Fulfilling End-Time Prophecies I

Fred Coulter—October 30, 2010

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Today we're going to investigate some prophecy and look at them in the way that the Bible tells us to. Come back here to Acts 1, we've been here many times. Now some of these Scriptures we have been to in the past, so like they say, 'There's nothing new under the sun.' Well, there's nothing new in prophecy except that much of the prophecy is not understood in the way that it ought to be understood, and that too many false interpretations and things come along.

There's a man who's supposed to be in the Church of God who says that he's one of the two witnesses and his wife is the second one. Of course, that thoroughly agrees with Rev. 11—doesn't it? He's out preaching and she's in the kitchen. How many false prophets and how many things have come down through the years. In 1844 they thought the Lord was going to return, so they all got out and stood on rocks and stood on stumps, praying, 'Oh, Lord, take me up.' It never happened. Then Miller, I forget what his first name was, then he had to say, 'Well, we were just off a year. It'll happen next year.' And it didn't happen.

Then you have 1918, it didn't happen. 1945, it didn't happen. 1975, it didn't happen. Then a guy came out with a book, 88 Reasons Why Christ is Going to Return in 1988. That didn't happen and so he said, 'Well, really, there are 89-reasons. So he wrote another book for the next year and that didn't happen.

And another man said, 'Well, the Great Tribulation is going to begin in 1993, and then that will be the beginning of the last seven years. So at 2001 Christ is going to return.' Then the fellow who proclaimed that he was one of the two witnesses, he's already gone 2-1/2 years into the 3-1/2 years, and it hasn't worked out like he said. But the problem is, there is always someone to believe the excuse. Rather than believe God. So that's why we are always limited—regardless of how much knowledge we may have or think we have—to understanding prophecy, because God the Father is the One Who's in control of finishing it all. And we're going to emphasize all, a little bit more than we did the last time.

Acts 1:6: "So then, when they were assembled together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?'.... [What did Jesus tell them? 'When the kingdom is here, you're each going to be sitting on a throne judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' They were anxious to do that, anxious to be a part of it.] ...And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has placed in His own authority'" (vs 6-7). So God the Father is the one Who's going to make the final decision.

And, as we have seen, God always makes allowance for repentance. So the timetable that God is going to work out will take place according to how He determines. It will also fit everything we know concerning the Sabbath, and the Passover, and the Holy Days, and the way that it is laid out and structured by that. So there isn't going to be anything that will be missing. There will be nothing that will be lacking, except perhaps our understanding of it.

Now let's come to Matthew 24:12, because we have been here many times, so let's go there again. Just like we have seen. "And because lawlessness shall be multiplied, the love of many shall grow cold." This happens in cycles. Would you say that during WWII the love of many grew cold, involved in war and killing? Yes, indeed! Are we in a time where lawlessness is multiplying? Yes! A lot of troubles today. There are other things that have to go with it. This is part of it.

A lot of it is like one of these thousand word puzzles where most of the pieces look alike and it takes a long time to put it together. We have to understand the Word of God a bit here, a bit there, precept here, precept there, line upon line, and so forth.

Verse 13: "'But the one who endures to the end, that one shall be saved.'" Now there are two ends, are there not?

• If you endure faithful to the end and die, were you faithful to the end? Yes!

Didn't Paul say, 'The time of my death is at hand. I've run the race, I've finished the course and now there is laid up for me a crown of life, which God will give to me and all those who love Him.' So if you endure to the end and you're put in the grave, you'll be saved by the resurrection.

• If you are alive at that time and you endure to the end, what does 1-Thess. 4 tell us? You'll be raised and caught up in the air with all of those who have been raised—right?

You've heard this many times through the years, v 14: "And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come." Now let's examine this a little bit here. "…proclaimed in all the world…"—so we're going to focus on all so we can get a perspective that this is bigger than we have ever understood. "…for a witness to all nations…" How great does that witness tell us? It doesn't say, but we're going to see at the end-time it involves—just like Jesus said—all nations. So this means that we have to have—and, of course, that's why the end time is filled with things like worldwide and global and United Nations and world trade organizations, world banks, and all of that, because there will be a world bank. That's the only way you can have a system that will apply to all men.

Let's go back to Jeremiah 25. A lot of the prophecies that have been given were given to the prophets, but they never did everything that God said. So what does this mean? This means that what is going to happen in these prophecies is left for others to prophesy through preaching the Gospel until the end comes.

Jeremiah 25 lists all the kings that they were to go to. In the end time those descendants of those nations are still on earth, but notice what this says. I want you to notice how thorough that this prophecy actually is. Jeremiah 25:26: "And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and allthe kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth... [Now that's very inclusive—isn't it? All!] ...and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them…. [That's the cup of the wine that God said they would drink.] …Therefore, you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you"'" (vs 26-27).

Jeremiah never got to any of these nations, so this is a prophecy that has to be completed today. Now we'll talk about all this area, the kings of the north far and near. We're going to talk about the kings of the east, because the whole thing concerning prophecy is this: all nations, all kingdoms. Now you cannot get any more inclusive than this, 'which are on the face of the earth.'

