Fourteen Things in Prophecy to Watch For I

Fred Coulter—January 1, 2011

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Greetings, everyone; welcome to Sabbath services! Today we're going to talk about prophecy. Let's get an overall framework to look at. There are a couple of frameworks that we can see:

1. The Passover and Holy Days

That's why we have the book, God's Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days. That tells us the framework from the Holy Days. They also give us some prophetic understanding as we go through and understand the prophecies. Here's the other framework that's important for us to understand:

2. There are seven things:

1. Israel
2. Jews
3. Jerusalem (everything is centered on Jerusalem)
4. Christ, His coming
5. the Church
6. the world
7. Kingdom of God

So all prophecies hang on these two frameworks. And then within the first framework we have:

• The commandments of God
• Old Covenant
• New Covenant

All of these things then fit in with the framework and the Bible itself is laid out in seven divisions of the Bible, like we have in the Holy Bible in its Original Order:

• the Law
• the Prophets
• the Writings
• Gospels and Acts in the middle
• General Epistles
• Paul's Epistles
• Revelation

Now everyone likes to start out and they want to know about prophecy. 'Let's read Revelation.' But if they don't know the rest of the Bible, they can't understand it, because you need to know an awful lot about the rest of the Bible in order for you to understand Revelation.

Another thing concerning understanding Revelation is this: The first half is Daniel; the second half is Revelation. You can't understand Daniel without Revelation and you can't understand Revelation without Daniel, and then all the rest of the Bible. That's why it starts out in Rev. 1 that Jesus says, 'I am the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega.' There's a reason for that. So let's look and see how many of these things are incorporated right here in Daniel.

Why is Daniel in the Writings? Because it was written outside the land of Israel! I'm not going to go through the first part of it where he has his confession and repentance. We'll cover that at a later time, but I suggest everyone read that and then apply it not only to themselves, but also to the Church. And all church leaders everywhere better read this and understand what's happening so they can also be in an attitude of repentance like Daniel was.

Let's see how everything is tied up—all the things that I just mentioned here—because his whole prayer is about Jerusalem, the children of Israel, the children of Judah, the rebellion that they had been in, why they were in captivity. It's very instructive for us to understand, because people today like to think, well, they can just go along their merry way and they'll be just fine. If you think that's so, then you better read Matt. 25, the parable of the ten virgins. Because when these things suddenly come upon us, it's too late to say, 'Oh, what do I do? Where is this in the Bible?' You better know it first, as it comes along. Let's see how all the seven things that we have here tied up in it, and also in relationship to the Passover and Holy Days of God. See, everything comes together.

Daniel 9:24: "Seventy weeks are decreed upon your people... [Who are the people? We just named them, Israel and the Jews—correct? Yes!] ...and upon your Holy City... [What is that? Jerusalem.] ...to finish the transgression and to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy."

Now, that is what you might say a statement that covers everything from the time that this was given to Daniel, until the Kingdom of God, when you really understand it. There are many segments involved here. Has there been:

• a 'finish [of] the transgression' yet? No!
• 'to make an end of sin'? No!
• 'to make reconciliation for iniquity'? Yes! Began with Christ.
• 'to bring in everlasting righteousness'? Yes! With Christ and with those who have the Holy Spirit to be born into the Kingdom of God, but not yet complete.
• 'to seal up the vision and prophecy'
• 'to anoint the Most Holy.'

Now, let's look at the segments that we have after this, because this is important to understand, v 25: "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince... [Now, in the book that we'll have coming out this next spring, The Appointed Times of the Messiah, we will have in there completely covering the entire 70-weeks prophecy.] (time period): ...shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks…."

Now when it is put that way it means that these are two separate segments of time. Likewise with the last week, and this shows that there is time periods in between as well. Now the way this is written in the Hebrew, it means this: Every week then is seven years, leading up to a Jubilee [year]. If you start out and you have seven weeks—forty-nine years to rebuild Jerusalem (and we'll have that whole chronology, we will have the decrees, we will have the historical understanding as to which came when)—who gave the decree, etc., and sixty-two weeks?

Now 62 weeks is a very interesting one to look at, because the way that you figure the 62 weeks, then you have to know

• when the Messiah came
• when He was born
• understand about John the Baptist
• when he began his ministry
• when Jesus began His ministry

—because that's the end of the sixty-two weeks.

