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Times of the Gentile
Charles Ryrie

Charles Ryrie (March 2, 1925 – February 16, 2016) was an American preacher, theologian, and scholar whose ministry and writings profoundly shaped dispensational theology and evangelical Christianity in the 20th century. Born Charles Caldwell Ryrie in St. Louis, Missouri, to John Alexander Ryrie, a banker, and Elizabeth Caldwell, he grew up in Alton, Illinois, in a Presbyterian family. Converted as a child through his church’s influence, he pursued education at Haverford College (B.A., 1946), Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M., 1947; Th.D., 1949), and the University of Edinburgh (Ph.D., 1953), with additional studies at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (D.Litt., 1987). Ordained in the Presbyterian Church, his preaching career began in smaller settings but pivoted toward teaching and writing after academic pursuits. Ryrie’s ministry flourished through his professorships at Westmont College (1953–1958), Dallas Theological Seminary (1958–1983), and Philadelphia Biblical University, where he served as president (1958–1962), preaching in chapel services and mentoring students. Best known for the Ryrie Study Bible (1978), which sold over 2.5 million copies with its dispensational notes, he authored over 50 books, including Dispensationalism Today (1965) and Basic Theology (1986), defending premillennialism against covenant theology. His sermons, often delivered at conferences and churches like First Baptist Church in Dallas, emphasized biblical clarity and practical faith. Married twice—first to Mary Frances McClanahan in 1947 (divorced 1982), with three children, then to Marie E. Johnson in 1987—he retired to Dallas, dying at 90 from heart failure, buried in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, leaving a legacy in evangelical scholarship and teaching.
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In this sermon, the speaker discusses a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, which is described in the book of Daniel. The dream involves an image with six parts, representing different kingdoms throughout history. The head of the image represents Babylon, followed by the chest representing Persia, the stomach representing Greece, and the legs representing Rome. The speaker also mentions the ten horns that emerge from the fourth beast, which correspond to the ten toes of the image. The sermon emphasizes the significance of this dream in understanding the times of the Gentiles and the future events leading up to the Second Coming of Christ.
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Well, good morning on this Monday morning. Now, it's Monday morning and you're all awake and alert and bright-eyed and memory sharp. So, we're going to have a little quiz. How about that? Don't look down, look up. So, we're going to have a little quiz. It's just five questions. I think you can handle that. Now, I have to put you on your honor. So, when I read the question, you make a stab at the answer. And if you can't say, I'll answer later, because there's not time for that. You've got to either answer now, correctly or not. And you'll have to keep track of your score. So, maybe you can use your two hands, each got five fingers. And the ones you get right, you can use in your right hand. The ones you get wrong, you'll have to mark in your left hand. Okay? Everybody ready? The questions are on the subject we're going to discuss this morning. So, I just want to know it. You see, if everybody gets all five right, then we'll just have the benediction and go home. Or else I'll make up five more questions. Who knows? Okay. The empire that defeated and succeeded Babylon was... Don't answer out loud now. I'm not interested in your bragging. I just want to know that you know it. Alright, if you got it right, put up your right thumb. If you can't answer, put up your left thumb. In your lap, that is. Sit on your hands if you're embarrassed. Two. Daniel lived in what century B.C.? Alright, you got two fingers out, one way or another now. Everybody? Three. The same panorama of the future that is detailed in chapter two of Daniel is also... The same panorama is also covered in chapter what? Fourth. True or false, how easy can it be? There were antichrists living in New Testament times before now. That is, in the first century A.D. True or false, there was an antichrist in the first century A.D.? I don't want to hear those whisperings still. Five. The coming antichrist will rule over a confederation of how many nations? Okay, how many of you had five fingers up on the right hand? Raise your hand. Now you can brag. Oh, I'm sure some of you did. Come on, don't be humble. Fake humility is a sin. Alright, there's two, three. How many had four fingers up on the right hand? Very good. Still passing. Three on the right hand? You're still passing. The rest of you need to go home and read your Bible. Alright, I just thought that might be something to learn while I'm speaking this morning, because I'm not going over the answers now. But all of them will be covered in the next few minutes. Now, I think I'm going to warn you, because you came out on Monday morning, so you ought to have a warning. Tonight we're going to do the same thing on the subject. We're going to have ten questions. And