How could that be done unless it has to refer to the end of the age when we have all of the electronic means of doing so, the printing means of doing so? Verse 27: "Therefore, you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you."' And it shall come to pass if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "You shall certainly drink."…. [Now how is God going to accomplish this? We'll look at it here in just a minute.] …For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name...'" (vs 27-29).

And what's Jerusalem doing today? What does it say there in Zech. 12? 'Though all the nations of the earth be gathered in it, it's going to be a stone of stumbling and terrible consequences if you fiddle with Jerusalem.' Now guess what happened recently to the caves and tunnels in Iran where they had all the rockets to send off to destroy Jerusalem and Israel? They. Unfortunately. had several explosions. Now nothing is able to work. They can't figure out how that was done.

"'For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city, which is called by My name; and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished. For I will call for a sword on all... [there it is] ...the inhabitants of the earth,' says the LORD of hosts…. [So these prophecies are big time worldwide prophecies.] …And prophesy against them all the words, and say to them, "The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His Holy habitation. He shall mightily roar over His dwelling place.... [That's Jerusalem. Is that not close where the battle of Armageddon's going to be? Yes, indeed!] ...He shall give a shout, like those who tread out grapes, against all the people of the earth"'" (vs 29-30). Now let's go back and count it:

• all the people
• all the inhabitants
• all the nations
• all the kingdoms
• all the kings.

When God says something, does He mean it?

"'A noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with all nations; He will plead with allflesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword,' says the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be stirred up from the farthest corners of the earth. And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; they shall not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried. They shall be as dung on the ground'" (vs 31-33).

Now, let's come back here to Matthew 24 again, because this has to tie in with the words of Jesus Christ. Now, when the abomination of desolation stands in the Holy place, that's when the Tribulation begins. But notice what Jesus said concerning the Tribulation,

Matthew 24:21: "For then shall there be Great Tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be again…. [That sounds like it's the same thing that Jer. 25 is about—right?] …And if those days were not limited, there would no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be limited" (vs 21-22).

How did He limit them? By prophesying that they would be three and a half years long! Now the King James says 'cut short,' and every minister who is ignorant says, 'Well, you better be ready, because God may cut it short at any time.' Doesn't mean that. The Greek means limited. Like you hear Franklin Graham. Every Christmas time he gets on Fox News—that means he's accepted by the Catholics, because you don't get there unless they already control you—and talks about all the toys and gifts that he gives to children. Now it's good that he gives the gifts and it's nice and all that sort of thing. But he always says this: 'The Lord may return tonight.' The commentator says, 'Well, what if He doesn't?' What he's talking about is this: The Lord may return tonight and the rapture will take place. That's what he's talking about, showing that he knows nothing about the Bible.

Let's add a few more things here to it. Let's approach it this way.

• What are we told concerning the Word of God? It's true!
• What are we told concerning God? He is true!
• What are we told concerning the things that are going to happen? They will happen!

This is parallel with Matt. 24:14; Mark 13:10: "And the Gospel must first be published among all nations." There it is again—all! Look at all of the alls, we're looking at. Now today we have the means to publish it—don't we? There's one company in China that the Bible Association and other churches are doing, they are publishing 800,000 Bibles a year in many different languages, and likewise in India. It's going to where? All nations!

When I was down in Pasadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Albert Cataga just got a brand new 23-24-inch screen IMac computer where everything is contained in the screen, so it sits on this little pedestal and it's got all kinds of memory and everything and the screen is fantastic. The keyboard is remote and it's just a little slim-line, looks like a piece of metal, kind of bent over and put keys on it. He got a new Bible program [Accordance] and he showed me, that is absolutely stunning. I was absolutely enthralled with what it could do.

Now just like the word 'all' that we're doing here, you could use that program and you could find every place in the Bible where it said 'all.' Just like that! If you want to look it up in Greek, you can get it, or Hebrew you can get it. He had fifteen other versions on there. He also put on the Faithful Version. You can compare the difference between versions. There's a special part which says Faithful Version/King James Version. Show the difference in the translation. So it brings up the King James Version in one column and then it shows the Faithful Version and everything that is different is underlined in blue—I mean, just at the tip of your finger. You can get it in virtually any language you want. So when it says it's going to published among all nations, how is it published? In books, BlackBerries, IPhones, computers, and all of these things are put together in such a way that it is absolutely mind boggling. Now what does this tell us, when we think of just this one thing? Every prophecy that God has given concerning the end-time is going to be fulfilled to the nth degree!

When He says all nations, all people, all flesh, it means that. And also it will show us some other things. Let's come back here where we were a couple of weeks ago, and let's continue with all.