Now since all of these involve a Jubilee, after every 7-week segment, then the end of the 62 weeks has to be a Jubilee. And we find the year that Jesus began His ministry was in fact the Jubilee. Now, we won't get into any more of it there except to say that this shows that that prophecy is accurate and on time.

So the city: "…It shall be built again with streets and the wall, even in troublous times.... [You can read Ezra and Neh. and see the troublous times they had in doing it.] (Now here's another thing that is very important to understand): ...And aftersixty-two weeks... [It doesn't say when the 62 weeks were finished. When the 62 weeks were finished that's when the Messiah was to appear.] ...after sixty-two weeks... [And how long after was it? Three and a half years.] ...Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself.... [Then there's another break, right here.] ...And the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.... [This is not talking about Jesus, this is talking about the coming beast power.] ...But his end shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined" (vs 25-26).

Now here's how the prince of the people or the people of the prince comes in, 27: "And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week.... [There is the 70th week. So this is one of the main things to watch also in prophecy. Then notice what he says here:] ...And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease... [Middle of seven days, or seven years—is what? Three and a half years. That also fits into prophecy. How long is the Tribulation then? The second three and a half years! The first three and a half years are going to be quite phenomenal.] ...and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate even until the consummation.... [he's going to be to the end of the age] ...And the fully determined end which is decreed shall be poured out upon the desolator."

Now, all of those will take place the way that God wants them to take place. We will see how all of these fit in, in the end time, but let's look at one that has not taken place yet; 1-Thessalonians 5. This is very interesting when we read it and look at it, because there are many things that can happen with this. The things that transpire are going to be what the Scriptures say, and in some cases that's not what we have been taught or have believed. This also tells us something important concerning what we are to know and we will see that, no, this does not conflict with what Jesus says in Matt. 24.

1-Thessalonians 5:1: "Now then, concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, there is no need that I write to you." Jesus said, 'No man knows the day or the hour' (Matt. 24). But the day and the hour is different than the times and the seasons. What are the times? Those are the Holy Days! And the seasons? Seasons in which they occur!

Then he makes this statement here, which is, when you look at the way that things are right now, the way that the world is right now, we will see that vs 2-3 have not been fulfilled and there will be quite a few other things that will lead up to it. But there's going to come a time when they will say this (v 3).

I. Peace and Security

"For you yourselves understand perfectly that the day of the Lord will come exactly as a thief comes by night.... [How can that be with all the signs and wonders that take place before the return of Christ? There will be a lot of them.] (Here's the catch; this has not yet been fulfilled): ...For when they say, 'Peace and security'..." (vs 2-3). Can we say that today? Can we look back through the history of mankind from the time of Christ until now and say really that there has been peace and security?

Let's put it this way: worldwide, because all the prophecies at the end-time affect the whole world. They affect

• Israel
• the Jews
• Jerusalem
• Christ
• the church
• the world
• the coming of the Kingdom of God

"...then sudden destruction will come upon them..." (v 3). How's this going to happen? We'll see this a little later as we go along. But there has to come a time when there is peace and security. What did we read back in Dan. 9? That 'in the 70th week the prince of the people is going to make a covenant for one week or seven years'—right? The time leading up to the beginning of the Tribulation will be preceded by a time of unprecedented peace and security. That tells us that that's quite a ways down the road—right?

What we're going to see, this is quite a ways down the road, so what we want to do is let's kind of grade all of these like I did last time when I gave this sermon two years ago. This will be different than the sermon I gave two years ago. The first one I gave on Fourteen Things to Happen in Prophecy was in 1967, so that is 45 years ago. At that time—and some of you have been in the Church a long time—we were told that the Church is going to flee to a place of safety in 1972. That's when the Tribulation is going to begin. Well, what did Jesus say? 'No man knows the time or the hour; the day or the hour.' And just because there are troubles out there, that are cyclical, they happen, that repeat, does not mean that the day of the Lord is near. You have to have all these things take place.

So here's how it's going to come: "...then sudden destruction will come upon them, as travail comes upon a woman who is with child; and they shall by no means escape" (v 3). We will see when that time begins.