don't tell the people that aren't here. And the subject tonight is the Millennium, so if you want to bone up on the Millennium, you can show everybody how smart you are tonight. The others that aren't here, they'll just have to wean off on their prior knowledge. You don't mind doing that, do you? Okay. After all, you're not failing or passing. Nothing crucial depends on it. Just a little interesting exercise. Daniel. Daniel the prophet, the Lord called him, who lived in the 6th century B.C., that is in the 500s B.C., was of course one of those who was deported to Babylon when Babylon became the leading power in the world. Babylon had roots that went back many years before the story of the book of Daniel opens. Actually, Abraham was from a city in the southern part of that territory of Babylon. In those days it had religion and laws and writing and was very advanced and civilized. Assyria to the north was the preceding world empire to Babylon and Nineveh eventually was the capital of Assyria. You know Nineveh because that's the city to which Jonah was sent and to which he preached with the greatest kind of success. You also know Assyria and Nineveh because that was the power that captured the northern ten tribes of Israel in 722. Well, about 100 years after that Nineveh itself was destroyed and Babylon became the emerging world empire, defeating Assyria and the Egyptians to the south. There's an interesting prophecy or comment in Jeremiah about Egypt in those days which says the king of Egypt is but a big noise, just a lot of propaganda and was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar who chased the armies of the Egyptians into Egypt. And as Nebuchadnezzar went back to Babylon from that campaign against the Egyptians, as he went back to Babylon because his father had died and it was up to him to take over the reins of government, he took Daniel and some of the other young Hebrews as captives into the land of Babylon. And then though Jerusalem escaped for a few more years, it wasn't very much longer before Jerusalem itself was captured and decimated, totally destroyed, including the temple, in the last phase of the captivity that we call the Babylonian captivity. Nebuchadnezzar is on the throne and it must have been difficult to be a ruler in those days. Lots of things on your mind. The book of Ecclesiastes says that if you're too busy it will give you nightmares. So Nebuchadnezzar had a nightmare one night. And we're looking at that in the second chapter of Daniel. This occurred in the second full year of his reign. And he had a nightmare, a dream, which he used as a test, a test in which God used to reveal a panorama of world leaders that existed then and would come to pass one after the other in the subsequent history of the world. I don't suppose as Nebuchadnezzar thought about his kingdom he ever thought it could be destroyed or anybody could ever capture Babylon as he had overtaken Syria and Egypt. But of course that happened eventually. The city that straddled the Euphrates River was protected by two sets of double walls which altogether totaled about 80 feet worth of walls. There was the great Ishtar Gate that led into the city with its magnificent lapis-colored tiles and towers. Babylon was impregnable as far as the people themselves thought. In a museum in East Berlin there is a not quite to scale reproduction of the way leading to the Ishtar Gate and these beautiful lapis-blue colored tiles with the symbols of Babylon on them. It's a magnificent reconstruction of a portion of the magnificence of the city of Babylon. Well Nebuchadnezzar had this dream and he called together his wise men. If you have your Bible open to Daniel 2 we're going to skim a few verses and then look at a couple in more detail. He called together his wise men, verse 5, and he said to them, The thing is gone from me. Or, it's a little hard to know how to translate that. It may mean the dream is certain to me or it may mean the command that you must interpret it is certain or firm. The thing that isn't clear is whether or not Nebuchadnezzar remembered the dream itself. Now of course he didn't know the interpretation but it isn't quite clear from the phrase whether or not he remembered the dream. In any case he used it to test the wise men to see if they could tell him what the dream was and if they could do that then of course he would be certain or more certain that the interpretation was accurate as well. It may be that he had forgotten at least the details of the dream, couldn't recall them as is often the case. You dream something and what did you dream? Well I don't remember what it was about, the general subject, but I don't remember the details. Or it may mean that he did remember the dream but in either case he wasn't about to tell the wise men what the dream was because if he had done that they would have made up an interpretation and who could deny whether it was true or false. But if they could prove themselves by giving the dream itself then he could be sure or at least more sure that the interpretation was true also. Most of these people who claim to be able to tell the future don't even bat 500, which is a very poor batting average. And of course anybody in Old Testament times who didn't bat 1000, that is who didn't predict accurately 100% of the time, was subject to being stoned. And all