We will see how God is going to force all the nations to drink of that cup and that cup will be the world banking system and a world government to follow. But there are a lot, a lot, a lot of other things that have to take place, which I'll just say right here, when we're done you will see is going to take much more time to accomplish. So the return of the Lord is not within the next five or ten years. A lot of people who were looking to go to a place of safety will, although it will not be spelled Petra, it will be spelled grave, because if you're in the grave—are you not in a place of safety? Yes, indeed!

Revelation 13:4 concerning the beast that was, and is, and had the wound and recovered: "And they worshiped the dragon..." That's what all religions are. They worship Satan, even though they use the name of Jesus. That's why God said in Exo. 31 that Sabbath keeping is a sign 'between Me and you.' That also applies to the Church.

Though you profess Jesus and you get into the 'in-between land.' Like I talked about when I was talking about Christmas: You have truth over here and you have lies over here and in the process of time and osmosis of interpretation and traditions of men, you end up where lies were, they are true lies and you believe them to be true. And the truth then becomes lies and you reject it. So that's what happened. That's why God has the separation point. It's not something that is ethereal. It is something that is very practical and something that is very basic and goes right back to creation—does it not? Yes, indeed, Sabbath-keeping!

Verse 4: "And they worshiped the dragon, who gave his authority to the beast.... [And as we covered, yes, Satan said that he had the authority to give all nations to Christ if He would worship him.] ...And they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who has the power to make war against him?'"

We have yet to see a governmental entity that way or an individual that way—don't we? A lot of people said when Obama was elected, 'He's the beast.' Nonsense, he's falling apart so hilariously fast, his favorable ratings are dropping seven points a week. He's not the beast. He speaks lots of lies, but he's not the beast.

"'…Who has the power to make war against him?' And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him; and authority was given to him to continue for forty-two months: (vs 4-5). What does this tell us? Nothing is done unless God causes it to be done!It's not going to be done until the time that it is going to be done—42 months.

Now the difference between 42 months and 1,260 days, is the difference between righteousness, with the two witnesses witness 1,260, it is not the same as 42 months; 42 months is the reign of evil. That coincides there in Rev. 11 where the cord is given over to the Gentiles for forty-two months.

Verse 6: "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And he was given power to make war against the saints... [There have been martyrdoms and persecutions, but not on a worldwide scale. We're going to see this will be worldwide.] ...and to overcome them; and he was given authority over every tribe and language and nation…. [Does any one governmental agency or person have that power, over the nations or persecuting the saints? Not yet, so it's to come. ] …And all who dwell on the earth will worship him..." (vs 6-8).

There's that word again—all! See what we're looking at with these? Another thing to remember is, that 2012 is when everyone's going to get excited because of the ancient Mayan calendar and everything is supposed to end in 2012. As I was talking to Gil, who does translating from English into Spanish for us, a lot of those in Mexico really are clinging to the 2012 scenario, because they said the Mayans quit counting for the year that ends in 2012. And I said, 'Just tell them, Jesus hasn't quit counting.' So I've got to give some sermons on that.

"And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world…. [Every once in awhile you see this verse come in]: …If anyone has an ear, let him hear…. [In other words, if we're really yielding to God, we will hear the message of God, whether in written form or spoken form. As Jesus said one time, 'Let it sink deep into your ears.'] …If anyone gathers into captivity, he shall go into captivity. If anyone kills with the sword, he must be killed with the sword.... [Does the sword of the Lord come and kill a lot? Yes! The word goes out of His mouth and the flesh falls right off their bodies—right? Yes, indeed.] …Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints" (vs 8-9). Then here's this other beast rising up out of the earth. The other one came up out of the waters or the oceans or the sea. This came out of the earth. That's interesting—isn't it? What did Jesus say of the religious leaders? 'You are from beneath, you are of the earth. I am from above.' That's interesting—isn't it?

"And I saw another beast rising out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon; And he exercises all the authority of the first beast before him..." (vs 11-12). So it has to be a worldwide system. Let me tell you something. The toughest problem in the world to do is to modify the behavior of the Muslims long enough to get them to go and agree in a worldwide religion for 3-1/2-7 years. That's going to be the hardest thing in the world to do. Haven't arrived there yet.

I'm going to let Michael Heiss give the sermon on what's happening in Europe and Esau and Edom and things like that with the Muslim problem and the lifting of the yoke of Esau off Esau at the end-time. What that has, because what we're doing with this all, what we need to realize is this: All of the prophecies relating to the end-time must all be on the world stage and the world scene. Now I'm going to send with this the sermon I did a year or two ago and I've given it several times, Fourteen Things to Occur in Prophecy Before the End Comes. You will see, we're still a long ways from those fourteen things.

"And he exercises all the authority of the first beast before him..." (v 12). Which is what? Over every kindred and nation and language and tongue—right? Yes! Then they make the image of the beast.

Verse 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." We talked about that concerning the coming world currency—didn't we? Yes!All!

A man wrote me and said, 'Why do you say that everything in the book of Revelation is literal, when it's written in symbolic language?' So I answered him and I said this: If you know the rest of the Bible and put it together properly, all that symbolic language will be interpreted and understood by the Bible.