Let's say that for 1-Thess. 5:1-2, peace and prosperity, we're going to grade these on a tipping-point scale. Zero meaning there's no indication of it happening. Closer to ten meaning it's imminent; ten meaning it has been fulfilled. The tipping point is five, just like a teeter-totter. Sometimes with a teeter-totter, it can go back and forth until there is a final disposition taken care of.

To give you an example, right now we have the tipping-point financially for the financial system in many countries of the world teetering on the tipping-point. When it happens, it's going to happen suddenly. If the new Congress in the United States or in the parliaments in the other countries go ahead and enact austerity programs, that is not going to really, really work, because the accumulation of interest they have to pay will soon eat up all the savings they are able to legislate and incur.

So with this one here—1-Thess. 5:1-2—let's give it the tipping-point scale of zero right now.

II. The King of the North and the King of the South

Daniel 11:40: "And at the time of the end..." The time of the end and the event in the period called the time of the end, has to be interpreted by what takes place. First, the king of the north comes in and we have peace for three and a half years. So the beginning of that is the beginning of the time of the end, but it not the end of violence. When does the Tribulation begin? That becomes the question.

"And at the time of the end, the king of the south shall push at him. And the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and sweep through. He shall also enter into the glorious land... [the Holy Land or Palestine.] ...and many countries shall be overthrown" (vs 40-41). Then it lists all those that escape out of his hand for the time being.

Where is the king of the south and the king of the north? Nowhere on the scene! There is a weak-kneed president of the European Economic Community, or EU, the European Union, but he has no power. How many years have we said, well, watch Europe rise, watch Europe rise, watch Europe rise. I remember an article that a man wrote and said, 'Well, the ten kings of Revelation, looks like it's going to be fulfilled this way: five kings in western Europe and five kings in eastern Europe.' Woooo! Well, what happened? The wall came down!

Now you look at Europe and all the associated nations with it and what do you have? You have the exact area that Adolph Hitler conquered for his Reich! Has anybody thought of that? All of Europe! Not North Africa; His excursion into North Africa was a failure, very short lived. But it includes: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Slovenia, Czech state, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxemburg, Holland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece. Then there are, as some states yet in the Balkans, which may come in.

Almost overlaid exactly. So take a look at that. If you can get a map of the full extent of the Hitler's conquests—he went into Russia, but he couldn't conquer Russia. I don't know why Hitler didn't learn from Napoleon. You never attack Russia in October! They have winters there. So you read the account, or if you can watch it on the History Channel, when Napoleon was coming back from his defeat from trying to conquer Russia. They had the earliest and coldest winter they had in a long time. The men were just falling over frozen to death. The only way they could get any food was take and cut a slice off a walking horse and it was so cold that it froze the blood immediately, so they would munch on the hide as they were going along. Eventually that was the worst disaster that ever took place; same way with the disaster with Hitler when invaded Russia.

But I think it's very interesting, king of the north: we have to watch what Europe is going to do. How is Europe going to survive all of these economic problems? We had in mind, this is going to start out, the euro is going to be wonderful and it's going to be glorious. It's going to be prosperous. The Euro is going to be the world currency. What happened? Debt!

King of the south—there's no king of the south even on the horizon, though I've covered several of these things before. There is an economic block for North Africa and on down into the oil states, and so forth, but watch Turkey. It's starting to build up in power even more.

Let's look at the king of the north and the king of the south, because it says that they will have to be on the scene—right? Can the time of the end begin before there is definitively the king of the north who then makes a covenant with the people, who then has to protect his standing in the Holy Land? Not there!

King of the south: We can understand the Muslim problem, but they're all even fighting each other, as it were. So it's going to take some time for the king of the south to develop. So let's put this on the tipping scale of 2-3; it has quite a ways to go.

Now let's look at something else that I didn't put in here with that, but this is over in Daniel 12:1—this shows how the king of north then is going to come against Israel and the Jews: "And at that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even until that time…." We will see that Christ talks about the Great Tribulation, 'such as a time never was.' So it's talking about exactly the same time. So keep that in mind when we get there.

"…And at that time your people shall be delivered—everyone who shall be found written in the book" (v 1). This shows there's going to be a deliverance of the people, deliverance of Israel. Some of those details are in Isaiah, some are in Jeremiah, some are in Ezekiel, some are in Hosea. So you have to get all the other Scriptures there to put those together.