of these false prophets that run around today, not only in religious circles but in the National Enquirer and some places like that, they don't bat very well and they ought to be stoned according to Old Testament law. Well Nebuchadnezzar was going to put his magicians and wise men to the test. So he said, you tell me the dream and the interpretation and if you don't then I will punish you with death. Well you remember the consternation and the scurrying around that went on after this edict. And finally Daniel heard about it and his friends got together and prayed a very urgent prayer of self-preservation. Verse 18, they asked the God of heaven concerning the secret that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. That gives me great encouragement, verse 18. Because it doesn't say they asked for the secret in order that God might be glorified or some lovely pious reason like that, which is a good pious reason. But the unvarnished statement is they didn't want to die so they asked for help. It was kind of a selfish prayer but in a right sense. I think God wants us to make known our desires as well. He knows whether our heart is right and wants to glorify him but in the meantime we ought to tell him our desires. They told him we didn't want to die, we want to know the interpretation. So God revealed the interpretation to them. And then the little bureaucrat, verse 24, named Ariok. Verse 25, he brought Daniel in before the king. I think he was short and fat with stubby legs. And he ran in to the king and he says, I have found a man of the captives of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation. And the king didn't even give him apparently a second look but spoke right away to Daniel and asked if that was possible. So Daniel interpreted the dream. Now there are six parts to the dream in this chapter. And we'll just sketch those. The dream has to do with the latter days. Verse 28, see that phrase, what shall be in the latter days. And what should follow after Nebuchadnezzar's time and on through until the second coming of Christ. And there are six parts to this image that Nebuchadnezzar saw. Six parts to the dream. Verse 32, there was an image who had a head, that's the first part. Had a chest, breasts and arms of silver. Second part, third part, stomach and thighs of brass. Fourth part, legs of iron. Fifth part, feet part of iron, part of clay. And then the sixth part of the dream had to do with the stone, verse 34, that break the feet into pieces and then enlarged itself, verse 35, until it filled the whole earth. So there's six parts to the dream. Now look up here please and imagine I'm the image just for the moment. Let's see, if I step away you won't pick it up. But imagine I'm the image for the moment. There's six parts. Part one, part two, part three, part four, legs, part five, feet. And part six, that stone that comes and crushes the image on its feet and fills the whole earth. Now take me, take the image and lay me on the side just as if I were stretched out here on the platform. And you have a timeline chart beginning with the head, which was Babylon, moving through a sequence of time down to the feet. Stand the image up and that's the way Nebuchadnezzar saw it. Place the image on its side and you have a little timeline chart of a panorama of what the Lord calls in Luke 21 the times of the Gentiles. Which is described in Luke 21, 24 as characterized by the fact that Jerusalem is trodden down of Gentiles. Jerusalem is ruled by Gentiles, the times of the Gentiles. Starting with Nebuchadnezzar who overcame the city and laid it in ruins. And right down to the second coming of Christ, which is the stone that eventually fills the whole earth in his millennial kingdom. Now the times of the Gentiles have had some temporary interruptions. That is, there have been a few times when Jerusalem has not been overruled by Gentiles. During the Maccabean era that was not the case. That is, the Maccabeans, the Jews, ruled Jerusalem. People have wondered if since 1967 the times of the Gentiles have been interrupted. Because during the war in 1967 Jerusalem again was reunited and was ruled over by the Jews. So there can be some interruptions in it, but the general characteristic of the time is that Jerusalem is trodden down of Gentiles. If there had been an interruption, though I personally don't think 1967 interrupted it, because Israel only rules Jerusalem by at least the permissive toleration of the major Gentile powers in the world. If Russia and the United States got together and said you must internationalize Jerusalem, what could Israel do but internationalize Jerusalem? So at least by the permissive toleration of the world powers, the Gentile powers, Israel rules Jerusalem. Nevertheless, if there has been an interruption since 1967, we know from Revelation 11 verse 2 that Jerusalem again will be trodden down by the Gentiles in the tribulation days. And the phrase trodden down in Revelation 11 verse 2 is exactly the same verb as in Luke 21 verse 24. The times of the Gentiles. Lay the image on its side, begins with Babylon, the head, followed by Persia, the Medes and the Persians who overtook Babylon. That's the answer to the first question. And that Persian Empire was succeeded by the Grecian Empire, and the Grecian Empire was succeeded by the Roman Empire. And now there's been an