Revelation 17:15: "Then he said to me, 'The waters that you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages." Remember, we've been reading all.

Does that not give us literal interpretation of the symbolic meaning of v 1: "…the judgment of the great whore who sits upon many waters"?
Does that not also give us a literal interpretation of Revelation 13:1: "And I stood on the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea..."" Yes!

Who has the authority over all the prophecies? God the Father! Who carries them out? Jesus Christ and the angels! Revelation 17:17: "For God has put into their hearts to do His will... [What did we read of back in Jer. 25? That's going to happen—isn't it? Yes!] ...and to act with one accord, and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God have been fulfilled. And the woman whom you saw is the great city that has royal power over the kings of the earth" (vs 17-18). That can be none other than Rome, and it is a sovereign 105-acre nation—right? And every country has an ambassador to the pope. So all of those things are going to be fulfilled.

Let's come to Revelation 1 and as I explained to the man there, right here it tells us what we need to do with the Word of God in examining the prophecies. Jesus made it clear. These things apply to the Church. And what are the first prophecies given right after chapter one? Prophecies of the seven churches! So this becomes important to understand, the structure and the layout and what is said. But we're going to learn more here, too.

Revelation 1:1: "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him, to show to His servants the things that are ordained to come to pass shortly... [Now shortly is in the timing of God. And shortly applies beginning with what John was told here, going through all the chapters one after the other after the other. Now we'll do a little survey of that in just a little bit.] ...and He made it known, having sent it by His angel to His servant John; Who gave witness to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and all the things he saw" (vs 1-2). But he didn't understand, just exactly like Daniel.

What was Daniel told? Well, Daniel was told it was 'sealed to the time of the end. And at the end the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.' Now we have the other half of the equation of Daniel. So that's why we have the series online and you can ask for it, too. The series on Daniel and Revelation and all the charts that go with it, covering all of the number of the days and how do you figure them and where do they fall. If you use the Roman solar calendar like we have today, you'll never know. If you're a Sunday-keeper, you will never know. If you're a Sabbath-keeper, you'll understand some. If you're a Sabbath-keeper and a Holy Day keeper and believe God and are loyal and faithful, then you'll begin to understand step-by-step as these things unfold. That's how God intended it to be. That's how He can reveal it to His people and the world remains in ignorance. That's how God's brethren can understand the Word of God and the other, so-called Christian religions of the world can't though they have the same Bible.

It takes the Spirit of God, plus love and obedience to God to understand the prophecies. It's not just the thing you're going to pick it up and read it and say, 'Boy, I really understand that. Look at this, look at this.' And it's not going to come at the snap of the finger. I don't know how many times I've read, studied the book of Revelation in my lifetime. But every time I do I learn more. But if I just read the book of Revelation, I'd never understand it, because you have to have the rest of the Bible, as we'll see here in just a minute.

"Blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and who keep the things that are written therein; for the time is at hand" (v 3). That time at hand began with the churches, as it's laid out here in Revelation. We'll see. But notice: 'who keeps the things that are written therein.' You do this, you write down the Ten Commandments and you read through the book of Revelation and you write down every time it refers to one of the Ten Commandments.

• Talks about God, no other gods—does it? Yes!
• Does it talk about false gods? Yes, indeed!
• Second commandment: no idols. Does it talk about idols? Yes, indeed!
• Third commandment: Don't take the name of the Lord in vain. And especially say something that is not correct and put God's name to it.
• Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy? Yes, indeed!
• Honor father and mother
• no murder
• no adultery
• no lying
• cheating
• stealing

and all of that.

You'll find it all in there and then it ends up in Rev. 22 saying, 'Blessed is the one who keeps the commandments that he may have the right to eat of the tree of life.' So take that as just a little study, a little outline. That'll help you understand the book of Revelation even more.

Verse 4: "John to the seven churches that are in Asia... [The seven churches we've got online several different series on the churches, The Assaults Against the Churches,The Prophecy of the Seven Churches, and so forth. This is the only place in the entirety of the Bible where God speaks of the Church of God 'en toutoo.' And He does it through the seven churches.

• First phase: to the literal churches that were then
• Second phase: down through history
• Third phase: at the end.

Then when you come to the end-time, then Rev. 4 & 5 shows that the things that are going to transpire after that are just like Jesus said where we started that nothing is going to happen unless the Father causes it to happen. That's why it shows Revelation 4 & 5 before you come to Rev. 6 and the beginning of the Tribulation. Make sense?

Verse 4: "Grace and peace be to you from Him Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come; and from the seven spirits that are before His throne... [Now if you don't have the sermon, The Seven Spirit of God, The Holy Spirit of God, be sure and write for it or download it.] ...and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth...." (vs 4-5).

Whether they are literal kings on the earth today, because just like it says there in Dan. 4, you have to put the whole Bible together. That's what I want us to learn with this. You have to put the whole Bible together to understand Revelation. It's not just restricted to one thing. He rules the kings of the earth as written in Dan. 4 and raises up over them what? The basest of men!