Then it talks about the resurrection. "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life... [That's the first resurrection.] ...and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (v 2). That's the second part of the second resurrection. So you see how there is 'precept upon precept and line upon line,' and you've got to have the framework in which to put these precepts and lines so they all make perfect sense.

Verse 3: "And they who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever." That ties in with what God told Abraham, when He told him to count the stars, 'if you are able to number them, so shall your seed be.' This is what Jesus said that 'the children of the kingdom shall shine as the sun' (Matt. 13).

Verse 4—this is very interesting, because this helps us to understand a principle in the Bible concerning prophecy, which is this: How much does God fulfill what He has prophesied? Is 10% adequate for God to act? 20%? 50%? 60%? 70%? 80%? Well, here's a good example right here, v 4: "But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end…." So at the time of the end we're given a promise that we shall understand.

Come over here to v 9 where he repeats it again: "And he said, 'Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and refined. But the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand'" (vs 9-10).

Now I'm also doing on Church at Home some segments on prophecy. We're right at that point—who are the wise?

• the ones that love God
• the ones that have His Holy Spirit
• the ones who understand His Word

Then you tie that in together with the parable of the ten virgins in Matt. 25 and that helps put it together. In every one of these things we can take a verse that tells us something and bring so many other verses to bear on it, it will give us the whole picture.

Now here's one statement, 4: "…Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.'" Now let's say you read that 200 years ago. You couldn't say that it even had started being fulfilled—right? But finally, when they developed the steam engine, they began to go a little faster than horses and donkeys, because that's all they had up to that point—right?—rivers and boats.

Go 'to and fro'—many—many means the majority. It doesn't say 'shall walk.' They run! It's not that people are running, they are using vehicles to run to and fro. Are we going to come to the point of 100% fulfillment of that worldwide? Think about it! If you want to watch something very, very interesting, you watch a special on India and China.

They are being, as I've mentioned before, westernized, but let's just do it this way: Babylonianized, because the whole world is Babylon the Great. I saw a statistic last night that of the 1.5-billion people in China, guess how many are on the Internet? 450-million, one-third! So that adds into going 'to and fro'; and adding 'knowledge shall increase.' Look at how much information we get off the Internet.

I came in here today and I had three articles given to me off the Internet. Knowledge shall increase. It increases in many different ways:

1. technological increase
2. Biblical increase
3. all of the other scientific information about human beings, about animals, and so forth

I've got a whole sermon that I need to bring on how the brain is affected by minute magnetic frequencies. They can even alter your moral decisions. So we need to think about how that's going to tie in to the mark of the beast. So, there are a lot of things.

Would we say then that we are reaching a point where we are going to have the nth-degree fulfillment of going 'to and fro' and 'knowledge increased'? Yes! Knowledge is doubling every six months. Pretty soon it'll be five months, then after that four months. Pretty soon you will walk into Best Buy and buy your latest technological thing, you get it home and use it for one week, and it's already out of date. Something happens somewhere in the world and we know it right away—right? Yes, indeed! We're going to see that's important for understanding Matt. 24 when we get there. So, with the king of the north and the king of the south, let's put there for the tipping point 2-3.

Now, any one of these things can come up all of a sudden and be fulfilled right while we're standing there looking at it. So, just because it's 2 or 3 doesn't necessarily mean that it's a long, long way off.

Here's another thing that I think is really astounding. Matthew 24:1: "And after going out... [out of the temple area] ...Jesus departed from the temple; and His disciples came to Him to point out the buildings of the temple…. [We're going to see a beginning point right here. Then we will see an ending point in another verse.] …But Jesus said to them, 'Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, there shall not be left here even a stone upon a stone that shall not be thrown down'" (vs 1-2).

Where the temple stood, that is exactly what happened. Where the Wailing Wall is today and the Mosque of Omar, that's not where the temple was, because those huge stones are still standing there. The reason the stones were all knocked down was because when Jerusalem was captured and the temple destroyed, the troops set it on fire and all the gold melted and went down. They had storehouses of gold. That was the banking center of all the Jews. So in order to get it, they kept heating the stones and cracking them and prying them apart in order to get it. So all the stones were taken down. The place where the temple is going to be built is not where the Mosque of Omar is, but it's south over the Spring of Gihon. That was fulfilled; so in a tipping point we can say 100%.