interruption during these days in which God is calling out from among Gentiles a people for his name. But there will come a time when there will be the feet portion of the image. That is when there will be ten nations that will be leaders in the world. And then Christ will come and the stone, that is Christ, will fill the whole earth when he comes to rule the earth. And that general sketch you see is in verses 38 and 9 and 40 and 41 and 42. Following 38, thou art this head of gold. 39, another kingdom inferior after thee. And then a third one, 39, then 40, a fourth one. And then 41, the toes are described. And then verse 44 says, in the days of these kings, that is of the ten toes, in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up the kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and not left to any other people, not succeeded by any other kingdom. So the fourth empire, the Roman Empire, there is an interruption there, and then the toes that will come eventually in a ten nation confederation, and that is the answer to one of those questions, will be crushed by the coming of Christ. In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom. So the timeline chart runs successively until you come to the conclusion of the Roman Empire, and then there is a gap in here, and then there will be a revival of this timeline chart with ten kingdom confederation in the tribulation days, and then the coming of Christ. Now how long did these kingdoms last? This might be interesting for you to remember. Babylon ruled for 66 years. That's not very long. Persia for 208 years, Greece for 270, and Rome, well it's a little hard to know what the cutoff date should be, but let's take Rome to the division of the empire into the east and the western divisions, and then Rome did rule for 458 years. The ten nation confederation in the tribulation days will rule for no more than seven years of the tribulation, and the kingdom of Christ will be a thousand years plus eternity. The United States is how many years old? 207. So you see we actually are among the longer nations ruling in the world as far as history is concerned. Now that's essentially what Daniel's dream was. I mean, what Nebuchadnezzar's dream was. Now if you turn over to chapter 7, which is the companion chapter covering the same panorama, there's an answer to another question. If you turn over to chapter 7, you have the same time period, the same panorama, only with some added detail. And here I'm going to suggest we have seven parts to the dream that Daniel had in chapter 7. Nebuchadnezzar's dream in 2, Daniel's dream in 7. This occurred about 50 years later from the time of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. And by this time, Daniel was well established in the kingdom. He had this dream. Nebuchadnezzar had already died and then succeeded in the kingdom, but Babylon was still the ruling world empire. It had not yet been succeeded by the Persians. Actually, I think the events of Daniel 7 come between Daniel 4 and 5, so Persia had not yet conquered Babylon. Now God describes these world leaders not in terms of a great image or parts of a great image, but in terms of beasts. But it's the same panorama. And you'll notice the sequence of events is exactly the same. Verse 4, the first beast was like a lion. And always, when you read prophecy, pay special attention when the text says, like, or as, or as it were. And pay special attention when it doesn't use those words. When it uses words like that, then it's saying this is the best way it could be described. In fact, the first kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, was like a lion. And then some added description, added details. The second, verse 5, was like a bear. And the third, verse 6, was like a leopard. And the fourth, verse 7, was like nothing Daniel had ever seen. It was dreadful, terrible, strong, great iron teeth, and some other details are given. So there are four parts to this dream that correspond exactly to the first four parts of the image. To the head, the chest, the stomach, and the legs. To Babylon, to Persia, to Greece, to Rome. And these four animals are exactly similar in the panorama. Now, we have, in verse 8, something added. There were, out of this fourth beast, there were ten horns. And that corresponds exactly to the ten toes of the feet of the other image. But now here's something new. Now, I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. And I beheld how the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and his hair of the head as pure wool. His throne was like a fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. Now, in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, you had six features. Four kingdoms, toes of ten kingdoms, and then the stones, the kingdom of Christ. In Daniel's dream, you have seven features. Four beasts, just like the four parts of the image. The ten horns, equivalent to the ten toes, that is the confederation of nations that will arise in the tribulation days. And the Ancient of Days, equivalent to the stone, to Christ's kingdom. But the added feature in Daniel 7 is this other horn, verse 8, that comes out from among the ten nations, the ten-nation confederation that will arise in the tribulation days. And this horn is Antichrist. This is another description of the same man we talked about last