"...To Him Who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. And has made us kings and priests to God and His Father... [Rev. 20:6] ...to Him be the glory and the sovereignty into the ages of eternity. Amen" (vs 5-6).

Part 2: or Download

The first sentence, I need to emphasize it again, Revelation 1:1: "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him..." That means it comes from God the Father, just exactly like Acts 1:6 said. It's in His authority. It doesn't tell us when the Father gave it to Him, because He may have given it to Him long before He made it known to John, knowing that this would be the last thing that He would reveal to John.

So lots of time you read these things and we read them and we slide over it and we forget how that the Bible is 'precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little' and it and it all really fits together great. That's the way that God made it.

Verse 7: "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him... [We found out how that's going to be when we go through the circumstances of events before Pentecost.] ...and those who pierced Him..." Now take this one right here: "…every eye…" [that is of the ones who are living] …shall see Him…" [What does that do to the secret rapture? Destroys it—right?] ...and those who pierced Him..." [We find in Zech. 12 that the house of Judah, through the line of Nathan and the Levites and the priests are going to be repenting and that's where this comes from, this verse: "…and those that pierced Him…" shall see Him.

Go back to Zechariah 12. Always a good idea when you're talking about the Bible and it gets into things that are more than just general discussion, always open the Bible, because lots of times people talk about the Bible and they don't open the Bible.

Zechariah 12:7. A lot of people are happy we send out that page finder you can put alongside your Bible. But once you have that, that'll help you to memorize where they are. When I first started going through the whole Bible in theOriginal Order, I still was used to the King James Version. But now since I've gone through it so many times, when I go back to the King James Version, I'm lost. Just the opposite.

Zechariah 12:7: "The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first... [Does that not agree with Rev. 7, the 144,000? First ones that are mentioned of the tribe of Judah, 12,000—right? Whenever God says something, it will be so.] ...so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the people of Jerusalem may not be magnified above Judah. In that day the LORD shall defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And it shall be, he who is feeble among them at that day shall be like David; and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them. And it shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy allthe nations... [There it is again—all nations, notice that word. Notice how many times this is used.] ...that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the people of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication. And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced..." (vs 7-10). They will accept Jesus. Not the literal soldiers who pierced Him. Was it the Jews who pierced Him? No! It was the Roman soldiers.

"'...and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness over Him, as the bitterness over the firstborn. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart... [And that's how the physical line came to Jesus, not through Solomon, but through Nathan (Luke 3).] ...The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart... [Those were all the singers, Levites, and so forth.] ...All the families who remain, every family apart and their wives apart" (vs 10-14). And that's when they come to repentance. So it's the descendants, and though the Roman soldiers pierced Jesus, it was really our sins that did it. What about the Roman soldiers who did pierce Him?

Let's go back to Revelation 1. When will they see Him? They did it to fulfill prophecy—did they not? If they were caused to do it to fulfill prophecy, then they have an opportunity to repent just like everyone else—don't they? So the Roman soldiers who did this—when are they going to see Him? Second resurrection—right?

Revelation 1:7, now: "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. 'I am the Alpha and the Omega... [That's the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet. Also there is similar something with the Hebrew, which is 'alef'—the first letter, and the last letter is 'tav.' There are certain places in the Old Testament where it is 'alef' and 'tav'—which if you listen to one of the sermons that Michael Heiss gave, that we sent out to you, that he gave during the Feast of Tabernacles, we have the same thing which means the first and the last. Alpha and Omega, 'alef' and 'tav.' So it ties the Old and New Testament together.

Verse 8: "'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending'... [This tells you what? You must go to the beginning of the Bible in order to understand the end of the Bible—right? Yes, indeed!] ...says the Lord, 'Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come—the Almighty'" (v 8).

Then it talks about John here, v 9: "I, John, who am also your brother and joint partaker in the tribulation and in the kingdom and endurance of Jesus Christ... [John didn't say, 'I am John, the last living apostle of Jesus Christ.' No! Notice his humility.] ...who am also your brother and joint partaker in the tribulation and in the kingdom and endurance of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ."

Now v 10 is slaughtered by an awful lot of translators because they translate it this way: 'I was in the Spirit on Sunday.' But the Greek is: "I was in the Spirit on the Day of the Lord... [In other words, this was given to him spiritually by the power of God, the Holy Spirit and he was seeing the Day of the Lord, not Sunday, falsely labeled the Lord's Day. But, you know, some people just can't give up adding to the Bible.] ...and I heard a loud voice like a trumpet behind me, saying, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last'; and, 'What you see, write in a book, and send it to the churches that are in Asia: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea'" (vs 10-11). He said, "…write in a book…" yet critics tell us that, 'Well, no, nothing of the New Testament was written down until the second and third centuries.' It was written down, and if you follow along with the commentary and also the chronologies, you will see that it was written very, very early on. Who were the ones that took the first New Covenant Passover with Jesus? The apostles! What about all the rest that were converted after that? What did they need to know before the next Passover came around in a year? They needed to know what was the New Covenant Passover—right? So they had to write down all the instructions. As I've shown in the chronologies of when the New Testament was written, it was written very early on.