However, we have to add in something else, because here's something we need to realize with prophecy. There is a first fulfillment and a second fulfillment. In some cases there are repeated fulfillments. So the first fulfillment was in 586B.C. when the temple was destroyed. All the Jews went off into captivity to Babylon. The second fulfillment was in 70A.D. and we're going to see here a little later that there must be a temple built in Jerusalem again. So those stones will be replaced back there. Very interesting.

Verse 3: "And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, His disciples came to Him alone, saying, 'Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the completion of the age?'" So they understood there was going to be a completion of the age. But Jesus never told them when. Let's understand something about the events in the Bible. We have some timeframes specifically given to us. Other ones we only have event sequence that take place. So we look to the events rather than the time.

Notice, v 3, again: "'…And what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the completion of the age?'" So this prophecy in Matt. 24, the whole thing, begins with where the disciples were at that point on the Mount of Olives talking to Jesus. This was just before He was arrested and crucified, and it brings it to His coming and the completion of the age.

After going through many things, Jesus said, v 32: "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branches have already become tender, and it puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. In like manner also, when you see allthese things..." (vs 32-33). Notice: "…all these things…" Pertaining to what? His coming and the completion of the age! He lists out the things that are going to take place. But "…allthese things..."

• Do we have some things as we will see from Daniel? Yes!
• Do we have some things from Isaiah? Yes!
• Jeremiah and Ezekiel? Yes!
• The minor prophets? Yes!
• Do we have things also in the book of Revelation that come back and verify what He said? Yes!

So when He says: "...when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Truly I say to you, this generation shall in no wise pass away until all these things have taken place" (vs 33-34).

A lot of scholars have looked at that and said, 'This generation, well, that was the generation from the beginning of Jesus' ministry in 30A.D. to the destruction of the temple in 70A.D. and that's 40 years and we know a generation is 40 years, because the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until all that older generation died out. So therefore a generation is 40 years. So therefore, this generation applied to the time from Jesus' death until the destruction of Jerusalem.' We will see not everything that is listed in Matt. 24 took place at that time.

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Let's look at Matthew 24 again through the eyes of today, from this point of view. All the things that Jesus said requires instant communication to know. They wanted to know when these things would be (v 3).

Matthew 24:4: "Then Jesus answered and said to them, 'Be on guard, so that no one deceives you.'"…. [Now that's an ongoing cyclical thing, from that time to this.] …For many shall come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ"; and they shall deceive many.... [That has happened. We have more Christianity than at any time, but it's all the deceitful Christianity.] ...And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.....'" (vs 4-6).

How are you going to hear of wars and rumors of wars? If you're close to where there is a war or a possible war, you can hear about it. But what if, before modern communication, living over here in a peaceful part of the world, and transportation is by donkey or horse or boat, and maybe the information doesn't get to you until two or three years after the war already started. Today modern communication, we know instantly—right? So they hear of wars where? In the Middle East, in Iraq, Afghanistan, in Darfur, and looks like Hugo Chavez is planning to do a little warring himself down there, so we can know those things.

"…See that you do not let these things disturb you. For it is necessary that all these things take place, but the end... [See how it talks with the end. It brings things to the end.] ...but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places.... [Again, this requires modern communication for all the people in the church of God to understand this—right? So, here we're talking about worldwide things.] ...Now all of these things are the beginning of sorrows" (vs 6-8). There's another thing that is missing here—the beginning of sorrows. How long is the beginning of sorrows? I do not know! How long is the period of sorrows? Don't know!

"Then shall they deliver you up to affliction, and shall kill you; and you shall be hated by all nations for My name's sake" (v 9). Well, we're getting close to that. On this verse we could say we're probably reaching about, as far as Christians, who call themselves Christians in general, we're probably at about 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 on the tipping scale. In some Islamic countries it's 10! So it depends where you live.

Let's look at one thing interesting concerning martyrdom. It just didn't dawn on me until several years ago, but it's interesting how this is phrased. It's talking about the harlot and the beast.