night. Let's look at verse 24 and see some details about Antichrist. The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. That's the ten-nation confederation of the tribulation days. Personally, I think that's a western confederation. West being described in relation to Palestine. That is, it's west from Palestine. Some teachers will use the phrase, the revived Roman Empire. And that's alright, because it comes out of the fourth kingdom, which was Rome. The $64,000 question is, which stage of the Roman Empire? Because Rome went through a number of stages. If you've ever been to Rome, you'll remember on one of the modern walls near the Colosseum, there are mosaics of the various stages of the Roman Empire during its history. And sometimes it was smaller, and sometimes it was larger. So when a teacher talks about the revived Roman Empire, you need to ask the question, which stage of the old Roman Empire is going to be revived? A smaller area of conquest, or a larger area which is conquered? And I don't know the answer to that, frankly. But I think the idea is correct, the term is correct, that there will be a revived Roman Empire in the sense that the ten-nation confederation will come from that general area which Rome ruled during its time of world conquest. And that's west from Palestine. So I like to call it a western confederation of nations. And it will be ruled by this little horn that will arise. Apparently, remember the detail, he had to subdue three kings. So apparently not all ten nations will want to give him their power at first, so he'll have to do something forcibly to bring three of them into line. I don't know how that's going to work out, or which ones will be reluctant or opposing him, but he will have to bring three of them into line forcibly. The others apparently will give him their allegiance voluntarily. He shall subdue three kings. Verse 24, that's one detail we know about him. And as far as I know, that's the only place in the Bible where we learn this particular detail about Antichrist coming to power. Now you must always think of Antichrist as both a political and a religious leader. He is both. He has a lieutenant, but he is both political and religious. At first he is political. In the first part of the Tribulation he's gathering together his base of operation in this ten-nation western confederation. But remember last night, in the middle of the Tribulation, he sets himself up in the temple to be worshipped, and there he takes on a religious role. And as he leads the world to Armageddon, he tries to make the whole world worship him, bow to him. So he will, I don't think, ever be a worldwide leader, but he'll be a world leader. If he were a worldwide leader, then there would be nobody opposing him at Armageddon, and there will be armies opposing him at Armageddon, and armies of the East. So he won't be a totally worldwide leader, but he will be a world leader, his base of operation being west from Palestine. So, this little detail about his coming to power that he must, fortunately, do three of the ten nations here in Daniel 7 and 24. There's more details about him. Verse 25. He shall speak great words against the Most High. That's why he's anti-Christ. And shall wear out the saints of the Most High. Not the Church, for we shall have been raptured to heaven. But, there will be saints in the Tribulation days. There will be elect in the Tribulation days. And they will be the objects of his persecution. He will think to change times and laws. And that's an intriguing phrase. I don't know all that it means. To change laws, that seems clear enough. But to change times. I'll give you a guess, and that's all it is. Maybe one of the things anti-Christ will do is to change the seven-day week. So as to try to erase from people's minds the idea of the Lord's Day. Or even from Jewish minds, the idea of a Sabbath. You know, a seven-day week has never been universal. Except among Jewish people. But many nations have observed other lengths of weeks. We just can't think of that being possible. Four and five-day weeks have been very common. And even these days, in the French Revolution, we will attempt to change the week. It was geared to the market day. And if market came every four or five days, that was the weekly cycle. It's just so hard for us to think how that could be. Because we're so used to the seven. But if anti-Christ wanted to erase the idea of the Lord's Day, and all that would mean to believers in the Tribulation days, this would be a pretty necessary thing to do. Not just desecrate the Lord's Day. Not just make it a secular day, as it's fast becoming in our days. But actually change it. So you have a first day, and a seven-day cycle. But only to have a three, four, or five-day cycle. So maybe it might mean something like that. And you'll have free reign for time, time, half a time, for three and a half years. And then, the Kingdom of Christ will come. And that's the seventh feature in this version. The disclaimer that Daniel had. So, here are some details about anti-Christ that we didn't pick up in Chapter 2, because he really wasn't mentioned in the chapter. Now I want to ask some questions that maybe you are asking. Is the European Economic Community, that is the common market, is it in some way related to the coming ten-nation Western Confederation, headed by anti-Christ? Well, it