First he deals with the churches. He sees Christ in His glorified form and then we come down here, he says, v 17: "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead; but He laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, 'Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last, even the one Who is living; for I was dead, and behold, I am alive into the ages of eternity. Amen. And I have the keys of the grave and death. [Not the pope. Christ alone has that.] …Write the things that you saw, and the things that are, and the things that shall take place hereafter'" (vs 17-19).

So then he explains things. Remember all symbolic language finds a literal interpretation, because we are not to say, 'Oh, it's written in symbolic language and we can't understand it.' No, the truth is, if it's written in symbolic language, other Scriptures will define it. And sometimes, as in this case, the very next verse defines what he saw.

Verse 20: "'The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven lampstands that you saw are the seven churches.'" So, if He was in the midst of the seven churches, those lampstands would have to be in a circle. Has nothing to do with the so-called menorah in the temple, because that branches out into seven branches and it's not in a circle and was never meant to stand upon or within or in the midst of. So the churches have nothing to do with the menorah lampstand. Rather, the seven spirits of God, which are also defined in Rev. 4 & 5. That's what those are.

Now we're not going to go through, except just do a quick survey chapter by chapter. First thing God is concerned with is the churches. 'The churches that are.' Now notice, it's defined here. "…the things that are, and the things that shall take place hereafter" (v 19) That's all buried within the messages to the seven churches.

Then we come to Rev. 4 & 5. This is the scene of the throne of God and notice, all of you Trinitarians out there, take heed. You believe that the trinity is part of God. Why is not the trinity mentioned here in Rev. 4 or 5? You see the Father sitting on the throne. That's what John saw. And you see the Lamb of God (Rev. 5), next to Him—correct? Yes! Where is God the trinity? Not there, because the trinity doesn't exist! It's a figment of the imagination of men's minds based upon the philosophies of ancient pagan philosophers. Now then, notice after all of this, that the seals would be opened.

Revelation 6:1: "And I looked when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures say, like the sound of thunder, 'Come and see.' And I looked, and behold, there was a white horse; and the one who was sitting on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer" (vs 1-2).

Now we've tried to interpret this, and I think it's true, that it means a false Christ. Seventh Day Adventists believe this is Christ, based on Rev. 19, that Christ is on a white horse. But Christ is the one Who opened the seal and did He open the seal and jump on the horse? No! This has to be the gathering of all religions together. That is almost an impossible task, but remember what we read in Rev. 17, that 'God will put it in their hearts to fulfill His will.' So it will be done.

Now v 3: "And when He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, 'Come and see.' And another horse went out that was red; and power was given to the one sitting on it to take peace from the earth" (vs 3-4). This has got to be the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

But it comes down and you will notice that the first five seals come rather quickly; then the sixth seal is right at about two years and a few months into the tribulation. So there is essentially a year and a half left after that. If you have any questions on that, go back and listen to the Pentecost sermons.

Rev. 7, 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude. Rev. 8 & 9, these become very essential for us to understand. Now God is also practical and these take a time to unfold. I just might mention here that if you look at the big chart, 11 x 17 chart that I did, showing the last seven years, depicting when the first three and half years would be, and what I did was this. I said if the end is the end, then it has to be the end of a 19-year time cycle, because God uses the calculated Hebrew calendar. And the 19th year is a leap year, meaning there are 13 months in that year, which gives essentially 30 more days to fulfill the things that are going to place in that last year.

Also, on the Day of Atonement when Satan is bound, that has to be the beginning of the Jubilee year to strip away the slavery from all the people of the earth. So all of those things fit in type. Since we are going to cover things that are a little off here, I'm going to ring my bell (speculation), because some of the things we're going to cover now will be some things which are educated thoughts about how things are going to work out.

Revelation 8—these are when the seven angels begin to sound their trumpets. Do these begin on the Feast of Trumpets? Very likely! We don't know for sure. But if Christ was crucified on the Passover day and if the Holy Spirit was given on the Day of Pentecost, the Ten Commandments given on the Day of Pentecost, the Day of Atonement began the ministry of Christ in a Jubilee year, and the binding of Satan would be then on a Jubilee year, then can we say that these trumpets would begin to sound on the Feast of Trumpets? Very likely! We don't know for sure. But since God follows the same pattern all the way through, and the Feast of Trumpets is that announcing war, this would certainly fit.

After all the other things that took place, notice we're going to see again this is looking at the world. This is looking at the earth, a whole unit that God is working with. Revelation 8:7: "And the first angel sounded his trumpet; and there was hail and fire mingled with blood, and it was cast upon the earth; and a third of the trees were burnt up, and all the green grass was burnt up."