Revelation 17:5: "And across her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints... [Those are the ones who have been converted—right? Yes!] ...and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus…." (vs 5-6). Another category of people who defend the name of Jesus and are killed, but are not counted as saints. Now these will probably undoubtedly be in the second resurrection. It's like Jesus said, 'Even if you give a cup of cold water to one of the disciples, you shall receive a reward.' Again, that doesn't tell us when. So. here those who are killed who are numbered as Christians could be a tremendous number of whom also are included within that the saints.

Matthew 24:10: "And then shall many be led into sin... [Boy, that's certainly happening today—right? Yes!] ...and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another… [more so than ever before] …and many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many" (vs 10-11). We have more ministers than ever before—right? And we have more religions preaching events at the end. We have the Islamists doing it, we have the Hindus doing it, we have the Catholics doing it, we have the Protestants doing it, we have the Churches of God doing it. Even though all these things are taking place, look what it leads to, v 12: "And because lawlessness shall be multiplied..." As I've mentioned, lawlessness comes in two ways:

1. the throwing out of law altogether; that is an abandonment or a posture of anti-law
2. you take your own laws and traditions and substitute them for the laws of God

So those are the two main things that take place in producing lawlessness. "...the love of many shall grow cold" (v 12). You can't trust people. What do we have?

• locks
• bolts
• alarms
• chains
• fences

Tell you what, watch some of these specials on the secure of prisons. They now have it that it is impossible to escape, because they have sensors built into the cyclone wire fences with the laser wire at the top, barbed wire. So if there is pressure put against any part of the fence, they don't have to electrocute them anymore, just pressure against it, it will automatically light up on a computer and they'll know where exactly where it is, exactly where to go. They have this thing now that they're going to put you away.

But look at all the people who are in prison as a result of the lawlessness. And what will they do when they can't feed them or guard them any longer? Be just like Sadam Hussein did in Iraq. Just before the invasion of the U.S. troops he let all the prisoners out of prison and they wrecked havoc.

Verse 12: "…love of many shall grow cold.... [v 13, tells us also how this is talking to up the end time]: ...But the one who endures to the end, that one shall be saved." Now there are two ways to endure to the end:

1. of your life
2. of the end of the age

Verse 14: "'And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world for a witness to all nations... [worldwide, all the world, to all nations] ...and then shall the end come." You have to have the event as we read there in Dan. 11 leading up to the time of the end. You have to have the king of the north, the king of the south, and the Gospel has to be preached in all the world. And how is that going to be done?

Well, there are many facilities to do it. One of the best ones today is the Internet. I can just tell you this, looking at the state of the Churches of God, none of them are in any condition to preach the Gospel, let alone set an example that would inspire people to want to follow them. We're at such a Laodicean age, and we'll talk about that a little bit later. But we have another thing that goes with it here. 'And this Gospel shall be published in all the world' (Mark 13). Now we have more Bibles than ever before and more languages that have ever been and God is causing them to be printed in such a tremendous way.

Here's something that really is the key as to when the Tribulation will begin. So this will kind of get things out of order, but we'll go ahead. We'll bypass the rest of this for the time being and we'll come back to it.

So far we have: (I) Peace and Security, and (II) King of the North and King of the South.

III. World Trade, World Currency

Now we know that there's coming a time with the mark of the beast (Rev. 13) that you will have to have the number of the beast and the mark in your right hand or in your forehead. And without that you cannot buy and sell. And in the end-time is the only time in the history of the world that we now that the ability to do what the mark of beast says here. Every one of us has checking accounts. Every one of us has credit cards. They all have numbers, but none of them are part of us.

Revelation 13:16: "And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, to receive a mark in their right hands, or in their foreheads; so that no one may have the ability to buy and sell unless he has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (vs 16-17).

I remember when the first report came out of digital angel. How many heard that sermon? Probably a lot of you did. I started out by saying, 'The mark of the beast is here.' Some people really got all excited, and I said, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, this has to be developed. This is the start.' They had such a reaction to it. They didn't want to put it in their right hand or the forehead, so they put it in the left upper arm. Now they found out that the digital angel floats around in the system and it's not very reliable and can also cause cancer. So they've been working on other ways of doing it.