might be a base on which anti-Christ could build. And I say that about as carefully as I know how to say it. It might be a base on which don't get excited if there are ten nations, because next year there might be eleven. It depends. When anti-Christ takes over, his Western will be ten. Until then, there may be six, sixteen, ten, who knows, in the European Economic Community. I think the most significant thing about the European Economic Community is not the number of nations that cooperate, or that go in and out, because there is only one. I think the most significant thing about them is the economic energy that they affect. And the economic energy of the world, including the Western European nations, is, I think, one of the most significant signs of the time. There is a parliament. I know that. It's got 410 members, a European parliament. We don't hear much about it in this country. But once in a while a prophecy teacher will get hold of that, and this is obviously anti-Christ parliament. I don't know that it is or isn't. And the common market is obviously the Ten Nation Confederation. I don't know that it is or isn't. It could go out of business tomorrow or next year. That wouldn't stall God's program. Its presence might be a help to anti-Christ to build on, but even if we didn't have a common market, God's not going to be supported or hindered or delayed in bringing to pass his purpose at the beginning of the tribulation to unite these ten nations in the West. Second question. Is anti-Christ alive today? If the rapture of the church will occur in the next 30, 40 or 50 years, the answer is yes. Because anti-Christ will not come on the scene of history. That is, he won't come as a political leader gathering together ten nations. He won't come on the scene of history as a leader as a baby. He's going to have to be an adult. So he'll have to be 30, I suppose. And if he has to be 30 when this starts, then 30 years before it starts, he's got to have been born. So is he alive today? He could be. If the rapture is within the next one or two generations, then the chances are he is alive somewhere on the earth today. It's kind of a startling conclusion, isn't it? But it's very, very possible that that's the case. A third question. In the message last night, it didn't say much about how anti-Christ will lead, be one of the leaders in propelling the world toward Armageddon. And I'd like to ask the question, how will he do that? Well, he will do that because he's going to try to enlarge his kingdom, the scope of his kingdom, not merely, or not only to include the West, but to include other parts of the world as well. Now, if you could change everything I've been doing up here from the timeline charts and all the rest of it, and if you could now change the front of the platform to a map, can you do all that? And you'll make the pulpit Palestine, if you have a point of reference, and then you'll have to make everything over there to be the West from Palestine. So, anti-Christ is in that area where the piano is, getting his League of Ten Nations together. And he makes, at the beginning of the Tribulation, a treaty with the Jewish people in Palestine. And he becomes their protector, actually, in those days. Now, I really would like to have some help here I suppose I could get three or four men to come up here and help me. Would that embarrass somebody? Come on, some of you men. I won't ask you to say anything, I won't ask you to do anything, except what I ask you to do. I mean, I won't embarrass you, believe me. But it would just maybe help everybody to... I think we have enough. All right. Let's see. You come up here, please. And you go over there just by the piano, please. And you... Let's see. You can go over here, please. One of you. And you can just stand right down there. Okay? Now we've got everybody in place. You can obviously tell who's the most handsome of this group. And... No, it's you. Thank you. Yes. And... Well, look at him. He's got a nice profile. Good looking. Attractive. Youngish. And that makes him a good choice for Antichrist, doesn't it? I think he will be an attractive man. One who attracts people to himself. So I put him in the West over there, you see. And the first thing he does is make a... At the beginning of the Tribulation, make a treaty with the Jewish people. And I'll be Jewish people. Come over and make a treaty with me. And we will covenant together. And what you will do is protect me in Palestine. And in the meantime, you have to get your ten nations together. And all of that. Now in the middle of the Tribulation, remember, he breaks the treaty. So... And... He sets himself up in the temple to be worshipped. Exactly right. Now, he wants to expand his empire. So... To become, literally, a world ruler. And there are other blocks of nations, other power blocks in the world that stand in his way. I do not... I'm not at all dogmatic about the sequence of events. But the general outline, I think, is correct and scriptural. So these other blocks, these other powers have to... Something has to be done with them. I personally think the sequence will be something like this. Down in the South here is the King of the South, Egypt. Which answers the question, will Egypt survive? The answer is yes. Into the Tribulation days, Egypt will survive. Up in the North... Is... Big Bear. Great