What happens when there's a fire like that? And, of course, we're going to see other things that take place. During the Tribulation when grass is burned up, is it not going to grow until Christ puts His foot on the earth? Of course not! What happens? Right here in California all of us have seen where the grass is burned. We just had some rain. What's going to happen in a couple of days? Green grass is going to grow—right? So all the grass is burned up, a third of the trees. So this is pretty powerful. Again there's the word all.

Verse 8: "Then the second angel sounded his trumpet; and there was cast into the sea as it were a great mountain burning with fire, and a third of the sea became blood…. [Does it stay blood continually? No! It clears up a little later!] (But here's what happens when that takes place): …And a third of the living creatures that were in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed" (vs 8-9).

I tell you, you look at some of these mega container ships, they're really something. I imagine that every shipbuilder wants to build the ultimate ship that won't sink and God always sinks them—witness the Titanic!

"And the third angel sounded his trumpet; and there fell out of heaven a great star, burning like a lamp; and it fell on a third of the rivers, and on the fountains of waters. Now the name of the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood; and many men died from drinking the waters because they were made bitter…. [Now, obviously, then they continued to flow.] …Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet; and a third of the sun was smitten, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars; so that a third of them were darkened; and a third part of the day did not shine, and likewise a third part of the night" (vs 10-12). Meaning what? Going to have clouds! You going to have rain? Yes! What's going to happen to the grass? It's going to start growing again! How about some of the trees that were injured and burned? They start growing again!

Now Dolores and I were on the way over to Santa Cruz and there's a place where there was a whole section right along the highway where there were a lot of eucalyptus trees and they all burned, ground was burned. It was an awful looking mess. When you see all of that messed up, you think, 'Oh, that's terrible.' Well, we drove by there a year later and what's happened? Because of the rain, because of the fire first, all the seeds from the eucalyptus tree were germinated. The rain came and now there are a whole batch, just hundreds and hundreds of new eucalyptus trees, that are growing and the grass is there. So this is going to happen when this event takes place. Plants don't stop working as long as there are soil and water. There's going to be some blood in it. That may be some extra fertilizer to help them come up a little bit more. So in these things, we also need to think in practical terms as what's going to happen.

The reason that I bring it up is this. Let's come down here to Revelation 9:4: "And it was said to them that they should not damage the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree..." If all the grass was burned up, why does it say 'do not damage the grass of the earth'? It just grewback a fresh crop—right? What does this also tell us? This also tells that there's a space of time—doesn't it? How long, we don't know, but in circumstances like that, with it being dark, a lot of water, lightning, thunder, and all of that going on, well you know, grass is going to sprout up pretty quickly, or any tree. So those things made a comeback from when the first four of the trumpet plagues were sounded.

Revelation 8:13: "And I looked; and I heard an angel flying in the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, 'Woe, woe, woe to those who are dwelling on the earth, because of the voices of the remaining trumpets of the three angels who are about to sound their trumpets.'"

Let's come back to Daniel 11, because this is where part of Dan. 11 is being fulfilled when we get to Rev. 9, where we are going to see is really a tremendous key in understanding how these armies are going to come.

Daniel 11:40: "And at the time of the end, the king of the south shall push at him.... [Now you will hear in the sermon, The Fourteen Things to Happen in Prophecy, where is the king of the south? He's not here yet! Where is the king of the north? He's not here yet!] ...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." What is this telling us?

The king of the north is coming and he's coming with chariots and horsemen. That means it's an army. What is one of the weakest armies in the world today? Take away the U.S.A., look at the armies in Europe under NATO, it is the weakest, the oldest and most inept of any of the armies of the world. Something's going to have to happen in order for that to become a viable military machine.

Now we'll talk a little bit about Afghanistan in the next sermon, but the Germans who are over in Afghanistan have not been given combat duty, and so every night they're off at five o'clock at night and in their quarters, because it's all garrisoned off, what do they do? It's like all good Germans, have big steins of beer. And they're all over 35-years-old. Where is the army of the king of the north?

Now, you have to add in there they have the Islamic problem, too—don't they? So that's got to be solved. They are going to probably have to have all the Muslims return to their native country whether they were born in Europe or not. Have you been watching the news? What did Angela Merkel say? She got really mad and said, 'No more diversity. No more living separate. You either learn German and integrate and treat everybody equally...' But she didn't say leave. That will be the rest of the program. You can't have a king of the north and a Europe rise in power if you have twenty percent of the population Muslims. So something's going to have to happen there. And it's going to take some time to get them out.

Then there's going to have to be like a blessing from the pope and a blessing from the government, which they're doing in Italy, because they have so many abortions that now they're giving tax breaks and encouraging people to have children and if you come to many of the small towns in Italy, they will give you free rent and no tax if you have a lot of children. Their demographics are, they're not replacing the ones who are dying fast enough to replace. They're ending up with a downward trend in the number of population. How are you going to get an army of young men unless you first of all get rid of the Muslims and then have incentives so the people will have children? That has to happen. That's going to take some time. It's not going to be five years or ten years, maybe more than that.