Now the latest thing that they are working on is this: an invisible tattoo, the right hand. And this fits exactly with what the Greek says there. Because the mark is going to be upon, but in—becoming a part of you. Now the only thing that they haven't completely perfected is this: How can they track this with the global positioning system that they have? They can track almost anything right now!
We're going to see there's going to come a time when this will be enforced. How is this going to come about? Well, what do we see in the world today. You see world trade, mammoth trade, trillions of dollars every day being exchanged. It is almost unbelievable thing. We see the whole banking crisis right at hand—don't we?

Now the only way this can be done is if you have the banking system changed to a single-world banking system, which we will probably see enacted in the next, I would say, two to three years. But they're not going to enforce the mark of the beast at that time. When it comes about with the world banking system—I think Glenn Beck had a good program on what was it, fifteen days to the new world order. How many saw that television program? His radio program is really kind of funky, but his television program is really quite good.

Will there come a day when all the banks will be closed? There will be a banking holiday worldwide. What are the chances of that? I would say on a tipping point, 7-9 right now. The only way it can be done, is if all the banks close down or fail at the same time. Can't be done any other way. All the fiat money, all the paper securities, all of the stocks, all of the bonds, and everything will then lose most of their value.

Could they do that? Well, I can see where they can very easily! That's when I gave the two sermons on Fulfilling End-Time Prophecies and I went through what the Federal Reserve is and what it's done, and so forth, you can see the potential there is very close. So we're between 7-9 on this. World trade, world currency and then subsequent to that, the mark of the beast.

IV. The Mark of the Beast

Let's come over here to Revelation 14:6, and let's see that it gives us an indication when the mark of the beast will be enforced. "And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth... [Could that also be part of fulfilling of Matt. 24, 'this Gospel shall be preached in all the world.' Very likely!] ...and to every nation and tribe and language and people." Will they all be warned? Yes, an angel is going to do this! That's in addition to the two witnesses; that's in addition to Elijah.

"Saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God, and give glory to Him, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him Who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.' Then another angel followed... [And this is what the Seventh Day Adventists call the three angels' message.] ...saying, 'The great city Babylon is fallen... [the city Babylon means the whole world system, because the whole world has been built on the model of Babylon the Great.] ...'The great city Babylon is fallen, is fallen, because of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, which she has given all nations to drink'" (vs 7-8). So this is the warning that it's going to fall. Then we get into other prophecies in Revelation to show how that's going to take place.

Verse 9: "And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives the mark in his forehead or in his hand, He shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed undiluted in the cup of His wrath; and he shall be tormented in fire and brimstone in the sight of the Holy angels, and of the Lamb'" (vs 9-10).

Now when do you give warning to not take the mark of the beast? Do you do it before it's enforced or after it's enforced? Let's look at it this way: If a person is about to have a wreck, you say, 'Watch out!' and they avoid the wreck—right? But what good would it do if you came upon the scene where there was a wreck, and say, 'Watch out, there's a wreck! Wreck is going to happen.' Hey, dummy, it's already happened!

So these messages have to be before the Tribulation begins. It has to be before the enforcement of the mark of the beast. Now this ties in with what we've been reading back there in Matt. 24.

3)   World trade, world currency: We would have to put that say between 5-7 on a tipping point.

4)   Mark of the beast: We would have to put that likewise the same, but the enforcement of it under the pain of death does not come until just before the Tribulation.

And when does the Tribulation begin? We'll see that in just a bit. However, the king of the north is the one who's going to start it off.

V. Rise of the Kings of the East and the North

We've covered some of that. I gave the one on Afghanistan, why are we in Afghanistan. Someone just gave me a report off the Internet that says the reason we're in Afghanistan is for the very reason I said we're in Afghanistan. So that's going to have to happen. We've covered that with the army of 200-million. That's going to take a lot. Let's look at why a lot of these things are going to take time to develop:

• you don't raise an army of 200-million over night
• you've got to have all the supplies for them
• you have to have a giant economy going to do it

They're going to have to have an extended period of peace and security and peace and safety. Now think about China. China is tremendous, but keep this in mind: two-thirds of the 1.5-billion are still living in a poverty level, and they are the ones that are from the central to the far western part of China. China has some economic problems that it needs to resolve yet, because it's having a lot of inflation.