typecasting. Of course, these men will never speak to me the rest of the day. And I personally think that the two will try to effect a kind of pincer movement against Palestine. If one comes from the South and one comes from the North, to cut him off in both directions. Like a pair of scissors, in other words. You see, here's one part of the scissors, here's the other part. And they're going to bring them together and cut this man's contact between the West and Palestine. So, this one starts North and this one starts South. Don't come too far. Don't come too far. Don't come too far. And he starts South. Now, Antichrist has to make a tactical decision. It's pretty hard to divide his forces and go both ways. And I think Daniel 11 indicates that he will first knock out Egypt. And I can see, vaguely, a reason for that. Because it's harder to get from the North. There are too many mountain ranges, it's not easy to move a land army. And it's much easier to get from the South. And Egypt may be there sooner. Egypt will be a weaker nation, probably. So, he attacks Egypt first and does defeat Egypt. And Daniel 11 says he has power over the gold and treasures of Egypt. So, take his gold watch off, man. Wallet and watch. Got a gold watch? Give me his watch. Your watch, yeah. Now, you're out of it, brother. You're out of it. Go sit down there in the front tier. But he's got to tend to the other part of the pincer movement. And there will be the invasion from the North. Again, I'm not dogmatic about the sequence. But when he comes back here, of course, it is God who superhumanly, supernaturally, destroys the king of the North. So, he really doesn't have to fight the king of the North. He's destroyed by God. Sit down here on the bench so we don't lose your presence up here. So, that really makes him, you know, he's well on the road to being a worldwide leader. But there is this power block over in the East, the kings of the East, about which we have very little detail. Except that they seem to march toward Palestine because the Euphrates River has dried up. And you have to march this way to remind the kings of the East. And Antichrist must do something about this block if he's going to be a worldwide ruler. So, I really think that Armageddon starts off to be an East-West conflict in the most literal sense of the word. And the Euphrates has dried up and that facilitates his crossing of the Euphrates. And they come together, Armageddon, but then Christ returns. So, the two of them suddenly become allies. And turn to try to defeat Christ at his second coming. And, of course, they're not able to do that. And that's when all the carnage will occur. And God will have to send the birds to clean up the corpses. So, that's the answer to the third question in a very brief sketch. How will Antichrist lead the world toward Armageddon? Thank you, everyone. I appreciate it. And then I want to ask one final question, if you'll permit me. Where does the United States fit into all this? Because that's a question everybody wants to ask and wants an answer. Is the United States in prophecy? I think not. Is it in the Bible? Yes. Where? The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. That includes all kingdoms. But is it mentioned specifically? No, I don't think so. What will happen to the U.S.? Well, there are only three reasonable options. First, it'll be annihilated. Second, it'll be neutralized, but not annihilated. Third, which some seem to opt for...
Times of the Gentile
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Charles Ryrie (March 2, 1925 – February 16, 2016) was an American preacher, theologian, and scholar whose ministry and writings profoundly shaped dispensational theology and evangelical Christianity in the 20th century. Born Charles Caldwell Ryrie in St. Louis, Missouri, to John Alexander Ryrie, a banker, and Elizabeth Caldwell, he grew up in Alton, Illinois, in a Presbyterian family. Converted as a child through his church’s influence, he pursued education at Haverford College (B.A., 1946), Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M., 1947; Th.D., 1949), and the University of Edinburgh (Ph.D., 1953), with additional studies at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (D.Litt., 1987). Ordained in the Presbyterian Church, his preaching career began in smaller settings but pivoted toward teaching and writing after academic pursuits. Ryrie’s ministry flourished through his professorships at Westmont College (1953–1958), Dallas Theological Seminary (1958–1983), and Philadelphia Biblical University, where he served as president (1958–1962), preaching in chapel services and mentoring students. Best known for the Ryrie Study Bible (1978), which sold over 2.5 million copies with its dispensational notes, he authored over 50 books, including Dispensationalism Today (1965) and Basic Theology (1986), defending premillennialism against covenant theology. His sermons, often delivered at conferences and churches like First Baptist Church in Dallas, emphasized biblical clarity and practical faith. Married twice—first to Mary Frances McClanahan in 1947 (divorced 1982), with three children, then to Marie E. Johnson in 1987—he retired to Dallas, dying at 90 from heart failure, buried in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, leaving a legacy in evangelical scholarship and teaching.