Also, they've got to solve their financial problems right now. There is a president of the EU, but he's like a 'paper tiger' without any teeth. The one you read of in Rev. 13 is strong and powerful. Now what I want you to do is think about what happened to bring Hitler on the scene? Same forces are going to apply.

• time of tremendous inflation
• collapse of the money
• bring in a new form of money
• world currency
• get rid of the Muslims
• have more children

So how that's going to work out, how long that's going to take, we'll have to see.

Here's what's happening in Europe right now. Europe if facing a monetary collapse, much like ours. I will tell you the solution that will change that and also facilitate the developing of the armies of 200-million from the east. We have to think in gigantic terms, when we think of the 200-million coming from the east.

So let's finish off here a little bit about European Union. (EU Tread Uncharted Waters to Defend Single Currency: Bangkok Post, Oct. 29, 2010)

The European Union faced a new round of risky treaty change Friday after its leaders agreed to embark on landmark reforms designed to ward off another financial crisis by shoring up the Euro.

This is another reason why I said they are going to come with a world currency, because they thought they could do regional currencies, like the Euro, the Amero, the Southeast Asia, the yen and the Chinese yuan, and things like that. But that's not going to work. The Euro almost collapsed before the dollar did with the things that went on. So what they had:

…the union's 27 leaders wound up their heated talks that dragged on into the early hours with an agreement to rewrite the EU's main treaty with only eleven months after it came into force.

Don't think that because something is done, that that is final.

"This spring we overcame…" the EU's president, Herman Van Rompuy, said...

I've got a picture of him here. Go look it up online, very weak looking man. That's why they have to have a strong man come on and take over.

"This spring we overcame a deep crisis of economic and monetary union…."

But still, there's Greece hanging out, there's Italy hanging out, there's Spain, Portugal, to say nothing of Ireland, to say nothing of Iceland, to say nothing of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia and Poland and the Czech state and Slovenia and Romania and the Ukraine, and all of it; to say nothing of Russia.

"Our next political duty was to draw the lessons for the future to make the European economies more crisis proof."

Yielding to pressure from an "impassioned" German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, leaders agreed to prepare a "limited" change to the hard-fought Lisbon Treaty, a decade in the making after factious negotiations and failed referendums.

So, the treaty was this. They have it now that no nation can have any more than three percent indebtedness. They're going to have to change that and set up a whole pool of money to make it crises proof if something happens to the banks. So there is a whole reorganization that's going to go on in Europe. And watch and see one of the things that will take place: They will give more power to the President as an incremental thing which will help pave the way for the beast as the king of the north.

So this is part of what is taking place there. Some of the states—and they limit, you cannot have accumulated debt that goes beyond 60-percent of GDP. Well, Greece now has 125-percent of GDP. GDP is Gross Domestic Product, meaning the sum total of all goods and services and banking transactions within the economic boundaries of the country. Today the United States is about 100-percent GDP. So there are some things that are going to have to happen. But there will be a way which will mitigate some of that. I'll have to tell you about that later.

Daniel 11:41: "He... [the king of the north] ...shall also enter into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown. But these shall escape out of his hand: Edom and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.... [That's essentially Turkey, some parts of the area down near Jordan, and what we would call the Bedouin part of the area near Petra, and so forth.] ...And he shall stretch out his hand also upon the countries. And the land of Egypt shall not escape" (vs 41-42).

"But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. And the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps" (v 43). Now I want you to think in terms of:

• How much does it take to move an army?
• by planes
• by rail
• by road
• How much does it take of an economy and the support behind every individual in the military?

I'll give you one clue we'll look at, which is this: If there is an army of 200-million, which there will be, what is the civilian population necessary to support that army economically? And how is that going to come about? I think we can see the door opening the way that it's going to.

Scriptural References:

• Acts 1:6-7
• Matthew 24:12-14
• Jeremiah 25:26-33
• Matthew 24:21-22
• Mark 13:10
• Revelation 13:4-12, 16
• Revelation 17:15, 1
• Revelation 13:1
• Revelation 17:17
• Revelation 1:1-6, 1, 7
• Zechariah 12:7-14
• Revelation 1:7-11, 17-20, 19
• Revelation 6:1-4
• Revelation 8:7-12
• Revelation 9:4
• Revelation 8:13
• Daniel 11:40-43

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 11
• 1 Thessalonians 4
• Zechariah 12
• Exodus 31
• Revelation 11; 13:1; 22, 4, 5
• Daniel 4
• Revelation 20:6
• Revelation 7
• Luke 3
• Revelation 19, 7

Also referenced:

Sermons:

• Fourteen Things to Occur in Prophecy Before the End Comes
• The Seven Spirit of God, The Holy Spirit of God

Sermon Series:

• Daniel & Revelation (including charts)
• Assaults Against the Churches
• Prophecy of the Seven Churches

Article: EU Tread Uncharted Waters to Defend
             Single Currency: Bangkok Post, Oct. 29, 2010
(bangkokpost.com

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 11-10-11
Formatted: 11-14-10