But all those nations have to develop. So as I pointed out in the sermon with Afghanistan, Afghanistan is right smack in the middle. To the north you have Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, all the other stans. To the west you have Iran. To the east you have China. To the south you have Pakistan and India.

What is the big thing economically that a lot of people are investing in? In the Chinese market and in the Indian market, and Southeast Asian market—right? Yes! So this is building them up. You can't build up an army unless you have a tremendous economy behind it. Now you could if you use clubs and stones and things like that, but that's not what it's talking about there in Rev. 8 & 9.

So number five the rise of the kings of the north and the east, what should we put that at? Let's put it at about 5.

VI. The Fall of Israel

Now we're talking about the ten tribes of Israel, the modern descendants, and the fall of Israel. Let's come to Leviticus 26; here is another version of the covenant warnings that God gave in Deut. 28.

Israel is on its way down. That's why the most worrisome thing in the world is the demise of the United States of America and the United Kingdom, as well as northwestern Europe. And all of us are in trouble. How many read the book by Pat Buchanan, TheDeath of the West? Because of the Muslim population that they have invited in! The blessings are given for obedience, and we will get on to the things of the cursings and see how these things are here.

Leviticus 26:11—here's the promise that God gave: "And I will set My tabernacle among you. And My soul shall not abhor you.... [If they would keep His covenant.] ...And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the LORD your God Who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt from being their bondmen. And I have broken the bonds of your yoke, and made you go upright. But ifyou will not hearken to Me and will not do all these commandments, And ifyou shall despise My statutes or if... [notice all these conditions]: ...your soul hates My judgments, so that you will not all My commandments, so that you break My covenant; I will also do this to you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and burning fever, consuming the eyes and causing sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it" (vs 11-16). That could happen to us very suddenly. A lot of these things are already taking place here.

Verse 17: "And I will set My face against you... [How close have we come now to where God sets His face against us? We don't know, but we're getting close!] ...and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you.'" A lot of people think that describes the current President and many of those in government. Is that the reason we have all of these silly regulations and things? Is it not true that if we are the borrower, we are the slave of the lender? Don't we have that? Yes, indeed!"I will set My face against you…"

Verse 18: "And if you will not yet for all this hearken to Me... [So He gives them chances. Will they repent if these things happen? 'Will they come back to Me?'] ...then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power..." (vs 18-19). What is the pride of our power? Not the army,the dollar, our financial position! And we're sitting right there. How close are we with this? Well, 5-1/2? 6? Maybe 6-7? on a tipping-point scale. Don't know!

Verse 17: "And I will set My face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you. And you shall flee when none pursues you. And if you will not yet for all this hearken to Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heaven like iron and your earth like bronze" (vs 17-19).

And you read in other places it's going to rain here, and drought over, it's going to be cold here and heat over here. And that's exactly what we're having. The weather is against us, tremendously. And as I mentioned before, let's have the alternate fuel of ethanol.

• What happens if there's blight in the corn?
• And what happens if you can't harvest it out of the field?
• And what happens if you can't plant it?
• And what happens if you have all of these specialized grains that they have for corn now, what happens if all of that goes bonkers and you don't get a crop?
• Not only just for ethanol, but what are we going to eat?

Verse 20: "'And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the field yield their fruits. And if you walk contrary to Me and will not hearken to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues on you according to your sins'" (vs 20-21). I'll let you read the rest of it.

But how close is Israel to collapsing? Really quite close! We'll talk about the Jews, because that ties right in there, the fall of the Jews. We'll tie that in when we get to the temple.

Scriptures Referenced:

• Daniel 9:24-27
• 1-Thessalonians 5:1-3
• Daniel 11:40-41
• Daniel 12:1-4, 9-10, 4
• Matthew 24:1-3, 32-34, 4-9
• Revelation 17:5-6
• Matthew 24:10-14
• Revelation 13:16-17
• Revelation 14:6-10
• Leviticus 26:11-19, 17-21

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 1
• Matthew 25; 13
• Mark 13
• Revelation 8; 9
• Deuteronomy 28

Also referenced:

Books:

• God's Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days by Fred Coulter
• The Appointed Times of the Messiah (coming spring 2011)
• The Death of the West by Pat Buchanan

Sermon Series:

• Fulfilling End Time Prophecies
• The World Financial System

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 01-9-11
Formatted: bo—1-10-11