus that they were to build. Now notice the timing:

Haggai 1:1: "In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the Word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying."

Because they had stopped building. When they got the decree verified, they were granted money, animals, and help to build the temple. Let's see what happened to the people. We can learn a lesson from this today.

Verse 2: "'Thus the LORD of hosts speaks, saying, "This people says, 'The time has not come, the time that the LORD'S house should be built.'"' Then came the Word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, 'Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your finished houses, and shall this My house lie waste?' And now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, [#1]'Consider your ways'" (vs 2-5).

He says that several times.  So they had to consider their ways! We'll learn a lesson here from the first chapter and we'll finish for today. But this is the lesson of the first chapter. Stop and think about what you are doing!

Verse 6: "You have sown much, but bring in little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you dress, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes."

• What were they having? Same thing we have today!
• What do we have today? Inflation!
• Doesn't that seem so? Yep!

You go to the store to buy what you want to buy and all of a sudden you have to pay so much for it. It's like your purse had a hole and the money fell out of it.

Verse 7: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, [#2]'Consider your ways.'"

This is what we need to do today. There are a lot of things and a lot of obstacles that keep us from helping to build up the Church and build up the people in the Church, and excuses that are given. We can't have any excuses at all!

Verse 8: "'Go up to the mountain and bring wood, and build this house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,' says the LORD."

What is the lesson for us today? The lesson for us today is simple: Take care of:

• growing
• overcoming
• building your relationship with God

Every day first! Then God will take care of the rest in blessing you!

Verse 9: "'You looked for much, and behold, it came to little! And when you brought it home, then I blew on it. Why?' says the LORD of hosts. 'Because of My house that is waste, and you, each man runs to his own house. Therefore, the heavens above you have held back the dew, and the earth has held back its fruit '" (vs 9-10

In other words, here's what we'll finish with this lesson for today for us: when we put God first. God will intervene and help us take care of the things that we need!

This is what we need to do as a Church. While we have the time, while we have the funds, prepare all the things that we need to help new people! IF we do that, God will send them. But IF we don't do that, then they won't come.

Scriptural References:

• Matthew 1:1
• 2 Chronicles 36:10
• Revelation 11:19
• 2 Chronicles 36:10-23
• Daniel 9:1-2, 17-27
• Zephaniah 1:1-10
• Ezra 1:1-4
• Haggai 1:1-10

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Genesis 15
• 2 Chronicles 36:9
• Daniel 12; 11
• Revelation 4; 5
• 2 Thessalonians 2
• Ezra 2

Also referenced: {truthofGod.org}

• Book: The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah
• Transcript Book w/CD and Chart: Daniel/Revelation

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 11/15/23

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